racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

The term “wireless landline” is now in vogue among Philippine telcos. While it’s certainly a nifty idea to bring your landline anywhere, it’s mostly a marketing gimmick for me. Isn’t it just a glorified unlimited calling scheme? But instead of being able to call phones within your own network only, you get to call landline phones within the same locality.

I, myself, use PLDT Landline Plus, which I keep plugged into my trusty ol’ Nokia 1112, and which I use for calling fixed lines while on the move.

But I think I may be switching to Globe’s Super DUO soon. It’s probably more practical, since I use Globe prepaid as my primary mobile number. Globe also upgraded DUO to Super Duo with one great feature. Instead of giving you unlimited calling capability only to landlines within your locality, you can also call other Globe and Touch Mobile phones anywhere in the country with no extra per-minute charge.

Wha’ts even better is that Super DUO is now available to all Globe subscribers, postpaid or prepaid. Previously, when the original DUO was introduced as a prepaid service, it was a bit expensive (P700 per 28 days), and was only available to DUO-enabled SIMs, which you had to purchase. Now anyone can sign up just by texting SUPERDUO (plus some keywords) to 8888. It’s also more affordable at P599 for 30 days.

To activate the service, you would have to text the following keywords to 8888.

SUPERDUO [area] [plan]

Areas include the following:

• MM for Metro Manila
• CEB for Cebu
• TAG for Bohol
• ROX for Capiz

You have two choices for a plan:

• 35 for P35, which is good for one day
• 599 for P599, which is good for 30 days.

I’ll be trying out this service soon. My primary concern is whether it interconnects well with other networks like Bayantel, PLDT, and the like. That’s one of my biggest gripes with my PLDT Wireless landline. I can’t seem to make outgoing calls to Bayantel.

I’ll post a preview and a review soon.

If you’re a Smartphone user, you should try out Fring. It lets you chat and talk via Yahoo IM, Google Talk, and a host of other IM networks via 3G, GPRS or WiFi. You can even make and receive calls via Skype, Google Talk, FWD and GIZMO over WiFi and 3G networks. Now that’s cool. Imagine if all mobile phones could access these VoIP networks via WiFi. Free calls for everyone!

fring™ is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM®* friends using your handset’s internet connection rather than costly cellular airtime minutes.

Call quality is above average, and this is highly dependent on the network speed, and of course, the processing capability of your smartphone. On WiFi networks, Skype and SIP calls are good, albeit with some lag, which is expected.

And if you’re an avid IM user, you would love how Fring can keep you connected anywhere there’s a WiFi hotspot or 3G connection. I’ve been using this at my home wireless network for the past few days, and I don’t even have to turn on my computer(s) to IM or VoIP.

Fring has versions for Symbian, Windows Mobile and UIQ, and even the iPhone. That includes most Nokia, Motorola, SonyEricsson, O2, and a host of other Smartphones.

Last month I got so excited about the PLDT Wireless landine SIM that Jepoy sent me. I wanted to see for myself how “wireless landlines” fared. And what made PLDT Landline Plus attractive was that you can plug the SIM card into any GSM phone. No need to purchase a phone based on other technologies (i.e., CDMA).

However, my expectations were not met.

Signal was good. Registering for a monthly prepaid plan was simple enough. And voice quality is generally OK. My biggest gripe is the interconnection with other networks, namely BayanTel.

I know I’m considered to be a BayanTel loyalist, as I’ve often reviewed their services here, and I’ve been a BayanTel subscriber for more than ten years now. Our home landline (and that of my folks’) is BayanTel-provided, and guess what: with the PLDT wireless landline, calling BayanTel phones is really a bother. You would not only have to redial once, but in many cases, your call would never push through even after many tries. In my case I don’t even get a “network busy” signal or message. My phone just disconnects after trying to dial a Bayantel number.

Receiving calls from Bayantel and other landline networks is not a problem, though. I can receive calls fine from any landline. But it seems impossible for mobile phones try to call PLDT wireless landline numbers.

And the promised text messaging system is still not in place. Even PLDT-to-PLDT.

In mobility and telecoms, interconnectivity is the name of the game. I remember the mid 1990′s, when PLDT was still the dominant telecoms provider, interconnectivity was such a big issue. And the new entrants’ (e.g., Bayantel, Globe, Digitel) survival largely depended on whether their users could call PLDT users and vice-versa. This was the same when SMS started to become popular.

I’m not sure if the problem is on PLDT’s or Bayantel’s side, but if “wireless” landline providers want to succeed in the market, then they better work on this fast!

When we moved into our current apartment about six months ago, we got ourselves a telephone line (for the DSL I needed for work) and phone service (it’s just PhP 300 on top of the DSL fee, after all). I wasn’t too happy with having a single telephone apparatus with our two-storey apartment, so I thought we should get a cordless phone, too. After much window shopping, I decided on the Vtech 2151, which came with caller ID and a digital answering machine. And it was cheap (only about PhP 2,400 or so).

I’ve always had this fascination for answering machines. I love how you could record wacky messages for your callers (like Hello … Hello … Please leave a message.). I dig how you could monitor calls before actually answering (even if you have caller ID this is really fun). It’s cool how you could call in from a remote location to check if anyone left messages.

Most of all, I’m really fascinated with how people talk when there’s nobody at the other end of the line.

Two-way interaction is normal. You talk, the other person reacts. It’s even a whole different thing when you’re talking in person than when you’re just on the phone. After all, communication is mostly body language and tone. The actual content of the message is just a small part of what you get to communicate.

It’s helluva lot different when you’re recording a message and talking to no one on the other line. It feels weird. It’s like holding a video camera to your face, recording a message. You try to imagine someone is at the other end. But no one’s there.

Or at least that’s how I feel. And I would think that’s how most of my callers feel.

My answering machine hasn’t met much action in the four months it’s been installed. It has recorded something in the likes of a couple of dozen messages. And the legitimate ones I could probably just count with my fingers. Most just hang up (I know who you are! I have you on CID!).

I don’t think we’re much of an _answering machine culture_.

You see it often in the western TV shows and films. People like leaving messages on answering machines (or voicemail as some would prefer). But leaving voicemail seems too confrontational. It’s like saying _hey you weren’t there so here’s what I have to say_. And Filipinos are not too confrontational. And we probably feel downright weird monologuing.

We’re more of a _texting culture_. We probably prefer to text rather than call because we can escape the responsibility of actually relaying a message other than the words that we speak or write (and it’s cheaper, too). But the message then becomes bland. There is no body language. There are no intonations. There’s just words flashing out of a small screen.

Same with email. Probably same with IM.

I know it’s a serious caller–or rather a caller with an important/serious/interesting message–when he or she really takes the time to leave a message. Even if the voice message seems incoherent, or the English (or Tagalog) is bad, or the background is noisy, it’s all right with me. The point is that the person tried to reach me (or anyone here at my place), and in the absence of human response, he still tries to at least inform me that he would like to talk.

For more useless reading about the answering machine culture, check out these great finds. Old (and longish), but still interesting.

It’s either you’re not that well-versed in wireless technology or you’re a really generous person. But since your router says “default” as its access point name, I reckon it’s the former!

I’m at our new apartment right now, since we’re transferring some of our stuff (hey, it’s only three houses down after all, so a gradual move would do). I was actually surveying the scene again for active WiFi hotspots and this time I brought the PowerBook, and this time I found a signal. It was a bit weak, though, and it only reached the room facing the back of the lot. Hey, at least I’m connected. And it’s at the right place, since this is where I intend to set up my new home office, anyway.

I got tired of holding the laptop in my arm with the Cardbus (the one that pretends to be an Airport Extreme card because it has a Broadcom chipset ) facing the window, so I thought of using the USB WiFi adaptor instead. The advantage? It’s obvious–I could extend the “antenna” by connecting the adaptor via a USB extender. So if you see a USB dongle dangling off the second-floor window, that’s probably mine.

Repeater

I can theoretically set up the desktop here to connect to the live access point and run the second (PCI) WiFi adaptor as an access point. I’ll then set up Windows NAT sharing so I can share the ‘Net across the computers via WiFi–sort of like a repeater.

Of course, if Bayantel beats me to it, then even better! I’ll be sending in my application forms tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll get connected within a few days. I’m thinking of signing up for the lowest plan for now–PhP 899 per month for the 384 Kbps plan. I’ll only have to add PhP 300 to bundle in the telephone connection.

We’ll be completing the move in a few days. So I won’t have to worry about connectivity for the time being. I’m looking forward to getting better work and living space. Watch out–my productivity meter will be shooting through the roof in the next few weeks. Maybe I’ll get that million-dollar idea by then!

By the way, if you’re wondering about the legal and ethical implications of WiFi leeching (and even leaving unprotected WiFi hotspots out in the open), I have a post about this dating from last year.

In the end, those who own and operate the access points should be
responsible for securing their systems. There are various means
of doing this, such as limiting access to specific MAC addresses, use of WEP, WPA, or even a simple http firewall.

After all, perhaps one of the better wardriving tools is Windows XP’s Wireless Zero Config! So anyone with WinXP SP2 can be a perpetrator, or at least his/her computer has the propensity to.

Isn’t an ounce of prevention better than a pound of cure?