henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) (10/16/89)
Mr. Kendall states in his recent item that there is no touch-tone service in Australia; I must disagree. I lived on Australia's Gold Coast from January until June of this year, and the only phones I saw there which were *not* touch-tone were coin-operated payphones. In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I found that touch-tone service was non-existent; it did seem to be an up-and-coming thing for many regions, though. From Mr. Kendall's network address, I see he is in Tasmania, which may be regarded as something of an outpost (with respect to new features) as far as Telecom Australia is concerned. # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au>
kendall@uunet.uu.net (kendall) (10/18/89)
I was surprised to hear from Mr. Mensch in his recent article that the Gold Coast has touch-tone service. A quick ring to one of my friends in Telecom-Australia revealed that I was quite mistaken. Indeed, Telecom is gradually phasing in touch-tone service and hopes to have all major urban areas covered by 1991 or so. Even here in Hobart, Tasmania the service is available for a few exchanges. On the Gold Coast up in Queensland where a lot of new development is taking place, it is relatively easy to build new exchanges with the touch-tone capability. It is much more costly to replace exchanges as will be done here. Nevertheless I am quite content to wait for the service, preferring to live in a much more pleasant climate and less corrupt (according to the newspapers) environment than Queensland. Here in Tasmania we move through life at a sure and steady pace. Don't take this last part too seriously -- just a bit of interstate rivalry, ha, ha. In any case I have touch-tone service as does almost any organization here with its own PABX. The University of Tasmania has an ASB 900 SPC PABX which has been adequate for our needs.
jwb@uunet.uu.net (Jim Breen) (10/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0456m03@vector.dallas.tx.us>, henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) quotes earlier correspondent: > In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I found that touch-tone service was > non-existent; it did seem to be an up-and-coming thing for many > regions, though. ............... You can't have looked too hard. Most exchanges (CO's) in the larger cities have had DTMF capability for several years. It is there for the asking, however most telephone customers are prepared to go on using their good old rotary-dial telephones. Part of this is due to the Australian regulatory system. Telecom Australia, the PTT, is the sole provider of exchange lines and has the right to provide , as part of the package, the first 'phone in each site. For most people, getting the touch-phone service means either buying a new phone, or getting Telecom to change over (for a fee), plus paying Telecom to change the line from Decadic to DTMF. Small wonder most people stay with rotary dialling. My Institute has a modern ISDN-compatible PABX network. All our handsets, and all our exchange lines, are DTMF. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298