Smartphone voor Dummies - de Cloud in

Regelmatig krijg ik via sociale media de vraag of ik mijn telefoonnummer weer even willen doorsturen want hij/zij heeft een nieuwe telefoon en is alle nummers kwijt. De vraag of de nieuwste Nokia 3310 (anno 2000) goed bevalt ligt dan op mijn lippen toetsenbord. Er worden schrikbarende bedragen uitgegeven aan iPhones, HTCs en Samsungs die krachtiger zijn dan je PC uit 2005, die volgestopt zitten met Cloud-diensten en Cloud-Apps. Maar de basis-functionaliteiten, zoals het synchroniseren van het adresboek wordt op de één of andere manier overgeslagen. Dat ding heet smartphone maar wordt zo blijkbaar niet ingezet.

In deze series van blogs zal ik ingaan op de mogelijkheden die de moderne smartphone anno 2014 biedt en die mijns inziens dus onvoldoende benut worden.

De "CLOUD"

De "Cloud" is kort-door-de-bocht dat stukje internet waarin jij jouw data kunt zetten zodat die altijd bereikbaar voor je is, mits je maar online kunt. Dat wil dus zeggen dat de data/informatie niet meer alleen op je computer of telefoon staat maar dus ook ergens op servers van bijvoorbeeld Google of Microsoft. Met als grote voordeel dat al jouw apparaten (pc, laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc) met die centrale kopie in de Cloud in verbinding staan en het bestand dat je zoëven op je PC via Dropbox (ook een Cloud-dienst) hebt opgeslagen binnen een paar tellen ook op je tablet beschikbaar is en je er onderweg in de trein aan verder kunt werken. In diezelfde Cloud kun je ook je contactpersonen, afspraken, muziek, foto's opslaan, en je email!

problemi con 3Italia per un passagio da Vodafone

A febbraio/marzo decido di passare dalla Vodafone alla 3 perché ho visto che hanno migliorate la rete, ora c'è una antenna che copre Morazzone e quindi posso usufruire la loro rete 3G al max anche da casa. Passaggio da abbonamento a privato con Vodafone a abbonamento con 3 con passaggio dal mio numero non è nessun problema. Entro 1 settimana il vecchio numero è passato alla 3. 

Il 25 aprile decidiamo di passare anche l'altro numero (quello che usa mia moglie) dalla Vodafone alla 3. Contratto fatto alla MediaWorld di Varese (Iper Malnate) e con la nuova scheda USIM 3 nella sua iPhone4 anche mia moglie è contento e carica le sue foto velocissima su Instagram... ;-)

Dopo 2 settimane però non è ancora passato il suo numero. Strano... chiamo 3 IO (loro non si sono fatto sentire) e mi spiegano che c'è stato un problema con il passaggio. Il cliente alla Vodafone non corrisponde con quello nuovo alla 3... Ma sono IO? il stesso Dagmar Sporck, come privato però, non con P.IVA... e magari li c'è stato un errore (causata dalla ragazza delle MediaWorld) che ha preso i miei dati (con P.IVA) presente nei sistemi di 3... ma tutto si puo risolvere se torno alla MediaWorld e faccio rifare tutti documenti.... SCUSA? voi (3 e MediaWorld) fatte errori ed io li devo risolvere? Dopo qualche telefonate (passano giorni) finalmente qualcuno mi manda una mail.

scambio di qualche mention e DM su Twitter tra me e @3Italia sui giorni 8, 11 e 12 maggio

Il 12 maggio ricevo finalmente una mail con i documenti da (ri)compilare... passano qualche giorni (sono in viaggio) e compilo tutti dati ed il 24 maggio ritorno i documenti... non succede niente.

il 25 maggio chiede via Twitter DM  se hanno ricevuto i documenti, rispondano il 27 maggio che non sanno di che cosa sto parlando, altri DM i giorni 28 e 30 maggio

