Thanks to Tom Keating for alerting me to Skype’s new call transfer feature. Tom points out that this feature that smooths the way for Skype as a practical business phone system.

Call transfer is available as part of Skype 3.5 BETA so it’s still in trial mode. You won’t get this version by updating Skype from the Help menu. You need to go here and download the beta.

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)

Truphone, one of the first to enable mobile Internet phone calls over Wi-Fi connections, now includes free calls to and from Google Talk users. Here’s a video from their press blog showing Truphone and Google Talk in action. I like this demo because it is low tech, sans marketing shtick, and shows someone actually using the product.

A great example, blogger style, of how video can really communicate the nuts and bolts of a new product or feature. For lots of people, a free 30-day trial isn’t enough. They want to see it before they try it.

Truphone announced its beta software for Wi-Fi-enabled Nokia mobile handsets in September 2006. Currently Truphone is available for Nokia’s E60, E61, E70 and N80 Internet Edition handsets. Truphone for other handsets including Windows Mobile devices will follow soon.
 

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.

 

 

Luca got the scoop on this one this morning. (Or is it afternoon for him?) Fring now works with SIP services like Gizmo Project, VoipCheap, VoipStunt and Free World DialUp. It’s still in beta mode, but I’m going to download it today and see what’s what (handy to do on my Nokia N80i).

Fring is a free application for your mobile phone that lets you talk with fring, Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN and now SIP-based applications over VoIP, GSM, WiFi and PSTN networks.

I’ve used it most with my Skype buddy list. On my phone, I can see who’s available on Skype and who’s not, etc.

At present, fring is only available on certain Nokia handsets (Symbian 8 - Series 60 and N Series phones). See a visual list of compatible handsets on their web site (look under “Minimum Requirements”).

I recently bemoaned the fact that I was having a hard time recruiting followers to my SightSpeed network. SightSpeed is an easy-to-use video calling application that lets you make free video and voice calls.

I found that asking friends to join using the “Invite” feature generated an autoresponder-type email that at least one of my buddies deleted without even reading. It looked too suspicious.

Peter Csathy, SightSpeed CEO, points out that you can embed a click-to-call link in any email, or paste HTML code for clickable “call me” buttons into your web site or blog. The email recipient or web user clicks the link or button to launch a SightSpeed plugin that automatically dials you up. You’re not asking them to download or trial anything.

I tried it and it works great. At work, my husband could see and hear me, but I only had the audio. He also started a text chat while we were talking from his end.

To use click-to-call links or buttons:

1. In the SightSpeed window, click the Account button (top right).
2. In the Account Management menu, click Account Information > My SightSpeed.
3. Copy the Easy Email Link or Private Link code or copy the HTML code for the SightSpeed web button of your choice.
4. Paste the code into your email, web site, or blog.

 

The good news is that hovering your mouse over just about anything in the Skype window will display a tool tip (a little one-sentence definition or status report).

However, I found that almost right away I needed a cheat sheet for the online status icons, those green or gray clouds beside each contact. If you have anything to add or change, please do.

 Online: the person can receive calls or chats. If you set your status to , you can receive calls/chats from other Skypers. Depending on your privacy settings, you can receive calls from anyone, from people in your contact list, or from people who you’ve authorized to see your online details. To set privacy settings, go to Tools ->Options->Privacy.

 SkypeMe: the person is in SkypeMe mode, which means that everyone on Skype knows he/she is available and interested in talking or chatting, including contacts they don’t know. If you set your status to SkypeMe, you are allowing calls and chats with other Skypers who can find you by searching the Skype directory. To turn SkypeMe mode ON or OFF, go to File –> Change Online Status (Windows) or Account -> Change Status (Mac OS X).

 Invisible: the person appears to you as  offline, which means you can’t call or chat with them. If you set your status to invisible, you will appear as  to everyone else. Use invisible if you want to be able to make your own calls or chats, but don’t want to receive them. You’ll also be able to see the online status of everyone else in your contact list, even though you’ll appear to them to be offline.

 Away: the person temporarily can’t be reached–out to lunch, away from computer, in a meeting or whatever. If you set your status to Away, you are still notified of incoming calls or chats. Skype automatically switches your online status to Away if you have been inactive for a certain number of minutes. Go to Tools ->Options ->General to change this setting.

 Not available: the person can’t be reached. Sounds a bit more long term than Away. If you set your status to Not Available, you are still notified of incoming calls or chats. Skype automatically switches your online status to Not Available if you have been inactive for a certain number of minutes. Go to Tools ->Options ->General to change this setting.

