Telecom Offers The Last Word In Cordless Phones
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday May 31, 1989
REMEMBER when mobile phones were ordinary appliances with very long cords?Or when the sight of someone wandering through their garden with clippers in one hand and a plastic aerial "thing" in the other would bring the neighbours out?
The latest cordless telephone from Telecom, the Nomad Plus, ($449 with an intercom facility), will be available later this year. Depending on the prevailing environment (radio traffic, buildings and so on) a roaming user will be able to wander up to 200 metres from a base station.
Telecom's marketing manager for consumer services, Mr John Turner, said that would "easily take you to all corners of a 10-acre (24 hectare) block". But ambling conversationalists finally have run into a sonic wall.
"The range of the cordless phones will not increase any further because of the competition for space from other users of the airwaves," Mr Turner said.
The mob from Telecom are also pretty excited about the latest version of the everyday telephone.
"The Touchfone 200R is the most advanced standard telephone anywhere in the world," Mr Turner said. "It's the latest in modern touch pad design, has 10-number memory dialing - that's one-button dialing of your 10 most frequently dialled numbers. It has last number redial, and home banking facilities so that you can dial up your bank account and automatically transfer funds from one account to another."
But, dear conversing consumers, the latest technological word is yet to be uttered. An Easy Call facility has been installed in most metropolitan exchanges offering switched-in consumers the following extra services:
* Call-waiting signal.
* Conference calls offering the scope to talk to two separate lines and conduct three-way conversations.
* A call-control facility, including the ability to stop local and international calls being made from a particular line.
* Call diversion.
Customers whose numbers are switched into Easy Call can request any three of those facilities at a cost of $51 a year.
Intra-house communication has also advanced beyond Mum's screeching, "Dinner's ready", down the hallway.
Intercoms range from FM wireless boxes linking two rooms to hands-free units covering all points of the house.
Mr Steve Fisk of ACS Communications, said: "The wireless unit is good for people who want to keep an ear on the baby's room for example. A lock-down button enables you to speak and listen from another room all night if you want."
Top of the range crowd speaking units can handle up to 100,000 points (more than sufficient for your average mansion) and operate from a distance of up to three metres. A dial tone will alert occupants if someone has switched into the room from another part of the house.
"The system can also switch on the lights, open doors and with a press of a button can send an "all call" message to every extension", Mr Fisk said.
A simple two-way unit would cost between $95 and $125. The Commander system costs from $250 to $300 for each point.
© 1989 Sydney Morning Herald
