Anyone tried this? Looking at the app info on Google Play, it talks about unlimited tak and text, no catch and then mentions partner offers to get credits toward calling... ?!?
I tried it on iOS over wifi and found it worked very well for voice. Texting also works fine.
It seemed at least comparable in quality to FluidCall.
It does have ads.
The main reason I did not get too deeply into it was that it did not offer any real benefit over what I already had with RingPlus, GV, and an Obi.
There was a very interesting discussion on Social about it being used with great result for voice in NYC over a 64k throttled connection on the unlimited 2G plan from Tello (once the LTE allocation was used).
In summary I saw no obvious problem but did not see either what reason I had to rely on it for anything practical.
I played around with this a little bit. Had a couple of instances where I made outbound calls but recipients could not hear me. So calls could be hit or miss. The call quality was okay when it was working. Texts worked fine.
Seems you can port your number to TextNow for free. I personally have not tried this. So if nothing else you can park your phone number there for free.
If you are really cheap/frugal, you could get freedompop for data and then load TextNow with your ported number. So you have completely free VOIP service with text messaging.
The TextNow app had ads and seemed a bit too basic. Maybe the ads get turned off if you have a paid account.
Why would you choose TN over Hangouts?
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Exactly. Hangouts is just a nicer app without the ads and the 30day use requirement. Call quality seemed about the same.
I use Hangouts on throttled Tello data and have no complaints.
I'm kinda uncomfortable about Textnows's TOS that says, " You grant Us a world-wide, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable and non-exclusive right and license to use, sublicense, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, perform and display Your Content.
I'm doing the same on my primary line (Tello 100 min/200text/200MB + unlimited 64kbps(?), $3/$2/$4=$9 plus tax per month) and Google Hangouts for outgoing VOIP calls (when it doesn't matter if called person sees my GV phone number instead of my real number that I have for over a decade, and I don't give out my GV # to my family/friends), Hangout text (instant messaging). Even with throttled 64k speed, I was able to carry a decent conversation via VOIP (Google Hangouts). And, I rarely exceed 100 texts (SMS and MMS) anyway, so I'm good to go for $9/mo. But I do wish RP would still be here, though.
Do you notice any difference in Hangouts voice quality on 64k throttled versus Hangouts on full LTE (or even cellular voice)?
Yatterman if you rarely go over 100texts then don't buy the 200 text plan. Add some paygo credit and texts are 1c a text. You can mix plans and paygo.
No, I don't notice any difference.
In fact, I had to do a speed test to prove to myself that I was really on throttled data.
I've read elsewhere on the web that a particular problem with Mobile VoIP over data in general is that INCOMING calls aren't entirely reliable. And when missing incoming calls you might not even realize you missed it.
I don't have any definite proof but I have missed a few calls when relying on hangouts in the past. But anything can temporarily go awry with tech. My emails were delayed 2 hours last night for no apparent reason. I was emailing someone 20ft away on the same wifi connection.
thank you, I didn't think about that! I just chose the lowest text allotment when I first signed up.
I had signed on with TextNow a month ago, for the 2 free months deal, porting from Ringplus.
They just charged me for the second month. Won't be able to reach anyone over the weekend, most likely.
Has anyone else run into this problem?