I take this computer with me when I travel
Sep 9th, 2006, 09:46 PM
#21
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 658
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Do you store laptop in room safe when away from the room? I've just started traveling with my new MacBook Pro and love it. But, I always worry about leaving it in the room while I am gone. So far, the room safes have been large enough to accomodate the laptop. What do you do?
Sep 9th, 2006, 09:55 PM
#22
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 272
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I have a 3.3 pound Acer with a 10-in screen. It's not the top of the line, but it's quick and small and does have a wireless card, and I've been able to rip some movies onto it for the plane rides. Other than that, I use it for email and web surfing. I'm addicted to email, and having web access in the room is good for maps and ideas of places to eat, etc. Also just nice to keep up with what's going on in the world.
All that being said, I doubt I would ever schlep it to Europe with me. States only so far (I didn't own it last year when I went to Ireland/England/France for a week).
It's fast enough for me and as I said, only 3.3 lbs. It has no internal optical drives, but it has a firewire port (and of course USB, great with the flash drives).
All that being said, I doubt I would ever schlep it to Europe with me. States only so far (I didn't own it last year when I went to Ireland/England/France for a week).
It's fast enough for me and as I said, only 3.3 lbs. It has no internal optical drives, but it has a firewire port (and of course USB, great with the flash drives).
Sep 10th, 2006, 07:35 AM
#23
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,912
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sep 19th, 2006, 12:04 AM
#24
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For logos999:
VERY INTERESTED in your description of how to use Cheapvoip and Sjphone for calls from computers to regular phones. I'm now in "brain-drain" or some other kind of mental block. Simply stated, I can't get the setup you described to work for me yet - only part of the way there.
Cheapvoip runs just fine. Cheapvoip dials and rings to a landline phone with no problem.
But I can't figure out how the Sjphone part is supposed to work with Cheapvoip. It may simply be something that needs to be done to configure Sjphone correctly. And, yes, I have been studying the manual!
So, I am missing some key pieces of information that I hope you can provide. I don't want to tie up this topic with long "techno-babbling" so I'm more than willing to give you my email address for communicating directly if you are willing to do so.
Can we do that? Thanks in advance!
--mark--
ps: Love Munchen! (Must have something to do with my Bavarian Genes)
VERY INTERESTED in your description of how to use Cheapvoip and Sjphone for calls from computers to regular phones. I'm now in "brain-drain" or some other kind of mental block. Simply stated, I can't get the setup you described to work for me yet - only part of the way there.
Cheapvoip runs just fine. Cheapvoip dials and rings to a landline phone with no problem.
But I can't figure out how the Sjphone part is supposed to work with Cheapvoip. It may simply be something that needs to be done to configure Sjphone correctly. And, yes, I have been studying the manual!
So, I am missing some key pieces of information that I hope you can provide. I don't want to tie up this topic with long "techno-babbling" so I'm more than willing to give you my email address for communicating directly if you are willing to do so.
Can we do that? Thanks in advance!
--mark--
ps: Love Munchen! (Must have something to do with my Bavarian Genes)
Sep 19th, 2006, 01:14 AM
#25
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
When traveling with my husband, we take his Toshiba Satellite tablet notebook, his 7100 and 7120 Blackberries (one UK and one Belgian) and his Palm Tungsten T3, although he doesn't use that one much. He uses them for keeping in touch with the office and clients, for doing work on the road, downloading photos, checking with the bank, for entertainment and, IMHO, because he just likes having them around.
When I travel solo on business, I take my Asus S6 (I did NOT get the pink one). When I travel solo on leisure, I just take my Sharp mobile phone and use it only for phone calls and text messages. And once in a while to shoot a photo of something if I don't have my camera with me.
When I travel solo on business, I take my Asus S6 (I did NOT get the pink one). When I travel solo on leisure, I just take my Sharp mobile phone and use it only for phone calls and text messages. And once in a while to shoot a photo of something if I don't have my camera with me.
Sep 19th, 2006, 09:41 AM
#26
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,017
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
>key pieces of information
It's not so difficult actually all you have to go to Menu /Options and select Profiles. Press New, enter a Name for it. Once you've done it you have to press "ok". In the next screen under SIP Proxy enter:
Proxy domain: sip.voiparound.com
User domain: sip.voiparound.com
check Register with proxy leave the rest as it was. You then will be asked for you you accout name and password.
and you're ready.
It's not so difficult actually all you have to go to Menu /Options and select Profiles. Press New, enter a Name for it. Once you've done it you have to press "ok". In the next screen under SIP Proxy enter:
Proxy domain: sip.voiparound.com
User domain: sip.voiparound.com
check Register with proxy leave the rest as it was. You then will be asked for you you accout name and password.
and you're ready.
Sep 19th, 2006, 12:51 PM
#27
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,181
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I take my laptop, mainly for downloading photos, organizing and annotating them, and keeping a journal. I'm not a big movie person, so I don't use it for that. I have a 5 lb. My laptop is a 5 lb. IBM (now Lenovo) thinkpad T42, with a CD writer that I use to back up my photos to (after I lost priceless photos on my trip to Spain in 2004 when my computer hard drive crashed irretrievably).
I love it when I am able to use my laptop for WI FI internet access, but I won't go far out of my way to find free WI FI hotspots. If my hotel doesn't have WI-FI, forget it - and only one hotel on my recent 27-day trip to Europe had reliable and free WI-FI access. Some airports, including PDX here in the states have free WI-FI access, which is great! Instead of being stuck with nothing to do, I can drag out the laptop and access the internet.
I bought a cable lock before recently but then didn't use it. I did set up a bios password. While I would not lose my mind about the financial loss of the laptop itself, I am concerned about loss of the data the laptop contains. I back everything up to a desktop computer at home before I leave, but I would not want a thief to get access to personal data on my laptop.
I'm itching to find an excuse to get GPS set up on my computer but haven't found the right excuse for the cash outlay yet. (We had a rental car only for 3 days on our most recent trip, the rest of the trip by plane and train.) I don't expect we'd need the GPS that much for travel outside cities, as we've always done just fine with maps and following signs. But more times than I can count, we've had a dickens of a time finding our hotel inside the city. I think that rather than putting GPS on my laptopl, I'd get a hand-held unit I could also use in cities while walking.
I also have all my travel data meticulously organized into a Excell workbook, with a separate sheet for each city we'll be visiting.
In short, my laptop is just about part of my physical person. I depend on it so much that I wouldn't leave home without it without a great hue and cry.
I love it when I am able to use my laptop for WI FI internet access, but I won't go far out of my way to find free WI FI hotspots. If my hotel doesn't have WI-FI, forget it - and only one hotel on my recent 27-day trip to Europe had reliable and free WI-FI access. Some airports, including PDX here in the states have free WI-FI access, which is great! Instead of being stuck with nothing to do, I can drag out the laptop and access the internet.
I bought a cable lock before recently but then didn't use it. I did set up a bios password. While I would not lose my mind about the financial loss of the laptop itself, I am concerned about loss of the data the laptop contains. I back everything up to a desktop computer at home before I leave, but I would not want a thief to get access to personal data on my laptop.
I'm itching to find an excuse to get GPS set up on my computer but haven't found the right excuse for the cash outlay yet. (We had a rental car only for 3 days on our most recent trip, the rest of the trip by plane and train.) I don't expect we'd need the GPS that much for travel outside cities, as we've always done just fine with maps and following signs. But more times than I can count, we've had a dickens of a time finding our hotel inside the city. I think that rather than putting GPS on my laptopl, I'd get a hand-held unit I could also use in cities while walking.
I also have all my travel data meticulously organized into a Excell workbook, with a separate sheet for each city we'll be visiting.
In short, my laptop is just about part of my physical person. I depend on it so much that I wouldn't leave home without it without a great hue and cry.
Sep 19th, 2006, 01:50 PM
#30
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,087
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Travel is almost always leisure nowadays. Hence, we get to take our good old 4.9 lb Apple iBook G4 for photo downloads and viewing on the plane ride home, iTunes music, internet connectivity (wifi only and cable), DVD movies, travel information and maps.
Sep 19th, 2006, 04:35 PM
#31
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,490
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've traveled domestically with my laptop (Toshiba Satellite widescreen), using it for GPS (Microsoft Streets & Trips), downloading photos, checking email, surfiing the net for travel info, etc. I intend to take it with me for the same reasons when I go to the UK next year.
Sep 19th, 2006, 04:46 PM
#32
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I would love to get into the phone home thing. When you use the computer as a phone can you actually call your family on their landline. Also if you have your US cell with an international plan can people from US call you at no cost to you.
Sep 19th, 2006, 10:42 PM
#33
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,017
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It you take your laptop with you all you need is to follow the instructions on this site http://www.voipcheap.com/en/sip.html
Sep 20th, 2006, 06:09 PM
#35
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For logos999:
VoipCheap in combination with SJPhone is now working here! I NEVER would have figured out that the server addresses are actually "voipAROUND.com" instead of "voipCHEAP.com" on my own (nor is it covered in the SJlabs documentation. THANK YOU for that "key information!"
A couple other quickie questions: 1) Do you operate behind a firewall other than the one that comes with Windows XP?, and 2) If you use some other firewall, are the TCP and UDP port numbers in the SJlabs document the ones to enter into the firewall for the program to get the data through?
I'm hoping that I will be able to use this capability to call back to the US from Australia in an upcoming trip. If there are some other "glitches" it would be good to know what they are!
Again, MANY THANKS for your help. I'm now a happy camper!
--mark--
VoipCheap in combination with SJPhone is now working here! I NEVER would have figured out that the server addresses are actually "voipAROUND.com" instead of "voipCHEAP.com" on my own (nor is it covered in the SJlabs documentation. THANK YOU for that "key information!"
A couple other quickie questions: 1) Do you operate behind a firewall other than the one that comes with Windows XP?, and 2) If you use some other firewall, are the TCP and UDP port numbers in the SJlabs document the ones to enter into the firewall for the program to get the data through?
I'm hoping that I will be able to use this capability to call back to the US from Australia in an upcoming trip. If there are some other "glitches" it would be good to know what they are!
Again, MANY THANKS for your help. I'm now a happy camper!
--mark--
Sep 20th, 2006, 10:42 PM
#36
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,017
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
> firewall
Yes, it's working behind an external firewall here. Except for port 80 everything else can be blocked. It's still working! To circumvent firewalls the SIP technology uses a "STUN" server to tunnel the data, but as I said SJPhone is working anyway without explicity entering the STUN server address. No ports forwarded either!
Yes, it's working behind an external firewall here. Except for port 80 everything else can be blocked.
It's still working! To circumvent firewalls the SIP technology uses a "STUN" server to tunnel the data, but as I said SJPhone is working anyway without explicity entering the STUN server address. No ports forwarded either!
Sep 20th, 2006, 11:03 PM
#37
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,017
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
One (off topic) thing. If you're thinking of upgrading your DSL, get an AVM fritzBox. from Germany. Not too expensive on ebay. It's a DSL adapter that fully supports SIP, you can hook up your ordinary phones and an ISDN or common phone line and use them for dialling over the internet or the standard way. No vistor will ever notice he/she's calling via VoIP They're free with most DSL contracts here.
They're free with most DSL contracts here.
Sep 24th, 2006, 02:15 PM
#39
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I didn't have any idea about what a SIP was myself before getting this VOIP thing operating either! SIP refers to the term "Session Initiation Protocol" (SIP) and it is software placed on servers to handle VOIP tasks. That's STILL about all I know on the topic. I poked around a little after searching with Google using the term "SIP protocol server" but that's about as far as I went.
The rest of the time spent was to see if I could get logos999's suggestions implemented, and SLOWLY I managed to muddle through it.
Yesterday I was able to solve my remaining problem of getting my preferred software firewall configured to allow the VOIP data to pass through it. It just didn't seem to be too good of an idea to trust that the firewall built into Windows XP would make me secure enough. But now I don't have that worry!
That leads me to another question for logos999: Do you know of other SIP servers out there that would allow someone to use in place of the one at VOIPCheap? Seems like it would be good to know about other "backup" servers/paths out there that could be used.
--mark--
ps: placed a recent international call to someone's regular phone and it worked just fine...and at the right price.
The rest of the time spent was to see if I could get logos999's suggestions implemented, and SLOWLY I managed to muddle through it.
Yesterday I was able to solve my remaining problem of getting my preferred software firewall configured to allow the VOIP data to pass through it. It just didn't seem to be too good of an idea to trust that the firewall built into Windows XP would make me secure enough. But now I don't have that worry!
That leads me to another question for logos999: Do you know of other SIP servers out there that would allow someone to use in place of the one at VOIPCheap? Seems like it would be good to know about other "backup" servers/paths out there that could be used.
--mark--
ps: placed a recent international call to someone's regular phone and it worked just fine...and at the right price.
Sep 24th, 2006, 02:41 PM
#40
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,017
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You choice of providers is virtually unlimited and world wide. (contrary to Skype, it's an open standard.) Sipsnip, Sipgate and above all "Free World Dialup" www.fwd.com are only a few. All can be combined and most have gateways to other systems. FWD has a list of access points in the US and Europe, where you dial a (local) acces number and the enter the FWD number of the person you want to reach. So anybody can reach you for the cost of a local call. Free Washington state phone numbers linked to your account are also available.
