Calling Through WhatsApp?--Expect Frequent Call Drops and Voice Lags

VoIP calling apps have been gaining a lot of popularity lately, thanks to their free calling facility over WiFi or mobile data network connection from any country to any country.

The latest to enter the long list of well-established players like Skype, Viber, GoogleTalk, etc is none other than WhatsApp.

We were hoping that the world's most popular mobile messaging app would enter this domain with a big bang, but so far, WhatsApp's voice calling facility is nothing but a whimper!

The calls are erratic to say the least, even on a WiFi network. Either the calls don't connect at all, or if they do by some fate of magic, there's a terrible lag in the voice conversation, or frequent call disconnects.

We even had situations where we got a ringtone indicating that the app is trying to establish a connection with the other side, but the phone on the other side didn't even ring. In some smartphones, the call went through, but there was a lot of lag followed by a disconnect.

Currently, WhatsApp Calling is available on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry 10. Windows users might have to wait for some more time, as according to the company, ‘it is under process’. Considering the performance of WhatsApp calling on the other platforms, it's not something important that Windows users are missing out on.

Considering the subscriber base of WhatsApp, free calling facility could prove to be a huge boon for the free mobile messaging giant, provided that it gets it right.

Have you tried WhatsApp calling? How was your experience? Do mail it to pcquest@cybermedia.co.in, or just post a comment on this article.