Add a Toll Free Number For Next to Nothing

You'd like to expand your business phone features, but upgrades can be expensive. Here's a way you can add an inbound toll free number to whatever telephone service you have now, including your cell phone, for just a couple of bucks a month.

Toll free numbers offer a big advantage for nearly any business that publishes a phone number. Within a very localized calling area, customers can call your local number without getting charged. But even a few miles away, that call will be considered local long distance and they'll get dinged a higher rate. Across the border in the next state, prospective customers may really hesitate to make that long distance call.

But give them a toll free number and they'll gladly call you from wherever they happen to be. After all, with an inbound toll free number you pay the cost of the call. It's free to the caller. So much do callers hate to pay long distance charges that toll free numbers are expected for sales and customer service lines. Otherwise, your business may not be taken seriously.

What they don't know is that you're paying next to nothing to have that number available and a very small per minute fee for the calls that come in. Toll free numbers start at just $2 to register and $2 a month to maintain. That's within the budget of any size business and even contract professionals. If and only if you receive a call on your toll free number, you pay just 6.9 cents per minute for calls that originate within the contiguous 48 states and slightly more elsewhere. The only people who will call this number are serious customers and prospects, so it's the most cost effective 6.9 cents a minute you can possibly spend.

But there's a lot more. With Kall8 Toll Free Service your toll free number comes bundled with a wealth of handy features. You get voice mail, call blocking, caller ID, call forwarding and conference calling. Those are typical phone service features. But Kall8 also gives you the ability to program the number you want your toll free calls to ring to. Set it to your office phone, home phone or cell phone. The caller has no idea where you are. They are just calling the toll free number. Mobile professionals will change the ring-to number during the course of the day, so they never miss a call.

Speaking of mobile professionals, Kall8 includes a couple of service that make it easy to maintain an office from your laptop computer. Your toll free number doubles as a fax number. Someone can simply send a fax to your toll free number and it will be sent to you as an email attachment. The same is true for voice mail. You can have your voice mails sent as sound files attached to emails so you can listen to them on your computer wherever you happen to be.

Pretty fancy for $2 a month, right? There's more too, including detailed call reports that you can view in your online control panel. This service is so versatile that marketing companies will buy up a bunch of toll free numbers so they can track the response from each ad they run separately. After all, at this price toll free numbers are one cheap business tool. Learn more and get your own toll free number(s) right now. They'll be ready to use right after you sign up for them.

4G Wireless Broadband Wars This Year

Later this year, the battle for 4G domination will begin in earnest.

4G? Has 3G really finished deployment yet? Actually, 3G wireless networks are pretty well out there. The big players, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, have upgraded most of their tower sites in populous areas. Many 3G smartphones and wireless modem aircards are available. While user awareness and adoption of 3G is still early on the learning curve, there's seemingly no time to waste for the carriers. It's on to 4G!

What's the big hurry? Part of it is an increasing sophistication in mobile applications with a corresponding increase in bandwidth demand. Some is good old fashioned competition. Think of it something like the space race or the building of the transcontinental railroad. The real value of these 4G networks is less about what's absolutely needed now and what they will enable in the future.

The 3G competition is based on two competing incompatible standards. The CDMA networks of Verizon, Alltel, and Sprint have developed EVDO technology. GSM networks, including AT&T, T-Mobile and foreign carriers have developed UMTS broadband, notably EDGE and HSPA.

The 4G competition is also dividing along two lines. First out of the gate is WiMAX, a worldwide standard for fixed and mobile broadband. But building steam is LTE, which is oddly enough being embraced by both Verizon and AT&T. Who's pushing WiMAX? Sprint and a fixed wireless player, Clearwire.

Is this going to be something like the ongoing DTV transition where one technology goes dark and the other immediately takes its place? No, not really. Both 3G and 4G will co-exist for a long time to come. WiMAX is being deployed in the 2.5 GHz band using the combined channel licenses owned by Sprint and Clearwire. Verizon and AT&T will use 700 MHz spectrum acquired in the recent telecom auction that was formerly the domain of analog TV broadcasting. That allows 3G cellular broadband to continue on the existing cellular bands as long as it makes economical sense.

One question is how much additional bandwidth we'll get from 4G wireless. During the run-up to the WiMAX standards approval, it was widely touted that a single WiMAX tower would have a range of something like 30 miles with bandwidth anywhere from 30 to 70 Mbps near the transmitter. In practice, Sprint was offering 2 to 4 Mbps download speeds on its Xohm service in Baltimore. The Xohm name has been retired, as Clearwire is taking over management of the combined Sprint and Clearwire channels. Clearwire has upped that to 4 to 6 Mbps on its Clear (tm) 4G wireless service for Portland, OR.

LTE hasn't been deployed yet, but peak data rates of 60 to 80 Mbps have been observed in tests. Verizon has suggested that average LTE data rates of around 8 Mbps are likely in actual service, although that may be conservative. Since there is a tradeoff between bandwidth, number of users per transmitter and distance from the tower, it seems likely that both LTE and WiMAX could be scaled up to provide speedier service as customer demand and the competitive environment dictate.

WiMAX has a lead in the race to the 4G wireless marketplace, with systems already in commercial service. Verizon's LTE has an advantage of frequencies lower in the electromagnetic spectrum, which should translate into greater ability to penetrate into buildings. Verizon expects to have 2 markets served by LTE by the end of this year. In 2010, Verizon expects to launch around 25 to 30 markets with LTE service. WiMAX will likely have a similar service level. There are now 50 markets in the U.S. and Europe with a pre-market version of WiMAX service.

4G wireless will likely reach a tipping point in 2011 or 2012, depending on the economy. Both mobile and fixed location services will be available, offering competition to DSL and Cable modem service as well as powering smartphones and netbooks. What will all this bandwidth be used for? You can bet that video will be the proverbial "killer-app", along with cloud computing and interactive everything.

600,000 Inquiries, No Waiting

Don't you hate the amount of time and frustration it takes to buy anything significant? How about telecommunications services? The worst, right? If you're not totally confused by who to call, you're stuck with music on hold. Or they ask you to fill out a form and wait a couple of weeks for an answer. Like I said, the worst.

Well, forget all that nonsense. How would you like to find out how much a T1 line is going to cost or if there is Metro Ethernet service nearby in less than a minute? How would you like to be able to do that any time, day or night? Well, you can. The service is available all the time, it's online and it's automatic. That means no waiting for someone to "get around to you."

