Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: sje!tom@pdx.mentor.com (Tom Ace @ PCB x2021)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Criticism of Call Forwarding
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Date: 30 Sep 89 00:00:00 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 421, message 6 of 8

In TELECOM Digest V9 #414, Miguel Cruz asked:

>A) Why on earth does it do that thing where the first time you try
>forwarding, it actually places the call to the number, and if it's
>busy or no answer, you have to do the whole forwarding sequence again?
>Is there a single person on the planet for whom that's helpful or
>convenient?

Our moderator replied:

>[Moderator's Note: Regards (A), if you actually reach the party to whom
>you are forwarding, you are assured of dialing correctly. If you get a
>busy or no answer, it might be because you dialed a wrong number. By doing
>it a second time, telco is assured that your instructions match your
>intentions. Without this repeat-dialing verification, you might accidentally
>have forwarded to the wrong place.


Huh.  I always thought it was a slimebag method to get more revenue.  To
set up call-forwarding, you need to make (and, if applicable, pay for)
a call, like it or not.  (Well, an alternative is to place two calls,
hanging up before either is answered, not exactly to the delight of whomever
you're forwarding the calls to.)  Patrick's remarks are valid (I appreciate
that it would be a drag to be the recipient of erroneously forwarded calls),
but we endure several inconveniences the way things are.  There are times
when you'd like to be able to set up call-forwarding without ringing the
recipient's phone (3 A.M., for example).

Tom Ace
tom@sje.mentor.com
...!mntgfx!sje!tom

P.S.  I once wanted to forward my phone to a 976 service as a joke, but
      the switch wouldn't let me.  It did, however, let me forward to an
      identical 976 service in an adjacent area code (at a greater cost
      to me for each call forwarded, of course).