Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 12 Jun 91 13:54:30 GMT From: Martin B Weiss Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: What Was the Real Reason For Change in AT&T Cards? Message-ID: Organization: University of Pittsburgh 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 451, Message 1 of 11 Lines: 33 In article kabra437@athenanet.com (Ken Abrams) writes: > Additionally I am upset by the misrepresentation of the reason for the > changes in the AT&T card numbers. I am no lawyer and I may not know > the whole story but I think that the statement something to the affect > that the change is being made because of "government rules" is so > misleading that it borders on an outright lie. I think the "government > rule" that they are referring to is one that simply states "the RBOC > must make available to the OCCs the database used for credit card > verification and (here comes the important part) the OCC must ***PAY*** > the RBOC for using that database." While I am unfamiliar with the details of this, it is consistent with the spirit if not the letter of the recent AOS legislation. One of the problems of using the same number was that it may have been easier for AOS companies to take the calls, even though they weren't authorized to do it. Having a different number makes this more difficult. Also (although unrelated) AT&T was required to provide 950-xxxx access as well as 10xxx access, as has been done by other carriers. I have an MCI card for the reason that 950 access was possible -- which is a measure of solid protection against overcharges from COCOTs or hotels. The other thing is, a unique number makes it clearer to the consumer that they are dealing with separate companies. Do you expect your Visa and American Express cards to have the same numbers? Martin Weiss Telecommunications Program, University of Pittsburgh Internet: mbw@lis.pitt.edu OR mbw@unix.cis.pitt.edu BITNET: mbw@pittvms