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15:23
A Quote
» Words Much Like Poetry "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~ Dr. Seuss -
A Quote
» Words Much Like Poetry "Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late."
~ Thomas Sowell
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11:30
request for WiFi-based VoIP phone
» Kikuyumoja's realm 
I am currently looking/searching for a simple cordless VoIP phone that may be used at home and ONLY connects to the local Wi-Fi/WLAN (802.11). Are there any such models on the market? A few, it seems, but still too expensive or with too many extra options.What I want is to set up different Sipgate.de telephone numbers / VoIP profiles to such a device because the Fritz!Box 7141 DSL modem/router down in the basement only provides output to two analoge phones. And while you can set this advanced and very popular Fritz!Box system to accept more than just one internet VoIP number, one can only connect two physical phones via cable to the box (at least something, right?). These two lines are already blocked by the landlord’s phone + his AIO printer/fax machine. And his internal phone system is also analog and dates back to 1993. I could of course also try to hack the Fritz!Box (which is in fact a full computer and based on a “Linux”-system) and add an AsteriX PBX that takes care of the routing process, but I actually don’t want to change the existing system. And adding another Fritz!Box would provide at least two more “lines” to which I could connect normal wireless phones and define these VoIP profiles right on the Fritz!Box (both boxes connected via WDS). This doesn’t make much sense though, as I’d already bought a simple WLAN AP the other day which acts as a repeater to cover the area under the roof of the house (where I live).
The alternative would be to use a mobile phone like my Nokia N95 which already comes with WLAN/Wi-Fi connectivity and allows for different VoIP profiles to be set up. However, I think that most of these Wi-Fi enabled mobile (GSM) phones only have a very weak antenna and rx/tx ratio, resulting in frequent signal losses unless of course you’re standing next to the access point. Plus, the N95 is a mobile and is with me all the time - while a much simpler Wi-Fi-only cordless phone like the above pictured Siemens SL75 WLAN could remain at home and provide telephony to the home office.
What I really like about VoIP is that you can take your number with you - and as long as customers in Germany often still pay much more to call a mobile line than a fixed line, it’s way smarter to also offer a fixed line number (like the one I was provided by sipgate.de for free some years ago) to your customers.
Again, any advice/comment on this issue is highly appreciated. Thx!
Auf Deutsch: ich suche ein reines Schnurlostelefon, das sich über WLAN mit einem Access Point verbindet und verschiedene VoIP Profile akzeptiert. Irgendwie hat es seit 2006 keine wirkliche Entwicklung auf dem Markt gegeben, aber vielleicht irre ich mich da auch. Eine reine USB-Lösung setzt leider immer einen aktiven Rechner voraus - und da kann man dann genausogut via Headset telefonieren und sich zB den (ebenfalls vorhandenen!) USB Hörer von Sipgate sparen.
Über WLAN deswegen, weil die beiden FON 1&2 Leitungen an der Fritz!Box schon belegt sind und eine Erweiterung der Anlage damit nur noch über Funk & VoIP möglich erscheint.Die Kombination aus WLAN Telefon und 2. access point (der das Signal der Fritz!Box ausm Keller bis unters Dach verstärkt) funktioniert schon mal - nur eben nicht so super, da die Antenne / Funkverbindung im Nokia N95 bauartbedingt schwächer ist als es ein reines WLAN Telefon wie das oben abgebildete Siemens bieten könnte.
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8:14
Is This The Change Kenyans Can Believe In?
» You Missed This I have admitted here on numerous occasions how boring history can be for most people. And yet it is impossible to discuss serious politics without a firm grasp on the relevant historical background. Indeed it is possible for Kenyans to get themselves out of the mess the successive presidencies of Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki have landed them into without understanding the history of this country.
I love history, as boring as some people think it is, because it has always been one of this blog’s top secret weapons. I mean I have been made to really look good, even a prophet of sorts by simply analyzing politics in Kenya while keeping my history books very close by. For instance we were the first to recognize (right from the onset of this blog) that only brand new leadership can save this country, something that is now rapidly gaining currency in the country.
