VOIP over 3G would still cost minutes, right? I just want to know why people want this...? Thanks
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What's the Point of VOIP over 3G?
- Thread starter legaleye3000
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well, it is my understanding that it does not hit the minutes
It works off the data plan
But what do I know
Woof, Woof - Dawg
It works off the data plan
But what do I know
Woof, Woof - Dawg
No, it "costs" data. That is the advantage and eliminates the issue of "long distance".
Ahh ok- that IS cool... Thanks But if its Skype or a similar service, you still have to pay Skype at their per minute rate, right?
It would not cost minutes, it would use AT&T data which is bulk flat rate. You'd still have to pay for a voip provider but these are typically far cheaper than an AT&T plan. It's also a great way to make international calls even if you keep your regular voice plan.
Skype to Skype calls are free and you can buy an unlimited US and Canada plan that cost $8.40 every 3 months - can't get much cheaper than that. The problem I have is that the quality over 3G is awful. I've tried to make outgoing calls using Skype exclusively but I always end up hanging up and calling the person back the regular way. I'm not sure why the quality is so bad but it's basically unusable for me. Maybe it depends on just how good the coverage is in your area.
Vonage only charges for international calls. Domestic calls are free. It has been my experience that their quality is first rate. At this time you cannot recieve incoming calls with Vonage.
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)
Sure, but I'd much rather pay Skype's $0.03/min to call my friends back home than my carrier's $1.00/min ...
legaleye3000 said:
Sure, but I'd much rather pay Skype's $0.03/min to call my friends back home than my carrier's $1.00/min ...
Skype is much cheaper if you're only interested in a US and Canada plan (not sure about their international rates since I have no use for it). Isn't Vonage like $24.99/month? Domestic calls may be free but you're still paying $24.99/month for the plan since it includes international calls. It's not like you can just make domestic calls for free without having some kind of plan.
I doubt we'd see a completely free service to call cell and land lines but it would be cool. Skype is ok but both people have to be on it to be free which is kinda a PITA for regular use. I guess it would be ok if you talk to the other person a lot.
Like I said earlier though, you can get the Skype unlimited US and Canada plan for $8.40 per 3 months - that's extremely cheap. If you only plan to use Skype with wifi, it's worth it. If they could figure out a way to make it work well over 3G though, you'd really have something.
Just posted this on Fring forum, but maybe someone here can help...
Hi everyone, I wonder if you could clarify something. I'm an O2 iPhone customer here in the UK. I understand that we can now make calls over 3g using Fring and say a Skype out account and only pay Skype as unlimited data is included in the o2 call plan for the iPhone.
My question is, if I take my iPhone abroad and make the same Skype out call via Fring on the network as opposed to wifi, am I right in thinking I would pay the relevant O2 data charge as well as obviously the skype call charge, really meaning that the data charge would probably be more expensive than just making an old fashioned phone call bearing in mind how much data roaming when abroad costs...?
Hi everyone, I wonder if you could clarify something. I'm an O2 iPhone customer here in the UK. I understand that we can now make calls over 3g using Fring and say a Skype out account and only pay Skype as unlimited data is included in the o2 call plan for the iPhone.
My question is, if I take my iPhone abroad and make the same Skype out call via Fring on the network as opposed to wifi, am I right in thinking I would pay the relevant O2 data charge as well as obviously the skype call charge, really meaning that the data charge would probably be more expensive than just making an old fashioned phone call bearing in mind how much data roaming when abroad costs...?
yes you would unless u found a wifi hotspot. But tbh the iPhone package on o2 includes a decent package for calling from overseas.
Check out the icall app. It's free outgoing calls. Not too bad. To receive calls you need to be on a pay plan but it's pretty cheap.
FWIW, I've made 3G Skype calls and they sounded just fine. Perhaps your 3G signal wasn't strong for the ones you tried.
That may be true in certain situations but I've certainly tried it several times where I've had full bars and the quality was still bad. Wifi is great - I've just found that 3G is unusable and that's really the only time I would even need it.
Yup, Skype seems to be the cheapest out there right now. Vonage is a ripoff. My Comcast landline is cheaper than Vonage....
What about Google Voice? I know you have to call a local Google Voice number to connect the call, but aside from the call to GV, does that cost minutes?
And how do GV, Skype and Fring compare?
And how do GV, Skype and Fring compare?
The final goal i think for the jailbreak community is that Apple releases a "data only" iphone plan ( no voice)
With a jailbroken phone running Google Voice you get Infinite minutes and text messages ( using your google voice number)
Best of all text and calls from a google phone work exactly like they should on a regular phone + you get a record of everything kept online
With a jailbroken phone running Google Voice you get Infinite minutes and text messages ( using your google voice number)
Best of all text and calls from a google phone work exactly like they should on a regular phone + you get a record of everything kept online
You have to jailbreak to use the web app? Or are you talking about an actual app?
how much data cost in voip over 3g
i have a vodafone pay as you go dongle 1gb/ 15£
im tinking to buy a mifi - 3g to wireless to use with iphone
my question
i wonder how many minutes of conversation using voice over 3g - skype -skype i will have with 1gb of data.
just talking minutes with 1gb data.
i just need to compare if voice over 3g is expensive than my roaming calls
thanks
i have a vodafone pay as you go dongle 1gb/ 15£
im tinking to buy a mifi - 3g to wireless to use with iphone
my question
i wonder how many minutes of conversation using voice over 3g - skype -skype i will have with 1gb of data.
just talking minutes with 1gb data.
i just need to compare if voice over 3g is expensive than my roaming calls
thanks