Software Phone Answering Machine

[George M]

For years I have used a program called Call Soft Pro. However the developer quit supporting it a while ago and I would like to find something else that has the capabilities that this one did. So far I have not found anything.

What I am looking for is a program that will:

Use TTS or Wav
Use Natural voices
Have unlimited personal greetings via TTS (most important and where the other programs I have found are lacking)
Be controlled via keyboard controls. By that I mean to be able to have it play the messages over speakers via a command from an X10 rf remote since the computer running this would be in the basement and I prefer not to have to Remote Desk Top in to see and play the messages.


Number of mail boxes is not important. Niether is phone tree.

Thanks
George M

 

[electron]

Does it have to be Windows? If not, I would strongly recommend Asterisk. If it does have to be Windows, googling for "voice mail software" or "answering machine software" seems to get most hits, but I am sure you already tried those keywords. If you do find something you like, let us know please.

 

[George M]

Yes, it has to be windows.
I have searched for and tried numerous ones, but none that I have found are able to have numerous personal greetings via TTS.

I was hoping someone here had a solution.

George M

 

[123]

As soon as my USB voice modem arrives, I'll be testing a voicemail module, SYSTapi, created for a free, Windows-based HA application (Premise). The UI is web-based and, among many other things (including IVR), it provides custom announcements per caller. I realize the combination of HA app and voicemail isn't what you're after, but Premise is compact and uses very few resources (I run it on a P3) ... you could let all of its HA functions remain dormant and simply use the voicemail portion.

SYSTapi can be found here. One of the three zip files contains an illustrated manual.

BTW, SYSTapi is a far cry from Asterisk. Dan's suggestion is the one to go with if you want maximum functionality (although you will need to run it on Linux).

Let us know if you find a suitable replacement for Call Soft Pro.

 

[IVB]

Is there a way to check messages from the landline telephones in your house using the software? i've been looking at a various packages, they all seem to require using the computer.

 

[damage]

if you have a fry's electronics nearby, you can get a hal deluxe upb starter kit for $49. it comes w/ the hal software, a voice modem, a upb usb pc interface and a upb lamp module. you can sell off the upb bits for $15-20 each and you get the hal software & the modem for $10. you can download version 3.7.3 from automated living ( http://www.automatedliving.com/downloads.shtml ) voicemail is about all i use it for. you can retrieve messages from any phone, you can set it up to react to x10 commands, you can play back via its web interface, etc.

 

[mustangcoupe]

Does it have to be Windows? If not, I would strongly recommend Asterisk. If it does have to be Windows, googling for "voice mail software" or "answering machine software" seems to get most hits, but I am sure you already tried those keywords. If you do find something you like, let us know please.

Dan,

Can a asterisk install use regular phone line? I thought it was limited to VOIP stuff? There is also a windoes variant I beleive

 

[electron]

It definitely can interface a regular phoneline, it's just a matter of having the right interface hardware. I didn't think of looking for a Windows version, that would be cool for sure.

 

[123]

.. hal deluxe upb starter kit for $49. it comes w/ the hal software, a voice modem, a upb usb pc interface and a upb lamp module. ..

That sounds like a great deal! Which version of Hal is included? The OP wants multiple voicemail boxes and Hal Basic provides only one. Also, which brand of UPB interface and module is in the kit?

 

[damage]

.. hal deluxe upb starter kit for $49. it comes w/ the hal software, a voice modem, a upb usb pc interface and a upb lamp module. ..

That sounds like a great deal! Which version of Hal is included? The OP wants multiple voicemail boxes and Hal Basic provides only one. Also, which brand of UPB interface and module is in the kit?

hal deluxe. the upb devices are manufactured by SAI.

 

[tmbrown97]

Would Asterisk run on a VMWare Workstation client-os? I'd be willing to try that... I've heard it's an insanely powerful system.

 

[electron]

Asterisk will work in a virtual environment just fine, I would be more concerned about being able to interface the phone line, from within that virtual environment.

 

[CollinR]

I used to use faxtalk communicator, no real problems I think they have a demo.


BTW if you like it you can find old Aopen hardware voicemodems on ebay on the cheap, they included an OEM version. If you get on you can upgrade to the top end for like $20.

 

[CollinR]

Also if you have SageTV there is an interface for HAL that works on the extenders.

Granted I'm not overly thrilled with HAL but if that $49 deal is true it's well worth it.

 

[damage]

Granted I'm not overly thrilled with HAL but if that $49 deal is true it's well worth it.

they've been on clearance @ fry's for months now, probably about when the upb modules went down to $5. it was also posted over on the homeseer forum ( http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=129448 ). they're still sitting on the shelves. i picked up one myself over the summer & sold off all the hardware for more than the $49 i paid, just to get a 2nd HAL license so i could write a HAL client server VR app.