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=                            ALTERNATE LONG DISTANCE                      =
=                          [2600 -- March 1984]                           =
=          Word Processed by BIOC Agent 003 for Sherwood Forest ][        =
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First of a persistent series -- how the companies work and a guide to
MCI
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	SWAGIMA.  That's the word that National Public Radio uses to
describe long distance services.  It stands for SBS (or Skyline),
Western Union (or Metrofone), Allnet (or Combined Network Services),
GTE Spring, ITT, MCI, and of course AT&T.  And there are many more,
each of which will eventually be covered in other pages.  Right now
though, we'd like to give you an idea of what these systems are and
how they work.  Except for AT&T, all of the above systems work in a
fairly similar manner. (This will be changing very soon and very
dramatically under the terms of the Bell divestiture.)  Each system
has its own series of networks, i.e.land-lines, lines leased from
AT&T, microwave relays, satellite links, etc. They each have local
city access numbers, although some like Allnet and MCI have special
ways of using "travel" service by dialing a special number, while
Sprint uses a "travelcode" to access nodes outside the subscriber's
city.  On others, like Metrofone, you can use the same authorization
code from any of their access points.

	A long distance telephone company consists of four major parts:
you have your input -- that is, a local access number or a toll-free
"800" number to access the system.  When you do this, a device called
a "switch" answers, giving you the familiar "computer dial tone."
When you enter your authorization code and destination number, you
are routed over their network. The heart of the system is the
controlling system, which includes the "switch." This is the computer
that checks the authorization code, has provisions for time-of-day
restrictions, travelcodes, accounting codes, and the services don't
appear to use, such as the infamous "speed number" recording which
was a favorite of many phone phreaks (for reasons you'll soon know if
you don't already).  The system checks to see if the location being
dialed is on the network, and acts accordingly.  It makes a log of
numbers called, the authorization code, and time usage which is
stored on a word processing tape and then read by another system for
billing.  Some companies charge in one minute increments, although
the system has the capability to record time usuage in 6 second
increments.

   There are quite a few different systems in use today.  A couple of
the most common ones are mzde by Northern Telecommunications, which
is based in Dallas,Texas.  Another company that sells similar
equipment is Rockwell Wescom.  MCI allegedly is in the process of
buying new switches from them, and they will be installed by Dynacomp
Communications, also based in Dallas.

Microwave Links   

	Most of the low cost services, at one point or another, use
microwave antennas to transmit calls.  Each microwave station is
located about 30 miles from each other to make up for the curvature
of the earth since microwaves travel in a straight line.  Each of
these stations has 4 dishes (at least).One dish is used to receive
from a previous station and one is used to transmit to that station.
The other two dishes do the same thing to the destination station --
one receives and one transmits.  So if you make a call 3000 miles
away, you may wind up going through 100 different microwave stations,
many of which you can see next to major highways.  This is how the
alternate long distance companies manage to charge less than AT&T;
they use their own systems.  But this is also why, in many instances,
the sound quality is poorer on the alternate services.  Remember, a
chain of microwave towers is only as strong as its weakest
connection.

A Look at MCI

	MCI (Microwave Communications Inc.) was the first new kid on the
block, wayback in 1967 when the idea of an alternate phone service
was almost unheard of and practically illegal.  MCI was first used
solely by businesses who wanted to communicate between the cities of
Chicago and Cleveland.  That was it.  And even with this amazingly
limited system, MCI ran into problems with AT&T, who didn't want
anybody trying to do what they did.  Lawsuits followed, with MCI
eventually getting a promise of eventual equal access on the AT&T
network.  Infact, MCI's legal action is considered one of the
motivating factors behind the break-up of the Bell monopoly.   Now
MCI is the biggest of the alternate services (they have well over a
million subscribers at present, having opened their doors to
residential customers a mere 5 years ago) and also one of the hardest
to penetrate.  The system has 5 digit codes that are entered before
the 10 digit phone number, a total of 15 digits.  But these codes
work only from one location, making it rather unlikely to find one by
guesswork.  If you want to use the system from another city, you have
to sign up for the MCI "credit card" numbers since more numbers work
overall.  However, a strong argument can be often be heard in favor
of the 5 digit numbers that are located in densely populated areas
like Los Angeles or New York.  Naturally, the odds of finding
something increase under those circumstances.

              No Proven Method for Finding Codes

	MCI, being the oldest of the companies, has learned quite a bit
in that time.  Therefore, no major bugs are still crawling around on
their system. Hackers have many theories on number patterns, of
course.  For example, numbers like 22222 or 12345 tend not to work.
In other words, your guess is as good as ours.  As far as what they
do when they know a code is being abused, MCI seems to be more
interested in changing the code rather than laying a trap, as other
companies have been known to do.  Of course, this doesn't mean that
they're incapable of doing such a thing.

MCI Features

	The MCI tone sounds like all otheres (a hollowish,
medium-pitched, steady tone), but it has its own set of recordings,
depending on what you do to it. If you enter an invalid code, you'll
hear a mechanical female say: "THEE AUTORIZATION CODE YOU HAVE DIALED
IS INVALID TWO ZERO THREE" and then an ESS reorder tips over itself
(listen to it and you'll understand).  If you dial someplace you're
not supposed to call (for whatever reasons), you'll hear:"THEE NUMBER
YOU HAVE DIALED IS NOT ON THE NETWORK TWO ZERO THREE" and the
reorder.  Each MCI dialup has its own 3 digit identity code and they
tend to be similar the closer together they are.

	Many businesses are installing MCI "dedicated lines" in their
offices, which takes away the task of having to dial the MCI access
number.  In addition, you don't have to enter an authorization code
and you don't even have to have touch-tones (R) .  You simply pick up
the phone and there's your MCI dialtone! According to MCI, you have
to make at least $75 worth of out-of-state calls per month for this
system to pay off.  Of course, you can't access operators, directory
assistance, 800 numbers, and that sort of thing because 1) MCI
doesn't support any of those services and 2) they're certainly not
going to let you connect to something they can't charge you for.  Of
course, if you know what you're doing, you can route calls in such a
way that numbers that aren't supposed to go through for you will
work, and God knows where it finally shows up!  This doesn't involve
extra codes, blasting the line with tones, or anything overly
suspicious.  All you need is the right combination of areacodes.  Now
this has been proven to work with MCI dedicated lines; it's rumoured
to work on dial-ups as well.

	Finally, MCI is starting to offer its own phone booths at
airports, which we'll report on as soon as we find one.  And of
course, there's MCI Mail, and electronic overnight mail service
started up last fall which hackers are currently probing.  When we
get conclusive results on that, we'll pass them along.  MCI can be
reached at 8006246240.

<>ee
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