evans@shuksan.UUCP (Gary Evans) (05/19/88)
First of all - This is NOT Gary. It is Roger Swann on Gary's system. 'inews' on the ssc-vax is having a problem right now. Please send email replies to uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark. Now to the meat of the matter: I had an idea for the phone used in a lab area: The situation is one where there are persons in the room, but no one is usually near the phone. So, when the phone rings someone has to walk over 20ft to get the call. And as a result, no one _wants_ to answer the phone. Callers that let the phone ring many, many times, are usually the only ones to get answered. My solution would be to hookup a speakerphone type device that would automatically answer the line after a few rings. Then anyone in the room could answer the phone by just speaking loadly after the line had been _picked up_. If no one happened to be there to catch the call, so what, no problem. Does anyone out there know if such a device is currently being marketed??? Again, this is -> Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark
ted@ultra.UUCP (Ted Schroeder) (05/19/88)
Roger Swann writes in V8N82: > My solution would be to hookup a speakerphone type device that would > automatically answer the line after a few rings. Then anyone in the > room could answer the phone by just speaking loadly after the line > had been _picked up_. If no one happened to be there to catch the > call, so what, no problem. That's the way we use the phone in our lab right now. We have something called SRX (Shared Resource Exchange) phones (and probably a PBX to go with it), that has a handsfree mode. This allows anyone in the company to treat the phone like an intercom. It works great. I use it all the time in my office too. The address on my instruction manual says: Shared Resource Exchange 15926 Midway Rd Dallas, TX 75244 Ted Schroeder ultra!ted@Ames.arc.nasa.GOV Ultra Network Technologies 2140 Bering drive with a domain server: San Jose, CA 95131 ted@Ultra.COM 408-922-0100
jeff@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Stearns) (05/24/88)
In article <775@shuksan.UUCP> evans@shuksan.UUCP (Roger Swann) writes: > >I had an idea for the phone used in a lab area: > >The situation is one where there are persons in the room, but no >one is usually near the phone. So, when the phone rings someone >has to walk over 20ft to get the call. And as a result, no one >_wants_ to answer the phone. Callers that let the phone ring many, >many times, are usually the only ones to get answered. > >My solution would be to hookup a speakerphone type device that would >automatically answer the line after a few rings. Then anyone in the >room could answer the phone by just speaking loadly after the line >had been _picked up_. If no one happened to be there to catch the >call, so what, no problem. > >Does anyone out there know if such a device is currently being >marketed??? I have a friend who used to live in Switzerland; he tells me that he was fond of such a feature in his father's office phones. All telephones could act as speakerphones. The handset did not need to be lifted to answer a call; any ringing telephone could be answered simply by speaking to it. He tells me that it was common practice for officeworkers to yell "He's not here!" at ringing phones to shut them up. Sorry; he doesn't know the manufacturer (this was more than 10 years ago). Jeff Stearns jeff@tc.fluke.COM John Fluke Mfg. Co, Inc. (206) 356-5064 -- Jeff Stearns Domain: jeff@tc.fluke.COM Voice: +1 206 356 5064 If you must: {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff USPS: John Fluke Mfg. Co. / P.O. Box C9090 / Everett WA 98206
wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI) (05/26/88)
I'm somewhat confused by the subject discussion. Won't the normal sounds in an office or lab (people talking, printers or other equipment running, background Muzak, etc.) keep these voice-responding phones in a constant off-hook condition, or at least often jumping off-hook for random periods of time? Even if there is some sort of gain control to set a trigger level or threshold below which the phone won't respond, won't that mean you'll have to shout to answer it? I can see it working in a normally-very-quiet environment, but not in any real-life office or lab I've ever been in, during a normal work day. It does sound ideal for use after hours, say where one person is in a large area where there are many phones. They wouldn't have to run around to find which phone is ringing. (But wouldn't the ringing of one phone put all the others off-hook, due to the sound level? If any of the others are on the same line, that would answer the incoming call! And then, if no one was in the office to keep talking, it would then hang up automatically. Hmmm... The next generation beyond the answering machine. Call and be hung up on without human intervention... :-) Will Martin