Monday, July 25, 2011

G-Whiz

Holy dancing cow! Today I was playing with my Google account and finally set up a G-Mail account. I then noticed a "Call Phone" link that connected me to Google Voice. While this isn't new by any means, since it was free for USA domestic and Canada, I decided to install the web browser add-on. Within a few minutes I was placing phone calls to friends. Imagine their surprise... The default setup comes across as "CLIENT_ONLY" which might be ignored by people with Caller-ID (most of my calls went to voicemail at first). So a few more minutes later I had "upgraded" my Google Voice account with a brand new mobile phone number in my desired area-code and linked it to my house land-line so people can call me if I am offline. Calls to my Google Voice number which go to voicemail are placed in an inbox I can access via my Google Voice or email. The voice quality on both ends was reported to be quite good. Calls were very easy for me to make. I cued up my opening lines so that as soon as the remote end answered I could hit "Speak" on my assisted communication device and identify myself. I had originally intended to use this in emergencies if I couldn't otherwise alert a caregiver (note that this is NOT suitable for dialing 9-1-1) but after my test calls went so well I decided that I have a "new" communication method for talking to my more patient friends. I had used Skype in the past, but Skype is only free for computer-to-computer calls, not to regular cell or land-line phones. I was able to do all of this with my eye-tracking system with relative ease. If you have control over your eye-tracking assisted communication device and can install software, I recommend trying this out to see if it works for you. UPDATE: Configuration instructions are in the Comments section.
Posted by ENV at 10:31 PM
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5 comments:

  1. AlexJuly 26, 2011 at 3:41 PM

    Couldn't wait, Eric. This is amazing. You are an inspiration.

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  2. ENVJuly 26, 2011 at 4:18 PM

    Thanks Alex. I was surprised how well it worked with my system. So long as I have the number "forwarded" to my Google Chat and have a Gmail page open, it will make a sound and pop up a button to "answer". I can also, as I said above, forward to the phone in my room (up to 6 max). This is so much more flexible and usable than Skype since it is all web based.

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  3. ENVJuly 26, 2011 at 4:21 PM

    I think you also need Google Talk installed to answer online.

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  4. UnknownJuly 27, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    fantastic!! Thanks Eric!

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  5. ENVJuly 31, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    The Google Talk video and chat plugin is necessary, but not the Chat software client (although I like the way it works too, YMMV). In your Google voice page you need to configure it to "forward" to your Google Chat. Then in your Gmail page you need to configure (under the Chat section) your desired camera, speaker, and microphone. You should make sure your equipment choices are functional on your computer.

    Any PALS who need help can email me and I can remotely admin their system and get it configured properly.

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