TruPhone for iPhone – Review Redux

Set about writing up a TruPhone review earlier this morning, and ran into a snag.

Impressively, TruPhone helf desk manager Katie Brimble responded to my initial post this morning with an apology and a few troubleshooting suggestions.

We are sorry that we have been unable to get round to your email as of yet, we are very busy at the moment. Do you have your reference number to hand which you would have received in our automated response?

We recommend the following to resolve this issue;
1. Reboot your iPhone and try this again. If you still experience this issue please check the following…
2. Do you have mobile/cell reception/signal when you initiate the validation call?
3. Do you have sufficient mobile/cell credit to receive a call – if you pay to receive calls (US Customers)
4. Are you able to receive international calls to your mobile/cell number?

5. Once you enter a Security Pin in the sign up screen and the validation call-back starts to initiate, try pressing the square key (Main menu button) on the iPhone.

Regards
The Truphone Support team

#5 did the trick for me. If you are installing TruPhone you may need to do the same thing at the moment in order to get your phone to accept the inbound verification call from TruPhone.

Once installed, the TruPhone client basically mimics the native iPhone dialing application in terms of look and feel. There are (5) distinct tabs:

1 – Favourites – where you can store numbers/contacts you call most frequently.
2 – Recents – shows your TruPhone call history
3 – Contacts – TruPhone automatically grabs your existing iPhone contacts database
4 – Keypad – in order to dial telephone numbers
5 – Topup – redirects to the TruPhone website where you can administer your account and add prepaid
calling credit.

TruPhone hooks you up with $4.00 in call credit for free with your account setup, which was sufficient for me to make a few test calls. Even with the spotty WiFi coverage in my office the call quality on my test calls was indistinguishable from normal mobile calls.

TruPhone also has grouped many of their international call terminations into a single rate scheduled, called Tru Zone.

I am sure TruPhone is inundated with new customer signups since the release of Apple’s AppStore. I was thoroughly impressed with their personal response to my support issue. I highly recommend TruPhone to anyone who owns an iPhone and is looking to save money on international calls….money better spent on gasoline. TruPhone scores a Tom Cruise thumbs up…not an easy feat!

Garrett Smith

Garrett is the former VoIP Supply CMO.

View Comments

  • I just made my first truphone (running on the iPhone) to truphone number (running on the Nokia E51) call. I would have used GSM to call my friend but now due to truphone the call was carried completely over IP and therefore FREE end to end, better I also discovered that the call quality was beating my previous call with the same person over GSM. Technology which just impresses gets my thumbs up. Truphone is fantastic

  • had problems installing truphone so removed it and reinstalled on iphone 3g. got it working but now when i make calls the sound quality is so bad that conversing is impossible. the voice on both sides of the line cuts in and out.

  • TruPhone took a bit to set it up, but once it was working, it worked just like the iPhone only much cheaper. AT&T still charges minutes while you use TruPhone, but it's just regular AT&T talk minutes, not roaming minutes. Beyond the AT&T deductions to the minutes within my plan, calling China is 6 cents per minute to a landline phone. This is a dramatic difference from AT&T's fees.

    Also, the call quality between the U.S. and China compared to my hometown and across the street is no different. The call quality is excellent.

    Highly recommended. This is the service you need for international calls if you have a wireless network.

  • Im pretty sure Scott Droege is incorrect when he says using Truphone deducts from your AT&T minutes. Truphone, like any VOIP system, should operate 100% over wifi networks, cell carrier not involved. You should be able to take your phone to any other country, turn off data & voice roaming, and use truphone to make calls over wifi, without AT&T even knowing. Please correct me if Im wrong - Im going on vacation to Europe in a couple weeks and am planning on using my iphone to call the US cheaply.

  • @Dylan:

    You are correct. Truphone is a Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) solution. Truphone does not deduct from your minutes. It uses your cellular phone's WiFi connect to send and receive calls.

    Garrett

  • 1. The TruPhone user account page is defective. I paid for unlimited free calls. Don't get it. User support is unwilling to help.
    2. As not everybody reads terms and conditions: they don't refund the credit on your account if you are not happy with the product.
    3. Sound quality is reasonable, but often people claim to hear themselves. Quality on cheap satellite call providers is way better.
    4. The android app confused an android phone of us, wifi internet stopped working after installing truphone.

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