From: Paul Robinson <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
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Marty Hoag <[log in to unmask]>, writes on
list [log in to unmask]:
 
>    I did see something similar but different on one other list I'm
> on. But it asked if they were toll numbers and how they made money
> if not like our 900 numbers...
 
I think they posted this on every news group they could find; the guy
probably has a monetary interest in them.
 
>     011-239-1xx-xxxx         &     011-592-2xx-xxx
 
If you were to get a rate quote for these, you'd discover there is
no surcharge, they are billed as regular calls.  The "592" indicates
South America; there are several chat or sex lines terminating to
special facilities in some of those countries.
 
The way they make their money is the "Termination Fee" e.g. the
national telephone company in that country pays the information
provider part of the fee it gets from the carrier that connects
the call, based on the increased traffic the calls generate.
 
I made up a name for this, "The Nevada Plan".  There was a company
in Nevada at a 702 area code number that had a sex line, and someone
could call it by dialing the number.  The catch was that the call had
to be placed via AT&T; if you called it via another carrier, the
caller got a recording telling the caller to dial 10288 first.  The
recording was the *real* number; AT&T terminated the calls to the
number in question someplace else (the chat line equipment), and paid
the provider the 2c per minute termination fee for each call made
over AT&T.
 
There is a company is Oregon called Speedway, that is running
a dial-up Unix system and will provide SLIP, UUCP or any other
internet connections you want; and it doesn't cost anything extra,
but you have to be connected via AT&T.  If you were to dial
the number 1 503 520 2222 by any means except AT&T (either local in the
503 area code, or dialing it over MCI), you'd get a busy signal.  If
you dial via 10288 or your long distance company is AT&T, you'd get
a modem carrier.  AT&T pays them the 2c per minute connection fee that
would have to be paid to the local company; means no difference to them.
 
---
Paul Robinson - [log in to unmask]
-----
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Nine-track tapes and seven-track tapes
        And tapes without any tracks;
Stretchy tapes and snarley tapes
        And tapes mixed up on the racks --
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