pkh%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk (Kevin Hopkins) (06/05/89)
In the UK the only company allowed to provide an alternative telephone service to British Telecom (BT) is Mercury (part of Cable & Wireless). Access to Mercury is gained over the ordinary BT exchange line by pressing the Mercury button before dialling a phone number. This Mercury button is really just a memory button which zaps an access code down the line, causing the switch from the BT system to Mercury system, and follows this with the subscribers authorisation code. Could someone please tell me what form the *ACCESS* code to Mercury is? Is it of the form of an area code 0NXX or of a special operator-like code 1XX? It's just one of those things that have been bugging me recently. +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ [Moderator's Note: Any problem with simply asking Mercury, if you wish to sign up for the service or use it occassionally? PT]
langz@asylum.sf.ca.us (Lang Zerner) (06/08/89)
I do not recall the access code (it has been several months since I left the UK), but they will give it to you if you ask. I bought Mercury service without one of the expensive feature phones they sell. The person I spoke with didn't know the code, but called me back once he found it. By the way, the access code can differ from one STD area to the next. Also, I found that, even where the access code was the same I couldn't use my secret code outside of the STD of the home phone for which I bought the service. I called Mercury about that and the service person looked into it for me. Apparently, they are not authorized to provide "traveling service codes". Service is ostensibly tied to your phone, really to your STD. They were working on getting equal access-type service when I left In February. By the way, as I understand it, they aren't the only company *allowed* to provide an alternative to BT, but the only company that *does* provide it. Other companies are working on it. (Remember when MCI was the only viable alternative to ATT? :-) -- Be seeing you... --Lang Zerner ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu MX:langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!"
arp@ucsd.edu (06/09/89)
I seem to recall that the Mercury access code is area-specific. I believe that it's 131 here in Bristol, and 163 in London. Confusing eh? Adrian Pell