nmpwem2@apcvxa.uchicago.edu (12/15/89)
I just saw a TV ad on one of the cable channels where somebody dressed in a Santa suit is asking kids to call him at a 900 number. The charge is $2/minute. My four-year-old son saw the ad and immediately wanted to call Santa. We had a long discussion that the person in the ad wasn't the real Santa. Although we've taught our four-year-old to dial the phone (for emergencies), he can't remember the string of 11 digits needed to make a 900 call. Bill Mihalo uucp: att!chinet!calumet!wem
tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) (12/18/89)
Regarding calling "Santa" on 900 and 976 services, there was a HUGE flap here in Seattle a couple of years back when a local UHF station ran an ad that not only asked kids to call Santa, but even instructed the kids to hold the phone to the TV speaker while the ad produced the DTMF tones necessary to automatically dial the call! No one ever explained to me what would happen with the same number being dialed at EXACTLY the same moment from all of those phones at once, but I can imagine. There was a big investigation, involving lots of refunds from the telco and dial-a-porn operator that ran the ad. The TV station also got a black eye, as they helped produce the ad! Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP MCI Mail: 328-8544