Plantronics CS50 Wireless Telephone Headset Trial

Tired of being tethered to your office phone by a standard handset and coiled cord or even a wired headset? Try a wireless telephone headset.

The Plantronics CS50 wireless convertible headset lets you roam up to 300 feet from your phone. Unlike some radio based technologies, this headset features a 64 bit digitally encrypted signal so that your private conversations remain private. You'll have 8 hours of talk time for a full day's work. The headset is charging anytime it is in its cradle and only needs an hour and a half to recharge to 80% capacity. Distracting background sounds are reduced by the noise canceling microphone that gives you a mute button for additional privacy or when you just need to clear your throat.

The Plantronics CS50 is called a convertible headset because it can be converted to any of 3 wearing styles. The standard setup is for over the ear wearing. For maximum long wearing comfort, it can be converted with a head band for over the head wear. An optional behind the neck kit is also available if you prefer that style.

You may be wondering how you'll answer your ringing phone when you are wearing your wireless headset but away from your desk. That's the job of the optional HL10 Handset Lifter. This robotic device automatically lifts your desk set receiver off-hook and returns it to the cradle when your call is finished. It enables remote or one touch call answering and ending with your Plantronics cordless CS50, CS10 and CA10 headset systems. The HL10 is compatible with most standard desktop telephones and contains a ring detector to make it compatible with older phones.

High Speed Internet via Satellite

DSL and Cable Internet service gives you broadband Internet access when you are near a telephone company office or within the reach of Cable TV lines. T1 dedicated Internet access is also reasonably priced in major metropolitan areas and near telco offices. But what do you do when you are located out in the boonies, in a small town or agricultural area? Does this mean you are stuck with poky dial-up Internet service or $1,000+ monthly lease fees for dedicated lines? No, not anymore.

The broadband solution for sparsely populated locations is satellite Internet. It's almost universally available in the 48 US states. As long as you have a clear view of the geosynchronous satellite belt in the southern sky and electrical power, you can likely get high speed Internet via satellite.

DIRECWAY offers two-way satellite broadband in 4 packages. There's a plan for the home user, and 3 separate business plans for the independent professional, the small office and the general business location.

All of these plans are based on the DW6000 satellite modem and two-way dish antenna. The satellite modem is conceptually similar to a DSL or cable modem, except that the broadband line to the modem connects to a satellite transmitter and receiver on your roof. The connection to your computer or network is via Ethernet. There is no software to install. The modem is compatible with PCs, Macs and virtually any device using the TCP/IP protocols. Since this is two-way radio transmission between your dish and the orbiting satellite, there is no phone line needed.

So how much speed can you get? The home satellite Internet service has a rated download speed of up to 500 Kbps and an upload speed of up to 50 Kbps. That's in line with what you'd get in actual use from DSL or cable Internet service. You also get 5 email accounts with 10 MB of storage per account. While the home service is intended for typically one user, you can connect it to your Wi-Fi router and put the whole family online. However, multiple simultaneous users will slow performance. You should also know that there is a download threshold of 169 MB.

What's a download threshold? It's something you don't really see with other forms of broadband. You satellite modem is always-on, but bandwidth through the bird is somewhat limited. So, this isn't really the type of service you want for constantly downloading music or software. When you hit the threshold, a "fair use" policy takes effect and throttles back your download speed so you don't hog the full capacity of the satellite transponder. Satellite Internet is more appropriate for email and general Web browsing.

The Professional plan is designed for up to 2 concurrent users. It offers the same upload and download speeds but increases the download threshold to 350 MB and gives you a routable static IP address.

The Small Office plan is recommended for up to 3 concurrent users and doubles the download speed up to 1 Mbps. The upload speed also doubles to up to 100 Kbps. The download threshold is increased to 500 MB.

The Business internet plans is recommended for small to medium business applications at commercial locations with up to 5 concurrent users. You get 1 Mbps download and 100 Kbps upload maximum bandwidth and a download threshold of 800 MB. With this plan you also get 10 email accounts with 10 MB of storage each.

How much does all this cost? Plans (as of this writing) start at $59.99 a month for residential service plus an upfront cost of $499.97 (after rebate) for the equipment, up to $129.99 a month with an upfront cost of $899.98 (after rebate) for the high-end Business Internet package. The other packages have pricing in-between the home and business plans. This puts satellite Internet clearly in competition with dedicated digital lines, and business grade DSL and Cable Internet service, assuming you can get either of these.

CallWave's Interesting Telecom Accessories

CallWave is an innovative company that has come up with some useful and interesting software based accessories for your telephone and Internet service.

