star trek - Why is there no combadge lag on initiating inter-personnel comms?

This has always bothered me- When initiating an inter-personal conversation in Star Trek it is common to use the form "[my name] to [their name]" potentially immediately followed by a question. Although I cannot back this up at present, I am sure we have seen many instances where the called party responds instantly.

However, whilst the routing system will know your name, it won't know the name of the recipient until you have completed saying their name in the opening sentance. Then and only then can it locate the target and open the communications. Not only that, it will then have to relay your opening statement so the recipient knows who is calling them. And only after having listened to it can they reply with "[Their name] here Captain" or somesuch...

Of course this would be solved if every statement to open comms was a broadcast to all possible recipients, but I have seen no evidence for that being the case...

Are there any explanations for this apparent communications miracle?

Answer

The TNG Technical Manual addresses precisely this issue. In short, the computer AI is smart enough to route your communication directly to the person you're addressing. As soon as they acknowledge the communication (by replying or tapping the button), the rest of the conversation is realtime. Any delay is either not shown or is simply too short to be noticeable.

The exception to this would be on away missions when the channel is "left open" in which case two-way communication seems to take place automatically...

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Comments

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