Date: Tue, 11 Jun 91 00:21 PDT
From: John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com>
Organization: Green Hills and Cows
Subject: Re: Busying Out a Phone With a Resistor

I could not RESIST adding my two cents -- plain to all of this
extensive discussion about what value resistor to busy out a phone
line with.  For a quarter century, when it has been necessary to busy
out a phone line I have simply shorted it. In the case of ground
start, I have shorted it and grounded it as well. I had one trunk left
this way for about a year. Came back, pulled the short and the line
came right back to life.  No CO switch, modern or ancient, gives a
hoot or a holler about what kind of load is on a line. It is all
current limited in the subscriber line equipment.

The only complaint you will ever get from telco is from the act itself
of busying out the line. This bugs some telcos more than others.

But from all this discussion, a new product idea is emerging. How
about "The Busystat". It could have an RJ11C plug on it. And it would
be guaranteed to avoid drawing excessive current on the line, avoiding
those expensive service calls.

Phooey!


        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   +1 408 723 1395
    john@zygot.ati.com      | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

Subject: Re: Modems ringing open in hunt groups
From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) 
Date: Oct 9, 1995
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom.tech

In article <4519vv$340@alecto.METC.DOE.GOV> Marty Smith
<msmith@metc.doe.gov> writes:

>We've asked the phone company before, and they say it's 
>against FCC regulations to busy out a line when it is not 
>busy.

Oh? Which one? You accepted that baloney without a chapter-and-verse
reference? I have been busying out unused circuits by SHORTING THEM
OUT for thirty years. I have admitted it in public. I have admitted it
here. I have done it in hundreds of cities across the nation. Some of
them have been left busied out for years at a time--with a dead short.
I have done this in GTE, Pac*Bell, Contel, NYNEX, Ameritech, and many
other territories.

Negative results? None. I am not in jail. I have never been denied
service. I have not even had harsh language directed at me by telco
repair personnel. When I have had lines go bad (open cable pairs,
etc.), I have had no trouble getting telco to busy out the line FOR ME
in the CO.

Where on earth does all this stupid nonsense come from when it comes to
busying out phone lines? If you have some lines that you want made
busy--SHORT 'EM OUT. Is it that hard? (If they are GS, then short them
out and then ground the shorted pair.) If anyone, I mean ANYONE tries
to give you a load of crap about how it is against god and nature, that
it is illegal, that it is bad for the environment, that someone will
take away your birthday, or that you will burn in hell if you busy out
a phone line (further, by simply shorting it out), then consider that
person an idiot and move on. Do not listen to explanations about Ohms
law, excessive current, or any other psuedo-scientific nonsense.

Can we put this issue to bed at long last?

-- 
 John Higdon  |    P.O. Box 7648   |   +1 408 264 4115     |       FAX:
 john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 |   +1 500 FOR-A-MOO    | +1 408 264 4407
              |         http://www.ati.com/ati             |