Free Hangouts Calls To 25 Countries For The First Minute

As a promotional strategy, Google is now offering free domestic and international voice calls through Hangout App in Android for the first minute. All you need is a good data connection and Hangouts/Hangouts Dialer App.

Note that this promotional offer is valid till 2014 only. After that, you will be billed as per these rates from your credit card.

Here is the list of 25 countries eligible for the first minute free offer:

• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada: Almost all calls to the U.S. and Canada are free from all countries where Hangouts calling is available. A few U.S. and Canadian destinations will cost USD 1 cent per minute depending on the specific phone number. The 1-cent rate may vary depending on the local currency. You can look up the cost through the calling credit page for your Google account.
• China
• Dominican Republic
• France
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Peru
• Poland
• Russia
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States: Almost all calls to the U.S. and Canada are free from all countries where Hangouts calling is available. A few U.S. and Canadian destinations will cost USD 1 cent per minute depending on the specific phone number. The 1-cent rate may vary depending on the local currency. You can look up the cost through the calling credit page for your Google Account.

I am expecting free voice calls to extend next year too considering how Hangouts is suffering from high competition and low usage. This could be a silver lining for Hangouts that has already failed to get traction and is in similar boat as Google Plus.

(via Google Support)