Shame about the VoIP

I’ve just managed to get my hands on a shiny new Nokia N95, free courtesy of Orange. I’m disappointed to find out that, along with Vodaphone, Orange have decided to install their own version of the N95’s operating system and disable VoIP.

Originally, my plan was to switch to T-Mobile to get my hands on the N95, and VoIP was one of the key benefits of the phone demonstrated to me in their shop (along with free 3G broadband and GPS routefinding). I’m fed up of paying huge amounts for roaming calls abroad, especially during my latest trip to the states where Orange charged me 95p a minute inbound and outbound, despite selling me a so-called international calls package before I left and promising me it would cost only 40p. Seems their agent was quoting me the European prices whilst trying to sell me a bolt-on for my contract, despite me specifically asking for US prices.

With the N95’s built in WiFi, and (on the standard phone at least) a copy of TruPhone, you can make VoIP calls saving a packet abroad.

When calling disconnections to request a number port to T-Mobile, I was of course lured back to the dark side and persuaded (courtesy of a free handset and £100 credit on my bill) to stay with Orange. No unlimited free 3G but it’s free weekends and evenings, so considering the deal I decided to stay. Now I’m reconsidering.

Before packaging up the phone and sending it back, I’m going to try Fring, which should work as it has its own software version of SIP, the protocol Orange have disabled. If it doesn’t, and Orange decide not to offer an update to a VoIP enabled N95, I’m not risking flashing the firmeware back to the original Nokia specification myself – it’s going back and I’ll switch.

Out of love with Amazon

When I’m looking to buy books, my defacto choice is Amazon. Recently, I was looking for this and found that not only did Amazon not have a copy, but it listed the publisher’s list price at £19.99. Now, given that I’d decided to buy this book having thumbed through a friend’s copy, I knew the actual list price was £16.99 – it’s inside the cover. There were some marketplace sellers offering copies for £40+, no doubt banking on the fact that Amazon didn’t have copies, and that some desperate food lover somewhere would be prepared to shell out over double the list price.

I really wanted a copy, but didn’t want to pay those scadalous market place sellers their ransom, so I decided to look elsewhere on the net. First stop was Waterstones. Now, some time ago, I seem to remember the Waterstone’s site was just a loose rebranding of Amazon’s, but now they seem to have gone their own way. Sure enough, they had a discounted copy, they have the same free delivery offers as Amazon, and unlike a lengthy wait for Amazon Super Saver Delivery, it arrived in 2 days.

Now, I’ve got long standing issues with Amazon customer service. Quite often they’ve sent me the wrong stuff late, and on more than one occasion their web site has managed to place an order with an old or out dated credit card despite my best efforts to stop it. That may be user error, but for a online retail outlet as ubiquitous as Amazon, their online order process should account for that. I’ve put up with all that in the past as I assumed they had the widest catalog, and their web site does have some nice suggestion features (although I’m fed up of it recommending Alan Titchmarsh based on the book I bought my mum last xmas) and they are the market leader. However, this hasn’t been the only book I’ve been after recently that’s shown as out of stock.

I’m not saying that I’ll be avoiding Amazon in future – but I’ll be casting my net wider. Makes me wonder how much Amazon’s investment in its superb web services platform and ambition to become the web’s premier retail platform have taken their focus off their day to day business.