Off The Hook - 1995-02-01

[00:02.610 --> 00:05.410]  [SPEAKER_31]: Cue and Shkenechity Avenue in Brooklyn.
[00:05.730 --> 00:10.730]  [SPEAKER_31]: For more information, 212-330-8277.
[00:10.730 --> 00:14.470]  [SPEAKER_31]: That's 212-330-8277.
[00:22.450 --> 00:26.550]  [SPEAKER_23]: Cuban focuses back in a regular monthly one-hour time slot.
[00:26.670 --> 00:29.390]  [SPEAKER_30]: The last Monday of every month from 8 to 9 p.m.
[00:29.410 --> 00:32.410]  [SPEAKER_30]: is part of the WBAI weekly report on the Americas.
[00:32.610 --> 00:36.750]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, for the latest news, culture, and information about Cuba...
[00:36.750 --> 00:40.310]  [SPEAKER_30]: ...that the corporate media won't broadcast, join Sally O'Brien...
[00:40.310 --> 00:41.570]  [SPEAKER_23]: ...Consuelo Correter...
[00:41.570 --> 00:44.350]  [SPEAKER_30]: ...and Zenzelie Hoysang, the last Monday in the month...
[00:44.350 --> 00:45.650]  [SPEAKER_23]: ...from 8 to 9 p.m.
[00:45.810 --> 00:47.130]  [SPEAKER_23]: for Cuba in Focus.
[00:59.730 --> 01:03.210]  [SPEAKER_18]: And you're listening to radio station WBAI in New York.
[01:03.210 --> 01:06.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's just about 10 o'clock, which means it's time for Off the Hook.
[01:15.130 --> 01:19.530]  [SPEAKER_14]: The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
[01:20.670 --> 01:25.050]  [SPEAKER_14]: I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a call.
[01:25.690 --> 01:27.850]  [SPEAKER_14]: It couldn't be yet much worse.
[01:28.490 --> 01:30.390]  [SPEAKER_13]: But if they could, they would.
[01:30.650 --> 01:33.250]  [SPEAKER_13]: Bon, diddly bon, for the best, expect the worst.
[01:33.890 --> 01:35.790]  [SPEAKER_13]: I hope that's understood.
[01:36.150 --> 01:36.810]  [SPEAKER_13]: Bon, diddly bon!
[02:33.440 --> 02:35.080]  [SPEAKER_18]: And a very good evening to everybody.
[02:35.080 --> 02:36.160]  [SPEAKER_18]: This is Emmanuel Goldstein.
[02:36.240 --> 02:40.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: The program is Off the Hook, where we talk about computer hackers and the Internet.
[02:40.460 --> 02:41.680]  [SPEAKER_18]: Why is everybody standing?
[02:41.980 --> 02:44.040]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's not a holiday in the hacker world, is it?
[02:44.440 --> 02:44.860]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[02:45.220 --> 02:48.860]  [SPEAKER_18]: We have all kinds of special things for you tonight.
[02:48.860 --> 02:53.060]  [SPEAKER_18]: including information on 500 numbers.
[02:53.760 --> 02:56.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: And we don't mean 500 different telephone numbers.
[02:56.520 --> 03:01.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: We mean the 500 area code, which is starting to come around and rear its head.
[03:01.380 --> 03:09.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: And we also have some neat info on various crazy things going on in the world, of which there are always many.
[03:09.400 --> 03:13.960]  [SPEAKER_18]: So, stay tuned, and we'll let you know exactly what's going on.
[03:14.220 --> 03:19.680]  [SPEAKER_28]: Galactic matter strewn through unimaginable emptiness, like dewdrops on a spider's web.
[03:19.880 --> 03:21.520]  [SPEAKER_28]: I call this part spaceflight.
[03:23.580 --> 03:25.420]  [SPEAKER_29]: It's helped the mind to relax.
[03:25.900 --> 03:29.980]  [SPEAKER_29]: Because we're in a situation where it's silent, tranquil, very calm.
[03:30.480 --> 03:33.700]  [SPEAKER_29]: We're in a situation where we're floating, and so we're in a whiteness situation.
[03:34.420 --> 03:36.860]  [SPEAKER_19]: There really is no up or down.
[03:37.020 --> 03:37.560]  [SPEAKER_19]: Up or down.
[03:53.640 --> 03:55.140]  [SPEAKER_29]: I wonder what his wife is.
[03:55.380 --> 03:57.040]  [SPEAKER_29]: He can just loose.
[04:13.410 --> 04:17.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, it's been a busy week, as it always is.
[04:19.490 --> 04:26.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: And we have some really interesting things from the Risks Digest, which we haven't looked at in a while.
[04:27.870 --> 04:34.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: Risks Digest is a USENET magazine that you can see on the Internet, those of you with true Internet access.
[04:36.130 --> 04:44.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: And here are a couple of things which may make you think a couple of times before you do things that involve privacy or security or whatnot.
[04:51.320 --> 04:53.100]  [SPEAKER_18]: Here's something from England.
[04:53.280 --> 05:02.640]  [SPEAKER_18]: The Manchester Guardian Weekly reported that plans for the UK national ID card system was found in a government surplus store.
[05:03.860 --> 05:11.280]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's right, the second-hand file cabinet was sold for about 35 pounds, which I guess is about 60 or 70 U.S.
[05:11.380 --> 05:11.620]  [SPEAKER_18]: dollars.
[05:15.060 --> 05:17.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's kind of wild to find something in that particular manner.
[05:18.120 --> 05:32.520]  [SPEAKER_18]: The second-hand file cabinet contained memos on investigation into the feasibility of smart card technology, a detailed card design, as well as cabinet-level letters exchanged on this topic.
[05:33.820 --> 05:38.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: And yes, the government has confirmed that the files are authentic.
[05:39.160 --> 05:43.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: At least at one point, there was a plan to have nationwide ID cards in England.
[05:43.700 --> 05:44.920]  [SPEAKER_18]: And that's the way you find things.
[05:44.940 --> 05:47.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: You go to garage sales, you look in old file cabinets.
[05:47.540 --> 05:55.020]  [SPEAKER_18]: And also, if you buy old computers, you know, you always want to look at those old hard drives, to see what kind of things haven't quite been erased yet.
[05:57.860 --> 06:01.120]  [SPEAKER_18]: And some of you may have heard this story about the plumber.
[06:01.900 --> 06:02.740]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yes, that's right.
[06:02.780 --> 06:04.620]  [SPEAKER_18]: There's a plumber in Levittown, New York.
[06:04.740 --> 06:17.080]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, this guy is accused of calling Bell Atlantic to order ultra-call-forwarding for at least five of his company's competitors, which enabled him to remotely redirect their calls to his phone.
[06:18.940 --> 06:21.800]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, so you call his competitor, and you get him.
[06:22.500 --> 06:26.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: It had to happen sooner or later, you know, with all these nifty services that they keep offering.
[06:26.880 --> 06:31.800]  [SPEAKER_18]: Somebody had to figure out a way to abuse them and use them to his advantage.
[06:32.840 --> 06:43.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, he was charged with theft by deception, criminal attempt, unlawful use of a computer, criminal trespass, and impersonating an employee.
[06:46.080 --> 06:50.460]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, also, unlawful use of a computer, criminal trespass.
[06:51.680 --> 06:52.560]  [SPEAKER_18]: Did I say that already?
[06:52.720 --> 06:53.880]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yes, an impersonating an employee.
[06:53.960 --> 06:54.760]  [SPEAKER_18]: They say it twice here.
[06:54.880 --> 06:57.740]  [SPEAKER_18]: I guess something's wrong with the Risk Digest this week.
[06:58.660 --> 07:05.260]  [SPEAKER_18]: This scam was detected when a customer complimented another firm on work performed over the Christmas weekend when, in fact, no one had been working.
[07:12.050 --> 07:13.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: And over to Germany now.
[07:13.330 --> 07:29.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Police have searched offices of Deutsche Telekom AG on Tuesday to determine whether staff at the German state telephone monopoly had withheld proof of computer hackers tapping into private phone lines to call foreign sex hotlines.
[07:30.270 --> 07:32.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, what is it with computer hackers?
[07:32.470 --> 07:36.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, you've got all this ability and you use it to call foreign sex hotlines.
[07:36.490 --> 07:37.170]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know.
[07:37.850 --> 07:41.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: Ah, not exactly the criminal mastermind of the 20th century.
[07:42.870 --> 07:55.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: Jürgen Froelich, chief prosecutor in Cologne, a city really hit by floods this week, said in a statement that police went through telecom offices in Bonn, Cologne, and Dusseldorf as part of an investigation into a gang of hackers.
[07:56.530 --> 07:59.090]  [SPEAKER_18]: The author continues with the following key points.
[07:59.170 --> 08:06.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: Legal authorities are investigating the possibility that Deutsche Telekom employees concealed data on stolen phone services.
[08:07.170 --> 08:14.630]  [SPEAKER_18]: Over 2 million Deutsche Telekom clients have complained about fraudulent phone calls charged to their accounts over the last 30 months.
[08:15.190 --> 08:24.530]  [SPEAKER_18]: Deutsche Telekom officials deny that its customers paid for any fraudulent calls, explaining that the criminals placed their calls from accounts obtained using false names.
[08:25.330 --> 08:29.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, keep in mind that over in Europe, it's a lot less common to get itemized billing.
[08:29.930 --> 08:36.890]  [SPEAKER_18]: So what you get instead is you pretty much get a number and you have to believe them and pay whatever they say you owe.
[08:37.330 --> 08:38.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: And there's no way to prove it.
[08:40.270 --> 08:41.670]  [SPEAKER_18]: Kind of like your electric bill.
[08:43.550 --> 08:46.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, how do you really know where those kilowatts are going?
[08:46.950 --> 08:51.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, it's the same thing with telephone service in many places.
[08:51.650 --> 08:56.550]  [SPEAKER_18]: And it's looked upon as an invasion of privacy to print the actual phone numbers that you called.
[08:57.290 --> 08:59.210]  [SPEAKER_18]: Apparently, people can look at that information.
[08:59.430 --> 09:00.630]  [SPEAKER_18]: In a way, it's very realistic.
[09:00.890 --> 09:04.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, if you don't print those numbers, people can't find out who you're talking to.
[09:04.190 --> 09:10.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: And back in Europe several decades ago, there was great interest in who was talking to who.
[09:11.350 --> 09:12.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: That could happen again.
[09:13.810 --> 09:16.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: And we have complete accountability here in this country.
[09:16.770 --> 09:21.410]  [SPEAKER_18]: Everybody knows not only who's talking to who, but who's calling who before you even pick up the telephone.
[09:21.650 --> 09:26.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: And sometimes, you know things before you've even done them.
[09:28.450 --> 09:31.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, a couple other interesting items.
[09:34.090 --> 09:36.670]  [SPEAKER_18]: Let's see what would be good here.
[09:38.270 --> 09:39.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: How about this?
[09:39.130 --> 09:42.950]  [SPEAKER_18]: How about the cat that sent a reply to somebody?
[09:44.370 --> 09:53.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, this story comes from a reader, Andrew Koenig from AT&T, who contributes this to the Risk Digest.
[09:53.830 --> 09:56.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: This morning, I was sitting at my home terminal reading mail.
[09:56.770 --> 09:58.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: I got up for a few minutes.
[09:58.130 --> 10:02.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: When I returned to the terminal, the screen showed a partial reply to the last message I had been reading.
[10:03.270 --> 10:04.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: It looked something like this.
[10:04.790 --> 10:12.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: You see a from line, a to line, a subject, actually a blank subject, and a partial word.
[10:13.730 --> 10:18.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: The word is edbone, E-D-B-O-N-E, and then a bunch of twos.
[10:19.550 --> 10:23.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, it didn't take me long to figure out what had happened.
[10:23.010 --> 10:27.250]  [SPEAKER_18]: This particular terminal has function keys that can be set to store strings.
