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.
