larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (09/13/89)
> At a hamfest recently I purchased an AT&T payphone. Unfortunately > there was no information supplied with it. Does anyone know how the > phone can be connected to a normal subscriber line? I just want to > use the phone as a regular phone but can put up with depositing 25c > each call. The phone has a fair amount of processing built-in. (as > well as voice synthesis...."deposit 25 cents please"). I believe that > these units are field programmable, so I would be interested to hear > from anyone who has programmed these units. I am not familiar with the operation of newer coin telephones which have synthesized voice, mag stripe readers, alphanumeric displays, etc. since my "nuts and bolts" experience with such apparatus ended during the 1970's before these new-fangled gadgets came into existence. However, I am quite familiar with more common coin telephones made by WECO and other vendors, so perhaps a comment or two may be helpful. In the case of WECO coin telephones, from a standpoint of feature identification, a 1-type telephone is of the standalone "box"-type, and a 2-type telephone is of the "panel"-type often found in shopping malls, airports and other places of public assembly. The A-series is a telephone for coin-first operation (long ago MD-ed and almost non-existent), the C-series is convertible for either coin-first or dial-tone-first, the D-series is for dial-tone-first only, and the E-series is for postpay operation only (non-WECO CO apparatus). A following number of 1 indicates rotary dial and a following number of 2 indicates DTMF dial. An example is a 1D2, which is a box-type, dial-tone-first DTMF-dial coin telephone. There is no way that an an A-series or C-series (configured for coin-first) coin telephone will work on a conventional (POTS) loop-start telephone line. These coin telephones require coin(s) to operate the totalizer until an an initial rate is deposited, which then puts a ground on the ring side of the line, which then requires the CO to place a ground on the tip side of the line. The presence of this foreign ground on a conventional loop-start line may well preclude any attempts at dialing and interference-free transmission. Even more important, is that all money deposited remains in the coin hopper until the CO apparatus sends collect (+100 to +130 VDC) or return (-100 to -130 VDC) voltage between tip-ring and ground to operate the coin relay and restore the telephone for another call. The coin return lever will NOT cause the deposited coins to exit the coin return chute, nor will it reset the totalizer. So the point is, a coin-first telephone is useless for regular telephone use unless one modifies the telephone circuit to bypass the totalizer and coin control components. A C-series (configured for dial-tone-first) or D-series coin telephone will _probably_ work on a conventional loop-start telephone line PROVIDED that you do not deposit any coins. If you deposit coins, you cannot retrieve them without supplying coin-control voltages (not very practicable!), although you could open the upper housing and manually remove them from the coin hopper (not very convenient). You canNOT use the coin deposit function to allow a call only in the presence of a coin. It is sort of interesting to note that the 1A and 1C series coin telephones have electromechanical totalizers and have a maximum initial rate of $ 0.55. The 1D series coin telephone has an electronic initial rate circuit, which is programmable to a maximum initial rate of $ 3.15. We can certainly see that AT&T is well prepared for inflation! :-) The bottom line is that if you are thinking of using your coin telephone to actually collect money for calls, this is an impracticable idea since as far as I know, ALL AT&T (i.e., WECO) coin telephones require some type of central office coin control. This is, of course, not true of some newer non-AT&T coin telephones which are intended for "do it yourself" operation on conventional loop-start telephone lines. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"
rac@inuxz.att.com (Robert A Carson) (09/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0371m01@vector.dallas.tx.us>, kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > > At a hamfest recently I purchased an AT&T payphone. Unfortunately > The bottom line is that if you are thinking of using your coin > telephone to actually collect money for calls, this is an impracticable > idea since as far as I know, ALL AT&T (i.e., WECO) coin telephones require > some type of central office coin control. This is, of course, not true of > some newer non-AT&T coin telephones which are intended for "do it yourself" > operation on conventional loop-start telephone lines. This was accurate as of a few years ago. Since then AT&T has introduced two COCOT's, the AT&T Private Pay Phone and the AT&T Private Pay Phone Plus. These are designed to operate on any standard residential-type line, coin control is not required. One other thing to add to Larry Lippman's description of AT&T (WECO) Coin Telephones. Recently, AT&T introduced a follow-on to the venerable 1D2-type coin telephone. This is the AT&T Next Generation Coin Telephone. It is a standard coin telephone for the Local Exchange Carriers, plus it has many new capabilities made possible by a microprocessor and a modem. The phone reports to a central computer various bits of diagnostic data (eg. handset missing, chute jammed) traffic data, and coin box information. It can also be programmed from the computer for things such as initial rate. Bob Carson attmail!inuxz!rac AT&T Bell Labs Indianapolis, In These are my views, that's why I have them.