root@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Dave Madsen) (09/06/89)
This message is really for two topics I saw in the digest.
1) Telephone books. I'm in a Chicago suburb. When I recently added another
phone line, I was asked what directories I wanted. I said I had a set
and didn't need any more. Brrrt- Sorry, that's not an option! So I
got a regional (this 'burb and surrounding communities) directory and
yellow pages combined.
Also I asked for a Chicago directory (those are not normally distributed
outside the city) and a 'B' and 'C' Chicago yellow pages. One is
"Business-to-Business" and the other one is for "normal" use. Again, we
normally don't get those. Inside the city, I believe that residential
subscribers normally get only the "regular" one and business customers
get both yellow pages.
Since I was curious, too, I asked the phone company about other areas'
phone books. You can get any phone book you want for free, but if it's
for some weird place, I get the idea that they'd kinda like an
explanation. (Heh Heh Heh, put him on the racks!). When I moved in my
old condo, there was a phone book left there from the North Pole and
surrounding areas. Wasn't too big... Anyway, before I chucked it,
I did verify that Santa Claus was listed. And no, I didn't call and also
forgot to write down the number.
2) Fascination with numbers. When I was a lot younger, I used to be
very interested in the "special" numbers used by the phone co. for
whatever reason. Most have changed, I suppose. Here's a list of what
I still have (remember this is in the Chicago area).
xxx-9996: 1000 Hz Tone (most exchanges). My notes also say
"try -9949 and 9940".
796-9600: Name/Address Locator Service. I suppose that most people
know about this one. They answer the phone "what number?",
you say a phone number, and they give the subscriber's
name and address unless, of course, it's unpublished.
I needed this service once in another city, and was told here
to ask Directory Assistance there for the "Name/Address Locator
Service", but the remote DA never heard of such a service, so
maybe it's only local.
There used to be a phone number that you could call to get the phone number
you're calling from, but that's long since changed, and I don't have the
new one. I'm told that they change it every few months. If anyone has
more info on that, I'd like to know. It used to be VERY handy to find out
the phone number for your company modems when the DYMO label fell off and
you needed to call the thing. So now, instead, we have rack-mounts in the
computer room, and while there's numbers on the jacks, going from the rack
to the jack you have to pass through this massive throbbing pile of wire
("Yep, Harry went near there last week and fell in. Haven't seen him
since.")
Dave Madsen ---dcm
gargoyle.uchicago.edu!vijit!madsen (uucp) or madsen@vijit.chi.il.us (domain)
This message claims to state the personal opinion of ONLY myself, and no other
person or organization.ron@chopin.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (09/08/89)
In the old days, you used to be able to get phone books for distant places for free, not so anymore. It used to be that you could call up the phone company in a given area and order a "state set." A large box would show up in a week or so full of all the phone books for that state. Unfortunately post-divesti- ture phone companies aren't so generous. Last time I asked for a DC phone book, they wanted me to pay. -Ron