The service is referring to is called GeoQuote (tm), the patented telecom pricing application that's revolutionized how business people buy voice and data telecom services. Let's give it a try right now. Don't worry, its take less time to generate a T1 line quote than to read the rest of this article. Start by visiting our T1 Rex site hosting the GeoQuote engine. Click and it will open in a new page or tab.

Select your service type from the drop down menu in the Shop For T1 box. "Data" is already selected, but you can change that to "Voice" for digital telephone line services such as ISDN PRI for your PBX system. Or select "Integrated Service" if you'd like to have both telephone and Internet service brought in on a single line. That often saves money for smaller businesses.

Fill-in the other blanks, which should only take a few seconds. Be sure to list your business landline number for the main phone. This is used by the system to determine service availability and price, so don't put in a cell number unless you've got a new location that doesn't have landline phone service yet. When done click on the "Step 2" button.

On the next page you have an opportunity to refine the type of service you are looking for. T1 is selected, but you can change that if you want Frame Relay, Server Colocation, DS3, ISDN Service, or even Fixed Wireless Broadband. There's a comment box available. It's not needed for automatic quotes on services such as T1, ISDN PRI or DS3. But it does provide helpful detail to the Shop For T1 consultants to help you get the best pricing, even on services you didn't know were available.

Fill in the box showing the installation address (business location, as these services aren't generally suitable for home users), select if you'd like quotes to include a router or not, specify new or existing service, and number of locations. You can also specify if you'd like someone to call you immediately, contact by email or if you are just window shopping. When done, click on the "continue" button.

Within a matter of seconds, you'll get a page displaying line prices for your particular location. These are highly accurate and represent prices you'll actually pay for 1, 2 or 3 year leases. The consultant who calls may know of special offers that run for a limited time, so you could actually pay less than what the screen says.

That's it for the general GeoQuote inquiry. There's another version that's targeted specifically for finding Metro Ethernet service. All you need to input is an address and you'll get a map showing the nearest locations with fiber optic connections. The closer they are, the more chance you have of getting Ethernet, Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet service at very reasonable prices. Try the Ethernet Buildings search now and see for yourself. It's also fully automated and available 24/7.

Now wasn't that a much more pleasant experience that what you usually go through to get pricing on business voice and data services? Over 600,000 other users feel the same way. Be sure to bookmark those GeoQuote search engine pages. You may want to come back and price another service later.

IP Phones Are In Demand

Enterprise VoIP is growing like crazy, but consumer adoption of IP phones is lagging far behind. That's the assessment of a recent study of the IP phone market. Is it that residential users aren't embracing new communication technology the way businesses are, or is there another explanation?

IP networks have been chipping away at the switched telephone network franchise for years. The reasons for this are both technical and financial.

For the consumer, the primary impetus has been to leverage their relatively expensive broadband (compared to dial-up) Internet service to also provide telephone services. There are many residential VoIP phone companies that offer bundled local and long distance service along with a dozen or two calling features all for one bundled price. For many consumers that price is lower that what you get ordering from the incumbent local telephone company.

There have also been a wealth of bundled CLECs or competitive local exchange carriers that competed with the incumbents, but changes in the telecom rules make leasing the telephone wires to your house too expensive for CLECs to offer an overall cost savings.

How do VoIP providers compete? They avoid the cost of leasing phone wires by using broadband services you already pay for. That can be either DSL or Cable, but the point is that most people buy broadband for their computers. VoIP uses the same connection as an alternative "phone wire" without additional cost. They also let consumers save money by reusing the phone they already have. You unplug your telephone set from the wall and plug it into an ATA or Analog Telephone Adapter box that is provided by the VoIP company, usually at no extra cost.

This is one reason that there is little to no demand for consumer IP phones. The residential marketplace isn't sophisticated enough yet to take advantage of services, like computer/telephone integration, or additional phone services, like videophone, that are practical with VoIP but not over traditional analog phone wires. Most consumers are still using corded handsets or cordless multi-telephone sets like the ones offered by Uniden.

The enterprise VoIP marketplace is quite different. Companies have various reasons for migrating to VoIP, but almost all are related to saving money directly or improving productivity to save money. While it is possible to get a better deal on local dial tone and long distance minutes using SIP Trunking instead of analog lines or T1 PRI digital phone lines, the real driver is the in-house phone system itself.

Traditional PBX telephone systems are large, proprietary and expensive to buy and maintain. They are rapidly giving way to IP PBX systems that are more like computer appliances than dedicated phone systems. IP telephony in-house offers the opportunity to converge the telephone and data networks into a single Ethernet connection to the desktop. Administrative and technical support can be considerably less for one network versus two, once the engineering has been accomplished to ensure quality of service for both voice and data users.

Like consumer VoIP, a business can acquire analog telephone adaptors and continue to use their existing handsets on the company LAN. But many additional features become available by switching to desk sets designed for IP services. The phone itself contains the network interface plus text display, video, and other features that make it as much a computer peripheral as a telephone. These phones are called IP phones or SIP phones. SIP is the switching technology used by VoIP telephone systems. There are many vendors of business IP phones, with Cisco being a major player.

Another point the report makes is that corded phones are the standard now, but will be replaced more and more by cordless and wireless handsets. That includes cell phones that are integrated into the corporate IP PBX systems, and perhaps wireless VoIP phones that will operate over the new LTE cellular broadband and WiMAX wireless networks that are just now starting to be deployed.

Store Your Files For Free

The economy's rough. So the price you want to store is files is free, right? Of course that's the right price in this environment. Anything else would be too much.

Well, free it is. At least for storing your personal files. Now mind you, this means electronic files. Warning: don't haul your cardboard boxes full of paper files to one of those self-storage building places and ask for free service. They'll sic their junkyard dogs on you.

Instead, store your computer files free with Mozy. All you do is create an account, download a storage application file, and then upload your documents, photos, tunes or whatever from your computer. You don't need a credit card, because you aren't going to pay anything. That's what free means.

You like the idea of storing your files offsite. After all, hard drives crash, files get deleted and then you want them back later, and who knows what kind of damage computer viruses can cause. But perhaps you are concerned about having your files on someone elses server where they might be found by others. Mozy addresses this. They use 128-bit SSL encryption to upload your files and keep them secure during transit. When they go into storage, your data is protected by 448-bit Blowfish encryption. That should keep the hackers at bay.

The other beauty of this Mozy service is that once you set it up, it works automatically. You tell it what time to do the backups and the system takes it from there. No more having to remember to do a Sunday night backup to CD ROM. No more sinking feeling when that disk gets damaged or you just can't remember where you stashed it. This service does the remembering so you don't have to.

Now one little caveat. The Mozy free file backup service is available for your home PC. You get 2 GB at no cost. For many users, this may be plenty. But if you like the way it works and want more, you can get unlimited backup for a small monthly fee.

Businesses are also in luck. There is a Mozy Pro service that offers desktop and server licenses for low monthly license fees plus a small amount per GB of storage per month. Price it out and compare with what it costs you to keep backup data spinning on hard drives or the cost and effort it takes to keep burning CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs. Don't forget that you really don't have a backup if your duplicate data is kept at the same facility as your online data. When disaster strikes, it all gets destroyed.

Mozy Pro can also help businesses and organizations comply with both the HIPAA privacy and HIPAA security rules, if those apply to you. There's helpful information about doing this available on the Mozy Pro website.

DTV Transition For Wireless Mic Users

We're right in the thick of the digital television transition which started officially on February 17 and continues through June 12. But that is just the beginning of it for many wireless microphone users. The fact is that the airwaves are changing and some of that change might just knock you off the air.

The DTV transition is actually a shorthand way to describe a complete reassignment of the VHF and UHF frequencies that have been the domain of over the air broadcast television for some 50 years. The stated impetus is an upgrade in television from analog to digital broadcasting. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If TV stations were only going to scrap their analog transmitters and replace them with digital transmitters on exactly the same channels, only TV viewers would be affected. But there's much more in play.

A second and perhaps more powerful incentive to make the transition is that over the air TV channels are being consolidated below 700 MHz. The upper UHF channels were sold off to other wireless service providers in a government auction. In addition, even the compressed television broadcast band is set to be shared to make more efficient use of scarce spectrum. All the channels that aren't filled with TV stations in any given area are available for use by other entities on a non-interference basis.

So what does this have to do with wireless mics? Many wireless microphones use equipment that jumped the gun on making use of those "white spaces" between powerful TV signals. They've been effectively squatting in the 700 MHz band without much of a problem. Their transmission range is short and the TV band never did fill up with stations. So interference problems were few and easily rectified by moving the mic in question to a different frequency.

All that is about to change. More TV stations are being crowded into the truncated UHF band. That leaves less room for multichannel wireless microphone transmissions, especially in larger cities. As soon as a new generation of white space devices approved by the FCC start moving into the remaining open channels, established wireless microphone users may find it tough to keep their preferred frequencies clear of interference. That could be a big problem for everything from theater productions to church sermons.

So what's a wireless mic user to do? Sweetwater, a major supplier of professional audio gear, offers a new guide called "Navigating the White Spaces" by Mitch Gallagher. It's an online resource available to read at no charge. If you are potentially affected by the DTV transition or just want to keep up with what is happening on the airwaves, it's well worth a read. Mitch outlines which microphones are affected (they all aren't), assessing your ability to continue squatting in the white spaces, and what other solutions are available. There are also links to additional guides and white papers published by the microphone manufacturers.

AT&T HSUPA Aircards Have the Edge Over EDGE

AT&T, like the other major wireless carriers, has been on a determined program to upgrade its cellular data capabilities. Broadband is the service in demand for everything from Web browsing to streaming mobile video. Wireless is the broadband service in demand. Everyone wants to be connected to the Internet 24/7 wherever they happen to be. AT&T is only too happy to scratch that itch.

If you've been dutifully plodding along with your wireline broadband connection at work and/or home and get by with a basic cell phone for staying in touch verbally, then you may have missed the latest initiatives in the mobile broadband revolution. Even if you venture out with your trusty laptop to enjoy a hot cup of joe and relax with your favorite websites at a nearby WiFi hotspot, you may not be getting all the mobility you could have.

WiFi hotspots have been the rage for years, with free WiFi now expected in restaurants and hotels. What's really helped establish this technology is standardized interfaces built into nearly every laptop, notebook and netbook computer. Many smartphones are also WiFi enabled. WiFi has given everyone the idea that the Internet needn't be a tether to your desk. But WiFi has some real limitations.

This is what the much heralded WiMAX is supposed to address. Think of WiMAX as a WiFi hotspot that covers a town. Sounds pretty good, right? But WiMAX has been in development for years and is only now starting its years and years of nation-wide buildout.

In the meantime, the established mobile communications providers - the cell phone carriers - have been thinking that they've already established their turf and have the transmitting towers in place to provide near-universal wireless coverage. The one thing they've been lacking is a really fast Internet service to go along with their mobile telephone service.

This is the system that AT&T has been building out. It's been done in stages with connectivity similar to a dial-up ISP being launched first. Next came true broadband with a service called EDGE or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution. EDGE gives you bandwidth similar to entry level DSL services at around 384 Kbps. That's not bad for email or general Web surfing, but most users are now spoiled with higher speeds and bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming video.

To gain more bandwidth, AT&T has been upgrading to a faster technology called HSPA or High Speed Packet Access. HSPA comes in two flavors. HSDPA is High Speed Downlink Packet Access. It is focused on a large download bandwidth of of up to 3.6 Mbps with a relatively small upload bandwidth. HSUPA offers a true broadband upload channel with download speeds up to 2 Mbps. I say "up to" because the performance you experience will vary with signal strength and how many other users are trying to access the network at the same time you are connected.

How do you get connected to the AT&T 3G BroadbandConnect and Nationwide EDGE networks? You'll need a wireless modem, such as the Option Quicksilver USB Modem, that plugs into a USB connector on your mobile computer. This particular aircard, as wireless modems are called, works with both types of networks. The Nationwide EDGE network is available in 13,000 cities. The faster 3G BroadbandConnect network based on HSPA (including HSUPA and HSDPA technologies) is now available in 260 U.S. metro areas.

The Quicksilver modem works with both PCs and Macs and is available free with your Wireless Data Plan order. The plan runs $60 a month and includes 5 GB of data per month. That's way more than most people will use on a mobile computer.

Sierra Wireless also offers a USB modem called the Sierra Wireless Mercury USB Modem for AT&T. It is also available free of charge with a data plan service order. The Sierra Wireless modem includes a built-in GPS receiver that can be used with location based services and a microSD slot for expandable memory.

If you prefer an aircard that plugs into a PCMCIA slot on your laptop, there are several to choose from. A free one is the Option GT Ultra PCMCIA PC/Mac Card which has a retractable butterfly antenna. Others available for a small cost include the Sierra Wireless AC881 PC/Mac PCMCIA Card, and the Option GT Ultra ExpressCard PC/Mac Card that fits into the ExpressCard/34 (mm) slots on some computers. Pick the card and interface that works best with your computers.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Amazon's Kindle Tells Bedtime Stories

Having a hard time getting to sleep on that stressful road trip? How about a nice bedtime story? Got an all-day drive ahead of you? How about using the time productively by having some popular business books read to you? Sounds like a pitch for audio tapes, doesn't it? But, no. Tapes and even CDs are yesterday's news. What you want is downloaded content that is converted from text to speech and read from a gadget the size of a paperback book.

