Letters: LETTERS FROM THE OUTSIDE

Dear 2600: Would you explain these terms to me?  I don't know what they are: 1.)  phone loop 2.)  WATS extender Also, what became of TAP? Thanks.       AZ Phone loops are basically test circuits that the phone company uses for various purposes.  They were never intended for use by the public.  The way it works is simple.  One caller dials number A.  Another caller dials number B.  When both of these people call these numbers at the same time, they become connected!  Some loops make clicking or beeping sounds every few seconds which makes talking on them rather hard.  But others are crystal clear connections.  But while they may serve a purpose for the telco, what possible use could they be for anyone else.  Well, for one thing, in many cases there is no charge for calling a loop number since they fall within a series of test numbers the phone company uses.  Loops are also a great way to have an anonymous conversation - it's an indirect connection to another person instead of a direct one, although it's far from impossible to be traced while using one.  Finally, there's the old call collect trick where one person calls up one end of a loop that is within his local calling area.  A friend from far away calls the other end of the loop collect.  When the connection is made between the two loops, the operator will think that somebody answered the phone and will ask them if ii they want to accept a collect call.  The telephone company wind up billing themselves for the call.  Also, your phone number need never be known by the person "meeting" you on the loop, since he's not ever dialing your number.  Loops have two ends - the silent end and the tone end.  When a connection is established, the tone stops and conversation can begin.  Loops are almost always found within the phone company test numbers (the 99XX suffix, in many cases).  Loops are slowly but surely dying out, however. An extender is very similar to a Sprint or MCI dial-up, except that it's a number used exclusively by a particular business or organization for their phone calls.  A WATS extender is one that is available on an 800 number.  An employee calls up, hears the dial tone, enters a code, and dials away.  There are many extenders around and many different types.  Watch for an article soon detailing these. As far as TAP, we sent a message to their MCI Mail account, and this is what their editor said: "TAP is in hiatus.  I was evicted from my apartment last week, put everything I could carry into storage, and left for California on vacation.  When I get back to the East Coast, I'll be getting together issues 91 and 92.  (While there is a possibility of getting the issues out while I'm out here, I will not put TAP out in California due to the restrictive state laws on proprietary information.) MCI Mail is a viable way of asking me questions that require only short responses, but you should send me hard copy to TAP's maildrop address (RM 603, 147 West 42nd St., New York, NY 10036 because I seldom check my MCI Mail anywhere near a hard copy printer.  MCI usually deletes my mail before I can call back in and pull it out on paper. Hope this answers your question.  Keep Smiling, Cheshire."