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From: U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Finding Your Own Phone Number (In Australia)
Message-ID: <12596@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 26 Sep 90 02:58:14 GMT
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In article <12472@accuvax.nwu.edu>, zippy@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu
(Patrick Tufts) writes:

> How can you find out the number of a given phone?  I seem to recall
> that linesmen dial the operator and ask for a ringback.

> What do you have to say to an operator to get the number of the line
> you're calling on?  Are there any numbers you can call that will tell
> you your own number (like how (700)555-4141 tells you your LD
> carrier)?

> [Moderator's Note: In nearly every telephone exchange there is some
> number which will read back the number of the phone placing the call.
> There is no standardization to this; the numbers are different
> everywhere, and change frequently. They are always non-pub, of course.

In Australia the number to ring is 19123.  This works from most
private phones.  Payphones give the message "No information to
identify telephone number", while mobile phones give a seemingly
endless string of 9's and 0's in no apparent order.  Even COCOTS give
the "No info" message, unless they are connected to the same line as
the shop's own phone (a not uncommon practice in Oz).

Dialling (0xx)19123, to a different area from the caller may give the
correct number, or the congestion tone.  I guess that it depends on
whether the area you are calling has a digital link with the area you
are calling from.


Danny