When was the last time you saw 1+ coin service from those Verizon coin
> phones in New York City?
Last week. They offered both national and within NY State. Admittedly, while the phones were Verizon, I didn't look at who the LD carrier was.
Until about one year ago SEPTA pay phones also offered the same national service, 25c a min/ 4 min minium.
And those VZ payphones in NYCity -- what are you defining as Long > Distance?
National service.
VZ also had phones in the train stations painted yellow offering
25c/min for within NY State only. I presume NY State has multiple LATAs in it.
But for inter-LATA toll 1+ coin calls (outside of that limited NY/NJ
> corridor), AT&T won't handle those types of long distance calls
> anymore, at least not in the "traditional" 1+ coin way of doing
> things.
I don't know who handles this calls.
If VZ payphones can still be used to place such calls, then
> it is being handled by some kind of internal COCOT-like "smart" chips,
> regardless of who the actual LD carrier happens to be.
Your suggestion is entirely possible, but actually involves more expense and hardware than in the past. Pay phones have been able to handle long distance for many years. Automated 1+ calling (to count the coins) has been available for a long time. You act as if this 1+ coin calling is something "new".
I hope to go up again and I'll see if I can find out who the carrier is.