tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663680578112260744.post8371289758561156514..comments2024-03-13T08:18:08.922+10:30Comments on Catdownunder: "This is an official message from Centrelink....catdownunderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189081688973141295noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663680578112260744.post-54561492185291018762017-08-09T11:11:25.340+09:302017-08-09T11:11:25.340+09:30You are wise to identify a phone scam when your co...You are wise to identify a phone scam when your communications have always been by the written word. Sometimes people in these departments make changes to people's records without letting you know like accidentally ticking a box to say you would prefer phone contact instead of letters; e.g. you are discussing an issue with an officer of the agency and they ask you whether they can get back to you by phone. You may interpret that question as "Can I phone you about this particular matter?" to which your intention might be "Yes, call me on this matter but for everything else, continue to contact me by the post/email". In those circumstances it can occur that the officer ticks the box for phone contact but the computer applies it to all communications.<br /><br />It might pay to check with Centrelink that your communications options are still correct.<br /><br />You mentioned poor diction of the person on the other end of the phone line. I notice that the VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone standard - I think this is the method now used for phones when the NBN is installed - is not as clear as the old analogue phone lines for voice transmission. Because the voice data is sent via the internet, there is no control as to whether the signal goes across town or around the world before it arrives at the recipient's phone. Who knows what happens to that signal on its journey. It is often obvious when someone is calling on a VOIP line because it sounds like they are talking from inside a washing machine! <br /><br />You hear it a lot more nowadays on talk radio too. Because the phone lines to the studios then need to go through the studio desk and transmitter (where the signal gets compressed and processed all over again to meet the bandwidth requirements), if the original VOIP quality is poor when it gets to the studio, it can become totally unintelligible once it gets to air on radio. (Does that make sense?)<br /><br />Sometimes it isn't the person's speech that is at fault but the technology.<br />Jodiebodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11377052537742885631noreply@blogger.com