topic Re: Using Hangouts for video calls? in Get Support

Using Hangouts for video calls?

Garry — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 06:39:00 GMT

I have 2 PM lines (12gb promo).

My wife uses one and I use the other.

If we use Hangouts and do video chats within Ontario, how is it "charged" for a better word?

Does it just cost us the data we've used for the call.... or are there any other charges?

Thx,

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

PMcNamara16 — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:53:39 GMT

It would solely use your data as PM does not track any Google Hangouts calls or messages since it is a separate company altogether. There would be no further charges; just the use of the 12 GB you have on your plan. If your worried about using all of your data, using Wifi for Hangouts messages and calls would be your best bet.

Hope this helps.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

jpar — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 17:03:28 GMT

Yup, it would just be data - chargeable the same way that any other is. I'm not sure how much Hangouts video calls would use, but it would be more than a normal voice call. If you're connected to wifi, though, it's completely transparent to and independent of PM so you could use it at will. Either way, you can check app-specific data usage on Android in the settings menu (or pull down notifications second menu). There wouldn't be any per-minute charges or anything else as it's not a PM/Telus service.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

will13am — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 17:34:12 GMT

I use hangouts for voice calls a lot. That uses under 1 MB/minute. I am not accustomed to using video calling because my old provider didn't have the bandwidth to make video calling work well. I suspect video calling will use a lot more data than voice.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

jpar — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 17:45:38 GMT

@will13am wrote:
I use hangouts for voice calls a lot. That uses under 1 MB/minute. I am not accustomed to using video calling because my old provider didn't have the bandwidth to make video calling work well. I suspect video calling will use a lot more data than voice.

Hangouts voice quality is pretty decent too, it's surprising that Google has allowed free calling to the US and Canada for so long. I remember back when they first introduced it to Gmail for that year, and it just kept getting renewed for another year.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

stonechucker — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 18:12:20 GMT

I was reading an iPhone article the other day, and using Facetime audio or Facetime video used on average a very small amount of data per minute... It was actually listed as the best audio replacement for voice calls of all the various apps.

Only problem with that.... iOS and macOS only 😞

Hangouts is superior in my mind, as it's cross platform.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

McLaren — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 18:19:57 GMT

Check out Google Duo for video chat, the quality is 100x better than hangouts (of course it uses more data)

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

Garry — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:21:37 GMT

Just installed Duo as mentioned by McLaren.

Quite the improvement over Hangouts.

Thanks.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

jpar — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:43:55 GMT

Allo for messaging as well 🙂

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

srlawren — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:54:08 GMT

@Garry @McLaren good to know! Now, if I only knew anyone I wanted to Talk to on either Allo or Duo. Honestly, literally nobody I'd ever want to communicate with on either uses them. It's a shame. RCS, for the win! (...eventually.)

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

jpar — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 21:04:18 GMT

@srlawren wrote:
@Garry @McLaren good to know! Now, if I only knew anyone I wanted to Talk to on either Allo or Duo. Honestly, literally nobody I'd ever want to communicate with on either uses them. It's a shame. RCS, for the win! (...eventually.)

Yeah, I feel like we're in an endless cycle of 'we have too many standards, let's develop more!' but maybe we'll get there someday.

RCS is promising if it ever becomes widespread in North America.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

srlawren — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 21:12:06 GMT

@jpar agreed! Here's how standards proliferate 🙂 https://xkcd.com/927/

EDIT: Ironically, as I'm not an iAnything fan (sorry, iFans--I know they're great but they're just not for me!), if Apple were to open up iMessage for Android, we could have a mostly-universal standard right away.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

jpar — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 21:17:58 GMT

@srlawren wrote:
@jpar agreed! Here's how standards proliferate 🙂 https://xkcd.com/927/

EDIT: Ironically, as I'm not an iAnything fan (sorry, iFans--I know they're great but they're just not for me!), if Apple were to open up iMessage for Android, we could have a mostly-universal standard right away.

I'd like to see iMessage support too... don't think that's gonna happen though, that's the one thing that keeps many people on iPhone.

And yes, I almost forgot about that comic!

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

srlawren — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 23:27:18 GMT

@jpar I used to think that way about BlackBerry/RIM opening up BBM to Android/iOS, and that was everyone's reason too--that BBM was what kept people on a BlackBerry. They did eventually come around, though by that point it was too late to really stay relevant, at least on this side of the pond. (BBM is still very popular in some other areas such as Indonesia and parts of Africa I believe.)

With Apple, I honestly don't think they'd see a mass exodus to Android if they offered up iMessage for Android. iMessage/Facetime may be a thing that keeps people on iOS, but not really the thing. I think folks on iPhone are invested in the rest of the ecosystem (iCloud, iTunes, etc etc) and the fact that they "just work", and they like Apple Care and the "geniuses" at the Apple Store, etc. They might lose some to Android, but on the other hand they might suck some people in, and once you're already on the way to communicate with everyone on either platform, there's less reason for people to not move to iPhone if they're wanting to try it. Just sayin'.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

jpar — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 23:28:31 GMT

That's true. I completely forgot about BBM.

Re: Using Hangouts for video calls?

stonechucker — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 02:49:00 GMT

I've had the pleasure or displeasure of using all three platforms over the years, in both work and personal life. I'm my opinion, the BlackBerry was the Enterprise platform, iPhone the personal platform, and Android the best of both worlds.

i simply loved my monochrome scrollwheel Blackberry 6100. I only gave it up because the centre 6 keys stopped working, and it was out of warranty, so work replaced it. I was totally against the iPhone when it came out as I'd been in the world of PCs, Microsoft, Linux for years, and Mac was just not on my radar. I actually grew up with Commodore computers, the VIC20 and the Amiga 1000. All great learning tools.