I have been playing around with old style dial-up phone modems lately. It first started when I wanted to add Faxing to MBA. Windows 2000 and XP (both Home and Pro) come with Faxing software. I thought it would be nice to allow Reps to Fax reports. Not everyone has access to email at work but many still have Faxes. It all started when a local Rep mentioned to me that she has customers that are employees of a restaurant and that they don’t have email but they do have a Fax. She wanted to Fax copies of the Invoices prior to delivery so they could be verified and customers could have exact change or checks ready.

About a week after adding Faxing to upcoming version of MBA I got a call from a friend that made me think of something else to add as well. My friend always calls from work and uses a auto-dialer program in his Contacts List software. He has a speaker phone and picks up when I answer (he’s been doing this for years) and I can always detect when he is doing this. Then I thought “Hey, why not add this feature to MBA”. If people have a modem for Faxing why not allow then to use it to dial the phone too.

I have a 56K modem built right into my notebook so I used this for development and testing. But for both of these features all you need is a very old 14.4 modem. I looked through the local Craig’s List ads and even in a few thrift shops to see if any were around and how much they cost. I was amazed to see lots are still out there and they are very very cheap. I have seen 28.8 and 33.6 modems for as little as $5 each (with cables!). Most were in the $10 - $15 range. Of course you can buy new internal modems for as little as $25 (these are software driven Win modems, but work great on anything from a PII up, if your computer in less than seven years old it will probably work fine).

In addition to sending Faxes you can use the Windows software and your modem to receive Faxes as well. The great thing is you can preview them before printing (save a tree). And when you do print them its on plain paper not that old shiny Fax paper (that fades after a few months).

I know Faxing and auto-dialing are not for going to be a gigantic boon to anyones business but all these little tools can help make your work day a little easier.

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