 All I wanted was a dang phone!
My family lives overseas (mostly in Australia) and so does my best friend... when she and I get to talking it's always an hours long, numb-bum kinda conversation... you know how girls are  so all in all I do my fair share of International calling... Telecom  me.. I'm sure my bank manager thinks I talk far to much... but he's not unique in thinking that so to him 
It's not just me that talks though... Andy does his fair share too (to the UK)... now agreed I can talk the hind legs of a horse without breaking into a sweat and he's more a gentle pat kinda talker but talking is still talking... so we decided we'd start poking around the VoIP phone options available to us as it was about time we got up with all the lastest technology *cough*
I'm not big into voice applications... I love my landline cordless phones and I love my mobile phones... being able to walk and talk is so cool... having to sit in one place while I talk is pure torture and I've almost hung myself far too many times with my USB headsets to even contemplate attatching one of those things to my head again ... so right from the bat we agreed it had to be a cordless phone... next was a provider...
 Skype is awesome super voice quality (btw so is their webcam service.. in fact it's 11/10) and Skype is also a breeze to use.. so that was a front runner... more so because Andy is currently using a Nokia Wireless Headset HS-11W to yap on Skype via my Notebook (HP Pavilion zd8000) ...his Dell doesn't have bluetooth  .... and I'm kind a Yahoo! fan.. really you say? ... so armed with our huge list of two we set about doing some digging...
 We'd pretty much whittled down the hardward list from around 7-10 phones to just the Logitech® Cordless Internet Handset (works with Skype) and all was well in the camp... right up until I read an article on the Yahoo! Messenger Blog about the Linksys CIT310 Cordless Phone.
The phone sounded perfectly me.. they had me on "simple"... and it was geared up for using with Yahoo! so I started doing some research.. read a few reports, some consumer surveys etc and whatever way I turned the Linksys CIT310 Cordless Phone came up smelling of roses  ... I was on the track to success! Grinning from ear to ear, already dreaming of the many numerous nights ahead of me where I would be deeply engrossed in looooong girl conversations (that my bank manager wouldn't object to) I pulled out my well worn creditcard and set off to get my hands on one...
 My mission quickly turned to frustration, then shock, then horror... the last time I got this ticked off, annoyed and near blowing a fuse was when I snuck into my daughters room and attempted to use her hair straighteners for the very first time, in my defence she's had a lot more practice than I and some ppl tend to have a knack of making things look simple and are naturally co-ordinated.. that's always been a personal defect of mine.. co-ordination.. some ppl are born with it, some without... I've always been an withouter ... anyways.. back to my point.... trying to get my hands on a Linksys CIT310 was equally as frustrating and heated as my first hair straightener experience.. but thankfully with less frizz, scars and no scorched jeans this time around  (don't even ask) ...
Why frustrating you ask? Quite simply because after investing nearly a week in researching the Linksys CIT310 I have learnt that you can't buy one in New Zealand nor can you get one shipped here.... ARRRGGHH!  It seems no one in New Zealand stocks Linksys CIT310 and nor does any Australian retailer, online or otherwise.... grrrr!  I read the articles and the reviews... they (the Australian ones) state that in January the Linksys CIT310 will be available in retail stores... um... it's now February and there is not even an hint of them  ... in fact very few ppl that I contacted even knew what I was talking about... not to be thwarted I followed the Yahoo! Messenger Blog link to buy it at Amazon and guess what... they have it in stock! wooohooo! but guess what else?
they don't ship them to New Zealand... AARRGGHH!  ya what?!  ticked off... is an understatement.. if I was born with fuses I would have self combusted
For now it seems that the Logitech® Cordless Internet Handset (aka Skype option) is back on the cards and Yahoo! is out.. which is ok because I do love Logitech products... it's just that.. well, it wasn't my first choice.. sorry Logitech but it's true .. but if you bring out a Yahoo! one I'll be in with a grin though  .. so long as you stock and / or ship to NZ  I know down here in NZ there are 48 million sheep to 4 million ppl... but really... we do have running water, electricity and we know how to sign for and open post 
|
Show/hide comments
kinda pleased to know its world wide.. i dont feel quite so alone now 
i suspect we will end up going with a logitech.. i do so love their products (my keyboard, mouse, webcams etc are all logitech).. it's just a reeeeeeally wanted the linksys... there was kinda a brief glimmer of hope when yahoo partnered with Xtra in NZ ( http://www.xtra.co.nz ) but i'm kinda thinking its not going to happen in a hurry :
Show/hide comment form