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Activation via Telephone is Still Available



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 21st 17, 12:34 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 326
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

Hi,

Today (09-21-17) I installed WinXP SP2 on a new HD. As in the past,
I used the telephone method to "Activate" Windows.

I had NO problems "Activating" Windows using the telephone
system.

John

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  #3  
Old September 22nd 17, 09:59 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 177
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 11:34:10 +0000, wrote:

Hi,

Today (09-21-17) I installed WinXP SP2 on a new HD. As in the past,
I used the telephone method to "Activate" Windows.

I had NO problems "Activating" Windows using the telephone
system.

John


Is that one of them crank telephones with a rotary dial?

  #4  
Old September 22nd 17, 12:06 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

wrote:
On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 11:34:10 +0000,
wrote:

Hi,

Today (09-21-17) I installed WinXP SP2 on a new HD. As in the past,
I used the telephone method to "Activate" Windows.

I had NO problems "Activating" Windows using the telephone
system.

John


Is that one of them crank telephones with a rotary dial?


I think the crank was for operator-assisted calls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_magneto

The dial based ones drive...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_dialing

Strowger swtches, but also work with universal line cards
on digital switches. If it didn't work with a digital switch,
the phone company could not have charged $2 to $3 a month
for "touch tone" service :-) The existence of dial phones
was a source of revenue from all the Touch Tone customers,
as you could "ding them for the 'service'".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strowger_switch

And I have a hand-held Touch Tone pad, which you hold up
to the mouthpiece of your rotary phone. You can send Touch Tone
tones, after placing a rotary call with it. So if you did happen
to have a rotary dial phone (no crank), there's a device
to make you compatible with the Real World. If you needed to
send Touch Tone beeps to Microsoft, there's a device for that.
And you have to be holding it right, too.

This particular example, even has memory for memorizing
frequently used touch tone patterns. I can't remember what
mine was for (it definitely didn't have a memory for frequently
used numbers and just had the keypad section), but I must have
used it for a short time for something.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vtg-1993-Rad...#ht_255wt_1118

If you were well equipped from the era, I don't see why it
would not work. Even a manually operated switchboard, if
you held your Touch Tone battery operated pad up to the
Mouthpiece, you could activate WinXP SP2.

Paul
  #5  
Old September 22nd 17, 12:15 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 326
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

Hi,

Today (09-21-17) I installed WinXP SP2 on a new HD. As in the past,
I used the telephone method to "Activate" Windows.

I had NO problems "Activating" Windows using the telephone
system.

John

Was this using a previously unused key? And did you have to talk to a
human, or just exchange strings of characters?


I clicked on the Activation "key" icon in the System Tray (bottom right).
I selected Activate by Telephone (don't remember exact words). I selected
"United States" in the drop down location list. Then a toll free telephone
number was displayed. Also a series of 6 digit number groups are displayed
across the screen. I write those numbers on paper in a vertical column to
reduce the chance of making an error when entering each group on
the phone's keypad. Note: There is NO live person (automatic).

Next, I dial the toll free number. After responding to some prompts,
I indicate I am ready. Then a prompt for the first group, I enter the
six digit number. If no errors, I am prompted for the second group,
etc. Afterwards, I am told groups of six digit numbers (I write down the
numbers) I am suppose to enter in the slots. Note: If you make a mistake, you
can say "repeat" to hear the same group again.

The above procedure I have done many times on various
computers over the years.

John

  #6  
Old September 22nd 17, 01:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

In message , Paul
writes:
wrote:
On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 11:34:10 +0000, wrote:

Hi,

Today (09-21-17) I installed WinXP SP2 on a new HD. As in the past,
I used the telephone method to "Activate" Windows.

I had NO problems "Activating" Windows using the telephone
system.

John

Is that one of them crank telephones with a rotary dial?


I think the crank was for operator-assisted calls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_magneto


I think the crank was for generating the power to run the thing, where
there wasn't a powered exchange - things like military field telephones;
I don't _think_ I've seen a 'phone with both a crank and a dial, but
they probably do exist.

The dial based ones drive...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_dialing

Strowger swtches, but also work with universal line cards
on digital switches. If it didn't work with a digital switch,


I keep wondering how much longer they'll support pulse dialling; I hope
a long time, but I anticipate not.
[]
It's awkward where touch-tone is _required_: a few years ago, I was
trying to 'phone the power company during a power cut, using a 'phone I
got out of a cupboard (obviously my cordless didn't work), and their
receiving system told me to press 1 for ... and so on. But the 'phone I
had only did pulses. (Yes, I know 'phoneline-powered ones do tones these
days, but this was an old one - not rotary dial, pushbutton, but I think
from the transitional period [UK was some time behind US in using touch
tones], and it only did pulses, albeit electronically-generated.) In
most cases, these sort of automatic call-handling systems fall back to
connecting you to a human if you don't make a selection, but in this
case it didn't. (I think it either just kept endlessly repeating the
menu, or disconnected.)

