Line2 iPhone App

I love my iPhone but AT&T is terrible. First chance of another carrier supporting the iPhone and we will switch. You can’t keep a connection in our house while you walk around. Calls drop constantly. It sucks. No ifs, ands or butts about it.

Tonight while searching around the web reading other bitch about the mini towers that AT&T offers for people like us I found a very cool iPhone called Line2. Line2 can make calls where AT&T’s signal is weak, like indoors. It can turn an iPod Touch into a full-blown cellphone! There is also a Blackberry version. Line2 gives you a second number. It can be a local number or a 800 number. On the iPhone the app mimics the iPhone interface. This is supposedly why the Google Voice app was rejected so I can’t figure out how it got passed the app police at Apple.

Line2 also turns the iPhone into a dual-mode phone. That is, it can make and receive calls either using either the AT&T airwaves as usual, or — now this is the best part — over the Internet. Any time you’re in a wireless hot spot, Line2 places its calls over Wi-Fi instead of AT&T’s network. This would be perfect for home use! It is not free and there is a monthly fee of $15. But I still see this as a great deal and I am sure making AT&T grind their teeth at night.

Now I know what you are saying, great but if I travel I am not always in a hotspot. Not a problem it works over 3G as well. Wow! All the while not using any of your AT&T minutes. Pretty ground breaking stuff for people like us that can’t make/take calls consistently in our house. Curse you AT&T! Did I mention that we don’t have any traditional phones in our house? 3 iPhones and one standard cell phone.

I jumped over to the app store tonight but bad news. I found out they have stopped new registrations so they can add capacity. They have a 30 day trial so I was hoping to give this a try. No luck. I think having a 1-800 for a side business would make this a nice monthly expense come tax time.

Yes, I know what about Skype on the iPhone. There are a lot of features that Line2 offers that are more in line with traditional phone service. Call waiting and up to 20 person conference calls are some of them. See this video I found on Vimeo for more on the features.

Quick overview of how to quickly add your business phone number or a second line to your iPhone and make calls over WiFi or 3G VoIP or cell networks. Also how to use advanced features like setting up conference calls on your iPhone.