CompuServe Thread

#GVP Phone Pack

18 messages in this thread
#104321From: A. Nick DraperJun 20, 1993 7:01 PM
Hi I'm looking for some information on the GVP phone pack. Such as do you own one and if so what's it like? I'm particularly interested in how many lines it can support and can you send multiple faxs or the same fax on multiple line simultaneously. Thanks Nick.
#104324From: Gary NushJun 20, 1993 7:20 PM
PhonePak can handle one line per board with a maximum of 5 boards (filling all available Zorro slots). You can send multiple faxes out on the same line or on individual lines, and I believe you can get the scheduler to send the same fax out on all available lines simultensously….you might want to send in a fax asking though, since I'm not the resident expert on PhonePak. I have one and love it, but I'm biased… 😉 Gary Nush
#104337From: Christopher TolmieJun 20, 1993 9:36 PM
Gary, Can you use several PhonePaks with a trunk line to make a large voice mail system, say to handle more than 400 voice mailboxes? I'd be interested in something like this to propose a low cost alternative to a more expensive voice mail system the company I work for now operates. It may be just the thing for a smaller area we operate in that hasn't VM service right now. Chris
#104448From: Paul HigginbottomJun 21, 1993 9:53 PM
I'll try to answer this one. It depends what you mean by a trunk line. Say a trunk line can bring in 3 simultaneous calls. They actually enter a building as 3 different phone numbers even though a caller calls one number, i.e., if the first line on the trunk is in use, it rolls to the second, or third, etc. But you knew this, right? So basically all you do is have one PhonePak board for each actual line coming in on the trunk. As far as voice mail boxes – you can have as many as you like. 400 would be no problem. You have all kinds of system administration functions too, of course, like passwords, limiting message length, etc.
#104484From: Christopher TolmieJun 22, 1993 5:53 AM
Paul, The PhonePAK sounds like a viable cost-effective solution for a voice mail system. What we're using now is a dedicated VM computer. It looks very old to me. It has five lines coming into it and a switching system from the phone company with a trunk line of around 300 lines. I do believe there are around (or over) 800 mailboxes in use on it at this time. I'd be interested in receiving more information on the PhonePAK. Please send brochures and all other pertinent data on it to me at: Christopher J. Tolmie Voice Star Systems, Inc. 1300 First State Blvd. Suite J Newport, DE 19804 It be a hoot if I could get an Amiga Voice Mail System installed in this company's smaller business area that lacks VM at this time, and as they see it a $40,000 proposition to initiate it. Some of the features of their system now includes group mailboxes, call one mailbox number and it rolls over to another, personal greetings, changeable by the user, different allowable message lengths (different costs in billing plan too). I'll get the complete scope of what they're present system has to offer the customer and report back to you on it. Thanks for the info, if this is what I hope it is, this GVP board should very well have a similar impact on this industry as Newtek's Toaster has had on the cable & video industry. Chris
#104555From: Paul HigginbottomJun 22, 1993 11:08 PM
Will pass along your request for info. Let's hope PhonePak gets more Amigas into professional use. All users of PhonePak I know of so far are thrilled with the product.
#104944From: Michael BarkerJun 25, 1993 6:59 PM
Excuse me, but didn't you write that the phone pack did not function reliably on 3000/4000 systems? Mike
#104990From: Paul HigginbottomJun 26, 1993 12:12 AM
Doesn't work in A3000 without some Zorro II (16 bit) RAM installed, due to DMA problem in A3000.
#105015From: Mike SchillerJun 26, 1993 4:24 AM
Paul: Just out of curiousity, is the DMA problem in the 3000 the same one as in the 4000 that made the 4091 not work? (I understand the 4091 doesn't work in 3000s either). // -Mike Schiller \X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
#105153From: A. Nick DraperJun 27, 1993 2:50 PM
This is a snag as I have an A3000, how much 16 bit RAM is required per board? I assume I can add it in the form of any Zorro II RAM board. Does the phone pack not work at all in a 3000 or just not well? Is this problem being fixed or is permanent? Thanks Nick.
#105309From: Jerry ThompsonJun 28, 1993 5:36 PM
I got an ooold CBM RAM card with 2 meg of memory on it and it allowed the PhonePAK to work. All you really need is 512K (or maybe even 256K). GVP has been recommending people get A2091 (or A2090A?) SCSI controller cards as they have 512K RAM on them that is available as memory to the system and people are dumping them for $50. -Jerry Thompson Truevision Developer Marketing
#105353From: A. Nick DraperJun 28, 1993 10:33 PM
Sounds like a good cheap option, it's too bad I have to use up a slot for that though. Why can't GVP put a little 16-bit memory on the Phone Pack?
#105524From: Paul HigginbottomJun 29, 1993 10:46 PM
Hi Nick. Only a small amount of 16 bit RAM (512K) is required to make PhonePak work in an A3000. We do not guarantee the PhonePak works in any A3000 without the 16 bit RAM, although I have seen it work. We cannot fix the problem because it lies in the A3000 itself (verified with Commodore). Sorry. Paul.
