Originally Posted by koalakim

Hi ya

If he's got Skype on his iphone then he just needs to get a whizzy new gadget out on the market. It's a pay-as-you-go mobile wifi. I think it's just Virgin who do it over here at the moment but I saw it in Dick Smiths just before we went back to the UK so I wondered if they did them in the UK.

Anyway, only 3 do them in the UK at the moment so we got one and it was wonderful! We did have a dongle but then kept fighting over the laptop to use the internet but with this you can operate upto 5 wifi items on it, you can use it in the car - wherever! Absolutely brilliant device! We then got in touch with 3 and they unlocked it for 15 quid so when we got to Singapore we bought a local datapack for it and saved us $20 a day in hotel internet charges.

So even if he gets a local sim card with a datapack you need wireless to operate Skype. The other alternative is to hang out in McD's a lot!

KK

Originally Posted by silver

The mifi (although its a good idea) isn't necessary as Skype on the iphone will work over the inbuilt 3g http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-...one-for-skype/ so no need to buy the extra device unless you really want to share an interconnection on the move.

The issues with using skype over any 3G connection will be the cost of the data it uses (it will use data when you aren't even calling) so if this is your chosen solution make sure you get a reasonable data cap and potentially call quality due to some of the aspects of using 3G data connections. McD's is a good idea..

There are also solutions to use SIP (proper voip) over 3G ( I would expect this to work better than skype and use potentially less data) such as iSIP which is free in the app store.

I would still suggest for the OP use something like lebara or get a 3 sim card for the iphone. Most reliable easy and probably best quality solution.

Originally Posted by freebo

All true, however I've been using the native skype client on my S60 and the call quality was horrible at times, probably down to CPU speed so maybe not a problem on the iPhone (depending on the model). When I used the same 3G connection on my Macbook with a headset quality was 100% better, so not a badwidth issue.

The mifi is a useful little unit and certainly more flexible than tethering.

Originally Posted by freebo

I have the Virgin mifi one and second that, its great! Used it as our personal broadband until we got our home phone sorted out. $150 which includes 5Gb of data (a lot) but only for the first month (still I managed to use it up but it took some effort). I used it for skype and got good call quality. Got it from Dick Smith, Link

Another option is a Pennytel SIMM straight into his mobile, seems to be 43c per min to call the UK (landlines and mobiles), so quite a bit more than skype but maybe an easy option http://www.pennytel.com.au/Mobile-Ph...all-Rates.aspx

Originally Posted by silver

If you look into Pennysim in more detail you can call back to a UK landline for 8c per call. You need to set up the smart dial numbers, the calls to the smart dial numbers are free from your mobile and then the call is charged at your pennytel plan rate.

Originally Posted by silver

There is or was an app to do the same as Mifi for Series 60 phones with built in Wifi in that you can use your phone as hot spot.

The 3 skype for S60 phones implementation is pretty good one as it uses a voice connection back to 3's servers (as opposed to the native app.)

Originally Posted by freebo

Yes, its called Joikuspot,http://www.joikushop.com/ but kills the battery and I didn't find it worked that well.

Skype on the S60 for me anyway suffered if the 3G signal was anything less than superb (was OK most of the time in Sydney CBD but awful in the burbs), really nasty digital artifacts and often unusable, that was the native skype client on my old N95, not on 3 but one of the other telco's.