RE: Re: Keith, You'll know this....

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks for the info - I'll go & register today methinks!

I think I will prefer to use HomeSeer Phone (and the upcoming black box) to
do all my phone stuff instead of Comfort, as it will be a lot easier and a
lot more flexible. - I'll still leave comfort on the line for alarm
dial-outs, doorbell dialouts and the like, but I'll put all the
answering/voicemail/IVR stuff in HSP.

This will do SO much more than comfort is likely to be able to do:

recognise DTMF tones & save them into variables
Fully scriptable (VBS or PERL) Interactive Voice response system
Phonebook of known callers
customised responses for different callers
unlimited mailbox voicemail system
Use TTS for voice prompts, so unlimited vocabulary (unlike Comfort!)
Voice recognition over the phone for HA control
etc... etc...  etc...


Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Comfort - Now that mine is stable I
love it!, but it's never going to be a good a telephone manager as a
dedicated system...

Paul G.


> >
> >Do you know if this is on the cards, or is it just hopeful
optimism on
>your
> >part?
>
>I don't know for sure, I'm just hopeful as Chiu asked on the mailing
list
>some time ago if (IIRC) folk would be prepared to lose pulse dialling
and
>gain additional features such as CLID.  There was a generally positive
>response, I think the only objections were from Russia, where DTMF is
not
>widely used.  I haven't heard anything about it since.
>
> >I meant to do this a couple of months ago, but SWMBO wanted to
"discuss
>it",
>
>It's a tough call- whether it's more satisfying to bait them for a
while
>for your own entertainment so they can't be conning someone more
gullible
>or if it's just a waste of time letting them call- I went for the
latter,
>after several enjoyable years of the former... "really, that
sounds
>fascinating, tell me more... oooh, a free consultation, how kind"
>
> >:-( so I never got round to it. Now I can't remember the URL for
the
> >registration site! - Please remind me. Thanks. :-)
>
>  From the DMA website http://www.dma.org.uk
>
>Telephone Preference Service
>             5th Floor
>             Haymarket House
>             1 Oxendon Street
>             London
>             SW1Y 4EE
>
>             To register, call 0845 070 0707.
>
>IIRC, registration by phone is automated, then they send you a letter
to
>confirm it.
>
> >So it works then?
>
>Yes, the number of calls has dropped from at least two a month to about
two
>per year.  I've printed out the relevant regulations and keep them by
the
>phone, just to  ensure maximum squirming by the odd one who still
calls...
>
> >£5000 fines thanks to TPS. - I also plan to implement
"antisocial hours"
> >phone handling (say 11PM to 6AM), where no-one except specific
relatives
>can
> >get through, and a "Do not disturb" mode that I can
enable when watching
>a
> >movie that puts all callers straight to voicemail, again without
ringing
>the
> >house phones.
>
>I've got the latter, when Comfort is on day or night mode, it's quite
easy
>to set or unset it as needed.  As you say, with CLID support, Comfort
could
>do the former too, I hope they can find space for it on the processor!
>
> >All of this would be a lot easier if I could make MY CLID visible
before
>the
> >1st ring, instead of after it as currently happens...
>
>You could have a bodge of Comfort disconnecting the ring signal (pin 3)
>until a short period after it detects an incoming call, so the first
ring
>would be cut, but some phones might still ring (some derive their own
ring
>signal from pins 2 and 5 so don't need it fed separately)
>
>Nigel
>

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