Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: broehl@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Bernie Roehl)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: New AT&T Service -- AT&T VoiceMark Messaging
Message-ID: <4665@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 2 Mar 90 15:27:09 GMT
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Reply-To: Bernie Roehl <broehl@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 139, Message 1 of 10


In article <4593@accuvax.nwu.edu> tel@cdsdb1.att.com (Tom Lowe) writes:

>>Unfortunately, the 800 number given was not working from
>>Western Michigan as of tonight, so I wasn't able to try it out.

>As far as I know, the 800 number should be working across the country.
>If anyone has any problems, please call the hotline listed below.

What about Canada?  I know some U.S. 800 numbers are available from
here, others aren't.  I have a MasterCard, a Bell CallingCard and a
desire to try out the service.  Where do I go from here?

>>Another number to call for information and
>>literature between 7 AM and 11 PM daily is 1-800-662-2588.   PT]

Sigh.  That one doesn't work from Canada.  ("I'm sorry, your number
cannot be completed as dialed...")

>VoiceMark(sm) Service: 1-800-562-MARK (Have your ATT/VISA/MasterCard
>ready)                          (6275)

Also not available here in Canada.

>If anyone has any ideas for other voice related services such as this
>one, please let me know.  We are always looking for new ideas for
>services and many of the ones that we are working on now were
>suggested by people like yourselves.

Hmm.  Our university switchboard gives us ring-again (call a number,
get a busy signal, push link+111 and hang up.  When the person you're
calling hangs up from their call, you get a series of short rings;
pick up the phone and it rings at their end.  Very, very handy).

Also, a way of distinguishing personal calls from work-related toll
calls would be handy for those who work out of their homes.  Our
university switchboard lets you dial 115 plus a four digit "research
grant number" before the phone number, and that research grant number
shows up on your campus bill.

How about making the grant number mandatory on customer request?
Students often share phones and argue about who called what... a grant
number would make it easy to sort out monthly telephone bills.  You
could even have the bills printed sorted by grant number (with
subtotals, of course).

My home phone has call forwarding.  I'd like to be able to reprogram
it from the number I'm forwarded to, to tell it where I'll be next.

A slight modification to the VoiceMark system... a wakeup call
service.  (Actually, the existing VoiceMark could probably be used for
that.  Never mind).

An enhancement to VoiceMark... allow the user to specify a list of
numbers instead of just one (perhaps the existing VoiceMark does this
already -- I don't know, since I can't reach it)... that way if I have
to announce a change in meeting time to everyone on a committee (for
example) I don't have to make a lot of individual phone calls.


	Bernie Roehl, University of Waterloo Electrical Engineering Dept
	Mail: broehl@watserv1.waterloo.edu OR broehl@watserv1.UWaterloo.ca
	BangPath: {allegra,decvax,utzoo,clyde}!watmath!watserv1!broehl
	Voice:  (519) 747-5056 [home]  (519) 885-1211 x 2607 [work]