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From: drilex!carols@husc6.harvard.edu (Carol Springs)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: COCOT-in-Violation Label File
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Date: 3 Oct 90 19:14:23 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 709, Message 4 of 9


In Vol. 10, Issue 703, our Moderator responds to Mark Brader and
Jeff Bier:

>[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 determine 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]

And how, pray tell, is this determination to be made?  By trying 911?
This wastes the time of 911 operators who might otherwise be
responding to real emergencies.  At the least it will annoy them.  (I
once made the mistake of dialing 911 about a disturbance that wasn't
serious enough to be classified as an emergency, and was politely
chewed out and told to dial the police station instead.)

Dial 911, listen for ringing, and hang up quickly?  WRONG...  Some
people might not realize, though, why this is a bad idea.

Are there, in fact, many COCOTs left that *don't* allow free emergency
calls?  I thought this was the one COCOT deficiency that *was* cracked
down on, and heavily, fairly early on.

And if one passes out labels to friends and asks them to join oneself
in a campaign against "broken" COCOTs, can one really expect the
friends to follow the complicated separate label policy?  Or to feel
comfortable about testing the free emergency call part?
 
I suggest that there be only one label.  The wording of the
"emergency" part might read: "IN AN EMERGENCY, try dialing _________.
No coins should be required."  This conveys the information that the
phone ought to work for emergency calls, while implying that such
isn't necessarily the case.

Of course, this means that, for safety's sake, one also shouldn't
place the sticker so as to block the coin slot.  Sigh.


Carol Springs                      carols@drilex.dri.mgh.com