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Facebook Messenger for Android introduces free VoIP calls to Canadians

By on March 4, 2013 at 7:00pm in Mobile News


Canada continues to be Facebook’s guinea pig when it comes to testing out new features for its mobile apps. Our fair country got to test out VoIP calling over Facebook Messenger for iPhone back in January, which gradually got rolled out to the United States in the following weeks, and now we get to do it all over again with Facebook Messenger for Android.

The social networking behemoth envisions a day when consumers won’t necessarily need dedicated voice plans, opting to use higher-quality data-based calls to friends and family members over the ubiquitous presence of Facebook’s network. It’s a radical idea to which carriers have already responded; most cellular plans above $60/month include unlimited local calling, while some promotional plans include national calling as well. We tested the call quality from iPhone to iPhone and, while there was the occasional bout of lag, it impressed us with its wideband audio codec and lack of sibilance found on many VoIP solutions like Skype, Viber, Vonage, Fongo and others.

If you want to get a taste of the latest and greatest Facebook has to offer, and flaunt your Canadian IP address (it works so seldom in our favour, you might as well), download Facebook Messenger for Android.

Source: Google Play
Via: TechCrunch

Discussion

23 comments for “Facebook Messenger for Android introduces free VoIP calls to Canadians”

  • MIng Tang

    I can’t get the SMS option on my Galaxy Nexus after upgrading to JellyBean, can anyone else?

    • Mexico Ron

      Unfortunately, just like Fongo and other VOIP apps, the fragmentation of the platform means that not all devices will support this. dammit.

  • bb10

    The VOIP calling feature doesn’t work on BlackBerry 10. But everything else seems to be okay

    • wotzit2ya

      Which part of ” Facebook Messenger for Android ” did you not comprehend

  • dave

    how do you do it lol, am i missing something?

  • bb10

    @wotzit2ya The part where Android apps can be run on BB10

    • wotzit2ya

      Then get a real smartphone and stop pretending BB10 is one .Apparently it’s not since you need to port apps from another whole system .

  • Rag3r

    Thumbs up if you’ve ditched Facebook.

    • Tom

      Oh man, ditching my account back in 2009 was one of the best decisions I ever made.

  • Thompson

    At least Facebook gave Canada a first. Even RIM didn’t do that. They launched their BB10 in UK first!

  • Tom

    This is a good thing, but the lack of integration with the PSTN (regular phone network) is a huge omission. Their competitors, including Skype, Google Voice, and Fongo/Dell Voice (which also tested the waters in Canada) all offer that.

    Fongo is my current choice. Canada is rather unique in giving the incumbent carriers control over phone number assignment, so they’ve been able to block Skype/GV to a large extent. Fongo is Canadian so they can allocate numbers.

    Facebook, as a US company, will always be limited in Canada so long as we continue to let Robellus such unprecedented powers.

  • winter

    I think we need to completely get rid of the CRTC. They do nothing for the average person but sure protect big corp.

  • Shawn

    Canada is a perfect Country to test out new software. We’re a Tech savvy and smart with a population that’s not too big and not too small.

  • Tom

    @Shawn
    They also pick Canada because we have the highest rates and worst calling conditions in the Western world. Pay for caller-id, lots of long-distance zones, etc. So VoIP is more attractive in Canada.

  • bb10

    @wotzit2ya But BB10 is a real smartphone OS. There isn’t an OS out there that can run apps from two completely different platforms.

    • TP

      who says that’s the requirement for the ‘real’ smartphone?
      Whether BB10 is great or not, it is so dumb to complain that an app designed for Android is not fully functional on another platform.

  • Thrasher

    Does anyone know if it is possible to call US/Canadian numbers from the Facebook app from overseas or is this available only to us North Americans?

  • LW81

    So how do you make a call?

    • Warren

      When you’re in the conversation, click on “i” and the option should come up to make a free call

  • keyur

    Did they fix the GPS issue? i am using a nexus 4 and ones the app is started it will use GPS even if the settings on the phone are turned off and the setting on the app are turned off. Even when i logged out the phone said GPS active in the battery usage meter.

  • Kevin

    Do they support calling people on other voip services yet?

    Google Talk does. It uses their open source jingle library, used by others like Jitsi. Jabber is an open standard which Facebook uses for their chat. They just don’t interoperate like the rest.

    Facebook seems good at taking other people’s work and locking it down to their platform.

  • Tom

    On all the platforms I’ve used, I observed that the best VoIP app tends to be the one baked directly into the OS, and that app would only be compatible with that OS.

    iOS has Facetime, Android has Google Talk, WP8 has native Skype, and Blackberry has BBM.

    Third party apps (i.e. Skype for non-WP platforms, or Tango) simply don’t work quite as well as the native option. The native one doesn’t need to actively run in the background to receive a call request, which saves battery and strains the CPU less. I use Google Talk on my android, and I’ve been pretty impressed with BBM calling on my friend’s Z10.

    I might make an FB account to give this a go, but I don’t have high hopes.

  • BlackBerry N10

    In terms of facebook engulfing more of your personal information, what can come out of this?

    FaceBook knowing your locations and now where and who you’re conducting your calls with?

    detrimental or paranoid?