Gmail voice calls remain free for 2013

Were you even aware that if you have a Gmail email account that you can talk to other Gmail users via voice and video? You certainly can using Google's VOIP service within Gmail. See photo to the right, the little phone handset symbol toward the lower half of the picture allows for both voice and video chatting similar to Skype.

It will remain free of charge for calls within the United States and Canada in 2013. A note on the Gmail blog announced this on December 26, 2012.

There are several clients that can utilize the Google Talk feature on moble phones, for instance Vtok for iOS allows me to make a VOIP call to anyone in my Gmail address book. It would be considered data usage so be sure to check what your data plan limits are.

I am glad Google is continuing to provide this feature for free, it allows for calling long distance relatives much cheaper then using a long distance service provider.

-Ubu out