Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!synoptics!bionet!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group Message-ID: <14585@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 11 Nov 90 04:19:49 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 28 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 810, Message 8 of 11 James Deibele writes: > Or that's what GTE tells me this time. I think I'll call > back and talk to one or two more people to make sure that's correct. > It would be nice if there was a "wizard" number that you could call > and find out whether something was technically feasible or not. Even if GTE set up a "wizard" line, the information that would be dispensed would be misleading, harmful, and just plain wrong. As you have already discovered, the temptation with GTE is to use the "mass action" theory which holds that if you make enough inquiries and average the responses, the answer that emerges will approach the truth as the number of attempts approaches infinity. Not true. It is a bad theory when applied to GTE. It is likely that NONE of the responses obtained from GTE personel bear any resemblance to reality. From personal experience it is possible to say that if you want to determine anything about GTE's system, you will have to use a back door approach. It is necessary to befriend a sympathetic employee who will give you the straight poop. But it is a one-shot affair; usually such a person goes on to work for a real company before you get a chance to pick his brain again. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !