Gerry Lachac <gerry%dialogic@uunet.uu.net> (05/15/91)
I've just recently moved from central NJ to northern NJ (Madison). I was calling 800 numbers in the phone book, trying to get pricing info on spring water (hey, it's the 90's :-), and for several calls I was connected with the standard error recording "We're sorry your call cannot be completed as dialed. Check the number and dial your call again <pause> 265". This struck me as odd, because these were very big companies I was calling, and for the new phone book to have three out of five wrong 1-800 numbers would be pretty odd. So I called an 800 I _knew_ worked and got the same message. I called another (Tymnet's) and was connected no problem. I thought, "ok, one of the keys on my phone is generating the wrong tone", but trying it from a different phone produced the same results. So the next day at work, (only nine miles from my home and NJ Bell just like my home) I dialed all the numbers that didn't work, and they worked fine. No problem at work, but a problem at home. Before I call NJ Bell and complain, I wanted to see if anyone had a clue about what's going on? Can certain 800 numbers be locked out from my home? (Some of these are definately national numbers and should work anywhere in the US.) Will the local telco think I'm crazy when I tell them this? gerry uunet!dialogic!gerry Dialogic Corporation OR 300 Littleton Rd gerry@dialogic.UUCP Parsippany, NJ 07054 (201)334-8450 [Moderator's Note: The thing you may want to do is make a list of the 800 numbers -- particularly the prefixes -- which are locked out from your home, *then* approach the local telco asking why 800-xxx, 800-yyy and 800-zzz are locked out from 201-nnn. If your office is served by the same telco (even if not the same exchange), point out that 800-xxx, 800-yyy and 800-zzz are not locked out from 201-bbb, and since the 800 numbers are national in scope, therefore there must be a programming error in the office serving your residence. Cover all the bases when you first call them so they cannot give you tale of how not all 800 numbers are available from all locations ... you already know that! You want to know why they are locked out of one exchange locally and available from another exchange locally. It might bolster your case if you detirmined if all the 800 prefixes thus affected were from the same carrier, or in the case of AT&T the same toll center, etc. Ask for a foreman to call you back if necessary. PAT]