TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Need Info Re A/C 650 Dialing Problem

Re: Need Info Re A/C 650 Dialing Problem

Ken Abrams (harvest_this@scum.suckers)
Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:57:27 GMT

David Kaye <sfdavidkaye2@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Today I drove to South San Francisco, in area code 650, and used a pay
> phone to call my own number. If I dial 1-415-271-xxxx (my number) I
> get through fine. If I dial 415-271-xxxx (wthout the 1) I do *not*
> get the "You must first dial 1", but instead I get the "The number you
> have reached is not in service at this time". I think this is at the
> crux of the problem.

Part of the problem, sure. "Crux" I doubt.

What percentage of folks trying to call you, do you imagine, forget to
dial the 1 ? I seriously doubt that it is 100%. 1+10d dialing has
been around a long time. I'd be surprised if the human error rate is
much above 10%.

The call will probably complete without the 1 from any major cell
phone provider.

Moreover, screening is different for pay phones. Calls from other
types of lines might get the right response when they dial wrong.
Your testing wasn't thorough enough and "I think" it led you to an
invalid conclusion.

> Can anybody shed any light on this? Does anybody here know someone at
> AT&T/SBC who can see to it that the "You must first dial 1" recording
> is restored the way it should be?

I know that for unusual things like this it is likely to be a MAJOR
hassle getting the drone who answers to understand the problem but you
really should try reporting it to the predominate LEC for that area.
Of course, it will be a waste of your time unless you can give them
the phone number of the pay station where you experienced the
problem ... because they don't know how to take a report
without a phone number. And it might be important because it might
not be an LEC phone, in which case it might not be their (AT&T/SBC)
problem at all.

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: TELECOM Digest Editor: "My 25th Anniversary Gift to You"
Go to Previous message: Wally Roberts: "Sam Spade"
May be in reply to: David Kaye: "Need Info Re A/C 650 Dialing Problem"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page