by
53
No
one likes using up their cell phone minutes, and that is where VoIP
services come in handy. VoIP offers up an inexpensive alternative to
traditional phone calls, making VoIP for the iPhone a great deal.
Which service is your favorite?
Applications
Web Based
Source: http://mashable.com/2008/11/06/voip-iphone-apps/
Combine Google Voice and Skype
Skype is a very affordable way to make long distance phone calls, but there is one problem with it: unless you set up a call display number you appear as “unknown caller” on the phone of the person you’re trying to reach. Many people will, assuming you’re a scam artist, and refuse to pick up.You can buy a phone number from Skype to avoid this. Or, if you don’t want to spend money on a subscription, you can set up your Skype account to display your Google Voice number for call display. That way people you call will see a real phone number.
You might consider doing this even if you’ve paid Skype for an incoming number: people will call you back at your Google Voice number instead of your Skype number, meaning you’ll get the call on all of your phones instead of just Skype.
Make Free Phone Calls Over Wi-Fi/Data Using Talkatone [Android & iOS]
In
the future, your phone will only need a data connection. Paying for
voice minutes and text messages will be an outdated concept and you’ll
be able to communicate entirely over Wi-Fi. Google already offers free calls from your web browser,
but they don’t offer this feature on smartphones to avoid upsetting the
carriers. Talkatone does what Google won’t and offers free calls and
texts over Wi-Fi.
Talkatone piggybacks off Google’s infrastructure, so it only offers free calls to the US and Canada. If you’re a Google Voice user, you can also receive phone calls and use text messages. Talkatone can even turn that iPod Touch, iPad, or Android tablet into a phone.
Making Free Mobile Calls
Launch Talkatone and you’ll be prompted to add a Google or Facebook account. You’ll have to provide a Google account to take advantage of the free calls.
Outgoing Calls
You’ll see a dialpad after Talkatone connects. You can also use the icons at the top of the screen to select a number from your contacts, recently called list, or favorites.
Placing a call is as easy as dialing the number. No further configuration needed!
If you have never placed a phone call from Gmail’s web interface before, you may need to open Gmail in your web browser and place a single outgoing call before Talkatone will work properly with your Google account.
You can also participate in VoIP calls over Google Talk or Facebook. Use the Contacts pane to start calls with your Google Talk or Facebook contacts.
SMS Messages & Incoming Calls
If you’re in the USA, read on – you can use Talkatone with your Google Voice account to send text messages and receive incoming phone calls. Talkatone has the features that should be built into the official Google Voice app, allowing you to use your Google Voice account entirely over a Wi-Fi or data connection. The How To screen under the Help menu will guide you through the setup process, if you need the help.To receive incoming calls, log into your Google Voice account and enable the “Forward to Google Chat” option. You must also be signed out of the chat feature in Gmail.
Talkatone runs in the background once you sign in with it, so you’ll get a notification when you receive a call. Place a call to yourself to verify everything is working properly.
To get SMS support working, enable the “Text Forwarding” feature in Google Voice to forward text messages to your email. Once it’s enabled, you can send and receive SMS messages from Talkatone.
Status Message
By default, Talkatone advertises itself by adding itself to your Google Talk status message when you’re using it. You can change this – open the Settings screen, tap Accounts and tap the name of your Google account to customize your status.
Adjusting Call Quality
The Call Quality settings screen offers a variety of options to control call quality, with separate settings for Wi-Fi and cellular data connections. You can optimize Talkatone for high-quality calls over Wi-Fi and low-bandwidth calls over the cellular network.
For more awesome apps, check out our list of the best Android apps, best iPhone apps, or best iPad apps. We also have free, full guides to Android, iOS, the iPhone, and the iPad.
If you try Talkatone, leave a comment and let us know how well it works for you. If you prefer another VoIP app instead, let us know which one!
Make Free Calls from iPhone With The Official Google Voice App
If you’re a long-time Gmail user, you no doubt know about and/or use Google Voice
— a free web-based platform that provides users with an online phone
number for making calls online via an Android, BlackBerry, and now the
iPhone. If you don’t have a Google Voice number set up, you’re missing
out on a very useful contact tool. Check out Ryan Dube’s 5 Cool Things You Can Do With Google Voice for more details.I’ve been using my Google Voice (GV) number primarily as a second contact number for which family and friends can reach me when I’m a way from my phone and working on my computer. I also post the number on trusted website forums and registrations.
For a few months in 2009, a third-party Google Voice app was available for the iPhone, but Apple decided to remove it along with the official Google Voice app that was released a few months later. But now, the official app is back and available for free in the App Store.
How It Works
In order to use GV on your iPhone, you need of course to have a Google Voice account. Once you’re set up, you will be able to use your provided number to make online phone calls, receive online voicemail, and make free calls and text messages to the U.S. and Canada, as well as make low-rate calls everywhere else.The app interface works similarly to the web platform. When you make a phone call using Google Voice, it first rings back the designated number of your iPhone and then it makes a call to the contact you’re trying to reach. You’re not charged by your carrier””in this case, AT&T.
Similarly, when someone wants to contact you using your Google Voice number, your regular iPhone number is called by Google, which in turn reconnects you to the caller if you accept the call. Your GV number is displayed as the caller ID when making calls, so the contact never sees or knows your regular iPhone number.
You can make phone calls from contacts in your iPhone address book or simply enter numbers on the dial pad.
Forwarding Calls
I mostly don’t answer my Google Voice calls immediately. Instead, I have numbers forwarded to me via email. These emails will include not only the voice message, but also a written transcription of the message. The transcriptions are not always accurate, but they’re great for seeing phone numbers spoken in the message.There are other call forwarding features you can do with Google Voice, but unfortunately you can’t do them on the mobile platform. See Mike Fagan’s article on how to set up call forwarding with Google Voice.
Notifications
If you want to be instantly notified when voicemail messages arrive in your Google Voice inbox, you will want to allow the app to send you push notifications, which means the app doesn’t have to be opened in order for you to receive notifications.
Other Features
While the Google Voice app doesn’t provide you the ability to set your custom voice answer message or filter phone incoming numbers; it does allow you to star important messages, set up quick dialing for specified contacts, and view the history of your phone calls and messages — both received and initiated by you.Google Voice is pretty easy to use and as long as the service is free, there’s little reason not to set up an account and use it. Hopefully, in future updates, Google Voice will be available for use on the iPod touch and iPad, just as Skype is. It shouldn’t be too difficult to set up the app as a VoIP/SIP dialer.
Also, note, there is a third-party app called GV Mobile+ [App Store link] that sells for $2.99. I have not used that app, nor do the features seem that different.
Let us know how Google Voice works for you, both on the web and via your iPhone or other mobile device.