PASSATA UNA SETTIMANA e vari DM e finalmente mi chiama 3, è il 31 maggio, 5 settimane dopo il contratto iniziale! Ora c'è un problema col numero seriale della SIM di Vodafone... chiamo Vodafone, mi faccio dare il numero coretto, lo passo alla ragazza della 3 quando richiama e lei -seduto dietro al PC- mi CONFERMA il passaggio per la settimana dopo, venerdì 8 giugno, "il computer mi da la data, non posso cambiare nulla Signor Sporck, sarà 8 giugno"!

allora... aspettiamo 8 giugno... passa 8 giugno....

mando un altro DM il 10 giugno chiedendo cosa sta succedendo... "segnalazione girata" risponde 3SocialCare (cosi si chiama la squadra su Twitter e FB di 3).... niente però... 

chiedo ancora il 12 giugno (tardi però), "segnalazione girata" mi rispondono il 13 giugno

chiedo ancora il 14 giugno e lascio per la x-esima volta il mio recapito

"possiamo chiederti un recapito alternativo?" chiedano il 16 giugno. ora rispondo arrabiato, però lascio ancora il mio numero per la x-esima+1 volta!

niente... silenzio totale... e quindi il 18 giugno chiedo un altra volta perché nessuno mi chiama e sopratutto cos'è il problema? Da quando (31 maggio) mi è stato promesso il passaggio per il 8 giugno non ho più sentito qualcuno che mi ha spiegato la problematica.  - "abbiamo sollecitato ancora" rispondano il 18 giugno

alle 15:02 oggi (19 giugno) chiedo ancora. risposta: "Il tuo problema è in gestione" ed allora ho deciso di scrivere questo blog. 

settimana prossima saranno 2 mesi dopo che abbiamo richiesta questo passaggio, che ora non servirebbe più perché tutti sanno questo nuovo numero. ma visto che ti danno solo lo sconto al passaggio lo dobbiamo fare per forza. nel fra tempo paghiamo però sia 3 sia Vodafone (anche se quella non viene usata). abbiamo perso troppo tempo, mi sono arrabbiato più che una volta per una cazzata! 

ma peggio di tutto... NON COMUNICANO quelli della 3. Bon ti chiamano, non ti mandano un email, tweet o sms spiegando la situazione.... non so il perché e quindi come posso comprendere la situazione... magari ci sono dei motivi, ma io non li so e quindi mi arrabbio... tanto!

UPDATE 19/6/2012, 16:38  4 minuti dopo che ho pubblicato il blog e ho avvisato 3Italia via Twitter e FB mi hanno risposta via Twitter (chiedano una fattura, non capisco perché ma lo ho già mandato...)


UPDATE 20/6/2012, 18:00 ieri sera 2 dipendenti (presumo) di 3 hanno lasciato dei commenti sulla mia blog su Facebook e a base di quei commenti ha fatto una domanda via Twitter-DM a 3, guarda e piangi con me cosa hanno risposta!

UPDATE 26/6/2012, 10:00 6 giorno passati e nessuno della 3 si ha fatto sentire, ovviamente una soluzione non c'è ancora. via Twitter mi dicano sempre "segnalazione girata"... girata dove? nel buco nero? è ora che troviamo un'altra soluzione. non mi serve più di passare il numero, ma ovviamente solo ai condizioni agevolati!


UPDATE 1/7/2012, 9:00 abbiamo appena ricevuta un sms dicendo che come richiesta il numero è passato alla 3. controllato e risponde davvero il vecchio numero. Finalmente dopo 67 GIORNI sono riusciti a passarlo... (adesso dobbiamo informare tutti che è tornato attivo il vecchio numero). Strano però che nessuno si ha più fatto sentire dopo il 30 maggio. Peggio ancora che non siamo mai stato informato sui problemi e non abbiamo mai ricevuto notizia di che tipo di problemi che ci fossano... STRANO. ma funziona. Adesso però vorrei aver rimborsato i costi per 2 abbonamenti per 2 mesi!

building your web-empire - 1. Setting up a Blogsite

People sometimes wonder why I spend so much money on a personal website and private email-addresses. They are referring to my own sporck.it domain (you're on it now). When I tell them it only costs me a couple of euros a year they're always surprised.

