Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Robert Kaplan Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: When People Don't Dial 9 on PBXs Message-ID: <5259@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 15 Mar 90 23:12:15 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 34 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 178, Message 14 of 14 The phone number of Alex's Pizza here in Waltham is 647-5522. Of course, from Brandeis that means dialing 9-647-5522. Naturally any number of people will forget and dial just 6475522, which the system reads as 6475. 6475 is a student phone number in one of the dorms, the occupants of which now answer their phone, "Alex's Pizza, may I help you?" Seems to me that if I were assigning numbers here, I would shy away from using ones whose first three digits were the same as the local CO's exchanges, namely 647, 890, 891, 893, 894, 897, and 899. And in fact, no numbers of the form 89xx are used on our phone system. Would it have been that complicated to not use 647x either? Just one of those things that shows the difference between adequate system design and excellent system design, I suppose. Scott Fybush Disclaimer: This may not be my own opinion. "Help me, my home phone is a COCOT!" [Moderator's Note: I had the same problem for awhile several years ago. My office extension was 7262; the carry-out bar and grill on the first floor of the office building had the number RANdolph (726) - 2xxx. Invariably -- almost daily -- five minutes before the start of the lunch hour at 11:45 my phone would ring. Somebody ordering their lunch would be on the line. Some had the courtesy to apologize, while others would say nothing and just click off. Still others were profane *toward me* before hanging up. This was in 1968-69; our phone system was a centrex on a 5-Xbar switch. PT]