Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: stank@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (Stan Krieger) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Criticism of Call Forwarding Message-ID: Date: 29 Sep 89 15:06:32 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Summit NJ Lines: 38 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 420, message 10 of 11 > B) How difficult would it be to modify the system so that when one > placed a call to a forwarded number, they would first hear a short > tone signifying that the call was being bumped? Unlike A), that would > actually be informative and helpful. > [Moderator's Note: > Regards (B), many people do not want > you to know they are not at home/office, etc. The problem with call-forwarding is that SOMEONE should know the call has been call-forwarded; otherwise the conversation can be very awkward. I agree with the moderator that letting the caller know that the call has been forwarded will defeat one of the selling points of that feature, but if the receipients aren't aware that the call they're getting is forwarded, they may accidentally give away that information through their fumbling. If the receipients got a coded ring, then they would be forewarned (e.g., if the person who set up call forwarding was in their home, that person could answer the phone; if your relative or friend forwarded to you while you were on vacation, you would know when you answered where you were supposed to pretend you're at). In an office, this would be even more useful. Before desktop terminals became the standard, and terminal rooms were the norm, people who would be working at terminals for several hours would often call-forward to the terminal room. When they forgot to remove call-forwarding, the person who picked up the phone in the terminal room would often just say that so&so wasn't there, or that this wasn't that person's phone (the latter would also happen if calls were left forwarded to someone else's desk, because you knew you would be in their office for a long time). At least with a coded ring, there would be no puzzlement to receipients as to why callers apparently got a wrong number. Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk