(Wired)  -- Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process. Seriously. Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype  but based on open protocols and with a lot fewer users. TechCrunch, which broke the news on Monday, reported that Google spent $30 million on the company. Google announced the Gizmo acquisition on Thursday afternoon Pacific Time. Gizmo5's founder Michael Robertson, a brash serial entrepreneur, will become an Adviser to Google Voice. It's a potent recipe -- take Gizmo5's open standards-based online calling system. Add to it the new ability to route calls on Google's massive network of cheap fiber. Toss in Google Voice's free phone number, which will ring your mobile phone, your home phone and your Gizmo5 client on your laptop. ÿþ
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Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process.
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Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype
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Users could make and receive calls that bypass the per-minute billing on smartphones
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Consultant: "If AT&T is Coca-Cola, Google is now 7-UP"
AT&T has already tried to sic federal regulators on Google Voice because @placeholder is blocking outgoing calls to a handful of shady calling services  mostly free conference-calling services that exploit federal rules that let rural phone companies charge high fees to connect calls to rural areas.