jsol@BU-IT.BU.EDU.UUCP (09/29/87)
"NO MAIN LIST" service is not always free. Please be sure of your facts before you mislead someone. If NO MAIN LIST is what I think it is, it's basically the difference between "NON PUB" (not published at all) and "NON LIST" (Don't list in the telephone directory). NON PUB costs $1.41/mo and NON LIST costs $0.68/mo in Boston. If you already have telephone service in your name, you can have additional service non published at no additional cost. You still get calls from salesmen on your published line, but the other(s) are "safe". Note that most businesses trying to sell you something by phone use automatic dialing facilities which dial randomly or in sequence through a given set of exchanges. I remember hearing the same recording on all 3 of my lines when I lived in Somerville, MA. There seems to be no way to avoid that. There is a law against it in Mass, but that just means the businesses have to set up in New Hampshire. --jsol