Google on Tuesday introduced Fiber Phone, a home phone service that’s part of Google Fiber, the company’s broadband and TV service.
“While mobile phones have pushed us toward the future, home phone service is still important to many families,” John Shriver-Blake, Fiber’s product manager, wrote in a blog post. “Landlines can be familiar, reliable and provide high-quality service, but the technology hasn’t always kept up.” And no, this isn’t a copper landline service in the traditional sense. It’s a modernized, use-it-anywhere service that borrows a lot from Google Voice.
Fiber Phone will only be available as a $10 per month add-on to people who already have Google Fiber’s internet service. When you need to place an international call, the rates are identical to Google Voice. Fiber Phone borrows other features from Voice, too. Your “Fiber number lives in the cloud,” according to Google. “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,” Shriver-Blake said. By contrast, my TV at home (Cablevision) can tell me when someone’s calling, but I can’t answer those calls with my phone or tablet.
Google’s larger Fiber service is only available in four cities — Provo, Utah; Kansas City, Missouri; Austin, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia. Google has said the service is coming to seven more cities, but for now, we’ll have to assume Fiber Phone will launch in one of the current Fiber markets.
Once we bring the service to your area, you can sign up and get the service through a simple installation process. To stay updated on the latest, sign up here.
