Truphone mini review (September 2006)

I've been using Truphone on my Nokia E61 for about a week now and have some comments on the service (I put the date in the title so that it isn't taken as a current review as we move further away from this month and Truphone eventually moves out of beta). My setup:
- Providers (GSM): Cingular Wireless (in the US), T-Mobile Deutschland (in Germany), United Mobile/CellularAbroad via Lichtenstein (anywhere in the world that has GSM coverage). I use Cingular 98% of the time, as I spend most of my time in the US (i.e. I live there/here). I haven't used my German T-Mobile account for a while and my parents are actually the reason why I acquired the CellularAbroad accounts (for their recent trip to Europe).
- Phones (GSM): Nokia E61, Motorola PEBL, Motorola ROKR and SE 990i (on the way). My primary phone is the E61. I finally have gotten used to some of what I consider to be Symbian quirkiness (it's not PalmOS, nor is it Linux and the way it handles networking can be irritating at times), so the phone has really become my sidekick. It is the first PDA/phone wherein I don't have complaints about the battery life when using wifi (ahem... PPC-6700).
Somehow I stumbled across a post on a weblog about Truphone and the free calling they are currently offering to many parts of Europe (including mobile!*) and the fact that I could carry the "software" with me on the E61. They don't seem to be supporting a wide range of Symbian S60 v3 phones yet, but hopefully, they'll allow me to beta test the SE 990i (who knows, however - the 990i doesn't come with a built in SIP client as far as I know). Since I have access to wifi most places I spend most of my time, I thought, what the heck, let's see if it works.
I wasn't able to get an SMS response with my Cingular SIM installed. I SMS'ed the number that they use to set up your account a number of times and never received a response. In their somewhat non-existent forums, I saw another Cingular user in California ask why, but that post remains unanswered. I figured that the problem is either with Cingular or Truphone being unable to send SMS's to Cingular (I have my doubts they have issues with T-Mobile US because TMUS handles international SMS's very well - i.e. I and my friends who have many friends overseas, never have problems with international SMS's on TMUS's network.) Because I couldn't find my T-Mobile SIM at the time, I used the United Mobile SIM to SMS and receive the response from Truphone. For the rest of the setup, I re-installed my Cingular SIM.
The setup of the software is not for the light-hearted. I hate following directions, as I am usually able to figure out how most software works by monkeying with it. I don't recommend doing so while trying to set up Truphone. I botched the installation a few times and finally decided to do what I should have from the beginning: follow the directions closely. If you want to get some idea of how it works, check out how to install by texting TRU.
Truphone currently allows a slew of truly free calls for accounts originating out of the UK and has great rates for those from the US (you can call many countries in Europe from a UK account for free - including mobile - whereas, from the US, most calls outside of North America are at nominal rates). I wanted my account to be set up with a UK number, because that is where I want my calls to originate out of and also where I want my Euro friends to call to. I'm not sure if my plans worked. I ended up with a US number, but for right now, the calls cost nothing regardless, as they are essentially paying you to beta test and preview the service.
There are other issues I haven't completely worked out with the software. Without getting into the nitty-gritty, the problem is when you switch wifi networks. Even though my E61 has my home and work network registered, it doesn't switch automatically and because I don't have AP groups set up at this point, when I decide to register on a network different from the one I was last attached to, I have to search for a new AP and re-register that way. I end up with a listing of duplicate registered AP's on the E61 that I clean out every so often. I'm sure there is a way around this, but the software that they provide is really nothing more than a front-end to the half-baked SIP client that is included on the supported Nokias. (The problem is really with the Nokia SIP client and not the Truphone "software" - reading web postings and dealing directly with the issue, both Gizmo and Asterisk need to be set up such that ... well, it isn't normal when compared to desktop SIP phones, etc. I'm not really sure what Nokia had intended the SIP client to be since it doesn't support certain technical problems with things like NAT.)

To come to the point, here are my current thoughts/experience:
- Software weird, but ok once you get used to it.
- Call quality: fantastic - I have had less issues with Truphone than with Vonage
- Convenience: fantastic - I don't need to go to another phone to make a call. All I really need is my cell phone.
- Support: great and to the point responses for questions I've had to send to support. I hate to say it, but I don't expect that to last as they grow - I have yet to deal with a phone company of any sort that has ok support. Most are downright horrible.

Should you try it? If you have the phone that is supported and can actually get an SMS response to sign up and don't mind a bit of fudging to make it work at times, absolutely. Do I recommend it for anyone but tech geeks? Sorry, no. There are too many things you need to work around to make it work at times. As much as I love it, I wouldn't recommend it to even half of my geek friends. I, myself, love it however and hope that they make improvements, keep up support and add more Symbian phones to the lineup.

*Calls to mobile phones in parts of the world (e.g. Europe) other than the US are notoriously expensive. I understand why, but they are still expensive. So, a means to calling some of those numbers for free is nothing short of great.