May 24, 2005

Skype - Still Loving It

I know I've blogged about it before, but I'm just LOVING this Skype service. Personally, I'm only using it for Skype to Skype calling, but my friend Dave has turned it into his primary phone line when he's on the road (which is all the time).

What is Skype? Skype is a Voice Over IP application that acts like a telephone. Using my headset, I can talk to other Skype users without worrying about long distance rates or using my cellphone minutes. They also have options for having your own telephone number, so people can call you by phone and you answer through your broadband connection. One great feature of this is that you can use Skype from your hotel room when you're on the road. Dave uses his with his notebook PC, and has access to his phone line everywhere he goes. He's reduced his cellphone minutes to 200 per month, and saves big bucks. He has both the SkypeIn function (the phone number) and SkypeOut (call phone numbers for 2 cents per minute).

If you haven't tried VoIP yet, it's a great way to go. As I say, I'm not using SkypeOut or SkypeIn yet, and I'm loving it. If you're interested in trying it out for free, with the PC-to-PC option only, like I am, click here to try Skype.

Skype me by clicking this link once you've installed Skype.

Just after typing this, I spent over half an hour talking with Danny Chen, a young man in China who is practicing his English. We had an enjoyable conversation, and I picked up some new Mandarin words to use.

Posted by Lockjaw at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2005

Cellphone Happiness

I've finally joined the 21st Century. I got a cellphone. I needed to be able to be reached directly, and to call home regularly, so I took the jump. I looked at the various options, and talked to a lot of cellphone users before I decided which company to go with, as well. The winner? Alltel.

When comparing plans, I took into consideration several factors. The major ones were price, access coverage, best access to free calling based on my calling habits, and other features. Plan cost was easy. Most companies gave similar amounts of plan minutes for the same price. The difference was within a couple hundred minutes either way, with Alltel right in the middle.

Access to the system of cell towers was one topic I heard a lot about when I talked to others. US Cellular users complained constantly about having no access, or having to walk outside their house to make a phone call. My best friend, on Sprint, lost signal while on the phone with me more than once. Alltel users, on the other hand, reported coverage almost everywhere they go.

Free minutes turned out to be the kicker. Alltel's Off Peak minutes run from 9pm to 6am. Two of the three long distance people I would call live two time zones away, meaning I would want to call after 9pm anyway to reach them. Mobile to Mobile minutes gives me, around here, better use among Alltel customers. There are just more of them. In addition, Alltel offers a free calls to home option. This means my wife and I can talk for unlimited minutes each month between the home phone and cellphone for free. That's cool. Alltel wins.

Saturday, my first bill arrived. I had, for the first few days, 100 minutes of use. The bill said I used 140, and charged me an extra $16. This will not do. I knew I hadn't used the phone for 140 minutes that cost me money. Careful analysis showed that the calls to home hadn't gone into effect until the beginning of the second day. I was charged for all calls home for all of the first day I had the phone, and there was a considerable amount of that going on that day. This morning, before the rush of calls began, I called Alltel about the problem. I explained it, and the lady on the phone fixed it, and all is well.

So, if you're looking for a cellphone, study well first. Find the plan that works best for you. Try to figure out the plan that makes more of your calls fall into the free minutes offerred. Ask around. From my own experience so far, I say choose Alltel.

Posted by Lockjaw at 1:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack