Replacing your cellphone minutes - Realistic? (FPL over 3G)

[Oshawapilot]

So, has anyone here started using the FPL line as their primary in/out number on a 3G data enable device?

I'm on the cusp of pulling the switch and buying the SIP credentials for my FPL account. My plan is to use it with a SIP client (which one is yet to be determined) on my Iphone 4 and use it as my primary in/out number. I'm confident between multitasking, Push notifications, and a few Jailbreak tweaks I have installed that I can keep a SIP client online 99.99% of the time in the background.

Probably upwards of 95% of my calls are currently outbound. I don't have a lot of incoming calls (I shy away due to cost and don't give out my number) but that may change with the free nature of FPL - I would be a little more forthcoming giving my "new" (FPL) cell number to people since incoming calls, no mater where I'm located, would be free. Since I'm on the road all day and virtually always outside of my local calling area, this has a potential for big savings alone.

I plan on lowering my cellphone minute plan to a $15 option with only 50 minutes and shift all of my usage to the FPL SIP line. I probably only use 100-200 minutes a month anyways, but I refuse to double my costs with Fido in order to obtain the extra minutes I need after a recent job change left me needing more minutes then I currently have. I have the 6 Gig data plan so data usage is of no concern.

The big question - for anyone doing this already, is this a viable plan?

I know VoIP isn't perfect - I've used Primus Talkbroadband for over 5 years now and know that occasionally issues occur, but none of my cellphone calls are critical in nature and anyone in a true emergency situation will still have my underlying (real) cellphone number they can call me on instead should the FPL be offline or inaccessible for some reason. I do however need it to be functional when I do use it.

I'm currently using SkypeOut and have had decent success - it seems to suffer during peak hours and I suspect it's due to cell tower loading (increased latency) more so then Skype itself...but the lack of an incoming number really limits it's functionality for me as I WOULD like to be able to eventually use my phone for incoming calls more often.

Thoughts?

[bridonca]

For your sanity, I think you should spend the $12 extra a month for the unlimited incoming.

In any case, I think you should spend the $50 on the freephoneline sip settings even if the iphone VOIP over 3G turns out to be a dismal failure. I will explain later.

Since you use Skype over 3G, you at least know what you are getting. SIP quality over 3G should be a little worse, unless the Iphone4 SIP client can support the g.729a codec. I do not know how good that iphone4 SIP client is, but I am going to go out on a limb and say it is not yet ready for prime time. I have my doubts you will have reliable incoming calls because of it. I do enjoy being proven wrong.

Now if freephoneline SIP over 3G is not to your needs and you decide to get unlimited incoming, you did not waste $50. For $15 a year, you can subscribe to a service called voxalot. It does a lot of cool stuff, but one feature I enjoy a lot is the web call back feature. Though a mobile friendly web interface, it allow me to call one number, like my cell phone, then patch it to another number. Think jajah or dingaling.ca. However Voxalot uses freephoneline's sip, or any sip provider you enter.

[Oshawapilot]

The unlimited incoming options would make the options for me vastly better as I would have workarounds (as you do) in place in a heartbeat that would allow me to utilize it to make outgoing calls for free as well, but clearly the cellular market is different where you are - I don't think ANY plans locally offer the unlimited incoming option anymore, and even if they did the long distance would still kill me as with the exception of the start and finish of my work day, I'm outside my local calling area. Free minutes or not, I would still incur LD.

Thanks to the new competition in Ontario we are currently flooded with truly "Unlimited" calling plans by virtually every carrier now (again, great!) but the long distance still comes into play - most of these unlimited plans have limited overlaid coverage maps, outside of which they suddenly become prohibitively expensive to use. I'd fall into that category.

I *REALLY* wish there was an option with FPL to "try before you buy". I've tried a few of the other "Free" SIP services to get a feel for thing (voipcheap.com) but there are too many limits (The Voipcheap account will only call traditional POTS lines, no cells or other VoIP) and of course the experience doesn't necessarilly directly translate from one provider to another. A 24/48 hour window of free trial with FPL would be enough to probably make me take the dive and buy the SIP credentials.

