[vox] Getting a Gmail account

[Peter Jay Salzman]

Apparently yahoo charges for POP access, so I think I'd like to switch my
web mail address from yahoo to gmail.

But it's really weird.  On the front gmail page it says:

   "Sign in to Gmail with your Google Account"

So I sign in with my Google account (as I do with Orkut, for example).  But
when I do, it says:

   "You cannot log into Gmail using your Google Account"

Huh?  Hard to imagine Google having such flaky messages.  OK.  So I go to:

   https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsMailSignup1

and enter my cellphone number, but It's been 24 hours and I haven't received
the text message with my invitation code.

So how exactly does one get a Gmail account?   :-)

Thanks,
Peter