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SNET Reports Caller ID Now Available In Newtown

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Improvements made to Southern New England Telephone's Newtown office last

weekend has made Caller ID and other services now available for local

residents. The installation of additional trunk lines also should improve

telephone service between Newtown and Danbury, the company said.

Myra Simmons, a SNET spokesperson, said the additional trunk lines should

eliminate the problems that occurred last winter when Newtown customers,

including the town's 911 emergency dispatch center, were sometimes unable to

call Danbury. The trunk lines will be monitored, she said, and additional

lines will be installed if necessary.

Jim Crouch, chief of the 911 center, said the new SNET system, which includes

a change from electronic to digital switching, should be a big improvement.

"It will provide much cleaner reception because it gets rid of distortion on

the lines," he said. "Secondly, the signal will search for a path that is not

overloaded."

Mr Crouch had complained to SNET last winter when he was unable to call the

pager (beeper) number of the medic at Danbury Hospital without getting an

immediate fast busy signal which indicated the trunk lines were overloaded.

"We page the medic in Danbury as part of a backup system," Mr Crouch

explained. "When there is an emergency we contact the medic by radio but

Danbury Hospital is a very thick building and the medic might not hear our

radio signal so we always page the medic, too."

Residents who sign up for SNET's Caller ID service will be able to see the

number of the person who is calling, including many out-of-state numbers, on a

display unit that easily attaches to most existing telephones. Display units

can be rented or purchased from SNET or purchased from other retailers.

SNET provides two blocking options which can prevent numbers from being

displayed on another person's Caller ID device. Caller ID subscribers who do

not wish to receive blocked calls can have access to Anonymous Call Rejection,

a feature that can automatically reject calls received from blocked numbers.

Along with Caller ID, Newtown customers now can purchase three other services:

Missed Call Dialing, which calls back the last incoming call, whether it was

answered or not; Call Again, which automatically continues to call back the

last number dialed when the line is busy; and Call Tracing, which can trace

the last call received and the information be made available to law

enforcement personnel if needed.

Caller ID is available to residential customers for $6.50 per month and to

business customers for $8 per month, plus a one-time hookup fee of $20 and $33

respectively. The other three services are an additional 75 cents each time

they are used or at a fixed monthly charge for unlimited use.

ISDN Service

Jim Tucker, SNET product manager, said the company's new Digital Enhancer

service, which uses ISDN technology, enables phone users to dramatically

change the way they communicate. "For example, you can transmit full-color

graphics, participate in cross-country video conferences, view and discuss

data simultaneously over one phone line."

Digital Enhancer enables customers with one phone line to handle to

simultaneous calls involving high-speed voice, data and video communications.

Its speed and virtually error-free transmission enables Internet users to

download images in a matter of seconds rather than minutes, or receive a

30-page fax in three minutes instead of 17.

ISDN creates two digital channels and a signalling path on a single standard

telephone line. Each channel operates at 64 bits per second and the signalling

path operates at 16,000 bits per second. The channels can be combined to

transmit data at rates as high as 128 bits per second, about eight times

faster than a modem in a typical new computer.

SNET is selling the service for $50 per month per line. In addition, users

will pay 1.5 cents per minute per channel during off-peak hours (5 pm to 8 am)

and all day on weekends and holidays or a peak rate of 3.5 cents per minute

per channel at all other times. Discounted bulk usage packages are available.

Digital Enhancer users also need to obtain ISDN hardware components such as a

terminal adapter, a network terminating device and power supply or a data

jack. To assist customers, SNET has a technical support center.

Myra Simmons said ISDN has been offered throughout Connecticut since last

November but until this week Newtown residents who purchased this service

would not have been able to use a local telephone exchange number.