Voicemail
I have four phones. My work phone, my home phone, my personal cell phone and my work cell phone. All of them have voicemail.
When voicemail was first invented, it was far from a miracle of technology. Basically, it is an answering machine for LOTS of people. The object of the "mail" part of voicemail was for computer telephony integration of which yours truly was one of the pioneers. I know, a Native being a Pioneer...funny. Ummm...yeah.
So, the "mail" part of voicemail was intended for voice message delivery through the email system. If you received a voice message, it would package it as a .wav file and send it through email for you to listen. Some voicemail systems would just send you a link to the system computer so it can call you up to deliver the messages. Either way, the intent was to send the message to the user, not make the user dial in to retreive the message.
The system I see today are glorified answering machines. All of my phones work in the same way:
This works on all of my phones except one: my home phone. We can't get into the voice answering system attached to my home phone. We have had our phone for nearly three years and we can't get into it.
I have only a mild lack of intelligence so I picked up the phone and called the phone company to inform them of the issue. They "reset" or changed the tape in the answering machine or poured coke into it and said it is fixed. Ummm...nope. After repeated attempts, I gave up.
Hold on...phone ringing...Oh, they can go to voicemail.
I am sure that Ed McMahon has called many times over tha past three years to inform me that I won a billion dollars, but I consider those messages lost. The voicemail system filled up in the first couple of weeks and we just don't care.
The Queen has since purchased new phones (twice) and the most recent one has (get this) an answering machine. We are reluctant to turn it on. We are actually used to not having to listen to messages.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). Shut down the voicemails and answering machines. Shut down the call waiting. Shut down the call forwarding. Make it simple.
If you are not home, and they know you, they can call your cell. If they don't know you, then you probably didn't want the call in the first place. The caller ID (wonderful invention) will tell you if you want to talk to them anyhow.
Get rid of call waiting. How rude is call waiting? If you are on a call with your friend and your other friend calls, you look at the caller ID and do one of two things: tell your friend you have another call (which is more important than the call you are on) or tell your friend that you have to get rid of the other caller (making them less important than the call you are on). Either way, someone doesn't rate. If you get rid of call waiting, you get a busy signal. What a concept...
I asked about removing all of the services from our home number... I still have voicemail.
Did you know...
The first FAX machine was patented in 1843, 33 years before Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone.
When voicemail was first invented, it was far from a miracle of technology. Basically, it is an answering machine for LOTS of people. The object of the "mail" part of voicemail was for computer telephony integration of which yours truly was one of the pioneers. I know, a Native being a Pioneer...funny. Ummm...yeah.
So, the "mail" part of voicemail was intended for voice message delivery through the email system. If you received a voice message, it would package it as a .wav file and send it through email for you to listen. Some voicemail systems would just send you a link to the system computer so it can call you up to deliver the messages. Either way, the intent was to send the message to the user, not make the user dial in to retreive the message.
The system I see today are glorified answering machines. All of my phones work in the same way:
- I dial a secret number that I never remember to connect to the voicemail system
- Punch in my 14000 numeric password
- Shake the phone violently because I missed 1 number
- Punch in my 8 digit password
- Wait for the unknown lady at the other end to tell me I have no messages
- Get frustrated and hang up the phone to the "voicemail" that I pay extra money to keep operational.
This works on all of my phones except one: my home phone. We can't get into the voice answering system attached to my home phone. We have had our phone for nearly three years and we can't get into it.
I have only a mild lack of intelligence so I picked up the phone and called the phone company to inform them of the issue. They "reset" or changed the tape in the answering machine or poured coke into it and said it is fixed. Ummm...nope. After repeated attempts, I gave up.
Hold on...phone ringing...Oh, they can go to voicemail.
I am sure that Ed McMahon has called many times over tha past three years to inform me that I won a billion dollars, but I consider those messages lost. The voicemail system filled up in the first couple of weeks and we just don't care.
The Queen has since purchased new phones (twice) and the most recent one has (get this) an answering machine. We are reluctant to turn it on. We are actually used to not having to listen to messages.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). Shut down the voicemails and answering machines. Shut down the call waiting. Shut down the call forwarding. Make it simple.
If you are not home, and they know you, they can call your cell. If they don't know you, then you probably didn't want the call in the first place. The caller ID (wonderful invention) will tell you if you want to talk to them anyhow.
Get rid of call waiting. How rude is call waiting? If you are on a call with your friend and your other friend calls, you look at the caller ID and do one of two things: tell your friend you have another call (which is more important than the call you are on) or tell your friend that you have to get rid of the other caller (making them less important than the call you are on). Either way, someone doesn't rate. If you get rid of call waiting, you get a busy signal. What a concept...
I asked about removing all of the services from our home number... I still have voicemail.
Did you know...
The first FAX machine was patented in 1843, 33 years before Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone.
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