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Organizations in the business of providing information are turning increasingly to fax on demand: End-users dial in to a number answered by a voice-menu system, then order faxes by keying codes on their Touch-Tone keypad. The system automatically queues up the requested documents and faxes them out.
Whether businesses use them as a primary means of distribution or as an optional first line of response, such systems automate and speed up the dissemination of information tailored to the client's needs. End-users get just what they request while reducing the demand on the source's support staff and relieving its budget pressure.
Prices for PC-based fax-on-demand products range from five figures to only a hundred dollars or so for software-only communications programs. FaxQuest aims to garner much of the market between these extremes with Robofax-Pro, Version 4.0, and its accompanying voice/fax hardware.
This $1,395 DOS package includes nearly everything you need to set up a professional-quality system: an interface for creating decision trees and voice menus, the run-time fax-server module, a security plug (required for program operation), and a speaker and microphone for creating voice menus. You will also need one of FaxQuest's $200 voice/fax boards--a 16-bit, 9,600-bps half-card--for each line connection.
For four-line use, Robofax-Pro requires a dedicated 33-MHz 486SX PC. If you wish to use more than four lines, you can maintain the fax database on a network server and run Robofax from multiple workstations. FaxQuest offers Robofax-EZ as an economical single-line alternative. Requiring at least a 16-MHz 386SX PC, it includes one of the voice/fax boards used with Robofax-Pro and lists for $495.
With this review of Robofax-Pro, we introduce a new test plan for fax-on-demand products. (See How We Tested, below, for a description of our testing criteria.)
FEATURES:
Foremost among Robofax-Pro's strengths is a rich variety of setup alternatives, including hunt-group (all lines tied to one number) or separate-line operation and one-call or call-back modes. A graphical development interface lets you create surprisingly full-featured decision trees and voice menus. In addition, you can either allow or block calls back to certain area codes or numbers, including international calls.
To control long-distance costs, you can allow calls back only to your own area code. You can set the system up so that...