Too much of a good thingSome time ago the biggest telephone company in Iceland added to their services. Instead of the good old busy signal when you call someone who is already on the phone, there is a voice machine which says: "The number you have dialled is busy. You can order a connection when the number becomes available by pressing 5." Of course it costs extra money to press 5. The voice just doesn't tell you.This is overservice. This option is listet on the back of the phone book and I have used it unprompted by a machine when I really need to get someone on the phone. It's amazing though that it doesn't give any results when I call my doctor on his sceduled phone hour.This could cause problems for people who don't speak icelandic. They might think that they have reached the private answering machine of the talkative person. They would probably wait for the beep, which never comes, and finally go hesitantly ahead and say what they need, believing they are leaving a message which the aledged receipient never gets. Naturally the caller will never have his phonecall returned and a multi million business deal is lost. Posted by Olof I. Davidsdottir 22:58 . . .
