Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!spool.mu.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Finding Your Own Phone Number Message-ID: Date: 20 Feb 91 16:29:00 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu Organization: Public Health Research Institute, New York City Lines: 26 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 138, Message 1 of 8 Originator: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu > The easiest at NYNEX land [...] is to call 200-222-2222. I just tried this and all I got was a couple of rings and then a badly mangled recording saying "...ry your call again. Thank you". I tried just plain "222-2222" and got a live person saying "Special operator, what number are you calling?" Anybody have any idea what a "special operator" is? PS, I dialed this from work; it's possible that our switch automatically reroutes "funny" phone numbers, so I don't even know if I reached an AT&T, NYTel, or somebody else's "special operator". Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy [Moderator's Note: A 'special operator' (at least as the term is used in Chicago) is an operator who takes intercept calls and handles them manually as opposed to a fully automatic response. It sometimes happens there is a temporary equipment failure and that the number you are dialing (or calling from) does not get captured by the equipment. It is very rare, but I will now and then dial a number and have an operator come on the line to say " ... special operator. What number are you calling from, please?" ("what number are you dialing?"). PAT