dpfay@vax1.tcd.ie (11/30/90)
In article <14999@accuvax.nwu.edu>, KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) writes: > While staying in Wroclaw (Breslau), there was a news item on TV that > the city had installed the nation's first public telephones > activitated through credit cards. I couldn't understand the fine > details because it was in Polish. From what my host explained to me, > the credit cards are issued by the telephone company and you insert > them into a slot in the telephone and then dial the number. Similar systems using pre-paid cards for public phones are common in most European countries. You buy a card, normally from a post office or newsagent, which is worth a certain number of units. The units are deducted from the card as you speak. There seem to be three systems in use: * a 'smart card' with an in-built chip, used in France, Germany and Ireland * a holographic system used in Austria and by British Telecom in the U.K. * a magnetic card system used in Italy. I think the Mercury phones in the U.K. also use a magnetic system. The use of card phones is becoming increasingly common: in France coin-operated payphones (without a queue) can be hard to find. I think the reason for their absence in the U.S. is their dependence on meter pulsing for billing. > ... Telephone calls in > Poland are an exercise in patience. Just as a BTW, I had no problems making international calls from payphones in Czechoslovakia this autumn. Line quality to Ireland and West Germany was excellent. Deryck Fay Department of Geography DPFAY@VAX1.TCD.IE Trinity College Dublin 2
andyr@inmos.com (Andy Rabagliati) (12/09/90)
In article <15118@accuvax.nwu.edu> dpfay@vax1.tcd.ie writes: >The use of card phones is becoming increasingly common: in France >coin-operated payphones (without a queue) can be hard to find. I >think the reason for their absence in the U.S. is their dependence on >meter pulsing for billing. Remember that the UK (and possibly the continent) has only recently moved over to tone dialling. I think the introduction of cardphones was because credit card calling is a non-starter without tone. Cheers, Andy.
KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) (12/10/90)
<dpfay@vax1.tcd.ie> Deryck Fay in Telecom Digest #857 writes: >I had no problems making international calls from payphones in >Czechoslovakia this autumn. Neither did I in late August from Praha. International calls to the USA could be made either from the hotel switchboard direct dial or from a payphone and it was relatively inexpensive (about Kcs100 for three minutes, about $4.00). However international service was difficult to obtain or unavailable in the provinces, where payphones themselves were scarce! Richard Budd KLUB@MARISTB.BITNET Marist College Poughkeepsie, NY 12601