Rob Knauerhase <knauer@tiberius.cs.uiuc.edu> (05/01/91)
Yesterday, someone asked me if I knew what the number (800) 555-0000 was for. I didn't, so I tried dialing it and got the following message: "You have reached the AT&T long-distance network. Thank you for choosing AT&T. This message will not be repeated." I have since tried it from my home phone (with Sprint as dial-1 carrier, not that it should matter for an 800 number, but just in case) and got the same message. Dialing 10xxx and the number results in an error message for 222, 333, and 288. So, does anyone know what purpose that number serves? Robert C. Knauerhase University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Dept. of Computer Science, Gigabit Study Group knauer@cs.uiuc.edu, rck@ces.cwru.edu knauer@scivax.lerc.nasa.gov [Moderator's Note: All long distance carriers translate 700-555-4141 into some other number. In fact, I think *everything* in the 700 series is translated and sent elsewhere ... but to answer your question, you will get the same message from 700-555-4141 when calling on a line which defaults to AT&T, or a line on which you prefaced the call with 10288. When AT&T takes your call and sees what you have dialed, they pass it along to the 800 number you noted. There exist similar numbers for Sprint, MCI and other carriers. When dialing the 700 number from a line defaulting to one of those carriers (or by using their 10xxx code from any phone) the same thing occurs: the carrier sees it and translates it to the number playing their version of the same message. If you dial the 'direct number' for the carrier involved you will always get their message regardless of the carrier you used to dial it. The reason dialing 10xxx in front of the 800 number failed was because the prefix portion of an 800 number, i.e. the three digits following the 800 (800-xxx-something) serve the same purpose, and your local telco routes the 800 call based on those three digits to the carrier assigned to use them. Dialing 10xxx + 800-xxx would either be redundant or a contradiction, depending on which carrier 'owned' the first and/or second group of xxx. In other words, you can't route a call over MCI lines by way of AT&T, or a call over AT&T lines by way of Sprint, etc. PAT]