Results 1 to 8 of 8
- 10-19-2008, 09:41 PM #1LarryGuest
cicada <[email protected]> wrote in news:c445fcc4-f5a9-4e1f-be9e-
[email protected]:
> I'm buying a new cell phone and wonder if cell phones with the wi-fi
> feature can do this. If a phone can go online through its wi-fi, is it
> also possible to make very cheap voice calls using services like Yahoo
> Messenger or Skype or anything simialr on the cell phone?
>
> I think it might save me a little money when the included minutes on
> my plan run out.
>
> If it's possible, is it model or company specific? Is it an easy
setup?
>
Of course it's "possible". But, if you were in the sellphone business
selling sellphones and selling sellphone service, and you had a hand in
controlling the phones that you sell via their operating systems, the
firmware....Would you let the users have any kind of VoIP software
installed that let them bypass YOUR major revenue stream, using the
phone, itself....or would you have it hobbled all up so no user short of
a serious hacker with time on his hands could ever install his own
software on YOUR sellphone to bypass your little box office in his
pocket?
Of course you wouldn't, not unless you were totally stupid.
You'd do everything in your power to prevent the users of ANY of your
sellphones from ever using any kind of messaging, VoIP like Skype
software YOU are charging THEM to use....especially after virtually
giving them the fancy phone for a pittance for agreeing to let you into
their checkbook each month for 2 years to recover your money and make a
tidy profit.
=================================================================
There ARE, however, NON-sellular alternatives.....
You could install Skype or one of the VoIP programs on your laptop, if
you had one.
You could buy one of the VoIP wifi phones like:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/n...0w-wifi-phone-
with-skype/
It connects directly to your wifi router and Skype is built right into
it. You simply turn it on and put your username and account number into
it and it's ready to call, assuming you have a usable Skype account, the
same one you have for your computer. You can run 10 Skype
phones/computers/tablets on ONE number all at the same time, anywhere on
the planet that has internet....unlike the lies sellular has told you
for years that it's not possible to have 4 phones all ring using the
same number simultaneously. They want you to BUY 4 phones with 4
numbers, of course, not 3 "extensions"...(c;
The only trouble with my Netgear, or any, of the Skype phones has been
its inability to logon to any free wifi that REQUIRES a webpage to gain
access, like at Chick-Fil-A, the airports, many restaurants that want
you to look at their spam before letting you use wifi, or those places
they give you a card you have to use on the webpage for access with
username/password to restrict access to only customers.
Disappointed wtih my Skype phone for traveling around on wifi, I
searched for a solution. Nokia had one and you should NEVER GET ONE!
If I hadn't found mine, I would have been perfectly happy with just
having a wifi phone I could use, sometimes. Instead, Nokia sold me the
N800 Linux Tablet, a real 800 pixel wide pocket computer that connected
with either WIFI or Bluetooth DUN to a tetherable sellphone. Big
mistake. I'm now a total addict far beyond using Skype, which it will
do in the damnedest places because of its super-sensitive wifi
transceiver, the best I've ever encountered. I can sit in Denny's cafe
stealing free wifi from the hotel across the parking lot! It's that
good. Now "connected", you CAN logon to the free wifi through the
webpages because the tablet has a special Firefox web browser, not all
hobbled up like a sellphone browser or iPhone that won't play Flash or
Javascripts or other things sellphone companies hate that uses
BANDWIDTH, a dirty word in any sellphone store. Now connected and
logged on, click on Skype and you have the world at your finger tips.
There's also Gizmo, Fring, a dozen other Linux VoIP and instant
messaging on over 20 IM systems available to talk to any of them through
ONE application.
The new version of the tablet has a keyboard that slides out:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardw...810-review.ars
Oh, hell, you might as well see the free software the hackers wrote for
it from maemo.org. Wade through here:
http://maemo.org/downloads/updated/OS2008/275/
You might have a question, that's already been answered I'm sure here:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/
They moved the school over to here when it got too big:
http://www.tabletscene.com/
The instructional videos are there, too, to help you feed your
addiction.
Seeing as you just want a Skype phone, you can ignore the video camera,
still camera, internet radio and television you can see on it, the built
in REAL GPS, not some sell-me kluged up sellphone crapware that will
place you on a Google Earth or Virtual Earth satellite map in the
parking space your car is in at the mall. Ignore the Garnet VM (virtual
machine) that turns it into the latest Palm Pilot that will run all the
Palm OS software, tens of thousands of titles, thousands freeware....or
one of the damned virtual game machines you can play games with while
you're making your Skype call, disgusting whoever you were talking to on
the phone. There's hundreds of native games, too, none of them designed
for 4-year-olds like iPhone's Run-Bunny-Run. When you get bored with
them, you'll need a Wii remote the boys have running on it. Just be on
the lookout for a Wii Remote on the cheap from some kid's blown Wii base
for later.
Oh, I'm sorry, you just wanted a Skype phone...Here:
http://www.3skypephone.com/english/
How boring. The tablet's only $80 more on the street....cheaper if you
can find an N800, now discontinued, which runs the same software...(c;
Sellphones are all hobbled up and only a few of them make Bluetooth
modems. Otherwise they all SUCK, including stupid iPhones!
› See More: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
- 10-20-2008, 12:15 AM #2Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
At 20 Oct 2008 03:41:07 +0000 Larry wrote:
> > I'm buying a new cell phone and wonder if cell phones with the wi-fi
> > feature can do this. If a phone can go online through its wi-fi, is it
> > also possible to make very cheap voice calls using services like Yahoo
> > Messenger or Skype or anything simialr on the cell phone?
> >
> > I think it might save me a little money when the included minutes on
> > my plan run out.
> >
> > If it's possible, is it model or company specific? Is it an easy
> setup?
> >
>
> Of course it's "possible". But, if you were in the sellphone business
> selling sellphones and selling sellphone service, and you had a hand in
> controlling the phones that you sell via their operating systems, the
> firmware....Would you let the users have any kind of VoIP software
> installed that let them bypass YOUR major revenue stream, using the
> phone, itself....or would you have it hobbled all up so no user short of
> a serious hacker with time on his hands could ever install his own
> software on YOUR sellphone to bypass your little box office in his
> pocket?
>
> Of course you wouldn't, not unless you were totally stupid.
Then I guess all carriers selling Windows Mobile phones are stupid, since
there are a plethora of VoIP apps that run on Windows Mobile devices;
Skype, Fring, SJPhone, NCH Pocket Talk, XLite, etc.
Several Nokia phones include a SIP VoIP client out-of-the-box, and Symbian
devices run Fring.
None of the above examples require the phones to be "hacked" to install/use
VoIP.
T-Mobile's "HotSpot@Home" phones offer unlimited calling over WiFi (not VoIP,
but the similar UMA) for $10/month.
> You'd do everything in your power to prevent the users of ANY of your
> sellphones from ever using any kind of messaging, VoIP like Skype
> software YOU are charging THEM to use....especially after virtually
> giving them the fancy phone for a pittance for agreeing to let you into
> their checkbook each month for 2 years to recover your money and make a
> tidy profit.
While most operators prohibit VoIP over cellular, the OP is discussing VoIP
over WiFi. Why would the carriers care if you consume your own broadband
data?
> There ARE, however, NON-sellular alternatives.....
>
> You could install Skype or one of the VoIP programs on your laptop, if
> you had one.
...or any number of WiFi-equipped phones.
> You could buy one of the VoIP wifi phones like:
> http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/n...0w-wifi-phone-
> with-skype/...
> The only trouble with my Netgear, or any, of the Skype phones has been
> its inability to logon to any free wifi that REQUIRES a webpage to gain
> access, like at Chick-Fil-A, the airports, many restaurants that want
> you to look at their spam before letting you use wifi, or those places
> they give you a card you have to use on the webpage for access with
> username/password to restrict access to only customers.
Another advantage of using a WiFi cellphone- you can login with the phone's
browser, then run the VoIP app.
> Sellphones are all hobbled up and only a few of them make Bluetooth
> modems. Otherwise they all SUCK, including stupid iPhones!
Larry, it's time to learn a new song. Just because you're stuck on a CDMA
carrier that excercises too much control ver their phones, doesn't mean
everyone else is- Nokia, and other manufacturers, make a number of
unlocked, non-carrier branded phones not controlled or hobbled in ANY way.
- 10-20-2008, 12:07 PM #3Steve SobolGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
On 2008-10-20, Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
> T-Mobile's "HotSpot@Home" phones offer unlimited calling over WiFi (not VoIP,
> but the similar UMA) for $10/month.
And the handoffs are seamless, as I posted in the T-Mo newsgroup a couple
days ago. The wife got me a Hotspot@Home phone as a replacement for my Nokia
6133, whose display flaked out three weeks after the warranty expired.
My only problem is that right now, I have to have my home wifi open - the
phone supposedly supports WEP and WPA, but I haven't gotten it to work with
WEP or WPA yet. I'm going to call T-Mo about that, this week.
The WiFi calling is great in case you're in an area where the cellular
signal is less than wonderful. And if you don't care about unlimited WiFi
calling, you can pay NOTHING and still use the service; the minutes are just
deducted from your bucket, like they are when you call over the cellular
network.
> While most operators prohibit VoIP over cellular, the OP is discussing VoIP
> over WiFi. Why would the carriers care if you consume your own broadband
> data?
[ snip ]
> Larry, it's time to learn a new song. Just because you're stuck on a CDMA
> carrier that excercises too much control ver their phones, doesn't mean
> everyone else is- Nokia, and other manufacturers, make a number of
> unlocked, non-carrier branded phones not controlled or hobbled in ANY way.
He's been told that already. He doesn't care. Why let facts get in the way
of a rant?
--
Steve Sobol, Victorville, California, USA
It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room.
- 10-20-2008, 07:43 PM #4Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
At 20 Oct 2008 18:07:57 +0000 Steve Sobol wrote:
> > T-Mobile's "HotSpot@Home" phones offer unlimited calling over WiFi (not
VoIP,
> > but the similar UMA) for $10/month.
>
> And the handoffs are seamless, as I posted in the T-Mo newsgroup a couple
> days ago. The wife got me a Hotspot@Home phone as a replacement for my
Nokia
> 6133, whose display flaked out three weeks after the warranty expired.
Interestingly (though not really applicable in your case) T-Mo's billing
system is primitive enough thathey don't change the call type for billing
purposes on hand-off. If you have free WiFi calling, you can start a call
on WiFi, hop in your car and drive off (handing off to GSM), talk for two
hours on cellular, and the whole two hour, one minute call is billed as a
"free" WiFi call. (Of course the converse is true- answer a call on GSM
in your driveway, walk into the house and talk for two hours on WiFi, and
the whole call comes out of your cell minute bucket!)
> The WiFi calling is great in case you're in an area where the cellular
> signal is less than wonderful. And if you don't care about unlimited WiFi
> calling, you can pay NOTHING and still use the service; the minutes are
just
> deducted from your bucket, like they are when you call over the cellular
> network.
That's what I'm looking forward to, if/when they ever offer an H@H WinMo
device. With My Faves, I already leave several hundred minutes on the
table each month, but coverage wherever there's WiFi would be great,
particularly when roaming- in January I'll be in Cancun, and could use the
hotel's free WiFi for H@H calling out of my plan minutes. (If there's
still no H@H WinMo phone by then, I'll be using Fring to make VoIP calls.
That's workable, but not as seamless as H@H. Either way I'm not spending
$1.49/minute to roam!)
- 10-20-2008, 07:45 PM #5LarryGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Larry, it's time to learn a new song. Just because you're stuck on a
> CDMA carrier that excercises too much control ver their phones,
> doesn't mean everyone else is- Nokia, and other manufacturers, make a
> number of unlocked, non-carrier branded phones not controlled or
> hobbled in ANY way.
>
>
You are talking out your ass, Toddy! Alltel has never complained of my
27GB/month usage last month...not a word. All they say is they are not
responsible for anything to do with my Linux tablet tethered to my
sellphone. My CDMA carrier provides about 600-800Kbps after business
closes and about 400-500Kbps during weekday afternoons, just fine, even in
Greeleyville, SC, way out in the SC boondocks...full EVDO!
Others are not so lucky. Many are on ATT or some other GSM/PCS carrier
with only narrow corridors along interstates and in the cities. Hell, ATT
doesn't have 3G in Summerville, SC, IN THE CITY area that is Charleston.
The phone won't even work 3 miles from the interstate.
My carrier has no control over my internet device at all....just the way I
like it. He can only turn it on and I pay or off and I stop.
Which carriers will let you put NON-Carrier phones on and keep the NON-
carrier firmware the factory delivered with it with everything turned on??
I know they'll let foreign phones on the system....AFTER they burn their
firmware into them.....
- 10-20-2008, 08:30 PM #6Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
At 21 Oct 2008 01:45:57 +0000 Larry wrote:
> > Larry, it's time to learn a new song. Just because you're stuck on a
> > CDMA carrier that excercises too much control ver their phones,
> > doesn't mean everyone else is- Nokia, and other manufacturers, make a
> > number of unlocked, non-carrier branded phones not controlled or
> > hobbled in ANY way.
> >
>
>
> You are talking out your ass, Toddy! Alltel has never complained of my
> 27GB/month usage last month...not a word. All they say is they are not
> responsible for anything to do with my Linux tablet tethered to my
> sellphone.
If I'm "talking out of my ass" why do you think you need a tethered device?
Why not just use an Alltel smartphone? If Alltel is okay with your 27GB
of tethering, they'll be okay with 27GB of on-phone data use as well.
