You don’t have to listen too closely to hear voip and other tech bloggers talk about how for the consumer market, services and applications have to be “dead simple”. Well here’s something embarrassing…for me. 

I’m not an IT pro, but I’m not a novice pc user either. I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop, which I love. I’ve had it since last June. When I started demo-ing voip applications for this blog, especially web click-to-call, and pc phone applications, I was using one of two headset/microphones. I mean my laptop has two clearly marked jacks for audio in/audio out. I futz about with these headsets on a regular basis, plugging in, unplugging, trying different things. My husband and I share them you see. So one time I was trying to find my headset and get it plugged in in time to answer an incoming Skype call.

“You know,” my husband says, “Your Dell probably has a built in mic.” Nope, I’d already checked that out. I looked for one, a label, a little pinhole that might be it. I even looked on through the Dell stuff they sent me. I don’t think it has one. Meanwhile, Skype is bleeping away.

“Well you know,” my husband says, “A laptop that new, it’s probably got a built in mic.”

I answer the call. Yes, my laptop has a built in mic. Okay, I’m a dope.

So even if it’s “dead simple”, even if it’s “built in” for crying out loud, for some of us that just isn’t enough.

It’s been about a year since I bought my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop and I’ve really loved it, except for one little thing that’s become a big annoying problem. When I have a headset plugged in, I quite often hear squealch-like static that renders the conversation inaudible. Calls I’ve had on SightSpeed and Skype have been plagued by this problem, and until now I always put it down to cheap headset hardware. Instead it turns out to be a Dell design flaw.  My searches on the Dell forums indicate that it’s been more than just me experiencing this static and the culprit seems to be a wonky bit of wiring in the headset jack.

So, I’ve broke up with analog headsets  forever and purchased a Plantronics DSP-400 folding USB headset. So far so good. It’s a wired headset and costs about $100.

Some wireless headsets worth a look if you’re having a similiar Dell moment is the Plantronics CS-50 USB Wireless Headset, Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset, or the Plantronics Audio 910 Bluetooth headset. All are pricey but going wireless may be worth it.

The intrepid Tom Keating reviews two headsets here:

http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/gadgets/plantronics-voyager-510usb-bluetooth-headset-review.asp

http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/headsets/plantronics-audio-910-headset.asp

I’ve had a Skype account for awhile, but haven’t used it much because I’d decided to go with Vonage. Now that I’ve cancelled my Vonage service, I’m ready to really put Skype through its paces.

At the time of writing, Skype is up to release 2.5.0.137 so I’ve had to upgrade my Skype software. NOt a problem. Their websit and download instructions are clear enough.

You are prompted to close the existing Skype version if it is running, click the Download button and then the Run button when prompted, and follow the rest of the installation prompts. That’s it.

I recently upgraded my desktop to a Dell laptop, and I had a  headset kicking around. A huge Plantronics thing (a) that must have been originally for my husband’s gaming, but works OK for my purposes. Another way to go is to get just  a microphone (b) and use the speakers on the computer for sound, like a speakerphone. The third nifty piece of hardware I’d like to show you is a “dongle” (c)that allows you to switch between headset mode (in which all sound is piped through your headset), and regular speaker mode. Since I don’t plan on having my headset on all the time, it’s convenient to toggle between the two modes at the push of a button. This gizmo costs less than $15. Go see your local Radio Shack.

(a) (b)  (c)