birchall@pilot.njin.net (Daniel Birchall) (09/14/90)
A friend of mine was trying to call me about an hour ago, and instead of dialing my number, she dialed my number but with her area code... She got the Tri-tone, and then this message, which neither of us has ever heard before: "You are not authorized to dial that number. Please hang up and dial a different number. Two A Y" Is this the legendary number-no-one-should-ever-call? Will the phone co hunt her down? Or is it just some PBX frob glitch? (She was originating from within a college PBX.) This has us both bewildered. Dan Birchall (and Jen Kleiman) [Moderator's Note: The writer actually included his phone number and the same number with a different area code in his message. On testing the one which caused the strange intercept message, I connected with a real, live person who seemed annoyed at the intrusion. So, I've deleted the numbers. The question can be answered theoretically anyway, without actually testing it. PAT]
gutierrez@noc.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Michael Gutierrez) (09/16/90)
birchall@pilot.njin.net (Daniel Birchall) writes: |> A friend of mine was trying to call me about an hour ago, and instead |> of dialing my number, she dialed my number but with her area code... |> She got the Tri-tone, and then this message, which neither of us has |> ever heard before: |> "You are not authorized to dial that number. Please hang up and dial a |> different number. Two A Y" |> Is this the legendary number-no-one-should-ever-call? Will the phone co |> hunt her down? Or is it just some PBX frob glitch? (She was originating |> from within a college PBX.) I love it! I wanted to say that you reached a number in the Federal Government telephone system that *nobody* should ever call, and that they would hunt you down like rabid St. Bernards (remember "Cujo", the Stephen King novel ???), but I degress, my professionalism won't let me... "Two A Y" is an MCI switch number (written 2AY). The recording was for their old banded WATS customers who were attempting to dial out of their assigned WATS band. It is used by MCI now for their V-NET customers who have specific area codes or numbers excluded from their service (which can be requested by the customer). |> This has us both bewildered. Sorry, I couldn't stop laughing! |> [Moderator's Note: The writer actually included his phone number and |> the same number with a different area code in his message. On testing |> the one which caused the strange intercept message, I connected with a |> real, live person who seemed annoyed at the intrusion. So, I've |> deleted the numbers. The question can be answered theoretically |> anyway, without actually testing it. PAT] Pat, after my answer, it was obvious that it was dialled via MCI. You might try 10222+, but after asking if she wouldn't mind :-) Robert Michael Gutierrez Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA Science Internet - Network Operations Center. Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.