ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org (David Dodell) (12/22/89)
I saw the following notice in my USAToday feed this morning, anyone
know any information about it?
AT&T UPGRADES 800 SERVICE:
To make it more convenient for shoppers to do business through 800
numbers, customers can now find suppliers or vendors faster by calling
an 800 directory on their computers. By agreement with CompuServe,
AT&T's directory of 800 service numbers is available now free of
computer connect time charges via CompuServe Information Service.
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St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona
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Internet: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.orglangz@asylum.sf.ca.us (Lang Zerner) (12/23/89)
In article <2341@accuvax.nwu.edu> ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org (David Dodell) writes: >By agreement with CompuServe, AT&T's directory of 800 service numbers is >available now free of computer connect time charges via CompuServe Information >Service. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Does one still need to pay some minimum monthly fee for access to Compuserve, or is there some way for this to be really free of charge? In other words, have they essentially set up an anonymous "800-directory" account for which AT&T is picking up the tab? Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" [Moderator's Note: When I called CIS Friday evening about another matter, I inquired from the customer service rep about this new offering. You can access the data base from within the regular CIS menus, and there is no connect charge while in that area; but supposedly there is also an 800 number which terminates directly on their machine in that service. He said he did not have the number, and to 'ask someone at AT&T'...that he knew almost nothing about it. PT]
gws@cbnews.ATT.COM (Gary W. Sanders) (12/26/89)
In article <2341@accuvax.nwu.edu> ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org (David Dodell) writes: > To make it more convenient for shoppers to do business through 800 >numbers, customers can now find suppliers or vendors faster by calling >an 800 directory on their computers. By agreement with CompuServe, >AT&T's directory of 800 service numbers is available now free of >computer connect time charges via CompuServe Information Service. As a Compuserve advisor I did some beta testing of the TFD (Toll Free Directory) on Compuserve. Its a simple database look up program. You can however do lookups based on a couple of options. name, state, city and product type. The database will provide toll free numbers and list the state the numbers are valid from. It will also list a direct dial number if toll free is not available from your area. (I'm not sure if this was in the production release). The big problem is it is slow. You can call 800 info and get the number faster. The other problem is you need a CIS account. The computer connect time may be free but you still incure network access time. Gary Sanders (N8EMR) AT&T Bell Labs, Columbus Ohio gws@cblph.att.com 614-860-5965