From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jul 19 13:55:38 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA10377; Fri, 19 Jul 1996 13:55:38 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 13:55:38 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607191755.NAA10377@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #351 TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Jul 96 13:55:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 351 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Ameritech 810 Relief News Conference (John Cropper) Phone Customers Furious Over Service (Van Heffner) ITU Slams Callback Industry (Tad Cook) San Antonio NPA Split (Tad Cook) Cable Piracy Thwarted (Tad Cook) High Tier PCS versus Low Tier PCS (How "Mini" Are PCS Sites?) (S. Jeffery) Silent Call to 911 (Carl Moore) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Ameritech 810 Relief News Conference Date: 19 Jul 1996 14:41:20 GMT Organization: Pipeline USA I spoke with several people at Ameritech a few weeks ago concerning the NPA 810 relief plan, which has now been finalized. Here is what I was able to find out... :) 1) The 810 portion of Oakland county, MI will go to the new NPA while the remainder of the current 810 stays in 810. 2) Permissive dialing will begin 11/13/96, with mandatory dialing effective 5/10/97. A list of assigned NXXs in the 810 portion of Oakland county reads as follows (list current to 4/15/96): City NXX ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Auburn Hills 512 576 Birmingham 205 258 267 419 430 433 540 549 594 642 644 645 646 647 712 850 901 988 Clarkston 620 623 625 Commerce 360 363 366 Drayton Plains 666 673 674 698 Farmington 308 309 312 442 471 473 474 476 477 478 615 699 704 848 856 870 957 Farmington Hills 406 485 488 489 553 661 788 973 991 Holly 634 Lake Orion 693 814 Milford 676 684 685 Ortonville 627 Oxford 200 628 969 Pontiac 202 209 210 214 215 216 219 253 289 302 306 332 333 334 335 337 338 339 340 365 370 373 375 377 381 382 383 391 393 394 413 452 456 457 475 481 482 495 504 506 508 509 536 587 608 662 663 665 668 681 682 683 707 717 718 738 745 753 761 769 805 808 812 830 831 832 836 841 842 857 858 861 896 898 904 912 916 918 946 971 972 975 981 994 995 996 Rochester 218 650 651 652 656 Royal Oak 397 398 399 414 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 691 South Lyon 437 486 Southfield 201 204 206 208 212 213 217 241 242 243 246 252 262 287 290 291 292 295 304 315 316 317 345 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 361 379 386 401 403 405 409 423 424 428 429 434 443 444 448 470 483 484 500 501 503 510 516 518 529 552 557 559 569 572 604 607 610 612 617 703 713 728 730 746 747 763 799 807 817 827 847 849 854 860 890 897 902 903 905 907 908 914 915 917 924 929 936 940 942 948 967 968 970 Troy 203 244 260 265 269 270 280 288 299 362 435 524 528 551 581 583 584 585 588 589 597 614 616 619 637 641 643 649 680 689 696 729 740 764 816 824 828 829 837 844 852 853 879 952 Walled Lake 624 669 926 960 West Bloomfield 259 539 595 626 702 737 851 855 932 White Lake 887 889 All of the above NXXs would move to the new NPA under the (finalized) plan announced in mid-March by Ameritech. John Cropper, President NiS / NexComm POB 277, Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 voice: 800-247-8675 (609-637-9434 inside NJ) psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 10:42:55 -0700 From: vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) Subject: Phone Customers Furious Over Service Phone customers furious over service BY MERRILL GOOZNER Chicago Tribune TOLEDO, Ohio -- Phone deregulation was supposed to usher in a new era of competition, lower rates and better service, but growing numbers of frustrated residential customers across the country are complaining to state regulators that it's harder than ever to get a working dial tone. Typical is the story of Mary Ann Kidd, a 33-year-old Ohio mother of two, whose phone went dead on a recent Friday afternoon. Not only couldn't she get it fixed within the 24 hours promised by Ameritech, she couldn't even raise a representative on her borrowed cellular phone to take her complaint. She kept calling until 5 a.m. Saturday before finally reaching someone on the repair hot line. The company scheduled a repairman -- but not until Monday afternoon. On Monday, no one came. She called again. They said Tuesday. No one came. Wednesday, the same. ``It just seemed like no one cared,'' Kidd said. ``I got fed up. I called PUCO (the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio).'' A repairman finally made it to her house on Friday afternoon, a week after her phone went out. He replaced a defective wire that ran between the pole and her home. Baby Bell telephone companies have been inundated over the last 18 months with angry complaints from frustrated consumers. The grumbling includes long waits to repair phone outages, difficulty in obtaining new lines and, at the most basic level, the inability to get a human being on the line to take the complaint. Local phone service at some of the Baby Bells has deteriorated to the point that the usually docile public utilities commissions have started slapping them with huge fines and penalties for poor performance. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Telephone deregulation spurred by the breakup of AT&T in 1984 was going to create competition in local telephone markets. Consumers would get new firms offering either lower prices or higher quality. While the theory worked for long-distance service, competition for local service has been a bust. Only a handful of cities around the country have meaningful options for telephone consumers, and most of the new competitors are going after the more lucrative business market. More than 99 percent of residential customers nationwide still deal with a local monopoly. The recently enacted telecommunications law may not help, especially if state regulators simply allow potential competitors of the Baby Bells to piggyback on the existing network. ``The new legislation only creates the possibility of competition,'' said Brian Moyer, a Washington attorney who represents business groups on the Network Reliability Council, which monitors the performance of local telephone networks. ``It's no guarantee.'' For its part, Ameritech says most of its service problems are due to bad weather, although complaints monitored by the Federal Communications Commission have risen steadily for three years, reaching a peak during last summer's severe storms. The company says it has improved its response time to customer complaints since then. ``During the last two weeks' heavy trouble load (due to storms), we've maintained our response levels higher than the state requirements,'' said Tom Richards, president of network services for Ameritech. PUCO has slapped Ameritech's Ohio affiliate with $67,000 in fines since last summer. The 3,707 complaints it logged in the first quarter of this year were 62 percent higher than a year ago, which itself ranked as a record. In March, Wisconsin's Public Service Commission filed suit to recover damages for the 79,300 consumers who were out of service for more than 24 hours during a six-month period in 1995. Ameritech could be forced to pay $25 to $5,000 per incident. The Illinois Citizens Utility Board filed a complaint in April with the Illinois Commerce Commission, charging Ameritech's local affiliate with failing to meet standards on repairing phone outages within 24 hours in nine of 12 months last year. ``It's improved since last summer, but Ameritech still hasn't met the benchmarks,'' said executive director Martin Cohen. Ameritech isn't alone. The New York Public Service Commission stunned the utility world last January when it ordered Nynex to rebate $50 million to 5 million customers in the New York City area for poor service in 1994. Its first-quarter service report for 1996 showed things haven't gotten better. Compared with a year ago, ``the company's service quality was worse on all measures,'' the report said. When consumer complaints reached a crescendo last summer, the companies blamed either poor weather or new computer systems for the problems. But the latest round of legal briefs have identified a different culprit: employee cutbacks. ``It's not just the weather,'' said Scott Cullen, administrator of the telecommunications division of the Wisconsin PSC. ``They've reduced staffing levels significantly.'' Ameritech slashed 3,000 jobs from its network service ranks between April 1994, and January 1995, as it consolidated its telephone customer service operations and repair centers. Faced with escalating complaints, Ameritech since has restored 2,200 jobs. The company also plans to hire 1,000 temporary workers this summer, after negligible summer hires last year. ``We've got an aggressive plan in place to correct the shortfalls,'' said Richards. ``Is it where I want it to be? No. But there have been improvements.'' Nynex eliminated 11,000 jobs from its 76,000-person work force between the end of 1993 and the end of 1995. After getting slapped with the huge rebate order, the company was forced to reverse course. It plans to add 2,000 people to its field force this year and redeploy another 1,000 from in-house jobs. The Communications Workers of America, which represents most of the workers who provide direct customer service at the regional Bell operating companies, has lost 23,000 members at the seven Baby Bells since 1992, an 8 percent decline. The union blames the job cuts for the decline in service quality. ``They get rid of people to meet their financial targets, and then the consumers suffer because there is no one to do the work,'' said George Kohl, research director for the CWA. U S West faces a near revolt over the issue. Minnesota and Colorado each recently hit the firm with $4 million in fines for poor service quality. The 14 states covered by U S West formed a regional oversight committee to compare notes and push for changes. ``The 14 states agree the company's re-engineering program is to blame,'' said Philip Nyegaard, acting administrator of the Oregon PUC telecommunications division. ``They no longer have the engineering and technical people to keep up.'' State regulators have also begun casting an inquisitive eye at the investment programs of the Baby Bells. ``They're just not willing to spend enough money on infrastructure upgrading,'' Nyegaard said. Where is the money going? Without local competition, most of the Baby Bells have made far-flung investments in new businesses, from cellular networks to telephone exchanges in Eastern Europe. The Illinois CUB filing against Ameritech pointed out that the company failed to meet promises of investing $600 million a year in the local network when it got a more lucrative form of rate regulation in 1993. Its investments in non-Bell ventures surged from $388 million in 1992 to $1.4 billion last year, including ventures in New Zealand, Hungary, Poland and Norway. Van Hefner - Editor Discount Long Distance Digest On The Web: http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: ITU Slams Callback Industry Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 11:27:35 PDT ITU Slams Callback Services By ELIZABETH OLSON Associated Press Writer GENEVA (AP) -- The International Telecommunications Union in June dealt a blow to the huge discount calling industry, declaring that countries have the right to outlaw such services. Discount calling, or "call back," allows callers overseas to save on phone calls by using a U.S. phone line to telephone home. This skirts the far more expensive charges of foreign government-owned phone monopolies. Call back's popularity has boomed, generating an estimated $500 million market annually. The ITU predicts the market will be worth about $1.2 billion by 1998. The ITU's governing body agreed that any country could bar the call-back service. The resolution, on behalf of the 185-member body, took effect Friday. A total of 25 countries protested against call-back services. They include: Algeria, Bahrain, Belarus, Burundi, China, Columbia, Djibouti, Egypt, Ecuador, Honduras, Kazakstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, Niger, Uganda, Portugal, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam and Yemen. Most opposing countries argued that such alternative calling services strip them of a major source of revenue. "In developing countries, including many African countries, some 60 to 70 percent of total revenues from international telephone traffic come from outgoing calls," said Bernard Rouxeville, chairman of ITU's Telecommunications Standardization Bureau. The main issue, he insisted, was quality of service. Some call-back services employ constant dialing or answer suppression functions that hamper the performance of publicly owned telephone networks, the ITU resolution noted. Rouxeville said most European countries did not object to the competition posed by call-back services because they face phone industry deregulation next year. National phone monopolies, including France, already have made deep cuts in calling rates to the United States. Prohibiting call-back services can be done by enacting laws, adopting regulations or barring marketing and advertising efforts, Rouxeville said. He is employed by the French Ministry for Industry. Critics complain government phone charges are too high and call-back services provide necessary competition to keep prices reasonable. About two dozen, mostly American, call-back companies dominate the industry. They employ a twist on the oft-used method of calling home collect. The call is refused, then the family member or friend returns the call, using the cheaper, direct-dial service. Using call back, a subscriber dials his company's U.S. phone system, lets it ring once and hangs up. The call-back service's computer dials back and provides a U.S. telephone line connection to the subscriber, which bypasses the foreign phone company. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One of the biggest opponents of callback for quite a long time was AT&T. Yet as was reported in the Digest this past week, AT&T has now bitten the bullet or taken the plunge and is actively soliciting for its own callback service in Europe. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: San Antonio NPA Split Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 11:42:03 PDT Public May Make Call on Area Code Plan for San Antonio, South Texas By Stefanie Scott, San Antonio Express-News Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News AUSTIN, Texas--Jun. 28--State telephone negotiators Thursday settled on three approaches for carving up the 210 area code, and South Texans may have a chance to comment on the plans soon. Residents and business owners who currently live in the 210 area code will be faced with options ranging from splitting San Antonio and the rest of South Texas into separate area codes, to introducing an overlay, which would pepper numbers with the new area code throughout the metropolitan area. Negotiators are rushing to get a relief plan in place before the end of the year since Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. is predicting that the 210 area code will run out of phone numbers in late 1997. "We've really got to move fast on this," said Carole Vogel, director of the Public Utility Commission Office of Regulatory Affairs. "We have to have the new area code in by then." A similar effort is under way for the Fort Worth-centered 817 area code, which also is expected to reach capacity next year. Vogel said she hopes the three-member PUC will vote on new plans by Nov. 30. Area code 210 is rapidly nearing exhaustion because of a proliferation of computer lines, multihome lines, cellular telephones and pagers. Area code 210 came into being in 1992 when area code 512 was split because it was running out of numbers then. Negotiators Thursday culled through five options for splitting up 210, and threw out a "doughnut" option that would put most of the people living inside Interstate 410 in one area code and people living on the city's outskirts in another. "Its not likely that that's going to be accepted locally ... something that splits the city," said Al Notzon, executive director of the Alamo Area Council of Governments. Instead, Notzon, Jose Medina, the city's assistant information services manager, and Robert Siller, a rate analyst with city public utilities, encouraged the group to draft a new plan to include as much of the city as possible in one area code. Medina said the city wants a plan that is the "least disruptive" to its citizens, and wants to put off an overlay which calls for 10-digit dialing to call across town or across the street as long as possible. "We prefer a (geographic) split," said Medina. Negotiators asked Bell to draw up a "doughnut" area code plan that has most of San Antonio as the "hole" in one area code. Contiguous counties in the metropolitan area would be in a second area code. A third area code would take in a strip of the Texas-Mexico border from the Rio Grande Valley to Edwards County. Bell officials can't say exactly where the lines would be drawn in this new plan, or how long it would serve the region's needs before the new codes would be exhausted. Area residents will decide on another option that would give a single area code to all of Bexar, and all or parts of Comal, Guadalupe, Medina, Bandera, Wilson, Gonzalez, Live Oak, Karnes, Frio and Bee counties. The rest of the current 210 would go into a separate area code. If this plan is adopted, the San Antonio area still would run out of numbers in 2001, and the South Texas/border region would run out of numbers in 2005. To prolong the life of that plan, negotiators are proposing eventually to add a third area code as an overlay in the San Antonio area. That would not happen until the metropolitan area code again neared exhaustion. Adding an overlay means the San Antonio metropolitan area probably wouldn't run out of numbers until 2008. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Cable Piracy Thwarted Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 11:44:45 PDT Industry Believes Undercover Probe Saved Operators More Than $100 Million By JEFFREY GOLD Associated Press Writer NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A three-year undercover FBI probe of a nationwide ring of cable pirates averted at least $100 million in lost revenue to cable operators, an industry trade group said Thursday after authorities disclosed that nine people were charged in the conspiracy. Five others have pleaded guilty in the case, which began in 1992 when the FBI launched a business in Union County to infiltrate pirate groups. The case is the largest cable piracy ring ever uncovered, U.S. Attorney Faith S. Hochberg said. "It demonstrates how technology in the wrong hands can result in a multi-million dollar crime," Hochberg said. Through plants in Florida and California, the conspirators manufactured "black boxes" -- modified devices that allow consumers to get free cable service, and sold about 100,000 of them annually to distributors at huge profits, authorities said. As a result, honest consumers paid more than necessary for cable service, Hochberg said. Among the allegations in a 92-count indictment unsealed Thursday as most of the nine suspects were arrested: --A cable industry security agent working undercover on the case received bribes totalling $100,000 and a $40,000 Porsche sports car. --A Texan who is chairman of a bank in the Cayman Islands laundered tens of thousands of dollars of those bribes. --The ring trafficked in more than 16,000 stolen legitimate cable converter boxes, of which 3,500, worth $250,000, were stolen from an evidence locker of the Los Angeles Police Department in July, 1994. --The other stolen boxes included 3,000 taken from a truck en route from California to an Arizona warehouse maintained by the Scientific- Atlanta Corp., and 10,000 stolen from cable operators in the Baltimore area. Among those pleading guilty was a Wrightstown computer expert whose company, Digitek, designed, manufactured and sold about 64,000 pirate circuit boards worth more than $800,000. A legitimate box costs about $125, but with the $12.50 circuit board, is sold by pirates to retailers for about $300, who in turn sell the box to consumers for up to $500, authorities said. Many consumers learn of the pirate boxes in magazine ads. In more than 40 related raids since March, authorities have seized $1.5 million in computer and electronic equipment, $1.4 million in cash, 50,000 modified cable boxes and descrambling boxes, as well as some boats and vehicles. The undercover business, Prime Electronics and Security Inc. of Kenilworth, posed as a distributor of legitimate cable converter boxes. When modified with illegal circuit boards, the boxes allow viewers to get premium cable shows and pay-per-view events, depriving the cable company of revenues and reducing the amount of fees that cable operators pay to municipalities. The National Cable Television Association, a trade group, estimates that piracy costs operators about $4.7 billion annually, said Jim Allen, director of the group's Office of Cable Signal Theft. While the FBI undercover probe, "Operation Cable Trap," targeted wholesalers at the top of the scheme, cable operators typically will contact consumers who are using illegally modified cable boxes, whose names are found in the business records of the pirates, Allen said. Operators once offered to let bygones be bygones and have the consumer begin paying for service, but now are taking a harder line, he said. Consumers who use "black boxes" may now be asked to make back payments and penalties, and in some cases could face charges brought by the operator, Allen said. The indictment charged: --Francis Joseph Russo, 47, of North Miami Beach, Fla., owner of Leasing Ventures Inc. in Hollywood, Fla., with operating a company that made and sold modified cable boxes. He faces 71 counts, as does his wife, Joann Russo, 40, including conspiracy, wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, theft of cable television signals and money laundering. Francis Russo paid the bribes to the security official working undercover. --Their son, Frank Russo Jr., 26, of Aventura, Fla., who worked for Leasing Ventures, faces 69 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, and theft of cable television signals. --Joseph Russo (no relation), 50, of Miami, Fla., was a co-owner of Leasing Ventures and faces the same 71 counts as Francis and Joann Russo. --Joseph Olkowski, 46, of Hollywood, Fla., an employee of Leasing Ventures, faces the same 69 counts as Russo Jr. --Daniel R. Zielinski, 50, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., operator of Cable Box Services Inc., a company created by Leasing Ventures to further piracy activity, faces the same 69 counts. --William S. Prevost III, 29, of Studio City, Calif., owner and operator of Novaplex Inc. and Gage Systems Group Inc., piracy operations in Sun Valley California. He faces 22 counts, including conspiracy and distributing devices that assist in cable signal theft. --Anthony Lee Marinaccio, 42, of Princeville, Hawaii, chief financial officer of Novaplex. He faces the same 22 counts as Prevost. --John M. Mathewson, 68, of San Antonio, Texas, chairman of the Guardian Bank and Trust Ltd., Grand Cayman, British West Indies. He faces one conspiracy count and two money laundering charges. Each count carries a maximum penalty of at least five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Authorities are seeking to recover $10 million from the suspects accused of money laundering. Pleading guilty earlier this week, each to a single count of conspiracy or assisting in intercepting cable signals, were: --Jerome J. Baranosky Jr., 33, of Wrightstown, owner of Digitek. --Luis R. Cordero, 31, of Paterson, who purchased "black boxes" from Leasing Ventures and an unidentified North Carolina wholesaler and sold them in New Jersey. --William J. Pagan, 48, of Maryland, who helped transport $800,000 worth of cable boxes stolen from cable operators in the Baltimore area. No town was available. --John Trematerra, 66, of Florida, who provided financing that allowed an unidentified Florida company to get more than $350,000 worth of stolen boxes. --George Kanter, 50, of New York, who supplied cable boxes to the undercover operation knowing that they would be illegally modified. Each faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 10:07:14 GMT From: stu@best.com (Stu Jeffery) Subject: High Tier PCS versus Low Tier PCS (was How "Mini" Are PCS Sites?) In TELECOM Digest V16 #313, Jim Madsen responds to my posting: Jim comments on several points that I made and concludes that low-tier PCS is has not been embraced here in the US by PCS operators: > As noted above, high tier PCS appears to be the choice of 99.98% of > the PCS POPs won to date. I generally agree with this concluding observation, but I wish to comment on some of his other statements. He states that CT-2 has not been a success in Hong Kong (or anywhere), citing coverage problems, among other, and indicating that the service is being deactivated. I agree that CT-2 is being deactivated in Hong Kong. I understand the CT-2 problems in Hong Kong are mostly coverage and capacity. But I think the growth they experienced in Hong Kong (60,000 plus) indicates that CT-2 filled a consumer need. CT-2 is being deacativated because there are better approaches, both low and high tier. Jim goes on to concludes his comments on CT-2 with the following: > If a low-mobility, microcellular solution is not viable in a Hong > Kong, with extremely high population densities, as well as developed > infrastructure, it seems even less likely to be successful in the > United States. He may be right about the US, but his own comments regarding PHS contradict his general condemnation of low tier. He states: > In regard to PHS, it has grown to 2% penetration (certainly not > dramatic by US standards of 14%), and already the spectral > inefficiencies of PHS are showing, so that Wireless Business & Finance > reported on May 8, 1996, that Japan may adopt CDMA for its future > wireless services: First of all, achieving a 1.5 Million subscribers in 12 to 18 months is pretty phenomenal growth, especially considering it came from zero. There has been a long running technical discussion as to the choice of TDMA or CDMA for the PHS system. Several Japanese companies (OKI in particular) have been promoting CDMA as the better choice. But the issue on the table is not the technology selection, but whether a low-tier system is viable from a commercial standpoint. I think the rapid growth of PHS in Japan suggests there is a market for low-tier PCS, at least in that country. Jim goes on to say: > That leaves PACS as the sole standard bearer of low-tier PCS. > Unfortunately for PACS, the A, B, & C block PCS winners in the USA > have collectively bid over $17 billion for the equivalent of 750 > million POPs. Only GCI which won 0.2 million of the 750 million total > has indicated any likelihood of using PACS. If this 0.026% > penetration of PACS holds, then it may by a bit difficult for vendors > supporting PACS to obtain meaningful manufacturing economies of scale. I don't see how Jim's observations on the limitations of CT-2 and the capacity problems on PHS lead to the conclusions that *PACS is the sole standard bearer for Low-Tier PCS*. [BTW. I agree with Jim's observation that it takes volume to get meaningful manufacturing economies of scale, but GCI is not the only one who has announced for PACS. 21st Century Telesis with 4.4 Million Pops has announced for PACS. In addition, PACS shares a lot of common technology with PHS, so PACS will somewhat share that learning curve, especially in the subscriber unit.] But again the issue is not *which is the best low-tier technology*, but rather *do consumers want a low tier technology?*. I think the experience in Japan (and maybe Hong Kong, Holland - Green CT-2 system, and Paris -BiBop CT-2) indicates the consumer will accept the limitations of low tier (no vehicular coverage) for its benefits (long battery life and toll quality voice). The decision, of the vast majority of current PCS operators, has been to select a high tier technology. This decision is grounded in their belief that US customers want to use their mobile everywhere and especially in their car. This is certainly the experience of the cellular model. So can low-tier PCS be economically successful in the US? Is any part of the Japanese experience applicable to the US? That is a big question on which a lot of money will be bet. Wireless Local Loop is one more factor to consider when comparing high and low tier technologies. With local loop competition now legally possible in all markets, what role does wireless have in supplying that service? It is but one of several ways of connecting the home to the telephone network. [Cable TV is clearly another way.] In my opinion, 32 Kbps is required for wireless local loop. This rate is needed for full toll quality, low delay connectivity and for CPE (Customer Premise Equipment). At lower rates, existing home equipment like fax machines, modems, etc. can not be directly supported. Alternative solutions require special digital interface units in the home and modem pools in the central office. There are three more PCS licenses to be auctioned. I am sure that among the business plans being used to support bidding for these licenses, some involve building a low tier system that combines limited mobility and a wireless local loop. Will they succeed? The market place will decide. The FCC is making enough spectrum available so that all types of systems can be deployed. The consumers can decided if they like the service. Stu Jeffery Internet: stu@best.com 1072 Seena Ave. voice: 415-966-8199 Los Altos, CA. 94024 fax: 415-966-8456 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jul 96 10:27:14 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Silent Call to 911 Jean-Francois Mezei forwarded an excerpt by edhample@sprynet.com regarding apparently-accidental call to 911 where the receiving end noticed silence. There are some PRANK calls to 911 in which the caller says nothing. New Jersey just got a new law making this illegal (FALSE alarms phoned into 911 have been illegal for some time). So whoever enforces this needs to know the first situation noted in this message? ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #351 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 22 11:04:10 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA16017; Mon, 22 Jul 1996 11:04:10 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 11:04:10 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607221504.LAA16017@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #352 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Jul 96 11:04:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 352 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "JavaScript and Netscape Wizardry" by Shafer (Rob Slade) GTE Long Distance Arrives in CA (John Cheney) TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb (TELECOM Digest Editor) The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers (TELECOM Digest Editor) Incoming Calls Blocked by ATT (Pat Martin) TPI Automated Callback? (Elana Beach) Sidetone/Echo on Cellular (Michael Schuster) Questions About ASDL (Paul Withington) Re: ITU Slams Callback Industry (Robert Shaw) Re: Community Networking and Universal Service (Corey Hauer) Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell (Ron Bean) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Michael Stanford) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Bill Newkirk) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 02:50:21 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "JavaScript and Netscape Wizardry" by Shafer BKJVNSWZ.RVW 960603 "JavaScript and Netscape Wizardry", Dan Shafer, 1996, 1-883577-86-1, U$34.99/C$48.99 %A Dan Shafer dan@gui.com %C 7339 East Acoma Drive, #7, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 %D 1996 %G 1-883577-86-1 %I Coriolis %O U$34.99/C$48.99 800-410-0192 +1-602-483-0192 fax: +1-602-483-0193 %P 500 %T "JavaScript and Netscape Wizardry" In 1995 there were a flock of Netscape titles. In 1996 there are a flock of Netscape 2 titles. Shafer distinguishes himself by being the bridge between them. This book assumes familiarity with Netscape, and with basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language) programming. The author uses this foundation to build towards the advanced features of Netscape, the newer crop of Netscape HTML extensions, JavaScript and Java. The programming work is a very simple and basic introduction, offering more samples than explanations. This allows the very casual (though curious) user to get started without necessarily understanding much about either the JavaScript or Java language. For a great many Webnauts with their own home pages, this is quite sufficient. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKJVNSWZ.RVW 960603 Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters roberts@decus.ca slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Rob_Slade@mindlink.bc.ca Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER) ------------------------------ From: John Cheney Subject: GTE Long Distance Arrives in CA Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 00:42:01 -0700 Organization: AllCom This post is for informational purposes only. (Simply making you aware of a brand new carrier in CA effective 7/17/96.) AllCom does not market or sell the services of GTE Long Distance. --------------------------------------------- GTE has finally marched into the California marketplace! Residential -- as well as business customers -- can now PIC GTE Long Distance as their primary carrier. What's the scoop, then? We asked two of our most daring "reporters" to research the various programs that were available for you and me, and ... whoops, conflicting reports came back along with several questionable points. After another sortie by yours truly to the GTE "Front Line", this is what I was informed: For Business Customers: There is no monthly fee. 18/06 billing increments. Four term plans: Month to Month, one year, two years, and three years. Four volume categories: <$25, $25-$100, $100-$200 and >$200 per month Here are the discounts: Volume M-t-M 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year <$25 5% 10% 15% 20% $25-$100 10% 15% 20% 25% $100-$200 15% 20% 25% 30% $200+ 20% 25% 30% 35% PLUS an additional 20% promotional discount for the first three months of service only. Right, so ?% off of what rate? IntERstate rate between 7:00am & 7:00pm is $0.27 per minute IntERstate rate between 7:00pm & 7:00am is $0.14 per minute CA IntRAstate rate between 7:00am & 7:00pm is $0.1335 per minute CA IntRAstate rate between 7:00pm & 7:00am is $0.0915 per minute CA Lata rate 8:00am - 5:00pm is $0.136 for the 1st Min, $0.114 ea. Addtl. CA Lata rate 5:00pm - 1100pm is $0.1088 for the 1st Min, $0.0912 ea. Addtl. CA Lata rate 11:00pm - 8:00am is $0.081 for the 1st Min, $0.0684 ea. Addtl. The above Lata rates are for calls made in the 26-30 mile band. I didn't want to complicate matters even further by posting the rest! A caveat: there's an early termination fee if you break a term plan: $100 if you're on a one year plan; $200 for a two year plan, and $300 for a three year plan. The PIC fee from your LEC will apparently be credited on the very same LEC bill the PIC fees are charged up to $5/line. For residential customers: No monthly fee; 60/60 billing increments; No term plan; Same rates as for business; Customers billing over $25 per month receive 25% discount, plus a "double discount" for six months. The Toll Free service is worked totally differently to outbound (hourly rates), but I'll refrain from boring you! Call GTE LD yourself at 1-800-643-8399 or at any of their other 800 numbers. John Cheney All Communications (AllCom) "Telecommunications Solutions That Work" http://www.allcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 08:13:37 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb While Ameritech and AT&T squabble over how AT&T will get into the local telephone market in northern Illinois, the first real competition has gotten underway from a more unlikely source: TCI, the local cable-TV operator in many of the suburbs. TCI was granted permission last week by the Illinois Commerce Commission to begin offering local phone service in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Initially, service will be to 33,000 homes during the next two months. Arlington Heights is the first town in the USA that TCI is entering with phone service. Raising the stakes even more, TCI says they plan to have phone service available in other north/northwest suburbs by the end of this year. The beta testing stage is underway now in Arlington Heights and full scale advertising for customers will begin in October. During the final testing now underway, cable television and phone service will be billed separately, however TCI said a later date they may appear on one bill. Cable television companies are much more of a threat to Ameritech than the 'established' carriers like AT&T or Sprint since they have their own infrastructure already in place unlike the others, who have to negotiate with Ameritech to tap into that company's existing infra- structure and hope to resell Ameritech at a profit to themselves. TCI has established a relationship with two important vendors for thier phone service. Motorola is supplying the CableComm technology which directs the signal, and Teleport Communications Group is providing the central office facilities. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 08:57:01 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers So, which major search engine on the Internet recently had a major gaffe by cross-indexing an Internet group known as the 'Orchid Club' under the general category of 'horticulture' and 'flowers'? I know, but won't say anything to embarass them. Far from being anything to do with horticulture, the Orchid Club is an organization of pedophiles which operated a private -- password and initiation required to use it -- chat group on the net. In coord- inated activities a few days ago, federal authorities raided the homes of sixteen members of the club last week across the USA and placed charges against all sixteen in San Jose, CA where two members of the club reside. Individuals seeking to join the Orchid Club had to be nominated by a pedophile who was already a member and then elected by the entire membership. To make membership in the club formal or official, newcomers had to be initiated. To be initiated in the Club, nominees had to describe to the others in the group one of their sexual experiences with a child according to the charges lodged in federal court last Friday. Far more sophisticated than a typical Usenet newsgroup for pedophiles, the Orchid Club used digital cameras connected to computers in the homes of members to photograph children involved in sexual activities among themselves and with adults. These visual images were then sent in real time over the net to members of the club who viewed the event in the club's private chat room as it was happening. Members were free to download this to their own computer for repeated viewing at a later time. When a member of the club with this technology in his home had procured one or more children to participate, word went out immediatly to other club members who would then gather in their passworded chat room to watch the things going on. Additionally, club members traded among themselves homemade child pornography involving children of various ages, some as young as five years old. All the members of the club got to meet in person for a convention of sorts when they had to appear at a federal arraignment last Friday in San Jose, CA where they surrendered to the United States Marshall and had their bonds established if they wished to remain free pending their trials scheduled for a later date. Members of the club are all over the USA, including two in the Chicago area, and two in San Jose, CA. PAT ------------------------------ From: pmartin@netcom.com (Pat Martin) Subject: Incoming Calls Blocked by ATT Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 04:41:40 GMT We recently had a Tug boat in the Florida area which was equipped with a Bell South cellular telephone. The boat went out of the home area and we could not call it and got an ATT intercept recording. Further investigation revealed the the PIC was ATT and that when roaming BS forwarded the call to ATT. After talking with ATT it was determined that the LD bills had not been paid for two months and they cut off LD. All attempts to reason with them failed to allow calls to connect to this boat. Our company is pretty big and sometimes things fall through the cracks. We paid over $50K to ATT the previous month on other accounts. ATT is is not our first choice carrier, the first choice carrier got over $500K that same month. We fixed the problem by getting Bell South to change the PIC on the line to our primary carrier. We will not pay the ATT bills out of spite. The bash -- ATT has a ridiculous bureacracy which does not care about the customer. Most of the folks you deal with think they are still the only show around and that there are no other choices. The only real business they get is because of name recognition and that will not last forerever. I have a ton of horror stories about ATT -- from fighting $5 per month charges on lines we disconnected ten years ago to paying for non-existant rotary telephones. Patrick L. Martin pmartin@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What I am hearing a lot about lately are the people caught in the middle of the billing conversion between AT&T and the local Bells. We know of course that AT&T has been pulling back the bills from the local telcos and handling billing itself, or should I say mishandling billing itself. Apparently in some cases, the final month of calls billed by some of the telcos also got billed by AT&T in their first month of direct billing, etc. Maybe only two or three calls got 'overlapped' in the process, etc. So instead of investigating and correcting it, AT&T just keeps demanding payment and telling people to 'seek credit from your local telco'. Two months or so after the bill was tendered, which is barely enough time to get it ironed out, AT&T cuts off the long distance service and intercepts with a sort of rude recording on the line saying 'you are not author- ized to use the AT&T network.' Oh gosh, as if that really mattered. Then within a week or two, the affected customers get notices from the Gulf Coast Collection Agency in Houston, TX. It really does seem as if AT&T is shooting itself in the foot; going out of its way to alienate itself from the local telcos with whom it had good relations for many years after divestiture. In California where last week the PUC ruled that AT&T had improperly converted the billing process to itself, customers are finding out that they ** do not ** have to pay the bills AT&T sent them; they can demand that the entire bill be reverted back to their local telco and then paid. AT&T's response to a couple relatively large subscribers has been that even though AT&T acted illegally, the subscribers still have to pay them anyway or risk disconnection from the AT&T long distance network. PAT] ------------------------------ From: elana@netcom.com (Elana who?) Subject: TPI Automated Callback? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 10:53:13 GMT I was trying to call a friend the other day and dialed a very interesting wrong number. Instead of a familiar "hello", I got something like this: "TPI automated testline. Your voice service caller number is xxx-xxxx" (my number) Then it said: "Hang up for callback." I hung up, and stared at the caller-id box to see what would come up. After it rang, the box said the call was from "U SWC" with the number of (503) 231-5122. When I picked it up, it said something like: "TPI automated callback. Initiating callback loop." At this point, it gave me the same kind of background ambient noise as one would expect from a VERY long-distance call. I waited, but it didn't do or say anything else. I finally hung up. Some questions: What WAS that??? What is it used for? I am in US West territory and so is this number ... would it have worked the same if I had called from GTE territory, for instance? Or from another area code? Who-what is "U SWC"? And most intriguing of all, what keys could I have pressed after the "callback loop" announcement to make it do some really cool stuff (assuming there's some some really cool stuff of any sort to mess with here to START with! :) I know the telco would have test numbers of various sorts, but that's all I can guess is happening here. Thanks in advance for any info! :-) Elana (a.k.a. "Elanova" for any fellow B5 fans. ;) ------------------------------ From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) Subject: Sidetone/echo on cellular Date: 21 Jul 1996 15:59:35 -0400 I recently read an online message in which an individual complained of excessive echo in the received sidetone on his Motorola Digital Lite cellphone (i.e. the reflection of his spoken voice in the earpiece was delayed so long as to be distracting rather than reassuring). He said that his carrier replaced the phone, and he at first indicated that it was fixed ... wait a minute ... it's back. The response I read was that sidetone is entirely controlled by the cellular tower, and excessive delay cannot be caused by the cellphone. Does this sound right? Why am I asking? Because, of course, after reading that interchange I am a LOT more aware of the phenomenon, and I'm wondering if the echo I'm hearing at some cell sites is my fault of theirs. Mike Schuster schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM schuster@shell.portal.com | schuster@mem.po.com ------------------------------ Date: 22 Jul 96 04:14:31 -0500 From: Paul Withington Subject: Questions About ASDL There has been much mention in telecom industry literature of ASDL and similar protocols for high speed communications over copper pairs. Some articles note that recent advances mean that a large proportion of the US population (50+%) can be served by these technologies. Could someone tell me if there is some limit to the number of these lines that can be carried on a single bundle of copper pairs? I.e., I wonder if crosstalk among digital lines eventually swamps these modems an thereby imposes a much lower limit on the number of customer that can really be served. Paul Withington paul.withington@pulson.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 12:45:19 +0200 From: shaw Subject: Re: ITU Slams Callback Industry "ITU slams Callback Industry" -- Huh?? I guess that depends on your point of view. The {Communications Week International} cover story on the same subject is "ITU rejects full ban on callback". Oh well ... Robert Shaw, ITU ------------------------------ From: hauer@deskmedia.com (Corey Hauer) Subject: Re: Community Networking and Universal Service Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:54:50 GMT I live in a community next to one of these federally sponsored Community Networks (http://smig.co.net). They got $500,000 from the NSF and mis-spent it on yesterday's equipment, flew a bunch of people around the country (and Europe) to talk about Community Networks and offer sub-standard internet (no support, not enough bandwidth, not enough lines) service at a cut rate $5/month below a normal commercial provider. If the government is intent on changing the economies of information technologies they ought to do better than $60/year savings per user. For $500,000 a commercial business could wire the whole of a rural state -- not just one town. If the federal government things it can help better the world with Community Networks they better get a clue. Having good intentions is not an excuse for being misguided. Free markets do and should rule the telecommunications business. If mom and pop want to start an ISP, a cable company or a phone company they should be able to do so without worry of the government pricing them out of business. Corey Hauer Desktop Media hauer@deskmedia.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 12:53:43 GMT From: Ron Bean Subject: Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell > By the early 1970's, all American stations were changed to > Amoco. They didn't drop the use of Standard as a name at that time. I > don't know if the red-white-blue oval shield with torch and flame logo > still carries the name "Standard" in the mid-west. (Pat?) They were all supposed to change to Amoco at some point, but I don't know exactly when. I used to work for a uniform rental company, and part of my job was to order the little embroidered company emblems that we sewed onto the customers' shirts. The torch and flame logo was available as either "Amoco" or "Standard", but at one point we were informed that the Standard logo had been discontinued some time earlier and we weren't supposed to be using them -- apparently we had been buying old stock from the emblem company's warehouse and they finally ran out. A few of the local station owners still wanted the "Standard" emblem, and we had to make up an official-looking memo to convince them that they had to change the name of "their" business. I assume they had been told by Amoco as well, but were hoping to ignore it (I always wondered which sign they had out front). Ron.Bean@Msn.FullFeed.Com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have not seen any 'Standard Oil' stations around here in years. Actually, the official corporate tree looked like this: Parent company: Standard Oil of Indiana (although headquartered here in Chicago.) Marketing: Amoco Oil Company (everywhere in USA except for five midwestern states.) Standard Oil Division of Amoco Oil Company (in five midwestern states.) It seems to me in Ohio that 'Standard Oil' referred to Standard Oil of Ohio. The same company did/does business here in the Chicago area under the name 'Sohio'. A Mobil station near my house has been 'Mobil' for about twenty years. The dealer, who has been there much longer than that said he started as 'Sinclair' then one day his marketing rep came in to visit and said, "From now on we are going to be Mobil stations in this territory ...". All the old signs came down and new ones went up, but the same people he had always dealt with continued to be around. He said this happened back about 1975 or so and at the time the sales rep told him to go ahead and take either Sinclair credit cards or Mobile credit cards, ... 'it does not matter either way, they get handled by the credit card office which does all the Standard Oil Companies ...' (which was in Chicago previously, but about that time breaking into two parts i.e. Amoco and some others to Raleigh, NC and 'Standard' setting up a new credit card back office in Des Moines, Iowa). Then a few years later the configuration changed again with Amoco putting its credit card operation in Des Moines where 'Standard Oil' was located along with *certain types* of Diner's Club cards (!) (the ones they called 'Torch Club' at that time) and other 'special billing' accounts such as the US Government GSA credit cards, Greyhound, large truck fleets, etc. Meanwhile, other stations which had been 'Sinclair' suddenly became 'Arco' as in Atlantic-Richfield Oil Commpany which is headquartered in Independence, Kansas. A reader wrote to me saying that in his town for several years, an Amoco station sat right next to a Standard station and he never had known why that was. Then one day the Standard station changed to a Socony (Standard Oil New York) station and the Sinclair station in another part of town became a Mobil station which in turn sat across the street from another Mobil station which had always been there under that name. When traveling, his out of state license plates allowed him to use any of two or three oil credit cards at any station under those names but in his home town he was only allowed to use the card specific to the station he was at. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael Stanford Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 12:42:19 GMT > So, I got a call from someone who will go unnamed, who told me, "Your > super fancy telephone system really sucks!" Why? I inquired. "Well, > Q ..." Well, there isn't a Q on the dial. What key did you press=20 > for Q? --- Long pause --- "What do you mean, press keys?" > After I stopped laughing, she'd hung up. I would agree with the caller's original assessment of the system. These days with products like Wildfire, and AT&T saying "Please say Operator now," it is not unreasonable to expect an IVR system to use speech recognition. Speaker independent recognition of 26 utterances (the alphabet) is probably doable relatively reliably. The confusing system prompt should be changed to say "using your touch tone keypad." ------------------------------ From: Bill Newkirk Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 14:24:55 -0400 Organization: Collins General Aviation Publications Monty Solomon wrote: > Newsgroups: rec.humor.funny > From: gary@mdli.com (Gary Marquart) > like many others, invites callers to dial the desired extension; "If > you don't know your party's extension, but do know their (sic) name, > spell it, last name first." Rolm phone mail? > Q ..." Well, there isn't a Q on the dial. What key did you press > for Q? --- Long pause --- "What do you mean, press keys?" > After I stopped laughing, she'd hung up. You should try it with a name like Zody, Znamer or Przewoznik. no Z on those phones either ... When the new phones were installed at the end of May, the trainer wasn't able to answer the question of where the Q and Z was either. One of the guys in another office had the answer (apparently they got different books than we did since our phone mail book doesn't answer this question); not even on the sacred decision tree diagram. On ours here, 7 is used for Q and 9 is used for Z since "that's the number where it would go ...". This ignores that all the numbers set up a pattern of three letters per number and that, at least here, there was a history of using 1 for Q and Z because we made a bit of aircraft navigation equipment that needed Q and Z on the keyboard for data entry when setting up a flight plan. 7 is Q and 9 is Z. Makes sense, but I never would have guessed it. bill n. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #352 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 22 13:04:13 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA26767; Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:04:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:04:13 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607221704.NAA26767@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #353 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Jul 96 13:03:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 353 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell (Wes Leatherock) Jeff Slaton Lashes Back at the Net (Chuck Tyrrell) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Georg Oehl) Using DTMF From German Cell Phone With U.S. Callback (Georg Oehl) Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant (David G. Lewis) Re: Area Code Splits - Poor Planning? (Bruce Balden) Where Can I Find Information on SS7 Protocols? (Henry Jakala) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (Michael Stanford) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 15:51:15 GMT "Mark J. Cuccia" wrote: [ ... text deleted ... ] > In 1931, Standard of New York and the Vacuum Oil Company merged. > Standard of New York had Socony service stations in the northeast, > while Vacuum Oil had their Vacuum Service stations with a winged flying > red Pegasus horse logo in the midwest. This logo was adopted by the new > merged Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, which in 1955 became Socony-Mobil > (Mobilgas service stations), and in 1966 the Socony name was dropped > altogather to simply become Mobil. Socony was formed in 1882 as a part > of the old Standard Trust; Vacuum Oil began in 1866 (probably before > just about any other oil company in existence today or which can trace > its history back to the 1800's), and became a part of the Standard > Trust in 1879. This overlooks General Petroleum Company of California and Magnolia Petroleum Company (southwestern states). There was also a company called something like White Eagle which operated in Kansas and probably some other states. All of these used the flying red horse and sold Mobilgas and Mobiloil. There are Magnolia buildings still in Dallas and Oklahoma City; the Oklahoma City one once had a service station as part of it. It has been restored as a historic building, but not the service station part. The operations of this company were always called "the Magnolia" when I was young, but it was well understood it was part of the Socony-Vacuum (Mobil) empire; it may even have said so on their road maps. > Standard Oil of New Jersey introduced the "Esso" brand name in the > early 1920's. "Esso" is a pronunciation of the letters "S.O." for > Standard Oil. Initially, the Esso name was confined only to "Jersey > Standard's" stations in their merketing territory, which included the > Jersey-held Standard of Louisiana. In the late 1930's, Jersey Standard > attempted to market using the Esso brand in parts of the midwest. > However, this was the traditional marketing territory of now separated > Indiana Standard, who jealously guarded their "exclusive" use of the > "Standard" name in their marketing territory. Indiana Standard sued > Jersey Standard over the use of Esso, and they won. Standard Oil of New > York (SOCONY) didn't want Jersey Standard using the Esso name in New > York state or in the northeast, neither. [ ... text deleted ... ] > Where Jersey Standard couldn't use the Esso brand, they used other > names in different parts of the country, such as Humble (Jersey bought > the majority of Humble Oil in Texas around 1920), Carter, Pate, > Oklahoma, and Penola. In 1959, Jersey Standard still wasn't completely > national, even using different names, but they wanted to become > national *and* reduce the number of various brands used. Also around > 1960, Jersey bought the remaining outstanding shares of Humble Oil. A > new brand name was introduced by Jersey/Humble, namely Enco, which > stood for "The Energy Company". Some Jersey officials agreed to > changing most of the various service station names to Enco, while > others wanted to retain Esso and even attempt to force its use > nationwide. The Humble Oil name was also adopted as an alternative > brand to be used nationally. In some states (Ohio and Texas), Humble > was used as the "exclusive" name of the service stations, and continued > to remain so in Ohio. Service stations in Texas continued to use the > Humble alternative name, but the actual name of the stations was > changed to Enco. And throughout the 1960's, Enco was introduced in new > states where Esso hadn't been used. "Humble," under that name, was probably the dominant brand in Texas. However, the premium (ethyl) gasoline they sold was "Esso Extra." (The regular was "Humble".) And the motor oils they sold had the same name as used by Jersey Standard. The architecture and the signage of the stations and pumps was the same as Esso stations except, of course, for the "Humble" name on the main sign and on the pumps for regular gasoline. (And their maps were the product of General Drafting Company, which apparently were distributed exclus- ively by Jersey Standard and its affiliates.) Standard of Indiana (the corporate name, I believe, was simply "Standard Oil Company;" all their materials, letterheads, etc., had "Incorporated in Indiana" just below the "Standard Oil Company" name.) In Texas they marketed as Pan-Am or Pan-American, then Amoco, but never became a real factor and finally pulled out. [ ... text deleted ... ] > ... And I think that Enco has been used in some other foreign > countries (Mexico?), but I don't know if Enco continues to be used > outside of the US today, or if it has been changed to Exxon or maybe > even Esso. In Mexico, unless it's changed quite recently, all service stations are operated by the government oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), although I believe other companies' lubricating oils are available. [ ... text deleteed ... ] > ... The separated Standard of California began to market its > products through service stations on the west coast in the 1920's and > 30's known as "SoCal", Standard" and later "Chevron". For the most > part, California Standard didn't begin to market or open up stations > in other Standard's regions. There was an incident in the 1950's > where they tried to open up SoCal stations in Texas, but Jersey > Standard and Humble objected. Standard Stations (and Chevron) were common in West Texas. They were operated by a SoCal subsidiary named Standard of Texas. Chevron, I believe, was used throughout SoCal territory for dealer-operated stations, while "Standard Stations" were company-owned and -operated. No one was using the "Standard" name for stations in East and Central Texas, or South Texas, and perhaps this was the territory which Humble disputed. [ ... text deleted ... ] > In 1969, Atlantic-Richfield purchased Sinclair Oil, founded in 1916 by > Henry F. Sinclair. I don't think that every Sinclair station became an > Arco station, as I've seen the Sinclair dinosaur logo throughout the > 1970's and 80's. The Anti-Trust Division required them to divest Sinclair marketing operations in a number of areas as a condition for approval of the merger, and these were acquired by some group. The present Sinclair is no relations to the earlier Sinclair except that its genesis was in the Sinclair stations Arco was required to divest and the trade marks that went with the Sinclair name. I don't believe the corporate name was originally "Sinclair", but it is now. There are Sinclair operations in many states, mostly to the north and west of Louisiana. I have seen them in Arkansas, and they are at least fairly common in Oklahoma. (A Sinclair dealer in Ardmore, Oklahoma, found one of the old round "Sinclair" signs somewhere and uses it as the main sign in front of his station.) Their territory extends into Colorado and Utah, and probably many other Rocky Mountain states. > The Continental Oil Company marketed in the mountain states area out > west. It was founded as the Continental Oil and Transportation Company > of California in 1877. It became a Standard Oil "affiliate" in 1884, > and was separated with the 1911 dissolution of the Trust. Conoco's logo > was a minuteman soldier. In 1929, Continental merged with Marland Oil, > which had the red triangle logo, and the new merged company used the > Conoco name and the Marland triangle logo. E. W. Marland always felt he was squeezed out of his oil company, and later became governor of Oklahoma. His mansion and estate at Ponca City are tourist attractions as well as a conference facility. And Conoco still maintains a vast operation in Ponca City, including a refinery, R&D facilities and their credit card operation. > As I mentioned earlier in this report, there had been complex > arrangements through the 1970's regarding one oil company or service > station chain honoring the credit cards issued by another service > station chain. Some of the mutual card-honoring agreements between > different former Standard companies were only in certain states, but > not others. Most every oil company issued their own credit cards in the > 1920's and even through the 1970's. They still do. I don't think there is one that doesn't except for Arco. > ... Today, "generic" non-industry-specific credit cards such as > Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc. have become more > popular than the need for multiple oil company cards. But the complex > arrangement of card-issuance and card-honoring, and non-acceptance or > cancellation of mutual arrangements is happening today, in the > *telephone* industry's calling cards, between AT&T and the various > LEC's, and the confusion when calling from a payphone or motel system > and billing to a particular card. But the back of the cards clearly indicated what stations hey were good at (including, as you noted, what states in cases where it was not universal). And service stations are marked with very clear trademarks, while pay phones have only a tiny notice and motels often none at all. The Standard companies often had credit card interchange agreements with non-Standard companies; some of them did not inter- change with any of the other Standard companies, but had extensive interchange arrangements with companies which had no Standard ties. Hardly any oil companies' cards are good any more at stations other than those of the issuing company. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Don't you just wish you could have lived in the 1800's and been one of the very bright guys of that time who got into the things which completely transformed America in those days: the oil industry; the steel industry, etc. And then of course along came automobiles and if the steel/oil industries had not made a fortune by then, the need to make automobiles and the need for fuel to operate them *really* was the impetus that made Big Steel and Big Oil into the giants they are now. A very old, but still very good book worth reading is 'The History of Standard Oil'. It was written by Ida Tarbell, a muckraking sort of author who wrote for the newspapers back in in the early years of this century. Ms. Tarbell wrote her history of Standard Oil back about 1910-15 or so; then a big two-volume treatise on the incredible empire of John Rockefeller. I would have loved to have known that man personally; even to have had the privilege of just walking along with him for a single day and trying to learn from him. Look for Ida Tarbell's book 'The History of Standard Oil' in a library. Some that specialize in older collections will have it. One of my favorite old photographs is a picture of John Rockefeller and William Rainey Harper (founding president of the University of Chicago) walking together down the sidewalk on 59th Street. The photo dates to about 1895. The photo shows JDR elegantly dressed with top hat and tails, the formal dress of those days, with a walking stick. And now, late twentieth century, it is computers and computer networking. I would not want to be anywhere but where I am now with my own niche in this new promise for America. Would you? Are *we* going to have a history to tell fifty years from now!!!! To conclude this thread, I think the oil company credit cards are like the general purpose cards in that the first few digits in your account number indicate *which* company issued it. For quite a long time, and maybe still, Amoco cards always started out with the first three digits 450 through 499, while 'Standard of Indiana' always started out 500 through 599. The east coast Exxon, Esso, Standard of New Jersey cards always started out with a 1, 2 or 3. The west coast company used 700-900 as the first three digits. This was so the central credit card processing offices knew which company to issue the payments to, etc. And like the telcos, the various Standard Oil entities had an annual settlement among themselves to clear the charges and credits created by their card holders. We know of course that all the major credit cards identify themselves the same way today: Visa always has a four digit number beginning with a 4 to identify their member bank while MC always has a four digit number beginning with a 5 to identify their member bank. Discover always starts out '6011' in case you had not noticed, and for many years Diners Club was always '3781' as their first four digits. I do not know what American Express is using these days as I have not had one of their cards in years, since back when I used be relatively rich. I do know thirty years ago they used the oil company scheme and had 001 through 010 as their first three digits. 000 was always reserved for 'credit cards' issued by the federal General Services Administration to federal agencies for gasoline purchases while Grey- hound Bus had 'credit cards' beginning with 012 for its use. I am speaking of the 1950-70 era now. Another three digit series was used for 'aviation fuel and services' at small airports. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ctyrre01@purch.eds.com Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 7:08:16 EDT Subject: Jeff Slaton Lashes Back at the Net Pat, I was able to get the article from InfoWorld Electric. Chuck Tyrrell ---------------------- THE GRIPE LINE Watch out: You just might get an offer from junk e-mailers you can refuse BY ED FOSTER Publication Date: July 15, 1996 (Vol. 18, Issue 29) The rising flood of junk e-mail isn't just causing frayed tempers among those on the receiving end. It appears that the junk e-mail senders are getting testy, too. As we discussed last week, many readers feel the best way to fight junk e-mail is to reply in kind by sending e-mail back, repeatedly if necessary, to get themselves removed from address lists. Although such tactics are generally successful, the junk e-mailers are starting to take countermeasures of their own. During the past few months, several InfoWorld readers have complained to The Gripe Line about a message they received promoting a "bulk e-mail program" called Lightning Bolt 2.0 from Eunuchs Etc., in Albuquerque, N.M. Lightning Bolt is essentially a junk e-mail generator that scans and strips out addresses from the Internet and then automates the process of sending out messages to the address lists the product compiles. That such programs exist is not really a surprise, of course, and that wasn't what the readers were complaining about. One issue was the "free offer" for new e-mail addresses included in the Lightning Bolt message: "Order now and receive 150,000 `fresh' e-mail addresses to start your advertising campaign. All free e-mail addresses are: .com, .net, .org. No .gov or .edu, unless otherwise specified." Naturally, readers who got the junk e-mail promoting Lightning Bolt suspected they might be among those 150,000 addresses. "Great, I get this message about a product I have no use for, and I can look forward to a bunch more from whoever buys it," said one griper. "And it will just keep mushrooming." But what disturbed them even more was this rather threatening note at the end of the message: "Warning -- We have perfect ANI [automatic number identification]. Those who call to harass or leave bogus information will have their names, addresses, phone numbers (and e-mail address when available) posted to alt. 2600, phrack, crack and hack groups for all to have fun with. Have a nice day;) Wank!" What an interesting way to win over customers. I had to talk to these people. It turns out Eunuchs Etc. is owned by Jeff Slaton, who has already gained some notoriety in Usenet circles by calling himself the "Spam King" and selling his junk e-mail services to advertisers. Slaton was relatively unapologetic about the warning notice on his Lightning Bolt message, although he said that particular notice is no longer being used. "My attitude comes from over a year of being under siege by these terrorists, folks who were demon dialing our 800 number or sending us messages with the entire encyclopedia," Slaton said, adding that he's identified to authorities one individual who placed 2,131 calls to his 800 number in 72 hours. "We wanted people to realize that courtesy on the Internet runs both ways, and put folks on warning they can be prosecuted." Slaton claimed it was not his intention to keep people from replying and asking to have their names removed from the address list, and he said all e-mail addresses he uses are first compared against a do-not-mail list he has compiled. "If anyone responds and asks to have their address removed, they should not be sent e-mail by us again," Slaton said. "And I'm encouraging every customer of Lighting Bolt to send to me their do-not-mail list so we can make that available to everyone." Slaton and his associates said that less than one percent of junk e-mail recipients actually ask to receive no more mail, which I think is key. As long as Slaton and others like him can say they are only defending themselves against electronic terrorists and that most people are actually willing to receive these messages, then junk e-mail is likely to continue mushrooming. The way to stop it is to prove that a lot more than one percent of people are unwilling to receive junk e-mail. So, when you get one, don't send back an encyclopedia, but do send the advertiser a message demanding you be placed on the do-not-mail list. And send me a copy. Maybe we can start building our own do-not-mail list. Ed Foster's Gripe Line examines product quality, customer service, and sales practices. Send gripes to gripe@infoworld.com or call (800) 227-8365, Ext. 710. Join his New Gripes forum on InfoWorld Electric at http://www.infoworld.com. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, so little Jeffy has 'notified the authorities' about the rude responses he has received from netters has he? Hey Jeff, while your at it, tell the authorities how you get some of the names for your mailing list, will you? Explain to the nice authorities how looting of private mailing lists such as e-zines on the net is done. You know, how some of those obscure commands and not very well documented commands in sendmail work that allow one to exploit holes in sendmail and snoop into things that don't concern you. Despite Ed Foster's bias in favor of these scummy people who send out junk mail to help you get rich fast, restore hair to your otherwise bald head, sell worthless and fraudulent securities, cure AIDS, worthless and illegal chain letters etc., my recommendation is still when you get email of that sort from a *good* address (so much of it comes with bogus headers now days) that you return the favor with email of your own. Let the site postmaster know a bad decision was made when they opened an account for whoever it was. Make them keep running from one ISP to another looking for a place to operate where they won't get kicked off. When they give an 800 phone number for contact, call that number to inquire about their product. A second or third phone call to let them know you are not interested is also legitimate. If they give a regular phone number that you have to pay to call, then if you want to pay for a call or two that's fine, but a better way is to turn over the rock they hide under and cross reference a little of their personal life -- purely from public records at anyone's disposal -- for all of the net to share in. Remember, spam will only be on the net as long as there is a perception that the net is a cheap and profitable place to do business. When the spammers are constantly hit back with a barrage of mail and their phone bills become monstrous in size -- and Jeff's was this past month, take my word for it -- the spammers will find out this is not a good place to do business at all, and they will go away. They will not go away out of any sense of decency or ethics, but they will go away when instead of finding money in their mailbox all they find are bills from ISPs and telephone companies. As much money as possible for as little expense and work as possible is where things are at with those people. Your objective then is to turn that around 180 degrees. As much work and grief as possible for as little money as possible -- sort of like this Digest I put out! . ------------------------------ From: g_oehl@informatik.uni-kl.de (Georg Oehl) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Organization: University of Kaiserslautern, Germany Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:07:36 GMT In article , Monty Solomon writes: > Our telephone system here goes on automatic outside normal hours and, > like many others, invites callers to dial the desired extension; "If > you don't know your party's extension, but do know their (sic) name, > spell it, last name first." > So, I got a call from someone who will go unnamed, who told me, "Your > super fancy telephone system really sucks!" Why? I inquired. "Well, > I called the other evening, but I forgot your extension. I tried > spelling your name, and nothing happened!" Really, I said. Did you > start with my last name? "Of course, just the way the system told me > to." Well, maybe you entered it too fast. "I tried three times, and > very slowly: M A R ... > Q ..." Well, there isn't a Q on the dial. What key did you press > for Q? --- Long pause --- "What do you mean, press keys?" > After I stopped laughing, she'd hung up. Well, I would have probably done the same thing. To me "spelling" doesn't mean to "dial" using the letters on the dialpad. Georg ------------------------------ From: g_oehl@informatik.uni-kl.de (Georg Oehl) Subject: Using DTMF From German Cell Phone With U.S. Callback Organization: University of Kaiserslautern, Germany Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:15:07 GMT Hi there, Is there a number in the U.S. that is able to recognize touch tones and read them back to me? The following scenario makes me look for that: I am using a callback service based in the U.S. to save on calls made (back) to Germany from a cell phone. (During peak hours savings of 67% are possible that way). Sometimes not all digits dialed seem to be recognized by the callback computer at the other end, though and I am wondering what the reason for this is. I would therefore like to call a number in the U.S. using my callback provider, type in a number of reasonable length and then some automated voice tells me the numbers dialed. Is there something like that? Georg ------------------------------ From: dlewis@hogpc.ho.att.com (David G. Lewis) Subject: Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant Date: 22 Jul 1996 14:03:30 GMT Organization: AT&T In article , Michael Bailey wrote: > (Background: Bellcore, in its infinite wisdom, has assigned codes to > every single CO so that four letters would be location, four more > letters would be indicative of rls or host, and two more letters and a > number which I don't know what they mean. So the Longbranch CO would > be LGBHFLXAds0 for instance.) Actually, the Common Language(R) Location Identifier (CLLI) consists of four letters denoting town, two letters denoting state, two letters denoting building (or some other specific location), and a three-alphanumeric denoting an "entity" (I don't recall if that's the exact term used by Common Language). So LGBHFLXADS0 would be: LGBH = Long Branch FL = Florida XA = building coded XA DS0 = digital switch zero (the first digital switch placed in building XA) David G Lewis AT&T Network & Computing Services david.g.lewis@att.com or Network Services Planning deej@taz.att.com Call Processing Systems Engineering The Future: It's a long distance from long distance. ------------------------------ From: balden@wimsey.com (Bruce Balden) Subject: Re: Area Code Splits - Poor Planning? Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 14:58:00 GMT Organization: Online at Wimsey Reply-To: balden@wimsey.com kamlet@infinet.com (Art Kamlet) wrote: > In article , Tye McQueen > wrote: >> The Dallas area is in sore need of an _overlay_ or 8-digit local >> numbers. But the courts were so silly as to rule that an overlay is >> illegal since it unfairly disadvantages new-comer local service >> providers, so we will never see one. While the NANPers are so silly >> as to think that 8-digit local numbers will never be needed so why >> start working toward making them possible > The issue of overlays vs. split regions is basically political. > Eight-digit local numbers, on the other hand, requires major changes > everywhere, and Bellcore will have lots of work on their hands. > For example, suppose Dallas folks agree on eight-digit local numbers. > How will someone like me, here in Columbus, get an eight-digit local > number through my local phone company? In other jurisdictions, existing numbers are lengthened by prefixing them with a special digit, or by duplicating the lead digit. Also, by use of area code blocks, it might be possible to collapse existing splits. For instance, if LA needs less than ten area codes over all (remembering that existing splits don't necessarily mean that every one of the codes is exhausted), then using something like 23x + 7 digits for all of LA might be simpler than the current zoo of area codes. This provides 90,000,000 (including the release of previously special central office codes such as 0xx and 1xx) numbers, greatly exceeding the size of California, and if this wasn't enough they could colonize 24x However, I think North America is large enough to have a three-tier system instead of a two tier system: two digits for state/province/island; + two digits city/region code; + seven digit local number This system has the benefit of retaining seven-digit local dialing within most mid-sized centres. However, all attempts to hold off eight-digit local numbers are probably doomed. What I'm afraid of is that we will have a crazy quilt of dialing zones, four-digit NPA codes AND eight digit local numbers. ------------------------------ From: jakala@netcom.com (henry jakala) Subject: Where Can I Find Info on SS7 Protocols? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 05:08:27 GMT Are there any ftp or www sites that document the SS7 protocols? How, when and where they are used? What they do for you? Thanks; please e-mail if you would be so kind. ------------------------------ From: Michael Stanford Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 12:26:01 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is B-A not following this spec or > is Hillary mistaken on seeing both 'anonymous' and 'private' on > her box? If she is seeing both, then it would seem B-A sends one > message for some calls and the other message on other calls but > nonetheless treats either condition as 'private'. Right or wrong? PAT] If BA is not following the spec, then most Caller ID boxes would not work in BA territory. It is more likely that the box manufacturer (look on the bottom, probably Cidco or Colonial Data) has chosen to put an indication on the LCD when it fails to pick up any Caller ID. I would surmise that the box displays "Anonymous" when it does not get Caller ID information, i.e. when there is no Caller ID carrier or when the calling number field is empty or the transmitted data is corrupted in some other way. If the box does not display something like "No Caller ID available" from time to time, or stay blank on some calls this explanation would make sense. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Hillary has since written me again saying for me to drop by sometime and watch her box as it shows both 'anonymous' and 'private' depending on where the call is from. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #353 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 22 14:54:22 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA09408; Mon, 22 Jul 1996 14:54:22 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 14:54:22 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607221854.OAA09408@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #354 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Jul 96 14:54:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 354 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FCC Preparing New Telecom Rules (Danny Burstein) NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Joseph Wiesenfeld) "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? (Lisa Hancock) PCIA's TDP Suite On Line (Rob Lockhart) Modem Use With a Digital Phone? (Steve Scott) Looking For Fax Symbol (Frank R. Pizer) Data Communications Recording (Edwin Kayes) Re: ISDN in MD, VA, PA, DC or NJ ... Help Needed (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant (Linc Madison) Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant (Seymour Dupa) Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant (tmitariffs@aol) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (grendel6@ix.netcom.com) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (Ray Rikansrud) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (Hank Karl) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 14:51:33 GMT From: danny burstein Subject: FCC Preparing New Telecom Rules (The following is from an AP news story of Sat, 20-July-1996) > Govt. Readying Phone Rules > By JEANNINE AVERSA Associated Press Writer > WASHINGTON (AP) -- As holiday-goers sprawled in lawn chairs for Fourth > of July fireworks nearby, Federal Communications Commission attorney > Lisa Gelb sat hunched over her computer, working on rules to > dramatically change how Americans get their phone service and how much > they pay for it. > Five months after Congress passed a sweeping telecommunications > overhaul bill, the hard work of drawing up the law's detailed > regulations -- and the behind-the-scenes lobbying over them -- is > heating up. The story goes on to describe that the new rules calling for competition and opening up of (most of the current) telco, long distance, and cable tv monopolies are expected to be in place August 1st. Oh, and lots of lobbyist dollars are making the rounds. A _very_ key point being fought over is the "access" and "termination" fees currently charged by (usually) the RBOCS. As Telecom Digest readers are well aware, the local telcos charge the IXCs lots of money for the first and last leg of a call, and the IXCs are trying to get this reduced or eliminated. The local competitors have a bit of an awkward situarion in this. On the one hand they may be using the RBOC to complete the call, hence they'll want the traffic fee to be as low as possible. On the other hand, when _they_ complete the call, they'll want to billback the RBOC as high a rate as possible. To quote again from the story: (A key concern is...) > -- Whether long-distance companies can avoid paying local companies > for originating and terminating calls. The billions now received from > such ``access'' charges are used to keep rates low in high-cost areas > and to provide service for low-income customers. (We've all heard this cross-subsidization story a thousand times. I'd love to see true figures on it ...) ------------------------------ From: joew@joew.us.dg.com (Joseph_Wiesenfeld@dg.com) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 11:48:00 EDT Subject: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing I recently received a notice from NYNEX indicating that they noticed that I have not been charged for Touch-Tone Service while they have been providing me with it. They indicated to contact them if I wanted to order it and they would begin charging me $0.95 per line per month for the service or they would discontinue it on my line. My major question is can they control the line so that after a connection is made, I can not switch my phone from pulse to tone so as to send tones to answering systems, etc after connection is made. Several of the phones that I have have the Pulse/Tone switch easily available. Thanks. Joseph I. Wiesenfeld Data General Corporation Voice: (508) 898-6935 Senior Network Engineer 4400 Computer Drive FaX: (508) 898-5405 Westboro, MA 01580 email: joew@joew.us.dg.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What they can do is arrange things so their central office equipment does not listen to or respond to your tones. They cannnot change what happens after the connection is made. They can prevent you from using tones to signal the central office on your connection request. You'd still be okay using tones for your voicemail, pagers, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Subject: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 21:12:43 -0400 An article in the {Philadelphia Inquirer} stated that an additional area code will be needed in the Philadelphia area in the next several years. People are upset since the area was just split (215/610), and were told the split would create enough new numbers to last for years. [The article continued with the debate of overlay vs another split.] But the last part had a very interesting item: it explained that increased user demand (faxes, cellular, etc) is only a part of the problem. The big problem is competition, because the new companies need to reserve blocks of exchanges, and are taking far more than they'll need or ever use, thus the shortage. I think this is an excellent point. If a competitor gets a full exchange designation, will they use all identifiers in it? I doubt it very much. Everyone is jumping over each other supporting "competition" in local phone service. Yet phone service was granted monopoly status for a reason: it is too cumbersome to have multiple companies serving the same area. I believe that's still quite true. And the competition isn't true competition -- the Bell company will still provide the local loop. Some competitors will be merely resellers -- buying blocks of time/service and selling it. Of what benefit is that? I can see the Bell companies loving this. Giving "competition" lets them compete in the long distance and other markets which they're prohibited from now. And, they'll STILL selling the line space! Indeed, it's a benefit for them -- if some pain-in-the-butt customer drops out, they'll be happy -- let someone else have the aggravation. I really think the issue of "competition" has to be more carefully thought out. In CONCRETE TERMS, who are the beneficiaries and who are the losers? (Someone once posted here "some will pay more and some will pay less". That says nothing!) I suspect a hard number analysis will show a lot of profit to the new middlemen, the Bells passing costs on to customers and breaking even or even a profit. A few lucky shrewd consumers may benefit. But most consumers will end up paying MORE. Oh yes, the lawyers will make a bundle! Is that whom we really want to enrich? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Listen Lisa, if it makes the judge and all the federal regulators happy, then it makes me happy. I've heard that a couple of local telcos are already preparing lists of customers to recommend to the 'competition': real slow paying nuisance subscribers who have been on the telco 'complainer' list for years. One wit even went so far as to suggest: mv complainers best-customers in the computer files, and then hope that sometime soon the competitors will hire some hacker to break into telco's computer to look around for things of value. ... what the heck, the competitors have no outside plant investment; no hundred years of research and development investment; no central office of their own, and in a couple cases are suing to make the telco include *their listings and their logo* in the telephone directory published by the established telco of record. Why shouldn't they just rifle the telco's computer and get whatever things they want out of their also? When the Alternate Operator Service outfits started in business a few years ago mostly to service COCOTs, someone here used the term 'bottom feeders' to apply to them. I wonder why 'bottom feeders' would not be a good term to use for the pseudo-competition that is going to be coming along soon? Essentially what is happening is telco will be giving up some of its profit (by selling wholesale to competitors what they used to sell retail to subscribers) in exchange for being allowed to make a lot more profit on long distance calls. The competition is gambling they will increase their profit by converting the biggest and best business customers; telco is gambling they will lose only the worst of their malcontents i.e. the complainers and deadbeats. Since the rules don't specify any certain percentage of the customer base or any type of customer or the amount of revenue involved -- merely that there has to be 'competition' -- the telcos are hoping to trim their losses from the local base by bidding adieu to the worst while retaining the best. In general what you say is correct. The big winners in 'local competition' will be the existing telcos. Watch them get bigger and fatter and sassier than ever. Note how Bell South and Ameritech are quite eager to get the new guys started. Yes sir, step right up and get yourself co-located in the central office and could we interest you in a few good customers we have to spare? The competitors claim that an overlay plan will work to their disad- vantage since their customers will wind up with all the 'new type' area codes and numbers while the established telco gets to keep the 'regular looking' numbers. They're also afraid that if they do not take huge blocks of numbers now so they can pick through for the best of them to dangle as incentives for the telco customers they hope to convert, some of *their* competitors will get them instead. Before long, folks will wish for the good old days of the "Bell System" when the Mother Company ran everything with an iron fist. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rlockhart@aol.com (RLockhart) Subject: PCIA's TDP Suite On Line Date: 21 Jul 1996 22:10:56 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: rlockhart@aol.com (RLockhart) PCIA recently made the TDP Suite of Protocols available to all via the web. The following press release covers this and our aid in generating the web version of TDP. Rob Lockhart Member of the Technical Staff FLEXx Architecture, Protocols, and Systems Core Technology and Systems Division Messaging Systems Products Group, Motorola, Inc. Desktop I'net: epag06@email.mot.com Belttop Wireless I'net (<1K characters): rob.lockhart@radiomail.net ----------------------------------------------- Motorola Releases Paging Protocol Suite on World Wide Web Open Access to TDP Protocols Facilitates Wireless Relay of Data, Graphics and Two-Way Messages FORT WORTH, Texas - July 17, 1996 - Motorola's Messaging Systems Products Group (MSPG), in cooperation with the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA), has made the TDP (Telocator Data Paging) suite of protocols available free of charge to wireless application developers on the World Wide Web. Created under the auspices of PCIA by a team of developers from the world's leading paging product companies, the TDP protocol suite allows wireless product users to send files, pictures and two-way messages over one- and two-way paging networks. The protocol suite, in hypertext (HTML), Adobex Acrobatx and Adobe PostScriptx formats, is currently available on Motorola's World Wide Web site at: http://www.mot.com/pagers/pcia_protocols/tdp_v2p0. The address links directly to the PCIA Web site through July. After that time the TDP protocol can be accessed by visiting PCIA's Web site at: http://www.pcia.com. The TDP protocol allows wireless application and product developers to harness the increased capacity and faster speeds of advanced messaging technologies such as Motorola's FLEXx family of protocols. "Making the TDP protocol suite available free of charge to developers on the Web is consistent with the strategy we've pursued with our FLEX protocol technology," stated Rob Lockhart, member of the technical staff, FLEX Architecture, Protocols and Systems. "Open, common access to these foundation technologies is essential to driving the wireless data industry forward and creating opportunity for big companies, small companies and end users alike." "For more than a decade, PCIA has provided a forum for an assortment of industry visionaries to come together and formulate paging standards such as the TDP suite of protocols," commented Donald Vasek, Senior Issues Manager, PCIA. "Open platforms, such as those available on the Web, benefit the entire paging industry." PCIA is the leading international trade association representing the wireless communications industry. Established in 1949, it has been at the forefront in advancing regulatory policies, legislation and technological standards that have helped launch the age of PCS. PCIA represents the full range of players in wireless communications, including PCS licensees and those in paging, ESMR, SMR, mobile data, manufacturing and local and interexchange sectors of the industry. Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors, and advanced electronic systems, components and services. Major equipment businesses include paging and data communications, cellular telephone, two-way radio, and personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics, and computers. Motorola semiconductors power communications devices, computers and millions of other products. Motorola's 1995 sales were $27 billion. Further information on Motorola's Messaging Systems Products Group is available at: http://www.mot.com/pagers. FLEX protocol information is available at: http://www.mot.com/FLEX. - 30 - Motorola and FLEX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola, Inc. Other names and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Editorial Contacts: Patrick Ward/Laura D'Aiuto Cunningham Communication 617/494-8202 patrick@ccipr.com laura@ccipr.com Kathy Van Buskirk Motorola Paging Products Group 407/739-8447 FKV001@Email.Mot.Com ------------------------------ From: sscott@hpmail2.fwrdc.rtsg.mot.com (Steve Scott) Subject: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 10:43:39 CDT Reply-To: sscott@mot.com In my new office, I have a Meridian N2616 digital phone (manufactured by Northern Telecom). I want to use my 28.8k modem with this phone line but, of course, the two formats are not compatible (i.e. cannot put a Y in the RJ11 jack and use both devices). Question is: I know I could pay to have a separate analog line installed for just the modem use. But, is there an adaptor which would convert the digital line to analog (and vice versa) which I could install in-line and which would allow me to use my analog modem? Thanks, Steve Scott Internet: sscott@mot.com Network Design and Development Center UUCP: uunet!motcid!sscott Cellular Systems Division X.400: fw0205@email General Systems Sector Internal: TX14/1D Motorola, Inc. Voice: (817) 245-6317 Fax: (817) 245-6580 ------------------------------ From: bidscan@mail.saix.net Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 20:49:38 -0700 Subject: Looking For Fax Symbol Pat, perhaps you and/or your readers can help ... I've already posted a similiar request to a graphics NG, and having had no reply, I figure it's time to try the communication/phone folk. I'm trying to find out what people are using on business stationary to indicate a FAX number ... something that would be a suitable companion for that little telephone symbol ... any ideas? Thanks, Frank R Pizer bidscan@mail.saix.net ------------------------------ From: edwin.kayes@ukonline.co.uk Subject: Data Communications Recording Date: 22 Jul 1996 16:43:06 GMT Organization: UK Online I am trying to find an appropriate source of information or Newsgroup on the recording of digital data/telecommunications, such as CEPT 1, 2 and 3 (E-1, 2 & 3)and T-1, 2 and 3. I'd also like to cover other comms formats, such as recording of ATM. Can anyone point me in the right direction please? Thanks, Edwin Kayes ------------------------------ From: fgoldstein@bbn.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: ISDN in MD, VA, PA, DC or NJ ... Help Needed Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 16:43:39 GMT Organization: BBN Corp. In article psyber@usa.pipeline. com (John Cropper) writes: (discussion of BA's outrageous ISDN residential rates went here) > I know of two *individuals* who were offered service here (NJ) for a > FLAT $30-$35 a month (mainly because they already had Centrex service > installed at their locations. > There is no reason that cannot be extended to ALL users in a timely > (12-24 monthes urban/suburban, 36 monthes rural) manner. Sure it would > entail a more accelerated plan to fiber certain areas, but fiber is > getting pretty common in my general area anyhow. It already can. But Centrex is not the equivalent of ISDN exchange service. With Centrex, a user gets unlimited "intercom" calling. Since Centrex emulates a PBX, internal calls are free. Even data calls on ISDN Centrex. But calls out of the centrex are charged at the regular business line rate, which in NJ is always measured/timed. Residential analog is flat rate. Some ISPs subscribe to Centrex for this reason. They give their subscribers extensions on their Centrex, restricted to internal-only dialing (since the ISP, as owner of the Centrex, gets the bill). If the ISP is served by the same central office as the subscriber, it's pretty cheap (say, $35). But if the subscriber is anywhere else, then inter-office station-off-premise charges apply. Telco has to assign three 64 kbps channels (2B+D) inside their network to support the remote user when it's ISDN, plus use ISDN mux cards (usually the Adtran BR1TE, a few hundred bucks at each end). So the price per month usually goes over $100. Still, this is the way Bell Atlantic seems to want it. The company's "mission" is straightforward, to sell Centrex. Not even to make profit; that's incidental. They are fanatically obsessed with Centrex, the world's largest provider. (Uncle Sam is the main customer.) Now if overpriced residential ISDN encourages a few users to put in Centrex, then that's good, since it diverts business away from an unwanted business (residential ISDN) and towards their holy mission (Centrex). Just putting the Centrex label on it changes it from profane to holy. Debating rates with BA is not a matter of what's profitable. Their mind is made up. Fred R. Goldstein k1io fgoldstein@bbn.com BBN Corp., Cambridge MA USA +1 617 873 3850 Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission. ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:29:38 GMT Organization: Best Internet Communications [ various discussions about getting a map showing the geographic territory served by a given central office, and the prefixes used. ] One item that has disappointed me greatly in the last couple of years is a change in the Pacific Bell directories. There is a section that lists the areas that are within your local calling area and your "Zone 3" area if you are in each of the rate centers served by that directory. It used to be that the book would tell me that if I am in "San Francisco 1" then I am local to "East Bay 1 - 4" (but not "East Bay 5"), Sausalito, etc., and it had a little chart telling me that "East Bay 1" included the following prefixes, and so forth. The list was never broken down by central office, of course, and each rate center typically includes several C.O.'s, but it was much more convenient to remember a list of communities that were local than a list of prefixes. Now all they give me is a block that says, if you are in "S.F. 1" then the following prefixes are local, without any sorting by location. I consider it a great leap backwards, almost as much so as the switch some years ago to the neo-impressionist area code maps from the geographically accurate ones of years past. I never cease to wonder at discovering from my phone book that Delaware is wider east-west than north-south. **Permission is specifically WITHHELD for the collection of this address for any e-mail unrelated to the subject of this article.** Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: grumpy@en.com (Seymour Dupa) Subject: Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant Date: 21 Jul 1996 22:36:07 GMT Organization: Exchange Network Services, Inc. Michael Bailey (michaelb@well.com) wrote: [snip] > Getting copies of exchange maps is also possible (I got one for a > customer once but it took two weeks and I wonder if I could do it > again.) but it is more likely that you will be told, "if you give me a > particular address I will tell you which CO (or exchange) it is served > by (or in)." What do you mean "exchange map"? Finding what *area* an exchange is in is relatively easy. What I call an exchange map is a different story. It would be a map that would show the area (boundries) that a given exchange (CO) serves. You would be able to see how far down a street you could move and still keep you same phone number. It is also impossible to get one in Ameritech land. I tried -- went all the way to corporate -- and failed. I have developed a proceedure to generate such a map. All you need is a mapping program with geocoding and a CD-ROM phone book. I'd be glad to post it if there is any interest. John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sure, send it along. I'll bet it would make a good addition to the Telecom Archives. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tmitariffs@aol.com (TMITARIFFS) Subject: Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant Date: 22 Jul 1996 11:09:20 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Point of informtion: Bellcore's nomenclature for Common Language Location Identifier or CLLI for a central office is setup up in the following manner: digits 1-4 represent the geographic name of the location digits 5-6 represent the state. digits 7-8 represent the office (if 7 ="X", it is owned by a non Bell company) digits 9,10 and 11 represent the phyiscal switch within the Central office. If two npa-nxx's have the same first eight digits of the CLLI they are co located in the same central office and carry the same vertical and horizontal coordinates. If the last three digits are different, they may have different capabilities. It is possible however, to have completely different CLLI codes (except for 5-6, obviously) and still be colocated. Second point of information: While Bellcore information is probably more accurate, all parties should be aware that vendors do not use BellCore to price any distance- sensitive service. Wire Center V&Hs from The National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) Tariff 4 (Filed with the FCC, monthly) is what ALL Vendors use for pricing exchage services. The V&H Coordinates provided by BELLCore and NECA can be different, (and suprisingly, both can be wrong). NECA, however, is used for all pricing issues. AT&T FCC 10 provides Rate Center information and is alsop an industry standard for pricing. Steve Perkins XChange GeoMatics "Geographic Solutions for Telecom Tariff Issues" 770 452-7077 TMIChamp@sprynet.com ------------------------------ From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 23:43:56 GMT Organization: Netcom I have three guesses ... and that's *all* that they are, but for $.02, they are: 1) The CID info coming from the Fairchild switch is completely blank. Since the call is local, B-A can't send "out-of-area"; the CID information doesn't say "private" (I assume) so B-A can't send "private" as an indication, and the only choice left is "anonymous"; OR 2) The CID info coming from the Fairchild contains something that B-A's switch doesn't recognize as valid [e.g. one of those new NXX codes that B-A 'forgot' to add to their switch's translate table]) and BA sends 'anonymous'; OR 3) Hillary's CID box doesn't know the difference between "anonymous" and "out of area". I don't THINK I've seen a mention here that she gets any calls with "out of area" messages ... 1) most likely caused by the Fairchild switch sending blank info; could be caused by something screwed up in B-A's configuration for the front desk's outgoing line, but that seems a longshot; 2) assuming that the CID data being generated by the Fairchild *is* valid, the problem would be B-A's fault. It might be interesting to find *another* phone with the same NXX prefix, and call someone with CID to see what shows up. 3) perhaps the front desk could be persuaded to call a friend of Hillary's with a *different* make of CID box, or perhaps she could borrow one from somebody. I know it's unlikely, but when all else fails, check the basics. If I've been following the discussions here correctly, the call to the 800 number won't help, because the 800 will show ANI, not CID info, right? Hillary can get the same result by calling telco's ANI test number from the front desk. By the way, I only know of one building that offers its residents PBX telephone service, and that's One Franklintown Boulevard in Philadelphia. Are there more? Bill [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It used to be years and years and years ago that many or most residential apartment buildings included phone service from a manual cordboard located at the front desk unless the building was large enough to have a separate room for the board with separate operators instead of front desk personnel, etc. Of course they also used to offer 'maid service' as well with the maid doing a few simple things (make the bed, etc) daily and a good complete cleaning of your apartment once or twice weekly. I speak now with Chicago mostly in mind -- although older people in other cities have reported much the same thing -- about life in those days; up until about 1970 or so. The front desk/switchboard employees were always white; the maids were always black. The housekeeper (the supervisor of the maids) usually was white, sometimes black. The front desk people as well as the building manager and building engineer always lived in the building but the maids -- well, they lived in some other part of town and rode the bus to work each morning. Sometime in the 1960's the economics of running large older apartment building highrises became such that expenses had to be cut back a great deal. The maids were the first to go (not only from the economics involved; but because black women were becoming increasingly reluctant to go to work as a maid for someone else and 'good help' was hard to find) and within a few more years the switchboards were pulled out in lieu of telling tenants to get their own phone service if they wanted it. Depending on the size of the building and how many new pairs had to be pulled into the building the conversion took a month or so. Typically in a building with a hundred apartments the switchboard had ten to fifteen incoming lines in a rotary hunt. If the building also had Western Union service (telegraph receiving and sending or clock service) then a couple more pairs coming into the building were devoted to that. In some cases large transient buildings also had direct tie-lines on the board to the long distance operator which by-passed the local central office. So going from maybe fifteen or twenty pairs coming into the building (which via the switchboard branched off to a couple hundred house pairs) to having a couple hundred pairs right off the cable coming into the building going direct to the apartments took a bit of wire pulling. Telco used to give the apartment building owners a commission on all their sent-paid and received-collect traffic, but the catch was the front desk had to keep a record of the traffic and collect for all of it as part of the tenant's monthly rent. The building management was responsible for paying telco. In those days if a tenant wanted a private phone of his own in his apartment he could get one, but time and again the front desk added on a 'switchboard service fee' to make up for the revenue they lost by not carrying the calls for that apartment any longer. But the switchboards did give wakeup service and apartment-to-apartment phone service as well as part of their offering. Not too many places do that any longer. I remember over about 35 years living in a few places which did, and once living on a block where there were three large buildings all of which offered switchboard/front desk/maid service to tenants. All three were then top-notch, very beautiful buildings. A couple even had dining rooms and ballrooms plus nice lobbies to sit in. Now all three are slums; one is a crack house which has had a few fires in recent years; the other two are marginal places for very low-income families. Times change. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ray Rikansrud Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:22:08 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Fri, 19 Jul 1996, Gary Breuckman wrote: {puma said a bunch of things; basically correct as usual] > On Tue, 16 Jul 1996, Patrick A. Townson wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But to repeat, Hillary gets *both* > messages depending on who is calling. B-A must be sending two > different codes, wouldn't you think? PAT] I don't know the answers to the questions raised! But, I used to get out-of-area until the LEC (GTE, but don't blame them) offered Calling Name along with Calling Number Identification. This was coincident with the FCC rules about interstate delivery which may or may not make a difference. I know our own PBX still sends out out-of-area because the only choice is either that or Private. Sending out private would be pretty arrogant so that is generally not done. When GTE changed their service offerings, some of the callers that used to come in as out-of-area showed up as not available on the same piece of CPE. This was the same on two different manufacturers of equipment. I now have four different manufacturer's equipment monitoring the calls but can't say for sure that I get different displays for the same calls (at least not those that are the defaults built into the devices). I have Bellcore documents on the standards but must not have all the right ones because I have not found the "signals" that trigger specific messages. I wonder why the Bellcore folks or one of the LEC's have not cleared up all of this confusion. It would sure be nice to see a complete explanation of what is being sent and how. Ray Rikansrud ------------------------------ From: hankkarl@ix.netcom.com (Hank Karl) Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:52:52 GMT Organization: Telenetworks Reply-To: hankkarl@ix.netcom.com Pat, It's been a while since I saw the specs, but as I recall you are correct, the caller-id box generates either wording "anonymous" or "private". But lets assume the caller-id box supports both number and _name_, and will display "private" for private calls. One explanation would be that the switch (or PBX, etc) only sends a name of "anonymous" and no number. Another (and I'm not sure that this is possible) is that the PBX sends "anonymous" instead of the numbers. Hank Karl ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #354 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 22 16:47:11 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id QAA22941; Mon, 22 Jul 1996 16:47:11 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 16:47:11 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607222047.QAA22941@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #355 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Jul 96 16:47:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 355 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Call America Sold to GDT Telecommunications, Inc. (Jeff Buckingham) Re: ATTWS/ATT LD Question (Babu Mengelepouti) Re: A Telecom Angle in the Tragic TWA Flight 800 Crash (Marc Zirnheld) Re: Pacific Bell Clock Problems (Winston Sorfleet) Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! (Jeremy Rogers) Re: Caller ID/Per Line Blocking (Linc Madison) Re: San Antonio NPA Split (Linc Madison) Major AT&T Outage in Europe? (John McHarry) Re: Phone Customers Furious Over Service (N.G. Marino) Re: Extra Charge for Trunk Line Hunting (Scot Desort) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Mark Brader) Re: Last Laugh! Jeff Seems to be Miffed at the Net (Andrew C. Green) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Buckingham Subject: Call America Sold to GST Telecommunications, Inc. Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:30:00 EDT NEWS CONFERENCE: 1 PM, JULY 22, 1996 CALL AMERICA, HIGUERA ST. OFFICE, SUITE 300 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Beth Harris, Marketing Director 805-547-5634 GST TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INC. ACQUIRES CALL AMERICA (San Luis Obispo, CA) - GST Telecommunications, Inc (AMEX-GST) and Call America Business Communications Corporation today announced an agreement in principle under which Call America and its affiliates will merge into a wholly-owned subsidiary of GST. Under the terms of the agreement, GST will acquire 100% of Call America and its affiliates for a purchase price of $16 million in GST common shares valued at $14.00 per share, subject to certain matters. The transaction is contingent upon the completion of due diligence, regulatory approvals and the execution of definitive merger documents. For the month of June 1996, Call America and its affiliates recorded, consolidated and combined revenues in excess of $1.75 million. Call America President, Jeff Buckingham will be responsible for GST's Central California operations. John Warta, President and CEO of GST Telecommunications, stated "The acquisition of Call America is another step by GST to utilize its extensive network in cities throughout California and the west. GST and Call America share a similar philosophy of providing high quality telecommunication services to end users." Warta added, "In addition to it's existing long distance services, Call America offers a variety of additional services that are of particular interest to GST, including MyLine, a call forwarding service; international long distance, operator service and Centrex resale. We are also sincerely pleased to attract and welcome Jeff Buckingham, and his entire Call America team to the GST family." Jeff Buckingham said, "Call America's partnership with GST will allow us to build our competitive advantage with our customers in the information age. Call America has been looking for the right partner for several years to bring the experience and capital needed to expand into the local markets it serves. GST is a well-financed, young, aggressive company with an experienced management team. This alliance will allow the Call America organization to play an important role in a larger public company." Founded in 1983, Call America was one of the first companies certified by the California Public Utilities Commission. Leading the telecommunications industry, Call America was one of the telephone companies to combine voice mail and long distance services ten years ago. Call America was also the first company to license MyLine technology which consolidates all phone numbers -- voice mail, fax car phone, pager, work phone, and home phone -- into one number that follows the subscriber. Through its operating subsidiaries, Call America currently provides a variety of domestic and international long distance services as a facilities-based reseller. These services are provided to customers in San Luis Obispo, Bakersfield, Fresno, Salinas, Ventura, and Santa Barbara, California. Operator services are provided to a number of small regional carriers as well as to hotels throughout California. GST Telecommunications, Inc., headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, currently operates networks in fourteen cities in the western United States and Hawaii, with an additional six cities under construction in the San Francisco Bay area. The company provides a broad range of integrated telecommunications products and services, through the development and operation of competitive access and other telecommunications networks. GST's strategy is to cluster several cities in each state that it enters in order to achieve synergy and maximum opportunity within each service territory. In addition, the company manufactures telecommunications switching equipment and network management and billing systems through its wholly-owned subsidiary National Applied Computer Technologies, Inc. of Orem, Utah. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 23:50:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Babu Mengelepouti Subject: Re: ATTWS/ATT LD Question > Babu Mengelepouti wrote: >> When visiting a local retailer, I stumbled upon a card bearing the >> AT&T Wireless Services logo. It reads as follows: >> This new legislation enables AT&T Wireless Services to select AT&T >> Long Distance as the preferred long distance provider. Therefore, >> cellular calls made outside your AT&T Wireless Services local cellular >> service area will be carried by AT&T." >> I am curious what this means. I believe that ATTWS offers equal >> access in the Seattle market. Does this mean that equal access, if >> previously offered, is ending? Or does it mean that ATTWS was >> previously sending intralata toll to USWest or another LEC and will >> now be sending it to AT&T? Hopefully someone at ATTWS can clear this >> up. > Clear up what? ATTWS would love it if every AT&T long distance > customer were to become an ATTWS cellular subscriber. I believe that > the majority of US consumers of long distance have chosen AT&T long > distance service because they share with ATTWS a high regard for the > quality of that product. ATTWS naturally wants to be associated with > this esteem. > Since cellular air time is anywhere from two to ten times the cost of > long distance time and since cellular air time is also charged for > incoming calls and non-long distance calls, it naturally stands to > reason that long distance charges are maybe only 20% (I'm guessing) of > the average cellular monthly invoice. According to game theory, the > largest cellular carrier has the most to lose and the smallest > cellular carrier has the most to gain, by NOT offering Equal Access. > While I'm not paid the big bucks to make these kinds of decisions, it > would seem to me that it is good business for ATTWS to continue to > offer Equal Access. Why risk cellular subscriber churn by bundling > long distance, when long distance represents so little of the cellular > company's revenue? OTOH, in emerging US PCS-1900 markets, maybe it > makes sense to jump on the bundled AT&T bandwagon. > ATTWS carries intra-LATA toll (usually) on their own facilities and > doesn't involve the LEC or the subscriber's long distance provider for > these calls. B-side cellular carriers owned by the LEC usually do, too. Jeffrey, your answer contains a lot of glowing marketing generalities, but doesn't give me any more information than I had before. Does ATTWS still offer equal access in the Puget Sound market? If no carrier is chosen does it now default to AT&T? I want to know what the statement, re-quoted above, means. If you're not sure, could you find out and let us all know? One thing that I noticed that it could mean (in the Puget Sound market at least) is influencing cellular customers' home IXC. ATTWS is offering a 50% discount on cell airtime for new subscriptions for the first three months, but if you're an AT&T LD customer at home, you'll receive a 50% discount for the first six months on your airtime bill. Incidentally I don't know if PICing AT&T on the cell is also required... :) ------------------------------ From: Marc.Zirnheld@teaser.fr (Marc Zirnheld) Subject: Re: A Telecom Angle in the Tragic TWA Flight 800 Crash Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:43:36 GMT Reply-To: Marc.Zirnheld@teaser.fr Pat, The number [33] (1) 48 64 98 32 is an "ordinary" number. It points to the Roissy-Charles de Gaule Airport (48 62 ... and 48 64 are for the airport's switch). Note that (800) 464-9832 doesn't exactly have the same digits (there is an 8 missing). Marc Zirnheld AdressE: Marc.Zirnheld@teaser.fr (ISO-8859-1/Latin-1) Telecopie: 33 (1) 60 19 23 80 Dazibaobab: http://www.teaser.fr/~mzirnheld/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 18:45:57 +0000 From: winston sorfleet Subject: Re: Pacific Bell Clock Problems Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd. In article , wrote: > I observe that the Pacific Bell Caller ID clock is 14 (fourteen) > seconds ahead of the correct time (determined with a shortwave radio > tuned to WWV). > Just for fun, I called 415-POPCORN and heard that their time > annunciator is about four seconds off. > Who is supposed to set these? Are they supposed to be accurate? Fourteen seconds is a pretty major discrepancy, but a few seconds is not unusual for telco. When I worked at the National Research Council (Canada) Time and Length Standards a few years ago, a gentleman from the U.S. called us up one day to let us know that our clocks were discernably "off" by a second. Every morning, he diligently called our T.O.D. number (613) 745-1576, that of the U.S. (then) National Bureau of Standards, and the USNO. Our chief scientist (who is a telecom afficionado) had to explain how the voice propagation through the various telephone networks was not instantaneous, but thanked him politely for alerting us. Likewise, "gross" delays of tens of milliseconds can creep in due to atmospheric conditions in the short-wave signal. So don't believe what you hear on the radio -- come to comp.dcom.telecom instead :-). In another telecom-related incident, a woman called up because her phone bill from Bell Canada had charged her at a worse discount than she had expected (she checked the NRC time standard just before placing a long-duration long-distance call). What had happened is that the Bell Canada CO clock was inaccurate and therefore her call had been billed as if it had started about one minute earlier than it actually had (at 10:59 instead of 11:00 pm). In those days (and perhaps still now) the CO TOD was manually entered by a technician when the switch was booted. I never found out if the woman got her refund. Incidentally, the three standards mentioned above were the "official" national standards for Canada and the U.S. respectively, and each group did keep track of each others' drift (down to the order of tens of nanoseconds I believe) via a satellite relay algorithm. If necessary, the baselines could be synchronized by travelling with a "portable" standard from one location to the other. It's not a simple operation; these clocks are so precise that compensation has to be made for the relativistic differences in the Earth's linear velocity. Winston Sorfleet, GSF Product Architecture & Configuration | sorflet@nortel.ca ------------------------------ From: Jeremy Rogers Subject: Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! Date: 22 Jul 1996 10:11:03 GMT tholome@francenet.fr (Eric Tholome) wrote: > Well, sounds like they've changed their minds ... I've just received a > letter offering me to sign up to AT&T's new callback service! > "If you frequently make international calls from your home or office, then > you should use the AT&T International Call Plan. The per minute rates are > among the lowest in Europe. With the AT&T International Call Plan, a > five-minute call from France to the U.S. costs only US$2.20. > How does the service work? For extra discounts, just dial the AT&T platform > directly, and you will be called back straightaway. > The AT&T International Call Plan is available to customers living in > Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Norway." If anyone is wondering why the UK isn't on that list it is simple. AT&T operates a normal long distance service here via an access code (1430). A five minute call off peak UK-US with AT&T costs the equivalent of about $1.50. Callback services available here would reduce that to about $1 or possibly less. Jez ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Caller ID/Per Line Blocking Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:08:47 GMT Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , matt schor wrote: > Sorry. Calling someone's home, and not disclosing your phone number, > is not acceptable social behavior. Thank God technology has caught up > with expectations so that we can stop prank calls, threatening calls, > etc. I wouldn't answer the door if the person didn't announce who > they were. If you want to make anonymous calls, use a pay phone. It certainly is NOT unacceptable social behavior. You may consider it so, but you are not the arbiter of such things. A relative of mine works for a well-known celebrity. In the course of his employment, he sometimes has cause to be at celebrity's home, and may from time to time need to make a personal phone call. Is the person he calls entitled to know the celebrity's home phone number? Not in the least. (I should mention also that the celebrity receives innumerable lunatic phone calls on the listed work number, so the home number is a jealously guarded secret.) If my relative makes a call from the celebrity's home, you'd better bet it will be without caller ID. It is unacceptable social behavior to call someone's home for the purpose of annoying that person. Within that limitation, it is not the least bit required to give the person the capability to call you at the same number from which you happen to be calling. I particularly resent the equation of "calls without CNID" with "anonymous calls." If I call someone on the phone with my Caller ID blocked and say, "This is Linc," then it is NOT an anonymous call. It goes back to the fundamentally flawed "peephole in the front door" analogy that Caller ID enthusiasts are so fond of. If I walk up to your front door and ring the bell, you can look through the peephole and see what I look like. If you don't know me, though, you have no way of seeing through that peephole what my name is, much less my home address or phone number. Short of calling the police and giving them my description along with what crime you think I committed by being there, or hoping by chance to spot me again, you have no way to reach back at me later. Caller ID is not like giving you a peephole on your front door. It is like giving you a peephole AND compelling everyone who walks to your door to wear a sign with name and address neatly printed on it, and giving you an automatic camera to photograph the person (or at least the sign) even if you aren't home. I have two friends who have Caller ID on their home phones. I have programmed their numbers into my autodialer, prepended with *82. Anyone else, anyone I don't know, I get to decide whether to give them my number if I want them to be able to call me back. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe the peephole in the front door argument is flawed, but what about the apartment building front door intercom to apartment argument which I have also heard from time to time. This is where the person stands at the outside door and repeatedly rings your bell but refuses to speak up when you ask who is calling, expecting you to simply press the door-unlatching switch instead. A good answer I saw to that presented by an anti-caller-ID person was the equivilent on the phone would be answering the phone by not asking who was calling and instead simply lifting the receiver and saying this is at ... please come on over now, I will have the door open waiting for you. Essentially, there is no real threat to your safety from simply answering the phone without knowing the caller's identity (unless it is a malicious caller or unless you believe the foolishness presented in the movie several years ago called 'Tandem Rush'). There are very real dangers possible from opening the door without at least seeing the person(s) who are waiting there. Although I must confess as often as not I open my door when the bell rings without so much as a glance in the peephole. I think many people are lulled into doing that. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: San Antonio NPA Split Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:51:30 GMT Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , Tad Cook wrote: > Negotiators asked Bell to draw up a "doughnut" area code plan that has > most of San Antonio as the "hole" in one area code. Contiguous > counties in the metropolitan area would be in a second area code. > A third area code would take in a strip of the Texas-Mexico border > from the Rio Grande Valley to Edwards County. Surely this also includes Val Verde County (Del Rio), unless the plan is to move it into 915 at the same time. > Area residents will decide on another option that would give a single > area code to all of Bexar, and all or parts of Comal, Guadalupe, > Medina, Bandera, Wilson, Gonzales, Live Oak, Karnes, Frio and Bee > counties. The rest of the current 210 would go into a separate area > code. > [ San Antonio would exhaust in 2001, then add an overlay, which would > last to 2008. ] This is utterly absurd. An overlay for San Antonio should have the two area codes covering ONLY the immediate metropolitan area, certainly NOT Beeville, Gonzales, Hondo, George West, or Kenedy, nor even Seguin and New Braunfels. NOTHING outside of Bexar County should be included in an overlay of San Antonio, period. Of course, readers familiar with the situations in Dallas and Houston know how little common sense there is to go around in the whole state of Texas when it comes to area code relief. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 10:20:17 -0700 From: John McHarry Subject: Major AT&T Outage in Europe? I have heard some rumblings that AT&T had a major outage in Europe that put American (?) Airlines reservation service off the air for an extended period. Any word on this? ------------------------------ From: ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) Subject: Re: Phone Customers Furious Over Service Date: 21 Jul 1996 22:44:49 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) Why is there no local competition for residential service? Because the Baby Bells have had a 100 year head start in building their network. Who can compete against that? The Telecommunications Act, if it had guts, should have adopted a plan to rid ourselves of the BB monopolies. It didn't. Telephone companies in this country were (and are) state sanctioned monopolies. You and I paid for the buildup of the telephone network as it exists today. Is it reasonable that when the industry is deregulated that a single 'competitor' gets to start the game with all the pieces? Is this really the best we can do? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But wait a minute. Would *you* want to invest your time or money and effort in building something if you knew for a fact that a hundred years from now the government was going to rip you off and give all your work and effort to your competitors? Would you ever do anything at all under those circumstances other than just rip off what you could and make do in life? See, whose fault is it exactly that the telcos have a hundred year head start? Is it their fault? Is it their fault that even seventy or eighty years ago the government did things differently than now? I have always beleived the *fair* way to handle competition with AT&T from the very beginning would have been for the court to rule that indeed, competition would be allowed, and that the court would oversee AT&T to insure that the competition was treated at 'arms length' and fairly in all ways. I would have ordered complete, unqualified inter- connection between networks. I would have perhaps set some pricing standards or similar to prevent accusations that AT&T was engaging in 'predatory' pricing to put competitors out of business. I would have taken certain important functions like directory assistance and pay telephone service and required all the competitors to meet the same standards for service. I would have insisted upon complete interchange of calling cards between the companies and all be part of a separations and settlements process. I would have protected the general public and kept the public out of the fray. And I would have told the new competitors they have a bit to do to catch up with Bell, but they were welcome to start anytime. To those critics who say it would be unfair and impossible for the competitors to be expected to develop the infrastructure Bell has developed over the decades my answer is look at the cable companies. They certainly got their communities wired up in a hurry. I have no particular love lost for TCI Cable, but by golly they are starting *real* competition here in the Chicago area. Their own wires, their own equipment, their own central office. All they want from Ameritech is interconnection and arms-length, fair assignment of telephone numbers. They are not asking Ameritech to allow co-location in the CO (that has long been a bug with me, telco getting their floor space taken away from them on account of its not fair to expect the competitors to build their own buildings, etc); they are not asking Ameritech for a damn thing. And that is the way *true and fair* competition in the telephone business should work. You invest your time, your money, your sweat, your toil and your tears for 125 years or so, then come back and play in the same league. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sdesort@gsmicro.com (Scot Desort) Subject: Re: Extra Charge for Trunk Line Hunting Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1996 03:40:21 GMT Organization: Garden State Micro, Inc., Fairfield NJ USA +1 201-244-1110 Reply-To: sdesort@gsmicro.com Jim wrote: > The phone rep tells me that lines that terminate on a key system are > called trunk lines and are charged at a higher price. > We can have hunt group service without being charged an additional > trunk line charge if the lines terminate on separate single line phone > sets. > Why can't I tell the phone company that I want the latter and > terminate the lines on anything I want? After all, it's deregulated > once inside our offices. Is there anything wrong with this reasoning? Yes, something sure seems wrong there. If your lines terminate in a standard RJ21X, or even RJ11's for that matter, the telco shouldn't care, or even need to know, what type of equipment you have on your site. The term "trunk" has always been a very ambiguous term to me. It typically infers a large collection of circuits, usually requiring an additional piece of equipment to allow standard, analog devices to connect to it. But, this "definition" varies, depending who you talk to. I would definetely call telco again and speak with an account manager or supervisor. I have 25 analog lines coming into my office. They terminate at RJ21X's. Aside from the additional charge that business lines incur over standard residential lines, I do not pay an additional "trunk" charge because my 25 lines go into my Norstar key system. Unless telco is presenting these lines to you in a special format or medium that your key system requires, it sounds like you're paying for something that you shouldn't. Scot Garden State Micro, Inc. sdesort@gsmicro.com ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 01:02:42 GMT > I tried spelling your name, and nothing happened!" Really, I said. > ... "I tried three times, and very slowly: M A R Q ..." > ... What key did you press for Q? > --- Long pause --- "What do you mean, press keys?" I chuckled at this myself, but let's be fair. Remember "If you wish to accept this collect call, say 'Yes'"? Remember the fellow who couldn't reach the operator until he pronounced "Operator" with the proper American accent? Letters of the alphabet are harder because too many of them have similar sounds, of course, but it's not absurd for the caller to have interpreted "spell" to mean what it said. Mark Brader, msb@sq.com "But I want credit for all the words SoftQuad Inc., Toronto I spelled *right*!" -- BEETLE BAILEY [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What happens though in the case of those folks who speak with accents the network does not understand is that it eventually defaults to the operator anyway. All that happens when you say 'operator' in response to the prompt "if you want an operator, say 'operator' now" is that it does not have to time out. Just stand there and say nothing; eventually the operator will come on anyway. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:08:08 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Jeff Seems to be Miffed at the Net ctyrre01@purch.eds.com writes: > {InfoWorld} has been running a series of articles by Ed Foster on the > issue of junk e-mail (Ed does not like the use of the word spam). I believe he's correct; the original definition of spam referred to duplicate posting of the same material in different Usenet newsgroups (i.e. as opposed to crossposting _one_ copy, listing all the newsgroups in its header). Junk e-mail is a different issue, although lately the term "spam" is being applied pretty broadly. > In the July 15, 1996 edition Ed interviews legitimate businessman Jeff > Slaton who complained of being harassed by Netters calls to his 800 > number. If you can imagine. I was shocked -- simply _shocked_ -- to read of this. > The full text of the article should be available in the New > Gripes forum on InfoWorld Electric at http://www.infoworld.com. It used to be. However, {InfoWorld} now demands an account and password in exchange for reading this material, as of July 15th. I declined to supply it. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: [...] It may be possible for Jeff to > get a second mortgage on his home to pay the bill. I mean, he surely > does not think his carrier is going to write all that off, does he? If memory serves, he used to work for a telephone company. Perhaps he has rigged up an (ex-)employee discount. Sigh ... Andrew C. Green Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Truthfully, I think he is hurting financially after the events of this past month. I cannot imagine him selling that many of his products to have any sort of money in reserve for contingencies such as this past month of phone bills. I think he has been pretty well banged up, which is not to say he won't recover and remain in business as a thorn in the side to the people of the net. But notice how you don't see much out of Jeff directly these days on the net -- just the people here and there who foolishly send him money for that software of his which they use once or twice with big dollars signs in their eyes only to have themselves be roundly condemmed in various ways by the net and soon decide to forget their hair-brained schemes. If anything, I feel sort of sorry for some of the new guys getting on line these days who are well meaning; who have no intention in the world of being offensive and who -- because they are so new -- have no real concept of how things are here. They send off a bunch of money to Jeff thinking he is going to help them become rich on the net. Maybe they are out of a job and have a family to feed or maybe they are disabled and 'selling stuff on the net' is a way they can earn honest money so trustingly they send Jeff the money and then get back the crappy software and a list of names so overworked by junk mail that the hate mail response is overwhelming. I got a piece of junk mail the other day -- at an .edu account -- so much for Jeff's claims they do not use those addresses -- and it was an address I rarely have used for years. I wrote back to the person and said, "I bet Jeff told you these were all new, fresh email addresses." ... remember, spam will go away (or mostly go away; there will always be new and naive guys getting on line who do not know better) when you make it so expensive and time consuming for the Jeff Slaton's of the net that they decide to go out and get an honest job, provided anyone will hire them. Not until. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #355 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 22 23:27:05 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA02839; Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:27:05 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:27:05 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607230327.XAA02839@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #356 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Jul 96 23:27:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 356 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? (Jeffery Brown) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (Michael Stanford) Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: New Cellular Phone For Me (Christopher Wolf) Re: Phone Customers Furious Over Service (Steve Bagdon) Re: Email to Fax Server (Marc Schaefer) Re: TCI Phone Service Ok'd in Chicago Suburb (gbpage@aol.com) Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb (Andrew C. Green) Re: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) Remote Access on AT&T Phones (Kristine Loosley) Best T1 Hookup in Michigan? (Matthew E Kaiser) Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? (Robert Holloman) Saw a Commercial For "Free Fridays" From Sprint Recently (Robert Casey) Re: A Telecom Angle in the Tragic TWA Flight 800 Crash (Robert Casey) Information Wanted on Midcom (tkondo2937@aol.com) Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell (Randy Kendrick) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Sam Kamens) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Mickey Ferguson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jbrown@tellabs.com (Jeffery Brown) Subject: Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? Date: 22 Jul 1996 19:51:49 GMT Organization: Tellabs, Inc. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > ... > Before long, folks will wish for the good old days of the "Bell > System" when the Mother Company ran everything with an iron fist. PAT] I didn't start paying my own phone bill until 1986, so I don't know how things used to be under the old Bell System. But what I am concerned about is having a monopoly in local phone service. What I see as the worst example of a "regulated monopoply" are electric companies. They have ratepayers, who pay the bills, yet they are also public companies and have shareholders. The problem is, which of these two groups (ratepayers or shareholders) is most important? For example, I often see electric companies build nuclear plants, lose hundreds of millions of dollars, and then attempt to make the ratepayers foot the bill. Is this fare to the ratepayers, being forced to suffer for the electric company's mismanagement? Shouldn't the shareholders assume that risk, not the ratepayers? If the phone companies are following this model, then I would fight tooth and nail for any competition possible. If the Bell System was anything, it was "benevolent". They didn't try to screw their ratepayers. I don't think I can trust Ameritech to behave the same way. Jeffery Brown Tellabs Operations, Inc. $2B x 2K jbrown@tellabs.com Ph: (708) 512-8272 Fax: (708) 512-7098 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have paid my own phone bill since 1961 or 1962, I don't remember which. I do remember when the monthly bill in Chicago was $8.00 plus usage charges which were for me in the range of $2-3 per month, and I was on the phone a lot. Ameritech still has enough old timers around left over from pre-divestiture that I don't think you need to worry too much about that company; not for a few years anyway. And certainly, their cellular service is the finest in the country. It is very inexpensive and very, very reliable. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 12:23:43 PDT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to : Who is this? My PC was not used to originate this message from . > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But Hillary said she gets *both* types > of response (anonymous and private) depending on who is calling. This > would seem to imply B-A is sending one code one time and the other > code other times. PAT] B-A offers Calling Name service and has LIDB look-up agreements with other LECs. Perhaps "Private" is displayed when the caller's name and number are marked restricted and "Anonymous" is displayed when the caller's number is marked restricted but the caller's LEC does not reciprocate LIDB lookup service, or vice-versa. Jeffrey Rhodes at jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com ------------------------------ From: Michael Stanford Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 12:26:01 -0400 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is B-A not following this spec or > is Hillary mistaken on seeing both 'anonymous' and 'private' on > her box? If she is seeing both, then it would seem B-A sends one > message for some calls and the other message on other calls but > nonetheless treats either condition as 'private'. Right or wrong? PAT] If BA is not following the spec, then most Caller ID boxes would not work in BA territory. It is more likely that the box manufacturer (look on the bottom, probably Cidco or Colonial Data) has chosen to put an indication on the LCD when it fails to pick up any Caller ID. I would surmise that the box displays "Anonymous" when it does not get Caller ID information, i.e. when there is no Caller ID carrier or when the calling number field is empty or the transmitted data is corrupted in some other way. If the box does not display something like "No Caller ID available" from time to time, or stay blank on some calls this explanation would make sense. ------------------------------ From: jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com Subject: Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 11:55:09 PDT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article , writes: > Here's the explanation I've received *from one source*: > private caller id info *intentionally* blocked by the caller. > anonymous caller id not supported at the source. > no data caller id data is lost somewhere along the link. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Everywhere else where Caller-ID > is 'not supported at the source' it seems the end result on a > caller-id box is 'out of area'. PAT] There is another reason "Out Of Area" is displayed: If the received CPN is marked international and any receiving switch or the receiving display does not recognise international CPNs, then the display will be "Out Of Area". ISDN BitSurfr Pro CNI logging has this problem. Private or Anonymous implies ISUP end-to-end and the CPN is marked restricted, where restricted means "block the display". A display will use one or the other but not both. Either of these can occur even when the source does not support caller id displays, as in the case of California last spring when CPNs were being sent interstate but few in California were able to "see" caller id displays. Jeffrey Rhodes at jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 14:24:08 CDT From: Christopher Wolf Subject: Re: New Cellular Phone For Me Pat, In TELECOM Digest, Volume 16 : Issue 332, Article "New Cellular Phone For Me", you write: > ... Cellular World replaced the phone with a much newer model from NEC >called the 'Talk Time 820' ... Do you know if they have a battery conditioner for this unit? I contacted the store I got it from, and they're a little confused on the whole matter. Also, you wrote: > NEC kept the same code to get to the innards as before: > LOCKCODE + FCN 9 + LOCKCODE + MEM 76 gets you into 'test mode' > then MEM # 01 opens test mode itself, while MEM # 02 closes > test mode and recycles power and reloads the NAM you are > currently using. *There is no three time lockout on > number changes* as is common with Motorola stuff. > > MEM # 03 through MEM # 99 do various things in test mode, > although not all the positions are used. MEM # 71-1 or 71-2 > allow programming of NAM 1 or 2. An interesting one is > MEM # 61-1 and 61-0 which toggle on and off a visual display > of the channel you are on, the signal strength and other > information. MEM # 39 zeros out everything and erases the > memory dialing places, the call timers, and defaults the > lock codes by to the factory default. Do you know where I could get a description of the various other test functions? Some of these seem interesting, but I'd had to stumble across MEM#39 accidently. WOLF [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why not call Cellular World and ask them about the battery? They are at 800-TALK-NOW. Regards the other things to be viewed in test mode, the other ones I know about are MEM #21 through MEM #26. I do not remember the exact order but in those spots you get a complete screenful of zeros as some sort of test to see if the phone is working correctly; in another you get the ESN printed on the display. In a third you get the current software version which is installed and in another you get the total cumulative talk time from both NAMs. *This cannot be erased by MEM #39 or any other method that I am aware of.* You can erase the call timer for each NAM by using FCN 2 followed by the lock code when in regular mode, but never the timer which is 'buried' in the test mode as far as I know. There are other things you can do with the phone, but NEC is very, very secret about telling anyone those things. They involve plugging in a special adapter to the bottom of the phone where the 'handsfree' adapter usually would plug in. This phone does not use the relatively simple process of shorting the battery to ground or shorting one pin to another as happens with many cellular phones if you want to get to the innards. In fact if you start shorting pins on this unit (not withstanding the fact it is a very tiny, tiny space to work in) you might well ruin the phone with very little effort. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 09:12:40 -0500 From: bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) Subject: Re: Phone Customers Furious Over Service vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) wrote: > ``It's not just the weather,'' said Scott Cullen, administrator of the > telecommunications division of the Wisconsin PSC. ``They've reduced > staffing levels significantly.'' I guess this about all just summs it up. And it isn't that there are less people at the providers office -- there are less *qualified* people. I keep looking back over the last decade, and I keep seeing deregulation of industries. The lawmakers say it will produce better, cheaper and more available service. My cable bill is higher, not lower. Has anyone seen any *great* improvement in airline service since the hub-and-spoke system took effect (I've been *to* Atlanta at least 100 times, and been *in* Atlanta twice!). My cellular customer service is marginal, at best. Now I fear my landline service. I am not saying progress is not good. Monopolies aren't that great -- if there is no competition, what's the benefit of 'improvment'? But with all of this 'improvement legislation' -- where's the improvement? Am I a Ludite? I don't think so. But where's the improvement? I still have no cable competition (and I'm not holding my breath for a cable modem, since I don't live in a 'ritzy' neighborhood). Have we learned anything from planes falling from the sky (oops, I better watch myself here, but I fly enough to say that). Where's PCS (I live in Detroit, so I don't expect it soon. Okay, we have Nextel -- big deal). Should I expect my telephone service to be down for weeks the next time I can't get dial-tone (Ameritech dropping qualified employees like stones)? Where's the damned revelution everyone has been saying was coming? As I learned from monolithic big corporation politics -- even if everything is going well, never *look* like you're standing still. Even if everything is going in the crapper, and you have no idea what to do, do *something* -- a bad decision is more defendable then no decision. Does this apply in regulated industries also -- change, even for the worse, is better then stagnation? Steve B. bagdon@rust.net (h) USFMDDKT@ibmmail.com (w) http://www.rust.net/~bagdon Katharine aNd Steve (KNS) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reason monoplies improve their product is because it gives a good rationale for charging more for the product. If the improvement cost very litle to implement but the customers are willing to pay more, that means more money for the stockholders of the monopoly. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 20:53:45 GMT From: schaefer@vulcan.alphanet.ch (Marc SCHAEFER) Subject: Re: Email to Fax Server > Can anybody provide the list for E-mail to Fax Server? Can I ? schaefer:/d2/share/ftp/pub/archives/autofaq> find . -name "*fax*" -print ./faq/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/comp/comp.mail.misc/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/comp/comp.dcom.fax ./faq-by-newsgroup/comp/comp.dcom.fax/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/alt/alt.internet.services/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/alt/alt.online-service/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/alt/alt.bbs.internet/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/alt/alt.fax ./faq-by-newsgroup/alt/alt.fax/internet-services/fax-faq ./faq-by-newsgroup/northcoast/northcoast.support/internet-services/fax-faq Yes, I can. Look in one of the newsgroups cited above, or in the rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet FTP site for FAQs. By the way, we do provide a free fax service for Switzerland (well, that's a lie: you still have to pay the local PTT taxes, which are not quite cheap here) for selected non-profit organizations only. Do not contact us for any other use. We may provide such service in the future too for the Orange County in LA, this time totally for free, but with the same non-profit restrictions. Mail faxadm@alphanet.ch for information. ------------------------------ From: gbpage@aol.com Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:30:39 -0400 Reply-To: gbpage@aol.com (Gbpage) Subject: Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb In-Reply-To: Isn't this the second real competitor? MFS, which is the largest Competitive Access Provider (CAP), already has an agreement with Ameritech for competition throughout the Ameritech region, and significant facilities in the Chicago area. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 14:43:57 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb Our Moderator writes: > TCI was granted permission last week by the Illinois Commerce Commission > to begin offering local phone service in Arlington Heights, Illinois, > a northwest suburb of Chicago. Initially, service will be to 33,000 > homes during the next two months. Arlington Heights is the first town in > the USA that TCI is entering with phone service. Speaking as both a customer of TCI (for cable TV) and a resident of Arlington Heights, my considered opinion is: "Hahahahahahahahaha." While it's not very original to say that I would accept phone service from TCI only at gunpoint, since this service is actually about to happen, it might be worth saying one more time: From my own personal experience I cannot fathom how TCI expects to maintain a phone network when it cannot reliably keep a cable TV service up and running. While this may be a topic more for RISKS Digest than Telecom Digest, I'll raise it here anyway: I am not at all convinced that TCI realizes that there are even life-and-death implications to keeping a phone network up and running; the simple bozo-quality maintenance of the cable TV service seen to date will not support it. Were the telephone company to offer cable TV, I cannot see how TCI would have any customers at all. Andrew C. Green Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 ------------------------------ From: rishab@CERF.NET (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) Subject: Re: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers Date: 22 Jul 1996 13:07:20 -0700 Organization: CERFnet Dial 'n' CERF Customer TELECOM Digest Editor (ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu) wrote: > Far more sophisticated than a typical Usenet newsgroup for pedophiles, > the Orchid Club used digital cameras connected to computers in the > homes of members to photograph children involved in sexual activities > among themselves and with adults. These visual images were then sent > in real time over the net to members of the club who viewed the event > in the club's private chat room as it was happening. Members were free Really? Perhaps instead of sending them to jail we should get them to work on the IETF. How is it that while the rest of us barely manage to get audible speech across the Net in real-time, these clever paedophiles did real-time video? Rishab The Indian Techonomist - newsletter on India's information industry http://dxm.org/techonomist/ rishab@dxm.org Editor and publisher: Rishab Aiyer Ghosh Pager +91 11 9622 162187 A4/204 Ekta Vihar, 9 Indraprastha Extension, New Delhi 110092, INDIA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I really have no idea how they did it. I doubt the pictures were of very good quality for the same reasons you mention with audio: it is a bit of a challenge. Most likely the images constantly being captured by the camera were turned into something like .gif files, stored in some place and constantly being pulled by the receiving parties in some sort of ordered sequence. I doubt the quality was much better or worse than the sort of thing you see on 'picture phones' where the image jerks a lot and you get a new image on the screen every three or four seconds. I suppose you could do it that way. The camera would keep on adding more images to be viewed at the end of the line and whatever software they used to look at the pictures kept pulling them one by one in rapid order from the front end of the queue. The press release from the US Attorney's office used the phrase 'real-time' without explaining the technical process. Maybe you could have the receiving end pull the .gif files a bit faster to make the thing play out a bit more smoothly. I've heard of something similar to this before: rumor has it that in private chats on AOL and Compuserve occassionally the participants will create a .gif file 'on the fly' or sort of in a hurry and get it over to the other chatters via email to view. Its not like we have to send a roll of film from our Kodak camera over the drugstore to be developed and get it back a few days later as we had to do years ago. Anyone as old as me remembers when people who wanted to take 'that kind' of picture in the old days were always afraid to send it out for developing because Walgreens for one *always* turned over any naked pictures -- let alone sex with children -- to the police. There then sprang up a whole industry of photo developing labs which advertised in the sex magazines of the 1950-60 era saying they would develop and return discretely 'in utmost confidence' any film you sent directly to them. A controversy arose claiming that the police actually ran a couple of those photo developing labs for entrapment purposes. One such instance did occur: the Postal Inspectors ran a sting operation enticing all the 'perverts' -- as the {Chicago Tribune} referred routinely to gay people during the 1950-60's -- to send them 'frank, adult photos you would feel uncomfortable knowing your local developer had in their possession.' Some of the developers would return the finished photos to you but their employees would make extra prints of the 'better' ones for their personal collections of pornography. Then came the Poloroid Instamatic Camera and everyone was free from the tyranny of the photo development labs and the corner drugstores which served as their agents. Everyone became their own pornographer. But the poloroid camera was quite expensive at first -- several hundred dollars to purchase one -- so quite a few people continued with the old method. And there were people who used the public picture-taking booths for that sort of thing. Those were the little phonebooth like things where you went in and sat on the chair and pulled the curtain shut. Then you deposited fifteen cents or sometimes twenty-five cents in the slot and the built in camera would snap your picture, develop it and push it out a slot to you a minute or so later. Sometimes two people would go in the booth together and do Naughty Things and make pictures of it. But rumor had it the company which owned those machines not only kept a copy of each picture for itself but also marked the time and date on its copies. If you did Naughty Things in the automatic picture-taking booth the company would find out and you would be in Big Trouble. Everyone knew 'a friend of a friend' who had gotten in trouble that way but nothing other than anecdotal evidence could ever be presented. What was far more likely was that someone walking past the booth (or waiting their turn outside) would peek through the curtain or look underneath it and see what was going on and tell the police about it. Then you could expect to see your name in the {Chicago Tribune} the next day: "John Doe of
and Richard Roe of
were arrested by police yesterday in the commission of a lewd act in the automatic photo machine booth in ". Sex-oriented movies have always been around. One theatre in downtown Chicago (in the days when there were *fourteen* movie theatres in the downtown area alone) specialized in it. The Monroe Theatre was located on the corner of Monroe and Dearborn Streets, where the Xerox Building is now. It was torn down about 1965. But for fifty years before, the Monroe specialized in what were then called 'art films', or sex movies. All day and all night they ran heterosexual porn. Admission was fifty cents in the daytime and seventy-five cents at night and on weekends. They sold stale popcorn for ten cents a box. They were open 22 hours per day, closing only from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM so the janitor could clean the place up. A look around the auditorium saw men sitting discretely at least a few seats away from each other, but now and then two men sitting together. The Monroe Theatre paid the police to stay open all those years but occassionally the police would come in for a raid anyway. I remember once when I was about 18, and on my lunch hour from wherever I worked. I went over to the Monroe -- lots of guys working in offices downtown did on their lunch hour -- to see the picture and/or the action in the audience (!). All of a sudden the movie stops and all the lights go on. The police got up on the stage and announced that several men were being arrested and everyone else would be arrested also unless they left immediatly. Like cockroaches scattering when a light comes on, everyone runs out into the street and their separate ways. About twenty minutes later the police left and the theatre started running the movie again with new patrons filing in acting as though nothing had happened. The {Chicago Tribune} the next morning dutifully reported the raid along with the names and addresses of each person arrested in it. Whenever the local politicians got on the police and pressured them to 'do something' about the Monroe Theatre the police would have to have a raid, but to keep everyone happy they would go in at seven in the morning when the place opened and arrest the *one* or *two* patrons who were there at that ungodly hour and then leave, not to return for a couple months. The next time I was in the place, the management had gone through the entire auditorium and removed *every other* seat. No two seats were next to each other any longer. It got to the point the police were in there every week or two (I think the management decided to quit making payoffs) and the theatre finally closed down. That would have been about 1961-62, and the building was vacant a few years before Xerox bought the property. So now we have computerized sex movies and pictures. What else is old? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:34:27 -0500 From: Kristine Loosley Subject: Remote Access on AT&T Phones I connected to my Internet account from an AT&T 2000 phone in the Las Vegas airport last week using my laptop and my PCMCIA modem (USR 28.8). I consistently could get nothing but a 2400 baud connection on that phone or on the "laptop compatible" phone next to it. My question is this: Has anyone ever used the AT&T 2000 phone (it is the one with the built-in keyboard and side data port) like this with similar or better results, and if so, how did you get a faster connection? A related question is whether any of these phones (I see them all over the country) work with the attached keyboard for access to shell accounts or anything else. Thanks! Kristine Loosley Director of online strategy Concentric Network Corporation kris@concentric.net ------------------------------ From: Matthew E Kaiser Subject: Best T1 Hookup in Michigan? Date: 22 Jul 1996 20:10:30 GMT Organization: Voyager Information Networks, Inc. Hello, I may be mistaken by asking this here, but can anyone tell me who has the best T1 rates in Michigan. My local government agency is examining the possiblity a T1 line from the Internet in general to our data center. A setup like you'd find in a major university or something akin to that. Thank you in advance for your thoughts. Matthew Kaiser Data Processing Friend of the Court 17th Judical Circuit 616-336-2656 616-336-2770 (fax) mkaiser@vixa.voyager.com ------------------------------ From: Robert Holloman Subject: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 19:53:55 -0400 Organization: Concentric Internet Services On Monday I began receiving the name information on calls made from BellSouth territory to my home in the Sprint/Carolina Telephone area (Clayton, NC, near Raleigh). The furthermost call so far has been from Charlotte, which is in another area code and LATA. Calls from GTE-land still only display the number, and I've not received any calls from any other LEC yet. Is it correct that the name is retrieved through a database lookup by my CO switch instead of being passed along the signaling route the way the calling number is done? Anyone else noticed CID w/name working between other LEC's? ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Saw a Commercial For "Free Fridays" From Sprint Recently Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 21:10:56 GMT Happened to notice a Sprint commercial promoting "Free Fridays" for businesses. On a cable channel (think it was CNN, forgot). Thursday evening on July 18th. I would have thought Sprint would have quit promoting this promotion. Didn't catch any new details, just stumbled across it. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh good heavens no! That's been one of their most lucrative bait and switch promotions ever. Sign 'em up, let them have a couple Fridays free then tell them you are going to change them to a different plan. Threaten to charge them back for the Friday calls claiming it was all a misunderstanding by their rep for whom no they have no responsibility. When the customer calls to complain or seek clarification, dodge his phone calls. I mean, would you quit promoting that if you were in their place? PAT] ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Re: A Telecom Angle in the Tragic TWA Flight 800 Crash Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 21:06:08 GMT Re: tracing that fax phone call to that newspaper office. Are there any public fax machine "pay phones" around in UK, like ones I've seen in the San Jose CA airport a few years ago? Bring enough quarters (the UK equivalent of), wear gloves to avoid fingerprints (plenty of other user's prints to confuse things anyway), and send the fax. And don't forget to take the orginal home with you, and burn it. ------------------------------ From: tkondo2937@aol.com (TKondo2937) Subject: Information Wanted on Midcom Date: 22 Jul 1996 18:46:10 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: tkondo2937@aol.com (TKondo2937) Hi, everyone, I want to get as much information as possible about Midcom Communication's services, products, business strategies, and marketing niches, etc. For persons who have already read or responded to similar request before, I am sorry for the repeated request. Last time, I couldn't check replies to my message before they were squeezed out of the cyber space. Thank you again. ------------------------------ From: Kendrick, Randy/Mkt-Den Subject: Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 15:36:00 PDT Pat, I very much enjoyed Mark Cuccia's Standard history. He asked if Amoco still used the Standard name on their logo shield. Indeed they do! Some stations I have seen in Kansas and Oklahoma have the Amoco brand on the building and a Standard sign out front, often with an Amoco sign as well. Also, he is right about Sinclair still being alive. There are Sinclair stations here in Colorado and in Oklahoma. Randy Kendrick ICG Telecom Group Englewood, CO ------------------------------ From: Sam Kamens Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Date: 22 Jul 1996 11:58:00 -0400 Organization: Telecommunications Premium Services, Inc. Michael Stanford writes: >> So, I got a call from someone who will go unnamed, who told me, "Your >> super fancy telephone system really sucks!" Why? I inquired. "Well, > >> Q ..." Well, there isn't a Q on the dial. What key did you press=20 >> for Q? --- Long pause --- "What do you mean, press keys?" >> After I stopped laughing, she'd hung up. > I would agree with the caller's original assessment of the system. > These days with products like Wildfire, and AT&T saying "Please say > Operator now," it is not unreasonable to expect an IVR system to use > speech recognition. Speaker independent recognition of 26 utterances > (the alphabet) is probably doable relatively reliably. Actually, recognizing the letters of the alphabet reliably is one of the more difficult aspects of automatic speech recognition. Imagine trying to tell the difference between the following sets of letters: b, c, d, e, g, p f, s etc. Not easy, huh? There are speech recognition vendors out there that do this (Voice Processing Corp is one that I've worked with), but they do it based on a database of potential names so that they can use the name database as a check on what they think they recognized. In the situation described here, something like that would probably work, but it ain't easy! > The confusing system prompt should be changed to say "using your touch > tone keypad." This is certainly true. IVR apps need to have very carefully designed prompts. Samuel N. Kamens TPS Call Sciences E-mail: snk@tpsinc.com The Twin Towers at Metro Park Voice/Fax: (908) 632-3817 379 Thornall Street Suite 1100, West Tower Edison, NJ 08837 ------------------------------ From: Mickey Ferguson Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:16:26 -0700 Organization: Stac, Inc. Michael Stanford wrote: > The confusing system prompt should be changed to say "using your touch > tone keypad." Technically, it would probably have to say something like "using the tone number pad on your telephone." The term "touch tone" is trademarked by AT&T, I believe. Of course, some technomoron isn't going to figure out that a phone which has a number pad but emits pulses won't work, and will be confused, angry, etc ... [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And by the time the weenies have quit laughing at him, he will have already hung up ... right? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #356 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Jul 23 11:27:03 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA15492; Tue, 23 Jul 1996 11:27:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 11:27:03 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607231527.LAA15492@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #357 TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Jul 96 11:27:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 357 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Caller ID in California (Maddi Hausmann Sojourner) Re: TPI Automated Callback? (Jim Hopkins) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (John R. Covert) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Henry Baker) NPA Maps (was Re: Exchange Location Map) (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: ATTWS/ATT LD Question (Lynne Gregg) Re: Last Laugh! Jeff Seems to be Miffed at the Net (Atri Indiresan) Another Source of Errant 911 Calls (Robert Casey) Credit Card Numbering Schemes (John R. Levine) Telrad Phone System (Jacob Carroll) Pacific Bell Line Identification (Kirk Beesley) Canadian Communications Policy (Monty Solomon) Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. (Mickey Ferguson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Maddi Hausmann Sojourner Subject: Caller ID in California Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 17:54:59 -0700 Organization: General Magic, Inc. I was one of the folks who couldn't wait for Caller ID. Well, now we have it and I'm underwhelmed. The following types of calls come up "Out of Area" on our equipment: - Pay phone - Cellular phone - Multiline sites (Centrex, PBX, etc.) We wanted this service so we could ignore those pesky telemarketers who always call during dinner time. Well, how do they operate? From banks of phones, of course. OUT OF AREA, every time. But, maybe it's someone calling from their place of work. Or from a pay station. An old friend is in town, calling from his hotel. There is no way to tell the difference! I remember reading something in this group about ANI information that indicated what kind of phone was making the call. It supposedly gave the indications residential, commerical, hotel, prison, pay phone, etc. I would LOVE having that information, even if Pac Bell doesn't want to implement the actual telephone numbers. What would be ideal would be for the last four digits to be dropped, so I know I'm getting a call from, say, Sunnyvale (408-735-????) rather than East Cowhide, Nebraska (good chance its someone trying to sell me insurance). Pac Bell, of course, not only doesn't understand this is a problem, but doesn't have service people who know enough to understand why this implementation makes their service almost useless. Another Caller ID note: several people have complained they can't call us because they set up per-line blocking and don't know how to unblock their CNID info. Our phone rejects anonymous calls. I wonder why they went through the trouble of requesting per-line (the default was per-call) blocking and not understand how to turn it off. Maddi Hausmann Sojourner madhaus@genmagic.com General Magic, Inc. in beautiful Sunnyvale, CA 94088 USA If you like this address you will also like madhaus@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: hopkins@dfw.dfw.net (Jim Hopkins) Subject: Re: TPI Automated Callback? Date: 23 Jul 1996 01:42:23 GMT Organization: DFW Internet Services - DFWNet: 800-2-DFWNet Elana who? (elana@netcom.com) wrote: > I was trying to call a friend the other day and dialed a very > interesting wrong number. > Instead of a familiar "hello", I got something like this: > "TPI automated testline. Your voice service caller number is xxx-xxxx" (my > number) Then it said: "Hang up for callback." This is just a guess but I think it was an ISDN test line, and if you had called it from an ISDN line with a TPI 55 ISDN test set attached you could send and receive a bit error rate test pattern on one or both of the bearer channels. You _can_ call it from out of area. Maintain, Hopkins ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 22:17:31 EDT From: John R. Covert Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing joew@joew.us.dg.com (Joseph_Wiesenfeld@dg.com) asked a question about tone dialing: > My major question is can they control the line so that after a > connection is made, I can not switch my phone from pulse to tone so as > to send tones to answering systems, etc after connection is made. And Pat correctly answered: > They cannnot change what happens after the connection is made. > They can prevent you from using tones to signal the central office > on your connection request. You'd still be okay using tones for your > voicemail, pagers, etc. However, what may be behind this seemingly odd question is the extreme likelihood that the NYNEX Service Rep that Joe Wiesenfeld talked to insisted that it would be impossible for him to use Touch Tone at all without paying the $0.98/month charge. Two years ago, I had a line installed for my Community Theatre group (The Sudbury Savoyards, which donates all proceeds to the relief of world hunger, http://www.ultra.net/~savoyard), which was to simply terminate on a network interface on the wall of our sponsor and never do anything but go to voicemail. (Some states have lineless voicemail tariffed, but not Massachusetts, and none of the non-NYNEX voicemail providers were as cheap as NYNEX, even including the line.) I insisted at the time of order that I did not need or want Touch-Tone, but the Business Office was almost certain this was necessary. I prevailed, and when the line was first installed, there was no Touch-Tone service (I verified this). The installer and I misconnected, and I never spoke to him directly, but I did the obligatory initial setup of the voicemail from the network interface with a Panasonic phone which easily switches from pulse to tone. Apparently either the installer or someone down the line noticed that there was no Touch-Tone, and when the first bill arrived, there was a Touch-Tone charge. I drove back over to our sponsor, plugged in the phone, and verified that the line did indeed now have Touch-Tone service. I called the Business Office and insisted that I had not ordered Touch-Tone and that I did not want it, and that I wanted a complete refund of the Touch-Tone charges. Again we went through the argument about whether it was necessary or not, and I pointed out that we don't even use the line at all! The Service Representative agreed to remove the service and the charges, but warned me that she was certain that voicemail would stop working, and that we would then be charged some exhorbitant fee to reconnect it. Two days later I drove back over to the network interface and verified that Touch-Tone had been removed; it was, and of course, everything with the voicemail service was fine. But Joe's question has reminded me to have the treasurer check the next itemized bill (I think they're itemized about once every six months) to be sure NYNEX hasn't slipped it back on. That's $11.76 per year less that we can donate to world hunger if they have slipped it back onto the bill. /john ------------------------------ From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker) Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:15:17 GMT In article , joew@joew.us.dg.com (Joseph_Wiesenfeld@dg.com) wrote: > I recently received a notice from NYNEX indicating that they noticed > that I have not been charged for Touch-Tone Service while they have > been providing me with it. They indicated to contact them if I wanted > to order it and they would begin charging me $0.95 per line per month > for the service or they would discontinue it on my line. According to NYNEX Manhattan White Pages, page 26: "Touch-tone Service: $.50 per month. ... Without Touch-tone service, your push-button phone still acts as slowly as a rotary dialer ..." Perhaps NYNEX simply inserts a ten-second delay, but the touch-tones still work? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 17:18:04 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: NPA Maps (was Re: Exchange Location Map) In TELECOM Digest, Linc Madison wrote: > consider it a great leap backwards, almost as much so as the switch > some years ago to the neo-impressionist area code maps from the > geographically accurate ones of years past. I never cease to wonder > at discovering from my phone book that Delaware is wider east-west > than north-south. Linc, thanks for pointing this out about the "goofy" area code maps, which have also bugged me for some 15+ years! But even the more precise NPA maps aren't always as "perfect" as what they really *should* be. The boundary between 905 (or the 416 NPA, pre-905) and 705 NPA's in Ontario wasn't correct even on the more accurate maps that used to be printed (and still are by Bellcore). NPA 705 dips *much* closer to Lake Ontario than what even the better maps would indicate. In one of the mailings I received from the CSCN (Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering) a few months ago, there was a map of 416/905 in some of the options for additional relief of 416 (and possibly 905). This was the most accurate map of NPA boundaries in that region that I've ever seen! This boundary between 416 (now 905) and 705 in Ontario dipped closer to Lake Ontario even back in 1975. While the Bell System's 1975 US/Canada NPA maps didn't show the correct boundary location, the 1975 edition of the "Telephone Area Code Directory" did indicate certain towns in Ontario as being in NPA 705, and these towns were *quite* close to Lake Ontario -- much closer than what the maps show. The maps would seem to indicate those regions as being in 416, when they were really in 705. The "Telephone Area Code Directory" (TACD) is a *much* more comprehensive listing of all (customer dialable) cities, towns, etc. in North America and their associated NPA codes than what one would find in the front of a local telephone directory. It is sorted alphabetically by state or province (or Caribbean island) and then the (customer dialable) cities, towns and villages in that jurisdiction are listed alphabetically with their area code. AT&T Long-Lines published the TACD through 1983. I received the 1975 edition from my local Bell telco *for free* at that time. Since divestiture, Bellcore TRA (Traffic Routing Administration) publishes the TACD, for a price, which continues to increase with each new edition. Of course, there are more frequent editions with all of the new NPA codes which keep coming into use. The TACD is available annually on paper; and monthly on fiche, datatape or diskette. Details are available from Bellcore TRA, http://www.bellcore.com/NANP/tracat.html or phone +1-908-699-6700. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: lynne.gregg@attws.com Subject: Re: ATTWS/ATT LD Question Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 15:26:26 PDT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article , writes: > This new legislation enables AT&T Wireless Services to select AT&T > Long Distance as the preferred long distance provider. Therefore, > cellular calls made outside your AT&T Wireless Services local cellular > service area will be carried by AT&T." > I am curious what this means. I believe that ATTWS offers equal > access in the Seattle market. Does this mean that equal access, if > previously offered, is ending? Or does it mean that ATTWS was > previously sending intralata toll to USWest or another LEC and will > now be sending it to AT&T? Hopefully someone at ATTWS can clear this > up. You may still have your choice of long distance carrier (Equal Access). If you do NOT select a carrier for long distance, AT&T Wireless will do so for you. In the past, AT&T Wireless made a random selection on your behalf or simply denied LD calls until you made the selection yourself. However, recent legislation allows AT&T Wireless to assign your long distance service to AT&T unless you specifically choose another option. These options should be clearly presented to you when you sign up for cellular service (LD service providers vary by market). > Also, ATTWS is reportedly consolidating its operations, which were > previously spread out in the Kirkland/Bothell (WA) area, to Redmond > (home of Micro$loth). Any word on when this consolidation will be > complete? Over the course of the next two to three years, our operations (now spread throughout Kirkland and Bellevue, Washington) will be relocated to a campus setting in Redmond Town Center (development at the end of 520). Regards, Lynne ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Jeff Seems to be Miffed at the Net Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:34:30 -0400 From: Atri Indiresan Andrew C. Green commented: >> The full text of the article should be available in the New >> Gripes forum on InfoWorld Electric at http://www.infoworld.com. > It used to be. However, {InfoWorld} now demands an account > and password in exchange for reading this material, as of > July 15th. I declined to supply it. I tried account "guest" and password "guest" -- no problems getting onto the site. Atri ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Another Source of Errant 911 Calls Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:36:07 GMT Today at lunch my co-workers were discussing phone errors, particularly errant calls to 911. One guy has a phone number of the form x911xxx. And had a caller miss the first x and dialed 911xxx and got connected to 911 emergency line. Another co-worker said he was debugging some modem designs some years ago, and the test numbers had the same form as above, x911xxx. One bug was that the modem would fail to dial the first x and get the 911 emergency line. The 911 operators were not pleased ... the modem company finally had their test numbers changed to something more harmless. I don't know how often the above error happens (first I heard of it), but I thought the phone company might want to avoid assigning the above form of phone number. But soon you start running out of assignable numbers if you keep this sort of thing up ... [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your point is a very good one. There is a limit to how far things can be taken to protect people from the dumb things others do on the phone. In Chicago, several subscribers on the VIRginia (312-847) exchange have reported to telco their annoyance with the large number of people in Chicago attempting to call the northern suburbs on its new area code of 847 who forget (or did not know they had to) dial '1' as the first digit. Particularly annoyed are people with phone numbers 847-32xx, 847-67xx, and 847-86xx since the area 847 exchanges 328 and 329 serve Evanston and Skokie; 673,674,675,676 and 677 serve Skokie and 864 serves Evanston. Of not such a problem is 847-965x (which is on the 847 side Morton Grove, Illinois 965-xxxx) since 965x on the Chicago side is most likely a payphone somewhere. Starting at the end of this year 312-847 will become 773-847 but the same problem will not happen to people with 312-773 numbers since 773 is also moving to 773. Their complaint will probably be that no one understands why '773 has to be dialed twice' as in 773-773-xxxx. The particularly hard-hit subscribers of 312-847-67xx who seem to be bombarded with dumbness all day and all night asked telco what to do and Ameritech's response was they should 'respond courteously to the caller telling them to dial again', using a '1' before the number. But after a few wrong number calls each day, courtesy begins to wear thin. Ameritech is presently holding off on any more new assignments in the 312-847 prefix. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 19:43 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Credit Card Numbering Schemes Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > We know of course that all the major credit cards identify themselves > the same way today: Visa always has a four digit number beginning with > a 4 to identify their member bank while MC always has a four digit > number beginning with a 5 to identify their member bank. Discover > always starts out '6011' in case you had not noticed, and for many > years Diners Club was always '3781' as their first four digits. I do > not know what American Express is using these days ... Turns out there's an ANSI standard, X4.13, for credit cards which includes the numbering scheme, characterized by the first digit or two: 1 UATP (Air Travel Plan) 2 Individual airline cards 3 Travel and Entertainment (Amex is 37, Diners and CB are 38 and 36) 4 Banks (Visa) 5 Banks (Mastercard) 6 Retail merchandising 7 Petroleum 8 Reserved (telco?) 9 National non-gov't card issuers 0 Government Within a category the next few digits indicate which issuer a card belongs to. In many cases, particularly store and gas cards, the full card number appears on the mag stripe, with only the issuer-specific digits embossed on the card. For example, LEC calling cards are actually 660000 followed by the ten digit phone number followed by four other digits (not the PIN.) Sprint cards start with 660033, MCI with 660032. AT&T cards seem to start with 8555. A few card numbers bely the cards' origins. Discover cards start with 6 because they were originally issued by Sears. EnRoute cards start with 2 because they were originally Air Canada's in-house card. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ From: Jacob Carroll Subject: Telrad Phone System Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 19:04:15 -0700 Organization: I-Link Inc We are in the process of purchasing a new phone system and have a competitive bid on the Telrad system. We are also looking at an Intertel Axxess system. I would appreciate anyone's advice on either of these phone systems. Thanks! Jacob Carroll Benchmark Equity Group ------------------------------ From: Kirk Beesley Subject: Pacific Bell Line Identification Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 17:33:18 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications Pacific Bell has phone numbers that, when called, will identify what number is being used. Every switching station has a different number. Since I work on the phone systems in a restaurant chain the numbers would be quite helpful. Due to limited resources Pacific Bell is closed lipped. I have been able to find out a few by talking with alarm installers. I wish to find more. Thanks for your time, kirk beesley the fish market ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:12:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Canadian Communications Policy Reply-To: monty@roscom.COM Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Begin forwarded message: Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 09:50:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Agre Subject: Canadian Communications Policy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 01:09:52 -0400 (EDT) From: "Shawn W. Yerxa" [...] (Please distribute where appropriate) Your are invited to join a new academic focused mailing list for those interested or working in Canadian Communications Policy. CAN-COM Can-com is intended to facilitate the distribution of relevant and timely scholarly material. See below for a more specific description of the focus and operation of the list. Should you wish to subscribe to can-com: send a message to: majordomo@lglobal.com stating (in the body of the message): subscribe can-com You will receive more detailed instructions upon subscribing. Should you require more information or assistance please contact the list owner: Shawn Yerxa: swyerxa@ccs.carleton.ca -------------------------------------- CANADIAN COMMUNICATIONS POLICY MAILING LIST (can-com) This list has been established to provide a forum for scholarly discussion and distribution of information regarding Canadian communications policy. This list is made possible by the donation of facilities by Jesse Hirsh of Local GlobalAccess Inc. (jesse@lglobal.com), a Toronto based Internet service provider, and the volunteer time of myself, Shawn Yerxa (swyerxa@ccs.carleton.ca), as list owner (operator). Impetus: Work on communications policy is interdisciplinary and international. Academic journals necessarily have a slow road to press. After considerable involvement with communications policy, both as a student and activist, I have found the lack of a timely and central forum for exchanging relevant information an obstacle. With the establishment of this list I hope to help overcome that obstacle for myself and others interested in communications policy. Objectives and scope: The objective of can-com is to facilitate the creation and exchange of information and thought about communications policy in Canada. The specific content of the can-com list will remain fluid. Such fluidity will hopefully allow the participants to take the list where it needs to be to serve their interests. As an initial guideline, I suggest that appropriate content would be comprised of, but not limited, to: book reviews; notices (book publications, book and journal contents, conference announcements, government documents); monitoring of policy and regulatory forums and events; requests for help; and, discussion. The scope of can-com is broad. I earlier solicited what I believe to be sage advice from several scholars. They suggested that the mandate for the list not expand to the point where it becomes to general or unworkable. In response I have chosen to keep a broad definition of communication policy and limit the subject matter geographically, to Canada. However, while limited to Canada, I hope that the list will draw participants from around the world. Beyond the obvious relevance of work in other countries, communications policy is increasingly an international concern. As such we have much to share with each other. Communications policy is broadly interpreted and includes: telecommunications, broadcasting, access to information, privacy, cultural policy, inter-governmental affairs, public administration, and related aspects of social policy, employment, science and technology, and research and development. Study of these areas crosses every discipline, particularly: political economy, public administration, political science, sociology, international relations, law, economics, engineering. Constraints: The only constraints placed on the list are: limited subscription and charity. I have required that subscription to the list be subject to approval and access to the list restricted. I will, however, occasionally post the list for participants. In other words, everyone on the list will know who is subscribed but that information will not be publicly available. This feature, it is hoped, will allow a more open discussion, facilitate introductions, and a degree of confidence. Beyond this, the list is open for free and critical discussion. I will not hesitate, however, to remove from the list subscribers who use discriminatory, harassing, or mean spirited language. Criticism presupposes charity. Archives: I hope that the list, over time, will generate a substantial amount of reference material (bibliographies, suggested readings, reviews, etc.). The contents of the list will be archived. The location of and information for accessing the archives will be made available to list members once it has been established. Problems: If problems arise or you are in need of assistance please contact the list operator: Shawn Yerxa (swyerxa@ccs.carleton.ca). Thank you. swy. ------------------------------ From: Mickey Ferguson Subject: Re: Last Laugh! This is a True Story. Really. Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:26:34 -0700 Organization: Stac, Inc. Mark Brader wrote: >> I tried spelling your name, and nothing happened!" Really, I said. >> ... "I tried three times, and very slowly: M A R Q ..." >> ... What key did you press for Q? >> --- Long pause --- "What do you mean, press keys?" > I chuckled at this myself, but let's be fair. Remember "If you wish > to accept this collect call, say 'Yes'"? Remember the fellow who > couldn't reach the operator until he pronounced "Operator" with the > proper American accent? > Letters of the alphabet are harder because too many of them have > similar sounds, of course, but it's not absurd for the caller to have > interpreted "spell" to mean what it said. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What happens though in the case of > those folks who speak with accents the network does not understand is > that it eventually defaults to the operator anyway. All that happens > when you say 'operator' in response to the prompt "if you want an > operator, say 'operator' now" is that it does not have to time out. > Just stand there and say nothing; eventually the operator will come > on anyway. PAT] But the problem is much worse than that. Let's look at the standard American English way to pronounce the letter 'E'. It sounds like the word "bee" without the "b" at the beginning. But a German who speaks Enlish may very well slip up and pronounce the letter as it is pronounced in his language, sounding like "bay" without the "b". This is a very common problem, since saying a WORD in English forces the non-English speaking person to produce the English word, but saying the LETTER is more likely for him to relax and slip back into reflex mode, and thus you have a definite error. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And once the weenies quit laughing, has the caller already disconnected? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #357 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Jul 23 14:56:42 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA09506; Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:56:42 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:56:42 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607231856.OAA09506@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #358 TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Jul 96 14:55:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 358 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? (Ed Kleinhample) Re: Phone Customers Furious Over Service (David Hough) Re: A Telecom Angle in the Tragic TWA Flight 800 Crash (Martin Baines) Re: Best T1 Hookup in Michigan? (Keith W. Brown) Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? (Jeffrey Rhodes) Post-Doctoral Position (Mehmet Orgun) MCI One Number Kinda Sucks (Frank Keeney) Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular (Ed Kleinhample) Re: Last Laugh! Jeff Seems to be Miffed at the Net (Robert McMillin) Re: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers (Peter Bell) CU-SeeMe (was Re: The Orchid Club) (jailbait@apocalypse.org) New Internet Site (Paul Humphries) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: edhample@sprynet.com Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 08:12:57 -0700 Subject: Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? jbrown@tellabs.com writes: > What I see as the worst example of a "regulated monopoply" are > electric companies. They have ratepayers, who pay the bills, yet > they are also public companies and have shareholders. The problem is, > which of these two groups (ratepayers or shareholders) is most > important? A couple of items from my list of "pet peeves": 1. Why is that every time the F.C.C. or some other alphabet soup agency passes legislation to make something less expensive, the price of that particular product or service goes UP - but of course, it went down for someone. Several years ago, the F.C.C. changed its legislation of the cable TV industry intending to reduce fees for the average cable subscriber. I was utterly amazed when my three months of bill inserts prepared me for a "reduction" of rates, but warned me that a "small number" of subscribers would see a "small" increase in their monthly bill. Finally the day arrived - a monthly bill from my cable provider containing my decrease in fees - it "decreased" from $30 to $45. 2. I don't often rag on the local telco - when one considers the thousands of miles of wire and millions of electrical connections that are subject to breakage, corrosion, etc, it is truly amazing that I can pick up a telephone here in the humidity and corrosion capital of the world and consistantly get a dial tone (much less expect my modem to consistantly connect at 24Kbps or greater). BUT - some of their charges are a little difficult to justify. At least they no longer show a specific charge for touch-tone service here in Tampa. 3. The author of the original message speaks of Electric Companies. Florida Power and Light (affectionately known to it's customers as Florida Flicker and Flash) is a good example of a utility that if exposed to competition, would be bankrupt in a month. They are responsible for the construction of two of the nation's worst nuclear power plants - Crystal River, which has not operated continuously for more than 6 months in it's 20 year life, and Port St. Lucie, which has an equally poor record. It's an omminous sign that a small community a couple of miles from the Crystal River plant is named "Red Level". Three years ago, on Christmas Eve, customers across central Florida experienced a brown-out that lasted in some cases up to 48 hours - FPL and other utilities stated that the outage was caused severe cold weather and the increased electrical demand. Let's get real folks - severe cold in this part of Florida means between 20 and 32 degrees for a few hours, and in truth this is not that uncommon in December or January in central Florida. In this particular case, most of the electrical utilities in the state had plants off-line for maintenance/ repairs/cutbacks/etc, and had failed to make arrangements to carry the increased load. The utilities also gave the excuse of additional load due to excess use of electric lights - Does it seem that unusual to see additional use of electrical lighting (particulary strings of many small lights) in use around the holiday season? I am of the opinion that we will never see significant decreases in the prices for local telephone service (long distance is a notible exception), simply because of the cost of maintaining an existing infrastructure or constructing a new one. It is possible that we will see a wider range of services for a *modest* (I dread that word) price increase, but a siginificant decrease in rates will likely never happen. I am also of the opinion that the present telephone infrastructure would not exist had it not been for the protected monopoly telco (BELL). Simple economics shows that residential telephone service is simply not profitable, whereas the densely packed nature of business centers allows service to be privided to a large number of subscribers (who typically are willing to pay for high priced services) with a more compact physical plant. The ONLY reason that we have nearly universal access to telephone service in outlying residential areas is that the government required this level of service in order to allow the monopoly to continue. Due to the economics of the telephone network, It is unlikely that we will see much in the way of local loop competition in residential areas in the near future. Urban business centers, on the other hand, will see a wide array of options unfold in the coming months as numerous companies scramble for a piece of this lucrative market. Cable Television providers are an exception - they're infrastructures concentrate on residential areas (most businesses are not that interested in HBO), and many cable utilities are scrambling to upgrade their networks to provide bidirectional voice and data as well as an expanded array of video services. Pat correctly points out that the Cable industry will need to commit itself to a greater level of customer support and reliability than at present. Four to five-day response to a service call just won't fly - people will be eager to get back to two to three day response from telco. Forgive my rambling ... Ed Kleinhample consultant - Land O' Lakes, FL. ------------------------------ From: David Hough Subject: Re: Phone Customers Furious Over Service Date: Tue, 23 Jul 96 08:33:01 GMT In article the Moderator writes: [...] > I have always beleived the *fair* way to handle competition with AT&T > from the very beginning would have been for the court to rule that > indeed, competition would be allowed, and that the court would oversee > AT&T to insure that the competition was treated at 'arms length' and > fairly in all ways. [snip] Pat, you have described the basic process by which the UK market has been opened up to competition. British Telecom have had restrictions imposed on them as to what they can charge to prevent them from stifling start-up competition. Arrangements have also been made to allow other companies to access the BT local loop at sensible rates. So far it seems to have worked fairly well, with the added benefit that BT, having got itself more competitive, is now well-placed to do well in the rest of Europe as they start opening up their telecoms markets for competition. Dave djh@sectel.com Tel +44 1285 655 766 Fax +44 1285 655 595 ------------------------------ From: Martin Baines Subject: Re: A Telecom Angle in the Tragic TWA Flight 800 Crash Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 10:12:02 +0100 Organization: Silicon Graphics Robert Casey wrote: > Re: tracing that fax phone call to that newspaper office. Are there > any public fax machine "pay phones" around in UK, like ones I've seen > in the San Jose CA airport a few years ago? Bring enough quarters > (the UK equivalent of), wear gloves to avoid fingerprints (plenty of > other user's prints to confuse things anyway), and send the fax. And > don't forget to take the orginal home with you, and burn it. There are lot's of public fax machines around: in railway stations, airports, libraries, motorway service areas, hotels etc. These can also be found all over Europe, so a really "smart" terrorist would use one from another country just for that added protection. Martin Baines - Business Development Manager Silicon Graphics, 1530 Arlington Business Park, Theale, Reading, UK, RG74SB email: martinb@reading.sgi.com phone: +44 118 925 7842 fax: +44 118 925 7606 vmail: +1 800 326 1020 (in USA), 0800 896020 (in UK), mailbox: 57940 URL: http://reality.sgi.com/martinb_reading/ Surf's Up at Silicon Graphics: http://www.sgi.com/International/UK/ ------------------------------ From: Keith W. Brown Subject: Re: Best T1 Hookup in Michigan? Date: 23 Jul 1996 14:50:57 GMT Organization: AllCom International Matthew E Kaiser wrote in article : > I may be mistaken by asking this here, but can anyone tell me who has > the best T1 rates in Michigan. My local government agency is examining > the possiblity a T1 line from the Internet in general to our data > center. A setup like you'd find in a major university or something > akin to that. Matthew, I have a top five provider that is offering a $.0595 intrastate dedicated rate within MI. Interstate rate will be $.085 to $.075 depending on volume and term. Hope this helps! Keith W. Brown kwbrown@allcom.com ------------------------------ From: Jeffrey Rhodes Subject: Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 08:48:53 -0700 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Robert Holloman wrote: > On Monday I began receiving the name information on calls made from > BellSouth territory to my home in the Sprint/Carolina Telephone area > (Clayton, NC, near Raleigh). The furthermost call so far has been > from Charlotte, which is in another area code and LATA. Calls from > GTE-land still only display the number, and I've not received any > calls from any other LEC yet. > Is it correct that the name is retrieved through a database lookup by > my CO switch instead of being passed along the signaling route the way > the calling number is done? > Anyone else noticed CID w/name working between other LEC's? There was a WSJ article last winter about four LECs agreeing to share database lookup for Calling Name. Bellcore has defined a CLASS feature for this (NWT ... 118). Without a doubt, the LECs are using terminating AIN triggers at the terminating switch to do this. Notice that the service is called Caller ID which means Name and Number as opposed to Calling Line ID (CLID) or Calling Number ID (CNI). The FCC does not allow Name Only Caller ID, so restricted calls display "Private" or "Anonymous". While it is possible to lookup the Calling Name at the source switch, or some switch along the way to the terminating switch, and then pass the Calling Name in the ISUP Generic Name parameter, I doubt anyone's ISUP supports this. A Global Title Translation of an unrestricted calling number caused by an AIN call processing trigger is used to locate the Name (read LIDB) database. Also, when ISUP is not used end-to-end, an encoding of the last MF trunk group is placed in the CPN. This too can be translated so that the caller id displays says "Southern Florida" or something nonspecific without a corresponding number. The US has missed one of the fine points of calling number delivery that Germany's ISDN has perfected. I have found that most US displays do not "see" international calling numbers delivered. When I call a German ISDN line, the German display is +12065551212, where the + is a symbol for a country's international access dialing code (011 in the US, 00 in Germany and 19 in France). When I call someone in the US the display is 2065551212. The intra-US call delivers an ISUP National Calling Party Number (CPN) parameter. The intercontinental call starts with an ISUP National CPN, which is converted to an ISUP International CPN with a 1 country code prefix by the US international gateway switch. The German ISDN display recognises the International CPN and prefixes + to the calling number. Thus, the Call Display button on the German ISDN terminal can easily return the call. Calling number delivery is a big help to both callers and callees. I suspect that the percentage of people who are paranoid about displaying their number is similar to the percentage of people who refused to talk to answering machines fifteen years ago. Today, most callers realize the benefit of Voice Mail, hopefully it won't take that long for callers to realize the benefit of showing something other than "Private" or "Anonymous". Jeffrey Rhodes at jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:40:58 +1000 From: Mehmet ORGUN Subject: Employment Opportunity: Post-Doctoral Position Reply-To: Mehmet ORGUN Macquarie University School of Mathematics, Physics, Computing and Electronics Research Fellow in Computing ref. 17650 The appointee will conduct research on temporal databases. The objectives of the research include the study of temporal extensions of the relational model and algebra and query languages, and to implement a prototype temporal database system. A range of other related research tasks may also be undertaken. Applicants must have or be near completion of a PhD in a related area and have a strong background in one or more areas of database models, query languages, formal techniques, temporal logic, logic programming and deductive databases. The position is available for six months with the possiblity of further appointment subject to availability of funding and satisfactory performance. Enquiries and further information: Dr. Mehmet Orgun on (02)850-9750, facsimile (02) 850-9551 or email: Mehmet.Orgun@mq.edu.au Salary range: Level A $30,130 tp $40,889 per annum Applications including curriculum vitae, visa status, and the names and addresses of three referees should be forwarded to the Recruitment Manager, Personnel Office, Macquarie University, NSW 2109 by 31 July 1996. Applications will not be ackowledged unless specifically requested. Women are particularly encouraged to apply. Equal Employment Opportunity and No Smoking in the Workplace are University Policies. [appeared in: The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday, 22 June 1996 The Australian Wednesday, 26 June 1996 ] Mehmet A Orgun Tel: +61 (0)2 850 9570 Department of Computing Fax: +61 (0)2 850 9551 Macquarie University E-mail: mehmet@mpce.mq.edu.au Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia URL: http://www.comp.mq.edu.au/~mehmet ------------------------------ From: frank@calcom.com (Frank Keeney) Subject: MCI One Number Kinda Sucks Date: Tue, 23 Jul 96 04:12:27 GMT Organization: Calcom Communications I've been a happy AT&T 500 number user for a few months. So I wanted to try the MCI "One Number" to allow "Toll Free" calls. Well unless the caller already knows how to use the service it's kinda weird. "One Number" allows you to program three of your phone numbers for it to try. Well the "One Number" forces the user to press # for two seconds to move on to the next number, while the AT&T 500 number will do it at preset number of rings. The "One Number" service is not well suited for most applications since it is easy for the caller to forget that you need to press # for two seconds. ------------------------------ From: edhample@sprynet.com Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 06:11:29 -0700 Subject: Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular schuster@panix.com writes: > I recently read an online message in which an individual complained of > excessive echo in the received sidetone on his Motorola Digital Lite > cellphone (i.e. the reflection of his spoken voice in the earpiece was > delayed so long as to be distracting rather than reassuring). I have noted similar problems in the Tampa, FL area on both my wife's Erickson analog phone and my Nokia digital (Both served by AT&T). This past weekend, I noticed a severe echo while receiving a call on my Nokia digital -- I immediately called my wife on her cell phone, and she complained of the echo as well. At the time, she was nearly 30 miles from my location -- this would make me believe that the echo is a system-level problem, rather than a specific cell. In every case (that I have noticed), the echo problem has occured on a weekend -- usually Saturday late afternoon into evening -- could this be a coincidence -- or could AT&T be taking some equipment offline for maintenance -- or could this be caused by heavier than average useage on a weekend? Ed Kleinhample Consultant - Land O' Lakes, FL. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 01:06:21 -0700 From: rlm@netcom.com (Robert McMillin) Reply-To: rlm@helen.surfcty.com Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Jeff Seems to be Miffed at the Net On 22 Jul 1996 13:08:08 PDT, PAT noted that Jeff Slayton must surely be hurting after last month's events. I certainly agree, but it doesn't seem to hurt his spamming efforts any. The latest incarnation of his e-mail megaspammer is now called EMAIL PRO 3.0. Since this is the second of his guano attacks to appear in my inbox lately, I'm thinking the best cure for his manic incontinence is to simply to bozofilter interramp.com. I seem to get more spam than most folks I know, since I have two long-dead mailing lists that were based from my home site. As a result, I'm getting quite proficient at filtering e-mail with procmail. Friends, as a sign of solidarity, start a cron job today to send Jeffy your uuencoded wtmp file about, oh, once every five minutes or so. That oughta do it. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I cannot allow this Digest to be used to advocate harassment of Jeffy, and it seems to me what you are doing is asking people to harass him. The other thing is, if you do this, and you do not have a correct, working email address for him then you are going to get back a piece of bounced mail every five minutes to fill up your spool also. It is very unusual these days to find any spammer/junk mailer -- at least those who went to the Jeff Slaton School to Get Rich Quick, Restore Hair to Your Bald Head, Cure AIDS, and Pass This Note Along For Good Luck -- who gives a truthful address in what they sent out. In fact, I think most of them have given up on email responses entirely. So you could wind up just harassing the site which the spammer happened to *claim* he was from. If you know for an absolute fact of an email address which is *correct* and you have something you feel the person should know about, then by all means correspond with that person. It seems far better to me however to sit patiently and watch the mail for **other contact methods**. I think we should assume that the email address given is bogus (you are certainly free to invest your time and effort to try and detirmine otherwise but I think time and again you will run into a dead end) and make contact in other ways. Remember, a spammer needs to get responses in order to make his effort a profitable one. None of them are out there just to try and get in the {Guinness Book of World Records} as the person who managed to dump the most trash on any given day. They put out the spam to sell their worthless and frequently bogus products and services. Therefore there will nearly always be: 1) an 800/888 phone number; 2) a regular phone number; 3) a street address; or 4) a PO Box/remail drop address. If (1) then by all means call to inquire about the service or product. If you need to call three or four times to listen to the long-winded recorded message before you finally decide to call a fifth time to say you are not interested, so be it. They put the number out in public to encourage you to make inquiry ... so inquire, and be sure to let others know so they can inquire also. Remember, all you do is make reasonable inquiries and transact business; there is no way to justify 2131 calls within 72 hours to anyone's 800 number as happened to Jeff last month by one netter alone. If (2) above, I am not sure you want to bother calling at your expense unless you are in the community where the phone is so it will be a local call, but be sure and report to others what you found out. There are ways to x-ref the number and turn over the rocks under which the vermin hide from sight. If (3 or 4) above, there are ways to x-ref the address and we can ask our contacts in the named community to do Visitation and get back to the net with a report as happened with Hector Davila. **NEVER** get into non-public databases or files to learn about these people. That is against the law. Just use the **public** records available, which most people are aghast to find out are public. Such things as driver's records, criminal conviction records, etc. Make frequent use of cross-reference directories via phone number and street address. Social security numbers are in public databases. **NEVER** harass a spammer or junk mailer. Just make certain that everyone on the net knows everything there is to know about the person which is **public** information. As Oscar Wilde once said, "It is not injustice that stings ... its justice." When those people make themselves a presence on the net, well by golly let's all get aquainted. To quote William Burroughs in his 1950's novel 'Naked Lunch', "Did you ever notice how hard it is to tell lies when you are standing there naked, completely exposed? ... a naked lunch, where everyone sees exactly what is on the end of everyone else's fork ..." Send email if you wish; they all have the same procmail filters running that you have, Robert, if indeed they have a valid email address at all. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers Date: 22 Jul 1996 18:49:42 -0400 Organization: Panix Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: [...] > Far more sophisticated than a typical Usenet newsgroup for pedophiles, [...] Beg pardon? Would you care to name a "typical Usenet newsgroup for pedophiles"? How about enough of them that there could, in fact, be a "typical" example thereof? Please name actual newsgroups with significant non-spam content. Newsgroup names with nothing behind them don't count, and I would consider the proposition that binaries newsgroups where neither poster nor reader are likely to know the age of the models are "Usenet newsgroups for pedophiles" dubious as well. Remember, pedophilia means _little kids_; the age of consent in many parts of the U.S. is 16. Yellow journalism, I'd say -- in the extreme. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@panix.COM "Gee, if your knee jerks any harder you're going to kick yourself in the head." -- Barry Sherman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well you got me there! There are very few unmoderated newsgroups these days not getting spammed all the time. I would differ with you on the alt.sex.whatever newsgroups. If the suffix includes phrases like 'little.boys' or 'pre-teen.girls' -- and several of them do -- then I am going to assume people with a desire to see such material go there to look for it and that the people who post to those groups either beleive the image displayed is what they claim (by nature of where they posted it) to be, or they are hoping to convince viewers of that. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 08:56:29 -0400 From: Peter Bell Subject: Re: The Orchid Club - Not For Flower Lovers Organization: Yale University In article TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Far from being anything to do with horticulture, the Orchid Club is > an organization of pedophiles which operated a private -- password > and initiation required to use it -- chat group on the net. In other words, they were in compliance with the CDA as far as being sure that no one not already known to them to be an adult could receive their material. And their content was already illegal in any form, without the need for the CDA. Another huge blow for democracy struck by unneeded Federal legislation. > Far more sophisticated than a typical Usenet newsgroup for pedophiles, Typical? How many are there? > the Orchid Club used digital cameras connected to computers in the > homes of members to photograph children involved in sexual activities > among themselves and with adults. These visual images were then sent > in real time over the net to members of the club who viewed the event > in the club's private chat room as it was happening. Members were free > to download this to their own computer for repeated viewing at a later > time. There were questions about how they were doing this. My guess would be with the Connectix QuickCam, CUSeeMe and a password-protected CUSeeMe reflector. If you log into Internet Relay Chat sometime, which is what I've read they were using (not a "chat room;" this one appears to be an actual Internet-based, as opposed to AOL "the family-oriented ISP" based pedophile group), and look for channels which include the string "cuseeme," you'll find that lots of people are using the Quickcam for, ah, clothing-optional videoconferencing already. > when they had to appear at a federal arraignment last Friday On charges relating to the fact that their activities were illegal last week, last decade, and last century in most places. > Members of the club are all over the USA, including two in the Chicago > area, and two in San Jose, CA. At least two of these people, and I use the term generously to a fault, are in Europe. The {New York Times} covered this story in its print edition; I was surprised that the story never made it into the online edition. Peter bell@minerva.cis.yale.edu TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To answer your question, 'how many are there', I do not know the exact number. Maybe a half-dozen of the alt.sex.(various) groups end in suffixes which indicate they would be of interest to pedophiles. They seem to come and go; they show up in the .newsrc one day and then are not there a few days later. By 'typical' I meant that most newsgroups are either text or still-photo. I do not think there are any 'newsgroups' which are live and report the action while it is happening. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 13:25:40 -0400 From: Jailbait Subject: CU-SeeMe (was Re: The Orchid Club) Reply-to: jailbait@apocalypse.org In case no one's mentioned it yet, the program in use was probably CU-SeeMe, originally from Cornell (CU) and now commercially from White Pine Software, I think. The images are small, but of reasonable (not wonderful, by any strech of the imagination) resolution, and the standard input device is the Connectix Quik-Cam, about $100 for Macs and PCs. It's (more or less) real time, and can either be used one-on-one or with a 'reflector' to allow for multiple users. And it's been used for sex since it came out - see alt.sex.cu-seeme (maybe it's cuseeme), IRC channel #cuseemesex and at least one episode of HBOs show "Real Sex" ... or maybe it's their newer show on CyberSex ... I've forgotten the title. My first submission to TELECOM Digest, and look at the content. Oy. JB [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It may be your last one also, unless you come up with a better user name in the future when you write me. Oy to you too. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Paul Humphries Subject: New Internet Site Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:08:36 +0100 Organization: Bogazici Universitesi Hi, As a keen telecoms and internet enthusiast, excited about the flattening and globalising potential of all that is ahead, I thought the following looked very relevant, current and interesting. Check it out and let me know what you think: http://iir.co.uk/tel-inet/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #358 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Jul 23 19:41:32 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id QAA23731; Tue, 23 Jul 1996 16:46:43 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 16:46:43 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607232046.QAA23731@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #359 TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Jul 96 16:46:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 359 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson UCLA Short Course on "Spread Spectrum Wireless" (Bill Goodin) Book Review: "Designing for the Web" by Niederst (Rob Slade) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: Teddy Roosevelt's Thoughts on Telecommunications (Lisa Hancock) Information Wanted on German Callback Services (Jim Cantrell) Re: Remote Access on AT&T Phones (John R. Levine) Re: Credit Card Numbering Schemes (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: Looking For Fax Symbol (Peter M. Weiss) Last Laugh! Origin and Use of the Word 'Spam' (Mark Brader) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: BGoodin@UNEX.UCLA.EDU (Goodin, Bill) Organization: UCLA Extension - contact Postmaster@unex.ucla.edu for problems. Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:27:03 -0700 Subject: UCLA Short Course on "Spread Spectrum Wi On October 21-23, 1996, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Spread Spectrum Wireless and IS-95 CDMA Digital Cellular Communications", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructors are Babak Daneshrad, PhD, Assistant Professor, UCLA Electrical Engineering Department, and Zoran Kostic, PhD, MTS, Wireless Communications Systems Research Department, AT&T Bell Laboratories. Spread spectrum data communication has seen a revival in recent years. Two of the main driving forces behind its current interest have been the opening of the ISM bands by the FCC in the mid-1980s and the standardization of the IS-95 (CDMA) U.S. digital cellular standard. Currently available wireless LAN products operating in the ISM bands are based on either direct sequence or frequency-hopped spread spectrum technology (WaveLAN, RangeLAN, etc.). Spread spectrum systems are also being used in the implementation of wireless local loops (AirTouch) as well as for digital cellular communications where field trials and limited service are already being offered in various sites in the U.S. and Asia. With recent announcements by PrimeCo (PCS consortium, Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, etc.) regarding its intent to use a CDMA-based system for its future PCS network, it is expected that spread spectrum communication will become more prominent and that the technology is here to stay. Intended for individuals involved in CDMA product design and system deployment, this course provides a foundation for the design of direct-sequence spread spectrum systems (DSSS) for wireless communications. A wide range of issues are covered, ranging from system (cellular) engineering to hardware design and partitioning. The course is motivated by the IS-95 (CDMA) U.S. digital cellular standard -- one of the more complex DSSS systems in existence today. As such, all parts of the standard relating to the physical layer as well as the MAC layer protocols are covered. The course also provides a thorough treatment of the wireless channel and mechanisms involved in radio wave propagation. The course begins with an overview of the cellular industry and the differentiating factors between the various cellular standards, followed by an introduction to the mechanisms of code division multiple access (CDMA), its limitations, and the concepts in the IS-95 standard to overcome them. Physical layer issues are discussed, such as the importance of timing synchronization among users, as well as the CRC, coding, and interleaving schemes used in the IS-95. Key issues in the implementation of a typical IS-95 transceiver are also examined. The course fee is $1295, which includes all course materials. These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale. For additional information and a complete course description, please contact Marcus Hennessy at: (310) 825-1047 (310) 206-2815 fax mhenness@unex.ucal.edu http://www.unex.ucla.edu/shortcourses/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:10:59 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Designing for the Web" by Niederst BKDSG4W3.RVW 960601 "Designing for the Web", Jennifer Niederst, 1996, 1-56592-165-8, U$24.95/C$35.95 %A Jennifer Niederst %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1996 %G 1-56592-165-8 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$24.95/C$35.