Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: julian@bongo.uucp (julian macassey) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Who Pays For International DA? Message-ID: Date: 13 Sep 89 04:43:50 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood CA U.S.A. Lines: 35 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 370, message 6 of 10 In article , henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) writes: > And why does the international DA Operator on our side *insist* on > talking? They could (for all practical purposes) just ask you where > you want to talk to and connect, but *no* ... they feel the need to > verbally "collect" the information so they can then relay it > inaccurately to the foreign DA operator... to be fair, international Yes, as a general rule the U.S. operator does ask the questions etc when you do an "International Directory Inquiry". But I have found that if I ask the Operator if I can ask the questions in a foreign language to speed up the process, they let me. U.S. operators who are used to the Bell standard 18 second max DA number response are often staggered at the time it seems to take certain European PTTs. I usually explain that they have to go down the hall to borrow a directory which the U.S. side ops find pretty funny and helps pass the time while we are waiting for the operator to get back to us with the number. Once at a telco trade show in San Diego British Telecom had a direct Satellite link on their stand which returned UK (London) dialtone. They offered me free calls to the UK so I thought "Lets get mum out of bed." So I dialled 192 (I think) Directory Enquiries according to the Brits on the stand. Well it rang and rang. I quit and tried again, it rang and rang. I did call someone in the UK teleport and he confirmed I had the right number for Directory Enquiries. So I dialled again and let it ring for 15 mins.. No reply. I decided it would be quicker to write. I now take mother's phone number to trade shows - just in case. Oh yes, it was about 9 P.M. in london, so it wasn't that late to want a number. Yours Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian n6are@k6iyk (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495