Gmail Launches VoIP Calling System; Hits 1 Million Call Volume Within 24 Hours

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Googlepush e-mail has now been enabled on the iPhone. Pushed notifications have been available for Gmail users in the past in the iPhone mail applications. The Gmail application can now receive these notifications itself, though it will only work from one account. has got to be scrambling to handle the volume of upset Gmail users. Yesterday on TMC (News - Alert), I reported that Gmail users have been complaining in large volume that the webmail service offered by Google (News - Alert) is resending messages to recipients.


The most annoying aspect is that when this happens, users are turned into spammers who unintentionally annoy everyone – including business contacts.In a positive report on PC World, some Gmail users are very happy about a new phone calling feature. In fact, this feature has hit the ground running and within the first 24 hours of operation, one million phone calls were placed.

Of course PC World wants to know how many Gmail users will continue to make calls over the service once the newness has worn off. Good question. This new feature allows Gmail users to place calls trough their e-mail inbox.

The service’s more than 175 million monthly users enjoy the benefits of a combination of two popular services offered by the Internet giant: Gmail Voice Chat and Google Voice. For now, only U.S. Gmail users can take advantage of the service to place free “local” phone calls (within the U.S. and Canada), in addition to cheap international calls. Such local calls will be subsidized with the international calls’ rates, which happen to be pretty low.

Users can call such countries as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Argentina, China, and Japan, for as little as two cents per minute.

Local calls are still free, although that could change as the service gains traction. And, since it is not yet available to all U.S. Gmail users – or international users for that matter – widespread availability could help to spread its adoption.

To activate the service, a Gmail user simply checks the top of the chat bar for the “call phone” option and clicks on it to see the number pad. Dial the desired number and place a phone call. Of course a microphone is necessary to communicate with the person on the other end. Without Google Voice, your number will appear to the recipient as 760-705-8888.

In other Google news, the company announced last week that
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi

(source: http://small-business-voip.tmcnet.com/topics/smb-voip/articles/97997-gmail-launches-voip-calling-system-hits-1-million.htm)

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