Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Mike Morris Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Marking COCOTS Out of Order Message-ID: <2758@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 9 Jan 90 08:31:30 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 46 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 18, message 7 of 8 In article <2669@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >[Moderator's Note: But the proprietor may come along and rip the sign >down. Better to use some *very sticky* pre-printed (office copy >machine?) labels which say "Out of Order Due to Misprogrammed >Routing/Rates" which you slap on the phone across the coin slot area. >Make sure you cover the coin slot. Once you have thus affixed the >notice, be sure to visit the location in a day or two to see if the >phone is still marked out of service, or if some creature came out of >the swamp and scraped off the notice; if so, you will need to affix a >new sticker after checking the phone to see if it is now 'repaired'. >If you have the time and money to stand there and perform further >diagnostics, please do. In your new role as trouble-shooter, you may >also wish to get cozy with the manufacturer of the COCOT as a >potential buyer of several hundred units. With the installer's manual >at hand, perhaps you can liberate -- uh, I mean reprogram the firmware >yourself. :) PT] Somebody is reading your mind, Patrick! Yesterday I saw one at a local Union Oil gas station with a _professional_looking_ but laser-printed sticker across the coin slot, and upon looking closely, I saw that somebody had gotten even and had glued all the buttons with (what looked like) 5-minute epoxy! The sticker said "Out of order - crooked owner!". It would be interesting if it could be programmed without opening the case - the only info I have on the guts suggests that there is a switch inside that must be closed to enable programming mode. I know a couple of types can be remotely programmed - one of them is marked "Cannot receive incoming calls". When a new prefix was turned on here in LA I deliberately tried it on a couple of phones the following week, and then called the "repair number" and chewed them out for "preventing me from calling my mother" - one outfit thought I was the client!! They told me they would verify the new prefix, and "download the new database immediately. Would I like any other changes at the same time? No charge, since we have to add the new prefix." I was very tempted.... Mike Morris Internet: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov Misslenet: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard Bellnet: 818-447-7052 #Include disclaimer.standard Radionet: WA6ILQ