I'm rarely out of wifi range,..in fact, pretty much never unless I'm walking around on the streets of the city or traveling, and even then I can find it fairly easily. I'm wondering, has anyone gone to a mobile lifestyle without using a cell carrier, using wifi only? What is your strategy? I'm wondering if Skype or a similar service would work well enough as my mobile contact number, maybe coupled with a prepaid dumb phone for the car for emergencies. Is this a realistic idea?
In an absolute emergency all cell phones can still dial 911 no matter contract status as long as they have signal
Whayle said:
I'm rarely out of wifi range,..in fact, pretty much never unless I'm walking around on the streets of the city or traveling, and even then I can find it fairly easily. I'm wondering, has anyone gone to a mobile lifestyle without using a cell carrier, using wifi only? What is your strategy? I'm wondering if Skype or a similar service would work well enough as my mobile contact number, maybe coupled with a prepaid dumb phone for the car for emergencies. Is this a realistic idea?
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Click to collapse
Well if you have a Smartphone you should be able to port your current number to Google voice and make and receive calls and texts from it without requiring a plan
I have a android phone and I make calls on Wifi all the time and love it! Maybe I need to make a call at a friends house with no signal? Google Voice via Wifi To the Rescue!
You don't even need to port a number to Google Voice. They'll give you you're own number when you sign up.
If you're okay with not having a signal while you're out and about, then by all means go for it.
I'm sure it could be done but I doubt it would be very practical. Imagine going on a little trip or wanting to make a call but can't because you're just outside the wifi range. Even always being near a wi-fi connection doesn't guarantee you'll always be near one.
LOL I'm waiting for my unlock code to a HD2.
So far it's livable with GoVoice for texting and checking email, listening to music, and watching netflix.
Going to school and all that isn't really necessary for a data plan cause wifi is available and on top of that all around campus
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Try netTalk from the market works good for Out going calls on WiFi.
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Related
Hi guys,
Was wandering if someone could help me out with, rather, strange question.
I want to use an Android phone to make calls, but do not want to sign up with any cell phone company. I live in New brunswick, Fredericton, we have free wireless internet.
I want to make use of it, but so far I have not found a concrete answer.
I have started a thread about this on another android forums, if you want more details, or just ask me:
http://forums.androidandme.com/topic/how-to-use-free-internet-with-android-without-cell-plan
Any help is Great appreciated!
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...e-accused-over-android-skype-app-block-628218
maybe if they get it to work
with skype you still of cause are charged to pay when you call normal phones
Yeah, that's interesting.
I find the whole situation with cell phone companies stupid, charging outrageous rates for what should really be included in your home internet fee.
In any case, I was wandering if a solution exists for right now It doesn't have to be free, but at least cheaper than buying an unlimited plan from rogers or what-not.
Or are there other phones (except Android) that can do this instead?
Thanks
yes skype is out for
windows mobile
heck even iphone got it
but you have to remember that if you call normal phones
cell or land-line you have to pay skype as they offer the link to
gsm and land-line which have no connection to the Internet you get
when you connect to wifi
just wanted to make sure you didn't have the impression that it was 1 big network
it's not
kinda like one can't send an email to a person with not computer and expect a free service
which print the email and put it in the physically mailbox of the person
I understand that I have to pay skype or someone else for calling landlines. That is Fine with me.
However, with Skype (for example and iphone/windows mobile?), can I use the phone even if I don't have a SIM card/cell phone plan?
Rudegar said:
yes skype is out for
windows mobile
heck even iphone got it
but you have to remember that if you call normal phones
cell or land-line you have to pay skype as they offer the link to
gsm and land-line which have no connection to the Internet you get
when you connect to wifi
just wanted to make sure you didn't have the impression that it was 1 big network
it's not
kinda like one can't send an email to a person with not computer and expect a free service
which print the email and put it in the physically mailbox of the person
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Click to collapse
yes you can even use a non phone pda with wifi or an ipod touch
when you have wifi you have the same possibilities as with a computer
That sounds cool. Thanks,
Another question:
Is there a way I can use my phone/pda as a Gps device?
If I have no plan, I can't connect to satelite either?
Or do some phones provide some kind of tom-tom enabled capabilities?
since the sipdroid isn't allowing non-paying people to link GV to them for right now, is there another easy option?
I have very bad phone connection at my house so im stuck with the wifi option but every other method I found seems to take like 30 steps and 5 or more programs/accounts to setup.
If you are with Tmobile, you can use Tmobile's app wifi calling. It uses you air time, but works for no cell phone reception.
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I'm with verizon
If you call and complain enough verizon should give you a network repeater that will work for your house. It will use your home internet to provide a better connection.. They might try and charge you for it, but like I said with enough bickering you'll get it for free
Try this, its called "GrooVe IP" :
http://www.appbrain.com/app/groove-ip/com.gvoip
The app costs a few bucks tho, but after you buy it all you use is data, not your cell minutes, and there is no complicated set up at all besides inputting your google voice info.
billygoat32 said:
If you call and complain enough verizon should give you a network repeater that will work for your house. It will use your home internet to provide a better connection.. They might try and charge you for it, but like I said with enough bickering you'll get it for free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it. They kept having me reset my antenna radio or suggest buying the extender. They could not give it to me free or for a lower price. And when I threatened to cancel my contract, they just said "Sorry to hear that, I'll connect you over to cancel your contract."
As for the app, thanks for the suggestion. Will check into that.
Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to posting, had a G2 before but mostly read the forums.
So I've got a G2x that works pretty well so far, no major issues, just some screen bleed in one corner. The only complaint I have is the reception on the phone. It seems that it drops several bars whenever I hold my phone, and in my house, it drops to zero bars where my G2 would hold 1-2 bars.
So I'm starting to use wifi calling so that I can disable the radio through the hidden menu to save some battery power when I'm at home. The problem is, wifi calling only works for a few minutes before it realizes that I'm not on the T-mo network. Basically, I think it needs the cell radio to remain on for wifi calling to work.
I went on T-mo's chat support to enable the free unlimited wifi calling feature on my phone, which, according to the support, will enable me to keep the cell radio off and make calls with the app, just like the UMA wifi calling feature that blackberry phones have. The rep told me to wait a few hours before trying the free wifi calling, which I did, but it still works the same as it did before I got free wifi calling added.
Has anyone else activated the free wifi calling feature? Does it work like the UMA wifi calling feature that blackberry phones have? It's possible it will take longer for the feature to kick in, so I'll keep checking.
It is not UMA. If you are in the middle of a wifi call and you move out of wifi range, the call will drop. That said, you do not need cell tower access, that beats the entire purpose of wifi calling. I use it when I work in the server room at my office. The room is in the center of the building surrounded by concrete so nobody gets any signal in there and I turn wifi calling on all the time.
You'll need a certain amount of bandwidth though. I have at home comcast cable with 22mbps and if I'm streaming Netflix in HD, the wifi calling call quality goes to ****. I haven't captured packets yet but I'm sure it's just that the router can't cope with all those QoS packets. So try not to stream anything while you use wifi calling and you'll be fine.
So do you keep your cell radio on in that deadzone? Wouldn't that drain the battery quickly since it is constantly looking for a signal?
When you turn on wifi calling it turns off cell tower polling automatically. You'll see that your cellphone reception goes from whatever many bars you had, to zero bars because it turns off the cell radio automatically. So once you see the wifi calling icon in the notification bar, you're set. You stop polling celltowers and you save battery
The wifi calling apps automatically turns the radio off after it connects to the network and switches it to GSM only. You'll notice that the bars will go to none once it is connected. You're actually interferring with thd app by trying to do things yourself.
And yes, I use the app whenever I am at home since I get poor signal. Get great battery life just letting it do what it does.
Edit: above poster basically said everything I said while I was typing lol.
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I use the WIFI calling feature when I'm at work since I don't get a cell signal in the building. I never changed my account to activate the WIFI calling feature because I already have unlimited minutes on my account, so it doesn't make a difference that WIFI calling uses my plan minutes. Plus, when I tried to do it online, the online system wanted to change my account to one of the plans with a 2GB cap (I'm on the original EM+ family plan, with the 5GB cap). Didn't think it was that important.
Once I get to work, I connect to WIFI, then turn on WIFI calling. I never disable my cell radio. I also set my WIFI calling to connect through WIFI only, not WIFI preferred. At times, my calls are pretty clear. But, there are times when my calls are so choppy that I have to have the person hang up, so that I can call them back from an office line (or go outside and use the T-Mobile tower on my cell).
Oh wow that makes sense, thanks for the responses, I didn't think that it would stop searching for a signal when wifi calling is enabled. I'm curious though, do you guys put connection preferences to "Wifi only?" Seems that if you do wifi or cell preferred it would need a connection to a cell tower so that it could switch to GSM if it provides better call quality.
I haven't tested this in a while but I think if you do wifi only, once you move out of wifi range you have to remember to disable wifi calling or you get no calls.
@Memnoch30 and kangxi
Did you both activate the unlimited free wifi calling feature introduced in May?
Also I just noticed that there is a setting in the app. Under advanced settings, there's an option with the description "UMA network controller address." Perhaps UMA can be enabled somehow?
No I didn't. I have unlimited minutes so I don't really worry about any of that.
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I did activate it since I don't have unlimited minutes. I don't know about enabling UMA though.
See, this is something I don't get. Using a cell phone with spotty reception. That is one issue I can say I've never had before this phone. One that is choronically losng it's cell connection.This is ultimately the ONLY reason I have one. Period. If the phone reception is not rock 100% freaking solid, why do I have the damn thing? I do not want a phone that doesn't put my call through every single time. Why should I stand for anything less?
ickster said:
See, this is something I don't get. Using a cell phone with spotty reception. That is one issue I can say I've never had before this phone. One that is choronically losng it's cell connection.This is ultimately the ONLY reason I have one. Period. If the phone reception is not rock 100% freaking solid, why do I have the damn thing? I do not want a phone that doesn't put my call through every single time. Why should I stand for anything less?
