Date: 1 Dec 92 00:12:15 GMT From: "John R. Levine" Subject: More Than You Wanted to Know About Distinctive Ringing [This note is from the TELCOM Digest, a moderated group on USENET. Because of the numerous users that have more than one piece of equipment on a single line, and given the difficulties figuring out WHICH piece should answer the ring, I thought is was appropriate to include in the Info-IBMPC Digest. gph] -- What is Distinctive Ringing? It is a telephone service that assigns several different phone numbers to the same line. Its true name is "Multiple Directory Numbers Per Line With Distinctive Ringing". Each number rings in a different cadence (single, double, and triple ring) so you can tell which number the caller called. The maximum number of numbers per line varies by telco, but can be as high as four. You can think of it as a party line where all the parties are you. The price is usually quite low: around here it's $3/month for the second number and $2/month for the third. You generally have the option of listing the extra numbers or not. (Note to Massachusetts customers: NET orignally said I had to pay extra to have them unlisted, but the DPU persuaded them that they were mistaken.) -- What is it good for? All sorts of things. One use is for people with home businesses, so you can answer one ring "Hello" and the other "Thank you for calling Bagel-tronics." Another is to share a single line among several devices such as faxes and modems. For this use, you'll want a ring leader, below. It is also useful as a way to defeat Caller ID. The C-ID number sent on outgoing calls is always the first number so you could assign the first number to your modem, or let an answering machine pick up calls to the first number and tell your friends to call the second number. Some allege that it's useful to distinguish between calls to parents and calls to teenage children, but given the way teenagers use the phone (call every possible number where a friend might be and talk for hours) it's no substitute for a second line. -- Can I use it as a fax switch? That's what I use it for. I find it works better than the usual fax switches. It doesn't depend on answering the phone and listening for fax tones which not all faxes generate, so it never guesses wrong. Besides, you get a separate fax number which looks much more official. -- What happens if I also have call waiting? When a call comes in, the beep is in the same pattern as the ring, so you know which number it is. At least, that's what's supposed to happen. Apparently, they sometimes forget to set up the beeps right. -- How do I order it? You call up the business office, of course. For some reason, each telco gives it a different name. The ones I know are: NYNEX Ring Mate Bell Atlantic Identa Ring Southern Bell Ring Master Ameritech ??? SW Bell Personalized Ring US West Custom Ringing Pac Tel not available, see below GTE Smart Ring Technically, distinctive ringing can be installed on 1A and newer AT&T exchanges and other modern units. A software upgrade is required (it's almost but not quite the same as a party line) so there are many areas in which it's still not available even though the exchange would seem to support it. Note for Pac Bell customers: Pac Tel has a service which they call "distinctive ringing" which is completely different. Their service is a home centrex which rings differently for inside and outside calls. If you try to order distinctive ringing, be sure you know what you're getting. -- Can I automatically connect to different devices for different rings? Yes. That's what a "ring leader" does. It is a box that has a modular cord that plugs into the phone line and several modular jacks into which the devices plug. When the phone rings, it listens to the first ring cycle and then connects to one of the devices depending on which ring pattern it was. The ring leader itself never answers the phone -- it just connects to a phone, fax, modem, etc., which answers the call normally. For outgoing calls, ring leaders act as exclusion units and only let one of the devices connect to the line at a time. Excluded devices hear either a busy signal or a silence. Many vendors sell ring leaders. Here's a summary of the ones I know about, along with the names of the people providing reports. I have an Autoline Plus fro ITS in Endicott NY. +1 607 754 6310. It connects up to three devices. Mine has been entirely reliable. I paid about $80 but the price is more like $120 now. (John Levine ) Misco now has a unit that will do just that. It is called the Ring Decipher (misco part #fl-3622). The only other identification in the ad is "ASAP RD-4000". I'd like to know who makes it, and alternate sources. Supposedly, it will provide a standard ring signal on any one of the four outputs determined by the incoming ring pattern. Price $99. (Bill Petrisko ) My first Lynx Automation box didn't work but their beta replacement worked. Four pattern model. I bought another one that my brother had problems with but I haven't hooked it up here yet so I dunno. I notice that Lechmere [local discount department store] is selling the two line Lynx at a nonoutragous price ($69 or $79 which is about what Lynx charges direct. (Bob Frankston ) I use a ASAP RD4000 Ring Decipher made by Command Communications Inc of Aurora CO. It cost $100 at a trade show. It decodes four different patterns. When one of the devices has the line, the other devices get a busy signal if they try to access the box. It has worked flawlessly for the last nine months. I had a bad experience with a box called RingMaster made by Lucas Technologies of Beacon NY. It failed repeatedly and the maker wouldn't do anything about the problems until I cornered them at a trade show and made a large noise. They bought the box back for $100. I had only paid $80! That was the only good experience with Lucas' RingMaster. (John Adams ) The call route box (avail from Home Automation Lab at 1-800-HOMELAB) or the RD1000 from mailorder (this is the one I have) doesn't even pass ring voltage to the connected lines until after the end of the first ring and it has determined which number was called; therefore, you never even hear the phone ring unless they are calling the authorized number. (Carl Neihart ) Black Box's September 1992 catalog lists a product called DRD-4 that automatically routes distinctive ring services from one incoming phone line to up to four devices. $ 139. Phone 1-412-746-5500. (Marc Kozam ) -- Can I build my own ring leader? Probably. Several people expressed interest in coming up with a design, but nobody's told me about one yet. Thanks to: petrisko@evax2.engr.arizona.edu (William Petrisko) barnett@zeppelin.convex.com (Paul Barnett) lars@CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) petrisko@evax2.engr.arizona.edu (William Petrisko) Bob_Frankston@frankston.com johna@a-k.boston.ma.us (John Adams) TERRY@spcvxa.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy) tmatimar@empress.com (Ted M A Timar) neihart@ga.com (Carl Neihart) mmaster@parnasus.dell.com (Michael Masterson) "Wm. Bryant Faust, IV" neihart@ga.com (Carl Neihart) mlksoft!kozam@rutgers.edu Steve Forrette [TELCOM Moderator's Note: All those names can be confusing. Ameritech (Illinois Bell, at least) says 'distinctive ringing' is when your CO has been advised of up to ten telephone numbers which, when they call you are to be given the red carpet; ie, they, and they alone are to cause your phone to ring with a special cadence to let you know (for example) the boss is calling, or your parents, etc. On the other hand, 'Multi-line' is the service discussed in John's article where more than one number is assigned to a single line with different ringing cadences as appropriate. 'Starline' is IBT's 'home centrex' service which provides a different ring for calls from within and without your premises. I use my 'Multi-line' service as a way for my 800 numbers to ring in. The two short rings tell me it is my nickle paying for the call. :) PAT] ------------------------------