David Gast <gast@cs.ucla.edu> (05/21/91)
The practice of not using 9xxx as telephone numbers was not nation-wide. My parents' phone number assigned in 1959 was 99x-9xxx. A friend of mine had the number 99x-99xx. (And one of the x's in each number was a zero). Although I did not call collect frequently, I never had any trouble when I did call collect. Other people also had 9xxx numbers. Incidentally, 99x were very popular exchanges; for all practical purposes they have been completely assigned for years. Incidentally, one of the exchanges was 991. At that time, I believe, exchanges ending in 1 were uncommon. The old Bell system was not so uniform in its policies and procedures as we are frequently like to reminisce about. David
larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (05/22/91)
In article <telecom11.384.7@eecs.nwu.edu> gast@cs.ucla.edu (David Gast) writes: > The practice of not using 9xxx as telephone numbers was not > nation-wide. My parents' phone number assigned in 1959 was 99x-9xxx. > A friend of mine had the number 99x-99xx. (And one of the x's in each > number was a zero). Although I did not call collect frequently, I > never had any trouble when I did call collect. Other people also had > 9xxx numbers. Incidentally, 99x were very popular exchanges; for all > practical purposes they have been completely assigned for years. > The old Bell system was not so uniform in its policies and procedures > as we are frequently like to reminisce about. I can tell you from firsthand experience that in smaller SxS CO's (say, 3,000 lines and less) in the Bell System it was so common as to be almost universal that numbers ending in -9XXX be used for: (1) test lines and telephone company offices; (2) coin station lines; and (3) business lines and PBX trunks. In the case of the SxS CO we are dealing with common line finder and connector groups that would require features different from that of residential POTS lines. Such features include but are not limited to: 1. Higher traffic requirements (i.e., more CCS) per line may utilize more than one connector shelf (10 connectors) per 100 terminal numbers. 2. Higher traffic requirements for call origination may utilize ROTS (Rotary Out Trunk Switches) to provide greater than 10 selector and/or outgoing trunk paths per selector digit level. 3. Requirement for message register operation may dictate that lines be placed in common linefinder groups. While greater traffic handling could also be achieved by spreading line assignments through more hundreds groups and leaving unassigned numbers, there was a tradeoff between this technique (which required more SxS shelves) and that of concentrating lines in smaller groups (which were usually associated with ROTS). Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" VOICE: 716/688-1231 {boulder, rutgers, watmath}!ub!kitty!larry FAX: 716/741-9635 [note: ub=acsu.buffalo.edu] uunet!/ \aerion!larry
Bill Gripp <billg@bony1.bony.com> (05/22/91)
In article <telecom11.384.7@eecs.nwu.edu> gast@cs.ucla.edu (David Gast) writes: > Incidentally, one of the exchanges was 991. At that time, I believe, > exchanges ending in 1 were uncommon. Funny, the phone my parents have (since 1964) and my uncle had (since the late '50's) is COlfax1 (261). My inlaws have had 661 since that same time frame also. Guess NJ Bell didn't hear you shouldn't use xy1 =8^). Bill
John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com> (05/23/91)
irvin@northstar.dartmouth.edu writes: > What is really strange (off the subject -- sorry Pat), is that any of > these numbers gets a recording (in fact any unused number in the area) > that says, "The number you have reached X-X-X X-X-X-X is being checked > for trouble, please try your call again later." The number referral machine has several messages that it can deliver. When a number changes, telco programs the old number associated with a new number in the machine. When someone calls the old number, the call is forwarded to the machine with the info specifying the called number. The machine then spits out, "The number you have reached, XXX-XXXX, has been changed. The new number is YYY-YYYY", etc. If a call is forwarded to the machine indicating a dialed number that is not in the machine's database, then the generic recording that you describe above is given. When ever you hear the "being checked for trouble" message, that simply means that telco is forwarding the number to the referral machine and that nothing has yet been programmed in to the machine itself. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !