robertsn@iosg.enet.dec.com (Nigel Roberts 0860 578600) (07/20/90)
I had my first chance to play with a Mercury payphone recently, as there are a couple installed in the Travelodge in Basingstoke where I'm staying at the moment. Couple of observations -- the phones themselves only accept Mercurycards (pre-payment cards), or major credit cards (all MC/VISA/AMEX/DC). They do not take cash at all. Credit card calls cost a minimum of 50p. One gotcha is that the follow-on call button has no effect save that of eliminating the need to swipe the card again -- you will still be charged a (second) 50p minimum fee. 100 (operator), 192 (directory) etc. etc. all work quite happily. (You get Mercury operators, of course, not BT ones). But if you dial 144 (the access code for non-operator calls using Chargecard) you get "BARRED CALL" on the phone's display. Equal access? Forget it. Nigel Roberts
johns@scroff.uk.sun.com (John Slater) (07/24/90)
In article <9936@accuvax.nwu.edu>, robertsn@iosg.enet.dec.com (Nigel Roberts 0860 578600) writes: >Credit card calls cost a minimum of 50p. One gotcha is that the >follow-on call button has no effect save that of eliminating the need >to swipe the card again -- you will still be charged a (second) 50p >minimum fee. Is this not the case with BT credit-card payphones? I was under the inpression that they had a similar 50p minimum charge per call. If they let you make multiple calls for a single 50p minimum charge, then I'm pleasantly surprised with BT. Anyone know what the story is on this? I don't see one of these beasties very often, so I can't try it out. >But if you dial 144 (the access code for non-operator calls using >Chargecard) you get "BARRED CALL" on the phone's display. >Equal access? Forget it. Hmmm ... (1) 131 is barred on BT payphones, so there's equal inter-company inflexibility (2) 131 is also barred from Mercury payphones (so you can't use your own account on them) - at least they're being consistent! Not so much Equal Access as Equal Refusal :-( John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick Office