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From: pf@m2.csc.ti.com (Paul Fuqua)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Busy Signals: Are 900 Numbers a Waste of Money?
Message-ID: <telecom-v09i0322m07@vector.dallas.tx.us>
Date: 23 Aug 89 17:58:24 GMT
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X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 322, message 7 of 8

In recent weeks I've seen a couple of new variations on the 900-number theme:

1.  On one of the local Spanish-language TV stations, a new magazine is
    advertising "free" subscriptions if you call their 900 number (which is
    $2 or $3 per minute, I forget).  In typical misleading style, the
    commercial closes with a five-second shot of the word "Gratis" positioned
    right above the 900 number.

2.  Some group is using a 900 number to raise money to help clean up the
    Alaska oil spill (or so they claim).  The number doesn't do anything, but
    the $10 collected per call "is a charitable contribution made through
    your phone bill" or something like that.

By the way, about that "Women's Secret Confessions" line:  some months back,
there was *another* 900 number which one could call to *make* those
confessions.

Paul Fuqua                     pf@csc.ti.com
                               {smu,texsun,cs.utexas.edu,rice}!ti-csl!pf
Texas Instruments Computer Science Center
PO Box 655474 MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75265