ADMINISTRATIVE COMPUTING & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
May 26, 1995
ALL AT UCSD (Excluding UCSD Medical Center)
SUBJECT: Discontinuation of Third Party Telephone Billing to
University Telephone Numbers
Third-party calling is a operator-assisted call, placed from one number to a second number, and billed to a third number. This type of call is substantially more costly than either direct dial or telephone credit card calls. In addition, third-party calling is not verified by the operator unless placed from a public telephone.
Non-verification makes this type of call very susceptible to fraud and billing abuse against the University and its departments. Not a month goes
by without some fraudulent third-party calls being billed to various
campus telephone numbers. The fraudulent charges levied against these campus telephones may vary from a few dollars to several hundred dollars per telephone. The research and tracing of fraudulent third-party calls is
not only time consuming, but also cost prohibitive to the university.
There are several alternative solutions in place already that will help to alleviate this problem. Each of the following should be considered and
the one(s) best suited for your needs selected:
1. Utilization of your UCSD "Authorization Dialing Code" with
remote access to the campus.
2. Using a University telephone credit card. The following are
telephone credit cards available thru the UCSD Telecommunications
Services for faculty and staff:
a. The MCI "UCSD CALLCARD"
b. The "AT&T Corporate Card"
c. The "Pacific Bell Calling Card"
If you have a requirement for one or more of the above solutions to the third-party calling problem, your department can easily obtain your requirements for you by simply requesting it from this department, Mail Code 0320, via a Telecommunications Services Form FO 2158 (Rev 4/91). We would be more than happy to provide the service that would best fit your specific needs.
Effective with this notice Pacific Bell and AT&T will be notified that the university will no longer honor third-party calling charges to any of the university's telephone numbers.
Roger Talamantez
Assistant Vice Chancellor -
Administrative Computing
and Telecommunications