Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!telecom-request From: sbrack@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Steven S. Brack) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: The Correct Way to Write Your Phone Number Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 91 23:11:55 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: The Ohio State University Lines: 52 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 166, Message 5 of 12 In article rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: => UTA French Airlines Chicago Il => An Arb Tele Only No Charge => Dial Operator And Ask For ------ Enterprise-8844 => => Glad to see this venerable old institution still survives. I thought I knew most of the terms associated with telephony, but I have never heard of "Enterprise-NNNN." What is it? Steven S. Brack sbrack@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu sbrack@ewf.eng.ohio-state.edu (Avoid sending here, if possible) [Moderator's Note: "Enterprise", aka "Zenith" was the predecessor to 800 service. Prior to being able to automatically dial a reverse charge (collect) call to persons automatically willing to recieve same, it was necessary to use the operator for this function. Unlike a regular collect call where the operator had to verbally obtain permission from the called party to charge the call to their line, the use of "Enterprise - xxxx" (in some places it was "Zenith - xxxx") was a code number telling the operator the charges were automatically accepted. A business (there were no personal users of Enterprise service) would obtain an Enterprise number from the national database of same, which as I recall was/is kept by the Rate and Route Bureau in Morris, IL (itself a function of AT&T). Maybe Bellcore keeps these records now, I don't know. The specifications of exactly which calls would be accepted were printed in telephone directories with the listing of the business and associated Enterprise number. The example given here was 'from the Ann Arbor Exchange'. To call an Enterprise number, you would dial your Long Distance Operator and ask for the number. The most common and frequently called Enterprise numbers were noted by the operators in a flip chart reference list at their disposal. Less common Enterprise numbers were available to the operator by calling Rate and Route and asking for the translation. The translation was merely the regular number for the business, however by virtue of you asking for the Enterprise number, the operator would put the call through and automatically bill it as a collect call to the called party. With the advent of 800 service -- when? circa 1965? -- (and it likewise can be restricted by locality or geographic region as to who can and cannot call) Enterprise numbers became obsolete. I do not think they are even available any longer, and are probably grandfathered to existing customers who wish to keep them for whatever reason, never to get them again if they ever give them up. I think the Bell companies called it "Enterprise" and GTE and many independent telcos preferred "Zenith". But the database was the same. PAT]