Matchmaker for Modems, Phones
Telephones are getting smarter all the time, but that can be a curse.
The trouble with a lot of fancy new telephone systems is that they don’t connect very well with computer modems. A modem is an electronic gadget that gives a computer a monotone voice of sorts, allowing it to communicate with other computers over ordinary telephone lines.
It seems ironic that just about the time that modem manufacturers perfected the autodial modem, which lets a computer automatically place calls, the telephone system manufacturers invented products that those modems could not control.
Until quite recently, telephones were basic electrical devices hooked into a sophisticated switching system maintained by the telephone companies.
Now most of the telephones installed at businesses and hotels, and even some pay telephones, are really special-purpose computer terminals disguised to look like telephones. Sure, you can talk into them, but when you punch their buttons to place or answer calls, you actually are entering keyboard commands into a computer system generically called a “digital switch.”
Such systems typically offer their owners many advantages over traditional phones, such as built-in message recording, multiple lines tied to a single number and control over telephone usage including time of day limitations and area code and exchange restrictions.
A computer modem is easy to connect to a standard household telephone (where computerized phone systems haven’t struck yet). One simply unplugs the telephone wire from the telephone wall jack and plugs it into a matching jack on the back of the modem. A second wire from the modem is plugged into the wall jack.
When the computer modem is working, it takes over the line from the telephone. When the modem is not in use, voice signals from the telephone simply pass through it to the wall jack unhampered.
The most common problem using a modem with the new computerized telephone systems is that it won’t connect. The jack into which the telephone wire is plugged is the wrong size to accept the modem wire. And even if you could mate the modem wire and phone jack, the electrical signals are mismatched.
Fortunately, a San Diego electronics engineer, Howard Gutzmer, has grappled with this problem for a couple of years and has perfected a virtually universal solution.
It is a small plastic box festooned with switches, jacks and a short wire that allow any direct-connect style modem to be attached to a phone through the telephone handset jack instead of the wall jack.
Called “Konexx,” this $99 device lets you set the switches to match the kind of telephone, be it old-fashioned analog or the latest digital design. The Konexx is useful for hooking up with standard telephones that are hard-wired to the wall, as in many hotels and motels, but have a detachable handset. (There is also a special $124 version for fax machines that taps the electrical current available in a telephone line that the fax machine needs.)
Once the connection is made and the switches are set properly (which may require a little trial and error), most modems can autodial through most telephones. In the worst cases, you’ll have to dial manually with the telephone, but the modem will be able to establish a connection.
The Konexx Model 106 is available from Gutzmer’s firm, Unlimited Systems Automated, 9225 Chesapeake Drive, Suite 3, San Diego, Calif. 92123. Phone: (619) 277-3300. Gutzmer also makes private label versions for Traveling Software (it’s called the Mo-Fone), Digital Systems (Black Jack II) and Computer Products Plus (CP+ Connection). All come with an alligator-clip wiring adapter that also allows them to be connected to the microphone in a handset if the mouthpiece is removable.
Computer Products Plus packages its unit with telephone cable, adapter jacks, screwdriver and lighted magnifying glass in a handy zipper pack that it calls the “Road Warrior Toolkit” and sells for $140. The company is at 16321 Gothard St., Huntington Beach, Calif. 92647. Phone: (714) 847-1799.
Gutzmer said he is working on another much needed gadget, a 2400-baud modem with acoustic couplers that can be used with pay phones and hard-wired hotel and motel phones.
KONEXX: The Specs: A device used to connect modems to hard-wired or electronic telephones that are incompatible with computers.
Features: Connects through the telephone handset or mouthpiece. Has switch settings for most analog and electronic telephone systems.
Requirements: Any direct-connect modem.
Manufacturer: Unlimited Systems Automated, 9225 Chesapeake Drive, Suite 3, San Diego, Calif. 92123. Phone: (619) 277-3300. $99. Private-label versions made for Traveling Software, Digital Systems and Computer Products Plus. There is also a $124 fax version that passes needed electrical current from telephone line to a fax machine.
