0003829147@mcimail.com (Sander J. Rabinowitz) (12/08/90)
In an article dated <Tue, 4 Dec 90 04:14:11>, <snowgoose!dave@uunet. uu.net> (Dave) writes: >I know that both AT&T and Sprint offer the "feature" of dialing >another LD number without disconnecting from the LD carrier via the >"#". >I often wish to call my Bell Atlantic voice mailbox from a hotel >with my LD calling card. The voice mail system wants me to enter "#" >to be prompted for my password. Guess what happens? That's right, >the LD carrier disconnects that call and prompts me to make another. Now the Moderator responds with the following: >But don't you have to hold the # key for at least a >couple seconds to get a carrier disconnect? With my local Telco (Michigan Bell) and AT&T calls, just a touch of the '#' button (not even a quarter of a second) is enough to disconnect, but my experience has been that '#' only works before a call is answered (i.e. you hear ringing but you just realized you dialed a wrong number), during a telco or LDC recording, or after a call when the other party has hung up. >Most voice mail systems require far less [than 2 seconds -SJR]. That >is, you could probably just give a half-second of # and access voice >mail without it being long enough to trigger the network disconnect. Where I am, I don't have to worry about that. Once the other party answers (assuming the call is through AT&T or MichBell, you can lean on the '#' symbol indefinitely and it won't disconnect. You have to wait for the other party to disconnect before you can use '#' to disconnect yourself. (I just tried this with my credit union bank-by-phone system just a moment ago -- which uses # -- and it works as described.) Either there's a computer glitch where you are, Dave, or the call isn't going through AT&T. Try 102880 + the number (assuming the hotel phones don't block 10xxx calls -- I understand many do). Sander J. Rabinowitz | !sander@attmail.com | +1 313 478 6358 Farmington Hills, Mich. | -OR- sjr@mcimail.com | 8-)
MRICHICH@drew.bitnet (Mike Richichi) (12/10/90)
> I often wish to call my Bell Atlantic voice mailbox from a hotel > with my LD calling card. The voice mail system wants me to enter "#" > to be prompted for my password. Guess what happens? That's right, > the LD carrier disconnects... A quote from the "Aspen Voice Processing System User's Guide" (the system, I believe, Bell Atlantic uses): "Credit Card Calls: Don't hit # too quickly when entering the system using an AT&T credit card. The phone company stays on the line, and will think that you want to place another credit card call. You should wait until Aspen's initial entry prompt has finished. You can also press * to enter as a subscriber." There you have it. I came across the same problem when trying to use Drew's Aspen system from a friend's house over break with my Universal Card. I just pressed * and all was well. Mike Richichi, Drew Univ.