New Deal: Vonage World only $14.99 a month
February 26th, 2010 - Posted by Tasha
You heard it here first readers: effective today, Vonage has dropped the price on their Vonage World plan to only $14.99 a month for the first 6 months. After the 6 month period, it's $25.99 a month. This is a great deal because Vonage World lets you make unlimited local calls AND calls to over 60 counties for this low price. Plus you get useful features like having your voicemails transcribed and then emailed or texted to you. How convenient is that? You'll also receive over 30 other features such as Call Forwarding, Caller ID and 3 way calling.
If you're a business traveller or are frequently out of town/state/country you can benefit even more by taking the Vonage Phone Adapter with you. Just plug the adapter into a high speed internet and a phone to save some cash when you're away from home.
Save money when you travel with Vonage World
February 25th, 2010 - Posted by Tasha
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: I live in Florida for 6 months of the year and in Canada for the other 6 months. Can I take VoIP with me and use it wherever I go?
A: The nice thing about VoIP services is that they are portable. The Vonage World plan is particularly convenient for travelers. With Vonage World you can easily pack the small adapter and use it wherever there is a high speed internet connection. This means you can make local and long distance calls from almost anywhere in the world, provided you have a broadband connection. And Vonage World is running a special where you can make unlimited calls to 60+ countries for only $14.99 a month (for the first 6 months, then $25.99 a month). That means when you're in Canada, you make free calls to your friends and family in Florida and vice versa. Nice, right?
There is one small caveat: you need to have a United States mailing address to purchase the service. However, once you've signed up and received the Vonage phone adapter you can take it with you and use it outside of the United States. It's perfect for vacations or business travel and you'll most likely end up saving you a bundle of money.
How a landlord can run a tenant credit report
February 24th, 2010 - Posted by Tasha
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: What is the best way to do a credit check on a prospective tenant?
A: Every experienced landlord or property manager knows that it makes good financial sense to run a credit report on prospective tenants. This simple step can save you time and money in the long run, but it's surprising how many landlords don't get this information prior to renting their property. With the explosion of internet commerce, it's easier than ever to get this information quickly and securely online.
Experian offers two options to check a tenant's credit and is very reasonable in price. There are also a number of other companies out there that provide credit checks for prospective tenants. You can do a simple Google search on a phrase like "tenant credit report" to find them.
If I have magicJack in one of my USB ports can I still use the Vonage system?
February 24th, 2010 - Posted by Kent
Q: If I have magicJack in one of my USB ports can I still use the Vonage system?
A: You certainly can. Vonage plugs into your Internet connection, but still allows regular traffic to and from your computer. With magicJack, voice data follows the same route as other Internet traffic that runs through your computer. If you do use this dual setup, you'll either need two phones, or you'll need to switch the line over to magicJack when you want to use that (or vice versa).
Check out our reviews and comparisons of Vonage and other VoIP services here, and well as alternatives like magicJack and Skype here.
How to remove a fake profile from Facebook
February 23rd, 2010 - Posted by Tasha
[Editor's note: You must report fake profiles to Facebook itself using the instructions below. Posting removal requests in the comment section here will not result in profile removal.]
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: How can I remove a fake profile of myself from Facebook?
A: What can you do if you find out someone has created a fake Facebook profile in your name? This is actually a pretty easy situation to resolve. If you already have a Facebook account, go to the account page you'd like to report and click "Report Page" and enter the requested information. You'll find this link at the bottom left of any Facebook profile. If you don't have a Facebook account you can visit the Facebook "Imposter Profile" page and report the issue there.
You should be aware that someone setting up a fake profile in your name may be an indication of even more serious identity theft. To learn more about how to protect yourself, check out our Facebook identity theft protection guide. To proactively protect yourself from identity theft, consider signing up for Trusted ID, our top-reviewed identity theft protection service.
What web hosting provider would you recommend for a website that has a lot of video uploading/downloading or something similar to video conferencing?
February 22nd, 2010 - Posted by Kent
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: What web hosting provider would you recommend for a website that has a lot of video uploading/downloading or something similar to video conferencing?
For a media intensive site, we would probably recommend Lunarpages. As our web hosting report card shows, Lunarpages has exhibited very fast download times as well as consistently speedy server response times. Bluehost and Hostmonster are also very good, and a bit cheaper, though their server response time is not quite as high (though when you're talking about fractions of a second, it's not that significant). Those should be fine for video uploading and downloading, provided that you're not running a massive video distribution service.
