86 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
86 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
THE TRUTH BEHIND THOSE 9999 NUMBERS
|
|
by Mark Bluebox
|
|
|
|
Once upon a time, I was talking to one of my favorite friends, one of the
|
|
nation's oldest and most experienced telephone enthusiasts -- some might refer
|
|
to him as a phone phreak. In this particular conversation, he mentioned to me
|
|
that I might want to experiment with a series of 800 numbers: exchanges
|
|
starting with 9, followed by the suffix 9999 (800-9xx-9999). And so I did, and
|
|
a whole new world began to open up in front of me.
|
|
|
|
They were mostly weather and time numbers in various locations throughout
|
|
the country. And since these were 800 numbers, there was NO CHARGE! One
|
|
number in particular was of a great deal of interest to me and many others.
|
|
This was 800-957-9999, which hooked up to WWV, the radio station operated by
|
|
the National Bureau of Standards that does nothing but tell the time and give
|
|
shortwave reports. This is the most accurate clock in the entire world! You
|
|
either have to tune to WWV on the shortwave receiver or dial 303-499-7111 in
|
|
Fort Collins, shortwave enthusiast, I don't have to tell you how convenient
|
|
this was for me. Unfortuantely, it got too covenient from too many people.
|
|
|
|
I guess I made the mistake of giving the former president of a large amateur
|
|
radio club in the Dallas area. He, in turn, printed it in the Amateur Radio
|
|
Newsbulletin where thousands of people probably saw it. Another statewide
|
|
newbulletin picked it up and printed it. Through an amateur radio news network
|
|
which this bulletin was a part of, the news got as far as California.
|
|
|
|
One day, I called up the West Link Amateur Radio News Service at 213-768-
|
|
7333. (This is a service located in West Link, California that brodcasts news
|
|
over amateur radio, VHF, UHF, etc.) Their latest report had this little item:
|
|
"Speaking of interesting things, the National Bureau of Standards has got a
|
|
very convenient time number for those of you that are not constantly at a
|
|
shortwave receiver. You can dial 1-800-957-9999 for WWV. It's just another
|
|
good toll-free service for us to use." The avalanche had really begun now.
|
|
|
|
The West Link report was heard on bulletin stations all around the world
|
|
and, apparently, one station in Nashville, Tennessee broadcast it. From there
|
|
it fell into the hands of one of the writers for the DX program on Radio South
|
|
Africa! I happened to be listening to the program where they were talking
|
|
about pulling in distant time stations, weather station, etc. He then
|
|
mentioned, "For those of you that live in the United States, a convenient toll-
|
|
free 800 number has been provided by the National Bureau of Standards for WWV
|
|
and that number is 1-800-957-9999." Imagine my surprise! Once again, the
|
|
number had been broadcast all around the world. People in many, many nations
|
|
now had that number. Of course, the number only worked inside the United
|
|
States, but the word was being spread by shortwave and QSL people everywhere.
|
|
|
|
The number was getting swamped. Needless to say, it was busy much of the
|
|
time. A government official, who also had this number, thinking that it was
|
|
legitimate, called up WWV and complained. He told them that they needed to
|
|
add some more lines to their new 800 number. The general manager of the
|
|
station said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know of any
|
|
800 number that gets you WWV."
|
|
|
|
The government official told him what the telephone number was. The general
|
|
manager called it and heard his own station. Astounded, he contacted the
|
|
Mountain Bell Telephone Company in Denver, Colorado. They said, "You're not
|
|
paying for any 800 in-WATS number. We show 303-499-7111 for WWV, but we don't
|
|
have any 800-957-9999."
|
|
|
|
Mountain Bell checked it out and sure enough, the number existed but not on
|
|
their records. No one was getting charged for this! Now, of course, you know
|
|
a monopoly as well as I do -- they're sure not going to let anyone have a free
|
|
ride. So they told the WATS coordinator to find out what happened. He finally
|
|
made the discovery that some technicians had hooked that number up for
|
|
transmissions testing. [These switching technicians are toll technicians, AT&T
|
|
Long Lines switching technicians, and carrier systems technicians. In other
|
|
words, they're the group of people who link switching centers together, from
|
|
New York to Los Angeles, for example. In this case, the whole escapade was a
|
|
kind of group effort. The switchmen and the carrier people got together and
|
|
set up this number for testing, finding noisy carriers with cross-talk on them,
|
|
etc.]
|
|
|
|
The WATS coordinator told them they'd better get this number off -- too many
|
|
people knew about it. He told them to erase every 800 test line that was on
|
|
the system. Not surprisingly, someone also got chewed out very severelly.
|
|
|
|
So, consequently, 800-957-9999 is no longer in existence. But since then,
|
|
less than two weeks later, several of the 800 test numbers have begun to
|
|
defiantly reappear. Check around, you'll probably find a few interensting
|
|
ones. But I doubt if WWV's brief stint as a toll-free service will ever be
|
|
repeated. <>
|
|
|
|
Downloaded From P-80 Systems 304-744-2253
|
|
|