Off The Hook - 1991-11-06

[00:01.730 --> 00:03.570]  [SPEAKER_01]: The city of the future.
[00:03.850 --> 00:07.030]  [SPEAKER_01]: But the future is now.
[00:07.310 --> 00:09.970]  [SPEAKER_01]: And your nightmares are coming true.
[00:14.370 --> 00:15.170]  [SPEAKER_01]: Magnifico.
[00:15.570 --> 00:17.370]  [SPEAKER_01]: City of malls.
[00:20.310 --> 00:22.870]  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a hot night on Sumanula.
[00:23.270 --> 00:26.290]  [SPEAKER_01]: The walls of the city shimmer and melt.
[00:26.490 --> 00:28.230]  [SPEAKER_01]: They ooze and undulate.
[00:28.230 --> 00:31.370]  [SPEAKER_01]: They shine with a smeary greasiness.
[00:31.610 --> 00:35.630]  [SPEAKER_01]: A colossal shrine to fast food and sticky fingers.
[00:35.630 --> 00:37.530]  [SPEAKER_01]: Does anyone clean up anymore?
[00:38.910 --> 00:40.530]  [SPEAKER_01]: Does anyone care?
[00:40.950 --> 00:43.250]  [SPEAKER_07]: The Adventures of RWBY 3.
[00:44.250 --> 00:55.030]  [SPEAKER_07]: RWBY, the galactic gumshoe, returns with all new adventures every Friday, 1 o'clock in the afternoon, right here on listener-sponsored WBAI New York.
[01:03.400 --> 01:08.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: And this is WBAI in New York, where we have all kinds of interesting feedback.
[01:08.610 --> 01:09.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, that's why.
[01:09.900 --> 01:12.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's time for Off the Hook.
[03:50.780 --> 03:52.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: And this is Off the Hook.
[03:52.480 --> 03:54.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: My name's Emmanuel Goldstein.
[03:54.820 --> 03:56.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be with you for the next hour or so.
[03:59.100 --> 04:20.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, as we sometimes do, when we get enough complaints, we're going to be taking mostly phone calls with all those questions, opinions, comments, and so forth that we never seem to have time to get to in weeks of the past.
[04:22.940 --> 04:36.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: We talk about technology, telephones, computers, privacy, consumer issues, and all those other things that are so fleeting these days.
[04:37.680 --> 04:45.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you have any questions or comments on things we've discussed in the past few weeks, give us a call at 212-279-3400.
[04:46.900 --> 04:53.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you have any, any bits of information to reveal, we'd also like to hear about it.
[05:03.040 --> 05:23.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I find it amazing how quickly things change and how only about 10 years ago, you know, even less than 10 years ago, computers and data transfer were rather bulky, in fact, impossible compared to today's standards.
[05:24.120 --> 05:33.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: I remember when 300 baud was considered the standard and 1,200 baud was considered amazingly fast.
[05:33.520 --> 05:39.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, for those of you that have not yet jumped into the computer world, those terms mean nothing.
[05:39.800 --> 05:41.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to try to change that for you.
[05:41.640 --> 05:45.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to try to make those expressions meaningful to everybody.
[05:47.000 --> 05:50.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, 1,200 baud is incredibly slow.
[05:50.680 --> 05:51.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Incredibly slow.
[05:51.580 --> 05:52.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: 300 baud is unheard of.
[05:53.540 --> 05:56.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: 9,600 seems to be the standard.
[05:56.740 --> 06:02.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: But all kinds of other numbers are popping up.
[06:02.720 --> 06:11.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: And right now, even as I speak, even as I'm talking to you now, I'm downloading information on my computer back home.
[06:11.760 --> 06:13.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's been going for 24 hours now.
[06:13.940 --> 06:25.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: 24 hours downloading more than 10 megabytes of information that I was able to retrieve from a computer system in Australia last night.
[06:26.740 --> 06:30.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: And without costing a cent.
[06:31.500 --> 06:34.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I might add, without breaking any laws either.
[06:35.120 --> 06:37.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: Things certainly have changed in the last 10 years.
[06:38.420 --> 06:53.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now through the miracles of Internet, it's conceivable to communicate virtually any place on the globe at a very low cost and at a very high rate of speed.
[06:55.640 --> 07:09.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: 10 years ago, a 10 megabyte hard drive would be impossible to lift and would be able to cause a lot of noise and a lot of power drain and any particular room you put it in.
[07:09.520 --> 07:18.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: But now, now you can get 105 meg hard drive that you can carry with you any place you go.
[07:21.380 --> 07:27.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: One has to wonder how far are we going to go in this journey of ours.
[07:28.740 --> 07:31.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: how big are the data storage units going to be?
[07:31.740 --> 07:36.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: How fast will we be able to transfer bits and bytes?
[07:39.200 --> 07:41.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: And how cheap will it all get?
[07:43.000 --> 07:51.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: The answers to those questions, I think are contingent on how we react to technology.
[07:51.400 --> 08:02.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: If we look at technology as a right rather than a privilege I think we'll see a lot more of it in the hands of everyday people like you and me.
[08:02.880 --> 08:04.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's up to us.
[08:05.680 --> 08:10.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: 212-279-3400 is the telephone number tonight.
[08:11.920 --> 08:21.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact it's the telephone number every night but we're going to see who's out there and what's on their minds.
[08:23.080 --> 08:25.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's visit number one.
[08:26.180 --> 08:27.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[08:28.640 --> 08:29.280]  Hello.
[08:29.640 --> 08:30.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, go ahead.
[08:31.720 --> 08:36.680]  [SPEAKER_15]: How do you feel about Baby Bell's providing information services?
[08:37.020 --> 08:42.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well I'm a bit leery of the recent ruling on that.
[08:42.700 --> 08:45.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be good technology wise.
[08:45.000 --> 08:53.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: You might see some things like Minitel which is the system in France that allows you to do virtually everything over a video tech service.
[08:54.100 --> 09:03.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: But I sure don't want the money I pay to get a dial tone on my phone to go towards paying for that kind of thing.
[09:04.520 --> 09:05.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[09:05.560 --> 09:05.780]  What?
[09:06.020 --> 09:07.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: We shouldn't be forced into it.
[09:08.900 --> 09:14.880]  [SPEAKER_15]: Do you think that local phone rates will go up if this starts to develop?
[09:15.200 --> 09:17.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: If mismanaged they will go up, yes.
[09:17.600 --> 09:18.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: If kept separate...
[09:18.920 --> 09:28.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: I see nothing wrong with Baby Bell's getting into that industry as long as it's kept separate from the industry that they're supposed to be providing to us, namely telephone service.
[09:29.100 --> 09:33.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: I also think it's high time that we see some competition on the local level.
[09:33.500 --> 09:35.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: When I pick up a phone I should have a choice.
[09:35.460 --> 09:36.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to use New York Telephone?
[09:36.740 --> 09:38.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to use some other phone company?
[09:38.720 --> 09:45.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right now we don't have that choice and as a result we're held captive by certain unfair rules and regulations.
[09:46.460 --> 09:49.360]  [SPEAKER_15]: I agree we need a lot more local competition.
[09:49.820 --> 10:04.180]  [SPEAKER_15]: Do you think that information services have a point when they say they're afraid that they are going to have to compete with people they depend on to deliver their services?
[10:06.960 --> 10:08.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: What was the question?
[10:08.740 --> 10:11.240]  [SPEAKER_15]: Well, let's say you dial up CompuServe, okay?
[10:11.520 --> 10:11.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[10:12.160 --> 10:14.480]  [SPEAKER_15]: They have to go through your local phone company.
[10:14.940 --> 10:19.880]  [SPEAKER_15]: Should they be concerned that my local phone company is competing with them?
[10:20.300 --> 10:21.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah.
[10:21.140 --> 10:28.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a matter of concern but I don't think it's something that I mean they shouldn't have to be forced to use anybody.
[10:29.480 --> 10:34.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: CompuServe should be able to run a line to your home if they want to do it as well.
[10:34.140 --> 10:38.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: With personal ISDN and all it's going to be conceivable that they could do that.
[10:39.260 --> 10:40.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: That anybody could do that.
[10:40.580 --> 10:42.060]  [SPEAKER_15]: I have one last question.
[10:42.220 --> 10:42.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[10:42.860 --> 10:50.380]  [SPEAKER_15]: The phone I am holding now says on it Bell System Property not for for sale.
[10:50.840 --> 10:53.800]  [SPEAKER_15]: Does that mean anything in this day and age?
[10:53.880 --> 10:56.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it means either you have an old phone.
[10:56.520 --> 10:57.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it an old phone?
[10:57.780 --> 10:58.600]  [SPEAKER_15]: Yeah, it's pretty old.
[10:58.800 --> 10:59.260]  [SPEAKER_15]: One of those heavy ones?
[11:00.000 --> 11:02.740]  [SPEAKER_15]: It's a push button but around for a while.
[11:03.020 --> 11:05.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean you can certainly sell it now.
[11:05.140 --> 11:11.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think anybody's going to stand in your way unless you're one of those poor unfortunates that still leases a phone from AT&T.
[11:11.420 --> 11:12.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you one of those?
[11:12.220 --> 11:12.860]  [SPEAKER_15]: No, I'm not.
[11:13.000 --> 11:14.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, then you don't have anything to worry about.
[11:14.820 --> 11:16.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, thank you very much.
[11:16.280 --> 11:16.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for calling.
[11:17.360 --> 11:19.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, he might have something to worry about but not that.
[11:21.140 --> 11:22.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: 279-3400.
[11:22.780 --> 11:23.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[11:23.980 --> 11:24.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, hello.
[11:25.020 --> 11:25.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: How you doing?
[11:26.020 --> 11:26.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: Is this what?
[11:27.020 --> 11:27.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Off the hook?
[11:27.560 --> 11:28.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's off the hook.
[11:28.520 --> 11:29.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, hi.
[11:29.240 --> 11:30.620]  First time I'm able to get through.
[11:30.780 --> 11:31.360]  I really...
[11:31.360 --> 11:33.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's because we expanded the call-in section tonight.
[11:33.880 --> 11:35.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I really love your program.
[11:35.720 --> 11:36.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, thanks.
[11:36.380 --> 11:47.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: I enjoyed the information you're providing is really, really important and I also like your up-the-establishment kind of attitude and I think that's real necessary, too.
[11:48.020 --> 11:52.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that kind of attitude is the only thing that gets you through dark days sometimes.
[11:53.680 --> 11:54.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: I do have a question.
[11:56.220 --> 11:56.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: Hello?
[11:57.060 --> 11:57.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.
[11:57.760 --> 11:57.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[11:58.220 --> 12:04.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm in New Jersey and oftentimes I do try to call WBAI.
[12:04.760 --> 12:06.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: In fact, it just happened today also.
[12:07.020 --> 12:12.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: And the phone will ring, you know, there's a wait often before someone picks up.
[12:15.640 --> 12:20.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: and if no one picks up after a couple of minutes, it just suddenly goes dead.
