Geoffrey Welsh wrote:
>> Is there a phone / telecom specific web forum or usenet group?
> I'd recommend comp.dcom.telecom; there are some very experienced
> and knowledgeable people in that forum.
>> Can anyone here verify that Bell is technically not capable of
>> activating or making the *69 function work on POTS lines because
>> of roll-over configuration?
> Telecom is part of my job, but I'm not sufficiently familiar with
> the combination of POTS lines, hunt groups, and *69 to give you an
> authoritative answer, but I'd guess that the problem would be
> trying to associate the correct last incoming call with the line
> in question...
As you may discover as you read on, you are several posts behind in
this thread. But there isin't a lot of new information.
What is not explainable is why the *69 function can't work on the
first line of the hunt group since calls made to it are not
"rolled-over" from another other line.
Also I don't see how call-display information can work on lines
configured as part of a hunt group if *69 can't. Yet Bell has
confirmed that I can order call display ($11 / line / month) on each
of the 4 lines (which is not worth it).
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *69 probably _would_ work for calls
which (you were certain) had arrived on the first line. But what
about the time when a call arrived on a roll over line because line
one was busy? If you are sitting there to watch the calls arrive,
then of course you would see if it was on the first line or not. But
most people use *69 to retrieve calls they missed when they were
away from home (or at least away from the phone). They wonder 'who
called me when I heard the phone ring a few minutes ago' and use
*69 to find out. I suppose you could get *69 installed on each line
and *69 on _each line_ would retrieve the last call _on that line_ but
again, what if you were wrong about the line the call came in on?
Now with caller-ID (which will not usually work at the _phone company
level_ if *69 will not work at the _phone company level_) you can do
as telco suggested, and equip each line with a caller-ID box) if you
think it is worth your money. Or, a better solution to this would be
to get a 'multi-line' caller-ID box from someone like Mike Sandman
http://www.sandman.com and use it instead. His multi-line caller-ID
boxes absorb the first ring (in order to display caller-ID between
first and second rings) and display the _line_ the call came in on
plus the usual details. Still though, that would not work with *69
service, unless, maybe, you get from him one of the devices which
locks the 'call return' telephone on the line of the last arriving
call, so that *69 would _truly_ go out on the specific line in
question. In either of those instances, however, caller-ID or *69,
the next incoming call is going to 'wipe the slate clean' and
present the 'latest' information, and in either of those cases, you
would need 4 x the feature, i.e. 4 times on *69 or 4 times on caller-ID.
Mike Sandman may know better answers on this; his office phone is
630-980-7710. PAT]
Some Guy (Some@Guy.com)