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Google Fiber Phone

fiber.google.com

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Re: Google Fiber Phone

#91

Post by imgabe »

skywhopper wrote: post #63
rayiner wrote: post #6

A landline phone service seems a bit anachronistic, but there is a place for it. The future of telephony is here, but it sucks. Many here on HN probably don't even remember this, but phone calls actually used to be intelligible. Before cell phones and VOIP, before packet-switching and aggressive digital compression, calls traveled over Ma Bell's glorious circuit-switched network. You could actually understand what pe…

You could also have a conversation in real time, and not delayed by a second. Cell phone delay has made it impossible for me to carry on a meaningful conversation with anyone. There's also value in having a phone number for a house or a family, separate from phone numbers of individual people. I don't want my utility company or my cable company having my cell number. But I'm not the only person that can make decision…

A google voice number that gets forwarded to both your cell phones? I'm pretty sure that can be set up. Not trying to be snarky, I do see your point, especially for a business where you want an office number that isn't somebody's cell phone.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#92

Post by webkike »

rmason wrote: post #68
webkike wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is crazy, because I'm pretty much too young to remember a time when phones ever sounded good. The reason I prefer text to call isn't because I don't like to talk to people - I've just always found call quality to be utterly trash. Maybe this is part of the reason the younger generations prefer texting.

The superior sound of vinyl is making a comeback as it is 'discovered' by a younger generation. Can landline's be that far behind?

True, a lot of my friend have vinyl now. It's fun to listen to, generally more social. You can make a thing out of listening to vinyl much more easily than you can by playing music off your laptop speakers.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#93

Post by vibrolax »

knodi123 wrote: post #54
rayiner wrote: post #6

A landline phone service seems a bit anachronistic, but there is a place for it. The future of telephony is here, but it sucks. Many here on HN probably don't even remember this, but phone calls actually used to be intelligible. Before cell phones and VOIP, before packet-switching and aggressive digital compression, calls traveled over Ma Bell's glorious circuit-switched network. You could actually understand what pe…

It's amazing to remember how crystal clear phone calls used to be. I wonder if there's a niche for the first service willing to use more bytes and sacrifice efficiency in the name of analog-era call quality.

What you are calling "analog-era call quality" was likely mostly digital call quality, with only the local loop being analog. Before digital carrier facilities and switches like 4ESS, 5ESS, etc. became ubiquitous on the PSTN, there was plenty of analog noise on local and long distance calls, as well as delays, echo, crosstalk, and other artifacts. I remember a marked improvement in voice call quality throughout the 1980's. I believe wireless voice quality will increase organically as the bandwidth available for wireless digital services grows.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#94

Post by sciurus »

webkike wrote: post #92
rmason wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The superior sound of vinyl is making a comeback as it is 'discovered' by a younger generation. Can landline's be that far behind?

True, a lot of my friend have vinyl now. It's fun to listen to, generally more social. You can make a thing out of listening to vinyl much more easily than you can by playing music off your laptop speakers.

What if you hook your laptop up to the same speakers that you hook your record player up to?

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#95

Post by dragonwriter »

rayiner wrote: post #6

A landline phone service seems a bit anachronistic, but there is a place for it. The future of telephony is here, but it sucks. Many here on HN probably don't even remember this, but phone calls actually used to be intelligible. Before cell phones and VOIP, before packet-switching and aggressive digital compression, calls traveled over Ma Bell's glorious circuit-switched network. You could actually understand what pe…

I'm more than olde enough to remember, but, actually, I've found call quality to be substantially better since all-digital was the norm, with the exception being when one endpoint or the other is doing something weird. What I remember from the days you are romanticizing is a palpable reduction in quality for long-distance calls, with even local calls having, often, worse quality than most calls do now.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#96

Post by soared »

Apparently no one actually fucking read the page.

> ON-THE-GO

>Get calls on your mobile phone. Stay connected no matter where you are. Have Fiber Phone ring your landline when you're home or your mobile when you're onthe-go.

This isn't about landlines at all.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#97

Post by mrlyc »

Anecdata: my Internet drops out for about fifteen seconds three or four times a day. That's not a problem when I'm reading web pages or even downloading files but it would cause problems during a phone call. My ISP offered me a bundled Internet/IP phone combination for about $7 less per month than an Internet/existing landline one. I'm glad I decided to keep the landline.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#98

Post by DiabloD3 »

X86BSD wrote: post #89
danpat wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_audio and more specific to cellular phones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_Wideband Search for "HD Voice" from the big cellular companies in the US. It usually requires handset support.

I believe apple has supported this with the iPhone for several years now.

As has Android, but AT&T and Verizon tend to lock out features like HD Voice and Wifi Calling to be iPhone only.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#99

Post by ascagnel_ »

mikestew wrote: post #35
themartorana wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also anyone over 60 or so (super generalization) wants a landline. For evidence I give you my mother, my in-laws, and several parents of friends. Said friends, like me, would switch their parents to Google Fiber in a hot minute with or without their consent. So a landline offering makes sense, as without it, there's a sticking point. This helps make it more frictionless.

> Also anyone over 60 or so (super generalization) wants a landline. It is a super generalization, as you say, but I question the accuracy. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't know that you're right. For opposing anecdata, I present my parents who recently gave up their landline while in their 70s. Granted, Mom was debugging IBM 370 core dumps before you were (likely) born, but there ya go. What I have not done…

I think it's more of a network effect. That phone number has been given out for years, and all their friends and family have it. They'd have to get a second cell phone or use a service like Google Voice to make use of it beyond a landline, so it's logistically easier to just keep it as a landline number.

Re: Google Fiber Phone

#100

Post by webkike »

sciurus wrote: post #94
webkike wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, a lot of my friend have vinyl now. It's fun to listen to, generally more social. You can make a thing out of listening to vinyl much more easily than you can by playing music off your laptop speakers.

What if you hook your laptop up to the same speakers that you hook your record player up to?

You're not actively shuffling through a box full of tangible objects to find what to listen to.
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