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The reviews were glowing: "It's easy to use." "A no-brainer!" "Be your own phone company." "Works on every phone in the house." Yadda, yadda, yadda. They're gushing over the PhoneMiser, a device that hooks onto the parallel port of your PC, and using a monthly updated database of long distance phone companies, chooses the cheapest carrier available at the moment you call (this is called "least-cost routing"). It's like having your own phone switching system in your home. You can save up to 66% (claims MediaCom). Pretty nifty, eh? Yes and no.
Imagine a Joe Average PC user who's heard all the hype about PhoneMiser. He toddles down to his local Egghead (or whatever) to peruse the product. The colorful and cleverly-designed box catches his eye with promises, promises, promises. It's a "magic box," a "technological wizard," it's "plug' n go!" [sic], "EASY to install and use." "Hey, looks good," thinks Joe. "I hate the phone company and all those annoying sales calls," he mutters to himself. The PhoneMiser costs $100-- a bit of a bite--and there's a $5.00/month fee, but Mr. Average figures, with the big savings and the ease of installation and use, it's worth it. He whips out his Ringo Starr personal issue Visa card and steps up to the counter.
Joe gets home, all excited, and sites down to breeze through the manual. He probably doesn't even need to do that--it all looks so easy--but he figures it's always good to at least give it the once-over. Wait a minute! Joe's eyes grow wider. The manual says the PhoneMiser requires a Pentium PC. It didn't say that on the box...did it? He only has a 486. Joe examines the box more closely. He looks on the box's front, back, sides (where System Requirements are usually located), top, and inside flap. No requirements. Wait...here's something... in small letters on the back (all that stuff about "magic" and "ease" was in larger red ink) it says: "See system requirements on the bottom of the box." The BOTTOM of the box! Who the hell ever looks on the bottom? There it is: "Requires a Pentium PC." There's also: "This version of PhoneMiser is a single line device. You may need additional wiring for it to work on all extensions in your home or office, depending on your current wiring and number of phone lines." After reading the separate "Wiring Guide" and discovering that he does, in fact, need to re-wire his office, starting from the junction box outside (on the other side of his house!), Joe Average becomes Joe Nutcase when, in a blind rage, he opens fire on all of his office equipment.
Products like PhoneMiser are one of the inspirations behind Street Tech. Being so interested in moving product that you mislead consumers and add to their frustrations about technology has got to stop. Don't get us wrong, we're not saying PhoneMiser is entirely a bad product. We've heard from others that we trust that it does, in fact, save money on phone bills (if they're high enough) and it is easy to install and use IF you have a single phone line. But these days, who does? Every small business and home office has more than one line, and so does anyone who has a home fax machine or uses their computer a lot. We were pissed enough at the misleading box information and all of the "reviews" which didn't bother to mention the need for new phone wiring, that we didn't feel like installing it. MediaCom should be more responsible to their customers and come clean on the box's front, back or sides (replace the big letters on the side quoting a PC Week review (shame on you, PC Week!) that declares PhoneMiser a "no-brainer") with information about the need for wiring...and for gopod's sake, put the system requirements, and any other crucial info, in plain sight. Now that you know a little more about what you're getting into, you can make an informed decision about whether PhoneMiser is right for you. If you have one line or don't mind adding indoor/outdoor phone wiring, and you have a high monthly phone bill (over $60), you might benefit from this type of "least-cost routing system". Look out though, when you register with MediaCom, they sign you up with 200 different phone companies, providing all 200 of them with your name, address, PHONE and CREDIT CARD numbers. Yikes! Oh, and did we mention that the PhoneMiser charges are billed to your credit card and that each carrier's charges appear as a separate line on your credit card statement? Thank you, but NO THANK YOU! - Gareth Branwyn [10/3/97] |
