Ma Bell Is After Extensions

If you're one of those people who has hooked up an extension phone of your own, the phone company may be on your trail. Earlier this month, New England Bell sent out a warning about illegal extensions with the first bills of the academic year.

The warning, coyly entitled "Another Reminder," said, "In spite of what you may have been told, no one is permitted to connect telephones or other equipment to the Bell System communications network unless he complies with State and Federal laws."

This means that subscribers must pay for the use of all extensions, and that all hookups not done by phone company personnel are illegal according to the State Department of Public Utilities.

Peter Cronin, a spokesman for the company, said that New England Bell is in the midst of an ongoing program of checking lines for illegal equipment. Cronin declined to say how checks are made, saying only that they are made from a central office, not at residences.

The popular wisdom, held by amateur electricians and some retail electronics dealers, is that the company checks for variations in voltage on the lines. They say that if the bell on an extension is not connected, the company can't detect the violation.

If a violation is found, the company has the authority to correct billing and to enter residences "at any reasonable time" to remove illegal equipment. Extension phones are not unusual around Harvard, but Cronin declined to give an estimate of the number of illegal phones that the company has found.

"Based on the number of retail outlets which sell extension phones, the number of illegal extensions is sufficient to justify our program of checking lines," he said.

If you're still interested in buying a phone, there are several outlets which sell extensions in the Boston area, ranging from $2.49 to over $60.