Telephone Tips, Techniques and Etiquette

History 1888 - Common battery system developed by Hammond V. Hayes, allows one central battery to power all telephones on an exchange, rather than relying on each units own battery.

Whether using the telephone for business or personal use, using this communication tool effectively means being timely, communicating clearly and having the other person's interest in mind.

1 - Plan and schedule your telephone calls so that you can allow time for off-track discussions. If you plan a 10:30am telephone call "schedule" it like you might schedule a face to face meeting: a little extra time, particularly for those you know like to talk!

2 - At the beginning of your call, mention you know you can cover the points needed within time enough for you to make your next appointment, at a stated time. Then as you want to wind up the conversation you can backtrack to restate the appointment you mentioned. Or, you may find that someone will remind you, "Oh, you have to get on to that appointment, right?"

3 - Maybe you prefer to wait until you are into the conversation before needing to ask for an exit. As you near time to say goodbye and find it difficult to end, try saying, "Oh my gosh, I have a long distance call I need to take. Can you hold while I take it?" Your customer or friend will likely say the conversation can pick up later. And, once again, it is the other person who ends the call.

4 - If you have to leave a voice mail, certain elements are important to include: your name, when you are calling, a brief message about your purpose, and a telephone number to return the call to you. If you work in a staffed office and there's another extension of someone as an alternate contact, leave his or her name and extension as well. This last point is being considerate of the other person's time.

5 - When leaving a voice mail make it easy for the person who is taking and likely writing down this information. First, you can say the number slowly by area code, exchange and last digits. For example, say it just as you might write it in the United States: 777-555-1234. Alternately, or even in addition to the divided method, you can repeat your telephone number a second time. Or, you can combine both methods!

6 - Your outgoing message (om) is as important to etiquette as the message you leave when you are the caller. For business protocol it's wise to identify yourself by name. At home, if you want more security, you may want to just state, "You have reached, 777-555-1234." In either environment, state for the caller to leave their name, telephone number and a brief message. If you include the date, "Monday, February 21st," in your om, be certain you change it everyday. If you ever have anyone run out of time with leaving his or her message, you may also want to include, "and there is a 30 second (or whatever time) for your brief message."

7 - The cliché that "time is money," is particularly true for the working person. That we all have the same amount of time is true for everyone. Return your telephone calls on a timely basis, within 24 hours is professional and considerate in either a business or personal setting. Try one of these tips next time you find yourself wanting to be in charge of the telephone.

History 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, beating Elisha Gray by a matter of hours.

Copyright© Patricia Weber, http://www.prostrategies.com.

Pat Weber is a coach, certified telelcass leader, and corporate trainer. With her incisive, effective communication skills, her services can help you to accelerate professional and personal results you want, by helping you increase your choices and build your self-confidence. With personal coaching, a teleclass, an online email course or on-site workshop, get what you want, more easily and more often. Visit her website at http://www.prostrategies.com. Contact her for a free coaching session.

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Meridian Phone Madness: How to Identify Your Meridian Telephone

By Bob Mrozinski

History 1876 � Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, beating Elisha Gray by a matter of hours.

Meridian means many things to many people. When people tell me they have a Meridian phone, they feel like they have fully identified their product and that our discussion can spring forward from there. Not so.

Unfortunately, Nortel and Northern Telecom used 'Meridian' across much of their product line. If you have a Northern Telecom or Nortel phone system in your office, it may say Meridian on it. You still need to figure out what the real model number is as well as what system it is running on.

Nortel Networks, Nortel and Northern Telecom have made Central Office phone switches that provide phone lines, Centrex, T-1's, and PRI's. They also make Norstar and Meridian phone systems for business offices.

History 1888 � Common battery system developed by Hammond V. Hayes, allows one central battery to power all telephones on an exchange, rather than relying on each units own battery.

Identifying your phone is the first thing you need to when you want to expand your system or replace a bad phone.

Look at the bottom of the telephone for a model number such as M7324, M7310, M7208, M7100, T7316, T7316e or T7100. Any of these identify it as part of a Norstar phone system.

Meridian, Option One and SL-1 PBX's have phones such as M2008, M2616D, M3901, M3902, M3903, M3904 and M3905. Nortel and Aastra also have Meridian phones. Some of these are M5316, M5208, M5008, M5312, M5216, M5212, M5209, M5112, M5009, M9417CW, M9316CW, M9110, M9116, M9120, M8004, M8009, and M8314.

History 1936 � Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).

If you don't find model number, look for the part #. It will almost always begin with NT for Nortel or Northern Telecom or an A if it's Aastra. This is followed by several more alphanumeric characters.

History 1874 � Principal of the telephone was uncovered.

Remember, Meridian labelled phones may be on a Norstar system, a Meridian PBX or as part of your Centrex.

I hope this helps you identify your Meridian phone.

Bob Mrozinski

Owner of Applied Voice and Data, a broker of refurbished and new business phone system equipment from many manufacturers. Bob's eighteen years in the phone industry are mostly on the sales side. By visiting with customers in person and on the phone for so long, he has acquired a knack for honing in on what a customer really needs to make real world applications work.

History 1918 � It was estimated that approximately ten million Bell system telephones were in service throughout the U.S.

http://www.avdphonesystems.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Mrozinski

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Telephone - Cell Phones

History 1911 � American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two eventually merged.

In this article we're going to discuss what is arguably the greatest invention since the first telephone was made over 100 years ago, the cell phone.

The telephone was certainly a great invention. No question about it. We could make calls to our friends to invite them over for dinner, our boss to tell him we'd be out sick and our spouses to tell them we'd be home late for dinner. But once we were out of reach of a phone, our communication with the outside world came to a complete stop. If we had to make an emergency call while out on the road we had to either find a pay phone or some business kind enough to let us use theirs, which wasn't likely.

History 1946 � Worlds first commercial mobile phone service put into operation. It could link moving vehicles to a telephone network via radio waves.

Today, that has all changed with the invention of the cell phone. Actually, the concept of the cell phone began in 1947 when researchers looked at crude mobile car phones and realized that if they used small cells they could increase the traffic range of mobile phones. Unfortunately, the technology needed to do this did not exist yet.

History 1900 � First coin operated telephone installed in Hartford, Connecticut.

It wasn't until 1973 when a man by the name of Dr. Martin Cooper, a former GM for Motorola, made the first call on a portable cell phone in April of that year. He made the call to a rival of his, Joel Engel, who was Bell Labs head of research. Ironically, though, it was Motorola that were first to incorporate to the technology into a portable device, the first one to be designed to be used outside of the car.

History 1874 � Principal of the telephone was uncovered.

In 1977 AT&T and Bell Labs constructed their first cellular system. A year later were the first public trials of this new system with over 2000 trial customers. Two years later, in 1979, the first cellular system was put into use in Tokyo.

It wasn't until 1982 that the FCC finally authorized commercial use of cell phones in the United States. One year later the first cellular phone service was established in the United States called the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). It was made available in Chicago by a company called Ameritech.

History 1876 � Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, beating Elisha Gray by a matter of hours.

In spite of the incredible demand for cell phones, it took cell phone service 37 years to become available in the United States. But by the year 1987 there were over one million cell phone subscribers and the airwaves were already overcrowded. Because of this, improvements needed to be made, which included increasing frequencies allocation, splitting of existing cells and improving the technology.

Today, we have probably the most sophisticated cell system that anyone could ever want, including cell phones that even take photos. But this hasn't come without many prices to the consumer and the general public around them.

History 1877 � The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance of just three miles.

Aside from the high cost of cell service, especially if you go over the minutes allocated to you, there are the increased hazards and annoyances that these phones cause to others, such as going off in the middle of the big finale at a Broadway play or the danger of people using these phones in places like hospitals where the operation of sophisticated equipment can be affected.

Yes, we have our cell phones and all the wonders and headaches that go with them. Like they say, you don't get nothing for nothing.

------------------------------------------------------- Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Telephones -------------------------------------------------------

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Samsung SGH-x427m Portable Digital Telephone

History 1946 � Worlds first commercial mobile phone service put into operation. It could link moving vehicles to a telephone network via radio waves.

Switching cell phone providers allows consumers the opportunity to purchase [or get for free after rebates] a new phone periodically. I recently made the switch and was given the usual list of phones to choose from. Being the thrifty guy that I am, I chose the one that had the least cost to me once rebates were factored in. No, I did not get the plain jane freebie model, rather I snagged Samsung's SGH-x427m phone. Let's take a look at this unit and see how it stacks up.

