Just a phew PhoneGnome tips to pass along:

What if your Internet goes down?

Okay, like my Internet never goes down except that it DID right at the exact moment I went to make a phone call. My PhoneGnome (actually the phone connected to PhoneGnome) wasn’t giving me any dial tone. According to David Bekenmeyer, top gnome over at TelEvolution, PhoneGnome takes a few minutes to detect that Internet has disappeared. DO NOT panic. Wait a few minutes and your PhoneGnome will switch over to PSTN mode and give you dial tone.

But what’s with the Phunky Dial Tone?

If your Internet goes down and your PhoneGnome switches to PSTN mode, you’ll hear a phunky sounding dial tone, higher pitched than normal. It’s not a malfunction. You can make regular landline calls just fine. The PhoneGnome folks thought that a distinct dial tone would be helpful in alerting you to the fact that Internet calling is temporarily unavailable. If you find this feature alarming rather than reassuring, let them know. The TelEvolution support gnomes are very receptive to feedback so your ideas are welcome.

Why is there a ring delay between my PhoneGnome and the other phones in the house?

This I noticed right away. When I receive an incoming call, the upstairs phone rings twice before the PhoneGnome starts ringing. It was bizarre to hear the ringing out of sync. Almost sounded like two separate calls coming in. What’s happening is the PhoneGnome needs a bit of time to collect caller ID and other information before passing the call through. The best way to solve this is to put all your phones in the house on PhoneGnome. For $19.95, you can buy a Whole House Wiring kit that uses the Line 2 wiring to distribute PhoneGnome features to all your phones in the house. If messing with wiring isn’t your thing, an easier and inexpensive option is to buy a cordless telephone with multiple handsets.  Connect the cordless phone base station to PhoneGnome, and deploy the extra handsets around the house.

 

 

Peter Csathy’s post on how SightSpeed runs things in the office is a great testament to how things CAN work if a company has the will. I started working exclusuively from home in 2003, but even before that point I remember having to negotiate hard to work even a few days out of the office–and that was as a contract tech writer. I mean if a contractor has trouble convincing management, an employee doesn’t have a hope. Since then, I’ve learned that it takes a certain kind of discipline to work effectively from home, and not everyone can do it well. However, with commute times for people edging up into the 4 hour range, companies have to start taking work-at-home scenarios more seriously. The impact of commuters on the environment is staggering as well. We need “to commute less and collaborate more — and more effectively — online”, as Peter puts it.

With tools like SightSpeed that are inexpensive and easy to deploy, there’s really no excuse for not entertaining a work-at-home policy. However, based on my experience, it hasn’t been the tools so much as the mindset. The biggest obstacle I see is a lack of skills or expertise in managing remote workers. It’s not the same as managing employees in the office. But there’s no training and no support, so managers operate the way they always have. It’s up to the remote worker to adapt and fit into the system. And guess what, there’s no support or training for employees to be fantasitc home-based workers either. In my view, you need both.

Alec Saunders reviews Talkster, a new service that lets you make inexpensive cell phone calls anywhere in the world, and mobile to IM (Instant Messenger) calls. In Talkster’s words: “There are a couple of cool perks to note with the Talkster service; some of the most important being that there is no subscription to the service to buy (ala Rebtel), there is no software to download (ala Jajah), it works on the cell network you are already used to using (no 3G requirement ala Fring), and it works on the phone you already have today (not just select Java phones). It also works today, with popular IM services MSN, GoogleTalk, and Gizmo Project. In a nutshell, Talkster is the first company to enable mobile-to-PC Voice over IM (VoIM) calls, that works without software, on virtually any phone.” That sounds like something worth trying.

Alec reviews it using his Blackberry and he’s impressed by how easy it is to browse his list of contacts, view their online presence, and make calls. While the service works without software on virutally any phone that supports a browser, in reality only browser-friendly phones need apply. For example, my cell phone has a browser, but the phone itself is of the entry level variety so using the web enabled capabilities is awkward (I find). I’ll be giving Talkster a try with my basic handset and with my husband’s fancy one and I’ll add my comments to the mix.

