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The best thing about Google Voice is Gizmo SIP support. It makes Google Voice almost useful. I say "almost" because Google Voice carefully limits the user's a

by mieses 16y ago

The best thing about Google Voice is Gizmo SIP support. It makes Google Voice almost useful. I say "almost" because Google Voice carefully limits the user's ability to make pure VoIP calls (to protect the wireless carriers). For example, the Google Voice app for Android requires a cell signal to place calls.

kyleslattery 16y ago
Hm, I'm not sure they're trying to protect the wireless carriers. When an Android device makes a Google Voice call, it works the same way any call would, except that it dials the Google Voice number first, which then connects you to whomever you're dialing. The call is never routed over the Internet.
- mieses 16y ago
  "works the same way any call would" is the problem. The Google Voice app could easily work better. Why doesn't it? You do realize that it's possible to initiate a call through the Google Voice website, which then rings a soft-client (Gizmo or Sipdroid)? This scenario obviates the need for a phone line or a wireless voice plan. Google and the carriers are not morons. The decision to limit the Google Voice Android app was intentional. A computer does not need to have a voice plan to browse the Google Voice website and initiate a Google Voice call. The official Google Voice Andorid app, however, does require a voice plan to initiate the call. It's an artificial restriction. 3rd party Google Voice dialers on the Android Market, including Evan Charlton's unofficial "GV" app, are able to place GV calls from an Android device without voice service, presumably by interacting with an undocumented API or via http requests to the Google Voice web site. Blocking this feature is an example of how Google bent over for the wireless carriers at the expense of their users and contradicts Google's position on good/evil. Curious how it can be spun in any other way..
  - mkelly 16y ago
    I disagree that it's evil. If you're a company doing business with other big, powerful companies (telcos), you can't just attack their business model and expect to keep doing business with them unless you're in a really strong position. Say Google removed this restriction, and AT&T et al just stopped supporting Android phones due to some unspecified "technical issue". Then where are we? It's undesirable, definitely. Evil, I don't think so. Evil, IMO, is if Google can remove the restrictions, and doesn't.
    - mieses 16y ago
      Oh, I see. A decision that is motivated by convenience, i.e., business and profit, is not evil. Thanks for this insight into the Google newspeak No one is forcing Google to impose the restriction. They have free will. Google already blocked new account creation in Gizmo5 (one of their small acts of goodness) so very few users could ever make use of this scenario, in any case. So the restriction is unnecessary and overkill. Google's decision means that my android device can't place a Google Voice call from my house which has no cell phone reception. Thanks Google, for wrapping the AT&T user experience in your colorful world-changing logo.
      - mkelly 16y ago
        A decision that inconveniences you isn't necessarily evil. I agree it's unnecessary.
robk 16y ago
Hence SIPSorcery and the related stack, which do let you take advantage to call over 3G/GPRS or Wifi
- mieses 16y ago
  SIPSorcery looks useful, based on what i've pieced together so far. The web site could use a little less (or more) emphasis on the Silverlight UI (depending on the vision for the project). edit: i need to read the sipsorcery docs. it's not clear to me how sipsorcery helps in placing the call from a wifi-only android device, for example.
  - lutorm 16y ago
    I just played around with this last night, and it seems like SipSorcery, through the Ruby dial plans, have hacked up a way to make the sip call appear to come from your GV number. It works for me (though I used Sipgate since you can't sign up for gizmo5 anymore). The only problem I had was that when people call my GV number, the Caller ID when sipdroid rings says that it's from my own Sipgate number, which the original number displayed in brackets. (And perhaps that when you have both a sim number and the sipdroid one, both the normal phone app and sipdroid rings at the same time, so you have to make sure you answer the right way...)
robk 16y ago
Hence SIPSorcery and the related stack, which do let you take advantage to call over 3G/GPRS or Wifi

by mieses 16y ago

kyleslattery 16y ago

Hm, I'm not sure they're trying to protect the wireless carriers. When an Android device makes a Google Voice call, it works the same way any call would, except that it dials the Google Voice number first, which then connects you to whomever you're dialing. The call is never routed over the Internet.

mieses 16y ago
"works the same way any call would" is the problem. The Google Voice app could easily work better. Why doesn't it? You do realize that it's possible to initiate a call through the Google Voice website, which then rings a soft-client (Gizmo or Sipdroid)? This scenario obviates the need for a phone line or a wireless voice plan. Google and the carriers are not morons. The decision to limit the Google Voice Android app was intentional. A computer does not need to have a voice plan to browse the Google Voice website and initiate a Google Voice call. The official Google Voice Andorid app, however, does require a voice plan to initiate the call. It's an artificial restriction. 3rd party Google Voice dialers on the Android Market, including Evan Charlton's unofficial "GV" app, are able to place GV calls from an Android device without voice service, presumably by interacting with an undocumented API or via http requests to the Google Voice web site. Blocking this feature is an example of how Google bent over for the wireless carriers at the expense of their users and contradicts Google's position on good/evil. Curious how it can be spun in any other way..
- mkelly 16y ago
  I disagree that it's evil. If you're a company doing business with other big, powerful companies (telcos), you can't just attack their business model and expect to keep doing business with them unless you're in a really strong position. Say Google removed this restriction, and AT&T et al just stopped supporting Android phones due to some unspecified "technical issue". Then where are we? It's undesirable, definitely. Evil, I don't think so. Evil, IMO, is if Google can remove the restrictions, and doesn't.
  - mieses 16y ago
    Oh, I see. A decision that is motivated by convenience, i.e., business and profit, is not evil. Thanks for this insight into the Google newspeak No one is forcing Google to impose the restriction. They have free will. Google already blocked new account creation in Gizmo5 (one of their small acts of goodness) so very few users could ever make use of this scenario, in any case. So the restriction is unnecessary and overkill. Google's decision means that my android device can't place a Google Voice call from my house which has no cell phone reception. Thanks Google, for wrapping the AT&T user experience in your colorful world-changing logo.
    - mkelly 16y ago
      A decision that inconveniences you isn't necessarily evil. I agree it's unnecessary.

robk 16y ago

Hence SIPSorcery and the related stack, which do let you take advantage to call over 3G/GPRS or Wifi

mieses 16y ago
SIPSorcery looks useful, based on what i've pieced together so far. The web site could use a little less (or more) emphasis on the Silverlight UI (depending on the vision for the project). edit: i need to read the sipsorcery docs. it's not clear to me how sipsorcery helps in placing the call from a wifi-only android device, for example.
- lutorm 16y ago
  I just played around with this last night, and it seems like SipSorcery, through the Ruby dial plans, have hacked up a way to make the sip call appear to come from your GV number. It works for me (though I used Sipgate since you can't sign up for gizmo5 anymore). The only problem I had was that when people call my GV number, the Caller ID when sipdroid rings says that it's from my own Sipgate number, which the original number displayed in brackets. (And perhaps that when you have both a sim number and the sipdroid one, both the normal phone app and sipdroid rings at the same time, so you have to make sure you answer the right way...)

robk 16y ago

Hence SIPSorcery and the related stack, which do let you take advantage to call over 3G/GPRS or Wifi