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From: lied@ihlts.UUCP (Bob Lied)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: ESS Call Waiting design, also, Demon Dialer info
Message-ID: <380@ihlts.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 3-Mar-84 19:15:22 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlts.380
Posted: Sat Mar  3 19:15:22 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Mar-84 04:41:21 EST
References: <5897@decwrl.UUCP> <272@qplx.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 39

The following is just my opinion, and is not necessarily the
opinion of my employer, or any living, rational person.

I think that the reasons that switching systems don't offer more complex
reasons are these:

1.  The overhead of adding all these services is unacceptable to
    the people who have to buy and maintain switching systems.
    When you consider the cost of a simple ESS, and the complexity
    required to maintain the reliability expected of one, it is
    not surprising that customer features are few and far between.
    Most of the new features that go into ESS's are not for the
    benefit of the consumer, but for the aid of the people who
    have to run the switch and the telephone network.

2.  Many of the features previously mentioned (speed calling/refuse calls/
    wake-up calls) are best done within the telephone equipment in your
    home.  There's no reason why the local switching center should
    perform all these when simple hardware from Radio Shack can do it.

3.  The telephone sucks as an input device.  When features get more
    complex, those 12 TOUCH-TONE(tm) keys just don't cut it.  How
    can you sell features that require complex combinations of digits
    when some people refuse to make long distance calls because they're
    confused about dialing 1 or 0 first?

4.  Switching systems as we know them are about to become obsolete.
    ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) will replace all that
    flash-hook/dial *77/enter 14-digit code crapola with packet
    signaling.  All those neat-o features become a lot easier to do
    (and a lot easier to use) when you have a network of computers
    talking to each other.  It's a ways off for Joe Schmoe in his
    suburban manse, but it's the goal that telecommunications is
    heading toward.

Further discussion should probably be directed to fa.telecom.

	Bob Lied	ihnp4!ihlts!lied
	"That's life -- you can tell by the way it sucks."