Product Review: Speech Thing

Review by Cray-Z Phreaker

Speech Thing, by Convox, Inc.
Suggested Retail: $79.99
Available from just about any PC mail order house.

When I received the package from the UPS man, I was mildly surprised.  The box was quite large for the application that I had in mind for the device.  Much to my relief, upon unpacking the unit, it was revealed to be much smaller... perfect for what I had in mind.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Convox's Speech Thing is an add-on audio port for IBM/clone computers.  It attaches to the machine via the parallel port, and comes with a rather large external speaker (9V powered).  The device itself is the same size as a common "gender changer."  A pair of wires protrude from one side of the device that attach to the external speaker.  Just plug it in to the back of your machine, attach the speaker, and you are ready to go!  Software installation is mindless, and straightforward.

The software itself isn't difficult to use, so I won't bother going into detail about that here.  Let's talk about uses for the device.

After seeing the Hack-Tic Demon Dialer at Summercon, I was very interested in the device, but like many phreaks, I didn't have $250 lying around to spend on it.  An alternative was needed, and since I have a cheap portable PC clone, why not utilize it somehow?  Granted it's not as slick as the dialer, but I'm not worried about that right now.  Upon hearing from some other phreaks (who would like to remain anonymous) about the Speech Thing, and their uses of it as a Red Box, ordered one with the idea that it could do more... much more.

After testing out the unit with the Red Box sound file, I was impressed with the sound quality of the device, but not happy with the speaker itself.  It's kinda large and didn't fit in my portable case well.  The RadioShack Mini-Amplifier/Speaker (Cat No. 277-1008C) is a good substitute, is 9V powered, and most importantly, it's small in size.

Now we have a small, programmable, portable tone generator.  What more could a phreak ask for?  Granted you have to have a portable computer, but most serious phreaks have one anyway.  Now all we need is some useful software.  I've been working on some software in my spare time, but it's far from being completed.  With a telephone interface, there is no reason that this device couldn't do the same as the Hack-Tic dialer.  If you add the sound digitizer option, your capabilities expand beyond that of the $250 dialer.

I had some difficulty with the Speech Thing on my Toshiba T1000.  Occasionally the playback rate changes a bit, then reverts back to the original setting while using the software supplied.  When Red Boxing, you will get an AT&T operator online quick if you don't get in another "good" quarter.  I have only seen this quirk when using the Toshiba T1000 machine.  It seems to work flawlessly with other portables.

If you have a portable and $80 available, I highly recommend this device as a basic tool for phreaking.

Enjoy and please write in with whatever experiences you have with the device.