What's with Hangouts/ GV Carrier Limitations? What's your solution? - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III

I have a Sprint SIII with cancelled service, but have been able to get free phone and text service (provided I have connection to a wifi hotspot.) I use Groove IP for calls and Ring.to and Google Voice App for text. I also installed Xvoice+ to receive GV calls through Groove IP. [
B]Please note,[/B] I am well aware of the vast threads and blogs regarding the limitations of Hangouts/ Google Voice being implemented on devices like my SIII because of greedy carriers like Sprint. I know that Google Voice is not a VOIP carrier. I also (partially) accepted the fact that, although "True WiFi-calling" using GV can be achieved on Win7, iOS and even Linux, it seems it is something no developer can implement (for what ever reason) a Apk or work around on any Android Phone, en less functionality is permitted by the Carrier. I have seen the topic and its variations of "How can I make true WiFi calls through Hangouts," beat to death. Though I have grown comfortable using the methods above for free phone service, I am still unsatisfied with the vague responses seen on many threads and reputable sites regarding the issue of limitations set by carriers. I feel the community (including me) deserves to be educated on how Wifi/ Internet Calling, Mms, Sms can be independent from phone carriers. I am hoping to make a sticky out of this thread by asking the Android Community:
- Why the best and brightest of the Android community have not been able to overcome the GV and Hangouts limits set by carriers? (Have our top developers been paid to counter a solution? Is it really determined by our carrier? Is a fully functional workaround considered illegal? Why are there solutions for other OS?)
- If I'm wrong about the nonexistence of a work around, then what is it? (I have seen none that allow making a GV direct call or Mms.)
- What is your method for utilizing services through Wifi?
- Besides Boost or Virgin Mobile, what other services have you replaced your SIII or Android with?
I feel if the best and brightest of XDA /can respond to the questions, we can consolidate all the concerns about Google Voice, WiFi Internet service and what carriers control into 1 thread. There is something wrong with $100 month for service. I feel my concerns are all part of 1 BIG underlying question, "How can I spend less in a time where they force me to spend more?" When I saw that a majority of my friends were not aware of the ability to make free calls through WiFi, I thought of the community and what I didn't know or thought I knew. If all responses are answers or solutions I know of, at least the rest who don't know can learn off this one thread.

You can hook your phone up to Freedompop with their BYOD program and use Sprint towers, have 200 calling minutes, 500 texts and 500MB of data for free. Then you can add the Hangouts Dialer and if you have wifi use Hangouts to make calls without using any minutes or data. Plus you will then have a phone number to forward your Google Voice to.

stevenp1200 said:
- Why the best and brightest of the Android community have not been able to overcome the GV and Hangouts limits set by carriers? (Have our top developers been paid to counter a solution? Is it really determined by our carrier? Is a fully functional workaround considered illegal? Why are there solutions for other OS?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What problems are you having with GV and Hangouts? It seems like most of the issues are being worked through. I have Hangouts configured on three different phones on Airplane mode (no service) and they work fine with WiFi. My main phone (now an AT&T Galaxy S5) works with Hangouts on mobile data (LTE) without issue. I think the FreedomPop with Hangouts is a great idea, it should work fine as a free, limited extension to your existing WiFi-only service.

KennyG123 said:
You can hook your phone up to Freedompop with their BYOD program and use Sprint towers, have 200 calling minutes, 500 texts and 500MB of data for free. Then you can add the Hangouts Dialer and if you have wifi use Hangouts to make calls without using any minutes or data. Plus you will then have a phone number to forward your Google Voice to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternatively, if you have an incompatible phone you want to keep, you can get their hotspot and carry it around so that you have the ability to connect to wifi wherever there is Sprint Towers. They have had a few free device giveaways on slickdeals and they have a plan where you can get up to 1GB free a month. I own one personally, but being that I am on T-Mobile 5GB plan, I don't really have a use for it. It would work well as an alternative for those looking to save pennies though

Related

[Q] VOIP on EVO

I have an EVO, but moved to T-Mob when Nexus S arrived. I still use the EVO for Pandora, etc. Is it possible to use the EVO as a VOIP phone through my home internet connection?
I believe my phone must be capable of this, but has been "degraded" so that I have to use a carrier's minutes. I have a SIP account but the echo for the other party makes it useless.
Has anyone figured a way to give the phone, now just a small computer, the same internet functionality of my laptop (Gmail chat/voice, etc.)? Thanks from a noob.
I too am wonderin bout this as the app has problems wer voice is coming out of the speakr and not the earpiece
Gingerbread supports VOIP calling.
If you want to install CyanogenMOD 7, it should work for you.
cheddar 151 said:
I have an EVO, but moved to T-Mob when Nexus S arrived. I still use the EVO for Pandora, etc. Is it possible to use the EVO as a VOIP phone through my home internet connection?
I believe my phone must be capable of this, but has been "degraded" so that I have to use a carrier's minutes. I have a SIP account but the echo for the other party makes it useless.
Has anyone figured a way to give the phone, now just a small computer, the same internet functionality of my laptop (Gmail chat/voice, etc.)? Thanks from a noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cheddar 151 said:
I have an EVO, but moved to T-Mob when Nexus S arrived. I still use the EVO for Pandora, etc. Is it possible to use the EVO as a VOIP phone through my home internet connection?
I believe my phone must be capable of this, but has been "degraded" so that I have to use a carrier's minutes. I have a SIP account but the echo for the other party makes it useless.
Has anyone figured a way to give the phone, now just a small computer, the same internet functionality of my laptop (Gmail chat/voice, etc.)? Thanks from a noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an application called Groove IP which lets you place calls over Wifi and 3G using your google voice number.

[INFO] VOIP on the Galaxy Nexus

Some of us have been discussing VOIP options over in the prepaid thread ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455014 ) and thought we might as well break it off into it's own thread. While this could probably be a more general Android thread, I thought it best to remain specific for what works on OUR devices, as CPU/software do make a difference.
Let me preface by saying I am still a VOIP newb. I've got the basics down (I think) but I welcome any and all advice or suggestions on things to add. I'm sure I got some things wrong. Obviously there are quite a few variables that come into play, including software, provider, codecs, and connection.
Google Voice Solutions:
GrooveIP: ($5.00)
http://snrblabs.com/snrb/Apps/GrooveIP/FAQ.aspx
MY Comments: not working reliably when off of Wi-Fi.
Review by cyberpyr8 (Verizon Network): http://androidactivist.org/reviews/appreviews/app-review-groove-ip/
Talkatone: (Free) Routes Google Voice through their own servers. Apparently converts to 3 different codecs. See more here:
http://blog.talkatone.com/2011/06/16/talkatone-audio-compression-ftw/
Comments: still testing
SIP Providers:
VOIP.ms: Pay as you go, basically. DID numbers for $1/month, incoming calls $0.01/minute. Outgoing to the US starting at $0.0105/minute. They bill in 6 second intervals. You add funds (minimum $25), and they take them as needed. Supports G711(PCMA), G729a, and GSM codecs.
Comments: My current SIP provider. Interface seems fairly powerful when you get the hang of it. The 2 lower bandwidth codecs (G729a and GSM) seem to be fairly reliable, and G729 seems to be the better quality of the two. My WiFi calls have all been great, with very little lag time. Still testing.
ttabbal adds:
Anveo: I like the options, but the site is a little hard to get used to. It's also nearly impossible to get it to work reliably with Android directly. They are a good option for DIDs and general VOIP service though, if you have another service you can route Android calls to/from. DIDs are cheap here, US numbers seem to go about $2/mo with unlimited inbound calls. E911 is the cheapest I've found at $0.80/mo. Call quality seems quite good, though codec selection is somewhat limited. The call routing editor seems pretty cool. Flowchart looking design app for choosing what to do with calls. FAX is also an option for you business users. US calls are 1 cent per minute.
ttabbal adds:
Callcentric: They are a well known somewhat premium provider. I put $5 on them just as a backup route. They cost a little more, I think 1.5 cents/min. The gnex registers up to them fine, and calls in and out work fine. I've only used them a few times for testing, but call quality is good. Codec selection is in between. Enough options to cover most tastes though.
SIP apps:
Built-In SIP: (Free) Codec support is limited; no G729?
CSipSimple: (Free) Integrates into native dialer, lots of codec support. A lot of config options. Supports a ton of codecs. My current choice. NIGHTLY BUILDS HERE: http://nightlies.csipsimple.com/trunk/
Bria: ($8.00) Quite a few options, but then they go and force you to pay even more for things like the G729 codec. Easy interface. I thought I had convinced myself I was getting better quality than CSipSimple, but I think that was related to outside variables. Does not integrate with native dialer.
Sipdroid: (Free) The original. Seems a bit dated now; no G729 support.
Other:
Skype: reported to work well, but is not the cheapest route. I haven't purchased one of their plans to test, but for easy setup it may be the best option. Proprietary codecs?
Terms for noobs: (Thanks ttabbal!)
DID: A phone number people on a regular phone can call. You can also direct Google Voice to call this number. If you have a free inbound call DID like Anveo, it's a decent option for GV integration. Most providers allow you to link a DID to various PBX type services and route calls in various ways. Or you can just send all the calls direct to your VOIP device.
PBX: Private Branch Exchange. Basically, your own mini phone company. You can receive calls, route them to various extensions (most any VOIP device), handle voicemail, transfer calls around, hold music, all sorts of crap most people here probably don't need.
Trunk: A connection for inbound and/or outbound calls. Usually used to link a server like Asterisk to a provider for calls to/from the phone network.
Asterisk: One thing Asterisk will give you is the ability to use a different codec on the phone->server link than the one GV uses. So your server will transcode for you. A free PBXes account will do that too. Asterisk is really more useful if you want multiple extensions and providers. You can then do all kinds of crazy stuff with calls.
Troubleshooting: (ttabbal again!)
NAT. NAT sucks. It will cause pain and suffering depending on the type of NAT you have. My office network is using Symmetric NAT, which is near impossible to use SIP with. So I set up OpenVPN on my gnex and just leave it running all the time. It doesn't use as much battery as I feared it would after tuning some settings. The big win was setting "keepalive 60 120" in the server config file. Comparing graphs using the Battery Monitor Widget, I'm about the same standby drain I was getting before. But now SIP works all the time, as there's no NAT in the way.
Wifi on the gnex.... When the screen is off it seems to go into some low-power state that doesn't save much power and causes little connection glitches. So even putting the phone to my head to talk would turn off the screen, then the VOIP call would get all choppy. Telling the app to leave the screen on in calls fixed it right up. I ended up trying Franco's kernel, as he has an option to disable the wifi power save stuff. It's working much better now. I've seen threads about this causing slow downloads when trying to download stuff like Gameloft game data as well. Though others say they don't see it. No idea, but it caused me lots of trouble and it's an easy fix, so I'm posting it.
UPDATE: New tips from natesilver:
natesilver said:
1. Keep-alive.
This pretty much isn't important on wifi because a home router will usually keep the NAT entries long enough to never lose registration. However on 3/4G the cell carrier will usually cut UDP entries very quickly (my provider cuts them as early as 20 seconds. Unfortunately most VOIP providers only use UDP protocol. This means that if you are using the standard ICS VOIP client, you WILL miss some calls without even knowing that you have become unregistered.
