Telephone Blog April Archive

When the phone is disabled, if someone changes the simcard the phone will remain locked and a SMS message will be sent to a number you preprogrammed with the new SIM card serial number. This is supposed to help you track down the thief.

Now, this all sounds good and well, by why isn't this a standard feature of all GSM cellular phones?

Although their website specifies the "Symbian Series 60 Mobile Phone". The order screen has a long list of phone models and countries. Though I noticed in Uruguay they only list 1 of 3 carriers. They don't offer any service at all in Colombia.

Again, why isn't this a standard part of your cellular?

I suspect that will be the case with other adapters, or if you connect one of the old fashioned ringers up.

Don't you love the sound of the old mechanical phone ringers?

I have Gizmo programming into one of the two lines in my voip box. It worked great, but he had to scrounge a microphone.

I ordered a SPA-2000 unlocked SIP adapte for him (shown in the lower right) of my phone system rats nest. Once he gets the adapter and I programming it, he won't want to go back to the old phone system.

It will also be a big step up from using Gizmo Project on your computer:

• You computer can be turned off
• You can use a regular phone (cordless, corded, etc)
• You can use a regular answering machine

Once you plug the SIP adapter into your router you plug your regular phone in and the only difference is the price!

My preference is an unlocked adapter and a service like Vbuzzer or Gizmo. The cost is less and in my view you have more flexiblity than services like Packet8 or Vonage where you are stuck with monthly plans.

Both Vbuzzer and Gizmo allow you to deposit money when you want rather than having monthly fees. They do have a small monthly fee if you want a regular incoming phone number.

What are you waiting for?

You pay as you go, ie: you can deposit, $5, $10, or $20 into your account and place calls till it is gone. It's only $2/mo for an incomming phone number (from a limit number of US and Candian area codes).

When I first started with vbuzzer that had exceptional rates for calling landlines and cellulars in Colombia. However, the rates have increase significantly, especially for calls to cellular.

I find they are no longer competitive for calls to Colombian cellulars, but still do better than others for landlines (though nothing like when I started). So, I have line 2 of my VOIP adapter programmed for Gizmo. I use vbuzzer for calling landlines in Colombia and Gizmo Project for calling cellulars.

The voice quality on Gizmo Project is much better when calling Michigan.

This is the advantage of having an open SIP adapter with two lines!

I have a telephone and it is for one reason, and one reason alone; for MY BENEFIT! That is for my convience. To service my needs for communication.

My telephone is not for you. It is not so that any arbitrary person any where in the world has the right, although they have the ability to interrupt me and make their desire the focal point of my moment.

If you have a desire to speak with me, that message must be communicated to me so I can speak to you on my terms; when it is convenient for me!

For example there was a time and if I tried to set aside 15 or 20 minutes to write this piece of jibberish, I would surely have been interrupted by one if not two or more phone calls. Would any of them had been so important that they needed to be taken before I finished writing this? Not likely!

Yet, the telephone has given the power to the caller to overpower the needs of the recipient and make the caller's needs more important than the person being called. Downright Absurd!

Let's look at another example, possibly extreme, but it shows the true "power" of the telephone. A friend leaves his 8th floor apartment and just as he gets in a taxi cab out front, shattering glass covers the taxi.

A bit odd, but he believes it unrelated to himself and leaves for his appointment. He is shocked when he returns home and learns the real story. Just after he left, his telephone rang.

I say he's gone, and they can leave a message or call back later. His maid has a differnet view, grabs the phone and runs for the balcony in an attempt to catch my friend before he's gone. The big problem was the sliding glass door was closed and she went crashing through it. Luckily there was no serious injury.

There's gotta be a better way... and I think it is email. So much communication is so much better handled by email at the convience of both parties.

Hang up now and go online!