wifitalk.ca

UPDATE FROM SKYPE: “Today, Skype just submitted a new version of its iOS4 build to Apple. In the process we encountered some difficulties. Skype will work quickly to get its current Skype for iPhone app back up as soon as possible.”

Looks like it was just an updating issue.

TechCrunch says that Skype has disappeared from the App Store.

No word yet on if this is a glitch, or if Apple has just removed it.

I can confirm that the Skype App doesn’t appear in the Canadian version of the store either. This leads me to believe that this isn’t just a glitch. UPDATE: Gone from the Japan and Australia stores too.

The Skype website still has an iPhone app page, but clicking on the link just gives you something like this:

Some posts on the Skype forums suggest that iOS 4.0.1 doesn’t work with Skype.

Why might this be? I can think of a couple of reasons (all purely conjecture at this point).

1. It’s a glitch, and it’ll be back up later. (with one app store maybe, but with both Canada AND the US?)
2. Skype is updating the app, and this is a temporary effect from removing the old version before the new one comes up.
3. Maybe AT&T is upset over the loss of long-distance minutes Skype users save on and have gotten Apple to pull the app because it “replicates functionality” of the iPhone.
4. Maybe Apple is upset over Skype getting cozier with Verizon and BlackBerry in their partnerships
5. Maybe Apple is upset that Skype hasn’t updated their app to include iOS4 features yet and are pushing them to release a new version
6. Aliens (it could be anything).

UPDATE 2: Seems some users are getting a pop-up message when logging into skype on their iPhones:

Free Skype trial

You’ve got until at least August 2010
to make and receive free Skype-to-
Skype calls over your mobile
network.

After that, you’ll need a mobile
subscription.

Is the Skype app about to become pay-per-use?

Thoughts? Comments?

Australian researchers have managed to create a mobile VOIP network out of nothing more than a group of wifi-phones. No towers or server needed.

They mainly envision this technology as being useful in the wilderness where no phone towers exist, or in emergency situations where a disaster has destroyed the local phone network. It works by daisy-chaining together a series of wifi-capable devices through an adhoc wifi network. The phones themselves then decide how to route information from one phone to the next without the need to bounce a signal back to a central server for routing.

Range is limited to wifi-distances between nodes, but nodes can be anything – wifi access points or other stationary devices, or mobile phones with wifi capability.

It seems that Skype and Fring are not getting along so well today.

First, Fring made a claim that Skype was blocking Fring and in a subsequent blog post, called Skype cowards.

Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so.

They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards.

Skype has responded, stating that Fring’s mis-use of Skype software was damaging their brand and reputation.

there is no truth to Fring’s claims that Skype has blocked it. Fring made the decision to remove Skype functionality on its own.

The issue revolves around video calling. Fring was very quick to jump on iOS 4′s ability to make video calls, and enabled the feature in their mobile clients, allowing Fring users to video chat with each other on their iPhone 4s. Fring doesn’t provide a VOIP service themselves, but rather they allow connectivity between users on other networks, similar to how trillian, gaim, and adium allow a user to log in to their google talk, msn, AIM, and Yahoo messenger accounts through a single program. One of the networks Fring users can log in to is Skype. Fringsters could talk to their Skype contacts through their Skype account using their Skype number to make and receive VOIP calls.

Now Fring is claiming that Skype is blocking Fring from allowing users to access the Skype network, cutting of Skype functionality in Fring.

However, Skype claims this is untrue and that Fring removed the functionality themselves, furthermore claiming that Fring is mis-using Skype software.

Skype’s client does not offer many of the new iOS4 features that Fring is quick to jump on, namely video calling, background operation, and even push notifications which have been around for a long time. One could argue that Fring’s client allows Skype users to use these features with Skype, which is something that users want. Skype is notoriously slow at adopting new features such as these, and is also slow at their geographical expansion. You still cannot get a Canadian Skype-In number, but there are a host of Canadian VOIP services offering phone numbers for example.

Skype says this is because they want to maintain a high level of quality with their service and client, preferring to leave a feature out as opposed to implementing it at any level below polished. This is similar to how Apple operates (the iPhone was able to handle backgrounding applications via jailbreak, but it did slow things down, so Apple waited until only recently to allow this functionality as it didn’t live up to their usage level requirements).

The problem with this view is that Skype should realize that its users are people who want to try out new features – you wouldn’t be using mobile VOIP if you weren’t. Why go through the trouble of setting up a Skype account, paying for extra phone service, and jailbreaking your phone so you can get Skype running in the background if all you wanted was simple voice calling which your iPhone already provides? It’s because you are willing to go through some effort and hassle to get some cheap long distance. If you were relatively techno-illiterate, you’d be willing to pay the slightly higher long distance rates through your voice plan in order to avoid the extra steps. These are not Skype users. Skype users want features and are willing to put up with some issues to get them. That’s why people use Fring.

The sooner Skype realizes this and at least releases a second version of their app (call it the beta or testing version) – in parallel to their stable client – that enables these features, the better for them.

I’m a bit late on this one, but thought I would post it for completeness.

