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10 Aug 2012
The transatlantic phone call
10 Aug 2012 05:59 pmMy parents like to telephone for a long catch-up approximately once per week, and they usually want to talk to me at the same time. As a result, they usually put the phone on speaker.
When I call them using my Finnish provider's long distance, I get a pretty good sound quality. But when they call me using their much more affordable calling card, the sound quality is ... I'd say tolerable. Like, not nearly as clear, but it's fine unless one of us uses speakerphone and then it's a bit of a pain. (This is probably because the calling card is bouncing between VOIPs or something to make itself so cheap, idk. I can't imagine how it could be that bad otherwise.)
They tend to call me with one of their cell phones because they can program in the number sequences instead of having to punch them all in each time like on the house phone, even though the quality of speakerphone on their landline is a lot better.
So they've got a cellphone on mediocre speakerphone, over a calling card of dubious quality, and then eventually when my ears start to hurt I usually give up and put mine on speakerphone too and at that point one sentence in three has to be repeated due to sound quality.
This is still not QUITE as bad a calling experience as the up-to-3-minute lagtimes we used to sometimes get over Skype. But on the other hand, Skype was free, and it's adding insult to injury to have to be paying for a conversation that leaves you with a sore throat and a sore ear and also slightly irritated from having to say 'WHAT?' and 'I didn't hear that entire last sentence' so many times.
Maybe Skype again. Maybe it won't lag that much anymore. Or maybe I can make them get on two different extensions of the landline so they can both talk without using speakerphone.
When I call them using my Finnish provider's long distance, I get a pretty good sound quality. But when they call me using their much more affordable calling card, the sound quality is ... I'd say tolerable. Like, not nearly as clear, but it's fine unless one of us uses speakerphone and then it's a bit of a pain. (This is probably because the calling card is bouncing between VOIPs or something to make itself so cheap, idk. I can't imagine how it could be that bad otherwise.)
They tend to call me with one of their cell phones because they can program in the number sequences instead of having to punch them all in each time like on the house phone, even though the quality of speakerphone on their landline is a lot better.
So they've got a cellphone on mediocre speakerphone, over a calling card of dubious quality, and then eventually when my ears start to hurt I usually give up and put mine on speakerphone too and at that point one sentence in three has to be repeated due to sound quality.
This is still not QUITE as bad a calling experience as the up-to-3-minute lagtimes we used to sometimes get over Skype. But on the other hand, Skype was free, and it's adding insult to injury to have to be paying for a conversation that leaves you with a sore throat and a sore ear and also slightly irritated from having to say 'WHAT?' and 'I didn't hear that entire last sentence' so many times.
Maybe Skype again. Maybe it won't lag that much anymore. Or maybe I can make them get on two different extensions of the landline so they can both talk without using speakerphone.
I Teen Wolf metaed.
10 Aug 2012 10:06 pmI've posted meta on Tumblr twice in the last few days. I used to think I would always keep it here because Dreamwidth is the superior platform, but at the time it seemed natural to put it there because that's where the fandom is active (and the conversation is already happening).
I feel like I should have an icon of a wolf shirt for this fandom but I worry that it wouldn't be clear what it was once it was shrunk that small...
- Against Argent Apologia, 8 Aug 2012. Teen Wolf spoilers through 2x11. Trigger warnings: domestic violence, animal harm (not graphic). This was the result of one too many people excusing a character's fairly shockingly violent (that is: BAD) actions for various Reasons, and me getting irritated and my wife getting triggered due to her personal traumas and flailing wordlessly which is what she does when triggered. I'm better able to articulate thoughts about it even though we are generally of the same mind, because her trauma is the actual deaths of two members of her immediate family and my dad only ended up in a wheelchair.
- Teen Wolf and strong women, 10 Aug 2012. Teen Wolf spoilers through 2x11, trigger warnings: ( TW s2 spoilers ). This one was just a comment that got way out of hand but this is something I care about and I wanted to save it for posterity, and also to put it in its own post because I kiiiiinda rambled on lengthily and a bit tangentially and that just didn't need to be floating around on the bottom of someone else's reblogged photoset? And after s2 I'm probably going to have a longer followup post sometime.
I feel like I should have an icon of a wolf shirt for this fandom but I worry that it wouldn't be clear what it was once it was shrunk that small...