Loading pushes...
Expanding this section will automatically generate an AI synthesis of the contributions in this node.
Rendering context...
layout: post title: Finally in Canada!! created: 1060049340 categories:
I have finally found a supplier of mini-itx things in Canada. In Kingston!
http://kingstoncomputerplanet.com/
They have mini-itx, they have slim cdrw drives (that fit in the Casetronic cases), they have it all at comparable prices to what I paid from big008.com in the States.
Wooot! [Ed: Made links live]
layout: post title: Currency Converter - Bank of Canada created: 1069430460 categories:
The Bank of Canada’s online currency converter allows you to convert from/to virtually any currency. As well, you can get conversion rates for a specific date, useful for invoices or other financial transactions between countries where you can agree on a conversion rate when the invoice is issued.
layout: post title: Broadvox is coming to Canada created: 1078995060 categories:
I’ve started reading the Broadband Reports VoIP Forum, and saw an interesting post:
Broadvox will offer Canadian numbers in the next few months (information from a post by Jeff Williams at the Voxilla Broadvox discussion group) in the following markets:
Jeff Williams (Broadvox President) confirmed this in a later posting. Their pricing plans look to be expensive (US$) compared to Primus Talkbroadband, but their feature set is superb. It really seems like “phone plus” rather than Primus’ offering, which is nothing more than a phone line replacement today. I did suggest to the tech guys at Primus that lowering the price of additional features and adding more advanced ones would speed up adoption.
It really does seem like people will be shopping for voice service providers in the future much like they shop for ISPs or web hosts today. There will be some cheap, fly-by-night operations, some good deals, and the expensive, gold-plated guys.
I’ve grabbed the entire Broadvox feature list and mirrored it in the extended posting, including a brief summary and/or comment for those that need it.
Broadvox seem to make a lot of features accessible through an online interface — exactly how VoIP telephony should be managed.
The full list of included features with Broadvox (the links go to the Broadvox page describing each one). As far as I can tell, all these services are provided free with every plan. I’m only including features which are different and/or not included free with Primus or your regular phone system.
Here’s a feature that someone should add: configurable, auto-Do Not Disturb. I’m unlikely to want to accept calls in the middle of the night or early morning on weekends: let me specify when DND will come on automatically.
As an aside, Broadvox’s website is a perfect example of how not to design a website. Absolutely everything is an image, making the vast majority of content on the site invisible to Google. I mean, the pages don’t even have titles!
layout: post title: Vonage now live in Canada created: 1080789130 categories:
The press release isn’t up yet, but it looks like Vonage is now in Canada! They don’t have a comprehensive listing of area codes, but it looks like every province except for Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland have at least one area code.
Read on for pricing levels (higher base price than Primus), and features. It has a ton of features, but the price seems high. Of course, after I add voicemail, a second number, and pay for long distance to Primus, Vonage is cheaper with much better features (especially since I don’t call outside North America).
There are three pricing levels:
Pretty much all the features are included in the basic price, except for “virtual phone numbers” (Vonage’s name for additional area codes). They are $7.99 per month, and you can choose from Canadian or US area codes.
Two quick features — Simul-Ring will ring two numbers at the same time (like your Vonage number and your cell phone) and you can pick up either one.
Voicemail has full phone, online, and by email support, including receiving your voicemail as an email attachment. Yes!
I’d love to hear people’s experience in the forums.
layout: post title: Evans on NYT Article - VOIP in Canada created: 1084046359 categories:
Mark’s comments in response to an NYT article.
A more accurate take is that the Internet is allowing new competitors to enter the market without having to make massive infrastructure investments. This environment compares with the late-1990s when competitive carriers such as Norigen and OCI Communications took a stab at taking on Bell Canada - only to fail miserably after spending hundreds of millions of dollars. Before VOIP takes off in Canada, there needs to be regulatory changes that has kept the price of local service at low levels. VOIP also needs to become more user-friendly so that its installation in a multi-phone household can be plug and play. Mark Evans: VOIP in Canada
layout: post title: Primus TalkBroadband will be available at Future Shop/Best Buy stores in Canada created: 1089149881 categories:
<p[>It’s not up on Primus’ press release page, but this comes from Canada NewsWire:
PRIMUS Telecommunications Canada Inc. (PRIMUS Canada) is partnering with Best Buy and Future Shop to make TalkBroadband(TM), Canada’s leading Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service, available at retail outlets across the country.
Now what Future Shop/Best Buy should do is have a live version of TalkBroadband set up in their stores, but set it so that you can only call other TalkBroadband users, including those in other stores.
What the heck: let them call anyone in North America — it’s only $40 a month, after all, and would pretty much drive home the advantages pretty clearly.
layout: post title: Unlimitel plus Question about Yak VoIP in Canada created: 1106025794 categories:
Wow…been a while since I commented on VoIP. I had been testing a service from Unlimitel, helping check on cross-country latency. It worked very well (much better quality than Talkbroadband), although their VoIP router was a pain to set up. I especially enjoyed the voicemail-via-email feature. I’m done with testing, and since they only currently offer numbers for Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, I’m shipping the system back (note to Stephan: I haven’t gotten around to getting it packaged up yet, will try to get to that this week).
In any case, this comment from anonymous user “Daniel”:
Hello: Has anyone tried Yak’s new VoIP product? I just saw their ad in the Toronto edition of the MetroΒ and their packages begin at $12.99 a month.Β Any feedback would be appreciated. original comment in Talkbroadband post
See what I dug up in the full post.
I looked around a bit, and didn’t find any first hand reports of people using Yak. I also couldn’t find information on what equipment they are using. I did find this list of area codes available in Canada.
The features page has a few more details. It looks like the Yak “VoIP Caller” product is mainly for making calls, with limited features — at $9.99USD, this is probably the Canadian product.
The “VoIP Communicator” is the full-featured product, and you can apparently get numbers in the US, Canada, or the UK, and even get a second number (at additional charge). At $14.99USD a month, that’s the one I would pick. Even has voicemail-via-email, although they call it unified messaging. Can’t tell if the softphone (either XTen Pro and/or XTen’s Eyebeam) is an extra cost or not.
Hmmm…I initially scoffed at Yak (silly name, look to be aiming downmarket), but it might be worth a try. Before February 28th, looks like no install charge, either. Put your own comments on Yak or anything else VoIP-related in the VoIP forum.
Update: I did find out what equipment they are using, and it looks good! That is, checking out the installation manual overview (PDF), the pictures look like the same box that I currently have from Unlimitel — the Mediatrix 2102. This unit can be (as I mentioned at the start) a bit of a pain to configure. Specifically, it does not support NAT, so you have to install it between your broadband modem and your router. This will also screw up things like iChat, although Skype works great.
The good news is that voice quality is excellent, although that may have as much to do with Unlimitel’s network.
layout: post title: Daring Fireball DOESN’T hate Canada created: 1107836712 categories:
I bought a Daring Fireball membership/t-shirt combo a long long time ago, and didn’t get my shirt yet.
I compared notes recently with Roland and Richard β and they didn’t get their shirts either!
Turns out cross border t-shirt shipping doesn’t always work that great, but John, horrified to hear that his Canadian fans might be going t-shirt-less in the winter, got on the case. And here’s me wearing my new DF shirt:
Next stop: DF in Europe! Actually, I think John should have a contest: best photo of a DF t-shirt somewhere cool.
layout: post title: Broadband providers blocking podcasts in Canada? created: 1133160402 categories:
Over at TorCamp, Alec Saunders hears that Rogers and Shaw may be blocking podcast downloads:
While at Torcamp I have heard from several sources that Rogers and Shaw are blocking podcast downloads. After two to three downloads, the data stops.
I highly doubt this is true: I subscribe to several podcasts here in Vancouver, and am connected to Shaw. No blockage here. If this *is* true, it would be a major issue (kind of like throttling BitTorrent traffic). Alec, let’s get confirmation on this, because it doesn’t sound realistic right now.
Update: Patrick Dinnen left a comment, pointing especially to Apple forums where this is being discussed. Virtually all of the complaints seem to be limited to Rogers customers back east. The factor seems to be anything that downloads the same file from multiple servers — which is consistent with Apple’s use of Akamai, as well as P2P programs that use multiple download sources.
Other links: digg pointing to this Techdirt article, also pointing to Boing Boing bringing it up. Still no confirmation, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s Shaw/Rogers not blocking podcasting, but rather having misconfigured traffic shaping tools.
*actually my second post, since I posted a simple one about tagging in order to troubleshoot why this post wasnβt working. Iβve been saving regularly, and it seems like I can no longer save as soon as I add a link of any kind. The lesson is: save often, and donβt add any links.