roy@cs.umn.edu> (08/28/90)
I happened upon a very unusual intercept recording today. In typical, slightly halting sampled speech, it said "The number you have reached, xxx-xxxx, has been disconnected. Calls are being taken on xxx-xxxx." I'm used to "The number has been changed ...", but have never heard this particular version before. Any ideas what it means by "Calls are being taken on xxx-xxxx"? Roy M. Silvernail roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu [Moderator's Note: Did I get a strange one Sunday night! I had finished an international call and immediatly flashed and dialed 00 to get AT&T for another call. It rang once, and a recording said, "This is TS-6, Frame 2, Rogers Park". I hung up, dialed 00 a second time, and got the recording a second time. Third time around, I got the operator. I never was able to get it again. Any ideas? PAT]
David Tamkin <dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com> (08/29/90)
Roy Silvernail wrote in Volume 10, Issue 603: | I happened upon a very unusual intercept recording today. In typical, | slightly halting sampled speech, it said "The number you have reached, | xxx-xxxx, has been disconnected. Calls are being taken on xxx-xxxx." | I'm used to "The number has been changed ...", but have never heard | this particular version before. Any ideas what it means by "Calls are | being taken on xxx-xxxx"? "The number has been changed" means that the same customer has new service on a different number (usually at a new location). "Calls are being taken at" (or "on" as you heard it) means that the party called no longer has telephone service (or temporarily doesn't have service, but then the recording would have been "is out of service" rather than "has been disconnected") and that calls are being taken at some other number that was already in service before the number you dialed was disconnected. For example, a person dies and calls are being taken at the number of a surviving relative who already had a phone; a business shuts down and calls are being taken at the number of a former competitor who will now be taking care of the clients (or at the home number of the retired proprietor); a residential customer moves in with someone else and henceforth receives calls on the other person's existing number; or somebody with a twelve-line hunt group cuts it down to eight lines (and the "calls are being taken" recording intercepts calls dialed directly into the four disconnected trunks, referring people to the number at the start of the hunt group). The easiest way to put it is that "has been changed" means that a new telephone number has replaced the old one; "calls are being taken" means that the service was merged into service on another number that was already in use. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com
pc@ctt.ctt.bellcore.com (08/29/90)
In article <11439@accuvax.nwu.edu> is written: > I happened upon a very unusual intercept recording today. In typical, > slightly halting sampled speech, it said "The number you have reached, > xxx-xxxx, has been disconnected. Calls are being taken on xxx-xxxx." > I'm used to "The number has been changed ...", but have never heard > this particular version before. Any ideas what it means by "Calls are > being taken on xxx-xxxx"? When I moved from PA to NJ some years ago, I asked for the new number to be put on the intercept message, and ended up with what you describe above. Perhaps it has to do with being in a different LATA? I can't see any technical reason to require the different message. peter clitherow
Andrew.Hastings@pogo.camelot.cs.cmu.edu (08/30/90)
In article <11439@accuvax.nwu.edu> cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) writes: >I'm used to "The number has been changed ...", but have never heard >this particular version before. Any ideas what it means by "Calls are >being taken on xxx-xxxx"? It means that the person who had service at the disconnected number did not get new service at his/her new location. The "calls are being taken by" number was already in service. When I moved out of the Twin Cities area, I told NW Bell to refer calls to my sister who still lived in the area. It would be incorrect to say that my number was "changed" to her number. Another situation where this message is used is if you decide to share an apartment with someone who already has telephone service at that apartment. Andy Hastings abh@cs.cmu.edu 412/268-8734
Ed_Greenberg@fin.3mail.3com.com (08/30/90)
I believe that "Calls are being taken by...." indicates that the new number belongs to somebody other than the old subscriber.
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) (09/07/90)
To add another data point to this somewhat tired conversation, here is
the intercept that you get if you dial my beach house during the
winter, with line breaks approximating the phrasing. It's the longest
one I've ever heard.
"At the customer's request,
3-6-1 1-1-1-2
has been temporarily disconnected and
calls are being taken by
areacode 6-1-7 4-9-2 3-8-6-9."
Then the whole thing repeats. Both phones are in my name, but in
different states with different telcos.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!esegue!johnl