ppd491@leah.Albany.Edu (Peter P. Donohue ) (08/02/89)
I have seen programs advertised that trun a computer into either a fax machine or an answering machine. Does anyone have any experience with them that they would like to share? Thanks for any info. - Does anyone one have recommendations for a particular make? - How do these programs vary from separate machines; are they significantly better or worse? - What are the hardware requirements? I am presently working with an XT-clone; will either/both work on this machine or do they have to wait for me to upgrade to a 386? Pete -- Peter P. Donohue (aka Harry Hackem) consulta@albny1vx.bitnet . "Education is a journey, ppd491@leah.albany.edu . not a destination..."
b27y@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU (08/02/89)
I have both of what you are asking about : the answsering machine and the fax card. The watson system: the "answering machine" is actually a voice mail system called WATSON by Natural MicroSystems. the Board and software costs $199 with 1200 baud modem and a 2400 baud version for $299. It is actually a very powerful voice mail system. It will act as an answering machine. You can also have people call in from any touch tone phone, get you personal message, and leave you a personal message (By entering there own "password"). You can also call in yourself remotely and get any new messages that may have been left for you. Much of what you do at the computer can also be done remotely. It can also be used for other voice puposes: in Brooklyn the US MAIL have an information system, were customers can phone in, type a certain number, and get info about the Us mail's services and rates. It is a Watson based system. You can also program it to do all that evil comptuer telemarketting, where the computer calls innocent people and blabs some pre recorded message to them. It comes with a calender, dictation, and phonebook. The calander has an alarm system, which will remind you appointments -- it will even call you at a number at play back a reminder for you. (you can use it for wake up calls). the phonebook will not only keep track of phone numbers, but dial the number for you Overall it is a very powerful gadget. basically it is just a sound digitizer, with the phone technology attached. And also you can use it as a modem, and it is compatibile with every other modem program. You can also run the voice mail system in the background, while you can work on something else, while watson answers your phone. there is a jack for an external speaker, so you don't always have to talk thruogh you phone. I also have a faX card called the FAX BASHER by DEK which is really a coard called the Complete FAx made by the people who make all the COMPLETEtm line of stuff. (DEK only really sells repakaged stuff). It is also a nice little package. It is only a 4800 baud fax but they put out a nicer 9600 baud version. If you don't have a scanner (Which we do) then the Fax stuff is not so hot. This board cost us about $250 the 9600 version runs I think $350. The better version also has a jack for most scanners built in, and also comes with a 2400 baud modem. If you have a scanner then you can of course fax anything. Without it you are limited to anything that you can create on the machine. My software will fax documents created by ASCII, Microsoft Paint, DR. haLO, PC PAintbrush, and some other stuff. The fax software runs in the background and will interupt some programs printing and redirect it to the fax. all you have to do is set the printer configuration of the software to some ePSON printer (I forget the model) and then print it. The fax software wuill convert it to fax and send it if you wish. The nice features you get with FAX CARD vs real Machine: you can do some neat telemarketing: ie fax the same document to 1000 different phone numbers, late at nite when the rates are cheaper. Some machines do this, but they also cost $1500 and up. You just make a list of the documents to be faxed, the phone numbers to fax them to, and the times to do it. When you come back it gives a detailed list of which documents made it, which failed (due to busy signal or other maladys) and when they got there. And yes it does retry failed deliverys. ALL the software runs in the background. It is very well written, so that the background process seems to interfere very little with my foreground process (Unlike watson, which slows thing down prettey well). It will answer phone, receive fax, send fax, or print fax, while I do something else. The only problem I have is the printing: I have an XT Clone with a panisonic 1091i and each document takes about 15 minutes to print. This makes receiving documents a pain, since If it is contract needing signed< I can't get a hard copy for 15 minutes. I am sure that If I had another syetm it would work faster. (You can view fax on the screen before you print them however). There must be a ton of graphic conversion going on, which is shat is taking so long. If you have a 386 box with a different printer, I am sure that printing would speed up apropriately. Besides that