My solution so far has been to use a Logitech headset on my Mac when I am Skype calls or conference calls (where audio is done through the Mac), and I use the iPhone headset that is provided in the box. But I have issues with this; 1) as much as I like the Logitech headset, I don’t find it comfortable for long periods of time and always feel like its falling off my head. The other issue is the wires – they just get in the way & 2) although the iPhone headset is fine, its always falling out of my ears and I keep getting tangled in the wires.

So I have been looking for the holy grails of headset, here is my criteria;

1. No Wires
2. An inner Ear solution
3. But I also want it to hang from behind my ear (inner ear always falls out too for me)
4. stereo, so typical bluetooth headsets are out (I am partially deaf from too much Rock n Roll in a previous life, and audio in both my ears is best)
5. Something that can work with both my Mac and iPhone
6. I want to be able to listen to music on it too

So after some research I came across the 906 Backbeat Headphone from Plantronic and Altec Lansing, and after using it for a week, and although I am still trying to resolve a Mic issue with my Mac, I have been very impressed!!

These Plantronics are essentially inner ear headphones that hang behind the ear. They connect to any Bluetooth enabled device and also have a bluetooth adapter that plugin into any mini jack audio device. They also have a built in mic that seems to work quite effectively (as many people are telling me) when you are using them with the iPhone or Skype.

I paired it up with my iPhone first and that was pretty straight forward. Press the power button and hold it on until the LED alternates between red and blue, and the iPhone picked it up straight away. As soon as I hit play on the headset, my iPod started to play!!! And when I make or take a call, the iPhone sees my Plantronic headset and uses it by default.

Next I paired it up with my Mac. This was just as straight forward. Put the headphones in discoverable mode again, and the Mac pairs with it. As expected, on the Mac I can select it as an audio device and in Skype, I can also select to use the Plantronic as the audio input and output device. Although I have come across an issue at the moment that I am sure I will be able to resolve; the microphone doesn’t seem to want to work. I can get the headset to work fine and hear everything, but when I select the Plantronics as a Mic input, no one can hear anything. I am thinking I will still need to play with this somewhat to get it sorted out.

The Good Stuff

I find the Plantronics super comfortable. They feel very natural on my ears, are not heavy and unlike other wired headphones, when I move my head suddenly or quickly, they just stay in place. They sound awesome! When I first bought them, I charged them up and wore them on a flight back home from a work engagement and I loved them immediately. The don’t sit right in my ears, but have these telescopic buds the seem to transmit the sound neatly, and also unlike many other earphones, they don’t lose bottom end when they slightly pop out (which is their natural sitting positions). They are also very ‘discrete’, meaning that most people don’t even notice that you are wearing them! But the downside is when you get a call, you look like a total fool talking to himself!!!

The Bad Stuff

I can’t say that I have come across much stuff to complain about yet. The only things that seem to be strange is when I first get them working with my iPhone, the volume controls work perfectly, but 10 minutes in that seems to stop working. And turning them off and on again seems to fix that. The other thing that annoyed me is the fact that the only way you could charge the device was via the supplied Power Supply, that charges through a micro USB port. These days, most devices allow you to charge them through the USB port. The last thing I need is to have to look for a power outlet when travelling just for the headset. Quick fix; I jumped onto eBay and bought a USB to Micro-USB cable for $8 delivered! Not so much a gripe with these headphones as it is with Bluetooth, but I would prefer  to have a greater range than 10 metres. I am sometimes on a Skype call and would like to walk out of the environment that I am in to make it more private. But the limitations of Bluetooth don’t able me to go into a room down the hall. Oh well, have to wait for the new Bluetooth standard to be released

Conclusion

When I am at my desk, I have it paired to my MacBook and pretty much always on charge. So when I am on Skype, I can just put these on my head. And if I am working for long periods of time where I want to listen to some music, I’ll use these as well. Then when I hit the road, I shut my laptop and turn on Bluetooth on my iPhone and I am listening to my iPod and can take and make calls whilst driving. Perfect solution for me!!!

If you are looking for comfortable stereo headphones that hand off the back of your ear, I can’t recommend these enough. I love them, but remember its only a week that I have been using them. The bluetooth pairing is great, sound great, they are very comfortable and I can find myself wearing them all day without my ears hurting.

But not this time!

In my quest to find a better provider, I got a twitter response from Neosurge Web Solutions that started telling me about their offering. Let me just say that I generally like when someone pro-actively approaches me in response to a tweet, even if they are trying to sell me a service, because in reality, it is reactive marketing. Marketing that is targeting me in response to a need I have right now. And if its not a Bot doing it, I am in favour of it.

I was still sceptical, but after some initial investigation, Neosurge had some of the most competitive pricing available. But what really sold it to me was the response I was getting via twitter. All my questions were getting promptly answered and it helped my decision along.

But it didn’t stop there. When I went through the process of setting up my VPS (Virtual Private Server), I was getting quick feedback and response to any issues I raised. For the first time, my support experience became conversational rather than log it and wait and see. It was Support 2.0. This was fabulous! I had some hiccups that I believed were around memory, in the past, I would have got a run around blaming me that I have not correctly configured ordeployed the application, or at worst, just ignore the real question. Neosurge helped accommodate my issues, if I needed to up the memory, they did that promptly. If it worked, fine, I get billed for it. If not, roll it back, no harm done. Are you serious!! I have never had support like this, so I had to tell them about it.

If a business is providing a good service, I believe it is my duty as its customer to tell them that. That is the best metric for them to know that they are doing the right thing, and its the same level of feedback I expect. Through the process, I met Brian, who was helping me with my support.

I thought Neosurge was such an exception to all the hosting providers out there, that I asked Brian if I could interview him and publish it on myBlog. Now, anyone that follows my blog, knows that I have never done an interview, but it is something that I wanted to do for a while. So making Neosurge the first, I believe is a testament to them.

First a quick disclaimer; Although you will see that I have a link at the end of this post where I have signed up to Neosurge’s affiliate program, this is not the reason I did this (Brian offered this to me after the fact). My main motivation was that I wanted to spread the word, and make sure Neosurge hangs around. I believe some of the bigger boys can learn a lot from this company.

The following is an interview conducted with Brian from Neosurge over Email;

RJ: Tell me about What Neosurge is?
Neosurge: Neosurge has been providing a variety of web hosting services since 2002. Initially for the first couple years, the focus was on providing web hosting and domain registration services. As business grew, I was able to expand into offering a wider range of services. Today, we provide complete web hosting, reseller hosting,VPS, dedicated servers, collocation, bandwidth services, domain registration and more. The goal is to provide a complete range of services to allow individuals and small to medium sized businesses the tools they need to establish or expand their web presenceaffordable, reliably and with as little hassle as possible.

RJ: What motivated you to start Neosurge in a market that has lots of hosting and data center competition?
Neosurge: In 2002, there were less providers then there are today. There was a noticeable lack of professionalism and focus on providing small businesses and consumers with what they needed to get their visions realized on the web. After many bad experiences with various hosts, I eventually got a job working with one of them.

This job with a now defunct web host that was very careless and not dedicated to providing customers with a reliable and complete experience. One day the owner of this company disappeared without even letting me know (his primary employee) he was leaving it became obvious the way forward was to build a company to deliver the level of service and reliability that is needed to provide people with the framework for successonline.

RJ: What makes Neosurge different from the competition?
Neosurge: In the day of big players in the web hosting services industry, there is less emphasis on the “service” aspect. Providing complete customer satisfaction is paramount to the success of Neosurge. Our complete range of servers give customers the ability to start small, and receive support through the initial process from concept to full fledged server farm.

RJ: What plans have you got for the future?
Neosurge: Moving forward, the focus is always keeping a keen eye on industry trends. Continue to automate processes and ease the technology curb for customers. But of course, the prime focus is always on customer satisfaction and service in the hosting industry.

RJ: What challenges do you think are facing your industry, particularly with the state of the economy?
Neosurge: Though some sectors of the hosting industry are experiencing growth, no one is immune. In the recession many large businesses are scaling back, budget cuts and consolidation continue. This is a rough time for many organizations around the world, all the more reason to focus hard on core business values and make the best of each day that comes.

Rob, thank you for taking your time to interview me. I enjoy gaining from your excellent writing and experience on your blog.

END OF INTERVIEW

If you are looking for some hosting from a reliable provider with unprecedented support, please check Neosurge out!