Course Review

The most important thing I learned this quarter is how the ability to link has changed how we surf the internet. Before this class I took that concept very much for granted and thought it was just another random feature of the internet. But it is what differs the internet from things like the newspaper and books. I liked how this class made me realize that. What I would have liked more time to study was the idea of access. I would have liked to have been able to look more into 3rd world countries and see how they were communicating and see how this might change over the next few decades. I found this so interesting because I think it is common for Americans (myself included) to just assume that everywhere is like it is here and that everyone has computers and access. I also really liked talking about how the internet was effecting polotics. The topics that was least interesting to me was RSS feeds and technical information like that. These topics I found to just be really confusing and they didn’t make any sense to me. They might be good things to talk about, but I think you first would need to make sure people really have a good grasp on the more basic concepts before jumping into something  confusing like that. But overall I really liked the class and enjoyed taking it!

3 comments March 6, 2007

Vonage and Speakeasy

        On the Vonage site I would pick the $24.99 plan that would allow me unlimited long distance and local calls a month, but they also offer a $14.99 plan where I would get 500 minutes (the first plan is a much better deal!). The first month is free with the $24.99 plan. The service is available at my home address (in Issaquah). it does offer for me to keep my current phone number which is something I would definitely want, just for convenience. But the actual phone I would need is not included in the monthly plan price. I would probably chose the Mortorolla VT2142, because after the rebate you get the phone for free, it works with 2 vonage lines and it connects with one computer. but other devices are as expensive as $109 (without tax), so it can get expensive! So the  total would be little or nothing for the first month (considering I get the phone for free after rebate and I get the first month free). Before I bought this service I would need to be sure that my phone service would be very high quality. I am not sure how they would demonstrate this to me, but it is something I would have to know before I bought it. Right now I am not sure. As of right I don’t think I would buy this service because I am happy with my cell phone service and don’t want to go through the trouble of having to get a new service and having to cancel my own one. Maybe later though!

           The Speakeasy service was actually not available for my home address. So if I did want to buy some VoIP service I would be stuck with Vonage (or maybe another service I haven’t heard of yet). I did find their website to be very informative though. it described exactly what the service was and how it worked. I really appreciated that. Their cheapest price for home VoIP is $83.90 a month, but that is VoIP and Broadband. This is more expensive than Vonage, yet it offers a package including Broadband. Looking at the chart for prices was much better laid out that the Vonage site was, everything is very clear and I know exactly which features I would be getting. If I had my own house, and it if was offered there, I would actually consider getting the site. I am pretty sure that currently my cell phone bill plus my broadband bill are higher that $83 a month, so I would be saving money (which is important for broke college students!).

Add a comment March 1, 2007