free USA Voip calls with searchable contact list

[Steven Avery]

Skype has a decent contact list (also group calls work pretty well) capability, however a USA call is .02c a minute.  I have chugged up maybe $50 over time with that one.  One quirk, sometimes the keyboard does not work on "enter 1 for repetition..".

Google Voice and Google Hangouts are hard to separate these days.  You have to be in the active google account (no big problem).  Calls are free.  So far I have not been able to make any contact list work well.  Am I missing something?  The free calls themselves can be done easily by the phone pad.

Facebook calls to Facebook members are free and they work well .. to other Facebook members.  This comes in very handy in a limited way.

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Does any one site allow:

1) free outgoing USA calls (like Google Voice and/or Google Hangouts)

2) the maintenance of a searchable contact list? (like Skype)

Steven

[Deozaan]

Google Voice/Hangouts uses your Google/Gmail contacts. It's fully searchable.

Make sure you click the phone icon so it knows you're searching for contacts with phone numbers. If it thinks you're trying to start a new IM/Hangout, it will search for people in your contacts who have Google+/Hangouts accounts as well as random people on Google+.

[Steven Avery]

Good, but some complexities.

Afaik, you are attached to a singular Gmail account, and I have different accts for biz, personal finance, travel, Bible, etc.
Theoretically I could use it for my conglomeration forwarding account, I would have to test that to see how it works. 

Also, a lot of times you are calling people where you do not have a gmail correspondence.  (For one thing, I also use my Verizon email account a lot.)
Looking for a person to do a bathtub, I might call five numbers, they are not in my email.

So I might be able to improve the hangouts/voice experience, but not make it super-happy.  I will try it a bit more thought and see if the adding and searching works ok.

Steven

[wraith808]

Afaik, you are attached to a singular Gmail account, and I have different accts for biz, personal finance, travel, Bible, etc.
Theoretically I could use it for my conglomeration forwarding account, I would have to test that to see how it works. 

I am not.  I have a Google Apps (cloud?  home) address, then several addresses that feed into that particular address through the use of forwarders.  I have a separate Google Apps account for work, and a separate one that I am currently in the process of deprecating.  I've not had a problem finding contacts, and more importantly, keeping them separate when they shouldn't be together, i.e. sending a correspondence to someone with a similar name across accounts.  There are certain annoyances- the fact that now I'm using a different account, I can't transfer the google voice number between the accounts.  But my contacts- I've never had a problem, whether I've corresponded with them by e-mail or not.

What is the particular use case that you're having a problem with?  I'm having a problem unpacking your query (though that may be my fault)

[Steven Avery]

Skype has a quick on-the-fly adding of a contact. No email searching and hit required.  This is a big plus.  However Skype costs .02 a minute.

I'm looking to have the cake (on-the-fly addition of contact numbers like in Skype Voip-Stunt, etc) and eat it as well (free calls like in Google Voice and Facebook).
I often like the handsfree and speaker aspect, compared to using the old time phone. It works well with making notes in Evernote or Notezilla.

Lacking that, I want as close as I can get.  e.g. a .01 call would be much better than .02.

Solution - EasyVoip (which I have used in the past) is only 3/10 of a cent. That will not add up like the .02c of Skype. ADDED: oops, .039 connection fee
VoipStunt is a bit to figure out, it is pseudo-free. There are others.

Steven

[wraith808]

That's a different experience from what I get.  If I start on https://www.google.com/voice/, I enter the number I wish to call, and it connects me on my phone.  Or if I'm on the app on my phone, I can just call the number.  I can then, in one touch, add that number as a contact.  Are you using a different interface?

[Steven Avery]

Its easy enough to call. 

Where is the one touch, add the called number as a contact?
This is all Windows 7 based. (Although I could play with ipad or Android too and see how it looks.)

Notice that here they make it far more complicated.
https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6352037?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

Might be a Firefox question, which uses a plug-in,
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/voice/lRiubj-HAnY

I'll try Chrome.

With Chrome, in certain cases I can get back to the Google Voice contacts screen.  Nothing is intuitive.  Lots of features, difficult integration.

[Steven Avery]

When you connect in one touch, can you indicate what OS?  What browser?
What the button says?  Do you give the contact a name at that point?
Maybe a description or pic of the screen.

This is the fly in the ointment.  I never have been able to take a call I made and easily save it as a searchable contact.  If there is something there I am missing, I will try to go that route.

Thanks!

Steven

[wraith808]

First, a clarification- I connect all of my calls on my iPhone, through my iOS application, i.e. I never use headphones on my computer to connect.

In order to connect my call, I do one of three things.

(1) go to google.com/voice, and enter the number.  It calls me back on my iPhone, and I talk.
(2) use the dialer in the iOS app.
(3) click on the name in the iOS app.

After the call is through, I see a dialed number in the screen that has a list of all of the numbers I've previously dialed, or that have dialed me.  If I click on the number that I dialed, instead of re-dialing that number, it filters all of the calls I've made to that particular number.  In the upper right, there are three dots.  If I hold on that, the following screen comes up.



From there, it creates an iOS contact.  Not exactly one touch now that I'm going through it... but close enough that it seems so.  But again, this is specifically on the iOS, so your experience might be different.

[Steven Avery]

Thanks.  I am in a different world.

Clamshell Cell Phone for regular calls (cheap LG Go-Phone used on Cingular family plan acct) 

iPad Tablet on same plan - uses Skype and Facebook for free calls, (could try Google Voice, do not have a free method here either for ad hoc calls)

Windows 7 - ** where I am really looking for the free ad hoc calls without the .02 a minute of Skype

So I was really asking about finding a free Windows way, and that is where Google Voice does not add contacts well, for whatever reason.
And I should try on the iPad as well.
However for quick calling and searching and good sound through speakers and mic, I am most concerned with Windows

[Deozaan]

How are you interfacing with these things on Windows 7?

I've installed the Hangouts Chrome Extension/Chome App. I can call for free (using a headset) very easily straight from these little apps. I've also had to set up multiple Chrome Profiles/accounts so each one can run the Hangouts Extension separately.

You are right though: There doesn't seem to be a way to add contacts from these apps. For that you need to use https://contacts.google.com/ which will sync with the Hangouts app after a few minutes. It's not convenient, but it's free. And once the contacts are actually in your contact list, they're easily and quickly searchable from the Hangouts app.

I'm on Windows 10, but the idea should be pretty much the same. I've been doing it more or less this way for several years now. I haven't paid for phone service (except an occasional 30 days on a pre-paid plan while traveling) since probably 2010 or so.

[Steven Avery]

Just noticed that Skype now has a $3 a month unlimited that includes USA calls.  That might be a happy compromise. The convenience is worth the $3. 

Since I do not have a cell phone, I also use Skype a bit for the longer SMS messages.  They cost about .05 or more, but again, quite convenient when I am at the keyboard.