Welcome for Audio Quilts, a potpourri of things to come in the realm of creative listening.
And it's 10 o'clock on this snowy evening in New York.
You're listening to WBAI in New York.
And it's time once again for Off the Hook.
The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a cough.
It couldn't get much worse, but if it could, it would.
Bum-Digley Bumper, the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
Bum-Digley Bumper!
Bum-Digley Bumper!
And a very good evening to one and all.
This is Off the Hook.
Emmanuel Goldstein with you for the next hour.
And we've got quite a show planned,
including some information,
some calls from you, our listeners,
and various other surprises that will come along the way.
Well, let's do something a bit historic to begin with.
Let's listen to something that we won't be hearing
for very much longer at all.
No, we'll be hearing dial tones in the next couple of days,
but soon thereafter, we won't be hearing this sound.
No, we'll be hearing those, too.
We'll be hearing plenty of touch tones,
but we won't be hearing this familiar greeting.
New York Telephone.
This is Bang. May I help you, please?
Yes, hello, operator.
I heard a rumor that New York Telephone
was not going to be around in a couple of days.
Is that true?
No.
It's not true?
No.
It's not going to be around?
You mean they're just going to eliminate it?
Well, I just heard that New York Telephone
won't exist after January 1st.
Is that true?
Not true, sir.
I see.
So you'll still be picking up the phone saying New York Telephone
after January 1st?
Well, New York Telephone will be called 9X.
Oh, so you're changing your name.
To 9X.
I see.
Okay, but the service will remain the same.
They're the same, yes.
Okay, well, I thought so.
Thank you very much.
Okay, bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Yes, folks, we got your hopes up for a second.
The service will remain the same.
I knew people wouldn't want to know that.
Let's hear a couple more historic recordings
because next show, we won't be hearing these recordings anymore.
I know it sounds like it's not a big deal,
but you'd be surprised how attached you get to these things.
You know, I made recordings of various sounds
that telephones made years ago,
and now it's a great thing at parties.
You know, you play it for people,
and then you get all misty-eyed,
and they think, wow.
I remember that old crossbar ring.
I remember when people used to sound like that.
I remember when rings used to sound different.
It's all changed.
It's part of the changing world.
Well, let's listen to...
Let's see, what shall we listen to?
Okay, I have something.
I have something really entertaining here.
Okay, this will be another greeting here.
New York Telephone.
From a push-button telephone,
press 1-1 for collect calls.
To charge this call to another number,
enter the complete number now.
The number you have dialed is a public telephone,
which cannot accept collect calls.
Please hang up and try another billing option.
Yeah, that's always fun.
Of course, that will still be there,
but they just won't give that standard greeting.
Okay, one more,
and then we'll be done with this little feature here.
And this, what we're going to hear now,
is the same greeting
that every single information operator gives.
Actually, there are two greetings.
There is the mail greeting.
And there is the female greeting.
And no matter what greeting you get,
you are guaranteed to be connected to an operator
of the appropriate gender
who did not make that recording in the first place.
Let's see if they'll admit to it in the first place.
Calling up information.
New York Telephone.
Last time we'll ever hear this.
New York Telephone.
What town, please?
Uh, yes.
Hello, operator?
Yes.
Oh, that wasn't your voice, was it?
Nope.
They sound totally different.
I see.
I heard a rumor that New York Telephone
is not going to be around in a couple of days.
Is that true?
Well, then, though, they'll be around forever.
Oh, really?
Um, mm-hmm.
Are they changing their name or something?
Oh, yeah.
They'd be 9X.
9X.
Okay, so I guess that recording's going to change, then.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I'd just like to keep track of these things
for future reference.
No, no, no, that's good.
Yeah.
Okay, well...
I don't know about that part,
but I know the other part will be changing.
Uh-huh, so it's going to be called 9X from now on,
no more New York Telephone.
Right.
Or they have to paint all the trucks over, don't they?
Yeah, they're supposed to do them all over, they said.
Wow.
Okay, well, good luck, then.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
And, uh, she's facing a crossroads in her career, obviously,
going the big move from 9X to New York Telephone.
Talk about excitement.
We'll be talking about a lot more when we come back.
Stay with us.
Operator, can you help me?
Help me if you please.
Give me the right area code and the number.
That I need
My rider left up on the midnight clock
Singing like a summer breeze
I think it's somewhere down south
Down about Baton Rouge
But I just can't remember no number
A number I can use
Directory don't have it
Sent or done forgotten
Got to find the number to use
Trying to check out a number
Trying to run down a line
Operator says that's privileged information
And it ain't no business of mine
It's flooding down in Texas
The poles are out in Utah
Got to find a private line
She could be hanging round a steel mill
Working in a house of blue lights
Riding to get away for us out of Portland
Talking to the night
I don't know where she's going
I don't care where she's been
Long as she's been doing it right
I don't care where she's been
That, by the way, is one of the shortest Grateful Dead songs on record, I think
Operator
New York Telephone operators will be no more
New York Telephone anything will be no more
But don't get your hopes up
Because they're still going to be around in many other ways
We have some interesting mail from some of our listeners
And let's get right to that
And it concerns New York Telephone, in fact
It concerns some of the practices
This particular letter does
Thanks to Joel from Brooklyn
For sending this in
This is a copy of a public notice
That appeared in a hidden spot of your newspaper
Only a couple of months ago, I believe
It's concerning a proposed change in telephone company regulations
We might have mentioned this once before
But it bears repeating
It bears some sort of notice to be filed on our behalf
Let's listen to what they have to say
Notice is hereby given that a proposed tariff has been filed with the Public Service Commission
To be effective October 22, 1993
Which provides for the introduction of a new feature
Anonymous Call Rejection
And that goes with PhoneSmart Service
The use of the Anonymous Call Rejection feature
Will redirect an incoming call with an activated number restriction feature
To an announcement that the call party
An ACR subscriber, Anonymous Call Rejection
That the call party is not accepting such calls
Calling parties will be billed appropriate tariffed usage rates for intercepted calls
Subscribers to Call ID
Which is what they call Caller ID here in New York, Call ID
Will be provided automatically with the ACR feature
Customers not subscribing to Call ID may subscribe to ACR on a monthly basis
The feature may be subscribed to individually or as part of a package with other PhoneSmart features
As ACR is introduced in a service area
The non-recurring charge for subscription to the feature
Will be waived as described in the tariff
ACR is provided in a deactivated state
And can be activated and deactivated by the subscriber
By dialing a code at their convenience with no charge
And the rates that they proposed for this
Anonymous Call Rejection for Residences
Is $3
Businesses is $4.50
If you have Caller ID though, there's no additional charge
Because the rate of $6.50 for businesses
I'm sorry, $6.50 for residences and $8.50 for businesses
The charge for Caller ID will extend to cover anonymous call rejection
And also you can get anonymous call rejection with call return and repeat dial
For a cost of $7.50 for residences and $11.50 for businesses
Additionally, appropriate service charges will apply as specified in the tariff
Meaning they can basically do whatever they want
I don't know how that turned out with the recent Public Service Commission recommendations
There was no mention of that in any of the releases I saw
As far as what anonymous call rejection's future is going to be
It's an interesting service
It sort of, again, makes phone calling more combative
Because people may choose to block their number when they make a phone call
And then the person they're calling may say
Well, if you block your number, I'm just not going to accept your call
And I'll never even know who you were
Now, it seems to me this is an incredibly stupid feature to subscribe to
The reason being, how often do you know
If somebody calling you has privacy set on their phones?
