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Google Announces Fiber Phone, a $10/Month Home Telephone Service

Posted by msmash on from the making-landlines-cool dept.

Google on Tuesday announced Fiber Phone, a home phone service for Fiber subscribers. For $10 a month, Fiber Phone offers unlimited local and nationwide calling, and "the same affordable rates as Google Voice for international calls." From company's blog post: 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. Writing for TechCrunch, Devin Coldewey explains why this matters: Fiber Phone features unlimited calls to the U.S., call filtering and blocking, voicemail transcription, and call forwarding to your mobile so you don't miss that telemarketer. It may seem an anachronism, but if Google aims to be the main or even sole conduit for communication in the areas it is expanding to, it does have to offer this.

57 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Fire Phone? by gregthebunny · · Score: 1

    For $10 a month, Fire Phone offers unlimited local and nationwide calling

    Does anyone proofread these things?

    1. Re:Fire Phone? by garcia · · Score: 1, Funny

      Of course they proofread things; they just don't do a good job of it.

    2. Re:Fire Phone? by msmash · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oops. Have fixed it now -- thanks for pointing it out!

    3. Re:Fire Phone? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Hell's teeth! Slashdot editor acknowledges correction!

      Well done, sir. You are setting a standard for which other editors will hate you.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  2. $10/month plus by Kohath · · Score: 1

    How much in taxes? $12 more per month?

    1. Re:$10/month plus by fonos · · Score: 4, Informative

      I take it you've never seen a Google Fiber bill before. This is how mine looks:

      Gigabit Ethernet $70.00
      Taxes, Fees, Surcharges $0.00
      Total: $70.00

    2. Re:$10/month plus by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Why is it irrelevant? This is a tack-on service for existing Google Fiber customers. If the $70 advertised rate for the existing service is the $70 actual rate once taxes and fees are factored in, then wouldn't we expect that to remain true for an add-on service?

    3. Re:$10/month plus by fonos · · Score: 1

      irrelevant

      I think it's quite relevant considering it's the same company. Those below the line fees aren't required legislatively. Regarding taxes, I don't think any locality in the United States charges a 120% tax on providing phone service.

    4. Re:$10/month plus by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Phone lines are taxed. If you actually go to the Fibre Phone link, you will see where it says $10/month plus taxes and fees.

      So when someone says a completely different bill for a completely different service has no extra taxes and fees, it's irrelevant.

    5. Re:$10/month plus by JazzLad · · Score: 1

      For what it is worth, my MVNO cell phone is $25/mo and my final bill is exactly $20.93 (I get a slight credit for auto-pay). No taxes (unless part of the $25).

      --
      "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
    6. Re:$10/month plus by Krojack · · Score: 1

      Maybe you should just lookup the standard teleco taxes. It's set by the government after all. Below are the taxes and other fees for my Project Fi service

      Taxes & government surcharges
      State 911 Tax: $0.19
      State Consumption Tax: $1.30

      Other fees
      Michigan Access Restructuring Mechanism Fee: $0.19
      Federal Universal Service Fund: $1.31
      Federal Regulatory Assessment Fee: $0.12

    7. Re:$10/month plus by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Phone lines are taxed.

      As are Internet connections. Or at least that's what my Suddenlink bill says. Also worth noting: this is a VoIP line, not a POTS line.

      If you actually go to the Fibre Phone link, you will see where it says $10/month plus taxes and fees.

      And if you actually go to the pricing pages for Google Fiber Internet (e.g. Austin's pricing page), you'll see where there's an asterisk providing additional information regarding "taxes and charges". Yet, despite that, the other responder says that he's not paying any taxes or charges. Whether that's because Google silently rolled them into his base charge or because he's lucky enough to live in an area where there are none, I can't say, but it stands to reason that Google is doing what it can to make their advertised prices their actual prices, since he's apparently paying the advertised price and not a penny more.

      So when someone says a completely different bill for a completely different service has no extra taxes and fees, it's irrelevant.

      Past behavior is more often than not an indication of future behavior. If a company already has a related service with identical caveats and handles it a particular way, it's likely that the new, related service will behave similarly. Does that always hold true? No, of course not. But that doesn't mean that past behavior is irrelevant either.

    8. Re:$10/month plus by Kohath · · Score: 1

      It's hard to look them up. There are usually more taxes and fees than they like to tell you about.

      I think home phone service usually has more taxes and fees than a wireless service like Project Fi.

    9. Re:$10/month plus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The other fees are not fees charged to you by the government. They are fees charged to you by the telecom to offset costs of fees charged to the telecomm by various government agencies. Nothing requires the telecom to bill you for it. See http://www.michigan.gov/mpsc/0,4639,7-159-16368_40094-144717--,00.html

    10. Re:$10/month plus by Shatrat · · Score: 2

      Technically it is both POTS and VOIP. There are plenty of people doing POTS from ONTs, with SIP on the network side. I'm sitting in a lab full of them. To the user it's an old school 2 wire POTS line. On the network it's just SIP traffic on a separate VLAN. However, Google currently uses some kind of home grown ONT that's just a simple single Ethernet port encapsulated onto the GPON WAN. More complex ONTs can do POTS, Ethernet, T1s and RF video from a single device.

      From the Google FAQ

      Can I use my existing home phone hardware with Fiber Phone?
      Yes. Fiber Phone includes a conventional phone jack that’s compatible with nearly all home phones. Please note that rotary dial phones and some older push-button phones do not work with Fiber Phone.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    11. Re:$10/month plus by pepsikid · · Score: 1

      Incidentally, that's how sales tax for gas, food and other goods work, too. The government isn't charging you tax, and the merchant isn't collecting tax from you on behalf of the government. That's whatcha always thought, isn't it?

      No, the government is taxing THE MERCHANT, and through some long-established tradition this entitles the merchant to post a price on those goods with the amount they calculate they'll be taxed subtracted, then add it back at the register.

    12. Re:$10/month plus by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Is "irrelevant" your trigger word or something? Why the complete assholishness? Can't find any small children to scream obscenities at?

    13. Re:$10/month plus by pepsikid · · Score: 1

      Yep, just like a lot of (now-obsolete) cable modems I see at the thrift stores, with built-in RJ-11/14 jacks where TWC provided them with a VOIP phone service.

      Google Fiber will likely swap out your existing GF router with one which also has phone jacks, or bring you an ATA to plug into one of the four RJ-45 Ethernet jacks provided.

      This is good for folks who work from home, such as 'virtual' call centre workers. While these employers typically forbid work over VOIP lines, they do accept VOIP service when supplied by major providers.

      We'll see how this pans out. I have half a dozen Google Voice lines running at home (we have Google Fiber) via an OBI100 box and an Asterisk server with GV plugins. It would suck suck suck if they shut GV completely down now, in favor of their new paid service. :(

    14. Re:$10/month plus by pepsikid · · Score: 1

      Well they do. Google reserves the right to add taxes and fees, but simply charge the flat rate. Whatever taxes and fees a specific municipality demands, Google simply swallows the difference. I bet they're still quite profitable.

    15. Re:$10/month plus by nightwolfds · · Score: 1

      This is it exactly. I used to work for a telco and it was explained to me that all of the 'taxes' we listed on the bill were costs that the telco was billing the customer for because the telco had to pay them and not because the customer had to pay them.

    16. Re:$10/month plus by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      Technically it is both POTS and VOIP.

      You mean this new service, right?

      It doesn't have the "it doesn't go out when the power does" of POTS lines though, right?

      (BTW, no, I don't have a POTS line any more, and for a long time years ago had one at the metered rate for my old old Tivos to call in...)

      But the "still works in a power outage" is one of the reasons many people keep them.

    17. Re:$10/month plus by Notabadguy · · Score: 1

      Wish I could mod this up!

    18. Re:$10/month plus by Chaos+Incarnate · · Score: 1

      It depends on the state. In Michigan, for example, items intended for resale aren't taxed. And certain entities are exempt from paying sales taxes (schools, for example). That wouldn't be possible if our sales taxes were set up as you describe.

      --
      Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
    19. Re:$10/month plus by pepsikid · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's exactly as I describe!

      "Sales tax" is really an income tax the government charges merchants and service providers... because they made money, get it? The term "sales tax" is misleading. Probably deliberately. This is the root of the reason that a business which is losing money can get a partial or full refund of their taxes. They've proven that they aren't profiting.

      If you're a merchant who is licensed to resell used items, and you don't have to pay an income tax on that, you can theoretically feel free to charge less for it. It's no wonder that thrift stores are an ideal venue for charities. The government usually finds that it saves more by not charging taxes than it otherwise would have to spend on, say, processing all that extra garbage and providing new supplies to the needy directly.

      Schools aren't what we think of as a traditional merchant, but as such, they don't have to pay a tax on the lunch they sold your child, or on the snacks you bought at their fundraiser bake sale.

      Your school is still an ordinary customer to it's suppliers. It buys supplies, utilities. It rents facilities. These suppliers and service providers are charged by the government taxes for their income. Sure, the school is paying the money which the caterer will use to cover that tax, but as with any business purchase, the school itself is not being taxed.

      However, I could envision a grant system which provides the school a "refund" based sorta-arbitrarily on the amount their supplier was taxed when doing business with them. After all, their supplier's and service providers will have sent them receipts with "taxes" listed.

  3. Filter our telemarketers by InterGuru · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sign up for nomorobo.com. It's free service that blocks telemarketers

    From their website

    Nomorobo uses a feature known as "Simultaneous Ring". When simultaneous ring is enabled, your phone will ring on more than one number at the same time. The first device to pick it up gets the call and the other phones stop ringing.

    So, when the Nomorobo number is enabled as a simultaneous ring number it is the first number to screen the call. If it’s a legitimate call, the call goes through to your number. If the call is an illegal robocaller, Nomorobo intercepts the call and hangs up for you. Your phone will ring once letting you know that the robocall has been answered and stopped.

    1. Re:Filter our telemarketers by ubrgeek · · Score: 1

      We love this thing. Been using it since (pretty much) the day the service was first offered. We don't even move toward picking up the phone until after it rings more than once. One ring = telemarketer.

      --
      Bark less. Wag more.
    2. Re:Filter our telemarketers by chihowa · · Score: 3, Informative

      The first thing I think when I hear "free service" is to wonder how I am really paying for this service. This company will have complete logs of all of your incoming calls, which could be worth something to somebody. They claim otherwise, though.

      From their site:

      How Does Nomorobo Stay In Business?
      The service is free for consumers but business and public safety organizations pay to license the data. For consumers, robocalls are annoying. But, for businesses it costs them real money. And, for EMS systems (like 911), it could be a matter of life and death.

      These are the people that don't mind paying for the service and using it directly in their telephone equipment.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  4. Google announces another product they wont sell me by netsavior · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would love to buy fiber, but like 95% of the country, NOPE. Yay another add-on feature I can't buy.

  5. Re:Separating first and third worlds by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

    I want to know when Google Fiber is going to roll out everywhere. I want it here, but no joy yet.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  6. April Fools by bano · · Score: 1

    This article is a couple days early.

  7. Re: Fiber or Fire? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It was made from fiber til it caught on fire.

  8. Great news, for parts of 3 cities by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    If you happen to live in the right neighborhood of one of the 3 cities that has any Google fiber, then hooray!

    For the rest of you, don't hold your breath.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  9. Re:Separating first and third worlds by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Funny

    At they rate they've been deploying it so far, it should be in every major U.S. market by the year 2216.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  10. This should be free by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Interesting

    (And by "free" I mean at no additional cost beyond the Google Fiber internet service itself.)

    After all, Google already offers Google Voice / Hangouts for free. I assume that this is just Google Voice plus an ATA -- essentially the same thing lots of people already do using an ObiTalk, just entirely Google-branded.

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    1. Re:This should be free by crow · · Score: 2

      I use an Obi, and I would agree except for a few things. The service they're offering is roughly equivalent to using an Obi with their premium subscription service. Google Fiber Talk customers get caller ID and other features that you don't get directly with Google Voice.

      Google will also allow you to port your land line over, which they won't with Google Voice (you have to first port it to a mobile, so it can be done if you're really determined). They also provide E911 service, which is not part of Google Voice. There are add-on services you can use with Google Voice for $1/month to get E911, or you can just map 911 to your local emergency dispatch number (knowing they won't automatically get your address that way).

      Our "land" line is VoIP with an Obi (I highly recommend it), but we use voip.ms specifically because it will send Caller ID names from my address book. We don't have enough minutes in monthly calling to make the Obi subscription service make sense or we would switch.

    2. Re:This should be free by techpeon · · Score: 1

      I agree, I went with an Obihai ATA and voip.ms years ago. I can't identify any downsides. I'm puzzled by much of the general discussion on this topic; if you're not using a VoIP service why are you here? I thought this was news for nerds, not consumer reports.

    3. Re:This should be free by crow · · Score: 1

      To be fair, some people might not realize how easy it is; this is a chance for them to learn. Also, in some cases, Comcast will bundle phone service such that you pay less with it than without. I did that once and never hooked it up.

  11. More expensive than Ooma by coinreturn · · Score: 1

    When I had Verizon FIOS, I just got an Ooma box and paid $3.95/mo for the same (initially only $12/yr, but later increased)

  12. Re: Thank You, Google! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's not their motto anymore, which was "don't be evil", by the way.

  13. Google will be happy to sell it to you by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    Just as soon as you do something about the schmucks running your state legislature. Oh, and get Citizens United over turned while you're at it. Our nation's political decisions have consequences, and this is one of them.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Google will be happy to sell it to you by jratcliffe · · Score: 1

      Google will be happy to sell it to you...so long as you live in an area where construction is cheap and incomes are high enough to drive high penetration, and/or where the local government is willing to give Google a better deal on pole attachment, buildout requirements, etc. than the existing cable and Telco operators got.

  14. When I get off the phone by future+assassin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    will online ad tracking now show me ads relating to what I was talking about on the phone?

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
    1. Re:When I get off the phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      will online ad tracking now show me ads relating to what I was talking about on the phone?

      My first thoughts exactly...

  15. Re:Why so expensive? by Krojack · · Score: 1

    Expensive? Your old fashion land lines would be $35+ a month. Vonage is also $10/month for home service.

    In order to get this service, you already need to have Google's fiber service.

  16. Re:Fiber or Fire? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Too much fiber and your ass will be on fire.

  17. Re:Separating first and third worlds by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 3, Funny

    Good, that means it should be available in my small town in Canada by the year 5940.

  18. Re:Why so expensive? by Krojack · · Score: 1

    http://www.vonage.com/personal...

    Looks like $9.99/month with some 12 month contract or $24.99/mon no contract.

  19. Re:Google announces another product they wont sell by crow · · Score: 1

    Because you don't get caller-ID names or E911 that way.

    I love my Obi, but we have a low call volume, so we use VoIP.ms specifically to get caller-ID names (free if they're in your address book). There are several options for E911 that cost $1/month, with Google Voice or separately, or you can route 911 directly to the local emergency number, though they won't get your location automatically that way.

    If Google Voice gets an upgrade to send Caller ID Names using Google Contacts, I'll switch.

  20. Re:Why so expensive? by JackieBrown · · Score: 2

    Oh right, USA. I keep forgetting that you guys get fleeced for phone service.

    What does it cost elsewhere?

  21. Re:Why so expensive? by asliarun · · Score: 1

    Expensive? Your old fashion land lines would be $35+ a month. Vonage is also $10/month for home service.

    In order to get this service, you already need to have Google's fiber service.

