ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Voice - Data - Video Discussion Identify telephone number?

Whats it called? "ANAC" ANAC stands for Automatic Number Announcement Circuit. Often reffered to as 'tellback' as it tells you back the number... Not to be confused with the "ringback" number. You can locate them by finding an old "Phreaker" (Telephone hacker), or you just call 611, or "0" and ask for technichal service and ask for the binding post numbers - and often if you have several, as this guy did - they just give you a number... It's easier for them, and they change them all the time anyway. I have about a dozen dead ones on my butt-set. But if you call asking for a tellback or ANAC number thay wont give it to you.

E57,
They will actually give you the Binding Post #'s over the phone?
Here telco will send out a tech to tag it and verify it, could be a couple of days if I depend on them to find me the #.
My hunch is that the cable-count databases are not totally on point here.

Binding post numbers, DSL and ISDN active on board.... You just gotta know who and how to ask. Explain your situation... "Hi I'm Joe Schmuck with XYZ Electricic doing some inside work for a customer at 123 Blahblahblah St. I need the binding post numbers for 415-123-4567?"

They answer (lets just say) "25"... It's up to you to know how to find '25' though. Heres how thats done.... left to right, top to bottom. So even if you have four TNI's w/6 ea. above, and then a punch-down block below - you're counting the TNI's too. "25" would be at the top of that block...

If it's not there you call them back and say that it wasn't there. (Or worse it wasn't the right number...) As soon as you say that, they are already running diagnostic on the line, pinging all the switches and the last board and VOP (Velocity of Propigation) via a built-in TDR from the last board and double checking from the last know VOP in thier computer. They can see shorts, open and lentgh of wire, and how many connections - just like that! (I usually chat these girls up - they are usually in another state, and desperate for human conversation.) They come back and say they're pretty sure its at the MPOE, and on that block... While they are saying that they are checking all the service records for that complete trunk and street board. While they are doing that - you say, "can you ring it for me?" If it's quiet enough, (and I'm close enough) I can pick it up in the toner. But if you have a few hundred pairs on a board and the line is lost - forget that!

After that, sometimes they will just give me a number (And you can tell that they are looking over their shoulder when they do...) or they expedite a tech, and sometime I get same day service... Thats where chatting them up earlier comes into play.

But if you have a dozen or more lines fax them a list, and they'll come out and tag them all, or send you a list back.

You either have excellent organization and customer service where you are working and\or you have a way with words.
Just yesterday I went to one of our locations to connect a new line for an elevator phone.
The line was supposed to be installed on 2-8-07, I am there on 2-15-07.
I go to the demarc to find my line and lo and behold it is nowhere to be found.
I go through the whole block thinking maybe the tech just didn't tag it and much to my surprise I don't find it.
I then run into the maintenance man and ask him if telco was there within the last week and he tells me they haven't.
I feel lucky when I am told a line is installed when and where it is supposed to be and it is.
Call up and get binding post #'s over the phone? I wish.

Don't get me wrong if it aint there - I get to wait too... But if it is thewy will help you find it - and I like to believe it's because I am so suave....

I don't think most phone companies would see giving out the Line Identifier number as a major security issue.

I've had an operator in Ireland give me the code over the phone so that I could figure out which line was which coming into my house. It probabally presented more of a security risk in the old days when phreaking was still possible and switches were still crossbars, step-by-step etc.

Calling your mobile phone from the line is definitely the simplest sollution if you don't have / don't have access to the number.

However, I would suggest giving your phone co's tech support/repairs number a call and asking for it explaining why you need it. They shouldn't have a problem giving it out.

An old standby for identifying an unknown pair was 1-800-MY-ANI-IS. This number now refers callers to one of those new "10-10" type numbers, and I don't think it is free anymore.

Its not only a security issue, its because the central office system can only handle a few requests at a time. I know first hand about having to wait to get in and there's only legitimate people using it.

As for any toll free numbers, somebody is paying for each call.

... You just gotta know who and how to ask. Explain your situation... "Hi I'm Joe Schmuck with XYZ Electricic doing some inside work for a customer at 123 Blahblahblah St. I need the binding post numbers for 415-123-4567?"

E57, that's pretty bad advice. You are not supposed to be in a telco terminal, that belongs to them. Its not a demarc or NID. I know you are going to say well, everything is run in there without a demarc and yes, that's true but any wiring is supposed to be run by the TELCO. I wouldn't be stupid and call repair or the business office and ask for binding post numbers if I were you. That's an admission if ever I heard one. At the least they can make you pay for damages and service interruptions and at worst they can press charges if you give them reason and its a federal offence.

Do it the right way and call for a locate and tag.

-Hal

We have a couple of standardized test numbers right across the British network now, at least as far as all BT exchanges are concerned.

The older-style system connects the line straight into the automatic tester, reads back the number, and holds the line up while it does battery/earth/insulation tests on the line, then rings back with the result.

The newer system picks up the regular CLI sent from the line (and in fact will also tell you if the line you are calling from normally has CLI withheld) before offering a whole batch of test options.

We also have a handy test number which can be used from any line on the same exchange to put a test tone on a specified line.

There are a couple of test numbers in Ireland that are also standard across the eircom network.

The line identifier works much as you described.
It will just read back the full phone number as per the caller ID, without the lead 0.

i.e. 021 555 5555 will be read as 21 555 5555

The line tester now prompts for an ID + Pin before it will go any further.