Subject: Re: [89attendees] IETF 89 London - Tube strikes and Oyster cards

From: "John Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 5 Feb 2014 21:49:07 -0000

>I have an Oyster card that I got when I was in London in 2007 -- I don't recall whether it was
>explicitly a "Visitor" Oyster card.  Is it likely to still work?

Probably.  You can set up an online account on the TfL website,
register your card to it. It'll tell you what your balance is, and you
can top up from a credit card.  As I recall, online topups with US
plastic works.

If it demands a UK address, use your hotel's.

https://account.tfl.gov.uk/oyster

R's,
John

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From: Mary Barnes <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 16:40:30 -0600

> can top up from a credit card.  As I recall, online topups with US
[MB] In my experience, US credit cards (without chips) don't work at any of
the machines in the train or tube stations.  They will of course work at
the counters with real people.  [/MB]

---

From: Mary Barnes <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 16:43:29 -0600

On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 4:40 PM, Mary Barnes <[email-masked]> wrote:

> [MB] In my experience, US credit cards (without chips) don't work at any
> of the machines in the train or tube stations.  They will of course work at
[MB] Oops. I read (and responded) too fast, you are referring to being on
the Internet and using a credit card to top-up once you have the Oyster
card.  I buy my Heathrow Connect tickets before I go online with my US
credit card. That should work fine - I was talking about trying to top up
at the machines in the tube stations which theoretically you can do, but it
doesn't work with US credit cards.  Some of the machines take bills and
give change. Some do not.  [/MB]

---

From: "John R Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 5 Feb 2014 18:04:28 -0500

> doesn't work with US credit cards.

The machines want a Chip+PIN card.  This amazing spreadsheet at Google 
Docs has every Chip+PIN or Chip+Signature (not as good) card available 
from US banks.  It's a bit late to be getting one for the IETF, but it'll 
come in handy in Berlin.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ani-u3tGk5hedGRvcE1ELVg5UmlGZk01SHZvTUMxdUE

Regards,
John Levine, [email-masked], Taughannock Networks, Trumansburg NY
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail.

PS: I have a Chip+PIN Amex card, which was a major pain in the patoot to 
get.

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From: t.p. <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2014 10:32:52 +0000

----- Original Message -----
From: "John R Levine" <[email-masked]>
To: "Mary Barnes" <[email-masked]>
Cc: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 11:04 PM
> from US banks.  It's a bit late to be getting one for the IETF, but
it'll
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ani-u3tGk5hedGRvcE1ELVg5Uml
GZk01SHZvTUMxdUE

Chip and pin has been punted as the answer to all fraud problems for so
long in the UK now that you do get businesses that refuse to take
chipless cards - although that is not likely in the touristy parts of
London which realise that not all countries have gone down that road..

The other quirk is one that came up on this list six months ago of
Faraday cages, given the aggressive rollout in the UK of contactless
cards.  Here it is not that you need the technology, rather that the
technology will try to debit your account without you noticing, as I
witnessed while queueing (another quirk of the UK) last week when the
terminal reported that the amount was too great for the card because the
limit for contactless operation is currently 20 pounds and the
transaction was for 50 - the customer was waiting to insert his card for
chip and pin operation but the contactless machine had got there first.
If you have more than one card, then this can be a problem

Tom Petch.

---

From: Christer Holmberg <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2014 10:42:06 +0000

Could you PLEASE keep this discussion on the attendees list.

-----Original Message-----
From: ietf [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of t.p.
Sent: 6. helmikuuta 2014 12:33
To: John R Levine
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [89attendees] IETF 89 London - Tube strikes and Oyster cards

----- Original Message -----
From: "John R Levine" <[email-masked]>
To: "Mary Barnes" <[email-masked]>
Cc: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 11:04 PM

Chip and pin has been punted as the answer to all fraud problems for so long in the UK now that you do get businesses that refuse to take chipless cards - although that is not likely in the touristy parts of London which realise that not all countries have gone down that road..

The other quirk is one that came up on this list six months ago of Faraday cages, given the aggressive rollout in the UK of contactless cards.  Here it is not that you need the technology, rather that the technology will try to debit your account without you noticing, as I witnessed while queueing (another quirk of the UK) last week when the terminal reported that the amount was too great for the card because the limit for contactless operation is currently 20 pounds and the transaction was for 50 - the customer was waiting to insert his card for chip and pin operation but the contactless machine had got there first.
If you have more than one card, then this can be a problem

Tom Petch.