covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 26-Sep-1989 1416) (09/27/89)
Greg Monti writes: >dialed: 10 488 0 + valid out-of-LATA 10-digit number >response: "at the tone, please dial your card number or dial zero for the > ITI Operator" (pause) "beep (like an answering machine)" >dialed: my valid Bell Atlantic/AT&T card number >response (after about 10 seconds): "please wait for card verification" > (incredibly long pause, about 30 seconds of dead silence) "thank you for > using ITI; if the party you are calling is busy or does not answer, press 1 > to leave up to a one minute message" call rings through > >... Long distance carriers like ITT (whose 10 XXX is 488, above), >who do not offer their own operator service route your calls >to an AOS, which I believe ITI is, for billing. Some AOS's, like ITI, >offer value-added services as well, as above. Hmm. Fully automatic handling by ITI is new; it used to go to an operator for entry. I just made a call this way (and I know it will be more expensive than via AT&T, but hey, gotta support my habit). My experiment will be a little cheaper than Greg's, because I keyed in my AMEX card number (no pin). ITI charges slightly lower rates for using bank and T&E cards than for using a telephone calling card. I terminated the card number with a "#" and the call went through pretty fast. Since they are supporting various different cards, they have to have a variable length digit collection system. /john