There is an easy solution: go with a VOIP provider that supports TCP protocol. Why? Because cell carriers keep TCP connections open much longer. Personally, I'm very happy with VOIP.ms even though they are UDP only. What i did was create a free account at Sip2Sip.info (because they support TCP and allow free internet calls). My VOIP.ms DID is then forwarded via sip uri to my free Sip2Sip account so i can always receive incoming calls while on mobile, for no extra cost than VOIP.ms alone.
The other benefit to this is that now while using CSipSimple, you can change the TCP keep alive interval to a longer time (think 600 s), to allow the phone to be in deep sleep longer and greatly save on battery usage. IMO this if a must if you are using VOIP on a mobile connection for incoming calls.
The other topic is latency.
Even with a very fast wifi or mobile connection, there is noticeable latency introduced by the Android OS when using VOIP. The playback buffer seems to be unnecessarily high so there is a delay from the time the phone receives a word until it is played through the speaker. This makes for a bizarre pause during conversation, especially if two people begin to talk at the same time. Don't believe me? Try an echo test with your VOIP provider. On a good connection, you should hear yourself back essentially at the same time you speak. With stock Android, you will not experience this. There will be a delay. Add even a small bit of network latency and the problem multiplies.
I have a solution for you if you are using CM9 or AOKP or some other twist of these ROMs.
Install the patch from this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1674836
Then to make it even better, use CSipSimple (nightly version) with OPENSL-ES enabled as backend implementation method for audio (somewhere in advanced media settings).
With this setup, latency is reduced to almost nothing which you can verify with another echo test, or just simply from the improved call conversation quality you will experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 2 main requirements:
- Cheap. Trying to stay under $10/month, with an incoming 808 area code phone number.
- must be reliable enough to make and receive calls in most outdoor locations. Since I'm on an island, coverage is actually decent in most areas, but GrooveIP seems to be a bit too bandwidth intensive. Still testing with Talkatone, seems hit or miss. Low bandwidth codecs for SIP seem to be most reliable (as they should be) but you sometimes sound like a robot.
A few years ago, I had tried out Sipdroid back on my CDMA Hero with poor results, and abandoned my quest fairly quickly as I was on Sprint with plenty of minutes.
My interest renewed with the $30 T-Mobile Prepaid plan that gives 5gb of data but only 100 minutes. I don't need many minutes, but 100 isn't quite going to cut it. I'm still testing and will be updating this post and adding additional info as I try new solutions. I have not yet decided on a single solution.
My requirements are probably very different from most. I'm looking for it to play well with my prepaid ambitions. What I really wanted is to have Google Voice forward to my VOIP number and whatever prepaid number I was using that month. Google Voice is great, but I live in Hawaii, and the 808 area code is not eligible for Google Voice numbers. Can't get a new one, can't port one in.
While in many places this wouldn't be an issue, people take the 808 area code very seriously around here. If you are giving out your number for business reasons, it is a serious disadvantage if you do not have that 808, and you are looked at as an outsider. Stupid? Yes, especially when anyone can just pickup a $20 prepaid phone at Wal-Mart and have one, but it isn't something that will change soon.
My new plan is to use my VOIP number as my main number, and have any calls that go unanswered forward to the prepaid number. (EDIT: Just realized I could have this forward to a Google Voice # with any area code and maintain my 808 illusion... This might work!) VOIP.ms interface allows for this, however you are charged both the incoming rate as well as the outgoing rate for all forwarded calls (about 2.5c per minute total for Hawaii). This is still cheaper than getting seperate forwarding number from somewhere like hostednumbers.com
As always, if anyone has any suggestions, please share.
GVoice and Groove IP user here. I love it! I was using SipDroid with a SIP provider but it wasn't very reliable. Kept missing calls, etc. Never heard of Talkatone untill this thread. It seemed interesting so I looked them up but they display ads. No thank you. For a one time fee of $5 (I paid 2.50 as it's on special often) I recommend Groove. Use it on Wifi and 3G with no issues. I'm in Vietnam calling back home in SoCal.
Great info. I've used GrooveIP extensively for about the past year and was over all quite pleased. The only issue I have with it is the lack of support for different (lower bandwidth) codecs. On wifi at my work, GrooveIP seems to really struggle at making calls clearly. That said, GrooveIP is far more configurable than the other straight Google Voice solution (Talkatone) and the extra configuration options are what kept me on GrooveIP for so long.
I've been using Talkatone for about the past week, and the calls have been much better - no more stuttering. Talkatone does display ads, which can be a bit of a turnoff. My other complaints about Talkatone were actually resolved in an update yesterday when they added the option to disable notifications for Google Talk messages and also an option to restrict to wifi. Now that those features are added, I went ahead and purchased a 1-year premium subscription for $20 which eliminates the ads and adds features - like the ability to automatically toggle your Google Voice settings based on your connection to the Talkatone service. It still has a few minor bugs but I'm sure those will be resolved soon.
I bought GrooveIP when it went on sale a while back for $2 or $2.50. I only used it to make a few calls while on Verizon's 3G, worked rather well. I have talkatone but haven't used it yet but I hear good things about it.
I have been using Skype for ages. Most of the day my phone is on WiFi and I have the T-Mo 10GB plan so I am not concerned about the amount of data.
Most of the time, I do Skype to Skype so no cost there but I do need to do Skype to phone (mostly mobiles) from US to Europe.
Does anyone knows what gets me better rates than Skype on US to Europe (mobile)?
I am using the build in SIP client in combination with VoipAlot, which has very good rates both to landlines as mobile. I used to use Nimbuzz or Fring in the past in combination with VoipAlot, which also worked fine.
