voice

The other day, in my post listing the best money-saving tips of 2012, I suggested ditching your landline in favor of a voice-over-IP option like MagicJack or Ooma.

But there's another option, one that lets you embrace the goodness that is Google Voice: Obihai's OBi100 VoIP phone adapter, which Amazon has for $39.24 shipped. It's been that price for a while now, but Google's recent announcement that free calling would continue through 2013 makes this worth another look.

The OBi100 works much like an Ooma or MagicJack Plus: You plug your existing cordless phone system … Read more

People who use Gmail to make free phone calls in North America will be able to keep doing so for another year.

Google said in a blog post today that it was extending free domestic calling through 2013. It also touted its cheap rates for international calls.

Launched in the summer of 2010 as an alternative to Skype, Google's calling plugin lets people make calls to any mobile phone or landline via the Chat section in Gmail. The service is available for a slew of countries (there's a list here, under "show all rates").

For a … Read more

Google Maps is back on iOS, but this time as a standalone app. You'll find it doesn't look like it did on iOS 5, due to Google having complete freedom with the user interface and design. As such, using Google Maps on iOS is going to feel a bit familiar, yet like a completely new experience.

To install Google Maps on iOS, you'll need to be using an iPhone (3GS and newer), iPod Touch (fourth and fifth gen) or an iPad running at least iOS 5.1. If you're using one of the above devices, download Google Maps for iOS … Read more

Wi-Fi is just about everywhere these days, so why do you still have to pay an arm and a leg for pricey 3G and 4G wireless data service from a carrier if you want to get online from your smartphone?

This is a very good question. Now that every smartphone on the market comes with Wi-Fi capability built-in, some frugal wireless customers are wondering whether they can subscribe to a voice-only service and use Wi-Fi instead of a costly data plan to access the Internet.

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain why the major carriers don't offer … Read more

Web-based communication apps offering free voice and video calls over Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G as well as text messaging are some of the must-have apps for any Android device. Tango Voice & Video Calls lets you easily connect to friends while making your communication free and fun.

The primary menu of this app takes users to the standard line-up-at-the-top arrangement of most interfaces in mobile OS platforms, with options like calls, messages, and settings organized at the upper part of the screen. This makes the presentation of basic options easy and intuitive, since you've most likely already encountered such … Read more

Orange, a French wireless carrier, plans to provide a service that will let Facebook users call friends without needing their phone numbers.

The new feature, called "Party Call," will launch this summer in France and will let friends call each other one-on-one or in a group, TechCrunch reported today.

Orange said the feature is the result of a partnership with Facebook. The mobile provider built the service using Facebook's open API, or application programming interface, for developers. The service uses Facebook's open social graph, letting users invite friends and post messages about each call to walls … Read more

I'll catch some flak for this, but I still like Siri.

In fact, I find it extremely useful for things like setting reminders and sending text messages hands-free. It's not perfect, but neither is it as useless as many people seem to think.

That said, Google's newly updated Voice Search is all kinds of awesome. It's blazing-fast, amazingly accurate, and in many ways just plain smarter than Siri. Use it a few times and you'll immediately start wishing you could ditch Siri for it -- or, at the very least, make it as push-button accessible.… Read more

As Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast last week, millions of residents were left without power, cell phone service, Internet, and home phone service. In an outpouring of support for people left stranded by the superstorm, several mobile carriers took to the streets offering free device charging stations and access to emergency wireless phones.

Verizon announced this week that it will continue to help Sandy victims by waiving all charges for domestic voice and text usage for its customers in the New York and New Jersey areas between October 29 and November 16.

"Verizon Wireless continues to … Read more

Google Voice users woke up today to something strange in their text messages. Suddenly, texts appeared to becoming from unknown numbers, when in fact they were from friends and family.

Google Voice support forums lit up with complaints, as first reported by the Verge. Within about three hours of the first reports, Google had identified and fixed the problem.

"Google Voice experienced an issue displaying the incorrect caller ID for outbound SMS," a spokeswoman told CNET. "The issue should now be resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

Incidentally, the incorrect caller ID numbers didn't … Read more