[12:20.800 --> 12:36.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: And I remember you had recently a guest on, a fellow in Texas, I believe, who said something like that or sounded like that where he said that there's a new thing where certain phone systems just hang up your phone if no one answers.
[12:36.480 --> 12:37.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let me ask you a couple of questions.
[12:37.980 --> 12:40.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: What long distance service were you using to call us?
[12:40.980 --> 12:42.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: I have MCI.
[12:42.380 --> 12:44.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: You were using MCI to call WBAI.
[12:44.980 --> 12:45.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, what happened?
[12:45.640 --> 12:47.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: How many rings went through?
[12:47.920 --> 12:49.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, it was a lot.
[12:50.440 --> 12:52.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe it rang for about two minutes or so.
[12:52.840 --> 12:54.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: And what exactly happened?
[12:54.220 --> 12:55.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: What sound did you hear after that?
[12:55.640 --> 12:55.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Nothing.
[12:56.080 --> 13:00.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: It just suddenly stops ringing and there's total silence on the line.
[13:00.860 --> 13:04.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, now, there are two ways something like that could happen.
[13:04.400 --> 13:19.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're a long distance company, an AT&T has been shown to be doing this recently, your long distance company may impose a limit on how long they'll allow a phone call to be placed without supervision kicking in, without the person picking up on the other end.
[13:19.280 --> 13:23.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: That could either be a busy signal or a continuous ring or an error message of some sort.
[13:24.080 --> 13:34.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: And then at that point, after however many minutes they decide is enough, they'll come in with a recording or perhaps a reorder, a busy signal, whatever, and say, you know, that's enough.
[13:34.700 --> 13:36.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to get any more of this phone call for nothing.
[13:37.360 --> 13:40.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: The other way it could happen is the switch itself.
[13:40.580 --> 13:46.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: The terminating end of your phone call might impose a limit on the number of rings.
[13:46.420 --> 13:54.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: There are many systems around these days that only allow the phone to ring, say, about 25 times, and then it turns into a fast, busy signal or reorder.
[13:55.600 --> 14:04.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's especially bad for places like WBAI, where, as the people who are calling us right now know, the phone can ring for a very long time before we get around to answering it.
[14:04.880 --> 14:10.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: The only place I've ever called where I let it ring a long time is, in fact, at WBAI.
[14:10.660 --> 14:16.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: But I've never gotten any kind of dial, busy signal or message or anything like that.
[14:16.980 --> 14:19.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: It just completely goes silent after a couple of minutes or something.
[14:20.080 --> 14:25.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what I would suggest you do, in fact, tell you what, why don't you do this now, if you have time, that is.
[14:26.320 --> 14:31.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: Give us a call on the line that I can guarantee will not be picked up, which is 3407.
[14:32.060 --> 14:32.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?
[14:33.000 --> 14:43.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: And let it ring for as long as you want, and try it on MCI, see if it does the same thing after two minutes, or after three minutes, or whatever, and then try it using AT&T.
[14:44.140 --> 14:45.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: How do I use AT&T?
[14:45.980 --> 14:48.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, first of all, MCI is your default?
[14:49.660 --> 14:50.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: How do you mean default?
[14:51.060 --> 14:53.500]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you do a one-plus call, it'll go over MCI?
[14:53.960 --> 14:56.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I believe so, because that's my long-distance company.
[14:56.700 --> 14:56.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[14:57.840 --> 15:04.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: What you do is, for AT&T, you would dial 10288, and then one-plus the area code and number.
[15:04.480 --> 15:08.400]  [SPEAKER_05]: That was 10288, then 1212.
[15:08.760 --> 15:09.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[15:09.420 --> 15:09.640]  Number.
[15:10.000 --> 15:20.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you wanted to do MCI, and you didn't have MCI, you would dial 10222, and if you wanted to do SPRINT, it would be 10333, and there's a bunch of others as well.
[15:21.260 --> 15:28.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: And then if you can try reaching us sometime before 10, let us know what happened, then we might have an answer to this puzzle.
[15:28.360 --> 15:33.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're suggesting when I try with AT&T, there might be some different result after a couple of minutes?
[15:33.200 --> 15:35.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes, there might very well be.
[15:35.320 --> 15:41.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you get the same result on all the ones that you tried, then I would say it's within our switch, which is very bad news.
[15:41.800 --> 15:47.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: But if that's true, then I'm sure everybody calling us now will experience the same thing, so I don't think that's really the case.
[15:48.700 --> 15:49.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?
[15:49.380 --> 15:53.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so then should I contact my phone, should I contact MCI?
[15:54.080 --> 15:54.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, why don't you try that?
[15:55.000 --> 16:03.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you can try calling us at 3407 now and letting it ring a bunch of times, and then once you have the results of your test, call us back and let us know what you found out.
[16:03.640 --> 16:05.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, I'll definitely try that.
[16:05.220 --> 16:05.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[16:05.640 --> 16:07.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks very much, and I enjoy the show again.
[16:07.580 --> 16:08.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for calling.
[16:08.420 --> 16:08.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
[16:08.860 --> 16:09.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good night.
[16:09.780 --> 16:13.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's one of many ongoing experiments that will be taking place tonight.
[16:13.700 --> 16:15.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: 279-3400.
[16:16.360 --> 16:17.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[16:17.580 --> 16:18.440]  [SPEAKER_12]: Yes, hi, Emmanuel.
[16:18.940 --> 16:23.000]  [SPEAKER_12]: Uh, my question concerns 800 numbers.
[16:23.200 --> 16:23.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[16:23.940 --> 16:24.260]  [SPEAKER_12]: Okay.
[16:24.800 --> 16:29.860]  [SPEAKER_12]: It has to, now I know they have automatic identification on all 800 numbers.
[16:30.180 --> 16:31.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's correct, yes.
[16:31.720 --> 16:32.020]  [SPEAKER_12]: Okay.
[16:32.500 --> 16:56.000]  [SPEAKER_12]: And many years ago on WBAI, one of the late night, late night, uh, political shows, guys were talking about people, activists who were calling up 800 numbers of right-wing people and people like Jerry Falwell and costing them whatever it was, I don't know if it was a 25 or 50 cents for an 800 call.
[16:56.120 --> 16:56.560]  [SPEAKER_12]: It varies?
[16:56.740 --> 16:59.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: It varies depending on time, where you are in the country, that kind of thing.
[16:59.560 --> 17:04.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: I should also clarify, that's not case with all 800 numbers, but, uh, an increasing majority of them.
[17:05.140 --> 17:08.920]  [SPEAKER_12]: That what, that have automatic identification or that are 25%?
[17:09.160 --> 17:23.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, there are some that, that, uh, that can read your number right away, uh, or at least show it to you on a bill, but depending on where the call is coming from, some places do not yet generate the number, so you'll get just a series of X's where the phone number would be.
[17:23.260 --> 17:25.200]  [SPEAKER_12]: Oh, so they don't all read the number?
[17:25.360 --> 17:27.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it depends mostly on where you're calling from.
[17:27.720 --> 17:46.420]  [SPEAKER_12]: Okay, my question is this, okay, about two years ago, I, uh, had harassing phone calls where the phone company did put one of these devices on, uh, to try to catch the person, but the person, it turned to the person never called at home and never spoke.
[17:46.680 --> 17:52.220]  [SPEAKER_12]: It would always be from a payphone, so they basically told us they can never catch somebody like that, okay?
[17:52.520 --> 17:57.360]  [SPEAKER_12]: And that I would have to pay the $50 service fee.
[17:57.860 --> 17:59.200]  [SPEAKER_12]: for changing my number.
[17:59.360 --> 18:03.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: No, that's crazy, you don't have to change, you don't have to pay anything if you're getting harassing phone calls and you want to change your number.
[18:04.320 --> 18:05.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's phone company policy.
[18:05.680 --> 18:10.480]  [SPEAKER_12]: That's what I told the woman who spoke to me, and she said, you'll have to pay the $50.
[18:11.000 --> 18:12.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, then, you...
[18:12.040 --> 18:25.340]  [SPEAKER_12]: And I did not know, last week or two weeks ago, you mentioned, uh, I didn't know that technique you said where you can use a phony name to not have to pay the $2 fee for, uh, having an unlisted number.
[18:25.480 --> 18:30.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right, you can use any name you want, and if people don't know what name to look for you under, they, uh, they obviously can't find you.
[18:30.680 --> 18:35.260]  [SPEAKER_12]: Exactly, I've been paying the extra $2 a month for holding a, uh, unpublished number.
[18:35.500 --> 18:35.580]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[18:35.620 --> 18:52.660]  [SPEAKER_12]: Now, my question then comes to this, since they forced me to pay that $50, well, when a company, and I'm not in any way, uh, advocating that anybody do this, okay, but if a company, uh, receives all these thousands of 800 numbers that are costing them up to 50 cents per call,
[18:53.540 --> 19:13.160]  [SPEAKER_12]: doesn't the phone company, are, uh, my question is, are they always charged, or does the phone company see that so many of these phone calls are quick hang-ups, the person doesn't speak, they're all coming from the same phone or same area, and therefore the phone company can monitor these and know that they won't charge the company.
[19:13.240 --> 19:14.440]  [SPEAKER_12]: That's my, that's my question.
[19:14.620 --> 19:15.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure I understand.
[19:15.620 --> 19:18.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, you're saying when a company is called, are you...
[19:18.400 --> 19:21.620]  [SPEAKER_12]: A company is called by some harasser or whatever.
[19:21.820 --> 19:22.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[19:22.300 --> 19:24.620]  [SPEAKER_12]: Anybody is called who has an 800 phone number.
[19:24.800 --> 19:25.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[19:25.120 --> 19:28.700]  [SPEAKER_12]: The harasser wanting to cost the company or person money, okay?
[19:28.920 --> 19:32.460]  [SPEAKER_12]: My point is, are they, will they be charged?
[19:32.460 --> 19:48.600]  [SPEAKER_12]: If somebody called up some big company with an 800 number thousands of times, okay, will that company definitely be charged for those phone calls, or will the phone company see that these are harassing phone calls and not charge them?
[19:48.900 --> 19:49.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's my question.
[19:49.760 --> 19:55.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: The phone company will never step in and say, hey, these don't look like nice phone calls and not charge you.
[19:55.360 --> 19:56.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: They'll charge you and they'll wait for you.
[19:56.860 --> 20:00.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: The onus is on the customer to come forward and say, these are harassing phone calls.
[20:01.360 --> 20:05.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I, the situation that happened to you, was that to an 800 number?
[20:05.320 --> 20:05.980]  [SPEAKER_12]: No, no, no.
[20:06.060 --> 20:08.960]  [SPEAKER_12]: That had nothing to do with an 800 number, but I just put it together.
[20:08.960 --> 20:12.140]  [SPEAKER_12]: Being that the phone company didn't, didn't.
[20:12.240 --> 20:15.180]  [SPEAKER_12]: I asked her, I wanted to speak to her supervisor and this, this is ridiculous.
[20:15.380 --> 20:19.840]  [SPEAKER_12]: Why should I be responsible for paying when somebody harasses me?
[20:19.920 --> 20:20.880]  [SPEAKER_12]: Why should I pay?
[20:21.080 --> 20:28.500]  [SPEAKER_12]: If you guys are unable to catch him, you should pay for the changing of the number, changing of the, you know, number, okay?
[20:28.680 --> 20:30.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: The same thing happens on...
[20:30.060 --> 20:34.680]  [SPEAKER_12]: That argument, and therefore, I realize, can the same thing apply to 800 numbers?
[20:34.800 --> 20:35.740]  [SPEAKER_12]: It didn't happen to me.
[20:35.820 --> 20:36.980]  [SPEAKER_12]: I don't own an 800 number.
[20:37.160 --> 20:44.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you see, with 800 numbers, it's easier for you to do the work yourself because on most 800 numbers, you will receive an itemization of the numbers that call you.
[20:44.920 --> 20:52.580]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right, but what happens to the person who's just calling, oh, I mean, unless the person is stupid enough to call from their home, right?
[20:52.720 --> 20:58.080]  [SPEAKER_12]: Plus, even if they did occasionally, well, I guess if they called even once from their home, some name would show up.
[20:58.820 --> 21:01.860]  [SPEAKER_12]: You know, my point is when...
[21:01.860 --> 21:03.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody gets sloppy at some point.
[21:03.720 --> 21:09.680]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, for somebody to go out to a different payphone each and every time they want to harass you, it takes a lot of thinking behind that.
[21:10.020 --> 21:16.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: And eventually, they're going to become lazy and call from a residence or somebody that knows them, or at least from an area that they frequent.
[21:16.660 --> 21:17.060]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[21:17.140 --> 21:20.240]  [SPEAKER_12]: Well, these guys, some of them were activists.
[21:21.340 --> 21:27.100]  [SPEAKER_12]: They said one of them got caught for calling Jerry Falwell's number thousands and thousands of times.
[21:27.100 --> 21:30.960]  [SPEAKER_12]: I think he said his modem to automatic, his demon dialer, they said.
[21:31.140 --> 21:31.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[21:31.520 --> 21:33.620]  [SPEAKER_12]: Constantly call from his home.
[21:34.100 --> 21:34.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[21:34.540 --> 21:36.860]  [SPEAKER_12]: And he was caught in arrest and I believe convicted.
[21:37.140 --> 21:39.000]  [SPEAKER_12]: I'm not sure you may know more about that.
[21:39.000 --> 21:41.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: His demon dialer was sent up the creek, too.
[21:42.760 --> 21:43.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: But...
[21:43.160 --> 21:43.660]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[21:43.760 --> 21:53.280]  [SPEAKER_12]: So you're saying that the chances are if some harasser calls a company's 800 phone number from a payphone, that that company will have to pay for those numbers.
[21:53.420 --> 22:01.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: No, I didn't say they'd have to pay, but I did say that the onus would be on them to say that this call is of a harassing nature and they can take it up with the company then.
[22:01.800 --> 22:02.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: See, every company is different.
[22:03.140 --> 22:05.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: There's many companies providing 800 numbers now.
[22:05.540 --> 22:06.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I didn't know that.
[22:06.940 --> 22:09.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there are all kinds, all different rates.
[22:09.800 --> 22:15.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, if you call somebody and hang up on an 800 number, odds are it's not going to cost any more than 5 cents anyway.
[22:15.420 --> 22:15.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, because...
[22:15.960 --> 22:16.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not like you really do...
[22:16.820 --> 22:19.340]  [SPEAKER_12]: Oh, it's not an automatic 25 cents minimum fee?
[22:19.440 --> 22:22.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it depends on the company, it depends on the deal they have, you see.
[22:22.160 --> 22:28.720]  [SPEAKER_12]: But you're saying the odds are it's purely by time and you're saying in many cases if it's a quick hang-up, it's...
[22:28.720 --> 22:32.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I have one of my 800 numbers set to go to a beeper of mine.
[22:33.040 --> 22:38.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: People call it to beep me and I get my phone bill and there's no call on there that costs more than 8 cents.
[22:38.340 --> 22:38.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: I see.
[22:38.780 --> 22:40.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's about 30 seconds long.
[22:41.080 --> 22:46.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: The maximum amount of time is 30 seconds and 8 cents is what they charge and it's a fairly good deal.
[22:46.700 --> 22:46.920]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[22:47.060 --> 22:55.000]  [SPEAKER_12]: Although, but if somebody set their demon dialer on it to call, it could add up and it would still be an unnecessary expense.
[22:55.400 --> 22:56.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's true too.
[22:56.420 --> 22:56.560]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[22:56.640 --> 22:58.180]  [SPEAKER_12]: And the phone company may...
[22:58.180 --> 22:58.940]  [SPEAKER_12]: That's the point.
[22:59.020 --> 23:10.680]  [SPEAKER_12]: If you brought it to the phone company, if you obviously showed them a list of thousands consecutive phone calls, real quick ones, they could easily see that this is a harasser.
[23:11.160 --> 23:11.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[23:11.620 --> 23:11.920]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[23:12.680 --> 23:19.580]  [SPEAKER_12]: Once they see that list, will they take you, will they now disallow those phone calls and not charge you?
[23:19.660 --> 23:22.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's either that or risk losing you as a customer.
[23:23.140 --> 23:23.660]  [SPEAKER_12]: That's right.
[23:23.860 --> 23:26.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: So they're going to have to do something and I would bet that they would.
[23:26.880 --> 23:27.120]  [SPEAKER_12]: Right.
[23:27.500 --> 23:27.840]  [SPEAKER_12]: Okay.
[23:28.000 --> 23:28.600]  [SPEAKER_12]: Thanks very much.
[23:28.600 --> 23:32.820]  [SPEAKER_12]: You have the most fascinating show I have ever heard.
[23:32.980 --> 23:33.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: Aw, shucks.
[23:33.620 --> 23:34.500]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, thanks for calling.
[23:34.780 --> 23:35.320]  [SPEAKER_12]: Thank you.
[23:35.480 --> 23:35.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[23:36.720 --> 23:38.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Gosh, I get so embarrassed when people say that.
[23:39.640 --> 23:49.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: 279-3400, the program is off the hook talking about telephone technology, computers, privacy, consumer issues, and whatever else is on your mind on this special listener feedback edition.
[23:49.580 --> 23:50.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[23:51.140 --> 23:51.560]  [SPEAKER_10]: Good evening.
[23:52.800 --> 23:53.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, go ahead.
[23:53.960 --> 23:54.180]  [SPEAKER_10]: Okay.
[23:54.660 --> 23:57.960]  [SPEAKER_10]: You were talking a couple of weeks ago about caller ID?
[23:58.800 --> 24:00.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago we were talking about that.
[24:00.740 --> 24:01.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's true.
[24:01.320 --> 24:01.600]  [SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[24:01.680 --> 24:08.600]  [SPEAKER_10]: I'm looking at an ad that's a security dealer and it says, introducing national 911 service to alarm monitoring.
[24:08.600 --> 24:11.020]  [SPEAKER_10]: We know your phone number before we answer the phone.
[24:11.880 --> 24:13.800]  [SPEAKER_10]: And they say, we dare you to call us.
[24:14.400 --> 24:14.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: Really?
[24:14.980 --> 24:15.320]  [SPEAKER_10]: Yeah.
[24:15.920 --> 24:17.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: And is it an 800 number?
[24:17.440 --> 24:18.260]  [SPEAKER_10]: It is an 800 number.
[24:18.300 --> 24:18.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
[24:18.860 --> 24:19.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's how.
[24:20.660 --> 24:22.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: I can get around that very easily.
[24:23.120 --> 24:24.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: Would you like to give us the 800 number?
[24:24.740 --> 24:25.000]  [SPEAKER_10]: Sure.
[24:25.120 --> 24:28.200]  [SPEAKER_10]: It's 800-282-0911.
[24:29.560 --> 24:30.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: 282-0911.
[24:30.780 --> 24:30.960]  [SPEAKER_10]: Yeah.
[24:31.160 --> 24:32.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: And are they open 24 hours?
[24:33.300 --> 24:35.480]  [SPEAKER_10]: Well, they're emergency 24.
[24:35.680 --> 24:37.800]  [SPEAKER_10]: They're 24-hour monitoring, so I imagine they are.
[24:38.240 --> 24:38.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[24:39.380 --> 24:40.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: 282-0911.
[24:40.240 --> 24:41.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's give that...
[24:41.940 --> 24:43.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: I wish I had a pen so I could write that down.
[24:43.400 --> 24:44.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Is there anything else you wanted to say?
[24:44.880 --> 24:48.040]  [SPEAKER_10]: Well, you can get around it if you dial the operator first.
[24:48.160 --> 24:49.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I was going to do.
[24:49.080 --> 24:49.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, you gave it away.
[24:50.440 --> 24:53.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, if you go through the operator, you will get around it.
[24:53.500 --> 24:55.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, are they offering some kind of prize if you do that?
[24:55.860 --> 24:56.080]  [SPEAKER_10]: No.
[24:56.620 --> 24:59.660]  [SPEAKER_10]: They just get a little confused when your number doesn't come up.
[24:59.940 --> 25:04.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: What happens when you do call through and your number does show up?
[25:04.440 --> 25:06.640]  [SPEAKER_10]: Well, you can ask them and they'll tell you what your number is.
[25:07.040 --> 25:11.220]  [SPEAKER_10]: Basically, it's their ad to promote their service.
[25:11.480 --> 25:13.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it a machine or is it a human that answers?
[25:13.580 --> 25:14.900]  [SPEAKER_10]: It's a human that answers.
[25:15.160 --> 25:15.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: Really?
[25:15.760 --> 25:15.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[25:16.320 --> 25:17.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, very interesting.
[25:18.260 --> 25:21.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so if you want to find out what number you're calling
[25:27.060 --> 25:27.680]  [SPEAKER_00]: that's good.
[25:27.880 --> 25:28.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: Where did you see that at again?
[25:29.280 --> 25:31.780]  [SPEAKER_10]: That's in Security Dealer, the October issue.
[25:32.100 --> 25:33.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Security Dealer.
[25:33.340 --> 25:33.620]  [SPEAKER_10]: Yeah.
[25:34.240 --> 25:34.560]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[25:35.320 --> 25:36.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll try to look out for that.
[25:36.720 --> 25:37.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for calling.
[25:37.440 --> 25:37.680]  [SPEAKER_10]: Thank you.
[25:39.040 --> 25:40.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: 279-3400.
[25:40.220 --> 25:43.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the kind of information that we need to hear about.
[25:45.040 --> 25:45.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[25:47.500 --> 25:48.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you there?
[25:49.000 --> 25:49.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Is anyone there?
[25:50.660 --> 25:51.140]  [SPEAKER_14]: Hello?
[25:51.440 --> 25:51.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go ahead.
[25:52.500 --> 25:59.460]  [SPEAKER_14]: Yes, I wanted to get an idea of what the best deal in service would be for an ordinary homeowner.
