1GB Plan for $20 a month ***

[mmulhern]

*** of course there is a catch.

• Unlocked iPhone
• "Three" prepaid 12GB MBB ($149 with 360 days expiry) & SIM
• Skype Online number ($80) (Optional)
• Jailbreak your iPhone
• 3G Unrestrictor ($2) from Cydia
• Backgrounder (free) from Cydia - get the 3.0+ version!!
• Skype Mobile (free) from Apple App Store

The Skype Online number is optional, but it allows me to divert my office desk phone (and any other phone) to my Skype account. Jailbreaking your phone is easy, but necessary to run 3G Unrestrictor which allows you to run wifi only apps over the 3G networks, and Backgrounder lets you run any app in the background, that way Skype is always available to take an incoming call.

With the Skype online number comes your voicemail, so you'll never miss a call anyway, with a notification being sent to your email account as well.

I'm using Call Credits, which is Skype's equivalent to pre-paid calls. Subscription plan also available, but make sure it suits your calling requirements.

You can receive incoming calls and SMSs on the mobile number assigned to the Three MBB SIM, but you'll not be able to make outgoing calls, but you can purchase SMS credits for the SIM.

If you are happy to just use Skype for outgoing calls and not have any voice mail, then you could save $80 and not get the online number.

[mitty]

Wouldn't skype being online all the time chew up your battery? I thought that even with backgrounder that skype wouldn't actually be connected unless the phone wasn't in "standby". But I may be wrong, haven't tested it.

Nice idea though. This is how mobile's should be. Simply buy a data plan, no flagfalls or per minute rates or things like that. Of course the telco industry is hardly going to let go of that little cash cow anytime soon are they. But it is the way of the future, I guess we'll get there eventually.

[mmulhern]

Wouldn't skype being online all the time chew up your battery? I thought that even with backgrounder that skype wouldn't actually be connected unless the phone wasn't in "standby". But I may be wrong, haven't tested it.

shhhh! Don't tell my iPhone. Skype sits nicely in the background, and when it receives a call, all I have to do is touch the Skype icon (which now sits down where the phone icon usually is) and answer the call.

Unfortunately all the fine control of Skype has to be done from the Windows client, such as diverting to voicemail on "no answer in xx seconds" or offline. The OSX client only allows setting the voicemail diversion for offline.

In regards to battery, yes it does eat a bit more juice, but seems to be less than having the phone in "Push" mode.

PS.

Having jail breaked/broken (?) my iPhone I've installed xGPS which for the cost (free) is not to bad a GPS turn-by-turn app.

[incanspyder]

I liked this thread so much I actually took this up. However, there's a huge fucking problem (you should mention this for future readers, although it's skype's fault and not yours) - I was hoping of taking the "unlimited world" plan, but the wretched thing doesn't apply to Australian mobiles, only landlines. Does anyone know a VOIP provider for iPhone which ahs unlimited calls to Australian mobiles? Thanks.

[mmulhern]

I was hoping of taking the "unlimited world" plan, but the wretched thing doesn't apply to Australian mobiles, only landlines.

Yes, I'd looked at that, but as I don't make many calls/SMSs, a subscription wasn't the way for me to go. I just top up my call credits when it gets a bit low. And as as I prefer to email, and any time I want a "quiet time", I stop Skype as a background task, and let any calls go to voice mail - I get an email alert when someone leaves a message.

[incanspyder]

Unfortunately it looks like I'm switching back to Optus - all my contacts are on the Optus prepaid network so I get free calls 24/7 to them for an unlimited amount of time provided I pay $50/month. Skype currently can't match such excellent rates (it would be a lot better for calling mobiles on other networks) and it doesn't yet have call caps (I doubt it ever will!) so no 3+Skype for me :S

P.S. Skype on three is not charged in terms of data, hence there's no need to purchase a data plan if you're not using it for email etc. How cool is that! Just tried it.