Cellphones in US -- how relevant is the Area Code?

At 16 Mar 2007 17:14:01 -0500 Dennis Ferguson wrote:

> My experience with calling cards in foreign countries is that whether
they
> are a good idea or not depends on whether you have free phone service or
> free broadband service. If you have to use the calling card from a
> prepaid mobile phone you need to add 10 or more cents per minute to the
> long distance rates (more like 20 or more cents per minute in Europe),
> which makes them not so nice; it is only really good if you have a way
> to phone the access number at no charge.

True, but he'll be in the states- finding a phone to place a local or
800# call will be easy to find assume he stays with friends or at a hotel.

> If you have broadband (either
> for free or for other reasons) Skype or some other service is attactive.
> Since broadband seems to be more easily available than phones which make
> free (or cheap) local calls when you travel these days, I've not bought
> a calling card anywhere for a long time.
>

Depends where you travel, I guess. Unless you're backpacking in the
Rockies finding a phone to make a card call shouldn't be too hard.
They're at least as ubiquitous as a broadband "hotspot."

> To tell the truth, Skype's rates to anywhere where they charge more than
> 2.1 cents per minute aren't all that wonderful (long distance on my
> Cingular phone usually matches or beats it), I doubt they are losing
money
> on any of it. For travel they're a godsend, though, particularly Skype
> since it can work its way around most firewalls and other blockage.

Agreed. I've yet to find a broadband connection Skype couldn't get around,
while other (SIP-compliant) VoIPs were blocked.

---

› See More: Cellphones in US -- how relevant is the Area Code?

Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Agreed. I've yet to find a broadband connection Skype couldn't get
> around, while other (SIP-compliant) VoIPs were blocked.
>
>
>

Even works great on a forbidden Verizon Aircard.....(c;

Larry
--
Roll up to the long checkout line....
Yell, "ICE RAID!"
It's your turn to load the grocery belt...(c;

At 17 Mar 2007 11:50:38 -0700 [email protected] wrote:

> Ah, would this apply for VoiceStick, i.e. would it be more likely to
> get blocked than Skype?


To a point, yes. Ports 5060 and 8080 have to be open for Voicestick to
work. Skype needs 80, which is the port used for web browsing, and
always open.


> I thought I had my options sussed out now, but if Skype is more
> dependable than VoiceStick, maybe it'll be worth paying the $38 a year
> extra (cost of a UK landline number)... This is what I'd thought to go
> ahead with though, given everyone's advice here:
>
> 1) Buy a T-Mobile SIM card with a Chicago area code (for £15/$28),
> including $30 credit. This will go in my spare 1900 MHz unlocked
> mobile phone.
>
> 2) Get a free London landline number through VoiceStick on their free
> Next2Nothing tariff. Calls redirected to a US number cost only 2c a
> minute incoming, or if I've got the PC switched on and use that for
> the incoming calls, it'll be free. Calling out via the computer to UK
> landlines with VoiceStick only costs 0.9c. I'm not likely to bother
> making a lot of UK calls via the mobile phone, but I could do it for
> just as cheaply using the VoiceStick i2Bridge feature (then paying the
> 10c/min T-Mobile cost; also pretty minimal really).

True. T e nice thingabout that is that the PC doesn't have to be on for
the "bridge" to work.
>
> The internet connections I'd be using are likely to be domestic or
> business (i.e. office, rather than say hotels etc.).


In that case, you probably have control (or at least access to the people
in control) of the firewalls and can open the necessary ports.

Even most hotels don't block a lot of ports- I did run into one in
Bellevue, Nebraska that did- when I called their tech support they told
me it was because someone staying at the hotel was doing some major
league file-sharing and they were trying to cut him off!

> So... I guess the decision is between Skype or VoiceStick!
> VoiceStick's call charges are less and the UK London landline number
> is free, but that has to be balanced against how reliable/accessible
> the service is in terms of firewalls blocking it.


Again, millions of people use VoIP, and if you'll be using home/office
broadband providers you should be fine. Worstcase scenario you can call
out with the mobile via i2bridge, and you could set the Voicestick UK
number to forward to your cell if unaswered I believe.


> Thanks again and thanks in advance for any further clarification. The
> information from people here has been invaluable!

Enjoy the trip!

