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Using My PC For Plain Old Telephone Service?
TheJerbear79 writes "I recently accepted a work-from-home job that will involve using my landline to talk to customers. When I log into the phone queue, my landline will ring, I'll put in a three digit code, and then calls are routed to the phone line I'm on. It essentially turns my landline into a softphone. Rather than using a regular handset or obtaining a nice business phone with a headset and speakerphone, I would like to use my PC's modem in conjunction with a normal PC headset and soundcard. I know the hardware is capable, but the modem didn't come with appropriate software. Has anyone found anything cheap/free that would suit this kind of usage? Just for clarity, I don't want to use a VOIP solution; I need to use my plain old landline. My reason is this: if I'm watching a movie or listening to an MP3 while I'm waiting for a call, I don't want it to ever be apparent to the person who is on the phone with me, and I want to route all the audio I use through a single headset. I've scoured Google for anything close to this application, and all I've managed to find is information on VOIP software or programs that turn my PC into an answering machine, neither of which will work."
This is probably better to do in hardware than in software. Here's what I'd try:
Get a phone that has a jack for a headset. These are usually a 3/32" connector that carries both microphone and audio. Connect to this an adaptor that splits it into two 1/8" connectors, one for headphones and one for mic. You probably have some headphones with a boom mic attached that has separate lines for audio and microphone. Just run the mic line into the mic port on the splitter, or use a lapel mic. Take the audio from the telephone, and feed it into a hardware mixer--just pick up any cheap mixer from Radio Shack. Then you can mix your computer's audio into the headphones as well. That way, you're not dependent on the computer working properly to be able to do your job, you can control audio source volumes quickly and independently from each other, and you could even add something like a DVD player or stereo to your mixer and be able to listen to that as well.
If you wanted to get really fancy, you could throw an audio compressor with sidechaining, such as the Alesis 3630, into the pipeline. Route the telephone's output so it goes through the compressor's sidechain channel, and run the computer's audio through the main input on the compressor. Then, whenever audio comes in through the phone line, the sound of the computer will automatically lower.
Maybe you should run Asterisk at home where you have a lot of flexibility available to do just about everything you ever wanted (and some more too)
As an added bonus you can even blacklist callers so you can get rid of the telemarketers.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
It doesn't turn your landline into a softphone, it turns your landline into a landline, which works just as any other landline.
So you want to mute your computer when the POTS phone rings; why can't you ask that question instead of pretending that you have some magically non-VoIP softphone?
That being said, I think an standard audio compression and mixer is the right choice; prioritize the POTS audio and the computer will automatically be reduced in volume when the POTS line is active.
My reason is this: if I'm watching a movie or listening to an MP3 while I'm waiting for a call, I don't want it to ever be apparent to the person who is on the phone with me,
It won't be.. because you'll have paused it before answering the phone because you can't hear what they are saying if it is still playing.
I record my sleeptalking
A lot of speakerphone capable modems have a set of line-out/speaker jumpers on the board as well as the 1/8" jacks on the back panel. Can't you just link that to the line-in jumpers on your sound card and then run it all through the Volume Control mixer of your choice?
You know, as a voice actor/actress, a little mp3 music in the background might not be a bad thing, maybe set the mood. Perhaps you dont need all the fangled gadgetry.
best of luck with the new job!
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
"Dear slashdot, I have a work at home job and want to watch porn during business hours. How do I stop callers from listening in? My budget is exactly $0."
*sigh*
You probably can't get the raw audio from your modem. Hardly any modems do full-duplex audio.
Get a phone with a headset jack and an automatic audio switch.
If you really want to go ghetto you could have one earphone connected to your PC and the other to the incoming call. That's probably the cheapest way to make sure the callers never hear you listening to porn.
you can get a Linksys 3102 voip adapter. You plug in the land line and network cable to the adapter and connect with a softphone like X-Lite from the PC to the adapter to get the calls.
Plantronics makes great phone headsets for the call center industry. They have some models that take audio from a phone and audio from a PC, so you can listen to audio from your PC while you wait for a call.
It sounds like you're unfortunate enough to work for a very cheap company that forces its call center employees to work from home, and won't even buy/loan you a decent phone.
I'd look for another job asap.
Here's an even simpler option: get one of the multimedia USB keyboards with many extra buttons. One of them is usually the volume/mute button.
Is this for your Amiga box, or the C64?
