Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 21:10 EDT
From: fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us (Scott Fybush)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: College Phone System AGAIN!
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 781, Message 5 of 12

kupiec@hp800.lasalle.edu (Bob Kupiec) writes:

> ...at LaSalle University.  We have been running on
> two PBX's (one for campus offices, one for campus dorms) and AT&T ACUS
> for the dorms for the past few years.  We were equipped with free
> local calls, free 800, Call Waiting, Three-Way Calling and Call
> Forwarding with all the frills.

This reminds me of my experience at Brandeis University, from which I
graduated this past May.  Single PBX there, free local calls,
call-waiting for $25 a semester (a bit steep compared to $2.58 a month
from NETel), free 800, no other frills.

> Now things have changed ...

> Everything was fine until I returned for the fall semester.  They
> decided to consolidate the two switches into one NCR switch.  So far
> there has been nothing but trouble.

> 800 access to all 800 numbers are BLOCKED (except for the 445 ACUS
> prefix) and without an ACUS plan you can't call 800!  What about
> calling card users?  The Telecom Operations guy gave me the useless
> "800 numbers were forwarded to 900 numbers and we don't want to be
> stuck with the bill" response.

When the first of the 800-to-900 scams appeared in 1991, I paid a
visit to the system administrator (someone who it's good to know ...
if you can get this person to tell you the truth, they can be
extremely valuable) to let her know the scam existed.  Her response
wawas to block that single number.  Better than your campus' solution,
to be sure, but still mostly a reactive solution.  The campus system
manager almost has to get burned by a number before knowing that it
should be blocked.  And of course the current user of Mystic
Marketing's old 800 number is now inaccessible from Brandeis.

> Call Waiting sometimes does not work for incoming off-campus calls.
> There is NO way to block Call Waiting!  This give me a fit, because
> how am I supposed to use the modem?!

At least Brandeis gives students the option of not buying the service.
Now that I have REAL phone service from NETel, I do have Call Waiting
(not my choice :-), but I can turn it off with *70.

> Also, the Telecom Operations person told me one of the tie lines seems
> to be messed up because some on-campus calls connect with very faint
> audio.  He also can't seem to find which one it is to disable it
> either.

> No Three-Way and no Call-Forwarding enabled.  Also, and the previous
> poster mentioned, there is NO WAY to get a local or LD Operator!  NO
> 9-0 and no 9-00.  Only the campus operator.

> I just hope that 9-911 works in case of an REAL emergency!  (How
> should I test this?)

9-911 is probably blocked, but for good reason.  If there's an
emergency on campus, you should be calling your campus public safety
dispatcher.  They can contact ambulance, fire, or local police if
needed.  However, a well-designed system should intercept 911 or 9-911
and send them to the campus dispatcher.  How many people remember that
the campus emergency number is, in my case, 3333?

> The latest development is the ACUS codes don't even work!  For the
> last few days there has been no way to call home from the campus
> telephones.  I think I should ask for my "phone service" deposit back
> because I sure don't get any.

You have my condolences.  My feeling in reading the last few posts on
this thread, as well as in my dealings with Brandeis Telecom (check
the archives for plenty of griping about them!) is that campus
telecommunications needs should be handled by professionals.  If the
campus can't afford to hire someone who can manage the system properly
 -- and that means making sure there are enough trunks in and out to
handle all traffic, ensuring access to all available telecom services
that an "off-campus" user would have access to (and this includes 800,
900, 700, 10XXX-0, 950, weather and time/temp lines, and international
direct dialing), fixing problems with the system quickly and properly,
and at the same time providing protection against fraud -- then the
campus should leave the job to the pros at the local telco.  I'd
rather pay $15 or $20 a month for decent, reliable, telco POTS service
than have to put up with the really cruddy "service" that so many of
these campus systems seem to offer.  I'm paying a total of about $30 a
month for service now (not including toll charges and taxes), and it
is far superior in all regards to the Brandeis system.