Calling from Gmail, the service that allows Gmail users to call friends, family and work colleagues from a computer directly to a mobile phone and landlines is now available in 38 languages.
Last year, Google made it possible for users in the U.S. to call any mobile phone or landline directly from Gmail and starting today, the company is making this available to many more users who use Gmail outside the U.S. by offering calling in 38 new languages.
Users can now buy calling credit in their choice of four currencies (Euros, British pounds, Canadian dollars or U.S. dollars) and there are no connection fees, so they only pay for the time they talk.
To help reduce the cost of staying connected, Google is also lowering its calling rates to over 150 destinations around the world. For example, it's now $0.10 (or €0.08) per minute to call mobile phones in the U.K., France or Germany (landlines are $0.02/min), $0.15/minute to call mobile phones in Mexico and $0.02/min to call any phone number in China and India. The complete list is available on
this page.
Google will be rolling out this feature over the next few days.
Calls to the U.S. or Canada placed within those countries will continue to be free at least for the rest of 2011. Calls to the U.S. or Canada placed from outside these countries will be charged $0.01 per minute (or €0.01, £0.01, C$0.01 per minute).