feature -play wave files

[nsisman]

I would like blocked calls and telemarketer calls to play some recordings (wave files) before hanging up but not sure how to do them ?

Ultra is this even possible.....play a wave file (like a "sit" tone and "do not call" list message) to the caller and then disconnect ?

[Monk]

I would like blocked calls and telemarketer calls to play some recordings (wave files) before hanging up but not sure how to do them ?

Ultra is this even possible.....play a wave file (like a "sit" tone and "do not call" list message) to the caller and then disconnect ?

I think this would be a worth addition, if it is possible using a standard modem.

[DavidG]

I agree. this could be very usefull. If it could play a wave file based on the "group" or CID that applied to a certain caller, that would allow all kinds of scenarios: Tell Family details about why you're not able to answer, play "SIT" tone for telemarketers and blocked people, give friends details about the upcoming outing, tell child A to take the dog out, tell child B to finish homework before turning on Xbox. Tell significant other that you've got dinner covered.

As I see it the problem comes (at least for calls you'd actually like to have, this isn't an issue for those that you're happy to drop) with what do with the call after you've played the message. At this point you've picked up the call...which means your answering machine can't / won't. So unless Ultra wants to write a whole answering machine function, you'd have to forego the option to take a message if you opted to play an UltraCID-group-optimized message. I guess I'd take that trade-off as long as I could chose which groups I wanted to just pass through to the answering machine!

I remember from my voice mail admin days that some systems just looked at a directory for a certain filename and if it existed, it played it. If not, on to next action. Maybe just look for a file like UltraCID-xxxxxxxx.wav, where xxxxxxxx=either a group name or a CID match. No elaborate menu, just play a file if the file exist and move on if it doesn't.

[DavidG]

I think this would be a worth addition, if it is possible using a standard modem.

I suspect it would require a voice modem. But that's essentially already covered since the handling of CID in enexpensive non-voice modems is pretty poor if not outright absent.

[chewie]

Any word on this? I am just starting to eval this plugin and am VERY interested in this feature. Especially if I can trigger it based on phone numbers.

[DavidG]

Not sure if this is appropriate here, ultra...if not, I apologize and won't be offended if you delete this post. I know folks have been looking for this functionality so I thought I'd let them know what I've found.

I have added a second CID capable modem to my setup, and a second call-handling program called phonetray in order to get the "play a wave" file and easy log export capability I've been craving. See this link: http://www.phonetray.com/ptfree_features.htm. This software is free for personal use and so far seems quite robust.

I still love and use UltraCID in tandem with phonetray to offer the Homeseer interaction that Phonetray cannot do. UltraCID is able to take a variety of creative Homeseer-based actions based on the CID of an incoming call - send text messages, flash lights, sound annoying X-10 chimes - whereas phonetray now handles my nuisance-call processing and CID logging. Between the two of them I have the best of both worlds. Admittedly this comes at the cost of a second modem plugged into the same phone line and PC. But since I have just idled my HIRO H50113 USB modem in favor of the UltraCID-approved ZOOM 3095 USB modem anyway (so I now get the on hook / off hook indicators in HS) it's not really a big deal. The HIRO modem is coincidently the preferred modem for Phonetray so everybody's happy.

Anyway, I hope this is useful to some of the folks who have been looking for the ability to play wave files. And again, my apologies to UltraJones if this post is inappropriate.

[DavidG]

One caution, though, about phonetray. It looks like the caller log is just dropped into a CSV file...no actual relational database. So in time, it will likely get pretty huge and possibly sluggish. Time will tell. I will post in a few months about the file size.