Nanu for Android Lets Users Make Free Calls Over 2G Networks

Making free phone calls over the Internet is no big deal. Apps such as FaceTime, Viber, Skype and many more let you do that. But none of these work well, or not at all, on 2G networks - which are common in India. Free Android app Nanu is here to change that.

Nanu claims to be able to let you call any other Nanu user for free even on 2G networks. You can also call devices which don't have the Nanu app installed, but those calls are restricted to 15 minutes, according to a report by The Next Web. Once the time limit expires, there is no way to call phones that aren't running Nanu. Those on small data plans might still be worried about the utility of Nanu with the consumption of 2G data, but the company says 1MB of data is sufficient for 10 minutes of phone calls.

So how does Nanu support all these free calls? In one word - advertisements. Nanu plays ads while you're waiting for your contact to answer the phone. These ads stop playing the moment your call is answered. We found that Nanu worked well on a 2G network in New Delhi. As of now, the app doesn't seem to have any third-party ads. While waiting for a contact to receive our call, we just heard a message asking us to download Nanu playing on loop.

According to its website, Nanu supports calls to landline numbers in 41 countries including India and to mobile phones in 9 countries - again including India. The company plans to expand to other countries and platforms. Its website says that apps for "iOS and Windows" will be available "later this year" and that Nanu also plans to add a messaging feature.