Best communication methods

[robert angel]

Yea--for us, USA to the Philippines, Yahoo IM was the 'way'. I don't think Skype was an option in the early 2000's

Yahoo was great in that we could set it to archive and it saved all our 1000's of hours of conversations over the years, although printing just 20%  for USCIS file--embassy interview still cost me a fortune. All you guys should consider it---Yahoo and archiving....

Once, my yahoo and computer went berserk and all the archive went into some weird, binary like code--all gobbly gook and I freaked--but some computer guy lurking in a yahoo computer room. helped me figure how to fix it--and as it turned out--HE was a USCIS employee. Too weird...

But the retrieved Yahoo archives, our pictures and other stuff were plenty compelling--they loved my wife at the embassy interview--the interviewer even E MAILED her right after the interview saying "Congratulation's hope you enjoy your new life in the USA" --usually you wait for the mail later. I've never heard that happening before or since.

For whatever reason, the Phippines seems to always be the most expensive place in Asia to fly to or to even make phone calls to. Never mind that it's the 'gate way to Asia' and to get to almost anywhere in Asia, you have to fly, past it, over or around it.

Why is that?

I have seen lists that included tiny, wayyyy of the beaten path nations, some I'd never even heard of, that were much cheaper to call on the phone.

Why is Thailand (farther away, less people) Japan and China--even Indonesia, so much cheaper? AT&T, as I recall, wanted over a buck a minute to make a call to a Philippine cell phone, so those calls were precious in more ways than one.

We have tried a couple other private, usually Hong Kong linked sites and I think we pay 8 or 9 cents a minute now. That's progress.

Kfc has yet to give me the lowdown on Magic Jack, or maybe I missed it, but does it work to call an RP cell phone? Do I have to give up my house's ATT landline altogether or can I have both?

I need to find out about Skype,, but the hangup is that where my wife lives, there are no land line telephone lines--heck, it's good luck to even get a cell signal two thirds of the time.

I am so '1995' sometimes. Kfc--(John) You know when your asawa gets here ya'll are going to have to pass by here to get to Disney World--I invited you before--'come on down'! (and get me 'wired'!)

[Capstone]

Kfc has yet to give me the lowdown on Magic Jack, or maybe I missed it, but does it work to call an RP cell phone? Do I have to give up my house's ATT landline altogether or can I have both?

The Magic Jack is a VOIP device which is a little bit larger than a jump drive/memory stick that plugs into the USB port of a computer and then you plug a regular phone into it. Using it, you can make free calls to anywhere in the US or Canada. So what you do is buy one and activate it here in the US and it will be assigned a US phone number. Then send it to the country of your choice and then the person using it can call back to the US for free - or you can call them by dialing its assigned US phone number (they have to have their computer on when you call though).

My wife and I have had really good results using it - we left ours with her parents in China after my wife moved here and so still use it to talk with them. The quality of our calls was always crystal clear but the quality of the calls is dependent upon the quality of the internet connection of course - broadband is a must. 

[Ray]

Hey guys...

You've had  some fun with this topic.

 I was old school and had to send letters to my wife in Vietnam.  I had a Vietnamese guy I worked with translate her letters to  me and mine to her.   We have a years worth of letters and have fun reading them now 11 yrs later.

 She didn't have a phone line in her parent's home and went to her neighbors house to talk to me long distance.  This is back in 1999 and I had never called overseas before so I was ripped off by ATT for about $50 a call for only about 30 minutes.

When we met, she was too shy to speak any Englishl, she could write, so we wrote notes to each other.  So in the begining the phone conversations were very labored.

Now she is on Skype or Yahoo Messanger to talk to her family.  The women who speak  fluent English have a big advantage.

Anyone have a similiar experience?

VG

Yep, similar experience, but older school though… 

Before I married my 1st Filipina wife, we communicated almost exclusively through snail mail. Almost nobody in the Philippines had a telephone in their home, there was no internet, Jeff was still a teenybopper, and overseas telephone calls were EXPENSIVE.

She could go downtown and wait in line for hours to use the phone at the only phone company’s only public telephone location. The connections were over ATT cable and all calls were billed at $3.00/minute, whether paid directly in cash or collect. For comparison, back then I could buy 30 bottles of San Miguel beer in the PI for about $3.00, so for a 10-minute call, that’s 300 bottles of beer!

When I was at sea, the only way for us to communicate was by letters, which might not even leave the ship for weeks. Aircraft carriers got fairly regular mail service by cargo flights, but other ships had to wait to get into port or get mail along with at sea replenishment. All Pacific Fleet mail went through San Francisco both ways.

Her English was fairly good but her English writing skills were pretty weak at first. In the Philippines, they sold these little magazine booklets for writing letters in English. They had all kinds of goofy English phrases translated from Tagalog and the girls could piece various phrases or sentences together to form a letter that used to crack me up sometimes. They even had complete sample letters that they could copy verbatim. Oh well, it worked and it did help the ladies to improve their English skills.

How long did your letters take to and from Vietnam? My letters to the PI usually took around 2-3 weeks plus the added delay when I was at sea. The return time from over there was a little bit longer.

Ray

[robert angel]

Capstone,
Thanks, your posts have piqued my wife and I's interest to visit China--you write well and seem to give people a good feel, albeit from far away, about the wonders and variety China offers, it's growth and even growing pains.

Now--regarding Magic Jack,--->  Do I have to give up my house's AT&T landline altogether or can I have both?

 
We have have 2 desk top computers a few lap tops, and of course, cell phones. Do we HAVE to relinquish our long standing AT&T land line number and ONLY go with M.J.'s assigned number? I can't see having two separate land lines just to use M.J. to save on overseas call.

My wife's family--most live in a remote area where there are no landlines. Her sister and a couple brothers are in bigger cities, but they use cell phones only as well. although they could 'borrow' a land line now and then.

Mainly, my wife wants a way to call her parents in the province--to their cell # w/o us giving up our one land line number permanently.  Can we switch between AT&T and M.J. at will?

I hear there are some concerns about M.J. and 911, emergency calls, but that's not a big worry here.

Thanks!

Rob

[Ray]

Robert, you don’t have to give up anything.

Magic Jack uses the Internet, not a land line

Just plug it into one of your computers’ USB ports.

If her family doesn’t have a computer with a high-speed Internet connection, then it won’t work for you.   

Ray

[thekfc]

Kfc has yet to give me the lowdown on Magic Jack, or maybe I missed it, but does it work to call an RP cell phone? Do I have to give up my house's ATT landline altogether or can I have both?

Robert, you wasn't paying attention in class - that is a C- for you. 

As Capstone stated, you buy the MagicJack & activate it here in The USA - you will get a Local number (area code according to the state you are in).

Then you connect the MagicJack to a computer/Laptop via USB & connect a phone to the other end of the MagicJack then wait a minute or so & you will hear a dial tone & you are good to go - initial installation for the MagicJack is easy. You can also store numbers in there - basically you have most of the features of a regular phone/phone service.
 
Any calls made via the Magicjack to or from a USA /Canada / Puerto Rico) telephone number is treated as local aka FREE - no matter where in the world you are calling from/to. As long as it is a call made to or from the MJ to a USA / Canada / Puerto Rico number - it is treated as free.

But if you make a call to a non USA number (RP cell phone) - that will be treated as long distance.

The Initial cost of the MagicJack is $39,95 - that include the MJ and the first year of service, additional years are $19.95 /per. That is a great investment.

I am so '1995' sometimes. Kfc--(John) You know when your asawa gets here ya'll are going to have to pass by here to get to Disney World--I invited you before--'come on down'! (and get me 'wired'!)

I will be passing down your way  - unannounce 
I did stay in Georgia (Augusta/Hephzibah) a few years back & are a little familiar with the area.

I do intend to take her to Disney World, Great Adventures (NJ) and Universal Studios, CA (she have family in Long Beach). But that will be when she get homesick.

Now--regarding Magic Jack,--->  Do I have to give up my house's AT&T landline altogether or can I have both?

