VoIP and the "NEW" magicJack+®

The new magicJacK+® has finally caught up with the Ooma System! The user no longer needs a computer to get VoIP 24 hr service; once the user activates the dongle on their computer {picks their user name, picks their password, and picks their telephone number} with the corporation then they can plug it into a 117V wall socket, run an Ethernet cable from the dongle to a router that is connected to DSL or Cable services, and then connect a telephone system to the phone jack on the dongle. 

All the user has to do is keep their router on 24/7, they can now turn their computer off whenever they want to do so. The user can buy a good router for $49.97:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Linksys-E1200-Wireless-N-Router/16401813

The cost of the magicJack+® dongle and the 1st year of telephone service is only $69.95; then the standard rate of $19.95/per year for each year thereafter OR you can then buy five (5) years of service for $69.95 at a time (that is cheaper that one (1) month of service on Verion, AT&T, Cavalier, or any other land line company.

So for an initial output of around $120.00 the user is up and running! 

Necessary Freeware

Here is a quick list of FREEWARE if used by the “new” computer owner can save a great deal of money that can be put towards other things, like more RAM memory, a blu-ray DVD reader/writer, a Web Camera, and/or a higher resolution monitor, instead of software for the new computer. If fact the amount of money saved could be worth hundreds of dollars to the “new” computer owner!

Software Type → Commercial Name ↔ Freeware Name ↔ (Download Location)
==============================================

Virus Suite → Norton ↔ MSE ↔ (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx )

Optical Disks → Nero ↔ CDBurnerXP ↔ (http://cdburnerxp.se/)

Office Suite* → Microsoft Office ↔ LibreOffice ↔ (http://www.libreoffice.org/)

Optical Character Recognition ↔ ABBYY FineReader ↔ FreeOCR ↔ (http://www.paperfile.net/)

Image Manipulation → Adobe Photoshop ↔ GIMP ↔ (http://www.gimp.org/)

Sound Editing → WavePad Masters ↔ Audacity ↔ (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)

File Compression → WinZip ↔ Ken Ward's Zipper ↔ (http://www.trans4mind.com/personal_development/zipper/index.html)

Registry Cleaner → RegCure ↔ Eusing Free Registry Cleaner ↔ (http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm)

Web Cam → YouCam ↔ Debut Video Capture Software ↔

(www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html)

*Here are four online sites that have excellent tutorials for the basic parts of OpenOffice or LibreOffice!

1. Writer: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=102
2. Calc: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=117
3. Impress: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=122
4. Base: http://inpics.net/tutorials/base2/basics.html

Video & VoIP Services

Remember when in the late 1960s and during the 1970s that American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&T) were the only 'game' in town and that they were going to bring the consumer 'Video Telephones' were the consumers could see to whom they were communicating as well as converse with them?

 AT&T presented the consumer with various video telephone models that cost many hundreds of dollars and they charged the consumers a great deal on money for the consumer to have the system installed and to then have the service in their residence or place of business.

 Well look at things now! AT&T is not the only 'game' in town and having a video telephone service is both very inexpensive for both the equipment needed {web cameras with built in microphones can be bought for as little as $25.00} and the costs to have that very same service at the residence or place of business is non-existent {“if it is free, then it is for me”}.

 The advent of 'Voice over Internet Protocol' has made that wondrous service of the all those years ago a common place service of 'modern' times.

There are two such services available to the consumer; both of which can be classified as 'FREE':

1.) Google - http://www.google.com/chat/video
2.) Skype - http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/windows/

Of these two services right now I personally prefer the Google service because they seem to have better 'technical assistance' than does the Skype service.

However, now that Skype has officially has become a separate division under the umbrella of Microsoft Corporation only time will tell if their 'technical assistance' will improve!