DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu) (DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) (09/07/90)
Pat-
I'm not sure about cell service in the Chicago area, but one can
always dial *19 to cancel FMR from *ANY* FMR system.
Thus, if I were to activate FMR in Boston, and then drive to
Philadelphia, upon arriving in Phil. I could dial *19 and cancel it if
I chose, or *17 ('my' version of semi-permanent Follow Me Roaming) or
*18 to establish FMR in the Philadelphia system. A "*17" system should
work EXACTLY like *18, except that it does not cancel out at 12AM.
Otherwise, it is the same, and can be superseded by another "*17", a
*18, or a *19 command while away from your Home system.
Alternately, back in my home/GTE San Francisco system, I dial *720
(cancel call forwarding, *73 for most other systems), which also
cancels it. (Although *19 seems to work in my home system as well...).
The only way (at least that I can see) in which dialing "*17" can get
you stuck so that you can't deactivate is if you activate FMR in a
system and then roam to a new system that does NOT have FMR. (For
example, I activate in Connecticut and drive to New York City, which
still, believe it or not, does not have FMR!). This is a potential
problem, but as more and more systems get FMR, it should greatly
diminish. (Note that in such a rare situation I could just call
customer service and have them deactivate FMR for me, which would
allow callers to get my voicemail or the generic message that I am not
in the area.)
Moreover, even if "all" my calls did go to CT instead of NY, no big
deal, as no one pays if I'm not in the area, so all callers will get
is the message "The mobile customer you have dialed is not in the
vehicle. Please try your call later.", which is pretty much the same
thing they would get if FMR automatically deactivated at 12AM and my
callers got the local GTE recording. (Unless, again, I turned on
Voicemail, in which case callers wouldn't be able to get voicemail
unless I specifically *19'ed the FMR system when I got back to CT or
San Francisco.)
So overall, it seems like a "*17" system is workable ... I mean, FMR
itself isn't all that reliable, and there have been plenty of
instances when the 12AM cancel period has caused service outages for
me, so a *17 system, although creating a few potential (and minor)
problems, could go a long way towards alleviating the 12AM
"cancel-out" problems and also cut down on the number of Follow Me
requests which FMR has to process. (IE, if I go to Denver, I press
*17, and leave it that way until I leave. Thus, FMR no longer has to
cancel me out every day, and doesn't have to reactivate me the next
morning.)
Oh well, it's just an idea...;-)
Doug
dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu
dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet