01/30/2003:

"jen pi" <jpinkham3@yahoo.com> wrote in message 
news:v3hbv8523aku19@corp.supernews.com...
> *18 wont work thats an old code to temp deactivate vm call cust care

*18 was used to activate "Follow Me Roaming", one of the first 
semi-automatic roaming systems, used extensively by the B-carriers until 
automatic call delivery was implemented on the B-side. (The A side had a 
similar, more featured system, which was rapidly supplanted by McCaw's 
NACN, the first truly automated roaming system,which made use of 
autonomous registration.)

*19 was used to deactivate it. (It would also automatically deactivate at 
midnight local time, supposedly, but they all seemed to deactivate at 
midnight Dallas time, which I think is where they had the boxes to handle 
all the requests. 

The system was flaky and never handled multiple requests well. It often 
just didn't work, and you needed to hit *18 for each new market you 
entered. But compared to having to give potential callers a list of roam 
ports in various cities to reach you in, it was a welcome improvement 
when it was introduced. 

(Note that it was technically possible almost from the outset for carriers
with similar switch equipment to pass calls from one market to another;
the Northeast A-side was almost all Motorolla EMX and calls were able to
be passed from one market to another throughout the EMX system, sometimes
"allowed" by the carriers, but more often "illegally" and they just had no
idea of how to stop it. I'm still not convinced that the only reason they
tried to block such calls as well as redirects from the visited market to
voicemail or a given no-answer-transfer number were due FCC/DOJ
requirements about cell carriers not carrying inter-lata traffic without a
waiver [ie, a waiver for Metro Mobile (now BAMS/Verizon)/00119 in CT to
Metro One (now ATTWS)/00025 in NY]. The B-side's Autoplex (AT&T) switches
were also able to move calls between markets, but they never did until
some of the laws were changed around 1994 or so...or at least that's the
best reasoning I've been able to discern. It's hard to believe that 7
years ago or so when you roamed outside your local market it was unlikely
that you would receive calls!)

In *some* markets, *18 and *19 turn automatic call delivery on and off, 
respectively, but this is increasingly rare, and the *78/*780 and *28/*29
are more commonly used for this in most ex-BAMS markets. (*78/*780 was 
used BEFORE redirects from visited markets back to voicemail were 
available so that if you wanted to check your voicemail, you would hit 
*78 to activate the Do Not Disturb feature, dial your voicemail and when 
done, hit *780 to turn the feature off and resume receiving calls in the 
visited market. It had/has no effect in your home market.)

Otherwise, about the only thing which *18/*19 does now is force a 
registration, but making a call will generally do that to. (*611 on 
Verizon will not always do it, and frequently you are asked to try 
something else when they need to debug a roaming issue. )

Does any carrier anywhere still use FMR?

Others codes for the "list":


*28 - BAMS/Wallingford-A/00119 and some GTE Mobilenet (like SFBay/00040)
      automatic roaming/call delivery activation
*29 - BAMS/Wallingford-A/00119 and some GTE Mobilenet (like SFBay/00040)
      automatic roaming/call delivery de-activation


*35 - NACN (now more universal) code to turn call delivery on (or Do Not 
      Disturb off)
*350 - NACN code to turn call delivery off (or Do Not Disturb on)

*411 - used to get local DA; now often it gets the local carrier's 
       own contracted DA service. (Used to be free in many markets,
       I recall in 1990 or so you could get free DA on the NYNEX/Boston
       00028 and the NYNEX/Springfield (sold to SNET in 1989 or so? SID?)
       systems.

*511 - Local Roam port

*56 - Lock outgoing calls on PIN required phones (analog accounts)
*560+PIN - Unlock outgoing calls

*67 - Same as a regular phone; blocks Caller ID presentment at the remote 
CID unit (note the destination SWITCH does get it, though)

*70 - Same as a regular phone; per use cancel call waiting
*71 - NAT (*92 used with SNET/Cingular, but with protocol conversion 
          almost all codes are interchangable now)
*72 - Conditional Call Forwarding
*73 - Unforward all calls
*74 - Busy Forward
*7X0 or *7X3 - Turn off "X" Call forwarding feature

*78/*780 - Do Not Disturb on/off (Call delivery off/on)

*811 (used in some SNET markets to activate a suspended phone, BAMS 
     customer service, I think GTE Mobilenet also used this)

*82 - Same as a regular phone; display Caller ID presentment


Any more? :)

(This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org)

Regards,

Doug

d2@interpage.net
Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net