After lots of research, I found a way to get “free” phone service that works.

This solution takes some work initially, but if you don’t mind a little sweat, it’s a great way to save some money.

My goals:

1. Keep my old phone number to forward to voice mail;
2. Get free/cheap phone service;
3. Receive calls wherever I am; and
4. Have access to 911 emergency service from my home phone.

My first goal was to keep my old phone number so that I could forward calls to voicemail with a message giving out my new phone number. Google allows you to port a phone number (for $20), but porting only works with cell phone numbers. I wanted to port my home phone, so this wouldn’t work with my home phone number…unless I first converted it to a cell phone number.

If you want to port your home number, first go to T-Mobile and buy a “T-Mobile SIM Card Activation Kit” for as low as $4.99. I paid $9.99 for mine. You can buy it online, but I chose to go into a store so that they could help me with activation. Tell them you want to port your home phone number to the SIM card. They will take care of setting this up for you while you wait in the store. Then you just have to wait. T-Mobile ended up calling me for additional information, so it took a couple of days for the number to port, but it usually takes about 24 hours. Note that once your number ports, you will no longer be able to access your voicemail from your old carrier. You may also not be able to get calls for a bit until you get the number over to Google.

Next, get your hands on a T-Mobile phone. If you already have a T-Mobile phone, great! If you have a friend with a T-Mobile phone, offer to buy them coffee (somewhere with internet access). Or, for about $20, you can pick up a pre-paid T-Mobile phone. Once you have your T-Mobile phone in hand, open up the back and take out the SIM card (if you bought a new phone there won’t be one in there yet) and replace it with your own.

Replacing the SIM card with your own allows you to receive calls on the number you’ve ported over. This is necessary so that you can next port the number over to Google. If you haven’t done so already, create a Google Voice account and select the option to port your existing cell phone number. Google will call your number to verify that it belongs to you. Now that you’ve verified your number, you can do whatever you want with that T-Mobile phone. Keep it, return it, or give it to a women’s shelter. You don’t need it anymore.

Now that you have a Google number, you can get home phone service for “free.” Google may charge for US calls in the future, but for now they are free. I actually set up a second Google number for this purpose, and the above exercise was solely so that I could give out forwarding information when someone called my old number.

With a Google Voice number, you can forward calls to any phone you want to. I only forward my main Google Voice number to my cell phone since it already rings at home on my Obi. Now I never miss a call!

So, how do you start getting your Google number to ring to your house? I chose the cheapest option of going to Amazon.com and buying an Obi110. Obihai makes two different Obi’s. You want the 110 if 911 service is important to you. Since Google does not provide 911 service, you need a device, like the Obi110, that allows you to set up two VoIP (Voice over IP) services.

The Obi110 is simple to set up. Plug it into your modem, and your phone into the Obi110, and go to www.obitalk.com to create an account and register your Obi110. If you get stuck, you can call their very helpful technical support at: (408) 634-5904.

While you’re still in www.obitalk.com, be sure to also set up a local area code so that you don’t have to enter an area code for local calls.

Now, to get 911 Service. Go to www.callcentric.com and register for a paid account. All you will need to get is a “Pay Per Call” account. There’s no monthly call fee, but you do pay a monthly fee for 911 service. It’s $3 for the first month, and $1.50/month after that. You can pay into your account in increments of $5, $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, $80, or $100 and then CallCentric auto-bills each month from the remaining balance. I put enough in there for about one year.

Now go back to www.obitalk.com and add CallCentric as your second service provider. Obihai makes it easy to set up CallCentric as an emergency 911 service. Keep Google as your primary service provider, and set CallCentric to “Use This Service For Emergency 911 Calls.”

That’s it! For an initial investment of about $100, and a monthly fee of $1.50, I have free calls from home. I must note that I have noticed some echo on the phone line, but it’s not all the time. I’ve also had a couple of dropped calls, but that used to happen with my $40/month plan as well. But, hey, did I mention that it’s FREE?!

What do you think? Is it worth the work? I’d love to hear from someone with the Ooma ($200 device similar to the $50 Obi110).

We closed on our new house Friday, and I’m reconsidering all of our services. Right now we have cable, phone, and Road Runner through Time Warner. Since we’re moving out of the county, TW won’t let us port our number to our new home.

After really thinking about it, I realized that all we really need to have is internet. With internet we can go online, watch Netflix (which we mostly do anyway), and use VOIP for phone.

I’ve already started using Google Voice to receive calls (and texts). I love Google voice, but don’t want to use my cell phone for all of my outgoing calls. Using my cell phone, I can make calls FROM my cell phone or Google Voice number, but both options use up my cell phone minutes (currently 700/month shared between three phones).

This has me looking at additional options. I’ve pretty much dismissed Time Warner VOIP and Vonage (both have high monthly costs), and I’ve found some interesting alternatives so far:

Magic Jack Plus: Unlike the original Magic Jack, no computer is needed and you can port your old number (where available), and e911 is available. Their salesy website is a big turnoff. Reviews I’ve found are not encouraging. Live Chat, but no phone support. COST: $69.95 for the device and one year of telephone service with all subsequent years of service for $29.95/year. Device insurance for $10, and number porting for a one-time fee of $20. Also available at Radio Shack.

Obi110: www.obihai.com Cheap, one-time equipment fee and can be set up with Google Voice. However, no 911 service (can be added with CallCentric) and requires Google username & password to work (security?). Some people will set up a secondary dedicated Google Voice account, but I’d like to keep the G-Voice number I already have, and not have to login to different Google accounts on my Droid to see Gmail and Voice. Obi110 has two ports so you can set up more than one VOIP service with one device. COST: $49.99 equipment charge. No monthly fees.

CallCentric: www.callcentric.com 911 Service for $1.50/month to use with Obi110.

VOIPo: http://www.voipo.com Offers VOIP services as well as Cloud Numbers. With a cloud number, I can port my old number to them, and for $36/year forward those calls to my Google Voice number that I can access with Obi110. They have US-based phone support during normal business hours (Monday – Friday from 10AM-6PM Central). I’ll be calling them tomorrow for more info.

A couple more options I’m considering:

Ooma Hub: http://www.ooma.com/products/ooma-hub

Ooma Telo: http://www.ooma.com/products/ooma-telo

Lots of cool features, including a free second line. Compatible with Google Voice. Looks like it’s necessary to use a DECT 6.0 handset, if you plan on using a cordless phone. COST: Both Ooma devices are about $200. Calls are free for basic service, or $9.99/month for premium service. Free service isn’t 100% free, as you must pay for e911 service at about $12/year. One-time $39.99 number porting fee, or Free with premium service signup.

I’d love to hear your experience with any of these services! I’ll keep you posted with what I end up doing and results.

Feeling frustrated that you still have not been invited to Google+ yet? Well, the wait is over! Simply fill out our Contact Us Form, and send us a request so that I can formally invite you. Please use your Gmail account as an email address to make it even quicker.

Questions about Google+? Add them to the comments of this post, and I will do my best to answer them for you!

Everyone has a favorite color, but let’s say your favorite color is Red. What shade of red? What’s the hex value? RGB? RYB? CMYK? Pantone code? Is it a websafe color?

My high school colors were gold and blue, yet one year the yearbook committee decided to make the yearbook shades of one color to save some money on printing. For some unknown reason they chose the color Red for the yearbook cover. They decided that the lettering would be 90% red, and the background color would be 50% red. Can you guess that we ended up with a Pink yearbook? We all learned a lesson in the importance of color that year.

When designing a website, it’s important to choose colors that compliment each other well and are consistent with your brand. Here are the three tools that I use the most that will help you to do just that:

ColorZilla: This is a powerful Firefox add-on with a collection of tools to help you select colors for your web projects. The Eyedropper tool gives you the RGB and hex values for anywhere that you point to on any webpage, as well as the CSS selector of any area you point to. The Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator helps you to create CSS gradients that you can save and bookmark to reference later. Color Picker and Palette Browser help you find just the right color by allowing you to select colors from a list, thumbnails, or palette and provide the color values in HSV, RGB, Lab, CMYK, and Hex. In addition, these tools provide the CSS code that you can copy and paste into your style sheet. Want more? Use the Webpage DOM Color Analyzer to analyze the colors on any page on the web. It will give you a color palette for the selected page, and list each color with values and CSS selectors it’s associated with.

