using the computer as a telephone

J

JW

I was defending you, by listing over a dozen reasons why somebody would want
to use their PC, in order to have access to numerous features, either not
available from the local telephone provider or available at extra cost. I
was not replying to you, but to the sarcastic computer expert at the weight
loss company.

Besides that, I already described how you can get what you need, 3 days ago
on Tuesday July 27. If you search downloads at CNET.com like I suggested,
you will find 168 occurrences of programs that either do the same things
that telephones do, or provide extra features that telephones do not
provide.

I am no expert, but I have personally done with my PC, what you are trying
to do now. If I were a technical expert, I could explain why it works, but
I am not a technical expert. I assume the voice feature of the 3-feature
circuit board, commonly called the "voice/modem/fax card", transmits full
duplex conversation the same way handsets have done for decades (in other
words, without modulating it into a stream of data bits and parity bits).

If the solution was given to you 3 days ago, why are you still looking for a
solution ? On the same day, I even offered to help you with an earlier
problem related to a different subject (text searches). For some unknown
reason, your reply to my offer had nothing to do with text searches.


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 ?



OneMoreBite said:
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
 
J

JW

Hey Eri

I was defending you, by listing over a dozen reasons why somebody would want
to use their PC, in order to have access to numerous features, either not
available from the local telephone provider or available at extra cost. I
was not replying to you either, but to the sarcastic computer expert at the
weight loss company.

Besides that, I already described how you can get what you need, 3 days ago
on Tuesday July 27. If you search downloads at CNET.com like I suggested,
you will find 168 occurrences of programs that either do the same things
that telephones do, or provide extra features that telephones do not
provide.

I am no expert, but I have personally done with my PC, what you are trying
to do now. If I were a technical expert, I could explain why it works, but
I am not a technical expert. I assume the voice feature of the 3-feature
circuit board, commonly called the "voice/modem/fax card", transmits full
duplex conversation the same way handsets have done for decades (in other
words, without modulating it into a stream of data bits and parity bits).

If the solution was given to you 3 days ago, why are you still looking for a
solution ? On the same day, I even offered to help you with an earlier
problem related to a different subject (text searches). For some unknown
reason, your reply to my offer had nothing to do with text searches.



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....
 
E

Eli Aran

thank you!
could you please elaborate on wiring and configuration (maybe installation)
of this and how it should work?
 
E

Eli Aran

in that case I apologies for accusing you.
if you can still bare with me
then I would gladly listen to what you have to suggest me on the matter.
tell me which program I used yourself from cnet and how it went along.
please reply to my personal email address and not the news group.
I would be glad to keep in contact with you personally.
please take no offence. I thought you were trying to ridiculise my wish
for wanting to use the computer as a telephone like other people
were trying to do in the message group.
 
E

Eli Aran

thank you!

D.Currie said:
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.


and there
 
M

Maxim S. Shatskih

Many voice modems support full duplex voice mode, and echo cancellation.

Good.

Can you advise some vendor/model for Eli?
 
G

Guest

okay eli,

if you really want to use your computer as a phone, then you may as well get an external 3com us robotics message modem.

this modem comes with a built in microophone, has memory to answer your phone calls (as an answering machine) and receive fax (as a fax machine) even when your computer is turned off and the modem is on.

it comes with a good software called phonetools, where you can store contact information and phone numbers.

the modem also has a line out jack which you could connect to the line in jack of your sound card. so when you are talking on the modem, the sound from whoever you are talking with is heard on your speakers. however, as i have mentioned, you don't need a mic anymore as the modem has a built in microphone and that will be used to pick up what you are saying.

further, let me point out that i am not connected with the company mentioned above.

i hope this helps.

regards,
dennis lazo
email address is unmonitored. for emails, please use http://dennislazo.com/email/.
 
D

David Baxter

Why is this cross-posted to a zillion newsgroups including
microsoft.public.msn.search? What does any of this have to do with MSN
Search?
 
E

Eli Aran

probably done by mistake.
sorry.

David Baxter said:
Why is this cross-posted to a zillion newsgroups including
microsoft.public.msn.search? What does any of this have to do with MSN
Search?
 
G

Guest

Eli Aran,

I was setting up an Access form to dial numbers to facilitate calling to verify customer information.

I went to Tools>Customize>Commands Tab>Reports Catagory...then dragged the Auto Dialer Icon onto the toolbar.

When you highlight a phone number on the form and click the dialer it pulls up the Auto Dialer Dialog Box with the highlighted phone number. I expected the OK button to dial the phone but got an error that "Dialer.exe" could not be found.