The Boy Genius Report posted a story on a desktop app for Google Voice, and TechCrunch posted a video of it in operation. Branded as Gizmo5 by Google, the application ran on OSX, and allowed full Google Voice functionality, even appearing as a handset in the Google Voice control panel online.

While this is not so much a mobile app, it does show some integration of Gizmo5, the VOIP company that Google bought last year.

Apparently Google doesn’t want to develop many standalone apps, instead preferring web or “cloud” applications, so there’s no word if this program will make it out for us regular users to use.

Something I have suspected since the iPad 3G’s launch but have not been able to confirm has now been verified by another blog: You can activate an iPad 3G SIM card on a $15/mo plan, then put that SIM into an iPhone and run it on a data-only plan. No more $40 restrictive voice plans!

With VOIP apps such as Skype working over 3G in the US now, this means you can get essentially unlimited calling on your data-only iPhone for roughly $20 USD a month, which includes a $4 unlimited skype calling account and phone number.

And with the upgrade to iOS 4.0 and background running apps, your VOIP apps can be left to run in the background without having to jailbreak. This means you can answer calls when you get them as the app will be running and able to receive the call.

It’s apparently a fairly easy (although not trivial) process. Just activate the iPad SIM (in an iPad 3G), put it in a microSIM -> SIM adapter, pop it into your iPhone, and change your iPhone’s APN settings.

What’s really nice is if you don’t have an iPad 3G, you can get just the SIM from AT&T for $15. Here in Canada, you can get one from Bell for $5, Telus for $10, and Rogers as well. I don’t know how much Rogers sells them for because their website isn’t very clear about it, but they do sell regular SIMs for $10, in case that is any indication.

If you are in the US, then you should also check out another story on the os-x files blog, namely relating to the use of google voice and skype to get virtually unlimited VOIP phone service for about $6 a month. Combine that with a 250MB data-only iPhone plan, and you can browse and talk for a little over $20 a month.

THIS is what wifitalk.ca is about. Data-only smartphone plans for a reasonable rate, with VOIP calling for voice. It’s not quite native in the US, and because Skype and Google Voice don’t yet offer phone numbers in Canada, it’s even farther away here, but this is the goal.

Credit to Kaido of the os-x files blog for the guide.

The CBC is reporting that one of Canada’s new mobile phone companies has just secured financing from China.

In addition to raising money from shareholders, Public Mobile has secured debt financing to the tune of $350 million from the Export-Import Bank of China, and as part of the deal, is choosing China-based ZTE and it’s Canadian counterpart, ZTE Canada for its network hardware and services provider.

While Public Mobile gets a network out of the deal, ZTE makes a bold step into the Canadian wireless market, as this will be their first national wireless project in Canada.

It seems as though the Canadian market is opening up some and the foreign control regulations over wireless carriers are indeed being relaxed, at least in terms of debt financing. Wind Mobile/Globalive is backed by Egyptian Orascom with a lot of debt financing, and now Public Mobile is coming with Chinese-owned debt.

Good news! No more invites needed!

According to the google voice blog, you can head on over to the google voice site to sign up for the service – no more waiting for invites to come, or hunting around for them on the internet.

It’s still only open to those in the US, so check out the Howto: Google Voice in Canada post to see how to get access to the service from outside the US. This process should also work for other countries, and isn’t restricted to just working in Canada.

A little over a year ago, we released an early preview of Google Voice, our web-based platform for managing your communications. We introduced one number to ring all your phones, voicemail that works like email, free calls and text messages to the U.S. and Canada, low-priced international calls and more—the only catch was you had to request and receive an invite to try it out. Today, after lots of testing and tweaking, we’re excited to open up Google Voice to the public, no invitation required.

Wind Mobile has come to Vancouver, and while I was down at the event to take some pictures and talk to customers, I also had the chance to talk to some people from Wind, to ask them about their future plans for services and phones.

I got to speak with Will Novosedlik, VP – Brand & Communications, and Scott Campbell, Chief Marketing Officer. I was mostly interested in the future expansion of the Wind “Home” zones, future network upgrades, and phone offerings.

Phones:

“We are not in the device business, we are in the service business, so there isn’t much we can do.”

That’s the gist of it folks. Wind would love to offer the iPhone, the newest HTC EVO/Incredible, and every BlackBerry phone in existence, but they have no control over the manufacturers building AWS-capable versions of their handsets. Wind (as well as Mobilicity and T-Mobile in the US) operate on the 3G-AWS band, which is slightly different from the standard 3G band that the other North American carriers use. This means that your iPhone 3GS will not work on the Wind network at 3G speeds, even if you unlock it and use a Wind SIM. You can presumably get voice and text, and data speeds will likely be limited to EDGE (think dial-up speeds).

RIM has apparently been great to Wind, and the two companies are working together quite well on ensuring that BlackBerry phones are 3G-AWS capable. Wind and RIM are going to be holding a series of promotions in the near future at sporting events and festivals, so watch out for those. Expect a solid offering of BlackBerrys in the future.

