
Google turned my iPod touch into a free wifi phone - codercowboy
http://www.codercowboy.com/2013/10/19/oh-google-just-turned-my-ipod-touch-into-a-free-wifi-phone/
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super-serial
_" The downside to Google Voice has always been that it’s not actually a
phone. When you dial someone with the Voice app, it dials your contact, then
dials your real phone, and connects you together – you can’t just dial right
out on a computer or non-phone smart device like an iPod touch and use a
headset."_

On a computer it can "dial" GChat, so you don't need a "real phone." I don't
own a landline or a cellphone so I would know.

But I never knew you could make calls from apps. I have an iPod Touch 4, so
this is going to be awesome. Now my friends might actually think I'm normal.

~~~
acchow
The quoted claim is false. I use Google Voice on Android. There's an option to
"make all calls with GV" in which case all your outgoing calls go to the
corresponding proxy number. There's also an "ask every time" option.

~~~
makeramen
Although I'm pretty sure doing that in android still uses your mobile number
and cell network to make the connection, not the WiFi or data connection. So
it's still not true VoIP/WiFi-calling like it is on the iOS version of
hangouts.

~~~
danellis
That's what acchow is saying. "Calls go to the corresponding proxy number." As
opposed to the call being incoming.

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runjake
Wow, free? What's the catch?

Oh, they collect all my texts, instant messages, and phone call data and
metadata? That's not for me, then.

~~~
objclxt
I'll be honest, I'll be surprised if Google Voice is alive in a couple of
years. I've been an avid Google Voice user since before it was even owned by
Google (back when it was GrandCentral), and Google have showed it little love,
made virtually no new features or improvements in the past four years, and now
buried it into Google Hangouts. Which is a shame, because I use it regularly
and find it really useful.

~~~
chaz
> virtually no new features or improvements in the past four years

Lack of MMS is a big one. No group text messages, with no notification to
either the sender or the recipient that it was simply discarded. Aside from
that, what are some features that you wish it had?

~~~
stumm
They've started sending the MMS through email, at least for ones coming from
Sprint users.

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triplesec
So this is integrating Google voice and hangouts? Still separate on my
android, but if so, I suppose you might say it could be inevitable..

~~~
codercowboy
It's still two separate apps on iOS too, though this does appear to be a step
toward a unified product that's less of a kludge than voice has been on its
own.

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ars
Does this work on android devices too?

~~~
sp332
Doesn't seem to, although the last update was a few weeks ago.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk)
There are apps that do this though, I use GrooVe IP for example.

~~~
leephillips
I use that, too. You can configure your phone so that outgoing and incoming
calls use wifi when it's there, and the cell connection when it's not,
automatically, and you can use the phone's default dialer. This kind of
flexibility is not available on iOS.

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vado
There were apps to do this a long time ago, at least 3 years ago I remember
texting and voice calling with the first iPod touch with retina screen with a
VoIP app. I forget the specific app name though, and the mic wasn't that
great. I remember calling someone and they said that they couldn't really hear
me, but they guessed what I had called them about anyway because of the
specific time. Google's apps might be more convenient than the app I used
and/or cheaper, but they weren't the first.

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msh
It says: There have been several inexpensive or free “turn your iPod Touch
into a wifi phone” gimmick apps or services over the past few years, but
they’ve always been a hassle (listen to a 30 second ad before your call
begins..) or short-lived – so, I’ve just always dialed directly with my brick
phone, and told my contacts “my real number is the google voice #, ignore the
caller id”.

Which is not really true, skype have been providing real phone service for
years.

~~~
chaz
The biggest difference is that you have to have a Skype In number, which is
yet another phone number to give to people and for them to have to manage.
Plus, it costs $5/mo. I like the one-time charge to port my number to Google
Voice, and I'll simply answer the device that's closest to me at the time.

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micampe
The author is running iOS 7, so his iPod Touch was already a "free" wifi
phone, using FaceTime Audio.

~~~
micheljansen
As far as I know, FaceTime audio only allows you to call other FaceTime users,
not old-fashioned landlines, mobile phones etc.

Google Voice is nothing new though. Google voice already offered VOIP (I
regularly use an app called "Talkatone" for this). What's changed is that
Google now offers a nicely packaged, official app for this.

~~~
micampe
True, didn't think about that.

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cheesylard
This has been available in the form of Talkatone (on the App Store) for at
least 3 years. This is nothing new.

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milhous
This is good news and because I don't make calls frequently, I'm selling the
iPhone and iPad for the next Verizon iPad mini with month-to-month data. Just
tired of paying $90/mo for voice minutes that are mostly forfeited anyways.
VOIP and telephony apps all the way!

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naner
Just an FYI: you cannot send/recive MMS (this includes Group Messages) with a
Google Voice number. This doesn't matter to many of us, but if you still have
contacts that rely on these protocols just be aware before you port your
number to GV.

~~~
djim
oddly, i do get occasional mms messages on my google voice #. most of the
time, it doesn't work though.

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bluedino
Buddy has been doing this for a while with an old 3GS. Problem is if he's not
on wifi he can't take a call so I end up leaving home a voicemail and waiting
hours for him to call back.

~~~
mikeash
For some people, that "problem" is a feature.

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pearjuice
More like "Google turned my iPod touch into one of their data-hoarding drones.
But I don't care about my data, as long as I get a free service in return!".

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dwiel
As if any other carrier is any different?

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micampe
I'm not one to overly worry about data collection, but there is a difference
between giving all your data to the same company and different data to
different companies. Consider the reactions when Google itself changed their
T&C to unify all their services.

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The_Double
So... voice, the telephony app can be used for sending text messages. And
hangouts, a text based chat service can be used to make phone calls. Great
logic there google!

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jreed91
Problem is, when is the last time google voice has been improved? Sounds like
it's going down the hole of google reader.

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s3r3nity
To be fair, Facebook has had this for close to a year now (albeit on on an
iPod, but other cellular devices.)

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ahk
Great news. Might finally be able to delete skype! I really have to wonder why
it took them so long though.

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iSnow
I used SIP on that for years, what's the big news?

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stevo111
TIL. devs continue using google after NSA revelations. They also praise google
voice. google and apple ftw yo.

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clhodapp
In light of _all_ the NSA revelations, I think we can say that using Google
Voice is probably not any more dangerous than using any other type of SMS or
telephone service.

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hobolobo
That's not the point, though, is it?

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andybak
Isn't it? OP was suggesting boycotting a particular company and someone
responded to essentially say "Boycott them in favour of whom?"

