Letters: LETTERS AND QUESTIONS

Dear 2600: I live in the 215 (Philadelphia area) area code and made a directory assistance call to 609 (South Jersey) to get an Atlantic City number, and then placed the call to the actual number.  The actual call naturally appeared on my AT&T portion of the bill.  But the killer is that the directory assistance call, supposedly one of an allotment of 2 free DA calls via AT&T, came up as a $.50 charge on the Bell of Pa. portion of the bill!  Apparently, Bell of Pa. owns a special exception to the inter-state rules and handles calls to 3 neighboring NJ counties.  Since directory assistance is probably handled out of Trenton, my DA call got handled and billed by Bell of Pa.  You won't believe how AT&T handles this situation - you have to call them up (1-800-222-0300) and they look you up to make sure you made the equivalent required call, then credit your AT&T account!  Since this is a totally manual operation, and since we the public have never been told of this strange hack, chances are good that Bell of Pa. is collecting gobs of half dollars which their customers really do not owe; furthermore, when a watchful customer does go through the requisite manual process, it seems as if Bell of Pa. ends up with AT&T's money.  AT&T also seems to be able to see the Bell of Pa. portion of the bill on *their* computer terminals.  Why do I get the impression that AT&T is not as severed from the operating companies as they would have us believe?   Hmmmm...

Dear 2600: I recently had my telephone disconnected due to the fact that my roommate had forgotten to pay the bill.  I have no dispute with the billing, however, my question is: My PacTel bill was around $15.  We had paid off $85 of our bill, leaving a balance of $82.  Therefore, I would assume, we had paid our debt to PacTel and only owed money to AT&T.  Now at the bottom of my monthly long-distance statement, it says that the hitting is only provided as a service to AT&T, with whom Pacific Telephone has no connection.  If this is the case, under what authority did they cut off my telephone service.  If I fail to pay my MCI bill, would PacTel cut me off?  Shouldn't I just be cut off from AT&T's lines and collecting is their problem?  Just a little more confusion resulting from the break-up. Nobody should really he surprised when two companies that were once one do each other favors.  We've heard quite a few similar tales and would like to hear more.  Perhaps we could gather them together and go to the right person and get these companies in big pile of trouble.  Nothing like phreak revenge, they say.

Dear 2600: I am writing in reply to James (Feb. 85 issue) and other readers who have conspired to call merchant ships on the high seas.  You may dial them direct, and pay $10 per minute, by dialing 011 + Ocean Code + Ship's Terminal Number.  The ocean codes are: 871-Atlantic, 872-Pacific, and 873-Indian ocean.  The ship's terminal number can be discovered by asking your telco operator for the Marisat operator (in Alaska, dial 211 and ask for the marine operator), who has a directory of all the ships (except the CIA ships, which someone forgot to include...).  Ship's numbers are seven digits, all beginning with '1' (e.g. 1501604, AT&T's Cable Ship Long Lines).  The Blue Box crowd can reach the international operators by beeping KP + 160 + Ocean Code + ST.  These clones sit at TSPS consoles, but have neither ship's directories nor understanding of the Marisat network. The folks at COMSAT's Maritime Services department are more than happy to supply the shipping and offshore industry with ship's directories and Marisat users guides free of charge.  Call 800-424-9152, anytime of day. And while you're ka-chirping across the network, you'll be amused to find out that the Rate & Route operators have moved, and are now only available on 800-141-1212.  If you're driving cross-country this summer, then be sure to stop in one of those two-payphone towns and try dialing this routing.  It's amazing how many independent telcos pass you right through!       Rusty Diode

Dear 2600: In your February 1985 issue, you told James that to call ships at sea, he must first call the operator and then ask to be connected to the high seas operator.  This is nice, but it's awful damn slow, and most.  Bell clones won't know how to connect you anyways. To call ships at sea, you must first call one of these toll-free numbers.  Either the Marisat operator at 800-243-3640 (or 264-9090 in CT) or Maritime services at 800-424-9152.  Be prepared to give the op your billing information, plus the name of the ship and seven digit ID number. Most phreaks will route this call through a PBX or blow off another WATS number and then box the call.  There have been times when some enterprising phreaks decided to bill their calls to the local CO.  Of course, we all know that 2600 readers would not do this.

Dear 2600: I am writing this letter because I found some humor in an old TV commercial that I saw several months ago.  The commercial was one by AT&T.  It was titled "AT&T is in Cereal."  The commercial was about the toll-free number that can be reached to find the treasure from a map included in a box of cereal.  Big deal you say!  The catch is, the name brand of the cereal was Cap'n Crunch.  I find that interesting because, if you remember, Cap'n Crunch is the cereal that contained the little blue whistle that is now known as a Blue Box.  And everyone knows how much trouble that little device caused AT&T.  It just goes to show that even the big guys can do something against their will for the right price!       The Silver Sabre Just one correction on that.  The whistle was not a Blue Box (can you imagine finding a complete Blue Box in a box of cereal?).  The whistle was able to produce a pure 2600 Hertz tone, which seized long-distance trunk lines, thus enabling Blue Box tones to be utilized.  The 2600 Hertz button is the most important part of a Blue Box, unless you live in an area that allows you to dial right into an open trunk, thus making it unnecessary to seize one.