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From: Paul.Schleck@iugate.unomaha.edu (Paul Schleck)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Last Four Digits of Phone is '0000'
Message-ID: <15640@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 22 Dec 90 19:48:16 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 901, Message 7 of 12


John Higdon writes:

>6. The number, while out of service, may have only recently been
>disconnected and the "dead" time has not expired. If you agree to
>accept any wrong numbers, this can be negotiated.

That brings up an interesting point.  Just how long does the phone
company wait before reassigning numbers?  According to my mother,
calls for the previous subscriber *never* happened in the past (my
mother is 58).  In recent years, when she moves and/or switches phone
numbers, she complains about receiving a significant number of calls
for the previous owner of the number. "Stupid phone company doesn't
give its numbers a chance to cool off anymore!" she complains.  Is
this just my mother's imagination or has Ma Bell, in her hunger for
numbers to assign in populated areas, shortened the "cooling off" time
to less than ideal?

My mother lives in the Washington DC area, by the way.


Paul W. Schleck, KD3FU  pschleck@alf.unomaha.edu   (402) 291-6176

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