hwt@uunet.uu.net> (08/14/90)
In article <10848@accuvax.nwu.edu> yilmazer@suns01.Nowhere (Sedat Yilmazer) writes: >At the cost of the callers privacy! Here in Vienna I got, up to >now, no crank calls. ... Note: NOT about Caller-ID. I wonder if Sedat's blissful crank call-less world is due to the fact that most of Europe -- and I therefore presume Austria -- charges for local calls, making crank calling a much less attractive 'hobby' of the eight-to-ten year olds and drunks that I seem to get? Anyone have any facts or opinions on the relative rates of crank calls. On another track, when I lived in the U.K. we were taught to answer the phone with the number. I presume this dates from a time when the switching system was even less reliable than it is today. But in North America one thing you never do is tell a caller what number s/he has reached. How does the rest of the world answer the phone? Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 HWT@BNR.CA 613-765-2337
Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@brl.mil> (08/17/90)
Henry Troup <bnrgate!bwdlh490.bnr.ca!hwt@uunet.uu.net> writes that in UK he was taught to answer the phone with the number, but that in North America this is not done. If there is a problem with a wrong number, you might ask the caller what number he/she is trying to reach. Also, I have had at least one or two cases where I reached an answering machine which announced the number I had reached (in lieu of giving out a person's name?).
wnp@relay.eu.net> (08/17/90)
In article <10918@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup <bnrgate!bwdlh490. bnr.ca!hwt@uunet.uu.net> writes: >I wonder if Sedat's blissful crank call-less world is due to the fact >that most of Europe -- and I therefore presume Austria -- charges for >local calls, making crank calling a much less attractive 'hobby' of >the eight-to-ten year olds and drunks that I seem to get? Yes, Austria does charge for local calls. As far as I know, on subscriber lines, local charges start the moment you go off-hook and continue till you hang up again; on older-style payphones you provide your own answer supervision by pushing a button when the called party answers; newer payphones also seem to charge for the entire time you're off-hook. This does seem to be one of the reasons crank calls are less frequent; it does not eliminate them altogether, though. However, I also think that a low occurrence of crank calls is related to the overall social climate; Vienna also has a relatively low crime rate. I am sure that if you find a city with a higher crime rate, say London, Paris, Frankfurt or Hamburg, you will also find a higher incidence of crank calls, despite the fact that in all these cities, local calls are charged. >Anyone have any facts or opinions on the relative rates of crank >calls. See above. I don't have any facts, just guesses. >On another track, when I lived in the U.K. we were taught to answer >the phone with the number. I presume this dates from a time when the >switching system was even less reliable than it is today. But in North >America one thing you never do is tell a caller what number s/he has >reached. How does the rest of the world answer the phone? Actually, I think the British custom of answering the phone with the number stems from privacy concerns: presumably the caller KNOWS what number s/he has called; but if s/he has dialled a random number, why tell him/her whom s/he has reached? In Austria, and I believe in the rest of German-speaking Europe, residential phones are usually answered with the subscriber's last name; if a visitor answeres the phone, he may just answer with the subscriber's name, or else would say, for example, "bei Meier", "at the Meier's". Since not only are local calls charged for, but until recently, none of the fancy gadgets like auto-diallers were available here or licensed for connection to the phone system, phone solicitation is virtually unknown here, and most people here in Austria are not terribly concerned with privacy as it relates to telephones. This may change once Austria joins the EEC (5-6 years from now at the most) and the entire telecom area will be largely deregulated. Wolf N. Paul, Int. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Schloss Laxenburg, Schlossplatz 1, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa.at!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa.at@uunet.uu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET
Thomas.Farmer@actrix.co.nz (Thomas Farmer) (08/19/90)
In article <10918@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup <bnrgate!bwdlh490.bnr .ca!hwt@uunet.uu.net> writes: >I wonder if Sedat's blissful crank call-less world is due to the fact >that most of Europe -- and I therefore presume Austria -- charges for >local calls, making crank calling a much less attractive 'hobby' of >the eight-to-ten year olds and drunks that I seem to get? >On another track, when I lived in the U.K. we were taught to answer >the phone with the number. I presume this dates from a time when the >switching system was even less reliable than it is today. But in North >America one thing you never do is tell a caller what number s/he has >reached. How does the rest of the world answer the phone? Well, firstly, I live in an area with free local calling (Praise the Lord! :-) and I have never had a crank call yet ... A few wrong numbers, but no crank calls. And that's on both lines! Secondly, what you say about answering the hone with the number is interesting. I suddenly understand where my friend with British parents gets the habit from! But it appears that the standard here is to answer the phone with a "Hello?" if it's a private line. Of course businesses answer with their name. mail: tfarmer@actrix.co.nz (I think)
carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) (08/24/90)
In article <10984@accuvax.nwu.edu> cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >Henry Troup <bnrgate!bwdlh490.bnr.ca!hwt@uunet.uu.net> writes that in >UK he was taught to answer the phone with the number, but that in >North America this is not done. I usually answer the phone this way at the office. Since at least half my calls at the office come from other Boeing-owned phones, it's kind of silly to say "Boeing Company, may I help you?". To most callers from outside, the name of my department is meaningless, especially since it was designed to be that way, so that doesn't make sense either. Almost all the phones here are shared by two to four people, most of whom get calls from people who have no idea who the other person(s) assigned to that line are; so it doesn't make sense to answer with one's name, as if one expected to be recognized by the caller. But most of all, it's very consistent with Boeing corporate culture for engineers to pick up the phone and say in an irritated tone, "6349. Carroll." So that's what I do. It makes Boeing people feel at home, and if it makes salesmen slightly uncomfortable, so much the better. >If there is a problem with a wrong number, you might ask the caller >what number he/she is trying to reach. Also, I have had at least one >or two cases where I reached an answering machine which announced the >number I had reached (in lieu of giving out a person's name?). We do this at home. Some of us *like* our anonymity. If the caller doesn't know who he's calling, it's none of his business. Wrong numbers are easily rectified anyway. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com