Help me, help me.

My USB headset is rubbish. Absolutely dire. It’s made by Gigaware and, if memory serves, I bought it for an outrageous price from one of those airport shops when I was on my way to America. You know when you pay something like £50 for bits of plastic that you know must have been manufactured for pennies? That’s how I felt. But I needed to have a headset as I had several important Skype conferences planned. Plus I didn’t want to rely on the MacBook’s own internal microphone as that can be a bit echoy.

The Gigaware headset, complete with rough plastic ear-muff things and boom mic has been with me for about 2 years now.

I need to do something about it.

When I use it, my Skype calls are fine for about 40-50 minutes before the headset just screws up. Literally it goes haywire and people can’t hear me. It’s like a build-up of static or something. So routinely, when I’ve been talking on Skype for more than 35 minutes I have to apologise to all concerned and briefly take the headset’s USB plug out… wait 5 seconds… plug it back in again and proceed as normal. To avoid this build up of… something.

I don’t know WHY I haven’t done something about this.

So.

Please help me out.

What’s the best USB headset you can buy?

Have you experimented with Bluetooth or infrared/wireless ones?

What do you recommend?

[Update: I found the exact headset model I've got. Must have bought it from Radioshack. $29 it says on their site. I'm sure it was more. Either way, I'm not a big fan.]

Crossing both 2.5 and 3G networks its due out soon, with carries to be mentioned in due course.

Specifications/Compatible computer operating systems: -

• 3G: 850/2100MHz
• GSM:850/900/1800/1900 MHz

• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Mac OS 10.4
• Mac OS 10.5

Posted by email from MIR Live (posterous)

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Dear Ewan

My partner recently got a T-Mobile USB HSDPA dongle for his Windows laptop.

I tried the Mac software for this on my Macbook (one of the latest models before they went metal again) but it keeps crashing.

I really want to get one, but canI stop it crashing or are there any alternatives?

Thanks in advance.

Rachel

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Well Rachel.. interesting. I actually ended up using the software that came with my 3 USB dongle to power both that and the Vodafone one — I had a similar issue.

Has anyone got some suggestions for Rachel?

Just noticed that a 3 branded usb modem router is now for sale on their website:

then click on Wireless routers, £69.99 without a contract – very tempted indeed.

Just look at how small they must be – the Ethernet port looks MASSIVE on the side of the tiny router.

The thought of a portable wireless hotspot anywhere, (especially at Dad’s house, where the 3 coverage is good upstairs, but non existent downstairs – Router upstairs, whole house now covered!) makes this a MUST BUY for me.

More info here

Happy days,

Trevor.

Thanks for the tip Trevor!

Posted by email from MIR Live (posterous)

Hope you’re well. Great stuff going on at SMSTextNews. Still enjoying it hugely. Love the vodcast (is that the right word?!).

Just wanted to flag up something I stumbled across while looking for a new router which might appeal to SMSTN audience. It’s a Draytek model with a USB port that allows you to plug in your HSDPA modem and use that as either primary or backup net connection (along with the usual ADSL). Cool. In theory then, as long as you could find power, you could create a portable wi-fi network pretty much anywhere. It costs less than 200 quid and has VOIP prioritisation to boot. It gets very strong reviews too.

http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2820.html

I’ve never seen anything like this discussed on the site, so I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but I thought your dongle-dangling audience might be as fascinated as I was! I’m on the brink of ordering the 2820Vn…

In case it’s of interest…

Muchos, muchos interest Mark. Nice one. Has anyone tried out the 2820Vn? It’s a smart idea to include USB dongle support. Indeed I wonder if some of mobile operators would consider selling the device along with their dongles?

It really is very smart.

I think I’m still expecting things to screw up. I remember when my GPRS internet connection was good for about 10 minutes or so, then you had to reconnect. Those were the days. Of pain.

Today I carry both a 3 and Vodafone one and they’re both equally excellent.

It’s just astonishing that they work. I need to get over my connection-anxiety.

Speculation from some folks apparently in the know (salt, salt, pinch of course) is T-Mobile are due to hit the market with a ‘router’. Now. This could definitely be a US-style ‘T-Mobile@Home’ service. Or it could be something a little bit more exciting, particularly when various sources are mentioning it in the same breath as T-Mob’s USB stick.

We’ll see, eh?