Today, Google announced that it will be rolling out a new home phone service called Fiber Phone. The post states that, although mobile phones are an important means of communication, home phones are still important to many families. It goes on to argue that landlines have not kept up with the latest technological advances. So Google intends to offer a service that fills basically the same role as a landline, but with additional features as well.
The service will be $10 a month, which will get you unlimited calls anywhere in the United States. International calls will be charged at the same rates as Google Voice. These rates vary wildly from country to country, but generally a few tens of cents per minute. It comes with standard features you would expect like caller ID and voicemail. If you'd like, you can also have Fiber Phone transcribe your voicemail and send it to you as a text or email. The final feature being offered by Fiber Phone is the ability to use the same number on different devices. The post states, "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."
As the name suggests, the service will only be available in cities with Google Fiber. The post states that Fiber Phone will only be available in a few areas at first, but will gradually become available in the remaining Fiber cities. The post does not offer details about which cities the service will be introduced in initially, nor does it give a timeline as to when it will be introduced in other cities. There is a map of current and upcoming Fiber cities, which should give you an idea of where the service will eventually be available.
Does Fiber Phone sound like a service you would be interested in using? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
