Thursday, August 31, 2006

Great sites for best deals


Here are some excellent sites for deals on PCs, consumer electronics, etc.:

Edealinfo
Deals2buy
Techbargains

Cheap/free phonecalls to and from India using VOIP [Voice Over IP] - about 2c/0c a minute

Yes, you read it right. Cheap/free calls to and from India. It's possible and 100% legal. No, this is not a scam. So, where's the catch?
You do need to make an initial investment on some hardware and get a (reliable) broadband provider in India. I am assuming the audience to this blog is in the USA [although they can be anywhere], so I am going to mention US specific VOIP providers.
Here's what you need:

Free calls from India to the US and vice versa:

  1. An unlocked VOIP ATA [Analog Telecphone Adapter] - I would recommend any of the Sipura devices [http://www.sipura.com]. You can buy them at Voxilla. For basic use, a Sipura 1001 is sufficient although an ATA with a built router would make setup easier. There are also other devices out there in the market such as the Grandstream Handytone.
  2. An account with Free World Dialup [FWD]-> http://account2.freeworlddialup.com/index.php?section_id=94. Once you sign up, you will receive an e-mail from FWD with your account number. You don't need the communicator software that Pulver provides.
  3. Setup the ATA using the FWD dialup info. Use the following settings:
    • Username: FWD Number
    • Password: FWD Password
    • Domain: fwd.pulver.com
    • SIP Proxy: fwd.pulver.com:5060
    • STUN server: stun.fwdnet.net:3478 (Phone must be STUN enabled)
    • OR
    • Outbound Proxy: fwdnat.pulver.com:5082
    • Listen RTP Port: 8000
    • Listen SIP Port: 5060
  4. An account with IPKALL -> http://www.ipkall.com. This will give you a US phone number also called a DID. Give it all your friends in the US and they can call you at the cost of a local US call. You will need to provide the SIP account information that you get from Free World Dialup.
  5. That's it. If you have followed all these steps you should have a working VOIP phone. You can now receive calls. You can make calls to toll free numbers and some users who have VOIP provider accounts. Check this list -> http://www.freeworlddialup.com/learnmore/?p=features&s=accessnumbers#peering However, you cannot call all US numbers.

Cheap calls from India:

  1. An unlocked VOIP ATA [Analog Telecphone Adapter] - I would recommend any of the Sipura devices [http://www.sipura.com], which is now owned by Linksys. You can buy these devices from Voxilla -> http://store.voxilla.com/voip-categories/fxs/ . For basic use, a Sipura 1001 is sufficient although an ATA with a built router would make setup easier.
  2. An account with a prepaid VOIP provider AKA a pay as you go provider. I can recommend Vitely.net -> http://www.vitelity.net
  3. Now you can make outgoing calls to anyone in the US at about 1.5 cents a minute. You can purchase an incoming number also known as a DID from the same service provider. Vitelity.net charges a monthly fee of $1.50 for a DID.

Sharepoint 2007


Excellent info on Sharepoint 2007:

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mkruger/archive/2006/05/25/7570.aspx

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