markc@wpi.wpi.edu (Mark B. Cohen) (12/06/89)
Recent, and some not so recent, articles in the Digest have brought a few questions and observations to mind. Old CO switches: I live in a town that only recently upgraded from pulse-only to electronic switching. [As a side note, kudos to New England Telephone for no noticable problems during the actual change.] My parents live a town that is also pulse-only (with no known plans for change....) With the old switch here in 508-865, intra-exchange calls could be dialed using 5-XXXX. At my parents residence, in 413-229, a similar intra-exchange call is dialed using only XXXX. Dialing the five digits would connect to 9XXX and drop the final digit. Is this difference significant, or just a feature from different switch manufacturers? Alternate LD from pay phones: Recently, I stopped at a pay phone in Brewster, NY (914-???) to place an interstate call using my NETel/AT&T calling card. The phone was clearly labelled with "Calls outside the 914 area code are handled by AT&T Long Distance Service". Dialing 0+number produced the expected 'gong' tone, after which I entered my card number. The response was a recording: "Thank you for using First Fone." After waiting for about 5 seconds (for a connection that is normally almost instantaneous) I closed the connection, and redialed using 10288+. This time, the connection was effectively instantaneous, with the traditional AT&T recording. In the past, I've also gotten a Sprint attachment to my NETel bill for an interstate calling card call. Two questions on this issue: First, is there any form of legislation that requires the _correct_ LD carrier to be displayed on a pay telephone? Second, can carriers such as Sprint or FirstFone utilize another carriers validation code? My understanding is that one must establish an account with an alternate carrier and receive a carrier-specific validation code. Misuse of local DA? A chain of diet centers in the MetroBoston area has been using a commercial that in my estimation is a blatant misuse of DA. At the close of the commercial, instead of an expected list of locations or a toll-free number, etc. etc., the image ends with the text "Call 411 today." Ironically enough, I first noticed this commercial shortly after the start of the strike against NETel. I called the NETel business office and mentioned the existence of the commercial. Their response was that if I wanted to file a formal complaint they could investigate it. I told them, thanks anyway, but I just thought they should know about it. NPA splits: I've now lived through two splits, one in each part of the affected area. During the 212/718 split, I had a job similar to Patrick's: I was a collector for second and third-party payments for a large hospital in Manhattan. For the 617/508 split, I moved less than two months after the split, so my number effectively changed twice in six weeks. I was never aware of any reported difficulty during either split. Toll-free numbers: A local radio station recently ran a large campaign for giving away thousands of dollars. (Don't they all? :) The station's studio is located in Worcester. Their business and request lines are local Worcester numbers. For this campaign, the number they advertised was 931-1045, which they claim is a toll-free call. (Non-coincidentally, their frequency is 104.5 MHz.) Calls to 931-1045 require a leading 1 from 508-865, which is local to Worcester. A check of the phone book showed an entry for 617-931 in Boston, and no entry for 508-931. 617-931-1045 is invalid. Is it possible to have an intra-NPA toll-free call without the leading 800? (I've never been able to get anything other than a busy, fast-busy, or a circuits busy recording when calling, so I don't have a record of a completed call.) Old telco equipment: In the basement of my parents home, I recently discovered some form of old telco battery. There was a case somewhat secreted among the floor joists, with a small cable (disconnected) running to it. The case itself it roughtly the size and shape of a large binocular case. Within the case are what appear to be two large dry cells. Each of them is cylindrical, roughly 8 inches high and 3 inches in diameter. They both have two screw-top terminals on the upper face. The upper and lower faces appear to be cardboard, and the wrapper is brown (now anyway) paper with the words (from memory) "Bell Telephone Property, Nov. 1929" (Date is approximate, I haven't looked in while. It's definitly the 1920's though.) From my understanding of the history of the house, it was built in the late 20's. Until 10 years ago, the house was at the end of the line for both telephone and electric service. (What's cable TV? :) So what are these things? Everything I've read on the history of telephony indicates power supplies were centralized. It also doesn't make sense to me to place expendables in a location not easily accessed. One final question, not directly related to telephony: Is the large population of people on the network with technical telephony knowledge the result of UNIX(tm) originally having been a Bell Labs product? Thanks to everyone in advance. Mark Cohen markc@wpi.wpi.edu markc@wpi.bitnet ...!well_connected_site!wpi.wpi.edu!markc (Not UUCP domain registered)