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The weirdest part of this is that it apparently made voice calls to landlines? Why would they do that, it makes no sense. Unless maybe that's what the phone com

by evan_ 14y ago

The weirdest part of this is that it apparently made voice calls to landlines? Why would they do that, it makes no sense. Unless maybe that's what the phone company does if you text a landline? Never tried it but I would be surprised...

bochoh 14y ago
Verizon in the US offered text-to-voice service in the past. I'm sure this is something similar.
forgingahead 14y ago
If you send a text to a landline, a lot of providers will convert it to a phone call using some sort of text-to-speech API. I've done this by accident on older cell phones when I'd add someone's landline to a text message instead of their mobile number. This sounds like a nightmare scenario though for this poor chap and his family (and his dentist).
- evan_ 14y ago
  Well that shows you how long it's been since I've had a landline- Thanks all. (Do they charge you 15¢ for the privilege? Can you reply?)
andrewaylett 14y ago
It's a reasonably standard thing in the UK. Useful at times, really annoying at other times... You can get landline phones that will actually receive the texts as texts; other phones get calls.
- citricsquid 14y ago
  I remember when I was a kid in... it must have been 2005 or earlier, when I was at a friends house and they had this, it was literally the coolest thing in the world. A phone that spoke text messages? My god, it's the future! Novelty wore off fast once I entered adulthood because it's never a text message I want to hear. Who knew I could claim my PPI back?! bah
nwh 14y ago
Various API that let you send SMS will make a call if the SMS can't be delivered, and then use text-to-speech to read the thing out to you. It's fairly obnoxious really.
- jen_h 14y ago
  And some, like Telia in Sweden, will keep calling until you listen to a certain percentage of the message to helpfully ensure that you've gotten the message. Which is loads of fun if, for example, someone sends you a link with a UUID--you basically have to pull the phone off the hook and let it finish before you stop receiving the calls. (You can also contact your phone company and ask them to please remove this "feature" - but usually you have to be subjected to it before you know the phone company even does this!)
quarterto 14y ago
At least BT do this for texts to landlines in the UK. When it was first launched, they used Tom Baker's voice. It was an amazing few weeks.
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  Ah yes, there it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFsOhJgCSpw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFsOhJgCSpw

by evan_ 14y ago

bochoh 14y ago

Verizon in the US offered text-to-voice service in the past. I'm sure this is something similar.

forgingahead 14y ago

If you send a text to a landline, a lot of providers will convert it to a phone call using some sort of text-to-speech API. I've done this by accident on older cell phones when I'd add someone's landline to a text message instead of their mobile number. This sounds like a nightmare scenario though for this poor chap and his family (and his dentist).

evan_ 14y ago
Well that shows you how long it's been since I've had a landline- Thanks all. (Do they charge you 15¢ for the privilege? Can you reply?)

andrewaylett 14y ago

It's a reasonably standard thing in the UK. Useful at times, really annoying at other times... You can get landline phones that will actually receive the texts as texts; other phones get calls.

citricsquid 14y ago
I remember when I was a kid in... it must have been 2005 or earlier, when I was at a friends house and they had this, it was literally the coolest thing in the world. A phone that spoke text messages? My god, it's the future! Novelty wore off fast once I entered adulthood because it's never a text message I want to hear. Who knew I could claim my PPI back?! bah

nwh 14y ago

Various API that let you send SMS will make a call if the SMS can't be delivered, and then use text-to-speech to read the thing out to you. It's fairly obnoxious really.

jen_h 14y ago
And some, like Telia in Sweden, will keep calling until you listen to a certain percentage of the message to helpfully ensure that you've gotten the message. Which is loads of fun if, for example, someone sends you a link with a UUID--you basically have to pull the phone off the hook and let it finish before you stop receiving the calls. (You can also contact your phone company and ask them to please remove this "feature" - but usually you have to be subjected to it before you know the phone company even does this!)

quarterto 14y ago

At least BT do this for texts to landlines in the UK. When it was first launched, they used Tom Baker's voice. It was an amazing few weeks.

Samuel_Michon 14y ago
Ah yes, there it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFsOhJgCSpw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFsOhJgCSpw