Ahmad and Jeremy both mentioned the new "voice modems", giving the example of
the Soundblaster model.

I've been waiting over a year to buy such a beast and in particular I wanted one
with Caller Identifier (sometimes refered to as CLI) and also TAPI compliance.

I was told that BT had ignored the international/US standard for CLI and
introduced its own standard. This means modems have to be modified and go
through the approval process. I complained verbally to OFTEL who said that this
one one of many run ins they were having with BT.

BT said that there were products on the market but refused to name them because
they were developing their own.

Recently there have been one or two adverts but on calling the retailers the
products aren't actually on the shelf.

By the way, TAPI is a Microsofts standard that will let the Voice/Fax/Model
software talk to applications. What I hope to be able to do is grab the CLI and
then using TAPI get my PC to call up the client's file (in another Windows
application) before I answer the phone. Also applications could drive the
Voice/Fax/Model software. Novell also a standard but the MS one is likely to
prevail on stand-alone PCs.

Given that these standards are new it might also be wise to get a modem with a
flash bios. That way the micro-code can be updated without the need for a new
chip to be inserted. And then there is the need to be compatiable with ones CD
drive and with ones soundcard. It's probably an impossible set of requirements.

Rumour has it that ISDN will soon drop substantially in price (grass is greener
......)

On another front, I was looking at PABX's for an Out of Hours DOC (should we
have done the job in-house). For about 9,000 UK pounds one could have bought the
lastest digital Samsung PABX with CLI, Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Call
Queuing and Music on Hold, Caller Response, Full Call Analysis Statistics,
feature handsets with all the usual call transfer, hold etc etc. A similar BT
system was much more expensive - orders of magnitude I think. If you are about
to upgrade your practice PABX I would give the Samsung a look.

Regards
Alan

Alan Cooper, Managing Change
Vernham Dean, Andover, Hampshire, SP11 0HD, England
Tel & Fax: +44 1264 737609, E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Managing Change means "A proactive approach to change"






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