DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu) (DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) (06/05/90)
Hi- A few weeks back during the ESS outage in Stamford, CT, I noticed that Southern New England Telephone (SNET, the most-of-Connecticut "Bell" Co.) did something rather odd. From their DMS exchanges, they managed to block off ALL calls to the exchanges in Stamford which were affected. IE, you would dial 1+977-xxxx or 1+324-xxxx or any Stamford number, and it would be blocked immediately. Depending on where you were calling from, it would either give you a recorded message or a re-order. This would happen INSTANTLY at the exchange you called from, not after taking some time to get down to Stamford. Even 0+xxx-xxxx calls to Stamford were blocked. Is this some new local network feature that SNET and the rest of the Bells have? I recall when the exchange in Brooklyn (NY) (There's a Brooklyn, CT too, so just in case anyone got confused...:-) ) caught fire that all calls were NEVER blocked locally, but only when they got to (or "near") the damaged exchange. The reason I ask is that SNET in many respects is a bit slow to implement new developments in telephone technology. It still has a lot of older Crossbars and Step-By-Steps, like the rest of New England. SNET is just beginning to experiment with CLASS features, but only Call*Block, and only in the Meriden area for at least the next 2 years. Most areas still allow 0+xxx-xxxx calls to be sequenced to AT&T calls (out-of-state), altough they SAY this is supposed to be prohibited. (Although I've noticed that in C&P Tel. territory, mainly Washington DC, this works as well, ie, no difference between AT&T and C&P Tel Calling Card equipment...) Just wondering if SNET has a system to control their calls at the local switches, or did they have someone at each office program it it manually...!? Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals...! :-) )
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (06/05/90)
"Douglas Scott Reuben" <DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu> writes: > From their DMS exchanges, they managed to block off ALL calls to the > exchanges in Stamford which were affected. IE, you would dial > 1+977-xxxx or 1+324-xxxx or any Stamford number, and it would be > blocked immediately. Depending on where you were calling from, it > would either give you a recorded message or a re-order. > Is this some new local network feature that SNET and the rest of the > Bells have? Happens all the time here. Whenever the remarkably advanced, super wonderful, all things to all people, greatest thing since sliced bread (but unfortunately discontinued and abandoned by AT&T) GTD-5 switch in Los Gatos crashes (at least once a year) the surrounding Pac*Bell COs are really quick on the uptake. (Probably 'cause they are faced with the problem in Los Gatos so much.) Calls directed to Los Gatos are immediately intercepted by a recording that says, "Due to telephone company difficulty, your call cannot be completed at this time." GTE then usually sends someone up from Thousand Jokes or Santa Monica who is usually able to get things running within a day or two. (Remember, this is the town whose council voted disapproval of GTE as the telco. Silly them, don't they know they have the most advanced CO switching equipment in the world?) Anyway, I feel the wording of the intercept recording is much too charitable. If I were Pac*Bell, the script would be changed somewhat. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to guess what that might be. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !