Google Hangouts Video Chat Blocked Over AT&T Cellular

The Google Hangouts app, which was announced and released yesterday at I/O 2013, brings together Google’s video and chat services. It is being reported that Google Hangouts video chats have been blocked on AT&T’s cellular network, in a way that is similar to how FaceTime was blocked over cellular when it was first released. The app was tested on AT&T HTC One and AT&T Galaxy S4, video chats over cellular were not allowed, instead the user was told to switch over to Wi-Fi.

Google hasn’t commented on why video calls aren’t going through on AT&T cellular connection, the carrier has issued a statement in which it essentially throws the ball back in Google’s court. AT&T says that all “Mobility customers can use any video chat app over cellular that is not pre-loaded on their device, but which they download from the Internet.” The Hangouts app doesn’t come pre-loaded on any Android device, so AT&T has made it clear that they’re not stopping Hangouts video calls from going through. Google has already assured users that there will be no charge for video chats made through this new service, hopefully it will clarify as to why users are facing issues when trying to connect over AT&T’s cellular network.

We’ve confirmed that Hangout calls over AT&T’s 4G are blocked right away (see above). Sprint doesn’t appear to be blocking call attempts, and we’ll try with T-Mobile as well.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: AT&T, facetime, Google, video calls