Originally Posted by **********

On-hold music is completely useless. If you're on a 3-way call, you can't have a conversation. If the music is that muzak crap it becomes mind-numbing especially when its on a loop. Even worse is when the music is interrupted by a robot telling you you're still on hold. Very dumb.

The best possible way to be placed on hold is with dead silence, with a beep every 20 seconds or so reminding you that you're on hold. This way you can listen to your own music if you want, or continue that 3-way conversation.

My cellphone carrier Telus used to let people who were on hold choose their own on-hold music. You could listen to real pop, or real rock, or real alternative, etc, but I suspect licensing became too expensive for them so they ditched it.