[PhoneBoy]

I think you're going about it all wrong, at least if you're located in the USA.

The cheapest thing to do is to get a second cell phone with your existing carrier ($10 or $20 depending on carrier and plan you're on) and hook it up to something like a Dock n Talk, then hook up the Dock-n-Talk to the FXO port of the SPA3000.

Basically what you'd do to make a VoIP call is call your "other" mobile phone. Depending on how you have configured your SPA3000, you'd either have to enter a PIN or get a second dialtone straight away where you can dial any call and it goes over VoIP. Since most mobile phone providers offer free mobile-to-mobile calling to their subscribers, the mobile-to-mobile part of the call is free (well except for the cost of the second mobile phone).

Of course, you'd have to buy a Dock n Talk, SPA3000, a new mobile phone that's compatible with the Dock n Talk (check http://www.phonelabs.com for compatibility), and add a line to your existing service, which might be a lot of money.

[djkeit]

Originally Posted by PhoneBoy

I think you're going about it all wrong, at least if you're located in the USA.

[...]

Since most mobile phone providers offer free mobile-to-mobile calling to their subscribers, the mobile-to-mobile part of the call is free (well except for the cost of the second mobile phone).

free mobile-to-mobile ??? :shock:

I guess I shouldn't really try to give advice to US based mobile VoIP-ers then :?

Let's try to put down options and (indicative) costs though:

a) Phoneboy's option:

Needed:
- 2nd mobile phone, c.ca: $150
- dock and talk: $150
- Sipura 3000: $100

Must sign up and pay monthly for:
- 2nd mobile line: say $15/mo.
- unlimited VoIP plan: BV $19.99/mo. (or stay with vonage's 25 $ plan)
- Calls to Slovakia 30-50% cheaper [6c fix, 14c mob] using mutualphone/dialpad ($30-100)

You will therefore get:
- a mobile phone that has the ability to make free national and int'l calls (BV has 21 countries).
- Calls to Slovakia will costs you 30% less (6c, even from mobile)
- A mobile number that, dependind on your plan, might costs you to receive calls (im not from the US.... not sure... do you pay to receive calls?)

You will pay:
- $400 upfront (-what you already have)
- c.ca $35/mo. for national/int'l calls from mobile and from home.
- c.ca $30-100 for calls to Slovakia (nowyou pay $55-175)

Total: $400 upfront & $65-135 monthly


b) my option:

Needed:

Needed:
- new mobile phone (3650): $150
- Sipura 3000: $100

Must sign up and pay monthly for:
- GPRS: say $29.99/mo.
- unlimited VoIP plan: BV $19.99/mo. (or stay with vonage's 25 $ plan)
- FWD & buzz2talk: Free
- Calls to Slovakia 30-50% cheaper [6c fix, 14c mob] using mutualphone/dialpad ($30-100)

You will therefore get:
- a mobile phone that has the ability to make free national and int'l calls (BV has 21 countries).
- Calls to Slovakia will costs you 30-50% less (6c, even from mobile)
- free unlimited inbound calls to your mobile.
- BUT gprs's quality can be not good at times.

You will pay:
- $250 upfront (but you get a new 3650)
- c.ca $20/mo. for national/int'l calls from mobile and from home.
- c.ca $30/mo. for the unlimited GPRS internet connection.
- c.ca $30-100/mo. for calls to Slovakia (nowyou pay $55-175)

Total: $250 upfront & $80-150 monthly

-------------
Phoneboy's option will give you less in terms of quantity but more in terms of quality.

My GPRS option (although I agree it makes less sense now that I am aware of free mob2mob calls in the US) will give you more in terms of quantity (mobile internet, new phone) but less in terms of quality (GPRS VoIP is worse than a standard GSM voice connection to yuor dock-station at home!)
Having a FWD running on your mobile also allows you to receive calls that are free also for the caller (in Slovakia, they can download and run FWD and call you for free)

Also, the numbers that actully applies to you might be different so do correct them before making a choice!

[PhoneBoy]

Most carriers will give you a mobile phone for free or cheap here too. The Nokia 3120, which is compatible with the Dock n Talk, is available thru Cingular for $39.99 with a two year agreement. If you have a $59.99 plan or higher, adding a line thru them is only $9.95.

GPRS access in the US isn't that great on the whole. You're better off doing the mobile-to-mobile trick. It's certainly more elegant.

[Electron]

Thank you for your responses djkeit and phoneboy -- they are very good for helping me to better understand what the options are.

After considering both of the options, it would appear that going with the phoneboy option would make the most sense (although I would not mind having the mobile Internet with the djkeit option).