I was assuming that a headset microphone plugged into my laptop mic and headset ports would allow me to make calls in this manner. The computer phone port connected directly into the wall phone jack........If this works??...anyone know where to get and install "Dialer.exe"

Unfortunately I have not seen an "Answer the Telephone Button". For that I have a cordless phone with headset by my computer table. Speaker Phone close by would work too.
 
G

Guest

I did some more research,

Here is an article on TAPI from MS web. More help files below. and finally a search link that brought up many more references.

Using Phone Dialer for telephony
Phone Dialer is a TAPI-based program that is installed with the Windows 2000 operating system. You can use this program for dialing over a modem that is connected to directly to the computer, IP phone calls over the computer network, PSTN phone calls using an H.323 gateway to a PBX, IP phone calls
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/advanced/help/sag_TAPIconcepts_213.htm

Using Phone Dialer
You can use Phone Dialer to place telephone calls or participate in video conference calls from your computer. To use Phone Dialer, you need a telephone connected to your computer, a modem , a network account, a telephone switch connected to your local area network , or an Internet address. Open
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/app_dialer.htm?id=180

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/app_dialer.htm?id=180

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/advanced/help/app_dialer.htm

Microsoft Windows XP - Phone Dialer overview
Phone Dialer allows you to make voice calls, video calls, and conference video calls from your personal computer. To make a voice call, all you need is the recipient's phone number, IP address, or DNS (Domain Name System) name.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...p/all/proddocs/en-us/dialer_whatis_intro.mspx

Search Link: http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?st=b&qu=Phone+dialer&view=en-us
 
E

Eli Aran

ok thank you very much.
I found that I can use FaxTalk as a telephony program.
it checked my modem and the result was that in fact my modem IS
speakerphone-capable.
what I need to do next is read about some configuration and/or wiring to the
sound card and have a go at some local phone numbers
and see what comes out...

ciohousecaptain said:
I did some more research,

Here is an article on TAPI from MS web. More help files below. and
finally a search link that brought up many more references.
Using Phone Dialer for telephony
Phone Dialer is a TAPI-based program that is installed with the Windows
2000 operating system. You can use this program for dialing over a modem
that is connected to directly to the computer, IP phone calls over the
computer network, PSTN phone calls using an H.323 gateway to a PBX, IP phone
calls
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/advanced/help/sag_TAPIconcepts_213.htm

Using Phone Dialer
You can use Phone Dialer to place telephone calls or participate in video
conference calls from your computer. To use Phone Dialer, you need a
telephone connected to your computer, a modem , a network account, a
telephone switch connected to your local area network , or an Internet
address. Open
video calls from your personal computer. To make a voice call, all you need
is the recipient's phone number, IP address, or DNS (Domain Name System)
name.
 
G

Guest

Hi
I use SKYPE a free program using a microphone plugged into your sound card,
earphones are peferred to speakers. The program is free and the sound
quality is execellent. Talk computer to computer is free. Dialing a land
line or mobile phone cost about 2 cents a minute to most locations. People I
call are amazed that I am talking through my computer
 
J

John Bell

My question is why would you want to do that it seems like more work than
its worth to use the computer as a telephone. But I think I know what you
are going to do with it. In that case don't call my house. With the
autodialer.
 
G

Guest

Having gone through all the replies posted by various posters, here is what I
have to say! It IS possible and I have done this in the past. If he needs to
use his computer as a telephone, he might have his own reasonings for that.
We must all try to help him out with whatever information we can rather than
questioning him and criticizing him. I do appreciate those who have posted
positive responses to his query. This was exactly my concern ages ago when I
wanted to use my computer as a telephone. I can't remember how exactly I
managed to achieve it, but I remember it wasn't too much of a hassle. I think
I used a software called Advanced Call Center or something like that. It had
all the functionalities I needed including full speaker integration. This
really served my purpose. It is not a free software, but if you look around
you might be able to find you-know-what. I was even able to hear the sounds
on my speakers, record them on to my hard drive, etc. I can't remember making
any changes to my hardware settings. It had many useful features. I haven't
used it in a long time now and so can't guarantee anything. As long as you
have a full-duplex voice modem and soundcard, this is achievable. This
software is definitely worth a try! Even I had done a lot of research on this
then and was highly impressed by this software! I would recommend you to go
ahead and purchase it.. You will never regret!

Lastly, I confirm that I am in now way endorsing this product. I just found
it highly useful and so sharing my experience here.

Thanks,
Saaj.
 

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