First is the CallWave Internet Answering Machine. You probably have at least one tape or electronic phone answering machine for your home office or small business. I have three at last count, although only one is on duty as a call screener. It works great, but is of no value when the line is in use. During those times, callers will get a busy signal. Back when I was using dial-up Internet service for hours on end, I only had to hope that no important calls would come through.

CallWave has solved this dilemma for dial-up users with their software known as an Internet answering machine. The machine itself is a little window on your PC that displays Caller ID information and lets you hear messages that callers are leaving. All the while, you are still tying up your phone line surfing the Web or reading email. How can this be? CallWave intercepts your calls and lets you know someone is calling. That's something like voicemail. With this software, however, you will get an alert on your computer screen and you can hear messages through your computer speakers as they are being recorded. You then have the option to click a button and take the call on your landline phone, or transfer the incoming call to your cell phone. Or just let them record a message and call back later. You can get this service for $3.95 a month with a 30 day free trial. Try the CallWave Internet Answering Machine risk-free for 30 days.

Another CallWave service is designed to let you screen calls on your cell phone and even transfer them to your landline. To make this work, CallWave provides you with a new local phone number that rings on your cell phone. When someone calls your cell phone, answering it lets you listen to the caller as they leave you a message, but they won't hear you. If you want to pick up the call, you just push 1 and you can talk to them. Otherwise CallWave voice mail will take the message.

Another feature lets you leave your cell phone off and be alerted to incoming cell phone calls on your PC, similar to the Internet Answering Machine. You can elect to click a button and take the call on your home or office landline. By the way, your regular cell phone number works the same as always. It's only the new CallWave number that gives you the enhanced features. This service costs $3.95 a month with a 30 day free trial. Screen and transfer your cell phone calls with CallWave. Try it risk-free for 30 days.

CallWave also has a service designed just for business lines. You get a new business number from CallWave and you can decide what phone you want it to ring to. That can be your office or home phone or even your cell phone. You can change where the number ring to anytime you like. You'll also get alerts on your PC if you download the companion software. That lets you screen calls while you are online, similar to the Internet Answering Machine.

Another feature of the business service is a personal FAX number. When someone sends a fax to your CallWave fax number, the fax is received at CallWave and sent to you as an email attachment. You no longer need a fax machine to receive faxes. Cost? These business telecom services are $7.95 a month after the 30 day free trial. Try CallWave's business line service with Fax to Email on a risk-free 30 day trial.

Globat Web Hosting 75% Off Summer Specials

If you are in the business of making money from Internet sales or using the Internet to help you make money with a conventional bricks and mortar business, web hosting is a critical part of your success. Sure, you can set up your own server and do your own hosting. But with the web hosting market as competitive as it is, you'll probably find it cheaper, easier and more reliable to buy this service.

Here's a perfect example. Globat, a well known web hosting company with over 50,000 customers worldwide, is running a summer special that gives you 75% off for the first year if you pay annually. That puts their most affordable plan, the Gigabyte Package, at $1.99 per month. Yeah, under two dollars a month. For that you get 5 GB of web space, an amazing 75 GB of monthly transfer bandwidth, 5,000 POP3 email accounts, shared SSL for ecommerce, website templates and promotion tools. If you've been shopping for web hosting lately, you know that's a LOT for the money. Even at the regular price of $7.95 per month, it's a great deal. But at $1.99 a month, it's a steal.

Globat also offers two other web hosting packages designed for ecommerce applications. The Commerce Starter is corporation-level e-commerce hosting for a single site. It offers 7.5 GB of Web space, 100 GB of transfer/bandwidth per month, 7,500 POP3 e-mail accounts, development and marketing tools, and shopping cart software that supports credit card and PayPal payments. The Commerce Starter has a special price of $3.74 per month for the first year if purchased annually. Normally, it's $14.95 a month.

The largest ecommerce hosting package from Globat is the Commerce Pro, a larger version of the Commerce Starter. You get 10 GB of Web space, 150 GB of transfer/bandwidth per month, 10,000 POP3 e-mail accounts, a larger shopping cart system, and the ability to host 4 domain names for up to 4 different sites on the same account. This advanced web hosting solution is specially priced right now at $6.24 a month for the first year if purchased on an annual basis.

Globat hosting plans offer many other features, such as 24/7 phone support, online chat support, a ticketed e-mail support system and extensive software and technology compatibility. You'll need to read through the details of each hosting package to get the full extent of it.