For years during colonial days, Kenya was always a playground for the rich and powerful where the majority were mere irrelevant pawns at best and playthings at worse. Take the case of the young Kenyan who lost his life for throwing a stone at a mzungu dog through a fence in 1960 (the stone did not even hit the dog but the poor man lost his life for it.) Read my post on the incident. The interesting thing here is that many other mzungus (and maybe the particular one involved in the incident a Mr Poole) had gotten away with such heinous acts before and this time the only problem was that the times were changing the way they are now.
Well this week there was a serious road accident involving kids of the rich and powerful having fun. Actually a member of the Kenyatta family and of the Odinga family were hurt. Both young men had apparently been drinking. Read the full report of that incident here.
The interesting thing here is that impeccable sources have informed me that “powerful people” killed the story by intimidating the radio station that first reported the incident into shutting up about it. Indeed details of the story were deliberately scanty even from others who reported it and the police received firm orders from above to stay mum to the press. To the extent where the registration number plates were deliberately removed from the wrecked vehicles at a Nairobi police station (to prevent nosy journalists finding out who the car owners were.)
Now the trail of this cover up leads to a place where most of you my dear readers will not want to believe. Actually it is the Prime Minister’s office that made efforts to have the story killed.
Well maybe there is nothing wrong with that really. You see this man Raila Odinga is the candidate who will be almost 70 (actually he will be exactly 67 on January 7th 2012) by the time the next general elections are scheduled who we are all banking on to bring change. What does some minor road accident have to do with it? In fact this man wants change so much that we have so far seen from his performance as Prime Minister that that change is coming. After all you can teach old dogs new tricks can’t you?
Oh please……
Dream Beach holidays on exclusive private island in East Africa at affordable rates this Christmas. Avoid crowded Mombasa.
Who hang up on President-elect Barack Obama this past week? And WHY???
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6:30
Safaricom - Quality & Service problems
» Rants, Raves & Reviews I hope Micheal Joseph reads my blog coz SafCon is going to the dogs...
I have (almost) given up using SafCon's pre-paid voice service since Zain introduced Vuka.
In addition, for Kes 65/day I have 12 hours talk time between 6am-6pm. This is great since it can be used during peak hours. For 20/- (club 20) I get 'free' talk time from 10pm-6am & unlimited 'free' sms for the whole day!
(BTW, all the 'free' stuff is only Zain-Zain).
I sorta like the pre-paid Bambanet (internet) service since I can use it almost anywhere in Kenya (urban areas) & it is relatively fast BUT the service has been spotty of late.
1) I keep on getting disconnected after 2-3 minutes of use. Very frustrating especially when I am sending e-mails, posting on blogs or downloading.
2) I need to try 2-3 times before I am connected to the network. This really pisses me off.
3) 10 days ago, I could not get my balance on the Bambanet account. I was checking to see how much unused MBs I had as well as the expiry date but I kept on getting 'blank' replies to my enquiries. I had to spend an inordinate amount of time to visit a retail location to sort it out!
4) SafCon (see 3 above) charges 8/- per MB if you exceed the limit/package but they will not tell you the balance. What conmanship. I was a victim of the scam.
Pre-paid Voice service:
1) The employees at the retail center were unaware of when the "Jimbambie" promotion ends. I was told "December" but not 1st or 15th or 31st December!
2) I tried to call customer service on 100 but as always no luck. Why do they even bother to tell us there is a pre-paid customer service?
3) Unlike Zain, there is no indication of the cost of the call or balance after each call. I really like the feature on Zain. And when the Jibambie tariff shows up... it does not clarify which 'level' thus I could be conned & not know it!
If Zain introduces a 3G internet product... I will vuka over asap on that too... For those who have safcon shares... beware coz the competition is far better than SafCon... Don't be conned that SafCon's lead is unassailable. GM used to be the world's most profitable automaker. GM may be the largest BUT for investors... it has been a loser over the last 5 years!!!
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