The W&M Tech Byte Part 1: Use AT&T? Have signal?

Recently, a well known scientist was quoted as saying “technology is our friend.” Ok, so that scientist happened to be Howard Stark, father of “Iron Man” Tony Stark in Iron Man 2, but I feel like the significance of the quote still holds true.

Ok, I’ll admit it. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I am a bit of a tech geek. Ok fine, I’m a very big tech geek. Since coming to the College, I’ve found that it’s kind of necessary to be accustomed to gadgetry to some extent. I mean, I’m going to a College that was labeled by Wired magazine a few years back as being one of the most digitally wired colleges. It comes with the territory. But that’s also why I’ve decided to start a new series of blogs on the site that is aimed at providing a bit of tech news around campus both nationally and local.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll help a poor stranger out in the process.

For the first blog, I decide I would tackle the age old question of: why the heck is AT&T’s service so frustratingly bad on-campus?

So, if you are a new student coming to campus or a parent looking into the details of your soon to be freshman, I’m sure most of you have asked the question of, “what phone service is good here?” and watched as W&M students who have AT&T have given a look of disgust as they recounted their tales of going just short of making an antenna out of aluminum foil, copper and wire to boost reception.

And I’m sure some parents may have looked on in horror as they realized that the iPhone that they bought for their nagging teen, will suddenly be as useful for contacting their soon to be student as a solo cup with string.

There’s no doubt about it, AT&T service on-campus sucks. It’s like that clock that tries to adjust to the atomic clock when in fine print, you read that the clock can’t be anywhere near buildings, computers, wi-fi, cell phones, desk lamps, oh yeah and OTHER clocks (this coming from personal experience of course).

Well, dear users of AT&T, I have a simple fix for you that might be useful, but unfortunately, this one will only work if you guys have an iPhone.

The solution comes in the form of an iPhone app called “Line2” by a developer named Toktumi. (Witty I know) Line2 is an ingenious little app that basically utilizes a wi-fi signal and uses the internet connection to switch over an existing call onto a VOIP (voice-over IP) call.

Basically, no signal, no problem, as long as you have an established wi-fi signal nearby, if you suddenly lose the AT&T signal, and trust me you will, a call made over Line2 will automatically switch the call over to W&M’s wireless internet network and you can go on your merry way chatting it up.

Assume you get a call while you don’t have signal, such as in a dormitory or in a classroom. No worries, Line2 will just pick up the signal off the wifi network, and switch it over to AT&T 3G or Edge when it gets into range.

The app itself is free to use for 30 days, but after that, it will cost about $15 for unlimited service. Keep in mind that this $15 will be in addition to the AT&T bill that you already pay if you want to use the AT&T cellular service. In addition, you’ll want to keep the AT&T bill if you still want to do things like text or video message, as those features aren’t included in Line2.

But think of the money you could also save by downgrading a monthly plan of minutes and just using the unlimited feature of

Line2. In the end, I’d say it’s a bargain.

An app like this, according to their website, is an industry first, and it’s definitely useful for students at William & Mary, whose parents may not want to pay the $200 to cancel a AT&T contract or constant complaints from their child of not getting signal. Maybe it’s also an excuse to have your parents buy you an iPhone too who knows?

Whatever it is, it’s one of the few tools out there that will solve the issue of no signal, and hopefully get AT&T students up and chatting again.

For more information, check out the Line2 website or check out the New York Times review.