caller id

Discussions about current add-on packages for POS Pizza
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naalo
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caller id

Post by naalo »

I just installed my receipt printer and cash drawer and they work great so now I am ready to add caller id support. I was at callerid.com and wasn't sure which unit that I should get. Can someone please tell me which ones work the best?
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Scott
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Re: caller id

Post by Scott »

This depends on a few things:
  1. How many lines do you have now, and will you be adding any in the future? If so get a big enough unit to handle them now.
  2. Will you be logging your call data? POS Pizza can log inbound and even outbound calls to and from your store. You can see if your employees are making personal calls as well as get statistics about your overall line usage.
  3. If you will be logging, do you want to log outbound calls too?
  4. What type of interface to you want to get?
Line Count: Most pizza stores probably have no more than 4 lines, so any of 3 primary units (Whozz Calling, Whozz Calling Lite, Whozz Calling POS) will work.

Logging: If you want to log outbound calls, then you want to get a full Whozz Calling unit. The Lite, and POS models do not handle outbound call tracking, so that rules these two units out.

Interface (Serial or Ethernet?): This really depends on your specific needs.

Serial requires a serial port (or a USB-to-serial adapter), so you need at least one machine near the unit (and near the incoming lines) that has a free serial (or USB port). Serial is really old-school, so setting up serial communications is definitely not plug-n-play! Cabling is a hassle, but fortunately callerID.com ships a cable with their units so this problem is solved for you. Normally you'd have to find the right type of cable, sure you might find one that plugs in and fits, but there are several different ways that a cable that fits could be wired, and only one of those will work. Next you need to deal with the communications parameters, Baud,Parity,Bits,Stop-Bits, and flow control... The caller ID units all work at a standard rate of 9600 baud, No Parity, 8-bit, and 1 Stop-bit (this is also the default for a serial port in Windows too). This being said most of the hard stuff (in most cases) is already taken care of, but be aware that in some cases it could mess you up if one of these parameters is set differently in Windows than on your unit. The next part of the battle is figuring out which port your device is attached to. COM1? COM2? COM3?, COM-some other number? If you are using the full Whozz Calling unit, the software can auto-detect the unit (if all of the other stuff mentioned above is working correctly). If you have a Lite or POS unit, then you have to figure this out on your own. This is normally a process of elimination so set the software to COM1, try it.. if it doesn't work, try another COM port and repeat this process until you get it to work.

Ethernet simply requires that an Ethernet cable be run from your switch/router to your caller ID unit. This type is the easiest to setup since you simply plug it in and make a few settings changes in your software and go. The Ethernet units cost a little more, but are definitely worth the extra cost if they save you from a few hours of messing around to get a serial port working.

If you have any other specific questions please post them here or you can always call our or callerid.com's tech support with your questions.

Scott
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tntpizza
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Re: caller id

Post by tntpizza »

Hi Scott,

I have two POS ordering stations and two phone lines at my store. Do I only need one callerID box to handle both POS stations or do I need two units?

Thanks
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Scott
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Re: caller id

Post by Scott »

tntpizza wrote:I have two POS ordering stations and two phone lines at my store. Do I only need one callerID box to handle both POS stations or do I need two units?
One box will get the data to all of your current (and future) order taking stations.

Scott
rook
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Re: caller id

Post by rook »

Hi, Scott.
I have one station and 4 phone lines. Let's say I'm in the middle of one order and there's another call. What happens?
Thanks.
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Scott
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Re: caller id

Post by Scott »

rook wrote:Hi, Scott.
I have one station and 4 phone lines. Let's say I'm in the middle of one order and there's another call. What happens?
Thanks.
Nothing happens, you continue working on your current order. When you are ready to process an order for an incoming call, you would be at the main POS screen and then open the list of calls. At this point you can either double click the call that you are taking or highlight it and then click begin order. A new order will begin with this caller's info.


Scott
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