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]
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.