Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: 0003829147@mcimail.com (Sander J. Rabinowitz) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: LD vs Voice Mail / Lower Hotel Charges Message-ID: <15317@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 8 Dec 90 14:54:00 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 44 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 873, Message 2 of 9 In an article dated , (Dave) writes: >I know that both AT&T and Sprint offer the "feature" of dialing >another LD number without disconnecting from the LD carrier via the >"#". >I often wish to call my Bell Atlantic voice mailbox from a hotel >with my LD calling card. The voice mail system wants me to enter "#" >to be prompted for my password. Guess what happens? That's right, >the LD carrier disconnects that call and prompts me to make another. Now the Moderator responds with the following: >But don't you have to hold the # key for at least a >couple seconds to get a carrier disconnect? With my local Telco (Michigan Bell) and AT&T calls, just a touch of the '#' button (not even a quarter of a second) is enough to disconnect, but my experience has been that '#' only works before a call is answered (i.e. you hear ringing but you just realized you dialed a wrong number), during a telco or LDC recording, or after a call when the other party has hung up. >Most voice mail systems require far less [than 2 seconds -SJR]. That >is, you could probably just give a half-second of # and access voice >mail without it being long enough to trigger the network disconnect. Where I am, I don't have to worry about that. Once the other party answers (assuming the call is through AT&T or MichBell, you can lean on the '#' symbol indefinitely and it won't disconnect. You have to wait for the other party to disconnect before you can use '#' to disconnect yourself. (I just tried this with my credit union bank-by-phone system just a moment ago -- which uses # -- and it works as described.) Either there's a computer glitch where you are, Dave, or the call isn't going through AT&T. Try 102880 + the number (assuming the hotel phones don't block 10xxx calls -- I understand many do). Sander J. Rabinowitz | !sander@attmail.com | +1 313 478 6358 Farmington Hills, Mich. | -OR- sjr@mcimail.com | 8-)