#104457From: A. Nick DraperJun 21, 1993 10:42 PM
Thanks Gary, so I think your saying you can put in as many boards as you have Zorro slots? as I'm not sure how many are in a A4000 or A4000T. I guess they can be either Zorro II or Zorro III? To send a fax do you print to the fax board as with Intel's satisfaxtion? (What we are using now) Do you maintain fax's if you reboot while sending a "group". Do you receive faxes on it? We tried that on the Intel and if we recived several it slowed to a crawl, possibly a memory thing. Roughly what does a board cost? What other stuff does it do? Isn't there a voice mail and/or answering machine capabilities? Sorry if it sounds like the third degree so just answer what you can as any info is better than nothing. Thanks Nick.
#104587From: Gary NushJun 23, 1993 9:15 AM
> …I think your saying you can put in as many boards as you > have Zorro slots? Yes. > To send a fax do you print to the fax board as with Intel's satisfaxtion? > (What we are using now). Basically you run Prefs/Printer and select the PhonePak fax driver as the printer of choice and anything that goes to PRT: will be churned into a fax. You have a number of options, such as entering a phone number to fax to immediately, or a mailbox to store the fax in for later sending/scheduling, or even a group fax. > Do you maintain fax's if you reboot while sending a "group". Yes. To send to a group, you first generate the fax and store it in a mailbox — this is all rather automatic, you simply print and answer a question or two — and if you reboot, the fax is still on your hard drive. (Unlike NetSatisfaction which deletes fax image files…) > Do you receive faxes on it? We tried that on the Intel and if we recived > several it slowed to a crawl, possibly a memory thing. Yes I do receive faxes, and since the board uses DMA the Amiga barely even notices an incoming fax, let alone multiple faxes. Since I am running only a single line, I can't even tell when a fax is arriving unless I look at the status indicator. > Roughly what does a board cost? You should contact your local dealer or check the latest AmigaWorld for pricing… > What other stuff does it do? Isn't there a voice mail and/or answering machine > capabilities? The PhonePak product is great for a LARGE number of uses. As it ships, it can be an answering machine, a small business VoiceMail system, an automated information attendant, and much, much more. It is ARexx controllable so the possibilities are endless. The tutorials in the manual walk you through setting up a number of systems, each with more complex and "fun" features. There's even a Movie Theater / Cinema example where a caller punches buttons on the phone to find out about currently showing movies in various theaters, and has the option of paging a real live attendant; and the system is set up so that anyone sitting next to the Amiga has NO IDEA when someone is on the phone unless they watch the status bar or they get paged. It's perfect for a quite office!
#104667From: A. Nick DraperJun 24, 1993 1:27 AM
Gary,Sounds mighty impressive, when you receive a fax does it get saved to the hard drive automaticly? as opposed to being saved in memory, which is what I think the intel board does and if you receive a large number of faxes fills the ram drive and slows the system to a crawl. In the movie theater example or ATAD, which we also run in the office giving out weather forecasts. How do you enter the information to be spoken, is it typed and then verbally synthesised by the computer or recorded digitally? We currently have to record the same message twice for two different lines. Sounds like this would be an improvement. Would you have any phone or fax numbers for GVP where I can get some information from them. Sounds like the solution to our problems, to bad we have invested in IBM's in the office. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Nick.
#104711From: Gary NushJun 24, 1993 10:38 AM
> When you receive a fax does it get saved to the hard drive > automaticly? as opposed to being saved in memory, which > is what I think the intel board does and if you receive a large > number of faxes fills the ram drive and slows the system to > a crawl. Yes, faxes are saved directly to the hard drivfe as they come in. It's almost like downloading a file, the fax is written in small spurts as it is received. > In the movie theater example or ATAD, which we also run in > the office giving out weather forecasts. How do you enter the > information to be spoken, is it typed and then verbally > synthesised by the computer or recorded digitally? PhonePak can use ANY IFF sound sample as the recorded message, so you can record your voice with PhonePak, or any sound sampler on the market (like our DSS8+). You can even speak into your phone handset to record the messages. > We currently have to record the same message twice for > two different lines. Sounds like this would be an improvement. Since the message is recorded as an IFF file on the hard drive, it can be directed (or copied) to any number of mailboxes, so you can record once and have the same message available in more than one mailbox. Since PhonePak is multi-tasking you can record the information and save it in a single mailbox, and if five PhonePak's in a single system all answer a call at the same time, all requesting the single weather information recording, PhonePak will handle it automatically. You really only need one file! > Would you have any phone or fax numbers for GVP where I > can get some information from them. Fax #: (215) 337-9922 -> Gary Nush
#104752From: Dave CinegeJun 24, 1993 5:11 PM
Gary, Does GVP have any plans to come out with a REAL multi serial board (>=5 ports) since the 2232 is no where to be found? Dave Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot