Untying
The Phone Line

New Products and Services
Let You Deal With Calls
While You're on the Net

By WALTER S. MOSSBERG
STAFF REPORTER OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Despite all the buzz about dedicated, high-speed Internet lines, the vast majority of Internet users still get online using standard phone lines. And many of these people have only a single line at home, which means that, when they are online, their phone line is busy and they risk missing calls.

Now, there are some products and services that claim to solve this problem, and we've been testing three of them. These products come in two basic types. Some are small gadgets that sit on a desk or table; others are services. Both types allow you to find out who is calling while you're online.

For our tests, we set up the call-catching products at the home of my assistant Katie's parents, in Pennsylvania. Their Internet use follows a common pattern: They use AOL via a dial-up connection and have only one phone line. We then called the house while they were online, to see what happened.

Gone in 30 Seconds

The simpler of the two product types is a box that hooks up to your phone line and computer modem. It allows you to hear your phone ringing and actually pick up the phone for about 30 seconds to speak with whoever is calling. While you're doing this, your Internet connection remains live. If you want to talk, you can stay on the line and your Internet connection will drop.

We tested two of these box products: Catch-A-Call by International Electronics and the Emerson Switchboard by Media Solution Services. They are very similar, with just a few slight differences, and each costs $49.95. Catch-A-Call has a blue plastic exterior and is about the size of a hand-held PDA.

The Emerson Switchboard is gray, slightly larger than Catch-A-Call, and has two additional features: an on/off switch on its side and a slot for batteries. The battery option on the Emerson eliminates the need for a power cord.

Katie set up each box in a matter of minutes, and they worked as advertised. The phone that was connected to the box rang twice, and we picked up the phone for a less-than-30-second chat. After hanging up, we continued surfing the Web. During another test, we tried talking for longer than the 30-second time allotment, and our Internet connection dropped, as expected.

The second method we tested is a service from AOL called Call Alert that you must set up with help from the phone company. While the call-catching boxes and services require that you have call waiting for your phone line, the AOL service requires that you have a feature called "call forward busy."

When we tested Call Alert in eastern Pennsylvania, the phone company charged $7 for the initial "call forward busy" setup, and a monthly fee of $2. That's in addition to AOL's charge for Call Alert, which is $3.95 per month above and beyond the monthly AOL membership fee of $23.90 a month. The total cost for your first month of Call Alert, excluding AOL's normal monthly subscription fee, comes out to $12.95. Afterward, the total monthly fee is $5.95. The boxes that we tested carry no service charges. Keep in mind that installation and monthly fees vary depending on your phone company.

Unlike the box products, Call Alert doesn't allow you to actually talk to people who call when you're online, but it provides other options for handling incoming calls. During our Call Alert test, an incoming call triggered a ringing sound from the PC and a small pop-up window appeared on the computer screen. The screen displayed the caller's name, number, location, time and date, and offered three options for handling the call. These options included take a message, ignore the call, or send one of the following prerecorded messages: "I'll call you back," "please call later," or "try my cell."

'You've Got Voicemail'

If you choose the first option, and the caller leaves a message, a computer voice announces, "You've got voicemail," and lets you hear the message on the computer. You can also opt to listen to it later, which places the voicemail into your AOL e-mail inbox with a phone icon next to it.

Katie's mother, Sue, preferred Call Alert to the call-catching boxes because she didn't have to stop what she was doing online to briefly answer incoming calls. She also liked being able to see who was calling with AOL's Call Alert screen.

If you want to take your own messages, and don't want to pay your phone company extra, using a call-catching box is probably your best bet. However, if you don't want to be bothered by chatty friends and family while working online, you might prefer Call Alert.

--with reporting by Katherine Boehret