Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24302; 1 Jun 90 3:24 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa02599; 1 Jun 90 1:28 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa13466; 1 Jun 90 0:23 CDT Date: Thu, 31 May 90 23:36:19 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #401 BCC: Message-ID: <9005312336.ab08813@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 31 May 90 23:35:49 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 401 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Caller ID in Pennsylvania [TELECOM Moderator] TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line [Hank Nussbacher] British Telecom Pricing [Clive Carmock] Telephone Facility Management System [Craig A. Brown] Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Gabor [TELECOM Moderator] Three Lines in Residence [Alonzo Gariepy] Cincinnati Bell Ice-9 [Harvey Newstrom] One Ringer, N Phones [Otto Miller] Re: Why Texas Air Uses So Much Phone Service [John R. Levine] Re: Sprint WD40 Promotion [Henry Mensch] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Jon Baker] Unusual Telephone Service Call [Jody Kravitz] More ATM Stories (was Re: Last Laugh!) [Paul S. R. Chisholm] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 May 90 22:12:12 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Caller ID in Pennsylvania Here at TELECOM Digest headquarters, I am getting *flooded* with messages on the latest court ruling regards Caller*ID in Pennsylvania. As everyone of you must know by now, a court there has ruled it is illegal. The messages are coming in heavily ... A special issue of the Digest this weekend will be devoted to those messages. Watch for it probably Saturday afternoon or evening sometime. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 10:47:32 P From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line Bell Colorado has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Telecommunications in the USSR to build a $500 million dollar trans Siberian fiber optic line. The line will be 13,000km long and will support 565Mb between Japan and the USSR. The line is expected to become operational in 1994. A special company has been set up called Soviet Line Development Company. The problem is that most of the equipment is Cocom proscribed which Bell Colorado is trying to work around. Denmark, Britian, Italy, West Germany, Japan, Australia and the USA have all backed this project. There are expected to be three "branches" off of the Trans-Siberian cable: 1) To Copenhagen via the Baltic Sea 2) To Czechoslovakia and central Europe 3) To Italy via the Black Sea The 565Mb is the first stage with stage two increasing the capacity to 2.5Gb and stage 3 to 10Gb. ITU documents indicate that this will be the longest fiber optic cable in the world. Most of the cable will be laid along the Trans-Siberian rail. West Germany has also informed the ITU that it too is building a fiber link to Moscow - Frankfort-Berlin-Warsaw-Moscow. There is a possibility that it will connest to TSL with a spur off to Prague. The German cable will cost $60 million and is called Centrale Strecke. All this is to be a great leap forward for Russia. Today, the only fiber link they have is between Leningrad and Minsk running in single-mode at 140Mb (most telecommunications fiber today is multimode and is 1.7Gb). That link is only 100km long. Hank Nussbacher Israel ------------------------------ From: Clive Carmock Subject: British Telecom Pricing Date: 31 May 90 20:36:28 GMT Organization: Computer Science Dept. - University of Exeter. UK I hear a rumour that BT is about to change their tarrifs for phone lines. I wonder if anyone could confirm or deny what I've heard: Line installation will rise to 300 pounds. Line rental will increase by 25%, and Directory Enquiries will be charged for very soon. Thanks, C. Carmock (cca@cs.exeter.ac.uk) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 15:55:40 CDT From: "Craig A. Brown" Subject: Telephone Facility Management System My campus is looking into telephone facility management systems (TFMS; call accounting, billing, cable/equipment tracking, etc, or parts thereof) to upgrade the services offered by our campus telephone office. We anticipate utilizing a Novell-based LAN in the telephone office itself, with a TCP/IP gateway to an IBM 4381 running CICS under MVS. I would like to get information about any public domain TFMS that might be available for LAN or mainframe based environments (or both). If you know of any possibilities, please send me an e-mail. Thanks in advance for your help. Craig A. Brown University of Arkansas Office of Business Affairs Adminstration Building Suite 321 Fayetteville, AR 72701 (501)575-5317 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 22:32:36 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor According to the {Washington Post}, Mitchell Kapor, inventor of Lotus 1-2-3, is considering backing a national effort to defend computer hackers against prosecution resulting from Operation Sun Devil, a two-year investigation of potential computer fraud. The Secret Service said the hackers who were the target of the probe are individuals who had gained unauthorized access to company computer systems -- including one at AT&T -- or had stolen and distributed software programs that belonged to major corporations. Kapor said he thinks the government probe has been misdirected and damaging to technological innovation and to dissemination of information. Gary J. Jenkins, assistant director of the Secret Service, said, "We will continue to investigate aggressively those crimes which threaten to disrupt our nation's business and government services." Maybe if Mr. Kapor had his Lotus 1-2-3 ripped off good he might change his tune. Anyone know other projects of his we might steal and start handing out freely around the net? After all, we wouldn't want to 'damage technological innovation or dissemination of information' now would we? Please keep his attitude on this serious problem in mind the next time you use or consider purchasing his software. If you can't find a way to steal it outright, then borrow a pirated copy from someone else. PT ------------------------------ From: microsoft!alonzo@uunet.uu.net Date: Wed May 30 21:02:09 1990 Subject: Three Lines in Residence Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA I have a friend in Toronto, Ontario who wants to have three telephone lines in her apartment, each with its own answering machine. Two of the lines will only be answered by machine. The third is her personal line. The lines will have different answering messages. Are there any angles here with respect to lines that are answered only by machine? Can anyone suggest some good (cheap) hardware that would help to satisfy these requirements? I suppose an answering service is an option, but I expect it would be more expensive and less efficient than a machine. Does Bell offer machine-answered lines that are cheaper and do not require extra circuits to the house (i.e., you call up and retrieve messages with tone codes)? What are the appropriate rules with regard to residence vs. commercial lines? One of the lines is for a non-profit charitable organization and the other for a very small consulting business. I can no longer keep up with the volume of the group, so I would like any advice you can give me via email (uunet!microsoft!alonzo). I will summarize information of general usefulness to the net. Thanks, Alonzo Gariepy alonzo@microsoft ------------------------------ From: hnewstrom@x102c.harris-atd.com (Harvey Newstrom) Subject: Cincinnati Bell Ice-9 Date: 31 May 90 20:09:11 GMT Reply-To: hnewstrom@x102c.ess.harris.com (Harvey Newstrom) Organization: Harris Electronic_Systems Telecommunications Network_Engineering I have been asked to come up with a solution to our cable plan management problems. One of the suggested solutions is a product called Ice-9 from Cincinnati Bell. According to the sales propaganda, it does what we want. Does anyone have experience with this product? How well does it perform? Any information at all would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Harvey Newstrom (hnewstrom@x102c.ess.harris.com) (uunet!x102c!hnewstrom) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 08:55:49 EDT From: Otto Miller Subject: One Ringer, N Phones I have a need in a high noise envirnment (my workshop... compressor, saw, etc) that I am served by two residential lines. I would like a single loud ringer driven by both lines just to get my attention. Any ideas? Thank you in advance! Sincerely, Reachable by: Otto L. Miller olmiller@xibm.asd.contel.com - or - olmiller@europa.asd.contel.com ------------------------------ From: "John R. Levine" Subject: Re: Why Texas Air Uses So Much Phone Service Date: Thu, 31 May 90 02:28:57 GMT Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA In article <8410@accuvax.nwu.edu> wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil (Will Martin) writes: >"Texas Air" is the holding company that owns not only the airline by >that name, but also New York Air, Continental, and TWA. ... >Also, Northwest merged its reservations system into TWA's, so all those >airlines' phone usage is merged under the "Texas Air" entry. Texas Air operates Eastern, Continental, and a few small regional carriers. Their CRS is named System One. TWA still belongs to Carl Icahn, and TWA's CRS, which is indeed jointly owned with Northwest, is called PARS. It is unlikely that Texas Air could buy TWA even if they wanted to, they're in hock up to their eyebrows. On the other hand, AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, owns a CRS called Sabre, which is used by a lot more travel agents than System One or PARS is. UAL, parent of United Airlines jointly owns a CRS called Apollo. AMR is somewhat larger than Texas Air in assets, sales, and number of employees. UAL is larger in sales, about the same in assets and employees. It's hard to believe that Texas Air has a larger telecom budget than either UAL or AMR does. I suspect that since there is no standard way to measure the size of an organization's telecom budget, and since most organizations are under no obligation to tell any outsider what their telecom budgets are, the list that started this discussion in the first place has to be considered no more than an educated guess. John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650 johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 03:15:45 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Re: Sprint WD40 Promotion Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu I got my first "one-time non-recurring charge" today. Has anyone dealt with this and received a final, reasonable answer? # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Date: 31 May 90 19:54:20 GMT Organization: gte In article <8398@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mailrus!citi!gatech!ukma! corpane!drl@uunet.uu.net (Dan Lance) writes: > I'm interested in how common this type of sleazy diversion is, and how > Wisconsin Bell can get away with claiming that calls are routed by > default through AT&T when in fact they go through MCI. I wouldn't jump to conclusions about WisBell being sleazy. They most likely are just responding to a Greene requirement that equal access be provided through pay phones. WisBell probably had all pay phones going through AT&T at one time, and has recently switched over a certain number of them to use alternate carriers by default, while still allowing the subscriber to select a carrier via 10XXX. > Can my calls get routed through another long distance carrier when I use 10288? Not legally. > If MCI had completed my call, would I have been liable for the charges? I would suppose so. But, when using a pay phone, I suggest always using 10XXX carrier selection just so you know who you're dealing with. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 17:17:08 PDT From: Jody Kravitz Subject: Unusual Telephone Service Call [Moderator's Note: Jody is a fairly new reader, and probably would not have known that we've run this little blurb about once a year for a few years now ... but that's okay, its always good for a laugh for new readers who have not seen it before. PT] Date: Mon, 8 Sep 86 16:03:35 PDT From: Dave Taylor Subject: Interesting Phone Calls AN UNUSUAL TELEPHONE SERVICE CALL This story was related by Pat Routledge of Winnipeg, Manitoba about an unusual telephone service call he handled while living in England. It is common practice in England to signal a telephone subscriber by signaling with 90 volts across one side of the two wire circuit and ground (earth in England). When the subscriber answers the phone, it switches to the two wire circuit for the conversation. This method allows two parties on the same line to be signalled without disturbing each other. This particular subscriber, an elderly lady with several pets called to say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on the few occasions when it did manage to ring her dog always barked first. Torn between curiosity to see this psychic dog and a realization that standard service techniques might not suffice in this case, Pat proceeded to the scene. Climbing a nearby telephone pole and hooking in his test set, he dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring. He tried again. The dog barked loudly, followed by a ringing telephone. Climbing down from the pole, Pat found: a. Dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron chain and collar b. Dog was receiving 90 volts of signalling current c. After several jolts, the dog was urinating on ground and barking d. Wet ground now conducted and phone rang. Which goes to prove that some grounding problems can be passed on. This anecdote excerpted from Syn-Aud-Con Newsletter, Vol 4, No 3, April 1977. [Moderator's Note: This time at least, I caught the 'Winnepeg, Ontario error' and changed it to Manitoba. PT] ------------------------------ From: "Paul S. R. Chisholm" Subject: More ATM Stories (was Re: Last Laugh!) Date: 31 May 90 17:25:42 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I passed the latest round of Telecom ATM stories on to a friend (my boss when I was doing plastic card network software), who replied: "It reminds me of another story related to the San Francisco earthquake. Seems someone called Tandem to request technical assistance, because the earthquake had taken his Tandem system down -- literally. The machine tipped over on its back, but was still running. He needed to know how to stand it back up without stopping it. "I guess you can't blame them for not covering that in the operations manual." Paul S. R. Chisholm, AT&T Bell Laboratories att!pegasus!psrc, psrc@pegasus.att.com, AT&T Mail !psrchisholm I'm not speaking for the company, I'm just speaking my mind. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #401 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa26236; 1 Jun 90 4:13 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa16373; 1 Jun 90 2:33 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab02599; 1 Jun 90 1:29 CDT Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 0:27:10 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #402 BCC: Message-ID: <9006010027.ab15052@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 1 Jun 90 00:27:00 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 402 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: My List of World Wide Codes [David Tamkin] Re: My List of World Wide Codes [Jim Rees] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [Juan Valdez] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [David Tamkin] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [Mark Kallas] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [Michael A. Sheils] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [David E. A. Wilson] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [John Slater] Re: Another Clue to Possible E. German Prefixes [Peter J. Dotzauer] Re: I Want to Dial the Area Code Even on a Local Call [David Lewis] Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers [Subodh Bapat] Re: PacBell Dropping Charge for Touch-Tone Service [John Higdon] Re: PacBell Dropping Charge for Touch-Tone Service [Wally Kramer] Re: AT&T Special Promotion [Steve Elias] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 May 90 13:02 EST From: David Tamkin <0004261818@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes John Covert wrote in volume 10, issue 400: |Colin Plumb asks which countries are part of the North American |Intergrated Numbering Plan Area (code 1). They are: | Canada, USA including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, | Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, British | Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Dominican Republic, | Grenada, Montserrat, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, | St. Vincent and the Grenadines [Bequia, Mustique, Prune (Palm) Island, | Union Island], Trinidad and Tobago. |What you will note about this list is that it includes the USA plus all |members of the British Commonwealth in the Caribbean and North Atlantic. |This definitively (at least for now) answers the question of why some |places are in +1 809 and why some have their own code. If you want it to be definitive, even just for now, that rule will have to be "the USA, the Dominican Republic, and all members of the British Commonwealth in the Caribbean and North America." The rule as John stated it leaves the Dominican Republic out but includes the UK! (If "North Atlantic" meant only islands such as Bermuda and the Bahamas and not coastal countries on the continents, then the rule didn't add the UK but it excluded both the Dominican Republic and Canada.) Anyone who considers Bermuda and the Bahamas not to be parts of North America is welcome to specify them, and if Belize is in the British Commonwealth, anyone who deems it in North America is equally welcome to make a specific exception for it. Ah well; the definitive rule didn't turn out so simple after all. Peter Dotzauer wrote in the same issue, quoting Michael Shiels's original article on the subject: :> 670- Mariana Islands :> 688- Tuvalu, Saipan :Saipan is a part of the Mariana Islands. Not only that, it comprises :about ninety per cent of its population. The rest is mainly on Tinian :and Rota. Why does Saipan, a part of the Commonwealth of the Mariana :Islands, have an area code together with a relatively distant country of :nine South Pacific atolls (Tuvalu), while the rest of the Marianas has :another area code? It doesn't. Michael's list was in error. Saipan is in country code 670 along with the rest of the Northern Marianas. David Tamkin P. O. Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 +1 708 518 6769 MCI Mail: 426-1818 CIS: 73720,1570 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN +1 312 693 0591 ------------------------------ From: rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Organization: University of Michigan IFS Project Date: Thu, 31 May 90 17:48:45 GMT In article <8459@accuvax.nwu.edu>, "John R. Covert 30-May-1990 0816" writes: > And finally, though not confirmed, Bhutan has reportedly been assigned > the code 975. A backwards country from both a transportation and > communications standpoint, it is not likely to be diallable soon. In my experience, Bhutan is not diallable even from inside Bhutan. I did get through once by operator from New Delhi though. I had to make an appointment the day before. ------------------------------ From: Juan Valdez Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Date: 31 May 90 05:56:13 GMT Reply-To: Organization: The George Washington University, Washington D.C. In your message, you listed 1-200 as an unused area code. Actually, dialing 200-555-1212 (or I'm sure any combination after the 555 will work) without a 1 before, will result in a recording reading back the phone number of the line you are calling from. I believe 811 will work the same way in some areas. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 13:05 EST From: David Tamkin <0004261818@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Doug Reuben wrote in volume 10, issue 400: |Additionally, when we go to full 1+ dialing, where (almost) any three |digits can be an area code, won't 1+xxx-xxxx dialing have to go away? |I'd personally prefer, if it becomes necessary, to get rid of in-area |code 1+ dialing over having to wait for a call to timeout ... Eight-digit dialing will have to vanish. Toll calls within one's own area code will be dialed NXX-XXXX or 1-NPA-NXX-XXXX, depending on whichever your telco picks. (A few telcos do or will allow both.) |Of course this is ALREADY a problem with 0+xxx-xxxx calls, but that can |wait till another time! In area codes where N[0/1]X prefixes are in use, 0+ calling within the area code already needs all eleven digits. That will be the case throughout North America when NNX area codes go live. On the topic of Michael Shiels's original submission with this subject, I thought for sure Patrick would be bombarded with follow-ups pointing out that area code 917 is not unassigned as Michael wrote but rather reserved for the next split of area code 212. But it's been three or four days now and no one else has said it. David Tamkin P. O. Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 +1 708 518 6769 MCI Mail: 426-1818 CIS: 73720,1570 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN +1 312 693 0591 ------------------------------ From: digi!mkallas%digi.lonestar.org (mark kallas) Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Date: 30 May 90 13:39:11 GMT Reply-To: digi!mkallas (mark kallas) Organization: DSC Communications, Plano Tx. If I remember correctly all N11 code are resevered for special services such as 411 - directory assistance, 611 - trouble reporting, and 911 - emergency service. I heard San Francisco and Oakland are going to split the current area code in two. Do you know when and what it will be? Mark Kallas ------------------------------ Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Reply-To: "Michael A. Shiels" Organization: MaS Network Software and Consulting Date: 31 May 90 21:59:38 EDT (Thu) From: tmsoft!mshiels@uunet.uu.net What happened was I posted a list of 416 DETAILED exchanges and a North American area code list and a world wide area code list. WHICH TOGETHER make up a database file I use for some software. The last two were reposted by the Moderator but the first detailed 416 list has been posted before so he didn't post it. ------------------------------ From: David E A Wilson Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Date: 31 May 90 05:23:45 GMT Organization: Dept of Computer Science, University of Wollongong, Australia rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: >By the way, the USA country code still isn't given in any USA >telephone directory I've ever seen. Burkino Faso? OK. Vanuato? No >problem. USA? Forget it! Here in Australia we had the same problem. Ascension Is = 247, Austria = 43. NO Australia = 61. In my 1988 Wollongong directory it is at the bottom of the page of IDD calling instructions. In 1989 it is missing. In 1990 it is back on the IDD page. Why it is not listed with all the other countries I don't know - that is where I would look if I wanted to know it. David Wilson ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Date: 31 May 90 11:29:13 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <8446@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gamiddleton@watmath.waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) writes: >Strictly speaking, isn't it true that neither the USA nor Canada have >country codes? Both countries are in Zone 1, I believe, and there is >nothing else in Zone 1, so there is no real confusion. All the >country codes seem to be at least two digits long, so if codes are >ever assigned, they could be 10 and 11. Of course they have country codes! Otherwise how would it be possible to dial the US and Canada from elsewhere? To dial US area code 415 from the UK, I dial 010 (international access code), then 1 (country code for US), then 415 XXX XXXX. If I omit the "1", I'll get through to somewhere in Switzerland (country code 41). Anyway, what do you mean by "zone 1"? Surely this is just another way of saying "country code 1". The US/Canada country code is unusual in two ways : (1) it is the only single-digit country code, and (2) it happens to be the same as the code normally used for LD access in the US and Canada. John ------------------------------ From: "Peter J. Dotzauer" Subject: Re: Another Clue to Possible E. German Prefixes Date: 31 May 90 15:37:04 GMT Organization: Ohio State Univ IRCC In article <8432@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0002909785@mcimail.com (J. Stephen Reed) writes: >West German postal codes are normally four digits, ranging from 1000 >(West Berlin) to 7999. An article in the Germany Philatelic Society >magazine noted that according to a Deutsche Bundespost bulletin some >years ago, the 8000s and 9000s are reserved for "other German >regions". The editor of the magazine investigated further and found >that those numbers were, in fact, being held primarily for East Does that mean that Bavaria regained its independence? Bavaria has 8000 codes (in fact Munich is 8000). Peter Dotzauer, Analyt.Cart.& GIS, Dept.of Geogr., OSU, Columbus, OH 43210-1361 TEL +1 614 292 1357 FAX +1 614 292 6213 FIDO 1:226/330 CCnet mapvxa::pjd INTERNET pjd+@osu.edu or pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu [128.146.1.5] BITNET pjd@ohstvmb UUCP ...!osu-cis!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!pjd ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: I Want to Dial the Area Code Even on a Local Call Date: 31 May 90 14:48:02 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article <8184@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0004261818@mcimail.com (David Tamkin) writes: [various introductory comments omitted] > That is all the more reason that eleven-digit dialing should always be > permitted, even when it is not required and seven or eight or ten > digits would do. Dialing 1-NPA-NXX-XXXX within the NANP is totally > unambiguous and doesn't require a time-out, so there really is no > justification that I can see for rejecting it. According to _Notes on the BOC Intra-LATA Networks -- 1986_, TR-NPL-000275, Issue 1, April 1986 (the most recent version of _Notes_), 1+NPA-NXX-XXXX is either a "Permissive procedure. May be permitted in addition to recommended procedure" or a "Recommended procedure" for all types of calls. This includes locations with or without non-common control switching systems (e.g.SXS); local-direct dialed, toll-direct dialed, Home NPA, Foreign NPA, with or without interchangeable CO codes. Go figure. It's that "may" that leaves room for interpretation. Disclaimer: The fact that I work for Bellcore affects the content of this posting only in that it means that I have a copy of _Notes_ sitting on my bookshelves. _Notes_ Copyright C. American Telephone and Telegraph, Inc., 1980, 1983; Copyright C. Bell Communications Research, Inc., 1986. All rights reserved. David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center) "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: Bapat Subject: Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers Date: 31 May 90 15:12:04 GMT Organization: the boundary between UNIX and sanity In article <8367@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gtisqr!toddi@nsr.bioeng. washington.edu (Todd Inch) writes: > [ Todd Inch posts a "tr"-based shellscript to do telephone keypad based > string->digits conversion ] As it turns out, after my query for a program for the above, it was pointed out to me that a pair of such programs (given string->digits and given digits->multiple possible strings) had JUST been posted to comp.sources.misc. Look for article v12i098 in that newsgroup for the programs "telenum" and "telewords". I had fun playing with them - and they'll be really useful for those wanting to ask for customized numbers. Subodh Bapat bapat@rm1.uu.net OR ...uunet!rm1!bapat MS E-204, P.O.Box 407044, Racal-Milgo, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33340 (305) 846-6068 ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: PacBell Dropping Charge for Touch-Tone Service Date: 30 May 90 22:32:29 PDT (Wed) From: John Higdon "Christopher J. Pikus" writes: > Now I'm waiting for Pac Bell to charge a premium for using the pulse > dialing "feature". :-) No, they have already filed their rate increase to cover, among other things, the loss of revenue from the elimination of touch tone charges. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 11:52:06 PDT From: Wally Kramer Subject: Re: PacBell Dropping Charge for Touch-Tone Service Organization: Microwave & RF Instruments, Tektronix, Beaverton, Oregon In article <8431@accuvax.nwu.edu> cjp%megatek.UUCP@ucsd.edu (Christopher J. Pikus) TELECOM Digest Volume 10, Issue 397, Message 8 of 12 writes: > Today in my phone bill was a little leaflet saying that they > will be eliminating the charge for touch tone. ... Perhaps the California PUC is afraid of catching the legal bug drifting down from Oregon. About 3 years ago our PUC ruled that then Pacific NorthWest Bell couldn't charge extra for touch tone service. For some reason Telephone Utilities still charged, I think, $0.55 per month. I, for one, was glad to get a retroactive credit for TouchTone service which extended back for a few months (4?--too bad it wasn't for all the touch tone service I ever paid for!). The glee I experienced was not one of "getting a premium feature for free" but freedom from the tyranny of being charged for something which wasn't eligible for real competition and obviously cost very little to provide. wallyk@tekfdi.fdi.tek.com (Wally Kramer) 503 627 2363 Contractor from Step Technology, Inc. 503 244 1239 ------------------------------ Reply-To: eli@pws.bull.com Subject: Re: ATT Special Promotion Date: Wed, 30 May 90 14:09:21 -0400 From: Steve Elias Our Moderator wrote: >AT&T is doing this as a special promotion to start off the three day >holiday weekend of reduced calling rates. >Obviously, you know how to route your long distance traffic tonight. >For more specifics and verification, call AT&T Customer Service at >1-800-222-0300. Obviously what? Geez, Patrick, you ought to know me by now. Even if I had read the Digest on time, I still would have routed my calls via Sprint Plus for about the same price as the "ATT Special Oh Wow Promotion" rate. And my connection probably would have been just *that much* clearer and louder, depending on destination. Did you ever see the movie _This is Spinal Tap_ ?? Use US Sprint and turn your connection up to ELEVEN. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #402 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa28618; 1 Jun 90 5:26 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa19225; 1 Jun 90 3:37 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab16373; 1 Jun 90 2:33 CDT Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 1:35:39 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #403 BCC: Message-ID: <9006010135.ab14850@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 1 Jun 90 01:34:28 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 403 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog [Peter Weiss] Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog [Stephen E. Collins] Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog [Peter J. Dotzauer] Re: New Double-jack Wall Plates, Crosstalk? [Dave Levenson] Re: New Double-jack Wall Plates, Crosstalk? [Julian Macassey] Re: TDD Long Distance Discount [John Higdon] Re: TDD Long Distance Discount [Clayton Cramer] Re: TDD Long Distance Discount [Karl Denninger] Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues [tob@cbnewsk.att.com] Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [Nigel Allen] Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line [Juha Heinanen] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: Penn State University Date: Thursday, 31 May 1990 08:06:54 EDT From: Peter Weiss Subject: Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog In article <8425@accuvax.nwu.edu>, zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us (Jon Zeeff) says: >In the "for what it's worth" department, the U of Michigan's card >catalog is available online (for free). There is a file stored on a LISTSERV@UNMVM.bitnet (aka UNMVM.UNM.EDU) called INTERNET LIBRARY. Enter as the body of text in the RFC822 mail GET INTERNET LIBRARY This is a comprehensive listing of Internet-accessible libraries. Peter M. Weiss | 31 Shields Bldg | University Park, PA USA 16802 ------------------------------ From: "Stephen E. Collins" Subject: Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept. Date: Thu, 31 May 90 18:37:51 GMT zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us (Jon Zeeff) writes: >In the "for what it's worth" department, the U of Michigan's card >catalog is available online (for free). The University of Minnesota Card Catalog is also on-line, at internet address lumina.lib.umn.edu. I'd be most interested in learning of any other on-line card catalogs, and I'd like to know if the Libary of Congress is on the internet. Stephen E. Collins University of Minnesota Microcomputer & Workstation Networks Center sec@boombox.micro.umn.edu | sec@umnacvx.bitnet | FAX: 625-6817 ------------------------------ From: "Peter J. Dotzauer" Subject: Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog Date: 1 Jun 90 01:59:13 GMT Organization: Ohio State Univ IRCC In article <8425@accuvax.nwu.edu> zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us (Jon Zeeff) writes: >catalog is available online (for free). You can call (313) 764-4800 >(2400 bps) or telnet to hermes.merit.edu. Enter "MIRLYN" as the Which And so are numerous other library catalogs. An overview is given in the file 'internet libraries', obtainable from listserv@unmvm (bitnet). Peter Dotzauer, Analyt.Cart.& GIS, Dept.of Geogr., OSU, Columbus, OH 43210-1361 TEL +1 614 292 1357 FAX +1 614 292 6213 FIDO 1:226/330 CCnet mapvxa::pjd INTERNET pjd+@osu.edu or pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu [128.146.1.5] BITNET pjd@ohstvmb UUCP ...!osu-cis!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!pjd ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: New Double-jack Wall Plates, Crosstalk? Date: 31 May 90 16:58:46 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <8435@accuvax.nwu.edu>, peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: > We just had new phone service hooked up, two lines: one for data, the > other for voice... > I presume they have hooked red-green up on one line, and yellow-black > on the other ... if they did this I should expect some crosstalk. > Has anyone else seen this setup? If there is a crosstalk problem, > what should I do? If they really used the two pairs available in standard quad, as you suggest, then you will probably experience crosstalk, if there's any significant cable run. It isn't caused by sharing a duplex jack, but by the cable. For two-line service, they should use a cable with two (or more) twisted pairs. If they did, they would probably have connected one line to the blue-white pair and the other to the orange-white pair. If they did that, you shouldn't experience crosstalk, regardless of the connectors used. Dave Levenson Voice: 201 647 0900 Fax: 201 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] ------------------------------ From: Julian Macassey Subject: Re: New Double-jack Wall Plates, Crosstalk? Date: 31 May 90 15:47:03 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood California U.S.A. In article <8435@accuvax.nwu.edu>, peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: > We just had new phone service hooked up, two lines: one for data, the > other for voice. Instead of designating one jack for data and hooking > up the rest for voice, my wife let them install a new kind of > wallplate with two lines at each point ... There is a certain amount of dejavu here: Quad wire in phone installations causes crosstalk. The jacks that were installed will not be the cause of the crosstalk. So you can't blame the Mrs. for this one. Crummy wire could be a cause of crosstalk. You say that you have Red, Green and Black, Yellow wire. This stuff is called quad wire. It is not twisted pair wire. If you use quad wire you will get crosstalk between the two pairs. The right wire to use is "Twisted pair". This stuff has the following color code: White/Blue, Blue/White. White/Orange, Orange/White. White/Green, Green/White. As a general rule, the minimum number of pairs in twisted pair cable is three. Yes there is two pair around, it is rare but I saw some yesterday at Pacific Palisades - Surf was lousy though. The jacks are not the source of the crosstalk. I do this sort of thing all the time. In about an hour I am going to an establishment that has telephone and Appletalk sharing the same cable and coming out to duplex jacks. It works because it is twisted pair. So, if you have twisted pair, no worries. If you have quad - yuck. But the quad may work. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: TDD Long Distance Discount Date: 30 May 90 23:15:39 PDT (Wed) From: John Higdon Tad Cook writes: > RIPPED OFF??? Yeah, "screw all the deaf folks ... let the 'free > market determine their fate!" > You are just plain selfish. These people are incredibly isolated, and > now that a little bit is FINALLY being done to help, YOU CAN"T STAND > IT! I'm getting the impression that Mr. Cook and those who are setting up the subsidized TDD service are of the conviction that Deaf = Poor. Just so we don't misunderstand each other, years ago I worked with the deaf in some of the poorest "hollers" of North Carolina. That was POVERTY. But just as in the community at large, so was there a spectrum of accomplishment among the deaf community. With that exposure, I have never had the impression that our deaf citizens are somehow unable to provide for themselves. Indeed, the non-hearing persons I number among my acquaintences are somewhat better off financially than I am. As far as isolation goes, a person who is deaf can adjust his own isolation. While there may be some who are content to sit back with self-commiseration, there are many others, who like those in North Carolina, will not let ANYTHING stand in their path toward achievement. BTW, what's the matter with some type of batched e-mail for the deaf? What about devices (like this computer?) that allow the user to compose and edit a message OFF LINE and then transmit it at high speed to a destination? Why does TDD communication all have to be on line, in real time? Hell, if I wrote and received my daily e-mail interactively on line at even local rates, the bill would be staggering. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Clayton Cramer Subject: Re: TDD Long Distance Discount Date: 31 May 90 21:04:35 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article <8451@accuvax.nwu.edu>, ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Tad Cook) writes: > In article <8374@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: # # Besides the general public being ripped off to pay the phone bills of # # the deaf, there is also the topic of TDD design itself. Years ago, a # RIPPED OFF??? Yeah, "screw all the deaf folks ... let the 'free # market determine their fate!" Why assume that deaf people can't afford to pay for their own services? It's certainly true that deaf people, on average, have lower incomes than hearing people -- but there are deaf people who don't need the subsidy. Hell, the TDD subsidy isn't even "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need" -- it's a subsidy that benefits poor, middle class, and rich deaf people equally. # # Oh yeah, while I'm ranting about bills, [various rants about the # # California Relay Service, a "free" service that lets deaf people TDD # # to the service which reads their message to hearing people and vice # # verse. By "free" I mean "you and I pay for it, not its users".] # # Why isn't there a free relay service for email users to send to and # # receive from fax machines? I mean, we are at a severe disadvantage # # when *everybody* has a fax machine except us! Or howabout a # Go buy a fax machine then! Don't bellyache about the deaf! You missed the whole point of the posting -- why do we have subsidies for some groups, but not for others? # # Personally I think helping people should be voluntary. I don't like # # the kind of "help" the government gives. # Well, I have been doing voluntary work to help hearing impaired folks # for quite some time now, and the volunteer efforts alone haven't cut # it! If you object to the rest of us getting the government involved, # what have YOU been doing to help?? If the "rest of you" are any significant number of people, then there should be no problem raising the money privately. If not, why are you forcing the rest of the society to fund it? I have one deaf acquaintance. He is a highly paid software engineer. He doesn't need my help -- he's quite capable of taking care of himself. Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer Disclaimer? You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine! ------------------------------ From: Karl Denninger Subject: Re: Alert: AT&T May Consider Removing TDD Long Distance Discount Reply-To: Karl Denninger Organization: MCSNet - Wheeling, IL Date: Thu, 31 May 90 03:53:06 GMT In article <8338@accuvax.nwu.edu> "Yossi (Joel" writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 391, Message 2 of 12 >>Please don't take this the wrong way, but what is the justification >>for discounts for TDD customers? >The rational is that the same phone call should cost the same to >everyone. For the same reason that folks with old switch equipment >aren't charged extra for the additional upkeep costs, TDD users >shouldn't be charged extra just because they have to converse at 48 >baud. Well, by that reasoning I should pay less to use a 300 baud modem than a 2400 baud one, or heaven forbid, a 19,200 baud one (ie: Telebit). Of course, that is not the case. Also of course, no one FORCES a deaf person to use a TDD to communicate. They can purchase a personal computer with a higher speed modem, compose their text offline if they wish, and transmit to other similarly equipped people. If the additional bandwidth is an issue, this is something these people should explore. Note that I can easily read at 2400 baud; that is not difficult, I do it every evening when logging in and reading the news from home. Thus, I can effectively make use of 2400 baud transmission in >real time<. I am willing to bet that most deaf people can make use of at least 1200 baud if not 2400 or more, should they be motivated to do so. The question becomes: Should a public utility be able to subsidise the use of a service by a disadvantaged (insert favorite of handicapped, minority, etc) group through the rates of those who are not as disadvantaged? That I don't have a good answer for. However, the issue is not bandwidth, nor is it the information able to be transmitted per unit of time. It could be a matter of perceived public service, or any one of a number of other factors. Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, !ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 808-7300], Voice: [+1 708 808-7200] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 10:14:44 EDT From: tob@cbnewsk.att.com Subject: Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article <8413@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mcb@presto.ig.com (Michael C. Berch) writes: > to be stuck with 45.5 baud forever? I can't imagine that given > today's miniaturization of components and automated manufacturing > techniques, a device can't be built that will communicate at least 2 > orders of magnitude faster at an order of magnitude less cost than > TDDs of the 1970s... AT&T currently markets a device called the 1300+ for the TDD folks. It supports 45.5 baudot up to 1200 baud asscii and everything in between. [Moderator's Note: Could you please get us some pricing and ordering information for this? Thanks. PT] ------------------------------ From: nigel.allen@f438.n250.z1.fidonet.org Date: Thu, 31 May 90 1:59:00 EST Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" roy@phri.nyu.edu quotes Monty Python's Flying Circus: >Sounds like the Cat Detector Van from the Ministry of Housing! In Britain, at least at the time the Cat Detector Van sketch was written, the operations of the British Broadcasting Corporation were supported, at least in part, by a license fee imposed on television sets and possibly on radios as well. Any broadcasting receiver is also a crude transmitter, and a mobile detection device (in a van) could locate television or radio receivers, and get very nasty if a tax officials found a television set for which no license fee had been paid. I've never seen a television or radio detector van, but I think they must have existed at one point. The cat detector van that could pinpoint a purr at fifty yards was purely a creation of the Monty Python troupe's fertile imagination, but you can see that a British audience would have recognized the allusions to collecting television license fees. A long time ago, there were annual license fees on radios in Canada, and perhaps even on television sets in the early days, but they were abolished years and years ago. Now, grants to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation come out of the federal government's general revenues. Nigel Allen Telephone (416) 535-8916 52 Manchester Avenue Fax (416) 978-7552 Toronto, Ontario M6G 1V3 nigel.allen@f438.n250.z1.fidonet.org Canada MaS Relayer v1.00.00 Message gatewayed by MaS Network Software and Consulting/HST Internet: nigel.allen@f438.n250.z1.fidonet.org UUCP: ...tmsoft!masnet!f438.n250.z1.fidonet.org!nigel.allen ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 09:02:42 +0300 From: Juha Heinanen Subject: Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line Hank Nussbacher writes: >All this is to be a great leap forward for Russia. Today, the only >fiber link they have is between Leningrad and Minsk running in >single-mode at 140Mb (most telecommunications fiber today is multimode >and is 1.7Gb). That link is only 100km long. Most telecom fiber today is single mode because it can support much longer distances than multi mode fiber. Multi mode fiber is usually used at customer premises only. Juha ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #403 ******************************   Received: from [129.105.5.103] by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa14263; 2 Jun 90 10:40 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04903; 2 Jun 90 1:44 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa31493; 2 Jun 90 0:40 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 0:10:32 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #404 BCC: Message-ID: <9006020010.ab15692@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 00:10:21 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 404 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson ATT TDD Wimp Out [Steve Elias] Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues [Tad Cook] Re: TDD's and Faster Speeds [Alan Millar] TDD Technology (was Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues) [Joel Yossi] AT&T Removing Discounts [Robert Savery] Re: One Ringer, N Phones [Julian Macassey] 1A/1E Call Forwarding and Multi-pathing [Marc O'Krent] Last Laugh! AT&T and Doomsday [Dave Horsfall] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply-To: eli@pws.bull.com Subject: ATT TDD Wimp Out Date: Wed, 30 May 90 14:09:21 -0400 From: Steve Elias Regarding ATT'S TDD discount ... It's a sad state of affairs when this sort of program has to be discontinued. This LD carrier competition is getting pretty harsh. Mr. Berch posted that deaf phone users should not get a discount. I disagree. The fact that the TDD user has such poor bandwidth communications is cause for discount. If ATT ends the discount, don't you think that MCI or Sprint will capitalize with a PR coup? How does TDD traffic do on heavily stat-muxed channels? Perhaps MCI ought to give a discount -- they were fiends for stat-muxing years ago. /eli ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues Date: 1 Jun 90 07:20:04 GMT Organization: very little In article <8413@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mcb@presto.ig.com (Michael C. Berch) writes: > but are deaf people going > to be stuck with 45.5 baud forever? I can't imagine that given > today's miniaturization of components and automated manufacturing > techniques, a device can't be built that will communicate at least 2 > orders of magnitude faster at an order of magnitude less cost than > TDDs of the 1970s... Sure, it's EASY to use faster modems. The problem is, you have to communicate with all of the other TDDs that are out there. For the past few years they have tried to improve on this by adding 300 bps ASCII modems to TDDs. Of course, for keyboad-to-keyboard chatting, this may be academic, as most folks don't type much faster than 45 baud (60 WPM) anyway. ASCII has the advantage though of allowing full duplex. > Is anybody working on this, from the standards side, or the technology > side? EIA was working on it, but they gave up. They found that Crown and Ultratech are the only manufacturers, and they have been building their stuff for years with no standards at all, other than nominal frequencies (1.4 KHz Mark, 1.8 KHz Space) ... no tolerances for the receiving or transmitting ends. Last year I installed a 2400 bps modem in a new PC clone that a hearing impaired friend bought. Up until then she had been using 45 baud baudot, and ocasionally half-duplex 300 baud from her TDD to my computer. What a revealation for her when we communicated with split screen, full duplex, and 2400 bps for the first time! Instead of manually switching from receive to transmit on the TDD, she could now see typed text coming from me on the top of her screen, and she could type her responses at the bottom. Pretty soon we were both typing at full speed simultaneously, and for the first time she experienced something like a NORMAL conversation with a hearing person! In article <8453@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: > with stylus (or a mouse) for sending simple drawings and a 512 x 512 x > 1 bitmap screen for showing what is being drawn. Such a device built > today shouldn't cost any more than a Teletype(tm) did 20 years ago, Remember that the Teletypes of 20 years ago weren't purchased new by the hearing impaired ... they were old surplus machines that were retired from service and given away. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: ames!ames!claris!portal!cup.portal.com!AMillar@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: TDD's and Faster Speeds Date: Fri, 1-Jun-90 01:18:14 PDT I understand that making a dual purpose modem, with both 45bps BAUDOT and 2400bps ASCII for example, is going to cost a little more, but I do not believe it could cost very much. I just bought a 2400bps modem off the shelf of the local electronics store for $99. They can make modems cheap through mass-production, using standard modem chipsets. If 45bps BAUDOT were added to the modem chipset, then it may add maybe $20 to the cost of the modem. So then it's $120 instead of $99; still no big deal. Think of what things would be like with dual-mode modems. Service providers could use dual-mode modems to accept calls from regular modems or TDDs. BBSs, Telenet, Tymnet, public-access Unix systems, you name it. That way, every deaf person could read the Telecom Digest, and all the rest that the online world offers. Next, deaf people could start upgrading from regular TDDs to dual-mode modems. The modem would be the only thing you'd have to spend money on, because there are more than enough old glass TTYs that people are trying to get rid of. With the dual-mode modem, you could have higher-speed access to online services, and still communicate with all of the older TDDs. Even on interactive conversations between two TDDs, you could now have a faster conversation than before. I would make the modem so that it would have a phone jack and an RS232 jack. The RS232 side would always use ASCII, at a configurable baud rate (1200 to 9600, for example). You'd hook this up to an old VT100 or Televideo 920, if cost is an issue, or to a personal computer or 3B2 or whatever. The phone side would talk ASCII or BAUDOT, depending on what was on the other end. If it was a BAUDOT connection, the modem would automatically translate speeds and character sets. This couldn't be that hard, so why doesn't it happen? Is it simply the lack of a large, money-laden potential customer-base that keeps modem chip manufacturers from putting these features in? Maybe if we could convince other big modem users like Tymnet to want them, that would start the ball rolling to mass produce them. Just some food for thought. Alan Millar AMillar@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: "Yossi (Joel" Subject: TDD Technology (was Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues) Date: 1 Jun 90 05:25:12 GMT Reply-To: "Yossi (Joel" Organization: Technion, Israel Inst. Tech., Haifa Israel In article <8413@accuvax.nwu.edu> mcb@presto.ig.com (Michael C. Berch) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 396, Message 12 of 12 >The obvious next question is, is there any hope in sight for changing >the TDD standard to something more, uh, *modern* than 45.5 or 48 baud ^^^^^^^^^^ I think I may have inadvertantly started the 48 baud rumor with a typo. I beleive the baud rate is 45ish. >[...], but are deaf people going >to be stuck with 45.5 baud forever? I can't imagine that given >today's miniaturization of components and automated manufacturing >techniques, a device can't be built that will communicate at least 2 >orders of magnitude faster at an order of magnitude less cost than >TDDs of the 1970s... The logical thing to do would be to use standard 300 baud ASCII-type modems. (Most humans can't type 300 baud anyway). They're readily available, and very cheap. But the problem is that the existing TDD's are the existing TDD's, and no one wants to be the first on the block to get the new, non-backwards comptable, technology. Would you buy a new phone that offered CD quality sound (suppose!), or, even, Star-Trek like universal language translation, if it meant that the only people you could call were people like yourself who had invested in the new technology? And that you could no longer call your neighbor and ask for a cup of sugar? I wouldn't. Or, at least, I'd buy both, but if financial constraints forced a decision, I'd stick with what I had. Joel (joel@techunix.technion.ac.il -or- joel@techunix.BITNET) [Moderator's Note: Curtis Reid, the reader who started this entire thread several issues ago, has crafted a comprehensive reply to several issues raised. It will be in a Digest on Saturday. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 22:18:03 EDT From: Robert Savery Subject: AT&T Removing Discounts Reply-to: Robert.Savery@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha, Ne. 402-896-3537 >.....what is the justification for discounts for TDD customers. My understanding is the discounts started years ago as part of AT&T's nice guy image. The primary reasoning behind them is the relative length of the calls. It takes a lot longer to type out a sentance than it does to speak it. Also having to type out things hearing people automatically pick up would add a tremendous amount of time to the length of a call. For example, when I call my mom, I might say "HI Mom ! What's going on?" A TDD user would have to type out "Hi Mom ! It's Bob. What's going on?" My mom would know it's me, but a deaf mom would not have any idea who it is without the extra words. I do not know if technology has increased the speed of TDD conversations since the last time I used it but on that occasion, it took me approx ten minutes to ask a deaf employee of ours where the storeroom keys where! If TDD conversations can now be conducted at the same speed as spoken ones, then AT&T has a reason for dropping the discounts. However, I do not think anyone ( other than maybe a professional transcriber ) can type as fast as you can talk. As someone who has used TDD before ( granted it was five years ago ), I think AT&T should continue the discounts. I also think the FCC should require all LD companies to offer them. Perhaps at some point in the future, technology will make the discounts unnecessary ( ie... videophones for signing or possibly a system for people to send thought waves ...). But until such time, TDD long distance discounts are as necessary as handicapped parking spaces and ramps on curbs. Bob [1:285/666@fidonet] DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha (1:285/666) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Robert.Savery@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: Julian Macassey Subject: Re: One Ringer, N Phones Date: 1 Jun 90 16:21:30 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood California U.S.A. In article <8476@accuvax.nwu.edu>, olmiller@xibm.asd.contel.com (Otto Miller) writes: > I have a need in a high noise envirnment (my workshop... compressor, > saw, etc) that I am served by two residential lines. I would like a > single loud ringer driven by both lines just to get my attention. Any > ideas? Thank you in advance! There are several ways to do this. But one you may consider is the Viking Electronics "Loud Ringer/Auxiliary Paging Amplifier". From the blurb: "The PA-2A provides both loud ringing and auxiliary paging for electronic keys systems, 1A2 systems, and "KSU-less phones. It will generate an adjustable loud warble from up to six incoming C.O. lines or from a dry contact closure (TIE 612, Comdial Executech). Night bell transfer capabilities are built in. The PA-2A is easy to install and eliminates the installation of multiple bells, relays and paging cards." You will need to add a PA Horn (Industrial strength loudspeaker) to this. Sorry no surf report today. I think you also have to supply a 13. 5 V AC (60 Hz) power supply to drive the bugger, but check when you buy it. Get it from a telecom distributor, anyone but Graybar. I recommend Alltel (213) 692-9138 ask for Garth. They will do COD. So, the Viking PA-2A Multi-Line Loud Ringer, $86.00 plus a speaker will do the trick. Plus you get a paging amp as well for hootin' an' hollerin' at the help. These items are very popular out here in small machine shops and rag trade sweat shops. Yes, Esmerelda, there are other solutions, but this is probably the neatest and cheapest under the circumstances. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ From: Marc O'Krent Subject: 1A/1E Call Forwarding and Multi-pathing Date: 1 Jun 90 07:09:18 GMT Reply-To: Marc O'Krent Organization: The Telephone Connection (Voice Mail), Marina Del Rey, California We are having an argument with Pac*Bell and can't seem to get the same answer out of them twice. No great suprise there. Here's the background: for some unknown reason, PB has decided that if you want Centrex you *must* change your phone number. They have been refusing to grandfather in existing phone numbers for several months now. To console the destroyed business, they filed a provisional tarriff called "Number Retention Service." This turns out to be RCF with no usage charge. This allows the customer to "keep" their existing number. In fact the NRS (aks RCF) service forwards the calls to the new (possibly hidden) Centrex number assigned to the customer. The NRS service costs $50 install for 1-10 paths on the initial order, $50.00 per path install after initial order, plus $7.00/month/path and no usage charges (kind gift, wouldn't you say!?). Now this NRS can get quite expensive if the customer has say 10-20 existing lines and is in a CO where the switch doesn't do multi pathing on Call Forwarding. The conversation goes something like, "You can have Centrex, Mr. Customer, but it will cost you $70-$140 per month to keep your existing number (#lines X cost/path)." Some older ESS switches will multipath by default. I thought it was the 1A and the 1. I have been told that it is the 1A, 1E and/or the 1. I have a real customer in a 1E office where it does not work, but telco is insisting that it does work. Does anybody out there who might be reading this really know? I would certainly appreciate hearing from you. Trials with DMS and 5ESS show that multipathing does not exist. (As a side note, the NRS tarriff is outrageous as far as I'm concerned, and I would love to get some kind of protest going to force PB to either revert back to number preservation, or if NRS is required because of switch technical reasons, or planning, or whatever then PB should be *required* to charge one monthly fee and give multipathing as part of the service. This type of tariff really hurts small business the most ( <100 lines) ). MOK ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Last Laugh! AT&T and Doomsday Date: 1 Jun 90 03:23:15 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA With the recent discussion on AT&T outages etc, I was tickled to see the following cartoon in "The Institute"; which is an insert in IEEE's Spectrum journal. Apologies if you may have seen it before, but the April issue only just arrived here in Australia. Bearded man dressed in flowing garb on street corner, bearing aloft a sign saying "Doomsday is coming." Woman asks him: "How will that affect AT&T?" Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) Alcatel STC Australia dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #404 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa15621; 2 Jun 90 13:23 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ad16675; 2 Jun 90 12:10 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa24695; 2 Jun 90 3:02 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab04903; 2 Jun 90 1:44 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 1:35:37 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #405 BCC: Message-ID: <9006020135.ab18750@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 01:35:16 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 405 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Mitch Kapor and "Sun Devil" [Joseph C. Pistritto] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Rich Zellich] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Bill Nickless] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Steve Flaherty] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Rick Farris] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Chris Johnson] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Mitch Kapor and "Sun Devil" Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 10:17:36 MESZ From: Joseph C Pistritto > From: TELECOM Moderator [some stuff about Kapor considering defending the "Sun Devil" crackers deleted here - all factual data] > Maybe if Mr. Kapor had his Lotus 1-2-3 ripped off good he might change > his tune. Anyone know other projects of his we might steal and start > handing out freely around the net? Ahem. Really now Patrick. I know you're kidding, you know it, probably every one of the intelligent people on this planet would know it ... but DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE A COMMENT LIKE THIS DISTRIBUTED ON THE INTERNET??? > If you can't find a way to steal it outright, then borrow a > pirated copy from someone else. And how many people, not knowing the 'context' of your remarks, would view this as a blatant invitation to piracy??? There can be valid concerns about possibly prosecuters overstepping their authority and government abuse of power, etc. without condoning either piracy or theft. If these guys really ripped off source from AT&T or elsewhere, then they deserve what happens next, on the other hand, I can't really say that about people who run BBS systems that merely have the message passed thru their system, unknowingly. If the result of this "Sun Devil" operation is that private BBS owners start closing down their systems due to fear of prosecutors, and things like FIDOnet disappear, then America will have lost a valuable resource indeed, and Mr. Kapor may be correct in being concerned. Note that your article didn't say he 'decided' to support these folks, merely that he was considering it. Let's wait for him to make up his mind before condemning, shall we? Joseph C. Pistritto (bpistr@ciba-geigy.ch, jcp@brl.mil) Ciba Geigy AG, R1241.1.01, Postfach CH4002, Basel, Switzerland Tel: +41 61 697 6155 (work) +41 61 692 1728 (home) GMT+2hrs! [Moderator's Note: And what about people who pick up the {Washington Post} for the first time in their life and see credence given to the theory that burglary and theft are not really that at all, and that government attempts to prosecute burglary and theft are 'damaging to technical innovation and to dissemination of information'. Maybe you should write a letter to the Post and complain about them spreading that stuff all over the world in their paper. I doubt *they* would give you the courtesy I have -- of printing your letter. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 9:10:49 CDT From: Rich Zellich Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Mr. Moderator - Please don't advocate ripping off commercial software, even in sarcastic jest mode. Being somewhat more charitable than PT, I assume two points in Mr. Kapors favor: 1) So far, at least, there has been no monetary loss shown by the various federal prosecutors involved in Sun Devil; they have alleged much in their self-serving statements to the media but, as has been pointed out in this forum, no actual damage of any kind has yet been substantiated. 2) I assume Mitch Kapor is reacting to the "witch hunt" atmosphere that seems to be pervading the LoD and Sun Devil busts - as witness the raid on Steve Jackson Games. Clearly, *somebody* needs to help the less-well- funded witch-huntees caught in the government's fuzzily-conceived trap. While it seems clear that there was some serious crackery going on, it seems just as clear that a *lot* of innocent people are being harassed by the authorities for no good reason except ignorance on the part of those authorities, are having their systems seized (to the detriment of some of the rest of us, in the case of e-mail relay systems), and are going to have to spend a lot of their hard-earned dollars on attorney fees just to point out the obvious in court. [Moderator's Note: Whether or not there is a monetary loss is of absolutely no relevance. If you don't think this is the case, then kindly leave your door unlocked tomorrow while you are gone, so I can come in and snoop around. I won't steal anything! I will just read through your personal papers, etc. Ah, you say, that is different! Not a bit. Why are AT&T, Sprint, MCI and similar fair game for the crackers and your home system -- or Mr. K's software is not? Now you go on to say a *lot* (your emphasis) of people are 'being harassed'. Name two or three; go ahead, I'll wait. You want to use Steve Jackson Games as one example? Ha! That's rich ... more and more news is coming out of that every day ... i.e. a little blurb in news yesterday alleging a cracker (I think previously convicted) was/is on his payroll. And you complain that innocent users on the net are being harmed by the disruption in mail: why is that the government's fault? Your complaint should be with the administrators of e-mail relays who have *violated the trust of the net community* by getting wrapped up in this stinking mess. If I were arrested for something today, would you blame the government because TELECOM Digest did not get published tomorrow? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 09:18:10 CDT From: Bill Nickless Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor I can't believe it. Our Moderator writes that Mitchell Kapor, in offering to help some defendants in a court of law, is deserving of a boycott against his well-designed and written software package. Whether or not Mr. Kapor agrees with the actions of the people he defends should not be an issue. I have worked for a legal aid society, funded primarily by the United Way. Most of their casework involved defending homemakers who were being divorced by their breadwinning spouses and were in danger of losing everything, including their children. This is not because they were right or wrong, it was because they didn't have the money to fight the spouse with a job to pay the attornies. I believe Mr. Kapor has seen that there are some dangers inherent in the government's tactics in Operation Sun Devil. These dangers include the lack of common carrier protections for electronic mail and bulletin board operators. He has been (moderately :-) ) successful with 1-2-3 and would like to use some of his well-earned resources to ensure that the nationwide infrastructure of electronic mail and bulletin boards is not horribly disrupted, especially in a court case where the defendants do not have sufficient financial resources to counter the government's nearly infinite capability to pursue the matter. Whether or not the defendants did anything wrong should be irrelevant to this discussion. That is for the courts to decide. Mr. Kapor is simply trying to ensure that these defendants receive a fair trial. Bill Nickless [Moderator's Note: He said nothing at all in the {Washington Post} article about 'helping them get a fair trial' ... he said they did not belong on trial at all! Go back and read the article again. And whether or not they 'did anything wrong' is most certainly relevant to this discussion. It is what this whole discussion is about: whether or not you can take activities like cracking and twist it around into a wholesome, legitimate activity as Mr. Kapor suggests. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 09:59:44 PDT From: Steve Flaherty Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor In comp.dcom.telecom you write: >next time you use or consider purchasing his software. If you can't ------------ > find a way to steal it outright, then borrow a pirated copy from ----------------------------------------------------------------- > someone else. -------------- Is this a serious suggestion, or are you poking fun at the situation? If you are indeed serious about condoning piracy against a person or organization that you personaly happen to disaprove, you deserve to be right there in the defendants' seat the the so-called "crackers" that you seem to abhor so vehemntly. What seperates your call to steal software on disk from the piracy of software (and other information) via the phone system? Is your moral ground so high? Personally, I hope that your article was in jest, and that I am missing the clues to its satirical intent. Steve Flaherty [Moderator's Note: What do you *really* see different about my article versus the one in my competitor's rag other than the hoity-toity language issued by some $50,000 a year reporter who probably knows nothing about computers anyway? They quote the divine Mr. K. saying that the present government prosecution *of people who burglarize computers and steal things therein* is 'damaging to technological innovation and to dissemination of information'. Now either that is a true statement or it is bologna. All I suggested was let's take Super K at his word ... and let his double-speak stand on its own merits. Was *he* serious when he made the quote attributed to him? PT] ------------------------------ From: Rick Farris Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 9:19:33 PDT In article <8473@accuvax.nwu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: > Maybe if Mr. Kapor had his Lotus 1-2-3 ripped off good he > might change his tune. Although Wordstar used to have the dubious distinction of 'the most ripped off software in the world,' I suspect that in this day and age, Lotus 1-2-3 holds that title. At any rate, Mitch Kapor certainly has first-hand experience at losing money to intellectual property thieves. I wonder why he sees this case differently. Rick Farris RF Engineering POB M Del Mar, CA 92014 voice (619) 259-6793 rfarris@rfengr.com ...!ucsd!serene!rfarris serene.UUCP 259-7757 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 18:51:35 CDT From: bungia!chris@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Organization: Com Squared Systems, Inc. In article <8473@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 401, Message 5 of 13 [Moderator's Note: Quotes removed to conserve space. PT] After all the discussion on this, I can't believe you have such a bigoted, narrow-minded and short-sighted viewpoint! I'm absolutely astounded that you made such remarks, from many points of perspective. For example, you seem to imply that Kapor is supporting the theft from businesses, yet as we have seen, the Secret Service _ITSELF_ is guilty of completely disrupting the business of Steve Jackson Games. That really makes Jenkins' remarks look like the self-serving lies that they are. "...Threaten to disrupt our nation's business and government services"? Give me a break. If the situation was really that bad, and I honestly do not think it is, then I still would _NOT_ support abridging the Bill of Rights to crackdown on the criminals! Yet that is exactly what the Secret Service is engaged in doing. (And even more horrifying is that this sort of abuse of citizen rights and ignoring the laws of the land _by government employees_ is becoming so damn commonplace, what with the hysteria about "drugs" and the gross misapplication of RICO laws that every DA and his brother is trying out.) Furthermore, if there is a real nationwide telecommunications problem with vulnerability to criminals, it is most likely the lack of a good, national telecommunications policy that is most at fault! And that of course, once again, falls onto the shoulders of our elected officials. It may well be, though, that we are getting all the government we deserve, as someone so aptly put it -- electorate ignorance and apathy is so high that we get morons and crooks for elected representatives. To end that digression, though it is important, and to get back to your comments: it's obvious that the Secret Service and whoever else is involved is on a witch-hunt of the scale of that by the FBI during the late 60's and early 70's against those damn anti-war hippies. Even if the SS has caught up a number of extremely minor criminals in its huge fishing net, it still doesn't justify what they are doing. And this is` particularly true when the law regarding electronic communications networks such as BITNET, Usenet, and Bulletin Board Systems is so vaguely undefined at the moment. Is the administrator/operator of some carrier of electronic information completely responsible for every bit of data contained or passing through his system? The present legal answer is "No, well maybe, we don't know yet." We know the Phone Co. is not responsible. They're a Common Carrier. Are all Common Carriers exempt? I don't think so. Where do we draw the line? And here's where we run into a lot of problems, again, regarding` policy. Do we want to squeeze BBS's and Usenet right out of existence? We will, if we make the operators of the involved hardware responsible for everything passing through their system. Or do we want to promote a global electronic community with free speech and exchange of ideas and information? Or what? And then your suggestion that we steal software from Lotus or anything else which benefits Kapor financially is really a inflammatory strawman argument. Or a bad suggestion classing you with the worst of the criminals and hypocrits if you were serious. After all, there is _NO_ evidence in your remarks that Kapor is supporting criminal activity. Rather it seems he is against a campaign of terror orchestrated by the SS and AT&T and who knows who else directed at a lot of mostly innocent technophiles. Are you lily-white, impeccably honest, Mr. Moderator? I doubt it. And even if you were, you ought to be worried about the abuse of power that is taking place. Ever heard this parable? [paraphrased for brevity] A Methodist living in Berlin just prior to WWII watches as first his Jewish, then Polish, then non-Caucasian, then communist neighbors are rounded up and taken away in the middle of the night by the Nazis. Each time it happens, he does nothing, since the Nazis leave him alone. But when they finally come for him, there is no one to help him or protest his treatment, because they've already been taken. Do I need to spell this out for you? I hope not. There's a couple little clauses in the Bill of Rights regarding: innocence until proven guilt, freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures, freedom of speech, freedom to pursue happiness. Surely you are familiar with these. Having the Secret Service show up at your house, confiscate your computer, your media and what-not, and _NOT_ charge you with any crime is ridiculous! I'm not advocating theft. I'm not advocating that phreaker/cracker criminals go free. But how about the law enforcement officials stick to 2 simple rules: 1) follow the laws themselves, and 2) fit the punishment and enforcement efforts to the crime. Giving somebody a felony conviction, a 10 year jail sentence and a $10,000 fine for stealing something electronically (eg. the E911 operations manual) that would have been petty theft, had they just walked into someone's office at an RBOC and taken a printed copy off their desk, is seriously deranged. There seems to be a lot of hysteria involved here, and the popular press is responsible for a lot of it. But so are the ignoramuses, or are they fascists?, in the law enforcement agencies. We here certainly don't need to add fuel to the fire. How about level-headed objective consideration of the problem in its broadest and narrowest scopes? (I say that because everyone deserves to be treated as an individual, yet there is national telecommunication policy at issue here.) Oh, and incidentally: maybe it's a forgone issue now, but "hacker" is not a criminal or delinquint by definition, or at least, not originally, and not by most people who have pride in being one. But maybe the hysterics and popular press have abused this word for so long that it no longer has its original meaning. I regret that Mr. Moderator saw fit to use it as he did, unless it was merely a result of paraphrasing without thought some press release. ...Chris Johnson chris@c2s.mn.org ..uunet!bungia!com50!chris Com Squared Systems, Inc. St. Paul, MN USA +1 612 452 9522 [Moderator's Note: I am not ignoring you -- we are simply out of space in this already oversize issue of the Digest. I'll reply soon. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #405 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa15768; 2 Jun 90 13:38 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id af16675; 2 Jun 90 12:18 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa32065; 2 Jun 90 4:30 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab24695; 2 Jun 90 3:02 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 2:15:49 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #406 BCC: Message-ID: <9006020215.ab09282@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 02:15:41 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 406 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Data Access Lines [Thomas Lapp] Re: Jargon Overload [David Tamkin] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [mmm@cup.portal.com] Re: AT&T Finally learns USA Country Code [Dolf Grunbauer] Re: Telebit vs. Sprint [Marc O'Krent] Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers [David L. Kindred] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [David L. Kindred] Hardware Hacking -- Simple Ring Generators [Jack Winslade] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 May 90 21:56:18 EDT From: Thomas Lapp Subject: Re: Data Access Lines David Tamkin wrote: > If PEP is modulated only at 7.35 or 88.26 baud, it should be no > difficulty for the local lines to carry it, unless shoving so many > bits into so few bauds requires so many carrier pitches that local > telco lines might not be reliably able to discriminate that fine. Aren't we forgetting the fact that some of those 511 channels that the Telebit uses are outside the frequency range that the telco promises? I think the telco says that you'll have decent output at something like 300 Hz to 3000 Hz (or is it 2700Hz?). I thought I read that the Telebit tries to use more of the frequency spectrum (like maybe up to 4000 Hz?). So if the channels outside the promised range are unusable, the telco isn't doing anything wrong, and the modem may not (at 88.26 baud) be able to use enough channels in-band to send at the higher bit rates. Just a thought. - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : The only way to win thermonuclear war is not to play. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 22:50 EST From: David Tamkin <0004261818@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Jargon Overload In volume 10, issue 389, I had responded to two answers to some questions I'd submitted previously about REN's. When Tad Cook left me still wondering something, I wrote, DT> That question has been slid on past throughout this discussion under DT> the assumption that everyone must already know. but I still didn't know; and when Julian Macassey said, JM> I think I covered this in an earlier posting, but then I could have JM> glossed over it. I responded that maybe he did cover it earlier, but when something is stated in a way a non-techie cannot follow or is to be found so deep in a technical discussion that a non-techie will have given up reading it before getting to that part, it will reach only the other techies. I asked, DT> All you experts, please be tolerant if we ask for a re-explanation of DT> something in more common terms or if we don't realize that a question DT> is equivalent to one posed previously in thick jargon. Later in that same issue, Isaac Rabinovitch wrote, IR> My lack of experience in the telecom world leaves me without the IR> vocabulary to follow many of the interesting and important discussions IR> in this conference. Could somebody post a lexicon for the benefit of IR> folks like me? Pat Townson replied: PT> It would seem to me [that Isaac and David] have similar complaints, PT> and the answer for both may be to obtain copies of the glossary files PT> in the Telecom Archives. Look for the file entitled PT> 'phrack.glossary'. Providing definitions of the words and expansions of the acronyms cannot guarantee that everyone will understand the complete idea. In the questions I asked that led up to that submission and in the earlier articles that lost me, the problems were the concepts and assumptions, not the words or acronyms. I knew the words but the phrasing was ambiguous to my untrained eyes. As a result, I couldn't understand the answers as they were given. When I asked again, people repeated the same murky language. That didn't help. Finally (in one case very deep in other things I still couldn't follow) the answers arrived: (1) the frequency of a voltage meant the frequency at which the current is alternated; (2) REN's measure the line load for a device to detect an incoming ring signal, not the line load for its ringer to give out a sound, and therefore shutting the sounding mechanism off doesn't remove the device's REN load; (3) the REN limit of 5.0 per line is not a law and some lines can bear 6 or 7 REN's before ringer volume begins to weaken. Even at that, #1 and #2 came in only when I guessed them, asked whether that was what the writers meant, and was told yes. Pat's answer (pun unintended, but what the hell) applies to Isaac's problem but not really to mine. Both in TELECOM Digest and in comp. dcom.telecom, this forum is presented as a written medium. If we don't comprehend something, we can reread it until we've seen all the words a dozen times. If we still don't understand it, then the words need to be *replaced*, not repeated as if this were a spoken medium and perhaps we simply didn't hear you clearly the first time. So when someone doesn't follow the engineering or telephony jargon and asks for a re-explanation, it does no good to reuse the same type of phrasing that didn't get the point across the first time, nor does it help to fill the response with so much additional technical language that the answer, no matter how easy to read by itself, is drowned out by the new flood of jargon. At least please answer the question first (in different terms!) and *then* add the other highly technical thoughts that it brought to mind and which you'd like to say now. In the future, I'll try to make my requests for explanations multiple choice instead of essay if I can and, when I need something restated, to emphasize that I need it rephrased, not repeated. PT> The Telecom Archives are FTP accessible at lcs.mit.edu, using PT> anonymous login. ... or, for those of us without FTP access, through the BITFTP mail server at Princeton. David Tamkin P. O. Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 +1 708 518 6769 MCI Mail: 426-1818 CIS: 73720,1570 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN +1 312 693 0591 ------------------------------ From: mmm@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Date: Thu, 31-May-90 21:30:04 PDT Next time, try asking for the country code of New Mexico :-) [Moderator's Note: Listen, that's not funny! Ask people living in New Mexico sometime how often they have to fight the ignorance of credit card clerks and mail order companies who try to tell them they do not 'do business outside the United States' ... I had an Illinois Bell operator one time try to find the 'international routing' to connect me on a call there. What's worse these days, the American's pitiful command of English or our abysmal lack of knowledge in geography? PT] ------------------------------ Organization: Philips Information Systems, P.O. Box 245, Subject: RE: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 15:55:32 MET From: Dolf Grunbauer In article <8489@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater writes: for a similar message pointing this out. PT] ------------------------------ From: Marc O'Krent Subject: Re: Telebit vs. Sprint Date: 1 Jun 90 06:52:28 GMT Reply-To: Marc O'Krent Organization: Cochran&Associates, Menlo Park, CA In article <8180@accuvax.nwu.edu> Jim Gottlieb writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 379, Message 11 of 12 >In article <8047@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon >writes: >>As far as I am concerned, MCI is not a real player for serious long >>distance users. While they may have lots of "suits" running around >>schmoozing it up to their corporate customers, the service they >>provide is substandard to either Sprint or AT&T by an amount far >>exceeding any discount they provide. >I must agree. Unfortunately, I bet that most of the executive >committees who decide to go with MCI do so based only on pieces of >paper and never once actually pick up the phone to try the service. >This is the same reason why PBX manufacturers can and do get away with >stupid feature implementation. The buying decisions are made after >reading proposals in a cute binder. But they never so much as spend >ten minutes to see how the phone feels, sounds, etc. I must disagree, regionally. Like most telecommunications services that belong to companies headquartered on the east coast, MCI has followed the unfortunate pattern of making the West last. As a former MCI employee in National Accounts, I can tell you that on the east coast, MCI connection are as good if not better than Sprint and/or AT&T. The reason for this is simple: MCI deployed their fiber and digital switches primarily in the Northeast corridor. MCI only has four major points at which calls are actually "switched" with the balance of their terminals simply acting as repeaters or pass throughs to one of the four switching centers. MCI had more subscribers per unit area on the east coast, and being a company hq'ed there, chose to make the majority of the "digital" investment there. I can still remember the analog microwave that was in service in California. Typical of being left to last, there was supposed to be only something like 30 miles between each repeater. Unfortunately, MCI ran out of resources and so there was something more like 80 miles between instead. Every time the fog rolled in near San Jose, there went the connections between LA and SF. In fact, one engineer figured that the signal was actually bouncing off the ground in between repeaters. Although there is fiber on the the California acquaduct, it is used primarily for private line, DDS and the State of Calif. There is supposed to be digital microwave from Richardson TX to the west coast (Richardson is one of the four magic points), but I have yet to get a digitial connection from Texas. Out here, MCI is definetely not as good as Sprint or AT&T, but out east it is as good technically. (As a side note about the west getting features last, you might recall an article that appeared here recently under the heading of "A piece of ESS history." The article pointed at a 1965 ESS deployment of an ESS machine *with* custom calling features available. Althought the first ESS was also deployed in LA in 1965, it wasn't untill about 1977 that custom calling was offered. At least that was the first year we were able to offer it to customers - I was also a Pac Bell service rep. --Excuse me, "Pacific Telephone.") Marc O'Krent The Telephone Connection Internet: marc@ttc.info.com MCIMail: mokrent Voice Mail: +1 213 551 9620 ------------------------------ From: "David L Kindred (Dave" Subject: Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers Date: 31 May 90 23:06:40 GMT Reply-To: telesci!kindred@pyrnj.pyramid.com Organization: Telesciences CO Systems, Inc. In article <8367@accuvax.nwu.edu> gtisqr!toddi@nsr.bioeng. washington.edu (Todd Inch) writes: >echo "There's no Q or Z on the phone dial." Not strictly correct. Phones I have seen from '40s have the Z on the 0 (zero), and I have seen at least one phone that has the Q on the 0 also. I also recall seeing a modern phone with the Z on the 0, but don't remember where... Anyone have any particulars on who/when/why the Z and Q have been on/not on the Zero digit? EMail: kindred@telesci.UUCP (...!princeton!pyrnj!telesci!kindred) CI$: 72456,3226 (72456.3226@compuserve.com) Phone: +1 609 866 1000 x222 Snail: TeleSciences C O Systems, 351 New Albany Rd, Moorestown, NJ 08057-1177 ------------------------------ From: "David L Kindred (Dave" Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB Date: 29 May 90 20:57:28 GMT Reply-To: telesci!kindred@pyrnj.pyramid.com Organization: Telesciences CO Systems, Inc. In article <8301@accuvax.nwu.edu> synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Jonas) writes: >I've seen ads in the PATH trains for the "New York Connection" where >NY-NJ calls are handled via the local telco by dialing "NJB" or "NYT" >prefixes. Would someone please elaborate? I'll try, see below. > 1) A number to call for information ... > (my local rep didn't know what I was talking about) If by local you mean Ulster County, they wouldn't, see below. > 2) The EXACT name of the program (so I can ask for the right thing) ... Not sure... > 3) Why I can't get it here in Ulster county ... You're too far from the NJ/NY Border, see below. > 4) How the local telco got a waiver to give long distance service ... It's not really "Long Distance" service. New Jersey Bell and Bell of PA offer the same service in Philadelphia County PA and Burlington, Camden, and maybe Mercer Counties NJ. The service area is what would be considered "Local" if indeed "Local" and "Long Distance" were based on Geography and not Political and historical boundries. For this reason, the NY/NJ service is restricted to New York City and the adjacent counties in NJ only. As far as the exact nature of the tariffs, I suspect it's similiar to the rules that govern any "Local" Inter-LATA service. Since I don't know exactly, I would appreciate the answer to this question myself. EMail: kindred@telesci.UUCP (...!princeton!pyrnj!telesci!kindred) CI$: 72456,3226 (72456.3226@compuserve.com) Phone: +1 609 866 1000 x222 Snail: TeleSciences C O Systems, 351 New Albany Rd, Moorestown, NJ 08057-1177 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 May 90 22:29:47 EDT From: Jack Winslade Subject: Hardware Hacking -- Simple Ring Generators Reply-to: Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha, Ne. 402-896-3537 A few years ago, I had reason to construct a simple ringing generator which would signal 'real' telephone bells, chirpers, and cause modems to answer. I tried a few things and here's a brief summary. 1. 60Hz line voltage through an isolation transformer. This would ring the (500 series) real bells, although more faintly at a faster frequency. The chirper I tried would kind of squawk. The modem (Hayes 1200) would answer, but when I added some nominal current-limiting resistors, it would fail to answer. 2. My second idea will sound like a real kludge -- it was. I half-wave rectified the output of the isolation transformer, and then using a circuit consisting of an RC network and a SCR, I passed every third cycle to the load. (I know this sounds exotic but it does work this way.) I level-shifted the output pulse to reverse-bias the gate of the SCR so that two of three pulses were blocked. This resulted in 20 100-some volt pulses out to the load. The chirper sounded fine, the modem answered, but the 'real' phone bell only tinkled a bit. :-( There obviously was not enough energy in the 20Hz portion of the spectrum to make it work properly. 3. My third attempt was to build a very simple two-transistor multivibrator using a center-tapped filament transformer backwards. I pre-loaded the output and tuned it by ear. (Scope -- manually selecting capacitors that gave a fairly stable 20Hz output.) With a load resistor and despiking capacitor across the output, I had a reasonably clean 20Hz almost-square wave signal. This worked with all three devices. I still use this today in combination with a simple plugboard when I have to key modems when I am testing software. With all of this conversation about ringers, I thought it might be interesting to some of yu. --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #406 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id ab16840; 2 Jun 90 15:06 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa29232; 2 Jun 90 13:35 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa16912; 2 Jun 90 12:31 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 11:45:39 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #407 BCC: Message-ID: <9006021145.ab31811@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 11:45:16 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 407 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Summary of Broadband Fiber Symposium [Jane M. Fraser] Sprint Billing Screwup ... or Bonanza? [Steve Elias] Genuine Bell vs Cocots [Todd Inch] Hacking/Phreaking/Cracking Tips From Cyberpunk Manual [J. Eric Townsend] Visitor From UK Needs Phone Help in USA [Nigel Roberts] Default Carriers on Payphones [Carl Moore] 0+ Calls Where N0X/N1X in Use [Carl Moore] Measured Service in Rhode Island [Michael P. Deignan] Two Special Issues: UK Phones /Call*ID in PA [TELECOM Moderator] Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [Jon Baker] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 10:46:29 edt From: "Jane M. Fraser" Subject: Summary of Broadband Fiber Symposium On May 15, CAST (the Center for Advanced Study in Telecommunications, Ohio State University) sponsored a one day symposium: Broadband Fiber to the Home and Office: Economic, Political and Cultural Implications. The following posting, written by Thom McCain, Associate Director of CAST, summarizes the presentations. -------------------- The CAST Spring Symposium featured government, industry and academic perspectives concerning Broadband Fiber to the Home and Office. The May 15, 1990 session focused on the economic, political and cultural implications of fiber optics, coaxial cable and direct broadcast satellites for home and small business use. Participants were welcomed by symposium coordinator Thom McCain. The morning Keynote speaker was Robert Pepper, newly appointed Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy, the Federal Communications Commission. Pepper is also the author of the highly acclaimed background paper ``Through the Looking Glass: Integrated Broadband Networks, Regulatory Policies, and Institutional Change." Pepper reviewed the long and short range issues for the major player and the stakes which they hold in the development of integrated broadband networks. The players examined included: local exchange carriers, cable television operators; broadcasters; program producers/distributors; regulators; and users, including residential consumers. Representatives from three of the key players with high stakes in the future of telecommunications infrastructure each presented their industries' vested interest. All agreed that the primary use of broadband will be centered on entertainment video. Gary Nelson, Senior Director, Broadband Technologies, Ameritech Services, presented a compelling account of how broadband services will be brought to the home with a combination of fiber trunk lines and coaxial cable for the drop to the home. Brad Johnston, Senior Vice-President, Service Operations, of Warner Cable Communications, presented Cable's view of why their industry has the background and economic advantage to bring entertainment programming to the home, provided they are not hampered from doing so by restrictive regulation. Chuck Sherman, Senior Vice-President, Television, National Association of Broadcasters, presented a provocative and challenging argument to the Cable and telephone interests, noting that only Broadcasting has a legacy of bringing free television programming to the home. Sherman and the other industry representatives agreed that local advertising and programming will be part of whatever mix of technologies and players eventually emerge. In the short run all players were cautious about even the suggestion of cooperative efforts. The difference in their perspectives has much to do with the experiences each industry has had as a regulated industry, with varying degrees of monopoly status. While broadcast, telephone and cable service providers all see competition as central to their futures, each sees different bumps in the road ahead. These various roadblocks or impediments are seen as affecting the race unfairly for their own entry. Each industry will be less wary as the playing surface for this game finds its level. The afternoon Keynote was provided by James Carey, Dean of the College of Communications at the University of Illinois. Carey provided a stimulating and thoughtful charge to participants to reorient thinking about broadband technologies to focus on individual and societal needs and uses, rather than only commercial imperatives. His lecture ``Framing the Cultural Issues - New Technologies in Old Bottles" presented a series of concerns which communication professionals must confront in order to be mindful of the relationship between good citizenship, effective social relationships, educational needs and consumerism. As one participant put it ``Dr. Carey's comments puts tekkies like myself back down to earth, and I mean EARTH." The final sessions included a panel of experts representing a variety of perspectives and expertise related to design, economics, engineering, regulation, lobbying, marketing and education. They all used their experience to reflect on the future of integrated broadband network, by reacting to a newspaper ``The CASTigator," published in the year 2010. panel members included: John Fraser, Telecommunications Engineering Consultant, Christopher H. Sterling, George Washington University and Editor, Communication Booknotes, Dale Bring, Ohio Association of Broadcasters, Carol Caruso, Ohio Cable Television Association, and Mary Brandt, Public Utility Attorney. Available on request from CAST are: - Robert Pepper's background paper - Copies of overheads used by Gary Nelson - Copies of overheads used by Brad Johnston - The CASTigator Posted by Jane M. Fraser Associate Director, CAST 210 Baker Systems, 1971 Neil Avenue The Ohio State University Columbus, OH 43210 614-292-4129 jane@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu ------------------------------ Reply-To: eli@pws.bull.com Subject: Sprint Billing Screwup ... or Bonanza? Date: Fri, 01 Jun 90 18:17:59 -0400 From: Steve Elias Well, Sprint hosed up my billing again. My calls have been going to the "error file" ever since I signed up for SPrint Plus in February. I just got a bill for $100, about 155 calls over four months. The good news is that since they consolidated all those calls onto one bill, i got a $17 rebate from their volume discount programs. Somehow I don't think they'll go for it if I put their bill in my "error file" and wait four months to pay it. /eli ------------------------------ From: Todd Inch Subject: Genuine Bell vs Cocots Reply-To: Todd Inch Organization: Global Tech Int'l Inc. Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 15:42:49 GMT Lately, on the Seattle radio station I listen to, I've been hearing quite a few commercials from US West (the major local telco, formerly Pacific Northwest Bell) for "Genuine Bell pay phones" aimed at retailers with lobby phones. The ads say something to the effect of "you can't get a more worry-free pay phone than genuine Bell from US West." Sounds like good advice for the customer as well. Todd Inch, System Manager, Global Technology, Mukilteo WA (206) 742-9111 UUCP: {smart-host}!gtisqr!toddi ARPA: gtisqr!toddi@beaver.cs.washington.edu ------------------------------ From: "J. Eric Townsend" Subject: Hacking/Phreaking/Cracking Tips From Cyberpunk Manual Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 2:40:47 CDT Well, I rushed out and bought GURPS Cyberpunk, in the hopes that my money will help SJG with legal fees. (Plus, I collect game stuff.) On the front cover, in the SJG Illuminatus logo, it says: "The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service! (see p. 4)" Anyway ... (Assuming I know *nothing* about cracking/phreaking. I won't comment on my real knowledge.) The following is a summary of text from the GURPS Cyberpunk supplement, with a few direct quotes. How Much Hacking Can I Do Based on the C-word manual: (From the section entitled "Netrunning".) 0. People use handles to hide their real identity (p62). 1. You can uses sensitive devices to listen in on the signals being sent to a computer monitor, and redisplay the image on your own screen (p62). 2. General info on ISDN. (p64-64) 3. Computer accounts can come in various levels, from specialty logins (uucp) to "superuser" who has access to everything. Some programs can give you a higher level of access, equivalent to a "better" account (p68). 4. General info on back doors (p69). 5. General info on chat systems (p69). 6. A list of network names from around the world. No clues as to which are real. For the US, the following are listed: WUT, UDTS 2, Datel I & II, Telenet, Tymnet, ARPAnet, Infomaster, GraphNet, TRT, FTCC, UniNet, Autonet, CompuServer, GENIE, AlaskaNet, JANET, Internet (p 71). 7. Passwords can be really obvious, or hard to remember random text strings (p 72.) 8. A program could possibly cause physical damage (p 72.) 9. General Phreaking Info: - Diverters: go through a bunch of systems so that tracing takes a long time; - Junction Boxing: Just go down to the local junction box and tie in (p 76). 10. Lots of networks use different protocols that are sometimes incompatible (p 77). 11. Ma Bell stuff: - Existence of CN/A, and that Ma Bell can look you up in any way; - Line Routing: "With access to the main phone switch computer, a hacker can control everything about a specific phone line."; - Monitoring: a person could monitor calls with the right access; - After Billing: A person could change bills; (p 82). 12. Trashing: Go through somebody's trash to find out all sorts of interesting info about their computing equipment (p 86,87). (13 and 14 are from the section "Attack and Defense Programs". The programs are obviously s-f software, but ...): 13. Promote: "This program is executed from a normal user account on a system. If successful, the account is 'upgraded' to a superuser account." 14. Webster: "This is the standard icebreaker for use against Password programs (see p 93.). It acts as an extremely fast 'brute-force' hacker." (p 92). 15. Credcard Crime: A false balance could be entered in an account. A device could be used to access somebody else's card without having the correct password to get into the credcard (p 105). [note: a credcard is a self-contained debit card that can have anything from a password to retina scan protection.] And, um, that's about it. Now that you've read that, you know how to break into computer systems and do phone phreaking... 1/2 :-) J. Eric Townsend -- University of Houston Dept. of Mathematics (713) 749-2120 Internet: jet@uh.edu Bitnet: jet@UHOU Skate UNIX(r) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 03:51:25 PDT From: Nigel Roberts +44 860 578600 Subject: Visitor From UK Needs Phone Help in USA Crash-course in N. American telecom street-smarts wanted. --------------------------------------------------------- I expect to be making a number of trips to N. America soon, starting in a couple of months time. From readings of recent Digests it seems that there's a lot to catch out the unwary European (AOS's, COCOTs' etc). I regard myself as a fairly sophisticated telcoms user, but it sure sounds like a jungle out there! Can I ask DIGEST readers to summarize (briefly) any obvious 'self-defense' hints that would be useful. (I know about hotel rip-offs -- Europe isn't much different in that respect). Thoughts on the best and cheapest ways to contact Europe and to be contacted (can you rent voicemail boxes short term, for example?) while we are in N. America will also be most appreciated. I currently have a British Telecom Chargecard and the usual 'major' credit cards (MC/VISA/AMEX) -- are there any good deals to be had in taking out U.S. based calling cards?? Thanks in advance for any ideas. Nigel Roberts voice +44 206 396610 & +44 860 578600 fax +44 206 393148 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 10:16:30 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Default Carriers on Payphones Pay phones I have seen (supplied by Bell Atlantic in northern Delaware and northeastern Maryland) state the long-distance carrier for inter-LATA calls, but sometimes it doesn't match the default one I actually get. NTS (wasn't that cited w/r to some COCOTs?) appears as the default carrier on some of the above. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 10:30:43 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: 0+ Calls Where N0X/N1X in Use Doug Reuben and David Tamkin write about 0+ calls in areas which have N0X/N1X prefixes. All such areas that I know of require 0+NPA+7D for all 0+ calls--EXCEPT that 213 area (now 213/818) used to require only 0+7D for 0+ calls within NPA. There, as I heard from this Digest way back around 1981 when JSol was Moderator, you needed timeout to distinguish between, say, 0-413-2345 and 0-413-234-5678. But buried in a recent Los Angeles area directory was 0+NPA+7D, apparently for all 0+ calls. ------------------------------ From: mike@anomaly.sbs.com (Michael P. Deignan) Subject: Measured Service in Rhode Island Date: 2 Jun 90 13:44:38 GMT Organization: Anomaly - Rhode Island's Open Access *NIX - 1 (401) 455-0347 PEP In Rhode Island, the only way you can get measured service installed in a home that has unlimited service is to have an "apartment". NETEL's definition of an "apartment" is a living area with stove and bathroom. So... There is one Sysop of a local BBS here who has measured service lines installed all the time. To accomplish this, whenever he calls for measured service, when NETEL shows up to hook up his new line, he takes the little propane grill out of storage and sets it up. And, since his basement already has an extra bathroom, and his bedroom is down there too... voila! instant apartment. MD ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 11:11:43 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Two Special Issues: UK Phones /Call*ID in PA Saturday afternoon/evening two special issues will be transmitted to you. One is a detailed report on phone service in the UK; the other is a selection of messages received in the past few days on the court ruling relating to Caller*ID in Pennsylvania. Included with that one will be minutes of the meeting held recently in Florida, and announced in the Digest. PT ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" Date: 1 Jun 90 17:12:18 GMT Organization: gte In article <8436@accuvax.nwu.edu>, PMW1@psuvm.psu.edu (Peter Weiss) writes: > Does this mean they only install this stuff at dwellings that have > telephone circuits installed? I would presume so. > Are there any implications on what kind of circuits? Might not work with multi-party, but with most other common residential connections it should work. Wouldn't work on a pure data line. > What happens if a data call is in progress? A call is a call. If the line is siezed, the metering is aborted. If you have a data line (as opposed to voice line transmitting voice-band data), I doubt this system would work. > If measured service, who foots the cost of the call? The utility, of course. It is a service provided to the utility by the telco. The telco allows the utility to use their facilities for a fee. > Is there an implied theft of (telephone) service from the subscriber's > point of view? Why? If you go off-hook during the metering process, the metering is aborted. There is no denial of service at any time to the subscriber. > What does the FCC & PUC think of all this? Ask 'em. Since it's been going on for a while, I doubt they object. The line up to your house is telco property, after all. > If this is saving the utility money, will it be reflected back into > the rates? Are you kidding? Why should it? > I guess these are rhetorical questions since I don't really want to > start a flame war. No one does ... ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #407 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa22992; 2 Jun 90 20:07 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa23571; 2 Jun 90 18:41 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa27348; 2 Jun 90 17:36 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 16:42:36 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest Special: UK Phone System BCC: Message-ID: <9006021642.ab19742@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 16:41:00 CDT Special: UK Phone System Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson UK Telephone System [Clive D.W. Feather] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Clive D.W. Feather" Subject: UK Telephone System Reply-To: "Clive D.W. Feather" Organization: IXI Limited, Cambridge, UK Date: 29 May 90 15:23:14 GMT This document is my attempt to describe the UK phone system (i.e. those telephones within the +44 international area). It is based on information I have picked up over the years, but is not guaranteed. Telephone services in the UK are provided by the following organizations: British Telecom Mercury Communications Hull Telephone Company Vodaphone Cellnet For historical reasons, BT allocates area codes. This will change in a couple year's time. The bottom level of the BT system is the "Junction Exchange" (JX in this document). A JX is a unit which handles 10,000 subscriber numbers, numbered 0000 to 9999. A number may have several lines attached to it (hundreds in some cases). These four digit numbers are called LNs (Line Numbers) in this document. In a few rural areas, some subscriber numbers are three digits. The appropriate JX thus takes some LNs as being three digits, and some (possibly none) as four. Such JXs are being phased out. [This should be distinguished from the case where all LNs in a group of ten go to the same subscriber, and are interconnected. For example, Basildon hospital officially has the LN 2811. In fact, all of LNs 2800-2899 go to the hospital switchboard, and the JX will route the call as soon as it sees "28".] JXs are grouped into "Area Codes" (AC). Each JX has a one or two digit number within its AC - one digit numbers are being phased out. The exception is in "all-figure areas", where each JX has a three digit number. These numbers do not begin with 0 or 1. Each area code has a number. For most area codes, this is three digits, but for all-figure areas, it is two digits. The "number-space" for area codes is used as follows. All normal area codes begin with a digit from 2-9. The area codes for the all-figure areas are: Birmingham 21 Edinburgh 31 Glasgow 41 Liverpool 51 Manchester 61 London inner 71 (new) London outer 81 (new) Tyne & Wear 91 Of the 720 three-digit codes, about 600-650 are in use (I do have a complete table in numerical order, but it's not in machine-readable form). Certain codes have special meanings: 345 Calls charged at L rate irrespective of distance 482 Hull Telephone Company 800 Free calls 831 Vodaphone 836 Vodaphone 839 Calls charged at m rate irrespective of distance 860 Cellnet 898 Calls charged at m rate irrespective of distance Mercury has been allocated fifteen JXs in the 71 AC and the same fifteen in the 81 AC. I believe that all Mercury subscribers have numbers in this AC, irrespective of location. Area code 1 was used for London (both inner and outer) until 0001 on 6th May 1990; I am unaware of any plans for it. Area code 10 is obscured by the international access code. No area codes begin with 0 (but see below). From any BT subscriber, you can call any number by: 0 + area code + JX number + line number For example, anyone can call me by 0-954-78-0223. In addition, there are certain special codes: 010 international access 0001 equivalent to 010 350 1 [Dublin] 0055 from London only; calls charged at L rate 0066 from London only; calls charged at a rate 0077 from London only; calls charged at m rate Service codes begin with a 1: 100 operator 144 BT credit-card calls 151 fault reporting 153 international directory 155 international operator 192 directory Area codes are further grouped into "Charging Areas" (CA). For example: London CA: 71, 81 Cambridge CA: 220, 223 Madingley CA: 954 The exception is the Tyne and Wear AC, which is three CAs (JXs [24]??, JXs 3??, and JXs 5??). This AC replaced three separate ACs (whose numbers I have forgotten), each of which had its own CA. BT has five charging rates for UK calls, and seven for international. The UK rates, in increasing order of cost, are L, a, b1, b, and m (m is more expensive than I, which is the cheapest international rate). Rates also vary by time: peak = M-F 0900-1300 standard = M-F 0800-0900 and 1300-1800 cheap = all other times (these do not apply to international calls). All calls within a CA are at rate L, as are those to "neighbouring" CAs. Each CA has a nominal centre. For all other calls, if the CA centres are within 56km, the call is at rate a, and otherwise it is at rate b. Rate b1 replaces rate b where BT feels under pressure from Mercury (London CA to Cambridge CA is b1, but to Madingley CA is b). Rate m ("mobile") is only used for calls to Vodaphone, Cellnet, and the special area codes. Hull is treated as a normal CA. Calls from BT to Mercury are charged as normal calls to the London CA. The real complications (you thought this wasn't enough ?) come when dialling calls other than by the full 0+ sequence. For this you need to know the subscriber number (SN). The one simple case is the all-figure areas. For each area, lines within the area are identified by seven digits (JX+LN), and calls are made by just dialling this number [in Tyne and Wear, calls *between* ACs must be prefixed with 90; this is being phased out]. Everywhere else, we run into the "Named Exchange" (NE). An NE comprises a set of JXs, usually, but not always, in the same AC. A subscriber is identified by an exchange name followed by the SN, which is the LN with a prefix. The prefix can be empty, the last digit of a two digit JX, or the JX number. A catch to beware of is that sometimes two NEs have the same name but are distinguished by number length. For example, there is "Welwyn (six figure numbers)" and "Welwyn (four figure numbers)". These cover the same geographical area, but may have different ACs (these two don't). They are always in the same CA. As an example, the Madingley CA consists of: AC JX NE Prefix 954 78 Crafts Hill 78 954 21 Madingley 21 954 3 Swavesey 3 954 6 Willingham 6 954 5 Cottenham 5 954 4 Caxton (4 digits) none 954 71 Caxton (6 digits) 71 954 7 Elsworth none Calls to CAs other than at rate L are always dialled by the full 0+ method. To call a subscriber on the same NE, it is just necessary to dial the SN. Other calls within the CA, and to CAs which are at the L rate, may have an alternate dialling method (not necessarily: Madingley to Huntingdon is rate L, but 0+ must be used; all calls from AC 71 or 81 to any other (or each other) must be dialled as 0+). Two alternate methods seem to be in common use: the "fan" method and the "slave" method (my names). The "fan" method is used at the main NE of a CA. Several prefixes in its AC are not used, but instead become dialling codes from the NE. For example, from Cambridge: 8 -> AC 220 (same CA) 91 -> AC 440 (different CA) 92 -> AC 767 (different CA) 93 -> AC 954 (different CA) 94 -> AC 638 (different CA) 95 -> AC 763 (different CA) 96 -> AC 799 (different CA) 98 -> AC 353 (different CA) These are then followed by the JX and LN. All other NEs in the same AC (not the same CA) can be called by dialling the JX and LN with no prefix (there are no cases of this in AC 223). [Amusing side-note. Someone blew it in specifying 8 -> AC 220. The JXs that were in AC 220 (21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 5) did not occur in AC223. So there was actually no need for the dialling code. All of these except the last two have now been moved to Cambridge NE (and AC 223) by simply changing the SN, without changing the JX+LN combination. The others will come soon (I have already seen people using "Cambridge 29xxxx" phone numbers).] The "slave" method is used at all other NEs in the same CA, and possibly in other CAs (All of Madingley CA is a slave of Cambridge NE in this sense). Calls to the master NE are made by dialling a single 9 followed by the SN. All calls which are rate L, and which could be made from the master NE with a dialling code, are made by dialling 9 followed by the sequence from the master NE. For example, from ACs 220 and 954, the following dialling codes exist: 9 -> AC 223 9+8 -> AC 220 (also used from Teversham (220 5) to West Wratting (220 29)) 9+91 -> AC 440 (not available from AC 954) 9+92 -> AC 767 9+93 -> AC 954 (also see below) 9+94 -> AC 638 (not available from AC 954) 9+95 -> AC 763 (not available from AC 954) 9+96 -> AC 799 (not available from AC 954) 9+98 -> AC 353 In addition, a slave NE may also have other dialling codes not beginning with a 9. For example, in AC 954, to dial from Caxton (six digits), Cottenham, Crafts Hill, Madingley, Swavesey, and Willingham to any number in the AC is done by JX+LN, without any code. On the other hand, to dial from Elsworth to Caxton (four digits), or vice versa, the route via Cambridge must be used (i.e. 9+93+JX+LN). One final note. Slave exchanges have operator service provided by the master exchange. This means that emergency service is "9+99". On master exchanges, it is thus simply "99" (! for UK readers). Clive D.W. Feather | IXI Limited | +44 223 462 131 (v) clive@x.co.uk | 62-74 Burleigh Street | +44 224 462 132 (fax) ["x", not "ixi"] | Cambridge U.K. |----------------------------- ...!uunet!ixi!clive | CB1 1OJ | Silly quote being thought up ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest Special: UK Phone System ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa25483; 2 Jun 90 21:12 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa13982; 2 Jun 90 19:45 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab23571; 2 Jun 90 18:41 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 18:16:08 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest Special: Call*ID Illegal BCC: Message-ID: <9006021816.ab14870@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 18:15:00 CDT Special: Call*ID Illegal Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Court Declares Caller*ID Illegal [Various Correspondents] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Court Declares Caller*ID Illegal Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 17:30:00 CDT This past week, a court in Pennsylvania ruled that the Caller*ID service offered by telcos in that state was illegal. The telcos will most likely appeal to higher courts, including perhaps the United States Supreme Court for a final resolution. I received a huge number of messages from readers on this topic. Many were reports as they appeared in local newspapers around the country. In this special issue of TELECOM Digest, I have culled through the messages received, and present several. My thanks to all who wrote, and my apologies to the several messages I could not include due to space limitations, including but not limited to 'solomon@mis.arizona.edu' and Pete Ferris who sent the story as it appeared on the Associated Press wires. From: leichter@lrw.com [From the New York Times, Thursday 31-May-90, Page D1] Services Identifying Caller Held Illegal In Pennsylvania By Keith Bradsher A Pennsylvania court ruled yesterday that services that identify the telephone numbers of callers represent an illegal invasion of privacy. The verdict was the first in the nation on the legality of such services. The five judges of the Commonwealth Court, a mid-level state appellate court, ruled unanimously that caller identification services ... violate Pennsylvania's wiretap law. All five judges found that the services violate the law even when telephone companies allow some customers to block the release of their telephone numbers. And the court ruled by a 3-2 vote that the services violate privacy protections offered by the Pennsylvania Constitution. "In the framework of a democratic society, the privacy rights concept is much too fundamental to be compromised or abridged by permitting Caller*ID," Judge Doris A. Smith wrote in the majority opinion.... But Bell of Pennsylvania criticized the ruling. "Because of this decision, Pennsylvanians are being denied a service they eagerly want and badly need - a weapon against harassing, threatening or obscene calls," [a spokesman said]. Three Options for Panel The Commonwealth Court hears appeals of decisions by state and local administrative bodies in Pennsylvania, and its decisions may be appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. John F. Povilaitis, the chief counsel of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said his office would review yesterday's decision and make a recommendation to the commissioners within a few days. [He] said the commission had three options: to ask [for a rehearing], to file an appeal before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, or to allow the decision to stand. Bell of Pennsylvania was not named as a defendant in the case. But [it] said it qualified as a party [and could appeal if the PUC chose not to]. Bell ... filed with the commission on June 18, 1989 for permission to offer caller identification. The commission approved the filing on Nov. 9 and the company scheduled service to begin Jan. 9. But a Commonwealth Court judge blocked the service pending judicial review. The suit was filed against the P.U.C. by the state's Office of the Consumer Advocate, the [ACLU], the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Consumer Education and Protective Association. [Caller ID is now] widely available in [five states] and on a limited basis in [three others] ... according to ... a spokesman for Bell Atlantic Corporation, the parent of Bell of Pennsylvania. Phone companies in nine other states and Washington are seeking to introduce caller identification. Long-distance companies, including [AT&T], also offer caller identification to some businesses with 800 and 900 numbers. Yesterday's decision ... did not address whether long-distance companies should stop providing information for Pennsylvania callers. "We have to see how, if at all, this ruling affects AT&T," said ... a spokesman for the company. Privacy Issue Cited Bell Atlantic and other defenders of caller identification have argued that the services discourage obscene callers and protect the privacy of people receiving calls by allowing them the choice of not answering. But the court ruled explicitly that the privacy of people making calls is more important. The court found that caller identification services function as call-tracing devices, which under the Pennsylvania wiretap statute may be used only under certain circumstances. The court noted that Pennsylvania requires the consent of all parties before a telephone conversation may be recorded. As of December, there were fifteen other states with similar requirements. The remaining states and Federal law allow taping with the consent of one party. But [FCC] rules require that all parties to an interstate or international call be aware they are being taped. The Pennsylvania wiretap statute contains wording similar to the Federal wiretap statute. Bills are pending in the House and Senate that would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 to make caller identification explicitly legal while requiring that telephone companies give customers the option of blocking release of their telephone numbers. A subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for June 7 on caller identification. -------------------------------- Next, we have a report from the {Philadelphia Inquirer}: From: "Scott D. Green" Yesterday, Commonwealth Court ruled that Caller ID violates the state's Wiretap Act and the caller's constituional rights to privacy. Judge Doris Smith ruled that obscene and annoying calls can be dealt with using existing Bell services. Bell of PA will study the ruling to decide whether to appeal to the state supreme court. Opponents of CallerID (ACLU, PA Coalition Gainst Domestic Violence, et al) went to court only to get blocking for any customer who wanted it. The decision said that CallerID violates the Wiretap Act, with or without blocking. Bell's VP for Ext. Affairs said, "Because of this decision, Pennsylvanians are being denied a service they eagerly want and badly need." The company said that the ruling would force them to remove CallerID from police and fire emergency lines. [A threat, perhaps?? -sg]. ----------------------- David Gast makes an excellent suggestion, after paraphrasing the story as it appeared in the {New York Times}: From: David Gast The NYT reports in Thursday's (May 31, 1990) edition that a mid level PA court has ruled that Caller Id is an illegal invasion of privacy. All five of the justices found that the services are illegal under PA wiretap laws even if some customors can block their phone numbers from being sent. The justices split 3-2 in favor of ruling that caller ID violates the privacy protections of the PA state constitution. An AT&T spokesmen said that he would have to look at the ruling to see if it affects 800 and 900 caller identification programs. David Gast gast@cs.ucla.edu {uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast P.S. Since I tried extremely hard to avoid editorializing (that is, commenting on whether I believe the decision was good or bad), I suggest that follow-ups be made to some other newsgroup like misc.legal. ---------------------- Wayne Correia sent this report from the {San Jose Mercury News}: From: Wayne Correia 5/31/90 SJ Mercury News CALLER ID SERVICE BREAKS WIRETAP LAW, COURT SAYS PHILADELPHIA - A Pennsylvania court said flatly Wednesday that any form of Caller ID, a proposed Bell of Pennsylvania service that would allow customers to see the phone numbers of callers, violates the state's Wiretap Act and callers' rights to privacy. Civil libertarians applauded the Commonwealth Court ruling - which went further than Caller ID's most vocal critics had asked for - and said it might spark challenges to the service elsewhere. Bell of Pennsylvania said it was "extremely disappointed" with the decision and might appeal to the state Supreme Court. Caller ID has aroused fierce debate in Pennsylvania and other states where it is being introduced, with both sides arguing that they are trying to protect privacy. The service permits phone customers who pay a fee and who have the right piece of equipment to see the numbers of callers before answering the phone. Telephone companies and others in favor of Caller ID say it is like a peephole in a front door, letting customers decide whether to answer their phones and protecting their privacy. Others say it sacrifices the privacy of people with unlisted numbers and might discourage people from making anonymous call to the police or other investigators or crisis hot lines. Consumer groups went to court to try to get number-blocking for any customer who wanted it, which Bell said would defeat the purpose of Caller ID. Other Bell companies are testing or introducing Caller ID in a number of other states but often are running into the same debate that surfaced in Pennsylvania. ------------------------- [Wayne then added this personal note at the bottom of the newspaper story.] I guess they don't know that organizations with Primary rate ISDN trunks and Feature Group D 800 lines currently receive the CPID and ANI respectively of the phone number calling them. Maybe technology will win over emotion next time. I wonder how much a PRI ISDN trunk and a corresponding Panasonic PRI ISDN trunk card for my PBX would cost me? (if it were available!) :) Wayne Correia wdc@apple.com --------------------------- A thread started recently in the Digest discussed 'self help' ways of blocking Caller ID. Some replies have appeared in regular issues of the Digest; here is one from Dave Levenson: From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Defeating 800 ANI & Caller*ID Using the "O" Operator Date: 31 May 90 04:17:47 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <8427@accuvax.nwu.edu>, slr@dhw68k.cts.com (Steve L. Rhoades) writes: > On a related question: For those of you with Caller*ID, what happens > when you get a call routed through the "O" operator ? (the called > party being someone that you would normally get a calling number from > on your Caller*ID display). In New Jersey, an operator-assisted call (any 0+, whether human or MCCS-assisted) is displayed as OUT OF AREA. This same display is used for calls from non-SS7-connected CO switches, and for calls from outside the LATA. Dave Levenson Voice: 201 647 0900 Fax: 201 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] ------------------------------ From: ekrell@ulysses.att.com The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (a mid-level state appellate court) ruled 4-1 that Caller ID violates Pennsylvania's wiretap law, reversing a November order by the PUC allowing Bell of Pennsylvania to offer Caller ID. The court said Caller ID was unacceptable even if offered with a blocking device. The court also ruled 3-2 that Caller ID violated privacy protections offered by the Pennsylvania Constitution. The decisions of this court can be appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The PUC can also ask the court to hear the case again within fifteen days or let the decision stand. It's not clear how this will affect the 800 and 900 ANI services offered by long distance companies. The decision said nothing about preventing long distance companies from providing ANI on Pennsylvania callers. Eduardo Krell AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ UUCP: {att,decvax,ucbvax}!ulysses!ekrell Internet: ekrell@ulysses.att.com ------------------------------ From: mark kallas Organization: DSC Communications, Plano Tx. I heard that Pennsylvania has outlawed Caller ID because it violates the wire tapping laws. How many other states have taken action against Caller ID? Mark Kallas ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Summary of Florida PUC Meeting on Caller ID Background: SBT wants to start selling CID on 5 June for $7.50/month. They do NOT want to supply blocking at all, but have relented for police officers and domestic violence workers. {Disclaimer: This is from memory. I did not take many notes, and so I may have some names spelled incorrectly. A transcript is available from Mr. Shreve's office.} The 30 May meeting regarding Caller ID was slightly stormy. It was called by Jack Shreve, the state Public Counsel. His office represents utility consumers before the PSC. It was not well publicized, but about fifty people attended. 'PRO' speakers included SBT, a Palm Beach businessman who talked about the ability to monitor customer's buying patterns by phone number and a woman from an organization called PATT (I think), in Maryland. (I'm not sure who paid her travel expenses, but the person next to me mentioned that she has been to several states and on the Hill testifying about it.) The first ANTI speaker was from the Florida Medical Association. He talked about the concern of the medical community in regards to returning patient's after hours calls. He pointed out that all of the alternatives SBT suggested (cellular, operator assisted, separate outgoing line) would cost the subscriber extra. SBT suggested they may offer a new blocked METERED outgoing line to MD's {note: to the best of my knowledge, there are no metered/measured lines in the FL tariffs at present) Another ANTI speaker was from a volunteer group whose members are appointed by a judge to represent the child in custody/abuse cases. Mr. Ellington of SBT suggested she contact her HRS {ie state welfare system} representative. {SBT has already offered HRS employees blocking}. She pointed out that her organization has NO connection with HRS at all, and in fact they often oppose HRS in these cases. But the largest contingent was from the law enforcement community. Mr. Ron Tudor of the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement pointed out the many problems involving the law enforcement community. He also talked about the large amount of CID equipment being found in raids in other states. An Assistant State Attorney mentioned the fact that prosecutors and judges face the same problems as police officers. {SBT has NOT offered them blocking} Several other PD officers from various agencies also spoke. {Mr. Tudor is on a FSLE committee that is studying the entire problem. I gathered this study is a major effort. I got this impression when he showed up with, and started quoting, Bellcore spec's. No disrespect, but I work with lots of cops, and I never before met one that knew Bellcore existed ;-( } Mr. Robert Sherman, a free lance photojournalist, talked about the similar situation he would face. He wondered if {Watergate's} Deep Throat would have ever called the Post with CID around. The meeting ran well over its time slot and concluded about 1900. Mr. Shreve announced he was considering holding more such meetings before deciding his course of action. Final notes: a) The FLA PSC is supposed to decide on 5 May. I would *guess* that they will stall. b) There was some media coverage (2 rx people, and at least one rag) the latter because there was a story was on B-1 of the Herald the next day. The focus of the story was the controversy, and the differing viewpoints. wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM pob 570-335 33257-0335 --------------------------- Further news developments will be reported of course, but as David Gast suggested, misc.legal might be a good place for followups. PT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest Special: Call*ID Illegal ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa05349; 3 Jun 90 1:22 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa06232; 2 Jun 90 23:49 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa02342; 2 Jun 90 22:45 CDT Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 22:31:33 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #408 BCC: Message-ID: <9006022231.ab26929@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 2 Jun 90 22:31:09 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 408 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Discounts For Deaf: My Solution [TELECOM Moderator] TDD Discount: My Response [Curtis E. Reid] Re: TDD Long Distance Discount [Ken Harrenstien] Re: TDD Technology (was Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues) [Mary Winters] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 22:05:20 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution I hope no one will be angry with me for drawing this topic to a close at this time ... it has occupied a lot of bandwidth here in recent days, and like so many 'political' problems relating to telecom, the discussion could go on a lot longer. My suggestion is that the discounts should continue, for perhaps a maximum period of another eighteen months -- say, until January 1, 1992. During the interim period, an effort would be made to convert as many TDD users as possible over to high speed modems and 'BBS like' software, so that for all practical purposes they could participate in the world with the rest of us. I'd even go so far as to say the money presently allocated for relay services and the like could be partially used to subsidize the purchase of inexpensive terminals with high speed modems. For those deaf persons who already had computers and modems, some software would be available at a reduced (if necessary) price. Then following the cut off date, no more discounts for slowness ... or maybe, a much smaller discount at present, which would go on for a few more months of the coversion, then a final end to it. That's just my solution; it seems a fair way to end the costs others are paying while still lending help to our deaf citizens. To bring a close to this topic, this issue has three more final comments, including one from the person who started the thread. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 16:36 EST From: "Curtis E. Reid" Subject: TDD Discount: My Response I've been away on vacation and imagine my surprise the "flame war" that I started! :-) Okay ... from the articles that were posted in several issues of TELECOM Digest, it appears there are several major issues that were raised in response to my concern that AT&T might discontinue the TDD discount for deaf customers. These issues that the readers brought up are indirectly and directly related to the use of TDD discount. Allow me to explain the reasoning why AT&T deaf customers have TDD discount. It is *not* a discount per se (like 50% etc.) but rather use of time-of-day rate at the time of call made. I.E., if I call during the daytime (Day Rate), I get billed at the Evening Rate. If I call during the evening (and Evening Rate), I get the Night Rate. Likewise, if I call during the Night Rate, I still get the Night Rate. And, they are all direct-dialed. The following schedule for direct dialed inter-state calls is pretty common in many states: Time Actual Called Rate Actual Billed Day Rate ---> Evening Rate Evening Rate ---> Night Rate Night Rate ---> Night Rate Some states also offer similar rate schedule like above for intrastate calls; although I do not know what PacBell, SouthWest, and other companies offer. I'd like to hear from readers who might know about it in those areas. And, the most common restriction regarding the TDD discount is that it is offered only for one residential line. So, if you have a couple residential lines, you get the TDD discount only on one line. If you think you can get these discounts on multiple lines, forget it. And, AT&T must be your primary long distance carrier. Another thing, you must fill out an application and have it signed by an physician or audiologist to certify that you are hearing impaired, you are unable to hear or speak well to communicate aurally, and you rely on TDD. The telephone company that processes your application will call you on TDD to verify that you do indeed have a TDD to answer. These procedure may vary in some states and local telephone companies. For example, Rochester Telephone Corp. is probably the most unique in the country because it uses a calling card billing to give TDD users a TDD discount. Apparently, their billing system cannot handle the discount on direct-dialed (1+a/c+nbr) so the workaround is to use the calling card with a special prefix 534. This practice has continued for many years and it seems likely that Roch Tel will not modify their system because AT&T will soon be doing its billing in July or so. Back to my concern that I addressed earlier, I was concerned about the news that AT&T might consider removing the TDD discount because no other long distance carriers (MCI, Sprint, etc.) carries this discount. So, the idea is if they don't carry the TDD discount, why should AT&T? I contacted AT&T but they deny or plead ignorance so I don't know whether it will be implemented when they do the billing later this year. I simply hope this is just a pure rumor. To address other concerns of issue: Why should deaf customers who use TDD get the discount? Why don't they upgrade TDD units to 1200 or higher bps? Are deaf people really economically disadvantaged? Is the TDD discounts fair? I think all these pretty sums it up what readers have posted to TELECOM Digest. I'll answer each questions and you can tell me whether you agree or disagree but let's not start a flame war, please. Why should deaf customers who use TDD get the discount? If you look at the rate schedule I mentioned earlier, there isn't really any additional discounts -- just a shift of the rate with time of the day. But, the real answer, that some of you have already answered, is that a communication via TDD takes two to four times longer depending on the user's typing skills. Even at 45 WPM is too slow for me but it is the fastest TDDs are designed to handle. Some people type slower than 45 WPM. This is an equitable way to equalize the cost of a voice call versus TDD call. To give you an idea, if I spoke the following sentence "Mary had a little lamb.", it will only take me five seconds to say it. Now, if I typed that on a TDD, it takes fifteen seconds. Now, for fun exercise, record a five-minute conversation with another person. Just five minutes. When you are done, play back the conversation. Repeat the entire conversation by typing it into a computer or typewriter. Record the time start and time end. When you are done, figure how long it is. Add another twwo minutes for pausing and "GA"s. That's how long. My guess it is between fifteen to twenty minutes or longer if you speak fast. Why don't they upgrade TDD units to 1200 or higher bps? I encourage the use of ASCII and higher speed. Unfortunately, TDD is a 1960 technology which uses the outdated BAUDOT code (5-bit) and there is a large installed base of approximately one million. Many people have invested in TDDs and consider purchase of a TDD to be significant. So, residential TDD customers would rather keep their TDDs as long as it is still working. When it breaks down after five to seven years, then they'll buy another TDD. So, the cycle repeats. I feel that this will continue well into the 21st century. Until they are willing to use ASCII instead of TDD to communicate, TDD is here to stay. Are deaf people really economically disadvantaged? I would say between 75%-80% are economically disadvantaged. The rest are well-to-do with good income. But, for the most part, they live between poverty and low middle income. (I consider less than $13,000 to be poverty.) So, they have to eat which takes up about 40% of their income. Rent and taxes are two other major expenses. So, there isn't much room for luxury items. As far as I know, there isn't many deaf managers in corporations or in executives. Oh, I'll say there are in high-level manager positions but it's few and far between. Every penny counts. Is the TDD discounts fair? To regular customers like yourself? That's a matter of opinion. Some say it's not fair because it subsidize deaf people. Who is to say it's fair that blind people get an extra exemption on their federal income tax return? Who is to say it's fair that the elderly gets LifeLine service? Alas, the world is not what we'd like it to be. There are so much prejudice and bias that the government has to assist those disadvantaged. If *all* the companies would hire blind, deaf, physically handicapped and others equally and equitably then we won't have any problems with subsidization. Until that day that everyone would be treated equally (and it is coming soon now that the Congress is close to passing a civil rights bill for the handicapped that prevents discrimination in employment and other places), subsidization is necessary. Consider yourself. What kind of job are you working? Is this job something a deaf person can do? What about your friends? Are they receptive to deaf or handicapped people? I can go on and on but I'm sure you get the idea now. I know I'm at the risk of starting a discussion on the merits of deaf people versus other people and the use of subsidization. Please bear in mind that I'm writing in response to some of the comments/remarks that some of you made. What I have said earlier represents my views and opinion and is in no way represents the opinions of *anyone* else. Well, that's it from me. TDD specs and history are in the Telecom archives if you want to look further into it. Curtis Reid CER2520@RITVAX.Bitnet CER2520%RITVAX.Bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Internet) CER2520@vaxd.isc.rit.edu (Not Reliable-NYSernet) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 17:36:47 PDT From: Ken Harrenstien Subject: Re: TDD Long Distance Discount I guess I should comment, although I'm not sure whether I can adequately cover in one message all of the subtopics that are now tearing off in all directions. I tend to wax philosophical, so bear with me... As a professional, I agree with John Gilmore that rewarding inefficient transmission with lower rates seems counter-intuitive, and I can understand the appeal of Libertarian arguments to put everything on a pure pay-for-yourself basis. But Karl Denninger is correct when he writes that: >However, the issue is not >bandwidth, nor is it the information able to be transmitted per unit >of time. It could be a matter of perceived public service, or any one >of a number of other factors. It's simply impossible to consider technology in isolation; economic, political, and moral considerations all contribute factors that are almost always far more important. I learned this many times over while working on our Deafnet project and participating in the PUC hearings for California's TDD distribution program, and got so depressed and burned-out by this exposure to reality that for several years afterwards I had no interest in bashing my head any further. Technological: High-speed data standards, batched e-mail, VLSI modems and other technological fixes are fine and dandy, but the concepts were not new twelve years ago when we demonstrated all of them. Exercise for the reader: Why do you think they haven't happened? Analogous exercise: why don't we have HDTV yet? Economic: Are the deaf economically disadvantaged? In general, yes. Anecdotal evidence might work for Reagan, but not in this forum, I hope. Regardless of many well-off deaf professionals you know, the data from real surveys is not encouraging. In general, the level of income for deaf people is below that of the hearing population; for the prelingually deaf the differences are more severe. One of these differences is a 6th-grade reading level, which is not exactly a ticket to fortune (once again, movie stars notwithstanding). While my own experiences as a WODP must be considered equally anecdotal, they are consistent with these surveys. And were a rude shock, I might add. Political: Why should some groups be subsidized? A good question, which should be applied to everything else such as local and rural telephone services, hospitals, insurance, mass transit, PBS, and space launchers. Whether we like it or not, the representatives of our society have already decided that subsidization is an acceptable method to promote the greater good, and if you are arguing against this concept, you are taking a radical position indeed. In this particular case, I believe some form of help for deaf telephone users does indeed promote the greater good, but as for most other subsidies it is hard to come up with definite proof of this. We make do with appeals to emotion, reason, and greed. I don't know how the rate discount evolved. I do know that the TDD distribution plan in California was heavily influenced by TDD manufacturers who expected to gain a windfall profit from sales to telcos. The situation of deaf people provided the emotional sugarcoating that made the vendors' motives palatable to the legislature and PUC. Whether the equipment served the needs of the deaf was secondary to whether it served the needs of the vendors, the PUC, and the lobbyists thereof. In retrospect, just normal politics. Moral: Modern western culture appears to have developed a general philosophy that it is a Good Thing for advantaged people to help disadvantaged people. Aside from religious motives, this can be justified both on the selfishly personal grounds that you never know when YOU will become one of the disadvantaged, and the more noble but long-range faith that it will contribute to society as a whole. I use the word "faith" because even when the economic numbers demonstrate the advantages of things like subsidization, it's hard for most people or businesses to think in such long-range terms. Why should your money support my telephone usage? Why should my money support your PhD at Enormous State University? Why am I wandering off the subject? In sum: Personally I think that the additional traffic and business generated by providing telephone access to the deaf will far compensate for the "subsidization". I don't think the rate discount is a particularly well-conceived approach to the problem, but the other aspects (TDD distribution and relay service) are essential. The telephone has become such an enormously important and crucial part of our society today that any group which is prevented from using it, for any reason, is indeed severely disadvantaged. I just wish that it was easier to get technology out of the lab and into the real world. Ken ------------------------------ From: mjw06513@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mary Winters) Subject: Re: TDD Technology (was Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues) Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 17:03:25 GMT In article <8526@accuvax.nwu.edu> "Yossi (Joel" >[...], but are deaf people going to be stuck with 45.5 baud forever? >The logical thing to do would be to use standard 300 baud ASCII-type >modems. (Most humans can't type 300 baud anyway). They're readily >available, and very cheap. But the problem is that the existing TDD's >are the existing TDD's, and no one wants to be the first on the block >to get the new, non-backwards comptable, technology. In California, they have TDDs which have two operating modes: the "normal" 45.5 baud/baudot code mode, and an ASCII/300 baud mode, changeable by a simple flip of a switch. I saw one of these back in 1985 or so. I was told that these units were loaned to deaf people free of charge. It seems like a very nifty way to sidestep the problem you mention. uv@f69.n233.z1.fidonet.org Suffering from PMS (Presentation Manager Syndrome) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #408 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa10452; 3 Jun 90 3:29 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04693; 3 Jun 90 1:53 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa01926; 3 Jun 90 0:49 CDT Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 0:00:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #409 BCC: Message-ID: <9006030000.ab02796@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 2 Jun 90 00:00:03 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 409 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson AT&T Response, Re: TDD Discount [R. L. Buchwalter, ATT, via B. McGarry] Re: NN0-style NPAs and Order of Assignment [Marc O'Krent] Re: ATT Special Promotion [Bill Huttig] Re: Modem Connections While Camping [Jon Baker] Re: Defeating 800 ANI & Caller*ID Using the "O" Operator [Jon Baker] Re: Data Access Lines [Stephen J. Friedl] Re: PacBell Dropping Charge for Touch-Tone Service [Andy Behrens] Re: Another Clue to Possible E. German Prefixes [Jim Shankland] Re: Caller-ID Theory and Operation [Jon Baker] Re: Telebit vs. Sprint [John Higdon] Re: 0+ Calls Where N0X/N1X in Use [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Brian O'Donoghue] Re: One Ringer, N Phones [Nigel Allen] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [HAMER524@ruby.vcu.edu] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill McGarry Subject: AT&T Response, Re: TDD Discount Date: 3 Jun 90 03:20:59 GMT Reply-To: Bill McGarry Organization: The Handicap News BBS (1-203-337-1607) [Moderator's Note: Just as the last issue on TDD Discounts was going out the door here, the following arrived. Even though the discussion had to be closed, I did want to share this important response. PT] ------------ Recently, Curtis E. Reid (CER2520@ritvax.bitnet) wrote an article about AT&T considering removing the TDD Long Distance Call discounts. I posted Curtis's article in misc.handicap (which is also gatewayed with the ABLED and SILENTTALK conferences in Fidonet). I received various responses, including this from R. L. Buchwalter of AT&T. Bill McGarry wtm@bunker.uucp This article is from joan-b@allegra.att.com (Joan Bachenko): This is from R.L. Buchwalter of AT&T, in response to the recent mail about AT&T's TDD discounts. Please address replies to either the network or to joan-b@allegra.att.com and I will see that your comments are passed along to AT&T. Joan Bachenko AT&T Policy on TDD Discounts: Concerning the May 21 inquiry about changing the discounts for TDD users, I can say AT&T has no current plans to change these discounts. The level of TDD discounts is of the many price elements associated with a long distance call. We continually review our pricing relative to market conditions but as stated above have no plans to change the TDD pricing. R. L. Buchwalter AT&T Division Manager - LD Strategic Planning ------------------------------ From: Marc O'Krent Subject: Re: NN0-style NPAs and Order of Assignment Date: 1 Jun 90 06:33:48 GMT Reply-To: Marc O'Krent Organization: Cochran&Associates, Menlo Park, CA In the list of "new" NPA, I didn't see *310* which is the area code we will have here in LA after 2/92. Just FYI. Marc O'Krent The Telephone Connection Internet: marc@ttc.info.com MCIMail: mokrent Voice Mail: +1 213 551 9620 ------------------------------ From: Bill Huttig Subject: Re: ATT Special Promotion Date: 1 Jun 90 16:13:43 GMT Reply-To: Bill Huttig Organization: Florida Institute of Technology, ACS, Melbourne, FL In article <8495@accuvax.nwu.edu> eli@pws.bull.com writes: >Obviously what? Geez, Patrick, you ought to know me by now. Even if >I had read the Digest on time, I still would have routed my calls via >Sprint Plus for about the same price as the "ATT Special Oh Wow >Promotion" rate. And my connection probably would have been just >*that much* clearer and louder, depending on destination. I talked to a few AT&T customer service reps one hinted to a rate reduction coming up soon. Another one said that there would be more "Specials" this summer but didnt know how much or when. seems that the LEX's have to reprogram their billing computers for each Special. >Use US Sprint and turn your connection up to ELEVEN. MCI Primetime is only 10.8333333 cents per minute $6.50 /hr and they know how to bill.(Not as good as AT&T but better then US Sprint). ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Modem Connections While Camping Date: 1 Jun 90 16:57:42 GMT Organization: gte In article <8426@accuvax.nwu.edu>, phil@wubios.wustl.edu (J. Philip Miller) writes: > I have been contemplating how I can get my regular fix of > comp.dcom.telecom while I am gone. Get professional help. > I have the usual assortment of modular phone cords with alligator > clips and gizmoes to replace the mouthpiece of a standard phone, but > think that these are unlikely to work from the pay phones which are > usually about the best you can find in a campground. > Suggestions? There used be something called an 'acoustic coupler', or some such. Should work fine from a garden-variety pay phone. Maybe try Radio Shack; they might still sell them. If not, try your local Museum of Electronic Gadgetry That's So Old Nobody Knows What It Does Any More. ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Defeating 800 ANI & Caller*ID Using the "O" Operator Date: 1 Jun 90 19:09:01 GMT Organization: gte In article <8427@accuvax.nwu.edu>, slr@dhw68k.cts.com (Steve L. Rhoades) writes: > My question: Is this just a fluke ? Is there some type of convention > for TOPS to pass the calling number to the 800 service provider ? Has > anyone else tried this ? Does it work elsewhere ? Your number is being passed (via ANI) to TOPS. TOPS *should* pass the caller's number back to the originating CO via ANI. If the originating CO has SS7 or ANI trunks to the 800 carrier, then the originating CO *should* forward your number to the 800 carrier. Possible causes : 1. TOPS is not passing the digits back to the CO; 2. the originating CO does not have ANI/SS7 trunks to the 800 carrier; 3. the originating CO does have such trunks, but for some reason is not forwarding your number. Since your number does usually get passed on, that should rule out #2. Someone who knows more about TOPS could address #1. If you know what type of CO you are served by, we might be able to address #3. -- ------------------------------ From: "Stephen J. Friedl" Subject: Re: Data Access Lines Date: 1 Jun 90 14:26:50 GMT Organization: VSIFAX Tech Center > If PEP is modulated only at 7.35 or 88.26 baud, it should be no > difficulty for the local lines to carry it, unless shoving so many > bits into so few bauds requires so many carrier pitches that local > telco lines might not be reliably able to discriminate that fine. PEP is modulated at 7.35 or 88.26 baud PER CARRIER, and to get the baud for the whole signal one must multiple by the number of carriers in use. A PEP line is easily thousands of baud for a clean line, and for phone line requirements, the 7.35 or 88.26 number is meaningless. Stephen J. Friedl, KA8CMY / Software Consultant / Tustin, CA / 3B2-kind-of-guy +1 714 544 6561 / friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US / {uunet,attmail}!mtndew!friedl ------------------------------ From: Andy Behrens Subject: Re: PacBell Dropping Charge for Touch-Tone Service Date: 1 Jun 90 20:48:35 GMT Reply-To: andyb@coat.com Christopher J. Pikus writes: > Today in my phone bill was a little leaflet saying that they > will be eliminating the charge for touch tone. ... Today I got a little leaflet too. For its Vermont customers NYNEX is lowering the charge for 3-way calling and call forwarding, but *raising* the charge for touch tone! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Jun 90 16:34:27 PDT Subject: Re: Another Clue to Possible E. German Prefixes Reply-To: mtxinu!Ingres.COM!jas@uunet.uu.net Organization: The Eddie Group From: Jim Shankland In article <8432@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0002909785@mcimail.com (J. Stephen Reed) writes: >West German postal codes are normally four digits, ranging from 1000 >(West Berlin) to 7999. An article in the Germany Philatelic Society >magazine noted that according to a Deutsche Bundespost bulletin some >years ago, the 8000s and 9000s are reserved for "other German regions". Not quite right. Don't know about the 9000 series, but the 8000 series is used by Munich and surroundings (much of Upper Bavaria?). jas ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Caller-ID Theory and Operation Date: 1 Jun 90 17:21:41 GMT Organization: gte In article <8448@accuvax.nwu.edu>, ssid@mtuxo.att.com (Sameer Siddiqui) writes: > - Is it a propriatary service/product? Do you mean is only AT&T allowed to manufacture equipment that offers it, or is only Bell allowed to offer it? No. Anyone can manufacture equipment that provides CID, and any telco can offer it. > - Is it available or going to be available nationwide? The capability to offer it will be available nationwide (i.e. nationwide deployment of SS7). It may not be available in some areas due to regulatory or judicial intervention. Certainly some backwater areas will be slower to acquire the technology ... > - Is it part of ISDN service? No. > - Do you need the decoder/display box or can you get a PC to do the work? With the proper interfacing equipment, you could get a PC to do it. Redcom in Rochester, N.Y., markets an interface that connects to lines, trunks, T1, etc., and reports activity on such devices through an RS-232. This device does detect FSK tones, so could be used to detect and report Caller ID. ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Telebit vs. Sprint Date: 2 Jun 90 11:54:56 PDT (Sat) From: John Higdon Marc O'Krent writes: > Althought the > first ESS was also deployed in LA in 1965, it wasn't untill about 1977 > that custom calling was offered. At least that was the first year we > were able to offer it to customers - I was also a Pac Bell service > rep. --Excuse me, "Pacific Telephone.") That's odd. I remember the first Bay Area ESS cuts as being around the very early '70s. (I started noticing the "precise" ringback tone, and the funny way when someone answered, the RBT would stop almost a full second before there was the clunk of the audio path being completed.) Anyway, it was not more than a year before the first basic features were offered: three-way, forwarding, and call-waiting. Speed calling didn't become available until something like 1976, but there were definately the other features available years before that. This is extra odd, since it has been my experience that ALL technological improvements in Pac*Bell (or Pacific Telephone, depending on the era) come to the Southland years before anywhere else in the state, including the Bay Area. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: 2-JUN-1990 15:42:46.36 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Re: 0+ Calls Where N0X/N1X in Use [Moderator's Note: A response to a letter from Carl Moore. PT] Carl- Actually, the 1/1AESS's in Queens and Brooklyn (718) New York allowed 1+ and 0+7 digit dialing for a while, and the same problem came up. One could dial 0+403-9970, and the payphone would wait for a few more digits. (Or you could dial 0-403-555-1111 or whatever, and it went straight through...) I found that using the "#" sign at the end of the seven digit number would tell the exchange to immediately process the call, rather than wait for the timeout (I think someone on the Digest mus have mentioned this allready, though..). The odd thing was that you were also able to dial 1+ 7 digits for local calls to SOME areas. IE, you could dial 1+336-9950 from a 718 1AESS in Queens to reach (then then 336 1XBar (?)) in Brooklyn, which was a local call. Yet you weren't allowed to dial 1+ to reach other exhanges nearby, ie also local (718-643, 398, etc...) Since I wasn't too familiar with where any of the 'towns' in Brooklyn are, I assumed that the 1+ calls were historically toll calls, and the ones which refused 1+ were not. When I found out that some of the exchanges which accepted 1+ before the seven digits were CLOSER to me than the ones which did not, I called NY Tel to ask why this happened. The rep said that they NEVER charged toll rates at any piont in time to those areas (all of NYC, except Staten Island, was "local" since the late 1940's, it seems...), and that it was a mistake that the calls accepted a 1+ first. A few weeks later, the 1+/0+ thing no longer worked, which I guess shows you not to complain to NY Tel! (You can still try the timeout thing though, by dialing 0+AC+#, after the card # is accepted dial "#", and place a new call to 403-9950. The Calling Card equipment will wait for a while to see if you time out, and then put the call through to 403-9950. Of course, you can always enter the "#" key before you hear the "Thank You" (no "...for using AT&T" since it's local and it's a 'sequence call'...) which will put the call through immediatly. I think you can still do 0+7 digits in the 415 area (Bay Area/SF). But then I'm not sure whether they have any exchanges that look like area code in the 415 area yet (ie, N0X/N1X exhcanges)... Doug ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 20:23:26 EDT From: Brian O'Donoghue Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Reply-To: Brian O'Donoghue Organization: C3 Incorporated, Herndon, VA Jon Baker (asuvax!gtephx!mothra!bakerj@ncar.ucar.edu) writes: > [When] using a pay phone, I suggest always using 10XXX carrier > selection just so you know who you're dealing with. I wish it were that easy. In Delaware and Virginia, I have found BOC payphones which reject 10xxx selection of the default carrier, with the recording: "This call may be made using easy dialling. Please hang up, and dial again." (Sigh) brian@C3.COM {decuac.dec.com,cucstud}!c3pe!br ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Subject: Re: One Ringer, N Phones Reply-To: ndallen@contact.UUCP (Nigel Allen) Organization: Contact Public Unix BBS. Toronto, Canada. Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 10:46:40 GMT Otto L. Miller wanted a loud ringer for his high-noise work environment. I'd recommend a flashing light instead. Radio stations use them in areas where a ringing bell might be heard on-air. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 12:16 EDT From: HAMER524@ruby.vcu.edu Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Jim Breen writes, quoting our Moderator: >[ lots of country codes deleted ] >> 974- Qatar 976- Mongolia >> 977- Nepal 98- Iran >> [Moderator's Note: The above are always prefaced with either 011 (for > ****** >Patrick, Patrick! PLEASE remember that your group is read all over the >world. Your comment above is true for callers in the USA, and >practically nowhere else. International access codes differ from Similarly, Patrick, I really think that with respect to the list of US area codes you posted, writing them all as "1-XXX" was inappropriate. Aside from the fact the the "1" is an access code, and not part of the phone number, it _certainly_ is the wrong access code for most parts of the world. To draw an analogy, that would be like saying that your e-mail address for the archives is "FTP LOGIN anonymous/guest lcs.mit.edu." That may be what one user types to get to them, but the FTP LOGIN ANONYMOUS/GUEST is not part of the internet node. Of course, almost everyone seems to treat the access code as if it were part of the phone number, but that doesn't make it accurate. [Moderator's Note: The 1- designation was in the list when it was forwarded to me. As the compiler of that list already pointed out, it was intended for a specific application on his computer. You are correct that the 1- is not technically part of the phone number, but there is a certain USA bias in this Digest, with between 85-90 percent of our readers being in this country. Many articles here will be phrased for the US readers, with no offense intended to others; it is impossible to cover all possibilities all the time. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #409 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06854; 3 Jun 90 16:26 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa13319; 3 Jun 90 14:59 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa26461; 3 Jun 90 13:55 CDT Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 13:00:49 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #410 BCC: Message-ID: <9006031300.ab24508@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 3 Jun 90 13:00:00 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 410 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Alberta Government to Sell Telephone Company [Nigel Allen] Ontario Communications Minister Resigns [Nigel Allen] Request For Suppliers Information [Steck Thomas] Call Guide Discusses Calling From 215 Area [Carl Moore] Re: UK Telephone System [Steve Hamley] Re: UK Telephone System [Linc Madison] Re: NN0-style NPAs and Order of Assignment [Linc Madison] Re: East/West German Telephone Area Codes and Postal Codes [Wolf Paul] Re: One Ringer, N Phones [Dave Levenson] Re: 0+ Calls Where N0X/N1X in Use [John Higdon] Re: My List of World Wide Codes [Linc Madison] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Alberta Government to Sell Telephone Company Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 6:34:40 EDT From: Nigel Allen For decades, telephone service in most of Alberta, one of Canada's western provinces, has been provided by Alberta Government Telephones (AGT), which is owned by the Alberta government. On May 31st, Alberta Premier Don Getty said the government would sell half of the company, and it would offer Alberta residents the first chance to buy shares. No more than ten percent of the shares could be owned by non-Canadians. Complete details (when, share prices, etc.) weren't announced. However, the {Globe and Mail} (a Toronto newspaper with a strong emphasis on business and political coverage from which I got most of the information for this article) mentioned a value of $3 billion for AGT. Traditionally, AGT was regulated by the province. A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision said that the federal government could take over regulation of AGT (and of SaskTel and Manitoba Telephone System, two other telephone companies owned by provincial governments) by passing appropriate legislation. Since the provincial government will no longer have the ability to set rates and investment patterns for AGT in the interests of whatever Alberta groups it wants to serve, the need for Alberta to own its own phone company is somewhat diminished. The only other phone company in Alberta is 'Edmonton Telephones', a department of the City of Edmonton. Unitel Communications Inc. (formerly CNCP Telecommunications) competes with AGT for some long-distance and enhanced services, but is not allowed to provide message toll service (individual long distance calls). The political opposition isn't impressed, calling the proposed sell-off a mistake. New Democratic Party leader Ray Martin was quoted in the {Globe and Mail} as saying that the sell-off would cause the cost of telephone service to soar, and would cost AGT the tax-exempt status it now has as a government-owned company. I don't know whether the provincial governments in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, or the city government in Edmonton, are considering selling off their phone companies, but they'll obviously be watching the AGT privatization with great interest. ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Subject: Ontario Communications Minister Resigns Reply-To: ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) Organization: Contact Public Unix BBS. Toronto, Canada. Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 11:33:36 GMT Christine Hart, Ontario's Minister of Culture and Communications, resigned Wednesday, May 30, after it became known that four junior employees of Bell Canada had worked as volunteers in her campaign to retain the Liberal nomination in the Toronto-area constituency of York East, and that Cantel Inc., a unit of Rogers Communications Inc., supplied six cellular telephones for the campaign. An opposition member of the Ontario legislature said that a week before her resignation, Hart had asked the Ontario cabinet to support Unitel Communications Inc.'s bid to compete in the long distance service market. On Wednesday, in explaining her decision to quit the cabinet, Hart said it was a mistake to have anyone employed at a telecommunications company working on her nomination. The potential for conflict of interest might arise, she said, because her ministry (its Communications Division, actually) acts as an indirect regulator when it takes positions on issues with the CRTC. She also said she did not solicit help. ------------------------------ From: Steck Thomas Subject: Request For Suppliers Information Date: 2 Jun 90 14:29:29 GMT Reply-To: Steck Thomas Organization: Johns Hopkins University I am attempting to compile a list of (mostly) national telecom-supply dealers (lineman's sets, testers, etc...) If anyone can contribute to this or has already done so, please e-mail it to me. Thanks, Tom Steck ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 01:09:36 -0400 From: MOORE <00860@vax1.udel.edu> Reply-to: cmoore@brl.mil Subject: Call Guide Discusses Calling From 215 Area The latest Allentown (Pa.) directory says to dial 1+201+7D for local calls from, say, Easton to N.J., and that this was done because 215 is running out of prefixes. Also, the Western Delaware County (Pa.) directory says the same thing regarding local calls to Delaware (i.e. dial 1+302+7D), and adds that this measure provides "short term relief" for 215-area prefix shortage. But for as long as I could remember, Kemblesville (215-255) dialed 1+368-xxxx for toll call to Lansdale and 368-xxxx (now 1-302-368-xxxx) for local call to 368 in Newark, Del. ------------------------------ From: Steve Hamley Subject: Re: UK Telephone System Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 17:06:53 BST A few comments on Clive Feather's article on the UK telephone system: > For historical reasons, BT allocates area codes. This will change in a > couple year's time. It already has. Following complaints from Mercury about BT's behaviour towards them in allocating codes, Oftel now allocates all area codes. Incidentally, current thinking is that area codes will cease to exist when the UK phone network is completely digital. Users will then be able to take their 10 digit telephone number anywhere in the country. > 345 Calls charged at L rate irrespective of distance > 482 Hull Telephone Company > 800 Free calls > 831 Vodaphone > 836 Vodaphone They're actually called Vodafone. The cost of a call to Vodafone or Cellnet mobile phone numbers is determined by the digit after the area code. For example 8361 is charged at 'a' rate (Vodafone customer services, operator, etc.) whilst 8367 is charged at 'm' rate (actual cellphones). > 839 Calls charged at m rate irrespective of distance These are Mercury revenue sharing services. > 860 Cellnet > 898 Calls charged at m rate irrespective of distance These are British Telecom revenue sharing services. As with Mercury, a proportion of the income from these calls is given to the service provider. At present calls are charged at 25p / min peak and standard rates and 38p / min cheap rate, including VAT. Of this, 17.5p, excluding VAT, is passed on to the service provider. Vodafone also carries revenue sharing services, using the 8364 prefix. Cellnet is also licensed to do so, but doesn't because of its ties with BT. > Mercury has been allocated fifteen JXs in the 71 AC and the same > fifteen in the 81 AC. I believe that all Mercury subscribers have > numbers in this AC, irrespective of location. Mercury also has exchanges in other AFN areas. In some cases these were originally old BT Strowger exchanges! Don't let them kid you Mercury's all digital... > Area code 1 was used for London (both inner and outer) until 0001 on 6th May > 1990; I am unaware of any plans for it. The 01 prefix is now almost certain to be used for variable charge revenue sharing services - like the US 900 numbers. This cannot take place until a greater proportion of the BT network is digital. Mercury also plan to offer a similar service, probably using the same 839 prefix. > For example, anyone can call me by 0-954-78-0223. In addition, there are > certain special codes: > 010 international access > 0001 equivalent to 010 350 1 [Dublin] > 0055 from London only; calls charged at L rate > 0066 from London only; calls charged at a rate > 0077 from London only; calls charged at m rate 0055 and 0066 have now been phased out, 0077 will shortly be too. These were revenue sharing services. They weren't only available from London, but any city with a Derived Services Network centre. This is a network separate from the main BT network, which carries 345, 800 and 898 numbers. It has its origins as an early trunk network, I believe. 345 and 800 have now been switched over to the Digital Derived Services Network from the old analogue DSN. This uses AT&T 5ESS switches, allowing wide flexibility in call routing. Customers can choose to receive a certain percentage of calls at a different locations, changing depending on the time of day, for example. 898 is currently undergoing conversion to the DDSN. Steve Hamley ...ukc!axion!tharr!steve ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 03:46:24 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: UK Telephone System Just a quick question for Clive Feather or anyone else: you mention the new all-figure area code 91 for "Tyne & Wear"; what area does that encompass? Is it Middlesbrough and Newcastle or something like that? (M'bro is/was 642). Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 03:17:06 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: NN0-style NPAs and Order of Assignment Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <8570@accuvax.nwu.edu> marc@ttc.info.com writes: >In the list of "new" NPA, I didn't see *310* which is the area code we >will have here in LA after 2/92. Just FYI. That's because 310 isn't an NNX area code: "N" represents digits 2-9, so 310 is still an N1/0X, in standard jargon. The list was only of the NN0 codes they will assign. It is still an interesting question, though, which N10 codes they're going to use in what order after 510 here in Berkeley and 310 there in L.A. Will they use all eight of them before starting the NNX's, or will they intermix them, like they did with 510/310 before 917/909? Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: wolf paul Subject: Re: East/West German Telephone Area Codes and Postal Codes Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 23:18:24 MET DST Organization: IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria In TELECOM Digest V10 #397, J. Stephen Reed <0002909785@mcimail.com> writes: > West German postal codes are normally four digits, ranging from 1000 > (West Berlin) to 7999. I would not put too much credence to the exact wording of the article you are quoting. All of Bavaria has postal codes starting with 8, with Munich being 8000. Bavaria IS part of West Germany. > according to a DBP bulletin some years ago, the 8000s and 9000s are reserved > for "other German regions" ... primarily ... ("the so-called 'GDR'"). > (Digression: Note the word "primarily" in the last paragraph. It > seems obvious that not all Federal Republic bureaucrats have given up > on getting back the territories now held by Poland ... As for it being obvious what some German bureaucrats think about the German/Polish border, the source document cited in the article seems to date back several decades, when the German postal code system was set up, and not reflect anyone's thinking today. Mr. Reed even quotes the magazine article referring to a DBP bulletin 'SOME YEARS AGO", and if it uses the phrase, "so-called GDR", which has been out of official use for some time, it would, as he himself pointed out, date back to the 50s or 60s. It has already been reported here that the DBP Telecom has area codes (not codes for exchanges) set aside for the territory of the DDR. Disclaimer: I am not German, and have no special interest in German unification -- but neither in international fear mongering, which seems very common in the context of potential German re-unification. Anyone wanting my views on this subject in more detail is welcome to ask by e-mail. Wolf N. Paul, Int. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Schloss Laxenburg, Schlossplatz 1, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa.at!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa.at@uunet.uu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: One Ringer, N Phones Date: 3 Jun 90 13:11:18 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <8476@accuvax.nwu.edu>, olmiller@xibm.asd.contel.com (Otto Miller) writes: > I have a need in a high noise environment (my workshop... compressor, > saw, etc) that I am served by two residential lines. I would like a > single loud ringer driven by both lines just to get my attention. Any > ideas? Thank you in advance! Radio Shack sells a device that connects two lines to one answering machine. It connects its output to the last input on which ringing was detected. It can be used with their own or someone else's loud bell, to do the same thing. It costs about $20. I use two of them, in cascade fashion, to share a Caller-ID display unit among three incoming lines. Dave Levenson Voice: 201 647 0900 Fax: 201 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re 0+ Calls Where N0X/N1X in Use Date: 3 Jun 90 08:48:16 PDT (Sun) From: John Higdon "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" writes: > I think you can still do 0+7 digits in the 415 area (Bay Area/SF). But > then I'm not sure whether they have any exchanges that look like area > code in the 415 area yet (ie, N0X/N1X exhcanges)... In 408 you can; in 415 you cannot. There have been some N0X(ious) prefixes here for some time. My favorite is 415/601 where all the CLASS recordings live (601-00XX). Too bad we don't have CLASS. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 02:49:03 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes In-Reply-To: <8462@accuvax.nwu.edu> Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <8462@accuvax.nwu.edu> Patrick writes: > [request for post of list of city codes worldwide] >The long-distance carrier of your choice has lots of books, charts >and printed reference materials you can order if you feel you must >have a list of everything, everywhere. The front pages of your local >phone book probably contain many city codes for starters. PT] Speaking of the local phone book, I've noticed something the last few years: the list of foreign codes has gotten SHORTER and SHORTER each year -- I guess the idea is that Pac*Bell doesn't get much revenue *directly* from international calls, so they won't put much effort into helping you. For example, the Oakland book lists 38 country codes and a total of about 83 city codes, for the entire world. The omissions are rather strange, too: Finland is listed but not Sweden. Other notable omissions are Turkey, Egypt, Argentina, Thailand, and all of Africa except South Africa. Vatican City and Monaco rate listings as country codes, but not Saudi Arabia. Our Swedish friends will be happy to know that they are the only country the San Francisco directory adds to Oakland's list, with 5 city codes (second only to UK). Four years ago, my San Jose directory had 3.5 pages of listings for country/city codes. Why chop the list??? Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu [Moderator's Note: Maybe they found it as much a pain in the fingers to type, edit, proof-read and respond to complaints about as I do. Full scale lists of this size have little value for most people. If they appear in some one single authoritative document someplace, let it go at that. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #410 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07630; 4 Jun 90 4:41 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa16765; 4 Jun 90 3:09 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab08210; 4 Jun 90 2:01 CDT Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 1:28:17 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #411 BCC: Message-ID: <9006040128.ab15725@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 4 Jun 90 01:28:09 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 411 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Kapor [TELECOM Moderator] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Kapor [tanner@ki4pv.uucp] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Kapor [C. Irby] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [Linc Madison] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [Christopher Vance] US/Canada Only One Digit Code? [Steve Pershing] Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers [Nigel Allen] Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line [Tad Cook] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 2:11:58 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor In one of the replies to mine, bungia!chris@eecs.nwu.edu writes: >After all the discussion on this, I can't believe you have such a >bigoted, narrow-minded and short-sighted viewpoint! I'm absolutely >astounded that you made such remarks, from many points of perspective. >For example, you seem to imply that Kapor is supporting the theft from >businesses, That is what he said, assuming the Post quoted him correctly. He said that these fellows were being hindered in their free exchange of information. He does not think it was theft. He thinks their presence on those computers was legitimate. >yet as we have seen, the Secret Service _ITSELF_ is guilty >of completely disrupting the business of Steve Jackson Games. That >really makes Jenkins' remarks look like the self-serving lies that >they are. "...Threaten to disrupt our nation's business and >government services"? Give me a break. How come you want the crackers to be sure and have a fair trial before anyone pronounces them guilty, yet you are happy to pronounce guilt upon the Secret Service without any further ado? I don't know if the Secret Service is guilty of anything or not, but what does that have to do with the acts attributed to the crackers? ..... >It's obvious that the Secret Service and whoever else is involved is >on a witch-hunt of the scale of that by the FBI during the late 60's >and early 70's against those damn anti-war hippies. Even if the SS >has caught up a number of extremely minor criminals in its huge >fishing net, it still doesn't justify what they are doing. And this >is particularly true when the law regarding electronic communications >networks such as BITNET, Usenet, and Bulletin Board Systems is so >vaguely undefined at the moment. How defined do you want things to be? Just what would, in your estimation, ever justify stopping people who break into computers? You know, all the old cliches, i.e. witch-hunt, are getting pretty tiresome in my estimation. I don't think you would ever be satisfied, frankly, because I see in your message a considerable anti-government, pro-cracker bias that no one would ever be able to overcome. We could spend much bandwidth rehashing all the same, tired old issues. >Is the administrator/operator of some carrier of electronic >information completely responsible for every bit of data contained or >passing through his system? The present legal answer is "No, well >maybe, we don't know yet." That's right, he is. Either you have control over your computer(s) and your telephone lines or you do not. Which is it? I thought blaming the computer for what went wrong went out of favor twenty years ago. Do you remember when clerks in all big business places used to say the computer had 'made an error' in something? If you are not in a position to run a big site responsibly, then don't do it. And where I might have some sympathy for really huge sites, I don't buy the excuse of some two-bit BBS sysop that he "can't possibly read everything on his board ..." No one is asking him to read it all ... just to cultivate a responsible class of users and respond to problem postings. >And then your suggestion that we steal software from Lotus or anything >else which benefits Kapor financially is really a inflammatory >strawman argument. Or a bad suggestion classing you with the worst of >the criminals and hypocrits if you were serious. Uh, do I get a chance for a fair trial also, or is that out of the question where you are concerned? Kapor says its not really burglary or theft, it is the dissemination of information. Townson says it is burglarly and theft, but as long as Kapor says its okay, then go ahead and steal from him. >After all, there is >_NO_ evidence in your remarks that Kapor is supporting criminal >activity. Rather it seems he is against a campaign of terror >orchestrated by the SS and AT&T and who knows who else directed at a >lot of mostly innocent technophiles. Well, I would hope someone could successfully terrorize the little snot-noses who like breaking into computers. And I have yet to see any 'innocent technophiles' get arrested for anything, or terrorized, for that matter, unless it is someone who gets frightened easily, or something. And yes, he is supporting criminal activity, but doing so by cleverly trying to redefine *what is, and is not crime*. Repeat: He said they should not be on trial. He thinks activities like the alleged are 'harmless' ... how many times must I repeat this? >Are you lily-white, impeccably >honest, Mr. Moderator? I doubt it. And even if you were, you ought >to be worried about the abuse of power that is taking place. Of course not. Whatever gave you the impression I said or thought I was? And as for the so-called abuse of power that occurs, there are plenty of people like yourself to worry about it. >Ever heard this parable? [paraphrased for brevity] A Methodist living >in Berlin just prior to WWII watches as first his Jewish, then Polish, >then non-Caucasian, then communist neighbors are rounded up and taken >away in the middle of the night by the Nazis. Each time it happens, >he does nothing, since the Nazis leave him alone. But when they >finally come for him, there is no one to help him or protest his >treatment, because they've already been taken. Ah yes ... Martin Niemoller; but it was Lutheran, not Methodist; and you forgot to include the step where the Catholics all get taken away. I heard the 'parable' originally, when he first used it in a sermon back in the middle fifties. He was invited to preach at the Chapel once a year or so. By the by, there were not any 'non-Caucasians' mentioned in the story ... did you just make that part up? That poor story is so abused, so mis-used for everything under the sun. I suspect Martin is sorry he ever brought it up. >Do I need to spell this out for you? I hope not. There's a couple >little clauses in the Bill of Rights regarding: innocence until proven >guilt, freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures, freedom of >speech, freedom to pursue happiness. Surely you are familiar with >these. Uh, no, I never heard of those things. I'm only an iggorant moderator. >I'm not advocating theft. I'm not advocating that phreaker/cracker >criminals go free. But how about the law enforcement officials stick >to 2 simple rules: 1) follow the laws themselves, and 2) fit the >punishment and enforcement efforts to the crime. You may not be advocating theft, but you are trying to make one set of circumstances offset another. There are ways to deal with errant government officials just as there are ways to deal with crackers. >Oh, and incidentally: maybe it's a forgone issue now, but "hacker" is >not a criminal or delinquint by definition, or at least, not >originally, and not by most people who have pride in being one. But >maybe the hysterics and popular press have abused this word for so >long that it no longer has its original meaning. I regret that Mr. >Moderator saw fit to use it as he did, unless it was merely a result >of paraphrasing without thought some press release. I think I said 'cracker' -- not 'hacker' in my report when I used the word myself. The newspaper article may have mis-used it. To summarize my complaint, Mitch Kapor and I would disagree as to the nature of the alleged acts. I call them theft and burglary. He calls them otherwise. We both agree that everyone should have a fair trial; and that no one is officially guilty until the court has so ruled. I beleive that people who are found guilty of theft and/or burglary should be treated like any convicted felon. Chris Johnson seems to think the government should be punished instead for starting a witch-hunt. > ...Chris Johnson chris@c2s.mn.org ..uunet!bungia!com50!chris > Com Squared Systems, Inc. St. Paul, MN USA +1 612 452 9522 Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: tanner@ki4pv.uucp Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 00:09:00 -0400 Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Organization: CompuData Inc., DeLand pt-) [Mr. Kapor offers legal assistance to accused e-burglars. Pirate pt-) his software.] I was not aware that there had been any convictions in the case. I also was not aware that Mr. Kapor had advocated illegal activities. Would that the latter were true of our moderator as well! In article <8534@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: > Was *he* serious when he made the quote attributed to him? PT] As a recent victim of a made-up quote in the paper, I can assure you that there are times when newspapers are not entirely accurate. ...!{bikini.cis.ufl.edu allegra bpa uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner [Moderator's Note: Well, that is a very real consideration, and if Mr. Kapor did not say what the newspaper claims he said, then he ought to sue them, or at least force them to quote him correctly. PT] ------------------------------ From: vaxb.acs.unt.edu!ac08@cs.utexas.edu Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Date: 2 Jun 90 14:52:18 GMT "The Moderator" notes: >[ Now you go on to say a *lot* (your emphasis) of people are 'being > harassed'. Name two or three; go ahead, I'll wait. You want to use > Steve Jackson Games as one example? Ha! That's rich ... more and more > news is coming out of that every day ... i.e. a little blurb in news > yesterday alleging a cracker (I think previously convicted) was/is on > his payroll. Oh. "Hire a hacker, lose your business?" They have a cracker (ex-cracker, supposedly) on the payroll to help give the game a little bit of realism, so they should have their equipment taken away? So if it turned out that *you* had hired, say, a drug user, you should go to jail for dealing? :) More and more news every day? Sorry... the only "news" there is that the Feds are refusing to return the equipment, and they won't even make a backup of the hard drives to allow the company to function... to a *big* monetary loss... and there's your "two or three..." they had to lay off half their staff... 7 or 8 people... > And you complain that innocent users on the net are being > harmed by the disruption in mail: why is that the government's fault? > Your complaint should be with the administrators of e-mail relays who > have *violated the trust of the net community* by getting wrapped up > in this stinking mess. If I were arrested for something today, would > you blame the government because TELECOM Digest did not get published > tomorrow? PT] Naah... I think we ought to blame the government *if they blatantly broke the law* in arresting you... for something you didn't do... or if they confiscated your server because your organization had allowed a cracker into its sacred ranks... If they Feds are breaking their own rules, how can we trust them any more? C Irby ac08@vaxa.acs.unt.edu ac08@untvax ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 03:29:38 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <8584@accuvax.nwu.edu> HAMER524@ruby.vcu.edu writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 409, Message 14 of 14 >Similarly, Patrick, I really think that with respect to the list of US >area codes you posted, writing them all as "1-XXX" was inappropriate. >Aside from the fact the the "1" is an access code, and not part of the >phone number, it _certainly_ is the wrong access code for most parts >of the world. Not nearly as inappropriate as you seem to want to make out. Aside from the simple defense Patrick offered (that's the way it was sent to him), there is also the fact that you are just plain dead wrong when you say "it _certainly_ is the wrong access code for most parts of the world." No, it _certainly_ is the RIGHT access code for the ENTIRE world. Additional access codes may be required ahead of it, but no matter where you go in the world, "1" is the access code for the U.S. You could, with equal validity, say that the city code for Amsterdam is +31-20. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: Christopher-Vance@adfa.oz.au Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Date: 4 Jun 90 02:43:59 GMT Organization: Computer Science, University of New South Wales, ADFA, Canberra, AUSTRALIA johns@happy.uk.sun.com (John Slater) writes: | The US/Canada country code is unusual in two ways : (1) it is the only | single-digit country code, and (2) it happens to be the same as the Bzzztttt. You forgot the USSR. ------------------------------ Subject: US/Canada Only One Digit Code? From: Steve Pershing Date: Sun, 03 Jun 90 15:28:48 PDT Organization: The Questor Project johns@happy.uk.sun.com (John Slater) writes: > In article <8446@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gamiddleton@watmath.waterloo.edu > The US/Canada country code is unusual in two ways : (1) it is the only > single-digit country code, and (2) it happens to be the same as the I thought that the USSR was assigned country code 7 which is also a single digit code. There may be others. There were some unique things done in Country Code 1. Besides it being the country code for the US and Canada, it also includes Bermuda and many other island countries in that part of the world. In addition, there was at one time, an area code within country code 1 assigned to Mexico City, for more convenient dialling (?). This is an anomaly in the normal CCITT assignment, as Mexico has its own country code. I wonder if there are other "convenience" codes within other country codes in other parts of the world? Internet: sp@questor.wimsey.bc.ca |POST: 1027 Davie Street, Box 486 Phones: Voice & FAX: +1 604 682-6659 | Vancouver, British Columbia Data/BBS: +1 604 681-0670 | Canada V6E 4L2 ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Subject: Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers Reply-To: ndallen@contact.UUCP (Nigel Allen) Organization: Contact Public Unix BBS. Toronto, Canada. Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 01:17:09 GMT David L Kindred (Dave) asks: >"Anyone have any particulars on who/when/why the Z and Q have been >on/not on the Zero digit?" Perhaps those letters disappeared because they were used in the channel designations for manual mobile telephone service. I don't have a complete list of those channel designations, but the Toronto telephone directory includes YL6-6709 and JS3-4438. Neither number includes Z or Q, so my theory may not be valid. A clarification: The channel number, I believe, is the first two characters, so the channel designation is always two letters. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line Date: 4 Jun 90 01:46:10 GMT Organization: very little In article <8470@accuvax.nwu.edu>, HANK@barilvm.bitnet (Hank Nussbacher) writes: > Bell Colorado has signed an agreement with the Ministry of > Telecommunications in the USSR to build a $500 million dollar trans > Siberian fiber optic line. The line will be 13,000km long and will WHAT is Bell Colorado??? I have heard of the old Mountain Bell (now US West) but never Bell Colorado. Is it a non-US firm? Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #411 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa09664; 5 Jun 90 3:06 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa08886; 5 Jun 90 1:21 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa22920; 5 Jun 90 0:17 CDT Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 0:16:14 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #412 BCC: Message-ID: <9006050016.ab19418@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 5 Jun 90 00:15:49 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 412 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Chinese Dissidents Relied on Telecom to Escape After June 4th [Shuang Deng] Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Jerry Aguirre] ICC MPS48 Modem (Help) [Ian Matthew Smith] Voice Information in Calgary [Sam Ho] Screwy PUC Policies [John Higdon] RJ45 vs RJ11 [Tom Glinos] The Theory and Operation of REMOBS [pa2437] Still More on Kapor [TELECOM Moderator] Re: 10XXX Bugs [S. M. Krieger] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Jon Baker] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [John R. Levine] Re: TSL [Hank Nussbacher] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [Mark Lawrence] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Shuang Deng Subject: Chinese Dissidents Relied on Telecom to Escape After June 4th Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 11:33:28 MDT Hi, everyone; Today is the anniversary of the June 4th Massacre in Beijing, China. Telecommunications have played an important role in the democracy movement in China. Here are two stories, one is about a dissident arrest tipped by his LD call, and the other is the escape of a dissident thanks to telecommunication. Report One: A Trunk Call Led to A Prominent Chinese Dissident's Arrest ---------------------- No one knew exactly how Mr Wang Juntao, a prominent Chinese dissident was arrest until one of his colleagues escaped from China to US recently. She told several newspapers the following story. "Juntao hid in Beijing for a while following the 4 June incident. With the situation getting tense, he finally decided to go south in an attempt to establish contact with overseas rescue organizations. However, we lost contact with him soon after his departure from Beijing and were even unaware of his whereabouts. We eventually knew about his arrest in Beijing from a classified bulletin circulating within the provincial and army levels which noted that Wang Juntao, an evil backstage manipulator of the rebellion, had been captured. The classified bulletin also disclosed that Juntao fled to Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. There he failed to get in touch with members of the local student movement. He felt quite hopeless and made a trunk call to Hong Kong rescue organization, at great risk, to request rescue and for him to be sent the necessary travel documents." "Before long, a self-claimed Hong Kong rescue organization rang Juntao, saying that rescue work would start soon at a cost of about 10,000 yuan. Juntao said he had only 8,000 yuan or so. His counterpart said in reply that money was not so important and they had to meet as quickly as possible to discuss how to flee. Both sides then agreed that they would meet in a coach of a train bound from Changsha to a certain place because Juntao did not tell his counterpart where he was staying. When Juntao entered the coach on schedule, he immediately noticed something wrong -- other coaches were very crowded but there were only a few people in the coach he entered. When he tried to open a window to jump out public security personnel in plain clothes, hiding inside and outside the coach, all drew their pistols from their pockets." Apart from what she had learned from the classified bulletin, she heard two other versions of Wang's arrest in Beijing. One was that the the authorities had installed the most advanced tapping device in Shenzhen, which can monitor all trunk calls from Hong Kong to the mainland. The other was that Chinese special agents in overseas rescue organizations divulged secret information. Report Two A Direct Dial Call Rescued A Chinese Dissident --------------------- A famous Chinese writer and dissident found his way fleeing out of Beijing after the June 4th Massacre, and arrived at Guangdong (Canton), a big city close to HongKong. He tried his best to escape to HongKong, but only found that all the roads were paroled by soldiers around clock and check-points were set up at main intersections. Several weeks past while he was keeping desperately looking for a way out to safety. He dared not to call friends for help as he realized all long distance calls at the public phones had to go through operators who usually had the order to monitor the conversations (mostly not for connection quality, but for counter-revolutionaries). One day on his move from one hiding place to another, he was delighted to see a billboard at a new phonebooth saying that, with the advanced techniques provided by a foreign company, this particular phone could dial overseas directly without operators. So, he came back at night and called a friend in HongKong who, he believed, must have contact with local democracy organizations. The next day, a person came from Hong Kong and took him out to freedom. This story was said by the writer himself at a meeting here at U of Alberta. Shuang Deng (shuang@cs.Ualberta.CA) ------------------------------ From: Jerry Aguirre Subject: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 31 May 90 22:31:06 GMT We are in the process of ordering DID, a 600 number block. When costing this out we were thinking of converting our existing trunks over for DID use. Now the local carrier, PacBell, is telling us that DID lines are for incomming calls only; we can not use them for making calls. This is going to require us to keep a separate group of trunks for outgoing calls with no overlap of the two groups. That means the total number of trunks will have to be larger to handle peaks in incoming and outgoing calls and that means more trunk charges and more trunk interfaces for our PBX. So are DID lines really only for incomming calls? Is there a technical reason or is the carrier trying to charge more? Jerry Aguirre ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Sunday, 3 Jun 1990 20:33:57 EDT From: Ian Matthew Smith Subject: ICC MPS48 Modem (Help) I have just gotten ahold of two 4800 baud modems. The only name it gives is on the front (ICC MPS48). I hooled them up to a terminal, and pluged it in, but I can't get any commands to work. I pressed a few buttons and got it into test mode, and it echoed my characters back as I typed them. But I cannot get it to accept any commands. Does anybody have ANY information on this modem? Even just information on the company itself would be helpfull. The things are 5" x 8" x 18" and *heavy*. Thanks in advance for any information. Ian Smith ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 17:15:03 PDT From: Sam Ho Subject: Voice Information Services in Calgary Here are a few more numbers I picked up in Calgary, Alberta. The telephone company (Alberta Government Telephones) runs a talking yellow pages service, with the usual stuff on it, 403-521-5222. The transit system runs what appears to be a DID-based automated bus schedule. One or two numbers are assigned for each bus stop, and a synthesized voice reads back arrival information. An example: 403-260-5281. Others apparently lie in the 5000 and 6000 blocks of the same exchange. The transit system main information number is 403-276-7801. This is not automated. Sam Ho ------------------------------ Subject: Screwy PUC Policies Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: 4 Jun 90 11:27:40 PDT (Mon) From: John Higdon In my CO there are eight prefixes of grossbar and four prefixes of 1ESS. I have just been informed that the 5ESS that is soon to be installed in the office will replace only the X-bar, not the 1E. Why? It turns out that anywhere else in the country the entire office would be converted to the 5E, but not in California. The PUC seems to be of the opinion that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." This explains at least some of the backwardness of telephone technology in California. "As long as the customer has dial tone, you're fine." Obviously, Pac*Bell was able to convince the fools at the PUC that unless the X-bar was replaced, customers might lose dial tone. After all, the X-bar was installed in 1956 and one might think that 34 years is sufficient service life. But the twenty-year-old ESS? Hell, that's still cooking along just fine. So while the rest of the country has ISDN, CLASS, and you-name-it, we Californians get to pretend that we are in Bulgaria. Excuse me, that's an unfair comparison. The Bulgarians realize it's bad and are trying to do something about it. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Tom Glinos Subject: RJ45 vs RJ11 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 17:20:36 GMT Organization: Statistics, U. of Toronto I'm looking for the advantages of RJ45 over RJ11. Each cubicle that I'm planning will have two jacks. The jacks will either be phone or data in any combination. The present data requirements are RS232 and Twisted Pair Ethernet. (I can't speculate about future requirements) I'd prefer RJ45 but (bean counters and other bureaucrates) tell me that RJ11 will suffice. tg@utstat.toronto.edu utzoo!utstat!tg ------------------------------ From: pa2437 Subject: Theory and Operation of REMOBS Date: 4 Jun 90 18:41:09 GMT This may have come up before but I missed it. From a few different people I have heard of the concept of a REMoteOBservation unit. What it is: Call your REMOB port. (TELCO EMPLOYEES ONLY) After tone enter your Personal Identification Number. Enter line you want to scan. You will passively be able to monitor the line you choose. Well many people have given me conflicting opinions on the existence of these units. I have not heard if they were first used with the advent of ESS or if they existed on CrossBar Switching systems. Could someone please enlighten me to the truth if these exist and if so a little history on them. I believe that they were not used to monitor conversations but instead to check if a certain line was operating. Thank You, PA@2437.UCSD.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 23:45:34 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Still More on Kapor A few more replies have come in on my comment regards Mitch Kapor, and in addition, a lengthy article appeared over the weekend in the {New York Times} and elsewhere which I want to share with you which discussed Kapor's plans in more detail, and added other observations of interest. These are busy days for the Digest! I will probably run a special issue in a day or two with the above, hopefully getting as good a cross section of messages in as space permits, so that we can put the issue to bed and move along. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 12:36:10 EDT From: S M Krieger Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Organization: Summit NJ In yesterday's (June 3) (Plainfield - Somerville, NJ) {Courier News}, there was a feature article on pay phone confusion and private pay phones. Among the points mentioned about private pay-phones were: 1. The warning about getting charged much higher rates than NJ Bell or United Telephone charges for calls within 201 and what AT&T charges for other calls. 2. The status/legality concerning 10XXX selection. 3. Why private pay phones don't allow incoming calls. Concerning 10XXX selection, one sentence in the article said that where it was possible, there were cases where people could end up making international calls and having it billed to the payphone owner (I wonder if it's because the phone, seeing 10288-0, assumed it was an operator assisted call, instead of looking for 10288-01). Also, even though customers have the right to choose an LD carrier, to the phone owners, having their operator splash you over to an AT&T operator, or having you have the local telco operator do it, is considered sufficient; it doesn't mean they have to explicitly support 10XXX dialing (or pushing). One point raised on both 10XXX and incoming calls is that to the phone owners, the phone is their business, and having to allow either of these types of calls means that their business resource is being used, and they aren't getting any revenue from it. It was implied that if they must support 10XXX from their phones, then they are entitled to share in the revenue from the call. Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Date: 4 Jun 90 20:45:56 GMT Organization: gte In article <8582@accuvax.nwu.edu>, brian@c3pe.c3.com (Brian O'Donoghue) writes: > > [When] using a pay phone, I suggest always using 10XXX carrier > > selection just so you know who you're dealing with. > I wish it were that easy. In Delaware and Virginia, I have found BOC > payphones which reject 10xxx selection of the default carrier, with > the recording: "This call may be made using easy dialling. Please > hang up, and dial again." (Sigh) A Greene ruling some time ago mandated that 10XXX carrier selection (equal access) be allowed from all pay phones. If not deployed yet in your area, it should be soon. You might contact your local telco or Utility Comission for details. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 4 Jun 90 01:38:41 EDT (Mon) From: "John R. Levine" In article <8544@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >> 4) How the local telco got a waiver to give long distance service ... >It's not really "Long Distance" service. New Jersey Bell and Bell of >PA offer the same service in Philadelphia County PA and Burlington, >Camden, and maybe Mercer Counties NJ. Au contraire, to the best of my knowledge it has never been a local call from New Jersey to New York across the Hudson nor from New Jersey to Philadelphia across the Delaware, even though the distances involved are in both cases only a mile or so. (No wonder Franklin called New Jersey "a keg tapped at both ends.") It was and is a local call across the Delaware a few miles north of Philadelphia between New Hope PA and Lambertville NJ. Don't ask me why. My recollection is that the telephone networks across the two rivers were such a logistical nightmare that it was technically infeasable to partition them and route all the traffic to LD carriers between the time the Bell breakup was announced and the time it became effective. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Jun 90 13:54:18 IST From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: Re: TSL >> Bell Colorado has signed an agreement with the Ministry of >> Telecommunications in the USSR to build a $500 million dollar trans >> Siberian fiber optic line. The line will be 13,000km long and will >WHAT is Bell Colorado??? I have heard of the old Mountain Bell (now >US West) but never Bell Colorado. Is it a non-US firm? The article I am quoting (and translating into English) from, only mentioned Bell Colorado. Hank Nussbacher ------------------------------ From: Mark Lawrence Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Reply-To: Mark Lawrence Organization: DRD Corporation, Tulsa, OK Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 20:53:39 GMT rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) wrote: } I live in the USA. Sometimes when I'm bored I like to call the } operator and ask, "What is the country code for the USA?" [stuff elided] I don't know the answer (for sure), but I do know that when I dial home from Japan using KDD, the *access code* is 001 and the country code is 1 (then a/c,exchange and number). mark@DRD.Com {uunet,rutgers}!drd!mark (918) 743-3013 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #412 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa11582; 5 Jun 90 3:56 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa21276; 5 Jun 90 2:27 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab08886; 5 Jun 90 1:22 CDT Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 1:00:11 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #413 BCC: Message-ID: <9006050100.ab08160@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 5 Jun 90 01:00:00 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 413 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: My List of World Wide Codes [Henry Troup] Re: My List of World Wide Codes [Jim Breen] Re: My List of World Wide Codes [Kee Hinckley] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [Robert M. Hamer] Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [Jim Anderson] Re: Stamford, CT Outage [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: New Double-jack Wall Plates, Crosstalk [Peter da Silva] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [Russ Kepler] Licenses for Television in the UK [John Slater] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Henry Troup Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes Date: 4 Jun 90 19:18:59 GMT Reply-To: Henry Troup Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. In article <8597@accuvax.nwu.edu> rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) writes: >Four years ago, my San Jose directory had 3.5 pages of listings for >country/city codes. Why chop the list??? The Ottawa/Hull Bell Canada (not a BOC, really) phone book has eight pages, 145 Country codes (including Christmas Island, Vanuatu, etc.). Yet another advantage to old-fashioned non-competitive monopoly service! And our local rates are lower, too. Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 or HWT@BNR.CA ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 23:21:09 GMT In article <8597@accuvax.nwu.edu>, rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) writes: > Speaking of the local phone book, I've noticed something the last few > years: the list of foreign codes has gotten SHORTER and SHORTER each > year -- I guess the idea is that Pac*Bell doesn't get much revenue > *directly* from international calls, so they won't put much effort > into helping you. For example, the Oakland book lists 38 country > codes and a total of about 83 city codes, for the entire world. The Telecom Australia directory in the larger cities has 165 country codes and ~300 city codes. Perhaps there are some advantages in monopolies after all (8-<)>. _______ Jim Breen (rdt139z@monu6.cc.monash.oz) Dept of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East VIC 3145 Australia O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (ph) +61 3 573 2552 (fax) +61 3 573 2748 ------------------------------ From: Kee Hinckley Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes Organization: asi Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 15:01:41 GMT >> 977- Nepal 98- Iran >> [Moderator's Note: The above are always prefaced with either 011 (for > ****** >> direct dialing) or 01 (for credit card, collect or third number >> billing). Then a city code, comparable to a USA area code, follows the Last time I tried (a few years ago) Iran didn't accept credit card calls. My paranoid guess is that it's because they can't easily track who's calling; I know they listen in on most calls. I discovered the credit card restriction by accident. I was on vacation in California with my wife (prior to our marriage) when the Navy shot down the Iranian airliner. We were calling to see if her father had been piloting it (ulp, fortunately not). The operator tried a credit card call and it was refused, so we switched to billing my home phone. We then actually managed to get through to Iran (quite a feat on a payphone) only to be interrupted by a rather irate (American) operator, who had attempted to verify my third party call, only to get my roommates answering machine telling her she had reached the Arlington Insane Asylum. That took at little straightening out! -kee Alphalpha Software, Inc. | Voice/Fax: 617/646-7703 | Home: 617/641-3805 148 Scituate St. | Smart fax, dial number. | Arlington, MA 02174 | Dumb fax, dial number, | BBS: 617/641-3722 nazgul@alphalpha.com | wait for ring, press 3. | 300/1200/2400 baud ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 11:01 EDT From: "Robert M. Hamer" Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes On Sun, 3 Jun 90 03:29:38 PDT Linc Madison writes: (With respect to whether "1+" is part of the phone number (in this case, the area code) or not: >you say "it _certainly_ is the wrong access code for most parts of the >world." No, it _certainly_ is the RIGHT access code for the ENTIRE >world. Additional access codes may be required ahead of it, but no >matter where you go in the world, "1" is the access code for the U.S. I really am not sure this is worth going on about, because I don't know if the rest of the Digest is interested in the topic or not, but... The point is that the "1+" is an access code, and not part of the phone number. In the US or elsewhere. Actually, when I use my Sprint FON card, a "1+" never plays a role in the dialing: it seems to be "0+"; I don't know about other calling/credit cards. And when I call from a hotel, using whatever rip-off system the hotel has (Yes, I know, but my company will cheerfully pay large phone bills billed to the hotel room, but has trouble with me telling them that I called using my own Sprint card) as often as not, I dial "8+" or some such code, getting me direct access to an LD trunk, from which I dial the area code and phone number. As a matter of fact, as I type this, it occurs to me that in my office, I dial "8" to get a LD dial tone, and then I dial just the area code, no "1+". The point I am trying to make is that what we dial is divided into access codes and phone number, and they are not one and the same. We ought to be clearer about stating what the phone number is when we claim that what we are giving out is the phone number. When I first started using the Internet, I had a terrible time guessing what part of the From: or Reply-to: field was indeed the actual user@node, and what was some sort of routing information the various intermediate mailers had stuck on in an effort to provide me with something that would work, even if much of it turned out to be unnecessary. Again, it may not be worth it to start a thread on it, but I would assert that the "1+" is an access code, and the area code does not include it, and neither does the phone number. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" Date: Sun, 3 Jun 90 21:17:00 CST From: Jim Anderson In article <8329@accuvax.nwu.edu> henry@garp.mit.edu writes: >In the next two weeks, Boston Gas Company will be in your neighborhood >to install a new meter reading system. ... >We will then be able to read your meter accurately by radio signal >from a computer equipped van as we drive down your street. ... >Now, aside from not including very many details of this new system >(does it continuously broadcast use? If not, then how does it know to >broadcast? how is the signal encoded? ...), one wonders what gives >boston gas company the idea that I want them to install a radio >transmitter in my home. I had a tour of E. F. Johnson in Waseca, MN a few weeks ago, and they showed me their product that does this. Apparently, E. F. Johnson is one of the major players in this market. The gentleman giving the tour described how this works. Basically, the meter is built on a SMD style board, with a single large chip, a few peripheral components, an antenna, and a lithium battery. The electronics track usage, and listen on the antenna for a trigger signal. This signal is given by a truck with a transmit/receive antenna. When it hears this signal, it transmits its preprogrammed ID, and the current meter reading, then goes back to standby mode. As far as the signal encoding goes, it probably is a relatively unsophisticated code, as the transmission is only a burst transmission and (my opinion) should only contain the current meter reading, not the usage since the previous reading. I hope this explains how this device works. My understanding is that the electric companies, gas companies, and other utility companies are REAL excited about this meter. Jim Anderson (612) 636-2869 Anderson O'Brien, Inc New mail:jim@aob.mn.org 2575 N. Fairview Ave. Old mail:{rutgers,amdahl}!bungia!aob!jim St. Paul, MN 55113 Lucifer designed MS-DOS to try men's souls. ------------------------------ Date: 4-JUN-1990 02:33:11.56 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Re: Stamford, CT Outage Hi- A few weeks back during the ESS outage in Stamford, CT, I noticed that Southern New England Telephone (SNET, the most-of-Connecticut "Bell" Co.) did something rather odd. From their DMS exchanges, they managed to block off ALL calls to the exchanges in Stamford which were affected. IE, you would dial 1+977-xxxx or 1+324-xxxx or any Stamford number, and it would be blocked immediately. Depending on where you were calling from, it would either give you a recorded message or a re-order. This would happen INSTANTLY at the exchange you called from, not after taking some time to get down to Stamford. Even 0+xxx-xxxx calls to Stamford were blocked. Is this some new local network feature that SNET and the rest of the Bells have? I recall when the exchange in Brooklyn (NY) (There's a Brooklyn, CT too, so just in case anyone got confused...:-) ) caught fire that all calls were NEVER blocked locally, but only when they got to (or "near") the damaged exchange. The reason I ask is that SNET in many respects is a bit slow to implement new developments in telephone technology. It still has a lot of older Crossbars and Step-By-Steps, like the rest of New England. SNET is just beginning to experiment with CLASS features, but only Call*Block, and only in the Meriden area for at least the next 2 years. Most areas still allow 0+xxx-xxxx calls to be sequenced to AT&T calls (out-of-state), altough they SAY this is supposed to be prohibited. (Although I've noticed that in C&P Tel. territory, mainly Washington DC, this works as well, ie, no difference between AT&T and C&P Tel Calling Card equipment...) Just wondering if SNET has a system to control their calls at the local switches, or did they have someone at each office program it it manually...!? Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals...! :-) ) ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: New Double-jack Wall Plates, Crosstalk? Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 21:58:40 GMT In article <8500@accuvax.nwu.edu> julian@bongo.uucp (Julian Macassey) writes: > There is a certain amount of dejavu here: Quad wire in phone > installations causes crosstalk. The jacks that were installed will not > be the cause of the crosstalk. So you can't blame the Mrs. for this > one. [ lots of detailed explanation of stuff I already know ] Yes, yes, yes. I know all that. I didn't explain all my reasoning because I assumed that folks here would know it all already. This is an existing apartment, wired with (I presume, since all other apartments I've been in have been wired this way) quad wire from the network demark to each wall plate. Normally I'd have one line... quad to the wall plate ... for the data line and the other wires... again, quad to the wall plate ... for the voice lines. Each cable is now one wire on quad. Crosstalk should be minimal, unless they run the quads next to each other in the same conduit for any significant length. With this setup, all the quads have both lines next to each other and some crosstalk is to be expected. It's a small apartment, so it might not be so bad. Sigh. Next time I ask a question I'll be sure to include full background on everything, my life history, and the whole shmeer... `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf. ------------------------------ From: russ@bbx.UUCP (Russ Kepler) Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code Date: 4 Jun 90 15:59:14 GMT Reply-To: russ@bbx.UUCP (Russ Kepler) Organization: BASIS International, Albuquerque NM In article <8539@accuvax.nwu.edu> mmm@cup.portal.com writes: >Next time, try asking for the country code of New Mexico :-) OK - that does it. We're taking all of those funny bombs, planes, missiles, etc. that you USAians keep leaving laying around here and secceeding... we'll create our own country, apply for out own country code (OB telecom content) and go our own way. We'll be better armed than the country of Nebraska... >[Moderator's Note: Listen, that's not funny! Ask people living in New >Mexico sometime how often they have to fight the ignorance of credit >card clerks and mail order companies who try to tell them they do not >'do business outside the United States' ... I had an Illinois Bell >operator one time try to find the 'international routing' to connect >me on a call there. What's worse these days, the American's pitiful >command of English or our abysmal lack of knowledge in geography? PT] Actually it's kinda fun. The New_Mexico_Magazine has a column called One_of_Our_Fifty_is_Missing that is devoted to printing the, uhhh, interesting things that refer to NM being a foreign country. Little things, mostly, like the geography teachers asking for posters, phamplets and samples of our currency ... I did once have someone ask me about the exchange rate on a flight here, ohh - the temptation. But it's different in Europe. All I have to do is show my passport and they figure it out. Russ Kepler - Basis Int'l SNAIL: 5901 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109 UUCP: bbx.basis.com!russ PHONE: 505-345-5232 ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Licenses for Television in the UK Date: 4 Jun 90 10:42:27 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <8505@accuvax.nwu.edu>, nigel.allen@f438.n250.z1. fidonet.org writes: >the operations of the British Broadcasting Corporation were >supported, at least in part, by a license fee imposed on television >sets and possibly on radios as well. This is still the case. In fact the BBC is funded entirely by this method (apart from a small income from overseas programme sales {yes, that's how we British spell "program" when it's other that the computer sort}, merchandising and so on). Radio licenses were abolished a long time ago (in the 1950's or 1960's, I think), as they were too difficult and expensive to collect. Television licenses cost (if memory serves) 71 pounds per year for colour, and about 20 pounds for monochrome. There is a derisory discount of 1.25 pounds for blind people on each of these figures. Evasion is widespread, and personally I am deeply cynical about the efficacy or even the existence of detector vans (I've never seen one). I believe the authorities rely largely on non-renewed licences to catch defaulters. The money funds the BBC's two national television channels, including local television opt-outs, *and* all its radio services - 4 national services (5 soon) and numerous local stations. The BBC external services, including the World Service and all the foreign language services, are funded by the government, but are run by the BBC and are editorially impartial (really. It works. Somehow she manages to keep her hands away from it ...). I thought you might be interested in a little more detail. John Slater Sun Microsystems, Gatwick, UK ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #413 ******************************   ISSUE 414 APPEARS AFTER 416 DUE TO TRANSMISSION DELAY. Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa13623; 6 Jun 90 5:15 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab27881; 6 Jun 90 3:41 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab11291; 6 Jun 90 2:35 CDT Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 2:05:41 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #415 BCC: Message-ID: <9006060205.ab03006@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Jun 90 02:05:13 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 415 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: 1A/1E Call Forwarding and Multi-pathing [Ken Abrams] Re: Data Access Lines [Rob Warnock] Serial Line Errors [Aloys Roes] AT&T STREAMS Link Provider Interface Protocol [Jose Diaz-Gonzalez] GTD-5 and CLASS [John Higdon] Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? [Darwin C. Weyh] References Needed Re New Nodes in Modern Networks [Michael Dawson] SW Bell Englobing New Zealand [St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Will Martin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: 1A/1E Call Forwarding and Multi-pathing Date: 4 Jun 90 14:20:50 GMT Reply-To: Ken Abrams Organization: Athenanet, Inc., Springfield, Illinois In article <8529@accuvax.nwu.edu> Marc O'Krent writes: >We are having an argument with Pac*Bell and can't seem to get the same >answer out of them twice. No great suprise there. >Here's the background: for some unknown reason, PB has decided that if >you want Centrex you *must* change your phone number. They have been >refusing to grandfather in existing phone numbers for several months >now. >To console the destroyed business, they filed a provisional tarriff >called "Number Retention Service." This turns out to be RCF with no >usage charge. [More good details deleted] Although I personally don't agree with a lot of things that PacBell comes up with, I think their basic decision in this matter was correct. The exact way that they implemented the whole package may cast some doubt as to the underlying motives, however. From both the Telco's and the customer's perspective, the only situation that lends itself well to "grandfathering of numbers" is a conversion from PBX or DID where the customer already has a sufficient number of contiguous numbers to accomodate the Centrex. Creating a Centrex with numbers scattered all over a prefix (or worse, over several prefixs) does EVERYONE a disservice in the long run. It causes an administrative nightmare for Telco and customer alike. I wish I could convince my company that it is bad policy; so far, no cigar. On the other side of the coin, it appears that PB has chosen a method of dealing with the old number that maximizes income rather than customer satisfaction. The system you mentioned should be ONE option for the customer but not the only one. Other options should be made available; if this hasn't been done (have you asked?) then that is most unfortunate. Rest assured that a properly implemented RCF service DOES allow for multiple paths in any variety of electronic switch that is in common use by the BOCs today (1E,1A,5E,DMS,Siemens and I expect others, too). Note, however, that variable call forwarding (the kind you establish and remove yourself) does not offer multiple paths in many of the switches under certain conditions. Also keep in mind that the whole situation should not result in a permanent expense to the company. I would think that most should be able to change their advertising, stationery, business cards, etc. over a period of 12 - 24 months and migrate to the new numbers and eliminate the additional expense. With a little planning and forethought, I would think this interval could be shortened to 6 months or less. Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 08:48:16 GMT From: Rob Warnock Subject: Re: Data Access Lines Reply-To: Rob Warnock Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA In article <8574@accuvax.nwu.edu> mtndew!friedl@uunet.uu.net (Stephen J. Friedl) writes: | > If PEP is modulated only at 7.35 or 88.26 baud, it should be no | > difficulty for the local lines to carry it, unless shoving so many | > bits into so few bauds requires so many carrier pitches that local | > telco lines might not be reliably able to discriminate that fine. | PEP is modulated at 7.35 or 88.26 baud PER CARRIER, and to get the | baud for the whole signal one must multiple by the number of carriers | in use. A PEP line is easily thousands of baud for a clean line, and | for phone line requirements, the 7.35 or 88.26 number is meaningless. Sorry, you have a slight misunderstanding of the term "baud". The signaling rate in "baud" is defined as "the reciprocal of the smallest signalling interval", that is, the peak number of "symbols" or state changes per second. All of the sub-carriers change at the same time. Thus the PEP protocol is indeed 7 or 88 baud. However, each sub-carrier is only using about (3000 - 300) / 511 = 5.28 Hz of bandwidth. (Pushing a 7 baud signal through a 5 Hz pipe is quite good! The theoretical maximum is 2 baud/Hz: one state for each half-cycle of bandwidth.) Since each sub-carrier encodes 2, 4, or 6 bits per baud, or 14.7, 29.4, or 44.1 bits/second, respectively, at the 7.35 baud rate, that is 2.78, 5.57, or 8.35 bits/second per Hertz of bandwidth. From the Shannon limit: BitsPerSecond < Bandwidth * log2((S/N) + 1) That implies that the signal-to-noise has to be at least: bps/Hertz S/N (dB) > 10 * log(2 - 1) or: S/N > 7.69 dB (min.), for 2 bits/baud (a 14.7 bit/s sub-channel) S/N >16.67 dB (min.), for 4 bits/baud (a 29.4 bit/s sub-channel) S/N >25.12 dB (min.), for 6 bits/baud (a 44.1 bit/s sub-channel) Of course, these are theoretical minima, and don't account for noise to to adjacent sub-channel interference, or loss due to imperfect coding, so the line has to be a good deal better than this. Still, if only 400 channels could get the highest rate, that's still 17,600 bits/second (before subtracting for the 20% CRC and packetizing overhead). In case anyone is still confused, note that sending 6 bits/baud means that you have to be able to send any one of 64 (= 2^6) "symbols" at each state change. Symbols can be encoded as amplitude difference, frequency difference (although not in this case), or phase difference. The PEP scheme, which is actually called DAMQAM or Dynamically Adaptive Multicarrier Quadrature Amplitude Modulation at this level, uses a combination of amplitude and phase modulation on each sub-carrier. Note that if you only used AM, 64 symbols means 64 different voltage levels, which means that (*very* crudely speaking) to avoid error the noise level has to be less than 1/2 the difference between two adjacent levels, so the noise doesn't turn one into the other, or 1/128 the maximum level. Thus, you need a S/N of 20*log(128) or 42 dB. (The "20" is because we are comparing *amplitude*, not *power*, as above.) That this doesn't match the 25 dB "Shannon limit" given above is due to (1) my example was crude indeed, (2) pure AM is not nearly as efficient as QAM, and (3) the Shannon limit -- a *minimum* bound -- assumes that you are employing "perfect" encoding. The actual S/N needed is somewhere between the two, and closer to the upper. Anyway, you get the idea... So the limit to PEP operation is the signal-to-noise of each of a large number of very narrow, slow channels, any of which can be down-graded or dropped from use if needed if *that particular* sub-channel is too noisy. Non-linearities and phase-slopes which would blow away a higher baud-rate modem are shrugged off, since they has much less affect on a 5 Hz (sub)channel. In case anyone's curious about the fact that the quantizing into levels by PCM (T-carrier) puts an upper limit of something like 20*log(128/0.5) = 48 dB on the S/N if 7 bits/sample are being used, note that at 7.35 baud there are 8000 / 7.35 = 1088 samples/baud. A lot of the quantizing noise can thus be averaged out. Rob Warnock, MS-9U/510 rpw3@sgi.com rpw3@pei.com Silicon Graphics, Inc. (415)335-1673 Protocol Engines, Inc. 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94039-7311 ------------------------------ From: Aloys Roes Subject: Serial Line Errors Date: 5 Jun 90 13:34:53 GMT Organization: Philips Components - SERI, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Please help us in solving the following problem: We have a TCP/IP wide area network in place with 9.6, 14.4 and 64Kbps lines. For the communication equipment we have standardized on cisco TCP/IP routers. Most lines show quite good performance however a few lines have reasonable to high error counts. These error counts are stable and seem independent of network load. With these error statistics we asked our telecommunication people to improve the line quality. Of course they doubted whether the errors were real. Therefore they started with bit-error-rate tests. These tests show that the lines are 'perfect' i.e. no single bit or block error in 24 hours. They used different bit patterns but did not get any error. The next thing we did was to install a PC with a 64K serial interface in parallel to the cisco router on both ends of one 64K link. The program in the PC analyzes the packets and monitors the link. And this is where we really get confused. The PC also finds errors. However these errors are of a different class and different amounts. The link that we monitored has an average of 6000 to 10000 errors per day on one end and a few dozens of errors on the other end. We are now focused on the end with the high error count; according to the cisco the errors are mainly frame errors. The PC reports mainly CRC (or FCS) errors. Can anyone help us getting this sorted out? What is the best way to tackle this problem. Is there any equipment that we can put on the line and realy trust the test results? Has anyone faced such a problem before? Please respond to me directly. I will post a summary, Thanks in advance, regards, Aloys Roes, Philips Components, Building BC-136, | Tel. : + 31 40 72 30 62 P.O.Box 218, 5600 MD Eindhoven, The Netherlands | Email: roes@seri.philips.nl ------------------------------ From: Jose Diaz-Gonzalez Subject: AT&T STREAMS Link Provider Interface protocol, where are you? Date: 5 Jun 90 14:45:49 GMT Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc., Waltham, MA Hello there! This is the second time I am posting this question, and since I did not get any replies I must assume that I either forgot to ask that you reply directly to me (I don't subscribe to all the newsgroups where this will be posted), or the AT&T Link Provider Interface protocol mentioned in the arp(7) page of my TCP/IP manual for Interactive's 386/ix 2.0.2 must be a figment of ISC's imagination. In any case, here it goes again. I need to find information (specs, manuals, etc) for the above mentioned STREAM protocol. Would anyone who knows about this please contact me? Cheers. + Jose Pedro Diaz-Gonzalez + + + SrMTS + + + GTE Laboratories, Inc. + Tel: (617) 466-2584 + + MS-46 + email: jdiaz@gte.com + + 40 Sylvan Rd. + + + Waltham, MA 02254 + + + + + ------------------------------ Subject: GTD-5 and CLASS Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: 5 Jun 90 12:43:23 PDT (Tue) From: John Higdon After being soundly taken to task for criticizing the GTD-5, and being told how state of the art capable it is, I decided to do a little experimenting. I'm still unimpressed. As most who participate in this forum know, a prerequisite to CLASS is SS#7 between participating offices. Without that, the data required for the handshake necessary for CLASS services cannot be sent. For well over a year now, all Bay Area COs have been speaking SS#7 between switches that are capable of it. Presumably, they want to be ready when the PUC stops picking its teeth. Actually, what I meant to say was, "All Bay Area COs except the three in Los Gatos and the one in Morgan Hill." This is, of course, our token GTE punishment area. (Doesn't everyone have to suffer with GTE somewhere nearby?) These COs (all GTD-5) speak MF to each other and to the outside world. No CLASS available here! What this means to a telephone user, CLASS aside, is that a call from a point in Los Gatos to a telephone a few blocks away takes NOTICABLY longer to complete than a call from San Jose to San Francisco, a distance of about 45 miles. Once again--the wonders of GTD-5. I have received many kilobytes of material from GTE folks trying to sell the virtues of GTD-5. But after my little experimentation, I'm going to invoke my Jackson County, MO heritage: Show me! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: ladwp!weyh@celia.uucp Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 09:18:10 PDT Subject: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? I'm looking for a feature in a phone that will help me with the following: My wife and I have a infant child and sometimes when I call her she has the baby in her arms and can't get to the phone. I'd like to have a speaker phone that she could answer without going over to the device. If it could be voice activated or if I could enter a secured code to have the phone answer itself. Also a built-in answering machine would be nice. Does such a thing exist? Darwin C. Weyh -- Consultant for the Los Angeles Dept of Water and Power POB 111 Rm 848 Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 580-0822 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 13:17:03 EDT From: Michael Dawson Subject: References Needed Re New Nodes in Modern Networks I am looking for pointers to papers or any other type of information source that contains information on the function and services provided by the new nodes in modern telephone networks. The new types of nodes I have heard of are the STP (sevice transfer point ?) and the SCP (a data base of some sort ?) I am also interested in any information on the development of the digital cellular network. I have noticed some discussion on the security in the proposed scheme in the newsgroup, but I missed the original postings. Responses can be send to Mdawson@eleceng.ee.queensu.ca Thanks in advance for your help, Michael Dawson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 15:49:44 CDT From: Will Martin Subject: SW Bell Englobing New Zealand I append below an edited extract from an article in the May 30 issue of the {St. Louis Post-Dispatch}: BELL BIDDING FOR NEW ZEALAND FIRM SW Bell plans to submit a bid to the New Zealand Commerce Commission for up to 49.9% of that country's state-owned telephone company. NZ is selling the telco to private investors as part of a privatization program. The gov't hopes to raise at least $1.7 billion (US) from selling the entire company (Telecom Corp. of New Zealand). Telecom was part of the postal service until recently, when it was set up as a separate company. It has 1.5 million telephone lines in NZ, a nation of 3.3 million. The company also provides cellular and LD service and sells telephone equipment. NZ law allows one foreign investor or a consortium of private investors to own up to 49.9% of the telco; the remaining 50.1% will be sold through stock markets in NZ and elsewhere. SW Bell's bid is not yet final; it is working with OTC Ltd., Australia's international LD company, and other entities on possible joint bids. Bids are due June 6; the commission expects to choose a buyer by late June or early July. SW Bell already sells telephone equipment and computerized directory publishing systems in NZ. An SW Bell subsidiary also sells Yellow Pages advertising in five metropolitan areas of Australia. Telecom Corp. of NZ had revenue of $1.24 billion for the year ended Mar 31, '89, with a profit of $168 million and assets of $2.28 billion; it has 17,000 employees. Regards, Will ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #415 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa15262; 6 Jun 90 6:11 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa32119; 6 Jun 90 4:44 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ac27881; 6 Jun 90 3:41 CDT Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 2:39:35 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #416 BCC: Message-ID: <9006060239.ab00378@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Jun 90 02:38:36 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 416 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Suspicions Confirmed [AT&T Consultant's Liason, via Don H. Kemp] Strange CO [David Barts] Menu-driven Answering Machines [Andy Rabagliati] Area Code 917 [Stan M. Krieger] 917 NPA Proposal [John Cowan] NPA 917 to Serve Both Bronx and DID's in Manhattan [Edward Greenberg] New Bronx Area Code [Monty Solomon] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: Stamford, CT Outage [John Higdon] Re: West German Cellular Phones in East Berlin [Wolfgang R. Schulz] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Suspicions Confirmed Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 10:38:32 EDT From: Don H Kemp Thanks to AT&T's Consultant Liason Program: AT&T NEWS BRIEFS [All items are today's date unless otherwise noted] Monday, June 4, 1990 ABUSE CITED -- The FCC announced yesterday that it had documented widespread abuses in the operation of pay telephones and guest room phones at hotels and other institutions. An FCC audit of 971 such telephones nationwide found that more than 40 percent violated Federal regulations by failing to provide access to all long-distance carriers. ... The commission's staff will soon recommend that the five FCC commissioners overhaul current regulations to provide stricter enforcement and stiff fines. ... In many cases, a simple programming change in a hotel or motel's telephone computer system eliminates the potential for fraud, said Merrill R. Tutton, vp for consumer services at AT&T. ... New York Times, p. 36, 6/2. Also Courier News [Central N.J.], p. 1, 6/3, AP, 6/2. ... A bill that has cleared the U.S. House of Representatives and is awaiting action in the Senate ... would require all hotels and motels to provide their guests with access to any long-distance telephone company. ...[AT&T spokeswoman Gail Silver said] AT&T has agreed conditionally to pick up the cost of the modifications for each hotel. ... "The cost to modify PBX equipment is so nominal that we are proposing to underwrite the cost," [she said]. ... South Florida Business Journal, p. 1, 5/21. Don H Kemp "Always listen to experts. They'll B B & K Associates, Inc. tell you what can't be done, and Rutland, VT why. Then do it." uunet!uvm-gen!teletech!dhk Lazarus Long ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 12:00:35 pdt From: David Barts Subject: Strange CO Well, it's not all *that* strange, but it does deviate considerably from any other CO I've used in the Southwest. The CO serves White Rock, New Mexico (505-672), and was installed in 1976 or 1977 (more on this later). White Rock itself is a strange place, in that it has has a population somewhere between 6500 and 7000, which makes it a sizable city by New Mexico standards, yet has no post office and does not appear on most maps of New Mexico. The reason for this is the unique way that Los Alamos County is set up -- the city and county governments are the same, thus the whole county (about 112 square miles) is also an incorporated city, and White Rock is technically just a neighborhood of Los Alamos, even though 10 miles of mesas and canyons separate it from what most people think of as "Los Alamos." Although it is not a distinct governmental entity, White Rock's physical separation warrants its own CO, and LD calls to WR show up as "WHITE ROCK, NM". The local phone company is US West (formerly Mountain Bell). I just got back from a brief trip home, and found out some more odd things about the CO that serves my parents' house (White Rock, New Mexico, 505-672). Ever since they installed the new CO in White Rock (sometime back in 1976 or 1977), it has been the *slowest* switch to disconnect a call that I have ever used. When you're finished talking, hang up the phone and wait *five or ten seconds* before taking the phone off hook or you will never get dial tone. I just learned that my sister uses this slow-disconnect feature to her advantage. If she answers the phone in the family room, and finds out it is a personal call for her and wants to talk in privacy, she can hang up, run into another room, take the phone off hook, and the calling party is still there! Getting a dial tone is also slow. Whenever I use my parents' phone, I have to get used to picking up the receiver, *waiting five seconds or so for dial tone*, and then dialing the number. Kinda hard to break the habit of automatically starting to dial as soon as the phone is off hook, which works on normal CO's that return dial tone almost instantly. I have never used a CO anywhere that is as slow as this. Before the CO was `upgraded' (ha!) I remember getting almost instant dial tone and disconnects. (I think the old CO was an SXS CDO). Despite its slowness, the CO is relatively modern; White Rock was (and is) always one of the first areas in the state to get any new service US West offers (measured service, custom ringing, alternative LD carriers, direct international dialing, etc.) Another strangeness: from every other semi-modern US West CO in NM I have tried, you can get ringback by dialing 59y-xxxx, where y is some digit (usually 3, 4, or 5) and xxxx is the last 4 digits of the phone number. Not in White Rock. Before you ask, my parents are stingy when it comes to phone service, so their line has *no* special features (CLASS, speed dialing, etc.) They also refuse to pay extra for Touch-Tone, and DTMF will not break dial tone. However, pulsing is recognized at high speeds, and most of their phones can be (and are) set to pulse at the fastest rate the phone send out. Back in '76 or '77, I remember the Los Alamos Monitor (the local paper) doing a special article on White Rock's new CO. Mountain Bell was using an experimental new technique called `hot slide in' to install the new hardware, which (I think) entailed activating the new CO, removing the old CO from the building, and sliding the new CO hardware into the building *while it was in use*. I remember something about a compressed air system (like hovercraft) being used to levitate the new hardware so it could be gently moved into place. I believe the article stated White Rock was the first place in Mountain Bell territory (or the country) where this technique was used. From what I have learned by reading this newsgroup and books on telecom, I would guess that White Rock has a No. 2 (or is it 3?) ESS with older, slower hardware than most 2ESS CO's. You do hear clunking sounds as it returns dial tone and as you are connected to a party. Picking up the phone too fast after hanging up from a previous call results in a mostly quiet line with a faint, erratic clicking in the background. Eventually, you get the loud signal that means `you left the phone off hook, dum-dum!'. I could speculate more, but this article is longer than I'd like already and I'd rather turn this over to the net for comments. David Barts Pacer Corporation davidb@pacer.uucp ...!uunet!pilchuck!pacer!davidb ------------------------------ From: Andy Rabagliati Subject: Menu-driven Answering Machines Organization: INMOS Corporation, Colorado Springs Date: Sat, 2 Jun 90 18:24:46 GMT Our Theatre group has a need for an answering machine that will :- Have a short message introduction, Then give either ticket information, or social activities, or 'whats on' in town. Ideally this could be switched by the caller from the phone. What (cheap?) systems can be bought to do this ? Thank you, Andy Rabagliati. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 11:06:52 EDT From: S M Krieger Subject: Area Code 917 Organization: Summit NJ I just heard on the news that NY Telephone plans to ask the NY Public Utilities Commission to let them split area code 212 again. Manhattan will retain area code 212; the Bronx will be assigned 917. This change is planned for 1993. Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk ------------------------------ From: John Cowan Subject: 917 NPA Proposal Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 15:16:02 EDT According to {The New York Times} (5 June 1990, page B-1), New York Tel has asked the Public Service Commission to activate NPA 917 for the Bronx plus all cellular phones and pagers in Manhattan. Currently, the Bronx and Manhattan share the 212 area code. Approximately 500K Bronx lines and 100K Manhattan cellular/pager lines would be affected. The total number of lines is currently about 2.4 million, divided into 626 exchanges. The maximum number of exchanges in 212-land is 757, and they are being consumed at the rate of 33 per year. The NYPSC will hold public hearings later this year. If the plan is approved, permissive dialing would begin on 1 September, 1992, with use of the new code made mandatory as of 2 January, 1993. Three alternative plans were proposed but rejected as either too costly, too confusing, or too short-term: dividing Manhattan into two NPAs, placing new subscribers in the new NPA without regard to their locations, or moving the Bronx to 718, the area code used by the rest of New York City. cowan@marob.masa.com (aka ...!hombre!marob!cowan) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 15:05 PDT From: Edward_Greenberg@cso.3mail.3com.com Subject: NPA 917 to Serve both Bronx and DID's in Manhattan According to the {Wall Street Journal} (5 June 90, Page A8) NYNEX has filed a plan with the New York State PSC to introduce Area Code 917. This will service customers in the Bronx, but also all pagers and cellular phones currently in the 212 area in New York City (Manhattan.) The implications of this are interesting. If, for example, I have a pager company with equipment located in Manhattan, will I have to pay mileage to get my DID trunks in from the Bronx, or will it all be transparent? -edg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 1990 17:21:38 MDT From: Monty Solomon Subject: New Bronx Area Code According to an article in the 90Jun05 {Wall Street Journal}, Nynex plans to establish a new area code, 917, for the Bronx and all pagers and cellular phones currently in 212. This change would go into effect in September 1992. ------------------------------ Date: 6-JUN-1990 02:38:30.47 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB Right after Divestiture, and for some time afterwards, New York Telephone's inserts in their monthly phone bills (they call it "Hello") stated that there is a "special transit corridor" between New York City and Northern New Jersey. The insert said that all NON-equal access customers, ie, people in older exchanges who could not get equal access, would have all their calls to Northern New Jersey routed over New York Telephone via the "special transit corridor", while those who did have equal access would have their long distance company handle these calls. Later on, during 1987, they started promoting the use of "10NYT", and New Jersey Bell the use of "10NJB". Then, in 1989, New York Telephone sent us a letter claiming to be able to save us money if we make over $50 worth of calls to north Jersey via a long distance company, and switched to NYT. It was sort of a WATS line to north Jersey, but from what I gather they just program the switch to direct all calls to north Jersey made from your phone to use New York Tel instead of AT&T. I'm not sure how this actually works, so if anyone is interested, call NY Tel. I'm sure they'd be glad to talk to you about it! :-) Interestingly, from New York to New Jersey, using 10NYT will only work as a 1+ call. IE, you can call from 212-686 to 201-322 by dialing 10NYT-1-201-322-9950. You can't dial a calling card call this way, however, and must use AT&T for such a call. (And pay a $.80 rather than a $.30 cent surcharge.) Moreover, you can't "sequence call" to New Jersey either, ie, you can't make a call from 212-686 to 212-353 via a calling card, then press the "#" sign to make a new call, and then call New Jersey 201-322. BUT, from New Jersey, you CAN do this. You can make calling card calls anywhere within the north Jersey LATA, as well as to New York City (212/718). Wonder why New York Tel. won't allow this as well ... They could make a lot of money from locations such as Penn Station or the Port Authority Bus terminal, both of which are commuter stops for the heavy trans-Hudson traffic. Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals...! :-) ) ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Stamford, CT Outage Date: 5 Jun 90 02:12:59 PDT (Tue) From: John Higdon "Douglas Scott Reuben" writes: > From their DMS exchanges, they managed to block off ALL calls to the > exchanges in Stamford which were affected. IE, you would dial > 1+977-xxxx or 1+324-xxxx or any Stamford number, and it would be > blocked immediately. Depending on where you were calling from, it > would either give you a recorded message or a re-order. > Is this some new local network feature that SNET and the rest of the > Bells have? Happens all the time here. Whenever the remarkably advanced, super wonderful, all things to all people, greatest thing since sliced bread (but unfortunately discontinued and abandoned by AT&T) GTD-5 switch in Los Gatos crashes (at least once a year) the surrounding Pac*Bell COs are really quick on the uptake. (Probably 'cause they are faced with the problem in Los Gatos so much.) Calls directed to Los Gatos are immediately intercepted by a recording that says, "Due to telephone company difficulty, your call cannot be completed at this time." GTE then usually sends someone up from Thousand Jokes or Santa Monica who is usually able to get things running within a day or two. (Remember, this is the town whose council voted disapproval of GTE as the telco. Silly them, don't they know they have the most advanced CO switching equipment in the world?) Anyway, I feel the wording of the intercept recording is much too charitable. If I were Pac*Bell, the script would be changed somewhat. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to guess what that might be. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: "Wolfgang R. Schulz" Subject: Re: West German Cellular Phones in East Berlin Date: 5 Jun 90 02:12:59 PDT (Tue) I had written an article about this subject here some days ago, to bring some insider (as to location) background, to explain the cellular telephone curiosity to use in East Berlin, but sadly enough my follow-up posting on this subject (the first ever I wrote, beeing new to the NEWS) never showed. I probably have to learn how to do it. I had said also, and this is a correction to the foregoing article, East and West German postal departments have agreed that it is fully LEGAL to use a West German car or portable phone across the border, simply because the East German telephone network is a DISASTER, and business is almost IMPOSSIBLE if you have to rely on their system. So to encourage the badly needed companies from the western world, they even encourage people to use their wireless home phones in East Berlin. There is no charge for many months now if you wish to take your wireless equipment from West to East Germany. Even CB is allowed, also ham-radio. In that regard, the two Germanies are already united. So really forget all those old restrictions. Wolfgang >>>German Television proudly presents: NDR-TV<<< >>>wrs@mcshh.hanse.de #1 in <<< >>>gtc!0405521878-1%btx@uunet.uu.net Northern< >>>0002412526@mcimail.com Germany<< ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #416 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa16490; 6 Jun 90 6:57 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa27881; 6 Jun 90 3:39 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa11291; 6 Jun 90 2:35 CDT Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 1:38:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #414 BCC: Message-ID: <9006060138.ab13235@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Jun 90 01:38:14 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 414 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [John Higdon] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Hector Myerston] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Fred R. Goldstein] Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers [John Slater] Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers [Mark Brader] Re: Licenses for Television in the UK [Martin Harriss] Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [Leonard P. Levine] Re: My List of North American Area Codes [Bob Goudreau] Re: Jargon Overload [Steve Wolfson] Re: Screwy PUC Policies [Jon Baker] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 5 Jun 90 01:47:55 PDT (Tue) From: John Higdon Jerry Aguirre writes: > So are DID lines really only for incomming calls? Is there a > technical reason or is the carrier trying to charge more? I'm afraid they are, and the reason is technical. A DID trunk is actually a phone line in reverse. Your PBX becomes the CO and presents 48 volts back to the telco office. When a call is placed from outside destined for an extension on your PBX, the telco trunk on which the call comes in goes "off hook" or signals the PBX there is a call. Depending on the selected protocol, telco pulses the extension number (or uses DTMF) immediately or after receiving a wink from the PBX. (A wink is momentary supervision.) When the call is answered in the PBX, the battery voltage as presented to the telco CO is reversed, signaling supervision back to the network. Since the whole setup is more or less the opposite of what is the normal arrangement for CO/subscriber connections, there is no way for the PBX to place an outgoing call on these lines. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 3 Jun 90 09:25 PST Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] Err... DID = Direct Inward Dialing. DID allows inward calls to a PBX to complete them to specific PBX stations without attendant assistance. ------------------------------ From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 5 Jun 90 18:04:22 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA In article <8638@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jerry@olivey.olivetti.com (Jerry Aguirre) writes... >So are DID lines really only for incomming calls? Is there a >technical reason or is the carrier trying to charge more? It's a technically valid reason. Ordinary trunks use (typically) ground-start signaling, which is a variation on traditional POTS. They send a single pulse plus power ring to initiate ringing, and you just "pick up" (draw current) to answer, and then billing begins. DID trunks are a different kludge. Typically they send a wink (unless they're immediate start, which I wouldn't recomment) and then, when the wink is ack'd by the PBX, they send the digits. No ring, of course. At this stage the connection is already established to the caller, but the charging hasn't begun. Your PBX is not allowed to permit the talk path to open in the line->PBX direction until it sends a supervision pulse which causes charging to begin. (The PBX->line path is open because the PBX, not the CO, sends the ring/busy/etc. tones.) This type of line is designed to be monodirectional; thus DID trunks are one-way only. And in any case tend to cost more than outgoing trunks. (At least they do here!) Note that ISDN signaling does permit DID on two-way trunks, since DID is handled by just an extra information element in the incoming SETUP message, and ISDN inherently handles call supervision. Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388 ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers Date: 4 Jun 90 12:46:39 GMT Reply-To: John Slater You may be interested to learn that the association of letters with telephone digits works slightly differently in the UK. First of all the assignment itself is different : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ABC DEF GHI JKL MN PRS TUV WXY OQ The main difference from the American method is that O is assigned to 0 rather then 6. Also Q is assigned to 0. We too have no Z. The other difference is that all this is ancient history! British Telecom (or the GPO as it was then) changed to "all-figure dialling" in the 1960's. Occasionally I see an old dial with the letters on as described above, but they are now very rare. The letters were used for STD codes (see below), and previously for dialling other exchanges within cities. For example, a number in the Mayfair district of London would be written as MAYfair 1234 - one of the Mayfair exchanges is still 629. I was interested to learn from the "coathanger" posting a while back that the same system was used in the US. Before "all-figure dialling", STD (subscriber trunk dialling, == long distance) codes were alphanumeric - e.g. Blackpool was 0BL3 (all UK STD codes start with zero, as in most parts of the world), whereas Blackburn was 0BL4. Today they are 0253 and 0254 respectively. The trailing digit was used simply to distinguish between codes for towns with similar initial letters, never as a third letter (except by chance). This scheme extends also to the original six large metropolitan districts which were allotted 3-digit STD codes and 7-digit numbers. Apart from London (01 until the recent split into 071/081), the codes are 021 *B*irmingham 031 *E*dinburgh 041 *G*lasgow 051 *L*iverpool 061 *M*anchester This was broken somewhat in the early 1980's by the introduction of 091 for the Newcastle/Sunderland/Durham area in the north-east. Dialling within this area is a real can of worms, but I'll save that for another posting. Because most of the STD codes were assigned back in the 1950's, it follows that, given an unknown STD code, one can make an intelligent guess as to where it is. E.g. I come from an area in the north-west with the code 0706. From the table, it can only be PO, RO or SO (ignoring Q!). In fact the town is called Rochdale. This system is not perfect, but it can help occasionally. It's amazing how much of this stuff comes back to you when you start thinking. All I was going to do was post the letter assignment table. If anybody is actually interested in this STD code stuff, let me know and I'll wrack my brains some more. And I'm just an amateur observer and user of telecom services, with a so-so memory, so there's no guarantee that this stuff is accurate. John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick office ------------------------------ From: Mark Brader Subject: Re: Translating Alpha Phone Numbers Reply-To: msb@sq.uucp Date: Tue, 5 Jun 1990 21:32:19 -0400 I was waiting for someone else to point out this nonportability: > if echo "$phnnum" | grep 'q\|Q\|z\|Z' > /dev/null > then > echo "There's no Q or Z on the phone dial." > exit 1 > fi To work on all variants of UNIX, the grep pattern should be '[qQzZ]'. Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ From: Martin Harriss Subject: Re: Licenses for Television in the UK Date: 5 Jun 90 15:59:16 GMT Reply-To: Martin Harriss Organization: Bellcore In article <8658@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater writes: >Evasion is widespread, and personally I am deeply cynical about the >efficacy or even the existence of detector vans (I've never seen one). >I believe the authorities rely largely on non-renewed licences to >catch defaulters. Oh, the detector vans do exist - I've seen them, and read about them in the telecom press. But you're also right about using non-renewal records to catch people. This is what happens: They (who *is* they these days? I don't thing it's BT) will target an area of the country where they want to do some enforcement. The detector vans are sent there, and there is a local publicity campaign sometime before the event. The non-renewal records are consulted, and the detector vans are sent by the houses of people who have not renewed. If a television is found operating there, the owner receives a knock on the door. I believe the idea is to scare the excrement out of people by publicizing the enforcement campaign before sending the vans in. I bet it costs more than 71 quid to prosecute someone. Martin Harriss (ex brit) martin@cellar.bae.bellcore.com ------------------------------ From: Leonard P Levine Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" Date: 5 Jun 90 18:30:25 GMT Reply-To: len@csd4.csd.uwm.edu From article <8654@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by jim@aob.aob.mn.org (Jim Anderson): > As far as the signal encoding goes, it probably is a relatively > unsophisticated code, as the transmission is only a burst transmission > and (my opinion) should only contain the current meter reading, not > the usage since the previous reading. I had an interesting experience with a simpler meter some years ago. The system was a municipal (shorewood Wisconsin) water meter with a repeater outside the house so that the meter reader needed only read the repeater without going into the basement. The repeater failed over a period of years, missing ticks, and finally quit. I was asked to allow the city to replace the repeater. They did, and brought the readings up to date. Later I was billed for about ten years missed water service billings. As I recall, the bill was for more than $200.00. Some discussion with the village manager convinced him that not all of the water had been used this year, and that rates earlier did not include sewer service. We negotiated a price. With gas meters the same alarming thing may happen. What is worse, the numbers will be an order of magnitude larger. Be very wary to see that the REAL meter is read when you purchase a house, not just the repeater, whatever the technological type. | Leonard P. Levine e-mail len@cs.uwm.edu | | Professor, Computer Science Office (414) 229-5170 | | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Home (414) 962-4719 | | Milwaukee, WI 53201 U.S.A. FAX (414) 229-6958 | ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 17:49:47 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: My List of North American Area Codes Reply-To: goudreau@larrybud.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article <8653@accuvax.nwu.edu>, HAMER524@ruby.vcu.edu (Robert M. Hamer) writes: > No, it _certainly_ is the RIGHT access code for the ENTIRE > >world. Additional access codes may be required ahead of it, but no > >matter where you go in the world, "1" is the access code for the U.S. > I really am not sure this is worth going on about, because I don't > know if the rest of the Digest is interested in the topic or not, > but... The point is that the "1+" is an access code, and not part of > the phone number. In the US or elsewhere. Actually, when I use my > Sprint FON card, a "1+" never plays a role in the dialing: it seems to > be "0+"; I don't know about other calling/credit cards. > Again, it may not be worth it to start a thread on it, but I would > assert that the "1+" is an access code, and the area code does not > include it, and neither does the phone number. No, you're completely missing his point: the "1" is INDEED part of every phone number in the US, because the country code for the North American Numbering Plan (US, Canada, much of Caribbean) is "1". This country code is not to be confused with the intra-NANP access code for direct-dialed inter-area-code calls, which also happens to be "1" in most areas of the NANP. (In some, it's the null string, but that will have to change in a few years with the advent of NXX area codes.) But in all direct-dialed calls into the NANP from outside of the NANP, the country code is required. In particular, the string "1" must be dialed after the international access code (which varies from country to country; many countries use "00") and before the area code and local number. So it's certainly valid to state that the ordered pair, say, "+1 802" identifies the area code for Vermont, just as it's correct to note that "+44 71" identifies the area code for inner London. Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau USA ------------------------------ From: Steve Wolfson Subject: Re: Jargon Overload Date: 5 Jun 90 15:20:59 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL 0004261818@mcimail.com (David Tamkin) writes: >PT> It would seem to me [that Isaac and David] have similar complaints, >PT> and the answer for both may be to obtain copies of the glossary files >PT> in the Telecom Archives. Look for the file entitled >PT> 'phrack.glossary'. >Providing definitions of the words and expansions of the acronyms >cannot guarantee that everyone will understand the complete idea. In >the questions I asked that led up to that submission and in the >earlier articles that lost me, the problems were the concepts and >assumptions, not the words or acronyms. I knew the words but the >phrasing was ambiguous to my untrained eyes. As a result, I couldn't >understand the answers as they were given. When I asked again, people >repeated the same murky language. That didn't help. Help is here (sort of) from AT&T. I just received a mailing from AT&T Business Communications Services for the following classes: VOICE COMMUNICATIONS I: An Analysis of Voice Services and Applications Course Code 26A Audience: Communications managers, network adminstrators or communications analaysts/specialists. Topics: Communications Equipment (Key, PBX, Centrex, ACD) Local and long distance service (industry structure, jurisdiction, equal access, rate structure comparisons) Communications Services (WATS, 800, foreign exchange [FX], tie lines/trunks, off premises stations, remote call forwarding [RCF],T1.5) Networks (premises bases, enhanced private switched communications service, software defined network) Communications media (microwave, twisted pair, coaxial cable, fiber optics, satellite) Fee: $1195 for a 4 day class. Two other classes Data Communications I and II. Cover more lower level network type stuff. Cost/length is the same. The number listed for more info: 1 800 TRAINER (1 800 872-4637) ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Screwy PUC Policies Date: 5 Jun 90 17:20:15 GMT Organization: gte In article <8641@accuvax.nwu.edu>, john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > would be converted to the 5E, but not in California. The PUC seems to > be of the opinion that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." It probably has more to do with capital depreciation over the expected life cycle of the equipment, but ... > ... the X-bar was installed in 1956 and one might think that 34 years > is sufficient service life. But the twenty-year-old ESS? Hell, that's > still cooking along just fine. Certainly 34 years is a sufficient time for the equipment to fully depreciate. One would also think that 20 years is sufficient for the #1. Typical depreciation on modern digital switches is 20 years. The telco can't get rid of it before then even if they want to. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #414 ******************************   ISSUES 415-416 APPEAR BEFORE 414 DUE TO TRANSMISSION DELAY. 417 IS NEXT. Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa10335; 7 Jun 90 3:34 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa24523; 7 Jun 90 1:53 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa13830; 7 Jun 90 0:49 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 0:07:23 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #417 BCC: Message-ID: <9006070007.ab02956@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jun 90 00:07:03 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 417 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Licenses for Television in the UK [Mike Bell] Re: Licenses for Television in the UK [John Slater] Re: Licenses for Television in the UK [Piet van Oostrum] Re: Another Clue to Possible E. German Prefixes [Tom Hofmann] Re: References Needed Re New Nodes in Modern Networks [Peter Weiss] Re: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? [Bill Berbenich] Re: GTD-5 and CLASS [David Robbins] Re: GTD-5 and CLASS [Jon Baker] Re: Menu-driven Answering Machines [David Ptasnik] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Bill Fenner] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Ken Abrams] One-Piece Telephones [Robert M. Hamer] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Bell Subject: Re: Licenses for Television in the UK Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 08:37:00 EDT johns@happy.uk.sun.com (John Slater) writes: >Evasion is widespread, and personally I am deeply cynical about the >efficacy or even the existence of detector vans (I've never seen one). >I believe the authorities rely largely on non-renewed licenses to >catch defaulters. Before all UK readers fail to renew their TV licenses, I can confirm that TV detector vans do exist - I visited one on display at the East of England show two years ago. The equipment inside looked about 1960 vintage. The operator seemed rather unknowledgeable about the principle of operation, but from what I surmised it is identical to the methods described by Peter Wright in "Spycatcher" for identifying enemy receivers listening to a particular frequency - ie. blip the transmitter frequency and correlate it with secondary emissions on other frequencies. (Note that this distinguishes between a TV being used with a VCR and a TV watching live transmissions - a license used not to be required for the former, although I'm not sure if this is still the case). The TV detector van gets fairly good range information from this source. The antenna can be rotated to give bearing - but it wasn't clear if it could be adjusted to give elevation. The operator is given list of houses in the area which do not have TV licenses from which to start... Even if the equipment does not work, it is often reported that large numbers of TV licenses are suddenly applied for in areas where it is publicized that the vans are operating! Mike Bell -- ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: Licenses for Television in the UK Date: 6 Jun 90 15:23:23 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <8677@accuvax.nwu.edu>, cellar!martin@bellcore.bellcore.com (Martin Harriss) writes: >I believe the idea is to scare the excrement out of people by >publicizing the enforcement campaign before sending the vans in. I >bet it costs more than 71 quid to prosecute someone. Yes, but what about the (up to) 400 pound fine when they're prosecuted? John ------------------------------ From: Piet van Oostrum Subject: Re: Licenses for Television in the UK Date: 6 Jun 90 16:27:37 GMT Reply-To: Piet van Oostrum Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands In article <8677@accuvax.nwu.edu>, cellar!martin@bellcore (Martin Harriss) writes: |They (who *is* they these days? I don't thing it's BT) will target an |area of the country where they want to do some enforcement. The |detector vans are sent there, and there is a local publicity campaign |sometime before the event. The non-renewal records are consulted, and |the detector vans are sent by the houses of people who have not |renewed. If a television is found operating there, the owner receives |a knock on the door. In the Netherlands we have the same system. A few years ago there was an April Fools joke on the TV where they told that a new system was invented to detect non-licenced TV's by their radiation. The only way to prevent detection was to wrap your TV in alumin(i)um foil. Guess what happened. Piet* van Oostrum, Dept of Computer Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, P.O. Box 80.089, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands. Telephone: +31-30-531806 Uucp: uunet!mcsun!ruuinf!piet Telefax: +31-30-513791 Internet: piet@cs.ruu.nl (*`Pete') ------------------------------ From: Tom Hofmann Subject: Re: Another Clue to Possible E. German Prefixes Organization: CIBA-GEIGY AG, Basle, Switzerland Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 12:03:37 GMT In article <8576@accuvax.nwu.edu> mtxinu!Ingres.COM!jas@uunet.uu.net writes: |In article <8432@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0002909785@mcimail.com (J. Stephen |Reed) writes: |>West German postal codes are normally four digits, ranging from 1000 |>(West Berlin) to 7999. An article in the Germany Philatelic Society |>magazine noted that according to a Deutsche Bundespost bulletin some |>years ago, the 8000s and 9000s are reserved for "other German regions". |Not quite right. Don't know about the 9000 series, but the 8000 |series is used by Munich and surroundings (much of Upper Bavaria?). As I heard from West German news two weeks ago, Germany is going to have five-digits postal codes after the unification. District post-office numbers will then be integrated in the codes (West Germany has always been an exception herein). Tom Hofmann wtho%cgch@relay.EU.net ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Wednesday, 6 Jun 1990 09:33:18 EDT From: Peter Weiss Subject: Re: References Needed Re New Nodes in Modern Networks In article <8688@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mdawson@adonis.ee.queensu.ca (Michael Dawson) says: >I am looking for pointers to papers or any other type of information >source that contains information on the function and services provided >by the new nodes in modern telephone networks. Publications such as _Network World_ and _CommunicationsWeek_ regularly have such info. Also, I suspect that Datapro's _Reports on Data Communications_ would be a good source. /Pete ------------------------------ From: Bill Berbenich Subject: Re: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? Date: 6 Jun 90 15:10:06 GMT Reply-To: Bill Berbenich Organization: DSP Lab, School of Electrical Engineering, Ga. Tech, Atlanta, GA In article <8687@accuvax.nwu.edu> ladwp!weyh@celia.uucp writes: >I'm looking for a feature in a phone that will help me with the >following: >My wife and I have a infant child and sometimes when I call her she >has the baby in her arms and can't get to the phone. I'd like to have >a speaker phone that she could answer without going over to the >device. If it could be voice activated or if I could enter a secured >code to have the phone answer itself. Also a built-in answering >machine would be nice. >Does such a thing exist? Yes, Panasonic makes an answering machine/telephone with a feature called "answer-back." If you (the caller) know the code number which has been set on the phone, you can make the phone go into the speaker phone mode. I believe this same model that I am thinking of will allow the phone to go off-hook into the speaker phone mode if someone at the unit presses a certain button - in other words, the phone will ring once and then answer itself. After your wife heard the first ring, she could wait a second and then say (yell?) Hello! across the room. If your wife does not want the phone to answer itself, she can press that-same-button again to toggle the auto-answer off. In any case, if the caller knows the security code they can make the phone go into the speaker phone (or answerback) mode on this particular Panasonic model. I don't know the Panasonic model number, but it is a fairly small unit (gray in color with an orange speakerphone button) which utilizes a voice chip for the outgoing message and a single micro-cassette for the incoming message and to backup the message on the voice chip in case the power goes out. Most (many?) consumer electronics stores in the Atlanta area carry this particular model for something over $200. I have seen good pricing for it at Service Merchandise and Pace. I may just buy one of them myself one day. :-) William A. Berbenich | Georgia Tech, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{backbones}!gatech!eedsp!bill Internet: bill@eedsp.gatech.edu ------------------------------ From: David Robbins Subject: Re: GTD-5 and CLASS Date: 6 Jun 90 16:02:54 GMT Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc., Waltham, MA From article <8686@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon): > I have received many kilobytes of material from GTE folks trying to > sell the virtues of GTD-5. But after my little experimentation, I'm > going to invoke my Jackson County, MO heritage: Show me! It may be that you are complaining about the wrong thing! If my information is correct, the GTD-5 itself is quite capable of doing SS7 and CLASS. However, the operating company that buys the GTD-5 decides whether or not to make use of its capabilities. Your experimentation has shown, quite convincingly, that GTE has not taken advantage of any of the GTD-5's SS7 capabilities in your area. This is pure speculation, but it may be that the GTE operating company has not worked out any arrangement with Pac*Bell to interconnect the systems with SS7 (perhaps they haven't even *thought* of doing that ??). The question here is who to blame for the conditions you describe. Do you blame the equipment manufacturer or the equipment operator? Ultimately, the telephone service you receive depends most heavily upon the operating company, for it is they who decide what equipment to buy and which of the equipment's capabilities to offer to their customers. I don't feel any compulsion to defend either the GTD-5 or the GTE operating companies, although I am a GTE employee. I know nothing about the commitment of the operating company to provide the service its customers want. All I can do is point out that the latest and greatest switching technology, even if it is in the possession of the operating company, won't do you any good if the operating company chooses not to provide you the service. From a practical point of view, the technology might as well not exist if you are not permitted to use it! If enough customers rag on the telco to provide these neat services, perhaps they will perceive that there is enough demand for the service that it will be provided. And the PUC, as a (supposed) servant of the public, might be able to apply some pressure (although from what I know of PUCs, this may or may not ever happen :-)). Dave Robbins GTE Laboratories Incorporated drobbins@bunny.gte.com 40 Sylvan Rd. ...!harvard!bunny!drobbins Waltham, MA 02254 CYA: I speak only for myself; GTE may disagree with what I say. ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: GTD-5 and CLASS Date: 7 Jun 90 00:34:07 GMT Organization: gte In article <8686@accuvax.nwu.edu>, john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > Actually, what I meant to say was, "All Bay Area COs except the three > in Los Gatos and the one in Morgan Hill." This is, of course, our > token GTE punishment area. (Doesn't everyone have to suffer with GTE > somewhere nearby?) These COs (all GTD-5) speak MF to each other and to > the outside world. No CLASS available here! Please clarify your point here - are you claiming that CLASS is not available in the Bay Area? No argument there. Are you claiming that CLASS is not available on the GTD-5? Argument there. It is available on the GTD-5, and has been deployed to, at the least, Santa Barbara and Downey, for about ayear now. It was first offered in the domestic market on SVR 1631, which was not widely deployed. Expanded CLASS features are available on SVR1632, which only recently was standarized for general deployment throughout GTE. It should be deployed with increasing frequency throughout GTE operating areas in California. As they say, 'coming soon to a site near you' ... > I have received many kilobytes of material from GTE folks trying to > sell the virtues of GTD-5. Actually, just trying to defend it against scathing and undeserved criticism. I have yet to hear a GTD5/GTE bashing that does not apply equally well to a 5ESS/RBOC. > But after my little experimentation, I'm > going to invoke my Jackson County, MO heritage: Show me! Patience is a virtue ... ------------------------------ From: David Ptasnik Subject: Re: Menu-driven Answering Machines Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 9:28:49 PDT In article 6574 of comp.dcom.telecom, andyr@inmos.com (Andy Rabagliati) writes: >Our Theatre group has a need for an answering machine that will :- >Have a short message introduction, >Then give either ticket information, or social activities, or 'whats >on' in town. Ideally this could be switched by the caller from the >phone. What (cheap?) systems can be bought to do this ? This sounds like a call for a standard voice mail/auto attd. As you are in Colorado, I suspect you can get the service on your existing phone line for around $20.00/mo. from US West. If you want to be independent, there are a variety of PC boards from $500 - $2,000 readily available. If you have a large phone system, a dedicated system might be in order. I personally like the Repartee system from Active Voice. Hope this helps. davep@milton.u.wasington.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 23:37 EST From: Bill Fenner Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs I was playing around at a newly installed Bell o' PA phone the other day, and got some funny responses: 10288-1-700-555-4141 gave the expected (ring ring) Thank you for using AT&T. 1-700-555-4141 gave a slightly unexpected "Your call cannot be completed as dialled." 10333-1-700-555-4141 gave an extremely unexpected (ring ring) Thank you for using AT&T. Um ... is this legal? Could it have been a simple mistake because the phone was recently installed, or am I giving Bell too much credit? Should I try to do something about this? I've had no luck getting a FON card, 'tho I tried twice (once from WD40, once from a promotion at a local mall; maybe I'm on their **it list), so I can't try dialling a calling-card call with 10333 and see if it works... Anyone have any other suggestions as to what to try? Bill ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 6 Jun 90 21:44:02 GMT Reply-To: Ken Abrams Organization: Athenanet, Inc., Springfield, Illinois In article <8638@accuvax.nwu.edu> jerry@olivey.olivetti.com (Jerry Aguirre) writes: >So are DID lines really only for incomming calls? Is there a >technical reason or is the carrier trying to charge more? The answers are yes, yes and probably not (in that order). There probably is no technical reason why a two-way DID trunk couldn't be made but, to the best of my knowlege, it just hasn't been done yet. It would not be a simple change and there are some good reasons to keep things separate. As an example, an unusually heavy load of incoming calls cannot prevent you from getting "outside" dial tone because all your trunks are suddenly busy. Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 14:53 EDT From: "Robert M. Hamer" Subject: One-piece Telephones Is it my imagination, or have the one-piece telephones (both inexpensive and expensive) basically disappeared from sale? I am looking to buy a new phone for our upstairs, and the best phone to buy would be one that I could just put down on a narrow ledge in the hallway in order for it to be available. I have a cheap, old phone (about nine years old, cost about 10 bucks) called something like a "Mura QuickPhone" there now, and I want to replace it. A more expensive phone would be acceptable, but it would be nice if it did not need some sort of cradle or holder in which to put it. The ledge is narrow, and wide enough for the phone, but an additional piece that did nothing but hold the phone would be a loose pain in the neck that I don't need. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #417 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa12335; 7 Jun 90 4:42 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12191; 7 Jun 90 2:57 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab24523; 7 Jun 90 1:53 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 1:34:39 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #418 BCC: Message-ID: <9006070134.ab03928@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jun 90 01:34:17 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 418 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Wisconsin Bell / AT&T Making Random Connections [Anton Rang] AT&T STU-III Information Center (ASIC) [Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton] One View of AT&T [Ken Harrenstien] Baud per Hertz [Henry Troup] Convenience Codes to Other Countries [Tom Hofmann] "NANP Codes" AND "I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call [J. Slater] Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code [Greg Monti, via John R. Covert] Re: Strange CO [Thomas Lapp] Re: MPS48 Modem Help [Donald E. Kimberlin] Hackers, Kapor and Len Rose [TELECOM Moderator] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 12:30:49 -0500 From: Anton Rang Subject: Wisconsin Bell / AT&T Making Random Connections I haven't seen this on the newsgroup, and thought readers might be interested. For the last week or two, Wisconsin Bell has been having an odd problem with their system: it's placing calls at random. Only a few people (all in Madison, so far as I know) have been affected so far. They start receiving calls from other phones in the area, as well as through AT&T's long distance network (including international calls). The most interesting thing about this is that these aren't just "misdirected" calls; neither party initiates the call. The phone just rings at both ends. One person in Madison was getting about eighty calls per day through the weekend, including connections to several other Madison numbers, and many international calls (Zaire, China, and New Zealand, for instance). A Wisconsin Bell spokesman said that the company is trying to track down the problem, with the help of AT&T. (Information from several newscasts and the Wisconsin State Journal.) Anton ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 17:45 MST From: "Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton" Subject: AT&T STU-III Information Center (ASIC) As distributed by AT&T at its STU-III demo at AFCEA 90 convention/ exhibition in Washington, DC, 5-7 June 1990: AT&T STU-III Information Center (ASIC) - Is a free, on-line information center that you can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week using a modem and a PC (2400/1200 8N1) - Is available on a toll-free number (1-800-331-1774) - Contains STU-III Marketing, Customer Service, and Technical Information - Allows you to read information on-line - Allows you to download text files and software programs - Allows you to send messages to and ask questions of our staff - Allows you to participate in customer surveys by answering questions on-line (I called the number and got a modem tone, but as I wasn't near my PC at the time all I could do was whistle at it :-) ras ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 19:02:34 PDT From: Ken Harrenstien Subject: One View of AT&T While reading a book recently, I ran across a tidbit that I thought readers of Telecom might appreciate. Herewith, from "Win-Win Negotiating" (1985) by Fred E. Jandt, p.265: Sometimes, hardballers operate on orders from above. For example, it's no secret that you can resolve a complaint much more easily with IBM, whose management practices a win-win philosophy, than with AT&T, where, from the very top down, the propensity is to tell you, "That's our policy." (Translation: "Go drown yourself.") ... "That's our policy" -- those are not only fighting words, they're words of consummate arrogance and defiance. If the person who utters them is working for someone else, forget about rhetoric or other means of persuasion; you've got to go to the boss. And if the person who utters the words *is* the boss, you've got to put a knife to his throat -- figuratively, of course -- and bring him to his knees before you can expect to reason with him. This was five years ago. Still true, I wonder? ------------------------------ From: Henry Troup Subject: Baud per Hertz Date: 6 Jun 90 16:04:40 GMT Reply-To: Henry Troup Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. In article <8683@accuvax.nwu.edu> Rob Warnock writes: >...(Pushing a 7 baud signal through a 5 Hz pipe is >quite good! The theoretical maximum is 2 baud/Hz: one state for each >half-cycle of bandwidth.)... I don't see a theoretical limit, not if you allow phase modulation. For real phase discriminators and real lines there certainly are limits, but in theory you could shift each half cycle by as fine an increment as you could measure ... I guess Heisenberg limits that somewhere, but not for a long time. Still, in the real world 7 baud on 5 Hz is very good! Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 or HWT@BNR.CA ------------------------------ From: Tom Hofmann Subject: Convenience Codes to Other Countries Organization: CIBA-GEIGY AG, Basle, Switzerland Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 13:23:53 GMT In article <8616@accuvax.nwu.edu> sp@questor.wimsey.bc.ca (Steve Pershing) writes: |In |addition, there was at one time, an area code within country code 1 |assigned to Mexico City, for more convenient dialling (?). This is an |anomaly in the normal CCITT assignment, as Mexico has its own country |code. |I wonder if there are other "convenience" codes within other country |codes in other parts of the world? There are small parts of Austria which belong to the West German customs territory. These areas have both Austrian and West German area codes (as well as two postal codes). In Switzerland/Liechtenstein there are convenience codes along all borders. Example: Phone numbers in southern Alsace (France) have the form 89.xx.yy.zz. From north-western Switzerland (the adjacent area) the convenience code for these numbers is 068 xx.yy.zz instead of 0033 89.xx.yy.zz. However, 068 is intercepted in all other parts of Switzerland/Liechtenstein. Convenience-code calls are charged like domestic calls between 50 and 100 km which makes them much cheaper than regular international calls. Tom Hofmann wtho%cgch@relay.EU.net ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: "NANP codes" AND "I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call" Date: 6 Jun 90 15:59:44 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In a perfect world I could dial "+44 81 676 XXXX" to reach my number in London from *anywhere* in the world, including the UK (where + means 010). Similarly it would be nice to be able to dial 011 1 415 XXX XXXX to reach San Francisco from anywhere in the US. I was originally going to post this with lots of ":-)", but seriously though folks, why should it be difficult with modern switches? Just a thought. John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick office ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 16:27:07 PDT From: John R. Covert Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code (from Greg Monti) From: Greg Monti Subject: Re: AT&T Finally Learns USA Country Code rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: > By the way, the USA country code still isn't given in any USA > telephone directory I've ever seen. Burkino Faso? OK. Vanuato? No > problem. USA? Forget it! I found one. A Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph (LTT) directory in Lincoln, Nebraska (yes, that's an independent company), lists the country code for United States as 1 with a footnote saying that it's only for calling back to the US from other countries. It's in the ordinary list of country and city codes, correctly alphabetized. Only place I've ever seen it printed in USA. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work +1 202 822 2633 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 21:57:26 EDT From: Thomas Lapp Subject: RE: Strange CO > Back in '76 or '77, I remember the Los Alamos Monitor (the local > paper) doing a special article on White Rock's new CO. Mountain Bell > was using an experimental new technique called `hot slide in' to > install the new hardware, which (I think) entailed activating the new > CO, removing the old CO from the building, and sliding the new CO > hardware into the building *while it was in use*. I remember The time frame sounds about right. In the local CO which covered the area where I grew up (Morgantown, WV), they replaced a large SxS switch (which took up the whole inside of a brick building) with a new ESS switch. The new switch was much smaller than the old, but there was still no room in the building for the new switch. So they built a separate out-building which was butted up against the old one and installed the new switch in it. They then cut over to the new switch, which was still located outside of the old building, and when they had cleared enough of the old SxS system out, they did a 'hot slide' as you describe, to put the new switch into the old building (after knocking out the wall that separated the two buildings). If I recall correctly, the new switch had long enough cables so that it could indeed be moved on compressed air while in use. - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA ------------------------------ From: "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: ICC MPS48 Modem Help Date: June 5, 1990 Responding to: Ian Matthew Smith Sunday, 3 Jun 1990 Organization: Penn State University Smith writes: >I have just gotten ahold of two (ICC MPS48) 4800 baud modems.... >.... But I cannot get it to accept any commands. >.....Does anybody have ANY information on this modem? Ian, you've got yourself a pair of a couple of real good "moldy olides" there. MPS48's have been the workhorse of many large, farflung global networks for years. The maker is Racal-Milgo, one of the Big 3 on non-Bell modem makers for years. You can try their factory at Plantation (Ft. Lauderdale subuarb, NOT the Plantation in the Keys), Florida, but they may not be interested in passing out free help. They have a LARGE worldwide service force to sell to you. Better you call around the major banks near you, like Philly and get to someone in the data network area, who get s one or two books for each of the (truly!) HUNDREDS of MPS48s they use in their big machine networks. Here are three things to start you off: 1.) These are four-wire, full-duplex private line modems. That means they work on TWO "two-wire" analog phone circuits, so hook up the "transmit" terminals of one to the "receive" terminals of the other. Those modems can send from across the room to across the ocean on such circuits, so run them wherever you want to...just give them separate "go" and "return" analog circuits. 2.) Such modems in large machine networks are for sync data terminals, and while PC clocks are getting so good nowadays you may be able to just jam async at them and seem to work for a short time, you will probably have trouble with data "slips" on long files unless you run your terminals in "sync" mode and provide interface cables that exchange clock between the terminals and modems. That means more wires in the cables than the usual 3 or so of PC usage. 3.) Such modems transmit a full 0 dBm composite data signal, and expect a received signal of -16 dBm. Their receivers are very sensitive, and can function clear down to about - 42 dBm. In the case of a short wire circuit across the room, or even across the campus, they will probably overload their receivers. You need to either get an attenuator into the analog wire circuit OR reduce the sending level (by means of internal hardware options any tech can readily identify) to - 16 dBm to avoid receiver overload, which occurs very rapidly even at - 12 or -13 dBm received signal level on them. 4.) In big machine networks, the "smarts" are all in the controller, a.k.a. DTE (Data Terminal Equipment). Thus, MPS-48s don't respond to Hayes commands from the keyboard. They're just up on line all the time and transmit whatever you send..if these are the classic "private -dedicated" line version most people have. IF they have two-wire dail-up interface boards added, they expect you to have an external telephone with an "exclusion key" transfer between voice and data, and you dial with the phone, then switch to data connection .. .or perform the equivalent with an electronic substitute. But, I doubt you have that added hard- ware in yours. If you do, the extra boards will be readily identifiable. The MPS-48s are VERY good, durable devices and you should expect good use from them. Some contacting people from large data-using firms and getting a hep technician on them should get them working for you in most any way you like. ...So what do you have? A pair of the "workhorses" from that "other galaxy" of data communications, the galaxy of the big mainframe machines; it seems to be a place dial-up PC users have heard little about, even though it sells a billion or more a year worth of those modems! Once you get a good tech on them, you'll find they are really pretty simple. Happy intergalactic datacomm! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 0:21:34 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Crackers, Kapor and Len Rose I have been deliberating holding messages on Kapor and the cracker situation which have arrived this week. Thursday evening there will be at least two special issues devoted to this topic, and I will be picking several messages to include. I was going to have one special issue, and that would have accomodated only a few letters. A second issue will allow me to include a couple lengthy replies. Because the topic is starting to stray far away from telecom and into areas of the law and computer security, etc, this will be the last batch I can print. Several of these items Thursday night will be replies to me, which is the main reason I am running them ... and I won't even be able to include all of them, so heavy is the flow. Late Tuesday night, David Tamkin and I had a chance to speak at length with someone close to the scene involving Len Rose. Some things were off the record, at the request of Mr. Rose's attorney, and I agreed to honor that request. Apparently the Secret Service seized *every single electronic item* in his household -- not just his computers. I am told they even took away a box containing his Army medals, some family pictures, and similar. It is my understanding his attorney has filed a motion in court to force the Secret Service to return at least *some* of his computer equipment, since without any of it, he is unable to work for any of his clients at all without at least one modem and computer. I am told the Secret Service broke down some doors to a storage area in the basement rather than simply have him unlock the area with a key. I am told further that he was advised he could pick up his fax machine (which had been seized, along with boxes and boxes of technical books, etc), but that when he did so, he was instead arrested and held for several hours in the County Jail there. Mr. Rose believes he will be found innocent of charges (rephrased) that he was the 'leader of the Legion of Doom', and that he had broken into 'numerous computers over the years'. I invited Mr. Rose and/or his attorney to issue a detailed statement to the Digest, and promised that upon receipt it would be run promptly. I don't think such a statement will be coming any time soon since his attorney has pretty much ordered him to be silent on the matter until the trial. If the things he says about the Secret Service raid on his home are detirmined to be factual, then combined with complaints of the same nature where Steve Jackson Games is concerned I would have to say it seems to me the Secret Service might have been a bit less zealous. The revelations in the weeks and months ahead should be very interesting. One of the items I will include in the special issues on Thursday night is the report which appeared in the {Baltimore Sun} last weekend. This case seems to get more complicated every day. PT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #418 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa26347; 7 Jun 90 23:51 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa13702; 7 Jun 90 22:05 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa06908; 7 Jun 90 21:01 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 20:46:00 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest Special: LOD - Part I BCC: Message-ID: <9006072046.ab15106@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jun 90 20:45:00 CDT Special: LOD - Part I Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson LOD/Kapor Debate Hits the Big Time [Jerry Leichter] Update: LOD Woes [psrc@pegasus.att.com AND wts@winken.att.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 09:28:29 EDT From: leichter@lrw.com Subject: LOD/Kapor Debate Hits the Big Time Given the vehemence of the recent, um, debate between the Moderator and many readers, I thought the following article - which appeared on the front page of this Sunday's {New York Times} (3-Jun-90) - was of interest. Drive to Counter Computer Crime Aims at Invaders Legitimate Users Voice Worries Over Rights By John Markoff From Los Angeles to Atlanta, Federal and state law-enforcement agents have begun an intense battle against computer operators who break into government and business data systems. The agents, under mounting pressure from corporations and lawmakers, say the crackdown is needed to halt a growing threat to commerce, research and national security. But increasingly, civil liberties experts and even some computer industry executives say the crackdown is affecting computer users who are not breaking the law. These experts say such users are being intimidated and are suffering illegal searches and violations of their constitutional guarantees to free speech. Crimes `in the Blink of an Eye' In many ways the computer crackdown parallels the campaign against drugs, with officials responding to an outcry over a serious problem only to confront another outcry over assaults on civil rights. "It's a whole new era," said Stephen McNammee, United States Attorney for Arizona, who has been a central figure in Government efforts to counter computer crime. "Computers are providing a new avenue for criminal activities. It is possible to transmit computer information for an illegal purpose in the blink of an eye." But Representative Don Edwards, a California Democrat, said the authorities had gone too far. "Every time there is a perceived crisis, law-enforcement agencies and legislators overreact, and usually due process and civil liberties suffer," Mr. Edwards said. "The Fourth Amendment provides strict limits on rummaging through people's property." The largest of several investigations under way around the country is a two year old Federal effort called Operation Sun Devil, in which about 40 personal computer systems, including 23,000 data disks, have been siezed from homes and businesses. The siezures, resulting from 28 search warrents in 14 cities, halted the oper- ation of some computer bulletin boards ... little or any of the confiscated equipment has been returned. In all, seven people have been arrested so far. One computer game maker who has not been charged says he is on the verge of going out of business since investigators siezed his equipment. In related inquiries, the Secret Service has surreptitiously eavesdropped on computer bulletin boards and telephone conversations, and in the process agents have entered these networks posing as legitimate users and traded information. In an unrelated investigation of the theft of an important program from Apple Computer Inc. last year, dozens of experts and hobbyists have recently been interrogated by the [FBI]. Civil libertarians and some business executives have begun to organize defenses. Among them is Mitchel D. Kapor, creator of the nation's most popular software program, the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, who is planning to help finance a legal defense fund of several hundred thousand dollars for some of those accused. Legal Protections Are Unclear Harvey Silverglate, a Massachusetts lawyer and civil rights expert who is working with Mr. Kapor, said, "You have innocent people who are being terrorized as well as investigations of people who have broken the law." He termed the Government actions a "typical American solution: throw your best and brightest in jail." Officials of the Secret Service, which since 1984 has been the primary Federal enforces of computer fraud laws, believe that an alarming number of bright young computer enthusiasts are using computers illegally. "Often," said Gary M. Jenkins, Secret Service assistant director, "a progression of criminal activity occurs which involves telecommunications fraud, unauthorized access to other computers, credit card fraud, and then moves on to other destructive activities like computer viruses." A 1986 Federal law on computer fraud and abuse make it a crime to enter computers or take information from them without authorization. But Mr. Kapor of Lotus said he believe the danger posed by the computer joy riders had been greatly exaggerated. "Now that the Communists aren't our enemies any more, the American psyche has to end up inventing new ones," he said. He and other experts are also alarmed by new investigative techniques that employ computers. The power of advanced machines multiplies the risk of search and seizure violations, these experts say, because they can perform so many simultaneous tasks and absorb and analyze so much information. Moreover, civil liberties advocates say the perils are greater because legal precedents are not clear on how the First Amendment protects speech and the Fourth Amendment protects against searches and seizures in the electronic world. Goverment Surveillance In response to a court-enforceable request under the Freedom of Information Act, the Secret Service has acknowledged that it has monitored computer bulletin boards. In its answer to the request, made by Representative Edwards, the agency said its agents, acting as legitimate users, had secretly monitored communications on computer bulletin boards. The agency also disclosed it had a new Computer Diagnostic Center, in which the data on computer disks siezed in raids is evaluated by machines operating automatically. Civil liberties specialists view such practices as potentially harmful. "Computer mail unrelated to an investigation could be swept up in the Govenment's electronic dragnet if the law is not carefully tailored to a well-defined purpose," said Marc Rotenberg, Washington director for the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. The Government's Operations Sun Devil was set up primarily to fight a loose association of several dozen computer hobbyists, including teen-agers, who referred to themselves as the Legion of Doom. Members in various cities stayed in touch through computer networks and bulletin boards and exchanged technical information on how to break into computer systems. In February a Federal grand jury in Chicago indicted two members: Craig Neidorf, 20 years old, and Robert J. Riggs, 21, for exchanging a six-page document describing the operation of the Southern Bell 911 emergency system. Private Document Distributed The indictment, under the 1986 computer fraud law charges that in December, 1988, Mr. Riggs broke into a company computer and stole the document, which the company valued at slightly more than $76,000. He transferred it to Mr. Neidorf by electronic mail on a bulletin board in Lockport, Ill., the indictment said, and Mr. Neidorf later reproduced it in an electronic newsletter. Computer security experts say documents like the 911 description are usually not taken for profit, but rather for the challenge of doing it. Some members of the computer undergournd creat elaborate manuals on how to violate computer security as a sport or hobby. But law-enforcement officials do not see it as a game. Because modern society has come to depend on computers for some much of its government and commercial business, officials view intrusions as threats not only to private property, but also to the very operation of the systems. In another part of the Sun Devil investigation, Secret Service agents in March confiscated computers and other equipment from Steven Jackson Games, a small Austin, Tex., company. Mr. Jackson, the company's president, said the agents were seeking a rule book for a fantasy game that deals with "cyberpunk," the science fiction world where high technology and outlaw society intersect. Mr. Jackson said he still did not know why his company had been searched. He said Secret Service officials had promised three times to return his equipment and software but still had not done so. He said that he had been forced to lay off 8 of his 17 employees and that the company was on the verge of going out of business. "It raises First Amendment questions," said Mr. Jackson. "It's a frightening precedent. I don't think they would have done it to I.B.M." Law-enforcement officials say they have difficulty returning seized computers and software prompty; William J. Cook, an assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, said thorough examination took a long time because of the "levels of information you find in a computer." A Sweep in 14 Cities The largest operation in the Sun Devil investigation came on May 8 when more than 150 Secret Service agents, plus state and local law-enforcement officers, searved the 28 search warrants in 14 cities. In all, seven people, including Mr. Riggs and Mr. Neidorf, have been arrested. In a separate investigation, the F.B.I. has been searching for a year for members of a group that stole basic programming information from Apple Computer and mailed copies to people in the press and the computer industry. The group said it stole the software, which is fundamental to the operation of Macintosh computers, to protest Apple's refusal to let other makers copy the Macintosh. The group calls itself the Nuprometheus League, from the character in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods. Organizers of an annual West Coast computer meeting known as the Hackers' Conference said at least a dozen of the several hundred people who attended last year's event had reported being recently questioned by F.B.I. agents about the Apple theft. The Hackers' Conference began in 1984 after the publication of the book "Hackers" by Steven Levy, Ahchor/Doubleday, an account of computer industry pioneers at M.I.T. and in Silicon Valley. There is no evidence that the Apple theft was linked to people who attended the Hackers' Conference, and Leo Cunningham, assistant United States Attorney in San Jose, Calif., would not comment on any facet of the case. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 16:43 EDT From: psrc@pegasus.att.com Subject: Update: LOD Woes [Len Rose posted another article to comp.sys.att, which again might be of interest to TELECOM Digest readers. Disclaimer: I think this guy is being accused of stealing my employer's software; I'm not speaking for any person or organization, I'm just passing this along. --Paul] From: len@eci.UUCP (Len Rose) Newsgroups: misc.legal,u3b.misc,comp.sys.att Subject: Update: LOD woes Keywords: help mistake punishment torture Date: 4 Jun 90 05:17:13 GMT Reply-To: len@eci.UUCP (Len Rose,Netsys) Followup-To: misc.legal Organization: Netsys in Exile I was indicted in Maryland. Because of articles in the Baltimore Sun, and Unix Today I have been branded a member of the Legion of Doom. "I am not now, nor have ever been a member of the Legion of Doom". I am not allowed to say much more than that. I would appreciate if a particular net persona not try to judge me without being fully informed. Here is the article in the Baltimore Sun that is based on a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland. -------------------------------- Reprinted from an article in {The Baltimore Sun} MARYLAND MAN INDICTED FOR COMPUTER HACKING by Karen Warmkessel A 31-year old Middletown man,who prosecutors said was part of an illegal computer hackers' group known as the "Legion of Doom" was indicted yesterday for alledgedly helping others break into computer systems throughout the country. In addition to facing federal computer fraud charges, Leonard Rose Jr.,a computer consultant, is charged in an alleged sheme to steal and give out closely guarded software for AT&T Unix computer systems. Breckinridge L. Wilcox, the U.S. attorney for Maryland,said the indictment - the third in a series of related prosecutions of the Legion of Doom - had "far reaching" implications for the security of computer systems in the United States. "The activities of this guy and his group are disturbing" Mr. Wilcox said. He said the investigation, which started in Chicago, and expanded to Georgia, and Maryland, had revealed that Mr. Rose and his confederates gained access to computer systems belonging to federal research centers,educational institutions and private businesses, but he declined to name them. Mr. Wilcox said that because the hackers covered their tracks, authorities had not yet determined whether any harm resulted. "We know what computer systems were accessed," he said. "It may be very difficult, if not impossible, to determine what, if any damage was done. "We don't know if it was done for fun,to see if it could be done, or if it was done form some more malignant motive." One law enforcement source said there were indications that Mr. Rose may have been paid for some programs but that he gave others to his fellow hackers. Mr. Rose, who, according to authorities lives on Willow Tree Drive, and used the name "Terminus," could not be reached for comment last night. He is charged with two counts of computer fraud and three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property. If convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum possible prison sentence of 32 years and a maximum possible fine of $500,000. "He is a fairly sophisticated Unix user who decided to take advantage of that knowledge to work his way into other people's systems" one law enforcement said. The investigation is continuing,and others in Maryland reportedly could be charged. The Unix program, originally developed by AT&T, is an "operating system" that governs the core functions of a computer system. An AT&T spokesman said yesterday that about one million Unix computers are in use in the country, many of them on college campuses. David P. King, an assistant U.S. attorney, said that Mr. Rose not only gave the stolen Unix software to others, but also used it to develop two so called "Trojan horse" computer programs, with seemingly innocuous functions that conceal their true purpose. One of these programs was alledgedly designed to collect "superuser" passwords, which give the user unlimited access to computer systems,including the ability to change the programs and insert new programs.Another program which would have allowed users to use a computer system without authorization. Mr. Rose allegedly used tthe programs himself and gave them to others hackers in Michigan and Chicago. One of the men was a member of the Legion of Doom,according to Mr. King . He said it was unclear where Mr. Rose had obtained the stolen Unix software. There are other federal indictments pending that involve Legion of Doom members in Atlanta and Chicago, Mr. King said. The assistant U.S. attorney said authorities believe that the Legion of Doom is a "small" group of hackers nationally. He said he was unable to estimate their numbers. The indictment alleges that the group used various methods to gain access to computer systems such as masquerading as authorized users, password scanning, and Trojan horse programs. It's members allegedly wanted to break into the system to steal computer software from the companies that owned the programs; to use computer time at no charge; to steal the original text of software and other information; to make telephone calls at no charge; and to obtain and use credit histories of individuals other than themselves, the indictment said. This is the second computer fraud case to be brought by federal prosecutors in Maryland. Mr. Wilcox said the other case was dismissed by a federal judge. [Moderator's Note: W. T. Sykes also forwarded the Len Rose article and the {Baltimore Sun} article. My thanks to him. In the next part of this special issue, several shorter messages pro and con on the whole affair. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest Special: LOD - Part I ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa01056; 8 Jun 90 1:48 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12693; 8 Jun 90 0:09 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04638; 7 Jun 90 23:05 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 22:05:43 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest Special: LOD - Part II BCC: Message-ID: <9006072205.ab05090@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jun 90 22:00:00 CDT Special: LOD - Part II Inside This Issue: Moderator: Ayatollah Townson Cracker/Phreaker Crackdown [Frank Earl] Kapor and Crackers [Steve Elias] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Steven King] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Stuart Lynne] Kapor's Remarks, Moderator's Message, and My Reply [Chris Johnson] Law 101 (was Hackers,...) [Frank E. Carey] Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor [Kee Hinckley] Legion of Doom Summary Article Available [Billy Barron] Last Word! Who I am Preaching To [Ayatollah Moderator] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 3 Jun 90 09:38:00 CST From: FRANK EARL Subject: Cracker/Phreaker Crackdown I have an intelligent question about this discussion- Isn't the bust outside of the Secret Service's jurisdiction to begin with? I thought that this kind of crime was solely the FBI's jurisdiction ... If that is the case, we had better watch out for everyone's rights because the "police" organizations aren't doing the jobs that they are supposed to and doing things they *AREN'T* supposed to... Frank C. Earl BitNET: F_earl@etsuvax2 Internet: F_earl@etsuv2.etsu.edu ------------------------------ Reply-To: eli@pws.bull.com Subject: Kapor and Crackers Date: Mon, 04 Jun 90 13:17:18 -0400 From: Steve Elias Check my posting in the gdead group if you like, but the article in the Boston paper said that Kapor and Barlow (gdead lyricist) are setting up a legal defense fund for these "crackers". I don't see anything wrong with this, Patrick. A bit of due process would sure be a change in all this McCarthyism crapola about "Just Say No to X, Y, Z, and hacking." /eli ------------------------------ From: Steven King Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Date: 4 Jun 90 22:47:28 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <8611@accuvax.nwu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >>Is the administrator/operator of some carrier of electronic >>information completely responsible for every bit of data contained or >>passing through his system? The present legal answer is "No, well >>maybe, we don't know yet." >That's right, he is. Either you have control over your computer(s) and >your telephone lines or you do not. Which is it? I thought blaming >the computer for what went wrong went out of favor twenty years ago. >Do you remember when clerks in all big business places used to say the >computer had 'made an error' in something? If you are not in a >position to run a big site responsibly, then don't do it. And where I >might have some sympathy for really huge sites, I don't buy the excuse >of some two-bit BBS sysop that he "can't possibly read everything on >his board ..." No one is asking him to read it all ... just to >cultivate a responsible class of users and respond to problem postings. Back up a moment, Pat. I'm currently sysop of a two-bit BBS (not even networked to anything!) and I can say that this is a tough one. For one, how do I "cultivate a responsible class of user"? Is there some way I can tell who is "responsible" and who isn't? Is there some test I can give to determine whether Joe Newuser is a phreak? None that *I* can think of, certainly! Yes, I respond to problem postings. I have quashed budding discussions of piracy; I do *NOT* run a cracker or phreak board on any level that I'm aware of! But I don't read email sent privately between users. It would be possible for me to, of course. It would probably only take 15 minutes a day, given the low amount of traffic I see there. However, I feel that unless I suspect something, I have no right to go through users' private mail. So, let's say that Joe and Jane are model users. They're lively in discussions, and have never made me suspect they're anything but moral, upstanding, law-abiding folks. Suddenly the Secret Service busts in to my apartment and confiscates my system. They show me that Joe sent the dreaded E911 documents to Jane via private email. Why should I be responsible for that? Would you shut down the post office if he had mailed hardcopy to her? For the sake of discussion, let's say that I *am* liable for users' private mail. Should I also scan for crimes other than computer or telecom related? What if Joe tells Jane where she buy some drugs? Am I a dealer if I let that one slide? What if Jane agrees to meet Joe in some hotel in exchange for twenty bucks? Am I now a pimp? I thoroughly disagree with the proposition that a system operator is or should be responsible for the entire content of his system. It seems utterly unreasonable that I should be any more responsible for the content of messages than either the post office is for written mail, or the phone company is for voice. When it comes to that, why should I be more responsible for illegal information on my board than Illinois Bell is? After all, THEY allowed it to be transmitted to me in the first place! Steve King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king) ------------------------------ From: sl@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (Stuart Lynne) Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Date: 4 Jun 90 22:36:38 GMT Organization: Wimsey Associates, Vancouver, B.C., Canada In article <8473@accuvax.nwu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: }According to the {Washington Post}, Mitchell Kapor, inventor of Lotus }1-2-3, is considering backing a national effort to defend computer }hackers against prosecution resulting from Operation Sun Devil, a }two-year investigation of potential computer fraud. The Secret }Service said the hackers who were the target of the probe are }individuals who had gained unauthorized access to company computer Can't we be charitable (at least until more information is available) and make the assumption that Mr. Kapor is reacting to some of the reports on *HOW* the Secret Service is conducting this effort. As a fairly disinterested observer I'm fairly amazed at the reports of what the Secret Service is doing in the US. If the reports are even only half true I'd still be pretty amazed at how they have conducted themselves. Anyway I don't think we need to jump off the deep end and suggest that people perform illegal acts. Mr Kapor may have some legitimate concerns over the free speech issues involved and or the way the Secret Service is conducting the case which have nothing to do with hacking and or phreaking. Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca ubc-cs!van-bc!sl 604-937-7532(voice) ------------------------------ From: Chris Johnson Subject: Kapor's Remarks, Moderator's Message, and my Reply Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 14:40:22 CDT My initial (shall we say a bit hasty?) reply to the Moderators's remarks on Kapor's statements were based solely on his article. I had no other sources of information about Kapor's position, and was unaware of the {Washington Post} article about them, or containing them. The additional information I've gained since then doesn't change my position any, but it does moderate my dismay at and disagreement with the Moderator. One could say a somewhat cooler head now prevails. I do agree with the Moderator's suggestion that Kapor's remarks within a newspaper article could lend credence to the theory that burglary and theft are ok, and that we ought to be writing indignant letters to any and all other publications (eg. the Post). In fact, I do so regularly. And, unfortunately, they never publish them. That is one advantage the TELECOM Digest has. ...Chris Johnson chris@c2s.mn.org ..bungia!com50!chris Com Squared Systems, Inc. St. Paul, MN USA +1 612 452 9522 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 10:45:58 EDT From: F E Carey Subject: Law 101 (was Hackers,...) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories The signal to noise ratio is becoming intolerable. Let's go back to FACTS and LOGIC. Searches and seizures are authorized by warrants. If anybody believes that the government raids were done without warrants I'm sure we'd all like to hear about it. Whether warrants were obtained should be a verifiable fact. Warrants are issued by judges and are based on evidence. Any information suggesting that warrants were improperly issued or that evidence was fictitious, falsified, illegally obtained, etc. would probably be welcomed in this forum. I think warrants are public information. If we can determine that searches were done with properly issued warrants we would have a situation that would be closer to due process than "abridging of First Amendment rights". Indictments are handed down by grand juries - your peers. Indictments are based on evidence and are customarily (depending on jurisdiction) judgments that the evidence, if not refuted, is sufficient for a reasonable presumption of guilt. INDICTMENTS ALSO SERVE TO PROTECT THE ACCUSED AGAINST FRIVOLOUS PROSECUTIONS. I don't know if all indictments are public or whether the related evidence is public. Somebody should be able to find out. Once you have been indicted you go to trial. The indictment is not a guilty verdict! It's hard for me to conclude that indictment by grand jury constitutes harassment by government. If you don't like the grand jury process or you don't trust your peers to evaluate evidence you've got a more fundamental problem that probably belongs in net.politics. Some postings imply that motive or resulting damage should be a factor in these cases. I think we need to read the law and look at the way the courts apply the law. It's not helpful to argue a case on the basis of what you think the law should be. Perhaps the biggest problem some of you have with the raids, seizures, is that you don't like the law. If that's the case go see your congressman and stop flaming the law enforcement people. The common carrier issue is one of the few lucid topics to surface recently. Indeed, we don't arrest the UPS guy for delivering a package of stolen property and we don't sieze the mail truck when it contains stolen documents being mailed. Is the law weak on this aspect of computer crime? Should sysops be treated as common carriers? Would this solve some problems but create others? I'd be interested in opinions on this. Frank Carey AT&T Bell Laboratories fec@whuts.ATT.COM Disclaimer: I'm not an attorney and I have no personal connection with any of the discussed cases. My views may be colored by the report in UNIX Today 5/28/90 that Leonard Rose was accused of stealing source code from my employer. [Moderator's Note: I would like to say however, in defense of the indicted, that grand juries are *sometimes* nothing more than rubber stamps for prosecutors; and in fairness, some judges issue warrants in the same cavalier way. Sad but true. Otherwise I agree with you. PT] ------------------------------ From: Kee Hinckley Subject: Re: Crackers: Innocent and Misunderstood, Says Mr. Kapor Organization: asi Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 14:45:04 GMT >Maybe if Mr. Kapor had his Lotus 1-2-3 ripped off good he might change >his tune. Anyone know other projects of his we might steal and start >handing out freely around the net? After all, we wouldn't want to >'damage technological innovation or dissemination of information' now >would we? Please keep his attitude on this serious problem in mind the >next time you use or consider purchasing his software. If you can't >find a way to steal it outright, then borrow a pirated copy from >someone else. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm in the right country. I could have sworn this was the United States of America. Does "innocent until proven guilty" ring a bell? One of the people nabbed in this federal grabbag was a BBS operator who promptly called the FBI when he discovered stolen information on his BBS. Another case was a game designer who was writing a (non-computer) cyberpunk game. They confiscated all of his equipment because the game instructions were taken literally and one of his employees had been in the "Legion of Doom". But who knows, possibily they are all guilty as hell - but that doesn't make defending them a crime. Why don't we let the courts decide the guilt? I'm more than a little sensitive about this. I run a BBS myself, and given the current legal situation I may have to shut it down. As a BBS operator it would appear that I have absolutely no protection. If people start using my BBS to transport stolen materials then the FBI/SS can break in and confiscate every single piece of computer equipment/software I own. Sure, maybe I'll win in court (although no case I know of has made it that far yet), but I have no desire to wait several years to find out. And just to complete the circle, it would appear that even if I wanted (or had time) to examine what my users were doing, I can't - since that would violate the Electronic Privacy Act. So yes, some of the people Kapor is helping to protect have probably committed crimes. But some of them probably haven't, and the last time I checked this country wasn't supposed to be using the crusade-style justice of "kill them all, let God sort them out". -kee | Alphalpha Software, Inc. | Voice/Fax: 617/646-7703 | Home: 617/641-3805 | | 148 Scituate St. | Smart fax, dial number. | | | Arlington, MA 02174 | Dumb fax, dial number, | BBS: 617/641-3722 | | nazgul@alphalpha.com | wait for ring, press 3. | 300/1200/2400 baud | ------------------------------ From: vaxb.acs.unt.edu!billy@cs.utexas.edu Subject: Legion of Doom Summary Article Available Date: 7 Jun 90 14:46:02 GMT An article summarizing the Legion of Doom incident happenings up to the present has been written by Kevin Mullet, Data Communications Analyst here at the University of North Texas. His article is available for anonymous FTP in the ARTICLES directory. Several different formats are present (ASCII, WordPrefect and Postscript). Billy Barron Bitnet : BILLY@UNTVAX VAX system manager THENET : NTVAX::BILLY University of North Texas Internet : billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu SPAN : UTSPAN::UTADNX::NTVAX::BILLY ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 90 23:04:46 CDT From: Ayatollah Moderator Subject: Last Word! Who I Am Preaching To First, my thanks to everyone who wrote, and my apologies to the few additional messages I could not squeeze in here, including two lengthy items by Chris Johnson and Jerry Leichter. I did however include one article by each in this two-part special issue. Then there were also comments by Mike Perka and others sent not-for-publication, and a couple people who said their item could be dumped if it was essentially a repeat of others. Then one letter pointed out that the word 'cracker' was sometimes used in a racially degrogatory way toward white people. That I had never heard, but thanks for cluing me in. Some time ago, a supplementary mailing list was run for awhile to handle overflow messages on a related topic, and this might be a good time to revive it. If the people who did it want to resume it for this thread, please let me know. Second, in a letter from Mike Perka came this little gem, and it seems as good a way as any to wrap up this string of messages. Some say it should be my personal philosophy as well: >"I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person that > I'm preaching to" -- J. R. "Bob" Dobbs Yours faithfully, Ayatollah Townson / MODERATOR of the Universe (wink!) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest Special: LOD - Part II ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa01151; 8 Jun 90 1:51 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab12693; 8 Jun 90 0:11 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ac04638; 7 Jun 90 23:06 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 22:55:54 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #419 BCC: Message-ID: <9006072255.ab15457@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jun 90 22:55:32 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 419 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 [Julian Macassey] Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 [Tom Glinos] Re: Licenses for Television in the UK [John Slater] Re: Licenses for Television in the UK [Andy Rabagliati] Re: Theory and Operation of REMOBS [Tad Cook] Re: GTD-5 and CLASS [Paul V. Flynn] Re: Baud per Hertz [C. D. Covington] Re: Baud per Hertz [Peter Desnoyers] Re: Caller-ID Theory and Operation [Roger V. Thompson] Re: Strange CO [Dick Jackson] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Carol Springs] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Julian Macassey Subject: Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 Date: 7 Jun 90 05:18:56 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood California U.S.A. In article <8642@accuvax.nwu.edu>, utstat!tg@uunet.uu.net (Tom Glinos) writes: > I'm looking for the advantages of RJ45 over RJ11. > Each cubicle that I'm planning will have two jacks. The jacks will > either be phone or data in any combination. > The present data requirements are RS232 and Twisted Pair Ethernet. (I > can't speculate about future requirements) > I'd prefer RJ45 but (bean counters and other bureaucrates) tell me > that RJ11 will suffice. First of all I assume you mean RJ25C not RJ11C. RJ11 is a single pair of wires on a six conductor jack. RJ25C is three pairs of wires on a six conductor jack. Under some circumstances you can run RS-232 type sigs on a RJ25C. In fact DEC do I believe, and I have clients that run serial printers and serial terminals on RJ25 set ups. But the price difference between four pair wire and RJ45s and three pair wire and RJ25s is not that much. But it does give you more flexibility. The labor is the same whether you pull three pair cable or twelve pair. But if you don't pull the right cable the first time, it costs much more to do it over. Once stuff is built and furniture is replaced, it takes three times longer to run cable. Do it right the first time. Yes, you can plug a RJ25 type plug into a RJ45 type jack, so you could wire the RJ45s for regular POTs phones and plug 'em in with no problems. Cable is about $40 a kilofoot (1,000 ft), labour is $40.00 per hour minimum and some interconnects want $80.00 per hour to come out and fix stuff. Yup, one less hour of labor buys another 1,000 feet of three pair or twenty jacks. Explain that to the suit dweebs. One way to handle the bean counter types is show them some official looking docs on RJ45 use and say "See, it has to be this way." There are some AT&T docs on sending RS-232 on RJ45Cs and there is a DEC doc on sending RS-232 on RJ25s. I have never seen these docs, but I am told they exist and I doubt they are an urban legend. I do have AT&T "Data Services Reference Handbook", Vols I - V and see no reference there, although there is lotsa stuff on DB-25s. I believe the AT&T 3B2 docs cover RS-232 on an RJ45c. My motto: "Never pull less than six pair". And sometimes I regret not pulling twenty-five pair. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ From: Tom Glinos Subject: Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 13:04:43 GMT Organization: Statistics, U. of Toronto I'm looking for the advantages of RJ45 over RJ11. Each cubicle that I'm planning will have two jacks. The jacks will either be phone or data in any combination. The present data requirements are RS232 and Twisted Pair Ethernet. (I can't speculate about future requirements) I'd prefer RJ45 but (bean counters and other bureaucrates) tell me that RJ11 will suffice. tg@utstat.toronto.edu utzoo!utstat!tg ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: Licenses for Television in the UK Date: 7 Jun 90 11:14:31 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <8716@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mb@sparrms.ists.ca (Mike Bell) writes: >(Note that this distinguishes between a TV being used with a VCR and a >TV watching live transmissions - a license used not to be required for >the former, although I'm not sure if this is still the case). As I understand the situation, an ordinary TV licence is required if a tuner for receiving terrestrial transmissions is present is the system. You do *not* need a licence if you have a tuner-less TV (e.g. a computer monitor with RGB or composite input) hooked up to a tuner-less VCR (e.g. a camcorder or a playback-only model - most recording models have their own tuners) or to a satellite receiver, or of course to a computer. I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong about this. You used to need a special licence for satellite reception for a once-only fee of ten pounds ("non-recurring charge" ??? :-), but I think they got rid of that. John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick Office ------------------------------ From: Andy Rabagliati Subject: Re: Licenses for Television in the UK Organization: INMOS Corporation, Colorado Springs Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 20:05:58 GMT A program in the UK (Not the Nine O'clock News ?) once did a spoof on TV Licence payment :- The program stopped after five minutes, and a message was put on the screen to the effect that this television was found not to have a licence. Until this was rectified the television would not work. The phone number of the BBC collection service was left on the screen. It stayed this way for five minutes (!!). The BBC was deluged with calls, (I'm sorry, I forgot, please switch it on again...) Cheers, Andy. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Re: Theory and Operation of REMOBS Date: 6 Jun 90 22:18:20 GMT Organization: very little In article <8643@accuvax.nwu.edu>, pa2437%sdcc13@ucsd.edu (pa2437) writes: > Call your REMOB port. (TELCO EMPLOYEES ONLY) After tone enter your > Personal Identification Number. This code is not "personal" in the systems I saw, but just a 4-digit DTMF sequence. > Enter line you want to scan. You will passively be able to > monitor the line you choose. This depends on what it is connected to. It may be connected to trunk groups, and you can also set up the monitoring to begin only on certain conditions, such as the first pair in a group to go off hook. > Well many people have given me conflicting opinions on the existence > of these units. I have not heard if they were first used with the > advent of ESS or if they existed on CrossBar Switching systems. The Teltone M240 units I encountered were connected to all kinds of systems ... it had nothing to do with the switch type. Some were in COs, some in telco business offices, and some hooked to ACDs at airlines. > Could someone please enlighten me to the truth if these exist and if > so a little history on them. I believe that they were not used to > monitor conversations but instead to check if a certain line was > operating. Some were used to monitor the "service" give by employees. Telcos used them at their business offices to make sure that they were giving the customers the correct company image. The Teltone units also could display dialed digits on the remote observing consoles. Some were set up so that only the first X-seconds of a call were monitored. There were some systems that were set up with greater security ... when you dialed in you could not monitor ... all you did was give the security code, which caused an internal dialer to dial back to a hard-wired dedicated phone number where the person doing the monitoring sat. The person doing the security code and the person doing the listening did not know each other, and may be in different cities. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 09:44:38 EDT From: Paul V Flynn Subject: Re: GTD-5 and CLASS Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article <8722@accuvax.nwu.edu> dcr0@gte.com (David Robbins) writes in response to article <8686@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon): >Your experimentation >has shown, quite convincingly, that GTE has not taken advantage of any >of the GTD-5's SS7 capabilities in your area. This is pure >speculation, but it may be that the GTE operating company has not >worked out any arrangement with Pac*Bell to interconnect the systems >with SS7 (perhaps they haven't even *thought* of doing that ??). I don't know how two local exchange carriers such as GTE and Pac*Bell interconnect their systems with Signaling System 7, but when interexchange carriers interconnect with local exchange carriers with SS7, SS7 Network Interconnect is required. One of the purposes of SS7 Network Interconnect is to perform gateway screening between the two signaling networks to control the kinds of SS7 messages one carrier can send into another carrier's network. That's necessary (among other reasons) to allay fears that one carrier could inadvertently bring down someone else's SS7 network. SS7 Network Interconnect trials began in the last half of 1989 and are continuing this year. I'm not directly involved with the SS7 Network Interconnect protocol or its deployment, but the last I heard, it won't be until 1992 that SS7 Network Interconnect is deployed widespread throughout the United States. It could be that GTE in the Bay Area must wait for SS7 Network Interconnect before it can interconnect with Pac*Bell. In the meantime, if they only have three switches in the area to interconnect with SS7, some of the CLASS services won't be very useful. If that is the case, John Higdon may be suffering from the fact that his local carrier only serves a small area surrounded by another carrier, rather from the fact that his local carrier is GTE. Paul Flynn ------------------------------ From: "C. D. Covington" Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Date: 7 Jun 90 15:08:49 GMT Organization: College of Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville In article <8731@accuvax.nwu.edu>, bnrgate!.bnr.ca!hwt@uunet.uu.net (Henry Troup) writes: > In article <8683@accuvax.nwu.edu> Rob Warnock writes: > >...(Pushing a 7 baud signal through a 5 Hz pipe is > >quite good! The theoretical maximum is 2 baud/Hz: one state for each > >half-cycle of bandwidth.)... > I don't see a theoretical limit, not if you allow phase modulation. Unlimited bandwidth if there is no noise. We do not have that privilege on analog lines. Theoretical maximum rate of error free information interchange is limited by signal to noise ratio of the connecting channel. 7 baud in 5 Hz is a conclusion based on assumed SNR. C. David Covington (WA5TGF) cdc@uafhcx.uark.edu (501) 575-6583 Asst Prof, Elec Eng Univ of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 ------------------------------ From: Peter Desnoyers Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Date: 7 Jun 90 16:36:00 GMT Organization: Codex Corp., Canton MA bnrgate!.bnr.ca!hwt@uunet.uu.net (Henry Troup) writes: >In article <8683@accuvax.nwu.edu> Rob Warnock writes: >>...(Pushing a 7 baud signal through a 5 Hz pipe is >>quite good! The theoretical maximum is 2 baud/Hz: one state for each >>half-cycle of bandwidth.)... >I don't see a theoretical limit, not if you allow phase modulation. >For real phase discriminators and real lines there certainly are >limits, but in theory you could shift each half cycle by as fine an >increment as you could measure ... I guess Heisenberg limits that >somewhere, but not for a long time. You can encode multiple bits per baud with amplitude and phase shift keying, and in fact every modem above 300 bits per second does so. The only limit here is Shannon's limit - bits/sec < 2*f*log2(S/N) where S is the signal power, N is the noise power, and f is the bandwidth. However, a baud is not a bit. By the Nyquist theorem, you can only get 2f bauds per second. In practice high-speed modems such as V.32 run at about 2500-3000 bauds/sec over lines with a 3000Hz bandwidth. >Still, in the real world 7 baud on 5 Hz is very good! 9600bps over 3000 Hz is a good deal better, and is quite common. Peter Desnoyers ------------------------------ From: pyuxp!towernet!rigel!tiprvt@bellcore.bellcore.com Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 14:35:53 -0400 Subject: Re: Caller-ID Theory and Operation Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Caller ID, or whatever the local telephone company calls it, is not specifically a part of ISDN, although ISDN has the same functionality it works differently. Caller ID is accomplished by transmitting the calling number in FSK format between the first and second rings. If you pick up on the first ring, the calling number often is lost and will not display. My "box" is about 5 by 3 by 1/2 inches, flat, with a LCD display and cost in the low $60 range. It stores about 60 calls, I think, and dates and time stamps the calls. There are three buttons on the display, scroll forward, scroll back, and delete number. I don't know of any reason you could not use a modem and pc to display the numbers, perhaps associating them with real names. I've heard units with RS-232 output are available. The specification for this service has been published by Bellcore for vendors to use. I've never seen the documents, but they probably have a lot of technical information. I find Caller ID to be useful, but until it is more widely deployed, it will have limitations. For interoffice or interstate use, Signalling System 7 is required to pass the number outside the call path. Another problem is political, the Pennsylvania courts have found this the same as wire taps (I don't agree) and there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue as to whose privacy is invaded. Roger V. Thompson, P.E. (tiprvt@rigel.cc.bellcore.com) (201) 758-2875 (Office) (201) 747-7213 (Home) ARS AD5T 1184 Ocean Ave. D-1, Sea Bright, NJ ) 07760 ------------------------------ From: Dick Jackson Subject: Re: Strange CO Date: 7 Jun 90 14:41:38 GMT Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica In article <8691@accuvax.nwu.edu> davidb@pacer.com (David Barts) writes: >From what I have learned by reading this newsgroup and books on >telecom, I would guess that White Rock has a No. 2 (or is it 3?) ESS >with older, slower hardware than most 2ESS CO's. You do hear clunking That reminds of a question that sometimes nags at me. Why don't we hear about the 2ESS and 3ESS? Were they superceded by the 1A? Or what? Dick Jackson ------------------------------ From: Carol Springs Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Date: 7 Jun 90 16:22:57 GMT Organization: DRI/McGraw-Hill, Lexington, MA Bill Fenner writes in Volume 10, Issue 417, about unexpectedly getting a "Thank you for using AT&T" when he dials 10333-1-700-555-4141. He adds: >I've had no luck getting a >FON card, 'tho I tried twice (once from WD40, once from a promotion at >a local mall; maybe I'm on their **it list), so I can't try dialling a >calling-card call with 10333 and see if it works... Anyone have any >other suggestions as to what to try? A Sprint FONcard number wouldn't work with 10333 anyway; these only work when you've gone through the special 1-800 number. If you have an AT&T or BOC calling card, you can use 10333 along with that number. If things work right then Sprint will bill you for the call via your Bell of Pa. phone bill, the same way AT&T does. Believe me, Sprint will recognize a "standard" calling card number just fine. If, having entered such a number after dialing 10333 and the phone number you're calling, you then hear a "Thank you for using AT&T," you'll know you're in trouble. Carol Springs carols@drilex.dri.mgh.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #419 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa04581; 8 Jun 90 3:03 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12737; 8 Jun 90 1:15 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ac12693; 8 Jun 90 0:11 CDT Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 0:00:26 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #420 BCC: Message-ID: <9006080000.ab21110@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Jun 90 00:00:02 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 420 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: US/Canada Only One-Digit Code? [David Tamkin] Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on Local Call [M. Harriss] Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog [Billy Barron] Re: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? [Dahe Chen] Re: Baud per Hertz [Norman Yarvin] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Greg Monti via John R. Covert] Re: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution [Joel Yossi] Ascii--> TDD (was Re: TDD's and Faster Speeds) [Joel Yossi] Has This Answering Machine Feature Disappeared? [ssc-vax!UUCP!howie] CPUC Reviews COCOTs [John Higdon] Books on Telephony History [Kevin Clayton] Telenet USSR [Hank Nussbacher] Fun With Alpha Phone Numbers [Mark Harrison] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Tamkin Subject: Re: US/Canada Only One-Digit Code? Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 0:13:29 CDT Steve Pershing wrote in volume 10, issue 411: |I thought that the USSR was assigned country code 7 which is also a |single digit code. There may be others. There aren't: 1 and 7 are the only single-digit codes. |In addition, there was at one time, an area code within country code 1 |assigned to Mexico City, for more convenient dialling (?). This is an |anomaly in the normal CCITT assignment, as Mexico has its own country code. Right. 905 is a pseudo-area code for Mexico's Area 5 and 706 is a pseudo-area code for Mexico's Area 6. Note that they end in the right digit; originally 706 was area code 903, but it was changed to 706 so as to end in 6. Come 1995 if not sooner, these two area codes will be disconnected from Mexico to be re-used in the United States or Canada. 903, of course, has already been reassigned for the part of 214 away from metropolitan Dallas. One of TELECOM Digest's shyer readers has told me that when the NANP expands to NXX area codes, area codes 521 through 529 will be reserved for dialing shortcuts to areas 1-9 in Mexico respectively. Mexico's country code is 52, so this will make it possible to dial Mexico from the United States with 1 (instead of 011) + 52 + area + number. He didn't say whether that will work from Canada or the Caribbean. |I wonder if there are other "convenience" codes within other country |codes in other parts of the world? The dialing shortcuts between the UK and Ireland (in both directions) have been discussed in the Digest recently. I imagine that there are yet more examples across the globe, but I guess that actually sharing the country code with neighbors as we do in North America is as far as international dialing shortcuts can go. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com ------------------------------ From: Martin Harriss Subject: Re: "NANP codes" AND "I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call" Date: 7 Jun 90 14:47:30 GMT Reply-To: Martin Harriss Organization: Bellcore In article <8733@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 418, Message 6 of 10 >In a perfect world I could dial "+44 81 676 XXXX" to reach my number >in London from *anywhere* in the world, including the UK (where + >means 010). Similarly it would be nice to be able to dial 011 1 415 >XXX XXXX to reach San Francisco from anywhere in the US. >I was originally going to post this with lots of ":-)", but seriously >though folks, why should it be difficult with modern switches? Actually, BT are kind of doing this now with the London area split. In an exchange with old mechanical directors, when you dialled '0', you would be connected to a register which would first pulse out the code to get you to the outgoing STD center, then just repeat the digits after the '0' to the STD center. With the 071/081 split, this would put an unworkable amount of traffic through the STD centers. What has actually happend is that all director echanges in London have processor controlled directors. (I used to write software for these beasts, but that's another story!) If you dial '0', the director looks at the following digits to see if the call is going to the other London area. If it is, the call is routed over the director area's tandem network, just as if you were calling to your own part of London. Of course if the call is destined to go to another part of the country, it is routed to the outgoing std center just as it always was. Martin Harriss ------------------------------ From: vaxb.acs.unt.edu!billy@cs.utexas.edu Subject: Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog Date: 7 Jun 90 14:37:45 GMT In article <8498@accuvax.nwu.edu>, pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Peter J. Dotzauer) writes: > And so are numerous other library catalogs. An overview is given in > the file 'internet libraries', obtainable from listserv@unmvm (bitnet). Another list (with possibly a little different information) is available via anonymous FTP on the node vaxb.acs.unt.edu. The file is called LIBRARIES.TXT. It is updated two or three times yearly. Billy Barron Bitnet : BILLY@UNTVAX VAX system manager THENET : NTVAX::BILLY University of North Texas Internet : billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu SPAN : UTSPAN::UTADNX::NTVAX::BILLY ------------------------------ From: Dahe Chen Subject: Re: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? Date: 8 Jun 90 00:55:02 GMT Reply-To: Dahe Chen Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept, New Haven CT 06520-2158 In article <8721@accuvax.nwu.edu> Bill Berbenich writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 417, Message 6 of 12 In article <8687@accuvax.nwu.edu> ladwp!weyh@celia.uucp writes: >I'm looking for a feature in a phone that will help me with the >following: Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Date: 8 Jun 90 02:21:59 GMT Reply-To: Norman Yarvin In article <8731@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup writes: >I don't see a theoretical limit, not if you allow phase modulation. >For real phase discriminators and real lines there certainly are >limits, but in theory you could shift each half cycle by as fine an >increment as you could measure. That would expand the frequency range of your signal. Actually staying within a bandwidth limit is not so easy; a series of pieces of 2000 Hz tones do not make a 2000 Hz tone. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 19:40:57 PDT From: "John R. Covert 07-Jun-1990 2243" Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs (from Greg Monti) From: Greg Monti Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Bill Fenner writes: > I was playing around at a newly installed Bell o' PA phone the other > day, and got some funny responses: > 10288-1-700-555-4141 gave the expected (ring ring) Thank you for using > AT&T....10333-1-700-555-4141 gave the unexpected (ring ring) Thank you > for using AT&T. > Um ... is this legal? Far as I know, yes. Unlike your home phone (or maybe LIKE your home phone, dunno), BOC pay phones can have a DIFFERENT default LD carrier for 1+ and 0+ calls. Look carefully at the LD company references on the instruction card(s) on that phone. It probably says that 1+ out of LATA toll calls are handled by AT&T and that 0+ out of LATA toll calls are handled by either AT&T or someone else. Far as I know, only one LD company allows (or has facilities for) cash payment for 1+ calls: AT&T. Try dialing 10333-0-700-555-4141 and I'll bet it will thank you for using US Sprint. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work +1 202 822-2633 ------------------------------ From: "Yossi (Joel" Subject: Re: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution Date: 5 Jun 90 16:33:46 GMT Reply-To: "Yossi (Joel" Organization: Technion, Israel Inst. Tech., Haifa Israel In article <8564@accuvax.nwu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 408, Message 1 of 4 >My suggestion is that the discounts should continue, for perhaps a >maximum period of another eighteen months -- say, until January 1, >1992. During the interim period, an effort would be made to convert as >many TDD users as possible over to high speed modems and 'BBS like' >software, so that for all practical purposes they could participate in >the world with the rest of us. I'd even go so far as to say the money >Then following the cut off date, no more discounts for slowness ... or >maybe, a much smaller discount at present, which would go on for a few >more months of the coversion, then a final end to it. I have to point out that the problem is >NOT< the baud rate of TDD's. Most people don't type 60 WPM anyway. The problem is the medium itself. It simply takes longer to type what you want to say than to speak it. Information normally encoded by intonation and stress, for example, have to be spelled out. Consider how many conventions we use on the net: :-) *sigh* :-( >EMPHASIS< and how much longer it takes us to type them that it would to utter them. Written communication is never as fast as spoken communication, and so if the discount is designed to compensate for slowness, moving to 1200 WPM machines is irrelevent. Joel p.s. This is not to say that moving to better TDD's is not a great idea, just that the original reasons for the discount still apply. ------------------------------ From: "Yossi (Joel" Subject: Ascii--> TDD (was Re: TDD's and Faster Speeds) Date: 5 Jun 90 15:21:17 GMT Reply-To: "Yossi (Joel" Organization: Technion, Israel Inst. Tech., Haifa Israel In article <8525@accuvax.nwu.edu> ames!claris!portal!cup.portal. com!AMillar@uunet.uu.net writes: >Think of what things would be like with dual-mode modems. Service >providers could use dual-mode modems to accept calls from regular >modems or TDDs. BBSs, Telenet, Tymnet, public-access Unix systems, >you name it. That way, every deaf person could read the Telecom [...] In the meantime, was I'd really like to see is an ASCII-TDD relay on the net somewhere. Imagine if I could Telnet to CA and then use a dial-out modem/TDD to place a call to a TDD! Or use PCP or Tymnet for the same purpose. I think the real barrier is that no one who can really wants to do it. I tried to convince the Administration at Brandeis Univ. to install a TDD/modem on their mainframe, so that the whole campus would have TDD facilites. They even bought the modem. But no one would bother to install it! Basically, it was killed in the beaurocracy. *sigh* Joel ------------------------------ From: howie Subject: Has This Answering Machine Feature Disappeared? Date: 6 Jun 90 16:38:27 GMT Organization: Voodoo Graphics Project, Everett WA What has become of the "Call Breakthrough" feature that was around for a while? I know of at least one General Electric answering machine that had this feature, but I never see it adverstised with any of the current models. (BTW, the way it works is: in addition to a code for retrieving messages from a remote location, another code will cause the machine to emit fairly loud beeps, so that if anyone is home they will know to pick up the phone.) howie uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!howie ------------------------------ Subject: CPUC Reviews COCOTs Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: 7 Jun 90 11:34:11 PDT (Thu) From: John Higdon According to the {San Jose Mercury}, the CPUC announced yesterday that some changes are to be made concerning COCOTs: 1. 800 calls will now be free from all payphones. 2. All local calls will be $0.20, not $0.25. 3. Local calls will be allowed at least fifteen minutes. 4. At the end of the time, the caller will hear a beep and be given the option of inserting more money. 5. Ordered major phone utilities to offer "full coin class of service". This could mean the end of "smart" payphones. "Now no matter what phone you use, you should expect the same cost and quality everywhere," according to commission spokesperson Dianne Dienstein. Snore... We'll see. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: clayton Subject: Books on Telephony History Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 15:30:39 EDT Reply-To: bbt!kfc@rti.uucp I need some help from the telcom book worms. I am interested in getting titles of interesting books on the history of telephony. Everything from A. G. Bell biographies to the early days of AT&T. I would like to know which books are not be missed and those that I should not waste my time on. Please send title, author, and publishing company (to aid me in finding it) directly to me or post. If I get good response I will foward a summary to PT. BroadBand Technologies, Inc. Kevin Clayton PO Box 13737 kfc@bbt.UUCP Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3737 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Jun 90 10:57:50 IST From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: Telenet USSR More Eastean European news: Over 50 joint projects have been registered between USSR and the West during the past year, two thirds of which are in the realm of computers and telecommunications. Among them are: - Infocom - a joint Finnish-Russian company which will supply information services as well as communications to the West. - Sprint has signed an agreement with The Central Telegraph of the Soviet Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to establish "Telenet USSR". Sprint will retain a 50% share of the company that is forming. Romania: France has offered Romania to set up a central digital exchange (Alcatel equipment). Romania has also requested permission to join EUTELSAT. Poland: Due to the advancement of the annual Cocom meeting from September 1990 to May 1990, Alcatel has offered Poland a Signaling System 7 which is Cocom proscribed. The CEPT is currently deciding whether to accept Poland and Hungary into their organization. Hank Nussbacher Israel ------------------------------ From: Mark Harrison Subject: Fun With Alpha Phone Numbers Date: 7 Jun 90 15:09:50 GMT Organization: NEC America Inc. SSD, Irving, TX >echo "There's no Q or Z on the phone dial." This is the basis for a very funny Aggie joke. (Aggies are the students at Texas A&M University. They have the reputation of being somewhat "slow" and are the target of much good humor.) There is a new Aggie Joke hotline: just call 1-800-AGGIE-IQ. New jokes daily! It works best if you tell the joke in a group and can convince somebody to try dialing the number. :-) Mark Harrison harrison@necssd.NEC.COM (214)518-5050 {necntc, cs.utexas.edu}!necssd!harrison standard disclaimers apply... ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #420 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa25300; 9 Jun 90 0:56 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa07293; 8 Jun 90 23:24 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa07832; 8 Jun 90 22:20 CDT Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 21:26:05 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #421 BCC: Message-ID: <9006082126.ab10004@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Jun 90 21:25:34 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 421 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Ineffective "Call Control" Devices? [Will Martin] Is Analog Cellular Dead? [John Higdon] Cellular Telephones [David G. Cantor] Cracker in Wilimington, DE Area Sentenced [Thomas Lapp] Small Telephone Switches [Kari Hardarson] Experiences with Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems [Chuck Ritter] Area 903 Prefix List Wanted [Greg Monti via John R. Covert] Autodialer Hookup to Terminal Printer Port [John Alsop] Re: Wisconsin Bell / AT&T Making Random Connections [Jon Baker] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [Carl Moore] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Jun 90 9:41:39 CDT From: Will Martin Subject: Ineffective "Call Control" Devices? I was looking thru the Hello Direct catalog to see if they sold anything like the no-hands speakerphone Darwin Weyh wanted but didn't find any device that would do that, which surprised me; I would think such a unit would be standard equipment for disabled people. At least something with a footswitch or a knee-bump pad or some other no-hands phone answer mechanism, maybe that would be usable by a support-dog or other disabled-helping trained animal. But no luck. Anyway, whilst looking thru the Summer 1990 catalog, on page 25, I noticed two "call control" devices to either retrict toll calls or prevent all outgoing calls with a keyswitch. The former hangs on the wall at the modular jack; the latter seems to be glued to the back of the phone. Both of them appear to use ordinary modular cords; the device has a jack on it, and a short modular cord coming out. On the first, you plug the short cord into the wall socket and plug the phone cord into the device. On the other, you stick the keyswitch block on the back of your phone, plug the short cord into the phone's jack, and the phone cord into the box. What stops people from simply unplugging the modular cords from these control devices and bypassing them by plugging the phone cord direct into the wall jack or into the telephone, respectively? Am I missing something? This appears trivial to bypass. If they had the security "TelCord-Lok" connectors shown on page 38, at least this unplugging and replugging would be difficult, but they don't. By the way, does anyone out there use these "TelCord-Lok" screw-secured modular plugs? The catalog illustration carefully avoids showing just what kind of a screw they use, and they ask $10 for the "special tool" to connect/disconnect these plugs, but it sort of looks like a male Torx-type head screw in the side view they show. Is that what it is? I think an ordinary socket-type nutdriver would work on it, if so. Needle-nose pliers should do it in any case ... And a scissors cuts the cord. :-) Regards, Will wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil ------------------------------ Subject: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: 7 Jun 90 17:30:14 PDT (Thu) From: John Higdon While shopping today in a local electronics emporium, the new Motorola handhelds caught my eye. My venerable GE Mini is pushing three years old now and is definitely dated. These Motorolas looked pretty neat and could be carried much more easily than the old GE. As I started to attract the attention of a salestype, the sinking feeling hit. With the rush to develop digital cellular, buying any currently available cellular radio would be a major mistake. The question concerning its obsolescence is not "if" but "how soon?" The cellular industry may be shooting itself in the foot. Just when roaming agreements and other standardizations are beginning to make mobile telephone service worthwhile, digital promises to undo all of that. In an area such as LA, where digital will undoubtedly appear early on, a customer could buy a radio that would be virtually useless elsewhere (such as the Bay Area, where digital will be much slower in coming.) Or else we will have the standard electronics industry fix: make the customer carry around a bulky "multi-lingual" radio until the manufacturers and service providers decide just what they are going to do and when they are going to do it. Frankly, I am so put off by this sudden about face ("suddenly we can't do without digital") that I may just keep my GE Mini until there is no more analog service, and then just do without. I hope other cellular users vote with their pocketbooks as well. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Reply-To: dgc@math.ucla.edu Subject: Cellular Telephones Date: Thu, 07 Jun 90 21:07:35 -0700 From: "David G. Cantor" A friend of mine wants to have two cellular telephones in two different cars with the same telephone number. Of course, he will use only one at a time. The telco won't set this up for him. How does he do it? David G. Cantor Department of Mathematics University of California at Los Angeles Internet: dgc@math.ucla.edu [Moderator's Note: I think the only way it will work is if he is able to convince the cellular carrier to not do its usual serial number check as part of handling his calls. Either that, or find someone to change the serial number on the new phone, which is illegal if the cellular carrier is not made aware of it. A better course of action would be to have call forwarding on the new phone (whatever number it is) and calls fowarded all the time to the other cell phone's number. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 18:31:15 EDT From: Thomas Lapp Subject: Cracker in Wilmington, DE Area Sentenced Since we don't know the extent of the crackers ring that the secret service has been going after, I don't know if there is any connection between this case and those, but thought I would pass it along. Below are some excerpts from a news article in the Wilmington (Delaware) {News-Journal} of 9 June 90 under the title, "'Dropout' Computer Hacker Sentenced to Finish School." ``A 16-year-old eighth-grade dropout, who was part of a computer-hacking network that used pirated credit information to make purchases will return to school by court order. The Glascow-area youth was sentenced Thursday in Family Court on theft and computer-misuse charges for his part in a ring that included teens in Michigan and California, New Castle County police said. In addition to requiring the boy to complete school, the court placed him on probation until he turns 18 and ordered him to pay $3,049 in restitution and $1,018 to the state victims' compensation fund. The court suspended a $6,790 fine.'' [The boy was arrested in May for receiving goods which were purchased on credit card numbers which were stolen. The News-Journal does not publish names of youths who do not commit violent crimes, so his name does not appear in the article. Apparently the boy used several rouses to get people to give him their credit card numbers over the phone. He then traded some of those numbers with a Michigan youth in exchange for access codes and numbers to a national credit bureau, and used those systems to get more numbers in his local area. He then charged purchases to those numbers and had them deliver to an empty apartment which he arranged to be at. Some of the other activities he was involved with include:] ``* Using the [illegally obtained credit card numbers] to order computer equipment and have it delivered to vacant homes. He also rented a limousine and charged the fee to the card. * Trading some of the pirated information for computer software from hackers in Europe. * Tapping into an '800' number and using it to make numerous long-distance calls. * Giving credit-card numbers to a Los Angeles teen, who [used the information to also defraud the credit card companies]. Charges against the Delaware boy were forgery, theft, unlawful access to computer systems, misuse of computer equipment and unlawful use of credit cards.'' - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA ------------------------------ From: hardarso@weiss.cs.unc.edu (Kari Hardarson) Subject: Small Telephone Switches Date: 8 Jun 90 21:27:09 GMT Reply-To: hardarso@weiss.cs.unc.edu (Kari Hardarson) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill I work for a company that has ten employees, including the boss. We have a modem and a fax, and a Novell network. We started out with two telephone lines and ordinary telephones. Needless to say, we quickly bought a telephone switch. The manufacturer is a Japanese firm named Kanda. It had five lines and a maximum of sixteen extensions. It turned out not to be a wise choice -- after a while you get a craving for all sorts of advanced features; this switch did not supply them and it has no expansion capabilites. Right now we have four lines connected to it, the fifth line is run throughout the building and connected to ordinary phone sockets. If someone wants modem access, he has to get the modem (physically) and plug it in. Same thing holds for the answering machine. So much for flaming. Here comes the question: Has anyone seen a telephone switch which has the following features: o Cheap... < 5000$ (Why not? That should be possible...) o Hands-off-operation: speakers built into the handsets o Do-not-disturb: The Kanda switch required removing a link from the board.. o Not too many wires in the connections to the phones. Also: standard type sockets: ours has three twisted pairs, star configuration. o Call-Forwarding, to an employee's home if neccessary o Makes the bell ring, first at the secretary's, then in preprogrammed locations one after another: Ours rings everywhere unless DND is on, and if it is the call cannot be forwarded there once someone else has answered. o Conference calls. Ours can make 2 to 1, 1 to 2. o Expandable for voice-mail o Allows RS-232 connections and/or Ethernet connections to be integrated, so that cables don't have to be run separately. I don't really know what I'm asking for here.. ;-> o Knows about the existence of add-ons such as: Faxes,Modems,Answering Machines o Programmable from terminals, i.e. soft-configurable. I want to be able to say, for example: CALL JOHN. This would run a batch job that told the switch to make a call, and ring my phone when the connection is made. If I move, I don't want to open the switch and mess around with circuit boards. o Expandable to ISDN when the time comes? How does X.25 fit into this picture? Am I missing some features? Am I being unrealistic? I would appreciate hearing from small companies, the pros&cons of their switches. I will compile the results and post them, of course. PS: I am working in Iceland, our phone system confirms to CCITT standards, so BELL systems may not work there, I wouldn't know. Kari Hardarson 217 Jackson Circle 27514 Chapel Hill, NC ------------------------------ From: chuck ritter Subject: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems Organization: JAR Associates, Inc. Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 18:20:48 GMT My company is replacing a fifteen year old six button Comkey system because it is maxed out on lines. Our primary requirements are reliability and longevity. We need eight lines and sixteen stations now and don't anticipate explosive growth. Both the AT&T Spirit and Northern Telecom Norstar Meridian systems meet our needs on paper. I know that the Spirit isn't fully digital and the Meridian is; but they are comparably priced - the Merlin II while digital is more importantly substantially more money and has more expansion capacity than I think we'll need in the next several years. My company doesn't (yet) require the all the bells and whistles on either system. But given that our last phone system was used for fifteen years a secondary goal is a system that will allow us to take advantage of new features as they become available locally. I don't expect ISDN in our area for some time despite assurances otherwise. I would like to hear from people who have experience with either system - what are your likes and dislikes in how the system operates? What is your opinion of reliability and service responsiveness? How about voice quality? Ease of use? etc, etc? Chuck Ritter ritter@jarsun1.ZONE1.COM Engineering Consultants Jordan Apostal Ritter Associates ANSYS, Aries, Fidap Distributors Admin Bldg 7, North Kingstown RI 02852 (401) 884-3014 or (401) 294-4589 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 10:59:34 PDT From: "John R. Covert 08-Jun-1990 1402" Subject: Area 903 Prefix List Wanted (from Greg Monti) From: Greg Monti Subject: Area 903 Prefix List Wanted Does anybody on the net have a list of the prefixes that will soon be in the new 903 NPA in Texas? I called Southwestern Bell Business Office (214 464-4647) and all they could tell me was that exchanges "east of Coffman and north of Prosper" were to be in 903. I asked whether a dial-in automated lookup service (like the one Illinois Bell had for Chicago last year) would be available in Texas and the Bus Off said they hadn't decided on that yet. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work +1 202 822-2633 ------------------------------ From: John Alsop Subject: Autodialer Hookup to Terminal Printer Port Date: 8 Jun 90 15:11:38 GMT Organization: Sea Change Corp.,Mississauga,Ontario,Canada We have a bunch of WYSE-85 and 185 terminals running a database application. We would like to call up a customer file on the screen, and in response to a function key, dial the customer's phone number. To achieve this, I think we would need a device which would hook up between the serial printer port on the terminal and the phone handset. It would have to accept a phone number from the serial port, and then dial the number. I assume this type of device is readily available, and would appreciate pointers to vendors. Thanks, John Alsop Sea Change Corporation 1100 Central Parkway W., Suite 38 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5C 4E5 Tel: 416-272-3881 Fax: 416-272-1555 UUCP: ...!uunet!attcan!darkover!seachg!jalsop ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Wisconsin Bell / AT&T Making Random Connections Date: 8 Jun 90 04:15:58 GMT Reply-To: Jon Baker Organization: Crossroads, Phoenix, AZ 85046 In article <8728@accuvax.nwu.edu> rang@cs.wisc.edu (Anton Rang) writes: >The most interesting thing about this is that these aren't just >"misdirected" calls; neither party initiates the call. The phone just >rings at both ends. One person in Madison was getting about eighty >A Wisconsin Bell spokesman said that the company is trying to track >down the problem, with the help of AT&T. We had this problem at our local (Chandler,AZ) exchange last year. The problem was tracked down by 'experts from AT&T' to a bug in the 5E (jab, jab, jab). We didn't have international calls though - it was just within the CO. Got to chat with some very nice people ... \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300-2400,9600 PEP Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!bakerj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 11:55:37 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB John R. Levine writes: >It was and is a local >call across the Delaware a few miles north of Philadelphia between New >Hope PA and Lambertville NJ. Don't ask me why. New Hope (Pa.) and Lambertville (NJ) are upstream of Trenton, and thus not THAT close to Philadelphia. The furthest south along the Delaware River where calls across the river are local is at Morrisville (Pa., still toll from Phila.) and Trenton (NJ). ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #421 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa25400; 9 Jun 90 0:59 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab07293; 8 Jun 90 23:27 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab07832; 8 Jun 90 22:20 CDT Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 22:17:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #422 BCC: Message-ID: <9006082217.ab03937@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Jun 90 22:17:29 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 422 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Baud per Hertz [Rob Warnock] Re: Baud per Hertz [Rolf Meier] Re: Baud per Hertz [Peter da Silva] Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues [Fred E.J. Linton] Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog [Adam M. Gaffin] Re: UK Telephone System [Colum Mylod] Re: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution [John Higdon] Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 [Wayne Correia] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 11:30:08 GMT From: Rob Warnock Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Reply-To: Rob Warnock Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA In article <8731@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup writes: | In article <8683@accuvax.nwu.edu> Rob Warnock writes: | >...(Pushing a 7 baud signal through a 5 Hz pipe is | >quite good! The theoretical maximum is 2 baud/Hz: one state for each | >half-cycle of bandwidth.)... | I don't see a theoretical limit, not if you allow phase modulation. | For real phase discriminators and real lines there certainly are | limits, but in theory you could shift each half cycle by as fine an | increment as you could measure ... I guess Heisenberg limits that | somewhere, but not for a long time. Please read what I said again: the theoretical limit is 2 *BAUD*/Hz (the Nyquist limit), not two bits/Hz. And since Hertz == cycles per second, your next statement, "you could shift each half cycle", confirms this. "Baud" == "symbols/second" == "state changes/second". So if one changes something on each half-cycle, that *is* 2 Baud/Hz, just as I said. Now what you really seem to be talking about when you say "by as fine an increment as you could measure" is how many states you can differentiate from each other, or how big your symbol alphabet is. And the limit there is not Heisenberg, particularly, but Shannon. The channel (or system) noise which is added to the signal puts an upper limit on how many states you can distinguish. Whatever the method of modulation -- phase, amplitude, frequency -- at some point in the receiver you will eventually need to decide which of your finite set of states (symbols) to assign to the actual current analog value of the received signal. The circuit for this is an analog-to-digital converter (A/D), also called a quantizer or "slicer". For each signaling interval (the length of which is 1/Baud_rate) you will get one digitized sample which purports to name which symbol was sent during that interval. How many bits it takes to name all the states is how many bits per symbol you have. And bits per symbol times Baud rate is bits per second. So *of course* if your phase discriminators (A/D's) are perfect, and there is zero noise, you can discriminate as many distinct states as you like, and send as many bits per symbol as you like, and therefore as many bits-per-second per Hertz of bandwidth. But real channels have noise -- they are *not* perfect, thus your measurements will not be, either. And the theoretical limit to how many different phases (or whatever) you can use effectively is just the Shannon limit: C = W * log2(SNR + 1) [Page 26 in reference given below] The fundamental "channel capacity" C -- the upper limit on the number of bits per second you can push through a channel with an error rate "as low as you like" assuming you use a coding scheme that is "good enough" -- is the bandwidth "W" in Hertz times the logarithm base-2 of the signal-to-noise ratio SNR -- the *power* ratio (energy per time or energy per bit) -- plus one. The Nyquist theorem says that with perfect A/D's [which we actually can come quite close to these days, at least as far as voice-grade modems care] we can get all the information from a band-limited signal by sampling at a Baud rate B = 2 * W (which is the same as your "each half cycle", above), so if you send R bits/symbol we can equate C = R * B, which gives: C = R * B = (B/2) * log2 (SNR + 1) Simplifying, the maximum useful bits/symbol is: R = log2(SNR + 1) / 2 [Page 40 in reference given below] This says if you have a signal/noise power ratio of 255 = 24.1dB (which is a *voltage* ratio of just under 16), and you have a perfect modulation/demodulation method and a perfect [actually, good enough] error-correcting coding scheme, you can send 4 bits/symbol or 8 bps/Hz of bandwidth. [For those who care about such details, this is ~15 dB "Eb/N0", that is, energy per bit divided by noise power density per Hertz.] But in practice, modulation methods such as phase-shift modulation (PSK) are *not* ideal, they "waste information". I don't have tables for 16 bps/Hz, but I have a chart for coherent PSK that goes up to 10 bps/Hz [Ref: Fig 1.7]. In order to achieve a bit error rate of 1 in 10**5 (no error-correction code), you need the following SNRs (plus or minus a few tenths of a dB for my chart-reading error): Overall Shannon # of phases bits/symbol bps/Hz Eb/N0 (dB) SNR (dB) Limit (dB) 2 (0/180 deg) 1 2 9.5 9.5 0.0 4 (0/90/180/270) 2 4 10.0 13.0 4.8 8 (0/45/90/...) 3 6 14.0 18.8 8.5 16 (0/22.5/45...) 4 8 18.8 24.8 11.8 32 (0/11.25/...) 5 10 23.8 30.8 14.9 As you can see, multi-phase coherent PSK is roughly 10dB worse than the Shannon limit, and is worse off at the higher bits/symbol end (although asymptotically is within a constant factor of the Shannon limit [Ref: p.41]). The best way to use PSK seems to be with four phases, where the excess loss is "only" 8.2dB, which is probably why this version (a.k.a. QPSK) is quite popular in modems. Most higher bit-rate modems use a combination of amplitude and phase modulation (often called "QAM" whether or not the phase-modulation is really "quadrature"), which gives better performance than either AM or PSK alone. [Reference: Michelson & Levesque, "Error-Control Techniques For Digital Communication" (Wiley-Interscience 1985), pp.26-41. Since Figure 1.7 actually graphed Eb/N0 versus PsubM, the *symbol* error rate, I had to extrapolate all the curves (except M=2) down below the chart to get an Eb/N0 corresponding to a 1.0e-5 *bit* error rate. This is the source of much of the "chart-reading error" mentioned above.] In article <8772@accuvax.nwu.edu> codex!peterd@uunet.uu.net (Peter Desnoyers) writes: | However, a baud is not a bit. By the Nyquist theorem, you can only get | 2f bauds per second. In practice high-speed modems such as V.32 run at | about 2500-3000 bauds/sec over lines with a 3000Hz bandwidth. | >Still, in the real world 7 baud on 5 Hz is very good! | 9600bps over 3000 Hz is a good deal better, and is quite common. Oops! You fell in the trap, too! Those 9600 b/s modems use 4 bit/symbol modulation, and so actually run at 2400 baud. And 2400 baud on 2700 Hz (3000 - 300) is not as good as 7 baud on 5 Hz. On clean lines the Telebit will run 6 bits/symbol, so at 7.35 baud that's 44.1 bits/sec in 5 Hz, or 8.8 bps/Hz. 9600/2700 is a mere 3.6 bps/Hz. Rob Warnock, MS-9U/510 rpw3@sgi.com rpw3@pei.com Silicon Graphics, Inc. (415)335-1673 Protocol Engines, Inc. 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94039-7311 ------------------------------ From: Rolf Meier Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Date: 8 Jun 90 14:32:09 GMT Reply-To: Rolf Meier Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada. In article <8731@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup writes: >In article <8683@accuvax.nwu.edu> Rob Warnock writes: >>...(Pushing a 7 baud signal through a 5 Hz pipe is >>quite good! The theoretical maximum is 2 baud/Hz: one state for each >>half-cycle of bandwidth.)... >I don't see a theoretical limit, not if you allow phase modulation. >For real phase discriminators and real lines there certainly are >limits, but in theory you could shift each half cycle by as fine an >increment as you could measure ... I guess Heisenberg limits that >somewhere, but not for a long time. Not Heisenberg, but Shannon sets the limit. The theoretical maximum is: max bit rate = bandwidth x log(2)(1 + S/N) where S/N is the signal to noise ratio log(2) is log base 2 (not 0.30103 :-)) For example, using a normal telephone line with a 3 kHz bandwidth and a 60 dB (1000:1 for the formula) S/N ratio, you can in theory transmit 30,000 bits/sec. You can use phase, frequency, or amplitude modulation. The maximum bit rate is reached when you can no longer resolve the signal variation due to noise. Rolf Meier Mitel Corporation ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 13:31:46 GMT In article <8772@accuvax.nwu.edu> codex!peterd@uunet.uu.net (Peter Desnoyers) writes: > >Still, in the real world 7 baud on 5 Hz is very good! > 9600bps over 3000 Hz is a good deal better, and is quite common. Not really. Those 7 bauds at 6 bits per baud come to 42 bps over 5 Hz. The highest rate I've heard of over the 3000 Hz band using PEP is something like 24000 bps, or about 2.5 times as much as V.32. 18000 bps is not terribly uncommon. `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf. ------------------------------ Date: 8-JUN-1990 01:31:30.15 From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues In article <8504@accuvax.nwu.edu>, writes: > AT&T currently markets a device called the 1300+ for the TDD folks. It > supports 45.5 baudot up to 1200 baud asscii and everything in between. to which the Moderator notes: [Could you please get us some pricing and ordering information for this?] I can point you to Anthony Curreri of AT&T, product (or marketing) manager for the AT&T 1310, a similar device. Both are, I suspect, outgrowths of the AT&T 1300 "home banking terminal" I've mentioned earlier here. Curreri had, last time I checked, an AT&T Mail login, as (either) (or perhaps ). By his signature he seems to call himself Tony. He certainly had pricing / ordering / manuals data for the 1310 at his disposal when I needed that somewhat over a year ago, and _should_ be able to help with this 1300+ as well, even if only to point you in the right direction. Fred <4142427@mcimail.com> ------------------------------ From: Adam M Gaffin Subject: Re: Online Access to Library Card Catalog Organization: The World Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 11:26:20 GMT For those who don't have access to telnet, I have a list of university libraries in the Boston area that allow dial-in access to their catalog systems. E-mail me if you'd like a copy. Adam Gaffin Middlesex News, Framingham, Mass. adamg@world.std.com Voice: (508) 626-3968 Fred the Middlesex News Computer: (508) 872-8561 ------------------------------ From: Colum Mylod Subject: Re: UK Telephone System Date: 7 Jun 90 13:18:47 GMT Reply-To: Colum Mylod Organization: Oracle Europe, The Netherlands In article <8561@accuvax.nwu.edu> "Clive D.W. Feather" writes: >certain special codes: >010 international access > 0001 equivalent to 010 350 1 [Dublin] Correction: this is equivalent to 010 353 1 [Dublin], 350 is Gibraltar. > 0055 from London only; calls charged at L rate > 0066 from London only; calls charged at a rate > 0077 from London only; calls charged at m rate To finish off this part completely a mention should be made of the 000? and 001? codes from Northern Ireland since this is part of BT's fiefdom: 0002 equivalent to 010 353 21 [Cork] 0004 equivalent to 010 353 42 [Dundalk] 0005 equivalent to 010 353 51 [Waterford] 0006 equivalent to 010 353 61 [Limerick] 0007 equivalent to 010 353 74 [Letterkenny] 0009 equivalent to 010 353 91 [Galway] 0011 equivalent to 010 353 41 [Drougheda] 0012 equivalent to 010 353 46 [Navan] 0014 equivalent to 010 353 47 [Monaghan] There are also codes 0010/0015/0016/0017 but my memory fades. The codes 0002 to 0009 were at one stage operative from G. Britain, but disappeared around 1982 without any notice being given. They are listed still for calls from N. Ireland to +353 land. Something else to note is that although 0001 is equivalent to dialing 010 353 1 from GB to IRL, 010 353 1 WILL NOT WORK! Yes, to call IRL from GB (except to Dublin) you dial 010 353 , but trying that way to Dublin is blocked. I am one of those people who try "illegal" codes to see what happens. As an aside, the European Commission has decided to try to have 00 as a common international access code from all twelve states in the EEC. This would mean the demise of all these 00- codes. The Dutch PTT is committed to having 00 as its IDD code (currently it's 09), and operator services are being moved from 00- to 06-04?? over the next few years. Your article was fascinating, Clive. How did BT manage to invent such complexity ? Colum Mylod cmylod@oracle.nl The Netherlands Above is IMHO ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution Date: 8 Jun 90 09:19:57 PDT (Fri) From: John Higdon "Yossi (Joel" writes: > I have to point out that the problem is >NOT< the baud rate of TDD's. > Consider how many conventions we use > on the net: :-) *sigh* :-( >EMPHASIS< and how much longer it takes us > to type them that it would to utter them. Yes, but consider something else that goes on on the net -- batched, high-speed data transfer. I understand that there is frequent need for interactive "conversation", but a lot of the time someone just needs to send a message and may or may not even need a reply. When you or I sit down to spill our guts on this forum, or reply to those who privately take issue with us, we sit down and type at our leisure. Maybe we get up to have lunch, do other work, whatever. None of this time is spent "on line". Perhaps equipment for the deaf can be designed so that it offers the option of interactive OR e-mail-style communications. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Wayne Correia Subject: Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 Date: 8 Jun 90 23:18:03 GMT Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA In article <8766@accuvax.nwu.edu> utstat!tg@uunet.uu.net (Tom Glinos) writes: >I'm looking for the advantages of RJ45 over RJ11. >Each cubicle that I'm planning will have two jacks. The jacks will >either be phone or data in any combination. >The present data requirements are RS232 and Twisted Pair Ethernet. (I >can't speculate about future requirements.) >I'd prefer RJ45 but (bean counters and other bureaucrats) tell me >that RJ11 will suffice. Here at Apple Computer we run six RJ-45's to each and every cube. We don't run eight wires to every jack though, only four. It covers our AppleTalk, twisted-pair Ethernet, proprietary PBX phones, analog phone lines, and ISDN lines. Be advised that most twisted-pair Ethernet and all ISDN basic rate interface lines I know of require an RJ-45 jack even though they don't use all eight wires. Our configuration is what I would call a minimum for any company that had voice and data needs. I also agree with Julian's motto of at least six pair and I also sometimes regret not pulling 25 pair. In short, don't take no for an answer from those who don't understand the real requirements. Wayne Correia (N6RSC) N&C Engineer Developer Technical Support Apple Computer, Inc. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #422 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa00266; 9 Jun 90 18:58 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa03413; 9 Jun 90 17:32 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab15227; 9 Jun 90 16:29 CDT Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 16:25:53 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #423 BCC: Message-ID: <9006091625.ab22291@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 9 Jun 90 16:25:38 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 423 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson CLID ... A "New" Tread [John McHarry] Telephonic Regression [John Higdon] Diamond State Telephone to Offer Meter Reading Service [Thomas Lapp] Cracker/Phreaker Crackdown [Henry Mensch] AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime [Gordon Burditt] Culmination Magazine Wanted [Steve Huff] Re: Cordless Telephone Dies [Irving Wolfe] Re: NPA 917 to Serve Both Bronx and DID's in Manhattan [Andrew Boardman] Re: Update: LOD Woes - Part II of II [Andrew M. Boardman] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Friday, 8 Jun 1990 11:28:13 EST From: John McHarry Subject: CLID ... A "New" Thread In Volume 10: Issue 419 Paul Flynn discussed some of the limitations on CLASS (I think CLASS is a Registered Service Mark, or some such, of Bellcore.) services due to the current lack of SS7 interconnectivity between carriers. This reminded me of a similar issue I have been meaning to mention: Calling Line ID (CLID, "ANI", etc) is, as currently implemented under the CLASS specifications (there are other extent ways to do it), an SS7 based feature insofar as it operates between switches. Since interexchange carriers (IXCs) don't currently connect to the local exchange carriers (LECs) via SS7 to any significant degree, CLID is not available on inter-LATA calls. Thus, I can't use it to differentiate my mother calling me from the, more usual, boiler room call. Thus, it is not worth much to me, nor, I suspect, to a fair number of potential customers. Of course, the people touting CLID are aware of this limitation and are trying to remedy it by arranging for ANI spill from the IXCs. Current trunking arrangements spill ANI from the LEC to the IXC, but not vice-versa. The LECs would like to convert their incoming IXC trunks to deliver ANI. This could be done via SS7 interconnectivity, but I doubt that SS7 is required. Sound simple? Au contraire: It appears that the IXCs are more than willing to provide the information, but at a price. I guess the reasoning is that the LEC wants the calling number information in order to sell it, so the provider, the IXC, should be paid also. The LECs seem to argue that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. They provide ANI to the IXC at "no" charge (ANI spill is included in the tariff for the current interconnect trunks), so they should get it from them for free also. Of course, the IXCs need the info for billing, but they also sell it to some of their customers. It is beginning to look like this may develop into an amusing little brouhaha. There have already been some positions put forward at some of the standards meetings that appear subtly linked to this issue. At any rate, its outcome should have some interesting implications. For example, if the IXC is entitled to payment for the information, by parity of reasoning, isn't the calling party entitled to compensation also? One, if one were an LEC, might argue that the calling party is compensated in lower rates, but with price cap regulation that is a harder case to make with a straight face. #include disclaimer.standard * John McHarry (703)883-6100 McHarry@MITRE.ORG * ------------------------------ Subject: Telephonic Regression Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: 8 Jun 90 10:58:49 PDT (Fri) From: John Higdon In the spirit of government over-zealousness, how many have noticed (at least in California) the latest media attention to the role of telephony in the matter of drug sales? It would appear that drug warriors have just discovered that many drug deals are consumated with the assistance of public telephones, pagers, and cellular equipment. According to some of the stories (including a mention in this forum), a number of the utility pay phones have been replaced with old rotary dial models (so that pagers can't be activated) and some merged subset of these phones have also been disabled from receiving calls. In the Bay Area, there has even been talk about removing some pay phones altogether, although Pac*Bell spokespeople have pointed out that should be considered a last resort option. So it appears that in the name of the War On Drugs, telephone service is to be denied to a certain subclass of people. Disabling the TT pad after the call is dialed (or installing rotary phones) eliminates the use of many services, not just pagers. What we are in effect saying to people who live and work in certain (arbitrarily selected) areas is, "You are not entitled to have the convenience or utility afforded to those in more upscale places." Not that drug use or trading doesn't occur in Willow Glen (as an example), it's just that more money makes possible a more sophisticated and covert methodology that isn't obvious to residents or police. Saying to people whose only telephone service might just be a public telephone that they will have to do with less because of a current hysteria is highly offensive. But I feel that more is on the way. In the California legislature is a bill under consideration that would make it a crime for anyone under the age of 18 to have a pager (Dougie Howser--watch out!). I predict that in the forseeable future, legislation will be considered that will require ALL users of pagers and cellular phones to register with the state attorney general's office, stating the use and purpose of the equipment. No registration, no service. It is sad that while we are seeing great advancements in both the utility and convenience of telecommunications, congresscritters (and others who depend upon re-election for their fat pay checks) feel the need to artificially restrict citizens' use of technology in the cause of "crowd pleasing". Do they really think that if you take away pagers and pay phones that the "drug problem" will go away? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: The Chicago City Council is now on this same tangent, thinking somehow that if Illinois Bell eliminates pay phones in the housing projects (or makes them one-way outgoing, or removes the touch-tone or some combination thereof), that the drug traffic will slow down. Of course, the fact that these steps would be all the more oppressive to people who live in Housing Authority properties and are too poor to have a phone of their own and must rely on the single outdoor (frequently out-of-order) payphone in front of the combination liquor store / state lottery agent on the corner is never considered. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 11:55:11 EDT From: Thomas Lapp Subject: Diamond State Telephone to Offer Meter Reading Service There was recently discussion over reading utility meters either by radio or via telephone. A news article in the Saturday, 9 June 90 issue of the Wilmington (Delaware) {News-Journal} indicates that Diamond State Telephone is presently seeking approval to offer meter reading services to utilities in its area. The system is the same as has been discussed in these pages before: the company calls your home with a method that does not ring your phone, and the unit attached to the meter and phone line sends the data requested. As in the other system, if someone picks up the line while the data transfer is going on, it is cancelled and the user has access to his phone line. The data request call is tried again later. Some interesting points from this article that I had not seen in prior postings: "...the utility's computer sends its customers' telephone numbers into the automatic meter-reading equipment, which in turn dials the customer using a special line so the subscriber's phone doesn't ring..." "...A call takes only seconds and will be made between midnight and 6am,when calling volume is lightest, said [Douglas R.] Smith [manager of regulartory matters for Diamond State]..." "...Water companies have been the first to take advantage of the service ...but in the future, all metered utilities -- electricity, gas and water -- could be hooked into the same system ... if all the utilities work together...." "...The system is working in New Jersey and in the trial stage in Pennsylvania ... Hackensack Water Company is its [New Jersey Bell's] largest customer with 170,000 meters attached to the service. Four other water companies are in the process of adopting the system..." "...According to the application filed with the PSC, utilites would pay a non-recurring charge of $1,500 for the central office special access circuit, a monthly rate of $410, plus 3 cents a call in off-peak hours..." Two quick comments: I'm assuming that the "special access circuit" between the utility and the central office would be a dedicated line. I'd hate to think that it would be a switched circuit. There probably isn't a whole lot of info you could get from 'cracking' a utility reading system, but if you take that datum with all the others you can get on a residence, it might pose a security risk. I know, rather far-fetched, though. The other thing is a little less serious. If the utilities are charged a non-recurring fee of $1,500, does this appear on their third bill? And does it continue to appear on other bills even when they tell the phone company to remove the "extra non-recurring charges?" ;-) - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 12:48:13 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Re: Cracker/Phreaker Crackdown Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu In reply to Frank Earl's note ... I would reckon one of the problems is that most people don't know where the FBI's jurisdiction begins or where the Secret Service's jurisdiction ends. I had a visit on Friday afternoon from an FBI agent and it seemed to be mostly reasonable, except he identified himself as being from a unit that I wouldn't associate with this sort of investigation. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: Gordon Burditt Subject: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime Date: 9 Jun 90 12:38:11 GMT The ad in my mail says "A review of your AT&T Long Distance bill indicates that you have the potential to save money by changing to the AT&T SelectSaver Plan". "A routine review of your AT&T account indicates that you are currently being charged standard prices for your out-of-state, direct-dialed AT&T Long Distance calls, and that you make the majority of these calls to area code (717) in Pennsylvania." "To benefit from this new plan you would need to increase your AT&T Long Distance calling to your selected area code by about 10 minutes per month." On the basis of my bills, they decided that I would want to get a special rate to area code 717 (.12/min evening/night/weekend, .20/min day) plus 5% savings on all other out-of-state direct calls, for only $1.90 a month. (There are 3 calling rates based on distance. From 817 (Fort Worth, Texas), I think everything is "medium" except Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The $1.90/month seems to be fixed.) Hmmm, how did they choose this? Well, if they know I have two lines billed on the same bill, since January, 1989 that was one evening-rate 717 25-minute call in December, 1989, and one evening 717 29-minute call in February, 1990. If they don't know about the second line, then they only know about the first call. If they went back much further than November, 1989, they would have seen that night-rate 614 calls dominate the out-of-state bill in 1989. Now, if I had gotten this plan in December, 1989 (on ONE line, and made all the calls on that line), and made 1 10-minute evening-rate call each month in addition to actual use, I would have paid $11.40 in SelectSaver bills to date to save about $4.56 on calls, for a net loss of $6.84. And they are strongly implying that they LOOKED at my bills and decided I could save money. AAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! If they want me to save money, the same plan applied to area code 214 (Dallas, which is in-state, adjacent, and intra-LATA, because unless you use 10288, Southwestern Bell handles it and bills at a higher rate than AT&T) might work, since I call there a lot more. I wonder if AT&T wants the FCC to know you even CAN dial from 817 to 214 via AT&T. One interesting feature: they say NOTHING about changing my long-distance carrier (my default carrier is null) or having to have it be AT&T. Gordon L. Burditt sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon ------------------------------ From: "Steve Huff, U. of Kansas, Lawrence" Subject: Culmination Magazine Wanted Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services Date: 9 June 90 00:00:00 CDT Hope this doesn't offend anyone ... it's not telecom related. But this does seem to be a very knowlegable group! Does anybody know if a magazine or review publication exists to publish a culmination of important articles from different PC magazines? I am not looking for a clipping service, but somebody who actually publishes their own work as a summary of other articles. If you have ever read _Bottom Line_, I'm trying to find something similar in the computing area. Thanks! Steve Huff Internet: HUFF@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu EmCon: K1TR or KW02 Bitnet: HUFF@ukanvax.BITNET UUNet: uunet!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!HUFF@uunet.UU.NET Snail: P.O. Box 1225, Lawrence, KS 66044-8225 ------------------------------ From: Irving Wolfe Subject: Re: Cordless Telephone Dies Date: 9 Jun 90 01:30:24 GMT Reply-To: 0000-Irving Wolfe Organization: SOLID VALUE, the investment letter for Benj. Graham's intelligent investors Based on my own experience, Panasonic make good phones and answering machines, good (and attractively priced) small business telephone systems, and absolutely rotten (full of features but weak and unreliable) cordless phones. Welcome to the "snared by Panasonic's reputation" club. It sure doesn't extend to cordless phones; even though their integrated phone/answering machines are probably the best made, the cordless phones are among the worst! Irving Wolfe irv@happym.wa.com 206/463-9399 ext.101 Happy Man Corp. 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Road, Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399 SOLID VALUE, the investment letter for Benj. Graham's intelligent investors ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 00:57:17 EDT From: "Andrew M. Boardman" Subject: Re: NPA 917 to Serve both Bronx and DID's in Manhattan Organization: Columbia University In article <8695@accuvax.nwu.edu> Edward Greenburg wrote: >The implications of this are interesting. If, for example, I have a >pager company with equipment located in Manhattan, will I have to pay >mileage to get my DID trunks in from the Bronx, or will it all be >transparent? The idea from NYT seems to be that DID's in Manhattan will indeed terminate in Manhattan CO's, and just have the 917 NPA. Seemingly the first setup of its kind. Andrew Boardman amb@cs.columbia.edu ...rutgers!columbia!amb amb%cs.columbia.edu@cuvmb.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 01:32:27 EDT From: "Andrew M. Boardman" Subject: Re: Update: LOD Woes - Part II of II Organization: Columbia University Department of Quiche Eaters A piece of information, a waste of bandwidth to be published in more than a moderator's note... In article <8763@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >Some time ago, a supplementary mailing list was run for awhile to >handle overflow messages on a related topic, and this might be a good >time to revive it. If the people who did it want to resume it for this >thread, please let me know. Actually, the mailing list is still alive and well. /a [Moderator's Note: Write to TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET to request a subscription to the Computer Underground Digest. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #423 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06549; 9 Jun 90 22:08 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa14599; 9 Jun 90 20:36 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab08155; 9 Jun 90 19:33 CDT Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 18:46:37 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #424 BCC: Message-ID: <9006091846.ab31512@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 9 Jun 90 18:45:42 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 424 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Steven King] Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number [John R. Covert] Re: Books on Telephony History [W. T. Sykes] Re: 10XXX Bugs [Andrew M. Boardman] Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker? [TELECOM Moderator] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Steven King Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Date: 9 Jun 90 12:54:31 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <8797@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon writes: >As I started to attract the attention of a salestype, the sinking >feeling hit. With the rush to develop digital cellular, buying any >currently available cellular radio would be a major mistake. The >question concerning its obsolescence is not "if" but "how soon?" Fear not, good gentle. There is is HUGE base of people out there who have analog phones. Cellular operators can't expect them all to buy new phones overnight. They'll start by installing a few digital channels and gradually phasing out the analog. I suspect that you'll still be able to get an analog channel anywhere you go for many, many years. >Or else we will have the standard electronics industry fix: make the >customer carry around a bulky "multi-lingual" radio until the >manufacturers and service providers decide just what they are going to >do and when they are going to do it. Give that man a cee-gar! I suspect that in the near future you'll have your choice of buying a pure-analog, a pure-digital, or a hybrid mobile. With the mixture of analog and digital channels available the hybrid shouldn't be strictly necessary, but it has the advantage of pure-digital in that you can enjoy the benefits of digital where that's available and still be able to use it in service areas that haven't upgraded yet. (Yes, I know that the "benefits" of digital from the user perspective are debatable. Let's not open that up again, eh?) You sound like you don't like this idea. Can you suggest an alternative? As I see it, a gradual phase-in is very much preferable to an overnight switch to the new technology. >Frankly, I am so put off by this sudden about face ("suddenly we can't >do without digital") that I may just keep my GE Mini until there is no >more analog service, and then just do without. I hope other cellular >users vote with their pocketbooks as well. Why the hostility here? No one will be forcing you to go to digital, at least not for a very long time. As I said, I don't think the operating companies can afford to blow off the huge installed base of analog customers. The main purpose of digital (as I see it, anyway; yes, I am involved with cellular, but only tangentially with digital) is to squeeze some extra channels out of a limited amount of bandwidth. A purely digital system has three times the number of channels that an analog system does. THAT'S why we "suddenly can't do without digital". The airwaves are getting full! Steve King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 07:25:33 PDT From: "John R. Covert 09-Jun-1990 1015" Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number >A friend of mine wants to have two cellular telephones in two >different cars with the same telephone number. Of course, he will use >only one at a time. The telco won't set this up for him. This really isn't technically possible. Even if he promises to never turn power on to both of them at the same time, accidents do happen. If power were on to both units at the same time, both units would respond to commands from the cells, and bad things would happen, which would generate trouble reports and possibly disturb other calls in the system due to co-channel interference. Although a single ESN may have an infinite number of telephone numbers, each telephone number can have at most one ESN. This is an immutable part of the design of the AMPS system. Although the moderator suggests that the way around this would be to convince the cellular carrier to not do its usual serial number check as part of handling his calls, this has all the problems mentioned above, plus the problem of making the roamer validation system not work. Mr. Cantor would be subject to fraud from anyone anywhere in the U.S. or Canada who knew that his phone number had no ESN. The only option is to have a portable which is carried from car to car. Some portables, especially NEC and Motorola portables, are designed such that you can install a complete set of 3 watt electronics in each car which are activated only when the portable, which contains the number and ESN, are plugged into the socket in the car. This way, someone who drives two cars can have a single phone number for each car. Or, better yet, two people who share two cars can each have their own portable and their own number will always be active in the car they are driving. /john [Moderator's Note: Actually, Mr. Covert's suggestion, re use of portables, makes a lot of sense. There are so many varieties now, and the price has come down so much, it seems far more efficient to simply transfer a hand-held unit from one vehicle to another ... and carry it when you leave the vehicle, as I do. A couple portable units, combined with call-forwarding as needed should be adequate. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 14:28:46 EDT From: W T Sykes Subject: Re: Books on Telephony History Organization: AT&T Federal Systems Research and Development - Burlington, NC In article <8786@accuvax.nwu.edu> bbt!kfc@rti.uucp writes: >I need some help from the telcom book worms. >I am interested in getting titles of interesting books on the history >of telephony. Everything from A. G. Bell biographies to the early >days of AT&T. >I would like to know which books are not be missed and those that I >should not waste my time on. >Please send title, author, and publishing company (to aid me in >finding it) directly to me or post. If I get good response I will >foward a summary to PT. Patrick, The following list and descriptions of books published by AT&T was forwarded to kfc@bbt.UUCP. If suitable for the DIGEST you can use them for publication. It is not my intent to advertise for my employer, but I feel these texts are germaine interests of the DIGEST. All descriptions are lifted without permission from an internal guide, but all the listed texts are available for sale to the general public . (All typos are mine.) William T. Sykes AT&T Fed. Sys. R&D _A HISTORY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN THE BELL SYSTEM SERIES - THE EARLY YEARS (1875-1926)_; This first volume offers a detailed overview of the first 50 years of telephone technology. The narrative goes well beyond a simple statement of events to deal with the "how" and "why" of technological innovation. 1073 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-467 $47.00 _A HISTORY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN THE BELL SYSTEM SERIES - NATIONAL SERVICE IN WAR AND PEACE (1925-1975)_; This second volume focuses on the Bell System's contributions to national defense before and during World War II and in the cold war missle crisis that followed. The central subject is engineering for urgent national defense and how the technology of communications was adapted quickly, and in many ways specifically for, the compelling needs of a nation at war. 757 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-468 $47.00 _A HISTORY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN THE BELL SYSTEM SERIES - SWITCHING TECHNOLOGY (1925-1975)_; This third volume chronicles how switching evolved from early years characterized by manual switchboards to the complete automation of today. The major innovations that produced generations of switches operating at higher and higher speeds and handling functions of increasing complexity and flexibility are discussed. 