Somehow a lot of people think a decent website and email-address must cost over a 1000 euro's, but in facet it's almost for free. All you need to pay for is the (yearly) registration fee for a domain name (which for most common domains is around € 10,-/yr). If all you need is a not too complicated website, let's say a blog where you want to put some personal stuff, some pictures, maybe some videos, a template-based Blog-site will do. For the email I use Google Apps FREE since a couple of months and I am very pleased with it. Not only email, but also a calendar, an address-book and even documents (Google Docs). All for free!

There are many ways to register a domain name. Via Google you could register a .com for just US$ 10,- per year. But if you prefer a website ending on .nl, .eu, .it or whatever you will have to find a local partner. Just Google (in your local language) for domain registration and many (sponsored) hits will lead you to many companies willing to provide you with your own domain. You do not need any services from them, no hosting, no server-storage or space, just the domain-registration and full control over the DNS, this last one is vary important because you will need to reroute to the various applications (blog, email, calendar, etc.)

Once you have registered your domain-name you can start setting up the blog and email. From here on I divided this blog into two parts:

1. how to set up your blog and give it a domain-name (this blog);
2. how to use Google Apps for your own email domain (coming soon)

creating your blog
There are several blog-apps on the internet, the most used/popular ones are:

• Google's Blogger
• WordPress
• Tumblr

Just Google for "Blogger Wordpress Tumblr compare" and you'll find enough tests and comparisons and why you should choose one above the others (som many bloggers, so many opinions). I choose Blogger some time ago and I do not regret it; Blogger is easy to set up, hosting is for free, there are a lot of templates available out there in case you might not like the build-in ones, scripts & applets to spicy your blog, etc., etc. I haven't come across something I was not able to implement.


setting up your blog on Blogger
Once you decided for Blogger the first steps are pretty easy. Just go to blogger.com, register and follow the steps in which you choose a name for the blog and one of the default templates. Afterwards you can always rename your blog, choose another template.

giving the blog your own domain-name

Blogger Publishing Settings

Now you're blog will have an URL in the blogspot-domain (mine used to be http://sporck-it.blogspot.com/) you can replace it with the one you registered. Since I registered the domain "sporck.it" I chose "www.sporck.it" to replace the "sporck-it.blogspot.com". When logged in on Blogger (the back-end) go to the Settings TAB, click Publishing and click on Switch to: Custom Domain, then on the right click on Already own a domain? Switch to advanced settings here you can enter the domain you registered (for example www.sporck.it, but also blog.sporck.it is possible). At this point we have to be patient, before we can access the blog on this new URL you need to make add and edit some records in your domain's DNS which Google explains in an easy step-by-step guide on their site. Once these modifications are made to the DNS you need to wait at least 12 hours, but sometimes it can last up to 2-3 days before these modifications are known to all DNS-servers. In the meantime you can work on the content of the blog or set up Google Apps (also here some DNS-modifications are required).

Once the DNS-servers are updated the domain is forwarded to Google's servers and your blog is reachable under the desired URL!

VoIP, Fritz! and FastWeb ADSL

Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I wrote this blog since it took me weeks to find out what was wrong with the VoIP-settings on my Fritz!box. Maybe this blog can help others to save time and to get things working right away.

My situation:
Since two months I am connected to internet via Fastweb ADSL at home. Because we live too far away from "civilization" I only get a 2Mbps max connection, but the VoIP quality is good (if not downloading at the same time). Before we were connceted via a wireless 4Mbps connection via EOLO which indeed offered faster downloads but because the distance between my receiver and their antenna was approx 13km the VoIP quality was unacceptable (packet-losses and -delays causing stuttering and echo).

Fastweb was in fact the only one offering us ADSL, the Italian Telecom's daughter Alice did not want to supply it. But although the connection is slow, too slow for 2010, it is stable and, most important, VoIP quality is good.

Setting up the Fritz!box 7170 for FastWeb (Router)
Already for quite some time (dating back when we still lived in the Netherlands) I am using the Fritz!box 7170 WLAN ADSL-modem/router for routing internet in our home and for connecting my Siemens SX353 ISDN Exchange to internet (using VoIP). With both EOLO and FastWeb the internal ADSL-modem is not needed (FastWeb delivers their own modem you are obligated to use), so it's only used as a router and FON.

After FastWeb delivered the line and the modem it was up to me to set up the Fritz. Piece of cake as far as internet is concerned.

1. connect a PC to the FastWeb-modem, wait for DHCP to receive all settings and then memorize: IP, subnet-mask, gateway and both DNS-servers;
2. now disconnect the PC from the modem, and connect the Fritz!box to the FastWeb-modem, using PORT 1 of the Fritz!box (very important) and connect your pc to the Fritz!box via LAN2,3 or 4 or WLAN;
3. Log into the Fritz!box (see their manual), go to Settings>Advanced Settings>Internet>Account Info and edit the settings: 
• Connection: internet via LAN1 (and not via DSL)
• Operating Mode: Establish own internet connection (NAT router with PPPoE or IP)
• Account Information: No account information required (IP)
• Connection Settings: here you fill in the information you memorized from your PC before (IP address, subnet mask, etc.)
• You might wanna set your connection speed so the Fritz can prioritize traffic (no idea if this really works, I have the impression it doesn't)
• Apply the settings and reboot the Fritz!box

The router is now ready to go, maybe you still need to set up your LAN: DHCP Server, WLAN (don't forget to protect it with WPA2) and so, but then you should be able to connect multiple computers (and printers, iPads, iPhones, etc) to the Fritz!box.

The (Italian) website VoceSuIP.com was pretty useful in the steps described until here. 

But then the problems started. 

Because FastWeb is not giving each customer (expensive) its own public IP-address but a static private IP-address (usually in the 10.x.x.x range) instead the VoIP-providers have difficulty finding the Fritz!box in case of an inbound call. Outbound calls are no problem, the Fritz connects to the right provider (based on the dialing rules) and the call can be set up. Basically the path between the Fritz, through the FastWeb router to the various providers is only kept "alive" (by FastWeb) for a few minutes after the Fritz!box connects (after a reboot for example). 

But after a while not using the line (not making a call) the FastWeb routers forget about it and the connection between Fritz and VoIP provider becomes one-directional (Senso Unico so to speak). The Fritz sees the VoIP-servers but not the other way around. So in case of an inbound call the VoIP-servers can't deliver it to the Fritz!box. There is a mechanism provided in the Fritz!box that should keep the connection alive (Settings>Advanced Settings>Telephony>Internet Telephony>Advanced Settings>Keep port forwarding of the Internet router enabled for Internet telephony), but playing around with it did not help.

We use/have five different phone-numbers, two Dutch, two Italian and one Swiss number with three different providers. If you want to know why ask me via twitter or email, I don't think that it's relevant here. Strangely enough my Dutch numbers (from MottoVoIP.nl) were functioning but my Italian and Swiss weren't. After some mails between first/second line support of my Italian VoIP provider EuteliaVoIP and me I was contacted directly by one of their technicians via phone. I explained everything I tried, he did some suggestions that unfortunately did not work until as a last resort he suggested to dive into the heart of the Fritz via Telnet and change a configuration file (I just cut about 2 weeks of testing, probing, evaluating log-files, him contacting AVM-Fritz, etc. short into 3 lines). So I did as he said, enabled the Telnet, went into the Fritz, found the configuration-file, edited the settings he advised to edit, saved the file, rebooted the device and YES!!! even after hours not using the phone inbound call was working. Thanks to his support and a this site I found when Googling part of his solution I managed to get it working. Thanks a lot M.and EuteliaVoIP! We went really deep into this subject, I know many support-/helpdesks that would have blamed the provider, the hardware or whatever.

The reason my Dutch number were working has probably to do with the fact they are registered first in my Fritz!box and the keep-alive function only works for the first number and not the other ones. The solution, provided by AVM-Fritz themselves to the engineer at Eutelia, is to edit one by one the TTL-time of each SIP-subscription in the voip.cfg file. Why AVM doesn't put this option under the advanced settings is unbelievable, I have been trying various combinations/options (together with the Eutelia-engineer) but only this one works.

Setting up the Fritz!box 7170 for FastWeb (voip.cfg)

1. Enable Telnet on the Fritz!box by dialing #96*7* on a phone connected to the Fritz!box (I saw telnet enabled appearing in the display of my SX353);
2. Start a Telnet-session from a pc to the Fritz!box (the password is the same you use to enter the Fritz' web-interface)
3. Start the nvi-editor and open the voip.cfg file with the following command

• nvi /var/flash/voip.cfg

1. Careful the nvi-editor is a very basic one
• use / to search for ttl move to the 30m and with i enter in edit mode and change 30m into 3m (reducing ttl from 30 minutes to 3 minutes);
• ESC brings you back in command mode, search for all other subscriptions and for each and everyone change the ttl to 3m;
• when done :w writes the changes and :q quits the editor
• give the reboot command and wait for the Fritz! to reboot.
2. and afterwards don't forget to switch telnet off with #97*8*

This was what worked for me! 

Unfortunately this did not solve the same issue (no inbound calls) I have with my Swiss SIP-Account. So I am now about to get in touch with my Swiss VoIP-Provider (sipcall.ch) to find out how to get things working. I'll keep you updated.

update 17.Nov.2010
It seems that SIPCALL.ch is not capable of solving the problem. I get a lot of standard questions to check this, to check that, but at the end of the day it still doesn't work. Strang though that both MottoVoIP and EuteliaVoIP work perfectly now... and although the Fritz will be far from perfect Sipcall can't keep on blaming it if the other SIPs work without problems.

update 2012/2013
I changed provider again (back to EOLO but now with a faster connection of 8/1Mbps) and installed a Fritz!Box 7390 which is a lot faster and more flexible (apart from the extra features)

To Be Continued

het geheim van de verdwenen sms-berichten

Na mijn emigratie van Nederland naar Italië (medio 2008) ben ik klant geworden bij de Italiaanse mobiele operator Tre Italia (ook wel als H3G, 3ITA aangeduid) die een zeer aantrekkelijk abonnement aanbiedt. Voor het alleszins redelijke bedrag van € 79,- per maand incl. IVA (IVA=BTW) krijg ik 2.000 belminuten binnen Italië én Europa (zone1), 600sms berichten nationaal (binnen Italië dus) en nog een databundel (20GB/mnd). Wij (ook mijn vrouw heeft een abonnement bij Tre Italia) zijn vrij tevreden over deze aanbieder voor wat betreft telefoneren en het internetgebruik (binnen Italië) maar reeds vanaf dag één dat wij gebruik maken van Tre constateren wij problemen met het verzenden en ontvangen van SMS-berichten. Wij kregen al vrij snel het vermoeden dat niet al onze sms-berichten naar niet-Italiaanse contacten aankwamen. En ook werden wij regelmatig enigszins manend door vrienden/familie aangesproken op het feit dat wij niet reageerden op hun nieuwsgierige vragen die ze per sms aan ons gezonden zouden hebben. ZOUDEN, want wij konden ons die sms-berichten totaal niet herinneren, in tegendeel we kregen de indruk dat uit het oog ook inderdaad uit het hart betekende. Deels uit laksheid om dit verder te onderzoeken en deels uit gebrek aan medewerking bij de helpdesk van Tre hebben we hier verder geen aandacht meer aan besteed en zijn we de wel werkende alternatieven gaan gebruiken: telefoon, email, hyves, facebook, twitter, etc.