Actually, what you want is the new Amazon Kindle 2. It's the upgraded version of the popular Kindle reader that finally made downloadable books sensible. The new Kindle2 is a major upgrade that reduces the thickness of the device to about a third of an inch, reduces the weight to just over 10 ounces, adds 25% to battery life, increases storage to 1,500 books, speeds up page turns by 20%, expands the gray scale resolution from 4 to 16 levels and makes a great cup of coffee.

No, I'm just kidding about the coffee maker feature. That will have to wait for Kindle 3 or beyond. All of the other features are included in this release, along with a new read-to-me feature that converts text to speech and talks to you via internal speakers or plug-in headphones. You can choose a male or female voice, have him or her speed up or slow down, and have whatever content you've downloaded read to you at your convenience. Strap the Kindle 2 into the car seat next to you and you have a small but loquacious traveling companion.

Sure, you already read documents and Internet content on your computer. Perhaps you've even bought a netbook computer for travel. But the Kindle is completely different. It's still smaller than whatever computer you have. Plus it won't give you eyestrain the way a computer can because it has no backlight. It's the glare from the screen that limits the time you can read online. Kindle uses a new technology called electronic ink to provide excellent contrast for black text on a white background, even outdoors or in brightly lit environments. Obviously you can't read it in the dark, but you can't read a book in the dark either. So turn on that overhead light or open a window shade.

The other thing that makes Kindle unique among electronic reading gadgets is its Whispernet 3G broadband connection that runs on the Sprint cellular network. Whispernet is automatically engaged by the Kindle when you want to buy a book or download a newspaper or magazine. In about a minute you have your reading material stored in the machine. Did I mention that it holds up to 1,500 books in the 1.4 GB user memory? Why tote a couple of heavy hardbacks when you can carry an entire library with less weight? Truly amazing.

Managed IP Networks Enable Voice and Data Convergence

Many companies have been eying their computer and telephone networks for opportunities to save money without losing services. A popular approach is to combine or converge those two networks into a single multi-functional LAN that can be extended to connect with the public Internet and telephone network. One network, one connection per desk, and one support team are the goal. Sadly, the reality can fall short of the dream.

What's the reason for this? The way computers traditionally use a network is quite different from how a telephone uses its network or a security camera uses its video network. Most of what we use computers for is to shuttle data from one place to another. The main requirement is that the data remains intact. What is received must be bit for bit identical to what is sent. It doesn't really matter if there are short delays in the transfer or if some parts of the data set need to be resent because they arrived corrupted. As long as data integrity remains intact and the transfer time doesn't impact productivity, the computer network is doing its job.

The telephone network is a different animal. Telephony is a real time process. You speak into one phone and your voice comes out of another. It's a continuous process in analog telephony, consisting of an varying electrical signal that is present for the duration of the call. Any delays, interruptions or added noise are noticeable and objectionable. They are perceived to be degradations of the service.

What convergence does is convert analog telephone signals into data packets that are compatible with an Ethernet computer network. The phone, in essence, becomes a computer. But to emulate a telephone network, any phone packets need special care and protection from being pushed out of the way by large data file transfers. A stream of telephone data representing a voice signal can't be retransmitted if it is corrupted. That would make two-way conversations even more confusing than a few glitches from missing packets. When voice is added to a data network, it needs to be treated as first among equals.

That's the challenge of network convergence. The techniques often adopted are to have enough bandwidth to accommodate voice, video and data simultaneously. In addition, real time signals such as telephone or video cameras are given priority over less time sensitive packets such as computer file transfers.

Now, consider the Internet. The Internet treats all packets the same and gives no priorities to voice, data or video. In addition, parameters such as latency (time delay), jitter (variations in time delay), packet loss and bandwidth have no guarantees. You get what you get and it may vary from second to second.

That's the impetus behind managed IP networks. A managed IP network is like having a private Internet. You use the same equipment, the same protocols, and connect to the same places. But the network you travel on is carefully managed to ensure quality for your critical packets. Where it connects to the actual Internet to give you access to this important public resource, there are protections so that you still have quality assurances for your telephone services that don't travel on the Internet.

If you've been disappointed by the results you are getting from company initiatives to move to enterprise VoIP telephone services or converged voice and data networks, then you may be pleasantly surprised by the results you can get with managed IP networks. Take a few minutes and find out what a managed IP network can do for you.

Shine On, LG, Shine On

How would you like a beautiful piece of engineering that also doubles as a camera, a media player and a cell phone? Well, here it is. It's the LG Shine in a colorful jacket of red or black.

The LG Shine, shown here in its attractive red stainless steel case, is a quad band GSM phone with 3G data capability for the AT&T wireless network. It features a unique 2.2 inch wide mirror LCD display that offers a wide viewing angle. Shine, it does. Closed it looks like a PDA or one of the other LG smartphones. But slide it open vertically and you'll find the keys you need for dialing. This sliding arrangement minimizes the form factor when not placing a call. But it also serves to maintain a 0.6 inch thin profile for easy transport and handling.

Note that the LG Shine model CU720 isn't really designed for text intensive operations. There's no on-screen or slide out QWERTY keyboard. The Web browser is also a WAP 2.0 version. But you'll get download speeds up to 1.4 Mbps within the AT&T HSDPA network footprint. Outside of that you're connected through the EDGE network at up to 144 Kbps.

The shine sports an exceptional quality 2.0 Megapixel digital camera that includes flash, a self-timer, viewfinder and image editor. It takes pictures easily good enough to print and perhaps an inducement to leave your old digital camera at home in the closet.

The Shine is designed to shine with multimedia applications. You'll put that high speed download to work with streaming cellular video (CV) and AT&T music, with access to XM Radio, MTV and HBO mobile. The MP3 player supports MP3, WMA, AAC and AAC+ formats. It includes an equalizer with visualization. Bluetooth wireless allows streaming music to a stereo Bluetooth headset or other A2DP compatible device. The phone includes 70 MB of memory onboard with a microSD memory port that takes cards up to 4GB each.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

New Online Tool Finds Better International Long Distance Rates

Do you make international or overseas telephone calls? Expensive, aren't they? Well, help is here in the form of a new long distance rate finder tailored to the international caller.

