Phone Cards & Calling Cards

After Facebook’s annoucement to open its doors to “new and innovative” applications as previously reported (New fun features for Facebook), MySpace is set to follow its footsteps, and gets outside developers to contribute new applications to their website.

Since adding new applications to its website Facebook has enjoyed some expected success and growth. Users can now share videos, audio and photos, and it has become a window for finding such services.

With the addition of new features, MySpace is looking to offer its users a similar type of services and continues competing at a similar level. Currently Facebook is the UK’s most popular social networking website - with 47 million users worldwide, but Myspace is still the worlds biggest community with 188 million users.

As per Chris Dewolfe, MySpace’s chief executive, “the idea will be to allow outside developers to tightly integrate their applications into MySpace (…) I would say we’re different (than Facebook) and in spite of all the hype we seem to be growing faster”.

This new step will definitely give this company another competitive edge on Facebook and increase the value of social networking websites, not only in the digital world but also in general markets. These are good news for all users finding new ways to promote themselves online. In the past 2 years musicians, such as Lilly Allen and Kate Nash, have found MySpace to be a perfect launching and social networking site, and could enjoy platinum success.

The communications industry regulator Ofcom has again questioned the big name broadband providers’ reliability when it comes to broadband speeds.

Advertisements such as “Up to 8Mb Download Speed” have been criticised for a number of months now, with the average user reaching speeds around 2.7Mb.

A recent survey showed that out of 3,000 people, 62% who carried out a speed tests got less than half the top broadband speed advertised by their provider and only 30% were satisfied with their broadband speeds.

Ofcom has now stepped in and requested an explanation from each of the top broadband providers.

Ofcom wants to prevent consumers from being misled about the speeds they sign up for. It wants customers to know the full facts - such as factors what may affect their speeds - before they buy. There is also talk customers being allowed to terminate their contract without penalties if broadband speeds are well below what is advertised.

The alternative is a “try before you buy” system, which would allow customers to test a broadband connection at home before committing themselves to a lengthy contract. With many broadband providers offering great deals at 18-month contracts, this only seems fair.

This isn’t the first time Ofcom has had to step in this year, forcing providers to operate a code of conduct with respect to the MAC (Migration Authorisation Code) in Feb 2007. The inclusion of a “try before you buy” system would really help millions of broadband users nationwide.

The Internet’s never going to be fast enough, but follow our tips and it’ll be faster than what is was.

Anyone who has ever used their own home computer to demonstrate the Internet to a friend who’s never seen it before knows there’s one question that occurs more than any other: Why is it so slow?

As the kind person showing your friend the delights of the online experience, it’s hard not to feel a little offended. How dare they criticize your setup and the majesty of the Internet? But, of course, there’s a lot of truth in the question. The Internet is slow. Actually, it’s good to be reminded of this, because the chances are there’s a lot that can be done to speed it up. There are three main areas to consider. Hardware, software, and the phone line.

Hardware

Lets begin with your computer. Modern web browsers require lots of system resources. Any recent computer fits the bill, but what if you have to make do with something older? Adding more ram is good, especially if you have less than 256mb. Consider adding a faster hard disk. It won’t speed up downloads from the Internet, but avoids windows slowing things down by swapping files from RAM to disk, and your browser should be able to work more quickly.

Don’t forget your modem. If you’re still using a 56k modem, then perhaps it’s time to upgrade to ISDN or ADSL. It needn’t cost the earth either. Broadband Internet is becoming so popular that many home users have already upgraded to this option. Most ISP’s will throw in a free router as part of the package. If you don’t have a network card in your computer to support the router, then perhaps it is time to upgrade that old PC.

You may be thinking that it’s OK because you’ve had a 56k modem for years. But the money you’re wasting on dial-up and slow downloads could be considerably higher than if you resorted to broadband internet. Check with your local ISP about broadband packages on special. If you are going to purchase your own router, make sure your operating system and computer will support the new router. Your local computer store will most probably offer you free advice on the best way to setup your router.

Software

If you are going to stick with 56k modems, hardly anyone is happy with their speed, a dissatisfaction which has bred a brand new genre - utilities designed to speed things up. One major subcategory is the accelerator, a program which speeds up your browser in two different ways. First, they replace the browser’s cache with their own faster, smarter version. Second, they help make the most of your available bandwidth.

Normally, when you’ve downloaded a web page, your modem is idle while you read it. Accelerator programs take advantage of this, working through the links on the page, and downloading them while you read. This is known as pre-fetching. When you click on a link, if it’s already been fetched, then you see it speedily displayed from your own hard disk instead of having to wait for it to come from the Internet.

This sounds ideal, but there are a few problems. Accelerators can be intrusive, and it’s possible for all this background activity to slow you down. It’s also hit-and-miss whether the next link you click will be to one of the pages pre-fetched by the accelerator. If it’s not, you won’t see any benefit at all.

Also, Internet purists argue that accelerators can slow down the Internet for everyone because they increase Internet traffic by fetching pages that might never be viewed. Despite big claims for them of speed increases of 10 times or more, most people are unlikely to see more than 50% improvement at best and tasks such as downloading files will be no faster at all.

Another software category tries to optimize Windows Dial-Up Networking. This is normally done through the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit). The theory behind this is complex, but basically all Internet data sent to and from your computer travels in little chunks called packets. MTU defines the maximum size of each packet and the default MTU setting isn’t suitable for modem connections - by changing it, so the theory goes, you can get a big speed increase. Is it true? Some people report improved performance, others report no change at all.

It’s important to use the right tools for the job. If you’re downloading, use a download manager to speed things up. A good download manager checks for mirror sites to see which is faster, and even switches between sites during the download to get the best performance. You can even schedule downloads for off peak hours.

Phone Line

A major bottleneck in your Internet connection is your telephone line. Standard phone technology just isn’t good enough for speedy downloads. Therefore, you should seriously consider the other possibilities, ISDN and ADSL. Logging on is very quick compared to the tedious wait during dial-up. Rental could be high, but check with a few ISP’s and you may find it’s much cheaper than you imagined. If you need improved speed, the costs may be worth it. Plus, you will have a 24 hours always-on connection.

The faster your modem goes, the more pleasant your Internet experience will be.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that your time is valuable. I know mine is. So why waste time waiting for old-fashioned dial-up service just to check your email or find a recipe for tonight’s dinner online?

For years I suffered through busy signals, knowing my kids were online doing their “homework” (yeah, right!), and all manner of fooling around and tying up the phone. Then, one day, stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire and unable to get through to my husband because of that dreaded busy signal, I made a decision — we were switching to broadband!

Back home (and dry) once again, I stuck to my decision and decided to see what was available. One click of my mouse key and I was bombarded with an array of confusing choices. Each service promised the best features and service, yet who could I trust? After hours of comparison shopping I was more confused than ever.

“So why not use Dish Network?” asked my husband. “We’ve always been happy with their satellite TV service.” What can I say, when the man’s right, he’s really right. We’d had their TV satellite service for years and have never been disappointed, so I started surfing around and looking for some information.

At first, that made things even worse. There’s so much conflicting information out there on Dish Network alone that just figuring out who to believe is half the battle. Lucky for me (and you, too), I found a few great sites that keep on top of all the latest information and deals on Dish Network Internet service. I’ve listed these down at the bottom of this article. Definitely take a look.

Thanks to those sites, I was able to get a super sweet deal and all I can say is WOW! Was I ever surprised when they hooked us up and I noticed the difference between our old dial-up service and our new high-speed (and I mean HIGH speed) Internet service. Who knew that the Dish service could give you so much?

While I may have started out just wanting to free up my phone line, I’ve come to appreciate the other things the service offers like NO MORE WAITING! With Dish’s High Speed DSL Internet Service, we are now always connected and ready to go. Suddenly, doing things on the computer isn’t just fast - it’s fun! I don’t have to waste an entire evening downloading my pictures anymore and can actually talk on the phone while I’m doing it.

But what if you’re like my sister who can’t get DSL in the area where she lives? Don’t worry, Dish has you covered. With the Dish Network High Speed Internet Service powered by Wild Blue via their satellite system, just about anyone, anywhere, can enjoy the service, even if they can’t access DSL or cable where they live.

Like the Dish DSL service that we have, satellite broadband customers can enjoy the speed and flexibility of the system; as many as 5 email addresses included; free installation; free anti-virus and anti-spy ware software and even free spam filtering, all for about the same amount as you were paying before for each thing individually.

So, how do I like my new service? I don’t like it - I love it! NO more standing on the side of the road in the rain anymore with a flat tire. Busy signals are a thing of the past at my house. What a relief!

Despite the fast speed of cable and DSL and most recently FIOS from Verizon, they only meet the needs of a home based business or a business with fewer than ten (10) employees. For most businesses with more than ten (10) employees, a has been the standard solution thanks to their reliability and availability pretty much anywhere in the US. During the last couple of years, more growing businesses are upgrading to a T3 or DS3 connection, which is now more and more the solution of choice.

