Well, I finally "eBayed" a -5 unit for my own use, et voila, no more problems ringing old phones.
Meanwhile, probing around with the command line interface, I noticed a bunch of program codes that were unavailable when using a system phone, notably, the 350-389 group. Some quick Googling netted me the UK version of the '624 manual from Panasonic's UK site. It turns out that these programs govern automatic route selection. <http://download.panasonic.co.uk/bts/Old_Products/624/624.htm> I've tinkered with them a bit via the CLI, and managed to successfully implement ARS with an AT&T prepaid calling card. So, if you use the CLI (or Programmator, I presume) on a late-model '624, you can have ARS even though you can't get to it from a system phone on a US-market unit. Why would they block it for the US market? I have three theories: 1. "Americans don't need it" - they feel that long distance is cheap enough here that ARS is unnecessary. 2. "Americans are stupid" - they think the US market can't cope with the complexity. 3. The "tinfoil hat" theory: one or more US telcos leaned on Panasonic to block (easy) access to the feature. I also noticed that Program 804 (System Data Dump) won't show the ARS entries on this US-spec unit, but the DMP command in CLI programming mode shows it all. My -5's ROM version is Y451G 041027(M). Here's the AT&T prepaid calling card example. Once you dial out, you will hear the voice prompts from their system; your '624 will dial the digits at the right moments. If you're dialing out from a rotary phone, or slowly dialing with DTMF, the voice prompts will likely come on before you're finished dialing. This isn't a problem - just keep dialing. The '624 will send DTMF digits out at the right time, subject to program 401. ARS is also applied to speed dial entries and one-touch dial entries. You can debug ARS by observing the LCD display. Under ARS, the CO line isn't seized until enough digits have been collected to determine the proper routing. When that happens, the display will flash "CO x" for a moment, then dial out the appropriate digits. If an exception isn't hit, you'll see the digits from Program 361, followed by the authorization code from Program 38x (which shows up as dots), and then your outgoing digits as modified by Program 360. If you hit an exception, you'll see "CO x" for a moment, followed by the unaltered digits. ; Turn on ARS for CO1 350C1/1/ ; Select ARS route 1 if the outgoing number begins with 1. ; Up to 80 ARS selection patterns may be supplied per route. ; If the leading digits match a pattern, the appropriate route ; get selected. ; Program 351 = route 1, 352 = route 2, 353 = route 3, 354 = route 4. 351S01/1/ ; Set exceptions for Chicago area (local/local toll area), ; and for toll-free area codes. Up to 80 exceptions may be set. ; 708 is excluded since it's 7-digit from here and is thus not ; subject to ARS. ; Program 355 = route 1, 356 = route 2, 357 = route 3, 358 = route 4. 355S01/1800/ 355S02/1888/ 355S03/1877/ 355S04/1866/ 355S05/1312/ 355S06/1773/ 355S07/1847/ 355S08/1630/ 355S09/1815464/ 355S10/1815469/ 355S11/1815462/ 355S12/1815485/ ; etc. ; Drop leading /1/ from outgoing number on ARS route 1. ; (360S02 = route 2, etc.) 360S01/1/ ; Prepend AT&T calling card 800 number on ARS route 1. ; (361S02 = route 2, etc.) ; Add necessary pauses to wait for their system to answer. 361S01/18005696972PPP/ ; Use stutter dial tone to indicate that ARS is in effect. ; 3 = stutter, 2 = two beeps + continuous tone, 1 = continuous tone, ; 0 = no tone. 362S/3/ ; Add the authorization code on CO1 route 1. (382=route 2, etc.) ; Replace x's with your card code. ; Pauses and #'s are needed for timing, and to knock out extra ; announcements before dialing the actual number. 381C1/xxxxxxxxxxxxP#P#PPP/ ; Interdigit time = 20 sec. 208S/3/ 363S/20/ ; End batch EOD _________________________________________________________________ KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt
