nigel.allen@uunet.uucp (03/18/90)
In Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 105, message 9 of 9, the moderator wrote.: > Moderator's Note: Anyone wishing to learn how to (ahem!) 'verify' > questionable card numbers -- as if there were any reason to do so > unless you were a telco accepting them for services rendered -- > can consult with JH in other media. Actually, operator service providers (long distance companies usually associated with privately-owned pay telephones or hotel phones, that usually do not own their own long-distance lines and often charge substantially more than AT&T) would like to be able to validate calling cards that people key in to pay for their calls. Operator service companies aren't telcos, nor are they facilities-based long distance carriers. Didn't one OSP get in trouble for verifying calling card numbers by improperly accessing an AT&T or BOC calling card database? As I understand it, when the OSP wanted to verify a number, it would attempt to place a call over the AT&T network using the calling card number, and hang up before the called number started to ring. (I suspect that OSPs can purchase calling card verification services through a service bureau, but the OSP in this case was getting verification for free.) Things weren't this complicated before divesture. :-) MaS Relayer v1.00.00 Message gatewayed by MaS Network Software and Consulting/HST Internet: nigel.allen@canremote.uucp UUCP: ...tmsoft!masnet!canremote!nigel.allen