3. Telephones - pros and cons

Advantages
Disadvantages

You get immediate feedback to things you say

The person must be available to take your telephone call

The conversation is relatively private between you and the caller - although others might be able to hear what you are saying.

The line might be engaged when you call so you can't speak to the person when you want.

You can call someone anywhere on the planet

You generally have to pay for every minute you spend on the call. In the case of mobile or overseas calls, that can be expensive.

Calls can be made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

There might be noise or interference so the quality of the call could be poor.

Internet based calls can be free

With mobile calls you might move out of the range of a transmitter and so the call gets cut off.

Internal calls within a business are usually free of charge

You cannot see each other's body language so a lot of the non verbal communication is lost

Most people have a telephone. No specialist equipment is needed.

It is not easy to make a record of what is said during the call. Things might be forgotten or mis-interpreted.

If there is an answerphone, you can leave a message if the person isn't available to take your call.

With standard telephones, only spoken information can be exchanged - you can't send files. Smartphones however do have this facility.

If you don't know the telephone number you need there are plenty of services which will help you get the number (although they can be quite expensive).

 

 

 

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Click on this link: Telephone