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Google Fiber Phone
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- bpicolo 11y agoSort of weird that it's something they bothered with, considering home phones are on the out and out. Edit: That said, I'm sure there are still 100m Americans with phone service, but I don't know that the demographics of people who care to switch to google fiber and need phones are really that overlapping. Then again, Google probably researched this much more than I did. Just seems odd from my perspective.
- daigoba66 11y agoE911 service is more reliable with a land line, even if it's VoIP, since the location is fixed. Some recommend having a line just for that.
- Animats 11y agoIt's also powered from the central office, and doesn't require a local electrical power source.
- StevePerkins 11y agoMan, this site skews young! I just saw a smartwatch-related thread a couple of days ago, with half the comments indicating that no one wears a wristwatch. Today, no one has a home phone. Forward-looking trends are what they are... but the overwhelming majority of the population is over 30. And that's the demographic with the overwhelming majority of income. Telephony is a pretty easy bolt-on for Google Fiber, especially since they already have the Google Voice infrastructure in place. So why wouldn't they?
- Osiris 11y agoI still have a home phone, but it's an ObiTalk box that logs into my Google Voice account, so I don't pay anything for it. I actually prefer it over my cell phone because the call quality is much better.
- msabalau 11y agoThis is the "sort of" landline solution that I use. I get iffy cell reception in my home, this means is a nice affordable way to ensure calls get through.
- aviv 11y agoIt's not weird at all. A simple $10 a month home phone line can make or break the deal when trying to get a potential residential customer to switch to Google Fiber from an incumbent carrier. Also consider the number of younger people trying to get faster internet at their parents home so they can work/Netflix when they come visit, etc. This is a very smart play.
- tbrock 11y agoI wish google fiber would completely take over (especially in San Francisco) where we don't have fios.
- jauer 11y agoMaking a play for lifeline subsidies?
- wlesieutre 11y agoI wonder if being a landline phone service provider makes it easier for them to get access to utility poles?
- jlgaddis 11y agoIt was a helluva lot easier for us ($work) after we became a CLEC.
- cthulhujr 11y agoBundling this with internet and cable is also a sneaky way to manipulate taxes.
- rayiner 11y agoA 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 people on a conference call were saying, instead of every other word dropping into the digital aether.
- themartorana 11y agoAlso 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.
- mikestew 11y ago> 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 is survey their friends and neighbors, or if they're are an anomaly. However, one thing that might push even the elderly to getting rid of the landline is phone spam. It's the reason my parents gave me. Granted, cell phones aren't immune, but they are more protected. Me, 60 isn't that far off, but we gave up our land line years ago. But I'm also commenting on HN. :-)
- ascagnel_ 11y agoI 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.
- akhilcacharya 11y agoSo would it be possible to purchase this and use it as a primary phone service on a data-only smartphone?
- hxegon 11y agoI get that Google is doing this (Fiber) in order to improve internet service, which is in it's best interest. But I can't help but feeling like there is some other goal here.
- hvs 11y agoProfit?
- dublinben 11y agoThis is easily 3x their wholesale cost to provide this service, so it is pure profit.
- zellyn 11y agoAs I understand it, Fiber is run as if it were an independent company, trying to make a great product, and run at a profit.
- aviv 11y agoIt's all about the bundle. They need to be able to offer the so-called triple play that other ISPs do.
- cthulhujr 11y agoThis. It's an easy way to bend tax laws.
- drewg123 11y ago$10 + taxes and fees seems a bit steep, considering that Ooma is < $4.00 once the equipment is fully amortized. The other odd thing is that "We can’t bring Fiber Phone to everyone at the same time, so we’re doing it in phases.". Given how few fiber customers there are, I'm wondering why that is..
- josephby 11y agoJohn Oliver called this two weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI&feature=youtu.be&t=5m18s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI&feature=youtu.be...
- ergothus 11y agoWait....I thought adding a landline to your internet service magically made everything cheaper. What is Google doing wrong?
- superuser2 11y agoOr the hacker's solution to maintaining a landline: get yourself a cheap SIP-capable handset and an account with a wholesale SIP-trunking provider like Flowroute ($1.25/mo for the number, $.0098/min outbound to CONUS, $.012/min inbound). Proxy through OpenVBX or Asterisk (can be hosted in the cloud or in your home) if you want to get fancy with voicemail, IVR menus, forwarding, extensions for different rooms in the house, etc. ISP bundled phone services are essentially just packaging this for you with 10x markup. (I worked on VoIP installs for a summer when I was 14; it's not that hard). Only downside is most of these phones anticipate PoE, so you need to buy the power supply (or a PoE injector) separately. You also have to trust yourself to set up E911 correctly, or keep your cell phone around for that.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoBut won't that fail at the same time your home internet access fails - when the ISP link goes down? I have a land line as a redundant link, for security.
- superuser2 11y agoAn actual POTS circuit provides redundancy, but many people's landlines aren't actually POTS anymore, they're the ISP's proprietary version of this with an ATA inside the cable modem. This should have the same failure profile, while being cheaper and more fun.
- BHSPitMonkey 11y agoIsn't Google's offering here VOIP based? Sounds equivalent.
- jauer 11y agoMore or less with a number of caveats :) Telco/ISP provided "VOIP" is often technically Voice over IP (as in the protocol), but regulations and implementation can be subtly different from VOIP (what people think of as Voice over the Internet AKA "over the top" or OTT). ISP-provided Voice often comes with requirements for battery backup in the fiber/dsl/ata box so the user can call 911 during a power outage. There's also reporting requirements for outages that prevent a user from dialing 911. Also, with ISP-Voice the VOIP part is considered a implementation detail so it can be given absolute QoS priority over internet traffic on a given last-mile link. This helps with being able to call 911 while someone leaves bittorrent open or whatever. OTT voip doesn't get that benefit (and that's not technically a net-neutrality violation).
