U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (09/15/90)
Significant comment seems to be generated by dialling rule changes in the U.S.A along the lines of 'How will I know if I am dialling a toll call, when the whole NPA is accessible by 7D dialling?" When Subscriber Trunk Dialling was introduced into Australia, it was made mandatory that any call which was charged by time, but which was not placed through an operator would be preceeded by a series of short pips (usually 5). Charging does not start until after the last pip. The STD pips are now entrenched in the Australian telephone users' psyche, as a way to let both the calling and called party know that the call is timed, and therefore will cost more than a single local call unit, if it is long enough. It does speed the search for someone who is wanted on the phone, if the person who answers the phone knows that it is a toll call. "Oh," I hear you cry, "but that denies us the right to call from out of town and say we are just around the corner." True, but Caller ID gives much more information. It is a possibility for a service to be introduced, even as an option, so those who *are* worried can have their toll calls indicated to them. And now a question: Does any other country have such toll call pips? I guess that only countries such as Canada New Zealand which, like Oz, have a mix of timed and untimed calls, would have implemented this, but I have never heard of them outside Australia. One side effect is that we actually notice the absence of the pips when making or receiving international calls. I guess, we just have to rely on the caller to say, "I'm ringing from..." to make us run to find the wanted party :-)