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Subject:RE: Customer-friendly word for "landline" From:Fred Ridder <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:<dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 4 Feb 2011 08:25:17 -0500
Thanks for the clarification, David. I realize now that I should have made the phone's connection behind a PBX rather than directly to the PSTN be the central distinction instead instead of treating that as an example.
But the central point remains: "house phone" is *not* synonymous with "landline" as was suggested.
-FR
> Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 11:40:40 +0200
> From: dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Customer-friendly word for "landline"
>
> Fred,
>
> Not all "house phones" were unable to dial outside lines. For instance,
> in a hospital setting house phones could often dial outside to answer
> pages.
>
> The distinction normally seems to have been a phone that is part of an
> internal PBX system, available to the public, that may or may not be
> enabled to dial outside--generally with the most common instruction
> "Dial 9 for an outside line."
>
> In many settings, these phones could also be used to access a PA system,
> usually by dialing a specific prefix. This is commonly found in "house
> phones" in large stores, for example.
>
> (For those unused to phone jargon, "PBX" stands for "private branch
> exchange."
>
> When I did a gig at Nortel in Richardson, the various groups were
> divided into "wireline" and "wireless"--a useful distinction there.
>
> Someone also mentioned "POTS"--which has long been used in the industry
> to differentiate also between other services such as the many primary
> lines which can carry a multitude of voice or data streams. The "plain
> old telephone service" was the single line, dual wire circuit.
>
> Today, I think the most widely understood term would still be "landline"
> to differentiate it from wireless service.
>
> David
>
> > From:
> > Fred Ridder <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com>
> >
> > "House phone" used to be used in a different, specific sense to refer
> > to a phone that could not dial an outside line, such as one that could
> > only dial other extensions within a PBX. A common example was a house
> > phone in a hotel lobby that could only dial guest rooms.
> >
> > -FR
> >
> >
>
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