Date: 11 Apr 92 04:37:00 GMT
From: dave@westmark.westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Caller*ID Stops a Telemarketer
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 309, Message 1 of 8

In article <telecom12.298.10@eecs.nwu.edu>, dgdhome!ddavis@uunet.
UU.NET (Don Davis) writes:

> P.S. - Dave, three questions:

Okay, I'll try to answer them!

> 1. What equipment you are using to deliver the Caller*ID data to your
>    UNIX system?

ClassMate, by MHE Systems Corporation.  This is a box the size of a
cigarette pack with a modular jack on one end, and an RS-232 plug on
the other.  It looks to the UNIX system like a Modem.  It produces one
line of ASCII text for each inbound call, showing the date, time, and
calling number.

> 2. How many numbers can you keep in the Call*Block list?

As offered by NJ Bell, Call*Block permits me to block calls from up to
six numbers.

> 3. Do you find the mechanism for reviewing/changing the Call*Block list
>    to be tedious, irritating, or difficult to use?

It is tedious at first, until one reaches the point where it is not
necessary to listen to the full text of every voice prompt from the
C.O.  Given the need to allow administration of the list from any
touch-tone phone, the mechanism is probably as good as any other they
might have used.

What I don't like is the feature interaction with hunting.  As
implemented here in 908-647 (1A ESS, Millington, NJ) if the called
number has blocked calls from the calling number, then if the called
number is not busy, the caller gets a recording that says "the number
you have dialed is not accepting calls at this time".  But if the
called number is busy, the call will hunt.  This makes it necessary to
subscribe to Call*Block on each line in a hunt group, and to
administer the list for each line, if there's a caller you really
don't want to hear from on any line.  I would prefer to see a blocked
call not hunt.

In article <telecom12.301.13@eecs.nwu.edu>, nagle@netcom.com (John
Nagle) writes:

> If you are called by a junk caller, you post the number to a USENET
> group.  An application then downloads all junk numbers identified by
> anyone on the net, and applies them to your incoming calls.  If this
> could be made effortless, it could be really useful.

I think that John Nagle has posted a brilliant idea!  Way to go,
John!!!  If we all pool our lists of junk callers, we should be able
to build up a huge list of of these relatively quickly.  I can see an
application much like the pathalias program (which today gathers
articles from the comp.mail.maps newsgroup, and updates the local uucp
routing database).

A couple of questions come to mind:

My definition of a junk call might be different from yours.  I wonder
if there's a universal way of categorizing this information, such that
individual recipients of the list can use it selectively.

For the present, the list need only be local to each LATA, as
inter-LATA Caller*ID is not yet implemented.


Dave Levenson		Internet: dave@westmark.com 
Westmark, Inc.		UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Warren, NJ, USA		Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857