Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucselx!bionet!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: 976- and 900- Phone Numbers Message-ID: <11307@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 24 Aug 90 08:57:05 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 50 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 593, Message 1 of 14 "Robert M. Hamer" writes: > 900- or 976- number and stick me with the cost of the call, fine > (although at that point a POTS phone number would serve as well), and > if, once I call them, they want a credit card number so they can > charge me $15 to hear Jose Canseco (did I spell that right) babble, or > hear someone else talk dirty, then that's their business. But when I > get my phone bill, all I want to see on there is telephone charges. The whole point of 900/976 service is to provide a convenient "casual" means of billing for information providers, and to provide universal access to those services. Obviously, the moment you require a credit card, you have just excluded a significant number of people. You have also added a layer of billing complexity that would discourage some from entering the IP business. The original thought was that anyone with a telephone would have access to the information provided by the 900/976 system. It actually is a good idea in its purest form. IMHO, most of the objection to these services is not related to the technical implementation of the billing at all, but rather to the generally sleazy material that has taken over the industry. A lot of people, rather than being "unhip" criticizing the content, have concocted objections to the CONCEPT of 900/976. I find this intellectually dishonest. If you don't want to pay $15 to hear Jose babble, don't dial his number. If you are afraid of small children accidently dialing and running up your bill, you've got more than 900/976 to worry about. Give me fifteen minutes with your telephone and I'll run up charges that will curl your hair WITHOUT dialing a single 900/976 number. If you are worried about older children dialing these numbers on purpose to hear their dirty messages, then you have a larger problem than telephony. > [Moderator's Note: The ignorance of the general public relating to > matters of telephony is what the 900, AOS, COCOT, and OCC industries > have relied on since their inception. I'll bet very few if any of the > 900 services would bother stating their rates in their ads if the > telcos did not make them do it under their contract. PAT] Absolutely true. In fact, I submit that this is true of a significant portion of this country's market place. Space would not permit a comprehensive listing of situations where money is extracted from the American consumer under shady conditions. But a little knowledge goes a long way. And in all these years, I have yet to lose a dime to the 900/976 crowd. It's not really that hard to avoid. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !