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Comment by Svenskunganka | Hacker News Reader

Doesn't most carriers heavily "compress" the sound, removing all sounds/frequencies that a human can't hear, etc? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2A8q3XIhu0

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Yes, but it could be very subtle and low bandwidth at first, and once both sides were convinced the other was a machine switch to a full speed screeching 56k modem [1].

Or just communicate "hey actually connect to this HTTP/XMPP/whatever address on the internet and we'll continue this from there"

1. Probably a bit slower, I've heard modern VoIP lines don't work well with traditional modems?

The whole context of Google introducing this functionality was for the 60% of businesses that don't yet have an online presence at all.

Sure, but they should consider the future. That number will only get smaller, especially if Duplex or other services say "we'll handle all your phone and online bookings for you for $SMALL_FEE, and still forward other inquiries to your phone as before".

[smallprint]...and we'll abruptly shut it down in 18 months.[/smallprint]

Damn that sounds even more dystopian, can you imaging it

"Hello how can I help you? - Hi, beep, I like to reserve a table? - Ok, beep, beep, on second - Mhm-mm beep, beep, sceech, 011000101010...."

This is basically what 56k modems do, isn't it?

Indeed it is! https://www.windytan.com/2012/11/the-sound-of-dialup-picture...

Great comic on this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3576

This made my day

Also a great story along very similar lines:

http://archive.today/txrAd

(Archive link because that blog now requires authorization to view for some reason.)

So just put it in the hearable spectrum. Phones already make all kinds of sounds that no one under the age of 35 has any clue what they mean or why they are needed, and frankly they aren't.

beep boop.

Perfect use case for the endangered fax answering sound.

Yes, and lots of sounds that the human ear can hear but are not used to decode speech. Also the audio is frequently recoded as calls pass from infrastructure to infrastructure.

Good times !

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