Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: john@jetson.upma.md.us (John Owens) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Precise Dial Tone & A Tone of the Past: No-Such-Number Message-ID:Date: 2 Oct 89 22:02:32 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: SMART HOUSE Limited Partnership Lines: 32 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 425, message 4 of 6 On Sep 24, 12:58pm, Larry Lippman wrote: > Technology in this area went directly from the electromechanical to > the solid-state. The one exception was the "no-such-number" tone > generator, which used vacuum tubes and made its debut around 1940; > it has been affectionately called the "crybaby tone". [....] > > The last "holdout" I am aware of which used this tone was Rochester > Telephone, in Rochester, NY, and quite to my surprise I heard this > tone when I misdialed a toll call to the Rochester area about four > years ago. [....] Actually, this tone (continuous rising for 1 second, continuous falling for 1 second, etc.) is still in use by C&P Telephone on the 301-867 exchange (West River, MD), for misdialed outgoing calls (e.g., dialing a 7-digit number for an exchange not in the local calling area). Calls to a non-working 867-xxxx, however, get routed to an AIC and get an intercept recording! I haven't tried dialing a 1+ call to a non-existent area code; I guess that would tell me if the local switch knows area codes or passes the 1+ call to a smarter tandem. This switch is being replaced by "the most modern electronic switching facility in Maryland" this Fall; can anyone tell from the use of the not-a-number tone what kind of switch I'm on? It's definitely not a stepper: touch-tone calls complete in milliseconds. No "custom calling features" are available; neither is Centrex, or Equal Access. Per-call and timed local billing is available. My guess is a #5 crossbar; reasonable? John Owens john@jetson.UPMA.MD.US uunet!jetson!john +1 301 249 6000 john%jetson.uucp@uunet.uu.net