The Analog Telephone Adaptor Enables VoIP

The role of the ATA or Analog Telephone Adaptor is to turn regular telephones into VoIP telephones. To perform this magic, the ATA has to fool the telephone set into thinking it is plugged into a standard telephone line. It also has to fool the broadband Internet connection into thinking it is plugged into a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) telephone compatible with the VoIP provider's service.

The electrical interface is perhaps the easiest to achieve. On the analog side, the phone plugs into a standard RJ-11 jack like you would find on a wall socket. This delivers the standard -48 V DC to power the handset along with the dial tone, AC ringing, and Caller ID signals when needed. It has to detect standard DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) touch-tone waveforms from the keypad and convert them to digital format for IP signaling using Session Initiation Protocol, the standard for VoIP.

How does the analog voice become digital and back to analog again? That's the function of the Codec or Coder/Decoder. The standard in use since digital telephony was invented is G.711. But there are other codecs that must also supported. These may include G.723, G.729, G.728 and G.726.

On the network side, The ATA has to terminate a standard Ethernet connection, usually 10/100 Mbps through a RJ-45 connector labeled as WAN. Many newer ATAs take this a step further by including a second Ethernet port labeled LAN. This is for connection to a PC in lieu of connecting the PC directly to DSL, Cable Modem or T1 WAN. The ATA performs the function of an Ethernet switch or router. This is not just to save the cost of a separate device so that PC and telephone can share the same broadband connection. When a router is included in the ATA, it then has the ability to ensure quality of service by giving voice packets priority over computer data packets so that using the PC doesn't interrupt telephone calls.

Maintaining voice quality while minimizing bandwidth is also the function of signal processing within the ATA. Some common processes include line echo cancellation and dynamic jitter buffer that compensates for variations in Internet line speed. PLC or Packet Loss Concealment deals with missing or out of sequence packets. Either the packet is replaced with a zero packet, a copy of an already received packet, or an interpolation between the preceding and following packets. VAD or Voice Activity Detection senses when you are talking and stops generating packets while you are listening to reduce bandwidth needs. Because digital lines have no traditional analog "hiss", people sometimes equate silence with a lost connection. CNG or Comfort Noise Generation recreates that low level background noise to indicate that the connection between phones is still in place.

All of these functions have been integrated into a package you can hold in your hand, in the HandyTone 502 ATA that is provided at no cost when you order PhonePower VoIP telephone service for residential and small business use. You can use the analog phone you have now, including cordless phones with multiple handsets.

Other VoIP service providers have also gone the route of providing their customers with complimentary ATAs to make the transition from traditional analog to digital VoIP as easy as possible.

Metro Ethernet for Faster Access Connections

Businesses and organizations are bandwidth hungry these days. With an increase in interactive Web applications, cloud computing services, and electronic medical records, the speed of doing business is starting to be limited by the availability of WAN bandwidth. There's plenty of carrier bandwidth available at decent prices. The real speed bump is in the last mile connection from your location to the carrier's POP (Point of Presence). In metropolitan and suburban areas, the cost effective answer might be a move to Metro Ethernet.

What is Metro Ethernet? It's Ethernet transport that's compatible with the Ethernet you run on your company computer network. But this type of Ethernet is designed for the WAN (Wide Area Network) rather than the LAN (Local Area Network). The generic term is Carrier Ethernet. When provisioned for metropolitan area access and connectivity, it's often called Metro Ethernet.

So what's the advantage of Metro Ethernet over, say, a T1 line? Speed for one thing. A T1 line runs at a fixed rate of 1.5 Mbps. You can order less speed with fractional T1 service or you can bond T1 lines together to get higher speeds of 3 to 12 Mbps. But that's about where T1 tops out. While it is technically possible to bond even more lines together, it's seldom cost effective. By the time you exceed 10 Mbps, it's usually cheaper to bring in DS3 service at 45 Mbps over fiber optic cable.

Metro Ethernet can also be provisioned over fiber optic cable to give you standard Ethernet at 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps or even Gigabit Ethernet at 1000 Mbps and 10 GigE at 10,000 Mbps. It's often significantly cheaper than traditional SONET fiber optic services because Metro Ethernet is offered by competitive carriers who have their own nationwide fiber backbones and fiber within the metro areas. Since they completely control their network assets and don't need to subcontract to local phone companies, these carriers can often offer large cost reductions. That's especially true when they are trying to establish a major presence in an area.

Another service that you'll find with Metro Ethernet that makes lower bandwidth services even more cost effective is EoC or Ethernet over Copper. This is what it sounds like. It's Metro Ethernet provisioned over multiple copper pair, similar to T1 lines. But a different modulation technology is used for EoC that is more efficient for packet transmission, but at a tradeoff of being distance limited. In other words, you need to be within a few miles of the nearest carrier POP to take advantage of this service. If you qualify, you can get Ethernet over Copper in bandwidths from 1 to nearly 50 Mbps at costs per Mbps often well below other line services.

But what if you are located in a smaller town or rural area? Remember those bonded T1 lines? You can probably get bonded T1 service at 3, 6, 9 Mbps or more anywhere you can get business telephone service. Chances are that this service will be far cheaper than bringing in new fiber optic lines.

Craving the Motorola ZN4 Krave

This phone must have been inspired by one of those space movies where the astronauts flip their helmet visors down for protection and up to speak to their companions. The Motorola Krave ZN4 has such a protective visor. Flip it up and you have access to the complete menu of icons on the 2.8 inch color touchscreen. Flip it down and the transparent visor, called a "touch cover", lets you see what's on the screen and access key functions such as the camera, picture gallery, live TV, music, GPS navigation. You can also view pictures and text messages with the cover down. Hey, it's transparent after all.

If you've been stewing over whether to get a flip-phone or one of the newer touch screen phones, the Motorola Krave for Verizon Wireless might be your answer. Unlike most flip phones, it's got a BIG screen. Big screens are nice for watching TV and video on the go. They're also good for getting the most from a high resolution digital camera, like the 2.0 Megapixel camera built into the Krave. It has 4x digital zoom and a viewfinder that works in portrait or landscape mode.

This phone is designed to take advantage of the cellular broadband capabilities of the Verizon Wireless network. EV-DO, with download speeds up to 700 Kbps, supports add-on wireless plan features such as V Cast Mobile TV for live streaming television. You can also watch videos on demand or stream or download music with the V Cast Music player. Don't worry about having enough capacity to store your videos and music. The expandable memory supports microSD/TransFlash cards p to 8 GB.

That EV-DO mobile broadband lets you enjoy full mobile browsing using the on-board HTML Web Browser. There's an email client, of course, as well as capability for instant messaging, standard SMS text messaging and multimedia messaging.

The optional VZ Navigator service works with the phone's GPS support to give you turn by turn directions. Your phone is also a navigation system and one that fits in your pocket.

