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- Path: sparky!uunet!news.miami.edu!wupost!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!news.acns.nwu.edu!telecom-request
- Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 01:24:35 GMT
- From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
- Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
- Subject: Re: Stupid Phone Systems Blocking N[01]X Prefixes
- Message-ID: <telecom12.843.11@eecs.nwu.edu>
- Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc., Seattle, WA
- Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
- Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
- X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
- X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
- X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 843, Message 11 of 11
- Lines: 34
-
- In article <telecom12.840.9@eecs.nwu.edu> Jim.Rees@umich.edu writes:
-
- > You would think that cellular providers would be sensitive to the
- > problem of dialing numbers with a 0 or 1 as the second digit, since
- > many cellular prefixes are of this type. But our latest cell phone
- > number is in the 600 prefix, and we've found that we can't roam
- > anywhere, even where our provider has a mutual roaming agreement with
- > the remote provider. The reason? It seems that most cellular
- > providers can't deal with the 600 prefix.
-
- There may be another explanation. Was the 600 prefix recently put
- into service by your home cellular carrier? The cellular carriers
- that have roaming agreements regularly exchange data as to which
- prefixes they have in their home areas. The other carriers then
- update their switches with this data. What can happen with new
- prefixes is that the prefix is turned on, and the other carriers don't
- program their switches for the new prefix right away, either because
- they didn't get the data in a timely manner from the home carrier, or
- because they don't act on the new data quickly enough.
-
- Either way, the symptom is that a subscriber who has service on a new
- prefix in their home area is unable to use the phone for any calls,
- incoming or outgoing, in another area. Note that this problem is not
- restricted to any particular prefix, but just to the prefix's
- "newness." I have a friend that used to be a cellular phone dealer,
- and this happened serveral times to customers who bought a new phone
- immediately before going on a trip, and were very disappointed that
- the phone didn't work in certain roaming areas. But, it could also be
- a problem specific to x00 prefixes as well.
-
-
- Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com
-
-