everyting runs pretty smoothly for me. It runs on my XT and the only problem seems to be with the printing, and some of the FAX viewing since I am viewing in Monocrome cga. Highspeed VGA would be nice. If you have any questions fell free to get back in touch with me. I really like the WATSON system, and the fax software is nice, but I think I am going to get a real machine when I can afford it (they are very expensive). Although scanners are also nice toys too. --misha-- /*----------------------------------------------------------------------*/ /* Michael Gray b27y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (ARPA) */ /* Misha Computing b27y@crnlvax5 (BITNET) */ /* 526 Stewart Ave UUNET!CORNELL!VAX5!b27y (UUNET) */ /* Ithaca N.Y. 14850 (607)277 2774 */ /* */ /* "Save the Humans" --Bumper Sticker */ /*----------------------------------------------------------------------*/
ddurbin@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Daniel A. Durbin) (08/02/89)
I designed a voice digitizer for the IBM PC AT/XT and compatibles for my senior project and am in the process of building 100 of them this summer. The plug in card interfaces with the phone line and I am marketing the cards as the DigiPhone telephone answering system. The first cards will be rolling off of the assembly line no later than the 12th of August. If you are interested in more information, call either my BBS or me at my voice number (805) 544-7414. Daniel Durbin___________________________________________________ SysOp: Cygnus X-1 BBS | CIS: 73447,1744 (805) 541-8505 (data) | GEnie: D.DURBIN EL major at PolySlo | ddurbin@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU
wagnere@gtephx.UUCP (Eric Wagner) (08/03/89)
We have just purchased "The Complete Answering Machine" (CAM) for
use as a combination answering machine, audio bulletin board, and
outcall system. We like it. It is XT,AT compatible. It runs
in the background allowing you to use your PC while it takes
messages or calls out. It forwards messages to appropriate
people. It calls a list of numbers and delivers a message to
them, optionally requesting a verbal reply. You can use it as
a bulletin board system -- having users pick their way thru menus
to get to the info they want. Its great. Call if you want
further info (or a demo).
--
-----------------------------
Eric Wagner (wagnere@gtephx)
AGCS (formerly GTE), Phoenix (602) 582-7150
UUCP: {ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!hrc | att}!gtephx!wagnereeli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) (08/05/89)
does the Complete fax / Complete answering machine offer integrated
fax and voice applications? i think that the "complete" people and
Brooktrout are the only companies which sell both voice and fax...
but i think that only Brooktrout can run many voice cards as
well as many fax cards in a single PC... i'm not sure how
far this technology has been pushed so far... is anyone curious?
--
...... Steve Elias (eli@spdcc.com);(6178591389);(6178906844) {}
/* hi */wagnere@gtephx.UUCP (Eric Wagner) (08/07/89)
In article <4070@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>, eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes: > does the Complete fax / Complete answering machine offer integrated > fax and voice applications? i think that the "complete" people and > Brooktrout are the only companies which sell both voice and fax... > > but i think that only Brooktrout can run many voice cards as > well as many fax cards in a single PC... i'm not sure how > far this technology has been pushed so far... is anyone curious? The complete answering machine (CAM) can be run simultaneously with the complete fax machine. Also, up to 4 CAM cards can be present in any 1 PC! -- ----------------------------- Eric Wagner (wagnere@gtephx) AGCS (formerly GTE), Phoenix (602) 582-7150 UUCP: {ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!hrc | att}!gtephx!wagnere
eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) (08/08/89)
wagnere@gtephx.UUCP (Eric Wagner) writes: >In article <4070@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>, eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes: >> does the Complete fax / Complete answering machine offer integrated >> fax and voice applications? i think that the "complete" people and >> Brooktrout are the only companies which sell both voice and fax... > >The complete answering machine (CAM) can be run simultaneously with >the complete fax machine. Also, up to 4 CAM cards can be present >in any 1 PC! sounds good... do the 4 CAM cards run off of the same database??? can multiple fax boards be present as well?? apparently the Complete products are a bit more versatile than i had thought... i'll have to get their latest technical information... anyone got a phone number for them?? -- ...... Steve Elias (eli@spdcc.com);(6178591389);(6178906844) {} /* i don't like Mike */
lee@puffin.uucp (Lee Moore) (08/08/89)
Lee Moore -- Xerox Webster Research Center
UUCP: {allegra, decvax, cmcl2, rutgers}!rochester!rocksanne!lee
Arpa Internet: Moore.Wbst128@Xerox.Com
DDN: +1 716 422 2496