phone calls with USB headset and modem?

[x509]

Is this possible? Or, was this once possible on older versions of Windows and older hardware?

I have a USB headset that works fine with Skype, but these days for my business I'm doing a lot of Plain Old Telephone Service phone calls. I would use Skype, but I'd rather avoid the expense. In some cases, I'm calling in to a conference bridge.

For the POTS calls, I use a wireless handset with the speaker turned on, so I can talk hands-free, but the sound quality isn't so great, and if I'm also typing, the phone speaker picks up all that background noise. With my USB headset on Skype, call quality is generally excellent, AND I can work handsfree.

Reading the product descriptions on NewEgg or Amazon, I can't tell if any of the currently available modems would work in this application.

 

[Liger88]

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work. If it's USB then it has a built-in DAC (whether crappy or good it has one) that will do all the conversion for you. With the POTS system, the only possible problem I could see would be lowering the frequency and bitrate down to the levels that the POTS system supports (8,000Kbps/8bit/8Khz IIRC).

Haven't tested this myself though so take it with a grain of salt. Just in theory so long as your Windows settings are configured correctly.

 

[Christopher]

You might consider Google voice, which will allow you to make and receive calls via Google hangouts in a browser.