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From: dave@westmark.westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T Universal Card is Not Two Cards in One
Message-ID: <12655@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 27 Sep 90 02:22:42 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 683, Message 5 of 11


In article <12593@accuvax.nwu.edu>, plains!com50.c2s.mn.org!
chris@uunet.uu.net (Chris Johnson) writes:

> In article <12368@accuvax.nwu.edu> monty@sunne.east.sun.com (Monty
> Solomon - Temp Consultant) writes:

> >The fact: The AT&T Universal Card is simply a bankcard (VISA or
> >Mastercard) with an AT&T credit card number embossed onto it.  The

> Well, that seems like an awfully easy thing to rectify with no new
> technology whatsoever: just put two magnetic stripes on the back of
> the card, one with the bankcard data and one with the phonecard data.
> Then in all those glossy brochures they send to holders of the
> Universal Card (like me), they need only instruct the users to insert
> the card one way to use the VISA/MC capabilities, and the other way to
> use the AT&T phone card capabilities.

The AT&T card-caller public phones around here are not like those
where you can insert the card two different ways.  They have a slot
into which you insert the card, more like an ATM, except that it
doesn't have the capability that ATM's have of keeping the card once
you've inserted it.

The phones with the less expensive readers where the user sweeps the
card through a stationary reader on the phone might be able to use the
design proposed by Chris, but how many 'card-carrying members' of the
public would understand such instructions?


Dave Levenson			Internet: dave@westmark.com
Westmark, Inc.			UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Warren, NJ, USA			AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]		Voice: 908 647 0900  Fax: 908 647 6857