slr@tybalt.caltech.edu (Steve Rhoades) (09/29/90)
The good folks at Pacific*Bell have decided to bless me with a new ESS generic. I am sorry I don't know the number. There were several nice bugs (features ?) in the old generic that I'll miss. Most notably: Let's say you had call-forwarding on your phone (call this phone A). So does a friend of yours who happens to be served by the same C.O. (Phone B). Let's say your friend had his call-forwarding enabled. You REALLY wanted to reach him and you knew he was at home. In the old generic, Phone A could dial 72# + Phone B and literally "break thru" phone B's call forwarding. It wouldn't cancel the forward, it would just allow you to break through. No more. Phone A will forward to phone B which, if forwarding is enabled, will forward normally. It should also be noted that I've tried this from a line that has a CO based "Home-Centrex" (Premier, Commstarr 2, whatever it's called this week.) I've tried using *72 (to get the forwarding dial tone), *0X (which is used by CommStarr as a special prefix, then the last four. This works if Phone B isn't forwarding. If Phone B is, I get a re-order. Also with Commstarr, through a complex series of events, I was able to keep adding on calls. i.e. I didn't just have three-way calling, we called it N-way. Through adding on calls, I once had 20 people conferenced at once. No more. Now, when trying this, if I dial anything other than a "*", I get a re-order. Some things DIDN'T need fixing. Internet: slr@tybalt.caltech.edu | Voice-mail: (818) 794-6004 UUCP: ...elroy!tybalt!slr | USmail: Box 1000, Mt. Wilson, Ca. 91023
Vance Shipley <vances@xenitec.on.ca> (10/01/90)
In article <12783@accuvax.nwu.edu> "Steve L. Rhoades" <slr@tybalt. caltech.edu> writes: >There were several nice bugs (features ?) in the old generic that I'll >miss. >In the old generic, Phone A could dial 72# + Phone B and literally >"break thru" phone B's call forwarding. It wouldn't cancel the >forward, it would just allow you to break through. >Also with Commstarr, through a complex series of events, I was able to >keep adding on calls. i.e. I didn't just have three-way calling, we >called it N-way. Through adding on calls, I once had 20 people >conferenced at once. Are these really changes made to the code or class of service changes made during the course of the cutover (or some other such changes)? Anyone? [Moderator's Note: I have to make a decision this month whether to keep Starline or drop it in favor of CLASS features. Chicago-Rogers Park CO gets CLASS starting October 15; but none of the CLASS features will work with centrex here. So, do I want call screening and auto-return-call, or do I want to keep my group pickup, hold and intercom. Maybe new software will be installed which allows me to keep it all! Decisions, decisions! PAT]
John Higdon <john@bovine.ati.com> (10/01/90)
Steve Rhoades <slr@tybalt.caltech.edu> writes: > The good folks at Pacific*Bell have decided to bless me with a new ESS > generic. I am sorry I don't know the number. > There were several nice bugs (features ?) in the old generic that I'll > miss. But what you'll get in return is CLASS features, eventually. The new generic that supports all of the whizzo/whoopie features that you hear about everywhere else in the country is being phased in to all of Pac*Bell's switches. Most of the Bay Area switches were upgraded over a year ago. It goes without saying that those "features" that you enjoyed so much were, in reality, bugs that were corrected in the natural course of software upgrade. Be thankful that you can still receive call waiting while on a three-way call and add a third party before supervision -- things that some digital switches are incapable of. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !