Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bu.edu!telecom-request From: 0003829147@mcimail.com (Sander J. Rabinowitz) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Watch for the COCOT Warning Signs! Message-ID: Date: 5 Mar 91 05:50:00 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 40 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 182, Message 1 of 10 ho@hoss.unl.edu (Michael Ho) wrote (on March 3, '91): > In reading John Higdon's post, it occurred to me that I've never seen > a COCOT. [...] > What should I be looking for? Do all COCOTs use AOSes, or do I have > to be more picky than that? Is there some kind of "this is a COCOT, > run for your life" message I should be looking for? I can think of several warning signs offhand ... perhaps other readers can add to this list, but here's what I have (these are tests that don't require money): 1) Pick up the receiver and listen to the dialtone. If it's a COCOT, it may not sound quite like the dialtone supplied by telco...on at least one phone I used, it sounded entirely different from the usual dialtone. 2) Dial an 800 number that you know is correct. a) Does the phone ask for money before or after dialing your number? If yes: Definitely a COCOT. b) When dialing the digits, do you hear beeps instead of touch tones? (If you hear touchtones, that's not necessarily a guarantee that you have a genuine phone, but if you hear beeps, you may have a COCOT.) 3) Generally, if you dial a number (without depositing coins) that you know is free on a genuine pay phone, and the phone asks for money, there's a good chance your dialing with a COCOT. This is by no means an exhaustive list. The point is that even if the pay phone looks like the genuine article, it'll probably give its true identity away the moment you pick up the handset (or very soon thereafter). Sander Rabinowitz | sjr@mcimail.com -or- | +1 313 478 6358 Farmington Hills, Mich. | sander@attmail.com | 8-)