Right now I’m feeling especially good about technology innovation.
After experiencing the AT&T’s tyranny and crappy service, I’m ditching my contract and setting up an array of services and devices to do what I need, with no contracts and at half the price. I signed up for a Boingo wireless for my iPhone, getting lifetime Peek, and exploring Skype, SipDroid, and Google Voice. Right now I pay approximately $85 a month for AT&T service only to get a lot of dropped calls and a rigid contract. I’m estimating that all said and done I’ll be paying about $45 a month (over 2 years), factoring in the ATT contract cancellation fee and the cost of the Peek device. (This all follows a move from Time Warner Cable to Netflix streaming with a Roku box).
These are significant changes, not simply because of the savings, but because it’s even possible. It’s an exciting and palpable reminder that tech startups can effectively compete with massive companies.
So,
What did you choose for your voice calls in/out? a gvoice number? I’m thinking of ditching ATT maybe… going with TMOB & boingo. buuut – then again that is like 75 a month instead of 85… so :-/
I’m using Google Voice to forward to a Skype number. I have wireless at home/school, and Boingo for on the go calls. Skype doesn’t support incoming SMS, but google voice intercepts them so its fine.
The biggest pain will be letting people know my new GV number. I’m investigating numbergarage to park my old number and forward calls to google voice. All in all, still less that ATT.