Off The Hook - 1997-04-29

[00:15.480 --> 00:22.420]  [SPEAKER_01]: Wake Up Call and Building Bridges, your community and labor report, will celebrate May Day, focusing on the performing arts.
[00:22.920 --> 00:27.940]  [SPEAKER_01]: With us will be President Bill Moriarty of the Musicians Union and jazz great Ron Carter.
[00:28.200 --> 00:30.080]  [SPEAKER_01]: After local President J.R.
[00:30.160 --> 00:35.920]  [SPEAKER_01]: Horn and Rich Gelber of NABIT, who's currently fighting Disney's union busting, will also be with us.
[00:35.920 --> 00:38.500]  [SPEAKER_01]: Then we'll move from 1 to 3 p.m.
[00:38.800 --> 00:45.180]  [SPEAKER_01]: with Building Bridges to Whiskey around the world from Brazil to Bangladesh on a tour of the world's class struggles.
[00:45.460 --> 00:56.960]  [SPEAKER_01]: After looking at the British elections, we'll talk with former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and then with Willie James, President of the Transport Workers Union, on his way to lead a massive protest rally.
[00:57.260 --> 01:05.140]  [SPEAKER_01]: So tune in to WBAI May 1st, International Workers Day, produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg.
[01:11.460 --> 01:24.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: And it's almost exactly 8 o'clock, which means it's just about time for an exciting edition of Off the Hook, where we discuss the impending crisis facing New York City that makes all other crises look pale by comparison.
[01:24.880 --> 01:25.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: Stay tuned.
[01:59.370 --> 02:06.730]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let me just point out at this point, evacuation is not necessary, so please, we don't mean to start a panic.
[02:06.730 --> 02:11.330]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's a crisis, but it's not, oh, do what you feel is best.
[02:14.230 --> 02:18.010]  [SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, it's going to be unpleasant.
[02:18.330 --> 02:19.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's going to be confusing.
[02:20.510 --> 02:23.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's going to be mayhem.
[02:24.990 --> 02:26.530]  [SPEAKER_04]: No question about it.
[02:44.040 --> 02:44.560]  Yes,
[02:49.280 --> 02:51.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: we're talking about, no, we're not talking about things at WBAI that never work.
[02:51.700 --> 02:59.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: We're talking about things in the future of telecommunications that are going to cause us all kinds of problems.
[03:00.060 --> 03:01.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: All kinds of problems.
[03:01.580 --> 03:09.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: And that's because, that's because of, um, of what happened last week involving Bell Atlantic and Ninex.
[03:09.220 --> 03:09.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, that's right.
[03:09.820 --> 03:10.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: It went through.
[03:10.540 --> 03:11.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: We lost the battle.
[03:12.840 --> 03:17.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's going to happen, just as if we hadn't done anything at all.
[03:17.960 --> 03:26.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, within a year, Ninex will be no more, Bell Atlantic will be here, and we're going to all have to adjust to some different rules, different people in charge.
[03:27.540 --> 03:31.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: All kinds of things that maybe we won't really feel that enthused about.
[03:31.840 --> 03:36.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, we're going to talk about that, um, as well as a couple other things that have been going on.
[03:37.020 --> 03:38.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: Fiber, you've got a new bit of technology there.
[03:39.040 --> 03:41.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you don't have it in front of you, but you have, uh, information about it.
[03:41.060 --> 03:42.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: An article about it, yes.
[03:42.040 --> 03:45.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, okay, so, uh, what is this marvel of marvels that we are, we are...
[03:45.840 --> 03:47.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: Ah, yes, this marvel of marvels.
[03:47.780 --> 03:50.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's, um, a company by the name of...
[03:50.400 --> 03:50.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, look.
[03:51.640 --> 03:54.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's what we were trying to get to work, and it finally, it finally kicked in.
[03:54.900 --> 03:55.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: Ah, never mind.
[03:55.680 --> 03:56.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's too late.
[03:56.240 --> 03:56.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Go away.
[03:58.720 --> 04:07.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: A company by the name of E-Stamp, I guess for electronic stamp, since that's what everything with an E and a hyphen in the beginning means these days.
[04:07.400 --> 04:29.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh, they, they believe that they can come up with a, a secure system that would allow average people, like you and me, and small businesses, to take a small handheld doodad, plug it into their serial or parallel port on their computer, and print their own postage meters on an envelope,
[04:29.220 --> 04:29.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: securely.
[04:30.600 --> 04:32.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, let me just stop you right there.
[04:32.760 --> 04:37.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, you're saying I can print securely my, my, but I mean, if I can print it.
[04:37.400 --> 04:37.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[04:37.840 --> 04:39.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: Can I not also copy it?
[04:39.300 --> 04:40.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Ah, well, they claim...
[04:40.580 --> 04:40.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[04:40.780 --> 04:51.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, yes, you can copy it, but they claim that, uh, that they're incorporating all kinds of things into the encrypted barcode that gets printed on the envelope by your very own printer.
[04:51.660 --> 05:06.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: And, uh, they claim that it contains a postage license number, and, uh, that it also contains who you're mailing it to, who you are, and, uh, for whatever reason, they think that this information is sufficient to deter counterfeiters.
[05:06.720 --> 05:13.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh, somehow I get the feeling that either these people are incredibly stupid, or they're leaving something out.
[05:14.060 --> 05:15.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: I think they must be leaving something out.
[05:15.020 --> 05:18.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: Because none of that information is, is, is particularly unique.
[05:18.380 --> 05:18.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[05:18.880 --> 05:20.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: They must be leaving something out.
[05:20.400 --> 05:20.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[05:20.720 --> 05:24.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know what they're leaving out, but, I mean, that's, uh, it just seems too easy.
[05:24.700 --> 05:25.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it does.
[05:26.820 --> 05:29.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, uh, we'll have to look into that, uh, some more.
[05:30.480 --> 05:32.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: You see just what it is they're really talking about.
[05:32.600 --> 05:32.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yep.
[05:32.740 --> 05:36.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, here's an item that came across, uh, the newspaper yesterday.
[05:36.340 --> 05:39.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if people, uh, looked at the New York Times and the Metro News Briefs.
[05:39.340 --> 05:49.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: I thought this was kind of interesting concerning, um, a form of technology that can be certainly misused and, uh, reacted to in a rather, uh, I guess, bad way.
[05:50.180 --> 06:04.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: Amid rising concerns about the use of lasers, which can be used to help snipers hit their targets, the police arrested a Harlem man on Saturday night for shining a laser pen out his window and onto a police officer on the street below.
[06:04.960 --> 06:22.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, uh, this guy, his name we won't give out because he probably has enough problems right now, was arrested and charged with menacing for shining a laser pen onto a police officer who was responding to a reported dispute outside his building, uh, which was up on 7th Avenue in the 1800 block.
[06:22.560 --> 06:25.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, and that, uh, is according to a police spokeswoman.
[06:25.640 --> 06:30.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: The officer took cover, called for help, and had the building searched as soon as he noticed a red dot on his arm.
[06:31.040 --> 06:32.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: No guns were recovered.
[06:32.720 --> 06:35.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: Lasers are increasingly attached to guns and rifles.
[06:35.800 --> 06:43.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: In February, after a number of police officers noticed that they were being targeted with the red dots, the police department issued guidelines on what to do in such a situation.
[06:44.360 --> 06:45.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: And here's what they say.
[06:45.400 --> 06:50.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: Upon seeing a, quote-unquote, dot, assume the laser is attached to a weapon.
[06:50.980 --> 06:51.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Seek immediate cover.
[06:52.140 --> 06:53.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: To do otherwise might be fatal.
[06:55.700 --> 06:57.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, this is, this is especially interesting.
[06:57.400 --> 07:01.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, um, what's interesting about this, laser pens, they're everywhere now.
[07:01.600 --> 07:01.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[07:01.700 --> 07:03.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, you can, you can buy them all over the place.
[07:03.600 --> 07:04.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you want to talk about your story?
[07:04.920 --> 07:05.160]  Sure.
[07:05.320 --> 07:05.580]  Okay.
[07:05.920 --> 07:12.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: We happen to have somebody here that had this almost exact thing happen to him, um, what was it, like a year and a half ago?
[07:12.400 --> 07:14.180]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, it was, it was last February.
[07:14.480 --> 07:16.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do we want to give you a name, or do we want to keep you an eye on this?
[07:16.340 --> 07:17.040]  [SPEAKER_22]: Oh, Vinny's fine.
[07:17.040 --> 07:22.620]  [SPEAKER_22]: Um, uh, yeah, last February, um, not this past one, but the year before.
[07:22.880 --> 07:23.400]  [SPEAKER_22]: February of 96.
[07:23.740 --> 07:24.000]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah.
[07:24.340 --> 07:33.540]  [SPEAKER_22]: Uh, I was arrested, I believe, for disorderly conduct, not menacing, after I, uh, shined a laser pen out of an apartment window into a SWAT team van.
[07:33.920 --> 07:36.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, if you were in Harlem, it would be menacing.
[07:36.140 --> 07:37.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: Down in the village, it's mischief.
[07:37.400 --> 07:39.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's just disorderly conduct, I guess.
[07:39.840 --> 07:45.080]  [SPEAKER_22]: Um, but they didn't, they didn't seem too, uh, too, too scared about it.
[07:45.140 --> 07:47.300]  [SPEAKER_22]: They just seemed a little more, uh, pissed off, I guess.
[07:47.440 --> 07:50.100]  [SPEAKER_22]: Uh, they didn't dive for cover or anything.
[07:50.760 --> 07:51.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh-huh.
[07:51.240 --> 07:54.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you, you did more than just shined it on a police, you shined it on, on who?
[07:55.000 --> 07:57.820]  [SPEAKER_22]: The, the, the emergency services, which is pretty much the SWAT team.
[07:57.820 --> 07:58.040]  [SPEAKER_22]: The SWAT team, yeah.
[07:58.040 --> 07:59.040]  [SPEAKER_22]: You shined it on a SWAT team.
[07:59.180 --> 07:59.380]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah.
[07:59.520 --> 08:00.020]  [SPEAKER_22]: You didn't know.
[08:09.260 --> 08:10.720]  [SPEAKER_22]: For the device that I was using.
[08:11.000 --> 08:11.100]  [SPEAKER_22]: Uh-huh.
[08:11.400 --> 08:14.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: And then they, they took it, and then they came back and said they changed their minds?
[08:14.400 --> 08:18.280]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, yeah, they, they took it, and I, actually, I don't even believe they, they took it initially.
[08:18.480 --> 08:21.760]  [SPEAKER_22]: They, they just, uh, they, they asked for, at first, they asked for the gun.
[08:21.900 --> 08:22.820]  [SPEAKER_22]: They were like, who's got the gun?
[08:22.940 --> 08:23.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh-huh.
[08:23.360 --> 08:26.340]  [SPEAKER_22]: And, uh, we convinced them that it was, in fact, a laser pointer.
[08:26.820 --> 08:27.680]  [SPEAKER_22]: And they left.
[08:27.920 --> 08:28.040]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah.
[08:28.160 --> 08:29.780]  [SPEAKER_22]: Without really doing much of anything.
[08:29.920 --> 08:33.900]  [SPEAKER_22]: Except they made me, they made me go down and apologize to the, uh, officers in the van.
[08:34.260 --> 08:35.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: They were pretty broken up down there.
[08:35.720 --> 08:37.300]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, they, they were, they were pretty broken up.
[08:37.520 --> 08:37.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh-huh.
[08:37.760 --> 08:41.340]  [SPEAKER_22]: But, yeah, and then they just kind of left.
[08:41.500 --> 08:46.280]  [SPEAKER_22]: And later they came back and decided to charge me with disorderly.
[08:46.420 --> 08:50.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: So what happened after the whole trial process, prison time, that kind of thing?
[08:51.180 --> 08:59.740]  [SPEAKER_22]: No, I was just taken down to the station and they threw me in a holding cell for a while and took the laser pointers and gave me a summons to court for disorderly conduct.
[09:00.020 --> 09:02.020]  [SPEAKER_22]: And, of course, the judge threw it out.
[09:02.120 --> 09:06.200]  [SPEAKER_22]: She actually laughed and said it was stupid, not disorderly.
[09:07.780 --> 09:09.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: You were charged with stupid then, huh?
[09:09.440 --> 09:10.300]  [SPEAKER_22]: I guess.
[09:11.760 --> 09:12.320]  [SPEAKER_22]: Officially, yeah.
[09:12.500 --> 09:13.660]  [SPEAKER_22]: That sounds kind of appropriate.
[09:14.240 --> 09:15.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: Giuliani put that one in, you know.
[09:16.060 --> 09:17.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: Made stupid a crime.
[09:17.340 --> 09:22.240]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, and then, yeah, after that, you know, the police were kind enough to give me back the laser pointers.
[09:22.260 --> 09:22.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: They gave it back to you?
[09:23.040 --> 09:23.300]  [SPEAKER_22]: They did.
[09:23.420 --> 09:27.080]  [SPEAKER_22]: I had to, like, go on some bureaucratic paper chase for a while.
[09:27.240 --> 09:28.900]  [SPEAKER_22]: But after that, I did, in fact, get them back.
[09:30.080 --> 09:31.340]  [SPEAKER_22]: Did you point it at the judge?
[09:31.620 --> 09:32.280]  [SPEAKER_22]: No, no.
[09:32.840 --> 09:33.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, I didn't.
[09:34.220 --> 09:34.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: That would be something.
[09:35.020 --> 09:44.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you know, what's funny about this, and it is kind of weird because, I mean, they're saying that these red dots only mean one thing, when obviously they mean many things.
[09:44.780 --> 09:46.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, yeah, but I mean...
[09:46.380 --> 09:52.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Every hacker meeting, I see these things, you know, and I'm sure only, not only hackers have them, I'm sure all kinds of people have these laser pointers.
[09:53.000 --> 09:55.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: If there was such a threat, why are they being sold everywhere?
[09:55.640 --> 09:56.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: How much do they cost?
[09:56.600 --> 09:58.880]  [SPEAKER_22]: It's just, like, $50 or something like that.
[09:58.880 --> 10:02.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, it's cool to be able to point at something three blocks away and see the little red light on it.
[10:02.740 --> 10:08.840]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, but then again, I mean, it is indicative of a potentially hazardous situation.
[10:09.060 --> 10:09.600]  [SPEAKER_22]: Oh, that's true.
[10:09.760 --> 10:12.300]  [SPEAKER_22]: I mean, it's very easy to misunderstand, you know.
[10:13.000 --> 10:13.280]  [SPEAKER_22]: Mm-hmm.
[10:14.460 --> 10:14.820]  [SPEAKER_22]: So.
[10:15.020 --> 10:19.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, the thing is, though, what about all the times you're being targeted with guns that don't have laser pointers?
[10:20.200 --> 10:21.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: Should you react the same way then?
[10:21.820 --> 10:22.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Should you always be paranoid?
[10:22.760 --> 10:24.500]  [SPEAKER_22]: If you're being targeted...
[10:24.500 --> 10:24.900]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yes.
[10:25.100 --> 10:29.060]  [SPEAKER_22]: If I was being targeted by a gun that didn't have a laser pointer, yeah, I'd still be worried.
[10:29.520 --> 10:35.820]  [SPEAKER_22]: And if I was a police officer, I would probably assume a lot of the time that I was being targeted just to be safe.
[10:35.960 --> 10:39.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I guess the question I really have, I'm looking at these guidelines.
[10:39.700 --> 10:44.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: Upon seeing a dot, assume the laser is attached to a weapon, seek immediate cover to do otherwise might be fatal.
[10:45.060 --> 10:47.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: Should all citizens do the same thing or only cops?
[10:48.100 --> 10:50.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, whenever you see a red dot on you, should you die for cover?
[10:50.820 --> 10:53.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: I would consider it why.
[10:53.260 --> 10:55.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: There's going to be mayhem out there if this starts happening.
[10:56.720 --> 11:06.680]  [SPEAKER_22]: Well, I mean, I guess if you're a cop and if you saw a glint from a reflection off of some kind of scope or something like that, you could be advised to do the same thing.
[11:08.440 --> 11:08.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Interesting.
[11:10.760 --> 11:13.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I guess we're in for some interesting times ahead.
[11:14.140 --> 11:15.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: We're in for some red dot specials.
[11:15.880 --> 11:16.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[11:16.680 --> 11:17.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, definitely.
[11:17.520 --> 11:18.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: Have you ever read that, Charlie?
[11:18.320 --> 11:20.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, I've had them on my arm before.
[11:20.220 --> 11:24.760]  [SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, it happened to my roommate in our dormitory just the other day.
[11:25.340 --> 11:27.940]  [SPEAKER_22]: Somebody from across the courtyard was shining a laser pen in it.
[11:28.140 --> 11:28.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Really?
[11:28.460 --> 11:28.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: You called the cops?
[11:29.140 --> 11:30.440]  [SPEAKER_22]: No, I didn't call the cops.
[11:30.800 --> 11:32.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: It would have been kind of funny if the same cop came up.
[11:32.800 --> 11:33.700]  [SPEAKER_22]: That would have been funny.
[11:33.780 --> 11:34.400]  [SPEAKER_22]: Officer Golden.
[11:35.340 --> 11:36.260]  [SPEAKER_22]: I know who you are.
[11:36.440 --> 11:39.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's not rekindle memories like that.
[11:39.780 --> 11:46.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, back to, thank you very much, Vinny, for showing up and telling us your story.
[11:47.340 --> 11:50.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Back to the Bell Atlantic merger, that is something that's...
[11:50.520 --> 11:51.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: Another case of stupid.
[11:52.080 --> 11:53.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm sorry, I missed that comment.
[11:53.360 --> 11:54.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: Another case of stupid.
[11:54.940 --> 12:01.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, well, I think it's another case of greed, really, and monopoly and things like that.
[12:01.000 --> 12:07.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, all things that go along with telephone companies and takeover bids and that kind of madness.
[12:08.740 --> 12:09.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: What's it going to mean to us?
[12:10.080 --> 12:11.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: And what do people out there think?
[12:11.340 --> 12:12.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's really the gist of the show tonight.
[12:13.100 --> 12:17.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: And we'd like to hear from people, especially people in Bell Atlantic territory, which, in case you don't know, is New Jersey.
[12:17.980 --> 12:21.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, our friends in New Jersey have been part of Bell Atlantic for a long time.
[12:21.760 --> 12:22.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, it was...
[12:22.420 --> 12:23.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, a little bit of history here.
[12:23.960 --> 12:28.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Back when it was all the Bell operating system, things were broken up.
[12:29.180 --> 12:31.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, we still had New York Telephone back then, right?
[12:31.740 --> 12:32.020]  [SPEAKER_22]: Right.
[12:32.180 --> 12:33.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: We didn't have NYNEX.
[12:33.720 --> 12:33.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: No.
[12:34.220 --> 12:35.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: There was no NYNEX.
[12:35.280 --> 12:36.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: There was a New Jersey Bell.
[12:36.500 --> 12:37.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: There was a Bell of Pennsylvania.
[12:37.360 --> 12:38.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Was there a Bell Atlantic?
[12:38.600 --> 12:39.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: There was no Bell Atlantic.
[12:39.800 --> 12:41.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, there was no Bell Atlantic before 1984.
[12:41.640 --> 12:44.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: Then 1984 came around, the seven regional Bells were created.
[12:44.420 --> 12:44.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[12:44.920 --> 12:46.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: And among them, NYNEX and Bell Atlantic.
[12:47.000 --> 12:47.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[12:47.260 --> 12:52.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: We kept the little phone companies underneath them, New York Telephone, New Jersey Bell, New England Telephone.
[12:52.780 --> 12:53.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: All those.
[12:53.940 --> 13:02.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: And then they started to disappear and become enveloped by the regional Bell operating companies of NYNEX and Bell Atlantic.
[13:02.460 --> 13:03.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: So that happened a couple of years ago.
[13:04.080 --> 13:09.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bell Atlantic, you know, New Jersey Bell turned into Bell Atlantic, and so did Bell of Pennsylvania and C&P Telephone and all those.
[13:10.160 --> 13:12.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Whereas here in New York, it all became NYNEX.
[13:12.560 --> 13:19.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, what's going to happen is NYNEX is going to disappear completely, and Bell Atlantic is going to come over the river and take us all over.
[13:19.580 --> 13:21.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: All the way up to Maine.
[13:21.980 --> 13:27.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: So we're going to have this massive phone company that's going to stretch from Maine to Washington, D.C.
[13:27.400 --> 13:28.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, Virginia, right?
[13:28.400 --> 13:28.600]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[13:29.540 --> 13:32.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: And out to Pennsylvania and all over the place.
[13:33.020 --> 13:33.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: Boy.
[13:33.640 --> 13:41.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it seems like we're going back in time a little bit, and the phone companies, instead of being broken up, are sort of, you know, getting bigger and bigger and turning into monopolies.
[13:41.880 --> 13:43.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: We should go to war with New Jersey.
[13:44.160 --> 13:45.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, how are we going to do that now?
[13:45.280 --> 13:46.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: We've got the same phone company.
[13:47.500 --> 13:49.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: We're going to have to go to war with, like, Ohio or something.
[13:51.080 --> 13:51.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know.
[13:53.240 --> 13:59.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, I guess, according to all the newspaper reports, the hardest thing right now is credibility.
[14:00.100 --> 14:07.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bell Atlantic and NYNEX completed a regulatory steeplechase last week when the Justice Department announced it would not try to block their $22 billion merger.
[14:07.020 --> 14:21.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: And though the companies tangled for more than a year with angry consumer advocates, annoying radio talk show hosts, bulky state officials, and skeptical regulators, their big deal came through without a scratch.
[14:22.080 --> 14:23.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know what's amazing about this?
[14:23.240 --> 14:31.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: When they did the merger of SBC and Pacific Telesis, they had to get all kinds of rate guarantees.
[14:32.500 --> 14:39.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: The PSCs, Public Utilities Commissions out there, said that they would not let this go through unless, you know, rate cuts were promised.
[14:40.040 --> 14:40.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: No such thing here.
[14:41.020 --> 14:41.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: Nothing like that here.
[14:41.920 --> 14:43.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, we have no expectation of what the rates are going to be.
[14:44.100 --> 14:45.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: Totally clueless.
[14:46.340 --> 14:56.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: The hard part may be for competitors and consumers to accept the government's conclusion that the combination posed no threat to an open marketplace, at least not as defined by antitrust lawyers.
[14:56.380 --> 14:59.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: The fact that they're a monster is a foregone conclusion, said John F.
[14:59.340 --> 15:02.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: Malone, president of the Eastern Management Group, a consulting firm in Parsippany, New Jersey.
[15:03.460 --> 15:08.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: Whether they become a friendly monster or an unfriendly monster remains to be seen.
[15:09.100 --> 15:13.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: The FCC must still sign off on the deal, but its approval is expected to be routine.
[15:15.060 --> 15:18.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, well, now we mentioned at the beginning of the show that we were facing a crisis.
[15:20.100 --> 15:23.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: And this is part of the crisis, but it was the first crisis.
[15:23.740 --> 15:27.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: This is the crisis that started last year, where we saw this as a potential...
[15:27.840 --> 15:30.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: At first, you know, we weren't even speaking out against it.
[15:30.180 --> 15:34.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: We decided to, you know, entertain the notion, and we reached the conclusion that it was a very bad move.
[15:35.600 --> 15:40.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: But then there's this other crisis that started to take place earlier this year, and that, of course, is the 646 crisis.
[15:41.680 --> 15:42.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know what that is, right?
[15:42.820 --> 15:44.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: The 646 crisis.
[15:44.220 --> 15:44.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes.
[15:44.760 --> 15:46.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, I don't think I remember that.
[15:46.480 --> 15:47.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: I have to jar your memory on what 646 is.
[15:48.060 --> 15:50.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's the area code split for 2-1-2.
[15:50.900 --> 15:52.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that's right, yeah.
[15:52.220 --> 15:53.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: And we don't know how it's going to happen.
[15:54.020 --> 15:55.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, how is it going to happen?
[15:55.440 --> 15:56.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's, you know, what are you going to split?
[15:57.300 --> 16:04.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, my friends, I've done a little bit of research here, and I've reached some very disturbing conclusions.
[16:05.540 --> 16:08.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: I've been looking at a lot of the area code splits.
[16:08.600 --> 16:10.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's have a little fun here.
[16:10.260 --> 16:13.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's see if people can actually tell me what some of these new area codes are.
[16:14.260 --> 16:17.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, because this is all happening.
[16:17.180 --> 16:18.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: It happened a lot faster.
[16:18.260 --> 16:23.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: You don't look at this thing for, you know, a month, and you miss, like, 10 new area codes.
[16:24.360 --> 16:27.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to say an area code, and you're going to tell me where it is, right?
[16:28.260 --> 16:30.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'll try, but I make no promises.
[16:30.380 --> 16:30.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[16:32.120 --> 16:33.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, let's see.
[16:33.300 --> 16:34.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's try this one.
[16:35.320 --> 16:36.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: 7-8-1.
[16:36.960 --> 16:37.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: I have no clue.
[16:38.080 --> 16:38.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: 7-8-1.
[16:38.740 --> 16:39.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: You don't know where 7-8-1 is.
[16:39.660 --> 16:43.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's the one that everyone's going to be trying to dial and getting 7-1-8 by accident instead.
[16:43.700 --> 16:43.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[16:43.900 --> 16:46.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's, uh, it's Boston, Massachusetts.
[16:46.360 --> 16:48.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's actually, it's the outskirts of Boston.
[16:48.800 --> 16:57.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: 6-1-7 will remain, you know, the inner part will remain, um, Boston, or 6-1-7, rather, the inner part of Boston, and, and everything on the outskirts will be 7-8-1.
[16:58.000 --> 16:59.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it's, it's, it's ridiculous.
[16:59.820 --> 17:00.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: 8-6-7.
[17:00.500 --> 17:00.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: How about this?
[17:01.140 --> 17:01.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: 8-6-7.
[17:03.320 --> 17:04.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: I, I don't...
[17:04.080 --> 17:04.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're baffled.
[17:04.600 --> 17:06.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: You have no idea, no clue whatsoever, right?
[17:06.040 --> 17:06.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: They're just not memorable.
[17:07.040 --> 17:07.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they're not memorable at all.
[17:08.080 --> 17:11.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, 8-6-7 is the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
[17:11.440 --> 17:12.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: Baffin Island, all that kind of thing.
[17:12.960 --> 17:13.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Why didn't I know that?
[17:13.760 --> 17:19.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, this, this is where absolutely nobody lives, and for some reason, they ran out of numbers in, in, in 8-1-9.
[17:19.520 --> 17:21.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know how they're, they're running out of numbers so fast.
[17:21.340 --> 17:23.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: I really don't understand why they're running out that fast.
[17:23.820 --> 17:25.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, 3-1-2 area code.
[17:25.580 --> 17:26.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you know what the 3-1-2 area code is?
[17:26.800 --> 17:27.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: 3-1-2 is Chicago area.
