March 26th 2013 ***UPDATE Bobsled is no longer offering free land line calling to Greece and Mexico for now at least. We will see what they do as an "improvement". A link to the original post is below and I will keep you updated to their changes as it develops.*** http://bit.ly/YyigDh
FREE CALLS TO ACTUAL PHONE NUMBERS USING MY IPHONE
Today I had fun trying to figure out the best way to make
FREE phone calls to actual phone numbers from my iPhone. I love doing this from my iPhone since you
can use it just like you would any other phone call. I found three solutions that work. Bobsled and Google Voice. Of course there is Skype, but it is not free. I paid for the service some time ago, but cancelled it when I discovered Bobsled.
Another quick note about Skype: Skype is a great service actually and the quality is quite good. There is one advantage to Skype paid service is the your actual mobile phone number will appear on the caller ID of the one you call. This may be worth the yearly fee if your friends don't pick the phone to unrecognized numbers.
BOBSLED
Website: http://bobsled.com/#!/home
Bobsled is funded by T-Mobile in the U.S. and allows you to call anywhere in Canada, the U.S. Greece, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The call quality is great if your Wifi network is reasonably fast otherwise there is a slight lag between the time you talk and the other person actually hears what you say. Overall I have been happy with the service and it is available to Canadian residents as well. bobsled will also connect with your Facebook account and add those contacts to your calling list.
Bobsled Downsides: the log in time is at least 15 seconds when I use the Facebook login with my iPhone4. The login is faster using an email account, but sometime it does not remember the login information which is a bit of a hassle before you want to make a call.
Also when you call someone the caller ID they looks like an international number so sometimes they won't answer.
GOOGLE VOICE
Note for Canadians: Technically Google Voice is only available to U.S. Residents for now so you will not have access to the app in the Canadian iTunes store. However, the app below called GV Phone is downloadable and gives you access to the service.
GV Phone (for Canadians)
I like this app alot. You need to have a Google ID to log into the service, but who doesn't have one these days right! I found that the quality of Google Voice and Bobsled are quite comparable, but the start up time on GV phone is quite fast so you get to your call quicker. Also, it seems like you can get a free phone number in the U.S. which is really awesome. This is the number that displays to the receiver. As a Canadian I am not able to test this out. When I make a call without a registered number it displays a number from California. People tend to answer these calls more often than international ones in my experience so far.
What am I using?
Right now I am using GV Phone. I was using Bobsled, but the start up time is a bit long for my liking and the international number appearing seems to reduce the chance of the receiver picking up the phone when I call. Also, I do not call Greece, Mexico or Puerto Rico otherwise bobsled is the way to go. Go ahead and give them a try!
Bobsled has an iPad app also available and the GV phone app will work on the iPad. Remember both are completely free so I thank both companies (T-Mobile and Google) for providing the services and you may even save money on your long distance phone bills!
Update:
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pinger-text-free-+-call-free/id444741112?mt=8
I have started to use this app called Pinger that I discovered which is free for now. It allows you to make call to any regular phone number in Canada and the U.S. like bobsled and GV Phone but Pinger has one advantage!
This app will actually assigned a local phone number in Canada (or the U.S.) and you can receive calls to that phone number from any regular phone line. In addition receiving calls using that number is free and unlimited!
However, this app does not allow you to make outgoing calls completely free. I was given a free 70 minutes of outgoing calls free with the option to purchase more later if desired. The minutes are cheap though and you can earn free minute by clicking on ads if you have the time.
The really great option here is to be able to receive calls from any phone number free and to make outgoing calls you can still use Bobsled or GV Phone anyways. In principal you could actually get rid of the phone number you are paying for, except for the 911 capability which would be lost, using a Pinger phone number.
I am experimenting now with the quality for now which seems on par with Bobsled and GV Phone. However, I think the quality may have been worse at the Canadian launch since the review in the link below was not excellent. It is a good explanation of the app overall though.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/09/10/pinger-comes-to-canada-free-calling-and-texting-anywhere-in-canada-and-us/
I say it is worth a try! I got a 604 number and receive calls on my iPhone just fine so far. Give it a try and comment on what you think about it.
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