Friday, October 19, 2007

Few Limitation on GrandCenterl

There are few limitations on GrandCentral.


  1. Grand Central can not be used to make international calls. This is understandable, but - If they would tie up with any provider, they can provide users options to buy international call credit and use it. That would be a revenue stream - would it not be? One can still configure a long distance call provider's 1800 Number and get the calls across.

  2. To open up a Grand Central Account, you need to have access to a real phone number. Hmmm. What if I don't have one? What if I have a phone with an extension? What if I am not in USA? Now, there is a work around to that.

Just for the start, For who have missed my earlier post on GrandCentral; GrandCentral allows you to get a phone number (virtual) in area code of your choice (most areas in US covered) and direct it to any phone you wish to. Not just that, you can choose which phone it will direct to based on who is calling or if it will go to voice mail etc. That is a good idea indeed. The best part of it is that you can choose to direct your calls to Gizmo (Well, that's where GrandCentral does save outgoing call money as it is a net to net call - or so I hope).

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Upgrading RAM on Acer 3680

I used Crucial's Ram to upgrade memory on my Acer 3680 from 512MB to 1536 MB. I ordered the Ram using this link. It arrived in 6 days thru UPS and USPS. I had to struggle to identify how to open the laptop to upgrade, but found handy help at another blog.

Acer's own website does not provide much information on how to upgrade their laptops with such minor improvements. Dell is much better that way.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Configuring a VOIP Router for Gizmo

Well,

I think you all must have started using Gizmo by now. Now, what if you want to configure a VOIP Router to Gizmo, so that you can connect a regular phone to it?

That is very much possible. In fact, people have take up task of configuring Sun Rocket router, unlocked it and started using that for Gizmo. Check the link here.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

How to configure X-Lite for GizmoProject


if you do not want to install GizmoProject's client, you can use other generic VOIP Client too. e.g. X-Lite.


Here are the settings verbatim from them:


SIP account Information
Display Name: (Display name that you may like to use - say Gizmo - your name)
User Name: (found in your Gizmo Project profile)
Password: (exactly as typed in Gizmo Project)
Authorization User Name: (found in your Gizmo Project profile)
SIP Domain: proxy01.sipphone.com
For Domain Proxy, you can select options as defined on the screen right now.

SIP Address: 198.65.166.131


At this time, SIP Domain and SIP Address reflect same server.

Free Incoming Internet Phone/VOIP

Who does not like a free VOIP Phone with a real phone number? So how do you go about getting one?

Okay, here is how it is going to work:



  1. Open up a free VOIP Account. There are a few ways of getting them. I have listed them here.
    1. GizmoProject from Sipphone provides a VOIP Client with Jabber Support as well as a VOIP Number. Optionally you can buy CallIn or Callout service from them. (But, if you want everything to be free you don't want that right?)
    2. MindSpring from Earthlink has free VOIP Service as well. They also provide a DialOut. To use the service, you have to open up a free earthlink email account.
    3. There may be more on the market that I may not be aware of. :)
  2. Get a Free Phone Number to direct to your VOIP Number. This can be done in two ways
    1. Get a Free Washington State Phone Number from IPKall. You need to provide details about your SIP provider here.
    2. You can get a Google GrandCentral Account to forward calls to Gizmo (At this point, GrandCentral supports only Gizmo as VOIP Option. I would love if they start doing regular SIP Peering like IPKall to any VOIP provider).
      • Locks you to Gizmo
      • Needs you to have an US Phone Number - to open up GrandCentral Account - may mean you need to be in US?
  3. if you used Step 2a, but you want a number in a specific area in US, then now it is time for you to open up a GrandCentral Account to direct the phone to your IPKall Number, which will get directed to your Gizmo or MindSpring Account.