VoIP, also known as Voice Over Internet Protocol, is becoming a great tool in the cell phone industry. According to Webster’s, VoIP is “the technology used to transmit voice conversations over a data network using the Internet Protocol. Such data network may be the Internet or a corporate Intranet.” While long distance originally was a nightmare that haunted us in our sleep, it is finally becoming easier to manage. Luckily, with VoIP sweeping the market, long distance is soon to become more reasonable and convenient.

Consumers love the idea of using VoIP with cell phones because they have the ability to talk affordably, yet still go anywhere they’d like with it. For VoIP through regular phones and computers, the convenience is not there. Staying “plugged in” limits the user, therefore making it frustrating when trying to do other things at the same time. For this reason, cell phones which use voice over internet protocol are going to make many people happy. Recently, many cell phone companies have jumped on the VoIP bandwagon. As a result of this new phenomenon, companies are now offering packages which include this.

Before you change to a service which offers VoIP, you need to calculate if it’s worth using. Most cell phone companies will charge you an extra free, thus if you are not using up your minutes and do not frequently travel, it may not be worth purchasing. Also, if your computer tends to have a lot of internet downtime, you may experience worse connections than your original cell phone service. This could mean your service is minimal and your call could be frequently lost. Thus, the last thing you want to do is cause more strife and have to pay more for it. However, if you do use your minutes and travel, this is a great service for you. You will not only save more money in the long run, but you will end up being more satisfied with such a service.

If you are an interested cell phone user and want to switch over, you should unlock your current cell phone. This will allow you to change services, but still keep the cell phone that you are using. By downloading cell phone unlock codes; you are able to switch services without any of the hassle. Fortunately, this type of procedure is legal and although most companies want you believe that this isn’t possible, cell phone unlock is one of the best features on a cell phone! Nevertheless, even if you decide to wait on a VoIP plan, VoIP will soon be making large splashes in the cell phone industry. Luckily, everyone will be able to experience this phenomenon one day.

Natalie Aranda writes on computer and communications. VoIP, also known as Voice Over Internet Protocol, is becoming a great tool in the cell phone industry. By downloading cell phone unlock codes; you are able to switch services without any of the hassle. Fortunately, this type of procedure is legal and although most companies want you believe that this isn’t possible, cell phone unlock is one of the best features on a cell phone! Nevertheless, even if you decide to wait on a VoIP plan, VoIP will soon be making large splashes in the cell phone industry.

VoIP FAQ:

Question: What are the differences between cell phone service and VOIP?
Specifically, when I hit a number in an email on my iPhone, how does that connect me? Is this some sort of VOIP-cell marriage or does the number just get somehow recognized as a number and get dialed through my regular cell service?

Answer: VoIP is Voice over IP, which basically means that the calls run over the Internet. Most times to use VoIP you have to be plugged into the Internet or use a wifi enabled VoIP phone, like the Cisco WIP310.

Cell phones use a variety of technologies. However, most today run on a 2g or 3g network, which is different than VoIP. Basically these networks run off technologies such as GSM or CDMA which are broadcast from towers. It does not run the same as a regular cell, you have to be in a certain range of a wireless router.

Question: Cell phone with wireless voip phone capability?
can anyone recommend a cell phone that allows to use also as a yahoo voice or skype phone when in range of a wi fi. preferably tri band gsm and or 3g. I am on Sprint GPS and also T-Mobile. I mainly use yahoo voice on my lap top with headset. Would be great if I could use one phone for cell and voip calls.

Answer: Cordia VOIP Magellan plan enable callers to dial the Magellan number that they provided to you and reach you on the landline or mobile phone wherever you are in the world with their local rates.

Cordia VoIP or broadband phone service can help save customers up to 65 percent of their monthly phone bill. In addition, Cordia offers more than 25 international calling plans along with the ability to choose international phone numbers from more than 300 cities in more than 40 countries.

Question: Is there any such thing as successfully sending a text message to a VOIP home phone (not a cell phone)?
I know someone who has a VOIP home phone service and would like to get certain text messages sent to them there and get them via email as opposed to their cell phone. Has anyone ever heard of this idea or if it could be done?

Answer: Yes, it is called “Text to Land line” (regardless if the number you are trying to push the text to is VOIP it will still work.) I know Sprint does it, so do others.

Question: Voip vs. land phones, how about cell phones?
A couple of years ago, I worked for a Voip company as a Tech Support. People were saying that in the very near future, all will be going to Voip mode/ style. This is because 1) much bugs about Voip will be worked out, and 2) this is much cheaper in making phone calls. Are we there yet, or has cell phones taken over?

Answer: Cell phones are gaining acceptance as the ONLY phone for some people. Wireless companies are producing more innovative pricing plans that eliminate or reduce the penalty for yakking for hours on your phone. Having said that, VOIP is gaining ground as well. VOIP is offered by newer providers like Vonage, but AT&T also has a VOIP product that works quite well and is cheaper than traditional phone service. (CallVantage). VOIP as an enterprise communications vehicle in large and small companies is getting pretty attractive. Consider that when you pay for a phone line, you are paying for a 7×24.365 facility that just sits there until someone calls you or you decide to call out for a pizza or something. With VOIP, you get ‘convergence’ which, in part, means that by combining services on a single circuit, you get better use out of that circuit, so you waste less money. And the days of chronic drop-outs, mangled speech, and dropped calls aren’t over, but the end is in sight, if you use a quality provider.

Question: Is a call from my voip phone to a cell phone (same area code) out of state considered long distance?
My husband will be out of state with his cell phone that has the same area code. I have Voicepulse if that matters.

Answer: With VoIP, across the street or across the country… it’s all the same. You should be able to use your free 200 minutes for your calls. From then on, it just depends on their standard per/minute rates. Again, per/minute rates usually don’t care if across the street or across the nation… it’s usuall the same….. at least with the VoIP services I use.

Question: If I use a voip service on my cell phone like justvoip, do I get charged my regular cell minutes?
My Nokia E71 has voip hardware installed and I thought that any voip calls would be made through my cell phone’s wireless connection thereby not costing me minutes on my phones talk plan. Is there any way of getting around getting charged daytime minutes for VOIP calls?

Answer: I know that Rogers have previously said that they do charge you your daytime cell minutes for VOIP calls.

Question: What is VOIP pertaining to cell phones?

Answer: VOIP does not pertain to cell phones. VOIP (Voice over IP) is an internet based phone.

Question: Having problems with receiving text messages on my cell phone when they’re sent from a Voip account?
Can anybody help me out please? My bf who lives in the UK used to text me on my cell phone (I live in Turkey) using his voip account; I recently got a new cell number (same provider) and since then his texts sent via voip cannot reach me anymore.

Answer: If your phone doesn’t support Voice-over IP, it can’t send or receive any file of that type. I recommend that he sends it in a different format.

Many of us want a lot of freedom in the way we use our mobile service. We do not want to get tied to a single service provider. The reason is that you then become dependent on the service provider and have to put up with inconsistent service, increase in rates and many other things that you cannot control beyond a point and this can be very irritating for you.

Buying a sim free iPhone or an unlock sim card phone is the best solution that you can avail of as through this you can get liberated from being tied to a service provider. This phone can be used on the network that you prefer giving you a lot of flexibility. The other reason in going for such phones is the fact that in trying to unlock it using conventional software, you may end up damaging the phone and render it useless. The sim free iPhone ensures that there is no chance of the software crashing.

In a manner of speaking, it is not a sim free iPhone but just a clever use of another card that behaves like a sim but can be removed at any time and used as per convenience.

There are other advantages as under:

a) This will keep the phone unlocked even when the software is updated from time to time.

b) You can use this phone anywhere globally and connect to any network.

c) The unlock facility is a very convenient one as it is similar to the sim card and is positioned such that the sim connectors and the usual sim card do not get affected and cannot affect this card. It is simply a trick to deceive the phone to believe that you are making use of a card to use the phone on a particular network exclusively.

d) As mentioned above, you are at liberty to remove the card and use it whenever you like, giving you the flexibility to make use of your phone at any place and at any time without being bound to a particular network.

e) You can fit any sim card along with the unlock sim card as it is compatible with every card and the fitting is also not inconvenient.

