 gigahurtzPremium
join:2001-10-20
Palm Coast, FL
1 edit | Seriously? This is just now coming out? Anyone who has GV has known this for a long time. Wireless carriers are figuring out ways around this already. |
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2 edits | said by gigahurtz:This is just now coming out? Anyone who has GV has known this for a long time. Wireless carriers are figuring out ways around this already. They will end "Friends & Faves" options. Or, eventually they will charge more for data. The pipe has to be paid for, no matter what Google wants.
Or they can do what Sprint did. Make GV irrelevant. 90% or more of my monthly phone calls are to cellphones. Sprint charges no minutes against mobile-to-mobile calls no matter the carrier calling or being called if you have a data plan on your smartphone. I have a GV account but it is not needed. So Sprint gets it's pipe paid for by users having a data plan and voice calls ride on that income for free. |
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 digiblurGot Sipura?Premium
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana
1 edit | reply to gigahurtz
said by gigahurtz:This is just now coming out? Anyone who has GV has known this for a long time. Wireless carriers are figuring out ways around this already. No doubt...this is very old news. I've even seen people doing this with a couple of VoIP boxes themselves.
But with GV and the google voice dialer on my WinMo phone makes it VERY easy!
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SouthWest Louisiana PC Users Group »www.swlapcug.com |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | reply to fAcEtIOUs
said by fAcEtIOUs:Or, eventually they will charge more for data. The pipe has to be paid for, no matter what Google wants. I foresee rate increases. Also, the "Friends & Faves" options from the players that I've looked at already require you to pay up to receive the option in the first place. Paying up for more minutes to facilitate "free unlimited calling" kinds of minimizes/eliminates the benefit IMO. |
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said by gigahurtz:This is just now coming out? Anyone who has GV has known this for a long time. Wireless carriers are figuring out ways around this already. And anyone who's been following the news knows that it's been getting blocked on Apple's iPhone. |
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 NOVA_GuyObamaCare Kills AmericansPremium
join:2002-03-05 | reply to openbox9
I think Sprint has a feature called "Sprint to Home" or something like that. IIRC, it was $5/mo and allowed unlimited calls to/from your "home" line.
If I wasn't already getting a good discount from Sprint and used more than 450 minutes/mo to non-cell phones during prime time, I'd consider shelling out the extra $5/mo for this. Then all you have to do is designate your Google Voice number as your "home number".
My parents use a ton of prime time minutes each month, and are thinking about switching to Sprint from AT&T. If they do this, perhaps I'll set them each up with a Google Voice number first. Then they can just get a smartphone that has Google Voice apps (like the Palm Pre), get Sprint's lowest minute package with the "Sprint to Home" option, and use Google Voice for all their calls.
With this avenue available to customers, I wonder if Sprint will ever consider introducing a zero minute (or extremely cheap 100 minute or so) package. As long as there's Sprint to Home and Google Voice, I'd be set with essentially a free unlimited bucket of minutes.
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Nobel peace prize for Obammer... Now he's got one more thing in common with Arafat besides hating America. And he's just as succesful as Jimmy "the failure" Carter. |
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NOVA_GuyObamaCare Kills AmericansPremium
join:2002-03-05 | reply to PapaMidnight
Not for those that have jailbroken iPhones. |
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 ReformCRTCSupport Your Independent ISP
join:2004-03-07
Canada | reply to gigahurtz
AT&T? Verizon? Please.
Be. The. Dumb. Pipe. No more, no less. No shaping, throttling, caps, and other monkey business.
Can't make money that way? Bat snot. |
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FisamoPremium
join:2004-02-20
Apex, NC | reply to PapaMidnight
The Google Voice APP has been blocked, but I doubt they're blocking the ability to call your Google voice number (if on your A-list) and use that to place a 'free' call... |
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 SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA
1 edit | reply to openbox9
The article explains that you really have to be over-paying already to qualify for these features. Rate increases would only add insult to injury.
