Gold Standard Phone Quality Shows Patina of Age
There's one simple task that's often a royal PITA, and that's the once monthly to my utility companies to enter my monthly meter reading. It's either that, or get the estimated bill which is curiously always substantially higher than what I actually used.
So, what's the big deal? Read the meter, record the numbers, make a phone call, right? Well, it's often not so simple.
Calling the utility company puts me into the voice tree straight from hell. Add in that the account number is many digits, and it repeats them back to verify. Unfortunately, the system is also voice activated, and any noise sets it off, and restarts. Last month, despite pressing the mute button on the phone, it took four phone calls, and then I eventually had to speak to someone anyway after holding for a while. Then I had to repeat it for the electricity as well. Don't even get me started that I can enter it online as the last time I tried that, I couldn't even establish an account and gave up after half an hour. So it goes, month after month.
I had figured out a while ago that a newer phone can help. When I replaced my staticky 2.4 GHz one, it was better for a while, but the last few months, it's been getting progressively worse.
Today, something surprising happened. As I placed the call, I realized that this was the first month I was doing it on VoIP, and not on copper. For whatever reason, both meter readings went through on the first try without any issue. This hasn't happened for months with my previous Verizon copper phone service.
I'm guessing that therotting aging copper phone lines were just introducing too much interference, although even if I wasn't hearing it, the phone voice menu was. In any event, I think that the digital connection is just cleaner. Let's see what goes on next month. In the meantime, we'll see what we can do about gasoline prices...
Jonas
2nd Thought: Maybe it wasn't only the phone line, but the DSL piggybacked onto the copper voice line was throwing the whole thing off?
So, what's the big deal? Read the meter, record the numbers, make a phone call, right? Well, it's often not so simple.
Calling the utility company puts me into the voice tree straight from hell. Add in that the account number is many digits, and it repeats them back to verify. Unfortunately, the system is also voice activated, and any noise sets it off, and restarts. Last month, despite pressing the mute button on the phone, it took four phone calls, and then I eventually had to speak to someone anyway after holding for a while. Then I had to repeat it for the electricity as well. Don't even get me started that I can enter it online as the last time I tried that, I couldn't even establish an account and gave up after half an hour. So it goes, month after month.
I had figured out a while ago that a newer phone can help. When I replaced my staticky 2.4 GHz one, it was better for a while, but the last few months, it's been getting progressively worse.
Today, something surprising happened. As I placed the call, I realized that this was the first month I was doing it on VoIP, and not on copper. For whatever reason, both meter readings went through on the first try without any issue. This hasn't happened for months with my previous Verizon copper phone service.
I'm guessing that the
Jonas
2nd Thought: Maybe it wasn't only the phone line, but the DSL piggybacked onto the copper voice line was throwing the whole thing off?
posted by digitaldoc at 9:31 PM
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