[ale] somewhat OT - FreedomPop plan

[Neal Rhodes]

Yeah, you have to really think through what you are looking for - voice
within a fixed building, or voice out in the woods camping.   Here's my
understanding. 

Within a fixed building which is offering Wifi, then yes, there are all
kinds of choices, including Skype for free, and a variety of VOIP
solutions. 

The dial-tone which powers our two "landlines" in the house is
essentially VOIP being provided by a POTS jack at the back of  the AT&T
UVerse adapter.  (interestingly, we don't have to pay the monthly tariff
on landlines, because they really AREN'T landlines. )


Now, if you want to go camping, or a concert, or otherwise off the grid,
then yes, you have to have a cellular radio circuit.   Where it gets
weird is apparently FreedomPop doesn't use the voice side of the cell
circuit - they only use the data side and have their own app to
essentially do the Skype thing.    What I don't understand is how
FreedomPop is getting bandwidth for free to offer free accounts.
Unless their theory is that nobody will ever be able to stay under their
free bandwidth limit. 

Thus, for my $3 DZ09 watch, the $3/mo Tmobile SIM works fine.  I have
voice and SMS.   If I stuck in the FreedomPop SIM, I'd have bupkis.
 

On Fri, 2017-03-10 at 12:21 -0500, H P Ladds wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Mark Ulmer <mark at markulmer.com> wrote:
> 
>  
>         
>         
>         http://fpop.co/jp1f
>         
>         I've already ordered 2. I got one for my android tablet and
>         going to try
>         second in my old 3G iPad. Plan to order more if my laptops
>         have SIM slots.
>         
>  
> 
> 
> This makes me brain hurt a bit. Is there some software magic that
> turns tablets and computers into virtual phones? Or are you using
> these as data only devices?
> 
> 
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