goldstein@ALPHA.DEC (Fred R. Goldstein dtn247-3204) (10/25/85)
When your PBX has Automatic Route Selectiona and an FX line, and the user gets a recording "you must dial a 1", then there's one conclusion: whoever programmed the ARS did it wrong. In a few cases (some NEC PBXs, for instance), the ARS program is so brain-damaged that it can't properly handle an FX line. In the more general case, the person doing the programming (installer or telecom person on site) didn't get it right. Any toll call in 617 requires a 1+, but you NEVER dial "617-1-xxx". The one goes before the area code, if you have one. In the case Peter Capek described (dialing Stratus Computer in Marlboro, Mass.), the PBX didn't recognize the relatively new 617-460 prefix, so it sent the call on the FX line which clearly wan not local to Marlboro! Since the FX just hits a local CO like any other line, it needed the 1. Generally, it's not economical to use FX for calls to nonlocal areas, so the call mayhave belonged on WATS. But one of the weirdnesses of divestiture was the reclassification of FX as "Feature Group A", the "ENFIA" service used by MCI and their ilk for Unequal Access. In exchange for a high rate for local calls, tolls are waived within the LATA. The telcos are trying to get around this (they asked for it in the first place, but didn't think too far ahead), so it may not last. In either case, the CO still needs the 1+ even if it isn't billing full toll charges. Hence the general case mentioned in the previous paragraph is on hiatus.