Daperture

How much does the following cost on ATT?
- 1400 Minute Family Plan ($90)
- Unlimited Family Texting ($30)
- Unlimited Data for 2x Phones ($60)
- Taxes ~15%

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~$207 after taxes and surcharges
~$175 with a employer discount (We have Starbucks)

Even with our discount, I'm shelling out around $175/mo for 2 phones. Meh... With Google Voice, that monthly outlay can be drastically reduced w/out too big of a hit on the usability of one's iPhone (or other phones for that matter).

Lose w/ Google Voice:
- MMS capability is lost. (iTim, TextNow claim GV MMS integration, but the workaround is to MMS with an alternate number. Friends must still manage 2x numbers/addresses to MMS & Talk)
- Outgoing calls use GV callback. One makes a call by having GV call you to call someone.
- Incoming calls all show up as your GV number.

Wins w/ Google Voice:
- Unlimited texting using data
- Unlimited minutes are possible w/ 10 friends & family.
- Seamless integration with the iPhone's native Phone & SMS App. biteSMS also is confirmed to work seamlessly.

Quick Setup Guide:
- iPhone needs to be Jailbroken
- Install GV SMS Extension & GV Phone Extension from Cydia ($6.60)
- Install Google Voice from AppStore

Configure Google Voice to:
- Forward calls to Cell Phone
- Call Screening: On
- Caller ID Incoming: Display GV Number
- Caller ID Outgoing: Display GV Number

Configure GV Phone extension:
- Mode: GV Callback
- Configure User, Pass, GV Number, Pin Code, iPhone Number, Show Real ID: On

Configure GV SMS extension:
- Configure User, Pass, Enabled Send:On, Receive Settings: Official GV app

What this achieves is that all your incoming and outgoing calls are to your GV Number. It's possible to get unlimited minutes by adding your GV Number to the Alist plan. Although all calls originate from the GV Number, the GV Phone extension is smart enough to map the phone call to the real caller, such that one's call history will reflect accurate callers.

The reason I've chosen the callback method with the GV Phone extension is to take advantage of the Alist feature. If one chooses to use the unlimited minutes, then a far better user experience with phone calls would occur by using the Direct Dial method of outbound calls, and to configure GV to display the caller's id, instead of the GV number.

Ultimately, what did I dwindle my phone plan down to? I partnered up with some good friends and got a 4 person family plan on Verizon Wireless
- 2000 Minute talk/text (150)
- 4x data (120)
- 19% discount
- ~11% tax
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~242.76
$122 per 2x lines for $61 a head after taxes.

If everyone was willing to do the GV hack and lose MMS, we could've done the 1400 minute talk only plus data (to get 10x friends/family), which would have brought our total outlay to $104 per couple or $52/head after taxes and fees. It'd be slightly higher w/out the employer discount.