So, if $1.99 per month for a year sounds like the right price to host your web site, you best hurry over to the Globat Summer Special 75% off Web Hosting Offer right now and place your order. You can only get the Gigabyte, Commerce Starter or Commerce Pro hosting packages at these outrageously low introductory prices for a very limited time. If you have any hesitation whatsoever, you should know that Globat offers a 30 day money back guarantee to ensure your complete satisfaction. Now, does hosting your own sites really make more sense than a great hosting deal?

OPEX Communications Advantages for Business

OPEX Communications, Inc. is a competitive long distance, VoIP and cellular carrier with a commitment to OPerational EXcellence. Hence, the name OPEX. Located in Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago, OPEX was established in 1998 and harnessed the leverage of the Internet to reduce costs from the get-go.

OPEX's flagship product is competitive 1+ long distance service. Business users pay just 2.95 cents per minute anytime for interstate calls in major service areas of the lower 48 states. Businesses located in smaller towns and rural areas with independent phone companies may pay slightly higher rates. There is no monthly fee on your account, although there is a low usage fee of $2 if your bill is under $20 for a given month.

International calling rates are low for a 1+ phone service. You'll pay 6 cents a minute to call the UK or France, 5.5 cents per minute to call Spain, 8 cents per minute for calls to Germany, just 7 cents per minute to call Japan, and 8.9 cents per minute to call China.

The billing increment is a generous 6 seconds with a minimum call length of 18 seconds. Why is this important? Like most of us, I'll bet you play a lot of phone tag. If a significant number of your calls are answered by voice mail messages, you want to minimize the cost per call. Many long distance carriers bill in full minute increments with a 60 second minimum charge. You may spend only 20 or 30 seconds leaving a message, but pay for a full minute. With OPEX, your minimum charge is only 18 seconds, or 30 seconds for international calls.

The 6 second increments also add up when you make lots and lots of calls during the month. Whether you make a dozen or a hundred phone calls every day, you'll save on every call with smaller billing increments.

The FCC has mandated certain charges for all business phone lines. The USF or Universal Service Fund is 8.7% and the PICC (Primary Interexchange Carrier Charge) fee is $3.25 per line after the first line. If you have only one business line, there is no PICC fee.

How about toll free numbers? Toll free numbers are an excellent business tool to encourage customers to call for information or to place orders. Now you can publish a toll free number without worrying that high toll-free calling rates will result in a big monthly expense. OPEX offers inbound toll-free service at the same per minute rate as your outgoing long distance calls. That's as low as 2.95 cents per minute. There is a $2 per month additional charge for your first inbound toll free line and 53 cents for each additional inbound toll free line. With rates that low, you can publish different toll free numbers on different advertising campaigns so that you know which ads are bringing in the business.

Take your OPEX long distance service with you when you travel by ordering an OPEX calling card to complement your landline service. The card is 99 cents to set up and you'll pay just 14.9 cents per minute. There is no connection charge, but there is a government mandated 35 cent charge when you make calls from a pay phone.

Unlike some newer carriers who are leveraging the power of the Internet for ordering and customer service, OPEX gives you the option of getting a paper bill or an online e-bill at no charge. You can have both for an additional $1.99 a month. You also have the option to pay by mailing a check every month or with auto-pay which debits a checking account or charges a major credit card.

Here's an additional incentive to switch your long distance service to OPEX. Right now you can get 100 free state to state minutes which will be credited to your six month's bill. Learn more and sign up for OPEX long distance phone service here. You'll also have the opportunity to order by phone if you wish.

Two newer services from OPEX are a VoIP service called OPEX Internet Voice which is appropriate for small office and home office users, and a low cost cell phone service called OPEX Wireless, which offers cellular plans without long term contracts from $9.99 per month.

Kall8's Auto Attendant is a Virtual PBX or Switchboard

One of the ways that big companies sound big is through their sophisticated telephone systems. They've paid megabucks for such automation as PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems, switchboards and Auto Attendants or IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems.

What would you say if I told you that you can have these same phone system features and more without any of the capital expense or staffing? You can with the Kall8 Auto Attendant. It's a perfect solution for businesses that have a few, a few dozen or even a few hundred employees.

Kall8 is the company that made inbound toll free numbers practical for smaller companies and even independent professionals. You can get your own toll free number for as little as $2 to order, $2 a month, plus 6.9 cents per minute to or from anywhere in the continental United States.

