Call China From Your Car

You need to make an overseas call and now’s the right time. But you’re sitting in a parking lot far away from your home base. What do you do? Why, simply pull out your cell phone and use your TEL3 app. You’ll be talking to your party in China for just a penny a minute.

Whoa! Can you actually make international calls on your cell phone cheaper than on a landline?

Yes, you can if you have the right international long distance service. In fact, with the service I’m going to discuss, you can make cheap international calls from any phone you happen to be at.

The service is TEL3Advantage and you don’t need to change your current long distance service to use it. This is an add-on service known as an international dial-around. Think of it as an app for your phones. In fact, for many cell phones there is an actual app you can download. There’s a special TEL3Dialer for iPhone and a Smartplug for other cell phones.

Actually, the apps just make the service a bit easier to use. As with any dial-around, you call a special access number to connect to the service. Then you dial the party you wish to speak with. It’s something like using a calling card, but without the paper calling card and without the need to enter any pin numbers. What the apps do is make the process completely transparent. All you do is dial the international number you want and the app takes care of making the connection.

Now what’s that about a penny per minute? That’s the special introductory rate to call China. After 30 days you pay just 1.8 cents a minute as the regular rate. Why, I’ll bet your landline long distance service charges more than that to call the next state.

This service works from the USA or Canada and allows you to call worldwide at rates much lower than you’d expect. You can dial the access number from any phone, such as your office landline, home phone, hotel phone, or your cell phone. You’ll be using cellular minutes when using your cellphone, but the cost of calling overseas will be at the low per minute rates from TEL3Advantage. Did you know that if you try to make an international call from most cell phones, it either won’t go through or you’ll be charged a huge premium?

Don’t be cut off from family, friends and business colleagues overseas. You can call them anytime at super low rates. You get high call quality, no contracts or obligations, online account management, ability to make calls directly from your address book and even free minutes as a bonus when you sign up. Interested? Learn more and sign up now for your free minutes from TEL3Advantage International Long Distance Service.

iPad Jones. I’ve Got An iPad Jones

I’ve been eyeing those e-book readers ever since the Amazon Kindle appeared on the scene. There’s some appeal in being able to tote lots of books with you wherever you happen to go. But even more appealing to me is the ability to adjust font sizes so I can read without my glasses on. Plus, not having to find space on the basement shelves for more books that do little more than collect dust is a bonus. I’ve held off, though, mostly because I don’t just sit and read book after book anymore. The real-time interactive nature of the Internet is just so much more compelling. If only you could have a e-book reader that was also an Internet computer. Now THAT would be something!


(The iPad baby picture courtesy of Apple)

Enter the iPad, Steve Jobs' latest paradigm shifting device. It’s an e-book reader, for sure. But it’s also an Internet computer that lets you surf the Web, shop online, watch movies and YouTube videos, store your photos, listen to music, send and receive email, get maps, make notes, manage your contacts and calendar, and even make presentations.

Those are just the initial applications that will be provided by Apple itself. What’s even more revolutionary is that the iPad is designed to run almost 140,000 existing apps from the App Store. Where did they get all those apps so quickly? These are the same apps that have been developed for the Apple iPod Touch and iPhone. Just look at the iPad design. Is it not a much larger version of those devices?

This is part of the genius behind the iPad and why it will change society. It’s a device you didn’t know you needed but won’t be able to live without once it’s in your hands. The fact that it comes with such an incredible array of software applications right out of the gate, and with the familiar user interface of other apple mobile devices, means millions of users will know just what to do with it instinctively.

At home, we can really use something like this for sitting around the living room with the TV on. No need to balance a clunky laptop on your knees. No need to go to another room to check Twitter, email, FaceBook, RSS feeds, favorite websites or online business activities. The electronic books are a bonus. I’d want one of these just to have Safari on a device I can hold like a book.

An iPad on the go has even more advantages. It’s about the size and weight of a thin hardcover book. That means it slips into a much smaller bag or briefcase than a standard laptop computer. Connectivity is via WiFi, of course. But it also comes in a version that will run on AT&T’s 3G network for complete mobility. Apple has even negotiated special wireless rates so that you’ll pay half or less what you would for cellular broadband on a netbook or laptop aircard.

What Jobs showed at the iPad introduction and what’s on the Apple website now is surely only the beginning. There’s an SDK for developers, and you know they’ll go wild with the new tablet form factor. I’d expect apps for business to be on the shelf by the time the first iPads ship in a couple of months. It seems so perfect for outside sales of all types, medical offices, factory paperwork, engineering teams, corporate meetings, college and even high school students.

What makes the iPad perhaps less than perfect? I would like to have seen a built-in webcam for video conferencing, multitasking capability and support for Flash websites. Perhaps these things will come later. Apple already offers a dock with a full size keyboard and a connector so you can sync to other computers and load pictures from your digital camera. With as popular as this device is going to become, you know that the aftermarket companies are testing prototypes of all sorts of peripherals in their labs right now.

Oh, did I mention the pricing? It starts at $499 for the 16 GB WiFi only device and goes up to $829 for a 64 GB WiFi + 3G model that will take an extra month to become available. Drat! I want to start using one of these tonight!

There’s $$$ In E-Waste

Did you know there’s a $100 bill in that trash you set out at the curb? Oh, I’m sorry. The truck’s already come. Looks like that c-note is headed for the landfill. It will probably be found by future generations, but be so decayed by then that it will have no value. Pity about all the poisons that will have leached into the environment.

What am I talking about? E-waste. That’s short for electronic waste. Ah, I’ll bet you can guess what’s going on now. The $100 bill in the trash wasn’t in the form of a greenback. It represents the value of that smartphone or navigation system you chucked because you bought a newer model. You can set it out for pickup or you can send it in for cash. It’s your choice.

Electronic waste has been a problem since the first radios and TVs started showing up at the city dump. Nobody made a big deal of it because the early electronic appliances were big, expensive and not likely to be trashed until after decades of service. There was also a lot less environmental awareness back then. That doesn’t mean that these things were benign trash like old chairs or broken window panes. Those metal chassis were chock full of lead solder and chemical filled electrolytic capacitors. Some had batteries with paper wrappers that quickly decomposed.

Fast forward to today’s electronics. Cell phones have a life cycle of around two years each. That’s how long it takes for the contract to expire. With the rapid advance of technology, many people want a new phone every couple of years just to get the latest goodies. They can often get a cell phone for free when they sign a new contract.

Computers don’t fare much better, especially in business. Few microprocessor boards ever wear out. They go obsolete years before they would have failed in service. All those circuit boards are still full of lead solder and components made of various elements. Some, like gold, are valuable. Many are toxic and tend to leach out when exposed to water over many years. Think of the millions and millions of electronic circuit boards piling up as electronic waste, and you begin to sense the potential size of the cleanup problem downstream.

Just as tragic is the residual value of the electronic devices being casually tossed away. Some people may take a stab at selling their old gear using ads on craigslist or eBay. For most, though, that's just way too much effort for the expected reward. After all, that old gadget doesn’t have any value to them since they aren’t using it any more. What they don’t know is that for almost no effort whatsoever they could be pocketing $10, $20, $50, even $100 or more for that “electronic junk.”

What types of devices are we talking about? Cell phones, of course. But also some laptop computers, digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, gaming consoles, GPS devices, LCD monitors, satellite radios, projectors, streaming media devices, home audio equipment, camcorders, external drives and Blu-ray players. Even content such as movies on DVD and video games may have residual value.

How can you be sure that you have something of value rather than junk? Better yet, how can you cash in with little effort? The way to do that is to sell your used electronic devices to a recycler that specializes in trading cash for gadgets. You simply visit the website and check the value of what you have in whatever condition its in. If you like what you see, you request a free prepaid mailer and send your gadget in for evaluation. Once approved, a check will be on its way to you quickly. Even if your offering has no remaining financial value, you can still send it in for proper recycling as the responsible thing to do.

So, treat yourself to a fancy coffee or a nice cold beer with part of your proceeds. Be sure to toast the device that served you well through those years and then gave you the opportunity to get a little cash at the end. From now on, you’ll be collecting on all your e-waste.

The Internet Launches Into Space

Now that the Internet has dominated Earth, it is moving out into space. It’s a little early to talk about Google ET browsers, but there are moves afoot to take the Internet out there into the vast unknown.

Well, these initial efforts are really about using Internet technologies within the Earth orbits we’re already so familiar with. Someday, though, we may be establishing planet codes and galaxy codes to complement today’s country codes. Let’s see what the first baby steps are all about.

The first endeavor is by Cisco to establish routers in orbit. In fact, the defense department has an entire program known as IRIS or Internet Routing In Space. The idea is to route IP packets between satellites without first having to beam them to Earth. Because of the long distances involved in any transmissions to and from space, it make sense to avoid the round trip to Earth whenever possible. This will also have the advantage of making space networks more autonomous and not subject to interruptions caused by problems on the ground.

The military gets first crack at using the prototype router aboard the Intelsat IS-14 satellite that was launched last year. After an exclusive 3 month DOD test program, the router will be turned over to Cisco for a year long period of commercial tests. After that, who knows? If things work out, there may be all sorts of routers buzzing overhead in the coming years. Some will be used to provide wireless broadband services to Earthlings. Others will be up to who knows what in the deep dark void.

On another front, Twitter has gone into orbit on the International Space Station. Last week, astronaut T. J. Creamer sent the first tweet from space. His first words? “Hello Twitterverse!”

Actually, the astronauts have been able to use email for some time. But this is the first availability of Twitter, the embodiment of Web 2.0, at the Space Station. Perhaps if NASA started monetizing the station as a reality show, they might be able to generate the funding that Congress is so stingy with. They need to launch something called the “Big Brother Module” and start doing kinky things in zero-g. That might be just the ticket to recovering public interest in the space program.

How about the Moon and Mars? It’s technically feasible to have live webcams on those rovers. Now, add the ability of people on Earth to issue rover commands and you’d have a sure-fire killer app. Of course, the fun would be over just as soon as some smart aleck send one of the vehicles over a cliff. Maybe you could have them draw your name in the Martian soil or something equally benign.

We’re just getting started exploring the final frontier that is outer space. Clearly, the Internet will have a big role in “space exploration, the home game.” Scientists may be interested in downloading all sorts of arcane data from spacecraft. The rest of us will just want to drive rovers, spy on astronauts, and tweet with ETs.

GigaMAN and Gigabit Ethernet Services

If your organization needs fast, truly fast, wide area network connections, you may be interested in gigabit Ethernet services, including GigaMAN. Fortunately, these high bandwidth digital circuits are more affordable than ever.

Ethernet WAN services are a relatively recent addition to the suite of telecommunications services available for business and other organizational needs. They are distinguished in their ability to maintain your signal in the Ethernet protocol from end to end. Until now, you needed to perform a protocol conversion between your company LAN and the TDM telco circuits needed to get from point to point.

Standard Ethernet speed is 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet is 100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet is 1000 Mbps. GigaMAN is a Metropolitan Area Network service offered by AT&T that gives you a dedicated fiber optic point to point gigabit Ethernet connection. While called a metro area service and designed for use in major metropolitan locations, GigaMAN service can be run up to 180 miles between end points. That affords you a reasonably priced secure private line service for high bandwidth applications.

Who needs gigabit level transport services? You do if you have massive amounts of data to backup overnight to a remote data center. You may also need this kind of bandwidth for video or digital cinema work, electronic medical records, or transfer of large engineering or scientific simulations.

Ethernet services are becoming the WAN connection of choice for many users. They tend to be less expensive than similar speed traditional telco services. Ethernet service is generally scalable, with some providers offering increments from 1 Mbps all the way to 10 Gbps. Higher speeds require fiber optic connections, of course. But you may be able to get lower speed options provisioned over twisted pair copper as well as fiber. EoC or Ethernet over Copper tends to be available within several miles of carrier offices up to about 45 Mbps. The greater the distance, the lower the bandwidth that can be provided. EoDS1 or Ethernet over DS1 uses multiple T1 line connections to deliver Ethernet connectivity over much longer distances.

Do you have a need for high bandwidth connectivity, but are concerned that the speeds you require are beyond the reach of your current budget? You might be pleasantly surprised by how affordable Ethernet WAN has become, even at rates of 1000 Mbps or more. Check Gigabit Ethernet pricing and availability for your location now.

Strategies For The Hunkered Down Economy

The calendar has turned, but the economy has not. We’re still looking at double digit unemployment, public companies making their numbers by cutting expenses rather than increasing sales, and a lot of angst over what it will take to get things moving again. In the meantime, consumers are hunkering down to spend less and save more. That means businesses large and small are left with little to do except hunker down themselves. It’s hard to get excited about taking the big leaps when you don’t know how wide the abyss is.

Does this mean that your company is permanently stuck in the mud or that your ship is sinking with nothing more to throw overboard? For most, that’s way too dire a scenario. But you are faced with an opportunity that requires a choice, at least in your telecommunications expenses. Do you want to maintain the same level of service and pay less for it, or do you want to maintain your budget at current levels and get more service?

Many managers consider this an enviable position. There’s really no way you can lose. The only one who isn’t going to make out in this arrangement is the overpriced service provider who either isn’t sensitive to your needs or has failed to optimize their own business to offer you a better deal.

Perhaps the first thing to do is to honestly assess your needs for the coming year. Do you need everything you have now, more, less, or just different? For instance, if the phones aren’t ringing off the hook, then perhaps you can get by with fewer outside lines and no one will be the wiser. If your staffing levels have dwindled, you may have more broadband capacity than you are really taking advantage of at the moment. You can almost certainly save by matching the level of telecom services to your current reality. In some cases, you may be able to dramatically save by combining your telephone and broadband in an integrated T1 line or SIP trunk.

You may be concerned that downsizing your bandwidth puts you at risk if business suddenly bounces back. That can be mitigated by ordering scalable bandwidth services. Metro Ethernet is a good example. The connection that’s installed may be capable of 50 Mbps, but you only pay for 10 Mbps. If business doubles, you call your provider and tell them to take it up to 20 Mbps. They can do that quickly and easily, since no hardware changes need to be made.

For some businesses, opportunities are available to increase activity. What’s holding them back is the unavailability of bank loans or a reluctance to make long term commitments to expenses that might not be covered if the ramp up in business activity doesn’t happen as planned. What you don’t realize is that you may be able to get more and better service without spending more money. This is commonly the case with companies that leased line services years ago and have been paying month to month since their contract ran out. Telecom service rates have been dropping, sometimes dramatically, over the last few years. But you’re still paying the old rate to the old provider who makes no effort to offer you a better deal. How can you be sure you are getting the most for your precious expense dollars? Get competitive telecom service quotes quickly and easily online.

The services we promote are offered through a telecom broker who’s job it is to research the best rates available for your business location. When you request a competitive quote, a Telarus consultant will be working on your behalf to understand your current and future needs and then find the best deal available from dozens of service providers. That consultant will check back with you from time to time to make sure that what you are leasing is still the best cost solution as your situation changes. Best of all, this is a free service. It’s truly one of the best deals you can get in any economy.

When Networks Get Too Big To Fail

Remember when computer networks were helpful business tools? That was back in the days of stand-alone PCs, FAX, and overnight document mail. Seems quaint, but you’ll long for those days when the network goes down and stays down for hours. These days, LANs are as important as electric wires and WANs are as vital as roads and highways. You just don’t get by without them.

Businesses that are too big to fail seem to get financial bailouts. Networks that have become too big to fail need a different type of protection. They need an infrastructure that continuously monitors their operation and jumps into action at the first sign of trouble.

You may feel that you’ve got things under control in-house. Your IT staff monitors the LAN 24/7 and even off-duty personnel get text messages when something goes awry. But how about those lines that leave the premises? Who’s staying on top of those?

Here’s an example of a network that is truly too big to fail. Your medium size business has grown and grown to become a major corporate enterprise. You have operations in a dozen or more states. Headquarters, staff, engineering and manufacturing used to fit comfortably in one large building. Now they all have separate facilities, along with warehousing and field offices. But you still want to act as one company with the sense that you are at least virtually co-located. Thus, you’ve build a comprehensive corporate network that is essential to getting the job done.

Chances are that the giant network you’ve put in place is the result of adding pieces when needed. There’s a point to point line here, a VPN connection there, various connections of various speeds from headquarters to each facility, and one massive routing operation at the central hub. It’s works and gets the job done, but it’s not exactly optimized the way you would design that same network from scratch today. It’s also becoming a big headache for the headquarters staff to manage and a potential disaster if centrally located equipment goes down.

So, what can you do to ensure that your network is not going to fail no matter how big it has grown? Hire more staff? That’s a tough request in economic times like these. But how about dividing up the job so that your key people can concentrate on the part of the network they know best and someone else can provide support for the rest?

The way you can do that is with managed network services. This is for the WAN portion of your network that you have little control of anyway. Instead of just ordering lines and dealing with outages as they occur, why not lease a managed line and let the service provider ensure the line’s integrity from end to end?

The way this is done by managed service providers is that they control both the line and the terminating equipment. Sometimes these are called managed router services because they most often install a provider owned and monitored router with the proper interface cards. Since they have control of the edge connections at both ends, the service providers can monitor and run diagnostics to ensure the integrity and performance of their line services.

A more comprehensive service that does this is the MPLS network. it’s a multi-protocol privately operated network with network specific equipment called tag routers. You can use MPLS for point to point connections or a complete mesh network that links all of your facilities. Instead of you having to manage all those lines and routing, the service provider does that for you.

But isn’t it just as costly to buy managed services as to hire more staff and do the job in-house? No, not generally. A managed network services provider's entire business is based on maintaining high reliability WAN network connections. You may find that the managed services are no more expensive than doing everything yourself, perhaps even less expensive. How can you know for sure? Get competitive quotes on managed network services for your business locations.

Democracy In a Cell Phone

As I’m writing this, I’m looking at a report that the American Red Cross has received $22 million in donations for Haiti earthquake relief via cell phone text messages. By the time you read this post, that number will most certainly have been superseded by an even larger amount. Such an outpouring of generosity by texting is being called unprecedented. It is, but this is more likely to signal a new social trend than an amazing one-time event.

The $22 million figure is truly astounding when you consider it was raised in about a week in increments of $10 per donor. That’s a couple of million people acting independently but almost simultaneously when the request for help went out. They were, and still are, enabled by a process that makes giving faster and easier than ever before. In the case of this relief effort for suffering millions in Haiti, all that is necessary is to send the text message “Haiti” to the number 90999. In seconds you’ve made a pledge that adds $10 to your cell phone bill.

But there are already established ways to make charitable donations, right? Of course. They include writing checks and sending them to published addresses or in response to appeal letters that come in the mail. The Internet savvy, and who isn’t these days, can go to a website address, click on the donate button and enter their credit card information. They’ll get a Web or email confirmation and perhaps a letter of confirmation a week or two later. You can also call in your donation. Just call the charity’s toll free number and a friendly operator will take your information for a credit card donation or as a pledge that you’ll follow up with a check later.

Now, compare sending a text message to a short number to navigating the Internet, finding your credit card, entering your information online, or calling a number and waiting to be served. The first process takes seconds. The other processes take minutes to who knows how long. Texting is like instantly voting. Everything else feels like filling out a form... and it is.

Cell phone texting has established new behaviors and expectations in at least one generation of users. The expectation is that you can participate in anything instantly and in real time. The voting analogy is a good one and rooted in fact. “American Idol” taught millions how to vote with their cell phones. How soon will we be able to voice our opinions on local and national referendums by simply texting 1, 2 or 3 to indicate for, against, or neutral? How few years will pass when we expect to vote for actual candidates via cell phone text message?

