I normally have my weekly meetings with my team members outside of APAC on Mondays. This is where I have to report the current developments with the local project as well as any outstanding issues that might need help from people in the US.
The meeting shifts due to Daylight Savings; it is either at 8.30 pm or 9.30 pm, depending on the season. I usually like the 8.30 ones because that allows me to go home early. Nowadays, I really don't mind since I can take it from home.
The problem with having a conference call routed to your home is that you need to make sure that the environment is suitable enough for it. You must have a proper 'office' (i.e. workstation), where your kids can't jump around and make noise while you are addressing the FY12Q4 IT expenditure projections to your boss.. It also has to be well ventilated. Trust me, a warm room is not good for both you and your PC.
Thirdly, it has to be quiet enough for you to hear your meeting participants, and them to hear you. So, you can't have noise from traffic, noisy neighbours as well as renovation works impede the smooth running of your teleconference.
The last part involves technology. I don't use Skype or any PC-based software to call in. Normally, my team will call me up to my US ext. number which is routed to my desk phone in KL, and then to my speakerphone on Blackberry (Company's as well).
Thankfully, the quality is passable with little distortion and echo. I did a course on Voice Telephony during my diploma days and you have to know that transmitting voice data is not as difficult because due to the frequency of the human voice, it doesn't take much bandwidth and after the lossy quantization process, voice data sounds not much different to the human ear.
In short, it takes an idiot to mess up a phone call : )
Anyway, the problem with my Blackberry is that eventhough it's loud enough, the sound does get a bit shrill at times. I hate headphones, especially the in-your-ear type that comes bundled with the Curve 8250. And let's not get into the frequency response of the tiny built-in speakers because it's not meant for that. What you would need to avoid this issue are in the options below:
1. An adapter jack to plug in your favourite speakers into your Blackberry Audio-Out port
- Cons: Expensive for a 1 1/2 inch plastic & metal contraption. It sells for about RM60 - RM120 depending on who you buy it from. It has a hole at one end and a male jack at the other.
2. A Bluetooth Speaker
- Cons: A little tricky as the speaker needs to have the necessary Bluetooth Service Class to carry out phone conversations. Most speakers (I have a Samsung HT-X715 Home Theater) can only stream out audio [Audio Sink] while disabling the microphone function). I have found such a device at Mudah, and it retails for about RM200 for a Made in China version.
3. A proper Speakerphone
- Yup, I can get the call routed to my homephone instead, and replace the lousy TM-outsourced-to-crony default orange phone with a proper, good quality speaker phone from GE or Panasonic. They are about RM150, but the phone line is in the living room, and cordless phones with speakerphones are still expensive.
I am more inclined towards the bluetooth speaker option with the Headset Service features. However, these Made in China products are well known for their poor quality, especially with the 'no-name' brand. I'll just keep my options open and hope technology throws me another option soon!
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