Communication Problems

[weirdbeardmt]

I am really not sure if this is the correct place for this (perhaps a friendly advisor could move it if not!).

My Problem

I have written a site which deals with the specific booking of a room which is equipped with state of the art Cinema equipment. It is available for use by about 2000 people, the basic plan being that you visit the site, sign up, book the room in advance and then turn up on the day to use it.

The room itself is in the same building as a large bar, which is responsible for the management of the room, and also for setting up the equipment, looking after the keys etc.

We are able to verify that the person who has booked the room is actually that person, as each user has a membership card which they must present. But the problem is dealing with the latest bookings, i.e. getting information of the booking to the bar, for verification purposes.

At the moment the list of current bookings is printed out, and placed behind the bar once a week, and an email is sent to the person who does that, as and when a booking is made.

What the heck are you saying?!

OK, I'm rambling. What I want to know is, can anyone come up with a way in which the information from the web can be sent to the bar as and when it happens. At the moment the person who receives the email has to actually drive to the bar, and update the list.

We have looked in to putting a computer in the bar, but we have a problem in as much as the phone system in the bar is an internal network, and it is not possible to get permanent dialup access to the net (the service provider does not allow the use of 0800 numbers etc.. not mentioning any names *ahem* NTL *ahem* ).

The site is written in PHP... can anyone come up with an ingenious way of doing this?

[Jeremy W.]

No internet access does make it a bit of a pain, however there are ways of doing this by FAX or SMS... Are either of these possible?

[weirdbeardmt]

Originally posted by Jeremy W.
No internet access does make it a bit of a pain, however there are ways of doing this by FAX or SMS... Are either of these possible?

either would defnitely be possible although fax would make the most sense. i.e. if it could just fax the bar would be great. how could i do that?

[Seer]

These are the type of topics I like to follow, coming up with a creative solution. I was trying to built a similar idea before for a restaurant, basically a real-time electronic menu. It was just an idea that I wanted to put together but I never got past the connectivity part. I'm still a bit of a newbie with this stuff and tend to think outside my capabilities.

Might be a longshot, but what about the possibility of updating a list through a PDA?

[Jeremy W.]

PDA might work as well...

FAX would essentially mean simply emailing to a FAX service there are tonnes around

[weirdbeardmt]

Originally posted by Jeremy W.
PDA might work as well...

FAX would essentially mean simply emailing to a FAX service there are tonnes around

I don't understand how a PDA list would work... wouldn't it need an internet connection to synchronise?

Can you recommend an Email to FAX service?

There is a superfast ethernet trunk about 300m away. I am seeing if there is anyway I can get a wireless network. Just need to smile sweetly at the owner...

[Jeremy W.]

PDA would use like a Blackberry or something that can receive email and is always connected

FAX... JFax? Dunno... I've never personally used one, but I know there are many around.

[weirdbeardmt]

Originally posted by Jeremy W.
PDA would use like a Blackberry or something that can receive email and is always connected

I need an smily which is a picture of something flying over the top of my head! A Blackberry? What is that!?

FAX... JFax? Dunno... I've never personally used one, but I know there are many around.

I'll have a go on google and see what I can come up with.

[Jeremy W.]

Erm... Where you from boy? You dunno what a blackberry is? Every heard of this thing we have called a bird? It's got wings and stuff, it flies around

http://www.rim.com/

[weirdbeardmt]

Originally posted by Jeremy W.
Erm... Where you from boy? You dunno what a blackberry is? Every heard of this thing we have called a bird? It's got wings and stuff, it flies around

http://www.rim.com/

Um. I think you've gone mental!! I know what a blackberry is, it's a bit of fruit that grows wild! And I know what a bird is (but quite where that came from I'll never know!!).

Had a look at that link... and I know what a Blackberry is as well. Kind of pricey though and a couple of problems with it:

1) Support in the UK. Whilst it says that BT offers the service, it looks like major support is only in the US.

2) I'd have to gaffa tape it down in the bar else some little bugger would steal it!

Now would you believe putting this:

sending email to fax

into google brought up several million pages? No thought not.

Two good ones look like:

http://www.ourfax.com/
http://cgi.tpc.int/

I might have a play around with those...

[Jeremy W.]

Good on ya Let us know how it goes