Really, if you don't tell us what OS you are using, it will be hard to suggest software. Not all /.ers still run slackware.
Lock the wife and the dog in the boot of the car.
Return one hour later.
Who's happy to see you?
... But as someone who dabbles in both sides, I'd suggest you look into hacking some hardware.
I don't have enough details to give you the specifics, but here's a generic solution in general terms:
First, look how you can simplify your problem. Does the music really need to be through the same headset? If you can play it through speakers, you can eliminate mixing, which makes things easier. If you need to mix, it depends what kind of headset you have. USB? Line out/mic-in? USB will limit your options.
I'll assume it's analog, so we need to mix a line-level out from your sound card with a line-level out from the phone. Many cheap phones provide a line-out, or you can just add an amp to the handset connection of your existing phone, or perhaps even get away with just a transformer or even wiring straight in. Experiment and see what works.
Mixing can be done with a DJ-style mixer. This also gives you convenient knobs to turn up and down your music and callers' voices. So just plug the sound card line out and the phone's line out into the mix board and you're ready to go.
You'll need some sort of switch to answer your phone. Buy a DPDT toggle switch. Wire one half into the phone's hook switch. Use the other half to control a mute button / kill switch / input select / any other control on your DJ mixer which can be used to cut out the music input. If your mixer doesn't have this, or you mix some other way, you can use the second half of the switch to control a pair of relays, which cut out the signal from the sound card. Now you can answer without picking up the handset, and the music will cut out at the same time.
Possible variations on this theme: Wire the phone line-out to your computer's line-in, and wire the second half of the DPDT to control a pin on your parallel port, then write a small program to poll the port and mute the line-in or pause the MP3 playback when the bit toggles. This moves some functionality into the computer; I'm sure you can figure out the tradeoffs.
The advantages of a hardware solution like this are: Your phone no longer depends on the computer to work; you get convenient hardware knobs to adjust the audio; you can answer the phone with a hardware switch instead of trying to find your phone app; and you hopefully have fun hacking together a simple but useful electronics project.
Good luck with your new job, and whatever phone solution you create!
How about turning the music/movie off when a call comes in? Or just on hold.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Depending on the modem and the driver, all you need is something that pauses the movie or lowers the volume on that input to the mixer when the ring line is raised. As almost all softphone systems that support serial port or modem usage track the ring line, this should be pretty straightforward. In the event of telemarketers calling during business hours, I also suggest finding a good ring oscillator or some other really jarring sound distortion filter.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I think the info you're looking for is here: http://www.modemsite.com/56K/voice.asp
Quoting: "Voice modem chipset makers include in the driver or firmware code to interface to the wave device, but do not develop the software that provides voice functionality. The modem makers generally bundle "compatible" third-party voice modem software. Some voice modem software offerings: Ring Central, BVRP, and Messaging Software."
I bet OP is in his 50s and listens to Spice Girls cover songs of Metallica, AC/DC and Eminem songs. Its not just the swear words that are embarrassing, its the music itself.
Or maybe he's listening to mainstream movies with suggestive titles: Die Hard, Dirty Harry, The Italian Job.
So listen to some New Age Mediation music and watch Fried Green Tomatoes.
Problem solved!
It came with an Aztec modem soundcard combo. They came in a few hp's and a whole lot of packard bells.
Enjoy Every Sandwich
http://www.GNUtelephony.org/
If you want to do business... do business... don't be cheap.... and stop playing around with
"soundcards and what if I'm listening an mp3... and what if whatever"
Get an asterisk setup... connect your land lines in there.... set up an auto attendant and a voice mail for when you are not near the phone to pick up.
Get a PHONE... if you want quality with your paying customers, get a phone.... what's the big deal? A cisco 7940 is like 50 bucks in ebay this days.... is compatible with most "real" headsets, and will give you the best voice quality in the market.
I mean.... a cheap computer to run asterisk with one of those Intel Modems (15 bucks) to connect your land line.... like 80 bucks for an old machine (any old P3 or P4 will suffice)... a cisco phone, like 50 bucks.... total budget 145 bucks (ebay)....
What do you get with that? proven performance that is business quality, that everyone knows that works.... when I'm doing business that is what I want.
do you want to start a company with less than 145 bucks for phone infrastructure? come on! get real!
Yeah, I was also thinking something along those lines. Those more fancy AT commands are often non-standard on your basic modem, so you'll need to read the manual to see what does what.