With the average cell user already paying $3/minute, what to the cell companies really have to complain about?!? |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | Huh? Over paying? $3/min...please explain. |
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 TamaraBQuestion The Current ParadigmPremium
join:2000-11-08
Da Bronx
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Clearwire Wireless
| reply to NOVA_Guy
said by NOVA_Guy:Not for those that have jailbroken iPhones. Or for those of us who picked up GV from the App Store before it was banned.
Bob
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Would you ever go over to Czechoslovakia, and marry me daughter for me?" |
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SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | reply to openbox9
Maybe someone can find the original LA Times article, but here is one from my area:
»blogs.chron.com/techblog/archive···ell.html |
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NOVA_GuyObamaCare Kills AmericansPremium
join:2002-03-05 | reply to Fisamo
I doubt they would have the ability to block you from calling a regular telephone number. If AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. did try this it would be cause for me to file yet another complaint with the FCC against them (as I would strongly encourage others to do).
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Nobel peace prize for Obammer... Now he's got one more thing in common with Arafat besides hating America. And he's just as succesful as Jimmy "the failure" Carter. |
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pandoraPremium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·ooma
·Google Voice
·Future Nine Corp..
·Comcast
| reply to NOVA_Guy
Sprint already has free pick 3 or free pick 5. In the Palm Pre appstore is a free google voice dialer that works off your contact list. You can already get free unlimited calling off almost any Sprint phone without much effort.
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"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." |
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 cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| reply to openbox9
There was an article earlier this year of a survey of 700 San Diego cell phone users that found that, on average, consumers were paying $3/minute. The numbers were skewed by people that paid for many minutes but only used a few, but even excluding the extremes, people were still paying $.50-$1/minute. |
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NOVA_GuyObamaCare Kills AmericansPremium
join:2002-03-05 | reply to pandora
Thanks. Didn't know about the pick 3/pick 5 option. I'll set that up today and use my Google Voice number as one of the free call numbers.
I've already installed gDial Pro, so after I do that I guess I'm ready to go... with no extra $5/mo "Sprint to Home" charge needed. 
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Nobel peace prize for Obammer... Now he's got one more thing in common with Arafat besides hating America. And he's just as succesful as Jimmy "the failure" Carter. |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | reply to cdru
the study, conducted by the auditing firm TeleTruth on behalf of the Utility Consumers' Action Network and showing an average charge of $3.02 per minute, was based on 134 wireless bills. I'd need to look at the report before this claim can be taken seriously. Anyway, I don't look at my wireless phone bill as paying $x/min, I look at it as paying $y/mth for the convenience of always having a voice capability with me. |
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cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5 Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| said by openbox9:I'd need to look at the report before this claim can be taken seriously. Take it for what it's worth. I'm not saying the methodology is right or wrong, I'm just pointing to where the $3/minute came from.
Anyway, I don't look at my wireless phone bill as paying $x/min, I look at it as paying $y/mth for the convenience of always having a voice capability with me. For many users that don't use it as a primary line and rather just a backup or while they are out type usage, prepaid may be far more economical as you still have the convenience of having the capability (as long as the minutes are there) but you aren't losing unused minutes at the end of the month. T-mobile for instance has rates as low as $.10 per minute which is only slightly higher then many of their monthly plans but the minutes don't expire for a year, or even longer if you top off within that year with additional funds. |
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 birdfeedrPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-11
Warwick, RI
kudos:5 | said by cdru:prepaid may be far more economical as you still have the convenience of having the capability (as long as the minutes are there) but you aren't losing unused minutes at the end of the month. Prepaid plan no longer offered by Verizon but grandfathered if you have it but don't change it, has a $15/mo. minimum bump (100 minutes), but unused minutes rollover, as long as you continue to renew. My wife's cellphone has 58+ hours primetime minutes accumulated. Double on nights and weekends.
The trouble with drawing the minutes down -- you gotta answer the phone when somebody calls. 
She uses it for emergency only.
The trouble with that $3/minute study mentioned earlier is it probably takes the monthly fee and divides it by the minutes actually used to come up with minutes cost. Which says a lot of people have plans they don't fully use.
"But I can make a call if I want to." |
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