You know, you may not know it
I mean, I'm surprised sometimes because I see in my Caller ID box
Certain numbers show up and certain numbers not show up
Some people decide to keep their privacy
And some people decide not to keep their privacy
And to simply blanketly reject anybody that doesn't wish to reveal who they are
Makes you look like a jerk to start with
And could also really be inconvenient in an emergency
Supposing someone is calling you from a stranger's house
And that stranger is an evil person
And they're currently chasing him through the house
And just like in the film, you know
Where you're running through a hallway
And you're tripping because you're wearing high heels
You grab the phone and you dial your best friend's number
And your best friend says
Sorry, I don't take calls, mononymous people
And you, because you're not a technical genius
You don't know how to deactivate the privacy feature on the telephone
You just know how to make a phone call
But settings are settings
Rules are rules
And you reject all anonymous calls?
I don't know, I just think one day it's going to come back and haunt you
Yeah, anonymous call rejection
I mean, come on
What kind of society are we entering here
Where making a phone call
You have to make all these settings and prearrangements
And conditions apply
Just make the bloody phone call, you know
Someone picks up the phone
If they don't like who you are, they'll hang up
If they tell you not to call back
And you call back even so
Then you're starting to harass the person
But it's very unlikely
The first time you call somebody
It will be considered harassment
All right
Continuing with
Some New York telephone information
This is also from Joel Brooklyn
Comes from Consumer Reports of 1988
November of 1988
Concerning the touchtone fee
A little column here called
Dialing for Dollars
In nearly all states
Phone companies impose an extra monthly charge
For touchtone telephone service
In New York, for instance
People pay a $9.90 connection charge
For a touchtone line
And $2.21 a month thereafter
I guess that's gone down since 1988
But there is still a charge
And there are quite a few states now
That don't have charges
Continuing
Continuing
Such charges may have been justified
20 years ago
When touchtone service
Was a novel luxury
Today, however, it actually costs
A phone company less
To provide a touchtone line
Than a line that accepts
Only pulse dialing
Pulse dialing is what
Rotary dial phones
And some push-button phones use
You hear mechanical clicks
As you dial
Not electronic tones
Says Carl Appadale
A New York lawyer
Who wrote the Telephone Book
Which is a guide
To telephone equipment and services
It saves money for the phone company
Every time someone converts to touchtone
According to him
Phone companies use devices
Called digit receivers
To listen to the numbers
Being dialed as the first step
In putting through a call
Because a call from a pulse phone
Takes so much longer to dial
The digit receiver is tied up longer
As a result, the phone company
Needs more of those receivers
Than if all calls were touchtone
Then, why does touchtone service
Cost more?
Some local phone companies
May wish it didn't
The extra charge makes it harder
To sell new services
That require the tones
Generated by a toned phone
In California
Pacific Bell has proposed
That the monthly surcharge
For touchtone be dropped completely
Arguing that touchtone
Should be considered
Part of the basic service
By the way, that has since happened
And in quite a few other states as well
Not New York though
Continuing
Not all state regulators
Buy that argument
The New York State
Public Service Commission
For example
Considers touchtone service
An extra
And allows companies
To charge more for it
Is the convenience
Of a touchtone line
Worth the monthly surcharge?
In deciding
Keep in mind
That if you buy a phone
With a tone pulse switch
You can still use
Such tone only services
As bank by phone
You'd simply
Dial the bank
On the pulse setting
Then switch to tone
To communicate with
The bank's computer
And that comes from
Consumer Reports
Of November 1988
Seems to me
Anybody with the facts
Would realize that
Paying for it
Is giving money away
If you like that kind of thing
Then by all means
Continue
But I don't know
It rubs a lot of us
The wrong way
And also we have a letter
That Joel from Brooklyn
Got from the
Public Service Commission
New York Department
Of Public Service
Three Empire State Plaza
Albany, New York
12223
For those of you
That want to write to them
And this concerns
The same topic basically
Touchtone fees
Senator Markowitz
Contacted the Public Service Commission
Regarding your concerns
About the charges
For touchtone service
Historically
New York Telephone's
Charges for a number
Of services
Including touchtone service
Were set at a rate
That was above
The company's actual cost
To provide the service
The additional revenues
That were thereby generated
Were used to subsidize
The cost of those
Basic services
That are essential
For a residential customer
To have telephone service
In recent years
The Public Service Commission
Has been moving towards
Quote
Cost-based rates
Unquote
That is
Rates that are set
Based on the actual cost
Of providing the particular service
Cost-based rates
Are more equitable
Send the right price signals
And have become a necessity
As more of the provision
Of telephone service
Becomes subject to competition
A company whose rates
Are above cost
Is at a disadvantage
When it must compete
With a company
Whose rates only reflect
Its costs
Of course
We all know
That New York Telephone
Gets away with this
Because they have no competition
But that's another matter
Entirely
Continuing here
The Commission's move
Towards cost-based rates
Is being implemented
Gradually
Since all decreases
In the cost of a service
Like touchtone
Must be offset
By increases
In the charges
For the basic telephone services
That were being subsidized
Thus
The charge for touchtone service
Has been reduced
In New York Telephone's
Last two rate cases
And a further reduction
Has been proposed
In the current rate case
I trust that this
Has been responsive
To your concerns
If I can be of any
Further assistance to you
Please contact me
And that comes from
Glenn Alvarenga
Consumer service representative
Of the New York Department
Of Public Service
Now it's interesting
Their line of thinking here
Says that
Well if you take away
The touchtone fee
You have to
Get that money
Somewhere else
You have to
Charge more
For another service
If you're going to
Eliminate the money
For this service
And what they don't seem
To ever want to consider
And you have to
Wonder about this
Because this is
The Public Service Commission
These are the people
That are supposed to know
About these things
They're supposed to be
Doubting the phone company
And sticking up for consumers
Now maybe the phone company
Is simply ripping us off
Maybe they're simply
Charging us for something
They shouldn't be
Charging us for
In the first place
And if you take that away
You don't make up
For it someplace else
It's a rip off
That means that
They're not entitled to it
That means that
We need to make things
Equitable and not
Charge people for nothing
And I think the phone company
Is doing just fine
I mean the paint job
For those trucks alone
Is going to
Going to go through the roof
All right
We have
Another letter here
Actually a newspaper article
Somebody sent in
Thanks to the anonymous
Contributor
Who reads the New York Post
So I guess that's
Why they want to remain anonymous
Okay
This comes from
The Associated Press
Actually
Citibank's telemarketers
Should never have called
Consumer advocate
Michael Jacobson
More than once
He'd been waiting
To test a law
Against unwanted phone solicitations
Jacobson told Citibank twice
Not to call again
With its offers
Of credit card discount services
The third time
He sued
And won a $750 settlement
This week
Jacobson says
He'd been keeping
A tele-nuissance list
Since the Telephone
Consumer Protection Act
Went into effect
A year ago
Any one of you
Can do the same thing
Keep a little list
And check it
Many times
And who knows
Somebody may violate
Your rules
And you may have
Cause to take action
Against them
Okay
Here's something interesting
Out of Babylon
A Babylon Long Island man
Who criticized
A company's stock
On a computer bulletin board
Has settled a libel lawsuit
With the company
Medphone Corporation
Of Paramus New Jersey
Had sued
Peter DeNegris
Last year
For up to
$40 million
After DeNegris
Posted a series
Of negative comments
About the company
On the bulletin board
Called Money Talk
The bulletin board
Is run by
Prodigy Computer Service
And it's for investors
To swap stock tips
The lawsuit
Attracted attention
Because it could have
Been a test
Of First Amendment
Rights of free speech
And how it applies
To computer bulletin boards
DeNegris
Who is a 42-year-old
Administrator
For the Suffolk County
Board of Elections
Says he
And medical equipment
Company
The medical equipment
Company
That is
Agree to exchange
$1 bills
And drop the dispute
Well that sounds
Pretty silly
I mean
They simply
Traded dollar bills
I don't know
Whatever floats your boat
But although DeNegris
Says freedom of speech
Prevailed
Libel lawyers say
The case did not
Set any precedence
I'm not surprised
With the way
They dealt with it
New York libel attorney
Floyd Abrams
Told Newsday
That an electronic
Bulletin board
Is not like a telephone
And not like talking
To someone in the
Privacy of your home
Or office
Another attorney
Robert Sack
Told Newsday
That libel would have
Been hard to prove
Since Medphone
Would have had to show
That the statements
Made by DeNegris
Were false
Sack says DeNegris
Was expressing his opinion
Which is not libelous
It does get pretty scary
You know
When you can say
Something on a computer
Bulletin board
And suddenly gets sued
For forty million dollars
It's not like
You know
Saying it
Writing a letter
To somebody
And saying this
Or
Yelling out in a crowd
Or something like that
Something comparable
I mean what is comparable
To posting something
On a computer bulletin board
We seem to
Have an awful lot of trouble
Dealing with this
Okay
We have a couple
Other things to cover
Including this
The winter issue
Of 2600 Magazine
Has just come out
And if you're a subscriber
It will be
Forwarding its way
To you in the mail
I believe next Monday
Is the mailing date
And
It should be
Another one of those
Historical things
We have
A piece on cellular phones
A piece on something
Called a smartphone
Which you have to
Start getting used to
Telephones that
Are sort of like computers
With all the features
That are being introduced
By various phone companies
You need a manual
To figure out
How to dial things
Well wouldn't it be
Much better
If you just had buttons
That did all these things
For you
That's part of what
Smartphones do
Another article
On how to hack
A computer show
Yeah
No kidding
Gotta read it
To find out
What that's all about
Also a feature
On 9x voicemail
And
Some book reviews
Internet news
And another
Exposé on
Secure locks
So that's all
On the winter issue
Which
Has
Just gotten out
Alright
Today is the
29th
Of December
Which means
Next week will be
The first week of January
And what that means
Is that
This show
And next week's show
Represent the
Last two programs
That our
Resident
Expert on
Telephones and
Computers
Fiber optic
Will be able to
Attend
Reason being
That his presence
Has been
Requested
No
Actually demanded
In a
Federal prison
For the next year
After that
Because of
Basically because
Of his outspokenness
According to what
The judge said
Because
He's a symbol
He must be treated
As a symbol
Well Fiber
We won't treat you
As a symbol
Here in these
Last couple of
Weeks
We'll treat you
As a human
Being
I appreciate
That very much
Thank you
And people
Want to call in
I'd like to
Devote the time
That we have
Which only really
Amounts to an
Hour and a half
About another
Half hour this
Week and an
Hour next week
To talking to
Fiber
Having our
Listeners call in
And exchange
Any kind of
Information with
Him
I do have
Something that
I'd like to
Read first
Before we go
To the phones
This comes from
A listener in
New York
Steve from
New York
Who has a
Question and
I'm sure
Fiber may be
Able to shed
Some light on
This
Steve writes
Dear Mr.
Goldstein
Your show is
Outstandingly
Interesting and
Subversive
And as with
All things I
Perceive as
Worthwhile
It surprises
Me week after
Week to find
You still on
The air
Well this
Is WBAI
Don't forget
We care about
Things that are
Interesting and
Subversive here
Whatever you
May think of
NYNEX
Your local
Cable TV
Company and
The various
Other manifestations
Of big
Bungling brother
Just be happy
You don't live
In France
Under the
Regime of
France Telecom
Where you
Pay extra to
Obtain an
Itemized billing
Statement
He speaks
Truth there
That is true
Of many countries
You have to
Pay extra to
Get itemized
Billing
But then again
New York
Telephone charges
You extra to
See a local
Itemized billing
So it's not
That unusual
But in many
Countries you
Don't get any
Itemization whatsoever
You just get
A bill and you
Have to believe
It
So that is
True
Also local
Calls are
Billed
That's true in
Many places
It costs more
To call locally
To call another
Part of France
From Paris
Than it does
To call Paris
From New York
And online
Online services
Are limited to
Something called
Minitel
Essentially a
Late 1950s
Vision of a
Late 1960s
Technology
With just
Slightly less
Utility than a
North American
Touchtone phone
In France
Telephone usage
Is billed not
By the minute
But by a
Fixed time
Cost unit
For example
Whereas one
Unit may
Click off for
Two minutes
Of local
Connect time
The same
Unit may
Click off
In ten
Seconds for a
Call to Paris
Between Paris
And New York
It's basically
The tick system
That's kind of
Where the
Dutch magazine
Hacktick got
Its name
Because they
Have things
Called ticks
Over there
Instead of
Getting an
Itemized bill
Saying you
Spoke for five
Minutes at
This particular
Rate per minute
You have a
Little device
If you choose
To get this
Device
And you can
See the ticks
Going by
And if you
Call something
Very very far
Away the ticks
Go maybe once
A second
And each tick
Represents a
Certain amount
Of money
If you're
Calling something
Local
You may see
One tick
Every five
Minutes
Or you may
Just see
One tick
And that's
It
Depending on
What kind
Of service
You have
There are
Certain test
Numbers
That people
Have discovered
That if you
Call them
It ticks
Like a
Geiger counter
That's in
A nuclear
Power plant
And some
People have
Figured out
Ways of
Sending those
Little ticks
Down the line
And really
Scaring people
By having
Their tick
Machine move
Extremely fast
So that is
Actually
I would say
The standard way
Telephone calls
Are built
Throughout the
World
We are the
Exception here
In this
Country
Continuing
With the
Letter here
This system
Makes the
Use of a
Transatlantic
Callback
System
Especially
Attractive
And satisfying
It may
Actually be
More cost
Effective
To call
Between cities
Within Europe
Even within
France
Via a
U.S.
Callback
Rather than
Directly
Voici un
Telecard
France
Telecom's
Answer to
Coinbox
Thefts
If France
Didn't
Already have
Coins worth
Almost four
Dollars
I would say
This was
The most
Cynical of
Attempts
To make
Charging
A dollar
A minute
Or more
For domestic
Phone calls
Less objectionable
The question
Is
How does
It work
And how
Could it
Be defeated
Now what
He's
Referring to
Is
Something
He
Enclosed
Actually
I must
Thank him
For doing
This
A telecard
That's the
Sound of
A telecard
Dropping on
A table
It's
Basically
A plastic
Card
Here
And I'm
Going to
Hand it
Over to
Fiber
Over here
And he's
Going to
Analyze
It for
The next
Couple
Of
Seconds
While I
Finish
The letter
By the time
I'm
Finished
With
This
I'm
Sure
He'll
Be
Able
To
Tell us
All
Kinds
Of
Interesting
Things
About
How does
It work
How could
It be
Defeated
Someone
Described
The card's
Bug as
A kind
Of
Integrated
Circuit
That fuses
Once the
Credits
Are depleted
Basically
You insert
This card
Into a
Telephone
And it
Kind of
Counts
Down
How many
Units
You have
Left
Until you
Have none
Left
And then
The card
Is completely
Worthless
I suppose
It's probably
Completely
Worthless
Now
I don't
Know
More
Plausible
To me
Is the
Concept
Of each
Card
Being linked
To a
Central
Computer
Account
Which runs
Down to
Zero
With
Use
I suspect
This to
Be the
Case
Since there
Are telecards
Linked to
One's
Phone
Account
Which do
Not
Deplete
That's
Interesting
Kind of
Like a
Calling
Card
Here in
The
States
And
Fiber
Anything
You can
Tell us
About
That
Yeah
Just
Looking
At
It
This
Is
Your
Typical
Smart
Card
Type
Device
It's
Just
Basically
A
Plastic
Card
And
Then
Off
To
One
Side
There's
A
Little
Metallic
Looking
Square
With a
Little
Facing
Which
Way
To
Insert
And
It's
Basically
Your
Trademark
Of
Knowing
That
You
Have
Some
Sort
Of
Smart
Card
Technology
At
Work
Now
What
Makes
This
Card
Smart
Well
They
Call
Them
Smart
Cards
Because
There's
Commonly
A
Small
Integrated
Circuit
A
Chip
Inside
The
Little
Metallic
Square
And
Basically
When
You
Insert
The
Card
Into
A
Telephone
Or
An
Access
Device
Or
Whatever
It
Is
Then
It
Will
Read
Or
Exchange
Information
With
The
Tiny
Microprocessor
Or
Microcontroller
That's
Embedded
Right
On
The
Plastic
Now
We
Haven't
Really
Seen
Anything
Like
That
In
This
Country
Have
We
Not
Yet
Well
Actually
Corporations
Use
Them
As far
As
For
Security
I
I'm
Unaware
Of
Them
Being
Used
In
By
The
Phone
Companies
For
Calling
Cards
How
About
Those
Ones
That
New
York
Excuse
me
Nine
X
Is
Experimenting
With
Down
At
The
Staten
Island
Ferry
I
Haven't
Seen
Those
Yet
Are
Those
Magnetic
Strips
I'm
Not
Sure
I
Haven't
Seen
Them
Either
I'm
Not
Sure
Myself
Yeah
But
I
Think
That
These
Kind
Of
Cards
Will
Be
Introduced
In
This
Country
Because
I
Think
We're
Moving
Towards
That
You
Know
The
Cashless
Society
And
All
Yeah
I
Mean
It
Would
Certainly
Make
Sense
Now
What
Do
You
Think
Of
Cards
Like
The
Like
The
Listener
Said
Cards
That
Are
Linked
To
Telephone
Accounts
That
Don't
Appreciate
Do
You
Think
Those
Are
Also
Smart
Cards
Oh
Yeah
Most
I
Would
Think
Most
Definitely
And
Why
Do
They
Need
To
Be
Smart
Well
Basically
If
It
Makes
Perfect
Sense
To
Simply
Have
A
Little
Embedded
Microcontroller
On
The
Little
The
Card
Itself
The
Access
Device
That's
Going
To
Allow
You
To
Bill
Calls
Or
What
Have
You
But
Wouldn't
All
That
Technology
Be
Done
Within
The
Phone
Company
Wouldn't
The
Only
Purpose
Of
That
Card
Be
To
Transmit
The
Identification
The
Number
Of
The
Card
That
Could
Very
Well
Be
But
On
The
Other
Hand
Problem
With
That
Is
People
Simply
Reading
The
Magnetically
Encoded
Data
On
The
Card
Which
Is
Easily
Readable
And
Just
Re-encoding
It
With
Some
Other
Data
Possibly
Increasing
The
Amount
Of
Debit
That
You
Have
Left
On
The
Card
For
In
The
BART
System
Or
The
DC
Metro
Train
System
Or
The
Future
New
York
City
Metro
Yeah
Train
System
I
Just
Saw
A
Big
Poster
For
Cards
Like
That
That
Will
Be
Coming
Out
Any
Day
Now
Yeah
And
If
People
Are
Smart
They're
The
Transit
Authority
Is
Going
To
Have
Some
Problems
Because
There's
Absolutely
No
Way
By
Looking
At
A
Transit
Card
A
Transit
Ticket
That
You
Can
Tell
It's
Been
Tampered
With
It
Just
Looks
Like
A
Normal
Transit
Ticket
Unless
They
Actually
Start
Printing
On
Them
I
Think
They
Do
That
In
The
Bard
In
The
DC
Metro
System
They
Actually
When
You
Slip
It
Through
The
Turn
Style
It
Actually
Prints
A
Number
That's
Plainly
Visible
On
The
Paper
But
Other
Than
That
That's
Not
Going
To
Have
Anything
To
Do
With
The
Transit
Ticket
Not
Being
Usable
You
Simply
Re-encode
Some
Data
On
The
Magnetic
Strip
Now
On
The
Other
Hand
With
The
Smart
Card
Any
Data
That
Would
Be
Exchange
With
Some
Sort
Of
Intelligent
Debit
System
Like
Some
Centralized
Database
Or
Something
They
Can
Actually
Have
Software
On
The
Chip
That's
Embedded
In
This
Card
That
Will
Be
Able
To
Not
Only
Protect
The
Data
On
The
Card
But
Actually
Be
More
Efficient
And
Would
Be
Able
To
Hold
Much
More
Data
Than
A
Simple
Magnetic
Strip
How
Much
More
Data
Oh
I
Mean
If
Typical
Micro
Controller
Technology
You
Could
Hold
On
The
Order
Of
Many
K
Of
Data
How
Big
Is
This
Chip
Here
That
We're
Talking
About
It's
I
Mean
How
Big
Is
A
Chip
I
Mean
It's
Relatively
Small
I
Mean
Chips
Inside
A
Computer
The
Only
Reason
Why
They're
That
Big
At
All
Is
The
Casing
Protects
The
Actual
Little
Silicon
Die
That's
Actually
Inside
The
Chip
Casing
But
If
You
Actually
Wanted
To
The
Chip
Casing
And
Since
These
Are
Machine
Milled
In
Plants
They
Simply
Embed
The
Small
Silicon
Die
Right
On
The
Card
And
The
Actual
Metallic
The
Actual
Shiny
Metal
Looking
Thing
On
The
Contacts
That
The
Chip
Would
Use
To
Communicate
With
The
Outside
World
So
A
Regular
Size
Credit
Card
Is
Capable
Of
Having
A
Chip
In
It
Oh
Sure
I
Mean
Looking
At
This
Tele
Card
Right
Here
I
Mean
99%
Of
This
Is
Plastic
It
Serves
Absolutely
No
Purpose
Other
Than
To
Be
Something
That
People
Are
Used
To
Handling
It
It's
The
Size
Of
A
Normal
Credit
Card
The
Actual
The
Actual
Smart
Card
The
Actual
Circuitry
The
Intelligence
Of
This
Card
Is
Only
Really
A
Centimeter
Squared
And
The
Actual
Silicon
Die
Is
Only
A
Few
Millimeters
Squared
So
This
Is
Basically
All
Plastic
It's
Going
To
Be
An
Interesting
Couple
Of
