Line2 - Make free calls on iPhone
A few months back, I read an iPhone app called Line2. Here’s a brief summary of that review:
“Line2 gives your iPhone a second phone number — a second phone line, complete with its own contacts list, voice mail, and so on. But that’s not the best part. Line2 also turns the iPhone into a dual-mode phone. That is, it can make and receive calls using either the AT&T airwaves as usual, or over the Internet. Any time you’re in a wireless hot spot, Line2 places its calls over Wi-Fi instead of AT&T’s network."
That’s a game-changer. Where, after all, is cellphone reception generally the worst? Right — indoors. In your house or your office building, precisely where you have Wi-Fi. Line2 in Wi-Fi means rock-solid, confident reception indoors.
Line2 also runs on the iPod Touch. When you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, your Touch is now a full-blown cellphone, and you don’t owe AT&T a penny.
It turns out Wi-Fi calls don’t use up any AT&T minutes. You can talk all day long, without ever worrying about going over your monthly allotment of minutes. Wi-Fi calls are free forever!
For this luxury, the reviewer wrote, we pay $15 a month — but you could still wind up saving money, because if you make most of your calls in Wi-Fi areas, you can downgrade your AT&T talk-time plan to a cheaper one with fewer minutes.
There were some drawbacks to Line2, though. “The dialing pad doesn’t make touch-tone sounds as you tap the keys. There’s no Favorites list within the Line2 app. You can’t get or send text messages on your Line2 line. (The company says it will fix all this soon.)”
Worst of all, there’s a complexity when it comes to incoming calls. “If the Line2 app is open at the time, you’re connected via Wi-Fi, if available. If it’s not running, the call comes in through AT&T, so you lose the benefits of Wi-Fi calling. In short, until Apple blesses the iPhone with multitasking software, you have to leave Line2 open whenever you put the phone to sleep!”
I’m happy to report that most of these improvements have now come true. The app now makes touch-tone sounds when you dial. There is now a Favorites list.
Best of all, Apple made iOS4 multitasking. So now, Line2 does not have to be open when calls come in. Even if your phone is asleep, it rings normally when someone dials your Line2 number. You tap either Answer or Voicemail. If you’re in a hot spot, the call automatically comes in over Wi-Fi, so you don’t use any AT&T minutes.
The company says that later this summer, yet another upgrade will let you send and receive text messages in the United States from your Line2 number at no extra charge. (International text messages are 10 cents each.)
Seems Line2 will succeed unless some company decides to file a law suit against its usage!
