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A big thanks to reader @ianmurchison for this tip.

It seems as though the integration of gizmo5 into Google Voice is steadily progressing, taking one more step last week. The gizmo5.com domain was transferred to google on 18 January 2010, and now gizmo5.com redirects to google.com/gizmo5.

Gizmo5 was a VOIP company which provided both software and a service which allowed users to make VOIP calls. Similar to the popular skype-in/skype-out service offered by Skype, gizmo5 allowed users to register a phone number to attach to their gizmo5 software or device for the purposes of receiving calls, and allowed users to use the service to make cheap calls out to regular phone numbers.

Back in November of 2009, google acquired gizmo5, adding the missing piece to google’s telecommunications services.

It looks as though google’s intentions are to incorporate gizmo5’s VOIP capabilities with google voice’s services to provide a full VOIP service on its Android devices. This means one could have a fully functioning phone through google on only a data plan – no voice plan would be required. Furthermore, due to google voice’s cheap long distance rates, one could conceivably get unlimited talk and text in North America on just a data plan.

Story @ techcrunch

Wow. This is pretty interesting news. Google Voice is a great phone service without a phone. Gizmo5 adds the pieces of a phone service that Google Voice lacks, and it does it quite well too. As soon as I get some more time, I’ll try to tie my Google Voice account in with a new Gizmo5 number. I only had limited success with this before, but hopefully this will increase compatibility.

In the slightly longer term, this could potentially mean nearly free VOIP google voice service.

I came across this recently and tried it out with my google voice account. It works great. I especially like this part:

Shamelessly copied from gizmovoice.com:

Comparing costs for one year of a US telephone number and US Calling:

Skype
$60 Skype-In
$35.40 US calling
Total: $95.40

GizmoVoice
$0/year US Number
$0/year US calling
Total: $0.00

You don’t pay per email or IM you send and you shouldn’t have to pay per call. Thanks to Google and Gizmo5 you won’t have to. GizmoVoice shows you how to get:

• A free* US telephone number which when called will ring anywhere in the world.
• Make free* calls to US numbers, 1-800 numbers, GoogleTalk and Skype users.
• Use any PC to answer and make calls or smart phone, wifi phone, or ATA.

* Free means without a per minute fee, connection fee or a monthly fee.

This website will show you how to combine a Gizmo5 account with a Google Voice account to get a US telephone number and US calling without paying a monthly fee or per minute fee.

Step 1: Download and install the Gizmo5 software on your computer. During the installation process you can select a Gizmo5 username. Next visit my.gizmo5.com and login with the username and password you signed up with. Look for your assigned number beginning with 747. Take note of this number.

Step 2:
Signup for a Google Voice account. It is currently in invite mode which means it is taking about 8-11 days to receive an invitation. You can request an invite from a friend who might have one or even buy one on ebay. During the signup process you will be required to verify your account via a US telephone number.

NOTE: If you don’t have a US phone number to get past the verification step, then you can purchase a Call-in number from my.gizmo5.com for $12. You only need this for initial setup so you can purchase just a 3 month option. To verify your number you can go to www.GizmoCall.com (a service which lets you make/receive calls using just a web browser). Login with your Gizmo5 account info from Step 1 then you can request Google Voice place the verification call which you can answer in your browser and enter in the proper code using the on screen dialpad.

Step 3: Add your Gizmo5 account info to the list of phones in your Google Voice account. Once logged into Google Voice select Settings: Phone: Add Another Phone. Enter in the 10 digit 747 number from Step 1. You will need to verify that you are the owner of this account. To verify your number you can go to www.GizmoCall.com
(a service which lets you make/receive calls using just a web browser). Login with your Gizmo5 account info from Step 1 then you can request Google Voice place the verification call which you can answer in your browser and enter in the proper code using the on screen dialpad.

Step 4: Visit my.gizmo5.com and enter in your Google Voice username and password in the Google Voice section. Be sure and click the SAVE button.

You are now ready to receive and make US calls with no monthly fee or per minute fee! You can use Gizmo5 desktop software to answer or place your calls. Another easy option is to use www.GizmoCall.com which will allow you to answer your calls and place calls using just a web browser.

Because Gizmo5 supports open standards there are multiple choices of compatible software. Check the software page for a listing of software for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iphone, and more.

For those wishing to make or receive calls without the hassles of a PC headset there are many options including telephone adapters (called ATAs), wifi phones, smart phones or desktop PBX phones. (List coming soon.)