[PLUG] Anyone Using Google Voice with T-Mobile?

[Mike Connors]

"No VoIP, just regular mobile phone (or fixed line) voice traffic.
Google assign a proxy number on the mobile network to individual
callers, or have their general purpose number call you.  The same on
the way out to your recipient."

Google is not a telecom company, they're an internet company. Yes, the have
a pool of "proxy" phone numbers that maps your carrier assigned phone number
to virtual phone number. But at some point those "voice" calls are being
converted and encapsulated into ip packets and then routed over the
internet.

The reason you don't get charged minutes is because they're not traditional
(PSTN) voice calls that traverse multiple carrier exchanges from source to
destination. A "toll free" gets charged by each carrier for each call they
put up over their network.

"Last mile" may or may not be VoIP depending on the carrier or if it's a
mobile or land line phone. But every major carrier has converted their
backbones to fiber optic and IP, they're not installing new TDM switches and
running 2 pair of copper wire for every new phone number.