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From: dave@westmark.westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Music on Hold
Message-ID: <13066@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 5 Oct 90 02:04:55 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 714, Message 3 of 12


I encountered a really sensible use for the MOH channel of an
automatic call distributor a few years ago.  (An automatic call
distributor is the machine that tells you something like: "This is the
XY&Z Company; all agents are busy.  Please stay on the line..."  and
manages a queue of inbound calls until an agent is available.)

I was calling the Washington DC Flight Service Station.  A Flight
Service Station is an office maintained by the FAA where a pilot calls
to ask for weather information, and file a flight plan before
departure.  Today, a lot of this is done by dial-up computer access,
but a few years ago, one did it all verbally.

If the weather was super-good, or terrible, you'd always reach an
agent (they're called briefers) right away.  If the weather is so good
that you don't need a briefing, it's easy to get one.  If the
weather's so bad you can't possibly complete your flight safely,
nobody is calling either.

It was one of those somewhere in-between days.  I wanted to fly home
from DCA (Washington National) to MMU (Morristown, NJ).  The phone was
answered something like: "This is the Washington Flight Service, all
briefers are busy.  While you're waiting, Washington weather this hour
is three thousand scattered, ceiling six thousand overcast, visibility
seven ... Baltimore, at 12:00, three thousand five hundred ... and so
on.  It included Richmond, Philadelphia, Charleston, and ever-widening
circles from DCA, eventually including New York.  By the time I
reached the briefer, I didn't need to take his time asking for weather
 -- I'd taken notes while in the ACD queue.  I just dictated the
flightplan, wished him a good day, and headed for the airport.

A real time-saver for all concerned.

PS: Washington Flight Service no longer provides "aviation weather on
hold" as of the last time I flew in that area.


Dave Levenson			Internet: dave@westmark.com
Westmark, Inc.			UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Warren, NJ, USA			AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]		Voice: 908 647 0900  Fax: 908 647 6857