henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) (10/29/87)
I got a letter recently from American Express offering a service
called "Expressphone." It costs nothing to sign up, you fill
out the slip (complete with AmEx account number), return it, and
they send you a MCI charge card (whatevertheycallit) and a "five-digit
code number" which you dial (when using your home phone) before
your long distance number.
This sounds suspiciously like a 10??? number. Anyone know if my
suspicions are correct here?
# Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA
# {ames,cca,rochester,harvard,mit-eddie}!garp!henryjsol@BU-IT.BU.EDU.UUCP (10/29/87)
No, the numbers are different. You dial MCI's direct number (some 267-xxxx in Boston), and key in the 5 digits. If you get 10222 you've got a freak code and EVERYBODY WILL BE TRYING TO CRACK IT, so get in touch with MCI or AMEX Or whatever and get that code changed! --jsol
long@CIC.CS.NET.UUCP (11/01/87)
I subscribe to Expressphone so I can tell you a bit about it. In my exchange, which doesn't yet have equal-access, you get a local phone number to call and an account number to dial at the "second" dial tone before dialing your long distance number. The calls, which I gather go through MCI, show up on your monthly Amex card bill as yet another purchase (with full AT&T style billing detail). You also get a 950 and 1-800 number from which you can do AT&T calling-card type calls (the calling-card number is your home phone number plus a 4-digit extension that is different from the AT&T card's). It would seem a logical extension to Expressphone as I know it to convert those services to 10xxx calling (where available) but I don't have first-hand experience with that. Dan Long BBN Laboratories long@bbn.com (My only connection with Expressphone or Amex is that I send them money every month. They certainly don't send me money.)
wb8foz@netsys.UUCP (David Lesher) (11/04/87)
Amex/Expressphone/MCI offers several different services in one, if you request them properly. A) 10222 service from YOUR phone upon request. They of course only seem to mention the 1+ service. B) 950-1022 + 0 + AC + 7d + 14 digit code from other phones. A variation on this is the 800 access if your CO is 'dumb', but the charges are a lot higher. The desirable aspect of this is that within many metro areas inc DC/VA/MD, calls from any phone in YOUR area carry *no* surcharge. In other words, 950 calls cost the same as calls via 10222. Thus if you LOVE dialing, you can just get the latter service. What interests me is that when you go to sign up, the Expressphone operator has on-line access to your BOC records, including non-pubs. She knows your name and address from your #. BTW ever make a collect call via 10222? Seems as if there is no ANI, or readout for the ALD operator. Thus you dial, give her BOTH #s and wait. Mine got the two confused, and insisted my party was busy......