"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:StqNj.514$Vn5.503@fe119.usenetserver.com:

> VoIP on my mobile is a
> convenience for the few times I need it (it came in handy in Mexico a
> few months ago- $0.02/min. VoIP beat hell out of $1.49/min. roaming!)
> but I certainly didn't choose my phone solely based on VoIP
> capability.

While driving back from the boonies from fixing a church's Kawai digital
piano, this afternoon, my N800 "rang". It was a crazy character I've known
for years from Osaka, Japan, and he rode along on Alltel EVDO ($25/mo
unlimited) on the way back into town for over an hour. He's a software
kinda guy and very handy to know if you run Linux, his specialty. But, his
garage door opener remote control failure wasn't a software problem. I got
him to pull it apart on his desk and "we" found a loose battery spring that
broke loose from the PC board the idiots who built it soldered it to.

The call cost us nothing for over an hour from Charleston, SC to Osaka, JP
because we were both on Skype. We talk a lot either on Skype or Gizmo,
which I occasionally boot, but not as often as Skype because Skype has its
own phone number.

The garage door opens itself, now, in the monsoon rains.....(c;

With a little more training, he'll be able to operate the soldering iron on
his own, without American consultation....and I'll be allowed root access
to Linux without my Japanese mentor looking over my shoulder keeping me
from crashing the kernel.