As stated by Ray, You do not have to give up your landline. The MJ is all internet based. You do not need a telephone line for the MJ - all you need is internet connection. And you are not signing a "contract" like the other telephone companies - you do not even have to give your credit card info (I didn't).  You can buy the MJ at a B & M store.

It is all USB/Computer based.

[Jeff S]

If you want a MagicJack Robert - PM me and I'll send you one. It may be expired now but I think it's a POS and would much rather use Skype - 2 cents a minute to landlines and free computer to computer. I had all kinds of issues including quality. They also don't have an uninstall program - you have to search for it online, and it freaks out unless you always plug it into the same USB port every time. I just had all sorts of issues. $19.95 and you can renew it online.

Ray: Me a teeny bopper when you first got married? Probably somewhere between my dapper man about town phase:



And my far-out dude phase:

[throwawaydad]

Read it and weep...

The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014

Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992.
For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead.
1.   Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
2.   Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
3.   â€œGo West, Young College Grad” has always implied “and don’t stop until you get to Asia…and learn Chinese along the way.”
4.   Al Gore has always been animated.
5.   Los Angelenos have always been trying to get along.
6.   Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.
7.   â€œCaramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo.
8.   With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.
9.   Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better chance of running into Miley Cyrus’s folks on Parents’ Weekend.
10.   Entering college this fall in a country where a quarter of young people     under 18 have at least one immigrant parent, they aren't afraid of immigration...unless it involves "real" aliens from another planet.
11.   John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
12.   Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
13.   Parents and teachers feared that Beavis and Butt-head might be the voice of a lost generation.
14.   Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.
15.   Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.
16.   Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.
17.   Trading Chocolate the Moose for Patti the Platypus helped build their Beanie Baby collection.
18.   Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
19.   They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
20.   DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.
21.   Woody Allen, whose heart has wanted what it wanted, has always been with Soon-Yi Previn.
22.   Cross-burning has always been deemed protected speech.
23.   Leasing has always allowed the folks to upgrade their tastes in cars.
24.   â€œCop Killer” by rapper Ice-T has never been available on a recording.

Read the remainder, and plug in a different year for laughs, or sighs.

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2014.php

[thekfc]

I have heard people were having problems with MJ. Personally we never had any "major" problems with it. Ahya have also used it at least 6 different computer & her laptop without any issue - she just had to log in with my user ID/password. All the computers/laptop runs on Window 7 - so I have no experience with it on other OS.

I have also uninstall MJ before (from my home computer) with no problem - I just deleted the mjusbsp folder. Also there is an uninstaller on the MJ website.
Maybe because I am so use to solving "technical issues", I know what to look for or if a problem arises, I automatically takes care of it "without" noticing that there was a problem. 

[Capstone]

I've also heard of some people having issues with their Magic Jack but we've never had any issues to speak of - and my in-laws who are pretty much computer illiterate have been using it for the past year without complaint. We have used it on 4 different laptops of different makes/models, all running on XP and haven't run into any of the problems that Jeff encountered.

[fathertime]

While communicating with my now wife in Colombia, we used MSN and sometimes Yahoo.  We had webcams and live audio/video.  Sometimes it would go out, but usually it worked fine and it kept the relationship alive when we were apart for months. 

Fathertime!

[robert angel]

I really appreciate the information and JeffS's gracious offer regarding this Magic Jack 'thingy dooey'.

But the sad reality is that my wife's family, living in the tiny Mindanao barangay of New Dauis (named after Dauis, Bohol, where most of the people came from) must go where a jeepney must drive about twenty minutes into the city/town of Nambunturan, before you're sure to get a strong enough cell phone signal to get or make a call.

So for now, that basically means they'll have to walk to different parts of their house, or outside the home, to try and 'catch as can' a signal, should we call.

Hey--never mind 'the sad reality' line--the people in that barangay are a WHOLE lot happier overall than 95% 0f Americans I know, land lines or not. And somehow, if it's a big news story, political, sports, a disaster or the latest music hit, they seem to find out, IF it's worth finding out.

Some brands/models of cell phones pull in a signal much better than others and we've experimented. We tried running wire up to the roof as an antenae too.

Hopefully, we'll find a phone or signal booster that really works, and then maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to get them a cell phone that rigged up right, can work as a computer modem without costing an arm, a leg and a carabao! It sure would be great to chat daily with them and to be able to share our lives on webcam.

It just looks like telephone land lines are still years away from going in there, especially since my wife's dad isn't barangay captain anymore. Somebody bought out a lot of people's votes. Most of whom now regret 'selling' them and come to him for advice and settling arguments anyway.

 I'll bet that once phone lines do come, they'll not be the greatest or if they' might not even push high speed internet.

What's really sad is we gave the family a nice laptop, but basically, they use it for playing chess, music stored on flash drives, a few other games and viewing pictures. Oh well--"And so it goes"

Thanks, guys...

[Dave H]

It wasn't old, old school days, but old school (10 years ago) for us. We communicated by snail mail (took 2-3 months to reach her house...lazy mailman!) and telephone. Her family had 1 of the only 2 landlines in the barangay of 6000 people. They had a few Al Gore Internet cafes in her city, but they were not close by and didn't have microphones or cameras. Every neighborhood has at least one Internet cafe now! Often two are located side by side in the same building.

Dave

[Dave H]

I have 3 magic Jacks. One I travel with, one on our home computer in the Philippines, and the other on my mother-in-law's Philippine computer. When I am in the US, I call my wife from my cellphone (free calls after 9 PM and weekends on my cellphone) or land line to her Magic Jack for free. When I am traveling, I plug my Magic Jack into my laptop USB port, hook a headset up to the laptop, find a Wi-Fi location, and call her. I have called from various US restaurants, airports in Detroit, LA, Korea, and Manila.

For kicks, I sometimes use my Magic Jack to call our friend down the street in the Philippines, who also has a Magic Jack to talk to her family in the US.

I got a call at 2:00 AM the other night from my doctor's office in the US...where it was 2:00 PM. Man I have to remember to unplug the Magic Jack or diconnect from the Internet at night!  

Free WiFi spots listed by company.
http://www.wififreespot.com/companies.html

Free WiFi spots listed by state.
http://www.wififreespot.com/index.html

Dave

[Dave H]

Hey Jeff,

You were a dapper little dude...and a dapper big dude now! Looking at your "far-out dude phase," I can't help but think that you used to be in Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers...are you really Jeff "Skunk" Baxter? AKA "Jeff S."  

Dave

Pre-Steely Dan (Tommy Kaye Band), second from right (Donald Fagen) in back row.




Today working at the Pentagon

[michaelb]

12.   Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.

Dirty Who? Oh, yeah, you mean Rowdy Yates, I get it.

In the snail mail days of the early 1970's I wrote so many letters to M.V.H.L. in Mexico City that I still remember her address! Wonder if she's still there? Guess I could write a letter and find out  

[robert angel]

Man,

You guys are "Reeling in the years, stowin' away the time"? Just remember, Rikki--don't lose that number....

[Jeff S]

Ya nailed me Dave. I was trying to keep it a secret.

I have never met Napoleon... but I plan to find the time.

[videoguy50]

How long did your letters take to and from Vietnam? My letters to the PI usually took around 2-3 weeks plus the added delay when I was at sea. The return time from over there was a little bit longer.

Ray

It took about 3-4 weeks per letter. We both looked foward to reading them since most of the everyday nonsense was gone and we could focus on how our feeling for each other was growning and planning for the future.

 The problem with all of the instant communications is that normal life is really not that interesting and when your so far away nothing makes up for not being there.

[Jedironin]

I learned Fortran on a keypunch...   

It looks like many of you prefer YM over Skype (which I haven't tried yet). I've tried loading YM on my 'puter, but it doesn't work properly... I think possibly McAfee is blocking part of it or something... very frustrating because I can't find any error messages, or a "list" in McAfee with what it's blocking.  *sigh*

I didn't even know YM had a mobile app, I'll have to look for that for my iPhone 3gs. 

[Jedironin]

Some brands/models of cell phones pull in a signal much better than others and we've experimented. We tried running wire up to the roof as an antenae too.

