peterson@ti-csl.csc.ti.com> (05/29/91)
Yesterday evening I received a sales call from a very nice lady representing GTE, my local dial tone provider. She wanted to sell me call waiting, cancel call waiting, distinctive ringing, etc. After I told her I wasn't interested I asked if she was employed by GTE or by a marketing company. She stammered for a moment, then replied, "Both." So I took a chance and asked her a couple of questions. I asked if GTE planned to implement Caller Id. She amazed me by replying that CID was part of Class service, and that GTE would be implementing CID once the Public Utilities Commission approved it. The current holdup, she told me, was CID's conflict with a Texas privacy law. I then asked if Call Trace would be available as well. Not only did she answer, "Yes," but she described how Call Trace should be used. Then she gave me a *NN code that will execute the trace! Finally, I asked which Texas privacy law prevented CID. This finally stumped her, but she promply suggested I query the business office for the citation. I was quite impressed that this individual, who I initially expected would be reading a prepared script with little understanding, seemed to have a pretty reasonable grasp of not only current GTE services, but future services as well. Bravo GTE! Hardcopy and Electronic Addresses: Office @ Texas Instruments: Bob Peterson Compuserve: 70235,326 NB 2nd Floor CSC Aisle C3 P.O. Box 861686 Internet: peterson@csc.ti.com Landline: 214/995-6080 days Plano, Tx USA 75086 24 hour BBS: 214/596-3720 @ 1200, 2400, 9600 (HST & V.32)