> My CDMA carrier provides about 600-800Kbps after business
> closes and about 400-500Kbps during weekday afternoons, just fine, even
in
> Greeleyville, SC, way out in the SC boondocks...full EVDO!
That's why I said you were "stuck" with them- in exchange for superior
coverage in your area, you use a carrier with a less "open" network than
AT&T or T-Mo, who'll allow the use of any compatible device sold anywhere.
> My carrier has no control over my internet device at all....just the way
I
> like it. He can only turn it on and I pay or off and I stop.
And how is that different than my WinMo phone? T-Mo can't turn off the WiFi,
or shut off the bluetooth. They could turn off my cellular data (by
disabling it from the account- not the device), but so could Alltel shut
off yours, ending your ability to tether the tablet.
> Which carriers will let you put NON-Carrier phones on and keep the NON-
> carrier firmware the factory delivered with it with everything turned
on??
AT&T and T-Mobile. Remember with GSM there's no "activation"- your SIM
card is your "NAM" and can be instantly moved from device to device without
involving the carrier. If I want to go you beach and not worry about salt
and sand getting into every nook and cranny of a $300 PDA? Pop the SIM
into my 6 year-old Nokia candybar. No calling my carrier and begging for a
quick ESN change.
> I know they'll let foreign phones on the system....AFTER they burn their
> firmware into them.....
I've used several AT&T devices (new AT&T, old ATTWS and Cingular) on T-
Mobile, all with the original AT&T firmware. I've also used T-Mo devices
on AT&T. Neither AT&T nor T-Mo prohibit the use of _any_ compatible
equipment, though both "threaten" to offer limited technical support for
devices they don't sell, which is understandable, IMO. Again, GSM carriers
activate SIMs, not phones; the phone is just a dumb "shell" that holds the
SIM. Think of it like a driver's license- the state licenses YOU to drive,
not your vehicle. You can hop into any vehicle "compatible" with your
license and drive it without telling the state what vehicle you're driving
at the moment- your car, a friends', a rental, etc. Likewise, my SIM is
allowed to "drive" any phone from any carrier, with any firmware, on my
account.
Again, stop thinking all carriers have the same draconian policies.
They're not all Verizon, you know!
- 10-20-2008, 08:34 PM #7Steve SobolGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
On 2008-10-21, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
> You are talking out your ass
Like you do, frequently?
I don't give a rat's ass what you think about Sprint's or T-Mobile's policies.
You don't know jack-**** about either carrier because you've never used either
carrier. Verizon is a whole different animal; we all know you used Verizon for
quite some time. But your rants and presumptions about companies whose
services you've never used are not only (quite often) wrong, they make you
sound ignorant at best, and at worst, like a doddering fool who just *****es
because he feels like *****ing, not because his rants have any basis in fact.
If your rants were based on actually using either of those carriers, I'd have
nothing to say, now would I?
> Which carriers will let you put NON-Carrier phones on and keep the NON-
> carrier firmware the factory delivered with it with everything turned on??
T-Mobile, asswipe. Like the time my mother-in-law bought a used CINGULAR
Razr off eBay and popped her SIM in it and used the phone. T-Mo and Cingular/
AT&T lock their phones initially, so they'll only accept the original carrier's
SIMs, but T-Mo will unlock a phone at no charge after you've had it for (I
believe) 90 days, and I understand AT&T has a similar policy.
I think AT&T will also allow unlocked phones on their network - but
I'm not sure, and unlike you, I don't assume things about carriers
I've never used. I'm sure the people over in alt.cellular.cingular could say
for sure.
--
Steve Sobol, Victorville, California, USA
It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room.
- 10-20-2008, 10:02 PM #8Dennis FergusonGuest
Re: Calling over WIFI on a cell phone possible?
On 2008-10-21, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
> Which carriers will let you put NON-Carrier phones on and keep the NON-
> carrier firmware the factory delivered with it with everything turned on??
> I know they'll let foreign phones on the system....AFTER they burn their
> firmware into them.....
AT&T and T-Mobile. In over 8 years with one or the other of those
carriers I've used unbranded or foreign carrier branded phones purchased
in Asia almost exclusively. They can't (and won't, anyway) touch the
firmware since they never touch the phone. They give me the SIM,
I put the SIM in the phone and use it.
These days I only like to buy phones which support the Euro 3G band
and with firmware which can display Chinese characters. AT&T mostly
doesn't sell phones and/or firmware like that so there is nothing
they could do to the phone in any case.
Dennis Ferguson
Similar Threads
- Alltel
- Motorola
- LG
- Sprint PCS
- alt.cellular.verizon
Selling Himalayan Pink Salt Tiles and Bricks
in For Sale/Wanted