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mattnj

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Hi,

 

Using Axon with Linksys SPA941 and all working a treat, i need a way to pop incoming calls on my PC from contacts saved in Outlook we have a tool to do this currently called "identapop" but it connects to a TAPI driver.

 

Is there a way to do this with AXON?

 

Thanks

 

Matthew

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  • 7 months later...

[edit: see my 2nd reply for how this can work with your hard phone ]

 

Matthew,

 

Yes. There is a solution that works pretty well. I know because I've just spent a good bit of time testing it on my various work computers.

 

Vonalink ScreenPop by arcosoft.com $29.00

 

My real estate investment biz is jumping with about 20-30 calls coming in from new prospects each day. I needed a way to identify callers when they ring in any one of our four incoming voip lines so that we can provide excellent customer support. Really, I just need to remember all the conversations I've had back and forth with prospects when they call in. There's nothing that impresses prospects more than hearing "Hello Joe, good to hear from you again" when JI pick up his call, and be able to quickly review the details of your last conversation.

 

The only way I can effectively track that *and* pull it up instantly is with the Screen Pop to my Outlook contacts where I've decided to store their information. I know there are other CRM and voip solutions that offer this functionality. But, Outlook is my communications and planning hub that networks me to others in the office and allows me to share info with them to divide up the work. Outlook was my choice after much CRM debate because *everyone* interfaces to it--from add-in developers to mobile phone sync utilities.

 

Anyway, I searched long and hard for an Outlook contact screen pop utility. They all seemed to be TAPI based (TapiCall, CallCler, TapiRex, CTI Data connector, etc). I kept my search to add-in type applications and simple solutions rather than implement some big program or server-based software that would be total overkill. (I'm so tired of server junkies advising me to install and maintain an asterisk server, as if it's the silver bullet solution). I just want my contacts to pop up -- I need to K.I.S.S.

 

The Vonalink ScreenPop utility is a lightweight utility program that runs in the system tray. It sports 2 processes running in the task manager: one to monitor SIP phone traffic on your computer's network card, and the other to provide the screen pop functionality. It differs from the TAPI add-ins because it monitors the SIP ports your phone uses for incoming and outgoing calls on your soft phone. This is a more universal approach than the TAPI interface because not all phones are TAPI compliant.

 

Now, I don't currently use Express Talk, although I've been reconsidering it recently. I've used eyeBeam (xLite) for some time now and am reluctant to give it up because it's a pretty solid phone. However, I've found the CounterPath folks to be less than responsive to my requests. They've been very unresponsive to implementing things like Click2Dial context menu dialing and TAPI compliance. And, they still haven't responded to my questions about a ScreenPop application. (I think I'll have to post this over on their forum boards). It just seems that every time I have a great idea on how to make my telephone life easier, I'm searching for some third-party solution that will do what eyeBeam won't. I know they just came out with their Bria product. But it still doesn't seem to have these little features I want and need, but rather lots of other exotic functions that I don't care about (video phone for example). I digress.

 

The setup is very easy because the program has a smart auto phone detect feature that makes configuring the software a snap. You also specify how you want ScreenPop to search for and open your Outlook Contacts. For example, you can tell it to only search business and mobile numbers, or select all numbers to search. The searching work just great with about 2 second pops on my dual-corel aptop with only a few hundred contacts. If a phone number is not found, you can optionally configure ScreenPop to create a new contact. It will populate the new Contact form with the caller ID name and phone number. It leaves the open contact windows on your desktop for your review before you close and save (or delete) them.

 

The cons are few. But, I would like to be able to tell ScreenPop which phone number to populate (Business Phone is the default field). Also, I'd like to be able to automatically assign categories to new contacts (i.e. insert the line number the call came in) and automatically create phone journal entries to track calls in the Outlook journal. I've got Tony over in tech support looking into these things.

 

If there are any VB programmers out there, I'm looking into getting the source code to add these features. It's supposedly available under the GPL. I'm pretty busy and could use some help with things like this.

 

However, my dream is that NCH, or some soft phone company will realize that this is a highly desired feature and incorporate it into their product.

 

Jimbo

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Ahh. I should have looked at your phone first. :unsure:

 

Ok. You're still good to go if you're running ScreenPop on at least one soft phone on your LAN. In fact, I've tested this out extensively because I wanted several people to be able to both answer a call using the softphone or the hard phone connected through the Sipura (linksys) spa2102 ATA. Here's what I've tested:

 

2 laptops, both running soft phones configured to register to the same four voip accounts

2 SPA 2102 ATA's used to connect my Panasonic 4-line cordless phone and base (2 SIP accounts on each ATA)

Outlook 2003 running on both laptops with Vonalink ScreenPop configured to open Outlook Contacts for incoming and outgoing calls

My voip provider is VoipYourLife.com (excellent customer service)

 

When a call comes in, all the phones ring. I or my assistant can pick up the call on our laptops and talk to callers through the built in mic (not great quality), our plug-in mic/headset, or our bluetooth wireless headset. Or, we can pick up the call on the cordless phone. It's a great little setup that seems to be scalable in the sense that I can load up a few more soft phones on people's laptops along with the Vonalink software if I need them to answer calls. I can also purchase more cordless handsets for my Panasonic 4-line phone (up to 8 I beleive).

 

So, if you've got a computer running a soft phone and the ScreenPop software on your computer, you will likely be able to do the screen pop with the SPA 941, provided your SIP provider doesn't have any problems with multiple phones registering at the same time. My SIP provider doesn't.

 

Jimbo

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