iPod Touch= PDA, Game Box, or WiFi Phone

I just recently purchased my first Apple product; an iPod Touch 8G.  This is not a review but more of a testamony on the platform and How To Use This As A WiFi Phone.

Let me be clear this is the new or 2nd Generation of the iPod Touch.  This all started in a research project on how to stop paying my cell phone carrier the unbelivable prices that I pay them on a monthly basis.

Important: Prior to considering this option, it is imprortant for you to consider whether you require always on access to a cell phone. For me, I realized that I dont and that my job as a technology consultant keeps me on the road and their are ample public WiFi hotspots in my community.  If you dont have access to public WiFi or you are in a rual area, this might not be a good option.

Background:  I am with Alltel/Verizion on a family plan with 3 lines of service.  I have a Blackberry Curve, and then my wife has a Motorolla, and my son has an LG phone.  When you add up all of the taxes, and data charges my monthly bill was getting to be close to $200 a month.  I have always been a user of Skype and Gizmo when it comes to Voice Over IP and wanted to research this and see if I could exist without a cell phone.

The Research:  I first started to look at Skype Phones, which there are tons of.  The problem here is that most of them will not work on hotspots that require ‘Browser Based Authenication’.  Let me explain; Many public hotspots require you to open your browser and put in a username and password for authenication. As most of the Skype phones I reviewed dont have a browser, then this made the use of those type of hotspots unavailable.

I then remembered that I used to have a PDA before the age of smartphones. So I took a look at finding a PDA that had both Bluetooth and WiFi.  You have any idea how hard it is to find PDA’s any more.  They are still out there but most are on their way out and no longer supported. It was still an option, but most of the ones that had the features I was looking for were in the $400 price range.

I dont know how I considered a iPod, but I remember reading a post that Skype had an application that worked on the Touch and that the new Touches had a microphone.  After much talking and convincing with my spouse, I conviced here that this would be worth a try and we would purchase locally so we could return it if this didnt pan out.

A note about the iPod touch;  the Touch is for the most part a PDA (Personal Data Assistant).  I understand why Apple dosent want to use that label, but it really is a modern PDA.  Considering that you can add apps to get and send email, WiFi, Bluetooth, document reader, Oh it also plays music and videos. Or you could say that this device is really a very small tablet computer.

The Set-Up

I set this up with two free iPod applications.  The first one is Skype and the second is TruPhone.

Skype: Skype is an easy set up, after you install the application, you enter your account information and you are good to go.  I recomend that you consider a subscription with Skype.  I have the annual supscription that allows me to call any number in the US ($2.95 a month).  You can get the prices on these at : Skype Subscriptions .  With the subscription you also get a discount off a skype number.  If you decide to get a skype number then you can stop right here.

Google Voice:  I wanted to utilize my Google Voice number so after much research I found out how to do this. Now this is not a simple setup and may seem somewhat the long way around the tree, but it works.

Here are the steps:

1) Create a TruPhone account and install the software: http://www.truphone.com/ipod/
2) Create a Gizmo5 account: http://gizmo5.com/pc/
3) Sign into your Gizmo5 account
     4a) Note your Gizmo5 phone number
     4b) Configure Gizmo5 to forward all calls to SIP using "YourTruPhoneUsername@truphone.com" as the address
5) Sign into your GoogleVoice account
     5a) Create a new phone called Gizmo5. (Settings Phones)
     5b) Enter your Gizmo5 number like this example: +17475551212
     5c) Under Phone Type choose Gizmo5

As I said this is the long way around the tree, but then again, this is not a phone.  I tested this and when someone calls my Goggle Voice number, my iPod rings.

The Next Step:

If you want to take this to the next level then you can add one more service to this.  Verizon has a service called MiFi.  This is a WiFi hotspot in your pocket. This is a credit card sized device that makes you a hotspot. So now whereever you go and you can signin to a Verizon network you will have access to make a call or get to the Internet.  I believe this is around $60 a month, but you can read more about this at: Verizon MiFi .  The real plus with this is that you can pretty much make unlimited calls as long as you stay within the 5GB limit.

Conclusion:

That is pretty much it for my experience, but there are plenty of articles showing up on the web about this. I cant help but think that the cell phone companies are having issues with all of this.  As the MiFi technology gets more advanced this could be a death sentance for many of these companies.

Happy Computing