john@apple.com (John Higdon) (08/17/89)
Got a chance to play with one of those automatic collect-call machines.
I was surprised to discover that it is all done within the COCOT
itself, and the machine allows you to hear all the action with a muted
mouthpiece.
When you dial "0+NXX+NXX-XXXX", the synthesized voice says to push 1
for a collect call and 3 for any other operator assisted call. After
pushing 1, the voice prompt you for your name. The unit then dials the
call (direct) and when it thinks the other end has answered it asks the
called party, "Will you accept a collect call from [your recorded
name]? If yes, press 1, otherwise press 0 now." It will repeat one time
if there is no response and then disconnect.
This raises some interesting questions. Where is the billing
information stored for charging the called party? In the phone? By some
special arrangement with whatever carrier they use for the call? What
if the called party refuses the call? Does the COCOT owner pay for the
one-minute refusal?
It was a lot of fun playing with that phone. You would be surprised how
many hotel and motel operators will refuse a call from Donald Duck.
--
John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395
john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) (08/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0305m05@vector.dallas.tx.us>, zygot!john@apple.com (John Higdon) writes: > It was a lot of fun playing with that phone. You would be surprised how > many hotel and motel operators will refuse a call from Donald Duck. Hmmm. How about Person-to-Person calls TO Donald Duck? -- "ANGRY WOMEN BEAT UP SHOE SALESMAN Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) WHO POSED AS GYNECOLOGIST" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef
pdg@chinet.chi.il.us (Paul Guthrie) (08/20/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0305m05@vector.dallas.tx.us> zygot!john@apple.com (John Higdon) writes: >This raises some interesting questions. Where is the billing >information stored for charging the called party? In the phone? By some >special arrangement with whatever carrier they use for the call? What >if the called party refuses the call? Does the COCOT owner pay for the >one-minute refusal? The billing info is indeed stored inside the COCOT phone itself. This has actually been going on for a while with this sort of phone, at least with calling card (0+) types of calls. This sort of phone is the salvation of COCOTS, since now they don't have to give up a large percentage of operator assisted calls to AOSs, but can do all of the processing themselves. If indeed the COCOTs and the AOSs are the same company, then they still save manpower and backhauling costs, and naturally, switch capacity. As far as the carrier, most likely the phone will casual call (10XXX) some IXC (Sprint is a usual choice). There is no special arrangement (other than a Business bulk billing arrangement), since this is in essence a normal call (except to the phone itself :-) . Due to this, the COCOT owners do eat the costs of refused calls, but this is reflected back to customers in their higher costs. -- Paul Guthrie chinet!nsacray!paul