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From: stanley@phoenix.com (John Stanley)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: For Telecom-ers Who Live Up North
Message-ID: <15358@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 9 Dec 90 22:18:13 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 877, Message 1 of 12


fritz@m2.ti.com (Fritz Whittington) writes:

> In article <15113@accuvax.nwu.edu> CAPEK@YKTVMT.BITNET (Peter G.
> Capek) writes:

> >interesting device called a Telefreeze.  It connects to a phone line
> >and makes the line go "off hook" when the ambient temperature goes
> >below a preset limit.  The idea is that you would periodically call

> Could someone explain to a life-long Southerner why this terribly
> complicated system which depends on human intervention on both ends is
> better than simply having the thermal device in the 'Telefreeze'
> simply turn the heater on?

   If the gas pipes freeze, or break, or the electricity goes off,
turning the heater on will do absolutely no good. If the cold is
because someone has broken in your front door, turning the heater on
will do absolutely no good. And, finally, if the reason it is cold is
because the heater is broken, there is nothing to turn on.

> [Moderator's Note: Even if for some reason the device was not able to
> turn the heater on, if it can go off hook it could surely dial your
> number and recite some sort of pre-recorded spiel. At least you would
> think so. What does merely going off-hook solve? What if you forget to
> call it for a couple days? And why should you waste several calls on
> it for nothing when it (or a similar device) should be able to make
> ONE important call to you?  You are correct; this device sounds like a
> total piece of junk.   PAT]

   Obviously, Pat, you have never travelled to a distant city and
stayed in a hotel. Do you really know the number for the hotel before
you get there? If you do, do you really trust them to give you a
message from what will sound to them like a crank phone call? ("Hey,
listen to this, someone's THERMOSTAT is calling them here. What was
that name ... Roderick Thompson?") How about when you travel to
multiple places? Now we are talking about a relatively expensive piece
of hardware -- remote programming of both called number and message.

   As long as there is no answer, there is no cost to any of the calls
to it. It simply takes some time.

   A simple device to go off hook would cost about $0.10 to produce,
in quantity, if that much. Just a bimetallic strip. An autodialler,
remotely programmable costs, what, $100? $50? Still a far cry from
what this dohickey could sell for. There are still some simple
solutions to problems, and some problems that don't require computer
solutions.

   It would be better to have something that answers and hangs up
right away. Like a good old NE-2 neon bulb across the line. Busy could
be because someone else is calling you. Immediate answer and hangup
would be a unique signal.


[Moderator's Note: No, I don't always know the number where I am going
to be, but if I were using such a device I'd have it call my pager, or
leave a message in my voicemail which would in turn call my pager,
etc. It still makes better sense than calling it every couple hours in
the winter months.   PAT]