

You Can Now Call Into Google+ From Regular Phones - danyork
http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2013/05/you-can-now-call-into-google-from-regular-phones-google-connects-google-voice-to-hangouts.html

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guyzero
It's been this way with Talk and GMail for a long time. Someone calls my GV
number and if GMail is open, it rings in GMail.

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rglullis
You are absolutely right. I've been using GV as my general number since 2009
and I do not recall this feature not being there. It is quite handy for me
when I'm overseas - not paying any roaming charges to make/receive calls - but
there is nothing new or disruptive in this.

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myko
If I'm not mistaken the conversion of Talk to Hangouts last week dropped this
feature, and it's only now rolling back out as part of Hangouts.

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drivebyacct2
I answered multiple calls last week in a Hangout that opened itself from my
Gmail when the call came in.

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unsignedint
I don't know about others, but I don't know I like this change over previous
Google Talk implementation receiving a phone call.

Being able to receive a call on Hangouts is great, but having a somewhat
underpowered machine, it takes me about 10 to 15 seconds loading up full
Hangouts session. (presuming, with everything including video chat components)
By the time the session is loaded, the call is often already sent to voice
mail, or caller would have given up on me.

I think Hangout is a great system in the situation where you are actually
setting up to have one -- but not so great for responding to unexpected calls.

It wouldn't be so bad if responding to the call would actually answer a call
immediately, but the way it is currently implemented, I don't think it's
usable...

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danyork
Yes, I wish there was a way to turn OFF the video component of Hangouts when
receiving a call via Google Voice. On one of my systems the launch of Hangouts
does take a few seconds - and that seems to be largely related to bringing up
the video component.

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CarlosT
Hack: You can still make outgoing calls using Google Voice/Hangouts

1\. In Gmail type in _your_ name into the "start a hangout" box 2\. In Hangout
window click on "add telephone". 3\. type in phone number you want to call.
4\. Call.

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voyou
Or just click on the "Call Phone" button next to the "Start Hangout" button in
Gmail? That's still there for me, is it not for other people?

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dragonwriter
> Or just click on the "Call Phone" button next to the "Start Hangout" button
> in Gmail? That's still there for me, is it not for other people?

Its not there for me, and Google has _acknowledged_ that the outbound call
functionality is missing with Hangouts and that that is _why_ the legacy Talk
interface is still available and you can freely switch between them, saying
that they will retain that interface until the calling features have been
integrated into Hangouts. [1] So I don't know why you're special.

[1] [http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/20/4348256/hangouts-is-
future...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/20/4348256/hangouts-is-future-of-
google-voice-gmail-calls-returning-soon)

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josh2600
So some conjecture:

I can't understand why Google doesn't do SIP or even a full telecom play. The
only answer I can come up with is that they don't think the business is worth
the extra regulatory scrutiny.

Sidenote: Dan is awesome. If you're into Telephony and you don't read his
stuff you're making a mistake.

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hayksaakian
I'd suspect they don't want to get AT&T'd

a lá <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System_divestiture>

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rz2k
How is that relevant? They don't own the entire network and it wouldn't make
them a monopoly natural or otherwise.

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hayksaakian
brain fart. I was thinking monopolies and came up with att when microsoft (re
IE) would be a better example.

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Zikes
I had this happen to me twice, and in both instances the call did not ring my
telephone.

Clearly some kinks to work out.

~~~
spankalee
Did you answer in Hangouts?

I find it rings my computer a bit before it rings my phone. I'm not sure if my
phone ring had the same latency it would have if I were not logged in on my
computer.

~~~
koyote
I just tried it and it only rang my computer.

When I quit hangouts from my computer it did not ring my phone and directed me
to the voice mail after a couple of dial tones.

A normal hangout call from someone else using hangouts rings both at just
about the same time (sometimes a lag on the phone).

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Zenst
A mobile phone that can do local voicemail and with that avoid the Telco's
getting paid twice for a call would be an area I'd like to see fixed first.

Still awaiting google voice for the UK, one day maybe.

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jpgunter
I wonder if this will work with hangouts on phones. For instance if I call
someone who also has GV, would I be able to hop into a video call seamlessly.

~~~
tmzt
That might be why Hangouts requires confirming your phone number on
installation.

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mingramjr
What's new about this? Prior to Hangouts, calls to my Google Voice number
always was routed to my cell phones and Google Talk.

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dragonwriter
> What's new about this? Prior to Hangouts, calls to my Google Voice number
> always was routed to my cell phones and Google Talk.

As I understand, both inbound and outbound calling via the Gmail interface
were nonfunctional initially for users who upgraded to Hangouts, so the "new"
thing is that the inbound call functionality was restored; outbound is still
pending (and it sounds like they are planning, ultimately, much deeper
integration than just restoring what the old Gmail Talk interface had.)

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drivebyacct2
No, you've been able to do this.... for years. And yes, it's worked
consistently since they launched Hangouts. I _often_ answer calls in Gmail and
they have since simply began opening in Hangouts through Gmail.

Works perfectly, no idea why "the dialer went away" means "incoming calls no
longer work", but hey, it's Google and it's FUD, should I bother trying to be
surprised?

Don't get me wrong, Google fucked their one big chance to integrate Voice,
Video, SMS and IM. With Hangouts, I should be able to "Call Someone" and have
it negotiate video if we both have and want video, or it should use the next
available medium. If both users use Hangouts, then send a Hangout IM. And if
not, finally fall back to Google Voice/VoIp/SMS.

The users shouldn't have to ask themselves, "wait, does Bobby have Hangouts?"
ever. That is literally the number one issue with G+!

~~~
sneak
Bothers me to no end that Apple does this same shit with FaceTime, presumably
to appease the carriers. They already bypass SMS when both are iMessage users
- why the hell are they not doing video calls by default when both have
cameras?

~~~
dragonwriter
> Bothers me to no end that Apple does this same shit with FaceTime,
> presumably to appease the carriers. They already bypass SMS when both are
> iMessage users - why the hell are they not doing video calls by default when
> both have cameras?

Because, _first_ , most people don't prefer video calls in many circumstances
(leaving aside cost issues), and second because of cost/performance issues,
since voice calls use voice minutes and video calls would use data, and most
users are more likely to face data overages (or, if on quasi-unlimited plans,
hit the point of data slowdowns) than they are to run out of plan voice
minutes.

