charlie@uunet.uu.net (Charlie Goldensher) (09/25/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0396m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> you write: >It has to be the most frustrating thing I can think of to wait five >minutes for a dial tone only to accidentally dial a wrong digit and >have to hang up and (after waiting for new dial tone!) start over. The >next most frustrating thing would be to finally get a dial tone, place >the call and be told by the other end, 'due to heavy call volume, we >are unable to complete your call at this time....please try again >later.' This brings up a question that I've had for some time. Is there a telephone set on the market with editing capability? What I'd like most is a backspace key. Especially, now, when a telephone number can contain ten or more digits, it is extremely frustrating to hit an incorrect final digit. The case sighted above would be considerably more frustrating. It seems to me that the technology should be relatively simple. To use the facility, the numbers would have to be buffered, and sent when some sort of carriage-return or enter key is hit. So there could be a switch for buffered or unbuffered input. And, a display of some sort (LED?), that displayed the digits in the buffer, would be nice. Does anything like that exist? And if so, how much does it cost? (Oh...I have only pulse-dialing where I live. I'd want that feature on the phone as well.) -- Charlie Goldensher charlie@vicorp.uu.NET [Moderator's Note: Aren't cellular phones sort of like this? You punch in the entire number, then 'send' it. I assume at any point in the input that you discovered a mistake you could cancel it and start over, not actually hitting the 'send' button until you were ready to release it. PT]
langz@asylum.sf.ca.us (Lang Zerner) (09/27/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0408m02@vector.dallas.tx.us> vicorp!charlie@uunet.uu. net (Charlie Goldensher) writes: >In article <telecom-v09i0396m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> you write: >>It has to be the most frustrating thing I can think of to wait five >>minutes for a dial tone only to accidentally dial a wrong digit and >>have to hang up and (after waiting for new dial tone!) start over. >This brings up a question that I've had for some time. Is there a >telephone set on the market with editing capability? Well, you could get a cheap terminal and modem, as long as the modem had a "dial but don't originate data connection" command. Hayes-compatible modems let you do this by adding a semicolon to the regular dial command (e.g. "ATDT5551212;"). This method may seem like overkill if you don't already use a terminal and modem, but it makes a lot of sense for someone like me who has the equipment on his desk anyway, often sitting idle. The Everex Evercom24E modem which I use even has a built-in speakerphone, so I don't need any additional telephone equipment for that line. Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!"
doug@letni.uucp (Doug Davis) (09/27/89)
>[Moderator's Note: Aren't cellular phones sort of like this? You punch >in the entire number, then 'send' it. I assume at any point in the input >that you discovered a mistake you could cancel it and start over, not >actually hitting the 'send' button until you were ready to release it. PT] You are right. Cellular phones let you enter the number then press the $pend key. They then broadcast the NAM and phone id stuff on a broadcast freq, after which the selected cell site passes back the freq pair to use. Now, the phone number (if there is one) goes out. All the cel-phones I have worked with have a button ususally labled "clr" that allows you to "backspace" one charicter by just touching it once, or the whole number by holding it down. Unfortunately some of them, like my Motorola 8000x, have about a quarter second delay after you press the button before they go into the clear_the_whole_number mode. This is almost too fast and it takes some getting used to, when you want to backspace just once. Triva note: DTMF isn't used to send the phone number, even though most cel-phones echo DTMF sounds while you press the buttons. After a connection is established, usually the phone will then revert to sending DTMF out as audio. As far as regular phones, my (I can't believe I'm admitting this) GTE Xt-100e phone terminal, (vt100 terminal and a telephone built in) lets you backspace and edit the number before pushing the outgoing line button. I also have some off brand two line phone purchased a couple of years ago that has a <- key which lets you backup a digit. It too only sends the entire number after you select an outgoing line. It's problem is that it only holds 15 digits and dactivates the touch tone pad after the line select has gone out... Quite a pain on long numbers, I usually have to program a combination of speed dials into it (which don't deactivate unless they are used) to reach anybody except direct dial on my primary LD carrier. Anyway those keys are rarely used, generally when I make a mistake in dialing it was on of the first digits of the number and I end up starting over anyway.. Doug Davis/1030 Pleasant Valley Lane/Arlington/Texas/76015/817-467-3740 {sys1.tandy.com, motown!sys1, uiucuxc!sys1 lawnet, attctc, texbell} letni!doug "comp.unix.aix is an oxymoron"
essachs@ihlpb.att.com (Edward S Sachs) (09/27/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0408m02@vector.dallas.tx.us>, vicorp!charlie@uunet.uu. net (Charlie Goldensher) writes: > This brings up a question that I've had for some time. Is there a > telephone set on the market with editing capability? One alternative is to program the number you wish to call into one of the "memories" of your telephone before you start your call in attempts. (Now everyone has a telephone with an n number memory, where n is somewhere between 3 and 100, don't they?) I've discovered that, on my AT&T 1600 telephone, the "redial" button can be programmed without dialing a call, just by using the same method as to program any of the other memory buttons. The digital display of the number dialed on the phone helps a lot, too! Ed Sachs AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL att!ihlpb!essachs, e.s.sachs@att.com
vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) (10/02/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0408m02@vector.dallas.tx.us> vicorp!charlie@uunet.uu. net (Charlie Goldensher) writes: >This brings up a question that I've had for some time. Is there a >telephone set on the market with editing capability? What I'd like >most is a backspace key. Especially, now, when a telephone number can >contain ten or more digits, it is extremely frustrating to hit an >incorrect final digit. The case sighted above would be considerably >more frustrating. On a Northern Telecom SL-1 PBX using M2317 type sets you have this feature. If you start to dial a number without having lifted the handset or pressing a line key it is displayed on the LCD and may be backspaced over and corrected during dialling. The number is actually dialled only when you lift the handset or depress a line key. You may also press 'LAST#' or 'SAVED#' and display the stored number, backspacing still works! Vance Shipley uucp: ..!{uunet!}watmath!xenitec!vances Linton Technology - SwitchView INTERNET: vances@egvideo.uucp 180 Columbia Street West (soon) vances@xenitec.uucp Waterloo, Ontario CANADA tel: (519)746-4460 N2L 3L3 fax: (519)746-6884 # if it ain't got an interface it ain't much use! #