What was the original use of the pound (number) and asterisk keys on a telephone keypad?
by admin on Jul.08, 2011, under Asterisk
Question by wigginsray: What was the original use of the pound (number) and asterisk keys on a telephone keypad?
I know the rotaries didn’t have it – but I was wondering when they introduced the touchpad, what function the additional keys had for the average user.
I read somewhere that British Telecom had a wake up call service that used them – but not sure if America had similar functionality.
Best answer:
Answer by sotires
The original telephone dials didn’t have hash and star signs at all. They had a rotary dial that clunked out clicks to signal the number being dialled.
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July 8th, 2011 on 11:17 am
The asterisk keys are also called as star code keys
some of the common uses are
*98 to retrive voice mail
*91 to initiate voice mail
*92 to switch off voice mail
*72 to activate call forward’
*73 to detativate call forwrd
*57 to trace a phone #
and the pound keys are used as redial in someof the phone sets
and also used mostly when you call in IVMS (service provider)
July 8th, 2011 on 11:26 am
The pound (#) and asterisk (*) keys were introduced shortly after the introduction of “Touch-Tone” telephones, in the 1950′s and early 60′s.
It was first “envisioned” that # keys could eventually be used to interface with computers. But, in the end, they became to be used as control keys for – “special functions” – on telephone calls, as we now know them today.
July 8th, 2011 on 12:17 pm
they were introduced well before the use of “star codes” or voice mail…
there initial use was for interface between PBX systems…