Answering Machine Programs

[Anjie]

Hey Guys, I do scrapbooking and memory quilting and I spend a great deal of the morning on-line looking for graphics and what not. I currently have two phone lines, but I rarely recieve a call during this time. The second line seems like a waste, but I have three children and I am afraid they or the school will not be able to get through if they need me. How well do the Answering Machine programs that I have seen advertised work and what are the specifics? Do you need any special services from the phone company and which ones work the best? Or should I just keep the second line? Thanks!

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Damsel in distress! :)

[glc]

I tried Pagoo a couple of years ago. The premium service works very well, but the standard service gives callers busy signals most of the time.

Have you considered getting a pager? That is a lot cheaper than a second line and you *know* it is gonna work.

[fordvan]

There is a choice of programs here: http://www.portalmonkey.com/answeringmachine.html

[Xayd]

Another thing you might consider is a modem that supports such a thing.

Zoom external modems have a free call waiting program that tells you when you have a call coming in, and lets you bump the modem to take the call if you wish.

Modem runs about a hundred bucks, call waiting detect program is free. And since the software is designed with the modem's hardware in mind, it's probably gonna be more reliable.

I used to have one of those modems and tested it with call waiting, and it worked as advertised just fine.

Plus, if you've got an internal Winmodem in your computer, you'll see a nice improvement in modem speed with an external as well.


Xayd

[casual01]

those call waiting modems work really well. I've used them for a while with no problems. They also have a box called HotCall - www. command-comm.com that does the same thing if you don't want to get a new modem. they cost about $65 or so. Have you considered callwave - www.callwave.com (http://www.callwave.com) this program tells you when you have an incoming call and lets the caller leave a message. its free but you have to get call waiting & call forwarding.

[Anjie]

Thanks guys, I will keep all of this in mind. I have been recommended the Callwave by a couple of my friends also. They seem to like it. I think that I may give it a shot through the rest of the summer since the kids are not in school right now. If I am not satisfied I will may try the modem idea. Callwave is FREE afterall. Why spend money if you do not have to? Right! http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Damsel in distress! :)

[tward]

I just got the Hot Call mentioned above. The beauty of it, is that you can answer the phone when it rings and if you don't talk more than 10 - 15 seconds before you hang up, you don't lose the internet connection. If you want to keep talking the modem will hang up. This is definitely cheaper than a second phone line and wouldn't take long to pay for itself for what call forwarding costs each month. You do have to have call waiting.

Saw them at Buy.com for $49.00 last week.

[This message has been edited by tward (edited 06-21-2000).]

[Anjie]

Hey Guys,
Thought you might like to know how the Callwave is going. I really like it. The call forwarding is only $1.25 a month, obviously much cheaper than the second phone line or a pager, and I haven't missed a call yet. The messages are clear and easy to understand and my callers say that it is easy to use on their end too. I do have to disconnect to call them back. But, ONLY if I really want to talk to them http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/wink.gif. And an added bonus is that I rarely get bumped off line now too. The window is really very small and pretty easy to stash somewhere out of the way. It is funded by adds that run accross the window, but I never even notice them. It barely affected my system resources too. So if you are a tight wad like me, I suggest giving it a shot. http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Damsel in distress! :)