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Google has launched a phone/landline service for its Google Fiber customers, called Fiber Phone. It allows you to use a "cloud-based" phone number from any tablet, PC, or phone:
For $10/month, you get unlimited local and nationwide calling, and the same affordable rates as Google Voice for international calls. You can keep your old phone number, or pick a new one. You can use call waiting, caller ID, and 911 services just as easily as you could before. Fiber Phone can also make it easier to access your voicemail—the service will transcribe your voice messages for you and then send as a text or email.
[...] Your Fiber Phone number lives in the cloud, which means that you can use it on almost any phone, tablet or laptop. It can ring your landline when you're home, or your mobile device when you're on-the-go. [...] To stay updated on the latest, sign up here.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday March 30 2016, @07:51PM
Actually, its not at all clear that Google Voice is being phased out.
There were rumors of this back in 2014, but those have largely subsided by now, as Google laid them to rest.
Hangouts is what really is being scaled back. They are dropping sms and mms support, but still keeping wifi calling to other hangouts users. They have a POTS bridge in hangouts to access land lines.
But you need to add the Google Hangouts Dialer [google.com] to call anything except another hangouts user. And that dialer is something of a split personality.
Oddly, if you DO add the Hangouts Dialer, AND you already have a Google Voice Number, it will use Google Voice rather than the Hangouts-to-voip bridge. (You will see that right above the key-pad when you select manual dialing in Hangouts Dialer)
Your Caller id will show up as your GV number, instead of your cellular number, and call backs will go to your google voice number. If you don't have a google voice number, caller ID will be your cell number, and call backs will go to your cell minutes.
And if you don't have a cellular plan, and just use a wifi tablet, or smartphone without a sim, ? who knows...
So the whole thing is a huge bowl of spaghetti right now, and google has two products that separately or in conjunction don't really handle all the functions properly. They probably need to start over, because hangouts was over-scoped, and never did much of anything properly or smoothly, and GV languished for way too long.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.