[bridonca]

Are you sure you cannot add unlimited incoming to your FIDO? That option is on the web page here.
http://www.fido.ca/web/content/talkmore ... edincoming

It does not look like it is a regional thing, but FIDO has done wonkier things, so who knows?

[Oshawapilot]

Are you sure you cannot add unlimited incoming to your FIDO? That option is on the web page here.
http://www.fido.ca/web/content/talkmore ... edincoming

It does not look like it is a regional thing, but FIDO has done wonkier things, so who knows?

Hmm, Ok, that must be new (at least to my area) as I don't recall ever seeing it before.

However, I still have the issue of long distance for each and every call I would answer (and make) through the day while at work. Yes, I could add the $20 unlimited long distance add-on, but then I'm looking at $32/Month *extra* ($20 for the LD plan and $12 for the unlimited incoming option) above and beyond my already $25 (for a measly 100 minutes) voice plan....so I'm now paying $47 a month for what still amounts to a relatively crippled service.

As it stands right now I'm using SkypeOut as much as possible for my outbound calls, and just avoiding incoming unless I KNOW who it is and I really need to talk to them.

It all comes back to the fact that my job has me travelling constantly, so I'm never really inside my normal local calling area to begin with.

I've been looking around at the iPhone VoIP/SIP apps on the Appstore and it appears that many use a mix of multitasking and push notifications to get calls through (reliably) to the handset from a SIP number. Reviews of a few of the major well regarded ones seem to indicate it's quiet functional, actually.

[laurent]

I've tried using Siphon on my iPhone over 3G and it's horrible. There's a 5 second delay for outbound sound. Yes, that's five seconds. Tried several times. I have a solid 3G data transfer. Skype is fine. No idea why this is. Over wifi, Siphon is perfect.

[Oshawapilot]

I've tried using Siphon on my iPhone over 3G and it's horrible. There's a 5 second delay for outbound sound. Yes, that's five seconds. Tried several times. I have a solid 3G data transfer. Skype is fine. No idea why this is. Over wifi, Siphon is perfect.

Based on experience with VoIP over 3G, codecs matter, and I don't think that Siphon supports the preferred ones for cellular use.

I was looking mainly at Acrobits Softphone with the g729a codec. It's a $18 investment by the time I'm done with the app and codec purchase, but again, we're talking one time here, not recurring, so I can live with that, much the same as the initial credential purchase for FPL.

[laurent]

Siphon supports G729a right now, which is why I thought initially it was a good plan. I guess I could try a few other codecs to see, but a five seconds delay, from the moment the line is connected, doesn't sound like a codec problem to me.

Not to sound too much like a tinfoil-hat, but it appears to me that Rogers introduces this delay to make the voip unusable.

Unless I'm missing something? UDP doesn't require acknowledgement packets for the traffic handling, so no matter what codec I use, there's no reason for my voice packets to be delays 5 seconds outbound, and the ones coming inbound be instantaenous.

[Oshawapilot]

Hmmmm...interesting. It wouldn't surprise me one bit that Rogers is intentionally delaying VoIP packets..but by that logic wouldn't Skype be effected as well then? With the exception of a few issues recently, Skype has worked well for me both Skype-to-Skype, and SkypeOut.

[laurent]

It could be that Rogers filters general SIP/VoIP systems, but doesn't attempt to filter application specific things like Skype?

[Oshawapilot]

As a side note, assuming my FPL account gets manually validated today (since the automatic validation system appears broken) we are going away today and I will do some testing over 3G via our Macbook - I plan on forwarding our home line to the FPL line for the duration we're gone (the person staying in the house while we're away doesn't need our phone anyways) and then setting up my laptop at our destination tethered to my iPhone.

Although it doesn't necessarily directly translate to a VoIP call being made *directly* from the iPhone, it should give me an indication if Rogers/Fido is indeed actually interfering with VoIP packets as it should treat the packets coming from my laptop the same as packets originating from the phone itself I would think.