[10:27.830 --> 10:35.250]  [SPEAKER_18]: Once upon a time, I used a machine called Redbone, the name of which was therefore stored in that function key.
[10:36.130 --> 10:39.650]  [SPEAKER_18]: Sitting on the table next to the keyboard was one of my two big fluffy cats.
[10:39.870 --> 10:47.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: She had evidently pressed that function key, and the mailer interpreted the R of Redbone as a request to reply to the message.
[10:48.490 --> 10:51.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: And after that, she must have spent some time sitting on the two key.
[10:53.530 --> 11:02.050]  [SPEAKER_18]: Fortunately, she didn't hit a control D, whatever you use to send mail in that particular mailer, but if you ever get a strange message from somebody, who knows?
[11:02.090 --> 11:07.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: It could be a cat or some other animal that happens to be wandering through.
[11:07.690 --> 11:09.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: How about a stamp machine horror story?
[11:09.830 --> 11:10.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: We've all had these.
[11:11.570 --> 11:14.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: But this is an intelligence stamp machine horror story.
[11:15.890 --> 11:16.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's right.
[11:16.610 --> 11:19.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: This is a stamp machine that was designed to protect you.
[11:19.890 --> 11:22.990]  [SPEAKER_18]: Except it did the exact opposite of what it was designed to do.
[11:24.610 --> 11:29.250]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yes, there was a stamp machine in the basement of one of the buildings in our corporate campus.
[11:29.250 --> 11:32.290]  [SPEAKER_18]: This comes from Belcor, from John Creans.
[11:33.070 --> 11:34.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: We also have a U.S.
[11:34.250 --> 11:38.530]  [SPEAKER_18]: post office in our backyard, but if you're lazy or in a hurry, it's much simpler to use the machine.
[11:38.770 --> 11:44.650]  [SPEAKER_18]: Anyway, I wanted to buy a book of stamps back when they were still a bargain at $5.80 for a book of $20.
[11:45.370 --> 11:47.090]  [SPEAKER_18]: I decided to go to this stamp machine.
[11:47.230 --> 11:49.430]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, I had $6 with me, a $5 and a $1.
[11:50.270 --> 11:56.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: There was a sign on the machine saying that the machine would give back no more than $0.50 in change.
[11:57.190 --> 12:02.630]  [SPEAKER_18]: I took this sign to mean that I could put in more money if I wanted, but the most change I could get for overpayment would be $0.50.
[12:03.630 --> 12:04.410]  [SPEAKER_18]: Makes sense, right?
[12:05.130 --> 12:05.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[12:06.230 --> 12:10.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: Anyway, for some reason, I decided that I wanted to get stamps.
[12:10.950 --> 12:18.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: I would put in $6.05, get $5.80 worth of stamps, and get a quarter back.
[12:20.550 --> 12:31.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: most candy vending machines will let you do this, but you have to put your change in first because if you put the bills in first, they'll know that you're overpaying and they won't let you put the coins in.
[12:32.010 --> 12:33.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: I started off with a nickel.
[12:33.550 --> 12:35.370]  [SPEAKER_18]: I then put the $1 bill in.
[12:35.710 --> 12:36.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: So far, so good.
[12:37.090 --> 12:39.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: I then attempted to put the $5 in.
[12:40.410 --> 12:43.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: The machine just wouldn't accept it.
[12:45.050 --> 12:49.050]  [SPEAKER_18]: I can't remember what message the machine gave me, but it was not very enlightening.
[12:49.430 --> 12:58.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: After trying five or ten times to get it to take the bill, I reached the conclusion that it just wasn't taking $5 bills today, since my bill was in pristine condition.
[13:01.270 --> 13:06.170]  [SPEAKER_18]: It also wouldn't let me get back the money I'd already put into the machine.
[13:08.630 --> 13:20.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: Since I was stuck with either losing my money or getting change and hoping I would finally get my stamps, I left the machine and dashed upstairs to our credit union to get change for the $5.
[13:22.470 --> 13:26.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: Luckily, there was no line, so I got my five $1 bills and ran back downstairs.
[13:27.550 --> 13:31.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: The money was still registered in the machine, so I proceeded to feed my $1 bills in.
[13:32.370 --> 13:38.910]  [SPEAKER_18]: Everything went fine, until I got to the fifth bill, which the machine refused to take.
[13:41.770 --> 13:44.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Once again, the bill was in perfect shape.
[13:45.870 --> 13:55.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: After trying a bunch more times, I realized that I would need exact change, so I walked down to the change machine in one of the break rooms to get the bill broken into coins.
[13:57.510 --> 14:08.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: Unfortunately, it took too long to get the coins, and I arrived back at the machine just in time to see it finish telling me that I had taken too long and reset itself, removing all traces of my money from the display.
[14:12.680 --> 14:18.260]  [SPEAKER_18]: You may have read about this, the guy that went for Cirque at Belcour, took out like a whole mailroom full of people.
[14:19.480 --> 14:21.220]  [SPEAKER_18]: Here's the finishing touches to the story.
[14:21.340 --> 14:31.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: As you have probably deduced by now, the machine had been programmed to not allow a person to put more than the next highest dollar amount into the machine from the purchase price of the stamps.
[14:31.980 --> 14:54.740]  [SPEAKER_18]: Since all the denominations of stamps were between 50 cents and 0 cents, books of 29 cents were $2.90 and $5.80 and postcard stamps were $1.90 or $3.80, the machine assumed that anyone putting in more than the next dollar would risk losing money, something they clearly would not want to do since they would lose money.
[14:55.360 --> 15:01.880]  [SPEAKER_18]: Never mind that they would also lose the money they put in up to this point since once the bills go into the machine they don't come back out.
[15:03.120 --> 15:10.100]  [SPEAKER_18]: The sign about getting a maximum of 50 cents back was misleading since the machine gave no opportunity to lose that much.
[15:12.520 --> 15:20.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: Luckily, the post office refunded my money without any hassle but I still wish whoever programmed the machine hadn't thought they were being so damn clever.
[15:23.450 --> 15:25.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: And that came from John Creans at Bellcore.
[15:26.310 --> 15:26.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: Our condolences.
[15:29.150 --> 15:31.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: You just gotta watch out for those smart machines.
[15:33.670 --> 15:35.370]  [SPEAKER_18]: The program is off the hook.
[15:35.690 --> 15:40.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: We're here until 10 o'clock and Phiber Optik you're here too.
[15:40.930 --> 15:41.370]  [SPEAKER_18]: Welcome.
[15:42.350 --> 15:44.430]  [SPEAKER_03]: We're a little late then if we're only here until 10.
[15:44.490 --> 15:45.290]  [SPEAKER_18]: Did I say we're here until 10?
[15:45.430 --> 15:46.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: I meant to say we're here until 11.
[15:46.910 --> 15:47.730]  [SPEAKER_18]: We're here from 10.
[15:48.490 --> 15:50.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: Sorry, I'm losing my mind today.
[15:50.290 --> 15:51.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: What's up with you?
[15:51.370 --> 15:51.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: Anything new?
[15:52.370 --> 16:01.230]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, actually the other day this week I attended a meeting at NYNEX World Headquarters an ironic place to be.
[16:01.330 --> 16:02.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: Where is NYNEX World Headquarters?
[16:02.850 --> 16:07.170]  [SPEAKER_03]: NYNEX World Headquarters for the uninformed is at 1095 6th Avenue.
[16:07.590 --> 16:07.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh-huh.
[16:07.810 --> 16:12.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: and they were having a meeting there because guess what?
[16:13.030 --> 16:13.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: What's that?
[16:14.170 --> 16:32.210]  [SPEAKER_03]: They're entering into a deal with a management company and the city government along with the mayor's go-ahead to set up some Metro Tech office complex thing or something like that.
[16:32.230 --> 16:33.310]  [SPEAKER_18]: Metro complex office thing?
[16:33.450 --> 16:34.210]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, one of those things.
[16:34.210 --> 16:42.290]  [SPEAKER_03]: in downtown Manhattan and what they want to do is lure companies lure them in to set up shop in this huge office complex.
[16:42.590 --> 16:53.610]  [SPEAKER_03]: Now what the meeting was supposed to be about was to see what a whole bunch of different cross-section of companies really wanted the building wired to do and NYNEX wants to be the ones to wire it.
[16:54.030 --> 17:09.450]  [SPEAKER_03]: So they called this meeting at World HQ and what it turned out to be was guess what a ploy to push ISDN A ploy to push ISDN?
[17:09.470 --> 17:09.670]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[17:09.810 --> 17:10.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[17:10.590 --> 17:18.090]  [SPEAKER_03]: Now the reason why that really fell apart and it kind of turned into something really ugly NYNEX bashing Yeah.
[17:18.310 --> 17:18.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[17:18.510 --> 17:20.050]  [SPEAKER_03]: It was because I'm familiar with that.
[17:20.130 --> 17:20.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: I've seen that.
[17:20.690 --> 17:25.590]  [SPEAKER_03]: The majority of people there were into video production and graphics rendering.
[17:26.010 --> 17:31.710]  [SPEAKER_03]: A good number of people there were and they need lots and lots and lots of bandwidth.
[17:32.990 --> 17:36.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: So once they announced and there were no technical people there.
[17:36.870 --> 17:53.610]  [SPEAKER_03]: They were all marketing people from NYNEX and from sales and from the ISDN basic rate and primary rate departments and they're touting how great it is that you have two B channels and that's a whopping 128 kilobits.
[17:53.750 --> 17:54.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, whopping.
[17:54.370 --> 18:07.490]  [SPEAKER_03]: Or you can even get 23 B channels on your T1 and everyone kind of just stares at each other giving each other these funny looks and then it kind of turned into a real pissing match.
[18:07.610 --> 18:11.310]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, well, it's not the kind of crowd you really want to say things like that in front of.
[18:11.410 --> 18:18.730]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, maybe you could say that in a mall someplace and get people to act impressed but, you know, for people that need the kind of bandwidth you're talking about.
[18:18.950 --> 18:25.230]  [SPEAKER_03]: Right, the majority of people there which, you know, was just coincidental did a lot of video production work.
[18:25.350 --> 18:31.410]  [SPEAKER_03]: They wanted things like, you know, like T3 access which is roughly 45 megabits.
[18:31.630 --> 18:38.710]  [SPEAKER_03]: So that kind of blows away the whole ISDN or primary rate ISDN service type thing.
[18:39.970 --> 18:42.330]  [SPEAKER_03]: So, and 9x tried to handle it well.
[18:42.550 --> 18:44.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: They said, this is good, we just want to take requests.
[18:45.090 --> 18:49.070]  [SPEAKER_03]: The whole purpose of this meeting is to see what you as the subscriber need.
[18:50.250 --> 18:54.750]  [SPEAKER_03]: And everyone's yammering that how come 9x isn't out there seeing what people need?
[18:54.950 --> 18:57.430]  [SPEAKER_03]: Why are they the last ones to get ISDN?
[18:57.830 --> 19:00.910]  [SPEAKER_03]: And they openly admit, yes, we are behind the times.
[19:01.490 --> 19:02.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'll say the behind the times.
[19:03.050 --> 19:11.670]  [SPEAKER_18]: Other RBOCs, if they still call them that even, in other parts of the country are offering ISDN service now almost as much as basic service.
[19:11.790 --> 19:16.630]  [SPEAKER_18]: They're offering it for residential people as well as businesses at affordable rates.
[19:16.630 --> 19:18.950]  [SPEAKER_18]: And I have not yet seen that for 9x.
[19:19.070 --> 19:19.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'm waiting.
[19:20.010 --> 19:25.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: What's interesting is that where I live we have a digital switch.
[19:25.310 --> 19:28.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: We have a DMS-100 in our central office.
[19:28.730 --> 19:31.190]  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's certainly ISDN capable.
[19:31.650 --> 19:34.270]  [SPEAKER_03]: Granted, the software might not be installed yet.
[19:34.770 --> 19:39.330]  [SPEAKER_03]: But it's a problem that ISDN is not available.
[19:39.330 --> 19:44.410]  [SPEAKER_03]: And I just moved in where I am now and I wanted to get ISDN service, residential ISDN.
[19:44.510 --> 19:44.730]  [SPEAKER_03]: Right.
[19:45.710 --> 19:47.730]  [SPEAKER_18]: Does that exist, residential ISDN?
[19:47.730 --> 19:49.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: I have not yet heard that phrase.
[19:49.050 --> 19:52.370]  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh yeah, it does in fact exist, although it's kind of a secret.
[19:52.550 --> 20:02.290]  [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, at this particular meeting, one of the business people brought up the point that ISDN, as far as 9x ISDN is concerned, is a stealth service.
[20:03.350 --> 20:05.530]  [SPEAKER_03]: You either know about it or you don't.
[20:05.710 --> 20:11.630]  [SPEAKER_03]: And whatever you know about it usually isn't enough to go by because they're simply not out there pushing for it.
[20:12.330 --> 20:17.790]  [SPEAKER_03]: But anyway, I wanted residential ISDN, I wanted basic rate ISDN where I live.
[20:18.430 --> 20:20.170]  [SPEAKER_03]: So I brought it up at this meeting.
[20:20.790 --> 20:33.270]  [SPEAKER_03]: And originally what it was is that January 15th, we were all supposed to be set and ready, an ISDN capable city, and you know, all sorts of fanfare and trumpets blaring and stuff like that.
[20:34.230 --> 20:36.570]  [SPEAKER_03]: And 9x is the one that made all this possible.
[20:36.730 --> 20:37.870]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well anyway, that didn't happen.
[20:37.870 --> 20:57.570]  [SPEAKER_03]: And the reason, the excuse that 9x came up with is that the new mayoral administration apparently, according to them, had put a moratorium, sort of a temporary cease on the deadline claiming that they need to...
[20:58.050 --> 21:00.290]  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't see what the mayor's office has to do with any of this.
[21:00.390 --> 21:00.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, they don't.
[21:01.030 --> 21:03.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, the mayor's office only handles New York City.
[21:03.290 --> 21:12.130]  [SPEAKER_03]: Right, but 9x is claiming that in New York City, the reason why the January 15th deadline was not held, you know, they didn't keep up with that deadline.
[21:12.990 --> 21:23.970]  [SPEAKER_03]: They're saying that the mayor's office put this temporary stop on it so that they can reassess the situation and negotiate the tariffs further with the FCC.
[21:24.370 --> 21:25.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's amazing.
[21:25.090 --> 21:28.170]  [SPEAKER_18]: 9x is great at blaming virtually everybody except themselves.
[21:28.470 --> 21:31.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: They blame the public service commission, the FCC, the mayor's office.
[21:32.170 --> 21:34.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'm sure they blame the customers at some point, not to us.
[21:35.090 --> 21:37.190]  [SPEAKER_03]: So now the new date is February 4th.
[21:37.410 --> 21:39.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, well, now that's a couple days from now.
[21:40.070 --> 21:40.150]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[21:40.830 --> 21:41.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: Isn't that a Saturday?
[21:42.410 --> 21:43.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: Is it really?
[21:43.110 --> 21:44.050]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, today's the first.
[21:44.410 --> 21:44.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh.
[21:44.910 --> 21:45.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, it's Saturday.
[21:45.670 --> 21:47.410]  [SPEAKER_18]: How could you have something like this on a Saturday?
[21:47.630 --> 21:48.850]  [SPEAKER_03]: So I guess it's not going to be.
[21:49.070 --> 21:50.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: I think they're yanking your chains there.
[21:50.270 --> 21:56.170]  [SPEAKER_03]: I told the primary rate ISDN representative if I could hold him personally responsible if it's still not available.
[21:56.390 --> 21:59.190]  [SPEAKER_03]: And he says, well, here's what we're going to do.
[21:59.630 --> 22:02.770]  [SPEAKER_03]: And I sounded like I was, you know, trying to buy a used car.
[22:03.430 --> 22:08.570]  [SPEAKER_03]: They said that they were going to come out with an interim service called Virtual ISDN.
[22:08.830 --> 22:11.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, like the Virtual Phone Service, which doesn't really exist.
[22:12.010 --> 22:19.010]  [SPEAKER_03]: And Virtual ISDN is supposed to be ISDN for people who don't yet have ISDN available.
[22:19.530 --> 22:21.530]  [SPEAKER_03]: How they're going to do this, they didn't explain.
[22:22.490 --> 22:24.250]  [SPEAKER_03]: They didn't explain how they were going to do this.
[22:24.250 --> 22:25.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: Provide things for people without providing them.
[22:25.450 --> 22:28.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, that sounds like NYNEX's credo there.
[22:28.530 --> 22:32.290]  [SPEAKER_03]: So they said, hopefully I should be able to get Virtual ISDN in the interim.
[22:32.410 --> 22:34.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: They said it's not as good because it's virtual.
[22:34.930 --> 22:35.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh-huh.
[22:36.410 --> 22:38.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: But they assured me it would be available.
[22:38.650 --> 22:39.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: I see.
[22:39.370 --> 22:41.610]  [SPEAKER_03]: So now, uh, they took all the questions.
[22:41.670 --> 22:42.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: A virtual date for all this?
[22:42.650 --> 22:42.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah.
[22:43.770 --> 22:44.890]  [SPEAKER_03]: A virtual date.
[22:45.050 --> 22:49.530]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, we have a virtual date for the next meeting, which is on February 23rd.
[22:49.670 --> 22:49.930]  [SPEAKER_11]: Uh-huh.
[22:50.250 --> 22:56.730]  [SPEAKER_03]: At which time they say that there's going to be people from NYNEX Science and Technology, NYNEXST?
[22:56.950 --> 22:58.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: Anybody go to these meetings?
[22:58.910 --> 23:01.170]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I'm sure, uh, well, I'd invite you.
[23:01.350 --> 23:02.230]  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, how are they going to know?
[23:02.670 --> 23:03.530]  [SPEAKER_03]: What are they going to say?
[23:03.810 --> 23:05.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, hey, you're Emmanuel Goldstein?
[23:05.770 --> 23:10.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: Transmitting at over 50,000 watts in New York City, that might be an indication that they know something.
[23:10.190 --> 23:11.650]  [SPEAKER_18]: But I mean, is the meeting open to the public as well?
[23:11.670 --> 23:12.210]  [SPEAKER_18]: No, it's not.
[23:12.410 --> 23:12.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, it's not.
[23:12.570 --> 23:14.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's open to businessmen, but we're businessmen.
[23:14.590 --> 23:16.790]  [SPEAKER_18]: But the street below the meeting is open to the public, right?
[23:20.390 --> 23:26.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: The street demonstration of some sort if people want to get to the ones that make decisions.
[23:26.530 --> 23:33.830]  [SPEAKER_03]: There's a note conspicuously attached to a magazine here in the studio that says, virtual ISDN coming February 30th.
[23:34.350 --> 23:36.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: There is no February 30th.
[23:39.430 --> 23:40.650]  [SPEAKER_18]: It really says that.
[23:40.950 --> 23:41.890]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it really says that.
[23:42.030 --> 23:42.550]  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, great.
[23:43.330 --> 23:53.050]  [SPEAKER_03]: So we're left with this meeting, and like I said, there were no technical people at this meeting at all, and NYNEX was certainly at a loss because they had all these angry people demanding answers.
[23:53.250 --> 24:00.330]  [SPEAKER_03]: All NYNEX could do was write them down and say that they were going to forward them to their engineers, who were supposed to be at this next meeting.
[24:00.510 --> 24:04.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, do you have people to follow up with that you can call them and see how the progress is going?
[24:04.910 --> 24:06.430]  [SPEAKER_03]: On their preparing these answers?
[24:06.510 --> 24:06.610]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[24:06.610 --> 24:14.510]  [SPEAKER_03]: No, they were very nondescript about how this whole process was going to be, but they assured us to attend the February 23rd meeting, and they would have answers.
[24:16.190 --> 24:17.230]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, okay.
[24:18.050 --> 24:20.250]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, that certainly sounds promising.
[24:20.250 --> 24:21.010]  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah.
[24:21.310 --> 24:21.430]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[24:22.150 --> 24:29.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, one thing that I should mention, though, is some of the little catchy mockery that was going on, which is really funny.
[24:29.970 --> 24:33.910]  [SPEAKER_03]: People were saying, never underestimate the bandwidth of a FedEx truck.
[24:35.250 --> 24:45.590]  [SPEAKER_03]: Because we had horror stories of video developers, people that are actually designing ads and cutting 30-second commercials, and doing rendering on silicon graphics, workstations, and so on.
[24:45.590 --> 24:45.890]  [SPEAKER_17]: Yes.
[24:46.190 --> 24:58.930]  [SPEAKER_03]: And what they were doing to get the ads to the people that contracted them was that they were saving them on tape, and then they were either FedExing or Learjetting the tape across the country.
[24:59.350 --> 25:01.050]  [SPEAKER_03]: And they say, this shouldn't be.
[25:01.250 --> 25:01.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: No.
[25:02.510 --> 25:03.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's true.
[25:03.550 --> 25:06.430]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's like communicating via tape instead of on the phone.
[25:06.690 --> 25:07.570]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it was kind of ridiculous.
[25:07.790 --> 25:16.550]  [SPEAKER_03]: Another guy had a horror story specifically with NYNEX, and this was the icing on the cake, and it basically left NYNEX just staring at each other, not knowing what Dumbfounded.
[25:17.030 --> 25:18.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: The old NYNEX dumbfounded look, yeah.
[25:18.930 --> 25:23.110]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, this gentleman apparently was giving a presentation at NYNEX.
[25:23.290 --> 25:25.330]  [SPEAKER_03]: He had basically rented space at NYNEX.
[25:25.470 --> 25:30.190]  [SPEAKER_03]: He wanted to demo ISDN and Internet servers to some potential clients, apparently.
[25:30.870 --> 25:34.790]  [SPEAKER_03]: So NYNEX gives him the office space at their headquarters, okay?
[25:35.010 --> 25:38.990]  [SPEAKER_03]: They give him a room that does not have ISDN, number one.
[25:39.170 --> 25:39.470]  [SPEAKER_11]: Okay.
[25:39.730 --> 25:43.370]  [SPEAKER_03]: Number two, if that isn't bad enough, their name service doesn't work.
[25:43.670 --> 25:51.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: And for those out there that are familiar with Internet, if you don't have a domain name server, you don't really have much of an Internet connection.
[25:52.350 --> 25:56.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: And the NYNEX people were scrambling to answer, well, it normally works.
[25:57.270 --> 25:59.990]  [SPEAKER_03]: But unfortunately for that presentation, it did not.
[26:00.870 --> 26:03.150]  [SPEAKER_03]: And this gentleman was not very pleased.
[26:03.370 --> 26:03.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: No.
[26:03.830 --> 26:06.250]  [SPEAKER_03]: So this was a pretty ugly meeting, as it sounds.
[26:06.990 --> 26:09.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, at the moment, we don't have much of a choice.
[26:09.970 --> 26:13.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: There are some choices out there, but in the months ahead, there will be choices.
[26:13.730 --> 26:13.890]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah.
[26:13.930 --> 26:29.550]  [SPEAKER_03]: I just want to say that the most logical alternative that we might see in the near future, Metro Fiber Systems, while they do offer service all over the city currently, they only have one switch so far in northern New Jersey.
[26:29.550 --> 26:37.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: and as it stands, Metro Fiber Systems will have most any price that NYNEX offers for any service.
[26:37.970 --> 26:41.430]  [SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately, MFS does not yet offer ISDN service.
[26:41.670 --> 26:43.950]  [SPEAKER_03]: They offer everything else that NYNEX does, though.
[26:44.330 --> 26:51.270]  [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm sure we will see ISDN availability from Metro Fiber Systems in the future, so we should keep our eyes open for that.
[26:52.930 --> 26:59.430]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, well, that's the update for ISDN or the lack thereof here in New York City.
[27:00.290 --> 27:04.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: And we'll be keeping people updated as far as what happens in the future.
[27:04.570 --> 27:07.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: Hopefully, we'll be seeing some movement on this because ISDN is the future.
[27:08.310 --> 27:11.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: But then again, NYNEX, well, you know NYNEX, they kind of live in the past.
[27:11.950 --> 27:22.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: In fact, let's dedicate this to NYNEX because I think it really defines them well to say that they're stuck with the modern Stone Age blues.
[27:23.010 --> 27:25.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: And it just kind of makes you want to scream.
[27:26.370 --> 27:26.850]  Woo!
[27:40.180 --> 28:16.340]  [SPEAKER_10]: Don't be a square wave, your hands in the air got nothing to lose but the Stone Age blues Show them out there that you have them they can't got nothing to lose but the Stone Age blues Living in Bedrock can be sweet Though it's a little hard on the But I don't mind what I have to do As long as I can lose The modern Stone Age blues When the whistle blows And it's time to go You've got nothing to
[28:16.340 --> 28:47.680]  [SPEAKER_10]: lose But the Stone Age blues If you want to go on to The rocket Well, you've got nothing to lose But the Stone Age blues So bring your start with times We're living in So please don't consider giving in But I don't mind what I have to do As long as I can lose The Modern Stone Age Blues What have you got to lose?
[28:48.080 --> 28:54.700]  [SPEAKER_10]: The Modern Stone Age Blues What have you got to lose?
[28:55.080 --> 28:57.320]  [SPEAKER_10]: The Modern Stone Age Blues
[29:10.740 --> 29:35.580]  [SPEAKER_10]: Take the weekend away and rock a pool, gonna be a guy, nothing to lose But the Stone Age Blues, there won't be no delay on pterodactyl air We got nothing to lose, but the Stone Age Blues Precious sometimes, surely you can get to a mix of chromatin black But I don't mind what I'll have to do,
[29:35.980 --> 29:47.240]  [SPEAKER_10]: as long as I can lose The Modern Stone Age Blues What have you got to lose?
[29:47.600 --> 29:54.120]  [SPEAKER_10]: The Modern Stone Age Blues What have you got to lose?
[29:54.700 --> 30:01.220]  [SPEAKER_10]: The Modern Stone Age Blues What have you got to lose?
[30:01.680 --> 30:08.100]  [SPEAKER_10]: The Modern Stone Age Blues What have you got to lose?
[30:08.720 --> 30:10.760]  [SPEAKER_10]: The Modern Stone Age Blues
[30:53.740 --> 30:58.180]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, in our case, the only thing we have to lose are our chains.
[30:58.340 --> 31:02.040]  [SPEAKER_18]: The chains that tie us to NYNEX, and hopefully that will change in the future.
[31:02.340 --> 31:07.120]  [SPEAKER_18]: Our friends from Big Audio with Modern Stone Age Blues off their higher power record.
[31:07.120 --> 31:10.040]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, this band changes its name more than any band I've ever seen.
[31:10.160 --> 31:12.120]  [SPEAKER_18]: They were Big Audio Dynamite, Big Audio Dynamite 2.
[31:12.200 --> 31:13.640]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now they're Big Audio, so I don't know.
[31:14.360 --> 31:15.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: Who knows what the next album will be.
[31:15.720 --> 31:16.680]  [SPEAKER_18]: Maybe they'll just be big.
[31:17.860 --> 31:20.740]  [SPEAKER_18]: Our phone number is 212-279-3400.
[31:21.580 --> 31:23.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: But I want to demonstrate something first.
[31:23.320 --> 31:24.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'm not sure if this is going to work.
[31:24.500 --> 31:25.640]  [SPEAKER_18]: I've never done this before.
[31:26.120 --> 31:27.720]  [SPEAKER_18]: But let's get ourselves a dial tone here.
[31:28.160 --> 31:28.780]  [SPEAKER_18]: We have one.
[31:28.900 --> 31:29.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: Great.
[31:29.520 --> 31:33.860]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'm going to try calling a 500 number, which I've never really succeeded in doing before.
[31:33.960 --> 31:36.040]  [SPEAKER_18]: In fact, I'm going to try dialing my own 500 number.
[31:39.000 --> 31:40.160]  [SPEAKER_18]: If I can remember what it is.
[31:40.260 --> 31:40.460]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, yes.
[31:42.820 --> 31:43.920]  [SPEAKER_18]: Let's see if it goes through.
[31:45.720 --> 31:47.900]  [SPEAKER_18]: If it does go through, I have no idea where it's going to go.
[31:51.310 --> 31:52.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: I hear silence.
[31:52.690 --> 31:53.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: Total silence.
[31:53.970 --> 31:56.350]  [SPEAKER_22]: Your call cannot be completed as dialed.
[31:56.570 --> 31:58.350]  [SPEAKER_22]: Please check the number and dial again.
[31:59.770 --> 32:01.070]  [SPEAKER_18]: Didn't sound like it went through there.
[32:02.430 --> 32:05.550]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, that's what happens right now if we call a 500 number.
[32:05.770 --> 32:09.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: Let's try one other 500 number, and that's 500 information.
[32:09.750 --> 32:10.890]  [SPEAKER_18]: See if we get anything on that.
[32:18.290 --> 32:22.850]  [SPEAKER_17]: Theoretically, that should exist, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't.
[32:24.790 --> 32:25.570]  [SPEAKER_22]: We're sorry.
[32:25.930 --> 32:27.930]  [SPEAKER_22]: Your call cannot be completed as dialed.
[32:27.950 --> 32:28.450]  [SPEAKER_17]: Different recording.
[32:28.590 --> 32:31.590]  [SPEAKER_22]: Check the number and dial again, or call your operator to help you.
[32:31.590 --> 32:33.230]  [SPEAKER_22]: 1-3-2-A-2.
[32:33.650 --> 32:34.790]  [SPEAKER_18]: Where's that coming from, Phiber?
[32:34.970 --> 32:36.390]  [SPEAKER_03]: 1-3-2-A-2.
[32:36.810 --> 32:37.450]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, gee.
[32:37.830 --> 32:38.490]  [SPEAKER_03]: A-2.
[32:38.690 --> 32:40.150]  [SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately, I don't remember things like that.
[32:40.150 --> 32:40.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: You're supposed to know this.
[32:40.930 --> 32:42.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: It is a NYNEX recording, however.
[32:42.710 --> 32:42.890]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah?
[32:43.150 --> 32:44.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, so it never made it out of NYNEX.
[32:44.690 --> 32:44.910]  [SPEAKER_18]: No.
[32:45.370 --> 32:46.530]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's a shame.
[32:47.630 --> 32:54.230]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, so the 500 service basically is replacing the 0700 service that AT&T offered.
[32:54.470 --> 32:55.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's kind of funny.
[32:55.350 --> 33:00.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: AT&T, a few years ago, offered what is known as Easy Reach, which is now called True Connections.
[33:01.590 --> 33:05.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: And that was a service where you had one phone number and it followed you around for the rest of your life.
[33:05.870 --> 33:14.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, sure enough, within two years, they were changing all the phone numbers because they changed the standard and they gave the 500 area code for numbers that followed you around for the rest of your life.
[33:14.750 --> 33:21.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's kind of weird because every time I talk to them about getting 500 service, they ask me, so, do you want to get rid of your 700 number now?
[33:21.830 --> 33:24.170]  [SPEAKER_18]: And I'm always telling them, no, I don't want to.
[33:24.210 --> 33:25.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: I want to keep that one for life.
[33:26.190 --> 33:34.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: And I can just sense how annoyed they are because they don't want the 700 service anymore, yet they promised everybody that this would be a number that you can keep for the rest of your life.
[33:34.930 --> 33:38.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: And I'm just causing them all kinds of problems by refusing to relinquish it.
[33:38.510 --> 33:41.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: But that's not going to stop me from getting a 500 number because they're kind of cool, too.
[33:42.030 --> 33:48.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: You don't have to dial the carrier access code of 10288 or, God forbid, in the future, 1010288.
[33:49.270 --> 33:50.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: How are people going to know?
[33:50.570 --> 33:51.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's going to be crazy.
[33:52.430 --> 33:53.310]  [SPEAKER_18]: 1010288, I think, right?
[33:53.490 --> 33:54.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: 1010-ATT.
[33:55.090 --> 33:55.550]  [SPEAKER_18]: There you go.
[33:55.630 --> 33:55.950]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know.
[33:56.510 --> 33:59.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: Anyway, 500 numbers right now from AT&T.
[33:59.670 --> 34:07.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: They're only available in certain exchanges, which that's a big disadvantage because the 0700 numbers you could get on virtually any phone number.
[34:08.330 --> 34:13.230]  [SPEAKER_18]: But they only seem to have a couple of different exchanges with AT&T.
[34:13.330 --> 34:14.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: Let me see if I have a list of those.
[34:15.970 --> 34:18.250]  [SPEAKER_18]: Because they have a limited number, they say here.
[34:18.330 --> 34:19.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't have a list in front of me.
[34:19.830 --> 34:22.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: I know 677 is one of them.
[34:23.630 --> 34:26.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: And I think 377 is another.
[34:26.830 --> 34:27.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: There aren't very many.
[34:27.910 --> 34:28.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: There aren't very many at all.
[34:30.650 --> 34:34.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: Basically, there are three different kinds of services that they have.
[34:34.450 --> 34:37.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: One is called the Stay Close package.
[34:38.610 --> 34:39.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, the Stay Close package.
[34:39.870 --> 34:41.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'll read you a little blurb on what Stay Close is all about.
[34:41.970 --> 34:50.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: But even if you're separated from your kids or your parents by half the world, you still want to remain an important part of their lives.
[34:50.490 --> 34:54.490]  [SPEAKER_18]: If it means you'd hear from them more often, you'd even consider paying for their calls.
[34:54.710 --> 34:57.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: You'd even consider paying an awful lot for their calls.
[34:58.170 --> 34:59.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: You can figure out what parts I'm adding.
[35:00.010 --> 35:04.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: Or maybe you'd just like for them to be able to reach you no matter where you go.
[35:04.510 --> 35:09.310]  [SPEAKER_18]: Either way, you could definitely use an easier and less expensive way for them to stay in touch.
[35:10.290 --> 35:15.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: A personal 500 number that doesn't have to change, no matter where you live or how often you move.
[35:16.210 --> 35:21.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: Place a Call lets you use your 500 number to call home without worrying about change for the payphone.
[35:22.430 --> 35:28.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: And AT&T is working to enable you to use your 500 number to place virtually all your calls when you're away from home.
[35:29.190 --> 35:33.370]  [SPEAKER_18]: Your choice of reverse billing or call forwarding.
[35:34.090 --> 35:43.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Reverse billing gives you the option of paying for calls from select members or friends, even if they're calling from over 130 international locations, provided they have access to a Touch-Tone phone.
[35:44.230 --> 35:46.950]  [SPEAKER_18]: So you can automatically accept a call from somebody.
[35:47.170 --> 35:53.290]  [SPEAKER_18]: And then Call Forwarding allows you to choose to answer your True Connections calls at the phone closest to you at any particular moment.
[35:53.290 --> 35:59.550]  [SPEAKER_18]: You can forward your calls from any Touch-Tone phone and select the calls you wish to receive, even if you're out of the country.
[35:59.870 --> 36:04.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: So you get that, and reverse billing, and place a call with Stay Close.
[36:04.790 --> 36:11.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: And you also get AT&T True Connections voicemail option at an additional monthly charge, which allows callers to leave a message when you're not available.
[36:11.930 --> 36:18.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: And the added call screening features ensure you'll only receive the calls you want while all the others are routed to voicemail.
[36:19.770 --> 36:23.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: Then the next package above that is called Traveler.
[36:23.590 --> 36:29.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: You may not know what city you'll be in tomorrow, but you do know you have to be available 24 hours a day, even when you're traveling overseas.
[36:30.390 --> 36:36.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: After all, one missed call could mean the end of your life, or one lost client, or one worried family member.
[36:36.570 --> 36:40.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: On the other hand, you don't have time to waste on unimportant calls.
[36:40.710 --> 36:46.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: You need a number that follows you from office to car phone to hotel and home again, but only puts through the calls you want.
[36:47.830 --> 36:54.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: This service ties into your brain to sort of know what it is you need before you actually know yourself.
[36:54.450 --> 36:58.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: So with this, you get a personal 500 number, place a call, reverse billing.
[36:58.530 --> 37:03.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, this sounds exactly the same as the Stay Close package.
[37:04.270 --> 37:11.570]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, the difference is Stay Close gives you a choice of reverse billing or call forwarding, whereas the Traveler package gives you both reverse billing and call forwarding.
[37:11.670 --> 37:12.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: Everything else is exactly the same.
[37:13.150 --> 37:15.830]  [SPEAKER_18]: And then the final package is called the Navigator.
[37:16.750 --> 37:17.890]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's right, the Navigator.
[37:17.890 --> 37:23.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: Juggling your career and your personal life puts you in constant demand and keeps you on the go.
[37:24.090 --> 37:29.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: The problem is, when you have to be in three places at one time, no one ever knows where you are.
[37:30.610 --> 37:36.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: You need a number that will ring first at the office, then in the car, and then at home, so you won't miss an important call.
[37:36.430 --> 37:40.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: What they neglect to mention is, by the time it rings at your house, the person's probably gotten all upset and hung up.
[37:41.070 --> 37:44.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, I don't really know how patient people are going to be.
[37:44.650 --> 37:56.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: So with the Navigator package, you get the personal 500 number, you get place a call, you get reverse billing, and then you get this thing called call sequencing, which navigates your calls to up to three destinations you select one after another.
[37:56.990 --> 38:03.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: So if you don't pick up at the office, your call will ring in the car, and if you're not there, the call will ring at home.
[38:04.090 --> 38:09.210]  [SPEAKER_18]: Then there's the override feature, which allows you to forward all your calls to one number without going through your call sequence.
[38:09.210 --> 38:16.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: So if you're going on vacation for a week, you can have all your calls come with you without having to change your usual ringing sequence before or after your trip.
[38:16.950 --> 38:19.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: So you get call forwarding if you activate override.
[38:19.750 --> 38:22.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: And then you get the True Connections voicemail as well.
[38:23.470 --> 38:25.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now let's see the cost for this.
[38:26.250 --> 38:27.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's not that bad, actually.
[38:28.150 --> 38:29.530]  [SPEAKER_18]: They have the special promotion now.
[38:29.670 --> 38:31.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's only a dollar a month for the next month.
[38:31.670 --> 38:36.790]  [SPEAKER_18]: But after that, Stay Close is $3, Traveler is $5, Navigator is $7 per month.
[38:36.790 --> 38:39.630]  [SPEAKER_18]: And then the voicemail is an extra $5.95 a month.
[38:39.790 --> 38:40.730]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's not that bad.
[38:41.170 --> 38:44.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: But again, we haven't seen the service yet.
[38:44.010 --> 38:50.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: I called them, and I'm interested in playing around with it, but they don't offer Navigator in this area.
[38:50.530 --> 38:54.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: They offer up to Traveler, but they don't offer the one that rings in three different places yet.
[38:55.910 --> 38:56.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: So, I don't know.
[38:57.830 --> 38:59.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: Looks like it could be a good service.
[39:00.370 --> 39:01.050]  [SPEAKER_18]: What do you think?
[39:01.910 --> 39:03.050]  [SPEAKER_03]: Can it core a Apple?
[39:03.170 --> 39:04.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know about that.
[39:04.450 --> 39:05.850]  [SPEAKER_03]: It seems to do quite a bit.
[39:05.850 --> 39:08.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's the phone service of the future, though, that's for sure.
[39:10.070 --> 39:11.730]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's AT&T's $500.
[39:11.930 --> 39:15.810]  [SPEAKER_18]: And they're not the only company offering $500 service, from what I hear.
[39:16.830 --> 39:21.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: So, as other companies get involved, we'll keep you updated.
[39:22.050 --> 39:23.630]  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, the thing is this.
[39:23.770 --> 39:28.130]  [SPEAKER_03]: Are those prefixes that they mention, are those the only ones that exist so far?
[39:28.270 --> 39:31.870]  [SPEAKER_03]: Or are they just giving those to AT&T and not yet doing portability?
[39:31.870 --> 39:37.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: I saw a list of exchanges, and I think we read it over the air a few weeks ago.
[39:37.630 --> 39:39.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: One of them was given out to a person, remember?
[39:39.970 --> 39:40.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: Right, yeah.
[39:40.590 --> 39:42.230]  [SPEAKER_18]: I forget the guy's name, John Smith or something.
[39:43.750 --> 39:49.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: And the rest were for different phone companies, and AT&T seems to have been assigned maybe four or five of these.
[39:49.490 --> 39:51.270]  [SPEAKER_18]: So, I don't know if they're going to get other ones.
[39:51.390 --> 39:56.190]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, I'd like to have a particular one, but I had to settle for a different one because that exchange was not available.
[39:57.610 --> 39:59.670]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'm not really sure, you know, what...
[39:59.670 --> 40:03.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, from the looks of it, it looks like initially they're not supporting portability.
[40:03.910 --> 40:04.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: No, it doesn't look that way.
[40:04.970 --> 40:06.550]  [SPEAKER_03]: And you're locked into certain exchanges.
[40:06.790 --> 40:07.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: I do know...
[40:07.390 --> 40:12.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: I believe 377 is one of them, and 677, I'm pretty sure, is another.
[40:12.630 --> 40:13.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: But you can call them.
[40:13.670 --> 40:14.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'll give you the phone number.
[40:14.570 --> 40:18.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's 1-800-ATT...
[40:19.310 --> 40:20.370]  [SPEAKER_18]: Wait a minute, what happened to it?
[40:21.850 --> 40:25.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: 1-800-ATT-1500.
[40:25.770 --> 40:29.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, they say to ask for extension A7G, but I found that you don't have to do that.
[40:30.010 --> 40:32.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: The person answering the phone always knows.
[40:32.370 --> 40:33.930]  [SPEAKER_18]: What do you think A7G means?
[40:34.250 --> 40:39.490]  [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's just a weird sequence of alphanumerics to see how much they can really make you do.
[40:40.310 --> 40:41.550]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, I suppose...
[40:41.550 --> 40:43.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: I think it means something, though.
[40:43.050 --> 40:48.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: I think it's so that they know where their calls are coming from or what brochure you're responding to or something like that.
[40:49.050 --> 40:51.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, what the hell kind of connection is A7G?
[40:51.590 --> 40:53.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, is that an extension?
[40:53.430 --> 40:56.790]  [SPEAKER_18]: They have a phone service there that has A7G, A7H.
[40:56.950 --> 40:58.390]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, I've never heard of anything like that.
[40:58.530 --> 40:59.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: Reminds me of a funny story.
[41:00.910 --> 41:01.770]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, that's nice.
[41:04.750 --> 41:05.790]  [SPEAKER_18]: All right, what's the story?
[41:06.270 --> 41:10.090]  [SPEAKER_03]: It reminds me of an old story known as a Gilligan's Island BBS story.
[41:11.030 --> 41:12.430]  [SPEAKER_18]: Gilligan's Island BBS story?
[41:12.570 --> 41:22.830]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it was one of those rumors that people would start in the old underground BBS realm to see what stupid things you could get somebody to do.
[41:23.210 --> 41:23.690]  [SPEAKER_11]: Okay.
[41:23.830 --> 41:30.270]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, the stupid thing was that there was this really cool BBS known as the Gilligan's Island BBS, which the name itself is comical.
[41:30.450 --> 41:33.470]  [SPEAKER_03]: So if anyone could take that name seriously, they deserved a prank.
[41:33.790 --> 41:45.990]  [SPEAKER_03]: But what the prank was that the BBS was so underground and so hidden that you literally had to call an AT&T operator, whistle into the phone, and tell her, please connect me to the Gilligan's Island BBS.
[41:47.850 --> 41:50.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: And this has to be a story that has never been proven.
[41:50.990 --> 41:53.930]  [SPEAKER_03]: No, actually, there is no Gilligan's Island BBS.
[41:53.930 --> 41:54.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't think so.
[41:54.750 --> 41:59.770]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but the interesting thing was to see who came back to you and said, why can't I get on the board?
[42:00.690 --> 42:01.710]  [SPEAKER_03]: But there were people.
[42:02.550 --> 42:03.130]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, boy.
[42:03.270 --> 42:05.690]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, we just have to come up with more stories like that.
[42:07.390 --> 42:08.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, we have a ringing phone.
[42:09.330 --> 42:10.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: What could this be?
[42:10.530 --> 42:12.050]  [SPEAKER_24]: And Tita Fishani, how can I help you?
[42:12.130 --> 42:12.650]  [SPEAKER_18]: Ah, yes.
[42:12.830 --> 42:14.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: Do you have information on 500 numbers?
[42:14.890 --> 42:15.650]  [SPEAKER_24]: Yes, I sure do.
[42:15.670 --> 42:16.750]  [SPEAKER_24]: Are you interested for your residence?
[42:16.930 --> 42:19.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, actually, I just wanted to know what exchanges are available.
[42:19.550 --> 42:20.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: Can you tell me that?
[42:20.430 --> 42:20.610]  Sure.
[42:20.890 --> 42:21.650]  [SPEAKER_24]: Do you have something to write with?
[42:21.870 --> 42:22.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yes, I do.
[42:22.630 --> 42:40.290]  [SPEAKER_24]: We've got 288-346-367-677-437-442-443-445-449-488-673-675-679.
[42:40.950 --> 42:42.370]  [SPEAKER_18]: Wow, you're getting more, aren't you?
[42:42.370 --> 42:45.930]  [SPEAKER_24]: Well, we've known about the first four for several months.
[42:46.050 --> 42:48.690]  [SPEAKER_24]: The additional ones we found out about two to three weeks ago.
[42:48.990 --> 42:49.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: I see.
[42:49.770 --> 42:50.470]  [SPEAKER_24]: At the same time.
[42:50.830 --> 42:51.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, great.
[42:51.450 --> 42:52.610]  [SPEAKER_18]: Do you think you'll be getting more in the future?
[42:52.790 --> 42:53.750]  [SPEAKER_24]: Hopefully, we sure will.
[42:53.950 --> 42:54.990]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, well, thanks for your help.
[42:55.070 --> 42:55.590]  [SPEAKER_24]: You're welcome.
[42:55.790 --> 42:56.030]  [SPEAKER_24]: Bye-bye.
[42:57.610 --> 43:01.410]  [SPEAKER_18]: Wow, that certainly was nice for her to call us like that and tell us this.
[43:01.450 --> 43:02.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: I guess she was listening.
[43:02.970 --> 43:06.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know how she managed to play the ring on the air like that, but that's the magic of telephones.
[43:07.190 --> 43:12.750]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, our phone number is 212-279-3400, and it's time for us to take some phone calls.
[43:12.890 --> 43:22.850]  [SPEAKER_18]: If you have questions about 500 numbers or 600 numbers or 700 numbers or any kind of numbers, give us a call if you have stories or questions or anything like that.
[43:23.630 --> 43:24.290]  [SPEAKER_18]: Good evening.
[43:24.290 --> 43:25.150]  [SPEAKER_18]: You're the first caller.
