"Daniel Barlow" wrote in message

Mizter T writes:

On Sep 2, 10:11 am, "David A Stocks" wrote:

I've never understood why anybody bothers with online top up. [...]

Because what's no good for you is no good for anyone else, and anyone
who might demur is wrong?

I think we're all prepared to entertain the *possiblity* that it might
be good for someone, but you don't actually give any indication of who
they might be or why.

Do tell. My experience echoes Mr Stocks', so I would also be
interested to hear from people who do get use out of the service.

On-line top-up accepts Amex cards -- I don't think ticket machines do
(or they didn't used to). Also, no risk of anyone seeing your pin.

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
"Daniel Barlow" wrote in message

Mizter T writes:

On Sep 2, 10:11 am, "David A Stocks" wrote:

I've never understood why anybody bothers with online top up. [...]

Because what's no good for you is no good for anyone else, and anyone
who might demur is wrong?

I think we're all prepared to entertain the *possiblity* that it might
be good for someone, but you don't actually give any indication of who
they might be or why.

Do tell. My experience echoes Mr Stocks', so I would also be
interested to hear from people who do get use out of the service.

On-line top-up accepts Amex cards -- I don't think ticket machines do (or
they didn't used to). Also, no risk of anyone seeing your pin.
I always used my Amex card. The PIN by itself isn't a lot of use, and online
card transactions from a less than secure PC could give away far more
compromising information ...

D A Stocks

On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:06:59 +0100
"Recliner" wrote:
Do tell. My experience echoes Mr Stocks', so I would also be
interested to hear from people who do get use out of the service.

On-line top-up accepts Amex cards -- I don't think ticket machines do
(or they didn't used to). Also, no risk of anyone seeing your pin.

Apart from whoever runs the back end system.

B2003

On 2 Sep, 12:40, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:06:59 +0100

"Recliner" wrote:
Do tell. *My experience echoes Mr Stocks', so I would also be
interested to hear from people who do get use out of the service.

On-line top-up accepts Amex cards -- I don't think ticket machines do
(or they didn't used to). *Also, no risk of anyone seeing your pin.

Apart from whoever runs the back end system.


They won't see you PIN either, although they will get enough
information for on-line use.

On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 05:43:24 -0700 (PDT)
Andy wrote:
Apart from whoever runs the back end system.


They won't see you PIN either, although they will get enough
information for on-line use.

If you say so , though how you think the pin gets transmitted to the
server without the server seeing it would be an interesting discussion.
Knowing how badly most web backends are written it wouldn't surprise me
if its stored in a temporary plain text file.

B2003

wrote in message ...
On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 05:43:24 -0700 (PDT)
Andy wrote:
Apart from whoever runs the back end system.


They won't see your PIN either, although they will get enough
information for on-line use.
I don't think they would have security code on the card, which would stop a
lot of potential abuses.

If you say so , though how you think the pin gets transmitted to the
server without the server seeing it would be an interesting discussion.
The PIN is verified by the front end against the card. If the PIN isn't
matched the front end rejects the card and the back end doesn't see the
transaction at all. The back end never sees the PIN.

Knowing how badly most web backends are written
We're talking about manual card transactions at a ticket machine. If you're
enough of a sucker to give out a credit/debit card PIN over the internet
then you're really f**ked.

DAS

On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:55:54 +0100
"David A Stocks" wrote:
Knowing how badly most web backends are written
We're talking about manual card transactions at a ticket machine. If you're

Err no, the poster I was replying to was talking about renewing online.

enough of a sucker to give out a credit/debit card PIN over the internet
then you're really f**ked.

Online banking requires it but I don't know about other sorts of online
transations - I don't do mail order.

B2003

wrote in message
On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:55:54 +0100
"David A Stocks" wrote:
Knowing how badly most web backends are written
We're talking about manual card transactions at a ticket machine. If
you're

Err no, the poster I was replying to was talking about renewing
online.

enough of a sucker to give out a credit/debit card PIN over the
internet then you're really f**ked.

Online banking requires it but I don't know about other sorts of
online transations - I don't do mail order.

No, you don't need your card PIN for on-line banking -- you have a
different password for that (with probably more than 4 characters).

On 2 Sep, 16:08, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:55:54 +0100
"David A Stocks" wrote:

Knowing how badly most web backends are written
We're talking about manual card transactions at a ticket machine. If you're

Err no, the poster I was replying to was talking about renewing online.

enough of a sucker to give out a credit/debit card PIN over the internet
then you're really f**ked.

Online banking requires it but I don't know about other sorts of online
transations - I don't do mail order.


No online banking requires it either. You might have to use a small
electronic card-reader to get a verification number, or use a personal
website ID number, but at no point is your PIN ever sent over the
network.