AT&T Customer Service Fails Me Again

Google Hangouts Logo.

A couple weeks ago I was trying to use Google Hangouts video chat feature on my Android phone to call my wife and son while I was at work, only to get an error message that said

"You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to join a video call." 

I found this annoying, because while I knew AT&T had been blocking video calls through Hangouts since it was released for Android, I also knew they were removing that block so that people could make video calls via Hangouts over data, like is already available on Skype and Facetime.  At least I thought I knew that.  I was only basing that information on several published articles stating AT&T's intention to remove the block in August, along with multiple people who commented that the block was indeed lifted.  Here are some of sources that discuss AT&T lifting their block on Google Hangouts video calls:

• Droid-Life
• Talk Android
• phoneArena

AT&T Customer Service Doesn't Know Their Own Policies

Rereading these articles along with the comments that confirmed this feature now works, so I determined there must be an issue with my phone.  Wanting to remedy this situation, I logged onto AT&T's website and started a live chat with a customer service representative.  I had hoped that they would tell me there is something wrong with my phone and how to fix it, or at least confirm I am correct but there is nothing they could do.  This is the conversation I had:

Thank you for your patience! Your AT&T Representative will be with you shortly.

Welcome! You are now chatting with 'Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy'

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: Good day Ian

Ian Francis: hi

Ian Francis: I am having an issue with Google Hangouts

Ian Francis: specifically with it over the AT&T network

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: My apologies - no worries I can help!

Ian Francis: I had heard that AT&T now allows use of the video chat feature in Hangouts via mobile data, but when I try to start a new video chat on HSPA+ I get a message saying "You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to join a video call."

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: You need to be connected to WiFi for this to work Ian

Ian Francis: http://www.droid-life.com/2013/08/26/hangouts-update-allows-att-users-to-make-video-calls-via-cellular-data/ so this is not true then

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: No - this is not an AT&T source - you still need WiFi at this point

Ian Francis: I understand, but I could link you to dozens of places on the internet talking about this for the past two months, including people responding that it does indeed work now. I find it hard to believe that this is all untrue.

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: I will take another look again for you - can you confirm the last 4 of the ssn on file 9999 is not correct

Ian Francis: may be my wifes: 0000

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: Thank you - can you confirm that you can access data without WiFi on with other sites

Ian Francis: yes, I have no other issues with the phone. Just the error message stopping me from making video calls over mobile data

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy As long as your services are working and you got the most updated Hangout update - if it's not working, you will need to reach out to Google Ian but you need to have WiFi access

Ian Francis: so I just want to be clear, the news that Hangouts is no longer blocked from making video calls over AT&T mobile data is false.

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: That is correct

Ian Francis: And AT&T has no announced plans on lifting this block from Hangouts anytime in the near future.

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: Not today, no but that can always change very quickly

Ian Francis: ok

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: Now, if it won't work when you connect to WiFi, I would certainly contact Google for sure but as for you AT&T services - they are all working

Ian Francis: i understand

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: My apologies for any inconvenience - is there anything else at all I can help you with Ian?

Ian Francis: that was it

Xxxxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyy: Please enjoy your day!

Your AT&T representative has closed the chat session.

So apparently this news from multiple sources is false.  My guess is there must be a massive conspiracy going on to make AT&T look bad.  Only seems logical since this AT&T representative confirmed that AT&T has not announced plans to make Google Hangouts video chats available over mobile data...

"For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we currently give all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share or Tiered plans. Apple, Samsung and Blackberry have chosen to enable this for their pre-loaded video chat apps. And by mid-June, we'll have enabled those apps over cellular for our unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from those three manufacturers.
Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device; that work is expected to be complete by year end.
Today, all of our customers can use any mobile video chat app that they download from the Internet, such as Skype."

-AT&T Statement

05/20/2013

Then on August 26th of this year,

"This makes sense given what we've shared before: Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device; that work is underway and expected to be complete by year end."

-AT&T Statement

08/26/2013

Oh yea, except for that.  Somehow the word has not gotten down to the actual people who talk to customers, or the customer service representatives can't be bothered to read their own corporate communications.  This failure to communicate is nothing new with AT&T customer service, so I shouldn't be surprised that they are unaware of their own company's plans and policies.  Yet here I am, complaining about them because I have this notion that people should be at least semi-competent in the job they are being paid to do.  Silly me.

AT&T's Policies are There to Protect Their Terrible Data Network

Of course you may be wondering why AT&T allows Facetime and Skype to be used over mobile data but not Hangouts in the first place.  Verizon allows it, as does Sprint and T-Mobile.  There must be some logical reason.

"All AT&T 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. For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we offer all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share, Tiered and soon Unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices. It's up to each OS and device makers to enable their systems to allow pre-loaded video chat apps to work over cellular for our customers on those plans."

-AT&T Statement

05/15/2013

So the reason I can't use Google Hangouts over AT&T mobile data (or at least the reason was before the announced policy change) is because the app just happens to come preloaded onto the phone.  Not because of something technically wrong with the app, but because they don't want too many people using their network for video calls, since their mobile data would get overwhelmed.  I wish AT&T would just come clean with the reasons for their decisions rather than making up an arbitrary excuse.  And yes, I realize that the official statement from AT&T does say that this "feature" will be rolled out to all AT&T customers by the end of the year, however I was not told that my phone and/or plan are not enabled for this yet, I was told that these articles and official statements are lies.  This is the part that infuriates me.  AT&T must think I am an idiot to believe what their customer service people say over several independent sources, one of which is AT&T itself.

A Solution to Using Google Hangouts Via Mobile Data

Well I discovered a way to fix the problem.  For those with rooted Android phones, the process is quite simple.  I am not sure if this violates your terms of service agreement, and because of this I have not done it myself, but it does appear to be as simple as changing the value of one database entry from true to false. Here are the steps:

1. Get an SQL editor such as SQLite Editor from the Google Play Store
2. Open the SQL editor and browse to /data/data/com.google.android.gsf/databases/gservices.db and click on it (I think this is the location of the file in Android version 4.0 and up, for my using 2.3, it was in /dbdata/databases/com.google.android.com.gsf/gservices.db)
3. Click on main
4. Scroll down to gtalk_vc_wifi_only and long press to bring up options menu
5. Press Edit Record and change the value to false instead of true
6. Reboot

From commenters on a couple different Android news sites, this trick works perfectly.  I am not saying you should do it, but if you are as fed up with AT&T as I am and don't care about violating your service contract, this might be an option for you.