[26:02.860 --> 26:03.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah?
[26:03.820 --> 26:04.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[26:04.440 --> 26:09.080]  [SPEAKER_14]: And as to I'm going to be using the phone a lot more than I expected.
[26:09.360 --> 26:20.600]  [SPEAKER_14]: Also, I passed by Touch-Tone Service and I had heard that you could reverse red and green wires to do that and that seems to have been defeated.
[26:20.920 --> 26:25.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, probably in an electronic area in which case that no longer works.
[26:26.000 --> 26:28.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm not sure what your exact question is again?
[26:28.660 --> 26:31.000]  [SPEAKER_14]: Well, what's the best sort of service to get?
[26:31.040 --> 26:35.200]  [SPEAKER_14]: At one point you mentioned that having two lines was cheaper than having call waiting.
[26:36.000 --> 26:37.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that is true.
[26:37.700 --> 26:39.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, you are going to have what?
[26:40.320 --> 26:41.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you running a business?
[26:42.100 --> 26:42.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: How's it working?
[26:43.400 --> 26:53.220]  [SPEAKER_14]: It's basically a summer home that I use very little although I may be making a business out of calling for a market research firm from the home.
[26:53.480 --> 26:56.300]  [SPEAKER_14]: They take care of that bill so it's not of any concern.
[26:56.520 --> 26:56.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[26:57.020 --> 26:58.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut?
[26:59.980 --> 27:01.060]  [SPEAKER_14]: Upstate New York.
[27:01.220 --> 27:01.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: New York.
[27:01.720 --> 27:01.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[27:02.200 --> 27:07.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't say 100% for sure if the rules are the same up there as they are down here.
[27:08.140 --> 27:09.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's NYNEX.
[27:09.820 --> 27:10.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, it's NYNEX.
[27:10.960 --> 27:12.560]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's probably the same then.
[27:13.460 --> 27:17.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, you don't have to worry about running a business from that line.
[27:17.300 --> 27:19.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: You can do that as long as you are running it from a home.
[27:19.700 --> 27:20.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's not a problem.
[27:20.580 --> 27:20.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[27:21.340 --> 27:45.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you want to have two lines, yes, it would be cheaper rather than get a call waiting and then three-way, get a two-line phone that you can push down both buttons at the same time and there you have your conferencing for free and also get a service that doesn't cost anything called call hunting which allows you to have a call go from one line to the next if the first line is busy.
[27:45.380 --> 27:49.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, if you're talking to me on line one now and somebody calls you, it will ring on line two.
[27:50.460 --> 28:02.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike call waiting, you won't have to drop everything and pick up that phone because you can have that phone ring and go to a machine or you can just ignore it or do whatever you want to do to it or you can put me on hold and pick up the other line.
[28:03.480 --> 28:05.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the options are almost unlimited.
[28:15.780 --> 28:22.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Panasonic is good as far as the conferencing feature but their mouthpieces are terrible.
[28:22.460 --> 28:23.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's very hard to hear people on them.
[28:24.540 --> 28:26.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd shop around a little bit on that.
[28:27.040 --> 28:31.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't say I found the best one yet but look around and you'll find something.
[28:31.720 --> 28:34.500]  [SPEAKER_00]: Especially in New York City there should be a lot of two-line phones.
[28:34.500 --> 28:37.740]  [SPEAKER_14]: Any ideas on what's a good answering machine to get?
[28:38.720 --> 28:42.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Panasonic is probably the best answering machine overall.
[28:42.700 --> 28:47.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'd suggest getting one without a phone attached for the reasons I mentioned as far as the mouthpiece.
[28:49.820 --> 28:53.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: I think as far as security they're probably the most secure as well.
[28:53.260 --> 28:54.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody can correct me on that.
[28:54.580 --> 28:55.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd like to hear it.
[28:56.980 --> 29:01.900]  [SPEAKER_14]: As far as the identity code for calling back, they have more numbers or something like that?
[29:01.900 --> 29:04.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they have more numbers and it's more easily changed.
[29:04.160 --> 29:13.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, some answering machines don't even allow you to change all the numbers which is crazy because once somebody figures it out, you might as well throw the machine out because you can't do anything about it.
[29:14.300 --> 29:16.680]  [SPEAKER_00]: So you have to be careful not to get in that kind of situation.
[29:16.940 --> 29:18.580]  [SPEAKER_14]: I saw something that intrigued me.
[29:18.700 --> 29:23.860]  [SPEAKER_14]: It was a fax machine that worked as a copier for 388 consumers.
[29:24.020 --> 29:27.920]  [SPEAKER_14]: They said that it's cheaper if you go to a bargain place in the city.
[29:29.140 --> 29:33.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's usually cheaper if you do mail order, but that's something else.
[29:34.160 --> 29:37.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: shopping and then you find it in mail order somehow and get it that way.
[29:38.280 --> 29:45.580]  [SPEAKER_14]: Do you think it's likely that it would work as a real worthwhile copier as well as a fax machine or do you think they're written compatible purposes?
[29:46.400 --> 29:48.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it would make a very good copier, no.
[29:48.800 --> 29:51.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: It would probably be very slow and probably the quality wouldn't be very good.
[29:52.160 --> 29:57.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: You can get a fax machine for a good one for about 150 bucks I believe.
[29:58.200 --> 29:59.440]  [SPEAKER_14]: Boy, that is cheap.
[29:59.580 --> 30:03.620]  [SPEAKER_14]: Do you have any models or places where they might sell something like that?
[30:03.760 --> 30:09.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen Ricoh's for sale for that little but you've got to walk the streets a bit to find it.
[30:09.780 --> 30:11.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: But you can if you look around.
[30:12.460 --> 30:14.220]  [SPEAKER_14]: Okay, I have a suggestion for you.
[30:14.320 --> 30:42.520]  [SPEAKER_14]: Maybe you could come up with some sort of tip sheet to the services for phone companies given a set of criteria of ordinary phone users your home phone your home phone with teenage daughter and what sort of service you should get and possibly save people some money and also clue into when there's a rate change and people can change their phone services without getting charged extra fees.
[30:42.920 --> 30:43.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[30:43.700 --> 30:48.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's I believe it's 90 days within a rate change you can change your service.
[30:48.280 --> 30:51.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how many different kinds of services you have up there though.
[30:51.140 --> 30:52.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: You see things differ radically.
[30:53.120 --> 31:00.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: For instance New York City you have to pay for every call regardless of what kind of service you have on Long Island that's not the case.
[31:00.680 --> 31:01.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's completely different.
[31:14.680 --> 31:33.180]  [SPEAKER_14]: So you somewhere somewhere somewhere in mid Dutchess County which is about 15 miles from where I am is out of that area and a call to Poughkeepsie let's say which is north of I think it's an I-84 is the demarcation line rather than the Dutchess Putnam border
[31:42.700 --> 31:43.820]  [SPEAKER_14]: Uh-huh.
[31:44.040 --> 31:46.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's a lot of times the case.
[31:46.340 --> 31:49.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: Calls within New York State are more expensive than cross-country calls.
[31:49.720 --> 31:54.060]  [SPEAKER_14]: Would a different long-distance carrier help rather than having AT&T?
[32:14.540 --> 32:21.960]  [SPEAKER_14]: Okay, well, 950 would be addressing a different phone carrier rather than...
[32:33.180 --> 32:34.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: just without surcharges.
[32:35.060 --> 32:36.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a real shame.
[32:36.260 --> 32:45.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: I think people should be calling Sprint and MCI and demanding that they have 950 service as frequently as possible.
[32:45.280 --> 32:48.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing more convenient, say, when you're at a payphone and you need to call somebody.
[32:48.860 --> 32:53.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: Rather than drop all this money into a phone, you simply bill it to a calling card, and you don't pay a surcharge.
[32:54.140 --> 32:57.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Why should you pay a surcharge for something that isn't good for anything else?
[32:57.620 --> 32:59.560]  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a calling card is a calling card.
[32:59.620 --> 33:02.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: You can't use it to buy anything else.
[33:03.180 --> 33:05.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's only used for making phone calls.
[33:05.620 --> 33:08.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: So why should there be a surcharge on making phone calls?
[33:08.420 --> 33:09.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't make any sense to me.
[33:09.440 --> 33:17.400]  [SPEAKER_14]: I got charged a tremendous amount calling, you know, the next town over using a calling card from payphone.
[33:17.540 --> 33:20.420]  [SPEAKER_14]: It was like $1.50 for a 40-cent call.
[33:20.600 --> 33:22.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Sounds like you got a cocot there.
[33:23.180 --> 33:23.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: A what?
[33:23.600 --> 33:26.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: A customer-owned, coin-operated telephone.
[33:26.420 --> 33:30.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, probably an alternate operator service, AOS.
[33:31.320 --> 33:35.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: It looks like a regular payphone, looks like a regular long-distance company, but it's not.
[33:35.480 --> 33:40.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: And they take your calling card number, but they charge you many times the rate that you should be charged.
[33:40.920 --> 33:43.900]  [SPEAKER_14]: I was fairly sure that it was a NYNEX phone that did this.
[33:43.900 --> 33:45.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: It could be a NYNEX phone, too.
[33:45.420 --> 33:49.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you look on every NYNEX phone, there's two long-distance companies on there.
[33:49.500 --> 33:50.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: One is for OnePlus.
[33:50.940 --> 33:54.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: And right now, all the OnePlus long-distance is handled by AT&T.
[33:54.540 --> 33:55.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, that will change.
[33:55.960 --> 33:58.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: But Zero Plus can be any phone company.
[33:58.480 --> 34:00.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: It could be National Telephone Service.
[34:00.080 --> 34:03.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: It could be, you know, all kinds of rip-off services.
[34:03.660 --> 34:04.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: It could be AT&T.
[34:04.740 --> 34:05.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: It could be Sprint.
[34:05.340 --> 34:06.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: And they all have different rates.
[34:07.120 --> 34:09.500]  [SPEAKER_00]: But they will take your calling card number.
[34:09.580 --> 34:11.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's where the danger lies.
[34:12.280 --> 34:13.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: Because you don't know.
[34:13.220 --> 34:16.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you don't know what company you're using when you key in those numbers.
[34:16.880 --> 34:21.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's why you should always listen and make sure you've ever heard the name before, for one thing.
[34:21.840 --> 34:22.680]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's always a good sign.
[34:23.320 --> 34:23.680]  [SPEAKER_14]: Right.
[34:24.580 --> 34:27.980]  [SPEAKER_14]: Getting back to my original question as to what the best service is,
[34:42.140 --> 34:47.580]  [SPEAKER_14]: Well, you're going to have to have the same kind of service on both lines.
[34:48.140 --> 34:49.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's something they do require.
[34:49.480 --> 34:51.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm pretty sure they'd require it up there as well.
[34:54.860 --> 34:56.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: No, they're definitely not stupid.
[34:56.420 --> 35:00.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: But it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what kind of service is best for you.
[35:01.200 --> 35:02.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: Ours are something...
[35:02.320 --> 35:11.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you make a lot of local calls, then you should have something that allows you unlimited access to a certain small exchange.
[35:11.680 --> 35:12.180]  [SPEAKER_14]: Right.
[35:12.280 --> 35:12.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: In any event.
[35:13.100 --> 35:15.560]  [SPEAKER_14]: I find that those exchanges are very small.
[35:15.560 --> 35:19.580]  [SPEAKER_14]: I tried using a computer network.
[35:20.220 --> 35:30.020]  [SPEAKER_14]: And even from the time I was living in Yonkers and to White Plains, I didn't believe that it was within the local calling area.
[35:30.020 --> 35:36.320]  [SPEAKER_14]: So instead of getting charged just by the CompuServe, I got hit by AT&T also.
[35:36.320 --> 35:40.560]  [SPEAKER_14]: And it ran up the bill another, you know, almost double in many cases.
[35:40.840 --> 35:42.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you got hit by AT&T, it definitely wasn't local.
[35:43.100 --> 35:43.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's a long distance.
[35:45.300 --> 35:48.720]  [SPEAKER_14]: From NYNEX, you know, that was out of the local calling area.
[35:49.080 --> 35:51.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's something you got to check beforehand.
[35:51.000 --> 36:01.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: For instance, I changed my service from the unlimited local calling to a service where I pay for every local call, but it's on time for a bigger area.
[36:02.060 --> 36:04.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: So that allows me to do what I'm doing right now.
[36:04.420 --> 36:10.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, I've been on the phone now for well over 24 hours downloading 10 megabytes of information from Australia.
[36:10.540 --> 36:11.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[36:11.120 --> 36:12.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: Using the Internet, it's free.
[36:12.340 --> 36:23.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: And because I'm using a telephone where I can call a certain exchange for something like 10.5 cents, that's all I'm paying for the phone call no matter how long I stay on.
[36:23.640 --> 36:24.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's...
[36:24.060 --> 36:27.400]  [SPEAKER_14]: That is the service that you're subscribing to that you referred to, or...?
[36:27.400 --> 36:35.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's a regular New York telephone service where you have a certain area, you pay for every call to that area, but it's not timed.
[36:36.220 --> 36:39.680]  [SPEAKER_14]: But that's expanded over the local...
[36:39.680 --> 36:43.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a bigger area than if you have unlimited local calling at no charge.
[36:43.800 --> 36:49.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: But keep in mind, when you have unlimited local calling at no charge, you have to pay a fee for that, so you really are paying.
[36:50.460 --> 36:53.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing is free in the phone company lingo.
[36:53.480 --> 36:56.320]  [SPEAKER_14]: Unfortunately, I had service hooked up here.
[36:57.240 --> 36:58.680]  [SPEAKER_14]: It came out a week...
[36:59.220 --> 37:16.160]  [SPEAKER_14]: It was a week ago that it was connected, and I had a terrible time even getting an appointment, and then didn't have any way of getting the current rates from them except them offering to mail me a phone book because I had an old phone book with them.
[37:16.360 --> 37:27.020]  [SPEAKER_14]: I was thinking of fudging around and at least asking, saying that I had wanted the Touch-Tone service since I can't hook that up myself.
[37:28.600 --> 37:33.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: As far as the Touch-Tone service, now, they do want to charge you for that.
[37:33.820 --> 37:35.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, that will go away within a couple of years.
[37:36.700 --> 37:40.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: But the best way around that right now is don't pay for Touch-Tone service.
[37:40.180 --> 37:55.560]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you live in an electronic system, electronic system like an ESS or a DMS-100 or something like that, the best way to get around that is to get one of those phones where you have a switch, an easy-to-reach switch, not one where you have to lift the phone up and turn it upside down,
[37:55.560 --> 37:58.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: one where you can just easily switch from tone to pulse.
[37:59.780 --> 38:01.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that way, you're hitting the same buttons.
[38:01.940 --> 38:09.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit slower, but you're saving what amounts to a significant amount considering you're paying for absolutely nothing if you do pay that amount.
[38:09.140 --> 38:10.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a good deal, I think.
[38:11.660 --> 38:12.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?
[38:12.500 --> 38:13.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, thanks a lot.
[38:13.440 --> 38:13.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for calling.
[38:14.580 --> 38:21.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, actually, there's another way of doing that on one of those smartphones.
[38:21.400 --> 38:24.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the phones with all the speed-dialing buttons on them.
[38:24.860 --> 38:33.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: I figured this out not too long ago, where you assign every speed-dial button a single Touch-Tone.
[38:33.940 --> 38:40.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say you have five buttons going down on the left side and five buttons going down on the right side.
[38:40.260 --> 38:43.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you make the upper left-hand button a Touch-Tone one.
[38:43.640 --> 38:46.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: You make the second one a Touch-Tone two.
[38:46.520 --> 38:47.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: Then a Touch-Tone three, etc.
[38:48.040 --> 38:49.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: You just assign them those numbers.
[38:50.100 --> 38:53.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: That way, you have two keypads on your telephone.
[38:53.260 --> 38:56.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: You have the pulse keypad and then you have the Touch-Tone keypad.
[38:57.000 --> 38:58.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: So you don't even have to switch buttons.
[38:58.500 --> 39:04.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: You just have to press either a Touch-Tone or a pulse, depending on where you are.
[39:04.160 --> 39:11.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you've connected to another long-distance service or banking by phone or whatever and you need Touch-Tones, you don't have to find a switch on your phone.
[39:11.920 --> 39:14.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's one way to get around the Touch-Tone fee.
[39:14.900 --> 39:15.500]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[39:15.880 --> 39:16.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: Hello.
[39:16.880 --> 39:17.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: How are you doing?
[39:17.600 --> 39:18.200]  [SPEAKER_11]: I'm fine.
[39:18.360 --> 39:19.480]  [SPEAKER_11]: Is this Mr. Gullson?
[39:19.620 --> 39:20.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is.
[39:20.320 --> 39:20.600]  [SPEAKER_11]: Hi.
[39:21.520 --> 39:22.540]  [SPEAKER_11]: Am I on the air now?
[39:22.700 --> 39:23.260]  [SPEAKER_11]: Yes, you are.
[39:23.380 --> 39:23.580]  [SPEAKER_11]: Okay.
[39:24.020 --> 39:24.600]  [SPEAKER_11]: We are in...
[39:31.960 --> 39:34.580]  [SPEAKER_11]: It's not a problem, but a curious situation with our telephone.
[39:35.480 --> 39:43.180]  [SPEAKER_11]: New Jersey Bell has told us that the problem is with the key system, the box in the basement or something like this.
[39:43.660 --> 39:46.200]  [SPEAKER_11]: And the telephone box has told us that it's in our unit.
[39:46.760 --> 39:47.320]  [SPEAKER_11]: But basically...
[39:47.320 --> 39:48.660]  [SPEAKER_11]: This is a business, right?
[39:48.660 --> 39:53.340]  [SPEAKER_11]: We run a business from home and there's a telephone that sits on my desk where I sit all day long.
[39:53.560 --> 39:59.980]  [SPEAKER_11]: It has two lines coming into it with lights that show which line is in operation and a hold button.
[40:00.800 --> 40:08.080]  [SPEAKER_11]: Many times late at night, after midnight, those lights come on inexplicably when the phone doesn't ring.
[40:08.620 --> 40:17.680]  [SPEAKER_11]: And sometimes they come on in quick blinking sequences and sometimes slow blinking sequences, sometimes one line, sometimes both lines.
[40:18.640 --> 40:22.820]  [SPEAKER_11]: It's a very curious situation and I just would like to have your comments on that.
[40:22.940 --> 40:24.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, have you ever tried picking it up?
[40:24.700 --> 40:25.100]  [SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[40:25.300 --> 40:26.820]  [SPEAKER_11]: And there's a dial tone.
[40:27.480 --> 40:27.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[40:27.780 --> 40:31.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: What I would suspect is happening is that your phone company is doing some kind of a test.
[40:32.580 --> 40:37.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: This happened to me only a couple of days ago where my entire central office went down.
[40:37.620 --> 40:39.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: You couldn't place a call in or out of it.
[40:39.560 --> 40:44.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: So finally I was able to hobble over to repair service and report the problem to them.
[40:44.620 --> 40:47.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I said to them, look, there's nothing wrong with my phone.
[40:47.420 --> 40:49.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: This is affecting every phone in the neighborhood.
[40:49.520 --> 40:52.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Please just take this information and fix it somehow.
[40:52.540 --> 40:56.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: But of course, they don't know how to proceed without taking down your phone number.
[40:56.660 --> 40:59.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no way they can report a problem if they don't have a phone number.
[40:59.400 --> 41:03.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: So I had to give them my phone number and I said, look, please don't send anybody out.
[41:03.260 --> 41:04.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing wrong with my phone.
[41:04.500 --> 41:06.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: Just fix the problem with the entire neighborhood.
[41:06.540 --> 41:14.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: So I hung up my phone and sure enough, a few seconds later, I saw the light come on to that phone line, which meant that they were testing my phone line.
[41:14.420 --> 41:15.000]  [SPEAKER_11]: I see.
[41:15.180 --> 41:18.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, what I suggest you do, what's your number for a repair service out there?
[41:19.100 --> 41:20.320]  [SPEAKER_11]: Well, I'd have to look it up.
[41:20.440 --> 41:24.920]  [SPEAKER_11]: I first went directly through the operator because it happened very late at night.
[41:33.840 --> 41:34.640]  Uh-huh.
[41:34.640 --> 41:41.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, as soon as you hang up, probably as soon as you hang up, maybe while you're still on the line, they will test your line.
[41:41.280 --> 41:44.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: And if the line is hung up when they do that, the light will go on.
[41:44.060 --> 41:47.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: So you can maybe compare that to what you see late at night.
[41:47.720 --> 41:50.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's also possible you might have some other kind of service.
[41:50.660 --> 41:57.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: I've heard of several cases where water companies throughout the nation are checking their meters over the phone lines.
[41:57.620 --> 42:05.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: They're not actually making phone calls to you, but they're sort of reaching out and getting information by just accessing your house for a brief second.
[42:06.380 --> 42:08.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: Do these things happen about the same time every night?
[42:09.040 --> 42:14.420]  [SPEAKER_11]: Well, actually, because the phone's on my desk and I work at my desk all day long, I've faced the phone almost all day.
[42:14.520 --> 42:16.300]  [SPEAKER_11]: I've never seen it happen during the day, ever.
[42:16.540 --> 42:16.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh.
[42:16.880 --> 42:20.520]  [SPEAKER_11]: But I have seen it happen any number of times, and it's always after midnight.
[42:20.800 --> 42:21.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's always after midnight.
[42:21.800 --> 42:25.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: It sounds like some kind of a test of some sort.
[42:25.700 --> 42:32.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: And since you pick up the phone and nobody's there, nobody else is accessing your line, somehow something is being seen sent down the line.
[42:33.940 --> 42:37.080]  [SPEAKER_11]: Why would New Jersey Bell be reluctant to tell me that?
