Slashdot Mirror
Best Telephone For Datacenters?
An anonymous reader writes "I've been struggling to find an effective wireless/cordless phone headset for use in high noise environments, such as a datacenter. I'd love to have something like the helicopter pilots or aircraft carrier deckmen wear, but that can hook up to a pots line (or Bluetooth to a workstation with Skype). Has anybody found a solution they like for datacenter applications?"
I bought the Jawbone Prime for my Droid and its been fabulous.
Supposedly it was desighned for Helicopter and tank crews, there is a sensor on the earpiece that sits on your cheek, it it can't match a noise from the microphone with a vibration from your mouth, it filters it out. If your jaw loses contact with the sensor it uses normal noise cancelling tech.
I ask everyone I talk to on it how it sounds and they say that I come through clearly.
Pilot's just use aircraft headsets with a plug that can plug into a cell phone.
There's no magic too it, they're just big foamy headphones with a microphone and cost way too much.
I'll Find You Peer, If It's The Last Thing I Do!!!!
Actually, David Clarks might be a good solution. They use a pretty standard set of plugs that look "somewhat" similar to what a lot of commercial call center phones use.
But a lot of call center headsets are already similar in noise reduction capabilities, and already built specifically to interface with call center gear, and are probably a little cheaper than a good David Clark headset.
Note to self - see if I can get my DC rigged in to my office phone. Coolest, headset, ever. :)
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
I've used this in my data center, sitting in the hot row on a conference call, and no one complained about the noise & could hear me fine. I've used it paired to my Crackberry as well as my Macbook Pro. Probably the best bluetooth device I've used.
You can find adapters for aircraft headsets that will let you use bluetooth, etc. These will work in -seriously- noisy environments, may be overkill. for example: http://www.marvgolden.com/headsets/adapters.htm
(Celui que tient la peur de devinir nuage)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cell-phone/c8e1/
I use Bose QC2's in the DC for long stays, they have a phone connection kit, the mic seems to be very able to keep things quiet on both ends, they keep your ears warm and while not serving as a phoneset they can be used to listen to tunes, I do not recommend these headsets lightly or for anyone not in a NOISY environment, they add noise to the sound in quiet environments.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
We've got two datacenters and I've spent ... well, way too much time in both of them. At some point, our network team discovered the Peltor bluetooth headsets -- see http://www.peltor.com/peltor.com/comm_detail.cfm?prod_family=BlueTooth%20Headsets&ind_prod_num=MT53H7AWS2001 -- and stocked up on about 3-4 headsets per datacenter.
These things work beautifully. They're comfortable for wear (I typically put one on even if I'm not going to make a phone call), pair nicely with both the wired telephone and my iPhone, have great sound quality while talking to tech support, etc. Can't recommend enough.
Your question contains your answer.
Those headphone and microphone combinations you mention in your question are all available with 3.5" and 2.5" (etc.) standard connectors. If that's the kind of thing you want to use, go get one and use it. There are also several that use USB and in-device coding/decoding so if your Skype requirements involve a laptop of stationary computer, those work as well.
There are lots of full ear-cup and direct boom microphone headsets, and fully half can be used with phones, and probably a third of them are available with amplifiers in them so as not to suck the life out of a cell phone etc.
They are all just really pricey.
On my current DoD project we have tried several brands so far.
Go to a pilot supply store and try a few.
Expect to spend $150 USD or more.
Share and enjoy. 8-)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
If it has aviation-style plugs you probably can, but it's fairly expensive. Aviation headsets use high-impedance condenser mics that require a power source, so the adapters are not quite as trivial as one might hope.
Random and weird software I've written.
Where I work we sell super amplified phones for people hard of hearing. I sell a lot of them for people in factories or other loud environments. They are very loud and even have a boost function.
http://shop.clarityproducts.com/products/categories/category333.asp
I'm sure other similar brands exist but this is the only one I have hands on experience with.
Yeah, that would be pretty slick, and DC was the first thing I thought of. The DC aviation headset I have has two plugs - one for the headphone (1/4" stereo) and one smaller for the mic - they can't be mixed up. You can certainly find or fashion a connector to merge these two functions into one 1/8" plug, for say an iPhone.
The biggest problem I can foresee is power. If you're using some type of wireless, it will take a bit of juice to drive a headset of this size. I can see it wearing out something like an iPhone pretty quickly. If you want to hardline it, I don't see why you couldn't disassemble a POTS handset and wire in a female receptacle for something like the DC headset plugs. I would talk to someone smarter than me about basic electrical circuits to see how you could wire up a volume/gain control to the handset, even though the headset itself has independent volume controls.
http://www.davidclark.com/
There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
With these three things plus some spare parts, plugs, a variety pack of resistors, transistors, and diodes, and you'll be on your way to owning these people who charge $60 for something that costs $2.50 in parts. Granted, I have all of this stuff for work, but it's a nice hobby to get into.
Sig: I stole this sig.