Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal: Tech & Innovation : Business Advice

artemchuksykitas.blogspot.com
Because that's what the idea was. I would replacs my home officetelephone line, whichj I only use for outgoinbg calls, and instead start making all of my callds over the Internet. This way I couldc pocket the $50 a month I've been givingy to Verizon and use those savingzs to buy moreimportant things. Like … Except it really didn'ty turn out that way. Why? Becauss the Internet phone services I triedworkedf ... but just not all the time. Whicj is typical of most technology. For example, I played around with Skypre (www.skype.com) for a few weeks. Not bad.
Signing up for the servicer was free and the headset that I purchased from Stapledfor $20 only had to be replaced once (I do not advisew lending one's headset to a 12 year old. Enougg said). Astonishingly, installing the Skype application on mylaptoo didn't cause it to lock up or crasjh on me. So for that reasobn alone I felt that thingswere successful. Once up and Skype did as promised … just about all of the I used the little computer generateed keypad on my laptop tomake calls. If I callede another Skype user the callwas free.
Unfortunately, I don'rt really have a lot of conversation with high school and college nor do I care to really speak to anyondunder 25. So there's not a lot of phonde numbers in mySkyps directory. However, you can use Skypr to call a regulaf land line and then get chargef a few cents per So that's what I mostlhy did. The problem was the connection. It Most of the time. But sometimes it just didn't. Sometimesw I had to call back the person two or threde times to get a good Orspeak loudly. There were a few instancesz where I saidnaughty words.
Then there was this one time wherew I tried to participate in a conferenced call and had to make the threse other people wait whileI re-called the call-in numbe a few times until there was no cracklinf sound on the phone. That was fun too. So I stoppexd using Skype. Frustrated I turned to another Net callinfg service calledmagicJack (www.magicjack.com). No, this has nothin g to do with changing the tirez ofa car. And there was no pleasurw involved. For $40 magicJack ships me a little unit that I plug into the USB port of my I then hook my office phone intothe unit.
After installing the program I'm able to make phone calls from my regularphone (not the headsegt I bought from Staples … bye-byed $20). Like Skype, magicJack place s its calls overthe Internet, alonb with the other 100 trillion bits of information crossinb the same pipelines. See wherre I'm going here? Their deal is that you can make unlimitedx calls you want to anyon in the UnitedStates (I'm told they'r e working on overseas plans) for only $50 per I did the math and that's $550 less a year than I'mk spending on my office line, so therd you go ... magic! Unfortunatelu ... not so magical. Why? Same thing with Skype. It Most of the time.
I suffered from the occasionall disconnected calls or calls that had to be or calls thatjust didn't sounc like a very good call at all. More naught words. More blood thinner required. In the end I brok down and kept myoffice line. You win Verizon. I just need thingsx that work as they promised towork ... all the I have enough headaches inmy life. I have kids and a mortgag and dandruff. I can't sit around and worry that an important conversatio n with a prospective customer is going to get cutof f orsound horrible. Verizon's line in my officre works allthe time. It's one less hassle to deal with.
I stilp keep the magicJack and Skype servicesbecause I've had occasionm to use them when traveling. Most likelyu I'll forget to cancel my subscription sonow I'l l be paying an extra $50 a year for next to nothing. But I'mm a penny pincher. Not a cheapskate. Sure, it's less expensiv e to use these Netcalling services. But I'n sacrificing some quality. Some dependability. I' giving myself more headaches. To me, it's not worth it. These technologiee are great for kidsor socializing. But to rely on them for businesd purposes, at least so far, isn't a great idea for me.