- soyiuz 11y agoI like this idea, but I no longer trust Google to shepherd their side projects in the long term. Google voice had amazing promise (and I still use it) but it has also been a completely stagnant, without significant updates for a few years now. It conflicts with Hangouts, Google Fi, and the Android SMS app. Contacts are a mess. Ditto Google Groups.
- grahamburger 11y agoAgreed on Google Voice, I used it all the way back to the Grand Central days and I wish it were maintained more. That being said, the Hangouts integration isn't that bad now. I know it feels risky to hit that 'merge to hangouts' button but I've been using it for a while without any huge inconveniences. The only problem I run in to is when I need to search for old SMS messages, the only way to do it after merging is by doing an 'in:chats searchterm' search in Gmail. That wouldn't even be so bad except that I also use Inbox and the search doesn't work in Inbox. In theory I actually like the idea of having my SMS / Phone calls / emails / hangouts merged pretty tightly, but there are a lot of subtle ways that they could really screw up the user experience while making that happen so I'm still nervous about it.
- zanny 11y agoI'm much happier having them carry Google Voice on in Hangouts than kill it. It is an incredibly valuable way to just have a phone number that works without having to pay every month for it.
- gcb0 11y agoit is on hangouts for years. and it suck in all and every way imaginable. if there was a way to make it suck, they did it. you have to keep switching accounts (close conversation, press hamburger icon, click account icon) everytime! got a SMS? switch to the confusing SMS account. Got a SMS on your google voice account? switch to the account (gets better if you have two!). Dial via google voice? had your SMS account selected last? you will only get a "can't dial" error and the app closes. it is the worst wtf fest of all google screw-ups in usability ever.
- kevinsd 11y agoWhy do this when they have google hangout? I can see that hangout is tied to a person but home phone is not. But making it a different product/service and charging $10/month is absurd.
- rdl 11y agoIs there any hope they could do better than PSTN audio quality here?
- daj40 11y agoI feel products like this - http://www.vtechphones.com/products/product_detail/1673 http://www.vtechphones.com/products/product_detail/1673 - (just an example) are a better solution to this problem. You dont need a land line subscription, just a cell phone with bluetooth. When my parents get home, their cell phones pair to the home phone, so when they receive a call, the home phone rings. They don't have to carry around cell phones, and they can place calls through their cell phones using the handsets. Seems complicated at first, but saved headache and $$ in the end.
- BHSPitMonkey 11y agoI think the major selling point is that you're not SOL if you need to be reached or call 911 while your cell is dead/left in the car/etc. Not that it's an important enough point for me personally to have a land line, but I can understand why a lot of people would favor that. As a $10/month add-on for existing Fiber customers it's not a bad deal.
- hnrodey 11y agoI think there's still a market for landlines although $10/month sounds like a high price point for such a feature. Having a stationary phone is important when you start having kids and they are old enough to know how to use it. There's a gap of several years from when kids are old enough to know how to call others versus old enough to warrant having their own mobile device. So what happens in the scenario when the kid(s) is/are home with one parent or the babysitter and the adult falls down the steps and is unconscious? Certainly a 4-5 year can learn to call 911 for help and with a landline, hopefully the phone is a static location and always available rather than having to search through the house to find mommy or daddy's dead iPhone.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- ianferrel 11y agoMost of the 4-5 year olds I know of know exactly where mommy and daddy's iPhone is because when they're lucky they get to play games on it.
- jonathansizz 11y ago> $10/month sounds like a high price point for such a feature. As someone who is forced by my monopoly ISP (with collusion from my local gvmnt) to buy bundled basic phone service for an extra $30/month (if I want internet access, which I do, and for which I have to pay $87/month for 30/5), I say people in Google Fiber areas don't know how lucky they are.
- spaceflunky 11y agoOh cool! Let me check my address to see if it's available in my area... Nope. Never? ok then. thanks.
- soared 11y agoApparently 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.
- elliotec 11y agoWhat? This is literally all about landlines. A minor feature is that you can redirect the landline service to your mobile phone, which is a feature that has been included in most landline services since mobile existed.
- mryan 11y ago> Fiber Phone > Your home phone. On Google Fiber. Those are the very first words you see when opening the page. It seems quite clear that they are referring to landlines. The line between landlines and mobiles is blurring and the feature set described in the page reflects that.
- carlob 11y agoMy Nokia 208 dumbphone supports SIP over 3G, how is this new?
- mrlyc 11y agoAnecdata: 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.
- agildehaus 11y agoAnyone know if it can pull Caller ID from Google Contacts? That'd be a killer feature.
- kemayo 11y agoI wonder if this means they'll be actually working on improving Google Voice again after all these years, since it looks very much like this product bundles it. (The "ring your mobile" and "transcribe your voicemail" features.)
- electriclove 11y agoJust get a device from Obihai and connect your Google Voice account to it. No monthly charge
- jd20 11y agoI recall reading almost three years ago about a pair of Google engineers who won a prize in the FTC's Robocall Challenge, but at the time weren't pursuing it further. I wonder if that is what's powering Fiber Phone's spam filtering? I have a free Ooma landline, which isn't tied to a specific ISP, but if someone can truly crack the problem of call spam, I could definitely see that being a valuable service many would be willing to switch and pay for.
- mtgx 11y agoSo now Google Fiber will be under CALEA?
- carlob 11y agoAm I the only one who thinks this is very very expensive? I use an Italian VoIP provider. The rates for international calls are very similar, but I don't have to pay a monthly fee. So I end up charging 6 euros every 4-5 months.