yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 4 General] TheSopranos16:
Ok so I've read through a lot of this thread and I really find all this SIP calling stuff to be pretty complicated. I was able to get it to work with pbxes.org and google voice. My issue is that the call quality through the stock android dialer is awful. Based on what I've read in this thread, the codec being used is critical to having good call quality and the stock dialer apparently doesn't use any of the good codecs. So, I'm trying to understand my options at this point. My goal is to make calls that show my google voice number as the caller ID and to be able to receive calls when called on my google voice number.

1) is there any way to use the stock dialer with one of the good codecs that people recommend (I hear people mention speex, g729, and a few others). The quality its making calls at now is just unusable.

2) I really want to keep the phone as "stock" as possible. If I have to use a separate app to get acceptable call quality, what is the best option that is the least intrusive on the stock experience? Obviously free is the best choice but I'd be willing to pay a small amount of money if it was a good solution. I know a lot of people mention Groove IP and Skype. Skype is not an option for me because I am unwilling to pay 60 per year for a phone number and i can't receive calls on my google voice number without that. How is groove IP with google voice?

For reference, I'm getting awful call quality on wifi with a 75mbps connection, so bandwidth is definitely not the issue.
[Nexus 4 General] armandosal:
Wow that's crazy. At the point it's practically unusable
[Nexus 4 General] ebayking90:
Well, that just f%^&*(@ sucks. Looks like it is back to the drawing board again. Unless there is another way to forward calls without involving T-Mobile?
[Nexus 4 General] muyoso:
That's why you port your number to Google voice. One number. Friends and family never have to see your new throwaway T-Mobile number.
[Nexus 4 General] acegolfer:
I did the research as I was in the same shoe as yours.

I settled with the following setup.

Google Voice + pbxes.org + Sipdroid (w/ speex codec only)

Pros: 100% free, battery friendly using TCP, can use stock dialer to make calls, good call quality when stationary on wifi/3g. Rings both N4 and Nexus7 (pbxes allows multiple extensions).

Cons: If moving at 40+ mph, calls get jittery. Sipdroid only rings for 18 seconds. (After 18 seconds, the stock cell phone app rings for another 7 seconds before GV voicemail answers.)

I tried the stock VOIP dialer but I didn't like it for 2 reasons.

1. Couldn't find a way to use efficient codecs.

2. When it rings, I need to pay attention to whether it's using VOIP or Tmo cell minutes. (It says "internet calling" but not very noticeable.)
[Nexus 4 General] kzoodroid:
The the activation kit for $30 plan is only available from TMo's website or at Walmart. And from my understanding very few Walmarts actually have them.
[Nexus 4 General] stud_muffler:
Ordered mine microSIM card from T-Mobile website on 11/29 with free (at the time) overnight shipping. It got processed and shipped on 11/29th from Loiseville, KY and I got it on 11/30th. I live in the RI.

:cool:
[Nexus 4 General] ebayking90:
I called T-Mobile, they don't allow you to pay extra for call forwarding. Sucks...

---------- Post added at 07:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:57 PM ----------

To make matters worse, my cell phone number which I have had for more than 10 years is in an area that Google can't port numbers from. So I am officially SOL with this plan. I have no choice but to go with their $50 or $60 prepaid plan. Thanks for the advice and good luck to you all.
[Nexus 4 General] c0LdFire:
Why not go with Straight Talk if you can't fit in to this plan? There's no need to pay more then $45/mo in most situations. If you're worried about the throttling, order a T-mobile SIM from them. They mainly throttle their AT&T SIM customers from poll data.
[Nexus 4 General] androidfoshizzle:
I'll be using the 5gb 100talk unlimited message $30 plan once my phone arrives
[Nexus 4 General] ebayking90:
My main worry with these subsidized cell phone providers is their quality of service. I have read that actual Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile customers get preferential treatment over customers of Boost, MetroPCS, etc. I could be wrong, but I know people who had MetroPCS and their data speeds were absolutely horrible. 3G data was around 2G speeds and their 4G was essentially really good 3G. I think I will just bite the bullet and pay extra for better service. The majority of the online reviews for these services are really bad. Also, when you go on Youtube the speed test and testimonials for all these services are mostly pretty bad.
[Nexus 4 General] marsdta:
It depends on where you are. Metropcs actually has coverage in maybe 20markets.(their own towers/bandwidth) the rest is roaming agreements with sprint/Verizon.