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Click to collapse
I agree, I think the android phone market is so packed that manufacturers have to put in a lot of time to bump up tech specs for their phone to stand out. They really should be at least implementing a cell radio and battery good enough for real world use though
Wifi calling is amazing. I use it at work. It also saves huge amounts of battery cause wifi < cellular.
LG G2x CM7 2.3.4
how do you get it enables unlimited?? i dont see anything on the tmobile site about it being free unlimited wifi calling just that it will use your plan minutes
Xargon321 said:
how do you get it enables unlimited?? i dont see anything on the tmobile site about it being free unlimited wifi calling just that it will use your plan minutes
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Click to collapse
You have to call customer service or do it through their online chat support service to have it enabled. I'm not sure why they make you do this, but you can't enable it yourself through the My T-mobile website.
have to say anything special? or just tell them to enable unlimited wifi calling? might have to do this later then.
Well, you have to be the primary account holder, but you don't really say anything special, just ask to add "free unlimited wifi calling" to your phone line.
Funny thing happened to me I called tonight and, after doing some other changes, asked about the unlimited wifi calling. The agent said oh I see u have a g2x. I said yea? Then after a hold. He said as long as ur using the wifi calling App it doesn't use plan minute.. I said oh really plz note that on my account so when it uses my minutes I can get credit. He said sure no problem I noted it and tagged the support document I read it from on your account. This was the third time I tried adding it. So I have no idea what is going on..
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That's strange... maybe try adding it through the online chat support, that's how I got it added. They take a while to respond but they seemed to have added it to my account, can't say for sure though.
I just got my HTC One S on T-Mob. Connected to my wifi network at home and not to T-Mob's network, does browsing add to my data use on T-Mob? Do calls get posted to my voice minutes use?
cheddar 151 said:
I just got my HTC One S on T-Mob. Connected to my wifi network at home and not to T-Mob's network, does browsing add to my data use on T-Mob? Do calls get posted to my voice minutes use?
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Click to collapse
The data does not count towards limits. I don't use WiFi calling.
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In the U.S., anything you do through WiFi does not count towards your plan min/data.
I think you have to make sure the free wifi calling is "activated" through Tmo here in US. I think. I don't use it either.
I never could get the concept of Tmo charging anything at all for using your own network to route calls. Takes the strain off their system and they charge for it.
Sorry, the thread title is just too funny. How much "wife data" do you really need?
Wifi data (for web browsing, etc) shouldn't affect your mobile data limit. Wifi calling in theory should not affect your voice minutes, assuming your account and SIM card are set up for it. But I do know the older (2yr+) TmoUS accounts' terms were still deducting minutes even with WIFI calling - if you are not sure, you should call to check.
ickster said:
I think you have to make sure the free wifi calling is "activated" through Tmo here in US. I think. I don't use it either.
I never could get the concept of Tmo charging anything at all for using your own network to route calls. Takes the strain off their system and they charge for it.
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Click to collapse
I agree, however it is still funneled through their servers. It might relieve the stress on their towers, but it operates nearly the same on their network (unless you use Google Voice or some other VOIP service).
I've been seeing this becoming more n more popular . People dropping their carrier and just using there WiFi to connect there phone for INTERNET n such .Was just wondering if anyone here does this already and or has any good apps ideas or tips for doing this .
Thanx oh not that it matters much but i have a Motorola Droid 2 for this.
No reason it wouldn't work. I have a G1 iPhone and it still plays Pandora OK and Internet's etc.
Just took the old ATT sim out and tossed it.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Cool ya I didn't think there'd be any probs to do it. I talked to my cuz n he only uses his phone when he's on wifi has a number for texting n everything. Also thru the same app he does this with if you try there adds or something he can rack up minutes to call people? Anyone hear of this at all. All I'd be worried bout is the internet and to still play the games
I used my Sprint HTC Touch Pro II for about a year on wifi only,before I got it ported to Boost.
No difference beteeen the two that I could tell.
Matt
It really depends on where you live and why you have a phone.
I considered this when leaving my Sprint contract but decided not to for what I think is a very important reason. Emergencies. What if something happens and I need to make a call and I'm not near WIFI ? What if I'm not near anything ? What if I can't wait to go hunt down a free WIFI spot before I need to make a call ? What if I or someone else is hurt and can't wait ?
To me, mobile web and ability to play games is a much smaller concern than personal safety.
My "dumbphone" saved me from bad situations by being able to make a phone call without having to walk for miles.
If I could live without mobile data, I would go for a pre-paid minutes SIM that allows you to at least connect to cell towers if you need it. There are emergencies where it's not appropriate to call 911, yet being able to call a friend or family member will save your sorry hide if you're able to.
Ultimately, I went with T-Mobile's 100 min/unlimited tex/5Gb data plan for $30/mo because it's pretty cool to be able to stream Netflix in-between my lab and other classes and to be able to use navigation if I'm lost or just need to know something without trying to find a 24/7 coffee shop with free wifi.
I've had good luck using Groove IP for phone calls, as long as you have a Google Voice account. After some echo cancelation tweaks, and putting up with an ever-so-slight lag, it was not much different than calling with a standard phone.
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