The Feds are cracking down on truck drivers. We have to use hands free devices to make calls. No more dialing numbers.
I’m okay with this. Trying to keep one of these behemoths between the lines is hard enough to do. Toss in the distraction of holding the cell phone in one hand while steering with the other is not an easy feat. Not to mention looking down at the cell phone key pads to dial a number. Take your eyes off the road for that length of time is just asking for trouble.
Joe and I have iPhones and Blue Parrot headsets.
When I need to make a call I press the large button on the headset once and my phone brings up a voice recognition thing that will dial the number of the person I want to talk to.
This feature works great when I need to call our dispatch office or one of the many banks we use.
Not so much when I want to call Joe. He is listed in my contacts as “ICE Joe Bockenstette” – ICE is “In Case if Emergency.
Press the button on my headset and wait for the sine waves to to appear after the beep then speak the name – a lovely computerized female voice is heard in my ear saying “Calling …”. The dot dot dot is replaced with the name of the person I’m calling.
So to get Joe I have to speak the whole contact name. ICE Joe Bockenstette. If I just say “Ice Joe” the female voice says “Calling Heidi Jo” then I have to quickly cancel the whole thing by pressing the large button on my headset once again.
One truck I drove was quite noisy. Trying to get my dispatch office I heard “Calling Cliff Gibbs” on one attempt. The next attempt met with “Calling PDI”.
So much for being totally hands free 😦
Last Wednesday, while home, we went to a T-Mobile center to purchase a Mobile Hot Spot for protected Internet access while in hotels. So far the blasted thing only works in large metropolitan areas. The little Podunk towns we have stopped in on this last trip to Wilmer, Texas has proven to be too much for the little device.
Technology can be over rated at times.
Give me things that work well and I appreciate them. Like these daisies growing beside the road.
Dang! Pressed the wrong button.
Published this post before I was even ready.