Ausdroid has received information which suggests Telstra is working with Google to bring phone calls on Google Home to Australia. The feature, which has been live in the US, Canada and UK for some time, allows users of Google Home devices to make phone calls to numbers in those countries at no charge, and to premium and international destinations at cost (when linked to a Google Voice or Fi account).
We can already make Duo calls here using Google Assistant devices, but this rumoured partnership with Telstra would bring voice calls to all Google Home devices, provided you’ve got a compatible Telstra Mobile account.
Here’s how it would work:
- First, sync your contacts to Google so it knows who you’re talking about. You do this through the Google Home app.
- You set your mobile number for Caller ID. The partnership with Telstra means you can pop in your mobile number, receive a verification SMS, and then use this number as your outbound Caller ID for calls on Google Home.
- You can also opt to hide your number, or have it show as “Private”.
- You can link individual numbers to household members using Voice Match. If you don’t use Voice Match, everyone shares the one number.
- To make a call, simply ask Google to do it – “OK Google, Call Pete” or “OK Google, Dial 13 11 66”.
The feature is definitely not live in Australia yet, and – at the time of writing – Telstra hasn’t said anything publicly about it.
It’s possible that this is a work in progress, or something we might get soon. For now though, it’s an interesting rumour, and we look forward to seeing whether Google (and/or Telstra) will bring this service offering here.
I used voice activated calling yesterday, after setup I received two confirmation texts from Telstra to confirm it was active, it had a link to a help page which simply showed an error 404 page. I used the service to make two phone calls, it was great. Way better than the speaker function on my phone and crystal clear. Woke up this morning and tried to use it again, and it didn’t work. Went back into settings, and everything was gone. Unlike last night where I could actually select Telstra and enter my number. I called Telstra who quickly blamed… Read more »
This appears to be in the process of being rolled out now. I got Mobile Calling in my Home app in the last few days. After a little bit of fiddling, I got it to come up with Telstra as the service provider – “linked” to that service through a Telstra web page (pairing.calling.telstra.com), got an SMS pin from Telstra to confirm the link, and finalised it. Calling still doesn’t work (fails with a “call could not be completed” error) but even got a confirmation from them via SMS with an info link that 404’s out. I’m guessing Google enabled… Read more »
Any news on this feature?
See my post above….
Where did the info graphic come from?
As a Telstra customer this would be awesome! Bring it on Telstra!
As a Telstra customer this would be awesome!
Hi Chris, Thanks for the update the Google Nest Hub has been showing calling feature for nearly a week now. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I was using Google Duo fine then all of a sudden it gave me the option of calling or google duo when requesting a call, now google duo is not working and has been replaced with a google calling number screen but the call cant be connected audio response. Now Google Duo is working fine on the JBL & Lenovo smart display, just not the Nest Hub, I wonder if this is because I… Read more »
So in the USA, Canada and UK, everyone with a Google Home can call any telephone in those countries.
But in Australia it will be limited to those who have a Telstra mobile account?
That’s sad 🙁
No, it’s more anyone with a Telstra account will probably be able to call anyone in Australia etc. Remember this is just being discussed, it’s not a confirmed service offering yet.
Still, it would be a sad situation if it were restricted to Telstra customers at either end.
It would not match what Google Home users have in the USA, Canada and UK. It would also make usability more difficult, as you would have to link the Telstra account to your Google account.
I hope Google finds a solution so that any Google Assistant device can make a phone call, just like they can in those other countries.