[lug] Google Project Fi options - options for using numbers from landline and mobile?

[Neal McBurnett]

I got my phone yesterday.  Lots of screen real-estate :)

Project Fi supports regular old mobile phone service, as well as offering Hangouts like all Android phones for VOIP, and doing some things like what Google Voice does, and who-knows-what-else.  I haven't studied the underyling layers much in recent years.

For now I've deferred the choice of phone numbers, and don't have a number set up for regular old phone calls while I make my decision.

The next question that now occurs to me is how to forward text messages and (even harder) MMS messages, including group chats, from my mobile number.

Tricky, phones these days....

Neal McBurnett                 http://neal.mcburnett.org/

On Tue, Aug 04, 2015 at 06:56:23PM -0600, Maxwell Spangler wrote:
> So Project Fi appears to be a VOIP service that uses WIFI or 4G carriers for data, but attempts to let you opt out of making
> traditional cell calls.  Is that right?
> 
> So you basically buy a mobile unit then a data plan and do everything with VOIP calls?
> 
> I think I'd have to try that and gain some confidence with it.
> 
> In my world, it's been years since I've had a landline.  I don't miss it, especially in times like the upcoming election season
> when people will undoubtedly attempt to reach out to you.  An easy savings of $30-40 a month.
> 
> I use an iPhone5 with AT&T and I've been satisfied with the experience.  Apple's Facetime Audio provides exceptionally good
> fidelity voice only conversations, but they are limited to Apple devices.  This may contribute to the audio quality as there is no
> public switching network and low quality voice line at the other end, just a solid all digital software-to-software connection.
>  But it does offer a real world example of how using WIFI for audio calls can easily be superior to traditional landlines -- and
> with no special WAP or network tuning.
> 
> If Google can work some magic to do Facetime Audio quality between Android phones and reliable service when calling everyone else,
> it's something to look forward to.
> 
> Good luck
> 
> On Mon, 2015-08-03 at 14:52 -0600, Neal McBurnett wrote:
> 
>     It's about time I got a new phone, and it arrives tomorrow - a Nexus 6 with Google's new Project Fi (which runs Linux, so surely this is officially on-topic!  Or not....)
> 
> 
>     I currently have two phone numbers: "A", a good old-fashioned landline via Qwest, which seems to have pretty good low-latency voice quality, and "B": an old mobile phone.  When I'm at home I find myself preferring the landline for calls, rather than hassling with a bluetooth headset and lower quality voice with more latency.
> 
>     But the other features on the landline are lacking, like seeing who is calling (vs just the caller id phone number), etc.  And it costs more money than it seems to be worth.
> 
>     One configuration I'm thinking of is to have Google port my landline number to the new mobile phone, then port my existing T-Mobile number to some sort of VOIP provider, and forward that number to my nexus.  That would save me money, and give me transcriptions of answering machine messages.
> 
>     But it doesn't seem like that will give me the ability to know what number my callers call.  Is there a way to see if they're calling A or B, e.g. via distinctive rings, or a display on the phone?
> 
>     Nor do I see how to get the nexus to make calls from B.  Can that be done e.g. via Hangouts?
> 
>     Also, I'd continue to get the spam/abuse calls I get now on the landline.  Are there useful features to make those less obtrusive?
> 
>     Are there ways to reduce the latency issues with mobile phones?  E.g. I hear about configuring better QoS on my broadband connection (does that work with Comcast?).  And using a non-bluetooth wired headset, I guess.
>     How about improving call quality - better codec choices that can be configured?
> 
>     It seems like over time Google Fi might add new features to bring it closer to par with Google Voice, so I guess this might get easier.
> 
>     I could also just port number B to the nexus and keep the landline, or switch it to VOIP, though it seems more of a hassle to do that with a landline, usually involving porting it to some throwaway gophone and then porting again to VOIP.  Or I could port both of them to VOIP and get a fresh new number on my phone.
> 
>     Or I could just abandon the old spammy landline number.  I'm not really sure what I'd do with two phone numbers, though they would seem handy if I could have one to give to trusted contacts and another for the world and have my phone treat them differently.  Or just replace the landline with one of those VOIP hardware boxes that gives you an almost-landline.
> 
>     I'm told I can get a new number when I configure the phone, and decide what to do later, then do a "late transfer" of my landline or mobile numbers, if buying some time and experience would help.
> 
> 
> --
> Maxwell Spangler
> ========================================================================
> Boulder, Colorado, USA
> http://www.maxwellspangler.com/

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