Have Traditional Phones Jumped the Shark? Even ‘The Office’ Knows They Need an IP PBX

How Pam saves her job on the hit show ‘The Office’ by not buying a VOIP phone system.

Punch-key PBXs (the traditional office phone system with those old RJ-11 phone jacks) have officially crossed over into comedic territory. I mean to say, most business people know now a VoIP-based phone system allows offices to be much more efficient, but a recent episode of The Office shows just how prevalent this notion has become. Seriously, what business wants to be technologically behind the made-up paper company Dunder-Mifflin?

The episode begins with a VoIP phone system salesperson soliciting Dunder-Mifflin. Pam soon realizes that the new phone system does 90% of her job and, given the uncertain economy, Pam starts lying to the salesperson in order to prevent him from getting a meeting with Michael (the politically incorrect boss).

When Pam has run out of every excuse she can think of, Jim (the practical joker) steps between Michael and the phone system salesperson and belts out a Fonzie-type "Aaaay!" For ridiculous reasons only understood by those that watch the eccentric (and oft ridiculous) antics of the office staff, others start repeating "Aaaay!" and the perplexed phone system salesperson leaves.

If it's this obvious to a group of writers at NBC who probably rely less on their office phone systems than the rest of us - has VoIP "jumped the shark"?

A phrase coined on Happy Days, "jumping the shark," has become a popular phrase to describe anything that has passed its peak. Obviously the majority of office phone systems are still old PSTN-based PBXs which require the telecom engineer to visit the premises or a user to read through a manual in order to make any MACs (moves, adds, changes).

So while the numbers suggest that most offices are still based on the copper wires of their telecom company, popular culture indicates that VoIP is not just here to stay, but a thing of comedy – that is, if you don't have it.

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