Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Caller*ID(tm) and Repeat*Call(tm) in New Jersey Message-ID: Date: 28 Mar 89 03:01:25 GMT Sender: news@vector.UUCP Lines: 83 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 111, message 1 of 7 I've just returned from Spring Break, and my dorm number has finally had Caller*ID and Repeat*Call turned on. I picked up the Caller ID box from my PO Box here, and here are a few first impressions: Repeat*Call works well. I have used it both for local calls and intra-LATA long distance calls. One feature that is not documented is that when you get the Repeat Call signal that the line is free (two short, one long), the Caller ID box displays the number that you are attempting to call. This is useful because you can have several Repeat Calls running at the same time. My only complaint (other than the large one below) is that the confirmation tape you hear upon activating Repeat Call is very worn and of poor quality. Repeat Call is activated by dialing *66 after the busy signal. All current Repeat Calls will be disabled by dialing *86 (you can't disable one, you have to disable all). Caller ID works well also. After purchasing the 9-volt battery the box requires (that was never mentioned before...), I hooked it up. After the wrangling with NJ Bell (see below), it finally worked. The number appears quite quickly, almost immediately after the first ring ends. It only displays the last seven digits, but then I haven't gotten a call from out of state yet. I haven't seen it yet, but according to the documentation, it displays three question marks: _ _ _ _| _| _| | | | when the number does not support Caller ID. When a call comes in, the unit displays a NEW in the top right corner, and the number, preceded by an L (it looks like it was supposed to show L for long distance, and nothing for local, but that info was replaced by a page-size sticker in the docs). After 30 seconds, whether the phone was answered or not, the number disappears and is replaced by the word CALL. The box has three buttons, Remove, Time of Call, and Review. To review the calls (it stores up to 20, and then bounces the least recent), you hit the review button, and the most recent call will be displayed, then the next most recent... When you hit Time of Day, you see DATE in the mid-upper left, the 2 digit day on the left, the 2 digit hour (1-12) on the right, and AM or PM to the right of the hour. This time/date comes over the line with the number, not from the box. If the same number calls back, the upper right will show REPEATED CALL for that number, and the Time/Date will be for the most recent call from that number. To delete a number, you hit the Remove button twice, and the digits of the number disappear one at a time from the right to left (a "dissolve"). There is also a low battery indicator BATT on the far left. Under the gray square surrounding the LCD screen, there are two buttons in the bottom right and left corners that are not marked, which when pressed simultaneously will reset the unit and clear the numbers. If there are no calls in memory when Review is pressed, nine's are shown. The unit is 6" long, 4 3/4" wide, and slopes from 2.5" tall in the back to 2" tall in the front. The phone cord plugs in the back, and there is a barrel socket (like those used for DC adaptors) that is marked unused in the manual, and unmarked on the unit. I had to call NJ Bell repair today to get the service turned on (3/27). The person who I called to establish the service said that the service would be turned on on 3/20. I was locked out of the dorm for Break last week, so I was not around on 3/20. I called the Business Office to see if the service was actually on, as reccommended in the Caller ID box manual, and the person said that it showed completed on 3/20. I then called the Manufacturer of the box, and they said that they had been having trouble with NJ Bell saying that the service was on when it wasn't. The service call was placed around noon, and the service was on when I returned at 8pm tonight. When I called the Business Office, I asked for a credit for the time that the service was not really on, and the rep told me that I asked to have the service turned on on 3/20, and that I should have checked then to see if it worked. I said that I was TOLD when the service would start, with no choice in the matter, and that I was locked out of my dorm last week and couldn't check on 3/20. She said that she didn't want to argue and credited me for the week that the service was supposedly on but really wasn't. Is this some kind of extra money-making plot, or just ineptitude on the part of NJ Bell? This is my first report. If anything exciting develops, I'll let you know. Please feel free to direct questions about the rudiments of the service to me, at an address shown below: Mark ---- Mark Smith (alias Smitty) "Be careful when looking into the distance, RPO 1604; P.O. Box 5063 that you do not miss what is right under your nose." New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5063 rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith (OK, Bob?) msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu Copyright 1989, Mark Smith. All Rights Reserved.