Years
Ahead
When
These
Things
Become
Prevalent
I
Mean
They've
Been
Around
For
A
Little
While
Yeah
Sure
In
Europe
Especially
But
We're
Starting
To
See
Them
Over
Here
So
You
Don't
Think
There's
Any
Way
To
To
Thwart
That
Particular
System
Well
If
They're
Actually
Engineered
Properly
The
Strongest
Ones
That
I've
Heard
So
That
And
Besides
That
Many
Microcontrollers
Today
Have
All
Sorts
Of
Security
Features
That
Are
Embedded
In
The
Actual
Integrated
Circuit
Itself
So
That
Someone
With
Say
An
EPROM
Burner
Or
An
EPROM
Reader
Wouldn't
Be
Able
To
Actually
Access
The
Data
Or
The
Program
On
The
Micro
Controller
It
Would
Be
Protected
From
The
Outside
World
Fascinating
So
I
Hope
That
Answers
Our
Listeners
Questions
As Far
As
The
Particular
Card
Goes
And
Keep
Your
Eye
Out
For
Cards
Like
That
In
The
Future
Because
They're
Going to
Be
Popping
Up
Everywhere
And
May
Make
For
A
Better
World
May
Make
For
A
Scary
World
When
You
Have
All
This
Data
Being
Carried
Around
In
Your
Pocket
Okay
I'm
Going to
Take
Some
Phone
Calls
From
Our
listeners
212
279
3400
And
I
Just
Have
A
Very
Quick
Story
That
I
Just
Had
Knowledge
Of
Today
When
I
Was
Helping
Somebody
With
Their
Phone
Bill
People
Always
Ask
For
Help
With
Their
Phone
Bills
Because
It
Becomes
Very
Complicated
And
This
Particular
Company
There
Are
All
These
Different
Companies
Out
There
That
You
May
Get
Phone
Bills
From
On
Your
Regular
New
York
Telephone
Or
New
Jersey
Bell
Telephone
Bill
This
Person
Had
Gotten
A
Couple
Of
He
Had
Collect
Blocking
On
His
Line
He
Had
Collect
Call
Blocking
So
He
Was
Wondering
How
In
The
World
Did
A
Collect
Call
Show
Up
When
A
I
Don't
Accept
Collect
Call
And
B
I
Have
Collect
Call
Blocking
So
I
Called
The
Encore
People
And
I
Asked
How
Is
Such
A
Thing
Possible
And
They
Said
Well
Quite
Simple
The
Person
That
Made
This
Call
Had
Said
That
Or
Dial
Call
What
They
Do
In
Cases
Like
This
According
To
The
Encore
Customer
Service
Representative
Is
They
Simply
Back
Bill
It
As
A
Collect
Call
To
The
Person
That
Was
Called
And
Their
Hope
In
Doing
That
Is
That
The
Person
That
Received
The
Call
Will
Know
Who
Placed
The
Call
And
Will
Tell
On
Them
And
That
Person
Will
Get
In
Trouble
Or
They
Simply
Just
Pay
The
Bill
Now
It
Strikes
Me
That
That
That's
Incredibly
Illegal
To
Do
Something
Like
That
To
Bill
Somebody
For
A
Collect
Call
When
You
Have
Not
Been
Authorized
To
Do
It
And
For
A
Phone
Company
To
Admit
To
Doing
This
In
This
Day
And
Age
I'm
Sure
They
Can
Just
Get
Away
With
It
Because
All
Kinds
Of
Things
Are
Happening
Out
There
But
It's
Just
A
Warning
To
To
Watch
Out
For
That
Company
Named
Encore
Because
It
Doesn't
Sound
Like
They're
They're
Using
Very
Kosher
Billing
Practices
What
Do
You
Think
Fiber
Yeah
These
Little
Garage
Billing
Systems
And
Long
Distance
Carriers
Have
Been
In
Existence
As
Long
As
Cocots
Have
And
They've
Always
Used
This
Billing
Practice
Of
Doing
Collect
Call
Billing
It
Must
Be
Some
Sort
Of
Loophole
With
The
Local
Phone
Company
That
They
Can
Get
Around
Well
It's
A
Loophole
That
Needs
To
Be
Closed
There's
Also
A
System
Where
If
You
Call
Certain
800
Numbers
They
Bill
You
They
Bill
You
As
Collect
Call
You
Call
An
800
Toll
Free
Number
And
You
Get
A
Phone
Bill
Saying
That
You
Accepted
A
Collect
Call
That
Is
Completely
Reprehensible
And
That's
Something
That
Has
To
Be
Stopped
And
If
An
Extended
Period
You
Found
Out
More
About
The
Place
You
Going
Right
Yeah
Basically
I
Found
Out
Roughly
Where
It
Is
And
At
Least
Some
Of
The
Rules
And
Regulations
At
Least
In
General
And
If
You
Like
I
Can
Go
Into
That
Yeah
Go
Into
That
And
Particularly
As
Far
As
What
You
Can
Be
Sent
Yeah
Maybe
We
Can
Figure
Out
A
Way
To
Make
Sure
That
Things
Get
Sent
To
You
Okay
Well
It
Kind
Of
Restrictive
Okay
Basically
The
Name
Of
The
Facility
Is
School
Kill
Which
Is
A
Place
Apparently
In
Pennsylvania
It's
Not
Spelled
Like
School
Kill
No
It's
Spelled
Strangely
It's
S-C-H-U-I-L-L
Kill
Got
It
Okay
And
It's
Somewhere
From what
I understand
On the
Outskirts
Of
Philadelphia
And
I
Think
It's
Near
A town
Called
Pottsville
It's
Near
Another
Town
Too
You
Want
To
Tell
Them
What
That's
Called
Oh
It's
Called
Minersville
No
No
No
The
Other
One
Which
One
The
One
I
Told
You
About
Yesterday
The
One
You
Told
Me
About
I
Think
It's
It's
It's
Called
Frackville
Oh
Frackville
That's
Right
Now
That's
That's
Funny
Because
There's
A
Computer
Hacker
Magazine
Out
Called
Frack
And
It's
Kind
Of
Poetic
Justice
I
Guess
To
Somebody
But
Frackville
Yeah
I
Think
Miners
Pot
And
Frack
Are
A
Bad
Combination
Yeah
That's
True
So
Tell us
About
These
Restrictions
Basically
The
General
Restrictions
At least
That
I've
Been
Able
To
Find
Out
Without
Being
There
First
Are
I
Found
Out
About
Say
What
I
Could
Receive
If
Someone
Were
To
Attempt
To
Mail
Me
Things
And
The
Answer
In
General
Is
Nothing
What
I
Can
Receive
Is
Money
If
Someone
Would
Want
To
Send
Me
Checks
Or
Money
Orders
They
Would
Go
Into
My
Account
And
I
Could
Probably
Buy
All
Sorts
Of
Lovely
Things
In
Their
Commissary
Like
Cigarettes
And
Reused
Clothing
Or
Something
And
From
What
I've
Been
Told
Money
Orders
Would
Be
Preferable
For
Me
Because
They
Get
Cleared
Right
Away
And
I
Can't
Receive
Anything
Like
Cigarettes
Or
Food
Or
Clothing
Or
Anything
Like
That
As
Far
As
Books
Go
I
Can't
Receive
Hardcover
Books
At
All
Unless
They
Come
From
Directly
From
A
Publisher
Or
From
A
Bookstore
And
I'm
Assuming
It's
Because
They
Think
Someone's
Going
To
Hide
Something
In
The
Binding
Or
Something
Okay
So
Basically
What
That
Means
Is
If
We
Want
To
Send
Publications
We
Have
To
Either
Be
A
Bookstore
Or
Publisher
Right
Or
They
Could
Be
Paperback
Or
Magazines
But
The
Restriction
With
That
Is
On
The
Quantity
On
The
Volume
Sent
At
Once
At
Once
Okay
So
I
Believe
It
Was
Something
Like
Three
Or
Four
Paperbacks
At
Once
And
Maybe
Five
Or
Six
Magazines
At
Once
So
If
Any
Of
Our
Listeners
Have
Some
Friends
Or
Contacts
At
Publishers
Or
At
Bookstores
You
Might
Want
To
Find
Out
If
They
Be
Will
To
Send
Some
Things
Some
Material
To
Fiber
While
He's
In
Prison
So
They'll
Have
Something
To
Read
And
Of
We'll
Have
The
Address
In
A
Couple
Of
Weeks
Yeah
I
Don't
Have
The
Address
On
Me
I
Found
Out
The
Address
Of
The
Place
But
Including
