I was at my sisters house on her PC on-line, when a window pops up informing me of an incoming call and give me options to either answer or ignore. Do they retail this software? if so whats it called? If I clicked “answer” could I use the PC’s mic and speakers ('cause that’d be nifty) or do I have to pick up the phone? why not just ask your sister? long story…
Well, I haven’t heard of that particular piece of software, but I use one called CallWave. It shows you the number and time when someone calls, the moment they call. That person then leaves a message and it’s played back to you on your computer a few seconds later. It’s only 3 (or so) bucks a month too…I love it.
Duderdude2 is that a deal with your local phone co?
Well, I have an ActionTec (or something) Call Waiting modem, which comes with the ability to do something similar to what you described.
I’ve also seen a program that allows you to do something like this, but only if you have call-forwarding (I think that if it gets a busy signal, it will forward the call to a company, which will then notify you (through the internet) that you have a call).
No, it’s not. Their website is www.callwave.com
However, as firagon mentioned, you need Call Fowarding (it’s cheap, plus, if I remember correctly, Call Wave even sets that up for you). Anyways, it’s a great service.
Callwave is not a deal with the phone company, but the phone company does charge you for it; that’s where the charge appears.
You sign up (free), and then Callwave contacts your phone company to make sure it’s okay for you to have the service (I assume they won’t provide the service if you’ve been delinquent with your bills, or perhaps if you have only the most basic service, or something). Once the phone company’s approved, the service begins.
The phone company doesn’t have to appriove. All you need to do is set up call fowarding to the phone number Call Wave supplies.
Thanks for the replies…
So nobody has the software that allows you to answer? I distinctly remember the option to answer when that window popped up.
Well, they don’t have to approve exactly, but they won’t let you do it if there are issues with your phone service. It does have to be done through them. When I signed up, I had to wait for the go-ahead email before it was activated.
Tony, there was a thread on this not tooo long ago:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145432
That’ll show you the software I think you’re talking about.
I love callwave… Someone on the boards recommended it to me a while back and I don’t regret signing up.
It may be buzme.com (sorry, I don’t know how to do the coding for a link). That’s what I use. You get a little pop-up with several options including “Take call”. What it does is knocks you offline and then your phone rings and you answer. It’s not perfect but at $5 a month it’s cheaper than a second phone line.
[slight hijack]
I had to use CallWave for a while because my dad was too cheap to get a second line for the Internet, even after promising it for several months (still don’t have it, but I’m at college now). I HATED it, mainly because it slowed down startup, caused random page faults, and would often lock the computer up while “upgrading” itself.
[/slight hijack]
As far as answering while online, look at the Emerson Switchboard (sorry, no link handy). It uses call waiting to basically put the modem on hold for up to 30 seconds while you answer the phone. Good for taking quick messages and determining if you need to disconnect and take the call, or just call back later.
-brianjedi
I use YAC (yet another caller ID program).
It’s open source, pops up a caller ID notification on the PC with the modem, and all other windows computers on the network.
It was actually written as a Tivo hack, and will display the caller ID onscreen as well.
Can’t answer the phone through your computer, or TV 
with this one though.