When I was in George (before moving here, I signed up for Packet8 (http://Packet8.net) and their Voice Over IP telephone system. I am very happy with the service. I have high speed internet connection which, along with their service, gives me telephone service will all sorts of options and unlimited long distance to the US and Canada, all for just over $25 a month. I was able to prepay for a year and get a lower rate that that.

You get either a phone or an adapter that plugs into your router and an inbound telephone in the area code of your choice. There are just a few exceptions like Hawaii, Alaska and a state in New England or so. I chose one in Florida so my Mom could call me as a local number. She dials a 7 digit number in her town and my phone rings in Hawaii. I seem local to her even though I am a quarter of the way around the world from her. My outbound calls show a Florida origination, but I don't care. If I had wanted, I could have ported my local Atlanta regular telephone number and dropped service with Bell South and used the VOIP line for my local inbound calls too.

Recently I discovered 808NetFone (http://808NetFone.com) which offers VOIP service AND a Hawaiian inbound number. This means that I can have service which replaces the local phone company and gives me my current telephone company provided number which is on my business cards already. I could upgrade the service to take the place of Packet8 but for now, I'll keep them both.

808NetPhone offers unlimited local calling (the Big Island) for $12 a month but also includes many of the functions I paid extra for with the phone company. This includes: Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Transfer, 3 Way Calling, Call Back - Busy, Voice Mail, E911, Call Forward, Follow Me Service, Last Number Redial, Unlimited Local Calls and a few functions which would work if I chose statewide or countrywide dialing plans. If I had chosen to be able to call all over the state, the cost would have been $18 a month and to replace my unlimited countrywide service it would cost just $28 a month. I don't call overseas, but for $50 a month you can add a ton of foreign countries for free.

So I am replacing $36 a month service with $12 a month service and get to keep my current telephone number since my local service was just that, local to the island.

My friend Jeff has been playing with PBX software which allows him to duplicate the telephone system which big comapies use. It uses the same technology as Packet8 and 808NetFone and in fact, can use the same adapters. I am currently using an old Packet8 box to connect to Jeff's computer. We have 4 digit dialing to reach anyone on his service, but he could just as easily change that to 2 digits or 7 digits. He configured groups of numbers like the 42xx numbers being people in Florida, but it would be easy to actually create an "area code" for that and assign 7 digits to each number. That is possible but totally unnecessary. There appear to be plug-ins which allow you to connect to the outside world by regular telephone lines (a modem card) and/or the internet (using a LAN card) and perhaps link into Packet8...

He configured voicemail for each of us, we can log in to a web interface and manage out accounts. We could create a conference line and have all of us in a "meeting". We can forward and transfer calls, etc There is even a "What time is it?", "What is my weather forcast" and "wake me at" options. The software is all open source (read that as FREE) and needs either a Linux-type computer or a Windows PC which runs VMware (which simulates a Linux box on your PC). The installation I tried of the Windows version required 2 downloads and about 15 minutes to set up and I had a similar system running here.

So it appears that the technology is becoming very commonplace and many people are replacing their hardwired telephones from the phone companies with VOIP or even what they call soft phones. A soft phone is a program which runs on your PC and connects to one of these services on the internet and allows you to place calls between other users of the same service, or people with internet connections or even to people with a telephone somewhere in the world.

Many of these services bypass traditional telephone companies completely and that can be a problem. In some countries the telephone company is owned by the government and they don't like losing that revenue. In some places the telephone company may be owned by a ruler of that country. Luckily, here in America, we are very open with our telephone services.

One thing I forgot to mention, and it is neat. The boxes (or softphone software) can be carried around with you; somewhat like a cell phones. When I came to Hawaii, I brought my adapter with me. I plugged it into the high speed internet at the hotel here nd had a telephone in the room that did not connectto the hotels PBX and thus they did not know I had it. I also did not get charged for calls in or out, because it had nothing to do with the hotel. What becomes even neater when you think about it is that this was my unit with the inbound number in Florida. Thus my Mom continued to call the local number to her and it rang my phone in Hawaii. She did not even know that I took a trip here :-) My outbound calls originated in Florida too, but since my calling plan included all 50 states and Canada, I could pick up the phone in Hawaii, use an outbound call in Florida to call back into a phone across the street. All for that same $25 a month. very much lik a cell phone but with a wire.

