Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: stiatl!pda@gatech.edu (Pa3ul D. Anderson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: New Services Offered by Southern Bell Message-ID: Date: 30 Aug 89 05:42:28 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: "Pa3ul D. Anderson" Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product" Lines: 74 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 335, message 5 of 6 This excerpt is a from a little flyer that was enclosed in my last telephone bill. I have reproduced it in entirity, since there was NO copyright notice on it. -------------------------- "TouchStar services from Southern Bell-- six remarkable telephone services that give you more from your phone-- more control, more security and more convenience. "TouchStar services work for local calls made to or from phone lines within the same TouchStar service area. Excluded are long-distance calls, call to and from party lines, coin telephones, PBXs and multi-line hunt groups. "The star on your phone will star in your home with these six special services for one- and two-line customers: "REPEAT DIALING. Dial a number and if you get a busy signal, press '*66' and the called number is checked every minute for the next half hour. You hear a special ring when the line's available, and you can make or recieve other calls while the service in in operation. "CALL RETURN. Miss a call? Press '*69' and the last number that called you is called. "CALL TRACING. Now you can take action against obscene or annoying calls. If you receive a harassing call, hang up, immediately press '*57' and that person's number -- plus the time and date -- will be sent to a Southern Bell office. Give us a follow-up call and we'll investigate further. "CALL BLOCK. Now you can stop calls from up to six numbers. Either program telephone numbers ahead of time or block annoying repeat calls(1). "CALL SELECTOR. Calls from important telephone numbers will produce a special ring on your phone. That way, you can tell who a call is, or isn't, from(1). "PREFERRED CALL FORWARDING. Lets you forward only important calls from numbers you choose(1). "Call now to order one or more of these services. Toll free, 1-800-522-BELL (2355), extension 997. "TouchStar service rates Services Homes Businesses Repeat Dialing $4.00/mo each $4.50/mo. each Call Return $3.00/mo each $3.50/mo. each Call Block $3.00/mo each $3.50/mo. each Call Selector $3.00/mo each $3.50/mo. each Preferred Call $3.00/mo each $3.50/mo. each Forwarding Call Tracing $4.00/mo. $5.00/mo. "(1) Not available in some areas. --------------------------- It seems to me that these services give me the features that I want from Caller-ID, without invading the callers privacy to a large degree. Yes, Call Return could cause a problem, but since it doesn't reveal the original caller's telephone number, the possibility for abuse is severly restricted. It appears to only work on a one-shot basis- it doesn't store the number away for later re-use. All in all, with a significant reduction in rates, this might be a pretty good package. Comments? Paul Anderson (w) (404) 841-4000 gatech!stiatl!pda (h) (404) 662-0799