T1 connections (1.544 Mbps) and (45 Mbps) are traditional business-class digital leased lines. The technology is pre-cable and pre-DSL. The main advantage is quality of service: If a T1 line goes down, the phone company has a much faster time of repair (usually within 4 hours) than a DSL line (could take a day or longer). Businesses rely on these broadband connections for their revenues and bottomline. A circuit down can cost thousands of dollars an hour. The T1 and T3 lines also have time-tested monitoring and diagnostic capabilities to keep them up, so they are more reliable.

A T1 line has 24 channels. Each channel can either be used for a phone line or 64 Kbps of Internet. A business can have 8 phone lines and 1024 Kbps of Internet (16 X 64 Kbps) over a T1 circuit for on average of between $300-$700.

A has 672 channels and costs several thousand dollars a month (from $2,000 to $7,000 depending on the provider and service location). The cost has steadily decreased the last several years making it more cost effective for a growing business to choose the T3 network.

Often a business will optimize capability and cost by choosing a fractional T3 (starting at 10 mbps) rather than a full T3 line. The obvious benefit is reduced cost and yet allow the scalability of a T3 circuit of up to 45 mbps.

There’s also the private line T3, also known as point to point T3 or point to point DS3. For example, you could have a private line between two businesses with no Internet security risk. This is a very useful solution for media companies and companies with various locations needing to transfer data between locations and run VOIP.

The T3 service is symmetrical (45 mbps upstream/downstream), unlike most DSL and cable lines; you get the same speed in both directions which is very important for businesses, especially those exchanging data between offices and uploading a lot of files.

Cost mostly depends on distance. This boils down to two simple components; local loop and the port. The local loop cost is the cost the local phone company charges to transport the signal from the end user’s central office, otherwise known as a CO, to the point of presence, otherwise known as a POP, of the carrier. The port cost is the cost to access the network or the Internet through the carrier’s network. Typically, the port price is based upon access speed and yearly commitment level while the loop is based on location and yearly commitment. The further the CO and POP, the more the loop cost.

If your business is growing and bonded T1’s no longer can handle your bandwidth needs, then upgrading to a T3/DS3 line for reliability, scalability, performance, and capacity is most likely the best decision you’ll make for meeting your company’s growth.

Send me the update pricing on Fractional T3 or full T3 connection at http://www.shopforbandwidth.com!

Eastern World countries have dominated broadband technology for many years now. Every aspect is almost flawless and second to none. On the other hand, Britain has been falling behind over the last few years and is desperate to catch up. Investment has finally been promised but some may say that we are not adventurous enough. This may be about to dramatically change for the better thanks to the partnership of BT and FON.

BT may have come under a lot of criticism over the last couple of years, but, its recent announcement has definitely turned heads on a world scale.

BT FON can confidently say that they are building the World’s largest Wi-Fi community. This community will allow its members to connect for free to thousands of places around the UK and the world, by simply sharing some of their Internet connection at home. BT Broadband customers just register to the community for free while other broadband provider customers would need to buy a FON Community Wi-Fi router then register to the community.

If customers are prepared to securely share a little of their broadband, then they can take advantage of hundreds of thousands of Fon and BT Openzone hotspots worldwide free of charge. The customer will join an existing community of 500,000 members and will have access to more than 190,000 FON hotspots worldwide.

Over the last year BT Openzone has invested in bringing Britain, what are called; the 12 wireless cities. These include; Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Westminster. The networks will provide wireless, high-speed broadband coverage which can be used for easy access to information and services in city centre locations and will be free to BT Broadband customers.

It may not offer the same speeds of the Eastern World but in terms of infrastructure and potential we definitely have something to be proud of.

Selection of a satellite internet plan is an extremely important step in getting broadband internet via satellite from HughesNet. Don’t be lead into cheaper plans which offer minimal speeds when you can upgrade your plan and receive far superior speed for only ten dollars. The home package is the basic HughesNet plan and offers basic speed of 700kbps. This will get the job done but if you are upgrading from dial up to gain faster downloads and quicker web page loading, don’t sell yourself short. The Pro or the Pro Plus package is what you need. The Pro plan offers speeds up to 1000kbps and can handle connections for 2-3 computers. Another benefit of the pro package is its ability to handle wireless connections for laptops and other wireless accessories. The big brother of all the residential packages is the Pro Plus an extremely versatile package allowing its users all the same capabilities of DSL and T1 lines. The Pro Plus Package offers blazing speeds of 1500kbps and even has the capabilities of a static IP, a must for users seeking secure connections to servers.

Upload speeds also vary with the different HughesNet Packages. Upload speed plays an important role in sending emails, pictures, and files. If you plan to send a lot of files especially pictures or large documents a high upload speed is what you need. The Home package offers upload speeds of 128kbps which is a large increase over dial up. The Pro and the Pro Plus boast download speeds of up to 200 kbps.

