Possibly Cheaper Way To Get Phone Access on iPhone!

[KrazyKuul]

beforehand, let me say, i'm sure many people have thought of this, and it may not be possible, but:

Wouldnt it save you people alot of money if instead of buying the monthly subscription to at&t along with the data plan, to only buy the data plan. If it is possible to only get the data plan for like 30 bucks, then cant you jailbreak your phone, and use (i believe its called) voip. I've seen people using iPod touches to make calls using voip, and i am planning on doing that with my iPod touch, but if you have an iPhone, isnt it possible to cut the costs of your bills by just paying for the data plan and using voip?

please tell me if this is possible because surely i will get an iPhone.

 

[iParis]

beforehand, let me say, i'm sure many people have thought of this, and it may not be possible, but:

Wouldnt it save you people alot of money if instead of buying the monthly subscription to at&t along with the data plan, to only buy the data plan. If it is possible to only get the data plan for like 30 bucks, then cant you jailbreak your phone, and use (i believe its called) voip. I've seen people using iPod touches to make calls using voip, and i am planning on doing that with my iPod touch, but if you have an iPhone, isnt it possible to cut the costs of your bills by just paying for the data plan and using voip?

please tell me if this is possible because surely i will get an iPhone.

Although there isn't any way to really do a call on the iPod touch since the headphones with mic haven't been released yet.

And I believe you can still make regular calls on the iPhone as long as you're connected to wifi.
There was also a thread on only having to spend $40 month by cancelling the data plan.
I would copy/paste the link but I'm on my iPod

 

[speedracer3000]

VOIP apps by Apple SDK restriction only work in wi-fi and not Edge or 3G, it's also difficult to receive calls on the VOIP apps.

With that said however, on a jailbroken phone, you can run something like Fring in the background with Backgrounder which is suppose to keep you connected, and purchase a skype-in number so people can call you. I believe there is also something in Cydia that fools the app to think its in wi-fi mode when in fact you are on Edge or 3G, so this may allow you to run VOIP on data plan when you are not on wi-fi. So in theory, you can do this, but in practice, you will probably miss a lot of calls, get really sh*tty call quality if you do actually catch a call or get a call through, and basically have a really unreliable phone service.
If you are looking to save a few bucks but still want the iphone, you can get an 2G iphone from ebay, jailbreak and unlock it to use T-Mobile which has plans that are less $ than AT&T. You can also do a pre-paid plan on T-Mobile if you don't make too many calls so still you have a reliable phone serice. The other times just look for wi-fi hotspots, McDonolds, Starbucks etc. are pretty much everywhere.

 

[KrazyKuul]

Although there isn't any way to really do a call on the iPod touch since the headphones with mic haven't been released yet.

you can buy a usb mic for the iPod touch.

i didnt research them yet, but there is a tutorial for this, and it has links to where you can get iPod Touch usb mics.

 

[iParis]

you can buy a usb mic for the iPod touch.

i didnt research them yet, but there is a tutorial for this, and it has links to where you can get iPod Touch usb mics.

What? A USB mic?
Care to post link?
I don't undestand how this would work on an iPod, especially since it doesn't have a USB port.

 

[Four20]

touchmods.net made a microphone that attaches onto the bottom of the iPod Touch. . .but i don't think it's been supported sinde before the 2.0 firmware update

 

[jgunn]

VOIP apps by Apple SDK restriction only work in wi-fi and not Edge or 3G, it's also difficult to receive calls on the VOIP apps.

With that said however, on a jailbroken phone, you can run something like Fring in the background with Backgrounder which is suppose to keep you connected, and purchase a skype-in number so people can call you. I believe there is also something in Cydia that fools the app to think its in wi-fi mode when in fact you are on Edge or 3G, so this may allow you to run VOIP on data plan when you are not on wi-fi. So in theory, you can do this, but in practice, you will probably miss a lot of calls, get really sh*tty call quality if you do actually catch a call or get a call through, and basically have a really unreliable phone service.
If you are looking to save a few bucks but still want the iphone, you can get an 2G iphone from ebay, jailbreak and unlock it to use T-Mobile which has plans that are less $ than AT&T. You can also do a pre-paid plan on T-Mobile if you don't make too many calls so still you have a reliable phone serice. The other times just look for wi-fi hotspots, McDonolds, Starbucks etc. are pretty much everywhere.

Why get a 2G? I have a 3G jailbroken, unlocked with turbosim 3G and have no issues. I just have a prepay card in it. Works a treat

 

[speedracer3000]

Why get a 2G? I have a 3G jailbroken, unlocked with turbosim 3G and have no issues. I just have a prepay card in it. Works a treat

because if he gets service with T-mobile, he's not going to get 3G anyway
why pay more for a 3G iphone if he's not really going to need it

 

[KrazyKuul]

What? A USB mic?
Care to post link?
I don't undestand how this would work on an iPod, especially since it doesn't have a USB port.

heres what i found.

touchpod mic

i do see though that it is not supported on the 2.0 iPods

perhaps you can get iTalk to work with the iPod

i just checked out the iTalk website, and they work with the 2nd gen iPod touch. I'm sure they can be made into a microphone you can use with voip.