How-To

How to Make Phone Calls with a Google Home Smart Speaker

By Brian Burgess

Updated December 25, 2017

Here is a look at how to make hands-free phone calls using Google Assistant on a Google Home smart speaker.

One of the benefits of having a smart home speaker is the ability to make phone calls. After everything is set up, you can enjoy simple hands-free calling without having to find and navigate through your phone. Calls are made over Wi-Fi and not through your mobile device so it’s not using your plan’s minutes. Here is a look at how to set up and make phone calls using Google Assistant on a Google Home smart speaker.

Make Phone Calls with Google Home

The great thing about Google Home is there isn’t any special setup required. It uses your phone’s contacts or nearby businesses that are close to your location. So, if you know of a pizza joint or other business nearby, you can usually just ask Google to call that location. Although, if you want to call a specific number, that person’s number needs to be stored in Google Contacts. If they aren’t, you can just add them in via your phone. It’s important to note that you can’t make emergency calls to 911.

Calling someone is as easy as saying “Hey Google, Call (recipient)” and when you’re done with your conversation say, “Hey Google, hang up” to end the call.

Here are a few examples of voice commands you might use:

• “Hey Google, call the post office”
• “Hey Google, call home”
• “Hey Google, call the library”

By default, the person you call won’t see your number on their phone. Your call will be identified as “Unknown Caller” or something similar. You can change that by linking your Google Voice or Project Fi number to Google Home using the Google Home app for Android or iOS.

Also, you can call any number by speaking the exact number aloud. The call quality, from my experience, will vary. You’ll sound like you’re calling from a speakerphone. And since you’re using Wi-Fi, well, you know the deal, the strength of the connection will affect the call quality.

I tried several different calls on my Google Home Mini while it was placed from various areas in a room. Most of the time I sounded muffled but decent enough to make out what was said. The quality of the calls varied over the speaker as well. Of course, with everyone so used to cell call quality these days, crappy sounding calls probably isn’t a deal breaker.

We’ve also looked at making calls with other smart speakers like the Amazon Echo with Alexa. And will soon try it out using the Harman Kardon Invoke with Cortana to see how the experience compares.

Have you made any phone calls from your smart speaker yet? Let us know which speaker it is and how your experience was in the comment section below.