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From: stv@qplx.UUCP (Steve Vance)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: ESS Call Waiting design, also, Demon Dialer info
Message-ID: <272@qplx.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Mar-84 18:33:39 EST
Article-I.D.: qplx.272
Posted: Thu Mar  1 18:33:39 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Mar-84 02:06:44 EST
References: <5897@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: MDS Qantel, Hayward CA.
Lines: 47

(for those of you who don't know, ESS stands for Electronic Switching
System, the kind of equipment your local phone company can have which
makes it possible for them to offer you special features like Call
Waiting and Call Forwarding)

There are lots of ways Bell could improve on Custom Calling features,
heaven knows why they don't.  For example, why should I have to go
home to turn Call Forwarding on and off?  Imagine this: I call a special
number in my exchange, type in my phone number and a code number, and
then the number I want calls forwarded to now.  Or maybe I'll be on
the road now, and I want my answering machine to answer my calls.
In that case I would want to turn Call Forwarding off completely.

As a matter of fact, I recently disconnected Call Forwarding because
the opportunities where it was usable were so few.  At the same time,
I disconnected my 30-number speed calling, and installed the 176-number 
"Demon Dialer" I bought from Heathkit and put together (Radio Shack
has them already assembled if this is beyond your capabilities).  
Instead of just two digits, I can use up to six, which makes 
mnemonics (like MOM and TWA) possible.  ESS could be just as
flexible.  In my case, MOM is long-distance, and the Demon Dialer
dials Sprint for me and enters my auth code before dialing her number.
It also has one-button redial and "keep dialing till they answer".
I have been thinking of getting one for my office phone, too; they're
great.  
 
There are lots of things ESS could easily be programmed to do that
you can get aftermarket devices to do, like pressing the "*" button
to put a call on hold so you can change phones, or not allowing calls
thru for a certain number of hours.  Or how about an ESS alarm clock,
having it call you back at a time you specify?  And yet, the same old 
five Custom Calling features have stood, unchanged, since their initial
release 15 years ago.  Perhaps someone who works for one of the many
"Telephone Company" sites on this net could tell us if any changes
are in store?

I have heard that a survey was done somehow, somewhere, that proved
that the revenue gained by giving Call Waiting away, free, would be
much more than if everybody signed up and paid for it.  It's like giving 
away phone books--the more calls you make that are successfully 
completed, the higher your phone bill can be; and Call Waiting certainly
allows more calls to be completed.  Think about it!  Anybody got any
ideas why ESS is so far from its full potential?

Steve Vance
{ucbvax,ihnp4,amd70,zehntel,onyx}!dual!qplx!stv
Qantel Corporation, Hayward, CA