judice@sulaco.enet.dec.com (Louis J. Judice 11-Mar-1991 1401) (03/12/91)
Thanks to everyone for the information on Maestro. I did some checking on my own and found that there are two versions, the Maestro and Maestro 1000. The 1000 has CLASS Message Waiting capability. When Bell Atlantic implements CLASS Message Waiting across the region, the ANSWER*CALL voicemail service will illuminate a message waiting lamp on your home sets. Bell Atlantic Business Systems sells sets from Eagle Telephonics that already implement the Class Message Waiting. If you're interested, the following numbers will help (and avoid YOU having to call six zillion 800 #'s for information!) Bell Atlantic ANSWER*CALL Marketing: 800-321-7176 Bell Atlantic Business Systems: 800-523-0552 (No Maestro 1000's yet) Greybar Electronics 908-249-4300 (NT Distributor in NJ) I'm not employed by any of the above, but at least they all seem to have some information on this topic! Lou Judice Digital Equipment Corp 908-562-4103
adf@aficom.ocunix.on.ca (Andrew Farmer) (03/13/91)
> [Moderator's Note: On the subject of 'unknown' calls, someone at IBT > said to me they were 'thinking about' identifying every call to the > extent known. For example, a call arrives inter-LATA from Los Angeles. > They seem to be able to pick up some things but not others, so the > display box in those cases would say something like 'From 213', or > possibly 213-000-0000 or similar. I think that would be a welcome > addition to Caller ID instead of just saying 'unknown'. Bell Canada returns the string "Long Distance" for all LD calls and "Unknown Number" for calls from local/non-displayable numbers. The Maestro phone, however, doesn't store the "Long Distance" string -- it just stores them as "Unknown". If the Maestro at least let us know it was LD we could perhaps make some educated guesses at who it might be, when we're paging through the list of callers. I've had a Maestro for about a year now and I agree that it is an excellent phone. There are two nice features that were not mentioned in Stephen Fleming's posting. First, there is the Call Forwarding light. If you use the first two softkeys to define call forwarding on/off, a light will go on as soon as you forward the line and remain on until you cancel the forwarding. I often used to forget to cancel the forwading, but the Maestro now saves me from my mental lapses. The other nice feature is the internal clock. The date and time is automatically reset everytime a 'displayable' call comes in. It simply grabs the date and time information that is passed along the line with all the other caller ID information. It's nice to know that the stored times of incoming calls will still be correct, even after a power failure. There are, however, a couple of flaws in the Maestro's design. One is that it will only store the last fifteen numbers, which I find is an unreasonably low number. Also, it will not store the number if another extention picks up the line, which means that if the answering maching takes the call, I won't know the number of the caller. Andrew Farmer | AFI Communications Internet: adf@aficom.ocunix.on.ca | P.O.Box 11087, Stn H UUCP: ...!latour!aficom!adf | Nepean, Ontario FidoNet: Andrew Farmer on 1:163/115 | K2H 7T8 Canada
443114@acadvm1.uottawa.ca (Eric Skinner) (03/16/91)
In TELECOM Digest Volume 11, Issue 199, Andrew Farmer <afd@aficom. ocunix.on.ca> writes: > Bell Canada returns the string "Long Distance" for all LD calls and > "Unknown Number" for calls from local/non-displayable numbers. The > Maestro phone, however, doesn't store the "Long Distance" string -- it > just stores them as "Unknown". Just the other day I received a collect call from a local payphone. I would have expected it to display "Unknown" as the call was placed through the operator, but instead, the display was "Long Distance." Go figure. About a week ago I spoke with someone at Bell Canada customer service about the fact that Caller*ID (here, at least) displays the actual originating phone number, instead of the billing phone number (ie. it might display any of a company's actual trunk numbers). She recorded my complaint, and indicated that "changes" to Caller*ID's implementation were forthcoming in June, but would not give me any further details. Eric Skinner 443114@acadvm1.uottawa.ca University of Ottawa +1 613 230 0261 [Moderator's Note: Probably the reason it said 'long distance' was because the payphone was a COCOT, and the Alternate Operater Disservice involved in handling the collect call was not really an Operator, and they splashed the call via DDD from some other location. Your telco saw it coming in from another LATA as just a regular call. PAT]
covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 16-Mar-1991 0520) (03/16/91)
> Just the other day I received a collect call from a local payphone. I > would have expected it to display "Unknown" as the call was placed > through the operator, but instead, the display was "Long Distance." > Go figure. > [Moderator's Note: Probably the reason it said 'long distance' was > because the payphone was a COCOT, and the Alternate Operater > Disservice involved in handling the collect call was not really an > Operator, and they splashed the call via DDD from some other location. Remember, though, that this happened in Canada, where they do not yet have COCOTs, AOSs, or LATAs. It's really very simple. The Bell Canada Operator Services System is connected to the network via the toll switch, even when handling local calls. john [Moderator's Note: You're correct. Canada remains relatively unpolluted where telecom is concerned as of yet. PAT]
443114@acadvm1.uottawa.ca (Eric Skinner) (03/17/91)
(Collect call from payphone caused erroneous message on Call*ID box.) > [Moderator's Note: Probably the reason it said 'long distance' was > because the payphone was a COCOT, and the Alternate Operater > Disservice involved in handling the collect call was not really an > Operator, and they splashed the call via DDD from some other location. > Your telco saw it coming in from another LATA as just a regular call. PAT] Impossible. No COCOTs in Bell Canada territory (yet -- knock wood.) Interestingly, operators here still identify themselves as "Bell Operator." Eric Skinner 443114@acadvm1.uottawa.ca University of Ottawa Ottawa, Canada
Andrew Farmer <adf@aficom.ocunix.on.ca> (03/18/91)
443114@acadvm1.uottawa.ca (Eric Skinner) writes: > [Moderator's Note: Probably the reason it said 'long distance' was > because the payphone was a COCOT Bell Canada still maintains a monopoly on phone service in Ontario and Quebec, thus we don't have COCOTs up here. My guess is that any 'collect' call will trigger the "Long Distance" display (since most of them would be). Andrew Farmer | AFI Communications Internet: adf@aficom.ocunix.on.ca | P.O.Box 11087, Stn H UUCP: ...!latour!aficom!adf | Nepean, Ontario FidoNet: Andrew Farmer on 1:163/115 | K2H 7T8 Canada
grayt@uunet.uu.net (Tom Gray) (03/21/91)
In TELECOM Digest Volume 11, Issue 199, Andrew Farmer <afd@aficom. ocunix.on.ca> writes: > Bell Canada returns the string "Long Distance" for all LD calls and > "Unknown Number" for calls from local/non-displayable numbers. The > Maestro phone, however, doesn't store the "Long Distance" string -- it > just stores them as "Unknown". This isn't universal yet. I receive long distance calls with both the Long Distance and Unknown displays. The dispaly seem to be consistent for the city calling. I agree with the people who complain that calls from companies display the actual trunk number instead of the billing number. This prevents Call Blocking from defeating telemarketers. I have come home and seen a call from an obvious telemarketer I blocked the number but that evening received a call from a telemarketer with an adjacent number to the one I blocked. Call Blocking is marvelous. I just wish it could be improved by using only one number for a company. Tom Gray - forests are made up of trees [Moderator's Note: My experience here in Chicago has been that by blocking the listed number of a PBX you also block all the back lines as well provided all are billed together. Likewise, blocking the main listed number of a centrex system *usually* seems to block the various extensions associated. It does not work that way everytime. PAT]