sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems VoiceMail Systems and Programming Looking for Voicemail Software

Phellow Phone Pholk (sorry, couldn't resist) ;-)

I've been using VoiceGuide for my voicemail system here, and I've been fairly pleased with it.

Recently, though, they released a major upgrade which, in order to run it, would require that I "upgrade" our servers, OS-wise.

Since I would prefer not to "fix" something that's really not broken at all in its current state (our servers), I've started to look around for alternatives. My requirements are:

--Runs on Windows 2000 Advanced Server. NO XP-only or Vista-only packages, please!

--Has the ability to send a received voicemail message to the recipient as a file attachment in E-mail.

--Can handle up to four POTS lines.

--Compatible with Dialogic hardware (in this case, the D/4-PCI card).

--Does not require a second mortgage to finance (ideally, should be no more than $300).

I've already looked at NCH's IVM package, and rejected it because it can't handle Dialogic boards.

Suggestions appreciated. Thanks much!

Comdial Interchange.....

But you will need to add another zero to price, regardless of which manufacture you use. Your buying a license to run their software. That is why it is expensive.

Everyone wants everything for next to nothing. Good luck with that one. Companies don't stay in business by giving away their products (which came about thru a significant investment). There has to be a way for a company to make money from their product, or they would not be in business. People are not in business to just give away their ideas. If you are looking for such, AND expect support for free, no doubt, I suggest you go elsewhere.

Why are you needing to upgrade, anyway? It's not a forced upgrade for you to go to a different OS. You said so yourself: if it ain't broke, why fix it? Just stay where you're at, and save your $300 until it multiplies enough to actually be able to pay for what you're looking for.

Justin

(snippage)

I find myself surprised that you, as an obviously long-term forum member AND as a moderator, would even make as unhelpful and downright rude a post as this.

FYI -- My original VoiceGuide purchase was far from "Everything for next to nothing." I paid nearly $500 for the package out of my own pocket. Add to that another $140 for a used Dialogic card from Greed-bay. $640 might be a minor expense to a corporation with immense resources, but it was most definitely a "significant investment" for me!

I chose to make such an investment to make it easier for myself and my wife (she happens to be vision-impaired) to get phone messages. Receiving an E-mail with a .WAV attached is, for her, far easier than dealing with an answering machine. For my part, VG makes it far easier to get messages while I'm on the road and out of range of a cell site (yes, that still happens).

My original reasons for wanting to upgrade were twofold: First, the new version provides a higher degree of audio quality. That would have been nice to have. Second, there were enhancements made to make it easier to do two-way recording of calls.

Katalina Software (VoiceGuide's makers), in my opinion, 'broke' their own product when they went to the most current version. They did, at first, claim that the product worked on Windows 2000 Server, a claim that was quickly retracted when it was discovered that the .NET 3.0 framework (which they based much of the functionality of VG 7 on) would not load on 2000.

Now, with that entered -- I would ask that, in the future, if all you're going to do is berate someone who makes a seemingly simple request for help, and not contribute anything helpful to said request, that you think very carefully before you hit 'Add Reply.'

I've learned as much in the time from when I made my original post. Thanks, Z-man. At least you were nice enough to reply without heaping abuse on me.

I'm going to stick with VoiceGuide, but I'm not going to go through the process of "upgrading" our perfectly-functional servers just to gain 11kHz voice quality.

Happy tweaking.

Have you researched Ovolab Phlink ?

I think they have an amazing product and it sounds perfect for your application.

You seem to want more computer compatibility, than PBX compatibility.

Their product runs on MacOSX and you can easily pick up a used Mac running OSX for under $400 these days. You will have talking CID, call recording functionality, full e-mail integration, etc.

Hope that helps.