Why do we still have an office phone? – The Wall Street Journal

DUBLIN — The determined persistence of the clunky office phone is a mystery indeed. At my most-recent office job, the office phone system came with a 32-page manual and I had a mandatory 2-hour training in how to use it when I started. Then, after six months, we replaced that system with a new one, got a new 24-page manual, and had to go through more training. I received a total of about 25 calls on that phone in two years. The whole thing was an expensive boondoggle that caused many innocent people a lot of unnecessary suffering. Happily, after reading the article below, I at least no longer feel alone in my bemusement about the office phone. It seems like a lot of people are wondering why they have a gigantic and confusing phone on their desks (and how it works). – Felicity Duncan.'It's Giant and Has Like Five Million Buttons.' The Office Desk Phone Won't Die.By Jennifer Levitz.(The Wall Street Journal) Anthony Acock was swamped at work and needed to make some space on his desk. So the assistant professor of graphic design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona unplugged his desktop phone and stuck it in a drawer..___STEADY_PAYWALL___."It's giant and has like five million buttons," said Mr Acock, 40 years old. "I don't even know how to dial out on it.".At home and work, technology habits have changed a lot over the years—and then there's the office desk phone. With people carrying smartphones everywhere, a segment of the workforce has a hang up with the clunky office versions. Employees find them annoying and complicated, if they use desk phones at all..Disconnecting may not be easy, as Mr Acock found. After a few months, he said, an office manager noticed the phone's absence and ordered it be put back on the desk.."I was told to make an appointment with IT to get a training on it, but I just don't have time for that," he said..Consumers have been pulling the plug on landline phones at home. Nearly 54% of U.S. homes had only cellphones in the second half of 2017, up from about 16% a decade earlier, according to the National Center for Health Statistics..Office phones have been slower to disappear. Businesses consider them reliable and secure, and may have put substantial money into their systems, said Jon Arnold, a technology analyst..Plenty of workers count on them. Other employees, he said, "have a different reality—they are not in the habit of using a desk phone.".When Hunter Haig started as a sales assistant at a book publisher in Toronto in August, the 25-year-old repeatedly answered her ringing desktop phone to find that no one was there. After two weeks, she realized her handset was disconnected from the phone. A crucial part had split apart—"that curly cord," she said, adding that she's not used to any kind of phone cord, curly or not..Michael Lopez, director of data and analytics for the National Football League, had a passcode to retrieve messages on his desk phone at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where he teaches. He later forgot it. After trying his wedding date and children's birthdays, he gave up and stuck a piece of duct tape over the bright red you-have-messages light.."It was just so distracting," said Mr Lopez, who is 36. "I couldn't figure out how to change the password, so this was an easy fix." He never got the messages and has since moved to a new office on campus, where he also ignores his desk phone..In Blytheville, Ark., 26-year-old Brooke Siegler took to Twitter to ask for advice on how to turn up her desk phone's ringer. Ms. Siegler, an adviser at a social-services agency, had been trying to find relief from a startlingly loud ring when she inadvertently lowered the volume to the point where she can't hear the ringer. If there is an "up" button for the volume, she can't find it.."I think you have to go into the settings," she said. "To be honest, I think I threw out the manual.".Desk phones have "never been something that was very intuitive to a lot of people," said Rich Costello, a senior communications analyst with International Data Corp. With all their functions, "it's kind of overwhelming. People just don't go there.".He said users tend to be comfortable with only a handful of basic features. "People freak out when they have to transfer a call to someone," he said. "And if you're in a call and you want to add someone to the conversation—oh boy, forget it. People just avoid that.".At Sagemont Church, a Houston megachurch with more than 100 employees, information-technology director Scott Reichling said staffers call him for instructions, such as how to customize out-of-office messages, and then often call back 15 minutes later saying they still don't get it..Now, he just walks over to help after the first call. "You're more than likely going to get confused," he tells them. "Some of it is confusing even for me.".One employee just unplugged his desk phone and said he could be reached on his mobile. "The higher-ups were not real happy with that," Mr Reichling said, noting that supervisors are used to punching in a four-digit extension of a desk phone..Since the summer, U.K. employees of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP have been using company-provided mobile phones only, with "landline numbers and desk phones being removed" except in areas such as reception, a spokesman said. Usage "had dropped off a cliff," he said..Cara Ozlek has only a mobile phone for her personal life, but likes having a desk phone at the insurance agency where she works. "It's really nice to have a little break from my cellphone," said Ms. Ozlek, who is 28 and lives in Philadelphia. She added that reception is better on her desk phone. "On my cellphone it's pretty wonky.".In Portland, Ore., Kevin Murphy "unofficially abandoned" his office desk phone in August after a cable that connects to it broke. "I don't plan to ask IT to fix it," said Mr Murphy, who is 46 and directs digital strategy at creative agency CMD. "Nothing good ever comes over a call to your desk phone.".The device still sits on his desk, quietly collecting dust. "There is a sense of freedom," Mr Murphy said..Bill Sullivan, a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, doesn't like being tied to the desk when his office phone rings.."It's not even a cordless phone," said Dr. Sullivan, who is 48 and prefers to text, email or use a workplace messaging app. He said if he does use his phone, he has to "fish it out" from an awkward spot on his desk and then deal with noisy construction outside his office.."There it goes," he said over his desk phone recently, raising his voice over the sounds of drilling. "It's due time we start to rethink this phone situation.".Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com