Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: rpw3%rigden.wpd@sgi.com (Robert P. Warnock) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: How To Dial Long Distance (AND: Where COCOTs Are Better) Message-ID: <3398@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 31 Jan 90 06:50:54 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: "Robert P. Warnock" Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA Lines: 28 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 67, message 7 of 11 In article <3222@accuvax.nwu.edu> stv@qvax2.UUCP (Steve Vance@ex2499) writes: +--------------- | Speaking of good ideas, there's one thing that a COCOT can do better | than a "Real" pay phone, at least in this part of the country: if you | dial a number that is a local call WITHOUT having inserted any money, | it says, "Please deposit 20 cents for the first 15 minutes". When you | do so, your call goes thru. When you try the same thing on a Pac*Bell | pay phone, it says "The call you have dialed requires a 20 cent | deposit." You have to hang up, deposit .20, and REDIAL. This is the | same sort of nuisance as "1 + your local areacode + local number" not | working! +--------------- To make matters more confusing and frustrating, you *can* dial the number first on the Pac*Bell pay phone if the number is not "local", that is, will cost more than 20 cents for the call. (Many, many "nearby" calls in the Bay Area are not "local".) In that case, you get a message like, "Please deposit 35 cents for the first three minutes." If you do, the call goes through. Why they can't do that for a *true* local call is a mystery indeed! Rob Warnock, MS-9U/510 rpw3@sgi.com rpw3@pei.com Silicon Graphics, Inc. (415)335-1673 Protocol Engines, Inc. 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94039-7311