Anyone know how I can retrieve a phone number for a line that I have
recently discovered within our business.
SBC is our carrier but they tell me I would have to have someone come
out and trace the line at a charge. Is there a way of determining the
nimber by using some code entered on the phone.
reking
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a number (varies from one
central office to another), but they are kept secret by the phone
company, which tends to change them every three months or so anyway.
If you knew *what central office your company is in* it is possible
one or more of our readers who know about that sort of thing might
be able to advise you what number (as of this day) to dial into. It is
often times a number in the 200 'area code' such as 200-xxx-xxxx. Some
reader may write to you to get the needed details and look up the
answer for your particular situation. Or, you write again and tell us,
maybe someone will answer you through here.
What some people do, however, is inquire via 'Operator 7'. They place
a 'person to person' long distance call to some number where there are
a lot of transients, such as a large hotel, asking for Mr. Johnson.
After looking around for Mr. Johnson, the hotel switchboard operator
cannot find such a person; there is no such person as Mr. Johnson.
But you insist he is due to arrive almost any minute, and ask your
local operator to 'leave word'. So your operator will instruct the
hotel switchboard operator to "leave word for Mr. Johnson when he
arrives to call long distance to (your town) and ask for 'operator 7'
(which is telco terminology for an incompleted person to person call),
and the calling number is xxx-xxx-xxxx." You write down the number
you heard your operator quote to the hotel switchboard operator, and
you have your answer. If your operator asks "what number do you want
Mr. Johnson to call you on?" your answer should be 'ask him to call
this number I am on now.' and the operator will quote what her console
ANI says. Its a variation on social engineering. The only time this
may not work is if the operator suspects she is dealing with a phreak
then she may choose to split the connection while she is instructing
the hotel operator what to do, just to be nasty about it. If that
happens the only thing you can do is wait a few minutes then try again
hoping for a different operator next time. Or, call the hotel switch-
board direct, state that you are Mr. Johnson and 'do you have any
messages there for me?' Its a less expensive approach than telling
the service rep to set up a technician's visit; and quicker also. PAT]
reking (rekingus@yahoo.com)