Hangouts calls to USA - now a charge?

[bchandler02]

Hope this is a good place to post, since it isn't device specific.

I've successfully used hangouts dialer to call USA numbers in the past while travelling and on WiFi. However, now I am in Europe and trying to call to the USA over WiFi and it is asking for a credit. Any idea why? I've even tried being connected to my USA based VPN to see if that helped, and no change.

Would it be because I have a euro SIM installed right now, and somehow that changes the rules?


UPDATE: I popped my native Verizon SIM back in and was able to call for free over wifi to the same numbers, from the same phone, on the same wifi network. So, it looks like the installed SIM has something to do with whether or not the call is free via Hangouts. That makes no sense to me - why would google care what SIM you have? Either the call is free, or it isn't.

Update: (Again) - When using the O2 sim, you have to dial it internationally. 001+AC... etc. That was the catch.. not sure why but I assumed it would default to the USA since thats how my phone is setup, but apparently it reads from the SIM.

 

[B. Diddy]

According to the help site, "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."

Here's the full support page: https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6079055?hl=en