Your
Number
No
That's
The
Thing
I
Won't
But
I
Don't
Know
If
A
Sweet
Number
Would
Be
Appropriate
Not
Very
Sweet
Yeah
And
The
Other
Thing
I
Found
Out
It's
Not
Like
In
The
Movies
Where
Basically
People
Go
To
Prison
And
They
Just
Sit
Around
Waiting
For
The
Time
To
Pass
They
It
From
What
It
Sounds
Like
To
Me
Is
Like
A
Slave
Labor
Camp
They
Basically
Assign
You
Some
Work
Detail
Which
You
Have
To
Do
And
From
What
I
Can
Tell
Anyway
At
Least
From
Some
Of
The
Other
People
Who
Either
Are
Currently
In
One
Of
These
Similar
Prison
Camps
Or
Have
Been
In
The
Past
Anyone
Who
Is
Attempted
To
Refuse
Their
Work
Detail
Like
For
instance
If
It's
Something
Really
Crummy
They
Send
Them
Either
Right
Across
The
Way
Or
Up
The
Road
To
The
Real
Federal
Penitentiary
With
The
The
Real
Bottom
Of
The
Food
Chain
Of
Society
And
They
Probably
Have
Something
They
Want
You
To
Do
Too
Yeah
I'm
Sure
They
Do
Well
I hope
You
Get
Something
That's
That's
Enjoyable
Although
I
Can
Doubt
You
Will
What
Kind
Of
Things
They
Have
In
Mind
But
Hopefully
You'll
Be
Writing
Us
On
A
Weekly
Basis
And
We
Can
Simply
Update
People
As
To
What's
Going
On
Yeah
Anything
Else
You
Yeah
Only
It's
Rather
Obvious
But
If
Anyone
Does
Intend
To
Write
Me
Letters
They
Should
Be
Aware
Of
The
Fact
That
They'll
All
Be
Read
Before
They
Get
To
Me
That's
All
Okay
So
Plans
For
The
Revolution
Should
Not
Be
Discussed
In
The
Letters
All
Right
212
279
3400
Let's
Take
Some
Listener
Phone
Calls
Good
Evening
You're
On
Hi
Good
Evening
I'm
Sorry
To
Here
About
Fiber
Of
Course
Is
There
Going
To
Be
Any
Sort
Of
Going
Away
Party
For
him
There
Already
Has
Been
There
Was
Sort
Of
An
Echo
Party
For
The
Computer
System
He
Works
On
But
I
Imagine
Next
Week's
Show
Will
Be
Kind
Of
Well
We'll
Try
To
Make
It
As
Festive
As
Possible
In
Light
Of
Things
But
As
Far
As
Something
Organized
And
Planned
I
Don't
Think
Also
Two
Other
Comments
To
Make
First
In
Regards
To
The
Unonymous
Call
Rejection
That
Can
Be
A
Very
Real
Problem
With
Customer
Owned
Coin
Operated
Telephones
Because
A
Lot
Of
Those
Are
Set
Up
To
Block
Caller
ID
Because
The
Owner
Of
The
Phone
Doesn't
Want
People
Knowing
What
The
Number
Is
I
Can
See
A
Lot
Of
Problems
From
There
And
The
Other
I
Caught
Is
About
To
Offer
Reverse
Directory
Assistance
Really
Yes
Let's
Hear
About
This
Oh
Okay
It's
In
This
Morning's
Newsday
Of
Course
Or
As
Some
Might
Call it
Moosday
All right
And
Hidden
Away
In
Back
Of
The
Classified
Somewhere
It's
Tored
Out
Without
Marking
The
Page
Down
I
Can
Send
You
A
Copy
Of
It
If
You
Don't
See
It
In
The
Next
Few
Days
But
Basically
It
Says
Notices
Hereby
Given
Effective
February
4th
For
The
Introduction
Of
Reverse
Directory
Assistance
Which
Provides
Callers
To
Directory
Assistance
With
The
Listed
Name
Listed
Address
Including
Zip
Code
For
Given
Business
Or
Government
Phone
Telephone
Number
Can
You
Tell me
What page
That's
On
Yeah
I
Tored
Out
Of
The
Paper
So
I
Don't
Have
The
Page
But
Okay
Because
I
Have
A
Copy
So
Basically
They're
Offering
Reverse
Directory
Assistance
They
Tell
What
The
Charge
Will
Be
Residential
Custom
There
Are
Two
Key
Things
Here
Well
First
The
Request
The
Charge
For
Each
Number
Will
Be
45
Cents
And
Also
The
Ability
To
Obtain
The
Address
Or
Of
A
Business
Or
Government
Agency
From
What
It
Says
Here
It
Doesn't
Look
Like
Residential
RDA
Will
Be
There
At
Least
Not
Immediately
I
See
That's
Interesting
Customer
Name
And
Address
That's
Something
That hackers
Have Been
Playing
With
For
Many
Years
You
Know
I
Was
Thinking
This
Too
We
Suggested
This
In
The
Past
For
People
Overseas
Rather
Than
Pay
The
AT&T
Phenomenal
Surcharge
Of
I
Think
$3.95
For
Every
Number
That
You
Request
You
Better
Off
Just
Calling
Somebody
At
Random
In
The
Country
That
You
Want
And
Asking
For
A
Number
From
A
Phone
Book
We
Can
Pretty
Much
Do
The
Same
Thing
Here
In
This
Country
And
In
Fact
In
This
State
Because
It
Directory
Assistance
Was
A
Freebie
Yeah
It
Was
And
Then
They
Started
With
Well
We'll
Make
Six
Free
Directory
Assistance
Calls
A
Month
And
That
Became
Three
Free
Calls
A
Month
And
Now
It's
Down
To
Zero
It
Won't
Get
Any
Lower
Than
That
I
Don't
Think
Thanks
For
Your
New
Year's Eve
Maybe
Gather
In
Times
Square
Have
A
Small
Riot
Well
No
We
Don't
Have
To
Necessarily
Do
That
But
Okay
People
Listening
If
You
Want
To
Get
Together
And
See
Fiber
Off
Get
Together
In
Times
Square
On
New
Year's
Eve
About
Maybe
6
PM
We'll
Just
Start
Gathering
Up
A
Crowd
And
Around
Midnight
Or
So
We'll
You
Know
I
Don't
Know
We'll
Do
Something
We'll
think of something out there but um yeah that sounds good why don't we do that yeah okay two
one two two seven nine three four hundred good evening you're on hello hi there hi there uh
back around 10 years ago in the chicago area code in uh 312 there was a phone number i used to play
with it was 398-9999 if i remember right and there were two interesting things about the number one
of them was when you called it you were instantly connected to elevator music and i was able to
actually confirm that it was muzak because i i tested it out by going to an airport and listening
to the music playing over the speaker system there and sure enough it was it was in sync with it and
the uh other thing about this phone number was that there was no charge when you called it i could call
it from a pay phone and uh i'd have to put in a coin to dial it but the coin would come right back
afterwards there was never any ringing signal or anything it was like it just uh connected
interesting yeah wondering if anyone had any insight on that uh i mean there are things like
that that you come across occasionally and of course as soon as everybody figures out what
they are they get disconnected um i don't know what the purpose of that would be but uh it sounds
like the number wasn't supervising and the phone company just would never bill you for it when you
called yeah how long ago was this oh it was i remember playing with it around 10 years ago i'm not
sure when it stopped working i kind of lost interest in it and i think uh they they eventually split
the area code into 312 and 708 and i know by that time it was no longer working yeah well you'll still
