Turn An iPod Touch Into An iPhone

The truphone blog is carrying a story originating at cnet about British mobile network 3′s offer of a free 8 GB iPod touch, and a mobile 3g wireless hotspot with 5GB of data for £24 ($42 CAD) a month on a 2 year contract.

This is an interesting option because it allows the use of VOIP apps such as skype, truphone, fring, etc to use the 3G network without any workarounds or jailbreaking as the 3G hotspot creates a wifi network which the iPod connects to. As far as the iPod is concerned, it is connecting via wifi, and it doesn’t know that this wifi signal is then flipped over to the 3G network on the other side of the device. This is also the first instance of a mobile company actually marketing the iPod touch as a phone for use with 3G.

The device is the Novatel Mifi, the same device offered in the US with Sprint and Verizon, and here in Canada now with the Bell and Telus HSPA+ networks. A wifitalk.ca summary of these options is in the works so stay tuned.