stuart@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU.UUCP (04/10/87)
In article <8704080219.AA19687@seismo.CSS.GOV>, robert@rabbit1.UUCP writes: > Summary: Dial 1 identifies touch-tone(tm) for automated answering system > In article <8703292028.AA01420@dasys1.Dasys.COM>, schuster@dasys1.Dasys.COM (Michael Schuster) writes: > > "Thank you for calling. For faster service please press or dial '1' _now_". > I experienced this when calling a mutual funds company. I had the impression > that the message came AFTER the phone had rung, but I could be wrong. After > PRESSING 1 on the touch-tone, I was prompted to select (by number) the > reason for my call from a verbal "menu". > [...] > I assume that pressing the initial "1" identified my touch-tone capability. > Had I NOT pressed the "1", I probably would have been transfered to a "live" > operator after a brief pause. Strange you should mention that! I just called 9 mutual funds last Friday and four of them had this feature. My phone is a dark-ages dial phone and when I dialled 1, I got only Muzak followed eventually by live operators. This tends to confirm that "press or dial 1" is to identify touch-tone capability. In each case, the message was given *after* the initial ringing of the phone, so the discrimination and subsequent menu processing is almost certainly performed by a box local to the subscriber. Personally, I think the message is misleading. Requesting someone to "press or dial" suggests strongly that both touch-tone and dial phones are acceptable when the whole point is to discriminate between them. Stu Friedberg