HTC has one phone on the Wind network – the HTC Maple. No word on any progress towards getting some of the new HTC superphones working, although it does seem that HTC is willing to make special versions of its phones for carriers. The EVO 4G is a WiMax-4G capable phone on Sprint’s network. Sprint is currently the only carrier in North America to use WiMax for 4G, and it looks like all the other carriers have plans to go with WiMax’s alternative technology, LTE. That HTC would make a WiMax version of their latest and greatest phone bodes well for the 3G-AWS carriers.

As for the iPhone – it’s anyone’s guess. Personally I don’t expect the next generation iPhone to come in an AWS version but that is pure speculation and could be completely wrong.

Of course the manufacturers need to be sure that they will sell enough of the AWS phones in order to justify making a different version. For many of them, there just isn’t enough demand right now. T-Mobile, Wind, and Mobilicity are the only AWS carriers in North America right now and all are relatively small players. Until they gain enough subscribers to get the manufacturers’ attention, the AWS handset market will remain fairly small.

That being said, Wind has a good relationship with T-Mobile, and are working together to build demand for AWS phones from the manufacturers. Apparently, they all have AWS handsets on their roadmap, so the phones are coming, it’s just a question now of when.

Android:

Pretty much the same as above. Android will become more available as manufacturers make AWS-capable Android phones.

LTE/4G:

Wind is able to upgrade to LTE along with the other carriers when they need to. There is no point in doing so now because there aren’t any LTE compatible phones out yet and it will be a while before they become widespread. If you’re looking to the future, Wind claims to be ready to upgrade with everyone else when the time is right.

Home Zone Expansion:

Wind is expanding its “Home” zones in all cities pretty much constantly. The Vancouver suburbs will largely be covered by the end of 2010, and the expansion will happen gradually and continually. Expect the same in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Ottawa. I couldn’t get any more detail than that because even Wind doesn’t know exactly how fast the process will be.

When building out their network, Wind has to locate potential tower sites, contact the land owners, set up a lease agreement for the land to put up a tower, construct the tower, connect it to the existing network, test the system, and then go live. While they likely have the construction/connection/testing procedure down pat, the uncertainty and delays of locating and negotiating leasing agreements with individual landlords means they can’t give a solid timeline.

Summary:

There you have it. The phones will come when the manufacturers make them. The manufacturers will make them when there’s enough demand. Generating demand means growing the AWS carriers in numbers of subscribers. It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, but that’s how it goes.

Network expansion is progressing quickly and continually so all anyone can say is: be patient.

Any other questions, feel free to contact me and I’ll do what I can to answer.

I made it down to the Wind Mobile launch day in Vancouver and spent some time talking with people in line waiting to get in the store, and also with some people from Wind. I managed to get quite a few questions answered.

I showed up a little after the early birds as I wanted to get a sense of what it was like for someone trying to get a Wind phone on launch day. As expected, there were quite a few people milling about, consumers and media alike, and some were enjoying the $1 hot dogs.

And Globalive chairman Tony Lacavera was out talking to media and potential customers all day too.

I stood in line and chatted with people all morning about phones, plans, carriers, and other things. The general feeling I got from people was that the phone selection with Wind wasn’t great, the “Home” zones were a little smaller than they would have liked, but the plans were simple and cheap.

Now, there are a few types of cellular customers. If you are a techy-gizmo type of person who needs the latest and greatest hardware, Wind probably isn’t for you. If you are more concerned about using the phone to talk and text, Wind looks like a good option. If you live way out in the suburbs or travel there often, Wind isn’t too great for you right now. If you’re an urbanite, Wind becomes an attractive option to consider. The people in line seemed to be in agreement about these points, and they also seemed quite knowledgeable about phones and carrier bands and roaming charges.

One guy I spoke to lives in Surrey and was getting a Wind SIM card for his BlackBerry Bold just to test things out (that’s the great thing about no contracts… you can test the service out and cancel anytime if you’re not happy). He was disappointed with the lack of coverage in Surrey and the somewhat cryptic “coming later in 2010″ note attached thereto, but still picked up his SIM card anyways.

If you’re in Vancouver (less UBC), North Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, or New Westminster, you’re covered by a Wind “Home” zone and are good to go. If you live in Delta, Surrey, Coquitlam, UBC, or beyond, well, Wind isn’t quite ideal just yet. Although I did hear rumours that some Wind customers visiting from Toronto were seeing Surrey as a “Home” zone last week, the official line is that it is an “Away” zone and you will be paying roaming charges. As to the progress of the expansion of the coverage area, all I can say is that it will be moving outwards consistently throughout the rest of the year, with the goal of the full advertised coverage being achieved at the end of this year. The rate at which that happens is unknown right now, and a lot depends on how quickly the process of negotiating with landlords for land to put up a tower goes, followed by tower erection, connection to the rest of the Wind network, and network testing.

After talking for a while outside, I made my way inside and got a few shots of the store. At that point a media rep saw me with my notepad out and quickly came over to take some questions and pass me along to the appropriate individuals. Be sure to check out the interview post for some more information.

[View with PicLens]

Wind mobile has just announced their Vancouver launch day: June 3rd. This will mean 5 cities in 5 months for the startup, and they’re offering 50% discounts off your first 6 months of service if you sign up by June 30th.

I’ll hopefully have a chance to get down to the store and check it out and maybe ask some questions.