Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
WhatsApp Instant Messaging application has released its newest facility – the capability to make free voice calls to other WhatsApp contacts. Whilst this facility is presently available only to Android users, it is just a matter of time before it is made available to iOS devices too. The voice facility primarily commenced out being available “by invitation only” which presumingly permitted the techies to test the quality and capacity of their network, however now no invitation is needed as all Android users have this facility when updating to the latest version of WhatsApp from the Google Play store.
There are already several Questions which need to be answered in order fully understand the “free WhatsApp call facility”:
1. Is it indeed Free calls ?
No. When you use an application to make a phone call, you are using Data. This is the same type of data that you use when browsing the Internet, watching YouTube or downloading email. This data comes at a cost which you pay your cellular provider. If you are a regular user of mobile data, then typically you would geyser a Data bundle onto your account so that the cost per Megabyte of data is substantially diminished compared to the premium rate of using data “out of bundle”.
Two. How much does a WhatsApp call cost ?
During my testing, I used inbetween 200Kb and 500Kb per minute to make a WhatsApp call. Therefore, depending on your data package you could pay under 1c that phone call. If you don’t have a data package loaded, then this rate is much higher and in fact could be more than making a regular mobile calls.
If you make the phone calls over a WiFi network, then you no longer incur the mobile data rate as the phone uses the WiFi for its internet connection. You do pay the ADSL service provider and just piggyback on this network to make your calls. So again, not 100% free (unless you use a free WiFi hotspot).
Three. Who pays for the call ?
It is significant to note that when making a regular voice call, the caller is 100% responsible for the cost of that call. The receiver in most countries does not pay to receive the call. However, this is NOT so with WhatsApp voice calls as the receiver of the call also incurs data charges. Therefore both the caller and the recipient of the call pay their own data costs.
It is critical to reminisce this when accepting a WhatsApp call as the moment the call is answered, your mobile phone is consuming data which you pay for.
Presently, the WhatsApp application does not alert you if the recipient is on a WiFi or mobile data which would be useful to know in determining whether to place the call or not.
Of course, if both parties are on a WiFi network, then neither incur the mobile data cost, however then neither party is “mobile” and therefore there are plethora of other VoIP applications which can be used.
Four. How is WhatsApp voice calls different to other calling apps ?
It is not. Techie have been using apps like Viber, Tango, BBM to make voice phone calls for years – even making local calls within the same city. The result is cheaper data rates verses exorbitant mobile phone rates.
The big difference is that the apps like Viber, Tango are largely unknown and the BBM community has shrunk therefore WhatsApp’s large universal community virtually makes it a standard and the default go-to voice app.
Five. What about Privacy ?
There is no Do Not Disturb or Disable phone calls facility in WhatsApp which could work against the initial intention of WhatsApp which was meant for discrete text messaging. Just like being able to disable the “two blue ticks” read notifications that inform the sender when the message has been read, there should be the option of disabling the Call facility too. One should be able to disable the Profile Pics from taking over the phone’s screen as there are inappropriate profile pics…
As there is no authorisation to become a contacts (as there is on BlackBerry BBM), I fear that spammers will latch onto this cheap voice call facility and being to randomly call numbers. This is presently happening with unsolicited text messages in WhatsApp but now could escalate to voice too.
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six Comments
Just so people know Whatsapp calls are not free. I live in the UK and was in in Dubai for three weeks in March/April 2016. Whilst I was there I received whatsapp calls from someone most nights after my daughter went to bed. When I got back home I had two bills from O2 each one being over £400. I contacted O2 to get a copy of my bill and it looked as if I had made the calls which I certainly did not. When in Dubai I had data wandering switched off and was connected to my daughters wifi provider. This meant I could send whatsapp messages whilst in her appartment but not when I was away from her appartment. Even however I was connected to her wifi when I received the whatsapp calls the data usage was charged to my UK wifi, that is O2. I contacted O2 when I found out and they were good enough to waive some of the charges but not all of the charges. I then went to the cummunications ombudsman who investigated the problem and even tho’ they got O2 to waive some more of the bill, but not all of the bill, they said the problem of the calls not using my daughters wifi was a problem with whatsapp. I have attempted to contact whatsapp, which is possessed by facebook, but They are not answering my emails and I do not have a number that I can ring them on. So people need to be aware that even tho’ a whatsapp call id ‘free' to the person making the call it is not free to the person receiving the call. If you are within the EU your calls will be capped to approximately £40 pounds in total and you receive a warning from O2 if you are with them. But if you are outside the EU you do not have this protection so if you response a call from someone and you suspect it is an international whatsapp call do not reaction it because the costs are prohibitive. I had one call that was over £90. Obviously I am utterly pleased with how O2 managed the problem.
Something does not make sense. If you certainly had data and data wandering switched off on your phone, WhatsApp would have to use your daughter's WiFi connection or you would not be connected at all. An incoming call cannot override this and connect to data wandering.
Plus you say you were “charged to your UK wifi”. This is unlikely. You certainly weren't connected to your home wifi while in Dubai.
The only possible unfortunate screenplay was that your wandering was not switched off and you were charged the exorbitant data wandering fees. And you would also only default to data if you got disconnected from your daughter's WiFi.
Do both completes of a call require WhatsApps installed ?
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
WhatsApp Instant Messaging application has released its newest facility – the capability to make free voice calls to other WhatsApp contacts. Whilst this facility is presently available only to Android users, it is just a matter of time before it is made available to iOS devices too. The voice facility originally embarked out being available “by invitation only” which presumingly permitted the techies to test the quality and capacity of their network, however now no invitation is needed as all Android users have this facility when updating to the latest version of WhatsApp from the Google Play store.
There are already several Questions which need to be answered in order fully understand the “free WhatsApp call facility”:
1. Is it truly Free calls ?
No. When you use an application to make a phone call, you are using Data. This is the same type of data that you use when browsing the Internet, watching YouTube or downloading email. This data comes at a cost which you pay your cellular provider. If you are a regular user of mobile data, then typically you would geyser a Data bundle onto your account so that the cost per Megabyte of data is substantially diminished compared to the premium rate of using data “out of bundle”.
Two. How much does a WhatsApp call cost ?
During my testing, I used inbetween 200Kb and 500Kb per minute to make a WhatsApp call. Therefore, depending on your data package you could pay under 1c that phone call. If you don’t have a data package loaded, then this rate is much higher and in fact could be more than making a regular mobile calls.
If you make the phone calls over a WiFi network, then you no longer incur the mobile data rate as the phone uses the WiFi for its internet connection. You do pay the ADSL service provider and just piggyback on this network to make your calls. So again, not 100% free (unless you use a free WiFi hotspot).
Trio. Who pays for the call ?
It is significant to note that when making a regular voice call, the caller is 100% responsible for the cost of that call. The receiver in most countries does not pay to receive the call. However, this is NOT so with WhatsApp voice calls as the receiver of the call also incurs data charges. Therefore both the caller and the recipient of the call pay their own data costs.
It is critical to recall this when accepting a WhatsApp call as the moment the call is answered, your mobile phone is consuming data which you pay for.
Presently, the WhatsApp application does not alert you if the recipient is on a WiFi or mobile data which would be useful to know in determining whether to place the call or not.
Of course, if both parties are on a WiFi network, then neither incur the mobile data cost, however then neither party is “mobile” and therefore there are plethora of other VoIP applications which can be used.
Four. How is WhatsApp voice calls different to other calling apps ?
It is not. Techie have been using apps like Viber, Tango, BBM to make voice phone calls for years – even making local calls within the same city. The result is cheaper data rates verses exorbitant mobile phone rates.
The big difference is that the apps like Viber, Tango are largely unknown and the BBM community has shrunk therefore WhatsApp’s large universal community virtually makes it a standard and the default go-to voice app.
Five. What about Privacy ?
There is no Do Not Disturb or Disable phone calls facility in WhatsApp which could work against the initial intention of WhatsApp which was meant for discrete text messaging. Just like being able to disable the “two blue ticks” read notifications that inform the sender when the message has been read, there should be the option of disabling the Call facility too. One should be able to disable the Profile Pics from taking over the phone’s screen as there are inappropriate profile pics…
As there is no authorisation to become a contacts (as there is on BlackBerry BBM), I fear that spammers will latch onto this cheap voice call facility and being to randomly call numbers. This is presently happening with unsolicited text messages in WhatsApp but now could escalate to voice too.
