Musings on Caller ID /Modem Voice Mail, etc.
Here at WMMSYDH2, we have at long last* solved the self-inflicted "caller id modem will not show caller id" problem.
There is a special message in this, because it is a GIANT REMINDER to always, every single time, CHECK EVERYTHING.
My grandmother used to sell early electric Hammond organs. One
time a Hammond rep./repair person was having a heck of a time getting
one of the units in the store to work. Finally, she said, "I
don't want to interfere, but should this cord be plugged into the
outlet?" Because, the repairmen had not actually plugged the unit
in, so it had no electricity.
Oh, my modem(s) have been plugged in and have worked, etc., etc.
But for some reason, no matter how many times I ran Hyperterminal
and verified that caller id was set "on" -- no caller id response.
At all. But, caller id was definitely working -- my regular
caller id box was picking it up.
I use Faxtalk voice mail software. Faxtalk will log the caller id
along with the message or fax. What a great tool! Except,
unfortunately, doesn't work unless the modem actually picks up the
caller id info and passes it through to the software.
Arrrgghhh....
As a professional person, I did not want the answering machine to keep
blabbing away after I picked up the phone when I was screening calls.
I screen all my calls. After all, 50% of them are sales
calls I do not wish to take. (Sorry, sales persons ...)
Faxtalk has an icon that allows you to stop the outgoing message.
This, of course, only works if the modem will respond to the
disconnect command, which my early modems would not do.
So ... and here's the problem relating to CID ... I went over to my
friendly Radio Shack and purchased a neat device that will block out
whatever phone device is connected to it when you pick up another
extension. Works great.
Also, as it turns out, it BLOCKS CALLER ID.
Fortunately, my latest modem actually responds to the "hang up" command
from FAXTALK. So, I think caller ID is working for me. But,
I also have a closet full of modems that fail at one or another uses.
For you Linux readers, I have not checked whether my new modem will
work with Linux. I hope so, since one of my goals has been to
switch to the linux voice mail packages. I've never been able to
do it, because most of my modems are varying degrees of Linmodems.
The new one is a serial connected Multitech Multimodem MT5656ZDX-V,
which works great. It may not work so great if hooked to a
computer that does not have a serial port, such as if you use a device
to convert the serial to USB. I haven't tried that. I was
previously using a CNET 56K external modem. It worked pretty
well, but the sound quality was poor, which made call screening
difficult. (The outgoing message sound quality was just fine.)
It doesn't matter, since unless you intend to buy it on E-Bay,
the CNET isn't available any more. But it was definitely budget
priced.
I've tried some other modems. I tried both a USB and a serial/USB
modemblaster. These are not USB 2.0, and the problem I had was a
"lag" in the outgoing message. In other words, the OGM would
randomly start mid-message instead of at the beginning.
Some time ago, I started getting rid of desktop computers and I was
using only laptops. So a lot of my search has been for modems
that will work with a laptop. I successfully ran voicemail
software on IBM Thinkpad 486 machines, using the CNET external modem.
I bought the Thinkpads used. After a number of years, I
decided they were just too obsolete and passed them on to other users.
By that time, I had my own "leftover" pentium laptops as I moved
up to faster and bigger laptops.
One of the laptop motivations was laptops were quiet. Whereas my
desktop computers were noisy -- and were constantly burning out the
fans. Plus I hated the old CRT screens, but I could get an entire
laptop for a price close to that of a new flat screen.
In one of life's ironies, my HP ZD 7000 has two fans, so it's really
noisy for a laptop (because the PIVs run hot). On the other hand,
I recently got a bargain basement priced desktop at Best Buy, an
"e-machine." Yeah, it was obsolete years before I bought it, but
if it's just going to be a giant jukebox and answer the phone, the
price was right.
As it worked out, this generation of desktop is now pretty quiet.
It's actually quieter than my HP ZD 7000, which is my primary
work computer (still after 3 years -- um, isn't it about time to get
some new hardware, dual core, something goovy?)
Right now, I've got this neat setup, because I got a cheap flatscreen
monitor, and IOgear switch that manages four computers on one
screen/keyboard/mouse/audio.
Back to laptops -- I got a CNET PCMIA modem that worked fine for
voicemail *except* I couldn't screen calls. So, I took an old
telephone, removed the outgoing microphone portion and set it up so
that I could "listen in" on the incoming call as a call screen system.
The problem with this is that you can only call screen if you are
standing next to the call screening phone and can turn it on.
(And then you have to remember to turn it off again.)
