Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: 301-950 Exchange Message-ID: <3503@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 2 Feb 90 14:41:49 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA Lines: 38 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 74, message 3 of 8 In article <3456@accuvax.nwu.edu>, velu@ra.src.umd.edu (Velu Sinha) writes... >C&P has recently created numbers within 301-950 for reaching the MD >State Motor Vehicle Administration ... I set out this morning to reach >the MVA, and found that I was unable to reach the number (a fast busy >when dialing 7 digits, and a "Your call cannot be completed as dialed" >message when dialing 1+10 digits).... >Anyway, if anyone wants to see if they can reach the number from >out-of-state, it is 301-950-1682. If you get through, perhaps you can >ask them how I get a replacement registration card for my car (;-) !! >ps. Anyone know what this 950 service for MVA really does? Very strange. 950, of course, is the access code for "Feature Group B" carrier facilities. MCI's 950-1022 is probably the best known in these parts (the Digest). And each 950 number indeed translates to a different access code, since it points to a carrier just as 10xxx does. 950-1MVA thus implies that MVA got a Feature Group B access arrangement from C&P. That requires special trunks, etc. Why would they do this? (Remember, too, that 950 numbers are unique nationwide.) I can only speculate that in-state 800 Service may have cost more per minute than FGB access calls. So MVA may have declared itself to be a "carrier", its telephone agents to be "operators", and now they have the same arrangement as real telephone carriers' operators. They thus have toll-free dialing for a fraction of the price of an 800 number. (If I recall, FGB usage is under a nickel a minute.) That's my guess. Anyone know the real story? BTW, if it's true, we're due to exhaust carrier access codes VERY quickly. Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388