Tips for Gabbing on the Net
More on Skype and VoIP, plus a headless magician.Steve Bass
Steve Bass writes the "Hassle-Free PC" column in PC World's print edition and is the author of PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer, available from O'Reilly. Sign up to have Steve Bass's Tips and Tweaks newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? Send Steve e-mail.
I'm usually inundated with e-mail after one of these columns hits the Web. There's lots of kvetching in your messages, sure, and that's something I expect; but there are also scads of juicy ideas. That happened a couple of weeks ago when I told you about my experience with Skype, a freebie for chatting with friends over the Internet. Some of you wanted to hear more about the hardware, others were curious to know if Skype always works, and many asked about workarounds for 911 emergency-call hassles.
So this week I have some follow-up info on Skype, plus items that didn't make it into my July magazine column, "Cheap and Easy Internet Phone Calls." I've also got advice about more traditional phone services on the Internet, such as Vonage and AT&T's CallVantage.
Dig This: What do you do when someone yells, "duck" and you're not a birdwatcher? Right, you hunker down. For a great way to duck, check out this video of a stage illusion. [1.2MB WMV] (Thanks, Tom.)
The Latest About Skype
I have a short stack of articles about Skype you might want to dig into:
Rx for a Common Headache
One thing I get tired of doing is crawling under the desk to connect my headset to the PC's sound card whenever I want to make an Internet call. Unless you enjoy checking for dust balls, you can avoid the trip by buying a new PC with speaker and headset connections on the front panel. (That's just in case you needed an excuse to upgrade.)
However, if your spouse nixes that idea, think about getting a USB headset. The one I tried is Logitech's mouthful--the Premium USB 300 Stereo Digital PC Headset. (The ad writer must get paid by the word.) The headset sounds good and uses any version of USB, making for a quick, no muss, no fuss connection. It's about $40 at our Product Finder.
I've always been impressed with the sound and construction of Plantronics' products. So here are two alternatives to the Logitech headset; they're not USB, but instead connect to a PC's sound card. The first is Plantronics' Audio 70, a behind-the-head design that costs about $17. The other is the Audio 90, a traditional over-the-head style that's about $20--which is not as good, of course, if your head is big. Peruse the company's product literature PDF for more info.
BTW, I mentioned the PC Headset Speaker Switch in my July magazine column, but failed to provide a link. It's about $9 and also from Plantronics. I use it to toggle between output from my speakers and my headset. You can go to our Product Finder for pricing, which runs about $13 as I type this.
The Hardware Side of Skype
There's one Skype experience I didn't like. You might have noticed hearing your voice in the handset while talking on a landline or cell phone. That feedback--technically called "sidetone"--is a subtle, yet important part of a phone call. When I use headphones with a microphone while chatting on Skype, the feedback loop is missing. Don't misunderstand, I can hear the caller normally, but not hearing my own voice is disconcerting.
The solution is to skip the headphones; instead, plug a microphone into your PC's sound card and rely on your computer's speakers to hear the caller's voice. Skype is pretty good at preventing your caller from hearing their voice from the speakers. If that happens, just lower the speakers' volume. (You may have friends who'd rather hear themselves talk, but that's not Skype's problem.)
Once you have Skype installed, and have a headset or mike connected, make a call to Echo123. (Just type that into the address field at the bottom of the Skype application.) This hooks you up to a built-in service, usually using the voice of a woman with a decidedly non-American accent, that allows you to test your volume and to see if your headset, speakers, and/or microphone are working properly.
BTW, in my July magazine column I mentioned the Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard, a gizmo--technically an Ethernet gateway device--that uses your landline or cordless phone to make Internet calls. At press time, the price I mentioned was $45, but it's gone up a tad since then. You can find the latest prices at our Product Finder.
Matt K., a writer in Portland, Oregon, told me about other Ethernet gateway products. Fair warning: I haven't tried any of these; I'm mentioning them just to give you a sense that other devices exist. Go to PCphoneline.com for a selection.
Dig This: It took me 4 minutes flat to put this very cool flash jigsaw puzzle together.
Look Out, Skype
There are other programs that let you make calls on the Internet. For instance, SIP Phone offers free SIP to SIP calls. (SIP stands for "Session Initiation Protocol," if you must know.) And if your ISP is EarthLink, you can make unlimited free calls to other SIP users.
If you're interested in Voice over IP, the higher-end, more robust way to make calls over the Internet, you need to read a few articles. The first is Michael Desmond's "Internet Calling Rocks!" (I can visualize Michael waving a cowboy hat and yelling "woo hoo!")
Now that you're fired up by Michael's excitement, temper your enthusiasm with Aoife McEvoy's exposé, "The Hidden Costs of Cheap Phone Service." It's not a pretty story, but you'll need to read it anyway.
Finally, read "One Stop for TV, Phone, and Internet," June's "Consumer Watch" column. In it, Anne Kandra clues you in on cable companies that provide multiple services. I guess it's handy having one provider for everything, so when the service goes down, you can just pick up a book and catch up on your reading.
While you're at it, watch a few streaming videos of our own Stephen Manes (along with Angela Gunn) talking about VoIP. Here are the links:
The Downsides of VoIP
Stephen Manes talks about the problems you'll encounter with VoIP services such as BroadVoice, CallVantage, and Vonage. But in case you don't watch his video, I want to make sure you know what you're getting into if you try one of these services.
Here's the first issue: If you get rid of the landline, you might have troubles during a power outage. That's because, unlike a landline, all VoIP services are power-dependent. So it's essential that you have an uninterruptible power supply--for both the PC and the router--in case of power outages. And you're out of luck when your Internet link goes down, like when your ISP does some "unscheduled maintenance."
The second problem you could encounter is making an emergency 911 call. The problem is that some VoIP services don't provide emergency dialing services; for example, one Vonage subscriber couldn't get access to the police during a home burglary. A lawsuit resulted; you can get the details in "Texas Sues Vonage Over Emergency Service." For more background, also read Aoife McEvoy's June "Net Phone Zone" column, in it she goes into detail about the problems with 911 service and what the Federal Communications Commission is doing about it.
Vonage is working to get its emergency dialing act together. The company has posted FAQs and alerts offering advice about how to set up Vonage to call 911.