brian@ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) (01/07/90)
I wonder if perhaps the best solution to noncompliant COCOTs isn't to just hang an OUT-OF-ORDER sign on all that you encounter, with perhaps a written explanation of what's wrong with the phone. I suspect COCOT owners will pay attention to an empty coinbox more quickly than almost any other thing. And it's much more polite than repairing the phone with an axe. - Brian [Moderator's Note: But the proprietor may come along and rip the sign down. Better to use some *very sticky* pre-printed (office copy machine?) labels which say "Out of Order Due to Misprogrammed Routing/Rates" which you slap on the phone across the coin slot area. Make sure you cover the coin slot. Once you have thus affixed the notice, be sure to visit the location in a day or two to see if the phone is still marked out of service, or if some creature came out of the swamp and scraped off the notice; if so, you will need to affix a new sticker after checking the phone to see if it is now 'repaired'. Minimum repair requirements will be considered met if dialing 10288-0 produces you know who, and if dialing a sample 800 number produces a 'thank you' without demanding a deposit. If you have the time and money to stand there and perform further diagnostics, please do. In your new role as trouble-shooter, you may also wish to get cozy with the manufacturer of the COCOT as a potential buyer of several hundred units. With the installer's manual at hand, perhaps you can liberate -- uh, I mean reprogram the firmware yourself. :) PT]
John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com> (01/08/90)
In article <2669@accuvax.nwu.edu> Brian Kantor <brian@ucsd.edu> writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 12, message 3 of 4 >[Moderator's Note: But the proprietor may come along and rip the sign >down. Better to use some *very sticky* pre-printed (office copy >machine?) labels which say "Out of Order Due to Misprogrammed >Routing/Rates" which you slap on the phone across the coin slot area. As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago one of the inhabitants of essug.*, our statewide telephone news group, had a bunch of stickers printed up and sent them around to everyone that wanted them. I just ran across the few that I had left. There were some notorious COCOT violators and when all else failed, I started sticking it to them. These people were uncanny in their ability to remove them as fast as I stuck them on, usually the same day. There was one phone that charged for everything, including repair service and information, had no mention of who owned it, and required coin for all long distance no matter how paid. It was a vile thing and I would put stickers on it daily that invited people to take their telephony business elsewhere, but it was uphill all the way. Needless to say, I soon gave up. Even though the shopkeeper professed to know nothing about the phone, I suspect that it was he who was removing the stickers. "I don't know nuthin 'bout da fone, just putchya money in an' shuddap." John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
Mike Morris <morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov> (01/09/90)
In article <2669@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >[Moderator's Note: But the proprietor may come along and rip the sign >down. Better to use some *very sticky* pre-printed (office copy >machine?) labels which say "Out of Order Due to Misprogrammed >Routing/Rates" which you slap on the phone across the coin slot area. >Make sure you cover the coin slot. Once you have thus affixed the >notice, be sure to visit the location in a day or two to see if the >phone is still marked out of service, or if some creature came out of >the swamp and scraped off the notice; if so, you will need to affix a >new sticker after checking the phone to see if it is now 'repaired'. >If you have the time and money to stand there and perform further >diagnostics, please do. In your new role as trouble-shooter, you may >also wish to get cozy with the manufacturer of the COCOT as a >potential buyer of several hundred units. With the installer's manual >at hand, perhaps you can liberate -- uh, I mean reprogram the firmware >yourself. :) PT] Somebody is reading your mind, Patrick! Yesterday I saw one at a local Union Oil gas station with a _professional_looking_ but laser-printed sticker across the coin slot, and upon looking closely, I saw that somebody had gotten even and had glued all the buttons with (what looked like) 5-minute epoxy! The sticker said "Out of order - crooked owner!". It would be interesting if it could be programmed without opening the case - the only info I have on the guts suggests that there is a switch inside that must be closed to enable programming mode. I know a couple of types can be remotely programmed - one of them is marked "Cannot receive incoming calls". When a new prefix was turned on here in LA I deliberately tried it on a couple of phones the following week, and then called the "repair number" and chewed them out for "preventing me from calling my mother" - one outfit thought I was the client!! They told me they would verify the new prefix, and "download the new database immediately. Would I like any other changes at the same time? No charge, since we have to add the new prefix." I was very tempted.... Mike Morris Internet: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov Misslenet: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard Bellnet: 818-447-7052 #Include disclaimer.standard Radionet: WA6ILQ