russ%prism@gatech.edu (Russell Shackelford) (09/19/89)
I'm sure that this has been covered before, but ...... Situation: lady friend and I went away for the weekend to a rented house at the beach. Arrived early evening, after Real Estate Co. had closed. Needed to call her children to tell them phone number to call in case of emergency. Phone number NOT written on phone at rental house. Problem: called "0", asked for number of phone we were calling from. Was told that she knew but couldn't tell us. Surly attitude from both operator and her supervisor (Gulf Bell). Called customer assistance at both Sprint and MCI. Sprint person didn't know, but gave us a 5-digit number to call that would help us. Number didn't work. MCI person knew nothing. Called 911, they WANTED to help, they had the number in front of them on their screen, but were afraid that it would cost them their jobs (they had good attitude, offered alternative way to route kids to us through them). Summary: NO WAY to find out phone number. Questions (2): 1. What's the deal? Of the several people who KNEW but COULDN'T tell us what the number was, NOBODY knew why they couldn't tell us! They just mumbled something vague about violating privacy laws. Is it REALLY the case that the legal system ASSUMES that the reason you want to know the phone number you're dialing from is that you are a BURGLAR who wants to know the number of a house you've just broken into so that you can then charge calls to that number? If so, why aren't Phone Books illegal? 2. HOW can one readily discover the number of a phone one is dialing from. Surely, there is some number to dial that will parrot back to you the dialed-from number? Is there a std num for this function? Thanks, Russell Shackelford School of Information and Computer Science Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332 russ@prism.gatech.edu (404) 834-4759 [Moderator's Note: And this, too, we have covered at length in recent weeks. There is no formula -- no set number -- which works in all places for the purpose of ring-back and/or number i.d. But there is the Townson Plan, which always works without fail: Use the phone in question to place an AT&T person- to-person call to someone who won't be there to receive the call. For example, in the case at hand, call yourself at your home number person-to-person. When the kiddies answer the phone, the operator will ask for you; you'll not be home, but since you are calling person-to-person the operator will 'leave word' on request, asking the kiddies to take a message for daddy to call as soon as he comes in. Tell the operator, "....just leave this number here, operator, I will be around all evening...". And the accomodating operator, without thinking twice about it, will tell the kiddies, have your daddy call Operator 8 in Podunk, and ask for 123-4567." Thank you, operator! Thank you indeed. By leaving word on a person to person call, the operator has to give the number and you'll overhear it being given. Have your pencil poised so *you* don't have to ask her to repeat it! Don't worry if the kiddies got it right or not. In theory, the operator is supposed to split the connection before passing that information; it is rare that they bother. And if they do, just place another call; the next operator will be more cooperative, I'm sure! PT]