Busy Connect

[William Allen Simpson <wsimpson () greendragon com>]

I don't know how many other small/dialup ISPs are seeing this problem.
BellSouth just turned it on in our area.  Sent our support calls through
the ceiling during busy evening hours.


> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:39:31 -0600
> Subject: Please Help Us
> From: "Howard Shere" <hshere () watervalley net>
>
> BellSouth recently added a feature to your phone service called "Busy
> Connect". This service plays a recording whenever you dial and get a busy
> signal offering to keep trying the number for 75 cents. This service will
> interfere with your modems ability to detect a busy signal and your computer
> will report that "the computer you are dialing is not answering" or some
> similar message.
>
> 2 weeks ago BellSouth told us that this service was on our lines and we
> asked that it be removed. They told us that this would solve the "no answer"
> problems that our customers were reporting. We have continued to get
> complaints from customers about "no answer" problems and when we talked to
> BellSouth today, we were told that this service was on our customers lines
> and not on ours. We are not sure why we were given the wrong information
> when we first reported this trouble.
>
> We are asking that all of our customers call BellSouth and ask to have this
> service removed. They have refused to help us directly and have said that
> the only way to have this service removed is for our customers to call them
> directly.
>
> BellSouth can be reached at 557-6500 (for home telephone customers) or
> 557-6000 (for small business customers). Tell them you want the "Busy
> Connect" service removed from your line. There is no charge from BellSouth
> for removing this service.