This morning, along with a lot of people in Australia, my gmail account came with a new feature, offering to let me make free phone calls to the US and Canada.

“Huh”, I thought, “dumb google marketers presume we are all in the US and Canada and have just added the notice to *everyone’s* account – bet it doesn’t work”…

BUT….

I opened the window, started entering a friend’s phone number – only to have it finished from my contacts lists – and bingo! – connected for free to a phone number in the US. The line (channel ?) quality was fine and the connection was fast with no dropouts. And it didn’t cost me a cent.

How quickly my thinking has changed. I didn’t think “gee, this is just like calling from my phone”, but “hey, just like Skype”…

Wonder how long before – if ever – I will be able to call within Australia for free. Right now it costs 2c per minute if I use this service … actually not too bad … And definitely what I would use when travelling overseas,  if for some reason Skype does not let me call home.