[ros-bugs] [Bug 4110] New: Telephony in ReactOS: how and why

[ReactOS.Bugzilla at www.reactos.org]

http://www.reactos.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4110

           Summary: Telephony in ReactOS: how and why
           Product: ReactOS Apps (rosapps)
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: x86 Hardware
        OS/Version: ReactOS
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P3
         Component: Utilities
        AssignedTo: ros-bugs at reactos.org
        ReportedBy: subzero_ro at yahoo.com
         QAContact: ros-bugs at reactos.org


This is an enhancement suggested by Sorin Neacsu (sorin_ncs[at]yahoo.com)
Original text follows:

First of all I want to call your attention to some features that previously
existed in Microsoft Windows but had been withdrawn in newer versions. In
dial-up networking and telephony applications win 95/98/me had distinctive ring
and call forwarding support, but this was discontinued in win 2000/xp/vista.
Also in Microsoft Windows there is a feature with which I can instruct the
dialing program to dial using a calling card...You know that those automated
answering systems accepts selections made only in DTMF (tone dialing), but if I
am connected to an old rotary or crossbar switch I can only dial in pulse. So I
need to dial the acces number of the automated answering system in pulse and
then switch to DTMF (tone dialing) mode. That's why in win 9x/me in the calling
card configuration dialing box there was a button called "from now on do TONE
dialing" or something like that. In this case a sequence of the instructions
needed by the telephony program to dial using a calling card would look like
this:

     Example


   1 Dial the acces number 08080 (It is dialed in pulse because pulse is
selected in calling location properties)
   2 From now on do tone dialing 
   3 Wait for 2 seconds
   4 Dial 00 (international acces)
   5 Dial country code
   6 Dial area code
   7 Dial destination number 55567778
   8 Dial #

I was surprised when I saw in Windows xp and in all the following versions that
the button "do tone dialing hereafter" dissapeared. So I thought that it would
switch to tone dial anyway after the acces number, afterall there is no need to
dial the pin number in pulse...no automated answering system would
recognize-it..but nooooo. If on the location properties page you selected pulse
because your phone switch requires it, the program would dial the entire
sequence in pulse. Of course you can override this by using modificators like
"p", "t", "," , "w"...
In this case the entire sequence listed above can become something like this:
  p08080,t00CCACLOCALNUMBER# where p instructs the modem to pulse dial
                                   T instructs the modem to DTMF dial
                                   , instructs the modem to wait for 2 seconds
                                   w instructs the modem to wait for second
dial tone
                                   CC represents Country code
                                   AC represents Area Code
                                   LOCALNUMBER represents the local phone
number
but this seuence is not very elegant and most users wouldn't know how to use
it, so my sugestion is to make a telephony software layer (similar to TAPI in
windows) that can be instructed to use calling cards and that would
automatically switch to DTMF dialing after the acces number without the need to
be instructed to do so.

 To come back to the distinctive ring and call forwarding telephony
services...in Windows there are 3 applications that can handle phone calls:
Dial-up server (for data calls), Fax console (for fax calls) and Phone dialer
(for voice calls), but the ONLY way I can use those 3 programs simultaneously
is with 3 different modems connected to 3 separated phone lines. I would like
that the telephony software layer (equivalent to TAPI) would distinguish
between the three types of phone calls using distinctive ring and redirect the
call to the aproppiate application. Or it will be better if You will make only
1 application that handles all three types of calls and distinguish between
them using distinctive ring... One application which can record voice messages,
receive faxes or give the caller acces to the computer. And if distinctive ring
service is not available in that area the caller would be invited to make
selections in DTMF
 for example:
   If you want to leave a voice message press 1
   If you want to send a fax press 2
   If you want to connect to our BBS press 3
And of course that one telephony application could also handle calls from three
modems connected to three separated phone lines
And using the call forwarding service provided by the phone company when I want
to connect to internet using dial-up networking the modem could dial the
sequence needed to forward my calls to my cell phone for example if I activated
this function. Of course call forwarding is not very important anymore...not
since the new V92 modems have call waiting and net on hold support, but it is
better to also have the choice to use call forwarding instead of call waiting.
And of course it would be better that the program would dial the sequence
needed to cancel call waiting before sending a fax and the sequence needed to
reenable call waiting after the fax was sent.
   And that telephony application (sort of call center application) could log
and record all incoming and outgoing voice phone calls even if they are made or
answered by regular phones connected to the same line using caller id, line in
use detection, and extension pick-up detection features of certain modems.


   And also I would like direct cable connection support (connection between 2
computers using a null modem serial or paralel cable), which has been
discontinued in Windows Vista.


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