carols@world.std.com (Carol Springs) (01/30/91)
New England Telephone in Massachusetts has an insert in its latest round of bills entitled "Introducing 1 + 976 Telephone Programs": By dialing telephone numbers beginning with 1 + 976, you can get in touch with a wide variety of information and entertainment programs ... These programs are provided by vendors known as Information Providers, who are *not* affiliated with New England Telephone ... [NET] only provides the 1 + 976 telephone numbers, and bills the charges established by each Information Provider in your monthly telephone bill ... Calls to 1 + 976 can't be made from outside of Massachusetts or via long distance carriers. They also can't be made from coin operated phones, WATS lines, or certain cellular or other types of mobile telephones. Also, your calls to 1 + 976 programs can't be Collect, Bill to Third Number, Credit Card, or Operator-handled calls. Nowhere in the flier is it mentioned that 1 + 976 numbers act the same as the old 976 numbers. The main, unstated purpose of the insert seems to be to alert customers to the fact that they must now dial 1 before 976. And the "1" itself probably results from complaints of a predictable type: "Hey, what's this funny charge on my bill? It looked like a regular number to me..." I don't know whether there is an interim period in which unadorned 976 will still work, since I had 976 calls blocked on my lines long ago. (I suspect dialing old-style will get you a "You must first dial 1..." recording.) Any other areas have 1 + 976, or is New England Telephone leading the way? Carol Springs carols@world.std.com
merlyn@iwarp.intel.com (Randal L. Schwartz) (01/31/91)
In article <16527@accuvax.nwu.edu>, carols@world (Carol Springs) writes: | I don't know whether there is an interim period in which unadorned 976 | will still work, since I had 976 calls blocked on my lines long ago. | (I suspect dialing old-style will get you a "You must first dial 1..." | recording.) Any other areas have 1 + 976, or is New England Telephone | leading the way? We've *always* had 1+976, because around here, 1 means toll, and always has. (Well, maybe, not forever... sigh.) Just another person for whom the bell tolls, Randall L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095 on contract to Intel's iWarp project, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, Sol III merlyn@iwarp.intel.com ...!any-MX-mailer-like-uunet!iwarp.intel.com!merlyn
ccplumb@rose.uwaterloo.ca (Colin Plumb) (01/31/91)
In Toronto, which used to use 1+ as a long distance indicator (1+7D for within-416 LD, and I believe 10D worked for cross-area local calls, although I never lived that close to an area code boundary), it was always 1-976-SCAM (or whatever :-}). However, in anticippation of N0X/N1X prefixes, it's now 1+416+7D for long distance, and 976 went with it. 1-416-976-SCAM. The latest I saw: 1-416-976-WAKE. Wakeup calls. I don't know how well done their system is, and they say they'll call you anywhere, but for $3.00 a call, I'll buy a cheapp alarm clock, thanks! Colin