I wanted to go into a detailed explanation because I'm sure there are some people out there who might be able to benefit from this type of techology but didn't understand or know of all of the options and costs.

If you want to read up on GrandCentral.Com, they have some neat features for a system that is phone free. It is in test mode at present, but those of us with the service already can refer others to join instantly. Otherwise you have to wait.

I can also refer people to both 808NetPhone and Packet8 and I get a small kickback (a free month or a dollar or something). If you are really into it and want a referral, let me know. Otherwise strike out on your own with one of these services and see how things have changed over the years.

I actually was thinking about posting last night, but fell asleep at 10-pm and woke up at 9am.

Last night, Sandra treated me to a play at the Aloha Theater as a thank you for feeding the dogs while she is away. The play was "Little Shop of Horrors" and quite appropriate as we near Halloween. I met one of the actors a few days ago and it was fun to see him on stage. As the stage is quite small, the crew must move scenery often and did an excellent job with the lights down.

The last time I was at the theater, they had a surf week with lots of surf-related movies.

Speaking of surfers, after my High School graduation, a few of us went from up north to Virginia Beach. I think all but me were surfers and I sat on the beach while the rest were in the water. One of those guys called me the other day. He wanted to escape the smoke and fires on the west coast and head to the Big Island. I’ll meet him today after many years. I believe the last time I saw him was at a reunion.

Koa (the guard dog) is doing well. On my recent birthday I took him down to the Place of Refuge and tried to get him into the water. “Like father like son” comes to mind as he would not. The waves lightly tapped the shore, but it was his first time on sand and rocks and I’m sure he needs a bit more time. After all, he IS a water dog!

My Mom has been fighting a mysterious high blood pressure problem where it spike high and then comes down. She is not enjoying the 9 prescriptions she is on. Hopefully the doctors will find the reason for her discomfort.

I still fight with trying to find someone who can inexpensively install my water tanks. I may have an idea for getting holes punched in the rock for a few acres of coffee, but need to do a bit more research. I WILL have an acre of new coffee by the end of the year. It WILL happen, I’m just not quite sure how and when J

Speaking of coffee, I have been selling a bit back at my part-time job. I serve my Kona at the island orientation on Mondays and often sell a few pounds during the week. This means I have to be more careful how much coffee I get roasted and when, as I hate to store coffee for long after it is roasted. Since I don’t do the roasting myself, I have to work my stock around the roasting days.

Speaking of roasting, I got a call last night from someone who wants a bit of green to roast herself. Not everyone wants it already roasted.

My organization worked with many others to object to the Ironman disaster. As you may know, Kona hosts the big Ironman race (swimming, bicycling and running). It’s an all day event that pretty much affects the whole west side of our island. Roads and stores are closed; people can’t get to and from the airport without having to drive all over the place, etc. So just before the race, Ironman officials announced that because there was not enough quality coffee around, the official Ironman coffee is from Guatemala!

Imagine the revolt that started here. It is as though the official cola of the Atlanta Olympics was announced as Pepsi (Atlanta is the home of Coke). It took no less than 2 days for the officials to offer full-page apologies and radio ads.

Our coffee organization has submitted entries for our coffee label and website to the Kona Coffee Festival contest. It would be great if we win. Last year we won prizes for our float and donkey.

We also have a new handout, bumper stickers and a DVD we will be displaying to visitors. That is in addition to the t-shirts, caps and items we already have.

I just purchased 2 TVs, which we will use to display the DVD. I have to find the best way to hook them together so that the same DVD plays on both on alternate sides of the table.

Working with a local environmental organization, I will be offering an award-winning cookbook with gift baskets this holiday season, so keep those credit cards out and ready!

Speaking of gifts, on my ItsKona.Com website on the shopping tab, you may notice a new ad which allows you to get a discount for Hawaii’s Best Attraction Passes “Go Card”. It will show at the top of the page along with other sponsored ads and offers discounts on Oahu.

My friends Ginnie and Dick are moving to Alaska and have sold their farm to a recent resident from Carolina. I will be personalizing the website to his specifications over the next few weeks and will help him run it. The new owner knows construction and I have this old kitchen and bathrooms I want to fix up. Perhaps we can make some kind of deal J

I hope that this update keeps you busy fro a while. It is a busy time here in Kona, and the fun is just beginning (or is it continuing, I always get those two confused) J