"Peter G. Capek" <CAPEK%YKTVMT.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu> (08/30/90)
In TELECOM Digest 10.603, Gordon Edwards asks about home intercoms.
His question seems like a good spur for me to mention something I have
installed at home called Call Manager I. I've had it installed for
several months and have been quite happy with it. Unfortunately, the
device itself doesn't give any identifying information, and I've
misplaced the manual which came with it, so I can't immediately give
the manufacturer's name. It was a gift, so I can't quote a price.
This product provides the ability to use telephones installed on the
same line as an intercom. It connects (as would a Demon Dialer; I'm
not sure if both could feasibly be installed on the same line) just
inside the demarcation point, and works by allowing a user at a phone
to cause all the phones installed on the line to ring.
It affects the operation of the phones only when invoked, which is
done by a switchhook flash. It can be invoked either by picking up
the phone, getting a dial tone and flashing (it responds with 2 beeps,
"hangs up" the phone line, and waits for you to proceed), or by
flashing when a call is established (it puts the call on "hold" and
responds with 3 beeps). In either case, the user can then dial (on
pulse phones) a number from 1 to 6, and hang up. This selects 1 of 6
distinct ringing cadences, which is applied to all connected phones.
When the ringing stops, you know that one of the other phones has been
picked up, and you can pick up and be connected to that person, and
also to the phone line, if a call had been in progress. If you do
this from a touch-tone phone, it is a bit more of a nuisance to select
a ringing cadence other than "1" because you have to push ANY tone
button the appropriate number of times. (It doesn't distinguish the
tones from one another.)
There's only two of us, so we don't particularly care about the
distinctive rings, but they're intended to be assigned to different
occupants of the house. One thing that is lacking which I think would
have been nice is a continuous ring, so that it would have been
immediately apparent to the caller when the other party picked up,
rather than waiting for the start of the next ring phase. It also
seems appropriate to mention that it does require a 110 volt outlet
near where it is installed for power. The documentation for
installation also left something to be desired. But once installed,
it works well. Usual disclaimers apply.
Peter Capek