Yoshi212

I have the Nexus 5X and the calls were put through Wifi when the wifi signal was strong. Not sure if I had selected a setting for Wifi call priority or not.

wco81

I made Wifi calls in Australia and I was billed for them. Calling Australia numbers while in Australia.

Zorak

That's to be expected, isn't it? When you use Wifi calling, for billing purposes pretend you are standing in the US.

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en

under "Rates for international calls" there's a chart that explains the various permutations.

squawk1200

I've never used Fi internationally.. Yet... But.... I spent Thanksgiving and the subsequent weekend with Fi and I've got to say, my experience was good solid... eh.....

Being here in the middle of the US and heading up through the northern plains, my Nexus 5x was fine where T-mobile and Sprint have highway coverage. In places, they do not cover I-29 and in those spots, it was amazing how auto mode plain failed to find a signal... I used SignalSpy to select US Cellular and viola, coverage... Why the phone itself could not find the network is beyond me...

One Fi related thing that I found annoying, was what seems to be the simplistic way the phone (when it actually does this) selects the "best" network... I found it interesting that the phone would choose 1xRTT over available 3G coverage. Or it would choose HSxPA that had no IP connectivity over a well functioning 3G EvDO or LTE connection... I don't think that Google factored in what the user experience over just grabbing any old signal... To give you a comparison, it kept choosing 1xRTT out in rural America, where there was a wonderful 10Mbps LTE signal to use (Thank you USC!). Unfortunately I had to force it to the LTE network every time...

Project Fi certainly requires a lot of user interaction to maintain coverage in my version of rural America... Consequently, our Verizon phones just plain worked... Family members on AT&T had spotty coverage at best...

I think Fi has a ton of potential, it needs some tweaking in the area of network selection... The partnership with USC was an excellent move, but somehow they need to allow the phone to actually choose their network over Tmob and Sprint roaming partners providing less than satisfactory service...

devans999

I might be wrong, but I think if you install the hangouts dialer and use that instead of the normal phone dialer app, it forces the call to be data, so it will just be data usage (therefore no international phone rate) either LTE or wifi. Voice quality might be less than optimal though.

Letitride3c

Exactly, done this with the Nexus 5X with Fi's data only Sim while abroad, so it's either using cellular or WiFi data, including just 3G speed with the Hangout App/Dialer (just don't use the default (in my case, the Nexus stock Phone App/Dialer) - to make dirt cheap calls when it's not free.

My Contacts dial my Google Voice/Hangout # and it's routed accordingly based on my whitelist, especially when I'm traveling for screening purposes - the unknown ones go to Voice Mail.

As for Voice Quality - 95% of the time, not an issue - hardly anyone questioned what/where I am calling from/with and/or sound quality being choppy, etc. Last month, in the greater Toronto, ON area and everything worked flawlessly with great speed - including Mrs. L's Nexus 6 on Fi Network.

progapanda

You're quite correct, actually. This is a pretty safe workaround to ensure your calls are routed over data. ^

TravelinSperry

I don't understand. I have Google Hangouts installed. When I go into it I can either "chat" with friends or make a new video call to them. It doesn't show me any dialer function/feature. How does one make a voice call via it?

progapanda

You need the "Hangouts Dialer" app (by Google, so it's legit and not crapware). Dial using the Hangouts Dialer when roaming overseas to get the cheaper rates for calling anywhere (i.e. not the flat 20c a minute rate for calls over a mobile network).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...tsdialer&hl=en

wco81

You can make free calls through the Hangouts Dialer while roaming overseas?

progapanda

Free calls to most US numbers. "Free" in the sense you're only using data.

Anywhere else is at the standard Hangouts per minute price, see:

https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/rates?hl=en&p=hangout

TravelinSperry

So I downloaded the app and attempted to open it. I received a message that states "We are sorry, but phone calling is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

Is this the same for everyone? Perhaps they are updating something? Or is it just me for some reason? Perhaps because I am outside the US?

Also - these rates you are showing aren't free. Wouldn't wifi calling be free no matter where? Or perhaps I've lost my mind!

ROW2Aisle

A Wi-Fi call works as if you are physically in the USA and so all calls to US number are free. With Wi-Fi calling you don't pay for the airtime to connect to the local mobile service provider your phone is connected to as the calls are routed through Wi-Fi. So if you make a Wi-Fi call while in the US to a US number the call is free but if you call a number outside the US then you get charged.

LordHamster

Hangouts Dialer works for me... try resetting your phone. Once you have hangouts dialer installed, you should see the phone dialer available within your Hangouts APP as well.

Remember when making phone calls to use the format +1-999-888-7777 where 1 is the country code and 999 is the area code.

As for cost:

Google FI uses the old Google Voice / Hangouts infrastructure and billing structure for the most part. VOIP calls to the US/Canada from anywhere are free... calls via wifi to other destinations are billed as if you were making a long distance call from home.
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/rates?hl=en&p=hangout

Last week I was in India. If I used cellular... then normal FI roaming applies and I'm charged 20 cents/min no matter where I call.

If I used Hangouts dialer, it makes the call via VOIP. This can work over wifi or the cellular data network. If I was on the cellular data network then the voip called used a small amount of data from my allotment. If I was on Wifi, it used nothing obviously...

From India, using Hangouts dialer (Voip or wifi) to call the US/canada costs nothing as the rate is free. If I use Hangouts Dialer to call other countries (including India where I happened to be) the price was whatever the normal US-International rate was for the destination. In my case using Hangouts Dialer, if I was calling India, the rate was 1cent/min. Calling Germany? 1-4cents / min depending on the recipient's provider. etc.

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en

Letitride3c

Trying to figure out your setup & hardware - Pixel smartphone on Fi network, easiest might be to make a free call to Fi support from abroad - they can troubleshoot for/with you while on the call & check your settings (or, chat online w. tech support)

Hangout and Hangout Dialer Apps are both fine, just checked and use it here (inside the U.S.) - no issues. If your Android OS is up-to-date and you're already tried a simple reboot - set aside a few minutes to call or do a live, online chat with Fi support, it's free & they are pretty qood without being on hold, unless the legacy ones.

WiFi calling to the US (from overseas) are free and for as little as 2 cents, 4 cents (some slightly higher, made a few at 8 cents a minute) are still very, very cheap. When we're on cruise ships - WiFi calling onboard using "their" App & satellite network was 79 cents a minute (vs. traditional maritime call from the stateroom at $4.99 USD a minute,) ouch !! Given the quality of the Fi connections with their 100+ partners, I'm okay with that.

In a few countries, Hangout calling is blocked or not available, for whatever technical, governmental or operational reasons (they are noted in the user's guide/info, easy to look up) ... fallback plans for us are typically Skype.