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Your own London phone number on your mobile

Posted by Rob (#1) on May 8, 2008 22:31 CEST

Modern technology has brought me a step closer to the Anglosphere. UK friends and readers can now call me at a London number (see contact details on this site) at landline rates. US friends and readers can call me at a San Francisco number. I'll get the call right on my mobile. I can call UK landlines and any US/Canada number for less than a pence a minute (peak-rate) and UK mobiles for less than 10 pence a minute (peak-rate). But.. I live in the Netherlands, so how do I do it?

It's simple, really. My new Nokia N82 phone, for free with contract renewal, has built-in WLAN. This means it can connect to wireless networks. It also has built-in SIP/VOIP support, which means it can make and receive Internet calls.

VoIPtalk is the VOIP service I'm using. If you have a modern WLAN and VOIP compatible phone such as the Nokia N82 (or N95) S60 models or some Sony Ericsson UIQ models, you can enjoy all this:

You can get an account, VoIP number and special UK VoIP number for free. Just sign up and you can start receiving calls.
Their pre-pay rates are competitive and much lower than, for example, SkypeOut.
You'd be making and receiving calls from your mobile - you won't have to sit behind a laptop.
For just a few pounds or euros a month you can get your own landline number in hundreds of cities in the UK, Europe and North America. This number is forwarded to your VoIP number for free. This means you you be reached on your mobile at local and national landline rates for the regions and countries of your preference!
Caller ID will show the number of your choice.

Sure, it's not entirely free. But for the price of one international text message it is now possible to have two up to fifteen minutes of international airtime! If this is what Anglosphere globalism brought us, I love it!

PermaLink: Your own London phone number on your mobile
Tags: London, Internet, San Francisco, UK, telephone, VoIP, SIP, US, Nokia, Skype, calls
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London/Camden trip

Personal

Posted by Rob (#1) on February 20, 2008 00:00 CET

Most concert related entries will no longer be posted here but on Capsi, so if you want to read about my weekend trip to London to see Exit Avenue, hit the link and be happy.

I remember when..

Personal

Posted by Rob (#1) on January 7, 2008 11:28 CET

I remember...

2007, when I still posted here occasionally basis
2006, when I still posted here regularly
2005, when scumbag terrorists attacked London
2004, when Americans acted as if they'd never seen a nipple before in there entire life
2003, when Paris Hilton wasn't daily news
2002, when Britney Spears was still hot
2001, when we still had guilders and not euros around here
2000, when The Olsen twins were still illegal

I feel old.

PermaLink: I remember when..
Tags: London, nipplegate, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Olsen twins
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Almost mature!

Personal

Posted by Rob (#1) on July 11, 2007 17:59 CEST

My birthday is coming up in less than two weeks. Most people tell me to expect major changes in lifestyle and maturity when I hit that big three-oh, but they've been saying the same as 25, 21 and 18 so I'm reluctant to believe them. So instead of feeling blue I'm going to celebrate irresponsibly - in London, obviously. Booked my flight and hotel on Monday so I'm ready to party! :)

GIAN 2007 London Day 2

Gigs

Posted by Rob (#1) on April 28, 2007 23:59 CEST

Woke up early again, despite a long fun day before. Jamie urged me to get to Earl's Court quick because the queue was already quite huge in the morning and indeed when I got there around 10:15am I was fortunate I could jump in at the spot he and Yaels already were. Laura and Tash joined us not much later and we had a lot of fun when a drunken girl crashed in Jamie's arms only to be taken away by the medic later.

The music on Saturday was only so-so, the only band I really wanted to see were Enter Shikari. They only played a short show due to the singer having lost his voice - which was also the reason their April shows I planned to attend have been postponed to June.

Talking about so-so things, it was so boring to meet Laura again! I just had to snog Jamie again. Which probably wasn't such a good idea, he kept humping me all night and what I just said about Laws is bollocks so I wasn't really thinking about Jamie all that much. I was busy enough trying to focus on not falling in love head over heels.. blame (thank?) Jamie if I was too distracted to succeed at that. ;-)

(Post-dated entry, written later than it appears to avoid an endless row of pictures inside the journal.)

PermaLink: GIAN 2007 London Day 2
Tags: London, Give It A Name, Laura, Jamie, Enter Shikari
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GIAN 2007 London Day 1

Gigs

Posted by Rob (#1) on April 27, 2007 23:59 CEST

What a morning! Forgot to set the alarm (damn drunken Thursdays!) so I was very fortunate to wake up at 5:10am which gave me just enough time to shower, pack and head to Rotterdam airport where a VLM flight was waiting to take me to London City airport. Dropped my luggage at the hotel around 9am and went to Camden where I decided a new tattoo would be a nice way to remember the GIAN weekend.

Around half 3 I walked up to Earl's Court after checking in at the hotel (can't do that in the morning). To be honest, Friday was by far the best day for music at Give It A Name in London. Countless of great bands played, with special kudos to Mindless Self Indulgence, Alexisonfire and the once-again very drunk Ville Valo of HIM. Their performance actually sucked but I met a nice bloke from London named Zach with whom I quickly managed a nice deal, he'd let me smoke his pot if I used my Dutch rolling skills. Needless to say, at the end of Friday I was quite stoned and couldn't care less that HiM was funny at best.

(Post-dated entry, written later than it appears to avoid an endless row of pictures inside the journal.)

PermaLink: GIAN 2007 London Day 1
Tags: London, HIM, tattoo, Give It A Name, Alexisonfire, Mindless Self Indulgence, Ville Valo, Zach
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Haircut, tunnel, gig

Personal

Posted by Rob (#1) on April 26, 2007 17:05 CEST

It's been a good day: the barber gave me a new haircut, the piercing shop replaced the ring in my ear for a tunnel (and went from 7mm to 8mm for free) and tonight I'm seeing Tiger Army at Waterfront.

Let's just hope I won't be too drunk because I have flight to catch in the morning. Definitely looking forward to GIAN, shopping in London, and spending time with Laura and Rachel.

PermaLink: Haircut, tunnel, gig (2 comments)
Tags: Rachel, London, haircut, Laura, Tiger Army, tunnel
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Ready for GIAN

Gigs

Posted by Rob (#1) on April 23, 2007 14:37 CEST

Happy St. George's Day! I'm ready for Give It A Name!

On Saturday Powerfest gave me a nice preview featuring the likes of MxPx, Mewithoutyou, Sparta, Mindless Self Indulgence (yay!), Motion City Soundtrack and Jimmy Eat World. Added bonus: Voodoo Glow Skulls.. awesome!

This morning I booked a nice hotel in the Bayswater area which. It costed me more than I'd like to admit, but maybe now I'll finally learn to find a hotel early on. For some reason it's hard to find a good deal just four days prior to arrival.. oops.

Two more days of work after this one and then I'm off to Kinki for a new haircut on Thursday, followed by a pre-flight gig at Waterfront (Tiger Army). Then it's off to London City Airport, check-in to the hotel, party like a madman (HIM, Alexisonfire, Mindless Self Indulgence), sleep. Saturday: meet up with Laura, Jamie and Natasha, maybe hit Camden, party some more (Enter Shikari, Juliette and the Licks, Senses Fail, New Found Glory), sleep some more and/or party late at Camden. Sunday: meet up with Laura again, party some more (AFI, MxPx, Hellogoodbye), sleep.

On Monday all of Holland will be celebrating our monarchy (meh) so instead I'll do some shopping in London and late at night I'll fly back to Rotterdam with VLM airlines. I'm off on Tuesday as well so that means I can sleep in which in turns means that whenever I said sleep before I really meant party, snog and shag because why waste time in London asleep?

Yup, I'm ready for GIAN!

PermaLink: Ready for GIAN (1 comment)
Tags: London, haircut, Camden, HIM, MxPx, Give It A Name, Alexisonfire, Hellogoodbye, Jimmy Eat World, Laura, Mindless Self Indulgence, Enter Shikari, Tiger Army
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Not-so-quick update

Personal

Posted by Rob (#1) on January 25, 2007 02:14 CET

As announced, it's been a while. Hello!

I just got back from London. Work sent me there for a quick business trip lasting two days (originally one) and despite the delayed flight and exhausting security queue at Gatwick airport, I had a good time. The exhibition was mostly useful even though some gaps in our exploration for leads remain.

Highlight of the trip however would be my lunch date with Laura. Rumours exist that if all goes well and beyond work will open a R&D shop in London in a year or two, she's one good reason to relocate there if that happens. I hate to rain down on any parades but on the other hand, despite radio silence, Inge remains a reason not to. There's no chance nor plausibility to get back with her but I still do miss her.

Anyway, the weekend of the 13th I was in Tel Aviv for another business trip and even though most of my trips go to England and Scandinavia I have to concede one thing. There's a big fun factor in drinking coffee at the beach in a t-shirt in January while doing some brainstorming, and then calling it work. Also, nice Ed Hardy store over there so I expanded my wardrobe and shoe collection a bit. Jerusalem was fun as well. It kind of confirmed my suspicion that religion is for the dim-witted, but regardless it was an experience unlike any other.

Having covered the present and past, a small update on the future now. I'll work tomorrow (read: later today) and then will be off to Austria for a week of skiing. There's a chance I'll have to take a day off from my holiday to do some business with a bookmaker in Graz or Zell am See, but it should still be fun to have a classic and traditional week in the mountains with dad.

So yeah.. life's still busy here. I'm glad it is! :-)

PermaLink: Not-so-quick update
Tags: skiing, London, work, dad, Inge, Laura, Tel Aviv, Don Ed Hardy
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Happy Halloween

Personal

Posted by Rob (#1) on October 31, 2006 01:15 CET

Happy Halloween everyone!

Just got back from Stansted airport with a two hour delay and I have some wonderful London moments to share with you..

..once I find the time. Have to solve a work emergency before bedtime and then head to the office tomorrow morning to finish a delivery (on my day off!). Before heading to Tilburg for Taste of Chaos, after which I'm flying to Bratislava to install said product.

Hopefully Friday will be a bit more relaxed! :)