Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: eickmeye%alcor.usc.edu@usc.edu (EvanBiff Henderson Eickmeyer)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: COCOTs and Long Distance
Message-ID: <4526@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 28 Feb 90 23:58:23 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 132, Message 12 of 12


In article <4106@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com> writes:

>Went to my local Tower Records this afternoon and there, lo and
>behold, much to my dismay the old beat-up Pac*Bell pay phone in front
>of the store had been replaced by a you-know-what. It's better than
>average: wants $.25 for local (utility==$.20), passes 800, 950 without
>charge, pad works after call is dialed. But it did not honor "10XXX".
>"This is not a valid number..."

I have had the same problem with COCOTs not accepting 10288 when I
have wanted to use AT&T.  I thought of a solution that works -- if the
COCOT accepts incoming calls, and, unfortunately, many do not.  If you
are an AT&T customer, dial their residential customer service at
800-222-0300.

Explain that you are at a COCOT and cannot reach an AT&T operator.
Give them the telephone number you are at, and ask them to have an
AT&T operator call you.  They have always been polite, sympathetic,
and understanding -- not to mention wanting my business.  Hang up, and
about 30 seconds later the phone will ring with an AT&T operator.

Remind them that you are having trouble from a COCOT and you will not
be charged for an operator assist.  I assume that this will work with
other long-distance companies that have 800 customer service numbers.


           "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do" -- Joe Walsh
Evan "Biff Henderson" Eickmeyer               University of Southern California
eickmeye@alcor.usc.edu                                  Los Angeles, California

[Moderator's Note: Of course you are making an assumption that the
no-good sleezebag of a COCOT owner doesn't disallow (or make a
surcharge for) 800 calls. Some of them are such deadbeats they charge
for that also. They would charge to call 911 (or cut it off) if the
law did not make them give it for free.  PT]