[43:27.270 --> 43:27.870]  [SPEAKER_18]: All right.
[43:28.190 --> 43:28.670]  [SPEAKER_18]: Good evening.
[43:28.710 --> 43:29.590]  [SPEAKER_18]: You're the second caller.
[43:30.510 --> 43:31.270]  [SPEAKER_19]: Second caller?
[43:31.390 --> 43:31.910]  [SPEAKER_19]: Yes, go ahead.
[43:32.050 --> 43:42.610]  [SPEAKER_19]: All right, well, I wanted to ask you something sort of unrelated to the 500 numbers, but I have this phone card here which I never really heard about until recently, and I wondered if you knew much about them.
[43:43.250 --> 43:44.370]  [SPEAKER_17]: The prepaid cards?
[43:45.690 --> 43:46.570]  [SPEAKER_19]: Prepaid cards.
[43:46.930 --> 43:47.130]  [SPEAKER_17]: Okay.
[43:47.450 --> 43:48.330]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, they...
[43:48.330 --> 43:49.010]  [SPEAKER_19]: I don't know.
[43:49.110 --> 44:03.190]  [SPEAKER_19]: It looks like they're a little bit easy to misuse because they sell them in these little packages that, you know, it's a piece of cardboard with a piece of plastic on top to sort of seal up the card and open it up.
[44:03.610 --> 44:04.430]  [SPEAKER_19]: You know, it's quite easy.
[44:04.510 --> 44:14.410]  [SPEAKER_19]: You just rip it off and you can find the pin number, if you will, on the back of the card and it looks like anyone could just find a whole batch of these somewhere if you work in a store.
[44:14.770 --> 44:15.250]  [SPEAKER_11]: Uh-huh.
[44:15.370 --> 44:20.870]  [SPEAKER_19]: Just peel off the plastic and look at the numbers on the cards and seal them back up again with glue or something.
[44:21.430 --> 44:22.750]  [SPEAKER_19]: It doesn't look very secure.
[44:22.950 --> 44:25.090]  [SPEAKER_18]: These are on the shelves at stores?
[44:25.450 --> 44:31.290]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, not necessarily on the shelves for customers to take, but the store I bought it, it was behind the counter.
[44:31.490 --> 44:31.730]  [SPEAKER_17]: Uh-huh.
[44:32.030 --> 44:34.750]  [SPEAKER_19]: But it looks like, you know, anyone who works there could, uh...
[44:34.750 --> 44:38.970]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, a disreputable person or maybe the truck driver that brings all those in or...
[44:38.970 --> 44:39.330]  [SPEAKER_19]: Exactly.
[44:39.710 --> 44:41.650]  [SPEAKER_18]: I wonder if they have trucks that bring nothing but phone cards.
[44:41.790 --> 44:42.170]  [SPEAKER_18]: That would be something.
[44:42.650 --> 44:46.210]  [SPEAKER_19]: And if, I guess if you even knew what you were doing, you could sort of guess what these numbers are.
[44:46.210 --> 44:49.250]  [SPEAKER_19]: I mean, it's a 10-digit pin number.
[44:50.210 --> 44:51.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: Do you think there's...
[44:51.350 --> 44:52.950]  [SPEAKER_18]: Is there any rhyme or reason to the numbers?
[44:53.190 --> 44:54.390]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, sort of.
[44:54.470 --> 44:55.530]  [SPEAKER_19]: I mean, it's sort of like a phone number.
[44:55.790 --> 44:56.690]  [SPEAKER_19]: It's like...
[45:02.920 --> 45:04.780]  [SPEAKER_19]: It's like another three numbers and then...
[45:04.780 --> 45:06.120]  [SPEAKER_18]: What do you mean something like an area card?
[45:06.360 --> 45:06.640]  [SPEAKER_19]: Yeah.
[45:06.800 --> 45:10.400]  [SPEAKER_19]: I mean, if you probably had a few hundred of these cards, you could see some rhyme or reason to it.
[45:10.500 --> 45:10.760]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh-huh.
[45:11.020 --> 45:14.040]  [SPEAKER_19]: Um, but I was wondering if you had ever used one or...
[45:14.040 --> 45:18.780]  [SPEAKER_18]: No, I have yet to, uh, to stoop to that level to use one of these things.
[45:18.780 --> 45:23.580]  [SPEAKER_18]: But I might just get one to experiment with it and see, uh, you know, if there is some sort of similarity.
[45:23.860 --> 45:25.600]  [SPEAKER_18]: Do you know if it's the same 800 number each time?
[45:26.280 --> 45:28.160]  [SPEAKER_19]: Um, the same 800 number?
[45:28.320 --> 45:29.320]  [SPEAKER_19]: No, it's not an 800 number.
[45:29.500 --> 45:30.580]  [SPEAKER_19]: It's, um, it's a pin number.
[45:30.680 --> 45:32.300]  [SPEAKER_18]: But you have to call an 800 number, don't you?
[45:32.400 --> 45:34.940]  [SPEAKER_19]: Yes, and I think it probably is the same number that you call each time.
[45:35.080 --> 45:43.220]  [SPEAKER_19]: This one that I got happens to be from a company called TLC, the long-distance company, which is, doesn't mean, the division of Caribbean Telephone and Telegraph Incorporated.
[45:43.520 --> 45:43.880]  [SPEAKER_18]: Really?
[45:44.020 --> 45:45.600]  [SPEAKER_18]: Not affiliated with the Learning Channel, right?
[45:49.380 --> 45:50.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: popular letters there.
[45:51.340 --> 45:57.960]  [SPEAKER_19]: but I got this car just, like, out of curiosity to see how it works and whether it really is cheaper, as they say, than, you know, dialing long-distance yourself.
[45:58.120 --> 45:59.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, it's easy to figure out.
[45:59.320 --> 46:01.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh, how much did, um, did you pay for it?
[46:01.640 --> 46:05.780]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, it was $5, and, um, to be honest, I don't know what I'd get for that $5.
[46:05.840 --> 46:09.460]  [SPEAKER_19]: I was just more curious to get it and see it than, uh, anything else.
[46:09.660 --> 46:13.080]  [SPEAKER_19]: Um, but there, I mean, there was a 24-hour customer service number.
[46:13.620 --> 46:20.960]  [SPEAKER_18]: I think the rate to go by, and this is the rate that Sprint seems to be into, the rate that AT&T seems to be into, 10 cents a minute after 5 p.m.
[46:21.080 --> 46:21.960]  [SPEAKER_18]: and all day weekends.
[46:22.040 --> 46:24.560]  [SPEAKER_18]: If you can match that on anything, it's, it's worthwhile.
[46:24.840 --> 46:26.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: Otherwise, you know, stick with direct dial.
[46:26.660 --> 46:39.500]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, I did see this, this chart they had in the window of the store that was selling this and they were comparing it to, well, I think, uh, it was something like comparing it to calling from your house versus calling from a payphone and, you know, before 11 or after 11,
[46:39.680 --> 46:40.220]  [SPEAKER_19]: something like that.
[46:40.340 --> 46:45.360]  [SPEAKER_19]: And, of course, they made it out to seem a lot cheaper if you used this phone card, but, you know, I don't know if that always applies.
[46:45.560 --> 46:53.980]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, calling from a payphone is always going to be notoriously more expensive because the first minute of any call on a payphone outside the state will cost something like $2.50.
[46:54.540 --> 47:01.980]  [SPEAKER_19]: And they also compared it to using, um, you know, an AT&T, uh, you know, one of these cards that you get from AT&T for long distance, is that right?
[47:02.020 --> 47:02.760]  [SPEAKER_19]: Or maybe NYNEX?
[47:03.360 --> 47:07.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh, a calling card, yeah, well, they have surcharges on those, which is another crazy thing.
[47:07.780 --> 47:10.800]  [SPEAKER_19]: phone card's probably cheaper because there's, there's no service charge or surcharge.
[47:11.120 --> 47:11.420]  [SPEAKER_18]: Right.
[47:12.000 --> 47:13.800]  [SPEAKER_18]: completely unnecessary charge too, by the way.
[47:14.520 --> 47:15.300]  [SPEAKER_19]: Uh, I'm sure.
[47:15.700 --> 47:18.900]  [SPEAKER_18]: All right, well, keep us informed if you, if you crack anything on that.
[47:19.220 --> 47:19.360]  [SPEAKER_19]: Sure.
[47:19.520 --> 47:21.320]  [SPEAKER_18]: And, uh, we'll, we'll keep an eye out for phone cards too.
[47:21.360 --> 47:23.920]  [SPEAKER_18]: I guess we should be keeping track of how many different kinds there are.
[47:24.100 --> 47:35.880]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, I have a few from, uh, from different countries, um, and this is much different because there's no magnetic stripe on it because, of course, whoops, there's no, um, you know, there's no payphones, there are very few payphones here in the city that use,
[47:35.900 --> 47:37.000]  [SPEAKER_19]: um, mag stripes.
[47:37.440 --> 47:37.560]  [SPEAKER_17]: Right.
[47:37.700 --> 47:42.560]  [SPEAKER_19]: So this, you know, works a little differently, um, but, you know, the ones from other countries usually have mag stripes on them.
[47:42.840 --> 47:43.560]  [SPEAKER_18]: Right, that's true.
[47:43.920 --> 47:46.340]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, I mean the ones in, in this country that they're starting to push.
[47:46.660 --> 47:47.320]  [SPEAKER_19]: Yeah, starting.
[47:47.420 --> 47:50.540]  [SPEAKER_18]: The ones you can buy at 7-Eleven now and, uh, various other places.
[47:51.060 --> 47:52.940]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, if you want, I can send you a couple of these other cards.
[47:53.080 --> 47:54.040]  [SPEAKER_19]: I don't know if you have any use for them.
[47:54.340 --> 47:56.900]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, yeah, use them up and, uh, send it, yeah, that's a good idea.
[47:57.060 --> 47:58.940]  [SPEAKER_18]: Send us your used phone cards.
[47:58.940 --> 48:03.700]  [SPEAKER_18]: They're not of use to anybody out there anymore after they use them and then we can study them and see if there's any kind of similarity.
[48:04.040 --> 48:09.080]  [SPEAKER_19]: Come to think of it now, I think they, the one that I have from Australia happens to look very much like a Metro card.
[48:09.300 --> 48:09.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, really?
[48:10.100 --> 48:10.860]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, that could be interesting.
[48:11.100 --> 48:16.740]  [SPEAKER_19]: Well, I mean, not the design so much as, um, there's no magnetic stripe on it, yet it does store something on the card.
[48:16.880 --> 48:17.120]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh-huh.
[48:17.540 --> 48:20.940]  [SPEAKER_19]: Um, and I'd be damned if I can figure out how they store it, but they do.
[48:21.260 --> 48:21.580]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay,
[48:28.940 --> 48:29.080]  [SPEAKER_18]: here.
[48:29.540 --> 48:33.060]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh, you can send those to us, uh, What's your address?
[48:33.340 --> 48:41.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: You can send them right here to the radio station, which is, uh, off the hook, care of WBAI, and that's 505 8th Avenue, New York, New York, 10018.
[48:41.920 --> 48:42.160]  [SPEAKER_19]: Okay.
[48:42.560 --> 48:42.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: All right?
[48:42.940 --> 48:43.360]  [SPEAKER_19]: All right, thanks.
[48:43.500 --> 48:44.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: Thanks for calling.
[48:44.120 --> 48:44.600]  [SPEAKER_18]: All right, bye-bye.
[48:45.460 --> 48:48.500]  [SPEAKER_18]: That, uh, that should be, uh, interesting, getting all these phone cards in the mail now.
[48:49.000 --> 48:49.620]  [SPEAKER_18]: What do you think?
[48:50.160 --> 48:51.940]  [SPEAKER_18]: Think I'm opening up a Pandora's box here?
[48:52.180 --> 48:52.800]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I don't know.
