I see that you get 60 free minutes with Sipgate... Do you have to start paying for minutes afterwards? Any idea how much they cost?
No, you don't have to pay as long as you route all your credentials thru Google Voice. you should only use a minute or 2 confirming the number with google...if you notice your mins going down then you probably messed up somewhere.
Here's what you do ...
- Get a Google Voice number
- Sign up for a free account on sipgate.com (you will have to give out your cell number to receive a key to confirm your new free account)
- You will receive your 1 free number from sipgate (which will be a random California number for now)
- Go to Google voice and add the sipgate number as the number google voice forwards to. Also make sure the number is set as a home number
- You will have to verify that number with Google voice, this when you will have to install the softphone software by sipgate. Have Google voice call your sipgate number..and through the softphone dial paid just hit the 2 digit number given by Google voice to confirm the sipgate number.
- Now it's up to you on what app you want to use to make outbound or receive calls. I use a combination of 3CX Phone and gvoice callback. There are other alternatives out there like sipdroid, Linphone, Friend caller, GV call free, GV callback free,
*Note, you will need both a VOIP app and some sort of google voice callback app.
- Whatever app you use, you need to configure the settings. So for example, since I use 3CX Phone, go into settings and create a profile name.
- Your user name and password will be the Sip ID & password provided by sipgate and the external server is sipgate.com
- Once you input everything.. 3CX Phone should register and you should see a green dot in your notification bar
- Now open up Gvoice callback put your Google voice account details in and put your callback number...as your sipgate number. For the callback setting you can set it as always..or ask it doesn't matter ...up to you. That should be it. ( I have mine to ask every time)
- Make all calls like you normally would, there should now be a prompt to make it through gvoice callback. Once you make the call the 3CX Phone dialer will come up and you will receive an incoming call from your sipgate number, just press the green phone button to accept the call and Google voice will connect you to your actual call.
- As for receiving calls your contacts will have to dial your google number and 3CXPhone has to be running to pick up the call. To accept the incoming call press the green button on 3CX Phone dialpad and your connected with the other person on the other line.
Note* - If you don't keep the 3CX Phone app on (green dot in your notification bar) your outbound calls won't work and your incoming calls will go straight to voicemail. If you setup your gmail with sipgate, you'll be notified by email and you can download your voicemails to hear them
Last but not least , the call quality is marginal. There will be a delay when you're talking to someone and you might hear a slight echo. but if you want free 3G/Wifi calling, it's something you're going to have to deal with.
