NotePager32

Send a page without picking up the phone

Alphanumeric pagers are one of the greatest inventions in the past decade. These pagers let you send entire messages rather than just a cryptic phone number and code. The downside to this technological advance has been that you must call a special telephone number and wait for a human operator to transcribe the message for you. But not any longer. Now, NotePage's NotePager 32 transcribes your pager messages for you.

NotePager 32 is an alphanumeric pager messaging program. Written in Microsoft Visual Basic (VB), the software uses the industry-standard Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) to upload alphanumeric messages to your paging company. With NotePager 32, you simply select the person you wish to page, type the message, and click to send the page.

NotePager is available in several configurations. The basic software, NotePager 32, lets you send pages from your personal computer, but you must have a modem installed. If you work in an office environment, you'll want the NotePager Net version, which provides full paging capabilities over your LAN.

Installing NotePager 32 is a snap. The software arrives on three disks. The setup program installs the product with only one intervention--a question asking where to install it. You launch the software by clicking the NotePager 32 icon on your Start menu.

To use the software, you must first configure the dial-out parameters for your system and add a list of page recipients to your paging file. To configure the dial-out parameters, select the port where your modem resides, set the dial-out parameters (e.g., baud rate, parity), and enter your paging company's access information, including phone number, password, and any initialization string necessary. Your paging company will supply this information.

To create a list of page recipients, click the Users menu and select Add. The program prompts you for a name and a pager ID. The pager ID is your paging company's ID number for the recipient's pager. Your paging company will provide the pager ID if you don't already know it. Repeat this process for everyone you want to add to your paging phone book.

Paging someone using NotePager 32 is easy. Screen 1 shows the product's main window, which contains four panes. The User List in the top left pane lists everyone in your paging phone book. Selected Users, in the top right pane, lists the people you want to page. To select your page recipients, click their entry in the User List. The entry disappears from that pane and reappears in Selected Users. Reversing the process deselects the recipient.

After you select your recipient list, type your message in the text box in the center pane. The length of your message depends on your paging company's restrictions. For example, your paging company might limit messages to 64 characters. Click SEND. The status bar at the bottom of the window displays information about the progress of your page. After you've sent the page, click CLEAR to remove the text of your page and the recipients.

The software is distributed as shareware, with a small registration fee. For network licenses, the price depends on the number of pager entries you want to manage. When you consider the productivity savings, NotePager 32 is a bargain. You can download the full-featured shareware version from NotePage's Web site.