[00:00.710 --> 00:06.370]  He was the last editor and publisher of the TAP newsletter in the 70s and 80s.
[00:06.830 --> 00:15.170]  Currently, he lives in Florida and has his own area code, which is 321-LIFTOFF is his phone number.
[00:16.370 --> 00:19.670]  But, uh, there's many exciting stories to tell you.
[00:19.930 --> 00:21.870]  I will waste no more time.
[00:22.090 --> 00:22.790]  Cheshire Catalyst.
[00:29.540 --> 00:35.080]  The way I do tell the story is that the 321 area code came about because I asked for it.
[00:35.080 --> 00:36.220]  I asked for it.
[00:36.360 --> 00:40.160]  They approved it, and therefore I figured it must be mine since I'm going to ask for it.
[00:40.300 --> 00:41.260]  But I share it.
[00:41.720 --> 00:46.000]  So it's not my area code exclusively, but I do consider it my area code.
[00:47.040 --> 00:48.300]  Uh, hi.
[00:48.420 --> 00:50.780]  I'm the Cheshire Catalyst, Richard Cheshire.
[00:51.120 --> 00:53.920]  I do have a website, cheshirecatalyst.com.
[00:54.400 --> 01:01.280]  You then put slash h2k2 slash direct dot htm in all caps.
[01:01.280 --> 01:04.820]  Uh, you will find the notes for this particular lecture.
[01:05.560 --> 01:09.160]  And, let's see, let's tab around so we can find Netscape.
[01:10.240 --> 01:23.060]  And I have done the, uh, alt view and increase font so that, um, it can be legible in a big room here with my note.
[01:24.740 --> 01:30.480]  So anyone on the internet who's just catching the audio of this will also be able to follow in line with their web browser.
[01:30.940 --> 01:34.380]  Um, it was written in Notepad.
[01:34.740 --> 01:36.900]  My favorite HTML editor.
[01:39.970 --> 01:42.850]  And because it's HTML, it can be read in any browser.
[01:43.390 --> 01:44.530]  I happen to like that.
[01:45.470 --> 01:54.310]  Um, as an old phone freak, I am embarrassed to say that in my day job, I am a directory assistance operator.
[01:55.270 --> 02:03.470]  I work for a third party company that is hired by a large IXC, a meter exchange carrier, whom I do not wish to identify.
[02:04.250 --> 02:05.150]  Sorry about that.
[02:05.290 --> 02:06.210]  People speak offline.
[02:06.470 --> 02:09.930]  Anyone who buys me lunch, I'll tell them who I work.
[02:10.910 --> 02:13.550]  Um, and I'm on a very limited budget.
[02:13.670 --> 02:14.570]  I need someone to buy me lunch.
[02:15.510 --> 02:17.970]  Uh, day to day, you know what I do.
[02:18.170 --> 02:20.270]  I go, what city and listings, please.
[02:21.450 --> 02:23.370]  And it used to be just, what city, please.
[02:24.050 --> 02:27.110]  But somebody brought suit with the FCC, blah, blah, blah.
[02:27.270 --> 02:30.430]  The lawyers now say we have to say, what city and listings, please.
[02:30.770 --> 02:35.190]  To give the impression so you now know you can get more than one listing per call.
[02:36.610 --> 02:41.050]  Now, uh, my company actually doesn't work with just the one IXC.
[02:41.150 --> 02:42.870]  We've got a couple of companies to be answering phones for.
[02:43.090 --> 02:49.430]  A nice, bright pop-up screen comes up and gives us our answering phrase so we know which one, uh, we're answering for this call.
[02:49.590 --> 02:50.850]  And it does change from call to call.
[02:51.150 --> 02:53.350]  Uh, we're a very flexible company.
[02:53.390 --> 02:56.010]  So I'm looking for a company that does do direct assistance services.
[02:56.170 --> 02:57.850]  Just, uh, drop me an email.
[02:57.970 --> 02:59.810]  Cheshire at 2600.com.
[02:59.810 --> 03:02.210]  And I'll send you along to our salespeople.
[03:02.370 --> 03:05.130]  We'll be very happy to, uh, find the direct assistance service.
[03:05.350 --> 03:07.470]  That will work for your large IXC.
[03:08.250 --> 03:11.670]  And, um, but you can get more than one listing now.
[03:12.230 --> 03:16.830]  So be sure you, uh, keep reminding the operator of that because we used to just throw them to audio.
[03:17.290 --> 03:21.310]  We have a big yellow button that says, off to audio, and off they go.
[03:21.550 --> 03:24.450]  And then, you hear from Jane.
[03:26.110 --> 03:27.950]  Who knows Jane's last name?
[03:31.550 --> 03:39.510]  Jane Barbee, of the Autocrine Corporation of Atlanta, Georgia, which is now, I think, Telecommunication Electronics, or some kind of name.
[03:39.750 --> 03:41.810]  Uh, at a different page.
[03:42.230 --> 03:47.350]  If you go to the CheshireCatalyst.com website, there will be a link to other URLs.
[03:48.190 --> 03:55.610]  And, uh, a link to interviews with Jane Barbee, who was recently on the NPR radio program, Wait, wait, don't tell me, the news quiz.
[03:56.390 --> 03:58.450]  Which, as a news junkie, I was doing basically every Saturday.
[03:59.470 --> 04:09.630]  And, uh, Jane Barbee is the voice of very many voicemail systems and virtually all of the Telephone Cup recordings of the last 40 or 50 years.
[04:11.090 --> 04:21.310]  So we will pass you off to Jane, who will be happy to tell you the telephone number at least twice, and then can return you to the Director of Assistance Operator if you have a second listing that we've got to grab for you.
[04:22.650 --> 04:28.550]  We find that it's easier to give them what they want, not necessarily what they ask for.
[04:28.770 --> 04:34.710]  Um, I want the airport in... hold on.
[04:35.170 --> 04:39.950]  And we don't know which airport that is, we just put in airport info, and usually it will come up.
[04:40.410 --> 04:55.810]  Sometimes we have to search a lot for it, and it would be very nice if airport managers would put in the word airport as part of their listing, and a special number for info, so that we, Polar and Schmuck, Director of Assistance Operators, can find the listing.
[04:57.210 --> 05:00.210]  This is the major message of my talk today.
[05:00.490 --> 05:16.550]  I'm not really talking to this audience, but to the Internet audience, who I hope will be the corporate telecom managers, so they can figure out from my talk how they should list their company so that I, and my 600 best friends in my call center alone,
[05:17.190 --> 05:18.210]  can find them.
[05:18.510 --> 05:20.990]  And there are many other call centers around the nation.
[05:22.430 --> 05:25.490]  So we give them what they want, not necessarily what they ask for.
[05:27.090 --> 05:28.290]  They want a hospital.
[05:28.970 --> 05:35.210]  Well, if you don't tell me you want patient information, I'm going to give you the main switchboard number, who will route you to patient information.
[05:35.690 --> 05:38.990]  But if I have to stop and ask you, that's going to put up my time.
[05:40.070 --> 05:41.930]  A-C-H-T.
[05:43.270 --> 05:45.570]  Average Call Handling Time.
[05:47.130 --> 05:48.990]  This is what we're rated on.
[05:49.730 --> 05:53.590]  And in my company, it's about to be what we get paid on as well.
[05:54.230 --> 05:55.870]  There is much grumbling in my company.
[05:56.650 --> 05:59.290]  But the floggings will continue until morale improves.
[06:02.130 --> 06:05.210]  So, it's going to be the way of the world fairly shortly.
[06:05.710 --> 06:06.890]  But A-C-H-T.
[06:06.970 --> 06:08.050]  Average Call Handling Time.
[06:08.170 --> 06:17.750]  The quicker we can find your number and throw you to chain, the smaller our average call handling time will be, and the more calls we can take per hour.
[06:17.750 --> 06:20.190]  And that improves our productivity, etc.
[06:21.130 --> 06:25.690]  And we can take more calls, and hopefully get more money, because we get paid per call.
[06:30.070 --> 06:34.930]  Another thing is when they ask for a hotel, and I have three or four hotels in town.
[06:35.050 --> 06:37.090]  I want a Comfort Inn in Denver, for example.
[06:37.550 --> 06:39.670]  Well, I've got three or four Comfort Inns in Denver.
[06:40.470 --> 06:42.390]  Would you like a toll-free number?
[06:42.670 --> 06:43.850]  Perhaps they can help you.
[06:44.130 --> 06:52.670]  And if I can throw up the chain with a toll-free number, that would have to do it on the list of the three different hotels in the Denver area, and waste my time.
[06:52.890 --> 06:55.090]  And I can reduce my A-C-H-T.
[06:56.650 --> 06:59.750]  Now, another thing I want to do with this talk is give messages to others.
[06:59.750 --> 07:04.390]  For example, Christmas Day, we handle a lot of calls.
[07:04.490 --> 07:10.330]  Now, coming up to Christmas, we have a lot of calls that meet our time, because they want the addresses.
[07:11.330 --> 07:14.110]  Yes, we are required to give you addresses if we have them.
[07:14.110 --> 07:22.370]  Now, in rural small towns like Podunk, it might be just, you know, Jack Smith, Podunk, and there's no address given.
[07:22.690 --> 07:26.930]  But many times, we'll just say Highway 3, whatever.
[07:27.990 --> 07:30.730]  We'll give you what we've got, but we just haven't always got it.
[07:31.030 --> 07:33.090]  A lot of times, people don't want to list their addresses.
[07:33.230 --> 07:34.350]  They don't want their address in the phone book.
[07:34.550 --> 07:38.590]  And we only get what's in the phone book.
[07:39.090 --> 07:48.130]  When you go to get a new listing put in, when you move, when you call a telephone company, they take the information for the phone directory at that time.
[07:48.310 --> 07:50.110]  If you want extra listings, give them.
[07:50.370 --> 07:53.910]  If you want John and Jane Smith, tell them.
[07:54.150 --> 07:57.330]  And you may actually wind up with, well, with us.
[07:58.070 --> 08:00.950]  Some telephone companies enter it one way, second another.
[08:01.310 --> 08:07.270]  We'll sometimes get two listings with John-Jane Smith, and then we'll get Jane-John Smith.
[08:07.490 --> 08:08.630]  They'll show up twice.
[08:09.330 --> 08:13.390]  But this way, when they ask for Jane, we're looking for Jane at that point.
[08:13.550 --> 08:15.530]  We're looking at the front of the first-named field.
[08:16.010 --> 08:19.870]  And if it's John and Jane, we may not find her the first two or three passes.
[08:20.490 --> 08:23.130]  And then if they finally complain, we slow down.
[08:23.290 --> 08:24.750]  Oh, yes, there is a Jane Smith here.
[08:24.850 --> 08:25.770]  I'm sorry I didn't find it earlier.
[08:25.870 --> 08:26.290]  Here you go.
[08:26.930 --> 08:27.650]  Here's your number.
[08:27.990 --> 08:28.850]  And throw her to Jane.
[08:30.730 --> 08:35.050]  But on Christmas Day, I get the heartbreaker calls.
[08:35.950 --> 08:45.630]  And the heartbreaker call is the nine- or ten-year-old kid calling directory assistance in another city, because I can see the calling number.
[08:45.770 --> 08:48.890]  I can see the call number of which very good they're calling from and to.
[08:49.630 --> 08:50.930]  Dad's out of town somewhere.
[08:51.070 --> 08:54.350]  They're looking for their father, and he's not published.
[08:55.770 --> 09:00.290]  I not only can't give them the number, I don't have them to give it if I want to.
[09:00.550 --> 09:05.210]  It has the letters NP for not published, where the telephone number would be.
[09:06.290 --> 09:16.810]  So the message to the deadbeat dads is go to the convenience store, buy a $5 phone card, go to a pay phone that won't get traced back, and call your kid on Christmas.
[09:17.970 --> 09:20.890]  Because I hate telling those kids that their dad is not published.
[09:22.510 --> 09:24.850]  TDD operators, I have a message for them.
[09:25.350 --> 09:28.750]  The telecommunications device for the deaf is a wonderful machine.
[09:29.010 --> 09:34.430]  It allows a relay operator to collect information from the deaf person, speak it over the phone.
[09:34.790 --> 09:44.870]  The called party can then respond to the relay operator, who then types into what is basically a Model 15 telex machine, or moderate electronic equivalent.
[09:45.230 --> 09:47.310]  And the TDD device is pretty neat.
[09:47.970 --> 10:00.250]  When TDD was developed and taken from old military teletypes, and put on acoustic couplers, your problem is computer modems, which give a constant tone, and it shifts the frequency of the tone.
[10:00.990 --> 10:04.910]  With TDDs, it uses a single tone, what's called on-off keying.
[10:05.130 --> 10:12.390]  It only sets a tone for a one bit, and silence for zero bits, and the space between letters and words.
[10:12.390 --> 10:24.190]  This means if you have a conference call with TDD devices, everybody can type, and everybody else can hear, by viewing the little online display.
[10:24.790 --> 10:30.890]  And you can have multiple people on a party line, because it works slightly differently from the way computer modems work.
[10:31.330 --> 10:32.610]  So TDDs are wonderful.
[10:33.130 --> 10:41.070]  But please, the TDD operators, collect your information from the TDD party, before calling us.
[10:41.390 --> 10:46.150]  The usual procedure is to just carry on a conversation for the deaf person.
[10:46.930 --> 10:51.690]  But please, try and reduce our ACHT, and we'll try and help you reduce yours.
[10:52.950 --> 10:53.970]  Small towns.
[10:54.810 --> 11:04.590]  If you're too small to have your own police force, take a couple of bucks a month in to list the local sheriff's department under the word, police, in your town.
[11:05.910 --> 11:09.050]  We, as director of assistance operators, get calls all the time.
[11:09.230 --> 11:13.490]  They want a sheriff in Podunk, and they're calling from New York.
[11:13.650 --> 11:21.090]  You know, they've tried to reach an ability for three or four days, and they need to send a cop out to knock on the door and make sure an ability is all right.
[11:21.990 --> 11:25.210]  But in Podunk, they're too small to have their own police force.
[11:25.310 --> 11:26.310]  The county sheriff does it.
[11:26.430 --> 11:29.290]  I have to stop and ask, do you know what county this is?
[11:29.350 --> 11:31.590]  Because our director is listed by cities only.
[11:32.610 --> 11:43.930]  What I can do is I can put in the word county, throw it to the government listings, and see if it'll come up with a county office in that town, give me a clue as to what county they're in.
[11:44.490 --> 11:53.650]  But that's because I'm a nice guy, and I'll waste that kind of time, and my associate next to me may not, and just, I'm sorry to get that information, thank you, click.
[11:54.970 --> 11:57.510]  And trying to reduce her to ACHT.
[11:57.930 --> 12:01.150]  I can't blame them, but I'm an old phone freak.
[12:02.130 --> 12:12.050]  I always had that love-hate relationship with the Bell System, loved the network, hated the bureaucracy, and that level of service.
[12:12.530 --> 12:26.910]  The universal service that Theodore Bale brought to the Bell System in 1912 was the spirit that the fund company is providing, not just a monopoly service, but a public service.
[12:27.190 --> 12:30.910]  And the public service is why they should have the monopoly.
[12:31.590 --> 12:40.550]  Okay, it was a political move, brilliant, but it inspired a spirit in the workers to provide service to the public.
[12:40.870 --> 12:41.710]  Good service.
[12:42.250 --> 12:52.230]  And since I come from the fund-free community that loved that network, I go to great lengths to try and find numbers that sometimes just really aren't there.
[12:52.750 --> 12:53.850]  But I'll try.
[12:54.660 --> 13:00.170]  And I'll tell people, still checking, still checking, failing miserably, but still trying.
[13:01.110 --> 13:05.910]  And you're trying to inject some humor into the situation, but in a lot of cases, the number just isn't there.
[13:07.150 --> 13:07.990]  Big cities.
[13:08.950 --> 13:17.330]  Get your cops to list police, non-emergency, in big, bold letters in the local book so that hopefully it will float to the top of our listings.
[13:17.870 --> 13:30.930]  It needs to be at the top of your big city police department listings in the phone book, because that's the only way it migrates into the directories of the long-distance carriers, the IXCs, the inter-exchange carriers.
[13:33.470 --> 13:43.750]  Some cities have so many departments that we can't find the main listings because you've got all your precincts in there, and the word main is in the M's.
[13:44.230 --> 13:46.750]  And a certain quantity lists alphabetically by department.
[13:46.750 --> 13:48.530]  and trying to find the main number.
[13:49.630 --> 13:52.390]  Or, you know, we generally look for the word info.
[13:52.810 --> 13:55.690]  So having the word info in there is a help also.
[13:56.590 --> 13:58.330]  But help us, please.
[13:58.550 --> 14:00.550]  We need the help so we can find your numbers.
[14:01.550 --> 14:03.130]  Department store managers.
[14:04.470 --> 14:06.490]  Take a survey of your customers.
[14:07.290 --> 14:10.630]  If you're of national chain, throw it to market research.
[14:11.470 --> 14:14.950]  How do they ask directory assistants for your store?
[14:15.450 --> 14:17.350]  Get listed that way.
[14:18.130 --> 14:30.430]  If your sign out front says Super K, if you've thrown millions of dollars across the company in this signage, why do you still only list yourself in the phone book as Kmart?
[14:32.290 --> 14:38.250]  I personally drive past a Kmart on my way to work and see the big K sign.
[14:38.610 --> 14:40.270]  I have figured this out.
[14:40.830 --> 14:46.510]  Not so many of my 600 best friends in my call center have figured this out.
[14:46.830 --> 14:49.310]  Some of them are giving not found reports.
[14:51.330 --> 14:52.410]  Transit companies.
[14:53.430 --> 14:59.030]  Please plainly list your route and schedule information under bus or transit.
[14:59.030 --> 14:59.730]  Okay.
[14:59.990 --> 15:01.450]  You've got a trendy acronym.
[15:01.810 --> 15:03.670]  You're the Denver Area Rapid Transit.
[15:03.790 --> 15:04.530]  You're DART.
[15:05.170 --> 15:05.710]  Cool.
[15:06.230 --> 15:09.770]  But directory assistants operators don't live in your town anymore.
[15:10.290 --> 15:13.770]  Even the ones that say they're area code 303.
[15:14.590 --> 15:16.350]  I handle 303.
[15:16.730 --> 15:17.930]  I'm in 321.
[15:19.030 --> 15:20.350]  I don't know Denver.
[15:20.970 --> 15:24.850]  I happen to have checked up on this information, so I happen to know.
[15:24.990 --> 15:26.890]  But I now have looked for DART.
[15:26.890 --> 15:29.850]  My 600 best friends don't.
[15:30.030 --> 15:33.090]  We need a listing that says bus, schedule.
[15:33.590 --> 15:35.610]  And then we can throw you phone calls.
[15:35.730 --> 15:39.730]  We won't give the not founds that you may have heard rumors about people are getting.
[15:41.970 --> 15:44.630]  Especially marking if it doesn't end in one or more zeros.
[15:45.210 --> 15:51.010]  Now, I'm the kind of operator that looks through a long list of numbers for a company looking for all the zeros.
[15:51.490 --> 15:54.030]  The ones that end in double O or even triple O.
[15:54.310 --> 15:54.570]  Okay.
[15:55.050 --> 15:55.650]  Name number.
[15:55.870 --> 15:56.950]  Throw that number to Jane.
[15:57.210 --> 15:58.830]  She's my really best friend.
[15:59.650 --> 16:00.930]  And Jane will give it.
[16:00.930 --> 16:04.810]  But if you've got a number like 718-217-5477.
[16:07.210 --> 16:12.530]  I'm supposed to know that the 5477 stands for LIRR for the Long Island Railroad.
[16:13.710 --> 16:17.570]  Clever acronym for all the New Yorkists and all the guys on Long Island.
[16:17.570 --> 16:21.830]  But for us down in Florida, we've got a couple of New Yorkists in the crowd.
[16:22.050 --> 16:23.870]  But we don't see the clever letters.
[16:24.090 --> 16:27.390]  We only get the numbers in our directories.
[16:27.770 --> 16:30.670]  We never give out the clever letters, even when we've got them.
[16:31.030 --> 16:43.790]  When I get somebody calling for a Holiday Inn, to tell them just dialed 1-800-Holiday, it's amazing how many people in this country have yet to figure out the little letters on the telephone dial.
[16:44.370 --> 16:48.130]  And how they correspond to those words that they see on the television.
[16:50.630 --> 16:52.270]  We want the word info,
[16:59.870 --> 17:03.050]  but we want to see the word info, or general info.
[17:03.750 --> 17:04.190]  Sears.
[17:04.370 --> 17:06.250]  I've got to tell you, I love Sears.
[17:06.450 --> 17:23.390]  Because no matter where in the country I'm looking, and we handle a number of area codes around the country, if I put in Sears Space Gen, if I just put in Sears, I'm going to get the auto shop, and the portrait studio, and appliances, and men's wear, and women's wear.
[17:23.790 --> 17:28.750]  But if I put in Sears, again, boom, up comes general information, throw it to Jane.
[17:29.070 --> 17:30.990]  I am so happy with Sears.
[17:31.290 --> 17:34.270]  I truly wish others would get into that.
[17:35.470 --> 17:37.190]  Lines that get me out of trouble.
[17:38.610 --> 17:41.930]  I'm sorry, I don't show a separate directory for that town.
[17:41.930 --> 17:43.350]  Is there another nearby city?
[17:44.130 --> 17:44.410]  Okay.
