Press my number at the touch tone

When using a rotary telephone, you can DIAL a number when you hear a DIAL tone. When using a push button phone you should therefore only be able to PRESS or TOUCH a number when you hear a TOUCH tone. I propose the tone be called a CALLING tone, so that a number may be CALLED.

In December 2003, 718-347-3237 had been disconnected after more than 10.5 years in service. That was my last traditional telephone service, and was in Bellerose Queens. I only had my $15.00 Sprint Plan. The 750 Anytime Minutes Include Long Distance, 50 Free 1-way Text Messages, pcs Voice Command, PCS Wireless Web-caller ID, Call Waiting, three-way Calling, pcs voice-mail. Additional Anytime Minutes are $.15 Per Minute. I consistently only used, as little as 250 minutes per month. The first telephone number of My Samsung flip phone had the new Queens area code of 347. That is the same number as my land-line prefix of 347 for that area. I still have the same cell service plan, and once again, I usually only use about 250 minutes per month.

Since 2002, my sister has had a traditional telephone number with the 347 prefix! Again, that is the same prefix and area code I had in Bellerose. In addition to that, "Belleview" is the town listed on my telephone records for my "calls" with her! Both of these towns have the same first five letters, and have the same telephone prefix! Bellerose NY and Belleview FL have "347" and "Belle" in common.

My cell phone was soon changed to the nearby Long Island area code of 516. I am in Seminole county Florida. Now, I also have calls anywhere in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Europe @ $15/month for up to 500 minutes. This VoIP also includes Free features such as: voice-mail Plus 3-Way Calling Call Waiting Call Forwarding Caller ID with Name 911 Dialing. It is ironic, that even though I advertised my unlimited telephone usage to attract tenants for my house, my tenants have not been interested in using it at all.

This was originally posted October 14, 2005.