I've moved more times than I would have liked during the last four years. One of the positive aspects of moving, however, is that it forces you to decide what's important and what's not. For example, an amateur oil painting by my second cousin lost a lot of artistic value when I thought about wrapping it up and shipping it. (Hey, I haven't even talked to my second cousin in a couple of decades.)

Another thing I decided I could live without was my relationship with the phone company. It wasn't that I was unhappy with the phone company — it was just inconvenient to deal with. First, I had to select all these different options, and based on the wisdom of my choices, I ended up paying too much or getting too little service. Second, my phone number couldn't move with me because I was hopping across both prefix and area code zones. Every move represented a new number.

Hot: Vonage for Business

Initially, I thought I'd just move to a cell phone plan. Unfortunately, back in 2005, no "unlimited minutes" plans existed. I spend a lot of time on the phone; it took only two bills of over $300 each for me to realize this option was uneconomical.

Then in August 2005 I found Vonage (see "My Journey into VoIP," August 2007, article ID 20967 at SystemiNetwork.com). Vonage gave me unlimited minutes at a low cost ($24.99 per month), as well as a phone number that I could take with me wherever I moved. All I needed was a broadband Internet connection, and I was in business. And if you know me at all, you know I always have a broadband Internet connection handy (typically two).

Vonage has served me well over the course of nearly three years and two moves. Reliability has been excellent (well, it's been as good as the reliability of my Internet connection). Voice quality has been good (but not excellent).

But please don't think I'm a walking advertisement for Vonage. Vonage has downsides. Mobility is the biggest one that bothers me. Sure, you can take your Vonage line with you anywhere, but you have to either drag around a phone adapter or pay extra money to get a second "soft phone" for your computer. And you can't use just any computer or handheld device for the soft phone; it has to be a Windows or Mac computer. As a result, Vonage is good for a fixed location, but it's impractical for travel (and I travel a great deal).

Therefore, although I clearly think Vonage is hot, I decided I would try to replace it when my Vonage phone adapter broke after nearly three years of constant use.

Not Hot: Skype for Business

A wide segment of the population thinks Skype is great. Hey, I think it's pretty neat too. Skype recently introduced a $9.99 unlimited-call plan, so I decided to switch to Skype in the hope of (1) saving some money and (2) getting more flexibility because Skype modules are available for just about every operating system and mobile device you can think of. I thought Skype would be the perfect in-office and travel companion.

I was excited when I signed up for Skype. I was confident I would be able to make all my business calls using Skype. I even bought a few specialty Skype devices (Astro tells you more about one of them in a minute). I set up and tested my Skype service over a weekend so I'd be ready for business calls on Monday.

By Wednesday, I was back on Vonage. In the two days that I tried to use Skype for my business calls, I encountered many problems. I had dropped calls. I had dead spots in my calls. Most annoying, I experienced echoes. Skype would suddenly decide to repeat a snippet of the conversation over and over again, much like a skipping record (or CD). I was constantly apologizing to the person on the other end of the call for my poor phone service.

In short, I was embarrassed. Frankly, any technology that embarrasses me in my professional life is "not hot."

Sean Chandler is a computer and network consultant who has nearly 30 years of field experience. Astro, a border collie with more than 40 dog years of data processing experience, provides technical support to his master, Sean.

Astro's Pick of the Litter

During my master's short-lived Skype phase, he bought a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet to try as a Skype phone. As often happens with his mobile device purchases, the first thing he had to do was upgrade the firmware. In this case, he upgraded to Nokia OS2008, a beautiful Linux-based operating system. We both drooled over the lovely user interface (although I must note, I tend to drool all the time). The unit itself was an engineering marvel; it was pleasant to view, hold, and use. Unfortunately, it was awful as a Skype phone. The Skype software was unimpressive: It had trouble connecting to the Skype server, and it had trouble staying connected. Therefore when my master gave up on Skype, he gave up on the N800 as well.

— Astro