VOIP - First 2 stages complete

So, stage 1 & 2 completed.

VOIP account done - I have signed up to https://www.mynetfone.com.au/ for a Whirlpool Saver Account ($0 monthly fee and 10 cent local calls)

ATA box purchased - I have ordered a Minitar MVA11A VoIP ATA today from http://www.jmgtechnology.com.au/.

Now the wait begins....

VOIP

After finding out my home phone bill is going up I have decided to bid adieu to the old phone line and give VOIP (Voice Over Interent Protocol) a go.

I'll keep blogging on my experiences as I go and hopefully will be reporting back on the ease of use and high quality of calls that VOIP provides.

The first step is to buy an ATA adapter - this is a box that connects my phone handset to my modem. I just went to 6 shops in the Sydney CBD (including 4 specialty computer stores) and none of them have them.  You wonder why everyone does their shopping on the internet these days!

I had already found two sources on the net but thought maybe I could save on the delivery fee. Ha, no chance.  So off websurfing I go!

My photo

So, I realised that perhaps my photo at the top (taken completely in jest..really I don't look like that all the time) may have been scaring a few people off so i removed it.

We'll see whether it affects my stats at all. Ha, doubtful - nought + nought is still nought.

Apple Now Has A Patent On Slide To Unlock

This is just bloody ridiculous...

Apple Now Has A Patent On Slide To Unlock

Food for thought

Today, with the ridiculous queues of people lining up to fork over a great deal of money to have the dubious honour of being one of the first to buy a new phone, it’s worth remembering that there are a lot of people in this world unfortunate enough not to have enough to eat, let alone pick up a phone with an S added to the end of its name.

Perhaps those of us who are considering upgrading should put that money into a World Vision donation and keep the old phone for another six months. Just a thought.

iCloud – iSlow!

I updated my partner’s iPhone 3gs last night with the newApple operating system, IOS5. I have to say it was the most painless update so far.  Every previous update with her phone has resulted in crashes/ restores/reloading of older versions of iTunes etc to the point where when I ask her if she wants me to update her phone she winces and asks whether it’s the worth the hassle.

Anyhoo, this morning I setup the ‘backup to iCloud’ function. I must say I was a little bit bemused to see an estimated finish time of 17 hours! I know my upload speed on my cable internet is pretty slow but that sounds a bit ridiculous. Particularly because as far as I can see it’s only backing up contacts and photos and videos captured through the phone.

As it only works over wifi and she is going out this morning, I’m not even sure if it will recommence once she gets back within our wifi range or whether the whole slow process will begin again from scratch.  Hopefully, this is a one-off for the first time and future backups will be quicker. Otherwise I’ll be reverting to ‘backup to PC’ very soon.

Big in Russia

I just checked my blog stats and am surprised to see a fair percentage of visits from Russia. Not expected, that's for sure and curious to say the least.

So, to all my Russian friends, I say 'Zdravstvuj!' and pass the vodka.