Sprint is their primary roaming partner from what I've seen. So slow speeds are not that uncommon and a usual criticism of sprint. But with tmo/att you have much better speeds. I used straight talk for a few months (switching over to tmo) and speeds were exact as when I was on att contract.
[Nexus 4 General] c0LdFire:
That's a myth. There's a 1,000 page thread in the Galaxy Nexus forum comparing Straight Talk to actual AT&T and T-Mobile. No discernible difference was found.
[Nexus 4 General] kzoodroid:
TMobile and MetroPCS are merging, should be done early 2013.
[Nexus 4 General] whohasaquestion:
The porting experience is like we beg T-Mobile to take our business.

This is just wrong.
[Nexus 4 General] HTCMDA:
I use the vonage app for VOIP. It's free to make calls, you get 3,000 FREE minutes a month to do it

you only need to download the 1 app, not 15 different ones to make a VOIP call. It uses your own phone number, no need to port over to google.

HOWEVER, it requires you to still be aware of your 100 minutes, you can make all the VOIP calls you want, but incoming will still use your 100 minutes (unless they call you vonage to vonage) so either call the people back or just pay attention. I've talked up a storm using vonage, and still have my 100 minutes left
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
With CallingMart, which card do we need to get, or does it not matter as long as it's 30 dollars? Like, is it the T-Mobile Monthly Plan or one of the To-Go plans?
[Nexus 4 General] ketjr81:
How is the performance on the Vonage app? It's fine on your wireless data? I've heard some weird stuff about other Voip apps, like if you are in a moving car or something it kid of drops out.
[Nexus 4 General] jaybeeunix:
Any of the T-Mobile ones work, as they all just add money to your account. At various times, I've used all three, but I generally use the direct-to-phone since it's simpler.
[Nexus 4 General] alrgeez:
i'd like to know this as well. activating my phone today and going to buy a refill card through callingmart. there are 3 t-mobile options. can anybody shed some light on which i should get? thanks
[Nexus 4 General] testrider:
I tried Sipdroid and while it works, but when my phone ̣(SGS2) screen is off and locked, when an incoming call came in, it rang but the screen was still locked and there was no button to answer without unlocking the phone first (and by then, the call was also terminated). Did you see the same thing or is it just me?
[Nexus 4 General] itznfb:
Is there an issue with using just Google Voice?
[Nexus 4 General] gagdude:
But when I call out, won't it call with my T-mobile number?
[Nexus 4 General] ericshmerick:
Just choose the one that's exactly $30.
[Nexus 4 General] itznfb:
When you setup Google Voice on your phone it will ask you if you want to dial out with Google Voice or if you want it to ask you every time.
[Nexus 4 General] crazycd1:
So I tried out GrooveIP today and did not have good luck with the call quality. After about a minute it cuts out and I get a delay.. I tried setting up sipdroid and screwed that up but I figured out what I did wrong. I was to use CsipSimple instead. So my main question is can I remove sipdroid once I have the account all setup and working or must it remain on the phone?
[Nexus 4 General] acegolfer:
How do you make/receive phone calls with gv without using minutes?
[Nexus 4 General] itznfb:
I don't use it so I'm not 100% sure... but once you set it up in your account to forward to a line and dial out using GV it connects over data when your GV number is used.... I could be wrong though.
[Nexus 4 General] jaybeeunix:
The Google Voice app only uses data for call setup. Your voice is transmitted via your carrier (it uses cell minutes).

To use voice via data (no cell minutes), you'll need to use an app like Groove IP or a SIP service to proxy the calls.
[Nexus 4 General] acegolfer:
Your method will use the 100 minutes. The phone call is not connecting over data.

The main discussion in this thread is how to make and receive calls without using the 100 minutes. That's why we need a 3rd party SIP provider or a 3rd party app.
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
Also, initially, I'm supposed to Activate the T-Mobile Service, bring the phone number over from my AT&T account, and then cancel my AT&T account. What happens during that middle period between activating my T-Mobile service and cancelling my AT&T service when my phone number is on two different accounts?
[Nexus 4 General] danthepan124:
Does anyone know if I can transfer my number and get the 30$ plan? (Currently on t-mobile 15$ plan only for unlimited text)
[Nexus 4 General] ketjr81:
The $30 plan is for new activations on t-mobile.

I think someone posted earlier on this thread about porting your number to google voice and then back to the $30 plan.
[Nexus 4 General] gagdude:
What you do is get a (temporary) number fro TMO, port your AT&T number, and when the porting is done your old AT&T account will be terminated. During the process your AT&T number will be unavailable until it is done
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
So are you saying I don't sign up with my number initially during activation?
[Nexus 4 General] gagdude:
You can, but I heard it is easier and faster to call their porting hotline rather than doing it online during activation.
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
I'm sorry but I'm still partially confused. What are the two different ways to bring my number over from AT&T? Just making sure I don't get charged or anything either. AT&T for example charges 36 dollars to change my phone number after activation, so trying to see what I should do.
[Nexus 4 General] gagdude:
I believe during online activation, there is an option to port your number, or you can activate under a new account with a new number, then call TMO's porting hotline and say "I wanna port my number." This isn't changing the number, rather bringing it over, and AT&T is forced to give up your number under federal law. Porting will always be free.
[Nexus 4 General] donec:
I use Google Voice with chat selected via Groove IP and I send and receive calls no problem.

---------- Post added at 06:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------

I understand about the single number. This is why I always sugest people use the Google voice number. You make the change one time then from then on if you change services you just change the settings in Google Voice and continue receiving calls on the same number. Your friends ect. only need to change one time and that is it. No porting or anything.
[Nexus 4 General] Disastorm:
You can also activate a new sim card with a new number on t-mobile with the 30$ plan, then call them and have them cancel your old account and transfer the number to your new one. To be honest the whole "new activations only" thing is so retarded I don't know why they do that. It just makes it more of a hassle for people to get it ( I guess maybe thats why they do it lol).
[Nexus 4 General] donec:
Can you call out with Vonage but receive calls via Google Voice chat and Groove IP? If so what phone number do people see when you call via vonage?
[Nexus 4 General] HTCMDA:
I drove around town, called my brother (who uses virgin mobile).

called my mother. No dropped calls, they both heard me fine. I was connected to 4g the entire time. at most there may be a 3-500ms delay but that doesn't matter nor bother anything.
[Nexus 4 General] sstang2006:
Before I dumped Verizon I tried using GrooveIp, but call quality was the worst and missed calls. Not reliable at all.

I though on the T-mobile $30 plan, but I use a little more than 100 minutes.

Then I started comparing every other prepaid plan that I could find.

At the end, I ended up porting my number to Google voice ($20 and it took almost 3 days for it to properly port ) and got he Solavei $50 unlimited, 4GB (T-Mobile)

At work I get better signal on T-Mobile than on AT&T and that's one of the reasons I went with Solavei and not Straight Talk. Also Solavei has 4G data gap and supports roaming vs 2GB and no roaming.
[Nexus 4 General] skyrocket727:
Anyone used cutter method to convert regular sim to micro sim? Which method is better buy a new sim or cut? If ill visit tmobile store will they give me a new micro sim for free?
[Nexus 4 General] alrgeez:
just tried activating my sim but at the final screen i get the "were still working to process your activation" message. i've redone the activation process 3 times and waited for 30 min. im supposed to be waiting for a text message, does this come instantly? if not, how long does it usually take?
[Nexus 4 General] GrumpyZombie:
Cant wait for my phone to show up so I can start using this plan. I figured for an extra 5 a month over my current virgin mobile service I couldn't go wrong grabbing a phone I really want and getting some 4g :D
[Nexus 4 General] Acuity:
After 24 hours give them a call. Are you porting your number? Mine was having problems, but after giving them a call it went through right away.
[Nexus 4 General] gagdude:
Yes, and the number that call out Vonage is what you tell it to, the app actually spoofs a number on the reciever caller ID. In order to spoof that number you need to get a text and confirm it from the phone that uses that number (this way you can't take someone elses number)
[Nexus 4 General] goncalorob:
I bought a 23 dollar cheapie tmo phone with a full size Sim, took out the sim returned the phone.

Found one of the hundred how to articles online on how to cut the Sim. With some tweaking I managed to get it to fit just fine.

I'm just waiting for airfire to port my number. I can't stand them.
[Nexus 4 General] Tyscott:
How is this effecting everyone's battery life? Having groove ip run in the background all day must take its toll on the nexus 4. Have you guys been able to make it through the day?
[Nexus 4 General] sstang2006:
they are $0.99

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones/prepaid-sim-cards

Activate it by phone. I got the same problem when activating a temporary line. Called in, once I hanged up, everything was fine.
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
I tried to do it too, and they said they're porting a number over from AT&T. Granted, it's only been about two hours, but as far as what you're saying, calling in will make it happen instantly?
[Nexus 4 General] sstang2006:
It was instant for me when I ported the number from T-Mobile to Verizon.

But what I was referring as instant before, was that I activated a new temporary prepaid line with t-mobile (waiting for Solavei SIM card) and I tried to activate it online and it wasn't activating. So I called in and it got activated right away.

When I ported my number now from Verizon to Google Voice, it did took ~24hr to receive calls and ~3 days to receive text messages. Outgoing calls/texts took ~12hr.
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
Alright then, I'll be patient. Thanks a lot.
[Nexus 4 General] andy o:
It's negligible, same as most other VoIP apps. They don't really need to use much power, just stay in memory. That includes Skype, though I haven't tried it lately. Spare Phone (the third app that does GV VoIP) had a problem where it wasn't letting the CPU go to idle, so it did drain battery considerably (you can do this on purpose on the troubleshooting section of Groove IP). This bug wasn't fixed for a very long time, and even though I bought it I never really used it. It's fixed now, but Groove IP is a lot better and the same price anyway.
[Nexus 4 General] quarksurfer:
I followed this tutorial and get good results. The speex codec and reducing echo via the gain settings were key. There's a number you can call to test echo, there's a post in that thread with the number.
[Nexus 4 General] slopokdave:
I've been messing with sip droid and groove IP the past week. I've found them easy to setup but cumbersome to use since I am still using my main T-Mobile number.

I also found talkatone disconnecting. Not getting rings on sip droid. Maybe its me I don't know. What I have found that works the best is Skype. A number only $4 a month and $3 for unlimited calls. If you are signed out of Skype and someone calls you at your Skype number it will forward to your main cell.
[Nexus 4 General] derschlub:
After like 4 days of pulling my hair out I have Asterisk 11 and FreePBX 2.11 running on a free micro (for 12 months, at least) Amazon EC2 instance.. both mine and my girlfriend's phone registered to it with csipsimple, uses GV to call in and out using the G729 codec.. I may write up a guide later this week, only caveat is you can't be signed into gtalk elsewhere at all or you won't get incoming calls.. seems to be a known problem with this stuff, solution is to transfer GV number to another account that you don't use at all which Google has a mechanism to do..

Would anybody be interested in this stuff? I'm by no means an expert and am probably not using all the right settings but it's working well on HSPA+ and Wi-Fi.. I need to find an area with only EDGE coverage to see if G729 works acceptably there too.

Don't regret switching to T-Mo at all now, gotta finalize Sprint cancellation tomorrow!
[Nexus 4 General] TheSopranos16:
I'd definitely be interested. Probably worth starting a new thread for so your process can be discussed in detail. I tried groove IP today and so far I've wasted 5 dollars. Really need to get a good solution soon or I'm giving up on VoIP.
[Nexus 4 General] yahoowizard:
NVM delete this.
[Nexus 4 General] ziddey:
That's the general word of caution out there, but I've never found it to be a problem somehow.

That said, I'm using pbxes.com, usually have a few gmail tabs open amidst the hundreds of firefox tabs, am signed into gtalk via pidgin and on my phone, and never seem to miss a call. The gmail tabs never ring though, so somehow priority is being assigned to pbxes.com for some reason.

I can't imagine it's something they're doing special. Maybe it's just because it's the longest session?

I've got a few other GV accounts that I play around with on my PIAF VM, but they haven't seen much real world usage-- electricity is too expensive for me to running a 24/7 box anymore.. I didn't realize AWS offered a free year trial. I will definitely have to play around. Thanks. I'm surprised my friend who works at Amazon never told me.
[Nexus 4 General] sstang2006:
Settings>More>Mobile Networks>Use only 2G networks :rolleyes:
[Nexus 4 General] Ajfink:
Nabbed a SIM to test the speeds where I live (Harrisburg, PA area). Ignore the volume setting I'm terrible at taking screenshots.

This is far better than AT&T's HSPA+ here.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] acegolfer:
Can you elaborate this part?

I understand talkatone/groove monopolizes GV forwarded calls to gtalk. However, even if I log in to android gtalk, talkatone still rings. These apps have higher priority over gtalk.

Does your setup have lower priority over gtalk? In other words, are you suggesting that signing into android gtalk will prevent your setup from getting incoming calls?
[Nexus 4 General] whohasaquestion:
How do you get T-Mobile to port number quickly?

My Virgin Mobile monthly credit just ran out yesterday. However, my request porting (submitted 11/30) is still in process. So as of today, I have no working phone at all.

Should I call in? What do I say to them? Any tips?
[Nexus 4 General] meats:
Tethering

I'm new to T-mobile, just switched to the $30 plan last weekend.

What's the deal with tethering with this plan? Are you just bound to the 5GB data limit? or can they detect tethering and charge something extra?
[Nexus 4 General] sahakiap:
how long does it take these t-mobile wankers to ship a sim card? i ordered the micro sim kit on the 21st of nov, they said they shipped it on the 26th of nov. i see i have a nonsensical tracking # on my orders page and i still dont have my bloody sim card.
[Nexus 4 General] derschlub:
I'm actually reproducing my results on a non-amazon box, so I will document my steps this time.. bear with me as I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to this.

You're absolutely correct, I did not have this problem with pbxes and other services.. it seems to be a problem with Asterisk and I'm trying to figure out if there's a real solution. A lot of people just give up and use something else to bring the GV calls into Asterisk.. I'm gonna try a bunch of stuff before I transfer my GV number to another account, but staying out of gtalk is easy enough for a few days.

Geez, I'm an idiot. Didn't even cross my mind. Thanks for the tip, I'll do some testing with g729 later.

Like I said above, seems to be an Asterisk problem and it seems to happen inconsistently with different setups. Mine's been pretty consistent, anything signed into gtalk including another voip service like pbxes and it doesn't work.. if anyone with Asterisk experience has any ideas, I'm all ears.
[Nexus 4 General] jaybeeunix:
It's not allowed (they sell a $15/mo mobile hot spot addon). They packet inspect HTTP looking for desktop browser User Agents and redirect you to an up-sell page for the addon service. It seems to be the consensus that's all they do to prevent it.

People have reported a few ways around that packet inspection: Don't use a desktop on the tethered connection (ie use a tablet), change your desktop browser's user agent, only visit sites via SSL, use a VPN, etc.

I've tried all of those methods and they've worked for me.
[Nexus 4 General] admiez:
Even if T-Mobile allowed call forwarding, most carriers count unconditionally forwarded calls toward your minute usage, don't they?
[Nexus 4 General] zdrifter:
The link tutorial you supplied is very nice and I've read in this thread and others about using PBXes.com ... BUT the one thing that comes to mind is giving your GV password to them. Since it seems in the Google ecosystem you cannot have different passwords for different Google services (esp Google Wallet) and since I have had a GV # as my primary # for a long time and don't want to go the route of a new GV # with only GV as the service I'm not very comfortable with this solution .... should I be worried? ... if so what to do? .... TIA to all.
[Nexus 4 General] battlecrow:
I've encountered the same problem. I called their support group up and they gave me some BS about it being a place-holder basically until the US postal service provided an accurate tracking number. It is now several days beyond when the estimated delivery date was and I haven't received it yet. I ordered a standard sized sim card earlier though and just cut it down to make it work with the phone.
[Nexus 4 General] meats:
Thanks, aren't there tethering apps that hide this info? If so, please share ;)

Also, does it just re-direct to an upsell page, or is there any scenario where they would auto charge you $15/month
[Nexus 4 General] derschlub:
You can enable two-factor authentication and create an application specific password.. or you can transfer your gv number to a seperate google account (it's free).