Phone Calls on Dial Up

We had a wonderful thunder storm on Wednesday night that produced enough rain to keep us from being forced into a burn ban. One flash of lightening was very intense and the boom that accompanied it was deafening and too close. Our lights did not go out but my phone died.

Sometime later one of our phones rang but it wasn't the one that is hooked into our computer system, so I knew that the problem was with the phone or lines into my computer. I started plugging and unplugging and testing until I found the problem to be with my HotCall HC2000 box.

The HotCall HC2000 is a little device that rings to let you know that you have a call coming in while you are using your dialup internet connection. This box has kept me happy for many years and I am sure that it has kept our family and friends happy as well because they didn't always get a busy signal when we were online. It has lasted many years and served us well. It will be disposed of with honors.

So, off I go to look for another HotCall box with thoughts of having to order it and how long it might take to receive it in the mail. But then, I think that with all of the new technology that is out there today and the fact that I haven't researched this in a long time that there might just be a software solution other than CallWave and some of the call forwarding programs that I have tried before. They require a call forwarding from your phone service and there is a small fee that you have added on to your monthly phone bill.

Sure enough there is a little program that works wonderfully with no fees from the phone company and it actually works great. I had it downloaded and installed in no time. I am really happy with this software. It is called PhoneTray Dialup and it is located at http://www.phonetray.com/index.htm.

They have other programs too that are free that will zap telemarketers and block callers that you don't want to talk to, but the one that you want is called PhoneTray Dialup, it is the only one that allows you to receive phone calls while being online.

It has a 30 day free trial then after the 30 days are up you have to pay $15.95 USD to purchase it. This is a one time fee that you can use on other computers and never have to pay for again. You will receive a license number that you keep in a safe place in case you have to upgrade or download a new copy to a new computer.

It only works if you have Call Waiting through your phone company and it works really well if you have Call Waiting Caller ID because it will tell you who is calling and their phone number. You even have a choice of whether it tells you in a male voice or just in a text box. You can chose to disconnect and take the call, place the internet connection on hold and take the call, ignore the call or zap the call with a choice of recorded messages.

I do have call waiting which is required but I do not have call waiting caller ID, so all calls just come up as N/A for me. I can't believe that it took a storm for me to find a program that I like so well.

If you have a dial-up and you can't get phone calls while online, you should check this out. If you have a modem that allows it, you can even put your connection on hold and take the call, then go back online without having to redial. This works for me for about three minutes before my internet connection disconnects.

Not Again...

Just when I thought I was getting myself back together, could catch up on all of the work that has piled up, I get sick. I woke up at 3:30 this morning throwing up, aching all over. Chilling one minute and too hot the next. My back is killing me as well as every other part of my body. I don't have time for this.

My DH did set me up with my laptop in bed but I really don't feel like doing anything online. My fingers even hurt and feel heavy. I hope this passes quickly.

Faith Restored

Shopping online was made just for me. I hate to shop and even shopping online is not my favorite pastime. I would much rather read a good book. But online shopping has definitely made my life easier. Sometimes I try to imagine what life must have been like before the internet, it must have been a dark and difficult time.

Consider this, I am 50 years old and am only half kidding. I really do have a hard time remembering what it was like. Think about the kids of today who have a hard time understanding that our generation was actually able to live without cell phones.

I didn't mean to get side tracked with this train of thought. I was really going to blog about having my faith restored in an eBayer.

I purchased a Christmas present on eBay and when it arrived it was not even close to the way it was described. It was suppose to be NWT (new with tags) and not only did it not have tags but it was dirty, scratched and definitely used, parts of it were even missing.

I shot off a message to the seller about my disappointment and started proceedings against the seller through Paypal. I didn't hear anything back for a couple of days and then got a reply that said that they had sold the item for a friend and would refund my money if I would return the item.

I didn't want to get caught paying for return postage, lose my money plus the item, so I sent another message that I wanted the return postage paid before I returned the item. Not only did they send the return postage but they also refunded all of my money. I will return the item tomorrow.

I have had some bad dealings through eBay a couple of times both as a Seller and a Buyer and there are times that you begin to think that everyone out there is a swindler.

I bought some Avon on eBay once and I have to say this made me madder than buying something then never receiving it. The Avon came and it was the wrong item, I sent a message to the Seller in New Orleans that they had sent the wrong item. They said to return it and they would send what I had actually bought. The right stuff finally showed up but they did not refund my return shipping. When I ask about it, they sent me a message that said that the tubes that I had returned were half empty and that they would not reimburse me. I wonder if they survived Katrina.