Telephone regains its lost glory
It is becoming harder to cope with the outbreak while staying in your home. The only human contact you have is over the internet. People want to hear a voice to reassure them that everything will be okay. There are also people who want to hear voices other than those on the internet.
It’s only been a few years since they became so popular and now they’re almost ubiquitous. They used to be expensive and hard to find, but now you need one to function in society. With the transition from a landline to a cell phone. It has become more commonplace for people to use their phones for things other than talking. For example, they may play games, watch movies or receive updates with their handsets.
The reason for this is the telephone, which, in the midst of a pandemic, is returning to regain some of its lost glory as a conversation tool, as more and more people, confined to their homes because of the coronavirus, want to hear the voices of those they cannot see and are not content with exchanging messages over the internet.
Recent statistics from the US show that people are making more phone calls than using the internet. Clearly, big telecom companies are concerned about this and have no idea how to combat it.
Verizon announced that they get 800 million wireless phone calls a day vs less than 400 million Mother’s Day days. That accounts for almost double the amount of daily voice calls! Your average call length has increased by 33% since the illness pandemic.
The number of wireless phone calls increased by 35% the past year. Internet data traffic has also increased significantly by 20-25%, according to relevant companies like Verizon and AT&T
Around 90 million landlines were eliminated in the US from 2000 to present day, mostly replaced by wireless/mobile phones. Mobile chat apps like FaceTime, WhatsApp, and even Messenger have revolutionized communication over the last decade. Some declared that phone use for chat had hit its peak, until the pandemic struck and gave a new impetus to voice phone use of all kinds.
No matter what kind of phone you use, telephony has always managed to retain its sense of charm. “We have always wanted the human voice,” said Jessica Rosenworsel at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the regulatory authority for telephones, internet and television in the US. “Sometimes, we crave it.”
“For years we’ve seen a steady decline in the amount of time people spend talking to each other, particularly on wireless devices. Staying in homes has reignited people’s hunger to stay connected vocally,” said Kyle Malady, Verizon’s chief technology officer and VP of Product Innovation.
“Voice is the new ‘killer’ application. It’s a real surprise,” says AT&T’s vice president of technology, Chris Sambar. “Voice calls are on the rise for both business and personal use”
The peak in wireless calls comes as a surprise before the pandemic. In the past, most people used phones to make calls during the morning and afternoon rush hours, and when they arrived at work or school. Today they remain high throughout the day, and even at the weekends when young people might be taking a break from email and messaging applications, telephone traffic still remains high.
Video conference platforms such as Zoom are great for meeting a group of people, but nothing beats the convenience of just picking up the phone.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
