I searched this, and was surprised not to find any threads on this topic, as I'm sure it has been answered already, but anyways...
I'm travelling in the US for the next 2 weeks, and I want to avoid roaming charges on my cellphone. I do have wifi where I am, and I want to know if there's any way that I can use this to avoid roaming charges.
I know there are SMS apps that send texts over your data connection, and I just wanted to see if this would help me evade roaming charges.
On a side note, if anyone knows, does rogers charge roaming on incoming and outgoing, or just outgoing?
And, can I get both my incoming and outgoing to come through wifi?
Thanks in advance
Just wanted to bump this one up as I would really prefer to know the answer soon
I have textplus on my phone and that does allow me to send messages through wifi and I can also receive them. When I send a message it uses a really funny number (like 1001-2223202) But you select a name to be shown when the person receives the message. Also if you want to receive a message the sender has to reply to the funny number not your typical cell number, If the sender send you a message and you donèt have wifi on, the message shows up the next time you open the app.
Hope this helps....
I dont know why your are going out of your service area but another option is to pick up a SIM card for a local network when your away. You can get a cheap SIM and get a pay and talk type plan while your in that area, this way you can make local calls and message without worrying.
I guess it all depends on you situation.
Google voice works.
Sent from my Vibrant using xda app
@designerfx
I don't have an american number to tie Google Voice to, so I can't use it as it is exclusively for the states.
@hipditch
Thanks, I'll try that. I'm out of my service area because I'm on vacation
Related
I have been looking for a way to be able to greatly reduce my cell phone bill. I did a search on Youtube and found this video which explains how to make pretty close to free calls anywhere in the world.
http://futurephones.tv/
You put this device on your network at home and then you can call it with your mobile phone and it gives you a dial tone!!! It then proceeds to use VOIP or something to call whatever number you want. There is a small charge per minute like .02 cents in the USA. But the device costs $200!!! Has anyone had any experience with this or have another way to make calls for free.
Years ago, I used to have my analog cell phone call a certain number and it would call me back with a dial tone where i could dial out for cheap.
There has to be a way to call your computer and use your home phone to either call you back with a dial tone or do a three way call and conference you in to who you need to call.
I have Sprint, so, if I could say, have an automated text message i can send my computer which has the number i need to call. My computer would then call me back and wheni answer, it would conference me into the number i texted it
OR maybe i can call my computer and let it ring twice so my computer can recognize my caller id. Then i can hang up and wait for the Incoming phone call which then would let me dial any number needed. Maybe when i was finished with the first call and needed to make a new call, instead of doing the procedure again, i could hit the Pound# button and it would reset ready for me to dial again.
Sorry to rant, I guess i could have spent hours arranging my thoughts in a more precise manor... Any ideas peeps...... i hate sending Sprint $120 a month!!!!
Then make your own Wireless Phone Company, and stop complaining about the best carrier that has the most bang for your buck?
Cheapskates....
Call during nights and weekends, if you have a phone, you're going to have a bill. If you want to use the network/wifi phone, well it's a totally different plan. If it was that simple to make our phones do that, carriers wouldn't make their money.
Corrykid, I hope your Sprint stock options are doing well! Why dont you go flame the gps forums for trying to get GPS for free.... Aren't you the guy who showed everyone how to get unlimited laptop internet access? Why not pay Sprint for their WIFI adapter? CHEAPSKATE...
Ok, Check out this idea....
Scenario:
Assume the following:
Free calls to home mobile plan
VOIP home phone (Vonage free long distance unlimited calling)
Computer with modem
Application:
A person wants to call 404-555-3232
He would Call "home" number using mobile phone.
His Computer's Modem answers phone
He then enters 404-555-3232 on mobile
Computer "flashes the line" calls 404-555-3232 then flashes again to do a three way call
Result:
Person with free calls to home is not charged mobile minutes to call 404-555-3232
Problem:
How to get a modem to do this
A guy I work with keeps arguing with me that you can't send text messages over wifi so setting my phone on wifi when at home to receive text messages and e-mails is pointless since it doesn't work.
Can someone please tell me if this is true or not?
The reason I use wifi is because my cell phone connection is crappy when at my house.
Your friend is correct.
RufusThorne said:
Your friend is correct.
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+1
Text messages go through your carrier's network, not your wifi network
+2, your device does NOT do this through the data connection, so even though you might have mobile data turned off, or in this case, connected to wifi. It's using the Short message service center to communicate the data, this is over the voice network effectively, NOT DATA.
Also, this is the wrong forum for this OP.
Some T-Mo phones, like the G2x, can connect to the voice network through wifi, still uses minutes though.
Google voice will let send an SMS over a data connection.
There is an App available called TextPlus that allows you to send text messages over wifi. It does not use your cell # - it sets you up with a generic address
I use it on my tablet and works very well
It is available on the marketplace
Regards,
Get viber. Is easy and you can make phone calls and texts over wifi. Cheers!
The google voice app has never worked on my phone, always giving me some message about it being for US only.
But today i tried it from my phone and it actually allowed me to set up an account. It stopped at the screen where i was setting up my voicemail pin and said "We have a problem. Your phone number could not be verified. Please try again.". So far i havent been able to get past that screen.
I was able to make google voice calls on my laptop today so it seems like they are allowing use in Canada finally. Does anyone know if its possible to use google voice on mobilicity or wind?
I am curious because mobilicity has a new plan with unlimited calls texts and data for 25 a month, but no voicemail. If i can use google voice as my voicemail then obviously that wont be a problem.
don't know if you checked this out already, but read the post below...I think it should explain what you're looking for....
http://community.windmobile.ca/windmobile/topics/using_google_voice_on_your_phone?from_gsfn=true
Thanks, its too bad that the workarounds discussed in that post still dont offer a solution for voicemail, but that will probably be useful information for future reference.