If you are an independent professional or family business, a Kall8 toll free number with its built-in voice mail and inbound fax might be all you need to project an appropriate business image to your customers. But if your company is big enough to have people in different functions or departments, you need a system that's more sophisticated. Years ago, you would hire a phone receptionist and have him or her announce callers over public address system or intercom: "Call for Tom on line 1. Tom, line 1."

Nowadays, the receptionist is generally a computerized automatic attendant with recorded announcements. You probably recognize how this works from your own experiences of calling companies to place orders or get customer service. You call a toll free number and a pleasant voice greets you and then offers a menu of options. "To place an order, press 1. To reach technical support, press 2. For billing issues, press 3. For all other needs, press 0 and an operator will be with you shortly."

With the Kall8 Automated Attendant, you can set up a "calling tree" like this. Each step is called a menu. For instance, if the caller presses 3, the system might say "To pay your bill, press 1. To correct a billing error, press 2." The call can be directed to additional menus or to specific people or departments depending on which phone button is pressed. I say departments, because all 5 or 10 of your technical support people can be placed in a "hunt group." The system will hunt for the next non-busy technician and ring their phone directly. If nobody is available, the call will be sent to voicemail. Each extension can also have it's own voicemail.

Now here's something you might not expect. The Kall8 Auto Attendant can be programmed to ring phones that are not co-located. Your technical support group might have one technician in Dallas, another in Seattle, two in Miami, and another in Chicago. They can all be in a single hunt group and give the impression that they're sitting side by side at corporate headquarters. If your company is a virtual company with your colleagues scattered throughout the country, this system can let you offer one or more toll free numbers to your clients. The Auto Attendant will then provide your callers with access to anyone in your company, regardless of where they are physically located.

There is no equipment to buy, since Kall8 hosts the Automated Attendant on its servers along with other toll free number features. You will need to order at least one Kall8 number, such as the toll free inbound number I mentioned earlier. You can then order the Automated Attendant for a setup fee of $50 and a monthly fee of $25. Kall8's customer service department will help you get the IVR portion of the Auto attendant set up to your satisfaction.

GoToMyPC Internet Remote Access

Have you ever been frustrated that you were in one place and everything you needed was on your computer somewhere else? The solution is something called remote access. Remote access gives you control of your home or office computer from another computer hundreds or thousands of miles away. At its best, you'll feel like you're connected by a long, long wire from a keyboard and monitor to your main computer.

There are various implementations of remote access including KVM or keyboard, video and mouse over IP. These easiest to implement, though, is a program called Go To My PC. Like the name says, you use the Internet to go to your far away PC. Sounds like a simple enough concept, but how does it work?

GoToMyPC, a product of Citrix Systems, Inc., is more of a Web-based service than a software solution. You download a 1.4 MB "installer" on your host computer. The host is the computer that you are going to be accessing from afar. You'll need to leave it powered and connected to an always-on Internet connection, such as your company's LAN or a DSL or cable modem broadband ISP. As long as the machine can talk to the Internet, you can gain access from a Java-enabled Web browser on just about any other computer.

The way you connect to your computer is not obvious. You might think it is a simple peer to peer connection over the Internet. Not so. Instead, you log into a GoToMyPC server. Your host computer is always pinging the GoToMyPC server to see if you want service. When you want to connect, your interface is through Go To My PC which does the conversions necessary to transmit keyboard commands and screen updates.

Why such a complex transaction? It's complicated technically to make it simple and easy for you. For instance, because your host computer effectively initiates all communications sessions with its pinging, you can work through corporate firewalls without any fancy configurations. Also, because you are communicating through a proxy, GoToMyPC, you can log in using just about any computer that you can connect to the Internet. That includes most flavors of Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix or Solaris. Even a Pocket PC will work. There is no software to preinstall on your remote client computer. That means you can even gain access to your host computer at Internet cafes, libraries and Kiosks.

Now don't get nervous about the security concerns of using the Internet and public computers to access your corporate computer. Your connection is encrypted using 128 bit AES encryption. You log-in with your email address and password. Plus you need the access code for your host computer. You also have the option to use one-time passwords for additional security. With all the security encryption, you are actually creating a special purpose VPN or virtual private network. At the host end, you can configure your desktop computer to lock the keyboard and blank the screen to prevent snoops from hanging around your machine in hopes of seeing something interesting.

What can you do with GoToMyPC? You can easily transfer files between computers and print documents to any printer, even if you don't have the right application loaded on your client computer. You can cut, copy and paste text between computers. You also have the option of inviting a guest to join you to temporarily view or share access to your host PC. That can be useful for collaboration, working on projects with clients, or getting technical support for computer problems.