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 16 Mar 2007 08:45:58 -0700 SMS wrote:
>
>
>> You're better off getting a Verizon CDMA phone and signing up with
>> Page Plus because you'll get better coverage, and it'll be cheaper
>> than T-Mobile.
>
>
> Did GSM kick your dog when you were little Steve? ;-) I realize you
> have a pro-CDMA bias for your rural hiking/backpacking, etc. adventures
> in San Fransisco, but international traveling is what GSM does best!

Maybe he can obtain such a SIM, but if you go to T-Mobile, it's about
$50 for a prepaid SIM with a phone number.

The visitors I see to the U.S. are typically visiting places like
National Parks, and driving all over the place, Grand Canyon,
Yellowstone, Yosemite, etc., and are the ones that are most likely to
value the coverage that they get with CDMA/AMPS and be disappointed that
the U.S. GSM coverage isn't up to the level of what they get in Europe.


> I think the OP's attaction to T-Mo is cost and convenience. He
> apparently can procure a cheap US T-Mo SIM prior to his visit, stick it
> in the phone he already owns and has viable US service the moment he
> lands here.
>
> PagePlus has no storefront presence I've ever seen, so he needs to obtain
> a Verizon-compatible CDMA handset after he gets here (not a tremendous
> amount of those laying around the UK is there?), either from thrift-shop
> hunting, or for $50 at a Wal-Mart, then buy an "activation" on-line or
> over the phone with a credit card or Paypal. All to save a few pennies a
> minute? T-Mo is 10-cents a minute with $50 or $100 recharge cards, and
> he doesn't have to buy a phone- he's already lined up a started SIM for
> $11 US, so I doubt PagePlus will save him a cent.

Apparently he has not lined up such a SIM. Furthermore, he's planning to
use it in a 1900 MHz-only phone. Maybe this is okay with T-Mobile which
has conflicting statements on its web site regarding roaming onto 800
MHz networks, but his coverage is really going to suck.

> Sure Verizon has better coverage nationwide than T-Mobile does, but I,
> like 25 million other Americans, use T-Mo and we LIVE here- I think our
> holiday-maker friend from the UK will find T-Mo service to be more than
> adequate, and very inexpensive compared to other options!

Unless he travels outside native T-Mobile coverage area, something that
is very easy to do, and with prepaid you don't get full access to Cingular.

At 17 Mar 2007 18:02:18 -0700 SMS wrote:

> Maybe he can obtain such a SIM, but if you go to T-Mobile, it's about
> $50 for a prepaid SIM with a phone number.


Or $30 for a phone with the SIM in it.

> The visitors I see to the U.S. are typically visiting places like
> National Parks, and driving all over the place, Grand Canyon,
> Yellowstone, Yosemite, etc., and are the ones that are most likely
> to value the coverage that they get with CDMA/AMPS and be disappointed
> that the U.S. GSM coverage isn't up to the level of what they get in
> Europe.
>
I also travel to National Parks and I concede I sometimes have no
service, (much like the millions of visitors who traveled to them before
the cellphone was invented!) ;-)

Sure T-Mo's service isn't as ubiquitous as Verizon's but again, it's
seemingly good enough for the 25 million T-Mo USA customers. There are
degrees of service. If you argue that you should only use Verizon
because T-Mo (or Cingular, or whoever) doesn't have coverage as good as
Verizon's, then the logical conclusion to that argument is that you
should only use a satellite phone because it works in places that Verizon
doesn't.

> Apparently he has not lined up such a SIM.

He simply hasn't purchased it yet- he posted it's about $28 with $30 of
airtime.

> Furthermore, he's planning to use it in a 1900 MHz-only phone. Maybe
> this is okay with T-Mobile
> which has conflicting statements on its
> web site regarding roaming onto 800 MHz networks, but his coverage is
> really going to suck.

1900-only is perfectly ok with T-Mobile, since all native T-Mo coverage
in the US is 1900. T-Mo does have 800 MHz coverage with roaming partners
but these are mostly rural. Off the top of my head I can't think of
anywhere I've been where my phone (quad-band with 800) worked and my
wife's (tri-band with no 800) didn't, except maybe some small portions of
interstates 80 and 70 driving from Denver to Omaha and Denver to Kansas
City.
> Unless he travels outside native T-Mobile coverage area, something that
> is very easy to do, and with prepaid you don't get full access to
Cingular.


You don't get full access to Cingular on post-paid either, but I haven't
found that to be a significant problem. I've used Cingular TDMA prepaid
phones as backup because my T-Mo phone is my business phone. Other than
not wanting to miss potentially important business calls when I'm off the
beaten path, I don't really feel the need for ubiquitous coverage for
personal calls. In addition, I was amazed at how little I've needed a
backup phone in the last year or so- T-Mo has added so much coverage in
the last couple of years (mostly through expanded roaming agreements)
that my TDMA/analog phone has used less than ten minutes in the last two
years!

Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in news:ethjii$r7s$1
@aioe.org:

> Skype needs 80, which is the port used for web browsing, and
> always open.
>

Skype doesn't "need" any port. You can assign it any port you want in its
preferences options. I run 3 Skypes on the same account, at home, one on
my laptop, one on the main computer with Vox For Skype so I can use Skype
with my cellphone and one on the Netgear SPH101 Skype Phone roaming around
the house. All 3 are on different ports.

They do open up the ports, which simply eliminates the need to PORT the
router for calls, which is very convenient. The data routed through your
Skype for other users, which uses very little bandwidth, opens up those
ports, as well.

My Skype doesn't use port 80 at all....??

Larry
--
Roll up to the long checkout line....
Yell, "ICE RAID!"
It's your turn to load the grocery belt...(c;

Dennis Ferguson <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> On 2007-03-17, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Agreed. I've yet to find a broadband connection Skype couldn't get
>>> around, while other (SIP-compliant) VoIPs were blocked.
>>
>> Even works great on a forbidden Verizon Aircard.....(c;
>
> This may be why I don't often have difficulty finding a broadband
> connection to use Skype over when I travel in the US...
>
> Dennis Ferguson
>

All my Skypes are assigned some really high, unused, port numbers which
are always available. If the assigned port isn't available, Skype just
opens one at random and tries it, anyways. Assigning it a port just
makes it logon faster.

Larry
--
Roll up to the long checkout line....
Yell, "ICE RAID!"
It's your turn to load the grocery belt...(c;

At 18 Mar 2007 18:13:32 +0000 Larry wrote:

> > Skype needs 80, which is the port used for web browsing, and
> > always open.
> >
>
> Skype doesn't "need" any port. You can assign it any port you want in
its
> preferences options. I run 3 Skypes on the same account, at home, one
on
> my laptop, one on the main computer with Vox For Skype so I can use
Skype
> with my cellphone and one on the Netgear SPH101 Skype Phone roaming
around
> the house. All 3 are on different ports.

Fair enough- "needs" was a very poor choice of words. Unlike other
VoIPs, Skype can utilitize port 80, which is darned convenient sinc few,
if any, firewalls block port 80 (since it's used for http.)

While you're free to assign any ports you like for any purpose at your
home, Larry, we were talking about environments with very restrictive
firewalls, like some hotels, (or even cellular providers!) that close ALL
"unnecessary" ports. In these cases Skype's ability to fall back on port
80 allows it to work where other VoIPs might not.

One of those rare times when "non-standard" implementation has benefits!
;-)

Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in news:etk5s4$8v5$1
@aioe.org:

> In these cases Skype's ability to fall back on port
> 80 allows it to work where other VoIPs might not.
>
>

Good point. I hadn't considered it. I seem to have Skype on the high
ports at all wifi hotspots, even the commercial ones I have to logon to
through a webpage. Perhaps I will change the laptop to Port 80 if it
becomes necessary.

I sure wished the Sony Mylo hadn't been such a disappointment. It's the
first wifi Skype phone with a built-in web browser you can logon to these
damned web browser based hotspots with that my Netgear SPH101 will
not..no browser. But, after seeing it had no speakerphone for $350, even
though it HAS A SPEAKER AND MP3 AUDIO THROUGH IT....Someone at Sony must
have been too drunk on saki to engineer it. Just like Betamax, Sony has
pulled another major boner in Mylo. I wanted one just so bad. Maybe
version 2 will fix it. There are lots of other Skype things it doesn't
do...for $350....


Larry
--
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Unlimited Service my ass.....(d^