[Posted with the permission of the author, A. Michael Noll]

A. Michael Noll

February 15, 2026

© 2026 AMN

The telephone system in the United Stats seems to be nearly in a state of collapse – the voice quality is horrible, calls get disconnected, terrible noises and echoes occur frequently. This is what happens when computer companies who know how to make “smart phones” attempt to also provide telephone service – they know little of, nor care about, telephony quality.

The quality issues are many. Sometimes when calling someone I hear my own speech delayed – an echo. I need to recall. Sometimes there are horrible crackling noises, and again I need to recall. Entire networks stop working.

If I am busy talking on my telephone, a new caller gets a message that I am “not available.” In the old days, they would have received a busy tone that the line was in use. Most seem to have call waiting – I do not. The person I am speaking with is most important to me – I do not allow interruptions. In my opinions, it is poor telephone etiquette when I am speaking to somebody on the phone and am suddenly told there is another “more important” call – frequently not even a “good bye.”

Everyone seems to use their smartphones as a speakerphone. But they forget that the noises they are making are heard very loud on my telephone. They frequently are too far away from the microphone, and I have trouble hearing them – other than all the background noises. Sometimes, a cheek touches their smart phone, and the call is disconnected, with me speaking to a dead line.

In the olden bygone days, AT&T and its Bell Telephone Laboratories gave high priority to the quality of telephony. Measures were taken to always improve speech quality – less noise, clearer calls, no disconnects. But all that has changed today, with the emphasis on profits and cheaper calls. But quality is still important, in my opinion.

Telephones and telephone service used to be designed by communication engineers – and computer engineers designed computers. Communication systems used computer technology, particularly for switching. But then computers (such as smart phones) and computer networks (such as the Internet) were used for communications (such as telephone service). Computer engineers replaced communication engineers, and these computer engineers knew little of the quality and other issues in providing telephone service. This, in my opinion, is the root cause of the collapse of telephony that is occurring.