    $10 a month is indeed expensive when compared to Ooma. Ooma is free - all you have to do is pay for the device, which admittedly is $100. But it works well, and I have been using it for over a year without any complaints or issues. And international call rates are very reasonable too - about 6-8 cents a minute. And while $100 is a bit high, the device itself is quite sleek and well implemented. It has voicemail and recording facility, and is really easy to use and setup (took me all of 2 minutes to setup).

    I do pay tax for the landline service (everyone has to) but it only amounts to about 3-4 bucks a month. I would imagine that one would have to pay the same rate or possibly higher for the Google landline service.

    But yes, Vonage (which I replaced with Ooma) is indeed overpriced and not at all worth the money.

  22. Re:Google announces another product they wont sell by pepsikid · · Score: 1

    Our OBI100 provides numeric caller-id. Perhaps you need to log onto obitalk.com and check a box?

    What we don't like about OBI actually, is the remote administration (and the google fiber router is the same way). You have to set up an account on the merchant's website to make your configurations; they get relayed to your OBI once you save them. The OBI does have it's own onboard web admin, but as long as OBI's service is working, it'll be overwritten almost right away.

  23. Re:Why so expensive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What does it cost elsewhere?

    €1.19/month (taxes included) from a solid provider. It comes with unlimited calls within France and to 40 other countries including the USA.

  24. Re:Google announces another product they wont sell by crow · · Score: 1

    Oh, yes, we Google Voice does send numeric Caller ID, but not the much-more-useful names. All I really want is names from my contacts.

    My understanding of how the system works in the USA is that your telephone company (Verizon, Google Voice, etc.) does a database lookup on the phone number and adds the name to the Caller ID information sent with the first ring. I think there are only one or two providers of that database, and their terms are that you pay per lookup and can't cache the results. (I believe in Canada, the name is added on the outgoing side at the same time the number is sent, so there's no database issue. Too bad it doesn't work that way here.)

  25. Re:Why so expensive? by mcswell · · Score: 1

    what provider?

  26. Why? by mcswell · · Score: 1

    I dropped my land line over ten years ago, and have never wanted it back. Occasionally I use skype, but only when someone on the other end wants to see my beaming face; the rest of the time it's my cell phone. Why would anyone pay for a land line? Is it because the voice quality is that much better? (My current phone is a Nokia, and the voice quality seems quite good, both send and receive.) Are there other reasons?

    1. Re:Why? by vandamme · · Score: 1

      In the case of my wife, it's inertia. "But everyone knows our number, and we've had it 42 years." Yeah, so does "Bridget from Cardholder Services" who calls once a day! GRRRRRRR.

        But this week, it rained cats&dogs, and our phone was out for two days, as usual. The response from Verizon is "we'll be out in 4 days, after the lines dry up and it works again, and find there's no problem" as usual. Coincidentally, we got a bill for $89 for our bare bones service (no caller ID, forwarding, anything fancy).

      I got an Obi and wired it up, and when she tried it out she liked. So I think we're finally free. Sigh.

      Now if I can get her to run Linux, life will be great. And no Skype for us, there are plenty of WebRTC services.

  27. Re:Why so expensive? by Rob+Lister · · Score: 2
    And looking at the fine print we see

    $9.99 for 12-Months
    Plus taxes & fees, with 1-year agreement.

    The taxes and fees are going to be ~$12, itemized ...

    Taxes
    Communications Sales Tax $1.67
    Federal Excise Tax* $0.91
    E911 Tax* $0.75
    Total Taxes $3.33

    Fees and Surcharges
    FCC Access Charge $6.41
    Carrier Cost Recovery Fee $1.49
    Federal Universal Service Fund* $1.44
    Total Fees and Surcharges $9.34
    Total Telephone Taxes, Fees and Surcharges $12.67

    So call it a spade and say ~$22 a month. Which is still ~$10 less than I pay ISP for my phone service, but it only lasts a year, and then it is the same price as my current phone service. And certainly not as good as my current phone service, given my experience with listening to the [sometimes very] garbled reception I hear when talking on the phone to those that have it.