GGoogle chat vs Skype

[Fulko Hew]

On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 9:20 AM, Aaron Konstam <akonstam at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> As I understand it, there seem to be 2 ways to use skype, ekiga, Bosix,
>> etc and probably google.
>> skype to skype,  and skype to telephone.
>> skype to skype is free of charge, that's the one I refer to.
>>
>> For skype to telephone you pay skype in advance by opening an account
>> and can make calls as you wish to the value of the account. I would
>> assume that would similarly apply to google.
>> Some of my associates who are in frequent international contact have
>> skype acounts. They have VOIP telephones and modems. Bigpond in
>> Australia disables VOIP in the Thompson Gateway modems.
>
> That is one of the things I don't understand. Google has not asked me for money
> to telephone.  I live in San Antonio and I called my son in Chicago. I
> have no account with Google and as far as I can see the call was free.
> Can someone explain this?

If you look at this chart, calls to US and Canada are free.

http://www.google.com/chat/voice/compare.html