Peter Thurston <thurston@mrc-applied-psychology.cambridge.ac.uk> (05/20/91)
Linc Madison askes how calling card calls are made abroad. In the UK you may use the operator or dial direct. The direct dial facility has been available for about five years. To make a call, dial 144. When connected, the payphone identifies itself with a series of tones (for billing) and then askes (in a male voice) to enter your account number and PIN. After verifying the number, you are asked to enter the phone number. If you are familier with the system, you may skip the instructions and type the whole lot in one go. Cards all have a 'home number' assigned to them. This way, if you dial ##4 when it askes you to dial the number, it will call your designated 'home' number. If fact, you can opt to have a card/s that will only dial the designated number (in which case there is no need to dial ##4 - the call goes straight through after the PIN). These are useful to give to friends etc. You can have as many different cards as you like, each with different designated numbers and/or upper daily usage limits. The voice prompts can be made in one of five languages (including Welsh). BT payphones don't normally tone dial (they did - then it was discovered people were making calls for free using tone pads! All of a sudden all BT Payphones went pulse!). After having been connected to 144 - the keypad enables DTMF. The cost is 10p/unit - as per normal payphone rate. There is no longer any surcharge. In certain places, eg, railways stations, etc there are swipe phones which the cards may be used at. You are still asked for your PIN however. You cannot use BT charge cards at Mercury payphones (surprise surprise!) - As far as I know, Mercury (alternative LD carrier) have not issued a post-payment card of this type. Peter PS: I don't work for BT