iCall enables seamless GSM to WiFi switching on iPhone

VoIP has been ushered onto the iPhone in quite a few incarnations, but we'd wager than none of 'em are as useful as iCall. Said application is currently in beta form, though a release isn't quite ready for the public at large. Put simply, it enables iPhones to switch from GSM to WiFi (when WiFi is nearby, of course) on-the-fly in order to save cell minutes and bypass the hassle of manually changing over. Interested? We thought you'd be -- hop on past the break to see a demonstrative video of the app in action, and keep a close eye on the read link for a sure-to-surface-soon download.

iCall VoIP on the Apple iPhone from Arlo & Andy on Vimeo

[bk7 @ Jun 6th 2008 6:30AM]

Excuse my ignorance but it possible for this/or similar to be put on to other phones?

[Si @ Jun 6th 2008 6:42AM]

If so, I want it on my Orbit ASAP

[Steffen_Jobbs @ Jun 6th 2008 7:41AM]

I disapprove of these bozos trying to steal money from the Amazing Apple (all praise be to him) Dont they know that carrier support is essential for Apple to take over the world, and that this is why Jobs (may he live forever) specifically forbid VOIP on the iPhone. They are stealing the food from his holy mouth!!!

These people need to be incarcerated straight away! To the gulags with them!! Them and all jailbreakers!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rich @ Jun 6th 2008 7:39AM]

I believe Avaya already does something similar for S60. It's only available to enterprise customers though.

[Flashpoint @ Jun 6th 2008 8:09AM]

You know what's BULLSH*T ?

I remember back about 6 ~ 7 years ago, a program called phone4free was released for download and you could use it to make absolutely free phone calls so long as you had an internet connection. Back then I was using 56K dialup and Net Zero. IT WORKED PERFECTLY.

Then these scumbags took that offline and re-released it as a pay service in VoIp.

That's one of the reasons I refuse to pay for any online service.
I get my music from Limewire, my videos from Limewire and I not only unlocked my iPhone but I have a sim chip that the ciity pays for. My iphone cost $300 but I pay $0.00 a month for it.

Yeah I know you wanna low rank me - but I refuse to be a pay for play sheep like the rest. Soon as I figure out a way to steal digital cable I'm gonna.

NO WAY IN HELL I'm putting a DIME in TIME WARNER's POCKET.

[bk7 @ Jun 6th 2008 8:41AM]

@ Flashpoint

You do realise that if everyone did this you wouldnt have ANY of the stuff you so blithely post about stealing.

You might be a real hit with all your friends bragging about all the sh*t you steal (and lol @ using limewire) but its not exactly hard to do, nor it is clever posting it here.

[Khris @ Jun 6th 2008 8:46AM]

@ Flashpoint

You should have furthered your career in Gymnastics. You seem to have dodged the coat hanger quite well!!

[happy_penguin @ Jun 6th 2008 10:16AM]

Good god flashpoint. Get real. People need to find ways to make money and if they put their time and effort into creating software they deserve to be compensated. Sure, open source is great. In fact, I love it. But if someone wants to market their work I say more power to them.

[mymaclife @ Jun 6th 2008 11:38AM]

You know what's bullshit? Flashpoint!

[CaptCaveman @ Jun 6th 2008 3:33PM]

You know what Flashpoint? When you grow up you will change your mind about stealing everything that you lay your eyes on or hear about.

[guy @ Jun 6th 2008 6:10PM]

i dont even understand how you get free calls still, yeah you tell people a number then an extension. but i just don't get how its free. O_o

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 6th 2008 10:07PM]

@steffen_jobs

Apple DOES NOT FORBID VOIP as long as it's only used on WiFi. It was announced at the iPhone SDK thing months ago. This is a fair policy to me. After all, you are getting unlimited internet for a discount on iPhone plans (compared to equivalent voice/text plans with added unlimited internet).

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 6th 2008 10:09PM]

Is this "Flashpoint" character living in a bizarro world? Does he actually think it is noble to be a cheap ass that steals everything?

[Leroy Vargas @ Jun 7th 2008 4:26PM]

Is iCall an official program made with the SDK, or does it require the jailbreak?

[Eirhead @ Jun 13th 2008 3:12PM]

@Flashpoint

Why stop at free Cable (I would personally steal satellite instead of cable because they can't locate you)? Get a plumber to bypass your water and gas meter and steal those, then get an electrician to bypass your power meter and steal that shit too. Stick it to the man!!!

While you're at it, now that the power company won't see your power useage, it'll be safe to start a grow-up in your house and make money the easy way - with illegal drugs. Work!? Fuck work, I'm not doing that shit.

Live the american dream, that's what I plan on doing.

[Zoli @ Jun 6th 2008 6:39AM]

Very cool.

Which VOIP provider does it use?

[Ace b @ Jun 6th 2008 6:49AM]

Now this is useful information concerning the Iphone.Now some questions...

Will this cost anything?If so,how much?

Will this be able to be used on both the current and future Iphone?(I personally don't see why it wouldn't be,but I'm not a programmer.)


And when is this coming out?

[Zoli @ Jun 6th 2008 7:00AM]

Found this on their website:

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is iCall really free?
A: Yes! There is no cost or hidden charge to use iCall to make or receive phone calls.

Q: Which phone calls are free?
A: All phone calls that you make to the USA and Canada are completely free, all calls that you receive are completely free regardless of where the caller is located. As well, all calls between iCall users are free.

Q: I want to place a phone call outside of the USA or Canada, how do I do this?
A: In order to place calls to destinations outside the USA and Canada you must become a iCall Pro user.

Q: How do I become an iCall Pro user?
A: Simply download and install iCall basic. Once you have logged in you will see a tab on the right that says "iCall Pro". Simply click that and follow the instant activation procedure to go pro!

For answers to other common questions, please visit our knowledge base.

[Ace b @ Jun 6th 2008 7:35AM]

useful,but I was actually wondering if it cost anything for the app,itself.I assumed the calls would be free.

[dj-kenpo @ Jun 6th 2008 9:26AM]

"Q: Is iCall really free?
A: Yes! "

What part of that confused you?

[Ace b @ Jun 6th 2008 9:46AM]

Sry,I actually noticed that but accidentally press enter instead of backspace.

I haven't had sleep for the past 20-ish hours due to work,ok?
So give me a break.Energy drinks can only do so much.

[CaptCaveman @ Jun 6th 2008 3:29PM]

1) I see these guys getting hammered by Apple because of the name alone.

2) Not to mention that they are stepping on the toes of Apple's partner AT&T by providing free phone service.

3) They have a paid side to the phone service. I wonder how long it will take for all those "free phone calls" to the U.S. and Canada to convert to "very low cost".

Not to say that I don't like it. And I will even try it (since I get horrible service at my house and actually have to go outside to make sure I don't drop calls) (I live in a farm area in Iowa, so every carrier is just as crappy).

[James @ Jun 6th 2008 3:39PM]

Haven't slept in 20ish hours? Oh c'mon give me a break you big baby.

You woke up at 6am and it's 2am now?

You obviously never went to college, been out clubbing, traveled much, etc.

Go take your Redbull before you start getting cranky like my 2 year old nephew.

[BFish @ Jun 6th 2008 6:51AM]

That's cool ! I am sure telco's will hate it ;)

[FuzzyCat @ Jun 6th 2008 7:31AM]

No they wont. You can't do this *without* the carrier being part of it. Seriously, did you really think that after answering a call you'd get to reroute it while maintaining the audio without the carrier helping out?

[adriangrab @ Jun 6th 2008 9:52AM]

@ fuzzycat

I think the answer is yes, you can do this, at least without wireless carriers. If you go over VOIP through wifi, you're using a different carrier for your internet (e.g. comcast) and then whoever they use to process the VOIP and do the backhaul operations is probably not AT&T.

In the end, if you do this, AT&T won't see a penny from the VOIP call. That's why they're restricting it.

[FuzzyCat @ Jun 8th 2008 2:45PM]

@adriangrab

Pray tell me how you're going to take a GSM call and had it off to VOIP *without* the carrier being involved.

Sure if it's a voip call it's nothing to do with the carrier - but they're saying "seamless handover" here... that's a gsm -> voip handover.. You quite simply can not do this without the carrier being involved. So they're either lying or they use the carrier...

[DefPo3t @ Jun 6th 2008 7:05AM]

I'm starting to hate the fact that when a sip voip app comes out for the iphone none of the *bloggers* even mention the fact that more then likely they are using the touchmods team's siphon app source code (http://code.google.com/p/siphon/) which is based of the (http://pjsip.org/) code. The people reporting these things need to recognize the creators too and not only recognize the who put a *pretty face* on the code or mix it with other apps code (like fring did with the siphone/mobile chat code).
So please if some one blogs about a voip app(that uses sip protocol) give credit to the creators(if not touchmods then pjsip)

[FuzzyCat @ Jun 6th 2008 7:46AM]

Unless they know for sure that they are using either of the 2 codebases you've mentioned they wont say so.

You seem also to be implying that they are the only libs that could have been used. There are a truckload out there, plus the may actually have written their own.

[DefPo3t @ Jun 6th 2008 8:42AM]

after further investigating it does indeed look like they are using there own stack ( with some nice features) and i intended on correcting my self if some one responded so i didnt look like a complete jerk for saying onething then saying some different due to the fact that i was mistaken : )

[FuzzyCat @ Jun 9th 2008 3:08AM]

While I'm pleased that you corrected your error, I would have hoped that you would have done so even if no one had replied to your post. If there is a next time please reply anyway - it shows integrity.

