On 03/29/2011 01:37 PM ken wrote: > On 03/29/2011 01:21 PM Stephen Harris wrote: >> On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 12:08:33PM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote: >>> GV has been around for years - but previously you had to get an invite >>> from an existing user or go on a waiting list. Now you can just sign up >>> and get a free number which you can send where you want with/without >>> screening and when it acts as an answering machine it transcribes the >>> message and emails it to you. Recent additions are that you can make >>> (and I think answer) calls from your computer while signed in to your >>> gmail account and if you have Sprint Cell service you can use that >> 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 > talk like a human on a landline? What phone number do the other humans > get... to call me? > > ATA means.... Just read your webpage. It answered my one question and a couple others I didn't ask. It's not what I'm looking for right now, but way cool enough that I'll have to check it out anyway. I didn't know a VoIP <-> POTS appliance could be had for $30. Last I checked (some years ago) just a card was something like $1000. How much is an actual phone number these days... if I don't care for google voice? Thanks much!