Headset Hell

Ean Jackson — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:13:10 +0000

In the course of a normal business day, I find myself using a land line telephone, a cellular telephone and a computer-based Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) application such as Skype.

The Scenario

Here's a typical scenario:

Skype. Daily meeting with outbound call agent. Vhanessa works in a call center in Manila, Phillapines. I work in Vancouver, Canada. Our calls last from 30-90 minutes. We use skype because it is decent quality and it's free. I have been using a Labtec C-322 headset for skype calls. The voice quality is good enough for business communications. I don't like the way I am confined to the distance of the headset cable or how I need to take off or put on the headset when working with one of my other phones.

Land line. It's the way we've always worked! Like most businesspeople, I spend most of my telephone time on the plain old telephone. I have a 2-line AT&T small business telephone. I bought this unit because it has a decent speakerphone and offers a 2-line wireless handset with speakerphone. This offers me a bit of flexibility to swap back and forth between speakerphone and handset while in the office, something that is useful when you are put on hold by a tech support person (see below.) At one time, I had a Plantronics wired headset. The quality was great, but I found it very cumbersome to use. For the past year, I have not used a headset on my land line phone.

Cellular telephone. It's the way a lot of us are now working! Like most businesspeople, I also have a cell phone. It allows me the freedom to do business wherever I am. Voice quality is acceptable for business purposes, though I've yet to find a carrier or phone that comes close to the quality of the "old school" land line. Recognizing that I am a menace to society while speaking on the cell phone while driving, I use a Jabra wired earbud. The communication quality is a bit degraded while using the wired earbud, but at least I am less of a danger to those I share the road with as I am not holding the phone as I drive. (Yes, I drive a manual!) Without exception, I get the earbud hooked into my seatbelt every time I use it. Given that I want a single device that syncs up with my computer-based address book and allows me access to email when I want it, I change cell phones fairly frequently. I bought the UT Starcom PPC 6700 because it offers the Windows Mobile 5.0 functionality, has a speakerphone and Bluetooth wireless capability. I've been using for almost a year on a plan from Bell Canada. Straight up, it works as a phone, but only partially works as a advertised. I'm now on my 5th or 6th replacement and still trying to get knowledgeable support from Bell, my network provider.

The Problem

Given the scenario above, I find myself in headset Hell. I have a wired headset for skype, no headset for the land line and a wired earbud for the cell phone. At times, all 3 devices are ringing at once. (When this happens and an instant messenger request comes in, I often drop everything and go for a coffee!) Sound familiar?

The Solution?

I want one wireless headset I can use for everything. I am hoping that Bluetooth will offer the solution.

I started by looking at Bluetooth noise canceling headsets for the cell phone. There are a lot of them. I then tried to find one that would do double duty with the land line. There are only a handful that accomplish this. I selected the Plantronics Voyageur 510S, this mostly because I have had a good experience with Plantronics in the past.

I then needed a way to use the Bluetooth headset with skype. I bought a D-Link USB Bluetooth adapter (DBT-122), this because I was in an office supply store and the helpful salesperson recommended it.

Wireless wonderful? Not a chance... it's been wireless Hell!

There are pros and cons to being a pioneer. I am pleased to share with you that this solution does now work. The bad news is that it barely works, and this only after about 20 hours of working the details through with tech support people at Plantronics and D-Link. (Bell/UT Starcom is still unresolved.)

Vanaessa wants to kill me because she can barely hear me on skype. I still fumble with the wireless headset when a call comes in on the cellphone. (If I can get a phone from Bell that will back up my contact database, I will invest in using the voice activated calling features promised by the phone.) While there is a noticeable degradation in quality when I use the headset with my landline, the quality is better than the speakerphone on the AT&T set. There is hope!

Troubleshooting Your Scenario

Should you also choose to be a pioneer, I would like to spare you some of the pain I have experienced. The notes that follow are an attempt at this. I will add to the pointers below as new information comes available.

Maybe you have some thoughts on how to refine the scenario above so that others will benefit? I assume this will be a work-in-progress in this forum and most likely a chapter in the book-to-be!

Pick the Device You Want to Use

I have learned the hard way that having 3 active Bluetooth devices active at my desk at one time does not work. The 510S appears to manage the conflict between the land line and cell phone. I need to manually turn the 510S off if I want to use skype (or turn skype off if I want to use the land line. This is a can of worms. Contact me if you want help.

Charge Your Headset

Another penetration into the obvious by Jackson! Don't laugh. Just make sure you do it.

Make Sure the Headset is Accessible

Another newbie mistake. Your phone won't recognize the headset if Bluetooth isn't on and the device is accessible

technology

Headset Hell

The Scenario

The Problem

The Solution?

Troubleshooting Your Scenario