Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!bu.edu!telecom-request From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Why Telco Should be Permitted to Maintain Monopoly Message-ID: Date: 20 Mar 91 09:22:00 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 37 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 221, Message 1 of 13 Louis Linneweh writes: > But I was very frustrated in the waiting room of a metropolitan airport > (Atlanta? Dallas?) which had payphones with special buttons for all > the ICs but AT&T. AT&T had their own CRT credit card reading phones, > which I couldn't figure out how to use (after 15 minutes, including > calling the "assistance" number listed "What kind of phone?"), I > discovered that the phone was just broken, and the one next to it > worked fine! (It was so unfamiliar and "complex" I didn't realize the > phone was not working! I thought I was doing something wrong!) In the case of either AT&T or utility whoopie-whizzo phones that have all those carrier buttons and card readers, ad nauseum, one simple fact still remains: you can usually place an ordinary calling card call by dialing 0+10D or if necessary, 10288+0+10D. You do not have to actually use all of that 'stuff'. All of the phones similar to what you describe seem to be able to be used in a most conventional manner. So if you want tradition -- you got it! On the other hand, you CAN use other carriers, other billing arrangements -- things that were not possible a few years ago. Can you imagine trying to use a "BankAmeriCard" in the '70s to make a phone call from a payphone? Not bloody possible. And what better place than airports to have phones that are capable of many billing arrangements, considering all the moaning in this forum about how foreign visitors have such a tough time making calls with out stored-value cards and the like. A credit card is a credit card. They work just fine in any country, no? (I have a Visa bill from my trip to Japan to prove it!) So while you may seem to be inconvenienced, there are others who are delighted with the panoply of choices. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !