black%ll-micro@ll-vlsi.arpa (Jerry Glomph Black) (12/28/88)
I just read a short review in PC Week about a $400 gizmo which answers your phone, then issues a robot-voice announcement to the caller requesting that the (hopefully touch-tone-equipped) person press the '3' button. The caller is then connected to your voice phone, which rings as usual. If '3' is not pressed, the gizmo box assumes that a fax or modem is calling, and your data equipment receives the incoming call. Seems like a good way to get double use of one line. The $400 seems overpriced for what you get, my $50 answering machine can recognize tones and make decisions accordingly. Are there seminal components or subsystems you can get to put one of these together?? Any other comments on this kind of equipment? J. Glomph Black, black@micro@LL-VLSI.arpa
soley@ontenv (01/03/89)
In article <telecom-v08i0211m06@vector.UUCP>, black%ll-micro@ll-vlsi.arpa (Jerry Glomph Black) writes:
: I just read a short review in PC Week about a $400 gizmo which
: answers your phone, then issues a robot-voice announcement to the
: caller requesting that the (hopefully touch-tone-equipped) person
: press the '3' button. The caller is then connected to your voice
: phone, which rings as usual. If '3' is not pressed, the gizmo
: box assumes that a fax or modem is calling, and your data
: equipment receives the incoming call. Seems like a good way to
: get double use of one line.
:
: The $400 seems overpriced for what you get
I think what you were reading about is a product called Watson, in
addition to doing what you say it also is a modem and comes with
voicemail software for the PC (a little rudimentary, but workable)
considering this the price is quite reasonable.
--
Norman Soley - Data Communications Analyst - Ontario Ministry of the Environment
UUCP: uunet!attcan!lsuc!ncrcan!ontenv!soley VOICE: +1 416 323 2623
OR: soley@ontenv.UUCP
" Stay smart, go cool, be happy, it's the only way to get what you want"chaney@E.MS.UKY.EDU (Dan Chaney) (01/05/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0003m07@vector.UUCP> soley@ontenv writes: >X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 3, message 7 > >In article <telecom-v08i0211m06@vector.UUCP>, black%ll-micro@ll-vlsi.arpa (Jerry Glomph Black) writes: >: I just read a short review in PC Week about a $400 gizmo which >: answers your phone, then issues a robot-voice announcement to the >.... -- Is there a way to differentiate between FAX and regular modem-logins? I understand that there are el-cheapo FAX programs that, using your modem, act as a document-based fax machine. These programs are much cheaper, on the order of $50-$100. What I would like to be able to do is have the computer pick up the phone and run either the FAX program if this is a fax call or go ahead and run a login to Unix. I can also for see DOS people wanting to choose between FAX, UUCP and possibly a third BBS package. Am I dreaming or is this at all possible? I do not have any specs on FAX protocol but would be interested if anyone has such data. >: equipment receives the incoming call. Seems like a good way to >: get double use of one line. ^In this case, possible even triple or quadruple. Assuming that the other end will give you a carrier long enough to decide between human, FAX, UUCP or just a recording from Sears telling you that your Christmas order has finally arrived. >: >: The $400 seems overpriced for what you get > -- Dan Chaney {uunet and the like}!ukma!chaney chaney@ms.uky.edu chaney@ukma.BITNET If a 100-year old Roman Catholic offers you | "Life is but a state of mind" a clever quote, don't take his word at it. | - Ben Rand
sl@uunet.UU.NET (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne) (01/07/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0005m05@vector.UUCP> chaney@E.MS.UKY.EDU (Dan Chaney) writes: >In article <telecom-v09i0003m07@vector.UUCP> soley@ontenv writes: >>In article <telecom-v08i0211m06@vector.UUCP>, black%ll-micro@ll-vlsi.arpa (Jerry Glomph Black) writes: >>: I just read a short review in PC Week about a $400 gizmo which >>: answers your phone, then issues a robot-voice announcement to the >>.... > >-- Is there a way to differentiate between FAX and regular modem-logins? > I understand that there are el-cheapo FAX programs that, using your > modem, act as a document-based fax machine. These programs are much > cheaper, on the order of $50-$100. No, there is no way to use a normal (Hayes 1200/2400) type modem for Fax. > What I would like to be able to do is have the computer pick up > the phone and run either the FAX program if this is a fax call or > go ahead and run a login to Unix. I can also for see DOS people > wanting to choose between FAX, UUCP and possibly a third BBS package. > Am I dreaming or is this at all possible? I do not have any specs > on FAX protocol but would be interested if anyone has such data. > I heard a rumour yesterday about a Fax Modem with a built in Hayes 2400 compatible modem that can offer a dial tone to incoming calls. The caller then can send another touch tone digit to activate the service he requires. So you could tell your uucp users to dial: atdt555-1212W1 And your fax users to dial: atdt555-1212W2 Assuming W stands for "wait for tone". Of course if the fax person is really calling from a fax machine he may have to use other modifiers for the dial strings, but this is the equivalent to getting through a PBX which most machines seem to be capable of. On the computer side it would see some messages from the modem along the lines of "DIGIT 1" or "DIGIT 2". Sounds like just the thing for small systems where you don't really want to dedicate a line to both uucp *AND* fax. You just need software that can watch the modem and give a normal login for some connects, and go direct to a fax receive program for others. Of even more interest the person I talked to claimed that this would be in an external box that you can talk to over a serial port! So it's not tied to the PC architecture. I'll forward more details when I confirm all this. -- Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532
steve@apple.com (Steve Lemke) (01/17/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0003m07@vector.UUCP> soley@ontenv writes: }In article <telecom-v08i0211m06@vector.UUCP>, black%ll-micro@ll-vlsi.arpa (Jerry Glomph Black) writes: }: I just read a short review in PC Week about a $400 gizmo which }: answers your phone, then issues a robot-voice announcement to the }: caller requesting that the (hopefully touch-tone-equipped) person }: press the '3' button. The caller is then connected to your voice }: phone, which rings as usual. If '3' is not pressed, the gizmo }: box assumes that a fax or modem is calling, and your data }: equipment receives the incoming call. Seems like a good way to }: get double use of one line. }: }: The $400 seems overpriced for what you get } }I think what you were reading about is a product called Watson, in }addition to doing what you say it also is a modem and comes with }voicemail software for the PC (a little rudimentary, but workable) }considering this the price is quite reasonable. Actually, I was just at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and I think that what you're after is a neat new device I saw there called The Eliminator - Autoswitch TF-300, made by Command Communications, Inc. Their number is (303) 750-6434, and they also have another device called the Autoswitch TF-500. The Autoswitch TF-300 will handle a FAX machine, answering machine, and normal voice telephone, and the Autoswitch TF-500 adds modem handling. The details of how these devices work is a bit too complicated to mention here (and besides, I'm not feeling well and don't feel like typing it all in) but it was discussed on page 22 of the November, 1988 Radio Electronics and is described in detail on the product brochures available from the company. I believe the prices were $195 (TF-300) and $295 (TF-500) but I'm not sure. They'll also be coming out with a TF-400 which is like the TF-300 but works with a modem instead of a FAX machine. ----- Steve Lemke ------------------- "MS-DOS (OS/2, etc.) - just say no!" ----- Internet: steve@ivucsb.UUCP CompuServe: 73627,570 ----- uucp: apple!comdesign!ivucsb!steve GEnie: S.Lemke ----- Quote: "What'd I go to college for?" "You had fun, didn't you?"