DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Douglas Scott Reuben) (05/31/91)
I just got off the phone with AT&T. I spoke to a helpful (as usual) AT&T representative who explained how the "new" AT&T cards work. She said that they were issuing new cards without your phone number, ie, a la Sprint/MCI/ et. al. Very much like the AT&T Universal *Calling Card* number, like in the format of: 507 001 5555 1234. The AT&T rep said that AT&T was doing this for a few reasons, mainly fraud, AOSs, and the possibility that in the future, the Fed will no longer "allow" AT&T cards to "handle" local calls (via the BOCs, GTEs, etc.), nor AT&T (and one would assume Sprint and MCI's 0+, ahem ... "services" ...) to handle BOC Card Long Distance calls. So basically, AT&T answered my question - everything will be staying pretty much the same - you can go on using your BOC card for AT&T and local calls. But you will get a new AT&T card that does not have your phone number on it at all. You don't have to use this (yet), and you can still go on using your BOC card if you have some special AT&T plan, such as their "Reach Out" Calling Card plan or some special WATS calling card, etc. (You may want to check this yourself to be SURE ...) When I asked why I should even bother trying to remember the new AT&T card when my old BOC card works fine, she said "Hmmm ... I don't really know ...", so that's as good a reason as any I've heard for ignoring this most recent and annoying divestiture-related change. The AT&T representative also asked me if I knew about the "10288" access code, since I use my calling card a lot. I told her I did, and she mentioned that I should be able to use this code on a lot more private pay phones now. (COCOTs) Seems like AT&T is really pushing the use of their code ... they've never mentioned that before. Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu // dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet
stevem@fai.fai.com (Steven A. Minneman) (06/15/91)
In article <telecom11.411.7@eecs.nwu.edu> DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Douglas Scott Reuben) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 411, Message 7 of 12 > She said that they were issuing new cards without your phone number, > ie, a la Sprint/MCI/ et. al. Very much like the AT&T Universal > *Calling Card* number, like in the format of: 507 001 5555 1234. > The AT&T rep said that AT&T was doing this for a few reasons, mainly > fraud, AOSs, ... ^^^^ > When I asked why I should even bother trying to remember the new AT&T > card when my old BOC card works fine, she said "Hmmm ... I don't really > know ...", so that's as good a reason as any I've heard for ignoring > this most recent and annoying divestiture-related change. Why should you use it? I think this is the card I heard about a couple of years ago. If only AT&T has the number, then an AOS can't accept the card number for a call; hence, you or your family won't place calls over AOSs or similar high-priced agencies by mistake. Great idea in my opinion!