The company bringing us self-driving cars, a modular smartphone, and internet service delivered by hot air balloons has announced its next product: a land-line phone service.
Well, sort of.
Google’s Fiber Phone is a new type of land line that offers unlimited domestic phone calls in the US for $10 per month, as well as international calls at the same rates charged through Google Voice.
While Fiber Phone is designed to be used at home, it’s also very much a cloud-connected service, as you’d expect from a Google product.
Fiber Phone can automatically transcribe your voicemail messages and send them to you via email or text message for instance. And your phone number works like any Google Voice number: you sen set it up so that someone who dials your Fiber Phone number while you’re at home will automatically be routed to another number like your work phone or cellphone.
Google says Fiber Phone supports caller ID, call waiting, and 911 emergency services.
At launch, Fiber Phone will only be available in a few regions where Google Fiber internet service is already available, and it looks like you’ll need to be a Google Fiber customer to use Fiber Phone.
In other words, this is basically Google’s answer to the TV+Internet+phone services offered by rival cable, phone, and satellite companies.
via Google Fiber