Google Voice anyone?

That's cool. 

I was able to get it working from Canada.  I used it to call my Dad long distance on Father's day.  It worked pretty good.  There was a pretty big delay which is apparently a known issue with Google Voice and at one point I heard slight popping sounds, but it went away after a minute or two.  The call was about 50 minutes long, which would have cost me $2 on my land line.

Anyone should be able to sign up without an invite now (although you may still need a proxy server to hide your non-US IP address), but you still need a US number to activate the service.  I was able to get it activated with a US VoIP number through ipkall.  I've seen many posts from people using Magicjack as well.

To use the service, I go online and specify what number I want to call.  Then GV calls my VoIP phone to make the connection.

Indeed, but we are talking about two different things. 

In order to use Google Voice in Canada, you need to have a US number.

One way is to sign up with MagicJack and get a US number.  This solution should work just fine, but obviously there are costs involved using MagicJack.

You could also use Skype and pay to get a US number, but again, that would not be free.

I personally signed up and received a free VoIP account with iptel.org.  Then I signed up and received a free US number with ipkall.com and connected it with my iptel VoIP account.

Using a VoIP phone I can receive calls using my US number anywhere I have Internet access.  Once I had this working I activated Google Voice using this number.


The only value this provides is the ability to make free long distance calls.  I don't expect anyone in Canada to call me on my GV number since it would be long distance for them.  Same with SMS, it costs more for us to send SMS to a US number.

That would sure make my life a lot easier, but no, I just tried it and if you attempt to use a Canadian number as one of your forwarding phones, it gives the error that "International numbers are not supported as forwarding phones". 

Once GV is officially available in Canada I should be able to get an a Canadian GV number and forward it to my Canadian cell phone.  Right now it only gives out US numbers and only US numbers are allowed as forwarding phones. 

It's funny how it's been in use for some time now (i've been using it for what seems like forever) and now that it's open for all Google gets hit with a patent lawsuit.

As Google Voice Opens For All... It's Hit With Patent Infringement Claims