It's also fun to startle youngsters by dialling a number by banging on
the rest, though with today's long numbers, it's easier to make a
mistake while doing so. (Also useful when encountering a 'phone where
someone has removed buttons in an attempt to limit what calls can be
made - e. g. in UK by removing all but the 9.)

I've noticed a tendency in a lot of modern 'phones to "hide" the actual
tones from the user: they emit the same bleep whichever number you're
pressing. Not sure why. (Obviously they send the right tones down the
line.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.
  #8  
Old September 22nd 17, 04:56 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

I keep wondering how much longer they'll support pulse dialling; I hope
a long time, but I anticipate not.


A universal line card makes this easy.

There's no way to guess as to how backward individual
phone companies are though.

A paper out of UWisc claimed for every dollar invested,
a phone company used to make fifty dollars. Payback on
phone equipment purchases was "almost instantaneous",
compared to other businesses. You could buy an expensive
telephone switch, and the new "tick-box" services it
offered, helped pay for it. Including... dinging consumers
$2 a month for "touch tone service". That helps pay for
a change from the old line card drawer, to a new one.

When everyone you know, whines in conversation about a
"$200 phone bill this month because I made a few LD calls",
you know the business model works. Now, that whinging comes
with cell phones. Nothing changes. The phone company just
prints money.

A universal line card supports at least twenty different
standards. Which means the same equipment can be shipped
world-wide, and programmed for whatever standard a country
happens to follow. Even third-world countries bought
digital exchanges.

[]
It's awkward where touch-tone is _required_: a few years ago, I was
trying to 'phone the power company during a power cut, using a 'phone I
got out of a cupboard (obviously my cordless didn't work), and their
receiving system told me to press 1 for ... and so on. But the 'phone I
had only did pulses. (Yes, I know 'phoneline-powered ones do tones these
days, but this was an old one - not rotary dial, pushbutton, but I think
from the transitional period [UK was some time behind US in using touch
tones], and it only did pulses, albeit electronically-generated.) In
most cases, these sort of automatic call-handling systems fall back to
connecting you to a human if you don't make a selection, but in this
case it didn't. (I think it either just kept endlessly repeating the
menu, or disconnected.)


The phone switch or CO remote, recognizes pulse and tone.

However, an application mounted inside a company, to request
input from a user, that can *only* work with tone. The network
will pass the tones, once a call is established. The network may
have other behaviors, before a call is set up, For example,
in the old days, whistling a certain sine wave tone, to do
trunk acquisition.

The pulse dialing has something to do with interrupting current at
battery potential, and the network cannot pass that. That
modulation, stops at the line card and cannot go further.
If there were clicks in the earpiece, they might not be
defined well enough, to travel through the limited AC
passband of the 4KHz baseband.


It's also fun to startle youngsters by dialling a number by banging on
the rest, though with today's long numbers, it's easier to make a
mistake while doing so. (Also useful when encountering a 'phone where
someone has removed buttons in an attempt to limit what calls can be
made - e. g. in UK by removing all but the 9.)

I've noticed a tendency in a lot of modern 'phones to "hide" the actual
tones from the user: they emit the same bleep whichever number you're
pressing. Not sure why. (Obviously they send the right tones down the
line.)


The phone can provide audio feedback that a switch closure
has occurred, and the piezo device on board, might not be
intended for actual "speaker like" output. You should be
able to hear the DTMF tone in the earpiece. Hopefully, the
sound you're hearing, is not the same frequency as any
of the fixed frequencies (used in pairs) for DTMF. As the
audio feedback you're hearing from the phone, is probably
going up the phone line too. Using PLLs on the receiving
end, the receiver can reject anything which is not a
DTMF tone. And by providing two frequencies, that enhances
the resilience of detection. (I'm sure the idea was invented
before DSP became possible for stuff like this. It was
invented in the NE567 era.)

I think I bought one of these chips, back in the day,
and the output "fluttered in the breeze". The chip
promptly went into my junk bin :-) The part is only
noteworthy, for the datasheet.

http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/cross...eets/NE567.pdf

The info on page 8, shows seven tones encode twelve key closures.