The problem with phone rates is that you're never sure if you're paying a reasonable rate or missing out just because you don't about better rates that have only recently become available. You can do your own online searches, work your way through the vendor's websites, and pick the one with the lowest rate. But that can take hours. You'll probably give up after looking at just a few offers because it's too much like work. What if you could comparison shop a wide variety of competitive carriers and see in seconds what the best deals are?

That's what the International Long Distance Rate Finder does for you. Go ahead and click on this link or the screen shot image and the rate finder will open in another window so you can follow along.

The first thing you see is that the interface is very simple, even sparse. There are only two steps to get started. You need to select the country you are calling from and the country you are calling to. That's really all the database needs to run your search on a reasonable data set. You'll notice that nothing is asking you for your name, address, phone number, email or anything else personal. There's no need for that information to generate a rate list, so your privacy is easily protected.

Let's try one. We'll call from the United States to China. The United States is already selected, so you can just leave that box alone. Using the pull-down menu select China as the country in "STEP 2". If there is a specific number you want to call, you can enter that for a more precise targeting of rates. But just the country will do.

Notice that a "STEP 3" box now appears with more choices highlighted in an orange color. You can just click the radio button that says "China". Or you can more precisely target an area in China. The reason for this is that there are often lower rates to specific areas of a country. If they are available and you can, say, select Beijing, then you may get a better rate than just the general rate to China. If you are calling a mobile phone, select "China (cellular)". Rates to mobile users are different, usually higher, so you might as well know what your call is really going to cost.

Let's just stick with China in general for right now. Now click on the black "Search For Rates" button. In a couple of seconds, literally, you'll get a chart of carriers and their rates to China. I count 20 separate service providers and their rates to China. They are ranked from lowest per minute cost to highest. In this case, the best rate is from Packet8. This is a VoIP provider who charges 1 cent per minute for calls from the USA to China. You'll also see what it costs for a 5 minute call (5 cents) and a 30 second call (30 cents). Since the billing increment is 6 seconds for this provider, it doesn't affect the cost of these calls. If you made a 5 second call, you'd still pay for 6 seconds. Big deal. Well, some carriers bill in larger increments of 60 seconds, so sometimes it matters.

Want to know more about Packet8? Click on the magnifying glass next to the name or on the linked name of the service provider. You'll be taken to their site where you can get a lot more detail about the services they offer. You also have the option to order service right from this page by clicking on the "Order Now" link on the right hand side of the page.

Notice that there are a wide variety of service providers offering low rates to China. You can select a VoIP service or dial-around, 1-Plus service, post paid calling card or conference call, depending on your particular need. If you want to limit the display to a particular type of service, unclick the check boxes of the services you don't want. You'll find those at the top of the chart.

Of course, you can change your search parameters at any time. There's a link called "Make changes to your search" at the bottom of the chart. Pick another pair of countries or different areas within your desired country and you'll get different results.

You may want to play around with this tool to get a better feel for what is available and how to use the service. You may also want to book mark the International Long Distance Rate Finder so you can come back whenever your needs change and run an up to date search for the lowest telephone rates to wherever you want to call.

Tel3Advantage Valentine Calling Special

Have someone special a long distance away, perhaps in a distant foreign land, that you want to stay in touch with this Valentine's Day? Tel3Advantage can make it happen for you at a very affordable rate. Tel3 is known for its excellent international calling rates. But sign up for their service between now and February 20 and you'll get a 30% discount on your long distance calls for a month plus $3 free talk time.

Tel3 is known for its ultra-low cost international telephone rates for both business and residential users. How low? With the special in play right now, your USA calls are 1.4 cents per minute. Call the U.K. for just 1.8 cents/min. How about some place that's expensive to call, like China? China calls are only 1.2 cents per minute. What's that about being expensive? Oh, you mean when you use other long distance services. You really should just get Tel3Advantage if low rates are important to you.

Tel3 is a leader in pre-paid long distance phone services. You buy your minutes ahead of time, like you would with a calling card. But unlike a card, Tel3 services use advanced technology to maximize your convenience and minimize your costs. You can make calls from any phone - home, work, cell phone, or even a payphone. Use the customized online control panel to set up your phones, track charges and update your balance. You make calls using the system without having to dial in some onerous pin number. Just dial the access number and your destination number and the system will take care of making sure you get the best rate possible.

But what if you don't want to switch your long distance service? No problem because Tel3Advantage doesn't require you to make any changes to your existing phone services. This is an independent service that you use only when you want to. That's probably often, since the calling rates offered by Tel3 are so much lower that you are probably getting charged now. Leave your current service in place. Use Tel3Advantage to make those expensive long distance calls, even when on the go.

Are you hesitating to make an important overseas phone call because you fear getting a huge bill in the mail? Put your mind and budget at easy. Take advantage of the special Tel3Advantage limited time offer right now.

Get Paid to Take a Cell Phone

You'd like a new cell phone, but the type you want is going to set you back a hundred bucks in the store. Guess you'll just have to stick with what you have now, right? Why do that when you can get paid $100 to take a new cell phone instead of having to shell out that same amount?

Just a second. Get paid to take a new cell phone? That's not how it works. You may get a discount, if you are lucky, but you've got to pay something to get any kind of decent phone. Right?

Wrong!

It's more about where you buy your phone rather than what type of phone you want. Granted, some of the very latest high technology smartphones are in high demand and do command a premium. But you'd be surprised how many cell phones you can get that are free. Note: at the time of this writing some phones even offered money back rebates, but those promotions have now expired

Skip the retail experience and get your next cell phone and wireless service plan online. You find 24/7 shopping at the convenience of your Web browser. You can browse to your heart's content without some nosy sales person trying to hustle you along. One you've made a decision, select your preferred service plan and complete your order in a matter of minutes. Your phone will be quickly sent to you ready to use, with free shipping in most cases.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

GigE For Business Not So Far-Fetched

Online technologies have been getting more and more resource demanding. Much of this is due to the sophistication of the applications, the move from plain text to graphical solutions, and the extensive use of video. The promise of improved productivity and additional sales opportunities are coming at a price. That price is increased WAN bandwidth requirements. Yesterday, ordering a T1 line was a big decision. Tomorrow you may be leasing a Gigabit Ethernet connection.

Gigabit Ethernet in business? Wow! We normally think of that kind of throughput, 1,000 Mbps, as needed for carrier backbones or interconnecting supercomputers. How would it apply to business situations?

Think about the corporate LAN. What started out as 10 Mbps Ethernet has been upgraded to 100 Mbps to the desktop and GigE over copper or fiber between wiring closets. You know that 10 Gigabit Ethernet isn't far off. It's just a matter of the production learning curve bringing the price down enough to spark mass adoption. So is GigE to the desktop.

The laggard in these increasing speed levels has been the WAN or Wide Area Network connection. You may have hundreds of employees on your networks at various plant sites and office complexes. Files zip around these nets without delay inside each facility. You may have already deployed enterprise VoIP solutions to converge your telephone and computer networks. But what happens when you try to send something outside? Are you still poking along with a 45 Mbps DS3 connection?

Smaller and medium size companies may wince at the thought of "poking" along at 45 Mbps. But when hundreds or thousands of employees are accessing the Internet as an essential part of doing their jobs, that DS3 can easily become a bottleneck. A few seconds delay here, a few seconds there. Pretty soon we're talking some serious lost productivity.

The situation is more dire for companies on the cutting edge of HDTV video production, medical imaging, animation rendering, or CAD simulation. The WAN bandwidth between your company and your customer may well limit how much "product" you can ship in a day. Collaboration on product design can become an exercise in futility. The only way to make the operation of the tools invisible in the process is to take bandwidth limitations out of the loop.

In case you are still thinking that 1,000 Mbps WAN connections are way beyond reason, consider that South Korea is planning to bring Gigabit Ethernet to all Koreans within 5 years. They're looking at implementing this infrastructure as a strategic advantage for the country.

In the United States, such a public infrastructure is well down the road. But Gigabit Ethernet is here for business users, and prices have dropped dramatically over what they were a few years ago. Thanks to competitive service providers who now offer GigE connections on their own fiber optic networks and DS3 level connections over twisted pair copper, bandwidth upgrades are within reason for most companies. Are prices at the level where you should be considering GigE WAN connections? Find out by seeing what's available in your area for Gigabit Ethernet and Ethernet over Copper WAN bandwidth.

Technicians at Your Beck and Call

With the economy on the rocks, having even one full time technician on your staff can be a luxury for smaller companies. Does that mean that you have to put off the telephone and network upgrades and maintenance you really need? Or settle for hiring somebody who isn't very skilled but works cheap? No way. Not when you can have technicians at your beck and call without having them on your staff.

The trick is to hire contractors, but not just any contractors. What you want are pre-screened professionals who are capable and experienced in exactly the service you need. You don't put them on salary. You have them bid on the job and then pay for only the specific work you want done. Often you'll get a package deal. You buy the equipment and the installation, setup and training services on contract and get one special price. You can get wireline services, such as T1 lines or SIP trunks, along with your hardware so you know everything is going to work perfectly before the technicians turns it over to you. In some cases, you'll find several eager contractors anxious to bid on the same job. Lucky you!

So where are all these valuable technicians? You haven't getting resumes dropped off lately. In fact, no one has even called you in the longest time to see if you could use some help. Does that mean having to work you way through the phone book listings or calling a temp agency? Absolutely not.

Take the easy and proven approach. Use the quick and easy online matchmaking service called the VAR Network. VAR stands for Value Added Resellers. Those are the people you want. They specialize in particular product lines and have the connections and training to bid on your project and deliver results. You don't have to settle for a general "handyman" either. These VARs are professionals, but few represent all lines or offer all services. They specialize. That's an advantage for you, but doesn't it make finding the right VAR difficult?

No, not when the VAR Network is based on an automated online database system with several thousand registered VARs. That's right. Thousands of technicians in the network. Of course, they all have their own service areas. Some major equipment dealers serve the entire nation. Other specialized professionals may serve a very limited geographical area. It doesn't matter because the sophisticated matching capabilities of the VAR Network pair-up your requirements with only those VARs who offer the right expertise and serve your particular area.

Sounds like there's going to be a hefty fee for this service, doesn't it. No, no fee. As a business owner or manager with a definite commercial need, you are just who the technicians in the VAR Network want making inquiries. There is absolutely no fee to browse the network or put in a request for quote. If you have multiple needs, go ahead and put in multiple requests. You'll never pay a fee. What you will get is contact from qualified VARs eager to satisfy your requirements. Then it's up to you to decide which, if any, to hire.

Have you ever felt so important? That's because your business really is important and valued by the technicians in the VAR Network.

Try VoIP Phone Service For Under $10 a Month

Have you ever wished you could try one of the new VoIP telephone services to see if you'd like it better than your old landline? You've seen the ads. Sound pretty good, don't they. The bundled local and long distance service is on one bill. You get lots of features without getting nickle and dimed. International rates are just a few pennies a minute to many countries. You know what your bill is going to be and it's a lot less than you're paying now.

So why don't you just go ahead and make the switch? Well, you may not be all that sure if you're really going to like the service or if it will even work properly with your broadband connection. Perhaps you're just averse to signing long term contracts, especially when the vendor wants $40 or $50 a month for their phone service package. Isn't there a way to put a toe in the water and give VoIP a try without getting into the whole commitment thing?

You bet there is. What you are looking for is no contract VoIP service from Phone Power. There are plans for both business addresses and residential addresses. Please note that the under $10 promotional offer available when this article was first posted has expired. However, you can still get excellent plan pricing from Phone Power

These aren't stripped down calling plans, either. You get all the great features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3-Way Conference Calling, Voicemail and Find Me Follow Me, among others. You may be paying extra fees each month to use these features on your current service. With PhonePower they are all included with your service package.

So, how do you hookup this VoIP service? The idea behind VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is that it uses your broadband Internet connection in place of traditional telephone wires to connect you to your phone service provider. Actually, you'll be sharing your broadband between your computer and your telephone. The way that's done is with an ATA or Analog Telephone Adapter, a box that converts your regular telephone into the digital format needed to connect to the Internet. PhonePower leases one of those boxes to you at no cost as long as you maintain your service.

Note that this type of VoIP Service does not require your computer to be on to receive or make phone calls. It doesn't hook into your computer at all, it just shares the Internet connection. As long as your broadband service is running, you'll have phone service.

One thing you do need is the right Internet connection. For VoIP that is DSL or Cable Broadband for most residential users. You can also use fiber optic Internet service if you happen to have that. In business offices you may have a T1 dedicated connection or higher speed service. All of these are suitable. Dial-Up access is too slow to work at all. Satellite Internet results in choppy and delayed conversations. Wireless Internet services may either prohibit VoIP service or have other limitations.

So, are you more interested in giving VoIP phone service a try? If your curiosity is piqued, then get all the details on features and terms of service and sign up if you wish for PhonePower VoIP digital telephone service.

You may also be interested in comparing a wide variety of VoIP service plans at Affordable VoIP.

