forrette@cory.berkeley.edu (Steve Forrette) (02/01/91)
I called MCI a couple of months ago to find out about their service. The rep gave me the same story about having to select a four-digit PIN that callers need to know in order to call you. I pressed the issue, pointing out that users with universal dial (around 40% of the U.S., right?) would not be able to use it. She paused, and put me on hold while she checked this out with her supervisor. When she came back, the indication was that they assigned a prefix, then you selected your "PIN" to form the number. So, the PIN is really just the suffix of the number. Callers just dial 800 then the seven digit number. The implication was that they presented it in this "PIN" manner to give people the security that "only the people that know your PIN can use the service." While this is indeed true, it is very misleading. And of course, this is assuming that the supervisor had the correct information. Has anyone here acutally signed up to see what happens? Steve Forrette, forrette@cory.berkeley.edu