Never Too Busy

It seems like a no-brainer. Call waiting has been around for more than a decade, so why does it slip into a coma when I'm surfing the Web on my home computer and a friend tries to call me on the same line? After all, a modem connection is just another phone call. But for all our high-tech wizardry, my friends still get a busy signal even if I'm just deleting junk e-mail or downloading a song. I may get a little drowsy at the keyboard, but I can still multitask--if only my PC will let me.

Now I no longer have to choose between cyberlife and social life. Suddenly everybody is doing computer call waiting. This summer Actiontec became the first company to sell a call-waiting modem. And this fall software-only services are popping up everywhere. Callwave, Pagoo and Prodigy all offer programs you can download from their websites and use for up to $5 a month. In October MSN launched a $5-a-month, members-only service in Atlanta, Seattle and San Diego and plans to go nationwide by March. Research firm IDC predicts that more than a quarter of U.S. households will use an Internet call-waiting service by the end of next year.

Last week I decided to see how well they answered the call. I had planned to upgrade my old 28.8-kbps modem anyway, so I tried Actiontec's $130 56K call-waiting modem first. After a painless setup, I was online and ready for calls. This particular night, unfortunately, there didn't happen to be any. I finally had to call myself, using my roommate's phone line. I was startled when the ringing came from the modem, not the phone. But I could still answer my phone and have a scintillating conversation with myself before hanging up and getting back online. I had to make it snappy, however, since the system gives me only 7 sec. before it takes the modem off line. Actiontec is working on a longer time frame, but don't expect it anytime soon.

Next I tried Callwave, a "free" service that--big surprise--isn't. Like all the other software-only services, it requires you to sign up for a little-known option provided by most local phone companies called call forward on busy. This means that if your phone is busy, an incoming call is automatically forwarded to another number--for $1 to $3 a month, plus a one-time activation fee. (In Manhattan it's $16 plus $1.60 a month--hardly free.) With Callwave, callers are forwarded to an 800 number that plays a canned greeting telling people you're online and inviting them to leave a brief message. Like magic (or so it seemed to me the first time I tried it), Callwave instantly sends you the message over the Net as a voice file, which you then play back through your PC speakers. A small banner on your screen alerts you to incoming calls and lets you store and delete messages. I tried the service several times, and it worked fine except for one problem: I couldn't talk to anybody unless I logged off and dialed them back. It's fun to screen calls, but my friends report that the shameless self-promotion in Callwave's voice-mail greeting gets tired really fast.

There's another downside. I used to think I was missing lots of phone calls by spending so much time online. Now I have to face the fact that I'm not as popular as I thought. Isn't technology great?

For more on these products, you can visit actiontec.com callwave.com msn.com pagoo.com or prodigy.com Send your questions to Anita at hamilton@time.com