Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: bet@bent (Bennett Todd) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Consumer Opts For POTS Message-ID: Date: 10 Jun 89 22:41:17 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: bet@bent (Bennett Todd) Organization: Diagnostic Physics, Raddiology, DUMC Lines: 27 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 193, message 3 of 10 In-reply-to: decvax!decwrl!apple!zygot!john@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (John Higdon) In article , decvax!decwrl!apple! zygot!john@ucbvax (John Higdon) writes: >[...] >Most of the consumer advocates that I have spoken with, however, seem to >feel that adequate telephone service consists of a black rotary-dial wall >phone in the kitchen and the fact that there is a hell of a lot of >electro-mechanical equipment that needs replacing is of no concern to them. Count me as a consumer that feels the same way. Touch Tone (tm?) is nice but by no means necessary, and none of the other features interest me at all. However, I can see for myself that I am severely outvoted on this preference; the phone feature fiends are making sure that my service gets more and more expensive, and less and less reliable. I've seen it at work, and I've seen it at home. In fact, I've discontinued having any service at all at home, and have started using email more and more to carry on important communications, since, unreliable though it is, it works more reliably than our new super spiffy digital AT&T PBX with LEDs and whatnot. Our old electromechanical system worked vastly better. Unfortunately, we reached its limits, and it is no longer supported, and cannot be expanded. So we get a lot more exercise now, which is good; it is easier and faster to walk down the hall, or indeed across campus, than to try to get out using the spiffy new digital phones (with LEDs). -Bennett bet@orion.mc.duke.edu