DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu) (DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) (08/04/89)
Actually, there are 555 numbers that appear to be assigned to pay phones, at least in special cases. If you go to Disneyland in Anahiem, CA, which is still served by Pac*Bell (but it's VERY near GTE territory..oh no! :-) ), you can use "Pay-Speakerphones". These are basically large booths, with Bell System payphones, which no longer have a handset. Instead, they have a speaker box (with a blue Bell logo) and a microphone near the payphone itself, all neatly built into the wall. A caller goes into the booth, sits down, presses the "on" botton on the side of the phone, hears dial tone, and starts dialing. It's functionally identical to any other Bell payphone, except it has no handset. Anyhow, the point of all this is that the number shown on the plate is "714-555-9036" (or something with a 9xxx). The phone is clearly marked that it "DOES NOT ACCEPT INCOMING CALLS", and dialing 555-9036 without putting my 20 cents in does not get a busy, but does get DA for 714. (On older ESS machines, if you call from a payphone to a busy number in the same ESS [not just the exchange- all other numbers in the same ESS will do] you will get busy signal. This also works for some test numbers, and for numbers that aren't in service. There is NO need to put in any money...If the party is not busy, you get a message "Please deposit 20 cents", or whatever the rate is for a local payphone call.) Also, if you call 714-555-9036 from Connecticut, Mass, New York or Jersey (and probably a lot of other places as well), you get an intercept recording saying "your call can not be completed as dialed." This seems to be true to most other NPA-555-xxxx's as well. IE, unless you dial -1212, you don't get DA, at least from NY and CT. Oh, and if anyone doesn't believe me, I videotaped the speaker phones at Disney, and I even got the 555 number on the plate! If anyone is REALLY curious, I can go look up the number in my old tape collection. -Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben%eagle.weslyn@wesleyan.edu (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals! :-) ) [Moderator's Note: In the 1970's, the Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago had a pay (speaker) phone; in fact about three or four of them for use by the public wishing to place phone calls. PT]
kaufman@polya.stanford.edu (Marc T. Kaufman) (08/05/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0274m03@vector.dallas.tx.us> DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) writes: >Actually, there are 555 numbers that appear to be assigned to >pay phones, at least in special cases. >If you go to Disneyland in Anahiem, CA, which is still served by >Pac*Bell (but it's VERY near GTE territory..oh no! :-) ), you >can use "Pay-Speakerphones". These are basically large booths, >with Bell System payphones, which no longer have a handset. Instead, >they have a speaker box (with a blue Bell logo) and a microphone >near the payphone itself, all neatly built into the wall. I am sure this is a very special case. These phones were installed when "Tomorrowland" was originally opened (in 1957?) and most of Orange County was still orchards. The Irvine ranch still ran cattle. This was supposed to be a demonstration of "advanced" telephone technology (they even had a demonstration picturephone). Given the volume of calls from these phones, I'm sure the phone company had to treat them specially. We may find out the 555 prefix is bogus, and if you replaced it with the correct prefix you could call in. How about making a collect call from one of them and checking the number on your bill, when you get it. Marc Kaufman (kaufman@polya.stanford.edu)
dl@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (08/06/89)
[Discussion about 'outward only' slots, and a 555 prefix assigned to one] > We may find out the > 555 prefix is bogus, and if you replaced it with the correct prefix you > could call in. How about making a collect call from one of them and checking > the number on your bill, when you get it. Won't work. This scheme was used in places such as bus stations, airports, high schools, et al where the local Mother wanted to forbid incoming calls. After all, they didn't get a quarter from those calls, did they?? The number on the one-armed bandit translated to a secret actual number. I seem to recall that the TSPS position either displayed the correct assignment, with a special "don't tell the sub" message or else calls from the TSPS were translated, unlike normal ones. But {s}he did have a method to call the slot back. Now for a while, '200' code did give you the actual assignment, but they soon disabled it. But Ma did handle the collect call bill part correctly from the beginning. But that brings up an interesting sub-topic. How are the LOC's handling 'calling party id' on calls placed from such slots, or for that matter from all the other special cases, such as PBX trunks and WATS circuits? I recall that 200 DID work on out-wats trunks, and gave some long non-NNNXXXX number. -- Flash! Murphy gets look and feel copyright on sendmail.cf {gatech!} wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM