Dan.Birchall@samba.acs.unc.edu (08/09/90)
Just saw on the news here (Philadelphia) where Bell of PA. is now going to offer a new custom calling service, Home Intercom... Service is aimed toward elderly, handicapped, and people with several phones on the same line. From a phone with the service, you can dial your own number, and other phones on the line will give a distinctive ring. Price is the usual two bucks and change per month. Hoping that NJ Bell will also implement such a thing, since we have two multi-phone lines here at home.
mingo@uunet.uu.net (Charles Hawkins Mingo) (08/20/90)
In article <10651@accuvax.nwu.edu> Dan.Birchall@samba.acs.unc.edu writes: >Just saw on the news here (Philadelphia) where Bell of PA. is now >going to offer a new custom calling service, Home Intercom... Service >is aimed toward elderly, handicapped, and people with several phones >on the same line. From a phone with the service, you can dial your >own number, and other phones on the line will give a distinctive ring. >Price is the usual two bucks and change per month. When I was growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada we could do this too. The exchange (902/423-xxxx) dated from the early fifties, did not allow touch-tone, and apparantly had this feature to accomodate party line customers who wished to call one another (according to the phone book, where I first discovered this). Anyway, one dialed 41091, hung up, and the phones rang with a double length ring. You waited until the ringing stopped (meaning someone else had answered the phone), and picked up yourself. I had used this feature as recently as April 1988 (when I was convalescing at home with a broken leg); however, when I tried it in August 1989, after the exchange went digital, it worked no more. Plus ca change, plus le meme chose. Charlie Mingo Internet: mingo@well.sf.ca.us 2209 Washington Circle #2 CI$: 71340,2152 Washington, DC 20037 AT&T: 202/785-2089