Catchup

Hmmm … three months since I last posted here … where were we? Ah yes – the new network at the house. And the search for replacements for Outlook/Exchange Server.

Lots to catch up on so I’ll break it down into several posts. Network first …

The network is running splendidly. All the machines that have wired connections (that’s all the servers in the garage and my office and recording PCs) have gigabit connections to each other and file transfers now take place at speeds limited by disk transfer rates rather than network bandwidth. The wireless segment runs flawlessly too. The Linksys WRT54GS (with replacement firmware – something I’d definitely recommend) is sitting inside the loft at the top of the house providing a strong, 54Mbps link to each of the laptops and a solid 11Mbps to my IPAQ handheld. As for range, it’s great for what I want.

I have SJphone (http://www.sjlabs.com/sjp.html) installed on the IPAQ so that when I’m away from home I can still receive and make calls using the Asterisk VOIP exchange in the garage at free/cheap network rates rather than the ludicrous rates charged by mobile (cell) phone companies, especially for international calls. This works extremely well – when away from home I just login to a WiFi access point and make calls while checking email and browsing the web. When at home, the IPAQ naturally connects up to the wireless network in the house so, if I wanted to, I can make and receive calls using it. Usually I don’t as I have a better phone on my desk (an Aastra 480i) but – here’s the good bit about the new network – the wireless extends to the garage and to the bottom of the garden. Which means that I don’t have to remember to carry one of the house mobile phones round with me – I just carry the IPAQ as normal – it already handles both cellular and VOIP calls.