No Speech Recognition

[dave walsh]

Newsnight [BBC2] just ran a piece saying that landline telephone calls have halved since 2012 Ok no surprise there but [apparently] mobile phone use to make voice calls has also declined considerably. I do find that hard to believe, witnessing all the banal calls being made daily but a "messaging" future where people don't actually speak doesn't seem so far fetched when you think about it-given the self centred reliance of people in daily life who aren't really living in the world around them anyway, it's the next level perhaps
The theme seemed to be that it's all a long way from Alexander Graham Bell and we may just rely on emogees [or however you spell em] for emphasis!

Dave W


"It's good to hear your voice, you know it's been too long
If I don't get your call then everything goes wrong"

Blondie..... Hangin On The Telephone

[Biggles]

A bit off topic but I recently had cause to ring HMRC and was forced to wade through ten minutes of "talking" to a robot (speech recognition with a Geordie accent?...no!) until I eventually was deemed qualified to be passed on to a real person. And they charge you a lot for the call too. It seems that voice communication is indeed out of favour in this increasingly digital world. I rather suspect that it is to encourage people to use e-mails or texts so that the telephonist doesn't have to actually face anyone.
Alan.

[MrBungle]

What I find annoying is people who use instant messaging to send voice messages. You cant put the phone up to your ear to listen to them and because you don’t know the content you have to dig around and find your earphones, plug them in and then listen.

It’s all a step backwards from basic POTS system or even voicemail. Not a future I’m going to enjoy being in.

[KeithsTV]

I've recently experienced one of these voice recognition systems and on the second attempt to get through to a real operator I said nothing in response to the questions. After a few attempts by the machine to get me to respond it put me through to an operator.

After I'd spoken to the operator and arranged the required service visit, explaining exactly what the problem was, I said how much I hated the voice recognition system. He said "I was going to ask you about that" He then asked me to rate it on the usual scale of 1 to 10. I gave it a rating of 0 but asked if I could rate it with a negative number. Unfortunately I don't think their system can cope with negative numbers!

Keith

[Terry_VK5TM]

The step-daughter communicates mostly through text messages unless the wife rings her.

Sad state of affairs when people claim to be too busy to communicate with the spoken word.

And same as Keith, if I encounter the robotic voice system, I just stay quiet (or mumble something unintelligible) until it gives up and puts me through to an operator.

[MrBungle]

Monkey noises and pressing hash repeatedly seems to work on some companies

[dave walsh]

Blimey I didn't really expect any response to that post. It's a shame you can't ring my Land Line I was trying to be clever with the thread title-always a bad idea. Primarily I was referring to humans not being able to recognise the value of speech anymore, rather than machines primed to do so! I just hadn't thought of that other aspect but you are right-it's the other side of the same coin I suppose! Either way I don't think speech recognition systems are at all OT in relation to these major changes taking place in just one generation. Already there will be children staring at handsets and saying "What's This?"

Dave W

[Radio Wrangler]

Working on a university campus, I see lots of students texting away furiously, eyes utterly focused on a tiny screen. Always a top of the range phone, walking into flower beds, walking into walls, generally colliding with each other and anything else. Steps are an especial hazard.

Cyberlemmings?

It seems like we are watching the beginning of mankind's retreat from reality.

Maybe apps which add guidance arrows on-screen could fix the lemming problem, but without such non-virtual activities as nutrition and reproduction, we'll join the dodo.

Meanwhile, those of us still in the real world can play with old electronics, listen to the birds in 3-D, and generally have a good time.

David

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

... listen to the birds in 3-D.

If we can still hear them over the incessant ring tones.

[nutteronthebus]

I love the name Cyberlemmings in Manchester last year I had to slam on the breaks and blow my horn at one , only to be abused until he found he was in the middle of the road junction with the lights on green for me


Dave

[bluepilot]

The problem with phone calls is that you have to be there to answer them. If you're doing something like taking a shower or fixing a tile on the roof when someone calls then it doesn't work. Emails, voice mails etc. mean you can deal with things in your own time which I find much better. If I'm sitting on a train I'd much rather have someone next to me texting than wittering on about all sorts of inane rubbish for the whole carriage to hear.

Voice recognition systems have their good sides and their bad sides. At least they save the cost of paying someone to put you through to the correct department. I had to call the pensions department recently. After waiting ten minutes on hold I tried the trick of not selecting any options. I still had to wait to talk to a real person who then connected me to the department I had tried to select in the first place. Then I was back on hold again so it didn't really achieve anything apart from waste time.

[alanworland]

My daughter in law's company has removed the email complaints system and people are obviously reluctant to call - so complaints have halved!

Alan

[nutteronthebus]

I installed the phone system at Manchester CC they hid the numbers on the website so no one will call then increased the wait time ( just in case you found the number) to 90 min because there was no one to answer.


Dave

[rontech]

I find that if the site has a "Sales" link, if you call this, you quickly find a real person to talk with. When they say "Sales here" or whatever, I aplologise , say I have got the worong department and then usually get put through to the one I need.

[Station X]

Companies don't want people to phone them because it costs money to employ people to answer the phone. They'd much rather people did everything online, something which I prefer too.

Speech recognition, pressing keys and long waiting times are all designed to deter people from calling. On the odd occasion when I do have to make a call to a utility or government body I can feel my blood pressure rising before I even dial the number. I know that I'll have to jump through loads of hoops and then wait. Even when you do get through the agent often can't help you because your enquiry is not in their menu.

[CambridgeWorks]

I don't think Royal Mail calls have reduced at all. Phoning is their preferred contact. Probably 30 minutes listening to music so you just go away.
I recently had a signed for parcel query. Using the click box system on their site took you back to the start after a few clicks. Looked like I was forced to phone them. However, I used the click box 'I want to make a complaint". It then gave me the option to type in text and submit it. 4 working days later I got a reply that didn't address the question. I tried again. Another 3 days and a proper reply that still didn't help. On the verge of phoning them, I thought no, I will persevere. 3 days later I got the correct answer. So, 2 weeks emailing or 30 minutes plus on the phone. Not a great choice for a customer.
However, I prefer email to a phone call. Seems RM don't!
Rob

[stitch1]

Originally Posted by Station X

Companies don't want people to phone them because it costs money to employ people to answer the phone. They'd much rather people did everything online, something which I prefer too.

...

I prefer to us on-line methods too and I'd rather IM, message or text rather than have a conversation sounds a bit sad but that's just me and I've worked in telecoms all my life

Call centre agents are now multi-channel they are fed SMS, social media feeds, web chat, email etc as well as voice calls and the queues can be prioritised. Voice calls can use more time and resource so they are de-prioritised by some call centres. Agents can handle several chats at the same time which is why there's often long pauses in the conversation.

A while ago my elderly parents were caught up in the floods and I needed to speak to the electric company urgently, not surprisingly the phones were jammed, on the web site they had a twitter feed which (even though I'm not a twit) I used to contact them, I got a reply straight away and they sorted it out for me and kept me updated.
emails are no use when you need an quick reply but they are still passed to agents with SLAs to respond.
The other advantage of these on-line methods is that you have a record of the conversation.

John

[unitaudio]

I was on a train a few months ago. I was sat on a row of seats facing another row. On these two rows of seats were sat seven other people besides me. I was the only one there without their head buried in their phone. When I'm on buses and trains I prefer to look out of the window at real life but it seems that's not interesting enough for most people now.

My mobile phone hasn't had credit on it since March last year. I email a lot but I also use the landline at least twice a day. My mobile never leaves the house any more and it doesn't even get switched on from one week to the next.

I'm typing this on my tablet. It's small enough to fit in the inside pocket of my big coat (albeit at the expense of the shape of the coat) but I never take it out with me. Emails and general internet mooching are things I do at home but it seems my ability to tear myself away from the internet for several hours isn't an ability shared by most of the population who appear to be hooked on the flickering colours, images and cheery jangly noises phones make...

I don't have a smart phone, my mobile must be at least ten years old. It can go online but it's so poor it's not worth bothering with! That suits me fine...

Regards,
Paul

[Beardyman]

Like most here I too detest & loath the automated call centres. Even when you do manage to get through to a human its still sometimes difficult as English is not their first language. Another trend I've noticed is I think I'm becoming a bit of a Luddite despite being involved with technology & electronics in general all my working life. The number of people that ask me when I'm going to get the latest phone/PC/TV et al. is quite frankly amazing. They are equally amazed (or confused) when I reply "No". Are we rebelling in our own small way?

[regentone001]

I don't have a smart phone,at least I didn't think I did, but my partner told me otherwise. It lives at the side of the bed as its main use is an alarm clock. The only time it gets taken out is if I go a long journey on the bike.
I hate talking to robots sending texts etc and much prefer to speak to someone, preferably face to face but that is not always possible of course.. Will we soon have calls,like there have been about stopping teaching writing, to stop teaching children to speak? Although, by the sounds of it, some parents don't bother to teach their children to anyway
Steve