Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu (09/27/89)
Two things about call forwarding: A) Why on earth does it do that thing where the first time you try forwarding, it actually places the call to the number, and if it's busy or no answer, you have to do the whole forwarding sequence again? Is there a single person on the planet for whom that's helpful or convenient? B) How difficult would it be to modify the system so that when one placed a call to a forwarded number, they would first hear a short tone signifying that the call was being bumped? Unlike A), that would actually be informative and helpful. Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu [Moderator's Note: Regards (A), if you actually reach the party to whom you are forwarding, you are assured of dialing correctly. If you get a busy or no answer, it might be because you dialed a wrong number. By doing it a second time, telco is assured that your instructions match your intentions. Without this repeat-dialing verification, you might accidentally have forwarded to the wrong place. Regards (B), many people do not want you to know they are not at home/office, etc. They'd prefer that you assume they are wherever you dialed them at. And for residences, do you want to let a burglar know you are not home, due a 'forwarding tone' which tells him there is no one there to receive a call (or unauthorized visit)? At present, if you listen *closely* when dialing a centrex number with call forwarding on no answer, after the third ring you will hear a slightly out of synch ring the fourth time. PT]
asa@stl-07sima.army.mil (Will Martin on 7000) (09/28/89)
Here's another criticism: If I don't have call forwarding, is there any way for me to turn OFF the call forwarding that someone else has directed to my number? As the recipient of such forwarded calls, I should have the right to reject the "honor" of receiving them. Is there a way to prevent my number from ever being specified as the recipient of call-forwarded calls? (Something like the UNIX "mesg n" command but in the telco universe... :-) And, as a side question: I seem to recall this being asked during the "Caller*ID" debate, but don't recall it being answered. Maybe somebody out there with Caller*ID can now tell us: If a call is call-forwarded to a phone with "Caller*ID", is the number displayed that of the forwarding phone or the originating one? If the number displayed is that of the originating phone, is there any heirarchy of displays -- that is, if the originating phone is out of the area and the number isn't available, but the number of the forwarding phone IS available, will the forwarding-phone's number be displayed in that case? Regards, Will
stank@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (Stan Krieger) (09/29/89)
> B) How difficult would it be to modify the system so that when one > placed a call to a forwarded number, they would first hear a short > tone signifying that the call was being bumped? Unlike A), that would > actually be informative and helpful. > [Moderator's Note: > Regards (B), many people do not want > you to know they are not at home/office, etc. The problem with call-forwarding is that SOMEONE should know the call has been call-forwarded; otherwise the conversation can be very awkward. I agree with the moderator that letting the caller know that the call has been forwarded will defeat one of the selling points of that feature, but if the receipients aren't aware that the call they're getting is forwarded, they may accidentally give away that information through their fumbling. If the receipients got a coded ring, then they would be forewarned (e.g., if the person who set up call forwarding was in their home, that person could answer the phone; if your relative or friend forwarded to you while you were on vacation, you would know when you answered where you were supposed to pretend you're at). In an office, this would be even more useful. Before desktop terminals became the standard, and terminal rooms were the norm, people who would be working at terminals for several hours would often call-forward to the terminal room. When they forgot to remove call-forwarding, the person who picked up the phone in the terminal room would often just say that so&so wasn't there, or that this wasn't that person's phone (the latter would also happen if calls were left forwarded to someone else's desk, because you knew you would be in their office for a long time). At least with a coded ring, there would be no puzzlement to receipients as to why callers apparently got a wrong number. Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk
tom@pdx.mentor.com (Tom Ace @ PCB x2021) (09/30/89)
In TELECOM Digest V9 #414, Miguel Cruz asked: >A) Why on earth does it do that thing where the first time you try >forwarding, it actually places the call to the number, and if it's >busy or no answer, you have to do the whole forwarding sequence again? >Is there a single person on the planet for whom that's helpful or >convenient? Our moderator replied: >[Moderator's Note: Regards (A), if you actually reach the party to whom >you are forwarding, you are assured of dialing correctly. If you get a >busy or no answer, it might be because you dialed a wrong number. By doing >it a second time, telco is assured that your instructions match your >intentions. Without this repeat-dialing verification, you might accidentally >have forwarded to the wrong place. Huh. I always thought it was a slimebag method to get more revenue. To set up call-forwarding, you need to make (and, if applicable, pay for) a call, like it or not. (Well, an alternative is to place two calls, hanging up before either is answered, not exactly to the delight of whomever you're forwarding the calls to.) Patrick's remarks are valid (I appreciate that it would be a drag to be the recipient of erroneously forwarded calls), but we endure several inconveniences the way things are. There are times when you'd like to be able to set up call-forwarding without ringing the recipient's phone (3 A.M., for example). Tom Ace tom@sje.mentor.com ...!mntgfx!sje!tom P.S. I once wanted to forward my phone to a 976 service as a joke, but the switch wouldn't let me. It did, however, let me forward to an identical 976 service in an adjacent area code (at a greater cost to me for each call forwarded, of course).
roy%phri@uunet.uu.net (Roy Smith) (10/01/89)
With all this talk about non-ergonomic rings, I thought I would
bring up another mis-feature. Our ATT System-25 at work doesn't have call
forwarding, it has what we've come to refer to as call following. To
trnasfer your calls to another phone, you have to go to that phone (known
in the S25 manual as a "voice terminal") and do some magic there. To
cancel the feature, you have to also do some magic at the remote phone. It
works, but it's the reverse of the way people have been trained to think.
I can't figure out why ATT decided to do it this way.
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu
"The connector is the network"mike@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (michael.scott.baldwin) (10/02/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0417m05@vector.dallas.tx.us>, asa@stl-07sima.army.mil (Will Martin on 7000) writes: > And, as a side question: I seem to recall this being asked during the > "Caller*ID" debate, but don't recall it being answered. Maybe somebody > out there with Caller*ID can now tell us: If a call is call-forwarded to > a phone with "Caller*ID", is the number displayed that of the forwarding > phone or the originating one? The originating one. > If the number displayed is that of the originating phone, is there any > heirarchy of displays -- that is, if the originating phone is out of the > area and the number isn't available, but the number of the forwarding > phone IS available, will the forwarding-phone's number be displayed in > that case? No. You always get the originating phone. Thus, if the originator is out of area, but the forwarder is in area, caller*id shows "out of area". More Caller*ID tidbits: It is possible for the little Caller*ID unit to not even notice that a call came in if you pick up the phone very shortly after the first ring. This is because the Caller*ID info gets transmitted between rings, and it is possible to pick up before any info gets sent. This is pretty annoying. Also, not all exchanges in the same town will be in area. We have seven phone lines in my house on five different exchanges, all in the same town. (It's a long story, but it sure is fun having a 25-pair block in the basement installed by NJ Bell). Calls from two of the exchanges show up as "out of area", even though they are from the next room. Bleah! michael.scott.baldwin@att.com (bell laboratories)
dave@uunet.uu.net (Dave Levenson) (10/03/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0417m05@vector.dallas.tx.us>, asa@stl-07sima.army.mil (Will Martin on 7000) writes: ... > And, as a side question: I seem to recall this being asked during the > "Caller*ID" debate, but don't recall it being answered. Maybe somebody > out there with Caller*ID can now tell us: If a call is call-forwarded to > a phone with "Caller*ID", is the number displayed that of the forwarding > phone or the originating one? > If the number displayed is that of the originating phone, is there any > heirarchy of displays -- that is, if the originating phone is out of the > area and the number isn't available, but the number of the forwarding > phone IS available, will the forwarding-phone's number be displayed in > that case? I don't know if this is true everywhere, but in New Jersey, the Caller*Id-equipped recipient of a forwarded call gets the caller's number, not the forwarder's number. If the caller is "Out of Area" then that is displayed; even if the forwarder is not. I tried to take advantage of this a few weeks ago. Our modems kept getting calls from somone/something that would disconnect after listening to our answer tone for several seconds. These calls always arrived two at a time, followed by two more about 30 minutes later. I waited until the first of a series of two arrived, and then forwarded the modem line to our Caller*Id-equipped voice line. But alas, when the second call arrived, the display showed "Out of Area" (even though the forwarding was intra-office) so I still couldn't identify the caller. But it didn't sound like a person or an open mic when I answered the voice line. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave
dave@uunet.uu.net (Dave Levenson) (10/04/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0424m05@vector.dallas.tx.us>, roy%phri@uunet.uu.net (Roy Smith) writes: > With all this talk about non-ergonomic rings, I thought I would > bring up another mis-feature. Our ATT System-25 at work doesn't have call > forwarding, it has what we've come to refer to as call following... ... > I can't figure out why ATT decided to do it this way. System-25 does it that way because Horizon(tm) did it that way. That, in fact, explains most of the System-25 feature set. No, I don't know exactly why Horizon did it that way, but it may be related to their "floating phone number" feature. You can have phone numbers in your Horizon or System 25 which do not correspond to real telephone sets (or voice terminals, for that matter!). If you are a fast-mover around your office, you may be without a physical set, but you can have a floating extension (called a PDC or personal dial code, in System-25 speak). You can then "log in" your floating PDC at the nearest real telephone set, and receive your calls there, until you log out or log in at some other voice terminal. Call-following is just a special case of logging in a PDC (but in this case, not a floating PDC) on a voice terminal. [I keep my floating PDC logged into the phone on the boat!] Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave
tel@hound.att.com (Thomas E Lowe) (10/04/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0424m05@vector.dallas.tx.us> Roy Smith <roy%phri@ uunet.uu.net> writes: >Our ATT System-25 at work doesn't have call >forwarding, it has what we've come to refer to as call following. To >transfer your calls to another phone, you have to go to that phone (known >in the S25 manual as a "voice terminal") and do some magic there. Boy, would I love to have this feature here at work (CENTREX) and home. I don't know how many times I ended up in someone's office or home without expecting to be there and wished my calls were forwarded to me. Also, if it is going to take a substantial amount of time to get there, I would rather my machine take calls till I get where I'm going. I can also go office to office and forward my calls as I move. Of course, I still would want the ability to do both Call Forward from my office/home phone in addition to Call Follow from any phone. Tom Lowe tel@hound.ATT.COM or att!hound!tel 201-949-0428 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2E-637A Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (R) UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (keep them lawyers happy!!)