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From: dgl292@pallas.athenanet.com (Doug Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Strange Recordings
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Date: 22 Jul 90 18:28:24 GMT
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Reply-To: Doug Lee <dgl292@athenanet.com>
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 509, Message 5 of 10


All this talk of late intercepts fits well with what happened to me
just last week:

I have a good friend in Maine who I call periodically.  Last week,
however, her phone line was disconnected (for reasons having nothing
to do with her).  Rather than getting the standard "The number you
have reached -- ... -- has been [temporarily] disconnected," I received
the following message:

     "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed.  You must now
     dial seven digits for a local call."

To slightly modify a quote from a Douglas Adams book, "That's
obviously a strange new use of the word _local_ with which I was not
previously acquainted."

Actually, I suspect the normal intercept, for whatever reason, missed
its opportunity to enlighten me as to the line's supposed condition,
allowing a Maine switch the honor.  As long as I'm not charged for
that (actually, those--I tried several times) "local" call, I guess I
don't care who's responsibility it is to give me the bad news.


Curious as always,

Doug Lee  (dgl292@athenanet.com or uunet!pallas!dgl292)