Here's an interesting story -- my old HP laptop came with an internal
"data/fax" modem that was actually a "data/voice/fax" modem. It
didn't originally work as one, but then about 2000 they did a Y2K
upgrade to the driver and it "came to life." So, on that computer
I could do full voice mail, with call screening.
But in one of life's additional ironies/complications, Faxtalk software
would not run on the modem. The only package I could find that
would work was Communicate2000! That was a good package -- and
had an additional neat feature that you could put cameras "online" and
monitor your home or office from the internet. Unfortunately, I
did not like the fact that when a caller hung up, 2000! would run the
outgoing message three times before releasing the modem. That
would tie up my line for an inordinate time. 2000! is also
difficult to archive messages, since they have to be converted to WAV
and other user intensive operations. Deletion is also weird,
because you can delete the message >entries< without actually
deleting the incoming message file, resulting in a clog-up of your hard
disk. Faxtalk is much easier and also has the nice feature of
e-mailing all of your messages and faxes to you, with faxes in pdf
format.
I have to test the modem features on the Multitech. It seems more
responsive than prior modems to hangups and other line info. If I
could get a modem/voice mail package to disengage properly, then I
could have an improved system. (What I do with Faxtalk is try and
have a "short" OGM and set the machine to automatically hang up at the
end of the message. This is the best I could do with hang ups.
But, it means that callers cannot leave a message unless they
actually press "1" -- the machine won't take a message at the end of
the OGM.)
_________________
*We do not want to tell you how long "long last" actually is, because it would be too embarrassing...
BONUS PS:
Here at WMMSYDH2, let me mention something. DO NOT ... EVER ... PLUG the WRONG POWER SUPPLY in to a device.
Okay, so that is easy to say. Not so easy to keep track ... and
WHY ARE THERE NO STANDARDS? WHY DOES EVERY POWER SUPPLY USE THE
SAME CONNECTOR? My first big mistake was to put a 6 v AC into an
older switching unit for switching keyboard/screen/mouse/audio.
Fortunately, this was a unit that someone gave me, it was
obsolete and the one I purchased from IOgear is a way better choice,
being smaller and switchable from the keyboard.
But I really hate burning stuff up. I will use an old obsolete
piece of equipment until it absolutely dies or I can no longer find ANY
use for it whatsoever.
The other day, I was re-doing my entire stack of peripherals.
This includes three Linksys (stackable) boxes ... with three
power supplies that say "Linksys" on them. Unfortunately, they
are also three different voltages and one is AC. Despite -- I
say, DESPITE trying to keep track of them and KNOWING I could easily
repeat the above disaster, I managed to switch the AC with the DC.
Surprise, the wireless box did not come on. (Oddly, the AC
router seemed to work fine with the DC power supply.)
After initial heart failure, I had another "surprise" -- for unknown
reasons, the AC power supply DID NOT burn out my wireless box.
But two disasters was not sufficient to get a grip. I then
proceeded to plug a Buslink AC power supply into my TARGUS external
docking bay.
Want a clue? When you smell that "burning electronic component
smell", you know for sure you have done screwed up again... And,
even worse, I had marked the CORRECT power supply, I had "looked" at
the tag to make "sure" I was using the right power supply and ...
TADA!! -- I wasn't. Talk about totally spacing out. WHY
CAN'T THEY USE DIFFERENT CONNECTORS.
Which reminds me of an airplane story about "ergonomics" and why knobs
should have different shapes so you grab the right one. An
aquaintance was ferrying an airplane from Texas to California.
They came to a bank of clouds and discussed whether to go
forward. They decided to go. It was getting chilly, so my
friend reached down and turned on the "heat." A minute or so
later, the right engine coughed and died. The two pilots looked
at each other and decided it was now time to return to the starting
point.
As they are heading back, my friend suddenly had a thought. He
reached down and turned the "heat" back off. To the other pilot's
surprise, the right engine suddenly coughed and came back to life.
It seems that in this particular twin engine aircraft, the heat knob
and the fuel supply knob were the same shape. They were also
right next to each other -- and in the dark or without looking, it was
easy to turn the wrong knob!
But fortunately, I have another "silver lining" to my fried electronic
device story. I went to EBay and found a very good price on an
official docking station for my ZD7000 -- which will be a lot better
choice than using the universal Targus docking station.
(Though I truly hate burning stuff up out of sheer stupidity.)
As I say, *We Make Mistakes So You Don't Have 2*.
Happy Trails ....
Barrington