T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone Gets Vocal

You've been thinking about a smartphone upgrade for your next cell phone, but which one? Can't decide if you want a touchscreen phone like the Apple iPhone, the BlackBerry Bold, or the Samsung Delve? Or perhaps you'd really rather have a hidden full QWERTY keyboard for those heavy texting times. How about a trackball for navigation like the BlackBerry Pearl? Then there's the matter of connectivity. You'd really like 3G, but you know it isn't always available. Sure would be nice to have WiFi capability to surf the Web fast when you need that broadband capability.

How can you decide what to buy when you want it all? Well, why not get it all with the HTC-built G1 for T-Mobile? Yes, this is the famous "Android Phone" that marked Google's entry into the mobile wireless field. It runs on the T-Mobile network for quad band cellphone service. Plus it has an excellent array of data capabilities. Within the T-Mobile G3 network footprint, the G1 uses HSDPA for up to 7.2 Mbps download speeds. Outside the range of those towers, it defaults to the T-Mobile EDGE network for up to 120 Kbps download speed. That's still good enough for email, text messaging and casual Web browsing. Want even faster speed? The G1 has built-in WiFi b/g capability for broadband performance up to 24 Mbps through you wireless router or at a WiFi hotspot.

But how about the user interface? Once again, the T-Mobile G1 has it all. With the phone closed in its normal configuration, you can use the 3.2 inch color touchscreen, just like you would on those other advanced smartphones. But slide out the hidden keyboard and you have a small computer form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard just below the large landscape mode display. There's even a little trackball off to the side in landscape mode or below the display in the portrait mode. Don't worry about how to switch modes. The G1's accelerometer knows how you are holding the phone and will adjust the display accordingly.

The Google Android operating system running on a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A processor provides easy access to Google applications such as Google, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Calendar and Google Talk. Now there's a software upgrade that will be pushed over the air to G1 users to add Google's Voice Search application. It gives text search results to voice queries and can tap into the A-GPS capability in the phone to help you find the nearest gas station, restaurant or other area of interest. That's coming in the next couple of weeks.

The G1 can easily be called a multimedia phone. It sports a 3.2 Megapixel auto-focus camera/camcorder, an MP3 player, expandable memory up to 8 GB, multimedia messaging, and support for streaming video and music.

Does this PDA smartphone look like just the one you've been wanting? If so, check the 3G coverage available in your area, learn more and order your T-Mobile G1 w/Google in Bronze or G1 Black with T-Mobile wireless service. You'll get a special discount price by ordering online plus free shipping. Order a shared minutes "family" plan and get TWO G1s on the same service.

Have a different phone in mind or just want to see all of what's available? Compare cellphones, smartphones and aircards now.

Apartment Manager's Little Money Maker

While real estate prices may be in free fall, there is an opportunity to generate extra income from the apartment tenants you already have and even attract new lessees. It's something they buy now or would like to. They would buy it from you if they could get a better deal. It's a perfect value added service for your business. What is it? Why, broadband Internet of course.

Apartment managers becoming Internet service providers? How does that make sense?

The fact is that whether you have a few dozen or a few hundred tenants, there is a substantial amount of money being spent in your building right under your nose. In some cases your renters would not only consider alternative broadband service, they'd welcome it. DSL and Cable Internet are sold to individuals, one at a time. Every apartment dweller is paying the same price for the same service as the person in the apartment next door or down the hall. There is no quantity discount when 5 people separately order service at different times. Consequently, you may have an entire building full of people who think they are paying way too much for broadband service or refuse to pay the price and stick with dial-up.

This is where you as the owner or property manager step in. What if you ordered a reliable, professional grade dedicated broadband service for your building? You use some of the bandwidth yourself for your own office or apartment. The rest you divvy up among renters who are interested. Or just make it part of the services you include with the rent. You'll get a T1 line or Metro Ethernet connection to the Internet. That's connected to a router that distributes it to network jacks in the apartments. Or you can distribute the service via wireless access points, similar to WiFi hotspots you find in airports and hotels.

Technically, this is very similar to what hotel operators are doing. They buy a large bandwidth service and divide it up among many rooms. Users are happy because they have broadband available that may well rival what they can get at home. Since not everyone uses the service at the same time, a single T1 line or 10 Mbps Ethernet connection can serve up to a couple dozen subscribers without excessive network congestion.

But what about the economics? OK, say you can get a 1.5 Mbps T1 line for $450 a month. That's not uncommon in metropolitan areas now, but the cost at your location may be more or less. If you have 15 users sharing that service, you can cover the cost at just $30 a month. So charge $35 a month and you'll make $5 x 15 users or $75 a month. Add yourself to the user list as #16 and your broadband is essentially free.

In a larger building, let's say you can bring in a 10 Mbps Ethernet service for $950 a month. If there are 50 subscribers for this higher speed service, the costs are covered at just $19 a month. You might even get 100 users to share that much bandwidth for a cost of $9.50 per user. Charge them $20 a month for 10 Mbps broadband and they'll consider it a favor. But you'll be making over $1,000 a month profit on this arrangement.

Something else to consider is offering lower speed broadband, say 100 Kbps, for occasional users and those who mostly send email and do casual browsing. They'll get always-on service that's several times faster than dial-up for maybe $5 or $10 a month. You could distribute this service via wireless access point, perhaps even running a lower cost fractional T1 line to save money.

Of course, you need to run the numbers for your particular situation and see if this idea will turn a profit for the number of people you can sign up and the costs involved. Find out what T1 and Ethernet line service costs for your location. Then factor in the cost of routers, access points, wiring and installation. A telecom network VAR can quote this and get everything installed and running. If it makes financial sense, you may well find that broadband Internet service can be the apartment manager's little money maker.

Oh, Mandi, They Came and You Gave Them My Number

Everyone who's ever worked in an office knows that it's the secretaries that bring order to chaos. Sadly, we often take them for granted as they so efficiently go about their proscribed routine. It's when we cut the corporate umbilical and go out on our own that it suddenly dawns on us that chaos has reared its ugly head and there's no one to keep things running like the proverbial clockwork. You know you need a secretary. But you look at your budget and sigh. Alas, there's no hope you can afford someone to keep things organized. Or, perhaps, there is.

Meet your new assistant, Mandi. No, not the Mandy of Manilow song. This is Mandi, your virtual assistant. She's got your number. Phone number, that is. Hire Mandi and she'll manage your phone calls like the living, breathing assistant you can't afford. Mandi you can afford.

