Subject: From: Date:

ECS phone support stability Mark Gilmore Mon, 27 Nov 2000 15:56:42 -0500

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Hi all/A.J. :-),
I feel the need to address A.J.'s stated desire for a
"stable" phone system:

As I understand it, we have 3 phone-related issues:

1) WANTS: Local DTMF detection, etc.

2) PROBLEMS: ECS sometimes records silence or dialtones after caller
hangs up.
   NOTE: Upon detection of silence or a dialtone, the modem is SUPPOSED
   to report this to ECS. ECS cannot "divine" that the caller has hung
up -
   it can only react to what the modem tells it. So this is not really
the
   fault of ECS, though I readily admit that I should spend some time
   attempting to determine why some modems occasionally fail to report
   such status.
   And regarding TAPI, I seriously doubt that inserting a layer of
   software btw ECS and the modem will correct this problem.

3) FAILURES: ECS occasionally fails to record messages or answer the
phone.
   These (and ONLY these) would render phone support "unstable".

Now to the best of my recollection, NO ONE has reported failures
other than A.J., who has been plagued with modem-related problems
from day one. To his great credit, he has tried some 3-4 DIFFERENT
modems, and has even had ECS periodically reset the modem (with no
effect).

I have therefore been forced to conclude that A.J.'s modem failures
are due to some kind of hardware "anomaly" with his particular PC
and/or phone-lines. If any of these failures were reproducable, I
would gladly expend as much effort as it took to help him find the
TRUE cause of the problem. Otherwise, I AM HELPLESS.

A.J.: If you want a refund, you are welcome to it (and YOU DESERVE IT,
as ECS as not performed properly with your particular system). But it
really serves no purpose to repeat horror stories which are caused by
a problem which I am simply unable to address at this time. And it can
give potential customers the false impression that the ECS phone support
could be unstable for THEIR system.

I hope my position was stated with sufficient diplomacy :-).
Regards,
-- 
Mark Gilmore
Omnipotence (ECS home automation software)
http://omnipotencesoftware.com
423-745-0026
Hours: Mon-Sat, 9AM-8PM/EST

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