Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 21:30:48 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>,
   WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Modems (was Re: Email issues...)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

At 12/20/2006 11:38 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>"Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> wrote:
> > "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net> wrote:
> >> Actually, KeithLynch.net isn't in Virginia, it's in Minnesota.
>
> > Even better. ;-)
>
>Ironically, Minnesota is one of the few states I've never been to.

I've been there a number of times...I used to work for Cray Research,
which is based in Minneapolis, and had training facilities south of
St. Paul.  For some reason they never seemed to send me there in the summer...

> > As for the ancient technology you are using, it is getting rare.
> > I've been looking for a voice modem (one I can use to dial out, play
> > wav files through and read DTMF tones back from) and they are pretty
> > rare these days.
>
>I'm not sure what you mean.  You mean an ordinary external modem?

No, I mean a voice modem.  Modems come in "data" (all of them), "fax"
(lots of them) and "voice" (apparently damn few these days, but they
were pretty common in the late 90s).  Voice modems were generally fax
and data capable too.

The voice capability lets you play sound files through the modem when
connected to a human rather than another modem, record sound coming
back from the human, and translate DTMF ("touchtone") tones the human
might enter into codes the computer can read easily (ASCII sequences
usually).  With the right software on the computer the modem is
connected to you can do simple answering machine tricks, but you can
do fancier stuff too, like password-protected message boxes for your
friends and clients, or a "press 1 to leave a message for Mike, press
2 to leave a message for his cat, press 7 until you die if you are a
telephone solicitor..." voice response system.  You could also use
one to implement a telephone polling system too of course.

Back when these were common, disks were smaller and more expensive,
so their utility was limited...today the space for reasonable
duration messages is cheap and fast and they would be a lot more
useful...and I have an idea for a business that would require one for
the initial phases, which is why I'm looking around for one, without
a lot of luck so far.  The VoIP systems can give you similar
capabilities, but for that I'd need about 4 times the bandwidth that I have.

>Aren't broadband users still in the minority?

Just barely.  Last info I saw on this (last summer) showed broadband
in the US at 47% penetration.  That one was counting anything faster
than dialup as broadband though...including my 144k IDSL, which,
while much faster and better than dialup, is still way too slow for
things like streaming video or VoIP.

>I'd think there
>were more modems in use now than ever before, most of them for PPP
>Internet accounts.

There may be, but they are data modems, or data/fax modems apparently.

>Or is it just *external* modems that are getting rare?

They appear to be available as always.  There are a lot more
"Winmodems" around, which are useless as far as I'm concerned.  They
use the computer's CPU to do all the work and have little but
interface circuitry on the "modem".  Since the CPU does all the work,
they require very special software, which comes with the board, and,
of course, works only on Windows (the right version of Windows of
course).  Switch to anything else, or perhaps even change Windows
versions, and it won't work anymore.  They are pretty much all
internal too, and I don't want an internal modem.

>I also have faster modems, though nothing about 28.8.

Thanks for the offer, but I seem to remember lending a 34K voice
modem to an ex-GF a couple of years ago...I need to see if she still
has it and whether she's using it as a voice modem.  If not, any data
modem ($30 or so) will do better for her and I can get mine back.  It
will be good enough for what I need at the moment.

>I'm not sure what you mean by "read DTMF tones back from."  The modems
>I'm familiar with can produce DTMF (Touch-Tone) signals, but not
>interpret them.

Voice modems can...data and fax modems generally can't.

>By "wav file," you mean one containing modem tones?

No, I mean sound files.  "You have reached 1-800-TOO-BADD...to leave
a message, press 1...", or "Hello, we are selling stuff you don't
need...if you want to talk to our sales-critter, press 1.  If you'd
like to leave a message telling us where to stuff it, press 2.  If
you are confused and need to know where to send all your money,
please hold the line and we'll be right with you!"

>Just don't try to store modem signals as MP3s.  That trick never
>works.

Might on the old 300 baud modems...lossy compression shouldn't affect
their tones much.  I know people who could whistle well enough to get
those to connect. ;-)  I gave my Cat acoustical-coupled modem to my
dad many years ago, and tossed my 1200 baud external almost as far
back.  At the moment I have no modems, which is a small problem I
need to solve.

-- Mike B.