Ring! It's Gmail's new voice feature calling

Google announced Wednesday it is offering the ability to make phone calls over the Internet via its popular Gmail service.

Unlike Google’s nearly two-year-old Gmail voice and video chat, which gives users an audio and visual experience online, the new calling feature allows users to dial phone numbers. With this move, Google is competing with Skype , which has long dominated this area.

“Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail ,” wrote Robin Schriebman, a Google software engineer in a blog post . “We’ve been testing this feature internally and have found it to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant, to placing a call when you’re in an area with bad reception.”

Schriebman explained that making a phone call through Gmail works just like a normal phone. Users can click “Call phone” at the top of their chat list and enter a number or a contact name. She added that calls to anyone in the U.S. and Canada will be free “at least for the rest of the year.” She said “very low rates” have been set up for calls to other countries .

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