David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com (09/29/88)
The COCOTs are taking over in metropolitan Chicago. More and more
shells of what were Illinois Bell public telephones now contain
COCOTs, and an untrained eye could never tell the difference.
It has come to the point that a pay phone is a COCOT by default:
Illinois Bell is replacing the markers that flag their outdoor pay
stations, the ones that used to say simply "Phone" in white with a
white silhouette of a handset on a blue background, with markers that
include the Illinois Bell's logo (the bell shape that the
pre-divestiture Bell System used) and name. If the marker says just
"Phone" with the handset silhouette anywhere in Illinois Bell's
territory, the telephone is pretty likely a COCOT.
Some other ways to tell are the absence of the Illinois Bell logo from
the dialing instructions, 211 or a seven- or eleven-digit number (or
no number at all) listed for service instead of 611, and [not very
reliably] a fourth digit of 7 or 8 instead of the traditional 9 (some
Illinois Bell pay phones do have 8 as the fourth digit), though many
COCOTs do not list their own number at all, because the owner does not
want the telephone tied up with non-revenue-generating incoming
calls.
Probably the surest way to tell a COCOT from a telco pay phone (though
not as fast as reading the face of the instrument) in metropolitan
Chicago is to dial the operator. Illinois Bell and Centel phones will
both be answered "Illinois Bell, Ms./Mr./Miss/Mrs. __________, may I
help you?" (Centel retains Illinois Bell to provide its operator
services in northeastern Illinois.) If dialing the operator connects
you to an AOS, whose operator is very unlikely to give a company name
or a personal name, just "Operator" and/or "May I help you?", you KNOW
you are at a COCOT [AOS implies COCOT], and to the best of my
knowledge all the COCOTs here are hooked up to AOS's [COCOT usually
implies AOS].
Illinois Bell's advertising to push the use of pay telephones in
general now specifies "an Illinois Bell public phone" in its jingles.
In the September, 1988, issue of _Telebriefs_ (the insertion with
Illinois Bell's bills), the following article appears for the benefit
of the bill-paying public at large. [There are no copyright notices
anywhere on the article nor on this issue of _Telebriefs_.] Words
that I have surrounded with underscores are italicized in the
original:
Many public phones may look alike; they don't act alike
Things that _seem_ similar can have some very real differences.
That's why we rely on brand names, labels, and experience to guide us
to those products and services that have served us well in the past.
At first glance all public phones may look alike, but there are real
differences. Differences that can be very important to you.
A case in point: If you need help completing a call when using an
Illinois Bell public phone, you'll receive assistance from an Illinois
Bell operator at charges regulated by the Illinois Commerce
Commission. You'll find these charges listed in the Customer Guide
Pages of your local directory or you can ask your Illinois Bell
operator at the time you place your call.
However, if you need an operator's help when making a call from a
_non_-Illinois Bell public phone, you may be assisted by one of
several new companies that provide alternative operator services
(AOS). AOS companies provide operator assistance for calling card,
collect or third-number calls made from pay phones operated by some
companies other than Illinois Bell.
Charges for alternative operator services can and do vary widely
since these companies are unregulated and allowed to set their own
rates. These charges are very often higher than Illinois Bell's.
You can identify an Illinois Bell public phone by the Illinois Bell
name and logo on the instruction card on the face of the phone. In
addition, most of our outdoor public phones are accompanied by a blue
sign displaying the Illinois Bell logo.
But if you have any doubts, you can ask the operator what company he
or she represents and what rates will be charged before placing an
operator-assisted call.
* * *
In the portion of the Chicago area served by Centel, the outdoor
markers still say "Phone". Centel's pay telephones have a distinctive
brown housing, and I have not yet seen any of them reused for COCOTs;
COCOTs in Centel's service area are relatively rare compared to their
saturation in Illinois Bell's territory as well as being easy to tell
from Centel coin phones on sight.
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