(Calls 4 FREE!) Google Voice + Sipdroid 2.9 = VoIP over data on Android phones




(Calls 4 FREE!) Google Voice + Sipdroid 2.9 = VoIP over data on Android phones


By Antwan Holton in The Little Black Box Of Tricks (Roku)

 I had a chance to test it out on my LG Optimus (Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread), and it worked out well! This is a report of what I did, a brief summary for the most simplified case.
Prerequisites:
  1. Android phone (I have Android 2.3.3) with data plan.
  2. PC with internet access (in theory you can use your data plan armed Android phone for this purpose too, but with PC it is much easier).
Step-by-step setup guide:
  1. PC: Get a Gmail account if you don’t have one : http://gmail.com. You also get a Google Account with the Gmail account.
  2. PC: Add Google Voice to your Google Account if you haven’t at:http://voice.google.com. You need to have a US phone number to get Google Voice service, because in the verification step Google will call this number. You may just use your mobile phone number. You can stop associating the phone number with Google Voice later.
  3. PC: Log in Google Voice, Go to Settings | Voice Settings | Phones, then make sureGoogle Chat (with your Gmail address) is checked under Forwards to. (A process setup by a later step will intercept the Google Chat and route calls to your Android phone.) At this time, you can uncheck the phone number for forwarding that you used for verification when creating Google Voice account. If you allow forwarding to the real phone number of your Android phone, you can be confused because a later step tries to forward the call to a VoIP app on your same Android phone in parallel.
  4. Android: Launch (PlayStore)Market and search Google Voice. You should chooseGoogle Voice by Google Inc. This is a free app. Download, install and run it. Set it up with your Gmail account above. This is required to setup the later steps, but you will not use this app to make VoIP calls, because Google Voice app will use your real phone number and can eat in your mobile minutes.
  5. Android: Launch (PlayStore)Market and search Sipdroid. You should choose Sipdroid VoIP + video calling by i-p-tel GmbH. This is a free app. The version is 2.4 beta for me as of 2012/1/13. When you launch it, Sipdroid should show a long button New PBX linked to my Google Voice at the bottom of screen. If you do not see this button, you may have an existing PBXes.org account using your Gmail account, or Google Voice app is not running. Check the other two threads for more information.
  6. Android: Click the New PBX linked to my Google Voice button. It asks for your Gmail account and Gmail password, and creates a PBXes.org account (with your given password). If you do not like to give out your Gmail credential, you should stop here. Click Create and wait for a while to get the plumbing done. Your newly created PBXes.org account will connect to Google Chat. PBXes will log on to Google as Google Chat with your credential. Then calls to your Google Voice number, which are forwarded to Google Chat, are forwarded to your PBXes.org account.
  7. Android:  With Sipdroid running in your Android phone, it registers to your account at PBXes.org. PBXes.org will further forward calls to your Android phone over the data link, when people call your Google Voice number. If you make calls in Sipdroid, it just uses the reverse route: Sipdroid – PBXes.org – Google Chat – Google Voice – Destination phone number. Both directions use data link of your Android phone and do not use your mobile minutes.
  8. Android: If Sipdroid is working correctly, it shows a green dot to the left of the status bar on your screen top, which means it registers to PBXes.org okay. If there is no dot, or dot is yellow or red, you need to make sure Sipdroid is launched, then press Menu | Settings | SIP Account, and make sure Use EDGE and/or Use 3G are checked. You should also check Android’s Wi-Fi settings too only Use WLAN if you are using Wi-Fi on your phone. When you change these, give Sipdroid some time to stabilize the registration status. You may try Menu | Exit, then re-launch Sipdroid, if necessary.
Notes:
  • On my phone, Sipdroid does not have to be the top-most app; running in the background is fine. To save battery, in Sipdroid I check Settings | Wireless | Control Wi-Fi Power.
  • If there is an incoming VoIP call, Sipdroid will activate and ring. Slide up to accept the call.
  • Slide down to hang up an incoming or outgoing call.
  • VoIP calls over both Wi-Fi and 3G data seem to work fine.
  • Other than data plan constraints if any:
    • Receiving calls outgoing & incoming calls are free;
Ps: If your call is drop or the sound echo , try disabling G722 Codec on Sipdroid setting > Audio Codec.

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