What's the tech behind Gmail's free US/Canada calling feature?

Other Questions Gmail
1

Hey everyone,

I’m curious about the technology that powers Gmail’s free calling to US and Canada. How does this work behind the scenes?

Some questions I have:

  • Do they use a bunch of phone lines spread out everywhere?
  • Is it all VoIP-based?
  • Do they have some special deal with phone companies?

I’m working on a web app and want to add something similar. Any ideas on how to set up free calls to regular phones?

Thanks for any insight you can share! It would really help me understand this better.

2

hey there, as a dev who’s messed around with voip stuff, i can tell u gmail’s free calling is pretty slick. its not magic tho - they use voip tech and have sweet deals with phone companies. google’s massive so they can eat the costs easy.

for ur web app, maybe check out twilio or something? but free calls r gonna be tough unless ur loaded lol. good luck with ur project man!

3

As someone who’s worked in VoIP for years, I can tell you Gmail’s free calling is pretty impressive tech. It’s all VoIP-based, leveraging Google’s massive network infrastructure. They’ve got peering agreements with telcos worldwide, which lets them terminate calls super cheaply.

The magic is in their backend routing algorithms. They’re constantly optimizing call paths for quality and cost. Plus, they’ve got some serious transcoding capabilities to handle different audio codecs.

For your web app, you could look into WebRTC for browser-based calling. Combine that with a SIP trunk provider for PSTN termination. It won’t be free, but you can get decent rates. Just be prepared for some complex integration work and ongoing maintenance. Voice is tricky to get right, especially at scale.

4

Gmail’s free calling feature is primarily based on VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology. They don’t need traditional phone lines spread out everywhere. Instead, they leverage their existing internet infrastructure and partner with telecom providers for call termination.

Google likely has negotiated agreements with various carriers to route calls to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) at very low rates, given their massive scale. They can absorb these costs as part of their broader ecosystem strategy.

For your web app, implementing something similar would be challenging without significant resources. You could look into using APIs from companies like Twilio or Plivo that offer programmatic voice calling capabilities. However, offering completely free calling would be cost-prohibitive for most startups or smaller companies. You might consider a freemium model with limited free minutes instead.