cramer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Clayton Cramer) (02/06/90)
I've had two phone lines into the house for a couple of years, one a
residence phone, the other the business line for my software business.
Because the volume of software business hasn't exactly been
overwhelming, I've wanted to disconnect that service, and save the
$17/month minimum service charge. At the same time, it's convenient
to have business calls for my various side businesses separate from my
personal phone bill, so I've been reluctant to discontinue service on
the business line.
I called Pacific Bell, and they have a service called "fictious
account numbers" which allows one phone number to have several credit
card numbers, each of which is subtotalled separately on your phone
bill, making it easy for me to keep the expenses of the firearms
business, the software consulting business, and the writing business,
separate for tax purposes.
They have no problem giving several such account numbers on one phone
line. (Of course, if you are dialing from home, you'll need to do
credit card billing using the fictious numbers, but that's a small
nuisance).
This would seem like an ideal way to handle the traditional "end of
the month roommates figuring out the bill" problem.
Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer
Democracy is freedom only when the majority are tolerant -- which is never.
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Disclaimer? You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine!la063249@zach.fit.edu (Bill Huttig) (02/07/90)
In article <3548@accuvax.nwu.edu> optilink!cramer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Clayton Cramer) writes: >They have no problem giving several such account numbers on one phone >line. (Of course, if you are dialing from home, you'll need to do >credit card billing using the fictious numbers, but that's a small >nuisance). >This would seem like an ideal way to handle the traditional "end of >the month roommates figuring out the bill" problem. AT&T offers a service called call manager where you place your call kind of like a calling card call and your bill is sorted by the 2 digit codes you picked. Bill
denbeste@cis.ohio-state.edu (William C. DenBesten) (02/07/90)
From article <3548@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by optilink!cramer@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Clayton Cramer): > I called Pacific Bell, and they have a service called "fictious > account numbers" which allows one phone number to have several credit > card numbers, each of which is subtotalled separately on your phone > bill.... > This would seem like an ideal way to handle the traditional "end of > the month roommates figuring out the bill" problem. Yes, except for one small detail. I would like to be able to disable long distance calling without the use of a credit card. This way if someone tries to call 1-900-pay-cash, their mom in attu, alaska or anything else that would cost me money, it would fail unless they put it on their credit card. BTW, the only phone on attu is in the coast guard station, and no moms work there. -- William C. DenBesten is denbeste@bgsu.edu or denbesten@bgsuopie.bitnet
Dan Veditz <dveditz@dbase.a-t.com> (02/10/90)
William C. DenBesten (bgsuvax!denbeste@cis.ohio-state.edu) writes: > From article <3548@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by optilink!cramer@ames.arc.nasa.gov > (Clayton Cramer): >> [..."fictious account numbers"...] >> This would seem like an ideal way to handle the traditional "end of >> the month roommates figuring out the bill" problem. > Yes, except for one small detail. I would like to be able to disable > long distance calling without the use of a credit card. This way if > someone tries to call 1-900-pay-cash, their mom in attu, alaska or > anything else that would cost me money, it would fail unless they put > it on their credit card. This can be done to an extent. I once had an unemployed roommate who ran up large LD phone bills he couldn't pay (the worse his job hunt got, the more he called home!). I called PacBell and explained the situation, and they were able to turn off LD completely. My other roommate and I could use our credit cards just fine. Caveats: This blocked long distance, but not all toll calls. 1+area code still worked within our LATA, and 1+800, 1+900 etc. also worked (but some of those can be blocked separately). They also charged their LD connect fee ($5) to disconnect, and again to connect after the roommate moved out (but it was worth it). I don't know if 10xxx calling still worked, but I'd imagine so... -Dan Veditz {uunet,cepu}!ashtate!dveditz dveditz@dbase.A-T.com [Moderator's Note: To the several of you who have mentioned it, yes I know the word is 'ficticious', not 'fictious' in the subject header. I have avoided changing it (after it got past me the first time) in order to prevent breaking the message thread in comp.dcom.telecom. But its starting to bug me too. PT]