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Updates to our Google Voice apps

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Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#31

Post by stormbeta »

I wish Google would make up their minds.

They kept pushing Hangouts, and right when it was actually somewhat usable and represented a unified interface to messaging, they started abandoning it and trying to fragment the functionality off into separate apps again.

I'll continue to use GV, but Google's track record of confusing moves in this space guarantees I will always keep it as a separate number. It's still very useful like that, since it allows me to text and call from any device or service.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#32

Post by pspeter3 »

xur17 wrote: post #27

I'm very curious to see if Project Fi gets some of these upgrades as well since it currently uses parts of the Google Voice integration, especially the integration into Hangouts.

Yeah, I'm really unclear what the relationship with Fi is since I use Hangouts for everything. I wish there was more clarity.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#34

Post by LinkDJ »

xur17 wrote: post #28
nemesisj wrote: post #17

I've been a Google Voice user for 6-7 years. It became more important to me 5 years ago when I moved to the UK and ported my mobile number to GV. It's not been very pretty. We were thrown a lifeline with the Google Hangouts app taking over for the absolutely-awful Google Voice app. One of the most frustrating things about GV is that for certain SMS providers, it fails the "is this a USA number test" or "can we SMS to…

I just ran into the "this isn't a phone number" issue with Telegram this morning. It claims my Google Voice (well really Project Fi now) number is a VOIP number, so I can't use it :(.

But... it is a VOIP number.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#35

Post by jitl »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #15
jitl wrote: post #14

I used to use my Google Voice number as my primary contact number, but when development of the product seemingly died for three years without addressing outstanding issues with group MMS or picture messages, I migrated back to my regular cell number. I've already told all my friends to forget my Google Voice number. I've changed my preferences in every service I use to contact my regular cell number. Now Google is so…

Out of curiosity, why didn't you keep using it, but with Hangouts instead?

Group SMS and MMS messages weren't supported by the backing service. As group messages became more popular as more of my friends got smartphones, I'd miss more and more communications that my friends were having. Additionally, there were times when even regular SMS messages would be delivered minutes or hours late. The whole system felt unreliable. It felt like the only purpose was to send outbound messages from the computer.

At the time that I switched, the Hangouts app was having some difficulties of its own. The biggest issue I had with it is that Hangouts would try to upgrade me from an SMS chat to a Hangouts chat with someone, when the recipient was an infrequent or Gmail-only Hangouts user. Google would recognize their number and send Hangouts messages, they wouldn't see the messages on their iOS device because they didn't have a Hangouts app, so to them it would seem like I had stopped responding.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#36

Post by JustSomeNobody »

nemesisj wrote: post #17

I've been a Google Voice user for 6-7 years. It became more important to me 5 years ago when I moved to the UK and ported my mobile number to GV. It's not been very pretty. We were thrown a lifeline with the Google Hangouts app taking over for the absolutely-awful Google Voice app. One of the most frustrating things about GV is that for certain SMS providers, it fails the "is this a USA number test" or "can we SMS to…

> One of the most frustrating things about GV is that for certain SMS providers, it fails the "is this a USA number test" or "can we SMS to it" test (it's unclear which), thus making it not work with my USA bank accounts, and I can't register for Lyft, for example.

> I wish they'd fix this, but what I really wish is that they'd make it a real product, make it cost a few bucks a month, and have a team working on it.

I agree with this, especially the SMS part.

> I was actually quite annoyed by the cheeky little "tee hee it's been 5 years + plus emoji" talking about their total lack of updates (both software, and well, actual communication around the service). It just comes across as contempt for the customer.

Interesting. I did not read it that way. I read it more as them being a bit humble.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#37

Post by MrMetlHed »

Why didn't they just improve Hangouts? I don't know anyone that uses Allo and as far as I know there's no desktop client. I linked Voice to Hangouts so I could get all of my messages in one app on both my phone and within gmail. Now it seems like they want me to split everything up between 3 apps (Voice for SMS, Allo for chat on mobile, and Hangouts for chat on my computer) that fewer and fewer people are using.

Why on earth didn't they just improve Hangouts?

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#38

Post by lutorm »

philip1209 wrote: post #6

As a current Fi user and former Voice user, I'm still unclear on the relationship between the two. Hangouts for Mac still rings when I get a phone call, but I can't answer the call.

As a current Voice user and would-like-to-be Fi user, the fact that I have to give up my Voice number to use Fi is a dealbreaker. The whole point of Voice was to not tie your number to a specific provider.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#40

Post by bane »

philip1209 wrote: post #6

As a current Fi user and former Voice user, I'm still unclear on the relationship between the two. Hangouts for Mac still rings when I get a phone call, but I can't answer the call.

The thing that really tees me off, and wasn't explained when I migrated my cell to Fi was that it both killed off the voice account and # that I had with that google account, but also messed up support for one of my other Voice accounts. I can't even install Voice on my phone to use the second account so now I have a Rube goldberg machine where that number forwards to a SIP # I have that rings my phone. I can't even get my 2nd Voice number to ring me on my Fi cell.

Their answer to questions is pretty much "of course they're the same system!"

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