Hopefully, we'll find a phone or signal booster that really works, and then maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to get them a cell phone that rigged up right, can work as a computer modem without costing an arm, a leg and a carabao! It sure would be great to chat daily with them and to be able to share our lives on webcam.

Thanks, guys...

Hey Robert- another "trick" you might try with that external cell-phone antenna: pick up a used Sat. TV antenna, mount it on the roof facing the closest cell-tower, and place the external antenna near where the TV pickup used to be. It might help pull in a signal.

I don't know if their neighborhood ever had Sat. TV's, or if there's a junkyard around where they could grab a used dish?

I can't guarantee it'll help, but it's a nearly-free experiment they could try. 

[Woody]

Now--regarding Magic Jack,--->  Do I have to give up my house's AT&T landline altogether or can I have both?
 
We have have 2 desk top computers a few lap tops, and of course, cell phones. Do we HAVE to relinquish our long standing AT&T land line number and ONLY go with M.J.'s assigned number? I can't see having two separate land lines just to use M.J. to save on overseas call.

Mainly, my wife wants a way to call her parents in the province--to their cell # w/o us giving up our one land line number permanently.  Can we switch between AT&T and M.J. at will?

I hear there are some concerns about M.J. and 911, emergency calls, but that's not a big worry here.

Actually, Robert, for you the best solution is probably to switch to Vonage and port your number. This would allow you to keep your number, the only difference as far as house phones are concerned would be that you plug your cordless base station into a Vonage device that plugs into the Internet.

Vonage is less than $30/month, taxes and all features. Compare that with what you are paying AT&T each month. Most likely, just dropping the AT&T landline in favor of Vonage will save you money, not to mention long distance charges. Vonage World(less than $30/month, remember) means calls to PI are $0.09/minute, landline or cellular.

MJ is great if you are a traveler, or are establishing a US number overseas, but Vonage is the solution that best suits you, Robert. It will let you keep your number, make minimal infrastructure changes in the house, and you won't even know you switched afterwards, except for the bill. BTW, with Vonage, no computer needed. Just this little box that plugs into your router.

As for 911, as long as your address on your Vonage account is correct, not an issue. Speaking of which, my parents moved last year, I need to make sure that they updated their address with Vonage. Dad turned 61 this year.

[Woody]

Hey Robert- another "trick" you might try with that external cell-phone antenna: pick up a used Sat. TV antenna, mount it on the roof facing the closest cell-tower, and place the external antenna near where the TV pickup used to be. It might help pull in a signal.

I don't know if their neighborhood ever had Sat. TV's, or if there's a junkyard around where they could grab a used dish?

I can't guarantee it'll help, but it's a nearly-free experiment they could try. 

A big wok works too. If you do use one of the small, 18" dss dishes, remember that most of them use an offset. So, if you use the arm for antenna position, you need to point about 20 degrees down.(assumes the arm is down)

[robert angel]

Hey guys--I really appreciate the feed back and I'll run these ideas by the wife and her family. Be great to luck into a satellite dish--Woody--that 'wok' idea is a hoot--but it could very well work! Every Army battalion should have a guy like you in their ranks. Maybe someday, duct tape will save the world!

I'm sure you saw the film Apollo 13 and how with that kind of improvisational mindset, they brought that seriously compromised moon rocket's astronauts back safely. That's the kind of thinking we need to turn this nation back around--'Thinking outside the envelope' more.

We'll look into the vonage situation and see what's available locally over there a bit more too--my wife has some preliminary leads, but she's busy and it's maybe TOO easy for her to call from her cell or our landline. last night, her bro's ship was in New Orleans before leaving w/ a load of corn for Russia, (via Syria, I think) and she had a three way on the phone, using a land line and cell at the same time, between the Philippines, New Orleans and Georgia going on--like a mini family reunion --but w/o cams.

 Jedironin --thanks to you too--we're lucky to have you on board here--sounds like you're like Woody in that you're not foolishly rushing--that you guys 'look before you leap'--steady as she goes, mates....