Liked what you read? share it :
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six Comments
Just so people know Whatsapp calls are not free. I live in the UK and was in in Dubai for three weeks in March/April 2016. Whilst I was there I received whatsapp calls from someone most nights after my daughter went to bed. When I got back home I had two bills from O2 each one being over £400. I contacted O2 to get a copy of my bill and it looked as if I had made the calls which I certainly did not. When in Dubai I had data wandering switched off and was connected to my daughters wifi provider. This meant I could send whatsapp messages whilst in her appartment but not when I was away from her appartment. Even however I was connected to her wifi when I received the whatsapp calls the data usage was charged to my UK wifi, that is O2. I contacted O2 when I found out and they were good enough to waive some of the charges but not all of the charges. I then went to the cummunications ombudsman who investigated the problem and even however they got O2 to waive some more of the bill, but not all of the bill, they said the problem of the calls not using my daughters wifi was a problem with whatsapp. I have attempted to contact whatsapp, which is possessed by facebook, but They are not answering my emails and I do not have a number that I can ring them on. So people need to be aware that even however a whatsapp call id ‘free' to the person making the call it is not free to the person receiving the call. If you are within the EU your calls will be capped to approximately £40 pounds in total and you receive a warning from O2 if you are with them. But if you are outside the EU you do not have this protection so if you reaction a call from someone and you suspect it is an international whatsapp call do not response it because the costs are prohibitive. I had one call that was over £90. Obviously I am enormously pleased with how O2 managed the problem.
Something does not make sense. If you certainly had data and data wandering switched off on your phone, WhatsApp would have to use your daughter's WiFi connection or you would not be connected at all. An incoming call cannot override this and connect to data wandering.
Plus you say you were “charged to your UK wifi”. This is unlikely. You certainly weren't connected to your home wifi while in Dubai.
The only possible unfortunate script was that your wandering was not switched off and you were charged the exorbitant data wandering fees. And you would also only default to data if you got disconnected from your daughter's WiFi.
Do both completes of a call require WhatsApps installed ?
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
WhatsApp Instant Messaging application has released its newest facility – the capability to make free voice calls to other WhatsApp contacts. Whilst this facility is presently available only to Android users, it is just a matter of time before it is made available to iOS devices too. The voice facility originally embarked out being available “by invitation only” which presumingly permitted the techies to test the quality and capacity of their network, however now no invitation is needed as all Android users have this facility when updating to the latest version of WhatsApp from the Google Play store.
There are already several Questions which need to be answered in order fully understand the “free WhatsApp call facility”:
1. Is it truly Free calls ?
No. When you use an application to make a phone call, you are using Data. This is the same type of data that you use when browsing the Internet, watching YouTube or downloading email. This data comes at a cost which you pay your cellular provider. If you are a regular user of mobile data, then typically you would explosion a Data bundle onto your account so that the cost per Megabyte of data is substantially diminished compared to the premium rate of using data “out of bundle”.
Two. How much does a WhatsApp call cost ?
During my testing, I used inbetween 200Kb and 500Kb per minute to make a WhatsApp call. Therefore, depending on your data package you could pay under 1c that phone call. If you don’t have a data package loaded, then this rate is much higher and in fact could be more than making a regular mobile calls.
If you make the phone calls over a WiFi network, then you no longer incur the mobile data rate as the phone uses the WiFi for its internet connection. You do pay the ADSL service provider and just piggyback on this network to make your calls. So again, not 100% free (unless you use a free WiFi hotspot).
Trio. Who pays for the call ?
It is significant to note that when making a regular voice call, the caller is 100% responsible for the cost of that call. The receiver in most countries does not pay to receive the call. However, this is NOT so with WhatsApp voice calls as the receiver of the call also incurs data charges. Therefore both the caller and the recipient of the call pay their own data costs.
It is critical to reminisce this when accepting a WhatsApp call as the moment the call is answered, your mobile phone is consuming data which you pay for.
Presently, the WhatsApp application does not alert you if the recipient is on a WiFi or mobile data which would be useful to know in determining whether to place the call or not.
Of course, if both parties are on a WiFi network, then neither incur the mobile data cost, however then neither party is “mobile” and therefore there are plethora of other VoIP applications which can be used.
