Radio Amateur W4KWH

Well, truth be told I am very impressed! I’ve been using Vonage for almost a month now and the feature list has proven very impressive.

First, let’s talk basic functionality. Sending and receiving calls works the same way as with any other phone. All that happens when you make the service switch is that you unplug your phone from the wall jack and plug it into the Vonage unit. Once that is done and you’ve activated the service, calls come in and calls go out just like before. Activation is simple and the instructions provided were helpful. Some may find difficulty interfacing the unit with a home router and your Internet provider, but a little patience goes a long way during this process. I had a little trouble initially but a bit more research gave me the answers I needed to get things working.

I went through the process of porting all our old numbers over to the new service basically so that I wouldn’t have to print new business cards and advertising materials. Unfortunately this process didn’t go exactly as planned. I eventually was able to transfer all of our numbers but it took over a month to do so. There was only 1 real problem that interfered with the transfer and that problem was our distinctive ring service. When you request to transfer a number to Vonage you cannot have ANY special calling features active on the line you’re going to transfer. These include service like distinctive ring and DSL service. These features will prevent the transfer all together so you must ensure they are turned off prior to transferring the number.

Vonage comes with a whole lot of features for a lot less than what most phone companies charge. I’ll just discuss a few of my favorites. My #1 favorite is Simulring…a call coming in to your Vonage number can automatically ring up to 5 additional numbers and the call can be answered from ANY of the numbers. For someone who is on the go (like me) this is awesome! I just enter all the numbers where I can normally be reached all the phones ring together when a call comes in to the Vonage line.

Vonage includes all the other typical features like Caller ID though some calls that provided names before the switch only show numbers now. Not all of them, just some. A little odd but not a huge problem. Voicemail works like a champ and messages can be forwarded to your email…prevents you from missing messages for sure!

All in all it has proven to be a great deal. I can take my numbers with me if I have to move be it across the street or across the country and call quality is on par with any other phone system I’ve used. For a small additional fee you can also make and receive calls from your Vonage number using your computer from any location with Internet service. Give the service a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappionted.

When is it time to get a new computer?  I’ve certainly been asked this question a number of times over the years but it’s not always that simple of an answer.  My general response is that as long as the computer is still completing the task that you need it to do then why get another one.  At this moment I have a number of computers running on my network that are far below standards for modern software however they perform the task that I need them to do, generally without fail.

The phrase to describe this is repurposing, assigning the computer to a task it can handle but still be useful.  Many people already do this when they buy themselves a new computer and pass the old one to the kids.  It’s nice because you continue to reap benefit from the machine and therefore the computer doesn’t end up being tossed into the trash headed for the landfill.

However, there does come a time when the fact stands…the computer is just too old and obsolete to complete the task you need it to do.  This is the time to buy yourself a new one and donate or recycle the old one.  Computers change so fast that you can never keep up with the technology so this is the standard I use in upgrading my systems.

Radio Shack has now started an electronics trade-in program similar to to the one I mentioned a few weeks back sponsored by Best-Buy.  You may not get a whole lot of cash out of your old devices but this concept keeps your old electronics out of the landfill.

Source: RadioShack – Do Stuff

Don’t expect to get much for your old electronics but a little cash might be better than nothing…especially if you were planning to send it to the trash…

Source: BestBuy.com Trade-in Center – Powered by Dealtree.com

Before you throw your old electronic junk in the trash consider dropping it by Best Buy instead.  It’s a much better idea than sending it to the landfill.  Even items like batteries…

Source: Recycling

I’ve had a lot of questions about Vista over the last few months and what I think of it.

First and foremost I feel that Vista is a transitionary operating system (somewhat like Windows ME) where new technologies are being tested and refined.  I use it and it does everything I need it to do.  My wife actually prefers it far above Windows XP.

I’ve applied a few of the techniques described in the article linked above to tweak Vista’s performance however I haven’t really noticed a huge improvement.  All in all I’ve probably had about the same number of headaches between both Vista and XP, both of which are running on the same machine.  I actually “triple-boot” my laptop between both Microsoft OS’s along with Ubuntu Linux on my Toshiba laptop.

My vote, if Vista comes with your system and is designed to use it then go ahead and use it.  Vista will do what you need it to do.  On the other hand, if you have an older system…stick with XP for as long as you can and then buy a new system.

Source: Gizmo’s – How to Make Vista Run Faster | Gizmo’s Tech Support Alert