I have been fooling around with the new Google phone caller in G Mail. Works great! under chat in G Mail, just enable voice/phone. Download the file, run it, restart the browser, go to G Mail and you should see a small green phone icon under chat. Click on it. Dial in any US phone number to call for FREE. I called my mother-in-law in Maine and my friend in NJ.
Quality was superb (much better than my Verizon cell phone) and no noticeable lag at all. Dang, Google strikes again.
This setup will work with a web cam mic and regular speakers but the echo is pretty bad. I would highly recommend a decent headphone/ mic boom setup. My favorite? 5.1 headphone by MedUSA:
http://www.medusa-usa.com/medusa-nx-usb ... p-956.html
( I put this huge glowing review on the site, I love these headphones!).

bob and I finally got our web cams dusted off and that worked too. Picture was jerky as hell (Bob lives on a Jersey barrier island) due to poor reception on my partner's side. Have to try it with a good connection.

Google lives!

_________________
John E Pombrio
Do not meddle in the affair of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

Thanks for the review! I have been using the (free) Google voice feature for awhile now and love it! Google voice + Android phone = greatness! I will keep glorifying Google right up until they become "self-aware" and the machines take over the world.

On a side note if you already have signed up for Google voice, then any calls you make from Gmail will show up with your Google voice number! Very slick! I love it!

_________________
DIY WHS
AMD Athlon II X2 240
2Gb RAM
13 TB, mixed drives
400+ DVDs and 80 BD ripped using MakeMKV

~My beautiful wife is always asking me if I love my computers more than her...I don't understand it!

Funny, I signed up for Google Voice but for some reason my area code is not listed so I never bothered to set up a phone number. Besides, I rarely use my cell phone and no one much calls me so I don't really need all of that convenience.
EDIT EDIT EDIT 9-10-2010 Well, turns out that Google ADDED my area code so now I DO have a Google Voice number here in a town next to mine. And as NJ said above, my Google voice number shows up in Caller ID when I use it. Not that very many people actually CALL me...

_________________
John E Pombrio
Do not meddle in the affair of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

I called my son last night and I told him how I was calling. His immediate words were "Free? A free telephone call? Wait a minute, that could destroy whole industries!". Yep, this IS a game changer. Easy to implement, easy to use, and costs nothing except the monthly charge for internet access. Geez, I remember WBW that it would cost several dollars to talk to my sister the next state over.
BTW, he is taking in his senior year of college (as a math/Comp Sci double major at WPI in Worcester, MA) a course in hacking into websites and computer networks. They, of course, have to PATCH them after breaking in. He had to sign a paper that he would use this skill "responsibly". Heh.

_________________
John E Pombrio
Do not meddle in the affair of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

another update. Now I am using the Google call for pretty much ALL my telephone calls, even local (except for pizza). The sound over the headphones is terrific.

_________________
John E Pombrio
Do not meddle in the affair of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

The Google voice concept is great. One phone number you can use anywhere and forward calls to any phone or phones. I would use mine all the time, but Sprint doesn't play nice with Google Voicemail. Also, the Google voicemail text conversion sucks. At least 1/2 of the words are wrong most of the time.

"Also, the Google voicemail text conversion sucks. At least 1/2 of the words are wrong most of the time."
Well, that meansthe speech to text conversion is RIGHT half of the time. It's a start!
I have yet to even use or give to anyone my Google Voice number. Too damn worried about the service changing and LOSING my phone number. It is amazing how many companies, dentists, doctors, Red Cross, supermarket cards, you name it... use my telephone number for referencing. Even my Chinese place uses it...

_________________
John E Pombrio
Do not meddle in the affair of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.