Dialing for Dummies

Today I attended a mandatory 2-hour training on the use of our new telephones here at work. The new phones are pretty fancy, all VoIP and stuff. The training was all about how to use all the new-fangled features on the phone, not to mention using the application on our intranet for changing the speed dials, ringtones, etc. v. fancy!

What they *didn't* go over is how to dial numbers. Which is the problem I have now. And will probably continue to have once the new system is installed. The only problem is dialing in the 503 area code (about 90% of my calls.) See, some numbers, you need to dial a "1" for, and some you don't. If you do it the wrong way, it yells at you and you have to hang up and try again. And if you need the 1, sometimes you need the area code, and sometimes you don't. If you're wrong, again with the yelling and hanging up. And you can't just dial all the numbers all the time, you catually have to match the right combination of numbers for each prefix. How we are supposed to just know what goes with what is beyond me!

August 25, 2003 06:40 PM

Comments (2)

08/27: stacy said:

What's VoIP?

08/27: Bill said:

VoIP = Voice over Internet Protocol. Basically our phones plug into our ethernet jacks, then our computer plugs in through the back of the phone. So the phone (within the county, at least) is just another digital device on the network. I guess there's a magic box that interfaces with the phone system to recieve and make calls outside.