Received: from buita.bu.edu by buit1.bu.edu (3.2/4.7) id AA05302; Fri, 22 May 87 19:25:57 EDT Return-Path: Received: by buita.bu.edu (1.1/4.7) id AA03237; Fri, 22 May 87 19:26:16 EDT Message-Id: <8705222326.AA03237@buita.bu.edu> Date: Fri, 22 May 87 19:26:02 EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Reply-To: TELECOM@BUIT1.BU.EDU Subject: TELECOM Digest V4 #2 To: TELECOM@BUIT1.BU.EDU Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 May 87 19:26:02 EDT Volume 7 : Issue 2 Today's Topics: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: TELECOM Digest V6 #51 Extended phone services in California ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by buit1.bu.edu (3.2/4.7) id AA01033; Fri, 22 May 87 02:12:25 EDT Received: from seismo.CSS.GOV by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with TCP/SMTP; Fri 22 May 87 02:10:30-EDT Received: from utah-cs.UUCP by seismo.CSS.GOV (5.54/1.14) with UUCP id AA07955; Fri, 22 May 87 02:11:10 EDT Received: by cs.utah.edu (5.54/utah-1.0) id AA04185; Fri, 22 May 87 00:08:51 MDT Received: by gr.utah.edu (5.54/utah-1.0-slave) id AA28219; Fri, 22 May 87 00:08:48 MDT Received: by stride.Stride.COM (5.51/UUCP-Project/rel-1.0/11-05-86) id AA17027; Fri, 22 May 87 01:49:05 EDT From: utah-cs!stride.stride.com!unrvax@seismo.CSS.GOV (UNR VAX-11/750) Message-Id: <8705220549.AA17027@stride.Stride.COM> Date: 22 May 87 05:49:01 GMT To: comp-dcom-telecom%seismo.css.gov@seismo.CSS.GOV Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Responding-System: stride.Stride.COM Status: RO Path: stride!utah-gr!uplherc!nrc-ut!nrcvax!ihm From: ihm@nrcvax.UUCP (Ian H. Merritt) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V6 #51 Message-ID: <920@nrcvax.UUCP> Date: 18 May 87 18:19:48 GMT References: <8705142333.AA23356@media-lab.MIT.EDU> <8705150113.AA25364@media-lab.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: ihm@minnie.UUCP (Ian Merritt) Distribution: world Organization: The Frobboz Magic Telephone Co., Inc. Lines: 44 > > Date: Wed, 13 May 87 10:40 EDT > From: "Steven H. Gutfreund" > Subject: Phone card scam > > Does anyone have some reasonable technical suggetions about what > could be done (I realize that a lot of ideas are shot down by the > Long Distance Carries because of marketing and simplicity reasons) > > - Steven Gutfreund > >Sure. Hundred digit credit card numbers. Ok, twenty digits ought to be >enough. Especially with the spiffy AT&T phones that automatically >punch in your AT&T credit card number for you, there really isn't any >reason (beyond convience for people at manual phones) not to use big >numbers. > >At each central office, keep a list of every authorized credit card >number. (How hard would that be? Figure 100,000,000 valid credit card >numbers, 20 digits (10 bytes) each. With only BCD compression, this is >only 1GB of storage, which could easily be distributed on a weekly >basis. (Or looked up directly via some sort of packet switched >network.) You could veryify a number in less than a second.) Actually, that's exactly how the verification is done now. The AT&T CCIS (Common Channel Interoffice Signalling) network is employed for the inqueries to regional database sites (I don't recall thje AT&T term for them), and TSPS that handles the Calling Card service for them actually does the inquery for each attempt to use the card. The only thing you have suggested that would change the system is the additional digits. The problems are that it would be a bitch to memorize all that and difficult at best to type it all in error free. Remember there are often times you don't have your card with you to 'conveniently' insert into a handy-dandy slot phone, and such phones are not always available. I for one never carry my card; I just key it in from memory. I think it would be better extend the current scheme to a 7 digit PIN # (instead of the current 4). This would allow several new features I won't attempt to list here, it would improve security, and as mosty people have developed the ability to remember telephone numbers, the pin, being just another 7 digit number, would be easy to remember (without a card). Cheerz-- --i ------------------------------ From: utah-cs!stride.stride.com!unrvax@seismo.CSS.GOV (UNR VAX-11/750) Date: 22 May 87 05:49:01 GMT To: comp-dcom-telecom%seismo.css.gov@seismo.CSS.GOV Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom From: ihm@nrcvax.UUCP (Ian H. Merritt) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V6 #51 Date: 18 May 87 18:19:48 GMT Date: Fri, 22 May 87 09:24:13 PDT From: blia.UUCP!ted@cgl.ucsf.edu (Ted Marshall) To: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu Subject: Extended phone services in California Recently, there was a big discussion here of the extended telephone services being tried by South Central Bell. Today, In the San Jose Mercury News, there was an article stating that Pacific Bell is planning to offer a set of such services to its customers starting in Q2, 1988. The list of services included is as follows: * auto callback * auto recall (call me back when call goes through) * customer-originated trace * call identification * call-identification blocking * distinctive ringing * selective call forwarding * selective call rejection The article does not state how long it will take until these are offered in all Pac Bell exchanges. It also does not give the charges for these services. Finally it notes that Pac Bell has not yet filed with the PUC and so everything is subject to change at the regulators' whim. -- Ted Marshall ...!ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!ted mtxinu!blia!ted@Berkeley.EDU Britton Lee, Inc., 14600 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, Ca 95030 (408)378-7000 The opinions expressed above are those of the poster and not his employer. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest *********************