WP7 call recording ...

[Jethro]

I asked this in the mobile telecoms group to no avail .. but maybe you guys are a bit more switched on.

I take part in quite a few conference calls[1]. Especially when I need to minute them, it's handy to have a recording. I use my HTC Trophy WP7.

Now you'd think it would be trivial to use the phone to actually record the call, but I've searched and found nothing to do the job. Presumably there's some taboo over it or something.

Experimenting this morning, I notice that my BT-enabled PC will connect to the phone as an "Audio gateway" and a "Voice gateway". Unfortunately the quality is crap (very bad echo). Out of curiosity I had a quick look to see if this will allow me to record calls, but nothing jumps out.

So, does anyone know a way to achieve this given I have all the hardware necessary ?

I might download the WP7 development tools, and see if I can do it myself.

[1] The best answer would be to see it the conference call hardware can do this. But I'm not holding my breath.

[Adrian C]

A bluetooth audio connection gives your PC additional audio devices, which can be routed to traditional computer audio recording software, i.e. Audacity.

The 'very bad echo' is probably the computer's microphone picking up direct sounds from the PC's speakers. You need to wear a headset.

[Nitro®]

In Call Recording, those links may help.

[MuddyMike]

Use a Nokia phone. My old one did this with a couple of key presses.

Mike

[Jethro]

Sadly the HTC is foisted on me by work - standard kit. I've just discovered that our conference call facility has call recording as standard ... as long as the moderator sets it off. Unfortunately no one knew about it till I made a pest of myself.

That said, I've downloaded the MS WP7 dev kit, so might spend a wet weekend playing around with it. On the basis there's an inbuilt audio recorder, it should be fairly straightforward to set it running when a call is made/received.

It seems a strange "oversight". I see android apps to do the same ...

[Terry Casey]

You want to record a telephone call. Is it really important how you do it?

Connect two non-polarised capacitors - 0.1uF or larger - one to each side of the incoming line. Use this DC isolated feed to drive the input of any recording device of choice - cassette, PC, etc. As you will be using a balanced feed to drive an unbalanced input, try it both ways round and select the better one, if there is any difference.

Use the auxilliary input, which should have a moderately high impedance or, if you are stuck with a low impedance miicrophone input, add a series resistor - about 470k - in series with the input. This will raise the impedanceat the same time as attenuating the level. Increase the resistor value if you still have too much level or vice-versa.

You should be up and running in much less time that you've already spent posting here!

[Jethro]

I don't use a landline for business.

[dennis]

Keyword WP7.

Its a mobile smart phone.

[Man at B&Q]

That might mean identifying which base station he's routed through and breaking into the equipment cabinet. Then there's a the small issue of demuxing his particluar call from all the other the data.

MBQ

[Terry Casey]

In that case, why not use a hands free attachment and intercept the signals from the microphone and to the earphone? That will also give you the opportunity to match the the outgoing and incoming signal levels ...

[rbel]

Until recently I used to participate in telecons 3 or 4 times a week. I did not have to minute them (I don't think anybody did in order to protect the innocent) but always found that a good headset was invaluable as it allowed me to jot down comprehensive notes where it was necessary.

Also regularly involved in webinars where there was a facility to record the the spiel and the associated graphics (very useful for complex stuff).

rbel

[Jethro]

Unfortunately my experience of VOIP is that it's pretty crap. OK for noddy stuff, but it's certainly not reliable (IME) for industrial- strength uses. If it were, I could use my VOIP account to dial into the meeting from my PC, and use Audacity (or similar to record it). However, even though I have a dedicated broadband connection, and only me using it, I have yet to have a complete conference call using it. It's not too bad for voice to voice. But when it connects into the conferencing facility it will drop out after 5 minutes. I'm not alone in this - no one who dials in will use VOIP.

[Steve Firth]

Jethro wrote: [snip]

I must tell my industrial customers that some bloke on the Internet says that VOIP is unfit for their uses. Of course this news may come as a surprise to them since every one of them has used VOIP for years and all of them disposed of PABX back in the dark ages.

And yet for others it works without problems.

[rbel]

The webinars used landline/mobile connections for the voice element and broadband and GSI for the visuals. On the odd occasion that there were problems with the visuals this was invariably down to operator error rather than dropped connections.

rbel

[Jethro]

Well, VOIP phone is plugged directly into router - and drops calls. It's not a cheapie - Grandstream (admittedly I inherited it from a previous employer). Maybe I need a special router, rather than the standard 2wire BT thing ? Who knows ? But if it means I can't trust it to dial into the conference system, then it's not fit for *my* purpose. In my last job (where I inherited it from) we all had the same VOIP phones, and the same experiences. Ended up using our mobiles for conference calls. With different conferencing providers. *Maybe* it's an issue with the phone, or it's system (Sipgate). I don't know ... it's easier to use a mobile.

I know it *can* work - all the subsidiary companies we have use it in their call centres. But AFAIK it wasn't without pain, and took some serious investment.

[Jethro]

webinars I've had have gone great. But using my VOIP phone with our teleconference facility drops out after a while. Liek the old days when modems would drop the line if you coughed ....

[Jethro]

Annoyingly, I've just checked the Sipgate features, and they provide call recording ...