Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: RS%AI.AI.MIT.EDU@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Robert E. Seastrom) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Caller-ID for Pagers? Message-ID: Date: 26 Oct 89 17:19:44 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US 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 474, message 5 of 11 In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, J. Philip Miller writes: > While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging > services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do > not need to key their number in for display on the pager. In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, Patrick Townson (Telecom Moderator) comments: > Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great > idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] I would be really unhappy if the pager companies were to do this and not allow for an override. To give a few examples: At Worldcon '89, I would page my roommate to see about plans for dinner. Since it wasn't terribly urgent, I didn't include a priority code (see below) and paged him with *my* pager number. Then, I didn't have to stay right next to a particular pay phone and keep other people from using it (I'd stay in the vicinity, so that I could call back promptly, when he returned my page. This would not be possible if Caller-ID automatically ID'ed my phone for me... In the main circle that I associate with, we have a set of agreed-upon three-digit codes that can be appended to a phone number. The 100 series identifies specific people; other codes mean specific things (411=need information, 611=something's broken, 911=run, don't walk, to the nearest phone and call immediately), unallocated 3-digit codes are priority codes that tell how urgent it is that the call be returned, 200s meaning at your leisure, 800s meaning call ASAP. If there weren't an override on the number that Caller-ID sent out, it would be impossible to add these codes to the end of the number we were paging with. ---Rob [Moderator's Note: Granted, it might be better to have the switch answer and say, 'To default, press # now; else enter the desired digits.' PT]