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.

$2 Toll Free Numbers Help Professionals Go Independent

At this point in the economic malaise, many talented individuals are giving serious consideration to disconnecting from the corporate environment and going independent. It's a big decision to cut that umbilical cord to one's employer, but there are tools available that can help you leap the abyss to self-employment. One of those is an almost unbelievably inexpensive toll free service that lets you operate free as a bird.

Here's the situation. Those who decide to strike out on their own are often operating out of a limited home office space and are typically on the go much of their day. This is especially true for those selling a service, such as real estate or insurance, or technical professionals acting as consultants on-site. The question is how do you make sure that customers and potential clients can reach you no matter where you are? How can you conduct business on the go with only your cell phone and laptop computer?

Most importantly for anyone just starting out or trying to get their feet wet by moonlighting before they commit to the independent lifestyle is the matter of cost. You want to keep as much money in the bank as you can as a safety fund. It's often hard to know how fast your business will spin up and when the cash flow will begin in earnest. So rather than go out and spend a bundle committing to new equipment and support services, why not spend a bare minimum on a pay as you go basis? Pay next to nothing while you are getting started and only modestly more as your business and income grows.

This is the design of the Kall8 Toll Free Service system. You pick a toll free number, which in most cases is going to cost you a measly $2 to capture. That number is assigned to you for as long as you maintain it. You print it on your business card and flyers as the only number clients need. You make sure that business prospects know they can call you toll free anytime and even send fax documents to that number.

Maintaining your toll free number is also a low cost experience. You pay $2 per month to keep that number assigned to you. You don't pay anything else until you start getting calls. Then it's just 6.9 cents per minute for calls from the contiguous U.S. states. Of course, anyone who calls that number is going to be well worth your while to talk to. After all, they are your business clients and prospects, right?

What you get for a couple of dollars a month plus calls is a complete mobile office communications system. From your online control panel, you can decide where your toll free number will ring. Planning to be in the home office for awhile? Set it to ring to your landline. Going to be in the car or at customer's sites? Set it to ring to your cell phone. Change it from any Internet connected computer as you wish.

Of course, if you can't take the call at all it will go to voice mail. But this is very special voice mail. Your incoming call will be recorded, translated to a audio file and sent to your email if you wish. The same is true for FAX messages. Just tell anyone who wants to get a fax to you to send it to your toll free number. The FAX will be accepted and converted to an email attachment that you can pick up from your computer when it's convenient. Voicemail to email and FAX to email are often expensive add-on services, but Kall8 includes them with your toll free service.

Consulting engineers, contract technicians, recruiters, crafters, artists, Realtors and sales people in all fields have found low cost toll free service to be just the tool they need to maximize their ability to communicate with important business clients.

Conference Bridge to Everywhere

A conference bridge is a piece of telephone equipment that connects multiple phone lines together so that people in far flung locations call all participate in a discussion. Very large organizations may elect to buy and maintain such equipment, but for individuals and small to medium size businesses it is much more cost effective to simply pay as you go.

CogniConference is low cost conferencing service that lets you organize and participate in telephone conference calls as you see fit. You may be well served with audio telecons using speaker phones in conference rooms and individuals on handsets. But you may also find that CogniConference is valuable in providing the audio link that complements a web conferencing tool such as GotoMeeting.

Managed teleconferencing services can be expensive, but CogniConference is designed to be a low cost solution that offers flexible management and high quality performance. It is based on toll free numbers for the U.S. and Canada. As moderator, you invite participants to join the call by giving them the toll free number and access code for your particular conference. Both you and they simply dial-in to be connected. Note that the number is toll free so it doesn't cost participants anything, although they may be using minutes if they are calling in from a cell phone. The cost to the host of the call is 9.9 cents per participant per minute in the continental U.S. and 24.5 cents per minute for Canadian participants. Participants from other countries can also join in at rates particular to their location. Some countries may not have toll free numbers available.

The per minute per participant rates are it. There are no per conference or monthly fees. It's pay as you go. Like other telephone services, there are governmental taxes also. But you pay those no matter what service you use.

To see the cost advantage of CogniConference, let's take a look at a typical call. Say 8 people participate in a 30 minute business conference call. The rate is 9.9 cents per minute for each of the 8 participants times 30 minutes. $0.099 x 8 x 30 = $23.76.

Compare that with a face to face get-together. Even if you are all in the same town, you might spend that much alone on gas driving to and from the meeting. If you need to pay for a meeting room, that's additional. Then there's the lost productivity involved in just getting there and back. Suddenly $23.76 looks dirt cheap, doesn't it? If your group is scattered around the country, costs for an in-person meeting soar into the thousands.

This is why more and more businesses are saving travel for when it's really essential and leveraging technology such as telephone conference calls for day to day needs. That includes things like team collaboration, training, presentations and distribution of important information to management, employees and stockholders.

CogniConference holds your costs down and gives you flexibility by allowing you to schedule conferences on the fly, with up to 16 legs in each call. A leg is one phone calling the conference service at the toll free number. Of course if that phone is a speakerphone, there could be a dozen participants at that particular location. No operator is required to set up your conference calls. You or the moderator you designate gets a special host password that they can use with the easy Web and telephony interfaces. Payment is by credit card and you can set a usage limit to control costs.

Have you been spending too much money and getting too little participation via email, physical meetings, or a more expensive conference calling solution? You should give CogniConference Ultra-Low Rate Conference Calling a try.

Cisco's Unified Computing Cuts Costs and Power

Cisco is increasing the efficiency of the data center with its new technology called Unified Computing. Acknowledging that virtualization is here to stay, Cisco is embracing as much virtualization as possible to improve performance and reduce costs. As a result of the synergies involved, power consumption goes down as well.

If Unified Computing has a familiar ring to it, you may be thinking of Unified Communications. UC is an approach to integrate all forms of business communications, such as landline phone, cellular telephone, email, FAX, voice mail and instant messaging. The idea is these traditionally separate communication systems can be combined or unified through a common infrastructure. A simple example is the FAX and Voicemail to Email capability of Kall8 toll free services. Implemented throughout a company, Unified Communications can offer an efficiency improvement that results in faster response and higher productivity.

Unified Computing is also a business oriented approach that is designed to offer efficiency improvements by integrating formerly separate technologies. Cisco's Unified Computing System has at its core a new UCS Blade Server with blades based on an upgrade to the Intel Xenon processors called Nehalem which offer a 30% power reduction for the same performance. The blades have extended memory to support more virtual machines per server.

For networking, Cisco has settled on 10 Gbps Ethernet for everything, including storage area networking that has traditionally had its own Fiber Channel networking. This commonality simplifies cabling and switching, and decreases power and cooling requirements according to Cisco. They have provided the capability to connect to other networks such as Fiber Channel and Infiniband to support existing equipment installations.

So how much savings can be realized by moving to a new consolidated architecture with software tools designed to maximize the advantages of virtualization? Cisco says up to 20% CAPEX (capital expenditures) and 30% OPEX (operational expenditures) can be expected. That's pretty significant in these days of squeezed corporate profit margins. If you are interested in exploring new IT approaches or upgrades to your systems, you'll find Value Added Resellers serving your area through the VAR Network.

The final piece in the puzzle of higher performance for the data center is WAN bandwidth. Traditionally, prices have been high and bandwidth limited. But new offerings, especially in the area of Metro Ethernet Services, are opening the door to WAN connections that can transparently keep up with the bandwidth of the internal network fabric.

AT&T Sees the Video Tsunami Coming

It's been predicted that video is going to sop up every Mbps of bandwidth available, and soon. Even today, broadband providers are repositioning themselves to say that unlimited bandwidth usage doesn't really mean you get to pound your access connection every second of the day. At least for consumers. Today unlimited bandwidth has monthly bandwidth caps because the provider's networks really aren't unlimited. In fact, they're strained.

One company that has recognized this and taken steps to add capacity is AT&T. But not just general capacity to the Internet. What AT&T has done is to add 400 Gbps of capacity last year to its CDN or Content Delivery Network.

So what's a CDN? It's a private parallel network to the Internet. You know that the Internet is the ubiquitous high bandwidth IP network that connects virtually the entire world in one big mesh network. If we were using the Internet for it's original purpose of research, educational and government email and file transfers, any bandwidth limitations might be transparent. But even as the Internet has been expanded to accommodate commercialization and general access, high bandwidth applications such as video have advanced even faster. Content and Internet service providers alike have recognized that it makes sense to move video applications to alternate networks before increasing bandwidth congestion brings everything to a crawl.

Enter the Content Delivery Network. These are privately run networks that connect (mostly) video content providers to drop-off points as close to the end user as possible. The content bypasses most of the international Internet to feed local nodes of the service provider. That content is then merged with Internet traffic and sent to your computer via DSL or Cable broadband. As far as you're concerned, it's all coming from the Internet.

Who are these CDN's. Big names include Akami Technologies, Limelight Networks, Level 3 Communications, and, now, AT&T. With its massive installed network base, AT&T has a leg up in that it also provides last mile solutions as well as Internet transport and private line networks.

The model of a Content Delivery Network is also applicable to businesses. If you need connectivity among multiple business locations, the service you want is MPLS or Multi-Protocol Label Switching. This is a private network arrangement that has the ability to guarantee availability and performance, unlike the "best effort" service you can expect via the Internet. You can also get private line point to point connections when there are only two locations involved.

Cisco Steps In Front Of The Video Parade

John Naisbitt, author of the future-looking book Megatrends, is quoted as saying, "Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it." Cisco has apparently decided that parade is consumer generated video and they're jumping in front of it by acquiring the producer of the most popular and innovative camcorder line, Flip Video. What do you suppose they have in mind?

To get a bead on Cisco's thinking, we first need to take a look at the video camera that has taken the camcorder market by storm. The original Flip Video camcorder was innovative in the same sense as Apple's iPod. There were music players before the iPod and camcorders long before the Flip. But Pure Digital created a product for capturing video that mirrors the clever design that Apple applied to the iPod. Both products are pocket-size, offer high quality performance, are trivially easy to use, easily connect to personal computers, and have internal power sources compatible with their expected usage.

The Flip product line now includes the Flip Video, Flip Ultra, Flip Mino and FlipMinoHD. Each has a form factor similar to the new slim touchscreen cell phones. Being small and lightweight, they slip easily into a pocket or bag for use on impulse. There's no messing with tapes or discs. These cameras have solid state memory ranging from 1 to 4 GB. There's also no motor driven telephoto lenses or command center worth of controls to make the camera big and chunky. In fact, the Mino series measures just 0.63 in. thick by 1.97 in wide by 3.94 in long.

The Flip Mino is simplicity in itself. The front of the camera has a designable case, such as the MegaTrunks Elephant Camera. All you see is a graphic and a fixed focused lens on front. The back sports a 1.5 in. TFT display and a set of touch sensitive capacitive buttons to record and play your videos. There's also a speaker and microphone to capture audio along with the video. Charge up the lithium Ion battery and you're good for 60 minutes of VGA recording. When you want to move your video to a Mac or PC for editing or uploading to YouTube, just flip out the USB connector and plug it in to your computer. The FlipMinoHD is a very similar device, but offers HD recording at a resolution of 1280 x720 pixels.

So how does Cisco fit into this picture, or perhaps video as it were? Cisco is building a portfolio of consumer products and pursuing a strategy known as "visual networking." They've got the resources to build-out this product line, perhaps adding wireless access for instant capture and upload. As computing and storage move more and more into the cloud, a personal video system might even be able to download as well as upload video content. Multimedia messaging may soon be as pervasive as text messaging is today.

If you think that sounds like an intrusion into the space now occupied by cell phones, you're right. One thing the wireless carriers are onto is that consumers can't get enough of personal video. The wireline broadband providers are feeling the bandwidth pinch even now and wireless will go the same way as multimedia phones become more pervasive and wireless data plans become more affordable.

In the meantime, Cisco must be clucking to itself as it eyes the booming market for devices such as the Flip Video camcorders and the networking life support resources such as routers and switches and make "visual networking" and all other computer networking possible.

Copper WAN Bandwidth Headed to 500 Mbps

Just when you thought that we've hit the limit on data transmission over copper pair wiring, along comes Ericsson with a new technology announcement that they've perfected a technique that gets 500 Mbps bandwidth for WAN connections over copper.

If this were just for LAN connections you might wonder what all the excitement is. After all, Cat-6 wiring is good for Gigabit Ethernet. But this isn't about runs from your desk to the closest switch. It's about connecting your company to a broadband service provider. You know, underground - down the street - up the utility pole - in the building. Yes, that kind of connection. Generically, they're called WAN access connections. WAN, standing for Wide Area Network, to distinguish it from LAN for Local Area Network.

Why is WAN access bandwidth using hundred year old copper transmission technology so important? Many businesses have a crying need for more bandwidth to support everything from server farms to employee Internet access to data transfer between business locations. The coming push for electronic medical records is only going to exacerbate that when every medical center, hospital and doctor's office will need to rapidly transfer high resolution medical images as well as general documentation.

But why copper? Actually, fiber optic transmission stands ready to go with almost unlimited bandwidth. There's just one small problem. Getting new fiber installed from place to place is really expensive. Copper... Not so much. One reason copper is so cheap is that it's already in place. After 100 years, just about every location that needs to be connected already is. So if you can find a way to hot rod the copper pair wiring trunks that you already have, then you have a relatively inexpensively way to increase you bandwidth.

