covert@covert.DEC.COM (John R. Covert) (03/14/88)
From: Greg Monti National Public Radio 9-MAR-1988 19:13
Subj: 700 numbers, 900 numbers, LATAs & Calling Cards, Dial a Porn
700 numbers: Someone implied recently that (area code) 700 numbers were another
province of AT&T. This can't be true, since other LD companies offer services
(occasionally) using NPA 700. Besides the number used to identify your primary
long distance carrier (1-700-555-4141, free) I have only seen two 700 numbers
advertised publicly:
0-700-456-1000: This was advertised as AT&T Alliance Teleconferencing (or
AT&T Teleconferencing Alliance). The latter implies that AT&T is offering the
service in conjunction with other companies. True? A quick test of this number
shows that it is not automatically-routed to the proper LD carrier like 800
numbers are. From a phone whose default LD company is not AT&T, one must dial
10288 first. The advertisement never mentioned that. 1-700-456-1000 does NOT
work, it must be preceded with the 0.
100-411-700-777-7777: I'm not kidding. I actually saw a TV commercial on
WWOR(TV) Secaucus NJ (serving the New York market but widely viewed via
satellite and cable) advertising this number. Note that they broke up the
number in a way it would be easy for Joe Blow to remember. They announced it
as "one hundred, four eleven, seven hundred and seven sevens." The correct way
to break this up is 10041-1-700-777-7777 where 10041 is a 10XXX code
representing some special service division of Allnet. (Allnet's regular 10XXX
is 10444.) The fine print whizzed by faster than I could read it, but I think
it said "available from area codes 212, 718, 516, 914, 201 and 203" and
"available only in equal-access areas" (which are few in New York) and "billing
services provided by Allnet." This service is one of those party lines where
you get to talk to anybody else who also dials in, intended to be a
singles-bar-by-phone. Kind of an LD-carrier-provided version of 976 or other
specialized prefixes.
900 numbers after equal access: What's the story on these? Far as I know,
all 900 numbers are "owned" by AT&T. Therefore, all LOC exchanges should know
to route all 900 calls to AT&T. Especially equal access ones. However, a very
small disclaimer in one of those "vote by phone" 900 polls on TV said "Sprint
and MCI customers may need to dial 10288 first." If a CO is smart enough to
understand equal access, shouldn't it be smart enough to route all 900 calls
to AT&T or whererver they need to go?
Calling Cards, billed by LOC or AT&T: If you use either an AT&T Card or a
LOC Calling Card (they have the same number and same procedure for use) to
make a call from, say, a pay phone, the rules for "who carries this call" are
the same as from any other phone. If both the originating phone and
the terminating phone are in the same LATA (not the same STATE), the call is
routed by whatever local company controls the originating phone. It gets
BILLED by the local company which issued the card, even if that is different
than the LOC that carried the call. If the call is within a LATA but involves
two LOC's (possible if you call across franchise borders) then the two
LOC's together handle the call and the billing is done by the LOC which issued
the card.
Example: my C&P of Virginia calling card is used to make a call
from Long Beach CA (served by GTE) to Los Angeles CA (served by Pac Bell).
Both Long Beach and LA are in the Los Angeles LATA. GTE and Pac Bell
cooperate to route the call. It appears on the C&P Calling Card Calls page
of my C&P of Virginia phone bill. It doesn't matter whether the call is in
fact considered local or long distance. As long as it's intra-LATA, C&P does
the billing.
If I make a call using that card from Long Beach to San Francisco, in
different LATAs, GTE Long Beach hands the call off to AT&T (as it would any
direct dialed inter-LATA call from an AT&T-default phone). AT&T hands it off
to Pac Bell San Francisco to complete the call. This call appears on the
AT&T Card Calls page of my phone bill.
By the way, for the AT&T Card instructions (0 + AC + number) to work, you
must place the call from a phone whose default long distance company is AT&T.
ALL pay phones owned by local Bell companies and independents that I know of
have AT&T as the default long distance company, considerably simplifying
things. Such a call CAN be completed from a phone with a non-AT&T carrier as
the default, but one must dial 10288 + 0 + AC + number for it to work.
One more twist: in a few states (only Connecticut that I know of), the
state utility commission has pre-empted the LATA-boundary decision which
resulted from the AT&T breakup. In Connecticut, Southern New England Tel,
the local company is REQUIRED to carry all LD calls within the state, regardless
of any LATA boundaries that may be crossed. In effect, the state is made into
a de-facto LATA. This is legally possible since neither federal courts nor the
FCC can regulate intrastate communications. This is a blatant case of monopoly
protectionism and was roundly criticized by MCI, AT&T and US Sprint when it
happened.
Dial a porn lockout: A story in a February issue of the Washington Post notes
that C&P Telephone will eventually move so-called dial-a-porn adult
entertainment services off the 976 prefix to a separate prefix. Customers will
have to specifically authorize C&P to process calls from their phone to the new
prefix in order to hear (and be billed for) dial-a-porn services. Written
authorization from the customer will be required. This system will either
replace or exist in addition to the existing method of having customers pay
$4.50 to have all 976-prefixed calls from their phone shut off. Announced
startup date: 4/1/88. New prefix: (202) 915.
Greg Monti, National Public Radio, 2025 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
+1 (202) 822-2459