I’ve made a powerful pro-productivity choice to end all telephone communications in the interest of including more exercise, reading and time that will enhance my live, vs. time that isn’t billed or accounted for. Unless you’re an active client or someone I’ve made special arrangements with prior to March 1st, 2011, then there will be no more phone calls. Time wasted on telephones is gone forever.
There’s only so many hours in a day. Here’s this broken down clearer as a pie (yum!) graph:
I’m hoping that by doing this I can better get in touch with communicating the ways I best prefer as well as focusing more on productivity and personal health. I love so many things, but talking on the phone definitely isn’t one of those. It’s become the bane of my existence.
There’s a few exceptions to this rule, as shared. I’m finding that some incredibly selfish people seem to have an issue with this. Some people have already begun leveraging types of guilt and manipulation (read: emotional blackmail) about this positive life decision.
REMEMBER: When you’re about to be AWESOME, some people will get in your way!
I’m actually very excited about this chapter turn in the book of Darren! I’ve already experienced increased productivity today and feeling rather good!
Reading my monthly telephone bills each monthly can give me a headache. I swear that each month they become more and more complicated and are never the same. Why they are different each month is a mystery to me because I do not have long distance on my telephone. I use my cell phone for all long distance calls. Therefore, you would think that my telephone bills would always be the same. Wrong. Each month, it is different. Sometimes it is only a few cents different, but it is still different. My telephone bills have tons of fees added on it each and every month. Some of them I understand but others are simply a mystery. Someone could have their own personal fee on there and I’d be putting money in their pocket and I’d never know. I suspect that most people are in the same situation.
I have called my phone company and asked them to go over my telephone bills with me. Someone usually does, but I swear their explanations are still meaningless to me. Basically, the government is adding all kinds of fees to our telephone bills. I don’t mind paying t fee for the 9-1-1 emergency system. Heck, I’m more than okay with paying that fee. But, some of those other fees are just getting out of control.
I used to have all kinds of things appearing on my telephone bills. When I called to question them, I was told that they were features I had available to me. Most of them I never even knew that I’d had. I removed some of them to lower my monthly telephone bills. Look over your telephone bills and analyze them. Make sure you aren’t be charged for something that you never knew that you had either. All of those extra features, such as caller ID and voice mail, will be added to your telephone bills. The only feature that I willingly pay for is Caller ID. My telephone bills could be $8.00 cheaper every month, but that is one feature that I am happily paying for. I despise answering the phone when I have not a clue who it is. When I’m at home, I don’t want to be bothered. If your name or company doesn’t show up on my Caller ID, you can leave me a message. I’ll call you back immediately if it was important. Yes, I screen my calls. Every single day I refuse to pick up the phone is the caller is unknown. Obviously,
they aren’t worth my time.
I’m hoping that someday, the phone companies will start sending a manual along with our monthly telephone bills. That way, perhaps their customers will be able to interpret what their bills really say.
In recent years, 900 telephone numbers, in which the caller pays a fee per minute, have been used by television stations to elicit viewer participation and to offer services, such as current weather conditions. But beware of swindlers who want to lure you to call a 900 number without giving you anything in return for your money.
These swindlers may promise you a product or service, such as credit repair or a travel package, but what you actually receive will be quite disappointing. Those with bad credit hoping to receive a credit card by calling a 900 number might receive a list of banks to which they can apply for such a card. Those who are told to call because they’re winners in a sweepstakes receive nothing at all. But you’ll be even more unhappy with the charges that appear on your phone bill–sometimes $30 or more.
In the past, swindlers have used toll-free 800 numbers to carry out many of the scams they now promote via 900 numbers. They include phony free prize and free vacation offers, as well as deceptive credit card promotions. They often begin when the swindler sends you a notification in the mail claiming that you have won something for free or have qualified for credit.
Sometimes, when you call a 900 number, you will be required to listen to a long recorded sales pitch. Remember, the longer you are on the telephone, the higher the phone charges will be. To add insult to injury, at the end of the sales pitch, you will often be directed to phone a second 900 number for additional information or to order your product or service. If you call the second 900 number you will then be billed for an additional 900 number telephone call. Remembering the following can help you avoid becoming a victim of 900 number frauds:
Be suspicious when you receive a prize notification or other promotion which asks you to call a 900 number. There is always a charge for a 900 number call.
Never dial a 900 number unless you are absolutely sure of how much you will be charged and are willing to pay it.
Be wary if after dialing one 900 number you hear a message asking you to dial a second 900 number.
If you have never heard of the company making the promotion, check it out with your local Better Business Bureau or consumer protection agency.
Trust your own common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If you have been taken by a 900 number fraud scheme and the U.S. Mail has been used in any way, report your experience to your local postmaster or the nearest Postal Inspector.
A cordless telephone (telefone sem fio) is an electronic telephone that comprises of a wireless handset and a base unit. Communication is carried out between the handset and the base using radio waves. The wireless handset can be operated only within a fixed range from its base unit. The range of operation is generally within 100 meters. The base unit needs electricity to power it. Batteries are used to power the cordless handset. Placing the cordless handset in the cradle in the base unit recharges these batteries. A period of 12 to 24 hours is required for recharging the batteries.
With features like cell handover, data transfer and international roaming (on a limited scale), the once clear-cut line between mobile telephones and cordless telephones (telefone sem fio) has now been blended by the modern cordless telephone standards.
Frequency bands have been assigned in each country for cordless telephones (telefone sem fio). Advertisements by manufacturers claiming that there is an improvement in audio range and quality with higher frequency are a common sight. But that is not the case. Actually, higher frequencies have been seen to exhibit worse propagation in ideal case. There is also a tendency for the path loss to increase with higher frequencies. Locally varying factors such as antenna quality, signal strength, the modulation method being used and interference are more influential than other factors.
With Landline telephones working on a bandwidth of about 3.6 kHz (a small fraction of the frequency that a human ear can interpret), the transfer of audio is carried out with an audio quality that is just enough for the parties to communicate each other. Because of this limitation in the design of the phone system itself, it is not possible to improve the audio quality beyond a particular limit in cordless telephones.
Most of the good-quality cordless telephones (telefone sem fio) try transferring the audio signal with lowest possible interference and greatest possible range. Even the best of the cordless telephones fail to match the audio quality that a high quality phone wired to a good telephone line provides.
Sidetone (echo of voice heard in the speaker of the receiver), disturbing constant background noise that is due to the cordless system, and inability to obtain a full frequency response that is available in a wired phone are few of the reasons for a not-so-good audio quality. Rare exceptions, obviously, always exist that sound unbelievably similar to a wired telephone. But even these are considered as `fluke` by most industry standards.
Higher frequency is now being used in other home products like the microwave oven, Baby monitor, Bluetooth, wireless LAN, etc. Thus, cordless telephones (telefone sem fio) using higher frequency may face interference from signals from these devices.
Eavesdropping is a constant security threat for analog telephones. Any one with a radio scanner and within range can pick up these signals and listen to conversations. Modern digital technology is thus being used to take care of this kind of unauthorized access.
DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) makes use of frequency hopping, i.e. spreading up of audio signal over a wider range in a pseudorandom fashion. DSS signal sounds like noise bursts to a radio scanner or any other analog receiver. This signal makes sense only to that base unit which has the same pseudorandom number generator as the cordless handset. Each time the cordless handset is returned to its cradle, a new unique generator is chosen from thousands of options.
DSS generates a signal spread that leads to a kind of redundancy, which gives rise to increased signal-to-noise ratio. It also leads to increase in signal range and decreases interference susceptibility. It is easier to use this kind of wide-bandwidth security option with higher frequency.
If you are one of those people who need to use listening devices for your telephone, there are many different ones to choose from. It does not matter what the reason is, whether you are doing it for covert operations in police work, making sure that your employees are not running up lots of long distance charges on your business phone, keeping track of who is using your business phone for lots of personal phone calls, or just keeping a record of important information that is received over the telephone.
One of the greatest listening devices made for this purpose is the thirty-four hour, no battery drain, and telephone recorder. You heard it right no battery drain. And it does not matter where you may need to use these particular listening devices, whether it is a pay phone, a hotel, digital, or universal cell, this unit comes with a recording interface that works in all of those applications. Once this listening device is connected, it will automatically turn on the minute the receiver is lifted.
And because it runs for a full twelve hours of actual telephone conversation on a single set of “AAA” batteries, it is perfect for situations where A/C power access is limited or nonexistent. But when there is a wall plug available, there is an optional AC adaptor that you can use with this unit as well. With the no battery drain, you do not have to worry about using up precious battery time while the unit is resting, waiting for the next conversation to record. The VOR recording completely eliminates gaps in the recording.
Fraudulent schemes range from peddling water purifiers, vitamins, and make-up kits to stock investments and abusive “900″ numbers. According to the Alliance Against Fraud in Telemarketing (AAFT), Americans lose an estimated $40 billion each year to telemarketing fraud. Con artists and swindlers use the telephone more and more as their “weapon” to hold up victims.
If a sales pitch sounds too good to be true, just hang up. If you don’t, you may become the next victim of telephone fraud.
Top Phone Scams
While some of the following products and services can be and are legitimately sold by reputable telemarketers, the Division of Consumer Protection has identified seven areas where fraud can occur and does the most damage to the consumer’s wallet:
Free Prize Offers: If you receive a phone call that you have won a free prize, be cautious! Usually there are conditions to securing those offers such as substantial handling fees, shipping charges, membership fees and/or the purchase of other merchandise.
Ask the telephone solicitor what the prize is worth. It may be of little value, and it may not be worth the money you will have to spend to receive it. A “contest” or an offer of a “free” prize or gift is only a sales tactic. No one is in business to give things away. Look for strings attached. Telemarketers must be registered with the Division of Consumer Protection. Call the Division to verify current registration.
Charitable Solicitations: Telephone solicitation is one method used by charitable organizations to raise funds from generous consumers. Unfortunately, fraudulent charitable operators may call you, too. State law requires charities to inform donors if they are registered with the state, what the permit number is and what percentage of your donation will actually go to the charity. Call the Division of Consumer Protection to verify the information they give you.
When you make a donation, it is a good idea to pay by check and make the check out to the organization, not the person collecting the donation. Be cautious of organizations that pressure you to pledge money on the spot or tell you they will send a representative immediately to your home to pick up your donation. A legitimate charity will gladly accept your donation today, tomorrow, or a month from now.
Travel Offers: It can be quite tempting to purchase a bargain-priced travel package over the telephone, but be careful. Many of these scams operate by enticing people to join “vacation clubs” or offering consumers “free trips.” Often the vacation club or free trip has many hidden costs or conditions attached. Your bargain or free trip could end up costing you a lot of money.
Investment Fraud: Many unsound investment opportunities are peddled over the telephone. Fraudulent sales pitches usually involve such statements as “you must act now,” “there is no risk” or “this must be kept a secret.” Promoters will often try to make you feel guilty or silly for asking questions or exhibiting doubt. Stop and think before you quickly turn your money over to an investment promoter calling on the phone. Ask for written information. And, if you are receiving undue or uncomfortable pressure, or if other “warning flags” arise during the conversation, hang up.
“900″ Numbers: When you call a “900″ number, you are charged either a fee for the number of minutes you are on the phone or a flat fee for the entire call. These fees can add up rather quickly after you have spent more than a few minutes on the telephone.
Some services will keep you on the line for an extended length of time before you get all of the information you called for, making it a very expensive phone call. Find out the costs of the call before you make it, and never call any “900″ numbers that doesn’t disclose the costs up front.
Recently, unscrupulous telemarketers began transferring calls made to toll-free “800″ numbers over to “900″ numbers. This improper practice makes it more important today then ever before to know who you are calling. You should also listen carefully to any recorded information at the beginning of the call.
Advance-Fee Loan Scams: These scams often target people who are out of work or have poor credit ratings. Con artists promise “guaranteed” loans, no matter what your credit rating is, in exchange for an up-front processing or application fee. You may wait weeks or months to find out credit has been denied and the processing fee is not, as promised, refunded. Or, you may never hear from the company again, and may even find the company is withdrawing from your credit card or checking accounts using information you disclosed over the phone.
Credit Repair Schemes: If you are having a problem getting credit, you may be tempted to listen to telephone solicitors who advertise quick and easy solutions to credit problems. Unfortunately, in many cases, these companies take your money and do little or nothing to improve your credit history. Credit repair companies cannot remove bad credit information from your files. If there are genuine mistakes on your credit file, you can remove them yourself–for free. Credit repair companies must be registered with the Division of Consumer Protection. Call the Division to verify their registration.
First Line of Defense
Your best defense is yourself. Follow some basic rules, and arm yourself with the tools to safeguard your hard-earned money from telephone con artists.
Around the world, SMS – or Short Message Service – has become ubiquitous. Millions upon millions of SMSes are sent and received each day from one mobile phone to another. These 160-character messages are the way in which people around the globe or around the corner stay in touch with one another. Increasingly, however, people are realizing that they can make cheap telephone calls using SMS.
Using an SMS gateway, a cheap phone call can be triggered using SMS. An SMS triggered phone call to Jamaica, for example, would cost less than one U.S. dollar. Technology allows you to place a call between any two telephone handsets, while your mobile phone or computer keyboard becomes a convenient dial pad. Contrary to what you may imagine, a telephone call placed with an SMS gateway uses a reliable telephone network, so the quality of the call is high.
More than Telephone Calls
An SMS gateway can be used for more than a cheap phone call. There are a variety of SMS-based services that you can use.
Email to SMS: An email to SMS service allows you to send SMS through email. Some SMS gateways go a step further by allowing your business contacts, family members, and friends to send SMS to you.
SMS to Email: Almost all mobile services offer SMS to email. Some SMS gateways, however, allow two-way communication between email and SMS – without limiting communication to a short window of time.
SMS to SMS: With SMS to SMS communication, you can broadcast one SMS to one person or to many different people. The better SMS gateways allow for an SMS to be sent discretely, or allow an SMS to be sent to a set of predefined names that you provide.
Scheduling: Although simple SMS scheduling can be done with a mobile phone, SMS gateways use a Web interface to allow for more complex scheduling.
Fax Services
With the right SMS gateway, you can send faxes anywhere using email to fax. In addition, you can fax a web page to any fax machine using SMS. Furthermore, you can create a schedule so that you can regularly receive a fax of a particular web page.
Some SMS gateways charge for their services in hard currency; typically, you can use a credit card or a payment service like moneybookers. Other SMS gateways incorporate a credit system, and charge for services with credits. You can either purchase credits using a credit card or payment service, or you can earn credits by referring friends, family members, and business associates to the service. In essence, you receive a commission each time some you refer uses the services of the SMS gateway. If you choose to go that route, you can go from making cheap telephone calls using SMS to making free telephone calls using SMS. What could be better than that?
As a writer, there are many times when I need to do interviews over the phone. Because I have a small child, a speakerphone is not always a good idea. Nothing brings out the need to talk to mommy than the time when mommy is on the phone. I decided to ditch the speakerphone for that reason, and found a model that has a hook up for a telephone headset. This is a blessing, and so much cheaper than I thought it would be. Luckily for me, the same hands free unit I have for my mobile phone works as a telephone headset on my home phone.
If you can use your hands free until with your home phone, you don’t need to shop for a telephone headset. If you can’t, however, don’t worry too much, there are plenty of models out there that are inexpensive, yet are of great quality. You want a telephone headset that will not only pick up your voice well; you want one that makes it easy to hear the person on the other end of the line. Along the same lines, you want a telephone headset that will not pick up room noise, and one that has a strong cable.
You can find a great many types of telephone headsets in your local stores. Some look much like a set of headphones that might come with your CD player. Others simply have an earpiece with an attached microphone that extends towards the mouth. Either type of telephone headset will work fine, but you may have a preference. If you feel more secure with a model that goes over your head to hold it in place, then that is the model you should buy.
You may also find telephone headsets online. The problem with these is that you don’t know what you are buying until you get it. If you buy online, pay a little more for a brand name that you trust. That way, you are less likely to get a faulty model. At times, it is a pain to get faulty merchandise exchanged, and if you need your telephone headset right away, this can leave you frustrated.
No matter where you get your telephone headset, make sure you treat it with care. Keep the earpiece and microphone clean, and try not to wind up the cable too much. Every time you wind the cable around your hand, you are putting stress on the wires within the casing. After a while, this will cause the connections to loosen up, or will cause the wires to break altogether. Keep the wire loosely coiled and sitting up away from small hands or playful pets.
When making use of telephone bugs, it can be very frustrating to be constantly checking, only to find that you missed a call. You have a busy life. Other things to do, other clients to work for, a life to live. You can’t just be sitting there trying to play hit and miss with telephone bugs. This is where the new generation of bugs comes in. It is possible to use a bug that will actually call you when a phone call is made. That way you need not miss a conversation that you cannot afford to miss.
Traditional bugs require that you listen to the transmissions or call in to see if a call is being placed. Additionally, some telephone bugs only allowed you to hear one end of the conversation. Neither of these things is very savory, nor do the provide help to you as you frantically try to listen in at just the right time. Additionally, many transmitters run the risk of being found as they transmit the signal out. With telephone bugs that call you, you can listen to both ends of the conversation, and receive notification when a call is placed or received by your subject.
The first telephone bugs that work in this manner are bugs that look like cell phones. You plug them in to share the same line as the regular phone, and they look like they were forgotten or like they are charging. These phones can be programmed to silently ring your preferred number whenever the home phone goes off. And it is set up so that when you pick up to listen in, you are listening as if you were on another phone in the house (just like mom and dad did when you called home from college). You hear both ends, and neither party is the wiser.
Other telephone bugs that can be programmed to call you are more high tech cell phones. You give the phone to the subject (or have your client do so) and then you wait. These phones work like regular cell phones. The person talks normally and receives calls normally. But every time he or she uses the phone (place or receive) the phone dials you and lets you know.
No matter which product you choose, you don’t have to miss a call when you are called by your telephone bugs.
(c) 2005 Copyright www.spyassociates.com. This article is about: Telephone Bugs.
The use of wireless headsets has increased significantly over the past several years. Whether you are operating a radio, and Ipod, a cellular phone, or just a standard telephone, there are great advantages to using them. First, they are convenient. The elimination of a cord allows you to move about freely, and the signal range is constantly increasing with advancements in technology.
Many businesses are even beginning to use them for various customer service positions that require employees to use the phone frequently. This allows both hands to be free so that representatives can enter the necessary information into the computer without the hindrance of a telephone receiver or the obstacle of unwanted cables. While these advantages are more for convenience, there are physical benefits of using a wireless telephone headset that can actually a significantly positive impact on one’s overall health.
In recent years, studies have shown that the use of certain wireless headsets has been shown to reduce muscle tension up to 41 percent when used with a telephone. This means that by not holding an actual telephone receiver, you are enabling freer movement of your head, neck, and even shoulders. It also frees both hands so that it is not necessary to hold the phone receiver between your head and shoulder, which significantly reduces muscle tension and allows longer job performance. This is especially important in today’s computer age where workers must often enter a wealth of information into a computer during numerous telephone calls that can last several minutes and are conducted many times throughout the day.
Using a wireless headset for telephone work also deceases the strain placed on your hands that is caused from holding them in the same position for a long period of time. A wireless headset, in particular, allows you to move about more freely, which makes it easier for you to type on a computer keyboard, then turn and consult paperwork without the hassle of a cord. It also allows you to get up from your desk and walk over to check files without having to put the caller on hold. This makes it easier to do your job seamlessly, and can help establish a better rapport with customers because there will be fewer interruptions. In addition, you aren’t stuck in the same position all day, and are able to stretch your arms and legs as needed. This alleviates all-around muscle tension, and promotes a better working environment.
Modern business telephones have come a long way from where they started, both technologically and esthetically speaking. Looking at some of the previous offerings from days gone by, I am reminded that the business world is one of form over function. In other words, business phones are engineered to simply to work reliably and for long periods of time, not to look pretty. Still, there is very little charm, even from a nostalgic point of view, in older business telephone systems. Thankfully, the phones have changed over the last several years. Business phones are still designed to work and work well, but many manufacturers are beginning to understand that esthetics can be used as a selling point. The modern phones of today have a functionally “smart” look to them, as though they were destined to meet the futuristic expectations placed on them by movies and television shows from the seventies, such as “Star Trek” and “Star Wars”. In fact, just about every business phone I’ve encountered lately seems to have had it’s design parameters pulled directly off of Darth Vader’s chest.
While these phones aren’t exactly attractive, they also manage to stay out of the eyesore category, which is somewhat of an improvement. The biggest difference one encounters when comparing new to old business phones is the sheer heft and bulk that the old phones possess. Of course, technology has allowed modern manufacturers to produce phones that are miniscule by the standards of yesterday and the actual size and weight differences are astounding. It makes one wonder if quality was compromised in the loss of all that size and weight. It wouldn’t surprise me. I know they don’t make desks quite like they used to. I don’t think my desk could hold one of the old style telephones without bowing, which is exactly what happened when I placed a CRT monitor in the middle of it. I suppose that phones, like all products, are susceptible to the old but true adage that they really don’t make them like they used to, which reminds me of another popular saying.
Looks aren’t everything.