yazz@devnet.la.locus.com (Bob Yasi) (08/11/90)
My home phone in San Diego, 619/581-xxxx, is on a Northern Telecom DMS II switch; I'm unsure of the software revision. Until just about a week ago, a caller could tell whether he was causing a call waiting beep or not by the sound of the ring. (BTW, please feel free to correct my terminology.) A normal "ring cycle" begins with two seconds of ring tone followed by three seconds of silence (and repeats). If you are the cause of a call waiting beep you came in half way thru the ring so the first ring you hear seems to cut off early. I have two lines in my home and tested this extensively and have just noticed that this behavior has stopped -- now there is no difference. I've noticed the same thing at my sister's house in Mass., 617/289-xxxx, (which I suspect is a DMS II prefix also since a call waiting beep doesn't "ker-chunk" at you like ESS does) but I didn't test it enough to be confident of the behavior. Does anyone have any more information about the disappearance of this undocumented feature? (One humorously paranoid friend ventured that it meant my phone is being tapped but that seems pretty silly to me.) Surely there will be some opinions about this feature too; I like it and miss it myself. Since I'm new to the net, I wonder if the archives have any discussions of DMS II CO equipment versus ESS and other stuff. [Moderator's Note: I do not think there are any specific items in the Telecom Archives on this specific topic. PT]
onymouse@ames.arc.nasa.gov (John Debert) (08/12/90)
I would like to see the telco's start using the same kind of "ringback" that is used in ESS-type PBX's (i.e. 5ESS) which put a short beep right on the end of the "ringback". This tells the caller that the line is in use and suggests that he might want to try again later. It's better than listening to it ring without being answered and not knowing if someone is at the other end or not. jd onymouse@netcom.UUCP
merlyn@iwarp.intel.com (Randal Schwartz) (08/12/90)
In article <10716@accuvax.nwu.edu>, yazz@devnet (Bob Yasi) writes:
[about the difference in ring to the calling party if calling party
is call-waiting a conversation in progress]
I notice that calls to local GTE and US West (Bell-like) numbers in
this area will ring a "long" ring for the first ring if I'm
interrupting someone else's call in progress. It spooks them when I
ask "who were you talking to?" after they pick me up (either by
putting the other call on hold or losing them). I thought that was
pretty much inherent in the "standard" call-waiting package, but maybe
that's a localism?
Other datapoints?
Randal L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095
on contract to Intel's iWarp project, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, Sol III
merlyn@iwarp.intel.com ...!any-MX-mailer-like-uunet!iwarp.intel.com!merlyn
[Moderator's Note: Although the very experienced ear can tell the
difference when calling someone here (slight differences in the
clicks, etc), IBT says they don't intend to change the rings or
otherwise make an obvious response to the caller about the status of
the other person's phone. Why? They say it is none of your business if
the person you are calling is already on the phone. Obviously, a busy
signal tells you, but that's a completely different matter. If someone
has call-waiting, it is up to them to let you know if they are on
another call. PAT]wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (08/13/90)
[about the difference in ring to the calling party if calling party is call-waiting a conversation in progress] >[Moderator's Note: {edited}IBT says they don't intend to change the >rings or otherwise make an obvious response to the caller about the >status of the other person's phone. Why? They say it is none of your >business if the person you are calling is already on the phone.] You seem to be missing the crucial point. IBT or Pac*Bell wants the Call Interruptus to be used every time to avoid setting up non-revenue calls. They want you to stay on the line, at least until the supervision latches, and the billing counter goes 'DING'. If you knew you were interupting someone - you might feel guilty, hang up and call again later. wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM pob 570-335 33257-0335 [Moderator's Note: That may be what they want, but a by-product is the privacy retained by the person being called. PAT]
I.G.Batten@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Ian G Batten) (08/13/90)
yazz@devnet.la.locus.com (Bob Yasi) writes: > II switch; I'm unsure of the software revision. Until just about a > week ago, a caller could tell whether he was causing a call waiting The BT System X exchanges are far more sensible; they give the caller a spoken message saying ``The phone you are dialing is in use; we are attempting to connect you.'' ian
cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk (Clive Carmock) (08/15/90)
It was interesting to read that the US phone system doesn't distinguish calls waiting calls from any other sort. Here in the UK if you call a line that has call waiting activated and the phone is in use you get DEe Daa Daa The number called is busy, we're trying to connect your call please hold the line. This is repeated over and over until the called party answers or after thirty seconds when the exhange will time out and say 'Sorry your call could not be connected, please try later'. Clive Carmock