I been a GrooVe IP user for a while now. Whenever my phone is connected to wifi at work or home it goes into airplane mode w/ wifi enabled and changes my google voice # to forward to gtalk and use GrooVe IP.
Just downloaded Talkatone to give it a try to see which I like better. I like the fact that GrooVe IP was more integrated into android more (you don't have to use their app to make calls, or view call logs, ect). Hopefully Talkatone follows.
In my apartment, cell signal is rather poor for both AT&T and T-Mobile—as such, I can’t use the phone in most places in my apartment. Therefore, I looked into VoIP options and have currently settled on VOIPo (voipo.com) and Internet calling using the stock firmware. This, in total and combined with T-Mobile’s prepaid 30USD/5GB plan gives me unlimited calling for under 40USD a month (though I had to pay VOIPo two years in advance to get this).
I am almost satisfied with this solution, but just barely.
Pros
I can call from anywhere in my apartment and call quality is better than cellular.
Unlimited minutes with 5GB of data for under 40USD
All voicemail comes in via email (but Google Voice does this as well)
Lots of call routing options (but I don’t really use these)
Cons
VOIPo only has one codec, which requires 80Kbps in both directions, so calls using anything less than a stellar 4G connection are quite poor or impossible (so I often need to make calls—or make the call again—using the 100 minutes available on the T-Mobile plan).
VOIPo’s BYOD servers appear to be less reliable than their non-BYOD ones
The Internet calling client appears to stop registering with the SIP server at least once a week, so I miss calls.
Fairly frequently callers complain of their voices being echoed back to them—and this seems to be more of an issue with the Internet calling client versus VOIPo, or some slight incompatibility between the two
I assume due to short NAT timeouts and possible packets loss, I need to configure the Internet calling client to Always Send keep-alive or I miss calls when on 3/4G—and I assume this also negatively affects battery life.
VOIPo does not do text messaging—so I have to make calls with one number and text with another
All said though, sadly it seems this stuff is still bleeding edge, even today (even though my legacy Nokia E51 does VoIP/SIP better than Google’s finest), and does not Just Work.
Great thread. I'm on Verizon with only 50 minutes and unlimited data. Total is $50 a month.
I was using skype, but I am going to give voipalot a try.
Edit: Looks like voipalot does not update their ios and android apps very frequently. They also have pretty bad reviews. I guess I will look for another SIP provider.
Edit2: I decided to sign up for callcentric. Just added $5. Will report back.
I use google voice and my own asterisk server at home for free VOIP whenever I'm on wifi.
Q.Entity said:
Does anyone knows what gets me better rates than Skype on US to Europe (mobile)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out www.voip.ms and CallCentric for international rates; both seem to be pretty similar.
I'll try to update tonight with some of the other VOIP providers discussed. Glad this is useful for other people too, thanks guys!
nomisunrider said:
I use google voice and my own asterisk server at home for free VOIP whenever I'm on wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give a quick run down on why setting up Asterisk is beneficial in this situation? I've been looking into it and don't really see a need unless you have multiple extensions going, but the geek in me really wants to find a reason to set one up!
I was wondering if I was the only one interested in this.
Apps:
I'm currently using a nightly build of CSipSimple. It has some advanced settings in "expert" mode that let you tune things like the frequency of keep-alive packets. It also seems better than the others at realizing it's lost the registration and re-connecting.
I also tried SIPDroid, built-in SIP client, 3CX, and one other one I can't remember. All had some issue or another that made me go back to CSipSimple.
Services:
I tried PBXes, it works ok, but it's just Asterisk re-directing to Google Voice. Not bad for what it is, and it's free, so that's worth something.
Anveo: I like the options, but the site is a little hard to get used to. It's also nearly impossible to get it to work reliably with Android directly. They are a good option for DIDs and general VOIP service though, if you have another service you can route Android calls to/from. DIDs are cheap here, US numbers seem to go about $2/mo with unlimited inbound calls. E911 is the cheapest I've found at $0.80/mo. Call quality seems quite good, though codec selection is somewhat limited. The call routing editor seems pretty cool. Flowchart looking design app for choosing what to do with calls. FAX is also an option for you business users. US calls are 1 cent per minute.
Callcentric: They are a well known somewhat premium provider. I put $5 on them just as a backup route. They cost a little more, I think 1.5 cents/min. The gnex registers up to them fine, and calls in and out work fine. I've only used them a few times for testing, but call quality is good. Codec selection is in between. Enough options to cover most tastes though.
Terms for noobs:
DID: A phone number people on a regular phone can call. You can also direct Google Voice to call this number. If you have a free inbound call DID like Anveo, it's a decent option for GV integration. Most providers allow you to link a DID to various PBX type services and route calls in various ways. Or you can just send all the calls direct to your VOIP device.
PBX: Private Branch Exchange. Basically, your own mini phone company. You can receive calls, route them to various extensions (most any VOIP device), handle voicemail, transfer calls around, hold music, all sorts of crap most people here probably don't need.
Trunk: A connection for inbound and/or outbound calls. Usually used to link a server like Asterisk to a provider for calls to/from the phone network.
What I'm doing now:
I am trying to set up a replacement for all our services. So I want some PBX type features. The various providers love to charge by the phone and such, so I decided to set up my own Asterisk server with FreePBX to configure it. And I thought it would be funny to be able to transfer calls to my wife's cell and such. I set up the above providers as "Trunks" and my gnex and a softphone as extensions to test calling and such. So far, it's working pretty good. I had trouble getting the Asterisk Google Voice stuff to work reliably, and others online have reported it as well. So I'm just using PBXes to deal with that right now. For our home line, I'll probably pick up an Obi 100 and bridge a new GV account to it and connect it to the Asterisk server. The Obi has a regular phone port so the house cordless phone setup will just go on the way it always has.
