BroadVoice Class Action Suit?
So the old saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." So, I guess I should take some of the blame here. After experiencing extremely poor customer support from BroadVoice and
posting my experiences with using the BroadVoice service, I let a BroadVoice rep talk me into remaining a BV customer.
But now it's six weeks later, and I'm getting the same problems with the same nonexistent support. In the old days I would at least get an automated response when I submitted a help request, now I don't even get that. So it's Memorial Day weekend, and I'm pretty sure I won't hear anything from these guys for another couple of days, if ever.
If they were just sneaky and underhanded, I might let it pass. But they seem to be sneaky, underhanded and unwilling to address their customer's support requests. That just makes me mad. I noticed that someone over at Voxilla started a
discussion thread that includes talk of a class action suit. I guess the only thing I can say is, "let me know when you get that started, I've got notes of conversations with BroadVoice and billing records that support the general contention that these guys are behaving like hucksters."
So... if you're in the market for a VoIP service, I've just got to say that based on my experiences with these guys, you would be better off by just passing them by.
Tags:
broadvoice,
VoIPupdate 5/28/2006Okay... in the interest of fairness, I should probably mention that I did get a response from BroadVoice support. Apparently the solution is to keep trying to use a different proxy until one works. So... I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the alacrity of BV's support is greater than I had originally implied. However... the answer of "oh.. just randomly select a different proxy server until you find one that works," is
not the right answer. Let me explain why.
I'm using the X-Lite "soft phone" from
xten. It has a few flaws, but seems to work okay. X-Lite (and many other VoIP products) use a couple of different protocols. The protocol that brings two ends of the connection together is called SIP (or Session Initiation Protocol.) Clients use the SIP protocol to talk to other clients, or more commonly, to "SIP proxies." When my client starts up, it establishes a link to my SIP proxy. In this case, the proxy I use is operated by BroadVoice. The way the system is supposed to work is that when someone wants to call my sip phone, they contact the proxy I'm connected to and ask it to connect to the phone on my end. What appears to be happening is that the BroadVoice SIP Proxy is silently failing. The only way I know that the proxy is working properly is to try to make a phone call.
Can you see what the problem is?
Yes, I bet you can. If BroadVoice's SIP proxies are silently failing, incoming phone calls won't get forwarded to my location. Also, when I try to make outgoing calls, they fail with no other error than "400 BAD REQUEST."
BroadVoice's solution for this problem is for me to just keep trying different proxies until one works. Uh... no. When I configure a piece of software to work with a service, the expectation is for that service to work.
Jonathan Hochman commented on an earlier article I wrote about my experiences with BroadVoice to comment that you get the same problems wherever you go. Okay I'm willing to accept that other providers have networks with "funky" configurations. A google search for "broadvoice" and "400 BAD REQUEST" yields 165 hits. A search for "vonage" and "400 BAD REQUEST" yields 492 hits while a search for "SunRocket" and "400 BAD REQUEST" returns 11 hits. I don't have the figures for number of subscribers for each of these services, but I would venture to guess that with Vonage's media blitz, they have significantly more subscribers than BroadVoice. Perhaps on par with SunRocket. So... taking the extremely unscientific metric of google hits per subscriber, we find that in fact Vonage might be worse than BroadVoice, if Vonage has less than four times as many subscribers and that SunRocket is only worse if it has one fifteenth the number of subscribers.
But... at the end of the day... the argument that "we're better than Vonage" doesn't mean that you're any good.
Plus... I'm a little ticked off that Jonathan failed to disclose his relationship with BroadVoice before making his comment. On the plus side, I talked to him on the phone, and he seems to be quite a polite, professional fellow that seemed sorry to hear that I didn't value my BroadVoice account.
Chicklets? Are you frikkin' kidding me?
The origin of the "
Chiclet Keyboard" is open for debate. Many believe it to have originated with the work of
computer pioneer
Charles Babbage. Though Mr. Babbage left few written notes about the subject,
Lady Ada Lovelace (for whom the computer language Ada is named) left a series of hints in letters to her former tutor
Augustus De Morgan.
"Mr. Babbage, though as intelligent a fellow as one is apt to meet in London, is taken to certain odd notions and practices. Accounts of his behavior, as have no doubt made their way to you, are certainly true. Only last year did he pay a band of Sicilian farmers to lower him into the caldera of the great volcano at Pompeii such that he might observe the molten rock closely. While on this expedition, he spent some time with Dr. Mälzel discussing the operation of the 'mechanical turk' which has of late been so noteworthy. In laying plain it's operation, Mälzel described in great detail some of the workings of the machine, specifically the spring and magnet contraption that communicates the movements of the game pieces to the machine. In hearing it's operation Mr. Babbage commented that a simple raised block of wood protruding from the board would be the most expedient mechanism. Having learned of Mr. Babbage's knowledge in such areas, I failed to offer my criticisms of the contraption which I referred to as a "chiclet" in reference to the small tabs of plant sap chewed by hungry workers in the West Indies"
From this snippet, we learn that not only was Lady Lovelace "honored" with a programming language in her name, she was also responsible for naming what would eventually become the "chiclet keyboard".
In fact, if you look closely at images of a later version of the
Mechanical Turk , you can clearly see what appears to be drawer containing an early chiclet keyboard. The image to the left is the copper engraving considered by computer historians as the first recorded instance of the chiclet keyboard.
Following the 1850's few references to the chiclet keyboard are found in the literature until well into the
Manhattan Program. Records of the program are still classified, but in the few declassified documents, researchers have found alarming references to a "weapon too horrible to contemplate." We don't know for sure, but congressional transcripts from early 1943 show Manhattan Project supremo General Leslie Groves
arguing vigorously for enhanced funding for a project called "BROTHER-17." Alarmed by the green-light given to Groves by congress, nuclear scientists Albert Einstein and Leo Slizard three days later write a letter to president Roosevelt, imploring him to cancel the program. The exact nature of the "BROTHER-17" project was unknown for nearly 60 years. While researching the WWII records of the
NKVD (later the KGB), researchers find critical hints in the files of the former Soviet security agency. "BROTHER-17" was described in a report to to Soviet Spy-Master
Lavernty Beria as:
"a political weapon of great subtlety, offering the promise of cost savings but delivering lowered productivity, wrist injury and a nostalgia for the days before the great revolution."
The report later warns against pursuing the chiclet keyboard, despite the cost benefits it might bring initially. Beria was believed to have heeded this advice, but evidence now indicates that, motivated by perceptions of a "Chiclet Gap" with the west, he initiated a secret program to develop this great "political weapon."
Practical applications of the Soviet program developed slowly after Beria's death, but industry historians now agree that the
Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer was an early Soviet effort to sap the political and administrative strength of the west.
Not to be out-done, the CIA and MI5 jointly launched a program to release the
Dubna 48k in the Soviet Union. Their plans were nearly thwarted when decades of corruption, economic stagnation and political repression lead to the unexpected fall of the Soviet Union.
The CIA is known to have had a hand in the early planning process of the
Texas Instruments TI-99/4 Home Computer.
Through existing contacts within TI's Defense Systems and Electronics Group (DSEG), CIA operatives were able to introduce the chiclet keyboard into the design for the TI-99/4, TI-99/2 and CC-40 products. Other computers of the era, most notably the
Atari 800,
Commodore-64 and
Apple ][ (even the low-price
Vic-20) do not sport "chiclet keyboards."
Later designs of the computer use a full-travel keyboard. Expert opinion as to the reasons behind this change are mixed. Some claim TI executives started doubting the wisdom of delivering dangerous input devices to paying customers. Others believe the CIA had collected enough data for a study. What is known is that in March of 1984, TI drops it's complete home computer line.
Shortly after the TI-99/4 was replaced by the TI-99/4A, Apple Computer develops it's own "chiclet like" keyboard for the
Apple IIc.
Using technology first developed by
Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Apple engineers develop a "hybrid chiclet" keyboard. Some say the system was developed to test defenses against the ravages of the chiclet. The outcome of this experiment is unknown, Apple refuses to answer emails about the subject.
Soon after the release of the Apple IIc, Apple exec
Steve Jobs was ousted in a board-room coup. Jobs would go on to found
NeXT Computer, a company known for it's "black hardware." Throughout the late 1980's and early 1990's, the CIA remained one of the company's primary customers. Years afterwards, Jobs again presides over the introduction of an Apple computer with a "chiclet style" keyboard. Is this pay-back to the CIA for years of loyal support? The natural problems of the keyboard are identified in this quote from the
Engadget Web-Log:
The flat square keys lack side or top ridges, making touch typing a little unusual (and possibly somewhat difficult), being that the only physical key delineation is the space between them. What made up for this, however, was the notably more tactile key feedback when compared to the PowerBook and MacBook Pro, which share the same lame, mushy keyboard.
Timed to coincide with the contentious nomination of
General Michael V. Hayden 
as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Apple Computer is clearly hoping freedom-loving Americans (and some Canadians) will simply ignore the repeated intrusions into our lives by the military-industrial-keyboard complex. Why does Apple feel it must bury news of the release of it's new "chiclet computer" under the hoopla of current events? Is this the end of the keyboard as we know it? Will all right-thinking Americans now be forced to toil in foreign labor camps for refusing to adopt the chiclet keyboard, a device long associated with RFIDs and Orbiting Mind Control Lasers?
Flat square keys? mushy keyboard? What the heck were they thinking?
(Pardon me, I've got to get back to my Tandy Color Computer...)
Tags:
apple,
mac,
macintosh,
mind control,
chiclet
MacOS X Aggravations
If you're having problems with sound output with a Logitech USB Headset on MacOS-X 10.4.6, I think I may have a work around for you. Scroll all the way to the bottom for the fix or read the back-story below.
Just a quick note for anyone out there using a Logitech USB Headset with more recent versions of MacOS-X (I'm running 10.4.6 right now.) About a year ago a friend of mine wanted me to
participate in a podcast with him. As an enticement, he sent me a Logitech USB headset; we were using a Skype conference call to record the podcast, so a high quality headset was most welcome. I have nothing but good reviews for this headset (which I know only from it's manufacturer's model number A-0374A.)
But it stopped working a couple months ago. The microphone appeared to work, but there was no sound output. I wasn't especially surprised. While I didn't "abuse" the headset, it did get squished in my backpack a couple times, so I just figured I had stressed the wires to the earphones a little too much and vowed to take better care of the next set I bought.
Yes.. my experiences with the Logitech headset were good enough that when my first set "broke," I immediately drove down to Fry's to pick up a replacement. And everything was fine for a while. Then that headset "broke" as well.
This time I was a little more suspicious and spent some time poking around at drivers and looking at system logs and so forth. I had treated the last set with a little less respect than it deserved, so I wasn't terribly surprised when it stopped working. But the new set I treated very well. When it "broke," I knew there was something more than a simple mechanical stress problem.
After several minutes of poking around, I discovered that in MacOS X 10.4.6 (and I suspect in 10.4.5 as well) my Mac iBook G4 will occasionally just stop sending sound out to the headset. It seems to be a somewhat random occurrence, but will reliably happen on boot up. That is to say, after booting and logging into my Mac with the headset plugged in, I get no sound output.
Unless...
I go to the prefs app, click on the "sound" panel, manually select "Logitech USB Headset" in the "Play Alerts and Sound Effects through" drop down list, then select and unselect the mute checkbox next to the "Output Volume" slider. I've tried simply muting and unmuting using the "mute" key on the keyboard, but for whatever reason this isn't good enough. I have to open the prefs app and click the control on the panel.
Then everything works miraculously. Once again:
- Start the System Preferences application (this should be on your dock if you have a standard install.)
- Click on the "Sound" icon to open the Sound Preferences panel
- Click on the "Input" tab and ensure that the "Logitech USB Headset" device is chosen in the "Choose a device for sound input" list
- Click on the "Output" tab and ensure that the "Logitech USB Headset" device is chosen in the "Choose a device for sound output" list
- Click on the "Sound Effects" tab and select "Logitech USB Headset" in the "Play alerts and sound effects through" drop down list.
- Click the checkbox to the right of the "Output Volume" slider at the bottom of the panel
- Unclick the checkbox to the right of the "Output Volume" slider at the bottom of the panel
Tags:
logitech,
macos,
usb
USGS Western Region Open House June 3rd & 4th
It's a little known fact about me that I'm just in love with the
USGS (US Geological Survey). Sure they're part of the
US Department of the Interior that
can't seem to figure out even the most basic computer security measures and runs the occasionally maligned
Bureau of Land Management. But the GS itself is
not the DoI. Nor is it the BLM.
The GS is a great example of services that can be provided by a democratically elected government. As far as we know, no one over at the USGS is trying to subvert our 4th amendment rights, leak the identities of CIA operatives or lie about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. USGS acting director
Dr. P. Patrick Leahy (not the Senator) has never, as far as I can tell, commented that his organization can win the peace in Iraq using as few as 77,000 US troops and they weren't responsible for building the levees in New Orleans.
Sure, the
National Geospatial Program Office sounds like you could hide a "black ops" satellite program in it somewhere and their offices
are just around the corner from
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency offices on Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston. But I'm going to ignore that for a while because once you've seen "US Geological Survey" re-enactors dressing up in period garb carrying old-style surveyors equipment it seriously pegs the "otaku-meter."
So... if you happen to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, plan to attend the
USGS Western Region 2006 Open House. Bring the kids, there's plenty to see for children of all ages.
Homebrew Mobile Phone
So I've received a lot of mail from people complaining of the relative difficulty of finding information about the Silicon Valley Homebrew Mobile Phone Club.
I hopped on Google, hoping to clear up the mess, but was surprised to find that yes, it involves many more mouse clicks than I would have suspected. For whatever reason, it seems that the Google page rank algorithm seriously discounts the links pointing to
telefono.revejo.org. I know it's nothing to do with Google themselves. They were nice enough lend us space for our first meeting.
So.. this blog has a reasonable page rank, so maybe if I point to the front page with the link
Silicon Valley Homebrew Mobile Phone Club, I'll be able to edge out stories from
MobileBurn,
BoingBoing and
Gizmodo as the top hit when searching for "Homebrew Mobile Phone".
Don't get me wrong. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to BoingBoing, Google and MobileBurn for popularizing our first meeting. Heck, I even appreciate Gizmodo's link to our announcement. Despite the fact that I think they sorta missed the point of what we're trying to do, any publicity is good publicity.
But... if you're looking for the Silicon Valley Homebrew Mobile Phone Club's main site, you can find it at:
telefono.revejo.org
If you want to join our mailing list, we have a page for that at:
http://telefono.revejo.org/mailman/listinfo/svhmpc_telefono.revejo.org
-Cheers!
