Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!purdue!decwrl!ucbvax!MIMSY.UMD.EDU!mgrant From: mgrant@MIMSY.UMD.EDU (Michael Grant) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! Message-ID: <8805041528.AA15201@mimsy.umd.edu> Date: 4 May 88 15:28:27 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 34 Approved: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu They cost $1675 from AT&T at the time this was posted. You need to get permission in some areas (such as MD) from the Public Utilities Commision before you install one of these. You will also need to order a special phone line from your local phone company. This special line is NOT like the pay telephone lines that your local phone company uses. It is a standard bussiness line with some special rates. In the Washington DC area, it will cost about $70 to install, $14 a month for dialtone, $2.00 a month for Touch-Tone, $2.00 a month to restrict collect and third party calls, another $1.00 a month to restrict 976 calls, and then another $2 - $5 for the customer access fee depending on who gets the billing. This does not include any taxes either. You also pay about $0.10 per call. You get to keep all the money that comes out of the pay phone though. These phones can act as bad as all the other COCOTS. They can be programmed to gouge your pocket just as badly. They do not offer operator assistance like local phone company pay phones. They do not get full call supervision from the phone company. There are probably ways to defeat the billing mechinism and make free calls. Now, in the Washington DC area, (and probably in other areas), you can ask C&P to put in a pay phone for you. If it's worth it to them, (if the phone will get used 15 - 25 times per day, and if it's where the full public can get to it), they will install it for free. They collect all the money out of it, and pay you a commision as follows: 4% of the take out of $51 - $100, and 6% of the take if it was over $100, (a month). For semi-public pay phones, (one that is not fully accessible, or one that won't drum up the 15 - 25 calls per day), C&P gets $244 to install, and $20.24 a month for service. The customer gets nothing back. -Mike Grant