Seriously. Which would you rather do? Take time off work, drive to a polling place you never otherwise visit, stand in line, fiddle around with a punch card or paper ballot, and then drop it into a machine that you only hope is working correctly to tally your vote. Or, cast your vote by text message or smartphone voting app and have the system ensure that your vote is counted and that you have voted once and only once. Both systems can be designed to produce honest and accurate results. But one is orders of magnitude faster and easier than the other. Now, which do you suppose will be more effective in encouraging public participation? Think about the Haiti relief donations before you answer.

The fact is that the rise of the cellphone in every pocket has changed the fabric of society. Actually making telephone calls is the least of it. Nearly every new phone has texting capability and most give you email and website Internet access, increasingly at broadband speeds. How about cell phone cameras? The combination of built-in cameras and YouTube has given rise to the age of the citizen journalist. Now everyone has the ability to capture the events that they are witnessing in both still photos and video. You see these contributions on TV news more and more. Often, the random person lucky or unlucky enough to be present when something momentous occurs is the only one who can act fast enough to capture the sound and images of a fleeting event.

More than any development before it, cellular technology is enabling us to function as individuals but act in concert on matters of importance to all or many. I think that we’re just at the beginning of this trend. As it plays out, our cell phones may replace our credit cards and even cash for most transactions. Wallet? Why would you need a wallet except to hold pictures of the family? Oh, wait, they’re right there on the cell phone screen.

In the present, you have an opportunity to participate in a significant way in the rescue and relief of an entire nation crushed by an unforeseen natural disaster. Have you got a few seconds? Then go ahead and text “Haiti” to 90999 to make your $10 donation. The carriers are participating by waiving their standard text messaging fees and are taking actions to get the funds to the American Red Cross as quickly as possible, so that we can support the Haitians in real time... which is what they need more than anything.

Virtual Private Network Definition

You know what a network is, but what is a virtual private network? Is it a real network or something that only exists virtually? Just how private is a virtual private network?

A virtual private network or VPN is a real network. It’s the privacy that is considered virtual. For instance, the Internet is a public network. There is nothing private about it, or intended to be. But there are techniques to add privacy to Internet communications. Those techniques make it virtually private.

Let’s look at what makes a good private network in the first place. One thing you need is complete control over access. Only those people and devices that you explicitly allow on the network should have any access to it. The wired network in your company is private because you’ve strung the wires and know where everything is connected. But if you rent space in a larger office building and use that building’s network, you can’t be sure that your data is completely secure. Someone might be tapped in and listening somewhere in the facility.

Another example of networks that people think are secure but really aren’t are wireless access points or wireless routers. If you use the wireless device as it comes out of the box without enabling security features, you run the risk of eavesdroppers being able to tap into your data.

Control of access through control of the physical network and access lists for wireless access is a good start for privacy. But what about the common carrier networks that link your facilities around the country? Those WAN or wide area networks can be either private or public. If you lease a point to point T1 line, the only connections are at the two ends. Such links become part of your private network.

The next step up is privately owned and operated networks where you are not the only user. MPLS networks fall into that category. They offer a degree of privacy because access to your nodes is controlled per your direction. But there is other traffic on the network cloud from other companies. That’s why MPLS networks are called virtually private by nature.

Now let’s consider the Internet. It’s public through and through. Does that mean you can’t use the Internet for private communications? Of course you can. It’s done every day by companies large and small and millions of individual users. How do they do this? By encrypting the data traveling from point to point over the Internet. When you log into a secure website, you use SSL or Secure Sockets Layer. That’s a protocol that encrypts your data so that only someone with the proper key can read it. Only you and the site you are communicating with have that particular key. Others might intercept your data stream, but it’s all gibberish to them.

When data is encrypted at one end and decrypted at the other, it is said to travel through a tunnel in the Internet. That’s what’s meant by tunneling. Various encryption techniques can be used to create these tunnels and give you a virtual private connection. When someone is said to be using a VPN, they are generally talking about a broadband connection to their employer that is encrypted on their computer by a VPN software application. VPNs allow users located outside of a company’s secure facilities to securely access business data using DSL, Cable broadband, high speed satellite, or wireless Internet access.

What type of private or virtually private network connections are right for your organization? Get expert consultation and the most cost effective WAN network and VPN services now.

A Smartphone of Mythic Proportions

You’ve been considering a new smartphone. Don’t just buy the first one you see in the store. Not when you can get a smartphone of mythic proportions for FREE.

It’s true. This new beauty is the Samsung Mythic A897 Black for AT&T. It has high-end features and should command a high-end price. In some places it does. That’s what I mean by not just grabbing the first thing you like off the shelf. You’ll probably wind up paying way more than you should. In this case, the Mythic is free after instant online discount and comes with free shipping to your home or business, ready to use.

So, what makes this a mythic phone other than the name? First of all is the brilliant 3.3 inch touch screen display. It’s perfecty for streaming AT&T Mobile TV or video conferencing with AT&T Video Share. With Video Share you can show others what you are seeing with live video streaming during your phone call. That’s the beauty of the AT&T network. You can talk and do other things at the same time. Not like some networks we won’t mention here.

By the way, this is both a 3G phone and a world phone. It runs on AT&T’s GSM network, the international standard. It’s capable of operating on the GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 and 2100 bands for universal coverage.

That big color display is a perfect match to the 3.2 Megapixel digital camera that takes high resolution pix good enough to print as well as share. You can also run it in camcorder mode to make your own movies on the the spot. Get a video messaging plan and share your cinemas with family and friends. Or, upload them to YouTube for worldwide exposure.

Surf the mobile Web, send email, text or instant message. This phone supports them all. If you get too absorbed in what you are doing and get lost, don’t worry. The Samsung Mythic supports AT&T Navigation for turn by turn directions to get you back in familiar territory.

Oh, and what are those Mythic proportions? They're 4.4 inches high by 2.1 inches wide by a mere half inch thick. You also get up to 3 hours of talk time and up to 10 days on standby.

Mobile TV, navigation, video sharing, picture messaging, email, Web browsing and so much more. This is one smart phone. Can you believe that it’s available to you free? Well, it probably won’t be forever so get in on this special offer while it lasts. Learn more and order your Samsung Mythic A897 Black with AT&T wireless service. If it makes sense, get TWO Mythic phones on a family plan. That’s a great way to get the high end wireless phone service you want at a very attractive price.

Of course, there are many excellent deals right now on smartphones and cellphones of all types. Check out Today’s Special Deals at Cell Phone Plans Finder.

Is Voice Over MPLS The New PSTN?

It’s clear that packet switched networks are taking over from circuit switched networks. So much so, that the FCC is considering pulling the plug on the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) at some point. It’s a clear omen that the end is near for the telephone system that has served us for over a century. But what will take its place? Will it be VoIP? How about cellular?

It’s likely that VoIP is going to be the answer, but not the VoIP that we know today. What VoIP has going for it is established standards for coding & decoding, signaling, and a packet protocol that is compatible with Ethernet data networks. What’s holding it back from taking over virally is a wide variety of incompatible implementations, fear by wireless carriers that it will bring down their networks, and unpredictable voice quality on the Internet.

