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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 6 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 7 _.-,.,, ~· ~ 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 8 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. 1§:;i