John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com> (05/26/91)
Here is some of the promotional literature of Thrifty Tel. It looks as
though it was prepared on a Commodore Pet.
****
Thrifty Tel
Unlimited Flat Rate Service
SERVICE
UNLIMITED long distance telephone service for a monthly *Flat Rate* of
$295.00 plus 39.83 in taxes and fees for each telephone line
installed. Call anywhere throughout the United States 24 hours a day,
seven days per week and enjoy Thrifty's digital fiber optic quality
for one low monthly *Flat Rate*.
COST
$295.00 plus taxes and fees of $39.83 per line payable in advance each
month for UNLIMITED long distance telephone service.
A non-recurring processing fee of $195.00 per line. You do not pay any
deposits or hourly labor charges for installation.
FEATURES AND TERMS
==> Digital fiber optic quality and clarity.
==> Guaranteed rates in a one year contract.
==> No queuing or busy circuits.
==> A 30 minute call limitation.
==> A monthly statement itemizing each call is not available with
this service.
Thrifty guarantees your rate in writing. They Talk ... We Deliver.
To find our how you or your business can experience tremendous savings
with Thrifty Tel's Flat Rate service in addition to our many other
products available, please call Thrifty for a free consultation and
analysis.
Thrifty Tel, Inc.
[Street address of a very small, "hole in the wall" office in Garden
Grove]"
*****
Now here are some tidbits that have surfaced from a little digging at
the CPUC. For those "non-flat rate" customers:
[Thrifty Telephone Exchange--8th Revised Cal. P.U.C. Sheet No. 9-T]
"Method of Applying Rates:
(3) Call duration is computed by way of answer supervision.
(4) Calls are chargeable, if unanswered, after a duration of
forty-five (45) seconds.
[same sheet]
Unauthorized Usage
Any entity using Thrifty's facilities without securing proper
authorization either by:
(1) obtaining authorization by way of a presubscription agreement;
(2) dialing Thrifty's 10XXX FGD access Code; or
(3) obtaining an authorization code is subject to:
(1) a $2,880.00 per day, per line surcharge in addition to the
otherwise applicable rates under the "Equal Access Service"
plan;
(2) a $3,000.00 set-up fee;
(3) a $200.00 per hour labor charge, and
(4) payment of all attorney fees and costs incurred by Thrifty in
collecting the applicable charges for unauthorized usage."
[end quote from P.U.C public documents]
What we have here is an incentive to allow hackers easy access to the
system. I am attempting to contact someone who is actually being
hounded by Thrifty Tel to find out where he got the codes, what type
of codes they are, etc. The word on the street is that Thrifty
actually posts the codes themselves to area BBSes so that there will
be fresh meat to threaten, sue, and ultimately collect big bucks from.
Thrifty's justification for those usary rates in the PUC filing is to
recover costs of investigation. But as you can plainly read, those
costs are covered separately under (4) above.
Thrifty has also been beating on Pac*Bell to "enforce" one of its own
tariffs. It apparently is not enough for Thrifty Tel to entrap people,
relieve them of their worldly wealth, and confiscate their computer
equipment. Thrifty would also like to see their local phone service
disconnected. This is the tariff they cite:
[Pacific Bell SCHEDULE CAL. P.U.C NO. A2 Revised Sheet 129]
"APPENDIX B
1. Any communications utility operating under the jurisdiction of this
Commission shall refuse service to a new applicant and shall disconnect
existing service to a customer upon receipt from any authorized
official of a law enforcement agency of a writing, signed by a
magistrate, as defined by Penal Code Sections 807 and 808, finding that
probable cause exists to believe that the use made or to be made of the
service is prohibited by law, or that the service is being or is to be
used as an instrumentality, directly or indirectly, to violate or to
assist in the violation of the law. Included in the magistrate's
writing shall be a finding that there is probable cause to believe not
only that the subject telephone facilities have been or are to be used
in the commission or facilitation of illegal acts, but that the
character of such acts is such that, absent immediate and summary
action on the premises, significant dangers to public health, safety,
or welfare will result."
[end quote from P.U.C public documents]
Apparently, Thrifty Tel believes that anyone using a "stolen" code to
make long distance calls over its network will result in significant
dangers to the public health, safety, or welfare.
I had an associate call Thrifty Tel to arrange service. He was told
that Thrifty carries ALL calls including intraLATA. Either they lie to
the PUC or they lie to prospective customers.
There are still a lot of loose ends to track down. Tuesday should be
very interesting.
John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395
john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
[Moderator's Note: As requested before, I do hope you will transcribe
the radio show, and post some good parts of it here. PAT]