Hi Kathy, I am one of the people who use the Skype out service with a phone.
Although my phone is a VOIP phone, you can use it with a normal phone, but you will have to get a USB to RJ11 adapter. Basically, this adapter plugs into the USB port of your computer, and allows you to plug in a regular phone into the jack on the other end. I have it on good authority that if you get one of these adapters and plug a regular phone into it, you can actually press the star key and hear Jaws coming through the phone, thereby allowing you to scroll through your contact list and stuff like that. I can probably get you the model of that particular adapter and where you can get it from if you want it, but I can't think of the model number off-hand right now. My actual VOIP phone is a model V-Tech phone with both internet and regular phone line service. It has the power adapter, and two line outs, that being for the USB cord and the regular RJ11 cord. I can use the phone with Skype and with a regular phone line when a call comes in. It's really easy, and if you have Skype out service, you can simply dial the telephone number that you're calling, without the area one at the beginning of the number, in other words, you just input the ten digit phone number, and press the internet button, and Skype dials automatically. I paid a total of 110 Canadian for my phone, and you can actually three way call a regular telephone call, with a Skype call, however, as the visual display does not talk, I really can't use that feature. The downside to this phone is the fact that if you keep the phone plugged in when booting up your computer, for some strange reason, Jaws goes completely silent, and I have to bring up NVDA to shut down Jaws, then restart it again, at which point it comes back speaking. Very peculiar indeed. Grins. The phone also comes with software that starts automatically when your computer starts, so it's always running in the background. Just to bring this back to Jaws, the software isn't all that accessible with Jaws, however, all one really needs to do is install it, and get the status information on whether the phone is plugged, the V-Tech software is running, Skype is running, and the Sound is good. Usually, you can glean this information using the Jaws cursor, or the virtual cursor, so the software isn't a total loss. Smile. You can probably get these types of phones or the adapters from Radio Shack, The Source by Circuit City, or Best Buy. I also believe that Wal-Mart sells these devices, on their website, but don't quote me on that. If you'd like some more information on this or the Skype out service, feel free to contact me off-list at: victor.gouv...@rogers.com Hope this helps. Victor Co-moderator Blind Movie Buffs List Guidedogs List Visit the JAWS Users List home page at: http://www.jaws-users.com Visit the Blind Computing home page at: http://www.blind-computing.com Address for the list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com To post to this group, send email to jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to jaws-users-list-le...@jaws-users.com For help from Mailman with your account Put the word help in the subject or body of a blank message to: jaws-users-list-requ...@jaws-users.com Use the following address in order to contact the management team jaws-users-list-ow...@jaws-users.com If you wish to join the Blind Computing list send a blank email to the following address: blind-computing-j...@jaws-users.com