[doudOSX @ Jun 6th 2008 7:36AM]

now i realy want a iphone
that rocks and its so fast

[Mike @ Jun 6th 2008 7:43AM]

This sounds cool and all but I wonder what the effect on battery life will be.

Will you save more battery life just taking the call on the cell network? I figure using the cell and wifi would drain it faster.

But still cool.

[Jamie M @ Jun 6th 2008 7:46AM]

Electricity is cheaper than minutes :-D

[Jason @ Jun 6th 2008 8:12AM]

dude... the point is to not waste your network minutes. For most people who own an iphone and this app you can call as much as you want for free when home, in starbucks, near other peoples home who have wifi and not locked, most university campuses, etc. FREE!!! but yeah it prly would kill the battery a lot faster, but only a fool would even contemplate paying to call to keep their phone charged longer.

[Some Kid @ Jun 6th 2008 8:12AM]

and the iPhone doesnt have horrible battery life by any stretch
does anyone else hear a june 10th release on the 3G?
and can someone tell the guys on CNBC that the 3G iPhone will be thicker, not thinner, than the current iPhone
i was watching Squak and some retard who had no clue what he was talking about said the ne iPhone was gonna be thinner
would be nice, but not true

[harishkapoor @ Jun 6th 2008 8:36AM]

What about Ipod Touch with This application..?
Pls reply..

[larry Friedman @ Jun 6th 2008 8:57AM]

@ harishkapoor

Which microphone are you planning on using?

[Cesar Cardoso @ Jun 6th 2008 9:02AM]

Hm. iPhone version of Hotspot@Home? Or maybe a version of BT Fusion?

[james @ Jun 6th 2008 9:04AM]

how does this work?

do they give you a new phone number, which rings your existing number, but can switch to a voip connection if you ask it too?

[dizilbdog @ Jun 6th 2008 9:15AM]

Are they using Fring for the VOIP application or did they make their own?

[yohoe @ Jun 6th 2008 9:28AM]

This is so Old!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlicensed_Mobile_Access

[peerless @ Jun 6th 2008 2:36PM]

Exactly, why are some folks so caught up in the apple hype?... Others have been there done that. The call quality over Wifi is not that good anyway especially when you factor in how many other folks are utilizing the same Wifi signal.

[Peter @ Jun 6th 2008 6:51PM]

@peerless: Though it's true that UMA is very well established and this article is a yawn, it's not true that the "call quality over Wifi is not that good anyway especially when you factor in how many other folks are utilizing the same Wifi signal." It is the same call quality as a GSM call. Unless your WiFi network is seriously clogged, there are no differences.

The truly interesting thing about this article is that this application is considerably LESS capable than pretty much every UMA phone. Normally UMA-capable phones will automatically switch over to WiFi automatically when it becomes available, and back to GSM automatically if WiFi becomes unavailable, so that iPhone UI asking users to get involved is a bit ridiculous.

[Gautam Desai @ Jun 6th 2008 10:35AM]

That's what T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home does on UMA enabled phones. When you get into an IPSec encrypted open network (or one you have authorized in your phone), it seamlessly switches to the VoIP over WiFi, when you get out of range of WiFi it goes back to the regular network... Works perfectly.

[matt @ Jun 6th 2008 10:44AM]

sorry but maybe i misunderstood something, but since when did it cost money to receive a call? not in the UK it doesn't anyway..

[Laura @ Jun 6th 2008 2:50PM]

as far as I'm aware, some/all networks in the U.S. charge you to receive calls. don't ask me why, strange concept I know.

[Ross @ Jun 6th 2008 10:55AM]

Might be an ooma like setup.

www.ooma.com

[Dom @ Jun 6th 2008 11:00AM]

Yep, I'm using T-Mobile's @ Home service right now on my Curve. Fire up the WiFi and when you're around any unsecured (or secured if you know the PW) that you've told the phone to see, it switches into UMA mode and you're up and making/receiving calls that don't drain any of your minutes. I've been using it for about 3 months now and I'd give it an 8. Occasionally people have some trouble hearing me and sometimes the WiFi to GSM handover doesn't work and you drop the call, but overall, it allows me to use my mobile as my business line - hmm, should make them pay for it!

I even fired it up while in England and it was golden; just like I was calling from Boulder. Theoretically, a carrier can stop this by filtering IP addresses, but T-Mobile (to my knowledge) doesn't.

Now, take that functionality and put it into a 3G iphone and I'll jump. Sure I want 64GB and a 5MP with flash - but I can upgrade if/when Apple gets around to that. Sorry T-Mobile, but gotta say goodbye to best prices and hello to some new sexy (sure...3G is coming to T-Mobile...just keep saying it and one decade it may become reality....)

[shonuf @ Jun 6th 2008 12:05PM]

but will it seamlessly switch from WIFI to GSM?

that is the question