Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!lll-winken!telecom-request From: dave@westmark.westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: My First Month of Caller ID in Atlanta Message-ID: Date: 27 Mar 91 02:06:13 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA Lines: 53 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 244, Message 1 of 9 In article , sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) writes: > In article Robert Jacobson milton.u.washington.edu> writes: > > The "alleged horrors" which Bill Berbenich has not yet experienced as > > a result of one month of Caller ID have to do with duration and > > penetration... > > [Moderator's Note: What about in places like New Jersey, where > > Caller*ID has been a reality now for about a year? Maybe one or more > > of the 'veterans' of Caller*ID will write on the topic of abuses -- if > > there are any -- now that this new technology has had a chance to get > > established. PAT] New Jersey Bell has offered Caller*ID for about three years. I'm not sure how many people have the display devices, but most people have heard of the service. They advertise it on TV! The press has reported several times on the significant drop in the number of harassment or obscene call complaints received by authorities. Does this mean that individual subscribers are taking matters into their own hands? Does it mean that would-be prank callers are deciding not to call? I don't know. I once used it to call back a kid who bothered me early in the morning, and haven't been bothered since. Abuses? We get about the same number of telemarketing calls we used to. We don't get calls from merchants we called, unless we gave them our number. I have yet to see a retail store with a Caller*ID display unit in use. They seem to appeal mostly to residence subscribers. The advertising from NJ Bell shows the service being used by individuals at home. I called someone at home from a customer's premises, and left my office number as the call-back message. He called my customer and asked for me, apparently by looking at his Caller*ID display unit. Since I wasn't there when he called, it only delayed him, and bothered my customer. Abuse? I wouldn't call it that, would you? The customer knows me, and told the caller that I had been there, but that I had left. As a user of Caller*ID for about two years, I have found it helpful. As one who calls others who use it, I have not found it troublesome in any way. Horrors? Not in New Jersey! Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857