 

Here’s an idea from Michael at GroovyGreen.com who commented on my Three Tries to Cancel Vonage post. When he called to cancel his Vonage service, he had this great yarn prepared:

“This is what you do: Call their HELP line, go to the cancellation option and then wait. (Luckily, I waited about 5 minutes.) Next, as soon as the person gets on the line say, “Hello, My name is Michael and I would like to cancel my account because I am moving to another country.” This will immediately cause them to lose most of their script and go to Page 2. The kind woman on the other line then asked me if the move was permanent. I told her that I would be overseas for the next 10 years. She countered by saying that Vonage could be used anywhere, it was one of the advantages, etc. I agreed that the thought had crossed my mind, but unfortunately I was moving to a place where Internet service was not allowed. She asked if she might know the location of this country. I told her Ethiopia. She asked if there were any towns nearby that might have Internet access, I told her no, because I was moving to a monastery and it was 100 miles away from the nearest town. Very remote. She became quiet and then asked if there was anyone living in the U.S. that could use the account while I was gone. As this point, I was like, ‘Jeesh…’, but I went on, “No, there’s nobody here in the U.S. I could transfer this too. That’s part of why I’m leaving the country. My family has passed away, my dog just died, and I just don’t value material possessions as much as I used to.’

She got started on canceling my account….”

This caught my eye on the wire today. Montreal-based BabyTel is expanding into the US market. I first heard about them when I was compiling my list of Canadian VOIP providers. They say they’re different from the wake of other VOIP providers out there, offering not just competitive rates and plans but also “innovative” services and outstanding customer service, “something the so-called giants have trouble delivering”. (Wu-hoooo…wu-hoo-hoo).

They’re coming to the party with all the usual features of a VOIP service provider, but  they’re also offering fax-to-email and follow me services (when multiple devices ring at the same time). Sorry, that’s a little shy of the Wow! factor isn’t it?

If innovation is really on their mind, they should give PhoneGnome’s David Beckenmeyer a call, or at least heed his plea.

BabyTel does offer service in my area, though (Vancouver), which is great. Plus they’ve got a softphone option instead of adaptor. Maybe I’ll give ‘em a try. I’m interested to see what “responsive tech support” is really like.

One appealing feature of PhoneGnome is that it can automatically detect when you are making a local call and when you are dialing long distance. However, local dialing in my area is 10-digits. In other words, I have to dial the area code then the number. In many other places, local calls are still the 7-digit number which poses no problem.

In my case, PhoneGnome thought that 10-digit local numbers were long distance and so placed the call using my Internet telephone service (I use Gizmo Project).

There’s an easy solution. Here’s what Televolution tech support had to say:

1. Log in to your PhoneGnome account.
2. Click Settings > Advanced Settings.
3. In Local Dialing Options, click the Custom button. DON’T change any other option on this page.
4. Click Save.

This did the trick. Tech support clarifies that sometimes PhoneGnome miss-detects a given number but usually this setup is adequate for the vast majority of users. If, after making this change, your PhoneGnome still doesn’t automatically detect local numbers, contact tech support for further instructions.Another way to force PhoneGnome to dial using the local telephone service is to dial ##, listen for a high-pitched dial tone, then dial the number.

I was following the thread started by PhoneBoy and SightSpeed’s Peter Csathy about the obvious advantages of communicating with someone in person. Facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language are huge non-verbal cues that say a lot. But, when face time isn’t an option, then real-time video calling (using SightSpeed of course) is the next best thing. Peter himself runs his Berkeley-based  team from San Diego, and couldn’t do so effectively without SightSpeed. PhoneBoy agrees and thinks that SightSpeed rocks, “Almost like being there”.

But, I’m curious to know if the folks who use SightSpeed today are making spontaneous or pre-planned calls. I confess that when I use it, it’s usually a planned thing. I’ll email or text someone and say, “OK to SightSpeed you now?”, or I pre-arrange a call at a certain time.

My guess is that live video from the desktop is still so new that people hesitate at “surprising” someone with a video call. Unless of course you’re The SightSpeed Guy. You may want to check out his latest blog post. He’s wearing a tie. Must be the staff Christmas lunch.

I’m trying to get into Gizmo. Gizmo Project is a free Internet telephone (or softphone) that lets you make free or low cost phone calls on the Internet. With Skype, you are limited to calling fellow Skypers. With Gizmo, you can call other Gizmo members for free, as well as GoogleTalk users, Jabber users, and SIP phone numbers. Unlike Skype, which relies on a proprietary or closed network, Gizmo users are free to contact any Internet phone number on an open SIP network. 

With Gizmo, calls to regular landline phones and mobiles are subject either to very low rates, or a complicated free call plan that has something to do with calling registered Gizmo members who don’t happen to be online but who normally ARE online AND active Gizmo users. I’m being a bit cheeky here, but free calls really are a good thing in any form.

But as for using it, I’ve had a few hiccups which suprised me. First, I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing and imported my whole Outlook address book into it. Many entries have no phone numbers, so I ended up with a pretty useless list. The only way to delete the entries is to right-click each contact individually and click Delete. Or, log into my sipphone.com account and delete them from there. Both methods take a long time. Yes, I should have payed more attention but I think I was on autopilot.

