Telecom-Request%usc-eclc@brl-bmd.UUCP (Telecom-Request@usc-eclc) (12/15/83)
TELECOM Digest Thursday, 15 Dec 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 118
Today's Topics:
Universal Dial
Polls and 900 numbers
ADams office, 214 area
Another CNA Goes Public
Disposable Phones
Public "charge" phones
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Date: 12 Dec 83 2043 EST (Monday)
From: Michael.Fryd@CMU-CS-A (X435MF0E)
Subject: Universal Dial
There is no need to worry about so called Universal-Dial systems
forcing operating companies to support pulse dialing forever.
Most of the phones that I have seen on the market look like they will
only last a few years.
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Date: 12 Dec 1983 2144-PST
From: Lynn Gold <FIGMO at KESTREL>
Subject: Polls and 900 numbers
Aw, c'mon guys! Who does it hurt when "Entertainment Tonight" or
"Friday Night Video" uses 900 numbers to take an informal poll? Not
me! (Besides, "Friday Night Video" won't take votes from the West
Coast anyway...)
--Lynn
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Date: Tue, 13 Dec 83 8:30:11 EST
From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@brl-vld>
Subject: ADams office, 214 area
June 1959 Scientific American, page 10, has ADams 5-2323 at
Richardson, Texas (suburb of Dallas). (Someone was wondering if AD
stood for Addison, which is near Richardson. Most place names which
were retained for central office names in dial system are in NYC
area.)
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Date: 13 Dec 1983 05:55-PST
Subject: Another CNA Goes Public
From: SAC.ADR@USC-ISIE
Article from TeleNews, Nebraska Edition, Vol 2, No 11 (Dec 83):
Ever need the name and address that goes with a number? Now there's a
service that can give it to you. Current (rather than Customer?) Name
and Address Service (CNA) is available as of Nov 1.
With the service, you can obtain the name and address for any
telephone listed in the five states served by Northwestern Bell. You
cannot receive information on non-published numbers.
There's a 50-cent charge, and you can get two listings per call.
Call a CNA operator any time during the day or night. When calling
from within the 402 area code, call 1-580-2255 (Omaha customers need
also dial *1* first). Outside the 402 area code, call 1-402-580-2255.
Normal long distance charges apply for calls outside Omaha.
**NOTE: Omaha has no 580 'exchange'
George Rezac
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Date: 13 Dec 83 15:43 EST
From: Denber.WBST@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Subject: Disposable Phones
Speaking of cheap phones, last week a local lumber and building supply
company here in Rochester had one-piece "push-pulse" phones on sale
for $4.88. (That's right - for the price of popcorn and a movie, you
can get a phone). They have square keys with a reasonably long
travel, last number redial, mute, and ringer off/on. I was about to
say that that price is even lower than for pocket calculators, except
that someone just walked in showing me the solar calculator that a
vendor gave him free at the end of his pitch. Amazing.
- Michel
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Date: 14 Dec 1983 09:22:40-EST
From: prindle at NADC
Subject: Public "charge" phones
Well, there I am wandering aimlessly about Washington National airport
while waiting for my flight last night, when what to my wondering eyes
did appear, a pair of distinctly unique public phones - "charge"
phones. No, AT&T had not created this marvel, it was MCI. The
instructions accompanying these phones did not spell out the rates,
just promised me that it would cost me less (than what?) to call if I
charged the call to my VISA or MASTER CARD; so I decided to try it:
1. You pick up the phone and get a dial tone. At this point I
think you are simply tied into a local Bell private line,
but the tone pad is for the most part non-functional.
2. You point the magnetic stripe in the right direction and
slide your VISA or MASTER CARD card through a slot on the
right side of the phone.
3. The phone dials a local number by itself (an MCI access
port, I suppose). A new dial tone (MCI's local tone)
appears.
4. The phone then dials a seemingly endless sequence of tones.
I suspect that it starts out with a special MCI access
code which identifies the call as a charge call, possibly
identifies the phone itself, then transmits your card type,
number, expiration date, etc.
5. After a brief delay, a somewhat weaker dial tone appears
(the MCI network itself I guess), and the card on the phone
says to now dial an area code and number anywhere in the
U.S.A. I dialed my favorite "always busy" number here in
PA, and sure enough, within a few seconds I was greeted
with the friendly, but not particularly loud, busy signal.
(I hung up quickly because I know MCI starts charging based
on time, not supervision).
If this catches on (and it certainly seems like it will if the charges
are really less than an equivalent AT&T call made with user entered
calling card number), it will surely result in Bell system (or
whatever they will be called after 1 Jan) public phones dying a quick
death. This will not be a happy result, unfortunately, since many
people either do not own one of those two credit cards, or cannot
comprehend the complexity of placing a call this way.
It also raises several questions: Does MCI "eat" the cost of the local
private line and/or the local calls, or is this factored in to the
price of each call placed by a user of the phone? Does MCI verify the
entered credit card number via online access to the credit card
authorization center prior to completing the call (normally, obtaining
an authorization requires that the amount of the charge be know in
advance)? Since the tones used to establish the local connection and
to enter the access code and credit card info are audible, what does
MCI do to prevent fraudulent use of the service? Someone could tape
the sequence of tones, analyze them, and determine how to place such a
call from any phone substituting someone else's credit card number.
Perhaps the receiving end will not accept the tones if entered slowly
by hand. Perhaps the credit card info is encrypted. Perhaps, they
haven't even addressed the problem. It is also doubtful that a user's
calls will show up itemized on his credit card statement, so how does
he keep MCI honest, or check for errors (I hear there are lots of
billing errors on MCI)? If such phones largely replaced the standard
variety in public places, wouldn't MCI be required to make the phones
capable of reaching emergency numbers without a credit card?
In any case, it looks like the Bell companies had better jump on the
technology bandwagon or find a place to bury their public phone
systems.
Frank Prindle
Prindle@NADC
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End of TELECOM Digest
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