Maybe this is more of a question than a comment, but I recently noticed something concerning AT&T. At one time, when I dialed through them at a payphone by using 10102880, they would insist that I put in about 3 dollars to make the call. Now however, when I do the same thing they first ask me if I'd like to bill it collect, bill it to a third person (ah memories), or pay for it myself. When I chose that I would pay for it, it gives me more options. Among them, would I like to use a calling card, or just bill it to the phone I'm calling from. When I selected the phone I'm calling from, I received an operator who insisted there was no way for me to make the call in the way I had chosen (good to know they still let real people say that). But even though it would have taken a while, had I NEEDED to make that call I could have put in the 3 dollars worth of quarters...seems to me like AT&T is making it so that only people with calling cards can make calls. Anyone else experience this? I have yet to try it with more operators, so it's possible I just got a bad one.

Anyone who is interested, I'd like to look into this, so anyone in that can find a Payfone, try this out and see what you get, and we can compare responses. The only non-COCOT payfone is a good distance from here, but perhaps tomorrow I'll go check this out.

AT&T has always been a strange fone company. Its possible you may have gotten a new operator and he/she might not have known that these options may have existed.

BTW, I noticed your memories comment about the Third Person Billing Option, is it safe to say you've either been into Phreaking for awhile or just very old?

Deffy, shame on you, you don't have to be old to know about third person billing. Heck, even that party line I mentioned says "Operator, no calls will ever be billed to this number."

I've known about that, Third Person Billing is pretty old, but I've seen it mentioned less and less. I was just curious about what you know about Phreaking in general, as for the most part I've been pretty alone on this board since I joined. You can imagine the strange "looks" I get in IRC when I mention Boxes, PBX's, CCITT (#), or SSP and STP Nodes. Drop by IRC, or IM me on AIM if you want. Deffy8675 is my SN

DATU's, don't forget DATU's...those are one of my faves SSP and STP...system switching points and system transfer points...right? Something like that, the switches used for routing purposes in SS7.

Yes DATUS are very good indeed. SS7.. the great marval and pain in the *** of the phone system. Staring at articles makes you feel nuts, but atleast (in my opinion) its less confusing then COSMOS.

lol remember how you could tell someone knew absolutely nothing when they thought COSMOS was the end all be all of computer hacking? So many people thought that once you got cosmos, you were da man. Ya know, it begs the question...if SS7 is so advanced, and coin lines can tell you how much you owe the phone company...why the hell can't my local switch go to a data point (SDP?), figure out how much a call will cost, and then let me know BEFORE i connect from my home phone? It's the only thing in the world where you buy first, and find out how much you pay later (no, gas and electricity bills don't count, those are usually a fixed rate...phone rates can change from one number to the next).

Well the answer is simple, it would make sense, and phone companies can't do anything that makes sense. Sure it could connect to an SCP before finishing the call to tell you the charge, but that would be one more thing to deal with and more money that needed to be spend for it. Now I do agree, maybe a caller ID style thing built into the handset that gives you an idea of the charge would be great, but again the fone company isn't about service, its about money, and if they can nail you with hidden fees they'll do it.

Well since this whole discussion started because of AT&T, I think we should remember that they're still the only carrier that will dial an 800# for you. OK, strike that...I've found some local companies that still will, but I hope we have the automated AT&T one around for some time.

Oh, btw I still haven't tried a different operator yet, but I'll be willing to bet they want to cut down on the number of quarters in their phones. As you know, that change doesn't magically disappear...and until they come to collect it, it just takes up space. True...they could lower prices, but like ya said that would make sense

Well on 800#'s PacBell is a whore when it comes to those, Bell South is run by inbred hicks, and Verizon is just... Verizon, I guess we should appreciate AT&T.

On the quarters thing, yeah most likely, since they have to pay a service technician to get the quarters out of the thing, and when its full, its one Payfone out of service until they empty it. Cards might be easier but I still like using coins. How else can I get rid of all my pennys (after I tape the change thing shut).

hmm since we were talking about fun stuff with phones, I wonder if I should fire up this old NAC I have sitting next to me...