Issues:
NAT. NAT sucks. It will cause pain and suffering depending on the type of NAT you have. My office network is using Symmetric NAT, which is near impossible to use SIP with. So I set up OpenVPN on my gnex and just leave it running all the time. It doesn't use as much battery as I feared it would after tuning some settings. The big win was setting "keepalive 60 120" in the server config file. Comparing graphs using the Battery Monitor Widget, I'm about the same standby drain I was getting before. But now SIP works all the time, as there's no NAT in the way.
Wifi on the gnex.... When the screen is off it seems to go into some low-power state that doesn't save much power and causes little connection glitches. So even putting the phone to my head to talk would turn off the screen, then the VOIP call would get all choppy. Telling the app to leave the screen on in calls fixed it right up. I ended up trying Franco's kernel, as he has an option to disable the wifi power save stuff. It's working much better now. I've seen threads about this causing slow downloads when trying to download stuff like Gameloft game data as well. Though others say they don't see it. No idea, but it caused me lots of trouble and it's an easy fix, so I'm posting it.
---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:20 PM ----------
urinsane said:
Can you give a quick run down on why setting up Asterisk is beneficial in this situation? I've been looking into it and don't really see a need unless you have multiple extensions going, but the geek in me really wants to find a reason to set one up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing Asterisk will give you is the ability to use a different codec on the phone->server link than the one GV uses. So your server will transcode for you. A free PBXes account will do that too. Asterisk is really more useful if you want multiple extensions and providers. You can then do all kinds of crazy stuff with calls.
---------- Post added at 03:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 PM ----------
Luxferro said:
I been a GrooVe IP user for a while now. Whenever my phone is connected to wifi at work or home it goes into airplane mode w/ wifi enabled and changes my google voice # to forward to gtalk and use GrooVe IP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you changing the GV settings? I looked around a bit, but the only references I could find to plugins for Tasker/Locale were dead.
Wow. Awesome post, thanks. I will steal some of this for the OP with credit to you if you don't mind.
Should have reserved a couple more posts! : )
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
i got myself a flat for internet only, 10 euro plus 20 for nexus and thats that. for calling i use voip/sip and it's pretty nice actually. i pay almost nothing, a couple of cents for long calls, even on mobile networks. like months ago i once paid 10 euro to intervoip, the provider im using right now, and i still have most of it left - its crazy that i learned of this so late, years and years i paid craploads of money for nothing, silly vodafone stole like 50 euro each month just for calling. the prices they are asking for are almost criminal compared to voip, i pay 90% less now, yet the quality through 3g, hspa and wifi is perfectly alright.
as a client i used csipsimple and since i couldnt get it to work anymore i use mobileVOIP. not the best app but it does the job, has call integration and i can see how much my calls cost and how much money i have left, which is nice.
First I want to say that my google voice # is my main phone number. I ported my # to google voice a few years ago, and it has been working great.
After looking for a SIP provider, I signed up for Callcentric.
I am using the built in SIP, and setting up the account was very easy. I just had to enter the username, password, and server. Callcentric has a tutorial when you sign up that is very helpful.
Did a few test call and it works great. Call quality was pretty good over LTE.
My issues:
-My outgoing # is some random callcentric phone number. I tried to set it up so that it shows my google voice # to people I call, but was not able to do this.
-It's easy to have Google Voice forward calls to my callcentric number, but there is a monthly fee for this from callcentric. It's only $2, so it might be worth it to some people. Other SIP providers might not charge to receive calls though.
So my biggest problem is the caller ID not showing my Google voice # to people I call. If anyone knows of a fix for this, it would be great.
In the meantime, I decided to purchase SIPdroid, and it works quite well. The integration with Google Voice is great.
@ttabbal
I'm using a tasker/local plugin called locale Google voice plugin. I didn't even realize it was dead till you mentioned it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
edit: if you want the app let me know. I'll host it somewhere for ya. It's not like the creator is losing money if they took it off the market.
edit2: just found out what happened to it https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/voice/yGB1btViZi4
Thank you for contacting me. I am working hard to restore the listing. Google disabled it because I did not make it clear enough that the software is not affiliated with Google. But the Market team is known to be slow to respond to emails. Will keep you updated. I might have to release it under a different name/package name.
Toby
Steelgirder Developement -
Website
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NCRoadster said:
So my biggest problem is the caller ID not showing my Google voice # to people I call. If anyone knows of a fix for this, it would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know once i tried to figure it out in csipsimple and it wouldnt do, but i overlooked a field for it in my account details on the webpage where i bought the service. it worked fine after i filled in my number there.
molesarecoming said:
i know once i tried to figure it out in csipsimple and it wouldnt do, but i overlooked a field for it in my account details on the webpage where i bought the service. it worked fine after i filled in my number there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
voip.ms also lets you set outgoing caller id through their settings. I think you can actually spoof any number you want in there... kinda crazy.

How do I turn my deactivated Dinc to a working internet phone?

So I have an SGS3 on the way and a deactivated Incredible soon
Do you guys know how I can use my Dinc on wifi or tethering from my SGS3 to still be able to make internet calls?
I don't want to just demote this bad boy to an mp3 player because this phone is too awesome to just put back in its box.
I believe I saw some people using their tabs to make calls, so I would imagine it would be a similar setup. So if you guys can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated!
Just flash a custom ROM, bypass the activation screen, put it in airplane mode and turn on wifi. Then use something like Groove IP to make data calls through your Google Voice number.
There is also an app called Desk SMS (I think that's what it's called) by clockwork mod (aka koush) which will allow you to send texts over wifi. People use that one to send texts from their wifi only tablets.
There is also a script somewhere in the Inc dev section to which converts the Inc to a wifi only device.
That should be enough to get you started.
KrisPeezy said:
So I have an SGS3 on the way and a deactivated Incredible soon
Do you guys know how I can use my Dinc on wifi or tethering from my SGS3 to still be able to make internet calls?
I don't want to just demote this bad boy to an mp3 player because this phone is too awesome to just put back in its box.
I believe I saw some people using their tabs to make calls, so I would imagine it would be a similar setup. So if you guys can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is what I used on my Lenovo ideapad a1...
http://thedroidguy.com/2010/12/voip-for-android-devices/
I use groove ip https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gvoip with google voice http://www.google.com/voice. Works great, easy setup, and you can still text thru the google voice app. With the paid version of groove you can even use the phones native dialer and call log. And you can use google voice for voicemail.

is sprint store employee right? - horrible network problems

Took my Note 2 in for help today. Phone refuses to update Outlook data. hard reset, etc.
Duplicate results in store. Tech explains that this is in fact a Sprint problem. It is a by product of their efforts to upgrade their network and I will not have outlook data for the next 3-6 months. It may be spotty, one day yes, then nothing for a week. There is nothing they, or anyone else can do.
He suggested I call retention for a credit, but told me all carriers will be going through this soon.
So much there to digest...
First off - really this is all network trouble?
Second - ATT, Verizon etc are going to have this problem in the future?
jeeplj8 said:
Took my Note 2 in for help today. Phone refuses to update Outlook data. hard reset, etc.
Duplicate results in store. Tech explains that this is in fact a Sprint problem. It is a by product of their efforts to upgrade their network and I will not have outlook data for the next 3-6 months. It may be spotty, one day yes, then nothing for a week. There is nothing they, or anyone else can do.
He suggested I call retention for a credit, but told me all carriers will be going through this soon.
So much there to digest...
First off - really this is all network trouble?
Second - ATT, Verizon etc are going to have this problem in the future?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Outlook data, as in email?
Whats outlook data?
Sent from my SPH-L900 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
cmdauria said:
Outlook data, as in email?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes.
jeeplj8 said:
Took my Note 2 in for help today. Phone refuses to update Outlook data. hard reset, etc.
Duplicate results in store. Tech explains that this is in fact a Sprint problem. It is a by product of their efforts to upgrade their network and I will not have outlook data for the next 3-6 months. It may be spotty, one day yes, then nothing for a week. There is nothing they, or anyone else can do.
He suggested I call retention for a credit, but told me all carriers will be going through this soon.
So much there to digest...
First off - really this is all network trouble?
Second - ATT, Verizon etc are going to have this problem in the future?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thread title should read:
Sprint store employee IS right - (Sprint has a) horrible network.
Well, sounds like you need to do trouble shooting because there are a number of things that can be causing your issue. Assuming you have internet at home through something like a cable or DSL provider, I would check to see if you can update Outlook when connected to your home network. If it doesn't work, assuming there isn't a firewall issue, then the issues is on the GN2, most likely.
If it updates, then the apps is ok, but it's something else. I would look into to make sure you have data connection. If you can use the web browser and load pages you haven't visited, Netflix, Pandora, or something that needs an internet connection to work, then it's within the app. If no data connection, then it's Sprint or device issue, and what the employee could be accurate to your situation.
I'm not familiar with Outlook, but if it's an app, I would look in it's settings. You may need uninstall and reinstall. Maybe relink your account or something.
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Outlook data to a pc went through wireless tether yesterday. I cant imagine that is true, that would disrupt every corporate employee on the network... even their own.
Seriously?
lovekeiiy said:
Well, sounds like you need to do trouble shooting because there are a number of things that can be causing your issue. Assuming you have internet at home through something like a cable or DSL provider, I would check to see if you can update Outlook when connected to your home network. If it doesn't work, assuming there isn't a firewall issue, then the issues is on the GN2, most likely.
If it updates, then the apps is ok, but it's something else. I would look into to make sure you have data connection. If you can use the web browser and load pages you haven't visited, Netflix, Pandora, or something that needs an internet connection to work, then it's within the app. If no data connection, then it's Sprint or device issue, and what the employee could be accurate to your situation.
I'm not familiar with Outlook, but if it's an app, I would look in it's settings. You may need uninstall and reinstall. Maybe relink your account or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with your trouble shooting tips, but you don't know what Outlook is??
Sorry, I guess if you haven't worked in a corporate environment you may not have had to deal with Outlook before. Outlook is actually Microsoft's e-mail client for their Exchange (e-mail, calendar, contacts, to-do task list) Server and it only runs on Windows.
What he is really referring to is updating the Exchange Server which is supported by Android and several Android based e-mail clients. Exchange is used mostly in Corporate and Government environments but it is not exclusive to them.
As I said, your trouble shooting tips are exactly right. I have had a lot of trouble with updating Exchange over the years and it seems like it is hit-or-miss as to whether it is going to work from one day to the next.
However, I don't know of any reason why you would not have access to Exchange for weeks at a time due to Sprint upgrading the network. And even if you can't get to it through the 3G or LTE Sprint network, you should still be able to get to it through a Wi-Fi internet connection.
QuietBillG said:
I agree with your trouble shooting tips, but you don't know what Outlook is??
Sorry, I guess if you haven't worked in a corporate environment you may not have had to deal with Outlook before. Outlook is actually Microsoft's e-mail client for their Exchange (e-mail, calendar, contacts, to-do task list) Server and it only runs on Windows.
What he is really referring to is updating the Exchange Server which is supported by Android and several Android based e-mail clients. Exchange is used mostly in Corporate and Government environments but it is not exclusive to them.
As I said, your trouble shooting tips are exactly right. I have had a lot of trouble with updating Exchange over the years and it seems like it is hit-or-miss as to whether it is going to work from one day to the next.
However, I don't know of any reason why you would not have access to Exchange for weeks at a time due to Sprint upgrading the network. And even if you can't get to it through the 3G or LTE Sprint network, you should still be able to get to it through a Wi-Fi internet connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the things I checked, as it would not update the Exchange data over wi-fi in the sprint store.
Curiously every Samsung device I tried (tablet 10.2, Note 2 and S4) had the same problem. But HTC devices did not. So I now have a One.
QuietBillG said:
... you don't know what Outlook is?? ...
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Click to collapse
LOL, yes I know what Outlook is. I have worked in the corporate world and used it. I didn't work in the IT department. I even used it at home for a while. I stopped using it years ago.
What I meant was that I wasn't very familiar with mobile version and how it is setup. I only mentioned it to let the person know the limits of the help I was able to provide. I'm pretty good with general trouble shooting and narrowing where the issue may lie, but if it was app related, I probably wouldn't be very helpful.
jeeplj8 said:
One of the things I checked, as it would not update the Exchange data over wi-fi in the sprint store.
Curiously every Samsung device I tried (tablet 10.2, Note 2 and S4) had the same problem. But HTC devices did not. So I now have a One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is strange. My Note 2 works... most of the time. My Transformer Prime tablet works... most of the time. After you said that I realized that I didn't have any problems with my old HTC Evo either. I wonder what it could be about Samsung that Exchange doesn't like.
Exchange doesn't play well with others.
---------- Post added at 08:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 AM ----------
lovekeiiy said:
LOL, yes I know what Outlook is. I have worked in the corporate world and used it. I didn't work in the IT department. I even used it at home for a while. I stopped using it years ago.
What I meant was that I wasn't very familiar with mobile version and how it is setup. I only mentioned it to let the person know the limits of the help I was able to provide. I'm pretty good with general trouble shooting and narrowing where the issue may lie, but if it was app related, I probably wouldn't be very helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kinda like Outlook on my desktop. It is very stable under Windows. I don't think there is an Android version of Outlook; if there was it would have to come from Microsoft.
Back to OP's notes. I mentioned this before and it was confirmed by an XDA user who's also a regional tech. There IS indeed a network issue and those affected should be on PRL 2000 to help mitigate that. It does suck because you don't get all of the towers - and as long as the N3 comes through with Tri-band why I'll be trading this one in for it.
Some of the things that may happen: No push notifications (async updates), inbound calls, etc to the device. Sounds very similar to what I had for a few months.
garwynn said:
Back to OP's notes. I mentioned this before and it was confirmed by an XDA user who's also a regional tech. There IS indeed a network issue and those affected should be on PRL 2000 to help mitigate that. It does suck because you don't get all of the towers - and as long as the N3 comes through with Tri-band why I'll be trading this one in for it.
Some of the things that may happen: No push notifications (async updates), inbound calls, etc to the device. Sounds very similar to what I had for a few months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a reason this would only affect Samsung? What you are describing is basically what was happening with the N2 and similar to the explanation given by the Sprint tech. It was quite maddening when it would actually load several days of data, then they would suddenly disappear while the tech was holding the device.
What is interesting to me is that the HTC is not affected by this. Though the general radio strength is weaker on that device, apparently it does not have the data problem.
jeeplj8 said:
Is there a reason this would only affect Samsung? What you are describing is basically what was happening with the N2 and similar to the explanation given by the Sprint tech. It was quite maddening when it would actually load several days of data, then they would suddenly disappear while the tech was holding the device.
What is interesting to me is that the HTC is not affected by this. Though the general radio strength is weaker on that device, apparently it does not have the data problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S4 also isn't affected. At the time I was told this was related a new network feature - SO73.
http://wireless.agilent.com/rfcomms/refdocs/cdma2k/cdma2000_gen_encoder_oprtp.html
...and it was only in certain markets. Since they are saying every other carrier will face this it makes me think it's a data compression or VoLTE thing where not every phone was designed for the network upgrade and will take it well.
It would seem device specific if this was working or not. Beyond the N2 I heard some iPhone users also say they've been pushed to PRL 2000 - not sure if it was for the same reason. And if you're not on PRL 2000, get on it. I still have issues in a few remote locations but it is 90% or more less than what I was having and could re-create on demand.
All the more I'm eying the Note 3 as a possible replacement.
Have you tried using a different e-mail client for your Outlook sync? It may be an issue with the Samsung email client and your Outlook server config.
Personally, I have a Note 2 and Note 8 and have fine connection with my company's Outlook server, but I do note some issues with keeping the config settings up to date.
Does your exchange server require your phone to be encrypted. My Company requires this for the sync to work properly. Not sure why it would be intermittent though.
n19bmw said:
Does your exchange server require your phone to be encrypted. My Company requires this for the sync to work properly. Not sure why it would be intermittent though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually no, though it would make sense if that were an issue, however, as you point out, it would not be intermittent.
The final answer I received from Samsung technical support was that their latest email client does not support "older" version of Exchange and Outlook. We have 2010, which Samsung refers to as outdated.
Curiously, Sprint uses the same version of Outlook.
After switching to an HTC One, I have no problems at all.

