Skype on iPhone

Before starting the summer 2012 adventure of working as a checkpoint worker with The Great Race I worked on a plan on how I would communicate with friends, family and especially my kids once I went into Canada. Our adventure started in Traverse City, MI and went around the Great Lakes in Canada and back into the US in New York before ending in Dearborn, MI.  After looking at a plan for my Verizon iPhone 4 as well as some prepaid phones (as the sales rep at Verizon suggested) I decided I would try downloading the Skype app for the iPhone and try it.

I also added $10 worth of credit to my account

Once into Canada and settled into the hotels I would connect to the hotel wi-fi to make a phone call. Majority of the time the phone calls went through and were clear. There were a few times the calls were dropped which skype would say it was due to a weak wi-fi signal. Usually I would have at least three bars and still received that message. Sometimes there was a delay during the conversations but overall, I was very, very pleased and in fact thankful I was able to talk to my loved ones back in the U.S. for a very reasonable price.

There is a drawback though when you do call someone: your phone number does not show up on their caller ID. So, if you know you are going to use Skype, let your family and friends know ahead of time that an odd number may call  them.

After spending nearly four days in Canada and making about 15 phone calls I ended up with approximately a $4.90 credit.

If you know you will be going out of the country, have an iPhone or another smartphone and you know you will have access to wi-fi I highly recommend using skype. While it is not perfect, it is the best thing to use when you want to talk to those who are important in your life.

Otterbox for the iPhone 4

If someone asked me earlier in the year if I knew what an Otterbox was I would have told them no. Some of my friends on Facebook had been talking about having an Otterbox for their phone but it still didn’t clue me in as to what in the world they were talking about. Eventually I did some research, mainly going to Ebay and finding out exactly what an Otterbox was.

So when it was time for my full upgrade with Verizon, I chose to purchase the iPhone 4. The Salesman recommended the Otterbox as it is supposed to protect the phone as it is made out of glass. Even though I was purchasing insurance I decided it would be a good thing to invest in an Otterbox.

Three months after purchasing it I am very disappointed in it. The only two great things about the Otterbox is that one time I did accidentally drop the phone in a parking lot the Otterbox did its job and protected it. I have also been around a lot of water: theme parks, the beach, swimming pools and having the Otterbox made it to where I could still use the phone while it had some protection.

What I am most disappointed about is that the rubber cover around the shell no longer fits and the part that covers/protects the charger port is now hanging by a thin piece of the rubber. As a matter of fact, that part has never fit properly since the Otterbox was installed at the Verizon store.

If I were to rate the Otterbox on a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 4. I expected something I paid $50 for to last longer than three months. It definitely does its job by protecting, especially if the phone falls, I just believe the overall quality of the rubber part is not up to par.