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From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: COCOT-in-Violation Label File
Message-ID: <12896@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 1 Oct 90 21:07:36 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 703, Message 5 of 15


Please pretend for a moment that you are an ordinary person.  Some
emergency comes up -- a traffic accident, say, or someone collapses
with a heart attack, and you are a bystander.  You spot a payphone
nearby and head over there to dial 911, or whatever your local
emergency number is.  On the phone you see the following sticker
covering the coin slot:

>  OUT OF ORDER.  This telephone's programming violates
>  California PUC rules and regulations ...
>  [several lines of checklist deleted]

Seconds may count.  You never heard of programmable telephones and PUC
rules and regulations, but you know what OUT OF ORDER means.  What do
you do?

I would like to say, "to prevent a possible tragedy, please amend the
wording of these stickers to clarify, at the top, that emergency calls
still work".  But I don't know that this would always be true.  Are
there some COCOTs out there that demand coins on emergency calls?  If
so, then the act of blocking the coin slot could itself be lethal.

Please be careful.


Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com


[Moderator's Note: Mark and Jeff, your suggestion is *excellent*. I
think there should be two labels made up: the original, and one that
says 'Emergency calls - no coins needed; dial _________'. Then when
auditing the COCOT for compliance, the person affixing the sticker
should detirmine if (a) emergency calls are allowed for free, as
required by law, and that (b) no initial deposit is required. If this
is the case, then put the second label on also.  PAT]