lenny@eddie.mit.edu (Lenny Tropiano) (11/29/89)
With my telephone bill this month I got one of NY Telephone's "Hello"
announcements entitled, "New automated service: for handling your
collect calls and calls billed to third number". [Gee, this would
have helped things during the strike :-)] They should go to automated
information (555-1212, 411) Or at least information type service where
a PC user could dial in... :-)
Here's a bit of the news ...
"Starting in November and continuing through early next year, we are
introducing new technology that automates the handling of collect
calls and calls billed to another telephone number within your New
York Telephone Regional Calling Area.
Here's what to expect...
As you do today, to make collect calls and calls billed to a third
number you will dial "0", an area code (if required) and the number
you want to reach. Then, you'll hear a tone and an automated voice
will help you complete your call through a series of recorded
announcements.
The automated voice will ask you to indicate the type of call you want
to make by dialing a number with your touch-tone phone. It will also
ask you to state your name. Then, the automated system will call the
person to be billed for the call, announce your name and ask if the
charges will be accepted. Depending upon the response, the system
either completes the call or informs you that the charges have been
refused.
Things to remember ...
o Automated service for collect calls and calls billed to a third number
will be available from touch-tone phones. This includes many New York
Telephone public phones, as well as home and business phones.
o Your call will not be voice automated if you're calling from a rotary
phone, or from a push-button phone that doesn't provide tones when you
dial. In these cases, after the initial recorded announcement you will
be connected to an operator.
o The new automated service will have no effect on how you use your NY
Telephone Calling Card.
o Automated service for collect calls and calls billed to a third number
will be introduced in Nassau and Suffolk counties starting in November.
It will be introduced from December through early 1990 for all other
areas served by New York Telephone.
================================================
My comments are, I wonder if this voice-response system, which is
getting more common, does actual voice recognition for the response
given for accepting or rejecting the charges. Doubtful, but
interesting nevertheless. Most likely it will expect touch-tone
replies from the person to be billed, assuming that person has
touch-tone too. I wish they wouldn't charge the money for for
touch-tone, since today it's easier (or just as easy) to detect tones
than pulses. I suppose the answer is revenue.
Lenny
[Moderator's Note: Can't you *just imagine* the fraud with this new toy?
On being asked to record their name, caller responds:
'Meet me at the airport at seven'; 'Call me back at acc-xxx-yyyy'; 'I do
not have change, but I'll be home soon.'; or a whole variety of messages
to which the callee can refuse to accept charges. Is telco going to
keep track of all the 'names' (heh-heh!) that callers use when placing
collect calls?
If telco thinks they have a hard time now keeping people from talking
around the operator to deliver quickie messages think how much harder
it will be now. If telco thinks they have a problem now with people
using coded names to deliver unpaid messages under the pretense of a
collect call, wait until complete automation! People won't even have
to make pretenses; they can just say something to the tape, let the
other person hear it and decline to 'accept the charges'. How many
school kids in NYC will bother to pay for local calls to tell their
parents they will be home late once they figure this one out? PT]ccplumb@rose.waterloo.edu (Colin Plumb) (12/02/89)
>[Moderator's Note: Can't you *just imagine* the fraud with this new toy? >On being asked to record their name, caller responds: >'Meet me at the airport at seven'; 'Call me back at acc-xxx-yyyy'; 'I do >not have change, but I'll be home soon.'; or a whole variety of messages >to which the callee can refuse to accept charges. Is telco going to >keep track of all the 'names' (heh-heh!) that callers use when placing >collect calls? >If telco thinks they have a hard time now keeping people from talking >around the operator to deliver quickie messages think how much harder >it will be now. If telco thinks they have a problem now with people >using coded names to deliver unpaid messages under the pretense of a >collect call, wait until complete automation! People won't even have >to make pretenses; they can just say something to the tape, let the >other person hear it and decline to 'accept the charges'. How many >school kids in NYC will bother to pay for local calls to tell their >parents they will be home late once they figure this one out? PT] Just one suggestion: if you're going to bother using coded names, don't use collect calls, call person-to-person. You usually expect a collect call to succeed, and the telco may notice a lot of refused calls to a certain place. But you bother calling person-to-person when you expect difficulty getting through (it's a *great* way to bypass n layers of secretaries!), so the usage patterns aren't as suspicious. It's quite possible the telco will listen in and keep track of numbers with lots of refused collect calls, although I don't know what they can do about it after the fact. Theoretically, they could intercept those lines to human operators, but it's an awful lot of work, and won't help if the problem becomes sufficiently widespread. At least around here, "operator-assisted" is a flat fee, so if I'm making a collect long-distance call, I often ask for a specific person. -Colin
Scot E Wilcoxon <sewilco@datapg.mn.org> (12/05/89)
>[Moderator's Note: Can't you *just imagine* the fraud with this new toy? >On being asked to record their name, caller responds: >'Meet me at the airport at seven'; 'Call me back at acc-xxx-yyyy'; 'I do >not have change, but I'll be home soon.'; or a whole variety of messages >to which the callee can refuse to accept charges. Is telco going to >keep track of all the 'names' (heh-heh!) that callers use when placing >collect calls? I don't know what telco plans are, but it might be a profitable side effect. As the calls would undoubtedly get charged the minimum amount for a "collect" call, dredging for these lost calls could easily be worthwhile. Instead of several human operators handling many calls, a single operator could listen to the few recorded seconds from many calls and tap a "charge for call" button (or type the 'name') when appropriate. Security staff can start by with random sampling, and it could increase to a task to fill operator idle times (or not retiring an operator replaced by the automated service). A permanent record of corrected charged calls, and the legal differences between a phone call and an obvious recording should be useful. Should we consider it a "collect voice mail" service? :-) Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!sewilco Data Progress UNIX masts & rigging +1 612-825-2607 uunet!datapg!sewilco I'm just reversing entropy while waiting for the Big Crunch.