Thursday, January 3, 2013

Facebook testing free VoIP calling through its Messenger app

Facebook testing free VoIP calling through its Messenger app

You don't get to 500 minutes without making a few phone calls

Facebook took another step towards total global domination on Thursday when the social network revealed it was testing a new feature for its Messenger app.

In an effort to appease its users, and potentially gain even more, Facebook is now trying out free voice calling over WiFi through Messenger.

Though it is currently limited to the iOS version of the app in Canada, Facebook hopes to roll out the feature to Android users, and other territories, soon enough.

For now, those of you outside of the Great White North, and not using iPhones, will have to make do with the limited ability to send short voice messages via the app.

Facebook's FaceTime

Even though this feature is only in the testing stages, and doesn't offer video conferencing, Facebook has an immense opportunity to capture a lot of users for voice over IP calling.

Services like Skype and Vonage already offer similar service, but don't have quite the customer base Facebook does with its hundreds of millions of users.

If this feature was ever to move out of the test phase, the potential for Facebook to change how its users communicate with each other is huge.

Facebook has run more than a few tests in various markets before, with severalstill currently ongoing for many users.

As interesting as Facebook's previous trials were, none had quite as much game changing potential as this free WiFi calling.

There's no telling when or where Facebook will be trying out this new venture next, but if the response is strong from this initial phase, it might not be long until phone bills are a thing of the past for Facebook users.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/facebook-testing-free-voip-calling-through-its-messenger-app-1122472

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