For those of you with Hi-Phones

[Kallestad]

Is this thing ready for Prime Time? I'm getting to be a little afraid because of all of the problem posts in this forum.

[ajgriglak]

I've had nothing but problems with the Hawking and HS PCI modems.

Rich suggested I try the Hi-Phone, and it's been SOLID! No more recordings of people hanging up the phone. CallerID is dead on... No problems here.

Plus, the triggers available in HS are cool - for example, mute the MP3s anytime someone picks up the phone. Huge WAF on that one!

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-=A.J. Griglak

[sponnath]

Guess I have been around PCs and technology too long to say 'rock solid' anymore without any kind of a religious ceremony to purge any leftover issues that statement might create in those devices.

Actually, I was one of the earliest beta testers on this device. It has been a long road for a device that holds so much promise. Rich was hampered by their drivers and other issues but I always knew he would make this device work, and he has. That's why I jumped in early. It's not necessarily just confidence in the device and HSP but also in Rich.

You will see issues where the hiphone hangs offhook and other maladies in many posts on the board. There were probably several issues that Rich had to address to fix this single most aggravating WAF killing symptom of sticking offhook. My hiphone has been online now for quite a while and has been acting very well. This is a very positive statement to make as my wife and daughter used to come downstairs and unplug the hiphone and not tell me. That's how bad it was for them. I like it when calls can't come in...... I actually overheard my wife telling HSP to dial a number last night where I have all the long distance codes and the number in the phone number, big step forward for her. I don't think the Way2Call guys understand what it means to keep the device online (good recoverability) and Rich has overcome that by coding HSP to watch the Hiphone better. He is still adding logic as he gets more knowledgeable about that unit. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the unit and HSP again. It works well today and Rich is still improving the reliability. Also, R Tinker has got some posts out there talking about other advanced features that will be possible with the Hiphone.

I eagerly await the day that I tell HSP to dial my kid away at college and it dials up his IP address instead of a phone number!

Also, I can't answer for the modem but the Hiphone works very well for VR commands to HS. I don't have whole house mics and use all of my phones to issue commands.

The only feature I wish it had today is the ability to listen to inbound callers as it records their message. We have expressed this need to Rich and I'm sure he will incorporate it as soon as it becomes possible.

Now I must knock on wood, that's why my HA equipment all sits on wooden shelves. Wood is never far away.....

SteveP

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The REAL Pledge of Allegiance

[Alconnell]

I love Hi-Phone and would only echo Steve's comment about being able to use it for VoIP, which I am told is coming. My wife is still looking for the little blinking voicemail light and is unhappy with HSP as an answering system, but I am working on that! She absolutely loves talking CID, distinctive ring by number and many of the other features. I think it is more of a training issue with her, but I have been trying to train her for 16 years!

[sponnath]

Same here,

What's your wife's complaints?

I haven't gotten good requirements out of her to make good adjustments.

I theorize that she still doesn't like the separate mailboxes but I haven't given in on that.

Ease of use is another. It's very simple to walk up to the old answering machine and press the play button.

Nobody in the house programmed that old machine so they don't remember what a pain that was, or how scratchy the outbound message tape got, or that I always had to go back in an clear out all the old messages from that gawdawful cassette tape!

If you have some other fixes, I would like to try them here on my 'users'. Can't train them already tried. I did train the cat to not go into the garage but training the wife and daughter on HSP messages still eludes me (even though it's on every screen in the web browser in the house).

I should make a small black plastic box with one button marked PLAY and one LED that flashes when there's a message. The LED would attach to a plugin X10 and a wall wart. The play button connects to a RF remote contact (L5 on triggers play event).

SteveP

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The REAL Pledge of Allegiance

[Alconnell]

Are no little flashing red light with the number of messages on it (tried flashing Audrey's lights, she said it's not the same). Also, ease of use, push a button like you said. There is a script floating around that uses x10 to play messages, you could use a keychain remote with that. Check this thread play messages
Clearly, though, these are HSP issues she has, not the HiPhone. I think she just needs a little more getting used to it all. We're building a new house that is bigger and it won't be as easy to see that answering machine. I think then my 2 Audreys and the phones will win out!