[17:44.930 --> 17:46.010]  Podunk is too small.
[17:46.270 --> 17:49.810]  Their numbers are blended in with Roanoke next door.
[17:50.730 --> 17:52.650]  And Roanoke I can find.
[17:53.610 --> 18:00.150]  Actually, our regions, when we hit that expand location button, spread out into very large areas.
[18:01.170 --> 18:08.390]  They think that because Podunk is 50 miles from the nearest city, that it couldn't possibly be a Roanoke number.
[18:08.390 --> 18:11.030]  Well, yeah, probably it is.
[18:12.150 --> 18:13.470]  And we need to know that.
[18:14.690 --> 18:16.190]  We'll look where we can.
[18:18.090 --> 18:22.090]  Amazingly, a lot of people never read the front pages of their telephone directory.
[18:23.090 --> 18:26.130]  It's amazing what kind of information you can get out of that.
[18:26.590 --> 18:34.550]  For one thing, since deregulation, dialing zero only gets you to your local telephone operator.
[18:35.390 --> 18:39.190]  If you need a long distance operator, you dial two zeros.
[18:40.050 --> 18:40.790]  Zero, zero.
[18:41.710 --> 18:44.370]  This concept has been in effect for at least a decade.
[18:44.990 --> 18:50.270]  And it is truly amazing how many people have not yet figured this out.
[18:50.930 --> 19:00.390]  I truly wish the FCC would get with the phone companies and make them take one full page in front of their directories.
[19:01.010 --> 19:06.370]  And in the top half of the page, in very large print, say zero is your local operator.
[19:06.610 --> 19:11.170]  In the bottom half of the page, in very large print, zero, zero is your long distance operator.
[19:13.210 --> 19:21.470]  Maybe not a full half page, but underneath that, you can have the numbers for finding out who your long distance carriers are.
[19:21.810 --> 19:22.390]  Plural.
[19:23.370 --> 19:28.470]  You have two long distance carriers, or you could have two.
[19:28.730 --> 19:30.510]  Probably you have the same people for both.
[19:31.050 --> 19:39.730]  But, to find out your long distance carrier, you dial the free number, 1-700-555-4141.
[19:40.290 --> 19:47.710]  Your long distance carrier will pick you up and drop you at a recording, saying, Hello, I am the Mumbo Corporation providing your long distance.
[19:49.270 --> 19:51.710]  However, you also have a local toll carrier.
[19:54.330 --> 19:58.790]  There are LATAs, Local Access and Transport Areas.
[19:59.570 --> 20:02.270]  Somewhere in the front of your telephone book, it may tell you that.
[20:03.030 --> 20:09.770]  Some telcos don't want to scare you by using the term LATA, and they'll just say it's your local telephone region, or some other nonsense.
[20:10.030 --> 20:17.190]  But for your local toll carrier, you dial your area code, followed by 555-4141.
[20:17.670 --> 20:19.190]  You may get the same recording.
[20:19.890 --> 20:23.210]  You may get a different recording from a different company.
[20:23.490 --> 20:28.350]  And this is the company providing long distance service, but within your LATA.
[20:28.870 --> 20:41.430]  It's within state, and it's basically, it's anything that's not a toll call, or not a local call, but does not go outside of your LATA.
[20:41.770 --> 20:44.310]  These are local toll calls.
[20:45.110 --> 20:47.770]  And you can have a separate carrier.
[20:48.450 --> 20:50.430]  It's worth going to some of the websites.
[20:51.590 --> 21:05.050]  I think there's 1010-info.com, which does nothing but research the prices of different companies, both as long distance carrier and as local toll carrier.
[21:05.350 --> 21:09.710]  And it's worth going through those and finding out who gives you the best deal, and getting there.
[21:09.710 --> 21:20.130]  Now maybe your local phone company will have a special deal of a quarter of a call within the LATA, in which case you want your local company to be that local toll carrier.
[21:21.270 --> 21:23.310]  Check into it and find out.
[21:23.310 --> 21:28.510]  On my notes, I have NPA-555-4141.
[21:28.630 --> 21:33.490]  And NPA is the internal telco abbreviation for a numbering plan area.
[21:34.410 --> 21:38.010]  Numbering plan areas is basically an area code.
[21:38.990 --> 21:56.250]  But it was once I heard that they were going to split my area code in 407 in Florida, that's when I, as a geek, as an old phone freak, knew to jump up on the website of the North American Numbering Plan Administration, NPA.com, and found the list of area codes.
[21:56.750 --> 21:57.690]  You know the list.
[21:57.930 --> 22:01.070]  201 New Jersey, 202 DC, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[22:01.270 --> 22:04.490]  And there were these gaps that were marked, available for geographic relief.
[22:05.430 --> 22:06.590]  Okay, I've run down the list.
[22:06.650 --> 22:07.570]  I saw 321.
[22:08.550 --> 22:09.970]  Wait a minute, 321.
[22:11.190 --> 22:12.470]  I'm also a space cadet.
[22:12.570 --> 22:14.510]  That's why I live near Cape Canaveral.
[22:15.170 --> 22:17.970]  I saw number 321, available for geographic relief.
[22:18.850 --> 22:20.410]  That's when I brought down the web browser.
[22:20.890 --> 22:22.330]  Brought up the word processor.
[22:22.990 --> 22:25.490]  And started it on my testimony for the public service admission hearings.
[22:26.210 --> 22:27.370]  The rest, as I said, is history.
[22:29.470 --> 22:30.350]  Bad examples.
[22:32.050 --> 22:33.350]  I had this call last week.
[22:33.450 --> 22:34.750]  Somebody called up looking for the R.S.
[22:34.890 --> 22:36.110]  Strauss company for auto parts.
[22:36.330 --> 22:37.630]  They insisted it was R.S.
[22:37.690 --> 22:41.210]  Strauss because a sign outside the auto parts store says R.S.
[22:41.430 --> 22:41.870]  Strauss.
[22:43.110 --> 22:46.390]  Sure enough, it was listed as simply Strauss Auto Parts.
[22:47.150 --> 22:51.090]  But because they insisted on the R.S., I kept looking for it as R.S.
[22:51.210 --> 22:51.510]  Strauss.
[22:51.770 --> 22:53.370]  I gave them a knockdown report.
[22:54.830 --> 22:56.750]  So, you've got to do that market research.
[22:58.830 --> 23:01.330]  Why I hate copyright lawyers.
[23:02.110 --> 23:05.070]  If I get calls, public storage warehouse, please, fine.
[23:05.690 --> 23:07.490]  Warehouse is spelled W-A-R-E.
[23:08.670 --> 23:11.290]  Warehouses are for merchants to store their wares.
[23:11.570 --> 23:12.430]  This is fine.
[23:13.250 --> 23:16.970]  The men's warehouse is spelled W-E-A-R.
[23:17.470 --> 23:19.410]  Before the clothes men wear.
[23:21.090 --> 23:23.290]  Well, I have finally figured this one out.
[23:23.410 --> 23:25.570]  Some of my 600 best friends haven't yet.
[23:27.270 --> 23:30.530]  There's an outfit, I think it's in California, the music warehouse.
[23:31.350 --> 23:34.330]  W-H-E-R-E house.
[23:34.650 --> 23:36.170]  Where are you going to find the music man?
