using the computer as a telephone

[Eli Aran]

I have a modem and a sound card.
both have voice capabilities.
I would like to make phone calls using some kind of dialing program and my
microphone and loud speakers .
I would also like to be able to answer incoming phone calls, talk to people
using the mic and hearing them in the speakers.
I suppose that most of the calls will be local (in my city or in my country)
but it should also be able to work with international calls.
do you know such program (hopefully free) I can use?
how do I wire or configure such a task?
NOTE: I am NOT looking for an Internet based or IP based phone connection
but a REGULAR PHONE LINE connection via the computer.
thank you for any advice!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Sorry, your PC is not a telephone and a telephone is not a PC.

The Callserve Internet Telephone is free software that enables you
to make incredibly low cost calls from any PC to any phone Worldwide,
using the Internet. When you use the Callserve Internet Telephone to
make a call, it passes along the Internet from your PC to wherever you
are calling, and is then connected to the local telephone system.

Visit: http://www.callserve.com/Homepage.asp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


|I have a modem and a sound card.
| both have voice capabilities.
| I would like to make phone calls using some kind of dialing program and my
| microphone and loud speakers .
| I would also like to be able to answer incoming phone calls, talk to people
| using the mic and hearing them in the speakers.
| I suppose that most of the calls will be local (in my city or in my country)
| but it should also be able to work with international calls.
| do you know such program (hopefully free) I can use?
| how do I wire or configure such a task?
| NOTE: I am NOT looking for an Internet based or IP based phone connection
| but a REGULAR PHONE LINE connection via the computer.
| thank you for any advice!

 

[Guest]

This is for broadband but if you are a dial-up connection then you may have problems finding a free program.
http://www.pulver.com/fwd/
All I did was type in Free phone calls using my computer, and then clicked my go button and found tons of stuff to look at. I don't bother with this as I have a bundles package and can talk for hours and hours long distance and only pay $35 a month for the privelege. Good luck. }:~)

 

[Maxim S. Shatskih]

This feature is called "speakerphone" and is supported by some voice
modems. Often, it requires additional wiring from modem to soundcard. The voice
modem itself is usually not duplex.

Search MSDN for "speakerphone".

 

[Eli Aran]

I was not looking for internet or IP based phone calls. I wanted to use the
computer modem to talk to people with the microphone and hear them on the
speakers. I only want to use the phone line exactly like I do when I use the
modem to send or receive faxes. I think that if the computer fax program
uses the phone line via the modem then why shouldn't there be a program for
human conversation???

This is for broadband but if you are a dial-up connection then you may

have problems finding a free program.

http://www.pulver.com/fwd/
All I did was type in Free phone calls using my computer, and then clicked

my go button and found tons of stuff to look at. I don't bother with this as
I have a bundles package and can talk for hours and hours long distance and
only pay $35 a month for the privelege. Good luck. }:~)

 

[Gary G. Little]

There used to be a product called WinFax, which had a lot phone management
stuff in it.

 

[JW]

At www.cnet.com
click on Downloads (at the very top).

In the box labeled Search, type
telephone
and click Go.

Search Result lists 168 occurrences of telephone programs for your PC,
if you choose In Downloads instead of In Windows (left of Go).

Some are freeware, some are shareware. Many are dialer/answerer type
programs. Most are Not IP-based programs.

It helps to know where to search.




Symantec WinFax Pro 10?

 

[Eli Aran]

Symantec WinFax Pro 10?

There used to be a product called WinFax, which had a lot phone management
stuff in it.

--
Gary G. Little
Seagate Technologies, LLC

The use use program distance program

 

[JW]

did you ever get an answer to your earlier question about how to search for
info

while excluding
msinfo


Symantec WinFax Pro 10?

 

[Eli Aran]

someone gave me the idea to search for a program called "dialer.exe" in my
WinXP o/s and to create a shortcut for it on the desktop. apparently it has
"regular phone" dialing capabilities (among other internet based connection
options) and I tried it for my cell phone which did ring...
I will soon try it with other local phone calls and see whether I can
converse with the other person using the microphone.

 

[Eli Aran]

someone gave me the idea to search for a program called "dialer.exe" in my
WinXP o/s and to create a shortcut for it on the desktop. apparently it has
"regular phone" dialing capabilities (among other internet based connection
options) and I tried it for my cell phone which did ring...
I will soon try it with other local phone calls and see whether I can
converse with the other person using the microphone.

 

[Gary G. Little]

It will not use your sound card for audio. You will need to take a phone
connected to the same line off-hook and use it's handset/speaker/microphone.

 

[Eli Aran]

I understand what you are saying: I need to physically connect a phone to
the second modem socket to speak in the same line the modem dialed to. my
question is what happens if I connect the input in the sound card to the
output of the modem and the input of the modem to the output of the sound
card?
I should then be able to use the mic and the speakers of the computer for a
telephone conversation! no?

 

[Eli Aran]

my original question states clearly that I want to use the mic and speakers
to make REGULAR phone calls using the SOUND CARD and the MODEM.
I am NOT looking for an Internet or IP based phone connection!
I want to answer the phone when it rings at home with the help of the
computer.

Here is a program I recently came across: http://www.skype.com

It looks promising. They say they are working on the ability for a person

to call any regular phone line, although obviously the caller would be using
the software to "connect."

 

[JW]

maybe so he can do 3 things at once ? hear, speak, and type ?

maybe so he can automatically dial hundreds of numbers for his business, and
speak to any human that answers, without paying extra money for autodialing
devices ?

maybe record orders for products ?

maybe play songs while callers are on hold ?

maybe record teleconferences directly to hard disk ?

maybe hang up on unwanted callers, without paying extra money for the same
service offered by the local provider ?

maybe keep records of every telephone call and minutes used ?

maybe to create multiple voice mail boxes, without paying extra money for
the same service offered by the local provider ?

maybe morph a voice to disguise it's identity ?

maybe send himself a page, when a caller leaves a message, without paying
extra money for the service ?

maybe you've found your industry niche, and have never crawled out of your
niche since then ?

maybe you've never lived in a country, that does not offer every home a
choice of DSL or cable broadband ?

maybe you were living in a cave for the 20 years prior to Voice-over-IP ?

my original question states clearly that I want to use the mic and speakers
to make REGULAR phone calls using the SOUND CARD and the MODEM.
I am NOT looking for an Internet or IP based phone connection!

Uh, okay. So you want your computer to be a huge phone? Dare I ask WHY?

Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP
http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get the Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT
and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss

 

[Eli Aran]

so that I don't have to get up and pick up the phone in the next room (the
real one) when it rings, while I am sitting in the other room and using my
computer.
I can't imagine it would be impossible to use the same modem I use in the
computer for sending and receiving faxes on the same phone line and not
being able to use the same hardware for regular telephone conversations!
I have a sound card that connects to the speakers and the microphone, and I
have a modem that connects to the phone wall socket so why couldn't there be
an option to wire up all four components and receive incoming phone calls
and using a program that displays ten numbers and a "place call" button to
start my own phone call??? why is it unconceivable to use the computer for
(conventional) telephone conversation?

 

[D.Currie]

It depends, in part, on the modem. Nowadays most modems are so cheap and
don't have all the extras that modems included back when 56k was the hot
technology.

For one thing, if the modem isn't full-duplex, it's going to be a painful
experience on both ends of the phone conversation. And it's been a while
since I've seen a modem with a connector for the sound card. Not that they
don't exist, it's just not as desired an option as it used to be. Most of
them have a little speaker that's used to project the annoying
dialing/connecting tones, but there's no way to connect to any other speaker
source.

You may already have the correct modem, in which case, just ignore this. If
not, when you're shopping, make sure it's designed as a voice modem, and
double-check that it's full duplex and that you can connect input and output
to your sound card. Actually, if you're shopping for a new modem, you might
find one that you can plug the mic directly into the modem, and possibly
speakers, too. Which frees up your sound card for some background music, or
whatever.

 

[Eli Aran]

I want to use the computer for answering the phone calls. the way I see it I
will stop doing whatever I did on the computer in order to focus entirely on
the conversation with the caller. I don't need an internet based phone
program to answer the POTS. why can't you understand such a simple and basic
wish??? rather than making fun of me and radicalizing me in the newsgroup -
are you intelligent enough to create such a program yourself? you could be
rich....

 

[Maxim S. Shatskih]

Read the TAPI documentation. All is simple. If you do not need the duplex
talk, and only need the teller machine - which first speaks, and then listens -
then any voice modem will be OK for you.
Soundcard is not involved.

 

[Maxim S. Shatskih]

I can't imagine it would be impossible to use the same modem I use in the

computer for sending and receiving faxes on the same phone line and not
being able to use the same hardware for regular telephone conversations!

For conversations - impossible, unless the modem has the speakerphone facility,
which requires wires from the modem to the soundcard.

The key is impossibility of duplex mode. Simplex mode - with explicit switch
from speaking to listening - is supported in all voice modems. They end up
transferring PCM audio data over the serial port.

TAPI is the API to employ this.