History 1936 � Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).

When I showed the Samsung phone to a friend, he asked me if it was a camera phone. Nope. However, it does have multi media messaging capabilities unlike its companion model the SGH-x427. The phone's main features include 40 ring tones, a calendar, a 500 name phone book, a to-do list, a memo pad, and a wireless Web browser. Most cell phones boast a speakerphone, which the Samsung curiously does not have. The screen is bright and colorful and the buttons are easy to access.

The SGH-x427m weighs a paltry 2 1/2 ounces. It is a flip phone housed in a tiny, but attractive gray case. This particular model was made for Cingular, a similar model was made for AT&T, and the cost of the phone retails for around $100-120. With rebates your outlay should be minimal if not free. Of course, that means signing up for the two year plan with Cingular.

History 1888 � Common battery system developed by Hammond V. Hayes, allows one central battery to power all telephones on an exchange, rather than relying on each units own battery.

Reception has been good with few dropped calls. I haven't experienced much static, but then again all my calls have been in the vicinity of a metropolitan area.

For the features that this phone offers, the price, the cell phone plan and for battery life -- which is good -- I give this phone a 3-star rating. It isn't the plain jane freebie model, nor is it the top of the line can-do-everything model. Consumers interested in something better will want to shop elsewhere.

History 1874 � Principal of the telephone was uncovered.

When Matt isn't doing product reviews he runs the Aviation Employment Board at http://www.aviationemploymentboard.com and the Corporate Flight Attendant Community at http://www.corporateflyer.net and http://www.cabinmanagers.com

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Cell Phone Magic - A Leap From The Radio Telephone

History 1946 � Worlds first commercial mobile phone service put into operation. It could link moving vehicles to a telephone network via radio waves.

My introduction to the grand daddy of cell phones was while I was working as a Forest Fire Lookout man, in the early 1980s. One of my colleagues worked on a lookout tower, in radio range of a radio telephone repeater tower. So he could use a radio telephone, and free up more of the Forest Service frequency that I used. His radio telephone was about the size of a lap top. Cell phones are really down-sized radio telephones.

The advantage cell phones have today, over the old Radio telephone, is that they are much smaller and easier to use than the old radio telephones. Cell phones use very little battery power compared, to a radio telephone. This fact has helped the cell phone designers reduce their size to that of an object that can fit in your pocket.

History 1911 � American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two eventually merged.

The radio telephone was big and had to have a very powerful radio signal to reach the few radio towers that existed. The radio signal it transmitted had to be powerful enough to reach a tower 40 or 50 miles away.

Cell phones today are much smaller, and easier to use. Both people on a cell phone call can talk at once. Both listen at the same time. When using a radio telephone, only one person can talk at a time, while the other person can only listen. Since there are many cell towers in the system, many more people can use cell phones, than could use the old radio telephones. Radio telephones only had about 25 frequencies, available to use. Today each cell has about 56 voice channels available.

History 1888 � Common battery system developed by Hammond V. Hayes, allows one central battery to power all telephones on an exchange, rather than relying on each units own battery.

The cell phone system is divided into small cells, which allows greater frequency reuse in an area, so that millions of customers can use cell phones at the same time. Today modern cell phones can communicate on 1,664 frequencies or more! Each cell occupies about 10 square miles. There can be 56 people talking on their cell phone at one time within the area of a cell. The cell phone uses a much less powerful radio signal than a radio telephone. The larger number of cell phone towers makes this possible.

History 1936 � Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).

Another advantage of using a low power radio signal of 3 watts is that it fades to near nothing past the edge of the cell; so the same frequencies can be reused in the neighbouring cells. As you travel you are switched automatically from the cell tower you are moving away from to the next best located tower in the area you are going toward.

As you travel your cell phone sends out a code signal which identifies itself, you the user, and the service provider. Your cell phone is always communicating with the cell tower and its service provider. This is done to keep track of which cell it is located in, how strong the signal strength is received, and transmitted, and to determine if the cell you are in, is owned by your provider, or another company. A person can travel for hundreds of miles and hold a conversation the entire time using cellular technology.

History 1955 � Saw the beginning of the laying of transatlantic telephone cables.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Cell Phones

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