Phydeaux <reb@ingres.com> (05/13/91)
> Back in the "good old days" there was a scheme to prevent collect > calls to coin phones: within each CO prefix one entire thousands block > was set aside for coin phones, and operators had a list of which > numbers were suspect. (For far away places they had to contact Rate & > [Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell still puts all their coin-phones in >the 9xxx range for the reason you mention. PAT] I don't know how long ago the 'good old days' were, but in New Jersey, my parents have a number which ends in 9207. I used to call home collect from school quite often. I remember that some time in 1979 or '80, I started having problems with operators putting me on hold for a *long* time before they would even *attempt* to place the call. After a while I figured out the 9xxx bank of numbers was set aside for pay phones. I learned to say "It's a home phone, not a pay phone" when dialing ... so they'd put it right through and check afterwards. We've had the same number since 1968, and I remember that all of a sudden they had this 'new' policy. When did they start doing this? Most everywhere I've been, pay phones are 9xxx numbers. *-=#= Phydeaux =#=-* reb@ingres.com or reb%ingres.com@lll-winken.llnl.GOV ICBM: 41.55N 87.40W h:558 West Wellington #3R Chicago, IL 60657 312-549-8365 w:reb ASK/Ingres 10255 West Higgins Suite 500 Rosemont, IL 60018 708-803-9500 [Moderator's Note: We had a prefix here (312 - LOngbeach 1) which was a real old stepper office. It had a bunch of residences in the 9xxx series of numbers. Over the last 20-25 years, I think they have mostly vanished as the numbers were given up and not reassigned to private parties. People on that exchange have the same hassle with collect calls, the few of them there are left in 9xxx. PAT]
D.Heale@ee.surrey.ac.uk (05/13/91)
The system used in the UK to prevent collect calls to payphones is that they send alternating tones for a few seconds when answered which the operator will recognise and presumably treat as though the call had been refused, these tones are also sent to the operator when called from a payphone to prevent services not billed by metering pulses being used. Presumably if a PABX or answering machine sent the same tones it would also stop collect calls. I have come across one PABX system where this would have been useful as some DID extensions were redirected to the main switchboard to prevent collect calls being accepted. However when the switchboard was closed at night a recorded message was given advising callers to ring the DID number for the appropriate extention even if that is what had been dialed.
johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) (05/14/91)
In article <telecom11.357.5@eecs.nwu.edu> is written: > The system used in the UK to prevent collect calls to > payphones is that they send alternating tones for a few seconds when > answered which the operator will recognise and presumably treat as > though the call had been refused, In the good old days in the U.S. when men were men and telephone exchanges were soldered together from relays, a common way to identify a pay phone to the operator was to use a special line relay with a weight on the end of the contact. When the line connected to the operator, the weight would make the relay bounce and produce a distinctive sound she could recognize. Apparently, it was possible to make a collect call to a pay phone. The called party put the appropriate money into the phone. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl
Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@brl.mil> (05/16/91)
There might be at least one Connecticut phone number ending in 9xxx which is not a pay phone. Many years ago, I answered a ringing pay phone in Newark, Delaware on 302-366-9xxx, and heard a LOT of white noise in the background and a (British-accent?) operator trying to complete a collect call. I said I didn't think I could take it, and that she had reached area 302, 366-9xxx; the operator said "302, 203 -- oh, wrong number!"
Bill Huttig <wah@zach.fit.edu> (05/17/91)
My aunt's phone number is 813-xxx-9xxx and her number is fairly new. It is serviced by GTE of Florida.
Eric Dittman <dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com> (05/17/91)
In article <telecom11.366.5@eecs.nwu.edu>, cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: > There might be at least one Connecticut phone number ending in 9xxx > which is not a pay phone. I can also verify that -9xxx is not necessarily a pay phone in South- Western Bell territory, since my second line is xxx-9xxx (deleted to avoid random calls to verify). Eric Dittman Texas Instruments - Component Test Facility dittman@skitzo.csc.ti.com dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com Disclaimer: I don't speak for Texas Instruments or the Component Test Facility. I don't even speak for myself.