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David Pogue: Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T?

33 points by kcy 17y ago

jamesk2 17y ago
Google Voice is a threat to AT&T and every other potential carrier for the iPhone. Maybe AT&T didn't really have anything directly to do with GV being yanked but it sure isn't going to make carriers around the world happy to have the iphone on their network if it can go around their revenue generating functions. I'd love to have the iPhone on Verizon but how much will they want the iPhone if it is a trojan horse that makes them lose MMS,SMS and international long distance revenue?
- joubert 17y ago
  Does Verizon do GSM?
  - philwelch 17y ago
    No, and they're notorious for crippling phone OS's.
  - ROFISH 17y ago
    No, but but they have massive plans to rollout LTE. LTE is a 4G technology with 4G being defined as IP address + data stream, no fancypants, no application (ala telephonery) has specific own physical/link layer.
    - joubert 17y ago
      Yeah, no GSM, no play.
- jrockway 17y ago
  Google Voice is a threat to AT&T and every other potential carrier for the iPhone. Maybe AT&T didn't really have anything directly to do with GV being yanked but it sure isn't going to make carriers around the world happy to have the iphone on their network if it can go around their revenue generating functions. How? Most people don't make international calls with their cell-phone. All Google Voice calls count as normal calls, and subtract minutes from your cell-phone plan, just like all other normal calls. So if you are calling your friend to see why he's late to dinner, AT&T makes as much money off you with GV as they do otherwise. Same with text messages; when someone sends a text message to your Google Voice number, it's relayed to your cell-phone. If you pay to receive random text messages, you paid for that one too. (But I assume iPhone users have unlimited SMS messages, so who cares?) Anyway, AT&T loses very little here, and users gain a lot in terms of convenience. (There's also the argument that Google Voice makes it easier to ditch AT&T. That's true, but I ported my number from AT&T to T-Mobile yesterday, and it took literally 15 minutes, with no involvement from me other than "ok, do it". So it's already really easy to switch away from AT&T.) All in all, I don't get it. I'm glad I have a MyTouch 3G instead of an iPhone. Google Voice works swimmingly for me (and I even get to see a cute tshirt-wearing android every time I make a call. Yay!) I'm actually surprised T-Mobile doesn't block GV, as they have a lot more to lose. With "My Faves", you get unlimited calling to 5 arbitrary numbers. With your GV number as one of those, all your calls become free. Now that actually costs them money.
  - scott_s 17y ago
    It gives AT&T less control, and increases the decoupling of a phone number from their service. You're correct that your number is transferable when you change contracts, but you have to change contracts. That is, the number is decoupled at the granularity of a contract. With GV, your number is decoupled from your AT&T phone even when you still have a contract. When someone tries to contact you, it's possible to decrease the likelihood that they will actually call your AT&T phone. These are also the same reasons why I think it's a great idea.
    - ROFISH 17y ago
      At that point, you're dependent upon Google for running your public number. If somebody comes out for a better service, or Google decides to charge money for the GV service, you might not be able to transfer your number. I'm all for giving AT&T less control in favor of Google because Google is decidedly less evil, for now. But make sure you have protections for future events.
  - jamesk2 17y ago
    GV is a VOIP application. Maybe I've read too much TechCrunch but it seemed to imply that it would use the data network and not use minutes. Are you sure it used your minutes and SMS instead of VOIP and SMS through google's accounts?
    - ubernostrum 17y ago
      If you use their web application to place calls and send SMS, then yes it's "VoIP" in the sense that it's using the data connection. The native applications for various platforms, however, seem to involve actually using the phone as a phone, but with the calls routed through GV in order to have the caller ID and such work as expected. IIRC some earlier efforts involved explicitly dialling your own GV number to initiate the call.
      - jrockway 17y ago
        VoIP means voice over IP. The only time your voice goes over IP with Google Voice is on their internal network. You use a regular phone to call Google Voice, and then they make a regular call to your destination.
harry 17y ago
Yup! I didn't renew my AT&T contract in favor of Google Voice. Whenever I find an ~iTouch/Android (Zii EGG!) portable that does what I want over WiFi I'll happily avoid larcenous SMS fees. I'd say that's a good threat to AT&T.
- jsares 17y ago
  WiFi isn't as useful as people think but not having any text charges because you're using the regular data plan is great.
  - bockris 17y ago
    I disagree. I love the WiFi on my G1. It's all but replaced my home laptop for gmail/twitter.
donaldc 17y ago
Of course Google Voice is a threat to AT&T. But in terms of the Google Voice app being rejected on the iPhone, even if AT&T applied pressure, in the end Apple should bear a lot of the blame for this. The final decision was Apple's.

33 points by kcy 17y ago

Google Voice is a threat to AT&T and every other potential carrier for the iPhone. Maybe AT&T didn't really have anything directly to do with GV being yanked but it sure isn't going to make carriers around the world happy to have the iphone on their network if it can go around their revenue generating functions. I'd love to have the iPhone on Verizon but how much will they want the iPhone if it is a trojan horse that makes them lose MMS,SMS and international long distance revenue?

joubert 17y ago
Does Verizon do GSM?
- philwelch 17y ago
  No, and they're notorious for crippling phone OS's.
- ROFISH 17y ago
  No, but but they have massive plans to rollout LTE. LTE is a 4G technology with 4G being defined as IP address + data stream, no fancypants, no application (ala telephonery) has specific own physical/link layer.
  - joubert 17y ago
    Yeah, no GSM, no play.
jrockway 17y ago
Google Voice is a threat to AT&T and every other potential carrier for the iPhone. Maybe AT&T didn't really have anything directly to do with GV being yanked but it sure isn't going to make carriers around the world happy to have the iphone on their network if it can go around their revenue generating functions. How? Most people don't make international calls with their cell-phone. All Google Voice calls count as normal calls, and subtract minutes from your cell-phone plan, just like all other normal calls. So if you are calling your friend to see why he's late to dinner, AT&T makes as much money off you with GV as they do otherwise. Same with text messages; when someone sends a text message to your Google Voice number, it's relayed to your cell-phone. If you pay to receive random text messages, you paid for that one too. (But I assume iPhone users have unlimited SMS messages, so who cares?) Anyway, AT&T loses very little here, and users gain a lot in terms of convenience. (There's also the argument that Google Voice makes it easier to ditch AT&T. That's true, but I ported my number from AT&T to T-Mobile yesterday, and it took literally 15 minutes, with no involvement from me other than "ok, do it". So it's already really easy to switch away from AT&T.) All in all, I don't get it. I'm glad I have a MyTouch 3G instead of an iPhone. Google Voice works swimmingly for me (and I even get to see a cute tshirt-wearing android every time I make a call. Yay!) I'm actually surprised T-Mobile doesn't block GV, as they have a lot more to lose. With "My Faves", you get unlimited calling to 5 arbitrary numbers. With your GV number as one of those, all your calls become free. Now that actually costs them money.
- scott_s 17y ago
  It gives AT&T less control, and increases the decoupling of a phone number from their service. You're correct that your number is transferable when you change contracts, but you have to change contracts. That is, the number is decoupled at the granularity of a contract. With GV, your number is decoupled from your AT&T phone even when you still have a contract. When someone tries to contact you, it's possible to decrease the likelihood that they will actually call your AT&T phone. These are also the same reasons why I think it's a great idea.
  - ROFISH 17y ago
    At that point, you're dependent upon Google for running your public number. If somebody comes out for a better service, or Google decides to charge money for the GV service, you might not be able to transfer your number. I'm all for giving AT&T less control in favor of Google because Google is decidedly less evil, for now. But make sure you have protections for future events.
- jamesk2 17y ago
  GV is a VOIP application. Maybe I've read too much TechCrunch but it seemed to imply that it would use the data network and not use minutes. Are you sure it used your minutes and SMS instead of VOIP and SMS through google's accounts?
  - ubernostrum 17y ago
    If you use their web application to place calls and send SMS, then yes it's "VoIP" in the sense that it's using the data connection. The native applications for various platforms, however, seem to involve actually using the phone as a phone, but with the calls routed through GV in order to have the caller ID and such work as expected. IIRC some earlier efforts involved explicitly dialling your own GV number to initiate the call.
    - jrockway 17y ago
      VoIP means voice over IP. The only time your voice goes over IP with Google Voice is on their internal network. You use a regular phone to call Google Voice, and then they make a regular call to your destination.

harry 17y ago

Yup! I didn't renew my AT&T contract in favor of Google Voice. Whenever I find an ~iTouch/Android (Zii EGG!) portable that does what I want over WiFi I'll happily avoid larcenous SMS fees. I'd say that's a good threat to AT&T.

jsares 17y ago
WiFi isn't as useful as people think but not having any text charges because you're using the regular data plan is great.
- bockris 17y ago
  I disagree. I love the WiFi on my G1. It's all but replaced my home laptop for gmail/twitter.

donaldc 17y ago

Of course Google Voice is a threat to AT&T. But in terms of the Google Voice app being rejected on the iPhone, even if AT&T applied pressure, in the end Apple should bear a lot of the blame for this. The final decision was Apple's.