psp@research.att.com (09/14/90)
Greetings, net.denizens ... I've been having a problem with getting hangups. I get them about ten times a week, both when I answer in person and when I let my phone machine catch the message. There's never any background noise to it, so I suspect this is an autodialer I'm dealing with. So I called up NJ Bell to complain, and they wanted to sell me Caller*ID, Call*Tracing, and a bunch of other silly things that I Don't*Need and Don't*Want. I understood those services to be "convenience" services, rather than replacements for the Operating Company's annoyance call bureau; and I certainly don't understand why *I* should have to shell out money to debug someone else's UUCP file! So ... exactly what are NJ Bell's obligations to me here? Anybody else here deal with this? What happened? Polly Powledge P.S.Powledge@ATT.COM [Moderator's Note: NJ Bell's obligations to you are to provide you with usable, *non-annoying* phone service. Call back and ask to speak with the Annoyance Call Bureau. If the service rep answering your call will not give you the number or put you through, then speak with the manager of the office. If the Annoyance Call Bureau there operates like Illinois Bell's, they will put a trap on the line and try (no guarentees) to capture the number of the calling phone. They will only do this if you are willing to press charges against the person causing the annoyance if s/he is caught. They will not release the number of the caller to you, but they will give it to the police as part of any investigation going on. It may be someone's UUCP file or it may be a FIDO site trying to send mail, etc. It may be a FAX machine in an office set to send something during the night, or it may just be a phreak who has a grudge against you. But yes, NJB has to help. An easier, less formal self-help approach might be to go with Caller*ID, then when the goofus has been identified, sue him for the expense you had to go to in order to find him. PAT]
dave@uunet.uu.net (Dave Levenson) (09/16/90)
In article <12105@accuvax.nwu.edu>, hrmso!psp@research.att.com writes: > Greetings, net.denizens ... I've been having a problem with getting > hangups. I get them about ten times a week, both when I answer in > person and when I let my phone machine catch the message. There's > never any background noise to it, so I suspect this is an autodialer > I'm dealing with. > So I called up NJ Bell to complain, and they wanted to sell me > Caller*ID, Call*Tracing, and a bunch of other silly things that I > Don't*Need and Don't*Want. I understood those services to be > "convenience" services, rather than replacements for the Operating > Company's annoyance call bureau; and I certainly don't understand why > *I* should have to shell out money to debug someone else's UUCP file! The next time you get one of these calls, after you and it has hung up, but before you place or receie another call, pick up your phone and dial *57. Listen carefully to the recording you should receive in response to this. Then call NJ Bell or the Police, and report the harrassing call, and tell them that you invoked Call*Trace. You will be charged $1.00 for doing this. There's no other initial or recurring charge. Virtually all NJ Bell subscribers have this service. There's no initial sign-up or arrangement required. Call*Trace records the last number which called you, and saves it until you have had an opportunity to report the call to the authorities. The saved information is then made available to them, but not to you. The only limitation is that Call*Trace, for the present, only works if the last incoming call was intra-LATA. If the call came from outside your LATA (NJ has three of them) then you'll probably want to pursue the Annoyance Call Bureau. Dave Levenson Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave