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The first minute of every phone call is torture now

theatlantic.com

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Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#221

Post by klooney »

tristor wrote: post #188

I have never had any of the issues described in this article and I've been using AirPods w/ an iPhone and a MacBook since AirPods came out. My issue with phone calls is 1. Robocalls 2. Robocalls 3. Robocalls 4. Robocalls 5. Robocalls I've been all over the world, and it is straight up fucked how bad this issue is in the US and it's not like this elsewhere. It's completely fixable, but American telcos make money off l…

I got a Pixel phone and spam calls have almost disappeared (1 a month). They seem to be doing something around extra screening that's pretty good and useful.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#222

Post by SaintGhurka »

joshstrange wrote: post #203
VBprogrammer wrote: post #172

I expected this to be about the now common pattern of subjecting people to some shit version of Alexa for 10 minutes before you eventually crack and allow them to sit on hold for someone who might actually be able to solve their problem. Bonus shit biscuits if you allow them to get to some answer from Brenda (the brainless Alexa clone) where you basically say "great news, you can do this online". As if anyone with ha…

Agreed, the 2 most annoying thing for me when I have to call into a business: 1. "You can find the answers you need online at our website: w w w dot our business name dot com" - First I would never call if I could do what I needed online, second get me to the menu already. I hate waiting 30-60sec+ for a prerecorded message that doesn't tell me anything new. 2. "We are experiencing higher than normal call volume" - Bu…

3. "Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed"

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#223

Post by happyopossum »

joshstrange wrote: post #161

I feel like I'm in another universe from this writer. 9.9 times out of 10 my AirPods connect immediately when I pop them them before answering and if they take a second longer we are in Not to mention headphones aren't a necessity. Sure they are nice but if someone calls me and I think it's going to be quick I just answer and hold the phone up, it's not the end of the world.

> It takes some nerve to call someone without texting/emailing about it ahead of time if it's not an emergency

Err, wait. WHAT?

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#224

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #172

I expected this to be about the now common pattern of subjecting people to some shit version of Alexa for 10 minutes before you eventually crack and allow them to sit on hold for someone who might actually be able to solve their problem. Bonus shit biscuits if you allow them to get to some answer from Brenda (the brainless Alexa clone) where you basically say "great news, you can do this online". As if anyone with ha…

Yes I thought it was going to be about the true hell that is calling any company now. Phone menus for at least a minute and then connected to someone with long Covid and/or new hire that has no idea what they are doing or forgot how. Then transferred to another and another and another. Covid annihilated customer service.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#225

Post by dfxm12 »

filoleg wrote: post #204
tristor wrote: post #188

I have never had any of the issues described in this article and I've been using AirPods w/ an iPhone and a MacBook since AirPods came out. My issue with phone calls is 1. Robocalls 2. Robocalls 3. Robocalls 4. Robocalls 5. Robocalls I've been all over the world, and it is straight up fucked how bad this issue is in the US and it's not like this elsewhere. It's completely fixable, but American telcos make money off l…

> I've been all over the world, and it is straight up fucked how bad this issue is in the US and it's not like this elsewhere. Not trying to defend US or its telecoms here, but I think it has more to do with scammers trying to maximize for profit. Just like with malware heavily targeting Windows instead of macOS/Linux, or some apps prioritizing iOS instead of Android (by either launching as iOS-only and then introduc…

Are you implying US is the only non-low-disposable-income country? lol. This isn't a problem in say, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, etc., as it is in the US.

Also, the most spammed country appears to be Brazil, and it is far from the top of the disposable income lists. Many among the most spammed countries don't register on the top disposable income lists.

There's something else at play here. Likely legislation/regulation.

Spam info: https://www.truecaller.com/blog/insights/truecaller-insights...

Disposable income: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#226

Post by rootusrootus »

brk wrote: post #181

While most communications technology has improved over the last quarter century in terms of throughput, latency, cost, etc., voice calls have become horrid. Every aspect of telephone calls has become a total nightmare. Constant spam calls, poor audio quality, phones doing weird and random things in terms of answering calls and routing the audio to the proper device. It is strange how telco's have managed to absolutel…

I still remember distinctly when it all started going to hell. At least for me. Cordless phones. The old AT&T handsets were comfortable, you could rest that against your ear for hours. For some reason the cordless phones quickly abandoned that notion and went for smaller size, sacrificing ergonomics to get it. So now it was uncomfortable against your ear, -and- you had all the degradation in audio quality that came with early wireless tech.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#227

Post by vlunkr »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #224
VBprogrammer wrote: post #172

I expected this to be about the now common pattern of subjecting people to some shit version of Alexa for 10 minutes before you eventually crack and allow them to sit on hold for someone who might actually be able to solve their problem. Bonus shit biscuits if you allow them to get to some answer from Brenda (the brainless Alexa clone) where you basically say "great news, you can do this online". As if anyone with ha…

Yes I thought it was going to be about the true hell that is calling any company now. Phone menus for at least a minute and then connected to someone with long Covid and/or new hire that has no idea what they are doing or forgot how. Then transferred to another and another and another. Covid annihilated customer service.

It was terrible before, I'm not sure Covid could have made it any worse.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#228

Post by adriand »

tristor wrote: post #188

I have never had any of the issues described in this article and I've been using AirPods w/ an iPhone and a MacBook since AirPods came out. My issue with phone calls is 1. Robocalls 2. Robocalls 3. Robocalls 4. Robocalls 5. Robocalls I've been all over the world, and it is straight up fucked how bad this issue is in the US and it's not like this elsewhere. It's completely fixable, but American telcos make money off l…

> I have never had any of the issues described in this article

Really? Because a telephone call is, by definition, between at least two people. And even if you have your shit sorted out, I find it surprising that every one of your contacts does too. Because although I, too, generally have the process down pat (it's true: it's crazy there needs to be a process around this now), a lot of the people I talk to sure don't.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#229

Post by joshstrange »

SaintGhurka wrote: post #222
joshstrange wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, the 2 most annoying thing for me when I have to call into a business: 1. "You can find the answers you need online at our website: w w w dot our business name dot com" - First I would never call if I could do what I needed online, second get me to the menu already. I hate waiting 30-60sec+ for a prerecorded message that doesn't tell me anything new. 2. "We are experiencing higher than normal call volume" - Bu…

3. "Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed"

That's a good one, as if I've ever remembered or trusted that menu options are the same. It's another one of those useless platitudes that just wastes time. Surely anyone who just hits a number and gets connected to the wrong place will just call back and listen to the options the second time, no need for that useless message.

I'd greatly prefer if they just immediately started listing off menu options.

Also a variant on #1 that drives me batty is when they use that in the "hold music". Every 30-60 seconds the music stops and a voice repeats the BS about how you can find what you need online. It's a tease, you think your call was finally answered, and it rubs salt in wound by advertising something that clearly failed in it's task.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#230

Post by MichaelZuo »

happyopossum wrote: post #211
MichaelZuo wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not according to the mobile OS engineering teams at Apple or Google. Phone calls are intentionally given priority over other functions.

> Not according to the mobile OS engineering teams at Apple Phone calls haven't forced full screen takeovers for several years on iOS, and have the same UX as 3rd party VoIP and Video call apps...

Priority isn't solely limited to forced full screen takeovers.
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