If you use the “Call Phone” function in Gmail’s Chat menu to chat with your phone pals in the U.S. or Canada — or if you’re looking for a free way of doing so — Google has announced it will continue to offer this service for free through the upcoming calendar year.

On the official Gmail Blog, Google Group Product Manager Vincent Paquet wrote:

As the holiday season approaches, we’re happy to announce that we’ve extended free domestic calls within the US and Canada for 2012. This is our way of helping you connect with friends and family across the country.

International calls on Gmail’s VoIP are still cheap, as low as one penny per per minute, depending on the call’s destination. And if you’re one of the thousands of armed forces members serving overseas this holiday season, you can still make free Gmail VoIP call to friends and family back in the U.S.

Free calling within the US and Canada through 2012 [Official Google GMail Blog]

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