Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: David M Archer Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Automated Collect Calling Message-ID: <11349@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 25 Aug 90 21:25:09 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: v116kznd@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu Organization: University at Buffalo Lines: 58 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 596, Message 6 of 8 In article <11309@accuvax.nwu.edu>, bill@trace.eedsp.gatech.edu (bill) writes.. >What is this "Automated Collect Calling?" Sounds like a great way to >cut down man-hours, sort of... ;-) >What Telcos use it and in what areas? Interestingly enough, a day or so after I sent my message, I caught a story on the TV news that apparently some of the local operators are not very happy about these things, and they were on strike, or maybe not on strike, but very unhappy. I never saw the story in the newspaper, so I don't really know. But what I do remember was the phone company claimed it saves somewhere around $7,000 a day (gee, that's almost 2.5 million dollars a year, I wonder if that means they really don't need to raise rates? ) Actually, come to think of it, one TV station claimed it was automated customer services in general, and another station claimed it was automated directory assistance. Oh, Pat, you had asked if the call I received was from a COCOT or not. I somewhat remember a mention of NY telephone, so I assume it was the phone company itself. And speaking of automated directory assistance, what the heck is that? Don't tell me they've got voice recognition down good enough that I can ask a computer for "Joe Hergesheimer" and it will understand me? Or is it just the system where you tell the human operator who you're looking for, and then the recorded numbers come on the line? I never really considered that automated. [Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell operators recently had an 'informational picket' based on their fear of the automated collect calling feature being installed here. They're afraid it will take away their jobs. They should read up on telco history: In the 1940-60 period, as central offices all over the United States were being converted to dial from manual service, the operators raised cain about how the automated stuff would cause them all to get laid off. In fact it did not happen that way. The automated stuff merely made it possible for telco to keep up with increases in calling volume without having to hire, as the saying goes, every female in the world over the age of 18 to be a telephone operator. (Yes, that was someone's mathematical projection fifty years ago.) Regarding automated directory assistance, the only part here that is *not* automated is the typing on the keys at the terminal, to wit: 1) You dial 411. 2) Operator's pre-recorded voice: "Directory, Ms. Brown" 3) You cite your request, the operator sits there silently typing. 4) The number is located, and the cursor moved to it on the screen. 5) Computer says, "The number is xxx-xxxx" (and repeats it). In many (most) directory assistance calls here, the operator never says a word. Her pre-recorded voice greets you; the computer responds with the answer. PAT]