From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: Telco Uses My Lines
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1993 18:59:17 GMT

gleick@Panix.Com (James Gleick) writes:

> It drives me nuts to find NYTel repairmen using my phone lines,
> presumably from the terminal on the street, to make calls to the
> office or even (I believe) personal calls.  I assume personal calls
> are against the rules, but the phone company contends (though somewhat
> fuzzily) that there's nothing wrong with the repairmen picking up a
> handy line to call in to call in to the office.

       You might build a device which connects to your phone line and
detects off-hook voltage without off-hook current.  This indicates a
phone off-hook upstream of the device, so if placed just past your
demark, it indicates someone is using your line.  Use this to turn on
a tape recorder.  This should give you ammunition to deal with the
problem.


John Nagle