textfiles/phreak/canccall.txt
2021-04-15 13:31:59 -05:00

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How to use the Cancel Call-Waiting Feature
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John Desmond K0TG
Northwestern Bell
VIA The Digital Newsletter
***612/291-0567***
Tired of your computer calls being interupted by the call waiting
feature on your home phone? If so read on.
In July of this year, Northwestern Bell instaled a feature called
"Cancel Call Waiting" in many of it's 1A Electronic Switching Systems
(ESS) in the Metro area. If you have call waiting you can defeat the
feature two different ways. First, when originating a call dial *70
first, then you will hear 2 quick bursts of dial tone then a steady
dial tone then you can make your call and the call waiting feature will
be defeated for the duration of your call. When you hang up it will
automatically restore call waiting for the next call. The second way is
that if you have conference calling you can shut off call waiting while
you are on the phone during a conversation by flashing the switch-hook
to get the second dial tone and then dial the *70 code. You will hear
the two beeps of dial tone and then be dropped back to the party you
were talking to. For those of you that do not have touch-tone service
you can dial 1170 in place of the *70 code. It operates the same as
the *70 code. Set-up your auto-dial modems to dial the *70 code before
you call any computer system.
Even though you need to be served by an ESS office to get these
features, this feature is not available in all ESS offices. This is
determined by the type of processor your particular exchange has. At
this writing the feature only works in a #1A type ESS office. The
other ESS offices are mostly known as #1 ESS's. Just for a little
background information, the 1A type exchanges can be found in the
larger (busier) exchanges. The 1A has more capacity and more other
features than the #1 ESS. But don't lose all hope, some #1 ESS offices
can be and will be converted to 1A's in the future as more capacity is
needed in that area. It may be possible to incorporate this feature in
the #1's in the future also.
I have seen some lists of exchanges on different computer bulletin
boards that had exchanges that did not exist or cannot even offer the
call waiting feature. Hopefully this list will set the record straight.
Another way to defeat call waiting is to use the call forwarding
feature if you have it on your line. When your calls are forwarded the
phone will not "BEEP" when a call comes in. With the call forwarding
feature activated your phone will still work on outgoing calls, all the
incomming calls will go to the forwarded number.