Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: zygot!john@apple.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant Message-ID: Date: 4 Aug 89 08:02:21 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: ATI Wares Team Lines: 26 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 276, message 8 of 11 In article , goldstein@delni.dec.com writes: > Of course, not many end-users even know about it. Like many Rolm > features, it's a bit hard to explain. And, like many Rolm features, it's totally screwy and totally non-intuitive. Instead of ten seconds of busy and then music, how about two seconds of busy. NO ONE listens to a busy signal for ten seconds. Having replaced many Rolms in my day, I can say that the reason their owners were quite happy to see them go was that they were so hard to use. Oh, yes, they were feature-laden. Features that required a detailed manual to describe. F'rinstance, to transfer a call in 99% of PBX switches on a single-line phone, you flash the hookswitch, dial the destination number and hang up. With Rolm, you flash, dial a code (different depending on the type of transfer), dial the number and hang up. Rolm's attitude was "We're king of the hill, and you will do it our way." For this reason, many of Rolm's features were never used by their customers. They didn't know how. And it was generally too much trouble. Yes, Rolm, it is possible to have features that work and are easy to use. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !