Switch control box

[krw5927]

Hey Phillip,

Speaking of the app alerting when credits are running out, will it start accounting for the 30 free texts per month that T-mobile gives now on the $3 plan?

[phillipny]

Hey Kurt

Yes when you start the app it should show $3.00 in there for the initial use
P

[krw5927]

Originally Posted by phillipny

Hey Kurt

Yes when you start the app it should show $3.00 in there for the initial use
P

Not exactly what I was asking Phillip. Every month, T-mobile users on the $3.00 plan get 30 free texts now. Which means the balance should not decline for the first 15 text commands sent to the Switchbox since it uses two texts per command/response pair.

As it is now, the app does not consider the first 15 text commands to be free, and incorrectly decrements the balance each time. The actual T-mobile account balance doesn't decrement because those texts were free. Thus the balance shown on the app never matches the actual balance on the account.

Not a huge deal but one you might want to look into with your next app revision.

[Lionclaw]

Lycamobile might be a good option for this. They are a T-Mobile MVNO, so if T-Mobile works well in your area then Lycamobile should as well. They no longer advertise their pay as you go rates as far as I can tell, but texts are $0.04 and you only pay for outgoing texts. The sim is free, minimum recharge is $10, and you must send at least 1 text every 90 days to keep the assigned phone number.

[BruceEicher]

Katie gave me a Switchbox for Christmas!

Phillip, you must have helped her and recommended AT&T for Oregon. I e-mailed you for sim set-up as per instructions. No hurry....I was playing with the app, and went online and added account credit. The phone number is active and I wasted some credit fooling around .

Another thought; would it be feasible to add a schedule/timer to the app, so while you are sleeping it makes the pre-programmed text call? Then the simple system would be even better!

Thanks!
I look forward to the great product!

[phillipny]

Hey guys,

Happy to help. Any SIM card by any GSM carrier can be used
- Tmobile
- ATT
- Bell, Rogers, etc in Canada
- Lyca works great (I think they use tmobile towers)

Each company has different rates for texts and plans.

Phone calls are free to use with Switchbox and will not subtract any $ from any account above. If you use the app, you can trigger outlet1 with a free phone call 100000x and its still free.

** To answer the tmobile question, let me explain really quick. Switchbox comes with $3.34 of credit on your account. Tmobile takes $3.00 away from the balance and converts this to 30x messages. If you check your online account, on the left side of page you will see "30 messages" and on the right side "$0.34). So you are in fact paying for those 30x texts. Nothing is free unfortunately **

[RV-4]

Hi Phillip

I just bought a SwitchBox from someone here on VAF and I curious to know if it will work with Rogers here in Canada??

I will also require a new Sim Card...Are these cards standard Sim Cards that you can get at any electronics Stores or do they have to be purchase from you???

Thanks

Bruno
Rv4@videotron.ca

[phillipny]

Hey bruno

You can use any SIM card from any company

Just needs to be
- GSM based
- full size chip

thats all, pretty easy to swap cards
p

[FLY6]

Hey Bruno, if you find a Canadin SIM card that is as good as deal as t-mobile, can you post it. I 've had a few problems with reception with t-mobile but am unable to find anything Canadian in comparison to t-mobile as far as price.

Thx, Al

[phillipny]

Hey Al, Did you try the Bell/Rogers cards?