Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: black@ll-null (Jerry Glomph Black) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Omni-card doesn't have to be bad--- Message-ID: Date: 26 Apr 89 18:08:50 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: black@null.ll.mit.edu Lines: 16 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 148, message 7 of 11 Patrick, the combination Mastercard/Calling Card/ATM card doesn't HAVE to be a disaster! It only has to have the Mastercard number printed on it. There have been combo Master/ATM cards for years now, OK so long as the PIN (password number for the uninitiated) isn't on the card (which amazingly, many customers who can't remember a 4-digit number, add). AT&T/BOC cards always struck me as being both dangerous and stupid for that reason, the whole misusable number u!is right there for the stealing, when again a 4-digit # is all you need to memorize. The same people who claim that they are baffled by all these numbers are the ones who could tell you what was on channel 7 thursday at 7:30, three weeks ago. For those who just *can't* hack it, you can write your PIN on the appropriate card in some personal encoding, like 10's complement, add 5, etc. All this ranting from me, a guy who just memorized his 13-digit Sprint card!!! Jerry G Black, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 244 Wood St. C-120, Lexington MA 02173 Phone (617) 981-4721 Fax (617) 862-9057 black@MICRO.LL.MIT.EDU