Inquiry station
The inquiry station (also switchboard or operator station ) is a terminal device of a telephone system . The main task of the person who operates an answering station is to relay telephone calls . Calls from the public telephone network can be reached by telephone system subscribers either directly by dialing the extension number or - if the caller does not know this - via the inquiry station. The person at the answering station ( operator ) accepts calls on the "main number" and passes them on to the desired conversation partner - the extension .
As the main number (also center number or Global Call) is in Germany usually the extension number 0 is used, for example (0 12 34) 9 87 65- 0 , sooner but it was the one , as 0 to occupy the outside line (if not only by earth key) and a double assignment was not so easy.
In the case of telephone systems with more than 1000 participants, one employee is usually mainly responsible for operating the answer station. In the case of smaller systems, this activity is usually done on the side , for example by the secretariat or a porter . Large private branch exchanges can have several inquiry stations to which the incoming calls are distributed. In the case of networked systems ( corporate network ), one answering station can also be responsible for several telephone systems.
Inquiry stations are available in different designs, for example as:
- simple telephone set (for small systems)
- Telephone set with special buttons and indicators
- PC workstation with operator software and headset
In the past, answering stations had large display panels (so-called busy lamp fields ) on which the operator of the answering station could see whether the desired subscriber was free or was on the phone. Today an inquiry station has a monitor or is connected to one or more PCs , via which the exact status of all participants can be queried.
As an alternative to the manned answering station, there are more and more automatic voice-controlled attendant services (see speech dialogue system ). In the case of a very high volume of calls, the calls are handled by a call center or a telephone service provider.
literature
- C. Hersen, R. Hartz: The telephone technology of the present. Vieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 1910.
- Volker Jung, Hans-Jürgen Warnecke (Hrsg.): Handbook for telecommunications. Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 978-3-642-97703-9 .
- Wilhelm Hering: Introduction to electrical communications technology for operations and administration. Verlag für Wissenschaft und Leben G. Heidecker, 1937.
See also
Web links
- The communication technology in the emergency call center (accessed on July 14, 2017)
- Service or inquiry station for a telephone exchange, in particular broker multiple system (accessed on July 14, 2017)
- Inquiry point of a telephone exchange (accessed on July 14, 2017)