On Sun, 1 Mar 2020 08:00:44 +1100, Wayne Bickerdike wrote: >... >I have had to resort to tone dialers in Indonesia to use a phone >card because they disable the # key . Their phone systems were largely >owned by kleptocrats who realised that phone cards would bypass their >exorbitant phone call charges. > In the U.S. there existed services one could call via a (free) 800 number (no #, IIRC); enter a card number, then target number to bypass exorbitant AT&T charges. AT&T retaliated by reversing DC polarity after initial connection so tone generator wouldn't work. FCC prohibited disabling those third party services. AT&T acquiesced by agreeing to install bridge rectifiers on request, *only* in Western Electric (AT&T partner) phones. Customers with third-party hardware were left to seek relief from their vendors. Kleptocrats. Think of 1959 consent decree.
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