[42:37.280 --> 42:38.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Probably because they don't know.
[42:38.760 --> 42:47.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: Probably because the person you're talking to has no conception of, you know, what you're referring to and just thinks that, you know, you're a crank or something and doesn't want to even deal with it.
[42:47.760 --> 42:48.060]  [SPEAKER_11]: Right.
[42:48.240 --> 42:52.180]  [SPEAKER_11]: And then also, after my initial call, I received two follow-up calls.
[42:52.320 --> 42:52.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh.
[42:54.140 --> 42:59.640]  [SPEAKER_11]: People from New Jersey Bell asking me if I was satisfied with the way that my call had been handled.
[43:00.180 --> 43:04.100]  [SPEAKER_11]: And basically, I told both of them no because it didn't seem to answer the question.
[43:04.460 --> 43:04.560]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[43:04.900 --> 43:07.180]  [SPEAKER_11]: And that was the end of it.
[43:07.660 --> 43:07.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh.
[43:07.920 --> 43:08.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: They never call back again.
[43:09.140 --> 43:15.680]  [SPEAKER_00]: What I suggest you do is write down when this happens and see if you can see any kind of a pattern to it.
[43:16.060 --> 43:20.140]  [SPEAKER_00]: And then, if you do see a pattern to it, I would approach the...
[43:21.100 --> 43:23.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: find out where your central office is.
[43:23.280 --> 43:23.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[43:23.940 --> 43:26.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's kind of tough sometimes because they won't really tell you where that is.
[43:26.900 --> 43:36.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: But once you do find out where it is and you're able to talk to somebody perhaps that has some technical knowledge inside, they may be able to say, yes, every Tuesday at 2 a.m.
[43:36.240 --> 43:40.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: we do diagnostics and that might make your light go on on the telephone.
[43:40.540 --> 43:44.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Another thing I suggest doing is getting another kind of a phone.
[43:45.060 --> 43:48.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, one that doesn't necessarily need a key system to operate.
[43:48.440 --> 43:48.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[43:48.960 --> 43:50.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: And just plugging it directly into the interface.
[43:50.980 --> 43:56.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: But it has to have one of those lights that gets turned on whenever you pick up the phone.
[43:56.040 --> 43:58.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: See if the same thing happens to that kind of a phone as well.
[43:59.000 --> 44:03.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, eliminate the key system as the cause.
[44:03.960 --> 44:04.520]  [SPEAKER_11]: Right.
[44:04.980 --> 44:18.240]  [SPEAKER_11]: Now, what you're saying would be accurate even if both lines come on and off alternately in different paces, at different paces.
[44:19.320 --> 44:21.460]  [SPEAKER_11]: It's not just one line that's being accessed.
[44:21.840 --> 44:22.060]  [SPEAKER_06]: Right.
[44:24.440 --> 44:35.500]  [SPEAKER_11]: Sometimes one line will come on and stay on and then go off and then sometimes they will alternate one line and the next line and then the first line and the second line and the first line and the second line in alternating frequencies.
[44:35.680 --> 44:42.220]  [SPEAKER_11]: I mean, sometimes they come on and off at a very fast clip and at other times they come on at a slower pace.
[44:42.400 --> 44:42.780]  [SPEAKER_06]: Uh-huh.
[44:43.360 --> 44:46.660]  [SPEAKER_11]: And then sometimes it's just one line, sometimes it's just the other line.
[44:46.880 --> 44:50.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: It sounds like somebody's doing tests on different kinds of lines.
[44:51.540 --> 44:55.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: Another good thing to do would be to... You know what you should do?
[44:56.040 --> 44:56.560]  [SPEAKER_00]: Try this.
[44:56.740 --> 44:58.640]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you can get your technical person to do this.
[44:59.000 --> 45:08.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: When you see one of the lines go on, reverse the lines and see if it moves to the other line or if it stays on the one where it was lit.
[45:08.460 --> 45:12.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: That way you'll know if it's your key system right away or if it's actually the phone company.
[45:12.940 --> 45:13.340]  [SPEAKER_11]: Okay.
[45:13.620 --> 45:17.040]  [SPEAKER_11]: Now, this doesn't indicate that anyone is playing around with our telephone, does it?
[45:17.420 --> 45:18.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean...
[45:18.480 --> 45:20.160]  [SPEAKER_11]: In an invasion of privacy type manner?
[45:20.560 --> 45:23.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't say for sure, but it doesn't appear that way.
[45:23.520 --> 45:24.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't appear that way to me.
[45:25.040 --> 45:30.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: This could be some kind of data of some sort being sent down the line, but I really don't know why or how.
[45:31.100 --> 45:33.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what you guys have over there.
[45:33.260 --> 45:36.640]  [SPEAKER_11]: Well, it's just a very ordinary, simple, very simple system.
[45:36.800 --> 45:38.560]  [SPEAKER_11]: It's just basically two telephones.
[45:38.940 --> 45:42.460]  [SPEAKER_11]: Mine is the only one in the office that has two lines coming in on it, actually.
[45:43.000 --> 45:45.780]  [SPEAKER_11]: One is basically a private line and the other is a business line.
[45:45.960 --> 45:48.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you have other extensions on those same phones?
[45:49.140 --> 45:49.900]  [SPEAKER_11]: Only one.
[45:50.360 --> 45:52.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: Do they have lights the same way as your phone has lights?
[45:52.800 --> 45:54.500]  [SPEAKER_11]: Mine is the only phone that has lights.
[45:54.680 --> 45:54.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[45:54.900 --> 45:59.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you could get a second phone that had lights, you'd be able to have some more conclusions.
[46:00.360 --> 46:00.740]  [SPEAKER_11]: Right.
[46:00.980 --> 46:04.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Like you'd say, you know, it's definitely not this system, it's the line.
[46:04.960 --> 46:05.280]  [SPEAKER_11]: Right.
[46:05.340 --> 46:09.120]  [SPEAKER_11]: And you mean other phone units on these same lines?
[46:09.260 --> 46:09.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right, exactly.
[46:10.320 --> 46:12.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: But try switching them.
[46:12.160 --> 46:13.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: Try switching the two lines.
[46:13.420 --> 46:21.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you see a line go on, switch line one to line two, line two to line one, and see if the lit-up line moves to the line you switched it to.
[46:21.840 --> 46:22.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[46:22.920 --> 46:23.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[46:23.420 --> 46:24.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I would do.
[46:24.220 --> 46:25.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, thank you very much.
[46:25.100 --> 46:25.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, thanks for calling.
[46:26.600 --> 46:27.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing like a mystery, huh?
[46:28.580 --> 46:29.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: Good evening.
[46:29.520 --> 46:30.340]  [SPEAKER_02]: Good evening, Emmanuel.
[46:30.600 --> 46:31.020]  [SPEAKER_02]: How you doing?
[46:31.180 --> 46:32.260]  [SPEAKER_02]: You have a great show.
[46:32.380 --> 46:32.620]  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
[46:32.780 --> 46:34.460]  [SPEAKER_02]: Here comes some more fun from New Jersey.
[46:34.660 --> 46:35.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, what's that?
[46:35.460 --> 46:42.260]  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I manage a small business in New Jersey, and I've had a run-in with directory assistants just today, as a matter of fact.
[46:42.340 --> 46:43.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: A run-in with directory assistants?
[46:43.580 --> 46:44.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: That sounds pretty scary.
[46:44.520 --> 46:51.960]  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's sort of a reverse invasion of privacy in that I can keep my number away from all of my customers with doing business with New Jersey Bell.
[46:53.180 --> 46:57.880]  [SPEAKER_02]: Customers come into my place regularly and tell me that they can't find our number through directory assistants.
[46:58.200 --> 46:58.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: Really?
[46:58.540 --> 47:06.800]  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, and someone in our business had apparently taken care of the problem, but it was never really taken care of, and today was the last straw.
[47:07.180 --> 47:11.360]  [SPEAKER_02]: So I decided to call directory assistants, and our business name is Two Initials.
[47:11.860 --> 47:12.280]  [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[47:12.500 --> 47:16.700]  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I called directory assistants and gave them the name of the company.
[47:16.860 --> 47:20.280]  [SPEAKER_02]: They tried the number, they couldn't, or the name, rather, they couldn't get the number.
[47:21.920 --> 47:23.780]  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, would you put a hyphen in there?
[47:24.000 --> 47:25.600]  [SPEAKER_02]: We tried a hyphen, he said.
[47:25.700 --> 47:26.860]  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, what's the problem?
[47:26.860 --> 47:42.400]  [SPEAKER_02]: He said that apparently the computer had so many names with our two initials in the beginning of it that it was busy scrolling through these and couldn't choose one, and that was the reason why our number couldn't get through, that he couldn't give the number to our customers.
[47:43.140 --> 47:44.760]  [SPEAKER_02]: And I thought that was kind of odd.
[47:45.020 --> 47:52.860]  [SPEAKER_02]: After checking the directory myself, I found that we were the only company in the area with these two initials as the beginning of our name.
[47:53.540 --> 48:06.880]  [SPEAKER_02]: So I called the business office and told them of my dilemma, and what they told me was that for an additional charge each month, I can have my listing changed, and that would be the only way around this problem.
[48:07.260 --> 48:10.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: You mean your company name changed?
[48:10.280 --> 48:20.340]  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, we would have to change a certain aspect of it, and it would cost us a certain amount of money per month, in addition to what we already charge, or already are charged, rather.
[48:20.780 --> 48:22.340]  [SPEAKER_02]: So I thought that was rather peculiar.
[48:22.680 --> 48:26.160]  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm wondering about this, and it is kind of odd.
[48:27.620 --> 48:35.980]  [SPEAKER_02]: His answer was rather cryptic, you know, with the computer scrolling through the names and our name being so similar to other names that don't even exist.
[48:36.700 --> 48:38.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, if you give...
[48:38.440 --> 48:42.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: If somebody gives the full name of your company, will they get the number, yes or no?
[48:42.640 --> 48:46.760]  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, our company is only known by its two initials, okay?
[48:47.000 --> 48:48.640]  [SPEAKER_02]: And it would be blank, blank company.
[48:49.640 --> 48:52.060]  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's how it's been known for 45 years.
[48:52.280 --> 48:56.140]  [SPEAKER_02]: But apparently this is only a recent phenomenon, as long as I've worked there anyway.
[48:56.460 --> 48:56.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh.
[48:57.100 --> 48:57.840]  [SPEAKER_02]: But, uh...
[48:57.840 --> 49:04.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, now, you should be able to obtain from your phone book a list of everything in your town that has those two initials.
[49:04.880 --> 49:11.140]  [SPEAKER_02]: Which I have, and there is only one company in this area, other than us, that has the same two initials.
[49:11.640 --> 49:14.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Then there's no reason why they should be able to handle that.
[49:14.140 --> 49:14.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[49:14.580 --> 49:15.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: Especially if you say it's a business.
[49:15.800 --> 49:17.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: They ask you, is it a business or a residence?
[49:17.500 --> 49:18.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: They can tell the difference.