find some uh some surprises out there some weird telephone numbers especially 800 numbers too you'll
find all kinds of weird things all right okay thanks for calling like the fiber thank you very much
okay thanks good evening you're on hello yes go ahead
yes yeah two things i'm in the uh telephone business coin operated telephones uh-huh a lot of
them are today are are billing people and a lot of them do play games you got to be careful some of
them are charging as much as three dollars a minute for collect calls uh-huh what they're using it did
to connect companies that just operate as uh service bureaus and this is because they've broken up the
phone company uh this is one of the problems when you no longer have one entity responsible for
everything from a to z from one end of the for one end of the circuit to the other end uh-huh but i
mean with competition doesn't it make sense that if somebody is is ripping people off that there's
another company there that's not ripping people off and everybody will flock over to them people are
not smart enough to understand that the average person today who uses the telephone doesn't really
realize what's happening what we really need today uh is to have not we need less regulation but we
need to let the phone company get back into line of motor services because when you deal with the
phone company you're able to deal with one person for an example say you make a phone call and you
get disconnected who's responsible for the local company the long distance company or the other
company on the other side the other local co that's true but at the same time if the phone
company does something unfair where can you turn you can't go anywhere else well yes that's very
true you that is a problem what really i think went wrong is this they should never broken up the
phone company what they should have done is stop the phone company from their bad practices of not
letting companies such as mci and some of the other long distance carriers from connecting up
they should have been indicated that they should have been allowed to connect up that's the big
mistake breaking up the phone company with a big mistake they tried to over remedy the situation in
doing so they really screwed up uh-huh well i mean that's that's one line of thinking i don't happen
to agree with it myself but i know a lot of people do a lot of people think the phone company should
have stayed uh as one monolithic unit i don't know that that that possibility especially with today's
technology really frightens me i think the phone company should have been broken up earlier and a lot
more in an organized way so that people understood exactly what was going on right now i agree with
you we have total chaos and no real rhyme or reason to anything and the average person does not
understand how to make a phone call and that's why they're being every person is totally getting
ripped off the course went back in 83 or 82 when they had the discussions a lot of people said this
would cut the cost of phone service to the average person this has not the average person is paying a lot
more yeah yeah a lot of people are paying a lot more today and that's really what's happening in a sense
is that the small person is getting ripped off the larger companies like xerox or ibm who use service
folk they're getting a benefit of this but the average joe on the street is really getting raped through
the coals i mean i see people go up to a pay phone they put a quarter in and i lose their quarter who do they
complain to some yeah personal person now if you try to call a beep a number lady phones
won't let you call 917 or an amazing timing and it's it's a total or they cut off touchdowns after
you uh connect yeah it's a problem what we need i think is is some more accountability i think the
public service commission has to uh have a few more people working on this particular issue
so that people know where they can call and uh they can complain and get something done
even the public service commission doesn't know what's happening i know they don't i think they
have a couple of people it's not because they're at fault it's just that the technology is rapidly
growing and outpacing the people who work at the public service commission well if uh i think if
more people write to them like uh one of our listeners did um i think you'll start getting some
more attention to it because they'll say hey wait a minute something's going on out there and we
should know about it thanks for your call have a good day okay a lot of uh our listeners are are very
educated as far as this kind of thing goes and hopefully we can spread that education to the
populace good evening you're on hi hi hi how are you okay all right um earlier in the show when
you were talking about um 9x charges you for an itemized local phone bill yes all right is that
that's something you can just request and you pay every month and they'll send you a yes for a
dollar fifty a month you can get a list of uh of the calls that you that you make depending on
your area some areas don't have in your exchange for some reason um even though they're perfectly
capable of doing it um other areas have every single phone number that you call so it's um it
really depends on where you are because i once had a problem with my bill i wanted to verify it and
just called them up and asked them for the itemized bill and they just sent it to me for free uh-huh
yeah they'll do it for for maybe a one-time thing if you have a problem with it but uh if you want
to get it every month without fail that's uh that's what you have to do but uh speaking of 9x
and new york telephone all that i was in queens and i saw my first public telephone that was only
said 9x on it didn't say new york telephone on it at all really new face plates and everything yeah
it was all completely changed and i don't know if you've seen their vans lately but they have these
sort of um like sort of stickers on the side that say just call us 9x yeah that's the uh that's a new
logo just call us 9x yeah well we have a few other things to call them but uh that's uh that's
one of the things i guess we'll have to call them okay thanks for calling all right thanks a lot
i think we have time for one more phone call good evening you're on yes hi good evening yes
go ahead please turn on your radio yes hi good evening uh yes i'd like to find out um what's
happening i have two questions first of all okay i'd like to find out what's happening to the nickel
trick in new york city the nickel trick um well what what exactly is the nickel trick okay well
uh i thought you might know of it or have heard of it i've heard of it but i'd like to hear what
first of all your explanation is and then uh uh i know that it's been a uh it's been in uh an old
lore in the old lore of uh bicycle messengers throughout the city and it's using a quarter
and nickel in combination to essentially make a local call on a on a new york tell uh with a nickel
in a nickel and it's just a way uh it's not uh using tools or anything on the phone it's just a
it's just a technique a way of using the coins in an order to uh to uh have the uh the call cost five
cents all right uh fiber you want to go into some detail on this sure why not an urban legend or is
this true actually um i i've never verified this myself but according to theory on um older uh
mechanical pay phones and you can tell that they're a mechanical pay phone just by turning the coin
return uh slot and you'll hear a metallic sound on these such pay phones you will notice that the
switch hook is an actual mechanical switch hook and in the newer pay phones this is not true
nothing is mechanical in fact uh when you when you press the switch hook or the coin return slot you're
you're there's actual as actually intelligent circuitry in the phone and you're not actually
affecting any relays directly as far as the nickel trick went to my knowledge one would
first insert a quarter into the phone so that the phone was basically pacified that a quarter was put
in then they would proceed to slowly hang up the switch hook gradually until the quarter was ejected
but yet they didn't really completely hang up and you can tell that you're doing this because you can
hear a faint dial tone still in the earpiece and you sort of have if you find the right spot you'll sort
have the switch hook halfway down now what you do that you have your now that you have your quarterback
you insert a nickel and release the switch hook so now you hear the normal dial tone the uh the coin
hopper in the phone is full and that supposedly is is the nickel trick okay well uh i'm sorry we're out of
time we can't go into more detail on that particular uh issue but uh one of many tricks involving phone
company lore okay that's our program for this week we'll be back next week for fiber's last show
and uh please make a point of uh listening it'll be a pretty important uh event i think
and uh until then have a good week stay tuned for the wbai evening news this is manuel goldstein good night
good evening in the news tonight
progressive speak out on president clinton's first year in office
a look at the thorns behind the government's rosy economic forecast
and in new york the mayor-elect's plan for funding the arts has the heads of some cultural institutions
fuming with these and other stories i'm jose santiago in new york with verna avery brown in washington
and this is the news for wednesday december 29th 1993
first to washington and these headlines topping the news
plo chairman yasser arafat has arrived in egypt for what may be the final stages of talks
to speed up israel's 16-day overdue troop withdrawal from the occupied territories
paritz kidron has more from jerusalem
israelian palestinian negotiators meeting in cairo
appear to have reached agreement on outstanding issues
and it's now up to israeli prime minister rabin and plo chairman arafat
to approve the deal
the draft agreement was drawn up by egyptian mediators
in an effort to break the deadlock
delaying israel's withdrawal from gaza and jericho
the egyptian sponsored deal calls for minor israeli concessions
enlarging the area around jericho to come under palestinian control
and granting the palestinians a token presence at the border crossings
israel seems ready to go along but the palestinians are divided
with some willing to hold out for further concessions
while others are ready to tie up the deal under present terms
to get the israeli withdrawal underway
the last word rests with arafat
for pacifica network news this is peretz kidron in jerusalem
the u.s today formally protested the israeli government's plan
to build 13 000 new houses in arab east jerusalem
and the occupied territories of the west bank
the u.s does not recognize israeli claims to east jerusalem
palestinians want east jerusalem to be the capital of a future palestinian state
israel and the vatican will reportedly sign an agreement tomorrow
establishing formal diplomatic ties
as part of the agreement both sides pledged more tolerance for other religions
the catholic church also denounced violence against jews
israel has wanted formal diplomatic relations with the vatican for years
the vatican hopes the agreement will give catholics
increased access to religious sites in israel
today in washington the food and drug administration announced guidelines
requiring makers of dietary supplements to provide hard evidence
to substantiate any claims they make about their products
supplement makers charged the fda will use the regulations
to eliminate the sale of supplements and make vitamins available only by prescription
but the fda says that isn't the case
they only want labeling to conform to standards set for food
the new regulations will take effect in july of 94
german authorities have turned down russian neo-fascist leader
vladimir zirinovsky's request for travel visa
but as paul hakenos reports from berlin
zirinovsky has long maintained contacts with like-minded political allies in germany
the political establishment in bonn breathed a heavy
vatican climate drapatine
ask for travel visa
reaction
plan
the
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