Cisco

Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 2, The Nokia E61i

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I have been using the Nokia E61i for a few months now and I like allot of features of the phone, but its shortcomings are starting to bother me allot. Where the Treo 680 would freeze for a few seconds every once in a while, the E61i’s biggest problem is just slow all the time. Launching applications or moving through screens is noticeably slower than on the Palm OS, Windows Mobile, or Blackberry. The E61i is very stable. I almost never have to restart the phone. In fact it was almost 2 months after I got it when the phone froze on me. I think the problem was related to something I installed that was a Beta. I removed it and have been fine since then. The other issues I have with the E61i is it’s PIM functionality. More specifically its tasks program is horrible. The phone doesn’t support categories, the search functions are all but useless, and it takes me around 5 times longer to enter a task on the E61i than it did on my Treo 680. Because there is no category support for the PIM (Personal Information Manager) Software, I cannot easily filter calls with calling groups out of the Address Book. I also have to edit every single calendar entry I make on the phone to put it in the correct calendar on my computer. The lack of a touch screen bothers me, but is a minor issue compared with all my other issues. I haven’t found a good email program, but I limp by with what comes pre-installed. What is good about the E61i is it has no issues syncing with my Mac, especially over bluetooth. It works flawlessly with Bluephone Elite, the phone control software I use on my Mac. It also has great internet functionality especially since it has built in Wifi. Bluetooth also works flawlessly. I paired my Motorola Bluetooth Headset to the phone with no problems. I am able to turn on the headset and it always finds the phone and works. I stopped using Bluetooth headsets on my Treo because it wouldn’t work all the time and I would lose calls because I tried picking them up with the headset.

To sum it up the E61i is a nice reliable phone with a decent selection of software, but its basic functionality is lacking and the phone is just slow. If I could fix most of my issues with the tasks program I might be able to overlook the other issues I have with the Nokia’s Symbian S60 software.

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To Skype or Not to Skype

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As I said in a post a about a week or so ago, I have made a decision not to renew my .mac subscription and instead I went back to my traditional hosting provider, even if I don’t use it that much. I do use it enough to warrant a traditional provider that gives me flexibility. Another technological decision has also been on my mind as of late. This one involves VOIP phone providers.

I currently have a Broadvoice VOIP account. I have had one since I moved into my apartment in Manhattan in 2003. I have my number setup on a Cisco 7940 IP Phone. I think the service and the phone are fantastic. I haven’t had many reasons to complain, but I just don’t use the service that much. On the other hand I also have a Skype In number, and until recently I had Skype Unlimited. Now I am paying month to month for Skype Pro. The problem is I don’t use both services enough to justify the expense of one, let alone both. I have a mobile phone that is my primary number, and I don’t even go over my monthly minutes on that. It is smart to have a VOIP phone since it is really cheap. I want one just in case I have issues with the mobile, but like I said I don’t use either of them that much.

To cut costs I have been thinking about dropping either Broadvoice or Skype. The problem is both services have their pro’s and con’s. Skype is actually cheaper per year and if I started using it more the cost is also fixed since I get unlimited inbound and outbound calls on the plans I have. Broadvoice has a few nifty features Skype does not but I don’t use it enough to make it worth my while. What Broadvoice does have in its advantage is that I can use my Cisco 7940 phone with it. That phone is great. It has a good speakerphone, and I have a really good headset for it. The Skype cordless phone I have has a good speaker, but no headset. I can use a headset with Skype if I use my computer, but there is no way to change from headset, to handset, to speaker on the same call if I use the computer. As weird as that sounds, it happens more than you would think.

My final option is to do what I have done for years in the past before VOIP. That is drop all other phones and just use my mobile. All the major wireless carriers announced unlimited phone plans this week, so that is a very viable option right now. What to do…

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Custom VOIP

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I don’t know why I take on projects that suck up my free time that I probably don’t need to be involved in, but I do. This weekend I began tinkering with a Cisco 7940 phone I have trying to get a Gizmo Project SIP account to work on it. I spent a few hours on Saturday working on it.

