Our New Phone System

About a week ago we installed our new Microsoft ResponsePoint VOIP (voice over IP) phone system. Actually the phone system is manufactured by Syspine and the software running it is made by Microsoft. ResponsePoint is a phone system that is designed for small businesses. Although the marketing people say it can handle up to 50 phones (technically it can), right now it really fits the 5 to 15 phone scenarios fairly well. I believe that with upcoming software updates it will handle to needs of companies with 15 to 50 phones but not yet.

So what's cool about this system? Several things actually. First, our regular analog phone lines plug right into the system. Currently, it supports up to 8 lines right out of the box. Unlike traditional phone systems, the handsets plug in to a network connection. We just unplugged the network wire going in to our computer, plugged it in to the phone and then plugged another network wire from the phone back to the computer. This network connection allows us to do a bunch of things including connecting to Outlook.

The phone system is fully voice activated. On the inside, if I want to call someone I pick up the phone, push the ResponsePoint button and say "Call Gayle at Mobile". The system then dials Gayle's cell phone. If I say "Call Gayle at Work" it will call her at work. The system works the same on incoming calls. When the automated attendant answers callers can simply say "Ed" or "Ed Davis" and they will be transferred directly to my extension. Say "Operator" and you will be transferred to Ray. You can also ask for "Directory" which will list off all the people you can ask for. Want to know our fax number? Say "What is your fax number?" Of course you can also simply press zero for the operator or type in our extension number (mine is 101), but that's not as cool!

It took me less than an hour to set up the whole system with 7 phones and that includes taking everything out of the boxes! We are still playing around with the various operating options on the system to make sure it works the way we want.

So far we are pleased with the system. There are a few things we miss from our old system but one thing I don't miss is the cost of setting up a new phone when we hire or want to make a change. I can do that myself now and usually in 5 minutes or less!

I'll post more about the system as we become more familiar with it. Actually, we are the local authorized reseller of the system so if you would like to check it out, call the office number and say "Ed"

Windows Vista Modem Driver Update

When I first installed Windows Vista on my workstation I found that my modem did not work. I checked the vendor website and found that there were no Vista drivers available for it. No problem, I can just get another modem. At least that was what I thought. I searched everywhere for a Windows Vista compatible modem. No luck. I have been living without a modem since then.

Over the weekend I spent some time revisiting the modem situation as I really need to send faxes from my workstation and I still connect to a couple of Clients via good old fashion dial up believe it or not. I was pleased to find that the situation is much better. US Robotics, Zoom, and Hawking Technologies have updated most of their current modem lines with Vista drivers. And they even work! Although I noticed a couple of interesting things when using the Vista dialer.

So the Vista modem situation is much better than it was a few months ago. For those of you using PCAnywhere, you must use version 12 or higher for Vista.