That hasn’t stopped major organizations from switching to enterprise VoIP solutions. They avoid the problems that consumers face using Voice over the Internet by rigidly controlling the performance of their in-house networks. For calls that need to go outside the organization, enterprise users will terminate outside calls to the PSTN through ISDN PRI digital trunks or have a third party SIP trunking provider terminate the calls.

Clearly, the larger the organization, the higher the percentage of calls that can be kept in-house. When companies have multiple locations, they have a decision to make. Each location can have its own PBX telephone system and connect to the PSTN for calls leaving the building. Or, a corporate PBX telephone system can handle all facilities with private trunk lines running between locations.

Chances are that a multi-location business needs data connectivity between locations anyway. So, adding voice packets to the data stream makes sense. That way call quality can be assured while avoiding the per-minute costs of using the public telephone system. The question is what type of network will work best for this application.

MPLS is increasingly becoming the network architecture of choice for converged voice and data networks. MPLS or Multi-Protocol Label Switching is designed from the ground up to handle whatever protocol you want to transport. But even if everything is IP, MPLS has some big advantages over rolling your own network with private lines.

MPLS are privately operated and available only to customers of the service. That gives the network operators the ability to ensure the availability of enough bandwidth to prevent congestion and the resulting latencies and dropped packets that slow data and destroy voice services. QoS or Quality of Service control ensure that voice packets get the priority treatment they need to maintain high audio quality.

MPLS networks are also mesh networks, which makes them ideal for interconnecting multiple business locations. You can do this yourself with a hub and spoke arrangement with headquarters at the hub and routing traffic among the other locations. But your costs will be higher and the latency between locations greater when everything has to go through a central routing hub on private point to point trunk lines.

MPLS makes so much sense that the large telecom carriers are converting their core networks to MPLS to handle today’s traffic and whatever will be coming through the pipes tomorrow. Data, voice and video are handled equally well and can be transported in traditional TDM channel as well as packet protocols. What we call the PSTN today may well become interconnected MPLS networks in the future.

In the meantime, you can be enjoying the quality, security and cost advantages that MPLS networks have to offer. Learn how MPLS for VoIP networks can work for your organization.

USB 3.0 Offers Gbps Data Transfers

USB nearly fulfilled the promise of its name to be the universal serial bus when USB 2.0 replaced 1.1 as the computer standard. The introduction of USB 3.0, also called “SuperSpeed”, looks to increase that domination with a 10x speed increase.

What’s wrong with the current 480 Mbps USB speed? Nothing at all for many peripheral devices. It sure beat the 1.5 to 12 Mbps capability of the original USB 1.0 and made USB practical for things like video transfers from camcorders. Most video cameras now have a mini-USB connector in place of the FireWire interface that was thought to be the high speed option.

But look at what you get with USB 3.0. The speed goes up by a factor of 10x to 4.8 Gbps. In practice, you can expect to get around 3.2 Gbps or 400 MB per second through a 3.0 interface. That’s the transfer mode they are calling SuperSpeed. If you have a computer and a video camera that both sport USB 3.0 interfaces and a cable rated for the new spec, you can enjoy that truly super speed transfer mode. But like the USB 2.0 upgrade before it, USB 3.0 is compatible with the earlier USB interfaces. You can even use your old cables and they’ll work just fine.

So what’s the magic behind SuperSpeed and why do you need a different cable? In order to get that screaming performance that can approach 5 Gbps, USB 3.0 adds additional signal wires. USB 3.0 cables have the same power and ground wires, the same 2 wires for non-SuperSpeed data, and 4 more wires for SuperSpeed. Those four wires are configured as two differential pairs, allowing USB to upgrade from half-duplex to full duplex operation. That means communications in both directions at the same time. The connectors on the cables and receptacles change so that USB 2.0 cables won’t connect with the extra SuperSpeed connections.

The signaling protocol itself has also been enhanced so that SuperSpeed can establish a direct connection or communications “pipe” between host and peripheral instead of broadcasting all data to all devices on the bus. Bulk transfer is improved by allowing multiple streams of data through a single bulk pipe.

You know that USB has become a power bus as well as a data bus for many small devices. You expect to be able to charge your iPod or MP3 player while you are uploading new songs. There are even gadgets like personal fans or gooseneck LED lamps that have no data function. They just use the power provided by an open USB port. Most ridiculous is the USB coffee warmer or blanket. Well, USB 3.0 won’t put an end to any of that. In fact, the bus power available has been increased from 100 mA to 150 mA for unconfigured devices and from 500 mA to 900 mA for configured devices. Now higher power devices can get by without the inconvenience of an extra wall wart power supply.

USB 3.0 is just starting deployment, so don’t expect every device you see on the shelf to be sporting this interface. However, you can bet that PC makers will be taking note and adding this capability as a way of distinguishing their products, just like Blu-ray drives have moved into high end products. External drive manufacturers and camcorder companies also have a lot to gain from the higher transfer speeds of USB 3.0. If video is the killer app, then USB 3.0 is going to be a major enabler.

Integrating Social Media And Reality

We live in two separate worlds, with one foot in each. There’s the virtual world of texting, email, online shopping, Internet search, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN. Then there’s the real world of food, shelter, family, friends, and work. The two intersect, but they’re not tied together in any robust way. Well, at least until now.

It only makes sense that someone would come up with a solution to link the virtual and physical worlds we live in. That solution is something called Poken. As you might suspect, it has both physical and virtual components.

The physical component is called a Poken. It’s an electronic gadget packaged to look like an avatar or a flash memory device. The business end of the device is encapsulated in a white four fingered hand that has a button in the palm and lights that glow from within. What you can’t see is a coil antenna, microprocessor, USB drivers and a watch style battery.

The way you use Poken is to carry the device on a lanyard around your neck or clipped to your jacket, backpack, or bag. When you encounter someone else with a Poken you can request an exchange of contact data, much the same as requesting or offering a business card. Touch the hands of the Poken together and they’ll sense each other’s presence. After a wireless exchange of links, both hands will pulsate with a green glow to announce their success in the encounter.

Now for the virtual component. You plug the USB connector of your Poken into your computer and automatically upload the day’s contacts to your Poken Hub, a personalized online portal. After entering your ID and password, you can see your contacts organized in lists or displayed as virtual business cards along a timeline. Unlike paper cards or scraps of paper that you’ve used to jot down names and phone numbers, the Poken Cards show a photo of your contact.

Being able to see pictures of the people you’ve met displayed along a timeline makes it easy to remember where you met someone and who else you met at the same time. But that’s just the half of it. Those Poken Cards, the virtual representation of a business card or address book entry, have names, phone numbers, addresses and website links. It’s whatever information you and those you meet have chosen to share. The popular social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN have familiar link icons on the card. There’s also room for hyperlinks to other sites, such as your blog or business website.

This is how Poken tightly integrates the process of meeting people in person with meeting them again online at the familiar social networking sites. You don’t have to think about who goes with what site, because it’s all tied together on the Poken cards you’ve collected.

So, What Does ISDN Stand For?

If you are involved with business telephone systems, you’ve no doubt heard the term ISDN bandied about. But what is ISDN and what can it do for your company?

As you might suspect, ISDN is an acronym. It stands for Integrated Serviced Digital Network.

I guess that’s not much help in and of itself. ISDN is a digital telephone standard that was originally intended to replace analog telephone lines for both residential and business users. It never really took off on the consumer side because DSL, Cable broadband and VoIP came along with higher bandwidths and lower prices. But ISDN did become a popular trunking service for PBX telephone systems. It also has a specialty niche application.

There are two ISDN standards you should know about. The low bandwidth version is called BRI or Basic Rate Interface. The higher bandwidth version is called PRI or Primary Rate Interface. They are constructed from the same elements. PRI just has more of them than BRI.

The two basic building blocks of ISDN are the B or bearer channel and D or delta channel. B channels have a bandwidth of 64 Kbps each. That’s exactly enough for one digitized telephone call or a low bandwidth digital modem. Remember 56 Kbps dial-up modems? ISDN BRI was supposed to replace them with one B channel for telephone service and a second B channel for modem service. The D channel is 16 Kbps and is used for signaling and control of the two bearer channels.

This arrangement of two bearer channels plus a delta channel is called 2B+D in telephony lingo. You have the option to use both bearer channels for telephone service so that you’ll have two digital phone lines. Or both bearer channels can be assigned to modem data with a bandwidth of 128 Kbps. That was considered fast when ISDN BRI was introduced, but quickly became obsolete with the introduction of broadband Internet service.

While ISDN BRI flopped as a digital home telephone service, it has found a new lease on life with radio stations and audio production. Standard analog telephone lines don’t have the bandwidth to reproduce natural sounding voices. But ISDN lines with the right CODECs (Coders/Decoders) can transport studio quality microphone signals from sports venues and other remote locations. They are also used extensively by voiceover artists and for high fidelity call-in interviews on-air.

ISDN PRI has the same B and D channels that make up BRI service. Only PRI is configured as 23B+D. That’s 23 bearer channels and one delta channel. The delta channel is still used for signaling and call control. Each B channel can support one telephone conversation. So, if you order ISDN PRI service for your PBX telephone system you can have up to 23 outside lines. They can be individually configured as incoming, outgoing, local, long distance, toll free or some combination of these.

Most PBX phone systems come with at least one ISDN PRI interface standard. Some have multiple ISDN ports so that you can add more phone lines if you exceed the capacity of 23 lines on one ISDN PRI trunk. Larger companies and call centers can make good use of the extra ports. The D channel handles call switching much faster than a standard analog phone line and also provides Caller ID for all B channels.

Is ISDN the service that is right for your telephony needs? If you have more than a half-dozen outside lines, you might be able to save money by converting to ISDN PRI. Even if you already have PRI service, prices have plunged in recent years and you may be able to cut your monthly phone expenses significantly with a competitive service provider. Find out right now by checking ISDN PRI prices and availability for your business location.

Ethernet DS3 Bandwidth Comparison

Business bandwidth requirements have been steadily increasing since T1 lines became standard for dedicated Internet access and private point to point connections. If you are a current user of DS3 bandwidth services or considering an upgrade, you’ll be interested in how your various WAN bandwidth options compare.

The traditional high bandwidth network connection is DS3, a 45 Mbps service. This is also the speed of a T3 line. Today, most DS3 services are provisioned over fiber optic cables with a copper handoff at the demarcation point. In some cases, you can get DS3 brought in over coaxial copper or wireless transport.

DS3 is popular for dedicated Internet access in larger organizations, video transport, links to offsite backup and storage and smaller ISPs. DS3 telephony bundles hundreds of outside phone lines for large companies and call centers.

The competitor to DS3 is Carrier Ethernet, especially Metro Ethernet in larger cities. Ethernet services offer standardized speeds of 10, 100 and 1000 Mbps to match the common LAN speeds. But most Ethernet providers also offer other increments in 1, 5 or 10 Mbps steps. A 50 Mbps Ethernet service provides similar bandwidth to DS3.

So how do you choose one service over another? If you need the channelization of traditional TDM services for telephony or other applications, DS3 already meets this standard. It is easily multiplexed and demultiplexed to interface with T1 lines on the low end to OCx SONET fiber optic services on the high end.

Most networking applications are now packet based and more easily interfaced to Ethernet WAN services than legacy telco standards. But since the interface circuitry is generally an off the shelf router module, it may not matter all that much. If you go with a managed router, the service provider will take care of providing the proper customer premises equipment and monitoring the line and interfaces for proper operation.

To muddy the waters a bit more, fractional DS3 services are available that offer less than 45 Mbps for a lower monthly lease cost. You can often get the bandwidth you need by bonding T1 lines together to create increments of 1.5 Mbps up to around 10 or 12 Mbps bandwidth. Or you can get fractional DS3 bandwidth at the speeds where T1 bonding becomes impractical. On the Ethernet side, you can specify nearly any bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gbps and often upgrade to higher levels with just a phone call to your service provider.

The fact is that DS3 and Ethernet bandwidths compare favorably. Which you choose for your particular application will most often be determined by which service offers the best pricing for your particular business location. How can you find that out? The easiest way is to check DS3 and Ethernet prices and availability using the GeoQuote online search tool.

Going Incognito With SANYO and Sprint

If someone says you have to do your messaging incognito, just SANYO.

The new SANYO Incognito for Sprint is the text messaging phone you’ve been waiting for. It’s subtle on the outside and powerful on the inside. Remember the big black monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey?” Well, this looks a little like that, except it’s pocket size. Keep it in your pocket and you won’t have to worry about any apes going loopy and throwing bones around. When you need it, the mirrored shell will glow to reveal a monochrome display and the buttons you need for dialing a phone call.



“OMG, it’s full of keys!”

OK, another homage to the Stanley Kubrick movie. But flip open your SANYO Incognito and you’ll find a full QWERTY keyboard with keys big enough to enable high speed messaging. You’ll also have a crisp 2.6 inch color display with 320 x 240 Pixel resolution. It’s almost like having a sub-netbook computer in your hand. Hopefully, not too smart of a computer. You don’t want to be texting along and hear a disembodied voice say, “I’m sorry Dave. I can’t let you send that.”

No way. That’s not going to happen... at least right now. You know some clever dude is going to develop a HAL 9000 app, but you won’t have to download it unless you want the cybernetic companionship.

Are you a social person? How about a social networking person? Good. The Incognito has your favorite apps, including Facebook, MySpace and Photobucket pre-installed. There’s a WAP 2.0 browser for surfing the Web and support for email, instant messaging, multimedia messaging and standard SMS text messaging. After all, you’ll need to make good use of all those keys.

Multimedia will get a workout, too. The SANYO incognito sports a media player that works with your music library and streaming media, including Sprint TV. The onboard digital camera has 2.0 Megapixels of resolution with multiple capture modes including night shot, multi-shot, color effects, zoom and more. You can capture video clips of any pesky simians and expose their evolutionary antics on YouTube.

Is Incognito the messaging phone you’ve waited eons to appear? Well, would you like to have one anyway, especially if you knew you could get it free online? No need to wait for any Moon or Jupiter missions. Get complete details and order your SANYO Incognito for Sprint PCS right now.

Or check all the current special offers for free and low cost cell phones and smartphones.

POTS Panned

The days of POTS or Plain Old Telephone Service seem to be numbered. The FCC put out a request for comments on how service providers are migrating to IP networks. In response, AT&T asked the FCC to shut down the PSTN or Public Switched Telephone Network and the plain old telephone service that it has supported for over 100 years.

OK, it’s a new century. It’s also true that new network architectures are packet switched rather than circuit switched. But is it really time to give POTS the old heave-ho?

I’ve got my doubts. Mostly because I remain unconvinced the Internet is up to the job. VoIP over DSL or Cable broadband is a dicey thing. It’s a lot like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s bad, it’s horrid. If you really think that sounding like you’re deep sea diving or chopping off each other’s sentences is acceptable telephony, then have at it. But please don’t call me until you get that fixed.

What’s at the heart of this problem is the elephant in the policy room called network neutrality. Proponents want absolute equality of access for all. That means you can’t do anything to favor one packet over another. Mandating that all packets get equal treatment protects us, at least in theory, from network operators favoring one content provider over another and ruining the democracy of the Internet. Unfortunately, such a superficial approach prevents implementation of any quality of service measures that could ensure that each packet gets the network performance it needs. As a result, TCP/IP guarantees that non-time critical text files are perfectly transferred, while time critical voice and video streams may or may not get the low latency, congestion, and packet loss characteristics they need to maintain signal integrity.

On the Internet, you launch your packets and you take your chances. Contrast that with the dedicated channels of switched circuit networks. There’s no comparison when it comes to reliable and repeatable call quality. For many consumers, that may or may not matter. We’ve gotten use to variable performance on the cellular phone system. People no longer expect to hear a pin drop. They simply want to communicate when and where they feel like at a moment’s notice. In fact, it’s the rush to cellular rather than VoIP that is the main reason so many people are abandoning their landline phone service.

It’s understandable that AT&T and the other traditional telephone companies are feeling trapped between two worlds. They’re stuck maintaining a costly investment in analog POTS lines and their associated interfaces and switches at the central offices. At the same time, there are fewer and fewer users to amortize the cost. They can’t raise prices without risking that the remaining satisfied users will revolt and move to cell phones or VoIP services.

What are businesses doing? The ones with more than a line or two are going digital, but not on the Internet. A business of any size that has a PBX phone system on-premises has options. The legacy solution is ISDN PRI or T1 PRI, a digital telephone trunking system that aggregates up to 23 outside lines. Oddly enough, this is a PSTN technology but it doesn’t depend on analog POTS service being available. The other option is SIP trunking, a packet network technology. The difference between a SIP trunk and an analog telephone adaptor connected to the Internet is that the SIP trunk runs on a private network where quality of service can be assured. The SIP trunk may be set up to provide both telephone and broadband Internet service on the same line without quality issues.

Realistically, the days of POTS may be coming to an end. We got through the analog to digital television transition and we’ll weather whatever chaos ensues when analog telephony is no more. One key issue that will be hotly debated is the decommissioning of copper phone lines at the same time the dial tone is disconnected. Copper is likely to persist long into the future. T1 and ISDN lines are provisioned over standard twisted pair copper. So is EoC or Ethernet over Copper that uses multiple copper pair to transport mid-bandwidth Ethernet service. The replacement for copper is fiber, and there is precious little of that in the ground right now.

Poken Pulse Business Networking Gadget

Business networking is something we all do, so much so that it becomes second nature. It’s the way we do business networking that’s about to change in a big way.

The business card is the medium that’s been used for generations to share contact information. Ironically, the more we equip ourselves with smartphones and netbooks, the more we order boxes of little paper cards to hand out. They may come from a print shop, your computer printer or you can design them online. But in the end, you still wind up with a pack of paper slips in your pocket to hand out when you meet people in person. Wouldn’t it be a good idea if your offline business network contacts were as easy to store and search as your online relationships?

That’s the idea behind Poken. It turns the business card into a virtual object that is sharable using a standardized gadget you carry in lieu of cards. A companion online portal stores your uploaded contacts and displays them in easy to use lists or a timeline with photos.

All of the Poken gadgets are basically the same. They consist of a coil antenna hidden beneath a four-fingered white hand icon. That icon is the Poken logo. Also inside the gadget is a small microprocessor, USB connector, pushbutton, LED indicators and a replaceable battery. The main difference between Poken are the plastic shells. Many are decorated as humorous characters called pokenSPARK. The model designed specifically for business is embedded in a flash memory drive and called the pokenPULSE.

Here’s how the networking process works in the Poken age. When you meet someone you’d like to exchange contact information with, you notice that they have a Poken gadget handy or you ask them, “do you Poken?” If the answer is yes, as it increasingly will be, you simply touch the hand logo on your Poken with the hand on theirs. Hold them together for a second or two to make the connection and then pull them apart. Both hands should be pulsating with a green glow. That means the data transfer has taken place.

What data is transfered? It’s a unique code that identifies you as a Poken user. There’s no personal data actually stored in the gadget, so if you happen to lose your device nobody will be able to invade your privacy. Your Poken device is matched to your account. You need the ID and password to gain entry, just like any other secure website.

Please note that the Pulse is both a Poken gadget and a standard 2 GB USB flash memory. You do need to take the same care to protect any data you store on the flash portion of the Pulse as you would with any other solid state memory device.

When you get back to your computer, you plug the Poken into a USB port and upload the contacts you’ve made since the last upload. Your new contacts will be added to your online contact database. Look at the timeline and you’ll see the Poken cards for each of the contacts you’ve made. You’ll recognize them immediately, because you’ll see a photo as well as their name and other contact data. You’ll also be able to click on the website links they’ve provided, including their FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages. Perhaps they’ve also included a company website and blog.