[17:28.060 --> 17:28.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's right.
[17:28.540 --> 17:30.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: But do you know how much of Chicago it is right now?
[17:30.480 --> 17:33.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, probably a little dinky part of, of central Chicago.
[17:33.500 --> 17:35.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: It is just the part that's called the loop.
[17:35.820 --> 17:43.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: In other words, when you go to Chicago, you have this elevated train line that goes literally in a circle around a certain, uh, you know, a couple of square miles.
[17:43.460 --> 17:43.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[17:43.920 --> 17:44.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's it.
[17:44.660 --> 17:48.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, how is it that they have used an entire area code in that small space?
[17:48.920 --> 17:49.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: Is that possible?
[17:50.300 --> 17:51.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think something's going on.
[17:51.460 --> 17:53.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: Someone is hoarding numbers, all right?
[17:53.520 --> 17:53.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[17:53.840 --> 17:55.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: And I don't know what they're doing with them.
[17:55.480 --> 17:59.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: But there's no way anybody could use that many in, and I don't care what kind of city it is.
[17:59.500 --> 18:01.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: You can't, I mean, how many numbers are we talking about?
[18:01.340 --> 18:03.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's 10,000 numbers per exchange.
[18:03.680 --> 18:03.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[18:04.000 --> 18:05.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: How many exchanges are there?
[18:05.680 --> 18:06.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know.
[18:06.100 --> 18:07.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: There could be quite a few in a single area code.
[18:07.920 --> 18:12.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, technically a thousand, but, uh, let's, let's say, let's say it's as low as 600.
[18:12.900 --> 18:13.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[18:13.860 --> 18:15.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: 600 times 10,000.
[18:15.380 --> 18:16.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's 6 million, isn't it?
[18:17.460 --> 18:17.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Is that right?
[18:18.180 --> 18:18.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: Is that right?
[18:18.400 --> 18:18.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: 6 million.
[18:18.900 --> 18:19.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's a lot.
[18:19.480 --> 18:21.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: 6 million phone numbers in a few square blocks?
[18:21.200 --> 18:21.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't get it.
[18:21.900 --> 18:22.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: It doesn't make sense.
[18:22.760 --> 18:24.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: Somebody please enlighten me on that one.
[18:24.780 --> 18:25.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[18:25.160 --> 18:31.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, we have area code splits of all sorts, and, um, and they're happening everywhere, and it's going to happen again in New York.
[18:32.700 --> 18:33.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Why is it a crisis?
[18:33.720 --> 18:35.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, it's a crisis, obviously, because it's going to be confusing.
[18:35.900 --> 18:38.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: But, let me tell you what I uncovered here.
[18:39.560 --> 18:41.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: New area code 443.
[18:42.020 --> 18:43.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you know what 443 is?
[18:43.880 --> 18:44.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: No.
[18:44.420 --> 18:44.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[18:44.600 --> 18:45.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: How about 240?
[18:46.140 --> 18:46.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Don't know that one either.
[18:47.180 --> 18:48.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: They're both in Maryland.
[18:48.640 --> 18:49.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Both in Maryland.
[18:50.000 --> 18:56.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: And, uh, 240 is a split of 301, which was the original Maryland area code for Baltimore.
[18:56.060 --> 18:58.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: And then 443 is a split of 410.
[18:59.740 --> 19:00.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[19:00.540 --> 19:09.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: But, the difference, and I believe this is the first time this has happened anywhere, these two area codes are what is known as overlay area codes.
[19:10.500 --> 19:11.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Overlay area codes.
[19:11.880 --> 19:13.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: What in the world is an overlay area code?
[19:14.280 --> 19:23.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, for this, we should, um, we should look at an article that appeared in yesterday's Newsday, actually, um, called The Numbers Game.
[19:23.600 --> 19:24.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: What's in a number?
[19:24.860 --> 19:27.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: Despite the lame paraphrase of Shakespeare, there could be plenty.
[19:27.700 --> 19:28.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: A sense of place.
[19:28.720 --> 19:29.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: A sense of identity.
[19:29.580 --> 19:30.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: A sense of community.
[19:30.620 --> 19:36.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: However, on Thursday, a technological, psychological, sociological, historical threshold will be crossed in Maryland.
[19:37.040 --> 19:43.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: For the first time anywhere in America, all seven-digit phone numbers will be increased to ten digits.
[19:43.560 --> 19:47.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: In other words, when you're in Maryland, you have to dial ten digits no matter what.
[19:48.760 --> 19:50.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: You can have two different area codes in the same house.
[19:51.720 --> 19:55.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: Everybody, up until this point, has 301, if they're in the 301 area.
[19:56.760 --> 19:59.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: And if you're in the 301 area after Thursday, you get 240.
[20:01.300 --> 20:03.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: And same thing goes for 410 and 443.
[20:04.940 --> 20:06.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, what's the company that spearheaded this?
[20:07.200 --> 20:13.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, actually, I mean, it was, it was, it was Belcor that, uh, that, you know, did it, that made the advisory.
[20:13.520 --> 20:14.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: But it's Bell Atlantic Territory.
[20:15.060 --> 20:15.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[20:15.920 --> 20:23.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: I can't help but think that Bell Atlantic's going to become used to this kind of thing, and they're going to say, you know, that's a solution for New York, for New York City.
[20:24.460 --> 20:31.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: And my prediction is that that's going to be what's proposed, that we all dial ten digits every time we make a phone call.
[20:31.260 --> 20:32.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, people, is that what you want?
[20:33.660 --> 20:34.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think, uh...
[20:34.520 --> 20:36.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Three extra digits per number you dial?
[20:36.560 --> 20:39.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Speed dialing and voice dialing are going to become real popular.
[20:39.560 --> 20:41.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: Actually, four digits, because you have to dial one.
[20:41.280 --> 20:41.920]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, you need the one.
[20:42.060 --> 20:42.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[20:42.580 --> 20:43.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Why do you need the one?
[20:43.880 --> 20:44.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't know.
[20:45.100 --> 20:46.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's not a long-distance call.
[20:46.380 --> 20:50.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, ultimately, when everybody's universally dialing ten digits, you won't need a one anymore.
[20:51.760 --> 20:56.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: This, um, this actually was an editorial written by Martin Hollander in, uh, in Newsday.
[20:56.240 --> 20:57.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: Every local call will require an area code.
[20:57.780 --> 21:02.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: Rather than continuing to divvy up the state into new calling areas, Bell Atlantic is introducing an overlay system.
[21:02.460 --> 21:07.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: Half the state will be zoned under 301 or 240, the other into 410 or 443.
[21:07.640 --> 21:09.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's as geographic as it's going to be.
[21:09.640 --> 21:16.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: If you already are in the existing 301 or 410 areas, every phone, fax, beeper, or modem you have still gets tagged with 301 or 410.
[21:16.620 --> 21:28.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: But if Junior wants to surf the web and demands a computer modem, or if your teenage daughter can't abide you overhearing her calls on the kitchen phone and wants her own line in her bedroom, then the new equipment gets prefixed with 240 or 443.
[21:28.500 --> 21:30.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: One home, two area codes.
[21:30.300 --> 21:33.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: Or, a single Baltimore block could be unevenly split with two codes.
[21:33.900 --> 21:37.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thus, every local call will require pressing ten numerals.
[21:38.700 --> 21:40.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bell Atlantic says it's the only way.
[21:40.820 --> 21:48.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: The public's veracist appetite for communications, new phones, faxes, modems, beepers, is devouring seven-digit combinations.
[21:48.420 --> 21:51.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: And once you reach all nines, something's got to give.
[21:51.640 --> 21:54.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's a rather simple way of looking at it, but it does happen to be true.
[21:55.980 --> 22:07.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: New York City's telephonic unity was sundered beginning in 1984, with Manhattan retaining the distinctive 212, while the outer boroughs got stuck with what one editorialist called Tacky 718.
[22:08.440 --> 22:10.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: Remember, folks, this is not us talking, all right?
[22:10.340 --> 22:13.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: We have a lot of 718 listeners, and, you know, we respect them.
[22:14.280 --> 22:16.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: But we're in 212, don't forget it.
[22:17.760 --> 22:18.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's not so bad.
[22:19.040 --> 22:19.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: Look at Chicago.
[22:19.620 --> 22:27.220]  [SPEAKER_04]: Chicago has 773-630-708-847, and its original 312.
[22:28.220 --> 22:30.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, that's incredible.
[22:30.700 --> 22:31.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's unbelievable.
[22:32.600 --> 22:34.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: So that's the crisis, I think, that's facing us.
[22:34.940 --> 22:40.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: But more importantly, in all seriousness, what kind of service is Bell Atlantic going to bring to New York City?
[22:41.340 --> 22:42.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you know anybody in New Jersey?
[22:42.700 --> 22:43.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: Do you speak to people over there?
[22:44.360 --> 22:46.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: Not in quite some time.
[22:46.400 --> 22:47.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: But I'm concerned...
[22:47.380 --> 22:48.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Bad phone connections over there, right?
[22:48.660 --> 22:49.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: What's that?
[22:49.160 --> 22:49.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: Bad phone connections.
[22:50.120 --> 22:53.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, I'm more concerned with what's going to happen to the ISDN rate structure.
[22:53.700 --> 22:53.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[22:54.220 --> 22:55.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, what's it like in Jersey?
[22:55.960 --> 22:57.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Or in Bell Atlantic?
[22:57.140 --> 23:01.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: I think they charge a nickel a minute instead of a penny for...
[23:01.660 --> 23:04.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: I've heard rumors of that, but, you know, I've seen no confirmation.
[23:04.520 --> 23:06.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, I've seen confirmation of the tariff.
[23:06.800 --> 23:08.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Bell Atlantic's tariff says a nickel a minute.
[23:08.580 --> 23:20.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: And the other thing last I heard is that they wanted to abolish the difference between the residential and business rates, and they wanted to make residential ISDN timed, just like businesses.
[23:21.220 --> 23:21.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: That would be bad.
[23:21.940 --> 23:22.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: That would be very bad, yeah.
[23:22.960 --> 23:23.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: That would be extremely bad.
[23:24.860 --> 23:31.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: But just to continue with some new area code information, Pittsburgh was splitting from 412 into 724.
[23:32.220 --> 23:44.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: But there was all kinds of regulatory and judicial intervention, and because of that, the previously announced area code overlay for the 412 area code, which was the same thing, scheduled for May 1st has been halted.
[23:44.800 --> 23:48.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: It is anticipated a new relief plan will be developed, but no details are available.
[23:48.700 --> 23:52.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: So somebody apparently objected out in Pittsburgh and stopped it.
[23:52.300 --> 23:53.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: And that's Bell Atlantic, too.
[23:54.080 --> 23:55.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's Bell of Pennsylvania.
[23:55.800 --> 23:58.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: So we'll just have to see where that goes.
[23:59.100 --> 24:00.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, this is something that's kind of fun.
[24:01.440 --> 24:07.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: Every time there's an area code, a new area code created, they make a test number.
[24:07.640 --> 24:07.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[24:08.160 --> 24:09.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: A test number for the new area code.
[24:10.880 --> 24:12.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: And what do you think the purpose of this is?
[24:13.520 --> 24:17.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Just so you could confirm that you actually are able to reach the new area code.
[24:17.680 --> 24:17.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[24:19.100 --> 24:22.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, let's see if we can actually get a dial tone here.
[24:22.460 --> 24:22.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[24:23.000 --> 24:27.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: We're going to try and call one of these test numbers.
[24:29.340 --> 24:31.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: I guess it doesn't matter if the numbers go out.
[24:35.050 --> 24:43.410]  [SPEAKER_04]: We'll see if we can successfully call something in the new 562, 562 area code, which I'm sure you all know where that is.
[24:43.410 --> 24:43.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, sure.
[24:44.190 --> 24:44.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Here we go.
[24:49.140 --> 24:52.780]  [SPEAKER_11]: You have reached area code 562.
[24:53.180 --> 24:59.800]  [SPEAKER_11]: You have successfully completed a call to the new area code dialing format, Gardena 86T.
[25:00.340 --> 25:00.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yay.
[25:01.080 --> 25:02.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: We got through successfully.
[25:03.360 --> 25:03.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: Isn't it nice?
[25:04.300 --> 25:04.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[25:05.040 --> 25:06.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: You have reached area code 562.
[25:06.180 --> 25:06.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Go away.
[25:06.900 --> 25:07.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: Go away.
[25:07.340 --> 25:07.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[25:08.000 --> 25:08.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: There's...
[25:08.460 --> 25:09.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: I said go away.
[25:09.640 --> 25:10.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: He won't hang up.
[25:10.540 --> 25:10.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[25:11.100 --> 25:11.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: There's a better one.
[25:12.220 --> 25:13.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: There's a better one.
[25:13.000 --> 25:16.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: And this one is actually part of former area code 809.
[25:16.820 --> 25:18.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm sure you can tell us where 809 is.
[25:18.520 --> 25:18.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[25:18.760 --> 25:19.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: That was the Caribbean.
[25:19.800 --> 25:20.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: It was the Caribbean.
[25:20.740 --> 25:21.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: It still is the Caribbean.
[25:21.660 --> 25:21.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[25:22.100 --> 25:27.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: But it seems that every single island is getting their own area code now.
[25:27.960 --> 25:29.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, this one...
[25:29.180 --> 25:32.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: This one, I believe, has a test number that still works.
[25:33.820 --> 25:34.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's see if it works.
[25:43.540 --> 25:47.380]  [SPEAKER_08]: You have reached the Cayman Islands using our new area code 345.
[25:48.130 --> 25:52.430]  [SPEAKER_08]: After the tone, please leave the name of the country you are calling from and the carrier.
[25:52.800 --> 25:53.190]  [SPEAKER_08]: Thank you.
[25:54.190 --> 25:58.120]  [SPEAKER_07]: Mailbox number 2-2-1-2-0.
[25:58.520 --> 26:00.930]  [SPEAKER_07]: It's either full or is currently inactive.
[26:01.540 --> 26:03.340]  [SPEAKER_07]: Please try your call again later.
[26:05.130 --> 26:07.020]  [SPEAKER_07]: Thank you for using this service.
[26:07.460 --> 26:08.020]  [SPEAKER_07]: Goodbye.
[26:08.500 --> 26:09.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[26:10.460 --> 26:13.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: I think the Cayman Islands is begging to be hacked into.
[26:13.080 --> 26:15.100]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think they're out of control there.
[26:15.500 --> 26:16.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: How'd the mailbox get full?
[26:16.640 --> 26:18.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: I wanted to say what country we were calling from.
[26:18.320 --> 26:20.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: I guess everyone else wanted to also and did.
[26:20.520 --> 26:21.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: And they didn't check.
[26:21.480 --> 26:22.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: They didn't care.
[26:22.410 --> 26:23.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they never bothered checking.
[26:24.220 --> 26:24.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[26:24.620 --> 26:25.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: So every time...
[26:25.880 --> 26:34.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: And you can get this information, too, by connecting on your web browser to www.belcorp.com?
[26:35.020 --> 26:42.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: www.belcorp.com slash capital N-A-N-P, as in North American Numbering Plan.
[26:42.800 --> 26:43.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: And what does that stand for?
[26:43.860 --> 26:45.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: North American Numbering Plan.
[26:45.500 --> 26:46.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you said as in.
[26:46.710 --> 26:48.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: I wasn't sure if that was really what it stood for.
[26:48.760 --> 26:49.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[26:50.360 --> 27:02.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: And what's interesting there is that you get all this information, but you also have the opportunity to click on their official letters, which they used to send out to interested parties, but now they charge $10 just to see the letters.
[27:02.320 --> 27:02.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[27:02.520 --> 27:05.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: And these letters explain what's going on with the new area codes.
[27:05.140 --> 27:06.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: That really kind of rubs me the wrong way.
[27:06.620 --> 27:07.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's rather pompous.
[27:07.410 --> 27:13.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that they restrict the information that really applies to everybody and charge you $10 to just see what's said.
[27:13.930 --> 27:16.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, why isn't that made available online?
[27:16.190 --> 27:20.190]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's not like, you know, it's only their information and no one else has come up with it.
[27:20.220 --> 27:22.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: This is how we're all going to have to live and survive.
[27:22.860 --> 27:25.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: For instance, there's a letter there.
[27:25.380 --> 27:26.690]  [SPEAKER_04]: You can see all the titles of the letters.
[27:26.860 --> 27:34.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: There's a letter there saying that the 311 and 711 exchanges, I believe, have been allocated for certain uses.
[27:34.720 --> 27:38.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: And I know 311 is that thing Clinton came up with for non-emergency police.
[27:38.410 --> 27:38.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[27:38.780 --> 27:44.430]  [SPEAKER_04]: Which I think is not really that great an idea because, you know, for a rotary dialer, it takes less time to dial 311 than 911.
[27:44.740 --> 27:45.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, I don't know.
[27:45.540 --> 27:48.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: If they were going to give out that number, I think it would have made more sense to do it the opposite.
[27:48.930 --> 27:52.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: But if it's a non-emergency, I don't know why you have to dial it fast.
[27:53.460 --> 27:55.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: It doesn't really make that much sense.
[27:56.810 --> 27:57.950]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, what's 711?
[27:59.390 --> 28:00.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: 711, I can't say.
[28:00.280 --> 28:00.930]  [SPEAKER_04]: We don't know.
[28:01.020 --> 28:01.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Nobody knows.
[28:01.720 --> 28:02.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: Nobody knows what 711 is.
[28:03.000 --> 28:04.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: Does it do anything when you dial it?
[28:04.140 --> 28:04.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's try it.
[28:04.820 --> 28:06.910]  [SPEAKER_04]: But I don't think so because I don't think it's been allocated yet.
[28:09.220 --> 28:12.950]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's try 312 because it's not an emergency, so we're not going to be harassing anybody.
[28:13.170 --> 28:14.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: But I don't think it's in place yet in New York.
[28:15.170 --> 28:16.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: If it is, we'll apologize.
[28:19.680 --> 28:26.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's still that police for the death thing, which we announced a couple of years ago.
[28:27.120 --> 28:28.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: But I guess that's going away.
[28:28.100 --> 28:29.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe 711 is turning into that.
[28:29.740 --> 28:30.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Maybe.
[28:30.280 --> 28:32.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: But if that goes away, then what happens then?
[28:32.800 --> 28:33.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Deaf people can't call for help?
[28:34.260 --> 28:34.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: No.
[28:35.020 --> 28:35.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: I guess not.
[28:35.780 --> 28:39.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: Not in that manner anyway because it's more important that non-emergency calls get through.
[28:39.540 --> 28:41.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: How are they going to convey that they can't do that anymore?
[28:42.110 --> 28:42.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's a good question.
[28:43.240 --> 28:44.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's try 711.
[28:44.160 --> 28:45.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm sure it's not going to work.
[28:48.800 --> 28:50.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: In fact, I think it's waiting for more digits.
[28:51.480 --> 28:52.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: So let's give it some more digits.
[28:57.470 --> 28:58.490]  [SPEAKER_04]: Ah, it's going somewhere.
[28:59.550 --> 29:00.310]  [SPEAKER_06]: I'm sorry.
[29:00.530 --> 29:11.830]  [SPEAKER_06]: The number you have reached, area code 212-711-1234, is not in service at this time.
[29:12.090 --> 29:13.710]  [SPEAKER_06]: No further information is available.
[29:13.970 --> 29:14.630]  [SPEAKER_06]: I'm sorry.
[29:14.750 --> 29:21.810]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you know, what's interesting about that is, is I think that's the only case of an exchange like that with a 1-1 at the end of it even existing in New York City.
[29:22.090 --> 29:24.890]  [SPEAKER_23]: Actually, they were doing the same thing a couple of years ago with 8-1-1.
[29:25.130 --> 29:30.810]  [SPEAKER_23]: I was trying 8-1-1 in New York City, and it was actually waiting for four more digits, and then it would go through to a recording.
[29:30.950 --> 29:31.610]  [SPEAKER_23]: Let's try 8-1-1.
[29:31.690 --> 29:33.570]  [SPEAKER_23]: And every number I tried said it was out of service.
[29:34.350 --> 29:35.430]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, it doesn't do that now.
[29:35.570 --> 29:35.890]  [SPEAKER_23]: It rings.
[29:36.090 --> 29:36.790]  [SPEAKER_23]: 8-1-1 rings.
[29:39.150 --> 29:39.870]  [SPEAKER_09]: We're sorry.
[29:40.150 --> 29:42.390]  [SPEAKER_09]: Your call cannot be completed as dialed.
[29:42.630 --> 29:44.410]  [SPEAKER_09]: Please check the number and dial again.
[29:46.930 --> 29:57.050]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so let's try asking an operator where 7-1-1 is, since it obviously exists.
[29:57.410 --> 29:57.910]  Yeah.
[29:58.290 --> 30:00.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, so if it exists, they must have an answer for it.
[30:03.310 --> 30:04.590]  [SPEAKER_15]: 9-X, Mr. Treisman.
[30:04.870 --> 30:05.370]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, hi.
[30:05.490 --> 30:09.590]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm trying to find out where the exchange 7-1-1 is in the 2-1-2 area code.
[30:09.710 --> 30:11.610]  [SPEAKER_15]: I would have to connect you with local directory assistance.
[30:11.790 --> 30:12.590]  [SPEAKER_15]: They can check that for you.
[30:12.650 --> 30:13.530]  [SPEAKER_15]: Would you like me to connect you?
[30:13.630 --> 30:14.530]  [SPEAKER_04]: If you must, yes.
[30:14.610 --> 30:14.750]  [SPEAKER_04]: Sure.
[30:15.990 --> 30:16.970]  [SPEAKER_04]: I understand there's...
[30:16.970 --> 30:17.670]  [SPEAKER_12]: 9-X, you're listening?
[30:17.830 --> 30:18.150]  [SPEAKER_04]: ...charge for this.
[30:18.210 --> 30:18.350]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[30:18.510 --> 30:22.530]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm trying to find out where the 7-1-1 exchange is in the 2-1-2 area code.
[30:22.790 --> 30:23.110]  [SPEAKER_12]: Okay.
[30:23.530 --> 30:23.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
[30:24.070 --> 30:25.470]  [SPEAKER_12]: It just says in Manhattan.
[30:25.710 --> 30:27.790]  [SPEAKER_12]: It doesn't say if it's the east side or west side of Manhattan.
[30:28.010 --> 30:28.950]  [SPEAKER_04]: Doesn't say anything like that?
[30:30.890 --> 30:31.210]  [SPEAKER_04]: Does exist?
[30:31.450 --> 30:31.730]  [SPEAKER_12]: Yes.
[30:32.030 --> 30:32.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, thank you very much.
[30:32.910 --> 30:33.090]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're welcome.
[30:33.270 --> 30:33.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bye.
[30:34.630 --> 30:36.810]  [SPEAKER_04]: And I guess we can try the 9-9-0-1 thing.
[30:36.890 --> 30:37.290]  [SPEAKER_04]: Might as well.
[30:37.430 --> 30:45.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, because if it's a valid exchange, 9-9-0-1 tells you what kind of switch it is.
[30:45.470 --> 30:45.990]  [SPEAKER_23]: It should, yeah.
[30:46.250 --> 30:46.530]  [SPEAKER_04]: It should.
[30:46.690 --> 30:47.990]  [SPEAKER_04]: I have a feeling it's not going to.
[30:48.310 --> 30:48.530]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[30:48.950 --> 30:49.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: But let's try.
[30:50.670 --> 30:51.590]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, it's going somewhere.
[31:00.430 --> 31:01.630]  [SPEAKER_04]: Usually it picks up by now.
[31:10.380 --> 31:12.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Think they forgot to put the machine on?
[31:16.280 --> 31:17.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, we'll let this ring for a little while.
[31:17.820 --> 31:19.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe somebody will pick up and tell us something.
[31:20.400 --> 31:23.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: Our phone number is 212-279-3400.
[31:24.300 --> 31:36.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: If you have any kinds of questions or comments, we especially want to hear from those people in New Jersey who can tell us what we're in for when Bell Atlantic crosses the river.
[31:38.800 --> 31:40.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: Sounds like the Revolutionary War.
[31:40.560 --> 31:41.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: It does, doesn't it?
[31:41.500 --> 31:41.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[31:42.560 --> 31:43.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's going to be mayhem.
[31:44.040 --> 31:44.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's going to be bloody.
[31:44.720 --> 31:47.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, we tried to warn people.
[31:48.060 --> 31:49.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: Actually, we did warn people.
[31:49.100 --> 31:50.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's not the people's fault.
[31:50.060 --> 31:54.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's the fact that people didn't really have much say in the whole process.
[31:55.800 --> 31:58.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, well, I guess we're not going to get anywhere with that test number.
[31:58.300 --> 32:03.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: We'll try to find out more about what 7-1-1-1 is without paying the $10 that Bell Court wants us to pay.
[32:06.480 --> 32:10.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: 212-279-3400 is our telephone number.
[32:10.760 --> 32:14.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's get rid of that thing and pick up our first...
[32:14.420 --> 32:16.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, no, let's not pick up the first call.
[32:17.280 --> 32:18.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: We know who that is.
[32:18.300 --> 32:21.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the first call is always the same person or persons.
[32:22.980 --> 32:25.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's pick up caller number 5.
[32:26.120 --> 32:26.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[32:26.840 --> 32:27.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[32:28.720 --> 32:29.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, it's you.
[32:29.740 --> 32:30.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[32:30.360 --> 32:30.900]  [SPEAKER_15]: All right.
[32:30.900 --> 32:32.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, you're number 5.
[32:33.560 --> 32:34.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Remember that.
[32:34.820 --> 32:35.900]  [SPEAKER_15]: Great, I'll remember that.
[32:36.000 --> 32:36.280]  [SPEAKER_15]: Thank you.
[32:36.900 --> 32:42.420]  [SPEAKER_15]: One thing you have to look forward to in New Jersey, in Bell Atlantic, is no more 6-1-1.
[32:43.120 --> 32:44.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: No more repair?
[32:44.200 --> 32:45.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: Because everything works?
[32:46.400 --> 32:49.100]  [SPEAKER_15]: Well, actually, it's now an 800 number.
[32:49.820 --> 32:50.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, really?
[32:50.720 --> 32:51.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: I already changed it here.
[32:52.240 --> 32:53.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: You mean 6-1-1 doesn't work here either?
[32:53.860 --> 32:56.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, it's 8-9-0-6-6-1-1.
[32:56.680 --> 32:58.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: I didn't know 6-1-1 didn't work at all.
[32:58.580 --> 33:00.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't think it goes through anymore.
[33:00.500 --> 33:01.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: It tells you to call.
[33:01.180 --> 33:01.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Really?
[33:01.520 --> 33:01.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[33:02.140 --> 33:02.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[33:02.940 --> 33:04.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, we'll have to verify that as well.
[33:04.940 --> 33:06.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: But okay, anything else?
[33:06.520 --> 33:08.500]  [SPEAKER_15]: No, would you like to give it a try here?
[33:09.020 --> 33:09.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Sure.
