Telecom

From Cellular to Mobile

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One of the first things I need to get in England is a phone. More specifically a UK Sim card for my iPhone. It sounds pretty simple. You can get them pretty much anywhere. Seriously the recommendation was to buy one in a Tesco (a Grocery Store) Surprisingly for an American they’re super cheap compared to US plans. I think we pay around $130 for two iPhones and one iPad with about three or four gigs of data and unlimited minutes between them.In the UK you can get close to unlimited or unlimited minutes and three or four gigs of data per line for about 15 to 20 pounds a month. What I found is not all plans are created equal.

I’m probably a stickler for technical details more than most people however there were a few things that I’m concerned about. For one what is the service look like where we want to live and near my office? When I had AT&T in time square I basically could not use my phone for three years at work. That’s not really acceptable in 2018. Since we own our phones were looking for a pay as you go or a pay monthly without contract.

I’m going to try 3. The reviews have been decent. I’m concerned about coverage but I’ll have to be there to test it. The advantage they have over everyone else is for about the same price they offer complete roaming in Europe and the US for no additional charge. That means calls to the UK and data usage is like I was still in the UK even when traveling. I would need to continue the use of voice over IP solution when calling US phone numbers however that’s not different from when I would be in the UK as well. That set up seems like the most liberal roaming policy of everyone. It’s even better than the T-Mobile options I have in the states now.

One thing I learned that I heard rumors about previously was you by prepay some cards from the grocery store. That’s a little different from the US. While on our house hunting trip I bought a 3 & EE SIM card at a Tesco.  I wasn’t able to use 3 Sim card I bought.  I was able to use the EE card for my phone and i bought another one for my iPad. I didn’t really pay attention to signal strength in the neighborhood we were looking to get a house. I also wasn’t near the office very much. I was hoping to settle on a carrier during the trip and then keep the number when we moved. What I learned when I went top up the prepay card while I was there was to do a top up remotely you need a local address. Even though I had a local debit card it’s still tied to my US address until we move. At the time of this writing we don’t have a house sorted so I will either not use the number I got or once the house is sorted I can top up a card and be ready for when we arrive.

I know I can do most of this when we get there however especially for technology challenges like this I want to be prepared. This particular challenge won’t get resolved until were actually living there. I will likely post an update once I have figured out what we will do and then see how it goes.

Why I Won’t Buy a Driod

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Motorola, I have to hand it to you. The Droid looks like a great phone. If there was a GSM version I might just pick one up to try it. Unfortunately you only offer a CDMA version on Verizon. I will say that I honestly thought about switching to Verizon for a second. Thankfully Verizon got me to reconsider. Thanks Verizon. What do I mean? Well, I am amazed that Verizon has one of the best wireless networks out there but does everything possible to aggravate customers. I was interested in the Droid. Android 2.0 was intriguing. The generally fast and well covered Verizon network got me further interested in the Droid. Then I read that Verizon is charging a $350 cancelation fee on new contracts that have “advanced devices” aka something like the Droid (sorry I wont spell it DROID). I am frustrated as it is by being locked into the iPhone and it is GSM, so I am sure not going to switch to Verizon and be stuck into a phone and contract for two years that costs $175 to get out of.

I have never been a fan of Verizon’s customer service or the way they treat their customers, but this was the final straw for me. I am fine with having my parents use them since they don’t change phones very often but for me, no way. I am considering T-Mobile since they are going the opposite direction, cheaper rate plans and no contracts!

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Bye Grandcentral, Hello Google Voice

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I have been using Grand Central since December 2006. When it was announced I thought it was the perfect idea that solved most of the issues I had with multiple phone numbers that I have been trying to solve since 1996! Grand Central had great promise but two issues I had with it prevented it from being the solution I wanted it to be. The first issue was simply the quality of the calls recieved via Grand Central. For me at least the performance was hit or miss. I couldn’t rely on it as my main inbound phone number because I got burned so many times by call quality issues. The other issue I had was that Grand Central required you to press 1 once you picked up a call. The options it offered (1 to answer a call, 4 to record, and other options to send to Voice Mail or listen in on the VM) were nice, but 99% of the time I pressed 1 to answer the call. On a smart phone such as my iPhone it was a pain to find the virtual keypad and press one. It was even worse if I was using a headset. They never offered an option to turn off that requirement to press an number when you answered a call, until now.

Google bought Grand Central what seems like ages ago and nothing ever happened with the service. I was happy to keep using my Grand Central number as the default number I gave out when signing up for something or to a doctors office, the pharmacy, etc but I still used my mobile number as the main number I gave out. Recently at work I started using Grand Central as my main contact number and my mobile as my backup since I move around allot but people still get my mobile to reach me on. This week Google announced the release of Google Voice, aka the relaunch and upgrade of Grand Central. I patiently waited until my account told me I can upgrade to the new Google Voice. So far I am very impressed. My major technical issue regarding having to always press the keypad to start a call has been resolved. I now have the option of turning that off, so I did. I also liked the SMS functions, and the ability to leverage my existing GMail contacts. The transcribe feature is nice, but just bells and whistles to me for now.

I am hoping that the quality of the calls are consistent with the new Google Voice. If they are, it is an almost perfect solution for me. I look forward to using it more over the next few weeks to put it through its paces. It took google a while to get this update out, but so far it seems worth the wait!

I Don’t Think I Will Ever Use Verizon Wireless Again

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I went out and bought a Verizon Wireless USB Data Card right after christmas. I wanted to use the card for multiple reasons attached to my Macbook or my new HP Mini 1000 Netbook. After using the device for about 2 weeks I realized that I didn’t really use it that much to warrant the price ($59 per month). That on top of the fact the card didn’t work very well near where I lived. Since I was within my 30 day trial period I decided to return the card and cancel the account. This is where my fun began.

I went back to the Verizon Store where I bought the card. Even though there were several sales people free I had to wait at a specific service desk that was not well staffed. After about 30 minutes of waiting I finally was able to return my card. This part wasn’t very hard. They took the card back, refunded my money to the credit card and put me on the phone with customer service to cancel the account. Once customer service was completed with their cancelation of the account I questioned about verifying that the account was closed and that my early termination fee was waived since i returned the card within the 30 day window. They assured me there would be no problems and that they noted my account. I asked for a reference number but they said there wasn’t any. My account notes would be updated and all will be well.

The very next day I received my first bill for the card. Since the bill was mailed to me before I canceled the account I knew the balance due would be off. I figured I would either wait for a final bill or call to calculate the final amount and send in the payment. Sure enough on Friday I recieved my final bill. The only thing was I was shocked by the price I owed. It turns out that even though I returned the card and called customer service just like everyone told me to, I was still charged with the $175 early termination fee. I was not so happy so I called customer service again. The lady I spoke to told me that it was an error from the in store people and I would have to return to the store to have it fixed. I politely refused. The store people only returned the USB card for me. The account cancelation was done over the phone with the same customer service number that I was currently speaking with. The lady insisted that I return to the store. I then insisted that I speak to a supervisor. I was told the supervisor would say the same thing. My response was I would like to hear them tell me that since this is insane. I was then told there would be a 20 minute wait. I politely told the representative that I would wait and putting me on hold for a really long time was not going to get rid of me.

About 5 minutes later the representative returned telling me they could in fact try to reverse the termination fee. It would just take 5-7 days to process the request. I told her fine, and go ahead and file the request. My next question was how much do I really own Verizon so I could pay my usage for the time I had the USB card. I was still surprised to see that they claimed I owed $111.21. According to the rep I still have to pay a $35 activation fee even though I returned the phone. I was skeptical but after I got off the phone I searched the internet and apparently that is a nice little secret wireless companies have. You can return the phone and cancel your contract before 30 days, but if you don’t make a return before 3 days you have to pay the $35.

A week has gone by and I called to check on the status of my refund for the termination fee. I was told that I will get my refund, but it will be 1-2 billing cycles until it happens. I have to trust that they are telling me the truth on the phone while I get 1-2 more bills telling me I owe them more money. What is so funny about this issue is I wasn’t the hugest fan of Verizon in the past, but they have good product so I have tolerated them. This experience has probibly turned me off for good to that company. I would rather deal with poor coverage with a T-Mobile since I know they offer good customer service than deal with the nightmares of Verizon again.

From Unlimited to 900 Minutes a Month

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Back in August I wrote about how I was saving by using Skype instaed of my mobile phone when at home.

I also finally canceled my Broadvoice account over the summer. It wasn’t because I was unhappy with the service. I was, in fact they were always great. I would recomend them to friends looking for a VOIP phone. I just didn’t use the service that much so it wasn’t worth spending the $8 or so a month that it cost to have the cheapest plan. I also was using Skype more and Skype was cheaper and provided more options for me. It wasn’t an easy choice but eventually Skype won out and I dropped Broadvoice.

Up until August I had switched to an unlimited Mobile phone plan so I could use my Mobile as my only phone and not have to worry about number of minutes used. This was nice and easy but also about $40 more expensive per month than I was previously paying for Mobile voice service.

Now I am using Skype out for my calls when I am at home, and I am routing most of my work calls through GrandCentral so I can select what phone I want them to ring at. This has decreased my Mobile minutes used by allot. I probably could get by with only 450 minutes a month but I have yet taken the plunge and switched to that cheap of a plan. I am sticking with the 900 minutes I have had but I use less and less each month. It is weird since I have relied on my mobile as basically my only phone for years. I have been thinking about going back to the unlimited mobile service because it is just easier to deal with, but for now I am enjoying cheaper service with Skype!

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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Crazy Tech Buying & Selling Spree

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I don’t know what it is about the past few weeks but I have been on a crazy buying and selling spree. I have finally gotten rid of my old 60gig iPod. I have had my new 160gig silver one for a while but after a few problems with eBay I never actually sold the old one. I finally put it up on Craigslist and sold it. Even with my new Nokia 6120 Classic, I have been going back and forth with that phone and my Treo 680. The 6120 is great but I realized I need a phone with a keyboard. I think a phone is not a smartphone without one!

Going back to the Treo wasn’t going to work for the long term so after a false start I ended up picking up a new Nokia E61i off of Craigslist. It is big, but so far is doing everything i need it to. And it has Wifi to boot. I am still getting used to the Symbian OS, and the different applications I need to get to work. I already don’t like the PIM (Address book, Calendar, & Tasks) functions, but that is a trade off for not crashing and a phone that generally does what it is supposed to do. Stability has become important to me more so in recent days. More discussions on the E61i as I continue to play with it.

I am going to keep the N810 tablet because it is just interesting if anything. I don’t need it for any real reason but I am enjoying tinkering with it.

I am also in the process of cleaning out my closet and finally selling the extra DVD player I have (it is new in the box) and my old Tivo. I probably have a bunch of other stuff lying around so I have will be busy for a while.

I guess this is a good time to be doing all of this anyway with the holidays coming up and all.

Busy Week

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I had a busy week at work. We meet some major milestones this week, but it was a long week. We finally had our voice and data circuits installed in the new office. The LEC solved all the riser cable issues last week. They then completed the install’s of the smart jacks Monday. Tuesday we got internet up, and then the big event was getting our voice circuits up and running on Thursday. It was close for a while but we resoled our issues at the last minute. We had test calls done so now the next phase of the move can begin.

Construction is far allong. The electrical is in progress in the telecom room. We look like we are on target for our move date. That makes me happy, or rather more relaxed about the situation. When we get back from Networkers we need to get a person or two to focus on the move almost exclusively.

Other work going on is our domain upgrade should be near or on target to complete by the end of the month. I was worried for a while. We also have a project begining to deploy Identify’s Appsite. that program looks great. I can’t wait till we have that rolled out for use.

Projects

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We officially are lease holders in our new office building. Everything was signed and executed Friday. That was interesting because technically we took occupancy of the floor on Thursday. Dan, and I walked over today to get the first keys for us.

I am still dealing with issues with the LEC regarding our phone circuits. We missed every date they gave us, but hopefully we will be ok if they make up time on the second phase of everything.

Our migration of users in our call center is progressing, but not as fast as I would have hoped. The staff up there claim that they have ironed out the issues with the new computer builds and will complete the first major milestone by Wednesday. I am not sure if I believe that assessment but I hope they do finish by then. If they do we will be in halfway decent shape to complete the project by June 30.

I worked all day with Jayson and Scott on Sunday to get ZEN up and running. We made progress but not as much as I originally thought we would. That setup is still ongoing but we still have allot of work to do on it. More updates soon.

Cable Work

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Jayson and I went to the “proposed” new office with a cable contractor to see if there was cable to our floor from the basement. We need a clean run for our T-1 circuits going in. There looks like there is cable but we have issues with its age, and we cannot 100% confirm where it terminates on one end. on the other end it just doesn’t go where we wanted it to. Instead of extending what we have we may just run brand new cable to ensure it works right.

We did that in the morning and then I dealt with other issues throughout the day.