In general there should be a command to just pick up the phone on an incoming RING and wait for the user to +++ATH and also keep the volume enables (default it goes off after the handshake, but if incoming is VOICE, then it will need some special commands anyway).
Should be trivial to at least hear what is happening on any half decent modem, you'll need one where you can talk back from your microphone, and where preferably the audio from your modem is piped into your soundcard mixer too.
I'm not so sure about that part of the setup, will depend on the drivers and hardware of the modem. An external modem might be an advantage here, if it has audio in/out.
RogerWilco the Adventurous Janitor
Maybe I am dating myself here, but I remember doing this all the time in the late 80s/early-90s, using my franken-puter and the software bundled with the stupidly expensive modem. Variations on the WinFax line up of software could accomplish this, despite having "fax" in the name, leading one to believe it was only for faxes.
As some of the whippersnappers on here may or may not recall, a "fax" was the way we used to "send pages" to other folks, magically transforming hard-copy on one end, into sounds transmitted over the line to become hard copy on the other end. It was truly a marvelous age!
Now git offa my lawn!
What?
You find yourself in need of a $10 headset for your telephone, so, of course, your first reaction is to dedicate your far more expensive, terribly power wasting, and necessarily less-reliable computer to the otherwise unimaginably simple job... It makes perfect sense!
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I recently accepted a work-from-home job that will involve using my landline to talk to customers.
Please take me off your call-list :)
Try scouring the net for an older version of BVRP Phone Tools.
Ok, I know /.ers love to involve their computer with everything. The suggestions of using modems and pinning out the audio seam pretty innovative, but in all reality when you start to mix non-phone equipment with the phone you will loose quality. Just trust me on this one.
What I would suggest is that you get a nice Uniden or Cortelco phone. Uniden's you can find at pretty much any Best Buy or Target. Cortelco's are available at Greybar or similar contractor stores. Most of these phones have speakerphone and a headset plug.
In the phone world, headset plugs come in pretty much three styles -- separated MIC/LINE (used mostly with computers), Cell-Phone combined (mini, mono connector that carries both in one plug), and a QuickDisconnect (flat, 4-connector headset used by people in the PBX world). Unidens and Cortelco's will most likely have the cell-phone combined connector. You can walk over the the cell-phone side of whatever store you are at and get a descent headset.
All of these phones have mute buttons, that are usually very easy to find.
There is no need to add the complexity and unreliability of adding in components that aren't designed to do this task. Remember, it is your job on the line, so you may want to spend the $25 for the solution above and do it right.
you work for dell
;)
I think the poster is looking for something like this, though perhaps cheaper.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/20024
I'm also rather surprised this basic functionality isn't more widely available, or built into an OS as a gimmick. I remember my first laptop back in '95 came with something similar preinstalled.
Hi, do you know this? _http://www.avm.de/en/Produkte/FRITZBox/FRITZ_Box_Fon_WLAN/index.html this device work as a pbx\asterisk and you can plug in traditional phones and ip phones as you need and route plain old landline to ALL devices connected to. I dont know if work on USA landlines (is a european product) but is a great device I use with satisfaction. Sorry for my little english
This solution is not cheap but it is a true solution to your problem. A few years ago I built an automatic voice system for doctors offices. What I found is that although a lot of voice modems have some voice capability but they generally suck when it comes to building a telephony solution. You can read more about that here.
http://www.exceletel.com/support/hardware/VoiceModems/index.htm
Telephony cards are not cheap but I finally found a company that makes a external telephony box that did exactly what I wanted. It isn't cheap though but it will give you complete control over the telephone line via your PC.
http://www.way2call.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=9
You can program it using their supplied API or using Microsoft TAPI. If that is too daunting then I would recommend using software from this company.
http://www.exceletel.com/products/teletools.htm
Good luck!
http://www.supervoice.com
Seems to do what you want. You might need to run a wire from your modem to the TAD connector on your sound card.
Cheers!
I had previously done research on this for a contract and the fact was the only modem that supported voice on POTS was discontinued some years ago. Probably the best solution you will be able to find that is supported, especially on Linux, is the Grandstream HandyTone HT-503 device.
The non-obvious secret to these devices is that there are two kinds of PSTN connection devices. The first is the simple dial-out-only devices called FXS. You don't want those because they are unable to accept incoming phone calls--they just hook to your telephone desk sets.