I did find a solution to this problem without using google voice if anyone is interested. I may as well share it.
To those who are interested in this plan but wont sign up without voicemail:
- You can get a free phone number and a customizable answering machine from http://www.freephoneline.ca/ (if you cant get a toronto number you can use thornhill, richmond hill, etc to avoid forwarding to a long distance number)
- Then set your phone to forward your unanswered, busy, and unavailable incoming calls to your freephoneline number.
- Then set your voicemail access number to the corresponding number on this list http://www.freephoneline.ca/vmAccessNumbers
- Also make sure to set your freephoneline to only ring once before going to voicemail, you can do this by logging into your account on their website and going to your settings
- You now have $25 BTS + Voicemail! When people call your regular phone number and you dont answer, it will forward them to your voicemail on your freephoneline number, and you can check your voicemail from your cell phone the same way you always would.
I believe they also provide the option to automatically transcribe your voicemails and email them to you in text form.
EDIT: Apparantly call forwarding is $5 more, if thats true this wouldnt work. Another option would be using Dell Voice on the android market.
Its an app gives you a canadian number with the area code of your choice and can be used to make and receive calls anywhere in canada and US for free, and customizable voicemail. It uses your carrier data to do this, but since this plan has unlimited data that shouldnt be a problem. The only problem is you would have to get used to making and receiving all your calls through an app, and using your dell voice number as your primary number.
Might be worth the extra $5 to get call features and add the freephoneline voicemail via the method above, the $5 call features addon on the mobilicity website includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding and 3-Way Calling, (plus voicemail via fpl). Thats basically $30 for the $29 plan i currently have with wind except that it doesnt expire in a year and go up to $45 =/
I have seen people feel offended when we don't pick up their phone calls or disconnects it. I wonder if there can be easy solution to automatically send SMS, apologies for not able to pick up the call. The message should look personal, should have callers name in it.
I think mobile network service providers give the facility but they able to send only standard message, not personalized one.
Has anyone availed such facility? or is there any good android app that can provide us with this facility or can XDA developers do something about it?
Awaiting for your replies....
I am trying to consolidate all of my calling and texting into one app with one phone number that i can use on any device, I.E. android, windows, and hopefully, IOS in case i need it in the future using only an internet connection. Here is what i have right now, how i use it.
I have a Google voice account with one phone number. The problem with this is that i can't receive or make phone calls, i can only send and receive texts, and limited texts at that. Just to try to increase my text limits, I signed up for a Google business account, but really that just gives me a bunch of extra crap i don't need, I.E. a webpage.
When i first signed up for this account i had Verizon as my carrier so i linked my current number to the Verizon account. I have since canceled my service with Verizon, but i don't want to delete my current Google number because i am being told, once i click on delete, that i have to wait 90 days to get a new one. I would also prefer to not get a new number, but as long as i can gain full functionality for voice and text, i really don't care.
To make phone calls I use Skype. This works good enough for outgoing calls, but it shows my Skype number on caller ID, and i can't receive calls with it. So these two apps combined allow me to send limited texts, receive texts, make calls, but i don't have a way of receiving calls.
I am already paying more than enough for my twelve gigs of data through sprint every month, and I refuse to pay fifty bucks a month to only be able to receive phone calls, but paying a little more every month for an outside service wouldn't bother me too much. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Tell Sprint to go have sexual intercourse with itself, and switch to T-Mobile. Unlimited high-speed data, text, and minutes for $80/mo.
Planterz said:
Tell Sprint to go have sexual intercourse with itself, and switch to T-Mobile. Unlimited high-speed data, text, and minutes for $80/mo.
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Click to collapse
Wow i wish that i could immigrate to America...
[email protected] said:
I am trying to consolidate all of my calling and texting into one app with one phone number that i can use on any device, I.E. android, windows, and hopefully, IOS in case i need it in the future using only an internet connection. Here is what i have right now, how i use it.
I have a Google voice account with one phone number. The problem with this is that i can't receive or make phone calls, i can only send and receive texts, and limited texts at that. Just to try to increase my text limits, I signed up for a Google business account, but really that just gives me a bunch of extra crap i don't need, I.E. a webpage.
When i first signed up for this account i had Verizon as my carrier so i linked my current number to the Verizon account. I have since canceled my service with Verizon, but i don't want to delete my current Google number because i am being told, once i click on delete, that i have to wait 90 days to get a new one. I would also prefer to not get a new number, but as long as i can gain full functionality for voice and text, i really don't care.
To make phone calls I use Skype. This works good enough for outgoing calls, but it shows my Skype number on caller ID, and i can't receive calls with it. So these two apps combined allow me to send limited texts, receive texts, make calls, but i don't have a way of receiving calls.
I am already paying more than enough for my twelve gigs of data through sprint every month, and I refuse to pay fifty bucks a month to only be able to receive phone calls, but paying a little more every month for an outside service wouldn't bother me too much. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
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i dont know about calling, but google hangouts consoilidates all your sms in one place.
I got the hangouts desktop extension for chrome, and I can make calls from it, and I'm pretty sure i can send texts, but i still cant receive calls. One problem I'm having with it is that when i try to just type in a contact's name, it brings up a bunch of people i don't know instead of at least bringing up my google contacts first. Does anyone know how to fix this. I can't remember where, but I've also read that google is on a path to eliminate google voice, and consolidate everything to hangouts, so this might be future proof as a stable phone solution for at least the life of a cell phone contract.