Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: "Otto J. Makela" Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Time Limits on Calls Message-ID: <11896@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 9 Sep 90 07:34:57 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Turing Police, Criminal AI section Lines: 34 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 629, Message 12 of 12 In article <11852@accuvax.nwu.edu> ihlpf!kityss@att.uucp (Arnette P Baker) writes: [description of time limit on phone calls...] >So, anyone out there ever hear of this kind of limit?? Yes, I ran into a phone system with the same kind of a limit. When I was in the Army, I was stuck at the local Army HQ (right in the middle of the town), and had to figure out a way to burn time. One evening I came up with the idea of calling one guy I met during basic training, who was situated at another local HQ. So, I walk out to a quiet corner of the office, and use a MIL-standard digital line to call the HQ (of course, that way no-one gets billed anything extra - the army has their own leased hardened lines). When the officer of the day answered, I asked for my opposite number (I knew that if the setup was even remotely similar to the one at my location, he'd not be able to tell if the call came from a MIL- line or just a local dialup - they were all routed through the same exchange under normal conditions). So, I chatted with this friend of mine for around 25 minutes or so, and suddenly we were cut off. Strange, I thought, these lines are supposed to be VERY fail-safe. I redialed, and about 3 minutes into the 2nd call a military operator suddenly cut in: IS THIS AN OFFICIAL CALL? I naturally lied my ass off... Otto J. Makela Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (CCITT, Bell 2400/1200/300) Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE