It’s been possible to make international calls through Google Hangouts for some time now, but users will now get the first minute of their call for free when calling any one of a list of 25 countries.
Hangouts is available as a desktop and mobile app and the free minute works across all platforms, however you do need to have calling credit in your account to be able to make the call in the first place.
A one-minute call may not seem like much, but it’s more than enough time to say a quick hello or check in with far-flung friends and relatives, but you’ll be charged as soon as you start to go past 60 seconds, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on your call timer if you’re hoping to keep costs down – or avoid them altogether.
The Hangouts Dialler App makes placing calls to phone numbers through Hangouts even easier if you’re using an Android device, but there isn’t an equivalent for iOS or Windows Phone devices at the moment.
You can find a full list of the voice call rates for international calls here, just in case you want to know how much you’ll be stung for, should you accidentally go over the 60 second mark. The free minute will be available until the end of 2014, so fill your boots!
The international calling service is available between the following countries:
- Australia
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- Dominican Republic
- France
- Germany
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Peru
- Poland
- Russia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
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