What you want is an FXO device, but be careful. Some devices only accept incoming calls and some only dial out. You want the one that does both, and one that has both FXS and FXO ports on it so you will only need one device for everything you want. The Grandstream HandyTone HT-503 device is that device. (This is the new version of the discontinued HandyTone 488.)
Kriston
I don't think the OP is interested in VOIP or anything like that. It sounds like he would like to loop the audio through his modem up to his headset. This is possible with "speakerphone voice modems" They aren't oem in many PCs, so unless you bought one you may be out of luck. To tell if you have one fairly easy, take a look at the modem and see if it has a headphone jack on it. If so, yeah! For software, try the free trial of ExpressDial from NCH software. http://www.nch.com.au/dial/index.html
Good Luck,
-ellie
...get Vonage and use a softphone. Have your calls routed to your Vonage number. Case closed.
Try CallClerk. This is a little program whose main function is to receive Caller ID info and do useful things with it, like pop up info from Microsoft Outlook. It implements a speakerphone, which is what you need. It can invoke other programs on call receipt, so you can tie it to a "turn off entertainment" script.
There are other programs like this, intended for people who make and receive many phone calls and need to log and track them.
Up in my closet somewhere I have a PC/POTS switch. It allows you to flip a switch between receiving audio input from the PC and audio input from a POTS system, all on the same headset. It's really simple and I've never used it but I recall that it does work.
It's remarkably simple and I can't remember the name of it for the life of me.
If you want it, my email address has been unmasked enough for you to email me. I'll send it to you for cost of shipping.
Why do convoluted questions like these ever see the light of day on the front page of /.?
Have you looked at :
http://www.modemtools.com/answering-machine-software.htm
Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
The far more expensive computer which I already own, which will be wasting power while I'm at work regardless, and has more up-time than the viagra mascot? If you're not going to be helpful you could at least not assume I'm retarded.
I dunno, you clearly are somewhat retarded, when your problem could be solved by a) getting a phone that supported a standard headset, and b) installing a mute switch on your PC audio and mic input, and c) mixing the PC audio and phone audio together before your headset, and d) being smart enough to mute and unmute them in the correct order.
Here's a free clue for you: No VoIP setup is going to pause your other apps when unmuting your mic. They only do that when they answer the phone, and you have a weird setup where that doesn't apply. So, at best, you'd have to hit a button to pause whatever, hoping you can remember whatever keystroke it is for whatever you're doing, and then another button to unmute the audio.
Which is obviously much much easier than just having two big mute buttons on your desk, and completely muting your computer audio, despite the application, before unmuting your mic.
Actually, there are apps that will let you assign global keystrokes to mute audio, or you can just rely on your app pausing...so what you actually need is a phone with a headset plug, an adapter to turn that into a 'normal', two-plug headset, and a stereo 'splitter' backwards that merges in your computer audio, and a computer headset with a mute button. It's entirely possible you have the first and last of those already.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
I use an LX-3000 headset I won with points from Live Search Club. There is no "Stereo Mix" option so WAV audio is totally separate from microphone input. Your callers will never hear your media.
The process is totally transparent to incoming callers. Only one USB headset required.
This automatically mixes the phone and a sound source. You could mix them into a headset so the caller couldn't hear it, also allowing you to choose whether you keep the 2nd audio source playing.
"I've scoured Google for anything close to this application, and all I've managed to find is information on VOIP software or programs that turn my PC into an answering machine, neither of which will work." If you cannot find it on Google, you are probably not asking the right questions. On the other hand, as I suspect you are rejecting solutions because you do not understand that they are giving you what you want even though they may be advertising what they feel is a more likely scenario to potential customers. The first hit when I searched Google was IVM Answering Attendant Software $40 us which is exactly what your looking for. From their site,"You can make phone calls using your PC sound cardâ Check out their list of compatable modems that will allow you to do what you want. As for switching the audio get a multimedia keyboard that includes a pause button.
"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget." -Thomas Szasz
I had this old compaq PC way back when a 33.6kbps dial-up was a fast modem. It came with a software phone which turns the PC and it's modem into a virtual phone. It was an interesting feature, but I soon realized I was much better off using a separate device for audio calls. They aren't expansive anyways.
What's all this talk about assuming he's in 'tele-marketing' and having 'high call volumes'?