[23:36.890 --> 23:37.950]  It's not their tagline.
[23:38.030 --> 23:39.450]  It probably ought to be, but I don't live there.
[23:39.490 --> 23:41.430]  I've never seen one of their stores before, so...
[23:42.030 --> 23:46.290]  But I finally just put in music and looked for it in a small town.
[23:46.290 --> 23:48.550]  And it came up spelled that way.
[23:49.330 --> 23:52.650]  I hung my head and said, Sorry, here's your number.
[23:53.710 --> 23:54.870]  Sent her off to Jane.
[23:55.310 --> 23:57.590]  And now I know how to spell warehouse for it.
[23:57.670 --> 23:58.850]  The music warehouse.
[24:00.110 --> 24:02.050]  But I hate copyright lawyers.
[24:04.750 --> 24:07.110]  Telcos are among my worst cases.
[24:08.490 --> 24:16.370]  First off, Verizon Wireless has a listing in every small town Podunk and everywhere else.
[24:17.790 --> 24:27.730]  And in those places where Verizon is the local telephone company, trying to get past the Verizon Wireless listings is a pain in the butt.
[24:29.450 --> 24:31.930]  You try and look for Verizon Customer Service.
[24:32.310 --> 24:34.850]  You try Verizon Consumer.
[24:35.790 --> 24:38.490]  And Verizon's in so many different states.
[24:38.490 --> 24:40.610]  And they're all listed in so many different ways.
[24:41.290 --> 24:42.290]  Can't keep track.
[24:43.970 --> 24:49.530]  And what I go through trying to find a Verizon number to give the people to just get new service.
[24:50.850 --> 24:51.850]  It's atrocious.
[24:52.310 --> 24:54.190]  The telcos themselves are their own worst enemies.
[24:55.010 --> 24:55.890]  Southern Bell.
[24:57.350 --> 24:59.290]  Down in Florida, we have a number.
[25:00.890 --> 25:01.850]  780-BELL.
[25:04.430 --> 25:05.390]  780-3255.
[25:06.710 --> 25:10.130]  Well, that only works from within Florida.
[25:10.730 --> 25:13.050]  Furthermore, it only works from within your area code.
[25:13.270 --> 25:16.230]  Because you've got to put your area code in front of it if you have 10-digit dialing.
[25:17.310 --> 25:19.710]  Put another area code in front of it, you won't get there.
[25:19.850 --> 25:21.590]  It's a special exchange.
[25:22.090 --> 25:24.070]  The 780 exchange is special.
[25:24.070 --> 25:27.450]  And we'll transport them magically to where they have their call center.
[25:27.570 --> 25:28.270]  Probably LATO.
[25:28.850 --> 25:30.610]  Because that's where they'll sound blue based.
[25:32.210 --> 25:34.590]  They may have local call centers that'll switch off to during the day.
[25:34.690 --> 25:35.210]  I don't know.
[25:35.410 --> 25:52.950]  But the thing is that if somebody up in the Rust Belt can't reach Aunt Millie, or wants to pay Aunt Millie's bill for her because she's too weak to be able to cut a check, trying to find them a phone number they can reach from out of state is, again, a pain in the butt.
[25:53.810 --> 25:55.510]  Generally, you can't find one.
[25:55.950 --> 25:56.850]  We try.
[25:57.610 --> 26:00.670]  Some of us, me, try like hell.
[26:01.230 --> 26:03.130]  But we still can't find them a good one.
[26:03.570 --> 26:18.590]  What I will usually do is switch off to Atlanta and find a 404 number they can get into, and then hope it's not a special exchange that only Georgia can reach, and they'll be able to get Aunt Millie's phone bill today.
[26:20.510 --> 26:25.750]  When you get a new area code yourself, tell people.
[26:26.770 --> 26:32.050]  If you have elderly relatives, don't tell them to change the area code.
[26:32.390 --> 26:36.630]  Tell them you have a whole new phone number, and the phone number is.
[26:36.630 --> 26:39.230]  And give the area code and phone number.
[26:41.050 --> 26:46.970]  The calls I get after a changeover, it's, oh, they take the area code.
[26:47.250 --> 26:48.950]  Yeah, but that was two years ago, Gramps.
[26:50.110 --> 26:52.970]  And just, you've got to get the word out to people.
[26:54.170 --> 26:54.850]  Companies.
[26:55.550 --> 26:58.830]  Put your new area code on your trucks.
[26:59.510 --> 27:02.470]  You think your truck doesn't travel outside your area code?
[27:04.310 --> 27:07.210]  Put your area code on your building signs.
[27:07.690 --> 27:08.850]  The new one.
[27:09.090 --> 27:10.790]  We've got billboards in Florida.
[27:11.290 --> 27:12.950]  It's been three years now.
[27:13.230 --> 27:18.250]  They still say 407 on an obvious cocoa exchange or an obvious Melbourne exchange.
[27:19.390 --> 27:26.370]  They're driving trucks from Melbourne to Orlando with the 407 area code on the truck.
[27:26.710 --> 27:34.190]  And, of course, the person, anybody seeing the number on the truck, wants to call and get that service, is not going to be able to reach the company.
[27:34.670 --> 27:38.450]  Because they're going to get Jane telling them, I'm sorry, the number you have dialed.
[27:38.570 --> 27:39.490]  It's not currently in service.
[27:39.590 --> 27:41.410]  Or some other error message.
[27:41.950 --> 27:43.370]  They won't get there.
[27:44.490 --> 27:48.990]  Put area codes on your signs even if you don't have 10-digit dialing.
[27:51.230 --> 28:02.470]  If some tourist comes through and sees your truck and jots down your phone number and then goes home, golly, I wonder which area code in that state they're in.
[28:03.470 --> 28:08.390]  If the area code is part of the phone number they jotted down, they'll be able to reach you.
[28:09.410 --> 28:10.750]  Would be useful.
[28:10.750 --> 28:12.790]  For example, restaurants.
[28:14.490 --> 28:20.530]  When you list a restaurant, please put the word restaurant in your listing.
[28:22.090 --> 28:24.230]  You know, just Chez Charles.
[28:24.770 --> 28:25.870]  Sounds so chic.
[28:26.950 --> 28:30.650]  But when I get a call, I want to eat a restaurant on Dwight Street.
[28:31.030 --> 28:32.310]  I don't know, it's French.
[28:36.850 --> 28:38.630]  Yeah, just give me a clue.
[28:38.630 --> 28:42.750]  If it's an ethnic restaurant, give me the ethnicity.
[28:44.430 --> 28:46.190]  Yeah, Mexican restaurant.
[28:46.390 --> 28:47.870]  There's a Mexican restaurant I bought.
[28:48.270 --> 28:50.770]  I can put in next, restaurant.
[28:51.190 --> 28:52.610]  I can hit a keyword button.
[28:52.810 --> 28:56.910]  And if those two words come up, and 4th Street, I can give the listing.
[28:57.610 --> 29:00.930]  What I can't do is, quote, a yellow pages search.
[29:02.070 --> 29:10.750]  By FCC tariff, so I'm told, I am not allowed to do a yellow pages business category search.
[29:13.390 --> 29:14.750]  Some of your listings, please.
[29:15.530 --> 29:18.350]  In probably a lot of florists.
[29:18.410 --> 29:19.170]  Any florist.