We never tested any sort of web-enabled video conferencing with web hosting, so it's hard to give you advice on that. We did test several video conferencing solutions when we tested online meeting software, but these are not made to run from a website.
How to file a student loan deduction on your taxes.
February 19th, 2010 - Posted by Tasha
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: I am a single student. What forms do I file to get my student loan deduction?
A: A student loan deduction is a federal tax deduction for qualified student loans. The specifics of what does and doesn't meet the definition of a "qualified student loan" are spelled out in the Student Loan Interest portion of the Form 1040. We suggest you look there to see if your situation qualifies you for the deduction.
If you are qualified, The IRS further states that you can claim the deduction if the following items apply.
- You paid interest on a qualified student loan in tax year 2009
- Your filing status is not married filing separately
- Your modified adjusted gross income is less than $70,000 ($145,000 if filing jointly)
- You and your spouse, if filing jointly, cannot be claimed as dependents on someone else's return
If you've cleared the hurdle and met all these conditions, can proceed with claiming the deduction on your Form 1040. You can also refer to Publication 970 for the complete IRS run down on the educational deductions and credits.
It may be that you qualify for additional credits or that other credits will be more financially beneficial to you. Because everyone's situation is different and it's hard to say what the best strategy is unless you're a tax professional, we recommend using an online tax preparation service to complete and file your tax returns. TurboTax has the most robust automated deduction tools of any of the providers we reviewed and will walk you through which deductions you may qualify for. They also guarantee you'll receive the maximum tax refund you can.
Will VoIP work with a home security system?
February 18th, 2010 - Posted by Tasha
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:
Q: I currently subscribe to Comcast for phone, cable and internet and have a land line with Verizon because of my home security system. If I used Vonage to replace my land line service would it work effectively with my home security monitoring system and the current cable set-up?
A: The answer to your question is "yes" and "it depends". Because Vonage (and all VoIP service) is designed to run over a high speed internet connection, it will work with your existing Comcast cable set up. In short, VoIP requires a high speed internet connection like cable or DSL, so what you have will work fine.
The "it depends" comes into play when you have a home security system. If your security system is a telephone based one where the company uses your phone line to contact you in case of a break in, it may not work with Vonage. If the security system is wireless, and doesn't depend on a phone line, Vonage will most likely work. Vonage recommends you contact your security company to see if their system is compatible.
NextAdvisor launches Skype review
February 18th, 2010 - Posted by Kent
Well, we've reviewed Skype. We gave the popular Internet-based service a thorough evaluation. We looked at the Skype Unlimited World plan coupled with a Skype-compatible cordless phone. This is not the free computer-to-computer service, but a monthly subscription plan that allows you to call landlines in over 40 countries (and mobile phones in a few others). This way you can eliminate the computer from one end of the conversation. With the addition of a Skype-enabled phone, however, you can eliminate the computer entirely.
Check out our Skype review and see how it stacks up against the other VoIP services we've reviewed.
Pleaserobme.com demonstrates the dangers of location sharing
February 18th, 2010 - Posted by Kent
We've blogged before about how it's a bad idea to twitter your vacation plans. Well, three computer science students from the Netherlands are taking social networks, and their users, to task for the willy-nilly sharing of location data. The site, pleaserobme.com, is designed to show people just how easy it is for criminals to use realtime location-based data to find empty houses to burglarize.
The site couples Twitter status feeds with 4square activity. 4square is a popular social networking game that lets its users claim rewards for being in real places: bars, restaurants, stores, the homes of friends. One could see it as a web-enabled version of what dogs do when they encounter a fire hydrant. Users simply use a mobile phone application to tell the world where they are and, as the creator of pleaserobme.com points out, where they're not. Namely, at home.
As pleaserobme.com points out, the potential for criminals to find a network of targets is huge. The technology essentially creates a giant cross-reference of addresses:
It gets even worse if you have "friends" who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address… on the internet…
The site is controversial, of course. Some claim it promotes crime. But according to the Groenvold, the site's creator:
We're not trying to get people robbed, but helping them not to get robbed," said Groeneveld. "We're just presenting this information in a more obvious way. And that's our point: Everyone can see this on Twitter."
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