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From: dave@westmark.westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Auto-Call Back
Message-ID: <15422@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 14 Dec 90 13:36:35 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 882, Message 8 of 9


In article <15395@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy
Smith) writes:

> 	I'm not sure I have the right name, but I'm referring to the
> (new?)  service whereby if somebody calls you ... 
> automatically generate a call back to the person who called you.  My
> question is, does the system filter out any numbers?  If somebody from
> Europe called me, will it dial back an international call for me?

For today, the calling number is available for automatic call-back (I
think they call the service Return*Call here in NJ) only on intra-LATA
calls between SS7-connected central offices.  This limits your
liability to the maximum rate for a call within your LATA.  900
numbers only allow inbound calls -- if they called you, then the
calling number is not their 900 number but some other number (which
may or may not be equipped to receive incoming calls).

In the far future, when SS7 connectivity includes the inter-LATA
carriers, you'll probably be able to Return*Call places more distant.
The best defense, probably, is Caller*ID.  It will show you the number
you're about to call with Return*Call, if the last call you received
was from a properly-connected CO.  If the number was not available for
display, it probably won't be available for Return*Call, either. 


Dave Levenson		Internet: dave@westmark.com 
Westmark, Inc.		UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
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