All Residential HughesNet Plans come with these features: 24/7 live technical support there to help you with all your needs including setting up email accounts and billing questions; 5 free email accounts with up to 2GB of email storage allowing for plenty of room for storing photos, videos, and files; email defense that blocks and prevents spam mail and viruses via email; a personalized start page just like AOL or any other large scale internet service provider; HughesNet offers it’s customers a personalized start page with email, news, and other important content HughesNet customers specify; equipment and standard installation is included with all HughesNet packages and all HughesNet packages come standard with a 24 month equipment warranty covering the satellite dish and modem.

Residential HughesNet packages range from $59.99-$79.99 per month and normal installation is available within 3-6 business days of purchase.

You’ve mastered windows, got to grips with games and put paid to your word processor problems. The next challenge is the internet. It’s one giant leap for mankind, one small step for you.

How Does it Work?

The internet is a massive world wide collection of computers, connected together in a huge network. Any type of computer can be connected to the network, as long as it speaks the universal internet language, TCP/IP.

Using a home computer like an Apple Mac or a PC, you can become a temporary part of this network by signing up with an internet service provider (ISP). An ISP is a company that has fast, direct internet connections, and which can act as a gateway for you. In return for a monthly or yearly fee, the ISP enables you to use a modem attached to your computer to dial up and connect to its computers, which in turn connect you to the internet. As a result you can access the world wide web, send messages to newsgroups, and get an email address that enables you to exchange email with other users.

Choosing an Internet Service Provider

There are more than 150 internet service providers (ISP’s) to choose between, from local one man band outfits to global services run by the likes of UUnet. It’s probably best not to opt for a small, local ISP. Internet access is a cut throat business and the pundits are saying that the small guys are going to have their work cut out to avoid going under.

You’re also more likely to get better software, better services and better technical support from a large service provider. The major ISP’s have massive connections to the internet, which means they can support a very large number of simultaneous users without grinding to a halt. Smaller ISP’s may be cheaper, but they actually have to lease space from the big providers themselves, and don’t have nearly as much capacity to share around. This means they’re more likely to have problems during busy periods, and they’ll almost certainly have fewer modems, meaning more engaged signals when you dial in at peak times: a low user-to-modem ratio is vital.

The large service providers can also afford to maintain bigger, faster computers to handle email, usenet discussion groups, and so on, while small firms might have problems in this area. Finally, there’s support. A good ISP will supply you with all the necessary software to get online. This software should be easy to setup and use, backed up by 24 hour help lines if you have a problem. Again, some smaller ISP’s just can’t afford this sort of overhead. Setup software might be scarce or non-existent and there’s unlikely to be any sort of dedicated support line. And if an ISP doesn’t offer internet access on a local phone number, forget it. In addition to all this, a decent ISP might offer free web space, multiple email addresses, and other goodies like automatic filtering of junk email. On the whole, you get what you pay for.

Modems Explained.

There used to be a time when buying a modem was fraught with worry and technical difficulty. Nowadays, it’s hard to buy a PC, without a modem already fitted. What a modem does is enable your PC to exchange data with other computers - whether it’s your mate’s down the road or a machine on the internet - over the phone line. But as we all know, the data your PC produces is digital bits and bytes, and only analogue signals can be transmitted over the phone line. This means that for the data to get out of your machine and onto the internet, it needs to be converted from digital to analogue and then back again. And that’s what a modem does. It modulates the outgoing digital signals produced by your PC, turning them into analogue ones, then demodulates the incoming analogue signals to turn them back into a digital one.

Now you know, roughly, how a modem works, you can forget about it, just as you probably don’t care how your AWE 64 sound card produces that 3D surround sound effect. Same deal with modems. They plug in, they work, they let you connect to the internet, play multi player games, and run up a phone bill the size of Oliver Reed’s drinks tab.

Buying a Modem

There are still a few decisions to make when you get to your local modem store. The fastest modems on the market for home users promise download speeds of up to 56Kbps. Did you notice the ‘up to’ because that’s the speed achieved by these modems under impossible-to-achieve-in-the-real-world laboratory conditions. In reality, when line noise, signal quality and the phase of the lunar cycle all take their toll, the maximum realistic download speed you can expect to achieve is 41-44Kbps. Oh, and the other thing is that because of the smart way they work, 56Kbps modems can only download data at the faster speed, they still have to upload at the slower, but respectable speed of 33Kbps.

If you don’t know which brand name to choose, just toss a coin, or go for the cheapest, or the one that offers the best after sales support, or the longest lead, or the prettiest plug, or the best advert.

