Well in my quest to stick it to the man, I have since fired AT&T.
Given the fact I purchased over $400 worth of equipment (two iPhones) I did not want to loose out.
I found that it is very easy to use the iPhone without AT&T and here is how,
TRUPHONE
TRUPhone is a application that you download from the APP Store. This method will only truly work on the 3G iPhones with WiFi. You download the FREE application and it installs. The proper set-up is a bit tricky but nothing more than getting the order right.
Before setting up TRUPHONE you will want to have a working telephone number handy. If you dont have one visit www.skype.com and you can buy one for like $30 a year, with unlimited calling in the USA for $2.95 a month.
Next install the software on your phone. Be sure to verify your address or it will not allow you to proceed. Once that happens TRUPHONE makes and automated call to the telephone number you wish to be displayed when you call people (caller ID). Once you verify the number you are given a .50 cent credit to start making telephone calls. With TRUPHONE you can add TRUFRIENDS a lot like adding someone in a messenger program. In doing this you can make free phone calls using you iPhone to anyone whom is using TRUPHONE. This is an awsome feature because anyone with an Iphone or another approved phone can call you FREE anytime.
The software works a lot like your iPhone and all your contacts on your iPhone are usable. You must be in a WiFi area if you have no service. For some folks this is no problem. For others it may be a problem, however with the aid of SKYPE you can really save yourself about $160 per month in service charges and even more if you get overcharged.
I been using this system for about a week now, Skype and TRUPHONE. My total out of pocket to set everything up was $30 and that was for TWO iPhones and two telephone numbers!! The calls seem reasonable, the service is reliable as the WiFi you are using.
Its a whole new world out there.. The days of being extorted by AT&T are OVER! Both these services work over the internet. The term they use is Voice Over Internet Phone or VOIP.
To me its the way to go. For some it may not be a viable replaement, however getting poor customer service and getting overbilled is not something I will tollerate. I dont do it to my customers, and I would expect the people I do business with opperate the same.
www.skype.com - VOIP Computer bassed telephone service (Owned by E-bay)
www.truphone.com - VOIP iPhone service for making calls using WiFi
Check it out one day if your ever needing a phone provider, or need to make out of country calls.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
It's really hard to imagine, but very humbling to look back at this time in my life where money was so tight and AT&T was sticking it to customers so hard I was using VOIP wifi service to make calls!
Back then if you can recall, AT&T was the only show in town for the iPhone.
Interesting you should mention AT&T sticking it to customers. It seems they are trying to merge with Time Warner these days in order to get control of their content, just like Comcast did with NBC. Trump is against that merger claiming it is an anti-trust violation, even though they aren't direct competitors and it can't possibly have anything to do with his hatred of CNN.
Meanwhile, TMobile and Sprint (which are direct competitors) are trying to merge which would leave only 3 major cell phone carriers - an oligopoly that will certainly raise all of our cell phone prices. I wonder if President Trump cares about that though. Probably not because it would be corporate welfare, and his followers don't seem to care about that kind.
But what do I know? I'm just "ignorant" according to some guy with 7 posts.
I'm not a big fan of Sprint, had them a long time ago and I was very unhappy with their service. I currently have T-Mobile and I am thinking about switching because I dislike Sprint that much.
I wouldn't let Nuffan get to you PowerStroker, - no pun intended.. I've had to deal with Stoma on and off the past decade, that has to be worth something? lol
Interesting you should mention AT&T sticking it to customers. It seems they are trying to merge with Time Warner these days in order to get control of their content, just like Comcast did with NBC. Trump is against that merger claiming it is an anti-trust violation, even though they aren't direct competitors and it can't possibly have anything to do with his hatred of CNN.
Meanwhile, TMobile and Sprint (which are direct competitors) are trying to merge which would leave only 3 major cell phone carriers - an oligopoly that will certainly raise all of our cell phone prices. I wonder if President Trump cares about that though. Probably not because it would be corporate welfare, and his followers don't seem to care about that kind.
But what do I know? I'm just "ignorant" according to some guy with 7 posts.
And you prove it again here...
There are MANY cellular companies...
Tel-Com has evolved into a whole new beast...
Soon you will no longer need a WIRE at all...
TEL-COM was a three way circus for MANY years...
Sprint - LARGEST FIBER OPTIC BACK BONE
AT&T - Huge monopoly on private line
MCI - control all the major switching networks...
Those days are well behind us...
companies merging is the only way they stay relevant in today's market place...
The number of companies that are now offering cell service and WIFI in metro areas is larger than ever before...
Cable is a dead horse with streaming ALA-CARTE TV service is the new direction...
being able to offer high speed downloads is the magic bullet...
AND MANY people can do that with the technology today...
The biggest players...
AT&T - COMCAST - VERIZON
with a LARGE number of smaller get you connected vendors playing off their networks....lol
-- Edited by Nuffan on Wednesday 2nd of May 2018 01:47:18 PM
Looks to me like a merger of Sprint and TMobile will create a 3 party oligopoly with a small sliver of other companies. I don't think our prices will go down if this happens, and there are many examples in history to prove my point.
Looks to me like a merger of Sprint and TMobile will create a 3 party oligopoly with a small sliver of other companies. I don't think our prices will go down if this happens, and there are many examples in history to prove my point.
Because once again you are ONLY looking at it from the WIRELESS market angle...and refuse to understand that it is a much bigger picture....
once you add streaming, internet and wireless into one large bucket the picture changes quite a bit...
The big change took place after Verizon acquired MCI...
Sprint was never LARGE in the wireless side...which is probably why the customer service was lacking...
But they still control the fastest back bone in the US...
Verizon has the LARGEST network...Comcast has the second largest network and they have not been a player in the wireless side, but that will change soon enough...
AT&T is the one that should be the most worried...their strong hold into tel-com is becoming obsolete...
I tried some of the bigges. Sprint, Tmobile. They suk!!! Badly, yuuuuugely. Only thing here works well is Bluegrass cellular. Wife goes to MA and still works well
Already Comcast has cell phone plans and cell phones in their stores here in Michigan.
It's getting to be this big bundle world now, where before you know it you got a bill that exceeds an economy car payment!
Cell phones, Cable, Internet, Security Systems, Sometimes land lines... Could total well over $300 a month and beyond if you want the premium stuff!
They are trying to element just an internet connection, because they know that's all a computer savvy person needs to go about their day...
Try finding just an internet plan that is fair priced without being bundled with something else! It's almost impossible.
I pay $88 monthly for my ISP...I get a single VOIP phone number with it and their fastest connection...and no limits on download...This is with AT&T in my area...
I have no cable TV or Direct TV I only stream over my internet connection with Amazon Fire Stick...
The network exist...
Now it is about a connection to that network...the bigger your providers network the FASTER your connection will be...
soon there will be no need for a wire to get to the backbone...all of it, is a single connection...internet, phone, cellular, multi-media...