Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="wisal" data-source="post: 7095258" data-attributes="member: 220276">IPhone App to Sidestep AT&T                                                                        by  David PogueThursday, March 25, 2010provided by<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/fi/16/53/76.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>For a little $1  iPhone app, Line2 sure has the potential to shake up an entire industry.More  from <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109173/www.nytimes.com" target="_blank">NYTimes.com</a>:•  <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/want-better-att-cell-service-now-you-can-buy-it/?partner=yahoofinance" target="_blank">Want  Better AT&T Cell Service? Now You Can Buy It</a>• <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/technology/25apple.html?partner=yahoofinance" target="_blank">Messages  From Steve Jobs Are Making Recipients Swoon</a>• <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/business/media/25ipad.html?partner=yahoofinance" target="_blank">Advertisers  Show Interest in iPad</a>It can save you  money. It can make calls where AT&T's (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=t" target="_blank">T</a>) signal is weak, like  indoors. It can turn an iPod Touch into a full-blown cellphone.And  it can ruin the sleep of cellphone executives everywhere.Line2  gives your iPhone a second phone number -- a second phone line, complete  with its own contacts list, voice mail, and so on. The company behind  it, Toktumi (get it?), imagines that you'll distribute the Line2 number  to business contacts, and your regular iPhone number to friends and  family. Your second line can be an 800 number, if you wish, or you can  transfer an existing number.To that end, Toktumi offers, on its  Web site, a raft of Google (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=goog" target="_blank">GOOG</a>) Voice-ish features  that are intended to help a small businesses look bigger: call  screening, Do Not Disturb hours and voice mail messages sent to you as  e-mail. You can create an "automated attendant" -- "Press 1 for sales,"  "Press 2 for accounting," and so on -- that routes incoming calls to  other phone numbers. Or, if you're pretending to be a bigger business  than you are, route them all to yourself.   More from  Yahoo! Finance: • <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108825/what-your-gadget-really-costs" target="_blank">What  Your Gadget Really Costs</a> • <a href="http://customsites.yahoo.com/financiallyfit/finance/article-108809-4109-3-why-your-cell-phone-bill-may-be-going-up" target="_blank">Your  Cell Phone Company's Dirty Little Secret</a> • <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108782/Think-twice-about-unlimited-calling-plans.html?mod=family-love_money" target="_blank">Think  Twice About Unlimited Calling Plans</a>     <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home" target="_blank">Visit  the Family & Home Center </a> The  Line2 app is a carbon copy, a visual clone, of the iPhone's own phone  software. The dialing pad, your iPhone Contacts list, your recent calls  list and visual voice mail all look just like the iPhone's.(Let's  pause for a moment here to blink, dumbfounded, at that point. Apple's  (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl" target="_blank">AAPL</a>) rules prohibit  App Store programs that look or work too much like the iPhone's own  built-in apps. For example, Apple rejected the Google Voice app because,  as Apple explained to the Federal Communications Commission, it works  "by replacing the iPhone's core mobile telephone functionality and Apple  user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls." That  is exactly what Line2 does. Oh well -- the Jobs works in mysterious  ways.)So you have a second line on your iPhone. But that's not  the best part.Line2 also turns the iPhone into a dual-mode phone.  That is, it can make and receive calls either using either the AT&T  airwaves as usual, or -- now this is the best part -- over the  Internet. Any time you're in a wireless hot spot, Line2 places its calls  over Wi-Fi instead of AT&T's network.That's a game-changer.  Where, after all, is cellphone reception generally the worst? Right --  indoors. In your house or your office building, precisely where you have  Wi-Fi. Line2 in Wi-Fi means rock-solid, confident reception indoors.Line2  also runs on the iPod Touch. When you're in a Wi-Fi hot spot, your  Touch is now a full-blown cellphone, and you don't owe AT&T a penny.But  wait, there's more.Turns out Wi-Fi calls don't use up any  AT&T minutes. You can talk all day long, without ever worrying about  going over your monthly allotment of minutes. Wi-Fi calls are free  forever.Well, not quite free; Line2 service costs $15 a month  (after a 30-day free trial).But here's one of those cases where  spending more could save you money. If you're in a Wi-Fi hot spot most  of the time (at work, for example), that's an awful lot of calling you  can do in Wi-Fi -- probably enough to downgrade your AT&T plan to  one that gives you fewer minutes. If you're on the 900-minute or  unlimited plan ($90 or $100 a month), for example, you might be able to  get away with the 450-minute plan ($70). Even with Line2's fee, you're  saving $5 or $15 a month.Line2 also lets you call overseas phone  numbers for Skype-like rates: 2 to 5 cents a minute to most countries.  (A full table of rates is available at toktumi.com.) As a handy  globetrotters' bonus, calls home to numbers in the United States from  overseas hot spots are free.All of these benefits come to you  when you're in a Wi-Fi hot spot, because your calls are carried by the  Internet instead of by AT&T. Interestingly enough, though, Line2 can  also make Internet calls even when you're not in a hot spot.It  can, at your option, place calls over AT&T's 3G data network, where  it's available. Every iPhone plan includes unlimited use of this 3G  network -- it's how your iPhone sends e-mail and surfs the Web. So once  again, Line2 calls don't use up any of your monthly voice minutes.Unfortunately,  voice connections on the 3G network aren't as strong and reliable as  the voice or Wi-Fi methods. Cellular data networks aren't made for  seamless handoffs from cell tower to tower as you drive, for example --  there's not much need for it if you're just doing e-mail and Web -- so  dropped calls are more likely. Fortunately, if you're on a 3G  data-network call and you walk into a hot spot, Line2 switches to the  more reliable Wi-Fi network seamlessly, in midcall.Whenever you  do have an Internet connection -- either Wi-Fi or a strong 3G area --  you're in for a startling treat. If you and your calling partner are  both Line2 subscribers, Line2 kicks you into superhigh audio-quality  mode (16-bit mode, as the techies call it).Your calling partners  sound as if they're speaking right into the mike at an FM radio station.  It's almost too clear; you hear the other person's breathing, lip  smacks, clothing rustling and so on. After years of suffering through  awful cellphone audio, it's quite a revelation to hear what you've been  missing.Now, this all sounds wonderful, and Line2 generally is  wonderful. But there's room for improvement.First, as you've no  doubt already concluded, understanding Line2 is complicated. You have  three different ways to make calls, each with pros and cons.You  miss a certain degree of refinement, too. The dialing pad doesn't make  touch-tone sounds as you tap the keys. There's no Favorites list within  the Line2 app. You can't get or send text messages on your Line2 line.  (The company says it will fix all this soon.)There's a faint hiss  on Line2 calls, as if you're on a long-distance call in 1970. The  company says that it deliberately introduces this "comfort noise" to  reassure you that you're still connected, but it's unnecessary. And  sometimes there's a voice delay of a half-second or so (of course, you  sometimes get that on regular cellphone calls, too).Finally, a  note about incoming calls. If the Line2 app is open at the time, you're  connected via Wi-Fi, if available. If it's not running, the call comes  in through AT&T, so you lose the benefits of Wi-Fi calling. In  short, until Apple blesses the iPhone with multitasking software, you  have to leave Line2 open whenever you put the phone to sleep. That's  awkward.Still, Line2 is the first app that can receive incoming  calls via either Wi-Fi or cellular voice, so you get the call even if  the app isn't running. That's one of several advantages that distinguish  it from other voice-over-Internet apps like Skype and TruPhone.Another  example: If you're on a Wi-Fi call using those other programs, and  someone calls your regular iPhone number, your first call is  unceremoniously disconnected. Line2, on the other hand, offers you the  chance to decline the incoming call without losing your Wi-Fi call.Those  rival apps also lack Line2's call-management features, visual voice  mail and conference calling with up to 20 other people. And Line2 is the  only app that gives you a choice of call methods for incoming and  outgoing calls.All of this should rattle cell industry  executives, because let's face it: the Internet tends to make things  free. Cell carriers go through life hoping nobody notices the cellephant  in the room: that once everybody starts making free calls over the  Internet, it's Game Over for the dollars-for-minutes model.Line2,  however, brings us one big step closer to that very future. It's going  to be a wild ride.E-mail: <a href="mailto:pogue@nytimes.com">pogue@nytimes.com</a></blockquote>

Verification: Payakata winadi keeyak tibeda?

Top Bottom