[29:20.090 --> 29:25.810]  Well, a lot of florists have gotten wise, and will actually list themselves as growing up florists.
[29:26.810 --> 29:33.750]  They are my godsend, because if they give me the two keywords in their request, I can throw them that number.
[29:34.750 --> 29:40.850]  Some people, with toll-free FTD numbers or something, are catching on.
[29:40.850 --> 29:47.390]  And if I see a bunch of toll-free numbers that say Roanoke florists, I'll look for the local number.
[29:47.690 --> 29:57.250]  Because what they're trying to do is save a couple of bucks, and call a local florist, and just give them their message over the phone, rather than the FTD, which will charge them also for the fax of the local florist.
[29:58.290 --> 29:59.290]  Which they should be doing.
[29:59.490 --> 30:00.010]  That's the mystery.
[30:01.430 --> 30:05.190]  I'll try and find that local number that says Roanoke florist, and throw them back in the drain.
[30:06.570 --> 30:16.010]  But please, if you have some identifier of what type of business you are, put it in the listing, so that when they call, we can find it.
[30:16.270 --> 30:18.370]  As I say, do the market research.
[30:18.570 --> 30:20.090]  Run a survey of your customers.
[30:20.410 --> 30:23.170]  How do they ask for you in the directory?
[30:24.150 --> 30:25.770]  Get listed that way.
[30:25.890 --> 30:26.890]  It's not that hard.
[30:27.130 --> 30:28.150]  How do you do that?
[30:28.330 --> 30:31.010]  Go to your local telephone company.
[30:31.270 --> 30:33.330]  Tell them, I'd like an extra listing, please.
[30:33.330 --> 30:34.850]  A couple of bucks a month.
[30:35.150 --> 30:38.870]  They'll get more phone calls that way, because we can find you in the directory.
[30:39.470 --> 30:40.490]  People are very lazy.
[30:40.630 --> 30:42.170]  They don't want to look up the phone book anymore.
[30:42.830 --> 30:44.210]  Can't find the phone book anymore.
[30:44.410 --> 30:49.990]  Or they've been sent out to the outhouse to use, because the Sears doesn't publish catalog anymore.
[30:50.690 --> 30:51.510]  You never know.
[30:52.790 --> 30:58.690]  But the trick is that that's how you get listed, not only in the directory, but with directory assistance.
[30:58.690 --> 31:05.390]  That database is processed and migrated up the food chain from the local carriers to the inter-exchange carriers.
[31:05.830 --> 31:06.590]  And that's when we get them.
[31:07.130 --> 31:08.470]  That's when we get access to it.
[31:09.670 --> 31:10.630]  Radio stations.
[31:10.870 --> 31:12.610]  Are you KISS 105FM?
[31:12.730 --> 31:14.610]  Or are you WXYZ?
[31:14.870 --> 31:15.770]  WXYZ is Detroit.
[31:15.970 --> 31:16.610]  It's worth learning.
[31:18.210 --> 31:21.970]  But the idea is, don't list just your call letters.
[31:22.550 --> 31:23.890]  List your frequency.
[31:24.570 --> 31:27.950]  List your logo, being at KISS FM or whatever.
[31:28.290 --> 31:33.370]  Or we've got one in Florida called the HitKicker, a country station.
[31:33.790 --> 31:35.010]  Be sure you spell that one, right?
[31:37.790 --> 31:39.630]  But list these things in the phone book.
[31:39.790 --> 31:47.230]  If that's all you're saying constantly all day, is the HitKicker, 102.7 FM, then put those things in your listing.
[31:47.510 --> 31:56.710]  If you then only have it as WKCB for your call letters, and you're not making those call letters evident to your listeners, that's not what they're doing.
[31:56.790 --> 32:01.330]  If you're only doing it once at the top of the hour for the FCC spec, then that's not enough.
[32:01.330 --> 32:04.010]  Five times an hour you're telling them you're the HitKicker.
[32:04.670 --> 32:05.990]  Make that the listing.
[32:06.230 --> 32:11.430]  Or get an extra listing so that we can find you and help your listeners reach you.
[32:12.070 --> 32:14.230]  That's the purpose of directory assistance.
[32:14.490 --> 32:18.410]  To help the caller reach the called party when they don't know the number.
[32:19.310 --> 32:20.610]  You've got to help us.
[32:21.250 --> 32:22.550]  TV stations as well.
[32:22.930 --> 32:24.050]  That would list your call letters.
[32:24.590 --> 32:25.990]  List your channel number.
[32:26.730 --> 32:30.210]  Put the letters TV in there, so we can use that as a keyword.
[32:30.210 --> 32:32.190]  And your network affiliation.
[32:32.510 --> 32:34.890]  Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, whatever.
[32:35.870 --> 32:37.350]  Because that's what people are asking.
[32:37.430 --> 32:39.010]  I want if a Fox station came wrong enough.
[32:39.370 --> 32:39.850]  Yeah, okay.
[32:40.710 --> 32:42.050]  And maybe we can find it.
[32:42.150 --> 32:45.130]  If you put those keywords in your listing.
[32:48.870 --> 32:53.160]  In the past couple of weeks, I actually went looking for a standards organization.
[32:53.880 --> 32:59.880]  I figure if I can catch this at the data entry point, maybe I can help my job.
[33:00.100 --> 33:00.780]  Because believe me.
[33:01.540 --> 33:05.660]  I submit changes to the database department almost every day.
[33:06.840 --> 33:08.000]  They hate me in there.
[33:08.460 --> 33:12.440]  But it's because I want to try and get the database cleaned up.
[33:12.440 --> 33:12.460]  It's not.
[33:12.760 --> 33:17.720]  It's only our small part of the database at our company that handles...
[33:17.720 --> 33:20.480]  For the IXC we work for and a couple of other places.
[33:20.920 --> 33:24.300]  But it's not going to help every other directory assistance operator out there.
[33:25.220 --> 33:26.200]  It occurred...
[33:26.200 --> 33:33.100]  I sat down to think about it while preparing this talk, but I need to reach the standards agency that handles directory assistance topics.
[33:33.100 --> 33:37.000]  And I think I've found the Alliance for Telecommunications Industries Solutions.
[33:37.540 --> 33:43.880]  They have an order and billing subcommittee, which below that has the Local Services Ordering and Provisioning Committee.
[33:44.100 --> 33:48.280]  And that's where directory assistance standards live.
[33:49.560 --> 33:53.480]  I just called the guy a couple of weeks ago and spoke with him.
[33:54.120 --> 33:59.500]  We're just actually coming out last week with him and then left on vacation to come here for a different time.
[34:00.020 --> 34:01.980]  So I will be getting with the standards committee.
[34:01.980 --> 34:21.120]  And passing along these points to them hopefully get it to the telcos so that when they do data entry, some of these keywords can be put into listings to help us, the grunts with the headsets, who are trying to help their customers reach the parties they want to reach.
[34:21.520 --> 34:23.640]  With luck, we can do that.
[34:25.720 --> 34:29.380]  Hopefully, I don't know how soon, but we'll try and make it better.
[34:30.340 --> 34:32.260]  And that's pretty much the end of my topic.
[34:33.080 --> 34:40.260]  But I had one friend of mine who dropped me an email and suggested that I add him to talk a bit about telemarketers.