For folks like me, a pop up or note in the dialog box that says “Some of your Outlook contacts do not include telephone number information. Do you want to continue?” would have been helpful. Or better yet, why not give me the option to import only those contacts with the phone number field filled in. I mean, I can’t remember which Outlook contacts have a phone number attached and which don’t until I look it up in Outlook.

Then, adding contacts using the Contacts > Search for member command didn’t seem to work. Before I lost my mind I upgraded to the newest Gizmo version and that fixed the problem.

These aren’t big issues, but it definitely took me more than 10 minutes to make my first call. Many of the opinions I’ve read seem to indicate that Gizmo is the favoured choice. Is it because it is the anti-Skype or is it easier to use? I’ll let you know when I’ve used it more.

Did you know that for the year 2006, “J” was the most popular letter of the alphabet? Okay, I made that up. I have no idea if it’s true, but three out of ten most popular baby names last year started with J….

I had a comment a few days ago from Eric C. wanting to know about Jaxtr, Jangl and JaJah. What’s the difference? What indeed! People (like me) are starting to ask questions like this because…who can remember what these guys do! They sort of sound alike, they’re in the same industry space, they appeal to the same type of folks. Eric then wanted to know how the Js relate to GrandCentral. Oiy!

Jaxtr:

• Provides a click-to-call widget (button) for social networking sites like MySpace, web sites, and blogs. Visitors to your page have the option to call you, send you a text message, or leave you a voice message. They don’t need a microphone or headset. They call you by entering their phone number in the widget, Jaxtr then provides a local number for them to dial.
• Free registration, then you buy jax credits to forward calls to your phone. 100 free credits per month.  You can send unlimited calls to voice mail for free and unlimited text messages for free. Calls to other Jaxtr users are also free.
• No software download required.
• Unique feature is Voiceblast. You can record your own message or greeting that’s played automatically or on mouse-click when a someone visits your web page. I’ve added my voiceblast to my About page here.
• Like Jangl, Jaxtr has privacy options that allow you and the person calling to hide your phone numbers or email addresses.
• Like GrandCentral, you can block incoming calls or forward calls based on caller ID. Unlike GrandCentral, Jaxtr does not give you a 10-digit phone number that can be dialed from any phone. People calling you are given a special 10-digit number they can use, but they must use the same phone every time. If they call from a different phone, Jaxtr provides a different number.
• I like it.

Jangl:

• Provides a click-to-call widget (let’s call this widget dialing) for social network sites, web sites and blogs that masks the incoming and outgoing numbers. It’s a way for people to make and receive calls without giving out phone numbers. I guess the advantage here is privacy. For example, you can post the Jangl widget on MySpace without revealing your personal phone number.
• When you register, you receive a Jangl ID that people use to call you. Someone enters your Jangl ID in the online widget, Jangl then gives them a special number to call you on a regular phone. Your number and the calling person’s number are never exchanged.
• Registration is free, then you pay per call based on telephone company charges.
• You can choose from several cool looking widgets
• Not really like GrandCentral at all, except in that they both have widget dialing (GrandCentral recently introduced web buttons).
• Sounds a lot like Jaxtr but I still found Jangl a bit confusing and not a lot of info or online support. I haven’t used it much.

JaJah

• Provides web-based dialing, or dialing from a web page, without a microphone or headset. All calls are made phone to phone, whether landline or mobile. This means the person you’re calling does not have to be connected to the internet.
• You log in to your Jajah account, enter your friend’s number, and click the CALL button. Your phone will ring, you pick up, then your friend’s phone will ring.
• No software download required.
• Other Jajah services and tools include conference calls, call scheduling, access to Jajah phone book from the web browser on your mobile phone, Jajah plugins for Google, Outlook, Mac OS X Address Book, Firefox, and Plaxo
• Registration is free, you get 5 minutes free calling anywhere, then you pay as you go. Calls to Jajah users are free.
• I have an account but haven’t used it.

I’ll leave TalkPlus, Talkster, and Talk-Now for another time….”Tango of the Ts” perhaps? 

Phoneboy has a great post on how and why handsets make it to the US market, with special perspective on those from Nokia. It kind of provides an answer to questions I get from time to time from visitors to this blog. Mainly, they’re frustrated when they hear about new mobile VOIP services, especially “free” or “beta” ones that they can’t experience because a) it’s not clear which handsets the services run on b) it’s not clear if the handsets are even available, and c) who the heck knows if the network even supports them. Judging from what Phoneboy says, it’s clear that US carriers probably don’t support (or at least officially authorize) anything bleeding edge.

Such are the trials and tribulations of early adoption. Just hurry up already.