This is a semi-brief tutorial on how to use Google Voice, the Sipdroid Android app, Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall, and the free sipsorcery.com service to put a free USA VOIP line on any Android phone that has a data connection, in any country in the world. You will have absolutely free calls to the US and Canada from this line if you have an unlimited data plan from your carrier or if you use over wifi. You will incur no cell minute billing from your carrier.
I have been using this for several months on a home telephone adapter and on my Android phone. The service has been absolutely perfect, excepting a week long period recently, where SipSorcery was updating their server. Working flawlessly again and should be for a while to come because none of the TOS for any of the providers listed in the tutorial are being violated. It is necessary to be in the USA to sign up for Google Voice, but after that, users are certainly allowed to use the service when traveling to other countries.
Here we go...
First, sign up for a Google Voice invite. https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/
As of this date, Google Voice is only available in the US. So, if you are not logging on the net from the US, you should do a Google Search on how to mask your ip address to show it being from the US.
I haven't tried this program myself but I've heard it works and is safe to download to mask your ip as showing from the USA. http://www.hotspotshield.com/
An alternative method would be to ask a friend from the US to request the invite and sign up for Google Voice for you, once the invitation arrives to you.
Next, once you have received your GV invite, you need a DID (direct inward dialing) number. Many of you probably already have a Gizmo5 number. Hopefully you do because Google just bought Gizmo5 and is now closed to new registrations.
Otherwise, I suggest Sipgate. www.sipgate.com This is the US branch of the company. Euro version won't work. Sipgate offers a free US number for inbound calls. You also get free inbound faxes, which is a nice bonus. You will get a certain amount of free outbound calls to use the first month, when you first register. But, you won't need them.
Your next option is ipKall's free US DID number. FREE IP Calling with IPKall The problem with ipKall is that you need to provide the account info for an existing SIP account when you sign up. That used to be easily remedied with an free and easy Gizmo5 account. But, since the Google purchase, it is closed to new accounts. So, the best solution is to Google "Free DID number" and find any account for free you can on the net, regardless of country. Then, you provide that SIP account login info to ipKall when signing up. ipKall is notoriously slow to respond, though. Don't expect your response with your new number for at least a few days. If you choose the ipKall route, you will need to go back to their website, later, and provide your Sipsorcery login info in the ipKall SIP info. See below.
Ok, so now you have your free US DID number and are ready to use your Google Voice invite to create a new account. Your Google Account settings will need to show your location as being in the US to use Google Voice. So, if this is not possible for you with your current Google Account, you should create a new one and set up the location as being in the USA. Don't worry about having a different Google Account than the one you use for your core Android apps login on your phone. There will be no conflicts with what I am showing you how to set up today and will still work perfectly well on your phone. You can keep your Google Account setup on your Android phone exactly as it is now.
After you have created or modified your Google Account, click on the GV invite and set it up. You will need to register at least one landline phone as a GV forwarding number. This is where your free DID number comes in play. If you got your DID number with Sipgate you can download their softphone on your pc, in order to receive the call from GV which registers your phone. If you have any other DID SIP account, download the x-lite softphone on your pc and enter the SIP account info. CounterPath Corporation | X-Lite You can delete all these programs after you register your forwarding number with GV.
Another option you might have is to skip ahead to the sipsorcery.com and Sipdroid Android App part of this Tutorial. Download Sipdroid on your phone. Login in to sipsorcery.com(after you have set up your DID number SIP account info on sipsorcery, and take the GV registration call on your Android phone.
Many of you probably have prior experience with SIP accounts and this all will be no big deal. If you don't have experience and this all sounds very intimidating and confusing, it really is not. Just give yourself an hour of alone time and you should have it figured out with time to spare.
On to the next step, www.sipsorcery.com Sipsorcery has taken a fairly complicated Astrerik pbx process introduced by Nerd Vittes Nerd Vittles Tweaking Asterisk for Free Google Voice Calling which, in short, runs a script that goes through Google Voice website and triggers a call back on your free inbound call DID SIP number (Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall). However, you do not need to hang up the phone for the callback. You dial out as you normally would, stay on the line and hear the phone ringing the other party, as you normally would. But the callback process is going on in the background during the first ring sound. The whole process is practically seamless and you should hardly notice any difference from any other telephone call you place on a normal phone. Anyway, Sipsorcery has automated this process on the their server. You need only sign up for a free account with them, then provide your DID number SIP account info, afterward. www.sipsorcery.com
Before you sign up for a free account, you might want to know that Sipsorcery requires you install MS Silverlight to access the site. Bummer I know, but no way around it.
So, install Silverlight, sign up, write down your username and password(needed later for Sipdroid Android app), and navigate around the site.
Find the "Sip Providers" tab. This is where you enter your Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall SIP info.
Here is a link to Sipsorcery's Tutorial for setup which goes into much greater detail than I could here... Google Voice App Tutorial
Next, find the "Dial Plan" tab. Create a new dial plan. Name it GVout or whatever you want that's simple.
