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Line2 App Turns Your iPod into a Phone -- with Unlimited Calls and Texts
For $9.95 a month, Line2 provides unlimited calls and texts for iPhone, iPod and iPad users -- and even lets you text on airplanes.
Posted 10/ 26 10 at 5:00 PM | Business Trends, Technology, Business Travel, International Business, Online Business, Business Products & Services, Consumer Products & Services, Media, Software, Telecommunications, Inventions & Innovations
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Toktumi (say it fast -- "talk to me") is an aptly named company. While it offers hosted PBX calling systems for businesses, it has made a bigger splash with the Line2 iOS application for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Line2 is a dual-mode calling application that uses either Wi-Fi or cellular networks -- which gives iPhone users a second line, transforms the iPod Touch and iPad into calling devices and provides unlimited calls and texts in the United States and Canada. And people are certainly taking advantage of the new all-you-can-text function, with Line2 users sending more than 1 million messages in the first four days after the updated app launched.Since Line2 can be powered by Wi-Fi, you might be wondering where airplanes come into the equation. Planes have long been forbidden territory for cell phones. There is some question about potential interference with aircraft navigation systems, but that hasn't really been proven. The real issue may be that travelers don't want to be strapped in next to a person loudly sharing personal details with Aunt Bertha on a four-hour flight.
You may not be able to exercise your cell phone in the air, but a number of airlines now offer paid Wi-Fi on flights. Knowing that Line2 works for calling over Wi-Fi means users could theoretically yap away through the entire flight. Airlines have put in place technology that blocks voice calls, but workarounds are constantly popping up. For those with more restraint and sense, the app's new text messaging feature is a much more polite way to stay in touch with the office, colleagues, friends and family while zooming along at 35,000 feet. The interface is clean and simple. Texting is unlimited in the United States and Canada and costs 10 cents per text for international messages.
The new texting feature is all fine and dandy, but the real business proposition here involves saving money. Line2 includes unlimited calling in the United States and Canada for $9.95 per month. If you can route a chunk of your calls over Wi-Fi, then you can go with a lower priced calling package. It also brings calling and SMS capability to the iPod Touch and iPad, so you can act like you have an iPhone whenever a wireless network is handy.
Line2 makes sense for business users who are often hanging around Wi-Fi hotspots at the office or on the road. There are other text messaging apps and VoIP apps for iOS, but none of them have the smoothly combined feature set of Line2. With text messaging added to the equation, it makes the 30-day free trial worth checking out. Business users who want to get into a more robust calling system can upgrade to Toktumi's $14.95 per month deal that includes an auto attendant, custom greetings, visual voicemail and other PBX features.
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Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Great app1ication... Truphone has been doing this for much longer on the I-Touch, etc. The claim to be first is misleading.
The cheapest Virgin plan I found was $20 per mo & 20 cents per minute. What am I missing?
idk but i have a virgin mobile phone and i use the $25 plan which gives u, unlimited web, unlimited text, unlimited web, unlimited email, unlimited data, and 300 minutes a month
I dropped landline over 6 months ago and use StraightTalk, get unlimited calling, text and web for $45 a month. Cheapest, most convenient Pay As You Go I've seen...I get mine at Walmart. I've had Virgin as well...no difference in service, IMHO, just price.
can you text with truphone?
the best combination for having your cake and eating it, too...
Virgin Mobile $10 a month and $0.10 a minute cheapest plan. get voice only and disable texts.
PLUS
Skype outgoing phone for $30 per YEAR. skype allows unlimited outgoing calls thru your PC for that price. Okay -- let's figure this out...
$120 a year for Virgin Mobile rock-bottom cheapest plan (and phone clarity is best of any service you'll use) and $30 a year for skype.
you get unlimited conversations for $150 a year.
what's the catch? no catch -- it's being smart in how you use it. it's a system. you don't use the cell as a phone, 90% of the time. you use it as a pager. you call your incoming number back on skype. this also lets you root out calls you don't want or don't recognize caller IDs from.
it's better than a pager, tho -- cos if you need it as an emergency cell, you've got it. you can call out or accept calls, but remember you'll pay $0.10 a minute. if you use this system judiciously you would never pay more than $200 a year tops for all the phone talk you can eat.
as for texting, for heaven sake download yahoo messenger. best text vehicle out there. you can also text from yahoo messenger to cells for FREE.
So that would mean I would have to take my PC or laptop with me every where and when a call comes in that I want to call back I just whip out my PC or laptop and go to it .Hummm nice to save money but dont really want my gym time tied to my phone calls or texting
I still have my cordless landline, and pay such a small amount, I have never even considered getting rid of it. My fingers are too big for those small things, not to mention not good for my eyesight.
So.....get an education or work hard and you'll earn a good living. Sounds like your just plain lazy to me.
well some of us are on a limted income and cant afford all these high tech things im lucky to have a computer my sister got me and i just now got a cell pay as you go people really need to make things affordable for people
get a life and quit advertizing !
If you would like a new cell phone for FREE up front with no rebate involved, I have found the place where you can get it. The company offers service from all of the major wireless providers and also ships phones that are ordered out FedEx next day air for FREE. Stop paying too much in the stores and get the best deal you will find at (CELLULARPLUSSALES.com) and you will find the BEST deals around.
The real solution is to not charge people at all for supposed airtime. The other is to charge only for actual time used ie, charge 10 seconda as ten secounds not one minute and yes with todays technology it can be done.
Kind sounds like your just not really that tech savy really. Im 35 and a landline is a must and Im far from having a ton of money to spend but I only pay $20 a month for my landline unlimited and free long distance. i also have a majic jack for a second land or voip line which i can take with me and my laptop. i also have a cell phone which is flat $50 a month unlimited talk text and data which i can use to tether to my laptop at 4G speeds meaning I have mobile internet with speeds of 3MB to 10MB which is similar to cable connections. If I have an important phone call for my landline I can press 3 keys and forward that line to my cell so I dont have to sit at home waiting. I am on the do not call list and unknown or blocked numbers are not allowed to my house so no sales or pranks. So each issue you mention with a landline is not really true or a factor if you use th basic tech knowledge out there so for what $71.50 a month i have 3 phone lines 1 being a cell one at home one a moble voip number, and I also have with my cell mobile high speed internet. Not so bad
Please tell me how you are doing this???
Please tell me sekinu2 how you manage to do that. thanks
Yes sekinu2, Please tell us the details of your set-up. Many of us still have landlines, but also want cheap broadband and mobile. Or email me directly below. Thanks.
K.L. Chia
Every new technology is always met with resistance by the older crowd. Change is difficult to accept, and it's hard to break out of "old habits," especially when those habits "work just fine." The horse worked just fine, the car works better. The train worked "just fine," the airplane works better (you can be anywhere in the world within 24 hours from reading this if you need to). TV was just a fad, computers were expensive toys, email will never replace the postal service (I haven't gotten a "friendly letter" in the snail-mail in over a decade now) blah blah blah... we've heard it all. I stopped getting ripped off by my local phone company years ago and have been free of a land line for years. I don't miss telemarketers, I don't miss prank calls, I don't miss having my number listed, I don't miss being chained to my house waiting for an important call, and I sure don't miss the extra taxes and hidden fees that the phone company always charged. Land lines are a based on technology that's over 100 years old. The big thing coming in the next 10 years will be the decreasing cost of this technology and the increased reliability of high-speed internet in everyone's home.
Will the cost of high speed internet ever go down? A lot of those land line people offer high speed internet cheaper that cable but not as good. High speed prices are way to high.
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For those of you who think this some get rich scam, Its not. I own my own buisness and this plan B on its way to plan A.