How would you like to have Voice Mail on your
IBM computer? Far better than boring old
phone answering machines, Voice Mail allows
messages to be left on a computer for one or a
hundred people. Interested? Read on.
By MARQUE CROZMAN
Have you ever arrived home only
to find that the beast you call a
telephone answering machine has
Baten the tape with all your
telephone messages for the day? Or
that the youngest of your siblings
has extracted it with little jam
fingers and used it to create a
strange kind of confetti? Well then,
this is for you.
Now there is the tapeless
answering machine, the Voice Mail
Card for the IBM PC. The Voice
Mail Card is not only an answering
machine but is more like a bulletin
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SILICON CHIP
board for voice messages. It will
answer incoming calls automatically, play your greeting message, then
record the incoming message.
The incoming messages can be
placed in a "public mail box" for
everyone to hear or they can be
placed in private mail boxes so only
the owner of that mail box can access the message. By using a tone
dialling telephone, you can then
phone up the system to listen to,
record or delete the massages, or
distribute them to other users.
To operate the Voice Mail card,
you need an IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible with at least 512K of RAM,
MS-DOS 3.0 or later, a touch tone
phone, and two floppy drives , or a
360K floppy drive and a hard disc
of at least 10 megabytes.
Physically, the Voice Mail card is
about half the length of the standard IBM card and its mounting
plate/bracket is fitted with two US
modular phone sockets, a 3.5
millimetre jack socket for an external speaker and a volume trimpot.
Installing the Voice Mail card
is straightforward. You simply
remove the top cover from the computer, plug the card into a spare expansion slot, connect the phone to
the card, and connect the card to
the phone line. Before making the
connections, your touch tone phone
must be terminated with a US
modular plug to fit the card socket.
Be careful not to get the phone and
line plugs mixed as the manual
warns that if the two are switched,
Using Your Computer As
Answering Machine
the card may be damaged.
The optional external speaker is
handy. It enables you to hear the
messages as they come in and also
to play back messages. Otherwise,
you can listen to messages through
the handset.
Address range
The address range for the card is
a potential problem, depending on
what other peripherals or cards
are used in the system. If a clash occurs, the card will either not work
or respond erratically. To solve
this, you have to change the
jumpers on the card to an address
space not already in use. We found
that one set of addresses was also
used by the multi I/O card in the
computer and this caused the card
to respond erratically.
All the software for the Voice
Mail card comes on a standard
5 ¼-inch floppy. Installing it is pretty straightforward. You need to
create a directory called 'VMC' and
then copy all files on the disc across
to this directory. Then, you run the
installation program.
The manual is necessary for ·the
next part as the program asks some
fairly technical questions about
touch tone duration and spacing
etc. Luckily, we found that the
default settings worked well and
had no need to change anything.
The next screen asks for a transfer
code. This feature is for telephone
systems that allow you to transfer
calls to other extensions.
The object of this is to allow you
to transfer your call to another
phone when you call up the system;
ie, if the system is set up in a
business environment, callers can
still contact people who are working back late on their own extensions, while the card is taking incoming messages for people who
The software comes on a standard 5¼-inch flopy disc and is easy to install.
During installation, the user records the messages and selects other options
from the on-screen displays.
have gone home. To access this
feature, you need to wait for the
8-second delay and then dial"##",
the extension number of the person
concerned and then "# #" again.
This transfers the call - but I am
getting ahead of myself.
The following screen outlines
another feature of the card, the
"broadcast" mode. The mode
prevents callers from leaving
public messages at certain times of
the day; ie, during business hours.
This feature is optional and can be
toggled on and off.
The Voice Mail card supports
most graphics cards but only prompts you as to whether or not your
monitor is colour or not. The rest of
the install software records the
messages that the system needs for
its outgoing messages and various
user prompts. These messages are
recorded using the phone connected to the card (referred to by
the manual as the 'local phone').
Operation
There are two pieces of software
for the Voice Mail card. The first is
for monitoring incoming calls, storing them to disc, and sending mailing messages. This operates in
background mode, leaving the computer free for other tasks. When
calling in, the system will either
answer on the 2nd or 5th ring; the
latter if there are no messages in
the public mail box. On answering,
the system replays the greeting
message, then there is an 8-second
pause before you can leave your
message.
This delay is a problem because
SEPTEMBER1990
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An IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible computer with 512K of RAM is necessary to
operate the Voice Mail card. The unit is about half the length of a standard
IBM card and simply plugs into one of the expansion slots.
5 ¼-inch diskette slotted into the
back page of the manual.
So what's it like?
it confuses people who are not used
to it and it can be a pain for anyone
who is in a hurry.
However, the 8-second delay
does have a purpose. During this
pause, you may select various functions using the keypad on a
touchtone phone. These include call
transfer (mentioned above), sending
messages to private mail boxes,
playing back your own messages, or
changing various messages the
system uses.
Even so, I feel there should have
been an option to toggle this
8-second delay on or off, to avoid
confusion. I got around the problem
by telling callers about the pause in
the greeting message but some
callers were still caught by it.
The second piece of software
looks after all functions that need
keyboard operation. This software
is window driven and pull down
menus allow you to select options
for each function. These include the
creation of mail boxes, administration, handling of messages, distribution of messages, and phone book
operation. The phone book operates
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SILICON CHIP
in the same fashion as its 'paper'
equivalent but will dial the number
for you, provided you are connected
to a tone telephone line.
Just a brief note on that last
point: even if your local telephone
exchange does not have tone dialling, you still need a standard tone
phone for the card to work
properly.
Documentation
The documentation reads as
though it has been translated by an
illiterate computer but putting that
aside, it is self-explanatory and will
get novices up and running fairly
quickly. Seven A4 pages supplement the manual with amendments
and updates to the software. The
manual is quite detailed and explains all functions in a clearly
defined manner.
Each function is explained in
summary then later in greater
detail. Appendixes at the back
outline the technical details, a
glossary of terms and a quick
guideline to get you up and running
fast. The software comes on a
Most callers, unless you tell
them, are blissfully unaware that
they are talking to a computer it's just like talking to any phone
answering machine and people get
just as tongue-tied. I like it because
there is nothing mechanical to go
wrong and note this: you can store
those messages forever on diskette,
if you want to. And another point, it
keeps a record of precisely when
each message was left, something
that ordinary phone answering
machines can't do.
On the debit side of the ledger, if
you want it on at all hours, it does
mean your PC is running continuously while you are out. That
might be a problem for some users.
We would recommend that the
Voice Mail Card not be used during
thunderstorms without surge protectors on both the power and
telephone lines.
The Voice Mail Card retails for
$245 and is available from Rod Irving Electronics, 74 Parramatta Rd,
Stanmore, NSW 2048. Phone (02}
519 3134 or, in Melbourne, (03} 663
6151.
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