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Computer Voice Mail

A Quest For Voice Mail

USRobotics Sportster Voice Fax Modem

Zoom and SuperVoice

A few weeks later, I was in my local supplier's warehouse and noticed a new voice/fax/modem offering from Zoom Telephonics, Inc. I was a little hesitant, since the description of its voice mail capabilities was a little vague, but bought it anyway. Zoom's voice/fax/ modem is packaged with SuperVoice, a Windows-based program from a small company in California named Pacific Image Communications, Inc.

In version 4.0, SuperVoice is a better product with a somewhat limited set of capabilities. It's designed with a preset script of options that don't provide a lot of flexibility if you have a specific use in mind. From the main menu, a caller can select:

1 - Operator. When selected, the system rings the attached phone to tell you somebody wants to talk to a human.

2 - Mailboxes. You can set up to 999 different voice mail boxes, each with its own password.

3 - Fax-on-Demand. Callers can select to receive up to 9 different fax documents. The number of possible documents will increase in the next version of the software, now in beta testing.

4 - Announcement. A single, general announcement to provide current information about you or your company.

5 - Manual Send Fax. Lets callers send you a fax, which is stored in a common mail box.

8 or 9 - Remote Access. Pressing '8' lets you change the system greeting, after entering the system password. Entering '9' gives mailbox owners access to their voice and fax messages.

The folks at Pacific Image Communications have worked hard on there versions of SuperVoice. They have added features such as Pager Alert, which calls out to your pager to notify you of a message waiting. They've also increased the number of fax-on-demand documents that can be accessed by callers and added some dial-out telemarketing features.

Unlike the other voice software we tried, SuperVoice uses no TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident) drivers. SuperVoice is run entirely under Windows and frees all your memory in DOS. On the other hand, this means you have to be in Windows, with the software loaded, to run your voice mail/fax-on-demand system.

SuperVoice automatically senses when you pick up the telephone receiver attached to the voice/fax/ modem card. It interrupts whatever operation's in effect and lets you talk directly to the caller.

Faxing from inside any windows program, for instance your favourite Windows word processor, is as simple as changing to the SuperVoice printer driver and printing. The driver takes the document, converts it to a bitmap format, and sends the fax to the receiver you specify.

SuperVoice allows you to change any and all of the recorded system prompts using your telephone handset. The quality of the recordings were a little poor, but the folks at Pacific Image Communications explained this was a limitation of the external modem I was using. Coupled with a high-speed, buffered UART, future versions of the software will allow you to configure the sampling rate for better recordings. You can also record messages and prompts using a SoundBlaster compatible sound card and a microphone, and then convert them to SuperVoice format with the included utility.

The Complete Communicator EZ

The Complete company has been a major name in PC voice mail for quite a few years and I was really surprised to see a £49 voice/fax/modem product from them in a mail order catalogue. A quick phone call and the new EZ was on its way the next day.

I have to admit I had pretty big expectations by this time. I'd already figured out that new computer chip sets had made it easy for modem manufacturers to add voice features inexpensively but it was going to take awhile for software to catch up with the advances in hardware. Since Complete had been doing voice mail for years, I expected a mature software package to accompany my new card.

The actual voice/fax/modem card was a snap to install, and designed with a high-speed, buffered 16650 UART. With hopes high, I installed the software.

The software felt more mature than SuperVoice, but I found it to be a bit buggy. When recording a message using the telephone handset, it instructs you to press the '*' key to terminate the recording. Once in awhile, this had no effect and the program would lock up, requiring a reboot.

The EZ software allows you to configure outgoing mailboxes, where you record a message to be sent to a group of people you've entered into the included phonebook/database. When an outgoing message is sent, the program calls the selected person and repeats, Press any key within five seconds, until the time's up or a person answers. I don't know about you, but if I get a call and hear a recorded voice saying, Press any key within five seconds, I'm going to be unfavourable impressed. This message, and the female voice that recorded it, cannot be changed. Boca tech support told me this is a frequent complaint from callers and may be changed in the future.

Some advanced features are supported, such as call forwarding. When selected, the software sends appropriate phone system codes to place the caller on hold and then transfer him or her to another phone number. This is how pager support is implemented. The software handles incoming fax transmissions cleanly and transparently.

To send outbound faxes, though, you must first get your fax into a bitmapped format. EZ will convert BMP, PCX or TIFF files to its internal format. I guess I've been spoiled by WinFax Pro, which allows you to send faxes by printing directly to its fax driver.

On the plus side, EZ's voice mail box arrangement is very flexible. You can configure each mail box with a variety of settings. You can set the number of allowable received messages for each, enable outbound messages for that mail box owner, set it to play or not play a recorded greeting or allow call transfer to another number.

Once it's activated by an inbound call, you can't interrupt the voice mail system. There's no way to jump in and talk to the caller. In fact, there's no way a caller can reach a human without doing a call forwarding operation to another number. This is very limiting to the home-based business person with a single phone line.

You can also let callers have access to faxes stored on your system, but I found the implementation confusing and not very well explained in the manual. Compared to SuperVoice's fax-on-demand setup, the EZ's is primitive at best.

Conclusions

Voice capabilities are now an inexpensive addition to any new modem. I doubt if you'll find a modem sold that doesn't have both fax and voice capabilities. The software's going to take awhile to catch up, though. My bet is on SuperVoice, which could be the WinFax Pro of voice mail in time. The Complete Communicator EZ is a product packaged to look like an established one. The software requires some refining before it to earns my unqualified recommendation. First and foremost, get rid of the five TSRs and incorporate those functions into Windows-loaded programs. Then give owners the option to pick up the phone and talk to callers.

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