Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wugate!wuarchive!swbatl!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: zygot!john@apple.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Wardialers Message-ID: Date: 18 Jul 89 07:32:55 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: ATI Wares Team Lines: 40 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 245, message 3 of 8 In article , davef@brspyr1.brs.com (Dave Fiske) writes: > After probably a half hour of repeatedly dialing the same busy number, > I started getting a recording that my Fon Card number was not > authorized. > [...] > Once they determined that I was really the person who belonged to that > account, they said the unusually high number of calls in such a short > period of time had triggered their security system. Of course, turning off authorization on suspicion of unauthorized use doesn't make any sense, either. If Sprint really suspected that the card had fallen into evil hands, it would be better to let a call go through and then investigate and possibly identify the culprit. But more important, it's this cavalier attitude that puts AT&T in a class by itself. Phone service in this country has been reliable enough that we have all taken it for granted. We *rely* on it. Over recent years, Sprint, MCI, Telesphere, etc., ad nauseum, have demonstrated that they consider telephone service in the same category as cable television: nice when it works, but not really essential. After all, as one Sprint rep told me once, "If it doesn't work, you can always use AT&T." Customers' loyalty to the "OCCs" is truly amazing. If your local operating company took the same attitude in providing dial tone that Sprint et al take in providing long distance service, your life and property would be at serious risk. Furthermore, the OCCs act as though they are doing you a favor by completing a call. "If you play by our screwy rules, and kiss it up just right, we'll put your call through if it's convenient." While it may sound like commercial copy, AT&T acts as though every single call is essential to their business. Not a bad attitude from a company who just a few years ago was indeed the only game in town. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !