news@accuvax.nwu.edu (USENET News System) (01/17/91)
In a recent message, John Higdon mentions the relative lack of DTMF in Japan. Having been telephonically bouncing around Tokyo on and off for some years (and now here for an indefinite sentence, until released for bad behavior, no doubt), I might be able to add some comments. Yes, there are a lot of Crossbar exchanges, especially in the areas outside the "Yamanote" loop (a railroad that circles central Tokyo). At least, they SEEM to be crossbar; in my experience they are invariably crisp and clean, with nary a "CLUNK" to be heard. Inside the loop, and in the new exchanges outside the loop, DTMF is the rule. The rule of thumb is, if your exchange now starts with a 3 (the old exchanges before the great year-of-the-sheep-number- expansion) you might have crossbar; otherwise, DTMF. In fact, my exchange didn't seem to appreciate pulse-dialing the one time I tried it. When dialing internationally from my girlfriend's house (3393 exchange) we dial 0062 in pulse to select our overseas carrier (actually it is 0061, but 0062 selects the same carrier, and asks them to call us back and tell us the time and cost of the call, a nice touch), then we can use pulse or DTMF to tell the carrier the overseas number. In general, Japanese CO equipment is seems to be superbly maintained. I've also yet to encounter a noisy line. With respect to Hotel equipment, venerable hotels seem to have venerable phone systems; it seems that the Japanese adhere to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it philosophy. I will preempt our estimable Moderator and note that a certain Judge should do the same... As for cheap phones, in Japan as anywhere else, you can get a junky phone real cheap. On the other hand, I just got a phone from Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku with the following features: Main station; "100 meter" portable wireless extension; Answering machine with: Remote access; commanded by DTMF Toll Saver Priority Messages Remote memo record/playback Remote answering message record Auto-turn on (if you forget to turn it on, call it and let it ring 20 times to activate the answering machine) Pager forwarding (it will call your pager # when you get a message) The usual memory dialing, plus an emergency button. Price was about $220. I think I got it cheap because by Japanese standards, the feature set (some of which I am still deciphering) is considered puny and obsolete [even though it's operating system seems to be in some ways more complicated that UNIX ;^) ] Robert J. Woodhead, Biar Games / AnimEigo, Incs. trebor@foretune.co.jp
jon_sree@world.std.com (Jon Sreekanth) (01/20/91)
In article <16153@accuvax.nwu.edu> news@accuvax.nwu.edu (USENET News System) writes: > In a recent message, John Higdon mentions the relative lack of DTMF in > Japan. Having been telephonically bouncing around Tokyo on and off I guess I started this thread some time ago, by asking why answering machines and voice mail services could not work by detecting pulse inputs. One of the responses was that the receiving phone does not see line current interruptions, just clicks. I knew this, but as I mentioned, one AT & T answering machine claimed to work with non-DTMF phones. Well, I finally investigated. The AT&T Answering System Telephone 1523 says on the box that remote operation is possible from pulse phones. This is technically correct, but somewhat misleading, because the user manual (which I read in the store) describes the operation: if after some time out period, you haven't entered your DTMF password, the answering machine starts prompting you by voice, and you respond _by speaking_. The manual says it does not do any speech recognition, just responds to audio energy. To enter your two digit password, you let it step through announcing digits, and when you hear the first digit, you say any random word, and then it steps through for the second digit. It's as easy as pulling teeth. Regards, Jon Sreekanth Assabet Valley Microsystems Fax and PC products 346 Lincoln St #722, Marlboro, MA 01752 508-562-0722 jon_sree@world.std.com