Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Mon, 13 May 91 12:47:32 PDT From: Phydeaux Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Collect and Third-Party Billing Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu 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 361, Message 6 of 9 Lines: 34 > Back in the "good old days" there was a scheme to prevent collect > calls to coin phones: within each CO prefix one entire thousands block > was set aside for coin phones, and operators had a list of which > numbers were suspect. (For far away places they had to contact Rate & > [Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell still puts all their coin-phones in >the 9xxx range for the reason you mention. PAT] I don't know how long ago the 'good old days' were, but in New Jersey, my parents have a number which ends in 9207. I used to call home collect from school quite often. I remember that some time in 1979 or '80, I started having problems with operators putting me on hold for a *long* time before they would even *attempt* to place the call. After a while I figured out the 9xxx bank of numbers was set aside for pay phones. I learned to say "It's a home phone, not a pay phone" when dialing ... so they'd put it right through and check afterwards. We've had the same number since 1968, and I remember that all of a sudden they had this 'new' policy. When did they start doing this? Most everywhere I've been, pay phones are 9xxx numbers. *-=#= Phydeaux =#=-* reb@ingres.com or reb%ingres.com@lll-winken.llnl.GOV ICBM: 41.55N 87.40W h:558 West Wellington #3R Chicago, IL 60657 312-549-8365 w:reb ASK/Ingres 10255 West Higgins Suite 500 Rosemont, IL 60018 708-803-9500 [Moderator's Note: We had a prefix here (312 - LOngbeach 1) which was a real old stepper office. It had a bunch of residences in the 9xxx series of numbers. Over the last 20-25 years, I think they have mostly vanished as the numbers were given up and not reassigned to private parties. People on that exchange have the same hassle with collect calls, the few of them there are left in 9xxx. PAT]