CER2520@ritvax.bitnet (C. E. Reid) (08/27/89)
[Reproduced without permission from SUNDAY DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, Rochester,
New York, August 27, 1989, Page 15A]
There's no need to talk to strangers
New device shows phone number of incoming call
The Associated Press
POUGHKEEPSIE -- The telephone rings and there's nothing on the line but
heaving breathing, a tireless salesman or some other nameless voice.
Picking up the phone can be like opening the door to any knock, the
telephone company says.
That's why NYNEX Corp. in New York and other phone companies have
started offering customers a device known as caller identification.
With a small video panel located beside the phone, caller
identification displays the number from which an incoming call is originating
before the call is answered.
"People want more control over their telephones. They want more
flexibility in using them," said NYNEX spokesman Joe Gagen.
Not everyone thinks caller identification is a good idea. Some
consumer advocates say the device could cause problems for people who want to
keep their phone numbers secret. Other say it could hurt the telemarketing
industry.
Caller identification and several other services will be offered in New
York this fall through NYNEX subsidiaries -- New York Telephone and New England
Telephone.
Karen Johnson, a spokeswoman for New Jersey Bell, says four out of five
people who tried the service in a test in that state liked it. They cited an
added sense of security as the reason, she said.
Ninety percent of those also said it was a good solution to harassing
calls, Johnson said.
Along with caller identification, NYNEX will offer three other
services: call return, which calls back the last person who called, whether the
call was answered or not; call trace, which records the telephone number of an
obscene or unwanted call; and automatic redial, which keeps dialing a number
that rings busy for up to half an hour.
NYNEX predicts at least 20 percent of its residential customers will
subscribe to the new calling services.
Caller identification is the most expensive of the services offered.
Gagen says NYNEX's caller identification will cost about $6.50 a month.
Subscribers also must buy an electronic recording device that displays
the caller's phone number on a screen. The device, about the size of a desk
radio, costs between $40 and $90, depending on the model. It plugs into a
phone jack and flashes the caller's number for 30 seconds after the first ring.
The device also records the caller's number and the date and time of
the call. It can store 20 to 50 calls a day.
Caller identification also would enhance the ability of emergency
services to respond to crises. If a caller couldn't provide the location of a
problem, caller identification would at least get the phone number.
To address privacy concerns, Pacific Telesis Group, which serves much
of the West Coast, plans to offer a feature that will allow callers to block
their telephone numbers by dialing a special code before they place the call.
At the receiving end, a message that says "private call" will appear on the
caller identification video panel.
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Curtis Reid
CER2520@RITVAX.Bitnet
CER2520%RITVAX.Bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Internet)
[Moderator's Note: Thanks for passing this article along, Curtis. Hopefully,
Caller ID will be a standard option for everyone soon, and anonymous phone
calls will be a thing of the past. I know I'll sign up the day it becomes
available here. PT]af@sei.ucl.ac.be (Alain FONTAINE (Postmaster - NAD)) (09/01/89)
On Sun, 27 Aug 89 11:55 EDT C.E. Reid said : >[Reproduced without permission from SUNDAY DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, Rochester, >New York, August 27, 1989, Page 15A] >...the call. It can store 20 to 50 calls a day. 'a day', really ????? Does it mean that if to try to to force the device to remember more than 20 to 50 numbers *each day*, it will become tired and then complain, drop digits, or whatever? And conversely, that if you stay under that limit it will faithfully learn a phone book worth of numbers????? I love journalists :-):-):-) Alain FONTAINE +--------------------------------+ Universite Catholique de Louvain | If your mail software barks at | Service d'Etudes Informatiques | my address, you may try : | Batiment Pythagore | | Place des Sciences, 4 | FNTA80@BUCLLN11.BITNET | B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, BELGIUM +--------------------------------+ phone +32 (10) 47-2625 [Moderator's Note: And they love you, too, Alain! Don't be a stranger here though...send us more postings about the phone network in Belgium. PT]