Infopeople - Archive June 1994 to June 1995: Re: 900 Numbers

Re: 900 Numbers

San Benito County Library (libsben2@nic.cerf.net)
Fri, 2 Jun 1995 00:14:50 -0700 (PDT)

Al,

I'm lost. Some of your patrons would have to pay toll charges to call
you, so you set up a 900 number that they have to pay for? What's the
difference? It sounds like the cost to the patron is about the same
either way: at 50 cents plus 8 cents a minute, they're probably paying
the same as toll - plus 40 cents per call.

Incidentally, 900 service is an interesting example of a solution to one
problem becoming an entirely different thing in the commercial world. In
the olden days, phone service was occasionally overwhelmed by call-in
shows. One example was Arthur Godfrey's talent show, where people from
all over the country called in to vote for their favorite performer. The
phone system in the city where they performed was so overwhelmed by calls
that no one got through, whereupon all the trunk circuits to that town
were blocked because calls could not be terminated, and the phone
switches in connecting cities could no longer handle their local traffic
because they were busy trying to get through to the Arthur Godfrey city.

Think of nationwide gridlock.

So 900 service was initiated so that these calls could be identified and
held at their originating switch until there was a good possibility the
calls could go through. Some of you can compare this with metering
lights on the freeway.

So what happened was that a system designed for traffic control
became a means of getting people to pay the called party for the
privilege of connecting to them.

Richard Fish, Community Partner
San Benito County Library
470 Fifth St., Hollister CA 95023
408 637 2013
libsben2@cerf.net