First I had to remember how to upgrade the firmware on the 7940. It has been a while since I tinkered with these phones. I realized that when the downloaded firmware I had was 6.03 or something and the latest availible is 8.8. I had to break out the old TFTP server and remember all the files I needed to get the upgrade to work. Cisco has documentation on the process but it is not so easy to follow. After getting the firmware flashed I had to sift through google search results trying to find someone who has posted a working config for a Gizmo Project account working on the Cisco 7940 IP Phone. I found one config and a few references to settings but not much else. The config I found isn’t working correctly. I have tweaked it significantly and I still can’t get a call to complete. I can get dial tone, but that just means some sort of signaling is working. I am so close, but for some reason I can’t get calls to connect!

I am about to give up on getting Gizmo working directly on the 7940, and instead try to get Tribox or some other Asterisk setup working. Unfortunately the Tribox VM i downloaded last year is a year old and I am having problems getting the latest one up and running. I may be putting this on hold for a while. I am going to also ask for some help from one of the network guys at work who used to work for a VOIP provider.

Interview Time

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I had a job interview today. It was my first since I decided to start looking for work. It looks like it will be my last also. The place seemed awesome. The manager and VP that interviewed both seemed cool and had a direction they wanted to take the group over the next few years. I never can gauge how I do on interviews. I have thought some have gone great and they ended up not landing a job offer. Other times I think I tanked it and got offers, or call backs. Go figure. This go round I thought it went really well but lost some hope when they said they were interviewing for another week and would let me know next friday. I should have read through that since I have said similar things when interviewing people, and they also said they have been trying to fill the post for months.

The recruiter called a few hours later telling to expect an offer later or tomorrow. He then called back and said to expect a formal offer tomorrow but he gave me the numbers they were offering and asked if I could give notice tomorrow and start 2 weeks from monday. Of course I wanted the job but I told him I would think about it and call tomorrow.

Since my parents are out of the country on a cruise I spoke to my sister about the whole situation. She is in the tech field anyway so she is a good choice to talk to. She agreed that it was a fantastic opportunity for me. It was the first interview I went on but it was also a very exciting possibility for me. Technically I did turn down another job from a friend on Sunday, but I never interviewed for that. The more I thought about it, I wanted an established company like this offer gave me, vs a startup like what I turned down Sunday. I think I made the correct decision.

It was ironic I got the call from the recruiter when I did, since Jayson, Danny, & I were at a recruiter looking at candidates for replacing them, and Andrew. This recruiter was also going to talk to me about possible positions for me when we were done, but I didn’t have to do that!

We found three possible candidates for the positions we want to fill, but I don’t know if Bob or my CEO will go for the prices they are looking for. That is part of (but in no way the only reason) why 3 people are leaving in the first place.

Now all I have to do is wait for the written offer letter and tell work tomorrow. I wonder how that will go? 4 guys leaving out of a group of 6 with one other going on leave for 6 weeks is going to cripple operations and no one seems to realize it.

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VMware Fusion

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While at VMworld I got to sit through a demo of the new VMware product for the Mac. They are calling it Fusion as a code name now. It looked pretty cool. is it better than Parallels? I am not sure yet. It has allot of things going for it. For one I use VMware products on other platforms and the VM’s being compatible is a huge plus. I don’t need to build new VM’s when I want to run something on my Mac.

Drag and drop between guest and host was also awesome looking. Parallels has nothing like that. The VMware product also appears to have better USB support. Using the iSight camera in the VM was nifty but with iChat and Skype on the Mac natively I don’t know what I would use it for. Well maybe the Cisco video conferencing software with Call Manager so it might be worth it. If I can get my Treo 700P to sync to the VM on my Mac with Fusion I will be completely sold. I cannot get Parallels to do that even with the latest build.

I will say that I am a bit biased for the VMware product (just because of the interoperability with their other products), so unless Fusion really sucks I will be using it. That doesn’t mean that I won’t be critical of it if I have issues with it! So far I like what I saw in the demo. I hopefully will be getting access to the closed beta they offered people while at VMworld. From what I saw it looked pretty stable. The only issue I saw was that NAT networking was the only network option available in the beta. Bridged networking will come in a later build.

