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How To Connect Google Voice to Skype

by Luca Filigheddu on March 23, 2009



How To Connect Google Voice to Skype

Yesterday, thanks to a magic by Craig Walker, head of Google Voice and former co-founder and CEO of GrandCentral, my GC account has been migrated to Google Voice.

The point is that Google Voice is linked to a US number so I needed to figure out how to make people always reach me regardless of my position since I use my Google Voice number as my primary US number, available on my email signature too.

The solution? Make my Skype on my laptop ring. If you are asking yourself how to do that, I have to tell you that it’s pretty easy. You just need to register to Gizmo5, get a SIP number and tell Google Voice to forward each call to that Gizmo5 account.

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When ready, go to your Gizmo5 account and configure it to forward each inbound call to your Skype ID, thanks to one of the latest features added by Gizmo in the past months (OpenSkype). That’s also a great way to get a SkypeIN number without having to pay for it ;-)

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When in the US instead, I used to configure GrandCentral, now Google Voice, to forward all my calls to my US mobile number. Pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

All that said, now when you call me at my Google Voice number, my Skype will ring, regardless of where I am. And be aware that if you leave a voicemail where you say “test”, I will read a friendly “hello”, thanks to the wonderful transcription by Google.

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  • Hey Luca,

    Thanks tried that. U forgot to mention that UNLESS u r a PAID Open Sky customer the call will last just 3 minutes. So not so Good an idea.
  • It's FREE for up to 5 minutes, that I think is fine for most users. The average length of a phone call is 3 minutes.
  • Far from free and no replacement for SkypeIn @ a 5 minute cap. To really compare SkypeIn you have to look at the OpenSky $20 annual charge.
  • That was an excellent hacking/ integration tip there.
  • I actually tried it Sir. And It was 3 minutes. Practical experience. I prefer forwarding calls to Gtalk instead. Works fine and no limits.

    And yes the ANNOYING voice prompts come up after 2 minutes and 40 seconds saying 20 seconds more left and then at 3 minutes the whole announcement "Your call has ended and blah blah and blah"
  • Jasmer
    I don't understand how you forwarded Google Voice to Google Talk? You receive the calls when your logged into Google Talk?
  • Yes, U can receive calls on Your Google talk. I have been using it in 2 ways.

    No.1-----> I got a Free DID ( A US no) from Groovytel.com which is forwarded for free to my Google talk & That number is 1 of the numbers I have in my Google Voice Account. SO my Google Talk rings when Anybody calls my Google Voice number.

    No. 2----> I have set Gizmo calls to be diverted to My Google Talk and When anybody calls my GV number the calls get diverted to my Google Talk thru Gizmo5. I have been using Google Talk with Google Voice since Day1 and even used the same system with Grandcentral earlier.

    The ONLY CONDITION is that You NEED to TURN OFF "Call Presentation" in the GV settings. Its because of the limitation of Google Talk having no Dialpad. So U cant have the option of sending a call to Voicemail or Listen in and stuff.

    Works great.
  • How can you connect the DID number to Google Voice? You have to verify it by entering a two digit number. Google Talk does not allow you to do this. I am interested in knowing how you got this to work.
  • get a DID from IPkall.com. st it up 2 forward on Gizmo5 and in Gizmo5 account set that up to forward all calls to Skype. Works well when you receive calls tlike this on Skype as you have the dialpad on Skype and I have verified phone nos. like that. So its a practical experience. Also I think if you get a DID and set it up to forward calls on Gizmo5 and have the software installed on your PC and receive calls on gizmo5 you can still punch in that 2 digit code from the Gizmo5 dialpad.

    From Skype, it WORKS FOR SURE. From Gizmo5 it should but I am not that sure.

    :)
  • Jed
    You can hold a phone up to your microphone and enter the code. I've done this with my cell.
  • dmichels
    I had to use this last night at Voicecon.

    I forgot my cell phone (coming by fedex today). I did the steps above and it worked. I talked to my wife who does not have a sound card, she called my Google number from the phone.

    Only 1 problem. The service limits you to 2.5 minutes unless you upgrade. I tried to upgrade last night, but the only option I found was a $320 annual fee to increase calls up to 2 hours. That seemed like a lot so we just kept having 2.5 minute calls.

    Phoneboy on Twitter said there is a $20 option, but I could not find it. In fact, the my.gizmo page says OpenSky is turned off. Great service, but not very intuitive.
  • Good tip Luca! Here's steps. Signup for Google Voice. Then go to my.gizmo5.com and signup for a free account and take note of your SIP number which begins with 747. Select a call forwarding option (Skype or Gtalk). Then go to GoogleVoice and add a phone and select "Gizmo" as the option. Enter the the 10 digit number which begins with 747 and you're done!

    As we mentioned up to 5 minute calls are free (depends on load of the system). For longer calls it's $20/year because it takes quite a bit of engineering and computation to connect to Skype. Gtalk calls do not have the limitation.

    Dmichels - There is a button on my.gizmo5.com which says "OpenSky". Click that after signing up for an account and there's a $20 single user option to sign up for OpenSky. It's a giant button so I'm not sure why you are not seeing it. The $320 option is for a company to sign up multiple users which some are doing so that all users of their network can call Skype users or have their SIP calls forwarded to Skype.

    Another feature of OpenSky is that you can have Skype calls ring any SIP device such as a Nokia dual mode wifi phone, IP desktop phone or a wifi phone. This is included with the $20 OpenSky fee.
  • Leon
    I followed the steps to forward my GV number to Skype, and it does not work for me. I configured it exactly lije this.

    In GV under settings chose the Gizmo number assigned to me. (I have never used htat number but it is registered in my account that way. Then I went to Gizmo and checked to forward to my skype account id which I use all the time. I call the GV number and does not ring or call my skype.

    So what is it that I am doing wrong?
  • snoby
    hi every body how ru?

    i hope ur fine
    i want share peaceful speach share with u
  • Joonbug
    Thank you so much!!! But do we have to pay for open Sky??? What if we have a Skype subscription? is it still limited to 3 to 5 minutes???
  • No workie anymore! Gizmo5 got wise to this and now you have to pay for a SIP number.
  • hadimettawa
    Do we know how we can link GoogleV to a sip url
    example: sip:5613451212@foo.com

    I see from the interface that 'sip:' , '@' and dots get droped and it calls 5612451212.

    Thanks
  • casey_rawfoodguy
    This is exactly the information I needed to become 100% mobile and dodge the constraints of location-based work. Thank you!!
  • Hardeep- I don't understand why you even need the first option of using Groovytel.com. Why not simply use *just* the second option and have Gizmo5 orward to GoogleTalk
  • netyale
    Is that possible to see the caller id in your Skype window?
    Because I just see the open_sky_xx in it
    It's not easy to identify who call me...

    Anyone got this problem??

    THanks....
  • Larry
    Works great EXCEPT. GV limits the time to connect the call to 25 seconds. More often than not my skype does not ring or only rings once before going to voicemnail. This is a major downside to this approach.
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  • How do I get a sip number of gizmo5. When I click on my profile, it shows a blank gray space for the sip number.
  • I tried this, signed up for Gizmo5 but when I went to Google Voice I got "not available in your country" even though I accepted the invitation 6 months ago and I could log in then. Only a little miffed.
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