When you read at the end of the email, they caution that although its free now, they may charge in the future.  Fair enough.  Just keep your eyes open as you use it.

Set up was pretty easy, but make sure you are on wifi when you do it, it does take a bit for some reason.

Here is what I got from truphone today..

We are excited to announce that from today, Truphone for the iPhone and the iPod touch can now let you stay in touch with all your Skype friends.

You can now:

1. Instant Message (IM) your Skype contacts

1. Make calls to Skype users on your contact list*

1. Receive calls from other Skype users

It’s easy. You don’t need to update or download anything.

1. Go to the IM screen in the iPhone application (the IM/More screen in the iPod touch application). If you cannot see this screen, select it from within the More screen.
2. Select Skype (from the Setup screen)
3. Sign in using your Skype account details

When you visit your ‘Friends List’ you will now see all of your Skype contacts and you will be ready to start.

If you are in Wi-Fi then all calls and instant messages will be completely FREE.

And for the iPhone application, even if you are not in Wi-Fi you can still make Skype calls and send Skype instant messages using Truphone Anywhere. We don’t charge anything for you to do this, but it will use your data package to connect the call or send the instant message.

We offer Skype on Truphone as a free service, and should this change in the future, we will let you know straight away.

Step1
Turn on your iPhone and make the first call.

Step2
Hit the “Add Call” button on your phone’s screen. The first call is put on hold temporarily. This allows you to speak with the second line privately before the calls are merged into a conference call.

Step3
Call the other conference call participants using the same process. If other participants are calling you, put the other calls on hold. Choose “Answer” and then select the “Merge” option.

Step4
Merge all of the calls into one conference call. To do this, select “Merge Calls.” At this point, you may start the conference call.

Step5
Drop a call from the conference. Tap the “Conference” button and then select the red phone symbol next to the person you want to drop from the call. Choose “End Call” to drop them from the conference.

Step6
Talk one-on-one with someone in the conference. Select the “Conference” button and hit “Private” next to the person you want to talk with. Press the “Merge Call” button to return to the conference.

(note: only the person who placed the original call can manage the conference)

The reason for VoIP is clear enough, cheaper international calls (or local calls if you use too many minutes.  BTW, check this app out for tracking minutes!   The app I came across iconference on Cydia, offers VoIP w/ conferencing, but this will only work if everyone is on the jailbroken iphone, so this is out. There are a number of apps and web services out there for VoIP on the iphone.  I have truphone and Fring myself, however neither offer conference calls (that I know of.. correct me if I’m wrong)  However, Talkety does!  But, you have to have the pro account.  The site is down right now so I can not get the price, but I have a feeling that unless you do a lot of international calling, you may be better off just sticking to the iphone.

Just read in TechCrunch about a new itouch app by UK-based Truphone that allows you to make phone calls on your itouch if you have WIFI access. Sounds pretty good. Calls are free to other itouch users as well as other supported mobile devices and low rates to those outside the system, much like Skype. What is interesting to me here is idea of taking an itouch and getting near iphone capabilities.

Still missing is GPS, but check out this project adding GPS to the itouch and the first iPhone…

Past write up on iGPS and xGPS.

Now Truphone is not your only option.  There is Jajah and my favorite, Fring.

Past write up on Fring and saving money calling overseas.

So, between being able to make call, plugin GPS, all we need now is a way to connect a 3G card and we have all but incoming call iphone!

Then along comes Fring…

Although Fring is not a complete solution, it’s a step in the right direction.  The trick is to find wifi access; however that is getting easier and easier every day. The cost to dial to the US via skype is ~.02 a min.  However, calling INTO the UK varies.  Sometime between .02 and .2 cents. BUT, it can get as bad as $2.92 for Premium Rate – Band 5.  Check first before calling.

{UPDATE} I made a call to a friend in the UK from iphone to iphone via Fring and it seem to work ok.  The sound quality was not all that great, but good enough.  The time delay was between .5 sec and 2 sec. I would recommend people turn Auto-Lock off and then turn the screen brightness all the way down.  Our conversation degraded a bit at the phone went into sleep mode.

http://www.skype.com/prices/callrates/

As an an iPhone owner, AT&T gives you its discounted “World Traveler” rate of only $1.69 per minute. Although you could pay more depending on the circumstance.  So if you have any plans of traveling overseas, I would recommend you download Fring and scout ahead for wifi spots.  Will save you a bit of cash.

The interesting experiment will be using Fring with backgrounder (which IS a jailbreak app).  By running Fring in the background, you can keep your skype and/or other chat channels open while using other iPhone apps. Caution with backgrounder though, from the reports I have read, its still a bit buggy and requires a restart every now and again.