Hangouts now offers free phones calls & MMS
SteveInWA:
You can read the official, first-hand details of this announcement here, and note that nothing in this announcement changes anything, one way or the other, on the use of OBi devices with GV:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/call-me-maybe-introducing-free-voice.html
and here:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/hangouts/S8afS2dJBnI
and here:
https://plus.google.com/106717946845088683921/posts/eaZ9wzPxtmm
If you have any non-OBi questions or problems using these new features, please feel free to join us over on the Google Hangouts Help Forum, where we have a large contingent of Googlers and volunteers helping.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/hangouts
Once again, this is another step toward integrating the user interfaces and features of Hangouts and GV, but all the features already in Google Voice will remain, and will continue to be offered. In other words, yes, your GV numbers are safe, and yes, you can get a new GV number, and so on.
nlurker:
I have tried both sending and receiving Google Voice calls with the new Hangouts on Android, and the quality seems to be the same as with Obi. The sound is clear and the lag is low. Much superior to forwarding Google Voice through Callcentric to Obi, which was unacceptable when I tried it a few months ago.
I think I have found my solution if/when Obi stops connecting to Google Voice.
jonsid:
Quote from: dircom on September 10, 2014, 02:41:02 pm
Ask yourself if you want to put up with the lower call quality of a cell phone call.
Call quality is excellent on my two Nexus 4 and there is no lag either. Remember, I'm not using a cell tower, I'm using wifi. I have an older HTC Virgin Mobile phone and call quality on wifi is good on that one too. Maybe better than my cordless phones I have been using with Obi. I had been forwarding calls coming in on my Google number to another service and that service was ringing my Obi which in turn rang my cordless phones. So far, so good.
dhobi:
Can the new Hangouts app be set so that it does not allow calls over cell data, but only over wifi? Does anyone happen to know how much data is used per minute? I'm concerned about cell data use and whether a 3G connection (poor at times, thank you Sprint) can still be used for phone calls.
SteveInWA:
Quote from: dhobi on September 11, 2014, 12:54:54 pm
Can the new Hangouts app be set so that it does not allow calls over cell data, but only over wifi? Does anyone happen to know how much data is used per minute? I'm concerned about cell data use and whether a 3G connection (poor at times, thank you Sprint) can still be used for phone calls.
This is a function of your Android or iPhone's combination of mobile carrier and device manufacturer's configuration and customization, not of the Hangouts app.
The Hangouts app is just another app that uses data. It doesn't have a setting to control the access method to data. The phone determines which provider to use to carry that data (WiFi or 3G/4G). For example, my Sprint Android phone uses a feature in the Qualcomm hardware and firmware to give priority to WiFi. It periodically looks for previously-used WiFi access points and automatically switches over to them when able. So, you just need to do whatever is appropriate on your phone to manage your data connections. Be aware, as with any app that uses data, to not run into a nightmare scenario of using 3G data on international roaming for example. Put your phone into "airplane mode" with WiFi turned on, or disable mobile data, as appropriate for your location, WiFi availability/reliability, wireless data plan with your carrier, and phone brand and firmware.
It's probably too difficult to give an estimate of KB or MB used per interval, because it will depend on the CODEC in use. Hangouts supports multiple CODECs, and it will negotiate behind the scenes with the other end to pick the best one for call quality and available bandwidth.
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