Javascript Hex Color Preview: I use this tool all the time. It comes in handy when you’re looking at a bunch of code (especially CSS) with hex values and you can’t remember what the color actually looks like. Just enter the hex value into this web-based tool and the color renders in a nice square to see if it’s what you thought it was. Use this tool in combination with a screen shot to create the perfect palette to show your customer or your web designer.

COLOURlovers: You’re not the only one in search of the perfect color palette. COLOURlovers is a web-based community of people who love color! Browse over a million existing color palettes or create your own. You can also browse nearly a million seamless patterns (think web page background image) or, you guessed it, create your own. Start from scratch or color in an existing template to really customize something great for your site.

What are some other tools you use to select colors for a website?

Everywhere you turn lately, someone is asking you for an online profile. It can be easy to overlook the importance of these little snapshots of who you are, however they are critical to how people find you online.

While you may be limited to a 160 characters on Twitter, Google+ and other sites give you seemingly unlimited space to tout your wares. Here are some things to consider as you build your next Social Media profile.

Why do you want people to find you online? Seriously think about this. Is it to make money? Is it an ego trip? Is it to reconnect with lost loves or old friends?

What do you want people to do once they find you? Do you want them to contact you? Hire you? Buy something? Talk about you? Go to a specific website? How are you conveying this?

How do people want to contact you? Do you want them to email you? Call? Skype? Direct message? Text? Facebook? Guide people to contact you how you would like to be reached, but also consider that they may have a different preferred method of communication. Provide alternatives that work for both of you.

What’s your Full Name? OK, this may seem like a no-brainer, but it can be a confusing area. Let’s say your name is say, Robert Jones. Do you like to be called Robert, Bob, Rob, Bobby, RJ, BJ, Bert? See where I’m going with this? Give people the name that they can call you to feel like their instantly your friend. If you put your name out there as Robert, and you say, “Oh no, no one ever calls me Robert. My friends all call me Bob,” well, you’ve just told them that they’re not your friend. Ouch!

Do you have a Nickname? Is your real name something like Stephen, but folks only know you as Skip? Include your nickname somewhere in your profile so that people can find you in a search.

What’s your Maiden Name (Facebook/LinkedIn/Google+): This is a matter of preference. Maybe you don’t want to be found by people in your past. In that case, leave it off. As an in-between, Facebook, allows you to be searched on by an alternate name without making that name public.

What is your Title? As the owner of a company I wear many hats, so I’ve chosen to list several titles for myself. Use something catchy, but also throw in some common words that people might search on.

Company Name? OK, not much to explain here. However, if you’re in a big company, you may want to also include a division name.

What other Social Media Sites are you on? Especially if you have the space, and can add links, tell people where else they can connect with you via Social Media. Bonus if you register your own name and link to all of your profiles in one place.

What special Skills do you have? Are you an expert yodeler? Can you do stupid human tricks? Really think about this and be creative with what you share.

Do you hold any Certifications? This could really mean a lot to potential employers or mates. You worked hard for that raised seal. Talk it up!

Educational Highlights. Don’t limit yourself to just where you attended school. What else have you learned that will impress the masses?

Fields of Expertise. Think about those categories you choose when you fill out a government form or online job application. Sprinkle a couple of these words into your profile (in a meaningful way) if they might be terms people would use in a search for you.

Association Memberships: Do you belong to the BBB? NSA? ASTD? Careful with acronym soup…it might help to spell out the names to avoid confusion.

Do you have any Awards? Don’t be afraid to brag a little. Awards tend to beget more awards. Someone might be looking for you to bestow a new award. Let them find you!

What else interests you? You never know how someone will form a connection with you. It might be the type of books you read or movies you like to watch. Giving people multiple touch points opens up greater possibilities.

What are some key search terms? Knowing you, and if you were looking for you, what search terms would you enter to find yourself? Are those terms already covered with the information above?

Do you hold an Patents or have you written any Publications? People love an expert! Show off your stuff so that people can keep reading and find out more.

Next Steps: Call upon a friend that you trust (actually, a complete stranger might be just as effective for this exercise). Describe to them what you do and then ask them to tell you what you just told them. Any differences? Be sure that the message you’re sending at least vaguely resembles the message received.

You obviously can’t put everything you do into every online profile. However, the web is a big place. Revisit all of your online profiles and make sure that together they tell the whole picture as you would like it to be told. Keep going back so it’s fresh and relevant.

What other tips can you give about creating a robust online persona?

It’s easy to tell who has had a Google profile before Google+. Just take a look at their pixelated profile pic. Google+ = bigger profile pic.  Here’s my before and after:

Have you updated your Google+ profile picture yet? Here’s how.

While you’re signed into Google+, click on your name in the upper left corner.

Next, click on your name next to your picture in the upper right corner.

Now Click on Edit Profile (upper right section of page).

Notice that there’s an X in the top right corner of your profile photo (click to delete) and a link to Change Photo underneath your photo? Click on the link and from here you can select a new photo.

You have the choice of uploading a photo, or choosing an existing photo from photos you already have uploaded to Google.

Select your picture, and you’re done!

WhizBang! Notice that your profile photo shows up as a square? Use photo editing software to crop it before you upload it to have square dimensions. Just be sure it’s at least 200 x 200 px (the final dimensions Google uses). Try Google-owned Picnik for free, fast photo editing.

Hey, while you’re in there, update your profile info too. More about that later…

Add a link to your Google+ profile in the comments so we can check out the results!

Here’s the situation:

1. WordPress has been installed in its own directory (i.e. www.your_domain_name.com/wordpress
2. You want someone to go to www.your_domain_name.com and go directly to your WordPress installation
3. A simple redirect will get them there, but the path shown will still be www.your_domain_name/wordpress and you want it to simply show www.your_domain_name.com

WordPress gives directions on “Giving WordPress its Own Directory While Leaving Your Blog in the Root Directory“, but I always initially install WP in its own directory to begin with. Every time I tried to modify their directions and follow them, I’d end up with an error (with maybe one exception). I eventually got so nervous about moving the index to root that I stopped doing it and set up a simple redirect which gave me those ugly subdirectory urls. So, here’s my modified directions that have worked for me.

The following are simply a modification from the WP Codex article “Giving WordPress its Own Directory While Leaving Your Blog in the Root Directory.”

Many people want WordPress to power their site’s root (e.g. http://example.com) but they don’t want all of the WordPress files cluttering up their root directory. WordPress allows you to install the WordPress files to a subdirectory, but have your blog exist in the site root.

This process will keep WordPress in its own directory and move the index file to the root directory. It may help to print out these instructions before you start:

1. First do a FULL backup of your website, including databases.
2. Go to the administration area of WordPress and go to the General panel (under Settings).
   
3. In the box for WordPress address (URL): change the address to the new location of your main WordPress core files. Example: http://example.com/wordpress
4. In the box for Site address (URL): change the address to the root directory’s URL. Example: http://example.com
   
5. Click Save Changes. (Do not worry about the error message and do not try to see your blog at this point! You will probably get a message about file not found.)
6. Move your WordPress core files to the new location (WordPress address). Example: http://example.com/wordpress
7. Copy (NOT MOVE!) the index.php and .htaccess files from the WordPress directory into the root directory of your site (Site address). The .htaccess file is invisible, so you may have to set your FTP client to show hidden files. If you are not using pretty permalinks, then you may not have a .htaccess file. If you are running WordPress on a Windows (IIS) server* and are using pretty permalinks, you’ll have a web.config rather than a .htaccess file in your WordPress directory. As stated above, copy (don’t move) the index.php file to your root directory, but MOVE (DON’T COPY) the web.config file to your root directory.
8. Download your root directory’s index.php file to your machine.
9. Open your root directory’s index.php file in a text editor
10. Change the following and save the file. Change the line that says:
    require('./wp-blog-header.php');
    to the following, using your directory name for the WordPress core files:
    require('./wordpress/wp-blog-header.php');
    
11. Upload your changed index.php file back to the root directory of your site.
12. Delete any other index files (index.html, index.htm) that are already in your root directory (after you’ve saved a copy of them, of course)
    
13. Login to the new location. It should still be be http://example.com/wordpress/wp-admin/
14. If you have set up Permalinks, go to the Permalinks panel and update your Permalink structure. WordPress will automatically update your .htaccess file if it has the appropriate file permissions. If WordPress can’t write to your .htaccess file, it will display the new rewrite rules to you, which you should manually copy into your .htaccess file (in the same directory as the main index.php file.)

*I have only done this procedure on a Linux server, so I the instructions about a Windows (IIS) server in #7 have not been tested by me.