November 2005
Illus tration© Peter Horjus
In the Clear
WITH THIS NEW SPEAKERPHONE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO SOUND DISTANT AT ALL.
i get involved in a lot of conference calls,
and I’ve found that all speakerphones have
one thing in common: They simply don’t work.
Unless all conferers are huddled within three feet of a
squawk box, they sound like they’re gargling at the bot-
tom of a well. I can’t hear spokesfolk who turn away, walk
around the room or, as often happens, hold their hands
over their mouths simulating laughter while pointing
at the speakerphone.
Then there’s the duplicity of the term “full-duplex.”
It’s supposed to mean both parties can give and take as
freely as on a telephone. No way. With the usual less-than-
full-duplex hardware, my fellow gabbers can’t hear
me interrupting unless they shut up—greatly reduc-
ing my opportunities to badger and pontificate. On their
end of the line, it’s tough to place a tethered speaker-
phone where everyone can gather around comfortably.
Note to future interviewees: Please buy ClearOne’s
MAXAttach Wireless (www.clearone.com/products); it
solves all these problems. The action end of the $800
(street) conferencing system is a pair of executive black
speaker discs about the size of Olympic discuses. Each
is a fully functional telephone with dialing pad, phone
book, digital LCD and omnidirectional speaker dome.
They take their wireless voice signals from a base station
that plugs into any phone jack.
The battery-powered pods work in concert—up to four
can be strategically placed for optimum coverage. A trio
of microphones on each default to the mic closest to a
talker, eliminating that common cave effect. They
automatically cancel echo and background noise and
adjust to talkers loud and soft.
The pods are advertised to work up to 150 feet from
the base station, so naturally, I had to push that limit. I
installed the base unit in an upstairs bedroom, then chat-
ted while carrying a pod around until I was confer-
encing out in the backyard on the other side of the house.
Suffice to say, no matter where they sit in the confer-
ence room or on which end of the phone line, everyone
comes across MAXAttach Wireless loud and clear.
BY MIKE
HOGAN
[CONNECTIONS]
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