Pat,
Hope the New Year has been good to you, so far -- and the manic Holidays
distant but not bitter in your memory ...! I realize that the thread's
long lost (last entry was an update I posted), but you'll probably
remember something about your contributions to discussion; the rather
'dangling' attempt to discover the manner of mysterious operation
allowing free calls on T-Mobile's MVNO in Portland, Oregon -- for three
years, until recently. I havent been able to redial enough times for
call completion since the Fall. (Still same interrupt and
announcement, but timing is off.)
At the time I posted the question, I had reservations about revealing
the specific wireless network, despite repeated requests to identify
it. I hadn't fears of alerting the Operations Center types and losing
my "free calling" plan -- I knew this wasn't a risk, as I had already
repeatedly made queries to T-Mobile's NOC, Executive Customer
Relations and Tech Support which blatantly informed them of their
losses; and never once sparked their interest or gleaned from the
process satisfactory explanation. After finding no legal obstacle or
proprietary function to +1611, I even hatched some unsuccessful plans
to sell refurbished throwaway phones and $10 activated SIMs to
Mexicans (and others who'd benefit from the "unlimited outgoing
intenational" discount) at $100 a piece. One way to figure the answer
to my now-obsession with the +1611 thing, thought I: get T-Mobile to
prosecute me for the innocent crime of selling four numbers (and the
plus symbol) ...
Yesterday, I came across a final theory; it seems to match the
characteristics of the call setup and offers a better explanation than
any in the past. Look up the definition of "Retrial", in the context
of Traffic Engineering. Let me hear what you think -- it's my last try.
It would do be good to know -- sleep better knowing that I wasnt
accidentally breaching Autovon security, or something. (That seemed
to be another 'precedence' possibility ...) Love your work across
the Net; always have and hope you never quit! You're a real resource,
and thank you for that.
Respect,
Darl
ps. dont post my email online
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did post it, but withheld your email
address. Essence of original message repeated below. PAT]
> Subject: Re: Odd Dialing Code
> Date: 29 Jul 2006 01:11:11 -0700
> Organization: http://groups.google.com
Not sure; what I notice is with a prepaid airtime balance of less than
approx. $0.50; whereas, after sending the full (+1611-etc) string --
but before ring cycle is heard -- there is a prepended cellco
annoucement suggesting you add more airtime soon for continuous
service. At this point, outside of Portland, no matter how many times
you redial, no calls will ever be completed using +1611NPANXXXXXXz .
From my repeated attempts, I have come to the realization that the
ratio of successfully completed calls to vacant code annoucements
(dialed using +1611-) is proportional to network traffic; viz, during
peak hours of the day it takes significantly more attempts. On Friday
nights (6PM-4AM), like tonight in fact, it is virtually impossible to
complete a call this way. I haven't been able to yet (after 50-60
attempts -- and, yes, I *am* this bored as to continue to try ...)
Early Sunday or Monday morning (say, 4:30A), by contrast, it takes
only three or four attempts to get a call through.
Person, Human (humanperson@notchur.biz)