Re: CALLER ID?

[George A. Gleason <gg@well.sf.ca.us>]

Getting the wrong number: That can happen if you're in a PBX with a separate
outgoing and incoming trunk group.  Particularly if your incoming number is
a Direct Inward Dialing (DID) number, which means that people in the Outside
World can call right to your desk by dialing (area code +) 7-digits.  There
is no facility on most PBXs to have DID numbers or other station directory
numbers follow outgoing calls, though you might have a call accounting
system hooked up to provide information to your company about which
extensions are making which outside calls; but again, that's entirely within
your own system.  

If you do have an outgoing trunk group, I would advise setting it up so that
incoming calls on that group at least ring to the receptionist's console,
and then give out those numbers to company folks who might have reason to
need a way to get through in a pinch if everything else is down.  Also the
outgoing group will be regular loop- or ground-start trunks, and as a
last-ditch backup you can terminate them on single-line jacks for use with
emergency phones in case of a system crash or an extended power failure.  

You can also use the outgoing group to provide night service, where calls to
various lines in that group would ring to specified extensions in the areas
where people may be working after hours.   

-gg