GB wrote:
> When I have got through to Orcon, they have been very helpful. I joined
> them recently from ParadiseNet who overcharge.
>
> The estimated wait time is not very useful. It's a gimmick that all call
> centres should avoid like the plague.

I beg to differ. Using Asterisk (www.asterisk.org - an open source
Linux based PABX), the estimated wait time can be calculated in multiple
ways. It is also updated in real-time according to the number of people
in the queue and the average time it is currently taking for a call to
complete.

Unfortunately the E1 interfaces are not yet telepermitted in New
Zealand, but Telstra will allow you to connect via them.

When set up correctly, estimated wait time should be accurate to less
than a minute (assuming you have a few call centre staff). The cool
thing about Asterisk is that you can have people working from home and
logging in over IP to receive help desk calls. This allows a whole new
sector of people to join the workforce. It also means that you can get
people to log in when you have extreme demand to lower the queue times
(which it looks like Orcon could do with at the moment!).

Unfortunately most of the ISPs in New Zealand use crappy proprietary
closed source call management systems, so you're unlikely to see these
features as of yet.

We have a few small call centres set up with Asterisk and they blow your
standard ISPs system out of the water!

So, yes Orcon's system is broken, yes most "estimated wait times" on NZ
ISPs are crap, but that's not the way it has to be.

-- 
Cheers,
Matt Riddell
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