You control what’s on your Poken card, so you can share as much or little information as you wish. It’s just like a business card, but more attuned to the online nature of business these days.

Would you like to start using Poken yourself, or perhaps equip you entire team with Poken gadgets? They’re easy to use, easy to carry along and so inexpensive you may want several for your own use. Don’t forget that the Poken Pulse replaces the USB flash memory device you probably carry now.

Low Cost 800 Numbers For You

Have you been considering an 800 toll free number for your business, but are concerned about the cost? Good news! Low cost 800 numbers are available for instant activation and you can have one for just $5.



Does that sound like a price that will work for you? Perhaps it sounds too low, considering some of the other quotes you’ve received. But it’s true. You can order an 800 toll free telephone number for your exclusive use and it will cost you just $5 to reserve it. The cost to maintain service is $5 a month for as many months as you want to keep the number. If you decide you don’t need it anymore, just cancel your service and you’ll owe nothing more than your final bill.

But keep the 800 number and look at all the features you’ll enjoy. First of all, you’ll be able to change the ring-to number at will. The ring-to number is the number of the phone that rings when a toll free call comes in. That can be your office phone, your home phone, your cell phone, a phone at some place you are temporarily staying, or other phone. Some people change the ring-to number during the course of the day so that they can always be reached at the same toll free number. Others simply set it to one phone and let unanswered calls go to voice mail.

Yes you do get voice mail with this toll free service. You can call in to get your messages, listen to them online, or have them sent to your email as a sound attachment. You don’t need a phone to get your voice mail messages.

You also don’t need a phone to get your FAX messages. Any time that someone sends a FAX to your toll free number, that FAX message is received and converted to an image that can be viewed online or sent to you as an email attachment. No matter where you are, if you have access to a computer or smartphone with an HTML Web browser, you can get your FAX messages.

There are also some fancier features such as virtual calling card. You call one of three voice mail access numbers and enter your toll free number and password. After that you can make outbound calls at the same rate as incoming calls. In most cases, that will be a lot cheaper than using a hotel phone.

The per minute rate for outgoing or incoming calls on your 800 number is just 6.9 cents per minute for calls that originate in the 48 US states. Calls from Alaska, Hawaii, US Territories or pay phones have a surcharge. For Alaska and Hawaii it’s an extra 7 cents a minute.

You also have conference calling available on your toll free service. Conduct conferences with up to 25 participants any time for as long as you like. Host them from your cell phone if you want. You’ll be charged the regular per minute rate for each conference participant that dials in on your toll free number.

Caller ID? You bet. You have the choice of setting the Caller ID to display your toll free number or the caller’s number. If you have several toll free numbers for several business opportunities, using the toll free number for caller ID let’s you know how to respond to a particular call.

Let’s recap. You can order an 800 toll free number right now and be using it in a matter of minutes. You pay $5 to reserve the number for your use and $5 a month for the complete array of toll free service features. Any incoming calls from the 48 US states will cost 6.9 cents per minute.

It’s quite a deal, right? This is reliable, high quality toll free service available without any contracts. It bills to your charge card. Want an even better deal? Get the same service features for $2 per number and $2 per month when you choose an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number instead of the more traditional 800 number.

Ready to learn more or give it try in your business? Get complete details and order low cost toll free number service now.

Advantages of Virtual Business Travel

As we begin the new year and new decade, it’s a good time to rethink some of the things we’ve been doing as a matter of habit. For instance, how do you feel about business travel? Do you relish the opportunity? Do you jump at every chance to go, no matter what? As a manager, do you lobby for the highest travel budgets you can get because your employees love it so and the return on the investment is fantastic? Or, does the whole subject make you cringe a bit?

If you are in the cringe category, you may find there are great benefits in trading off a substantial portion of your in-person business travel with virtual business travel. See if one or more of these advantages sound attractive.

1. Reclaim at least two days of productivity per trip. It’s hard to go any distance by air without losing one day going, one day returning, plus the wait time at the destination before you can actually engage with your client, supplier, or prospect.

2. Save almost all the cost associated with taking the trip. That includes air fare, auto rental, hotel, meals, and other misc. fees you won’t be writing up on an expense report if you stay put.

3. Avoid the mounting stress of long distance travel. Even back in the days when air travel was relatively easy, how well did you sleep that first night in the hotel? I don’t think I ever did get a full night’s sleep on a business trip. Now you have the added pressure of intrusive security, reduced amenities, and legitimate concern over your personal safety.

4. Save yourself the coming abuse of air travelers. New airline rules intended to counter terrorism in the air are threatening to make airline travel more like a stint in the state pen than the thrill of flying that the Wright Brothers experienced. Currently proposed is a mandate to remain in your seat for the last hour with nothing in your lap. No trip to the bathroom, no working on the computer, no listening to the iPod, no reading a book, no talking on the cell phone. Just stare forward, please. You don’t want to look suspicious.

Even if cooler heads prevail and security rules are limited to only the absolute necessities, you’re still faced with long check-ins, tarmac delays, few amenities (like food) and rising costs as the pressure of limited cheap oil supplies comes back into play. Chances are it’s not going to get cheaper or more fun to travel. Still want to go?

If you’d like to travel less, but just don’t know how, here’s how virtual business travel can work. Instead of going somewhere to meet in person, you meet electronically. The most sophisticated version of this is Cisco’s Telepresence system. In a fully decked out Telepresence room, you sit at a half-round conference table. The other half is visible through a wall of high resolution flat screen monitors pushed up to where the physical table stops. Your counterparts at the other end have the same experience. With video cameras and microphones, you have the experience of sharing a conference room even though half the group is in one city and half in another.

Another approach is called desktop conferencing. Citrix GoToMeeting creates a conference environment on your personal computer. You view applications and files, share keyboard and mouse control, chat with the group or particular individuals, have a simultaneous audio conference through VoIP or telephone conferencing, and use tools to draw, highlight and point to items of interest on the screen.

The beauty of conferencing on demand is that you can get together as much as you want. With travel involved, conferences and project reviews need to be scheduled in advance and structured to meet an agenda. Sometimes just preparing the agenda takes longer than a series of virtual meetings. As businesses take another look at the expense, time, and irritations involved in extensive travel, it’s likely that virtual travel is going to gain an increasing share of team collaboration, presentations, discussions and reviews.

This may be another one of those tipping points. Once virtual travel becomes ingrained in the business process, it will be seen as the normal and proper way to work. Physical travel will become an extraordinary event. Without the need to be physically co-located, we’re also likely to see an increase in the formation of virtual companies. Everyone will be part of the same operation but few, if any, will reside in the same building. It won’t matter. They’ll be so tightly coupled virtually that the sense of common purpose will be as strong as if they occupied the same maze of cubicles or sea of desks.