With the iPhone currently being sold in 88 countries all with their different carriers, one of the first things customers need to choose is a calling plan. Mobile operators tend to sell minute bundles but depending on the contract, some might be charge for the cellular data used or even charging calls by the minute. Choosing the right option for you can be daunting as every alternative is a universe on its own with its own small print. But don't worry. There are apps out there that can help to save you money.
The first thing iPhone switchers coming from a Blackberry smartphone will miss will be the free messenger service BBM. The iPhone does not have any native free solution, all you get is the standard SMS app, which sends paid messages to your contacts. PingChat! (formerly called Ping!) and WhatsApp fill in the gap. They both allow users to exchange multimedia messages for free across iOS, Blackberry and Android devices. You just need to download the app, create an account and add your friends with their username to start texting for free. The catch is that these apps use your 3G/EDGE to send and receive information, which means that if you are on a limited data plan, you might want to monitor your usage. Using Wi-Fi, it will cost you nothing.
"We do not use your phone number or email address or other personally identifiable information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may, however, use your email address without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major WhatsApp Site or WhatsApp Service changes or for customer service purposes)." from WhatsApp Privacy Notice
PingChat [iTunes Link] - Good for group texting. Keeps your mobile number private.
While I have been using Skype since it first arrived to the App Store, we can't deny that the promise of free calls is appealing to everyone. The Skype app as it is is an excellent companion to the desktop app that you might have used before for cheap voice calls, video conference and chatting. I still have struggled to cope with some of the earlier issues, such as Skype keeping logged on for the whole day and receiving chat messages from my contacts as push notifications. The addition of videocalls over 3G makes it a very strong contender for Face Time and the option to call international numbers for a small fee, made me stick to it.
"The copy of your address book (names and phones) is stored on a live database. This database does not have a "historical backup". If you delete the address book from our servers (more about this below), it will be deleted instantly and permanently." from Viber's Privacy Policy
The company says that they won't sell your info to anybody and that they have enough funding to make Viber calls for free without using any ads. Viber has decided to keep all your call history information indefinitely, while Skype is not clear about it and moil operators in Europe do so for 36 months maximum. It's fair to say that it is a new company and needs some time to fine tune everything. However, the fact that they had to change their privacy policy so fast and deployed a group of people to explain the situation, says a lot about them and their reputation. iOS users know about the huge opportunities for companies doing business in the AppStore and offering something for free with no apparent compensation, is going to look very conspicuous.