Today, somebody would probably use DSP rather than PLLs for that.
"Because... science" :-)

Paul
  #9  
Old September 24th 17, 11:19 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

In message , Paul
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

I keep wondering how much longer they'll support pulse dialling; I
hope a long time, but I anticipate not.


A universal line card makes this easy.


Yes, but presumably it has to be configured to say which (of the many)
protocols it supports; since tone dialling is done over the audio
circuits, but pulse involves the old telephone system wiring method (I
think it used to be called "loop disconnect dialling"), I rather fear
that at some point, some 'phone company are going to be the first to say
their exchanges no longer support pulse, this saving themselves
extensive electromechanical maintenance (switches, high-voltage
isolators/protectors ... the tone system could even be capacitor or
transformer coupled and still work ...); and once one does it, others
will follow.

There's no way to guess as to how backward individual
phone companies are though.

[]
The phone switch or CO remote, recognizes pulse and tone.

However, an application mounted inside a company, to request
input from a user, that can *only* work with tone. The network
will pass the tones, once a call is established. The network may
have other behaviors, before a call is set up, For example,


It would need a pulse-to-tone converter in the exchange. Which there
clearly isn't.
[]
I've noticed a tendency in a lot of modern 'phones to "hide" the
actual tones from the user: they emit the same bleep whichever number
you're pressing. Not sure why. (Obviously they send the right tones
down the line.)


The phone can provide audio feedback that a switch closure
has occurred, and the piezo device on board, might not be
intended for actual "speaker like" output. You should be


I suppose you've got it: for 'phones that have such a sounder, perhaps
because they've got the keypad in the handset so you can't just rely on
hearing the DTMF because you take the 'phone away from your ear to dial,
then that sounder not being able to do the tones at much amplitude might
explain the decision to make all keypresses trigger the same tone
(through the sounder).
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You make it from scratch?
Yep.
Do you make your own scratch?
--
"pyotr filipivich" in alt.windows7.general 2017-5-20
  #11  
Old September 27th 17, 08:47 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 326
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available


I clicked on the Activation "key" icon in the System Tray (bottom right).

[]
the phone's keypad. Note: There is NO live person (automatic).

Next, I dial the toll free number. After responding to some prompts,

[]
etc. Afterwards, I am told groups of six digit numbers (I write down the
numbers) I am suppose to enter in the slots. Note: If you make a mistake, you
can say "repeat" to hear the same group again.

The above procedure I have done many times on various
computers over the years.

John

With a new key each time?
--

Hi,

Each computer, when I "Activated" WinXP, had a different "key".

One exception regarding the "key". The recent "Activation" I did on a
160GB HD that I "split" in half (two 80GB partitions) with C: and D: logical
drives. I installed WinXP on C: and again on D: I activated WinXP on
C:. When I went to activate WinXP on D:, the same "key" was displayed.
Since I write down the "key" and the groups of numbers I hear on the
telephone for "Activation", I did not have to make another telephone call.

John

  #12  
Old September 27th 17, 01:12 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Activation via Telephone is Still Available

In message ,
writes:

I clicked on the Activation "key" icon in the System Tray
(bottom right).

[]
the phone's keypad. Note: There is NO live person (automatic).

Next, I dial the toll free number. After responding to some prompts,

[]
etc. Afterwards, I am told groups of six digit numbers (I write down the
numbers) I am suppose to enter in the slots. Note: If you make a
mistake, you
can say "repeat" to hear the same group again.

The above procedure I have done many times on various
computers over the years.

John

With a new key each time?
--

Hi,

Each computer, when I "Activated" WinXP, had a different "key".


Since you've put it in quotes, I presume you mean the string of
characters it put up on screen for you to pass to the activation server.
What _I_ meant was, the (five groups of five characters, IIRR - got from
a sticker) key you put _into_ the computer(s) during installation, when
prompted for one: was _that_ (a) different (b) previously unused, for
each computer?

One exception regarding the "key". The recent "Activation" I did on a
160GB HD that I "split" in half (two 80GB partitions) with C: and D: logical
drives. I installed WinXP on C: and again on D: I activated WinXP on
C:. When I went to activate WinXP on D:, the same "key" was displayed.
Since I write down the "key" and the groups of numbers I hear on the
telephone for "Activation", I did not have to make another telephone call.

John

Interesting! That's one very special case: I imagine any hash made from
the serial numbers of the hardware in the computer involved will be
identical. So - although Microsoft probably wouldn't be too happy about
it if they found out about it - you can probably install multiple copies
on the same computer, using different partitions. Not that I can see why
you'd want to, though just two I can see _some_ reasons for. (Out of
interest, why _were_ you installing two copies of XP on the same
computer?)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes
 




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