On Apr 7, 4:19*pm, (Dave Martindale) wrote:
"trailer" writes:
I had one like that once. *To make matters worse, if there was one message
on the machine (not yet listened to) it always answered on the second ring.
I guess it assumed that if you haven't listened to messages, you weren't
available. *It was AT&T.

That's usually called a "toll saver" feature. *I'm surprised it couldn't
be turned off. *The basic idea is this:

* Your answering machine provides remote access. *You use this by
* calling the machine, waiting for it to answer, interrupting the outgoing
* message with #1234 (or whatever 4-digit security code you chose). *The
* machine shuts up and listens for DTMF tones. *By pressing buttons on a
* tone phone, you can listen to messages, delete them, change the
* outgoing message, and anything else you could do if you were at home
* in the physical presence of the machine.

* If you are on a trip, you call your answering machine frequently to
* check for messages.

* But you don't want to pay for a long distance call when there aren't
* any new messages waiting. *So, when "toll saver" is turned on, the
* machine answers after 2 rings with new messages, but 4 with only old
* messages. *When you call home to check, you can hang up after 3 rings
* and know there are no new messages, without paying anything.

* * * * Dave
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