5.3 Using STFax Pro as a Telephone

Strangely one of the most frequentely asked questions is "can I use my voice modem as a telephone?". Yes, with STFax Pro!

There are two ways of using a voice modem as a telephone. If your modem has a speakerphone/microphone you can use this as a hands-free telephone (although the quality is usually pretty dire) or you can connect a micro/headphone to the in/out sockets on your modem and carry out a receptionist-style hands free telephone conversation.

To dial another telephone goto the voice menu and select dial or press the dial button on the main interface. You will see the following window:

You can choose a telephone number to dial from the drop down menu (if you have previously entered this into your phonebook) or dial the number manually by pressing the buttons on the keypad. Alter the volume if necessary (you can alter the volume whilst in mid conversation without the other person being aware).

Press dial to dial the number. You should be able to talk in the normal manner and press hanup when you want to end the conversation.

You can manually answer an incoming call by click the answer button on the main page or by selecting "Answer" from the voice menu. You should be able to alter the volume as necessary and hangup when you want to finish the conversation.

If you set the preferences to "voice only" (prefs/misc) STFax will answer the incoming call when "auto answer" is set on within the STFax preferences.

5.4 The Status window

When STFax answers in voice mode, it'll open a status window:

In the Status line you will be able to see what STFax/the remote user is doing: e.g. STFax is answering, the remote user is leaving a message, he's in the fax on demand system, and so on...

If the Caller ID service is active in the place where you live, STFax will also show the caller's id, provided that the modem is able to recognize it.

Moreover, this window also contains a button which allows you to interrupt STFax and activate the speakerphone mode: for example, let's say you have just come back home, you hear the phone ringing and STFax starts the answering process; you can press this button to stop STFax and talk with the caller.

The "Manual Answer" gadget can't be used at any time though: STFax will ghost it after some time, when the current process can't be interrupted.

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