Steve Forrette <forrette@cory.berkeley.edu> (04/30/91)
The recent message about the Comdial hotel phones with an RJ11 data jack on the side reminded me of an experience I had a couple of years ago at Motel 6. At the time, they had a radio commercial devoted to their telephone policies. "Free local calls, no surcharge for calling card calls, and all our phones use modular jacks, so you can plug in your computer and send in all your orders." I was surprised - a general audience commercial talking about modular jacks, data transfer, etc. Their phones don't have extra jacks like the Comdial phones, but they are plugged into modular jacks, so you just unplug the phone and plug in your device. The problem was that the little release clips were broken of the male end of the RJ11 connector on each end (as if this is going to prevent someone from taking the phone!). I complained to the front desk, explaining not only that it was silly, but that their own commercials specifically touted the ability for the guest to plug in his own device. The first response was "What? Why would you need to plug in your computer to the phone?" After explaining the concept of "dialing in", the response was "I don't know nothin' about the phones - sorry." (Exact English preserved.) As a side note, I also had my voice card with me, and set up voice mail for my room extension. My mom was taken aback when calling, but somehow has come to expect things like this from me. Too bad the front desk never had the occasion to call my room when I wasn't there. Their reaction would have been priceless! Steve Forrette, forrette@cory.berkeley.edu
trebor@uunet.uu.net> (05/01/91)
forrette@cory.berkeley.edu (Steve Forrette) writes: > The problem was that the little release clips were broken of the male > end of the RJ11 connector on each end (as if this is going to prevent > someone from taking the phone!). This is commonly done in hotel rooms. Any dedicated travelling modemer carries a small screwdriver for impromptu ECO'ing of hotel phones. In a pinch, you can use a paperclip or the tang on the end of a Bic pen to worm the jack out. I always travel with a two way splitter and install it as soon as I get into the room. Inveterate Motel-6 Modemer's can be recognised by dialing scripts in their terminal programs that look like this: ATDT 6,1XXXYYYZZZZ,,,,,,,AAABBBCCCCDDDD This gets the outside line, dials the long distance number, waits long enough to get the bong (varies between five and seven seconds depending on the Motel 6), and dials a credit card number. I wish all Hotel telephone systems were as simple and straightforward (and fair!) as the big 6's are... ;^) Robert J. Woodhead, Biar Games / AnimEigo, Incs. trebor@foretune.co.jp
Mitch Wagner <wagner@utoday.com> (05/07/91)
In article <telecom11.325.6@eecs.nwu.edu> kddlab!lkbreth.foretune.co. jp!trebor@uunet.uu.net (Robert J Woodhead) writes: > Any dedicated travelling > modemer carries a small screwdriver for impromptu ECO'ing of hotel > phones. In a pinch, you can use a paperclip or the tang on the end of > a Bic pen to worm the jack out. Is that what you call the end of a pen? A "tang"? No kidding! :-) Seriously, I find the end of the pen or paperclip works best. Why burden one's self down with unnecessary supplies when one can as easily forage off the land? (So to speak.) > get into the room. > Inveterate Motel-6 Modemer's can be recognised by dialing scripts in > their terminal programs that look like this: > ATDT 6,1XXXYYYZZZZ,,,,,,,AAABBBCCCCDDDD > This gets the outside line, dials the long distance number, waits long > enough to get the bong (varies between five and seven seconds > depending on the Motel 6), and dials a credit card number. I wish all > Hotel telephone systems were as simple and straightforward (and fair!) > as the big 6's are... ;^) And inveterate business travellers can be sometimes be spotted by checking their comm dialing directories. I'm a GEnie addict, and a private detective would find my ProComm dialing directory containing numbers for GEnie nodes in Long Island, the San Francisco Bay Area and Cambridge, Mass. Why wouldn't something like the Motel 6 dialing scheme work on another hotel? I've never actually tried to charge a modem call, but it seems that you could just program the following string in: ATDT 9,1(XXX)YYY-ZZZZ,,,,,,,,,,AAAABBBBCCCCDDDD With ABCD being the credit card number... and ,,,,, being the pause for the bong. That should work fine. Just about every hotel I've ever stayed in had you dial "9" for outside, collect, 800 and credit card calls, and "8" for long distance calls. Oh, well. I'm due to travel next first week in June. I shall perform the appropriate experiments and report back. Mitch Wagner VOICE: 516/562-5758 GEnie: MITCH.WAGNER UUCP: wagner@utoday.com
tnixon@uunet.uu.net> (05/08/91)
In article <telecom11.339.8@eecs.nwu.edu>, wagner@utoday.com (Mitch Wagner) writes: > I've never actually tried to charge a modem call, but it seems that > you could just program the following string in: > ATDT 9,1(XXX)YYY-ZZZZ,,,,,,,,,,AAAABBBBCCCCDDDD > With ABCD being the credit card number... and ,,,,, being the pause > for the bong. If you put in ten commas (as you mention), you're going to be pausing so long that the operator will have come on the line after the bong tone, and s/he won't appreciate getting blasted with your credit card number! If you use commas, you will have to tinker with it at each hotel to get the number of commas right, so that the credit card number starts to dial within about five seconds after the bong in order to avoid getting the operator. What I do instead is use the "@" dial modifier, e.g.: ATDT 8W0XXXYYYZZZZ@AAABBBCCCCDDDD The "@" (Wait for Quiet Answer) dial modifier is supported in most modems today. It causes the modem to pause, listening for some sound in the call progress signalling band, followed by five seconds of silence, and then continue (five seconds are required to differentiate a "quiet answer", used in some direct inward system access features, from the normal four-second pause between ringback tones). The BONG tone triggers it in most modems, because the last part of the BONG is a decaying dial tone (which falls in the call progress band). Sometimes the five seconds is too long and the operator comes on the line, but usually just trying again works OK. If it turns out that the operator ALWAYS comes on the line before five seconds of silence has expired, you don't have much choice but to revert to a series of commas (and tinker until you get them right, and hope that the time it takes the hotel PBX to send you to AT&T is fairly consistent). You could, of course, always use ONE comma, and then use the S8 register to set its length. This may make it somewhat easier to "tinker", without having to edit the phone number. FYI, I'm calling into our Vax in Atlanta right now, charging the call to my corporate AT&T Calling Card, having used the method described above. Works great. Only blasted the operator one time so far this trip! Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer | Voice +1-404-840-9200 Telex 151243420 Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax +1-404-447-0178 CIS 70271,404 P.O. Box 105203 | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon AT&T !tnixon Atlanta, Georgia 30348 USA | Internet hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net