ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

"puzzlement" wrote:
My answering machine was answering on four rings, all of a sudden it has
started answering on 1 and a half rings.

It is still set up to answer on four rings. I thought maybe my machine
had gone bad, so I bought another one. The same thing happens with the
new one. Can any one tell me how to correct rhis?

Thanks,

Puzzlement

I wonder if the pulse is somehow broken up. I used to have machine hooked
up to listen to any response to my announced message. It's been off line,
but most of my junk calls now have no response left on network center.

Greg

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

Tony Hwang wrote:
puzzlement wrote:
My answering machine was answering on four rings, all of a sudden it has
started answering on 1 and a half rings.

It is still set up to answer on four rings. I thought maybe my machine
had gone bad, so I bought another one. The same thing happens with the
new one. Can any one tell me how to correct rhis?

Thanks,

Puzzlement

No voice mail box?

An answering machine gives you real time monitoring, and you can pick up if
it seems important.

Greg

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/24/2015 02:50 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

Historically, it's been such a ubiquitous medium that it was hard to
impose any rules/constraints on callers; someone legitimate might
call and be incapable of complying with whatever "system" you'd
imposed!

[I had a scheme35 years ago where you had to key in a number.
Worked great -- except for my folks (who had a dial-pulse telephone!]

As a result, I've decided that *you* have to bear the responsibility
for making it work; you can't just "impose" something on your callers
because they're not accustomed to "having to comply" with a
dictatorial phone system!

When I was home, I could usually tell (from the caller ID) when a
legitimate call came in. With that "press 1", system most of the time it
would be me that pressed 1. If I was not home, the message was often
missed (or half-missed when the caller wouldn't wait for the beep).

[How many folks lean on '0' when faced with endless voice menus?]

A lot of the times I have to deal with such a system, there'll be
multiple menu items, given unpleasantly slowly, none of which are what I
called about.

[snip]

--
Currently: happy holidays (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00 AM for 1
day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The dogma of the divinity of Jesus should have died on the cross, when
the man of Nazareth gave up the ghost." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The
Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays_]

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/25/2015 02:40 AM, gregz wrote:

[snip]

An answering machine gives you real time monitoring, and you can pick up if
it seems important.

Greg


I had one call (probably junk) where the entire message was spoken
during the OGM. All that was recorded was a quiet "mumble-click" at the end.

--
Currently: happy holidays (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00 AM for 1
day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The dogma of the divinity of Jesus should have died on the cross, when
the man of Nazareth gave up the ghost." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The
Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays_]

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/25/2015 10:55 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
[How many folks lean on '0' when faced with endless voice menus?]

A lot of the times I have to deal with such a system, there'll be multiple menu
items, given unpleasantly slowly, none of which are what I called about.

I find it more distressing that the choices don't always line up with
what *I* would like them to be. So, I've developed a habit when
dealing with these things: as soon as I hear an option that is
better than the best option I've heard so far (which may have been
"none"), I throw out that many fingers to "remember" the option
number. When I've heard the entire menu, then I press the button
indicated by my current "finger display".

Too often, I've taken an early choice only to discover that
waiting would have exposed a *better* choice!

(sigh) Yet another example of how businesses have so much
contempt for their customers -- pushing off THEIR costs onto
the customer.

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

Don Y posted for all of us...



On 12/25/2015 10:55 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
[How many folks lean on '0' when faced with endless voice menus?]

A lot of the times I have to deal with such a system, there'll be multiple menu
items, given unpleasantly slowly, none of which are what I called about.

I find it more distressing that the choices don't always line up with
what *I* would like them to be. So, I've developed a habit when
dealing with these things: as soon as I hear an option that is
better than the best option I've heard so far (which may have been
"none"), I throw out that many fingers to "remember" the option
number. When I've heard the entire menu, then I press the button
indicated by my current "finger display".

Too often, I've taken an early choice only to discover that
waiting would have exposed a *better* choice!

(sigh) Yet another example of how businesses have so much
contempt for their customers -- pushing off THEIR costs onto
the customer.

You are a business, you should know that ALL costs are paid by the customer.

--
Tekkie

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On Friday, December 25, 2015 at 1:58:08 PM UTC-5, Don Y wrote:
On 12/25/2015 10:55 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
[How many folks lean on '0' when faced with endless voice menus?]

A lot of the times I have to deal with such a system, there'll be multiple menu
items, given unpleasantly slowly, none of which are what I called about.

I find it more distressing that the choices don't always line up with
what *I* would like them to be. So, I've developed a habit when
dealing with these things: as soon as I hear an option that is
better than the best option I've heard so far (which may have been
"none"), I throw out that many fingers to "remember" the option
number. When I've heard the entire menu, then I press the button
indicated by my current "finger display".

Too often, I've taken an early choice only to discover that
waiting would have exposed a *better* choice!

(sigh) Yet another example of how businesses have so much
contempt for their customers -- pushing off THEIR costs onto
the customer.

verizon is the absolute worst! their goal is to discorage the customer calling so they just go away.

they have endless menus, with multiple choices, then when you finally get to the one you want, it says all techs are busy please try again later and hangs up on you.

fios wwas a absolute nightmare.

which is why i got ri of it..........

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/26/2015 09:09 AM, bob haller wrote:

[snip]

verizon is the absolute worst! their goal is to discorage the customer calling so they just go away.

they have endless menus, with multiple choices, then when you finally get to the one you want, it says all techs are busy please try again later and hangs up on you.

fios wwas a absolute nightmare.

which is why i got ri of it..........


Trouble with customer service was one of the reasons I quit using
DirecTV. They kept answering questions I didn't ask, while avoiding the
ones I did ask. They finally solved my problem, although I suspect it
(the solution) had nothing to do with me. I called again to say it was
fixed, and then actually gave me a new problem (unwanted password reset).

Another time I was asked how many mushrooms my satellite dish had. I
almost said I must have gotten a wrong number (I wanted satellite TV,
not a mushroom farm).

BTW, I did think about the fact that mushrooms don't grow on clean, dry,
well-lighted, metal surfaces.

OT: I was getting used to the countdown that used to be in my sig.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than
Christianity has made them good." [H.L. Mencken]

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/26/2015 12:35 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 12/26/2015 09:09 AM, bob haller wrote:

[snip]

verizon is the absolute worst! their goal is to discorage the customer
calling so they just go away.

they have endless menus, with multiple choices, then when you finally get to
the one you want, it says all techs are busy please try again later and hangs
up on you.

fios wwas a absolute nightmare.

which is why i got ri of it..........

Trouble with customer service was one of the reasons I quit using DirecTV. They
kept answering questions I didn't ask, while avoiding the ones I did ask. They
finally solved my problem, although I suspect it (the solution) had nothing to
do with me. I called again to say it was fixed, and then actually gave me a new
problem (unwanted password reset).

Businesses don't think about things from the users' point of view.
Nor do they think of things from *their* point of view!

I.e., if you had a human being reciting these choices to the
caller, would THESE be the choices you would provide? Would
you PAY THAT 'OPERATOR' to ask the same question more than once
in a given call? (of course not! you'd expect her to take
note of the answers she's received and adjust her future
questions accordingly -- not discard each answer after acting
on it EXACTLY ONCE!)

The attitude of vendors seems to be one of "you will pay for what
you need/use". I.e., folks who don't need customer service never
"pay the price" of dealing with an inefficient (customer's point
of view) service interface.

It's a wonder that warranty repairs aren't *billed* to the users
needing them; that the cost of warranty service is somewhat
born across all customers, not just the ones who actually are
victims of it!

Another time I was asked how many mushrooms my satellite dish had. I almost
said I must have gotten a wrong number (I wanted satellite TV, not a mushroom
farm).

The "mushrooms" (LNB) are the actual ACTIVE antenna elements on the dish.
They *look* like mushrooms -- in an abstract sense!

The dish tries to "focus" the radio waves to a point -- where *an*
antenna can be placed to send/receive signals. If you fudge the
shape of the dish (instead of a paraboloid with a single focal
point), you can position more than one antennae (mushroom) and
then electronically select between them to effectively "point"
the antenna assembly in a slightly different direction (best
available signal, different satellite, etc).

BTW, I did think about the fact that mushrooms don't grow on clean, dry,
well-lighted, metal surfaces.

OT: I was getting used to the countdown that used to be in my sig.

Days *since*? Days 'till the Second Coming?

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/26/2015 04:00 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

The "mushrooms" (LNB) are the actual ACTIVE antenna elements on the dish.
They *look* like mushrooms -- in an abstract sense!

Low Noise Block downconverter. However, I seen to have heard that these
are really LNBF, since the feedhorn in integrated.

The dish tries to "focus" the radio waves to a point -- where *an*
antenna can be placed to send/receive signals. If you fudge the
shape of the dish (instead of a paraboloid with a single focal
point), you can position more than one antennae (mushroom) and
then electronically select between them to effectively "point"
the antenna assembly in a slightly different direction (best
available signal, different satellite, etc).

The problem is that I actually know what a satellite dish does, and that
has nothing to do with fungi.

The other part of that problem was that the CSR insisted I needed 5
"mushrooms" instead of the 3 I actually needed. The installer (which
they stupidly required even though I already had a working dish) got it
right.

BTW, I do actually get big mushrooms in the yard sometimes, after rainfall.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"In fact, when you get right down to it, almost every explanation Man
came up with for *anything* until about 1926 was stupid." [Dave Barry]

ANSWERING MACHINE RINGS
 

On 12/27/2015 11:14 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 12/26/2015 04:00 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

The "mushrooms" (LNB) are the actual ACTIVE antenna elements on the dish.
They *look* like mushrooms -- in an abstract sense!

Low Noise Block downconverter. However, I seen to have heard that these are
really LNBF, since the feedhorn in integrated.

Yes. Just a sloppy use of terminology (as is "mushroom")

The dish tries to "focus" the radio waves to a point -- where *an*
antenna can be placed to send/receive signals. If you fudge the
shape of the dish (instead of a paraboloid with a single focal
point), you can position more than one antennae (mushroom) and
then electronically select between them to effectively "point"
the antenna assembly in a slightly different direction (best
available signal, different satellite, etc).

The problem is that I actually know what a satellite dish does, and that has
nothing to do with fungi.

See above. I suspect if they refered to them as LNB's most
homeowners would say, "How do I figure out how many LNB's
I have?" So, easier to refer to them more colloquially.

The other part of that problem was that the CSR insisted I needed 5 "mushrooms"
instead of the 3 I actually needed. The installer (which they stupidly required
even though I already had a working dish) got it right.

CSR works off a script. When ISP installed dish for our network link,
"guy at the office" kept telling the installer to align to a different
xmitter. The sight-lines ON HIS (CSR) MAP said it would be a much
better option for our location.

What he *couldn't* see was the large tree blocking the ACTUAL sight-line
that was blatantly obvious to the installer!

BTW, I do actually get big mushrooms in the yard sometimes, after rainfall.

Not here. Too dry for things like that to get -- or *stay* -- established!
(plus, no place for them to hide "in the dark")