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See also Frequently
Asked Questions.
Select the first letter of the word from
the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary.
If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol,
choose the '#' link.
If there's a term you'd like to see
included here, please send E-Mail to the Webmaster (see bottom
of page).
- a/c
- Air Conditioning or (in context) Area Code.
- add-on
- Part of a message added AFTER it was originally taken and
"locked in".
- alarm monitor
- Electronic equipment designed to receive signals from
alarm devices.
- asap
- As soon as possible.
-
- bsy
- Busy
- b/u
- Backup
- call control
- Procedures and routines to place control of the call in
the hands of the Telephone Secretary, rather than the
caller, in order to make the most efficient use of time
while performing a professional service.
- call routing
- Procedure used to determine how a call is processed after
it has been taken.
- chu
- Caller Hung Up
- clr
- Caller
- consult
- Request by a doctor or hospital to examine a patient and
report the results.
- credit cards
- Phonepower currently accepts VISA, MasterCard, American
Express and Discover Cards for payment. If you wish,
we may charge your monthly balance AUTOMATICALLY each month
to your credit card, to save you having to process a
check. Your invoices will reflect the
payment.
- cue
- A prompt programmed into the Answering Service system to
remind a Telephone Secretary to perform a service or
procedure.
-
- dial string
- Sequence of numbers and characters which perform an
automated dialing function. Example: V1036718145551212R1:7801414#.
In this example the "V" signifies it is a pager
number; "10367" is a long-distance dialing prefix;
"18145551212" is more popularly written as
"1-814-555-1212", a long-distance number;
"R1" signifies a dial-out port in a specific
geographic area; ":" causes a pause, while the
dispatcher waits for the paging terminal to answer;
"7801414" is the number keyed into the digital
pager; and "#" sends the "#" character
to instruct the paging terminal to transmit the page and
hang up.
- dig
- Digital (Pager)
- digital pager
- A pager that displays numbers only. Generally used to
provide telephone call-back numbers and numerically coded
messages.
- dispatcher
- A specialially qualified telephone secretary whose
responsibility is to review calls to determine if they
should be relayed immediately or held for later checkin or
faxing. The dispatcher will follow the procedure and
sequence of contacts detailed by the Subscriber should the
message warrant immediate relay.
- ext.
- Extension, for a telephone system.
-
- (empty)
- gfd
- Gone for the Day
- hardwire
- A telephone connection in which an answering service
actually has an "extension" of your telephone line
at the answering service. No longer available in
most areas.
- hrs
- Hours
-
-
- Incident Report
- Documentation of the circumstances surrounding a problem
with a call or the procedures followed in processing a
specific call.
- information retrieval
- All of the combined series of screens of information
available to a Telephone Secretary or a Dispatcher regarding
an account, including call-processing procedure, phone
numbers and other contact information for key individuals,
directions or other instructions which may be given to a
caller, definition of an emergency, emergency procedures,
etc.
- ir
- see "information retrieval".
-
- (empty)
- ki
- Know It (You know what it's about)
- (empty)
- msg
- Message
- mtg.
- Meeting
- mwcb
- Man will call back
-
- n/a or na
- No answer
- o/c
- On-Call (usually referring to the "On-Call
Person")
- o-o-o
- Out of Order
- o-o-t
- Out of Town
- o/t
- Out of Town
- otl
- Out to Lunch
- passcode
- The special code number that can be assigned to your
account and used with Express Check-In.
- pg or pgr
- Pager
- PIN number
- Personal Identification Number. PIN numbers are often used
with some paging systems which share toll-free numbers, in
order to identify the pager.
- pt
- Patient (as in hospital patient)
- (empty)
- ref
- Refused (the caller refused to give information -- such as
a phone number -- or answer the question)
- res
- Residence (usually referring to a phone number).
- ring count
- The number of rings which will pass before a call is sent
to a Telephone Secretary. Normally this is "1",
but can be set in the 2-6 range to allow for a delayed
answer. (This is usually done only with "hardwire" accounts
using secretarial connections. Hardwire/secretarial
connections are no longer available in many areas.)
- ring through
- At your request (on a hardwire
account only) we can "turn off" your account for a
few minutes to allow calls to "ring through",
without being answered by a Telephone Secretary.
- ryc
- Returning Your Call
- (empty)
- t/o
- Tone-Only (a type of pager -- mostly obsolete)
- t/v
- Tone and Voice (a type of pager -- mostly obsolete)
- uk, uk# or ukn
- You know (the number)
- (empty)
- wcb
- Will Call Back
- w/e
- Weekend
- wwcb
- Woman will call back
- wnl
- Would Not Leave
- (empty)
- (empty)
- (empty)
- " or ""
- Single or double quotes, found on message templates for
Answering Service. These codes are used to set apart
the parts of the message that are (or are not) supposed to
be transmitted via an alpha pager or text messaging
device. Usually used to set apart the prompts (Clr)
from the information given (John Doe). Can also be
used to "hide" instructions to the Telephone
Secretary, so they are not transmitted with a page.
- |
- This vertical line (called a "pipe" in computer
programming jargon) is used to "hide" instructions
on a message template which should not be communicated via
fax or Email when the messages are sent (Example:
"|Must get Area Code"). Everything on the line
following the "|" character will be invisible in
the list of messages received. This helps to avoid
distracting and repetitious information and make the
messages easier to read,
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