Aint no such thing as free
Thu Apr 29 20:58:13 BST 2004 Permalink
Yesterday I had a chance to try FreeWorldDialup for the first
time. Judith and I wanted to chat and since she is on Mac and I
am on Windows it seemed like a perfect opportunity.
Downloading the client (SJPhone) was easy and, up to that point, everything was fine. From then on however, things got bumpy.
How do I call you? I couldn't see any way. I kept trying to add Judith to the address book, but I eventually figured out it wasn't searching a directory, I was just creating a dummy entry with her name. The interface had numbers but I had no idea what my number was or what Judiths was.
When I first opened the client it made me create a FWD account, but didn't say anything about a number. The client didn't seem to know it and the SIP tab the instructions told me I should look for didn't appear anywhere. Judith was fairing a little worse - her client didn't even prompt to make her create an account.
I went back to the FWD site and found all kinds of references to numbers I should have. There seemed to be a way of creating accounts there too which seemed somehow different to what I had done before. I went through that and *bingo* got my number. Now, how do I put it in the client?
While I searched in vain for how to insert the number in the client, Judith also signed up. Eventually I discovered that creating an account at startup had given me a number -- it just didn't bother to actually tell me about it!
Okay - the tension is mounting. We both have numbers. I dial Judith and... nothing. I can't hear anything at all. Then some choppy noise. "Is that you Judith?" She, of course, can hear me fine as she reports via instant messenger.
So, confusing, Confusing, CONFUSING and it didn't work.
Roll on Skype4Mac!
Downloading the client (SJPhone) was easy and, up to that point, everything was fine. From then on however, things got bumpy.
How do I call you? I couldn't see any way. I kept trying to add Judith to the address book, but I eventually figured out it wasn't searching a directory, I was just creating a dummy entry with her name. The interface had numbers but I had no idea what my number was or what Judiths was.
When I first opened the client it made me create a FWD account, but didn't say anything about a number. The client didn't seem to know it and the SIP tab the instructions told me I should look for didn't appear anywhere. Judith was fairing a little worse - her client didn't even prompt to make her create an account.
I went back to the FWD site and found all kinds of references to numbers I should have. There seemed to be a way of creating accounts there too which seemed somehow different to what I had done before. I went through that and *bingo* got my number. Now, how do I put it in the client?
While I searched in vain for how to insert the number in the client, Judith also signed up. Eventually I discovered that creating an account at startup had given me a number -- it just didn't bother to actually tell me about it!
Okay - the tension is mounting. We both have numbers. I dial Judith and... nothing. I can't hear anything at all. Then some choppy noise. "Is that you Judith?" She, of course, can hear me fine as she reports via instant messenger.
So, confusing, Confusing, CONFUSING and it didn't work.
Roll on Skype4Mac!