My wife and I watch a lot of movies. It’s one of the things we’ve done from the beginning, when I would visit the Philippines to visit her. We go to the sinehan (movie house) on occasion, such as tonight to see Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D, but for the most part we watch movies at home.

During my visits to the Philippines we would often buy movies to watch at the apartment my wife lived at. It was SMALL, and there wasn’t much else to do in that little space. We would buy a few DVDs but mostly we got VCDs as they were very cheap. Some of these were obviously legal releases and others probably not. The quality left a lot to be desired in either case. We just had a small television and inexpensive dvd/cd/vcd player, but it was still fun for those times when we didn’t want to go out.

Now that my wife resides in the states we still watch movies together several times a week. The set up is quite different than the apartment set up, though. Blu-ray movies are our first choice for movie watching, though we also have the high def cable channels, and Netflix streaming movies. The later two are really nice for the selection available, and while the quality is very good it doesn’t reach the quality of the blu-ray disc.

Blu-ray offers much better sound quality, something that I didn’t care that much about initially. Now that I have a better home theater system I have learned to appreciate that much more. DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD are really great. The picture quality is also better, but I wouldn’t complain at all about the high def quality of most of the channels from my cable company.

My current setup includes a 5 year old Samsung 50″ DLP LCD which is only 720p – not that great by current standards. I’m happy with the picture quality at this point, and I’d be real happy if it serves us until I retire and we move to the Philippines. I’m not convinced that it’s going to make it. They don’t seem to make things to last like they used to.

My guess is that by the time we have moved and set up residence on Samal Island we will have easy access to blu-ray discs in the Philippines. From what I understand they are available there now, increasingly so, but are still pretty expensive. The real problem would be that we don’t buy many. We generally rent from Netflix and as far as I know there is no similar service available there.

Streaming will undoubtably continue to improve. Many believe that streaming and/or downloads will completely replace physical media. I’m not so sure that is likely to happen any time soon. Unless the bandwidth improves dramatically in the Philippines, I don’t think that is really going to be off much value. Not for the size files that we’d be talking about for the quality of blu-ray.

Like everything else, by the time we get there much of this will have changed and I’ll probably be looking at different circumstances. It gives me something to consider in the meantime.

Related posts:

1. Why Samal Island? Part 1 I probably should have made this my first post....
2. Frugality and the Philippines Amazon.com Widgets Frugal living, voluntary simplicity, living within your...
3. Retire in the Philippines As I reviewed my site recently, I noticed that...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The ever popular Samal Island zipline lives on. Not the same one that I’ve reported on previously. I don’t believe that one ever got back operational. This one is on the east side of the island on Kalinawan Resort.

Kalinawan Resort is an adventure resort featuring such activities as:

ROCK CLIMBING – Are you looking for a challenge? Kalinawan’s 80-foot high and 100-foot wide natural limestone rock formation is not just there for you to ogle. Experienced climbers and first timers alike will have a blast climbing our wall. It’s a pretty intense workout! (The beginner’s side is already a challenge.) For those who looking for a supreme adrenaline rush, there are expert routes that can test the real strength of those daring enough to conquer The Rock. As a special treat, individuals who MAKE IT TO THE TOP will get:
1) An exclusive Kalinawan Felt Banner. (Something to hang on your wall.)
2) The privilege to sign a Kalinawan Banner that we’ll put on our wall of fame.
3) Bragging rights!
[Rock Climbing Gear Provided]

RAPPELLING – Still trying to gauge your ability to scale naked rock? Try going down first before heading up. Get a feel for the nooks and crannies of the rock face without having to strain a muscle! [Safety Gear Provided]

ZIPLINE – Our zipline will have your heart racing fast from beginning to end! After one ride, you’ll be craving for more. In the Kalinawan Day-Tour package, you’ll have unlimited zipline privileges, so you can enjoy the ride again and again! [Safety Gear Provided]

KAYAKING – Enjoy kayaking the whole day! Escape to the calm waters of Kalinawan and enjoy the beautiful vistas of Samal Island. [Safety Vests Provided]

SNORKELING – Kalinawan is home to many different kinds of fish, from Nemo and Dory to pink starfishies like Patrick. Spongebob? Yeah. He’s here too. Fish feeding is a relaxing thing to do while snorkeling! Be one with nature and feel the eco-vibe. It is always a treat to catch a closer glimpse of our ocean friends as they snack within the protected waters of Kalinawan. [Snorkeling Gear Provided]

DIVING – Kalinawan is home to one of the best diving spots around Samal Island! Explore the depths of the ocean and discover the beautiful views of the sea. [Interested divers must book in advance. Additional fee of 850 Php for Intro Dives.]

I’m kind of surprised I hadn’t heard of this resort previously. Being on the other side of the island, which takes a bit more effort to get to, may be part of it. From the website it’s unclear whether there is any lodging available. From what I can gather there may be some simple cottages and tent camping, but I can’t verify that.

I’ve added their contact information to the Samal Island Resorts Directory.

Related posts:

1. Samal Island Things To Do While the Island City Garden of Samal may be...
2. Mt. Puting Bato Puting Bato, meaning white stone or rock, was so...
3. Manny and Jinky Pacquiao Visit Samal Island Manny Pacquiao, and his family, recently celebrated his wife’s...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Paradise Island Park and Beach Resort is a linchpin of Samal Island Resorts. Long known for its white sandy beaches and brilliant blue waters, it has grown into a full fledged entertainment destination. Located in Calilic, Babak, Paradise Island is just a short boat or ferry ride from Davao to the resort park.

There are several ways to get to the resort – via the Samal-Davao RORO ferry to Babak, from the Waterfront Insular Hotel dock, or the best way IMO, one of the ten boats that the resort runs continually from the Davao Paradise Island dock.

Paradise Island Park and Beach Resort, a secluded place along the famous Davao Gulf, offers a bundle of unique experiences from the boat ride to the shores of the island. As you cruise across the gulf, be amazed by a great panoramic view of Davao City and Mount Apo as its background to your right and the best side of Samal Island ahead which shows the white sand and azure blue waters on a sunny day. Be lulled by the sound of the soft waves at the same time feel the sea breeze in your face.

There is much one can do at Paradise Island other than than relaxing on the beach.

Water Sports include:

Ocean Kayaks
Paddle Boards
Pedal Boats
Aqua Bikes

Recreational Games include:

Billiards (5 tables)
Ping – Pong (3 tables)
Futbolin
Air Hockey
Beach Volleyball

Amenities iclude:

Tindahan
Ice cream
Kiosk
Massage
Business center
Children’s playground and park
Aviary

The beach park started out as a day trip facility only. Currently there are 75 rooms available with various options between them for your overnight stay. You are also welcome to stay on the beach overnight for a small fee.

Current Room Rates as of January 2010:

PREMIER PhP 3,000.00
DELUXE PhP 2,700.00
STANDARD PhP 2,100.00
Day Tour PhP 100.00
Beach Overnight PhP 250.00
Extra Bed PhP 550.00
Boat Ride (O/W) PhP 15.00/person

I would heartily recommend taking a day trip to the Paradise Island Resort and see for yourself the kind of island entertainment that can be experienced there. If you are of like mind with millions of pilipinas, you will be back again.

Reference: www.paradiseislanddavao.com

Related posts:

1. Extreme Samal – Zipline Adventure Looking for something more adventurous to do during your...
2. Leticia by the Sea Located on Talicud Island, and from the same ownership...
3. Samal-Davao Bridge There is talk of a bridge to connect IGaCoS...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Think about it. Could you quit using your computer for any extending period of time? I don’t think I could, or more accurately stated, I don’t believe I would.

Maybe you own a online business for making money and the thought isn’t even remotely possible. Probably your regular job requires it, whose doesn’t anymore? What I’m speaking of is your free time. There has been a massive shift away from the television to spending time online, IMO. Connectivity with the rest of the world (email, news, social sites, movies, etc.) has increased my computer time, and I suspect without checking the facts, yours, too. It’s just too easy to get what you are looking for with just a few clicks. For example, I could check the online usage facts with a quick Google search, but why bother as you can do that, too, if you’re interested.