This is exactly what Ericsson is up to. But instead of trying to shove higher frequency signals down a single twisted pair of phone wire, they're taking a more sophisticated approach of pressing multiple pairs into service. With 6 copper pair, Ericsson has demonstrated 500 Mbps service over 500 meters. That's not going to get you across town, but it might well get you to a nearby building that is already wired for fiber or to a FTTC (Fiber to the Curb) box that serves a neighborhood.

Ethernet over copper isn't a brand new technology. In fact, it is deployed now in metro areas to expand a carrier's service footprint beyond their installed fiber POPs (Points of Presence). The techniques that are used are similar to what Ericsson is employing, including multiple pair transmission and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) analysis to counteract the effect of interference and signal reflections. Remember that if a business has 6 pair of incoming phone wires they are probably bundled together in a binder cable where they can potentially crosstalk.

Ericsson is pushing the technology beyond the 50 to 100 Mbps service levels that are possible with existing installations and expects its equipment to be available by year end. Right now you can get DS3 level Ethernet over Copper service at 45 Mbps up to a couple of miles from the nearest carrier POP. If you're hurting for bandwidth and can't afford the capital expenditures for fiber optic service, copper transmission service might be the perfect answer.

Where to Get a 1-800 Number Cheap

Looking to have your own 1-800 number but don't want to spend a lot of money? No need to. How's $5 sound?

Yes, you can get an 800 inbound toll free number for just five bucks. It will also cost you a mere $5 a month to maintain your use of the number and 6.9 cents a minute for the calls you receive. For most business users, that's a pittance.
But it's a pittance that can pay off big.

Here's why. Anyone who calls your 1-800 number is doing so because they saw it in an ad, on a business card, on a flyer, in the newspaper, on TV, on a billboard, or heard it on the radio. Anyone who is motivated to call that number has a serious reason for doing so. Usually that translates into a motivated customer.

Most business owners know that 1-800 numbers have a powerful attraction for new and existing customers alike. People just have an aversion to paying long distance charges to call a business. It's something like paying shipping costs. The actual cost involved may not be that much, but it's a big turn-off compared to free.

What many business owners assume is that a 1-800 number is going to cost them a fortune to buy and use. That may go back to 10 or 20 years ago when the phone company was the only source for toll free service. The perceived value was high and so was the price tag.

No more. Now there are competitive toll free service providers who've made it possible for anyone, even the smallest independent professionals or entrepreneurs, to have at least one toll free number.

Is $5 a month too much? OK, then how about $2? Yes, you can get an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number for just $2 a month to order and $2 a month to maintain. The same 6.9 cents per minute applies for calls coming in from the contiguous states. It's a little more from Alaska and Hawaii.

This is why I said at least one toll free number. At $2 a pop, many companies have a bunch of toll free numbers. There is one for catalog orders, another for customer service, another for specials running on TV, another for items featured in the newspaper, and so on. The more numbers you have, the more finely you can track your marketing efforts. With a separate number for each ad you'll know exactly what is pulling and what isn't.

The service I'm recommending, Kall8, makes it easy to track these ad campaigns. In addition to assigning you a number, you'll get an online control panel to determine how your number is assigned and track any and all calls coming in. You'll have a complete accounting report for each of your numbers that you can check from any Internet enabled computer. Take a lunch break at your favorite restaurant offering free WiFi and see how your ads are doing.

You can also pick up your voice mail from these numbers if you wish. If you don't have the luxury of having someone to take calls, you can have your incoming toll free calls go to voice mail when you aren't available. If you want, audio clips of those calls will be sent to your email at no extra charge. Any incoming fax messages will also go to your email. This way your office is wherever you happen to be. "Another latte, please. My toll free numbers are paying off big today!"

Green Your Cell Phone For St. Patrick's Day

Ah, it's St. Patty's Day - a time for the wearin' of the green. But these days "green" means a lot more than shamrocks or tinted beer. Green means good for the environment as well. How about doing a little something green for good green Earth before you get too caught up in the day's festivities?

Now don't worry. This will only take a few minutes and you can be on your way. First, you'll need to find that old cell phone you tossed somewhere when you got your brand new one. Did you know that there are something like 100 million cell phones set aside each year? If you piled them all up, you'd find enough gold inside to make a respectable pot at the end of the rainbow. Before the leprechauns get wind of this, you better retrieve that unused phone and see how you can profit from it.

Got your phone? Good. Now see how much your cell phone is worth to a company that recycles them. New model phones can be worth hundreds of dollars. Take it in cash or donate your proceeds to charity. It's up to you. Older devices or broken phones can still be recycled to keep them from polluting the landfill. So send them in as your good deed to honor the day.

Now, didn't that make you feel good? You're just getting started. In addition to selling or recycling cell phones, you can also get cash for your old digital camera, MP3 player, PDA, laptop computer, gaming console, GPS device, camcorder, satellite radio, external hard drive, video game, LCD monitor or even Blu-Ray movies. You get the great feeling of cash in your pocket and the landfill gains a little breathing room. Eventually, everyone will be doing this and there may not be much need for landfills.

Sound interesting? Then take a few minutes to see how to get cash or recycle your old gadgets. There's a short video to watch that explains the process. You can learn what happens to your stuff once you're rid of it. There's an easy search bar so you can quickly find your particular device. Then check off a couple of boxes about condition of the unit and whether you have the AC adaptor and manuals or software. All of these have some effect on how much you'll get. You can even view a chart that shows the price history of your gadget, what it's worth now, and what it may be worth in the future.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and best of luck to you!

No AT&T Wireless Activation Fee This Week

Here's a deal that comes along once in a blue-tooth moon. AT&T is waiving the activation fee for new wireless customers through Midnight on Sunday, March 22, 2009. If you've got your eye on a new AT&T BlackBerry or other smartphone or cell phone along with new service, here's your incentive to act now. It's $36 you get to keep in your pocket. You should also know that you can get many popular AT&T cellphone models free or even with cash back on top of this special bonus.

Please Note: This is an exclusive offer available ONLY through Sunday, March 22, 2009. Have a look at the collection of 67 AT&T cell phones, including BlackBerry and Palm models available for your perusal. Then Compare AT&T Cell Phones and Wireless Service Plans and get an excellent deal on your choice.

There are all sorts of cell phone specials available every day. Before you go shopping in a bricks and mortar enterprise, take a few minutes to see how you can do online. You may be astounded.

Bandwidth Stimulus For The Boonies

Things are changing out there among the amber waves of grain. Rural America is about to get plugged-into the Internet in a big way. This is the goal of the new broadband stimulus program that has $7.2 Billion to spread among the states on programs that speed up our access to the Internet.

Well it's high time for high speed. At a time when the South Koreans have announced plans to provide Gigabit broadband connections to their citizens, too many Americans go begging for 1/1000 of that. It's really two problems in one. First, sparsely populated areas have few Internet options compared to metropolitan areas. Second, broadband is pretty pricey and out of the range of many low income budgets.

It's not that rural America has NO Internet service. Dial-up Internet at a maximum of 56 Kbps can be had most anywhere there is a telephone. Thanks to universal telephone initiatives of past administrations, standard telephone service really is available just about everywhere. Prices of dial-up access have matured to where you can get a service such as NetZero HiSpeed for under $10 a month. That includes an accelerator to improve Web page download times.

Who still wants dial-up? You may be surprised at how many people really don't live their lives on the Internet. For them, checking email once or twice a day and being able to browse the news headlines or do a Google search for information is all they really want. Others may feel frustrated by slow loading multimedia content sites and little access to online video, but ten bucks a month is all they've got. The computer they picked up second hand may not be up to high bandwidth applications anyway.

You actually can get broadband just about anywhere you live. How? The same way you get TV - by satellite. HughesNet and Wild Blue satellite broadband Internet use a separate dish with a transmitter mounted on the feed so that you can both upload and download from the "bird" without having to use a phone line. Speeds are similar to DSL levels, from 512 Kbps to 1.6 Mbps. But prices from $55 to $80 a month plus equipment purchase or rental are well above most DSL services. With limited satellite capacity, fair use policies will cause the provider to cut your bandwidth if you do an excessive amount of uploading or downloading. There is also a half-second delay called latency that makes satellite unsuitable for activities needing instant response or VoIP telephony.

Businesses in rural areas can order T1 lines or bonded T1 lines to get increments of 1.5 Mbps dedicated bandwidth that comes with a service level agreement. Since T1 is provisioned over standard telephone wiring and can be boosted with regenerators, it is available in most business locations that have phone service. T1 is priced at business, not consumer, levels and even bonded lines are limited to 10 to 12 Mbps.

So what with the new stimulus plan do to change the bandwidth / pricing situation? The intent is to build out line and wireless services to cover as many people as possible with as much bandwidth as possible, while making higher bandwidths affordable in rural and low income metropolitan areas.

Why focus on broadband? The fact is that the Internet is to this century what other utilities such as electricity, telephone, and roads were to the development of the 20th century. Most jobs now involve some computer usage. We search online instead of running down to the library for research. More and more shopping is done on websites every year. If you are looking for a job, you'll likely search and post your resume online. Email messages have pretty much replaced personal letters. Most business now have an online presence and those that don't are few and far between.

The reality is that high speed Internet access, perhaps even to the Gbps level, is an enabler of higher productivity and commercial growth as well as personal potential. The stimulus package will make an impact over the next couple of years to advance our capabilities, but it will likely be just a good boost to an already expanding industry. Hopefully the infrastructure installed during this period will be enhanced and expanded in the future as what we consider high bandwidth today becomes low bandwidth by tomorrow's standards.

The LG Versa-tile Phone

LG has finally addressed the dichotomy between wanting all the advantages of a touchscreen phone and craving an actual physical keyboard. Their answer is to give you both in one cell phone. It's the aptly named LG Versa VX9600 and versatile it really is.

Take this phone out of the box and it looks like many of the popular touchscreen phones that users are snatching up right and left. But look again and you'll see an extra accessory that comes with no other phone. It's a detachable QWERTY keyboard. This is an actual physical keyboard about the same size as the phone, but mounted in a case that can be attached or detached from the main phone body.

Now you have a choice. You can use the Versa in its standalone mode with a virtual keyboard. Or attach the physical keyboard, that also functions as a protective case, and power text to your heart's content.

Here's the best part. The keyboard is not an accessory that you have to order or pay for separately. It's included with the phone, along with the battery, USB/wall charger, user guide and stylus.

The LG Versa is a powerful cellphone that connects to the Verizon Wireless EVDO-Rev A broadband cellular network for 3G data speeds. While 310 MB of memory is onboard, you can easily expand it with up to a 16 GB microSD card. That's a LOT of memory for digital photos, videos, and music. The digital camera in the Versa has a resolution of 2.0 Megapixels with auto-focus, flash, and edit tools. Resolution is good enough to print or share with friends via multimedia messaging.

Internet access is built-in with a full HTML Web browser, touch navigation, bookmarks and high speed downloads. The email client supports VZW Mobile email, POP3 and corporate email w/ SYNC software. Instant messaging is also built-in.

GPS services support lets you get turn by turn directions using the optional VZ Navigator service. There are 3 customizable home pages so you can have your favorite features, contacts and apps right at your fingertips.

Other cool features include a built-in music player that lets you create new playlists and download new music anywhere. The headphone jack is a standard 2.5 mm. Stereo and standard Bluetooth wireless is included. A Verizon service called Chaperone helps you track your child's whereabouts, if you want to add this capability.

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.

You Pay Too Much For Phone Service

A shocking new study says that most cellphone and landline users overpay for their service. Not just by a little bit, mind you. They grossly overpay. How gross? How about $3 on a cell phone and up to $1 per minute on a landline?

You may think that's impossible and, anyway, YOU don't pay anywhere near that for any type of phone service. Are you sure? Have you sat down and run through the numbers lately? You may be in for an eyes-bugging-out experience.

"What do you mean by do the math ?," you say. After all, you bought into one of those all-you-can-talk bundled plans just so you never had to do any math. You get charged a flat rate per month regardless of how much you call. There is only one bill and there are never any overage surprises.

Well, you may be paying a pretty penny just to avoid some simple calculation work or the overwhelming pain of a - gasp! - phone bill that varies from month to month. Want to be absolutely sure that you're not one of those unlucky stiffs who's shelling out $3 a minute for cellular service? OK, do this. Keep a 3x5 card in your pocket for the next week to a month. Every time you're on the phone, record how many minutes elapse. If you want to be precise, keep track of seconds too. But rounded to the nearest minute will do the job nearly as well. Now, at the end of the week add up all the minutes and multiply by 4. Or just add up the minutes for a month. What's the total? Divide your cellphone bill by that number of minutes and you'll get the dollar/minute figure reasonably close.

Shocked? I'll bet you are. I'll bet if you bought a plan with too few minutes and paid the outrageous 40 cents a minute for overages that some carriers charge, you'd still be ahead. Once you know your actual usage, you can order your next service plan for not too much more than you need. If you get one with rollover minutes you'll have some cushion for the months when you spend more time on the phone. Or consider getting everyone in the family on a single shared plan. That may take some discipline if you have chatty teenagers, but for responsible adults the cost savings could be enormous.

The same comments apply to residential and home office landline service. People have become so enamored by bundled packages that they've lost track of how much they actually use long distance. In many cases you are better off getting a basic local service from your phone company and then signing up with a competitive long distance service. Yes, you'll get two bills a month but one will probably stay the same and the other will vary from zero if you don't make any long distance calls to some small number of dollars when you do. Set it up to automatically charge to your credit card and you'll eliminate the onerous effort of writing a second check each month.

Here's another point to be aware of. Traditionally, landline phone services offer unlimited incoming minutes at no extra cost. That includes long distance. It's only when you place outgoing calls that you pay for long distance minutes. You may or may not pay by the minute or the call when you place outgoing local calls. That depends on your service plan.

What about VoIP service? It makes sense for many people because they already pay for Cable broadband. With DSL, chances are you pay for a phone line anyway so you might as well use it. But even if you add a VoIP phone service to your Cable broadband, you don't necessarily need to overpay for unlimited minutes that you'll never use. VoIP.com has a nice 200 minute per month plan available for $9.95 per month. Packet8 will give you unlimited incoming minutes and 500 outgoing minutes for $14.99 a month. Find these plans and more at AffordableVoIP.com You can buy larger plans, but you could save a fortune if you just tracked your actual usage for a month and bought a plan that covers that much plus a little extra.

Accessories After The Fact

The fact is that you've already bought the cell phone you want, or are seriously looking at wireless options. But when you open the box it may not contain all the accessories you wish you had. No problem. We've got a source for all the accessories you can think of at prices up to 80% off.

What type of accessories? Car chargers come first to mind. If you are a professional on the go, you may find that your wireless device is running low on battery power long before you get home to plug it in. Even if you carry the AC charger in your briefcase, you may not have any place to get AC power for any length of time. The solution to this is the car charger. Plug it in your 12 volt accessory socket (the connector formerly known as a cigarette lighter socket) and you can pick up at least a partial charge on your way from place to place.

Or if you do have AC power at your employer's desk, perhaps a second AC charger is in order. Keep your original at home for overnight charging. Get a second compatible charger for the wall socket at work. That way you can keep that power hungry smartphone fully loaded for long periods of use.

How do you handle conversations when you're too occupied to be holding the phone to your ear? A BlueTooth headset is a good option. Sometimes a wired headset will do as well. There are car kits that let you talk hands-free in the car, although its best not be driving distracted. Speaking of car phones, how about a passive repeater to boost the signal strength you get in the vehicle? Haven't heard of these? Better check out the wide array of cellular accessories you can get.

Do you have a perfectly good phone that you love but a battery that won't hold a charge like it used to? Fortunately, replacement batteries aren't that hard to come by. Replace the one that's giving out with a fresh power source and it's almost like having a new phone.

How about protecting your investment? A nice leather case is a handsome accessory. Or select a snap on cover or silicone skin. For easy access to your phone, a belt clip or holster might be just the thing.

Other options include repair parts to fix that broken phone, memory cards, phone straps and data cables. Just about all phones from all carriers are supported. You'll find it easy to browse the selection and find those accessories specific to your cellular phone. In fact, check out the cell phone accessories on sale now. You'll wonder how you've been getting by without them.

Goose Your Technical Service Business

Have you noticed that business has been slowing down lately? Perhaps you have as many inquiries as ever, but customers are hesitant to commit. It's probably nothing that you're doing wrong or differently. It's likely just the current state of the economy. Even so, is there any way you can goose your business to maintain or even raise your income? Sure there is.

These comments may apply to many different types of businesses, but the specifics are related directly to business telephone or computer networking technical service businesses. If that describes you, then you're in luck. Here are a couple of ideas that could give your business that extra boost when you most need it.

The idea is an opportunity that comes free of charge. It's membership in the VAR Network. VAR is Value Added Reseller and most often applies to companies that are authorized resellers of equipment such as routers, switches, IP PBX systems, handsets, security appliance, WAN optimizers, and the like. But it can also apply to technical consultants who help companies design their networks, select system components or install and maintain phone systems or networks.

What the VAR Network offers you is a registry of your business with details on the particular products and services you support and the footprint where you operate. There's no charge to be included in this online registry. Once your details are entered into the database and approved, you'll be qualified to receive inquiries from companies actively seeking your products and services. Think of it as a match making service between sellers and potential buyers of business technology. Whatever warm leads that come your way will probably be in addition to the business you currently have. That sounds like a net increase, doesn't it?

Another advantage of membership in the VAR Network is that you gain access to an organization with vast resources to provide competitive line services such as T1 voice and data, DS3, Ethernet, SONET fiber optic and even wireless point of sale. Chances are that you are not currently as well connected and maybe don't even deal in the specialized field of telecom line services. But with a couple dozen providers and experienced consultants at your beck and call, you can easily offer your clients the line services they need in addition to the physical hardware. For them it's one stop shopping. For you, it's extra monthly income.

The other idea isn't free, but it's pretty low cost. It's an add-on to your current business phone system that adds valuable features and opportunities to promote your business. For a few dollars a month, you obtain a toll free number that forwards to any or all of the phones you are now using. It includes such niceties as FAX on demand and an informational mailbox. You pitch your services and potential customers can impulsively connect you to in an instant no matter where you happen to be. Learn more about this by reading "Sales Lead Generation in a Recession" to see what it can do for you.

Other Flavors of Packet Voice

When we think of telephone service these days it's in terms of two battling technologies. There's circuit switched telephony that has been the standard for over a hundred years versus VoIP, the emerging standard. But, actually, VoIP is just the best known example of technologies to transmit voice by packet over networks.

The real technology battle is the shift from switched circuit networks to packet networks. But that's been going on forever. Aren't we there yet? No, not really. But that's the direction we're headed until something else is invented.

Circuit switched networks have their advantages. Once you establish a path or circuit between two points, you have exclusive use of that connection until you are done with it. The advantage is that a continuous connection usually has little latency since there are no routing decisions to be made once the circuit is set up. The same is true for jitter, although signal quality is only as good as the connection quality. Analog has crosstalk issues and noisy lines can drop out portions of a digital bitstream.

The big disadvantage with circuit switched networks is that they tie up an expensive resource whether it's being used or not. That's the efficiency improvement that packet switched networks offer. By breaking up data into bite size (or is that byte size?) packages, routers can act as traffic controllers to keep the network busy but not overloaded.

Packet switched networks are a natural for data communications. The Internet protocol, TCP/IP handles breaking large data files into packets and reassembling them on the other end. It also ensures accurate delivery by forcing a retransmission of damaged packets. What VoIP does is mimic computer data by breaking the continuous voice signal into IP compatible packets and sending them down the same network with data file packets. But the TCP or Transmission Control Protocol that ensures accurate delivery doesn't work so well with VoIP. Since a conversation is continuous, retransmitting a broken packet and delivering it later would only cause confusing interference.

VoIP's popularity can be traced to the fact that IP is so popular and nearly ubiquitous in corporate LANs as well as the Internet. But beyond the internal corporate network, there are other types of packet switched networks for WAN or Wide Area Network transmission.

