Customer Reviews

OvoLab Phlink Phone Information System (Mac)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been using a Mac for my voicemail since my Performa 6320, and Phlink is the best Mac voicemail product ever. I have it running on an old 600MHz iBook and it works great. The basic functionality (like sending yourself emails of the recordings) is simple to set up, and for advanced users the AppleScript ability is awesome. By using a simple folder hierarchy, you can create unlimited mailboxes and voice trees for companies. The documentation is good and easy to understand.

Some third-party products -- like Indigo home automation software -- are already set up to tie in to Phlink and come with ready-made AppleScripts that you just need to drop in the appropriate folder.

The one time I had a problem (a fried telephone adapter, which which was my own fault) Ovolab's tech support was prompt, helpful, and friendly.

What I love about this product:

* Getting emails at work of voicemails left at home
* Having custom outgoing messages based upon caller ID info (great for annoying telemarketers!)
* Getting pop-up alerts on other Macs on my network telling me who's calling
* Integrating with Indigo so I can call home and turn lights on and off

I have been using an Ovolab Phlink for two and a half years, and I've generally been very happy with it. However, it is important to point out that this is not really a plug-and-play product. You can do wonderful things with it, but it will take some effort. However, once it's set up, it's a champ.

The first thing to note is that I got mine in January of 2009, and it came with an older (3.x) version of the software. Since the software had been updated to 4.x in 2008, I wrote to support at Ovolab and got a free upgrade. However, the Ovalab site seems to be running pretty much on automatic now, and I'm unsure if there still is a real support team, so it is possible you'll get an old version of the software (who knows when Amazon got their current stock from them) and won't be able to get a free upgrade, in which case you'll need to shell out $40 on the Ovolab site to buy it. Again, mine was shipped two and a half years ago, so I'd hope the boxes now have software from late 2008 in them... but I don't know.

The second thing to note - as mentioned above - is that there's been no development activity on the software since late 2008. I suspect there won't be any more releases. This is not critical, but it's something to keep in mind and might influence your decision.

The third thing to note, which balances against the other two, is that, as far as I know, there is no other Mac option for telephone answering/monitoring. So, you're stuck with this, but it is a workable solution, just one that requires some elbow grease and an expectation of some initial frustrations.

With all that in mind, here are my impressions and comments:

The device itself is small, about the size of an original iPod, but with a clear acrylic cover that would look more in place with one of the original iMacs than with anything produced in the past decade, but, again, it's small, and you can put it out of sight. It's not ugly so much as it's just not beautiful.

Into it, you plug a USB cable (obviously, you need to be within USB cable length of a Mac), your incoming phone line, and, if you want a phone attached to it locally, a line to that phone. You could also certainly install this at the main line into your home, so that it could intercept all calls. Mine, though, is just plugged into one of the many phone outlets in my home, and it's set to record call activity and to answer certain calls. As it is now, the first ring goes to every phone, because it takes a ring for Caller ID to register, and after that, if the call is from a number the Phlink is programmed to answer, it picks up, and all the other phones stop ringing. If you install it between your main incoming line and the home lines, it would not ring the other phones until it has dealt with the call.

You then install the software and, after installation, enter your serial number, and then you're good to go. Well, sort of.

The default behavior - logging calls, recording them if you choose to do so, sending notifications to other Macs in the house, and so on - works fine. But if you want specific behavior, you'll need to write or edit AppleScript files. That said, there are a wealth of sample scripts, the instructions on how to use them are pretty clear, and the forums at Ovolab are active (users are posting there even if the support staff isn't). Your questions will be answered. It will likely take you a while to get the hang of things, but it's not too bad. Yes, I'm a software developer, so that helps, but no, I'm not an AppleScript programmer, nor do I need to be. The scripts are well commented, and usually all you need to do is change one thing in them, like a phone number. It's not rocket science. More like building model rockets... some effort required, but not an engineering degree.

Once it's all set up, though, it's excellent:

* If you tend to get solicitors calling, you can block their numbers or send them to a default message.
* You can use the app to connect to your system from any phone and do things you tell it to do.
* Friends and family can get individual or group responses when it picks up and leave messages in individual mailboxes.
* You can have any messages emailed to you.
* You can get a notification of incoming calls sent to any Mac as they happen - this is great if the phone is ringing but not near you (you can see who's calling on your laptop screen).
* You can, with the iPhone Prowl app to connect to Growl on your Mac, get notified on your iPhone when any calls are made to your house, as they're coming in.
* And... all the other stuff on the Ovolab website.

The app runs fine on OS X 10.4-10.6. On 10.7, you'll need to go to the forums and search for "Lion" to find a workaround, which is pretty simple but required or else the system won't see your hardware attachment. If you have any questions, the forums can answer them. I've installed the system on a series of Macs over the years, and it works fine, but, again, it takes some initial setup.

The manufacturer is apparently out of business. There is no support available. Also, doesn't work with Lion at all. If you don't know how to write scripts, it is impossible to set up.

So I've been tinkering with this for a few hours now, and I have to say I was disappointed by how much of the cool functionality appears to be dependent on the user's knowledge of AppleScript. I'm a fairly technical person, but I don't have a lot of confidence when it comes to tweaking or merging applescripts. This is way over my head, and I've been using a Mac since 1984.

I downloaded the software to see how set up was and found that, while it is powerful software, it is a nightmare to set up. I don't want to learn programming (applescript) in order to have a business phone system. I want to buy a car, not a kit car with assembly (and some fabrication!) required! If you want to make a career out of setting up a voicemail system this software/hardware this appears to be the product for you! I have ordered a competing product, Phonevalet, and plan to write a review on that product. (they do not offer a download to take a look at the software but they do offer a 30 day moneyback guarantee) I hope this helps you.

This product is useless. There are problems with the software that prevent it from working with a MacPro and possibly other machines. The product answers calls for a few hours or days and then locks up and stops working. At times it even grabs your phone line and keeps it busy for hours. The company maintains no staff of technical support people to help. It took me three weeks to get an acknowledgment of the problem from the company and then for 3 more weeks no one has gotten back to me after repeated attempts. I still have not gotten a refund and the product is completely useless. AVOID!

All this product really does straight out of the box is answer calls, take messages and emails them somewhere. everything else is done by using scripts and you putting together files and folders in a very specific way to the program to understand what you want it to do. now, if you are a apple script programmer this gizmo might be very powerful as you can make it to almost anything, but if you just expect it to come with a nice interface to do this, look elsewhere (phonevalet). i tried the included voice mailbox setup program several times and could not get it to jump to the appropriae mailbox, nor would it recognize the pin code and jump to the main menu. this is such basic functionality that the fact i could not get this to work in half a day (and i am a it guy) made me return it.