Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Thomas E Lowe Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Caller ID Message-ID: <2477@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 29 Dec 89 16:47:37 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: tel@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (thomas.e.lowe,ho,) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 21 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 600, message 6 of 9 >Wouldn't it be nice if ALL fax machines could identify themselves >BEFORE anything picked up so the same line could share devices? That >way, data calls (FAX, MODEM) would automatically route themselves to >devices WITHIN A TELEPHONE NUMBER. New Jersey Bell (and others) are now offering something called "Ident-A-Ring" where a single phone line is assigned up to three different phone numbers. (Kind of a glorified use of an old fashioned party line.) Each number would have a distinctive sounding ring. Wouldn't it be nice to have a little box with one input and three outputs. Then, based on which ring it received, it would switch to the appropriate output. You could put FAX on one, MODEM on another, and VOICE on the last. Cheap and Simple. Tom Lowe tel@cdsdb1.ATT.COM attmail!tlowe 201-949-0428 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2E-637A Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (R) UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (keep them lawyers happy!!)