Sam Ho <samho@larry.cs.washington.edu> (12/23/89)
While most 800 numbers do not work from Canada, I believe it is possible to get US+Canada accessible 800 service. However, I've also seen Canadians instructed to dial 112-800-NNX-XXXX, toll-free. I can't remember the number offhand, but the pledge line for our local PBS station, KCTS-9, is one. "Call 728-9000 (mass calling prefix, apparently) in Seattle, or 1-800-something in Washington State. For our viewers in Canada, (cut to shot of volunteers in Vancouver) call 112-800-something. Remember, Channel 9 is viewer-supported television, etc." Anybody know the purpose of this oddity? Sam Ho samho@larry.cs.washington.edu
Gary L Dare <gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu> (12/24/89)
In X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 588, Sam Ho writes: >While most 800 numbers do not work from Canada, I believe it is >possible to get US+Canada accessible 800 service. However, I've >also seen Canadians instructed to dial 112-800-NNX-XXXX, toll-free. Continent-wide 1-800 for Canada and the US is not unusual; a radio call-in show called "Rockline" (11:30 PM Eastern) has 344-ROCK for both countries. >in Canada, (cut to shot of volunteers in Vancouver) call >112-800-something. That's not unusual; for some strange reason, 1-800 numbers inside British Columbia have to be prefixed with 112-800, not 1-800. I don't know why, but when they list domestic numbers on television or whatever, there is always a seperate B.C. number like this. So if your Canadian PBS viewers are in British Columbia, then they'll have to use their BC Tel to get at the operators. NB: Remember that there are 10 Canadian provinces, each one a bit different from the other like Texas and New Hampshire and Oregon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gary L. Dare Jesus Saves! > gld@cunixB.cc.columbia.EDU *temp. Gretzky gets the rebound - > gld@cunixc.BITNET he shoots, he scores!
shad04@ccu.umanitoba.ca (12/27/89)
In article <2391@accuvax.nwu.edu> Gary L Dare <gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu> writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 591, message 6 of 8 >In X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 588, Sam Ho writes: [among other stuff,] >>in Canada, (cut to shot of volunteers in Vancouver) call 112-800-something. >That's not unusual; for some strange reason, 1-800 numbers inside >British Columbia have to be prefixed with 112-800, not 1-800. I don't >know why, but when they list domestic numbers on television or >whatever, there is always a seperate B.C. number like this. So if >your Canadian PBS viewers are in British Columbia, then they'll have >to use their BC Tel to get at the operators. That was true several years ago, but BC Tel changed the entire province over to the "standard" 1+ dialing in 1985, just in time for Vancouver's Expo '86. Prior to mid-1985, directory assistance was 113, repair was 114, and (at least in my exchange, 604-853) the number that got your own number spoken back to you was 117, and the pulse/tone speed/frequency test number was 110 (I'm 92% certain of the last two). Now we have 411, 611, 211, and 311, respectively, just like everybody else (except Washington :-) I missed the original article (or maybe it just hasn't arrived yet :-), so ignore the rest if I sound incoherent. I know the Seattle, WA PBS station (KCTS) has an office in Vancouver, BC to handle its BC subscribers (apparently quite a few). If there are two 800 numbers shown, one is likely for the Seattle office, the other for the Vancouver office. (Aside: Is it possible to have a single 800 number route you to the closest Canadian or American office depending on where you're calling?) KCTS would definitely know about the BC change to 1+ dialing, so maybe you were discussing WTVS, the Detroit PBS station that's just became available to some Vancouver cable subscribers. That's probably what was in the original article, right? So this *was* rather incoherent, wasn't it? I'd better quit while I'm ahead... CdnNet: shad04@ccu.umanitoba.ca Compu$erve: 72365,306 FidoNet: Dan Fandrich at 1:153/508
sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) (12/27/89)
In article <2365@accuvax.nwu.edu> samho@larry.cs.washington.edu (Sam Ho) writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 588, message 7 of 9 >While most 800 numbers do not work from Canada, I believe it is >possible to get US+Canada accessible 800 service. However, I've also >seen Canadians instructed to dial 112-800-NNX-XXXX, toll-free. I >can't remember the number offhand, but the pledge line for our local >PBS station, KCTS-9, is one. "Call 728-9000 (mass calling prefix, >apparently) in Seattle, or 1-800-something in Washington State. For >our viewers in Canada, (cut to shot of volunteers in Vancouver) call >112-800-something. Remember, Channel 9 is viewer-supported >television, etc." Anybody know the purpose of this oddity? You probably havn't seen that recently. Up until a few years ago all long distance dialing in BC was done with 112-XXX-YYYY. BC Tel switched us over a year or three back. It is possible for companies in the US or Canada to get 800 numbers that work across the line. I believe since about 1982. AT&T for example has 800 numbers that are available in Canada for ordering documents (although I believe our 800 numbers are different from the US ones). SCO (as in SCO Xenix) has an 800 number that get's you into their sales department (and in this case the 800 number is identical to the US one). I use this as a test of how much a company wants Canadian business. If they have an 800 number and it doesn't work in Canada I form the opinion that they are not interested in my business. Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca ubc-cs!van-bc!sl 604-937-7532 (voice) 604-939-4768 (fax)