MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and
chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.
20 October 2010
I recently got this phone. I had to call 1-800-COMCAST. I had to google a photo of an old school phone keypad to figure out what numbers go with what letters. Hmm. This seems like poor planning on the part of the phone designer.
How would the phone know I'm doing that? What I mean is, numerically COMCAST is 2662278 if I dial based on the old school keypad (which is what I did). If I go by the letters it's 9OM9*4T. How does it know I want those 9s and 4 to stand for 2s and a 7?
I have the same issue with my phone. And at one of the offices where I worked, the marketing team kept trying to introduce phone numbers that made words and the CEO kept vetoing it because he had a Blackberry with a keyboard like that. I hadn't realized that QWERTY keyboards on phones wreak havoc with marketing until then. :-)
My partner has a different phone but a similar issue. We had a tense conversation in the car once. I was driving and was trying to instruct her [patiently, I promise!] on how to dial Google information (which is free, as opposed to 411). I kept telling her to dial 1-800-GOOG-411, but she couldn't do it. Finally, too frustrated to take it anymore, I pulled over and discovered that no, her phone really didn't have numbers. And yes, dialing what I asked her to really was that difficult.
amro: when I had a bberry, I could hold the alt-key while in the phone application to access the regular keyboard. What showed up on the screen was literally "800 COMCAST".
The Blackberry help page agrees, but doesn't really elaborate.
I have always thought that using a word, instead of numbers, was a very bad idea. Yeah, I know the marketing droids get all chubby over crap like this, but it really adds a level of difficulty for the consumer that is totally unnecessary. It doesn't engender positive vibes when, at the point the consumer decides to contact you, rather than your competition, you apply a challenge/puzzle.
Right on, Thorzdad--does Blackberry or any other phone manufacturer have an obligation to respect Comcast's (or anyone else's) mnemonic that's based on a rotary dial?
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
