Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: jimmy@denwa.uucp (Jim Gottlieb) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Finding Out the "Real" Number Behind a 1-800 Number Message-ID: <2202@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 15 Dec 89 19:14:34 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles Lines: 28 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 576, message 7 of 11 In article <2130@accuvax.nwu.edu> otto@jyu.fi (Otto J. Makela) writes: >AND THEY ONLY GIVE A >1-800 NUMBER ! We of course cannot call this number from Europe. Spending most of my time in Japan lately, I come across this problem constantly. In fact, I had a DISA (Direct Inward Station Access) installed on my home Centrex here in L.A. to help with this problem. Unfortunately, I have problems breaking its dial tone from Japan. So I'm back in the same boat. It just does not occur to people in the U.S. that people outside North America can not call their (800) number. Recently, I saw an ad in the Far Eastern Economic Review directed towards business people in Asia. And the only number given in the ad was their U.S. (800) number! Since computer hardware in Japan is twice the price, we try to buy everything in the U.S. and ship it over. I use magazines like Byte, Unix World, and PC to track down what we need. The advertisers who do not provide a non-(800) number can't get my business. Perhaps one more example of American businesses not doing what it takes to get more international business (but again, this subject is beyond the scope of this group). Jim Gottlieb E-Mail: or or V-Mail: (213) 551-7702 Fax: 478-3060 The-Real-Me: 824-5454