KLH@nic.ddn.mil (Ken Harrenstien) (08/09/90)
Recently I had to make an international TDD call to England, and was having problems -- instead of a ring or busy signal, I was getting voice frequencies, which usually means an (unintelligible) recorded message. Okay, I thought, this is a job for the TDD operator number (800/855-1155). Well, I was calling about 12 midnight PDT and expected no trouble. Imagine my consternation when that number just rang... and rang... and rang. I tried again just to make sure I hadn't misdialed, and this time let it keep ringing. I can assure you it is exceedingly boring work to watch a flashing LED for 5 (yes five) minutes so as not to miss the fleeting moment when someone answers. When the operator finally announced her/him/itself, my first question was why it took so long to get a response. The answer was "Because of people like you asking questions like that". I didn't get the impression that this was supposed to be funny. It turns out that there is only ONE TDD operator on duty, at least at that time, to serve the entire United States. The operator did try to place my call, but only said that it "didn't go through". No information as to why -- whether it was busy, whether the trunks were full, whether the number was wrong, nothing. (Yes, I asked. I found out afterwards that the number had the wrong country code!) Before hanging up, I asked one more question: whether there was someone I could contact to talk about providing additional staffing. The curt answer was "No one". Is it just me, or would this kind of 24-hour "service" boil anyone else's blood? If so, who SHOULD be contacted? It's not as if we TDD users could vote with our feet and go elsewhere, you know. Thanks to anyone who can provide some leads... By unfortunate coincidence, the next day I received yet another AT&T "Reach Out" promotion. Since it comes with a business-reply-mail envelope, I took the liberty of correcting some untruths on the blurb and sending it back. Not satisfying enough, however. Ken