[48:52.900 --> 48:57.240]  [SPEAKER_03]: You might, we might come in next week and there'll be five large mailbags waiting for us.
[48:57.360 --> 48:59.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, or five large mailmen waiting for us.
[48:59.940 --> 49:02.020]  [SPEAKER_18]: Saying they don't like us, doing that kind of thing.
[49:02.100 --> 49:02.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: Who knows?
[49:02.920 --> 49:03.880]  [SPEAKER_18]: Good evening, you're on the radio.
[49:04.340 --> 49:04.780]  [SPEAKER_18]: Hi.
[49:05.240 --> 49:06.180]  [SPEAKER_18]: Hi, how you doing?
[49:06.640 --> 49:07.240]  [SPEAKER_08]: How you doing?
[49:07.360 --> 49:07.740]  [SPEAKER_18]: Pretty good.
[49:08.340 --> 49:21.980]  [SPEAKER_08]: Um, just thinking of when I was growing up in Pittsburgh around the early 50s and we used to stick a pin right through the cord at a payphone and ground it out on the box and you'd get a dial tone.
[49:22.100 --> 49:23.400]  [SPEAKER_08]: Did you ever hear such a thing?
[49:23.580 --> 49:24.240]  [SPEAKER_18]: Through the cord?
[49:24.860 --> 49:25.180]  [SPEAKER_08]: Yep.
[49:25.180 --> 49:27.640]  [SPEAKER_18]: That was when you had a cord you could stick something through, right?
[49:27.660 --> 49:33.160]  [SPEAKER_08]: Well, after they started putting the metal things around the cords would just come with a punch and go right through it.
[49:33.340 --> 49:34.680]  [SPEAKER_18]: Wow, you're determined, aren't you?
[49:36.080 --> 49:37.400]  [SPEAKER_08]: And it still worked.
[49:37.680 --> 49:37.920]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh-huh.
[49:38.540 --> 49:39.900]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, does that work today?
[49:40.720 --> 49:46.960]  [SPEAKER_08]: I haven't tried it, but I remember when I was eight years old what a thrill it was to hear that dial tone come on.
[49:47.060 --> 49:47.780]  [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, because that was...
[49:47.780 --> 49:49.780]  [SPEAKER_08]: That little spark jump from the pin to the box.
[49:49.920 --> 49:52.240]  [SPEAKER_18]: That was back in the days before dial tone first phones.
[49:52.760 --> 49:56.560]  [SPEAKER_18]: Remember when you pick up a payphone and you don't get anything until you put a dime in.
[49:57.300 --> 49:57.900]  [SPEAKER_08]: That's right.
[49:58.060 --> 49:59.460]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, that's the way it used to be everywhere.
[49:59.860 --> 50:01.000]  [SPEAKER_08]: That's right, you didn't get a thing.
[50:01.260 --> 50:09.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, so I think, if I'm not mistaken, when they went to dial tone first, that sort of got rid of that particular way of making free phone calls.
[50:10.520 --> 50:11.940]  [SPEAKER_03]: That particular way, yeah.
[50:12.100 --> 50:12.860]  [SPEAKER_03]: It was really a thrill.
[50:13.140 --> 50:14.440]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, I'd be right on that, right?
[50:14.520 --> 50:18.800]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that was around 20 or 30 years ago, the last ground start phone in any metropolitan area.
[50:19.240 --> 50:22.560]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, actually, it was, yeah, the mid-70s, I'd say.
[50:22.660 --> 50:24.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: Mid to late 70s is when they changed things around here.
[50:24.660 --> 50:26.260]  [SPEAKER_03]: There was a similar problem that surfaced.
[50:26.260 --> 50:27.700]  [SPEAKER_18]: I remember rotary payphones.
[50:27.900 --> 50:28.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: I do.
[50:28.300 --> 50:29.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: I've even seen a few.
[50:29.480 --> 50:31.040]  [SPEAKER_03]: You'll see them in my parents' neighborhood.
[50:31.260 --> 50:31.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Really?
[50:31.720 --> 50:33.240]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, they put them there on purpose.
[50:48.800 --> 50:55.440]  [SPEAKER_03]: Money should be collected or returned uses a reversal of polarity, even on modern payphones.
[50:55.980 --> 50:57.800]  [SPEAKER_03]: And this could be spoofed.
[50:57.900 --> 51:02.580]  [SPEAKER_03]: It was being done for a while, similar to the old problem, but slightly different.
[51:03.000 --> 51:08.860]  [SPEAKER_03]: People used to stick a paper clip into the mouthpiece and touch it on the phone and hold it there.
[51:09.020 --> 51:14.500]  [SPEAKER_03]: You could only make a local telephone call, but you would hold it there and place the call and the call would go through.
[51:14.700 --> 51:19.180]  [SPEAKER_18]: I remember seeing many mouthpieces in New York with a big, wide hole in the middle.
[51:19.340 --> 51:19.440]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah.
[51:19.560 --> 51:21.780]  [SPEAKER_18]: You could tell that people were there with their pins.
[51:21.960 --> 51:25.960]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there was no exact reason to get the exact little dot in the center.
[51:26.200 --> 51:33.740]  [SPEAKER_03]: You could have did a one dot over, but people must have superstitiously thought that it had to be the dot exactly in the center.
[51:33.960 --> 51:36.080]  [SPEAKER_03]: So that one was always worn out the most.
[51:36.320 --> 51:36.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Uh-huh.
[51:37.400 --> 51:38.020]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's interesting.
[51:38.180 --> 51:44.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: It's rumored that New York Telephone came up with the acronym PIN after that particular method was used.
[51:45.320 --> 51:46.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: But that could be wrong.
[51:47.000 --> 51:48.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: Maybe, maybe they didn't.
[51:48.700 --> 51:51.020]  [SPEAKER_18]: But yeah, that doesn't still work, does it?
[51:51.400 --> 51:51.840]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, no.
[51:52.200 --> 51:52.300]  [SPEAKER_03]: No.
[51:52.440 --> 51:54.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: I still see some of those mouthpieces.
[51:54.160 --> 51:55.340]  [SPEAKER_18]: I think people are still trying.
[51:55.680 --> 51:57.440]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I mean, they might be just leftovers.
[51:57.540 --> 52:00.600]  [SPEAKER_03]: There's probably no reason to replace the receiver if it's not broken.
[52:00.760 --> 52:09.640]  [SPEAKER_18]: You ever notice how every payphone in New York has love God scratched into it or praise God or something having to do with God in every single metallic chassis of a payphone?
[52:09.640 --> 52:10.500]  [SPEAKER_03]: Go-to church.
[52:10.980 --> 52:11.460]  [SPEAKER_18]: Doesn't snow.
[52:11.700 --> 52:13.320]  [SPEAKER_18]: But God is on every single one of them.
[52:13.420 --> 52:15.140]  [SPEAKER_18]: At least a couple of years ago this was true.
[52:15.220 --> 52:16.520]  [SPEAKER_18]: I haven't read payphones recently.
[52:16.660 --> 52:18.940]  [SPEAKER_18]: And it didn't seem to hold true for cocots for some reason.
[52:19.080 --> 52:20.500]  [SPEAKER_18]: God was not with the cocots.
[52:20.580 --> 52:22.340]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't quite understand who was doing that.
[52:22.540 --> 52:26.940]  [SPEAKER_18]: But I'd like to know how they managed to get something that was so permanent.
[52:27.460 --> 52:29.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: You know, they really were using some heavy-duty machinery to do that.
[52:29.820 --> 52:30.880]  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe they were using their fingers.
[52:31.040 --> 52:31.640]  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe they were...
[52:31.640 --> 52:32.640]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know.
[52:32.960 --> 52:34.260]  [SPEAKER_33]: I've seen the guy that did that.
[52:36.200 --> 52:36.560]  [SPEAKER_18]: Hello?
[52:37.640 --> 52:38.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: Hello?
[52:38.160 --> 52:38.540]  [SPEAKER_18]: You're on the air.
[52:39.360 --> 52:40.020]  I'm calling.
[52:40.120 --> 52:40.780]  I have a question.
[52:41.120 --> 52:41.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yes.
[52:41.620 --> 52:49.060]  [SPEAKER_36]: Is there a device that will go on a PC that will record the incoming and outgoing phone numbers and the duration of the call?
[52:49.160 --> 52:50.240]  [SPEAKER_36]: Do you know any such thing?
[52:50.340 --> 52:51.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: You mean like a pen register?
[52:52.020 --> 52:52.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: Is that what you mean?
[52:52.920 --> 53:00.980]  [SPEAKER_36]: Well, something that will go into a slot of a computer and save it to a file the number dialed and the incoming number with the caller ID?
[53:02.940 --> 53:05.680]  [SPEAKER_18]: There are interfaces with computers that can do that.
[53:05.840 --> 53:06.920]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know one specifically.
[53:07.500 --> 53:10.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: That will take caller ID data and display it someplace?
[53:10.680 --> 53:11.100]  [SPEAKER_11]: Right, right.
[53:11.160 --> 53:12.040]  [SPEAKER_11]: Save it to a file.
[53:12.100 --> 53:12.280]  [SPEAKER_11]: Right.
[53:12.560 --> 53:14.420]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, that's the purpose of all that.
[53:14.500 --> 53:18.120]  [SPEAKER_18]: It takes the signal and translates it into something that is written to a disk.
[53:18.540 --> 53:19.180]  [SPEAKER_36]: Right, right.
[53:19.260 --> 53:19.520]  [SPEAKER_36]: Exactly.
[53:19.880 --> 53:28.140]  [SPEAKER_36]: Now, I have one, but the manufacturer went out of business, so I wonder if there is, you know, do you know of any current manufacturers?
[53:28.140 --> 53:35.340]  [SPEAKER_36]: Because it decodes the outgoing tones in stores and it decodes the incoming caller ID.
[53:36.420 --> 53:44.320]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, maybe not that does both in one card, but I certainly know a company that has computerized pen registers.
[53:44.640 --> 53:49.520]  [SPEAKER_03]: And I recommend them because they were the pen registers that were used in my case by Ninex.
[53:49.520 --> 53:59.340]  [SPEAKER_03]: and they are manufactured by a company called Hikimian, H-E-K-I-M-I-A-N and they are located in Atlanta, Georgia.
[53:59.780 --> 54:04.020]  [SPEAKER_03]: And you can get their phone number from directory assistance in area code 404.
[54:04.580 --> 54:05.120]  [SPEAKER_36]: Okay.
[54:05.360 --> 54:06.400]  [SPEAKER_03]: And that is the place to start.
[54:06.520 --> 54:10.200]  [SPEAKER_03]: They might deal with more corporate customers, but you can certainly get a catalog from them.
[54:11.000 --> 54:11.320]  [SPEAKER_36]: Okay.
[54:11.320 --> 54:11.900]  [SPEAKER_18]: All right.
[54:12.140 --> 54:13.160]  [SPEAKER_18]: Thanks for the call.
[54:13.260 --> 54:16.300]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now we have a detail on the payphone scratching.
[54:17.300 --> 54:23.520]  [SPEAKER_33]: There was a guy who used to go around doing it, an elderly black gentleman who literally, this was all he did.
[54:23.540 --> 54:24.940]  [SPEAKER_33]: He was arrested a number of times.
[54:24.940 --> 54:27.340]  [SPEAKER_33]: I've seen this guy numerous times doing this.
[54:27.440 --> 54:28.680]  [SPEAKER_33]: And all he had was a nail.
[54:28.820 --> 54:30.440]  [SPEAKER_33]: It was not some high-tech device.
[54:30.680 --> 54:31.960]  [SPEAKER_18]: A nail like you hammer into the wall.
[54:32.020 --> 54:33.520]  [SPEAKER_33]: A nail as in hammer and nail.
[54:33.720 --> 54:37.320]  [SPEAKER_33]: And he was a religious fanatic and this is what he did.
[54:37.480 --> 54:40.500]  [SPEAKER_18]: Are you saying one person covered all these phones?
[54:40.620 --> 54:41.480]  [SPEAKER_33]: I am not kidding you.
[54:41.600 --> 54:48.400]  [SPEAKER_33]: I used to be in various necks of the woods on the subway system and I've seen him in the Bronx, in Manhattan, and in Brooklyn.
[54:48.660 --> 54:49.240]  [SPEAKER_33]: Same guy.
[54:49.480 --> 54:50.000]  [SPEAKER_33]: Same guy.
[54:50.940 --> 54:51.900]  [SPEAKER_33]: You think he's still around?
[54:52.020 --> 54:52.640]  [SPEAKER_33]: I think he's dead.
[54:53.140 --> 54:55.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: I could explain why it's not appearing as much as it used to be.
[54:55.760 --> 54:58.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, there's an opening out there for some enterprising person.
[54:59.560 --> 55:04.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: But, you know, maybe you want to scratch off the hook Wednesdays at 10 o'clock on WBAI.
[55:04.260 --> 55:05.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's a lot more to scratch.
[55:06.100 --> 55:08.840]  [SPEAKER_18]: We're not suggesting that 9x people out there.
[55:10.000 --> 55:11.320]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, let's take another phone call.
[55:11.460 --> 55:11.760]  [SPEAKER_18]: Good evening.
[55:11.900 --> 55:12.100]  [SPEAKER_18]: You're on.
[55:13.800 --> 55:14.380]  [SPEAKER_18]: Go ahead.
[55:14.600 --> 55:15.020]  [SPEAKER_27]: Yes, sir.
[55:15.100 --> 55:16.760]  [SPEAKER_27]: Well, I don't know where to start.
[55:17.560 --> 55:19.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, you're going to have to make it quick because we're running out of time.
[55:20.320 --> 55:22.540]  [SPEAKER_27]: Well, you know, let me take...
[55:22.540 --> 55:23.160]  [SPEAKER_27]: Sorry.
[55:23.440 --> 55:32.380]  [SPEAKER_27]: All the erroneous interpretations of information about the 500 service, my number is working now.
[55:32.660 --> 55:34.220]  [SPEAKER_27]: The sequencing works beautifully.
[55:34.800 --> 55:48.120]  [SPEAKER_27]: No one will hang up because after you can set it to ring any number of rings from one to ten before it goes to the next or the second or the third number when you have sequencing in effect.
[55:48.380 --> 55:53.740]  [SPEAKER_27]: Each time before it changes, it says, please hold on.
[55:53.860 --> 55:56.220]  [SPEAKER_27]: We will try to reach your party at a different number.
[55:56.420 --> 55:56.960]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, really?
[55:57.180 --> 55:57.380]  [SPEAKER_27]: Right.
[55:57.620 --> 55:58.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: How do you set it?
[55:58.960 --> 56:00.080]  [SPEAKER_18]: Do you call a special number?
[56:00.320 --> 56:00.800]  [SPEAKER_27]: Sure.
[56:01.700 --> 56:06.280]  [SPEAKER_27]: You call it under your five-digit master pin just as you would with the 700 service?
[56:06.700 --> 56:06.860]  [SPEAKER_11]: Uh-huh.
[56:06.940 --> 56:07.500]  [SPEAKER_27]: Okay.
[56:07.920 --> 56:23.100]  [SPEAKER_27]: By the way, Airtouch, the cellular people in Georgia and California and Nevada, they have gotten the 400, 600, 700, and 800 exchanges on the 500 service.
[56:23.960 --> 56:28.160]  [SPEAKER_27]: AT&T will get dozens or scores or hundreds more.
[56:28.380 --> 56:38.720]  [SPEAKER_27]: The non-portability will only apply for the first two or three years and then you will have portability just as you got with 800 service starting in 1993.
[56:39.740 --> 56:39.880]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[56:40.320 --> 56:44.340]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, my question is, when you call a 500 number, are you saying it doesn't ring?
[56:44.460 --> 56:47.180]  [SPEAKER_18]: Instead, you get some sort of little bong tone or something and you enter a pin that way?
[56:47.700 --> 56:50.760]  [SPEAKER_27]: No, you get the same prompt that you do with the 700 service.
[56:50.840 --> 56:51.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: Right.
[56:51.060 --> 56:51.260]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[56:51.400 --> 57:00.240]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, the thing is, what they're saying is, in their advertisements, 500 service is different from 700 service in that you don't have to go through that menu to make the phone call.
[57:00.360 --> 57:04.220]  [SPEAKER_18]: Now, does it ring immediately when you call a 500 number or do you have to hit a tone?
[57:04.520 --> 57:18.440]  [SPEAKER_27]: If you're calling from a non-public telephone and you dial 1 plus 500 plus the number, then that means you're paying for it and you hear simply AT&T and then it starts ringing immediately.
[57:18.620 --> 57:27.500]  [SPEAKER_27]: Since I have multiple lines, I can call from one line to another and check it rather than having to ask somebody else or call a next door neighbor.
[57:27.620 --> 57:30.820]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, but if you dial 0 first, then you get the opportunity to enter the pin.
[57:30.820 --> 57:44.120]  [SPEAKER_27]: Or to either an AT&T compatible calling card or meaning their own or their own universal MasterCard or Visa or a local phone company in this country card.
[57:44.300 --> 57:44.380]  [SPEAKER_27]: Right.
[57:44.880 --> 57:51.640]  [SPEAKER_27]: And so it's either a calling card or a four digit charge reversing pin.
[57:51.860 --> 57:54.540]  [SPEAKER_18]: Does this thing at all integrate caller ID?
[57:54.780 --> 57:57.180]  [SPEAKER_18]: In other words, so that you can recognize somebody calling you?
[57:57.180 --> 57:59.260]  [SPEAKER_27]: Now, I would love to know the answer to that question.
[57:59.420 --> 58:07.220]  [SPEAKER_27]: As you know, on Wednesday, April 12th, nationwide caller ID will go into effect.
[58:07.540 --> 58:19.760]  [SPEAKER_27]: And I can only speculate, as you might answer that question, it would be terrific if, when calls come in via 800 or 700 or 500 service, it displays the number.
[58:19.760 --> 58:24.120]  [SPEAKER_27]: I don't necessarily wouldn't, you know, expect it.
[58:24.440 --> 58:33.980]  [SPEAKER_27]: But of course, if you're using the charge reversing pin or it's an 800 number, then the caller's area code and number is still going to at least show up on your bill when your bill comes.
[58:34.680 --> 58:35.920]  [SPEAKER_27]: Since you're paying...
[58:35.920 --> 58:39.260]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, I imagine it probably would if they enter a pin, you'd see their phone number.
[58:39.360 --> 58:39.800]  [SPEAKER_27]: Oh, you do.
[58:39.920 --> 58:41.720]  [SPEAKER_27]: You already do with your 700 service.
[58:41.940 --> 58:43.300]  [SPEAKER_18]: Right, that's true, but I'm saying on the 500...
[58:43.300 --> 58:44.460]  [SPEAKER_18]: How long have you had your 500 for?
[58:45.260 --> 58:47.860]  [SPEAKER_27]: Josh, mine started on January 21st.
[58:48.000 --> 58:54.380]  [SPEAKER_27]: They took the order on December 21st and said it will go into effect on January 21st and it did.
[58:55.260 --> 58:59.080]  [SPEAKER_18]: I've called them three different times and each time they claim never to have heard from me before.
[58:59.640 --> 59:01.840]  [SPEAKER_27]: I don't know quite what's They don't use order numbers.
[59:02.100 --> 59:08.080]  [SPEAKER_27]: There's NYNEX that does, so that's awful.
[59:08.600 --> 59:09.300]  [SPEAKER_27]: Let's see.
[59:10.000 --> 59:26.060]  [SPEAKER_27]: They have the policy that if you have a 700 number and they end up getting the exchange that it is on in the 500 service, they'll give you first dibs on that number as a 500 number if you do want to convert.
[59:26.540 --> 59:49.060]  [SPEAKER_27]: The way a supervisor described it to me is they are not proactively continuing to sell the 700 service, but not only will you still be able to keep your 700 number for life, but as long as you know to ask for it, yes, you can still sign up for the 700 service and get just about any number that's not already being used by somebody else.
[59:50.040 --> 01:00:06.440]  [SPEAKER_27]: And the free offer, or not the free offer, the offer at a dollar a month, because of a glitch that turned up, for example, in some parts of the country, you could dial the 1-500 but not the 0-500, that was like in this area for a few days, and in other parts of the country it was a reverse,
[01:00:06.520 --> 01:00:25.240]  [SPEAKER_27]: you could do the 0-500 but not the 1-500, so instead of being until the end of March, which it had originally been, everybody gets the whole kit and caboodle, the Navigator thing, for a dollar a month through, in other words, everything except the voicemail through the end of April.
[01:00:25.480 --> 01:00:27.780]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, that's great, except they told me Navigator wasn't available.
[01:00:27.880 --> 01:00:31.080]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'll call them again and say that it is available, maybe they were mistaken.
[01:00:31.080 --> 01:00:41.100]  [SPEAKER_27]: I mean, I'm in Brooklyn, out of the Kenmore Place Exchange, the central office building at 1421 Ocean Avenue, but you're out on Long Island, right?
[01:00:41.140 --> 01:00:42.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, it should be available there too, though.
[01:00:42.600 --> 01:00:49.900]  [SPEAKER_27]: We have everything else, so I don't see why it would DMS-100, this is all 5AE, maybe that has something to do with it.
[01:00:50.160 --> 01:00:52.200]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, we are out of time, but thanks for the update.
[01:00:52.520 --> 01:00:52.840]  [SPEAKER_18]: Righto.
[01:00:52.920 --> 01:00:55.000]  [SPEAKER_18]: And let us know if anything changes in the future.
[01:00:55.340 --> 01:00:55.600]  [SPEAKER_18]: Right.
[01:00:55.900 --> 01:00:59.440]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, this is an exciting era that's upon us.
[01:01:00.460 --> 01:01:02.860]  [SPEAKER_18]: 500 numbers, integrating everything in sight.
[01:01:03.840 --> 01:01:06.160]  [SPEAKER_18]: I don't know, do you think it's going to be good or do you think it's going to be bad?
[01:01:08.580 --> 01:01:15.400]  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, but it sounds like since they're telling you that a service that one person claims is available and you're being told that it's not...
[01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:26.840]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, that's just something you come to expect, but I'm more concerned with when they tie in Nationwide Caller ID and you know who's calling you at all times, and I don't know, this could be used for bad things as well, but it's up to us to see what they are.
[01:01:26.960 --> 01:01:28.100]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, hey, we're all connected.
[01:01:28.360 --> 01:01:29.100]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, it's true.
[01:01:29.360 --> 01:01:31.660]  [SPEAKER_18]: Nationwide Caller ID, I mean, that is coming in April.
[01:01:32.640 --> 01:01:38.400]  [SPEAKER_18]: What that's going to mean to the rest of us, I mean, will we be able to do an all-call block on calls to California?
[01:01:39.260 --> 01:01:46.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Block our calls to New York, but the FCC has mandated that all-call blocking is not necessary for crossing state lines.
[01:01:46.720 --> 01:01:51.240]  [SPEAKER_18]: And that's going to be kind of interesting to see how the two technologies mesh together.
[01:01:51.780 --> 01:01:52.940]  [SPEAKER_18]: That's our show for tonight.
[01:01:52.940 --> 01:01:56.880]  [SPEAKER_18]: We'll be back again next week, 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock with another edition of Off the Hook.
[01:01:57.760 --> 01:02:00.220]  [SPEAKER_18]: I'm Emmanuel Goldstein for Phiber Optik and everybody else.
[01:02:00.440 --> 01:02:01.280]  [SPEAKER_18]: Have a good night.