 Do not disturb: the person doesn’t want to be bugged. Calls or messages are queued for you to check later. If you set your status to Do Not Disturb, you won’t be notified of incoming calls or chats (no pop-ups or ringtones).

 Not sharing: the person does not give you permission to see if he/she is online, offline, away, and so on. It’s probably nothing personal. When adding the contact you may have decided not to request their details, or they may have dismissed your request. To ask again if they’d like to share details, right-click the contact name and select Request Contact Details.

 Offline: the person is not available through Skype. They may have set their status to offline or invisible, or they may have logged off. If you set your status to Offline, you can’t make or receive calls/chats with other Skypers. But, if you have a voicemail account, people can leave you messages. You can also call forward your calls when offline to another number (either a regular number or Skype name), and you can still make SkypeOut calls (calls to regular numbers). 

 Skypeout contact: a person with a regular landline/mobile number. Not a Skype number.

I recently had someone comment on my "moving on" from Vonage. "Moving on to what, I may ask?" You may. It’s a good question. I find it time consuming trying to figure out what service best suits me. For consumers, looking into VOIP is like unraveling a ball of string. Before you know it, you’ve got a rat’s nest. With the Internet at your fingertips, it’s deceptively easy. Just start with Google, then click, click…click-click, then like, "Oh man, where am I?", Back button a couple of times. Then all the VOIP sites start looking the same, heck they all start sounding the same too… Here’s what I decided:

• I want a phone number in my local area code
• I prefer a softphone (point and click dialing from my PC). A handset with phone adaptor setup (like I had with Vonage) is handy, but not absolutely necessary in my case. Most of the time my work calls occur while I’m at my computer so a heaset/microphone setup works great.
• I want voicemail and call forwarding (very basic, nothing fancy)

The top two options I’m considering are: Virtual number call forwarded to a softphone: CallCentric.com offers BC phone numbers at $5.95 per month. I can call forward to my Gizmo softphone account and then use Gizmo to make and receive calls. Gizmo rates within Canada are pretty cheap. Of course, if Gizmo ever decides to offer Canadian area codes, THAT would be even easier. PhoneGnome: PhoneGnome is available through Voxilla.com. It is a pretty amazing, self-configuring, do-everything, product. VOIP calls are free, I keep my regular phone number, and I can use the PhoneGnome softphone (SoftGnome) or call forward to my Gizmo account. PhoneGnome also works with Skype. I can also make and receive Skype calls on a regular handset using the add-on product GnomeLink. Choices, choices…  

I saw a post yesterday on the Motley Fool called “Avoid the VOIP Value Trap“. It’s reader is the investor looking for the “next home run stock”. The gist of writer Dave Mok is to avoid investing in VOIP like the plague. “Internet telephony is a novel application that leverages existing infrastructure to deliver comparable services at lower prices. Technological developments like this can help companies improve margins and offer better value to consumers, but they don’t necessarily create substantial new value worthy of investment.”

Hey, well he may be right. I’m not an investor so I don’t know if this is news or not (I suspect not). Consumer value just can’t get no respect…Well I think there’s more to VOIP than Vonage–that is to say there’s more to VOIP than just cheap phone calls.

With all the hubub around Vonage and other national VOIP phone companies like them, I sometimes slide into the trap of thinking VOIP is all and only about saving money, unlimited long distance plans, and the like. And of course it’s not. I was reminded of a conversation I had in December with Talkster CEO James Wanless who called the “race to zero” a lousy business model. The fact is there are many new ventures using VOIP as a platform to offer services that traditional phone companies can’t. Look at Jangl offering phone privacy for social networking sites. Look at TalkPlus with a second number for your cell phone. Look at iotum TalkNow for Blackberry users. MobileStick from Bridgeport Networks, SightSpeed video calling, GrandCentral, PhoneGnome, Fring, Jajah, Gizmo, Truphone…the list is getting longer by the day. To say that “VoIP offers no new killer applications or buzzworthy innovations” is a little harsh. Investor value? No idea. Consumer value? You bet.

Since Ted seems so amused by my NASA approved Apollo mission headset, let’s just see what everybody else is using. VOIP Bloggers, lets give it up now…

I’ll start things off:

VOIPGirl’s headset: industrial strength Plantronics earphones and boooooom mic, no part number that she can see, don’t know where it came from either