Received: by bu-cs.BU.EDU (5.58/4.7) id AA08614; Thu, 26 Jan 89 03:10:39 EST Message-Id: <8901260810.AA08614@bu-cs.BU.EDU> Date: Thu, 26 Jan 89 2:07:08 EST From: The Moderator Reply-To: TELECOM@bu-cs.BU.EDU Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #30 To: TELECOM@bu-cs.bu.edu TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Jan 89 2:07:08 EST Volume 9 : Issue 30 Today's Topics: STARLINK - an alternative to PC Pursuit Telecom Info From Travel-Holiday Re: Pacific Bell Calling Card Blunder More pet peeves How US West Handles 976 Blocking [Moderator's Note: This is *part two* of two parts for 1-26. Recently I received word of a new competitor to Telenet's PC Purusit. Considering that Telenet is raising their rates beginning next week, you may want to research your own traffic and do a cost comparison with the new service described below. Whether or not it will save you money depends on your own application, of course. P. Townson] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu From: W8SDZ@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (Keith Petersen) Subject: STARLINK - an alternative to PC Pursuit Date: 24 Jan 89 07:51:00 GMT The following is provided "as-is" for its informational value. It is from a file that was recently uploaded to my BBS. I cannot answer questions as I have no connection with this service. --Keith Petersen ---cut-here--- STARLINK is an alternative to PC Pursuit. You can call 91 cities in 28 states during off-peak hours (7pm-6am and all weekend) for $1.50 per hour. All connections through the Tymnet network are 2400 bps (1200 bps works too) with no surcharge and there are no maximum hours or other limitations. There is a one time charge of $50 to signup and a $10 per month account maintenance fee. High volume users may elect to pay a $25 per month maintenance fee and $1.00 per hour charge. The service is operated by Galaxy Telecomm in Virginia Beach, VA and users may sign up for the service by modem at 804-495-INFO. You will get 30 minutes free access time after signing up. This is a service of Galaxy and not TYMNET. Galaxy buys large blocks of hours from TYMNET. To find out what your local access number is you can call TYMNET at (800) 336-0149 24 hours per day. Don't ask them questions about rates, etc., as they don't know. Call Galaxy instead. Galaxy says they will soon have their own 800 number for signups and information. The following is a listing of the major cities covered. There are others that are a local call from the ones listed. Eastern Time Zone Connecticut: Bloomfield Hartford Stamford Florida: Fort Lauderdale Jacksonville Longwood Miami Orlando Tampa Georgia: Atlanta Doraville Marietta Norcross Indiana: Indianapolis Maryland: Baltimore Massachusetts: Boston Cambridge New Jersey: Camden Englewood Cliffs Newark Pennsauken Princeton South Brunswick New York: Albany Buffalo Melville New York Pittsford Rochester White Plains North Carolina: Charlotte Ohio: Akron Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dayton Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Pittsburgh Rhode Island: Providence Virginia: Alexandria Arlington Fairfax Midlothian Norfolk Portsmouth Central Time Zone Alabama: Birmingham Illinois: Chicago Glen Ellyn Kansas: Wichita Michigan: Detroit Minnesota: Minneapolis St. Paul Missouri: Bridgeton Independence Kansas City St. Louis Nebraska: Omaha Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Tulsa Tennessee: Memphis Nashville Texas: Arlington Dallas Fort Worth Houston Wisconsin: Brookfield Milwaukee Mountain Time Zone Arizona: Mesa Phoenix Tucson Colorado: Aurora Boulder Denver Pacific Time Zone California: Alhambra Anaheim El Segundo Long Beach Newport Beach Oakland Pasadena Pleasanton Sacramento San Francisco San Jose Sherman Oaks Vernon Walnut Creek Washington: Bellevue Seattle STARLINK is a service of Galaxy Telecomm Division, GTC, Inc., the publishers of BBS Telecomputing News, Galaxy Magazine and other electronic publications. [Moderator's Note: The above has been making the rounds on various news groups and Fidonet Bulletin Boards. I thought it worth bringing here FYI; but how well it would work for you is something only you can tell. P. Townson] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Jan 89 8:58:17 CST From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu Subject: Telecom Info From Travel-Holiday The Feb '89 issue of Travel-Holiday magazine has several telecom-related news items in their "Travel Advisor" traveller's news section: In the "Consumer Watch" column, p. 85: "Q. Is it possible that my credit card [sic] number was stolen by someone aboard the ship? I placed two satellite calls from my cabin through the radio room, where I had left my credit card number. When I returned home, I was informed by the telephone company that my number had been used 75 times one day and 150 times the next. A. It's possible that a passenger or crew member used your telephone credit card number. However, considering the volume of calls made on your number, it's more likely that your number was stolen by several parties over the air. When your credit card number is given to the overseas operator, it can be heard by anyone with a shortwave radio. As a precaution, on your next trip, preregister your card number with the telephone company. If you have an AT&T calling card, dial 1-800-SEACALL. Tell them your name, telephone credit card number, the name of yur ship and your cruise dates. Onboard ship, inform the radio room that you have preregistered your card with the phone company. Don't give them your credit card number so that it won't be accidentally transmitted when you call." ***End of item*** [Comments: Appropos to our current discussion as to the "creditcardness" of Calling Cards, here's a good example of confusion between the two on the part of the general public. Also, note the confusion between the question's referral to calls by satellite, vs. the answer's reference to ordinary shortwave-carried marine-operator ship-to-shore calls. If the call had really been made via a satellite uplink from the ship, the issue of shortwave would have never entered into the picture. Also, I like the casual use of the traditional "the telephone company", when there now are hundreds instead of just one... :-)] And, in the same issue, p. 89: FAX AND PHONE FACTS "Just when you thought you were safe -- fax charges. After years of pressure from guests upset over unreasonable telephone surcharges, hotels have thought up another charge for your bill. Hundreds of hotels now charge up to $10 when you *receive* a fax transmission. And it's very likely that you won't even know about it until you check out. Hotels say they use the fee to cover the cost of renting the equipment. However, that may not always be true. Some fax-machine companies install the machines in return for a percentage of the fees the hotels charge their guests. * * * At Stouffer Hotels and Resorts you no longer have to pay the surcharges on the credit-card, collect, and 800 number calls you make. You will, however, still be billed $2 extra for long distance calls and 75 cents for local, long distance and local directory and 950 number calls. * * * ...In November, AT&T announcd the addition of three new countries to its USADIRECT service. Now you can dial an access number from 51 countries to directly reach an AT&T operator in the US. In some countries you can dial from any residential, business, or public telephone. In others you must use a dedicated telephone located in hotels, airports and seaports. And you can use your AT&T card or make a collect call. There's no extra charge for the service. For more information, call (800) 874-4000." ***End of item*** [Comments: I called the 800 number given and asked a couple questions. The man at the other end said that "no extra charge" in the above means that, though this service bypasses the foreign country's overseas operators, you are billed at the regular overseas-call rate for your call. It just saves you time and hassle to do it this way. They don't split the call charge into separate overseas-to-US and internal-US segments, charging separately for each, which is what I had first envisioned.] Anyway, hope the above is of interest! Regards, Will Martin ------------------------------ To: mcnc!comp-dcom-telecom@ecsgate.uncecs.edu From: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Subject: Re: Pacific Bell Calling Card Blunder Date: 25 Jan 89 21:26:14 GMT In article mcb@tis.llnl.gov (Michael C. Berch) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 22, message 5 > >MY GOD! I nearly fainted after reading this. There goes five years of >anti-fraud progress out the window in one fell swoop of marketing >hype. I looked at it again to make sure I was really seeing it. Yes, >they printed the PIN right there on the card. If a bank did that with >an ATM card, it would probably make the front page of the newspapers. >What PINHEADS!! Every time you think that some people are beginning ^^^^^^^^ That's a good one!! PIN-HEADS (Personal Identification Number) ... Well, anyway, I thought it was funny. o o > \--/ -- Kim L. Greer Duke University Medical Center try: klg@orion.mc.duke.edu Div. Nuclear Medicine POB 3949 dukeac!klg@ecsgate Durham, NC 27710 919-681-2711x223 ...!mcnc!ecsgate!dukeac!klg fax: 919-681-5636 ------------------------------ From: cantor%ddif.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (David A. Cantor) Date: 25 Jan 89 11:17 To: telecom_digest%ddif.DEC@decwrl.dec.com Subject: More pet peeves In vol 9 iss 27, Ed Greenberg told us about some of his pet peeves. Here's mine: It's becoming common now for hotels to charge a flat amount for any directory assistance call, and a surcharge for all other long distance calls except 800 numbers. The number 800-555-1212, however falls into two categories: 800 numbers and directory assistance. ALL hotels I've stayed over the past two years are now charging for calls to 800-555-1212 (directory assistance). When possible, I use pay phones (even COCOTs) to place calls to 800 directory assistance when I'm staying in a hotel. Dave C. ------------------------------ To: uunet!comp-dcom-telecom@uunet.UU.NET From: sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) Subject: How US West handles 976 Blocking Date: 24 Jan 89 18:36:39 GMT In article dgc@math.ucla.edu writes: >... >2. When we had finally were able to have 976 numbers blocked, our local > telco (General Telephone) informed us, IN WRITING, that, pursuant > to Federal law, it was not blocking out-of-state, long-distance 976 > numbers. Whether some individual long-distance services do so, I >... US WEST's 976 information says "The following type of calls are denied access to Dial Data 976 Service." (then states sometimes it may not be able to deny all of them...) Inter-LATA, Intra-LATA, Calling Card, Third Number Billing, Coin & Coinless Originated, Operator Assisted, Hotel Originated, WATS, Feature Groups ABC&D, Independent Originated. So perhaps GT cannot block your attempts to call long-distance 976, but the distant CO might block the call. I guess the federal laws preserve your ability to call anyone, but who you're calling can refuse to accept your call. -- Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!sewilco Data Progress UNIX masts & rigging +1 612-825-2607 uunet!datapg!sewilco I'm just reversing entropy while waiting for the Big Crunch. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest *********************