[49:18.560 --> 49:18.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[49:19.060 --> 49:21.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, uh, you're paying for a business line, are you not?
[49:22.140 --> 49:22.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, yes.
[49:22.760 --> 49:23.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: You pay extra for that.
[49:23.960 --> 49:25.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: You have a yellow page listing.
[49:25.580 --> 49:25.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[49:25.920 --> 49:29.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, there's no reason why you should have to put up with an app service like that.
[49:29.480 --> 49:30.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: But go straight to the top.
[49:30.620 --> 49:32.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: Tell them, you know, you're not going to put up with this.
[49:32.820 --> 49:33.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: They're the phone company.
[49:33.960 --> 49:38.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: They're in charge of, uh, of giving out your phone number when people ask for it.
[49:38.620 --> 49:40.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, you know, you should not take no for an answer.
[49:41.140 --> 49:47.460]  [SPEAKER_02]: With regard to the, uh, computer, uh, answer that I received from the directory assistance operator, do you think that was a crank?
[49:47.640 --> 49:49.860]  [SPEAKER_02]: Or do you find, uh, is there some validity in that?
[49:49.940 --> 49:52.900]  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he claimed that the computer was just rolling through.
[49:53.180 --> 49:58.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let me tell you, when I talk to a directory assistance operator, I usually get a different answer no matter what question I ask.
[49:58.540 --> 50:01.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, they say, uh, oh, you know, the computer's down.
[50:01.140 --> 50:01.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: The computer is slow.
[50:02.080 --> 50:03.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: The computer is wrong.
[50:03.180 --> 50:04.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: There's always something different.
[50:04.320 --> 50:07.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you call somebody else right afterwards, you'll get a completely different response.
[50:07.620 --> 50:09.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, for them, maybe that's the answer.
[50:09.860 --> 50:15.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: But, uh, they're not the people in the position to, to make decisions or to change software or that kind of thing.
[50:15.500 --> 50:15.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[50:15.720 --> 50:17.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: If it's a fault in the system, they're responsible for that.
[50:18.240 --> 50:21.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, there's no reason why you should have to pay these outlandish fees to them.
[50:21.260 --> 50:23.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what you're paying them for so that they'll provide a service for you.
[50:24.060 --> 50:26.540]  [SPEAKER_02]: And it is, it is a ridiculously low fee.
[50:26.640 --> 50:27.960]  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a dollar four per month.
[50:28.240 --> 50:29.420]  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that...
[50:29.420 --> 50:30.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: For a business line?
[50:30.660 --> 50:33.320]  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, what I'm saying is for the additional, uh, charge.
[50:33.320 --> 50:34.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: The additional charge.
[50:34.280 --> 50:38.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I would not consider an additional charge, uh, to, to fix one of their mistakes.
[50:38.620 --> 50:39.140]  [SPEAKER_02]: Of course not.
[50:39.240 --> 50:42.840]  [SPEAKER_02]: No, but I'm, what I'm saying is there might be other people who would be duped by that.
[50:43.040 --> 50:43.280]  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, sure.
[50:43.280 --> 50:44.540]  [SPEAKER_02]: Who would think that would be a substantial...
[50:44.540 --> 50:48.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: Just like the, the wire maintenance fee and the Touch-Tone fee and all the other things that they, uh, throw our way.
[50:48.920 --> 50:55.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: But, uh, I think if you have, if you have an instinct about these things, you'll know that it's not, uh, it's not the answer to a problem.
[50:55.400 --> 50:57.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I doubt it would even solve the problem, to be honest.
[50:57.820 --> 50:58.440]  [SPEAKER_02]: Of course not.
[51:03.320 --> 51:04.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: I think, I'm sure, affects a lot of people.
[51:04.900 --> 51:05.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[51:05.380 --> 51:05.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[51:05.840 --> 51:06.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for calling.
[51:06.560 --> 51:06.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: Bye-bye.
[51:07.280 --> 51:11.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I mentioned AT&T probably has the same initials as other companies.
[51:11.660 --> 51:13.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder how much trouble they have.
[51:13.520 --> 51:14.240]  [SPEAKER_03]: Good evening.
[51:14.740 --> 51:15.880]  [SPEAKER_03]: Good evening, Emmanuel.
[51:16.140 --> 51:16.400]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[51:16.840 --> 51:17.860]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, great program.
[51:18.200 --> 51:18.420]  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[51:18.500 --> 51:28.040]  [SPEAKER_03]: Um, I'm very interested in your discussion or the part about, um, computer connections into foreign countries.
[51:28.740 --> 51:32.860]  [SPEAKER_03]: And, um, how, how do we link up with Usernet?
[51:32.860 --> 51:35.780]  [SPEAKER_03]: Usernet and Internet, which is the cheapest?
[51:36.240 --> 51:41.720]  [SPEAKER_03]: And is it possible to use this, let's say, in the United States, if I wanted to call Buffalo?
[51:42.180 --> 51:47.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's, uh, by call, you don't mean carry on a voice conversation, do you?
[51:48.260 --> 51:48.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Um.
[51:49.820 --> 51:52.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: Because this is, this is primarily a data, a data system.
[51:53.140 --> 51:55.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: You can, you can send mail back and forth to people.
[51:56.300 --> 51:59.100]  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, but how, how would I link up with Usernet?
[51:59.280 --> 52:01.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, Usernet is what you're talking about.
[52:01.220 --> 52:05.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and that's, uh, uh, that's basically, uh, a bunch of news groups.
[52:05.880 --> 52:11.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: For instance, there's a news group on, say, Star Trek or something, you know, uh, something that people talk about, something that people are into.
[52:11.540 --> 52:11.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[52:11.880 --> 52:15.460]  [SPEAKER_00]: And you call on your particular system and you post a message to this news group.
[52:15.860 --> 52:15.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[52:15.900 --> 52:23.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: Your message gets, uh, gets added to the news group and distributed all over the world and mailed to different computer systems.
[52:23.960 --> 52:23.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[52:23.980 --> 52:26.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: And they all have your message on it at some point.
[52:26.080 --> 52:27.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't all appear in the same order.
[52:27.840 --> 52:30.080]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, that's pretty much what Usernet does.
[52:30.360 --> 52:31.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Internet is a lot more sophisticated.
[52:32.220 --> 52:36.900]  [SPEAKER_00]: Internet allows you to actually have real-time conversations with people in other parts of the world.
[52:37.080 --> 52:42.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: It allows you to, uh, uh, to mail things instantly, transfer huge files, that kind of thing.
[52:42.800 --> 52:44.900]  [SPEAKER_03]: How do, how does one link up with Internet?
[52:44.900 --> 52:49.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the, there's a couple of ways, um, there, one is through the military.
[52:49.940 --> 52:51.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: The military certainly uses Internet a lot.
[52:52.300 --> 52:56.420]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, various corporations use Internet, uh, and schools.
[52:56.720 --> 52:57.720]  [SPEAKER_00]: Schools use Internet.
[52:57.940 --> 53:05.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's very, uh, inexpensive, even, uh, free for students to use Internet if they, um, are registered in a particular, uh, program.
[53:06.220 --> 53:07.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people have Internet accounts.
[53:08.040 --> 53:08.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: They don't even know it.
[53:09.120 --> 53:14.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you go to a school, if you're a student someplace, you should see if you have an Internet account or if you can get one.
[53:14.380 --> 53:17.320]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you can get one, it's well worth learning about.
[53:17.400 --> 53:23.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I would suggest even taking a course at a school just to get the Internet account because you'll learn so much from it.
[53:23.900 --> 53:39.100]  [SPEAKER_00]: And just being able to play around and, uh, and, and communicate with other people and have an Internet mailbox that anybody around the world who has Internet access can mail to you, uh, without having to pay a monthly fee or an hourly fee like all these other commercial services have.
[53:39.280 --> 53:39.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[53:39.640 --> 53:42.220]  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll just be getting so much, uh, technical knowledge.
[53:42.220 --> 53:45.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll also be getting so much of a feeling for what computers can do.
[53:46.260 --> 53:55.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think rather than, than scare people off by charging them, you know, a hundred dollars an hour or something to, uh, to access something, give them all the access they want for nothing.
[53:55.840 --> 53:59.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: Let them play around with it and, and, and learn and, and grow with it.
[53:59.900 --> 54:05.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: And fortunately, this is one of the few things that is actually paid for, uh, by government grants.
[54:05.820 --> 54:10.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, one of the few things that, that, you know, Reagan didn't find necessary to cut.
[54:10.060 --> 54:16.420]  [SPEAKER_03]: But, uh, technology, you have now the ability to download pictures and even voice communications through the computer.
[54:17.480 --> 54:26.340]  [SPEAKER_03]: So, um, you could make a, a, a, a, a larger file, but download it in a very short time if your BOD rate is going up faster and faster.
[54:26.340 --> 54:27.020]  [SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
[54:27.300 --> 54:27.340]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[54:27.440 --> 54:35.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: For instance, what I did last night was I was able to access my local system, my local Internet account, then use a program called FTP, which is file transfer protocol.
[54:36.140 --> 54:40.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: It, uh, allows you to copy files from one Internet system to another.
[54:40.420 --> 54:48.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: I accessed a system in, in, uh, Australia, was able to copy about 10 megabytes worth of files in a few minutes over to one system.
[54:48.960 --> 54:51.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm downloading them to my local system over the phone line.
[54:51.780 --> 54:56.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still on the same phone call and it's, uh, it's costing about 10 cents to do that.
[54:56.580 --> 54:56.840]  [SPEAKER_03]: I see.
[54:56.980 --> 55:01.600]  [SPEAKER_03]: So you're really in essence like a subdirectory of a main directory, which is being downloaded.
[55:02.260 --> 55:06.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, well it's, you know, it's, it's, it's a bunch of files that were on one system.
[55:06.220 --> 55:09.660]  [SPEAKER_00]: They've been copied to another and now they're being downloaded over the phone lines.
[55:09.780 --> 55:09.980]  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
[55:10.220 --> 55:11.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's, that's how the Internet works.
[55:11.920 --> 55:13.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: You can transfer things left and right.
[55:13.960 --> 55:14.800]  [SPEAKER_00]: You can communicate with people.
[55:14.920 --> 55:24.540]  [SPEAKER_03]: And the cost of this, because of the BOD rate and its speed, um, it's, um, very small amount of, it's very small cost.
[55:25.000 --> 55:26.620]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it depends how you do it.
[55:26.660 --> 55:32.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, if, uh, uh, if you call up Australia and download it at 300 BOD, of course it's going to be very expensive.
[55:32.400 --> 55:40.160]  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you, uh, take advantage of technology and, and, and the advances that it has made, uh, it won't cost you barely anything.
[55:40.320 --> 55:43.340]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, let's say I didn't use Internet.
[55:44.000 --> 55:49.460]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, let's say I just connected with England or Europe or wherever I wanted to connect, Australia.
[55:49.720 --> 55:49.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[55:50.320 --> 55:57.280]  [SPEAKER_03]: And I have a modem which runs at, let's say the 9,600 BOD, which is I think my standard modem.
