Google has announced that you can now place and receive phone calls inside Gmail, a day after a report revealed that such a service was under test.

As expected, the company's Gmail phone-call service works in tandem with Google Voice, the new-age telephony web service that lets you attach a single phone number to multiple phones and turn your voicemail messages into emails.

"Google Voice lets you manage all your phone communications and seamlessly make and receive calls on any of your existing phones. But what if you don’t have your phone with you? Or what if you’re in a place with poor cell phone reception, or you’re traveling internationally and don’t want to incur expensive roaming charges? Wouldn’t it be great if you could use your computer to make or receive calls?" the company says in a Wednesday morning blog post.

"Starting today you can use Gmail to receive or place Google Voice calls."