So with the assumption that you are similarly addicted to your computer usage as I am, does it bother you? It does me to some extent. So far it’s not been enough for me to reduce my usage for any length of time. I’ve gone days or weeks where I’ve cut way back. Sometimes consciously and sometimes not. Whenever I travel to the Philippines, for example, I naturally use the computer a lot less. That’s a result of the travel and of spending more time with people and attractions. Other times, I just don’t have much free time, so there is a natural reduction in usage.

Reducing my time online shouldn’t be that difficult in and of itself. One doesn’t need to check email as often as we do, save for work. Social networks are great for those that have the time, but for the most part they aren’t necessary. Writing articles on blog is again a luxury and not too many people are going to notice if I haven’t written in awhile. That may not be true for some of the professionals, but let’s be honest, most of us are writing to appease ourselves or potentially our wallet. There is a definitely a difference between the perceived need and want.

Some tasks, like the airline reservations I made for my son’s upcoming visit last week, have transferred to an online function that is just simply faster and easier. I could call in, and wait on hold for a decent amount of time, or I can get online and have it done in minutes. These types of things would be hard to give up. I do most of my shopping online. It is faster, allows me better pricing, and most importantly gives me buying information that I couldn’t get anywhere else. Still this isn’t a requirement but a luxury.

Even As I write this article, I wonder why I am compelled to do so. It’s nice outside. Kind of an early spring day here in the Northwest. Sunshine that we haven’t seen too much of the last few months. Why don’t I get out and do something outside instead of pounding at the keyboard? I think it’s because I’ve slowly migrated from my other interests and no longer know what else to do other than chores. When the chores are done, my relaxation is to get on the computer. That’s my downtime, which in reality isn’t most of the time.

Ironically, you can even find out how to battle computer addiction, you guessed it, right on the internet. I suspect there is going to be a rebellion against all this in a future generation. You see signs of it even now. For most of us, I feel the answer is the same with anything else, balance and moderation is usually good enough. Recognition of any overindulgence is the first step in taking care of it.

Photo credit: www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa235.htm

Related posts:

1. Waiting for the Page Load It’s been about a week since I made the...
2. Ooma VOIP What’s an Ooma? Well it’s not a farm (umá)...
3. Davao Apple Store I’m of fan of Apple. In particular, the Mac...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I expect that by the time we are able to move to Samal Island that I will be retired and we will be living mostly off my retirement income. I’ve often thought that it would be nice to move there earlier, but what I do for income? I’ve also given thought as to what I and my asawa will do, as in will I just be retired or have a small business.

Most expat-erts that I have had the pleasure of getting advice from, either directly or from their website, have emphatically recommended that one should start some kind of online venture. That could be one of a variety of things, but the point is to do it online. Physical jobs working in the Philippines for an employer is not advised due to a number of valid reasons. A few of those being:

1. Extremely low pay
2. Foreigners not employable
3. Too old to be employable

Having your own business seems to be the best chance of making a go if it, if you aren’t going to take the advice of the expat-erts to make money online. Of course there are legal issues to maneuver that I’m not well versed in. Suffice to say, it’s likely you will need to have the business in your spouse’s name. Business licenses, permits, etc. are also obstacles that must be dealt with. I’m not going to get into that here.

What can I do?

My thoughts have gone from the possible to the improbable, but that’s what ideas are for, right? As with everything, there is a cost involved starting a business. Some more than others.

Restaurant

The tried and true restaurant, or restro bar. Many have tried, some have succeeded and most have failed. That’s true here as well. I have about 15 years experience in restaurant work, and I was very profitable. I’ve got an idea of how to make this work with the unique clientele of the island, but I think it would be a lot of work with little return.

Resort

It would take quite a few bucks to get this going AND you would have lots of competition. If you had the resources and had a good set up, I feel it would be pretty easy to make this succesful. Over half of the current Samal Island resorts don’t even have websites. Good luck making a reservation online and/or getting any information. Email – what’s that all about? This alone would almost insure success.

Travel Agent

Actually this would be more of a online service, with some leg work being done locally. It might be difficult to get any resorts to work with you, but that might not really matter. As I said, you can charge for your service in the fact that you can offer advice and reservations, because you respond.

Real Estate Agent

As I understand it, it’s not easy to become a real estate agent even if you are a citizen. I’m not even sure you could if you aren’t a citizen, but if you could it could be a big benefit to those looking for land there. Especially if you have a great website AND answer email (notice a trend?). To make this work you would need establish some good relationships with the resort developments and individual land owners.

English Teacher

A number of people have looked into this possibility. I don’t know that I have any real desire or the patience to do this. It seems that if you were good at it, and didn’t charge too much, you might build up a decent amount of students. More advanced would be to open a more formal school. Might be a good idea for just a little bit of extra income.

Convenience/Specialty Store

This seems to me to be something that is more plausible than some of the others. The number of stores on Samal Island is limited. Getting anything but basic items probably requires a trio to Davao. That’s OK if you live there, but what about the tourists? It might take a little bit of research to determine what kind of specialty items to feature, but I think there is a place for this.

Agriculture

Lots of possibilities here, but I particularly have interest in coconut and ginger. The export market seems to be open for certain products from within these items. There would be a large learning curve for me. It’s intriguing though.

I guess one could go on and on. It’s probable that I’ll do none of these, but it’s fun to contemplate.

Related posts:

1. Why Samal Island? Part 1 I probably should have made this my first post....
2. Azure at Samal Island Condominiums I’ve had this on my list of items to...
3. Holiday Oceanview Samal Another development underway in IGaCoS is Holiday Oceanview Samal....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As I reviewed my site recently, I noticed that I have never specifically posted as to why I want to retire in the Philippines. I have stated why Samal Island was chosen for the place to buy our land and build our house. I’ve even written about frugality and the Philippines, which touches on some of my beliefs in how I’d like to live my life. I had always figured each post kind of spelled out my reasons, but maybe not. Of course these reasons may change as time passes, but for now here are my top ten.

1. My Asawa is from the Philppines

This may seem obvious, and it is, but I’ve met a number of filipina that have no desire to live in the Philippines any more. They want to live in the US or some other perceived rich country. That’s not entirely fair, sometimes they want to live where there true love is. My asawa wants to live in the Philippines, in particularly somewhere around Davao. That’s OK with me, as I like that area as well or better than any I’ve been to. Family is nearby, but not too near. Samal Island fits the bill nicely, and if not, then Bukidnon has its strong points, too.

2. Sister-in-law is from the Philppines

The reason I visited the Philippines in the first place was to meet my new nephew. My younger brother had married a filipina and they had their first child in Quezon City. During my visit I met my asawa to be. My sister-in-law has recently immigrated to the US, but they expect to retire in the Philippines at some point down the road, also. Probably not near Davao, but it won’t be a long trip to visit.

3. Cost of living

Many experts and expats will advise against moving to the Philippines for this reason. Truth be told, it’s why I moved to Spokane some twenty some years ago. I’ve always been very conscious of my money, and maintained a fairly strict budget. I feel we can live a decent life with what I’ll get in retirement pay, and to me that’s a factor. A fairly important one to my peace of mind, and being able to enjoy my retirement.

4. No Snow – no really!

For those that haven’t experienced a harsh winter, and then another, and then another – you may not get this one. Trust me on this. After the previous two winters (this one’s been mild so far) many newcomers packed their bags, and went home to warmer and more expensive locations (LA?).

5. Friendly people

People in the Philippines are friendly. Every single one of them, without exception. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a wee bit, but as whole they really are!

6. Slower pace

Pilipino time anyone? The massage lady (what is the word for that again) that my younger brother used, and overpaid by about 10 times, couldn’t make it within a couple hours of the appointed time. Good thing we never had anything else we needed to to do during our day. This will take some getting used to, but I’m determined.

7. Different – really retired

I could retire right where I live now, but to me it will feel more like an accomplishment to retire some place new and exotic. I’ll have a lot to learn and explore. Much to adapt to. To me that’s a retirement.

8. English speaking

I’m learning Bisaya (slowly) and intend to keep doing so. Even so, it’s great to be able to communicate when needed, even if what I’m saying isn’t really understood as I mean it.

9. Instant family

When I married my asawa I must have increased my relatives by about a few hundred. Everyone I met in the province was my relative, and I sure was popular This can certainly be a good thing/bad thing but when push comes to shove, it really does help to have family around.

10. Mango shakes & ensaymadas!

OK everyone has their favorites. Maybe durian will make it’s way up my list, but for now I could live quite a few days off of nothing but mangga shakes and cheesy ensaymadas.

