Telephony 101

Telephony 101: Teletypewriter/TTY/TDD

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A teletypewriter is a special device that was typically known as the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf or TDD. These devices act as typewriters that can carry special signals to provide text based communications over voice telephone lines. This was the beginning of using data over the telephone lines.

This technology was invented in the 1960s, nearly a century after Alexander Graham Bell attempted to invent the telephone for this audience, which obviously went for the masses who could speak or hear. The Teletypewriter (known as TTY) was initially referred to leased line that provided automatic printing such as news wire services or even for a console access to mainframes. (In fact, if a customer was very frugal dumb terminals for some were too expensive so computing would result in the typewriter that would automatically “printout” what was coming off the “screen”. A user would respond to commands by typing it into the typewriter which then would relay it to the computer.)

TDD/TTY uses a standardized protocol that basically sends various tones through the telephone lines so the other end would receive the message. According to Wikipedia (use with caution) the change to IP in the traditional phone cloud, would make these devices unusable (including the 500 Rotary telephones) because the complexity of converting landline networks to work in “native” cyber (or packet) worlds. While VOIP enables some analog communications, the move to IP would be easier to service providers to tell users to just send iMessages, SMS, Tweet, IM or other text based technologies instead.

According to various sources, TDD is separate from TTY in the technological sense, and speech impaired users that may have acquired brain disorders; a non verbal, but high functioning form of the autism spectrum disorder; cerebral palsy or other types of speech disorders) are basically non existent users. Or so you think. It’s not to say that people who aren’t deaf can’t use this technology and people with speech impairments have ether used TTY or all the other IP based communications like IM, Web, social media and text messaging.

Because of the similarities of the two platforms, here at The Museum, I believe the term should be referred as TTY as non verbal people are actually disabled users to any telephony technologies as well. Using “TTY” in the generic sense would enable inclusion to all disabled users of this technology.

Telephony 101: Interactive Voice Response Systems (In the Traditional Sense)

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IVR is short for Interactive Voice Response system. Despite the name and what administrative UIs like FreePBX or Asterisk tell you, it isn’t “a/k/a an Auto Attendant.” It is not a Digital Receptionist.

Auto attendants are simple “Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for the Service Department and Press 3 for Used sales.” Auto attendants simply transfer calls to a group of extensions or to a single extension and probably pass over the Caller ID information as well. Auto attendants also are part of the voice mail system, not the phone system. IVR is much different.

IVR systems traditionally used to be a separate unit similar to conference calling and voice mail systems, it resided as an appliance, whether it is a mini fridge form factor or a VMware virtual machine in todays standards. IVR systems tied into the PBX or Centrex system as an extension and with the trunks routing calls to the IVR system.

Despite the name, V in IVR referred to the technology (voice or telephony) and not the actual human voice. With voice recognition technology today becoming the mainstream, using vocal prompts and not dial pads are becoming more and more common.

IVRs are typically found in enterprise environments.  In places like a Domino’s franchise or a drug store, similar technology is called a Computer Telephony Interface or CTI  because it doesn’t need to be connected to a large mainframe, or need multitude of trunks or lines to interact, however depending on the computer system and the phone system, the data can interact with one another.

As mentioned with CTI, IVRs typically bridge from the data computer systems and the voice systems. For instance, when I called AppleCare once to get assistance on my MacBook, my old number of 603.289.[BLEEP] got into Apple’s database. Later on, when I called Apple again a year or so later, after answering with my voice, the second or third question asked me about if it was my MacBook. This is an example of how IVRs work.

Continuing on Apple, the IVR system can also work along side with the PBX and the database where customer service or support information is stored. Depending on the answers I give, the call will route agents in the call center. Most of these environments are separated into groups, especially in a technology company that varies customer to customer’s needs. In the Avaya world (since Apple was a long time customer, and knowing the Avayas better than others) calls would routed in their “vector” fashion. Such script would be “If call xxxx then goto YYYY [vector routing table where specific support agents are assigned to]” Users or extensions would be tied to the various VRT or vector groups that are dedicated to answer various types of products.

As users enter in certain information (whether its an iPhone or an Xserve or a Final Cut Pro) to the IVR by calling Apple, this will route that call based on the answers that caller gives. So if a customer has had a rap sheet of problems with Final Cut Pro, the PBX and IVR system will detect that users number and associate that data to an agent that is designated for their Creative Pro software. In the Avaya systems that is called a “skill.”

IVRs can be designed to measure call data based on a variety of data points as these systems can then report back to the database system similar to a SMDR does to call records.