Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-sem.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!brl-tgr!brl-sem!ron From: ron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie) Newsgroups: net.consumers Subject: Re: Telephone answering machines Message-ID: <454@brl-sem.ARPA> Date: Fri, 25-Oct-85 14:06:51 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-sem.454 Posted: Fri Oct 25 14:06:51 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 19:17:59 EDT References: <1518@vax3.fluke.UUCP> Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 33 > Rumor has it that this news group recently carried a > discussion on telephone answering machines. I missed Actually, I asked a couple of times, but I did not get any response. I was looking for the following features: 1. Remote, Beeperless message pickup 2. Date and time stamp recorded on each message. 3. Intelligent remote control handling. 3. No endless-loop cassette. Well, the closest I came is the new top of the line PhoneMate. It has a little voice chip that records the day of the week and the time after each message. It is also used to tell you how many messages it has for you when you activate the message pickup, and it gives you a little voice menu after playing the message. It uses two standard micro-cassettes. It comes in two models. One which is just the answering machine, and another with an autodialling telephone. DRAWBACKS: Even with the special batteries (expensive) installed it still seems to forget the time and stored telephone numbers on a regular basis. The things ring sensor is very sensitive to any transient and just unplugging it and plugging it back in will make it ring. There is no skip to next message feature on either the machine nor the remote. WARNING: Of all the beeperless machines I was looking at, the security on the remote is lousy. The Phonemate detects only on touchtone as it's access code. The Record-a-call just sense one row. I am not impressed. The only machine I saw with a full touchtone decoder and setable access code was the Panasonic Easaphone which has two rotary switches on the bottom to allow you to set a two digit code to any combination of the 12 buttons. -Ron