![]() ![]() You can instead add a somewhat discounted roaming option to your service plan before you go, but can still pad out your bill to a painful degree. If you need to take a phone overseas that happens to be compatible with networks in wherever you're going (in most cases, one based on the GSM standard), your carrier will gladly charge you steep roaming fees for the privilege of calling and clicking outside the U.S. Tip: Airplane mode + WiFi = no international roaming surprises You will want to disable that option if you happen to install either app on a phone you use for regular calling, lest you get stuck with the bizarre situation of both the regular phone app and a third-party GV tool ringing at the same time. To receive calls in these apps, you need to enable call forwarding to your Google Chat address. GrooVe IP also had a much cleaner interface than Talkatone, even setting aside the distracting ads. On iOS, I set up the free version of TalkMeIM's Talkatone (a $19.99 a year fee removes the ads and activates a few extra options).īoth worked fine at placing calls, although weaker Wi-Fi made some calls awkward. In Android, I've been trying the the paid version of snrb Labs' GrooVe IP (available in a free, ad-subsidized version and in a $4.99 edition with added features). But the last few times I tried that from my desktop, the person on the other end couldn't hear anything I said and promptly hung up.īut what if you want to call from a device or an area with only data available, not voice? In that case, third-party apps can turn Google Voice into the Internet-calling service you might have once assumed it could be. You can also place a call from within Gmail by clicking the phone-icon button in the leftmost column. If you're logged into the Google Voice page, click the "CALL" button, enter the number and Google will dial your phone, then connect you to that number the "TEXT" button sends text messages directly. If you're in front of a Web browser, two last options become available. That's how I place free long-distance calls from home-using a decades-old Trimline corded phone. Or you can call your Google Voice number from any phone, enter your PIN, press 2, enter the number and then hit the pound key. In all of those cases, you can send text messages right from Google's app. And in BlackBerry, you can either dial from Google's app or select a menu item in the address book. But in iOS, you can dial directly from the app. In Android, you use that app to select whether outgoing calls should automatically come from your Google Voice number or only when you request it. You can use its smartphone apps to place calls from your account - but each does so differently. Google, however, lists four different ways to place calls from your Google Voice number (as opposed to having whatever random number you might be using appear on the other person's Caller ID). Question: What are my options for placing a call from my Google Voice number - especially if I don't have phone service handy?Īnswer: It could not be much more straightforward to use Google's mostly-free service to manage incoming calls: Log into your account, add a "forwarding phone," and calls to your GV number ring there automatically. ![]()
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