telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (04/20/89)
Sharon (see above message) asks how to find out the number on the telephone
being used if the number on the dial is wrong or is not there at all.
I think we all know asking the operator for the number will almost always
result in the operator telling you its none of your business. Either you
are the subscriber and know your own number, or maybe you are just trying
to find out the unlisted number of the phone you are using.
In some communities, a recorded announcement is available which will give
you the number you are calling from; but this does not seem to be very
common. Here in Chicago, quite a few (not all) exchanges have the ability
to recite your number to you -- if you know where to call to get it.
The numbers are always 1-200-xxx-yyyy, but they change from one prefix to
another, and they seem to get changed on the same prefix about once a
month or so, perhaps out of spite by the technicians; who knows. I knew
one of them for phones in the Chicago-Franklin office, and had great fun
listening to it recite the numbers on the various outgoing trunks on the
Rolm PBX I was using when I called it. A week later it was not in service.
If you know for a fact the number you are on, you can verify it (but who
needs to verify a fact, right) by dialing 1-200-that number. You will get
a high pitched tone with a break in the tone every two or three seconds.
1-200-any other returns re-order tone. Bear in mind, this is Chicago; I
can't speak for other communities.
This still does not resolve the question of how to find out the number
being used. There are two approaches: Make a collect call (or credit card
call) to your home number or some phone under your control. When the bill
comes, note where it says the call came from. If you do not want to
wait a month for the bill to arrive, and need the information now, there
is another, less forthright approach, which will probably interest the
{Risks} readers among us.
The other technique involves making a person to person call, and asking
the operator to leave word for your party. For example, if your friend
Joe Doakes was en route to New York City, and was going to be staying at
the Waldorf Astoria, you'd probably call 212-355-3000 person to person, and
have the operator leave word with the hotel operator. They used to
call it an 'Operator 8 leave word'. When the operator asks where
should Mr. Doakes call you to return your call, tell the operator "just
give this number, I will be right here". So in her effecient way she will
instruct the Waldorf Astoria operator to have Mr. Doakes return the call
to Mr. Smith at 312-xxx-yyyy. Thank you operator! Thank you indeed.
The operator who thinks twice about it -- which most of them don't --
will split the connection while she passes the number. The reason I say
it never occurs to them to cut the calling party out of the line is
because I frequently get collect calls from people and I want to bill it
to my AT&T Calling Card to take advantage of Reach Out rates late at
night. Before I pass the card number to the calling operator, I always
have to tell her to split the connection so the caller will not hear
my PIN.
Of course this latter approach, of calling a non-existent person and
leaving word for a call back is quite simply, fraud. I would suggest the
former approach, where you at least pay something for a phone call.
Patrick