SAC.2001CS-XP@e.isi.edu (410 BMW/SCX--KI Sawyer AFB MI) (04/05/89)
No flames please, but for the sake of this poor ignorant person,
(me personally, no reflection on the rest of my office)
I would like to see definitions of Centrex. I have heard many and
am curious what the net has to say .
Now's the chance for some real interesting stuff. Please send me
*your* definition of Centrex.
Thanks,
Michael
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Michael Barnes * The nice thing about policies
OldNet: SAC.2001CS-XP@E.ISI.EDU * and standards, is that there
NewNet: S2001CS_XP@SACEMNET.ARPA * are so many to choose from.
HamNet: WA7SKG * If you don't find any you
BellNet: 906-346-2578 * like, simply wait for next
AV Net: 472-2578 * years models!
SnailNet: 2001CS/XP *
K.I. SAWYER AFB,MI *
*****************************************************************
DISCLAIMER: The ideas, comments, remarks, replies, insinuations,
innuendos, flatuations, and any other conceivable or inconceivable
outputs presented here, real, imagined, or implied, simply do not
exist. The names are real, the stories have been changed due to
simple boredom.
****************************************************************wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI) (04/05/89)
The main fault I find with Centrex, in an operational, user-interface sense, is the silly use-the-switchhook business to transfer calls and get another line. If I call a number and get a busy signal, and want to hang up and try again or try a different number, even if I press the button down deliberately and hold it down for what seems to me to be a loo-oo-oong time, I STILL get the beep-beep-beep that tells me the first call is on hold and I am now connected to a second line. That should only happen with a single SHORT flash of the switchhook; any measurable length of time of holding down the switchhook should be a hangup. I find it a terrible user interface to force me to delay as long as it wants me to to get a real hangup. I would think that one of the touchtone buttons, like # or *, could be sensed during a call to perform the action that is now controlled by the switchhook. Will Martin
ms6b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Marvin Sirbu) (04/06/89)
Will's problem is not with Centrex, it is with his telephone! There are a half a dozen companies that sell telephones with a "Flash" button: press it and it flashes the switchhook for exactly the appropriate amount of time for call waiting or 3-way calling.
Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu (04/07/89)
Re: Will Martin - "...the silly use-the-switchhook business to transfer..." At one office, I'm on Centrex, and we have phones from Comdial with a TAP button. When you press the switchhook (no matter for how long), the phone stays on-hook for exactly the time Centrex needs to know you want to hang up. When you push TAP, it does a flash. Maybe you could find a phone that functions similarly; it makes Centrex's transfer feature pretty painless. Miguel Cruz
dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) (04/07/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0125m02@vector.UUCP>, wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI) writes: > The main fault I find with Centrex, in an operational, user-interface sense, >is the silly use-the-switchhook business to transfer calls and get another >line. > I would think that one of the touchtone buttons, like # or *, could be > sensed during a call to perform the action that is now controlled by the > switchhook. There are two reasons why touchtones are not recognized during conversation. One is economic: tone-detectors are more expensive then talking-links in the central office. If one had to be dedicated to every conversation, and not (as they are now) only when dialing is in progress, the central office would cost more. The other reason has to do with the present state-or-the-art in discriminating between voice and touchtone. If you listen to a conversation with a touch tone detector, you'll detect a number of apparent touch-tones in ordinary speech. Even more if there is background noise consisting of music at either end of the conversation. In most of the world outside North America, PBX switches use a "grounding button" where we tend to use a hook-flash to get the switch's attention. The switchhook always means disconnect. The momentary ground on one side of the loop begins the "consultation call/conference call/transfer call" sequence. While this is good for PBX use, central office services (including centrex) would probably be less reliable using this method, as outside plant ground faults would play havoc with the switching machine. -- Dave Levenson /-----------------------------\ Westmark, Inc. | If you can't give me your | Warren, NJ USA | Phone number, don't call! | {rutgers | att}!westmark!dave \-----------------------------/
ab4@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (A. M. Boardman) (04/09/89)
>There are a half a dozen companies that sell telephones with a "Flash" button: >press it and it flashes the switchhook for exactly the appropriate amount of >time for call waiting or 3-way calling. This can, however, be taken to extremes. The telephones of Columbia's new digital CBX have, among a plethora of other buttons, a flash button. In no detectable way, however, does this button actually flash the line in any traditional sense; it is instead just another signal to the exchange. Really flashing will disconnect the line every time. I'd love to find out more about how the system works, but, as in everything related to IBM, the information is proprietary. (It's an IBM/Rolm 9751 CBX -- a half- decent buisness system, but totally unsuited for a university environment. It replaced a vastly more popular Centrex system.) "ROLM is a four letter word" Andrew Boardman ab4@cunixc.[columbia.edu|bitnet] {backbone}!columbia!cunixc!ab4
wheels@watmath.waterloo.edu (Gerry Wheeler) (04/14/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0130m05@vector.dallas.tx.us>, ab4@cunixb.cc.columbia. edu (A. M. Boardman) writes: > The telephones of Columbia's new > digital CBX have, among a plethora of other buttons, a flash button. > In no detectable way, however, does this button actually flash the line > in any traditional sense; it is instead just another signal to the exchange. > Really flashing will disconnect the line every time. Our phone system is the same -- the flash button sends some digital code to the electronic equipment, which then flashes the CO line being used. In ours, the duration of the flash is programmable. The default is, I think, 1.5 or 2 seconds, which actually disconnects the line. However, it can be reset to very short intervals which would perform a real flash. The button serves a dual purpose, though. When making an internal (intercom) call, the flash button *always* terminates the call and provides new internal dial tone. Since we don't have any need for a hookflash on the outside lines, it seems reasonable to have the button disconnect the call in both situations. -- Gerry Wheeler Phone: (519)884-2251 Mortice Kern Systems Inc. UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!wheels 35 King St. North BIX: join mks Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2W9 CompuServe: 73260,1043