Free Droid calling - Inbound AND Outbound!

Even though I never get close to my monthly plan minutes, I've been pursuing free voice calling on my Droid. At least for today, I finally achieved the goal.

For inbound calls, the path is as follows:

• Caller
• Google Voice
• Gizmo5 Account (Free inbound calls)
• SipDroid App on Droid
• Me

I am now giving out my Google Voice number, especially to my non-Verizon friends. The hardest parts were obtaining a Google Voice account (invite only), and a Gizmo5 account (new account registration closed). But just like any other hard-to-find items, both can be readily found on ebay.

For outbound calls, the path is as follows:

• Me
• Infinity Browser App on Droid
• Google Voice
• Gizmo5 (Free inbound calls)
• Called Party

The trick here was to find a mobile browser for Android that was able to use the Google callback feature. The default Droid browser failed, and the Dolphin browser only worked if I set the user agent to desktop mode (quite difficult to use). The Infinity Browser is able to load the Google Voice non-iphone mobile site, and initiate a call back to my Droid. Once I answer with SipGate configured for my Gizmo5 account, the outbound call is placed, and I am connected.

The call quality is excellent especially over wifi. I plan to use the configuration extensively at work, where there is excellent wifi coverage, but numerous cellular dead zones.

The exact configuration can easily be found via Google, but if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment.