WingBee Pro - New app for making VOIP calls

[kiwiguy]

I downloaded WingBee Pro this morning - which is a new app that just appeared on the Marketplace - and after about an hour of trying to figure out how to configure it, I am successfully making VOIP calls with good sound quality and very little lag.

I had previously tried Fring (also in the market), but the call lag made it almost unusable (and the fact that you can not dial anyone that is not in your Contact list).

The main difficulty with setting up WingBee is that it comes with very poor documentation on what you need to do. The application itself only consists of a Settings summary screen and a Settings screen. There are no menu options, help screens, or anything else!

In addition, you actually have to install 2 different applications - WingBee and the Siproid VOIP app - but the good news is that Wingdee takes care of doing all of the Siproid configurations. You also have sign up with one of 5 VOIP providers or "distributers" that work with WingBee (Skype is NOT one of them!).

Here are the steps I followed - that I hope other people will find useful!

A. Install the WingBee Pro app and join a Distributer

1. Download WingBee Pro from the Market.
2. Start up the app. You will be presented with a no-frills screen where you have to select one of the 5 listed distributers. This is the company that will handle the VOIP calls. [I read up on all of the them and decided to go with Buzport. Buzport gives you 50 cents of free calls so that you can try it out before giving them any money - I made a bunch of US mobile-US mobile calls using these free "minutes" and they averaged .023 cents a minute]
3. Select your Distributer of choice and click on the Signup button. This will take you to that Distributer's web page where you can open an account. (You can also do this from your PC which is a little easier)
4. Once you have signed up, log in to your Distributer on the WingBee app.
5. If you log in successfully, you will be shown a very simple WingBee Settings Summary screen with 6 check-boxes and a single button labeled "Settings" at the bottom. There is no further Menu options or anything more.
6. Press the Settings button. This will display the main Settings screen (Again no further Menu options). At this stage the VOIP options on this screen will be grayed out as you need to install Siproid.

B. Installing the Siproid VOIP Component

1. Scroll down near the bottom of Settings screen to the section titled Plug-Ins and and select VOIP Component - Not Installed then select Click to Install . Use your browser to follow the link and download the Siproid.apk and install it (Make sure that you have enabled downloading from Unknown sources (non-Market locations) - If you do not know how to do that then do a search on "Install apk" on this forum)
2. After you have downloaded the apk file, install it then launch it.
3. When you launch this component you should see a blank grey screen with only the words "WingBee VOIP" at the top and an empty selection box.
4. You do not need to do anything else with this app, as all the Siproid configuration is handled by WingBee.

C. Configure VOIP

After installation of VOIP component, return to the WingBee app and the Settings page you should see all of the VOIP configuration options are now enabled.
The only 2 options I turned on at this stage were:

• Smart Mode - ON
• Interactive Mode - ON
  I also selected GPRS/3G Transport on the top screen.

[If you select VOIP preferred mode the application will try to use VOIP wherever possible. If you enable VOIP fallback – then if the VOIP call fails, the application will automatically fallback to using another “smart mode”.]

That is it. Now to actually make a VOIP call, do the following:

D. Make a VOIP Call

1. Turn ON Airplane mode to turn off your Verizon access (this verifies you are actually making the call without help from the Verizon network)
2. Turn ON WiFi
3. Go to your regular phone contacts list and select someone to call.
4. When you press the phone symbol, you should see a new popup Wingbee screen (see screenshot) with the following options:
   - Smart mode – the call will be requested through Web3Tel network callback
   - Cell mode – the call will be initiated through normal Verizon network
   - Voip mode – the call will be done through VOIP (if it’s possible)
   - Cancel
5. Select Voip mode and if all is well, your call will go through via VOIP (external to Verizon). :icon_ banana:

And that is it...!! In my tests I found good call quality and minimal lag - though that was just to other US mobile numbers. I head to Europe in 2 weeks (which is why I wanted this to work) and will report back my experiences after that.

WingBee also allows Callback options when overseas so that other people can call you and they will be redirected to a landline or other phone of your choice, but I have not tested this out.

If you need more details or more screenshots, I have also uploaded the WingBee Users Guide - though I did not find it much use as it is too generic.


More info on BuzPort

This company seems similar to Skype , but is based out of the UK. I carefully read the Terms and Conditions and there do not appear to be any monthly charges to use their service. The only downside is that you can only add money to your account via a service called MoneyBookers - which is a service like Paypal also based out of the UK. I joined MoneyBookers and loaded $5 on my Buzport account using my Mastercard with no issues. So so far, all looks above board.


.

 

[ldimick]

Very nice write up. In fact, it looks complete enough that I may give it a shot!

 

[kiwiguy]

Did you get it working ok?

 

[kiwiguy]

Fring just release a new update this week that now includes a dialpad so that you can make calls to people not in your contacts list. They have also improved the call quality, so much less of a delay.

I think WingBee still has an edge in call quality, but Fring is catching up fast.

 

[frankenfurter]

Instructions not working

Hey Kiwiguy, thanks a million for taking all the time to write such detailed instructions. I'm wondering if you can help with a problem I'm having.

Everything goes fine up until Section D, when I actually try to make the call. I followed your advice and chose Buzport as my distributor. I had no trouble setting up and account, and getting the complimentary 50 cents credit.

