Answering Capabilities (was Answering Machines) back

[pianoman]

Hi Z,
My bus phone has call forwarding to my voice mail pager.  The callers leave
a message and it pages me within 30 seconds.  I call up my voice mail to
see what it is.  If it is important I call them right back.  If not, I call
later in the day when I have a break.  Works well for me.  With this
arrangement It means I can be on the modem all the time and still not lose
ANY calls.  It is almost like having 2 phone lines for the price of 1.
James Grebe
R.P.T. of the P.T.G. from St. Louis, MO. USA, Earth
Piano Service and Piano Peripherals
Creator of Hardwood PLTR's and Custom Piano Benches
pianoman@inlink.com         If I wake up in the morning, it WILL be a great
day!

----------
> From: Z! Reinhardt <diskladame@provide.net>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Answering Capabilities (was Answering Machines)
> Date: Thursday, July 30, 1998 7:23 PM
> 
> Dear List!
> 
> Thank you all so much for your input on this subject!!  I have heard
> advertisements for some of the products (and should I say, procedures)
but
> it was great hearing *live* stories about what works best for each of
you.
> 
> I still have some other questions .....
> 
> Computer Modem Users -- Is computer security an issue for you?  I mean,
how
> real are the threats of computer hackers *sweet-talking* to your computer
> and lifting off any personal or financial information it may contain?
> 
> How about threats of lightning?  I've heard some wild stories about what
> lightning is capable of when it comes to destroying computer equipment. 
> I've also heard reports about how useless the commonly available surge
> protectors are in the event of a good *hit*.  (For a detailed discussion
of
> this I would be happy to forward a lengthy e-message on the subject
written
> by my dad, an electrical engineer whose specialty is high-voltage pulse
> power.)  Best advice -- unplug the computer (and your message collecting
> capability while you're at it).
> 
> Uh, I think I would rather risk losing a little answering machine than
the
> entire computer set-up when you consider the frequency of thunderstorms
in
> this area ... just my opinion.
> 
> Digital Users (including phone company services) -- Do you ever run into
> message storage or portability problems?  One of the things that bothered
> me about the digital machine I had was that there was no tape I could
pluck
> out of the machine when there was a] a message I wanted to keep for
> posterity, or b] when I got home late and was too tired to do anything
> about what was on the machine and was faced with an early day next
morning.
>  In those cases, I simply took the tape and a portable tape recorder with
> me and listened to them when I had the time.  (Of course I put a fresh
tape
> in the answering machine before I left.)  Yes, the answering machine did
> have remote capabilities, but I simply found it easier to take the tape
> with me and deal with it inch by inch whenever time allowed.  The remote
> capability came in handy when I didn't get home every night ....
> 
> Call-Forwarding Users -- do you have a problem with junk (solicitation)
> calls?  Personal calls?  I can certainly appreciate the convenience of
> receiving calls in *real time* but I'm a stubborn old bitch when it comes
> to manners.  I have always felt that the piano before me gets my
undivided
> attention unless there is an all-out drop-everything emergency, and the
> people most likely to have to call under those circumstances already have
> the cell-phone number.
> 
> So far, I think the most intriguing idea involves messages being
forwarded
> to a pager.  Does this system have some form of Caller ID or some way of
> identifying calls individually so I can decide for myself what calls to
> investigate then-and-there and what ones can wait until later?
> 
> I didn't mean for my questions to sound like devil's advocate material,
but
> I'm just curious about the possible shortfalls, that's all.  Whatever
> system works for you is great for you, but it might not be so great for
> someone else, only because we are all so different from one another.  I
> really appreciated hearing so many different points of view.
> 
> Thanks again ...
> Z! Reinhardt RPT
> Ann Arbor  MI
> diskladame@provide.net