I recently downloaded Fring on my cell phone. Fring is a mobile client for Skype, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, & SIP. Think of it as Trillian or Pigdin for cell phones. Using Fring, for example, I can make Skype voice calls using the mobile data network (or a WLAN data network - my phone has an 802.11g antenna). I've tried making voice calls.. it actually works! There's a slight delay, but it wasn't more noticeable than on a computer.
This got me thinking: why have voice minutes at all? Through Skype (or some other SIP service), I could buy minutes and call any phone number. Skype charges 2.4 cents/min to call the US. Cingular's charges vary, but taking my plan, it's 11.25 cents/min ($40/450 min). This, of course, doesn't include nights & weekends, mobile-to-mobile min, etc. Including those, I would need to talk for 1666 minutes/month, to get a rate of 2.4 cents/min. This is only domestic calling. Layer on international calling and the equation looks much different.
So here's my proposal: a service plan with 0 voice minutes and unlimited data. Perhaps I could try to do this with Sonopia.
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1 comment:
This is great info to know.
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