There are thus many advantages in this system and you can opt for this as opposed to unlocking your phone each time through the cumbersome software method. This system really gives you the flexibility and freedom that you always wanted and also keep your iPhone safe from any damage with the original warranty still valid.

Any updates that the company launches is also easily updated without any problems and you do not miss out on any of the regular services.

Sim free iPhone and free iPhones are available only at Simplyfreeiphone.co.uk

Sim Free iPhone FAQ:

Question: Will a 100% factory sim free iphone lock up if jailbroken and the firmware updated through itunes?
Or will it just update to the new iphone version and remove the jailbreak? Thinking about buying an 100% SIM free iphone and need to know the answer to this.

Answer: Not sure what would happen but I can point you to a forum where you will get an answer: forums.macrumors.com. This is a very good website with lots of info & discussions on rumours which isn’t allowed on Apples own boards!

Question: Tell me the website for downloading sim for free iphone software?

Answer: Aimersoft products are good and it’s has free shockwave versions … You can freely download and install on your computer the result video will be added a watermark after the installation without any cost or obligation. If you want to remove the watermark, please buy a Full version. The Full version will remove all the limitations and entitle you free technical support. This Aimersoft product also have many softwares related to iphone software such as Aimersoft Video Converter for BlackBerry, Aimersoft Video to DVD Converter, Aimersoft Video Splitter

Question: I have been thinking about getting a iphone and unlocking it using iphone-sim-free aplication to use t-mobile.
The problem is the new ipod touch is coming out and it will have internet on it for free. I have a very cheap plan with t-mobile. If I use the iphone with my t-mobile sim card will I get charged for using internet and youtube?

Answer: The only thing that doesn’t work on the unlocked iPhones is the visual voice mail.

Any of the other features would cost if you were using the cellular network and not wifi. If you were using the wifi it would be free just like the touch. When it switch over to the cellular part if you didn’t have any kind of data plan with t-mobile it would be charged out on a per-use basis.

Question: Where can I buy a brand new (sim free) iphone and for how much?
I’m trying to get this for a friend who lives in Turkey where they are almost impossible to get and extremely expensive.

Answer: I would try looking at ecost.com, geeks.com or tigerdirect.com. You can find unlocked phones with no contract. Just slide your SIM card in and go. You can also try places like Digital Deals, Ebay, Best Bid Auctions.

Question: Can you use a sim free iphone on vodafone? Where can you get one?

Answer: As you said its sim free so you can stick any sim card in you want. But you won’t get the same services as you get on Iphone as am guessing you have a doggy phone (the phone has been illegally unlocked in uk as iphone is only available from one uk provider). You only get what you pay for ..so just be aware a lot of the functions will not work.

Question: Where is the cheapest place to order a Iphone (sim free)?
Anyone know a good website. Not going to pay over 350.

Answer: For a real one, not a clone, eBay is the best.

Question: If I buy a SIM free iPhone off ebay, and I have AT&T, can I just stick the SIM in?

Answer: If your buying an iPhone that doesn’t have a sim you will need to purchase a new sim card and activate the phone thru iTunes. You will still need to agree to a new 2 year contract and choose a data plan. Your current sim will not work with the phone, it needs a new sim and to be activated thru iTunes.

Question: Iphone unlock failed? I used Iphone Sim-free and it said that the unlock was successful.
However it is saying that I have “no service” when I know that my sim is working on my other phone.

Answer: If you’re on a brand new iPhone then you are most likely running the new bootloader which cannot be hacked at this time. It is being worked on, but you will have to wait. Check the back of your phone and if the 4th and 5th digits of the serial number are great than 44 then you are stuck with using the phone as an expensive iPod Touch until a proper hack has been released. You will hear people talking about TurboSim or StealthSim, but neither of these two methods are legitimate hacks since they only fool the phone into believing you are running on an AT&T sim. If you would prefer to try one of them you can, but paying an additional $100 for one is pointless since you will also have to do some cutting up of your sim.

There are such features in selected mobile, where you can use two SIM cards instead of one. All you need to do is to buy a cover accommodating two SIM cards. This gives you the advantage of holding pay-as-you-go and a pre-paid SIM cards, for example. This may be useful for your office and personal use. In normal circumstances, you can remove your SIM card from your present handset and carry with you and choose to use it with the line of GSM phones available. If you misplace your SIM card, you will be required to inform your service provider immediately to that effect, and follow the instructions given. You may be liable to pay charges for issuance of a duplicate SIM card.

When you buy a GSM phone, it comes in an unlocked state and it can work with any SIM card from any service provider, provided you are using it for GSM bands. It is a matter of slipping-in that SIM card in your phone, activating it and start using it. But, when you enter into a service contract with a service provider, which stipulates that you should be with this particular service for a definite period of time, a mobile handset is usually offered free with the SIM card, where the handset is given to you in a locked state. This would mean that the phone will not work with any other SIM card than the one given to you. You will need to stay with your service provider till the end of the term and after that the service provider may help you to unlock your phone. There are ofcourse ways to unlock a locked handset, which becomes a violation of the contract that you have signed with your service provider. A locked phone features a SIM lock in reality. In such a handset, you will not be able to use any other SIM card other than the one which has come along with your handset. That is the reason why it is sometimes termed as a SIM locked phone.

Any SIM card may be used with an unlocked GSM phone. For a pre-paid SIM card, you do not need to enter into any contracts and more-over there would not be any bills to pay at the end of the month. For instance, if you are traveling abroad and wish to visit a few countries in your trip, you can buy an International SIM card, for the benefit of saving up-to 80% of your cost in calls. This card will give you the facility of free incoming calls, no matter where it generates from, and outgoing calls at local rates. When you make calls to your home, you do not pay the roaming charges, as you would do if you had carried your regular mobile with you. But in this instance, you have to make sure that you have a quad band GSM mobile phone, in order that you may use the handset effectively when you are abroad. If not, you will need to rent one unlocked quad band GSM phone. To know more about the matter, visit http://www.planetomni.com/RENT_INFO.shtml For SIM cards visit http://www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml

Since unlocking a locked phone under contract is not taken to be legal, it is always preferable to buy an unlocked phone from the market and you will have the choice to get your SIM card from the service provider who gives you the best deal. Also, this avoids your expenses that you would incur in getting locked phone and trying to have it unlocked from such vendors offering to do the job for you. There is a pitfall here too in buying an unlocked handset. You should be able to distinguish between a carrier unlocked phone and a factory unlocked one. The main draw-backs of carrier locked phones are -

? Use of pirated software to unlock a locked phone.

? In such phones, you may observe that even if you try to connect with a correct IP address, to your provider’s WAP or GPRS services, the phone may not allow the setting, may not comply with your request or automatically will try to connect to another service provider.

Therefore, it is always a good choice to buy factory unlocked mobile handsets from known vendors. For more details visit http://www.planetomni.com/

When you buy a prepaid SIM card for your unlocked GSM phone, there are a few things that you should remember:

Barring some of the countries, unlocking a locked phone, when under the contract terms, is seen to be a breach of contract. But in countries like Poland, the law says that the service providers are not allowed to word their contracts with the customers, which forbids them to remove the SIM locks in their handsets.

For more details on how to use SIM cards in an unlocked mobile phone, visit www.planetomni.com

Cell phone use overseas. In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You’ll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 or the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984

Sim Card FAQ:

Question: Does a cell phone have to have a sim card in order to work?
I want the boost mobile Motorola I465 Clutch phone. It doesn’t come with a sim card. Do I have to have a sim card in order for the phone to work? I can’t find any info about it on the web.

Answer: Boost is not a GSM network and Boost phones do not have sim cards.

Question: Will a different SIM card change a cell phone to a different carrier?
I have a Motorola Tracfone. Will a SIM card from a different carrier ‘unlock’ this phone and allow it to attach to a new servicer?

Answer: NO, it will not unlock the phone, but if the phone is already unlocked that will work.

Question: About to bring Iphone in to get new sim card. Should I the hide jailbrake?
My sim card went bad got to get a replacement sim card.

