Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#161

Post by iamdave » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 8:50 PM UTC

defatigable wrote: post #151

ErikRogneby wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks!

It appears as though just installing the APK doesn't get you all of the Google Voice integration -- you need to wait for some server-side changes to your account as well. (Discovered this after a frustrating hour or so of trying to get GV features to work...)

I'm not running stock, CyanogenMod 10.1.

That said it successfully called my desk phone, and I could successfully call hangouts, but after both the app crashed, and every subsequent launch after that.

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#162

Post by px1999 » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 8:55 PM UTC

darklrd wrote: post #107

findjashua wrote: post #93

Goodbye Skype! You won't be missed.

Yup. How would Skype fight this?

Support, premium features, trust, and non-North American markets.

I'm a reasonably happy Skype user with numbers in a couple of countries and an active subscription. It'd take a lot to get me to switch - my usecase is more expensive/not possible with hangouts. Not to mention that Google seems to always find a way to fuck things up (I have [had?] Google Voice credit but couldn't get paid calls connected in the past).

Skype works, has customer support (?), can sell me things that I want like phone numbers, SMS messages etc. Skype also has some trust because it's their core business and they can't decide to stop offering telephony services one day.

I'd be surprised if a significant portion of Skype's profit came from US-based national calls; and there's nothing overly compelling here for the rest of the world.

To me, this seems like more of an attack on the telecommunications companies, because customers on wifi aren't going to be using precious minutes any more.

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#163

Post by davidradcliffe » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 8:57 PM UTC

I've only used google voice for the incoming calls and voicemail features. Hopefully those don't get lost in the shuffle.

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#164

Post by seedifferently » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 9:08 PM UTC

defatigable wrote: post #151

ErikRogneby wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks!

It appears as though just installing the APK doesn't get you all of the Google Voice integration -- you need to wait for some server-side changes to your account as well. (Discovered this after a frustrating hour or so of trying to get GV features to work...)

Confirmed here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CheeChew/posts/eaZ9wzPxtmm

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#165

Post by Revex » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 9:25 PM UTC

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #7

Finally. Now when I'm in my basement I can at least wifi-call my family from my cellphone instead of having to open up my damn laptop to call from a Chrome gmail browser tab.

You could have been doing this for some time now. I have by using something like TalkATone or GrooveIp.

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#166

Post by philchambers » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 9:27 PM UTC

http://g2m.me/ - GoToMeeting's new WebRTC Free product is decent.

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#167

Post by thaumasiotes » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #33

wlesieutre wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had a phone system built into Gmail's web interface, which IIRC could be treated the same as any other forwarding phone in GV. So when someone called me, it'd ring on my computer and on my phone, and I could answer either of them. I don't recall personally placing any calls from the Gmail interface, but I think the functionality existed.

The call out from Gmail is still present.

Is it? I used to use it, but one day it mysteriously switched from "you can place phone calls through gmail!" to "oh, you want to make a phone call? You need to install our browser extension", which I never did.

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#168

Post by tsunamifury » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

walden42 wrote: post #119

soup10 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should know it's an open secret now that the NSA has racks of hardware at telecom data centers which record your calls and has for a while. On the other hand the big corps don't care unless they can profit from it. Privacy by apathy.

Certainly this makes it easier on the government if they really wanted your calls.

At least you get 1024 bit encryption end to end with google

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#169

Post by maxerickson » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 10:24 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #167

maxerickson wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The call out from Gmail is still present.

Is it? I used to use it, but one day it mysteriously switched from "you can place phone calls through gmail!" to "oh, you want to make a phone call? You need to install our browser extension", which I never did.

Yeah, I have the extension installed. Is it not available anymore?

Re: Introducing free voice calls from Hangouts

#170

Post by r00fus » Wed, Sep 10, 2014, 10:47 PM UTC

AndrewBissell wrote: post #136

I've been running without a full wireless plan for a little over a year now. I just connect my phone to the MiFi I have for work and route calls to a Google Voice number through a privately-run SIP server. Using SIP was always a little spotty and inconsistent, so I'm looking forward to trying out the Hangouts calls. If you're tired of paying wireless carriers $90/month I think this makes data-only solutions much easi…

Where are you paying $90/mo for a wireless plan? Thanks to T-Mobile, rates for all other carriers have come down too and unlimited minutes are very easy to obtain.

I pay $22 per line for my mobile, with unlimited minutes - last month I used 2200 minutes personally on my line and my family used close to 5000. All included.