[33:09.440 --> 33:10.140]  [SPEAKER_15]: We'll conference it in.
[33:10.240 --> 33:10.460]  [SPEAKER_15]: Hold on.
[33:10.460 --> 33:11.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, let's find out what happens.
[33:14.360 --> 33:14.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, wow.
[33:14.940 --> 33:16.180]  [SPEAKER_04]: They get dramatic music over there, too.
[33:18.040 --> 33:18.580]  [SPEAKER_15]: Are you there?
[33:18.880 --> 33:20.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Does everybody get dramatic music like that?
[33:20.620 --> 33:20.940]  [SPEAKER_15]: Sorry?
[33:21.660 --> 33:22.620]  [SPEAKER_15]: This is 6-1-1.
[33:22.780 --> 33:22.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[33:24.300 --> 33:25.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bell Atlantic recording.
[33:25.480 --> 33:25.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'll bet.
[33:29.470 --> 33:36.950]  [SPEAKER_00]: The new number for Bell Atlantic repair is 1-800-275-2355.
[33:37.270 --> 33:41.870]  [SPEAKER_00]: If you have selected an alternative service provider, please consult your local directory.
[33:42.650 --> 33:43.150]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I'll be.
[33:43.530 --> 33:44.210]  [SPEAKER_15]: Isn't that nice?
[33:44.390 --> 33:46.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, how long has that been going on for?
[33:46.330 --> 33:47.910]  [SPEAKER_15]: I discovered it was about two weeks ago.
[33:47.910 --> 33:48.270]  [SPEAKER_04]: Really?
[33:48.590 --> 33:48.890]  [SPEAKER_15]: Mm-hmm.
[33:49.350 --> 33:49.750]  [SPEAKER_04]: Interesting.
[33:50.330 --> 33:54.710]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, well, now, are there other things over there that you think might affect our daily lives?
[33:54.950 --> 33:55.530]  [SPEAKER_15]: I'll hold on briefly.
[33:55.710 --> 33:56.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, let's get rid of that.
[33:58.590 --> 33:58.990]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[33:58.990 --> 33:59.630]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's really nice.
[34:00.930 --> 34:01.730]  [SPEAKER_04]: What else?
[34:01.730 --> 34:02.830]  [SPEAKER_04]: What else do we have to look forward to?
[34:03.210 --> 34:06.370]  [SPEAKER_15]: Well, it seems like they're going back to their shoddy old service.
[34:06.370 --> 34:25.630]  [SPEAKER_15]: Up until about three weeks ago, I would say they had been getting better with the type of service they provided until I needed a small change done to a telephone number for a no-busy transfer, a no-answer busy transfer.
[34:26.590 --> 34:27.910]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's, what is that?
[34:28.170 --> 34:28.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: What do you call that?
[34:28.830 --> 34:30.070]  [SPEAKER_04]: Call-forwarding no-answer?
[34:30.170 --> 34:30.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's right.
[34:30.470 --> 34:32.530]  [SPEAKER_04]: Call-forward don't answer and call-forward busy line, both of them?
[34:32.990 --> 34:33.430]  [SPEAKER_15]: Exactly.
[34:33.430 --> 34:36.950]  [SPEAKER_15]: And you can have two separate numbers, one for the busy and one for the no-answer.
[34:37.110 --> 34:37.330]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[34:37.330 --> 34:37.790]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's true.
[34:37.790 --> 34:49.450]  [SPEAKER_15]: So I called to have one phone number changed, and it took four days to get the service back to normal because they sent me up to a mailbox, which didn't exist, and so on and so forth.
[34:49.590 --> 34:51.590]  [SPEAKER_15]: It turned out to be a real mess.
[34:51.810 --> 34:52.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: Wow.
[34:52.370 --> 34:53.990]  [SPEAKER_04]: That sounds like what they do here in Ninex.
[34:54.630 --> 34:55.450]  [SPEAKER_04]: It really does.
[34:55.870 --> 34:57.310]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, only it takes more than four days.
[34:58.790 --> 35:08.970]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you know, one of the things that they've been saying to us here in Ninex territory is that our service is so bad that anything will be an improvement, and Bell Atlantic is not nearly as bad as Ninex.
[35:09.170 --> 35:13.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you think they're trying to make it so that change isn't so traumatic for us?
[35:13.990 --> 35:14.750]  [SPEAKER_15]: I don't know.
[35:14.930 --> 35:15.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: It seems that way.
[35:16.010 --> 35:16.790]  [SPEAKER_15]: Well, that could be.
[35:17.110 --> 35:17.210]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[35:18.190 --> 35:20.510]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, well, thanks for the advice.
[35:20.790 --> 35:22.470]  [SPEAKER_15]: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk.
[35:22.630 --> 35:23.210]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, take care.
[35:23.370 --> 35:23.590]  [SPEAKER_15]: Good night.
[35:24.010 --> 35:27.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's try 611 from here and see what we get.
[35:27.450 --> 35:28.570]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think it still works.
[35:28.970 --> 35:29.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah?
[35:29.470 --> 35:29.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[35:30.290 --> 35:31.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't think so.
[35:31.610 --> 35:31.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[35:32.110 --> 35:32.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Put some money on it?
[35:33.210 --> 35:33.610]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[35:34.090 --> 35:35.230]  [SPEAKER_04]: Make this a little interesting.
[35:35.370 --> 35:35.730]  [SPEAKER_04]: $2,000.
[35:36.170 --> 35:36.970]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, well...
[35:37.990 --> 35:39.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: 611 is ringing.
[35:46.450 --> 35:49.490]  [SPEAKER_10]: Thank you for calling Ninex Telephone Repair Service.
[35:49.730 --> 35:50.990]  [SPEAKER_10]: Our number has been changed.
[35:51.250 --> 35:57.770]  [SPEAKER_10]: If you are a Ninex customer calling about your home telephone, please hang up and call 890-6611.
[35:58.090 --> 35:58.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: Pay up.
[35:58.770 --> 36:00.350]  [SPEAKER_04]: You didn't make a bet, right?
[36:00.350 --> 36:02.970]  [SPEAKER_10]: You are a Ninex customer calling about your business telephone.
[36:03.250 --> 36:05.850]  [SPEAKER_10]: Please hang up and call 890-7711.
[36:07.110 --> 36:12.330]  [SPEAKER_10]: If you are a customer of another telephone company, please call your local telephone service provider.
[36:13.070 --> 36:18.070]  [SPEAKER_23]: How would you have gotten that recording if you were in another phone company?
[36:18.350 --> 36:18.890]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't know.
[36:19.170 --> 36:20.690]  [SPEAKER_23]: You can't dial someone else's 611.
[36:21.130 --> 36:21.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know.
[36:22.090 --> 36:24.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, the way NYNEX routes things, who knows?
[36:24.270 --> 36:25.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you might end up there accidentally.
[36:25.830 --> 36:26.230]  [SPEAKER_04]: Quite possible.
[36:26.290 --> 36:28.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's go to call number four now.
[36:28.690 --> 36:29.590]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening, you're on the air.
[36:31.150 --> 36:31.930]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, that's me.
[36:32.010 --> 36:32.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: Speak up, please.
[36:32.790 --> 36:33.050]  [SPEAKER_18]: Hello?
[36:33.270 --> 36:33.810]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, go ahead.
[36:34.110 --> 36:35.050]  [SPEAKER_18]: Am I on the air?
[36:35.110 --> 36:37.110]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air right now as you speak.
[36:37.750 --> 36:38.450]  [SPEAKER_18]: Oh, hi.
[36:38.670 --> 36:40.990]  [SPEAKER_18]: I wanted to say something about Netcom.
[36:41.210 --> 36:41.510]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[36:42.990 --> 36:46.670]  [SPEAKER_18]: Well, you know the problem with them going to the hourly rate now.
[36:46.770 --> 36:47.450]  [SPEAKER_04]: I heard about that.
[36:47.510 --> 36:48.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, is that a mandatory hourly rate?
[36:49.130 --> 36:52.230]  [SPEAKER_18]: I believe so, but they have another problem on top of that.
[36:52.370 --> 36:52.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, what's that?
[36:52.950 --> 36:55.350]  [SPEAKER_18]: A while ago, I had an account there, and I quit.
[36:55.530 --> 37:00.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: However, for the past year and a half now, they've been sending me credit card bills.
[37:00.210 --> 37:03.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's one of Netcom's services, not to ever let you go.
[37:04.890 --> 37:06.950]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, so I have to dispute it every month.
[37:07.550 --> 37:12.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, here's what you do, and this is really the only way that you can get rid of them, is to cancel the credit card.
[37:12.510 --> 37:14.050]  [SPEAKER_04]: That way, they have no place to bill it to.
[37:14.250 --> 37:20.230]  [SPEAKER_04]: You tell your credit card company, please send me another card, change the numbers, and, you know, don't transfer any balances over.
[37:20.670 --> 37:23.590]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's a pain for you, but it's really the only effective way to get rid of them.
[37:24.010 --> 37:27.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: I have a feeling they'd come and steal my children, stuff like that.
[37:27.530 --> 37:28.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, yeah.
[37:28.290 --> 37:29.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's when things get really interesting.
[37:30.370 --> 37:32.510]  [SPEAKER_18]: Are you going to be at the next 2600 meeting?
[37:32.750 --> 37:33.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm glad you mentioned that.
[37:33.690 --> 37:35.930]  [SPEAKER_04]: The next 2600 meeting in New York, yes, I will be there.
[37:36.050 --> 37:38.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: It takes place this Friday, 5 p.m.
[37:38.670 --> 37:39.270]  [SPEAKER_04]: to 8 p.m.
[37:39.270 --> 37:43.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: at the City Corp Center in New York City.
[37:43.590 --> 37:46.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: And, unfortunately, you know, they still haven't finished that building.
[37:46.630 --> 37:47.290]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, I know.
[37:47.410 --> 37:49.010]  [SPEAKER_18]: I was there last month, and...
[37:49.010 --> 37:54.610]  [SPEAKER_04]: They promised it was going to be finished in April, but now they're, like, using the place where the chairs are for something that doesn't involve chairs.
[37:54.610 --> 38:00.370]  [SPEAKER_04]: And from what I heard, it's not going to be available for, you know, people to sit down and hang out until mid-June.
[38:00.710 --> 38:03.750]  [SPEAKER_04]: But we're going to hang out in a little hallway anyway.
[38:04.090 --> 38:05.550]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, and they don't have any payphones either.
[38:05.750 --> 38:06.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: Yeah, that's...
[38:06.330 --> 38:08.470]  [SPEAKER_18]: Except the one Barnes & Noble, which is, like, old.
[38:08.730 --> 38:08.950]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[38:09.110 --> 38:10.030]  [SPEAKER_18]: Very good for things.
[38:10.570 --> 38:11.710]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, we won't get into that.
[38:11.990 --> 38:12.330]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay.
[38:12.570 --> 38:13.990]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, well, we'll see you at the meeting then.
[38:14.090 --> 38:14.710]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, thanks.
[38:14.810 --> 38:15.110]  [SPEAKER_18]: Take care.
[38:15.230 --> 38:15.410]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bye-bye.
[38:16.110 --> 38:21.750]  [SPEAKER_04]: And, of course, there'll be 2600 meetings going on all over the place, all over the world, first Friday of the month.
[38:22.250 --> 38:23.770]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, call the number six.
[38:23.770 --> 38:24.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[38:24.310 --> 38:24.690]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[38:26.310 --> 38:27.090]  [SPEAKER_04]: Speak up, please.
[38:27.450 --> 38:27.650]  [SPEAKER_13]: Hello?
[38:27.890 --> 38:28.110]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[38:28.450 --> 38:29.410]  [SPEAKER_13]: Yes, how are you doing?
[38:29.530 --> 38:30.010]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, pretty good.
[38:30.050 --> 38:30.290]  [SPEAKER_04]: How are you?
[38:30.550 --> 38:31.070]  [SPEAKER_13]: Oh, fine.
[38:31.170 --> 38:31.390]  [SPEAKER_13]: Great.
[38:31.670 --> 38:32.570]  [SPEAKER_13]: My name's George.
[38:32.570 --> 38:35.930]  [SPEAKER_13]: I'm calling from Long Island, and I had a question about cordless phones.
[38:36.130 --> 38:37.010]  [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, go ahead.
[38:37.050 --> 38:38.490]  [SPEAKER_13]: Hey, and you're the experts.
[38:38.710 --> 38:40.610]  [SPEAKER_13]: There's three kinds I see advertised.
[38:40.810 --> 38:45.110]  [SPEAKER_13]: There's the 900, then they have something called 900 broad spectrum.
[38:45.410 --> 38:50.330]  [SPEAKER_13]: They have the old 45 megahertz or whatever that they have, like, a scrambling.
[38:50.490 --> 38:53.190]  [SPEAKER_13]: They call it, each manufacturer has a different name.
[38:53.190 --> 38:54.910]  [SPEAKER_13]: I was wondering, what's the most secure?
[38:55.090 --> 38:58.190]  [SPEAKER_13]: You know, you're doing business over the phone, and you don't want eavesdropping.
[38:58.290 --> 38:59.390]  [SPEAKER_13]: Is there, like, a big difference?
[38:59.890 --> 39:03.310]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, Faber, I believe you have a fairly secure 900 megahertz.
[39:03.310 --> 39:11.210]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, I have a 900 megahertz phone, and it does the typical scrambling.
[39:11.210 --> 39:12.870]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's not actually encryption.
[39:14.490 --> 39:23.530]  [SPEAKER_23]: Um, and, uh, the things that are good about it is, uh, it's, uh, it's a lot clearer than the older 45 megahertz ones.
[39:23.850 --> 39:26.830]  [SPEAKER_23]: The, uh, 45 megahertz ones are, are completely analog.
[39:27.050 --> 39:28.570]  [SPEAKER_23]: Anybody could just tune them in and listen to them.
[39:28.990 --> 39:32.250]  [SPEAKER_23]: The, uh, 900 megahertz ones are, uh, digitally encoded.
[39:32.450 --> 39:40.090]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, if somebody tries to tune into you, unless they have, uh, more, uh, advanced equipment than just a simple handheld scanner, they're just gonna get garbage.
[39:40.470 --> 39:42.270]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're not gonna be able to hear what it is you're saying.
[39:43.310 --> 39:43.950]  [SPEAKER_23]: But, um...
[39:43.950 --> 39:48.470]  [SPEAKER_23]: What if they clip into, and just, just to compare this to regular phones, what if they clip into your actual phone line, though?
[39:48.530 --> 39:48.790]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, yeah.
[39:48.990 --> 39:49.530]  [SPEAKER_23]: They'll just get a regular phone.
[39:49.530 --> 39:49.890]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, sure.
[39:50.010 --> 39:50.130]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[39:50.190 --> 39:51.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, you always have that to worry about.
[39:51.530 --> 39:52.250]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[39:52.630 --> 40:10.610]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is, uh, this is just if somebody sees you talking on one and they figure, hey, he's got a cordless phone, let me try to pick up his dial tone, which is a big problem with, uh, the 45, uh, megahertz, uh, phones, is you could literally drive around somebody's neighborhood with the same model phone and just look for a dial tone.
[40:10.670 --> 40:11.510]  [SPEAKER_23]: Cruising for dial tones.
[40:11.630 --> 40:11.730]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yep.
[40:11.950 --> 40:12.410]  [SPEAKER_23]: Exactly.
[40:13.050 --> 40:17.770]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, uh, the, uh, the 900 megahertz phones are, uh, are much better.
[40:17.870 --> 40:27.430]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you could find the 900 megahertz, uh, spread spectrum phones, which tend to be more expensive, those, uh, those tend to be even better because they jump around a lot.
[40:28.010 --> 40:31.590]  [SPEAKER_23]: And, uh, they don't just sit on one single frequency for long periods of time.
[40:31.590 --> 40:46.550]  [SPEAKER_23]: So that even if someone did have the equipment necessary to demodulate your voice, it would be, uh, a lot harder to, uh, remain listening on the line because you would be hopping around within a certain range of frequencies instead of just, just one or two.
[40:46.750 --> 40:56.090]  [SPEAKER_13]: So that, that sounds like the way to go, but the 45 megahertz phones with the scrambling feature, is that like, uh, you'd have to go to, out of your way to unscramble it or defeat it or is that...
[40:56.090 --> 41:00.770]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, it would probably take you about, uh, five extra minutes worth of electronics to unscramble it.
[41:00.830 --> 41:01.690]  [SPEAKER_23]: Do they still sell those?
[41:01.910 --> 41:03.610]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, I don't, I've, I haven't seen them.
[41:03.990 --> 41:05.010]  [SPEAKER_23]: 45 megahertz ones?
[41:05.190 --> 41:08.790]  [SPEAKER_13]: I saw a Motorola with that feature and I was considering buying it.
[41:09.170 --> 41:11.110]  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, probably not the best one to get.
[41:11.190 --> 41:12.310]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, I would not recommend that.
[41:12.430 --> 41:13.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: How much, how much are you looking to spend?
[41:13.910 --> 41:22.930]  [SPEAKER_13]: I was thinking at the most, the good ones seem to be around $200 and it could be worth it for security if you're doing banking transactions over the phone, things like that.
[41:23.170 --> 41:25.110]  [SPEAKER_04]: You have to use a cordless phone to do this.
[41:25.330 --> 41:37.210]  [SPEAKER_13]: Well, I generally try to use a landline, but there's times where you get caught off guard and you have to use something and, uh, I'd rather not, but if there was a real security issue there, I kind of would avoid the whole thing.
[41:37.390 --> 41:41.490]  [SPEAKER_13]: But I just wanted to see if that spread spectrum might be the way to go, though, I guess.
[41:41.610 --> 41:43.390]  [SPEAKER_23]: What can you expect to pay for a spread spectrum?
[41:43.390 --> 41:48.670]  [SPEAKER_23]: A spread spectrum, a 900 megahertz phone, you might pay within the area of, uh, $300 and up.
[41:49.370 --> 41:49.530]  [SPEAKER_23]: Wow.
[41:49.530 --> 41:52.070]  [SPEAKER_23]: Maybe, maybe cheaper than that if, uh, you can find one on sale.
[41:52.070 --> 41:54.450]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, it sounds like, uh...
[41:54.450 --> 42:04.370]  [SPEAKER_23]: If, if the information is that sensitive, then, uh, I would recommend, uh, adopting the practices of a, uh, certain large organization, which is to whisper it in the person's ear.
[42:05.570 --> 42:09.070]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, now, these, these new PCS phones, right, they're, they're cordless.
[42:09.330 --> 42:10.990]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, they're, you know, they're wireless, obviously.
[42:11.210 --> 42:18.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: They don't use, they don't send the conversation over a regular wire line, so you can't clip into it, and it's scrambled.
[42:19.010 --> 42:19.290]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[42:19.290 --> 42:21.770]  [SPEAKER_04]: Is that more secure than using a regular phone, though?
[42:22.290 --> 42:32.550]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, um, I mean, if you really want to be technical about it, no one has come forward and, uh, said that they can break, uh, the encryption used on, on GSM phones.
[42:32.830 --> 42:33.010]  [SPEAKER_05]: Mm-hmm.
[42:33.070 --> 42:48.410]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, I would, uh, if, if I was really concerned about, uh, the, uh, the content of a phone call I was about to make, um, then I would probably trust, uh, using a GSM phone a lot more than just speaking over a regular wired line.
[42:49.290 --> 42:54.610]  [SPEAKER_23]: But, um, but then again, if it's, if it was that important, I probably wouldn't say it over any communications medium.
[42:54.890 --> 42:55.850]  [SPEAKER_23]: Just keep it to yourself.
[42:56.110 --> 42:58.030]  [SPEAKER_23]: Or, or tell the person in person.
[42:58.290 --> 42:58.490]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[42:59.130 --> 43:02.290]  [SPEAKER_23]: What about parabolic microphones and satellites that can look at you?
[43:02.730 --> 43:05.110]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, I don't care if they can look at me, but...
[43:05.110 --> 43:06.490]  [SPEAKER_23]: They can read your lips, they can look at you.
[43:06.490 --> 43:09.990]  [SPEAKER_23]: They, they can't read your lips from overhead, not unless you have a mouth on top of your head.
[43:09.990 --> 43:12.190]  [SPEAKER_04]: How much do you know about the other person that you're talking to?
[43:12.610 --> 43:13.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, wow.
[43:13.390 --> 43:13.830]  [SPEAKER_04]: Ah, there you go.
[43:13.910 --> 43:15.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: See, that's the weak link right there.
[43:15.190 --> 43:17.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, then you should only know who it is you're talking to.
[43:17.530 --> 43:18.210]  [SPEAKER_04]: Just talk to yourself.
[43:18.210 --> 43:18.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's my motto.
[43:19.030 --> 43:19.630]  [SPEAKER_04]: Just don't talk to anybody.
[43:19.810 --> 43:19.950]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[43:20.010 --> 43:20.550]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks for your call.
[43:20.630 --> 43:21.770]  [SPEAKER_04]: Hope we were helpful there.
[43:22.730 --> 43:27.190]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, this is the paranoid show where we tell you how to, how to not let anything out.
[43:27.390 --> 43:31.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, that might be a useful bit of information for all the criminals and drug dealers that I know make up a large part of our audience.
[43:31.690 --> 43:32.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, no, wait, wait.
[43:32.250 --> 43:34.170]  [SPEAKER_23]: I was, I was told that by...
[43:34.170 --> 43:34.190]  [SPEAKER_23]: General disclaimer.
[43:34.430 --> 43:34.630]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes.
[43:34.770 --> 43:42.730]  [SPEAKER_23]: General disclaimer is that the, the, uh, the company in question, the carrier, say, for example, Omnipoint or Sprint Spectrum.
[43:42.890 --> 43:43.050]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[43:43.430 --> 43:48.990]  [SPEAKER_23]: If, uh, law enforcement goes to them, they do have the capability to listen in on the telephone calls.
[43:48.990 --> 43:49.510]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, that's true.
[43:49.510 --> 43:52.330]  [SPEAKER_04]: But you have to do something to get their attention to do that in the first place.
[43:52.490 --> 43:52.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, right.
[43:52.990 --> 43:56.850]  [SPEAKER_04]: If you're just committing random acts of, you know, uh, insensitive speech or something.
[43:56.990 --> 43:57.090]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[43:57.310 --> 44:00.070]  [SPEAKER_04]: And, uh, you don't want that to be, to be listened to.
[44:00.070 --> 44:08.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, then you can simply, you know, use one of those phones and it's actually, it's actually safer to use a wireless phone than a, than a phone that plugs into the wall.
[44:08.370 --> 44:11.830]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think that's, that's amazing because it's the exact opposite of where we were a couple of years ago.
[44:11.930 --> 44:16.390]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is true unless, this, this is great if you're calling another person who's on another one of these phones.
[44:16.430 --> 44:16.630]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's true.
[44:16.750 --> 44:17.130]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, they have to...
[44:17.130 --> 44:18.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: If you're calling somebody on a landline...
[44:18.650 --> 44:18.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[44:18.870 --> 44:19.610]  [SPEAKER_04]: All bets are off.
[44:19.710 --> 44:19.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[44:20.230 --> 44:20.550]  [SPEAKER_04]: Exactly.
[44:20.750 --> 44:21.010]  [SPEAKER_04]: Exactly.
[44:21.350 --> 44:22.910]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's like the Newt Gingrich thing, except the opposite.
[44:23.090 --> 44:23.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[44:23.490 --> 44:23.630]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[44:24.370 --> 44:25.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: 212-279-3400.
[44:26.450 --> 44:26.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: You want to try it?
[44:30.970 --> 44:31.950]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening, you're on the air.
[44:31.990 --> 44:32.610]  [SPEAKER_04]: Hi, Emmanuel.
[44:32.870 --> 44:34.070]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, how did we know he was there?
[44:34.090 --> 44:39.350]  [SPEAKER_04]: I gotta, I gotta ask you, how do you manage to stay on line one, even after NYNEX disconnects you, okay?
[44:39.490 --> 44:41.890]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, yeah, well, I'm on location on the upper east side here.
[44:42.250 --> 44:44.250]  [SPEAKER_04]: You, you got the worst phone I think I've ever heard.
[44:44.310 --> 44:44.810]  [SPEAKER_04]: What are you on?
[44:44.870 --> 44:46.330]  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm on a NYNEX payphone.
[44:46.710 --> 44:47.270]  [SPEAKER_04]: There you go.
[44:47.430 --> 44:50.490]  [SPEAKER_03]: One of those, you know, the new ones, you know, thank you for using NYNEX.
[44:50.510 --> 44:51.350]  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's cutting in and out.
[44:51.430 --> 44:57.190]  [SPEAKER_03]: I'd like to tell you about them that, um, sometimes when you dial from them that they don't dial right.
[44:57.190 --> 45:00.530]  [SPEAKER_03]: And when you dial things, it, you have to dial, like, specifically.
[45:01.490 --> 45:02.830]  [SPEAKER_03]: And I noticed...
[45:03.590 --> 45:05.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's, that's why they're called NYNEX payphones.
[45:06.250 --> 45:08.250]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, they're gonna be called Bell Atlantic soon.
[45:08.430 --> 45:08.630]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[45:08.950 --> 45:12.950]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, I also noticed that a lot of homeless people are stuffing the phones.
[45:13.050 --> 45:19.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: In other words, when the coin returns flap, they'll stuff something up there so that when the coins come back, they, you know, get stuck.
[45:19.790 --> 45:21.010]  [SPEAKER_03]: They've been doing that for years.
[45:21.010 --> 45:34.850]  [SPEAKER_04]: In fact, you've been, you've been telling us for years, and I, I should point out to people that are, that have web access, you can now, well now, not now, but pretty soon, when we put up, I think, the 1992 shows, you'll hear Rebel talking about the exact same thing five years ago.
[45:35.430 --> 45:38.250]  [SPEAKER_03]: But, the thing is, is that they do it in all boroughs.
[45:38.370 --> 45:44.590]  [SPEAKER_03]: In other words, upper Manhattan, lower Manhattan, east side, west side, even in Queens and Brooklyn and all other places.
[45:44.670 --> 45:45.830]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, they're very resourceful.
[45:45.830 --> 45:51.450]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, people that stuff those things up the, up the payphone slots have a better network than the people that fix the NYNEX phones.
[45:51.650 --> 45:52.210]  [SPEAKER_04]: They're well organized.
[45:52.650 --> 45:57.850]  [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, there's a 1-800-NYT coin number, but that probably will change when Bell Atlanta comes around.
[45:58.230 --> 45:59.830]  [SPEAKER_04]: Probably, yeah, I would guess so.
[46:00.250 --> 46:08.890]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, but because repair is sort of unreliable, because when they, uh, they sometimes don't have the number, and they have to tell them, and you sort of don't know whether they're going to repair it.
[46:09.070 --> 46:09.290]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh-huh.
[46:09.490 --> 46:16.190]  [SPEAKER_03]: Did you know that you can make free directory assistance calls by using a TDD payphone and having the operator dial the special 800 number?