Any experience going Google-free?

I'm big into privacy, and have been researching into how to go gapps-less. It seems pretty feasible with a decent amount of research, but I was just curious if anyone has done so and what the experience was like. Did you go back, what was the most tedious thing to get working, etc.?
adobrakic said:
I'm big into privacy, and have been researching into how to go gapps-less. It seems pretty feasible with a decent amount of research, but I was just curious if anyone has done so and what the experience was like. Did you go back, what was the most tedious thing to get working, etc.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do you think going gapps less will help in privacy.. whatever you do! if you will use mobile there is nothing like privacy. whatever service u will use on mobile making calls, sms, mms, surfing internet. everything have to go through service provider's servers. in digital world. every single data is available to govts. from calls to internet logs. from banking transactions to travel details.
sukhwant717 said:
how do you think going gapps less will help in privacy.. whatever you do! if you will use mobile there is nothing like privacy. whatever service u will use on mobile making calls, sms, mms, surfing internet. everything have to go through service provider's servers. in digital world. every single data is available to govts. from calls to internet logs. from banking transactions to travel details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my point, there's already enough tracking going on, I don't need Google taking everything that my provider can't and selling it off to companies and handing it over to the government. Google Play Services facilitates exactly this.
adobrakic said:
Exactly my point, there's already enough tracking going on, I don't need Google taking everything that my provider can't and selling it off to companies and handing it over to the government. Google Play Services facilitates exactly this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but my point is removing gapps will not change any situation. i mean removing gaps will not lessen the amount of data being tracked. google can not track that much things which service providers are already tracking. governments install special equipment at service provider's end.
....it will change the situation, it will stop Google from gathering my data and selling it to companies. That means that there's one less category of people taking my data. If the government wants my information, they will get it one way or another. I don't want Google getting my information unless I give it to them.

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