Skype Journal: Skype Call Forwarder

Stuart Henshall

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Skype Call Forwarder

February 22, 2005 07:24 PM

Topics: software

A new program by Twilight Utilities tries too hard to break new ground and comes up short. The intension is to use your modem to foward a Skype call to anyone. It provides buddy redirect options, so some get voice mail and other get forwarded through your modem connection to your cell or landline whereever you are. Potentially it's a Skype to phone and phone to Skype gateway.

Some things we learned in our brief test.

First our laptop didn't have the right type of modem. However SkypeForwarder did install and then connected to the Skype API. Like Pamela-Systems answer phone it uses the VAC (Virtual Audio Cables) (Is there a theme here? Bill Campbell was the first to use these with Skype, later we worked out SkypeCasting and now a second product is using them.) After the install I recorded a playback message and then left it to answer an inbound call. I couldn't use the forwarding option for lack of an appropriate modem. Unfortunately on any setting it failed to answer inbound Skype Calls.

Overall the product feels very rough, lacks elegant simplicity and useablity. If someone tests it and has success I'd like to hear about it. From my perspective the team at TU have obviously been listening. They are thinking about Buddies and Groups. Who should be forwarded etc. There's work to do and some bugs to fix. Still this is the most ambitious program yet. This is a screen shot. At the answerphone end the market is starting to get more crowded.

Twilight Utilities

For those on the breaking edge of change with a full traditional modem and perhaps two sound cards in your PC and a lot of time on your hands it may be worth testing. For the rest of the world this one is not ready for prime time yet.

See also this thread from the Skype forums.

I'd like to setup an skype PBX gateway in my house. My idea is to be able to place local PSTN calls accessing the PBX at my home only using Skype when I'm anywhere in the world. Skype Forums

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Posted by: Olivier Morf at September 9, 2005 4:56 AM

I tried and had the same problem. My xircom modem on my HP laptop is not recognised. Also the software answers calls, I can't play back the messages. The messages are recorded correctly. They are in one of the folders where all the software files are located. I can play them with Window Media Player. I can't use the forward function. Would be nice to be able to forward to an other Skype id.

Olivier

Posted by: Eric Peterson at November 20, 2005 5:16 AM

I purchased this software from Twilight more as a curiosity. Everything you read above is TRUE. The software appears to be written for a very specific modem (or more accurately, a specific modem chipset). NewEgg.Com sells the modem that works for about $19. I successfully got the software and hardware to work! However, you will be disappointed.

Because the software uses some sort of PCM capture, it reduces the voice quality to something about half of traditional telephone, then passes that sound through the internal CODEC to the modem. I would rate it barely useable. Comparible to a conversation on a walkie-talkie. But it does work.

Although it's not very good, I have to give the programmer/creator Kudos...he has done what it appears no one else has tried yet. The interface is clumsy and unrefined, but his concept is good.

You know, it takes one person to walk a path...before the trail is blazed. Perhaps another programmer will work with this guy's source code (legally, with his blessing - you'd hope.) and build on his ideas.

Posted by: Teleonnet at February 8, 2006 4:25 PM

Teleon developed a Skype driver to make a PCTel modem to be a gateway. Calls can be forwarded from PSTN to Skype remote user and vice versa, in fix transfer mode or free dial mode. Its freeware version has a duration limitation of 3 mintues for each call. Company URL: www.teleon.net, www.teleonnetworks.com.

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Teleonnet on Skype Call Forwarder
Teleon developed a Skype driver to make a PCTel modem to be a gateway. Calls can be forwarded from PSTN to Skype remote user and vice versa, in fix transfer mode or free dial mode. Its freeware version has a duration limitation of 3 mintues for each call. Company URL: www.teleon.net, www.teleonnetworks.com.
Eric Peterson on Skype Call Forwarder
I purchased this software from Twilight more as a curiosity. Everything you read above is TRUE. The software appears to be written for a very specific modem (or more accurately, a specific modem chipset). NewEgg.Com sells the modem that works for about $19. I successfully got the software and hardware to work! However, you will be disappointed.

Because the software uses some sort of PCM capture, it reduces the voice quality to something about half of traditional telephone, then passes that sound through the internal CODEC to the modem. I would rate it barely useable. Comparible to a conversation on a walkie-talkie. But it does work.

Although it's not very good, I have to give the programmer/creator Kudos...he has done what it appears no one else has tried yet. The interface is clumsy and unrefined, but his concept is good.

You know, it takes one person to walk a path...before the trail is blazed. Perhaps another programmer will work with this guy's source code (legally, with his blessing - you'd hope.) and build on his ideas.
Olivier Morf on Skype Call Forwarder
I tried and had the same problem. My xircom modem on my HP laptop is not recognised. Also the software answers calls, I can't play back the messages. The messages are recorded correctly. They are in one of the folders where all the software files are located. I can play them with Window Media Player. I can't use the forward function. Would be nice to be able to forward to an other Skype id.

Olivier
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