I AM SO STOKED!!!

It wasn’t easy.  It wasn’t cheap.  It wasn’t fun.  But by god, I DID IT!

You know, there was a time when I wasn’t intimidated by technology.  Not only could I produce basic programs, but I replicated a complex accounting program in MS Excel, as a backup and a project to mitigate the risk of just one programmer knowing our custom-designed financial reporting program.

I knew how to work with MS Access databases and I enjoyed troubleshooting.  I was even unofficial tech support for our office for a year or so, helping my colleagues with basic office functions, performing daily backups, and installing updates.

Whaaaaaat happened to me???  OH MY GOD!  Actually, I know exactly what happened:  so much new technology flooded the world, and the old tech I used to know changed everything to look more like the new tech.  (Who else hates those ribbon menus and wishes microsoft would go back to the drop-down menu style???)

Well, anyway, I think I became discouraged because every new technology I would encounter would require not just a learning curve, but a significant time investment just to learn how to use it.

I think I lost patience.

But this time, I was determined!  It took three calls to tech support and five days to figure out, but my friends, we finally have it!

We have quality digital phone call recording!!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED!  I have wanted quality, reliable, easy-to-use call recording since I hung out my shingle as a practicing psychic.

No more phone static!  No more sounding a million miles away!  What I hear on the phone through the receiver is exactly what gets recorded!

For anyone who is interested, here is how I did it.  Maybe you have a reason to set this up for yourself.  Beware, for the path to VoIP call recording is a winding one.  Perhaps your needs could be met with a Zoom or Skype call recording service.

But if you’re like me and need a solution that doesn’t require a web browser to use, steele yourself for a journey through tech support.

First thing:  Have a reliable, high-speed internet connection.

Next, select a VoIP service provider with a really nice technical support team.  You want someone who isn’t going to try to foist you off to the tech support for the phone manufacturer.  These things are made in China, and you’ll be exchanging emails for weeks trying to solve your problems.  If you’re like me, and need someone to walk you through the setup if you hit a snag, you want to find that person before you embark upon this journey.

You need to prepare yourself for frustration.  You need to set aside a good chunk of time, over several days.  You may not need all that time, but it’s good to have it available, as I find that eases some of my exasperation.

After all, shouldn’t this technology just be plug n play by now?

Why yes it should, but you cannot allow yourself to dwell upon the way things should be.  We are dealing with the technology available to us.

My specific setup involves a physical telephone which has a USB port in the back of it.  I plug a flash drive into the back of the phone, and initiate call recording after I have dialed the phone number.  After I end the call I can unplug the flash drive, walk over to my computer, and upload the files to dropbox as I do now with my MP3 recorder.

Perhaps an easier alternative to doing what I did might be to subscribe to a VoIP service that provides a call recording service.  Instead of recording the call on your physical phone, they record it on their servers as the call passes through.  Then you can log into their servers and download the file to your computer.

If I did that, I’d have to download the hours of calls, which takes time, before I could upload it to dropbox and send it to my clients.  I did not want to create another time-consuming step to my workflow.  I also didn’t want to pay a fee every month in perpetuity for the privilege.

I purchased a Yealink T42S.  You have to buy the power supply adapter separately.  Good thing I noticed that when I purchased it.  I also bought a high-capacity flash drive that’s about the size of a fingernail.

When the phone arrived, I called 1-VoIP up and set up an account.  And so began my dance with tech support to get my phone working… see, even though it LOOKS like a landline phone, it’s basically an unprogrammed computer.  It is NOT plug n play.

I had to log into the IP address of the phone, using a computer or my ipad, and configure the settings of the phone with the help of the 1-VoIP tech support.  The kicker was the call recording by default is a hidden feature on the phone which you have to tell the program to turn on.

The ridiculous part was I had to create a freaking TEXT FILE with code copied and pasted into it, and change the .txt file extention to .cfg so that the phone’s online brain would know to allow me to record calls.

Maybe there’s a legal reason you have to actually tell the program to initiate the option of call recording.

All that does is create a softkey on the physical phone which says “record call”.  That’s all you have to tap to start recording the call, and I can either manually stop the call recording or it will automatically stop when the call ends.

Easy peasy, right?

Then I just take my teeny tiny flash drive over to my computer and upload the files to dropbox as usual.

Now that it’s set up, it’s very easy to use, and I sincerely hope I won’t have to spend any time doing software updates for the phone.  That’s something I’ll just have to deal with should it happen.

So my friends – better call recordings are now here!!!

I think I’ll run a special soon 😉

Have a lovely day, everyone.