Google added the chat functionality into iGoogle this week, noting that with the recent redesign, Gmail access was available — but instant messaging was not.

“Having the ability to work on email right on my iGoogle page has been awesome, but I simply couldn’t get the same Gmail experience without the chat feature,” writes Google Talk engineer Rhett Robinson.

The new function pulls your chat settings from Gmail and gives you a similar setup. It also adds an option for non-Gmail users to sign up for iGoogle-based chat with any working e-mail address.

Google has been testing the feature on a small-scale for some time, Robinson says. It will be rolled out to all U.S.-based iGoogle users over the coming days. You can manually add it onto your account immediately, however, by clicking here.

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The Google Talk iPhone/iPod Touch lets you stay on your Gmail on-the-go, as well as use the Google Chat function. It’s essentially the same program as the desktop version but with an adapted design. The main change is that when you navigate away to any other window, the program will change your status to “Unavailable” rather than leaving you connected normally.

Finally, providers may have some competition in the realm of text messaging. Maybe this will force them to look at dropping those ridiculous rates of $1,497.97 per megabyte (no exaggeration — have you read this?).

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