I think the better question is why, for about 100 years, the phone
> companies have been charging subscribers for the privilege of NOT
> listing the number ... is there some sort of additional effort required
> to accomplish this task?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: According to telco there is an
> additional effort involved. Telco estimates a certain time frame
> required for each directory inquiry call. This time frame is
> completely lost when telco has to argue with callers about numbers
> being unlisted and/or unpublished, i.e. time spent listening to
> callers telling the operator how dumb she is, demanding to speak
> with a supervisor, insisting 'party would want to speak with me',
> impersonating a police officer with a 'right to know number', etc.
> All those needless conversations between caller and operator take
> additional time. That, telco says, is where the extra money is
> spent; in dealing with persistent callers. PAT]
Not only that, but the number must be marked as non-published, etc., and that mark carried forward continuously. Otherwise it would get printed in the next directory.
Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com