Safety Consulting Corner

Vonage Revisited

A few posts ago I talked about my new experiment with VOIP, and in particular, Vonage. Well after using VOIP for a few weeks, I have a few additional comments to share. First, I am still overall very happy with the service but I have discovered two kinks that I wish didn't exist. First, I like to play music from my ITunes account while I am working - in particular, when I am writing or creating a training presentation. I have found that if my Vonage phone is plugged into my USB drive (which is how it works) that I can only hear the music through my earphones and not through the computer's speakers. I don't really like this since I am not too keen on sitting here with earplugs in all day. I have decided that I will unplug my Vonage USB phone when I am working so I can listen to the music like I prefer. Although I won't be able to quickly receive phone calls which come into my office number, I think this will be a good thing in the end. I have to work hard to discipline myself to not answer every call that comes in or check emails frequently and this new method will hopefully help me to stay focused on the project at hand. (For those of you who know me well and need to reach me quickly, please call me on my cell phone which I will always have close by). 

The second thing I have discovered is that if I want my Vonage calls to forward to another number (I often forward calls to my cell phone when I am travelling) that again, I need to have the Vonage device plugged into the USB. This isn't the end of the world but something I didn't realize.

If anyone else decided to try out Vonage or uses another VOIP provider, please share your comments.  That's all for now!

Short and Sweet

Did you ever read about a website that you planned to check out but when you tried to enter the website address, you quickly became frustrated because you kept entering the letters or numbers incorrectly? If you are like me, this sometimes is because the web address is to long to easily type in. If you ever need to send a long web address to a client or friend, or include a long website address in an article, you can do it much easier with the help of a free website - www.tinyurl.com. If you go to www.tinyurl.com and enter your long web page link (you can even do this by cutting and pasting from the actual web page), the site will magically transform it to a "tiny url."

For example, if I wanted to send someone directly to my podcast on Itunes, I would need to tell them to go to:

http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.
woa/wa/browserRedirect?url=itms%253A%252F%252Fax.phobos.appl
e.com.edgesuite.net%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%25
2FviewPodcast%253Fid%253D211291099%2526s%253D143441

What a mess! If I was trying to send this in an email, it would wrap around several lines. When I enter this at the tiny url site, it changes this long string of numbers and letters into:

http://tinyurl.com/2ets34

Definitely much easier to manage! Give it a try! It's free and easy  - two things all consultants like!

Talking to My Computer

My husband thought I was crazy yesterday when he came home from work and found me talking to my computer. What he didn't know was that I had just installed my new Vonage telephone. If you are not familiar with Vonage, it it a "Voice Over Internet Provider" or VOIP. After visiting the Vonage site and filling out some basic information necessary to transfer an existing number over to Vonage, I was notified a few weeks later that my Vonage account was active. My Vonage "phone" is the size of a thumbdrive and plugs right into a USB port. The software is in the USB drive so there is nothing more to do. It launches automatically. The "phone" fits on my keychain and also provides limited storage space so I could also put some files or photos on it as well.

I am not promoting Vonage - just want to let you know about the technology. There are other VOIPs out there including itp4u.com, voice.yahoo.com, and broadvoice.com.  Honestly, I did not check out the others. Vonage had a special offer and I went for it since I had heard good things for quite awhile and I had wanted to try it out. After using it for the first time yesterday, I also found that it has some really good extras like conference calling, call forwarding and a voicemail system I love  - all included. (I can review and play voicemails from my inbox). The Vonage website also has some extra (paid) services like toll free numbers and virtual numbers at a very reasonable cost.

Why did I make the switch? Two main reasons - first, the phone number I moved is my main office number and I am rarely in my office. This allows me to plug into whatever computer I am using and receive and send messages from there easily. Second - it is cheaper. For a set price ($24.99/month) I am getting unlimited local and long distance calling plus the call forwarding, voice mail and other extras that I paid extra for with my other carrier. I am also most likely going to sign up for a toll free number as well since I have always wanted to offer one.

After I use this a bit more, I am sure I may find some kinks or even some added benefits so I will comment back when I do. For now, I am happy and I'll keep talking to my computer!