[34:42.320 --> 34:45.260]  A couple of words you should say to a telemarketer when they call you.
[34:45.760 --> 34:47.280]  Oh, I'd love to talk with you.
[34:47.380 --> 34:48.400]  Can you hold that just a minute, please?
[34:51.440 --> 34:59.100]  When you hear the incessant beep, beep, beep, beep of a phone off the hook, you'll then know it's time to go replace the telephone handstand.
[34:59.360 --> 34:59.860]  Sounds great.
[35:03.260 --> 35:04.120]  Thank you very much.
[35:04.200 --> 35:04.800]  Are there any questions?
[35:05.420 --> 35:06.140]  We have a mic.
[35:06.380 --> 35:06.580]  Yes.
[35:07.040 --> 35:10.380]  You mentioned contacting your local company if you want to get listed.
[35:10.880 --> 35:15.200]  What about people who claim that their number is still improperly listed from an older list?
[35:15.320 --> 35:17.460]  Can they call the same local company or a different party?
[35:17.460 --> 35:27.620]  Okay, the question was about people who want to be listed if they claim that they are improperly listed.
[35:28.280 --> 35:29.580]  Yes, we get those calls.
[35:30.060 --> 35:34.220]  I pass them out to a supervisor that's supposed to jot them down on a form and submit them.
[35:34.220 --> 35:39.020]  But I do tell them to call their local telephone company because that's where it all starts.
[35:39.500 --> 35:47.040]  That's where a directory listing starts is at the local phone company and works its way up the food chain to the IXCs among its companies.
[35:48.380 --> 35:57.880]  Now, why when there are chat lines that have out of the United States area codes and it's not listed where they are on a subject?
[36:07.360 --> 36:24.520]  Okay, the question is that there are chat lines with out of the country area codes that are listed in the directories, is that it?
[36:24.520 --> 36:25.600]  And the parents get the bills.
[36:25.600 --> 36:26.720]  And the parents get the bills.
[36:27.390 --> 36:28.430]  And the parents get the bills.
[36:29.350 --> 36:33.000]  That's a case where that company actually pays to have the numbers listed.
[36:33.980 --> 36:37.450]  And I'm trickling the Yellow Pages because what does the Yellow Pages company do?
[36:37.580 --> 36:39.450]  But it sells advertising.
[36:40.000 --> 36:40.930]  But it's fraud.
[36:41.140 --> 36:41.890]  I mean...
[36:41.890 --> 36:44.790]  It is fraud from a number of standpoints, yes.
[36:45.260 --> 36:49.480]  But that needs to be taken up at other levels.
[36:51.640 --> 36:54.080]  That's not a directory assistance problem per se.
[36:54.080 --> 36:58.410]  When they call a directory assistance asking for those, I would look at where they ask me.
[36:58.500 --> 36:59.870]  Because they're looking for chat lines in Philadelphia.
[37:00.520 --> 37:04.020]  Although these things are listed in the Philadelphia book, but then go offshore.
[37:04.410 --> 37:05.680]  They're not in the Philadelphia directory.
[37:05.960 --> 37:07.430]  I give them a not found report.
[37:07.600 --> 37:09.760]  Because, of course, I can't find them in the Philadelphia directory.
[37:11.960 --> 37:12.480]  Well, no.
[37:12.600 --> 37:13.410]  I search for them.
[37:13.410 --> 37:15.560]  Tell them about a new country around the island.
[37:16.180 --> 37:17.870]  Well, I don't know if that's what they're looking for.
[37:18.450 --> 37:20.020]  See, I'm at a call center.
[37:20.140 --> 37:22.310]  I don't know what is in Philadelphia.
[37:23.220 --> 37:26.660]  And so, I'm only responding to the customer's request.
[37:26.870 --> 37:28.480]  He's requesting a chat line in Philadelphia.
[37:28.830 --> 37:29.350]  Oh, I have none.
[37:30.100 --> 37:30.390]  I've done.
[37:33.620 --> 37:33.980]  Question?
[37:43.550 --> 37:46.560]  Well, I don't know that cell phone directory assistance will come.
[37:46.900 --> 37:52.680]  When I get a call and they want somebody's cell phone, I say, well, tell them we do not have cell phones in our directory at this time.
[37:54.520 --> 37:58.320]  The thing being that people get charged for receiving calls.
[37:59.400 --> 38:02.240]  So, the question is, does the person want to be listed?
[38:02.460 --> 38:06.160]  Now, there are some numbers in my directory that do come up.
[38:06.260 --> 38:07.380]  And it will say mobile phone.
[38:08.240 --> 38:09.920]  And some taxi companies.
[38:10.140 --> 38:11.940]  It's just a one-man operation.
[38:12.080 --> 38:13.940]  The guy has a cell phone in his cab with him.
[38:14.100 --> 38:15.120]  And he takes calls.
[38:15.340 --> 38:17.940]  He pays to have his directory listed.
[38:18.380 --> 38:19.920]  Because he wants to receive calls.
[38:19.920 --> 38:22.880]  He wants to be found in a directory, especially for directory assistance.
[38:24.100 --> 38:29.640]  But for the average cell phone user, it burns up your minutes.
[38:32.380 --> 38:38.260]  And the theory is that you will give your cell phone number to anyone that you want to have it.
[38:41.500 --> 38:42.020]  Yes?
[38:42.740 --> 38:43.260]  Actually,
[38:47.000 --> 38:49.640]  he lives in that area, but I thought, that's really cool.
[38:49.820 --> 38:51.260]  Because I don't remember that.
[38:51.720 --> 38:52.220]  Thank you.
[38:52.220 --> 38:56.560]  Yeah, it was referred to as one of the first vanity area codes, the area code 321.
[38:57.380 --> 39:00.910]  Someone said that his sister actually lives in the 321 area code and thought it was cool.
[39:01.080 --> 39:04.040]  That the countdown capital world would have area code 321.
[39:04.600 --> 39:07.120]  And that was the whole idea when I took the public service commission.
[39:07.680 --> 39:12.720]  And one of the commissioners suggested that it was just the kind of sugar coating.
[39:12.930 --> 39:16.950]  They'd love to put on that kind of problem people were going to have with changing their area code.
[39:16.950 --> 39:18.320]  And so he went for it.
[39:18.500 --> 39:23.910]  And as a matter of fact, he was then the chairman of the commission at the time of the cutover.
[39:24.680 --> 39:25.120]  Yeah.
[39:25.870 --> 39:26.460]  That's a pretty cool.
[39:27.370 --> 39:29.600]  However, it was not the first vanity area code.
[39:30.260 --> 39:32.760]  The first vanity area code was again Florida.
[39:32.760 --> 39:36.540]  And the Florida Public Service Commission just requested the number quietly.
[39:37.290 --> 39:38.100]  Got it.
[39:38.390 --> 39:46.450]  And so the Miami overlay is 786, which spells SUN.
[39:47.790 --> 39:52.500]  And some of the local motels down there would then get a funny word, seven letter word.
[39:52.500 --> 39:54.850]  You know, SUN, visit FLA or whatever.
[39:55.730 --> 39:57.260]  And had a good time.
[39:57.580 --> 40:03.720]  Oh, and I think it's Lexington, is it, where they have the 859 area code.
[40:03.890 --> 40:06.160]  That spells U-K-Y for University of Kentucky.
[40:07.180 --> 40:12.370]  So, I think they got it from the 321, wants to work out about 321 and the area codes.
[40:12.890 --> 40:14.950]  And NANPA is pissed.
[40:15.220 --> 40:20.140]  The North American Government Administration hates the concept of vanity area codes.
[40:21.640 --> 40:23.980]  And I'm so pleased with just a little bit.
[40:24.600 --> 40:32.040]  As a matter of fact, it was interesting, after the public service commission hearing, the chairman came up to me.
[40:33.040 --> 40:43.140]  The chairman of the commission came up to me and she told me that they had gone to NANPA and had requested such a list as I had provided in my testimony, and they had been told me it was proprietary.
[40:44.480 --> 40:49.430]  So, she was very thankful for my testimony, very appreciative.
[40:49.430 --> 40:52.370]  and thanked them profusely for writing with the information.
[40:52.620 --> 40:57.100]  I think she then went back to NANPA, read them in a new one, and got us a member.
[41:00.390 --> 41:05.510]  As I say, there are notes that will be up on the internet at cheshirecatalyst.com.
[41:06.310 --> 41:13.090]  I'm also the fellow that does the post-con webpage with links to all the newspaper articles and photos.
[41:13.390 --> 41:18.610]  If you have photos of the kind you'd like to put up, please email me, cheshire at 2600.com.
[41:19.210 --> 41:24.510]  That's C-H-E-S-H-I-R-E, cheshire at 2600.com.
[41:24.510 --> 41:26.470]  And I'll set up the link.
[41:26.670 --> 41:33.830]  If you go to cheshirecatalyst.com slash h2k slash, you'll find the page I did for the last convention.
[41:34.290 --> 41:36.110]  Many of the photographs links still work.
[41:36.230 --> 41:37.930]  Many of the newspaper articles links do not.
[41:38.110 --> 41:39.090]  But some of them still do.
[41:39.670 --> 41:43.870]  And I appreciate any help in getting together about newspaper articles and photographs of the convention.
[41:43.870 --> 41:46.570]  There will also be...
[41:48.640 --> 41:58.330]  There's a talk I'm giving in the third track at some point with internet links on telecommunications.
[41:58.650 --> 42:05.930]  And that's up there at cheshirecatalyst.com slash h2k2 slash telecom.htm.
[42:06.430 --> 42:15.650]  Now telecom.htm is in all uppercase because I create this in Notepad with three fields.
[42:15.930 --> 42:17.990]  Run it through a Quick Basic program.
[42:18.410 --> 42:21.590]  And of course Quick Basic only puts out file names in all uppercase.
[42:23.250 --> 42:23.810]  .htm.
[42:24.030 --> 42:27.490]  So it conforms to the 8.3 of Google with Microsoft.
[42:28.390 --> 42:29.430]  Is there another question here?
[42:29.990 --> 42:31.390]  There used to be a website.
[42:31.570 --> 42:32.510]  Well there is a website.
[42:33.530 --> 42:34.650]  5551212.com.
[42:34.810 --> 42:36.230]  Can they get reversed listings?
[42:39.790 --> 42:43.430]  5551212.com, the gentleman tells me, will get reversed listings.
[42:44.210 --> 42:46.990]  Also, ATT has anywho.com.
[42:47.710 --> 42:50.270]  Bell South has the realpages.com.
[42:50.350 --> 42:52.110]  Excuse me, realpages.com.
[42:52.530 --> 42:54.650]  I think Verizon has superpages.com.
[42:54.810 --> 42:57.570]  And most of them will also give you a reverse lookup.
[42:57.790 --> 42:58.270]  That's great.
[42:58.310 --> 42:58.930]  You have a question.
[42:58.930 --> 43:03.570]  So if we could say 5551212.com, is there anywhere else I could go?
[43:03.690 --> 43:06.250]  Ah, I had to do a kind of answer before the question.
[43:06.470 --> 43:07.470]  I do that activity all the time.
[43:10.910 --> 43:11.630]  Any other questions?
[43:12.390 --> 43:12.730]  Yes.
[43:24.570 --> 43:26.430]  What was your take on that?
[43:26.670 --> 43:27.290]  Do you think that...
[43:27.290 --> 43:38.450]  Probably the question was, anywho used to just put in an NPA, XXX, NXX, close enough for the exchange, and it would pump you out a whole bunch of numbers.
[43:38.710 --> 43:45.870]  They probably thought that people were using that for various purposes, such as telemarketing and such, and decided to just continue that.
[43:45.870 --> 43:48.030]  And just a quick software change to care of that.
[43:51.130 --> 43:52.150]  That's all I can figure.
[43:52.330 --> 43:54.530]  Or it was running out of their...
[43:54.530 --> 43:57.030]  Their servers were choking on it too much, or...
[43:57.030 --> 44:00.370]  May a number of possibilities, but they decided to do that.
[44:02.290 --> 44:03.010]  Other questions?
[44:05.090 --> 44:05.570]  Yes.
[44:05.830 --> 44:11.810]  How fast do changes in the directory assistance data-based property to take a low level from your above?
[44:11.950 --> 44:12.510]  Thank you.
[44:12.810 --> 44:19.450]  The question was, how long does it take for a directory assistance to change to propagate from the local company to the long-distance company?
[44:19.550 --> 44:21.410]  I tell people four to six weeks.
[44:22.070 --> 44:23.170]  Four to eight weeks.
[44:24.170 --> 44:28.610]  When I got a new line put in, it took me ten weeks to finally find it in the directory.
[44:28.970 --> 44:30.690]  I checked in every couple of days.
[44:31.270 --> 44:32.510]  Oh, wow, I'm in!
[44:33.530 --> 44:36.310]  And I know I'm not anymore because I've only had my cell phone now.
[44:38.310 --> 44:44.350]  But, yeah, that's about four to eight weeks to migrate up the food chain from the locals to the IFCs.
[44:46.190 --> 44:46.710]  Okay.
[44:46.710 --> 44:47.550]  Any other questions?
[44:47.810 --> 44:48.150]  Sure, sure.
[44:48.350 --> 44:49.810]  At 207.com, the app down.
[44:50.510 --> 44:50.830]  Thank you.
[45:02.480 --> 45:03.880]  I have books for sale.
[45:04.460 --> 45:05.420]  I'm flopping.
[45:06.740 --> 45:08.340]  Or CD-ROM for $15.
[45:09.540 --> 45:11.040]  They're, again, in HTML.
[45:11.420 --> 45:12.680]  I work on any browser.
[45:13.600 --> 45:15.460]  And I also have copies.
[45:18.060 --> 45:26.140]  There's a little newsletter I published called Space Launch Info, which I sell for the tourists in Titusville on launch day.
[45:27.060 --> 45:31.460]  As I said, I live on the Space Coast with a little questions go up, and I like to share the knowledge.
[45:32.060 --> 45:42.960]  And there's a company, Gator Tours, that trolls International Drive and US-192 and I have to drag people in from the hotels in the attractions area.
[45:43.220 --> 45:51.520]  And these people have no clue that there's a shuttle going up, where the astronauts are, where the payloads are, and it's just to help them with a little of what's going on with the flight.
[45:52.700 --> 45:55.520]  The newsletters are $2, and the books are $15.
[45:56.180 --> 45:56.960]  Thank you.