KATH MULLHOLAND <K_MULLHOLAND@unhh.unh.edu> (04/23/91)
In an ideal world, only those who are authorized to pay for a service would be able to order or use that service. For the most part, we can do this. The problem areas are mail order and telephone services. 900 numbers can be dialed without any forethought about where the money will come from to pay for the calls. A friend's daughter ran up over $3000 worth of these calls in one billing period. The daughter, 13, is by no means an adult, able to make a contract for that kind of money. When my friend called the phone company, she got nothing but grief. One representative said, "If you can't control your daughter, you can't expect us to take you off the hook." Her daughter probably was out of control, and has gotten in other kinds of trouble since, but the real issue is, who is liable when a child makes a contract that the parents have not authorized? This, to me, is the key sticking point of 900 services. Possible solutions abound: One mother I know puts a rotary phone with a "dialing block" on it so that the phone can't be dialed at all. (I'd worry about emergencies.) Another puts her phone set in her trunk when she goes to work each morning. (Emergencies still are an issue.) But the most elegant solution I've heard is to remove the PIC from the home telephne line, in essence removing all ability to make inter-LATA calls. This has the added benefit of being unable to call your out-of-state in-laws ... Kath Mullholand UNH Durham, NH [Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell takes care of this problem by offering to completely block 900 and/or 976 calls. With the block on your line, those calls cannot be completed, nor can the operator complete the call for you. They offer this blocking free of charge. PAT]
John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com> (04/25/91)
KATH MULLHOLAND <K_MULLHOLAND@unhh.unh.edu> writes: > But the most elegant solution [to unauthorized calls made to 900 > numbers] I've heard is to remove the PIC from the > home telephne line, in essence removing all ability to make inter-LATA > calls. This is not only not an elegant solution; it is not a solution at all. In a similar manner to the way 800 calls are handled, a call to a 900 number is routed to the carrier that is furnishing the 900 transport, NOT to your PIC. Removing the PIC would not stop one single call to a 900 number. And even if it would, how much trouble would it be for someone to dial 10XXX to access any carrier? Removing your PIC does not disable interLATA long distance by any stretch of the imagination. And it will not even slow down carrier-specific calls such as 800/900. > [Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell takes care of this problem by > offering to completely block 900 and/or 976 calls. With the block on > your line, those calls cannot be completed, nor can the operator > complete the call for you. They offer this blocking free of charge. PAT] This is indeed the only real method to effectively handle the problem of unauthorized calls to 900 numbers. It also should end the constant discussion over contracts, uncontrollable children, etc., etc. This is offered by Pac*Bell (and many other LECs, no doubt) at the time service is applied for. If a person declines blocking (or fails to order it when faced with a potential problem) then there really should be no slack cut by the LEC at bill time. With the advent of free 900/976 blocking, this whole debate can be concluded at long last. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
"S. H. Schwartz" <schwartz@nynexst.com> (04/25/91)
In article <telecom11.303.9@eecs.nwu.edu> K_MULLHOLAND@unhh.unh.edu (KATH MULLHOLAND) writes: > ... [how to block 900 calls] ... > But the most elegant solution I've heard is to remove the PIC from the > home telephne line, in essence removing all ability to make inter-LATA > calls. This has the added benefit of being unable to call your > out-of-state in-laws ... But the PIC only specifies which LD carrier gets your 1+ calls. Does this also stop 10288-1-900-xxx-xxxx? I would think not. No, I'm not going to try it at home. :-) S. H. Schwartz schwartz@nynexst.com Expert Systems Laboratory 914-683-2960 NYNEX Science and Technology Center White Plains NY 10604
trebor@uunet.uu.net> (04/26/91)
K_MULLHOLAND@unhh.unh.edu (KATH MULLHOLAND) writes: > One mother I know puts a rotary phone with a "dialing block" on it so > that the phone can't be dialed at all. (I'd worry about emergencies.) One hopes said mom's flock doesn't learn how to hook-tap the phone. Said trick is my favorite bit of phone trivia; I estimate that maybe 2% of the population knows it is possible to dial "without dialing." Robert J. Woodhead, Biar Games / AnimEigo, Incs. trebor@foretune.co.jp [Moderator's Note: Certainly hook-tapping will work, but the smaller digits are easier to achieve with accuracy. Tapping out nine, ten and ten more (as in 900) can be tricky unless your finger is agile and quick, and your timing very precise in offices which require it. PAT]
leroy Casterline <casterli@lamar.colostate.edu> (04/26/91)
> One hopes said mom's flock doesn't learn how to hook-tap the phone...
Years ago (how many, I won't say <grin)) I went to work for Northern
Ohio Telephone Co. as an installer/repairman after graduating from
high school. I remember amazing some friends who worked at a local
restaurant by hook-tapping a call I needed to make on thier
'dial-less' phone. Were I smarter, I would have gotten them to place
a bet.
Leroy Casterline | Cahill Casterline Ltd | Fort Collins, CO | 303/484-2212
Internet:casterli@lamar.colostate.edu | Compu$erve:70540,3307 | BIX:leroy