javaJake
Jacob Godserv
So, lately I've been griping a lot about how expensive cell-phones are. Really quite a pain. The Pandora, and all its fanciness, made me consider my various options. This is a summary of the last two or three months of research.
The only phones that'll work on the Pandora are the VoIP phones. Needless to say, this implies something like Skype or Gizmo. (I know about SIP, but I can't find any companies that give me a good gateway into the "real" world.) First, being the most popular, I looked at Skype.
Skype is really something else. $3/month, plus $30/year, and I have myself unlimited calling. At least in the US. In the UK it's more like $6/month. Since I plan on using whatever software I pick as my primary phone, paying for Skype Credit wouldn't be worth it after 150 minutes of usage, which I easily run over. The subscription would save me money, in the US. Compare this to Gizmo, which, while they have slightly lower rates, has no subscription package, which means I'd end up paying more than I would with Skype.
However, things started to go downhill once I remembered Skype only works on Intel machines. I'd have to buy a whole new device of some kind to get Skype on the go. As I gazed across the list of $200 phones, I noticed that they were all wifi phones, and would only work in the confines of my home. The Pandora is also limited to wifi zones, however, so that wasn't going to work either.
Skype was a no go, but I tried to ignore that for a long time. My experience with Gizmo's software on Windows machines is subpar, creating a slightly foul taste in my mouth whenever I hear the name "Gizmo5". Maybe, just maybe, I could hack Skype onto the Pandora with Nokia binaries.
Finally, today, I returned to Gizmo. Reviewing my old account, I remembered I had registered a free 775 call-in number. I downloaded the software onto my Mac, ran it, and thought "hmmm, not so bad". This still wasn't going to work, though, because Gizmo, like Skype, was only able to run on Intel processors and Nokia devices.
*click* <-- that's the sound of the lightbulb that went off in my head when I remembered that Gizmo is different than Skype in one very very important aspect: their protocol, or at least the service, is not locked down into their network. They support the SIP protocol.
The pieces started falling together. I found a nice page on what configuration values are needed for SIP communication on an Asterisk server. I trashed the Gizmo client, and downloaded a nice, sleek, simple, OSX-friendly piece of software aptly named Telephone. Configuring the account was a snap once I knew what 1747 number my Gizmo account had linked to it.
Oh my, I'm totally missing a very important piece of the puzzle. *rewinds a month* *clicks play* Google Voice was announced under private beta, and I wasted no time in signing up for that. (This is right in the midst of my research, you see.) The basic idea is this: Google Voice gives you one phone number you can pass out to all your contacts. Then, using Google, you can filter your contacts to a very nice (transcribed!) voicemail inbox right in Google Voice or to other various phone numbers you own, based on what time it is, or who's calling.
So, fast forward to today. I plugged in my previously-mentioned 1775 (not 747) number into the interface. This was a mistake. The free "Area 775" numbers, for whatever reason, are completely incompatible with Google Voice. Next, I tried the 1747 number (in blind hope it'd work). To my shock, Google Voice recognized it as a "Gizmo" number! I called my 1747 number via Google Voice and, sure enough, Telephone rang on my OSX machine!
Brilliant! I had a free call-in number anyone could dial, and I could route to any phone, and I could receive the calls via the standard SIP protocol. But what about call-out?
This is where Google Voice becomes so very helpful. See, the way Google Voice connects you, while still retaining your Google Voice number as your caller ID, is by calling you first and then calling the recipient. You can initiate this through the web interface. You can also do this by calling your own phone number, and then dialing the number you want to call when prompted. However, this is why the web interface is perfect: in order for me to call out with Gizmo, I'd have to buy Call Out credit. Now, however, Google Voice allows me to call out for free, because, as far as Gizmo is concerned, I'm receiving a call!
This makes me incredibly tied down to wifi hotspots, however. This is the one wrinkle in my plans. Mobile broadband is the immediate solution, and Verizon is the only one that specifically supports VoIP in their plans. However, $60/month is not nothing, especially compared to $8.33/month for 80~ minutes a month via prepaid phones. I'd have to spend over 600 minutes on the phone to make mobile broadband worth the price. On the flipside, just prepaid alone is not enough at 80~ minutes a month for my usage (easily surpasses 150 minutes, remember). Moving up a notch, I don't come close to 450 minutes in a basic plan.
Thus, the solution: use SIP as my primary phone when I am not on the move, which gives me unlimited voice and text, and supplement with prepaid when I need to communicate elsewhere. This works for me, because I am always in a wifi zone whenever I am not on the road. In the future, if my usage climbs high enough, and mobile prices drop enough, I will be more than ready to jump in. Until then, this is as close as I can get to the cheapest, but usable, phone system.
What are your thoughts on this plan? Are there any options I'm overlooking that would work with the Pandora (without hacking, or spending lots of money)?
Edit: Thanks to the folks working on the Pandora now, who made this possible!
The only phones that'll work on the Pandora are the VoIP phones. Needless to say, this implies something like Skype or Gizmo. (I know about SIP, but I can't find any companies that give me a good gateway into the "real" world.) First, being the most popular, I looked at Skype.
Skype is really something else. $3/month, plus $30/year, and I have myself unlimited calling. At least in the US. In the UK it's more like $6/month. Since I plan on using whatever software I pick as my primary phone, paying for Skype Credit wouldn't be worth it after 150 minutes of usage, which I easily run over. The subscription would save me money, in the US. Compare this to Gizmo, which, while they have slightly lower rates, has no subscription package, which means I'd end up paying more than I would with Skype.
However, things started to go downhill once I remembered Skype only works on Intel machines. I'd have to buy a whole new device of some kind to get Skype on the go. As I gazed across the list of $200 phones, I noticed that they were all wifi phones, and would only work in the confines of my home. The Pandora is also limited to wifi zones, however, so that wasn't going to work either.
Skype was a no go, but I tried to ignore that for a long time. My experience with Gizmo's software on Windows machines is subpar, creating a slightly foul taste in my mouth whenever I hear the name "Gizmo5". Maybe, just maybe, I could hack Skype onto the Pandora with Nokia binaries.
Finally, today, I returned to Gizmo. Reviewing my old account, I remembered I had registered a free 775 call-in number. I downloaded the software onto my Mac, ran it, and thought "hmmm, not so bad". This still wasn't going to work, though, because Gizmo, like Skype, was only able to run on Intel processors and Nokia devices.
*click* <-- that's the sound of the lightbulb that went off in my head when I remembered that Gizmo is different than Skype in one very very important aspect: their protocol, or at least the service, is not locked down into their network. They support the SIP protocol.
The pieces started falling together. I found a nice page on what configuration values are needed for SIP communication on an Asterisk server. I trashed the Gizmo client, and downloaded a nice, sleek, simple, OSX-friendly piece of software aptly named Telephone. Configuring the account was a snap once I knew what 1747 number my Gizmo account had linked to it.Oh my, I'm totally missing a very important piece of the puzzle. *rewinds a month* *clicks play* Google Voice was announced under private beta, and I wasted no time in signing up for that. (This is right in the midst of my research, you see.) The basic idea is this: Google Voice gives you one phone number you can pass out to all your contacts. Then, using Google, you can filter your contacts to a very nice (transcribed!) voicemail inbox right in Google Voice or to other various phone numbers you own, based on what time it is, or who's calling.
So, fast forward to today. I plugged in my previously-mentioned 1775 (not 747) number into the interface. This was a mistake. The free "Area 775" numbers, for whatever reason, are completely incompatible with Google Voice. Next, I tried the 1747 number (in blind hope it'd work). To my shock, Google Voice recognized it as a "Gizmo" number! I called my 1747 number via Google Voice and, sure enough, Telephone rang on my OSX machine!
Brilliant! I had a free call-in number anyone could dial, and I could route to any phone, and I could receive the calls via the standard SIP protocol. But what about call-out?
This is where Google Voice becomes so very helpful. See, the way Google Voice connects you, while still retaining your Google Voice number as your caller ID, is by calling you first and then calling the recipient. You can initiate this through the web interface. You can also do this by calling your own phone number, and then dialing the number you want to call when prompted. However, this is why the web interface is perfect: in order for me to call out with Gizmo, I'd have to buy Call Out credit. Now, however, Google Voice allows me to call out for free, because, as far as Gizmo is concerned, I'm receiving a call!
This makes me incredibly tied down to wifi hotspots, however. This is the one wrinkle in my plans. Mobile broadband is the immediate solution, and Verizon is the only one that specifically supports VoIP in their plans. However, $60/month is not nothing, especially compared to $8.33/month for 80~ minutes a month via prepaid phones. I'd have to spend over 600 minutes on the phone to make mobile broadband worth the price. On the flipside, just prepaid alone is not enough at 80~ minutes a month for my usage (easily surpasses 150 minutes, remember). Moving up a notch, I don't come close to 450 minutes in a basic plan.
Thus, the solution: use SIP as my primary phone when I am not on the move, which gives me unlimited voice and text, and supplement with prepaid when I need to communicate elsewhere. This works for me, because I am always in a wifi zone whenever I am not on the road. In the future, if my usage climbs high enough, and mobile prices drop enough, I will be more than ready to jump in. Until then, this is as close as I can get to the cheapest, but usable, phone system.
What are your thoughts on this plan? Are there any options I'm overlooking that would work with the Pandora (without hacking, or spending lots of money)?
Edit: Thanks to the folks working on the Pandora now, who made this possible!
