Matt's Tech Law #1 - Who Calls Back When a Call is Lost?

Why is it they make cell phones that can take pictures, shoot video, surf websites, send e-mails, and show PowerPoint presentations, but not reliably make phone calls??? If cell phones really were as reliable as Verizon and AT&T said so, then no one would ever drop a call for seemingly no reason. I've got plenty of bars AT&T!

What's funny is that the worst part of dropping a call isn't the fact the call is lost, it's the fact that no one is really sure who's supposed to call back. So what happens? Here's the typical lost call scenario:

After a moment or two of talking to nothing, the parties in question realize the call has been dropped.
Instinctively, both parties call each other at the same time and end up getting routed to voice mail.
Both parties realize the other is trying to call, so decide it's best to wait for the other call to come through.
Both parties waste time waiting for a call that's not coming.
Out of sheer coincidence (as it always seems to be), they both get tired of waiting and try to call the other, again at the same time.
After receiving voice mail again, each party decides to continue calling back until they get through.
Eventually, the slower dialer ends up getting through on the other party's call waiting while the other party is leaving them a message to call them back whenever.
The call continues... with the voicemail box on hold.

I don't know about you, but this scenario happens to me all too frequently. Today, I can honestly say that enough is enough. I've had it. I'm not going through this (and other things like this) again, which is why I'm creating Matt's Tech Laws (insert fanfare). So here we go, number 1:

Matt's Tech Law #1: Should a cell phone call be dropped, it is the responsibility of the original caller to call back. Period.

So the next time there's a crossed wire between who's supposed to call back, get them up to speed. Tell your family, your friends, your in-laws, the guy taking tickets at the movie theater... everyone! There's no reason we all can't be on the same page and stop the dropped call nightmares.

Tags:

Phones, Smartphones, and PDAs

Comments

Love this idea. It happens

Submitted by Ron Repking (not verified) on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 00:33

Love this idea. It happens to me all the time! I'll spread the word

I'm on board, Matt. Way to

Submitted by Chris Miller on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 10:42

I'm on board, Matt. Way to lay down the law!!

What are the rules if you're

Submitted by kabari on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 11:43

What are the rules if you're a guy who calls a woman he met at the bar, but the call gets dropped part way in? I mean, the rules of the dropped call say call her back. However, the rules of the game say "don't be pancake soft, let her call".

So which rules take precedence? a very troubling issue indeed.

kabari said: What are the

Submitted by Matt Whitlock on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 15:14

kabari said: What are the rules if you're a guy who calls a woman he met at the bar, but the call gets dropped part way in? I mean, the rules of the dropped call say call her back. However, the rules of the game say "don't be pancake soft, let her call". So which rules take precedence? a very troubling issue indeed.

According to the law, the phone call back does not qualify as a new call, and is only to re-establish a prematurely interrupted, existing conversation. If you called the first time, it's not "pancake soft" to call back. The law stands. The guy calls back in this case.

Great law Matt! I would like

Submitted by Larry Dillon on Tue, 12/11/2007 - 09:27

Great law Matt! I would like to see some other "Laws" set up and submitted by others. Lets see how we can do to add to the #! law. I have Law 2, Never ever carry on a conversation with a party on the phone and with someone live. It is not only rude to the party on the phone, the person on the other end usually gets confused.