Does anyone here dial their telephone using their computer modem?

[superboyac]

I know most people don't do this, but I know we're all somewhat of computer geeks here, so I was wondering if anyone else did this besides me.  Let me first explain why this is a weird thing to do:
--Modems are less and less common on computers now.
--A lot of people now use their cell phones as their primary means of communication.

So, what I do is this.  I only use my cell phone for those times people need to get hold of me right then and there, and the conversations are usually pretty quick.  For business, I have a business phone, and when I really need to talk for a while, I wait until I'm at home and use the house phone in comfort and in privacy.  Therefore, I've realized I can use the modem to dial my numbers through the computer, it's really cool.  It's much better than any memory features on a phone and saves me loads of time (I barely ever touch my keypad).

I just wanted to know if anyone else does this, and if so, we can get into a fairly detailed discussion about software and related issues.  Of course, this is also related to my obsession with addressbook software (or lack of!), but that's a sidenote right now.

PS. mouser, I know I bailed out of the addressbook review earlier this year, but I was thinking of resuming something like that.  Except it won't strictly be a review, but something a little more creative that might incorporate a light discussion about PIM's.  I'll discuss it more later.

[f0dder]

Almost 10 years ago, I found some pascal source code for generating dial tones - I hacked up some user interface for it, and could then hold my phone against my speaker, select a person from the list, and have it dial for me. Used it for a month or so, I guess.

These days I don't even have a landline phone, only a cell.

[superboyac]

Yeah, I remember those days, a couple of my friends made some telephone hacking devices like that.  It was supposed to get them free calls from a payphone, and I think it actually worked a couple of times.

I guess I'm not going to find too many people who use their computer to dial, if any.  I just can't stand cellphones, I only use them when necessary.  I hate their small little size.  I got a house phone (corded) so that there is no keypad on the headset, so I can grab the thing with my hand.  Plus, I don't like talking too long unless I'm comfy and not a lot of people around, since I'm kind of loud (and I don't want normal people hearing all the weird stuff I say).

So, I'm thinking that nobody uses their computer to dial their phone.  Okay, I'm a loner.  I thought there would be more people, because all those PIM applications and addressbooks come with this dialer, and Windows XP even comes with a built-in phone dialer.  However, I've never met anyone that uses it besides me.  I can understand why, it's a little annoying to set up on the phone anyway...you have to use a splitter and do some stuff with the line going to the modem and the phone simultaneously.

Oh well...

[Chris]

I use the PC  to dial the phone both at home & work. I do not  mis-dial and it is very fast. I dial from a contact data base that I find very useful. It is PSA Cards. I have a registered version and I believe that it  is the best. I researched for a very long time. Unfortunately development has now ceased and the registered version is no longer available.

Setting up the modem is not hard at all.

I would also like a small application, which when started, dials the phone number in the clipboard and then close. This would help when I meed to dial a number from an email or from a web page. I have not found such a program yet!

Chris

[TPReal]

Hi guys!
Here you have a little program (C++Builder) that just dials numbers using speakers. If that's what you need, I can post a short description on how it's done.
TPReal.

[4vrqrisPt]

Hi,

Actually I used dialing through the modem since I loaded XP
almost exactly 4 years ago,just using XP's native dialing app.
I also use it to send and receive fax -XP native MS Fax Console.
One thing though,you really have to protect this setup very well to avoid rogue dialers,but you're right,it is handy.

Don't worry about being "the only one" who uses modem dialing 
One thing you can be sure of:Whatever you do,there will be another few thousand people who do the same thing,except they may not be in your immediate environment
But since I'm also on cable,I tend to use VOIP whenever I can and as you know,Skype and others have their own quick dial setup.

[brvmama]

Hi guys!
Here you have a little program (C++Builder) that just dials numbers using speakers. If that's what you need, I can post a short description on how it's done.
TPReal.

-TPReal (November 23, 2006, 05:23 AM)

I tried but it is asking for CG32.DLL file. I am unable to use your software

[TPReal]

I think you can download missing dlls from this site:
http://www.webzila.com/?wz=dll
or look somewhere else, but they should be available somewhere. Sorry, I cannot do it so that you don't need cg32.dll, but no more libs should be needed I think.
TPReal

[Chris]

I tried the dialer. It needed 2 dll ;cg32.dll & CC3260MT.DLL. I found both but the dialer did not work.

As indicated above if an app like this which when started, dials the phone number in the clipboard and then close, it would be perfect.

Unfortunately not working at all!

Chris

[TPReal]

I know that's a big problem with C++Builder. Use those: tpreal.webpark.pl/libs.rar
TPReal.