So, to recap, here is what I can expect my costs to be:

New Hardware Needed:

- 2nd mobile phone: $100
- dock and talk: $150
- Sipura 3000: $100

Must sign up and pay monthly for:

- "Family" mobile plan: $49.99/mo. with T-Mobile
- Unlimited VoIP plan: $19.99/mo. with BroadVoice
- Calls to Slovakia $30-100/mo (30-50% cheaper [6c fix, 14c mob] with DialPad

I will therefore get:

- A mobile phone that has the ability to make free national and int'l calls (BV has 21 countries).
- Calls to Slovakia that will cost me 30-50% less (6c, even from mobile)
- Free incoming calls (I think I can route all incoming USA and Intl/ calls to my mobile with the Sipura)

In total I will pay:

- $400 upfront (does not including the mobile phone, and broadband Home Internet connection that already have)
- $70/mo. for national/int'l calls from mobile and from home.
- $30-100/mo for calls to Slovakia (I now pay $55-175)


This approach will certainly be much better than my current situation where I pay between $170-290/mo -- where on top of the higher monthly rate I can not make any calls Internationally from my mobile, and I must constantly watch how many mintues I have left on my mobile plan.

For somebody who lives in the USA, but does not make any East-European International calls their situation would be even better -- they would only pay:

- $19.99/mo for BV
- $49.99/mo for two mobile phones plan (an unlimited mobile-to-mobile plan)

This stuff is really cool, and I am so glad that I came across this extremely helpful site that really helps to make all of this fairly easy for somebody to understand. Thanks

[mberlant]

If you coordinate well with T-Mobile you can get a free phone from them that integrates with the Dock-n-Talk.

Even better, if you can get your whole family to move from Slovakia to Czech Republic you can pay $5 more per month for unlimited calling.

[djkeit]

Incidentaly, I'd like to thank Phoneboy and mberlant for their information on GSM and GPRS in the USA.

The GPRS solution is quite interesting in Europe for the following reasons:

1- GPRS is relatively cheap and coverage is really good (No troubles regarding quality)
2- mobile phones have special area codes which are very expensive to call (VoIP and GPRS allow you to get a plain geographic number)
3- Mobile to mobile calls are not free at all

I have been using GPRS to stream online radio to my car HiFi for the past two year (30+kbps) and never had any problems, I gues that indicates VoIP can be deployed using GPRS as well, I guess...

I think pulver.communicator for Palm and other VoIP clients for handhelp GPRS devices will hit hard here.... (and raise concerns, just like mobile phones dock stations are doing that side of the pond!)

Anyway, Electron, I'll be interested to know how you finally build your system and how it works... keep us posted!

[djkeit]

Originally Posted by Electron

- Calls to Slovakia $30-100/mo (30-50% cheaper [6c fix, 14c mob] with DialPad

I hope I am still on time...

Telphin has an unlimited plan which include calls to slovakia!
http://www.telphin.com/index.html

[sk3-420]

I have been following this discussion with great interest.My question to djkeit is,how do you use buzztalk to communicate with your sipura when their website says that you can only communicate from one buzztalk to another ie.cellphone to cellphone in a walkie-talkie style?Thanks for your indulgence.Kind Regards,Bernie. :shock:

[djkeit]

Originally Posted by sk3-420

I have been following this discussion with great interest.My question to djkeit is,how do you use buzztalk to communicate with your sipura when their website says that you can only communicate from one buzztalk to another ie.cellphone to cellphone in a walkie-talkie style?Thanks for your indulgence.Kind Regards,Bernie. :shock:

The buzz2talk website explains you how to communicate with another cellphone, for free.

To achieve this, they tell you to install B2T on both devices.

This is not necessary: B2T is just a VoIP client, installed on your cellphone, registered with FWD.

You can makel/receive calls just like you would with any other client. You can even register a DID for B2T and get inbound calls from PSTN or call your sipura - at home - and use it to dial any number (if you set the ATA to act as a bridge from FWD to a provider that allows calls to PSTN).

[sk3-420]

Originally Posted by djkeit

The buzz2talk website explains you how to communicate with another cellphone, for free.

To achieve this, they tell you to install B2T on both devices.

This is not necessary: B2T is just a VoIP client, installed on your cellphone, registered with FWD.

You can makel/receive calls just like you would with any other client. You can even register a DID for B2T and get inbound calls from PSTN or call your sipura - at home - and use it to dial any number (if you set the ATA to act as a bridge from FWD to a provider that allows calls to PSTN).

How do you make a call from B2T to an FWD number when B2T is a push to talk service if, say,my FWD phone is behind a sipura since there is no dialpad on B2T?Also,if I register a DID to the B2T,will it ring like a regular phone on the B2T?Thx for your help,Bernie. :?