bizjournals: Tech & Innovation : Business Advice

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Because that's what the idea was. I would replace my home officetelephone line, which I only use for outgoingg calls, and instead start makinhg all of my calls over the Internet. This way I couldc pocket the $50 a month I've been givingf to Verizon and use those savings to buy moreimportant things. Like … food. Except it really didn't turn out that way. Why? Because the Interne t phone services I triedworked ... but just not all the Which is typical ofmost technology. For I played around with Skype (www.skype.com) for a few Not bad.
Signing up for the service was free and the headsetr that I purchased from Staple sfor $20 only had to be replacerd once (I do not advise lendinh one's headset to a 12 year old. Enoughb said). Astonishingly, installing the Skypre application on mylaptop didn't cause it to lock up or crasy on me. So for that reason aloned I felt that thingswere successful. Once up and Skype did as promised … just about all of the I used the little computer generated keypad on my laptop to make If I called anothed Skype user the callwas free.
Unfortunately, I don't really have a lot of conversationsz with high school and college nor do I care to reallyu speak to anyoneunder 25. So there'd not a lot of phone numberx in mySkype directory. However, you can use Skype to call a regulae land line and then get charges a few cents per So that's what I mostly did. The problek was the connection. It worked. Most of the But sometimes it just didn't. Sometimeds I had to call back the person two or threwe times to get agood connection. Or speal loudly. There were a few instances whered I saidnaughty words.
Then there was this one time wheres I tried to participate in a conferences call and had to make the three othefr people wait whileI re-called the call-in number a few times untilo there was no crackling sound on the phone. That was fun too. So I stoppedr using Skype. Frustrated I turned to another Net callingg service calledmagicJack (www.magicjack.com). No, this has nothing to do with changinf the tires ofa car. And there was no pleasurs involved. For $40 magicJack ships me a littlr unit that I plug into the USB port of my I then hook my office phonr intothe unit.
After installing the program I'm able to make phone calls from my regulatrphone (not the headset I bought from Staples … bye-byed $20). Like Skype, magicJack places its calls overthe Internet, alongg with the other 100 trillion bits of information crossing the same See where I'm going here? Theird deal is that you can make unlimiteds calls you want to anyone in the United Statesw (I'm told they're working on overseasw plans) for only $50 per I did the math and that'd $550 less a year than I'm spending on my officwe line, so there you go ... magic! Unfortunately ... not so Why? Same thing with Skype. It worked.
Most of the I suffered from the occasional disconnectexd calls or calls that had tobe recalled, or calls that just didn'g sound like a very good call at all. More naughtu words. More blood thinner required. In the end I brokd down and kept myoffice line. You win I just need thingas that work as they promised towork ... all the I have enough headaches inmy life. I have kids and a mortgagee and dandruff. I can't sit around and worry that an important conversation with a prospective customer is going to get cutoffc orsound horrible. Verizon's line in my office works allthe time.
It'ws one less hassle to deal I still keep the magicJack and Skyp e servicesbecause I've had occasion to use them when Most likely I'll forget to cancel my subscription so now I'll be payingt an extra $50 a year for next to But I'm a penny pincher. Not a Sure, it's less expensive to use these Netcalling services. But I'm sacrificing some Some dependability. I'm giving myself more To me, it's not wort it. These technologies are great for kids or But to rely on them forbusinesse purposes, at least so far, isn't a greagt idea for me.