Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 8 May 91 03:25:07 EST From: "Barton F. Bruce" Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Why the Bong? Message-ID: Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu 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 343, Message 3 of 13 Lines: 20 In article , collins@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Bernard Fran Collins) writes: > Perhaps this has been discussed before. Well, yes it has. But not for a while. > Is there a good reason why a credit card call must contain a pause > in the dialing in order to wait for the bong? ... bong really do > anyway? The local carrier isn't interested in your credit card number, so you have to wait till the LD carrier is listening. You just might be on a circuit that has a tone to pulse converter active that needs to be shut off. The BONG tone is actually the # key to knock off the TT->DP converter, and then it fizzles off to sound distinctive. Someone will probably publish the exact specs again.