[CentOS] OT: google voice + chat <- Re: finding the right serial port, enabling & configuring it [was: Re: fax software]>

Tue Mar 29 18:03:57 UTC 2011
Stephen Harris <lists at spuddy.org>

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 01:37:22PM -0400, ken wrote:
> 
> On 03/29/2011 01:21 PM Stephen Harris wrote:

> > With the right software and hardware (asterisk and an ATA) you can even
> > use the conjunction of google voice and google chat to act as a "real"
> > phone line.  Indeed I just wrote up a process :-)
> >   http://sweh.spuddy.org/gvoice/
> > 
> > But I think that's getting a little off-topic :-)
> 
> OT OK.  So how does this conglomeration work?  Say I have an OpenMoko
> phone (openmoko.org) and connect to google voice on the web...  can I

What I described, above, is how to make a real phone work with google
voice.  You pick up your phone and dial a number and it calls out via
google chat; someone calls your google voice number and your phone
rings as normal.

Basically it looks and acts like a phone line, but it's using google
to do all the work.

With OpenMoko you need a SIP client and configure it to talk to the
asterisk server (I'd _guess_ because I've never tried it).

It's possible you might find software for OpenMoko that can do the
googlevoice/googlechat juggling all inside the phone.  Dunno.

But I'm not sure this is the best solution for a _mobile_ device.
You might just want to make your googlevoice number ring your cellphone
for incoming calls (which will use minutes), and use a SIP client for
outgoing calls (which will use data).

> talk like a human on a landline?  What phone number do the other humans
> get... to call me?

When you sign up with google voice you can pick (from their options) the
phone number you want.

> ATA means
[...]
> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Analog_telephone_adapter

This one; it's a small device that lets you plug in a real phone and it
will talk to a SIP server (asterisk, in this case).

-- 

rgds
Stephen