
New gadget on Indiegogo aims to kill roaming charges - mardysmith
http://www.cybershack.com.au/news/australian-global-roaming-killer-strone-turns-to-crowdfunding-280915-2
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Gys
'The Strone Roam is a smart device that allows you to make and receive calls
and messages on your phone in another country while eliminating roaming
charges. Simply insert your SIM card into the Roam and leave it at home. While
away, calls and messages will find you on our Smartphone App.'

So the active sim stays at home. It needs wifi to forward any calls. Then at
your destination you need wifi (internet) as well to receive them (or make
them).

Interesting. Although I am not sure why I would want to keep my mobile number.
A similar setup for landline numbers in any country is much easier (needs no
hardware and no safe location with wifi).

~~~
josephpmay
I believe you don't need wifi. You just need a data SIM from the country
you're visiting. And because data is so cheap in a number of European and
Asian countries, this could actually be an awesome product for some people.

~~~
Gys
Correct, it does not need wifi. I was mistaken. I just looked it up again and
it says it needs an ethernet cable to connect to internet.

~~~
mattei
Matthew from Strone here. Yes just use the supplied ethernet cable to connect
the Roam to the internet!

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CPLX
This article seems overly deferent, the tech prowess required for making this
an actual pleasant and workable experience for $135 or so isn't obviously easy
to obtain.

The article implies that "it's not like customers are speculating on this"
because they have units "almost" ready to ship. That's dubious -- nobody has
tried one of these things.

Just anecdotally, my experience using portable wifi hotspots, like the
products from CLEAR or Boost Mobile, suggests that having a pleasant calling
experience on one of these things is far from a guarantee. Getting voice calls
to feel and sound non-annoying over some type of relayed data connection in a
foreign country is a non-trivial problem to solve and there's no real actual
evidence in this article that they've solved it.

With that said I sure hope they do, I would find this product very useful. But
it seems like the jury is very much out.

~~~
mikestrone
Hi I look after Marketing for Strone so I'm far from the most technical person
to answer your questions. We will be posting updates on Indiegogo but just to
fill you in on a few things. The technology works. We have completed test
calls using the hardware. We will be sending out our first batch of Beta units
in a couple of weeks. Our apps are working now. I called the US last week and
spoke for 40 minutes and the line was crystal clear with no delay. I would
love to hear what else you would like to hear about our product?

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glxc
This is pretty cool, a project that directly addresses a problem faced by many
millennial travelers including myself.

A few questions that are unclear: do you still need WiFi on your phone while
traveling for the service to work? The mechanism for placing calls is still
unclear, as opposed to receiving calls.

Republic Wireless and Google's Project Fi seem to be tackling related
problems.

~~~
mardysmith
And... for the calling, it looks like you do that from the app too, when
you're in foreign parts.

~~~
mattei
Matthew from Strone here. Yes - while your SIM is in the Roam all incoming &
outgoing calls and SMS flow through the Strone app. Basically the Strone acts
as your messaging and calling apps on your phone for that SIM in the Roam.

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breitling
Check out [http://roamly.com](http://roamly.com)

Their solution is to make you pay local calling rates when you're abroad. You
still get to keep your same phone number and you don't even need an internet
connection to make it work.

To me, that's much better than phone calls over a WiFi or a Data connection.

~~~
mardysmith
Their website's down FYI

~~~
mikestrone
Hi - it's working for me????

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Tinyyy
> The campaign uses a Flexible Funding model, meaning Strone will still
> receive all money raised if the USD$50,000 goal isn't met. As such, backers
> will also receive their units.

Or it means that you could not receive anything at all if they don’t have
enough money to produce at a certain scale?

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propersystems
We did some analysis of Strone Roam campaign, make sure you read before
backing.

[http://proper.systems/strone-roam-roaming-
wierdness/#more-34...](http://proper.systems/strone-roam-roaming-
wierdness/#more-342)

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danielsamuels
Or join Three in the UK and get free roaming anyway.

[http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home](http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home)

~~~
dagw
As long as you only go to one of the 18 countries included in that deal and as
long as you aren't there for an "extended" time.

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Gys
You could also forward your mobile number to a virtual landline number
(forwarding your number is normally supported by any provider). Then connect
that landline number to a sip app on your mobile.

No hardware needed.

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Grue3
Well, it's Indiegogo. Regardless of how technically feasible it is, how many
of Indiegogo products you know that actually shipped?

~~~
mikestrone
We are quite well advanced along the product development path. I think what we
might do is capture on video a live call. Would that help?

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mattei
Matthew from Strone here - I run Product. Feel free to ask questions, I'll
check in regularly!

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GordonS
Wow, great idea! I'm having yet another 'why didn't I think of that?!' moment!

~~~
mardysmith
Yeah, happens to the best of us :)

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rasz_pl
VOIP for unwashed masses

~~~
mardysmith
There's a lot of people out there that wouldn't know how to mess around with
SIP protocols

