wtho@mcsun.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) (09/26/89)
As I see there are two different types of phone cards around the world. One type is handled like a credit card of the telephone company: for using it you make an operator assisted call and tell the operator your card number, or you type the card number directly into the phone (e.g. USA). For the other type you pay a certain amount and this amount is coded on the card itself. For usage you push the card into a special slot of a public phone, and the coded amount is decreased while making a call. An "empty" card can be thrown away (e.g. Switzerland). What I would like to know: Isn't there a country (or LDC in the US) where phone calls can be paid be regular, internationally accepted credit cards (Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.)? Phone calls would get much easier while travelling abroad. Or is there a reason, why telephone companies do not accept them? Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP
gabe@sirius.ctr.columbia.edu (Gabe Wiener) (09/27/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0409m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> cgch!wtho@mcsun.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >What I would like to know: Isn't there a country (or LDC in the US) >where phone calls can be paid be regular, internationally accepted >credit cards (Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.)? Phone calls >would get much easier while travelling abroad. Or is there a reason, >why telephone companies do not accept them? I often see such phones in airports. You pick up the receiver, dial your number, and then slide your credit card through the slot (Visa, MC, AmEx). You then push a button on the phone indicating the long distance carrier you want, and your call rings through. Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ. "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings gabe@ctr.columbia.edu to be seriously considered as a means of gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu communication. The device is inherently of 72355.1226@compuserve.com no value to us."
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) (09/27/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0409m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> cgch!wtho@mcsun.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >What I would like to know: Isn't there a country (or LDC in the US) >where phone calls can be paid be regular, internationally accepted >credit cards (Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.)? ... Here in the US, some pay phones, particularly those in airports, do in fact take regular credit cards. They have a slot through which you run the card so it can read the number magnetically, then you dial the number, then if the call is out of the local region, you push a button corresponding to the LD carrier you want to use, with typical choices being MCI, Sprint, and ITT. AT&T has their own distinctive looking card caller phones that used to take only AT&T's own card but now are also starting to take Amex and bank cards. In all these cases, the phone transmits the credit card number in a torrent of DTMF tones, so I suppose that if you knew the protocol you could type in the card number yourself. Entering a bank card number at the time when you would enter your phone card number doesn't work. I also once saw a COCOT at a car rental place in Denver that let you type in a bank card number yourself, and claimed that the charge for doing so was cheaper than that for a telco calling card. I can believe that; telcos are reputed to charge 75 cents apiece for billing OCC calls but I know that a bank charges more like 35 cents for an electronically submitted Master Card or Visa charge. The Airfones found on too many airplanes these days only take regular credit cards, not phone cards, but at $2.50/minute and terrible voice quality they're only for the desperate. John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869 johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl, Levine@YALE.edu Massachusetts has 64 licensed drivers who are over 100 years old. -The Globe
jimmy@icjapan.uucp (Jim Gottlieb) (09/29/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0409m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> cgch!wtho@mcsun.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >As I see there are two different types of phone cards around the world. >For the other type you pay a certain amount and this amount is >coded on the card itself. For usage you push the card into a special >slot of a public phone, and the coded amount is decreased while making >a call. An "empty" card can be thrown away (e.g. Switzerland). While these stored-value cards are definitely convenient and one avoids calling card surcharges, they always seemed to me to be too susceptible to fraud. After all, the sole record of your balance is sitting on the card in your pocket. Well, today's Japan Times reports the case of someone who was charged with buying cards with 50 10-yen (about 7 U.S. cents) units on them and reprogramming them with several thousand units and then selling them. Surprisingly, the case was dropped because the court determined that this person had not broken any laws! They said that since he had not planned to use the cards himself, he had not cheated the phone company out of any money. And since he dutifully informed the people he sold the cards to that they had been modified, he was not guilty of any securities law violation. I suspect that the Diet will need to quickly come up with a law to make this illegal, or a massive industry will sprout, with no fear of prosecution. The article did not mention anything about the eventual end-users of the cards or whether they would be prosecuted. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ <jimmy@pic.ucla.edu> or <jimmy@denwa.uucp> or <attmail!denwa!jimmy> Fax: (011)+81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424
tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) (10/02/89)
Regarding the question about LD carriers taking regular bank plastic, I think I read recently that MCI will soon start accepting bank credit cards for toll calls. This is without having to use the card reader phones in airports. You will dial the MCI operator and give your Visa number. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP MCI Mail: 3288544
silber@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Jeffrey Silber) (10/05/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0409m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> cgch!wtho@mcsun.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >What I would like to know: Isn't there a country (or LDC in the US) >where phone calls can be paid be regular, internationally accepted >credit cards (Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.)? Phone calls >would get much easier while travelling abroad. Or is there a reason, >why telephone companies do not accept them? I was able to place an international call from Heathrow airport using my Visa card ... the phone had a magnetic strip reader which read my card and permitted me to direct dial. The charge appeared on my bill next month from British Telecom. "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." --Sen. Everett Dirksen Jeffrey A. Silber/silber@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu Business Manager/Cornell Center for Theory & Simulation in Science & Engineering
U5434122@ucsvc.unimelb.edu.au (10/13/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0409m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> cgch!wtho@mcsun.eu. net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >>What I would like to know: Isn't there a country (or LDC in the US) >>where phone calls can be paid be regular, internationally accepted >>credit cards (Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.)? ... In Australia we have card phones which accept Amex and Visa, but not MC, for some reason. They also accept most bank debit cards, and the domestic Australian credit card 'Bankcard'. To operate the phone, you lift the handpiece and swipe your card. If the card is a debit card, you are prompted to enter your PIN. Then you must select the account you wish to charge: credit, savings or cheque account. The telephone then verifies the card, PIN, and looks up your current balance for cheque or savings accounts, showing you the funds you have available. Only then are you presented with a dial tone. Unfortunately, the minimum cost is $1.20 ($US1.00), so you have to make a LD call or 4 local calls ( 30c each, untimed ) for it to be worth it. Current call cost is displayed as the call progresses. These phones are usually found in airports, major hotels and post offices.