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From: dsacg1!dlscg1!drms3002@cis.ohio-state.edu (Andy Meijers)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Phone Design For Humans
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Date: 26 Sep 89 00:21:06 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 410, message 1 of 9

A minor plea to those who design 'modern' telephone sets, esp. for
offices.

1. Make them HEAVIER, and put a nonskid base on them. As I write this,
I have just pulled my ATT-issue (came with System 8.5) sculpture off
the desk for the umpteenth time. Guess I'll end up taping it to the
desk, like many do around here.

2. Shape the handsets to FIT THE HUMAN HEAD! Real people do not talk
daintily holding the handset in their fingertips. They jam it on one
shoulder so they write. This worthless thing promptly shoots out of
sight if you try.

3. Don't position the cord connectors so the handset cord tangles unto
itself 2 inches from the base. (see # 1, above). Put the line cord
where the it won't cause the phone to trip over it whenever you move
it six inches.

4. Put a button for each function! (ie, hold, transfer etc). Phones
should not require constant referral to the manual to operate; they
should be self-evident. While you're at it, make the buttons REAL,
with a click.  A pox on squishy membrane switches and finger-nail-tip
size buttons a quarter inch apart.

5. Make cords that don't lose their coil in a month, or that act like
a DNA molecule and coil back on themselves, with a non-porous surface
that doesn't get filthy immediately . (That also applies to the whole
phone. Make it cleanable!)

6. Make a ringer/bell that can be tracked by ear. In an office full of
chirping crickets, all with the speakers buried, it is often hard to
tell which one is ringing.

I could go on for another page, but you get the idea. Fancy sculptures
may sell well in the catalog or showroom, but are often miserable for
the users. (This translates to Lo$t productivity.)

Buyers: Get a thirty-day 'test-drive' clause.

Designers: (including ATT, WECO, etc): Go back and look at the 500 and
2500 series desk sets again. There is a reason they lasted so long,
and were so widely imitated. They WORKED!!!

Specific disclaimer: I do NOT speak for my agency. ( In fact, they do
not know I'm on here right now.)

Andy Meijers DRMS-LZA       Phone:(616)961-7253
Defense Reutilization & Marketing Service          FTS:552-7253 AV:932-7253
Battle Creek, MI 49017-3092      Internet:ameijers%dlscg1.uucp@dsac.dla.mil
UUCP:     {uunet!gould!dsacg1,osu-cis!dsacg1,eecae!dsacng1}!dlscg1!ameijers