Apparatus for use in completing telephone calls

Abstract

A telephone station set is arranged to automatically prefix calls with the access code of a particular, preselected IXC. In one embodiment, the telephone station set is arranged to have at least one locking button that corresponds to an IXC and whenever the locking button is in the selected state, any calls originated from that telephone station set are automatically prefixed with the access code of the IXC to which the button corresponds. Whenever there aren't any IXC buttons selected, only those digits corresponding to the buttons dialed by the calling party are transmitted to the LEC. In another embodiment, the telephone station set incorporates a slide switch having IXC positions and a 'No IXC' position. Positioning the slide switch at an IXC position causes calls dialed from the telephone station set to be prefixed by the IXC access code of the corresponding IXC while positioning the slide switch at the 'No IXC' position causes only those digits corresponding to the buttons dialed by the calling party to be transmitted to the LEC. In yet another embodiment of the invention, a particular IXC, or 'No IXC' is selected from a menu provided by the telephone station set. If an IXC is selected from the menu, calls dialed from the telephone station set are prefixed by the selected IXC's access code. If 'No IXC' is selected from the menu, the telephone station set transmits to the LEC only those digits corresponding to the buttons dialed by the calling party.