Hack14.Handle Calls with Windows Software

Hack 14. Handle Calls with Windows Software

Have your PC screen your calls and take your messages with handy Windows tools.

If you've got a Windows PC with a standard modem (it doesn't have to be a voice modem), you can use some really cool software applications that can identify incoming calls, with their caller ID information shown on your Windows desktop. (Mac users can use Phlink for this purpose [Hack #15].) Some of these apps can even respond to incoming calls so that you don't have to.

This kind of application is a lot of fun, because while it technically doesn't use any VoIP components (it's still strictly legacy phone technology), it will give you an idea of how much power you as a phone user have when you use software to enhance telephony applications. After all, your phone service is merely an application, and you'll be using a PC application to enhance it.

You'll need caller ID service enabled on your phone line if you want your PC to handle your calls in this way.

2.8.1. PhoneTray Free and PhoneTray Dialup

A cool freeware app that provides a caller ID pop-up window in the Windows system tray is appropriately named PhoneTray Free. In addition to the pop-up display, PhoneTray will log all incoming callshandy when you've been out, and you want to know whom to call backand it has a feature called Privacy Manager that lets you block calls from certain callers (Figure 2-7). PhoneTray also has a handy scheduler to establish your "quiet time," so you aren't receiving annoying calls in the middle of the night. While these features might be available from your local phone company, you can certainly save a few bucks by implementing them yourself with a PC tool like PhoneTray. The only hardware requirement is a modem connected to your phone line.

Figure 2-7. PhoneTray Free's Privacy Manager

For a small premium, PhoneTray's developer will sell you a version of the package, called PhoneTray Dialup, which works with caller IDenabled modems. Using this feature, if you're a dial-up Internet user, you can receive caller ID signals on your PC desktop while remaining online. You can obtain PhoneTray from http://www.traysoft.com/.

2.8.2. Call411

Another nifty free application that handles caller IDs in your Windows workspace is Call411. While this app doesn't have the elaborate interface or the extensive call-handling options of PhoneTray, it's an effective, no-frills tool for displaying caller IDs, as shown in Figure 2-8. You can associate a custom ringtone with each caller ID if you like, and Call411 will even audibly announce incoming callers' phone numbers if you wish. You can obtain Call411 from http://www.soft411.com/company/Soft411/Call411.htm.

Figure 2-8. Call411 is a basic caller ID display tool

Tools like PhoneTray and Call411 are ideal for traditional phone service, but should work OK with VoIP services like Vonage and Packet8, too, since their ATA behaves just like a traditional phone line, with caller ID and all.

2.8.3. Call Soft and Call Soft Pro

If and when you outgrow Call411 and PhoneTray's features, and you find yourself wanting a complex voicemail and auto-attendant to handle your calls, you can graduate to a more capable commercial application such as Call Soft Pro, available from TOSC (http://www.toscintl.com/) and shown in Figure 2-9. This full-featured telephony system lets you tap into many of the standard calling features on your phone line. Even things like distinctive ring are supported. Call Soft Pro is a message recorder and interactive voice-response tool, so your callers can be prompted to select which voicemail box they'd like to record their message in. If you've got a large household, this can be a godsend. Mom and Dad can have the generic family voicemail greeting, and teenagers Todd and Susie can feel cool because they have their own individual voicemail greetings. With distinctive ring enabled on your phone line, the kids can even have their own separate phone number, and Call Soft Pro will recognize their ring pattern and play their special greeting.

TOSC makes a scaled-down version of Call Soft Pro called Call Soft, which is geared more toward home users and lacks many of the automation features of the Pro version.

Figure 2-9. Call Soft Pro is a comprehensive message recorder and telephony package for Windows desktops

The program also offers a searchable call log, can receive faxes (which are saved as bitmapped files so that you can view or print them), and turns your PC into a speakerphone so that you can listen to calls through your PC's audio output and speak into your PC's microphone input. This allows you to use your PC as a phone and to record your conversations, instead of merely using it for automated call processing. Of course, there's a good bit of that in Call Soft Pro, too. Automatic forwarding of recorded messages via email is supported, and Call Soft Pro can provide music-on-hold for your callers, too.