But when I select a number from my contacts list and I try to dial the number it doesn't work. Per the instructions, I selected voip mode, but I'm immediately taken to the settings screen inside WingBee Pro and get a message that says "VOIP call failed."

I've tried this with two separate numbers, but I get the same error each time.

Any thoughts?

 

[shuher]

Cool review, kiwiguy! i've tried it, works just fine.
nice thing that you can use it not only from the phone, but from a desktop too. in fact you can make a call from the site (buzport.com) and use any popular i-net messenger, see Buzport | Calls with internet messengers.

frankenfurter, have you listed your own phone in your account at buzport? write to their support, i've got a fast reply from them.

 

[dragonfly1113]

I downloaded WingBee Pro this morning - which is a new app that just appeared on the Marketplace - and after about an hour of trying to figure out how to configure it, I am successfully making VOIP calls with good sound quality and very little lag.

I had previously tried Fring (also in the market), but the call lag made it almost unusable (and the fact that you can not dial anyone that is not in your Contact list).

The main difficulty with setting up WingBee is that it comes with very poor documentation on what you need to do. The application itself only consists of a Settings summary screen and a Settings screen. There are no menu options, help screens, or anything else!

In addition, you actually have to install 2 different applications - WingBee and the Siproid VOIP app - but the good news is that Wingdee takes care of doing all of the Siproid configurations. You also have sign up with one of 5 VOIP providers or "distributers" that work with WingBee (Skype is NOT one of them!).

Here are the steps I followed - that I hope other people will find useful!


A. Install the WingBee Pro app and join a Distributer

1. Download WingBee Pro from the Market.
2. Start up the app. You will be presented with a no-frills screen where you have to select one of the 5 listed distributers. This is the company that will handle the VOIP calls. [I read up on all of the them and decided to go with Buzport. Buzport gives you 50 cents of free calls so that you can try it out before giving them any money - I made a bunch of US mobile-US mobile calls using these free "minutes" and they averaged .023 cents a minute]
3. Select your Distributer of choice and click on the Signup button. This will take you to that Distributer's web page where you can open an account. (You can also do this from your PC which is a little easier)
4. Once you have signed up, log in to your Distributer on the WingBee app.
5. If you log in successfully, you will be shown a very simple WingBee Settings Summary screen with 6 check-boxes and a single button labeled "Settings" at the bottom. There is no further Menu options or anything more.
6. Press the Settings button. This will display the main Settings screen (Again no further Menu options). At this stage the VOIP options on this screen will be grayed out as you need to install Siproid.

B. Installing the Siproid VOIP Component

1. Scroll down near the bottom of Settings screen to the section titled Plug-Ins and and select VOIP Component - Not Installed then select Click to Install . Use your browser to follow the link and download the Siproid.apk and install it (Make sure that you have enabled downloading from Unknown sources (non-Market locations) - If you do not know how to do that then do a search on "Install apk" on this forum)
2. After you have downloaded the apk file, install it then launch it.
3. When you launch this component you should see a blank grey screen with only the words "WingBee VOIP" at the top and an empty selection box.
4. You do not need to do anything else with this app, as all the Siproid configuration is handled by WingBee.

C. Configure VOIP

After installation of VOIP component, return to the WingBee app and the Settings page you should see all of the VOIP configuration options are now enabled.

The only 2 options I turned on at this stage were:

• Smart Mode - ON
• Interactive Mode - ON
  I also selected GPRS/3G Transport on the top screen.

[If you select VOIP preferred mode the application will try to use VOIP wherever possible. If you enable VOIP fallback – then if the VOIP call fails, the application will automatically fallback to using another “smart mode”.]

That is it. Now to actually make a VOIP call, do the following:


D. Make a VOIP Call

1. Turn ON Airplane mode to turn off your Verizon access (this verifies you are actually making the call without help from the Verizon network)
2. Turn ON WiFi
3. Go to your regular phone contacts list and select someone to call.
4. When you press the phone symbol, you should see a new popup Wingbee screen (see screenshot) with the following options:
   - Smart mode – the call will be requested through Web3Tel network callback
   - Cell mode – the call will be initiated through normal Verizon network
   - Voip mode – the call will be done through VOIP (if it’s possible)
   - Cancel
5. Select Voip mode and if all is well, your call will go through via VOIP (external to Verizon). :icon_ banana:

And that is it...!! In my tests I found good call quality and minimal lag - though that was just to other US mobile numbers. I head to Europe in 2 weeks (which is why I wanted this to work) and will report back my experiences after that.

WingBee also allows Callback options when overseas so that other people can call you and they will be redirected to a landline or other phone of your choice, but I have not tested this out.

If you need more details or more screenshots, I have also uploaded the WingBee Users Guide - though I did not find it much use as it is too generic.


More info on BuzPort

This company seems similar to Skype , but is based out of the UK. I carefully read the Terms and Conditions and there do not appear to be any monthly charges to use their service. The only downside is that you can only add money to your account via a service called MoneyBookers - which is a service like Paypal also based out of the UK. I joined MoneyBookers and loaded $5 on my Buzport account using my Mastercard with no issues. So so far, all looks above board.


.

Awesome write up, do you think that this wingbee is better than using Google Voice/ Gizmo5/Sipdroid way?

Will give it a try tonight when i leave work. really need something for when im in aruba.