KSELLING@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Kenneth Selling) (08/17/89)
In v.9, issue 292, Gabe M Wiener <gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu> asks: > In New York City, I can dial 0 for a New York Tel operator, or 00 for a > long distance operator... However, up at my weekend house in NW Connecticut, > dialing 0 or 00 brings up the SNET operator... Shouldn't 00 bring up the > AT&T operator directly? ... Have they not completely separated from AT&T? After the AT&T break-up, BOC's had the option of continuing to have their operator service provided by AT&T, or setting up their own. Many (such as Pacific NW Bell, NY Tel) set up their own service. To differentiate, many used the system of: 0 (zero) = local operator : 00 (zero) (zero) = AT&T operator. Readers have pointed out that this scheme is not universal amongst all BOC's. Further, in recent years, other inter-LATA carriers have begun offering operator service too, where 00 gets you your primary carrier's operator. SNET in Connecticut was not affected by the Judge's order; it wasn't in the Bell System, although AT&T owned a small portion of it. It has continued with the policy of having it's operators handle (what a novel concept!) all customer calls, whether they are related to local or long-distance (AT&T) calls. Accor- ding to an SNET supervisor I spoke with, this will remain true at least through the end of 1989, with no officially announced plans to change it in the future. As for your weekend house in CT, think of it as a step back in time to a simpler era when one operator (who you get by dialing 0) did it all. Further, if you stop at a payphone on your way up there, you will find that there is no AOS in CT -- per state law. Dialing 0 at any payphone will get you an SNET operator. Ken Selling Organization: Wesleyan University Internet: kselling@eagle.wesleyan.edu BITNET: kselling%eagle@wesleyan.bitnet