I am sure I’m not alone in my never ending quest to find the perfect telecommunications balance between convenience, cost, and functionality. It seems clear to me that we are very close to a point where simple phone calls are essentially free. Now, before I get into the details to explain the title of this post, please keep in mind that I am 100% on-board with the fact that Internet access, be it at your office, your house, or on your mobile device, costs money. This is why I wrote “essentially free.” 😉

To make this work, you are going to need to have a Google Voice account, a Gizmo5 account (recently purchased by Google), and a Fring account. (You are also going to need an iPhone or an Android capable device.) 

Step 1: Login to Google Voice and add your Gizmo5 number. It is critical that you choose “Gizmo” when you set-up your number with Google Voice. On your Gizmo5 account, make sure you DO NOT have any forwarding set-up. This caused me endless headache.

Step 2: Verify your Gizmo5 number.

Step 3: Go to Fring and install their software for your mobile device. I’ve got this working on my iPhone. While I cannot confirm, I’m sure it will also work on your Android device.

Step 4: Fire-up the Fring application on your mobile device and click the “More…” option.

Step 5: Go to “Add-ons” and choose SIP

Step 6: You will need your Gizmo5 username/password. I used my actual username, but I think your full 10-digit SIP number will work as well. In the “Proxy” field, enter proxy01.sippphone.com.

Now, make sure you keep the application running on your mobile device and try initiating a call through Google Voice, targeting your “Gizmo” number. If all goes well the Fring application will ask you to answer and, like magic, you are making a call, on your mobile device, using NO cell minutes!

I’d love it if someone with an Android device would give this a try and let me know if it works as easily as it did on my iPhone.