Answer: You don’t even need to take the phone in. Just walk into the store get the sim card and walk out. Oh yeah, don’t forget to pay for it, unless they’re giving it to you.

Question: Can I switch my sim card from at&t to an iphone without extra charges?
I have an unlimited data and texting plan on at&t network on my LG xenon. I want to buy a used iphone from ebay, but I was wondering if I could just put my sim card into it and still have the same plan without any extra charges?

Answer: You would have to change your plan to an IPhone data plan which is $30. Be careful when buying “IPhone’s” on ebay. There have been several customers come in and say that they bought an “IPhone” and they send them a fake.

Question: Can I buy a unlocked sprint phone and put in a t-mobile sim card?
I would like to buy my daughter a phone for her birthday. She would like to have the samsung exclaim but I would like to keep her under our family plan. She has mentioned buying an unlocked phone. Is it possible for us to purchase a unlocked Samsung Exclaim and put in a t-mobile sim card?

Answer: No. Sprint phones cannot be unlocked. Only GSM phones can be unlocked and Sprint is not a GSM network. You will have to get a T-Mobile phone or an unlocked GSM phone.

Question: Where are pictures stored in cell phone or the sim card?
I have a Motorola V300 cell phone. I am going to change my SIM card and phone number. I have some pictures in my phone. I don’t know where they are stored, in SIM card or phone memory. If I cahnge my SIM card do I loose my pics or will they still stay in the phone?

Answer: Pictures are stored in the phone. The sim card stores contacts and your phone number. If you want to save those pics, buy a memory card or send them to your email address.

Question: How do you unlock a sim card?
I have an O2 sim card that is on a contract, and my phone just broke. I have an orange phone and I was told I can put my O2 sim in that till I get a new phone, but I have to unlock it first. Anyone know the easiest way to do that?

Answer: Sim cards are not unlockable but it can be cancelled through informing your service provider or government telecommunication company. Its the phone that you unlock. You can use any sim card on that unlocked phone including your original 02 sim. Unlocking your phone doesn’t mean that you have to unlock your sim too to use it with the same phone.

Question: What do you do if a sim card is rejected?
Do you need to buy a new sim card? Because I have a Samsung Propel and I thought the PUK code was some kind of security code and I pressed it and it kept asking for a code but than my sim card got rejected.

Answer: You’ll have to see your phone provider and get them to provide a new sim card for you. If you’ve entered in the PUK wrong three times it burns the simcard; as its a security feature. Your carrier may or may not charge you for a new simcard.

In the last decade, mobile phones have stopped being juts a device for voice calls but have become a gadget for data communications. First, there was SMS or Short Message Service, a service that allowed people to send alphanumeric messages to mobile phones using the GSM network. Now the mobile phones have been packed with so many features including full keyboards, multi-media support capacity, internet connectivity and other mobile applications.

Palm Inc. was among the first to introduce Smart phones with emailing and internet connectivity and full keyboards that made it easy to use the mobile phone as an extension of one’s office. Today, the Treo Smart Phones from Palm Inc. are among the top choices of business executives and other professionals because of the mobile applications that allow people to use their phones for a variety of purposes. All high technology features of the Treo Smart phones would be for naught if it weren’t for its ease of use. The latest Treo Smart Phones with Windows OS are even more easy to use than the first Smart phones introduced years ago. The Windows OS also allow the Treo Smart phones to handle Windows documents better allowing you to work seamlessly between your PC and your mobile phone. Both the Windows OS and the Palm OS also make the Treo phones among the fastest mobiles in the market, allowing for a great computing experience and a seamless internet connection. One of the most popular PDA phones from Treo is the Treo 650.

If you bought a Treo 650 Smartphone locked to a specific GSM provider and you prefer to use with another service provider, then there is a way to unlock your mobile phone. You can even do it remotely without the need to ship your mobile phone to the unlocking company. There are remote unlock codes that you can get from websites and you can just use the code to unlock the phone at home.

The first step you should do is to sync all your data with your PC. The phone comes with a hot sync cable for this purpose. This is important because you might delete some information from your phone without meaning to. This will save you the hassles of losing any important data.

After you have complete backed-up your data, you can already start unlocking your phone. Insert a SIM from a different service provider in your mobile phone. When you turn the Treo 650 on, a message saying ‘SIM NOT ALLOWED’ will be displayed on the phone’s screen. Just click OK and use the stylus to enter the code that was provided to you by the ‘unlocking company’. To enter the code press * # * # (CODE provided by the unlocking company) #. After you have entered the code, the message ‘SIM LOCK REMOVED’ should appear on your screen. You are now free to use any SIM from other service providers and even use foreign pre-paid cards on your phone when you travel to other countries.

There are also unlocking processes that include the use of software. Usually, you will be provided by a step-by-step guide on how to unlock your phone when you acquire an unlocking code. The whole process should take less than 5 minutes.

Ahmed Foaud is the author of this article on Palm Treo Smart Phone. Find more information about How To Unlock The Palm Treo [http://www.treoexpress.com/2007/09/18/how-to-unlock-the-palm-treo] here.

Unlocking the Palm Treo FAQ:

Question: How can I unlock my Palm Treo 650 Alltel Cell Phone to work on other carriers?

Answer: A unit designed to run on Alltel will not work on all other carriers. It will work only on those carriers using the same frequency as Alltel. If your new carrier meets this criteria, they can do the conversion for you.

Question: How do I unlock my Treo Palm?
I have my mothers old phone, and I was going to put my Orange SIM card into it, but its saying “Network Locked, Please put in Unlock Code” and I don’t have one and I was wondering if there was something I could do to find it

Answer: All SIM unlock codes are tied to the particular device IMEI and are carrier specific. The request for that code would need to be made from the carrier that the phone was originally manufactured for. Each carrier has their own guidelines as far as what requirements have to be met before that code will be given out. This is a free process in the US.

Question: Can I unlock my Sprint palm treo so that it works on other networks?

Answer: No CDMA phones are locked to a specific network and cannot be unlocked.

Question: How to unlock a palm treo 700p?
Does anyone knows how to unlock a palm treo 700p? Is not SIM is CDMA technology. I want to use it for Verizon. Used it for Sprint before. No unlocking code available from Sprint.

Answer: Sorry, but CDMA phones can’t be unlocked. You MIGHT be able to find someone who can flash it to work with Verizon, but it’s very unlikely. Even then, its ESN number will not be in Verizon’s database, so they will most likely not activate it.

Question: Can I still do regular text messaging on a palm treo 650 with cingular? Or do I have to do SMS?
I’m looking into buying an unlocked Palm Treo 650. I noticed it has many great features, but if it can’t do regular texting maybe I should reconsider!

Answer: Regular text messaging on a cell phone is SMS. It might not be called that on all phones, but that’s the industry standard format for sending text messages over the cellular networks.

Question: How do you unlock a Palm Treo (Sprint) phone?
I have At&t, but I got a Palm Treo given to me. Is there any way to unlock it so I can use my sim card or something on it…not sure how it works but is it possible?

Answer: No, it’s not possible. Sprint and Verizon use entirely different mobile phone technologies that are not compatible with each other.

Question: Can anyone help me unlock a palm 650 treo?
I can’t seem to figure it out online.

Answer: If you are AT&T/Cingular customer, you can login to your at&t online account and go to your current device and it should ask you if you want to unlock your phone. (It asks for most of the phones) Follow the instruction and you should be able to do so. I had SonyErricson and I did that last year for FREE. If you can’t find that call customer service and tell them you need the unlock code and they will ask few details to make sure that you are doing it for right account and will email you the code and instruction on how to unlock.

Question: I exceeded the 5 times you can use to unlock the palm treo 650? What should I do!?
I bought the phone off ebay and tried to unlock it from some sites that claimed it was the last digits of the imei number and stuff but it didn’t work and they say that you can only try 5x. So what should I do now because I really need to unlock the phone.

Answer: I would suggest a ‘hard reboot or reset’. This is done by holding down the red key while punching in the small hole to the left of the battery (take the back off but hold the battery in.)

If this does not work, then I would suggest you take it to a local phone store and see if they can get it to work.

Too often these are sold on the Internet because they are stolen. If your is one of these, then you will most likely never get it to work.