639 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-469 $47.00 [DESCRIPTION OF 500-470 MISSING FROM MY CATALOG - wts] _A HISTORY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN THE BELL SYSTEM SERIES - COMMUNICATIONS SCIENCES (1925-1980)_; This fifth volume covers those areas of scientific research having a direct bearing on communications. The disciplines covered are mathematics, acoustics, picture communications, vacuum-tube electronics, radio and microwave research, waveguides, lightwave communications, switching, computer science, digital communications, behavioral science, and economics. 521 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-471 $47.00 _A HISTORY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN THE BELL SYSTEM SERIES - ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY (1925-1975)_; This sixth volume is a detailed view of the developments in electronics, from electron tubes through thin-film. It also tells the story of devices and components developed at AT&T between 1925 and 1975 and the major role they played in the expansion of telecommunications during the middle of the century. 370 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-472 $47.00 _A HISTORY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN THE BELL SYSTEM SERIES - TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGY (1925-1975)_; This seventh and final volume is the story of transmission research and development as it evolved in the middle years of the 20th Century. 812 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-473 $47.00 _ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS IN THE BELL SYSTEM_; This second edition of the popular text, completely revised and restructured, offers a comprehensive view of the Bell System in 1982-1983 just before divestiture. This book will be useful as a general reference for anyone interested in a first-level description of telecomunications networks and their elements. 250 pgs. SELECT CODE 500-478 $42.60 All of the above are published by AT&T and may be obtained from AT&T Customer Information Center Marketing Department 2855 N. Franklin Road Indianapolis, IN 46209-1998 VISA, MasterCard, and American Express orders can be taken by voice at 1-800-432-6600, between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. -EST (1-800-255-1242, from Canada). Facsimile orders can be transmitted to: 1-317-352-8484. William T. Sykes AT&T Federal Systems R&D Burlington, NC att!winken!wts [Moderator's Note: Thanks for this information. I am placing your message in the telecom archives for reference by interested readers in the future. File name will be: books.about.phones. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 01:46:37 EDT From: "Andrew M. Boardman" Subject: Re: 10XXX Bugs Organization: Columbia University Department of Quiche Eaters In Volume 10, Issue 419, Message 11 of 11, Carol Springs wrote: >A Sprint FONcard number wouldn't work with 10333 anyway; these only >work when you've gone through the special 1-800 number. If you have >an AT&T or BOC calling card, you can use 10333 along with that number. Sprint has created this service solely for the usage of *other* companies calling cards? Am I the only person who sees something wrong with this? This discussion has come up before, and like all TELECOM discussions, will come up again (and again, and again, and again...) but I never noticed an actual answer: will AT&T and the RBOC's ever have the ability to keep their calling card numbers to themselves, and is the availability of this information mandated by the FCC/MFJ/? Andrew Boardman amb@cs.columbia.edu ...rutgers!columbia!amb amb%cs.columbia.edu@cuvmb.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 17:55:04 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker A couple weeks ago, I posted a survey asking questions about possible illegal telecommunications/computer activities by readers. It looks like the survey was flawed, due to an error in the way I set it up. There have been several messages which pointed out that unless I was aware of the dietary and banking habits of the readers, it would be impossible to accurately give any meaning to the results. To avoid embarassment or possible legal ramifications, readers were asked to answer one set of questions or another set, based on the flip of a coin. The two question sets were: 1) 1. Have you made one or more phraud calls in the past six months? 2. Have you broken into a computer or gained unlawful access to a computer in the past six months? 2) 1. Have you eaten a hamburger for lunch in the past two weeks? 2. Have you gone inside the bank you usually do business with in the past two weeks? We know that as the number of coin tosses increases, the likelyhood is that there will be an even number of heads/tails come up. So, we can take the number of answers received, *assume that half were answering the relevant questions and disgard half the results, evenly from all possible answer groups*, getting some idea of how many of you are naughty, and how many are nice. But several of you wrote to point out that without knowing if a preponderance of the readers here were vegetarians, or misers who did not trust banks, the results would be difficult or impossible to interpret. If no one eats hamburgers or visits banks, then a large number of 'no-no' answers would appear. And, this is in fact what happened when the results were tallied -- more on this later. A better way of handling the survey, aiming for the highest possible number of accurate answers while still allowing a relative anomynity in posting would have been to ask but the first set of questions -- the relevant ones -- with the condition that if the coin toss was heads, answer the questions accurately. If the coin toss was tails, then flip the coin twice more: (1) heads/tails = yes/no on phraud calls; then (2) heads/tails = yes/no on computer cracking. In either event, do not reveal the coin toss -- simply send along your answers. Here are the results from the first time, although flawed. They are presented for your amusement, and I hope you will answer the survey a second time, using the more accurate collection techniques. Total respondents: 636 36 (5.7%) answered yes to both cracking and phreaking in the recent past. 78 (12.3%) answered no to phreaking and yes to cracking. 66 (10.4%) answered yes to phreaking and no to cracking. 456 (71.7%) answered no to both questions. No cracking or phreaking. Percentages slightly over 100% due to rounding. Of course, if we assume half the respondents were talking about their lunch and financial matters, then the figures would decrease, but the percentages would stay the same. Still, as pointed out above, the results are suspect, so let's do it over again: Flip a coin. Heads, answer these questions honestly. 1) Have you made one or more phraud phone calls in the past six months? 2) Have you broken into a computer or gained unlawful access to someone else's account in the past six months? If tails, flip the coin twice more: On the first flip, answer the first question: heads = yes / tails = no. On the second flip, answer the second question: heads = yes / tails = no. Then, mail your results, with the subject header 'survey' to: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu Your answers should take one of these forms: 1) Yes Yes 2) Yes No 3) No Yes 4) No No Avoid the header 'questions' since some late responses to the first survey are using this header. Do not reveal the coin toss(es) and do not make other comments for which a reply is expected. Results to this hopefully more accurate version will appear in a couple weeks. Patrick Townson TELECOM Moderator PS: And remember, Bob Dobbs explained it thus: " I don't practice what I preach because I am not the kind of person I am preaching to!" :) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #424 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa01988; 10 Jun 90 13:10 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa15068; 10 Jun 90 11:44 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa29230; 10 Jun 90 10:39 CDT Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 9:44:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #425 BCC: Message-ID: <9006100944.ab02443@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 10 Jun 90 09:44:30 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 425 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Len Rose Needs Expert Witness [comp.unix.wizards via Norman Yarvin] ASCII-TDD Relay [Ken Harrenstien] Catalogs Available [TELECOM Moderator] Re: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime [Dave Mc Mahan] Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems [Marc T. Kaufman] Re: Two Cellular Phones wit the Same Number [Jeff Wasilko] Re: Cordless Telephone Dies [John Higdon] Re: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution [Ken Harrenstien] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 9 Jun 90 20:01:14 EDT From: yarvin-norman@cs.yale.edu Subject: Len Rose Needs Expert Witness [from comp.unix.wizards] >From: len@lsicom2.UUCP (len rose) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Expert Witness Needed. Summary: Probable courtroom exposure. Keywords: court unix witness Message-ID: <714@lsicom2.UUCP> Date: 9 Jun 90 01:48:22 GMT Reply-To: len@lsicom2.UUCP (Len Rose) Distribution: usa Organization: Netsys,Inc. in Exile. Unix experts are needed in my defense. Please contact either Len Rose 301-371-4492 (until the end of June) or my attorney, Mr. Carlos Recio at 202-785-4428. My trial is scheduled for July 16, so expeditious responses are needed. Expenses paid of course. Len Mitch Kapor and John Barlow deserve a note of approval. Thoughtful Quote: "I am not now, or ever have been a member of (organization here)" [Moderator's Note: Mr. Yarvin suggested this message should be circulated outside the newsgroup named, and I agreed to help. It may be that telecom experts can also be of assistance. At this point, I am not going to comment one way or the other on the case. I feel only that since this forum was used to discuss his case in detail, it should be available to him to aid in his defense. Everyone is entitled to that much courtesy. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 03:17:32 PDT From: Ken Harrenstien Subject: ASCII-TDD Relay >In the meantime, was I'd really like to see is an ASCII-TDD relay on >the net somewhere. Imagine if I could Telnet to CA and then use a >dial-out modem/TDD to place a call to a TDD! We did this in 1978 as part of the Deafnet project (PDP-11, V6.5 Unix, Arpanet host #2, Vadic rack/dialer with custom 103/W modems). It was indeed very useful, but the dialout capability was restricted to project staff (as opposed to normal users) since we had no easy way of connecting the resulting bills with specific individuals, or recovering the costs thereof. The telco would have to provide billing info in some machine-readable form before a third party could operate such a service. Given that, a commercial value-added-net (VAN) like Tymnet/Telenet could certainly install relays if they wanted to. So could the telco itself for that matter, although you'd be paying by connect time rather than amount of data. Considering that the Calif Relay Service still has not succeeded in setting up a billing system for interstate calls, it doesn't look like anyone else will have much luck for the time being. >I tried to convince the Administration at >Brandeis Univ. to install a TDD/modem on their mainframe, so that the >whole campus would have TDD facilites. They even bought the modem. Just curious, do you know what modem they bought? Only a handful of models have ever existed. Ken ------------------------------ Date:Sun, 10 Jun 90 8:37:25 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Catalogs Available Two recent mailings to me describe catalogs you might want to have in your reference files. Write direct to the companies involved for your copies or more information. TIME MOTION TOOLS is a company which makes telecommunication tools and equipment, quality tool kits, test equipment, work stations, production aids, static control products, and maintainence/repair tools. They will send you a copy of their catalog by writing to: Time Motion Tools 410 South Douglas Street El Segundo, CA 90245 ------------------- TROMPETER ELECTRONICS, INC deals with data cable distribution systems. They claim to have the widest selection of connectors, cable distribution panels, patchfields and cable assemblies available anywhere. They offer over forty families of connectors for Coax, Twinax and Triax EMI/RFI applications. Write or call and ask for the new T-17 catalog. When writing, include your business card if possible, and your business telephone number. Trompeter Electronics, Inc. 31186 La Baya Drive Post Office Box 5069 Westlake Village, CA 91359-9972 Phone: 818-707-2020 TWX: 910-494-1210 FAX: 818-706-1040 PT ------------------------------ From: Dave Mc Mahan Subject: Re: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime Date: 9 Jun 90 23:36:52 GMT Organization: Dave McMahan @ NetCom Services In a previous article, sneaky!gordon@uunet.uu.net (Gordon Burditt) writes: >The ad in my mail says "A review of your AT&T Long Distance bill >indicates that you have the potential to save money by changing to the >AT&T SelectSaver Plan". >Now, if I had gotten this plan in December, 1989 (on ONE line, and >made all the calls on that line), and made 1 10-minute evening-rate >call each month in addition to actual use, I would have paid $11.40 in >SelectSaver bills to date to save about $4.56 on calls, for a net loss >of $6.84. And they are strongly implying that they LOOKED at my bills >and decided I could save money. AAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! I too was given the 'opportunity' to save on my long distance calling via an AT&T plan (I believe it was the "Reach Out America" plan). I reviewed my phone bills for the previous six months, and found that based on their plan, I would also come out slightly behind unless I raised the amount of time I spent on long distance minutes/month. I wouldn't have paid much more in absolute dollars, but the percentage increase was about 20%. Plus, it would have induced me to make more LD calls in the future to take advantage of the plan. I feel that it is just a clever marketting ploy on the part of AT&T. I think they arrived at their rate structure by analyzing several hundred thousand billings, selecting those that fall into the range of a couple of hours per month, and then devise a plan where they can drop the effective hourly rate but still make more due to service charges, etc. Plus, they would also have the benefit that the plan would induce subscribers to who otherwise wouldn't have to spend more time on the LD calls to justify the cost of the service. It sounded like a good way to go broke saving money. In the end, I followed Nancy Reagan's advice and just said 'No'. Later in time, I again looked at my bills for the three months following the period I would have started if I had selected the plan. I found that my cost would have been even higher (percentage-wise) because I made less calls than the previous six months which triggered the solicitation. I think I made the right choice. -dave ------------------------------ From: "Marc T. Kaufman" Subject: Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 00:29:27 GMT In article <8801@accuvax.nwu.edu> ritter@jarsun1.zone1.com (chuck ritter) writes: -My company is replacing a fifteen year old six button Comkey system -because it is maxed out on lines. Our primary requirements are -reliability and longevity. We need eight lines and sixteen stations -now and don't anticipate explosive growth. Both the AT&T Spirit and -Northern Telecom Norstar Meridian systems meet our needs on paper. One of my clients has the Meridian system. I don't know if it's local option or mandatory, but there is NO feedback on button presses. Not DTMF, not even a monotone beep, NOTHING. I find it difficult to dial long distance numbers with the system. Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu) ------------------------------ From: Jeff Wasilko Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 02:20:39 EDT Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones wit the Same Number There are a few phones that have the NAM module in the handset, rather than the transceiver. This allows the user to install two transceivers (one in each car) and then carry the handset from car to car. One of the phones is made by an English company, but I can't remember their name right now. I do remember that it has the capability to store up to 10 ESNs. Great for the traveler! | RIT VAX/VMS Systems: | Jeff Wasilko | RIT Ultrix Systems: | |BITNET: jjw7384@ritvax+----------------------+INET:jjw7384@ultb.isc.rit.edu| |INTERNET: jjw7384@isc.rit.edu |___UUCP:jjw7384@ultb.UUCP____| |'claimer: I speak only for myself. Opinions expressed are NOT those of RIT.| ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cordless Telephone Dies Date: 9 Jun 90 23:27:36 PDT (Sat) From: John Higdon Irving Wolfe writes: > Based on my own experience, Panasonic make good phones and answering > machines, good (and attractively priced) small business telephone > systems, and absolutely rotten (full of features but weak and > unreliable) cordless phones. I'm curious: in what way are they weak and unreliable? I have owned five Panasonic cordless phones in the past ten years or so and have found them to be entirely satisfactory. All of them are still in service (though not necessarily by me). The two that I am still in possession of are KX-T3900s. One of them has really been beat to sh*t: dropped, stepped on, inadvertantly thrown across the room (not because I was mad at it but it rang when I was asleep and I woke up violently), dropped in the full sink, and dropped in the toilet. It works as well as the day it was purchased, a little over a year ago. How well does it work? Its audio quality is a shade inferior to an AT&T 5500 that I also own, but has considerably more range. Standing next to the base units the AT&T beats the Panasonic. But get about twenty feet away and the AT&T starts deteriorating and at about 40 feet the Panasonic (whose audio quality seems to remain more constant with increasing distance) surpasses the AT&T in audio quality. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 03:39:00 PDT From: Ken Harrenstien Subject: Re: Discounts For Deaf: My Solution >Yes, but consider something else that goes on on the net -- batched, >high-speed data transfer. I understand that there is frequent need for >interactive "conversation", but a lot of the time someone just needs >to send a message and may or may not even need a reply. Some TDDs do have a "memory" option that allows users to store fairly short messages (2000 chars or so) and send the text in a burst (at 6 or 30 cps, depending). I doubt anyone knows whether this feature is actually used much; I myself don't, but I probably type faster than most people. Instead of saying whether this is a good idea or not, let me just turn the question around. Why don't all you hearies invest a little money in something to store your voice and play it back at high speed? I believe there are commercial devices for high-speed intelligible playback, which some blind people use to maximize their information input. Or even better, add a compression encoder so that whenever you call someone with the corresponding decoder, you can squeeze your entire soliloquy into a three-second burst. Add encryption for free. I believe the arguments for and against such a scheme (cost, convenience, compatibility, etc) are identical to those for and against batched TDD data transfer. Conclusions, if any, left as an exercise. Ken ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #425 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa00875; 11 Jun 90 2:27 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa05559; 11 Jun 90 0:50 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa27779; 10 Jun 90 23:45 CDT Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 22:51:38 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #426 BCC: Message-ID: <9006102251.ab18081@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 10 Jun 90 22:50:45 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 426 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Mystery of Random Phone Calls Solved? [John G. Dobnick] "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90 [Robert Gutierrez] Sverige Direkt [Dan Sahlin] Re: Baud per Hertz [Gary Segal] Re: CLID ... A "New" Thread [Peter da Silva] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Peter da Silva] Re: Two Cellular Phones with the Same Number [Dave Levenson] Re: Two Cellular Phones with the Same Number [John R. Covert] Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker? [Marc Rotenberg] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 20:20:07 -0500 From: John G Dobnick Subject: Mystery of Random Phone Calls Solved? From _The Milwaukee Journal_, Sunday June 10, 1990, page B3 Arrest May End Mystery Phone Calls Madison, Wis. -- AP -- A 23-year-old Madison man has been arrested in a case involving mysterious phone calls that were created by connecting Madison residents with strangers. He is expected to be charged Monday with 27 misdemeanor counts of unlawful telephone use, according to Madison Police Chief David Couper. Wisconsin Bell officials said they believed the man's arrest last week had solved the mystery that had them searching for problems in their computer software. The man is accused of using the conference call capability of a Madison business to connect residents and companies with each other and possibly with people from other parts of the world. The mysterious calls began about two weeks ago. Although some victims said they were connected to both men and women speaking such languages as Hindi, Spanish and Japanese, authorities speculated that the man may have talked to them himself, pretending to be from another state or a different part of the world. A tracer placed on one victim's telephone led authorities to the suspect, who was arrested after calls made to the person's house Tuesday and Wednesday were traced to the Madison company where he works nights and weekends. The suspect, who has a history of similar offenses, reportedly called two numbers at once and listened silently to the conversation that ensued as the two callers realized that neither had initiated the call, said Jeff Potter, Wisconsin Bell's manager of corporate communications. John G Dobnick Computing Services Division @ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee INTERNET: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu UUCP: uunet!uwm!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!jgd ATTnet: (414) 229-5727 ------------------------------ From: Robert Gutierrez Subject: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90. Date: 11 Jun 90 01:58:51 GMT Reply-To: Robert Gutierrez Organization: NASA Science Internet - Network Operations Center Hello, There was an episode of "Columbo" that was aired on 6/10/90 (Saturday) which starred Patrick McGoohan and Arthur Hill. It was about an attorney who killed a friend-turned-nemisis who was asking one too many favors. Why am I discussing TV shows in comp.dcom.telecom/TELECOM Digest? Well, in tracking down clues to the killer (McGoohan), Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo used and analyzed a number of TELECOM related items. First, the victim had faxed a letter to his wife, who was staying at a Hawaiian hotel. In asking the deceased's secretary when the fax was sent, the fax log was printed out to show time/date/pages, etc. Does anyone know which fax machine was used (out of curiosity?). More importantly, would there have been a way to forge a fax log, internally, in the machine. Is the "fact" that it is very hard to do a forgery of that type convincing enough to a judge to have the fax log admissable as evidence in a criminal case. Is there any precident pro or con? (ie: does LEXUS or Westlaw have such a subject in their database?). I don't get alt.fax (or alt.anything here), so this is the only other place I could think of asking. Second. Lt. Columbo was amazed by the amount of buttons on the phone of the victim's desk. As a matter of fact, so was I. I never saw so many buttons on a Merlin set before (or what I _thought_ was a Merlin). Columbo wanted to know if there was a way to see what the last call was made to (can you say: Last Number Redial?). After Columbo was (again) amazed by the latest TELECOM technology, the viewing public got to see that the telephone set was....an AT&T ISDN set! (a model 7352 or 7532 ?). Yes, we know ISDN isn't available to individuals, much less small businesses, but, is this what a typical ISDN set is going to look like (or at least an AT&T vision of an ISDN set)? I mean, it has more buttons than a Northern Telcom SL-1 Operator's Console! I would envision that a 'personal' ISDN set would be less intimidating ... or maybe not? Your views on this? Third (and last), Columbo was able to get the calling records of the victim the very next day (local telco records, it appears). The suspect was amazed on how fast he got those records, and again, so was I. I seem to remember discussion here on how hard it was obtaining telephone records (a court order and 10 levels of management were mentioned), but in the case where the records involved were a victim's (and a dead one's at that), is the telco more readily willing to make those records available to a police agency "in the intrest of justice", or some gobbledy-gook like that??? Thanks. Robert Gutierrez Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA Science Internet Project - Network Operations Center. Moffett Feild, California. "If cartoons were made for adults, they'd be shown during prime time." (The Simpsons [4/29/90]) [Moderator's Note: Actually, the time-stamp on FAX messages is not that hard to spoof. Whoever maintains the FAX machine (the 'key operator', as we are sometimes called) in their office controls the time clock inside the machine. Set it for whatever you like, as well as the sender's ID, which is also programmed very easily. Which makes me wonder, are the FAX ID messages now illegal in PA in the wake of the court's ruling? Maybe some FAX user doesn't want to risk having the recipient know who sent the message. PT] ------------------------------ From: Dan Sahlin Subject: Sverige Direkt Organization: SICS, Swedish Inst. of Computer Science Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 15:13:30 GMT Sweden has recently introduced a service called "Sverige Direkt" (Sweden Direct) which is a list of free telephone number that you can call from a number of countries and you will reach an operator in Sweden. You can the ask for a telephone number in Sweden, and the called party will be charged for the call. I understand that Bell already has a similar service operational. The list of countries and numbers for "Sverige Direkt" are as follows Belgium 11 00 46 Canada 1800 463 8129 Finland 9800 1 0460 Italy 172 0046 Holland 06 022 0046 New Zealand 000 946 Spain 900 99 0046 Great Britain 0800 89 0046 USA 1800 345 0046 It is interesting to see the irregularity of the telephone numbers above, which makes it almost impossible trying to remember them. As I can understand there are two reasons for this irregularity: 1. There is no generally used "800-number". Some similar numbers are used in GB (0800) and Finland (9800). Although you can't see that from the above table, in Sweden we use 020 as our "800-number". We could change that into 0800 as 08 is the area code of Stockholm and no telephone numbers start with a 0, but I haven't heard about any such plans. 2. The telephone numbers for each national "800-number" are allocated locally, so it is not so probable that the same number can be used for the same purpose worldwide. Maybe it is too late now, but a portion of the telephone numbers under "800" could be allocated to a world wide number plan. In the numbers chosen above, I can see attempts in that direction by chosing numbers containing Sweden's country code 46. I wonder if I would reach a Danish operator by dialling 45 instead, or a Norwegian operator by dialling 47 instead. An alternative solution that would make it possible to dial the same number toll free anywhere in the world would be to introduce a pseudo county number for toll free calls. The country code "800" seems to be ideal for this purpose. Finally a strange thing I noticed in the table above: why are there different numbers from Canada and the USA? /Dan Sahlin email: dan@sics.se [Moderator's Note: The different numbers for Canada and the USA may be because the operator in Sweden uses the inbound line to see where the call came from in order to bill it correctly, and it may be there are different rates from Canada to Sweden than from the USA to Sweden. PT] ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Baud per Hertz Date: 10 Jun 90 18:21:20 GMT Organization: Motorola INC., Cellular Infrastructure Division rpw3%rigden.wpd@sgi.com (Rob Warnock) writes: [Very in depth and useful analysis of noise and it's effects on analog signals deleted] >In article <8772@accuvax.nwu.edu> codex!peterd@uunet.uu.net (Peter >Desnoyers) writes: >| However, a baud is not a bit. By the Nyquist theorem, you can only get >| 2f bauds per second. In practice high-speed modems such as V.32 run at >| about 2500-3000 bauds/sec over lines with a 3000Hz bandwidth. >| >Still, in the real world 7 baud on 5 Hz is very good! >| 9600bps over 3000 Hz is a good deal better, and is quite common. >Oops! You fell in the trap, too! Those 9600 b/s modems use 4 >bit/symbol modulation, and so actually run at 2400 baud. And 2400 baud >on 2700 Hz (3000 - 300) is not as good as 7 baud on 5 Hz. True, V.32 modems can run at 4 bits/baud (16 symbols), but most are usually run at 5 bits/buad (32 symbols) with trellis coding. Trellis coding provides a type of forward error correction (one extra bit for every four data bits) at a very low level of data transfer. (Is this OSI layer 0.5??? :-). In general, trellis coding gives the modem a performace gain of about one to two db over the uncoded signal. Note that both run at 2400 baud, so that trellis coding sends 12,000 bps, of which 20% is error correction. Gary Segal ...!uunet!motcid!segal +1-708-632-2354 Motorola INC., 1501 W. Shure Drive, Arlington Heights IL, 60004 The opinions expressed above are those of the author, and do not consititue the opinions of Motorola INC. ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: CLID ... A "New" Thread Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 16:38:51 GMT In article <8817@accuvax.nwu.edu> m21198@mwvm.mitre.org (John McHarry) writes: > CLID is not available on inter-LATA calls. Thus, I can't use it to > differentiate my mother calling me from the, more usual, boiler room > call. Thus, it is not worth much to me, nor, I suspect, to a fair > number of potential customers. I don't understand this point at all. I don't care about boiler-room calls. I can hang up on them, and they're not repeated. It's just not a big deal. The worst they can do is make my answering-machine run out of tape. The real problem is repeated nuisance calls and casual harrassment. And for that I need Caller-ID. I've never had to deal with a big enough problem to get SWBell interested... besides, who wants to sic the phone cops on a kid? Not me. `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf. ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 16:44:50 GMT In article <8826@accuvax.nwu.edu> motcid!king@uunet.uu.net (Steven King) writes: > A purely digital system has three times the number of > channels that an analog system does. THAT'S why we "suddenly can't do > without digital". The airwaves are getting full! I thought one idea behind cellular was to push the cells closer together when that happened. Put in more, smaller cells. And do the digital phones have the same bandwidth as the analog ones? Do they still give you a full-time 3 KHz channel, suitable for modeming? `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf. ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones with the Same Number Date: 10 Jun 90 13:39:23 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <8798@accuvax.nwu.edu>, dgc@math.ucla.edu (David G. Cantor) writes: > A friend of mine wants to have two cellular telephones in two > different cars with the same telephone number. Of course, he will use > only one at a time. The telco won't set this up for him. How does he > do it? It would be less expensive to use a portable cellular telephone set, and carry it between the two vehicles. Most portables have fixed-mounting arrangements to make them mobile. But an extra one, and an extra antenna, so the portable may be fixed-mounted in either vehicle without time-consuming tool-intensive mechanical work. It carries its telephone number with it. Dave Levenson Voice: 201 647 0900 Fax: 201 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 12:28:59 PDT From: "John R. Covert 10-Jun-1990 1527" Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones with the Same Number >I do remember that it has the capability to store up to 10 ESNs. >Great for the traveler! I'm sure you mean up to ten MINs (Mobile Identification Numbers, a.k.a. telephone numbers). There's no reason for more than one ESN in a single device; all multi-NAM (Number Assignment Module) phones I've seen use the same ESN for all NAMs. /john ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jun 90 12:00:07 -0700 From: mrotenberg@cdp.uucp Subject: Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker? Pat, It's interesting how important anonymity is for your survey on hacking and phreaking. Bob Dobbs aside, doesn't this example have some bearing on the Caller ID debate? Marc Rotenberg CPSR Washington Office [Moderator's Note: Mr. Rotenberg is the Director of the Washington, DC office of Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility. His address to USITA on September 13, 1989 entitled "Telephone Privacy in the 1990's" was the subject of a special issue of TELECOM Digest on December 3, 1989 by the same name. His message is available in the Telecom Archives for interested persons. I disagreed with his conclusions at that time, and still, I suspect, disagree, unless he has changed his mind about Caller*ID. While some people feel the privacy of the caller is supreme, others of us believe the privacy of the called-party is more important. No one forced the caller to ring our phone, after all. And as for doctors, lawyers and social-workers who will no longer be able to call from home at their pleasure, while hiding behind a third-number answering service when you call them: isn't that a pity! :) To address Mr. Rotenberg's question above, yes, there certainly is a relationship between the two. How many crackers or phreaks do you think would answer honestly if there were not a way to avoid answering? And likewise, how many phreaks do you think would continue to engage in phreaking if Caller*ID was universal? PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #426 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa01859; 12 Jun 90 3:46 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa27629; 12 Jun 90 2:14 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa09870; 12 Jun 90 1:08 CDT Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 0:16:04 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #427 BCC: Message-ID: <9006120016.ab19715@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 12 Jun 90 00:15:57 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 427 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Screwy PUC Policies [Subodh Bapat] Re: GTD-5 and CLASS [Marc O'Krent] Re: 1A/1E Call Forwarding and Multi-pathing [Jim Gottlieb] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Gary Segal] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Bruce Perens] Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number [Jim Rees] Re: Telenet USSR [Andy Rabagliati] Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call [Tom Gray] Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker? [John Higdon] Re: Mystery of Random Phone Calls Solved? [Peter da Silva] Re: Telephonic Regression [David Ptasnik] Re: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90 [Edward Greenberg] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bapat Subject: Re: Screwy PUC Policies Date: 11 Jun 90 14:01:45 GMT Organization: the boundary between UNIX and sanity In article <8641@accuvax.nwu.edu>, john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > So while the rest of the country has ISDN, CLASS, and you-name-it, we > Californians get to pretend that we are in Bulgaria. Excuse me, that's > an unfair comparison. The Bulgarians realize it's bad and are trying > to do something about it. While visiting my aunt in Alameda, CA, in the metro Bay area (415-865 exchange) I was surprised to find that I couldn't retrieve messages from my answering machine at home. The reason? My aunt's phone couldn't send out tones, as Alameda has no touch-tone service! It was shocking to know that there still are parts of major metropolitan areas which don't have tone yet. Suppose it were possible for Pac Bell to upgrade technology and pay for it solely on the basis of new, enhanced services offered, i.e. without affecting the basic subscription rate for the majority of its subscribers - why would that be a problem with the PUC? On a slightly different tack, most companies use a period of three to five years to depreciate new computer equipment down to zero. Does anyone know how long the telcos take to depreciate, say, a 4ESS? Subodh Bapat bapat@rm1.uu.net OR ...uunet!rm1!bapat MS E-204, P.O.Box 407044, Racal-Milgo, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33340 (305) 846-6068 ------------------------------ From: Marc O'Krent Subject: Re: GTD-5 and CLASS Date: 11 Jun 90 03:44:05 GMT Reply-To: Marc O'Krent Organization: Cochran&Associates, Menlo Park, CA It seems to me that I read sometime ago that GTE has *abandoned* the GTD5's further development and/or something like decided to go with the #5's from AT&T. Some part of this is not coming back correctly, but perhaps you could clarify. There's no filing for CLASS by GTE of CA as far as I know. Marc O'Krent The Telephone Connection Internet: marc@ttc.info.com MCIMail: mokrent Voice Mail: +1 213 551 9620 ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Re: 1A/1E Call Forwarding and Multi-pathing Date: 9 Jun 90 11:16:38 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan In article <8682@accuvax.nwu.edu> Ken Abrams writes: >In article <8529@accuvax.nwu.edu> Marc O'Krent >writes: >>for some unknown reason, PB has decided that if >>you want Centrex you *must* change your phone number. >Although I personally don't agree with a lot of things that PacBell >comes up with, I think their basic decision in this matter was >correct. I disagree. We're not talking about some huge corporation that wants thousands of lines of Centrex. This even applies to a small business with two or three lines that wants them converted to Centrex (i.e. so that they can transfer calls to an off-site voice mail box). I know it can be done. I converted my two voice lines to Centrex for this very reason, and GTE had no problem with letting me keep my same two numbers. In fact, if a number change had been required I would not have signed up for the service. And though I am not in the habit of complimenting GTE, I must say that their Centrex is a pretty good deal. For $6 per month per line I get most every feature one could want, including a DISA number. Other packages are cheaper. By the way, this is on a 1AESS. I wouldn't trust a GTD-5 with my calls. ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Date: 11 Jun 90 16:19:59 GMT Organization: Motorola INC., Cellular Infrastructure Division peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >I thought one idea behind cellular was to push the cells closer together >when that happened. Put in more, smaller cells. There is a limit to how small a cell can be. Once that limit is reached, the only way to increase capacity is to add more channels. When you run out of channels, you have maxed out the system. Digital cellular will allow many more channels in a given cell. >And do the digital phones have the same bandwidth as the analog ones? >Do they still give you a full-time 3 KHz channel, suitable for >modeming? If you mean "can I put a modem on the phone?", the answer is "no". If you mean "can I still access analog data services?", the answer is "yes", if the digital cellular system is properly designed. A properly designed digital cellular system is best described as a radio ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Netork), that has one B (bearer) channel that is capable of transmitting data or compressed voice. Typical data rates on the B channel are anywhere from 6kbps to 24kbps, depending on the system. To send voice down this pipe, it must be compressed. Because of the compression, it is impossible to send most modem modulations down the B channel (300 buad Frequancy Shift Keying [FSK] might work, but not 2400bps V.22bis or 9600bps V.32). In order to allow subsribers to access modem based data services, these systems make provisions for a modem pool (again, much like an ISDN) at the connection point to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). With a modem pool, the connection from the modem to the mobile terminal is digital. Data rates can be up to the maximum B channel rate of the system. In addition, the system can supply an error correcting or error controlling protocol to run between the modem pool and the mobile terminals, giving the subscribe a much cleaner link then could ever be established in an analog cellular enviroment. In addition, connection to an ISDN is straight forward. Digital Cellular will be a great improvent over analog cellular for both the subscribers and the providers. For providers, more subsribers can be supported. For subscribers, ISDN like data services will be available from a mobile phone. As an example of digital cellular done well, I suggest you watch what is happening in Europe, with the Pan-Euorpean Digital Cellular standard (also called GSM). Gary Segal ...!uunet!motcid!segal +1-708-632-2354 Motorola INC., 1501 W. Shure Drive, Arlington Heights IL, 60004 The opinions expressed above are those of the author, and do not consititue the opinions of Motorola INC. ------------------------------ From: Bruce Perens Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Date: 11 Jun 90 17:05:16 GMT Organization: Pixar -- Marin County, California From what I've seen of the digital cellular format, it seems to be a way of ripping off the customer to reduce the carrier's overhead. The real fix for high-traffic zones is to add more cells, not increase the capacity of the existing ones at the expense of fidelity and reliability. If there is to be a digital format, it should be able to handle DATA. Using TDM between three moving transmitters on the same channel will probably work poorly even for voice. Would anyone like to help me petition the FCC on this one? Bruce Perens {ucbvax,sun}!pixar!bp ------------------------------ From: rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Organization: University of Michigan IFS Project Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 14:17:10 GMT In article <8827@accuvax.nwu.edu>, "John R. Covert 09-Jun-1990 1015" writes: > >A friend of mine wants to have two cellular telephones in two > >different cars with the same telephone number. Of course, he will use > >only one at a time. The telco won't set this up for him. > The only option is to have a portable which is carried from car to > car. What I envision is a smart-card that contains your ESN, phone number, and billing info. When you slide it in to any cell phone, that phone becomes your phone. It answers calls to your number and lets you make outgoing calls which then get billed to you. The same card could also be used at a payphone. You could have it demand a PIN for each use if you were security conscious. On a related subject, I hope that when European unity comes we can dispense with all those different phone cards and have one card that works anywhere on the continent. Unfortunately this doesn't seem very likely, since the cards all seem to be physically different from each other, at least the ones I've examined. Can anyone tell me how the British card works? On the French card you can see the electrical contacts, but the British one doesn't seem to have any. Is it done electromagnetically? Or with mirrors? ------------------------------ From: Andy Rabagliati Subject: Re: Telenet USSR Organization: INMOS Corporation, Colorado Springs Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 02:17:28 GMT According to the Colorado Springs, CO {Gazette Telegraph}, the military (I presume COCOM) has prevented US West from going through with their proposed Fibre-optic line across the USSR. [Moderator's Note: Can you provide any more details on this? PT] ------------------------------ From: Tom Gray Subject: Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call Date: 11 Jun 90 19:50:40 GMT Reply-To: Tom Gray Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada. In article <8733@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 418, Message 6 of 10 >>In a perfect world I could dial "+44 81 676 XXXX" to reach my number >>in London from *anywhere* in the world, including the UK (where + >>means 010). Similarly it would be nice to be able to dial 011 1 415 >>XXX XXXX to reach San Francisco from anywhere in the US. >>I was originally going to post this with lots of ":-)", but seriously >>though folks, why should it be difficult with modern switches? The main problem with this proposal would be the size of the data base required inside of each switch. Think of the routing problems which would occur when any digit sequence could be used to identify a trunk route. Each switch would be required to maintain the telephone number of all of the subscribers in the world. Even small CDO's would require gigabytes of disk storage. In the SS7 network, translations of 800 numbers is done at a central point called the SCP. This could provide a unique service which could provide a lucrativve source of income for service providers. Instead of vanity licence plates, subscribers could buy vanity telephone numbers. Think of it, vanity numbers could be preceded by a distinguishing code. BE the first one to get a naughty word past the telco censors. ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker? Date: 11 Jun 90 03:21:45 PDT (Mon) From: John Higdon On Jun 10 at 22:51, TELECOM Moderator writes: > While some people feel the > privacy of the caller is supreme, others of us believe the privacy of > the called-party is more important. No one forced the caller to ring > our phone, after all. And now a little personal situation begs the question for those who have maintained that Caller-ID is unnecessary because other methods are available to catch nuisance callers. I have, for a about a week now, received a call on my main private line at about 3:00 am daily. I answer with a groggy "hello", then the caller hangs up. It happens once per evening (morning). Pac*Bell's suggestion is to change my private number, a course of action I find unacceptable. Since it happens only once per day, they don't feel compelled to exert any effort on the matter (terminating traps, or any of the other medieval methods to catch crank callers) so the onus is on me. They have even offered to change my number for free. Now that's really nice of them, since in real terms it's a lot easier for them to type a new number assignment into RCMAC than it is to trap the line (and then have to deal with the results, if any.) With Caller-ID, however, this entire situation would have been settled on the first day. In the meantime, until I'm ready to change my number I guess I'll just plan on waking up at 3am daily. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Mystery of Random Phone Calls Solved? Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 11:22:31 GMT In article <8840@accuvax.nwu.edu> jgd@garden-brau.csd.uwm.edu (John G. Dobnick) writes: > The man is accused of using the conference call capability of a > Madison business to connect residents and companies with each other > and possibly with people from other parts of the world. ... Another case that would never have come up if Caller-ID had been implemented. I've been victimized like this myself after I caused trouble for some bozo who was charging calls to my phone number. I suspect that he was using three-way calling in my case. `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf. ------------------------------ From: David Ptasnik Subject: Re: Telephonic Regression Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 10:52:07 PDT In article 6647 of comp.dcom.telecom, john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >According to some of the stories (including a mention in this forum), >a number of the utility pay phones have been replaced with old rotary >dial models (so that pagers can't be activated) and some merged subset >of these phones have also been disabled from receiving calls. >is to be denied to a certain subclass of people. Disabling the TT pad >after the call is dialed (or installing rotary phones) eliminates the >use of many services, not just pagers. What we are in effect saying to This would only slow the dealers down momentarily. There are little hand held touch tone generators readily avialable at Radio Shack and better stores. You just hold the device up to the mouthpiece of the rotary payphone, and can merrily beep away. Most of these units have speed dial capabilities, so dialing might become even easier. They start in price at less than $25.00. Although drug dealers aren't terribly bright as a group, I imagine that word of mouth would spread this technology as quickly as the use of pagers spread. As usual this kind of move would not hurt the criminal as much as the average citizen. davep@cac.washington.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 11:03 PDT From: Edward_Greenberg@cso.3mail.3com.com Subject: Re: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90 In-Reply-To: Message from {telecom@eecs.nwu.edu}:ugate:3Com of 6-10-90 >Which makes me wonder, are the FAX ID messages now illegal in PA in >the wake of the court's ruling? Maybe some FAX user doesn't want to >risk having the recipient know who sent the message. PT] I don't think so, since it's the sender who provides the number, not the telco. If you don't want your number sent, just don't program it. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #427 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02176; 12 Jun 90 3:54 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab27629; 12 Jun 90 2:17 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab09870; 12 Jun 90 1:08 CDT Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 1:07:39 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #428 BCC: Message-ID: <9006120107.ab28183@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 12 Jun 90 01:07:23 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 428 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Latest Centrex Ad [John Higdon] T1 Over 48F Unshielded Twisted Pair [Jeff Spyker] Ameritech New "Free" Air Time [Steve Wolfson] Canada Direct [Ken Dykes] New Harris Privacy Survey / Caller ID [Marc Rotenberg] Telecom Masters Degree? [Ken Jongsma] Hashing For Phone Numbers [Rashmi Mukherjee] A Tour of the Primary Access Corporation [Jody Kravitz] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Jim Dunn] Re: Small Telephone Switches [David Ptasnik] Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems [David Ptasnik] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Latest Centrex Ad Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: 11 Jun 90 02:59:36 PDT (Mon) From: John Higdon Bearing in mind that Pac*Bell offers no ISDN-type features with its Centrex offerings, the latest TV ad is really a hoot: The announcer intones, "Nothing hurts more than spending a lot of money on a phone system, only to have it worth nothing after two years. You grew and it couldn't. So now do what you should have done in the first place..." Meanwhile the video is showing people in an office ripping out old 2564 sets (six button, TT 1A2 key) and literally throwing them in the wastebaskets. Then you see them unpacking nice, shiny (but non-descript) electronic, skinny-wire key sets and plugging them into wall mount RJ11C jacks. In case the irony escapes you here, let me explain. Reality would be exactly the reverse. If they (in the video) had bought a phone system that they had outgrown, then they would be ripping out the electronic sets and installing something simple and plain (like 1A2 key sets). You don't suppose that they are trying to imply with the visual that you can get real advanced Centrex features (such as those found everywhere else in the country) here in California? Would Pac*Bell mislead the public? Is the Pope Catholic? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 11 Jun 1990 12:12:06 EST From: Jeff Spyker Subject: T1 Over 48F Unshielded Twisted Pair Organization: Old Dominion University Computer Services We are in the early stages of exploring the viability of running T1 speed data over 48F multi twisted pair. This cable is non-loaded metallic pairs running approximately 3500 feet. Actually there are two segments, the first being about 1000 feet, the second 2500 feet long. Is there anyone out there that has succesfully accomplished this and/or has comments on the feasibility of this project? | Jeffrey Spyker | Bitnet: jws100t@oduvm.bitnet | | Senior Systems Engineer | Internet: jws100t@oduvm.cc.odu.edu | | Technical Support Group | US Mail: Hughes Hall - Room 128 | | Old Dominion University | 4900 Hampton Blvd. | | Phone: (804) 683-3189 | Norfolk, VA 23529-0227 | ------------------------------ From: Steve Wolfson Subject: Ameritech New "Free" Air Time Date: 11 Jun 90 15:18:24 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL I just got a notice from Ameritech. They are now giving me 40 "Free" minutes of airtime on my VIP Plan. The VIP Plan is $29.95/month + 34 cents/min prime and 20 cents/min non-prime. The new Security Plan is 14.95/month + 38 cents/min prime and 18 cents/min non-prime. Well if you compare the two plans, and use the value of 38/cents per minute, 40 minutes of air time is costs $15.20, add that to the base rate and you get $30.15, so in reality a savings for the first 40 minute of 20 cents. Even a moderate amount of non-prime usage brings the cost of the security plan below that of the VIP plan. Of course if you go beyond that you get 4 cents per minute savings with the VIP plan during prime time but lose 2 cents per minute in non-prime time. So unless your a real heavy duty user of Prime-Time (in which case some of the other bulk minute plans are probably better, go with the security plan (you know the one that used to be no monthly charge). If you are 80% or greater non-prime time you start saving money with the security plan. If your usage pattern varies the following table will give you savings based on 100 minutes of air time. Prime/Non-Prime Minutes 100/0 80/20 50/50 20/80 0/100 Security 38.00 34.00 28.00 22.00 18.00 VIP 34.00 31.20 27.00 22.80 20.00 ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Cheaper Plan VIP VIP VIP Sec Sec Savings 4.00 2.80 1.00 0.80 $2.00 Steve Wolfson Motorola Cellular uunet!motcid!wolfson [Moderator's Note: I'm glad you were able to figure out the truth in that brochure. I got a copy also, and read it several times without being able to decide what the gimmick was. Did you notice they are also giving about two hours 'free air time' if you take the package which otherwise costs almost a thousand dollars per month? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 17:05:29 EDT From: Ken Dykes Subject: Canada Direct Well, I keep hearing about USA Direct and wondered why I hadn't heard of a similar Canadian service ... Well I just heard of it - not through my phone company but through my Royal Bank Visa newsletter! (If Can-Direct has been mentioned in this Digest, I missed it :-) ---------- Canada Direct, the service that puts overseas calls in direct contact with Canadian telephone operators, is now available from 20 different countries. ...To call home from Tokyo, you just dial the Canada Direct number in Japan and you're connected with an operator in Vancouver... ...If you were in Milan, you'd call the Italian number and reach an operator in Montreal. ...you need are the appropriate numbers for the countries you're visiting -- and Teleglobe Canada will be happy to send you a wallet card listing all 20 countries if you call them at 1-800-561-8868. I presume the 1-800 number is Canada only. I just called them, they asked me how many cards I would like, and "how did I get their 800 number". Ken Dykes, Software Development Group, UofWaterloo, Canada [43.47N 80.52W] kgdykes@watmath.waterloo.edu [129.97.128.1] watmath!kgdykes postmaster@watbun.waterloo.edu B8 s+ f+ w t e m r ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 17:16:22 -0700 From: mrotenberg@cdp.uucp Subject: New Harris Privacy Survey / Caller ID A survey conducted by Louis Harris & Associates and released today reveals high levels of consumer concern about privacy protection. "The Equifax Report on Consumers in the Information Age" surveyed 2,254 consumers and 916 business executives by telephone during January through April, 1990. Among other findings, the poll revealed widespread public concern about unrestricted Caller ID. Though a 55-43% majority believed that telephone companies should be allowed to sell Caller ID, support for public regulation is clear: 48% say caller ID should be permitted by regulators only if calling parties have the ability to block the display of their number, just over a quarter (27%) say Caller ID should be forbidden by law, and just under a quarter (23%) say Caller ID should be available without any limitation. The poll also found that women "are considerably less likely than men to think Caller ID should be allowed." More information on the Harris survey is available from the Equifax Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia and the CPSR Washington Office. Marc Rotenberg CPSR Washington Office rotenberg@csli.stanford.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Telecom Masters Degree? Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 12:44:30 EDT From: Ken Jongsma Do you know of a school that offers a Masters Degree in Voice/Data Communications? I'm interested in exploring this and would appreciate any leads you could provide. Someone suggested that Communications Week ran a list recently, I'll run that down with the publisher. Rather than clutter up the digest with individual replies, send them to me and I'll summarize in a few weeks. Thanks! Ken Jongsma ken%wybbs@sharkey.umich.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 10:49:18 PDT From: Rashmi Mukherjee Subject: Hashing For Phone Numbers Do you know of a hashing algorithm that has been optimized for phone numbers? Any pointers will be appreciated. Please email your replies to me. If there is enough interest, I will summarize the responses and post them. Thanks for your time, Rashmi Mukherjee ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 18:35:16 PDT From: Jody Kravitz Subject: A Tour of the Primary Access Corporation This afternoon I had the pleasure of having the cook's tour of a local firm called "Primary Access". A friend of mine works there, but was unable to give me the big picture of what they are doing over the phone. The cook's tour fixed that. I was impressed enough by what they are doing that I invited the the V.P. of Engineering (Jim Dunn) to have a guest account on my system in the hopes that he will participate in the TELECOM Digest. Imagine a computer service provider with racks full of hundreds of modems. All those pairs coming in from the CO are a maintenance nightmare. The computer service provider could bring in the lines as T1, set up a T1-to-analog channel bank and hook his modems up to the channel bank. Less noise, less wires. But modems process the signal by PCM encoding the audio and applying a digital signal processor (DSP) to the digitized audio. We just took the PCM signal from the CO (from the T1 line) and turned it into audio in the T1 channel bank..... Primary Access makes T1 channel banks which have "DSP cards" instead of standard audio "line cards". When downloaded with the correct software, the DSP cards become modems. The PCM data from the T1 line is sent directly to the DSP without ever turning it back into audio. Not only do they get superior noise immunity, but they can also do things like ANI capture on the incoming calls. Their product line will include V.22bis and V.32 support, X-25 PAD, and a whole bunch of other things; I've not read far enough into their literature yet. There are menu driven configuration and logging functions available via an IBM PC or Clone. These functions can be performed remotely. The system claims to be cost effective at 7 or more ports, with a payback period of between three and eighteen months. Jody Internet: foxtail!kravitz@ucsd.edu uucp: ucsd!foxtail!kravitz [Moderator's Note: Thanks for the introduction. In fact, Mr. Dunn sent an article which is included in this issue. PT] ------------------------------ From: Primary Access Corp Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 12 Jun 90 01:09:42 GMT Organization: The Foxtail Group, San Diego, CA DID trunks are, in fact, for inward calls only, although that's strictly a marketing decision on the part of the telephone company. There is no "real" technical reason why DID trunks (which in fact are four wire E&M wink start trunks or two wire loop/reverse battery trunks) can't be used for two way traffic. The phone company uses them for two way internal applications all the time. (Actually, they uses trunks of this type, not strictly DID trunks). Jim Dunn [Moderator's Note: Welcome to the Digest. Perhaps you might tell us a bit more about your organization. PT] ------------------------------ From: David Ptasnik Subject: Re: Small Telephone Switches Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 10:09:47 PDT In article 6632 of comp.dcom.telecom, hardarso@weiss.cs.unc. edu (Kari Hardarson) writes: >Has anyone seen a telephone switch which has the following features: >Cheap... < 5000$ (Why not? That should be possible...) >Hands-off-operation: speakers built into the handsets >Do-not-disturb: The Kanda switch required removing a link from the board.. >Not too many wires in the connections to the phones. Also: standard >type sockets: ours has three twisted pairs, star configuration. >Call-Forwarding, to an employee's home if neccessary >Makes the bell ring, first at the secretary's, then in preprogrammed >locations one after another: Ours rings everywhere unless DND is on, and >if it is the call cannot be forwarded there once someone else has answered. >Conference calls. Ours can make 2 to 1, 1 to 2. Almost any good phone system can do the above, Northern Telecom, Toshiba, Inter-Tel (Premier), and Iwatsu (Omega) can all handle these needs. The AT&T Merlin doesn't do the call forwarding, and would really require re-wiring. >Expandable for voice-mail There are several ways to access voice mail. The best way requires that you be able to have single line telephones on the system. This generally takes extra cards, a ring generator and a touch tone reciever. Check with your dealer about cost at time of purchase, and after the system has been installed. These prices are usually different. They charge you more later, because they can. >Allows RS-232 connections and/or Ethernet connections to be integrated, >so that cables don't have to be run separately. I don't really know what >I'm asking for here.. ;-> It is possible to integrate voice and data on the same cables. Genreally it is consuidered too expensive and/or slow to do through a telephone system. If you are really interested in this you probably need to look at a PBX rather than Key System. This will almost certainly exceed your price limit. One possible exception is the Tadiran family of products. It starts with a small digital key system, and using the same boards and phones can be expanded to a multi-thousand station ISDN compatible PBX. >Programmable from terminals, i.e. soft-configurable. >I want to be able to say, for example: CALL JOHN. This would run a >batch job that told the switch to make a call, and ring my phone when >the connection is made. If I move, I don't want to open the switch >and mess around with circuit boards. >Expandable to ISDN when the time comes? How does X.25 fit into this >picture? Once again the Tadiran switches do these things. They are particularly terminal/network friendly. For example, if your receptionist takes a message, she can activate a light on your phone, or place the full text directly into an internal E-mail. Her PC Console also tells her when people are in or out, and lets them leave special messages for specific incoming callers. They also database phone numbers for outgoing calls and autodialing. The whole thing is done on two pair wiring. >PS: I am working in Iceland, our phone system confirms to CCITT >standards, so BELL systems may not work there, I wouldn't know. Tadiran is an Israeli company, with an significant Euorpean market, so should conform to all standards. ------------------------------ From: David Ptasnik Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 10:27:21 PDT Subject: Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems In article 6633 of comp.dcom.telecom, ritter@jarsun1.zone1. com (chuck ritter) writes: >My company is replacing a fifteen year old six button Comkey system >Our primary requirements are reliability and longevity. Both the AT&T >Spirit and Northern Telecom Norstar Meridian systems meet our needs on >paper. they are comparably priced - the Merlin II while digital is >substantially more money and has more expansion capacity The Spirit is not the equal of the Meridian. It is much more cheaply built. Most users I have seen with it are dissatisfied with the quality. The Meridian is on the same toughness level as the Merlin, but appears to be substantially more feature rich than the Merlin. The Merlin lacks such basics as station based call forwarding busy and don't answer. I will admit, though, that I have never been much of a fan of AT&T from a price/value point of view. I think that there are many better deals and systems out there. You might also consider an Inter-Tel system (also marketed as the Premier, same mfg. but sold thru supply houses). This would be more equivalent to the spirit, and would probably cost less. davep@cac.washington.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #428 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa27483; 13 Jun 90 3:15 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa18888; 13 Jun 90 1:25 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa16861; 13 Jun 90 0:22 CDT Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 0:21:36 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #429 BCC: Message-ID: <9006130021.ab15229@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 13 Jun 90 00:20:22 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 429 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson International Directory Assistance [John R. Covert] Uniform International Dialing [Bob Goudreau] Sverige Direkt and Canada Direct [Mark Anderson] Public Access to the Net? [Joel Yossi] V & H Coordinates to Latitude and Longtitude [Art Hsu] Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 [Curt Squires] Tollfree Number Serves Continental US and Two Provinces [Carl Moore] US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa [Ole J. Jacobsen] Is Anyone On The Net a Member of EPSYS? [synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net] New York/Bell Atlantic/AT&T Service Guide [synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 12:30:35 PDT From: "John R. Covert 12-Jun-1990 1528" Subject: International Directory Assistance This Digest has discussed international directory assistance in the past, including the fact that CCITT recommendations provide that the service should be provided by calling an operator in the country of origin who will provide the connection; the CCITT recommendations also specify that the numbers in the distant country should be blocked, so that subscribers can't call them directly, and they usually are. We also discussed the fact that AT&T provides an operator who answers 809-555-1212 (when called from the U.S.) and extends the call to the correct operator in the destination country, but that the Canadian International Carrier does not provide such a service; Canadians have always had to dial their "0" operator and ask for D.A. in the 809 locations. Well, I've recently visited Bermuda. From phones in Bermuda, it is possible to dial NPA-555-1212 for U.S. points, but to get Canadian Directory Assistance, you have to call the "0" operator and ask to be connected. /john ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 10:11:59 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Uniform International Dialing Reply-To: goudreau@larrybud.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article <8869@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mitel!spock!grayt@uunet.uu.net (Tom Gray) writes: > >>In a perfect world I could dial "+44 81 676 XXXX" to reach my number > >>in London from *anywhere* in the world, including the UK (where + > >>means 010). Similarly it would be nice to be able to dial 011 1 415 > >>XXX XXXX to reach San Francisco from anywhere in the US. > >>I was originally going to post this with lots of ":-)", but seriously > >>though folks, why should it be difficult with modern switches? > The main problem with this proposal would be the size of the data base > required inside of each switch. Think of the routing problems which > would occur when any digit sequence could be used to identify a trunk > route. Each switch would be required to maintain the telephone number > of all of the subscribers in the world. Even small CDO's would require > gigabytes of disk storage. Say what? No one was proposing that arbitrary numbers be allowed for persons in any part of the world. All he was saying is that switches that are smart enough to route direct-dialed international calls should also be smart enough to recognize an "international" call to inside their own country code, and handle this special case appropriately. In the UK, the telco would just translate a "010-44" prefix to a "0" prefix; in the US, "011-1" would become simply "1". However, I think this capability would be of little utility unless the international access code were truly standardized world-wide; otherwise, you still run into the same old problem of having to dial a number differently depending on your current geographical location. Another poster has already mentioned that "00" will eventually be mandated in all of the EC (including, presumably, Britain). Someone else suggested several months ago that there was no technical reason that the NANP couldn't also use "00" (with a timeout to distinguish a call to the long-distance operator from an international call, similar to the current setup for "0", which can either be a call to the local operator or a prefix to an operator-assisted long-distance call). Of course, another alternative is to add a "+" key and tone to everyone's phone world-wide :-). Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau USA ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jun 90 21:25 -0700 From: Mark Anderson Subject: Sverige Direkt and Canada Direct X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 426, Message 3 of 9 >[Moderator's Note: The different numbers for Canada and the USA may be >because the operator in Sweden uses the inbound line to see where the >call came from in order to bill it correctly, and it may be there are >different rates from Canada to Sweden than from the USA to Sweden. PT] I used the Canada Direct service to call home last month when I was in Europe. When I called collect, the Canadian operator asked me where (which country) I was calling from. Is this always the case for international collect calls (i.e. to tell the called party where the call is coming from before charges are accepted)? It seems to indicate that the operator cannot tell where the call originates. ------------------------------ From: "Yossi (Joel" Subject: Public Access to the Net? Date: 12 Jun 90 14:10:38 GMT Reply-To: "Yossi (Joel" Organization: Technion, Israel Inst. Tech., Haifa Israel Hello! I'll be in New York for a while, not at a university, and would like to find a site that offers e-mail and net.news. FTP or UUCP would be great, too. I'm willing to pay a reasonable fee. Is there anything that's a local call from (914) 967-xxxx? If not, how about something in (212)xxx-xxxx. Please send replies to hoffman@nyuacf.BITNET, with the subject "for Joel." Thanks! Joel ------------------------------ From: Art Hsu Subject: V & H Coordinates to Latitude and Longtitude Date: 12 Jun 90 14:56:36 GMT Reply-To: Art Hsu Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA Does anyone know of a formula to convert V & H coordinates to latitude and longtitude, and vice-versa? V & H (vertical and horizontal) coordinates are used by carriers in the continental US and Canada to compute the distance (airline mileage) between offices. Art Hsu (ah02@gte.com) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 18:31:40 CDT From: Curt Squires Subject: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 I'm looking for a replacement battery for an AT&T model 4400 cordless phone. The battery is 3.6v 270 mA (3 cells arranged in pyramid fashion). I'd like to find a mfg&model number and/or a place I could order it by phone. (I haven't actually seen the phone, so I might not have all the details.) Thank you.. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 90 17:16:57 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Tollfree Number Serves Continental US and Two Provinces I have seen a tollfree number listed as working from continental U.S. AND from the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. (The specific number: 800-225-TRIP, for Kentucky travel info.) ------------------------------ Date: Tue 12 Jun 90 07:25:23-PDT From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" Subject: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa I have just returned from the UK with a few toys in my bag: You can now buy UK-style modular plugs in electronics shops (including Tandy [Radio Shack]) in the UK. These can be attached quite easily to a US linecord if you follow the instructions below. This will allow you to attach a US phone to the UK network. While this is not legal of course, I have verified that it works. Using a BT extension socket, I have also made a UK test jack with a US "tail" so that UK phones with the modular jacks can be plugged into US systems. This too is probably not legal, but if you own your own PBX. Note that the UK modular plugs cannot be had from British Telecom shops, since this would allow you to plug non-approved apparatus into their system, but run down the road to a Tandy or somesuch, and you're all set. Extension cords and do-it-yourself jacks *are* available from BT. The way you are supposed to install extra jacks is rather amusing. The "master socket" is considered holy, so you plug a converter (splitter) into it (rather than punching down your own cable) and run cable to the extension socket(s), unless you have a "new style linebox" in which case you *can* attach the wires directly. BT sells 9 different "kits" (including one which contains "50 cable cleats," we call those "clamps" over here I think...) To attach a UK modular jack to a US cord: 1. Remove about 1/2 inch of the outer insulation to expose the 4 wires: black, red, green, yellow 2. Cut the black an yellow wires away. 3. Spread the red and green into a V-shape and insert carefully into the UK plug. Note that the wires should go to pins 2 and 5, which, on all the plugs I was able to find, corresponds to the outer-most connectors. This is a bit surprising if you are used to US modular plugs. * 4. Using a vice, good pliers or similar, squeeze the plug together, so that the connectors crimp onto the wires. Some suppliers will include disposable "thingy" to aid you in this process. This "thingy" (die) also drives the strain-relief home. You could also buy an expesive tool for this purpose. 5. Assuming there is a US modular jack (and phone) at the other end of the cable, you are now ready to play. * Note: This means that pins 1 and 6 are missing from the plug, and according to a previous poster 1 and 6 are reserved for ISDN so that makes sense. Also note that these plugs are impossible to find in the US, but I wonder if you could order them through Radio Shack, since the pack I got in Tandy has a proper Archer stock number. ** Note also: The above does not take into account any bell-tap prevention for UK phones connected to US networks. See previous poster on the use of capacitors etc. I have not found bell-tap to be much of a problem since any other phone on the line would typically be touch-tone and thus not generate much "spark". Ole ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 00:54:13 -0400 From: synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net Subject: Is Anyone On The Net a Member of EPSYS? I just called the AT&T newsline and one of the items mentioned that AT&T was awarded a contract by the Enhanced Private Switched Communications Services User's Association also known as EPSCS (pronounced EP-sys). This association was formed in 1979 and consists of 14 companies that are large customers of integrated voice and data networks. With this new system, a virtual network is formed that also uses their leased lines with AT&T switches. Is there a different newsgroup/mailing list for ISDN, X.25 or other switched digital network users? I'd like to know if anybody is running IP over ISDN. I've seen ISDN cards for the PC from 2 sources now: AT&T/Micom, and Motorola. Is anybody trying them? uunet!synsys!jeffj jeffj@synsys.uucp ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 00:54:16 -0400 From: synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net Subject: New York/Bell Atlantic/AT&T Service Guide New York Telephone has a recorded message system describing their services. Here's what I gathered from 1-800-EASY-NYT (327-9698) (this mostly jives with information from the Bell Atlantic IQ services information line at 800-365-5810). First - navigate the menu with my touch-tone phone: menu choices (after entering my area code and exchange) 1 feature instructions 11 custom calling services 11 call forwarding 12 3 way 13 call waiting 14 speed calling 8 15 speed calling 30 12 intellidial 21 call transfer 22 3 way calling 23 call hold 24 call pickup 25 call waiting 26 call forwarding 27 speed dialing 28 dial intercom 14 ring mate 15 phone smart 31 call repeat 32 call trace 33 call return 2 customer service 41 lifeline 42 special services for people with impairments 43 special equipment for people with impairments 44 N.Y.T. CCDC (communication center for disabled customers) 45 NY relay service for hearing & speech impaired 46 blocking 47 silverline 48 money saving tips 49 more money saving tips * help 55 return to main menu 66 order the service What I heard 31 -> *66 activates repeat call (retry last number dialed) *86 disables that 32 -> *57 activates call trace 33 -> *69 activates call return (retry last number that called me) *89 disables that 44 -> numbers to call for customer service In NYC and Long Island: 212-395-2400 New York State: 800-482-9020 New York State TDD: 800-342-4181 45 -> A person relays voice/TDD at no additional charge. This is WITHIN New York State only. What about calls in/out of New York State? The operator said the originator should call information for the relay service. This is a service of AT&T, and is currently not allowed to call across states. 800-421-1220 voice 800-662-1220 TDD The AT&T newsline (800 2ATT NOW) for Friday June 8 mentioned that the (Chicago) Illinois relay center opens June 10. It is the 4th, others being in New York, Alabama and California. 46 -> restrict outgoing calls to pay services exchanges 540, 550, 970, 970 area codes 700, 900 This service is free of charge. 14 -> ring mate allows you to add 1-2 additional numbers, each with a unique ring pattern (and call waiting beep) my questions: Do you enter the # after the 74 or 75? These instructions don't say so (but the following ones do), and the operator at the New York business number 800-942-1212 said that her card does not mention the #. I called the Bell Atlantic IQ services information line at 800-365-5810. It describes many of the advanced services, and even gives the actual tones you hear. It's a touchtone activated recording, and you may dial ahead. The menu is: level 1: 1 for Washington DC 2 for NJ, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia 3 for Pennsylvania, Delaware # to back up * to start again (the difference is that some features like Caller-ID are not available in all areas, so their description is suppressed) for selection 2 (NJ): level 2: level 3: 1 1 call waiting 2 ident-a-ring 3 3 way calling 4 caller i.d. 2 1 speed calling 1 for 8 number memory 2 for 30 number memory 2 repeat call 3 return call 4 priority call 3 1 call forwarding 2 select forwarding 3 call block 4 call trace IQ service codes (this is probably on a card that you get when ordering the advanced services) *57 call trace *60 start call block list management *61 priority call list management *63 select forwarding list management *66 activate repeat call (retry last number for 30 minutes) *69 activate return call (call last person who called you) *70 tone block (prevent call waiting tone, useful for data calls) *80 deactivate call block *81 deactivate priority call *83 deactivate select forwarding *86 deactivate repeat call *89 deactivate return call n# speed dial (n=2 to 9) nn# speed dial (nn=20-49) 72# activate call forwarding 73# deactivate call forwarding 74# set speed dialing (8 numbers) 75# set speed dialing (30 numbers) You do not need to subscribe to call trace to use it. I forgot the prefix code for rotary phones. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #429 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa20419; 14 Jun 90 2:24 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa09596; 14 Jun 90 0:36 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa30398; 13 Jun 90 23:32 CDT Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 23:06:47 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #430 BCC: Message-ID: <9006132306.ab10719@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 13 Jun 90 23:05:12 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 430 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Screwy PUC Policies [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: Screwy PUC Policies [Eric Varsanyi] Re: Screwy PUC Policies [Jon Baker] Subodh's Aunt (Was: Re: Screwy PUC Policies) [Hector Myerston] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [John Higdon] Re: Mystery of Random Phone Calls Solved? [John A. Weeks III] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Macy Hallock] Re: Telephonic Regression [John Higdon] Re: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90 [Don H. Kemp] Re: Has This Answering Machine Feature Disappeared? [Jeffri H. Frontz] Re: GTD-5 and CLASS [Jon Baker] Re: Uniform International Dialing [Bill Huttig] Re: Autodialer Hookup to Terminal Printer Port [John Alsop] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 12-JUN-1990 02:35:35.36 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Re: Screwy PUC Policies In regards to the June 12th message about not having Touch Tone service from the Alameda 415-865 exchange: I just called the 415-865 exchange, and it seems to be an ESS or DMS type exchange. Calling the semi-universal Bay Area busy code (xxx-1999) yielded an ESS-type busy, and calling a random 99xx number sounded like an ESS ring. I've heard of really old exchanges that have been upgraded so that they send out more "modern" busy/ring/reorder tones, but I didn't tihnk that there were any in Pac*Bell's territory in the Bay Area... Is it possible that the phone itself doesn't generate tone? Or maybe that line just didn't pay for touch tone service? I still can't tell what sort of electronic switch it is just by hearing the busy/ring signals (ie, to distinguish between a DMS-100 and 200, for example), so maybe if anyone else knows they might be able to help you figure out if it's an old (but "new" sounding) switch or the just individual phone/line. Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu / @wesleyan.bitnet ------------------------------ From: Eric Varsanyi Subject: Re: Screwy PUC Policies Date: 13 Jun 90 02:06:26 GMT Organization: Cray Computer Corporation In article <8860@accuvax.nwu.edu> mailrus!uflorida!rm1!bapat @uunet.uu.net (Bapat) writes: >While visiting my aunt in Alameda, CA, in the metro Bay area (415-865 >exchange) I was surprised to find that I couldn't retrieve messages >from my answering machine at home. The reason? My aunt's phone >couldn't send out tones, as Alameda has no touch-tone service! It was >shocking to know that there still are parts of major metropolitan >areas which don't have tone yet. I lived in 415-865 in 1989 and both of my phone lines most certainly had touch tone service. They also offered all the Comm*Star (I think thats what they called it) features (call waiting, call forwarding, etc...). Perhaps the phone itself wasn't working correctly? Eric Varsanyi Cray Computer Corporation ewv@craycos.com ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Screwy PUC Policies Date: 13 Jun 90 04:46:32 GMT Organization: Crossroads, Phoenix, Az In article <8860@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mailrus!uflorida!rm1!bapat@ uunet.uu.net (Bapat) writes: > five years to depreciate new computer equipment down to zero. Does > anyone know how long the telcos take to depreciate, say, a 4ESS? Typical depreciation of a central office would be about 20 years. \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300-2400,9600 PEP Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!bakerj ------------------------------ From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 12 Jun 90 08:37 PST Subject: Subodh's Aunt (Was: Re: Screwy PUC Policies) Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] The assertion that "Alameda does not have TT" is incorrect. The prefix quoted (415-865) is a 1AESS (I believe it is Alameda 11) which of course, provides TT. Whether an individual subscriber has DP-only service is something else again. This subject comes up all the time. When I did ESS software the practice was to provide TT/DP >hardware< on all lines. What happened when a DP subscriber entered TT instead was controlled in >Software< (Parameters). The choices were (1) Deny service (2) Allow and print a message on the Maint TTY or (3) Allow and do nothing. ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 12 Jun 90 18:18:15 PDT (Tue) From: John Higdon Jim Dunn writes: > DID trunks are, in fact, for inward calls only, although that's > strictly a marketing decision on the part of the telephone company. > There is no "real" technical reason why DID trunks (which in fact are > four wire E&M wink start trunks or two wire loop/reverse battery > trunks) can't be used for two way traffic. Yes for E&M trunks, no for two wire loop/reverse battery. Back when I had my equipment vending operation, we had an office in San Jose and in San Francisco. The two PBXs were connected via an E&M trunk. Users in San Jose could call extensions in SF and make calls on the outside lines there as well as SF users doing the reverse. This is the nature of the E&M trunk: each end is the same in that there is no originating or terminating end. This is, as Mr. Dunn points out, the classic connection between telco central offices. But on two wire, there is an originating and terminating end. Normally the subscriber is the originating end, but in the case of DID the subscriber becomes the terminating end. The telco literally places a call on the subscriber's PBX. Since this is the circuit of choice for virtually all DID installations in this neck of the woods, it is accurate to say that it is not technically expedient to provide two way calling on DID. There is, of course, the final argument: that's the way it's specified in tariff. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 17:52:07 CDT From: "John A. Weeks III" Subject: Re: Mystery of Random Phone Calls Solved? > He is expected to be charged Monday with 27 misdemeanor counts of > unlawful telephone use, according to Madison Police Chief David > Couper. > The man is accused of using the conference call capability of a > Madison business to connect residents and companies with each other > and possibly with people from other parts of the world. Why is this illegal? Perhaps because he was stealing the phone usage? If I were paying all of the phone costs, would it be illegal for me to do this with my phone system? John A. Weeks III (612) 942-6969 john@newave.mn.org NeWave Communications ...uunet!rosevax!bungia!wd0gol!newave!john [Moderator's Note: Whether you pay for phone service or steal it is not material here, although if he had stolen the service additional crimes would have been committed. In any event, to answer your question, yes, harassing phone calls are illegal. I mean, imagine telling the court, "But judge, I paid for those calls!" PT] ------------------------------ From: abvax!ncoast!fmsystm!macy@usenet.ins.cwru.edu Date: Mon Jun 11 16:08:07 1990 Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <8726@accuvax.nwu.edu>: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 417, Message 11 of 12 >>So are DID lines really only for incomming calls? Is there a >>technical reason or is the carrier trying to charge more? >There probably is no technical reason why a two-way DID trunk couldn't >be made but, to the best of my knowlege, it just hasn't been done yet. Not really... DID trunks are similar in operation to tie lines. Two way tie lines are a routine application, both in two wire and four wire operation, using DX or E&M signalling. Many CO's can accomodate two way tie line operation for Centrex services. 1A and 5 ESS machines definitely can do this, I asked a software engineer. If the PBX to CO link is a T-1 span, then two way operation is also easily supported. AT&T has recently begun to offer Megacom WATS & 800 services in this fashion (in limited areas, and only if you ask). Megacom 800 service is DID type service, only direct from the AT&T switch, instead of the telco CO. On non-Centrex equipped CO's, support for two way operation may not be available, probably due to a lack of demand from the telco's. >It would not be a simple change and there are some good reasons to >keep things separate. Call collision is possible, but careful software design prevents this. Since the telco's are actively trying to compete against Centrex by throwing as many obstacles in the PBX vendor's paths (and by foot dragging) ... I do not see them making any effort to improve the situation. Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet|backbone|usenet.ins.cwru.edu}ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 @ tone) (PLEASE NOTE: the system name is "fmsystm" with no "e", *NOT* "fmsystem") ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Telephonic Regression Date: 12 Jun 90 09:09:26 PDT (Tue) From: John Higdon David Ptasnik writes: > This [removing TT payphones] would only slow the dealers down > momentarily. There are little > hand held touch tone generators readily avialable at Radio Shack and > better stores. Whenever you attack an effect of a problem rather than a cause (I'm sure that TT payphones did not cause the "drug problem") you are lucky to even slow something down. But in this case, you have to realize that the mighty drug warriors are deadly serious. There has been discussion concerning the installation of DTMF receivers on the payphone lines in question. One DTMF digit transmitted during a call and POOF, the call is disconnected. Never underestimate the ingenuity of law enforcement! I'm sure that congress feels that the best way to keep a fish from smelling is to cut off its nose. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Don H Kemp Subject: Re: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90 Date: 12 Jun 90 13:29:31 GMT From article <8841@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by gutierre@calvin.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Gutierrez): [Discussion of episode deleted] > Second. Lt. Columbo was amazed by the amount of buttons on the > phone of the victim's desk. ... > Columbo was (again) amazed by the latest TELECOM technology, the > viewing public got to see that the telephone set was....an AT&T ISDN > set! (a model 7352 or 7532 ?). Yes, we know ISDN isn't available to > individuals, much less small businesses, but, is this what a typical ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Dale Mullen, a Telecom Consultant in Englewood, CO, is going to be very dissapointed to hear that. Dale has been using two ISDN lines (with AT&T 75xx phones) for about a year and a half now, and likes it fine. > ISDN set is going to look like (or at least an AT&T vision of an ISDN > set)? ... The ISDN sets that I've seen, from AT&T and NTI, are _very_ similar in appearance and function to the manufacturer's multi-button sets for their PBXs. >Thanks. You're welcome. Don H Kemp B B & K Associates, Inc. Rutland, VT uunet!uvm-gen!teletech!dhk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 13:42:02 EDT From: Jeffri H Frontz Subject: Re: Has This Answering Machine Feature Disappeared? Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio In article <8784@accuvax.nwu.edu> ssc-vax!UUCP!howie@voodoo.uucp (howie) writes: >(BTW, the way it works is: in addition to a code for retrieving >messages from a remote location, another code will cause the machine >to emit fairly loud beeps, so that if anyone is home they will know to >pick up the phone.) My AT&T 1330 answering machine has this feature, although I've never really figured out a good use for it-- I'd rather listen to the caller and then figure out whether or not to pick up the phone. Jeff Frontz Work: +1 614 860 2797 AT&T-Bell Labs (CB 1C-356) Cornet: 353-2797 att!jeff.frontz jeff.frontz@att.com ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: GTD-5 and CLASS Date: 13 Jun 90 04:49:41 GMT Organization: Crossroads, Phoenix, Az In article <8861@accuvax.nwu.edu>, marc@ttc.uucp (Marc O'Krent) writes: > It seems to me that I read sometime ago that GTE has *abandoned* the > GTD5's further development and/or something like decided to go with > the #5's from AT&T. Some part of this is not coming back correctly, > but perhaps you could clarify. GTE has abandoned development of ISDN features on the GTD5. As of this date, GTE has not completely abandoned all development on the GTD5. A small number of new features, and design maintenance, continue. GTE is pursuing 'other alternatives' for delivering ISDN to GTE subscribers. ONe such alternative is the 5ESS. \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300-2400,9600 PEP Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!bakerj ------------------------------ From: Bill Huttig Subject: Re: Uniform International Dialing Date: 13 Jun 90 12:35:06 GMT Reply-To: Bill Huttig Organization: Florida Institute of Technology, ACS, Melbourne, FL In article <8890@accuvax.nwu.edu> goudreau@larrybud.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) writes: >that the NANP couldn't also use "00" (with a timeout to distinguish a >call to the long-distance operator from an international call, similar >to the current setup for "0", which can either be a call to the local >operator or a prefix to an operator-assisted long-distance call). >Of course, another alternative is to add a "+" key and tone to >everyone's phone world-wide :-). Whats wrong with using the # key... ie.. 00# or a timeout.. The # key is used this way in international calls. [Moderator's Note: Actually, many central offices can do just that right now. Here in Chicago, 00# times out fast for the long distance operator, and PIN# forces a fast time out on credit card calls to the number where the card is assigned. PT] ------------------------------ From: John Alsop Subject: Re: Autodialer Hookup to Terminal Printer Port Date: 13 Jun 90 13:06:55 GMT Reply-To: John Alsop Organization: Sea Change Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada In article <8803@accuvax.nwu.edu> seachg!jalsop@uunet.uu.net I wrote: >We have a bunch of WYSE-85 and 185 terminals running a database >application. We would like to call up a customer file on the screen, >and in response to a function key, dial the customer's phone number. >To achieve this, I think we would need a device which would hook up >between the serial printer port on the terminal and the phone handset. Thanks to all who wrote with the obvious (in hindsight!) suggestion of using a cheap external modem to do the dialing. I had somehow had in mind something that Radio Shack might sell for $29.95. John Alsop Sea Change Corporation 1100 Central Parkway W., Suite 38 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5C 4E5 Tel: 416-272-3881 Fax: 416-272-1555 UUCP: ...!uunet!attcan!darkover!seachg!jalsop ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #430 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa22111; 14 Jun 90 3:10 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa21876; 14 Jun 90 1:39 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab09596; 14 Jun 90 0:36 CDT Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 23:45:50 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #431 BCC: Message-ID: <9006132345.ab14525@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 13 Jun 90 23:45:21 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 431 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number [John R. Covert] Re: Cellular Telephones [T. Pryjma] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Mark Ahlenius] Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? [Tom Gray] Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 [Robert M. Hamer] Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 [John R. Levine] Re: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa [Mike Bell] Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems [Chip Salzenberg] Re: Cracker/Phreaker Crackdown [Mike Godwin] Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 [Macy Hallock] Last Laugh! Its Not a Bug, Its a Feature! [Macy Hallock] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 06:45:31 PDT From: "John R. Covert 12-Jun-1990 0939" Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number >What I envision is a smart-card that contains your ESN, phone number, ... For those of you who have read the description of the German C-Netz system which I translated and posted to the Digest a year ago, this is already known. That system provides exactly what you're suggesting. Unfortunately, the AMPS protocol can't do what it really takes to make this secure. The German system has two serial numbers -- one for the smart card and one for the phone itself. If either the phone or the card is stolen, it can be blocked from making further calls. With the single ESN built into the AMPS protocol, if the smart card contained the ESN, a stolen phone would have full market value. If the phone contained the ESN, you would have to change your phone number (and never reuse it, using up numbers permanently) if the card were lost, stolen, or damaged. Since the U.S. seems to be firmly wedded to the AMPS protocol, so much so that we'll not be adopting the CCITT standard Group Special Mobile, which would have allowed U.S. <-> Europe roaming, you won't see any changes that would require protocol changes. But _hopefully_ our system will continue to get cheaper, both in the cost of phones, calls, and cell-site construction, such that smaller and smaller pocket portables can be expected to operate well enough that the smart-card idea won't ever be necessary. Why have a heavy 3 Watt phone when there's always a cell close enough to reach it with 600 mW or less? /john ------------------------------ From: "T. Pryjma" Subject: Re: Cellular Telephones Date: 13 Jun 90 07:15:43 GMT Organization: UTCS Public Access In article <8798@accuvax.nwu.edu> dgc@math.ucla.edu writes: # A friend of mine wants to have two cellular telephones in two # different cars with the same telephone number. Of course, he will use # only one at a time. The telco won't set this up for him. How does he # do it? What is wrong with having call forwarding from one phone to the other, or for that matter have call forwarding from a land line to which ever cell phone is in service at the time the call is to be received. Taras Pryjma uucp: taras@gpu.utcs internet: taras@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca ------------------------------ From: Mark Ahlenius Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Date: 13 Jun 90 15:40:45 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL pixar!bp@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Bruce Perens) writes: > From what I've seen of the digital cellular format, it seems to be a >way of ripping off the customer to reduce the carrier's overhead. The >real fix for high-traffic zones is to add more cells, not increase the >capacity of the existing ones at the expense of fidelity and >reliability. The problem is that there is a limit on how small you can make cells and still retain "in-building" coverage. Cell splitting (i.e. making smaller cells out of larger ones to increase traffic capacity) can only be done up to a limit. Cell costs are high and so is the real estate needed for the base station. You just don't plop down cells anywhere you have traffic problems and hope that solves your problems. Added new cells or splitting existing ones has affects on the rest of your systems frequency plan. Thus you may have to retune existing cells and/or shuffle channels around to permit the new cell to work properly. It is a complex problem. There is also a limitation on the number of radio channels that can be installed in a cell site - due to the frequency reuse pattern (i.e. N=4, 7, 12, etc.). Also the FCC has placed a limit on the present bandwidth allotted for analog cellular. Do you consider the (more expensive) pcm type trunks that MA bell has installed across the country a rip off - because they can have 24, 48, ... conversations going across the same pair of wires? I hope not - they developed this technology for efficient use of a resource and that is what digital cellular is also working towards. Mark Ahlenius voice:(708)-632-5346 email: uunet!motcid!ahleniusm Motorola Inc. fax: (708)-632-2413 Arlington, Hts. IL, USA 60004 ------------------------------ From: Tom Gray Subject: Re: Are DID Trunks Incoming Only? Date: 13 Jun 90 12:51:48 GMT Reply-To: Tom Gray Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada. In article <8882@accuvax.nwu.edu> foxtail!jdunn@ucsd.edu (Primary Access Corp) writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 428, Message 9 of 11 >DID trunks are, in fact, for inward calls only, although that's >strictly a marketing decision on the part of the telephone company. >There is no "real" technical reason why DID trunks (which in fact are >four wire E&M wink start trunks or two wire loop/reverse battery >trunks) can't be used for two way traffic. The phone company uses them >for two way internal applications all the time. (Actually, they uses >trunks of this type, not strictly DID trunks). The real technical reason that DID trunks are incoming only is cost. DID trunks are indeed two wire OUTGOING loop trunks at the CO end. There is no way for the CPE to originate a call toward the CO with this type of trunk. The outgoing trunk mimics the operation of a telephone set. It goes off hook and pulses into the PBX just like a telephone set. Two way loop trunks which can originate calls in both directions do exist. They are much more expensive then one way trunks and are used to handle the overflow from both incoming and outgoing trunk groups For valid economic reasons the telco will divide their trunk groups into two sections - one for incoming and one for outgoing with a few two way trunks to handle the overflow from both groups. In this way, the cost of each trunk is minimized. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 09:30 EDT From: "Robert M. Hamer" Subject: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 On Tue, 12 Jun 90 18:31:40 CDT Curt Squires writes: >I'm looking for a replacement battery for an AT&T model 4400 cordless >phone. The battery is 3.6v 270 mA (3 cells arranged in pyramid >fashion). I'd like to find a mfg&model number and/or a place I could >order it by phone. (I haven't actually seen the phone, so I might not >have all the details.) Thank you.. Having recently had a cordless phone die, and after asking the Digest what might be the problem, and after having decided that the NiCad Battery was the problem, I went looking for a replacement. It is a Panasonic cordless phone, and used a 3.6v 270 mA replacement. The original battery is flat, and consists of three cells, each about the size of a very thick quarter, shrink-wrapped together in a pyramid fashion. I called Panasonic, and they gave me the name of a local electronic shop that they said carried a replacement. I went to the shop, and they did not have a physically identically replacement, but they had a 3.6v 270 mA replacement that had three cylindrical barral-shaped cells, each about 1 inch long and maybe half an inch thick, shrink- wrapped together. They assured me it would fit in the phone even though it was not physically the same shape as the original. I bought it; cost about $12. It fits. And works. Yesterday, I happened to be in an AT&T store, and saw the identical battary pack for sale at $13. Its packaging claimed to work in all AT&T cordless phones. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 13 Jun 90 10:44:57 EDT (Wed) From: "John R. Levine" AT&T sells a replacement battery that seems to fit all 4000 and 5000 series phones. I got one at my local AT&T phone store, and they are also available at places like K Mart that carry AT&T phones. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ From: Mike Bell Subject: Re: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 14:10:02 EDT OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: >You can now buy UK-style modular plugs in electronics shops (including >Tandy [Radio Shack]) in the UK. These can be attached quite easily to >a US linecord if you follow the instructions below. This will allow >you to attach a US phone to the UK network. While this is not legal of >course, I have verified that it works. Using a BT extension socket, I "It works" is a matter of interpretation. The mark/space ratios for pulse dial phones differ (most of the UK is pulse dial only) and US pulse dial phones will therefore give wrong numbers on some exchanges. ie. this is an "it may work but don't rely on it" method. Mike Bell -- ------------------------------ From: Chip Salzenberg Date: Wed Jun 13 10:07:51 1990 Subject: Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems Organization: ComDev/TCT, Sarasota, FL I used to work at A T Engineering. While I was there, we replaced a piece of junk from GTE with a Meridian PBX. We all loved it. It never gave us any trouble. We especially liked the ability to program the keys quickly according to personal preference. Note: Be sure to get the hands-free sets. I used to have long conversations with a co-worker using the "voice call" feature. He smoked and I didn't like the smoke, so we ended up talking a lot more that way than we would otherwise have done. Chip, the new t.b answer man , ------------------------------ From: Mike Godwin Subject: Re: Cracker/Phreaker Crackdown Date: 13 Jun 90 16:11:21 GMT Reply-To: Mike Godwin Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas In article <8820@accuvax.nwu.edu> henry@garp.mit.edu writes: >In reply to Frank Earl's note ... I would reckon one of the problems >is that most people don't know where the FBI's jurisdiction begins or >where the Secret Service's jurisdiction ends. I had a visit on Friday >afternoon from an FBI agent and it seemed to be mostly reasonable, >except he identified himself as being from a unit that I wouldn't >associate with this sort of investigation. Secret Service jurisdiction over computer crimes is set out in 18 USC 1030(d): The United States Secret Service shall, in addition to any other agency having such authority, have the authority to investigate offenses under this section. [18 USC 1030 is titled "Fraud and related activity in connection with computers.] Such authority of the United States Secret Service shall be exercised in accordance with an agreement which shall be entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General. There is a similar provision in 18 USC 1029, which concerns "Fraud and related activity in connection with access devices." Mike Godwin, UT Law School Just another bar-exam nerd mnemonic@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (512) 346-4190 ------------------------------ From: abvax!ncoast!fmsystm!macy@usenet.ins.cwru.edu Date: Mon Jun 11 16:40:36 1990 Subject: Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <8765@accuvax.nwu.edu>: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 419, Message 1 of 11 >In article <8642@accuvax.nwu.edu>, utstat!tg@uunet.uu.net (Tom Glinos) writes: >> I'm looking for the advantages of RJ45 over RJ11. >> Each cubicle that I'm planning will have two jacks. The jacks will >> either be phone or data in any combination. > My motto: "Never pull less than six pair". And sometimes I >regret not pulling twenty-five pair. If a customer does not have any circustances that specifically indicate installation of more pairs (such as an active network), then we recomend these: At each typical phone location: two each RJ-25 jack, three pairs wired each, using two separate three pair cables. At primary answering locations, message centers and data intensive areas: three each RJ-25 jacks, three pairs, using three separate cables. (This is to accomodate DSS's, modems, fax's, attendant consoles and such...all of which can be "pair hogs") At known communications intensive locations: one each 25 pr. cable and two each RJ-25's under separate three pair cable. This is suggested to allow the use of certain services that object to sharing a cable with standard phone lines that ring with 100 VAC. (Certain twisted pair LAN's and other data types do not like the inducted transients from ring generator in adjacent pairs). We have found several vendors who make very nice double RJ-25 jacks in surface and flush mount versions. Getting a technophobic customer to agree to pay for all this wiring is another matter entirely. Many customers still do not understand that the quality and quantity of the wiring is _far_ more important than the way the phones look or feel ... or the name on the switch for that matter ... Phone systems come and go ... wiring is forever (if you do it right!) Another free consulting service from... Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet|backbone|usenet.ins.cwru.edu}ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 @ tone) (PLEASE NOTE: the system name is "fmsystm" with no "e", *NOT* "fmsystem") ------------------------------ From: abvax!ncoast!fmsystm!macy@usenet.ins.cwru.edu Date: Mon Jun 11 16:16:27 1990 Subject: Last Laugh! Its Not a Bug, Its a Feature! Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <8728@accuvax.nwu.edu>: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 418, Message 1 of 10 > For the last week or two, Wisconsin Bell has been having an odd >problem with their system: it's placing calls at random. > The most interesting thing about this is that these aren't just >"misdirected" calls; neither party initiates the call. The phone just >rings at both ends. Here's the real story: this is actually a test of a new CLASS feature: "Automatic Call Creation" It is intended to be used by telco's with measured (charge per call) local service as a revenue enhancing feature. It will be advertised by the telco as a way to get to know your neighbors and a way to talk to new/interesting people...kinda like those 900 lines you see on late nite TV. See, its not a bug, its a feature! ;-) Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet|backbone|usenet.ins.cwru.edu}ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 @ tone) (PLEASE NOTE: the system name is "fmsystm" with no "e", *NOT* "fmsystem") ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #431 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24325; 14 Jun 90 4:20 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa19007; 14 Jun 90 2:44 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab21876; 14 Jun 90 1:39 CDT Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 1:12:39 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #432 BCC: Message-ID: <9006140112.ab09398@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 14 Jun 90 01:12:04 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 432 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Caller*ID Random Thought [Johnny Zweig] Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [John R. Covert] John's 3AM Call / Wrong Numbers [Steve Elias] Request For Information on Operation Sun Devil [Mitch Wagner] Cracker/Phreak/LOD Message Overflow [TELECOM Moderator] Dead BT Cordless Telephone [Gary Cook] AMIS Protocol Specifications Available? [Steve Hoffman] High Speed RS232 (RS562) Anyone? [Osvaldo Mesa] Modems for Baltic Republics [Ed I. Kizys] Problem With IRQ's Com Ports and MS Kermit 3.0 [Allen Smith] Information Needed About New York Teleport [Jane M. Fraser] Questions About Fujitsu Cellular Phones [Amanda Walker] Re: Measured Service [David Schachter] No Laughing Matter! (Was: Re: Are You a Phreak/Cracker? [Stephen Friedl] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Johnny zweig Subject: Caller*ID Random Thought Organization: IDA, Alexandria, VA Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 13:45:44 GMT It just occured to me that it would probably not be too difficult to program a PBX to accept incoming calls to a given set of numbers, listen for dial strings on the incoming line (like when you call the local MCI or Sprint access number and then type in the number you'd like to call) and have it call out for you. Presto! Johnny's Caller*ID Buster Forwarding-service (tm). Now anyone who wants to place a Caller*ID-proof call can use my service (1-900-555-NO-ID) and have an outgoing call appear only as my service rather than their own number. Of course, people would have to trust my service to be 100 % confident of their anonymity -- but it would sure work for Dr. Jones who wants to call patients from his home without disclosing his number. And of course, if I ever let out a customer's number nobody would use my service anymore. I trust K-mart enough to give them my VISA number when I buy stuff, so it seems like a service that just might fly. Or is there a law against it already? I mean, if there is no reasonable expectation of privacy when placing a call, I guess I could see some long-haired weirdo lawyer argue that a service which gives you such privacy would undermine the fabric of society or something... Johnny Random [Moderator's Note: Actually, a couple such services have started already, using 900 numbers. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 06:34:22 PDT From: "John R. Covert 12-Jun-1990 0932" Subject: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls I'm not sure why John Higdon thinks that Caller ID would be more effective than other SS7 services in preventing his 3AM phone calls. Call Trace would allow him to take legal action against the caller. Incoming Call Block would stop the calls. (For those of you unfamiliar with Incoming Call Block, you can program up to five numbers from which you do not wish to receive calls, and you can enter the last number which called you using a feature code.) John's 3AM caller would be told that John was not accepting calls at this time if he called again. Caller ID would still cause the phone to ring, and John would still be rousted out of his sleep. All the privacy stuff aside, do not forget that the main purpose of Caller ID is so that the phone company can sell YOUR number to businesses who want to call you at home in the evening to try to sell you things. /john ------------------------------ Reply-To: eli@pws.bull.com Subject: John's 3AM Call / Wrong Numbers Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 13:42:39 -0400 From: Steve Elias John, why not just unplug your ringer at night and leave an answering machine or voice mail online? I know that there's always the possibility of those feared "emergency" calls late at night, but I get so many wrong numbers (at *all* hours), that I usually leave my home phone forwarded to voice mail. I screen calls almost all the time with this system. It works well because I can receive incoming messages even when I'm on another call. And I sleep much better at night, knowing that the wrong number bozos (and other obnoxious late night callers) can only give me one short ring and that they get a machine instead of sleepy me answering the phone. /eli ------------------------------ From: Mitch Wagner Subject: Request For Information on Operation Sun Devil Date: 12 Jun 90 16:16:49 GMT Reply-To: wagner@utoday.UUCP (Mitch Wagner) Organization: UNIX Today!, Manhasset, NY UNIX Today! is seeking the names, regular mail and/or email addresses and phone numbers of anyone targetted with a search warrant in connection with Operation Sun Devil or related "cracker" investigations. Information sent to us as a result of this query would be handled as tips --- it would not be used unless independently verified by us. Please forward the information to me, using any of the below phone, regular mail or email channels. Thank you. Mitch Wagner, Senior Editor, Unix Today! 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030 Voice: (516) 562-5758 wagner@utoday.UUCP or uunet!utoday!wagner To subscribe, send mail to circ@utoday.UUCP with "Subject: Request" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 23:52:55 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Cracker/Phreak/LOD Message Overflow I've been referring most messages regards the LOD and associated activities to the Computer Underground Digest, a mailing list made up mainly of readers here who want continued discussion on the Legion of Doom, and the recent federal crackdown on phreaks and crackers. I've would suggest you subscribe if you want a lot of in-depth, continued discussion on this topic. You will see some cross-references there to messages which originally appeared here in TELECOM Digest. For subscriptions, write TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET. PT ------------------------------ From: Gary Cook Subject: Dead BT Cordless Telephone Date: 13 Jun 90 11:46:53 GMT Reply-To: Gary Cook Organization: STC Technology Limited, London Road, Harlow, Essex, UK I have a BT Freeway cordless telephone which decided to stop working after a call was cut off during lightning. At a geuss I would say that the line protection circuit did its job and protected the rest of the electronics, but blew itself up in the process. I am a digital engineer, so all these upity downity signals with little black components and capacitors confuse me. I have no circuit diagram which makes it more difficult. I have traced the line circuit to a couple of relays, through a zener back-toback pair and then a choke. The relays,chokes and zeners are OK but the unit still doesn't work ... ie no dial tone when taken off-hook. I think the cordless electronics are OK ... so I sort of think its the protection bits ?? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. | Gary Cook , | Tel: 044 279 29531 ext 2615 | STC Technology Ltd, | e-mail: grc@stl.stc.co.uk | London Road, | Harlow, | *Disclaimer* - The views/opinions expressed above are | | Essex CM17 9NA, U.K.| not necessarily those adopted by STC Technology Ltd. | | Janet: grc@uk.co.stc.stl | Bitnet: grc%stl.stc.co.uk@ukacrl | | Uunet: uunet!mcvax!ukc!stl!grc | PSI%234237100122::grc | ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 14:27:10 PDT From: "Steve, MLO3-1, 223-7186" Subject: AMIS Protocol Specifications Available? Do you have a soft-copy of the current AMIS messaging protocol specifications? And if you do, can you mail me a copy? Thanks, Steve Hoffman DEC/Maynard ------------------------------ From: Osvaldo Mesa Subject: High Speed S232 (RS562) Anyone? Reply-To: Osvaldo Mesa Organization: AT&T Paradyne, Largo, Florida Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 21:33:22 GMT Has anybody out there implemented an RS232 type interface with data rates in the 100 kbits/sec or higher? There is an interface spec soon to come out (I think) RS562 which uses RS232 type interface with speeds up to 64 kbits/sec synchronous. I was looking into how you would implement this interface and it seems to me that the available RS232 drivers/receivers could not meet the timing requirements mainly due to slew rate limitation. Slew rate is limited by RS232 to 30 V/microsecs. but is typically 6 V/microsecs. or less in RS232 drivers. I am interested if anyone has had any experience related to this implementation. Please email or call me and I will summarize to the net if enough responses are received. Thanks in advance. Osvaldo A. Mesa AT&T Paradyne uunet!pdn!mesa Mail Stop LG-132 mesa@pdn.paradyne.com P. O. Box 2826 (813)530-8648 Largo, FL USA 34649-2826 ------------------------------ From: "Ed I. Kizys" Subject: Modems For Baltic Republics Date: 13 Jun 90 16:43:33 GMT Reply-To: "Ed I. Kizys" Organization: Allen-Bradley Company, Industrial Computer Division I am looking for information about what types of modems, available on the U.S. market, could be used in the Eastern European Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). From conversations, I have gathered that modems for U.S. phone systems cannot be used there. Also, - What software would be of greatest use in utilizing the modems for connecting to the western world (I assume they`d be using PC compatibles running DOS). - Is there software that would allow telex machine emulation. Manufacturer names and model numbers would help a lot. Please e-mail replies, post to BALT-L, or call by phone. Thanks, Ed Kizys uucp: ...!{cwjcc,pyramid,decvax,uunet}!abvax!eik Internet: eik@ab.com voice: 216-646-4488 ------------------------------ From: Allen Subject: Problem With IRQ's Com Ports and MS Kermit 3.0 Date: 13 Jun 90 10:40:56 GMT Organization: UCSC - Slug Club There is a student here who is having a problem setting up kermit 3.0. He is using an Adtech SmartConnect24i with a generic 80286 I/O card.. He has his modem set to COM3:, but kermit says Device not available. He uses another comm program that works fine on COM3 and 4.. Any suggestions? Thanks, Allen Smith (lazlor@ucscl.ucsc.edu) Please reply to: zhang@rslvax.ucsc.edu or zhang@ucscd.ucsc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 10:18:45 edt From: "Jane M. Fraser" Subject: Information Needed About New York Teleport Can anyone tell me anything about the New York Teleport? I believe it is a communications center in the financial district of New York City. It was (is?) owned by some investment company (Merrill Lynch?) but I heard they recently decided to sell it off. Obviously, any information will be an addition to what I know. Thanks. Jane M. Fraser Associate Director Center for Advanced Study in Telecommunications The Ohio State University jane@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu ------------------------------ From: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Subject: Questions About Fujitsu Cellular Phones Reply-To: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Herndon, VA Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 23:51:27 GMT I recently bought a Fujitsu 7300ST transportable cellular phone (at $180+tax, it finally hit my price/performance decision point :-)), and have been quite happy with it. However, being a technoid, I quickly came up with some questions about it that my local Cellular One people couldn't (or wouldn't) answer, and so I'd be interested in corresponding with anyone who knows stuff about these phones. In particular: - It is extremely obvious from inspection of this and other Fujitsu 7300 series phones that they consist of separate modules that are put together into the standard configurations. Is it possible to buy individual pieces, either from Fujitsu or through a dealer? For example, I can see wanting to buy a battery pack or the handsfree handset at some point, but I have no interest in buying a whole new phone... - Through a strange set of circumstances, I was given (unsolicitedly) the magic keystroke sequence that puts the phone into "program mode." This will no doubt come in handy if I move (since I can reprogram the phone number myself instead of paying far too much money for a dealer to do it), but I am now curious about what all the options actually are. The NAM entries and the lock code are pretty obvious, but there are a bunch more in there. They're probably useless, but hey... Thanks. Disclaimer: I have no connection with Fujitsu or Cellular One except as an extremely satisfied customer. Amanda Walker, InterCon Systems Corporation ------------------------------ From: david@llustig.uucp (David Schachter) Subject: Re: Measured Service Reply-To: david@llustig.UUCP (David Schachter) Organization: Greenwire Consulting Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 06:55:53 GMT In article <8128@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon writes: >In Pac*Bell land, the only two firm requirements for hunting are that >the numbers bear the same prefix and that the lines are billed to the >same party. Um, I have two lines in this apartment, connected in a one-way hunt, billed to different parties. Same billing address, though. A few weeks ago, I had the second line of the hunt converted to flat rate, with various Kustom Kalling Area plans, pulse only. The pilot line remains measured, tone service. No problems, no hassles, no quibbles. -- David Schachter llustig!david@mips.com ...!uunet!mips!llustig!david david@llustig.UUCP (MAYBE) +1 415 328 7425 Palo Alto, California, USA ------------------------------ From: "Stephen J. Friedl" Subject: No Laughing Matter! (Was: Re: Are You a Phreak and/or Cracker?) Date: 13 Jun 90 14:28:13 GMT Organization: VSI*FAX Tech Center John Higdon writes: > I have, for a about a week now, received a call on my main private > line at about 3:00 am daily. I answer with a groggy "hello", then the > caller hangs up. and goes on to make a case for Caller-ID. I have a related story... My partner was trying to get uucp working from the office to his house, working from his house. It was kind of a casual project, and it was just not working taking *days*. Eventually he was in the office late one evening trying to get it working, so after a few bad attempts he went to a terminal by the modem pool and fired off a poll after turning up the volume. It dialed, answered, and a groggy female voice pleaded "Please stop calling me". Oops. Wrong phone number in the uucp Systems file. We debated whether to try to track this person down and send her some flowers by way of apology, but decided we had bothered her enough :-( Stephen J. Friedl, KA8CMY / Software Consultant / Tustin, CA / 3B2-kind-of-guy +1 714 544 6561 / friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US / {uunet,attmail}!mtndew!friedl [Moderator's Note: We had a similar instance of this in Chicago a few years ago when a computer on the Fidonet tried *for over two weeks* to connect with another computer in the area, not once, but several times per night. An elderly lady had the number it was calling. She was understandably frightened and upset. Illinois Bell's Security Department came to her assistance and located the offending computer whose owner was not even aware of what his machine was doing at 2 AM every day. He reached a 'gentlemans agreement' with IBT: He was not to operate a modem or computer on IBT's lines during a three month period of 'probation'. If he was caught doing so, IBT would sue him to permanently disconnect his service. The alternative was he could do as he pleased and fight them, but they would supply his name to the police and assist the elderly lady in filing formal charges. Guess which he chose. His BBS went offline that day. A harsh penalty? I don't think so. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #432 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa12764; 14 Jun 90 13:36 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12278; 14 Jun 90 11:52 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04411; 14 Jun 90 10:48 CDT Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 10:36:06 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #433 BCC: Message-ID: <9006141036.ab01217@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 14 Jun 90 10:34:52 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 433 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers [Nigel Allen] Answer Call Service From C&P Telephone [Michael Dorrian] Census Bureau Taking Information by Phone [TELECOM Moderator] Subscribing to Multiple Cellular Services [Bill Nickless] Telecom in the Media [Andrew M. Boardman] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead [Peter da Silva] Re: Choosing No Long Distance Carrier (was: I Have no LDC) [D. Schachter] Re: Uniform International Dialing [John Higdon] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) Subject: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers Reply-To: ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) Organization: Contact Public Unix BBS. Toronto, Canada. Date: Fri, 8 Jun 90 10:39:03 GMT Excerpted from {The Globe and Mail}, Toronto, June 7, 1990 Bell Cellular has developed a new scrambling service that will allow its cellular radio-telephone subscribers to encrypt all their voice and data communications. The optional service, dubbed Privacy Plus, will be available in mid-July and will sell for $89.95 (Canadian) a month. Users of the service must install an encryption device in their car that is affixed to the dash and plugs into the phone. The device contains the programs for scrambling and descrambling messages. It is made by Cycomm Corp., a unit of Sonatel Telecommunications Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia. Although Bell Cellular is targetting the defence and national security market, the scrambling unit has not yet been certified that it meets the rigid Tempest standards set by the U.S. National Security Agency. Only equipment that meets the Tempest standards set by the top secret communications spy agency can be used by NATO governments to communicate classified military and intelligence information. Bell Cellular's new system is the first in North America to install encryption equipment in its cellular network for use by subscribers. The system uses a powerful communications program that randomly breaks up the frequency band used for cellular communications into smaller bands and then jumbles up a message by randomly assigning parts of a call to those bands. The message is then descrambled either at the Bell Cellular switch if it is destined for a non-encrypted user or by another subscriber's equipment if destined for a user who also has the encryption service. Bell Cellular is a subsidiary of Montreal-based BCE Mobile Communications Inc., which in turn is a subsidiary of BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises. It has 141,000 subscribers in Ontario and Quebec and provides service in competition with Rogers Cantel Inc. of Toronto. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 13:06 EST From: Michael Dorrian <0003493915@mcimail.com> Subject: Answer Call Service From C&P Telephone C&P Telephone, the offspring of those wonderful folks who brought you Caller*ID, has continued its search for new revenue streams with Answer Call, a CO-based answering machine feature. I was able to discover the following based on my conversation with the order taker on the 800 line: No demo number was available (Yes, even though I suspected the answer in advance, I had to ask the question anyway). Particulars include: o 30 or 45 Minute message Capacity o Call Forward - No Answer (CF-NA), user-defined "N" ring cycles or busy o System or Private Greetings o Up to 8 mailboxes available per line o Special Dial Tone on off hook for message waiting o Will answer if phone is in use. If phone is equipped with Call Waiting, using Tone Block will route additional incoming calls to Answer Call. Additional Calls will hear a busy signal. o Time/Date stamp on messages o Skip, replay, fast forward, erase or save messages Prices: o $10.80 connection fee, waived until 7/28 o Message unit (if applicable) to forward or retrieve calls o Pricing as follows: - Call Forwarding, No Answer/Busy $2.00 (Base) - First Mailbox with 30 minute capacity $3.00 (Base) - Additional 15 minutes capacity (max?) $1.00 (Option) - Seven Additional mailboxes/passwords $2.00 (Option) C&P Advert: "Advanced phone company computers can now give your 12-button touch-tone equipped telephone full-featured answering capability for as little as $5 a month. Like an answering machine - _but better_!" I believe "advanced phone company computers" to be Octel Aspen, but this is not confirmed. Service is only available for residential users and is accessed by dialing home telephone number,"*" and password. Default password is the last four digits of phone number, changeable to private 4 to 10 digit password. Didn't ask if password or ring settings could be set remotely, which would mean that Touch-Tone on home phone is really required. (or a pocket beeper). This is the first time I've seen CF-NA made available outside of Centrex. I'd much rather have it on my business line than the usual call forwarding(CF), both for its capability and price ($2 vs. $4). Instead of activating CF when I was going to leave the office, I'd just leave CF-NA on all the time. Unfortunately it's not available ('coming soon', *they* said). And probably only with C&P Answer Call. CF is also available from C&P for residential customers , either separately ($3.50/mo.) or with some combination of 3-way calling, speed dialing and call waiting under Custom Calling Service (resulting in an average cost as low as $2.42/mo.) . Is it just me or does this sound like subsidization/bundling? CF-NA is absolutely required to make Answer Call work. I can see justification of a lower price for multiple custom calling options since it is software selectable at the CO switch, but this flavor of Call Forwarding is different from the version under Custom Calling. When CF is activated, the talk path is never completed to the called party, although their phone itself will go through several ring cycles (If answered by the called party they receive dial tone). The calling party, meanwhile, is forwarded to the number specified by the called party. On the other hand CF-NA actually allows talk path completion to the dialed party, and if the call is unanswered after a pre-selected number of rings, returns to the CO where it is then forwarded in the same manner as CF. While the relative value of CF vs. CF-NA for the end user depends on the application, it would seem more expensive to provide CF-NA than CF. And, of course, relative value shouldn't enter into the picture, since utility pricing is based on cost recovery, not on what the market will bear. :-) The local phone company's provisioning of voice mail has tie ins with other storylines in the Digest, such as sanctity/responsibility of message content and the ability of this service to provide a "community" voice bulletin board. Of course the very viability of the service would be doubt if all payphones are reverted to dial pulse. Michael Dorrian The RTP Group, Mid-Atlantic Arlington, VA 703-243-6000 MCI Mail 349-3915 [Moderator's Note: Call Forwarding on No Answer/Busy is available here, but only to cellular customers. Landline users can't have it. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 1:23:28 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Census Bureau Taking Information by Phone The Census Bureau is making a final effort to collect data for the 1990 United States Census, and I hope all of our United States readers who for whatever reason have not yet 'Stood Up to be Counted' will do so at this time by calling 1-800-999-1990. If you lost your form (or never received one) -- If you were gone or unavailable when the Census taker came to your home -- If you made an error in your report and want to correct it now -- Call today -- right now, please. 1-800-999-1990. Thank you. Patrick Townson (A Census Taker in 1960 and 1970, and proud of it! And, a person who relies heavily on the 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, and (recently opened) 1910 census for genealogical research. The census DOES remain confidential for 75 years, however by federal law.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 09:30:46 CDT From: Bill Nickless Subject: Subscribing to Multiple Cellular Services A couple months ago I related in this forum my experience signing up with a second cellular service for my Nokia Mobira handheld. I live in Michigan but work during the week in Chicago. I originally signed up with Ameritech Mobile here in Chicago, but then signed up with Cellular One of Berrien County, Michigan, for use on the weekends. When I travel back and forth I reprogram my handheld for use with the system I'm traveling into. Recently I decided to spend some time in Indianapolis. I contacted the two cellular carriers in Indianapolis, and ended up signing with GTE Mobilenet. They charge a $25 signup fee, and a basic fee of $15/month. Peak airtime is .50/minute, off-peak .20/minute. Detailed billing is only $1.75/month. I also asked for call forwarding at an extra $2/month. The person I spoke with, Natalie Newton, was very helpful and accomodating. There was no hesitation on her part to fulfill my request for service without having my phone reprogrammed by GTE Mobilenet. I simply provided the ESN and she gave me my Indianapolis number. She also faxed me the Indianapolis NAM paramaters for that system, as well as very complete instructions for reprogramming my phone. I did not have to sign up for a minimum usage per month, nor a year-long contract. In summary, I would recommend dealing with GTE Mobilenet if you wish to avoid roaming charges in Indianapolis. If someone else has had a bad experience with GTE Mobilenet I'd like to hear about it, but for now I am impressed with their customer service. Disclaimer: I have no connection with GTE Mobilenet except as a satisfied customer. Bill Nickless detour mail to nickless@flash.ras.anl.gov ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 20:23:55 EDT From: "Andrew M. Boardman" Subject: Telecom in the Media ...or, Is Responsible Technical Reporting Dead? What the Real World sees of telecom... I just caught the last half of a "news" program by the name of Inside Edition which was looking at telephone crime, esp. in the New York area. This has got to be the National Enquirer of television shows; after throwing around talk of multi-million dollar phone bills and showing interviews with various telephone companies and the Secret Service, (!) they proceed to link telephone abuse with drug dealing, arms dealers, and assasinations, and imply that this would all be impossible without [calling cards|PBXen|voice mail|pagers|ad nauseam] to abuse. (!!) The entire thing was chock-full of technical "facts" which are years outdated or just plain wrong. And people wonder why there are movements to locally ban touch-tone or whatever... Andrew Boardman amb@cs.columbia.edu ...rutgers!columbia!amb amb%cs.columbia.edu@cuvmb.bitnet ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 13:24:13 GMT In article <8863@accuvax.nwu.edu> motcid!segal@uunet.uu.net (Gary Segal) writes: > If you mean "can I put a modem on the phone?", the answer is "no". [ and goes on to suggest a solution ] > In order to allow subsribers to access modem based data services, > these systems make provisions for a modem pool (again, much like an > ISDN) at the connection point to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone > Network). And what do they have at that point? 2400 baud only? V.32 as well? How about PEP? Ever hear of the Telebit Cellblazer? What about TDD services? There are too many different sorts of modems out there for this to be a credible alternative. `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf. ------------------------------ From: david@llustig.uucp (David Schachter) Subject: Re: Choosing No Long Distance Carrier (was: I Have no LDC) Reply-To: david@llustig.UUCP (David Schachter) Organization: Greenwire Consulting Date: Wed, 13 Jun 90 07:16:43 GMT In article <8173@accuvax.nwu.edu> brian@apt.bungi.com (Brian Litzinger) writes: >Well, the PacBell representative I spoke with disagrees. He said that >I must choose a default long distance carrier. He even showed my the >form he was filling out, and under long distance carriers was: AT&T, >MCI, Sprint ... However, None, was nowhere to be found. There wasn't >even a blank line or other field. My apartment has two lines, billed to different parties and different in most features, but connected in a hunt. The second line (the non-pilot line) has no 1+ Equal Access carrier (this has been verified the hard way), just as I specified when I ordered service from PacBell. -- David Schachter llustig!david@mips.com ...!uunet!mips!llustig!david david@llustig.UUCP (MAYBE) ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Uniform International Dialing Date: 14 Jun 90 01:39:40 PDT (Thu) From: John Higdon On Jun 13 at 23:06, TELECOM Moderator writes: > [Moderator's Note: Actually, many central offices can do just that > right now. Here in Chicago, 00# times out fast for the long distance > operator... Are you sure that the "#" is necessary for timeout elimination for the LD operator? "00" is unambiguous, in that no additional digits would be expected by the switch. Indeed, when I dial "00" or "00#", the timing is the same. On the other hand, if I dial "0#" rather than just "0", the Pac*Bell operator answers much more quickly. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: Actually, you are correct. I meant 0# gets through faster to the local IBT operator. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #433 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa15826; 15 Jun 90 1:36 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa07811; 15 Jun 90 0:03 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa14883; 14 Jun 90 22:59 CDT Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 22:41:28 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #434 BCC: Message-ID: <9006142241.ab03839@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 14 Jun 90 22:40:03 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 434 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Using "#" As a Timeout [Douglas Scott Reuben] Interesting Statistics [Scott Shaffer] Very Long Distance Email ... a Question [Dean Riddlebarger] 800 Service and Their Local Phone Numbers [Dannie Gregoire] AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones [Blake Farenthold] So Long LATA? [Ken Jongsma] Numbering (was Re: My List of North American Area Codes) [David Lewis] Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on Local Call [John Slater] Re: Uniform International Dialing [Bob Goudreau] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14-JUN-1990 03:29:38.13 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Using "#" As a Timeout Speaking of using the "#" (pound) sign to time out, you can also use it on the "newer" AT&T Calling Card system to designate that you have entered your desired number. Let me try to explain that... Some areas have the "old" style Calling Card system - same system for local and Long Distance calls. You usually will hear " AT&T" and "Thank you for using AT&T" on AT&T calls, and the standard "" and "Thank you" for local calls. (There might not even be a distinction for local /AT&T) You can sequence-call (make multiple calls using the "#" key) from local to LD and vice versa. I've noticed this in the Washington, D.C. area, rural Pennsylvania, and some older exchanges in SNET and NET territory. Other areas, like New York and Califoria, have two calling card systems: one for local calls (where you would hear "Thank you for using Pac*Bell" or "New York Tel") and the other for AT&T calls, where what you are really getting is the "old" system listed above, but *without* the ability to sequence call to local numbers. IE, they changed the "You may dial another call now" message to "You may dial another AT&T handled call now." (And if you're bad and try a local call, the AT&T computer gets mad, and sternly warns you: "You may ONLY dial another AT&T call, now!!") In this system, as in the "old" system, if you press the "#" key for a sequence call, and then dial Area Code + 7 digits, your *immediately* hear the "Thank you" and your call is processed right away. Finally, there seems to be a newer system that AT&T is using. The "Thank you" voice is somewhat different from the old system. More importantly, if you dial the "#" sign to make a sequence call, and then dial the next call by dialing Area Code + seven digits, the system *waits* for a timeout! IE, it doesn't seem to realize that an Area Code + seven digits is a FULL number, and that it shouldn't wait any longer. So, after you enter a complete number, you can expect to wait four or five seconds before you hear the "Thank you" and have your call go through. Another difference in regards to the newer system is that when you dial a sequence call, and enter an invalid number, (ie, 408-320-xxxx, since there is no 320 prefix in 408, at least none that AT&T will let you dial), the system *itself* tells you that it was an invalid exchange which you dialed. On the older systems, your call would go through to the standard AT&T intercept message for an invalid exchange. IE, you would hear "Thank You", and then get the message " Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number, and dial again. [NPA from where you are calling from]-2T". On the newer system, you never hear this, and get the calling card computer telling you that you have dialed an invalid number. I initially thought that the delay on the newer AT&T system was due to it checking to see if the exchange you dialed was valid in the area code you were trying to reach, but if you hit the "#" sign to make the Area Code + seven digit call go through immediately, you will get the message from the calling card system (and NOT the general AT&T message) that your call can not be completed. So it doesn't seem to need to extra time to determine if the exchange is valid or not. Why then is the system so much slower? Although four or five seconds per sequence call is insignificant to most users, if all AT&T's calling card calls were added up, this would result in a significant amount of time that the network is tied up, seemingly unecessarily. It is also much less convenient to the customers, since after a multiple sequence calls, they could have lost a minute of so of their time. (OK, well, it sounds like a little, but try just standing around a payphone for a minute not doing anything...) Sorry I can't be any more specific about the "new" vs. "old" systems ... I know that SNET/Connecticut uses the newer system in some of the more heavily populated areas of the state (Hartford), NY Tel in Westchester, NE Tel in Metro Boston (Hingham 617-749, Milton 617-698), C&P Tel in New Castle, DE (I think...). A good way of distinguishing the "old" from the "new" system is that the "old" one, upon making a sequence calls, would say "You may dial another call now" or "You may dial another AT&T handled call now", while the new system says the same thing, BUT, it pauses between "...another" and "AT&T...". IE, you hear "You may dial another ...... AT&T handled call now." I wondered why it did this, and then a few weeks ago on Staten Island (NY), I made a local calling card call. Instead of the usual NY Tel equipment, I heard: "You may dial another ......local telephone company call now". This sounds EXACTLY like the new AT&T system, except it says "local telco" rather than "AT&T" call. Is AT&T letting local telco's use its system? One final thing - the "new" system says you can only sequence call to "AT&T handled calls"..well, not really...I've always been able to sequence call to local calls as well. I tried this from Croton Falls, NY a few days ago, and it worked fine. However, you must be using the "new" system - the older one that was "tweaked" to allow only AT&T calls will not let you sequence call locally, as a general rule. Of course, since each exchange seems to have its own slight variation of how calling card calls are handled (my X-Bar ["old" system] is different from my ESS ["middle" system] is different from my DMS ["new" system] ), deciding which system you are under can get quite confusing! If anyone (1) has any idea what I am talking about :-) ,and (2) knows why the "new" system was designed as such, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thanks, Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu / @wesleyan.bitnet ------------------------------ From: Scott Shaffer Subject: Interesting Statistics Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 15:43:18 CDT A newspaper in my town recently released the following interesting statistics: According to Survey Sampling Inc: Rank City % of residential customers with unlisted numbers 1 Las Vegas 63% 2 Los Angeles 61% 3 Oakland 59% 21 Houston 41% 30 New York 37% The article went on to interview people who had unlisted numbers and some psychologists to determine why they got unlisted numbers. It also went on to explain ANI (and how even unlisted numbers weren't immune) and how ANI is not Caller*ID. It also said that it costs an average of $1 per month to have an unlisted number, and that some considered it a status symbol. A SWBell employee listed the three main reasons for unlisted numbers as "sleep, security, and 'I don't want to be bothered.'" + Scott Shaffer @ SW Development @ Compaq Computer Corporation @ Houston, TX + ------------------------------ From: Dean Riddlebarger Subject: Very Long Distance Email ... a Question Date: 14 Jun 90 16:21:00 GMT Organization: Truevision Inc., Indianapolis, IN One of our employees is about to embark on a fairly long [roughly six months] stint in Europe, and I'd like him to be able to stay in touch with the office through our internal email setup. Line quality issues notwithstanding, I suppose that I could simply have him dial into the server from his foreign location and conduct a standard remote login session. But I suspect that there should be a better way to handle this from a cost and efficiency standpoint. So, for all in the group who are savvy in international telecom: What recommendations can you make for this situation? Should I try to find a foreign server for him, and forward his mail back and forth? Should I investigate one of the commercial mail carriers like attmail, again with a local forward from our site? Or is direct dial likely to be an acceptable alternative given the time-frame and expected volume? I'll summarize email replies. Thanks. <:> Dean Riddlebarger <:> MIS Manager - Truevision, Inc. <:> [317] 841-0332 <:> uucp: uunet!epicb!dean dean@truevision.com ------------------------------ From: Dannie Gregoire Subject: 800 Service and Their Local Phone Numbers Date: 14 Jun 90 16:18:29 GMT Organization: Copper Electronics Inc.; Louisville, Ky I understand that for each 800 line that exists there is a corresponding local (7 digit) number for it. Is this true? If it is, can the "local" number be used for incomming local calls without charge (Normally you cannot call a "local" 800 number)? Thanx-a-head-a-time. \\-------------------\\ \\ Dannie Gregoire \\ \\ (dannie@coplex) \\ \\-------------------\\ [Moderator's Note: Many (most?) 800 numbers are translated into local 'regular-style' numbers at the place where they terminate. Whether or not you can legally dial them via the translated number depends on how the 800 service is being billed. If the incoming line is to be used exclusively for 800 calls, then the receiver of the call is billed and the person who dialed the non-800 version of the number is also billed. This is against regulations, since a double billing for the call has resulted. If the 800 number is the type sometimes called 'Hotline', where a local number can be dialed direct or calls to an 800 number are also sent to that line, then dialing the local version of the number is allowed. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 09:09:53 CDT From: Blake Farenthold Subject: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones I always figured if anyone hated COCOTS it was AT&T. Well I found what I'd call an AT&T COCOT. The card on the phone said the phone was OWNED by AT&T it looked like a 'normal' payphone (not one of their card phones) and took quarters for local calls ... thing is you dial a number and it locks out the keypad (it really was annoying as the one call I made on it was to my voice mailbox and I couldn't retreive my messages). Guess it makes a lot of sense as you don't normaly need the keypad after dialing an AT&T call. I wish I'd had time to play with the phone to see if it (now illegally) blocked access to other carriers. Next time I'm in the Officers club at NAS Corpus Christi I'll make time to fool with the phone. You guys at AT&T need to clean up your own phones before griping about other peoples. UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!blake ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-party!blake@nosc.mil INET: blake@pro-party.cts.com Blake Farenthold | Voice: 800/880-1890 | MCI: BFARENTHOLD 1200 MBank North | Fax: 512/889-8686 | CIS: 70070,521 Corpus Christi, TX 78471 | BBS: 512/882-1899 | GEnie: BLAKE ------------------------------ Subject: So Long, LATA? Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 17:28:48 EDT From: Ken Jongsma I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but the term LATA is rapidly disappearing from use. The local phone books no longer refer to it, instead using the words "Local Serving Area". Not that I'm sad to see it go! I always thought it was rather pretentious. Ken ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Numbering (was Re: My List of North American Area Codes) Date: 14 Jun 90 16:05:12 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ [Inclusion of access codes as parts of phone numbers, etc, deleted] We could try to use CCITT standard address formats... (I'm not an expert, so someone -please- correct me if I mess this up, but...) CCITT Recommendation E.164 specifies formats for addresses. I don't have a copy in front of me (sorry), but I believe the format is (using my work phone as an example): +1.201.758.4099 + = whatever access code is needed 1 = country code 201 = npa (area) code 758 = office code 4099 = whatever it's called -- line within an exchange Everything after the country code is specific to the national dialing plan, but the + and country code are pretty standard. David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center) "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." [Moderator's Note: 'whatever it is called' is frequently known as the suffix. Readers: Is there an official name for the last four digits? PT] ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call Date: 14 Jun 90 17:28:02 GMT Reply-To: "John Slater In article <8869@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mitel!spock!grayt@uunet.uu.net (Tom Gray) writes: >In article <8733@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater sun.com> writes: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 418, Message 6 of 10 >>>In a perfect world I could dial "+44 81 676 XXXX" to reach my number >>>in London from *anywhere* in the world, including the UK (where + >>>means 010). Similarly it would be nice to be able to dial 011 1 415 >>>XXX XXXX to reach San Francisco from anywhere in the US. >>>I was originally going to post this with lots of ":-)", but seriously >>>though folks, why should it be difficult with modern switches? >The main problem with this proposal would be the size of the data base >required inside of each switch. Think of the routing problems which >would occur when any digit sequence could be used to identify a trunk >route. Each switch would be required to maintain the telephone number >of all of the subscribers in the world. Even small CDO's would require >gigabytes of disk storage. I don't see why this is the case. Surely all the switch needs to know is its own country and area codes. Here's an example. Suppose I dial my home number as 010 44 81 676 0694 from a payphone down the street. As soon as it gets the second 4, the switch thinks "Ah - 01044 means a call to the UK. But I'm in the UK, so I'll pretend the caller dialled 0 instead. Now we've got 081-676 XXXX. But I'm in the 081 area, so I'll pretend the caller didn't dial the code. (This bit already works - I can dial 081-676 XXXX from said payphone) So what he/she really wants is 676 XXXX". All other country codes and area codes get passed on as normal. All the switch has to do is delay passing control onto an international switch until it has received sufficient digits to check that the call really needs it. Why should it be any more complicated than that? John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick office ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 11:42:58 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Uniform International Dialing Reply-To: goudreau@larrybud.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article <8914@accuvax.nwu.edu>, la063249@zach.fit.edu (Bill Huttig) writes: |> Whats wrong with using the # key... ie.. 00# or a timeout.. The # |> key is used this way in international calls. |> [Moderator's Note: Actually, many central offices can do just that |> right now. Here in Chicago, 00# times out fast for the long distance |> operator, and PIN# forces a fast time out on credit card calls to the |> number where the card is assigned. PT] Nothing's wrong with it; I'm well aware that it can already be used to signal number termination. (As the Moderator points out, this is a general feature, not just for international calls.) Remember though, there's a big difference between *allowing* a certain way of doing things, and *requiring* that way. Until POTS (Plain Ole' Telephone Service) has advanced to the state where pulse dialing is no longer in use, telcos will still have to provide a way for their non-touch-tone customers to dial. Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau USA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #434 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07967; 15 Jun 90 10:43 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa13829; 15 Jun 90 9:09 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab08429; 15 Jun 90 8:05 CDT Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 7:48:14 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #435 BCC: Message-ID: <9006150748.ab21117@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 15 Jun 90 07:47:11 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 435 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [Jim Rees] Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number [John Slater] Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers [Tom Perrine] Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers [John Brewer] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Kolkka Markku Olavi] Re: Subodh's Aunt (Was: Re: Screwy PUC Policies) [Linc Madison] Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 [Steven King] Re: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa [Adam J. Ashby] Re: My List of World Wide Codes [Linc Madison] Re: Canada Direct [Henry Troup] Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems [Henry Troup] Re: Information Needed About New York Teleport [Peter G. Capek] Solution Needed: Phones Ring When Dialing [Paolo Prandoni] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Organization: University of Michigan IFS Project Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 16:10:21 GMT In article <8928@accuvax.nwu.edu>, covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 12-Jun-1990 0932) writes: > I'm not sure why John Higdon thinks that Caller ID would be more > effective than other SS7 services in preventing his 3AM phone calls. Here's my solution. Back in the days when I still had telephone service at home, I used to have a single Western Electric mechanical ringer in the living room, with a switch on it. I turned it off every night when I went to bed. The other twelve phones in the house all had their ringers disconnected. The problem with SS7 services is that you have to pay for them. I'm all in favor of universal free Caller-ID with universal free Caller-ID block. (Where "free" means everybody has to pay for it.) ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones, Same Number Date: 14 Jun 90 16:56:28 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <8865@accuvax.nwu.edu>, rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: >Can anyone tell me how the British card works? On the French card you >can see the electrical contacts, but the British one doesn't seem to >have any. Is it done electromagnetically? Or with mirrors? I used to know this. I seem to remember it's got something to do with application of heat to the card. The card itself is read magnetically, but when a particular 10p unit has been used it is disabled either by a laser or by local heating. I may be totally wrong. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am. John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick Office ------------------------------ From: Tom Perrine Subject: Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers Date: 14 Jun 90 20:12:31 GMT Reply-To: Tom Perrine Organization: Logicon, Inc., San Diego, California In article <8941@accuvax.nwu.edu> ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 433, Message 1 of 8 >Excerpted from {The Globe and Mail}, Toronto, June 7, 1990 >Bell Cellular has developed a new scrambling service that will allow >its cellular radio-telephone subscribers to encrypt all their voice >and data communications. >The device contains the programs for scrambling and descrambling >messages. It is made by Cycomm Corp., a unit of Sonatel >Telecommunications Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia. See below. >Although Bell Cellular is targetting the defence and national >security market, the scrambling unit has not yet been certified that >it meets the rigid Tempest standards set by the U.S. National Security >Agency. Only equipment that meets the Tempest standards set by the top >secret communications spy agency can be used by NATO governments to >communicate classified military and intelligence information. NSA is the agency charged with (among other things :-) ensuring the security of U.S. gov't and related communications. No encryption method, algorithm or device may be used to protect classified information unless NSA approves it. For example, although NSA and the government would like US businesses and others to use DES, they don't approve it for protecting classified information. "Its good enough for *you*, but not good enough for *us*. Why? We can't tell you." Right. This approval has almost nothing to do with TEMPEST, which is effectively a standard regarding the amount and "quality" of emitted RF that a device processing classified information may emit. TEMPEST is actually the unclassified code-word for a classified program. The technical parameters of what actually constitutes "TEMPEST certified" is apparently classified. >Bell Cellular is a subsidiary of Montreal-based BCE Mobile >Communications Inc., which in turn is a subsidiary of BCE Inc., >formerly Bell Canada Enterprises. I find it almost impossible to believe that NSA is going to approve a box that they didn't design, and which was designed and manufactured outside the US. Disclaimer: I've read the _Puzzle Palace_ and thats all I can say :-) Tom Perrine (tep) |Internet: tep@tots.Logicon.COM Logicon |UUCP: nosc!hamachi!tots!tep Tactical and Training Systems Division |-or- sun!suntan!tots!tep San Diego CA |GENIE: T.PERRINE "Harried: with preschoolers" |+1 619 455 1330 ------------------------------ From: John Brewer Subject: Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers Date: 15 Jun 90 01:18:57 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation In article <8941@accuvax.nwu.edu>, ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) writes: >Excerpted from {The Globe and Mail}, Toronto, June 7, 1990 >Bell Cellular has developed a new scrambling service that will allow >its cellular radio-telephone subscribers to encrypt all their voice >and data communications. >The optional service, dubbed Privacy Plus, will be available in >mid-July and will sell for $89.95 (Canadian) a month. Why did I guess that this would not be free? The cell folks seem to have neglected to point out the fact that even though they pushed the ECPA thru Congress, that ANYONE can easily listen to cellular phone traffic. Now they want substantial bucks to make it appear secure. Anyone want to make any wagers as to how long it takes for Radio Electronics to start carrying ads and construction articles on circumventing this encrption scheme? It may take a little longer, but I can still remember claims of "secure" satellite encryption schemes, and the radar detector technology seems to be catching up with "instant-on" radar traps. Wouldn't it be easier to tell the public that the mode of transmission is not secure? IMHO. |John Brewer WB5OAU | Brewer@ace.enet.dec.com | |Digital Equipment Corporation | Brewer@cup.portal.com | |Albuquerque NM | WB5OAU@KN5D | ------------------------------ From: Kolkka Markku Olavi Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Reply-To: Kolkka Markku Olavi Organization: Tampere University of Technology, Finland Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 05:59:16 GMT In article <8863@accuvax.nwu.edu> motcid!segal@uunet.uu.net (Gary Segal) writes: >As an example of digital cellular done well, I suggest you watch what >is happening in Europe, with the Pan-Euorpean Digital Cellular >standard (also called GSM). ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Actually it's Global System Mobile, but it seems that the US is again going to isolate themselves from the rest of the world by using a incompatible nonstandard system. With GSM, you could have a single system working anywhere, just like the NMT system works currently in the Nordic countries. Markku Kolkka mk59200@tut.fi ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 14:48:09 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Subodh's Aunt (Was: Re: Screwy PUC Policies) Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <8906@accuvax.nwu.edu> it is written: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 430, Message 4 of 13 >This subject comes up all the time. When I did ESS software the >practice was to provide TT/DP >hardware< on all lines. What happened >when a DP subscriber entered TT instead was controlled in >Software< >(Parameters). The choices were (1) Deny service (2) Allow and print a >message on the Maint TTY or (3) Allow and do nothing. Even if the line is TT-blocked because his aunt doesn't pay the $1.20/month, he should've been able to enter a DTMF tone without problem, after he was connected. The TT surveillance should apply only during dialing. Either the phone wasn't working for TT or the phone company was doing something illegal, even in California. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu P.S. Personal plea: please include your name and internet address at the bottom of articles in this newsgroup: the way that my system deals with a moderated group makes it difficult for me to reply to messages here without this info (otherwise all my replies go back to Patrick). That's why the attribution of the quote above is incomplete, also. ------------------------------ From: Steven King Subject: Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 Date: 14 Jun 90 21:27:38 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <8920@accuvax.nwu.edu> HAMER524@ruby.vcu.edu (Robert M. Hamer) writes: >Having recently had a cordless phone die, and after asking the Digest >what might be the problem, and after having decided that the NiCad >Battery was the problem, I went looking for a replacement. It is a >Panasonic cordless phone, and used a 3.6v 270 mA replacement. The >original battery is flat, and consists of three cells, each about the >size of a very thick quarter, shrink-wrapped together in a pyramid >fashion. I had a similar problem with my Uniden phone. The battery pack consisted of what sounds like the same pyramid configuration of cells. I couldn't find a replacement, but I *did* find a ni-cad battery at Radio Shack that I could modify. The Radio Shack battery was also three circular cells, but stacked rather than arranged adjacent to each other. I ended up cutting the sheath off the stack of cells and soldering jumpers across their contacts. Works great! Now my only problem is lots and lots of RF noise around my apartment, but that's another story... It strikes me that the Radio Shack battery cost considerably less than the $12 Robert Hamer reports, but I could be having a memory lapse. Steve King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king) ------------------------------ From: "Adam J. Ashby" Subject: Re: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa Date: 14 Jun 90 21:41:32 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL mb@sparrms.ists.ca (Mike Bell) writes: >OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: >>course, I have verified that it works. Using a BT extension socket, I >pulse dial phones differ (most of the UK is pulse dial only) and US ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Most of the UK is both tone and pulse dialling (tone dialling is free!) and is increasingly digital due to aggressive System X and System Y replacement. In my opinion, BT offer a far superior telephone service than I experience here in Illinois, even though they don't (yet) offer all those wonderfully use(less)(ful) features that we have here. Adam ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 14:57:36 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: My List of World Wide Codes Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <8597@accuvax.nwu.edu> rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) writes: >Four years ago, my San Jose directory had 3.5 pages of listings for >country/city codes. Why chop the list??? Well, the plot thickens. I just got my new June, 1990, directory the other day, and they have a much longer list. Countries returning to existence (in Pac*Bell's infinite wisdom) include Sweden, Senegal, Argentina, Fiji, and Tasmania. There are several more city codes listed for some of the larger countries. Go figure. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: Henry Troup Subject: Re: Canada Direct Date: 14 Jun 90 16:50:28 GMT Reply-To: Henry Troup Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. In article <8877@accuvax.nwu.edu> kgdykes@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ken Dykes) writes: >Well, I keep hearing about USA Direct and wondered why I hadn't heard >of a similar Canadian service ... Well I just heard of it - not through >my phone company but through my Royal Bank Visa newsletter! (If I, on the other hand, heard of it through an insert in my phone bill last July - just in time of a very short notice trip to the U.K. Bill shuffler malfunction? or premature decision that it was junk? Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 or HWT@BNR.CA ------------------------------ From: Henry Troup Subject: Re: Experiences With Spirit and Meridian Phone Systems Date: 14 Jun 90 17:01:19 GMT Reply-To: Henry Troup Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. Warning: I work for a subsidiary of Northern Telecom, but this is not an official statement. One must be careful to qualify which 'Meridian' NT product one is talking about. The word 'Meridian' is now applied from the smallest SL-1 (100 lines ?) to the full blown SL-100 (potentially 100,000 lines). Norstar is a recent small PBX, very technically advanced, with much attention to user interface and self-configuration (really!). It does voice and data, using an 'ISDN-like' 2B+D channel structure. I'm afraid I can't find an office in Iceland. Henry Troup BNR owns but does not share my opinions. ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 or HWT@BNR.CA ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 90 21:13:50 EDT From: "Peter G. Capek" Subject: Re: Information Needed About New York Teleport In issue 432 of the Digest, Jane Fraser asks for information about New York Teleport. New York Teleport is on Staten Island (an island whose presence creates the Arthur Kill, receptor of almost daily oil spills). It is basically a site with multiple satellite antennas and facilities (fiber, I think) for getting data to and from other parts of New York, but primarily the financial district in Manhattan. I believe the major partner is the Port of New York Authority. There are two listings in the Manhattan phone book which seem related: Teleport Communications, 5 Teleport Drive, Staten Island 718 983-2000 Teleport Communications Ny, 2 World Trade Center, NY 718 983-2000 Hope that helps you. If you find out something interesting, let us know in the Digest. Peter Capek IBM Research -- Yorktown Heights, NY 914-784-5027 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 10:01:37 gmt From: paolo prandoni 274128 Subject: Solution Needed: Phones Ring When Dialing Here in italy (intentional lowercase) touch tone dialing seems more than far from being known. So I have a little problem : in different rooms of my house I have some telephones parallel connected; pulse dialing causes all the telephones but the one being used to ring in a practically undistinguishable way from incoming-call ringing. The problem is a matter of late days, when the phone company changed the heavy mechanical phones with electronic ones. The old ringers were actually too heavy to be moved by the low voltage pulses that occour in dialing. Can anybody give me some advice to avoid this nuisance ? Thanks in advance, Paolo Prandoni. pran@deipd1.unipd.it ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #435 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa23672; 16 Jun 90 4:06 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa20574; 16 Jun 90 2:15 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa00767; 16 Jun 90 1:11 CDT Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 0:14:37 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #436 BCC: Message-ID: <9006160014.ab18084@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 16 Jun 90 00:14:10 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 436 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers [Eric Varsanyi] Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers [Max Southall] Re: Choosing No Long Distance Carrier (was: I Have no LDC) [Dean Sirakides] Re: Interesting Statistics [Edward Greenberg] Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call [H. Troup] Re: 800 Service and Their Local Phone Numbers [John Stanley] Re: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? [Roy Smith] Re: Using "#" As a Timeout [Carl Moore] Identifying Switches [Henry Troup] Two NYC Central Offices [Carl Moore] Letters On Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective [David E. A. Wilson] Answer Call Service and the Secret Service :-) [Rich Zellich] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric Varsanyi Subject: Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers Date: 15 Jun 90 21:33:16 GMT Organization: Cray Computer Corporation In article <8963@accuvax.nwu.edu> brewer@anarky.enet.dec.com (John Brewer) writes: >Wouldn't it be easier to tell the public that the mode of >transmission is not secure? When I signed up for Cellular One in the Colorado Springs area (Front Range) they made me initial next to a paragraph in two separate agreements (one for the service package and one to just protect themselves apparently) that stated cellular communications were not secure and 'commercially available scanners' could listen in. They also mentioned that it was illegal for the person listening to get any benefit or tell anyone else what they heard. On another note: This month (my first with them) they changed policies and now charge from the time you hit SpEND until END. Previously they started charging when supervision was returned. Their justification was that 'this is a standrard industry practice'... Is it? Eric Varsanyi (ewv@craycos.com) Cray Computer Corporation ------------------------------ From: Max Southall Subject: Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 22:35:44 GMT In article <8962@accuvax.nwu.edu> Tom Perrine writes: >>Although Bell Cellular is targetting the defence and national >>security market, the scrambling unit has not yet been certified that >>it meets the rigid Tempest standards set by the U.S. National Security >>Agency. Only equipment that meets the Tempest standards set by the top >>secret communications spy agency can be used by NATO governments to >>communicate classified military and intelligence information. >NSA is the agency charged with (among other things :-) ensuring the >security of U.S. gov't and related communications. No encryption >I find it almost impossible to believe that NSA is going to approve a >box that they didn't design, and which was designed and manufactured >outside the US. Certain Canadian companies are participating in Tempest, through an agreement between the NSA and the Canadian Security Establishment. As well, NSA-sponsored encryption chips are available for design-in into both U.S. and Canadian projects, producing "STU-III" type products, which meet the appropriate Canadian and U.S. agency approvals. As well as Canada being a NATO partner of the U.S. and America's only Free Trade partner, the Canadian and U.S. military forces are closely linked under NORAD command, as well as their foreign policies. There are also certain close-to-the-vest agreements in other areas ... (STU-III ??? "Secure Telephone Unit" ... :-) ) %% Dru Nelson %% Miami, FL %% Internet: dnelson@mthvax.cs.miami.edu %% ------------------------------ From: Dean Sirakides Subject: Re: Choosing No Long Distance Carrier (was: I Have no LDC) Date: 15 Jun 90 14:09:00 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <8173@accuvax.nwu.edu> brian@apt.bungi.com (Brian Litzinger) writes: >Well, the PacBell representative I spoke with disagrees. He said that >I must choose a default long distance carrier. He even showed my the >form he was filling out, and under long distance carriers was: AT&T, >MCI, Sprint ... However, None, was nowhere to be found. There wasn't >even a blank line or other field. I've signed up for service through Illinois Bell on two separate occasions. The first time was about three years ago. The account rep asked all the usual questions about features and packages (one of which was unmeasured service!) and then came to the "time to choose your default LD carrier". She claimed AT&T would be the "simple" choice because the billing would be combined. In any case, she said I must choose a carrier. I've recently (~4 wks) set up service again. This time when we reached the LD question I got a different response. The rep said she could not sign me up for a carrier. What she did do was read me a list of the "biggies" and offered me the 800 number of which ever company I wanted. Consequently, since I have a hoard of calling cards, I have no default LD carrier. P.S. The set up cost me $55 and I was given three available numbers to choose from (I was told only business lines can request numbers). I was also asked during the feature questions "if I had the phones with the buttons or the dial!!!" Dean Sirakides | Motorola Cellular Group ...uunet!motcid!sirakide | Arlington Heights, IL Of course I speak for myself, not my employer... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 10:05 PDT From: Edward_Greenberg@cso.3mail.3com.com Subject: Re: Interesting Statistics Scot Shaffer writes about the percent of unlisted residence telephones in various cities. He goes on to write that people with unlisted numbers were surveyed as to why they have such numbers. I want to know how they contacted the holders of unlisted numbers for the survey :-) -edg edg@cso.3mail.3com.com ------------------------------ From: Henry Troup Subject: Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call Date: 15 Jun 90 14:46:38 GMT Reply-To: Henry Troup Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. In article <8958@accuvax.nwu.edu> "John Slater writes: >All the switch has to do is delay passing control onto an >international switch until it has received sufficient digits to check >that the call really needs it. Why should it be any more complicated >than that? Eventually, it shouldn't be more complicated than that. However, as late as last August, some parts of the U.K. still had routing codes, not area codes. A routing code is a 'context-dependent' code: the London routing code for Dundee, Scotland is 382. The London routing code for St. Andrews is 396 (?). But you dial a totally different code to call St. Andrews from Dundee. The Tayside Region phone book has an amazing number of tables of what to dial from _where_you_are_ to _where_you_want_to_call. I assume that this means the Scottish switches are old crossbar and SxS, with no smarts soever to translate anything. Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 or HWT@BNR.CA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 09:39:33 EDT From: John Stanley Subject: Re: 800 Service and Their Local Phone Numbers Recently, from coplex!dannie@uunet.uu.net (Dannie Gregoire): >I understand that for each 800 line that exists there is a >corresponding local (7 digit) number for it. Is this true? If it is, >can the "local" number be used for incomming local calls without >charge (Normally you cannot call a "local" 800 number)? There usually is such a number. How it is used depends on the 800 service provider, it seems. While we had an 800 number from AT&T, it had a secret local number that was supposed to be for test purposes only. I was told by the installer that gave me the number (perhaps not the best source, but A source) that billing was based on traffic through that number and calling it locally would cost just like a normal 800 number call. This was when the incoming line was a dedicated wire just for the 800 number. When we moved our 800 service to MCI, they asked us for the number to have calls come in on. In all other regards, this is a normal line, with its own number, just like any other line NYTel provides us. If we wished, we could have our 800 calls come in on our main, published line, and we could have all our 800 calls hunt up through the sequence just like other calls. Since we want to have some way of identifying who is calling in on the 800 number, we have had those calls come in on a separate number that then hunts to the main number when busy. In short, the MCI 800 service can be thought of as: 800 number call is carried on MCI net to a Syracuse MCI office, MCI office picks up a phone and dials the Syracuse number we told them to dial, and connects the 800 call to that. AT&T needed to have a pair in their office to connect the 800 call to, which NYTel just happened to also assign a number to, and AT&T asked NYTel for the billing info. AT&T may have changed the system in the last two years -- it was that long ago we used them. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jun 90 11:33:43 EDT From: Roy Smith Subject: Re: Does This Feature Exist in a Telephone? Organization: Public Health Research Institute, New York City Darwin C. Weyh writes: > I'd like to have a speaker phone that she could answer without going > over to the device. If it could be voice activated or if I could > enter a secured code to have the phone answer itself. I think our AT&T System-25 can do that. If you have a HFAI-10 (10-line Hands Free Auto Intercom, I think) on your desk, your secretary can call you and you can answer without touching the instrument. I'm pretty sure this can only be activated from specially programmed phones (i.e. your secretaries, but not from an outside line). I would imagine there are HFAI-5's as well. I believe (but am not at all sure about this) that the System-25 instruments are interchangable with Merlin sets. This stuff is all intended for small businesses, and may be out of reasonable price ranges for home use. Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 9:51:32 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Using "#" As a Timeout DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) wrote: > C&P Tel in New Castle, DE (I think...) C&P does not serve Delaware. Delaware comes under Diamond State/Bell of Pa. C&P serves Md./DC/Va./W.Va. He also wrote: > " Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check > the number, and dial again. [NPA from where you are calling from]-2T". From Delaware, which is area 302, I have gotten area code 215 inserted in messages like this. ------------------------------ From: Henry Troup Subject: Identifying Switches Date: 15 Jun 90 14:30:35 GMT Reply-To: Henry Troup Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ltd. In article <8903@accuvax.nwu.edu> DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu) (DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) writes: >I still can't tell what sort of electronic switch it is just by >hearing the busy/ring signals (ie, to distinguish between a DMS-100 >and 200, for example), That's because the DMS-100 and 200 use the same tone generators, etc. The product line includes 100, 100/200 combined, 200, and access tandem. (Plus DMS-250, 300, and MTX). 100 is local, 200 is toll, essentially. I've never been totally clear on the _hardware_ difference between a 100 and a 200. I don't think there is any. Each of the above products is available with two generations of CPU - NT40 and SuperNode (tm), a 68020/30/40 version. Then there are the peripherals - the original series, probably not supported on SuperNode, and the XPM series, themselves 68020 based, on both NT-40 and SuperNode. Watch the press for more announcements that will complicate this even more! Henry Troup - BNR owns but does not share my opinions ..uunet!bnrgate!hwt%bwdlh490 or HWT@BNR.CA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 17:42:54 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Two NYC Central Offices In response to a note I saw in TELECOM Digestregarding NPA-xxx-9901 in NYC, I tried 212-601-9901 and found it was the Kingbridge exchange with prefixes 601,543,548,549,796,884. I also tried, in response to same note, 212-578-9901 and got this list, not necessarily in this order: 578,689,779,545,889,220,251,447,469,458. (I located 578 as zone 1 in notes that were printed in 1976, and I see that 779,545,251,447, 469, and 458 replace what is now in area 718, judging from the zone numbers in those 1976 notes, which have 220 as zone 3, Bronx. That leaves 689 and 889 as the only other prefixes in this group in zone 1.) ------------------------------ From: David E A Wilson Subject: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective Date: 15 Jun 90 03:48:22 GMT Organization: Dept of Computer Science, University of Wollongong, Australia In Australia, our Telecom supplied phones do not have letters on the dial so we do not have companies using words as phone numbers. I thought that we must never have had letters on our dials. This turns out to be untrue. Yesterday I dropped in at the local library and had a look through the old telephone books (I only looked at 1960's & 70's). Back in the early 60's we did have letters on our dials - and in a pattern I have not seen mentioned before. The layout was as follows [1 = 1 pulse, 0 = 10 pulses]: 1 = A 2 = B 3 = F 4 = J 5 = L 6 = M 7 = U 8 = W 9 = X 0 = Y Has this scheme been used anywhere else in the world? Why were these particular letters chosen? In the Wollongong exchange district in 1961, only five out of fifteen exchanges were automatic. The Wollongong exchange had five digit numbers with the first digit represented by the letter from the above table. Other exchanges had either three or five digit numbers for the automatic exchanges or one to three digit mixed length numbers on the manual exchanges. Some of the manual exchanges had numbers like 436-D & 436-U (at a guess a party line) and one had 52-S. My favourite was the Dunmore exchange - one digit numbers and four subscribers. By the early 70's the letters had gone and Wollongong was converted to six digit numbers by about 1973 [we still have six digit numbers but I have heard we may need to go to seven digits in the not to distant future]. It is quite astounding to see the growth that has occured in my lifetime - in 1961 the phone book covered an area now in six books about twice the size and thickness of the 1961 issue. The biggest growth is in the Yellow Pages - the 1990 edition has 264 white & 760 yellow pages. The old books even had instructions on how to dial - a skill some Americans have lost since the introduction of push button phones a previous poster noted. David Wilson Dept Comp Sci, Uni of Wollongong, Australia ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 10:59:11 CDT From: Rich Zellich Subject: Answer Call Service and the Secret Service :-) Gee, if drug dealers and phone phreaks and computer crackers start using CO-supported voice mailbox features, do you suppose the Secret Service will confiscate the CO computers during their raids? ;-) [Moderator's Note: Of course not, silly! That's because telcos, like Compuserve and GEnie -- to name but two -- have high-priced mouthpieces working for them. Get yourself a good solicitor and you can do or say what you please also, and be as sassy as you like. I mean, don't all BBS operators have high-powered corporate solicitors in-house, just like IBM, MCI, or Cellular One to protect them when something goes wrong? :( PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #436 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa13121; 16 Jun 90 13:45 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa06296; 16 Jun 90 11:19 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12618; 16 Jun 90 10:16 CDT Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 9:31:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #437 BCC: Message-ID: <9006160931.ab04518@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 16 Jun 90 09:30:49 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 437 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson GSM: Group Special Mobile or Global Standard Mobile? [John R. Covert] Rochester Tel to Offer Blocking of Caller ID [Curtis E. Reid] Re: Caller*ID Random Thought [Michael Fetzer] Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [Isaac Rabinovitch] New York City xxx-9901 Numbers [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: 800 Service and Their Local Phone Numbers [John Higdon] Re: Very Long Distance Email ... a Question [Donald E. Kimberlin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 13:30:30 PDT From: "John R. Covert 15-Jun-1990 1626" Subject: GSM: Group Special Mobile or Global Standard Mobile? The Pan-European digital cellular system being planned for implementation over the next five years has the acronym "GSM". In Digest V10#435, Kolkka Olavi claims this stands for Global System Mobile, which is also what I used to think it stood for, but only because it seemed logical, not because I had ever seen that in print. In an article I posted recently, I referred to it as Group Special Mobile, based on an article published in the Swiss PTT's technical journal which I recently read. Who's right? Kolkka or the Swiss PTT? BTW, both Kolkka and I are not happy with the fact that the U.S. will not be implementing a compatible digital cellular standard that would have allowed U.S. <--> Europe roaming. However, it may be that GSM doesn't have characteristics that the telcos here think are critical. Certainly it is not compatible with AMPS, which would mean that dual-mode phones would be much more difficult to implement. It would probably also mean that hybrid systems, part digital and part analog, could not be operated. As far as I know, the European PTTs are not planning any sort of easy phaseover from the existing networks to GSM. /john ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 15:32 EST From: "Curtis E. Reid" Subject: Rochester Tel to Offer Blocking of Caller ID Article from DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE, Rochester, New York, Friday, June 15, 1990, page 10D: ROCHESTER TEL TO OFFER BLOCKING OF CALLER ID By Phil Ebersole, Democrat and Chronicle Rochester Telephone Corp., in an important concession to critics of its proposed Caller ID service, said it's willing to provide Caller ID blocking, but only on a per-call basis.... ....Requiring callers to dial a code to block a call, Rochester Tel staff members argue, would: * Prevent blocking of numbers in emergency calls to fires, police, ambulance and other emergency services. Caller ID would be important if the caller is a child, a non-English speaker or someone with speech or hearing impairment. * Allow people being called to know when a caller is someone intentionally making an anonymous call, and not just and old friend with an unlisted number. Rochester Tel is test-marketing the service in Perinton, currently the only part of the New York state where the service is available.... ....Richard Kessel, chairman of the New York Consumer Protection Board, yesterday asked the Public Service Commission to prohibit Caller ID except by telephone companies who provide both "general blocking" and "selective blocking." With "general blocking," the number never would be revealed except when calling emergency numbers. With "selective blocking," callers could use a dialing code to control when their numbers are revealed.... ....Rochester Tel staff, in a position paper dated June 1, said critics of Caller ID are confused about the meaning of privacy. It's the person being called whose privacy is intruded upon, the staff said.... ....Research indicates that 65 percent of Rochester Tel's customers a year receive annoyance calls -- ranging from threats and obscene calls to children's pranks.... ....Rochester Tel's proposal is that phone numbers be blocked only if callers punch *67 on push-button phones or dial 1167 on rotary phones. New Jersey experienced a 49 percent drop in annoyance calls following introduction of Caller ID, Rochester Tel staff said.... ....Another issue for Rochester Tel is cost. In Perinton, the company offered both line (general) blocking and per-call (selective) blocking. About 525 of the 10,500 Perinton residents asked for general blocking, and blocked more than 17,000 calls a week. The rest -- 95 percent of Perinton subscribers -- blocked only 10 calls a week.... ....Told of Rochester Tel's position, Kessel said he's pleased the company recognizes the need for some sort of blocking service, particularly since Rochester Tel is "the guinea pig of New York state" in testing this service. He said there's still a need for public hearings on Caller ID to explore this issue. ------------------------------ From: rider@pnet12.cts.com (Michael Fetzer) Subject: Re: Caller*ID Random Thought Date: 15 Jun 90 07:48:14 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet12], Del Mar, CA [Moderator's Note: The original poster suggested using 900-based loop arounds to avoid detection. PT] [poster talks about his method of defeating Caller ID] I hate to bust your bubble, but they already have 900 services to do just that. UUCP: ucsd!serene!pnet12!rider or ucsd!mfetzer ARPA: crash!pnet12!rider@nosc.mil INET: rider@pnet12.cts.com or mfetzer@ucsd.edu BITNET: fetzerm@sdsc ------------------------------ From: Isaac Rabinovitch Subject: Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls Date: 14 Jun 90 18:32:03 GMT Organization: Netcom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 241-9760} In <8928@accuvax.nwu.edu> covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert) writes: >I'm not sure why John Higdon thinks that Caller ID would be more >effective than other SS7 services in preventing his 3AM phone calls. >Call Trace would allow him to take legal action against the caller. Very often, such callers aren't breaking any laws, just being thoughtless. There's a certain very popular motel which is responsible for most of my wrong numbers; it's easy to transform their number into mine if you reverse two digits and/or confuse a scribbled seven with a scribble nine. What's especially vexing is that this motel (private jacuzzis, oversized beds; you know the kind of place) attracts some very flaky people who keep dialing my number over and over, sometimes abusing me for asking them to dial more carefully, more often hanging up as soon as I answer; in both cases, they often call me again *immediately*. I often wish I had some way of communicating my frustration at these people. Another time I used to get a lot of calls meant for a Stanford student who had my number before me. This guy had quite an enviable social life, judging from some of the messages left on my answering machine -- too bad I couldn't return some of the more interesting calls. ------------------------------ Date: 16-JUN-1990 03:39:28.55 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: New York City xxx-9901 Numbers In response to Carl Moore's posting about 212/718 (and 516 and lower 914) exchanges "identifying" themselves by dialing xxx-9901... Try calling 718-855/643/403/(+ others) -9901. It used to say all the exchanges in the Bridge Street (Brooklyn) 5ESS. Now all it says is "You have reached the Bridge Street #5 ESS, now including the 403 code...". Great, if I were working for NY Tel I'd really want to know that it "now" includes the 403 code! What about the other 7 exchanges?!? Oh, and this only seems to work on NY Tel's NYC Region DMSs and 5ESSs. If you dial xxx-9901 on older systems (Crossbar, 1/1AESS, Step-by-Step (are there any left?)), you get a computer telling you the area code and the exchange you had dialed. (IE, 7-1-8-6-4-3.) Sounds like the 958 ANA (?) voice to me. In case anyone cares, here are some 99xx "suffixes" that 'work' in NY: 9901- (see above) 9902- sometimes like 9901 9907- 600 ohm terminator (or something like that...it just picks up the phone and hangs ... someone told me that 9907/9908 used to be loops). 9908- ?? See above. Loop with 9907 in some cases. 9941- repair office, used in some exchanges (611 in NYC/Long Island and 1-890- 6611 gets the same thing is Westchester). 9950- Business office in some exchanges 9951-9969- Standard recordings, such as "The call you have made requires a 25 cent [10 cent in NY Tel's CT service area] deposit.." Try 718-520-9960. 9970- Busy (also works in North Jersey, and upstate NY, like Ithaca and 607- 257 Xbar exchange) 9971- Reorder. More prevalent on the Xbars, but a few older ESSs give a reorder on -9971. Also works occasionally in North Jersey (201). Finally, does anyone know what a "DS-0" switch is? (Try 516-724-9901.) Is a DS-0 some sort of DMS?? If you are calling long distance, calls to 9901 RECORDINGS (ie, DMS 5ESSs) don't bill/return supervision, while calls to the older Xbars and 1/1AESSs usually do bill. Of course, you can just use MCI and not worry about it - they'll bill you in any case! :-) Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu / @wesleyan.bitnet (...and the rest on my LOCAL entourage know how to reach me! :-) ) ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: 800 Service and Their Local Phone Numbers Date: 16 Jun 90 02:21:14 PDT (Sat) From: John Higdon John Stanley writes: > While we had an 800 number from AT&T, it had a secret local number > that was supposed to be for test purposes only. I was told by the > installer that gave me the number (perhaps not the best source, but A > source) that billing was based on traffic through that number and > calling it locally would cost just like a normal 800 number call. First off, getting the POTS number for a standard 800 service is no problem. Your local telco business office will give it to you as well as AT&T (or whoever your 800 provider is). Calling that number using the local POTS assignment will not, repeat not, bill as an 800 call. The calls are ticketed in a number of different ways, none of them including metering the incoming calls to the POTS. I have a traditional AT&T 800 number. I know the POTS (Pac*Bell gave it to me) number. A call directed to the 800 number is billed at one of four rates, depending on location of the caller and time of day. If the billing was based on simple usage of the POTS, how would the point of origin be determined? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: Under the now less common billing system where WATS lines were in 'bands', the incoming local number detirmined which 'band' should have the charge, for the purpose of minutes/hours of time accumulated on that 'band'. An hour of time on Band 1, for example, cost less than an hour of time on Band 4. So someone dialing one of the local numbers would cause the associated WATS 'band' to register a few minutes of use, despite the fact that the call did not really get routed in from long distance. Now with virtually everyone using simply the equivilent of the old Band 5 (national coverage) in a 'Hotline' (as AT&T calls the service) kind of configuration, it no longer matters. Twenty years ago, breakdown of WATS calls both in and out by 'band' was very common. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 8:36:00 CDT From: Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: Re: Very Long Distance Email ... a Question In Digest Vol.10, Iss.434, Riddlebarger writes: >One of our employees is about to embark on a fairly long [roughly six >months] stint in Europe.... >... Should I try to find a foreign server for him, and forward his mail > back and forth? Should I investigate one of the commercial mail > carriers like attmail, again with a local forward from our site? Or > is direct dial likely to be an acceptable alternative given the > time-frame and expected volume? Anticipating there will be a significant volume to transfer, and that it will be daily (or perhaps even several times daily), batching the files will certainly result in the least on-line time. In particular, you should compress that files to cut that time in about half (at least for text files and such compressible stuff) ... provided you get one of the newer compression programs, not the old, original .ARC that some mini makers now peddle. Get .PAK or .ZIP, or any other you can find that uses the Ziv-Lempel compression algorithm. With that, you can figure the daily minutes of use as half the time you'd use otherwise..making allowance that your correspondent will have some time hanging on to get started and wind up with you. If you want to use dial-up, be sure to transfer the batched file with a powerful error-correcting algorithm that "streams," like ZMODEM. Now, each of the commercial E-Mail carriers has offerings of access deals back to the States via the national packet network of the country, but as in telephony, the arangements can be beaurocratic and sometimes quite expensive. You can send your correspondent off with a 2400bps "hayes-type" modem, because its modulation plan is actually CCITT V.26ter, and it will com- municate either direct to you or to European modems that meet V.26ter or V.22bis. These are just the CCITT way of saying "full duplex 2400 or 1200 bps." Where the bureaucracy builds is in the electric interface spec to the local dial-up phone line, and if you get into conversation with the PTT of the country, objections that the "foreign-made modem" isn't good enough are (at least until 1992) rather likely. (This despite the fact that MANY of the modems supplied in Europe are from U.S. factories, with nothing but a special label that shows the PTT"s engineers found it OK.) To attempt an answer to this, MCIMail promotes a Swiss-based device called the "Worldmodem." It's a VERY expensive piece of hardware that has agreements for a number of nations and a rather expensive plug-in you also buy to make it work ... you kind of rent its use in addition to buying it. What's nice about it is that the plug-ins are the PTT- authorized "modular plug" for each nation. For people traveling from nation to nation, this is rather nice. Hotels even have them to rent casually (at a VERY high rate) in some nations. If you can find a cooperating partner with a local server that's with- in local flat-rate calling range, then maters might be eased and cheaper for you to avoid the transatlantic batching. But if your European nation is a fully-metered one (like Germany), watch out for the local phone bill! Whatever you do, send your person off with a bit of Radio Shack modular extender receptacles (the kind used to plug two phone cors together) a couple of spade lug-ended short modular cords and some alligator clips, plus a couple of screwdrivers. That way, when and while the bureaucracy is confusing the matter wiht all sorts of delays to getting in business, your person can indulge in a little simple "phreaking" that will find you can just clip onto an analog phone line (Oh, be SURE to dial PULSE only ... no tone dialing!) and get through till the smoke clears. For all the great talk promised, many people find some "phreaking" is needed if you really mean to get through ... at least for a while. If you can find a local correspondent with a server, they usually can find someone local who's quite adept at "getting things done," by some "phreaking" or otherwise. But send you person hardware-equipped, as the largest signle problem can be getting the matching U.S. modular plugs amd cords for the modem connections. (Sometimes there are minor advantages if you travel to underdeveloped nations. There, you just get a hookup of whatever you brought and you blast away. Those nations have neither the people to police nor the office to harass you.) If you want to go off using the "prepared packet-access offering" of one of the U.S. E-Mail carriers, fine, but it risks not getting up as fast as you're led to believe and costing you quite a bit. Just like here, the "advice" of local Telco "experts" `is often confusing and contradictory ... and almost certainly expensive! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #437 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa23861; 16 Jun 90 18:48 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa22244; 16 Jun 90 17:22 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa19030; 16 Jun 90 16:19 CDT Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 16:16:29 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #438 BCC: Message-ID: <9006161616.ab12718@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 16 Jun 90 16:15:56 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 438 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [John R. Covert] Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 [Patricia O'connor] Re: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective [Isaac Rabinovitch] Re: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective [Peter da Silva] Re: Interesting Statistics [Peter Weiss] Re: Information Needed About New York Teleport [Donald E. Kimberlin] Re: Answer Call Service and the Secret Service :-) [Marc T. Kaufman] How Do I Find Back Issues of the Digest? [Dan Lanciani] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 08:09:01 PDT From: "John R. Covert 16-Jun-1990 1054" Subject: Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls >Can you suggest a way, preferably cost effective, to use Incoming Call >Block on, say, all but 87 numbers listed in the "business" section of >the white pages of any medium-sized city? The basic problem with any sort of denial list is that it is always only marginally effective. Caller ID won't help, either. Even if the CD-ROM telephone directory were only a dollar-three-ninety-eight, and you hooked your caller ID box up to your PC and didn't make your phone even ring for any of the listed numbers, it wouldn't stop the telemarketing calls, since they don't come from the listed numbers. Even if you feed the number of each telephone solicitor that calls you into your PC database, the chances of the next call from that telephone solicitor coming from the same line, when the solicitor has anywhere from 10-200 lines, is rather low. And what if a family member is injured at a store, and the store tries to call you, and you've decided not to take those calls? Caller ID, by collecting phone numbers, will only make the telemarketing problem worse. The only defense against telemarketers is to try to get legislation passed which prevents it. Here in Massachusetts, we at least don't get any of the automated calls -- every telemarketing call I get asks for me by name. Oregon requires telemarketers, even those calling manually, to obey a "no solicitation" entry in the phone book, and prohibits calls to unlisted numbers. Florida has recently started prosecution of an out-of-state company that made telemarketing calls to Florida. Until then, you can try to hit them in their pocketbook. So far I have only been successful in charging the New York Times $1.25 (through rebate on my subscription) for the actual cost of a call which was forwarded to my cellular phone. The next time they won't get off that easily. The problem is tougher when you don't have an account with a company, such as the Middlesex News (see attached letter). I'm a member of Private Citizen, and I also am serving the more annoying telemarketers notice that they must cease and desist: 30 May 1990 Mrs. Paula Bubello Director of Telemarketing The Middlesex News 33 New York Avenue Framingham, Massachusetts 01701 Dear Mrs. Bubello: In the eleven years I have lived in Acton, I have received numerous telemarketing calls from the Middlesex News. Each time I have asked the telemarketer to please arrange for the Middlesex News to never call me again. Yet the calls keep coming. I pay New England Telephone for residential telephone service for my own purposes, and I allow my number to be listed so that people who know me but do not know my number may find it out and call me. I also pay New England Telephone for call forwarding service and pay NYNEX Mobile Communications for mobile telephone service so that I can receive desired calls when I am not at home. I do not wish to be called by telemarketers, especially by companies such as The Middlesex News which continue to call repeatedly after I have told them to cease and desist. This letter documents, in writing, my request for The Middlesex News to permanently remove me from any and all telemarketing lists, and to never call again. Should my request be ignored, I am serving notice that I will bill you for the actual cost of any call forwarding or mobile telephone call that results when you call my home telephone number. In addition, I will bill you a service charge of between $20 and $100 for processing your call. Should you fail to pay my bill when rendered, I will consider that call and any future calls from The Middlesex News to be telephone harrassment and will take appropriate legal action. Sincerely, John R. Covert ------------------------------ From: Patricia O'connor Subject: Re: Replacement Battery for AT&T 4400 Date: 15 Jun 90 10:11:58 GMT Organization: FidoNet node 1:125/555 - Late Night Software, San Francisco CA Hi Curt, From what I've been able to determine, the 4400 has a battery pack that is soldered in place (ie not intended to be replaced by end users). However, the replacement price is fairly reasonable. AT&T will replace the pack for $18.75. You pay to ship to them. They pay return postage. No RMA number is required. There are two centers that do this, one for the East coast and one for the West. In the East, contact: CATT 80 Peilbet District Road New Milford, CT 06776 800-344-6145 In the West, contact: Mann Products 4344 Lawndale Lyons, IL 60534 800-445-3563 The downside is that turnaround is about two weeks. PatiO MacCircles 1:161/555 Patricia O'connor - via FidoNet node 1:125/777 UUCP: ...!sun!hoptoad!fidogate!555!Patricia.O'connor INTERNET: Patricia.O'connor@f555.n125.z1.FIDONET.ORG ------------------------------ From: Isaac Rabinovitch Subject: Re: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective Date: 16 Jun 90 16:30:02 GMT Organization: minimal In <8992@accuvax.nwu.edu> david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) writes: >Yesterday I dropped in at the local library and had a look through the >old telephone books (I only looked at 1960's & 70's). Back in the >early 60's we did have letters on our dials - and in a pattern I have >not seen mentioned before. The layout was as follows [1 = 1 pulse, 0 = >10 pulses]: > 1 = A 2 = B 3 = F 4 = J 5 = L > 6 = M 7 = U 8 = W 9 = X 0 = Y >Has this scheme been used anywhere else in the world? Why were these >particular letters chosen? It might help to look at phone numbers in newspaper ads from the period. In th US, those letters are a hangover from a time when exchanges had names rather than numeric prefixes (or, as now, a "prefix space"). When I was a kid, back in the 50s, the local prefix was always given as "Valley-2", not "822". I dimly recall that before that the prefix was only important to long-distance calls (locals could get a number just by dialing the last 4 digits), when you would have to call the operator and say "I want a Valley number." I *do* remember the Bell System (remember them?) doing a lot of propaganda to get people to stop using the exchange names. That weird configuration (not that both T and E are missing, those being the most frequent consonant and vowel respectively) suggests to me that those letters had were *not* meant as abbreviations for English names. >In the Wollongong exchange district in 1961, only five out of fifteen >exchanges were automatic. The Wollongong exchange had five digit >numbers with the first digit represented by the letter from the above >table. Other exchanges had either three or five digit numbers for the >automatic exchanges or one to three digit mixed length numbers on the >manual exchanges. Some of the manual exchanges had numbers like 436-D >& 436-U (at a guess a party line) and one had 52-S. Here's a guess: at one time Australia allowed phone companies to compete to provided local service. The letters were the initials of the particular phone company. After they went to a regulated monopoly system, the old system was kept for a while so people wouldn't have to change their numbers -- much as New York subway lines are still identified by the long-defunct private companies that once ran them. ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 17:43:56 GMT In article <8992@accuvax.nwu.edu> david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) writes: > 1 = A 2 = B 3 = F 4 = J 5 = L > 6 = M 7 = U 8 = W 9 = X 0 = Y I remember that. In Vaucluse our exchange was 37, and a few places still referred to numbers like "FU-2386". This was dropped when we went to 3-digit exchanges (by doubling the first digit, I think. Anyway, we became 337). This never occurred to me as weird, and I'd completely forgotten about it until you brought it up. Peter da Silva. `-_-' +1 713 274 5180. ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Saturday, 16 Jun 1990 06:57:56 EDT From: Peter Weiss Subject: Re: Interesting Statistics In article <8985@accuvax.nwu.edu>, Edward_Greenberg@cso.3mail.3com.com says: >I want to know how they contacted the holders of unlisted numbers for >the survey :-) I wonder if they got a Reverse Telephone Directory and called all the numbers of NOT listed? Peter M. Weiss | pmw1@psuvm or @vm.psu.edu 31 Shields Bldg (the AIS people) | University Park, PA USA 16802 | Disclaimer -* +* applies herein ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 8:38:21 CDT From: Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: Re: Information Needed About New York Teleport Further to Fraser's inquiry and Capek's reply in issue 434: >In issue 432 of the Digest, Jane Fraser asks for information about New >York Teleport (Capek writes): >New York Teleport is on Staten Island... I believe the major partner >is the Port of New York Authority. The situation has become quite complex at Teleport-NY. It started out as a neat investment in "telecommunications" by Merrill-Lynch, who originally built most of the whole shebang. Then M-L found out that getting access to Manhattan and customers was darned expensive and not of the quality expected. (Staten Island is primarily residential and amazingly "remote" in a telephone network sense from Manhattan, so the phone network wasn't really built for the demands of business and things like lots of rented T-1 span lines.) So, M-L expanded the Teleport charter to renting right-of-way in NYC subway train tunnels for fiber cable of their own, to provide digital facilities of top grade. (I suspect that M-L is one of its own best clients, of course, and got an immediate demand from themselves.) Anyhow, the satellite space segment business is a *hard* place to make a buck, and M-L sold the satellite operating portion to Contel/ASC, but remained the landlord. Real estate is business financial types know how to make a buck from, of course. And, M-L's Teleport found out there were plenty of bucks to be made on the fiber they had planted underground ... not just to get to the Teleport, but around town. That spurred them on to get into the "alternate local carrier" business in about twenty major cities around the nation. So, you'll see Teleport Communications (the M-L subsidiary) emerging in those ciities, offering local fiber in the business area, in competition with Metropolitan Fiber Optics (which had its start in the abandoned railway tunnels of our kind Moderator's toddling home town, Chicago), was acquired by Peter Kiewit & Sons, the contractor that planted many miles of fiber nationwide, and last, but not least, the local Telco of each city. Just to have something to watch, Kiewit's MFO is leading efforts to force local Telcos to interconnect their plant with "Alternative Access Carriers." Watch the news on that. Local Telco monopoly? Not for as long as you might think! Final note: The very *day* that MFO opened up in San Francisco, PacBell cut its local dedicated circuit rates by 40%. Local Telco monopoly, you say? Only for dial tone ... and maybe not for long there, either! In addition to the MFO and Teleport national moves, there are some local Alternate Access Carriers in cities around the country, keeping a low profile, but doing their thing quietly. The Telco response is typically silent, but construction costs in most cities are really so ridiculously low for fiber and rights-of-way are *not* that difficult to find for the knowledgeable that they aren't going away. Local Telco monopoly, you say? Only for dial tone, and maybe not for that long, either! ------------------------------ From: "Marc T. Kaufman" Subject: Re: Answer Call Service and the Secret Service :-) Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 16:26:23 GMT In article <8993@accuvax.nwu.edu> zellich@stl-07sima.army.mil (Rich Zellich) writes: >Gee, if drug dealers and phone phreaks and computer crackers start >using CO-supported voice mailbox features, do you suppose the Secret >Service will confiscate the CO computers during their raids? ;-) >[Moderator's Note: Of course not, silly! That's because telcos, like >Compuserve and GEnie -- to name but two -- have high-priced >mouthpieces working for them. Actually, I think its more straightforward than that. While browsing through my copy of 47 CFR I noticed that telephone and telegraph companies are required to retain toll records and copies of telegraph messages for a minimum period of six months, and that there are established procedures for obtaining those records and messages. In the case of a private BBS, there is no such requirement (well, that depends on how you read ECPA), and the only established procedure for obtaining copies seems to be: confiscate the equipment :-(. I think the key here is the fact that telcos are controlled to a large extent by the FCC, and so can be expected to cooperate. Even if we can succeed in obtaining a presumption of privacy for electronic messages, I think we will still have problems -- because of RICO (all those BBS users in the aggregate become a conspiracy under the Racketeering law). It's time to lobby for congressional action -- but I for one am unable to come up with suitable wording for a proposed law. Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu) [Moderator's Note: What you say about telco record retention and 'expectation of cooperation' is a very good point. So where does that leave Compuserve, IBM, and other non-telco organizations such as answering services with voicemail setups, etc? Why, back with the high-powered attornies, of course, the kind of people who have as much dirt on the federal prosecutor and federal judge as the former has on their hapless client. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 90 23:20:29 EDT From: Dan Lanciani Subject: How Do I Find Back Issues of the Digest? In re: Running Two Phone Lines in One Cable I heard that there was a discussion in telecom about this that I somehow missed. How can I get the appropriate back issues? Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.* [Moderator's Note: This is typical of requests I receive frequently. Anyone on the Internet with ftp authorization can 'ftp lcs.mit.edu' to review the Telecom Archives. After anonymous login, then you must 'cd telecom-archives'. If you are not on the Internet, then you must use the Archives mail server instead. Letters would be sent to the address 'bitftp@pucc.bitnet (Bitnet users only) or to the address 'bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu' for anyone else. When using this method, list the FTP commands in upper case down the left margin, followed by their arguments. For a complete help file on this method, write to the above address and put the word HELP in upper case at the left margin of the first line. *No other text on that line or elsewhere*. You will get back a comprehensive help file. When it arrives, I suggest you make your first pull from the Archives the file 'index.to.archives'. In the meantime, perhaps the authors of the articles in particular will contact this reader to answer questions. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #438 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa26434; 17 Jun 90 12:55 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa17721; 17 Jun 90 11:27 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa16810; 17 Jun 90 10:23 CDT Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 9:43:01 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #439 BCC: Message-ID: <9006170943.ab03718@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 17 Jun 90 09:42:46 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 439 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson AT&T Card Mixup [Gregory M. Paris] Cellular Phone Billing Practices [Jay Maynard] The Survey Results [TELECOM Moderator] Letters on Phone Dials Around the World (Was: Australia) [Dik T. Winter] Mechanical Hunting Devices [Ernest Billingsley] Caller ID and Canada [Marcel D. Mongeon] Reference Sources Needed [Tom DeBoni] Re: Tollfree Number Serves Continental US and Two Provinces [M. Mongeon] Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line [R. Kevin Oberman] Re: So Long, LATA? [Donald E. Kimberlin] Re: So Long, LATA? [David Tamkin] Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 [Howard Chu] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 12:35:52 -0400 From: "Gregory M. Paris" Subject: AT&T Card Mixup An unusual piece of mail arrived at our home yesterday: an AT&T Card. Not so odd, except that we didn't ask for one (my wife, Esther, already has an AT&T Card for this number) and that the card has on it the name of a person we'd never heard of before. The envelope was addressed to me and inside was a little note saying, "While in the process of fulfilling your order we experienced a slight delay!" It goes on to say that an "update and correction to the mailing address" was needed. Lo and behold, when I look at the card with my name and address on it, I see that it has been corrected by use of a stick-on mailing label. Underneath that is the name and address of the person listed on the card! I, being afflicted with a mild case of phonaphobia (and laziness), waited for Esther to get home and take care of the matter. She called the given 800 number and pressed a bunch of touch tones, apparently navigating a menu system, and finally spoke with a human (or convincing simulacrum). After several minutes, she was assured that we are safe from having our account billed by the person listed on the card and then rang off. We speculated on how this mixup came to pass; the voice on the phone had put forth no plausible explanations (or explanations of any kind, for that matter). My spouse insisted that it had to be some kind of typo. I couldn't imagine how, since my name and address are nothing like those of other person -- one huge typo, if you ask me. Perhaps Esther's instincts are better than mine. She looked up the other person in the Providence white pages (yes, after eleven months, NYNEX finally graced us with a copy). Can you guess? The other person's phone number is different from ours by a single digit. Greg Paris {uiucdcs,uunet}!rayssd!gmp ------------------------------ From: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Subject: Cellular Phone Billing Practices Reply-To: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Organization: Confederate Microsystems, League City, TX Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 19:07:24 GMT In article <8982@accuvax.nwu.edu> boulder!pikes!craycos.com!ewv (Eric Varsanyi) writes: >On another note: This month (my first with them) they changed policies >and now charge from the time you hit SpEND until END. Previously they >started charging when supervision was returned. Their justification >was that 'this is a standrard industry practice'... Is it? I suspect that it may become a standard industry practice, but, at least in Houston, GTE Mobilnet charges from either the time the phone is answered or the tenth ring (probably == 1 minute) until END. I can understand why they'd want to charge from off-hook until on-hook, though, as you're still using a channel during the time the phone is ringing, and it is a charge for airtime. Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL jay@splut.conmicro.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 17:06:38 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: The Survey Results About a month ago, I posed some survey questions for you. As some readers pointed out, the results were flawed because of the methodology, so we started all over again in V 10 #424, June 9. Now I have the results a second time, and hopefully these will be more meaningingful. The questions had to do with cracking and phreaking: 1) Have you made one or more phraud phone calls in the past six months? 2) Have you broken into a computer or gained unlawful access to a computer in the past six months? You were asked to flip a coin: One way, answer the above questions honestly; the other way, toss the coin a second and third time to detirmine your answers. If a second a third flip were required, then the questions were given yes or no answers, depending on the coin toss. We received about the same number of replies this time as last. 570 this time versus 636 earlier. The responses were different this time, as to be expected, but the majority were still no-no! Here is the breakdown, NOT adjusted for the coin toss -- just the raw data. Apply your own formulas in interpreting it: 84 (14.7 %) answered YES to both questions. Have cracked, have phreaked in the past six months, at least one time. 72 (12.6 %) answered YES they had phreaked, but NO they had not cracked in the past six months. 78 (13.7 %) answered NO they had not phreaked, but YES, they had cracked in the past six months. 336 (58.9 %) answered NO to both questions. Have not cracked or phreaked in the past six months. So, about 59 % of you don't do these things, and about 41 % of you indulge occasionally, or more often in one or both activities. One person wrote me to argue about definitions, such as what did I mean by 'unlawful access' or 'breaking into a computer'. I put him down for yes-yes. All individual responses have been erased from my disks. I no longer have any record of the individual responses. Thanks to everyone who participated. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: "Dik T. Winter" Subject: Letters on Phone Dials Around the World (Was: Australia) Date: 16 Jun 90 23:42:22 GMT Organization: CWI, Amsterdam In article <8992@accuvax.nwu.edu> david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) writes: > Yesterday I dropped in at the local library and had a look through the > old telephone books (I only looked at 1960's & 70's). Back in the > early 60's we did have letters on our dials - and in a pattern I have > not seen mentioned before. The layout was as follows [1 = 1 pulse, 0 = > 10 pulses]: > 1 = A 2 = B 3 = F 4 = J 5 = L > 6 = M 7 = U 8 = W 9 = X 0 = Y Perhaps it is time for a retransmission of something I did post a few years ago (where Australia can now be added): Digit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 North America ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PRS TUV WXY UK and France ABC DEF GHI JKL MN PRS TUV WXY OQ Danmark C ABD EFG HIK LMN OPR STU VXY (1) Germany A B C D E F G H J K Czocheslovakia A B C F H J K L M R Sovjet Union A V B G D E ZH I K L Notes: (1) In Danmark, 9 is associated with a-umlaut and o-bar. (2) I have a photograph of an American telephone where 0 is marked: Z Operator 0 (3) The German telephones skip I, possibly because in older times German did not distinguish upper case I and J. (4) In the Netherlands the German layout was used. The reason was that German telephones were used, the letters have never really been used here. (5) In most (all?) European countries the use of letters has faded out. (6) The Sovjet-Union layout is of course a transcription. Does anybody know of other layouts? dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland dik@cwi.nl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 11:55:53 EDT From: Ernest Billingsley Subject: Mechanical Hunting Devices A friend of mine recently brought his BBS online, Comquest (313) 729-6628 in Detroit if you're interested. To support this he has had eight phone lines installed in his home with circular, I assume, hunting. Now the circular hunting is a feature with a monthly charge and what he was wondering is there a device he can install in his home that will forward on busy? I told him I'd ask in the Digest. After all, what are friends for? [Moderator's Note: If I understand correctly, your friend wants to do his own hunting from line to line rather than have the CO do it. I don't think there is any such thing outside the CO. After all, if the CO returned a busy signal to the caller, how would that call ever reach him so that he could forward it to another of his lines? Or am I missing something here? PT] ------------------------------ From: root@joymrmn.UUCP (Marcel D. Mongeon) Subject: Caller ID and Bell Canada Date: 17 Jun 90 00:47:07 GMT Organization: The Joymarmon Group Inc. Recently, the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission, approved the filing by Bell Canada for a Caller ID tariff. However, in reading the tariff, there was one disturbing factor, the feature would *NOT* be available for incoming PBX trunks. Is there any technical reason for this? These are normal hunt trunks. Nothing fancy like DID. Is there a political reason for this? My greatest need of Caller ID is to interface a hotel reservations system with the Caller ID to come up with the particular callers file and to verify the number given with the reservation to establish how valid the reservation is. Not to make it available on PBX trunks would seem to eliminate the largest user of the service. ||| Marcel D. Mongeon ||| e-mail: ... (uunet, maccs)!joymrmn!root or ||| joymrmn!marcelm ------------------------------ From: deboni@diego.llnl.gov (Tom DeBoni) Subject: Reference Sources Needed Date: 15 Jun 90 18:43:19 GMT Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory I need references. My colleagues and I have been arguing, and it's clear that even though we are all reasonably informed and even erudite computerists and EEers, we really don't have all the facts. What we need is one or more books that describe in detail (1) the telephone system as it now stands in North America at least, (2) modem technology and modulation techniques in use by modems today and in the near future, (3) ISDN and other future service upgrades and bandwidth expansions planned for home and commercial use, (4) cellular telephony and radio datacomm systems in use, and (5) a list OF other references to such stuff as standards definitions, tutorials and introductory texts, and industry-specific methods. A tall order, and any info will be appreciated. Reply to me by email, and I'll collect and summarize the results to this newsgroup. Thanks! Tom DeBoni (deboni@diego.llnl.gov) ------------------------------ From: root@joymrmn.UUCP (Marcel D. Mongeon) Subject: Re: Tollfree Number Serves Continental US and Two Provinces Date: 17 Jun 90 00:39:58 GMT Reply-To: root@joymrmn.UUCP (Marcel D. Mongeon) Organization: The Joymarmon Group Inc. In article <8895@accuvax.nwu.edu> cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >I have seen a tollfree number listed as working from continental U.S. >AND from the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. (The specific >number: 800-225-TRIP, for Kentucky travel info.) Nothing special about this. There are lots of 800 numbers that cross the US Canadian border. Here in Canada, a US 800 number is provided by dealing with the local member telephone company of Telecom Canada (Sort of like what ATT used to be in the days of monopolies) who then deals with ATT. The number from the states actually comes in on a separate line but haves the same telephone number. Also, the US service can be bought in different bands based on distance from the US-Canada connection point. On 800 numbers into the states, a number of companies have made deals with the Canadian carriers to put through their calls. MCI and Sprint are two that I know about. ||| Marcel D. Mongeon ||| e-mail: ... (uunet, maccs)!joymrmn!root or ||| joymrmn!marcelm ------------------------------ From: oberman@rogue.llnl.gov Subject: Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line Date: 14 Jun 90 19:18:38 GMT In article <8618@accuvax.nwu.edu>, ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Tad Cook) writes: > WHAT is Bell Colorado??? I have heard of the old Mountain Bell (now > US West) but never Bell Colorado. Is it a non-US firm? There is no Bell Colorado. the agreement was with US West. I have heard some reports that it may be killed because the Dept. of Commerce may block the technology export. Then the Soviets WILL buy from a non-US firm. R. Kevin Oberman Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Internet: oberman@icdc.llnl.gov (415) 422-6955 Disclaimer: Don't take this too seriously. I just like to improve my typing and probably don't really know anything useful about anything. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 8:40:00 CDT From: Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: Re: So Long, LATA? In Digest v10, iss434, Jongsma writes: >I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but the term LATA is >rapidly disappearing from use. The local phone books no longer refer >to it, instead using the words "Local Serving Area". >Not that I'm sad to see it go! I always thought it was rather >pretentious. Sorry to disappoint you, Ken, but LATA is not going away. It is and remains the "official" name of an area that has access points to the big outside world of interstate common carriers. The term 'Local Serving Area" is a subdivision of a LATA, usually caused by the presence of a "little guy" Independent Telco that gets its connections to the "outside world" of interstate communications via the nearby "big guy" (usually Bell) Telco. The "Local Serving Area" should be found to be the territory of within which no toll charges are applied for a "local" rated phone call. Another case may exist when a LATA crossed a state line (much more common than some Digest participants seemed to have thought a while back. My current example: Mississippi has incursions of LATAs from other states at 5 points on its boundaries; places where historically a telephone exchange from a town in the neighboring state had grown into MS years ago. Similarly, the Alabama/Georgia border has LATA incursions across state lines. So, dislike the term LATA as much as you may, it still exists and is different than a Local Serving Area. Sorry! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 90 12:35 EST From: David Tamkin <0004261818@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: So Long, LATA? Ken Jongsma wrote in volume 10, issue 434: |I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but the term LATA is rapidly |disappearing from use. The local phone books no longer refer to it, |instead using the words "Local Serving Area". Are you sure that's what "local serving area" meant? Around here "local serving area" means a single telco's satrapy. MSA is a synonym for LATA, but I don't remember what it stands for. David Tamkin P. O. Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 +1 708 518 6769 MCI Mail: 426-1818 CIS: 73720,1570 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN +1 312 693 0591 ------------------------------ From: Howard Chu Subject: Re: RJ45 vs RJ11 Organization: University of Michigan Math Dept., Ann Arbor Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 12:50:54 GMT In article <8765@accuvax.nwu.edu> julian@bongo.uucp (Julian Macassey) writes: >Under some circumstances you can run RS-232 type sigs on a >RJ25C. In fact DEC do I believe, and I have clients that run serial >printers and serial terminals on RJ25 set ups. I think DEC uses these on their LK201 keyboards, to link the keyboard to the terminal. The Atari Mega-ST uses a similar cable to link the keyboard to the computer. Both of these keyboards communicate using RS232 signals. The ST keyboard communicates at 7.8kbps, I don't know what the LK201 runs at. Howard Chu @ University of Michigan ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #439 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa13265; 18 Jun 90 10:07 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa15264; 18 Jun 90 8:34 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa29050; 18 Jun 90 7:29 CDT Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 6:43:02 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #440 BCC: Message-ID: <9006180643.ab17795@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 18 Jun 90 06:42:34 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 440 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: The Survey Results [David A. Lyons] Re: The Survey Results [Peter Weiss] Re: The Survey Results [Mark Seiden] Re: The Survey Results [David Barts] Re: Solution Needed: Phones Ring When Dialing [Julian Macassey] Re: GSM: Group Special Mobile or Global Standard Mobile? [Markku Kolkka] Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line [sovamcccp@cdp.uucp] Re: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa [John Slater] Defeating the 95n Restrictions on PBXs [Steve Huff] Number Plea-uhs... [Mark C. Lowe] AT&T Telstar Call Control Unit [Arthur J. Riedlinger] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David A. Lyons" Subject: Re: The Survey Results Date: 18 Jun 90 04:25:55 GMT Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA In article <9013@accuvax.nwu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >Here is the breakdown, NOT adjusted for the coin toss -- just the raw data. >Apply your own formulas in interpreting it: >84 (14.7 %) answered YES to both questions. Have cracked, have > phreaked in the past six months, at least one time. >72 (12.6 %) answered YES they had phreaked, but NO they had not > cracked in the past six months. >78 (13.7 %) answered NO they had not phreaked, but YES, they had > cracked in the past six months. >336 (58.9 %) answered NO to both questions. Have not cracked or > phreaked in the past six months. >So, about 59 % of you don't do these things, and about 41 % of you >indulge occasionally, or more often in one or both activities. I don't mean to sound negative, but NO! I'm no statistician, but I CAN demonstrate that the 59%/41% figure is a way-wrong interpretation: For the sake of argument, let's assume all the honest answers are No. The results we would expect, are 75% No and 25% Yes, for each question. That would be 6.3% Yes/Yes, 18.8% Yes/No, 18.8% No/Yes, and 56.2% No/No. (That's .25*.25, .25*.75, .75*.25, and .75*.75.) Doesn't resemble 100% No/No much, does it? So let's actually account for the coin tossing and see what comes out. Taking your original numbers, and assuming half of the people were honest and the other half gave coin-toss answers, there should be 285 coin-toss answers randomly distributed through the four possibilities (Yes/Yes, Yes/No, No/Yes, No/No), or 285/4 = 71.25 random responses. Cracking + phreaking: 84 - 71 = 13 = 4.5% Cracking + no phreaking: 78 - 71 = 7 = 2.4% No cracking + phreaking: 72 - 71 = 1 = 0.4% No cracking + no phreaking: 336 - 71 = 265 = 92.7% I conclude that almost 93% of the respondents have not gained unlawful access to a computer or made a fraudulent phone call in the past six months. David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc. | DAL Systems Apple II Developer Technical Support | P.O. Box 875 America Online: Dave Lyons | Cupertino, CA 95015-0875 GEnie: D.LYONS2 or DAVE.LYONS CompuServe: 72177,3233 Internet/BITNET: dlyons@apple.com UUCP: ...!ames!apple!dlyons My opinions are my own, not Apple's. ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Sunday, 17 Jun 1990 16:54:13 EDT From: Peter Weiss Subject: Re: The Survey Results In article <9013@accuvax.nwu.edu>, telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) says: >All individual responses have been erased from my disks. I no longer >have any record of the individual responses. That's what Ollie North said. How do you know it is still not readable? Peter M. Weiss | pmw1@psuvm or @vm.psu.edu 31 Shields Bldg (the AIS people) | University Park, PA USA 16802 | Disclaimer -* +* applies herein [Moderator's Note: I don't know anything for sure except that I pay my taxes each year and some day I will die. I erased it here, and even if it were readable after someone went to the trouble of restoring the data, what would it prove? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 23:31:25 EDT From: Mark Seiden Subject: Re: The Survey Results Perhaps a more interesting question (for your next survey) is whether people have phreaked/cracked in the last *seven years* (or whatever the statute of limitations is on such activities)... Should we draw the conclusion that almost half of us (your readers) are criminals? I wonder what productive use can be made of your results? By the way I would be surprised if there weren't quite a bit of negative bias in the your results, despite the coin-flip because anyone with any combination of intelligence and paranoia (most of us, today) would find it remarkably stupid to provide something written as probable cause for law enforcement to come a searchin', as they seem wont to do... ("oh no, officer, the coin just came out that way...") ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 20:45:25 pdt From: David Barts Subject: Re: The Survey Results The Moderator writes: -> We know that as the number of coin tosses increases, the likelyhood is -> that there will be an even number of heads/tails come up. So, we can -> take the number of answers received, *assume that half were answering -> the relevant questions and disgard half the results, evenly from all -> possible answer groups*, getting some idea of how many of you are -> naughty, and how many are nice. -> A better way of handling the survey, aiming for the highest possible -> number of accurate answers while still allowing a relative anomynity -> in posting would have been to ask but the first set of questions -- -> the relevant ones -- with the condition that if the coin toss was -> heads, answer the questions accurately. If the coin toss was tails, -> then flip the coin twice more: (1) heads/tails = yes/no on phraud calls; -> then (2) heads/tails = yes/no on computer cracking. In either event, -> do not reveal the coin toss -- simply send along your answers. Bzzzt. Suppose, for sake of argument, everything happens exactly as you want it. You collect all your replies (exactly 50% lies and 50% true answers), and throw out half of them. You *still* have 50% lies and 50% true answers -- your set of answers now consists of 50% of the of the original answers, and half of them (25% of the original) are lies, the rest (another 25% of the original) are the truth. n! There are ---------- ways to pick half the questions, and only 2 * (n/2)! one of them has all the right answers (and unless you're psychic you don't know which set to pick). Half have more right answers than the original set and half have less. David Barts Pacer Corporation, Bothell, WA davidb@pacer.uucp ...!uunet!pilchuck!pacer!davidb ------------------------------ From: Julian Macassey Subject: Re: Solution Needed: Phones Ring When Dialing Date: 18 Jun 90 03:34:58 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood California U.S.A. In article <8972@accuvax.nwu.edu>, pran@deipd1.unipd.it (paolo prandoni 274128) writes: > Here in italy (intentional lowercase) touch tone dialing seems more > than far from being known. So I have a little problem : in different > rooms of my house I have some telephones parallel connected; pulse > dialing causes all the telephones but the one being used to ring in a > practically undistinguishable way from incoming-call ringing. The > problem is a matter of late days, when the phone company changed the > heavy mechanical phones with electronic ones. The old ringers were > actually too heavy to be moved by the low voltage pulses that occour > in dialing. Can anybody give me some advice to avoid this nuisance ? What you have here is Bell Tap (Bell Tinkle in the UK). First of all the pulse caused by dialing or flashing the hookswitch often approaches 300V, the ringing voltage is normally about 90V. The old ringers (Gong Ringers) were no doubt tuned or wired so as not respond to dial pulses. I seem to recall, that one Italian solution to bell tap on gong ringers was to install a diode (1Amp @ 1 KV) to clip the positive wave of the dial pulse. As I recall, Italian phones have hookswitch contacts that disconnect the ringer when the unit is offhook. So the phone being dialed will not bell tap. As I also recall, Italy used to have regulations that prohibited more than one instrument being usable at one time. Crummy ringers will bell tap. The best solution is to build or buy decent ringers and use those. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 [Moderator's Note: On the subject of 'Bell Tap', I am reminded that years ago a tavern/lunch counter located next door to one of the central offices here, which was patronized heavily by telco employees at lunch and after-hours was called the Bell Tap. It was downtown, near the Franklin CO. I guess that isn't what you had in mind. :) PT] ------------------------------ From: Kolkka Markku Olavi Subject: Re: GSM: Group Special Mobile or Global Standard Mobile? Reply-To: Kolkka Markku Olavi Organization: Tampere University of Technology, Finland Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 06:43:53 GMT In article <8994@accuvax.nwu.edu> covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert 15-Jun-1990 1626) writes: >The Pan-European digital cellular system being planned for >implementation over the next five years has the acronym "GSM". >In Digest V10#435, Kolkka Olavi claims this stands for Global System >Mobile, which is also what I used to think it stood for, but only >because it seemed logical, not because I had ever seen that in print. >In an article I posted recently, I referred to it as Group Special >Mobile, based on an article published in the Swiss PTT's technical >journal which I recently read. The story goes like this: The Group Special Mobile (actually the name is in French, but the initials are same) was formed to create a standard digital mobile phone system. At that time nobody bothered to think what the system would be called, so everybody started referring to it as the GSM system. Later somebody noticed that calling a phone system after the committee isn't really sensible, but the use of the acronym GSM was so widespread that they kept it but invented a new "explanation". Global System Mobile is now the official name of the phone system being developed by the Group Special Mobile. >Who's right? Kolkka or the Swiss PTT? Both of us. I think "Global System Mobile" became official only recently. PS. My first name is Markku. Markku Kolkka mk59200@tut.fi ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 01:47:54 -0700 From: sovamcccp@cdp.uucp Subject: Re: TSL - Trans-Sovietic Line The Department of Defense already killed this project. Sorry... See article in NY Times for details. Andrei ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: US Phones in the UK and Vice Versa Date: 18 Jun 90 09:30:26 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <8967@accuvax.nwu.edu>, motcid!ashbya@uunet.uu.net (Adam J. Ashby) writes: >>OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: >>pulse dial phones differ (most of the UK is pulse dial only) and US ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >Most of the UK is both tone and pulse dialling (tone dialling is >free!) and is increasingly digital due to aggressive System X and >System Y replacement. I dispute the word "most", this month at least. It's true that BT is modernizing the entire network very rapidly, but my guess is that they're not half-way yet. I'm happy to be corrected on this if anyone has concrete figures. Part of the problem is that demand for phone service is growing so fast (I heard 8 percent per year) that BT is having to take old Strowger exchanges out of mothballs to keep up. It's worth noting that three years ago virtually nowhere in the UK had tone dialling (apart from office PABX systems, and even they had to pulse to the outside world). John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick office ------------------------------ From: "Steve Huff, U. of Kansas, Lawrence" Subject: Defeating the 95n Restrictions on PBXs Date: 17 Jun 90 14:44:21 CDT Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services Is there any way to defeat the 9nn restriction on some business telephones? For example, our AT&T system restricts all calls that begin with a 95. Although I agree with the reason (to prevent 900 #s being dialed), it is expensive when I am forced to use the 800 line for calling card calls. Thanks. Steve Huff Internet: HUFF@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu EmCon: K1TR or KW02 Bitnet: HUFF@ukanvax.BITNET UUNet: uunet!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!HUFF@uunet.UU.NET Snail: P.O. Box 1225, Lawrence, KS 66044-8225 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 17:52 CDT From: RDW2030@tamvenus.bitnet Subject: Number Plea-uhs... The other day... I called the local GTE to get the number disconnected at the old apartment we just vacated. I talked to a lady whose phone-side manner was so mechanical... so robotical! SO NON_HUMANICAL! It was SCARY! I'm very serious! She sounded precisely like a recording, only she was interacting like no recording could. Adding to the effect is what I would assume was a VOX headset she was using. Everytime she talked, the background noise would kick in, making it sound oddly like many digitally sampled words strung together into sentences. Not only did she talk perfectly, but she was perfectly NICE! Everything was said so ultra-friendly. Everything was a compliment. She was amazingly charming. She was a PROFESSIONAL OPERATOR! I felt very unusual when I got off the phone, like I had really been conversing with some beyond-fourth-generation AI program. It was sooooo eerie!! But it gave me a feel for the way it most certainly will be some day. Can you all just imagine it? Operators will be androids like Commander Data, if they even feel the need to give them a human form. Has this ever happened to you??? TELL US YOUR CYBERNETIC TELEPHONE EXPERIENCE! On another note, where did the traditional operator heavy-New England accent stereotype come from? I know it's been around longer than Lily Tomlin. It's in ALL the movies from the 30's and the 40's and more recently. Any clues? NUMBER PLEA-UHS... Mark C. Lowe - KB5III ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 20:49:37 EDT From: "Arthur J Riedlinger, Iii" Subject: AT&T Telstar Call Control Unit Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories About five years ago I purchased an AT&T Telstar Call Control System, manufactured by American Bell Consumer Products, and it has been working perfectly with four regular phones attached to the jacks. I recently purchased a Northwestern Bell Excursion Sport II cordless phone and connected into an unused jack. All the regular phones ring on an incoming call, the cordless base or remote unit do not ring in the installed jack or when interchanged with other phones, which work where the cordless unit was installed. The cordless base and remote both ring when interchanged with a single phone installed in another residence. I suspect that the AT&T unit cannot handle the cordless phone but AT&T does not have any information on the Telstar unit, which has been discontinued. I have the owners manual for the Telstar unit, but it doesn't have any restrictive operating notes. Does anyone have the installation information or know who I can contact regarding the technical specifications on this unit? Art Riedlinger AT&T Network Cable Systems - Atlanta Works (404) 447-2477 (w) email akguc!ajr3 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #440 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa04237; 19 Jun 90 4:16 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa29090; 19 Jun 90 2:45 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa05173; 19 Jun 90 1:41 CDT Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 0:46:08 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #441 BCC: Message-ID: <9006190046.ab20094@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 19 Jun 90 00:45:32 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 441 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson 0015 "Faxlink" Service From Australia [Jim Breen] MCI Long Distance Service [David Dodell] More Eastern European News [Hank Nussbacher] Cellular Multiplexing and Cellular Modems [Dannie Gregoire] RJ45, RS232, LK201, MMJ - Acronymania [Jerry Leichter] Information Needed: Panasonic KT2445BE [Nigel Roberts] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [David Lewis] Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [Donald E. Kimberlin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim Breen Subject: 0015 "Faxlink" Service From Australia Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 02:00:18 GMT Some weeks ago I listed the international access codes from Australia, and mentioned 0015 for "echo free" (I forget my actual words). A few people mailed me some questions, so I thought I had better get the facts straight before I replied. 0015 is the access code for the "Faxlink" service, which is recommended for people making fax (and presumably data) calls out of Australia. It is the same price as the normal IDD calls placed using the 0011 code. The following information has been supplied by OTC (Overseas Telecommunications Corporation), Australia's international carrier. "When dialling 0015, The Faxlink access code, the call will attempt to access a data grade circuit and avoid DCME (compression equipment) as a first option. To some destinations, routing is via 64kb channels. OTC is currently negotiating bi-lateral agreements with various overseas carriers to handle fax traffic to Australia in a similar manner." "If access to 0015 is unavailable, a call will automatically be redirected to the 0011 selection sequence, utilizing cable and satellite, both of which have extensive compression equipment.....". A question for the network: do other countries have a similar service? If so is it the same price as for IDD calls? _______ Jim Breen (jwb@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au) Dept of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East VIC 3145 Australia O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (ph) +61 3 573 2552 (fax) +61 3 573 2748 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jun 90 21:00:05 mst From: David Dodell Subject: MCI Long Distance Service Due to some changes in the hospital, there is a good chance we might be changing our modem phone number to be part of the hospital PBX as a OPX (Off-Premise Exchange) ... this will save about $35 month initially in local service, plus we will then have full access to the capabilities of the hospital switch. At present, we are running a foreign exchange line that gives us downtown Phoenix access. Couple of questions: (1) The switch is digital ... does this make a difference to high speed modems? (2) The hospital has a T-1 circuit for their long distance access to MCI. While they are renegotiating new contracts for long distance carrier, does anyone else use MCI for the modem connects? We need something that will handle 19,200 connections (we average 17,000 baud to the coasts) and I understand this will increase with the V42 upgrade to my dual hst/v32. (3) The PBX gives us new capabilities, like a voice mail box (I wonder what the nodelist flag for that one is? ), busy forward, forced forward (helpful if we crash to forward our mail to someone else), etc. Feedback appreciated! David St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona uucp: {gatech, ames, rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell Bitnet: ATW1H @ ASUACAD FidoNet=> 1:114/15 Internet: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org FAX: +1 (602) 451-1165 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 15:23:33 P From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: More Eastern European News East Germany: Alcatel Sel has signed an agreement with East Germany to supply 14 System 12s, for 34,000 local lines and a digital exchange for long distance calling (12,000 lines). Hungary: At the beginning of 1990, the Hungarian Ministry of Communications split into 3 organizations: telecommunications, postal and customer services. The telecommunications company is now called B.H.G. and has signed joined agreements with Northern Telecom. BHG intends to supply 400,000 lines per year to the public. Alcatel Sel has signed an agreement with Videotu, a Hungarian company, creating a new company called Videoton-Sel Telecommunication and it intends to supply System 12 switches for 300,000 lines by 1992. SEL was only allowed to provide navagational and airport technology to Hungary due to Cocom regulations. This has now been changed. Samsung has also signed a joint agreement with the Hungarian telecommunications company Orion. Depending on the way things progress, Samsung intends to increase its production in Hungary especially since it has just signed a agreement with Poland for $50 million. The current waiting time in Budapest for a phone is thirteen years and the national average is twelve phone lines per 100 people. Celluar phones are also coming to East Europe. A USA company and the Hungarian Postal organzation have signed an agreement for the development of a celluar phone network. It will be analog and run at 450Mhz. The USA company is a partnership with PCN (Personal Communication Network), a British consortium. The recent Cocom meeting in May released 39 different technologies from being restricted. Among them are X.25 technology, PBXs using Signaling System 7, optical cables and lasers. Hank Nussbacher Israel ------------------------------ From: Dannie Gregoire Subject: Cellular Multiplexing and Cellular Modems Date: 18 Jun 90 14:10:05 GMT Organization: Copper Electronics Inc.; Louisville, Ky I recently read that most cellular phone systems are wanting to go digital in the next year or so. They expect to be able to multiplex 10 times the number of calls per channel. My question is, what effect will this change have on portable data communication equipment. The company I work for is possibly looking to become a distributor for such equipment, and this new development may have an effect on that. \\-------------------\\ \\ Dannie Gregoire \\ \\ (dannie@coplex) \\ \\-------------------\\ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 12:58:46 EDT From: Jerry Leichter Subject: RJ45, RS232, LK201, MMJ - Acronymania Howard Chu comments that DEC LK201 keyboards are connected using RS232 over a standard RJ45-style connector. This is true; as I recall, the connection runs at 2400 baud. However, it is worth noting that what is sent over the line is NOT ASCII codes - keys are identified by a standard position encoding and there are additional codes as well - e.g., up-down state encoding. RJ45 connecters are used, but the keyboard cable is NOT a standard phone cable. Standard phone cable doesn't contain any wire - it is formed from foil. Keyboard cable is made of real wire and has a larger effective gauge. Since the keyboard draws power over the wire to run its embedded 8051, this is significant - the voltage drop through standard phone cable may be too large to allow the keyboard to function reliably. I've also heard tales that just the wrong combination of a phone cable and "lucky" circumstances could start a fire: After a short in the keyboard, because of the higher-resistance cable just enough current gets drawn to heat things up, not enough to trigger the protective circuits in the power supply. Recent LK201's draw much less power use lower-power circuitry and will probably work with almost any kind of cable. DEC also uses a scheme called "DECconnect", based on the MMJ, or Modified Modular Jack. This has replaced the old 25-pin D connector, and its many smaller variations, as the standard DEC RS232 (well, really -422 or something like that these days - the new, improved version) connector. The "Modified" part means the shape is different (the little handle is place assymetrically) so that you can't plug your terminal into a phone line by accident, or use a telephone cable to interconnect stuff. -- Jerry ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 08:10:59 PDT From: Nigel Roberts 0860 578600 <"iosg::robertsn"@iosg.enet.dec.com> Subject: Informantion Needed: Panasonic Model KT2445BE The time came last week when we just HAD to retire our superannuated _Binatone_ answering machine. It was one of the first on the market that could be bought rather than rented. It was so old it had the old style GPO tip & ring jack plug (It used to cost us 50 pence a year or something like that to rent the socket) and a Post Office (pre-B.A.B.T) approval number. It is still going strong, by the way; we donated it to a friend. Its replacement is the all-singing, all dancing, hot&cold running water Panasonic KT-2445BE (U.K. model). I'm very impressed with it, and really pleased with its performance. It's got the first effective speakerphone I've ever used. But there are a couple of annoying little features :- o That 'beep' every 15 seconds when recording calls. From what I remember, U.K. law says you have the right to record your own phone calls, and there's nothing requiring that beep. How can I switch the damn thing off? o The maximum ring delay is only 4 rings. Anyone know a modification to make this 8 rings or so?? (Apart from turning the machine off which gives a delay of 20 rings) o The volume of the synthesised voice is a little low on the line and on recorded messages. Does anyone know how to turn it up (I presume there's a preset pot somewhere, but not having a service manual I don't want to twiddle around at random.) Any other users of this or similar machines got any useful hints? Regards, Nigel Roberts Tel: +44 206 396610 (home/office) +44 734 856905 (work) +44 206 393148 (fax) +44 860 578600 (Cellnet) ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB Date: 18 Jun 90 14:10:10 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article <8647@accuvax.nwu.edu>, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: > In article <8544@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: > >> 4) How the local telco got a waiver to give long distance service ... > >It's not really "Long Distance" service... > Au contraire, to the best of my knowledge it has never been a local > call from New Jersey to New York across the Hudson nor from New Jersey > to Philadelphia across the Delaware... > My recollection is that the telephone networks across the two rivers > were such a logistical nightmare that it was technically infeasable to > partition them and route all the traffic to LD carriers between the > time the Bell breakup was announced and the time it became effective. (Note -- even though I work for Bellcore, this post should in no way be considered to be an "official" interpretation (or even, for that matter, a legal interpretation) of the MFJ or of the policies or positions of Bellcore or any of its owners. I ain't no lawyer.) The MFJ Court granted a couple of "'limited corridor' exceptions" to "preserve traditional direct BOC interstate serving arrangements. These exceptions called for BOC-to-BOC, inter-LATA trunking between (NYC & North NJ, and South NJ & Philly)" The way I read this is that NJBell and NYTel on the one hand, and NJBell and Bell of PA on the other hand, had direct trunking arrangements which didn't pass through AT&T Long Lines (pre-divestiture). At divestiture, it was either technically infeasible or economically 'not in the public interest' to partition these between the three BOC in two Regional Companies and AT&T -- like, maybe, the necessary additional facilities to continue providing the same service would have required a significant investment on the part of all four companies. (Opinion only.) (Direct quotes taken from Bellcore TR-NPL-000275 Issue 1, April 1986, Notes on the BOC Intra-Lata Networks -- 1986) David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center) "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 21:58 EST From: "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Responding to: Jim Anderson , <8329@accuvax.nwu.edu> henry@garp.mit.edu Opening the thread, Henry wrote: >In the next two weeks, Boston Gas Company will be in your neighborhood >to install a new meter reading system. Jim responded: >I had a tour of E. F. Johnson in Waseca, MN a few weeks ago, and they >showed me their product that does this. Apparently, E. F. Johnson is >one of the major players in this market. The gentleman giving the >tour described how this works. (And went on to describe a radio-based >methodology). Now comes some mail to TNA from PacBell describing their service offering to utlity companies via wireline, in a document titled, "Network Disclosure," Series 2, Issue 6, May 1990," as follows: "PACIFIC BELL AUTOMATIC METER READING (AMR) "During the fourth quarter 1990, Pacific Bell plans to introduce Automatic Meter Reading (AMR). AMR will allow the subscribing utility company to interrogate their respective electric, gas or water meters via the existing telephone network. Accurate readings will be available to the utilities on an automated or manual basis, depending on the needs of the utility or the utility's customers. The AMR System allows a utility to remotely acquire meter reading data from its customers using the existing telephone line to the customer premises. This wil be done by installing an Access Control Unit (ACU) in the local telephone central office which will be connected tothe central office switch via a "no test trunk" unit." (You old switchmen out there all love this one, don't you?) "In addition, a Meter Interface Unit(MIU) must be installed at the customer premises and an IBM compatible PC based Utility Terminal will reside at the utility's premises. "To read the customer's meter, the UT at the utility office calls the ACU in the telephone company's central office. For security, the ACU then calls the UT back. Once the appropriate passwords are exchanged, the ACU is connected to the central office via the "No Test Trunk." CAlls are then initiated to the customer's telephone number and the meter information is collected. These calls are done sequentially and only if the subscribers' line is not in use. "Pacific Bell will introduce Automatic Meter Reading in the last quarter of 1990,pending regulatory approval. The service will be offered on a per central office basis under tariff/contracts filed with the California Public Utility Commission, throughout Pacific Bell's service territory where facilities permit. "For additional technical reference material on AMR, Bell is aware of the following companies who offer interface specifications: Cognitronics Corporation 25 Crescent Street Stamford, CT 06906 Schlumberger Industries Information Systems Division 3155 Northwoods Parkway Norcross, GA 30071 Sparton Technology, Inc. 4901 Rockaway Blvd. Rio Rancho, NM 87124 Versus Technology, Inc. One Electronics Drive Trenton, NJ 08619 "For further information concerning Pacific Bell's AMR products, please contact: Sergio Meza, Marketing Manager, Room 4S050C 2600 Camino Ramon San Ramon, CA 94583 (415) 823-3145" So, there's the wire-based way. It raises some questions that Californians seem to like to worry their PUC about, such as: 1.) Who gave PacBell authority to sell use of the line you already rent to someone else, with *no* consideration to you? 2.) Who gave *anyone* the authority to block your line from incoming calls for even an instant, at any time they might want to? So, how about it Californians? ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #441 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06511; 19 Jun 90 5:22 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa20561; 19 Jun 90 3:48 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab29090; 19 Jun 90 2:45 CDT Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 2:17:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #442 BCC: Message-ID: <9006190217.ab09200@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 19 Jun 90 02:17:12 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 442 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction [Ed Krell & TELECOM Moderator] Re: The Survey Results [Russ Kepler] Re: The Survey Results [Neil Katin] Re: The Survey Results [David Tamkin] Caller*ID Responses, Again [TELECOM Moderator] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 1:43:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction Eduardo Krell sent along a recent story from {Unix Today} which had some interesting revelations and observations in the Len Rose saga. The entire article was far to long to include here, but I wanted to share some of the highlights of the report. According to Rose, the Secret Service agents and Bellcore employees arrived at about 12:10 PM on February 1 at his home in Middletown, MD. They brought with them a federal search warrant, and for the next five hours, according to Rose's story in {Unix Today} he was confined to his bedroom for questioning, while his wife was held in another room. Other agents searched the house. The agents seized enough computers, documents and personal effects - including Army medals, Sun Rose's personal phone book and sets of keys to their house - to fill a 14-page list in a pending court case. According to Leonard Rose, the investigators inflicted unnecessary damage to the house, damage that he said would have been prevented had they asked him for help. Rose claims that instead of asking him to unlock doors or open locked cabinets, the agents simply smashed the doors or pried off locks with screwdrivers. He has filed a brief in federal court in Baltimore accusing the government of "perusing his electronic mail at their leisure" since the search. Len Rose's main complaint seems to be that none of the computers or computer equipment seized has been returned, and that since he uses these things in his employment he has been tremendously harmed in his work. His income has dropped to zero since he can do no work for his clients. As as result of his financial straits, he has had to ask the court to appoint a public defender to represent him. The {Unix Today} story reported further that several well-known constitutional attorneys have banded together to review his case and others related to the crackdown going on at present. This is being funded by, among others, Lotus 1-2-3 inventor Mitchell Kapor and Grateful Dead lyricist John Barlow. Rose pleaded not guilty to federal charges in Baltimore on June 1 accusing him of computer fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property between May, 1988 and January, 1990. If convicted of all counts, Rose faces as many as 32 years in prison plus a fine of as much as $500,000. Specifically, the government says Rose - using the name Terminus - took source code for V.3.2, which they contend he obtained without authorization, and sent a modified copy of it to Craig Neidorf in Columbia, Mo. Rose admits he received the source code from an AT&T employee without authorization and that he did send a copy of it to Neidorf and he said that notes he wrote on the file before sending it might prove harmful. "On the first page of the document, Terminus advised Neidorf that the source code came originally from AT&T 'so it's definitely not something you wish to get caught with,' " according to the federal documents. Rose confirms that he wrote such a note before sending the document to Missouri. Rose is also accused of modifying the source code to include a Trojan Horse intended to secretly capture passwords and log-ins to "deal with situations where you have a one-shot opportunity for superuser privileges," according to the federal filing. Rose again agrees that he did amend the source code with the Trojan Horse, but maintains that it was not improper. "The only modification was that it collected passwords and log-in names. So what? I wrote a Trojan Horse," he said. "I admit it. I sent them a Trojan Horse program. Does that make me a criminal? They would have already had to have root privilege. They installed it. If I sold you a gun and you went out and shot someone, does that make me a murderer?" Of course, Rose seems to be forgetting that you cannot steal the gun first, then resell it. That in itself is criminal, regardless of what the purchaser of the gun does with it later. And yes, in some cases if you sold someone a gun knowing their intention, then you might well be charged as an accessory. David P. King, the Baltimore-based assistant U.S. attorney who is handling Rose's prosecution, said he believes that Rose put the Trojan Horse-modified source code into the system of a computer company that Rose was working for. King would not identify the computer site and Rose denied the allegation. One other problem facing Rose is the phone call he made to Rich Andrews at Jolnet: The call was taped by the Secret Service. In the call, Rose told Andrews to destroy certain files containing incriminating evidence. Andrews was, as was first noted here in TELECOM Digest back in February, working as a government informant from the beginning. Leonard Rose is no stranger to the law enforcement community: At the time I first reported on this case in the Digest in February, I remarked on a 'deep throat' who had plenty to say, but urged an independent review prior to any specific allegations. I was urged at that time to say nothing; and in a phone conversation between Leonard Rose, David Tamkin and myself several weeks ago, Rose specifically refused to discuss one other incident of interest. Since {Unix Today} has detailed it, I might as well also -- Leonard Rose was arrested by county authorities in Sterling, VA for breaking into a computer repair warehouse there on October 18, 1989. According to both Rose's and the police account, Rose was arrested outside of the International Technology Corp. warehouse at 4:40 AM after having used a crowbar to break in and steal what police estimated was $10,000 worth of equipment, including a $5,000 laser printer, an Intel 386 Tempest system and seven hard drives. According to Rose, who admitted the break-in, and has since pleaded guilty to grand larceny, all he wanted to do was get equipment which he said 'already belonged to his company' ... but in fact the equipment in his possession when he was arrested included stuff which belonged to the FBI, being stored in the warehouse! That little caper is probably what brought him to the attention of the feds in the first place, said {Unix Today}. It should be remembered that under the Constitution of the United States, Mr. Rose is considered innocent of the latest charges against him until/unless his guilt is proven in court. His recent conviction for grand larcency cannot be used against him in this latest matter. My thanks to Eduardo Krell of Bell Labs/Murray Hill for suggesting this article and for providing some of the background from the {Unix Today} report. Patrick Townson -and- Eduardo Krell AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ UUCP: {att,decvax,ucbvax}!ulysses!ekrell Internet: ekrell@ulysses.att.com ------------------------------ From: Russ Kepler Subject: Re: The Survey Results Date: 18 Jun 90 14:52:08 GMT Reply-To: russ@bbx.UUCP (Russ Kepler) Organization: BASIS International, Albuquerque NM In article <9013@accuvax.nwu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: [survey methodology discussion deleted] >84 (14.7 %) answered YES to both questions. Have cracked, have > phreaked in the past six months, at least one time. >72 (12.6 %) answered YES they had phreaked, but NO they had not > cracked in the past six months. >78 (13.7 %) answered NO they had not phreaked, but YES, they had > cracked in the past six months. >336 (58.9 %) answered NO to both questions. Have not cracked or > phreaked in the past six months. >So, about 59 % of you don't do these things, and about 41 % of you >indulge occasionally, or more often in one or both activities. Uhhh - no. Try placing the percentages in the same manner as the questions were posed: 27.3% said that they had cracked in the past 6 months (14.7 y&y + 12.6 y&n). 28.4% said that they had phreaked in the past 6 months (14.7 y&y + 13.7 n&y). Since the methodology gave a 25% false 'yes' and 25% false 'no' (in the no answers) rates the 'real' numbers are about (2 * (27.3 - 25)) = 4.6% crackers and (2 * (28.4 - 25) = 6.8% phreakers; applying these percentages to the numbers implies 26.2 crackers and 38.8 phreakers (those fractions get pretty messy ;-). As the sample was fairly small I wouldn't give the numbers too much credibility. There's another reason not to give the numbers too much credibility: a self selected population. In statistical sampling a self-selected population has a built in bias, and in this case I would think that the crackers and phreakers would be more interested in answering the survey than the population at large. So the best you can do is say something like: 'Of the comp.dcom.telecom readers answering the survey about 4.6% were engaged in cracking activity in the last 6 months and about 6.8% were engaged in phreaking in the last 6 months.'. My math isn't good enough (or too little coffee this morning) to calculate the error % - but I *think* it's along the line of +- 1%. Jeeze - I hope that a statistician doesn't read this and post some elementary analysis that blows me away. >All individual responses have been erased from my disks. I no longer >have any record of the individual responses. Thanks to everyone who >participated. The point of a survey like this is the statistical response 'hiding' the false answers among the true answers. As the predictability of the coin toss increases with the size of the sample so does the accuracy of the survey increase. But at no time does the answerer of the survey need to be overly concerned with the anonymity of the response; if asked just say it was the coin that phreaked or cracked ;-). Russ Kepler - Basis Int'l SNAIL: 5901 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109 UUCP: bbx.basis.com!russ PHONE: 505-345-5232 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 09:20:55 PDT From: Neil Katin Subject: Re: The Survey Results You've probably gotten many comments about this already, but just in case I happen to be first: The raw data does not support your conclusion of 41% cracking or phreaking. Here's why: Approximately 1/2 your data is "real", and correctly reflects peoples preferences. The other 1/2 of the data provides a background level of noise. Now, I don't have any statistics books with me, so I won't try and figure out confidence bounds, but I'ld like to go through a simple example: assume that there were no respondents who cracked or phreaked and that you had an infinitely large sample. What would the distribution look like? 50% would be "real" answers of no-no 12.5% would be "fake" answers in each of the categories (1/4 of 1/2) This gives samples of 12.5, 12.5, 12.5, and 62.5. So, the results have 2.2% answering yes to both, 0.1% phreaking only, and 1.2% cracking. Of course, the hard part is figuring out whether these percentages are most likely "real", or part of the background noise. Neil Katin Amorphous Systems ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 15:08 EST From: David Tamkin <0004261818@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: The Survey Results In volume 10, issue 440, David A. Lyons (|) quoted Pat Townson (>): >Here is the breakdown, NOT adjusted for the coin toss -- just the raw >data. Apply your own formulas in interpreting it: >84 (14.7 %) answered YES/YES. >72 (12.6 %) answered YES/NO. >78 (13.7 %) answered NO/YES. >336 (58.9 %) answered NO/NO. But despite having said that those were unadjusted and that we should apply our own formulas, Pat commented: >So, about 59 % of you don't do these things, and about 41 % of you >indulge occasionally or more often in one or both activities. |I'm no statistician, but I CAN demonstrate that the 59%/41% figure is |a way-wrong interpretation: |For the sake of argument, let's assume all the honest answers are No. |The results we would expect, are 75% No and 25% Yes, for each question. Yes, we would. |That would be 6.3% Yes/Yes, 18.8% Yes/No, 18.8% No/Yes, and 56.3% No/No. |(That's .25*.25, .25*.75, .75*.25, and .75*.75.) No, it wouldn't. Pat was in error to assume that the coin tosses would be distributed proportionately to the honest responses. (Either that or he forgot about having to adjust them.) However, David's probabilities assume independence for the two questions, which we do not have, as a single coin flip governs whether both will be random or both will be honest. If all honest answers are No/No, 62.5% of the responses would be No/No: all the honest ones plus one-fourth of the random ones. Yes/Yes, Yes/No, and No/Yes would get 12.5% each. Subtracting one- eighth of the total number of responses from each group, as David correctly did later in his submission, would show a distribution of the 50% of responses that were truthful as 50 No/No and 0 for all other categories. Note that applying that method to David's figures would leave the Yes/Yes group 6.25% in the hole! |Doesn't resemble 100% No/No much, does it? No, neither 1/16|3/16|3/16|9/16 as David got nor 1/8|1/8|1/8|5/8 as I did resembles 0|0|0|1 very much, and indeed some adjustment was needed. [David then recomputed Pat's data, properly removing one- eighth of the sample from each class. He should have tried it on his theoretical figures first.] |I conclude that almost 93% of the respondents have not gained unlawful |access to a computer or made a fraudulent phone call in the past six |months. Yes, that's right, but the example was off. David's products would have applied if the instructions had been like this: 1. Flip a coin. Heads you say whether you've phreaked in the last six months; tails you flip again and say yes if heads, no if tails. 2. Flip *again*. Heads you say whether you've kracked in the last six months; tails you flip again and say yes if heads, no if tails. Assuming all truthful answers are no, each question should produce 25% yeses and 75% noes. Discarding the random portion (1/2) as distrib- uted over the random answers (1/4|1/4), we get all noes separately for each of the two questions. Looking at both questions together would indeed give 6.25% Yes/Yes, 18.75% each Yes/No and No/Yes, and 56.25% No/No, but then in tossing out random responses you have to deal with the 50% of replies that gave one random answer and one honest answer in either order as well as discarding the 25% that gave two random answers, and that's just too darn complicated for me. David Tamkin P. O. Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 +1 708 518 6769 MCI Mail: 426-1818 CIS: 73720,1570 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN +1 312 693 0591 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 0:05:02 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Caller*ID Responses, Again As to be expected, the latest group of messages on Caller*ID has generated lots of replies. I've been running a few every day for the past few days, but now have a backlog of them again. I will put out a special issue later this week which includes as many as possible in order to hopefully quiet this topic down once again. Once it comes out, then please reply to the authors -- not me. Maybe we can then go a few months more without it occupying so much time and space. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #442 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa22216; 20 Jun 90 3:19 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa19932; 20 Jun 90 1:55 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa23716; 20 Jun 90 0:51 CDT Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 0:47:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #443 BCC: Message-ID: <9006200047.ab31338@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Jun 90 00:47:08 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 443 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers [Macy Hallock] Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? [Adam J. Ashby] Re: Informantion Needed: Panasonic Model KT2445BE [John Slater] Re: Identifying Switches [Tom Gray] Re: More Eastern European News [Isaac Rabinovitch] Re: Number Plea-uhs... [Jon Baker] Re: Number Plea-uhs... [C. David Covington] Re: Using UK Phones in the US [Peter Thurston] Re: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective [Jim Breen] Re: Letters on Phone Dials Around the World (Was: Australia) [Chris Jones] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: abvax!ncoast!fmsystm!macy@usenet.ins.cwru.edu Date: Sun Jun 17 12:58:38 1990 Subject: Re: Bell Cellular to Offer Users Snoop-proof Scramblers Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <8962@accuvax.nwu.edu> Tom Perrine writes about availibility of a DES based scrambling system being made available in Canada by Bell. If memory serves, this type of service was (and still may be) offered in the Washington DC market by the B carrier (wireline). A Motorola module, AMPS type operation, was plugged in between your control head and transciever. The MTSO (cellular CO) had matching scramblers and would "de-encrypt" you conversation for use with normal landline calls. I think a provision also existed to call landline numbers with the scrambling left on to allow an end-to-end scrambled call to be set up. Of course the land line phone had to properly equipped with the right equipment and key. This was offered primarily for government types to use, primarily political and GS types who did not want their conversations intercepted. I do not believe the setup was approved for military use, although it was fairly secure. Motorola mentioned somethng about compatibitly with one of the STU type phones being available at some point, too. Tempest? You've got to be kidding ... that's a different situation and application entirely. It doesn't sound like the Bell Canada setup is compatible with the above described Motorola setup, but it has a similar flavor. The Motorola mobile unit scramblers were not as cheap, either. Anyone else remember anything about this? I kinda figured we'd hear more about this from the cellular carriers as a solution to the privacy issue. In article <8982@accuvax.nwu.edu> Eric Varsanyi writes: >On another note: This month (my first with them) they changed policies >and now charge from the time you hit SpEND until END. Previously they >started charging when supervision was returned. Their justification >was that 'this is a standrard industry practice'... Is it? Hmmm ... its not standard, but it's not uncommon, either. In the Cleveland/Akron/Canton Ohio markets: GTE Mobilnet (using Motorola EMX MTSO's) charges only for call timing from receipt of supervision. Cellular One/CCI Ohio (using Northern Telecom/ GE MTSO's) charges fron send to end, but only if the call is answered. Neither carrier charges for busy/unanswered calls. I wonder ... did your cellular carrier recently change out their MTSO? I have been told by a Motorola technical type that the Northern Telecom/GE MTSO's are unable to charge otherwise unless the receive all their trunks from the telco in T1 format ... their metallic type trunk cards are not properly supported in the software to allow more intelligent billing records. He also said the same problem existed in ALL trunkage until a recent software upgrade was made to the Northern switches. He also said that Motorola used this info to their advantage in sales presentations to potential cellular carrier clients for some time. I am unable to substantiate this information ... considering the source, I am not sure if this is accurate. Does anyone else able to shed light on this rumor? Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet|backbone|usenet.ins.cwru.edu}ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 @ tone) (PLEASE NOTE: the system name is "fmsystm" with no "e", *NOT* "fmsystem") ------------------------------ From: "Adam J. Ashby" Subject: Re: Is Analog Cellular Dead? Date: 18 Jun 90 13:48:30 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL mk59200@metso.tut.fi (Kolkka Markku Olavi) writes: >Actually it's Global System Mobile, but it seems that the US is again ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ACTUALLY it is Groupe Speciale Mobile. Adam ------------------------------ From: John Slater Subject: Re: Informantion Needed: Panasonic Model KT2445BE Date: 19 Jun 90 09:53:35 GMT Reply-To: John Slater In article <9045@accuvax.nwu.edu>, iosg::robertsn@iosg.enet.dec.com (Nigel Roberts 0860 578600) writes: >water Panasonic KT-2445BE (U.K. model). I'm very impressed with it, > From what I remember, U.K. law says you have the right > to record your own phone calls, and there's nothing > requiring that beep. How can I switch the damn thing off? >Any other users of this or similar machines got any useful hints? No hints, just a follow-up question : I've got a KT-1427, and would very much like to know the answer to this. Mine is a US model (bought on the Tottenham Court Road, complete with Big Red Sticker ordering me not to plug it into the pubic telephone network in the UK), so it's likely that some US readers out there might know the answer. This may also help Nigel, as the machines are probably not very different inside. Thanks in advance. John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick office ------------------------------ From: Tom Gray Subject: Re: Identifying Switches Date: 19 Jun 90 12:24:06 GMT Reply-To: Tom Gray Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada. In article <8990@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 436, Message 9 of 12 >In article <8903@accuvax.nwu.edu> DREUBEN@eagle.wesleyan.edu) (DOUGLAS >SCOTT REUBEN) writes: >>I still can't tell what sort of electronic switch it is just by >>hearing the busy/ring signals (ie, to distinguish between a DMS-100 >>and 200, for example), >That's because the DMS-100 and 200 use the same tone generators, etc. >The product line includes 100, 100/200 combined, 200, and access >tandem. (Plus DMS-250, 300, and MTX). 100 is local, 200 is toll, >essentially. I've never been totally clear on the _hardware_ >difference between a 100 and a 200. I don't think there is any. When I worked on the original development of DMS, the only difference between the 100 and 200 was that the 100 had line circuits and the 200 didn't. Both the 100 and 200 used the same sort of tone generators. Actually these versions of DMS had many many tone generators. There were tone generators in each trunk module (which comprised 32 trunks) and in each line bay and in each maintainance module. A large trunk office would had hundreds if not thousands of tone generators. The 250 was the same as the 100 and 200. The 300 had the same tone generaors as the 100 and 200 but was supplied with different PROM data to provide the different tones required for the gateway switch. For a little piece of telephone trivia, the PROM loads for the DMS tones were designated AHU01, AHW01 and AHZ01. Considering the number of DMS100 family switches sold, the dial tone and audible ringing pcm codes contained in these PROM's may have been the most heard recording in the last ten years. In any event, the precise tone plan must have created the most commonly heard tones in the history of the world. The 350/440 dial tone and 440/480 audible ringing must be heard by more people daily than any other distinct sounds. Does anyone out there know the names of the people who devised these tones. They should be recorded somewhere. ------------------------------ From: Isaac Rabinovitch Subject: Re: More Eastern European News Date: 19 Jun 90 16:49:11 GMT Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 249-0290} In <9042@accuvax.nwu.edu> HANK@barilvm.bitnet (Hank Nussbacher) writes: >The current waiting time in Budapest for a phone is thirteen years and >the national average is twelve phone lines per 100 people. Which gives me one last chance to tell this joke: they say that in Hungary, half the country is waiting for their phones to be installed, while the other half is waiting for a dial tone. ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Number Plea-uhs... Date: 20 Jun 90 04:41:52 GMT Organization: Crossroads, Phoenix, Az In article <9033@accuvax.nwu.edu>, RDW2030@tamvenus.bitnet writes: > On another note, where did the traditional operator heavy-New England > accent stereotype come from? I know it's been around longer than Lily > Tomlin. It's in ALL the movies from the 30's and the 40's and more > recently. Any clues? > NUMBER PLEA-UHS... Can't help you there ... Automatic Electric did away with 'number plea-uhs' about a hundred years ago. Took bell until the '50's to do the same. :-) \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300-2400,9600 PEP Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!bakerj ------------------------------ From: "C. D. Covington" Subject: Re: Number Plea-uhs... Date: 19 Jun 90 18:40:01 GMT Organization: College of Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville In article <9033@accuvax.nwu.edu>, RDW2030@tamvenus.bitnet writes: > Has this ever happened to you??? TELL US YOUR CYBERNETIC TELEPHONE > EXPERIENCE! I have been involved in the speech recognition problem for about ten years. The first time I spoke something and it came up on the computer screen, I had exactly the same reaction you describe. That was 1980 at Texas Instruments in Dallas for me. It was really eerie. After a while though, you begin to accept it as normal. C. David Covington (WA5TGF) cdc@uafhcx.uark.edu (501) 575-6583 Asst Prof, Elec Eng Univ of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 ------------------------------ From: Peter Thurston Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 20:07:32 BST Subject: Re: Using UK Phones in the US John Slater writes: >>>OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: >>>pulse dial phones differ (most of the UK is pulse dial only) and US ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>Most of the UK is both tone and pulse dialling (tone dialling is >>free!) and is increasingly digital due to aggressive System X and >>System Y replacement. >I dispute the word "most", this month at least. It's true that BT is >modernizing the entire network very rapidly, but my guess is that >they're not half-way yet. I'm happy to be corrected on this if anyone >has concrete figures. I read somewhere the other week that 40% of customers are currently connected to digital exchanges. That seems a little high, but I could be wrong. But you don't need to be on a digital exchange to have Tone dialling. Most TXE4s (SPC reed relay SxS) and similar exchanges have been upgraded in the last two years. (except the TXE2 in Cottenham where I live ... sigh). Until recently, a large proportion of payphones were switched to tone dialling. I say untill recently, because they have all been switched back to pulse as a quick and dirty solution to a craze of payphone fraud (dialling with tone pads!). Peter Thurston ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: Letters on Phone Dials - An Australian Perspective Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 23:31:43 GMT In article <9004@accuvax.nwu.edu>, claris!netcom!ergo@ames.arc. nasa.gov (Isaac Rabinovitch) writes: > In <8992@accuvax.nwu.edu> david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) > writes: [ sample of obsolete dial letters deleted] > >Has this scheme been used anywhere else in the world? Why were these > >particular letters chosen? > Here's a guess: at one time Australia allowed phone companies to > compete to provided local service. The letters were the initials of > the particular phone company. After they went to a regulated monopoly > system, the old system was kept for a while so people wouldn't have to > change their numbers -- much as New York subway lines are still > identified by the long-defunct private companies that once ran them. I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read this. Then I read Isaac's address and realised he probably doesn't know we DON'T HAVE phone companies in Oz. The telephone service in Australia is provided by a single nation-wide government utility; the Australian Telecommunications Commission, which trades under the name "Telecom Australia". Before Telecom was formed in 1975, the "service" was provided by a federal department (the Postmaster General). There were private companies in the last century, but these had all been rolled into public utilities by the time the Australian states federated in 1900, well before we got our first automatic exchange. I believe the old letters on our telephone dials were adopted unchanged from those used by the British Post Office. Unlike the UK, where there appeared to be an attempt to use the letters to match the locality names, here there never seemed to be any mnemonic reason for the letters. This is probably why they were stopped about 30 years ago, at the time automatic long-distance dialling was introduced. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au) Dept of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East VIC 3145 Australia O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (ph) +61 3 573 2552 (fax) +61 3 573 2748 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 09:25:49 EDT From: Chris Jones Subject: Re: Letters on Phone Dials Around the World (Was: Australia) Organization: Kendall Square Research Corp In article <9014@accuvax.nwu.edu> Dik T. Winter writes: >Digit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 >Sovjet Union A V B G D E ZH I K L >Notes: >(6) The Sovjet-Union layout is of course a transcription. Are you sure of this? The transcription of the first part of the Cyrillic alphabet is basically as you have above (leaving out the two letters with diacritical marks), but V and B seem to have been reversed. Chris Jones clj@ksr.com uunet!ksr!clj harvard!ksr!clj ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #443 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24449; 20 Jun 90 4:24 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab18756; 20 Jun 90 2:57 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab19932; 20 Jun 90 1:55 CDT Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 1:43:06 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #444 BCC: Message-ID: <9006200143.ab31145@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Jun 90 01:42:31 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 444 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [John Higdon] Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" [Jon Baker] AMR Meter Reading, No Test Trunks, and Call Forwarding [John R. Covert] Neat Phones! [Macy Hallock] US Country Codes For Telex? [Dan Sahlin] Info Wanted on TWX and TELEX Protocols [Dave Hammond] Legion of Doom and the Secret Service [James Deibele] Exchanges Taken Out of Service [David Leibold] Junkmailed! [David Tamkin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" Date: 19 Jun 90 03:12:12 PDT (Tue) From: John Higdon "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> writes: > 1.) Who gave PacBell authority to sell use of the line you already > rent to someone else, with *no* consideration to you? Perhaps the consideration will come from some reduced rate. If not, then as far as I am concerned they can either read the meter the old fashioned way, or they can install their own line (if they can find a pair available!). > 2.) Who gave *anyone* the authority to block your line from > incoming calls for even an instant, at any time they might want to? How does this gadget know that the incoming call is for it? I'll be damned if I'm going to have the phone ringing in the middle of the night, or worse have the phone disabled during some "window" when this device is supposed to be polled. Or does it call out? Who pays the local charge? Is it an 800 number? It might be interesting to get some of the literature from the companies listed. > So, how about it Californians? At first blush, I give it two thumbs down. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: A self-help, guerilla-warfare (or do you say gorilla?) solution may be available! Read John Covert's message later in this issue for details. PT] ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Boston Gas "Specially-equipped Gas Meter" Date: 20 Jun 90 04:47:57 GMT Organization: Crossroads, Phoenix, Az In article <9047@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: > 1.) Who gave PacBell authority to sell use of the line you already > rent to someone else, with *no* consideration to you? > 2.) Who gave *anyone* the authority to block your line from > incoming calls for even an instant, at any time they might want to? 1) They aren't selling use of the line. They are allowing an incoming call to the line. 2) The line is not blocked from incoming calls. Any incoming call, or an offhook on the line, aborts the call from the utility (which is retried later). \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300-2400,9600 PEP Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!bakerj ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 21:04:49 PDT From: "John R. Covert 20-Jun-1990 0007" Subject: AMR Meter Reading, No Test Trunks, and Call Forwarding >The AMR System allows a utility to remotely acquire meter >reading data from its customers using the existing telephone line to >the customer premises. This wil be done by installing an Access >Control Unit (ACU) in the local telephone central office which will be >connected to the central office switch via a "no test trunk" unit. "No test" afficionados will remember an interesting interaction between "no test" and call forwarding, at least in No 1 and 1A ESS. When a call is initiated to a number via a "no test" trunk, if the line is call forwarded, the "no test" trunk will not seize the line; reorder is returned. This was intended to tell operators doing busy verification that busy verification can't currently return information consistent with dialled calls due to call forwarding. Of course, operators aren't typically familiar with this, and get quite upset when they can't get onto a line via busy verification. Years ago, when IDDD was first made available in Atlanta, some friends and I spent a few evenings calling up operators and asking for the codes for places like London, Paris, and smaller cities. The operators weren't trained on this, and it would sometimes take quite a bit of convincing to get them to call the overseas operator for the information. This was _really_ early in the IDDD days; even rate and route didn't have the info yet, and TSPS didn't yet support operator dialling -- all overseas was either direct dialled from No 1 ESS or placed by IOTC operators. Of course, the overseas operators were properly trained, and the local operators were often very upset that the overseas operators would give us the information after the local operators had just finished sternly telling us that we couldn't possibly dial the calls ourselves and that the information we were asking for was confidential telephone company info. This made them curious, and since it was late at night, they weren't very busy or well supervised, and verification wasn't scrambled in those days. Soon we started noticing the tell-tale "ta-tic" of the no test trunk seizing our lines. We'd talk to the operators; tell them we knew they were there, flash for add-on, which would momentarily yank them off the line and then bring them back on with dial tone, then flash back to our call, and do all sorts of things that further aroused their curiosity. Then we told them "we're going to disable your verification trunks for the next ten minutes while we have a private conversation." Back then it was still possible to forward your calls to your own number. Doing this left everything normal, except that the no test trunks couldn't access your line. Then when we'd drop the call forwarding, we'd end up with operators from several consoles all on our lines at once. "Ta-tic, ta-tic, ta-tic." "Aha, we count three of you there now." This further confused them, since they were mis-trained to believe that no one could hear them when they first came on the line with verification to listen. Great fun. BTW, I assume that forwarding to self was disabled when someone with message rate service got a phone bill after a month of paying message units for each incoming call! There may have been fifteen units per call, since the code in those days counted fifteen times through a forwarding loop in the same central office and then stopped whereever it was, which explains why two numbers in the same machine forwarded to each other would "swap" numbers. Now, of course, the impact of this on AMR is that if someone goes out of town and uses call forwarding for a while around meter reading time, it won't be possible for the no test trunk to get to the meter. Hmmm. /john ------------------------------ From: abvax!ncoast!fmsystm!macy@usenet.ins.cwru.edu Subject: Neat Phones! Date: Sun Jun 17 16:42:11 1990 Something that Digest readers may appreciate: Ever seen one of those clear 2500 sets? You know, the ones the manufacturers made for display, showed all the guts and looked neat? Well, finally, there is a REAL 2500 you can buy ... they make a great conversation piece, too. ITT/Cortelco (Used to be ITT Cornith, MS works) makes a "2500 Kleer Fone" (North Supply mat code 472029) wholesale cost is around $30.00. They also make a clear desk Trendline model, too (North 472086) for a few dollars more. Translucent blue and pink housings are also available. We use them as gifts to customers who done us a favor ... and have actually sold a couple, too. (I wish Cortelco paid me or something for this plug, but alas!) Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet|backbone|usenet.ins.cwru.edu}ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 @ tone) (PLEASE NOTE: the system name is "fmsystm" with no "e", *NOT* "fmsystem") [Moderator's Note: The Sharper Image catalog has these phones also, and theirs come with a blue neon tube in the base which either stays lit at all times and flashes off when the phone rings or stays dark and flashes on when the phone rings, as you select. They are really very clever and very beautiful instruments. PT] ------------------------------ From: Dan Sahlin Subject: US Country Codes for Telex? Organization: SICS, Swedish Inst. of Computer Science Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 19:48:25 GMT As there are several Telex networks in the US, there are several country codes. In my Telex directory I have - Code Network 23 CCI, FTCC, Graphnet, ITT, RCA, TRT, WUI 230 WUTCO 2306 or 256 Teletex 25 TWX The problem is that most Telex numbers are not accompanied by a network identifier. The operator told me the following rules: Ten digit numbers have country code 25 Numbers starting with an odd digit have country code 230 Numbers starting with an even digit have country code 23 Can I trust this information, or do you know a better rule? How do I recognize a Teletex number, and which one of the two above (2306 or 256) should I chose? Perhaps these country numbers are only valid from Sweden. In Sweden, Teletex numbers have at least seven digits whereas Telex numbers have at most five digits. I am curious to know how to distinguish Teletex/Telex numbers in other countries too. I in fact have a Teletex connection, but it is quite possible to send to and from Telex numbers. Teletex is not a very popular service, at least not in Sweden, and only ten countries are listed having special Teletex to Teletex country numbers. (These numbers are quite different from the Telex to Teletex country number. For instance the US has 3112.) I much prefer Telex/Teletex to Fax. Received messages can be stored compactly together with other electronic mail. The format is also searchable for information, which you really can't say for bitmaps. For Teletex, subaddressing is possible, so you could have your own Teletex number (although we have not implemented that here). Unfortunately, it seems clear that Fax is winning, and maybe we will stop subscribing to the Teletex service. /Dan Sahlin email: dan@sics.se Or better still, answer by Teletex! As far as I know, we have never received a Teletex from abroad! Our Teletex number is 2401-812 61 54 SICS (2401 is the country code) or if you prefer, our Telex number is 812 61 54 SICS ------------------------------ From: Dave Hammond Subject: Info Wanted on TWX and TELEX Protocols Reply-To: Dave Hammond Organization: ESCC, New York City Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 02:46:33 GMT The subject line says it. We're looking into linking to the serial port on a Fax machine, whose manual sketchily states that it responds to TWX and TELEX protocol from the serial port. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Please email responses. Dave Hammond daveh@marob.masa.com uunet!masa.com!marob!daveh ------------------------------ From: James Deibele Subject: Legion of Doom and the Secret Service Date: 19 Jun 90 17:05:50 GMT Reply-To: James Deibele Organization: TECHbooks, Beaverton Oregon Interesting paragraph in this week's InfoWorld. In "Notes from the Field," Robert X. Cringely's column, he writes: "Back in February, when AT&T long distance service went down for most of a day, the company blamed it on a software bug, but it was really a worm --- sabotage by hackers loosely associated as the Legion of Doom. Members also lifted UNIX System V.3 source code from Bell Labs and 911 maintenance code from Bellsouth. But it was disruption of telephone service that got the Secret Service involved. Many Unix nodes on the anarchic Usenet crabgrass network were seized by zealous agents tracking down mailing lists." jamesd@techbook.COM ...!{tektronix!nosun,uunet}!techbook!jamesd Public Access UNIX at (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400) Voice: +1 503 646-8257 Technical books mailing list --- mail "techbook!tbj-request" [Moderator's Note: This is just a reminder that if you want in-depth and detailed messages regarding the Legion of Doom, the crackdown going on right now and other related information, you should subscribe to the Computer Underground Digest ... a spin-off mailing list which frequently gets overflow messages from here on these topics. For more information or to be added to the mailing list, write to the CuD Moderators at 'tk0jut2@niu.bitnet'. PT] ------------------------------ From: woody Subject: Exchanges Taken Out of Service Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 22:46:27 EDT In the midst of the vast numbers of nxx prefixes put into service each year, does anyone have examples of nxx prefixes taken out of service? The two examples to my knowledge are (519) 873 which used to be Forest Ontario, which cut over to 786 for some mysterious reason, though in one year's phone book, numbers from both exchanges were listed. The other is (819) 484 Purtuniq, in the northern reaches of the province of Quebec. It appeared that only the Asbestos Corporation, or something similar, had a telephone on that exchange while it operated. Then it mysteriously disappeared from the phone book, and from active service. Actually, there are likely more examples with respect to just changing the exchange number over. In the Toronto area, I believe one outlying exchange had 594 once upon a time then switched to another exchange. 594 today is in Toronto. [Moderator's Note: David Leibold (woody) has written me to say he is now compiling and preparing for distribution a complete set of all area codes and the prefixes assigned to each for the entire United States. Such a project is of course *huge*, and regretfully the Telecom Archives doesn't have the space available. When he makes the formal announcement these are ready, you will be able to order individual area codes or the entire set from him direct. PT] ------------------------------ From: David Tamkin Subject: Junkmailed! Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 13:28:00 CDT Private Lines, Inc., those scamps who run 1-900-STOPPER and 1-900-RUNWELL for circumventing Caller ID, just sent me an envelope full of publicity for their service and two wallet cards with instructions for using it. Aw, thanks. You're too kind. Now I wonder just *where* they got my mailing address. Could it be ... nah. No one would use Telecom Digest for *that*. What makes it worse is that the literature acknowledges that one of the reasons for blocking Caller ID is to stay off a telemarketing list when you call a business that might maintain one. Apparently there is a different mos for mailing addresses. Anyhow, it included photocopied press clippings, including one from the New Orleans _Times-Picayune_ from May 23, 1990, that gave the rates for (900) RUNWELL (for blocking Caller ID on international calls, a service probably not yet needed) as $5 per *hour*. Oops. Typo time in the Big Easy, huh? David W. Tamkin dattier@gagme.chi.il.us Box xxxx Des Plaines IL 6001x-xxxx 708 nxx xxxx 312 nxx xxxx GEnie:D.W.TAMKIN CIS:73720,1570 MCIMail:426-1818 [Moderator's Note: Watch for a special issue of the Digest to be transmitted Wednesday night with several messages received in recent days relating to Caller*ID, pro and con. Obviously we have to get these things out of our systems from time to time. Heck, I'll even be expressing *my opinion* on Caller ID as the last word, which I am accused of getting as often as not! :) If you rush something off to me now, I will try to include it Wednesday night. Keep it short so that more can be included. Then no more on the subject for at least a few weeks. Yes, I know, promises, promises! :) PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #444 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa09580; 21 Jun 90 1:34 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa17692; 21 Jun 90 0:06 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa03483; 20 Jun 90 23:03 CDT Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 22:53:15 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest Special: Caller ID Stuff BCC: Message-ID: <9006202253.ab14931@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Jun 90 22:51:00 CDT Special: Caller ID Stuff Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson I Like Caller ID [TELECOM Moderator] Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [Tom Neff] Re: Caller ID and Hotel Reservations [Mark Brader] Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [Fred R. Goldstein] Re: Caller ID Illegal in PA [Johnny Zweig] Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls [Glenn M. Cooley] Re: Caller ID and Bell Canada [Jon Baker] A Thought About Caller ID [wegeng@arisia.xerox.com] Caller ID and Florida PSC [David Lesher] So What Follows Caller ID? [Donald Kimberlin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 21:28:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: I Like Caller ID People say Caller IO is a bad idea because some callers, like shelters and undercover police officers need the privacy. I think that Caller ID should be offered with optional blocking. When blocking of the number was deliberate (as opposed to offices not yet able to deliver it), the box should read 'Number Denied'. People say Caller ID is a bad idea since if you use it to screen incoming calls, looking for numbers you recognize, you might miss an important call from someone you know calling from an unfamiliar location. But Caller ID is *not* intended as a way to screen calls. It is intended as a way to identify the number of the phone used to call you in the event you want this information. I'd answer calls regardless of what number they came from, whether I recognized it or not. All I want is recourse to that number afterward if desired. Caller ID is supposed to be inefficient since it does not positively identify the caller, but merely the phone number used to place the call. Since all telephone companies require that the subscriber be responsible for all use made of his instruments, all I need to know is the name of the subscriber. I will deal with that person, and let them deal with whatever internal problems they have. Caller ID is disliked because some people say we who have been victimized do not need to know the actual identity of the caller. We can use the feature to institute a log record of the call, and let the telco and police take care of the problem. The bureaucracy involved here boggles the mind. Maybe you are willing to let someone annoy you all weekend until the Annoyance Call Bureau opens on Monday morning, but I am not. Furthermore, working out these problems through the clumsy and sluggish bureaucrats becomes a moot point when you have Caller ID: a telephone user who knows that his identity is known from the start of the call rarely is a troublesome caller. The people who make those calls rely heavily on the anomynity of the phone. Take that anomynity away, the calls simply won't be made. Consider New Jersey, where the number of obscene calls has dropped in half. The telcos never were in the business of selling anomynity ... they only sell the delivery of messages further than you could deliver those messages with your voice alone. Prior to automatic switching of calls, the operators were able to easily tell who was calling who. The fact that in the early switching systems the calling number was lost in the process of moving the call was NOT a feature, it was a sad fact of life. Arguments about the commercial mis-use of Caller ID do not impress me, since ANI has been available for the same mis-use for a long time now. PT ------------------------------ From: Tom Neff Subject: Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls Date: 20 Jun 90 06:48:07 GMT Reply-To: Tom Neff If you get a lot of nuisance calls because you have a "frequent wrong number," as in the example of a motel with transposed digits, then Caller ID still won't help, because a zillion different people will be the culprits. You can't sue 'em all. (You can sue the motel, but again Caller ID doesn't come into it.) ------------------------------ From: Mark Brader Subject: Re: Caller ID and Hotel Reservations Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto Date: Wed, 20 Jun 1990 12:46:29 -0400 > My greatest need of Caller ID > is to interface a hotel reservations system with the Caller ID to come > up with the particular callers file and to verify the number given > with the reservation to establish how valid the reservation is. The mind boggles. If there is one class of people who can be assumed to be in *different* places at different times, it is hotel users. Caller ID doesn't ID the caller, only the phone line... Mark Brader SoftQuad Inc., Toronto utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls Date: 20 Jun 90 17:49:38 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA In article <9002@accuvax.nwu.edu>, covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert) writes... >Caller ID, by collecting phone numbers, will only make the >telemarketing problem worse. The only defense against telemarketers >is to try to get legislation passed which prevents it. Without debating the merits of telemarketing (either the obnoxious automated kind or the arguably less obnoxious human kind), I don't think that's the primary issue around Caller ID. While I do see many benefits to telemarketing users from Caller ID (and which in any case is already available with 800 service), I receive enough nuisance calls to make the service seem quite desirable. Caller ID will be useful to prevent the errant Fido or Fax from misdialing my number from a data base, hanging up when I don't return the right tone at 1AM. It will be useful to prevent recurrences of the obscene callers who drop in now and again, probably at random. (Even if they are random, threatening obscene callers -- including the ones who leave messages on the answering machine -- can be deterred if the caller ID box keeps records of all callers.) Call trace won't work if the obscene caller leaves the message while you're out; Caller ID will. Now by way of reportage, here's what the Canadian federal regulators have ruled with regards to Bell Canada's offering of Caller ID: Caller ID may be provided as a tariffed option. Call ID blocking will be free to shelters and others with a need. Call ID blocking per call is available by going through the operator. A charge may be levied for this; Bell Canada has proposed C$.75. This way they don't have to upgrade all exchanges to have selective call blocking before offering Caller ID. I think that's a good compromise. A cheaper (free?) you-dial-it per call blocking option would be nice, but it's not possible yet in all exchanges, and in any case Canada tends to make heavier use of operators than the US. Incidentally my source is the June issue of Telemanagement, published by the Angus Telemanagement Group, Pickering ON. Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388 opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission ------------------------------ From: Johnny zweig Subject: Re: Caller*ID Illegal in PA Organization: IDA, Alexandria, VA Date: Mon, 18 Jun 90 19:51:25 GMT My understanding is that the Caller's ID (in the sense of a service access point (net address) for the particular piece of equipment used to place a call) will be a standard part of call-setup under ISDN (telecommers help me on this one!). So perhaps the ramifications of these arguments will be severe. I imagine the signalling system could be set up to allow virtual addresses so that my ISDN box could connect to another without knowing which one it "really" is, but it seems like an extra bit of nonsense and complication. I see myself in ten years as having a daemon running the background on my Macintosh IV-zx3000 that checks all the junk (country codes, list of family and friends' SAP's, emergency service contract providers, etc.) and puts a dialog box on my screen "Johnny, some jerk from Death Telemarketing from Hell company is calling, do you wish to (A)ccept the call, and him/her to (L)eave a message, (R)efuse the call or something (E)lse?". I think the set of circumstances where people legitimately wish to call somewhere anonymously (i.e. calling the rape hotline, police reporting service, Swaggart ministries donation line...) and the set of people who will legitimately call me (friends, emergency personnel, business associates, telemarketers...) are disjointed. And I think I have a right to know who is calling me (just as I can throw away any mail I get without credible return-addresses if I want to) before I answer. Keep in mind that rich corporate executives have employed Caller*ID for years -- how many times has somebody's secretary asked you "may I tell him who's calling, please?" You don't hear anyone bitching about privacy over that.... With so many important questions relating to privacy and freedom to act pretty much as you please (flag burning, abortion rights, drunk-check roadblocks, drug legalization, and many more) it is a shame that the Fifth Amendment (along with cheesy laws about electronic surveillance written in the 60's) is being used to support anything as DUMB as outlawing something handy, straightforward and benign as Caller*ID. Johnny Sheesh ------------------------------ From: Glenn M Cooley Subject: Re: Caller ID and 3AM Phone Calls Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I'm still waiting for a good reason why I shouldn't be able to have Caller ID. I don't see the reasons I hear, like: >And what if a family member is injured at a store, and the store tries >to call you, and you've decided not to take those calls? ... as coming even close. (What if the person coming toward you from behind in a dark alley is trying to return your wallet that fell out of your pants? What if ... What if ...) When someone comes to my front door, I certainly use the peephole. If someone doesn't want me to know their phone number then don't call me. When you call up the local Pizza shop, or Dry Cleaners, or Realtor, do you give them a phoney name and phone number so they don't know who you are. Then why did you call them in the first place? Hell, government and business already have Caller ID, why doesn't this cause undercover cops to have to use payphones, etc., etc. As for the thread that since Caller ID can be defeated we should be forceably prevented from having it, if I don't recognize a phone number, I don't pick up the phone. How does a telemarketer get around that? Yes, I know, Big Brother could give me a phoney ID but I'll take my chances -- seat belts don't save you in every crash but you don't see me arguing that they should be taken out of every car (except government and business cars of course :-) ). ------------------------------ From: Jon Baker Subject: Re: Caller ID and Bell Canada Date: 20 Jun 90 04:36:21 GMT Organization: Crossroads, Phoenix, Az In article <9016@accuvax.nwu.edu>, root@joymrmn.UUCP (Marcel D. Mongeon) writes: > Recently, the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission, > approved the filing by Bell Canada for a Caller ID tariff. However, > in reading the tariff, there was one disturbing factor, the feature > would *NOT* be available for incoming PBX trunks. > Is there any technical reason for this? These are normal hunt trunks. > Nothing fancy like DID. If the trunks into the PBX are ANI or SS7, the calling number would be delivered to the PBX, and could be forwarded to the instrument. Otherwise, you're left with FSK; which, so far as I know, only works on subscriber lines, not trunks. \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300-2400,9600 PEP Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!bakerj ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jun 90 12:43:35 EDT (Wednesday) Subject: A Thought About Caller ID From: dw Organization: Xerox, Digital Systems Dept, Rochester, NY I've been thinking about this Caller ID business for some time now, and it occured to me that there is a flaw in the comparison between telephone calls and someone knocking on your front door. In this comparison, people have justified Caller ID by saying that if someone knocks at your door, you can look through the window and see who it is before you decide to answer the door. Caller ID is suppose to give people this same capability for telephone calls. The problem is that you can't always tell who's knocking on your door. The person may be wearing a mask or other disguise. This makes them anominous until you answer the door and sppek with them. If that's the case, then you have to decide whether to answer the door without knowing who is there. The telephone is the same - the caller is anomymous until you answer the phone and speak to them. Caller ID only informs the callee of the telephone number where the call originated - it doesn't identify *who* placed the call. Denying the caller the capability to block Caller ID is like making a law that forbids people from knocking on your door while wearing a mask. Caller ID may be adequate for screening calls, but that's a different topic. My point is that comparing Caller ID with answering your front door is flawed. /Don ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Caller ID and Florida PSC Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 18:09:36 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers The Florida PSC did NOT decide on CID last month, and instead delayed unutil 17 July, I believe. Meanwhile, The {Miami Herald} reports today (20th) that calls to the PSC are running four to one against it. wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM pob 570-335 33257-0335 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 19:05 EST From: "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: So What Follows Caller ID? I _must_ bring to this forum an item from National Public Radio that absolutely cracked me up yesterday. I hope readers find it as funny, but can also see its ominous undertones. I'm not able to repeat it verbatim, but here is its gist in my best recall and paraphrase: : "There's a lighter side to the Caller ID debate, and NPR had satirist (sorry, I lost the name) compose some thoughts for us." "And now, your Phone Company presents a new product ... I.Q. ID! That's right, no more risk answering your phone when we present the I.Q., credit rating, SAT scoreand physical parameters of that person ringing your phone. For example.... (feminine voice says> "Hello?" "Hello, Darlene? I kind of got your number from one of the other guys who said he thought you wouldn't mind getting a call from me and maybe I could meet you somewhere Friday evening and I could even bring my pet tortoise Randall to show you. They're very rare, you know, and mine is a big one, wieghs 32 pounds now. I sure hope you'll say yes, because some of the other guys have bet me you'll say no." "Yes, you've all had calls like this. But if you had Caller I.Q., available _only_ from your Phone Company, you could just let the phone ring, or let the answering machine take such pesky calls. Here's another kind of creep you could avoid with Caller I.Q.:" "Hello?" Why, hello, Darlene. It's Tom. You know, I've been thinking about how interested you were in the upcoming treaty covering extradition of unwed mothers from Peru as affected by forward arbitrage on the Portugese Escudo. Perhaps you've like to meet for dinner Friday evening and discuss it further." "Well, you know who's going to buy _that_ dinner, don't you? But, if you had the Detailed Financial Profile Option of Caller I.Q., available _only_ from your Phone Company, you'd be able to make some financial risk decisions on the spot." "Yes, that's it, folks ... Caller I.Q. ... an important new service available only from your Phone company ... the people who guard your privacy as carefully as we break it!" Well, I really am sorry I couldn't recall more than this paraphrase of what was a very funny bit. But, also, think what it might mean if, indeed, the Telcos first get Caller ID and then are permitted to get into the database business. Just as with so many actions, we see that classic modus operandi: Getting one item in state-by-state action, then the other piece by Federal action. Aren't we ever going to get wise to this? ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest Special: Caller ID Stuff ******************************   Received: from [129.105.5.103] by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa13821; 21 Jun 90 3:39 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa09117; 21 Jun 90 2:09 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa15911; 21 Jun 90 1:06 CDT Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 0:29:05 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #445 BCC: Message-ID: <9006210029.ab21758@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 21 Jun 90 00:28:44 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 445 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Sverige Direkt [Jody Kravitz] Re: AT&T Telstar Call Control Unit [Julian Macassey] Re: Exchanges Taken Out of Service [Carl Moore] Re: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones [Jody Kravitz] Re: Neat Phones! [David E. Bernholdt] Re: US/Canada Only One Digit Code? [John Nagle] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [Donald E. Kimberlin] Re: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction [Jim Thomas] Re: Legion of Doom and the Secret Service [Steven W. Bittinger] Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" [Donald E. Kimberlin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jody Kravitz Subject: Re: Sverige Direkt Date: 20 Jun 90 04:36:12 GMT Organization: The Foxtail Group, San Diego, CA dan@sics.se (Dan Sahlin) writes: >The list of countries and numbers for "Sverige Direkt" are as follows > Canada 1800 463 8129 > USA 1800 345 0046 I couldn't resist trying these numbers. The Canadian 800 number was intercepted with "Your call cannot be completed as dialed 6194T". The USA number rang with an unfamiliar ringing tone and was answered by a woman in a language I didn't understand. "Do you speak English ?" I asked. "Very bad", she said. "What country is this ?", I asked. "Sweden.", she said. "I'm sorry I bothered you.", I said. I suspect that the operator was actually in the US. I wish I could have had a conversation with her. Jody Internet: foxtail!kravitz@ucsd.edu uucp: ucsd!foxtail!kravitz [Moderator's Note: The 'unfamiliar ringing tone' was in fact coming to you from Sweden. Yes, the 800 number was terminating over there. PT] ------------------------------ From: Julian Macassey Subject: Re: AT&T Telstar Call Control Unit Date: 20 Jun 90 05:57:38 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood California U.S.A. In article <9034@accuvax.nwu.edu>, ajr3@akguc.att.com (Arthur J Riedlinger, Iii) writes: > About five years ago I purchased an AT&T Telstar Call Control System, > manufactured by American Bell Consumer Products, and it has been > working perfectly with four regular phones attached to the jacks. Note: Four regular phones. REN = 4? > I recently purchased a Northwestern Bell Excursion Sport II cordless > phone and connected into an unused jack. All the regular phones ring > on an incoming call, the cordless base or remote unit do not ring in > the installed jack or when interchanged with other phones, which work > where the cordless unit was installed. Betya that if you unplugged some of the "four regular phones" the cordless would ring. Guarantee it will ring if it is the only phone plugged into the "Call control system", but maybe not. I don't know what this device is, it could be a euphemism for a PBX. It could generate its own ring or pass the telco ringing signal. > The cordless base and remote > both ring when interchanged with a single phone installed in another > residence. > I suspect that the AT&T unit cannot handle the cordless phone but AT&T > does not have any information on the Telstar unit, which has been > discontinued. Yes, you are nearly right. > I have the owners manual for the Telstar unit, but it doesn't have any > restrictive operating notes. Does anyone have the installation > information or know who I can contact regarding the technical > specifications on this unit? Ok, here is the problem as I see it from the information you have sent me. The ringing voltage is not high enough to trigger the ringer on the cordless. First of all, if the ringing voltage is telco generated, the four regular phones (I assume you mean 2500 sets) are lowering the voltage below the threshold of the cordless unit. AT&T gong ringers will chime away merrily at 40V. Some crummy "ringers" and ring detectors go deaf at 80V or so. Removing some of the phones will raise the voltage and should get the cordless to play. If the ringing voltage is internally generated in the Telstar unit (Wasn't that a satellite?), it could be too low to do anything to the cordless. You can try asking the cordless importer what the minimum ringing voltage is. Don't expect an intelligent answer. Changing some of the components in the cordless ring detector may help. This is yet another REN type question, so don't forget folks, that turning the ringers "off" will not remove the load from the line. You have to open the unit and physically remove the ringer from the line. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 9:50:04 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Exchanges Taken Out of Service 594 used to appear in the Philadelphia phone book in area code 215 for ConRail (this was c. 1976). Since then, before the local calls from Pa. to Del. were changed to eleven digits, 594 has disappeared from Philadelphia and appeared in Wilmington, Delaware (area 302). Until such local call change, Chester Heights (Pa.) had seven digit dialing to both Philadelphia and Wilmington. ------------------------------ From: Jody Kravitz Subject: Re: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones Date: 20 Jun 90 14:03:46 GMT Organization: The Foxtail Group, San Diego, CA blake@pro-party.cts.com (Blake Farenthold) writes: >I always figured if anyone hated COCOTS it was AT&T. Well I found >what I'd call an AT&T COCOT. I have encountered AT&T "Charge-a-Call" phones at an airport recently which cut off the keypad only when certain 800 numbers were called. I could call my paging service and use the keypad, but the keypad was turned off when I called U.S. Sprint. I can't blame them, but I was very surprised. ------------------------------ From: "David E. Bernholdt" Subject: Re: Neat Phones! Date: 20 Jun 90 16:22:48 GMT Reply-To: "David E. Bernholdt" Organization: University of Florida Quantum Theory Project In article <9072@accuvax.nwu.edu> the Moderator wrote: >[Moderator's Note: The Sharper Image catalog has these phones also, >and theirs come with a blue neon tube in the base which either stays lit >at all times and flashes off when the phone rings or stays dark and >flashes on when the phone rings, as you select. They are really very >clever and very beautiful instruments. PT] Yeah, I saw one of these at the local ScanDesign (or equivalent) shop. Neat, but they wanted $250.00 for it! I'll stick to my Panasonic with an opaque case... David Bernholdt bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu Quantum Theory Project bernhold@ufpine.bitnet University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 904/392 6365 [Moderator's Note: Well, no one ever accused Sharper Image of selling inexpensive stuff. My mouth waters when I read their catalog. I wish I could afford just one or two things from each issue. PT] ------------------------------ From: John Nagle Subject: Re: US/Canada Only One Digit Code? Date: 20 Jun 90 19:50:16 GMT Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA At one time, prior to international direct dialing, Kuwait had a U.S. area code. JN [Moderator's Note: You *really* have piqued my curiosity on this one! Does anyone else know about this? What area code was it? When? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 19:05 EST From: "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB Responding to: David Lewis >In article <8647@accuvax.nwu.edu>, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us >(John R. Levine) writes: > In article <8544@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: > >> 4) How the local telco got a waiver to give long distance service ... > >It's not really "Long Distance" service..." (material deleted) Then, Lewis responds: >The MFJ Court granted a couple of "'limited corridor' exceptions" to >"preserve traditional direct BOC interstate serving arrangements. >These exceptions called for BOC-to-BOC, inter-LATA trunking between >(NYC & North NJ, and South NJ & Philly)" >The way I read this is that NJBell and NYTel on the one hand, and >NJBell and Bell of PA on the other hand, had direct trunking >arrangements which didn't pass through AT&T Long Lines >(pre-divestiture)....." In fact, these areas were two places of incursion by NYTel and Bell PA into territory that ultimately became the Bell Telephone Company of New Jersey. I have no direct experience with the South Jersey territory, but did have some in North Jersey. There, I recall a territory described as an arc with a radius of forty miles from some point on the New Jersey shore of the Hudson River was an area within which NYTel could still sell things like interstate private line and Special Services. The whole matter simply dated back into the mists of Bell System history from the time before there was a New Jersey Bell. I have walked in the streets of Paterson, NJ and seen manhole covers marked, "New York Bell." this, of course, is plant long since taken over by NJ Bell, but it is the physical remnants of that history and time when NYTel ran the phones in northern NJ. Today, we see it has evolved into a right to sell short-haul toll under Equal Acess rules. Regrettably, like so much of telecom history, it has been euphemized into obscurity by legal language, so its root gets lost. I'm sure the same applied to southern NJ with Bell of PA providing the first Bell phones across the river from Philadelphia. And, it wouldn't surprise me to find similar incursions elsewhere ... let's say perhaps in Kansas City, or East St. Louis, for example. Perhaps some of our more intrepid readers would engage some vicarious manhole-cover-reading. Might be of trivial interest. How about it? Any Canadians care to see if there aren't even some NY Tel manhole covers across the river from Buffalo, dating from the time that was a rural area? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 16:50 CDT From: TK0JUT2%NIU.BITNET@uicvm.uic.edu Subject: Re: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction Pat's recent commentary (TCD #442) about Len Rose's indictment raises troublesome issues. Among them are what constitute theft, the continuing question of the nature of Secret Service investigatory techniques, and how we talk about all this. The continued use of the term "theft," although it is generally a legitimate legal term and one used in the indictments, seems questionable, because as Judge Nicholas Bua's recent memorandum indicates, courts have not settled the issue of whether transfer of electronic impulses when the original property remains in place and intact is in fact "theft." Further, if Len received the source code from another, does this constitute theft? If it is "property" which could be obtained from any Unix user, what, then, is the status of that property? The problem here is that we are applying conventional terms that carry considerable emotional, ethical, and other ideological baggage, to a realm where they may not be approrpriate. One consequence of the "computer revolution" is that it changes how we look at things. Unfortunately, comfortable language may not adequately or accurately describe what in fact occurs. When we name something, the thing becomes that name, and we then respond to a label rather than -- in this case -- to the thing itself. Such structured and limited conceptualizing feeds the witch hunt mentality in which law enforcement agents justify their "crackdown" on the computer underground. If, as Pat suggests, the Secret Service is taping phone calls, whose are they taping? Are they taping Pat's, because he is in contact with suspicious people? Are they reading the mail going in to TELECOM Digest? Rep. Don Edwards' FOIA request indicates that BBSs are under surveillance, and some law enforcement types have bragged about their "sting" operations. Don't the privacy concerns trouble people? Adducing Len's past behaviors seems a bit disingenuous. While claiming that it should not be used to convict him, simply raising it in the manner done provides a way to discredit the "moral character." The tenor of the commentary seems to be, "Hey, let's not condemn him on this past act, but gee, look what he did before." To Pat's credit, he explicitly warns against using Len's past conviction in judging the present one, but others have not been so cautious. At stake in the current crackdowns are issues not only of privacy and First Amendment rights -- not to hack or phreak, but to discuss it in outlets like Phrack and TELECOM Digest -- but also the direction of e-mail protections for the coming decades. To use conventional terms like "theft," "fraud," "conspiracy," and other legal terms as if they described what actually happening ignores the complexity of the issues and distorts the changes occuring in communication and the need to address how *ALL* users can be protected from all predators, whether these predators hide behind a terminal or a badge. Jim Thomas, co-moderator Computer underground Digest (TK0JUT2@NIU) ------------------------------ From: "Steven W. Bittinger" Subject: Re: Legion of Doom and the Secret Service Date: 20 Jun 90 23:58:30 GMT > "Back in February, when AT&T long distance service went down for most > of a day, the company blamed it on a software bug, but it was really a > worm --- sabotage by hackers loosely associated as the Legion of Doom. > Members also lifted UNIX System V.3 source code from Bell Labs and 911 > maintenance code from Bellsouth. But it was disruption of telephone > service that got the Secret Service involved. Many Unix nodes on the > anarchic Usenet crabgrass network were seized by zealous agents > tracking down mailing lists." Interested individuals may want to retrieve a lengthy article describing the Legion of Doom incident from the CCNEWS archives by sending a one-line message to LISTSERV@BITNIC.BITNET wiith the text: GET UUCP MULLET_K This article was published in the June 1990 issue of Benchmarks (Vol.11, No.4), the University of North Texas Computing Centre Newsletter. Steven Bittinger E-mail: steveb@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au Computing Centre Phone: (002) 20-2811 University of Tasmania Fax: (002) 23-1772 GPO Box 252C, Hobart Note: internationally, dial (+61-02) Tasmania 7001, AUSTRALIA instead of (002) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 19:05 EST From: "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" While on consulting engagement in rural Mississippi, I've had the benefit of observing in many places a virtual "modern museum of Telephony." In that living museum, one finds many interesting sidelights that have passed from the scene inmost of the nation. One, however, seems to be although _sub_rosa_, still active. It seems that much of Mississippi still had manual ringdown magneto telephone exchanges right up to thirty years ago. It further seems that a large number of the magneto telephone sets never really did get scrapped. Rather, they are kept at hand whenever one needs to do some rapid, serious fishing. At such times, the old magneto telephone gets taken out in the boat, its wires get dropped over the side, and its crank gets turned. The invariable result: Numerous stunned fish float to the surface to simply be netted into the boat. Obviously, the game warden takes a very dim view of this method, so the technique is not used publicly. And, were a stranger to walk into a sporting goods store to ask for the apparatus for "telephone fishing," the result would likely range from a laugh to a disclaimer on the topic. but, if you roam the country roads and ask most any "country folks" about it, you'll get at least a sly wink! How about it? Anyplace else where folks still fish via phone? ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #445 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa03093; 22 Jun 90 2:51 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa06661; 22 Jun 90 1:20 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa16056; 22 Jun 90 0:17 CDT Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 23:28:44 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #446 BCC: Message-ID: <9006212328.ab28230@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 21 Jun 90 23:28:28 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 446 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Sprint Users Now Get Immediate Credit [Press Release via Paul Wilczynski] Seeking Recommendations For Modem/Telephone Switcher [T. Govindaraj] Motorola Plans Global Cellular Thrust [Chicago Tribune via Steven King] On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe [Donald E. Kimberlin] FCC Surveys AOS Operations [Telephony Magazine via Roger Clark Swann] Cocom Deregulations [Hank Nussbacher] Just a Data Point For CLASS [Chris Johnson] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 04:25 EST From: Paul Wilczynski <0002003441@mcimail.com> Subject: Sprint Users Now Get Immediate Credit KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--US Sprint announced Monday (6/18) that it now offers callers immediate credit for wrong numbers and calls experiencing transmission difficulties. The new service invalidates a recent advertising campaign that touts AT&T as the only operator services provider to give immediate call credit. Prior to offering this service, US Sprint required that customers call a customer service ``800'' number. The request was then processed and a credit was noted on their bill. ``This move separates US Sprint from other long distance providers because customers will see the actual credit on their bill,'' said Dan Evanoff, vice president and general manager of Sprint Services. ``Unlike AT&T, we put it in writing.'' US Sprint has stepped ahead of the competition by assuring immediate call credit even if the customer makes a credit request a day or two later. US Sprint customers now may give their information to a Sprint Services agent and be assured that the credit will appear on a subsequent bill. This eliminates the customer inconvenience of requesting the credit again upon receiving their monthly invoice. According to Evanoff, research indicates that even though a customer requests call credit via other operator service providers, if the request is not within five minutes of the occurrence, the chances that the credit will appear on the customer's bill is jeopardized. Established in 1988 to provide operator support for US Sprint customers, Sprint Services now provides a variety of call assistance and 900 services to a rapidly growing market. US Sprint is a unit of United Telecommunications Inc., a diversified international telecommunications company based in Kansas City, Mo. ------------------------------ From: "T. Govindaraj" Subject: Seeking Recommendations For Modem/Telephone Switcher Date: 20 Jun 90 13:24:09 GMT Reply-To: "T. Govindaraj" Organization: Center for Human-Machine Systems Research - Georgia Tech Can some kind soul help me figure out if the phone/fax/modem switchesreally work to route calls appropriately? I would like to route calls to a modem (connected to a Sun 3/80 or NeXT) or the telephone (I don't need a fax; I could use a fax modem with my MacII if I ever have a need). If the switches are good and worth, which ones would you recommend? I have seen descriptions of a switcher from Acco and some other company. Also, I assume that the "Rodelvox Faxmate 168vs" from haverhills (advertised for $79.95 +$4.95 s&h, New Yorker) will work for the modems too. I checked several back issues of these newsgroups and did not find a discussion of this device. If I missed prior discussion and if this is a repeat request I apologize. I'll gladly summarize, if you mail suggestions and comments. Thank you! T. Govindaraj, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Voice: (404) 894 3873, Fax: (404) 894 2301 tg@chmsr.UUCP or tg@chmsr.gatech.edu ------------------------------ From: Steven King Subject: Motorola Plans Global Cellular Thrust Date: 20 Jun 90 14:19:53 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL This is from the Business section of the {Chicago Tribune}, Wednesday, June 20, 1990. I work for Motorola's cellular division, and this is news to me. Then again, no one here (in switch software) heard of the Micro-TACS until the press release last year. Don't bother to pump me for information, all I know is what I'm copying from the Trib. Any typos are mine. MOTOROLA PLANS GLOBAL CELLULAR THRUST (by Marianne Taylor) Motorola Inc., a leader in the booming cellular telephone business, is set to announce next week plans to establish the first global, satellite-based cellular phone system, industry sources said Tuesday. The system, in which Motorola is expected to make at least a $2 billion initial investment, would require launching a network of low-orbiting satellites that would extend cellular service to remote areas of the United States as well as overseas locations. The new system would be of use to international travelers and to people who live in remote areas of the U.S. where it's not economical to build a sufficient number of the land-based transmitters that now carry cellular signals to customers in more densely populated areas. Motorola officials were reluctant to discuss details of the proposed system, but they have scheduled a briefing next week in which the system is expected to be announced. Industry sources said the planned system, which will require Federal Communications Commission approval, would involve launching 77 small satellites to carry telephone signals around the world. It could be operating by the mid-1990s, the sources said. In theory, a worldwide communications network based on satellites has the capacity to reach anyone in the world instantaneously, one industry source said, adding that such a move fits with Motorola's plans to aggressively expand in cellular telephones. Other communications companies reportedly are moving quickly into this area, which is expected to be the next generation of cellular telephone technology. Among Motorola's competitors will be American Telephone & Telegraph Co. AT&T reportedly has teamed up with Geostar Corp., a Washington-based satellite communications firm, to develop a similar system based on different technology, said John Pemberton, an analyst with Gartner Group Inc. Another communication company, part-owned by subsidiaries of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. and Hughes Aircraft Corp., already has been licensed by the FCC to launch and operate a mobile communications system for the U.S., said Ruth Pritchard-kelly, spokeswoman for the company, American Mobile Satellite Corp. The satellite company said it plans to launch its first satellite, a geostationary model, in 1993 to provide voice and data communications to mobile users in the U.S. and 200 miles of its coastal waters. Geostationary satellites cost $50 million to $60 million to launch, but only two are needed to set up worldwide coverage, Pemberton said. Motorola's platoon of satellites would follow a relatively low orbit -- 600 to 800 miles above the Earth -- and be much cheaper and easier to launch than the geostationary satellites, which orbit at 23,000 miles above the Earth, he said. The system Motorola is expected to announce next week would be the first to integrate satellite services and land-based cellular system, Pemberton said. Motorola is finalizing agreements with the companies expected to launch the satellite system. Among those that have developed a moderately priced method of launching such satellites is Washington, D.C.-based Oribital Sciences Corp., which uses its Pegasus rocket to launch small payloads into orbit from the wing of an airplane. Orbital Sciences can launch a satellite the size of the ones envisioned for Motorola for $5 million to $6 million each, a company spokeswoman said. AT&T is expected to propose using larger, more expensive satellites. Officials at Oribital Sciences wouldn't comment on any venture with Motorola. If Motorola is able to develop its system as intended, the company would move beyond simply manufacturing the equipment used in cellular phone systems -- the handsets and the switching stations -- to become a cellular telephone operator, Pemberton noted. But before any system can be sent into orbit, Motorola must pass stringent FCC licensing tests. Sales of cellular phones and switching equipment represent 10 to 15 percent of Motorola's revenue, industry analysts say, and the business is expected to grow rapidly. Expecting that demand for cellular phones will outstrip its manufacturing capacity in Arlington Heights, IL, Motorola last year announced plans to build a $50 million plant in suburban Libertyville. Steve King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 19:05 EST From: "Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> Organization: Telecommunications Network Architects, Safety Harbor, FL Subject: On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe Recent dialog in forii (could that be the plural of "forum?") on other networks leads me to poll this august assemblage in search of a lexicographer of telecommunications. The subject: Searching for the detail origin and the ultimate demise of the name "octothorpe" for the <#> character we commonly call a "number sign." What we've found: At the time Bell put a "#" on tone telephone keypads, it was, to all knowledge, just "there," and available for non-specified future applications, as was the asterisk <*>. There _may_ have been a Bell System Technical Journal publication at the time indicating what possible uses the designers had. (And some may recall that early Bell tone keypads didn't have any <*> or <#> keys, too. They were added early on.) The _one_ use of the <#> seems to have been one of Bell self- interest, assigning the <#> as an End-of-Number delimiter to signal the electromechanical registers of crossbar exchanges, so they didn't sit and time out (for some _long_ times) on International DDD calls. It was the necessary American action, as of course, a great convenience of the fixed number length here had been to be able to simply count digits to identify the End of Number. But, to our story: At the time the <#> came to public view, there was some public news that Bell Labs had given the character <#> a name, "octothorpe," descriptive of its eight points. I have recall of mentions in newsmagazines of the Time/Newsweeks ilk, crediting the Labs for giving what had previously no name a proper name. The current track has found some folks who worked inside local switching plant at the time recalling they got Drawing Change Notices describing the EON modification to crossbar registers (essentially a wire mod that ran the output of the <#> detector channel to the same logic point as the digit counters..ain't hardware logic fun?), so either the proper digit count _or_ the <#> would send the digits off to translators and markers, releasing the register to serve another call. Those Drawing Change Notices told the character had been named "octothorpe." Meantime, a short time later, the public newsmagazines had follow-up stories that Bell Labs had retracted its claim to inventing a name for the character; saying that the attribution to Bell Labs was perhaps a hoax. Today, the octothorpe's namer should get credit where due. Who really _did_ think through the form of the character and come up with a descriptive name? Can people in this readership do a text search of Bell System Tech Journals and Bell Labs Record, etc., of the 1950's-early 1960's and perhaps find some relevant material? If there's nothing better, finding the names of suthors who wrote any pieces using that term should be close to the individual source. We should by now have reached a point in time when the Labs should no longer be embarrassed by what they must once have perceived as beneath or beyond their function. (Items like this should lead us to being able to write more powerful documentation. For example, how many people say or write "slash' and "reverse slash" for the and <\> we use some much, when they really have the proper name "virgule" and "reverse virgule?" Check it out in your Funk & Wagnalls.) ------------------------------ From: Roger Clark Swann Subject: FCC Surveys AOS Operations Date: 21 Jun 90 06:10:03 GMT Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA [ To most regular readers of TELECOM, the following will be nothing new. However, it is good to see some hard facts / numbers on the topic and maybe it will point the way to some constructive change. ] Reprinted from TELEPHONY / June 11, 1990 AOS Firms Violate FCC Guidelines Many alternative operator srevices (AOS) companies are continuing to violate Federal Communications Commision guidelines, according to a nationwide audit recently conducted by the agency. The guidelines were developed more than a year ago in response to widespread complaint about AOS firms. When the FCC's field operations staff made calls from pay phones throughout the United States earlier this spring, they discovered that few AOS companies provided written notices on phones to indicate that an AOS company was handling the calls. However, the companies did identify themselves orally almost 90% of the time, the FCC report said. And there are still serious problems with call blocking. About 40% of the time, callers were unable to get their calls routed through a selected long distance company, according to the report. Blocking problems occurred with 10XXX numbers and 950 numbers. The FCC is expected to draw up mandatory rules regulating the industry sometime this year. The guidelines adopted on February 1989 have no legal power and have drawn criticism from Congress and comsumer groups for that reason. The FCC, however, opposes pending congressional bills that would require rate regulation of AOS providers. The AOS industry says it has been trying to comply with the guildelines. (End of article). Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company | ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 10:59:12 P From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: Cocom Deregulations Many people have asked me about Cocom deregulations and I just got the June 11th Computerworld (page 123) which has an article about it. The new ceiling for free trade of computers is now 275M bit/sec up from 78M bit/sec. This includes all personal computers up to and including the 33Mhz 80386. Licensing consideration will be given to commercial computers up to 1G bit/sec (this encompasses all computers other than supercomputers and large mainframes). Eastern Europe has a higher limit of 2G bit/sec. Fiber-optic systems are still regulated. They also mention that the US Dept of Commerce would block US West's proposal to install the $500 million fiber-optic TSL. Hank ------------------------------ From: Chris Johnson Subject: Just a Data Point For CLASS Organization: Com Squared Systems, Inc. Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 23:37:05 GMT I had occasion to call U.S. West yesterday to arrange for my telephone service to move with me. During my brief chat with their service representative in Souix Falls, SD (I'm in Minneapolis -- clever automatic forwarding when the local reps. get too busy), he mentioned they were trial offering CLASS features to their North Dakota customers. (of all places... :-) ...Chris Johnson chris@c2s.mn.org ..uunet!bungia!com50!chris Com Squared Systems, Inc. St. Paul, MN USA +1 612 452 9522 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #446 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07070; 22 Jun 90 4:58 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04446; 22 Jun 90 3:24 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa18759; 22 Jun 90 2:21 CDT Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 1:53:16 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #447 BCC: Message-ID: <9006220153.ab09617@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 Jun 90 01:52:08 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 447 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones [Christopher J. Pikus] Re: V & H Coordinates to Latitude and Longitude [Jim Riddle] Re: New York City xxx-9901 Numbers [Jack Winslade] Re: Uniform International Dialing [Charles Hawkins Mingo] Re: Telecom Masters Degree? [Tad Cook] Re: Screwy PUC Policies [Tad Cook] Re: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90 [Chris Johnson] Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB [Fred R. Goldstein] Re: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime [Lang Zerner] Re: Neat Phones! [John Higdon] Re: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" [Jim Rees] Re: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" [C. Irby] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Christopher J. Pikus" Subject: Re: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones Date: 22 Jun 90 00:10:53 GMT Organization: Megatek Corporation, San Diego, Ca. From article <9093@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by foxtail!kravitz@ucsd.edu (Jody Kravitz): > I have encountered AT&T "Charge-a-Call" phones at an airport recently > which cut off the keypad only when certain 800 numbers were called. I > could call my paging service and use the keypad, but the keypad was > turned off when I called U.S. Sprint. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I thought that this was illegal. I seem to recall hearing that the Supreme Court decided that while COCOT phones were legal they could not block access to 800 numbers that access alternate services. Am I wrong or am I wrong? Regards, Christopher J. Pikus, Megatek Corp. INTERNET: cjp@megatek.uucp San Diego, CA UUCP: ...!uunet!megatek!cjp ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 22:08:29 EDT From: Jim Riddle Subject: Re: V & H Coordinates to Latitude and Longitude Reply-to: Jim.Riddle@f27.n285.z1.fidonet.org Vertical/horizontal conversion differs depending on whether you are just flat-Earthing from a given point or are given Earth-centered coordinates translated from the lat, long and given radius of the earth. I work with all of the stuff all of the time at work, and have several routines available. If you would like these, send me netmail at Jim_Riddle@p0.f27.n285.z1.fidonet.org, or if you have direct FidoNet access, to Jim Riddle at 1:285/27.0 (Inns of Court, Papillion, NE); or I would suggest that conversions are not that difficult if you want to look up the topic of spherical coordinates in a good calculus text. --- Ybbat (DRBBS) 8.9 v. 3.11 r.3 * Origin: [1:285/27@fidonet] The Inns of Court 402/593-1192 (1:285/27.0) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Jim.Riddle@f27.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jun 90 22:11:45 EDT From: Jack Winslade Subject: Re: New York City xxx-9901 Numbers Reply-to: Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha, Ne. 402-896-3537 In a message of <16 Jun 90 15:03:42>, Douglas Scott Reuben writes: >In case anyone cares, here are some 99xx "suffixes" that 'work' in NY: >[list deleted] One you forgot (or maybe doesn't work anymore) is nnx-9900. In the early 70's this returned the milliwatt 1004hZ tone. This used to work for many of the (then) panel and #1 crossbar offices in Brooklyn. In addition, nnx-0099 used to return busy tone and there was another one, not 99xx, that would return a ringing tone (with no line actually ringing) but I forget that one. At that time, the nnx-9900 number would supervise upon connection. The 0099 would not. It was interesting to note the change in the various tones (dial, busy, ringing) when the older offices were cut to ESS. [Warning -- nostalgia alert] This just reminded me of something. This was about the time that tone dialing was becoming available in the NYC area. They had a big media thing pointing out the sound of the new dial tone (what is now standard) which would appear on CO's equipped for tone dialing. They even had a number you could dial to hear the new tone. [exciting, huh ?? ;-) ] Good Day! JSW [1:285/666@fidonet] DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha (1:285/666) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: Charles Hawkins Mingo Subject: Re: Uniform International Dialing Date: 21 Jun 90 23:53:19 GMT Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA In article <8948@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon writes: > >Are you sure that the "#" is necessary for timeout elimination for the >LD operator? "00" is unambiguous, in that no additional digits would >be expected by the switch. Actually, "00" is ambiguous in my experience. At least when using AT&T Long Distance in Chicago and Washington, "001" is the prefix for International Credit Card Calls (i.e. calls outside of North America, Caribbean, etc.). [Moderator's Note: Are you sure the international operator assisted code is not '01' ?? That is what we use here. PT] ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Re: Telecom Masters Degree? Date: 21 Jun 90 19:07:21 GMT Organization: very little In article <8879@accuvax.nwu.edu>, wybbs!ken@sharkey.cc.umich.edu (Ken Jongsma) writes: > Do you know of a school that offers a Masters Degree in Voice/Data > Communications? I'm interested in exploring this and would appreciate > any leads you could provide. Check the "Directory of Telecommunications Schools and Colleges" in the TE&M Directory. Some that come to mind: Annenberg School of Communications at the U of S. Cal, Arizona State U, U of Colorado... Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Re: Screwy PUC Policies Date: 21 Jun 90 18:56:55 GMT Organization: very little In article <8860@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mailrus!uflorida!rm1!bapat (Bapat) writes: > While visiting my aunt in Alameda, CA, in the metro Bay area (415-865 > exchange) I was surprised to find that I couldn't retrieve messages > from my answering machine at home. The reason? My aunt's phone > couldn't send out tones, as Alameda has no touch-tone service! It was > shocking to know that there still are parts of major metropolitan > areas which don't have tone yet. What kind of central office inhibits you from sending DTMF to your answering machine? None! Also, the 415-865 exchange has been a 1AESS for many years now, offering not only tone dialling, but call-waiting, call transfer, speed dialing, etc. I think it has had touchtone service for about TWO DECADES! > Suppose it were possible for Pac Bell to upgrade technology and pay > for it solely on the basis of new, enhanced services offered, i.e. > without affecting the basic subscription rate for the majority of its > subscribers - why would that be a problem with the PUC? It isn't! This CO was upgraded YEARS ago! Of course, it's easier to blame the telco, rather than just call them for info! Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Chris Johnson Subject: Re: "Columbo" TV Episode, 6/10/90. Organization: Com Squared Systems, Inc. Date: Tue, 19 Jun 90 21:58:30 GMT I don't know what tests are really used in a courtroom to determine admissible evidence, but I believe it would be foolish to allow FAX machine logs. FAX machines are _user_ programmable devices. I've even doctored the logs on a FAX machine once to keep nosey secretaries from knowing what I was doing. And I was a complete neophyte at the time -- I just read the little user's reference card, pushed a few buttons, and bingo, no more trace of my FAX. I could alter the date and time just as easily, dial the number myself (in fact, I did and usually do), and so on. I suspect very few computer printouts of any kind are admissible evidence since they are so easily forged. ...Chris Johnson chris@c2s.mn.org ..uunet!bungia!com50!chris Com Squared Systems, Inc. St. Paul, MN USA +1 612 452 9522 ------------------------------ From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Re: 10-NYT and 10-NJB Date: 21 Jun 90 20:01:52 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA In article <9096@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes... >I have walked in the streets of Paterson, NJ and seen manhole covers >marked, "New York Bell." this, of course, is plant long since taken >over by NJ Bell, but it is the physical remnants of that history and >time when NYTel ran the phones in northern NJ. While I'm not all that old, I still don't believe that NYT ever "ran the phones" in NNJ. New Jersey Bell is an old and venerable company, formerly the Delaware and Atlantic Telephone Co. I'd rather suspect that the manhole covers were simply built for NYT and used by NJB because they didn't have any handy with their own name on them. Since they were both AT&T subs, it's perfectly believable that they'd "borrow" each others' inventory on occasion. Incidentally about a decade ago, Bell Labs Record (or whichever one the glossy non-technical magazine was) had an article about the new trunk facilities -- "MAT" (Metropolitan Area Trunk) cable -- strung between Manhattan and Jersey City. Real high-tech stuff: Voice-frequency twisted pair, thin gauge, about 3600 pair per tube! Since the toll offices were only about 3 miles apart, unamplified twisted pair was cheaper than any sort of mux and performed adequately. This must cost them about a penny a minute to use. The markups are truly outrageous! Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 13:43:49 PDT From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. In article <8821@accuvax.nwu.edu> sneaky!gordon@uunet.uu.net writes: >The ad in my mail says "A review of your AT&T Long Distance bill >indicates that you have the potential to save money by changing to the >AT&T SelectSaver Plan". >...call each month in addition to actual use, I would have paid $11.40 in >SelectSaver bills to date to save about $4.56 on calls, for a net loss >of $6.84. And they are strongly implying that they LOOKED at my bills >and decided I could save money. I'll see you and raise you... I got a similar letter stating that, based on a review of my calling patterns, AT&T in its infinite wisdom had determined that I would be better off if I took AT&T's Reach Out America calling plan into my life. They even went so far as to reassure me that they had not sent this letter to all AT&T customers, only to those who AT&T had scientifically determined would save money. I would not be too incensed by this except for the fact that I have had the Reach Out America plan in place for almost nine months. The only thing I can think is that AT&T is making these mailings based on reviews of bills sent to AT&T/Universal card accounts without considering the primary account of the subscriber (if any). Gordon, did you recently get a Universal card? ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Neat Phones! Date: 21 Jun 90 13:13:27 PDT (Thu) From: John Higdon "David E. Bernholdt" writes: > Yeah, I saw one of these at the local ScanDesign (or equivalent) shop. > Neat, but they wanted $250.00 for it! I'll stick to my Panasonic with > an opaque case... Watch out when buying "neat" phones. I have the ITT 2500-style clear phone. It is ITT's standard implemention of the 2500 set, with genuine "gong" ringer (REN 1.0A), non-smart keypad, and standard network with carbon transmitter. It cost about $30. The phones at Sharper Image, and the usual specialty stores have phones that contain "smart" keypads, that while providing LND, etc., also give little short bursts of tone that may even be delayed from your keypress. Usually the networks are strange and the audio quality is wierd. I stay away from most novelty phones because more attention goes into the novelty and less into the business of being a telephone. It IS nice once in awhile to find a "real" phone that also happens to have some novelty to it (without a ripoff price). John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: rees@dabo.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Organization: University of Michigan IFS Project Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 13:58:02 GMT In article <9100@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: >How about it? Anyplace else where folks still fish via phone? I would consider that cheating, but when I was a kid we would sometimes use a telephone magneto to make worms come out of the ground. You might call this "telephone-assisted" fishing. I can remember seeing crank-phones in rural Ontario up until the mid 1960s. Within the last year I've seen them still in use in parts of Sumatra. It seems to be no longer possible to call one of these phones from the U.S. At one time the AT&T operator would stay on the line to the Indonesia operator for however long it took to get through, then ring you back. Now if they can't get through in the first three minutes they give up. ------------------------------ From: "ac08@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (C. Irby" Subject: Re: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" Date: 21 Jun 90 12:32:03 GMT In article <9100@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: > ... do some rapid, serious fishing. At such times, the old magneto > telephone gets taken out in the boat, its wires get dropped over the > side, and its crank gets turned. > The invariable result: Numerous stunned fish float to the > surface to simply be netted into the boat. Obviously, the game warden > takes a very dim view of this method, so the technique is not used > publicly. > How about it? Anyplace else where folks still fish via phone? Well, my maternal grandfather used to have a rig like that... He said he used it for fishing, but I never saw it used for that. His favorite gag was to put two wires into a bowl of water, drop a quarter into the bowl, and say, "You can have it if you can pick it up..." Then he'd turn the crank... C Irby ac08@vaxb.acs.unt.edu ac08@untvax [Moderator's Note: Does anyone remember the *perfectly awful* scandal at the Tucker, Arkansas State Penitentiary several years ago when it was discovered that a method of punishing disobedient inmates involved the use of the 'Tucker Telephone'? Alligator clips from the two wires were attached to uh, very sensitive parts of the human body ... the Warden would crank away and the inmate would confess to whatever needed confessing. In more recent times (1982), a convicted killer of a police officer here in Chicago is now claiming in federal court that detectives investigating the case tortured him in the same way. He says they had him naked, handcuffed to a hot radiator, with a wire clipped to each earlobe. The cops called it 'shock therapy', and laughed at the way he would shake his head and jump up and down as they turned the crank. Police here deny the whole story, of course. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #447 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa17358; 23 Jun 90 1:11 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa14988; 22 Jun 90 23:32 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa24981; 22 Jun 90 22:29 CDT Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 21:28:47 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #448 BCC: Message-ID: <9006222128.ab24852@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 Jun 90 21:28:36 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 448 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Caller ID Questions (No Debate!) [Travis Lee Winfrey] Touchtone Fee Abolished in CA [Lang Zerner] 800 Surcharge [Paul Schmidt] So How Does One Telephone Pitcairn Island? [Doug Blair] What is the Purpose of Loops? [Jeff Bilger] Update: Alcor Life Extension Email Litigation [H. Keith Henson] 900 Ways to Ripoff the Poor and Vulnerable [Roy Smith] Clever Cleaner [Dolf Grunbauer] Canadian Prefixes (was: Exchanges Taken Out of Service) [Carl Moore] ERS Service Description and the Neidorf Case [John Nagle] Re: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction [Zev Sero] Re: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction [Peter da Silva] Re: So What Follows Caller ID? [Henry Mensch] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 13:00:55 EDT From: Travis Lee Winfrey Subject: Caller ID Questions (No Debate!) Hi, does anyone know what caller-ID phones are currently or soon to be on the market? I'm mostly curious about prices and capabilities. I'm not so interested in whiz-bang PC-based programs -- unless those are the only things available. Are there phones available or planned that would let me - - map a phone number to a name or initials? 555-1234 is displayed as TLW. - scroll back last n numbers? - easily call back the last number who called me? - automatically reject a number? that is, the unwanted caller would not even reach an answering machine. - transfer to another line? (FAX, modem, etc.) How does Caller ID work with Call Waiting? Have phreakers figured out a way to spoof a switch into mislabeling their outgoing calls? The Caller ID protocol is a public specification, right? Are companies anywhere gearing up to use call waiting for telemarketing? How about 911 centers? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 14:45:41 PDT From: Lang Zerner Subject: Touchtone Fee Abolished in CA Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. I don't know if anyone has reported this yet, but PacBell has finally given in to my incessant whining and removed the "value-added" fee for Touch-Tone service. I guess they finally caught on to the fact that, as the designers of Touch-Tone predicted, the necessary telco hardware is cheaper if people don't use pulse dialing. Now, if I can just get them to be reasonable about custom numbers (they charge you every month for a vanity number -- makes about as much sense as charging for Touch-Tone). Be seeing you... Lang Zerner ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 08:50:24 EDT From: Paul Schmidt Subject: 800 Surcharge I probably am asking a question that has been asked many times before: I stayed at a hotel recently and received a $.50 surcharge for phone call to a 800 number. It was my impression that it was illegal to charge for 800 calls. How can they do this? Does this only apply to pay phones? Paul Schmidt UUCP: rti!olympus!pjs269 Texas Instruments PHONE: (615) 461-2461 PO Drawer 1255 M/S 3517 Johnson City, TN 37605-1255 [Moderator's Note: It does *not* apply 'only to payphones', or only to anything else. It is a dispicable practice which AOS companies get away with because no one will sue them to make them stop doing it. PT] ------------------------------ Subject: So How Does One Telephone Pitcairn Island? Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 7:52:36 CDT From: Doug Blair I apologize if this question has already been discussed - a friend forwarded a copy of a discussion about direct dialable remote places to me because I have an interest in (and friends on) Pitcairn Island, which is certainly one of the most isolated population centers of the planet :-). Most communication with the 58 residents of Pitcairn is via ham radio. Most houses have a phone, from which you CAN place international calls through a radio operator. There is a regular calling schedule between Pitcairn and the international operator in Aukland, NZ, twice a day. No it's not direct dial (no phone numbers on the island) - it's more like "Cary, I'd like to talk to Brisbane tomorrow" over a cup of tea. This summer the regular Pitcairn operator(s) and their family will be visiting my next door neighbor here in Illinois for a few weeks. Not too big an event in the world scheme of things, but since Pitcairn is still adminisitratively part of the United Kingdom the government has provided a radio operator for the island to accomodate their vacation plans. Doug Blair Obedient Software Corp. 1007 Naperville Rd, Wheaton IL 60187 708-653-5527 blair@obdient.chi.il.us ------------------------------ From: vaxb.acs.unt.edu!ie09@cs.utexas.edu Subject: What is the Purpose of Loops? Date: 21 Jun 90 03:57:09 GMT What are the phone companies 'Test Numbers' used for exactly? Also could someone explain to me what loops are used for? Jeff Bilger IE09@UNT [Moderator's Note: Loops are used to test circuits from a remote location. As an example, a tester in Kansas City wants to check a circuit coming from Chicago. He calls the incoming side of a loop in Chicago and 'loops-around' to make an outgoing call back to Kansas City. Other loops may allow a telco employee working outside his/her regular district to access special codes which only work from one central office rather than everywhere. As an example, certain loops in Chicago receive calls on one line, and immediatly grab the outgoing side and place a call to '611' (repair service). The 611 you get is obviously not the 611 I get, so if I want to get yours (as a telco employee authorized to do so), I have to get a line from your central office. The loop provides this access to dial tone in another office when it is needed. PT] ------------------------------ From: hkhenson@cup.portal.com Subject: Update: Alcor Life Extension Email Litigation Date: Thu, 21-Jun-90 01:36:42 PDT Update on the progress in the Alcor/email case as of June, 1990: by H. Keith Henson A suit under section 2707 of U.S.C. title 18 (the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) against a number of individuals in the Riverside, California Coroner's office, the District Attorney's office, and the Riverside police department was filed Jan. 11, 1990, one day short of the statutory limit. There were fifteen plaintiffs out of roughly fifty people who had email on the Alcor system. For those of you who are not familiar with the case, the coroner removed a number of computers from Alcor in connection with an investigation into the cryonic suspension of Dora Kent in December, 1987. The defendants moved in March for a dismissal of the case, arguing that 1) the warrant for the computer was enough to take any email found within it, and 2) that even if the defendants had made "technical" errors in confiscating the email, they should be protected because they acted in "good faith." Our lawyer opposed the motion, arguing that the warrant originally used was itself defective, even for taking the computers. This is something Alcor had never done, because (I think) people can only object to a warrant after charges have been filed, and for all the accusations the coroner and DA made in the press (which included murder, drugs, theft, and building code violations), no charges have been filed in this case in the last two and a half years. The federal judge assigned to the case denied the motion after hearing oral arguments in May. Based on the comments of the judge from the bench, it seems that he agrees that the plaintiffs have a case, namely that taking email requires a warrant for the email, or the persons doing so will face at least civil liability. So far the legal bill stands at over $10,000. Suggestions as to organizations or individuals who might be interested in helping foot the bills would be welcome. (Donations would be returnable if we won the case and the county has to pay our legal bills as required in section 2707.) The text of the legal filings (40k, three files) have been posted to CuD. If you can't get CuD, they are available by email from hkhenson@cup.portal.com [Moderator's Note: CuD is the Computer Underground Digest, a mailing list which was started in part with the overflow of messages from here in TELECOM Digest regards the cracker scene, etc. To subscribe to CuD or submit articles, write to: tk0jut2@niu.bitnet. PT] ------------------------------ From: roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) Subject: 900 Ways to Ripoff the Poor and Vulnerable Organization: Public Health Research Institute, New York City Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 04:05:30 GMT My wife got a solicitation to apply for a credit card today in the mail. It has a new obscene twist which I thought would interest people on this list. To apply for the card, you call a 900 number and "To help defray the cost of processing, the charge of 10.00 will be billed to you at a later date"! Later in the letter they say "As an added bonus you will receive a complete rebate for the telephone call after you are accepted by the bank and receive your credit cards". The whole letter is pretty strange. It's obviously aimed at people with bad or non-existant credit ratings who can't qualify for any of the various very good deals currently available on credit cards. It's full of phrases like "proud to invite you to join the thousands of people who [have VISA/MC cards]". Thousands? Try millions (or, more likely, tens, if not hundreds, of millions). Perhaps the oddest thing is that it is addressed to "Dear Murphy". Not "Mrs. Murphy" or "Ms. Murphy", or (incorrectly) "Mrs. Smith" or (more accurately) "Dr. Murphy" I have no idea how legit this is, but the idea of charging somebody $10 for a phone call to apply for credit (which they very well may not end up getting) really freaks me out. Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy [Moderator's Note: Actually, it is legit, and the cards come from the American National Bank of New York. The concept of 'secured VISA cards' is not new: Bank of Hoven, Hoven, ND and Key Federal Savings Bank offer them, as do a few other places. Yes, the interest rate is very high, and the 'application fee' is typically about fifty dollars. Banks offering 'secured credit cards' require a savings account in their institution as collateral, with the credit limit on the VISA typically set at 90 percent of the value of the savings account, which does draw interest. Getting the application fee via a 900 number is a new wrinkle, however. The actual VISA card looks the same as everyone else's; there is no indication it is based on secured credit. Under the law, i.e. Federal Trade Commission, the application fee or 900 phone charge has to be refunded if you do not receive a card; however 97 percent of all applicants get one, totally regardless of credit history, provided they can put up a thousand bucks or so for the savings account, a/k/a 'credit limit'. PT] ------------------------------ Organization: Philips Information Systems, P.O. Box 245, Subject: Clever Cleaner Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 13:27:13 MET From: Dolf Grunbauer Patrick, I just read a short article about an office cleaner who used the telephone to get rich. This particular cleaner was working after the normal office hours. What he did was opening a special 06 number (like a commercial 900 number in the USA ) and during his work he would pick up some phones and dial this number :-) Needless to say that this man was caught when the company had a closer look at its telephone bill. Dolf Grunbauer Tel: +31 55 433233 Internet dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl Philips Information Systems UUCP ...!mcsun!philapd!dolf ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 11:57:29 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Canadian Prefixes (was: Exchanges Taken Out of Service) In notes I made based on a 1982 AT&T tape, (519) 873 and 786 were both Forest, Ontario. I had never heard of (819) 484 Purtuniq before. That 1982 tape had 416-594 PALGRAVE, Ontario. Apparently using that prefix for Toronto came since then. ------------------------------ From: John Nagle Subject: ERS Service Description and the Neidorf case Date: 21 Jun 90 06:49:04 GMT A technical and administrative description of E911 service can be found in "The Intelligent Network", by W.D.Ambrosh et. al., Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1989, ISBN 3-540-50897-X. Chapter 9, "ERS Service Description", may be relevant to the Neidorf case, as it contains an overview, with considerable detail, of how 911 calls are handled in existing and proposed systems. The emphasis is on the latest ISDN/CCS7 systems, but existing systems are discussed. Copies of this book can be obtained from the Stanford University Bookstore, Palo Alto, California, for $49.50 plus tax. More technical details might be obtained from documents cited in the book as Bellcore specifications. The one most directly relevant is "E911 Public Safety Answering Point: Interface between a 1/1A ESS Centrex Office and Customer Premises Equipment, TA-TSY-000350" This information may be of interest to those involved in that case. John Nagle ------------------------------ From: Zev Sero Subject: Re: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction Organization: Burdett, Buckeridge and Young Ltd. Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 01:22:14 GMT In article <9098@accuvax.nwu.edu> TK0JUT2%NIU.BITNET@uicvm.uic.edu writes: >The continued use of the term "theft," although it is generally a >legitimate legal term and one used in the indictments, seems >questionable, because as Judge Nicholas Bua's recent memorandum >indicates, courts have not settled the issue of whether transfer of >electronic impulses when the original property remains in place and >intact is in fact "theft." Theft is the conversion of property with the intention to permanently deprive the owner of its use. Breach of copyright is something entirely different. It is really like breaking the Post Office's monopoly. The legislature has decided that only the Post Office may deliver letters, and only the author of an original work of literature may reproduce it. Just as someone who delivers letters contrary to the act is breaking the law, but has not `stolen' anything from the Post Office, so someone who copies a book/record/program contrary to the act is a lawbreaker, but is not a thief. If `borrowing' a car for a joyride is not theft, how can breach of copyright be theft? Zev Sero - zvs@bby.oz.au ------------------------------ From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Subject: Re: Leonard Rose Update: His Prior Conviction Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 15:00:15 GMT In article <9098@accuvax.nwu.edu> TK0JUT2%NIU.BITNET@uicvm.uic.edu writes: > The continued use of the term "theft," although it is generally a > legitimate legal term and one used in the indictments, seems > questionable, I don't see why. As in a copyright suit, what has been stolen is the right to control the distribution of the information contained in the document. I believe in this case it's a trade-secret issue. > Jim Thomas, co-moderator Computer underground Digest (TK0JUT2@NIU) Would it be possible to get this Digest gatewayed to a newsgroup? Or do you want to retain the right to control its distribution? Peter da Silva. `-_-' +1 713 274 5180. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 90 14:21:04 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Re: So What Follows Caller ID? Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu "press ONE for a sales agent press TWO for a support agent press ZERO for the attendant press STAR if you're tired of waiting and want the recipient's phone to burst into flames." # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #448 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa19037; 23 Jun 90 2:05 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa27877; 23 Jun 90 0:35 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab14988; 22 Jun 90 23:32 CDT Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 22:52:39 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #449 BCC: Message-ID: <9006222252.ab24453@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 22 Jun 90 22:51:56 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 449 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Illinois Bell Bribed Chicago Officials, Says Lawsuit [TELECOM Moderator] Re: Identifying Switches [Floyd Davidson] Re: On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe [Kari Hardarson] Re: Neat Phones! [Nancy Kinnersley] Re: US/Canada Only One Digit Code? [Jeff Carroll] Re: Motorola Plans Global Cellular Thrust [Adam J. Ashby] Re: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones [Robert E. Zabloudil] Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call [D. Lewis] Re: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" [John G. DeArmond] Reach Out Solicitation [Edward Greenberg] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 22:08:28 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Illinois Bell Bribed Chicago Officials, Says Lawsuit A suburban Chicago pay telephone company has accused officials of Illinois Bell of providing trips, tickets to sporting events and other favors to City of Chicago officials to retain the contract for pay phone service at our three airports here. In a racketeering lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago, October 23, 1989, All-Tone Communications, Inc. accused Illinois Bell and certain of its officials with providing illegal gratuities to city employees. Illinois Bell has retained the contract since 1961 without competitive bidding according to records filed with the suit. Recently however, the City of Chicago opened the contract to public bidding, hoping to increase revenues from the agreement 'by up to 300 percent through better accountability', a spokesman for the city said. The pay phone concession at our airports here is very lucrative. There are 1528 payphones at O'Hare, 148 at Midway, and 9 at Meigs Field. According to the city aviation department, more phone calls are made daily from O'Hare than from any other single location in the United States. Although the suit was filed October 23, 1989 by All-Tone, the lawsuit subsequently was ordered sealed by U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur because of the sensitive nature of its claims. That seal, and a gag order by the judge (an order that the matter cannot be discussed outside of court) is still in effect. However, a copy of the documents to-date was accidentally placed in the public file recently by an employee of the court. Lucky you! :) The judge hasn't told me to remain silent, nor has the {Chicago Tribune}, which first discussed the case in its editions of June 21, 1990 been given such an order. According to the lawsuit, Illinois Bell president Ormand Wade; David Campbell, the company official in charge of pay phone operations; and Thomas Quinn, Illinois Bell director of government relations offered bribes to Robert Threatte, former Deputy Aviation Commissioner for the City of Chicago, and another city official. The suit contends that beginning in 1984 and continuing until recently, Bell offered tickets to baseball and hockey games, meals, and all-expense paid vacations 'to preserve its exclusive arrangement with the city ...' The suit also contends that in 1986 and 1987, Ormand Wade and other Illinois Bell officials 'wined and dined' with Anthony Gibbs, then an administrative assistant of Mayor Eugene Sawyer. Mssrs. Threatte and Gibbs both claim that although they 'met several times for dinner and drinks with telco officials', they refused to accept 'special gifts' which were offered to them in exchange for their assistance in maintaining the pay phone status-quo at the airport. According to the suit, Illinois Bell told the two 'this sort of thing is done in private industry all the time...' and that the telco had 'arrangements like this' for many of their largest private customers. All-Tone claims since 1984 they have been 'systematically' shut out of any consideration for the airport pay phone concession. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Floyd Davidson Subject: Re: Identifying Switches Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 06:23:40 GMT In article <8990@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup writes: >The product line includes 100, 100/200 combined, 200, and access >tandem. (Plus DMS-250, 300, and MTX). 100 is local, 200 is toll, >essentially. I've never been totally clear on the _hardware_ >difference between a 100 and a 200. I don't think there is any. A DMS-100 switches lines, a DMS-200 switches trunks, a DMS-100/200 does both. That is *almost* exactly what was stated above. The trunks don't have to be toll or the lines local. Regardless of my email address, I'm actually in Fairbanks, Alaska looking at a DMS-100/200 that was converted 3 months ago from a DMS-100. We added 1 LTC and 1 LGC (1 1/2 bays). And did a reload with a new software package that had line handling added. I am in no way speaking for Alascom, Inc. Floyd Davidson ------------------------------ From: Kari Hardarson Subject: Re: On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe Date: 22 Jun 90 13:54:04 GMT Reply-To: hardarso@weiss.cs.unc.edu (Kari Hardarson) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill I thought that the : # sign was called a 'Hash' mark before I came to the states. Maybe that's British English? Here in the States, a lot of my colleagues refer to it as the 'Pound sign', something that I can't understand since the pound sign is distinctly different. In UK-ASCII tables, the pound sign usually gets placed where the # is in American ASCII, that may explain something. Incidentally, in my language (Icelandic) we refer to the sign as 'The mill'. ; -> Kari Hardarson 217 Jackson Circle 27514 Chapel Hill, NC ------------------------------ From: Nancy Kinnersley Subject: Re: Neat Phones! Date: 22 Jun 90 09:50:56 CDT Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services In article <9072@accuvax.nwu.edu>, abvax!ncoast!fmsystm!macy writes: : Ever seen one of those clear 2500 sets? You know, the ones the : manufacturers made for display, showed all the guts and looked neat? : Well, finally, there is a REAL 2500 you can buy ... they make a great : conversation piece, too. I mentioned these transparent telephones to my daughter. "Wow, that's great!" she says. "You mean you can see all the gears inside?" Bill Kinnersley ------------------------------ From: Jeff Carroll Subject: Re: US/Canada Only One Digit Code? Date: 22 Jun 90 18:16:57 GMT Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle In article <9095@accuvax.nwu.edu> well!nagle@well.sf.ca.us (John Nagle) writes: >At one time, prior to international direct dialing, Kuwait had a >U.S. area code. >[Moderator's Note: You *really* have piqued my curiosity on this one! >Does anyone else know about this? What area code was it? When? PT] I understand that one of the (multiple) phone systems in Saudi Arabia is based on the North American digital hierarchy, and that AT&T has had people operating telecom in that part of the world for years. Kuwait I have no idea about, but it sounds plausible to me that AT&T might have (unofficially, of course) assigned an area code to one or more Middle Eastern countries as an internal convenience. This, however, is pure speculation on my part. Anybody know for sure? Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com ------------------------------ From: "Adam J. Ashby" Subject: Re: Motorola Plans Global Cellular Thrust Date: 22 Jun 90 18:28:07 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL motcid!king@uunet.uu.net (Steven King) writes: >Motorola officials were reluctant to discuss details of the >proposed system, but they have scheduled a briefing next week in which >the system is expected to be announced. I saw this on Channel 11 news yesterday (I think), they said that the briefing would be on Tuesday of next week (26th). Adam Ashby (+1)(708) 632 2334 ...!uunet!motcid!ashbya ------------------------------ From: "Robert E. Zabloudil" Subject: Re: AT&T 'COCOT' Style Payphones Date: 22 Jun 90 19:27:50 GMT Organization: Defense Logistics Agency Systems Automation Center, Columbus In article <8955@accuvax.nwu.edu> blake@pro-party.cts.com (Blake Farenthold) writes: >I always figured if anyone hated COCOTS it was AT&T. Well I found >what I'd call an AT&T COCOT. The card on the phone said the phone was >OWNED by AT&T it looked like a 'normal' payphone (not one of their >card phones) and took quarters for local calls ... thing is you dial a They've replaced the payphones here at work with these critters. The one Nice Thing about them is the adjustable volume control (maybe...my wife is hard of hearing, and I need to have her try them out for a definitive opinion), but I have three gripes: 1. Upon picking up the receiver, you're greeted with a Fake Dial Tone. Yes, you know the phone is working, but they've picked dissonant tones. Ouch! 2. The keypad does not echo the real DTMF back to the customer...just the same tone mixture for any key pressed. After you're done, it then gives you the real dial tone just long enough to make you think something's wrong before quickly sending the real DTMF along to the CO. 3. After the call is connected, it waits about five to seven seconds, then CUTS OFF YOUR SPEAKER AS IT DROPS THE QUARTER INTO THE BUCKET! You can imagine the reaction of the party I had called ... they almost hung up before sound was restored. Someday I shall try making a three second phone call to see if it's a real loophole; all in all, I'm not real happy with this vast improvement in telephony. Disclaimer: Opinions strictly my own. Facts in above diatribe are there by accident only? :^) Bob Zabloudil ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: NANP Codes AND I Want to Dial the Area Code on a Local Call Date: 22 Jun 90 20:57:43 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article <8869@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mitel!spock!grayt@uunet.uu.net (Tom Gray) writes: > In article <8733@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater sun.com> writes: > X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 418, Message 6 of 10 > >>In a perfect world I could dial "+44 81 676 XXXX" to reach my number > >>in London from *anywhere* in the world, including the UK (where + > >>means 010). Similarly it would be nice to be able to dial 011 1 415 > >>XXX XXXX to reach San Francisco from anywhere in the US. > The main problem with this proposal would be the size of the data base > required inside of each switch. Think of the routing problems which > would occur when any digit sequence could be used to identify a trunk > route. Each switch would be required to maintain the telephone number > of all of the subscribers in the world. Even small CDO's would require > gigabytes of disk storage. Not necessarily. The beauty of a heirarchical numbering plan is that switches can translate just enough information in the dialed number to get to a location which is capable of further translation. For example, in the above example, every switch in the US would not need to know the location of any number in London, or even that 81 is the code for London (inner or outer, I forget). They would only need to know that 011 means to route to an international carrier point INC of termination (sorry for the US-specific terminology -- in the US, local carriers don't transport calls overseas, but transport them to an international long distance carrier. The point of termination is the point at which the call is handed over to the international carrier.) That INC would then have to know that 44 is the country code for the UK, and route to a location in the UK. The location in the UK would have to know that 81 or 81.676 is the code for either London or a certain CO in London, and so on. So switches in a local carrier need only to know that 011 is the international access code (and I hope it is -- my Notes is packed and I don't normally make international calls...). INC switches need to know all the country codes, and tandem switches in a given country need to know the "area codes". Only the switch serving a given customer needs to know the details of that customer's exact phone number. This is analogous to the way it works now, at least in the US. LECs recognize inter-LATA calls using three-digit or six-digit translation, and the IC routes similarly; the terminating LEC, once the call gets to the terminating End Office, routes to the user. David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center) "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: "John G. DeArmond" Subject: Re: Last Laugh! "Telephone Fishing" Date: 22 Jun 90 00:10:28 GMT Organization: Radiation Systems, Inc. (a thinktank, motorcycle, car and gun works facility) 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: >How about it? Anyplace else where folks still fish via phone? Well, having more of an RCC than telephone background, I -Uh, I mean, someone I know (secret service and all, you know.) used to participate in a variant sport known as "dynamotor fishing". As might be apparent from the name, this sport involves the use of a dynamotor from an old 2-way radio. The bigger the better. Mine, I mean, my friend's unit produces almost 700 volts at about 400 ma. Very nice output. The electrodes are a couple of stainless steel rods sheathed by plexiglass sleeves. The sleeves are adjusted to expose more or less of the electrodes to the water and are used to apply full load to the dynamotor. IN the true spirit of engineering, the fishing unit is fully instrumented. This unit is actually classified as a low power unit so its use takes some skill. What my friend does is look for fish while wearing polarized sunglasses. When a fish is spotted, the electrodes are lowered into the water on the end of a long fiberglass pole to close proximity to the fish and then the dynamotor is activated via a foot switch. As a side note, a few years ago, I had the opportunity to work with some TVA marine biologists doing a fish census. Their shock fishing rig was in the big leagues. The basic platform is an aluminum flat- bottomed boat. In this boat is a 5 kw gasoline powered generator and a shock box that generates up to 5 kv at an amp or so. The boat body, equipped with a number of stainless steel dangling rods around the periphery serves as one electrode. The other electrode is a stainless steel curtain suspended by a couple of lineman's fuzzsticks that telescope on a set of rollers. The biologists dress up like linemen with hot gloves, rubber boots and mats. They reel in the fish with a long handled net. This thing works across an area about 50 feet in diameter around the curtain in a cylinder that extends almost to the bottom. Dozens of fish are typically harvested in one shock. The fish are not harmed and are released after being counted - except for a few unlucky specimens that are assayed. All in all, a fine example of applied engineering :-) John De Armond, WD4OQC Radiation Systems, Inc. Atlanta, Ga {emory,uunet}!rsiatl!jgd ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 07:49 PDT From: Edward_Greenberg@cso.3mail.3com.com Subject: Reach Out Solicitation Last week, I also received a solicitation for Reach-Out America when I already have it. In one sense it's true. If you ran an analysis against my bill, and you didn't take into account that I HAD Reach-out, the analysis would indicate that I needed it. Since I've never applied for/received a Universal Card, I don't think the two are selected. Sounds like a programming error to me :-) I called the ATT people though, to ask if I should have Select-Saver instead. She ran it off both ways, told me the differences, in detail, and suggested that I keep Reach-Out and drop the Calling Card option. She also backed up her suggestions with facts, and didn't ask any silly questions like, "have I given you excellent service?" Totally non-sleazoid service, if you ask me. (Of course, nobody did :-) -edg ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #449 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07262; 23 Jun 90 14:09 EDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa23959; 23 Jun 90 12:41 CDT Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04174; 23 Jun 90 11:37 CDT Date: Sat, 23 Jun 90 11:35:18 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #450 BCC: Message-ID: <9006231135.ab25197@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 23 Jun 90 11:35:18 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 450 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Serial Line Errors (Summary) [Aloys Roes] Manhole Covers (Was: 10-NYT and 10-NJB) [Paul S. Sawyer] 100 Years Ago [Scientific American via Mark Brader] Phone Upgrade Planned For East Germany [Time Magazine via Mark Brader] Re: Touchtone Fee Abolished in CA [John Higdon] Re: Update: Alcor Life Extension Email Litigation [Jeffri H. Frontz] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Aloys Roes Subject: Serial Line Errors (Summary) Date: 22 Jun 90 11:16:24 GMT Organization: Philips Components - SERI, Eindhoven, The Netherlands A few weeks back I posted a request for help to get problems with serial lines sorted out. I promised to post a summary. Here it is: From hp4nl.nluug.nl!umd5.UMD.EDU!schulman Wed Jun 6 13:19:44 1990 Marty Schulman If analog circuits, did the phone company run BERT tests from the DTE side of each modem through the other end? That is, was the complete digital link tested including modems, or just the analog portion? --> The lines are digital and the BERT tests were end-to-end Out of curiosity, what PC test package are you using? --> It's a normal MS-DOS PC with our own-written software. It uses a special 64K serial interface board. Here's the strangest question: What revision cisco firmware are you running at each end? This may not be a phone-related problem, but a router-related one. TELECOM Digest readers may doubt that line errors are in any way related to firmware, but I saw line errors on one side of a T1 link between ciscos jump dramatically with a firmware upgrade - and disappear with installation of a subsequent release. We are running software version 7.1(10) on one end and 8.0(9) at the other end. MCI versions are 1.3 and 1.4. But we have swapped boards and have the same software running on various other routers without problems. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!Sun.COM!ckollars Wed Jun 6 16:25:30 1990 Organization: Sun Microsystems, Billerica MA chuck kollars I'll bet they tested only the portion they're responsible for, which is the line itself. If the line is okay, but the device sees errors, you can conclude that the problem is somewhere in between. In other words, the problem is either the modem, or the cable between the modem and the router. The modem can probably give you self-diagnostic information. For the cable, insert your PC monitor first next to the modem, then enxt to the router, and see if there are differences. Likely problems include: a) modem and router are plugged into different line supply circuits that have slightly different ground levels; b) the shield in the cable is not connected to ground [look for jumpers inside the modem and the router]; or c) the cable is too long or is wrapped around some interfering device like an elevator motor or a flourescent light. I'm not sure what the difference is between Frame errors and CRC (FCS) errors in the serial world. I do know that in the Ethernet world, there's no real difference -- it's all just different terminology and different conventions. If a packet got garbled, _two_ things are probably true: 1) the CRC doesn't compute, and 2) the packet doesn't appear to be a multiple of 8 bits long. So how do you count the error? Well, not everybody answers that question the same way. What I do on the Ethernet world is to add up Frame errors and CRC errors from each device, and compare only the _totals_. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!relay.EU.net!SNYCENVM.bitnet!RTRN Wed Jun 6 20:17:09 1990 Organization: State University of New York - Central Administration Tom Neiss We, SUNY Central, experienced a similar problem with another vendor. It boiled down to RS232 levels at the interface. They supported rs232 with a gender mender cable from v.35(rs423). Having had experience in this area I suspected it to be the problem. The levels of 423 (-5 to+5v was not quite good enough for our rs232 interface, consequently errors showed up. Ask cisco what their interface is and if it has REAL RS232(levels included) support on that interface. A v.35 interface showed no problems on our equipment. The vendor did fix the problem, pronto. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!cs.arizona.edu!ric Wed Jun 6 21:07:31 1990 University of Arizona Ric Anderson Find out what baudrate the telecom people tested the line at. were having MAJOR problems of the type you described on a line here (about 100 miles of AT&T leased line), and yet the phone folks said the line was error free. When I pushed, one tester asked "what rate do you use the line at?". When I replied "9600 baud", he said "Oh, we test at 1200, unless otherwise requested!". When the phone folks re-tested the line at 9600, they found a defective widget and replaced it. Moral of the story: Baud rate matters a lot, especially in Bit Error Rate tests... --> We have a 64K digital circuit and I have seen the BERT tests running at that speed. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!RELAY.PRIME.COM!ARIEL Wed Jun 6 22:57:58 1990 Prime Computer, Inc. Robert Ullmann The cisco has a known (to them :-) problem with framing on sync lines. It is supposed to be less critical at higher speeds. (which is the opposite of what I would expect; I would expect low speeds to run fine, and high (> 19.2) to have trouble...) The work-around is to increase the "transmitter delay". Try setting it to 20,000 usec, the problem should go away, but performance will be affected. Then try decreasing it (to 15,000, then 10,000 and so on) to find the smallest value that works well. Yes, this happens on lines that BERT error-free! It seems to be triggered by large IP datagrams, which become more-data ("M" bit) sequences transmitted rapidly (on X.25; not sure about what triggers HDLC only problems). And complain to cisco; this is their problem (;-) --> Tried this. Too bad it does not seem to be our problem. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!uunet.UU.NET!bnrgate!bcars53!mussar Thu Jun 7 02:39:25 1990 BNR Ltd. Gary Mussar This kind of stuff can be very tricky to track down. The testing that your telecom people performed probably only tested to the modem itself. It may not have tested your cable to the cisco. Some 64K modems use V.24 interfaces even though V.24 is only specified to 20K. This 'usually' works if the cables are short, but is very suseptible to noise. Some 64K modems use V.35 signals, but bring them out on a DB25 connector. This looks like a V.24 interface and if plugged into a V.24 interface, this may even work a little, but not reliably. Another thing to look at is the clocking signals from the modem and options the modem has for clocking. Some modems have master/slave settings to determine which end provides a stable clock and which end should sink to the clock. Incapatable settings do no always show up in loopback testing but to in the data stream. (If possible, I like to set my modems to each provide a stable transmit clock and extract the receive clock from the remote data stream). --> The BERT tests were done end to end. We swapped modems and cables at both end. Nothing seems to help here. The clocking should not be a problem because the the BERT does not give any clock-slips. Maybe we need to investigate this a bit further since it is an international link (UK-Netherlands) with 2 PTT's involved. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!concert.net!sung Thu Jun 7 13:16:21 1990 Organization: Center for Communications, MCNC; RTP, NC We have abandoned bit error measurements in favor of cisco measurements. In several cases we had lines that measured very nicely with BERT but the ciscos absolutely refused to even get started, let alone run with errors. I presently have a T1 line running sub speed for the same reason - at full speed the errors in one direction (only one, same as your case) are so severe that you can forget TCP connections. One factor that seemed to be common was that we could not derive 64k multiple channels off T1 multiplexers but 56k multiples would work. We tried several brands of multiplexers and only one would allow the 64k multiples to work. Even then there are some limitations. I don't exactly know what the ciscos are sensitive to, as the same lines that it would not operate over are perfectly adequate for other brands of equipment. This particular brand of multiplexer we are using happens to have serrated clock (you get the exact bits/per second requirement by omitting a certain number of clock pulses per second) so I don't believe it's bit spacing sensitive. In several cases where we had either bad performance or worse (one case was that you could not send large blocks of zeroes) it was purely an installation problem, i.e. badly terminated connectors, open or crossed pairs, etc. We have the cisco mci cards for serial ports, and I have run them at 6 Mb/s so it's definitely not a hardware limit. --> We don't know what brand of multiplexer the PTT's are using. They won't how the physical link is established. 64K is the European standard and we have many of those. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!cmc.com!lars Wed Jun 13 04:02:10 1990 Organization: Rockwell CMC Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer A "frame" is HDLC talk for a "Physical Data Unit" (PDU). Each "frame" carries an IP "datagram" if you use straight HDLC encapsulation. At the end of the frame is a checksum. The HDLC spec describes this as Frame Check Sequence (FCS). Most people use the phrase "Cyclical Redundancy Check" (CRC) about this 16-bit checksum. From hp4nl.nluug.nl!p1.f22.n491.z5.fidonet.org!Ernie.Bokkelkamp EWSD System Design Authority Ernie Bokkelkamp .. writes he has had similar problems on a 19.2 line from Johannesburg via London to Munich. It appeared to be caused by large delays in a statistical multiplexer. Only after connecting test-equipment he could prove that HDLC was retransmitting packets because of these large delays. --> what was the test-equipment that you used ? From hp4nl.nluug.nl!ucsd.edu!foxtail!kravitz Tue Jun 19 17:12:19 1990 Jody I have seen problems similar to what you are describing that were caused by the clock leads being wrong. The test equipment usually has its own cables and works perfectly. --> We have to check this. Thanks to all who responded, Regards, Aloys Roes, Philips Components, Building BC-136, | Tel. : + 31 40 72 30 62 P.O.Box 218, 5600 MD Eindhoven, The Netherlands | Email: roes@seri.philips.nl [Moderator's Note: And *thank you* for following up with a summary of responses to an original article in the Digest -- something that all too seldom is done. PT] ------------------------------ From: "Paul S. Sawyer" Subject: Manhole Covers (was: 10-NYT and 10-NJB) Organization: UNH Telecommunications and Network Services Date: Fri, 22 Jun 90 15:59:58 GMT In article <9096@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: >I have walked in the streets of Paterson, NJ and seen manhole covers >marked, "New York Bell." this, of course, is plant long since taken >over by NJ Bell, but it is the physical remnants of that history and >time when NYTel ran the phones in northern NJ. >Perhaps some of our more intrepid readers would engage some vicarious >manhole-cover-reading. Might be of trivial interest. How about it? Throughout our campus, the manhole covers have the Bell logo and say "Bell System", although we own them and the cables/conduits below.... They were installed in 1985 by the people who USED to be the Bell System - we figure they were just leftovers. Has anyone ever noticed non-round manhole covers? Nashua and Hudson, N.H. have TRIANGULAR ones - don't know what service or utility. By the way, what about a non-sexist term like "utility access cover"? ("person hole" just doesn't make it.... B-) Paul S. Sawyer uunet!unh!unhtel!paul paul@unhtel.UUCP UNH Telecommunications attmail!psawyer p_sawyer@UNHH.BITNET Durham, NH 03824-3523 VOX: +1 603 862 3262 FAX: +1 603 862 2030 ------------------------------ From: Mark Brader Subject: 100 Years Ago Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto Date: Sat, 23 Jun 1990 07:25:56 -0400 Excerpt from a {Scientific American} of July, 1890, quoted in the "50 and 100 Years Ago" column of the July, 1990 issue: # A novel telephone station is being introduced in Connecticut. # The instrument cannot be used unless a fee is paid. If five # cents is dropped in the slot, it strikes a bell of a high # note, once. A quarter strikes a bell of a lower note, once. # A half dollar strikes that bell twice, while a silver dollar # strikes a very low tone "cathedral gong". Mark Brader SoftQuad Inc., Toronto utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ From: Mark Brader Subject: Telephone Upgrade Planned For East Germany Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto Date: Sat, 23 Jun 1990 07:41:36 -0400 From TIME Magazine's special issue (except in the US) on Germany, June 25, 1990: # ... over time, East Germany could become something of a # technological showcase. Says Opel management board member # Horst Borghs: "It's the nature of the business. Your newest # plant is always your best." Opel's newest will be in Eisenach. # In the same way, East Germany could end up with an enviable # infrastructure, despite today's potholed autobahns, rusting # rail lines, and phone system of sub-Balkan quality. Lessons # from the haphazard postwar development in the West can be # applied, and new technology, including electronic traffic # guidance, optical fiber and mobile communications, can be # introduced from the start. # Helmut Ricke, head of the West German Telekom, expects to # spend more than $35 billion in East Germany over the # next decade and promises that "by the end of the 1990s # East Germany will have one of the most up-to-date phone # systems in the world." Good news for the 7 million applicants # waiting for a phone. Mark Brader Toronto utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Touchtone Fee Abolished in CA Date: 23 Jun 90 00:07:55 PDT (Sat) From: John Higdon Lang Zerner writes: > I don't know if anyone has reported this yet, but PacBell has finally > given in to my incessant whining and removed the "value-added" fee for > Touch-Tone service. Oh? When did they remove it? I'm still paying it, last time I checked. All I've heard is that Pac*Bell was in the process if inviting comments on how they could recover the lost revenue as the result of dropping the charge. By no means is the charge gone. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Jun 90 09:54:18 EDT From: Jeffri H Frontz Subject: Re: Update: Alcor Life Extension Email Litigation Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio In article <9157@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >So far the legal bill stands at over $10,000. Suggestions as to >organizations or individuals who might be interested in helping foot >the bills would be welcome. (Donations would be returnable if we won >the case and the county has to pay our legal bills as required in >section 2707.) Assuming this whole operation is legit (I guess if our moderator is convinced, that's enough for me), where would interested parties send "interest free loans?" Jeff Frontz Work: +1 614 860 2797 AT&T-Bell Labs (CB 1C-356) Cornet: 353-2797 att!jeff.frontz jeff.frontz@att.com [Moderator's Note: While I have some personal problems with the ethics and morality of the work being done by Alcor, I am aware of the legitimacy of their complaint regards destruction of or tampering with their email. It is a case in many respects similar to the Phrack/Legion of Doom/Leonard Rose affair: claims of over-zealous behavior by authorities as part of a criminal investigation. Just as Len Rose is arguing some side-issues regards his case, so is Alcor complaining of the treatment given them as part of a criminal investigation. Keith Henson's address is hkhenson@cup.portal.com. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #450 ******************************