[46:16.310 --> 46:17.510]  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't have it with me, but...
[46:17.510 --> 46:18.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let me ask you a question, Rebel.
[46:18.790 --> 46:20.850]  [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe you, maybe you actually know the answer to this.
[46:21.010 --> 46:32.770]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you know of any way that somebody can bill an operator-assisted call to overseas information to another phone number and make it appear that that person dialed it from their phone?
[46:32.970 --> 46:34.450]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there used to be a way.
[46:34.590 --> 46:42.590]  [SPEAKER_03]: You used to be able to dial 800-860-4000 and, uh, through an operator and make it seem like you're, you're not there.
[46:43.550 --> 46:45.190]  [SPEAKER_04]: Make it seem like you're not there.
[46:45.530 --> 46:47.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: Tell me a little bit more about what that means.
[46:47.250 --> 46:48.630]  [SPEAKER_03]: In other words, you'll get an ANI failure.
[46:48.770 --> 46:58.930]  [SPEAKER_03]: Whenever you dial the NYNEX operator or any local operator in most parts of the country, in a lot of New Jersey, the ANI is passed, which I'm sure will be changed when the Atlantic merger comes through.
[46:59.110 --> 46:59.330]  [SPEAKER_19]: Yes.
[46:59.550 --> 47:13.210]  [SPEAKER_03]: Um, you used to be able to dial, well, you still can dial zero and have the NYNEX operator connect you with an 800 number, which sometimes you have to say you have operator privileges, and sometimes you'll connect you with an 800 number, and then they...
[47:13.210 --> 47:14.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh-oh.
[47:14.430 --> 47:15.230]  [SPEAKER_04]: What happened?
[47:15.350 --> 47:15.590]  [SPEAKER_04]: You okay?
[47:15.650 --> 47:18.230]  [SPEAKER_03]: The coins fell through and I had to put in more money.
[47:18.370 --> 47:18.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, no.
[47:19.110 --> 47:19.630]  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, horrible.
[47:19.830 --> 47:20.810]  [SPEAKER_04]: I have a quarter, and I don't want to...
[47:20.810 --> 47:22.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: You've never done this before, have you?
[47:22.530 --> 47:23.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: I have to have.
[47:23.470 --> 47:24.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: You've put money into payphones.
[47:25.350 --> 47:26.230]  [SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately, yes.
[47:26.370 --> 47:26.850]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's amazing.
[47:27.370 --> 47:35.430]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, now, okay, so what you're saying is that you can fool that 800 number into making it seem like you actually were at a number and making an operator-assisted call.
[47:35.430 --> 47:41.230]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, just like how you knew you could make a collect call to somebody and say, like, which one's somewhere.
[47:41.330 --> 47:42.730]  [SPEAKER_03]: I can call...
[47:43.590 --> 47:44.790]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, I guess that's...
[47:44.790 --> 47:46.010]  [SPEAKER_04]: Emmanuel, are you still there?
[47:46.050 --> 47:46.710]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm still here.
[47:46.870 --> 47:47.930]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's you we're worried about.
[47:48.350 --> 47:49.850]  [SPEAKER_03]: Of course, I have to put a quarter in.
[47:49.930 --> 47:50.670]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, put the quarter in.
[47:50.730 --> 47:51.650]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's hear that nice tone.
[47:55.370 --> 47:56.090]  [SPEAKER_10]: Excuse me.
[47:56.850 --> 48:01.190]  [SPEAKER_10]: Please deposit five cents for the next two minutes, or your call will be terminated.
[48:01.730 --> 48:03.330]  [SPEAKER_10]: Thank you for using NYNEX.
[48:03.570 --> 48:04.570]  [SPEAKER_10]: This is a recording.
[48:04.990 --> 48:07.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: I wonder if when they merge, they'll change it to three minutes.
[48:07.770 --> 48:09.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: There's something so scary about...
[48:09.650 --> 48:10.330]  [SPEAKER_03]: Uh-oh.
[48:11.250 --> 48:11.550]  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[48:12.650 --> 48:13.750]  [SPEAKER_03]: That's not a red box, by the way.
[48:13.790 --> 48:15.110]  [SPEAKER_04]: I hear the termination squad coming.
[48:17.190 --> 48:19.210]  [SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately, I think I have to go, but anyway...
[48:19.210 --> 48:20.750]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think you better start running now.
[48:20.850 --> 48:23.610]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, actually, yeah, so that's the story with that.
[48:23.750 --> 48:25.470]  [SPEAKER_03]: And also, let's see, what else did I want to say?
[48:26.650 --> 48:27.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Just think of yourself right now.
[48:27.970 --> 48:28.470]  [SPEAKER_04]: Make for the hills.
[48:28.630 --> 48:28.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: Come on.
[48:29.870 --> 48:30.910]  [SPEAKER_04]: We want to hear from you in the future.
[48:31.410 --> 48:32.830]  [SPEAKER_03]: I'll be at the 2600 meeting.
[48:32.830 --> 48:33.590]  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, there you go.
[48:33.790 --> 48:34.430]  [SPEAKER_04]: You want to...
[48:34.430 --> 48:35.510]  [SPEAKER_04]: We'll talk more about this...
[48:35.510 --> 48:36.550]  [SPEAKER_03]: Email me at rebel...
[48:36.870 --> 48:37.730]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that's...
[48:37.730 --> 48:38.130]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, hello?
[48:38.310 --> 48:38.510]  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[48:38.730 --> 48:40.590]  [SPEAKER_03]: Email me at rebelatestate.com.
[48:40.710 --> 48:41.350]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know what stinks?
[48:41.470 --> 48:43.330]  [SPEAKER_04]: You put a quarter in, but it's only going to count it as a nickel.
[48:43.570 --> 48:43.750]  [SPEAKER_03]: I know.
[48:43.910 --> 48:44.450]  [SPEAKER_03]: Doesn't that stink?
[48:44.590 --> 48:44.950]  [SPEAKER_03]: I know.
[48:45.210 --> 48:48.050]  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, actually, if I was on an operator-assisted call, I'd get credit.
[48:48.430 --> 48:49.370]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you're not, are you?
[48:49.490 --> 48:51.850]  [SPEAKER_03]: I could dial zero and have the operator dial the number for me.
[48:52.050 --> 48:53.450]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, you're not going to do that, I know.
[48:53.650 --> 48:54.610]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, we'll talk to you later.
[48:54.730 --> 48:55.730]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks so much for calling.
[48:55.730 --> 48:59.050]  [SPEAKER_04]: And, okay, it's interesting because that actually happened.
[48:59.730 --> 49:07.850]  [SPEAKER_04]: I discovered these numbers that showed up on my phone bill, and somebody somehow figured out a way to bill overseas and from now.
[49:07.850 --> 49:09.170]  [SPEAKER_04]: The operators say this is impossible.
[49:09.290 --> 49:10.910]  [SPEAKER_04]: AT&T this time is saying this is impossible.
[49:11.350 --> 49:18.210]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, it's not really a big issue until you check into one little fact, one teeny tiny fact here.
[49:18.210 --> 49:22.130]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's call up AT&T and ask them a question.
[49:24.070 --> 49:30.910]  [SPEAKER_04]: By the way, when you call AT&T, never be talking while you talk to them because it's voice-activated and you'll confuse them.
[49:31.630 --> 49:33.950]  [SPEAKER_10]: To place a collect call, press 2.
[49:34.430 --> 49:37.490]  [SPEAKER_10]: For AT&T customer service, press 3.
[49:38.070 --> 49:40.490]  [SPEAKER_10]: For directory assistance, press 4.
[49:40.850 --> 49:43.470]  [SPEAKER_10]: For operator assistance, press 0.
[49:49.510 --> 49:51.450]  [SPEAKER_08]: AT&T, how may I help you?
[49:51.830 --> 49:52.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, hi.
[49:52.410 --> 49:55.990]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'd like to know how much it costs to call information in Ireland.
[49:57.150 --> 49:58.150]  [SPEAKER_16]: Let me check for you.
[49:58.210 --> 49:58.710]  [SPEAKER_16]: Hold on, please.
[49:58.850 --> 49:59.250]  [SPEAKER_16]: Thank you very much.
[49:59.270 --> 49:59.530]  [SPEAKER_16]: Thank you.
[50:02.230 --> 50:04.630]  [SPEAKER_04]: Just so we can get a phone number in Ireland.
[50:04.770 --> 50:06.770]  [SPEAKER_04]: I believe it costs 10 cents a minute to call Ireland now.
[50:06.990 --> 50:07.210]  [SPEAKER_23]: Really?
[50:07.350 --> 50:07.490]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[50:07.810 --> 50:09.010]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's gotten a lot cheaper.
[50:09.310 --> 50:09.390]  [SPEAKER_04]: Hmm.
[50:10.290 --> 50:10.870]  [SPEAKER_04]: A lot cheaper.
[50:16.300 --> 50:19.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's the sound of AT&T checking cost of information.
[50:20.000 --> 50:20.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: The sound of silence.
[50:20.960 --> 50:21.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[50:22.420 --> 50:24.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: Our number is 212-279-3400.
[50:26.560 --> 50:28.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: Usually, they tell you, like, right away.
[50:29.420 --> 50:30.080]  [SPEAKER_16]: Thank you for waiting.
[50:30.240 --> 50:32.660]  [SPEAKER_16]: Over AT&T will cost you $7.95.
[50:33.180 --> 50:33.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: Mercy.
[50:33.700 --> 50:35.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: $7.95 to call information.
[50:35.880 --> 50:36.180]  [SPEAKER_16]: Right.
[50:36.240 --> 50:36.660]  [SPEAKER_16]: To Ireland.
[50:36.840 --> 50:37.060]  [SPEAKER_16]: Yes.
[50:37.400 --> 50:37.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Wow.
[50:38.400 --> 50:38.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[50:39.140 --> 50:39.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, then.
[50:39.740 --> 50:42.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: I guess I'll just figure...
[50:42.080 --> 50:42.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'll write a letter.
[50:42.620 --> 50:42.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you very much.
[50:42.960 --> 50:43.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[50:43.260 --> 50:43.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: You.
[50:43.460 --> 50:43.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bye.
[50:45.080 --> 50:45.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: We've, uh...
[50:47.120 --> 50:49.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: We express shock when it costs $3.
[50:50.640 --> 50:52.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: $7.95 just to call information.
[50:52.980 --> 50:53.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Is that insane?
[50:53.960 --> 50:54.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, what are these people on?
[50:54.500 --> 50:55.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: It used to be free.
[50:55.240 --> 50:56.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: It used to be totally free.
[50:56.680 --> 50:58.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: They used to have all kinds of fun calling information.
[50:58.860 --> 50:58.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[50:59.740 --> 51:00.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: And $7.95.
[51:01.200 --> 51:04.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it costs so little to actually call somebody.
[51:04.520 --> 51:09.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: You could call a total stranger, ask them to open up a phone book for you and look up a number.
[51:09.380 --> 51:09.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yep.
[51:10.140 --> 51:14.300]  [SPEAKER_04]: And you could have them curse you out, hang up on you, do it ten times, and you're still saving money.
[51:15.840 --> 51:16.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: Unbelievable.
[51:16.600 --> 51:17.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think it's a racket of some sort.
[51:18.440 --> 51:18.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[51:18.980 --> 51:19.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's, uh...
[51:19.640 --> 51:23.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Since we've already taken caller number one, let's take caller number one again and see what happens.
[51:23.900 --> 51:24.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[51:24.220 --> 51:24.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[51:26.760 --> 51:27.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[51:27.120 --> 51:27.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's what happens.
[51:28.540 --> 51:29.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's a cursed line.
[51:29.840 --> 51:30.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[51:30.460 --> 51:30.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[51:32.760 --> 51:33.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[51:33.400 --> 51:33.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Now, look.
[51:33.980 --> 51:35.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't want to yell at people again.
[51:35.200 --> 51:39.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm sorry for yelling at people last week because I was wrong because Claude plugged the thing into the boardroom.
[51:39.380 --> 51:40.680]  [SPEAKER_04]: And nobody could hear me.
[51:40.780 --> 51:43.700]  [SPEAKER_04]: But he hasn't been let into the room this week.
[51:44.080 --> 51:47.620]  [SPEAKER_04]: So there's no way, there's no way that anything could be happening here.
[51:47.960 --> 51:49.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: I know people can hear me on the phone.
[51:49.660 --> 51:52.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: You have to stay close to the phone, though, when you make a phone call.
[51:52.600 --> 51:53.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: Don't go back to the radio.
[51:53.720 --> 51:54.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: You'll just get confused.
[51:55.340 --> 51:58.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Best thing to do, best thing to do is keep a radio next to the phone.
[51:59.140 --> 52:03.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: And that way, when I come on, I'll come on seven seconds before you hear yourself on the radio.
[52:03.180 --> 52:05.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: So it'll be a little confusing, but I think you can recover.
[52:05.660 --> 52:05.880]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[52:06.500 --> 52:08.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: That out of the way, let's go to the next phone call.
[52:13.120 --> 52:14.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: That person panicked.
[52:14.500 --> 52:17.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: They heard themselves, and they hung up.
[52:17.280 --> 52:17.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[52:18.540 --> 52:19.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's tough, I know.
[52:20.100 --> 52:21.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: We'll get through this together.
[52:21.280 --> 52:21.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[52:21.980 --> 52:22.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[52:23.220 --> 52:23.560]  [SPEAKER_14]: Oh, hi.
[52:23.600 --> 52:24.000]  [SPEAKER_14]: How are you doing?
[52:24.100 --> 52:24.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[52:24.880 --> 52:25.860]  [SPEAKER_14]: I'm just curious.
[52:27.100 --> 52:39.280]  [SPEAKER_14]: When a long-distance carrier says that their fidelity is clearer than another one, how is that possible if all the lines are the same?
[52:39.700 --> 52:40.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, that's just it.
[52:40.520 --> 52:41.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: All the lines aren't the same.
[52:41.400 --> 52:43.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: Remember Sprint's fiber optic network?
[52:43.340 --> 52:43.600]  [SPEAKER_14]: Yeah.
[52:43.720 --> 52:44.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: Their F-O-N?
[52:44.580 --> 52:47.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, that was supposed to be the clearest signal anywhere.
[52:48.260 --> 52:52.220]  [SPEAKER_14]: Well, how do they reroute your line?
[52:52.840 --> 52:55.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, the trick is they don't.
[52:55.060 --> 52:55.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh.
[52:55.540 --> 53:02.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Because you still go over the exact same phone line between you and Sprint as you would between you and your mom that lives in Oshkosh.
[53:02.760 --> 53:02.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[53:02.980 --> 53:04.460]  [SPEAKER_04]: So if you have a bad line...
[53:04.460 --> 53:04.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[53:04.980 --> 53:06.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: ...then a bad line...
[53:06.080 --> 53:06.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: It really doesn't matter.
[53:06.240 --> 53:08.080]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's going to be with you no matter what you use.
[53:08.160 --> 53:14.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: What they're saying is once you get to the point of actually choosing a company at your central office, it'll sound better.
[53:15.000 --> 53:20.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, it can sound better, you know, because if you have really crappy lines on one company, it's going to sound terrible.
[53:20.840 --> 53:26.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: And if you have better lines, it'll sound better, and it'll overcome whatever bad quality you have in your own local line.
[53:27.180 --> 53:27.660]  [SPEAKER_14]: I see.
[53:27.840 --> 53:30.160]  [SPEAKER_14]: So how does fiber optics work, actually?
[53:30.440 --> 53:30.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, boy.
[53:31.260 --> 53:34.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, well, let's see if we can explain this in the five minutes we have left.
[53:34.300 --> 53:35.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, no, you have 30 seconds.
[53:35.280 --> 53:37.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, the 30 seconds we have left.
[53:37.400 --> 53:37.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes.
[53:37.760 --> 53:39.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: I can't explain it in 30 seconds.
[53:39.460 --> 53:41.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: I would recommend that you look it up in an encyclopedia.
[53:41.260 --> 53:43.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: What are fiber... what is the fiber optic business?
[53:43.740 --> 53:57.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's basically glass fibers, really thin, and we pulse beams of light through them, and we could encode digital information on these light fibers.
[53:58.200 --> 54:00.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's the best thing since sliced bread, trust me.
[54:00.300 --> 54:02.300]  [SPEAKER_23]: Isaac Newton invented this.
[54:02.680 --> 54:03.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: What?
[54:03.220 --> 54:03.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, he didn't.
[54:03.700 --> 54:03.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: He didn't?
[54:04.080 --> 54:04.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: No.
[54:04.520 --> 54:06.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: I always thought Isaac Newton invented fiber optic cable.
[54:06.520 --> 54:07.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, not at all.
[54:07.080 --> 54:07.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: How'd I get that wrong?
[54:08.700 --> 54:09.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, well.
[54:09.020 --> 54:11.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, 212-279-3400.
[54:11.620 --> 54:17.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, remember the AT&T thing where they, they said they had better sound, but all they were doing was amplifying your voice?
[54:17.900 --> 54:17.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, right.
[54:17.960 --> 54:19.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: What do they call it, true voice or something?
[54:19.480 --> 54:20.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, true voice.
[54:20.180 --> 54:20.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: It's louder.
[54:20.780 --> 54:21.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: Loud voice?
[54:21.400 --> 54:22.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Loud voice, yeah.
[54:22.440 --> 54:24.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: That didn't go very far, did it?
[54:24.280 --> 54:25.060]  [SPEAKER_04]: No, it didn't.
[54:25.220 --> 54:26.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: That sort of went away.
[54:26.480 --> 54:27.040]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[54:27.220 --> 54:27.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[54:28.240 --> 54:28.940]  [SPEAKER_02]: Hi, how are you doing?
[54:29.020 --> 54:30.460]  [SPEAKER_02]: This is regards to the cordless phones.
[54:30.640 --> 54:30.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[54:31.020 --> 54:31.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Turn on your radio, please.
[54:39.020 --> 54:44.620]  [SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, they get picked up by every baby monitor in the neighborhood down, because that's where all the baby monitors have been put.
[54:44.880 --> 54:45.080]  [SPEAKER_05]: Right.
[54:45.240 --> 54:49.180]  [SPEAKER_02]: The Motorola unit's pretty useless because a sound blaster will decode the voice inversion.
[54:49.860 --> 55:01.800]  [SPEAKER_02]: And the 900 meg phones, at least from Radio Shack, can be defeated by retrofitting an existing one on the Cincinnati microwave chip, the same guys make the radar guns, so that you can randomly scan all the other ones made by Radio Shack.
[55:01.940 --> 55:03.140]  [SPEAKER_02]: You've done your homework, haven't you?
[55:04.100 --> 55:05.240]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's, uh, that's something.
[55:05.840 --> 55:11.720]  [SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, have you guys gotten anywhere with the, uh, Amtec 915 megahertz 64-bit toll tag?
[55:13.280 --> 55:17.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, you're talking about the, um, wait, you mean the, um...
[55:17.320 --> 55:18.320]  [SPEAKER_02]: The ones that the, uh...
[55:18.320 --> 55:19.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: Easy Pass, right?
[55:19.400 --> 55:20.040]  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the Easy Pass.
[55:20.160 --> 55:21.460]  [SPEAKER_02]: Have you guys had any success with that?
[55:21.460 --> 55:33.260]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, what is it that we're trying to do, you know, replicate it, uh, we don't, we don't really have, we don't really have a, uh, a goal yet, as far as how to, you know, how to defeat it, or...
[55:33.260 --> 55:34.860]  [SPEAKER_04]: It doesn't work properly in the first place.
[55:35.460 --> 55:37.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you know, my bill is all, all wacky.
[55:38.240 --> 55:44.060]  [SPEAKER_02]: That could be the way they got the antenna set up, I'm willing to bet they didn't check the, uh, VSWR when they set up the antennas and stuff.
[55:44.100 --> 55:46.320]  [SPEAKER_04]: All I know is I've been through that thing more than I've been billed for it.
[55:46.880 --> 55:48.980]  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, well, then, hey, you're ahead of the game.
[55:48.980 --> 55:51.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: I think I am, somehow, and maybe we all are in some way.
[55:51.800 --> 55:56.160]  [SPEAKER_02]: But, uh, well, they may be photographing your play at the same time, and they'll check the records later and backbill you.
[55:56.360 --> 55:57.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, well, we'll just see what happens.
[55:57.700 --> 55:58.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: It'll be, uh...
[55:58.000 --> 55:59.120]  [SPEAKER_02]: I know you were disassembling one.
[55:59.180 --> 56:00.720]  [SPEAKER_02]: I was wondering how you, how far you guys got.
[56:00.880 --> 56:08.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: Well, we disassembled it, basically, and we left it lying around, and it's just, uh, you know, we look at it occasionally and say, hey, that's what's inside it, and this must be how it works.
[56:08.360 --> 56:08.580]  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[56:08.580 --> 56:10.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: But, uh, what would you suggest we, we do?
[56:10.360 --> 56:11.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe we could try doing something.
[56:11.540 --> 56:11.860]  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
[56:11.920 --> 56:20.060]  [SPEAKER_02]: You have, uh, RF generators, audio generators, uh, a couple of spectra analyzers in the 915 van, and you can pong it with a strong enough...
[56:20.060 --> 56:20.540]  [SPEAKER_11]: Yeah.
[56:20.680 --> 56:22.220]  [SPEAKER_11]: Bring it Friday, and we'll take a look at it.
[56:22.900 --> 56:24.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, we could bring it Friday.
[56:24.540 --> 56:24.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[56:25.080 --> 56:26.020]  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, we will bring it Friday.
[56:26.020 --> 56:26.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: How's that?
[56:26.700 --> 56:26.920]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[56:27.040 --> 56:30.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: You can take a look at it there and figure the whole thing out, and we'll, we'll have all kinds of fun.
[56:30.620 --> 56:32.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: And we'll talk about this at Hope, too, of course.
[56:32.520 --> 56:33.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: We'll, uh, we'll have a panel on this.
[56:33.600 --> 56:34.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Thanks very much for, uh, for calling.
[56:34.820 --> 56:34.960]  [SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[56:34.960 --> 56:38.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Do you remember those old cordless phones, the really old ones that were, like, in the AM dial?
[56:39.180 --> 56:39.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the first ones.
[56:40.020 --> 56:41.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: They were right above the AM, uh, spectrum.
[56:41.680 --> 56:43.000]  [SPEAKER_04]: It was, like, 1800 or something.
[56:43.620 --> 56:44.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: Somewheres around.
[56:44.340 --> 56:44.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: I forget exactly.
[56:44.900 --> 56:47.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: And they didn't use any kind of encryption whatsoever.
[56:48.280 --> 56:49.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: No scrambling, nothing.
[56:49.300 --> 56:50.980]  [SPEAKER_04]: Just broadcast to everybody.
[56:51.460 --> 56:51.580]  [SPEAKER_21]: Yep.
[56:51.960 --> 56:52.800]  [SPEAKER_04]: Those were the good old days.
[56:53.120 --> 56:53.480]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[56:53.520 --> 56:54.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's see if we can fit in one more.
[56:54.440 --> 56:54.760]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good evening.
[56:54.860 --> 56:55.280]  [SPEAKER_04]: You're on the air.
[56:56.620 --> 56:56.940]  [SPEAKER_21]: Hello.
[56:57.200 --> 56:57.340]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[56:57.420 --> 56:57.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Speak up.
[56:57.960 --> 56:58.420]  [SPEAKER_21]: I'm Manuel.
[56:58.560 --> 57:01.580]  [SPEAKER_21]: I'm just calling about the economic situation of a monopoly.
[57:02.260 --> 57:02.580]  [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[57:02.780 --> 57:03.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: Of a monopoly.
[57:03.800 --> 57:04.120]  [SPEAKER_21]: Yes.
[57:04.120 --> 57:07.280]  [SPEAKER_21]: In that, sometimes you have a natural monopoly that exists.
[57:07.460 --> 57:07.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Mm-hmm.
[57:07.860 --> 57:10.780]  [SPEAKER_21]: This happens when you have gas companies such as Lilco.
[57:11.040 --> 57:11.260]  [SPEAKER_21]: Right.
[57:11.680 --> 57:16.500]  [SPEAKER_21]: Or some, like that, where it's high initial cost to get into the field.
[57:16.700 --> 57:16.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[57:17.020 --> 57:20.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: But cable companies and phone companies, they're open to competition now.
[57:20.980 --> 57:23.560]  [SPEAKER_04]: And they're starting to, uh, to get competition.
[57:24.780 --> 57:26.280]  [SPEAKER_21]: It's still a tough place.
[57:26.500 --> 57:26.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[57:26.800 --> 57:32.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: But it's even tougher when you have this huge monster that, you know, is in charge everywhere.
[57:32.360 --> 57:33.900]  [SPEAKER_04]: How do you compete with something like that?
[57:34.120 --> 57:35.080]  [SPEAKER_21]: You don't.
[57:35.240 --> 57:35.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[57:35.620 --> 57:36.420]  [SPEAKER_04]: That's exactly it.
[57:36.560 --> 57:38.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: And I don't think there's going to be very much competition.
[57:39.180 --> 57:43.160]  [SPEAKER_21]: Well, the best thing to do, usually, is to have a regulation of the monopoly.
[57:43.400 --> 57:43.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: Mm-hmm.
[57:43.880 --> 57:49.100]  [SPEAKER_21]: So that the monopolist isn't bilking the consumers for everything.
[57:49.420 --> 57:49.600]  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[57:49.600 --> 57:52.440]  [SPEAKER_04]: But those regulators have just doubled the size of the monopoly.
[57:52.440 --> 57:55.380]  [SPEAKER_04]: So you have to wonder, you know, how good is the regulation?
[57:57.080 --> 57:58.860]  [SPEAKER_21]: Well, anyway, it happens sometimes.
[57:59.260 --> 58:00.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: Where are you calling from?
[58:00.400 --> 58:01.840]  [SPEAKER_21]: Uh, on Long Island, 516.
[58:02.000 --> 58:02.120]  [SPEAKER_21]: Okay.
[58:02.180 --> 58:05.160]  [SPEAKER_04]: So you're one of the people that will be taken over pretty soon.
[58:05.160 --> 58:05.360]  [SPEAKER_21]: I guess so.
[58:05.500 --> 58:05.640]  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[58:06.040 --> 58:08.940]  [SPEAKER_04]: Bell Atlantic will, uh, will be sending you bills within a year, I guess.
[58:09.200 --> 58:09.560]  [SPEAKER_21]: Okay.
[58:09.560 --> 58:10.540]  [SPEAKER_04]: All right, thanks for calling.
[58:10.680 --> 58:11.180]  [SPEAKER_21]: Sure, good night.
[58:11.380 --> 58:11.820]  [SPEAKER_04]: Good night, then.
[58:11.860 --> 58:13.400]  [SPEAKER_04]: We are out of time.
[58:13.980 --> 58:24.140]  [SPEAKER_04]: So, um, we're back again next week, seeing how this Bell Atlantic thing affects us all, and, of course, talking about whatever else happens between now and then, which probably will be something that we don't know about yet.