Four. How is WhatsApp voice calls different to other calling apps ?
It is not. Techie have been using apps like Viber, Tango, BBM to make voice phone calls for years – even making local calls within the same city. The result is cheaper data rates verses exorbitant mobile phone rates.
The big difference is that the apps like Viber, Tango are largely unknown and the BBM community has shrunk therefore WhatsApp’s large universal community virtually makes it a standard and the default go-to voice app.
Five. What about Privacy ?
There is no Do Not Disturb or Disable phone calls facility in WhatsApp which could work against the initial intention of WhatsApp which was meant for discrete text messaging. Just like being able to disable the “two blue ticks” read notifications that inform the sender when the message has been read, there should be the option of disabling the Call facility too. One should be able to disable the Profile Pics from taking over the phone’s screen as there are inappropriate profile pics…
As there is no authorisation to become a contacts (as there is on BlackBerry BBM), I fear that spammers will latch onto this cheap voice call facility and being to randomly call numbers. This is presently happening with unsolicited text messages in WhatsApp but now could escalate to voice too.
Liked what you read? share it :
Related
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six Comments
Just so people know Whatsapp calls are not free. I live in the UK and was in in Dubai for three weeks in March/April 2016. Whilst I was there I received whatsapp calls from someone most nights after my daughter went to bed. When I got back home I had two bills from O2 each one being over £400. I contacted O2 to get a copy of my bill and it looked as if I had made the calls which I certainly did not. When in Dubai I had data wandering switched off and was connected to my daughters wifi provider. This meant I could send whatsapp messages whilst in her appartment but not when I was away from her appartment. Even however I was connected to her wifi when I received the whatsapp calls the data usage was charged to my UK wifi, that is O2. I contacted O2 when I found out and they were good enough to waive some of the charges but not all of the charges. I then went to the cummunications ombudsman who investigated the problem and even tho’ they got O2 to waive some more of the bill, but not all of the bill, they said the problem of the calls not using my daughters wifi was a problem with whatsapp. I have attempted to contact whatsapp, which is possessed by facebook, but They are not answering my emails and I do not have a number that I can ring them on. So people need to be aware that even however a whatsapp call id ‘free' to the person making the call it is not free to the person receiving the call. If you are within the EU your calls will be capped to approximately £40 pounds in total and you receive a warning from O2 if you are with them. But if you are outside the EU you do not have this protection so if you response a call from someone and you suspect it is an international whatsapp call do not reaction it because the costs are prohibitive. I had one call that was over £90. Obviously I am enormously pleased with how O2 managed the problem.
Something does not make sense. If you certainly had data and data wandering switched off on your phone, WhatsApp would have to use your daughter's WiFi connection or you would not be connected at all. An incoming call cannot override this and connect to data wandering.
Plus you say you were “charged to your UK wifi”. This is unlikely. You certainly weren't connected to your home wifi while in Dubai.
The only possible unfortunate screenplay was that your wandering was not switched off and you were charged the exorbitant data wandering fees. And you would also only default to data if you got disconnected from your daughter's WiFi.
Do both finishes of a call require WhatsApps installed ?
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
Five critical questions you need answered before using WhatsApp free voice calls
WhatsApp Instant Messaging application has released its newest facility – the capability to make free voice calls to other WhatsApp contacts. Whilst this facility is presently available only to Android users, it is just a matter of time before it is made available to iOS devices too. The voice facility primarily commenced out being available “by invitation only” which presumingly permitted the techies to test the quality and capacity of their network, however now no invitation is needed as all Android users have this facility when updating to the latest version of WhatsApp from the Google Play store.
There are already several Questions which need to be answered in order fully understand the “free WhatsApp call facility”:
1. Is it truly Free calls ?
No. When you use an application to make a phone call, you are using Data. This is the same type of data that you use when browsing the Internet, watching YouTube or downloading email. This data comes at a cost which you pay your cellular provider. If you are a regular user of mobile data, then typically you would stream a Data bundle onto your account so that the cost per Megabyte of data is substantially diminished compared to the premium rate of using data “out of bundle”.
Two. How much does a WhatsApp call cost ?
During my testing, I used inbetween 200Kb and 500Kb per minute to make a WhatsApp call. Therefore, depending on your data package you could pay under 1c that phone call. If you don’t have a data package loaded, then this rate is much higher and in fact could be more than making a regular mobile calls.
If you make the phone calls over a WiFi network, then you no longer incur the mobile data rate as the phone uses the WiFi for its internet connection. You do pay the ADSL service provider and just piggyback on this network to make your calls. So again, not 100% free (unless you use a free WiFi hotspot).
Three. Who pays for the call ?
It is significant to note that when making a regular voice call, the caller is 100% responsible for the cost of that call. The receiver in most countries does not pay to receive the call. However, this is NOT so with WhatsApp voice calls as the receiver of the call also incurs data charges. Therefore both the caller and the recipient of the call pay their own data costs.
It is critical to recall this when accepting a WhatsApp call as the moment the call is answered, your mobile phone is consuming data which you pay for.
Presently, the WhatsApp application does not alert you if the recipient is on a WiFi or mobile data which would be useful to know in determining whether to place the call or not.
Of course, if both parties are on a WiFi network, then neither incur the mobile data cost, however then neither party is “mobile” and therefore there are plethora of other VoIP applications which can be used.
Four. How is WhatsApp voice calls different to other calling apps ?
It is not. Techie have been using apps like Viber, Tango, BBM to make voice phone calls for years – even making local calls within the same city. The result is cheaper data rates verses exorbitant mobile phone rates.
The big difference is that the apps like Viber, Tango are largely unknown and the BBM community has shrunk therefore WhatsApp’s large universal community virtually makes it a standard and the default go-to voice app.
Five. What about Privacy ?
There is no Do Not Disturb or Disable phone calls facility in WhatsApp which could work against the initial intention of WhatsApp which was meant for discrete text messaging. Just like being able to disable the “two blue ticks” read notifications that inform the sender when the message has been read, there should be the option of disabling the Call facility too. One should be able to disable the Profile Pics from taking over the phone’s screen as there are inappropriate profile pics…
As there is no authorisation to become a contacts (as there is on BlackBerry BBM), I fear that spammers will latch onto this cheap voice call facility and being to randomly call numbers. This is presently happening with unsolicited text messages in WhatsApp but now could escalate to voice too.
Liked what you read? share it :
Related
Zombies attack on subway might be taking April Fools to a fresh dangerous level
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six Comments
Just so people know Whatsapp calls are not free. I live in the UK and was in in Dubai for three weeks in March/April 2016. Whilst I was there I received whatsapp calls from someone most nights after my daughter went to bed. When I got back home I had two bills from O2 each one being over £400. I contacted O2 to get a copy of my bill and it looked as if I had made the calls which I certainly did not. When in Dubai I had data wandering switched off and was connected to my daughters wifi provider. This meant I could send whatsapp messages whilst in her appartment but not when I was away from her appartment. Even tho’ I was connected to her wifi when I received the whatsapp calls the data usage was charged to my UK wifi, that is O2. I contacted O2 when I found out and they were good enough to waive some of the charges but not all of the charges. I then went to the cummunications ombudsman who investigated the problem and even tho’ they got O2 to waive some more of the bill, but not all of the bill, they said the problem of the calls not using my daughters wifi was a problem with whatsapp. I have attempted to contact whatsapp, which is possessed by facebook, but They are not answering my emails and I do not have a number that I can ring them on. So people need to be aware that even however a whatsapp call id ‘free' to the person making the call it is not free to the person receiving the call. If you are within the EU your calls will be capped to approximately £40 pounds in total and you receive a warning from O2 if you are with them. But if you are outside the EU you do not have this protection so if you response a call from someone and you suspect it is an international whatsapp call do not response it because the costs are prohibitive. I had one call that was over £90. Obviously I am utterly pleased with how O2 managed the problem.
Something does not make sense. If you certainly had data and data wandering switched off on your phone, WhatsApp would have to use your daughter's WiFi connection or you would not be connected at all. An incoming call cannot override this and connect to data wandering.
Plus you say you were “charged to your UK wifi”. This is unlikely. You certainly weren't connected to your home wifi while in Dubai.
The only possible unfortunate script was that your wandering was not switched off and you were charged the exorbitant data wandering fees. And you would also only default to data if you got disconnected from your daughter's WiFi.
Do both finishes of a call require WhatsApps installed ?