Google Hangouts: No more outgoing calling

[Nezgar]

Sad to see this announcement from Google. For Canadians it was difficult to get a full Google Voice number, but hangouts dialler would allow outgoing calls with your own caller ID, but not for much longer..

"Phone calls in classic Hangouts will be turned off in early 2021.

If you are in the US, you can continue to make phone calls by upgrading to Google Voice. If you are not in the US or do not want to upgrade to Google Voice, you can continue to use the Hangouts call phones feature until late 2020 with access to classic Hangouts. You can also request a refund of your eligible calling credit."

https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/3187125?hl=en

[LurganIeUk]

I'll have you know I was once in Portage La Prairie!!!

[Nezgar]

A nice thing is the TextNow website can be used with a desktop browser to make calls, like you could with hangouts. I also lucked out with a few tries to actually get a local 306 number that shows as Telus on CNAC, instead of some chaff like Biggar SK or Portage la Prairie MB numbers in the new area codes... The call quality is great with my Plantronics USB headset connected to the computer.

[AE_Collector]

@LurganIeUk 

No Spuzzum BC numbers available I guess?

[LurganIeUk]

Try Fongo Mobile for a free number. All calling in Canada is free. And you can call forward a Fongo number. Only thing is.....you can receive texts and no sending unless you pay a fee. I have 2 Fongo numbers. They work to validate Craigslist accounts and you can get some nice local numbers. 

I tried TextNow but the number selection is very poor. I found a local 604 number but wound up with a Cache Creek number. Not a good place to speed on the highway there either. 

[AE_Collector]

Yes it seems like Google Chat will replace the text function of Hangouts and Google Meet is replacing the video calling portion. We use this frequently within our family and now in the middle of Covid-19 at its worst I have to try to retrain 80 and 90 year old parents without actually meeting up with them in order to keep them online.

AE_Collector

[asavic]

You can use Google chat

same idea and they add new features every day

[WRXFiles]

My solution since becoming a Public Mobile customer has been:

• Incoming: forward all incoming calls to a Fongo number (uses data) so that I could receive incoming calls anywhere in the world (in Canada over data package, in the US via a US Data Add-on, or with a purchased SIM card data plan outside Canada/US, or over WiFi anywhere).  Fongo also has a great message system if I missed the call.
• Outgoing: Google Hangouts over data - has worked everywhere I have tried to make a call, and always displayed my outgoing cell number.

With the shuttering of Google Hangouts, I am looking for a new simple solution for the outgoing calls when at home, but calling outside my home province, or when travelling.

Ideally, it would be able to be set as the default phone application as well ( Hangouts couldn't be)

Very open to suggestions!  🙂

[Nezgar]

Yeah and with voip.ms you can use any outgoing caller ID you want, so it's easy to present my either mobile or home number on outgoing calls if I need to. TextNow/Fongo if I don't.

Interesting re: Duo if they add PSTN connectivity options there.

[kselmak]

They announced this long time ago, i thought originally it was gonna stop working at the end of 20.

Was pretty bummed about not having my cell number displayed.

But then I noticed that both fongo and linphone have call transfer.

And fongo only uses 0.06-0.07 megs of data.

To call USA, uk or landlines in Germany/Sweden/australia... TextNow is great and free

[Korth]

Hangouts is just being rolled into Duo.

Google has been pretty quiet about the important details but it seems likely they intend Duo to unify their calling platforms and they'll provide some sort of one-way "migration" option to transfer existing Hangouts numbers/etc into Duo.

They aren't going to completely discontinue a "free" service which generates passive revenue. They're just going to streamline it into their other machinery.

[totalUser]

::(

I really liked it, quality was great, there were no ads. Happy user four over a decade right out of the Gmail. I'll miss it

[will13am]

Google has butchered google voice and hangouts long ago.  I have my Canadian numbers registered in Google voice and so I was able to get free US calling on all my cell lines.  That feature was removed more than a year ago.  Getting rid of the hangouts dialer is a tiny change to me as google voice has always done the same thing but also included integration with my Canadian cell numbers.  

[Nezgar]

@kb_mv yeah, I'm not bitter about it - par for the course for a lot of Google offerings (you get what you pay for). It was nice having free calling options in the back pocket for times when travelling and to preserve $15 plan outgoing minutes - but never actually used this particular option much since I haven't been away from home much this year.

there's lots of other free (textnow/fongo) and cheap (PM addons or voip.ms) options available too.

[kb_mv]

@Nezgar Google used to be cool. Everyone once wanted in on a gmail account. Google photos no longer allowing free unlimited photo storage outside of Pixels, Play music used to awesome, now gone and moved onto an unimpressive, unintuitive Youtube that doesn't support automatic uploads. Now hangouts/voice. They're just a big company making money now. Nothing wrong with that but disappointing for sure. Just like Apple lol.

[AE_Collector]

Ahh, thanks. That clears it up for me! Just in time too before the shut it down!

AE_Collector

[Nezgar]

@AE_Collector It was free to call US + Canada. You would have needed to add credit to call elsewhere.

[AE_Collector]

I have been getting these notices as well. I use Hangouts all the time but have never made a call with it. Says you can get a refund of unused calling credits.... I thought it was free to use? Or maybe calls to certain countries required a prepaid fee that would be deducted per minute?

AE_Collector