This is a very simple dial plan for one SIP account that works for me, every time.
sys.Log("starting dialplan...")
sys.GoogleVoiceCall("YourGoogleAccount@gmail.com", "YourGoogleAccountPassword", "1747xxxxxxx", req.URI.User.to_s,".*",7)
sys.Log("Sorry, Google Voice Call failed.")
Keep all the quotation marks(""). YourGoogleAccount@gmail.com = bobsmith@gmail.com. This is the Google Account associated with your Google Voice account.
YourGoogleAccountPassword = the password you use to sign in for all aspects of this Google Account, ie Google Mail/Google Voice/Calendar, etc.
1747xxxxxxx = the actual telephone number of your Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall account. For Gizmo is should be a 1747 number, for Sipgate-probably a 415.... number (no "1"), for ipKall-206.../425... or whatever number they gave you when you received your confirmation email. (Again, no "1"),
So, edit the above dial plan in Notepad on your computer, of course substituting your personal info for the 3 in italics, copy and paste into "Dial Plan tab of Sipsorcery. Hint: Cntrl V is paste in Sipsorcery because of Silverlight. Don't change anything else, other than giving the dial plan a simple name, and click "Update", which saves the dial plan.
Next, navigate back to the "Sip Accounts" tab in Sipsorcery. Highlight the name of your account, the light blue box, which brings the account up for editing.
Go to the "Out Dial Plan" row and click the drop down. Change it to the name of the dial plan you just created in the previous step. Now, for the "In Dial Plan" click the drop down and choose the drop down choice that is blank, meaning nothing. Not default or any others. Should say nothing. Tick the "Keep Alives" box. Click "Update". You're done here.
Finally, download the Sipdroid app for Android. You are probably better off downloading from their Google Group site, rather than Android Market because some have said that the version they get from Market does not allow 3g or Edge connections. sipdroid - Project Hosting on Google Code
However, the Market version works for me on both.
Download and install Sipdroid. Go to Settings/SIP Account Settings. Username = your Sipsorcery username
Password = your Sipsorcery account password
Server = sip.sipsorcery.com
Domain: don't change anything here
Port = 5060
Protocal: your choice. TCP works best if you have a strong 3g or wifi connection.
Go to Settings/Call Options and tick the box you want for how you want to use the app. WLAN uses Sipdroid when a wifi network is avail. 3g/Edge uses Sipdroid when you have either of those connections avail.
Exit and begin making and receiving free calls to the USA and Canada.
Again, this looks like a lot of technical info, but it really is not half as difficult as it might look at first glance.
If you need further assistance, I'd be glad to help where I can. You might also want to check the forums at MySipSwitch, which is the sister site of Sipsorcery. MySIPSwitch Community Forums :: View topic - Google Voice Dial Out
Here's a link to a thread on GV dial plans MySIPSwitch Community Forums :: View topic - Google Voice Dial Out
I have been using this for several months on a home telephone adapter and on my Android phone. The service has been absolutely perfect, excepting a week long period recently, where SipSorcery was updating their server. Working flawlessly again and should be for a while to come because none of the TOS for any of the providers listed in the tutorial are being violated. It is necessary to be in the USA to sign up for Google Voice, but after that, users are certainly allowed to use the service when traveling to other countries.
Here we go...
First, sign up for a Google Voice invite. https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/
As of this date, Google Voice is only available in the US. So, if you are not logging on the net from the US, you should do a Google Search on how to mask your ip address to show it being from the US.
I haven't tried this program myself but I've heard it works and is safe to download to mask your ip as showing from the USA. http://www.hotspotshield.com/
An alternative method would be to ask a friend from the US to request the invite and sign up for Google Voice for you, once the invitation arrives to you.
Next, once you have received your GV invite, you need a DID (direct inward dialing) number. Many of you probably already have a Gizmo5 number. Hopefully you do because Google just bought Gizmo5 and is now closed to new registrations.
Otherwise, I suggest Sipgate. www.sipgate.com This is the US branch of the company. Euro version won't work. Sipgate offers a free US number for inbound calls. You also get free inbound faxes, which is a nice bonus. You will get a certain amount of free outbound calls to use the first month, when you first register. But, you won't need them.
Your next option is ipKall's free US DID number. FREE IP Calling with IPKall The problem with ipKall is that you need to provide the account info for an existing SIP account when you sign up. That used to be easily remedied with an free and easy Gizmo5 account. But, since the Google purchase, it is closed to new accounts. So, the best solution is to Google "Free DID number" and find any account for free you can on the net, regardless of country. Then, you provide that SIP account login info to ipKall when signing up. ipKall is notoriously slow to respond, though. Don't expect your response with your new number for at least a few days. If you choose the ipKall route, you will need to go back to their website, later, and provide your Sipsorcery login info in the ipKall SIP info. See below.
Ok, so now you have your free US DID number and are ready to use your Google Voice invite to create a new account. Your Google Account settings will need to show your location as being in the US to use Google Voice. So, if this is not possible for you with your current Google Account, you should create a new one and set up the location as being in the USA. Don't worry about having a different Google Account than the one you use for your core Android apps login on your phone. There will be no conflicts with what I am showing you how to set up today and will still work perfectly well on your phone. You can keep your Google Account setup on your Android phone exactly as it is now.
After you have created or modified your Google Account, click on the GV invite and set it up. You will need to register at least one landline phone as a GV forwarding number. This is where your free DID number comes in play. If you got your DID number with Sipgate you can download their softphone on your pc, in order to receive the call from GV which registers your phone. If you have any other DID SIP account, download the x-lite softphone on your pc and enter the SIP account info. CounterPath Corporation | X-Lite You can delete all these programs after you register your forwarding number with GV.
Another option you might have is to skip ahead to the sipsorcery.com and Sipdroid Android App part of this Tutorial. Download Sipdroid on your phone. Login in to sipsorcery.com(after you have set up your DID number SIP account info on sipsorcery, and take the GV registration call on your Android phone.
Many of you probably have prior experience with SIP accounts and this all will be no big deal. If you don't have experience and this all sounds very intimidating and confusing, it really is not. Just give yourself an hour of alone time and you should have it figured out with time to spare.
On to the next step, www.sipsorcery.com Sipsorcery has taken a fairly complicated Astrerik pbx process introduced by Nerd Vittes Nerd Vittles Tweaking Asterisk for Free Google Voice Calling which, in short, runs a script that goes through Google Voice website and triggers a call back on your free inbound call DID SIP number (Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall). However, you do not need to hang up the phone for the callback. You dial out as you normally would, stay on the line and hear the phone ringing the other party, as you normally would. But the callback process is going on in the background during the first ring sound. The whole process is practically seamless and you should hardly notice any difference from any other telephone call you place on a normal phone. Anyway, Sipsorcery has automated this process on the their server. You need only sign up for a free account with them, then provide your DID number SIP account info, afterward. www.sipsorcery.com
Before you sign up for a free account, you might want to know that Sipsorcery requires you install MS Silverlight to access the site. Bummer I know, but no way around it.
So, install Silverlight, sign up, write down your username and password(needed later for Sipdroid Android app), and navigate around the site.
Find the "Sip Providers" tab. This is where you enter your Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall SIP info.
Here is a link to Sipsorcery's Tutorial for setup which goes into much greater detail than I could here... Google Voice App Tutorial
Next, find the "Dial Plan" tab. Create a new dial plan. Name it GVout or whatever you want that's simple.
This is a very simple dial plan for one SIP account that works for me, every time.
sys.Log("starting dialplan...")
sys.GoogleVoiceCall("YourGoogleAccount@gmail.com", "YourGoogleAccountPassword", "1747xxxxxxx", req.URI.User.to_s,".*",7)
sys.Log("Sorry, Google Voice Call failed.")
Keep all the quotation marks(""). YourGoogleAccount@gmail.com = bobsmith@gmail.com. This is the Google Account associated with your Google Voice account.
YourGoogleAccountPassword = the password you use to sign in for all aspects of this Google Account, ie Google Mail/Google Voice/Calendar, etc.
1747xxxxxxx = the actual telephone number of your Sipgate/Gizmo5/ipKall account. For Gizmo is should be a 1747 number, for Sipgate-probably a 415.... number (no "1"), for ipKall-206.../425... or whatever number they gave you when you received your confirmation email. (Again, no "1"),
So, edit the above dial plan in Notepad on your computer, of course substituting your personal info for the 3 in italics, copy and paste into "Dial Plan tab of Sipsorcery. Hint: Cntrl V is paste in Sipsorcery because of Silverlight. Don't change anything else, other than giving the dial plan a simple name, and click "Update", which saves the dial plan.
Next, navigate back to the "Sip Accounts" tab in Sipsorcery. Highlight the name of your account, the light blue box, which brings the account up for editing.
Go to the "Out Dial Plan" row and click the drop down. Change it to the name of the dial plan you just created in the previous step. Now, for the "In Dial Plan" click the drop down and choose the drop down choice that is blank, meaning nothing. Not default or any others. Should say nothing. Tick the "Keep Alives" box. Click "Update". You're done here.
Finally, download the Sipdroid app for Android. You are probably better off downloading from their Google Group site, rather than Android Market because some have said that the version they get from Market does not allow 3g or Edge connections. sipdroid - Project Hosting on Google Code
However, the Market version works for me on both.
Download and install Sipdroid. Go to Settings/SIP Account Settings. Username = your Sipsorcery username
Password = your Sipsorcery account password
Server = sip.sipsorcery.com
Domain: don't change anything here
Port = 5060
Protocal: your choice. TCP works best if you have a strong 3g or wifi connection.
Go to Settings/Call Options and tick the box you want for how you want to use the app. WLAN uses Sipdroid when a wifi network is avail. 3g/Edge uses Sipdroid when you have either of those connections avail.
Exit and begin making and receiving free calls to the USA and Canada.
Again, this looks like a lot of technical info, but it really is not half as difficult as it might look at first glance.
If you need further assistance, I'd be glad to help where I can. You might also want to check the forums at MySipSwitch, which is the sister site of Sipsorcery. MySIPSwitch Community Forums :: View topic - Google Voice Dial Out
Here's a link to a thread on GV dial plans MySIPSwitch Community Forums :: View topic - Google Voice Dial Out
