Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com (09/30/88)
Daniel Greenberg asks about obtaining a phone credit card which can be used while at school and without any obligation to change his home (apparently parent's) phone's default long distance carrier. I suggest he ask for the good old standby, now almost a hundred years in the business, AT&T. AT&T offers a 'non subscriber' credit card which allows for calls to be billed to a billing number with no reference to any specific telephone. They make this card available to military personnel stationed around the world who do not want/are not permitted to charge their calls to the local switchboard. They make these cards available to students in universities. Actually, I think it is Cincinnatti Bell which issues the cards and handles the billing, under contract with AT&T, but that's a trivial point. Daniel would apply for the card through the AT&T customer service line at 1-800-222-0300. If the home phone (I believe he said it was Rochester Telephone Co) is in fact defaulted to AT&T long distance, then it will be a simple matter to establish credit for the new card. If not, then some credit references may be requested. If the home phone is on AT&T now, stress that you are supplying that number for credit purposes but want an institutional type card with separate billing not connected to that number, and linked only for reference/contact purposes. Not all the AT&T representatives are as knowledgeable about this offering as they should be, so insist that they review it with their supervisor if they are not immediatly aquainted with it. The card that you get will consist of an 'area code' (funny looking one!) and a seven digit 'phone number' plus the four digit PIN. It is used in the same way as any other AT&T Credit Card. There is a surcharge for each call made, but you will have the flexibilty of using the card from pay phones or the private phones of other people; something you cannot do now with the service provided at your school. Patrick Townson