You can actually gain remote access to your computer using a dial-up connection, although you really want a broadband connection to get the experience of transparency in your connection.

If this sounds like something that would be helpful in your business, you can get a free trial of GoToMyPC here. If you like it, there's a monthly or annual fee that includes all software upgrades and technical support. The basic service is for one host PC, but you can upgrade to enterprise level services to support additional machines.

PalmOne Treo 650 Half-Price

When it comes to smart phones, the PalmOne Treo 650 is one of the brightest in its class. It looks and works like a PDA. It functions as a cell phone. It takes pictures and operates as a camcorder. It plays MP3s like music player. It handles email and web browsing like a small computer. Now you can get yours for half the going price. I'll show you how in a second. First, let's take a closer look at the Treo 650.

The PalmOne Treo 650 is an upgrade to the venerable Treo 600. New features include the addition of BlueTooth technology for wireless connections to peripherals such as headsets, sharper display, built-in MP3 player, ability to view, edit and create Microsoft Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint attachments from your email. Both the camera and keyboard have been improved.

The Treo 650 comes in two models that are identical except for the cellular network standard that they support. One is for GSM/GPRS networks such as Cingular Wireless. The other is for CDMA networks such as Sprint PCS.

The display is a color TFT touch-screen with 320 x 320 resolution and 16 bit color. Tap it with the stylus like you would a PDA to access your phone, camera, calendar, contacts, memos, task list, messaging, email, Web browser, and RealPlayer music player. Note that the music player requires an additional SD memory card, but I'll tell you how to get that included free.

The Blazer Web Browser is worthy of special mention. Unlike many cell phone web browsing applications, this is a real honest to goodness Web browser that can handle HTML, JavaScript, frames, cookies and various graphics formats. You can use it to view most Web-based content including Web-based email. The pages look like they would on a standard desktop browser. You can download and save files and images. It also handles secure Web transactions using 128-bit SSL encryption.

The keyboard is a standard QWERTY keyboard with a backlight. Use it to compose SMS text messages or email. The Email client supports the standard POP and IMAP protocols plus some others. You can use Exchange Server ActiveSync to synchronize with your corporate email or use Windows Sync to synchronize with your PC.

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.

PC Cellular Air Cards Now Free

Where do you go when you want wireless broadband Internet access and you're nowhere near a WiFi hotspot? Why, to your cellular service provider, of course. Cell phones are ubiquitous for mobile voice service. Almost as ubiquitous, but not as well known, are cellular data services.

Verizon Wireless Internet access for cell phones and computers as an additional or alternative service. Yes, you can sign up for cellular based Internet service to give your notebook computer email and web access without buying the traditional cell phone service. Even better, the adaptor card you need is now free after rebate when you sign up for new service through our cellular store.

Verizon Wireless offers their EV-DO broadband service with unlimited data usage. This service offers higher bandwidths in the major cities where EV-DO is deployed. Maximum download speed is rated at 2.4 Mbps, with typical speeds of 400 to 800 Kbps and bursts up to 2.0 Mbps. Elsewhere, the service falls back to the more readily available 1XRTT NationalAccess rated at 144 Kbps with typical download speeds of 70 to 80 Kbps.

If you need readily available mobile wireless Internet access to support your business needs, such as a mobile sales force, this is the option you need to cut the dial-up phone, DSL and Cable Internet cords. Check the coverage maps for this service to be sure there is coverage in the areas where you spend most of your time.

You can also view all of the cellular phone and cellular data offers we have available by vising Cell Phone Plans Finder and browsing through the services and available phones. Please note that these offers are subject to change at any time. If you want one of these special offers, order now.

Free RAZR V3 and BlueTooth Headset Through July 4

Were sorry, but our free Bluetooth headset has already expired. 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.

Here's an Independence Day special that's more exciting than a rocket's red glare. Right now, for a very limited time, you can get the coveted Motorola RAZR V3 cell phone with a bonus BlueTooth headset with new Cingular Wireless service. The RAZR V3 camera phone valued at $399.99 is free after rebates. The $79.99 value headset is a free bonus. With a shared minutes plan, you can even get TWO RAZR V3 cell phones and TWO BlueTooth headsets free.

The solid anodized aluminum shell RAZR V3 is just half an inch thick. It has quad-band GSM for use in 100 countries, Bluetooth, MPEG4 video, 4x optical zoom digital camera, speakerphone and a 2.2 inch color display inside. You can read more about this exciting phone at the Talk on Talk article, "Did Someone Say Free Motorola Razr V3?"