Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!ALMSA-1.ARPA!wmartin
From: wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted...
Message-ID: <8805270510.AA05517@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU>
Date: 25 May 88 17:29:30 GMT
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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