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From: stuart@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: "press or dial 1 now"
Message-ID: <8704100227.27591@ur-seneca.arpa>
Date: Thu, 9-Apr-87 21:27:59 EST
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Posted: Thu Apr  9 21:27:59 1987
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In article <8704080219.AA19687@seismo.CSS.GOV>, robert@rabbit1.UUCP writes:
> Summary: Dial 1 identifies touch-tone(tm) for automated answering system
> In article <8703292028.AA01420@dasys1.Dasys.COM>, schuster@dasys1.Dasys.COM (Michael Schuster) writes:
> > "Thank you for calling. For faster service please press or dial '1' _now_".
> I experienced this when calling a mutual funds company.  I had the impression
> that the message came AFTER the phone had rung, but I could be wrong.  After
> PRESSING 1 on the touch-tone, I was prompted to select (by number) the 
> reason for my call from a verbal "menu".
> [...]
> I assume that pressing the initial "1" identified my touch-tone capability.
> Had I NOT pressed the "1", I probably would have been transfered to a "live"
> operator after a brief pause.

Strange you should mention that!  I just called 9 mutual funds last
Friday and four of them had this feature.  My phone is a dark-ages dial
phone and when I dialled 1, I got only Muzak followed eventually by
live operators.  This tends to confirm that "press or dial 1" is to
identify touch-tone capability.

In each case, the message was given *after* the initial ringing of the
phone, so the discrimination and subsequent menu processing is almost
certainly performed by a box local to the subscriber.

Personally, I think the message is misleading.  Requesting someone to
"press or dial" suggests strongly that both touch-tone and dial phones
are acceptable when the whole point is to discriminate between them.

Stu Friedberg