He could very well have a legitimate job for one of 900 number line 'chat with a sexy girl' things.... yes I said he.
I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
I couldn't agree more.
For lots of fun, answer "yes" to every single question a telemarketer asks. I think there's a video on YouTube of a guy doing this, but I tried it once, and it works. Wow, they sure get pissy after a while! At first it seems like the answer "yes" might make sense, but eventually they start asking for specific pieces of information, to which you keep replying, "yes!" I had to give up after a while because it was just too hard to suppress my laughter.
My call went something like this:
Telemarketer: "blah blah blah..."
Me: "Yes"
Telemarketer: "I'm looking for a specific number."
Me: "Yes"
Telemarketer: "OK, so what it it?"
Me: "Yes"
Telemarketer: "Sir, do you understand me? Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth!? I'm looking for a specific number!"
Me: "Yes"
How are you using vgetty? Are you using a hardware DAC?
From what I understood, Asterisk can't use regular PCI modems because almost all of them are winmodems. Meaning, they don't have a full firmware stack, but rely on their drivers to supply certain functionality. Namely, proprietary, closed source, non-free (beer or speech) Windows only drivers.
I've got a box with 5 PCI slots and as many old V.92's lying around that I'd love to get working on a Slackware build, if you know something I don't (not being sarcastic, I'd be really be thrilled if I didn't research far enough to find the answer).
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
I use the Plantronics 590A with a bluetooth adapter. Works pefect!
I also hear the new Plantronics Calisto is quite awesome and integrates with your Skype, land-line and cell phone. I may get one for myself :)
Jamey
Jamey Kirby
I've been looking for a replacement home phone + messaging hardware recently and... well they all suck for one reason or another. The V-Tech stuff has the best sound quality but no headphone jack, so I ended up with a Uniden Dect 6.0 (how secure is that?) with imperfect sound quality (encode/decode lag?)...
But none of the products has more than 15 minutes of record time, and usually have a lot fewer options than my machine from 10 years ago...
So... Windows solutions? Or something open? Is there an RJ-11 jack with an SD card slot, 10 buttons and an LCD screen - or do I have to program my own?
Yep, TalkWorks. It was either part of WinFax, or purchased and combined with it. Last I heard both were bought by Symantec, and eventually retired.
There's a bit on TalkWorks here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TalkWorks
Echo is almost always generated by neither latency or impedence mis-matches. Old, cheap phones are great for causing echo... as is VoIP due to latency. (Which is why "real" VoIP PSTN cards have echo cancellation built-in on DSPs.) Joe PC running Asterisk -- and I love Asterisk -- will almost certainly have some pretty bad echo unless you really damp your rx- and tx-gain. Ironically, echo is usually heard on the opposite end of where it's being caused, which can lead to some confusion.
$.02, etc.
The point is there is going to be a delay between when the customer can hear everything that's going on, and when I'll be able to get to the pause button.
And you completely ignored the obvious solution, the one I actually was talking about when I said 'two mute buttons' which is to mute your telephone microphone, and only unmute it after you mute the other audio. If people appear on the phone line without any input from you, I am rather baffled as to how you currently operate without a mute button.
This, of course, requires you to be able to a) purchase a phone that has a headset input, and b) purchase a headset with a mute button, (Or purchase a phone and headset in one.) and as you are probably incapable of finding the door in and out of the room you are in and so are currently building a complicated series of ladders and slides out the window for 'convenience', who knows how long that could take.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
I did something like this once. My goal was to connect an international number with my cell phone through my landline (which was actually vonage with an international plan). I would initiate the call using a perl script executed through a page on my private web server. The script would use a terminal application to send AT commands to the modem.
Call first number
Wait n seconds
flashhook
call second number
wait n seconds
flashhook
(the 2 numbers are now connected)
This is not exactly what you're looking for, but theoretically you could have a terminal app listen for incoming calls. When a call comes in, it should answer quickly, flashhook, dial your number, flashhook. While i'm sure you could find a way to dail in and give it the forward number, it would probably be easier to have a webface for that. The only issue here is that the caller might be confused. They would hear the ringing stop and then after a pause hear more ringing before you pick up. There may be a way to have your computer play some kind of "please hold" audio file. I forget what terminal i used, but there are quite a few advanced terminals with scripting ability.
As long as you dont mind giving out a new number, you can use a service like GrandCentral
http://www.grandcentral.com/