Innovative telecom features you’d actually use?

Telecoms Chat ☎️
#1

With all the possibilities offered by a modern mobile carrier I was wondering what features would you actually be looking forward to? Let’s assume everything is possible (because it is - it’s all just software at the end of the day).

I was thinking about this the other day and while a modern network definitely sounds cool, there aren’t that many features I need on a day to day basis…

For me the features I like are as follows:

  • switching numbers/SIMs in a second with no loss of service through a web interface or app
  • multiple numbers, including foreign ones so family abroad can call you for cheap/free
  • fair foreign call rates (aka wholesale rates with a slight markup, nothing like some carriers who charge like 1£/minute or more)
  • call recordings

As you can see most of those are more about the commercial side more than the tech side.

I can’t think of anything else though. IFTTT intégration seems pretty hyped up but I can’t imagine how it’ll work - anyone got actual examples how they’d use it?

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#2

When someone calls you and you try to call them back and they are leaving you a voice mail, connect the call rather than having to wait for them to finish leaving the voicemail.

Visual voicemail (on all OSes), it’s such a pain to go through all the menus and remember which one is delete.

Would there be a requirement to notify the other person about the recording taking place. I like the idea though. My VoIP landline provider has the feature, and the cost is based on how long you store the recordings for.

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#3

If I am within a week of my data refesh date, I would like to be able to borrow data from next month to get me through, but have the ability to decide how much to borrow (I.E if I only borrow 200mb, then once that 200 is gone I have to go into the app and borrow more)

#4

THIS! Slack does this which is great, seems odd it’s taking so long elsewhere…

Have to say I agree with all of these :slight_smile:

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#5

That’s a good idea but raises a more important question - should voicemail even exist in 2019? I disable mine years ago and don’t miss it one bit. Text messages have replaced voicemail for me and it’s so much better!

As far as I’m aware call recording is allowed in the UK and no notification is required. Disclosing the call to third-parties is where there might be issues but if you keep the recordings to yourself you’re good to go.

#6

No. Or yes.

Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), it is not illegal for individuals to tape conversations provided the recording is for their own use.

If a person intends to make the conversation available, they must get the consent of the person being recorded

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#7

Not that we’re doing it just yet, but if/when it happens* I think we’ll play a short message before each call to say it’s being recorded. Personally, I don’t like the idea of someone recording a conversation without me knowing, legal or not…

I’d like to start testing SIP by the end of the year, and depending on the popular use-cases this could be one of them.

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#8

Not sure I agree with this. The main use-case of call recording for me is to keep shit companies and their customer service accountable - something impossible as they’ll all hang up immediately if told they are being recorded.

Nobody records calls “for fun”. It’s used as a sort of insurance policy in case someone decides to not play ball and deny something they have said. For it to be effective it needs to be invisible as far as the other side of the call is concerned.

Not saying this is a good outcome - I’m all in for transparency and fairness - but in the current state of things I feel like it’s necessary. Maybe when people stop lying and companies are kept accountable by laws (that are actually enforced) we can dial things back a bit.

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#9

I once took out motor insurance with Adrian Flux. I told them that I’d passed the Institute of Advanced Motorists’ test. I told them my wife had not. They asked me to send driving licence and pass certificate, which I did.

They wrote to me saying there was a (large) increase in premium as my wife had not passed IAM test. So I asked them to review the call recording.

They did so and, same day, called me back to admit their error. They paid the difference in premium.

Not all companies are unscrupulous and their call recordings can help the customer also.

I’ve never felt the need to record my conversations with the companies with which I deal. Perhaps I just deal with companies that I trust to be fair if challenged.

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#10

My take on this is that iOS has confidentiality and contact sorted. It is the only OS where one can absolutely control/deny access and do so on a simple basis, no matter if number withheld or not. Numbers in “contacts” can override all DND settings and all other contact is denyed. Voice messages (I agree an unwanted archasium) simply cancelled. I would not want Voice recording ever.

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#11

It may be a mix of the two (e.g., playing a message to non-business numbers), but we’re a ways off so absolutely nothing certain yet :slight_smile: Fun or not, if a tool exists people will use it.

It’s nice to here these stories; they don’t make the headlines much…

Hey Aoi! Thanks for joining the forum :slight_smile:

Agreed; I’m a fan of iOS for things like that. Although the nice thing about controlling settings at the network level means we don’t need to rely on Apple, Google, Blackberry (:wink:), etc. to implement features themselves!

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#12

So I was looking into this because of Vodafone’s offering of 5g home/business broadband, can a misp offer static ip to mobile devices, are there any that do currently?

I wouldn’t need it for my sim but I think it’s a unique feature that could be good for business customers, for example I would use it to use port forwarding etc to login to onboard cameras on work vans.

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#13

Most SIMs sold for M2M usage have it as a standard feature. You can check out A&A’s offering (running on Three).

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#14

Ah thanks, I wasn’t sure if it was a thing.

I should look into fixed IP sims for work.

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