People dissatisfied with carrier reception

A new Mac Performance Guide has been released by diglloyd, which looks at the performance of several eSATA cards in the MacBook Pro, while Line2, a VoIP service provider, has recently conducted a survey claiming a growing interest in VoIP as a primary calling service.

diglloyd has updated its series of Mac Performance Guides with a new article covering the performance of several eSATA cards available for the MacBook Pro. The guide looks at three different models, including the OWC Slim ExpressCard to eSATA Adapter ($28), Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro ($198), and Sonnet Tempo SATA Edge ($50). Testing is said to show that in all cases eSATA cards outperform FireWire 800, but due to the MacBook Pro's low-bandwidth ExpressCard/34 slot, top performance is only between 45 and 70 percent of the fastest peripherals for the Mac Pro. Out of the three eSATA cards the review says that the Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro offers the absolute best performance, though for a fraction of the cost, the OWC card is only 10 percent slower. Also in favor of OWC is plug-and-play compatibility, and an ability to boot a computer from an eSATA drive.

Line2 survey finds reasons for customers switching to VoIP

A recent survey, conducted and promoted by Line2, has revealed that more than 80 percent of its customers would be interested in using VoIP as their primary method of making calls. The survey was also intended to discover the reasons that led customers to try a VoIP calling app in the first place. Results showed that the number one reason was a dissatisfaction with the reception provided by their carrier, while other incentives included reducing the cost of a phone bill, adding a second number for business calls, and cheap international calling. Line2 produces a VoIP app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

by MacNN Staff