How do I set up Google "call phone" in Gmail?

I've been reading about Google introducing a dial out to regular phone service for Gmail users and I'm a bit puzzled. I have been on Google Gmail for years, but don't see any sort of phone dial out capability. Am I not eligible?

Dave's Answer:

Have you sacrificed a chicken to the Google Gods lately? If not, well, that might be what's going on.

No, just kidding. Mostly. :-)

The "call phone" feature is only visible if you open up the chat area while you're in Gmail, which is I think what confuses a lot of people. To be fair, when I first connected once it was available, I did see a nice advert for the new service:

That makes it easy, but even then, I didn't actually see the ad until I expanded my chat area (I tend to keep everything minimized on a day to day basis).

When I did look at the chat area in Gmail, I saw this:

Clicking on "call phone" brought up The Small Print:

The most important thing to see here in Gmail call phone service is that it's not an E911 emergency 911 service. Why? Because it has no way to know exactly where you are, unlike landlines that are tied to specific addresses and therefore far more helpful for emergency services. Now Google could figure out your location in most cases based on your IP and the accessible wifi signals, but that's another story...

If you still want to experiment with it - and who wouldn't? - then click on "Accept".

Now you'll see a dialpad window appear, just like a phone:

I tested this by entering my cellphone number...

A click on "Call" and my phone rang, connection established!

When I was done, it's simple enough to click on End and hang up. Done. Easy!

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Categorized: Google Gmail Help (Article 9572, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: gmail, gmail call phone, google mail, voip
Previous: Verify/Confirm a forwarding email address in Gmail?
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Reader Comments To Date: 26

ephraim said, on December 6, 2010 6:53 PM:

I set up google phone as directed, dialed and connected, but here the trouble began. I could hear the party I called perfectly but they could not hear me. I tried switching the plug in headset prongs, to no avail.

Any suggestions.
Thanks,
ephraim

Mary L said, on December 21, 2010 2:52 PM:

I've tried everything - my chat is always expanded, but there is still no "call phone" option. This is so puzzling! Do you have any ideas?

jan said, on January 2, 2011 10:27 AM:

I've been sitting here looking at my gmail account and I'm with Mary. I can install voice and video but no google call phone option in chat. Very puzzling. I had someone from across the pond tell me about using it today and I just don't see an option. help!

shah said, on February 14, 2011 3:36 AM:

i have no "call phone" option in gmail chat. so, how to install or set up. please guide me.

thanks

Louis Goldstein said, on March 1, 2011 10:07 PM:

Keep trying without success. Dial number and party answers. Fine, but despite all my attempts they cannot hear me. Nothing wrong with my headset mike, have it on and volume is up but I cannot be heard. Driving me up the wall.

Dave Taylor said, on March 1, 2011 10:13 PM:

Louis, just a thought: have you gone to your preferences / settings / control panel (depending on your OS) and checked that your headset is indeed your default audio input device?

I use Gmail Call Phone (Gphone? What IS this service called?) all the time with my built-in mic and speakers on my MacBook Pro and it works splendidly. It's great and I just love it for business calls!

karma wangchuk said, on March 9, 2011 10:52 AM:

very cheap and convenent

rina said, on March 13, 2011 5:18 PM:

I am able to download video and audio to make phone calls from my gmail account but when I dial the number it says: "we could not detect proper audio setup. My speakers are not working nor are my plantronic headset. Can you help (as soon as, please)? Is there an adjustment I need to make on my computer? I own a macmini with OSX 10.5.8 operating system. Would like to use this wonderful service.

Help Needed said, on March 25, 2011 2:00 PM:

Why are the settings for calling hidden and not in plain sight? How can I get audio to come through the headphones when making a call from within gmail? I can find no setting for this. Is this calling in gmail the same as google chat or is it google voice? What is it? And why not put a settings button right in the location of where we dial the numbers?

Cecilia Kanhai said, on May 2, 2011 1:57 PM:

The party I am calling cannot hear me. Please help.

rashmi singh said, on July 8, 2011 11:24 PM:

i have installed voice and video plug-in and also have flash playr and my language is english(us) but still i cannot find phone call link in my gmail chat roster.i want gmail call phone in my gmail account.

kira said, on August 31, 2011 5:23 PM:

I did make the call from my gmail account for one week, it was good connection and no problems but today when I tried to make the call I got this message "Flash is required to make a call. click here to install now" I do have adobe Flash installed already in my lab-tap and still I re installed it but didn't work. please if you can help. Thanks

zubair naseem said, on October 12, 2011 1:04 AM:

i want phone option for gmail

Anandhi said, on January 31, 2012 11:34 PM:

I want call phone option

dan hayes said, on April 22, 2012 3:12 AM:

i can call on gmail with the call phone option and i can hear them but they cannot hear me and my microphone is ok - someone posted go to ...control panel and check that headset is default input device. I have win xp and there is no such place to enter such - no where does it say anything about default input device or anything like that much less give a choice.

Anonymous said, on April 28, 2012 9:41 AM:

I have done everything:
-Expanded chat
-accepted
-called the number and I can here them, but they can't here me.

*Any suggestions?

Ryan Richards said, on July 13, 2012 4:36 PM:

Kind of a silly question, but does your headset have a microphone on it? If it does not the person you are calling will not hear you.

karthikeyan said, on July 15, 2012 4:58 AM:

I installed Video & Voice chat but no call phone is activated in my acount.plz help me how to install the call phone.

elmz said, on December 1, 2012 7:25 PM:

on google phone i can hear them, but they can't hear me. What to do ?

sweet74misery said, on December 19, 2012 3:26 PM:

Make sure your microphone is enabled in your sound and speaker settings. OR your computer might not have a built in microphone, at which point you can simply obtain one of the old plug in microphones for a desktop, and plug it in. You may have to configure this device if the other party still can not hear you. Verify that the microphone is not set to mute. As for the call phone option not showing up in gmail, go to the settings icon in gmail, after it opens look at the line of options across the reading pane (these words are in blue on my screen) and click on chat, then turn your chat to on. Go back to gmail and click on chat and you should see a tiny phone icon click on it and your dialpad will pop-up. God bless :)

sweet74misery said, on December 19, 2012 3:29 PM:

btw you DO NOT have to have a headset to make and receive calls using google voice. You only need a microphone (external or integrated it doesn't matter)and your computer/laptop speakers that's it.

anitha said, on December 30, 2012 3:32 AM:

i does set up call phone option in gmail account

SLK said, on January 19, 2013 11:38 PM:

NEWS FLASH Jan 20, 2013. I spent hours and hours trying to get this to work using Firefox. I followed all the Google product help information I could find, and bloggers suggestions and it would not work. I simply tried to make an outgoing call in Gmail. Nothing would happen when I clicked the Call button. No error messages, nothing. Then, I thought I'd change my browser and used Google Chrome and what-da-ya-know, it worked just fine! So, some of us cannot simply use our "favorite browser." I don't know why this happened, but it works perfect using Chrome, and in Firefox, all I can do is text. Weird.

abphoneman said, on January 26, 2013 10:27 PM:

have had no problem with Gphone in Firefox. Click on chats, then in the bottom left hand corner of your browser window should be a small black chat box. Click on it once and the chat phone icon should pop up at the top of the chat area, below your mail box and folders area. Click this phone to pop up the dialling key pad and either punch in the country code, then area code and then the 7 digit phone number from the keyboard, or click on the digits with your mouse. Make sure the mike button is not muted and you should be off to the races. I used Skype audio and video tests to make sure that they all work.

Russell Cox said, on January 30, 2013 11:19 AM:

I'm using IE9 and a headset connected to the 2 jacks on my laptop.
I know the headset is working, because Skype has a test number where you can confirm the ability to hear and transmit.
This works fine.
However, like others on this blog, people I call cannot hear me.

Any ideas?

jaleel said, on April 9, 2013 11:58 PM:

i cannot sea call phone icon in my gmai what do?

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I set up Google "call phone" in Gmail?

Reader Comments To Date: 26

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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