[55:58.140 --> 56:03.280]  [SPEAKER_03]: Could I, how long would it take and what would, it would be the minimum charge for the phone call, correct?
[56:03.540 --> 56:04.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's put it this way.
[56:04.300 --> 56:06.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm downloading a 2,400 BOD now.
[56:06.140 --> 56:07.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to take over 24 hours.
[56:07.680 --> 56:10.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: So, um, 9,600 is four times as fast.
[56:11.120 --> 56:12.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: The minimum it would take you would be six hours.
[56:13.660 --> 56:20.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a six hour call to, uh, Australia at any time of the day is going to be, uh, you know, a sight to behold.
[56:20.700 --> 56:21.300]  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's put it that way.
[56:21.380 --> 56:23.660]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that'd be an incredible amount of money.
[56:23.760 --> 56:25.840]  [SPEAKER_00]: It would be, but there's other ways of doing it.
[56:25.960 --> 56:28.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: There's other ways of doing just about everything these days.
[56:28.420 --> 56:29.600]  [SPEAKER_00]: And they're not illegal.
[56:29.740 --> 56:33.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: They're not, uh, something that, uh, that is breaking any kind of law or anything like that.
[56:34.040 --> 56:35.320]  [SPEAKER_03]: It's services available.
[56:35.800 --> 56:36.900]  [SPEAKER_03]: You can... Right.
[56:37.040 --> 56:39.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: Technology is changing, but are we really seeing the benefits of it?
[56:39.980 --> 56:50.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: We, we can, if we look for it, if we go out there and, and, and play around with it and figure out what the best system is to use and how we can do things faster, you can make a phone call for 10 cents and get 10 megabytes worth of information on it.
[56:51.080 --> 56:51.240]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[56:51.660 --> 56:55.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: But if, uh, if you don't change with the times, you'll spend a lot of money.
[56:55.860 --> 56:58.860]  [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, nobody's going to really go out there and tell you not to spend a lot of money.
[56:59.720 --> 57:00.540]  [SPEAKER_03]: I see.
[57:01.000 --> 57:02.360]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, just one other thing.
[57:02.600 --> 57:07.660]  [SPEAKER_03]: Whenever I call like long distance and I don't get through, they charge me for the connection.
[57:07.880 --> 57:09.280]  [SPEAKER_03]: They, I see it on the bill.
[57:09.700 --> 57:12.200]  [SPEAKER_00]: Then change your company because they should not be doing that.
[57:12.460 --> 57:13.380]  [SPEAKER_00]: What company is that?
[57:13.640 --> 57:14.360]  [SPEAKER_03]: AT&T.
[57:14.480 --> 57:15.540]  [SPEAKER_00]: AT&T does that?
[57:15.960 --> 57:16.280]  Yeah.
[57:16.760 --> 57:18.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, they should not be doing that.
[57:18.480 --> 57:21.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, are you sure you're, uh, what, what kind of a number are you calling?
[57:22.480 --> 57:23.260]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, Buffalo.
[57:23.620 --> 57:26.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it a regular phone number or is it like a... It's in a college.
[57:27.320 --> 57:28.140]  [SPEAKER_03]: U of B.
[57:28.620 --> 57:34.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: It might be the college is kicking in supervision whenever you access their ringing, which is, is bad.
[57:34.400 --> 57:38.180]  [SPEAKER_00]: You should report that to AT&T and say they, uh, you know, there's an error here.
[57:38.340 --> 57:39.980]  [SPEAKER_00]: Keep track of all the calls you make there.
[57:40.660 --> 57:45.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, if it's that, then no phone company is going to, uh, is going to let you go on that.
[57:45.300 --> 57:48.460]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but no, there shouldn't be a charge for a non-connection.
[57:48.520 --> 57:49.060]  [SPEAKER_03]: Of course not.
[57:49.260 --> 57:49.780]  [SPEAKER_00]: Of course not.
[57:49.920 --> 57:53.480]  [SPEAKER_00]: There shouldn't be, but that doesn't prevent, uh, you know, some technical problems.
[57:53.480 --> 57:54.960]  [SPEAKER_03]: Some of the companies are trying to charge you.
[57:55.240 --> 58:04.940]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I don't know if they're trying to charge you so much or if it's just some kind of a technical glitch that, uh, that makes all the phone companies think that they've picked up when in actuality they haven't since it's all to the same...
[58:04.940 --> 58:09.260]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but it's all like .45 cents, .35 cents, or...
[58:09.260 --> 58:09.820]  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter.
[58:09.880 --> 58:19.400]  [SPEAKER_00]: You shouldn't be charged anything because once, once they sneak in the rules, you know, where they can charge you for uncompleted calls, pretty soon it will become policy and we have to make sure that doesn't happen.
[58:19.740 --> 58:20.280]  [SPEAKER_03]: I see.
[58:20.700 --> 58:20.960]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?
[58:21.260 --> 58:22.040]  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, thank you.
[58:22.200 --> 58:22.740]  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for calling.
[58:22.860 --> 58:23.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Bye-bye.
[58:23.440 --> 58:25.280]  [SPEAKER_00]: See if we can squeeze in one or two more.
[58:25.500 --> 58:25.640]  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks.
[58:25.740 --> 58:26.120]  [SPEAKER_03]: Good evening.
[58:26.540 --> 58:27.260]  [SPEAKER_13]: Hi, Emmanuel?
[58:27.460 --> 58:27.920]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go ahead.
[58:28.080 --> 58:30.740]  [SPEAKER_13]: Hi, I have a question about the 950 numbers.
[58:30.740 --> 58:31.000]  [SPEAKER_13]: Yeah?
[58:31.400 --> 58:36.620]  [SPEAKER_13]: Darling, uh, access lines to make, uh, use the long distance calls for local, uh, calls.
[58:36.840 --> 58:37.000]  [SPEAKER_13]: Right.
[58:37.060 --> 58:43.120]  [SPEAKER_13]: I have, uh, Sprint, and they gave me the number, they gave me their off code, but they said it no longer works.
[58:43.280 --> 58:58.400]  [SPEAKER_13]: And the only way they said I'd be able to do it would be using their phone card, which is their calling card, which of course means there's a, uh, I think a 50 or 60 yard cent, uh, surcharge on that, which means that you won't save any money for making the local call.
[58:58.400 --> 59:06.000]  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, then drop, drop Sprint, use another company that does offer that, uh, cable and wireless, uh, Metromedia, they offer 950 numbers.
[59:06.280 --> 59:11.580]  [SPEAKER_13]: Okay, so you can make local calls then on those, uh, with their 950 numbers if you get them?
[59:11.720 --> 59:12.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[59:12.300 --> 59:12.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[59:12.700 --> 59:14.360]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's, it's, it's not easy to get them either.
[59:14.500 --> 59:16.760]  [SPEAKER_00]: You have to sort of battle them to get them in the first place.
[59:16.940 --> 59:22.880]  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's something I think the Public Service Commission should be looking at because, uh, 950 is a great service to have.
[59:23.000 --> 59:24.120]  [SPEAKER_00]: It's very convenient for people.
[59:24.460 --> 59:29.260]  [SPEAKER_00]: And payphones are just not, uh, you know, all that, uh, reliable as far as taking money and everything.
[59:29.500 --> 59:37.940]  [SPEAKER_13]: Another thing, New York TEL, uh, in terms of the PIN number, the personal identification number, used to, well, give the same number as AT&T.
[59:38.080 --> 59:39.060]  [SPEAKER_13]: They coordinated them.
[59:39.280 --> 59:46.700]  [SPEAKER_13]: They're changing that, so they sent out a letter telling people that your New York TEL PIN number will remain the same and your AT&T number will change.
[59:47.020 --> 59:57.540]  [SPEAKER_13]: However, because of a computer error, they're sending out the letters incorrectly so that I got a letter with the name of two other people on that who were not living at this address at all.
[59:57.880 --> 01:00:09.280]  [SPEAKER_13]: And then they sent me today a Western Union priority letter saying that, uh, because of a computer error, uh, the number may have been printed on both the envelope and its contents.
[01:00:09.520 --> 01:00:15.680]  [SPEAKER_13]: And they're claiming the other names did not receive any mail with your confidential calling card information.
[01:00:15.900 --> 01:00:18.680]  [SPEAKER_13]: Now, the original letter didn't put the PIN number on it.
[01:00:18.860 --> 01:00:23.960]  [SPEAKER_13]: And I noticed from the two other names that were on there, one of the people I happened to know.
[01:00:24.160 --> 01:00:32.060]  [SPEAKER_13]: And I looked up his number in the, uh, in the phone book and it's all, it was approximately about a hundred digits away from mine.
[01:00:32.240 --> 01:00:35.460]  [SPEAKER_13]: Um, and the other person was an unlisted number.
[01:00:35.600 --> 01:00:40.780]  [SPEAKER_13]: So I figured what they did is they, uh, got the numbers, uh, numerically by phone number.
[01:00:40.900 --> 01:00:47.720]  [SPEAKER_13]: Those people that had the New York TEL and the AT&T service and sent those out, but they formatted it incorrectly.
[01:00:48.040 --> 01:00:48.520]  [SPEAKER_13]: That sounds...
[01:00:49.280 --> 01:00:53.700]  [SPEAKER_13]: And this has been going on for several weeks and they're continuing to send out this letter.
[01:00:54.060 --> 01:00:56.840]  [SPEAKER_13]: According to the people at New York TEL and they're very annoyed at this.
[01:00:57.240 --> 01:01:04.080]  [SPEAKER_13]: So today I got the apology on their Western Union priority letter, which is just a regular letter for 29 cents.
[01:01:04.260 --> 01:01:05.540]  [SPEAKER_13]: It took two days to get here anyway.
[01:01:05.560 --> 01:01:06.520]  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we're out of time.
[01:01:06.660 --> 01:01:09.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: But, uh, as far as that goes, don't lose any sleep over it.
[01:01:09.620 --> 01:01:12.440]  [SPEAKER_00]: Make sure that, uh, you don't pay for any calls that you don't make.
[01:01:12.540 --> 01:01:14.060]  [SPEAKER_00]: Just keep an eye on your phone bill for that.
[01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:17.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, and that's just about all the time we have for tonight on off the hook.
[01:01:23.680 --> 01:01:26.580]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to thank everybody for tuning in this week.
[01:01:26.800 --> 01:01:32.040]  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back again next week with all kinds of other fun bits of information.
[01:01:32.320 --> 01:01:35.700]  [SPEAKER_00]: Stay tuned for the personal computer show here on WBAI New York.
[01:02:18.570 --> 01:02:20.590]  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking out over the city.
[01:02:21.150 --> 01:02:22.370]  [SPEAKER_01]: The towers.
[01:02:22.750 --> 01:02:23.590]  [SPEAKER_01]: Two moons.
[01:02:23.830 --> 01:02:24.510]  I'm looking out over the city.
[01:02:24.510 --> 01:02:24.510]  The towers.
[01:02:24.510 --> 01:02:24.510]  Two moons.