rog@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Roger Haaheim) (12/29/88)
Back in the good old days...one could dial a special number, hang up, and the dialing phone would ring; some kind of echo. It was used by phonefolks who came to fix the phone, to check to see if it was working. They had no problem telling the customer what that number was so the customer could dial back to him/herself. Why has that capability become proprietary? I know it's still done, but when I ask...excuses, but no number. How come?
jacobson@gamma.eecs.nwu.edu (Dan Jacobson) (01/04/89)
>Back in the good old days...one could dial a special number, >hang up, and the dialing phone would ring; some kind of Here in Evanston, IL, beginning a few years ago you had to put a "1" in front of the test sequence that you used to use. In Evanston, depending on your prefix, 475, 328, ... you have to use one of 571...576, I'm not sure how they map. Other cities should also use the same 571...576 set. My house, say 475-9999, uses: dial 1-572-9999, hear funny tone, click phone, hear tone, hang up, it rings. You can loop here^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ I have my phone bell hooked up (via a Fone-Flasher (Radio Shack)) to a circle of christmas lights around my room. When the phone rings it's a "ring of fire," especially when just waking up. So that test number is great for entertaining guests. -- Dan Jacobson, jacobson@eecs.nwu.edu, {oddjob,gargoyle,att,...}!nucsrl!jacobson [Moderator's Note: Evanston and Chicago are the same difference, telephonically speaking. Dan is a few blocks up the street from my house. We in Chicago use 1-571-your last four digits through 1-577-last four. Whether the key is 571, 572,573,574,575,576 or 577 is an arbitrary decision in the CO.]
donn@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Donn Pedro) (01/07/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0001m01@vector.UUCP>, hp-sdd!rog@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Roger Haaheim) writes: > Back in the good old days...one could dial a special number, > hang up, and the dialing phone would ring; some kind of > echo. It was used by phonefolks who came to fix the phone, > to check to see if it was working. They had no problem > telling the customer what that number was so the customer > could dial back to him/herself. Why has that capability > become proprietary? I know it's still done, but when I > ask...excuses, but no number. How come? Because while i worked for Pacific Bell in California those numbers were limited to a very few per central office. If I gave out the ringback codes to everyone who asked it would not be available for our use for testing. People used it to busy out their phones so as not to be disturbed. How convenient! They did not want to disconnect their phone so it would ring like they were not home. So thats why you werent privvy to that info. Its proprietary information necessary to the function of the repair tech and gets abused by the general public when it gets out. Former phone man, Donn F Pedro {the known world}!uw-beaver!tikal!mcgp1!donn -------------------------------------------------------------- "You talk the talk. Do you walk the walk?"
chk@uunet.UU.NET (C. Harald Koch) (01/07/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0004m04@vector.UUCP> jacobson@gamma.eecs.nwu.edu (Dan Jacobson) writes: >My house, say 475-9999, uses: >dial 1-572-9999, hear funny tone, click phone, hear tone, hang up, it rings. >You can loop here^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ Here in Toronto, you can use 57x-xxxx, where x-xxxx are the last five digits of your phone number. This only works on touch-tone phone lines though. (If the exchange supports touch-tone, but you haven't suscribed, it doesn't work). -- C. Harald Koch NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Ontario chk@zorac.dciem.dnd.ca, chk@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu, chk@chkent.UUCP "I give you my phone number. If you worry, call me. I'll make you happy."
childers@avsd (01/17/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0007m03@vector.UUCP> mcgp1!donn@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Donn Pedro) writes: >If I gave out the ringback codes to everyone who asked it would >not be available for our use for testing. People used it to >busy out their phones so as not to be disturbed. Can you document this, or is this what your supervisor told you to say ? > Donn F Pedro {the known world}!uw-beaver!tikal!mcgp1!donn -- richard
jbh@mibte.UUCP (James Harvey) (01/30/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0021m07@vector.UUCP>, childers@avsd writes: > In article <telecom-v09i0007m03@vector.UUCP> mcgp1!donn@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Donn Pedro) writes: > > >If I gave out the ringback codes to everyone who asked it would > >not be available for our use for testing. People used it to > >busy out their phones so as not to be disturbed. > > Can you document this, or is this what your supervisor told you to say ? > > > Donn F Pedro {the known world}!uw-beaver!tikal!mcgp1!donn > > -- richard YES, supervisors tell you to say this, it's TRUE. More frequently, people use the ringback numbers as an intercom, (call ringback, wait till somebody upstairs picks up extension, talk). -- Jim Harvey | "Ask not for whom the bell Michigan Bell Telephone | tolls and you will only pay 29777 Telegraph | Station-to-Station rates." Southfield, Mich. 48034 | ulysses!gamma!mibte!jbh
davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) (02/03/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0038m05@vector.UUCP>, jbh@mibte.UUCP (James Harvey) writes: < In article <telecom-v09i0021m07@vector.UUCP>, childers@avsd writes: < > In article <telecom-v09i0007m03@vector.UUCP> mcgp1!donn@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Donn Pedro) writes: < > < > >If I gave out the ringback codes to everyone who asked it would < > >not be available for our use for testing. People used it to < > >busy out their phones so as not to be disturbed. < > < > Can you document this, or is this what your supervisor told you to say ? < YES, supervisors tell you to say this, it's TRUE. More < frequently, people use the ringback numbers as an intercom, (call < ringback, wait till somebody upstairs picks up extension, talk). In Connecticut, back in the '60s, we used to dial 1199 to make the phone ring to be able to talk to someone who was upstairs, etc. My father used to like to do this, and put on phony voices to try and fool other members of the family. I myself once came up with the idea of, as the family was leaving to go shopping, dialing the ringback number as I left the house. An hour later, when we returned, I watched in glee as the rest of the family rushed to unlock the door. "Hurry up! The phone is ringing." It never occurred to us that we might be tying up phone company resources, so I can imagine, with lots of people doing this wantonly, it could easily become a problem. Even now, a friend of mine leaves his phone off-hook if he leaves the house while he's expecting a call. He seems to figure that if people get a busy signal they're more likely to call back than if they think he's not home (?). He did this once when I was there, and the phone started making all its electronic barking noises, then the recording, and I said something about it. His attitude was that it couldn't possibly hurt anything, which doesn't explain why the phone company has gone to such trouble to put all those warnings on there. -- "FLYING ELEPHANTS DROP COW Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) PIES ON HORRIFIED CROWD!" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef