Eliezer let us know that Google Voice just posted on their blog that calls from the US to Canada are now free. Google voice has become one of my favorites services to use, also the fact that I can backup OTA & sync my contacts using their free sync application and my contact are automatically integrated with Google voice. You can download this apps to your BlackBerry by pointing your browser to m.Google.com and if you do not have an invitation yet go to www.google.com/voice and request one. The calls are free as long as you use the Google voice dialer to place the call, works best when using a WIFI enable BlackBerry.
Here is what they posted on the Google voice blog:
Calls to Canada are free again
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 | 5:24 PM
In addition to making free long distance calls within the continental US, you can now call Canada for free through Google Voice. We offered this feature in GrandCentral previously, and in an effort to provide as many useful features as we can for free, we’re happy to bring those free calls to Canada to Google Voice users as well.
You can initiate calls from your inbox online, from our new mobile apps, or by dialing your own Google Voice number from one of your phones and selecting option 2 to place a call.
Please note that Google Voice is only available in the US, and you’ll need a working US phone to setup a Google Voice account.
Posted by Brian Peterson
Software Engineer
I really like this service & hopefully they keep it free, let us know what your favorite features of Google voice are, it be nice if they allowed free SMS world wide, now that be just awesome.
Tom ( View Profile) Enthusiast - Posts: 365
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 7:41 AM EST
FYI, I believe that calls are free for CONUS and Canada (Alaska and Hawaii are not free).
Luis Merlos ( View Profile) Moderator - Posts: 1231
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 10:21 AM EST from my BlackBerry 8900
Thanks, I didn’t think about checking those
Nikolaus Not Registered
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 10:28 AM EST
I wrote to Google many times complaining about this, and while I’d like to believe my efforts helped this, I’m sure they didn’t, but you never know if you take a stand on something what you can accomplish. Thank you Google! I will officially now convert my GrandCentral account to Google Voice which I have never done. Bye GrandCentral…
purephase Not Registered
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 11:55 AM EST
I can’t wait until the service is available in Canada.
ShvartzBerry ( View Profile) Enthusiast - Posts: 288
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 12:20 PM EST
One important addition to this is that it seems you can now also set a Canadian number as the Ring To number. Which means that the service is essentially available in Canada. All you need is an American number which you can easily get for free with Gizmo5 (although I’ve had some difficulty getting their number to work) and you’re set!
Nikolaus Not Registered
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 1:03 PM EST
I just tried this and it didn’t work. I think GC used to allow this, but GC and thus GV have turned this off
ashton Not Registered
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 12:40 PM EST
this might sound stupid but does this mean you wont be using your minutes on your mobile?
Chris Not Registered
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 7:03 PM EST
That’s not a stupid question, I was wondering the same thing.
Chris Not Registered
Posted: August 20, 2009 at 8:36 PM EST
That’s not a stupid question. Yes you would be using your included minutes to make the call. When you initiate a call from the Google Voice app it redirects your call to a US exchange. Then the call is routed to your destination number. So you are only using nationwide minutes.