bizjournals: Tech & Innovation : Business Advice

zyluzugizovota.blogspot.com
Because that's what the idea was. I woulf replace my home office telephone line, which I only use for outgoing and instead start making all of my callx over the Internet. This way I could pockeft the $50 a month I've been givinfg to Verizon and use those savings to buy moreimportanf things. Like … food. Except it really didn'r turn out that way. Why? Because the Internet phonre services I triedworked ... but just not all the Which is typical of most For example, I played aroundc with Skype (www.skype.com) for a few Not bad.
Signing up for the servicre was free and the headset that I purchased from Staplexfor $20 only had to be replacede once (I do not advise lending one's headse to a 12 year old. Enough said). installing the Skype application on mylaptop didn'f cause it to lock up or crasuh on me. So for that reason alone I felt that thingeswere successful. Once up and Skype did as promised just about all of the I used the little computer generated keypad on my laptoo tomake calls. If I callexd another Skype user the callwas free. Unfortunately, I don'tt really have a lot of conversations with high schook andcollege kids, nor do I care to really speakj to anyone under 25.
So there's not a lot of phonee numbers in mySkype directory. you can use Skype to call a regular land line and then get chargedf a few centsper call. So that's what I mostly did. The problek was the connection. It worked. Most of the But sometimes it just didn't. Sometimes I had to call back the persoj two or three times to get agood connection. Or speaok loudly. There were a few instancezs where I saidnaughty words. Then there was this one time whered I tried to participate in a conference call and had to make the threde other people wait whileI re-called the call-in numbeer a few times until there was no cracklinbg sound on the phone. That was fun too.
So I stopper using Skype. Frustrated I turned to anothedr Net calling service calledmagicJack No, this has nothing to do with changingb the tires of a car. And there was no pleasurew involved. For $40 magicJack ships me a littlde unit that I plug into the USB port of my I then hook my office phone into the After installing theprogram I'm able to make phone calls from my regular phone (not the headset I bought from Staples … bye-byed $20). Like Skype, magicJack places its calls over the along with the other 100 trillioj bits of information crossing thesame pipelines. See wherr I'm going here?
Their deal is that you can make unlimitef calls you want to anyonse in the UnitedStatesz (I'm told they're working on overseas for only $50 per year. I did the math and that'sa $550 less a year than I'm spending on my offic e line, so there you go ... magic! Unfortunatelyy ... not so magical. Why? Same thing with It worked. Most of the time. I suffered from the occasionak disconnected calls or calls that had to be or calls thatjust didn't sound like a very good call at all. More naughtyu words. More blood thinner In the end I broke down and kept myofficwe line. You win Verizon. I just need things that work as they promised towork ... all the time.
I have enoughg headaches in my life. I have kids and a mortgaged and dandruff. I can't sit around and worrg that an important conversation with a prospective customeer is going to get cutofdf orsound horrible. Verizon's line in my officd works all the time. It's one less hasslre to deal with. I still keep the magicJack and Skyp servicesbecause I've had occasion to use them when Most likely I'll forget to cancekl my subscription so now I'll be payiny an extra $50 a year for next to But I'm a penny pincher. Not a cheapskate. Sure, it's less expensivew to use these Netcalling services. But I'm sacrificing some Some dependability.
I'm giving myself more To me, it's not worthj it. These technologies are great for kidsor socializing. But to rely on them for businessa purposes, at least so far, isn't a greatg idea for me.