Totdat ik een tijdje terug een aantal belangrijk sms-berichten niet ontvangen bleek te hebben, toen besloot ik eens nader op de materie in te duiken. Ik belde nogmaals met de helpdesk van Tre en ik leek iemand aan de lijn te krijgen die er zowaar wat energie in wilde steken. Ik stuurde een aantal sms-berichten naar Nederlandse 06-nummers van diverse relaties bij diverse operators en verzocht de ontvangers te melden of het bericht al dan niet was aangekomen en of ze een sms-bericht wilden terugsturen. Wat bleek, sms-berichten naar T-MobileNL kwamen niet aan, andersom wel, naar VodafoneNL kwamen ze wel aan maar niet terug, en bij KPN-NL tenslotte werd beide richtingen op alles netjes afgeleverd. Ik heb slechts met 3 telefoonnummers getest, maar de testen zijn op diverse momenten herhaald met steeds hetzelfde resultaat. Ook de vriendelijke jongeman van de helpdesk vond het allemaal maar vreemd. Hij heeft alle Nederlandse telefoonnummers genoteerd welke ik had gebruikt, hij wist op welke tijdstippen de sms-berichten verstuurd waren en zou zich er dus wel eens met zijn meer technisch capabele collega over buigen. Een week later belde hij zowaar terug, maar met een mededeling die ik nu echt niet verwacht had: "Tre Italia had niet met alle (Europese) operators contracten afgesloten over het sms-berichtenverkeer en zo kon het gebeuren dat sommige berichten dus nooit aankwamen".

Ik stond PAF! Ik heb de vriendelijke jongeman nog gevraagd om dit alsjeblieft per email of brief zou kunnen bevestigen maar ik wacht vandaag nog op die brief, en zo slecht zijn de Italiaanse posterijen nu ook weer niet, en een email heb ik ook nooit ontvangen. Of zou hij een sms gestuurd hebben ???

Dit betekend dus dat mensen waarmee ik gewoon mobiel kan bellen (dat contract bestaat blijkbaar wel) niet per definitie ook kan sms-en.
En als je ze toch een sms-bericht stuurt geeft je telefoon gewoon aan dat het bericht verzonden is, de sms-berichten worden bovendien gewoon in rekening gebracht! En internationale sms-berichten vallen (in mijn geval) niet in één of andere bundel en worden dus tegen een relatief hoog tarief afgerekend; dat bedroeg vóór juli 2009 zo'n 50cent, nu nog steeds 30cent)!
Op de site van Tre Italia heb ik nergens informatie kunnen vinden die erop wijst dat niet alle internationale sms-berichten worden afgeleverd. Navraag bij VodafoneNL (via hun Twitter-account) wees wel uit dat Vodafone over een dergelijk document beschikt en daarin blijken inderdaad twee van de vier Italiaanse operators (waaronder Tre) te ontbreken.

Maar het is toch van de zotte dat we aan iets waaraan we zo gewend zijn geraakt als een simpele sms niet als vanzelf sprekend verondersteld kan worden, maar nog erger, we betalen er wel voor???!!!

Wie gaat dit aankaarten en oplossen?! Ik ga zelf maar eens beginnen in Brussel bij een Nederlands vertegenwoordigster met kennis van zaken in deze: Sophie in 't Veld. Haar heb ik een dik jaar geleden horen spreken over div. ICT-problemen en ik was behoorlijk onder de indruk. Hopelijk kan zij dit in Brussel aankaarten, de idioot hoge internationale roamingtarieven en sms-kosten zijn al aangepakt, nu nog de aflevering van smsjes (en de torenhoge internationale datatarieven).