Jonathan Preston . com

Over the past several years, corporate giant Google has been aggressively expanding their business model beyond its initial search and web advertising roots. They’ve acquired a number of companies, including the Internet phenomenon video-sharing website YouTube and Internet advertising agency DoubleClick. Among these acquisitions was that of GrandCentral, a small company founded in 2005 with the innovative idea of allowing a user to have all their phones (cellular, home, work, etc) ring from one central phone number.

Since the acquisition in 2007, Google has worked to develop the GrandCentral idea and feature set into what is becoming a fantastic feature set of phone and messaging services. It launched the rebranded Google Voice service in March of 2009 and (as with previous services like Gmail), is accepting new users via an invitation process. As a benefit of the feature set, you can place free long distance calls within the continental United States! Read on to find out how.

Bear in mind, you’ll need to have a US phone number to register for the service. Google is supposedly planning to launch the Google Voice service in other countries, but for now it’s US-only.

To get an invitation to the service, you’ll need to go to this page: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/

Fill in your name and email address, and you’ll be sent an invitation to the service as Google allows more users. I actually received one months ago, but didn’t use it until recently. Once your invite arrives, simply click the invitation link, and sign in with your Google Account (or create a Google Account if you don’t have one).

Once registered, you’ll be able to select a Google Voice phone number (in any area code Google has available, which includes much of the continental US). In my case, I chose a number in my local area code, with the last four digits matching my cell phone number, so that it would be easy for me to remember. Choose your number carefully — it will cost $10 to change it later. After that, you’ll be prompted to enter a pin number to control access to your account from telephones.

(As an aside — Google does allow you to transfer your current cell phone number to Google Voice. I opted not to go through that hassle, but for some of you, it might be beneficial.)

Following this selection, you’ll be prompted to add (and verify) your various current phone numbers (home, cellular, etc). Verifying a number is as simple as Google placing a call to your phone, and then allowing you to enter a two-digit confirmation code.

With this process complete, you’ll have access to Google Voice’s entire feature set, including the ability to make free long-distance calls (within the United States only — international calls incur a small fee per minute). To make a call, you have three options.

Option 1 – Making a Long Distance Call from Your Phone

1. Pick up your home phone and dial your Google Voice phone number. Did you forget your number? Just log in at http://voice.google.com and you’ll see your phone number listed at the top of the page, on the right-hand side.
2. When prompted, enter your PIN.
3. When prompted, press 2 to make a call.
4. Enter the phone number you wish to call (make sure to dial the full area code along with the number), followed by the pound (#) key.
5. Google will connect you to the number you dialed.
6. When you’re finished with the call, hang up the phone.

Remember, this counts as an outbound call on your phone, so make sure you’re using a land line, or another phone with free local calling. If you use a cell phone with this method, you will still incur airtime uses. Also remember that this call must be made with a phone number you’ve registered with Google Voice.

Option 2 – Make a Long Distance Call Using the Google Voice Control Panel

1. Log in to Google Voice at http://voice.google.com
2. Locate the “Call” button (has a green arrow next to it, and appears directly beneath the Google Voice logo). Click it.
3. Enter the phone number you wish to call (include area code).
4. Select the phone you’d like to use to make this call. Google will list all phones that you’ve registered with your Google Voice account.
5. Click Connect.
6. Google will now call your phone (you’ll see this as an incoming call from your Google Voice number). Answer the call.
7. Google will immediately dial the phone number you selected and connect you to the call.
8. When you’re finished with the call, hang up.

Unlike Option 1 above, this will count as an incoming call on your phone. Some cell carriers allow free incoming calls, so this may be a good option for those users.

Option 3 – Make a Call Using Your Cell Phone Data Plan

For users with a smart phone and data plan, you can place outbound calls (both local and long distance) for free, without using any of your plan’s minutes. Bear in mind this method will incur data use charges, so make sure your current plan allows for it. Additionally, you’ll need good data reception wherever you’re trying to call from.

1. Download the Google Voice app for your smart phone. Versions are available for Google Android devices, Windows Mobile devices, Symbian/Blackberry devices and the Palm Pre. At present, Apple is not permitting the Google Voice app to be made available in the iPhone app store.
2. Use the Google Voice app to dial the number you wish to call. On the Google Android version, you can simply dial the number in the phone’s regular dialer, and you’ll be given the option to make the call with Google Voice.
3. Google Voice will connect you to the requested number.
4. When you’re finished, hang up the phone.

There you have it — free long distance phone calls.

[Update] – Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that calling using the Android Google Voice app does not use your data connection. In fact, it simply uses your data connection to look up the local Google Voice access number, dials that (as a local call, which doesn’t matter for cell phones that almost universally have long distance included), and then uses the Google phone system to request the appropriate outgoing call.

I’ll be releasing a new article soon, showing you how to use your data plan to make/receive calls on your Google Voice number.