Hotspot Shield not working for Google Talk/Chat/Voice USA calls anymore?

Is anyone else having this problem?  Been using Hotspot Shield along with Gmail's calling function to call my mom over in the States.  She's sick and I'm unemployed at the moment (so very tight budget), and she's a bit of a technophobe so using Skype is a bit tricky.  Also, I could call her cell, so she didn't necessarily have to be sitting in front of the computer with Skype running for me to reach her.  Therefore, despite being a slight pain in the a** with all the popups and ads, it was really useful.  

However, it hasn't seemed to be working the past few days and I'm wondering if Google has closed up the loophole somehow.  Anyone else had this problem?

I just loaded my gmail account and can make calls via hangouts now.

Just go to the chat and click on the phone:


and then change your country:


And then dial!

Edit: Google lifted the region restrictions ages ago and all calls to the US are free, so no need to HotSpot Shield and the like:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/making-calls-from-hangouts-in-gmail-and.html

Hmmm.  I normally do it straight from my Gmail page via the phone icon above the chat area. 



It makes the the same graphic you've shown pop up, with the keypad and everything (though mine has a dollar sign rather than a £ sign).



When I try to make a call, I get this:



Which is what I normally get when I don't use an IP proxy.

You wouldn't think it would make any difference if you do it through Gmail or Google Hangouts as it all seems to be the same software, but maybe I'll try it through Google Hangouts, too.  I've also got my language setting on English (US), which apparently back in the day was the only way they used to tell if you were in the States or not, so all you had to do was set that on English (US) and the calls went through....but then they started doing IP tracking and that didn't work anymore.

Would be great not to have to use HotSpot Shield - it's a real pain with all the ads, and a memory hog to boot!

Maybe changing it to British English rather than American English will work?
Also uninstall HotSpot Shield as it might be confusing the IP tracker and restart your browser.

I just tried to dial my mother in Florida, and I didnt purchase any credit, and it went through (I let it ring once and then hung up)

Fingers crossed.

Got it working!  Seems to work through hangouts, but not to work anymore the old way through chat, which was what I had been doing.

Very strange, but hey ho - just glad it went through, and no more Hotspot Shield!

Thanks so much Kerri - super helpful! 

Youre so welcome!

Once they bring Voice to my mobile phone in the UK, I'm ditching skype!

Once they bring Voice to my mobile phone in the UK, I'm ditching skype!

I use Talkatone on my Android phone to make and receive stateside calls and texts through Google Voice. It works great.

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.talkatone.android