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Cisco Networkers 2006

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It is weird, for months you are preparing yourself (mentally if not physically) for some event. And then it is over and it is like OK what now? I am back from Las Vegas. I had a great time, and I learned allot at Networkers. And now it is like what’s next? I know that answer but it is just a bit different with this big event over with.

In the short term I have to focus on my office move, and a few other issues. The next few weeks will probably be a bit hectic while we transition into the new place.

As for what I took away from Networkers, I learned allot. I got insight on what’s next for IPCC (UCC I guess now). Upgrade options for Call Manager, and a ton of great disaster recovery and disaster resiliency ideas. I have to start laying the ground work for going to California for Networkers 2007!

Problem Resolution

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We had a demo of some really cool problem resolution software today. It can watch what goes on throughout all the servers and clients and correlates a problem for you. It does way more than that, but it is a difficult concept to write about. I am sold, but we need to evaluate it a bit more before we can make a decision.

Work was normal otherwise. Well normal except for the circuit failure we had in our call center computer room Thursday and again this morning. I don’t know who is stupid enough to close the door on a computer room that feels like it is 110 degrees inside while a fan is at the door blowing hot air out of it? Long story. We had some HVAC issues that caused other power related issues. The power issues caused some problems on thursday with our IPCC system. It was resolved by a reboot, but it was fun for a bit while we troubleshooted the issue. Otherwise I have been able to catch up on the backlog of issues this week since my boss was out sick.

Call Manager Approved

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I finally got our Cisco Call Manager PBX approved for our office move later this year. After the new landlord didn’t want to piggyback us on their system did my CEO finally agree to getting a CCM for our NYC office. Actually we wont be getting a physical CCM, but a voice gateway router and phones. We will be piggy backing off of our existing call manager cluster in our Call Center.

Now we need to select a vendor and place the order. I like both vendors, but one of them is the front runner now. We meet with them next week to go over final details of the deal. In addition to the phone system we are also getting a new Cisco Catalyst 4507 for the office to act as a core switch. Our existing one is 6 years old and probably wont scale to our planned growth. That and the 4507 will do POE (power over ethernet) and gigabit.

Now we need to actually sign the lease and get a move date. That is work for next week.

Watch Drama

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After a distressing call with Tourneau yesterday I decided to show up at the store and find out what exactly is wrong with my watch. To may an agonizing story short they screwed up and the watch was still at Omega no work was done on it what so ever. I got the run around for a while, then I started to raise my voice and get a bit pissed off. The service manager stepped in and finally explained the situation since the regular worker was giving me the run around. When he said he couldn’t tell me when I would get it back until he called the service center monday I told him that was totally unacceptable. He gave me the option of taking the value of the watch I bought and buying something else. I originally thought about asking about that but I originally didn’t really want to do it. When he offered that I saw that as the only way I could get something without waiting another month and a half. Since I bought the watch used I figured I would spend more and get a new watch of the same model. At least it will have the manufacturers warrantee on it. I was then told that Omega didn’t make that model anymore. I told the guy that was a bunch of BS since they prominently advertise it on their website. He gave me store credit for the watch still in repair and then told me he would call me on Monday or Tuesday after he called Omega and found out if he could still get the watch.

I got sorta lucky and got a call a bit after I got home from the store. Turns out I was right and they still do sell the watch and I could order it and have it in 2 weeks. It cost more than I anticipated, but I still wanted it so I told them to order it. Hopefully in 2 weeks I will have my brand new Omega Speedmaster X-33 and my crazy repair drama will be over.

I now eagerly await the call from the store telling me the new watch is in…

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Offsite Meeting

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I spent the morning with a potential vendor discussing network designs and Call Manager configurations. It was very productive, but I am always backlogged when I spend half a day or a day out of the office. I spent the afternoon catching up on paper work while most of my team went to the data center to mount a new core switch we are trying to deploy.

I ended up at Dan’s with Jayson after work to upgrade the ram in his new iMac. We got dinner out of the deal and I also moved over his files from his old windows machine and setup his iPod on the iMac. Now I am iTired.

My scheduled trip to our Call Center for tomorrow is canceled. I didn’t want to chance the trip in the snow they predict. I will try to reschedule for sometime next week.

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