.

Related posts:

1. Frugality and the Philippines Amazon.com Widgets Frugal living, voluntary simplicity, living within your...
2. Why Samal Island? Part 1 I probably should have made this my first post....
3. Retirement satellite office launched in Davao Found this article on PIA regarding the establishment in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Whenever we get a few filipinos together for a party we generally end up hooking up the Magic Sing, and the singing ensues long into the evening. Yes, karaoke is one of the favorite past times of filipinos. Their love of singing doesn’t dissipate once they leave the country, either. Far from it.

In my visits to the Philippines we’ve often done our singing at karaoke bars or restaurants. You could do the same thing here in the States, but from those I know it’s not nearly as popular. I see karaoke bars here and there, and some of them do a little business, but it’s definitely not the thing to do for the vast majority of people.

Our instrument of choice is the Magic Sing Karaoke Microphone. It was one of the first presents I got for my asawa after she arrived here. It was a Christmas present for us and it was enjoyed by the whole family that holiday. Many family members were hesitant to partake at first, as I’m sure you’ve all seen before, but once started you couldn’t get them to stop.

Magic Sing has a number of different models and systems for you to choose from. Ours has a main microphone and a wireless microphone, so you can sing duets. This is especially good for the shy types to get started with. The model we got was the ED-9000. Models are always changing and ours has probably been improved open since. The unit plugs into your stereo and/or television. You follow along with the words on your TV and if you have a decent stereo system the sound is quite good.

The Magic Sing comes with a boat load if songs built in, ours has 2058. One nice thing about the Magic Sing is the ability to add more songs through Song Chips. There are all sorts of song chips set available, but we’ve only bought one, “Tagalog Favorites”. The system includes a song booklet to help you choose your favorite tunes. Invariably that will be being researched while others are still singing.

There is also some kind of rating system, so after each song you can see your score – up to 100. I haven’t figured out how the rating system works, or even if it really does. I did notice that when duets where being song, especially with harmony, that the scores tended to be quite high. Really though, I think it’s pretty random but I could be wrong.

I’m sure this is one thing we’ll be bring with us when we come to Samal Island. I even checked the adapter and it’s 100-240v. Good to go. My neighbors won’t need to worry though, we don’t stay up late

Related posts:

1. Christmas on Samal As I was attempting to finish up the details...
2. Shaving on Samal I don’t know if this classifies as a hobby,...
3. IGaCoS Mangrovetum Project Coastal and Marine Management Division MANGROVETUM  A collection of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Manny Pacquiao, and his family, recently celebrated his wife’s (Jinky) birthday at Samal Island. Their resort of choice was none other than Paradise Island Beach Resort. This was a bit surprising to me, as I always thought that Pearl Farm Beach Resort was considered the elite island resort of Samal. Paradise Island Beach Resort, though always very popular locally, was more for the general public from my understanding. Maybe Manny is a down to earth kind a guy?

Manny was also resting up for his upcoming boxing match with Joshua Clottey on March 13th. As most of you know, this is a consolation fight the one that we all really wanted to see, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather. Whether that one will ever happen remains to be seen. Manny has since gone back to Los Angeles, California USA to continuing his training at the Wild Card gym for his upcoming fight with Clottey.

While at Paradise Island Beach Resort, Manny availed of various aqua facilities provided by Wind and Wave Davao. Jet-skiing and scuba diving were among those activities that he enjoyed. The group also appreciated the services and the seafood provided by the resort.

It’s great to see that Samal Island is still a favorite of such a famous and worldly guy like Manny Pacquiao. I hope the publicity of his visit there brings continued success to the island and the resort. I wonder if he visited the White House and my land?

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Related posts:

1. Manny wins!! ROUND 1: And we’re off! ROUND 1: Oscar dishing...
2. Philippine Beach Resorts Does the Island Garden City of Samal have the...
3. Bluejaz Resort and Waterpark One of, if not the newest resort on Samal...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As much as I’d like to be able to let commenters provide potentially valuable information related to their products and services, I no longer want to make the decision as to what is spam and what is useful. Increasingly, I’ve been getting comments from those that want to offer one thing or another. Most of these are pretty easy to dismiss, as they have little or nothing to do with this site or Samal Island. Actually, the majority of those are spam filtered before I ever see them. Lately though, I’ve gotten a few that I didn’t know what to do with. If I allow some to promote, why not others?

I’ve tried to be as consistent as possible with moderating these comments. In some cases I’ve offered to supply advertising, but those offers are rarely responded to. So I’ve decided to clear things up with this post. If you’d like to promote your service, product or whatever, then contact me, and if it’s appropriate, we’ll work something out. The obvious exception to this would be the post on Samal Island Resort Directory, as I encourage any updates or missing resort information in the comments there.

I’m not posting any rates, as I’m flexible and each situation stands on its own. I’m open to trades, a one time fee or even a monthly rate. Just let me know what works and I’ll see if I can accommodate. I’d be glad to discuss with you, offline, the stats and demographics of my site. I’ll even offer if I feel there would be any benefit to you advertising here.

If you don’t feel this site warrants a cost to you for advertising, wala’y problema, just don’t post your service, product and contact information in the comments.

I appreciate your cooperation and understanding!

Related posts:

1. Azure at Samal Island Condominiums I’ve had this on my list of items to...
2. Waiting for the Page Load It’s been about a week since I made the...
3. Samal Island Resorts Directory // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What’s an Ooma? Well it’s not a farm (umá) but a company that offers a VOIP solution that’s a little different than the rest. It was unique enough that I took the plunge and decided to go with them despite the small risk that they might not be around long enough to recoup my investment.

Like many I know, I was looking at potentially getting rid of my land line. Most people call me on my cell. I also couldn’t justify paying for all the new features, such as Caller ID, if we didn’t use the landline much. In addition to just doing away with my landline, I was considering various internet solutions.

Since I’m with Comcast for my television and internet service I have the option of adding Comcast Digital Voice. I could add that separately or look into one of the various Triple Play packages that they offer. I was strongly considering this. Another option would be Vonage, another VOIP service that had the advantage of not needing to rent their modem but they have a one year agreement that I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to.

It seems, like all things in life, that there were good and bad with every option. The modem rental and then the cost of Comcast Digital Voice after the deals expired didn’t appeal to me. The one year agreement and reviews of lesser voice quality of Vonage discourage me. Of course there are other options, such as Skype, but I didn’t feel these were answering my needs completely. Though I do like to take advantage of video chat with Skype and iChat. Those are generally great and for those of you who haven’t tried the iChat experience you don’t know how good the video can be!

So, I stumbled on Ooma while reading some consumer report reviews. I hadn’t heard of them, but I immediately liked the idea of paying for the unit once and getting my service for free from there on out. The deal with Ooma is you buy the unit, the Ooma Telo (or the older Hub and Scout), and your service is free (excepting $11/yr taxes) for as long as you own that unit. Of course, they’d like you to sign up for their premier services which run $9.99/month (not a bad deal if you need or want those extras).

The Oooma Telo lists for $249, but I found a deal through Costco online that was only $199, INCLUDING $100 worth of international calling (you know we’ll use those), AND 6 months free trial of the premier service (usually 2 month). Still a bit pricey for me, but I figured we’d break even in about 8 months and everything after that was good. I also felt very confident that if it wasn’t what I had hoped for, I could return it to Costco without issue. That’s was really the deal maker for me.

The Ooma Telo arrived on a very busy, for me, Thursday. I had about 30 minutes during lunch to set it up. It didn’t go without problems, though funny enough the problem wasn’t with Ooma but instead with my internet conection. It was down for the first time I can remember in I don’t know how long. I mean, my internet never goes down. Anyway, it came back up, and I was able to complete the activation process in about 10 minutes. I decided to port my old number (not a requirement) for a $39.99 charge. They gave me a temporary number to use during the porting process, which generally takes 3 weeks. I have phone plugged into the wall to take calls on the old number while it ports. I could have integrated that in to the Telo, but decided not to do that after reading a few reviews and comments.

So far we’ve been very happy with it. We’ve made calls, both local and long distance, without issue. The call quality is very good, even though I elected to place the Telo unit after my Apple Airport Extreme router, which does not offer QOS (quality of service). The fact that I have a fast pipe (12/2 – which is really tests out more like 25/8) probably makes that work. It’s pretty rare that we tax our internet with heavy downloads/uploads, either. The features such as Caller ID and Voice Mail have been a nice addition to the service we had before.

Oooma has a very nice online management system – My Ooma. You can set your preferences for the various settings and add-ons there. It also allows you to check your call log and voice mail. The voice mails are saved as mp3s, and you can listen to them from any computer that you have access to. So for instance, I can check my voice mails while at work.

Within the last couple of days Ooma has announced a bunch of new upcoming features that sound very promising, but some will incur additional costs. They are:

• Ooma Pure Voice™
  Ooma raises the bar on voice quality again with the introduction of Ooma Pure Voice. Ooma now brings to the home the data redundancy sophistication normally found in industrial-grade Internet telephony products. With the explosion of bandwidth usage in the home for video streaming, photo uploads and real-time gaming, Ooma Pure Voice ensures crystal clear conversations over congested networks while maintaining low-bandwidth requirements.
• High Definition Voice (HD Voice)
  Ooma is the first residential phone service to support high-definition voice technology. Compared to conventional telephones, Ooma HD Voice doubles the audio frequencies transmitted to deliver richer, more natural sounding conversation to calls between Ooma customers. Compatible corded telephone or Ooma Telo Handset is required to support Ooma HD Voice.
• iPhone and iPod Touch Calling Application
  Ooma customers will be able to download an Ooma iPhone or iPod Touch application to make phone calls over any Wi-Fi network using an iPhone or iPod touch. Ooma’s app allows customers to take their Ooma service on the road with them to make or receive calls from around the world at Ooma’s low-cost international rates.
• Bluetooth Support
  The addition of Bluetooth support on the Ooma Telo allows users to integrate their mobile phone with their home phone systems, delivering superior flexibility and convenience. Bluetooth support on the Ooma Telo allows customers to pair compatible, Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones enabling inbound calls from the mobile phone to be answered on any home phone connected to the Ooma Telo. Users may also pair compatible Bluetooth headsets to the Ooma Telo to enable hands-free talking from anywhere in the home. Additionally, Bluetooth support will allow users to download their phone book from their mobile devices for use on the Ooma Telo Handset and online at My Ooma.
• Google Voice Extensions
  Ooma simplifies the Google Voice user experience, enabling consumers to take advantage of the complementary capabilities found in both offerings, for a truly integrated and seamless phone experience. Google Voice users can integrate the Call Presentation, Listen In, and caller-ID features with their Ooma system as well as access Google Voice voicemail at a touch of a button.
• Voicemail Transcription
  Ooma customers can have inbound voicemail transcribed into text and sent as an email or text message. Users can now enjoy the convenience of reading their voicemail quickly and silently whether they are at home or on the road. Ooma voicemail transcription is human-aided to ensure the delivery of accurate and reliable messages.

I was pretty excited about the iPhone app, but learned that it will cost $9.99 AND will require the premier service to take advantage of the free 250 minutes. If they get this out in time for me to try it during my 6 months free trial, I’ll be able to determine if there is any real advantage to that. It does require a WiFi connection, so I’d not be able to use that everywhere. I only have 450 minutes a month with my iPhone account, so I’m interested in how that might play out.

So what does this have to do with Samal Island and the Philippines? Once this is set up, I can take it anywhere that I can power it up and have internet access. Very similar to Vonage in this regard. I’m not planning to move to Samal this year, but if I did I could bring this along and make/receive calls to anywhere in the US. All outgoing calls would be free and incoming calls would be the same for anyone in the US calling the US. Generally speaking, especially if you have a cell phone plan, those are free now a days, too.

We STILL plan to visit Davao/Samal this year, though those plans keep getting altered. If we do, I’m considering bring this along to see how well it works. I don’t have a real need to use it on my vacation, at least that I can think of at this time. I’d just do it to try it, if I do it at all. If it works and they’re still around, then I’ve got a great solution for calling back home when we retire.

Related posts:

1. iPhone3G In case you missed it (seriously?), the iPhone got...
2. iFlash Touch For those of you lucky enough to have an...
3. Maayong buntag I’m about a month into my Bisaya lessons. With...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.