International businesses are now considering other alternatives in giving out more support and services to their respective clients. It is fully understood that their clients are considered as the heart of their company, since without their clients, the business would not even be called a business. Today, even small businesses already use the Internet for easier access and interaction with their clients. However, others are still considering other ways to improve their interaction and communication with their customers and clientele.

The use of Internet in business transactions or services is considered an advantage for both the clients and the company as well. Without Internet technology, businesses would have slower services and fewer transactions, and a results, lower profits. Slow transactions would also mean a lower percentage of customer service and satisfaction. In order to grow and continue with their services, certain organizations make use of the Internet to connect to their clients and customers as well as to prospective clients in an easier, faster, more convenient way. Beginning with a company website, they are able to inform the market or the public about the range of products, expertise, and services that their company offers. Usually, these websites also allow customers a chance to react or communicate with the company.

Having a company website is just a start for a growing business, since other major international companies offer more than just a simple company website. Today, they have a new approach in giving help, sales, service, and support for their clients by providing call center services and the use of toll-free numbers as a way to communicate and provide assistance to their clients/customers. To make sure that any questions or concerns from the clients are met promptly, they have call center agents available for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These toll free numbers are also presented to the general public, in case of possible clientиle.

This new concept allows the company to interact as well as communicate with their clients without the fuss of snail mail, a full inbox of company-sent emails, and so on. Availability is a major factor, since this idea can reasonably increase the sales and profit of the company, as well as an instrument for marketing their products and/or services.

A lot of service affiliated businesses would have the privilege to offer their services 24/7 with the help of these call center solutions. With businesses relating to restaurants, medical services, hotels, beauty salons, stylists and therapists, the use of call center and toll-free numbers would guarantee stable availability with regards to any business related concerns.

A specific call center benefit suited especially to service-related businesses would be for appointment scheduling purposes. In this case, clients can book and schedule appointments 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year — by simply calling the company’s toll-free number. They can talk and schedule an appointment with an assigned agent anytime, anywhere, when you need to be. Appointing schedules would not be a cause of stress anymore, since the business is always ready to accommodate and book their clients to the respective service that they needed, for convenience is always a step ahead.

It has happened to all of us at least once before. We have tried to get in touch with a contact center, waited in queue for what seemed like hours, only to get connected to an agent who cannot speak clearly and is unable to offer any kind of assistance. Before we know it, we become upset and find ourselves speaking above our normal tone and volume of voice. But after a while, our conscience gets to us and we wonder if we had become so irate and unreasonable as a customer.

Like other employees, call center agents also have to deal with a variety of work “stressors.” For the average call center or customer service agent, stress simply comes with the job. It is a fact of life that cannot be avoided no matter how hard one may try.

The most common type of stress a customer service agent will experience is dealing with different kinds of customers on the phone. The person answering the call from a lot of people is a customer service representative who is acting on behalf of the company one is calling. The customer service agent is usually the one who gets the brunt of angry customer calls. The difficult part is that they need to deal with some angry customers on a daily basis, all day long. Of course, there are cheerful, polite callers but having irate callers is a given in the call center industry.

Call enter agents also face different types of crises, work with new and complicated technology and constantly monitor each call. Because the call center environment is indeed a stressful environment, which management cannot do a great deal about, call center agents should be stress tolerant.

Being stress-tolerant is the ability to perform well under conditions of pressure, resistance, or opposition. It is the ability to remain productive in times of crisis or critical events. Contributors to stress in the call center include the need to deal with rude customers, pressure from management, sales quotas, and the shifting schedules. Working in a team and contributing to the team effort can also cause stress if a call center agent’s performance is lower than the other agents’ performance.

Working schedules, policy procedures and quotas are also some of the factors that are causing stress to call center agents. Customer service agents must have thick skin, and learn how to relief stress or deal with this type of stress if they are going to be doing this job for a long period of time.

So what can be done to relieve stress and remain successful as well as gainfully employed as a customer service representative? The first thing to remember is to recognize when the stress hits the agent. If one can’t do that, it is impossible to deal with it. Once the agent recognizes the reasons for his stress, he must take time to figure out the small things to improve the working conditions in regard to the particular issue. The agent as part of a bigger system should remain as stress-free as possible in order to ensure flexibility and success.

We have heard this maybe once in our lives, and it still definitely plays a big factor in handling stressful situations at work too: If you have a problem, don’t just complain about it, find a solution! By no means, one can figure out how to handle angry customers and get away with it with ease. Remember, it doesn’t hurt to keep in mind that it’s just another day and it will be over soon.