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From: lars@spectrum.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Centel PBX - Strange Codes?
Message-ID: <14652@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 13 Nov 90 08:11:40 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 817, Message 5 of 9


In article <14463@accuvax.nwu.edu> gil@limbic.ssdl.com 
(Gil Kloepfer Jr.) writes:

>At the office, we have a Centel PBX system. ...
>If I dial '87' on the phone, I get a second dial tone.  This isn't the
>same as dialling '9' for an outside line -- it also sounds like a
>standard dial tone.  However, it performs some funky dialing depending
>on what I do.  For example -- if I dial NNX-YYYY-111-1111 it seems to
>dial the standard NNX-YYYY -- but I do need to dial the 7 ones after
>it.

This sounds like the access code to a software defined network. Is
your facility a pampered engineering unit in an otherwise cheapskate
large corporation ?

The data communications company that I work for, is owned by Rockwell,
which is a large aerospace company. We recently were merged into
Rockwell's MCI based software defined network. Where we used to dial
long distance the same way as local (just hit "9" for an apparently
outside dial tone, which was really generated by the PBX so that the
numbers dialled could be validated/translated/routed), this will now
only work for 911, 411 and a specified lit of local prefixes.
Everything else must use the "COMNET" access, which is very much like
the above.  The "111-1111" corresponds to our personal access code,
which is like a calling card. Our facility gets a phone bill from
corporate telecom each month for each access code.

So instead of going straight into MCI's local POP (point of presence),
we now send them to Rockwell's switch in Seal Beach (near Long Beach)
where the access code is validated, and then they are splashed to MCI
down there. The obvious bad part is that it's a pain in the butt to
remember yet another code. The good part is that we will increase our
volume discount from about 15% to about 20% by joining a larger pool.

My guess, is that when you dial as above, the calls get charged to
some other division of your corporate parent. 111-1111 should not have
been enabled; it's probably owned by the telecom unit as a test code.


Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer
CMC Rockwell  lars@CMC.COM