Voip Blog
Can You Still Get An Operator?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A seeming "relic" of times gone by is the general-purpose operator, reached by dialing zero. I'm willing to bet that most people under the age of 25 probably have no idea that it was even possible, much less what the operator does.
Operators were necessary to complete long distance calls prior to the wide deployment of systems that permitted direct dialing to many destinations. Operators were also needed to make collect calls--calls where the person receiving the call must pay, if they accept. Operators also served as the de-facto emergency response system back in the days before 911 service was available.
With the wide deployment of direct dialing to almost any location worldwide, overall more economical calling costs, and alternatives for almost all services provided by an operator, it doesn't seem that we'd use an operator much anymore. I'd be surprised if it even still worked.
I tried calling zero. From three different lines. Both my land line and mobile phones, dialing zero actually works. In one case I reached a live operator right away. In the other cases, I reached an interactive voice response system that ultimately suggested I dial a number so that I can make a collect call and/or offered me the opportunity to speak to a live operator.
I talked with the live operator briefly as well as a customer service representative at my land line provider. I asked the question "so what do operators do these days?" Surprisingly, the same tasks they've historically done. The technology the operators use is more advanced than it was back in the old days, but the services are more or less the same.
A word of warning: voip.com's terms and conditions state that no operator or operator-assisted calling will be available from a voip.com line. For most everyone I know, this would be a non-issue.
