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Monday, September 1, 2003
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 Monday, September 1, 2003
started 9/1/2003; 11:48:06 AM - last post 9/3/2003; 10:45:49 AM
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Doc Searls - Monday, September 1, 2003 
9/1/2003; 3:48:06 PM (reads: 4362, responses: 4)
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Alive and thinking 
Blog du jour
| | Bandwidth spiffs is Scott Mace's new bloglet (a blog category that also serves as a whole blog) devoted to free public wi-fi. The subtitle: |
| | Despite the cost, some private entities are giving away bandwidth to the visiting public . ISPs ignore this at their peril; meanwhile, visitors and surrounding communities benefit. |
Phone hail
| | So we're trying to find a phone system for our new house. Since my wife and I both work at home and take a lot of deliveries, we like having four phone lines and an intercom to the front door that also allows one to open the front door by pushing a key on the phone. |
| | Last time we did this with a Panasonic small "hybrid" PBX system. While the system worked quite well, it was impossible for a human to program, cost a pile and lacked such handy conveniences as headset jacks. |
| | We're looking for something cheaper and more usable next time. After lots of searching through annoying and customer-hostile Web sites, our crosshairs are trained on the Panasonic KX-TG4000B, a cordless multi-line system that can be had for less than $400. Reviews are generally positive. I've seen it, and it looks like it's programmable by ordinary humans, even if it does have a few of the customary annoying features (such as intercom calling that isn't possible if you pick up the handset first, an activity that defaults to picking up an outside line). But after searching around the Web all weekend (apparently no suppliers are open for calls on weekends or holidays, even if they sell stuff on the Web 24/7), we still don't have answers to our doorphone questions: Can it communicate with a door phone? and Can it open a door latch? Or, as we fear, do those features require a PBX of some kind? |
| | Maybe with something like this Doorbell Fon (sic) system, a visitor would press a button that calls a home phone, where the answerer would open the a latch by pressing a key that sounds a tone that says "open latch" to the latch. Should be do-able, no? My wife just pointed this one out and likes it because it features "an understandable diagram". |
| | One more question: Does operation on the "2.4 MHz band" mean a cordless phone system might interfere with wi-fi? That would be a deal killer for us. |
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Daniel - Re: Monday, September 1, 2003
9/1/2003; 5:32:27 PM (reads: 564, responses: 1)
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The zeal with which hotspot users scream for free bandwidth seems to just make the case why providers should charge in my book. Demand indicates that there is value for the service so why shouldn't users pay for it? The fact that some enterprises can increase traffic by offering it free is fine if that makes sense for them at the time but I don't see much difference from any other type of marketing give-away promotion. I know this has been hashed and re-hashed but reading some of these pleas for free wi-fi makes me want to re-read the constitution and see where I missed the article that talks about the inalienable right to free networking.
Regarding your phone search Doc, be careful about some of these Panasonic models that don't have a mute key. If you ever use your speakerphone to listen to conferences, you will miss having a mute unless you enjoy letting other listeners hear your dog barking, your neighbor mowing the grass, etc.. I have a Panasonic in my home office and generally love it except for that fact.
Daniel
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Dave Polaschek - Re: Monday, September 1, 2003
9/1/2003; 6:53:42 PM (reads: 580, responses: 0)
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Doc says: Does operation on the "2.4 MHz band" mean a cordless phone system might interfere with wi-fi? That would be a deal killer for us.
Nope. They'll usually work together without problems. You may need to change the "channel" on either the phone or the wi-fi base, but my experience is that things mostly work out of the box, because phone (and wi-fi base station) makers don't want things to get returned.
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Doc Searls - Re: Monday, September 1, 2003
9/2/2003; 5:21:38 AM (reads: 603, responses: 0)
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I think wi-fi is becoming an architectural grace, like flowerboxes, street lights and parking space. No harm in charging for it; or restricting it just to customers; but in the longer run, as the cost of bandwidth comes down (and it will), giving it away will just be one way that municipalities and retailers improve their environments.
IMHO, anyway.
I'll look for the mute key. Good point. Thanks.
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Steve Kirks - Re: Monday, September 1, 2003
9/3/2003; 2:45:49 PM (reads: 565, responses: 0)
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Doc:
I am a technology consultant for a local competitive telephone carrier in Missouri. We have several customers that use the phone system you mention without issues. They like the flexibility of the cordless handsets and the easy addition of extra units.
The doorbell feature could be done on a traditional "key system". It would be a special type of extension on the phone system that "autodialed" an extenstion when the doorbell button was pressed.
Find a local security company or automatic gate installer in your community. They frequently provide the doorbell function you are looking for and also sell Panasonic phone systems.
Steve Kirks
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