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The iPad Does Phone Calls - Whoo Hoo !

T

techn0lady

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2010
105
0
I just bought it a week ago and it's amazing.

I just installed Skype and used my iPhone wired headset and Badda Bing!
Flawless! (so far) . Called my friend in Atlanta .Call quality is a bit less than on cell - no drops or anything just a slight mushiness to the sound - nothing awful though.

Cost to set up and try for yourself:
1. Monthly subscription fee - $2.95 (can cancel any time)
2. 3 months dedicated number service ($9)
3. Skype iPad app - free

and that's it - total cost to try it out is 12 bucks.
Wireless headsets do NOT work :(. I tried it with both a mono and a stereo A2DP bluetooth headset (both with mics) and neother worked. But it will work on a wired Apple iPhone headset or you can use it as a speaker phone with the built in Mic.

Many thanks to all the great people who turned me on to GoodReader and AirVideo both of which are outstanding. Hope this tip helps someone else.
 
Aduntu

Aduntu

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2010
599
1
techn0lady said:
I just bought it a week ago and it's amazing.

I just installed Skype and used my iPhone wired headset and Badda Bing!
Flawless! (so far) . Called my friend in Atlanta .Call quality is a bit less than on cell - no drops or anything just a slight mushiness to the sound - nothing awful though.

Cost to set up and try for yourself:
1. Monthly subscription fee - $2.95 (can cancel any time)
2. 3 months dedicated number service ($9)
3. Skype iPad app - free

and that's it - total cost to try it out is 12 bucks.
Wireless headsets do NOT work :(. I tried it with both a mono and a stereo A2DP bluetooth headset (both with mics) and neother worked. But it will work on a wired Apple iPhone headset or you can use it as a speaker phone with the built in Mic.

Many thanks to all the great people who turned me on to GoodReader and AirVideo both of which are outstanding. Hope this tip helps someone else.
Click to expand...

What's an iPhone wired headset? I'm a little confused.
 
M

mbell75

macrumors 6502
Oct 30, 2007
489
0
cant you just use Google Voice and not pay anything to make calls? I havent tried this yet because I dont have a headset.
 
T

techn0lady

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2010
105
0
mbell75 said:
cant you just use Google Voice and not pay anything to make calls? I havent tried this yet because I dont have a headset.
Click to expand...

NO. Google Voice requires an operating phone to work. It does not make calls on it's own. It just connects your phone to the other party and/or forwards calls made to a Google voice number to your own phone.

Apples and oranges.
 
Aduntu

Aduntu

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2010
599
1
techn0lady said:
Yes, exactly
Click to expand...

I use Skype for calls to landlines all the time. I also have my own Skype number. Now if I could just find my old iPhone earbuds with the microphone. OS 4.0 is going to make it a lot easier to do this on the iPad.
 
T

techn0lady

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2010
105
0
Aduntu said:
I use Skype for calls to landlines all the time. I also have my own Skype number. Now if I could just find my old iPhone earbuds with the microphone. OS 4.0 is going to make it a lot easier to do this on the iPad.
Click to expand...

I wonder if regular wired earbuds w/mics would work? My guess is that they would.
 
P

peestandingup

macrumors regular
Jul 14, 2006
248
0
techn0lady said:
NO. Google Voice requires an operating phone to work. It does not make calls on it's own. It just connects your phone to the other party and/or forwards calls made to a Google voice number to your own phone.

Apples and oranges.
Click to expand...

Sorry but you're wrong. I make calls using my google voice number from my iPad right now. You just need a go-between app, like Truphone. You dial out using your browser on googles website & it rings your iPad.
 
T

techn0lady

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2010
105
0
peestandingup said:
Sorry but you're wrong. I make calls using my google voice number from my iPad right now. You just need a go-between app, like Truphone. You dial out using your browser on googles website & it rings your iPad.
Click to expand...

That's what I said. You need a phone to make google voice work. You're "go between" app is a VOIP phone.

At any rate Google Voice is a completely different discussion than Skype.
If you already have truphone then why would you want Skype?
 
I

iPhoneHome

macrumors 6502
Jul 8, 2007
335
0
i was using this earlier and the call quality was excellent. I had it on speaker phone and it was flawless.
 
P

peestandingup

macrumors regular
Jul 14, 2006
248
0
techn0lady said:
That's what I said. You need a phone to make google voice work. You're "go between" app is a VOIP phone.

At any rate Google Voice is a completely different discussion than Skype.
If you already have truphone then why would you want Skype?
Click to expand...

Someone asked if they can just make their calls free using google voice and you said you couldn't because you needed a cell phone, which isn't correct. All you need is a google voice number & a gizmo5 account (which google owns now). Then you can set it to ring your iPad if you have something like Truphone, which is free to use.
 
keyofnight

keyofnight

macrumors regular
Mar 19, 2009
201
46
Seattle, WA, USA.
peestandingup said:
Someone asked if they can just make their calls free using google voice and you said you couldn't because you needed a cell phone, which isn't correct. All you need is a google voice number & a gizmo5 account (which google owns now). Then you can set it to ring your iPad if you have something like Truphone, which is free to use.
Click to expand...

I think you're missing the point.

He didn't say, "You need a Cell phone." He said, "You need an operating phone…" Operating phone could mean Skype, Vonage, ATT, whatever phone you have. Gizmo5, even though it has been acquired by Google, is a VOIP phone like Skype.

There is no difference between what you're suggesting and Skype. Either way, if someone has a working solution with a native app (not a web-app) that will work even better when iPhone 4.0 drops (with the good multi-tasking and system messaging), why would you suggest something else?

Oh well.
 
dissdnt

dissdnt

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2007
1,489
5
You can pretend with the Fake Call app like you have a giant iPhone it's pretty funny.
 
V

vw195

macrumors 6502
Dec 27, 2008
340
0
avaloncourt said:
Did you read the first post?
Click to expand...

Duuuhh its still a little early for me I guess :p thanks for the update.

Having said that, I wonder if a profile exists for BT headset...ie should it theoretically be possible, because if its not supportedI may just spend $50 and send this sucka bad
 
A

avaloncourt

macrumors 65816
Oct 18, 2007
1,315
0
vw195 said:
Duuuhh its still a little early for me I guess :p thanks for the update.

Having said that, I wonder if a profile exists for BT headset...ie should it theoretically be possible, because if its not supportedI may just spend $50 and send this sucka bad
Click to expand...

Yes, bluetooth is supported but not the "hands-free profile."

If you look at Apple's information page it provides information on every possible iPhone and iPad pairing type.
 
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