A company called Xcelis is claiming to offer a service that allows for unlimited calls from your cell phone. Currently they’re offering a 7-day free trial (with limitations; calls are limited to 15 minutes each), as a ramp-up to its $9.99 a month service.
The basics: Xcelis is operating a gateway through which you call an access number, then dial the number you wish to reach. Xcelis then routes your call through VoIP.
Interesting, but I wonder if this particular offering will really catch on, for a number of reasons:
1. Currently the service only works for T-Mobile and Cingular customers. Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, and customers of the various regional carriers (Alltel, Cricket, US Cellular, etc) are out of luck. Though this shouldn’t matter for Cricket subscribers, as that carrier offers plans with unlimited “anytime” cellular calling anyway.
2. You must subscribe to a plan that includes mobile-to-mobile calling, which is sometimes an additional cost (so much for just $9.99 for this plan). And of course, you’re still not off the hook on having to pay your current cell phone bill on top of the monthly fee to Xcelis. Also, this requirement leaves all pay-as-you-go wireless customers out in the cold.
3. You must dial the Xcelis access number and THEN dial 1 + the area code + the number you’re calling. For most people, this extra step probably isn’t an issue, but for those of us who have a lot of contacts to juggle and can’t remember them all, this pretty much breaks features like Voice Dialing, and complicates the auto dial features of smartphones in organizing those contacts.
4. Most importantly, this plan only works for outgoing calls. Incoming calls still route to your cell phone in the usual way, which means incoming calls are still billed against your airtime accordingly.
There’s also the thorny issue of how Xcelis provides its service. It looks like the company is exploiting unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling (a feature that’s unique to US markets) by setting up a mobile account with each carrier, and then having customers call that number to access the service, thus ensuring the call is billed as an unlimited mobile-to-mobile call. I’m not sure that all wireless phone providers are going to look upon this favorably.
In the end, Xcelis might attract a few cheapskates, but those cellular misers might want to do the math. This is really a $9.99 a month add-on to your existing service, and for quite a few people, that really isn’t worth the added expense unless you’re a particularly heavy talker, your existing unlimited night and weekend minutes aren’t enough for you, and are willing to make everyone who calls you hang up so you can do the digit-dialing shuffle and call them back (which I assure you will get old, really quickly).
Don’t want to pay $9.99 a month? Xcelis also offers Pantheon, a box which bridges your landline or VoIP phone with your wireless phone, in effect doing the same thing that the monthly service offers. Of course, it too has its drawbacks:
1. In addition to your wireless phone, you must have a landline or VoIP phone (those of us who have cut the cord are out of luck).
2. You must also have a second wireless phone that is bluetooth-enabled to make this work, on top of mobile-to-mobile calling enabled on both wireless phones. So now, you must juggle three phones (and the expense of buying the additional equipment as well as the monthly charges for all three) in addition to this magic box.
In short: Xcelis’ solutions show promise, but making it all work is a cumbersome process that doesn’t really save any money. Also, the dodgy way in which they circumvent wireless airtime billing makes their ability to stay in business for long rather iffy, in my opinion.
I’d rather bide my time and wait until wireless carriers deploy VoIP themselves (and put the likes of Xcelis out of business). Besides, I don’t use my cell phone so much that I go over my alloted minutes at all anyway.