Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: pdg@chinet.chi.il.us (Paul Guthrie) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: 10288 From a Payphone Message-ID: Date: 27 Aug 89 19:18:01 GMT Reply-To: Paul Guthrie Organization: The League of Crafty Hackers Lines: 28 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 328, message 4 of 8 >>I recently tried to make a call using 10288 from the Dunes hotel in >>Las Vegas. The hotel blocked 10288 access from the room phones. (And >>the hotel operator lied about how to reach AT&T, giving me a sequence >>that connected me to an AOS called "OSW".) They also denied access to >>10288 from PAY telephones located on the premises. OSW is owned by Centel, the local operating company. So naturally, they have the ability to route all assisted calls to OSW. OSW used (before the buyout - I don't know about now) to operate in a strange (and possibly illegal manner). They did not own a switch. Calls were routed to them via dialers dialing up a hunt group. A board in a PC would detect ringing and answer, and provide dial tone. The dialer at the hotel would them outpulse a 5 digit identification code. If it checked out, the PC would then provide dial tone again, and the dialer (generally Mitel Smart-1s) would then outpulse the dialed digits. The PC could make 0+ calls on its own, or bring up the call on the display for the operator to handle. The sneaky part is how they handle the outgoing part of the call. The PC flashes (invoking three way calling), gets dial tone and completes the call. The PC then hangs up, leaving the other two parties still connected and the PC available for another call, i.e. true operator service without a switch, and running on about $3k of hardware per station. The legal problem is that they do not pay access charges for these calls. As far as the legality of them intercepting all 10XXX calls, it is currently legal, but the Nevada PUC is looking into it. -- Paul Guthrie chinet!nsacray!paul