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From: malcolm@apple.com (Malcolm Slaney)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Many Software Designers of Caller ID Also Disliked it
Message-ID: <74316@bu.edu.bu.edu>
Date: 9 Feb 91 17:58:57 GMT
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>[Moderator's Note: The way to refuse calls from blocked numbers is
>pretty simple if you also have call screening. Please note that *67
>does not refuse to pass the caller's number to the CO ... but merely
>instructs the CO not to give it to you. So what you do is, you have to
>get called once by the blocked number. Answer it or not as you
>please. When that call is off the line, then do *60 #01# or whatever
>you do to 'add last caller whether or not you know the number' to your
>list of calls to be screened. 

But Pat, that's not what he was asking for ... I too would very much
like to be able to tell the CO that it shouldn't even bother ringing
my phone if the caller says his number is private.  If it was an
emergency then they could arrange to call me back and send a real
number.

Which brings me to a more interesting point ... has anybody made a box
that translates a CID phone number into an audio message?  It doesn't
seem very useful to me if I have to get up out of my easy chair and go
to the little box to see what's on the display ... besides I suspect
I'll have more phones in my house than CID displays.  Maybe this won't
be a problem in the future when every phone has a little display
showing the CID.


Malcolm


[Moderator's Note: I know what he was asking for, but it does not seem
likely in the near future (that CO will block incoming calls to you
merely because the other end withholds ID). So the alternative I
suggested is one work-around that is less than perfect.  PAT]