Free calls..

[danman]

Android phone (Nexus S) w/o a SIM - just wifi. Google Voice + Sipdroid - free inbound and outbound calls.

Freaking awesome.

 

[thecrafter]

I was under the impression you needed an established phone number to get a Google Voice number, which is needed to make outbound calls

And what's Sipdroid for? What is sip?

 

[danman]

Here's a post on it:

http://www.efwhyeye.com/?p=556

You can get a free phone # from Google. No cell phone # needed.

SIP = VOIP - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_Initiation_Protocol

 

[thecrafter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice

For incoming calls, users must have an established US telephone service to activate their own Google Voice phone number.

 

[thecrafter]

And don't you find it a problem that you can only receive calls if you have WiFi access? What if you're outside?

For example if you're sending out resumes for jobs.. ehhh

Oh they can leave a message, right? Hmm interesting

 

[Met-AL]

Wow, interesting.

This would have come in handy 10 yrs ago when cell phones weren't such a 'requirement' in life, but then again...10yrs ago... no smart phones to do this with.

 

[danman]

And don't you find it a problem that you can only receive calls if you have WiFi access? What if you're outside?

For example if you're sending out resumes for jobs.. ehhh

Oh they can leave a message, right? Hmm interesting

I didn't say it was a replacement for your cellphone, but it may be a replacement for your home phone.

 

[danman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice

That's just a forwarding #. I'm not sure if it's needed but only needs to be setup once. You can set it up to forward to your work # for verification then stop forwarding.

 

[Met-AL]

I didn't say it was a replacement for your cellphone, but it may be a replacement for your home phone.

If you have a cell phone, then why have a home phone?

 

[Zepher]

If you have a cell phone, then why have a home phone?

dial up internet?

I didn't say it was a replacement for your cellphone, but it may be a replacement for your home phone.

You can then get a Panasonic cordless phone set with Bluetooth and pair it to your cell and be able to have 2 or more handsets and no phone bill.
If you live alone then just the cell phone by itself is all you would need.

 

[Tsumi]

If you have a cell phone, then why have a home phone?

Sometimes cellphones just aren't that reliable.

Edit: I was also under the impression that Sipdroid and Google Voice by itself wouldn't work. You needed a second service or something or other?

 

[arcturus]

Android phone (Nexus S) w/o a SIM - just wifi. Google Voice + Sipdroid - free inbound and outbound calls.

Freaking awesome.

Even easier: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1037831232&postcount=120

 

[danman]

hmm, not really any easier - Its either Sipdroid or GrooVe.

I'll check out GrooVe as well.

 

[thecrafter]

Groove looks to be MUCH better than sipdroid, just going by the app description in the store alone.

Also a short google search confirms this by multiple forum posts. So I'd definitely go with Groove.

Once my contract is up this is quite tempting but concerned about the implications of battery life and how reliable and practical this whole thing is, especially when it comes to business calls.

 

[Ashton]

Groove looks to be MUCH better than sipdroid, just going by the app description in the store alone.

Also a short google search confirms this by multiple forum posts. So I'd definitely go with Groove.

Once my contract is up this is quite tempting but concerned about the implications of battery life and how reliable and practical this whole thing is, especially when it comes to business calls.

If Anyone on here has used Groove on Sprint/Virgin 3G (~1.2mbps) mobile data, please report back. I'm looking at it, but so far the ONLY VoIP service Sprint allows is Skype (The rest are blocked on the carrier level - I cant even use my tablet W tether to make calls)

If you have a cell phone, then why have a home phone?

This.

I'm waiting for 4G to get here though, 1mbps is just too slow for me (4G is *expected* to be here by the end of the year, but is "promised" to be here by the end of 2012)