You’ve Got Ismail!

Fiddling with Phones – Prologue

August 5th, 2006

Three days ago, I was driving down 101 (near Mountainview) and had to make a phone call. I was reduced to using SkypeOut and talking to my Thinkpad sitting in the passenger seat which was connected to the internet using a Verizon EVDO card. It was one of those ‘how-in-god’s-name-did-this-happen’ moments.

So, in a slight departure from the (ab)normal blogging at “You’ve Got Ismail”, this is a small series focused on one topic… prompted in this case, my recent antics/insanity with telephony.

The Thinkpad-as-mobile-phone was rock bottom (and I didn’t even mention call quality) of a dynamic that’s been going for several years now…

It all started 10 years while on a work stint in Ireland. We had two empty offices and no telephony for the 8-man team. I took the initiative and found some working jacks, some phones, some long phone cords and earned the nickname BT (”British Telecom”). At one point, we even had a cordless phone between the office and the small house we’d rented next door (and, if I remember right, a super-long extension cord hanging across the 50-ft gap). The monicker stuck, and on subsquent projects I was always the guy that set up the telephony.

With the advent of mobiles, I was bouncing between London, Paris and Toronto and had all sorts of insanity trying to get GSM handsets working from one country to the other (before tri-mode phones). At one point I had two handsets and three chips for each country.

Then it all settled down when I arrived in NYC five years ago. One phone, one number and I didn’t move much for 2-3 years. I’ve been using a Samsung i700 PocketPC phone and though it was clunky, I loved it. When I go to Europe, I use a prepaid chip and borrow a handset. And with Vonage as my ‘land’ line, my basic phone needs are covered.

On my recent trip to Ireland, I have to give huge thanks to Tom Raftery and Pat Phalen. Tom’s wife lent me her mobile (mine was doing funny things) and Pat gave me a stack of international calling cards to call back to the UK and coordinate with friends in Spain. Thanks to them, my road trip was hugely successful.

Then two weeks ago, I lost my i700 in New York, and the descent began….
- should I stay with Verizon or switch to GSM?
- which handset do I get?
- do I get broadband on the handset?

NEXT: Navigating Verizon

Entry Filed under: Blogging