VoATM or Voice over ATM networks also breaks a continuous speech signal into packets. But ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) breaks the signal into 53-byte packets known as cells. The small cells reduce the effect of jitter or variable time delay and one lost or damaged cell doesn't markedly degrade the quality of the voice stream.

VoFR or Voice over Frame Relay networks use frames that transmit large packets of data that vary in size but can be up to a 1,000 or more bytes in length. Frame Relay networks have been very popular for connecting multiple business locations together, but are giving way to the newer MPLS or Multi-Protocol Label Switching networks that provide the same service and more.

Both Frame Relay and ATM networks are private network technologies. They pre-date the massive popularity of the Internet and don't use Internet Protocol. But they do support voice, data and video using their own proprietary protocols.

What about MPLS networks? Being multi-protocol, as the name says, a private MPLS network can easily support VoIP traffic. Since this is also a private networking arrangement, the service quality variabilties of the public Internet are avoided. When VoIP is transmitted on an MPLS network it is known as VoIPoMPLS. But there's a way to directly implement voice on an MPLS network that is known as VoMPLS. This is a fairly new technology that is designed to work in on converged network carrying voice, video and data simultaneously over the same paths. MegaPath, a leading competitive carrier, has just announced a VoMPLS service for its network that combines manged voice, data and security for business-grade users.

Even wireless is not immune to the move from circuit to packet switching. Right now cellular services offer switched voice connections on one set of channels and packet switched data on another. But this may be changing with the emergence of WiMAX and LTE as wireless broadband services. A new forum has started up to develop VoLGA or Voice over LTE via General Access.

Is your company looking at options to reduce telephony costs or make better use of the network resources you already have? A reduced cost digital trunking service or some form of packet voice service may be the answer.

Buy, Buy BlackBerry

You've been hearing about BlackBerry wireless devices for years and perhaps envy those high power execs that have their own. But why not get one for yourself? There are some secrets about BlackBerry you should know and the biggest one is that there's a BlackBerry for you.

The first thing you should know is that a BlackBerry is actually a cell phone. Yes, beyond all the high-tech fanciness, the BlackBerry is really a great cell phone. That's one reason execs carry them. They take the place of an ordinary cell phone because they do the same job. You can get a BlackBerry for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Alltel and T-Mobile.

The next thing that you should know is that a BlackBerry device doesn't cost an arm and a leg anymore. They are highly discounted by the carriers when you buy them with a new service plan. Some models are so well discounted that they are available free or even free with a cash back rebate. Even the newer high performance models will set you back less than $200 when you order them online.

When you think of BlackBerry, you probably imagine a square shaped black handheld device with a large color screen and lots of buttons below it. That's the classic BlackBerry look, like you'll find in the RIM BlackBerry 8700g model. But there are other BlackBerry phones that are styled in red or pink or a frosty blue color. Many models are available in silver as well as black. The BlackBerry Storm doesn't have a physical keyboard at all. The familiar QWERTY keyboard appears virtually on the extra large display screen when needed. There's even a BlackBerry flip phone called the Pearl Flip 8220 Maroon. It looks like an ordinary flip phone with an analog clock on the external display. But flip it open and there's the keyboard you need along with the pearl navigation device.

All in all, there are 35 BlackBerry phones you can compare using a simple online search tool. You'll find everything from the very business-like 8830 World Edition to the popular BlackBerry Bold, the many variations of the Pearl and Curve models, the Flip and the Storm. It's up to you to pick the features that make sense for the way you want to use your BlackBerry. Fortunately, that's much easier using the "view features" magnifying glass located near the picture of each BlackBerry. Or select up to 6 models by clicking their check boxes and you can compare them side by side. The "compare" button is near the bottom of the list.

So, don't feel that you have to deny yourself a BlackBerry because they are too expensive or won't do what you need in a cellphone or mobile productivity device. Instead, check out all the current BlackBerry offers now. If you can finally settle on just one, you can order it quickly and easily online.

Business Broadband That's Dedicated to You

Are you dissatisfied with your company's broadband connection? You thought you were getting a deal when you hooked up DSL or Cable Internet service to your network router. Most of the time it seems to work pretty well. But every so often you notice that credit card approvals won't go through, VoIP phone calls get garbled or drop completely, or the whole system goes down. Seems like your business processes were more reliable before you got connected. Is there anything that can be done without pulling the plug and going back to pad and pencil?

If you find yourself constantly frustrated because the network is slow or "down", it likely has to do with the quality of your connection. This could well be due to having the wrong type of connection. What I mean by that is that many low cost broadband services were never designed for the rigors of business. They were designed and priced for the consumer market, where monthly cost is more important than reliability or performance.

You probably thought that telecommunications services were telecommunications services and that they would all perform reliably and consistently. Well, you were right and it's still true. But what I'm talking about aren't really defined as telecommunications services. To avoid the regulation and tariffs associated with telecommunications services, providers offer broadband Internet services, such as DSL and Cable broadband, as information services. An information service is offered on a "best effort" basis, meaning that providers will endeavor to deliver the service they offer for sale as best they can. What's different is that there are no guarantees.

What sort of things would you like to be guaranteed? First of all, availability. That's the percentage of time that the service is "available" for your use. In other words, the time it is not down. The gold standard is called five-nines or 99.999%. Many telecom services are guaranteed for four-nines or 99.99%. Best effort services are up when they're up and down when they're down. Interruptions may be a minute or so a couple of times a day, or even days at a time. It depends on how bad the problem is and if the technicians have to work on higher priority telecommunications issues before they get to any best effort services.

Another guarantee you'd like is bandwidth. Does your service offer bandwidth "up to" a certain number of Mbps? That's a sure tell that you are dealing with a "best effort" service. The reason they say "up to" is because these services are oversubscribed. In other words, they sell the service to more people than it can support simultaneously without slowing down to a crawl. The idea is that rarely is everyone on and downloading packets at exactly the same moment. That used to be more plausible when nearly all Internet usage was Web surfing and email. But streaming audio and video and massive video downloads tend to consume large amounts of bandwidth for long periods of time. If enough users are doing that, bandwidth for everyone else will dry up.

Now you know why your broadband performance varies all over the place. Is there anything you can do about it? There is, indeed. If you have a serious business situation that demands consistent and reliable performance, you need "dedicated" Internet access. Dedicated means that your connection is dedicated to your usage only and is guaranteed to have a given bandwidth. It's not shared. Whatever capacity you aren't using at the moment is sitting there idle.

The basic dedicated Internet connection is T1 Dedicated Internet Access or T1 DIA. These lines are readily affordable by most small to medium size businesses and offer 1.5 Mbps of both upload and download capability. That may not sound as much as some of those cheaper services, but remember that this is a dedicated 1.5 Mbps that's always there for your use. It won't be slowing down and speeding up during the day as other users access the Internet.

If you need more bandwidth, you can get bonded T1 lines that offer 3 to 12 Mbps over twisted pair copper wiring. In metropolitan areas, EoC or Ethernet over Copper can give you up to 45 Mbps within a mile or so of carrier Points of Presence. Or get a fiber optic connection and enjoy DS3 Dedicated Internet at 45 Mbps all the way up to Gigabit Ethernet at 1,000 Mbps.

Clearly, there are enough dedicated bandwidth options to support any business, but not at the same prices you get for home Internet. How much does dedicated access cost? You may be surprised how affordable it's become lately. Get dedicated bandwidth pricing now for your business.

Sales Lead Generation in a Recession

Are you getting sucked into the recessionary vortex along with most businesses? Are old customers buying less and prospects few and far between? Sure would be nice if you had an cheap and easy way to generate more sales leads wouldn't it? Well, you can with a virtual assistant from iTeleCenter. This is more than an automated attendant or voicemail system. It is a lead generating machine.

The iTeleCenter virtual phone system for business is a communications service that acts as a sales system. Consider it a force multiplier for your sales team. It allows a small staff to appear to be a much larger staff. That's the power of technology.

So how does it work? First, you should know that the magic is all on high power telecommunications servers remotely hosted at a central location. It's so powerful that your customers will never hear a busy signal no matter how many calls are coming in simultaneously. You don't need to buy a new system or even any more phones. iTeleCenter uses what you have now. It just makes a regular phone system into a really powerful phone system designed to maximize sales performance.

It starts with your own toll free number that prospects and customers call to access your sales team. Hide your regular phone number. This is the one number you'll publish. It's toll free, so clients won't hesitate to call regardless of where they happen to be. That's not just important for nationwide businesses, but any business that has prospective customers beyond a few mile radius of the business location.

You tell iTeleCenter what phone number to call to reach you from that toll free number. That can be your regular office phone, your home phone, or your cell phone. It will forward your calls up to 5 different phone numbers if that's what it takes to reach you. How does it know which sales agent or functional area to call? Everyone has their own extension number. The main greeting helps your callers get to the right extension.

Yes, there's voicemail if someone just plain isn't available. But it's unlimited voicemail. It never gets full. You can tell the system to send you a text message whenever a voicemail arrives. Or whenever someone sends you a FAX message. Those are graciously accepted too. Both your voice messages and FAX messages can be accessed by email from wherever you happen to be. Plus if you want to return a call, you can do that with the press of a button. The system knows the caller's phone number even if they didn't leave it in their message.

In full sales mode, the iTeleCenter offers 24/7 informational mailboxes. It's a recorded message hotline that offers callers a review of your products or information about your location and hours. If callers like what they hear, they can press a button and be connected to you immediately. Your system is bringing in prospects while you're working other leads.

There's much more to the iTeleCenter system that will help your business gather and convert more prospective customers. But you're probably wondering what sort of giant cost is involved. It starts at $9.95 a month. You don't even have to spend that to try the system. There's a iTeleCenter 7 day free trial so you can see for yourself. It has a 30 day money back guarantee so you can be sure it's right for your business. There's even a special version for real estate agents called TeleCenter Real Estate Pro.

Cheaper DS3 Connections

You need higher bandwidth for your business operations, but the cost of DS3 is killing you. If you are running out of capacity on your T1 line and looking to upgrade, you may wince at even the thought of a DS3 line lease. Well, relax. DS3 connections are cheaper than they've ever been. Even in these challenging economic times, you may well be able to afford the DS3 connection you need.

DS3 or Data Service level 3 is a standard digital telecommunications service first developed for telephone trunking applications. It is standardized as part of the T-Carrier system, and works seemlessly with SONET fiber optic carriers. DS3 is nominally a 45 Mbps line service. Once provisioned on coaxial copper cable, most DS3 connections now come in on fiber optic cables. A single DS3 uses only a fraction of the capability of the fiber, but it can be multiplexed with other DS3s and transported cross country with ease.

What does one use DS3 for? Larger companies will use a DS3 dedicated Internet connection to serve dozens or even hundreds of employees. Configured as a digital telephone trunk, a single DS3 connection will support up to 672 simultaneous telephone calls. Who makes that many? A large corporation or a major call center can easily make good use of DS3 telephone service.

How much does a DS3 connection cost? You'll see nominal quotes of $5,000 a month. But you may well pay half that, depending on your location and lease length. The more densely populated your business location, the more likely it is that DS3 service will be available and the more competitive the pricing among multiple providers. You can get a DS3 quote in less than a minute online for business addresses.

What if a fiber optic drop is not really cost effective for your location? There is another service available, called EoC or Ethernet over Copper that is becoming very popular in metropolitan areas. Bandwidth varies with distance from the carrier's POP or Point of Presence, but can range up to DS3 levels of 45 Mbps. Get a quote on Ethernet over Copper bandwidth. If available, this service is generally cheaper than DS3 on a Mbps basis.

Finally, if your business is out in the boonies where fiber has not dared to tread, there are still voice and data connections available to you. Bonded T1 lines can deliver 10 Mbps or more using multiple pair of ordinary telephone cable. Since you can select the number of lines to bond, you can control the cost of your service to match your needs and budget and upgrade as demand grows. Get a quote on bonded T1 service for your location and see how affordable it really is.

On a Red Hot Rant With Samsung

With the Samsung M540 you can get on a red hot rant. What's more, you can choose between a verbal rant and a text rant. They're equally as easy with this wireless gadget.

The Samsung Rant in Red is technically a cell phone. But they didn't call it a "Rant" for nothing. The hot red color is indicative of its hot performance. In the closed position, it's an attractive cell phone with the buttons you need for dialing right there on the face. Make and receive calls. Get pictures from your friends on the high resolution 2.1 in. LCD color main display, and snap a few pix of your own using the 2.0 Megapixel digital camera.

While you're at it, why not make a movie? The Samsung Rant works a camcorder to capture video as long as you have memory available. That can be quite a while, because this phone accepts expandable MicroSD/Transflash memory up to 4 GB per card.

But voice is only half the story. Slide out the hidden backlit QWERTY keyboard and you have the means to easily text and email to your heart's content. The POP email client with wireless sync is built-in. So are an instant messenger and mobile Web browser. You're all set for multimedia messaging, including video messaging. You'll need the appropriate Sprint add-on plans for these extra capabilities. But you won't be wanting for speed. The Samsung Rant runs on the Sprint EV-DO broadband 3G cellular network for downloads up to 700 Kbps. In the case where you're away from the EV-DO footprint, you still have data capability at the reduced rate of 130 Kbps.

Maybe you'd just like to rant to yourself. No problem. The Rant has a voice memo feature that lets you record up to 100 memos-to-self at a minute each.

When not ranting, you can relax with your favorite tunes using the MP3 player with files synced from your PC. A standard 2.5mm stereo headset jack is included to make this easy. Or get Sprint Music and TV delivered with optional service packages.

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.