Mandi is a professional Electronic Voice Assistant. She's part of the SpeechPhone family of speech-driven personal assistants. The key idea here is "speech-driven." This is what separates Mandi from the usual automated attendants and answering machines. Mandi will answer your phone 24/7 and screen each call. She'll route them to wherever you happen to be and let you know who's calling so you can decide whether you're "in" or not. If not, Mandi will dutifully take a message.

When you order Mandi, you are assigned a personal local phone number. This is the one number that you publish and tell people. It matters not that you have 4 different phones in 4 different locations. Mandi will track you down when your services are needed and no one else has to know your real phone number.

What's really cool is the speech driven technology. You talk to Mandi just like you would a live secretary. With respect, of course. You say things like "get messages" and you'll get your new phone messages. Now say "call back" and Mandi dials that caller back. For some real fun, say "get email messages." Mandi will do just that and carefully read them to you over the phone. Then you have the options to save, delete, copy or reply to your messages, all by voice command.

Peeking behind the curtain, you should know that SpeechPhone services run on carrier grade Lucent Speech Servers that include robust Automatic Speech Recognition and Text to Speech technology that has been developed by Bell Laboratories. This is professional grade communications for working professionals. The amazing thing is that it's available in a price range that makes it perfect for mobile professionals and small office / home office users.

700 MHz Groundhogs Look For DTV Shadow

Groundhog's Day is the traditional time for reading the shadows of things to come. This year is no different, as a shivering continent holds its icy breath in anticipation of a warm weather bailout courtesy of Punxsutawney Phil. But there's another shadow on the horizon being eagerly watched by the telecom industry. That's the looming decision on user rights to the 700 MHz UHF TV band. If it goes one way, DTV or digital television will soon be here. If it goes the other, we'll have another 16 weeks of ATV or analog television.

"Who cares," you say? Lots of people care about this decision. Probably a lot more than really think that dragging a groggy rodent out of bed is actually going to stop their teeth from chattering. On the one side are those who's TV sets are going to become nothing more than hiss generators when the analog television transmitters are shut down for good. On the other side are the new owners of those TV frequencies who bought and paid for the right to re-purpose them in a recent government auction. Somewhere in the middle are the television stations themselves who resent having to pay the electric bill for both an analog and a digital TV transmitter, but have taken their time upgrading to HDTV local programming.

What's behind this conundrum is an unprecedented massive repurposing of the broadcast spectrum. Analog TV, which was first demonstrated during the Hoover administration and rapidly deployed after the Second World War, is being frog-marched off its traditional VHF and UHF channels in favor of digital TV and other applications such as cell phones and wireless broadband Internet service.

What's so unprecedented about this is that technology improvements have always had to work with existing communications services on the public airwaves, not evict them. AM radio started up in 1920 and is still with us. The band has been expanded and stereo was introduced. There's even digital radio called HD radio. But your old crystal set will still pick up the first U.S. broadcaster, KDKA, at 1020 on the dial near Pittsburgh and farther away after dark. When FM came along, new radios had to pick up both AM and FM channels. Most still do. When the VHF TV channels filled up, new TV sets had to receive both VHF and UHF. They still do. Color came to television only after some clever engineers figured out how to squeeze in the color signal so that B&W receivers ignored it and color sets automatically displayed full color pictures. They still do.

This time it's different. Only a couple of years have elapsed since TV receivers were mandated to pick up both analog and digital signals. That would be well and good if the analog channels were going to keep broadcasting. Then it wouldn't matter that your old TV set lived forever. You'd still be able to watch your programs and could upgrade with a converter or new HDTV set when you felt like it and had the money available. But pulling the rug out on analog TV owners by pulling the plug on their analog signals forces people to either toss out perfectly good television sets, buy a converter set for each, or add to their collection with new digital TVs.

The government meant to ease the pain by providing coupons in the form of single use "gift" cards to offset the cost of buying converters. But underfunding and slow response by consumers in understanding that "the end is near" means that today there are several million people on a waiting list for the coupons that may never come. You have six TVs scattered around your house because television sets are relatively cheap? Too bad. You only get coupons to upgrade two of them, if coupons ever become available again.

The other problem is that digital TV reception is more finicky than analog. Analog can be weak, but watchable, and you can tinker with your antenna to get the best reception. Digital is either there or not. If your antenna isn't set just right, you'll be climbing on the snowy roof in freezing February to make adjustments. Who's bright idea was it to do this transition in the middle of winter?

Delaying the demise of analog TV until June 12 coupled with sending out millions more converter coupons seems like a good way to create a second chance to do it right the first time. Consumers get a "last call" to buy converters, upgrade to HDTV sets, or order alternative delivery services such as satellite or cable. Dish Network or DirecTV installers will be able to put a dish on your roof without risking an icy fall. Cable TV installers will be able to trench cable in the unfrozen soil of your back yard. You can tweak your antenna or have a new one (with a rotor) installed in the warmth of the spring sun.

So who's opposed to this seemingly sensible digital TV delay? Qualcomm, for one, is hopping mad that they won UHF channel 55 in the auction and have installed 100 new transmitters around the country to provide 15 channels of their MediaFLO mobile video programming to wireless subscribers. Not being able to flip the switches of those transmitters to ON until summer means no way to add paying subscribers, and that's an immediate loss of planned revenue.

AT&T and Verizon also have digital dogs in this fight. Theirs are called LTE or Long Term Evolution, a cellular broadband standard that can bring 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps Internet connections to smartphones, laptop computers and even residential and small office desktops. But this technology is, indeed, something of a long term evolution from the HSUPA and EVDO broadband networks they have deployed to date for cellphones and aircards. Both carriers have said that a short delay won't significantly impact their buildout plans that were planned for later this year and beyond.

TV broadcasters would like to stop feeding gross numbers of kilowatts to their aging analog transmitters to reduce their power bills. That's understandable. Some stations are also caught in a TV channel version of musical chairs. They've got low power digital transmitters propped up to get in the digital game on a borrowed channel. But they can't get their full power digital transmitters on the air until the analog transmitter vacates their permanent channel. Stations that took the option of switching channels for digital service don't have that particular problem.

There are also the slippery-slopers who fear that once you delay a schedule you may never make the change at all. The transition date will just slip away 3 months at a time. Well, you can't say it absolutely won't happen. But once the majority of consumers are satisfied, it seems likely the government will exercise its eminent domain powers to get the switch over and done with.

At this writing, the weather prognosticating groundhogs are prepping for their big announcements on the arrival of Spring. Our Congressional leaders are prepping for another vote on the DTV transition delay and will have their own announcement, likely this week. No matter how any of these predictions come out, chances are that someone's going to be getting a cold shoulder long before the tulips bloom.