VOIP phone nirvana is achieved

Well, what do you know?

There is a simple path to making voip calls from a cell phone that has wifi only.

For my iPhone, I installed google voice, and then a free app called Talkatone.

Talkatone interfaces with google voice.

When someone calls your google voice number, talkatone makes it ring just like it normally would.

When you call out through talkatone, it rings on the other end as coming from your google voice number.

VICTORY!

Well, mostly. The Talkatone iPhone app is a bit buggy, crashes from time to time, and the call quality is not very good even when you are right next to a wifi access point. I tried making a couple of calls while standing right next to my wireless router. There was a 1-second or so delay, and the call quality was tinny and static-y. I would also say that the GUI in the app is a bit poorly thought out.

All those negatives- but I still call it a victory. A wifi enabled cell phone with no phone contract/phone service can be used to make phone calls. Awesome!

I can only assume this capability will either continue to grow, or, be randomly stamped out by The Man anytime it becomes too popular.

Thanks Talkatone! You guys are great!