Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Thu, 23 May 91 11:12:28 EDT From: Bob Stratton Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: C&P Telephone "Anti-Slam" Flag and Amazing Service Reply-To: strat@gnu.ai.mit.edu Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest 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 392, Message 6 of 7 Lines: 52 I was recently ordering service from C&P Telephone (A Bell Atlantic company) of Maryland, and I was repeatedly stunned to find what I consider to be exceptionally accomodating service -- has anyone else noticed this change from RBOCs?? When I requested a old number, I was told that the NNX was "frozen -- probably due to equipment upgrades". Out of curiosity, I asked what kind of switch was there now, and the person immediately told me, which shocked me, having gone through hell when trying to get this info on past occasions. I expressed disappointment at being unable to get the number I wanted, and asked for her "second level" (supervisor). She put me on hold, came back once to tell me that her second level had referred her to a particular department (the frame foreman?), and came back to tell me that she had indeed secured the number I requested. To compound the shock, she then said: "If there's something you really want, that's the right way to handle it." When I placed the original order, I requested that no changes to the LD carrier selection be made without written authorization. I had to make a few changes the day after that (before the service was turned on), and I asked for confirmation that this restriction was entered. The order-taker blew me away when she informed me that there was a special flag that specifically restricts "mechanized" changes to accounts. She even read me an excerpt from the manual, which states something to the effect of "when this flag is set, any mechanized/automatic changes to the account will drop out with an error indication..." She indicated that there had been a big problem with inadvertent LD carrier changes, and wasn't sure why, but said that this flag was specifically created to deal with the issue. I've also noticed that the order people are taking pains to explicitly specify which services are optional, and in the case of non-published numbers, that people with Caller*ID could still get the number. This does not correspond with my traditional experiences in dealing with C&P. Is it just Baltimore that's like this, or have all the areas improved their service? I spent two weeks last winter begging C&P of Virginia to tell me what kind of switch I was on, and when I could expect CLASS services. *sigh* Bob Stratton | Stratton Systems Design| SMTP: strat@gnu.ai.mit.edu, c_bstratton@hns.com Alexandria, Virginia | PSTN: +1 301 409 2703