OT: the current state of telephone hybrids

[Dave Labrecque]

Hoping there are some broadcast and/or serious podcast types tuning in.

In my days in radio, we didn't have VoIP. We had old-school POTS lines. The options then were analog hybrids that did a just-okay job nulling the announcer audio out of the caller audio, and there were digital hybrids that cost more and did a better job. I think the Telos system was the cream of the crop, but cost a couple thousand bucks.

Today there's VoIP (as my podcast client has), and we've been getting by just taking a headphone jack feed off the studio phone. Not great.

Does anyone know how we stand these days? Are there affordable, well-performing hybrids for POTS and VoIP lines? I know I shouldn't expect too much for $200 (which seems to be the current entry point for POTS hybrids) but what kinds of options are there?

Thanks for any insight.