Google Hangouts video calls now work on AT&T

BY Stefan Constantinescu

Published 27 Aug 2013

Your smartphone becomes rather dumb rather quickly if it isn’t connected to the internet, right? Operators know this, which is why they’ll repeatedly remind you that they’re an integral part of your life. With that attitude obviously comes some arrogance. If an operator doesn’t like your app, they can block it from their network with the stroke of a few keys. Case in point, AT&T, America’s second largest operator, blocked Google Hangouts video calls shortly after Google announced the service.

Today that stance has now been reversed, according to Android Community. All you have to do to make video calling over cellular work is to update your Hangouts app and off you go. Note that AT&T did the exact same thing with Apple’s FaceTime service, so this isn’t something new.

Should you switch away from AT&T if they keep pulling stunts like this? As much as I like GSM thanks to the ease of swapping mobile phones, I have to circle back to the point I made at the beginning of this article. Without connectivity, your smartphone is a fancy brick, so then why wouldn’t you be on America’s largest and most popular network, Verizon?