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %P 180 %T "Designing for the Web" This book very definitely is for the graphic designer and is not for the techie. It is not intended, despite some of the implication of the title, to teach designing, but rather to give experienced designers some background on the vagaries of the Web. Chapters three, four and eleven provide the basics of HTML (HyperText Markup Language) for page creation. Chapter twelve mentions the more advanced functions such as forms, tables and frames. The introduction is very simple, and provides only the most fundamental tags. Chapter three is quite casual, and at times difficult to follow, flipping between HTML source, the browser (Netscape for the Mac) image, and other programs. Fortunately, chapter eleven makes up for any confusion with a more structured presentation of the foundational material again. Of design advice there is little, mostly in chapters two and five. Niederst does repeat the vitally important point that not all browsers are the same. There is the advice to note the standard functions and to keep download times in mind at all times, but there is still a feeling of frustration with the limitations of the Web, as if it is a failure on the part of the users that all do not have Netscape 3.0 and ISDN connections. The content in chapters six to nine, on graphics files, is really the high point of the book. This is very valuable material, with an excellent four page spread in chapter eight illustrating (literally) the effect of bit depth on file size and image quality with differing types of graphics. An effective designer must keep the limitations of the medium in mind, as well as being familiar with the technology. While Niederst's book is a basic introduction, ultimately an impressive page producer will need the kind, and level, of information provided in Musciano and Kennedy's "HTML: The Definitive Guide" (cf. BKHTMLDG.RVW). copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKDSG4W3.RVW 960601. Distribution permited in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong - J. Diefenbaker Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:25:34 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing Here in Louisiana, the monthly charge for touchtone (DTMF) went down to just nine cents per month a few years back. When I first got a telephone in my name, some six years ago, South Central Bell was charging much more for DTMF, but I don't remember what it was. I originally specified *NO* touch tone on my line, as all of my telephones are old WECO/NECO rotary dial phones from the 1920's through the mid-60's. For times when I wish to use DTMF to "end-to-end" signal to the bank, voicemail, Auto-Call-Distributor devices ("press-1 for this, press-2 for that"), etc. I use a Radio Shack battery powered DTMF acoustic generator. I have never had a problem using one for "end-to-end" signalling, regardless of what telco said about the *line* features. Even using IXC's with 950- or 800/888- numbers for travel/card/account billing, I can pulse (rotary) dial out their seven or ten digit access numbers, and then DTMF directly to the carrier. Even Bell's intra-LATA and AT&T's 0+ (TSPS/OSPS/TOPS) calling card and operator/billing features ("press 11 for collect, 12 for third party, 13 for person", etc) "listen" for DTMF regardless of whether DTMF is 'ordered' on that line. I did upgrade to DTMF on my line when it was reduced to nine-cents a month, as I also ordered telco switch-based Speed-Dialing-8 *and* Speed-Dialing-30. Since there is a time-out needed for using speed-dialing codes, 'N' and 'NX' (where NX is 20 through 49), I prefer to use DTMF, as I can 'cancel' the time-out as N-# or NX-#, which can't be done with pulse dialing. What good is Speed-Dialing, if you have to *WAIT* three to five seconds to time-out! Prior to upgrading to DTMF, when I had "traditional" Call-Forwarding, I had to *WAIT* and time-out for the second dialtone or 'confirm' tones when I would dial 72 or 73. With DTMF, I could cancel time-out with 72-# and 73-#. Not all switches here yet allow the _real_ Bellcore recommendation of *-72 (11-72) and *-73 (11-73). While a DTMF phone will allow you to "end-to-end" signal to your "called party" even if you don't have touchtone 'ordered' on that line, there are some situations where there could be problems, even today: Many Step-by-Step switches which did offer DTMF service had 'converters' at the line-end. It would take the DTMF decimal numeric digits and convert them to dialpulses to drive the switch's selectors. Most telco operator/card systems send a touchtone "#" signal right before the "bong" tone, as this will temporarily "disable" the DTMF-to-dialpulse converter so as to not dialpulse out when you were "end-to-end" signalling. You might want to use a "#" after dialing a number *before* ANY "end-to-end" signalling with DTMF, if you are served by a "stepper" switch. Some older touchtone phones require the proper *polarity* in the line for the DTMF keypad to work. Back in the days when you were supposed to lease everything from telco, and telco did *all* inside wiring maintenance, the installer was supposed to check all of this when you began service or upgraded to tone from pulse. If you tap a touchtone button on an older WECO or NECO 2500 type phone and hear nothing, try reversing the tip and ring wires (red and green) on the line cord or plug. Many later touchtone phones have 'rectifiers' built in to the keypad's circuits which allow the phone's line-cord polarity to be either way and still produce touchtone signals. And I would guess that newer network interface boxes on the pole or on the outside of the house include polarity rectifiers. It is also quite possible that the central office or LIDB can indicate that a line doesn't have touchtone 'ordered', and send that info with the ANI or CID to an operator calling card system, thus not allowing you to go to a "bong" tone but rather to a live operator. Only the local monopoly telco (and possibly AT&T) would have ever actually used this, and this was even considered when automated calling card service was introduced in the early 1980's. And although I have never actually seen it used in practice, don't underestimate anything "Maw" might do in the future! As for telco service-reps, I have spoken with some who try to *scare* you into paying more for DTMF service, so they can get their "bonus points" for selling more features! Some of them told me that if you didn't pay for touchtone, and the computer or a repair man heard touchtones on your line (such as in "end-to-end" signalling to your "called party", NOT using DTMF to control the intial central office's dialtone), they could "cut off your service", or "make you pay" for touchtone service, as you were "probably using additional telco electrical power to generate the tones, and were supposed to pay for it". Well, any of those tactics would *violate* my First Amendment rights for me to *communicate privately* with *my called party*! And what if I'm using a battery powered acoustic device from Radio Shack -- I'm NOT using *ANY* additional power from telco's lines! Some of "Maw's" service-reps have never ceased to amaze me with their narrow and convoluted vision of telecom! MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa) Subject: Re: Teddy Roosevelt's Thoughts on Telecommunications Date: 23 Jul 1996 02:39:14 GMT Organization: Philadelphia City Paper's City Net Franklin Roosevelt realized the power of radio. During one of his campaigns, he gave a major speech at a large stadium. The PA systems of those days were weak and the crowd had trouble hearing what he had to say. However, he and his aides made sure the radio hookups were in good condition, since the radio audience was so much larger and by that time, important. Roosevelt exploited radio aggressively. During the Nixon-Kennedy debates, it is said _radio_ listeners favored Nixon, while TV viewers favored Kennedy. It is well known Kennedy _appeared_ much better than Nixon on television. Ironically, Nixon used television for his "Checkers" speech which got him out of hot water earlier. During recent campaigns, candidate did make speeches and statements available on the Internet. However, IMHO, this technology is still too immature to make a difference at this point in time (I believe the Internet (as far as the general public at large) is about the same as radio in the early 1920s -- more of something for hobbyists and experimenters, and in need of more advances. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 10:08:09 -0700 From: Jim Cantrell Subject: Information Wanted on German Callback Services I will appreciate any recommendations that TD readers may provide about callback service providers in Germany. Also soliciting advice about laptop modems while traveling on the continent. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 96 13:44 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Remote Access on AT&T Phones Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > My question is this: Has anyone ever used the AT&T 2000 phone (it is > the one with the built-in keyboard and side data port) like this with > similar or better results, and if so, how did you get a faster connection? I use the ones in Newark all the time and have no trouble getting a 14.4K connection. I have an 800 number for my modem, which makes the dialing very simple. > A related question is whether any of these phones (I see > them all over the country) work with the attached keyboard for access > to shell accounts or anything else. They were all disabled shortly after they were installed due to some regulatory problem. With the new telecom act, I don't understand why they're all not turned on now. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:58:10 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Re: Credit Card Numbering Schemes johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) wrote: > Turns out there's an ANSI standard, X4.13, for credit cards which includes > the numbering scheme, characterized by the first digit or two: > 1 UATP (Air Travel Plan) > 2 Individual airline cards > 3 Travel and Entertainment (Amex is 37, Diners and CB are 38 and 36) > 4 Banks (Visa) > 5 Banks (Mastercard) > 6 Retail merchandising > 7 Petroleum > 8 Reserved (telco?) > 9 National non-gov't card issuers > 0 Government > Within a category the next few digits indicate which issuer a card belongs > to. In many cases, particularly store and gas cards, the full card number > appears on the mag stripe, with only the issuer-specific digits embossed > on the card. For example, LEC calling cards are actually 660000 followed > by the ten digit phone number followed by four other digits (not the PIN.) > Sprint cards start with 660033, MCI with 660032. AT&T cards seem to start > with 8555. As John mentioned, the 66xxxx codes for LEC cards does appear in the mag-strip. And it seems that AT&T's cards *do* have 8555 in the mag-stripes. But the embossed (or printed) front of the card with the ten-digit telephone (or RAO/CIID-based) number (with or without PIN) sometimes displays an "international" number. For telco cards, these always seem to of an ITU/ISO/ANSI format: 89+ Country Code+ "IIN"+ telephone/account number+ (PIN or security code which may or may not be displayed on front). The "IIN" is an ITU assigned ssuer dentifier umber, similar to the Bellcore assigned North American three-digit CIID ard ssuer entifier. The ITU assigned "IIN" can be two or three digits long. For North American carriers, telcos, card issuers, the IIN is three digits. A company can actually have more than one ITU assigned IIN codes. Most of the larger North American entities have two. AT&T uses one IIN for "true-choice" cards (less than fourteen digits, picked by the customer where there are no numbering conflicts), and another IIN for its fourteen-digit RAO/CIID "standard" card numbers. The country code is sometimes indicated with a space between the "89" and the country code, but in North America, the international number on cards usually has no space. It is printed as "891". The leading "89" is an ISO or ANSI code reserved as "cards for telecommunications purposes", and is part of the '8' indicated in the 'master' list provided by John Levine. In *theory*, these numbering schemes and standards are *supposed* to weed out any numbering ambiguity and make *unique and distinct*, every possible credit card number, calling card number, account number, etc. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you can use a telco calling card to buy something at the department store. It *could* be, *if* the proper business arrangements (mutual card honoring contracts) are negotiated for settlements, etc. between the telco and the department store. However, the 'bank' style credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, etc) presently being issued by long distance carriers and LEC's seem to be "dual" cards -- i.e. they have *both* a 'bank' type card number *and* a telco card number. By the way, the mag-stripe on the back of cards actually contain *several* tracks. This could be what allows such telco-issued bank-card/telecom-cards. However, there are always new technologies in "carding" such as "smart" cards which contain not only mag-strips and counterfeit- discouraging holograms, but also the "smart" chips. I don't have all of the ISO/ANSI documents on such to give more details on this nor further details on the numbering schemes/standards. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 15:03:09 EDT From: Peter M. Weiss Subject: Re: Looking For Fax Symbol I did a GOPHER search at gopher.itu.ch for the term /symbols/: Search menu titles in ITU Gopher [E.121] Recommendation E.121 (02/95) - Pictograms, symbols and icon [F.910] Recommandation F.910 - Procedures for designing, evaluating Though I could NOT access those docs, maybe the std. number will assist you in your research? -- co-owner: INFOSYS, TQM-L, CPARK-L, ERAPPA-L, JANITORS, LDBASE-L, et -L URL:mailto:Pete-Weiss@psu.edu "Never confuse the messenger with the message" ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Last Laugh! Origin and Use of the Word 'Spam' Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:38:19 GMT >> {InfoWorld} has been running a series of articles by Ed Foster on the >> issue of junk e-mail (Ed does not like the use of the word spam). > I believe he's correct; the original definition of spam referred to > duplicate posting of the same material in different Usenet newsgroups > (i.e. as opposed to crossposting _one_ copy, listing all the > newsgroups in its header). Junk e-mail is a different issue, although > lately the term "spam" is being applied pretty broadly. Actually, the *original* use of "spam", not counting the meat product itself -- well, let the Jargon File show the sense progression. This quote is from version 3.3.3, the latest so far released, dated March 1996; note that email spam is not mentioned, though of course it may appear in a future version. :spam: vt.,vi.,n. [from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"] 1. To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also {buffer overflow}, {overrun screw}, {smash the stack}. 2. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned message (e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on soc.women). This is often done with {cross-post}ing (e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups). 3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on the Net. The second and third definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to many Usenetters #3 is now (1995) primary. In this sense the term has apparantly begun to go mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight -- there is apparently a widespread belief among {luser}s that "spamming" is what happens when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan. The reference to "Monty Python's Flying Circus" perhaps needs explanation for younger readers who have never had the opportunity to see the show. The term specifically refers to the episode originally broadcast on December 15, 1970, about a restaurant where the items on the menu were: Egg and bacon; egg, sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg, bacon and spam; egg, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam; spam, spam, spam, egg and spam; spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam; lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with a truffle pate, brandy and a fried egg on top and spam. After Terry Jones as the waitress recites this, the customer, played by Graham Chapman, asks if they've got "anything without spam in it", and the response is: Well, there's spam, egg, sausage and spam. That's not got *much* spam in it. (Which contradicts the menu just recited, if you were listening carefully, but who was?) And it goes on from there, including a song. You can find the whole sketch in the books "Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just the Words" (Methuen, 1989, Volume 1 ISBN 0-413-62554-0, Volume 2 ISBN 0-413-62550-8; I think there has been a one-volume version since). It's in show 25, in volume 2. I won't include any more of it here for copyright reasons. Speaking of legalities, I should note that Spam is a trademark, and ought to be capitalized when you're talking about the food product. Either this is different in Britain or, more likely, the Monty Python people didn't care about capitalization because the lines were going to be spoken, and the book publisher then failed to notice the point. Mark Brader, msb@sq.com "I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pedantic and SoftQuad Inc., Toronto that's just as good." -- D Gary Grady ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #359 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 24 15:56:06 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA07906; Wed, 24 Jul 1996 15:56:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 15:56:06 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607241956.PAA07906@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #360 TELECOM Digest Wed, 24 Jul 96 15:56:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 360 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CPSR Conference, Oct. 19-20, DC (Monty Solomon) BellSouth Introduces Imaging Solutions (Mike King) Pacific Bell Plans To Extend Statewide High-Tech Education Program (M King) Internet Call Manager: New Innovative Service From ISPs (Bill McMullin) 500 Number Versus Ordinary Number (Clive D.W. Feather) Trunk Lines and Caller ID (Jean-Francois Mezei) Seeking Book: This Company of Men (R. Cole) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 06:52:06 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: CPSR Conference, Oct. 19-20, DC Reply-To: monty@roscom.COM Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 23:17:25 -0700 From: Susan Evoy Subject: CPSR Conference, Oct. 19-20, DC COMMUNICATIONS UNLEASHED What's at Stake? Who Benefits? How to Get Involved! Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Conference and Annual Meeting October 19-20, Georgetown University, Washington, DC The Telecommunications Act of 1996 precipitated a dramatic change in the way we look at, think about, use, and provide communications and information. As old boundaries disappear, public interest and consumer interests take on new meanings. What will the sleek infobahns of the new era offer consumers, including rural and remote area residents and the urban underserved? What will the changes mean for the rights of consumers to express themselves and access information freely, and to conduct transactions reasonably, without fear of big brother or big business invading their privacy, or worse? What are the new roles for regulators? How will they interact with each other and where will jurisdictional lines be drawn? And how do we, as citizen activists, work to guarantee our rights and pursue the public interest in the new legislative, regulatory, and commercial landscape? This conference brings together experts in policy and activism to explore the current state of policy development. They will help you to translate this knowledge into effective advocacy and action in order to protect the interests of the underserved from an onslaught of revolutionary changes that deregulation and unfettered competition will bring. The speakers will explain the real-world implications of the changes in telecommunications laws, along with the regulatory activity that implements these laws and how to influence these processes. Activists at many levels will share success stories and tactics that work, and will build our collective knowledge and experience into networks of activists that can support each other into the future. Please plan to attend this information-rich weekend of October 19-20, at the epicenter of the earthquake that is shaking up the telecommunications landscape, Washington, DC. Further details will be distributed in the next month and will be posted on our Web site at http://www.cpsr.org/home.html CONFERENCE PROGRAM FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 KEYNOTE SPEAKER - RALPH NADER (invited) Green Party Presidential nominee and legendary consumer advocate THE COMMUNICATIONS TSUNAMI In the new blurry world of corporate mergers and mega-packaging of services, where is the consumer and public interest stake and who will represent it? Panelists will examine the post-telecom act world with a view toward interpreting the impact and effects of universal service, the opening of local exchanges to competition, the provision of fair pricing rules, and stewardship of the dazzling array of newly emerging broadband services. TOOLKITS FOR ACTIVISTS This panel will assess the kinds of tools, methods, and techniques available to activists and practitioners at state, local, and community levels. How can activists get a wedge in among the telecom and media giants? For community nets, what works, what doesn't, and why? How can public interest concerns be leveraged at the micro-level? How can citizens learn to grasp and work with the new market and regulatory realities at national, state, and local levels? THE INTERNET: COMMERCIALIZATION, GLOBALIZATION, AND GOVERNANCE The accelerating commercialization and globalization of the Internet raises new and divisive problems of governance and control. What might these trends mean for the Internet in the years to come? Can we create cooperative institutions for Internet management that are globally inclusive and effective? Will governments adopt policies that promote or stifle innovative new services like Internet telephony? What new pricing schemes will be developed, and what will be the impact on access to information and services? INFORMATION RIGHTS New information technologies and policy responses to them raise many issues related to information rights on the Internet. Panelists will discuss new threats to privacy enabled by the collection of personal information on the web, and ways to combat them; freedom of speech online, including the Communications Decency Act as well as state and international issues; and the consequences of new measures to protect copyright, including currently pending legislation and technical proposals from industry. COMPUTERS AND ELECTIONS: RISKS, RELIABILITY AND REFORM There are widespread and legitimate concerns about the accuracy, integrity and security of computer-generated vote totals. Panelists will discuss the technical, social and political origins of these concerns within the context of today's election system. They will also make recommendations for changes in the areas of technology, election law, accountability and oversight. CONFERENCE PROGRAM FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS SESSION ONE Competition and the Internet Consumer Civic Networking: By-passing the Big Boys Media Tactics and Outreach SESSION TWO Internet Legal Issues Broadcasting and Mass Media Fundraising for the Public Interest CPSR 1996 ANNUAL MEETING --------------------- Susan Evoy * Deputy Director http://www.cpsr.org/home.html Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility P.O. Box 717 * Palo Alto * CA * 94302 Phone: (415) 322-3778 * Fax: (415) 322-4748 * Email: evoy@cpsr.org ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Introduces Imaging Solutions Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:41:49 PDT Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 08:12:13 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH INTRODUCES IMAGING SOLUTIONS BELLSOUTH INTRODUCES IMAGING SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE PRODUCTION IN PREPRESS INDUSTRY ATLANTA - BellSouth is introducing two new services for the prepress industry -- FileXchangeSM service and RemoteRevuSM service -- which will increase productivity and reduce costs by enabling all involved parties to exchange graphical files and collaborate on line during the creative and production cycles of a project. FileXchange and RemoteRevu services make use of BellSouth's Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Frame Relay services for exchange of large text and graphics files. Primary target markets for these new services are service providers such as creative designers, graphics arts professionals, advertising and public relations agencies, commercial printers and color separators publishers of newspapers, magazines and books, catalog and mail order houses and corporations and retail operations with in house graphics departments. "Since these design, prepress and printing processes are very deadline intensive," explains Neil Hediger, vice president - marketing for BellSouth Business Systems, "customers need a way to expedite their methods of product development, approval and delivery. In advertising, a one day delay or an inaccuracy in the production cycle can cause a million dollar revenue loss." FileXchange service allows users of Macintosh computers to electronically transfer large text, graphic and image files quickly and easily between remote locations via ISDN or Frame Relay. ISDN is a service which can support digital connections on an as needed basis. Frame Relay is a wide area service that approaches the high performance of leased lines but at a lower cost and with greater flexibility. By linking remote sites to a single production system, FileXchange service delivers each job automatically -- either immediately or at a predetermined time -- eliminating time consuming paperwork and costly couriers. Even large graphic files -- up to 500 megabytes -- can be transferred in minutes. RemoteRevu service enables interactive conferencing between remote locations, so that customers with Macintosh computers can review, annotate and approve documents on line and in real time. For instance, an advertising agency designer, the client and printer can simultaneously review work in progress electronically. Feedback can be immediate and changes can be made in minutes, not hours or days. Traditionally, prepress customers have relied on couriers or overnight delivery of everything from rough layouts to final prepress proofs. With those traditional delivery systems, last minute client revisions can add days to an already tight production schedule. "A major benefit of these solutions is increased customer satisfaction," according to Hediger. "Largely, this results from bringing customers directly into all phases of the production because of the ability to easily incorporate clients' last minute changes, and because service availability can be extended around the clock, from anywhere." BellSouth's new FileXchange service and RemoteRevu service also: * Streamline the review and approval cycles by obtaining immediate feedback from clients; * Reduce costs and time loss associated with delivering comps by courier or overnight delivery services; * Ease incorporation of last minute changes to projects in progress; * Improve communications between creative designers, clients and commercial printers; and, * Increase productivity by extending the work day. Previously, on line exchange of electronic files primarily has been dial up performed using ordinary modems. Modem transfer of graphics files has been far less efficient than transfer of text files. Large files with complicated graphics could take hours to send through traditional modem transfer. Since FileXchange and RemoteRevu services utilize ISDN and Frame Relay, they are faster than traditional modems and are more cost effective than couriers, Hediger says. "The customer will have more time to concentrate on what's really important -- their work." 'Turnkey' Solutions for Customers BellSouth is the customer's "single source" for putting together the imaging solutions package. However, BellSouth is partnering with three respected technology vendors to deliver the tailored solutions. Working in concert with Universal Data Consultants, Inc. (UDC) of Norcross, Ga., Luminous Corporation of Seattle, Wa. (a recent spin off company of the former prepress division of Adobe Systems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.), and Group Logic, Inc. of Arlington, Va., BellSouth offers packages in turnkey fashion. This includes network service, hardware and software, complete installation support, on site training, 90 days free help desk and optional ongoing help desk, and maintenance. Universal Data Consultants will provide system staging and configuration services, on site installation services and customer support services for BellSouth Imaging Solutions customers. UDC will provide complete sales order management from the point of order acceptance by a BellSouth account representative to completion of product installation at the prepress customers' site by a UDC service engineer. As part of the program, UDC has established a test facility with a typical prepress customer setup and on line communications environment to stay ahead of software upgrades or hardware changes. FileXchange and RemoteRevu services also make use of software products from Luminous Corporation and Group Logic. With a telecom software product called AdobeR Virtual NetworkTM distributed worldwide exclusively by Luminous, the process of moving electronic files between graphic arts prepress suppliers and their clients can be automated and simplified. Luminous Corporation develops and delivers software and systems worldwide to prepress, print production, printing and graphics arts industries to facilitate the commercial printing industry's shift to digital print production. Group Logic's Imagexpo remote viewing and annotation software is a leading application used by prepress firms and their clients over ISDN and other digital telecommunications services. Group Logic's Imagexpo allows for sequential review and mark up of soft proofs of pages and images -- much like circulating a hard copy proof or for the interactive sharing of soft proofs between two remote Mac screens while the two parties conference on the phone. Both parties can make annotations on the document that are instantly visible on the remote person's screen. It also provides for quick and easy transfer of large files between remote computers. Both FileXchange and RemoteRevu services support all leading graphic arts applications and formats, including QuarkXpress, Adobe PhotoshopR, Adobe IllustratorR, Macromedia Freehand, TIFF, EPS, and Scitex CT. However, Group Logic's Imagexpo and the Adobe Virtual Network are currently for Macintosh computers only, workstation to workstation connectivity using AppleTalk protocol. Development is under way to make these solutions PC compatible. BellSouth provides telecommunications services in nine Southeastern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. With its headquarters in Atlanta, BellSouth serves more than 21 million local telephone lines and provides local exchange and intraLATA long distance service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world. For Information Contact: David A. Storey (205) 977-5001 --------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell Plans To Extend Statewide High-Tech Education Program Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:45:01 PDT Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 09:40:37 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell Plans To Extend Statewide High-Tech Education Program FOR MORE INFORMATION: Rebecca Weill (415) 542-4640 Pacific Bell Plans To Extend Statewide High-Tech Education Program SAN FRANCISCO -- Pacific Bell has filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to extend the application deadline for its $100 million Education First program. If approved by the CPUC, schools and libraries would have until Dec. 31, 1997, to apply for free connections to cyberspace. More than 9,000 public and private K-12 schools, libraries and community colleges are eligible for Education First , which provides installation and one year of free service of high-speed telecommunications lines that enable access to the Internet and videoconferencing. The program also includes technology workshops for teachers, assistance with applications development and discounts on hardware and software. Currently, schools and libraries have until Dec. 31, 1996, to apply for the program. So far, more than 2,500 institutions have applied, close to one-third of the 9,000 eligible schools and libraries. "Our goal is to help provide every school and library in California with a digital on-ramp to the information superhighway," said Rick Normington, vice president, Pacific Bell education group. "Education First is designed to help schools that are least able to help themselves. If we quit at the end of this year, thousands of children would be denied equal access to the world of electronic learning." Pacific Bell originally filed with the CPUC to begin the Education First program in April 1994, but did not receive the go-ahead until December of that year. The company began marketing the program in January 1995, midway through most schools' budget cycles, which prevented some schools from immediately applying to the program. The challenges of a slow start aside, Pacific Bell has helped wire more than ten times the amount of schools than were wired a year ago. To apply for Education First, schools should call 1-800-901-2210. Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, a diversified communications corporation based in San Francisco. ------------------ Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 21:51:40 -0300 From: Bill McMullin Reply-To: bill@interactive.ca Organization: Info-InterActive Inc. Subject: Internet Call Manager: New Innovative Service From ISPs I think this is of interest to your readers. There are millions of Internet users who tie up their phone lines for hours. Now they can stay connected and see who is calling with this innovative service. No hardware or software to buy. INTERNET PROVIDERS TO DELIVER NEW LOCAL PHONE SERVICE INNOVATIVE NEW CALL CONTROL FEATURES MEET THE NEEDS OF INTERNET USERS JULY 24th, 1996: HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA - Info InterActive (IIA) today announced Internet Call Manager (ICM), a new telephone service which allows people to stay connected to the Internet without worrying about missing calls. Internet Call Manager is a call waiting type phone service which allows Internet users to know who is calling by delivering caller-ID information to their computer screen while they are online. In addition to displaying the caller-ID information, the service allows the user to control the incoming telephone call and decide if they want to take the call, send it to voice mail, or forward the call to another number with the simple click of a mouse. In addition to providing caller identification and call control features, it also eliminates the need for a second phone line. Internet Call Manager is delivered using IIA's patent pending call management technology and software which provides real-time intelligent bridging between the public phone network and the Internet. Subscribers to the service will pay a small monthly fee which includes caller-ID delivery while on the Internet. Subscribers to the service do not need to buy any equipment or software. Current call waiting service as delivered by local telephone companies does not work while connected to the Internet. Internet Call Manager will increase the convenience, productivity and comfort level for millions of Internet users who tie up their phone lines for extended periods of time each day. Prior to today's announcement, the only alternatives were to either miss calls or install a costly second phone line. "Internet users have been asking for a call waiting feature which works while connected to the Internet and we are pleased to offer this convenient and much needed service", says Bill McMullin, President and Chief Operating Officer of IIA. The vast majority of households have a single phone line and those which use the Internet have been looking for a simple low cost solution which eliminates the frustration of missing important calls. Jim Carroll, co-author of the national bestseller, The Canadian Internet Handbook, said, "IIA is a good example of the type of small but aggressive and innovative company we are seeing emerge in the Canadian Internet marketplace. And a product like Internet Call Manager is exactly the type of thing that can make a mark on the world stage -- it's innovative, it's unique, and it's imaginative -- it has all the things that an Internet product needs today to be noticed within the global Internet community." The service will be available in major markets across North America through licensing arrangements with Internet service providers and telcos. Licensees will not be required to purchase or manage any equipment, software, or phone lines as this will be handled by IIA. "Internet Call Manager represents a unique opportunity for users, ISPs, and phone companies alike. The service increases online convenience for users, increases revenue for ISPs and improves toll completion for telcos. The introduction of the service is good news for everyone", says McMullin. Explosive growth of Internet access is expected to continue both by subscribers using PCs and the so called 'Internet appliances' which are expected to be in widespread use over the next couple of years. Many householders will be disappointed when they learn their phone line will be tied up making them unreachable for extended periods of time while browsing the Internet, whether it be on their PC or TV. Internet Call Manager means consumers don't have to worry about missing important calls when surfing the Internet. ICM is the first in a series of services which will increase phone line productivity for Internet users. "We haven't even scratched the surface on the possibilities for this technology", says McMullin. According to recent reports, over 50 million North American households subscribe to telco-provided call waiting service which does not work while connected to the Internet. Internet service providers and phone companies interested in learning more about the service can get more information by visiting IIA's web site at http://www.interactive.ca. Info InterActive Inc. is a publicly traded company on the Alberta Stock Exchange under the symbol IIA. The company specializes in the development and management of a variety of network based enhanced services utilizing telephony, Internet, and wireless data technologies. For information regarding licensing and technical issues contact Bill McMullin at bill@interactive.ca or 1-800-270-1014. For investor relations contact Pamela Paige at Stockfield Corp, at pampaige@stockfield.com or 403-264-4111. The Alberta Stock Exchange has neither approved or disapproved of the information contained herein. ------------------------------ Subject: 500 Number Versus Ordinary Number Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 09:55:38 BST From: "Clive D.W. Feather" I am investigating setting up a facility in New York city (+1 212 area) that people can call into from all over the USA and Canada. I want the callers to pay as little as possible to call me, *but* I am not willing to pay a per-call charge (as would apply to an 800 number). Is +1 500 useful for me here? What do calls typically cost to such numbers? How does this compare to ordinary long-distance calls? Is there another alternative I should look at? I'm aware that this probably doesn't have a simple answer, but even some guidelines would be better than nothing. Clive D.W. Feather | Associate Director | Managing Director Tel: +44 181 371 1138 | Demon Internet Ltd. | CityScape Internet Services Ltd. Fax: +44 181 371 1150 | | [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One of two things happen when a person dials a 500 number. If they do it as one plus, then the call gets sent along to the subscriber at the various numbers in his directory of places to try and reach him. If the terminating end is domestic -- that is, in the USA -- I believe the charge is 25 cents per minute. If the terminating end is international, then the charge is whatever it would be for an international call, however the calling party is warned that an international call at international rates is about to commence. If the person dials as zero plus to a 500 number, then the call is intercepted by a robot which asks the caller to enter a PIN which you as the subscriber have given them or to make billing arrangements to an AT&T calling card or other credit card (Visa, etc). If they enter a correct PIN then the call proceeds on its way, again at the 25 cent per minute domestic rate or the international rate in effect with you paying the bill. If they do not enter a pin then they pay for it via some billing arrangement, unlike one plus, where the call is billed to the phone used, just like an direct dial call. In either event, either the callers pay by the minute or you as the subscriber and call recipient pay by the minute. You could think of 500 as not much more than a glorified 800 number with the added options of various PIN assignments for billing (to you, of course) purposes or the ability to flip it around and make the caller pay. It is more of a 'locator service' with a 'toll free' option built in than anything else. The owner of the 500 number can make outgoing calls as well by using his own 'master PIN' when dialing zero plus into his 500 number. Now that is how AT&T handles it. Other carriers may vary a little. Remember also that 500 is still blocked on many PBX systems making it hard to reach at times, and the one plus caller does not know if he is going to pay 25 cents or if he is going to pay international rates until the network picks up his call, locates you and begins putting the call through. Pay telephones in the USA do not allow one plus dialing of 500 calls for the simple reason there is no method to collect, not knowing for sure what the rate will be. So pay phone callers always have to dial those as zero plus and then use a PIN if you gave them one. You might be able to get an FX line from someplace in the USA which terminated in Great Britain and either point a 500 number at it here (so the callers always paid 25 cents per minute), and you paid nothing per minute but a sizeable amount per month if you were very certain you could keep that FX line loaded for many hours each day to justify the cost per call. But unless you can be assured of at least 400-500 hours per month of traffic, I cannot imagine getting any sort of FX line (or flat rate with no charge per call) that would be less than the best of the per minute rates which you do not want to pay. An FX that is not in use at least 75-80 percent of the time either is a loser or at best a break-even proposition. I imagine anyone selling you flat rate would probably stack things the same way. Another possibility is to point a 500 number (or 800, whichever you decided upon) to something which triggered a ringdown line or circuit to you. A ringdown or 'tie-line' between the USA and the UK does not come cheap either, but I could see where you might bring it in a little cheaper than an FX and probably at about the same as the per-minute rate from one of the more competitive carriers. After you pencil it out, you might decide you can do as well with an international 800 number from the USA. Direct dial rates both here and internationally have come down to the point that rarely do the more esoteric arrangements of years past -- FX, ringdown, call extender hardware, etc -- turn out to save any money. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jean-Francois Mezei Subject: Trunk Lines and Caller ID Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 00:37:02 +0000 Organization: Vaxination Informatique Reply-To: jfmezei@videotron.ca I often get calls from large organizations in New York City (212) (am in Montreal 514) and often, I either get a unknown caller ID or, in some cases, I get an actual *local* telephone number with no name associated with it. Calling that local number results in "there is no service at the number you have dialed ..." message. QUESTION: Is the quality of the CALLER-ID completeness going to improve in areas already served by that service, or will caller ID always remain useless for calls originated from large corporations with trunk lines etc? While I can understand that a telephone number cannot reliably supplied (as in the case of a trunk line), I would hope that the customer/company name would be supplied. ------------------------------ From: roycole@acy1.digex.net (R. Cole) Subject: Seeking a Book: This Company of Men Date: 24 Jul 1996 15:01:02 GMT Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA: 800-969-9090 Has anyone ever heard of this book? it is suppose to be a parody on Ma Bell. Thanks. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V16 #360 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 24 18:25:13 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id SAA24705; Wed, 24 Jul 1996 18:25:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 18:25:13 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607242225.SAA24705@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #361 TELECOM Digest Wed, 24 Jul 96 18:25:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 361 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Excel Communications Second Quarter (Ken Leonard) LCI/ACN Long Distance MLM - Should I Warn a Friend Away? (Thomas Betz) Touch Tones in Movies? (M.S. Russell) Applied Language Technologies OEM Agreement With InterVoice (Alisa Moyer) OutCall: SpeachMaster and PhoneTree - But Who Else? (Frank Merrow) Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular (Tom Scheer) Re: Sidetone/echo on cellular (Ed Gastle) Re: Attorney General on Encryption, Copyrights (Heflin Hogan) Re: Attorney General on Encryption, Copyrights (Fred Atkinson) Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? (Art Luebbe) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ken Leonard Subject: Excel Communications Second Quarter Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 11:37:05 -0800 Organization: Excel Communications Reply-To: ken@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com This is for all you Excel bashers/doubters. And be very aware that Excel is traded on the NYSE. DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 1996--EXCEL Communications, Inc. (NYSE: ECI) today reported record second quarter results. HIGHLIGHTS: o EXCEL reported record revenue for the second quarter of $345.4 million, an increase of 254 percent over the second quarter of 1995. o Net income increased to $38.4 million, a 386 percent increase over the second quarter of 1995. o Earnings per share were $.36, an increase of 350 percent over the second quarter of 1995.EXCEL added 700,000 new subscribers during the second quarter bringing its total subscriber base to just over 3.8 million, further solidifying its position as a major residential long distance provider. o Long distance minutes of usage increased to 1.6 billion, a 303 percent increase over the second quarter of 1995. "We are very excited to report these record results and will continue with our commitment of providing long-term return for our shareholders. The continued growth in our subscriber base further demonstrates that we have developed a marketing plan that is very effective in reaching the mass consumer market. We are continuing to gain market share in a competitive industry and solidify our positioning as a long-term player in the communications industry," said Kenny A. Troutt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "During the second quarter we continued on track with the implementation of our key business strategies. We entered into agreements with two new carriers, restructured our existing carrier agreement, finalized our business plan to offer paging services and announced the appointment of a Managing Director of Direct Broadcast Satellite." Troutt added. Communications services revenues increased 304 percent to $271.9 million for the second quarter of 1996 from $67.3 million for the second quarter of 1995. This increase was driven by rising long distance call volume resulting from significant growth in the subscriber base. Marketing services revenues increased 141 percent to $73.4 million for the second quarter of 1996 from $30.4 million for the second quarter of 1995. This increase was due primarily to growth in applications from new Independent Representatives to 220,710 for the second quarter of 1996 from 98,450 for the second quarter of 1995. Operating income increased 322 percent to $56.6 million for the second quarter of 1996 from $13.4 million for the second quarter of 1995. Operating margins improved as a result of a decrease in the cost per minute of communications services. Net income increased 386 percent to $38.4 million for the second quarter of 1996 from $7.9 million for the second quarter of 1995. Net income per share increased to $ .36 for the second quarter of 1996 from $.08 for the second quarter of 1995. In June, EXCEL introduced Simply One, which allows subscribers to make interstate calls in the United States for just 9" per minute, without complicated pricing based on mileage or state. This rate is available for all calls made between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and all day long on weekends and holidays. Interstate calls made during the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. will cost 25 cents per minute. EXCEL Communications, Inc., believes that it is the fourth largest residential long distance company in the United States. The Company offers its subscribers a variety of long distance telecommunications services and products under the EXCEL branded name, which include residential service, commercial service, 800 service, international service, and calling cards. EXCEL focuses on maintaining and providing all services and communications that involve the subscriber. The Company's goal is to become a provider of a wide range of communications products, and the Company anticipates offering nationwide paging services to its subscribers later this year. The Company's services are marketed nationwide exclusively through a network of independent representatives. EXCEL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands, except per share data) (unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, ------------------ ----------------- 1996 1995 1996 1995 Revenues: Communications services $271,926 $ 67,302 $477,200 $118,317 Marketing services 73,439 30,417 148,955 48,141 Total revenues 345,365 97,719 626,155 166,458 Operating expenses: Communication 151,421 40,087 264,935 69,453 Marketing services 93,819 29,789 170,759 1,054 General and admin 43,483 14,453 80,424 23,763 Total oper expense 288,723 84,329 516,118 144,270 Operating income 56,642 13,390 110,037 22,188 Interest expense (79) (207) (131) (395) Income (losses) from joint venture 3,124 (647) 4,165 (992) Other income 1,559 106 2,062 161 Income pre income tax 61,246 12,642 116,133 20,962 Provision for income tax 22,826 4,767 43,727 7,903 Net income $ 38,420 $ 7,875 $ 72,406 $ 13,059 Net income per share $ 0.36 $ 0.08 $ 0.70 $ 0.14 Weighted avg shares outstng 106,562 96,720 103,423 96,480 CONTACT: Excel Communications Media: Sheila Durante, 214/863-8400, or Mary Bell, investor relations manager, 214/863-8730 ------------------------------ From: Thomas Betz Subject: LCI/ACN Long Distance MLM -- Should I Warn a Friend Away? Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 15:59:27 -0400 I'm one of those folks who, when presented with a Multi-Level Marketing plan, runs the other way. A friend of mine who doesn't have that tendency is being approached to get involved with LCI/ACN's telecom MLM, and he's asked me to help him research it. At least he's going in with his eyes open. I haven't been able to find any web resources about it except for those people touting it themselves. Is this MLM any worse than Amway? I know it's big; but is LCI a respectable company? How big a pyramid would my friend be supporting if he were to get involved? I'd appreciate any info or pointers to info. ---- Tom Betz --------- ------ (914) 375-1510 -- tbetz@pobox.com | We have tried ignorance for a very long | tbetz@panix.com ------------------+ time, and it's time we tried education. +----------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 11:40:57 EDT From: M.S. Russell Subject: Touch Tones in Movies? Hi there, I wondered if some of the wizards on this forum could answer this :) The other night I put a tape into my VCR (it was _Nixon_ by Oliver Stone) and at the beginning of the tape there was probably a 1-2 interval where I heard a faint, rapid string of what sounded like DTMF tones. This was before the movie or previews had actually started, in that "grey" area ... I also heard it at the beginning of the second tape (it's a two tape rental). I also recall hearing this before a few years back before regular programs on TV. Can't be sure if it was regular antenna reception or my cable company, so I don't know if that's a factor. I don't watch much TV anymore so I haven't heard it while viewing lately. What the heck is it? My guess is some sort of station identifier (before the programs) or some sort of media identifier (analagous to an ISBN number for a book at the library). I'm interested as to its purpose/history. Thanks! --MSR ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 09:19:51 -0400 From: Alisa Moyer Subject: Applied Language Technologies OEM Agreement with InterVoice APPLIED LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES OEM AGREEMENT WITH INTERVOICE InterVoice systems to incorporate ALTech's speech recognition software Cambridge, Mass. - Applied Language Technologies, Inc., (ALTech), announced today an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) agreement with InterVoice, Inc., a leading supplier of interactive voice response systems. Under this agreement, InterVoice will integrate ALTech's speech recognition software into its OneVoiceD2 software agent platform, thereby enabling system-wide voice recognition resources across its broad range of interactive information solutions. ALTech's speech recognition software will provide a new level of functionality to call and business process automation solutions running o= n the OneVoice platform. By integrating ALTech's speech recognition technology, InterVoice will enhance its customers' abilities to improve service levels, reduce operational costs and rapidly deploy new revenue generating services. End-users will benefit from a richer, easier-to-use interface that enables them to utilize natural speech to input data and issue commands. "We are excited about adding ALTech's innovative speech recognition technology to our proven, multi-application OneVoice platform," said Michael W. Barker, InterVoice's president and chief operating officer. "This new marriage of technologies further enriches our platform feature set and offers our customers an unmatched foundation from which to launch new enhanced service applications benefiting from voice recognition." "We are very pleased to have been chosen by InterVoice to provide speech recognition for its OneVoice platform," said William J. O'Farrell, president and chief executive officer of Applied Language Technologies. "InterVoice's decision to incorporate our software provides further market validation of our leading-edge technology. With our speech recognition software, InterVoice can streamline data input, and command procedures in its call and business process automation applications. We see a number of opportunities in telecommunications, financial services, and other industry sectors to speech-enable applications ranging from voice dialing to home banking." InterVoice, Inc. (NASDAQ:INTV) is a leading global supplier of call and business process automation solutions, with the number of installed systems totaling more than 7,200 in 46 countries. InterVoice systems are used in inbound and outbound call centers across virtually all industry sectors to increase revenues and customer service levels, with lower associated costs. With capacity ranging from six to thousands of ports, InterVoice systems integrate with virtually any telephone and IS environment, and are available in both customer premise equipment (CPE) and telco-compliant configurations. InterVoice, an ISO 9001 certified company, is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, USA and has representative offices in Canada, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Company information and product demonstrations are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.intervoice.com. Applied Language Technologies is a leader in the development and implementation of advanced speech recognition and voice processing technologies for the telephony market. Based on technology licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Laboratory for Computer Science, ALTech develops and markets speech understanding software which provides large vocabulary, speaker-independent, phonetic speech recognition. ALTech's speech software contains a comprehensive set of features for automating telephone-based and net-based transactions and services. ALTech is a privately held corporation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More information on ALTech is available at http://www.altech.com. Contacts: Alisa Moyer Marketing Manager Applied Language Technologies, Inc. 617-225-0012 moyer@altech.com Cathy Kingeter Marketing Communications InterVoice, Inc. 214-454-8934 ckingete@intervoice.com InterVoice Public Relations Glenn Able 214-480-9458 sbok@airmail Marketing Manager Applied Language Technologies 215 First Street Cambridge, MA 02142 P: 617.225.0012 F: 617.225.0322 ------------------------------ From: fmerrow@qualcomm.com (Frank Merrow) Subject: OutCall: SpeachMaster and PhoneTree - But Who Else? Date: 24 Jul 1996 11:59:54 -0700 Organization: QUALCOMM, Incorporated; San Diego, CA, USA My wife and I are continually making calls about events and updates for my son's cub scout pack and our church. I started looking for some way of automating the calling of a group of people. So far I have found only two companies: 1. PhoneTree - seems simple, but their test of the phones I gave them only had a 75% sucess rate. 2. SpeachMaster - pre-sales support seems almost indifference so I wonder what post sales will be like. The product seems to have many more interesting features for only a little more than phonetree. On the otherhand, even VERY VERY SIMPLE database features seem to be "extras" that cost more! Makes me wonder how much it will cost to actually get a working system up and running. Are there any other competitors to these guys out there? Frank ------------------------------ From: tscheer@cts.com (Tom Scheer) Subject: Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 00:12:24 GMT Organization: CTS Network Services In article , edhample@sprynet.com wrote: > schuster@panix.com writes: >> I recently read an online message in which an individual complained of >> excessive echo in the received sidetone on his Motorola Digital Lite >> cellphone (i.e. the reflection of his spoken voice in the earpiece was >> delayed so long as to be distracting rather than reassuring). > I have noted similar problems in the Tampa, FL area on both my wife's > Erickson analog phone and my Nokia digital (Both served by AT&T). This > past weekend, I noticed a severe echo while receiving a call on my > Nokia digital -- I immediately called my wife on her cell phone, and > she complained of the echo as well. At the time, she was nearly 30 > miles from my location -- this would make me believe that the echo is a > system-level problem, rather than a specific cell. > In every case (that I have noticed), the echo problem has occured on a > weekend -- usually Saturday late afternoon into evening -- could this be > a coincidence -- or could AT&T be taking some equipment offline for > maintenance -- or could this be caused by heavier than average useage > on a weekend? I've used various brands of cell phones on four or five different cellular systems, and sometimes I get that echo in my earpiece. The person on the other end doesn't hear it, and it only happens for one call, so it's not a permanent problem with the phone or cell system. For this to happen it would seem that the cell phones must vary their sidetone characteristics according to conditions. Is that true? Tom Scheer tscheer@cts.com ------------------------------ From: Ed Gastle Subject: Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1996 22:48:19 -0400 Organization: Kingston Online Services Reply-To: egastle@limestone.kosone.com Michael Schuster wrote: > The response I read was that sidetone is entirely controlled by the > cellular tower, and excessive delay cannot be caused by the cellphone. > Does this sound right? Partly, your cellphone cannot control the delayed echo you hear. However the equipment that controls it normally resides in the MTSO, not the cell site. Digital TDMA (D-AMPS) introduces some delay in the air interface. That is to say that your conversation is not happening real time. (If you want to mess yourself up, call someone from your digital from a place you can see them but not hear them. Their lip movement won't match what you hear.) Although the delay is not as long as with satellites, the same principles apply. Echo cancellers store a digital replica of your voice and superimpose it 180 degrees out of phase onto the returning echo. As far as I know, this happens on the other side of the switch just before the interconnect into the PSTN. The switch should be set up to route digital calls through echo cancellers. If this is not happening either the MSTO does not have enough echo cancellers to meet demand, the routing is not set up properly, or an echo canceller is bad. ------------------------------ From: mhh001c@pdnis.paradyne.com (Heflin Hogan) Subject: Re: Attorney General on Encryption, Copyrights Date: 24 Jul 1996 18:03:47 GMT Organization: AT&T Paradyne Pah! I was going to post a point by point rebuttal of Ms. Reno's speech, but someone else will probably do that. Suffice it to say that Clinton has lost my vote. And to think I was afraid of a belated Big Brother under a Republican adminstration! Regards, Heflin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, one thing about the Republicans is you always know right where you stand with them. They don't hide their intentions, as repugnant as many people find them to be. It is the Democrats you have to watch out for; they'll say one thing to one audience and something else to another audience, then when they get elected they turn out to be no different in their own oppressive way. So Clinton has lost your vote has he? Does that mean you are going to vote for Dole? ... it would seem the Republicans have gotten what I would call buyer's remorse where Dole is concerned. A lot of the delegates to the convention are in a bind because they are committed to Dole even though they would like to be free to nominate someone else. I honestly think the 1996 election campaign has got to be one of the nastiest mud-slinging campaigns since possibly 1876 when opponents of Democratic Senator Samuel Tilden in his losing campaign against Republican Rutherford Hayes referred to Tilden as a 'sinister, syphlitic charlatan' in the press. When the affair between his wife Elizabeth and Henry Ward Beecher came to light instead of blaming her as an adulteress or Beecher for seducing her the opposition went on further to question Tilden's 'manhood' saying that obviously he not only would make a very poor (and thieving, corrupt) president but that he was unable to satisfy Elizabeth in her 'needs as a woman', so she had to seek the things 'every woman needs' from Reverend Beecher, who as all readers of the newspapers in those days knew was an 'athiest'. Someone writing here in TELECOM Digest yesterday said *I* do yellow journalism. Hah! They should have read the {Chicago Tribune} and the {New York Herald Tribune} in the 1870-80's to see good examples of yellow journalism. Incidentally, in the 1876 election, Tilden won the popular vote by a small margin of 250 thousand votes but *lost* the one that counts -- the electoral vote by *one* vote, 185 to 184 in favor of Hayes. When Thomas Jefferson was running for president the first and second times in 1792 and 1796 (he finally won the third time in 1800) the supporters of George Washington (1792) and John Adams (1796) made slanderous attacks against him which all the newspapers were happy to report in lurid detail including the one which still makes the rounds today, two hundred years later that Jefferson kept a number of his female slaves living in his own quarters with him to be used for sexual service. Both Washington and Adams insisted that if Jefferson was elected the 'first thing he will do is outlaw any form of Christianity; then he will encourage all white men to learn about the pleasures he has found with a Negro sharing his bed chamber ...' Now at the end of the twentieth century the mud continues to be slung: consider these two comments in the press recently ... "Bob Dole is a tool of the Tobacco Industry and if a few more children get addicted to cigarettes on his way to the White House he could care less." And of our very beloved resident president now in power who hopes to have another four years of public 'service' this gem which appeared in the {Chicago Tribune} not long ago ... "President Clinton wants to regulate so many things. Its a good thing hypocrisy is not regulated ..."; this along with speculation that Hillary keeps him on a very short leash and that he has trouble 'keeping his mouth shut and his pants zipped up'. So in November, vote for either one you want, as if I could care. PAT] ------------------------------ From: fatkinson@mail.wdn.com (Fred Atkinson) Subject: Re: Attorney General on Encryption, Copyrights Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 19:14:20 GMT Organization: Posted via CAIS Internet I must say I was quite distressed by Janet Reno's pro key escrow position. I must say it is quite naive. Do they really think that terrorists and criminals are going to give them valid decryption keys? If they do, what is to keep them from generating other ones and letting the originals that are escrowed go unused? Criminals and terrorists are not that stupid. In my view, the only ones who will be penalized by this will be the average citizen who will no longer be sure of their privacy because anyone who has access to keys in escrow (and don't tell me it won't happen without a court order, I wasn't born yesterday) will be able to intercept and decrypt their messages. Perhaps the recent incident at the White House regarding confidential information about political adversaries will reassure you on that issue. If the White House can't be trusted with confidential information, then who can? Reno is echoing the Clinton administration's position regarding key escrow. If she is naive enough to believe this will accomplish anything, she surely shouldn't be in her present position of responsibility. Fred Atkinson ------------------------------ From: fgoldstein@bbn.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 11:58:29 EST Organization: BBN Corp. In article Lisa writes: > But the last part had a very interesting item: it explained that > increased user demand (faxes, cellular, etc) is only a part of the > problem. The big problem is competition, because the new companies > need to reserve blocks of exchanges, and are taking far more than > they'll need or ever use, thus the shortage. > I think this is an excellent point. If a competitor gets a full > exchange designation, will they use all identifiers in it? I doubt it > very much. Bellcore's web site posts a "free" file of new NPA/NXX activity. It doesn't tell what rate center (exchange area) a code is assigned to, but it does list the carrier. In LATAs where competition was authorized before the Telecom Act, new code activity is very, very high. Most is to create codes for new carriers. (In LATAs where competition wasn't authorized in the past, the flood is probably just on the horizon; these take a while to get processed.) The problem comes from the way the NANP is currently set up. Every NXX has a rate center associated with it, used for billing, AND is assigned to a carrier, because there is no 800-style "number portability" yet. So if Joe's Telephones wants to compete with Bigfat Bell in the Greater Overshoe market, Joe's will need separate NXXs for Overshoe, East Overshoe, North Overshoe, Overshoe Falls, and Galosh Heights, since Bell has established those as separate rate centers. Never mind that they might only have ten numbers in each; they need a whole NXX. This has already come up for discussion in California, where splits are rampant. MCI proposed allowing one NXX to serve multiple rate centers, divided on the "D digit" (one after the prefix). So NPA-NXX-1000 will be in one city, NXX-2000 in another. This conserves prefix codes, but breaks all sorts of billing software, toll restriction tables, etc. Imagine the COCOTs. AT&T has proposed allowing one NXX to serve multiple carriers, divided on the D digit. So NPA-NXX-1000 might be AT&T, -2000 might be MCI, etc. This only requires D-digit translation in the Incumbent LEC tandem switches, and in the CLEC switches themselves. I guess you can figure out which plan I favor! (I filed comments to this effect with the Mass. DPU wrt the pending 617 overlay/split decision.) There are a decent handful of "old NPA" codes still available. I proposed reserving these for CLEC use, divided among CLECs on the D digit. This way there is no "competitive" disadvantage to an overlay. I also proposed moving all new "bulk" numbers into the overlay, leaving listed numbers and resi subscribers (even new ones) in the old NPA. This is technically not service discrimination (not permitted by FCC), since anyone will be allowed to *pay* extra for old-NPA numbers, but the bulk of number wasters (fax servers, pagers, cellular, etc.) don't really care which one they're in. Fred R. Goldstein k1io fgoldstein@bbn.com BBN Corp., Cambridge MA USA +1 617 873 3850 Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission. ------------------------------ From: LUEBBE_J@POPMAIL.FIRN.EDU Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 12:03:05 PDT Subject: Re: "Competition" Responsible For Area Code Splits? In article edhample@sprynet.com wrote: [...] > 3. The author of the original message speaks of Electric > Companies. Florida Power and Light (affectionately known to it's > customers as Florida Flicker and Flash) is a good example of a utility > that if exposed to competition, would be bankrupt in a month. They are > responsible for the construction of two of the nation's worst nuclear > power plants - Crystal River, which has not operated continuously for > more than 6 months in it's 20 year life, and Port St. Lucie, which has > an equally poor record. It's an omminous sign that a small community a > couple of miles from the Crystal River plant is named "Red Level". I find it hard to believe that Ed Kleinhample is truly a consultant of some kind. The above is loaded with untrue statements. Florida Power and Light is based in Miami and serves the East coast, and SW coasts of Florida. The also operate the Port St. Lucie power plant. FLORIDA POWER COMPANY based in St. Petersburg serves areas north and east of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. They operate the power plants located at Crystal River. The plants are indeed located near a community named "Red Level". Mr. Kleinhample does not cite any source for his statements about the operation of either plant site. His assertions are simply not true. He should do research into the facts before he makes such slanderous comments. He continues ... > Three years ago, on Christmas Eve, customers across central Florida > experienced a brown-out that lasted in some cases up to 48 hours - FPL > and other utilities stated that the outage was caused severe cold > weather and the increased electrical demand. Let's get real folks - > severe cold in this part of Florida means between 20 and 32 degrees > for a few hours, and in truth this is not that uncommon in December or > January in central Florida. In this particular case, most of the > electrical utilities in the state had plants off-line for maintenance/ > repairs/cutbacks/etc, and had failed to make arrangements to carry the > increased load. The utilities also gave the excuse of additional load > due to excess use of electric lights - Does it seem that unusual to > see additional use of electrical lighting (particulary strings of many > small lights) in use around the holiday season? That particular event happened at a time when the ENTIRE southeast United States was experiencing a long period of record lows. The entire area shares generating resources to be able to cover localized problems. Since the entire area was hit with extreme temperatures, there was no excess electricity to share. Most homes, offices, and factories are heated eletrically. All of these utilities constantly have various generating resources down for maintenance at scheduled periods meant to happen during SLACK periods. None of them would purposefully schedule major resources to be down during the end of December. I did work for Florida Power Company about 15 years ago. Since then I have been a DP consultant/contractor to mainly telecommunication firms in the state. I also do not own stock in any of the electric utilities. Oh btw, some of the work I've done did involve Area Code Splits. Large companies do make many large mistakes, but this particular complaint was so full of untruths and misleading information, I had to write ... Art Luebbe, consultant Crystal River, FL about 80 miles nw of Tampa and Land O' Lakes FL. Name: Luebbe E-mail: luebbe_j@popmail.firn.edu ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #361 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 24 20:02:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id UAA04544; Wed, 24 Jul 1996 20:02:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 20:02:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607250002.UAA04544@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #362 TELECOM Digest Wed, 24 Jul 96 20:02:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 362 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Update: Ocoee Olympic Venue Bans Cellular Phones (Stanley Cline) Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata (Thomas P. Brisco) Re: Caller ID/Per Line Blocking (Baron L. Chandler) Re: Looking For Fax Symbol (Holger Reusch) Re: Looking For Fax Symbol (John Shriver) Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb (John Higdon) Caller ID Question (Dave Keeny) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Joshua Hosseinof) Re: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? (Thomas R. Springer) Public Pay-Fax Machines (George Strowger) Re: Where Can I Find Info on SS7 Protocols? (John Shriver) Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell (R. Van Valkenburgh) Re: Caller ID in California (Michael Stanford) Re: Teddy Roosevelt's Thoughts on Telecommunications (Stephen Satchell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 18:20:21 EDT From: Stanley Cline Subject: Update: Ocoee Olympic Venue Bans Cellular Phones As most of you readers are aware, I have been very concerned about the lack of cellular service at the Olympic canoe/kayak slalom event in Ocoee, TN. (There is NO B-side coverage at all, for one thing.) Well, it turns out all my work (hours on the phone with US Hell --, er, Cellular, BellSouth, ACOG, etc.; posts to c.d.t, a.c-p-t and the Olympic related newsgroups; warnings on my web site, etc.) was all for naught: The operator of the venue (Tennessee Ocoee Development Agency [TODA]) has decided to simply BAN cellphones during the competitions (at least for "spectators" anyway.) Their reasons: 1) They would interfere with security equipment on nearby frequencies, 2) the poor coverage (remember, there is no B-side coverage whatsoever), and 3) (apparently) there are not enough channels to handle "spectator" calls in addition to "official" traffic. (Chattanooga CellOne -- the lone cellular carrier -- does not offer TDMA service, unlike BellSouth in Atlanta. BellSouth is not licensed in Ocoee and US Cellular refused to install cell sites, even temporary.) The basic ACOG policy is that in *most* venues (and certainly all the ones in the "Olympic Ring" in downtown Atlanta), cellular phones are fine, as long as they are not used for "broadcasting" (i.e. play-per-play details, etc.) But in this case, TODA overrode ACOG ... I believe the lack of channels (caused by a single carrier's single cell site covering the venue area) is the real reason; I don't think anyone wants to admit that it is GTE Mobilnet and particularly United States Cellular who screwed up -- I don't believe the "security" excuse one damn bit. What's worse: This policy is nowhere to be found at the ACOG "official" Web site (www.atlanta.olympic.org) -- it was given on the *TODA* web site (www.toda.dst.tn.us). I called ACOG; the BellSouth employee / ACOG volunteer who answered the phone said they hadn't a clue as to this policy being made -- they referred me to the Ocoee Whitewater Center who confirmed what the TODA web site said. (My web site has contained a warning for several weeks directed at B-side roamers that simply says there is no service and just who is responsible [USCC]. I will be updating this as soon as I can.) In conclusion: *** IF YOU ARE GOING TO OCOEE, LEAVE YOUR CELLULAR PHONE AT *** HOME (or in your car.) IT WON'T WORK IF YOU ARE A B-SIDE *** ROAMER ANYWAY, AND IT MAY BE CONFISCATED. *** THE END. (I am holding nasty comments about USCC for later.) Stanley Cline, Chattanooga, TN ** Roamer1 on IRC scline@usit.net ** http://www.usit.net/public/scline/ ------------------------------ From: Thomas P. Brisco Subject: Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 16:18:50 -0400 Organization: IEEE From what I've seen: Private: Person has a non-pub number Anonymous: Caller ID has been blocked Out of Area: Originating area doesn't support CallerID Tp. ------------------------------ From: thebaron@mindspring.com (Baron L. Chandler) Subject: Re: Caller ID/Per Line Blocking Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 23:23:04 -0500 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises In article , Telecom@Eureka.vip. best.com (Linc Madison) wrote: > In article , matt schor > wrote: >> Sorry. Calling someone's home, and not disclosing your phone number, >> is not acceptable social behavior. Thank God technology has caught up >> with expectations so that we can stop prank calls, threatening calls, >> etc. I wouldn't answer the door if the person didn't announce who >> they were. If you want to make anonymous calls, use a pay phone. > It certainly is NOT unacceptable social behavior. You may consider it > so, but you are not the arbiter of such things. It's not unacceptable social behavior, I would agree. It is not about social behavior at all. In fact, I respect the privacy of a caller and I block my number whenever I feel it is necessary. However, this is the way I look at it. I pay $7.50 for Calling Number Delivery with Name service and Anonymous Call Rejection. I do/will NOT, under any circumstances (emergency or not) accept any calls made to my number which are designated as "PRIVATE". In fact, I used to answer the phone with "I'm sorry, but we do not accept calls from a blocked number. Please unblock your number and call back" myself, talking over the other person on the end and hanging up on them. The simple reason for this is, well, simple... I pay $7.50/mo for the service. If EVERYONE *67'ed before calling my number, then for each PRIVATE call I receive I get less for my money -- and the CNID service is devalued until CNID has no value what-so-ever anymore. The nice thing that SouthCentral Bell offers is Anonymous Call Rejection. This little service, as great as it is, will auto-reject any and all calls designated as "PRIVATE" via CNID. So -- you get a recording stating "Your call has been properly delivered, but the party you have called does not accept calls whose numbers have been blocked. Please unblock your number, and call again" and I don't get bothered by you you, you blockers, you! :-) This is the best, most worthwhile service in the world and I wouldn't give it up for anything! And I don't shed a tear about missing that great offer or contest winning, either! Of course, most solicitations come in from a channelized or some other service which has no CNID information attached to it and comes in as "OUT-OF-AREA". And, one little thing about responsibility ... I have a telephone in my home for MY benefit, not someone else's. I pay for it, it's for ME, not for a calling party. I decide whether or not it is acceptable for private calls. I've made my decision. If you want to talk to me you'd better put your sign on your chest or forget it. > I particularly resent the equation of "calls without CNID" with > "anonymous calls." If I call someone on the phone with my Caller ID > blocked and say, "This is Linc," then it is NOT an anonymous call. It's anonymous BEFORE you answer the telephone, not necessarily after. Many people prefer to screen their calls and only answer calls they want to ... that's their right -- it's their phone and number. I tell you what I resent are people who call me and expect me to drop everything I am doing and get offended when I don't answer the phone for THEM. Now THAT annoys me! Baron L. Chandler ------------------------------ From: H.Reusch@ieee.org (Holger Reusch) Subject: Re: Looking For Fax Symbol Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 21:25:20 GMT Organization: Holger Reusch's Home in Vienna, Austria bidscan@mail.saix.net wrote: > I'm trying to find out what people are using on business stationary to > indicate a FAX number ... something that would be a suitable companion > for that little telephone symbol ... any ideas? Under Windows, I have been using the "earmarked paper" icon from the Windings font (that's code point '2'). Holger Reusch Vienna, Austria <--------------|--- No kangaroos here, sorry! Home: H.Reusch@ieee.org | Work: Holger_Reusch@at.ibm.com | ICBM: 48.13N 16.20E ------------------------------ From: John Shriver Subject: Re: Looking For Fax Symbol Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:53:28 -0700 Organization: Shiva Corporation Peter M. Weiss wrote: > I did a GOPHER search at gopher.itu.ch for the term /symbols/: > Search menu titles in ITU Gopher > [E.121] Recommendation E.121 (02/95) - Pictograms, symbols and icon > [F.910] Recommandation F.910 - Procedures for designing, evaluating There's no FAX symbol in the 1988 (Blue Book) version of E.121. They give symbols for SOS, Fire, Police, Ambulance, Information (i), and various sorts of call indications. At any rate, "FAX" is pretty darned common. ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 16:32:04 -0700 From: John Higdon Subject: Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb Andrew C. Green writes: > Were the telephone company to offer cable TV, I cannot see how TCI > would have any customers at all. I may get a good look at this first-hand. At this moment, there is a coaxial cable on the side of my house that was installed a few months ago by Pacific Bell. While the intention is to put telephone service and cable TV service through that hose, in my case it will only be video. I understand from some folks in the test area (also here in San Jose) that the Pac*Bell video service is quite impressive. The quality is very high and the customer service runs rings around the competition, which is TCI. Pacific Bell was recently granted a franchise by the city to begin commercial delivery of cable TV service. I am (for once) in an area to be serviced for the rollout of the product. As a TCI customer (minimal, basic service), and as a DSS user, I will have a perfect opportunity to examine and compare Pacific Bell's attempt at becoming a cable company. Now, when TCI begins offering telephone service here ... John Higdon | P.O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | +1 500 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 | http://www.ati.com/ati/ | ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Caller ID Question Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:26:50 +0500 Organization: Telecommunications Techinques Corporation I live in Frederick, MD, and often call, and receive calls from, a number in Gaithersburg -- long distance, same area code. When I receive calls from this number, their CID information shows up on my unit, but when I call them, my CID information does *not* show up on their unit. It shows up as either "out of area" or "no CID" (I'm not sure which, offhand), but does not show up as "blocked". We never requested that our CID info be blocked and I believe the default is non-blocked. Does anyone have an explanation or theory for this? Thanks, Dave ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:48:21 -0400 From: Joshua Hosseinof Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing Organization: Yeshiva University Your phone will still make touch tones but they will not break the dial tone. In order to dial any number you will have to generate pulse pips either by setting the phone to pulse or being very adept at clicking the switchhook very quickly. Therefore, once you have connected to a voice-mail system or whatever you can still send the touch tones. ------------------------------ From: vikingelec@aol.com (VIKINGELEC) Subject: Re: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? Date: 23 Jul 1996 17:49:15 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , sscott@hpmail2.fwrdc. rtsg.mot.com (Steve Scott) writes: > In my new office, I have a Meridian N2616 digital phone (manufactured > by Northern Telecom). I want to use my 28.8k modem with this phone > line but, of course, the two formats are not compatible (i.e. cannot > put a Y in the RJ11 jack and use both devices). > Question is: I know I could pay to have a separate analog line > installed for just the modem use. But, is there an adaptor which > would convert the digital line to analog (and vice versa) which I > could install in-line and which would allow me to use my analog modem Konnex makes such an adaptor. I believe they are available through Hello Direct 1-(800) Hi-Hello. They also have a Web based catalog! "True Wisdom is Knowing Whom to Ask!" Try Viking's New 24 Hour Fax Back System...(715)386-4345 Thomas R. Springer | Sales... (715)386-8861 -or- (612)436-7204 Analyst | E-mail: Sales@VikingElectronics.com Viking Electronics, Inc. | America Online: VikingElec@aol.com 1531 Industrial St. | Technical Support... (715)386-8666 P.O. Box 448 | E-mail: Tech@VikingElectronics.com Hudson, WI 54016 | Fax... (715)386-4344 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 21:00:07 GMT From: strowger@dustbin.demon.co.uk (George) Reply-To: strowger@dustbin.demon.co.uk Subject: Public Pay-Fax Machines wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) wrote: > Re: tracing that fax phone call to that newspaper office. Are there > any public fax machine "pay phones" around in UK, like ones I've seen > in the San Jose CA airport a few years ago? Bring enough quarters > (the UK equivalent of), wear gloves to avoid fingerprints (plenty of > other user's prints to confuse things anyway), and send the fax. And > don't forget to take the orginal home with you, and burn it. Uk equivalent of quarters for the phone is 10p pieces. There /are/ some pay-fax machines around - BT installed one in the railway station here in York a couple of months ago. It's white, screwed to the wall, and doesn't take coins...you have to use a credit card to use it! BT Chargecard probably works as well ... I can't remember. It allows you to send or receive faxes -- I can't remember the cost of receiving, but sending was I think 50p + BT's normal payphone rates. I'm afraid I've little more information that that about it. I didn't try it out, since I wasn't curious enough to spend the 50p minimum charge on testing it, and it wouldn't even let me make a voice call to an 0800 (free) number, or use any of my calling cards. The latest "1001 facts - pocket guide to BT [march 96]" says there are just three of the things in the whole UK (!) on trial at various locations. I suspect there are more by now. There are 1000 "Dataport payphones" according to the book; if you've got a faxmodem handy you can use one of those to send a fax. I've never met one of the things -) Of course, BT is no longer the only provider of payphones here (I spotted AT&T ones in London ...) , and other companies may provide pay-fax machines. George | [Fidonet 2:442/621.1] | "Problems on quite a worrying +44-976-241-861| Mail for PGP key | number of levels" - Dr Chasm. New toy! Email my mobile phone - strowger@pobox.co.uk ------------------------------ From: John Shriver Subject: Re: Where Can I Find Info on SS7 Protocols? Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:06:19 -0700 Organization: Shiva Corporation henry jakala wrote: > Are there any ftp or www sites that document the SS7 protocols? > How, when and where they are used? What they do for you? SS7 documentation for free? Nowhere that I know of. Payware standards, as are most telecommunications standards. Phone companies can afford to buy them. Anyone spending the millions of dollars it takes to implement SS7 can afford to buy them. From the ITU-T, SS7 is documented in the Q.700 series. About 1000 pages of dense inpenetrable prose. Cheapest source in the US is the UN bookstore. There are other sources, more convenient, but pricier! For the USA standards interpretation of SS7, see ANSI T1.110 through T1.118. Full set should run about $500. For the USA telco implementation interpretation of SS7, look in the online catalog for Bellcore at http://www.bellcore.com. What does SS7 buy you as a telephone subscriber? Well, nothing directly, it is ONLY spoken between switches within the telephone system. It is not a subscriber protocol. However, what it does provide you as a subscriber is the foundation needed for Digital Subscriber Signalling System 1 (DSS1), which is the signalling protocols used by ISDN (BRI and PRI). It also provides the underpinning needed for ANI for plain (analog) phone service, and things like that. Before SS7, the calling number just wasnt passed. SS7 was proceeeded by SS1 through SS6, which were not used domestically in the US. (They were used internationally.) AT&T's first common- channel signalling system was their proprietary CCIS. ------------------------------ From: vanvalk@auburn.campus.MCI.net (R. Van Valkenburgh) Subject: Re: Some History of Standard Oil and Bell Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 22:19:16 GMT Reply-To: vanvalk@auburn.campus.MCI.net TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > A very old, but still very good book worth reading is 'The History > of Standard Oil'. It was written by Ida Tarbell, a muckraking sort > of author who wrote for the newspapers back in in the early years > of this century. Ms. Tarbell wrote her history of Standard Oil > back about 1910-15 or so; then a big two-volume treatise on the > incredible empire of John Rockefeller. I would have loved to have > known that man personally; even to have had the privilege of just > walking along with him for a single day and trying to learn from him. > Look for Ida Tarbell's book 'The History of Standard Oil' in a > library. Some that specialize in older collections will have it. One > of my favorite old photographs is a picture of John Rockefeller and > William Rainey Harper (founding president of the University of Chicago) > walking together down the sidewalk on 59th Street. The photo dates > to about 1895. The photo shows JDR elegantly dressed with top hat > and tails, the formal dress of those days, with a walking stick. I, too, wish I could have known the man. A couple of years ago, my grandmother (now deceased) explained to me and my then fiance (now my wife) about these hobnail glasses she had. (I remember seeing them in a china cabinet for years. I had always thought they were so ugly.) It turns out that they had been a Christmas gift from J. D. Rockefeller to her father (my great-grandfather). My great grandfather, of Cleveland, was J.D.'s blacksmith at the time. It's hard for me to imagine a time when Cleveland had blacksmiths. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is hard to imagine, because of our difficulty in visualizing a time when there were no automobiles and getting somewhere quickly meant riding a horse and making it go as fast as you could. The oldest bus maintainence facility and garage operated by the Chicago Transit Authority dates back about a hundred years. Motorized vehicles are stored/serviced there now but a century ago it was a stable; a barn where the horses were fed and sheltered when they were not pulling a street car around. Another photograph of JDR was taken on the day when apparently there had been a fire in the Standard Oil office in Chicago. He is standing on the sidewalk on Michigan Avenue downtown with a group of men who from their uniforms appear to be firefighters. In the picture we see him and the men, and next to them a wagon with a big tank used to hold water. On the side of the tank are the words "Chicago Fire Department" and a team of horses is hitched up to the wagon. The caption states, "Mr. Rockefeller thanks and praises the men who put out the fire in the company's offices yesterday." (From the {Chicago Daily News} of uncertain date.) The tanks were always kept full of water and spare teams of horses were always available so that when a fire was reported a team of horses was hitched to the front of the water tank; the firemen would climb on board and the horses would go racing down the street pulling the water tank. A bell with a clapper was mounted on the top of the whole thing and as the horses raced down the street pulling the tank of water with the firemen riding on top they would bang on the bell with the clapper stick to warn people to get out of the way and let them past. If you were a teenager growing up in Chicago in those days one of the best jobs you could have was working for the Chicago Fire Depart- ment in their stables feeding and watering the horses and keeping the stables clean. Horses tend to ... well you know ... do 'it' when- ever and wherever they feel like doing it. If it was a particularly busy day for the firemen and they had been going from one fire direct to another fire then the horses would be very tired so the stable boys would take a fresh team of horses from the barn out to the site of the (current) fire. They would 'swap out' the horses with the team that had been pulling the water tank around and lead the horses that had been working all day back to the stable for food and rest. In the photo, JDR is seen giving cigars to the firemen. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael Stanford Subject: Re: Caller ID in California Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:42:45 -0400 > The following types of calls come up "Out of Area" on our equipment: > - Pay phone > - Cellular phone > - Multiline sites (Centrex, PBX, etc.) The FCC mandate is that all calls from equipment capable of transmitting this information (central offices equipped with Signalling System 7), and calls carried by all long distance carriers capable of transporting it (virtually all of them) must now bear Caller ID unless the caller blocks it. "Out of Area" means that some equipment somewhere is not capable of carrying the Caller ID, either because the equipment is too old, or because the software has not yet been updated. Supposedly. > I remember reading something in this group about ANI information that > indicated what kind of phone was making the call. It supposedly gave > the indications residential, commercial, hotel, prison, pay phone, etc. I also am curious about why Caller ID is a "weaker" service than ANI. There is room in the data burst for this information. It is possible for the ANI number associated with a call to be different than the caller ID number, though I seem to remember that this Digest had some correspondence a while back about a long distance carrier (Wiltel?) that populated the Caller ID field with a copy of the ANI information if no Caller ID was present. > I would LOVE having that information, even if Pac Bell doesn't want to > implement the actual telephone numbers. What would be ideal would be > for the last four digits to be dropped, so I know I'm getting a call > from, say, Sunnyvale (408-735-????) rather than East Cowhide, Nebraska > (good chance its someone trying to sell me insurance). This is a great idea. Unfortunately it will probably never be implemented, first because of the massive cost of changing all the implementations of the spec, and second because one of the big objections that people have to Caller ID is that battered wives will inadvertently give away their locations to their abusive husbands. In some cases a husband could find his wife much more easily if he knew which town she was in. > Another Caller ID note: several people have complained they can't > call us because they set up per-line blocking and don't know how to > unblock their CNID info. Our phone rejects anonymous calls. I wonder > why they went through the trouble of requesting per-line (the default > was per-call) blocking and not understand how to turn it off. Everyone should use Anonymous Call Rejection. The more widely used it is, the more useful Caller ID will be to everybody, since it will tend to reduce the number of people blocking their identities. Anonymous Call Rejection may be an even more useful service than Caller ID for home lines. You are less likely to have an unpleasant experience with stranger who does not choose to conceal their identity than one who does. Anonymous Call Rejection is normally a free service, but I am not sure if you can request it if you don't subscribe to Caller ID. On the other hand, I doubt any business would use ACR. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 15:53:01 -0700 From: satchell@accutek.com (Stephen Satchell) Subject: Re: Teddy Roosevelt's Thoughts on Telecommunications Organization: Satchell Evaluations In article , hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa) wrote: > During recent campaigns, candidate did make speeches and statements > available on the Internet. However, IMHO, this technology is still > too immature to make a difference at this point in time (I believe the > Internet (as far as the general public at large) is about the same as > radio in the early 1920s -- more of something for hobbyists and > experimenters, and in need of more advances. Where I think the Internet differs significantly from radio of the early '20s is that journalists have been wired for years (remember that AP, UPI, and other wire services have been news sources of choice for a long time) and are used to getting stuff "out of the wall." In addition, even mainstream journalists are now paying attention to the content of the Internet to greater or lesser degrees because today's reporters and low-level editors were exposed to the medium while in college and J-school. That doesn't mean that journalists hang on every word in alt.* groups. Indeed, I suspect that the majority of 'em avoid the alt.* groups because of a readily apparent lack of dicipline in them -- to put it kindly. Even the j-newsgroups are shunned by journalists, preferring to join closed mailing lists instead. Prediction: The Internet will be the bane of a second Clinton administration, not unlike Lexus/Nexus has been a problem in his first administration. Too many servers are soaking up his words, ready to spit them back at the drop of a search query, with the result that Clinton will once again be dogged by his own words. Even liberal journalists can't be brown-nosing all the time ... Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations http://www.accutek.com/~satchell ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #362 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 24 21:05:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA11334; Wed, 24 Jul 1996 21:05:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 21:05:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607250105.VAA11334@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #363 TELECOM Digest Wed, 24 Jul 96 21:05:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 363 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: ATTWS/ATT LD Question (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: Extra Charge for Trunk Line Hunting (N.G. Marino) Re: Caller ID in California (Donald Erickson) Re: FCC Preparing New Telecom Rules (Ronda Hauben) Question on Common Market Policy of Privitizing Telecoms? (Ronda Hauben) Re: Telrad Phone System (Al Niven) Re: Telrad Phone System (Dee Cash) Re: Pacific Bell Line Identification (Craig Vincent) Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? (Derek J. Tarcza) Using US Modems in Mainland China (Allen Daniel) Re: Remote Access on AT&T Phones (Edwin G. Green) Re: Customers Furious Over Phone Service (Charles Cryderman) Re: Another Source of Errant 911 Calls (Russell Blau) Information Wanted on NACT Switches (Al Niven) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeffrey Rhodes Subject: Re: ATTWS/ATT LD Question Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 20:47:11 -0700 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Babu Mengelepouti wrote: > Does ATTWS still offer equal access in the Puget Sound market? Yes, but only to long distance carriers that have shared in the costs for the Equal Access implementation required by the Consent Decree of 1994. ATTWS is short for AT&T Wireless Services, formerly McCaw Cellular. McCaw Cellular was responsible for implementing the Cellular One national brand for A-side cellular operators and was first to offer national Automatic Call Delivery (ACD) via the NACN (North American Cellular Network). If the ACD call is unanswered by the roamer, or the roamer is "busy" with a call, then a call to the A-side roamer is redirected to the roamer's home Voice Mail service. The last time I checked, B-side carriers required roamers to dial a feature access code to choose between call delivery via ACD or call delivery to home Voice Mail, but would not try to do both. B-side carriers probably are not obligated to be so restrictive, but I wonder how many have bothered to fix this. > If no carrier is chosen does it now default to AT&T? It always has. Not every ATTWS switch supports every long distance carrier. If a roamer comes to an ATTWS switch and IS-41 registration delivers an unsupported PIC or no PIC, then the default long distance carrier is AT&T. > One thing that I noticed that it could mean (in the Puget Sound market > at least) is influencing cellular customers' home IXC. ATTWS is > offering a 50% discount on cell airtime for new subscriptions for the > first three months, but if you're an AT&T LD customer at home, you'll > receive a 50% discount for the first six months on your airtime bill. Then it makes sense for a new ATTWS customer to choose AT&T PIC. What are you getting at? I've already made the case for ATTWS to continue to offer Open Access, even though there is no obligation to offer Equal Access since the 1996 Telecom Act overrides the 1994 Consent Decree. Incidentally, I think LECs are still obligated to offer Equal Access, which has nothing to do with the original 1984 Consent Decree, but since LECs make four cents a minute access charges for long distance calls carried by long distance PIC carriers, the LECs would be fools to give up Equal Access. > Incidentally I don't know if PICing AT&T on the cell is also required... :) I assume you mean this to be humorous or ironic, but I have no idea what "PICing AT&T on the cell" is supposed to imply. Jeffrey Rhodes at jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com ------------------------------ From: ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) Subject: Re: Extra Charge for Trunk Line Hunting Date: 24 Jul 1996 09:51:03 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) I was just recently made aware that my company's multi-line hunt group in Orlando, Fla. was set up as a 'PBX' trunk instead of normal business lines. The cost difference is an $10 extra per line per month! The engineering difference? Well, the rep said that my lines were 'specially engineered' for a PBX. I don't have a PBX. I use the lines for a voice-mail system. But assuming I did, wouldn't the phone company want to know WHICH PBX I was using in order to perform their 'special engineering'? The rep then explained that a PBX trunk group was designed to handle more calls than normal business lines. Huh? There are two wires per circuit either way. I'd like to know in what sense this trunk can handle more calls. Anyway, I'd like to get some money back from the telco, Sprint United Telephone. I doubt that it will be easy. This local fiefdom obviously conviced the local PUC that they should be allowed to gouge businesses by devising yet another excuse for charging money but providing no extra service. I have telephone lines in each of the major local phone markets. I can tell you that ALL of the locals are horribly run businesses that have, by virtue of their status as state-sanctioned monopolies, have slowed progress in telecommunications. I wished the recent telephone legislation had completely dissolved the locals. Sure, it would have been a mess, but the current situation is a mess too. Ask anyone who has to deal with these companies every day. ------------------------------ From: erickson@csnsys.com (Donald Erickson) Subject: Re: Caller ID in California Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 16:24:34 GMT Organization: ComStock Net, Rialto, Calif. USA (909)877-6407 In article , Maddi Hausmann Sojourner wrote: > I was one of the folks who couldn't wait for Caller ID. > Well, now we have it and I'm underwhelmed. > The following types of calls come up "Out of Area" on our equipment: > - Pay phone > - Cellular phone > - Multiline sites (Centrex, PBX, etc.) The programming on my CIDCO 64-number box purchased at K-Kmart for $30 is different from many of those discussed in comp.d.t. in that "out of area" doesn't exist. When a call originates from telemarketers, a few non-PacBell payphones, and such numbers, it shows "NOT AVAILABLE". My experience during the first 16 days that CID has been available in Pacific Bell areas is that the majority of payphones do display. A call from 818-049-xxxx (the number was shown) was verified by an operator supervisor as coming from an outward-WATS phone line, in this case a personal call made by someone from from his place of employment. Call Screening (*60 in PacBell areas) seems unable to handle the same "NOT AVAILABLE" numbers but works with "ANONYMOUS CALL" numbers. One experience I've been unable to explain is the appearance of four dashes (----) in the middle of the display where the number would usually appear. At first I thought a weak battery but calls thereafter have worked fine. 611 Repair could give me no clues. Out of a thousand or so calls, it happened just one time. I, too, am underwhelmed by the limitations of use because of the Calif. PUC's paranoid publicity campaign but it isn't quite as bad as I feared and I've been able to stop using an answering machine and avoid telemarketers by not answering any call without an identifiable number. Eventually my friends will learn how to reach me even if it means calling from a payphone. erickson@csnsys.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my box, the four (I get six) dashes occur when someone dials my number and hangs up before even allowing to ring on their end. Maybe I get a half-ring, but the central office sends no data at all since the call is being taken down already by the time one short ring spurt reaches me. It will also happen if I take a small power supply (of appropriae voltage and current) to simulate a 'ring' and send it to the box. Those dashes will appear and the 'call received' lamp will flash but the dashes seem to mean the box has nothing else to say about what it recieved. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rh120@merhaba.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Re: FCC Preparing New Telecom Rules Date: 24 Jul 1996 20:25:43 GMT Organization: Columbia University The new telecom laws and rules are being rewritten and there is virtually no public participation in the process provided for. danny burstein (dannyb@panix.com) wrote: > WASHINGTON (AP) -- As holiday-goers sprawled in lawn chairs for Fourth > of July fireworks nearby, Federal Communications Commission attorney > Lisa Gelb sat hunched over her computer, working on rules to > dramatically change how Americans get their phone service and how much > they pay for it. It seems we are going to be paying lots more as the home users -- the folks for whom the universal service policy was created for -- are left out of the process of the rule making. Also, the Telecom law seems to have left us out, instead providing for libraries and schools and big corporate users to get discounts, and who is to pay for those discounts. First the law was totally rewritten with no input allowed by the majority of phone users, and now the FCC is continuing the process writing rules with no input process for the home user who was previously covered under universal service provisions. > Five months after Congress passed a sweeping telecommunications > overhaul bill, the hard work of drawing up the law's detailed > regulations -- and the behind-the-scenes lobbying over them -- is > heating up. Passed the bill without any public input into the process. > The story goes on to describe that the new rules calling for > competition and opening up of (most of the current) telco, long > distance, and cable tv monopolies are expected to be in place August > 1st. Competition among the large telecoms means that the home users will be at the mercy of the large corporate entities. It doesn't mean lower rates but rather higher profits and a less viable telecommunications infrastructure. > Oh, and lots of lobbyist dollars are making the rounds. As they have been through this whole process, showing that they understand they will benefit and the home user will lose. > A _very_ key point being fought over is the "access" and "termination" > fees currently charged by (usually) the RBOCS. As Telecom Digest > readers are well aware, the local telcos charge the IXCs lots of money > for the first and last leg of a call, and the IXCs are trying to get > this reduced or eliminated. Maybe this is a key point for them, but universal service is the key point for the home user and when I recently heard the Chief of Staff of the FCC speak at the INET '96 conference in Montreal, he said that the FCC doesn't deal with universal service, (despite the fact that the rulemaking on this issue is now being done and the home user is totally left out of the process.) > The local competitors have a bit of an awkward situarion in this. On > the one hand they may be using the RBOC to complete the call, hence > they'll want the traffic fee to be as low as possible. On the other > hand, when _they_ complete the call, they'll want to billback the RBOC > as high a rate as possible. But in either case doesn't the homeuser lose? > To quote again from the story: > (A key concern is...) > -- Whether long-distance companies can avoid paying local companies > for originating and terminating calls. The billions now received from > such ``access'' charges are used to keep rates low in high-cost areas > and to provide service for low-income customers. > (We've all heard this cross-subsidization story a thousand times. I'd > love to see true figures on it ...) But isn't this so called new "competition" just a way to end the principle of universal service -- which noted that the whole telephone network benefitted from having everyone have access to it, hence subsidzing those in harder to reach or less profitable areas. This principle has been thrown out by the current telecommunications law and it seems the FCC as well, without any public debate or discussion on the issue. Yet this is the principle that is crucial to a viable telephone and telecommunications infrastructure. Ronda rh120@columbia.edu ronda@panix.com Netizens:On the History and Impact of Usenet and Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ See chapter 11: The NTIA Conference on the Future of the Net: Creating a Prototype for Democratic Decision Making ------------------------------ From: rh120@merhaba.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Question on Common Market Policy of Privitizing Telecoms? Date: 24 Jul 1996 20:40:03 GMT Organization: Columbia University When I was at INET '96 last month I learned that the Common Market has a policy of requiring the Telecoms of each member country to be privitized. I was surprised that the decision on this issue hadn't been left up to each country. Was there discussion and debate over this issue in the member nations? Recently there was an article about what was lost in the U.S. with regard to the privatization of AT&T by losing Bell Labs as a large and important research lab. The article, I think, was in {Technology and Invention}. (I'll try to provide the reference if anyone is interested.) Decisions regarding major restructuring of telecommunications infrastruc- tures of countries should be subject to discussion and debate of those who will be the victims of their costs. However, it seems they are being carried out without the necessary attention to the principles on which they were founded on. How then can such sudden and abrupt change of principles but have harmful consequences to the societies in question. Ronda ronda@panix.com rh120@columbia.edu Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ See especially Chapter 9: On the Early History and Impact of Unix: Tools to Build the Tools for a New Millenium ------------------------------ From: Al Niven Subject: Re: Telrad Phone System Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:36:03 -0400 Organization: Earthlink Network, Inc. Jacob Carroll wrote: > We are in the process of purchasing a new phone system and have a > competitive bid on the Telrad system. We are also looking at an > Intertel Axxess system. I would appreciate anyone's advice on either > of these phone systems. Where are you located? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: cybrsoft@mindspring.com (NETWORK & INTERNET SOLUTIONS) Subject: Re: Telrad Phone System Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 15:16:19 GMT Organization: PROS & CYBERSOFT 615-831-9973 x 1 Reply-To: cybrsoft@mindspring.com Jacob Carroll wrote: > We are in the process of purchasing a new phone system and have a > competitive bid on the Telrad system. We are also looking at an > Intertel Axxess system. I would appreciate anyone's advice on either > of these phone systems. Telrad's are quite relaible, but are hard to program. They are made in Isreal with high quality standards. They are also feature packed. We have used these with good results so far. If you any questions email me, Dee July 29th see www.cybersoftsystems.com Dee Cash 615-831-9973 x 1 Computer & Network 615-742-4815 Internet solutions & programming ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 19:05:52 -0700 From: craig Organization: C&M Telecom Subject: Re: Pacific Bell Line Identification Almost all PacBell areas now use a universal Line ID number: 211-2345 For reference, GTE also has a universal Line ID number: 114 Craig Vincent C&M Telecom P.O. Box 11570 Glendale, CA 91226 (800) 315-4500 (800) 941-7822 fax ------------------------------ From: dtarcza@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 22:06:23 -0700 Organization: Netcom For those who subscribe to Bell Atlantic's Caller ID Deluxe, Bell Atlantic has made agreements with both Ameritech and US-West to share name information. Formerly, if you were a BA customer, you could only see name from only BA territory (W.Va-N.NJ). I've also caught wind of that they are in the process of getting SWBell and GTE online as well. Derek J. Tarcza ------------------------------ From: Allen Daniel Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 08:29:06 +0000 Subject: Using US Modems in China My company has designed a modem to operate with the U.S. phone system and we need to know if it will be compatible with the phone system of Mainland China. I would appreciate it if someone could tell me if modems designed for operation in the U.S. will operate normally in China and if the lines in China are fairly clean, or if they are too noisy for a low speed (4800 bps or less) digital link. The digital link will be over long distance lines back to the U.S. Thanks in advance for your help. ------------------------------ From: egg@inuxs.inh.lucent.com Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 07:59:10 EST Subject: Re: Remote Access on AT&T Phones John Levine commented: >> My question is this: Has anyone ever used the AT&T 2000 phone (it is >> the one with the built-in keyboard and side data port) like this with >> similar or better results, and if so, how did you get a faster connection? > I use the ones in Newark all the time and have no trouble getting a > 14.4K connection. I have an 800 number for my modem, which makes the > dialing very simple. >> A related question is whether any of these phones (I see >> them all over the country) work with the attached keyboard for access >> to shell accounts or anything else. > They were all disabled shortly after they were installed due to some > regulatory problem. With the new telecom act, I don't understand why > they're all not turned on now. All the Public Phone 2000s are disabled from providing VT100 service for the same reason that they were before. The FCC will always have us turn them on for use EXCLUSIVELY for AT&T Mail or AT&T service. However, they could not be used for other services. This is a requirement that we cannot enforce and have absolutely no desire to enforce. Hopefully, things will be changing soon. Edwin G. Green egg@inuxs.att.com AT&T 317-570-3045 6612 E 75th Street Indianapolis, IN 46250-2856 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd think one way you might *enforce* the use of the device on AT&T only would be with a couple of (I think) simple modifications to the instruments. A default message on the screen would say 'To use the phone normally, just dial the number desired as usual. To use the terminal for connection to AT&T Mail only, dial 'xxx' (some number on the keypad).' If that sequence was dialed, the touch tone pad on the phone would go dead and the phone would immediatly dial the number for AT&T Mail automatically with the expected prompts for password, etc. appearing on the screen. Until the person logged out or after some preset time out, the touch tone pad and phone receiver would be dead. As soon as the user disconnected on the terminal it would go dead and the phone would come back into service. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 10:14:31 EST From: Charles Cryderman Subject: Re: Customers Furious Over Phone Service In < ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) wrote: > Why is there no local competition for residential service? > Because the Baby Bells have had a 100 year head start in building > their network. Who can compete against that? The Telecommunications > Act, if it had guts, should have adopted a plan to rid ourselves of > the BB monopolies. It didn't. > Telephone companies in this country were (and are) state sanctioned > monopolies. You and I paid for the buildup of the telephone network > as it exists today. Is it reasonable that when the industry is > deregulated >that a single 'competitor' gets to start the game with > all the pieces? Is this really the best we can do? (Pat snipped, but not forgotten) Seeing as the BB's have been at it for 100 years and did not try to improve things until competition came in, maybe the government should have given the local infrastructure to the local governments. This way if any other company wanted to connect to your home or business they could without have to work with the existing BB to do so. We all have paid for the networks the BBs have over 100 years (and don't tell me we've not). If competition had not come in computer users would not be using 14.4 Kbytes modems let alone anything faster. The old bell system put the moneys they received in their pockets and not upgrade their networks. Chip Cryderman ccryderman@frontiercorp.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 13:01:17 -0500 From: Russell Blau Subject: Re: Another Source of Errant 911 Calls Pat, you wrote: > In Chicago, several subscribers on the VIRginia (312-847) exchange > have reported to telco their annoyance with the large number of > people in Chicago attempting to call the northern suburbs on its > new area code of 847 who forget (or did not know they had to) dial > '1' as the first digit. > Starting at the end of this year 312-847 will become 773-847 but the > same problem will not happen to people with 312-773 numbers since > 773 is also moving to 773. Their complaint will probably be that no > one understands why '773 has to be dialed twice' as in 773-773-xxxx. Until very recently, there was an ironclad rule dating back to the introduction of "interchangeable" exchange codes (those of the form N0/1X) that no exchange could be opened that had the same numeric designation as its "home" area code or any adjacent area code, to avoid just this sort of confusion. Of course, it is very difficult to protect against these situations in a split, especially when the area code getting split is extremely full (so nearly all available exchange numbers are in use). However, I believe that Mark Cuccia has previously reported that NANPA (Bellcore's Numbering Plan Administration) has reserved a whole slew of the new area codes for future splits, with each reserved area code slotted for the relief of a specific existing code. I would speculate that someone at Bellcore spent a lot of time looking for exchange codes that are not in use in particular area codes and their neighbors and came up with these reservations in an effort to minimize violations of the rule against using home and adjacent area codes as exchange codes. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I remember when there were lots of 'ironclad' rules such as the one that prefixes were never duplicated in *adjoining states*. In other words, if Indiana had AC-234 then neither Illinois or Ohio or Michigan had (their own) AC-234. That was so there could be 'community dialing' of seven digits across state line and area code boundaries where applicable. For example, for many years residents of Hammond, IN on 219-931, 932, and 933 could call Calumet City, IL on 312-862 and 864, as well as Lansing, IL (474) by just dialing the seven digit number. People in Antioch, IL on 312-395 were able to call people in North Antioch, WI on 414-396 the same way and vice-versa. Ditto with Beloit, WI and South Beloit, IL. No more luxuries like that I am afraid. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Al Niven Subject: Information Wanted on NACT Switches Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 13:27:03 -0400 Organization: Earthlink Network, Inc. Anybody with any experience with these switches? Thanks. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #363 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Jul 25 13:00:23 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA12404; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 13:00:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 13:00:23 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607251700.NAA12404@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #364 TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Jul 96 13:00:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 364 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NPA 867 (=TOP of the World) for Yukon/NWT in Canada (Mark J. Cuccia) 00 Gets Wrong Operator?? (Joseph Gutstein) Year 2000 Computer Conference (Greg Monti) Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Summer 1996) (Ronda Hauben) BellSouth and Mediaone Strike Interconnection Pact (Mike King) Employment Opportunity: Research Engineer (B. Ravichandran) SDH and Sonet Distances (Iain MacCall) Interesting AT&T Pricing (Carlen Hoppe) How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (William Pfeiffer) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 10:00:48 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: NPA 867 (=TOP of the World) for Yukon/NWT in Canada Yesterday, Wednesday 24 July 1996, Northwestel announced the new code for YT/NWT, which will be 867 (= "TOP" of the World). Permissive dialing begins in October 1997, with mandatory dialing in April, 1998. Presently, the former CNTelephone area of the Yukon and western/southern NWT is served by Alberta's 403 area code, while the former Bell Canada area of eastern/Arctic NWT is served by one of Quebec's area codes, 819. Yukon is served by Alberta's 403 area code. There is one single central office prefix code conflict in this area. 403-979 has been Inuvik NWT, while 819-979 has been Iqualuit NWT. Iqualuit (which will be the new eastern Nunavut Territory capital) will keep 979 as its prefix, but Inuvik (in the western part of the NWT, which will have a new territorial name yet to be announced, near the Arctic Ocean and near the border with YT) will change its 403-979 to ???. 403-979 & 867-??? will both go to Inuvik (NWT) during permissive (what about 403-???) 819-979 & 867-979 will both go to Iqualuit (NWT) during permissive The 979 conflict is to still to be determined locally. I understand that the new 867-??? prefix for Inuvik will be chosen such that it isn't one presently in 403 or 819. The new prefix for Inuvik *might* just be available via 403 during permissive, but we'll just have to find out later on. Most of the new Caribbean NPA's splitting from 809 are assigning new central office NXX prefixes such that *even during permissive dialing*, they are *NOT* (temporarily) available via 809. But Bellcore NANPA still manages the 809 area code's central office assignments, probably until everything but the Dominican Republic splits off into their own new NPA codes. Each new NPA code in the Caribbean will have its central office codes assigned by the local telco or local government regulatory agency. I would assume that the Dominican Republic (GTE's CODETEL) will assign the 809-NXX codes after everything else has split off and ended permissive dialing. But none of Canada's NPA-NXX codes are directly handled by Bellcore as such. So, it might be that "867-???" for Inuvik might also be temporarily permissively dialable as "403-???". The split of Yukon and the western/southern NWT into 867, from (Alberta's) 403 code will "free up" many NXX prefixes for use later on in 403 *IN* Alberta, but from CSCN (Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering) mailings I have received, 403 will *still* need some relief (most likely a split) in the next few years. There is supposed to be a relief planning meeting by the various affected Canadian carriers and telcos in a few months. What remains to be seen is if the larger city, Calgary AB keeps 403, or if the next larger city *and* provincial capital, Edmonton AB keeps 403 forcing Calgary and the southern part of the province to change into the new NPA code. Northwestel's webpages (http://www.yukonweb.wis.net/business/nwtel/new.html) *DO* have an announcement, as of Thursday morning. The webpage doesn't give the 'exact' date of permissive and mandatory however, only the months of October 1997 and April 1998. The 'test' number isn't indicated neither, and probably hasn't yet been determined. Bellcore NANPA's webpages (http://www.bellcore.com/NANP) doesn't yet have anything at all on this new NPA code. NWTel's webpage does indicate a toll-free number, 888-777-1867 for information about the new NPA code. I have also heard that it is 800-777-1867. I tried both numbers (from here, in the US), and 800-777-1867 goes to an "MCI-like" dialtone, while 888-777-1867 goes to the recording, "your call cannot be completed as dialed". NWTel also serves several locations in northern British Columbia. These exchanges have been in BC's 604 area code, and will be changing to BC's new second area code, 250, which begins permissive dialing in October 1996. They will *NOT* be changing into this new Northwestel YT/NWT 867 area code. Note that 867 comes from the "General Purpose" list of NPA codes, similar to the new Caribbean NPA codes, rather than the "Geographical Relief" codes. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: Joseph Gutstein Subject: 00 Gets Wrong Operator? Organization: Cybernex Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 16:56:06 GMT When I dial 00 I always (not just once in a while) get Telecom USA (which is a subsidiary of MCI) as my long distance operator despite the fact that Bell Atalantic has my PIC as 222 (MCI), the 700 number used to identify one's long distance service says MCI, amd MCI says it shows billings from my calls on its records. Does anyone know why Telecom USA always turns up when I dial 00? The really strange part -- my brother and I live in the same high rise building and both changed to MCI on the same day. When I dial 00 on either of my lines I always get Telecom USA and he always gets MCI. I've called MCI numerous times and gotten various answers the latest of which has to do with Telecom USA being part of MCI which is fine with me but I'm told that the Telecom operators only handle the MCI's overflow. If that is the case why do I always get Telecom USA operators and my brother never does? Thanks, Joe [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Are you and your brother on the same or different prefixes? It may be that some prefixes are routed to the one and some to the other. Try calling from other telephones on the same prefix as yourself (and your brothe) and see if the results are the same. From here I just now dialed 10222-0 (which is the same difference as your '00' I guess) and I got a robot prompt which identified as MCI telling me to enter the number I wanted to call 'or, press zero again now for an MCI operator' ... PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 22:27:24 -0400 From: cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti) Subject: Year 2000 Computer Conference A week or two ago I was reading a story in {The Wall Stret Journal} about how some companies (including telephone companies) with substantial legacy computer systems had appointed a person with a title like "Year 2000 Transition Director." Their job: to make sure computer systems, databases, schedulers and other automated processes don't get hung up by the fact that a year that may be stored as "00" is one year later than "99". Like billing a phone call which crosses the millenium boundary as being 100 years long. I showed the article to an MIS guy who chuckled and produced, from his junk mail pile, the next logical step: a twelve-page color brochure advertising "DCI's Year 2000 Issues and Answers Conference." I have no association with DCI, and don't want to make this into an ad, but I figured some would find it useful. The conference will be held October 2-4 in Orlando and December 10-12 in Chicago. For more information, call +1 508 470 3880 or visit http://www.dciexpo.com/ or e-mail confreg@dciexpo.com Sessions include: "Year 2000 Tools, Methodologies and Solutions," "Surviving the Year 2000: Awareness, Denial, Panic and Triage," "ROI-2000: Getting Return on Your Year 2000 Investment," and "COBOL in the 21st Century." There are also seminars and briefings before and after the main conference, so you could spend as many as five days (about US$1,300) or as litle as two days (about $800). These prices do not include hotel or airfare. Greg Monti Jersey City, New Jersey, USA gmonti@interramp.com ------------------------------ From: rh120@vanakam.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (summer 1996) Date: 25 Jul 1996 04:09:11 GMT Organization: Columbia University The article "What Made Bell Labs Great" by T. A. Heppenheimer in the Summer 1996 "American Heritage of Invention & Technology" is a helpful discussion of the significant achievement represented by Bell Labs and what has been lost with the break up of AT&T with regard to the Labs. Heppenheimer documents the value of being able to provide resources for forefronts research work -- leading to significant inventions. And he documents the intellectual atmosphere encouraging such inventions by seminars, journal clubs and study groups, etc. He notes how the commitment of Bell Labs to basic research was built on the long term view that AT&T would continue as a regulated monopoly. Summarizing some of what has been lost by the loss of commitment to basic research for a research lab like Bell Labs, Heppenheimer, quoting Charles Shank, who had headed an electronics lab, wrote, "Fundamental new advances come over time, and if you're going to invent something like the transistor or the laser it requires an organization with size, not a start-up company. The single most important thing to a thriving basic research lab is stability in terms of long-term commitment of resources. That's what creates a scientific culture, and it was the key to the success of Bell Labs." He then notes that though you "can't build up a scientific culture quickly ... you can sure tear it apart in a hurry." (p. 56) I recommend the article and wonder why there haven't been more like it looking at the enormous achievements of Bell Labs and analyzing the impact that the breakup of AT&T would have on the continuing ability to support such an important research and scientific resource. Ronda rh120@columbia.edu ronda@panix.com Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ See chapter 9: On the Early History and Impact of Unix Tools to Build the Tools for a New Millenium ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth and Media One Strike Interconnection Pact Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 17:31:33 PDT Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 12:13:07 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth BELLSOUTH & MEDIAONE STRIKE INTERCONNECTION PACT Agreement Will Dramatically Expand Competition in Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)--July 23, 1996--Building on the momentum and spirit of competition presented by the Olympics, BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) announced today it has signed an agreement with MediaOne, a subsidiary of U S West, that will allow that company to begin offering local phone service through its own network to customers in Atlanta soon. This significant agreement, the first between two regional holding companies, sets the stage for Olympian type competition in the metro area after the 1996 Games conclude that will give consumers an expanded range of choice for their telephone and cable services. "This agreement with MediaOne, the largest cable operator in Atlanta, is very significant to us and one we are excited about," noted Carl Swearingen, President for BellSouth's Georgia Operations. "We liken this agreement to the Olympic competitors now in Atlanta in that we have reached a mutual agreement with MediaOne that will benefit our customers, and better our industry, through the spirit of true competition." "We're happy that we could reach an agreement," said Bruce K. Posey, MediaOne's Vice President of Public Policy and External Affairs. "This agreement will permit MediaOne to take a significant step toward the provision of competitive local exchange services." The agreement covers MediaOne's operations in the Atlanta area and sets the conditions under which BellSouth and MediaOne will interconnect their networks, including: non-discriminatory rates, terms and conditions for local interconnection; interim number portability; and the resale of BellSouth's services and network capabilities. The issue of unbundling of network elements is being addressed by the Georgia Public Service Commission and terms will be included at a later date. "This agreement meets requirements detailed in the national legislation and, when implemented by MediaOne, moves us closer to being able to become a one-stop shop for all of our customers' communications needs including local and long distance services," said Swearingen. "We look forward to offering these services to our customers in Atlanta and throughout Georgia very soon." Swearingen noted that the agreement will spur competition from a company who has committed to the development of its own telephone network, the true intent of the national legislation. "MediaOne has publicly committed to make a substantial investment to develop their own telecommunications infrastructure in Atlanta and this agreement will let them put this technology to work," stated Swearingen. "More than the competition from the resale of BellSouth's services, the development of these additional telecommunications facilities will have positive economic benefits for all of Atlanta and Georgia, continuing our state's place as a national leader in the development of advanced telecommunications technologies," said Swearingen. BellSouth also indicated it signed a resale agreement in Georgia with TriComm, Inc. With these agreements, BellSouth has now signed 14 agreements with regional and national competitors including: Time Warner, Intermedia, Teleport Communications Group, Hart Communications, The Telephone Company of Central Florida, Southeast Telephone Company, American MetroComm, Payphone Consultants, Georgia Comm South and the Florida Cable Association. The company is also expected to sign additional agreements with competitors in the near future. MediaOne is part of the U S West Media Group (NYSE: UMG), which is involved in domestic and international cable and telephony, wireless communications, and directory and information services. For 1995, U S West Media Group reported proportionate revenues of $5.1 billion. Media Group is one of two major groups that make up U S West, a company of the connections business, helping customers share information, entertainment and communications in local markets worldwide. BellSouth is a $17.9 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications, directory advertising and publishing and other information services to more than 25 million customers in 17 countries worldwide. Its telephone operations provide service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world for approximately 21 million telephone lines in a nine-state region that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. For Information Contact: Lynn Bress - BellSouth Telecommunications (770)391-2484 Joe Chandler - BellSouth Telecommunications (404)529-6235 Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: B. Ravichandran Subject: Employment Opportunity: Research Engineer Date: 25 Jul 1996 15:02:10 GMT Organization: Wilder Internet Gateway, Boston, MA SCIENTIFIC SYSTEMS is a small growing company of engineers and scientists in the suburban Boston area. We are active in applied research and development of emerging technologies in the areas of advanced guidance controls systems, system identification, image and signal processing, and pattern recognition. SCIENTIFIC SYSTEMS has clients in government, industrial and commercial sectors, and collaborates with recognized academic/research institutions and large businesses to develop and apply new solution methods to current and future technology needs. Please direct all correspondence, questions, etc. to Ms. Patricia Kelly, Human Resources Coordinator Scientific Systems Company 500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000 Woburn, MA 01801 Tel: (617) 933-5355 Fax: (617) 938-4752 Email: info@ssci.com Level: PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science Duties: Applied Research, Development and Implementation of Communication Network Applications. The successful applicant will contribute to one or more projects in the area of Communication Networks (Network Management, Call Admission Control, Routing, Traffic Shaping, Scheduling, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)). Req'd Experience: * Communications, Networks, Controls, Learning * Statistical Modeling and Inference * ATM Desirable: * Working knowledge of any of the following topics: Modern Control Theory, Artificial Intelligence, Reinforcement Learning, Neural Networks * Strong algorithm and software development skills (Matlab, C, C++, etc.) * Experience with Opnet * Excellent written and oral communication skills ( technical proposals for contracts, progress reports, and presentations.) Job Code: SSC-9625 B. Ravichandran PhD Scientific Systems Company, Inc. ravi@ssci.com 500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000 t:617.933.5355 Woburn, MA 01801 f:617.938.4752 ------------------------------ From: 100604.615@compuserve.com (Iain MacCall) Subject: SDH and Sonet Distances Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 02:32:19 GMT Organization: CompuServe Incorporated What is the maximum distance between two STM-4 (OC12) and two STM-16 (OC48) devices on an SDH (or Sonet) trunk network? Our fibre is modern Telco quality single-mode fibre (9/125). Is anyone deploying STM-64 (OC196) kit anywhere? What manufacturers make it? What is the maximum distance between two of these devices? Iain ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 18:32:27 -0700 From: Carlen Hoppe Subject: Interesting AT&T Pricing I was looking around the AT&T web site the other day and noticed something interesting that seemed to relate to local telco competition. It seems that AT&T wants its T1 users to help them bypass the local loop when recieving calls from AT&T. By dedicating four of your T1 channels to incoming AT&T calls you can save a fair amount of $$. AT&T will even pay you if you recieve lots of their calls to do it via one of their T1 lines instead of the local loop. You can find info on it at this address: http://www.att.com/business/global/t1/access.html I am not sure if this is something new, but I was quite intrigued by it. Carlen Hoppe choppe@oboe.calpoly.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We have talked about it before here, but I do not recall we ever had a specific contact at AT&T to write to if we wanted to do it. What brought the subject up here in the Digest was people asking how the people who operate phone sex lines were able to do so 'for free'; that is, without charging the caller. There are actually phone services of that sort where on simply dials a regular number. No 900 billing is involved, and no 800 billing to a credit card is involved. The people who run those are fond of advertising them saying, 'our service is FREE! all you pay is toll ...' So the question came up here, if that is the case how do those people running 'free' conference bridges for sex talk and such make a living for themselves? The answer is as you state above. We knew it but never could earlier find anyone at AT&T to admit to it. If you generate sufficient traffic on your T-1 (what sex line does not?) and are willing to bypass the local central office saving AT&T or the other carriers quite a bit of money, they'll gladly share that money with you. Highly successful conference bridge operators on phone sex services can very easily make a living on the five cents here and ten cents there they receive as kickbacks from the carriers. How do you do bypass? The carrier you are working with requires that all incoming calls be routed through it. When it sees a call to the number for your service, it grabs that call and reroutes it to its own circuits and into your T-1 skipping entirely past the local telco. A good question might be how do you force people to use the carrier you want them to use, ie. the one with the T-1 to you who is paying you for that traffic? You do have actual telephones on your premises with the numbers assigned to them which you are advertising. But you answer those lines with a recorded message saying "to reach this service you *must* hang up and dial (carrier code) plus 1 plus the number. If the susbcriber is defaulted to the same carrier as you are using, fine. Their call is trapped by the carrier and sent to you via the T-1. If the subscriber uses some other carrier the call will proceed 'normally' through the network to your premises where you answer with the above recording telling them they won't get through unless they use the carrier you have selected. Naturally you do not want those calls on the conference bridge because they are using up resources you are not getting paid for. Its nice to see AT&T is now discussing this openly with subscribers since they have been doing it where sex phone services have been concerned for a few years now. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rrb@clm.aiss.uiuc.edu (AIRWAVES MEDIA) Subject: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? Date: 25 Jul 1996 07:32:16 GMT Organization: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I am wondering how secure the coding is in these 900Mhz cordless phones. Tuning them in on a scanner produces nothing but the hash of the digital carrier, but I wonder how hard it is to actually 'hear' the conversation? Can people modfy the actual phones to do this? Can a modem be used? I would love to hear some technical data on these phones. What kind of encoding they use, bit rate, etc. Can't be too complex, there isn't much inside the base to do the decoding. If this has already been discussed, or is a FAQ, please feel encouraged to point me at the information. I will summarize any email response I get. I am also interested in obtaining a schematic for an AT&T 9100 cordless. Thanks, William Pfeiffer Moderator: rec.radio.broadcasting/AIRWAVES RADIO JOURNAL wdp@airwaves.com * wdp@wwa.com * airwaves@woodtech.com Web: http://radio.aiss.uiuc.edu/~rrb/ [TELCOM Digest Editor's Note: Bill Pfeiffer has been a long time (about twenty years) personal friend of mine. He is the person who put together the basic structure and design of the telecom web page which many of you have seen and commented on. I owe him a great deal of thanks for getting me started on the web. You might like to check out his corner of the web also if you have never done so. Bill and I 'share' many of the same readers to his journals and mine. Feel free to respond to his question above in email if you wish. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #364 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Jul 25 15:17:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA26340; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 15:17:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 15:17:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607251917.PAA26340@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #365 TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Jul 96 13:17:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 365 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Caller ID in California (Lynne Gregg) Re: Trunk Lines and Caller ID (Lynne Gregg) Re: Trunk Lines and Caller ID (Terry Kennedy) Re: Caller ID/Per Line Blocking (Seymour Dupa) Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata (Bob Niland) Re: Caller ID Question (S. Michelson) Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem (John David Galt) Re: Extra Charge for Trunk Line Hunting (Steve Hayes) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (James E. Bellaire) Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! (Eric Tholome) Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular (Jonathan Cohen) Callback Providers in Germany (Alan McCord) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Re: Caller ID in California Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 16:20:00 PDT Maddi Hausmann Sojourner wrote: > We wanted this service so we could ignore those pesky telemarketers > who always call during dinner time. Well, how do they operate? From > banks of phones, of course. OUT OF AREA, every time. But, maybe it's > someone calling from their place of work. Or from a pay station. An > old friend is in town, calling from his hotel. There is no way to > tell the difference! > I remember reading something in this group about ANI information that > indicated what kind of phone was making the call. It supposedly gave > the indications residential, commerical, hotel, prison, pay phone, etc. No, ANI does not indicate the TYPE of phone making the call. ANI is the CHARGE number, or number which may be originating the call (ANI may not always indicate originating number since it can be overridden on operator-assisted calls). ANI will not give you an indication of where the call is coming from (i.e., hotel). There are some holes with Caller ID. It also doesn't tell you WHO is making the call, only the originating number (or if name is carried, it's the name that appears on the service invoice). Regards, Lynne ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Re: Trunk Lines and Caller ID Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 15:35:00 PDT Jean-Francois Mezei wrote: > I often get calls from large organizations in New York City (212) (am in > Montreal 514) and often, I either get a unknown caller ID or, in some > cases, I get an actual *local* telephone number with no name associated > with it. Calling that local number results in "there is no service at > the number you have dialed ..." message. > Is the quality of the CALLER-ID completeness going to improve in areas > already served by that service, or will caller ID always remain useless > for calls originated from large corporations with trunk lines etc? It's all in how the PBX is configured. Obviously, if you're getting a trunk number, the ISUP connectivity is there and a number is able to be passed. The PBX should be configured to send either station number (direct dial number) or main company phone number (or a combination of, depending on user preference or company policy). If you receive these calls on a regular basis, ask your business associate to tell his telecom manager to configure the PBX to send an actual number. Regards, Lynne ------------------------------ From: terry@spcvxa.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.) Subject: Re: Trunk Lines and Caller ID Organization: St. Peter's College, US Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 21:34:32 GMT In article , Jean-Francois Mezei writes: > I often get calls from large organizations in New York City (212) (am in > Montreal 514) and often, I either get a unknown caller ID or, in some > cases, I get an actual *local* telephone number with no name associated > with it. Calling that local number results in "there is no service at > the number you have dialed ..." message. > Is the quality of the CALLER-ID completeness going to improve in areas > already served by that service, or will caller ID always remain useless > for calls originated from large corporations with trunk lines etc? You may be surprised to discover that large portions of New York City are *not* currently caller-ID capable. Almost none of the 1AESS switches are equipped with SS7 links. I've been told informally that this is "because all of those switches are scheduled to be replaced in the 1980's". The person telling me this told it to me with a straight face, too ... That explains the "out of area" indications you're getting. As far as the other numbers you're seeing displayed, that's par for the course with large companies that have their private (possibly virtual) phone networks. Caller ID is working as designed - it's giving you the calling number identifier for the call. If you want something like the billing telephone number, you'll have to become a carrier to get the data 8-) Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing terry@spcvxa.spc.edu St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA +1 201 915 9381 (voice) +1 201 435-3662 (FAX) ------------------------------ From: grumpy@en.com (Seymour Dupa) Subject: Re: Caller ID/Per Line Blocking Date: 25 Jul 1996 13:12:41 GMT Organization: Exchange Network Services, Inc. Baron L. Chandler (thebaron@mindspring.com) wrote: > answer the phone with "I'm sorry, but we do not accept calls from a > blocked number. Please unblock your number and call back". I would add, "Call your telephone company for assistance". Then push the 'mute' button and listen for their response. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now that's not fair! Either you accept that sort of call or you do not accept that sort of call. You don't get a one way audio feed to sit there and chortle at . :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: rjn@csn.net (Bob Niland) Subject: Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata Date: 25 Jul 1996 13:26:55 GMT Organization: Colorado SuperNet Reply-To: rjn@csn.net Thomas P. Brisco (brisco@ieee.org) wrote: > Private: Person has a non-pub number > Anonymous: Caller ID has been blocked > Out of Area: Originating area doesn't support CallerID We have three Cidco and one Westlink CID boxes. Blocked calls *always* show as "ANONYMOUS" on the Cidcos (which never display "PRIVATE" for any reason) and blocked calls always show as "PRIVATE" on the Westlink (which never displays "ANONYMOUS" for any reason). Do people actually see displays of both "ANONYMOUS" and "PRIVATE" on the same display? Regards, 1001-A East Harmony Road Bob Niland Suite 503 Internet: rjn@csn.net Fort Collins Unless otherwise specifically stated, Colorado 80525 USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: According to Hillary, she does. PAT] ------------------------------ From: smm1@hogpf.ho.att.com (-S.MICHELSON) Subject: Re: Caller ID Question Date: 25 Jul 1996 14:43:29 GMT Organization: AT&T In article , Dave Keeny wrote: > I live in Frederick, MD, and often call, and receive calls from, a > number in Gaithersburg -- long distance, same area code. When I > receive calls from this number, their CID information shows up on my > unit, but when I call them, my CID information does *not* show up on > their unit. It shows up as either "out of area" or "no CID" (I'm not > sure which, offhand), but does not show up as "blocked". We never > requested that our CID info be blocked and I believe the default is > non-blocked. Does anyone have an explanation or theory for this? A couple of questions to help troubleshoot the problem are in order: 1) Which carrier is used in the Gaithersburg to Frederick call? This could possibly be Bell Atlantic - C&P, or it might be another carrier. 2) Which carrier is used in the Frederick to Gaithersburg call? ------------------------------ From: John_David_Galt@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Anonymous Call Blocking Problem Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 11:00:30 PDT Here in Pacific Bell land, CID finally appears to be available -- but I still am not allowed to put out-of-LATA numbers on my Call Block or Priority Ringing lists, whether I enter the number manually or hit #01# to get the number of the last incoming call. It seems to me that PB is violating at least the spirit of the Federal rules by imposing this pointless restriction. Could someone from PB please comment on why this is being done, and if/when we can expect it to stop? John David Galt ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jul 96 06:23:30 EDT From: Steve Hayes <100112.606@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Extra Charge for Trunk Line Hunting In Telecom Digest 363, ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) writes: > I was just recently made aware that my company's multi-line hunt group > in Orlando, Fla. was set up as a 'PBX' trunk instead of normal > business lines. The cost difference is an $10 extra per line per > month! > The engineering difference? Well, the rep said that my lines were > 'specially engineered' for a PBX. I don't have a PBX. I use the lines > for a voice-mail system. But assuming I did, wouldn't the phone > company want to know WHICH PBX I was using in order to perform their > 'special engineering'? > The rep then explained that a PBX trunk group was designed to handle > more calls than normal business lines. Huh? There are two wires per > circuit either way. I'd like to know in what sense this trunk can > handle more calls. In most switches (COs and PBXs) that I've encountered, there is some sort of line concentration used to reduce the cost of the switch. This involves grouping lines together and connecting them through a switch matrix to a smaller number of ports into the switch itself. This works on the basis that only a certain proportion of the lines are likely to be in use at any one time. For example, on one large 70's vintage PBX I worked on, lines (extensions) were set up to share groups of 16 codecs. You could have 16, 32, 48 or 64 lines concentrated down to the 16 codecs. If you set up 48 lines in the group and more than 16 tried to place calls at the same time, some would not get dial tone. When the PBX was installed, lines serving busy departments such as sales might be set up with a low concentration ratio such as 2:1 (32 lines for 16 codecs) while less busy departments (or hotel rooms) might be served with 4:1 concentration. If you were ordering lines (properly called "trunks") for a PBX, you might order (say) 48 trunks on the basis that you expected as many as 48 calls active at once. If these were concentrated in the C.O. to share 16 codecs, you would be most unhappy for obvious reasons. Telco will make sure that these lines are set up without concentration or perhaps spread among a number of low concentration line groups. This (plus the heavier expected usage per line in areas with flat-rate tariffs) is the justification for charging PBX trunks at a different rate. In effect, the PBX has already concentrated the traffic from its large number of extensions onto the smaller number of trunks. Nowadays, codecs and switching circuits are relatively much less expensive and switches are usually designed with one codec per line, so there is probably less excuse for charging extra for PBX trunks. However, once it is in the tariff, it's there to stay. Steve Hayes, 100112.606@compuserve.com Swansea, UK ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 18:27:24 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? In TELECOM Digest v.16 #261, M.S. Russell wrote: > The other night I put a tape into my VCR (it was _Nixon_ by Oliver > Stone) and at the beginning of the tape there was probably a 1-2 > interval where I heard a faint, rapid string of what sounded like DTMF > tones. This was before the movie or previews had actually started, in > that "grey" area ... > I also heard it at the beginning of the second tape (it's a two tape > rental). > I also recall hearing this before a few years back before regular > programs on TV. Can't be sure if it was regular antenna reception or > my cable company, so I don't know if that's a factor. I don't watch > much TV anymore so I haven't heard it while viewing lately. > What the heck is it? My guess is some sort of station identifier > (before the programs) or some sort of media identifier (analagous to > an ISBN number for a book at the library). > I'm interested as to its purpose/history. I can't speak for its purpose on a rental or purchase videotape, other than some form of identification as mentioned above. But in the 1980's, most national cable program services used a rapid string of touchtone (DTMF) at certain intervals, for identification, but also for automated control of the local cable company's system. There are certain spots during the hour when the local cable company can break away from the national satellite distributed programmer and insert local commercials. Some national radio networks such as APRadio, UPI Radio, Talk Radio Network, etc. and many regional or statewide radio networks also use a touchtone or two at certain intervals for controlling automated radio station affiliates. They can be used for the local station to "drop out" of the network feed to run local commercials, or starting and stopping a "cart" tape machine at the local affiliate to record a particular network program segment or national network commercial. CBS Radio, ABC Radio, Mutual/NBC/Westwood/etc. don't really use touchtones for automation and control, but rather individual systems of tones for control. CBS Radio's system is a set of squeaky "bleep" tones, ABC Radio's tones sound like a faint "squeek" which I've read is brief FSK tones, while Westwood-One's NBC Radio uses tones which sound like a "gurgle" or "blee-dee-deep" and Westwood's Mutual Network uses a distinct system of "BEE-doop" tones. What might have sounded like touchtones in the audio of national network *television* programs in the 1950's through the 1970's wasn't really touchtones at all. Prior to satellite distribution of CBS-TV, NBC-TV, ABC-TV, NET/PBS, and even the early 1950's DuMont Television Network, as well as the "ad-hoc" Hughes Television Network (for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon to combat Muscular Distrophy), facilities of the *telephone* company was used to transmit the programs from city-to-city, from coast-to-coast. This also applies to the national radio networks prior to satellite distribution. There was frequently a certain amount of "crosstalk" between regular dialed trunk connections of a telephone call bleeding over into the radio network leased channels or the leased audio channels for the TV networks. The "touchtones" frequently heard in the background was crosstalk from switched "MFKP" (Multifrequency Keypulse) tones used to switch, route and connect dialed long distance telephone calls. Even some TV programs themselves actually used a string of MFKP in the 1960's to indicate a (long-distance) telephone call being placed. There is an episode of "Bewitched", where Endorra picks up a telephone, waves her hand (instead of dialing or tapping out a number), and you then hear a string of MFKP (not DTMF) and then the called party's phone starts ringing! MFKP tones actually date back to the 1940's when Bell Labs and AT&T Long Lines developed methods for automation of long distance switching. The particular frequencies aren't the same as touchtone, but fall more-or-less in the same frequency range. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jul 96 19:04 EST From: James E. Bellaire Organization: Twin Kings Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? M.S. Russell wrote: > The other night I put a tape into my VCR (it was _Nixon_ by Oliver > Stone) and at the beginning of the tape there was probably a 1-2 > interval where I heard a faint, rapid string of what sounded like DTMF > tones. This was before the movie or previews had actually started, in > that "grey" area ... > I also heard it at the beginning of the second tape (it's a two tape > rental). > I also recall hearing this before a few years back before regular > programs on TV. Can't be sure if it was regular antenna reception or > my cable company, so I don't know if that's a factor. I don't watch > much TV anymore so I haven't heard it while viewing lately. > What the heck is it? My guess is some sort of station identifier > (before the programs) or some sort of media identifier (analagous to > an ISBN number for a book at the library). > I'm interested as to its purpose/history. Touch tones were used to signal the beginning of breaks in cable shows a few years back. A couple of minutes every hour are made available to the local cable company for cross-channel promotion of their other feature channels or for local advertisers. Now the signalling is done out of band, but back then they put tones on the audio. They generally used 826* as a marker. This would come at 10 seconds before the break (to allow for timing) and the exact end. On a VCR tape it could be left over from the copying process. Tones are at the beginning and end of every copy on a multi copy reel at the plant where they do the mass production. The cutting machines that make these ino smaller cassettes use the tones to know when to cut. Audio cassettes will sometimes have a high pitch tone at the start. This is the same type of marking. James E. Bellaire (JEB6) bellaire@tk.com WebPage now available http://www.holli.com/~bellaire ------------------------------ From: tholome@francenet.fr (Eric Tholome) Subject: Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 22:05:52 +0200 In article , Jeremy Rogers wrote: >> The AT&T International Call Plan is available to customers living in >> Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Norway." > If anyone is wondering why the UK isn't on that list it is simple. > AT&T operates a normal long distance service here via an access code (1430). Well, I don't think it is *that* simple. AT&T has also been operating a normal long distance (read international) service in France via an access code (190011) for many years, as does Sprint (190087) and probably others. Eric Tholome | displayed with | private account 23, avenue du Centre | 100% recycled | tholome@francenet.fr 78180 Montigny le Bretonneux |___ pixels! ___| phone: +33 1 30 48 06 47 France \________/ fax: same number, call first! (if calling, remember that France is 6 to 11 hours ahead of the U.S.A.!) ------------------------------ From: jcohen@dial.pipex.com (Jonathan Cohen) Subject: Re: Sidetone/echo on Cellular Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:31:40 +0100 Organization: EFX Communications Ltd, Call 0701-0701 339. schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) wrote: > The response I read was that sidetone is entirely controlled by the > cellular tower, and excessive delay cannot be caused by the cellphone. When digital (GSM) networks first launched in the UK (three or four years ago) almost all the networks suffered from echo. However over the last few years it has become un-noticeable due, I believe, to the networks upgrading their echo suppressors. However echo to the non-mobile party in a call can still be caused by the mobile subscriber having their handset volume set high causing the mobile's microphone to pickup the received audio. :-/ Jonathan Cohen, jcohen@dial.pipex.com or jcohen@pobox.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 01:32:28 +0200 From: Alan McCord Subject: Callback Providers in Germany A reader asked in comp.dcom.telecom: > I will appreciate any recommendations that TD readers may provide > about callback service providers in Germany. Check out http://www.tet.pt/callback We are not "in" Germany as such, but we are relatively close by. In any case you can pay in US$ using your US credit card, und wir Deutsch sprechen koenen. (more or less). > Also soliciting advice about laptop modems while traveling on the > continent. I am using a PCMCIA New Media 14.4 right now in an IBM Thinkpad 755c and it works fine on tone and pulse dialing. With Tapioca and Metzdialler software it does automated callbacks for fax and voice. When I'm moving around I use a Nokia PCMCIA card attached to a Nokia GSM 2110. Again automated callback works fine with that too. You won't get better service on the continent than from us! (Even if we do say so ourselves). Have you checked out the Road Warrior Site for their connectivity kit? Regards, Alan McCord Q u a n t u m R e s e a r c h L i m i t e d R. Galileu Correia 8-7A 2800 Almada PORTUGAL PHONE: +351-(1)-276-5190 PHONE (AFTER HOURS): +351-(1)-2756639 FAX: +351-(1)-2751002 MAIL: mccord@mail.telepac.pt CALLBACK WEB: http://www.tet.pt/callback ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #365 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Jul 25 17:37:45 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA09927; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 17:37:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 17:37:45 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607252137.RAA09927@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #366 TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Jul 96 17:37:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 366 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Areacode Reorganization in Liege, Belgium (Jan Ceuleers) New from Cantel! (Chris Farrar) Interesting Things in the French Dialing Plan (Eric Tholome) DTH Dishes "Pizza Sized Dishes" (Chris Farrar) Strange Payphone Programming! (Chris Farrar) Cable and Wireless Residential Service? (EK Kern) Texas PUC Plans Public Meetings (John Cropper) Re: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? (Michael Schuster) Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Richard W. Museums) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jan Ceuleers Date: Thu, 25 Jul 96 15:17:29 +0200 Subject: Areacode Reorganization in Liege, Belgium On 14 September 1996, the 041 area code (+32-41) will be split into two new area codes (+32-42 and +32-43). This area code covers the city of Liege and its surroundings. The above statement is perhaps a bit of a simplification on my part, because what will actually happen is that the +32-41 area code will cease to exist and be replaced by +32-4. A digit will be prepended to existing telephone numbers (either a 2 or a 3), so that the Liege area will find itself converted to a local area with 7-digit local dialing. A similar move has already been made in the Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent areas, creating area codes +32-2, +32-3 and +32-9, respectively. Whether a 2 or a 3 is prepended to a particular local number is determined by whether the CO is located on the left bank or the right bank of the river Meuse. I'm including a table that lists the old and new number ranges. (A): first two digits of current local number (B): location of CO (C): first three digits of new number +-----+-----------------+-----++-----+-----------------+-----+ | (A) | (B) | (C) || (A) | (B) | (C) | +-----+-----------------+-----++-----+-----------------+-----+ | 20 | Center | 220 || 55 | Fleron | 355 | | 21 | Center | 221 || 57 | Villers-l'Eveque| 257 | | 22 | Center | 222 || 58 | Fleron | 358 | | 23 | Center | 223 || 59 | Verlaine | 259 | | 24 | Ste. Marguerite | 224 || 60 | Louveigne | 360 | | 25 | Ste. Marguerite | 225 || 61 | Chenee | 361 | | 26 | Ste. Marguerite | 226 || 62 | Jupille | 362 | | 27 | St. Leonard | 227 || 63 | Ans | 263 | | 28 | St. Leonard | 228 || 64 | Herstal | 264 | | 29 | Guillemins | 229 || 65 | Chenee | 365 | | 30 | Pairay | 330 || 66 | Chenee | 366 | | 31 | Jemeppe | 231 || 67 | Chenee | 367 | | 32 | Center | 232 || 68 | Beaufays | 368 | | 33 | Jemeppe | 233 || 69 | Comblain | 369 | | 34 | Jemeppe | 234 || 70 | Jupille | 370 | | 35 | Jemeppe | 235 || 71 | Rotheux | 371 | | 36 | Pairay | 336 || 72 | Rotheux | 372 | | 37 | Pairay | 337 || 73 | Engis | 273 | | 38 | Pairay | 338 || 74 | Vise | 374 | | 39 | Ans | 239 || 75 | Engis | 275 | | 40 | Herstal | 240 || 76 | Warsage | 376 | | 41 | Longdoz | 341 || 77 | Micheroux | 377 | | 42 | Longdoz | 342 || 78 | Liers | 278 | | 43 | Longdoz | 343 || 79 | Vise | 379 | | 44 | Longdoz | 344 || 80 | Esneux | 380 | | 45 | Jupille | 345 || 81 | Fourons | 381 | | 46 | Ans | 246 || 82 | Sprimont | 382 | | 47 | Ans | 247 || 83 | Anthisnes | 383 | | 48 | Herstal | 248 || 84 | Aywaille | 384 | | 49 | Longdoz | 349 || 85 | Pairay | 385 | | 50 | Fexhe | 250 || 86 | Bassenge | 286 | | 51 | Trooz | 351 || 87 | Blegny | 387 | | 52 | Guillemins | 252 || 88 | Tilff | 388 | | 53 | Guillemins | 253 || 89 | Liers | 289 | | 54 | Guillemins | 254 || | | | +-----+-----------------+-----++-----+-----------------+-----+ DISCLAIMER: any typos are mine; I copied the above information from an insert in my phone bill. Jan Ceuleers Jan.Ceuleers@f857.n292.z2.fidonet.org AKA ceuleerj@btmaa.bel.alcatel.be ------------------------------ From: Chris.Farrar@x246-20.gryn.org (Chris Farrar) Date: 24 Jul 96 16:45:24 -0500 Subject: New From Cantel! The following is from the summer edition of "PASS IT ON" the little glossy pamphlet that Cantel, the Canadian A side cellular carrier, sends in your cellular bill at semi-regular intervals. All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted, subtract 30% to get the ballpark US equivalent. ======================= Did You Remember to Pack the Phone? Get ready for Canada's first international cellular phone service! Beginning this July, Cantel Worldwide lets you make and receive calls in 40 countries, using a Worldwide phone and your own Cantel Cellulare phone number. Forget the uncertainty of hotel surcharges, finding a public phone, or dealing with unfamiliar languages: for $7.95 per month, a one time activation fee of $49.95, plus the rental or purchase of a Worldwide phone, you become as accessible in Rome as you are in your office at home. You pay US$2.49 per minute for outgoing calls (no matter where you are or where you're calling to), and incoming calls are charged at hte same basic rate plus long distance. Calls are billed directly to your Cantel account, and the amount is converted to Canadian funds at the current exchange rates. If you need to stay in touch -- even when you're thousands of miles away -- Cantel Worldwide is there for you. Beginning July 1, call our toll-free line at 1-888-975-3933 for more information. ================= I haven't called yet, but I imagine that it would involve getting a GSM phone. Chris -- | Fidonet: Chris Farrar 1:246/20@fidonet.org | Internet: Chris.Farrar@x246-20.gryn.org ------------------------------ From: tholome@francenet.fr (Eric Tholome) Subject: Interesting Things in the French Dialing Plan Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 20:57:30 +0200 In France, 11 is the number of the Minitel electronic directory; 15, 17 and 18 are used for emergency. In October, the French dialing plan changes and the number for the Minitel electronic directory will become 3611 while the emergency number will become 112 as per European standards. In trying to migrate smoothly from one to the other, here is what happens: 3611 being available in the current dialling plan, it has already been introduced, so that people can get used to it before 11 disappears. But obviously, 112 cannot be introduced before October because when you start dialing it these days, you reach the Minitel directory after dialing 11. Well not quite ... I had the surprise to discover (by chance) that if you dialed the 2 after the two ones before the Minitel directory had answered your call, you were then routed to another number, which I assume was the emergency centre (I didn't wait for them to answer -- didn't want to bother them). In other words, both 11 and 112 are available today! This is the first time I see such a thing happen in the fixed network in France (I'm used to it on GSM networks, but it's easy there: the number dialed is sent en-bloc to the switch). This doesn't seem to work from all exchanges. The place I discovered it was around Grenoble. Eric Tholome | displayed with | private account 23, avenue du Centre | 100% recycled | tholome@francenet.fr 78180 Montigny le Bretonneux |___ pixels! ___| phone: +33 1 30 48 06 47 France \________/ fax: same number, call first! (if calling, remember that France is 6 to 11 hours ahead of the U.S.A.!) ------------------------------ From: Chris.Farrar@x246-20.gryn.org (Chris Farrar) Date: 24 Jul 96 17:10:04 -0500 Subject: DTH Dishes "Pizza Sized Dishes" Recently there was a story in the papers on how DirecTV decoders/ descrambelers have been hacked and it is now possible to get a circuit board with the hacked chip, allowing the viewing of all DirecTV channels without paying the subscription fees. DirecTV is owned by General Motors Corporation. GM has had the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) out looking for the pirates that have cracked the encryption routine for the small digital satelite dishes, who GM and DirecTV claim are being deprived of income. However, the case raises some interesting questions. DirecTV (and its competitors) are US satelite systems and as yet has not been authorized for sale in Canada, and there are no distributors in Canada, so who is being deprived of revenue? Dishes are generally bought from TV stores that truck them in from the US, or directly from US stores and taken back across the border in the owner's car. Possession of the dish isn't illegal, however the companies haven't been licensed for the Canadian market. To subscribe, a US mailing address is needed, generally resulting in Canadians renting PO boxes at places like Mail Box Ect. as you can identify the box as "apt" or "suite", or using friends or relatives address as theirs. While the dishes are legal (greymarket), the police are taking the view that the modified card that contains the decryption codes are illegal (blackmarket). Cracked cards are currently selling for $800 to $1,000 ($560 to $700 US). Current estimates say there are up to 20,000 cracked cards in use in Canada today. It is estimated that there are 150,000 DirecTV dishes in use in Canada today. An unnamed RCMP officer has commented "We've got kids on the street with guns, peddling hard drugs, and these cops are chasing after people for watching TV?" Chris Fidonet: Chris Farrar 1:246/20@fidonet.org Internet: Chris.Farrar@x246-20.gryn.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The cop's analogy is flawed. Yes, there are people selling drugs, carrying guns with violent intent and doing other bad things. There are also people engaged in the *theft of merchandise and services*, which is how the above crime could be categorized. It is not quite a matter of 'people watching TV' ... since everyone watches television but most are not categorized as criminals in any sense of the word. Furthermore, the commission of one crime (in this case selling a service which you are not licensed to sell) does not give carte blanche to others to commit crimes as well. Criminals can also be victims, and vice-versa. If I go out and get some money I should not lawfully have, i.e. rob someone, you cannot successfully defend yourself when you rob me by claiming I would not have had the money to srart with had I not robbed someone else first. How I get my money or material possessions is my business. I am accountable under the law for my ill-gotten gains as you are for yours. Thieves steal from other thieves all the time. Note I am not saying -- and I refuse to say -- is what should or should not be against the law. The acts you described are against the law because your society has defined them as such. They won't be against the law any longer when your society changes its rules, if it ever does. Where exactly should the line be drawn with these invisible things passing through our houses without our permission called radio waves? If you allow one bunch to keep their transmissions secret under law, why not another bunch, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Chris.Farrar@x246-20.gryn.org (Chris Farrar) Date: 24 Jul 96 19:43:54 -0500 Subject: Strange Payphone Programming! Up here in Ontario (Canada), all pay phones are owned by Bell Canada. I just ran into a Millenium pay phone that Bell has definitely blotched the programming on. The Millenium has the built in mag-stripe reader & smart card reader. When attempting to call to our company's voicemail system as the pager had just been triggered, I intended to recover the cost from my employer, so I swiped my card and dialed the number (971-XXXX). After the phone dialed out the number, it went to an intercept stating you had to dial 1 plus the area code. This is unique, as usually you simply swipe the card and then dial the 7 digits for the local number of your choice. Depositing a quarter and then dialing the call as 7 digits had it go through normally. Intrigued, I tried other numbers using my Calling Card. Dialing my home number (256-XXXX) got intercepted as "The number you have dialed is not a long distance call. Do not dial one before the number." This is strange as the LED display on the phone only showed that I had keyed in 7 digits, the first being a 2. Calling my cellular number (259-XXXX) resulted in the same intercept. Trying the voicemail again, resulted in the dial 1 first as it was a LD call (which it isn't). To get my call through to my home line, it had to be dialed 519-256-XXXX. Is anyone in Bell territory able to shed some light on why local calls from Millenium pay phones billed to Calling Cards cause the phone to behave radically differently than is you are using coins, and why nothing on the face of the phone privides the information on the different dialing techniques needed. Chris Fidonet: Chris Farrar 1:246/20@fidonet.org Internet: Chris.Farrar@x246-20.gryn.org ------------------------------ From: EK Kern Organization: The Soulfood Group Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 14:34:36 +0500 Subject: Cable and Wireless Residential Service? Hi everyone. I've been curious for some time about the availability of Cable and Wireless as a residential intra-lata long distance carrier, and I've been pestering them about it quite a bit. According to their main office (1-800-486-8686) they DO offer residential service, and they referred me to a regional sales office in Philadelphia (the most local office to me, area code 610). The Philadelphia office (1-800-229-7113) tells me there is no current residential offering. I'm really curious to find out what offerings they might have, if any, for residential service, as many local businesses I'm familiar with have been just raving about their rates and service domestically and internationally. Any details/information are appreciated :> ek. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 01:22:23 GMT Subject: Texas PUC Plans Public Meetings From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) PUC Update--July 18, 1996 A weekly meeting schedule and activity briefs service of the Public Utility Commission of Texas. News Releases PUC Schedules Area Code Public Forums in the 817 Calling Area Austin, TX-- The Texas Public Utility Commission has scheduled three public forums from August 13-15, 1996, to gather public input and provide consumer education on the implementation of a new area code in the 817 calling area. The 817 area code is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. The following public hearings will focus on relief for the 817 calling area: Waco: Tuesday, Aug. 13, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Bosque Theater in the Waco Convention Center, 100 Washington Ave. Fort Worth: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Fort Worth City Council Chambers, 1000 Throckmorton St. Wichita Falls: Thursday, Aug. 15, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Municipal Auditorium Building, Room 500, 1300 7th St. Ample parking will be available at all locations. Staff from the Texas PUC have met with industry representatives, consumer advocates, and local government representatives to develop three proposals that will be presented to the public. Weighing public sentiment and other factors, PUC staff will recommend one of the proposals to commissioners this fall. According to Carole Vogel, head of regulatory affairs, "Any one of the three proposals will extend the numbers for the current 817 calling area significantly. Any of them will work for the area." The Commission will present the following three proposals at the public forums. Two area codes: The 817 area code is split with the Fort Worth Metropolitan Exchange, the extended metropolitan service exchanges, and the Acton, Cresson, and Godley exchanges included in a single area code. The outstate area would receive a separate area code. The metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2001 and the outstate area code would exhaust in 2005. Three area codes initially, then a fourth area code: The 817 area code is split with the Fort Worth metropolitan exchange, the extended metropolitan services exchanges, and the Acton, Godley and Cresson exchanges in a single area code as in Plan 1. The outstate area would be split with the remainder divided equally between the northern and the southern areas, each receiving a new area code. A fourth area code would be implemented as an overlay for the metropolitan area when permanent number portability becomes available. The metropolitan area would exhaust in 2003, but would be extended to 2010 with an overlay. The Wichita Falls outstate area would exhaust in 2009, and the Waco outstate area in 2014. Three area codes: The 817 area code is split with the Forth Worth Metropolitan exchange (without the Acton, Godley, and Cresson exchanges) included in a single area code. The outstate area would be split with the remainder divided equally between the northern and southern areas, each receiving a new area code. The metropolitan area would exhaust in 2005, the Wichita Falls area would exhaust in 2007, and the Waco outstate area would exhaust in 2014. PUC staff will also be conducting public forums in Brownsville, Laredo, Uvalde, Kerrville, and San Antonio in the 210 calling area the week of Aug. 12. The 210 area code is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. Local calling scopes will not change with the implementation of the new area codes. Currently, Texas has nine area codes, but Dallas will implement its new 972 code as a geographic split in September and Houston, the 281 code as a geographic split in November, bringing the number to 11 area codes by the end of 1996. With the addition of just one more area code in 817 and one in the 210 area, Texas will have 13 area codes. PUC Schedules Area Code Public Forums in the 210 Calling Area Austin, TX-- The Texas Public Utility Commission has scheduled five public forums during the week of August 12 to gather public input and provide information on the implementation of a new area code in the 210 calling area. The 210 area code is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. The following public hearings will focus on area code relief for the 210 calling area: Brownsville: Monday, Aug. 12, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Brownsville Historical Museum, 641 E. Madison St. Laredo: Tuesday, Aug. 13, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., Laredo Civic Center, 2400 San Bernardo Ave. Uvalde: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Willie De Leon Civic Center, 300 E. Main Kerrville: Thursday, Aug. 15, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon., Kerrville Railroad Commission Training Center, 125 Lehman Drive San Antonio: Thursday, Aug. 15, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., Downtown Central Library, 600 Soledad St. Ample parking will be available at all locations. Staff from the Texas PUC have met with industry representatives, consumer advocates, and local government representatives to develop three proposals to be presented to the public. Weighing public sentiment and other factors, PUC staff will recommend one of the proposals to commissioners this fall. According to Carole Vogel, head of regulatory affairs, "Any one of the three proposals will extend the numbers for the current 210 calling area significantly. Any of them will work for the area." The Commission will present the following three proposals at the public forums. Two area codes: The 210 area code is split so that the San Antonio Metropolitan Exchange, the extended metropolitan exchanges, and the exchanges located to the east of San Antonio are included in a single area code. The outlying area which would include Kerrville, Uvalde, Laredo and all the border communities would be in the second area code. The metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2001 and the outstate code in 2005. Two area codes initially, then a third area code: The 210 area code is split as above. An additional area code would be implemented as an overlay in the metropolitan area when permanent number portability becomes available. The metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2008 with the addition of an overlay by the year 2001. Three area codes: The 210 area code is split into a "doughnut" shape with most of San Antonio in the "hole" with one area code. The northern outlying metropolitan area would be assigned a second area code, and a third area code would be assigned to the south, bordered by the north boundary of Webb County and including all the territory to the Texas-Mexico border. This will include Laredo, Brownsville and other border cities. Metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2004; north outstate area in 2011, and south outstate area in 2009. -------------- PUC staff will also be conducting public forums in Waco, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls in the 817 calling area the week of Aug. 12. The 817 calling area is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. Local calling scopes will not change with the implementation of the new area codes. Currently Texas has nine area codes, but Dallas will implement its new 972 code as a geographic split in September and Houston, the 281 code as a geographic split in November, bringing the number to 11 area codes by the end of 1996. With the addition of just one more area code in 210 and one in the 817 area, Texas will have 13 area codes. John Cropper * NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 Outside NJ: 800.247.8675 email = psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) Subject: Re: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? Date: 24 Jul 1996 20:50:28 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In article , VIKINGELEC wrote: > In article , sscott@hpmail2.fwrdc. > rtsg.mot.com (Steve Scott) writes: >> In my new office, I have a Meridian N2616 digital phone (manufactured >> by Northern Telecom). I want to use my 28.8k modem with this phone >> line but, of course, the two formats are not compatible (i.e. cannot >> put a Y in the RJ11 jack and use both devices). >> Question is: I know I could pay to have a separate analog line >> installed for just the modem use. But, is there an adaptor which >> would convert the digital line to analog (and vice versa) which I >> could install in-line and which would allow me to use my analog modem > Konnex makes such an adaptor. I believe they are available through > Hello Direct 1-(800) Hi-Hello. They also have a Web based catalog! Unlimited Systems (who, last time I checked, were the "maker" behind the Konnex brand name) is the pioneer in this product niche. But in various catalogs lately I've seen a big proliferation of competing devices, all of similar size price, claiming to do the same thing. Has anyone done a comparative review of this type of product, and is there a winner among them? Mike Schuster schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM schuster@shell.portal.com | schuster@mem.po.com ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: TCI Phone Service OK'd in Chicago Suburb Date: 24 Jul 1996 18:43:44 -0400 Organization: Panix Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > While Ameritech and AT&T squabble over how AT&T will get into the local > telephone market in northern Illinois, the first real competition has > gotten underway from a more unlikely source: TCI, the local cable-TV > operator in many of the suburbs. [...] > TCI has established a relationship with two important vendors for thier > phone service. Motorola is supplying the CableComm technology which > directs the signal, and Teleport Communications Group is providing the > central office facilities. This news isn't so surprising as you might think -- look at who owns TCG. It seems reasonable to me to think of TCG as a pilot project where the cable companies got to learn how to run a modern, digital telco without confronting the daunting outside wire plant issues involved with providing widespread home telephone service, even for companies with thousands of miles of cable TV plant already installed. Now that they know they've got the switching down, the individual cable companies who collectively own most of TCG will sell the residential phone service, with TCG providing the switching facilities. No real surprise. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@panix.COM ------------------------------ From: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing Date: 24 Jul 1996 21:05:27 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: museums@aol.com I did an upgrade to DTMF on my line when it was reduced to nine-cents a month, and I also ordered telco switch-based Speed-Dialing-8 *and* Speed-Dialing-30. Since there is a time-out needed for using speed-dialing codes, 'N' and 'NX' (where NX is 20 through 49), I prefer to use DTMF, as I can 'cancel' the time-out as N-# or NX-#, which can't be done with pulse dialing. What good is Speed-Dialing, if you have to *WAIT* three to five seconds to time-out! You can have both features, not one or the other??? Richard W. Museums Sarfity Distributors, AT&T Wireless Master Distributor, NY, NJ, and CT. DBA Cellular Communications Connection [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The instructions tell you append the '#' symbold for that very reason, to avoid time-out. You can try and see, but I think you can also do 11N and 11NX from a rotary dial phone and avoid the time out. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #366 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jul 26 12:35:28 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA24334; Fri, 26 Jul 1996 12:35:28 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 12:35:28 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607261635.MAA24334@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #367 TELECOM Digest Fri, 26 Jul 96 12:35:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 367 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "PC Networking Handbook" by Tittel (Rob Slade) NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN (Tara D. Mahon) ANI (was Re: Caller ID in California) (Mark J. Cuccia) Pacific Bell Grants DRC Rights To Market "Sleuth" Fraud-Control (Mike King) Pacific Bell Mobile Services Activates Network Operations Center (M. King) "976-like" Services From a COCOT (Mark J. Cuccia) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 01:27:12 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "PC Networking Handbook" by Tittel BKPCNTHB.RVW 960531 "PC Networking Handbook", Ed Tittel, 1996, 0-12-691398-6 %A Ed Tittel etittel@zilker.net 76376.606@compuserve.com %C 1300 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 %D 1996 %G 0-12-691398-6 %I Academic Press Professional %O 619-699-6362 619-699-6735 fax: 619-699-6380 app@acad.com %P 857 %T "PC Networking Handbook" A handbook generally provides practical information. It's the kind of stuff that isn't rocket science, but is the reference material you can't be bothered keeping in your head all the time. Common procedures that you don't use every day, specifications that you might need quickly: the kind of stuff you want to flip to, remind yourself about, and put back on the shelf until next time. About the only material of that kind in this book is the (admittedly excellent) list of vendor contacts. What we have here instead is an overview of concepts and terms that might be related to a network. Cabling, medium access methods, network protocols, advanced networking technologies, networking equipment, computer peripherals, and network management concepts are all touched on. Touching is about all you can do in the forty-four very brief chapters, but it does cover the terminology. The book is a little thick for a glossary, but it can provide a fairly broad introduction to the topic of networking in general. This could create a foundation for further study directed towards the planning of a network where works such as Ramteke (cf. BKNTWRKS.RVW), McNamara (cf. BKTCHDCM.RVW), and Tanenbaum (cf. BKCMPNWK.RVW) give too much technical detail. However, I can't help thinking that "How Local Area Networks Work" (cf. BKHLANWK.RVW) covers the same ground in only one third the pages. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKPCNTHB.RVW 960531. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for rslade@vcn.bc.ca Research into rslade@vanisl.decus.ca User slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 96 10:44:38 +0000 From: Tara D. Mahon Subject: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN < < < N E W S F I R S T <> E X T R A > > > Part of the NewsFirst Telecom Service < From THE INSIGHT RESEARCH CORPORATION > Telecom Market Research, Analysis, and Consulting ========================================================================= Vol. 4 Issue E5 Internet and the PSTN July 25, 1996 ========================================================================= >>>NEWSFIRST EXTRA Bellcore Sings Casey Jones, Is Anyone Listening? The astounding growth of Internet traffic has put the RBOCs on the horns of a dilemma. If demand for Internet access keeps building at current rates, it's going to crash the public switched telephone network and the local carriers will take the heat. On the other hand, packet-switched data services represented by the Net are the high-growth, high-margined opportunity; packet is where the money is. A recent study prepared by Bellcore, at the behest of Nortel, suggests that current plant engineering, OSSes, and tariffed pricing structures make it impossible for the PSTN to sustain acceptable levels of availability and reliability in the face of projected Internet growth. For the RBOCs the problem boils down to this: do we embrace the high-growth Internet segment and watch as the voice network degrades, or do we try to dampen Internet demand until a fix can be developed? US West and PacBell have already voted for the former course, raising ISDN prices in separate moves earlier this year. The Bellcore study suggests several options for carriers to consider, but for now there does not seem to be a neat solution to the problem. The problems created by packet traffic on the circuit-switched PSTN is well documented in the Bellcore study entitled "Impacts of Internet Traffic on LEC Networks and Switching Systems," (A. Atai & J. Gordon, Bellcore, 1996). To request a copy of the study contact Mr. Bill Blatt at Nortel. You can reach him via phone at (201) 292-5715 or via the Internet at william.blatt@nt.com. The PSTN was designed as a VOICE NETWORK with call holding times on the average of three minutes. For the past 80 years everything in the PSTN -- including forecasting, planning, engineering, and operational systems -- has been based upon the rule of three: three minutes per call, 3,000 Hz per channel, and three ccs of load on the line. The point hammered home by the Bellcore study is that the Internet has given those 80-year old traditional traffic models the dirt shirt. Those models are DEAD. Buried. According to the Bellcore study, Internet calls have a mean holding time of 20 minutes, and some percentage have the probability of lasting 12 hours, 24 hours, or longer. The net of the Internet call holding patterns on traditional traffic engineering assumptions is to increase the load per line by 3 times. When the increased loads hits the central office, the fallout is increasing congestion in every part of the network. At the terminating switch closest to the Internet ISP, Bellcore says 10 times the expected load per line has been observed. (Most of us recognize this as those failed attempts to jump onto the Net, having seemingly reached our ISP's gateway.) Even more profound may be the effects of the increased loading on the subscriber's side, where trunking and access switch performance are also going to be substantially degraded. When Bellcore modeled a scenario in which four percent of lines were blocked by long Internet holding times, they predicted a 60-fold increase could occur in the blocking experienced at the switch by anyone trying to make the traditional voice call. The 60-fold increase would mean that availability is going to go from 0.05 percent of calls blocked to something in the neighborhood of three percent. Nothing catastrophic, unless it's your kid trying to call 911 while some neighborhood wirehead connected for three hours happens to be pulling down yet another picture of Demi Moore. Ready to play those odds? We don't think so. And neither does the LEC, but throwing additional line gear into the network to reduce congestion is going to be costly. Bellcore said $35 million per year per RBOC region -- and that is supposed to be very conservative. When we look for a fix there aren't any good ones. Says the Bellcore study, "Any long term solution to these problems involves a staged migration from the present mode of operation towards some packet network solution." In the meantime, they are suggesting two ways LECs can begin grappling with the problem. Looking at fixes on the trunk and terminating switch side, Bellcore suggests several alternatives. One possibility might be to try and convince the ISPs to give up on the multi-line hunt groups they are now using on the local switch and move them to better performance/ lower cost solutions that use higher speed interfaces. But since customer retention is not an issue in the burgeoning Internet market, ISPs will probably be content with a poorer grade of service if fixing their gateway access problem costs them anything at all. Dialed number triggers and segregated routing to move the Internet call off the local switch and onto a segregated packet network is another load-lightening option, but here, too, there will likely be a price to pay in terms of adding IN processors to move the designated traffic onto the packet network. On the access side things become even more problematic, since every high-usage Internet line would have to be re-engineered and upgraded or separate processors paid for and installed. DLC upgrades, ISDN packet-mode peripherals, pre-switch adjuncts and ADSL could all ameliorate the problem on the PSTN, but someone is going to have to pay for it. The big issues always seem to all boil down to money. The PUCs probably won't provide any rate increases to test any of the fixes proposed by Bellcore until local voters suffer a few catastrophic outages. And any type of direct or indirect user fee, levied on the ISP level or on a second data line, will be fought tooth and claw by the users. Suppliers like Nortel have the DLC upgrades, ISDN packet-mode peripherals, pre-switch adjuncts, ADSL and IN solutions to sell, but in the current political climate no one is ready to give the public the bad news. < < < N E W S F I R S T <> T E L E C O M > > > Copyright 1996, The Insight Research Corporation 354 Eisenhower Parkway Livingston, New Jersey 07039-1023 USA (201) 605-1400 voice (201) 605-1440 fax reports@insight-corp.com *Electronic Distribution Granted, Provided This Notice Remains Intact*| ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 15:47:05 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: ANI (was Re: Caller ID in California) Lynne Gregg write: > Maddi Hausmann Sojourner wrote: >> I remember reading something in this group about ANI information that >> indicated what kind of phone was making the call. It supposedly gave >> the indications residential, commerical, hotel, prison, pay phone, etc. > No, ANI does not indicate the TYPE of phone making the call. ANI is > the CHARGE number, or number which may be originating the call (ANI > may not always indicate originating number since it can be overridden > on operator-assisted calls). ANI will not give you an indication of > where the call is coming from (i.e., hotel). The ANI referred to is probably just the telephone number (or billing number) itself. But ... there is *also* "ANI Information Digit(s)" (ANI-I or ANI-II) which can also be transmitted along with the ANI. The Bell System developed the ANI-I/II years back. They were single digits which indicated "class of service" of the calling line, i.e. the *type* of phone line placing the call, unless it is routed via an Operator which doesn't forward out the information of the original calling line. At the time of divestiture and equal access (mid-1980's), the new FG-D (Feature Group 'D') standards expanded ANI-I to ANI-II, a *two* digit code. The expansion was needed due to newer classes of service of the calling line or type of call, and further subdivision of classes. Bellcore maintains the list of ANI-II digit pairs. The ICCF/INC (and possibly ANSI) conferences are always developing standards for further ANI-II digits, and even a possible expansion to *three* digit codes, as there are always newer "classes" or subdivisions of existing classes. The list of ANI-II digits is published in the "general" section of Bellcore-TRA's LERG (Local Exchange Routing Guide), and there are various Bellcore specs and documents on ANI and its associated "Information Digits" as to when/how/why they are used. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell Grants DRC Rights To Market Fraud-Control System Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 14:15:29 PDT Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 08:02:05 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell Grants DRC Rights To Market, Support And Enhance Its "Sleuth" Fraud-Control System FOR MORE INFORMATION: Craig Watts (415) 394-3708 Pacific Bell Grants DRC Rights To Market, Support And Enhance Its "Sleuth" Fraud-Control System SAN FRANCISCO -- Pacific Bell has granted exclusive rights to Andover, Massachusetts-based Dynamics Research Corp. (NASDAQ: DRCO) to market, support and enhance its Sleuth system which is reported to substantially reduce a leading type of telephone fraud. Sleuth recognizes fraud-profile calls charged to such "alternate billing services" as calling cards. The system can alert telecommunication security personnel to the possible fraud, who then can quickly cancel the misused calling card. "This agreement allows Dynamics Research Corp. to provide around-the-clock system support for Sleuth users, who include all but one (NYNEX) of the seven regional Bell operating companies," said Richard D. Noponen, director of Pacific Bell Operator Services Systems Technology. According to Noponen, his company's new long-distance unit, Pacific Bell Communications, will be a DRC customer when it begins operations early next year. DRC also gets exclusive rights to market Sleuth worldwide and to enhance the system as opportunity and needs arise. Neither Pacific Bell nor DRC would disclose terms of the agreement. DRC has identified the telecommunications industry as a target market for its technical and customer-support expertise, said President and CEO Albert Rand. "We're confident that with Pacific Bell's industry knowledge, insights from a growing Sleuth users group, and our years of experience in systems engineering, we will provide competitive, functionally rich, fraud-detection products." Noponen said that while he can't quantify total industry losses to fraud, Sleuth has been reported by some customers to reduce calling card fraud by more than 80 percent. "One of our customers said their fraud losses dropped from about $10 million a year to less than $2 million," he said. "A second customer reported immediate savings of $700,000 a month." Noponen said Pacific Bell sought the agreement with DRC to free up company resources for projects more closely aligned with its core activities. The exclusive nature of the agreement assures a focused evolution of Sleuth to meet the needs of Pacific Bell and the telecommunications industry. Sleuth, a complex program with more than one million lines of programming code, was developed and first used by Pacific Bell in 1993. Noponen said he expects the next major enhancement will be to have Sleuth monitor direct-dialed calling patterns for fraudulent activity. "Other new fraud detection systems that Pacific Bell and DRC may develop could be folded into Sleuth," he said. Another enhancement could be to link Sleuth to billing systems in order to stop fraud from ever appearing on customer bills. Pacific Bell is looking to DRC to help find and implement new ways to fight fraud. "The fraudsters come up with new wrinkles all the time," Noponen said. "We think that with DRC, we will be able to keep up with them better than we can on our own." Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group (NYSE:PAC), a diversified telecommunications company based in San Francisco. -------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell Mobile Services Activates Network Operations Center Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 14:15:56 PDT Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 08:34:05 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell Mobile Services Activates Network Operations Center, Technology Lab for New Wireless Service FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Bonniksen (213) 975-5061 Pacific Bell Mobile Services Activates Network Operations Center, Technology Lab for New Wireless Service High-Quality Alternative to Cellular Available Next Year PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Pacific Bell Mobile Services has activated a state-of-the-art network operations center and technology laboratory as part of its plan to offer Personal Communications Services (PCS), a new digital wireless technology that offers a more reliable and secure alternative to cellular. The two-story, 30,000-square-foot facility in Pleasanton, Calif., consolidates comprehensive network surveillance and management systems, technical support, emergency response services, and software and product equipment testing under one roof. In appearance, the network operations center resembles a NASA-like command post. Computerized work stations sit below large computer screens spanning a 30-foot wall. The screens display numerous versions of electronic maps documenting the network's health across a broad geography or a few city blocks. The center will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "This is where quality control starts," said Lyndon R. Daniels, Pacific Bell Mobile Services president and chief executive officer. "The lab and network operations center exist for the sole purpose of ensuring consistently high-quality PCS service for every customer on every call." Network Operations Center Collects Real-Time Data The network operations center has advanced computerized systems designed to collect real-time data that will help ensure maximum network capacity, excellent performance of call hand-offs from antenna to antenna, and superior sound quality. If service problems are detected, the systems can suggest and implement immediate solutions. Unlike its cellular competitors, Pacific Bell Mobile Services can make many network adjustments without dispatching technicians. Through software commands, the network operations center can change an antenna's radio frequency or reconfigure the pattern of call hand-offs, for example. Technology Lab to Test New Products At the Pacific Bell Mobile Services technology lab, new products and services will be tested before they are integrated into the PCS network and offered to customers. The lab's facilities include a mobile telephone switching office, base station transceiver and antenna. Together, they replicate a smaller version of the network Pacific Bell Mobile Services is presently building across California and Nevada. The lab is now testing: * new generations of network software; * add-on products such as short-text messaging and circuit-switched data transmission; * "over-the-air" customer service features, including PCS service activation and the programming of individual subscribers' speed dialing lists; * a billing system capable of differentiating voice calls from data transmissions involving e-mail, faxes and wireless Internet access; and, * Wildfire, an advanced service that allows an electronic assistant to speak to subscribers through their PCS handsets. Unlike cellular, PCS technology is 100 percent digital. Being digital, PCS offers superior sound quality and reliability, as well as built-in complex encryption for maximum protection from eavesdropping and "cloning," a form of cellular theft that costs consumers $650 million a year. Pacific Bell Mobile Services will offer PCS in California and Nevada in early 1997, following a debut at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, Aug. 12-15. The company plans to broadly distribute PCS phones through drug stores, consumer electronics stores and warehouse retailers. Company Background: In March 1995, Pacific Bell Mobile Services won two federal licenses to provide PCS in California and Nevada with bids totaling approximately $695 million. The company followed up its successful bid by signing a five-year, $300-million agreement with Ericsson for its PCS-1900 network system. PCS-1900 network equipment is based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology, which is already used by 15 million PCS users in 92 countries. In 1995, Pacific Bell Mobile Services also signed a memorandum of understanding with GSM providers around the world. It will let customers roam the globe with PCS. Pacific Bell Mobile Services is the wireless communications subsidiary of Pacific Bell. Pacific Telesis Group, the parent company of Pacific Bell and Pacific Bell Mobile Services, is a diversified telecommunications company headquartered in San Francisco. ----------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 18:42:47 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: "976-like" Services From a COCOT I had never seen this before. About a week or two ago, one of the many COCOT vendor/owner companies here in New Orleans started posting a *BIG* notice on the enclosures of their COCOT payphones with "Astrology/Horoscope" numbers. There are twelve different codes from "*-80" (Aries) through "*-89" (Capricorn) and "*-91" (Aquarius) and "*-92" (Pisces) indicated on the instruction notice, "All calls 25-cents". There are, of course, pre-programmed telephone numbers associated with each "*" code. I don't know whether these are actual local 976 numbers, 900 numbers, POTS numbers, 800/888 numbers, or whatever. When I went off-hook and received the COCOT's own internal "faux" dialtone, I entered one of the zodiac "*-XX" codes. The synthesized voice said "Please deposit 25-cents". It didn't indicate a time-limit for the quarter, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one. I am *NOT* depositing 25-cents into a COCOT for a number that I'm unfamiliar with, just to determine the "POTS" or "POTS-like" translation from a COCOT's speed-dialing code. I don't even like dropping money into ANY private payphone, anyhow. I don't know what recorse an end-user has if the phone takes the money and fails to connect to the astrology line, other than calling up the "211" or "611" number for the COCOT owner/vendor to complain. By the way, COCOTs with "211", "611" or other N11 codes for the "customer service" (?!) or "repair service" (?!) of the owner/vendor is *NOT* a telco code. Just like the above mentioned "*-XX" astrology- line codes, these COCOT "N11" codes are pre-programmed COCOT speed- dial codes. I wonder if these COCOTs send out a telco *-67 over the line before outpulsing (touchtoning) the called number? Does the FCC require end-user per-call "blocked" Caller-ID UNBLOCKING? Since the "generic" unblocking code is *-82 (11-82) on *real* telco lines, the COCOT's "*-82" for Taurus would have to be changed if the vendor/owner was really going to comply with any (possible) FCC requirements. Incidently, this particular vendor of COCOTs doesn't allow toll-free 888 numbers, toll-free 800-555-xxxx, nor do they even properly accept 0+504+seven-digits for Home NPA operator assisted calls through their A-O-Slime. The phone's internal voice says "DO NOT DIAL the area code for this number". Any calls 0+ (via their A-O-Slime) to ten-digit numbers in the new-style NNX area codes will cause the phone to outpulse touchtone the access number of their A-O-Slime, after the end-user enters 0+seven-digits. The same thing happens when I enter 10-XXX+0+ as far as what it considers a seven or ten digit call. It doesn't allow the new 101-XXXX+ codes, neither. But it does send out *exactly* what I entered when I use a 10-XXX+0(+). If I want to use *MY* carrier of choice, I can use that carrier's 950- or 800- access number, such as 800-CALL-ATT. But unfortunately, I cannot reach my LEC (BellSouth) Operator on a single-0, nor even 0+ the now obsolete seven-digits (intra-LATA) number. It's really a shame, IMO, that COCOT's and A-O-Slime with their inferior equipment and service, but higher costs to whoever the "billed" party might be have "taken over" during the past ten years. At least there are still some Telco payphones still around, but not like it was years ago. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #367 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 29 12:54:26 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA05222; Mon, 29 Jul 1996 12:54:26 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 12:54:26 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607291654.MAA05222@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #368 TELECOM Digest Mon, 29 Jul 96 12:54:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 368 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 9-1-1 and Olympic Blast (Tad Cook) Atlanta Bombing and "Enhanced 911" (Paul Robinson) Ten-Digit Dialing (Tad Cook) Cable-TV Modems Standards? (Jean-Francois Mezei) VON Conference - The Talking Net - Sept. 10-11 in NYC (Monty Solomon) Conference Announcement (1997 IEEE ICPWC) (Vijay Bhargava) Pacific Bell/Cox Communications Sign Interconnect Agreement (Mike King) Anniversary of First Singing Telegram (David Whiteman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tad Cook Subject: 9-1-1 and Olympic Blast Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 10:52:38 PDT Telephone Warning Came After Agents Had Spotted Pipe Bomb By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- A calm caller believed to be a white male telephoned 911 with a warning just 18 minutes before a pipe bomb blasted an Olympic concert in Atlanta, but an alert state officer had already spotted the knapsack holding the bomb and had begun evacuating people. The 911 call came at 1:07 a.m., too late to play a role in that evacuation, federal officials said Saturday. They credited a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent with saving lives by acting quickly after he spotted the untended knapsack just before 1 a.m. At 1:25 a.m., the three pipes and wires that agents had seen in the knapsack several minutes earlier blew up, spewing nails and screws up to 100 yards away in Olympic Centennial Park as agents were still trying to clear concert-goers from the area. Six state troopers and one Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer, helping with that evacuation, were among the more than 100 wounded by the blast. One person was killed. The call came from "a white male with an indistinguishable accent," the FBI's Woody Johnson said, acknowledging that the voice sounded American. A Justice Department official said the caller spoke "in a calm voice." The caller said only that a bomb would go off in Centennial Park within 30 minutes but gave no name and did not claim responsibility on behalf of any group, Johnson told an Atlanta news conference. The call quickly became a key source of evidence for investigators. Others focused on recovering parts of what Johnson called "an antipersonnel fragmentation device -- a homemade bomb." Using 911's caller identification feature that displays a caller's telephone number, agents traced the warning to a pay telephone near a hotel about two blocks from the explosion, a Justice Department official said. FBI agents gathered fingerprints from the telephone and interviewed people nearby seeking someone who might have seen the caller. A tape recording of the call was put through voice-print analysis. Johnson told an Atlanta news conference agents were checking to see where the 911 warning was sent and would evaluate whether it was handled properly and quickly enough, but he made clear authorities were already onto the problem in the park before the call. According to Johnson: The GBI agent saw the untended knapsack near a tower in the park and asked people nearby if they owned it. When they did not claim it, he summoned an FBI agent and a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent who were assigned nearby in the park as a bomb diagnostic unit. They looked into the knapsack, saw the wires and pipe and immediately began to clear the crowd. "Within two or three minutes later, the device went off," Johnson said. One Treasury agent expressed confidence the bombing could be solved. "We've got a phone call. And a pipe bomb is very inefficient; it always leaves a lot of evidence behind," said this Treasury agent, requesting anonymity. "We've investigated thousands of these; we know what to do." Because of the American-sounding voice on the call and the simple design and low power of the device, investigators were concentrating initial attention on domestic suspects, possibly an individual working alone or perhaps a paramilitary group, officials said. These investigators noted that Middle Eastern terrorists had specialized in much higher-powered truck bombs like the one that blew up at New York's World Trade Center and that organized right-wing U.S. private militias had focused their ire and attacks on the government, its buildings and employees rather than random public crowds. Johnson said the bombing was followed in the early morning hours by a number of calls and reports of suspicious packages. Bomb disposal teams were sent to 35 sites but no other bombs were found, he said. "All unattended or abandoned parcels in Atlanta are considered suspicious," Justice spokeswoman Carole Florman said. "They are all checked out thoroughly." From the beginning of the Olympic games up to Saturday's blast, "about 120 abandoned or suspicious parcels have been picked up and not one of them has contained explosives," Florman said. ------------------------------ From: tdarcos@clark.net (Paul Robinson) Subject: Atlanta Bombing and "Enhanced 911" Date: 29 Jul 1996 10:43:37 GMT Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company/TDR, Inc., Silver Spring MD USA Reply-To: Paul Robinson For those unaware of it, someone blew up a home-made anti-personnel bomb ("pipe bomb") around 1 am Saturday, in an unsecured public area near the Olympics, killing 2 and injuring over 100. Fragments went as far as 100 yards from the explosive point. CNN reported that just before the bomb exploded someone called 911 to report it. I believe the term was erroneous, but the reporter said that Atlanta has "Enhanced 911" which returns the telephone number of the caller. It is my understanding that 911 normally returns the caller's tele- phone number and "Enhanced 911" refers to an additional service that returns additional information such as address, how often that par- ticular number has called and special information about that place which can be added by dispatchers. If I am not correct on this point, would someone please post a note here in the Digest. Thank you. Paul Robinson General Manager Tansin A. Darcos & Company/TDR, Inc. --- Among Other things, we sell and service ideas. Call 1-800-TDARCOS from anywhere in North America if you are interested in buying an idea to solve one of your problems. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I may be mistaken on this but I think 'enhanced' or `E-911` as it is sometimes called is the version which returns *any information at all* to the police. Very old versions of 911 had 911 serving mainly as a 'speed dial' or 'memory dial' way to reach the police with the 911 being translated into some existing seven digit local number. Then there was a version of 911 where the calls terminated in special equipment but there was still nothing displayed to indicate who was calling. The 'enhanced' version brought all those improvements. At least I think so. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Ten-Digit Dialing Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 20:08:28 PDT Phone Numbers to Lengthen in Pittsburgh By Steve Creedy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 29--If you're dreading the day next year when you'll have to dial 10 digits to make even local phone calls, it might help to know that you probably won't be alone for long. The experts that assign area codes in the United States believe that as the demand for new phone lines continues to soar, 10-digit dialing is lurking around the corner for everyone. And they are betting that the "overlay" system that will assign a different area code to new numbers in the Western Pennsylvania's 412 dialing district next year is the start of a national trend. "Since we invented (overlay) you might expect we would like it, but I think overlays eventually are going to be way of the future," said Ron Conners, the director of the North American Numbering Plan group at Bellcore. Conners' group is responsible for central number administration for the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and 15 Caribbean nations. Bellcore, the telephone industry research arm funded by the regional Bell companies, was given that responsibility after the 1984 breakup of AT&T. In recent years, that's meant addressing a dramatic growth in the demand for new phone numbers because of faxes, cellular phones, computers and other new technologies. Shrinking numbers of numbers The growth surprised even the experts. An original estimate that the Pittsburgh area would have enough seven-digit numbers to last it into the next decade was revised after demand soared from just 140,000 requests a year to 820,000 last year. In the 610 and 215 area codes in southeastern Pennsylvania, the 950,000 requests for new phone numbers in 1995 were quickly topped in the first five months of this year. By May, Bell Atlantic had already received 1.4 million requests. Bellcore addressed the number shortage problem nationally last year when it created 640 new area codes by allowing the middle digit in the area code to be any number between 0 and 9. Previously, the middle digit had been restricted to 0 or 1. That move increased the numbering plan's capacity from less than 1 billion 10-digit numbers to more than 6 billion, enough to last well into the next century. But more than 100 area codes will run out of seven-digit numbers in the next decade. Up to now, number shortages have been solved by dividing the original area code into two parts, with half the area keeping the old area code and their old seven-digit home numbers and half getting a new area code, but also keeping their old home numbers. But surging demand may again cause number shortages in a calling areas, like Philadelphia, that have already been split once in the last few years. Conners says it's not possible to keep splitting forever. "The problem is that as you split more and more, you eventually have trouble finding a decent boundary that people can remember and that makes sense," he says. "When that time comes, it's probably time to think very hard about an overlay." Conners says the overlay system is the easier option because area codes can be added as often as necessary without affecting existing seven-digit phone numbers. Maryland will be the first area to introduce a full-fledged overlay when it adds two area codes -- 443 and 240 -- to its existing 410 and 301 prefixes in May next year. The 412 area code is likely to be second, in June. Bell Atlantic says it has not to received the final order from the Public Utility Commission, which regulates phone service, and doesn't yet have the new area code number. It also has yet to decide if it will retain seven-digit dialing for part of the system. While it's technically possible to retain seven-digit dialing between older numbers, Conners says, 10-digit dialing is better for promoting competition in local service. Because carriers coming into a crowded exchange are likely to get numbers in the new code, people with existing phone numbers would have to dial 10 digits to reach the new numbers. That could make them less attractive to customers. "From a competitive angle, many people feel that that's not fair," Conners said. Competition also has been a worry of opponents to overlays. Long distance carriers and local telephone carriers have argued that the overlay system works against them as long as there is no true "number portability" that allows people to keep their number when they switch carriers. The FCC has said that it wants number portability but it still isn't clear how long it will take to implement it. Without it, say overlay opponents, people wanting to switch to a new local carrier will have to take a new number or have their call forwarded by a regional Bell like Bell Atlantic for a fee. "You can't undo the competitive damage that's been done during this interim period, however long it ends up taking," says Brad Stillman, the telecommunications policy director of the Consumer Federation of America. Stillman wants a national policy on area codes that deals with consumer concerns and competitive needs and "not just the whim of whoever happens to be the 800-pound gorilla." Consumers prefer the geographic split and find the overlay concept confusing, he says. "They're used to being able to identify, at least in general terms, where somebody is when they make their call," he says. "The notion that their next-door neighbor could have a different phone number and a different area code from them is odd and people aren't particularly comfortable with that concept." (c) 1996, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------ From: Jean-Francois Mezei Subject: Cable-TV Modems Standards? Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 01:54:49 +0000 Organization: Vaxination Informatique Reply-To: jfmezei@videotron.ca In the Montreal region, Videotron, a local cable TV supplier has a service that connects to internet via its cable plant. A modem has an ethernet port at one end, and at the other end, a RS232 port for modem as well as a cable-TV outlet. For installations in old cable plants (unidirectional) data sent from customer goes through the modem and phone line, but when data is sent back to the customer, it goes through the cable at 1.5Mbps. In bi-directional plants, both outgoing and incoming data is on the cable with no need for a modem and phone line. Videotron has previously developped its own proprietary "smart TV" devices (called VIDEOWAY) and its own proprietary credit-card readers in its vision of the "information superhighway" before it woke up to the internet. The question: Are cable-TV modems industry standard, or does each cable-TV company more or less develops their own proprietary models? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 22:43:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: VON Conference - The Talking Net - Sept 10-11 in NYC Reply-To: monty@roscom.COM Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 16:38:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Jeff Pulver Subject: VON Conference -- The Talking Net - Sept 10-11 in NYC (fwd) Hi There, I thought you might want to know about an upcoming VON Conference which I am producing called "The Talking Net". The Talking Net conference will be held in NYC on September 10th and 11th, and the conference will be industry event. There will be speakers from: Netscape, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, VocalTec, Voxware, MCI, Micom, Cornell University, Bear Stearns, ACTA, VON Coalition, FCC, Booz-Allen Hamilton and Delta Three. Below is a copy of the press release which was sent out last week. If you know of somebody who would be interested in this conference, I would appreciate it if could either forward them this e-mail, or e-mail me with their information and I will follow up directly. More information is available at the Talking Net website - http://www.talking-net.com. If you would like a conference brochure mailed to you, please e-mail me your address and I will arrange to have a conference brochure sent to you. Best Regards, Jeff Pulver http://www.pulver.com Tel. 516.487.1424 Fax. 516.829.1624 ### The Talking Net Conference Learn About Internet Telephony Technology, Products And Prototypes New York, NY July 22, 1996 --Internet telephony, the technology that allows users of the Net to make free long-distance and international calls, is to be the centerpiece of The Talking Net Conference, a high-profile conference on the networking of live voice and video in New York in September. The Talking Net Conference is being produced by Jeff Pulver, publisher and Internet analyst of Pulver.com, an influential online information service. Pulver was recently named by NetGuide as one of the ten most influential people on the Internet. "As an Internet analyst, I've seen Voice on the Net become a key enabling technology," said Pulver. "The question now is whether it's going to turn into the 'killer app' that will attract a whole new generation of users to the Internet. That's what participants are coming to New York to find out." The Talking Net Conference, will be held at the historic Puck Building in downtown Manhattan on September 10 and 11, will bring leading figures from the Internet and computer industries face to face with regulators, consultants, senior figures from telephone companies and corporate users. It will also show how companies can implement telephony in their web sites and intranets. Included in the highly focused two-day program will be presentations by both Netscape Communications and Microsoft, the two companies vying for global dominance of the World Wide Web. Another controversial session will pit the telecom companies that have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to regulate Internet telephony against the VON Coalition, which is dedicated to allowing the Internet market to develop without government interference. Confirmed speakers include: Michael Po, Director of Engineering Netscape; Blake Irving, Group Manager - Internet Platform and Tools Division Microsoft; Alon Cohen, CTO VocalTec; Michael Goldstein, CEO, Voxware; Patrick Gelsinger, VP - Internet & Communications Group Intel; William Marshall, Senior MD - Communications Technology Group Bear Stearns; David Misunas, VP Product Development Micom Communications; Richard Cogger, Director Advanced Technologies & Planning Cornell University; Bruce Jacobs, Counsel VON Coalition; Charles Helein, General Counsel ACTA; Robert Pepper, Director of Planning and Policy FCC; Peter Harter, Public Policy Counsel Netscape; Jacob Davidson, CEO Delta Three; Joe Rinde, Director - MCI Switched Data Network Architecture MCI; Ed Ellesson, Senior Engineer - Networking Systems Architecture IBM; Michael Spencer, Principal Booz-Allen & Hamilton. A number of important new product announcements will be made at the conference. Individual and corporate phone users will have the chance to see and try live demonstrations of key innovative emerging technologies. Participants will also hear reports on two revolutionary technology initiatives, one at Ivy League institution Cornell University and the other at New York investment bank Bear, Stearns & Co, in which conventional phone systems are being replaced with advanced computer networks offering high-powered functions including video conferencing at low cost. Full information on the conference is available online at www.talking-net.com or by calling, toll-free, 1.888.PULVER.COM. A $300 discount is available for early registration. An electronic enrollment allows delegates to sign up by credit card. ------------------------------ From: bhargava@fermat.UVic.CA (Vijay Bhargava) Subject: Conference Announcement (1997 IEEE ICPWC) Date: 28 Jul 1996 17:06:27 GMT Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada The 1997 IEEE International Conference on Personal Wireless Communications will be held in Mumbai (Bombay), India from December 17-20, 1997 ****The conference web site is now on-line. Any interested parties can view preliminary information on the conference, including the call for papers at the following URL: http://www.citr.ece.uvic.ca/icpwc97/ Vijay K. Bhargava University of Victoria Victoria, B.C. Canada Candidate for IEEE President-Elect email: v.bhargava@ieee.org web: http://www.ece.uvic.ca/~bhargava/ ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell/Cox Communications Sign Interconnect Agreement Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 15:36:10 PDT Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 16:45:13 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell/Cox Communications Sign Interconnect Agreement FOR MORE INFORMATION: Ellen East, Cox (404) 843-5854 ellen.east@cox.com Jerry Kimata (415) 394-3739 jerry.kimata@pactel.com Pacific Bell/Cox Communications Sign Interconnect Agreement SAN FRANCISCO/ATLANTA -- Cox Communications, Inc. and Pacific Bell announced today that they have signed a comprehensive agreement to interconnect the two companies' networks in California. Cox, the nation's fifth largest cable company, serving more than 3.2 million customers, intends to be a facilities-based provider of telephone services in residential and commercial markets. Today's agreement is the first reached with a Regional Bell Operating Company. For Pacific Bell, it marks the first "14-point" pact made with a competitive company that serves residential customers. The Regional Bell Operating Companies are required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to meet a 14-point check list before being allowed to provide long-distance service in their own areas. "Our agreement with Cox is the product of two dedicated teams that have negotiated terms that benefit both companies and the California consumer," said Lee Bauman, Pacific Bell vice president - Local Competition. "This is our first check-list agreement involving a competitive company serving residential customers, and the benefit to these customers in terms of increased choice is significant." "This agreement marks another important step in our plans to offer a full array of communications services in California," said David M. Woodrow, Senior Vice President, Broadband Services. "The agreement gives us the terms and conditions that allow us to offer consumers a competitive choice in the rapidly changing telecommunications marketplace." Both executives said a unique feature of the agreement was Cox's use of unbundled Pacific Bell ports. This allows Cox to connect its hybrid fiber coax network directly to the phone company's switches and out onto Pacific Bell's network. Cox currently serves 826,000 customers in California. The flat rate for residential ports will be $6.65 per month. Measured residential ports will cost $4.15 per month, with a $1.00 credit for the use of Cox's network by long-distance carriers, plus one cent per minute of use. Business measured ports will cost $4.00 per month, with the same $1.00 credit applied, plus one cent per minute of use. The three-year agreement calls for termination of local calls on a "bill-and-keep" basis. Interim number portability will be provided through remote call forwarding at the rate of $1.94 per month. Cox customers will be listed in Pacific Bell's directories, and directory assistance will be provided at Cox's request. The agreement must be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. Woodrow and Bauman said they were hopeful approval would be granted within a few weeks. Pacific Bell recently signed a comprehensive, 14-point check-list agreement with Teleport Communications Group and has signed interim agreements with seven other competitors. Cox Communications, Inc. is a fully integrated, diversified, broadband communications company, with interests in U.S. and international cable distribution systems, programming networks and telecommunications technology. Cox has a comprehensive telephony strategy that includes investments in Sprint Spectrum, a partnership of three cable companies and the Sprint Corporation to develop wireless telephony services; and Teleport Communications Group, the largest alternative access provider in the United States. In Personal Communications Services, Cox is the holder of the pioneer's preference license for the Southern California Major Trading Area where the company will launch this new generation of wireless telephone services later this year. Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, a diversified telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco. Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: dbw@autopsy.com (David Whiteman) Subject: Anniversary of First Singing Telegram Date: 29 Jul 1996 05:17:10 GMT Organization: Network Intensive I just heard on the radio that July 28 was the anniversary of the first singing telegram which was sent on July 28, 1933 to the singer Rudolph Valentino for his birthday. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Singing Telegrams were a regular feature of Western Union for about thirty years. Quite literally, if you got a telegram sent in that method, the person who delivered it to your home or office stood there and sang it to you. Yeah .... They also gave you a printed copy of the telegram of course, and not all of the smaller agencies had someone available with the ability to sing. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V16 #368 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Jul 29 13:49:58 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA11116; Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:49:58 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:49:58 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607291749.NAA11116@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #369 TELECOM Digest Mon, 29 Jul 96 13:50:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 369 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "Netscape and HTML Explorer" by LeJeune (Rob Slade) Pakistan VSAT Operator Wanted (Paul Burgess) Local Dial Administration Consultant Needed (Perry Youngblood) Looking for Canadian Long-Distance Resellers (Adrian Savage) Cable and Wireless Plans For Cellular Service in US (Steve Samler) Cable and Wireless Plans Local Service in US (Steve Samler) Help Wanted With AT&T Spirit 616 (M. Christopher Davies) California Telecommuters, Net Surfers Affordable High-speed Access (M King) Career Opportunity in New Zealand (Chris Hardaker) Downloadable ZIP Code Database (Danny Burstein) Matrcom-70 Manual Request (Hardy Greich) Phone Company Problems (Owen Davis) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 02:19:02 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Netscape and HTML Explorer" by LeJeune BKNSHTEX.RVW 960531 "New Netscape and HTML Explorer", Urban A. LeJeune, 1996, 1-883577-91-8, U$39.99/C$55.99 %A Urban A. LeJeune lejeune@charm.net lejeune@acy.digex.net %C 7339 East Acoma Drive, #7, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 %D 1996 %G 1-883577-91-8 %I Coriolis %O U$39.99/C$55.99 800-410-0192 +1-602-483-0192 fax: +1-602-483-0193 %P 800 %T "New Netscape and HTML Explorer" This book is pitched at just the right level for the Webmaster wannabes. Lest that sound derogatory, what I mean is those who are Web users, rather than currently responsible for major sites, who are curious about the full potential of the Netscape browser, who may have created a home page, and who are interested in what might come beyond. The "explorer" aspect of the title is quite appropriate in this case. About a third of the book concentrates on Netscape itself. There is some general background on the Web, including an excellent guide to URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) which thoroughly explains http, ftp, gopher and telnet listings (but not, interestingly, mailto). Actually, "itself" is wrong, since much of this material looks not only at the browser, but at the many plug-in modules which are becoming available. The remainder covers HTML (HyperText Markup Language) page creation, CGI (Common Gateway Interface) activities, tables, forms, frames, JavaScript and Java. Some of the topics; CGI, forms, JavaScript, and Java; are potentially complex, and worthy of books in their own right. What LeJeune does is present the minimal basics, which can allow the average home page creator to wade in ankle deep. An example is the CGI shell script which, without any form input, allows a page to display the date and time. It is plain, lock-step, paint-by- numbers programming, but it works. The examples may seem trivial to the professional programmer, but everyone has to walk before they can run. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKNSHTEX.RVW 960531 roberts@decus.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca Rob.Slade@f733.n153.z1.fidonet.org Frequent advice to Internet newcomers: State your business, avoid eye contact, leave quietly, and no one gets hurt. Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jul 1996 14:33:00 GMT From: ATTIAU!ATTIAU!pburgess@attiau.attmail.com (Burgess, Paul) Subject: Pakistan VSAT Operator Wanted I am looking for a Pakistan VSAT operator, can anyone assist?? Paul email : pburgess@attiau.attmail.com phone : +61 2 9256 6019 fax : +61 2 9256 6057 ------------------------------ From: PERRY YOUNGBLOOD Subject: Local Dial Administration Consultant Needed Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 19:41:00 -0400 A consultant is needed to assist with one or more projects for a client who is entering the local phone service market. We need a person who has experience with dial administration of a 5ESS local exchange, including issues such as local dialing plans, routing tables, enhanced services, service provisioning. East coast location is desirable. Interested persons should contact the author. ------------------------------ Subject: Looking for Canadian Long-Distance Resellers Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 02:24:37 PDT From: Adrian Savage Reply-To: Adrian Savage Dear all, I'm attempting to find reputable Canadian long distance resellers who would be able to handle large monthly call volumes. I would be grateful if anyone could contact me with details, either of personal experiences (if you are/were a customer) or services offered (if you represent a company). Pointers to any on-line directories would also be appreciated - I have a list of companies but it is very large, which makes it difficult to separate the larger companies from the two-bit operations which I must necessarily avoid. If possible, please reply to me direct at afs@pobox.com Thanks in advance, Adrian ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 09:59:35 EDT From: Steve Samler Subject: Cable and Wireless Plans For Cellular Service in US Cable & Wireless plans US cellular telephone network - FinTech Mobile Communications via Individual Inc. : Cable & Wireless Inc, the C&W subsidiary which operates a long-distance network in the USA, is planning to roll out a national US cellular service via a series of resale agreements with the largest US cellular operators. It signed the first resale agreement last month with Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, the largest cellular operator in the USA, which is present in 13 north-eastern and eastern seaboard states. C&W will launch its first commercial resale operations this autumn, starting in the cities of Washington DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, before expanding to other parts of the Bell Atlantic- Nynex region. It is also in talks with other cellular and personal communications service (PCS) operators to spread its service to the rest of the country. The company, which is targeting small and medium-sized companies, plans to offer the cellular service with a bundle of other services -- including the long-distance and data services which it already offers. Customers will pay for all of these services on a single bill. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 12:00:00 EDT From: Steve Samler Subject: Cable & Wire Plans Local Service in US CABLE & WIRELESS CONTINUES MOVE INTO LOCAL MARKET IN CALIFORNIA, FLORIDA, PENNSYLVANIA AND GEORGIA CWI reselling PacBell Local Service in San Francisco. VIENNA, Va., July 16 /PRNewswire/ via Individual Inc. -- Cable & Wireless, Inc. (CWI), the nation's largest long distance company exclusively serving businesses, today introduced a combined local and long distance service in California, making CWI the first interexchange carrier to offer combined service in the state. CWI also received local service authorization in Florida and has filed applications in Pennsylvania and Georgia. "CWI continues to stake out the local calling market with our strategic move into select business markets throughout the U.S.," said Gabe Battista, president and chief executive officer, CWI. "Our intent is to bring to customers the range of products and services they need to remain competitive and provide it through one face, one service organization and one bill." CWI's combined local and long distance service in California is initially being offered to customers in the San Francisco area with plans to roll out service throughout the state in the next several months. The local service includes proactive, 24-hour network management services, directory assistance, operator assistance and access to emergency (E-911) service. ------------------------------ From: mcd@onramp.i95.net (M. Christopher Davies) Subject: Help Wanted With AT&T Spirit 616 Date: 28 Jul 1996 18:47:25 -0400 Organization: i95.net I just unearthed an AT&T Spirit 308 with the 616 expansion and about 8 phones at our office to replace our 408 Merlin. What I'd like is a brief rundown of how to program the sets (perhaps a fax of the pertinant pages from the tech manual for the KSU) to control ringing, etc. I have the Reference card for each of the sets, but no KSU manual. Since we've outgrown the Merlin (lines are being reconfigured next week), I would like to get something at least to control what lines ring on which phones on Monday. Email responses preferred. Any response appreciated. Thanks! Chris Davies http://www.i95.net Office: 202-541-9000 VCI FAX: 202-723-9504 24x7 Direct: 202-541-9006 ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: California Telecommuters, Net Surfers Affordable High-speed Access Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 01:44:18 PDT Forwarded to Digest FYI: Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 16:29:38 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: California Telecommuters, Net Surfers Can Look Forward To Affordable High-speed Access FOR MORE INFORMATION: Scott E. Smith (415) 394-3624 sesmith@legsf.pacbell.com California Telecommuters, Net Surfers Can Look Forward To Affordable High-speed Access Communications industry & consumer groups, Pacific Bell propose nation's most aggressive ISDN rate plan San Francisco, July 26, 1996 -- Major communications industry and consumer groups, and Pacific Bell jointly issued a proposal today that ensures Californians continue to have ready, affordable access to a popular high-speed data communications service for telecommuting, surfing the Internet and other uses. The joint proposal, which has been submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for its consideration, is aimed at resolving key customer issues about Pacific Bell's plans to increase rates for its FasTrakSM ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network). The plan is subject to the approval of the CPUC, which is now considering Pacific Bell's rate request. The plan, which the groups consider one of the most aggressive ISDN pricing plans in the nation, is good news for ISDN customers, particularly home users and part-time telecommuters. Submission of the proposal brings one step closer to conclusion weeks of diliberations among Pacific Bell, the communications industry and consumers. At the crux of the discussions has been the need to achieve a balance between the ability of Pacific Bell to provide a robust service and users need for affordable high-speed data transport to carry a myriad of new applications. Those signing the proposal include the California ISDN Users Group (CIUG), California Cable Television Association, Jetstream Communications, Flowpoint, Siemens-Rolm and Pacific Bell. Pacific Bell's FasTrak ISDN has 80,000 business and residential users in California, a market that is doubling in size annually. Because ISDN operates at speeds many times faster than traditional analog modems and is affordable, especially for home users, it has become a popular alternative to modems for such applications as telecommuting and accessing the Internet. Prices Remain Affordable Under one of the most significant elements in the proposal, Pacific Bell would increase the monthly charge of its Home ISDN from $24.50 monthly to $29.50 and include 200 free hours of off-peak usage. During peak periods and after customers use up their 200-hours, calls would be charged at normal voice rates. Daytime calls during the week are three cents for the first minute and one cent for each additional minute. Evening, weekend and holiday calls are even less. Pacific Bell's most recent request was for a $32.50 monthly rate and 20 hours of free calling. Some users were concerned that 20-hour allowance was insufficient for those that accessed the Internet for extended periods. The plan allows for the needs of nearly all users who are using ISDN for a wide variety of applications, said Bob Larribeau, a director of the CIUG, the nation's largest ISDN users group and a bellwether organization in the industry. We re pleased that Pacific Bell was willing to work so hard with us to keep prices fair for all users and address important service issues. We ve just introduced Front Desk, a telecommunications system specifically designed for home offices that makes extensive use of ISDN, providing sophisticated voice, fax and data capabilities all over a single line, said David Frankel, president of Jetstream Communications. Given California's leadership in telecommuting and Internet usage, we re anxious to have ISDN attractively priced and widely available in our home state. Start-up companies like ours need the cooperation of service providers, such as Pacific Bell, and regulators to bring innovative solutions to customers. We know from our experience working with ISDN around the country that this proposal for California is particularly attractive. Larribeau acknowledged that the plan was not unanimously approved by all participants in the discussions. He emphasized that the process is not completed, but now shifts to the CPUC for final resolution. As proposed, the monthly rate for FasTrak ISDN, the business version of the service, and Centrex ISDN for Pacific Bell's premier business communications system would increase $8 to $32.84 and $39.75 respectively. The company also will resume charging for installation, which had been temporarily waived under a special promotion, but will allow customers to pay the charge in installments over six months. Competition Benefits Consumers The proposal also further opens the marketplace to competition by establishing discounts under which competitors of Pacific Bell can buy FasTrak ISDN from Pacific Bell and resell it. The discounts are comparable to those Pacific Bell has established for other communications services under rules that define the new competitive environment. Competition will benefit consumers in the form of high quality service and competitive prices, said Larribeau. We appreciate the enthusiastic assistance of all those involved in helping mold an affordable plan that can allow us to keep pace with the explosive demand for ISDN and fairly meet the needs of our diverse spectrum of users, said Tom Bayless, director of switched digital services for Pacific Bell. Everyone involved in this project has a single goal--to ensure that all users and applications could continue to flourish. Achieving this goal was only possible because of the widespread input we received from users and the single-minded determination of all of the consumer and industry groups that participated to help forge that input into a workable solution. In addition, the joint plan establishes an ISDN consumer advisory committee to set service level targets for such elements as training skills, capacity levels and installation intervals. Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, a diversified telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco. -------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Chris Hardaker Subject: Career Opportunity in New Zealand Date: Mon, 29 Jul 96 13:15:00 GMT CLEAR Communications in New Zealand has a vacancy for a person who has experience with DMS switch translations. We need someone who is flexible, hard working, and with good 'big picture' skills. The job involves translations, short term (1 year) forecasting and high involvement in leading edge technology. If this sounds a bit like you, sent me an Email (HARDAKER@clear.co.nz). I can give you more information on who we are, more specifics on what we need in a person and how to go about applying. To tempt you further, CLEAR is a great company to work for, consistently wins national awards for customer service excellence, and is competing (very well) in the most deregulated market in the world. Chris Hardaker CLEAR Communications CLEAR Tower Symonds Street Auckland New Zealand Ph +64 9 912 4286 Fax +64 9 912 4347 Email HARDAKER@clear.co.nz ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 09:06:49 EDT From: danny burstein Subject: Downloadable ZIP Code Database I suspect that a fair number of TELECOM Digest folk might find this a useful database. (the original posters ok'ed the forwarding) dannyb@panix.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 08:33:20 EDT From: Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> Subject: Fwd: Downloadable ZIP code database =========== Forwarded Message ============= Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 16:55:08 -0400 Sender: owner-NICAR-L@lists.missouri.edu From: Ray Robinson Subject: Found: A ZIP code database NICAR folks: A couple times a year, someone asks where they can find a full database of ZIP codes and corresponding locations (not an online version, like the one at the USPS Web site). This site was posted recently on the comp.databases.ms-access newsgroup: http://www.trisource.com/~kmh/ There's a ZIP code database there for downloading. It unzips to an Access .mdb file. At first glance, it looks clean and complete. *************************************** Ray Robinson Director of Computer-Assisted Reporting The Virginian-Pilot 150 W. Brambleton Ave. Norfolk VA 23510 email: rsquared@norfolk.infi.net Phone: (804) 446-2278 Opinions are my own, not those of The Virginian-Pilot **************************************** Forwarded by List Owner -------------------------------------------- Elliott Parker BITNET: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM Journalism Dept. Internet: elliott.parker@cmich.edu Central Michigan University Compuserve: 70701,520 Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 USA The WELL: eparker@well.com ------------------------------ From: rgriech@ibm.net (Hardy Griech) Subject: MATRACOM 70 Manual Request Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 17:20:31 +0200 I've bought a used MATRACOM 70 telephone some days ago. Problem is, there came no manual with it! - Does anybody know where to obtain one, best would be if there is an issue on the net - Or (big request): has anybody a scanned version of the manual (a summary would be enough) and likes to post it to me (EMail, my email-box is about 3MBytes!) Thanks for your reply! Hardy Griech, Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 25/1, D-72762 Reutlingen ------------------------------ From: owend@panix.com (Owen Davis) Subject: Phone Company Problems? Date: 27 Jul 1996 15:04:04 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC For fellow survivors: www.nynexsucks.com A public service of dot.com development, inc. Owen Davis dot.com development, inc. Owend@panix.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #369 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Jul 30 14:28:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA03510; Tue, 30 Jul 1996 14:28:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 14:28:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607301828.OAA03510@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #370 TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Jul 96 14:28:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 370 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Newsgroup Moves to Web Page (TELECOM Digest Editor) Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Chris Moffett (PhonetiCs)) CDA Struck Down Second Time (Gary Breuckman) Wireless Systems Seminar (JerryKaufman) Number Portability (was Re: Ten-Digit Dialing) (David G. Lewis) E-911 and the FBI (was Re: 9-1-1 and Olympic Blast) (Danny Burstein) At Communications Central the Phone Never Stops Ringing (Mike King) 801 Area Code Split (provolibpatron@provo.lib.ut.us) Remote-Access Call-Forwarding Fraud (Chris Telesca) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 13:32:51 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Newsgroup Moves to Web Page As an added feature on the TELECOM Digest and Archives Web Page, the output to the Usenet group comp.dcom.telecom can now be viewed in news format (as opposed to Digest format) right here on the web page. Look for the item in the menu entitled 'TELECOM_Digest_Online' to see this. This is the daily collection of messages which previously you needed to read in Usenet comp.dcom.telecom if you preferred single message style instead of the Digest. An improvement over the Usenet presentation of news however is the ability for you as the reader to sort the single items in several ways to your liking by date, author, subject and thread. In addition, hypertext links throughout all the messages allow you to respond to the writer with a simple click on the witer's email address. For the time being, comp.dcom.telecom will continue to run in parallel on both Usenet and the telecom web page. I hope however those of you who regularly read the telecom news on Usenet will try the new newsreader I have installed for you here. If it is well-liked I may install a web service specifically for other moderated newsgroups on Usenet and invite other moderators to present their journals as well. Remember the URL: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives If you prefer to go straight to the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup you can do that also: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/TELECOM_Digest_Online Of course I would like to have you view the home page and the links to the dozens of other telecom-related resources as well as the pages of the sponsors who are participating, which is why I prefer you use the first address instead of the second. It will soon be fifteen years of service to the Internet community with TELECOM Digest (August 11 in fact), and I think this new web page addition to the services offered is a great way to celebrate! Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 11:00:22 -0500 From: chris@phonetics.com (Chris Moffett (PhonetiCs)) Organization: Phonetics, Inc. Subject: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? I have run into this interesting situation lately and I wondered if any of you had some background knowledge on this. I am in Southwestern Bell land (Dallas, TX) and recently attempted to call a 1-800 number, that is not PIC to AT&T, from a pay phone in the 214 area code. After I dialed the number, I received a recording saying that I needed to deposit $.25 to complete the call. On a 1-800 call?? I dialed 0 to reach the operator and I heard the AT&T tone. When I told the operator what was happening, she tried to dial the number but came back on the line and said that since the 800 number was not an AT&T number, she could not dial it for me. I then dialed 00 and reached a SWBell operator who did place the call for me but did not have any good explanation for the recorded message. Then I became curious. I dialed an AT&T 800 line from the same pay phone and the call went through without any problems. I then called another 800 number that I know is PIC to MCI and I again received the message to deposit $.25 ... Later that week I was in another SWBell city and received the exact same responses from a pay phone in Houston, TX. My questions are - 1. When did pay phones start charging $.25 to call a 1-800 number? 2. Why did the call complete to the AT&T number and not the others? 3. Why did the AT&T operator say she could not connect the call since the 800 number did not belong to AT&T? If anyone has any information, I would appreciate it. Thanks, Chris ------------------------------ From: puma@netcom.com (Gary Breuckman) Subject: CDA Struck Down Second Time Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 15:02:35 GMT "A three-judge federal panel in Manhattan declared the Communications Decency Act unconstitutional Monday, dealing the second blow in as many months to the law that was designed to shield children from indecency on the Internet. In a 70-page decision, the judges ruled unanimously that the law was unconstitutionally broad and issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the measure until further court action. Unlike the Philadelphia case, which was brought by a coalition of individuals, free speech advocates, publishing and computer industry groups, the New York case was brought by a single person, Joseph P. Shea, editor of an on-line newspaper, _The American Reporter_." For the full text of this story and pointers to other articles going back to February, http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0730cda-ny.html The Times does require registration to read their articles, but there is no charge. The CyberTimes articles have a lot of computer-industry news that you might find interesting. puma@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: JerryKaufman Subject: Wireless Systems Seminar Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 09:38:38 -0700 Organization: Alexander Resources SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENT Alexander Resources presents: WIRELESS BUSINESS TELEPHONE SYSTEMS SEMINAR A new, comprehensive, two day educational seminar for telecommunications professionals who need to understand the applications, benefits and limitations of: ON-PREMISES/UNLICENSED PCS WIRELESS PBXs/CENTREX IN-BUILDING CELLULAR SYSTEMS The seminar covers all aspects of these new systems and services: Private domain, dual domain, and multi domain service areas; Dual mode and mutli mode operation; Host controlled and Network controlled call routing; Part 15 Subpart C, Part 15 Subpart D, PCS and Cellular spectrum; Adjunct and Integrated implementations; and Single cell/single user, single cell/mutli-user and mutli cell/multi-user radio architectures. The seminar is continuously updated to provide you with the latest information on: New products, technologies, spectrum regulations, standards, user benefits and applications, market forecasts and trends. 1996 SEMINAR SCHEDULE AND VENUES Washington, DC September 9 & 10, 1996 Dallas, TX October 14 & 15, 1996 Scottsdale, AZ November 18 & 19, To receive a detailed brochure contact Alexander Resources at: Phone: 602-948-8225 Fax: 602-948-1081 E-mail: JerryKaufman@worldnet.att.net Postal mail: Alexander Resources, 4854 E. Onyx Ave., Scottsdale, AZ 85253, USA When requesting the brochure please provide your name, your company name, address, phone and fax number. ------------------------------ From: dlewis@hogpc.ho.att.com (David G. Lewis) Subject: Number Portability (was Re: Ten-Digit Dialing) Date: 30 Jul 1996 12:57:11 GMT Organization: AT&T In article , Tad Cook wrote: > Phone Numbers to Lengthen in Pittsburgh > By Steve Creedy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette > Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News > The FCC has said that it wants number portability but it still isn't > clear how long it will take to implement it. Actually, according to the following FCC news release, they've given some pretty clear rules: June 27, 1996 COMMISSION ADOPTS RULES ON TELEPHONE NUMBER PORTABILITY (CC DOCKET 95-116) [portions deleted] ... In today's action, the Commission ordered all LECs to begin the phased deployment of a long-term service provider portability method in the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) no later than October 1, 1997, and to complete deployment in those MSAs by December 31, 1998. Number portability must be provided in these areas by all LECs to all requesting telecommunications carriers, including commercial mobile radio services (CMRS) providers. After December 31, 1998, each LEC must make number portability available within six months after receiving a specific request by another telecommunications carrier in reas outside the 100 largest areas MSAs in which the requesting carrier is operating or plans to operate... David G Lewis AT&T Network & Computing Services david.g.lewis@att.com or Network Services Planning deej@taz.att.com Call Processing Systems Engineering The Future: It's a long distance from long distance. ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: E-911 and the FBI, was Re: 9-1-1 and Olympic Blast Date: 29 Jul 1996 18:02:14 -0400 Organization: mostly unorganized In Tad Cook writes: (In various quotes from a news story:) > The call came from "a white male with an indistinguishable accent," > the FBI's Woody Johnson said, acknowledging that the voice sounded > American. A Justice Department official said the caller spoke "in a > calm voice." I find this FBI statement fascinating. I guess you can pretty reliably distinguish between a male and female caller, but what's this 'white male with indistinguishable accent' mean? Does, for example, Ken Kashiwahara (an NBC news personality) count? Or how about (the late) Senator S. I. Hayakawa? Or Benyamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister? And given that we Noo Yoikers have trouble understanding Georgians, what does 'indistinguishable accent' mean? > Using 911's caller identification feature that displays a caller's > telephone number, agents traced the warning to a pay telephone near a > hotel about two blocks from the explosion. Our Esteemed Moderator, in another post, asked for some info about E-911. As explanation: "standard" 911, which started in operation in the late 1960s (depending on area), is simply a method of routing a call for assistance to a local and centralized Public Safety Answering Position (PSAP) covering your neighborhood. From a _telco_ standpoint, all it did (yes, I'm oversimplifying) was, in effect, speed-dial your call based on where you were calling from. However, the PSAP did _not_ know where the call was coming from. (Well, it might have known which phone exchange but that was it). Enhanced 911 (E-911), from the TELCO standpoint, is simply adding a data channel to the call which includes the phone number and the caller's name and address. think of it as a better version of CNID which works on phones that are not CNID'able. (The database used is different and the methodology is also different. HOWEVER, there are numerous emergency agencies - for example, a local volunteer ambulance squad, which do, in fact, use regular CNID.) The other nifty features, i.e. 'how many calls have come into this address in the past month', etc., are based on computer lookups by the PSAP itself. This info is NOT provided by the telco. (However, some PSAPs have used the local Telco, or AT&T, as the computer vendor/ integrator.) By the way, there was a specific exemption in the AT&T breakup/divestiture which allowed the companies to provide and maintain a 'one-stop-shop' for public safety services such as 911. > requesting anonymity. "We've investigated thousands of these; we know > what to do." Thousands of pipe bombings in this country? How many have we heard about? > Because of the American-sounding voice on the call and the simple So what _does_ an American sound like? How about Henry Kissinger? Well, given that probably 90% of pipe bombings are made by white males, I guess the statement by the FBI agent is probably correct. Hmm, come to think of it, aren't 90% of FBI agents white males??? Danny "of course Joanne Chesimard and the other members of the (1970's) Black Liberation Army(*) might disagree" Burstein ... * the BLA and a similar Puerto Rican group, the FALN, set off quite a few bombs in the NY area in the mid 1970s. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are a *lot* of things going on that the government is not being very forthright about mainly from a concern that panic would spread. A few years ago after the bombing at the World Trade Center in New York I commented that I sincerely believed the USA was no longer going to be exempt from the terrorist attacks which have plagued so much of the world. I was criticized for my statement that 'within six months to a year the USA will be in a state of emergency and under martial law.' So, my timing was off a little ... the terrorist's pace has increased this summer with airplanes and the latest thing at the Olympics. The FBI is getting stretched to the limit expending their resources in the airplane thing and now the Olympics. Do they still have personnel assigned to that railroad derailment in Arizona where someone had deliberatly tampered with the railroad tracks? And what do you want to bet security will be **so tight** at the political conventions this summer and yet something will happen there as well. I am sure that between the two conventions -- and the Democratic one seems the most likely -- there will be some terrorist incident. I still say that before long terrorist incidents will become so common in the USA that the newspapers and television stations will begin giving them only a cursory notice; almost like being the victim of a mugging or a murder in Chicago or New York City. And gradually the amount of freedom we enjoy will diminish as more and more security precautions are implemented. The government will find some ignorant housewife somewhere to get on television and say she does not mind giving up freedom X in order to be secure from terrorist act Z. And all the newspapers will go along with it and tell us how 'sad' it is that we have reduced freedom but that is the way it has to be, etc. It is just a matter of time, but I refuse this time around to couch it in terms of months. If there are a couple more incidents this summer however, I'd say expect some major changes in life. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: At Communications Central the Phone Never Stops Ringing Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:56:36 PDT Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 15:33:33 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: AT COMMUNICATIONS CENTRAL THE PHONE NEVER STOPS RINGING FOR THE 1996 OLYMPIC GAMES ATLANTA -- July 24, 1996 -- When a representative for a wealthy Middle Eastern nation placed a call to BellSouth's Olympic Support Center (OSC), Jackie Stephenson, the on-site manager, didn't bat an eye. The request -- a single phone line for a north-Atlanta mansion housing international VIPs for the 1996 Olympic Games -- was business as usual. Then Stephenson got a second order from the same representative. This time, he asked for a business line. A third request arrived, for a fax line. Then a fourth came, for a combined voice and computer service. Finally, a fifth separate order, this one for a service that provides multiple lines, landed on Stephenson's desk. No problem--the orders were filled, one after the next, all on time. "Some sites rented for the Games turn into mini-State Departments," said Stephenson. "But this generally happens gradually, as the dignitaries and their staffs realize what they need. It really keeps things busy." The OSC has been one of the busiest spots in Atlanta this summer, as the requests for phone, computer and video lines keep coming in. Stephenson and BellSouth staff at other centers are responsible for all local service and video connections from every Olympic venue. BellSouth handles all local telecommunications requests from The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, the international media, the United States Olympic Committee, and big national customers. The OSC alone has handled orders for roughly 26,000 lines, serving almost 500 customers, including media and athletes, and overseen the installation of state-of-the-art local telecommunications for teams, tourists and VIPs from roughly 190 nations. It has even handled orders for top-security FBI lines. "It's been wild at times," said Stephenson. "But it's also the opportunity of a lifetime to show off BellSouth's capabilities. We'll always be proud to say how well we served the world at these Olympic Games." The high-profile sometimes brings challenges in itself. When some members of the international media arrived at broadcast sites the week of the Opening Ceremony, they discovered, to their alarm, that no one had connected them to BellSouth's network. While an independent contractor bears this responsibility, the media came seeking help from the most conspicuous telecommunications company -- BellSouth. "For a couple of days, our offices were inundated by customers who needed help getting their service connected," said Stephenson. "So we did what we thought was the right thing -- we took on the role of liaison between them and the companies who could get their service in place." Overseas, most national governments own the telephone companies, which means a single company provides every service. But here in the U.S., different companies provide inside wiring, local service and long distance service. "All some of the international customers knew was that they didn't have service," said Stephenson. "They figured we were down there, we had on a BellSouth shirts -- we must be the telephone company. So that's what we became. We took on their problems as our own and went the extra mile." The 1996 Olympic Games are referred to by some as the "Technology Games" for the sophisticated technologies being employed to stage the Games in Atlanta. Indeed, for some advanced services, customers have placed orders at double and triple the projections made some six years ago, when planning for the Games began. The OSC, backed by BellSouth engineers and installers, has worked long and hard to keep up with the orders. Much of the local telecommunications infrastructure set up in Atlanta -- fiber optic cable, cellular systems and mobile data -- will remain functional long after the Games are gone. Integrated services digital network, known as ISDN, is one example. ISDN allows a phone line to carry two signals simultaneously -- one for voice conversation and one for computer information. Many businesses bought and installed ISDN this year in the homes of employees so they could "telecommute" -- that is, work from home -- during the crowded summer months. Trials of telecommuting as a workplace option have been so successful that some companies have made home ISDN connections permanent. "We expect telecommuting to be one legacy of the Games," said Stephenson. "It's going to stay around for a long time." The same probably can't be said for new lines, such as those installed for the Middle Eastern dignitaries. Most phone lines will be disconnected when the Olympic Games end only to be reconnected for the Paralympics, which begin two weeks later. "It's a hectic life," said Stephenson. "It keeps coming at you. But soon we'll be able to say to the world that we handled the local telecommunications needs of the 1996 Olympic Games and did it right. That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." BellSouth is a $17.9 billion communications service company providing telecommunications, wireless, directory advertising publishing and video information services to more than 25 million customers throughout the United States and 17 foreign countries. BellSouth is the official local telecommunications sponsor of the 1996 Olympic Games and the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team. # # # Contact: During the Games BellSouth Press Center 770-391-3699 Erin Bondy Burson-Marsteller 404-735-2843 After the Games Deborah Spicer BellSouth 404-249-2849 Scott Mall ACOG 404-224-5070 ----------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: provolibpatron@provo.lib.ut.us Subject: 801 Area Code Split Date: 29 Jul 1996 21:23:30 GMT Organization: Deja News Usenet Posting Service Reply-To: provolibpatron@provo.lib.ut.us The {Deseret News} in Salt Lake City, Utah has run an article in the July 27, 1996 edition detailing the plan to split the 801 area code, most likely in 4Q 1997. The following area will remain 801: Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties. The remainder of the state will get the new code. As for the date expected to take effect, that is not known yet, but the target date for permissive dialing is 1997 4Q with mandatory dialing by mid 1998. For more details visit the {Deseret News} website at http://www.desnews.com for information about the article. Please do not reply via email as I did this via a public library but do so by posting a thread to Usenet. [ Posted via Deja News: http://www.dejanews.com/ ] ------------------------------ From: Chris Telesca Subject: Remote-Access Call-Forwarding Fraud Date: 29 Jul 1996 02:57:03 GMT Organization: CampusMCI I recently posted to the group several times with my questions about the possibility the other people made long-distance calls using my Remote-Access Call-Forwarding PIN number. I have been told by security people from other phone companies that there is little is any security on R-A C-F as provided by Bell South. It is apparently quite easy to hack the 4-digit PIN number. Although Bell South phone bills indicate that there is a special rate code for LD calls made through call-forwarding, these haven't shown up on my bill until quite recently, and then only those calls made via BellSouth LD - any LD calls made through another carrier (mine is AT&T) won't show up because BellSouth doesn't communicate that information to the other companies. Here's my problem: I've had R-A C-F for several years now, and every so often my bill goes out of sight. It first started going crazy back in January 1995, to the extent that AT&T called my to see if it was really me making those calls. Then I moved to another residence in March 1995, and got a new phone number - and also got R-A C-F. I had a relatively low phone bill for the first two months I was there, then it went up again. I changed residences again in August 1995, and also got a new phone number (along with R-A C-F). Things went ok for the first couple of months, then the phone bills got crazy again. When I found out that someone other than myself had remotely forwarded my phone, and had the phone company change my PIN number, my phone bill went way down. Basically, I've been having ridiculously-high phone bills for the last 20 months and I can't seem to get Bell South and AT&T to work with me to find out which calls were made legitimately by me and which ones were made on a fraudulent basis by others - basically, they don't want to give up the money that I have been paying them for fraudulent calls. Any idea of who I should call or write about the matter? Chris Telesca Voice: (919) 676-2597 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #370 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Jul 30 15:31:35 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA11440; Tue, 30 Jul 1996 15:31:35 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 15:31:35 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607301931.PAA11440@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #371 TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Jul 96 15:31:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 371 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson BellSouth Signs Fifteenth Interconnection Agreement (Mike King) Search for US Unlimited Local calling Area Database (Matt Leonard) PRI Availablity in DC (Stephen Balbach) New French Telephone Numbers (P. Raffin) Why Stay With Sprint? (Jim Jacobs) Need Symbol Library for Outside Plant (Matthew C. Grimes) Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (Michael Schuster) Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (William Pfieffer) Re: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? (James Meehan) Re: Update - Ocoee Olympic V (Stanley Cline) Re: DTH Dishes "Pizza Sized Dishes" (David Richards) Re: Using US Modems in China (Chi-Kin Sam) Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! (Jeremy Rogers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Signns Fifteenth Interconnection Agreement Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:51:36 PDT Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 12:45:43 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH SIGNS FIFTEENTH LOCAL INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT BELLSOUTH SIGNS FIFTEENTH LOCAL INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT (Atlanta, GA)--July 25, 1996--BellSouth (NYSE: BSL) announced today it signed its fifteenth local interconnection agreement by agreeing on terms for competition with American Communications Services, Inc. (ACSI). The agreement marks BellSouth as the national leader in promoting competition in the telecommunications industry. "This agreement with ACSI is another demonstration of BellSouth's commitment of bringing competition in telecommunications to consumers in the southeast," stated Charlie Coe, Group President of Customer Operations for BellSouth. "Once again, instead of talking about being pro-competitive, we have the agreements to prove we are the leaders in assuring that the competition intended by the national legislation develops. Also, with each agreement we sign, we move closer to being allowed into the long distance business in our region, a service we plan to offer in early 1997," stated Coe. The agreement sets the terms on how BellSouth and ACSI will interconnect their networks in eight BellSouth states. These terms include: non-discriminatory rates, terms and conditions for local interconnection; interim number portability; and the resale of BellSouth's services and network capabilities. With this agreement, BellSouth has now signed agreements with regional and national competitors including: Time Warner, Intermedia, Teleport Communications Group, Hart Communications, The Telephone Company of Central Florida, Southeast Telephone Company, American MetroComm, Payphone Consultants, Georgia Comm South, MediaOne (US West Subsidiary) and the Florida Cable Association. The company is also expected to sign additional agreements with competitors in the near future. BellSouth is a $17.9 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications, directory advertising and publishing and other information services to more than 25 million customers in 17 countries worldwide. Its telephone operations provide service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world for approximately 21 million telephone lines in a nine-state region that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. ### FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Joe Chandler BellSouth Telecommunications (404) 529-6235 ----------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Who was it said here a couple weeks ago that the only beneficiaries of 'local competition' would be the existing Baby Bells? I'll bet between the fifteen 'competitors' of BellSouth now officially on record, they don't have five percent of the business that Bell had before all this started. Yes, BellSouth certainly knows how to play the game. I'll bet they try to get several more 'competitors' in on the action ... all the better to allow them to be in the long distance business. Come one, come all I hear them calling. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Matt Leonard Subject: Search for US Unlimited Local Calling Area Database Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 21:13:15 -0400 Organization: GTE Laboratories Incorporated Is there a database in existence that can give all the NPA/NXX combinations within a given number's unlimited local calling area for the entire United States? Please resond to mleonard@gte.com Thanks in advance, Matt ------------------------------ From: stephen@clark.net (Stephen Balbach) Subject: PRI Availablity in DC Date: 29 Jul 1996 22:19:44 GMT Organization: Clark Internet Services, Balt/DC, mail all-info@clark.net We are looking for PRI availablity in DC for local access numbers. Is Bell Atlantic the only choice? Are there any local tarrifed providers offering PRI service in DC? Thanks! Stephen Balbach "Driving the Internet To Work" VP, ClarkNet due to the high volume of mail I receive please quote info@clark.net the full original message in your reply. ------------------------------ From: P.Raffin@frcl.bull.fr Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 18:54:19 +0200 Subject: New French Telephone Numbers In the previous months, some new telephone numbers were introduced in France for mobiles; these numbers begin with a zero, and have eight digits. These new prefixes are: - the new operator Bouygues Telecom receives numbers in the 02 xx xx xx range, for its DCS 1800 network; - SFR receives the 03 range, in addition to its current 09 range, for GSM; - France Telecom introduces the 04, in addition to the 06, for one-way pagers; FT already uses the 07 and 08 ranges for GSM. For mobile phones, each operator introduced new numbers for miscellaneous services (e.g.: directory: 222 for SFR, 612 for Bouygues, etc; there is still *no* common directory for mobiles, each operator wishes to keep its current customers unknown to the other operators). When the new numbering plan (NDC: "numerotation a dix chiffres", ten digit numbering) takes place (1996/10/18 2300 GMT), they will all receive a leading 06 before the current 8 digits; only Bouygues numbers will be modified, for "technical reasons". The number 52 11 gives access to a robot that can tell the new telephone number corresponding to a given current number (I don't know if it can be dialed from abroad). With the NDC, the leading two digits will be, from inside France: 00 - international; 01 to 05 plus 8 digits - POTS (France and overseas); 06 plus 8 digits - mobiles; 07 - reserved for portable numbers (those that won't change if you move); 08 plus 8 digits - special numbers: 0800 (free), 0801 (local rate), 0836 etc; 09 - reserved for future use; 112 - emergency (common European number); 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 (France Telecom directory assistance, fire brigade, police etc); 36 xx - miscellaneous (France Telecom electronic directory, etc); 52 11 and 52 12 - information about the new numbering plan (robot, human). From abroad, omit the leading zero. Patrick Raffin, (if questions, please mailto: praffin@teaser.fr) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 11:50:23 -0400 From: Jim Jacobs Subject: Why Stay With Sprint? On July 18 chrissv@ranger.tc.cat.com (Steven V. Christensen) wrote: > In recent Sprint telephone commericls, the rate is quoted as $.25 for > prime time also. But they say the $.10 rate is guaranteed "forever" > (during thr 7P-7A times). > Only time will tell, I guess ... > I think the $.25 was a rate increase. Your question on lasting might > have been (accidentally or on purpose) interpred as asking about the > $.10 rate. With all the negative press that Sprint has been getting here recently, I wonder anyone stays with them? Until recently, I was employed by LDDS WorldCom, the fourth largest long distance carrier in the US.. During that time, I did not feel that it was right for me to push their products and services here. However, that has changed and I think that TELECOM Digest readers should be made aware of an LDDS residential program called Home Advantage. There is no signup charge or monthy fee for this service. There are no monthly minimums to be met. Interstate rates are: .20 in peak hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm, monday through friday, local time) and .10 per minute at all other times. Major holidays are off-peak all day. Intrastate rates are slightly higher or lower than this depending upon the state. Like most residential service, billing is in one minute increments. Home Advantage international rates are NOT time sensitive and are substantially lower than AT&T / MCI during Standard and Discount time periods. They are higher than special extra-fee programs like AT&T''s Reach Out World. Service is available from all 48 contiguous states. I've been a residential customer of LDDS for almost four years and have never had a problem with service or billing. The number for their residential department is 800-275-0100. JIM JACOBS e-mail jjacobs@worldfax.com Tampa, Florida, USA Voice Mail +1 813 330 2500 ------------------------------ From: cms@ia-ngnet.army.mil (Matthew C. Grimes) Subject: Need Symbol Library for Outside Plant Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 14:38:36 GMT Organization: Iowa National Guard We are putting together some base maps of our outside plant. Does anyone know where to obtain a symbol library for use in a CAD environment (Autocad). There seem to be lots of "networking" symbols but have not found anything for outside plant construction. Thanks, Matt Grimes - grimesm@guard.state.ia.us ------------------------------ From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) Subject: Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? Date: 30 Jul 1996 13:15:15 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In article , AIRWAVES MEDIA wrote: > I am wondering how secure the coding is in these 900Mhz cordless > phones. Tuning them in on a scanner produces nothing but the hash of > the digital carrier, but I wonder how hard it is to actually 'hear' > the conversation? Can people modfy the actual phones to do this? > Can a modem be used? A while back, someone posted to rec.radio.scanner that the Tropez (a spread-spectrum phone, not digital) had a local oscillator which emitted several "in the clear" FM signals which could easily be received by a nearby scanner. Some of the newer digital models may share this in common. Mike Schuster schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM schuster@shell.portal.com | schuster@mem.po.com ------------------------------ From: AIRWAVES MEDIA Subject: Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 15:58:50 GMT >> I am wondering how secure the coding is in these 900Mhz cordless > Most of the 900Mhz cordless phones use spread spectrum technology which is > very difficult to monitor. Like you said, all you hear on a scanner is the My AT&T 9100 does not do spread-spectrum. It is limited to ten channels :-(, and it does, initially, pick a cleanest channel, but after that you must change channels manually. > I have a Uniden 900 Mhz cordless and love it. I live near a small lake and > can go out and walk around the entire lake (about 3/4 of a mile at the > furthest point from my home) and still have a good signal. I have dialed it Boy, I sure cannot say that for the AT&T 9100. I have five acres that rolls slowly downhill from my house and I cannot get more than 500' before dropouts start occurring. This is with the base in a window facing that direction. Sound quality is quite good, however, w/o and noise, but range is limited to that of a traditional 46/49 phone. That brings me to another question. Is there an easy, effective way to connect an external antenna to these units? On the AT&T, the antenna is connected to the TX where there are little carbon resistors/inductors that makeup the combiner (so the same antenna can be used for TX and RX). It would be good to be able to split this and use two antennas outside. One for TX one for RX. Anyone have any help on this? Speaking of range, I do notice that the TX/RX part of the base is a module that plugs in to the main PC board via surface-mounted slots. Maybe there are different models of this TX unit that give different performance. The 9100 was the cheapest 900 phone AT&T made, like $169.00 > Hope this helps, again, sorry I can't answer the more technical questions. > I too wonder if there is already an FAQ on this topic. Thanks Greg. I would still appreciate more technical info, but I appreciate your reply none-the-less. William Pfeiffer - Moderator | "Today's radio tries so rec.radio.broadcasting/Airwaves Radio Journal | hard not to turn off any Email: wdp@airwaves.com | listeners, that it fails Webmaster: http://www.airwaves.com | to do anything to turn "Seeking Web Design Position, send me email" | them on" - Mike Miranda ------------------------------ From: James Meehan <100574.1535@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Modem Use With a Digital Phone? Date: 30 Jul 1996 01:23:06 GMT Organization: CompuServe, Inc. (1-800-689-0736) Yes, there is a device available in the UK from Teleadapt - 44 181 233 3000 which allows you to use a analogue modem with a digital PBX (office or hotel). They have full details of any connectors needed as well. Hope this helps. Cheers! James Meehan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 18:05:06 EDT From: Stanley Cline Subject: Re: Update - Ocoee Olympic V On 25 Jul 1996, Robert Beeman wrote: > I can understand a cellular company not installing additional sites > along the Ocoee River Gorge, site of the kayak/conoe slalom venue. I am > familiar with the river, having visited in-laws inving near there many > times. > First, there is the problem of designing and finding sites for > the necessary RF coverage in a very narrow, winding, and deep river gorge. This is true, but what CellularOne did was to put cell sites at EACH END of the gorge -- one tower in the immediate competition area (the east end), the other at the western end. (The cell site at the east end also covers the towns of Copperhill, etc. which US Cellular has made no attempt whatsoever to cover either ... and there are NO problems that I can see of covering Copperhill!) I would expect numerous dead spots in this area (which there certainly ARE with CellOne!) -- the problem is with USCC's continual attitude of "If it's a mountain, let's not cover it", etc. and GTE's refusal to seek roaming agreements with B carriers. Olympics or no, US Cellular should not be so stubborn. (They show the area as "covered" on their coverage maps distributed in the Knoxville market -- what a joke! I am going to have THAT looked into as "misleading advertising.") > Secondly, for each of the additional sites a T1 would probably be needed > from an infrastructure that was not designed with that capacity in mind. Since GTE installed towers at each end, not inside the gorge itself, the T1 issue does not exist. (I would not expect any carrier to set up a cell site within the gorge -- that is absurd.) Oddly, the Copper Basin CO is set up for straight ISDN/T1/ISUP etc. connections; the CO I am in (in a much more populated area) is not! (They're both BellSouth areas.) > Building a microwave system to beef up the infrastructure is an expensive > solution. This is out of the question, since it isn't even necessary IMHO. > Thirdly, how would a cellular operator get an economic return on the > investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the three or four weeks > of extra Olympic traffic, especially in view of the situation where the > B-side operator doesn't see a reason to build a system there? Increased roaming revenue mainly, particularly if the cell site is PERMANENT and not temporary. GTE's cell site is permanent. Look what they get from B-side roamers (not just in Copperhill, but all over Tennessee): $1.95/call, $1.95/min. :( There are PLENTY of people mad because their phones don't work in the Ocoee/Copperhill area -- both BellSouth customers and USCC's. USCC has ignored everything BellSouth, ACOG, and even *their own customers* have told them. GTE has made a fair job of covering the Ocoee regioin (however poor the service may be), but USCC has made no effort whatsoever. > What I have a problem with is the banning of cellular phones. To me, > the only acceptable reason would be to keep the cellular channels clear > for emergency usage, if needed. I heard on local Atlanta radio that They aren't blocking calls from the town of Copperhill, etc. that are served by the same cell site. (They can't do that lest the FCC come running.) "Keeping channels clear" was never cited as a reason for banning phones -- the "security EQUIPMENT" aspect was stressed over and over. Besides, 911 calls are [supposed to] take precedence over other calls, and phones/switch can be programmed to have "priority" usage of the available channels, so really even THAT doesn't seem that plausible. > It is not acceptable to me for the agency in question to ban cellular > phones for the reasons cited. How can an agency, private or public, > prohibit you from using a legal, federally licensed service anywhere in > the United States if no laws are being broken in the process? By having heavily armed security guards frisk and search everyone that enters the venue area. In Olympic venues, the security guards take precedence over whatever public police protection there is ... taking "constitutional rights" away in the process (IMHO.) There are legitimate reasons for forbidding cellular phones in certain areas (parts of hospitals where delicate medical equipment is in use, etc.) but I know of companies that ban phones "in the workplace" -- even used during breaks, lunch, etc. -- for no seeming reason whatsoever ... leaving people pining for the few pay phones or "public" phones that are available ... even if the caller wants to PAY the difference. (Some of these companies, however, get "corporate" rate plans for having so many cellular subscriber/employees! Go figure ...) In any case, TODA's reasoning is unquestionably bizarre. Stanley Cline ** Roamer1 on IRC (see why?) mailto:scline@usit.net http://www.usit.net/public/scline/ CIS 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 ------------------------------ From: dr@ripco.com (David Richards) Subject: Re: DTH Dishes "Pizza Sized Dishes" Organization: Ripco Internet BBS, Chicago Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 04:07:37 GMT In article , Chris Farrar wrote: > Recently there was a story in the papers on how DirecTV decoders/ > descrambelers have been hacked and it is now possible to get > a circuit board with the hacked chip, allowing the viewing of all > DirecTV channels without paying the subscription fees. DirecTV is > owned by General Motors Corporation. > GM has had the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) out looking for > the pirates that have cracked the encryption routine for the small > digital satelite dishes, who GM and DirecTV claim are being deprived > of income. However, the case raises some interesting questions. > While the dishes are legal (greymarket), the police are taking the > view that the modified card that contains the decryption codes are > illegal (blackmarket). Cracked cards are currently selling for $800 to > $1,000 ($560 to $700 US). Current estimates say there are up to 20,000 > cracked cards in use in Canada today. It is estimated that there are > 150,000 DirecTV dishes in use in Canada today. Interestingly, DirecTV is/has replacing all the legitimate cards with new ones bearing a more difficult to crack/duplicate chipset because of the widespread piracy problem. On a telecom note, in order to pay for pay-per-view shows on the service, you need to connect the tuner to a phone line. Because the service is not available in Canada, any paying user who calls to order a program will have their box disabled remotely ... SO, Canadians are using boxes or manually dialing a US-based diverter number such as would be used to block CallerID, so their call appears to originate here -- almost enough trouble to make a $800 blackmarket card attractive ... David Richards Ripco, since Nineteen-Eighty-Three My opinions are my own, Public Access in Chicago But they are available for rental Shell/SLIP/PPP/UUCP/ISDN/Leased dr@ripco.com (312) 665-0065 !Free Usenet/E-Mail! ------------------------------ From: cksam@macau.ctm.net (SAM, Chi-Kin) Subject: Re: Using US Modems in China Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 05:23:57 GMT Organization: Tecnologia Electronica Hermes Reply-To: cksam@macau.ctm.net On Wed, 24 Jul 1996 08:29:06 +0000, Allen Daniel wrote: > My company has designed a modem to operate with the U.S. phone system > and we need to know if it will be compatible with the phone system of > Mainland China. > I would appreciate it if someone could tell me if modems designed for > operation in the U.S. will operate normally in China and if the lines > in China are fairly clean, or if they are too noisy for a low speed > (4800 bps or less) digital link. The digital link will be over long > distance lines back to the U.S. I had used Apex PCMCIA modem which being a US version in Mainland China to access my Easylink account in Hong Kong and my ISP in Macau, depend on the city and the time to originate the calls, some place the line is quite quite clean that I could have connection on above 9600bps, but sometime the link is not so good with lot of crosstalk existed. Generally speaking from the big cities and the first grade hotel with proper maitained PABX you can expected 7200bps and above connection, of course 28.8K is almost impossible. The US version of modem may not correctly identify the busy tone or dialing tone in China, because China has their own National Standard on the tone plan for PSTN, they *DO NOT USE* precision tone plan now utilize in North America, they also have their own standard on the DTMF signal level etc. So there is chance that you modem can work in China without any modification but does not comply with China National Standard. Might be a interesting case to you: For remote programming a PABX in China, I had experences to connect to this PABX's strictly Hayes 2400 compatible modem from here in Macau (approxitely 1,000km away) at 2400bps without error correction for more than half hour without dificulty a few time. SAM, Chi-Kin (Mr.) at Hermes Electronics Technology Co. in MACAU Tel: +(853) 963609 Fax: +(853) 511456 PGP key available via email e-mail: cksam@macau.ctm.net AT&Tmail: !hermestech ------------------------------ From: Jeremy Rogers Subject: Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 00:00:00 GMT In message tholome@francenet.fr (Eric Tholome) writes: > In article , Jeremy Rogers > wrote: >>> The AT&T International Call Plan is available to customers living in >>> Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Norway." >> If anyone is wondering why the UK isn't on that list it is simple. >> AT&T operates a normal long distance service here via an access code. > Well, I don't think it is *that* simple. AT&T has also been operating > a normal long distance (read international) service in France via an > access code (190011) for many years, as does Sprint (190087) and > probably others. Looks like I didn't explain clearly enough. I wasn't meaning a USADirect type service (which is also available). AT&T Communications (UK) Ltd holds a fixed-line PTO licence. Any call, not just international, can be routed via AT&T instead of BT by prefixing 143 in front of the telephone number in a similar way to how 10288 is used in the USA. There are other companies offering domestic alternative long distance services, including Mercury, Energis, and ACC UK. As the companies deal with their own billing, access to each service generally has to be authorised by them first. Only BT is obliged to provide this indirect access through their local loop. Anyone using another local loop supplier, which residentially would usually mean their local cable company, has no choice of long distance carrier apart from what their supplier offers them. Jez ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #371 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 31 03:01:57 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id DAA09345; Wed, 31 Jul 1996 03:01:57 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 03:01:57 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607310701.DAA09345@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #372 TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Jul 96 03:01:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 372 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson More Details on 801 Split (John Cropper) Many Canadian Phone Listings on Web Page (David Leibold) 911 Payphone Call in Olympic Bombing (Dana Rozycki) BellSouth Appeals FCC Number Portability Order (Mike King) TMB Invest in ATM Switch, vs Routers (Othman bin Hj. Ahmad) Integretel Mugging (Ryan Zoghlin) Is Internet Telephony For Real? (Jim P. Dalton) For Sale: Protocol Analyzer Tekelec (John Ade) Cordless for a Rolm PBX (Roger Jennings) Southwestern Bell Telecom Landmark Key Digital System (Daniel W. Connor) Hardware/Software Required for CallerID via TAPI (Jeffrey W. Krul) T1 (Free Run, M24, Integrated Access) Timing Problems/Issues (Adam Enfield) Overlay Area Codes (Tad Cook) Becoming a LD Dealer (Babu Mengelepouti) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: More Details on 801 Split Date: 30 Jul 1996 22:40:31 GMT Organization: MindSpring Utah outgrows 801 area code All but four Wasatch Front counties may soon have a new 3-figure designation. By Joseph Bauman Deseret News staff writer Rural Utahns have frequently complained that they feel cut off from the urbanized Wasatch Front. As of next year, that feeling may become even more substantial: They'll have a different telephone area code, according to a tentative industry recommendation. Telephone industry officials have been aware for years that Utah's phone population explosion was gobbling up all available telephone number combinations in the 801 area code that serves the entire state. The growth isn't only in new homes but in cellular and paging devices and fax and modem lines. By creating a new area code, an additional 792 prefixes become available. While some limitations apply to the kinds of combinations available -- for example, there is no '000' prefix -- that addition should allow many hundreds of thousands of new numbers. Telephone industry officials have met twice since May 1 to decide how to divide the state into two area codes. They have circulated a draft plan for recommendations. "Those comments were supposed to be in by today," Duane Cooke, spokesman for US WEST, said on Friday. A final version of the plan is to be delivered to the Utah Public Service Commission next week. The PSC will decide if the plan is acceptable. Under the draft proposal, telephone exchanges in the Wasatch Front -- Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties -- would keep the 801 area code. "Telephone subscribers outside that area would be assigned a new area code," Cooke said. If the plan is implemented, the new area code would be phased in starting around the middle of 1997. Until the start of 1998, people calling phones outside the Wasatch Front would have the option of using either the new or old area code. "Around the first of 1998, use of the new code would be mandatory." Telephone executives have two goals in splitting the state, Cooke said: to minimize impacts on customers and to put off another change as long as possible. People living outside the four counties would not need to change their area code again in the foreseeable future. However, Salt Lake, Weber, Davis and Utah counties may face another split in eight to 10 years, judging by increases in demands for telephone numbers. Meanwhile, exactly what is the new area code? Industry officials are mum about that for now. John Cropper * NiS / NexComm Content is the sole property of the * PO Box 277 originating poster. Please relegate * Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 ALL on-topic responses to this * Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 newsgroup. Unsolicited private mail * Outside NJ: 800.247.8675 is prohibited, and will be referred * Fax : 609.637.9430 unabridged to sender's ISP. * email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 19:17:03 EDT From: David Leibold Subject: Many Canadian Phone Listings on Web Page A number of Canadian phone companies such as BC Tel and Bell Canada have set up a phone number lookup web page at http://canada411.sympatico.ca/ joining a number of other telcos worldwide in on-line listings. Not all provinces are available at this time, and it's not certain what future plans for this are. The lookup seems to be particularly sensitive to city name and not just exchange name. For instance, I looked up somebody in Scarborough, which would be in Toronto exchange (i.e. 416 area). A city name of "Toronto" in the search will not find it, but a city of "Scarborough" will. David Leibold aa070@freenet.toronto.on.ca ------------------------------ From: dana.rozycki@octel.com Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 20:29:17 -0700 Subject: 911 Payphone Call in Olympic Bombing Patrick -- On the issue of whether or not the Atlanta police had Enhanced 911 in effect at the time of the Olympic bombing, I heard on NPR that the 911 operator did not have Enhanced 911 for the particular payphone that the bomber called from because that payphone was a temporary payphone set up specially for the Olympics, the type of which has been discussed several times in this forum. She was able to get ANI information, but had to call a second police number to obtain the geographical location of the payphone. It seems to me that the Atlanta police department could have programmed the additional temporary payphone information into their database in order to get instant location identification. In fact, it seems shocking that they did not do this, considering the supposedly tight security of the games and the high probability that emergency calls would need to be made from a phone at such a heavily trafficked location. Dana Rozycki ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Appeals FCC Number Portability Order Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 17:35:15 PDT Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 18:18:44 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH APPEALS FCC NUMBER PORTABILITY ORDER BELLSOUTH APPEALS FCC NUMBER PORTABILITY ORDER WASHINGTON -- BellSouth today asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn an order by the Federal Communications Commission which requires BellSouth to give its competitors call forwarding service for free. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, customers will be allowed to keep their current phone numbers no matter what company they select to provide their local telephone service. Until new technology is perfected to allow this transmission to be automatic, the FCC has ordered that an existing technology, "Remote Call Forwarding" be used as an interim solution and that it be provided free. "By its action, which ignores freely negotiated agreements on interconnection already in place, the FCC is thwarting the will of Congress by delaying, rather than speeding the start of competition. It was the intent of Congress that the marketplace, as much as possible, set the terms and conditions for competition and set forth a process of free negotiation, with regulatory involvement only when necessary. This action turns the process on its head," said Randy New, BellSouth vice president - legislative implementation. The Florida Public Service Commission has determined that an appropriate rate for this service is $1.00 per month. Additionally, BellSouth has negotiated a similar price in about a dozen interconnection agreements throughout its nine-state region. Some of these systems have already been installed. Yet, the FCC has ordered existing local telephone companies to give the service away free. The FCC order appears to disrupt the Florida order and our agreements. BellSouth will argue that the FCC's action is causing delay and its actions are unlawful. "Even our competitors agree that there is a cost here," said New, "and in fact, we've come to terms on the price with some of them. Most of us know the old saying, 'there's no free lunch,' well, someone ought to tell the FCC because somehow, in both this proceeding and the interconnection docket, there's a prevailing theme that competitors of local exchange companies are entitled to a free lunch." "In its zeal to advantage competitors, the FCC perverted the system by setting a rate at zero which prevents us from recovering costs from the new competitors who cause the costs. They can't justify that and that's why we're asking the court to overturn their order. Only then can this roadblock be removed from the path to competition," New said. For Information Contact: John Schneidawind 202-463-4183 Bill McCloskey 202-463-4129 ----------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: othman@oasys.pc.my (Othman bin Hj. Ahmad) Subject: TMB Invest in ATM Switch, vs Routers Date: 30 Jul 1996 10:52:03 GMT I read in a trade magazine that TMB will buy ATM switches with IP? something. It must have something to do with TMB attempt to be the second ISP. This attitude is in common with lots of telecom companies. They tend to follow CCITT recommendations. And they are dominated by telecom engineers. They like to work with hardware switches. ATM is designed for that but it still does not solve the access to subscriber problem. It is good in bulk data transfer but is this the final issue in making INTERNET a success story? I don't think so. But INTERNET is pioneered by computer scientists/programmers. The approach is bound to be different. Their main emphasis in the hardware field is subscriber access. Their hardware equivalent to telecom swithces are the routers of which Cisco is most prominent. I can't recall any promintent telecom switch suppilers. At the heart of routers are computers with access to ports connected to users. The switching part is done mostly by the cpu. The ATM switch is supposed to be capable of doing the switching automatically but there are no well known ECONOMICAL standards. cisco had implemented and marketed atm functions onto their fast ethernet(100Mbit/s) networks. It may not be a standard but it is now available unlike ATM switches. Unfortunately, the routers that I see have limited number of ports probably because of the limitations of the cpu. In telecom switches, they can handle lots of subscribers by using lots of cpu to offload their functions. Of course there are a few central processors to do general maintainance but their operations are mostly done by distributed cpus'. This is unlike routers but routers can be extended to include lots of distributed cpus. Of course this had been done and they are called I/O processors in the mainframe world but not so popular in the router arena. Certainly I'd like to see the days when routers can handle thousands of HDSL(2Mbit/s full duplex lines) which means that they can take over the functions of telecom switches. At the moment, routers rely on telecom switch for subscriber access. And telecom switch only concentrate on trunk circuits to implement internets via ATM. The lack of coordination provides wastage of resources. One must take over all functions and only then will it be efficient. According to the trade magazine HDSL modems are costed around US$1000. At this price it is now very competitive to telephone subscriber line cards who are themselves modems, which may cost around US$200 but with more limitations. I do not claim to be an expert in telecom and computer especially in the various configurations of telecom switches and routers that are possibly available. I use my general theoretical knowledge to extrapolate. I'm most interested in getting comments from people who are well versed in the various hardwares. Please note that I'm a telecom engineer for 15 years in all aspects of telecom operating environment and 3 years computer techonolgy lectureship at a University, specialing in system hardware and software design, especially drivers and compilers, having build a single board DSP computer with associalted driver software and hacked through 386bsd and minix/minix 386 operating systems. What I lack are the actual uptodate implementations of telecom and computer systems. ------------------------------ From: Ryan Zoghlin Subject: Integretel Mugging Date: 30 Jul 1996 15:46:39 GMT Organization: Ryan Zoghin Photography What is the story with this company? I recently got a bill for ten calls, 60 minutes total, for over $73 from Phoenix to Chicago. What happened to competetive prices and the dime a minute lady? A call for one minute was $3.89. I would appreaciate any info about Integretel, relating to extremely high rates. TIA, Ryan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Integratel is well-known to the readers of this Digest. They've been around for a few years now. Their main function is serving as billing agent for a variety of small -- very small -- carriers, most of whom specialize in 'party line' and/or 'adult' services, i.e. phone sex. The rate you paid was typical for the type of service they offer. It would be helpful to know exactly what the sequence of events was which led up to the charges. A typical scenario is you call an 800 number to speak with one of the people there. They ask to call you back 'collect' (reverse charge) and you agree to be called to continue your conversation. Other times, you call an 800 number and early on, in the first few seconds they tell you that if you remain connected to the line billing will be comm- enced. Now, Integratel does have some non-sex clients. They bill for a few out of the way pay phones which are privately owned. They bill for the AOS (alternate operator services) which handle long distance calls from those phones. They are a well-known ripoff; one that we have discussed many times here. If you would care to write again and be a bit more specific about your experience there are suggestions which can be given. If the calls were for 'premium' services such as described in the first paragraph, you can call Integratel and get listed on their negative database to prevent further incidents like that from happening. Can you give us more details? PAT] ------------------------------ From: jpdalton@mindspring.com (Jim P. Dalton) Subject: Is Internet Telephony For Real? Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 14:31:52 GMT Organization: MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. Reply-To: jpdalton@mindspring.com I read a lot of hype about long distance voice service over the internet. Does anybody know if this technology is for real, or is it just a gimmick for experienced hackers. Can the internet handle the real time traffic of full duplex voice? Jim D. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I-Phone is a real thing. It helps to have above average knowledge to make it work well and to your advantage. I understand that now there are even 'I-phone numbers' which are something like regular phone numbers. You indicate which one you want to call and that person's computer makes a little chirp or some other noise to let the owner know there is a call. It still does not sound as good as a 'real' phone connection, but for the price you pay to use it, how can you complain? PAT] ------------------------------ From: a5083@mail.public.net (JOHN ADE) Subject: For Sale: Protocol Analyzer Tekelec Date: 30 Jul 1996 05:15:54 -0700 Organization: COMPUTEL INTERNATIONAL PROTOCOL ANALYZER/DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM. TEKELEC CHAMELEON 32-PLUS IS A MULTI-PROCESSOR, MULTI-TASKING PROTOCOL ANALYZER FOR WIDE AREA NETWORKS. IT SUPPORTS A WIDE VARIETY OF PROTOCOLS INCLUDING ISDN, X.25, X.75, SNA, FRAME RELAY, ASYNC, BSYNC, QLLC, PSH, V.120, DMI, DDCMP PLUS MORE. EASY TO USE, MENU DRIVEN MONITORING AND SIMULATION APPLICATIONS ARE SUPPLEMENTED WITH BOTH BASIC & C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE ENVIROMENT. DUAL PORT ANALYSIS/SIMULATION RUNNING ON TWO LINES INDEPENDENTLY. 9" COLOR VGA MONITOR BUILT-IN, 4MB RAM 165 MB HARD DISK DRIVE. 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE. DATA CAPTURE LINE SPEEDS 1.544 MBPS, 2.048 MBPS, 256, 192, 160, 64, 56 KBPS, SUPPORT VARIOUS INTERFACES. THIS EQUIPMENT IS IN AN EXCELLENT CONDITION. COMES IN A LUGGABLE CASE. 50 Ib. LOCATED IN OTTAWA. CANADA. AM LOOKING FOR A REASONABLE OFFER. WILL SHIP TO ANYWHERE. PHONE JOHN AT (819) 777-0807 OR E-MAIL a5083@mail.public.net ------------------------------ From: rjennings@fibermux.com (Roger Jennings) Subject: Cordless for a Rolm PBX Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 14:08:52 GMT Organization: ADC Telecommunications Anyone know of a digital cordless phone that can directly connect to a Rolm digital line? Or second best a device that allow me to connect a standard analog phone to the Rolm line. Any pointers greatly appreciated, Roger Jennings rjennings@fibermux.com ------------------------------ From: Daniel W Connor Subject: Southwestern Bell Telecom Landmark Key Digital System Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 13:52:24 -0700 Organization: IISP, L.L.C. Does anyone know where I can purchase Southwestern Bell Telecom products wholesale? ------------------------------ From: JKrul@EQUIST.COM (Jeffrey W. Krul) Subject: Hardware/Software Required for CallerID via TAPI Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 16:38:22 GMT Organization: JWK System Solutions Reply-To: JKrul@EQUIST.COM I am researching hardware and software requirements for windows-based software development using TAPI (Telephony API). I have located a product called 'Visual Voice' which interfaces with TAPI-compliant hardware. Apparently it supports Caller ID which is the information we want to trap. Can you tell me what TAPI-compliant hardware is available and who makes it? I plan to interface with a Meridian phone system. Our phone provider is Bell Canada. I assume the Meridian phone system and our phone provider will also have to support and provide the Caller ID information. An e-mail response would be much appreciated. Jeff Krul jkrul@equist.com ------------------------------ From: AGE Subject: T1 (Free Run, M24, Integrated Access) Timing Problems/Issues Date: 30 Jul 1996 19:48:05 GMT Organization: TDS Telecom - Madison, WI I am looking for a reference, website, FAQ, the help of friendly professionals in this group. My group is responsible for the delivery of voice and data services throughout the US. We run a variety of services across 56K, fractional T, full T1 and SONET facilities. In an attempt to consolidate Local Loop charges in our key "HUB" locations, we may terminate both T1 (back to our Data Center) and channelized (56K or fractional portions) T1s. Our "HUB" locations have smaller nodes "down stream," usually 56K into the Integrated Access (M24 for you AT&T types) into the HUBs, routed in the hub locations back to the T1 upsteam to our Data Center. In the course of attempting to not rely on one carrier we use two of the BIG ones for long distance, a local provider for "campus", and a BOC for regional services. We attempt, in our Data Center, to consolidate all terminations in a product, like a DACs, that will allow us to direct all bandwidth, or portions thereof, to our routing equipment. Our terminations, downstream, may rely on DACSing from either our own company or from another BOC (NYNEX, USWEST, etc...). In our box, we look for timing from one of our souce T1s (I know, in the transmission world, this may be incorrect but the manufacturer provides this as an option). Here is the bullet ... Most Ts slip (catastrophic to a data link -- too many CRCs). Some run fine. Those that slip, we terminate on a DSU (as PT-PT) or have found it necessary to place them on their own dedicated "box." Questions: 1) aren't all facilities supposed to reference a Stratum 1 source, hence; all cicuits are timed alike? 2) if I am living in "the Magic Kingdom," what can I do (besides from reverting to drugs so that I get a reference to the real world). 3) if there is nothing that can be done without "holding-the-hands" of each Interconnect to make sure all the clock sources are precise end-to-end ... who is the best company to invest in so that I can get rich from all the hardware and software we all must be forced to buy? Any assistance or enlightenment regarding this matter would be appreciated. AGE ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Overlay Area Codes Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 10:40:52 PDT The Philadelphia Inquirer Business Summary Column The Philadelphia Inquirer Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 30--AT&T and MCI, the long-distance phone companies, have asked New Jersey regulators to delay a decision expected Wednesday on how to create new area codes until Bell Atlantic Corp. proves it is not feasible to use the traditional method of splitting area codes into smaller geographical areas. In New Jersey and other states, Bell Atlantic wants a new type of "overlay" code, superimposing a second area code on the same area where one code is now used. The advantage of that is that no phone users would have to change their area codes. But MCI and AT&T say that with an overlay system, everyone would have to dial 11 digits for all calls. They say an overlay favors Philadelphia-based Bell over rivals in local phone service which would have to assign their customers numbers in the new "overlay" area code. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 20:25:43 PDT From: Babu Mengelepouti Subject: Becoming a LD Dealer > From: Thomas Betz > Subject: LCI/ACN Long Distance MLM -- Should I Warn a Friend Away? > Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 15:59:27 -0400 > I'm one of those folks who, when presented with a Multi-Level > Marketing plan, runs the other way. A friend of mine who doesn't have > that tendency is being approached to get involved with LCI/ACN's > telecom MLM, and he's asked me to help him research it. At least he's > going in with his eyes open. > I haven't been able to find any web resources about it except for > those people touting it themselves. Is this MLM any worse than Amway? > I know it's big; but is LCI a respectable company? How big a pyramid > would my friend be supporting if he were to get involved? While LCI/ACN is MLM, there really isn't a "pyramid." The closest thing to the "pyramid" is the commission for recruiting dealers, which is paid by the (roughly) $500 "fee" to become a "sponsoring" dealer. An ACN dealer is paid a residual commission based on the customer's usage. I believe that it's about 5% but it's been awhile since I looked at their program. Here's how it works: There are seven levels. If you're a dealer and you sponsor someone, you get (I think) 1% of the LD revenue on the customers he signs up. On the dealers *he* signs up, you get .5% until you reach the seventh level, where it goes to something like 7% (and if you go down seven levels, then you have a *lot* of dealers at that level, assumedly, and you get paid a *lot* on all of their customers. But it takes a LONG time to get there, if you build your network carefully). The problem with this as with all network marketing is that if someone down the line in your network quits, then you lose everyone under him. Let's say that the 4th level down in your network sponsored your 5th, 6th and 7th levels, and level 4 gets tired of doing this (because he's after all working on only the 4th level of *his* network) so he quits. You *lose* your part of the network that *was* his. So you have to do a *lot* of hand-holding of dealers below you, and you end up spending more time doing that than promoting your product. Unless you can get customers it doesn't matter what the commissions are. LCI is the sixth largest carrier in the country, and their rates are tiered. I think it's 19 cents during the day, 17 evening, and 14 cents night rate, billed in six second increments with no monthly fee. The rates are flat and "postalized;" to call from Portland to Seattle costs the same as to call from Portland to Miami. Overall, the program is good for residential customers who are low-volume and wouldn't qualify for an AT&T, MCI or Sprint calling plan. Meaning that it's a hard sell for other customers, and low usage translates to low commissions, unless the volume of customers is very large. ACN dealers are also allowed to sign up business customers on any of LCI's rate plans, and are paid (I think) the same commissions. You'd make more money if you concentrated on business, rather than residential customers. This program is much more like being a LD agent than being a MLM person, but there were too many MLM elements for me to want to get involved. The fee to become a dealer is also too high. I have a lot better things to do with $500 than pay several people a commission to recruit me. I became a dealer for American Travel Network after much research; they support their dealers very well and offer good products. As one of their dealers I have business and residential long distance available from two major carriers (of which LCI is one, through a subcarrier, and LDDS Worldcom is the other), and the original Discount Calling Card, which features a flat 17.5 cent per minute rate from anywhere to anywhere in the US. Another card called the EasyCard is offered through them and a subcarrier of MCI, with the same rates domestically but slightly higher international rates. That card is generally issued to people with no credit/less than perfect credit (as such, you can get commission chargebacks on that product, if the customer doesn't pay the bill ... but you only get charged back the commission, you are *not* responsible for the unpaid usage). This is very advantageous because it gives you *many* different programs to offer the customer; it doesn't lock you into a specific one. ATN also offers a sponsoring dealer program, but there are only 3 levels: you, the dealers you sponsor, and the dealers they sponsor. You get no bonus for recruiting a dealer, only a percentage of their commissions; as such, they have to be productive for you to make any money. ATN is one of the more "honest work for honest pay" organizations I've dealt with. You make *NO* money unless you're willing to work your butt off and distribute the product. If you don't sell any product you make no money -- it's that simple; they promise nothing else. Whatever company your friend chooses to become a dealer for, it's important for him to be familiar with the products. Becoming a dealer requires *work*. You are not going to make a penny unless you recruit customers, with any reputable organization. It's hard to recruit customers with a bad or mediocre product, which many agents of a company that rhymes with "hell" have told me. Do not be fooled by pie-in-the-sky projections of huge profits. It can happen over time but it requires lots of WORK. I would encourage your friend to research several companies, including ACN, Excel, etc., and maybe even ATN (I'll be pleased to send information on ATN if you like, email me). Find a company whose products you're comfortable with -- products that make sense to you and YOU find useful. Finally, be sure that the organization you're joining has been in business for awhile and is making money. Dealers for several companies (none of the ones I've mentioned above) have been BURNED by promises of commissions that never arrive, because their organizations go out of business. Be sure you're working for someone that does credit checks of potential customers and that is making enough money to be able to PAY you. It's not worth it to spend your valuable time (and money!) and not be rewarded for your efforts. There is money to be made in the industry. MLM organizations tend to pull the wool over one's eyes and make the work seem easier than it really is. It's TOUGH to get customers and even tougher to keep them. The rewards can be great but you have to WORK to succeed. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #372 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 31 15:04:08 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA28612; Wed, 31 Jul 1996 15:04:08 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 15:04:08 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607311904.PAA28612@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #373 TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Jul 96 15:03:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 373 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Van Hefner) Western Washington Area Code Changes (Tad Cook) New 425 and 253 Area Codes (Tad Cook) Call Transfer Scam (Tad Cook) Cellular/PCS Antenna Placement (Lou Jahn) Enhanced 9-1-1 (Paul Cook) Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN (Bruce Balden) Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN (Michael Dillon) Re: 00 Gets Wrong Operator? (Dave Levenson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 03:45:30 -0700 From: vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) Subject: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? > My questions are - > 1. When did pay phones start charging $.25 to call a 1-800 number? > 2. Why did the call complete to the AT&T number and not the others? > 3. Why did the AT&T operator say she could not connect the call > since the 800 number did not belong to AT&T? There was a brief discussion about this subject in TELECOM Digest several months ago. The Texas Public Service Commission (or is it PUC?) earlier this year approved a measure that levied a $.25 per call charge on all calls made from payphones to toll-free (i.e. 800/888) numbers. They also raised the rate for local payphone calls to $.50. Per call charges for making calls to toll-free numbers from payhones will be implemented nationwide in 1997 sometime. The 1996 Telecommunications Deform Act mandates that payphone owners be compensated for these "dial around" calls. It has not been decided WHO will (directly) pay the compensation yet though, or HOW the money will be collected. Users may be asked to deposit (the currently suggested) $.35 for a "toll-free" call at the time it is being made, or (more likely, at this point) the per call "surcharge" will be passed on to the carrier (who will of course pass on the surcharge to the 800 customer on his bill). These fees will apply when making ALL "toll-was-free" payphone calls, including calling card access numbers, debit card access numbers, 1-800-COLLECT, corporate switchboards, the LEC, 800 directory assistance, voicemail, pager numbers, my personal and busines 800 numbers, suicide hotlines, etc. The real killer to all of this is that companies that own 800/888/700/500 numbers will incur a surcharge everytime someone calls them from a payphone. Also, there will be no such thing as a no surcharge calling card for payphone users any longer. You will incur a surcharge on every call from now on when you place a call using your current card (on top of any surcharges you may already be paying). The FCC is currently accepting comments on how it should implement the surcharges, and what the surcharge should be for these calls. Some payphone lobbying groups are asking the FCC to approve surcharges of over $1.00 for each call, and that the new national rate for local payphone calls should be raised to $1.00. They are absolutely SERIOUS about this, and there seems to be little, if any, organized opposition to these ridiculous proposals. My guess ... local payphone rates will probably go to (at least) $.50 a call nationally by 1997, same fee for calling "toll-free" numbers. Why did calls go through to 800 numbers that belonged to AT&T, and not other carriers? I have no idea. Could be that the payphone company already has an arrangement with AT&T to collect the $.25 from them directly (which, I'm sure, they will pass on to their 800 subscribers). BTW, there is NO chance that surcharges will not be imposed (the law has already been passed) as I describe. It's simply a matter of deciding the specifics of how/to whom the surcharges will be imposed, and the amount. Van Hefner Editor of... Discount Long Distance Digest The Internet Journal of the Long Distance Industry http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Western Washington Area Code Changes Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 22:40:50 PDT Questions and Answers about Seattle-Tacoma Area-Code Change By Thomas W. Haines, The Seattle Times Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 30 -- Here are some basic questions and answers about the area-code change: Q. Why is the change necessary? A. US West says that it is running out of available number combinations. Most of the 206 prefix combinations -- the first three digits of a local phone number -- have been assigned to customers. Telephone companies say the recent surge in requests for additional numbers is largely because of increasing use of computer modems, pagers, cellular phones and other technical advances. Q. When will the change take place? A. US West expects to make the switch on April 27. For several months -- until Nov. 16, 1997 -- callers can use either the new or old area code, and the call will still go through. After Nov. 16, callers will have to dial the new area code or the call will not go through. Q. Will I have to pay long-distance rates for a call between the new area codes? A. Not necessarily. Any call that is currently a local call will remain a local call. Any call that is currently a long-distance call will remain a long-distance call. Q. Will I have to dial more numbers to make those local calls? A. Yes and no. After the change is final, you will need to dial only the seven-digit number if you are calling within the same area code. For example, a call from Queen Anne to Capitol Hill in Seattle would require only a seven-digit number. Likewise for a call between Bellevue and Renton, which will both be in the new 425 code. However, if dialing a local call from one area code to another, you will need to dial all ten digits -- the area code and the seven-digit number. For example, a call from downtown Seattle to Kirkland will require 425 to be dialed before the seven-digit number. Likewise for a call between Auburn and Issaquah, which will be in different area codes. Calls that are long-distance today will still require that a '1' be dialed before the appropriate area code and number. For example, a call from Tacoma to Seattle would require a `1-206' before the seven-digit number. Q. Why does Seattle get to keep the 206 area code? A. US West dealt with other providers, including GTE, AT&T Wireless and Airtouch Cellular, formerly US West Cellular, to break out the new codes. GTE had lobbied to have the Everett area -- its customer base -- retain 206. But Seattle's larger population base won out. Q. What about changes to mobile numbers? A. Cellular phones and many pagers may have to be reprogrammed. Some newer cell phones can be changed during a phone call to a service center. Others will have to be taken to the carrier in person. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: New 425 and 253 Area Codes Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 22:44:31 PDT New Seattle-Tacoma Area Codes Seen As Only Temporary Fix By Thomas W. Haines, The Seattle Times Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 30--Get to know these numbers: 253 and 425. Commit them to memory. Share them with your friends and colleagues. But do not fall in love with them. The cold hard truth is they probably won't be yours forever. It's the reality of area codes in the technology age. Second phone lines into homes for modems, fax machines, home businesses and chatting youngsters. Pagers and cellular phones. Good old-fashioned population growth. All have caused an increase in the need for telephone numbers that, for the second time in two years, means adding new area codes in Western Washington. Starting next April, 253 will be the new signature for Tacoma and surrounding communities; 425 will be the area code for the Eastside and some areas north of Seattle, including Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Everett. Seattle, the largest population center, gets to keep 206. Telephone companies -- led by US West, which as the largest local-service provider allots new area codes -- will detail the plan to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission at a meeting tomorrow. The meeting, open to the public, will begin at 10 a.m. in commission headquarters at 1300 S. Evergreen Park Drive S.W. in Olympia. The meeting will be purely informational, because the decision has already been made. The commissioners don't have a regulatory say in area-code distribution, but they will be getting details and sharing concerns with the phone companies. Ken Woo, spokesman for AT&T Wireless, the giant cellular-phone carrier, summarizes the change: "It's an inconvenience for everybody involved. But is it the price of growth? Perhaps. Is it something we have to do? Yes. Where are we going to be in five years? I don't know." The problem is simple: As more and more people request additional phone numbers, the local-service providers run out of three-digit prefixes within a given area code. Adding an area code provides another set of possibilities for all existing prefixes. But for how long? US West already is projecting that the fix will last only eight to ten years before more area codes are needed. When the company added the 360 area code to parts of southern and northern Western Washington last year, the company estimated that the fix might solve the problem for five or ten years. The bottom line is that within a decade there likely will be even more area codes in the region. So why the new area codes now in a state that had gone more than three decades since the split into the 206 and 509 area codes? Increasingly, individuals privately and for business are using more than one number -- for pagers, cell phones, modems and second lines for family members. At the current rate, US West says the 206 area code will run out of available numbers by early 1998. The cellular companies won't say how many customers they have in this region. But nationally, cellular use has climbed to 40 million customers, according to a trade association, and may double that by 2000. US West says it installed almost 25,000 new land lines in its service area in the first half of 1995 and more than 42,000 in the first half of this year, a jump of roughly 73 percent. GTE says its Puget Sound business, covering parts of Bellevue north to Everett, is growing 50 percent quicker than the company's national average. Last year, the company added 21,000 lines. Of 5,400 new residential lines, roughly 40 percent were second lines into homes that already had service. The switch can be simple or a nightmare. Some residents may just have to tell out-of-town family members and friends to pencil the new area code into the old address book. Others will need to reprogram the quick-dial feature on the family phone. But businesses will need to reprint stationery and inform customers. Businesses that have internal phone switchboards may have to update software that directs incoming calls. That issue caused a problem last year when the 360 area code was implemented. It was one of the first in the nation that did not have a "0" or "1" as the middle digit, and many business systems were not able to handle it. Some businesses that were not prepared for the change filed a class-action lawsuit against US West to recoup money from lost business. Steve Berman, the lawyer representing the businesses, says he does not expect this upcoming change to present similar problems. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Call Transfer Scam Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 22:52:09 PDT Nevada Agencies Duped in Phone Scam CARSON CITY (AP) -- The state of Nevada was victimized in a scam involving use of its telephone system for calls to foreign countries. A man, saying he was a phone repairman, called two agencies and asked to be transferred to extension 9000. Workers, trying to be cooperative, agreed -- and at that point the caller was able to call anywhere at the agency's expense. Last week, calls were made to Egypt, Guinea and Morocco at a cost of $330. Chuck Slavin, chief of the state phone service, said Tuesday there's no telling how many other calls were made to locations in the United States "that appear to be normal for state agencies." The scam was detected by Sprint, which supplies the long-distance service for the state. The company has a fraud unit that became suspicious because the state doesn't normally place calls to those foreign countries. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jul 96 12:03:21 EDT From: Lou Jahn <71233.2444@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Cellular/PCS Antenna Placement I am looking for studies/reports/etc. that might comment public safety relative to antennas being mounted on water towers. While it may sound like a joke, the City Engineer of Ventnor NJ convinced our commissioners not to accept a rental agreement for over $25,000/year to place a cellular antenna on one of two water towers the city owns. Thus a lucky Condo Assocation said yes and now gets the money. I've talked to other cities capturing close to $100,000/year from such antenna rentals. If anyone knows of data that will help "non-technical" commissioners understand the antennas are safe, please comment where I might get them. This sounds like a great revenue stream for my city that does not involve taxing it's citizens. Lou Jahn Internet: 71233.2444@Compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Jul 96 12:38:00 EST From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> Subject: Enhanced 9-1-1 > TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I may be mistaken on this but I think > 'enhanced' or `E-911` as it is sometimes called is the version which > returns *any information at all* to the police. Very old versions of > 911 had 911 serving mainly as a 'speed dial' or 'memory dial' way to > reach the police with the 911 being translated into some existing > seven digit local number. Then there was a version of 911 where the > calls terminated in special equipment but there was still nothing > displayed to indicate who was calling. The 'enhanced' version brought > all those improvements. At least I think so. PAT] Actually the old basic 9-1-1 did not function the same as a speed dial, since one of the requirements was that it be non-blocking service beyond the originating CO. There were direct 9-1-1 trunks from each CO to the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). In old step offices there was a 9-1-1 trunk at the ninth level of the first selector which would immediately ring the PSAP as soon as the second one was dialed. One exception I can think of to this arrangement involving speed dial: Some years ago I got calls from several rural counties that did not want to pay for the direct trunks from the CO to the PSAP. In one case they had a sheriff's office serving a large area, and an 800 number for calling in emergencies. They actually wanted to buy some of our 9-1-1 trunks for a step office and have it seize a consumer quality rotary speed dialer, which would actually pulse dial the 800 number! This violates some of the basic requirements of 9-1-1 service, including the one that says that service shall be non-blocking beyond the originating CO, and that the PSAP have control over the incoming trunk. The next step above basic 9-1-1 was service which identified the caller by phone number. The originating trunks acted like operator TSPS trunks, and forwarded the 7-digit phone number in MF from the CO identifier. At the PSAP the number was decoded and displayed. Note that this is NOT the same as Caller ID. There is no way for the caller to block his number from being sent, just as there is no way to block the office identifer from identifying him for the purposes of toll billing. It is also different signalling. Instead of the phone number being sent between the first and second ring, the number is sent either when the PSAP answers, or in most systems, when a TSPS wink is sent from a trunk at the PSAP end as soon as the CO seizes the trunk. The next step above this was full enhanced 9-1-1, which is the service most commonly found in the U.S. today. In this case, the seven digit number is decoded at the PSAP and run through a database, usually off-premise and provided by the telco. The database shows the physical location of the calling line, and often other info can be shown, such as statistics on past calls from that line and also other notes, such as the location of hazardous materials or disabled persons, which can aid emergency response personnel. There is also another advanced feature called Selective Routing. In this case the 9-1-1 call does not go directly to the PSAP, but first goes to a tandem CO set up for routing of calls. The tandem has a lookup for each number which routes it to the appropriate PSAP. This is important where a CO serving area is in more than one jurisdiction for fire or police. Selective Routing is very common in 9-1-1 service today. A little bit about what we do at Proctor & Associates: We've been in the business of building equpment for telcos since 1957, and in the 1970s we started making the 9-1-1 trunks mentioned above for central offices. In addition to our non - 9-1-1 customer premise gear and telecom test equipment, we make central office trunks and equipment for the PSAP which decodes and displays the calling number, and sends it out to a location database. We also make an Instant Network Backup product that monitors both ends of each 9-1-1 trunk, and quickly sets up a pseudo-trunk path with full trunk signalling over landline and cellular if the trunk goes down. We also make a product called PBX ANI which locates individual stations behind a PBX and sends a unique seven digit phone number to the PSAP over dedicated 9-1-1 trunks originating at the PBX. Paul Cook email: 3991080@mcimail.com Proctor & Associates phone: 206-881-7000 15050 NE 36 St. fax: 206-885-3282 Redmond, WA 98052-5378 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There was a neat system in Chicago which was used for many years in the 1940-70 era. Although one could call the police administration number WABash-2-4747, calls of an emergency nature went to POLice-5-1313. Now the thing with PO-5-1313 was that each central office translated that into some other exchange-1313. For example in the neighborhood where I lived at that time, PO-5-1313 were sent as HAymarket-1-1313 to the police dispatchers. In the neighborhood next to me, their police calls in their central office were sent to HARrison-7-1313. When the call came in to the police dispatchers, a large map of the city would light up in the section of town the call came from, letting police know the *general area* where help was wanted. That was the best they could do. Emergency calls to the Fire Department went to FIRe-7-1313 which was treated in much the same way. All calls originating north of 39th Street (which is roughly the center of the city with an equal distance north and south of that point) were translated to DEArborn-2-1313 and handed to the central fire alarm office in City Hall. Calls to the same number from south of 39th Street went to the Englewood Fire Alarm Office, which had the number TRIangle-4-0001. The main problem with this old system was that people would call the Fire Department in a panic and scream in the phone, "There is a fire at (street number) Michigan Avenue" for example. Before the dispatcher could query the caller further to ask the all-important question "so you mean (street number) *North* Michigan or (street number) *South* Michigan ..." the caller would have disconnected and fled the premises. So of course they had to dispatch firemen to both locations, with one invariably resulting in a false alarm. During the 1960's and particularly in 1968 the Chicago Fire Department was plagued with malicious false alarm calls; people who were just being mean and hateful. Sometimes there were in excess of a hundred such false alarms daily. Of course they had to go out on every call; none could be ignored. Then while they were out on the false alarm or sometimes a real call, the people would use that opportunity to break into the fire station and steal the firemen's personal things such as their food and their television sets, etc. Our 911 here from the very beginning identified the calling phone number even though not the address or name of the caller. When it was installed, wrong number pranks -- if you want to call them that, although I personally would like to be in charge of the extermination of the low-life scum who harass firemen and paramedics in that way -- ground to a halt. There were a few the first couple of days as people 'tested' how far they could go. Their arrests were well-publicized and before long the false alarms were greatly reduced. As to be expected, the early 911 systems were subject to various lawsuits, usually by ACLU lawyers with time on their hands who insisted that the identification features of 911 'chilled' (don't you love that term!) the freedom of speech of citizens; people who wanted to be able to call the police without identifying themselves. The claim was that people would be 'afraid to get involved if they knew they would be identified ...'. Hey, if you were going to put in a false alarm to the Fire Department so you could get your kicks watching them rush over with their sirens blaring, I doubt you would want to be identified either. PAT] ------------------------------ From: balden@wimsey.com (Bruce Balden) Subject: Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 00:30:24 GMT Organization: Online at Wimsey Reply-To: balden@wimsey.com Tara D. Mahon wrote: > The astounding growth of Internet traffic has put the RBOCs on the > horns of a dilemma. If demand for Internet access keeps building at > current rates, it's going to crash the public switched telephone > network and the local carriers will take the heat. On the other hand, > packet-switched data services represented by the Net are the > high-growth, high-margined opportunity; packet is where the money is. > A recent study prepared by Bellcore, at the behest of Nortel, suggests > that current plant engineering, OSSes, and tariffed pricing structures > make it impossible for the PSTN to sustain acceptable levels of > availability and reliability in the face of projected Internet growth. > The problems created by packet traffic on the circuit-switched PSTN is > well documented in the Bellcore study entitled "Impacts of Internet > Traffic on LEC Networks and Switching Systems," (A. Atai & J. Gordon, > Bellcore, 1996). To request a copy of the study contact Mr. Bill > Blatt at Nortel. You can reach him via phone at (201) 292-5715 or via > the Internet at william.blatt@nt.com. > The PSTN was designed as a VOICE NETWORK with call holding times on > the average of three minutes. For the past 80 years everything in the > PSTN -- including forecasting, planning, engineering, and operational > systems -- has been based upon the rule of three: three minutes per > call, 3,000 Hz per channel, and three ccs of load on the line. > When we look for a fix there aren't any good ones. Says the Bellcore > study, "Any long term solution to these problems involves a staged > migration from the present mode of operation towards some packet > network solution." In the meantime, they are suggesting two ways > LECs can begin grappling with the problem. > Looking at fixes on the trunk and terminating switch side, Bellcore > suggests several alternatives. One possibility might be to try and > convince the ISPs to give up on the multi-line hunt groups they are > now using on the local switch and move them to better performance/ > lower cost solutions that use higher speed interfaces. But since > customer retention is not an issue in the burgeoning Internet market, > ISPs will probably be content with a poorer grade of service if fixing > their gateway access problem costs them anything at all. Dialed > number triggers and segregated routing to move the Internet call off > the local switch and onto a segregated packet network is another > load-lightening option, but here, too, there will likely be a price to > pay in terms of adding IN processors to move the designated traffic > onto the packet network. > On the access side things become even more problematic, since every > high-usage Internet line would have to be re-engineered and upgraded > or separate processors paid for and installed. DLC upgrades, ISDN > packet-mode peripherals, pre-switch adjuncts and ADSL could all > ameliorate the problem on the PSTN, but someone is going to have to > pay for it. > The big issues always seem to all boil down to money. The PUCs > probably won't provide any rate increases to test any of the fixes > proposed by Bellcore until local voters suffer a few catastrophic > outages. And any type of direct or indirect user fee, levied on the > ISP level or on a second data line, will be fought tooth and claw by > the users. Suppliers like Nortel have the DLC upgrades, ISDN > packet-mode peripherals, pre-switch adjuncts, ADSL and IN solutions to > sell, but in the current political climate no one is ready to give the > public the bad news. I think that relatively inexpensive solutions or at least ameliorations can be found, albeit with changes that require regulatory action (in Canada, Telco's haven't been deregulated yet). To a first order approximation, approximately 1% of the time spent online in a typical internet session is actually used to transfer data, and in that case usually asymmetrically, either in or out. So expensive switching and other resources are tied up for long periods of time transmitting modem carrier signals from place to place and not transmitting much useful data in either direction.] ISDN technology merely escalates the problem, putting what is more or less a modem (U interface) at the telephone company premises instead of at the ISP premises, which is technologically superior from some points of view, but is still a connection-oriented grade of service, whereas the Internet and TCP/IP use a connectionless service. Thinking about the core competencies of LEC's and also thinking about the things we'd rather they stay out of, we find that ISPs as we understand them today, essentially provide a sort of obtuse local loop service, and that LEC's merely provide the implementing infrastructure, albeit in a totally inefficient manner. Pursuing this analysis further, it is obvious that each customer essentially owns his subscriber loop, A second, riskier assumption is that calls confined to a particular switch are much cheaper for the telco to switch. A third assumption is that modems do not need any phone number at all in the NANP,. but rather a service access code comparable to 10xxx or 411. Under these assumptions, we arrive at the following scenario: LEC's have existing faciltiies and competence to deliver modem signals at a reasonable cost to a point within the nearest exchange, and that the modems should therefore be located there, and accessed through one or several service codes completely outside the NANP, thus avoiding the filling up of area codes, and nasty NANP splits, etc. The next question is: to whom should the modems belong? Thinking now of access in remote areas, rather than the big city, we are forced to conclude: to a single party, probably the LEC itself. The LEC should run a packet-switched MAN, carrying the signals now carried on analog phone circuits, but using a small fraction of the bandwidth currently used for this purpose. Aggregation of the modems to a single party means that even a rural community can afford a T-1 equivalent packet-switched connection to the trunks. In big cities, other entities could/should own their own banks in the Telco premises. Where do today's ISP's fit in? I didn't mention dealing with individual customers and provision of high quality mail and other internet serivces as among the Telco core competencies, and based on my local phone company, I have no reason [yet] to revise this opinion. Telco's should wholesale this type of services to ISP's, and route the packets to routers of such ISP's for transport to the rest of the Net. The ISP's would bill the end-to-end service, relieving the telco of one of their major headaches. ------------------------------ From: michael@memra.com (Michael Dillon) Subject: Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN Date: 31 Jul 1996 20:33:49 -0700 Organization: Memra Software Inc. - Internet consulting - http://www.memra.com In article , Tara D. Mahon wrote: > For the RBOCs the problem boils down to this: do we embrace the > high-growth Internet segment and watch as the voice network degrades, > or do we try to dampen Internet demand until a fix can be developed? Well, you could do what BC-Tel is doing here in Western Canada and supply modem lines to ISP's instead of POTS. Here's how it works. The telco buys and deploys the modems and terminal servers according to their own traffic engineering plans. The ISP rents a block of modem lines and receives the packet data from those connections over an ATM circuit. They can then route those packets to the Internet, perhaps on a different PVC on the same ATM circuit. BC-Tel is doing this in at least three cities right now useing Ascend MAX 4000 integrated modem/terminal servers -- see http://www.ascend.com There are at least two ISP's using the service right now. Once they build a significant volume of this type of line, they can deploy those terminal servers at the switches in each suburb and transport the packets via ATM circuits separate from their PSTN trunks. Bell Canada in Toronto is also looking at this technology. And the same Ascend MAX 4000 units can supply any combination of ISDN or modem lines so this is a good way to deploy ISDN for customers who only want it for an Internet connection. > Internet calls have a mean holding time of 20 minutes, and some > percentage have the probability of lasting 12 hours, 24 hours, or > longer. My line has an average holding time of three weeks. Usually the line drops for unknown reasons and my home server redials within a minute. This is a POTS line with 33.6kbps modem on it serving my home LAN. > At the terminating switch closest to the Internet ISP, Bellcore says > 10 times the expected load per line has been observed. BC-Tel's plan will have *ZERO* load on that switch! > three percent. Nothing catastrophic, unless it's your kid trying to > call 911 while some neighborhood wirehead connected for three hours > happens to be pulling down yet another picture of Demi Moore. Ready > to play those odds? We don't think so. BC-Tel had an incident where 911 service was unavailable due to all trunks being in use by an ISP. Neither BC-Tel nor Bell Canada will supply Centrex service to ISP's for this reason. I'm surprised that so many RBOC's continue to supply Centrex to ISP's and I know that ISP's prefer the cheaper line costs of Centrex and tell each other about Centrex. > When we look for a fix there aren't any good ones. Says the Bellcore > study, "Any long term solution to these problems involves a staged > migration from the present mode of operation towards some packet > network solution." Staged? Are these guys nuts?! In the ISP business you just damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. I'm serious, if you are an RBOC, call up Ascend and get pricing for equipment, figure out a price to deploy this with ISP's and start phoning. You will have orders for service by the end of the week. > The big issues always seem to all boil down to money. The PUCs > probably won't provide any rate increases to test any of the fixes > proposed by Bellcore until local voters suffer a few catastrophic > outages. What, no PR department? Just do up some nice TV commercials showing a frantic mother trying to get 911 whil on the split screen a pair of teenage boys are laughing it up on an IRC channel. Close the commercial with an ominous sounding voice saying: XYZ Tel is sorry to inform you that we can no longer provide 911 emergency service as we have in the past. Call 555-1234 for more information. Michael Dillon ISP & Internet Consulting Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-546-3049 http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: 00 Gets Wrong Operator? Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 01:22:49 GMT Joseph Gutstein (joeg@buttercup.cybernex.net) writes: > Does anyone know why Telecom USA always turns up when I dial 00? MCI and Telecom*USA are the same company, but they use different 10xxx codes. Your local telephone company probably has the wrong one of these two codes set up as your default. As far as I know, the two are equivalent for residential service. If you are calling from a Payphone (either a telco-owned one or a COCOT) and it displays MCI as its interLATA operator service provider, you will be charged MCI's standard 0+ rates (very close to AT&T's 0+ rates). However, if the payphone's default carrier is listed as Telecom*USA, you _may_ be charged the MCI rate plus a `premises-imposed fee' per call. This fee is usually negotiated between the operator service provider and the premises owner (or payphone owner) and is sometimes considerably more than the price of the call itself. The only visible difference between MCI and Telecom*USA is that MCI does not collect premise-imposed fees for agregators, but Telecom*USA does. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #373 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Jul 31 15:55:06 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA04915; Wed, 31 Jul 1996 15:55:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 15:55:06 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199607311955.PAA04915@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #374 TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Jul 96 15:55:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 374 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Extended Area Service in Utah (Tad Cook) Call for a Universal Phone Number Format (Markus Uhlirz) Explosive Growth in Number of Phones World-Wide (alex@worldaccess.nl) Re: "976-like" Services From a COCOT (Dave Levenson) Re: Attorney General on Ecryption, Copyrights (Clive D.W. Feather) Re: Free Fridays From Sprint (Michael R. West) Re: Using US Modems in China (Chi-Kin Sam) Re: Cable-TV Modems Standards? (Mark Bbeckham) Re: Cable-TV Modems Standards? (Derek C. Jones) Re: Downloadable ZIP Code Database (Paul Robinson) Re: Hardware/Software Required for CallerID via TAPI (Bruce Pennypacker) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Keith W. Brown) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tad Cook Subject: Extended Area Service in Utah Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 11:07:59 PDT The Salt Lake Tribune Business Briefs Column The Salt Lake Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 31--By early next year, Morgan County residents hope to be able to make telephone calls to the Ogden area and part of Davis County without paying long-distance charges. The state Public Service Commission will mail a final survey to 90 percent of Morgan County residents during the next two weeks. The survey asks whether residents will be willing to pay an additional fee in order to have local calling to the Ogden, Clearfield and east Layton areas. Darlene Musselman of Morgan has been pushing for the extended-area service for Morgan County for years. She said Monday the service would cost 53 cents per month for Morgan residents who have the 829 telephone prefix and 68 cents per month for residents who have the 876 prefix. The cost difference is due to the number of customers sharing the expenses, she said. "It will not only help with the costs of calling for the residents, but it will also increase the business that will be generated from the Ogden Valley to the Morgan Valley, because the customers will not have to pay a long-distance fee to call our businesses," she said. If the survey vote is approved, Musselman said, the initial hookup from US West will take place on or before Jan. 1. ------------------------------ From: markus.uhlirz@aut.alcatel.at Subject: Call for a Universal Phone Number Format Date: Tue, 30 Jul 96 10:39:21 PDT Organization: Alcatel Austria AG Support a Universal Phone Number Format ! "Use country code or not?" is often the question when being confronted with foreign ads or business cards. Therefore I strongly support the concept of the "+" as the international access code to allow a universal telephone number format, much like the URL in the Web. The importance of the "+" has greatly increased with the advent of international cellular systems such as GSM. Each country has for historical reasons its own numbering plan, area codes and access codes. The general framework for telephone number format is defined in the ITU specification E.164. The numbering plan, defining the number of digits used for area codes and actual subscriber numbers is a matter for the national regulatory bodies. In USA, e.g. there is a grouping of 3 - 3 - 4 digits where the first group is the area code. France for example has strictly 8 digits to address all subscribers in France, ommitting a specific area prefix (with exception of the Paris/Isle-de-France region, where an extra "1" digit was inserted to increase address capacity). A very flexible numbering plan is in use in Germany, where prefixes for cities and towns may vary between 2 and 5 digits, maximum number of digits for a telephone number is 15 (including all access codes). Such, large cities have some 10-11 digits to address subscribers, this also leaves addressing capacity to include PABX extensions, e.g. 6 digits for the main exchange of a large company plus 5 digits for the PABX extension. But all this is behind the scenes. More confusing to the international phone user is the plethora of international access codes. These are the codes needed to access the international switching level, from which on the country codes are evaluated for call routing. In many European countries the international access code is "00", but in France it is "19", 990 in Finland, 095 in Norway, 011 in USA, 010 in UK, 009 in Sweden, 07 in Spain and so on. Clearly, the "dial-by-name" directory in your cellular phone becomes rather useless, if you have to re-edit all entries to include the international access code of the country you are presently in. (Travelling between countries in Europe is a matter of hours only, so this editing might happen rather frequently, too!) Therefore the invaluable benefit of the "+" sign as the international access code is, that users may enter all their names into their cellular phone in full notation ("URL"), starting with "+" followed by the country code and subscriber number and "dialing-by-name" will work in whatever country they happen to be in. The number parsing routine in the network exchange will ensure the correct handling of all dialed digits. Therefore I encourage everyone to use the full notation of phone numbers in all cases, possibly using brackets or blanks between digit groups for better legibility. IEEE's fax number in New York would then be (+1 212) 705 7453 and the phone number of the San Francisco bureau unambiguously (+1 415) 328 7570. This is the only way to ensure that calls won't get lost due to confusion whether or not to include extra prefixes or omit some parts of the number. This is especially true when information is targeted at an international readership which is probably not fimiliar with the particular habits of phone number notation in a specific country. Good examples of bad examples (i.e. how NOT to present phone numbers) are abundant and can be easily found in any issue of this and other magazines. Instead, let us create a de-facto standard by consequently using the "+" notation as it is increasingly being used in Europe already. Of course, a universal number format and dialing by programmed buttons are only the first steps to be taken. Soon I will want to dial by saying name and possibly address of my phone partner only. Looking up a person in thick directory books, translating to a phone number and hammering that number into a keypad is a sufficiently unintelligent task that should therefore be done by an automat instead of a real person. Markus Uhlirz, Wien (Austria) Phone: (+43 1) 982 72 58 GSM : (+43 664) 320 13 85 email: markus.uhlirz@aut.alcatel.at ------------------------------ From: Alex@worldaccess.nl (Alex) Subject: Explosive Growth in Number of Phones World-Wide Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 18:08:15 GMT Reply-To: Alex@worldaccess.nl The number of phones (landlines and mobiles) is increasing rapidly. According to a Siemens survey 950 milion people will have access to a phone in the year 2000. At this moment there are 740 million phones in the world, which is a 7 percent increasing compared to 1994 (651.7 million). Europe is number one with 256 million, followed by the USA (214 million), Asia (159 million), Africa (11 million) and Australia with is pacific neigbours (11 million as well). Investments were $80 billion last year. Expected is that around the year 2000 the phoning industry will go over the $100 billion. The top 3 of providers is NTT (Japan), AT&T (USA) and Deutsche Telecom (Germany). Of all countries Sweden has the most dense coverage, 68 of the 100 people have phones. Germany is on the 14th place (50% have a phone). Tanzania closes the line with 0,31 per 100 having a phone. Article archive at http://www.worldaccess.nl/~alex Alex@Worldaccess.NL Apeldoorn, The Netherlands GSM: +31-6-54773429/+31-6-53398711 Phone: +31-55-5421184 Send a message to my GSM phone using my homepage at http://www.worldaccess.nl/~alex/sms/beep.htm ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: "976-like" Services From a COCOT Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 01:54:13 GMT Mark J. Cuccia (mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu) writes: > I had never seen this before. About a week or two ago, one of the many > COCOT vendor/owner companies here in New Orleans started posting a > *BIG* notice on the enclosures of their COCOT payphones with > "Astrology/Horoscope" numbers. This may be a service offered by the COCOT's operator service provider. At least one of the AOS companies has a series of dial-IT services which they wholesale to COCOT operators for resale to the public, generally at prices of $0.25/call. > I don't even like dropping money into ANY private payphone, > anyhow. I don't know what recorse an end-user has if the phone takes > the money and fails to connect to the astrology line, other than > calling up the "211" or "611" number for the COCOT owner/vendor to > complain. The recourse is probably a matter of local regulation. In New Jersey, state regulations require that the COCOT vendor must post a number to call for refunds. By convention, that number is 211. Public complaints to the NJ BPU can result in enforcement action against the COCOT operator. I cannot speak for the entire industry, but on the payphones operated by Westmark, Inc., in New Jersey, calls to 211 and 611 are routed to an answering service 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The service takes trouble reports and refund requests, and delivers them by fax to our offices by 06:00 on the next business day. Trouble reports cause us to perform remote diagnostics, and to dispatch a technician if necessary. Refund requests are honored by mail. Trouble reports for service other than the phone where the trouble was reported are forwarded to Bell Atlantic. > It's really a shame, IMO, that COCOT's and A-O-Slime with their inferior > equipment and service, but higher costs to whoever the "billed" party might > be have "taken over" during the past ten years. At least there are still > some Telco payphones still around, but not like it was years ago. If you don't like the COCOT, complain to the owner of the business where it is located. Location contracts are the life-blood of the COCOT industry, and the COCOT owner will listen to complaints from his landlord. In general, competition is good for the consumer. We want to attract customers to our phones, and we want them to come back and use them again. Our COCOTs charge less than Bell Atlantic payphones for coin sent-paid toll calls. They charge the same rates as does Bell Atlantic for sent-paid local calls. We send intraLATA 0+ traffic to Bell Atlantic, and interLATA 0+ traffic to AT&T. We pride ourselves in keeping our phones working better, looking cleaner, and charging less than Bell. We accept all 950+, 800+, 888+, 10xxx0+, and 101xxxx0+ calls -- even when it means that somebody is using our equipment with no revenue for us. We believe that as with any other consumer business, if you offer the public what the public wants, at a price the public expects, the public will buy it. As for inferior equipment, I believe that our smart equipment, when properly administered, is superior to the dumb phones offered in this area by Bell Atlantic. One small example: the state-mandated local coin rate in New Jersey is 0.20 for the first four minutes, and five cents for each additional four minutes. A very large number of callers use a quarter to make local calls -- either because they expect it (the rate is $0.25 in Pennsylvania and in New York; NJ is a small state in between!) or because a quarter is what they happen to have. The Bell Atlantic payphones accept the quarter for a local call and after four minutes, demand five cents more. Most of the COCOTs in the state will accept the quarter and automatically credit the extra nickel toward the first overtime period. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 08:42:53 +0100 From: Clive D.W. Feather Reply-To: Clive D.W. Feather Subject: Re: Attorney General on Ecryption, Copyrights > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > Incidentally, in the 1876 election, Tilden won the > popular vote by a small margin of 250 thousand votes but *lost* the > one that counts -- the electoral vote by *one* vote, 185 to 184 in > favor of Hayes. Actually, it's not quite that simple. When the results of the electoral college votes arrived at Washington, there were two sets of conflicting votes from several states. A special commission was set up to investigate the situation; originally this consisted of four people chosen by each party plus a neutral, but in the end he was replaced by a fifth Republican. Historians today say that Tilden should have been given some of the states in dispute and Hayes the others. But the Republican-controlled commission gave *every* disputed vote to Hayes who, as Pat says, won by exactly one vote. Of course, had Tilden been elected, he would probably have been impeached after allegations of bribing electoral college electors came to light -- to bring the discussion full circle, it was cryptographic evidence that was conclusive. Clive D.W. Feather | You should reply to (the Associate Director | Reply-To: header has been set to this). This Demon Internet Limited | account is on my laptop and is only used when I | travel; messages to it may not be seen quickly. ------------------------------ From: Michael.R.West@sam.usace.army.mil Date: Wed, 31 Jul 96 10:05:02 CST Subject: Re: Free Fridays from Sprint > Happened to notice a Sprint commercial promoting "Free Fridays" for > businesses. On a cable channel (think it was CNN, forgot). > Thursday evening on July 18th > I would have thought Sprint would have quit promoting this > promotion. Didn't catch any new details, just stumbled across it. Yeah, I've been seeing it on the regular networks, too. It definitely caught my eye! > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh good heavens no! That's been one > of their most lucrative bait and switch promotions ever. Sign 'em > up, let them have a couple Fridays free then tell them you are > going to change them to a different plan. Threaten to charge them > back for the Friday calls claiming it was all a misunderstanding by > their rep for whom they have no responsibility. When the customer > calls to complain or seek clarification, dodge his phone calls. I > mean, would you quit promoting that if you were in their place? PAT] Well, you should see all the disclaimers they write in the small print at the bottom of every scene! "Commercial use only! Domestic use only! Restrictions apply! etc., etc." Seems like you can only use it for calls within the U.S., and only for businees calls. What happens if I use it from my Mom's business line, which is also her home number, since she works from home? Do the Sprint phone police monitor my calls to ensure I'm only using it for business calls?? All in all, the whole thing is still being promoted in a misleading way. The whole current promotion looks like a face saving exercise for whatever moron thought it up in the first place. If the service is hurting Sprint so much, they should just call it quits, not promote it with tons of small print conditions. Regards, Michael West ------------------------------ From: cksam@macau.ctm.net (SAM, Chi-Kin) Subject: Re: Using US Modems in China Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 06:36:09 GMT Organization: Tecnologia Electronica Hermes Reply-To: cksam@macau.ctm.net On Wed, 24 Jul 1996 08:29:06 +0000, Allen Daniel wrote: > My company has designed a modem to operate with the U.S. phone system > and we need to know if it will be compatible with the phone system of > Mainland China. > I would appreciate it if someone could tell me if modems designed for > operation in the U.S. will operate normally in China and if the lines > in China are fairly clean, or if they are too noisy for a low speed > (4800 bps or less) digital link. The digital link will be over long > distance lines back to the U.S. I had used Apex PCMCIA modem which being a US version in Mainland China to access my Easylink account in Hong Kong and my ISP in Macau, depend on the city and the time to originate the calls, some place the line is quite quite clean that I could have connection on above 9600bps, but sometime the link is not so good with lot of crosstalk existed. General speaking from the big cities and the first grade hotel with proper maitained PABX you can expected 7200bps and above connection, of course 28.8K is almost impossible. The US version of modem may not correctly identify the busy tone or dialing tone in China, because China has their own National Standard on the tone plan for PSTN, they *DO NOT USE* precision tone plan now utilize in North America, they also have their own standard on the DTMF signal level etc. So there is chance that you modem can work in China without any modification but does not comply with China National Standard. Might be an interesting case to you: For remote programming a PABX in China, I had experences to connect to this PABX's strictly Hayes 2400 compatible modem from here in Macau (approxitely 1,000km away) at 2400bps without error correction for more than half hour without dificulty a few time. SAM, Chi-Kin (Mr.) at Hermes Electronics Technology Co. in MACAU Tel: +(853) 963609 Fax: +(853) 511456 PGP key available via email e-mail: cksam@macau.ctm.net AT&Tmail: !hermestech ------------------------------ From: mbeckham@usaresearch.com Date: Tue, 30 Jul 96 10:28:10 GMT Subject: Re: Cable-TV Modems Standards? Jean-Francois Mezei writes, > Are cable-TV modems industry standard, or does each cable-TV > company more or less develops their own proprietary models? (1) While there are certainly exceptions, most "cable-TV companies" have not become involved in significant hands-on cable modem system development. Most work has been done by independent suppliers. (2) Various data-over-broadband cable solutions have been available for over 15 years. Current and planned systems differ in virtually every conceivable way: target markets; system architecture; system components; protocols. While varying widely, each vendor's approach tends to be internally consistent from top- to bottom-level considerations. (3) Since the late 1980s, the main "industry standards" have become de facto standards established by LANcity and Zenith. These two companies account for over 90% of the cable modems installed in the approximately 500 trials and commercial installations worldwide to date. (4) The cable modem-to-PC PHY/MAC interface provided by *most* of the approximately 20 available and planned cable modem subscriber units is either (a) RJ45/10BaseT Ethernet or (b) AUI/Thicknet Ethernet (on some LANcity models; an adapter is available). (5) The cable modem-to-CATV network PHY/MAC/LLC interface is likely the most important and least "standardized." LANcity uses a very impressive (and patented) protocol that is definitely not "Ethernet" internally (as is commonly mistaken), can offer ATM-like QOS and other controls, and supports bridging of both Ethernet and Token Ring networks. Zenith uses a *modified* 802.7 Ethernet approach. Other, newer suppliers are supporting addressing through network software (i.e., IP addressing) and not through lower-level network hardware addressing. (6) While approximately 10 standards committees are debating standards for cable modems, wide consensus (particularly on the cable modem-to-CATV network interface) does not yet exist. The need for this type of standardization is often cited as a major factor retarding deployment of cable modems. There is little market-based evidence to support this contention. Until recently, the biggest barrier to adoption of cable modems has been the high cost of system components. As various drivers have improved cable modem costs, the opportunities and the options have exploded. Currently, the biggest barrier to the adoption of cable modems consists of the organizational culture and networking systems needed to support reliable 24x7 data communications systems over CATV -- a huge implementation challenge. Regards, Mark Beckham USA Research, Inc. ------------------------------ From: Derek C. Jones Subject: Re: Cable-TV Modems Standards? Date: 30 Jul 1996 17:08:10 GMT Organization: Cox Communications Jean-Francois Mezei wrote in article ... > In the Montreal region, Videotron, a local cable TV supplier has a > service that connects to internet via its cable plant. > The question: > Are cable-TV modems industry standard, or does each cable-TV company > more or less develops their own proprietary models? No, There are no standards yet. IEEE 802.14, and others are working on standards. I'm on the MCNS committe that is crating a 'purcase specification' for the Cable Industry. This spec will be developed into a standard. The cable industry wants cable modems from various vendors (about 30 last count) to interoperate to the point consumers can pick a modem up at Radio Shack and start surfing the right away. Look at http://www.cablemodem.com for more info. ------------------------------ From: tdarcos@clark.net (Paul Robinson) Subject: Re: Downloadable ZIP Code Database Date: 30 Jul 1996 16:48:20 GMT Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company/TDR, Inc., Silver Spring MD USA Reply-To: Paul Robinson On Mon, 29 Jul 1996 09:06:49 EDT, danny burstein wrote: Ray Robinson wrote: > Subject: Found: A ZIP code database > This site was posted recently on the comp.databases.ms-access > newsgroup: > http://www.trisource.com/~kmh/ > There's a ZIP code database there for downloading. Not really; after trying the above URL and getting nothing, I tried: % ping www.trisource.com ICMP Host Unreachable from gateway 199.238.201.1 for icmp from explorer2 (168.143.0.5) to ftp.trisource.com (199.174.16.2) ICMP Host Unreachable from gateway 199.238.201.1 for icmp from explorer2 (168.143.0.5) to ftp.trisource.com (199.174.16.2) And so on for 15 or so times. Paul Robinson General Manager Tansin A. Darcos & Company/TDR, Inc. ------------------------------ From: Bruce Pennypacker Subject: Re: Hardware/Software Required for CallerID via TAPI Date: 31 Jul 1996 18:01:32 GMT Organization: Stylus Products Group, Artisoft Inc. In article telecom16.372.11@massis.lcs.mit.edu, JKrul@EQUIST.COM (Jeffrey W. Krul) said: > I am researching hardware and software requirements for > windows-based software development using TAPI (Telephony API). I have > located a product called 'Visual Voice' which interfaces with > TAPI-compliant hardware. Apparently it supports Caller ID which is > the information we want to trap. > Can you tell me what TAPI-compliant hardware is available and who > makes it? I plan to interface with a Meridian phone system. Our > phone provider is Bell Canada. I assume the Meridian phone system > and our phone provider will also have to support and provide the > Caller ID information. Your best place to find out about TAPI compliant hardware is through either {Computer Telephony} magazine or {Teleconnect} magazine. There are more and more companies supporting TAPI so it's tough to keep track of everybody who supports it. You should contact the manufacturers of your switch (Meridian) to see if they provide direct support for TAPI. Many PBX vendors are supporting TAPI directly, so they may have all the information you need. As for specific vendors supporting TAPI I could run down a list of 20-30 names fairly quickly: AT&T Dialogic Rhetorex Creative Labs Diamond Rockwell Northern Telecom Mitel Rolm Harris Toshiba Compaq etc. All these companies have various types of hardware that supports TAPI in one way or another. Some are full PBX's, some are modems, some are voice processing cards, etc. You really need to determine your exact requirements (ie. just caller ID, voice, automated answering of calls, transfering or conferencing calls, etc.) then start looking at the various hardware vendors and see exactly what it is that their products do. You can find out more about {Computer Telephony} magazine at http://www.computertelephony.com/ct_home.html Bruce Pennypacker | Stylus Products Group | Phone: +1 617 621 9545 Software Engineer | Artisoft, Inc. | Fax: +1 617 621 7862 Resident TAPI guru | 201 Broadway | http://www.stylus.com brucep@stylus.com | Cambridge, MA 02139 | sales: sales@stylus.com ------------------------------ From: Keith W. Brown Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? Date: 30 Jul 1996 18:55:58 GMT Organization: AllCom International Chris Moffett (PhonetiCs) wrote in article : > 1. When did pay phones start charging $.25 to call a 1-800 number? > 2. Why did the call complete to the AT&T number and not the others? > 3. Why did the AT&T operator say she could not connect the call since the 800 number did not belong to AT&T? Chris: I believe that the FCC (a few month back) gave the green light for payphone operators to start charging for toll-free calls originating (and perhaps even terminating) to payphones (charging anywhere from $0.25 to $0.35). The payphone lobby has been complaining for years about losing revenue from customers who use calling cards with 800 and 950 dial-arounds at payphones ... thus using their equipment without receiving any revenue. So you will start seeing a lot more of this type of stuff coming to a payphone near you soon! Good revenue for payphone operators, not good for payphone users with calling cards. Good Luck! Keith W. Brown URL: http://www.callcom.com E-mail: kwbrown@callcom.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #374 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 1 10:35:14 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id KAA24704; Thu, 1 Aug 1996 10:35:14 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 10:35:14 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608011435.KAA24704@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #375 TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Aug 96 10:35:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 375 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Downloadable ZIP Code Database (James E. Bellaire) Re: Downloadable ZIP Code Database (Dave Keeny) Re: Call for a Universal Phone Number Format (Marc Brett) Re: Free Fridays from Sprint (William Pfeiffer) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Tony Pelliccio) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Dave Levenson) Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (Dave McKallip) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Ed Ellers) Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! (Jeremy Parsons) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Aaron Michael Chesir) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (James E. Bellaire) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 01:40:42 -0700 From: James E. Bellaire Subject: Re: Downloadable ZIP Code Database Paul Robinson (tdarcos@clark.net) wrote: > On Mon, 29 Jul 1996 09:06:49 EDT, danny burstein > wrote: >> Ray Robinson wrote: >> Subject: Found: A ZIP code database >> This site was posted recently on the comp.databases.ms-access >> newsgroup: >> http://www.trisource.com/~kmh/ >> There's a ZIP code database there for downloading. > Not really; after trying the above URL and getting nothing, I > tried: > % ping www.trisource.com > ICMP Host Unreachable from gateway 199.238.201.1 > for icmp from explorer2 (168.143.0.5) to ftp.trisource.com > (199.174.16.2) > ICMP Host Unreachable from gateway 199.238.201.1 > for icmp from explorer2 (168.143.0.5) to ftp.trisource.com > (199.174.16.2) > And so on for 15 or so times. I got the same response the first few days of trying. I eventually got a response that pointed me to the file: ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/local/chico/zcodemdb.zip This is a ZIP version of a '.mdb' Zip Code file. It is 461k ZIPd. The site is interesting, once it finally loads. James ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Re: Downloadable ZIP Code Database Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 08:25:18 +0500 Organization: Telecommunications Techinques Corporation Paul Robinson wrote: > Not really; after trying the above URL and getting nothing, I tried: > % ping www.trisource.com > ICMP Host Unreachable from gateway 199.238.201.1 [snip] I just tried the URL (8:19am on 8/1/96) and it does work. Trisource.com's web server was probably down for a while. Dave Keeny ------------------------------ From: ltso@phoenix.london.waii.com (Marc Brett) Subject: Re: Call for a Universal Phone Number Format Date: 1 Aug 1996 11:02:50 GMT Organization: Western Geophysical, Div. of Western Atlas Int'l, Houston, TX markus.uhlirz@aut.alcatel.at wrote: > Support a Universal Phone Number Format ! [snip] > But all this is behind the scenes. More confusing to the international > phone user is the plethora of international access codes. These are > the codes needed to access the international switching level, from > which on the country codes are evaluated for call routing. In many > European countries the international access code is "00", but in > France it is "19", 990 in Finland, 095 in Norway, 011 in USA, 010 in > UK, 009 in Sweden, 07 in Spain and so on. ^^^^^^ ^^^ The UK international access code has changed from 010 to 00, as recommended by ITU-T E.163 [snip] > Therefore I encourage everyone to use the full notation of phone > numbers in all cases, possibly using brackets or blanks between digit > groups for better legibility. IEEE's fax number in New York would then > be (+1 212) 705 7453 and the phone number of the San Francisco bureau > unambiguously (+1 415) 328 7570. This is the only way to ensure that > calls won't get lost due to confusion whether or not to include extra > prefixes or omit some parts of the number. This is especially true > when information is targeted at an international readership which is > probably not fimiliar with the particular habits of phone number > notation in a specific country. Good examples of bad examples > (i.e. how NOT to present phone numbers) are abundant and can be easily > found in any issue of this and other magazines. Instead, let us create > a de-facto standard by consequently using the "+" notation as it is > increasingly being used in Europe already. [snip] No need for a defacto standard. ITU-T E.123 is the dejure standard. It recommends the + as the international prefix, only spaces as spacing symbols, and no parentheses on international numbers. According to E.123, IEEE's fax number above should be printed as: National (212) 705 7453 Telephone -------------------------------------- International +1 212 705 7453 Marc Brett Marc.Brett@waii.com Western Geophysical Tel: +44 181 560 3160 ext. 4178 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 07:19:52 -0600 From: William Pfeiffer Organization: AIRWAVES MEDIA Subject: Re: Free Fridays from Sprint Michael.R.West@sam.usace.army.mil wrote: > Happened to notice a Sprint commercial promoting "Free Fridays" >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh good heavens no! That's been >> one of their most lucrative bait and switch promotions ever. Sign > Well, you should see all the disclaimers they write in the small > print at the bottom of every scene! "Commercial use only! Domestic > use only! Restrictions apply! etc., etc." My small business has been using Free Fridays since March of 96 and other than one Friday, when the Spring network was down, and I had to use AT&T, I have sen no problems with the service. And Spring credited me with the calls on that Friday (after some argument). You *do* have to be a business, meaning registered with your state as a business, but other than that I have seen no problems. Of course non-Friday calls are .16 a minute, day and night, but that is OK too because while the night rate is slightly higher than the best rate you can get, the day rate of .16 is about a dime chaper than standard day (read: business hours) rates. So I use my residential phone for night calls (when I am home anyway) and the business phone for day calls. I guess we'll see ... William Pfeiffer AIRWAVES MEDIA ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? Date: 31 Jul 1996 22:46:42 -0400 Organization: Anomaly In article , Keith W. Brown wrote: > I believe that the FCC (a few month back) gave the green light for > payphone operators to start charging for toll-free calls originating > (and perhaps even terminating) to payphones (charging anywhere from > $0.25 to $0.35). The payphone lobby has been complaining for years > about losing revenue from customers who use calling cards with 800 and > 950 dial-arounds at payphones ... thus using their equipment without > receiving any revenue. So you will start seeing a lot more of this > type of stuff coming to a payphone near you soon! Good revenue for > payphone operators, not good for payphone users with calling cards. Awwwwww ... poor little COCOT and AOSLIME's ... sniffle -- people don't want to pay their exhorbitant calling card rates so they decide to ask the FCC if they can charge a minimum to dial an 800 number. Is it just me or does this one reek? The COCOT's pretty much block all 10XXX codes so you're forced to use an 800 number and then they have the gumption to ask you for a quarter? While we're on the same subject is this FCC the same FCC that said bill-back's on 800 numbers were a no-no? I think someone at the FCC needs to get their head out of the sand. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR As offensive as I wanna be. kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do agree that the COCOT owners deserve to be compensated for all use of their instruments. Of course in the past the way the telcos handled this was through a process between each other called 'Separations and Settlements' with the telcos which actually collected the money from the subscriber sharing it with the other telcos involved in the call. This way it was all transparent to the users. My complaint is not so much that the COCOT owners are getting money for their participation in the process, but rather, that the public has to get involved. It is too bad COCOT owners cannot be part of the established telco 'family' and share in the largesse that way instead. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 12:43:51 GMT Chris Moffett (PhonetiCs) (chris@phonetics.com) writes: > My questions are - > 1. When did pay phones start charging $.25 to call a 1-800 number? In general, payphone operators receive no compensation for the use of their equipment for calls to 800 numbers. As these calls typically amount to almost a quarter of all traffic from payphones, the public communications industry has asked for relief from this situation. In response to this request, the state of Texas, as of a couple of years ago, permitted payphone operators to impose a `set use fee' of up to $0.25 per call for calls to 800 numbers. It is my understanding that few Texas payphone operators actually do this, but it's been a couple of years since I've visited the Lone Star State. Was the payphone LEC-owned or a COCOT? The Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 attempts to remedy the situation by requiring carriers who process 800 calls to compensate public phone operators for traffic originated from their public phones. It is likely that the Texas law will be amended or repealed when the federal rules take effect (expected by year end). > 2. Why did the call complete to the AT&T number and not the others? I don't know. Could it be that the Texas law applies only to intrastate 800 calls? Were your test cases both intrastate, both interstate, or one of each? Anybody in Texas know about this? > 3. Why did the AT&T operator say she could not connect the call > since the 800 number did not belong to AT&T? I think you answered your own question! AT&T, like payphone operators, would probably have received no compensation for handling such a call. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: windsurf@eden.com (Dave McKallip) Subject: Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 03:14:55 GMT Organization: Adhesive Media, Inc. AIRWAVES MEDIA wrote: >> I have a Uniden 900 Mhz cordless and love it. I live near a small lake and >> can go out and walk around the entire lake (about 3/4 of a mile at the >> furthest point from my home) and still have a good signal. I have dialed it > Boy, I sure cannot say that for the AT&T 9100. I have five acres that > rolls slowly downhill from my house and I cannot get more than 500' > before dropouts start occurring. This is with the base in a window > facing that direction. Sound quality is quite good, however, w/o and > noise, but range is limited to that of a traditional 46/49 phone. Spread Spectrum phones are allowed to use more power. However when I tried a 9100 it gave me better range than my old phone. (but I am dealing with many walls and neither approached 500 feet in my location. > That brings me to another question. Is there an easy, effective way > to connect an external antenna to these units? On the AT&T, the > antenna is connected to the TX where there are little carbon > resistors/inductors that makeup the combiner (so the same antenna can > be used for TX and RX). It would be good to be able to split this and > use two antennas outside. One for TX one for RX. Anyone have any > help on this? I am including an email that I got from a store on the net about antennas. (Sorry if I offend anyone with commercial ad). The person there has been very helpful to me, please tell her I sent you as she spent some time tracking down this info and I haven't bought anything yet. (Waiting on new phone from USRobitics) From: roys@sos.net Date: Wed, 12 Jun 1996 14:04:54 -0700 To: Dave McKallip Subject: Re: Long-reaching Cordless Hi Dave, I came up with more specific information - thought I would pass it on. I found three range extenders for the 900mhz units. The one we recommend and have good results with is the Valor VCP900. It costs $60.00 - shipping for an oversize package is an additional $11.00. It has a unique coupler which slides over your existing base unit antenna. When connected to an outside antenna, this coupler dramatically boosts both reception and transmission of your cordless telephone. Comes complete with the outdoor antenna, all mounting hardware, the antenna coupler, and 30 feet of RG58U cable with TNC to "N" connector. Brass adapters are also supplied to fitt AT&T, Tropez and Uniden and other models. NOTE: Cordless Phone Base units must have a metal antenna for the VCP900 to work properly. Other antennas available: Wintenna 698 - Use with all 900 Mhz cordless phones. Connects to phone base antenna with an alligator clip. Vertical mount antenna. 30ft low loss co-axial included. One 3 foot mast plus 3 base radials. Over +9db gain range extending. Cost is $50.00 plus $11.00 oversize package shipping. Wintenna 699 - Mounts to base unit. Only 12" overall height. +5db gain range extending. Cost is $12.00 plus $6.00 shipping. Take care, Sheri ------------- Dave McKallip ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing Date: Wed, 31 Jul 96 06:53:58 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Mark J. Cuccia writes: > As for telco service-reps, I have spoken with some who try to *scare* > you into paying more for DTMF service, so they can get their "bonus > points" for selling more features! Some of them told me that if you > didn't pay for touchtone, and the computer or a repair man heard > touchtones on your line (such as in "end-to-end" signalling to your > "called party", NOT using DTMF to control the intial central office's > dialtone), they could "cut off your service", or "make you pay" for > touchtone service, as you were "probably using additional telco > electrical power to generate the tones, and were supposed to pay for > it". Well, any of those tactics would *violate* my First Amendment > rights for me to *communicate privately* with *my called party*! And > what if I'm using a battery powered acoustic device from Radio Shack > -- I'm NOT using *ANY* additional power from telco's lines! Some of > "Maw's" service-reps have never ceased to amaze me with their narrow > and convoluted vision of telecom! That reminds me of the stink that was created in Louisville when the GLendale central office was cut over from crossbar to ESS (I believe a 1A) in 1982. This was one of the first COs here to have Touch-Tone (on the crossbar switch in the late 1960s, I mean), but they got lazy when they installed the Touch-Tone receivers and set them up on large groups of then unused (or largely so) numbers rather than on specific subscriber lines; to get Touch-Tone you may have had to change your number so they could move your line into that group, but that was semi-tolerable because most folks back then only upgraded when they moved. Anyway, because of this bizarre situation -- which seems to have led to their not having records at the CO to indicate who had Touch-Tone and who didn't -- when South Central Bell installed the new ESS they configured it to provide Touch-Tone service to *all* lines, intending to comb through the billing records later and set things up right. Of course this was after the advent of Part 68, so they were worried that they might cut off tone to someone who had bought their own phones (thereby blocking outgoing calls), so some genius decided that they could tell from the CO which lines were actually *using* DTMF and send those customers letters warning that they would lose the capability after a certain time. I'm not sure what this "testing" entailed, but some of the letters ended up going to folks who (even in 1982) didn't know what a Touch-Tone phone *was!* I had free Touch-Tone for over a year as a result of this debacle. We had another weird deal in this area with the JUniper central office downtown; this office, dating to 1930, was originally step-by-step but had been expanded to include a crossbar switch, and when Touch-Tone became available there it was only on the prefixes served by the crossbar switch. What gets weird is that, when International DDD started in the 1970s, it was only available on the SXS portion of that office! (JUniper was the first in the area to be cut over to ESS, so that situation didn't last long. Today that office is again split along prefixes, but between analog and digital switches.) ------------------------------ From: Jeremy Parsons Subject: Re: AT&T Offers Callback to European Countries! Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 07:42:34 -0400 Jeremy Rogers wrote: > Only BT is obliged to provide this indirect access through their local > loop. Anyone using another local loop supplier, which residentially > would usually mean their local cable company, has no choice of long > distance carrier apart from what their supplier offers them. This is a slight US-ification. The cable companies offer telephone services -- whether through their own facilities, through shared infrastructure with other cable companies, or through other carriers is irrelevant in the context of the UK market. There's no distinction, for instance, between 'local' and 'long distance' service in the regulatory environment -- only international has been treated specially in the past but now that's about to become more or less a free-for-all. It's a lot more open than the US (not least in allowing unrestricted foreign ownership) -- in fact it's probably only New Zealand which could claim to be a more open telecom market. However, Oftel has recently re-iterated that neither 'Equal Access' nor any form of infrastructure interconnection will be required from BT -- the point being that the UK market has been set up to be competitive in the local loop from the first step of deregulation, and nothing which would deter new build will be sanctioned. Clearly the US model is poles apart -- it's going to be interesting to see how the two progress. Remember, of course, that most UK cable companies are, or are heavily funded by, RBOCs -- it's their playground for cable telephony (a) to see how it works, and (b) to see how to fight 'em off in their own back yards ... Jeremy Parsons ------------------------------ From: A.CHESIR Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: 31 Jul 1996 14:48:04 GMT Organization: AT&T, Columbus, Ohio The tones on the VideoTapes are a way of preventing folks from making illegal copies of the tapes. All recent VCRs are required to have circuitry in them to detect the presence of the tones and disable any record function during the play of the tape. Aaron Michael Chesir Lucent Technologies/Bell Laboratories Room 3C-202 101 Crawfords Corner Road Holmdel, NJ 07733 1-(908)-949-2560 aaron@wink.ho.att.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Jul 96 13:40 EST From: James E. Bellaire Organization: Twin Kings Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Aaron Chesir wrore: > The tones on the VideoTapes are a way of preventing folks from > making illegal copies of the tapes. All recent VCRs are required to > have circuitry in them to detect the presence of the tones and disable > any record function during the play of the tape. I doubt it. In order for this to work PLAYING the tones on the playback VCR would need to disable RECORDING on the record VCR. There would need to be a way to enable recording when the playback was finished (you would assume more tones). If the record deck did not get re-enabled then you would not be able to record normal shows. It would be too easy to start the playback tape after the tones and defeat this system and too risky that a record machine may get disabled and not function for a normal taping event. It would be silly to require a device so easy to defeat that is prone to malfunction. VCR manufacurers make their money off of sales. Why would they want to put anything in their VCRs that would reduce the sales of second (third, etc) units? It would have to take an outside 'requirement' which you mention. If you can tell us WHO 'requires' this technology I would be interested. Official sources only please (like www.fcc.gov,), not private third party references (like "I heard this in a back alley" reports). BTW: This type of technology could work if codes were placed during the movie outside the audio bands (in the lines with closed captioning?). It could tell a recording VCR to stop if it received the code. To be fully effective, codes would be placed throughout the tape. If this system existed, it would not be the "tones before/after the movie" that we were discussing. James E. Bellaire (JEB6) bellaire@tk.com WebPage now available http://www.holli.com/~bellaire ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #375 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 1 23:18:41 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA10647; Thu, 1 Aug 1996 23:18:41 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 23:18:41 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608020318.XAA10647@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #376 TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Aug 96 23:18:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 376 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson BellSouth Statement on FCC Interconnection (Mike King) PacBell Renews Commitment To Easing Computer Shortage In Schools (M King) Number Crunch in Southern California (Tad Cook) New Area Codes Drive PBX Market (Tad Cook) Indian DoT Fails to Sign Licences; Extends Deadline (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) Activating Message Waiting Lamp (Dave Barton) New Online Telephone Directories (Robert Hoare) Telecom Archives CD-ROM Ordering Details (TELECOM Digest Editor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Statement on FCC Interconnection Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 15:41:26 PDT Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 14:24:58 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH STATEMENT ON FCC INTERCONNECTION BellSouth Statement on FCC Interconnection ATLANTA-The following statement may be attributed to F. Duane Ackerman, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of BellSouth Corp.: "The FCC has been working hard on a very complex set of issues. However, with what promises to be 50 pages of regulations followed by 650 pages of analysis intended to interpret a seven and one half page section of the Telecommunications Act, the FCC appears to be micromanaging the telecommunications industry. "Congress intended less regulation and a rapid opening of markets. Having concluded 15 interconnection agreements with competitors in our region, BellSouth was well on the way to making that happen. Following the FCC's meeting today, we are now concerned that the terms and conditions the Commission has laid out may impede the process to competitive markets and seriously restrict state commission latitude. "Nor did Congress intend for the FCC to make changes which could undermine the system of pricing that has provided to customers affordable local service. We are concerned about pricing methodologies, changes in access charges and the way resale of vertical services, such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, and voice mail, ultimately will be treated. "It is very difficult to interpret all the components of the Commission's decision until we see the written order. Once we assess its full impact, we will determine what legal steps may be appropriate." For Information Contact: Bill McCloskey (202)463-4129 John Schneidawind (202)463-4183 ----------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: PacBell Renews Commitment To Easing Computer Shortage In Schools Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 15:42:00 PDT Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 13:19:08 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell Renews Commitment To Easing Computer Shortage In California Classrooms FOR MORE INFORMATION: Rebecca Weill (415) 394-3901 Pacific Bell Renews Commitment To Easing Computer Shortage In California Classrooms SAN FRANCISCO -- As part of Pacific Bell's comprehensive Education First effort, Pacific Telesis Chairman Phil Quigley today announced that his company will give another $400,000 to the Detwiler Foundation Computers for Schools Program. This brings Pacific Bell's total commitment to the Detwiler Foundation to $1 million. The Computers for Schools Program solicits businesses and individuals for used computers and related equipment. The program then refurbishes the equipment and donates it, with a one year maintenance guarantee, to K-12 classrooms in California. The state currently ranks 50th in the ratio of computers per student. "Only 20 percent of graduating seniors have the information technology skills necessary to compete for 60 percent of existing jobs jobs," said Quigley. "We must continue to act aggressively to avoid creating information 'haves' and 'have nots,' which would be a recipe for social and economic disaster." In April of 1994, Pacific Bell donated $600,000 to underwrite a major expansion of the Computers for Schools Program. Since then, the program has donated 18,000 computers to schools throughout California. Pacific Bell's support of Computers For Schools is part of its $100 million Education First program, which is helping to provide every school and library in California with a digital on-ramp to the information superhighway by 2000. The program offers free installation and one year of free service of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), along with technology workshops for teachers and librarians, assistance with applications development and discounts on equipment. To date, Education First has wired 1,500 schools and libraries with the high-speed digital lines. The Detwiler Foundation Computers for Schools Program is the largest K-12 equipment donation program in the nation. The program has furnished 1,050 schools with computers and related equipment. The Foundation partners with California Community Colleges, the California Department of Corrections and other vocational training programs to refurbish donated computers before they are placed in schools. Companies interested in donating computer equipment, or schools wishing to apply for equipment, should call 1-800-939-6000. To apply for Education First, schools should call 1-800-901-2210. Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, a diversified communications corporation based in San Francisco. ------------------ Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Number Crunch in Southern California Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 09:26:05 PDT A few years ago someone suggested on this forum that the NANP move to an eight-digit phone number. At the time I thought this was nuts, because of all the hardware retooling it would involve, and that they should just keep adding area codes. I don't think so anymore. If my memory is correct (it often isn't) Bellcore has projected going to eight digit phone numbers around the year 2035. How about 2001 instead? An article on how crazy things are getting follows below. Tad Cook tad@ssc.com Seattle, WA ----------------------- In the numbers game, phone users are getting a busy signal Los Angeles Daily News LOS ANGELES -- Southern California is bearing the brunt of a looming statewide phone number shortage that may leave residents and businesses with nothing but pay phones, cellular phones and answering services as the only calling options when seeking a new phone number. Demand for new phone numbers -- brought on by a surge in computer modems, pagers and fax machines -- and a delay in issuing area codes before numbers run out are creating the crisis, industry watchers say. This lack of new area codes puts a squeeze on freeing up new prefixes, and hence new phone numbers. Trying to cope with the number shortage is Bruce Bennett, a Pacific Bell engineering manager who does double duty as the state's code administrator. The code administrator, chosen from the largest local carrier in the state, monitors demand for area codes and issues new prefixes. The code administrator also dictates when phone number conservation measures are needed. "There is a crisis in California for numbering," said Bennett. "I know people expect phone numbers will always be there, so I would imagine this could be alarming. But this is an emergency situation." Although there still are sufficient numbers in the soon-to-be-split 818 area code that serves Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, Bennett placed a temporary freeze last month on issuing new prefixes in the 310 area code in the western part of the Los Angeles area and in the 619 area code in the San Diego region. A temporary freeze has been placed in the 415 area code in San Francisco as well. The freeze means that any new phone numbers have to come from the declining supply of remaining prefixes or from numbers that become available when customers cancel their local phone service. The trouble is that although there are enough numbers available for the near term, there are not enough to meet the demand for very much longer. In fact, Richard Fish, a senior engineer with the California Public Utilities Commission, said it's likely phone numbers in the 310, 619 and 415 area codes will run out before new area codes are added. The state PUC determines which regions receive new area codes. Fighting within the industry over how to dole out telephone numbers and state regulations requiring advance public notice before an area code is split into a new code has contributed to a delay in getting new area codes up and running, Fish noted. Telephone carriers now must make do with the prefixes they currently hold and any unused numbers in those prefixes. Each new three-number prefix holds the capacity for 10,000 telephone numbers. Once the freeze is lifted, the remaining new prefixes in the three area codes may be rationed out to telephone companies, or a lottery held if demand exceeds supply, say regulators. But should available phone numbers fall short of meeting requests, a priority system will be used to determine who receives the precious numbers. Emergency service agencies such as fire and police departments are at the top of the priority list, while residential customers with no existing telephone service are second to last. Customers looking to add a second telephone line are at the bottom of the list. And residents and businesses that fail to land a number may find themselves using such alternatives as pay phones and cellular phones until service cancellations free up existing phone numbers -- or a new area code can be brought on-line for that region. Telecommunications industry representatives and the California code administrator will meet next month to work out such alternatives and devise a plan to educate the public. "We're looking into the availability of coin telephones in the 310 area code," said Joe Cocke, GTE regional industry affairs staff administrator. "If it does get to the point where we are totally out of numbers and have gone through the priority list and still no numbers, there will be a contingency plan to get customers numbers." Meanwhile, cellular and wireless companies also are developing contingency plans for the state Public Utilities Commission. Cellular companies say they have more flexibility than traditional phone companies in issuing numbers because their local calling area encompasses more than one area code. "Even if we can't get numbers in the 310 area code, we can still offer those customers a cellular phone with a 714 or 213 area code," said Gwen Blakkan, business development project manager with AirTouch in Irvine. "It may not be the most convenient for customers, but at least they'll still get phone service." "There are so many issues to resolve," said Blakkan. "Someone has to make up the difference between the cost of a (traditional) phone call and a cellular call. Cost is a major issue and how it will be defrayed." ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: New Area Codes Drive PBX Market Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 10:02:27 PDT Dataquest Reports New Area Codes Disrupt Communications for Some Businesses SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 1996--As additional area codes are being added to meet the demands of callers, the United States premise switching systems (PSS) market will have revenue exceed $6.6 billion in 1996, according to Dataquest. Dataquest analysts report companies are upgrading their current phone systems to talk with callers who have new area code listings. `Market growth in 1996 is being driven almost solely by the introduction of new area codes into major metropolitan areas,` said Christopher Thompson, principal analyst for Dataquest's Voice Communications program. `Older communications systems are not always capable of recognizing these area codes, and customers must either upgrade the system or purchase a new system if they want to make calls to these areas.` As part of the changes that were introduced to the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) more than two years ago, area codes now have digits other than 1 or 0 in the second digit. This year, area codes with the new format are appearing in major areas such as Atlanta (770) and Los Angeles (562). `Suddenly, many businesses find themselves unable to place calls to their customers,` said Thompson. He said that because companies are being forced to upgrade their systems to reach these new area codes, PSS shipments will increase to more than 404,000 units in 1996, up from nearly 380,000 units shipped in 1995 (see Table 1). -0- Table 1 United States Premise Switching Systems Revenue and Shipment Estimates (Thousands of Units) 1995 1996 1997 Shipments 380 404 409 Revenue ($M) 6,105 6,683 6,444 Source: Dataquest (August 1996) ====================== The Dataquest Market Statistics Report titled `U.S. Premise Switching Systems Market Share and Forecast` provides analyses of the premise switching systems market by company. The report also provides both historical data and a forecast on the premise switching systems market through the year 2000. To purchase this report, or to subscribe to Dataquest's Telecommunications programs, please call 800/419-DATA. More information about Dataquest's programs, descriptions of recent research reports, and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.dataquest.com. Dataquest is a 25-year-old global market research and consulting company serving the high-technology and financial communities. The company provides worldwide market coverage on the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the information technology industry. Dataquest is a Gartner Group Company. CONTACT: Dataquest Inc., San Jose Tom McCall, 408/468-8312 tmccall@dataquest.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 10:08:40 -0700 From: Rishab Aiyer Ghosh Subject: Indian DoT Fails to Sign Licences; Extends Deadline The Indian Techonomist: bulletin, July 31, 1996 Copyright (C) 1996 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. All rights reserved Indian DoT fails to sign licences, extends deadline July 31, 1996: Today was the last date for winners of the bids for basic telephony services to sign licence and interconnect agreements with India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT). As expected, nobody signed, and the DoT has extended the deadline by six weeks. The licensees-in-waiting are all unhappy with the interconnect agreement, which is supposed to regulate the interaction between the DoT and private cellular and basic service operators, but instead is an entirely one-sided document which treats operators like ordinary consumers. The DoT's argument is that private operators will make extensive use of its network, reflecting its share of the market. But that share will obviously shrink considerably once private operators offer their services, bound - by the stringent quality-of-service terms of the tender - to be better than the DoT's. Besides, the greater dependence of private operations on the DoT, if any, will be adequately reflected with fair terms for call revenue sharing. The present heavy- handed insistence on unnecessarily one-sided terms is not called for. Nor is the DoT's reluctance to allow private operators to connect to one another directly, bypassing the DoT's network. Not only has the government monopoly reserved inter-circle long-distance traffic for itself, it also wants traffic between cellular and private networks within a circle to be routed through its own network - at a price, of course. Technically, had the DoT not extended the deadline, it would have been free to encash the bidders' earnest money and reject their claim to licences. But even in these muddle-headed attempts to reform India's monopolised telecommunications market there is a line drawn somewhere, especially when huge licence revenues, already included in the Finance Minister's revenue projections for this year in last week's Budget - are at stake. So the DoT will try to hold out for a deal that benefits it most, while the private providers, beginning to worry about the commercial viability of their projects and the availability of financing, wait for more equitable terms. They may get some help from the Delhi High Court, which is expect to rule in late August on the plea of one licensee - a consortium between India's HFCL, Israel's Bezeq and Thailand's Shinawatra - against the DoT's unreasonableness. Unless the ruling is very narrow, it is likely to affect the cases of other licensees too, particularly if it is favourable to HFCL's stand. In the meanwhile, the DoT has started holding "one-to-one" meetings with the prospective licensees - who have been notably divided on their approach towards the DoT. This is usually a codeword for under-the-table deals and the like, a far cry from the promise last year to have complete "transparency" in the telecom privatisation process. Once again, in its quest for higher revenues - first licensing, now through the interconnect agreement - the DoT has ignored the pressing need of 400 million Indians who face phones that work intermittently if at all, leave alone the other 500 million who lack even access to a public telephone in their villages. In all the talk of high licence fees and a favourable interconnect agreement, the DoT has forgotten the further round - or rounds - of bidding required to find private operators for the remaining 10 circles, including the country's poorest regions. The same poor regions, and 400,000 villages across the country, which the DoT has proven singularly incapable of reaching. For more on HFCL and the interconnect agreement, see http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/16jul96.html The Indian Techonomist: weekly summary. http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/ Copyright (C) 1996 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (rishab@techonomist.dxm.org) A4/204 Ekta Vihar 9 Indraprastha Extension New Delhi 110092 INDIA May be distributed electronically provided that this notice is attached ------------------------------ From: bahitc@ix.netcom.com (Dave Barton) Subject: Activating Message Waiting Lamp Date: 1 Aug 1996 17:49:50 GMT Organization: Netcom We are using Meridian 8314 telephones via OPX lines to connect personnel at a remote site to our Meridian Option 61 PBX. So far, we have been unable to activate the "message waiting" light that lets you know the voice mail system has a message for you. According to a Meridian technician, an OPX line doesn't generate enough voltage to activate the light. My question, is there anything (some type of booster) we can install on the lines to activate light? ------------------------------ From: rh@buttle.com (Robert Hoare) Subject: New Online Telephone Directories Date: Fri, 02 Aug 96 03:36:57 GMT Organization: Buttle and Tuttle Ltd I've added links to some more phone books in my index Telephone Directories on the Web http://www.contractjobs.com/tel/ Amongst the new ones are the official Phone Book for Singapore, and the Yellow Pages for Finland. The latter is great fun - it's only in Finnish. :-) There are now online directories for many countries online, including most of the major English speaking ones (but no residential directory yet for the UK, BT are really falling behind here). On the downside, both World Yellow Pages Network and the Dutch Webtel have folded in recent weeks due to copyright problems. Please let me know if there are any directories I've missed, I've tried to make the list complete. Thanks. Rob P.S. I've also added a link to the TELECOM Digest web pages, in my "other telecom resources" section. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is a reciprocal thing since I have Rob's link in the Telecom web page also, so that users of this service can review the telephone directories he links with. If you have not yet visited the Telecom web page, I certainly hope you will do so today. Remember also, you can read the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup on the web page as well. Check out TELECOM_Digest_Online. Our URL is http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives. 'hyperarchive' is simply an alias for 'massis' if you prefer to address it that way. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 22:53:36 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Telecom Archives CD-ROM Ordering Details People have been asking how to order the Telecom Archives CDROM by mail order. Not everyone has been able to find it in a store as of yet. If you can find it in a store, you will save on the shipping charges, however it might simply be easier for you to order it direct from the publisher, so details are given below. The Telecom Archives is a fifteen year collection of the stuff which has appeared in TELECOM Digest since 1981 along with a few hundred other files of telecom related material. There are a lot of technical files, historical files, etc. Everything that was there through the end of 1995 is included. The cost is $39.95. Please buy a copy, as the royalties will help me a lot. Also, if sales are good, there will be an update with the 1996 material on it at some future point. ============================================================================ shipping information: ============================================================================ Shipping is $5 in the USA, Canada, and Mexico for First Class. Overseas is $9 PER ORDER. There is an additional $3 COD charge (USA Only). UPS Blue Label (2nd day) [USA Only] is $10 PER ORDER, UPS Red Label (next day) [USA Only] is $15 PER ORDER. Federal Express (next day) [USA Only] is $20 PER ORDER. For overseas courier rates, please email us. Ordering Information: You can order by sending a check or money order to Walnut Creek CDROM Suite E 4041 Pike Lane Concord CA 94520 USA 1 800 786-9907 (Toll Free Sales) [open 24HRS] +1 510 674-0783 (Sales-International) +1 510 603-1234 (tech support) [M-F 9AM - 5PM, PST] +1 510 674-0821 (FAX) orders@cdrom.com (For placing an order) info@cdrom.com (For requesting more information or for customer service questions) support@cdrom.com (For technical questions and technical support) majordomo@cdrom.com (Info Robot-automated product information and support) We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and Diner's Club. ALL credit card orders MUST include a phone or fax number. COD shipping is available for $8.00 in the US only, NO COD shipping to P O Boxes. Checks and Money Orders payable in US funds, can be sent along with ordering information to our normal business address. California residents please add sales tax. Shipping and handling is $5 (per ORDER, not per disc) for US, Canada, and Mexico, and $9 for overseas (AIRMAIL) shipping. Please allow 14 working days ( 3 weeks ) for overseas orders to arrive. Most orders arrive in 1-2 weeks. -------------------- Therefore, unless you want next day delivery by FedEx which would make it quite expensive you would send $39.95 plus $5 to Walnut Creek at thier address above, or authorize them to charge your credit card, etc. As noted also, customers outside the USA need to pay additional shipping costs. Write to Walnut Creek at the addresses above. If you can find it in a retail outlet then you save shipping and handling charges. In any event, please buy one today! PAT -------------------- The Telecom Archives remains a free resource for the Internet and is available using anonymous ftp massis.lcs.mit.edu. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #376 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 1 23:43:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA13317; Thu, 1 Aug 1996 23:43:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 23:43:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608020343.XAA13317@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #377 TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Aug 96 23:43:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 377 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ACSW'97: Last Call for Papers (Mehmet Orgun) Pacific Telesis Shareowners Approve SBC Merger Plan (Mike King) Book Review: "Guerilla Web Strategies" by Gelormine (Rob Slade) Dialing, Numbering and Code Ambiguities (Mark J. Cuccia) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 11:31:05 +1000 From: Mehmet ORGUN Subject: ACSW'97: Last Call for Papers Reply-To: Mehmet ORGUN Dear Colleague, Enclosed is the call for papers for the Australasian Computer Science Week, 1997. This will be held in Sydney, 3-7 February, and will incorporate three main conferences: The 20th Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC'97) Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium (CATS'97) The Australasian Computer Architecture Conference (ACAC'97) The call for papers is also available at URL http://www.mq.edu.au/acsw97 We hope you will be able to join us in our beautiful city for one or more of these events. Len Hamey on behalf of the Organising Committee. CALL FOR PAPERS AUSTRALASIAN COMPUTER SCIENCE WEEK ================================== 3-7 February 1997, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia ACSC'97, CATS'97, and ACAC'97 The Australasian Computer Science Week has emerged as a regular event on the academic calendar. It is held under the auspices of the Computer Science Association and this year it encompasses three main conferences 5-7 February: The 20th Australasian Computer Science Conference 3-4 February: Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium 3-4 February: The Australasian Computer Architecture Conference and also a variety of allied events. All conferences will be hosted by the Department of Computing at Macquarie University. We invite submissions for the three conferences, as set out below. All conferences share a common set of important dates: Submission Deadline: 15 August 1996 Notification: 1 November 1996 Camera-ready copy: 24 November 1996 Full submission details and further information about the week can be obtained at http://www.mq.edu.au/acsw97 or acsw97@mpce.mq.edu.au. Organising Chair: Sponsors: Jan Hext, Macquarie Apple Computer Australia Pty Ltd Arnott's Biscuits Ltd Organising Committee: Joint Research Centre for Advanced System Engineering John Debenham, UTS Macquarie University Len Hamey, Macquarie Microsoft Research Institute Michael Johnson, Macquarie University of Technology, Sydney Mehmet Orgun, Macquarie Malti Patel, Macquarie Kang Zhang, Macquarie -----------------+----------------- ACSC'97 - Twentieth Australasian Computer Science Conference ============================================================ 5-7 February 1997 Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia ACSC'97 is the major Australasian computer science conference and is now in its twentieth year. The conference has a high reputation for the quality of the research presented, ranging from theory and experiment to practice and application. Submissions are now invited for ACSC'97. We welcome papers describing original contributions in all fields of Computer Science research and education. Each paper will be judged on its originality, significance, correctness, and clarity. Its contribution should be clearly explained in both general and technical terms, and authors should make every effort to ensure that its technical content is understandable by a broad audience. Submission of a paper should be regarded as an undertaking that, should the paper be accepted, at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present the work. Submitted papers should be no longer than 6,000 words. To be considered, four printed copies must reach the address below by the submission date, which is a hard deadline. ACSC'97 Department of Computer Science The University of Melbourne Parkville, VIC 3052 Australia Enquiries about the program should be directed to acsc97@cs.mu.oz.au. Program Chair: Rao Kotagiri, Melbourne Justin Zobel, RMIT Program Committee: David Abramson, Griffith Chris McDonald, UWA Paul Bailes, Queensland Kim Marriott, Monash Richard Brent, ANU Alistair Moffatt, Melbourne Cristian Calude, Auckland Ron Morrison, St. Andrews Geoff Dromey, Griffith John O'Callaghan, CSIRO Peter Eades, Newcastle Mehmet Orgun, Macquarie Jenny Edwards, UTS Michael Oudshoorn, Adelaide Norman Foo, UNSW Anand Rao, AAII Rhys Francis, CSIRO John Roddick, South Australia Andrzej Goscinski, Deakin John Rosenberg, Sydney John Gough, QUT Ron Sacks-Davis, Melbourne Stephen Hood, DSTO Arun Sharma, UNSW Ray Jarvis, Monash John Staples, Queensland Chris Johnson, ANU Ling Tok Wang, NU of Singapore Jyrki Katajainen, Copenhagen Ian Witten, Waikato -----------------+----------------- CATS'97 - Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium ====================================================== 3-4 February 1997 Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia CATS aims at bringing together computing theorists from the Australasian region. Papers are solicited on all aspects of the theory of computer science, including, but not limited to: Category Theory, Complexity, Concurrency, Formal Semantics, Logic, Specification and Verification, and all aspects of the theory of Algorithms (including combinatorial algorithms, distributed algorithms, geometric algorithms, and parallel algorithms). CATS'97 follows on from CATS'94 which was held in Sydney in December 1994, and CATS'96 which was held in Melbourne in February 1996. It is hoped that the meeting will have an `active workshop' atmosphere, with ample time for discussions. Contributions describing work in progress are welcome. Submissions should be sent in Postscript format to cats97@cs.rmit.edu.au by the submission deadline. For final submissions, LaTEX style files and MS Word style sheets will be provided via the URL http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/cats97. Authors unable to access or use these style files will be asked to prepare papers of at most ten pages in 10-point, two-column format. Papers will be judged on originality, significance, correctness, and clarity. The contribution of the paper should be clearly explained in both general and technical terms, and authors should make every effort to ensure that the technical content of their papers is understandable by a broad audience. Submission of a paper should be regarded as an undertaking that, should the paper be accepted, at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present the work. General Chair: Program Committee: Barry Jay, UTS Cristian Calude, Auckland Hossam ElGindy, Newcastle Program Chair: Jeremy Gibbons, Auckland Kurt Mehlhorn, Max Planck Ins. James Harland, RMIT Dale Miller, Pennsylvania Eugenio Moggi, Genoa Local Chair: Tadao Takaota, Ibaraki Arun Sharma, UNSW Michael Johnson, Macquarie Harald So/ndergaard, Melbourne Antonius Symvonis, Sydney Phil Wadler, Glasgow -----------------+----------------- ACAC'97 - Australasian Computer Architecture Conference ======================================================= 3-4 February 1997 Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia ACAC is the principal annual Australasian conference on computer architecture. ACAC'97 follows on from previous computer architecture workshops held in Hobart, Brisbane and Adelaide, and its highly successful emergence as a fully refereed 2-day research conference in Melbourne in 1996. ACAC'97 will contain sessions for research group reports as well as for formal research papers. This forum will allow those involved in the field to see what new research is happening in the region and to encourage cooperative research and sharing of resources. ACAC'97 invites the following two categories of papers: Original research papers: Original papers in all areas of computer architecture research are invited. Papers describing implemented systems and novel applications are particularly welcomed. All papers will be refereed and accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. LaTEX style files will be made available on acceptance. Australasian research group reports: Reports on Australasian computer architecture research projects are also invited. They should be in the same format and will be included in a section of the proceedings but will not go through the full rigorous reviewing process. Papers should be submitted in uuencoded Postscript form to acac97@ee.newcastle.edu.au. If electronic submission is not possible, four paper copies should be sent to: ACAC'97 c/- Andrew Spray Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia General Chair: Program Committee: John Morris, UWA David Abramson, Griffith Greg Egan, Monash Program Chair: Michael Groves, Flinders Mohan Kumar, Curtin Andrew Spray, Newcastle David Powers, Flinders Clemens Szyperski, QUT Publication Chair: Ronald Pose, Monash ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Telesis Shareowners Approve SBC Merger Plan Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 18:14:23 PDT Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 16:33:14 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: NEWS: Pacific Telesis Shareowners Approve SBC Merger Plan FOR MORE INFORMATION: Michael Runzler (415) 394-3643 Pacific Telesis Shareowners Approve SBC Merger Plan SAN FRANCISCO -- By an overwhelming majority, Pacific Telesis Group (NYSE: PAC) shareowners have voted to approve the corporation's proposed merger with SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC). Preliminary results announced at a special shareholders meeting in San Jose showed that the merger was supported by nearly 97% of Pacific Telesis shares voted. Total votes cast represented nearly 76% of shares outstanding. Final tallies will be published in the company's third quarter report. "Shareowner approval is the most important step in the process," said Phil Quigley, Pacific Telesis chairman and chief executive officer. "This overwhelming support shows our shareowners understand the value of the merger and believe it is fair and reasonable for them." Quigley reminded shareowners the merger is based on growth, and will strengthen the competitive positions of two of the nation's leading telecommunications providers. In addition, it will bring at least 1,000 new jobs to California as well as the headquarters of four of the combined companies' operations. Earlier in the day, SBC shareowners also voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposal. Preliminary results announced at a special meeting in San Antonio showed the proposal approved by more than 97% of the shares voted. Requests for approval of the merger are pending at various regulatory agencies, including the Justice Department, the Federal Communications Commission, and utility commissions in California and Nevada. Both companies will continue to operate independently until all approvals are obtained, and expect to complete the transaction in the first quarter of 1997. Following the merger, Pacific Telesis will become a subsidiary of SBC. Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, the Pacific Telesis subsidiaries that provide telecommunications services in California and Nevada respectively, will remain based in their home states. Pacific Telesis is a diversified telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco. ---------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 10:17:29 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Guerilla Web Strategies" by Gelormine BKGUWBST.RVW 960604 "Guerilla Web Strategies", Vince Gelormine, 1996, 1-883577-80-2, U$24.99/C$34.99 %A Vince Gelormine vince@linkstar.com %C 7339 East Acoma Drive, #7, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 %D 1996 %G 1-883577-80-2 %I Coriolis %O U$24.99/C$34.99 800-410-0192 +1-602-483-0192 fax: +1-602-483-0193 %P 400 %T "Guerilla Web Strategies" The vast majority of books directed at business use of the Internet all make the same mistake. While acknowledging that spamming email addresses and Usenet newsgroups is no longer viable, they all sing the praises of the World Wide Web as an advertising vehicle. This totally ignores the fact that a Web page, by itself, is totally inaccessible. URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) are not random, and must be specified correctly at the client browser before anyone will be able to see your page. The WWW, far from being a passive advertising medium, must itself be advertised to be of any use. Which is where Gelormine's book comes in. He gives details on how and where to announce and promote your site, and how to ensure that surfers who are interested in your information can find it. He looks at design tips to ensure that you don't scare visitors away. (I assume that he assumes that an exhortation to provide quality goes without saying: given the quality of too much of the Web I wish he'd said it more often.) There is a chapter on measuring your success (tracking visits and hits), and another on using your success to sell your site to advertisers. As with most Web books, there are a large number of listings and screenshots of favorite sites, but at least the salient features that prompted their inclusion are described. The material is realistic, the explanations clear, and the writing readable. Organization within each chapter is clear, although the ordering of the chapters themselves is a bit odd. Promotion with search engines is in chapter five; with indices, cybermalls, and newsgroups in eight, nine and ten; press releases in twelve and offline promotion in thirteen. Those who are wondering why the masses are not flocking in should definitely investigate this. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKGUWBST.RVW 960604. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca BCVAXLUG Envoy http://www.decus.ca/www/lugs/bcvaxlug.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 19:35:36 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Dialing, Numbering and Code Ambiguities Recently in TELECOM Digest, in Re: Another Source of Errant 911 Calls, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > In Chicago, several subscribers on the VIRginia (312-847) exchange > have reported to telco their annoyance with the large number of > people in Chicago attempting to call the northern suburbs on its > new area code of 847 who forget (or did not know they had to) dial > '1' as the first digit. Particularly annoyed are people with phone > numbers 847-32xx, 847-67xx, and 847-86xx since the area 847 > exchanges 328 and 329 serve Evanston and Skokie; 673,674,675,676 > and 677 serve Skokie and 864 serves Evanston. Of not such a problem > is 847-965x (which is on the 847 side Morton Grove, Illinois 965-xxxx) > since 965x on the Chicago side is most likely a payphone somewhere. > Starting at the end of this year 312-847 will become 773-847 but the > same problem will not happen to people with 312-773 numbers since 773 > is also moving to 773. Their complaint will probably be that no one > understands why '773 has to be dialed twice' as in 773-773-xxxx. > The particularly hard-hit subscribers of 312-847-67xx who seem to be > bombarded with dumbness all day and all night asked telco what to do > and Ameritech's response was they should 'respond courteously to the > caller telling them to dial again', using a '1' before the number. But > after a few wrong number calls each day, courtesy begins to wear thin. > Ameritech is presently holding off on any more new assignments in the > 312-847 prefix. PAT] And Russell Blau also wrote regarding this topic: > Until very recently, there was an ironclad rule dating back to the > introduction of "interchangeable" exchange codes (those of the form > N0/1X) that no exchange could be opened that had the same numeric > designation as its "home" area code or any adjacent area code, to > avoid just this sort of confusion. Of course, it is very difficult to > protect against these situations in a split, especially when the area > code getting split is extremely full (so nearly all available exchange > numbers are in use). However, I believe that Mark Cuccia has > previously reported that NANPA (Bellcore's Numbering Plan > Administration) has reserved a whole slew of the new area codes for > future splits, with each reserved area code slotted for the relief of > a specific existing code. > I would speculate that someone at Bellcore spent a lot of time looking > for exchange codes that are not in use in particular area codes and > their neighbors and came up with these reservations in an effort to > minimize violations of the rule against using home and adjacent area > codes as exchange codes. Yes, Bellcore NANPA did reserve *certain specific* NNX combinations to be used for specific forthcoming splits to take effect throughout the US and Canada over the next ten to twenty years. These codes are "reserved" as "Geographic Relief Codes". There is a list of these codes, but the list I saw (and reported here in the Digest earlier this year) doesn't indicate the specific geographic locations they are reserved for. That is still a "telephone company secret" until there is an official public announcement of what a new area code's numericals will be in a "relief" situation. The codes reserved for specific geographic relief have been *carefully* co-ordinated between the LEC's Central Office code administrators and Bellcore NANPA's Area Code administrator, such that the numericals of an area code reserved for relief will not be in conflict the numericals of an already existing central office code, in the affected old and/or new areas. The annual COCUS (Central Office Code Utilization Survey) taken by the industry was used in making these reservations. The list of "geographic relief codes" *could* change, if there are modifications to an NPA relief planning in progress, such as modification of the boundary between the existing area code and the splitting off region, or changing from a split to an overlay situation. There are also "unassigned general purpose area codes" which have no special reservations attatched to them, and can be used for several purposes if any of those code's numericals are requested by a memeber of the industry. If any additional areas need further splits past the codes reserved for them in the geographic relief pool, they will have to come from the "general purpose" list. And it can happen that a local telco can change their mind regarding their "reserved" geographic relief code, and choose one from the "general purpose" pool, as long as there won't be any local numbering or dialing conflict. As for ambiguities in dialing or numbering, as mentioned by Pat with the Chicago situation, *none* of this would be happening had mandatory ten-digit local dialing and overlay area codes had been introduced. I have frequently mentioned such in postings, in conjunction with the fact that a mandatory "1+" be used *if* there are toll or "extra" charges involved. The originating central office would determine by six-digit translation of the dialed NXX-NXX of the ten-digit telephone number if the call is "toll". If it is toll, one would get a recording indicating that a "1+" would need to be dialed first. Also, use of a 1+ prefix would *also* be permitted in all cases for local calls *without* incurring any "toll" charges, if the dialed NXX-NXX- were a "local" one. Local seven-digit permissive dialing could still be maintained in locations where the local numbering situation isn't all that complex, however the telcos *should strongly encourage* ten-digit local dialing in *all* parts of the NANP, as these seven-digit cities would most likely be changing to mandatory ten-digit local dialing at some point in the near future. The determination of what would be considered a "local" call, as well as any possible associated rates, such as local measured rates, per-call local rates, per-mile local rates, discount packages, etc. would all be determined on a *local* basis, or in the case of a metro area straddling a state boundary, this would be determined on a regional type basis. *I was never trying to impose local dialing boundaries nor local dialing package plans* on any metro area, etc. That would be determined on a city-by-city basis, by state, county, or city regulatory bodies, consumer groups, etc., and possibly even negotiations between the individual subscriber and the various (local) telco service providers that they might choose to be a customer of. My plans have *always* been intended as a *generic* plan which IMO *should* be used NANP-wide, for dialing standardization and to make future area code and central office code and numbering assignments much more flexible. However ... multiple competing local telcos as well as POTS number portability might change some of this, but that topic still has to be studied further. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V16 #377 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Aug 2 00:18:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA16718; Fri, 2 Aug 1996 00:18:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 00:18:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608020418.AAA16718@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #378 TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Aug 96 00:18:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 378 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Questions on Multi-Drop Serial Communications (Don Nordenholt) Trouble Finding Cabinets For Telecom Equipment (jimtoro@hoflink.com) AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems (Stephen Balbach) Long Distance Customers To Benefit From "Mass Customization" (Mike King) ANI (was Re: Caller ID in California) (John Higdon) Re: Another Source of Errant 911 Calls (Wes Leatherock) Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing (Geoffrey Welsh) Re: Caller ID in California (Tim L. Dahm) Re: Many Canadian Phone Listings on Web Page (Mark Brader) Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (Steve Schear) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Don Nordenholt Subject: Questions on Multi-Drop Serial Communications Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 08:17:50 -0700 Organization: Intelect, Inc. My company makes a SONET multiplexer that offers a wide variety of low speed interfaces (voice, data, video, LAN, etc.). We have a number of interfaces availible now for point-to-point asynch applications (RS-232, etc.). We're trying to make our data interfaces function in a multi-drop network. We think we have it working for asynch multi-drop and now we want to make it do synchronous multi-drop. However, we have some differences of opinion on how this should be done. We've reviewed what we could find on the web and in textbook. So far we've learned very little. The literature on multi-drop is surprisingly scarce and all of it involves the same vague B.S. Can't find a good wiring diagram or verbal discussion anywhere. I am hoping that some of you can answer some of these questions. 1. I am familiar with a scheme that was used in the old days for monitoring microwave and fiber optic equipment in long-haul repeater sites. Each site had a remote monitoring unit (RMU) that gathered alarms from the equipment under surveillance. At one end of the route was a computer that polled all the RMUs. The RMUs and the computer were all connected to four-wire private line modems. We used a four-wire audio circuit from end to end. At all the intermediate sites we had a three-way, four-wire audio bridge to tie the modem to the channel facing east and the channel facing west. Never mind the polling protocol for the time being. That's not the issue now. Most of us agree on how the master polls and the slaves only reply when they are polled, etc. The question is how did the RMUs and their modems all share the same audio circuit. I maintain that the modems all turned off their carriers until it was their turn to talk. They would have to. Otherwise nobody could ever receive anything. I recall that we had to use at least one hardware handshake line. I think it was RTS but after this long, who knows? Can anybody confirm how an RMU would gain control of the line in a scenario like this? 2. The next question is jump ten years to the present. How would something like this be done now? We can lease data circuits or provide them directly out of muxes made by manufacturers like Premisys, Newbridge, etc. 3. How do they do schemes like the automated teller machines or the Texas lottery? I'm looking for actual case histories showing how the ATM or lottery machine is connected to the host computer. I want to see what handshake/flow-control leads they use and what kind of boxes all the serial data lines are connected to. Can anybody furnish these or direct me to a source of them? 4. The key issue here is what you do in the digital world that is analogous to the keying of the modem (using RTS or whatever) in the analog scenario with the bridges and modems. 5. The few references I have found to multi-drop talk about it as if it were exclusively synchronous. Yet we are also developing a video interface for the CCTV market. One of the features we must provide is a serial link for camera control. All of the camera manufacturers use multi-drop. Some use it one way only (broadcast). Some use it in both directions. One appears to employ a multi-drop, two-way asynchronous scheme. Is this possible? I'd appreciate any poop anybody can send my way. Many thanks, Don Nordenholt ------------------------------ From: jimtoro@hoflink.com Subject: Trouble Finding Cabinets For Telecom Equipment Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 12:24:20 -0400 Organization: LI Net (Long Island Network) I am at a loss of where to find this for my telecom stuff: I need several cabinets for holding datacom/telecom equipment. They shouldn't be the 19" rack mount, I need a little wider, with smoked glass and locks AND some kind of fan or forced air to pull out the heat. I tried two companies and had very poor response or unable to contact people who could give me info on same products. Any good dealers on this, especially around the NY/Long Island area or shipped to this area? ------------------------------ From: stephen@clark.net (Stephen Balbach) Subject: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems Date: 1 Aug 1996 21:36:43 GMT Organization: Clark Internet Services, Balt/DC, mail all-info@clark.net I had posted earlier about a known problem with AT&T SLC96 fiber cabinets and achieving full 28.8 (or 33.6) modem connections due to bandwidth constraints in the SLC96. SLC96 cabinets are widely deployed througout the USA in all seven RBOCS and are one of the culprits of bad modem connections in the PSTN. Bell Atlantic told us and many other ISP's in the Balt/DC region that the problem is unsolvable and the only solution is ISDN. The cards that break out the OC-3 into DS0's fall-off at about 3400Hz thus limiting the throughput at best to 26.4 (28.8 needs about 3800Hz) -- the PSTN can theoreticlaly achive a maximum of 4000Hz which copper can do, but the cards in SLC96's can only do about 3400Hz. We have since found another ISP who found a novel approach to the problem. They called AT&T and said they planned on ordering 15 SLC96 cabinets and needed the documentation first. The next day a AT&T sales rep and 100 pounds of manuals arrived on the door-step. The salesman quickly dispatched, it was discovered at the very bottom of the mountain of manuals a small booklet the addressed the modem througput problem specifically. In short, AT&T has manufactured a special card to solve the problem which can achive up to 31.6Kbps. This ISP had Bell South replace the cards and all is well. Unfortantly I do not have the make or model of this card, but it is being researched. As soon as I do find it I will post to this group. Stephen Balbach "Driving the Internet To Work" VP, ClarkNet due to the high volume of mail I receive please quote info@clark.net the full original message in your reply. ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Long Distance Customers To Benefit From "Mass Customization" Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 15:42:38 PDT Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 13:26:47 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Long Distance Customers To Benefit From "Mass Customization" FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Healey (415) 394-3894 linda.healey@pactel.com Long Distance Customers To Benefit From "Mass Customization" Pacific Bell Communications Poised to Compete SACRAMENTO -- "Mass customization," or the artful use of technology to give each and every customer a solution that's "hand-made," will be a key to success in the upcoming long-distance wars, according to Betsy Bernard, president of Pacific Bell Communications. In comments to the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce recently, Bernard predicted that the "marketing battle of the century" will make all past marketing battles look tame, and that the brand that stays closest to the consumer will prevail. She noted that consumers will end up with new options offered by companies paying an unprecedented amount of attention to consumers' individual telecommunications needs. And what will emerge, she added, are bundled offers that cater to the essential, defining needs and styles of many different market segments. As an example, Bernard pointed to the boom in telecommuting, saying it's not hard to imagine a home office offer that includes a low flat-rate digital data line, plus discounts on Internet service -- if you buy all your telecommunications services from a single company. Another offer might be targeted to households with families in Mexico. "I can envision a package deal that features an extremely good price on calls to Mexico, if you buy the whole deal," Bernard said. In a nutshell, consumers will see offers that are creatively designed to maximize the value of the piece they most care about -- whether that's Internet access, wireless services, video conferencing, voice mail or international calls. To meet these needs, Pacific Telesis formed Pacific Bell Communications earlier this year. The long-distance unit is currently revving up to enter the marketplace during the first part of 1997, and plans to offer simple, tailor-made solutions for the California marketplace. Californians know the Pacific Bell brand, and trust us to provide superior quality, unparalleled service, and competitive long distance rates, Bernard said. The company has filed with the California and Nevada Public Utilities Commissions to provide local and long distance services, believing that there is a segment of the market that will greatly desire one-stop shopping where a customer can buy a bundle of local and long distance services from a single provider. Existing long-distance companies will have that capability, and Pacific Bell Communications believes it must also be a full service provider to successfully compete. "The era of the public utility is drawing to a close, and the age of competitive markets in telecommunications -- of all kinds -- is roaring in," Bernard told the Chamber. And when all's said and done, the victors will be companies that best meet customer needs. Pacific Bell Communications is the long-distance subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, a diversified telecommunications corporation headquartered in San Francisco. ---------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 11:17:47 -0700 From: John Higdon Subject: ANI (was Re: Caller ID in California) > Mark J. Cuccia wrote: > But ... there is *also* "ANI Information Digit(s)" (ANI-I or ANI-II) > which can also be transmitted along with the ANI. The Bell System > developed the ANI-I/II years back. They were single digits which > indicated "class of service" of the calling line, i.e. the *type* of > phone line placing the call, Absolutely. Besides the fact that ANI delivery is made without giving a caller the opportunity to block, the reason that even with Caller ID available now in California I continue to use 800 service as a means of verifying for new accounts is that I get those invaluable status digits. Knowing what type of service the call is coming from is even more important to me than knowing the calling number. > unless it is routed via an Operator which doesn't forward out the > information of the original calling line. But even that call comes with its own status number which can either be handled or disposed of in any way necessary. John Higdon | P.O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | +1 500 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 | http://www.ati.com/ati/ | ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 01:36:25 GMT Subject: Re: Another Source of Errant 911 Calls > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I remember when there were lots of > 'ironclad' rules such as the one that prefixes were never duplicated > in *adjoining states*. In other words, if Indiana had AC-234 then > neither Illinois or Ohio or Michigan had (their own) AC-234. That was > so there could be 'community dialing' of seven digits across state > line and area code boundaries where applicable. For example, for > many years residents of Hammond, IN on 219-931, 932, and 933 could > call Calumet City, IL on 312-862 and 864, as well as Lansing, IL (474) > by just dialing the seven digit number. People in Antioch, IL on > 312-395 were able to call people in North Antioch, WI on 414-396 > the same way and vice-versa. Ditto with Beloit, WI and South Beloit, > IL. No more luxuries like that I am afraid. PAT] Pat, that wasn't the case most places. The prefixes used this way were called "protected" in both area codes, and only the prefixes actually in use this way and those expected to be so needed were "protected" and were not duplicated. There are many small exchanges which extend across state lines, and require different area codes (and prefixes) in each state. The single central office is serving customers in both states. Because of the pattern of settlement of Oklahoma, there are many such examples (both Southwestern Bell and independent) that work across the state line into rural (and sometimes fairly urban small town areas) of Oklahoma from a town in Kansas that came into existence before Oklahoma was opened to white settlement. There is Coffeyville, Kansas, and South Coffeyville, Oklahoma; Arkansas City, Kansas, and South Arkansas City, Oklahoma; Liberal, Kansas, and South Liberal, Oklahoma, to name some of the larger ones. There are many smaller ones. Working the other way are Picher, Oklahoma, and Treece, Kansas, the central office being in Oklahoma; Texhoma, Oklahoma, and Texhoma, Texas (I don't know where the central office is located in this independent company [one-time GTE] exchange; this one even has joint schools, with the elementary school in Texas and the high school in Oklahoma, or maybe it's the other way around.) In all these cases there is just one central office, although two prefixes are assigned, one in each state; but it's a seven-digit local call within the exchange; no area codes used.) Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 09:49:22 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LEC's? On Sunday afternoon, I received a telephone call from a friend in the Chicago area. Previous calls from this person indicated "708-891-xxxx" of his telephone number, and the city/state "CALUMET CITY,IL" instead of the "name" associated with the line, as the call came from Ameritech territory, while I am in BellSouth territory. However, the call yesterday indicated the name (last name, first name) instead of the city/state! So the major LEC's (particularly the RBOC's) are now exchanging LIDB "name" information when CID number is passed! I would hope that this will eventually extend to calls placed from Canada to the US. Wednesday afternoon, I received a call from a contact in Whitehorse (Yukon), 403-668-xxxx, but the name display still has "ALBERTA". Calls from Canada where CID number info is passed still give only the province name spelled out. And this call from the Yukon displayed "ALBERTA", as the primary province served by area code 403 is Alberta. I would hope that Yukon/NWT's new 867 area code will more accurately indicate the province (or territories) name on calls from there, if CID-"Name" isn't yet being interfaced between Canada and the US by the time 867 goes into effect. On those calls from California where I am now getting a number instead of "out-of-area", the name display on my box shows just "(city), CA". I don't know when that might change to include the actual name associated with the number, as Pac*Bell and GTE-California are just really starting Caller-ID. Now that the actual name associated with the calling number is beginning to display on (some) calls from outside of BellSouth territory, I don't have the ratecenter/city and state showing on my box. But I can always call the long-distance operator (00), and AT&T is my preferred one, and ask for a "nameplace" for the NPA-NXX. Even though the actual name is more precise information, I still liked the idea of having the name (nameplace) of the city (ratecenter) show up on my box. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: crs0794@inforamp.net (Geoffrey Welsh) Subject: Re: NYNEX Charge for Tone Dialing Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 18:57:36 GMT Organization: Izot's Swamp hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker) wrote: > In article , joew@joew.us.dg.com > (Joseph_Wiesenfeld@dg.com) wrote: >> I recently received a notice from NYNEX indicating that they noticed >> that I have not been charged for Touch-Tone Service while they have >> been providing me with it. They indicated to contact them if I wanted >> to order it and they would begin charging me $0.95 per line per month >> for the service or they would discontinue it on my line. > According to NYNEX Manhattan White Pages, page 26: "Touch-tone Service: > $.50 per month. ... Without Touch-tone service, your push-button phone > still acts as slowly as a rotary dialer ..." > Perhaps NYNEX simply inserts a ten-second delay, but the touch-tones still > work? I believe they're implying that you'd have to switch your pushbutton phone to pulse mode (which many support). You don't expect their marketing people to acknowledge that tone dial works for some subscribers who aren't paying for it! Geoffrey Welsh, Developer, InSystems Technologies Inc. (gwelsh@insystems.com) At home: xenitec.on.ca!zswamp!geoff; Temporary: crs0794@inforamp.net ------------------------------ From: paracomm@computek.net (Tim L. Dahm) Subject: Re: Caller ID in California Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 16:21:43 GMT On Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:42:45 -0400, Michael Stanford wrote: >> I remember reading something in this group about ANI information that >> indicated what kind of phone was making the call. It supposedly gave >> the indications residential, commercial, hotel, prison, pay phone, etc. > I also am curious about why Caller ID is a "weaker" service than ANI. > There is room in the data burst for this information. It is possible > for the ANI number associated with a call to be different than the > caller ID number, though I seem to remember that this Digest had some > correspondence a while back about a long distance carrier (Wiltel?) > that populated the Caller ID field with a copy of the ANI information > if no Caller ID was present. Perhaps Maddi was referring to the origination _line_ information which is transmitted by the originating office along with the ANI on both traditional in-band signaling trunks and out-of-band SS7 trunks. Feature Group 'C' in-band signaling prepends a single Information Digit to the ANI digit string. Feature Group 'D' in-band signaling prepends two Information Digits to the ANI string. In both cases, these digit(s) provide line information as he stated. The SS7 'Initial Address Message' (IAM) contains separate fields for the calling number and the charge (or ANI) number. The Information Digit info is present in a separate 'originating line information' field of the IAM, and uses the same numeric values defined for F.G.'D'. Also, there is a 'presentation' bit in the calling number field of the IAM which is used to indicate if the number is available for display to the called party or should remain private. Tim Dahm ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Re: Many Canadian Phone Listings on Web Page Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 17:28:08 GMT David Leibold (aa070@freenet.toronto.on.ca) writes: > A number of Canadian phone companies such as BC Tel and Bell Canada have > set up a phone number lookup web page at http://canada411.sympatico.ca/ > joining a number of other telcos worldwide in on-line listings. > Not all provinces are available at this time... Also, apparently http://www.canada411.com is a synonym for the above. They appear to do prefix matching on first names; for last names, it looks as though either there is prefix matching some of the time or else they automatically look up names they think similar enough to do a "see also". (That is, I got different behavior searching for two different names.) When two people's first names are given in a single listing, they apparently take this as a single name with an & in it, and prefix matching means that effectively only whoever's name is given first can be searched for. Of course, this just means that it's the same as the more common case where a couple is listed under only one name. Anyway, a search by last name and city may be specific enough. They don't support searching by last name, street name, and city, though; 411 directory assistance can do that. > The lookup seems to be particularly sensitive to city name and not > just exchange name. ... Yep. I tried a co-worker who has rural postal delivery from the village of Palgrave, but whose phone has a 905-729- number, which is Beeton. He's listed under Palgrave. But this makes sense. Notice that each name in the listings is a link. Follow that link and you get the person or company's address, *including the postal code*, something that I have long felt it would be sensible for Canadian telephone directories to provide. (Whether apartment numbers are also shown in the address seems to vary from place to place -- someone I tried in Kelowna, BC, had one listed, but someone in Metro Toronto didn't.) Anyway, since they're dealing with postal addresses, it surely makes sense for the name lookup to be similarly based on those. You don't have to provide the city name if you don't want to -- you can search an entire province or even nationally. Mark Brader, msb@sq.com "Information! ... We want information!" SoftQuad Inc., Toronto -- The Prisoner ------------------------------ From: azur@netcom.com Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 15:56:46 -0700 Subject: Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? > In article , AIRWAVES MEDIA > wrote: > A while back, someone posted to rec.radio.scanner that the Tropez (a > spread-spectrum phone, not digital) had a local oscillator which > emitted several "in the clear" FM signals which could easily be > received by a nearby scanner. Some of the newer digital models may > share this in common. This isn't too uncommon for inexpensive consumer devices, although FCC Part 15 requirements for out-of-band (I'm assuming its not in-band) emmissions have gotten pretty tough lately. > That brings me to another question. Is there an easy, effective way > to connect an external antenna to these units? On the AT&T, the > antenna is connected to the TX where there are little carbon > resistors/inductors that makeup the combiner (so the same antenna can > be used for TX and RX). It would be good to be able to split this and > use two antennas outside. One for TX one for RX. Anyone have any > help on this? The FCC prohibits a pluggable antenna connection on Part 15.247/249 devices using commonly available connectors. An friend and I experimented with attaching an external antenna (6 dB gain vertical omni) to a Uniden EXP9100 (900 MHz, direct sequence SS). It was more difficult than expected, certainly not for someone without the proper RF skills and test gear, and the range increase was noticable but not spectacular. Steve Schear | Internet: azur@netcom.com Lamarr Labs | Voice: 1-702-658-2654 7075 West Gowan Road | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 Suite 2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #378 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Aug 2 01:14:24 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA21132; Fri, 2 Aug 1996 01:14:24 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 01:14:24 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608020514.BAA21132@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #379 TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Aug 96 01:14:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 379 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? (Robert McMillin) Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? (Chris Hall) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (grendel6@ix.netcom.com) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Tony Pelliccio) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (The Old Bear) Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (Greg Abbott) Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? (Richard W. Museums) Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN (Garrett Wollman) Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN (Ian Angus) Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Jim Wall) Re: Interesting Things in the French Dialing Plan (Jean-Bernard Condat) Re: Cable-TV Modems Standards? (Paul Rheaume) Help Needed Connecting LAN to Internet (100427.2776@compuserve.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rlm@netcom.com (Robert McMillin) Subject: Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? Reply-To: rlm@helen.surfcty.com Organization: Charlie Don't CERF Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 05:32:19 GMT On 30 Jul 1996 07:31:52 PDT, jpdalton@mindspring.com (Jim P. Dalton) said: > I read a lot of hype about long distance voice service over the > internet. Does anybody know if this technology is for real, or is it > just a gimmick for experienced hackers. Can the internet handle the > real time traffic of full duplex voice? I would say it can't. The problem here is Internet bandwidth shortage, present and future. Some net.wags quoted in a recent article in {Infoworld} said they expect significant brownouts of the Internet starting this fall. (Of course, last spring they said it was going to collapse in the summer, so who knows?) If everyone started using Internet telephony, the net would be clogged and even more useless than it sometimes gets now. However, there are other circumstances that lead me to think IPhone is an idea whose time may never really come: - Thanks to inadequate planning (or just plain explosive growth), some Net segments are already heavily clogged. That is, during daylight hours, they're effectively unusable for even low-bandwidth applications like e-mail and conventional HTTP (web) access. This pretty much eliminates those nodes as candidates for IPhone. - The number of these unusable segments is about to increase. Ironically, much of this will be due to the building of large-scale intranets. Business has paid for much of the Internet. If, instead of fixing the Internet, businesses route around it, there won't be much fiscal incentive to fix that medium's ongoing problems. - Unless the IPhone architecture changes substantially, it won't catch on. Women didn't much use the automobile until the Kettering starter ended the need for dangerous hand-cranks. I reckon the IPhone won't take off unless it has an interface more like a conventional telephone. - Finally, there is the conspiracy theory. Chew on the following syllogism for a moment: * Telephone companies operate large segments of the Internet. * IPhone and its kin are widely considered (rightly or wrongly) to pose a threat to telco voice revenues. * Telcos therefore have a NEGATIVE incentive to fix congestion problems on their segments of the Internet. In short, I don't see the Internet replacing conventional voice telephony any time soon. However, it does raise a very interesting question with respect to price/performance, one that the telcos haven't thought to ask. That is, how much signal degradation is the customer really willing to live with? And, if you could pay significantly less for worse reliability and poorer quality (fewer bps, dropped frames, phase errors, etc.), who would sign up and at what price? For a long time, digital telephone channels have only been available in perfectly synchronous 64Kbps increments. IPhone cuts into that bandwidth dramatically while potentially introducing all manner of errors and imperfections, yet there seems to be no end of potential buyers for that product. The telcos may want to think about this very hard while they figure out how to realign themselves in the face of "free" Internet phone calls. -- Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: Chris Hall Subject: Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 07:53:07 -0700 Organization: PSI Public Usenet Link Jim P. Dalton wrote: > I read a lot of hype about long distance voice service over the > internet. Does anybody know if this technology is for real, or is it > just a gimmick for experienced hackers. Can the internet handle the > real time traffic of full duplex voice? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I-Phone is a real thing. It helps to > have above average knowledge to make it work well and to your > advantage. I understand that now there are even 'I-phone numbers' > which are something like regular phone numbers. You indicate which > one you want to call and that person's computer makes a little > chirp or some other noise to let the owner know there is a call. > It still does not sound as good as a 'real' phone connection, but > for the price you pay to use it, how can you complain? PAT] There are several different software packages including Internet Phone and DigiVoice. Netscape 3.0 will include an internet phone capability. Intel has announce a standards initiative so different software packages can talk to one another. The packet technology of the Internet is a barrier to heavy real time full duplex telephony. However, it is not impossible. Several PBX manufacturers have been using packet switching technology for years, including Fujitsu and GTE. The real barrier is the Internet backbone. Heavy voice usage will drag response time down. The full potential of the Internet for voice will not been realized until ATM technology is fully deployed. Chris Hall hall-otm@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 01:10:48 GMT Organization: Netcom I always thought that they were an electronic "serial number" to help the feds prove illegal copying cases by being able to show that (for example) the 200 copies of Cutthroat Island in your local video store are all bootleg copies of a single licensed original. Bill ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: 1 Aug 1996 22:46:45 -0400 Organization: Anomaly In article , A.CHESIR wrote: > The tones on the VideoTapes are a way of preventing folks from making > illegal copies of the tapes. All recent VCRs are required to have > circuitry in them to detect the presence of the tones and disable any > record function during the play of the tape. Thanks Aaron -- those of us with even the slightest technical knowledge will now be able to defeat that copy protection scheme. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR As offensive as I wanna be. kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ From: oldbear@arctos.com (The Old Bear) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 03:45:17 GMT Organization: The Arctos Group - http://www.arctos.com/arctos M.S. Russell writes: > The other night I put a tape into my VCR (it was _Nixon_ by Oliver > Stone) and at the beginning of the tape there was probably a 1-2 > interval where I heard a faint, rapid string of what sounded like DTMF > tones. This was before the movie or previews had actually started, in > that "grey" area ... > I also recall hearing this before a few years back before regular > programs on TV. Can't be sure if it was regular antenna reception or > my cable company, so I don't know if that's a factor. I don't watch > much TV anymore so I haven't heard it while viewing lately. I am not sure what is happening on the rental tape, but I recall reading that the tones you were hearing a few years ago at the beginnings of commercials were being inserted for audit purposes. Advertisers pay to have their commecials run by the networks and by local stations, but sometimes there are schedule shifts or screw-ups and the advertiser needs to verify that his ad was actually run as contracted. Some service, like R H Donnelly, provides this audit function by monitoring various station/channel broadcasts. Other signalling schemes are used by radio broadcast networks to trigger the automatic insertion of local advertising at some unattended broadcast stations. Now, I may be totally off base with this (and given the internet, I will be duly corrected) because I am speaking from a vague recollection of an article I read somewhere or other several years ago. Cheers, The Old Bear ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 13:13:43 -0500 From: Greg Abbott Subject: Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? > I am wondering how secure the coding is in these 900Mhz cordless > phones. Tuning them in on a scanner produces nothing but the hash of > the digital carrier, but I wonder how hard it is to actually 'hear' > the conversation? Can people modfy the actual phones to do this? > Can a modem be used? Most of the 900Mhz cordless phones use spread spectrum technology which is very difficult to monitor. Like you said, all you hear on a scanner is the hash of the digital carrier. I suppose if someone really wanted to hear it they could modify a receiver and build up some sort of digital decoder, but with so many schemes and digital combinations out there, they would have their work cut out for them. I can't answer any of the technical questions because each manufacturer uses a slightly different scheme. I have a Uniden 900 Mhz cordless and love it. I live near a small lake and can go out and walk around the entire lake (about 3/4 of a mile at the furthest point from my home) and still have a good signal. I have dialed it up on my service monitor and watched the signal ... even with the $13,000 sophisticated service monitor, I was unable to make out any of the audio. On the spectrum analyzer the signal was about three times as wide as a normal radio signal. Hope this helps, again, sorry I can't answer the more technical questions. I too wonder if there is already an FAQ on this topic. Take care, Greg. GREG ABBOTT 99999 11 11 http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/gabbott 9-1-1 COORDINATOR 9 9 1 1 KB9NBH 99999 == 1 == 1 INTERNET: GABBOTT@uiuc.edu 9 1 1 COMPUSERVE: 76046,3107 METCAD 9 1 1 VOICE: 217/333-4348 1905 E. MAIN ST. 9 111 111 FAX: 217/384-7003 URBANA, IL 61801 PAGER: 800/222-6651 PIN #9541 ------------------------------ From: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) Subject: Re: How Secure Are 'Digital' Cordless Phones? Date: 01 Aug 1996 21:10:09 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) > A while back, someone posted to rec.radio.scanner that the Tropez (a > spread-spectrum phone, not digital) had a local oscillator which > emitted several "in the clear" FM signals which could easily be > received by a nearby scanner. Some of the newer digital models may > share this in common. What is spread spectrum exactly?? I own the new AT&T 9300 ... Richard W. Museums Sarfity Distributors, AT&T Wireless Master Distributor, NY, NJ, and CT. DBA Cellular Communications Connection ------------------------------ From: wollman@halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN Date: 01 Aug 1996 14:15:14 -0400 Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Tara D. Mahon wrote: > Those [traditional traffic models] are DEAD. Buried. According to > the Bellcore study, Internet calls have a mean holding time of 20 > minutes, and some percentage have the probability of lasting 12 > hours, 24 hours, or longer. Let's be a little more precise here, and try to avoid introducing more Internonsense into the question. These are NOT `Internet calls'. These are long-lasting modem calls from a home user, often using a proprietary protocol (although less so than historically), to a modem bank at a time-sharing service(*). The telephone network is a long way away from truly carrying Internet traffic as anything other than dedicated lines or a `hostile overlay', and a lot of people out there wouldn't trust telco for this purpose anyway. (But note that if they actually did so and were able to attain a significant market share, it would likely alleviate the problem noted in the quoted article.) Unfortunately, I suspect that the telcos will probably take far too long to get the message (particularly given their dogged adherence to their obsolete economic models), and will be quickly outstripped by newer technologies from other vendors, like two-way digital cable, multi-hop spread-spectrum packet radio, and satellite-delivered wireless services. The end result will be both expensive and harmful to telephone ratepayers, particularly as these other, more cost-effective connectivity options become more widely deployed and utilized. -GAWollman (*)The three large on-line services, and many small ISP pretenders, are really in the time-sharing business. Some of the newer services, like AT&T Worldnet and MSN, provide true Internet connections; the on-line services will probably move towards this model as well since it can dramatically lower their costs. (But at a price, since releasing users from proprietary time-sharing environments like AOL and CompuServe makes it much easier for those customers to jump ship to whichever service is faster/cheaper/easier this month.) Garrett A. Wollman wollman@lcs.mit.edu ------------------------------ From: Ian Angus Subject: Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 10:57:38 -0400 Organization: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: ianangus@angustel.ca Michael Dillon wrote: > BC-Tel had an incident where 911 service was unavailable due to all > trunks being in use by an ISP. Neither BC-Tel nor Bell Canada will > supply Centrex service to ISP's for this reason. That's true of BC Tel, but not Bell Canada. BC Tel's Centrex tariff defines the traffic level provided on Centrex, giving them grounds to deny the service to ISPs. Bell Canada does not have such a provision, and so has been providing Centrex to ISPs for some time. This has caused traffic problems, and led to a major, very well-publicized dispute between the ISPs and Bell Canada, which is documented on our website -- http://www.angustel.ca That disoute has been simmering for several months. Last week, an article in the {Toronto Star} said that Bell Canada is about to file a new tariff for ISPs which would exdplicitly permit them to continue using Centrex lines at the rates they are now paying. IAN ANGUS ianangus@angustel.ca Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca 8 Old Kingston Road tel: 905-686-5050 ext 222 Ajax ON L1T 2Z7 Canada fax: 905-686-2655 ------------------------------ From: Jim Wall Subject: Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Summer 1996) Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 17:11:38 -0700 Organization: SoloPoint, Inc. Ronda Hauben wrote: > The article "What Made Bell Labs Great" by T. A. Heppenheimer in the > Summer 1996 "American Heritage of Invention & Technology" is a helpful > discussion of the significant achievement represented by Bell Labs and > what has been lost with the break up of AT&T with regard to the Labs. > I recommend the article and wonder why there haven't been more like > it looking at the enormous achievements of Bell Labs and analyzing > the impact that the breakup of AT&T would have on the continuing > ability to support such an important research and scientific resource. Remember that while Bell Labs was leading the pack, there were others working on the same things, most notably the big universities. What is very difficult to answer is if ATT realized any net profit from the inventions of Bell Labs. Pure R&D labs are a direct loss to a companies bottom line. If other parts of the company use the technology arising from the lab then you need to determine to what extent the profit from that group is incresed from the use of the new technology. I think it is fairly easy to say that ATT made a net profit *in certain years* from Bell Labs but I would guess that overall they did not. Other large companies have pure R&D facilities (IBM comes immediately to mind) but they have all cut them down in this time of profit oriented results. What seems to be taking the place of internal R&D efforts is corporate funded research at public universities. They get a tax write off and first access to any discoveries. So I think the research is still being done, just in a different way. Jim ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 09:45:15 +0100 From: Jean-Bernard Condat Subject: Re: Interesting Things in the French Dialing Plan In the first days of life, all babies discover that they possess arms, feet, a head ... I like to look at my little son discovering that he is a real person. In the same words, I found it very exciting to read Eric Tholome' email in TELECOM Digest V16 #366. Like a baby, he discover the power of the numbering plan in the France Telecom' strategy. Great. Since January 1st, 1996, the new phone number of the French electronic directory is 3611. In hundreds of newspapers, reviews and journals, you can read the change. One Tholome's bill, too. All two months, Tholome receive a France Telecom Newsletter with all the new decreasing phone prices. But, Tholome (like my portuguese fille-au-pair) don't read this newsletter. France telecom note that only 0.2% read other things than the "general amount due." Great. If France Telecom maintain the old French electronic directory available on the "11" (automatically transformed in "3611" by the first FT's public PBX), it's only for people like Tholome and my fille-au-pair. Tholome don't read that on Itineris mobile phone, the unique emergency phone number (with CallerId option) is the 112 ... and that for 20 months. When you see an accident in the street, you can freely dial 112 on your mobile phone keyboard: it's a priority phone call on the local mobile cell. The system recognize the phone owner and transmit on the nearest local police desk with the complete identity of the owner (regular address/home phone number/activity). One time, I was agressed by a 16-years teenager that stole my Cartier' glasses. Surprised, I only dial 112 and will have had no words again my rubber. Less than one minute after, the police found me and help me very efficiently. Great. "112 cannot be introducted before October" concluded Tholome. False. October 18 at 11pm, 112 will be available on both mobile and regular phone. In the same time, 11 will be remplace by 3611. But Tholome don't have read the last FT' Newsletter like my swedish fille-au-pair. In some days, Tholome can try again and found the solution to another dilemn: if he dial 7 before dialing 11 on an Itineris, he can have another service called "SVP Itineris" that permit to have a consultant which can answer to all possible questions: taxi reservations, pizza ordering services, air fly serices. My fille-au-pair like to dial 711 on my Itineris. Bad service. Best solution to Tholome: to wait for the special day (Oct. 18th). Today: D-84. References (for expert telecom readers): * France Telecom (humor)' Web: http://www.francetelecom.fr; * Itineris (FT's GSM): http://www.itineris.tm.fr; * Transpac (FT's data): http://www.rain.fr/; * French electronic directory: http://www.epita.fr:5000/11/. * Deutsche Telekom/FT/Sprint: http://www.Global-Net.net; * The only FT's Internet public offer: http://www.wanadoo.fr/; * The official Groupe FT's ISP: http://www.vtcom.fr. Jean-bernard Condat, Senior Consultant, Smart Card Business Unit Informix, La Grande Arche, 92044 La Defense Cedex, France Phone: +33 1 46963769, fax: +33 1 46963765, portable: +33 07238628 ------------------------------ From: paul_rheaume@newbridge.com (Paul Rheaume) Subject: Re: Cable-TV Modems Standards? Date: 02 Aug 1996 00:51:04 GMT Organization: West End Systems Corp. In article , jfmezei@videotron.ca says: > Videotron has previously developped its own proprietary "smart TV" > devices (called VIDEOWAY) and its own proprietary credit-card readers > in its vision of the "information superhighway" before it woke up to > the internet. > The question: > Are cable-TV modems industry standard, or does each cable-TV company > more or less develops their own proprietary models? Cable modems are a very new developing technology and at this point each cable modem manufacturer pretty well develop their own proprietary models, although it is pretty likely that 64 QAM will become the downstream standard. As for upstream, anything goes. Paul Rheaume, Software Designer West End Systems Corp. http://www.westendsys.com ------------------------------ Date: 01 Aug 96 03:45:48 EDT From: James <100427.2276@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Help Needed Connecting LAN to Internet Dear sirs, I would like to get my company small LAN (60 computers) connected to internet using an ISDN US Robotics modem at a speed of 128 Kbps instead of 64 kbps. The company is located in Paris, France, so we are using European standards. Is there anybody who has tried to do so that can help me understand if I have to use routers also; and if I do have to have windows 95 as a driver for my server which currently runs windows 3.1. Is the setup procedure complex? Any help would be appreciated. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #379 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Aug 2 02:20:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id CAA25900; Fri, 2 Aug 1996 02:20:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 02:20:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608020620.CAA25900@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #380 TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Aug 96 02:20:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 380 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A Short History of 911 Service (Al Varney) Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Bob Hogue) Re: Sidetone/Echo on Cellular (Rupert Goodings) Re: Free Fridays From Sprint (Keith W. Brown) Re: T1 (Free Run, M24, Integrated Access) Timing Problems (Bruce Bartram) Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LECs? (Jim Hebbeln) Re: Cordless for a Rolm PBX (Mike Seebeck) Re: Interesting AT&T Pricing (James E. Bellaire) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: news@ssbunews.ih.lucent.com Subject: A Short History of 911 Service Date: 01 Aug 1996 15:11:16 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies In article , Paul Robinson wrote: > CNN reported that just before the bomb exploded someone called 911 to > report it. I believe the term was erroneous, but the reporter said > that Atlanta has "Enhanced 911" which returns the telephone number of > the caller. > It is my understanding that 911 normally returns the caller's tele- > phone number and "Enhanced 911" refers to an additional service that > returns additional information such as address, how often that par- > ticular number has called and special information about that place > which can be added by dispatchers. If I am not correct on this point, > would someone please post a note here in the Digest. Short answer -- "Un-enhanced" 911 may (but often doesn't) deliver caller's telephone number. Enhanced 911 (E911) delivers caller's telephone number, and typically provides automated access to additional information based on that number. But the key distinction of E911 is neither of these attributes; the major advantage E911 offers is automated routing of 911 calls to the correct agencies, based on the political boundaries of the calling telephone. (The routing information is contained in a TELCo switch database, and does NOT depend on access to the additional customer information.) So CNN is correct when they say E911 returns the caller's number. But it does a lot more as well ... Brief history of 911 -- A key point to keep in mind is that 911 is a service offered to public agencies. They (not the telephone company) have to fund the answering points, staff them and operated them. But a single-number system requires that the agencies cooperate to accomplish this task -- typically, lack of cooperation is the MAJOR hurdle blocking the use of E911. November 1967, FCC & AT&T discuss a means for establishing a universal emergency number (with quick implementation). A major motive was the increasing use of "dial-0" for emergencies, forcing operators to handle emergency service routing and delaying the response. January 1968, AT&T announces "911" as the universal number. (Congress passed a law requiring any municipality to use only 911 when offering a "single number" for emergency calls.) 1968-1974, AT&T and other TELCos modify switching equipment to handle routing of 911 calls to a single answering switch-board, run by a designated emergency services agency. The switching equipment would permit the switchboard to "hold up" the trunk connection to the calling line, and in many cases would allow "ring-back" of the calling line if the caller disconnected. Calling number may or may not be delivered. (This is typically called "Basic 911" service.) Large numbers of coin phones were modified to permit 911 calls without coin deposit. 1974, Philadelphia trial of an interim E911 system. 1976, 50 million customers have 911 service of some form. 1978, Alameda County, CA trial of final E911 system. 1980, E911 available on ESS-based tandem switches. This permits routing 911 calls to a selected Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) on a per-calling-line basis, ANI delivery to the PSAP, automated query of an Automatic Location Identification (ALI) database for name/address and other information and per-calling-line routing for PSAP transfer. (This latter mechanism essentially allows the PSAP dispatcher to push a button marked "FIRE", and the system will transfer/three-way to call to the calling-line's fire department.) There are two databases involved -- the E911 tandem contains a routing database for PSAP routing and transfers, and the ALI database retrieves name/address information. The ALI database may be located elsewhere, even in another state; it is not essential to any call routing. 1981, National Emergency Number Association formed to foster public awareness and "education" about 911. Primary membership is emergency management professionals (state, city, county, etc.). 1987, about 1100 Basic 911 and 160 Enhanced 911 systems in service. Note that the E911 described here is an AT&T development/system. There are competing systems (also using the term "enhanced) that use non-switching equipment to accomplish the same objectives. Again, inter-agency funding and control is a major problem with many 911 systems. E911 attempts to partially solve this problem by routing calls to a per-line PSAP. The fire/police/ambulance/hospital/poison agencies serving that line have to agree on how that PSAP functions. But at least E911 doesn't force every police/fire agency covered by a given switch to agree on a central PSAP. Al Varney [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Al, I really appreciated your history of 911. A couple things that come to mind I would categorize as the 'politics of 911'. In some communities such as Chicago, the Fire Dep- artment jealously guarded their own turf, and there was resentment at the idea of having to get their calls handed to them by a police dispatcher. For quite a long time after 911 went into effect here in Chicago, the Fire Department continued to maintain FIre-7-1313 which they eventually began promoting as DEArborn-2-1313 which was the translated number those calls went to anyway. Then there were instances of several (or maybe just two or three) very small suburban communities which all shared the same phone exchange, and at least in the early days of 911 there was no way to identify and separate the callers in one community from the callers in a nearby town on the same phone exchange. Even though the Illinois state legislature passed a law many years ago which required 911 service 'as soon as technically practical' in every community in Illinois, a number of the small villages squabbled among themselves over *who* was going to handle 911. None of the small villages and towns liked the idea of the town next to them handling *their* emergency calls. The thinking seemed to be that the community operating the 911 lines (for all the communities on any given phone exchange) would be likely to give priority to their own matters first or somehow slight the others. Without ever saying so publicly, the thinking was that if something went right, *your* bureaucracy gets the credit while if something goes wrong *my* bureaucracy catches hell ... And of course there were the privacy-addicts who complained that their days of being able to talk with the police anonymously about their 'concerns' (as often as not, bald face lies about other people in their neighborhood) had ended. ("You mean from now on I'll be held to account for what I tell the police ... they'll know how to contact me to force me to testify, etc? ..."). This was promptly resolved in the same legislative action establishing 911; the rule was any community offering 911 service also had to maintain an administrative seven digit number for the police, etc. The new Emergency Communications Center in Chicago has absolutely the latest technology with extremely accurate and precise data bases on line including not only blown up maps of every block on every street, but in many instances diagrams of the buildings along that street, etc. It is an incredible operation. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bob@cis.ysu.edu (Bob Hogue) Subject: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 2 Aug 1996 04:45:56 GMT Organization: Youngstown State University--Computer and Information Sciences It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. It seems to me that the following benefits would result: 1. No change in current area code. 2. Easy to create eight-digit from current seven-digit; either repeat first digit or last digit. Current 555-2368 would become 5555-2368 or would become 5552-3688. (Not my idea, though I wish it were. I have seen these ideas in recent postings.) 3. Each current area code would have either eight times as many numbers (I'm assuming that 1 and 0 could not be used for leading digits) or ten times as many (if the last digit is repeated.) 4. The current crazy quilt of area codes could at least be kept as is, without making the quilt even crazier by adding more and more area codes. 5. Financial: Any time that a current area code changes, individuals and businesses must go through a process of notifying their friends/clients of the new area code, changing letterhead and business cards, etc. It seems to me that going to an eight-digit number would make such changes less likely in the future, since spltting an area code doubles the possible numbers, while going to eight-digit numbers increases the available numbers by a factor of eight or ten. What I don't know is what the real experts, many of whom likely read the postings on this group, feel about the possible roadblocks to such a plan: 1. Technical: How difficult/expensive would it be to convert seven-digit numbers to eight-digit? 2. Political/Social: How much opposition would there be to moving away from a phone number scheme that USA residents (probably all of North America, for that matter) have used and become accustomed to for many years? Well anyway, just some thoughts from a person who has long been interested in phone number and area code schemes. I am not an expert by any means, but I toss these questions out to the group readership and will invite comments and discussion from all interested readers. Bob Hogue Computer Science & Information Systems Internet: bob@cis.ysu.edu Youngstown State University Phone: 330-742-1775 Youngstown, OH 44555 ------------------------------ From: Rupert Goodings Subject: Re: Sidetone/Echo on Cellular Date: Thu, 01 Aug 96 22:16:58 GMT Organization: Ecotel Limited Reply-To: rlag@ecotel.demon.co.uk In article schuster@panix.com "Michael Schuster" writes: > The response I read was that sidetone is entirely controlled by the > cellular tower, and excessive delay cannot be caused by the cellphone. Here's my understanding of echo ... a bit technical but what the heck ... 1. Annoying echo is function of delay and relative amplitude. The longer the delay the lower the amplitude needs to be for it to be acceptable. 2. Sidetone is the acceptable face of echo. Typically about -10dB with zero delay. 3. Digital cellular introduces more delay (100's msec) due to speech coding and therefore any echo needs to be at a lower level than analogue cellular to be acceptable. 4. The echo you hear is usually a function of the *far-end* echo reduced by any echo cancellation in the network. 5. So echo is affected by the handset - but *your* echo is affected by the other persons handset - not by your handset! 6. The network echo cancellors are usually only enabled for certain routes ('cos they are expensive components). 7. The networks are still learning on echo control so expect to see gradual improvements. Till then, if you're a calling another cell-phone try asking the person you are calling to turn down their handset volume since the echo may be originating from their handset. 8. If you're calling a landline there is nothing you can do since the echo probably originates from their two-wire to four-wire hybrid. Regards, Rupert Goodings (aka Ecotel Ltd) rlag@ecotel.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ From: Keith W. Brown Subject: Re: Free Fridays from Sprint Date: 1 Aug 1996 15:18:34 GMT Organization: AllCom International William Pfeiffer wrote in article : > Michael.R.West@sam.usace.army.mil wrote: >> Happened to notice a Sprint commercial promoting "Free Fridays" > My small business has been using Free Fridays since March of 96 and > other than one Friday, when the Spring network was down, and I had to > use AT&T, I have sen no problems with the service. And Spring > credited me with the calls on that Friday (after some argument). > You *do* have to be a business, meaning registered with your state as > a business, but other than that I have seen no problems. Of course > non-Friday calls are .16 a minute, day and night, but that is OK too > because while the night rate is slightly higher than the best rate you > can get, the day rate of .16 is about a dime chaper than standard day > (read: business hours) rates. So I use my residential phone for night > calls (when I am home anyway) and the business phone for day calls. William, As Artie Johnson used to say ..."verrry interesting". How about this using this tactic for really getting calls on Friday Free with Sprint? Sign up with an alternate Carrier as a (NO PIC), and use a five digit access code (10xxx) Monday - Thursday for your day calls at a cost of $0.129 or less per minute and save even more! Unless Sprint specifi- cally forbids you from using an alternate carrier in their contract, what have you got to lose? Keith W. Brown URL: http://www.callcom.com E-mail: newsinfo@callcom.com ------------------------------ From: bwb@mickey.etl.noaa.gov (Bruce Bartram 303-497-6217) Subject: Re: T1 (Free Run, M24, Integrated Access) Timing Problems/Issues Date: 01 Aug 1996 19:48:53 GMT Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder AGE (Adam.Enfield@teldta.com) wrote: > Most Ts slip (catastrophic to a data link -- too many CRCs). Some run > fine. Those that slip, we terminate on a DSU (as PT-PT) or have found it > necessary to place them on their own dedicated "box." Howdy, Your story reminded me of my first few weeks of a new T1 (my first). I had checked everything many, many times and was feeling quite lost. The T1 checked good via the CSU/DSU controls, telco test showed good, but I had huge error rates and lots of missing packets from router to router (cisco 2509 to 2511, but I don't think that mattered). Big packets had at 25% chance of making it, little packets made it about 90% of the time. When the telco tech came out, he asked me "which end is timing master?" A few minutes later when I got back up off the ground, I asked "Doesn't the telco provide clock on T1s ?" He said that one end should be clock/timing source and the other should be slave, unless there was some unusual arrangement. I flipped the bit in one CSU/DSU and had the other run slave. The link has been solid ever since. Still feeling very naive, I called a telco engineer that had been involved with the protracted installation and she hooked me to a timing and synch guru in the network and switching side. He explained that the higher level muxes (FT3 in this case) have the ability to handle customer timing on a T1 so long as you stay +/- 50 bits/sec from nominal. He said one end needs to be master when a T1 data line is carrier by these newer higher level muxes. The other end should be slave. If your CSU/DSU clock switch is wrong, it won't break anything. I think the mux runs your bits through at it's rate and occasionally can send a message with a extra bit or can tell the other end that there is a slot that needs to be dropped (if slow). The far end runs a VCO to smooth the stream sent to the customer and the telco gets out of the frequency standards business. This allows the customer timing to run thru the mux. I think that this is really nice for PBX customers. On other facilities, the telco must provide the clock so that their mux or carrier never has to handle any extra or too few bits. This means the customer should have the CSU/DSUs set as slave/slave. If you run slave/slave with new mux when you should be master/slave, your CSUs can gallop arround the available frequency space and will hit the limits of the higher mux. Longer packets (ping 1500 bytes fails more than ping 10 bytes) have a bigger chance of getting nailed, since the odds of the packet being there when a limit hits goes with packet size. When the telco or DSU/CSU tests the line, the timing sources are changed, so the line runs fine. Even if your T1 link is an old one, the telco could have changed the connection in between and could have changed the timing rules. (By the way, my telco is US West. It took eight months to get a 17 mile T1, even after they said the facilites were available. I'm not a happy US West customer, but have had great service from many of the techs and technical employees.) Bruce Bartram bbartram@etl.noaa.gov NOAA US Dept of Commerce Boulder, CO ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 03:37:54 GMT From: Jim Hebbeln Organization: Colorado State University - Telecommunications Subject: Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LECs? Last week, I was amazed to see my father-in-law's phone number AND NAME appear on our Caller ID! They live in Austin, Arkansas, (501-843) which has a population of 500 -- but I'm pretty sure they're served from a GTE LEC host central office in Cabot (pop 8000?). I'm in Fort Collins, Colorado, (970-224) and served by a U S West 1AESS -- still. :( Perhaps what makes my amazement more interesting is that I implemented SS7 and CLASS switch translations (database) in 1AESS and 5ESS in 1992 when I still worked at U S West. It's not so much that the technology exists, but that the LEC's and IC's even *agree* to carry this Calling Name messaging traffic for each other! A friend of mine who works in the U S West switch databases says they are. Holloman@cris.com asked if the name's data base (the Line Information DataBase, LIDB) is actually queried from the terminating central office (CO) that serves the CallerID customer -- separate from the call setup. Yes, that is true. Here's a brief explanation (alphabet soup included): The call circuits (trunks) are set up using the SS7 Integrated Services Users Part (ISUP) signalling protocol which is a suite of messages sent between CO switches. A call setup message, called an Initial Address Message (IAM), is sent (via a network of specialized, dedicated data packet switches called Signal Transfer Points (STP)) from the calling CO to the CO at the other end of the trunk. Multiple trunks connected in tandem (end-to-end) repeat this process for each trunk used. The IAM contains the following fields of information: - the Originating Point Code of the originating CO selecting a trunk, - the Terminating Point Code of the CO at the other end of the trunk, - the Circuit ID number of the unique trunk between the above Point Code COs, - the Called Number, - the Calling Number, - a Presentation Indicator (when "on", blocks your number from displaying), - the Bearer Capability details (Speech, vs. 56K or 64K bps Circuit-Switched data), - and miscellaneous ad nauseum details - often not used. When the IAM arrives at the CO that serves the called number, that CO returns an Address Complete message (ACM) back through the built-up string of CO's, and the circuits are actually connected together "backwards" from the called CO to the calling CO as the ACM message is passed back to the calling CO. When the call is answered an Answer message (ANM) is returned. Disconnect, Release, and Release Complete messages disconnect the trunks. Calls to busy numbers don't return an ACM. Instead, they return a Release Complete message which includes a Cause Code of Subscriber Busy. All trunks are released, and the originating CO gives the caller a busy signal. This leaves trunks available for talking and ringing calls. (The ringing sound the caller hears comes from the terminating CO through the built-up trunk connections.) If the called number subscribes to CallerID with Name, the *terminating* CO fires off a SS7 Transaction Capability (TCAP) message (versus ISUP which set up the connections) into the STP network(s) which routes the query message to a LIDB to get the called number translated to a name (up to 15 characters). This occurs while the called phone gets its first ring. The round trip query/response messaging to/from the LIDB takes roughly 400-700 milliseconds, and is available to be sent to the CallerID box by the end of the first ring (by essentially a 1200bps 202T modem signal). In 1991, U S West market trialed CallerID with Name in a Nortel (Northern Telecom) DMS-100 central office in the North Dakota (Bismark?, Grand Forks?). The responses overwhelmingly indicated that CallerID with Name would sell twice as well as number only. U S West held back CLASS/CallerID deployment about six to nine months until AT&T and Nortel could write the program code to do it as described above. It appears that U S West has done at least one thing correctly. They should now do "market trials" on the value of having enough qualified people to do the work without packing the employees they do have into huge, de-humanized, Service Assurance Centers (oxymoron) that watch over 700 central offices in several states. Who cares about anything in that kind of environment? My friends down there are really discouraged at U S West's re-engineering "efforts" to position the LEC to compete efficiently. I was recruited out of that environment. Now I have "my own" central office -- complete with proprietary pride. Jim Hebbeln, Telecommunications Specialist Voice:970-491-1014 Telecommunications Department Fax: 970-491-2179 E-100 Glover Building 10,000-line Nortel MSL-100 PBX Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523-2009 Email:JHebbeln@Lamar.ColoState.edu ------------------------------ From: seebeck@lace.colorado.edu (Mike Seebeck) Subject: Re: Cordless for a Rolm PBX Date: 01 Aug 1996 19:20:45 GMT Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder Roger Jennings (rjennings@fibermux.com) wrote: > Anyone know of a digital cordless phone that can directly connect to a > Rolm digital line? Or second best a device that allow me to connect a > standard analog phone to the Rolm line. Uniden is advertising cordless telephones which work with propriatary digital PBX lines. These apparently Y off the digital line. I have not tested one yet but have asked for a evaluation unit. They are 900 MHz. Cost is about $320. Why not just run an analog line from your PBX to your desk on a spare pair in your telephone four pair? The Rolm phone only uses one pair of the wires. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 13:34:42 -0500 From: James E Bellaire Subject: Re: Interesting AT&T Pricing Carlen Hoppe wrote about the deals available from AT&T for terminating your T1 direct. Here's a key passage, presented here for the web impaired. Clipped from http://www.att.com/business/global/t1/access.html > "AT&T T1.5 Access Arrangements" > AT&T Access Value Arrangement, Option 1 (AVA) > Save up to 50% on your monthly T1.5 local channel rate. Simply > sign a term plan and use 20 of the 24 channels for your normal > T1.5 calls. AT&T uses the four remaining channels to carry all > terminating AT&T switched calls from the AT&T network directly > to your premises. [SNIP] > AT&T Terminating Switched Access Arrangement (TSAA) > If an average of 25,000 minutes per month or more of AT&T > switched calls terminate at your location, AT&T may contract with > you to complete those calls on your own T1.5. You are > compensated on a per-minute basis and receive a check every > month. Pat noted: > Its nice to see AT&T is now discussing this openly with subscribers > since they have been doing it where sex phone services have been > concerned for a few years now. Yep. A deal too true to be good. All you need is 25,000 minutes a month of incoming AT&T calls (834 min a day spread over the 24 lines, or about 90 seconds an hour on each line). That is not a bad minimum. Note that there is no mention of ORIGINATING calls. But then their target customers don't call out much, do they. :) James ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #380 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Aug 5 21:48:06 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA24493; Mon, 5 Aug 1996 21:48:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 21:48:06 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608060148.VAA24493@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #381 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Aug 96 21:04:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 381 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson California Area Codes 415, 916 Split; Overlays in Future (Linc Madison) California PUC Says 'One Area, One Area Code' (The Old Bear) California PUC Votes for Overlays (Tad Cook) Pac Bell Disappointed in CPUC Decision (Tad Cook) New Internet Registry (.WEB Domain) (Christopher Ambler) What's Happening With Private Line? (Tom Farley) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: California Area Codes 415, 916 Split; Overlays in Future Date: Sun, 04 Aug 1996 03:02:54 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications Well, I did my part to support the newsprint industry today. The {San Francisco Chronic-Ill}, the {San Francisco Exaggerator}, and the {San Jose Murky-Snooze} (also known as the Chronicle, Examiner, and Mercury News) all ran stories today on the outcome of some recent CPUC meetings on area code relief. See the bottom for URLs to the web versions (sans maps). All the articles appeared in the Saturday, August 3, 1996, editions. The final boundary for the 415 split will leave all of Marin County, all but a tiny portion of San Francisco (the portion south of I-280 and west of Liebig Street), and a small portion of northern San Mateo County (almost all of Brisbane and about the eastern third of Daly City, mostly the bulk of San Bruno Mountain State Park) will retain 415. The remainder of San Mateo County plus the northeastern corner of Santa Clara County (Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos) will get the as-yet-unannounced new area code, possibly as early as August 1997. The boundary for the 916 split will leave Sacramento County, West Sac'to, Loomis, Rocklin, and Roseville in 916, while splitting the area including such places as Redding, Chico, Yuba City, Davis, and Lake Tahoe into an as-yet-unannounced new area code. The new 916 will still border 209 to the south and may have a small border with 707 and/or 510 to the southwest. The new area code will border 707, 916, 760, 541, 209, and 702, although the last two are due for splits soon as well. The 916 split is expected in November 1997. The big news, though, is on the subject of overlays. The CPUC has to date been very negative on the idea, but strikingly reversed itself Friday by a 4-1 vote. It tied overlays to local number portability, but stated that as soon as portability is possible, overlays will be the preferred method of area code relief for California. Mandatory 10- or 11-digit dialing (the articles weren't clear on what happens to the leading '1') would come with overlays. The Murky-Snooze speculates that 408 might be the first overlay in California, since it will be due for relief in 1998. [Given the level of sophistication of Silicon Valley, it would probably be a good test bed for trying out overlays before using them in other parts of the state, but don't forget that 408 also includes areas as far south as Monterey.] The most fatuous comment on overlays came from TURN's Regina Costa, who said, "Customers have a right to know where they are calling, and when they are being charged by the minute for service. Think how confusing it will be to no longer be able to locate a number by dialing the area code." Well, Regina, I'm sure it will reassure you to be able to tell by the area code which half-block of downtown Los Angeles you're calling. Splitting 213 any further than it has already been split makes no sense whatever, and the same will soon be true of other California area codes. Furthermore, if you are in San Jose and dial a seven-digit number, it could be an inter- LATA long distance call to Monterey or an intra-LATA toll call to Santa Cruz. Overlaying doesn't increase this level of confusion, it merely leaves it at the status quo. Not only that, but splits can often *create* confusion about what calls are local or toll -- I have countless times had great trouble convincing skeptical non-techies that downtown Oakland to downtown San Francisco is a local call, even though you dial 11 digits. The Murky-Snooze also included a teaser for an article that will appear in the Tuesday, August 6th edition: "When AT&T devised the area-code system in 1947, it never predicted the crisis it faces today. In Science & Technology" S.F. Chronicle article S.J. Mercury News article NOTE: this URL may need to be modified by changing the "today" directory to point to August 3. Note also that both SFGate (Chronicle/Examiner) and the Mercury Center are making noises about possibly discontinuing free access to some or all sections of their websites. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Aug 1996 20:07:44 -0300 From: The Old Bear Subject: California PUC Says 'One Area, One Area Code' UTILITIES COMMISSION SAYS: ONE AREA, ONE AREA CODE Pacific Bell, the principal unit of the Pacific Telesis telephone group, failed to get permission from the California Public Utilities Commission to overlay new area codes in a geographical area on top of existing ones to meet the burgeoning demand for new numbers caused by dramatically rising numbers of fax machines, cellular phones, and pagers. PacBell rivals such as AT&T and MCI said that overlays are anti-competitive, and the Commission decided to continue dividing up over-crowded area codes into new areas and forcing some customers to change their three-digit codes. source: Los Angeles Times August 3, 1996 via edupage The Arctos Group [Information Strategies for the Real Estate Industry] Post Office Box 329 - Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02167-0003 USA tel: 617.342.7411 - fax: 617.232.0025 - email: arctos@arctos.com visit our WWW site at URL: http://www.arctos.com/arctos ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: California PUC Votes for Overlays Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 22:00:13 PDT End of era for area codes The PUC votes in favor of different ones in the same geographical region By Howard Bryant Mercury News Staff Writer Get ready for big changes in the way you make telephone calls in California. Responding to a severe area code crunch, the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday voted to toss out a half-century-old method for deploying the state's area codes, beginning what is widely viewed as the eventual end of area codes based on unique geographies. The PUC voted 4-1 to favor area code "overlays," a controversial process in which new codes are placed over existing areas. The result is that two or more area codes can exist in the same geographical area, and that next-door neighbors -- or even a second line within a home -- could have different area codes. The PUC also ruled that as an overlay is adopted, with it must also come mandatory "10-digit dialing," meaning that customers must dial an area code plus seven-digit phone number for all calls -- even for calls within the same area code. However, none of Friday's provisions can take effect until a technology called "permanent number portability" is available, which will allow customers to take their phones numbers with them as they move. That isn't expected until at least the end of next year, said John Gueldner, Pacific Bell's vice president for regulation. That means the 408 area, which is expected to fill up by the first quarter of 1999, could be one of the first regions to get an overlay. Overlays will replace "geographic splits," the traditional method of creating a new area code by slicing off a portion of the old area code that's filling up. That's what happened, for example, in 1992 when the East Bay broke was cleaved from the 415 area code to become 510. Geographic splits have been the standard for adding new codes since the system was first created in 1947. A reaction to an explosion With Friday's decision, the commission is reacting to a worsening area code crisis that is a byproduct of the explosion in high-tech communications devices -- cellular phones, pagers, computer modems, faxes and the like. As these devices have become more popular, the state's number combinations are disappearing at blurring pace. It's so bad that the 310, 415 and 619 area codes are in danger of running out of numbers before new area codes can be put in place, according to Bruce Bennett, California's area code administrator. "What are we supposed to do?" said Gueldner. "Everyone in California seems intent on having five telephone lines in their house." While Pac Bell has favored overlays, executives said they were disappointed because the ruling doesn't allow them to move fast enough. Both consumer groups and state regulators had long opposed overlays, fearing they would give an unfair advantage to the dominant telephone company -- Pacific Bell in California -- as the state opens up its $6 billion local telephone market. The fear was that consumers wouldn't want service from new providers if, because of overlays, they had to get new area codes and phone numbers in the process. But the trouble is, it's getting harder to carve out new geographic codes, especially in areas like Los Angeles, which have been split several times already. On Friday, Commissioner Josiah Neeper reversed course, hailing overlays as "a bold step for Californians." Dick Severy, director of public policy for MCI's Pacific region, said the commission's move to tie overlays to number portability and ten-digit dialing addresses concerns of anti-competitiveness. "Our real concern now is that Pac Bell doesn't somehow undermine the push to it," he said. Critics say move premature Overlay critics say it's premature to push ahead at a time of such rapid change. Commissioner Henry Duque, the lone dissenter, suggested the PUC wait until consumers had time to comment on the measures. Others didn't see why the PUC had to adopt its measure at all. "It's not a disastrous result," said Helen Mickiewicz, attorney for the PUC's Division of Ratepayer Advocates, "just unnecessary." Regina Costa, telecommunications analyst for TURN, a San Francisco- based advocacy group, says that overlays and ten-digit dialing will further confuse consumers about which calls are toll calls. "Customers have a right to know where they are calling, and when they are being charged by the minute for service. Think how confusing it will be to no longer be able to locate a number by dialing the area code." Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action in San Francisco, said a better solution than overlays would be to institute one last mass round of geographic splits. That would take care of new code needs for many years, and allow time to study the best way to implement overlays and stem confusion. "People are very much used to geographic splits," he said. With a last round of geographic splits, "everyone is affected at once (and) no community can say they're being forced to change when others aren't." FCC also looking at problem The commission's action comes at a time when the Federal Communications Commission is in the process of setting national guidelines for dealing with the area code problem. But Bennett, California's area code administrator, said he thought the PUC plan will meet with FCC approval. Despite the ruling Friday, adopting overlays as the preferred method of adding area codes doesn't immediately solve the problem of needing more area codes. Numbers are still running out at the same rate, and despite an overall adequate supply of codes, they must still be deployed quickly if number shortages are to be avoided. ----------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to several other readers who scanned in this same article and sent it along or sent it from the newspaper's web page. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Pac Bell Disappointed in CPUC Decision Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 22:16:10 PDT This article reads a bit different from the one I just posted. I thought that CPUC approved instead of disapproved area code overlays, but I guess this one says that Pac Bell doesn't like some of the terms of the decision. Tad Cook tad@ssc.com Pacific Bell Disappointed About CPUC Decision On Area Code Overlays SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 1996--Pacific Bell said today that it was disappointed with today's decision of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) because it did not approve the use of area code overlays in California. Pacific Bell continues to support area code overlays as a viable alternative to the traditional splitting of area codes geographically. `Unfortunately, we regret the outcome of today's Commission action on area code overlays. It prevents us from applying the overlay solution anywhere until we can secure approval of the CPUC,` said John A. Gueldner, Pacific Bell's Vice President, Regulatory. With an overlay, customers would not be forced to change their phone number, and businesses would not be burdened with the high expense of changing business cards, stationery, signs and advertising. In its order, the Commission said area code splits are required until `number portability` is introduced (in 1998 or 1999 in most areas of California). Then, Pacific Bell must petition the CPUC for permission to use an overlay. Number portability would allow customers to keep the same phone number regardless of the phone company that provides their local service. Right now the number of available phone numbers in areas such as 310, 619, 510, and 714 is critically low, so low in fact that we are concerned we may run out of numbers before a geographical split can be implemented, Gueldner added. Telephone companies can introduce an overlay in far less time than a geographical split. However, we understand that the Commission's order precludes using overlays without further approval by the CPUC. The Commission's decision still leaves open the door to considerable local dispute on what to do when an area code runs out of numbers. In instances of splits, it is likely to result in numerous complaints because affected cities will not like the way a geographical line is drawn or may insist upon the other side of a split getting the new area code, Gueldner said. CONTACT: Pacific Bell Dick Fitzmaurice, 415/394-3764 (Bay Area) Linda Bonniksen, 213/975-5061 (Los Angeles) David Dickstein, 213/975-4074 (Los Angeles) John Britton, 619/972-2811 (San Diego/Orange County) Bonnie Ward, 916/972-3019 (Sacramento) Dave Miller, 916/972-2811 (Sacramento) Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page. URL: http://www.businesswire.com ------------------------------ From: chris@kosh.punk.net (Christopher Ambler) Subject: New Internet Registry (.WEB Domain) Date: 4 Aug 1996 00:56:12 GMT Organization: Punknet Secret Headquarters and Day Care Centre PAT, the readers of TELECOM might be interested to know that per the current draft regarding new Internet Top Level Domains (postel/IANA), Image Online Design has opened the .WEB and .WWW domains for early registrations pending procedure finalization. IANA tentatively expects to have the procedures finalized and the root servers updated before the end of the year. Remember, though, that this is a process, and subject to change. The registry is, in light of the timetable, taking registrations for the first year only, and offering them at a 50% discount for the first year. Complete information can be found at the current registration site at http://www.webtld.iodesign.com, which will migrate to http://nic.web when the root servers are updated. (C) Copyright, 1996 Christopher Ambler, Director, Punknet Internet Cooperative chris@punk.net <- Preferred Email Address http://www.punk.net/~chris <- Home Page (everyone's got one) http://www.rhps.org <- Zen Room Presents the RHPS.ORG web site! ------------------------------ From: Tom Farley Subject: What's Happening With Private Line? By Tom Farley Date: Mon, 5 Aug 96 07:51:59 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) August 3, 1996 Saturday Greetings from Isleton! This lengthy post discusses what happened to private line, what happens now and what I hope will happen later. Briefly, the hardcopy version is dead, an e-mail version is coming soon and subscribers requesting refunds will be mailed checks or back issues. Another publisher will be solicited for the hardcopy version. Excuse the bandwidth but I need to discuss many points. Please repost and re-distribute this message. I. What's happened with private line? (The last six months) 1. An explanation 2. Original letter to subscribers II What happens now with private line? (The next two months) 1. The e-mail version 2. The web site 3. Subscriber refunds 4. Back issue availability 5. Catching up on written correspondence 6. Near term time line III What will happen with private line? (Three months from now and beyond) 1. Appeal for a publisher IV How to contact me 1. Telephone hours 2. Addresses =============================================================== I What happened to private line? (The last six months) 1. An explanation private line in hardcopy is dead. An electronic version will soon appear. What happened? It was too expensive to continue. I lost over $4,000 on the project. Syntel Vista agreed in February to continue the magazine under their control. They also agreed to fulfil all subscriptions or cut checks for those who didn't like the new private line. It was a gentlemen's agreement with no money changing hands. I forwarded numerous articles and letters to help them develop their first issue. But after six months, dozens of excuses, 10 unreturned phone calls in the last two weeks alone, and still no new private line, I have decided to step back in to pick up the pieces. Firstly, let me apologize for not keeping you all informed. I was waiting for Adam and Syntel to come out with the new magazine. It would have contained all the transition information and thus there would be no need for a separate mailing. Every contact with Syntel Vista, by the way, was friendly and I thought in good faith. We had a cordial, cross promoting relation in the past and I had no doubt that things would be fine in the future. There was no indication until two weeks ago that they would abandon the magazine and all its subscribers and readers, indeed, Syntel publicly stated in the last issue of Blacklisted!411 that they were taking over the magazine. Yet nothing has happened. For my part, and I am culpable in all of this, I should have kept track of the process more closely and not been so easily deceived. In any case, read the letter below for more details. The problem now is recovery, though I do encourage you to call them, if you like. Maybe they'll send me back all the material I sent them if there is enough pressure: (714) 899-8853. Pulling their line or messing with their Bogen answering machine is mildly discouraged. 2. Original subscriber letter that would have appeared in the new issue: March 1, 1996 Dear private line subscriber: Hello. I regret to inform you that private line Number 10 was the last issue I will produce. I have lost over $4,000 dollars with the magazine and my finance person informs me that he will not pay another printing bill. So it ends. At least for me. The Blacklisted!411 folks will take it over, produce it quarterly, sell the back issues and honor all requests for subscription refunds in case you don't like the new product. I will still be around on the edges, producing and assisting with articles on an intermittent basis. I was never able to turn critical success into commercial success. My last print run was only 750 copies since I cut off Fine Print for non-payment. They owe me over a thousand dollars, haven't paid me at all for eight months and their bill is in collection. Per unit costs, consequently, have skyrocketed because of this small print run. Let's run through the numbers. The last issue cost $1.73 per magazine to produce. Distribution costs was from $2.25 to $3.15 an issue. These costs alone came close to or exceeded the cover price. In addition, I am now averaging forty percent returns, typical for a nationally distributed magazine. That means 40 percent of my print run doesn't sell, although I have to pay, of course, for 100% of the run. Costs at this point exceed the cover price. Even raising the cover price to five or six dollars wouldn't help that much. Those forty percent returns, by the way, are most often not returned by the distributor, just shredded. I can't use them for anything. Adam at Blacklisted!411 is very enthusiastic about taking over the magazine. Other people have expressed interest but none of them have any 'zine experience. I am not eager for anyone who has not experienced this house of cards industry to take on private line -- I feel that loosing money is all they will get for their effort. True to the hacker tradition, there is no money involved in this transition, just the assumption by Adam that he will fulfil existing subscriptions and honor back issue requests. There has been no advertiser interest and I do not see any way of making the magazine break even without such support. The only other way is to get bigger print runs done. Printing 20,000 copies, for example, would lower per unit costs to less than fifty cents. But then you have to deal with distributors who take 45 to 120 days to pay after you submit your first issue. If they pay at all. I do not see any way for a company to make any money on this unless they are willing to bleed money for a long time. And I've bled all I can. I question, of course, whether the Syntel Vista folks can come up with anything like what I produced every two months. I think, though, that you should wait to see what happens. Several articles in the next issue originated with me or with private line readers. In particular, there is an explanatory piece on encryption which is the simplest, most concise piece of writing on this difficult subject I've seen. Written especially for private line, I am presently adding graphics to it and I think you will be pleased. There is also a great hacker article and a reader report on an east coast cable station. Please have faith and hang in there for the new private line, which should be out around April. As for me, I am taking a year off to do art related things. Thank you for all your support and I will see you on the net! Tom Farley ================================================================ II. What happens now with private line? (The next two months) I will do an e-mail version for a year. Send me your e-mail address NOW if you want to get it. You can request it in the subject line or in the body of the message, either way. Send the request to privateline@delphi.com. This version will, I hope, give private line readers and subscribers something to read in lieu of the hardcopy version until I can find another publisher. The publication schedule isn't fixed since I'm working out the details. It will be free while I control it and it will probably go out when I get 100k or so of stuff developed. That could be every week or every few weeks. I expect it will take two to six weeks to get an e- mail delivery system up and going. The mail responder will probably be through Damien Thorn's digicity.net, where privateline.com resides. I'll let you know. The e-mail version will be quite a different beast than the old magazine. There will be quite a few letters, a lot of reproduced articles (from obscure sources) and little in-depth research until I do a month of housekeeping and take care of subscriber letters and refunds. I'll be scrambling, as well, to get re-oriented with the hacker/telecom scene in the upcoming months. Anything original you can submit will be greatly appreciated. Coming articles include one on encryption and a fairly comprehensive look at the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Inmate Telephone System. But I'll need some time to get back going. Give me a little slack on responding to your e-mail and I will appreciate it. It's my hope that someone will come along in the next year who can do a hardcopy version of private line, in which case I will probably step back once again. I simply don't have the time or the money anymore to really further the project. A an electronic version is fine but their has to be a hardcopy equivalent, something that is indexed and consecutively paged. 3. The coming web site The possibilities are endless and I get tired just thinking about it. It may be just textually based or it may include every illustration and piece of line art that ever appeared in the old magazine. Let me know if you want your site linked to it and I will try to accommodate you. I'll prioritize on the e-mail version of private line first but you should check in with privateline.com now and then to see what's going on. 4. Refunds Send me a note by snail mail. Tell me how much you think I owe you for the balance of your subscription and I will send you a check the first week of September. Or let me pay you off in back issues. How does that work? I'll send you five back issues of your choice to clear your account. That includes numbers one through four which have been out of print. I would prefer, of course, that you not send in any request and instead put up with the e-mail version or simply let me slide. Please, please, please? This is important: you have until September 6th to get your refund or back order request in. I'm cutting off people at that point so I can move forward. Essentially, I'll total up the amount of money I owe at that time and then I'll get a loan to pay it off. I'll also be totaling up the number of back issue requests I need to make up or mail. The second week of September, then, will see both checks and copies mailed off. Remember, send me a note in the mail -- I need it for my records and I'll just loose e- mail requests in all this commotion. 5. Back Issue Availability Issues five through ten are still in good supply. Issues one through four are sold out but I will be making up more copies this month to satisfy subscriber requests. This is your best time to get the back issues while I am working on them, however, I will probably mail your order in the second week of September when I do the subscriber mailing. Issues are five dollars apiece, checks to private line. 6. Catching Up on Written Correspondence Endless apologies once again! I am two months behind with the snail mail and I will be working hard to get on top of this problem in the next month. You're not being ignored, you're just being, uh, well, okay, okay, you are being ignored for now. But not much longer. 6. Near Term Timeline (Important!) August 5-9, 1996: A copy of this post gets mailed to every subscriber of private line. September 6, 1996: Deadline for subscribers to request subscription refunds or backorders. September 7-14 1996: Mailing week for refund checks and back issues. ================================================================ III What will happen with private line? (Three months from now and beyond) 1. Appeal for a publisher Nuff said? No more friendly agreements, though, because I can't go through this process again. I'll need a contract and some money. Next month will see an outflow of another $1500 to $2000 dollars to cash out subscribers. They're owed, of course, so I'm not complaining and I have to do what's right. But someone taking over the hardcopy version could go a long way to making me happy by putting some money on the table. You have my numbers. ================================================================== IV How to Contact Me 1. Telephone hours It's best to call when I'm around. Messages get lost. Reach me are at these times and on these days. I don't screen calls during these times. I'm around otherwise but I'm probably working on the magazine or off in the Delta: 9: a.m. to 12:00 p.m (P.D.T.) M, Tues, Th, Fri. (916) 777-4420 Voice and fax 2. Addresses private line P.O. Box 1059 Isleton, CA 95641-1059 USA privateline@delphi.com privateline.com ================================================================ THANKS FOR THE BANDWIDTH! Tom Farley -------------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Tom, thanks very much for sending in such a detailed explanation and your plans for the future. I know that many readers of this Digest are/were also readers of your magazine and many were wondering what had happened. I know very well the feelings you must have had over the past few months and how sick at heart it must have made you to have to write at all. Believe me, there are times my own Digest has come >thisclose< to the same sort of ending. Having lost Microsoft as the corporate sponsor of the Digest a couple months ago has been quite discouraging also, since no new corporate sponsor has come forward as of yet. For now I pretty much run things here a week or so at a time but the week ahead looks clear and I expect to 'celebrate' the fifteenth anniversary of the Digest (it started on August 11, 1981) in about a week. Maybe your subscribers will give you a pass on refunds. I'll be happy to exchange links with you on the web page. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #381 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Aug 5 21:58:25 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA25566; Mon, 5 Aug 1996 21:58:25 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 21:58:25 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608060158.VAA25566@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #382 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Aug 96 21:20:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 382 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Questions on Multi-Drop Serial Communications (grendel6@ix.netcom.com) Basic "Serial" Communications Over a PPP Connection? (Dave Pfrommer) The Intellegent POP or Is Internet Telephony For Real? (Richard Shockey) Wireless Satellite Communication - A Challenge (Marvin Demuth) Workshop on Parallel Processing and Multimedia (Argi Krikelis) End of Permissive Dialing in 954 (Tad Cook) New Phone Administrator Needs Help! Fast!! (A.T. Sampson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: Questions on Multi-Drop Serial Communications Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 01:19:14 GMT Organization: Netcom Don Nordenholt wrote: == snip == > 1. The question is how did the RMUs and their modems all share the > same audio circuit.? Several years ago, I worked for ADP's brokerage services division. We had a nationwide, synchronous, multi-drop network, partially running IBM's bisync-3, partially running a proprietary full-duplex protocol. The way it worked -- I think -- is that everyone's carrier was off until polled. On BiSync, each polled unit answers every poll, even without anything to send. The host wouldn't poll the next unit until it had received the "EOT" from the last one. If a unit failed to respond, the line would go "dead" until the poll timed out, and after three missed polls, the system took the unit out of the poll cycle and posted an alarm. After sending its stuff, the unit would drop its carrier, I believe using RTS control. Occasionally, a unit's modem would hang, and the entire line would become unusable. Fortunately, our modems (Paradyne) had out-of-band control capability, and we could often reset an offending modem remotely, or -- if that failed -- disable it until the service guys could get out to it. On FDX, the same sort of thing obtained, except that the host could acknowledge incoming packets while the remote continued to send new ones. That sped up the throughput a bit, but fundamentally, it worked the same way -- the host didn't poll the "next" unit until the "last" one had finished its response. > 2. The next question is jump ten years to the present. How would > something like this be done now? We can lease data circuits or > provide them directly out of muxes made by manufacturers like > Premisys, Newbridge, etc. This was right after divestiture (1984-88) and we did things a couple different ways. For drops fairly near our central site in NJ, we might just order multi-drop circuits from NJBell or AT&T (AT&T would order local loops from the LECs (NJ Bell at our end, and whomever at the other) and provided the inter-LATA circuit and end-to-end, one-call repair service. Alternatively, we sometimes ordered several point-to-point lines and muxed them at our site, depending on (a) whichever was cheaper, (b) the relative locations of the drops, and (c) whether a particular LEC had lousy service (i.e. it's easier to troubleshoot a ptp line than a multi-drop when the LEC's test board is populated by toaster repairmen). For drops further away, we had data centers scattered around the country. We would do the same sorts of things between the local data center and the customer sites. Lines running direct from NJ generally ran at 4800 or 7200 bps; at the time, that was the highest speed available, and we used 2400 bps of the bandwidth for "broadcast-type" data (e.g. updating displayed data). Lines fed through a remote data center generally ran at 2400, and were sent back to NJ on one channel of a 4x2400 (9600) multiplexing modem. > 3. How do they do schemes like the automated teller machines or the > Texas lottery? I'm looking for actual case histories showing how the > ATM or lottery machine is connected to the host computer. I want to > see what handshake/flow-control leads they use and what kind of boxes > all the serial data lines are connected to. Can anybody furnish these > or direct me to a source of them? Can't help you there, but I'll bet the handshaking is pretty much the same. It's like people -- if everyone talks, you can't hear anyone, and there aren't too many ways to keep people from talking out of turn :-) > 4. The key issue here is what you do in the digital world that is > analogous to the keying of the modem (using RTS or whatever) in the > analog scenario with the bridges and modems. Not sure. We only had a few digital lines, and they were all point-to-point. I think it's pretty much the same again, though ... no one speaks without being asked. In the digital world, I believe that all of your drops use the same clock, that there is no "carrier", per se, and that everyone is always in sync with each other, and the only thing you have to worry about is not having multiple drops *transmit* at the same time. > 5. The few references I have found to multi-drop talk about it as if > it were exclusively synchronous. Yet we are also developing a video > interface for the CCTV market. One of the features we must provide is > a serial link for camera control. All of the camera manufacturers use > multi-drop. Some use it one way only (broadcast). Some use it in > both directions. One appears to employ a multi-drop, two-way > asynchronous scheme. Is this possible? Why not, provided that the drops *only* speak when spoken to? The key, of course, is that if your drops can originate traffic, you have to have a "polled" network. Bill ------------------------------ From: pfrommer@iconn.net (Dave Pfrommer) Subject: Basic "Serial" Communications Over a PPP Connection? Date: Mon, 05 Aug 96 04:07:26 GMT Organization: i-conn I was wondering if it were possible to use basic serial applications (games with direct serial port support, for example) over a PPP account? I'll explain ... I am currently using DOS, with a PPP driver. I would like to connect to another person through the Internet (connect our two addresses ... for ex: if my IP is 1.1.1.1 and his is 2.2.2.2, I'd like to use port 6000 to send and port 7000 to receive, and his would be the opposite). With this connection, I'd like someway to use games that support direct serial links to send data through the PPP connection to the other side, etc ... In a sense, using our Internet connection as a big NULL modem cable ... This can be done within UNIX with a simple program called DIALER. It was written to do this exact same thing (using two different ports ... one for send and one for receive). Can something like this be done within DOS? Thank you, Dave Pfrommer pfrommer@iconn.net ------------------------------ From: rshockey@ix.netcom.com (Richard Shockey) Subject: The Intellegent POP or Is Internet Telephony For Real? Date: Sat, 03 Aug 1996 15:55:18 GMT Organization: Netcom Chris Hall wrote: > Jim P. Dalton wrote: >> I read a lot of hype about long distance voice service over the >> internet. Does anybody know if this technology is for real, or is it >> just a gimmick for experienced hackers. Can the internet handle the >> real time traffic of full duplex voice? >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I-Phone is a real thing. It helps to >> have above average knowledge to make it work well and to your >> advantage. I understand that now there are even 'I-phone numbers' >> which are something like regular phone numbers. Our Digest Editor is very close to a concept that several hardware companies are working on to implement Internet Voice/FAX. The concept relies on the development of a "Intelligent Point of Presence" at the ISP layer that could transparently take any type of VOICE/FAX/DATA call. Basically ISP's have modem pools that accept data calls only. But if any one of those ports could accept Voice/Fax as well you could develop software to accomplish the following. Considering that ISP's are now under some financial pressure due to flat rate pricing models there is some reason to believe that they are looking for new "Value-Added" services to provide their customers. Imagine the following transaction: A. You simply pick up your touch tone telephone and dial into your "Intelligent ISP" The "Intelligent POP" answers the phone and detects that a voice call is on the line. You are prompted for an account number and the true destination of your cal l[DTMF], not unlike the old days of alternative long distance carriers. B. The Intelligent POP sets up an Internet Phone call, creates some form of Internet Mail/FTP/Whatever Envelope for the transaction, executes real time A/D conversion of the call. C. The destination of the Internet mail transaction is not a computer but another "Intelligent POP" at the location of where the call is to be completed. D. The Intelligent POP at the other end of the call decodes the I-Phone mail transaction and actually executes a local call to the telephone. E Internet Phone with two local calls. The hardware would come from such companies as: Dialogic/Rhetorex/Brooktrout/or Wildcard of Canada the old PureData. Ariel of Israel has T1 modem cards that can link to telephony voice/fax modems from these vendors and others. Software for Internet Fax that follows this model has already been developed by companies such as NetCentric in Boston and Alphanet in Toronto. I submit this is a much more compelling model than trying to configure some software at the PC and hope the caller has their PC turned on and connected to the Internet at all times. Richard Shockey Developers of Fax on Demand Solutions President For Business, Media, Industry and Nuntius Corporation Government. 8045 Big Bend Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63119 For a Demonstration Call our Voice 314.968.1009 CommandFax Demonstration Line FAX 314.968.3163 at 314.968.3461 Internet: rshockey@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ From: MarvinDemuth@worldnet.att.net (Marvin Demuth) Subject: Wireless Satellite Communication - A Challenge Date: 5 Aug 1996 00:41:44 GMT Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services This message is being posted in the comp.std.wireless and the comp. dcom.telecom newsgroups. Please post replies to the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup, or by email to MarvinDemuth@worldnet.att.net if you wish to offer a solution that you do not want to make public. Several non-profit organizations desperately need help with a communi- cation problem. Who can offer possible solutions to this problem? THE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: The World Christian Relief Fund, Inc. (WCRF), a small Arkansas non-profit corporation (non-denominational), working with a very responsible and respected Haitian non-profit organization, the Comite de Bienfaisance de Pignon (the Comite), has drilled and put in place about 1,000 hand-pump water wells in remote areas of Haiti within about a 50 mile radius of Pignon, Haiti, which is about 40 miles south of Cap-Haitien. Each well serves about 200/300 people with their only source of potable water. We drill the wells and install the interna- tionally known, Mark II handpumps, developed in India, which we fabricate in Haiti. WCRF has no executive or administrative overhead. Everyone donates their time and resources. There is a companion organization, the Christian Mission of Pignon, Inc. (CMP)., another small Arkansas non-profit, that arranges for doctors and other medical personnel to donate their services for short-term assignments in the hospital at Pignon, which is operated by the Comite. The hospital was established by Dr. Guy Theodore, originally from Pignon, son of a local Baptist pastor, who managed to eventually be a Colonel in the United States Air Force in charge of surgery at the base in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the early 80's when he decided to return to his home town in Haiti to help his people, a number of Arkansans decided to help him. Doctors and others throughout the USA have joined in this effort. THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM: Our problem is communication. Pignon has no power, except what we provide with our generating equipment, which is adequate. We must rely on wireless communication. In times past we have had the use of a single side band radio in the 15/20M bands when we have had licensed operators at both ends. We patched into telephone circuits here in Arkansas. We had too much conversation of a non-amateur nature in handling the operations and this caused us problems. Our current situation with this radio system is summed up in this paragraph from a message that I received this week from a man who has contributed many years to providing help: > I understand the WCRF need for communication between Arkansas and > Pignon, but I am not able to solve the problem. It will require > capable and committed people both in Arkansas and Pignon to do the job. > I am not equipped in Arkansas to do the job and don't know anyone who > is willing to commit to it. Further, I have worked for the past nine > years to keep the system going with little success. In order to get > the system up and working, it has been necessary for me to make > frequent trips to Pignon. This is not a solution and, very soon, I > will no longer be able to make these frequent trips. Further, the > system is usually down again very soon after I return to Little Rock. > It has been expensive for me and the costs keep increasing. WHAT WE NEED: We need facilities, preferably involving satellite communication with voice, fax and email capabilities, at low cost. I have seen figures from $1.49 to $9.00 per minute on the Web for satellite service. We need something better than this. We need to be spending our funds on drilling wells and providing medical care for people who have no resources. Preferably, we need to be able to operate at both ends with non-licensed operators, just the same as it would be if we were making a telephone call. How can we do this NOW? Surely, there is some facility available, experimental or otherwise, that will permit this to be done NOW. A challenge is being extended to the Wireless Satellite Communication community on the Internet to help these non-profit organizations solve this communication problem. In doing so you will be helping us to furnish help to many people who can not help themselves. Marvin Demuth ------------------------------ From: Argi Krikelis Subject: Workshop on Parallel Processing and Multimedia Date: 5 Aug 1996 09:50:53 GMT Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK Workshop on Parallel Processing and Multimedia Geneva, Switzerland - Tuesday, April 1, 1997 Call for Participation The Workshop on Parallel Processing and Multimedia will be held in Geneva, Switzerland on April 1, 1997. The workshop is part of the 11th International Parallel Processing Symposium (IPPS '97) which is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Parallel Processing and is held in cooperation with ACM SIGARCH. In the recent years multimedia technology has emerged as a key technology, mainly, because of its ability to represent information in disparate forms as a bit-stream. This enables, everything from text to video and sound to be stored, processed and delivered in digital form. A great part of the current research community effort has emphasized the delivery of the data as an important issue of multimedia technology. However, the creation, processing and management of multimedia forms are the issues most likely to dominate the scientific interest in the long run. The focus of the activity will be how multimedia technology deals with information, which is in general task-dependent and is extracted from data in a particular context by exercising knowledge. The desire to deal with information from forms such as video, text and sound will result in a data explosion. This [requirement to store, process and manage large data sets] naturally leads to the consideration of programmable parallel processing systems as strong candidates in supporting and enabling multimedia technology. The workshop aims to act as a platform where topics related, but not limited, to * parallel architectures for multimedia * mapping multimedia applications to parallel architectures * system interfaces and programming tools to support multimedia applications on parallel processing systems * multimedia content creation, processing and management using parallel architectures * parallel processing architectures of multimedia set-top boxes * multimedia agent technology and parallel processing * `proof of concept' implementations and case studies. Workshop plans include a keynote address, submitted papers, and a panel discussion. Submitting Papers Authors are invited to submit manuscripts reporting original unpublished research and recent developments in the topics related to the workshop. The language of the workshop is English. All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed. Submissions should be in uuencoded, gzipped, postscript form and e-mailed to Argy.Krikelis@aspex.co.uk. In cases where electronic submission is not possible, send 4 copies to the Workshop Organiser. Manuscripts must be received by October 30, 1996. The manuscript should not exceed 15 double-spaced (i.e. point size 12), single-sided A4 size page, with a 250-word abstract. The corresponding author is requested to include in the cover letter: 1. complete postal address 2. e-mail address 3. phone number 4. fax number 5. key phrases that characterize the paper's topic. Receipt of submissions will be promptly acknowledged by e-mail. Notification of review decisions will be e-mailed by January 10, 1996. Camera-ready papers will be due by February 20, 1997. Workshop Organiser Argy Krikelis Aspex Microsystems Ltd. Brunel University Uxbridge, UB8 3PH United Kingdom Tel: + 44 1895 274000, ext: 2763 Fax: + 44 1895 258728 E-mail: Argy.Krikelis@aspex.co.uk Programme Committee V. Michael Bove Jr. MIT Media Lab. Shih-Fu Chang, Columbia University Edward J. Delp, Purdue University Ophir Frieder, George Mason University Martin Goebel, GMD, Germany Argy Krikelis, Aspex Microsystems Ltd., UK Yoshiyasu Takefuji, Keio University, Japan and Case Western Reserve University Registration: This workshop is being held as part of IPPS. The usual IEEE Computer Society guidelines apply wrt registration; the workshop is open to IPPS registrants and separate registration for the workshop is not needed. Information about IPPS can be obtained over the Web at the following URL: http://cuiwww.unige.ch/~ipps97 ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 22:40:21 PDT Florida's Broward County Gets a New Area Code By Marcia H. Pounds, Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--Aug. 1--The grace period is over. At midnight tonight, the 954 area code for Broward County becomes official. That means if you use 305 to reach a Broward County business or resident, you'll get a recording that tells you to dial 954. If you're a business owner and still haven't made the change in your telephone software, you should because area codes around the country are changing. "We started a year ago to convert our switches," said Herman Shooster, chief executive officer of Margate-based Communication Services Center. At the same time, many Broward businesses doing business internationally have been concerned that clients in other countries that have older telephone equipment will not be able to reach them after the area-code change. Some businesses have set up 305 lines in Miami to avoid that situation. BellSouth has been advertising the area-code change in Latin America as well as the United States. But the biggest change for most will be dialing more numbers: -- Those calling between Fort Lauderdale and Miami must dial 1 or 0 plus 305 and the seven-digit number. -- People in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will still be able to call cities within their county that were once long distance and now are a flat 25-cent call. And calls to cities outside of the county, such as Hollywood to Boca Raton or Deerfield Beach to Miami, will still cost 25 cents. Some dialing exceptions: -- Callers in south Broward who now call north Dade by dialing seven digits will have to dial the area code and the number. The call will be toll-free, and you do not need a 1 or 0 first. Palm Beach County's new area code is 561, though 407 can be used until April 13. Joining Palm Beach County in 561 will be Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. Office telephone, or PBX, equipment needs to be upgraded to recognize area codes that don't have 1 or 0 in the middle. "All the old area codes had 1 or 0 in the middle to differentiate between a long-distance call and a local call. New switches automatically know that when you hit 1, it's a long distance call, and you can use any combination of numbers for area codes," said Tim Patterson, spokesman for Lucent Technologies, the equipment arm of AT&T. "It's a relatively low-cost software change, a few hundred dollars. But it depends on the size and the age of the system," he said. ------------------------------ From: asampson@interramp.com (A.T. Sampson) Subject: New Phone Administrator Needs Help! Fast!! Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 10:07:22 GMT Organization: PSINet Greetings, I work for a communications company that just decided that my job responsibilities would now include researching, and implementing a small switch and ACD for our customer support desk. The only information that they have given me about the existing setup is that they are using ESSEX telephone service from BellSouth and that incoming calls come into one main number which is either dialed direct (i.e. 770-XXX-XXXX) or comes in through their new 800 number which simply terminates on the 770 number. The incoming call then hops around the room from phone to phone in a hunt group/rotary fashion. If it hops all the way around the room, and noone answers, then it drops into Memory Call (Telco voice mail service). They are using standard one and two line telephones on analog lines (Panasonic). They are looking for the ACD to support seven agents (currently -- more to come later), provide the usual management reports such as abandon call time, length of calls, usage, music/recorded announcement on hold, call monitoring, agents assignable to multiple queues with varying and changable priority levels, etc. Standard ACD stuff. Also, because the company has no company wide switch, they want to put in a small switch that is compatible with the ACD (I think the ACD need be compatible with the switch :-) They want it to have some kind of expansion capabilities in the event that the two surrounding groups catch on, and want the same functionality. To make it more interesting, I will probably have to maintain the darned thing, so ease of use, ease of programming, and installation will be key. I do know my way around the wiring closet, and do hardware and software support if any of those skills help. I should probably try to do as much of it myself to keep this thing in budget reach. And lastly, if implementing a switch, I guess I need to figure out how many incoming/outgoing lines we will need. I guess that's called a traffic analysis. Kind of hard when there is absolutely no data available for me to gather this information. So, in closing, I guess I need the following. Suggestions, tips, tricks, gimmicks on how to do this right; a way to do a traffic and needs analysis. Pitfalls. The whole ball of wax. I even welcome proposals and contact from vendors via email. I'm desperate. They want/need this ACD in place *Yesterday!* and it's all on me. I ask forgiveness if I have broken any of the rules of netiquette, but I'm in a panic. Thank you all in advance for your time, consideration and bandwith. Sincerely, A.T. Sampson asampson@interramp.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #382 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Aug 5 22:07:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA26260; Mon, 5 Aug 1996 22:07:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 22:07:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608060207.WAA26260@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #383 TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Aug 96 21:45:40 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 383 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? (Stig Myken) Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? (Georg Schwarz) Split-State COs (was Re: Another Source of Errant 911) (Wes Leatherock) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Ed Ellers) Re: BellSouth Appeals FCC Number Portability Order (Ed Ellers) Re: Call for a Universal Phone Number Format (Juha Veijalainen) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Ed Ellers) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (David Chessler) Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Ronda Hauben) US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (provolib) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Stig Myken Subject: Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 13:24:59 -0700 Organization: CompuServe Incorporated Chris Hall hall-otm@ix.netcom.com wrote: > The packet technology of the Internet is a barrier to heavy real time > full duplex telephony. However, it is not impossible. Several PBX > manufacturers have been using packet switching technology for years, > including Fujitsu and GTE. Packet _switching_ technology: YES. > The real barrier is the Internet backbone. Heavy voice usage will drag > response time down. The full potential of the Internet for voice will not > been realized until ATM technology is fully deployed. The real barrier is packet _routing_ technology, as illustrated by the ISA (integrated Services Architecture) initiative to implement a QOS concept in IP networks by actually providing _switched_ 'flows'. Having worked as an ATM engineer since 1989 I had a strong feeling of deja vu reading the May 21 1996 article 'Real Time Services for Router Nets' by Fred Baker in Data Communications magazine. This seems very close to reinventing the ATM wheel. Stig Myken ------------------------------ From: schwarz@poseidon.physik.tu-berlin.de (Georg Schwarz) Subject: Re: Is Internet Telephony For Real? Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 03:49:19 +0200 Organization: Technical University Berlin, Germany Robert McMillin wrote: > On 30 Jul 1996 07:31:52 PDT, jpdalton@mindspring.com (Jim P. Dalton) > said: >> just a gimmick for experienced hackers. Can the internet handle the >> real time traffic of full duplex voice? > I would say it can't. The problem here is Internet bandwidth > shortage, present and future. Well, of course it depends which part of the net you're talking about. In the German inter-university research net, for example, there should be plenty of bandwidth for such stuff *at the moment*, and even to many oversees destinations a continuous 1-2 kB/s connection seems possible at certain times of the day. Keep in mind that all those people downloading audio or even video sequences from web sites should take at least the same bandwidth. The big question is, I think, how many people are or will be using internet telephony, and how frequently they do. Georg Schwarz (schwarz@physik.tu-berlin.de, kuroi@cs.tu-berlin.de, PGP 2.6ui) Institut fr Theoretische Physik +49 30 314-24254 FAX -21130 IRC kuroi Technische University Berlin http://itp1.physik.tu-berlin.de/~schwarz/ ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 14:04:53 GMT Subject: Re: Split-State COs (was Another Source of Errant 911 Calls) Stanley Cline (scline@usit.net) wrote: [ ... much interesting text deleted ... ] > Another interesting fact: Georgia (and I assume North Carolina) > customers served out of the Tennessee "split" COs pay TENNESSEE rates > for all services, both POTS and ISDN, and are handled as "Tennessee" > BellSouth customers for billing, repair, etc. > (An example: I called BellSouth's ISDN information line > [1-800-428-ISDN] to check on some of these COs awhile back -- their > computer voice returned the name of the Rossville CO as "Rossville > Georgia Tennessee"!) > Being that rates generally are lower in Tennessee than Georgia (and > *particularly* for ISDN), this is a great plus! The Georgia PSC has > graciously agreed to "keep its hands off" the border areas with > respect to rates; they still handle complaints with COCOTs, bad > service, LD slamming, etc. >> In all these cases there is just one central office, although >> two prefixes are assigned, one in each state; but it's a seven-digit >> local call within the exchange; no area codes used.) > This is the dialing pattern in use in all of the above COs. Thanks for the CC. My access to Usenet has been off since postings of July 28 or early July 29 (and they were running a day or two late), so I have not been seeing TELECOM Digest. (The provider is trying to figure out what is wrong; e-mail is still working just fine.) In the cross-boundary cases I am familiar with, the rule has been that the basic service has been charged the rate applicable in the state where the central office is physically located, but miscellaneous rates and charges were those of the state where the customer was located. However, since most miscellaneous rates and charges were eliminated (extension telephones, color telephones, supplementary ringers, all those sorts of things that are now provided by the customer) this would appear to be more or less a non-issue. (If you call out Repair for a premise visit where the trouble is found to be in the customer-owned equipment, not the network, which state's charge for the billable premise visit would apply?) Your comment that the state commission for the state where the customer is located still looks into poor service, COCOT complaints, LD slamming, etc., indicates that they still have somewhat the same philosophy as before. I'm sure this problem occurs on a vastly greater scale in the Kansas City metropolitan exchange and Texarkana, Ark.-Tex., but I don't know exactly how they handle it. There are probably quite a few others in places of some size besides those. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Mon, 5 Aug 96 12:48:05 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Bob Hogue writes: > 2. Easy to create eight-digit from current seven-digit; either repeat > first digit or last digit. Current 555-2368 would become 5555-2368 or > would become 5552-3688. (Not my idea, though I wish it were. I have > seen these ideas in recent postings.) I'd argue that the best place for the added digit is before the last four digits, so 555-2368 might instead become 5557-2368 (or whatever). The reason is that the first three digits identify the central office switch involved, while the last four identify the customer; adding the digit to the prefix would allow new switches to be added more easily. ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: BellSouth Appeals FCC Number Portability Order Date: Mon, 5 Aug 96 12:43:12 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Mike King writes: > "By its action, which ignores freely negotiated agreements on > interconnection already in place, the FCC is thwarting the will of > Congress by delaying, rather than speeding the start of competition. No they aren't. BellSouth and its competitors can still move into the new mode in the same time frame -- all they have to do is obey the rules. > "Even our competitors agree that there is a cost here," said New, "and > in fact, we've come to terms on the price with some of them. Most of > us know the old saying, 'there's no free lunch,' well, someone ought > to tell the FCC because somehow, in both this proceeding and the > interconnection docket, there's a prevailing theme that competitors of > local exchange companies are entitled to a free lunch." Here's the problem: under the BellSouth plan, the $1 charge would be paid by competing carriers, which have to recover it from their customers. This adds to the bias toward the incumbent LEC, making it more difficult for new players to compete and reducing the incentive for the incumbent to become more competitive. If this forwarding charge wasn't in effect, the cost of forwarding would be built into the LEC's rate base and would then be paid by *all* customers, both the LEC's and those of resale carriers, eliminating the bias. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But now you are faced with the problem that those of us who are perfectly happy with the existing carrier and have no intention of switching get to pay more for our service in order that those who want to switch get to pay less (or at least not as much as they would have to otherwise.) All of us who plan to stay with the established carrier -- that's only about 95 percent of the subscribers -- get to pay more for *our* service in general so that people who want to switch don't have to pay more. The competitors are all making, in my opinion, outrageous demands for discounts from the telcos anyway; you mean they can't give up half of one percent of their discount and use that to cover expenses which would not be necessary if they would simply build their own infrastructure and network instead of bottom-feeding off the existing telco? Some of the more outrageous demands I have heard in recent weeks include: The competitor who is suing telco to force telco to include the competitor's customers in the telco white/yellow pages directory *and* include the competitor's logo in the same directories at no charge. Rationale: it would cause great inconvenience to our customers if people had to look in a separate directory for them. Besides, it would cost us money to publish a directory; we would have to pass that charge on to our customers and that would discourage them from using us. If we have to pay telco to include these listings the same thing applies. AT&T demanding that technicians from the local telco do any required outside maintainence work for them and anytime they do this outside work or visit a customer's premises they are to remove all references to the local telco from their clothing or vehicles and only use AT&T logos instead. Amount AT&T is willing to pay telco: nothing. I wonder what they think the discount they are getting is supposed to be used for? What they'll use it for is to undercut telco on pricing and give away all customer calling features for free, while continuing to foist many of their expenses back on telco whenever they can get away with it. Of course the local telcos will probably take all the abuse and ripoffs given to them by the bottom-feeding 'competitors' because they have an agenda of their own which is to get into long distance. They are all a bunch of poker players sitting there with straight faces at the table hoping to mitigate their own losses (or start up costs) while maxxing out their profits. Who loses in the game? Why you, the telephone sub- scriber of course. Watch the new competition bring higher local phone charges to everyone. By the time things level out, the 'telephone wars' of the 1990's will make the 'telephone wars' of Ted Vail's era look like fun and games. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Juha Veijalainen Subject: Re: Call for a Universal Phone Number Format Date: 5 Aug 1996 14:36:27 GMT Organization: Scifi Communications International, http://www.sci.fi/ markus.uhlirz@aut.alcatel.at wrote in article : > Support a Universal Phone Number Format ! > which on the country codes are evaluated for call routing. In many > European countries the international access code is "00", but in > France it is "19", 990 in Finland, 095 in Norway, 011 in USA, 010 in > UK, 009 in Sweden, 07 in Spain and so on. Clearly, the "dial-by-name" > directory in your cellular phone becomes rather useless, if you have > to re-edit all entries to include the international access code of the > country you are presently in. (Travelling between countries in Europe > is a matter of hours only, so this editing might happen rather > frequently, too!) Therefore the invaluable benefit of the "+" sign as Finland is changing its trunk codes 12th October 1996. Currently the prefix is '9' - after the change it will be '0'. This means that international access code will be the standard '00'. OTOH dialing '00' after 12th October means you'll be charged the highest international rate. 'Old' operator prefixes like '990', '999', '994' will continue to work and will normally assure cheaper rates -- if you know which operator to choose. I'm using the standard '+' format for all the phone numbers I store in my GSM phone. Even if I'm storing a local finnish number I store it as +358 . A bit more effort when storing numbers means they'll work everywhere where GSM works. Very convienient. Juha Veijalainen, Helsinki, Finland http://www.sci.fi/~juhave/ ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? Date: Sun, 4 Aug 96 22:47:57 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Tony Pelliccio : > My complaint is not so much that the COCOT owners are getting money for > their participation in the process, but rather, that the public has to > get involved. It is too bad COCOT owners cannot be part of the established > telco 'family' and share in the largesse that way instead. PAT] An even better idea: let the owner of the COCOT collect the same per-call fee (25 cents or whatever) for every call, local or long distance, except for 911 calls, but disallow any other fees. If you call your buddy across town, the COCOT owner gets your quarter. If you call (800) 442-OLDS to get a tow truck sent out because your new Aurora has a flat tire, the COCOT owner gets your quarter. If you call your Uncle Henry in Seattle, the COCOT owner gets your quarter. But no more. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? From: david.chessler@neteast.com (DAVID CHESSLER) Date: Mon, 05 Aug 96 01:35:00 -0400 Organization: Online Technologies, Inc. - Modem: 301-738-0000 Reply-To: david.chessler@neteast.com (DAVID CHESSLER) On 30 Jul 96, 11:00am, CHRIS MOFFETT (PHONETICS wrote on the subject of "Pay Phone 800 Number Charge": I would think that *MCI* would be most interested in this story, and most likely to have an answer. > phone and the call went through without any problems. I then called > another 800 number that I know is PIC to MCI and I again received the > message to deposit $.25 ... > Later that week I was in another SWBell city and received the exact > same responses from a pay phone in Houston, TX. > 1. When did pay phones start charging $.25 to call a 1-800 number? > 2. Why did the call complete to the AT&T number and not the others? > 3. Why did the AT&T operator say she could not connect the call since > the 800 number did not belong to AT&T? david.chessler@mix.cpcug.org david.chessler@neteast.com chessler@capaccess.org chessler@trinitydc.edu E-mail: ->132 1:109/459 david.chessler@mix.cpcug.org ------------------------------ From: rh120@namaste.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Summer 1996) Date: 5 Aug 1996 13:46:45 GMT Organization: Columbia University Jim Wall (jim.wall@solopoint.com) wrote: > Ronda Hauben wrote: >> The article "What Made Bell Labs Great" by T. A. Heppenheimer in the >> Summer 1996 "American Heritage of Invention & Technology" is a helpful >> discussion of the significant achievement represented by Bell Labs and >> what has been lost with the break up of AT&T with regard to the Labs. >> I recommend the article and wonder why there haven't been more like >> it looking at the enormous achievements of Bell Labs and analyzing >> the impact that the breakup of AT&T would have on the continuing >> ability to support such an important research and scientific resource. > Remember that while Bell Labs was leading the pack, there were others > working on the same things, most notably the big universities. What is > very difficult to answer is if ATT realized any net profit from the > inventions of Bell Labs. Pure R&D labs are a direct loss to a The long term gain of being able to automate is much more significant than net profit. This is exactly why the loss of AT&T as a regulated utility is so harmful to our society. > companies bottom line. If other parts of the company use the Companies need to watch their bottom line and thus they can't and don't put the needed investment into the long term research that produces important scientific advances like the transistor and the other significant scientific developments made possible by Bell Labs. > technology arising from the lab then you need to determine to what > extent the profit from that group is incresed from the use of the new > technology. Obviously from scientific advances like transistors or time sharing (and Unix) etc. the advantages are scientific advantages that lots of folks benefit from. That is why there is a need for research institutions and govt funding to support such research as no single company will find it in their own profit interest to support such research. > I think it is fairly easy to say that ATT made a net profit *in > certain years* from Bell Labs but I would guess that overall they did > not. Other large companies have pure R&D facilities (IBM comes > immediately to mind) but they have all cut them down in this time of > profit oriented results. But the question can't be "net profit" from a research facility. Otherwise all the researchers are obligated to look for profit making research, rather than scientific research. > What seems to be taking the place of internal R&D efforts is corporate > funded research at public universities. They get a tax write off and > first access to any discoveries. So I think the research is still > being done, just in a different way. And this is another sign of the trouble of our times. Instead of universities doing scientific work that has long term benefits government funding is going to induce them to become the research labs for private companies. Thus the long term research so necessary to have any improved future is being sacrificed to the private short term gain of companies. For example, the research that AT&T's obligation to support Bell Labs made possible meant that it was possible for Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Doug McIlroy etc. to do work on Unix. Unix made it possible for AT&T to put solve the problem of large scale programming projects that made it possible to create the 5 ESS and to automate many of the operations at AT&T. The result of this isn't shown by showing a profit, but by a much more efficient entity that can make telephone service available at a lower cost to more people. That is why AT&T was supported in having Bell Labs in the first place. There was the realization that the most advanced technology is in the long term social interests and that it needs a large scale research facility to make it possible. Those who are always looking at the bottom line profit figures have a disincentivie to invest in research and new technology, as it means lower profits. That is why there is a need for government funding for science and for government regulated utilities. Ronda rh120@columbia.edu ae547@yfn.ysu.edu Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet http://www.columbia/~rh120/ See Chapters 9 and 17 ------------------------------ From: provolibpatron@provo.lib.ut.us Subject: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Calling Organization: Arizona Department of Education Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 17:53:32 GMT US West's credit department, located in Seattle Washington, (800/244-1111) has had a practice of not putting who they are via Caller ID so that someone who needs to talk with them will know that they are trying to get in touch with them about their phone bill. They make three attempts to contact the customer by phone, each time their call shows up as UNAVAILABLE on the customer's caller ID machine. The end result is that the customer, not knowing the importance of the call, rejects the call assuming it is from a telemarketer or telesleaze outfit such as a bogus prize award call. The problem is very acute as shutoffs have and do occur because of the phone company being unable to contact by phone. This has occurred because of non-receipt of the mailed shutoff notices. The problem may be that all the collections phone operators are on what is called a 'trunked' system where as many as several hundred operators take or in this case make calls to/from customers. They obviously do not want incoming calls on their line so they don't identify the phone number or the caller (US WEST) for that matter. What needs to be done, and in talking with them they refuse to do it, is put a number, which, if they wanted to do it, they may be able to do right now. That is, put the 800 number to reply to as the phone number that did the calling on the customer's caller ID as well as 'US WEST billing' in the caller name field. If anyone has any ideas call US WEST at the above number and ask for the collections manager and give him some of your solutions for this problem, also post any replies to this article to the newsgroup as the email address above is at a public library and no one is able to retrieve email at that email address. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #383 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Aug 6 17:27:34 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA27510; Tue, 6 Aug 1996 17:27:34 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 17:27:34 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608062127.RAA27510@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #384 TELECOM Digest Tue, 6 Aug 96 17:26:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 384 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CPUC Orders Splits for 415, 916 Area Codes (Mike King) BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for Service Providers (M King) New NPAs Cost Pac Bell $8 MIL (Tad Cook) 415 Split Offers Only Temporary Relief (Tad Cook) One LEC's CO in Another LEC's Area (Stanley Cline) Employment Opportunities in Seattle (kossuth@halcyon.com) Re: BellSouth Appeals FCC Number Portability Order (Lou Jahn) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: CPUC Orders Splits for 415, 916 Area Codes Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 17:05:29 PDT Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 11:54:28 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: CPUC Orders Splits for 415, 916 Area Codes FOR MORE INFORMATION: John Lucas 415/542-9509 e-mail: jeluca1@legal.pactel.com CPUC Orders Splits for 415, 916 Area Codes The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today turned down a Pacific Bell request to use area code overlays in the 415 and 916 areas, ordering them to split the areas, keeping old codes in one portion of each area and using new codes in others. The increased use of faxes, pagers, cellular services and other telecommunication services, is gobbling up telephone numbers statewide. To keep up with the demand, new area codes must be added and may double from 13 to 26 by the year 2000. Both area codes are running out of new prefixes which are the first three digits of the seven-digit number. The 415 area code may run out of new prefixes by October 1977; 916 may run out by April 1998. There are 10,000 numbers in a prefix. New area codes must be implemented in the areas soon to avoid running out of numbers. Since an overlay method - where area boundaries are kept the same and a second code is added to the area - is new to the state, the time needed for consumer education programs and getting acquainted with the new system might delay implementation. So the Commission chose the traditional boundary split. 415 AREA CODE The 415 area code currently serves Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. As early as August 1997, the area will be split in two just south of San Francisco City. Most of Brisbane, part of Daly City, San Francisco, and Marin County will remain in the 415 area code. Cities to the south will be in the new area code. This includes Millbrae, San Bruno, South San Francisco, half of Daly City, the Brisbane Marina and the San Francisco Airport. The boundary will run along the Daly City northern boundary to the 280 Freeway, then south through Daly City - paralleling Liebig, to Mission, to Wellington, then east through the San Bruno Mountain State Park, and cut through Brisbane just north of the Marina. After receiving comments from letters, holding public meetings in Redwood City, San Francisco, and San Rafael, and reviewing three options suggested by telecommunication companies, CPUC staff and Bay Area Cities representatives, the CPUC determined this boundary would be the least disruptive and confusing to consumers. With this boundary, the 415 area code may last six years before a new code has to be used; the new area code should last 14 years. 916 AREA CODE The 916 area code currently serves 23 counties that stretch from Sacramento to the Oregon border. As early as November 1997, the area will be split with 916 remaining in the portion of Sacramento County that is currently in the 916 area, Loomis, Rocklin, and Roseville in southern Placer County, and West Sacramento in Yolo County. The rest of the current 916 area will be in the new area code. That includes Alpine, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, the rest of Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, the rest of Yolo, and Yuba Counties. Public meetings were held in Chico, Redding, Roseville and South Lake Tahoe. Comments from the public, industry, CPUC staff and cities representatives favor this split. With this split, the 916 area code may last five years before a new code would have to be used and the new area code may last 19 years. Telephone utilities have been ordered to form a committee to prepare a plan to educate customers throughout the State about the changes to the 415 and 916 area codes. As part of this education effort, telephone utilities will be sending out notices in the 415 and 916 area codes describing the area code changes ordered by the Commission today. ### -------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for Service Providers Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 16:58:26 PDT Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 11:39:03 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for Service Providers BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide One-Number/Local-Call Access for Online Service Providers - Leading Communications Company Offers Superior Low-Cost Alternative to 800 Charges and Dedicated Networks - ATLANTA, (August 5, 1996),--BellSouth Business Systems today announced its new DataReachsm service, a first-of-breed Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) service that will allow information content, information service and Internet access providers to deliver one-number local access to online offerings for their customers in the Southeast, regardless of their customers' location in the BellSouth calling area. By enabling online providers to give customers a single seven-digit telephone number for connection to Internet and other network services, DataReach will allow these providers to extend their market reach and lower internal costs. BellSouth's new service is a major breakthrough for service providers looking for marketing advantages in the increasingly crowded and competitive online services marketplace. DataReach service offers providers extended reach based on low per-minute rates by using the public switched telephone network infrastructure and advanced intelligent network routing capabilities to provide regionwide, single-number local access to a provider's points of presence. By combining regionwide usage instead of aggregating by separate local markets of states, BellSouth can offer providers very low rates based on volume use. DataReach service will thus allow providers to lower operational and administrative costs and, in turn, offer low cost access to their users. "Our new DataReachsm service is in response to our customers' business needs for an effective means of expanding online access," said Trip Agerton, vice president and general manager of BellSouth Business Systems. "BellSouth is the leader in the innovative delivery of networking services. With DataReach, we're the first to offer service providers cost-effective access to millions of new customers throughout the entire nine-state BellSouth operating region." For providers, DataReach enables cost-effective expansion into new market areas. This one-number local service reduces and simplifies administration, lowers marketing costs and increases customer ease-of-use. By combining regionwide usage into a single itemized bill, DataReach service not only lowers operating costs, it also simplifies accounting and gives providers the flexibility to quickly and cost-effectively test new products in specific geographic areas. DataReach service's local access is also a cost-effective alternative to other regionwide options -- such as 800 service or building and administering a dedicated network. DataReach service allows providers to rapidly reach new markets while at the same time enabling the consolidation of data nodes and minimizing the need for future node deployment. "This new offering from BellSouth addresses a critical business need for service providers," said Tim Sloane, director of messaging applications and services for Aberdeen Group, Inc. "The DataReach service enables companies to reach out to new customers in geographically dispersed suburban or rural markets without having to make any significant infrastructure investment. The service can expand a company's market reach in an extremely cost-effective manner." BellSouth provides telecommunications services in nine Southeastern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. With its headquarters in Atlanta, BellSouth serves more than 21 million local telephone lines and provides local exchange and intraLATA long distance service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world. For Information Contact: David Storey, BellSouth, (205)977-5001 David.A.Storey@bridge.bst.bls.com Erica Carlson, Sterling Communications, Inc., (408)441-4100 ebc@sterlingpr.com ---------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: New NPAs Cost Pac Bell $8 MIL Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 09:11:43 PDT From the {San Jose Mercury} News: Information age strains dwindling area codes Pacific Bell alone estimates it pays roughly $8 million for equipment upgrades for each new area code created. The state has 13 area codes, and the number is expected to balloon to 26 in only six years. Experts dialing 911 as area codes dwindle The California PUC voted to favor "overlays," a controversial solution in which new codes are placed over existing areas. That means two or more codes can exist in the same geographical area, and that next-door neighbors -- or even a second line within a home -- could have different area codes. The remedy to today's code crunch might seem easy: Just add more codes, either by increasing the area code from three to four digits or by releasing some of the restrictions of the numbering process. Expense of upgrading The reality, however, is not that simple. To accommodate those changes, most telephone switching hardware and software, which together read phone numbers and place calls, would need to be upgraded, often at considerable expense. Pacific Bell alone estimates it pays roughly $8 million for equipment upgrades for each new area code created. To fully grasp today's number crunch, it's helpful to understand how the problem came to be. In the mid-1930s, AT&T Bell Laboratories created ten-digit phone numbers -- the traditional three-digit area code and seven-digit phone number -- as a way to efficiently handle growing demand for numbers during the rapid telephone expansion following World War II. It then created something called the North American Numbering Plan to oversee deployment of the numbers. The idea was simple enough -- divide the nation into calling zones designated by three-digit codes. The dominant telephone company in each region -- Pacific Bell, for example -- would keep track of how many numbers were being used in each area. If an area code neared capacity, the local phone company would then alert numbering plan executives, who would create a new calling area. The original area code rules were rigid: -- The first digit could never begin with a 1 or 0. -- The second number could only be a 1 or 0. -- The third digit had no restrictions. At first, the reasons for this system had nothing to do with either science or technology. Code reasoning "Why? Well, that's just the way it's always been," said Ken Branson, public affairs director for Bellcore, the research laboratory that took over the numbering plan's duties after its creation by the Bell System in 1982. "At first, there was no real reason for it." But over the years, switching equipment came to be designed expressly for this model, and the system's limitations would play a larger role as the number of area codes began to play out. With the numbering plan system, 160 three-digit possibilities existed -- but not really. Special numbers -- such as 800, 911 emergency codes and the government's special 710 code -- took away 16 combinations, so the true number available to the U.S. was 144. The Bell System then thought that group would last until 2000. More rules: An area code could never cross any state or international boundaries, with the exception of the Caribbean countries. And a most important -- although unwritten -- rule was that each new area code would exist in its own geographical region, meaning two codes could not exist in the same region. By the end of the 1950s, the U.S. population was growing so quickly that the telephone executives weren't sure the 144 area codes would last the century. They began to explore new ways to create more codes. It was then that the first discussion of four-digit area codes arose. But the telephone boom leveled out, the crisis was averted and the talk of four-digit codes faded away. High-tech takes off That is, until the seeds of the information age began to mature. Bellcore, the research lab funded by the seven regional Bell companies, was created to deal with the second wave of the number crunch. "In the 1960s and '70s, growth remained stable," said Bellcore's Branson. "In the '80s, it took off again, this time not because of growth, but because of all the weird things people wanted to do with their phones -- cell phones, modems and all that. Now, individuals may have three or four numbers each." In 1947, Pac Bell had 2.7 million telephone lines installed up and down the state. Today, it has 15.9 million. In 1994, the creaking old system finally reached its exhaustion point. The last traditional area code -- 610, outside Philadelphia -- was allotted. Forced to scramble, Bellcore came up with a new system, which allows any number, not just a 0 or 1, as the second digit. The new system frees up another 640 numeric possibilities, which Pacific Bell says should last until 2020. End of problem, right? Not quite. There's still that costly problem of upgrading a vast base of installed equipment. The telephone industry now has five decades' worth of investment in automated switching technology, the newest and best of which -- such as digital networks and fiber optic technology -- is increasingly more expensive. When a pre-new system switch encounters a new area code -- like 562, which is coming to the Los Angeles area next year -- the machine is programmed to read only a 1 or 0 as the second digit of the area code, and therefore will not route the call. "In a way, the machine is right," Branson said. "The machine is saying `This is wrong, there can never be a six as the second digit of an area code.' It's only doing what it's been told. But times have changed." Look into future So what has happened in recent years, and will continue to unfold in the future, is a massive equipment upgrade by the roughly 1,500 telephone companies in North America. Telecommunications experts estimate costs -- which customers absorb one way or the other -- will be in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars or more. Beyond the phone companies, some new switching equipment, such as PBX networks, is owned by private businesses, and these switches also must be upgraded. "None of this should have taken anyone by surprise," Branson said. "In preparation for this day, all those old switches should be upgraded. God only made so many numbers, you know." ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: 415 Split Offers Only Temporary Relief Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 09:01:26 PDT Vote to split 415 area code offers only temporary relief By Howard Bryant Mercury News Staff Writer WHEN STATE regulators voted last week to split off the mid-Peninsula area from the 415 area code, the decision was inevitable, given how quickly 415 was nearing capacity. But in an indication of how fast new areas now fill up, it's expected that San Francisco phone customers will be forced to deal with a new code once again in less than five years. Final boundaries have yet to be set, but it's expected the new Peninsula area code will run from about the San Francisco airport south to the 408 boundary in the Mountain View vicinity. With each new area code, 7.9 million telephone number combinations are created. Even with the split of the 415 area, the San Francisco area could need another area code by 2000, while the new, as yet unnamed code on the Peninsula is also expected to fill up by 2008. While the California Public Utilities Commission agreed to split 415, that likely won't be true next time around. The commission also ruled last week that it will favor "overlays" in the future, in which new codes are placed on top of existing code areas. With an overlay, it is possible for next-door neighbors to have different area codes. "It's harder and harder to do splits. How many more times can you cut another area code out of Los Angeles?" said Bruce Bennett, area code administrator for California. "It's easy to do in places like Montana where there is only one code, but that's not where the people are." In adopting overlays as a standard, the commission added two important qualifications: Before it happens, there must be mandatory ten-digit dialing -- meaning customers must dial an area code with all calls. And there must be something Pacific Bell is pushing, a future technology called "location number portability," which would allow customers to take phone numbers with them when they move, even if to a new area code. Both requirements are designed to avoid putting new local phone service providers at a competitive disadvantage to Pac Bell. Portability technology isn't expected to be available until 1998, but together with overlays, it will essentially eliminate geography as a basis for area codes. And while supporters say that's necessary to deal with today's competitive environment and increasing demand for numbers, others remain critical. "Essentially, even though splits have been preferred in the past, we're moving to a time where area codes will have nothing to do with geography," said commission regulatory analyst Natalie Billingsley. Consumer groups charge portability is designed to confuse customers and encourage them to make more costly calls. Their logic: If people can't determine where they're calling by simply looking at the area code, they won't know if they have incurred toll charges until after their bills arrive. ------------------------------ From: scline@usit.net (Stanley Cline) Subject: One LEC's CO in Another LEC's Area Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 00:53:34 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services While traveling in middle Tennessee over last weekend, I discovered something rather interesting, and intriguing: one LEC's central office, located entirely within the territory of ANOTHER LEC served out of another central office! Where is this, you may ask -- McMinnville, Tennessee. In the CITY of McMinnville, the LEC is Citizens Telecom (formerly GTE), while outside the city limits in Warren County (and in a number of surrounding counties), Ben Lomand Rural Telephone Co-Op provides local service. However, The Ben Lomand CO, and corporate office, is in the middle of Citizens' service area -- about 1/4 mile from Citizens' CO and office! Lines for TWO telcos -- both Citizens and Ben Lomand -- hang from the very same poles, one telco's over the other. (The two telcos are local calls to each other -- I am not sure how phone directories are handled. BellSouth, as in most of its territory, provides directory assistance for both LECs.) I am not sure of the history of the telcos in Warren County, either, but it seems that Ben Lomand served the "rural" area surrounding McMinnville, while another telco (since acquired by GTE, then Citizens) operated the CITY's phone company. (This is similar to disparate city/county water and electric systems, such as in Cleveland, Tennessee where Cleveland Utilities [city-owned] provides power and water, while outside city limits a cooperative provide electricity and wells provide water. The co-op's offices are in the city of Cleveland.) Citizens Telecom serves the (615) 473 prefix only, while Ben Lomand operates the (615) 668 and 934 prefixes. Calls to or from both LECs' numbers are listed on my phone bill just as "McMinnvl TN" with no other note about the LEC. (The Ben Lomand CO has some bizarre SS7 behavior, such as causing *IXC* recordings such as "Your call cannot be completed as dialed..." on AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and LCI, for disconnected numbers when calling using those IXCs! Ben Lomand is itself an IXC [a reseller] with an assigned CIC code [10581] but apparently only within its local service area and in the McMinnville Citizens CO. This code does not work in Manchester, TN, a BellSouth area immediately adjacent to Lomand's, or from either cellular phone company in the area -- the A side carrier doesn't allow PIC dialing and the B carrier is owned by *another* telephone co-op.) Local competition in McMinnville (a rather small town) could be a reality *today* -- if Ben Lomand were willing to build off its lines *within the city of McMinnville* (pairs are up, just add customer drops), and the state of Tennessee approved it! Ben Lomand is already trying to get Citizens' customers to switch to ITS LD service; a large banner out front of Lomand's office says "Switch to BLC [Ben Lomand Communications, the IXC subsidiary]" -- before long, a sign may say "Switch to Ben Lomand for LOCAL service"! (I doubt Citizens would expand outside the city limits, but that could happen too! If it were still GTE, however, who knows ...) Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! mailto:scline@usit.net ** http://www.usit.net/public/scline/ CompuServe 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 All opinions are strictly my own! ------------------------------ From: kossuth@halcyon.com Subject: Employment Opportunities in Seattle Date: 5 Aug 1996 20:56:53 GMT Organization: Kossuth & Associates, Inc. Reply-To: kossuth@halcyon.com We are a retain search firm looking for a roaming fraud tools product manager for our software company CTS. CTS was the first provider of real-time solutions to the cellular industry and has been providing quality products, reliable service and support to its customers for over eight years. We are looking for a mature, self starting product manager. The individual must have the interaction skills and be able to communicate very effectively with management, engineering, support, QA and strategic, external vendors. Knowledge of large scale TCP/IP networking is a must. If you feel that you are qualified for this position, or would like more information please send us your resume or contact us: Kossuth & Associates 800 Bellevue Way N.E., Suite 400 Bellevue, WA 98004 fax (206) 450-0513 email kossuth@halcyon.com ------ Other positions available ----- VARIOUS NON-TECHNICAL POSITIONS AccessLine Technologies is the originator of the ONE PERSON, ONE NUMBER technology and the developer of the platform which delivers the technology to service providers and their customers. AccessLine services are currently available in over 35 markets worldwide through licensees including US West Cellular, Ameritech Cellular, Bell Atlantic Mobile, Bell Mobility, Bell Canada, Telia (Sweden), NetCom GSM (Norway), Once Number Service, Inc. (Japan), and other service operators Europe and Asia. AccessLine offers the telephone and wireless industries and AIN-Complaint service node platform that can deliver a full complement of personal communication services, including ONE PERSON, ONE NUMBER, or segmented, enhanced service offerings targeted to particular markets. We are looking for the following non-technical positions: Human Resources Director Responsible for overall management of the Human Resources organization with responsibility for the development and management of policies, programs and processes as they relate to the management of the Company's most valuable asset - its employees. Summer Interns Various summer projects for students 18 years and older. Departments offering positions are Administration, Human Resources, Facilities, Accounting/Information Services, Software Development, Engineering Quality. VARIOUS TECHNICAL POSITIONS Software Development Technical Lead Responsible for leading the Product Development and Product Maintenance activities within the specified engineering subgroup. Software Engineer Designs, develops, and troubleshoots computer software to support new products, and enhancements and maintenance of existing products. Writes code, performs systems modeling, simulation, and analysis in designing operating systems utilities, and working programs containing numerous sub-elements. Consults with customers to develop enhancements and custom features above the normal program features. If you are interested in any of the above positions, please send your plain text (ASCII) resume to: kossuth@halcyon.com or fax it to: 206-450-0513. ------------------------------ Date: 06 Aug 96 15:28:11 EDT From: Lou Jahn <71233.2444@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: BellSouth Appeals FCC Number Portability Order TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Ed Ellers: > The competitor who is suing telco to force telco to include the > competitor's customers in the telco white/yellow pages directory > *and* include the competitor's logo in the same directories at > no charge. Rationale: it would cause great inconvenience to our > customers if people had to look in a separate directory for them. > Besides, it would cost us money to publish a directory; we would > have to pass that charge on to our customers and that would discourage > them from using us. If we have to pay telco to include these listings > the same thing applies. The initial LEC was granted a "protected territory" for service for the "good of the public" - now under deregulation and often as their desire to "change their own" business those LECs are agreeing to allow new LECs into their territory so they in turn might pursue Long Distance service. If the existing IXCs would not allow the LEC-LD business to have PIC access so callers could not find them would that be fair? (Remember -- the subscribers had to pay for the network changes that were created to allow pre-selected IXC service). Actually most RBOCs have greatly raised their Directory Assistance (DA) prices as most claim they are losing millions of dollars providing basic DA and/or white page services. While Callers pay between 50 to 90 cents per DA call, LECs sell the service below cost via Intercompany agreements. There are alternative providers of DA services which can make money handling 411 and NPA-555-1212 service at a far lower cost (at the same or higher service levels) than the RBOCs. They do not desire to compete with the LECs or IXCs, they can work in partnership. The FCC and PUCs should be forcing all LECs to work with these lower cost higher service DA providers. This has historically worked in several cases and is not breaking new ground. Bellsouth has been a leader in providing their listings for Alternate DA firms- other RBOCs fight the concept. It is this non-cooperative approach which creates the DA problems often seen in negative press articles. Many IBM HELP numbers are staffed by non-IBM employees. The same occurs on many successful customer support lines. The approach does work if managed properly. Alternate DA providers will lower DA costs to telephone users and provide smoother transistion for LEC competition. Lou Jahn (LSSI - A new Alternate High Quality DA Service Provider) Internet: 71233.2444@Compuserve.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #384 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Aug 7 00:37:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA06684; Wed, 7 Aug 1996 00:37:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 00:37:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608070437.AAA06684@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #385 TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Aug 96 00:37:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 385 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (John Nagle) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Michael Ayotte) Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems (Stephen Balbach) Re: BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for ISPs (travlr@magic) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Ed Ellers) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Alan Dahl) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Brian Brown) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (John R. Levine) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (J. Levine) Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN (Stewart Fist) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 16:52:31 GMT Bob Hogue writes: >> 2. Easy to create eight-digit from current seven-digit; either repeat >> first digit or last digit. Current 555-2368 would become 5555-2368 or >> would become 5552-3688. (Not my idea, though I wish it were. I have >> seen these ideas in recent postings.) > I'd argue that the best place for the added digit is before the last four > digits, so 555-2368 might instead become 5557-2368 (or whatever). The > reason is that the first three digits identify the central office switch > involved, while the last four identify the customer; adding the digit to > the prefix would allow new switches to be added more easily. France and Japan have already gone this way. The French format for writing numbers is "NN.NN.NN.NN", which works well for memorization and verbal transmission of numbers. In France, the major motivation for this was a strong desire not to split Paris into two area codes. In the US, the first three digits don't really designate the CO switch any more. Nowadays, a group of switches in a metropolitan area typically share a group of three-digit codes. John Nagle ------------------------------ From: michael@ayotte.com (Michael Ayotte) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 16:59:35 -0800 Organization: Ayotte In article , bob@cis.ysu.edu (Bob Hogue) wrote: > It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it > anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which > mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must > wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. > 2. Easy to create eight-digit from current seven-digit; either repeat > first digit or last digit. Current 555-2368 would become 5555-2368 or > would become 5552-3688. (Not my idea, though I wish it were. I have > seen these ideas in recent postings.) I came into this thread late but I would like to add a suggestion to the above idea. Numbers currently in use would remain the same. Unused numbers would be flagged somehow as a bank of 10 numbers (e.g. if 555-2368 were unused, it would be converted to numbers 5552-3680 through 5552-3689). As numbers were given up by customers, they would be converted to the new format. All newly issued numbers would be the new 8 digit phone number. If you dialed a number that has not been changed, the phone switch would see that the number does not have the 8-digit flag (or would see that it does have the 7-digit flag if you prefer), and would not wait for the 8th digit. Conversly if you dialed a number that had been converted to 8-digit format, the switch would check the flag after the caller dialed the 7th digit and would know to wait for an eighth digit. Although this would be just as (possibly even a little more) expensive as any of the other 8-digit conversion ideas, it would make the transition alot easier. People would not have to reprint letterhead, business cards or even change their auto-dialing phones. It would result in residual 7-digit phone numbers remaining for years or perhaps even decades. But the numbers that were converted to 8-digit format would relieve the demand for new lines. In extreem cases the phone company could claim "Emminent Domain" and force the conversion of ranges of numbers. But only as necissary. Just an idea. Michael Ayotte ------------------------------ From: stephen@clark.net (Stephen Balbach) Subject: Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems Date: 6 Aug 1996 22:18:31 GMT Organization: Clark Internet Services, Balt/DC, mail all-info@clark.net As promised here is the information on which card works in SLC's for 28.8 or greater connections. This is from an ISP in Bell South territory who said that by using this card they are able to achieve 28.8 or greater connections on a SLC96. "What they did to our SLC to make it work is replace all AT&T cards that originally served lines with the lines, with PulseCom AUA178i cards, these are revision B1, issue 2 (According to the guy that installed them, the revision level mattered)." Good luck! We are pursuing Bell Atlantic to try a card as a test case - I would be very interested in how others fare. As a matter of alternative views, here is an email I recieved on SLC's and how the search for the right card is a search for the Holy Grail. Perhaps he did not try PulseCom AUA178i revision B1 issue 2 ------------------ Greetings, I read with interest of your account of problems with AT&T SLC equipment. The fabled magic card that solves all of the problems. I've heard THAT one before ... and I have seen three such cards produce no better results than the stock cards. There is a reason. The SLC units are not what they seem. You look at one, and you think it is a channel bank breaking out a digital signal, and providing standard channel bank functions. But that is not what it is (at least not what Southwestern Bell uses). The AT&T SLC unit is a device to take analog signals, fold them together onto a digital pathway, and fan them back out on the other side. What is the difference? Big difference ... both the in and the out are analog. So why am I telling you this? Because there is a perception that the problem is a bandwidth issue, and it isn't, exactly. The problem is what is called "PCM quantization noise". PCM q-noise is the slight distortion caused when an analog signal is digitized. Every point in a connection where there is a conversion between analog and PCM (pulse coded modulation) a slight amount of this noise is generated. This noise is most noticable as phase jitter. Phase jitter is not usually audible, but it wrecks havoc on modem signals on the higher density trelis coding methods, such as 28k modems use. The modem industry adapted a test suite that included up to 3 PCM conversions in the tests, to go slightly beyond the standard 2 PCM conversions they thought would be standard in the modern digital phone system. In their worst case enviroment with 3 PCM conversons, the 28k modems were to connect at 28k 80% of the time to pass the test. This is where the SLC gets ugly. In the /real/ world of today, your signal goes into the SLC where it is digitized (thats 1 PCM converson) then it is pulled off the SLC into a break-out where it is analog again. (two PCM conversions). Then across the room to the box that re-digitizes the signal for it's entry to the network. (3 PCM conversions, and we are only half way) The signal then comes out of the other side of the network exactly as it went in (assuming no digital path errors) where it is converted back to analog (4 PCM conversions!). The analog signal then hops onto the SLC where it is turned digital (5 PCM Conversions) then delievered to your neighborhood where it is given one final conversion before exiting onto real copper. (6 PCM conversions) The advantage of the SLC is that in the telco office, crews using ordinary analog test sets can interact with the same methods and techniques that they have used for the past 70 years of copper wire service. The SLC is a copper plant simulator designed to avoid personell re-training. It has the "feel" of copper to service people, so they need little training to debug it. The disadvantage is that a typical circuit path includes 6 PCM conversions. This exceeds the standards for "worst case" PCM q-noise by a factor of two, according to the modem industry. AT&T votes on modem standards, but they are such a big company that the modem engineers have no idea what the telephony engineers are designing. Their engineers all have their heads in the sand while they are designing tomorrows technology. AT&T invented the modem, and they are inventing new ways to make them not work. If you find this fabled card and it works, please tell me about it. If I find it, I'll tell the world. However as long as they are doing standard PCM, no bandwidth increase is going to alter the fact you have six levels of PCM conversion and the resulting noise. PCM q-noise is not caused by imperfect hardware, or poor quality conversion ... it is the slight distortion caused by the math of the conversion. Because the conversion is being done over and over, this particular noise element is greatly magnified as compared to other noise elements. There is no "new math" that can be used to reduce q-noise. It is possible to use different formulas to change the impact of q-noise, however because of the way the modem signal is modulated, it would be easier to demodulate it than to come up with enough math ot encode the analog signal. The only way to improve the PCM performance is to widen the digital pathway. The problem with this is that it steps outside of the 8-bit/24-channel/8khz standard, which is something you might find AT&T reluctant to do. However since PCM q-noise is not really a problem for voice calls, there is no equipment to test for it or analyze it. It is a feature of the technology, and nothing more. I saw the head of Southwestern Bell Compliance testing for all of Texas come out with his best engineers. They had not even heard of PCM q-noise, and had no equipment to measure it. I showed them the blue CCITT standards book, and they scoffed, saying that they cannot be held to standards of the modem industry. Of course they tell me about the "card to solve all problems" fairy-tail. I remind them that they have tried three such cards, and telling me to wait for another isn't going to wash. Supposedly this month another card is coming in, and this is supposed to be /the/ solution. But I've heard that before. I have been asking them to use the fiber for real T1's, and to use real channel banks to break it out. This will reduce the PCM hops by 2, leaving me with 4 PCM conversions as a worst case. However for people not on a SLC, we will be only 2 PCM hops away, and 28k (or 33k) will be possible. An interesting note, real channel banks take up less room at the central office, and about the same amount of space in the field as the SLC equipment. The big difference is that the channel bank will cost about 1/2 of what the SLC cost ... and the techs will need to be trained to administer the equipment. Since they won't do this, the only remaining answer is to convert to ISDN and use digital modems. This skips the whole PCM saga up to the central office, making your worst case only 3 PCM hops, as the standard sets as capable of supporting 28k 80% of the time. Of course ISDN has it's own problems ... --------------------- Stephen Balbach "Driving the Internet To Work" VP, ClarkNet due to the high volume of mail I receive please quote info@clark.net the full original message in your reply. ------------------------------ From: Travlr Subject: Re: BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for ISPs Date: 7 Aug 1996 02:27:47 GMT Organization: MagicNet, Inc. Reply-To: travlr@magicnet.net Mike King wrote: > ATLANTA, (August 5, 1996),--BellSouth Business Systems today > announced its new DataReachsm service, a first-of-breed Advanced > Intelligent Network (AIN) service that will allow information > content, information service and Internet access providers to deliver > one-number local access to online offerings for their customers in > the Southeast, regardless of their customers' location in the > BellSouth calling area. By enabling online providers to give > customers a single seven-digit telephone number for connection to > Internet and other network services, DataReach will allow these > providers to extend their market reach and lower internal costs. I don't think this will fly with ISP's. Usage charges are something they are trying to stay away from in the telcom industry. Flat rates are what sells. Usage charges would have to be passed along to consumers and as you can tell by the state of other online services like AOL, Prodigy etc flat rate ISP's are what the consumer prefers. Any comments? Professional World Wide Web Hosting & Development Adgrafix Virtual Servers|http://www.adgrafix.com/info/pstanley 407-870-2526|1-800-683-1802 Pin 2438 Phil Stanley|pstanley@adgrafix.com ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 22:55:33 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) The Old Bear writes: > I am not sure what is happening on the rental tape, but I recall > reading that the tones you were hearing a few years ago at the > beginnings of commercials were being inserted for audit purposes. > Advertisers pay to have their commecials run by the networks and by > local stations, but sometimes there are schedule shifts or screw-ups > and the advertiser needs to verify that his ad was actually run as > contracted. Some service, like R H Donnelly, provides this audit > function by monitoring various station/channel broadcasts. There are several systems for doing this. One popular in the 1970s (when TV screens didn't have flat tops or bottoms) had a bar code in the corners of the picture; it wouldn't be visible on a normal TV set, but could be read from the video signal. It wasn't practical then to place these codes outside the active picture area because commercials still were often broadcast directly from film rather than tape. Today many advertisers use the CaptionVision closed caption system to insert IDs for logging; the industry has a standard four-letter, four-digit code to identify each commercial (in broadcasters' traffic systems for example), and this is often transmitted on the CC2 "channel" during each commercial so that it would appear in the upper left corner of the screen. (This doesn't interfere with captions, since those are on CC1.) ------------------------------ From: Alan Dahl Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 13:59:48 -0700 Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? If they are anything like the tones used on some audio cassette recordings it's possible that the tones heard at the beginning of movies are used to ensure that a proper record speed is used during high-speed duplication. After the cassette tape is recorded the tones are played back and the frequencies checked for doppler shift. Don't know if that's what they're used for in video tapes but I'm told that's how the audio cassette tones are used. Alan Dahl | alan.dahl@attws.com Analysts International Co. | (NeXTMail OK) -or- 10655 N.E. 4th St. Suite 804 | adahl@eskimo.com Bellevue, WA 98004 | PH: (206) 702-5231 http://www.eskimo.com/~adahl | FAX: (206) 702-5452 ------------------------------ From: brianb@cfer.com (Brian Brown) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 16:39:30 GMT Organization: ConferTech, International A.CHESIR wrote: > The tones on the VideoTapes are a way of preventing folks from making > illegal copies of the tapes. All recent VCRs are required to have > circuitry in them to detect the presence of the tones and disable any > record function during the play of the tape. Wrong. VHS NTSC copy protection is done by weakening the VHS signal on the tape to the point where a VCR can play it just fine, but another VCR cannot record it. There are boosters you can buy to defeat this purposely weak signal. If you try to record a tape with this type of copy protection, the sound comes out fine, and the video looks like it was shot in the dark. Brian Brown ConferTech, International ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 14:14 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > My complaint is not so much that the COCOT owners are getting money for > their participation in the process, but rather, that the public has to > get involved. It is too bad COCOT owners cannot be part of the established > telco 'family' and share in the largesse that way instead. PAT] I just read the FCC NPRM relative to compensation of pay phone operators and that's just what they're planning to do, compensate pay phone owners (all pay phone owners, both LEC and COCOT) for 800 and 10XXX calls, with the likely compensation being on on the order of 25 cents/call paid by the 800 or 10XXX carrier. They're also planning to require that the LECs unbundle CO-based pay phone facilities so that COCOTs can use CO-controlled "dumb" phones line the LECs do. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 14:25 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Calling > US West's credit department, located in Seattle Washington, > (800/244-1111) has had a practice of not putting who they are via > Caller ID so that someone who needs to talk with them will know that > they are trying to get in touch with them about their phone bill. > The end result is that the customer, not knowing the importance of the > call, rejects the call assuming it is from a telemarketer or telesleaze > outfit such as a bogus prize award call [and sometimes get their service > shut off after repeatedly not answering] I don't see what the problem is. CLID proponents have been saying over and over and over again that they want CLID so they can take control of their phones. OK, you've got CLID, you've got control, the option of whether or not to answer any particular call is entirely up to you. If it turns out that some of the calls that you choose not to answer are in fact from people to whom you wanted to talk, that's part of the cost that goes with your new control. Back when the topic of CLID first came up, some of us predicted that CLID users who declined to answer calls with blocked or missing CLID would find that they'd regret ignoring some of those calls. (The usual example was spouse with broken car calling from a COCOT.) Well, whaddaya know, we were right. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ From: Stewart Fist Subject: Re: NewsFirst Extra - Internet and the PSTN Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 16:35:54 +1000 Organization: OzEmail Pty Ltd - Australia Another solution to the problem of long hold times for Internet connections may be for the carriers to provide a separate channel which by-passes the switch. It obviously isn't difficult for them to Multiplex another channel over the local loop back to the exchange, at say 64kb/s, and have this make direct connection with an ISP link in that exchange. If the charges for this circuit were just on a subscription plus volume basis (no time component), I'd then be quite happy to have a connection which gave me full time PPP instead of dial-up -- and I'd be willing to pay quite a bit more for this service. The problem has always been that we see the local loop as a single wire-single channel connection belonging to the phone company. But when we rent exclusive use of that line, we ought to be able to use it in any reasonably way we want. If we want to add multiplexers at each end and and give ourselves three or four channels back to the peering point in the exchange, then that should be our decision (as renters of the line). And if we want any or all of those channels to connect to companies other than the carrier who physically owns the line, that also ought to be our decision. What we have had in the past is "bundling' of the exclusive local loop connection with the shared resources of the carrier, and we ought to force the legal unbundling. That then opens the whole network to competition. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #385 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Aug 7 01:51:51 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA11751; Wed, 7 Aug 1996 01:51:51 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 01:51:51 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608070551.BAA11751@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #386 TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Aug 96 01:51:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 386 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata (Andrew C. Green) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Wes Leatherock) Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 (ronnie@space.mit.edu) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Lisa Hancock) Re: Activating Message Waiting Lamp (Garry Gruenke) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Linc Madison) Authors/Editors Wanted - **Updated** (Evelyn Rosengarten) Pacific Bell Introduces Solution for Marrying SNA and Frame Relay (M King) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 10:11:59 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: Caller ID: prv/anon/nodata rjn@csn.net (Bob Niland) writes: > We have three Cidco and one Westlink CID boxes. Blocked calls > *always* show as "ANONYMOUS" on the Cidcos (which never display > "PRIVATE" for any reason) and blocked calls always show as "PRIVATE" > on the Westlink (which never displays "ANONYMOUS" for any reason). > Do people actually see displays of both "ANONYMOUS" and "PRIVATE" on the > same display? I don't think so, but this seems to be simply a matter of interpretation (or choice of words) on the part of the manufacturer. There is a privacy flag of some sort sent (which I will leave to someone else to correctly explain) and the ID box manufacturer decides what to do with it. For example, when a blocked call comes to our house, our GE Caller ID display phone lists it simply as "Private Number". Our CidCo Caller ID box, on the other hand, goes berserk, blaring "ANONYMOUS CALL" on its display and flashing its bright red reminder light in cadence with the phone ringer. Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 14:27:38 GMT Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) wrote: >> Chris Moffett (PhonetiCs) (chris@phonetics.com) writes: >> My questions are - >> 1. When did pay phones start charging $.25 to call a 1-800 number? > In general, payphone operators receive no compensation for the use of > their equipment for calls to 800 numbers. As these calls typically > amount to almost a quarter of all traffic from payphones, the public > communications industry has asked for relief from this situation. In > response to this request, the state of Texas, as of a couple of years > ago, permitted payphone operators to impose a `set use fee' of up to > $0.25 per call for calls to 800 numbers. It is my understanding that > few Texas payphone operators actually do this, but it's been a couple > of years since I've visited the Lone Star State. Was the payphone > LEC-owned or a COCOT? You must not have visited Texas recently. I did, a month or month and a half ago, and did not find a single pay phone which did not charge for calls to 800 numbers. (I also did not find a single SWBT [RBOC] pay phone, although I noted a few such indicated by signs at places where I did not need to make a call.) I was driving down one highway not too far from Louisiana, and after encountering several COCOTs all wanting 25 cents for a call to an 800 number, I decided to wait until I got to Louisiana. Within a mile of two of entering Louisiana, there was a tourist welcome station with several banks of BellSouth pay phones which did not charge for calls to 800 numbers. I did find some COCOTs which would allow you to reach the LEC operator by dialing '00.' Those happened to be in places where I wanted to make intraLATA calls, and I was able to do so in this case without paying the 25 cent charge but at the operator-handled LEC rate. Of course, Texas has various peculiar rules. Several years ago I tried to make an intraLATA call using the RBOC from an independent company exchange, and the AT&T operator (who provided the operator service for independent LEC) told me she had no way of connecting with SWBT. I complained to the commission, which, after an exchange of correspondence with the independent company, said the independent company was properly not providing intraLATA service using the RBOC. A lot of the problem apparently stems from the FCC's designation many years ago of the owner of the premises where the COCOT is located as the "customer" who can select the PIC. This defies all logic, since customer is the person who is paying; the owner of the premises working with the COCOT to extract extra money from the real customer to transfer it to the owners of the premises. >> 2. Why did the call complete to the AT&T number and not the others? > I don't know. Could it be that the Texas law applies only to > intrastate 800 calls? Were your test cases both intrastate, both > interstate, or one of each? Anybody in Texas know about this? While I don't live in Texas, I know at least one of the calls I did make, and which the COCOT charged me 25 cents for, was to an 800 number terminating outside of Texas. I think a second one was, too, but I couldn't swear to how many answering points that 800 number has. Since the whole idea of having COCOTs is so the COCOT operator and the owner of the premises can conspire to mulct the customer, it would not seem unreasonable that they give up something for the privilege of getting the share of the customers' money. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ From: ronnie@space.mit.edu Subject: Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 23:47:33 EDT Reply-To: ronnie@space.mit.edu > Some dialing exceptions: > -- Callers in south Broward who now call north Dade by dialing seven > digits will have to dial the area code and the number. The call will > be toll-free, and you do not need a 1 or 0 first. Umm ... this is slightly incomplete. First of all, let me mention that this is also true for North Dade calling South Broward. Secondly, although the call is indeed toll-free, you MUST not dial a 1 or 0 first! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I knew the change was to take affect the other day, so I wasn't surprised when I got the recording saying that "I must dial 954 to call this number". So, naturally, I dialled 1-954-xxx-xxxx, and got a recording telling me "It is not necessary to dial a 1 or 0 when dialing this number". You've got to be kidding me! If the call isn't a toll call, you MUST dial 10 digits, and you MUST NOT dial a 1. Doesn't this go against all other major cities that have split? A friend of mine called me today to complain that his FAX software will no longer work, because it knows that if an area code is required, a 1 is required. Who knows what else is broken. Ron ------------------------------ From: hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa) Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: 7 Aug 1996 03:04:23 GMT Organization: Philadelphia City Paper's City Net 911 service has some problems. In suburban Philadelphia, phone exchanges, postal designations, and municipalities overlap. In many newer developments people honestly don't know what municipality they live in. (Oh yes, school districts further overlap.) While supposedly the 911 computer is supposed to give the proper police or fire authority automatically to the dispatcher, it sometimes fails. Someone's house burned down since the fire truck was dispatched to the wrong neighborhood (the crazy quilt pattern of naming suburban development streets doesn't help any.) For myself, I had to give directions to the central police dispatcher to my apartment complex, despite it being a 300 unit place -- it wasn't on the police computer properly. Adding to the confusion is that some buildings are on the computer by the street address, yet are commonly referred to by name. For example, there's a place in Levittown PA known as "Village of Pennbrook", but the phone company computer shows it as 9071 Mill Creek Road. Most residents in Pennbrook never heard of "9071 Mill Creek Rd" -- that address isn't used or posted anywhere. Philadelphia had a scandal after a young boy was killed by a gang and it took police 45 minutes to respond to a flood of reports of the roaming gang. Apparently the 911 computer system failed to note that a flood of calls were coming in about the roving gang, and a low priority was assigned to each individual call. Years ago police dispatcher were grouped by city sections, now dispatchers handle the city as a whole. IMHO, the old way was better, since if there was a problem, the section dispatcher would see the flood of calls. IMHO, too much computeriziation in this area is dangerous. When I had to call the police, they couldn't find my address in the computer (as I mentioned), and I spent about 10 minutes arguing with the man where I was. Fortunately my complaint was not critical -- but suppose it was life threatening? BTW, in Pennsylvania, the muncipality's expenses for 911 service are added on to local phone bills as a line item expense. In Bucks County, it's 62c/month, in the city of Philadelphia it's $1.00/month. ------------------------------ From: Garry Gruenke Subject: Re: Activating Message Waiting Lamp Date: 7 Aug 1996 03:25:42 GMT Organization: deepcove.com bahitc@ix.netcom.com (Dave Barton) wrote: > We are using Meridian 8314 telephones via OPX lines to connect > personnel at a remote site to our Meridian Option 61 PBX. So far, we > have been unable to activate the "message waiting" light that lets you > know the voice mail system has a message for you. According to a > Meridian technician, an OPX line doesn't generate enough voltage to > activate the light. My question, is there anything (some type of > booster) we can install on the lines to activate light? I have never seen a device to boost the message lamp voltage for OPXs (I've been in this business 22 years) but there are sets that will detect the audible message waiting (interupted dial tone) by periodically going off hook for a moment then using a local power supply to light an indicator. I think that would be a soloution to your problem. Garry Gruenke ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 18:39:13 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , bob@cis.ysu.edu (Bob Hogue) wrote: > It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it > anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which > mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must > wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. > It seems to me that the following benefits would result: > 1. No change in current area code. True. > 2. Easy to create eight-digit from current seven-digit; either repeat > first digit or last digit. Current 555-2368 would become 5555-2368 or > would become 5552-3688. Repeating the first digit doesn't work. How do you distinguish between your new 5555-2368 and the old 555-5236 during the permissive dialing period? There are only two possible answers: by timeout (unacceptable) or by not having a permissive dialing period (also unacceptable). The drawback on adding a number at the end is less severe, but it means that you hamstring yourself on the issue of efficient allocation -- every town of 20 people will now have 100,000 numbers assigned to it instead of only 10,000. > 5. Financial: Any time that a current area code changes, individuals > and businesses must go through a process of notifying their > friends/clients of the new area code, changing letterhead and business > cards, etc. It seems to me that going to an eight-digit number would > make such changes less likely in the future, since spltting an area > code doubles the possible numbers, while going to eight-digit numbers > increases the available numbers by a factor of eight or ten. In some areas, this only means that you spread out your area code splits to every 12 or 15 years instead of every four or five. In any case, this is also a very good argument in favor of overlays instead of splits. > What I don't know is what the real experts, many of whom likely read the > postings on this group, feel about the possible roadblocks to such a plan: > 1. Technical: How difficult/expensive would it be to convert > seven-digit numbers to eight-digit? Enormously difficult and expensive. We're talking many billions of dollars, maybe trillions. Very nearly every piece of telephone switching equipment in North America, from Alaska to Trinidad, from Hawaii to Newfoundland, assumes that any number within the North American Numbering Plan is ten digits. You break that assumption, you have to replace a lot of hardware, everything from the long-distance switching centers to the local switches to the company PBX's. You also annoy a lot of people with pagers, database programs, and autodialers built on the assumption that numbers are 10 digits. In short, it will take decades of planning and advance notice to go to 11-digit numbers, whether that is 4+7 or 3+8. Even so, thousands of companies will scream about having to upgrade their obsolete PBX, even though they were given over 20 years notice. (Just look at the number of people who are only now upgrading PBX's that can't handle NNX area codes. That change was announced in the early 1970's.) > 2. Political/Social: How much opposition would there be to moving > away from a phone number scheme that USA residents (probably all of > North America, for that matter) have used and become accustomed to for > many years? Enormous. Just look at the resistance to overlays, even in the places where they clearly are the only sensible option (Los Angeles and Chicago being the most obvious). Also, the point about North America is important. We're not talking here about the U.S. numbering plan, because there is no such thing. The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) includes Canada, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Dominica, the Cayman Islands, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Turks & Caicos, and soon to be added Guam, the CNMI, and possibly American Samoa. Just try getting all of those countries and territories to agree to a plan and a timetable. In any case, we are only a very few years away from having to dial all 10 digits for all calls in the US and Canada. Thus, an area like Los Angeles having a patchwork of area codes will be only slightly more noteworthy than the patchwork of prefixes, especially since an area code in L.A. will cover about the same area as a prefix in most places. (That'll be the day, when L.A. has two or more area codes that are entirely served by a single central office! Any bets on the year? How about 1999?) Meanwhile, all of Delaware will still be 302. (No slam on Delaware, it just happens to have one of the least-full area codes.) If you live in a town of 30,000, you might know all the prefixes used in your town. If you live in Los Angeles County, you might know that the "prefixes" in the area are 213, 310, 562, 818, 626, 760, 714, etc. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Most likely Rhode Island will still be entirely one area code as well since it is a pretty small place. PAT] ------------------------------ From: evelyn@blue.seas.upenn.edu (Evelyn Rosengarten) Subject: Authors/Editors Wanted - **Updated** Date: 6 Aug 1996 17:44:03 GMT Organization: University of Pennsylvania Nominations are being accepted for area editors and individual contributors for CRC Press' forthcoming COMPREHENSIVE DICTIONARY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. Area editors and contributors should be leading authorities and practitioners in an area of Electrical Engineering. These areas include (but are not necessarily limited to): * power systems * electronic motors and machines * digital electronics * microelectronics and solid state devices * radio and television * communications systems * circuits and systems * control systems * microelectronics * electromagnetics * computer engineering (processors) * computer engineering (I/O and storage) * microwave systems * electro-optical and lightwave systems * illumination * properties of materials * miscellaneous Area editors will identify and coordinate 20 or more individual contributors in the area of their specialization. Contributors will generate 50 or more terms and definitions. Editors will be financially compensated and credited for their work, contributors will receive a credit and a copy of the dictionary upon publication. To nominate someone or for more information please contact the Editor-in-Chief (preferably by email): Dr. Phillip Laplante, PE Dean, BCC/NJIT Technology Technology and Engineering Center 3331 State Highway 38 Mount Laurel, NJ 08054 (609) 222-9311 x7805 (voice) (609) 222-1537 (fax) email: plaplant@bcc.edu ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell Introduces Solution for Marrying SNA and Frame Relay Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 17:07:21 PDT Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 16:11:16 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell Introduces Economical, High-performance Solution for Marrying SNA and Frame Relay FOR MORE INFORMATION: Scott E. Smith (415) 394-3624 sesmith@legal.pactel.com Pacific Bell Introduces Economical, High-performance Solution for Marrying SNA and Frame Relay New SNA on FASTRAKSM includes equipment, network services, maintenance and management -- and a five-fold boost in speed SAN FRANCISCO -- Successful migration of IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) to Frame Relay service until now depended on a rocky marriage between equipment vendors and network services providers that was fraught with accusations of outlandish spending, indifference and, well, "insufficient performance." Pacific Bell has introduced a total solution for managers of SNA networks that will bring harmony to the communications nest. Pacific Bell's SNA On FASTRAKSM combines the transport services, equipment and network management services to migrate SNA data networks to FASTRAK Frame Relay Service, ensuring a compatible union that can trim the budget up to 40 percent over typical private-line solutions. As for that "performance" problem, in addition to the big jump in performance from 9.6 Kilobits per second (Kbps) on SNA to 56 Kbps or better on FASTRAK Frame Relay, all components of the SNA On FASTRAK package are pretested to ensure complete compatibility. "Three out of every four SNA users say that they plan to migrate their networks to Frame Relay," said Irene Fuller, FASTRAK Frame Relay marketing director for Pacific Bell's Advanced Digital Services group. "What they don't say is that they anticipate it to be a major headache. With SNA On FASTRAK, we offer a cost-effective end-to-end solution that's pretested and designed to snap into any SNA network. Plus, we'll manage and maintain any part or all of customers' networks for them." Cost Savings In addition to speed, Frame Relay Service offers numerous advantages over the leased lines that currently provide transport on more than 70 percent of SNA networks. Significant cost savings accrue with the replacement of three to four private lines with Frame Relay. As part of the package, SNA On FASTRAK offers equipment discounts and competitively priced network management services. Also, customers currently leasing private lines from another carrier can switch to SNA On FASTRAK and receive the installation for free. Frame Relay also easily accommodates day-to-day network changes as well as the general trend toward interconnecting with LANs and TCP/IP-based networks. Pacific Bell FASTRAK Frame Relay Service offers industry leading standards for data delivery and network availability, ensuring that the reliability and performance of SNA sessions are maintained. Proven Equipment A wide variety of proven equipment options from the most respected manufacturers in the industry are available under SNA On FASTRAK, including FRADs (Frame Relay assembler-disassemblers) from Sync Research and Motorola, and routers from IBM and Cisco Systems. "Private point-to-point networks, such as those common with SNA, are no longer as cost effective or as applicable in today's networking environment," said Wayne Ward, director of product marketing for Pacific Bell Network Integration , a separate subsidiary of Pacific Bell, which shares marketing responsibility with Pacific Bell for SNA On FASTRAK. "SNA On FASTRAK is designed to make migration easy. We take the extra step of testing all of the components of SNA On FASTRAK to ensure complete compatibility, and easy, effective migration." Through Pacific Bell Network Integration, SNA On FASTRAK customers also have a variety of options for network installation, management, maintenance and help desk services. For more information on SNA On FASTRAK customers can contact their Pacific Bell account teams or call 1-800-400-PBNI. Pacific Bell is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, a diversified telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco. Pacific Bell FASTRAK Advanced Digital Services has development and product marketing responsibility for the FASTRAK family of data communications services, which include FASTRAK Frame Relay, Switched Multimegabit Data Service and Asynchronous Transfer Mode Cell Relay. Pacific Bell Network Integration, a subsidiary of Pacific Bell, provides a single point of contact for total network integration solutions, encompassing Pacific Bell FASTRAK transport services, equipment from leading vendors, project coordination and network management. Information about Pacific Bell can be found on its home page at www.pacbell.com and Pacific Bell Network Integration at www.pbni.com. ---------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #386 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Aug 7 03:35:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id DAA18137; Wed, 7 Aug 1996 03:35:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 03:35:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608070735.DAA18137@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #387 TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Aug 96 03:35:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 387 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson UCLA Short Course on "Optical Fiber Communications" (Bill Goodin) GLU Announcement (R. Jagannathan) Network Computer and User-Owned Timeshare (John Bayko) Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (siegman@stanford.edu) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Ed Mitchell) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Dave Levenson) How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? (Lawrence Rachman) Re: New Internet Registry (.WEB Domain) (John R. Levine) SOS - TAPI, Caller ID, and Visual C++ (Derrick Bradbury) Distinctive Ring Availability (Mike Hillis) Wireless Data (Cell.) Looking For a Product (Robert Raymond) Listing of 500 NPA NXXs (Zev Rubenstein) Satellite TV Services (Adam Frix) Last Laugh! Crackdown on Prostitutes' Adverts (Adam Starchild) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: BGoodin@UNEX.UCLA.EDU (Goodin, Bill) Organization: UCLA Extension - contact Postmaster@unex.ucla.edu for problems. Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 11:15:03 -0700 Subject: UCLA Short Course on "Optical Fiber Communications" On October 29 - November 1, 1996, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Optical Fiber Communications: Techniques and Applications", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructors are Tran V. Muoi, PhD, President, Optical Communication Products, Del Hanson, PhD, Principal Engineer, Hewlett-Packard, and Richard E. Wagner, PhD, District Manager, Bellcore. This course offers a review of optical fiber communications fundamentals, then focuses on state-of-the-art technology and its applications in present and future communication networks. The course begins with the major building blocks of optical fiber communications systems (fiber and passive components, sources and transmitters, detectors and receivers). Actual design examples of fiber optic links for short-haul and long-haul applications are studied, and recent technological advances in addressing problems due to fiber loss and dispersion are presented. The impact of fiber optic technology on communications is highlighted in the latter half of the course. Recent developments in local and metropolitan area networks to support multimedia traffic (i.e., data, voice, and video) and their evolving architectures and standards are fully covered. The treatment on telecommunications systems includes various technological options for subscriber networks, exchange networks, and the global undersea networks. Network architectures evolving from the traditional telephone and CATV networks are contrasted. Technology trends and directions for realizing the so-called information superhighway are examined as well. Finally, optical networks using wavelength routing and multi-wavelength cross-connects are presented. The course fee is $1295, which includes extensive course materials. These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale. For additional information and a complete course description, please contact Marcus Hennessy at: (310) 825-1047 (310) 206-2815 fax mhenness@unex.ucla.edu http://www.unex.ucla.edu/shortcourses/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 12:00:01 PDT From: R. Jagannathan Subject: GLU Announcement Reply-To: R. Jagannathan Parallel Programmers and Practitioners, You are invited to download, experiment and use the latest release (version 960730) of the GLU toolkit which is now available via http://www.csl.sri.com/GLU.html (Documentation and publications can also be obtained from the above URL.) The toolkit facilitates rapid development of parallel applications that are platform-independent, adaptive, and scalable. The toolkit should be of interest to developers of parallel applications who want to focus on applications themselves without being burdened by the complexities and details of application parallelization. The GLU toolkit consists of the following: * two-phase compiler * multi-transport runtime libraries * parallel execution scripts * performance analyzer The main features of GLU include: * A high-level graph-based hybrid programming model that supports reuse of existing sequential code * Automatic generation of parallel programs of different ``shapes'' to achieve different scalability and adaptivity goals * Dynamic host addition and deletion capability * Automatic or user-assisted load distribution capability * Compilation of generated parallel programs to target-specific executables for heterogeneous Unix-based workstation networks and clusters. * Sequential debugging of application functionality and parallel fine-tuning of application performance * Support for both PVM and TCP/IP transports * Support for both distributed-memory and shared-memory interactions * Support for performance logging and post-execution analysis Thank you for your interest. GLU Project Team glu@csl.sri.com SRI International Menlo Park, California 94025, U.S.A. ------------------------------ From: bayko@BOREALIS.CS.UREGINA.CA (John Bayko) Subject: Network Computer and User-Owned Timeshare Date: 6 Aug 1996 19:56:08 GMT Organization: University of Regina, Dept. of Computer Science In article , Bohdan Tashchuk wrote: >> Ian Kemmish wrote: >>> NCs are more like the rebirth of commercial timesharing, where you >>> pay by the >>> minute, and if you're really unlucky you pay both for connect time >>> AND for CPU time... > [timeshare system provider horror stories deleted] > And some people STILL think that network computers will in some way > replace PCs. The more you give bureaucrats control over ANY aspect of > your computing environment, the more they will find ways to screw you. I think one obvious possibility has been ignored in the idea of Network Computers (one that's actually happening already) -- the idea that the user is also the timeshare provider. Anyone who owns a portable computer, a personal digital assistant, daytime planner, and whatnot usually also owns a PC which is where they keep their main files and software. Currently the strategy is to periodically connect the mobile system to the desktop system to update and download files. Data transfer is why modems are so important in portable computers. As desktop operating systems expand the networking abilities, including server capabilities, and when internet providers begin commonly providing full internet access (including providing connections *to* a PC via PPP, ISDN, or some future standard, as if it were a host), I'm pretty sure people will begin keeping more files and software on their main PC and less on their mobile devices, just accessing them as needed. And if they can use a $500 NC with better display and faster processor than their laptop to do what they want, why wouldn't they? Better yet, if they can just use any NC that just happens to be there, why carry around a laptop at all (it can be lost, stolen, or damaged)? You could argue whether NCs will replace PCs, but I think it's more likely that NCs will be an expansion to the PC -- and the distinction between PC and workstation will finally just go away, since there was never a real difference anyway (it was an implimentation detail). John Bayko (Tau). bayko@cs.uregina.ca http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~bayko [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You raise some good points, but I for example do all my work on this Digest via a terminal in my home which is linked to a workstation (massis) which is assigned to me pretty much for my exclusive use at MIT. I could offer some objections at times to the general state of network connectivity and speed, but overall I don't do badly operating at 28.8 over a phone link which is up usually eight to ten hours per day. All my scripts, editing tools and mailing list/newsgroup stuff is on massis. PAT] ------------------------------ From: siegman@ee.stanford.edu (AES) Subject: Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Summer 1996) Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 13:04:15 -0700 Organization: Stanford University > Ronda Hauben wrote: >> The article "What Made Bell Labs Great" by T. A. Heppenheimer in the >> Summer 1996 "American Heritage of Invention & Technology" is a helpful >> discussion of the significant achievement represented by Bell Labs and >> what has been lost with the break up of AT&T with regard to the Labs. >> I recommend the article and wonder why there haven't been more like >> it looking at the enormous achievements of Bell Labs and analyzing >> the impact that the breakup of AT&T would have on the continuing >> ability to support such an important research and scientific resource. > Jim Wall wrote in reply: > Remember that while Bell Labs was leading the pack, there were others > working on the same things, most notably the big universities. What is > very difficult to answer is if ATT realized any net profit from the > inventions of Bell Labs. Pure R&D labs are a direct loss to a > companies bottom line. . . . . > I think it is fairly easy to say that ATT made a net profit *in > certain years* from Bell Labs but I would guess that overall they did > not. . . . I'd neither challenge nor accept the economic conclusion stated above vis a vis AT&T and the profit it derived from Bell labs. What's absolutely clear to me, however, as a long time university researcher who had extensive contacts with Bell labs colleagues, and I think as a technically and socially aware citizen, is that the *world* (and the U.S.) are enormously richer and better off today than they would have been had Bell Labs not existed. (Fill in obligatory references to the transistor, the laser, early communications satellites, Unix, etc., etc. -- but realize that these are only the visible tips of massive icebergs of basic scientific knowledge and engineering technology that came out of Bell Labs.) The broader way to view Bell Labs is as an inspired social mechanism under which a miniscule (really miniscule) tax on each phone call made possible the stable long-term operation of a research enterprise which could be and was run with great wisdom, and which returned a massive enormous profit to the whole of society -- even if this didn't show up on AT&T's balance sheet. Whether there is any other way to replace this now, and to produce similar benefit to future generations, is very open to question. > What seems to be taking the place of internal R&D efforts is corporate > funded research at public universities. They get a tax write off and > first access to any discoveries. So I think the research is still > being done, just in a different way. Well, having seen a lot of this in operation close up, I'm a lot less optimistic. What made Bell Labs so productive was a combination of features, especially including stable long-term funding and personal security and independence for the Labs and for the researchers; a size level sufficient to provide a critical mass of experts in many areas of research, all interacting productively with each other; an absolute focus on quality; and a combination of freedom to initiate and carry through curiousity-driven research while also recognizing the importance and desirability of providing the technical underpinnings for new real-world applications in the long term. Will government and industry support in universities really replace this? Well, we try, but frankly I very much doubt it. --AES (Professor of EE, Stanford) ------------------------------ From: Ed Mitchell Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 15:12:57 -0700 news@ssbunews.ih.lucent.com writes: > A key point to keep in mind is that 911 is a service offered to public > agencies. They (not the telephone company) have to fund the answering > points, staff them and operated them. But a single-number system > requires that the agencies cooperate to accomplish this task -- > typically, lack of cooperation is the MAJOR hurdle blocking the use of > E911. Three years ago I lived in a rural county that did not have E911. The reason the county did not have E911 was due to a combination of funding to pay for the system, and also because the entire county's postal addressing system had to be changed to provide meaningful address information to the 911 operator. Almost all postal address (and the addresses on the phone bill) were encoded similar to "Rural Route 15 Box 428" referring to the postal carrier route and the box number along the route. There was no street name nor street address associated with the location of the phone. To implement E911 first required that the post office go through the entire county and assign street address to rural and semi-rural homes, and in a few cases, assign street names where none had existed. This process took over a year of time. Then, each resident, had to notify their personal or business contacts of new mailing addresses. So from a rural perspective, I think you can see how implementation of E911 is a very complex undertaking impacting many people in many diverse ways. And why there are indeed areas that do not have E911. Its not just a matter of installing some new switch software - its a change to one's entire way of life causing new home addresses to be issued and updates to everyone's mailing lists! Ed Mitchell, KF7VY [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I seem to remember a few years ago getting a note from a friend of mine who lived out in the countryside in northern Illinois. His card said 'our new address is 1234 Some Road.' I talked to him later and said I did not know he was planning to move and he said he did *not* move; he said that was the way they had been told to give out their address in the future rather than using the old style 'Rural Route Box ' as they had in the past. In his case, they took what had been the the box number on the rural route and used the same digits with a new name for the road he was on. ObTrivia: (you know how I am about that sort of thing!) Until about five years ago, there was actually one post office Rural Route still operating within the city of Chicago. It was way out on the southwest outskirts of the city; there was (still is) an actual operating farm out there with a farmer. He is in the city. His address was given as 'Rural Route 1, Chicago, IL 606xx' for however long. A few years ago references to the rural route disappeared and now he goes by an actual street name and number like everyone else. Sometimes the numbers on a given street are rather arbitrary however and are whatever they are only because of long usage and local custom. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 01:12:40 GMT Tony Pelliccio (kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com) writes: > Is it just me or does this one reek? The COCOT's pretty much block all > 10XXX codes so you're forced to use an 800 number If a COCOT is programmed to block a 10xxx code, it is operating in violation of the Telecommunications Operator Services Consumer Information Act (TOSCIA) of 1992 as amended. > and then they have the gumption to ask you for a quarter? As far as I know, it is only in Texas where payphone operators are allowed to ask you for a quarter. In all other states, they are required to allow you to use their equipment without paying them for it. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do agree that the COCOT owners deserve > to be compensated for all use of their instruments. Of course in the > past ... > My complaint is not so much that the COCOT owners are getting money for > their participation in the process, but rather, that the public has to > get involved. It is too bad COCOT owners cannot be part of the established > telco 'family' and share in the largesse that way instead. PAT] Under the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996, it will, once again, be invisible to the public. The carrier who bills for the 800 call will be responsible for paying the payphone operator, not the person actually using the instrument. This process will apply equally to all payphone operators, COCOT and LEC. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Date: 06 Aug 96 12:49:15 EDT From: Lawrence Rachman <74066.2004@CompuServe.COM> Subject: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? My employer is working on a product that will simulate a telephone exchange, and the question of what is a reasonable battery voltage for worldwide applications has come up. In North America, the open loop voltage is 48 volts nominal (I believe that's what part 68 demands). In Europe, 62 volts seems to have a strong following. My Panasonic PBX at home measures approximately 24 volts. Now, if all you've got is a POTS telephone, none of this is typically an issue. But nowadays, there are gadgets like fax machines and answering machines that monitor the open loop voltage to determine if another extension is off hook, or possibly for other reasons. Obviously, if one of these gadgets considers >36 volts to be on-hook and <36 to be off-hook, its going to get seriously confused by my Panasonic PBX. Does anyone out there have any personal or anecdotal experience with telephone devices that sense line voltage this way? Just how low can the open loop voltage go? Lawrence Rachman, WA2BUX 74066.2004@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 14:31 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. Subject: Re: New Internet Registry (.WEB Domain) > PAT, the readers of TELECOM might be interested to know that per the > current draft regarding new Internet Top Level Domains (postel/IANA), > Image Online Design has opened the .WEB and .WWW domains for early > registrations pending procedure finalization. Potential customers should keep in mind: -- there's no guarantee when or if new domains will be created; -- nobody knows whether .WEB or .WWW will be among the domains that are created, if there are new domains, nor what the registrations procedures will be; -- if .WEB and .WWW are created, Mr. Ambler's organization might or might not be one of the registrars; -- if .WEB and .WWW are created and Mr. Ambler's organization is one of the registrars, nobody knows whether his pre-registrations will have any effect; I'd check very carefully before sending any money. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ From: derrickb@halex.com (Derrick Bradbury) Subject: SOS - TAPI, Caller ID, and Visual C++ Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 07:34:54 GMT Organization: Canscape Inc. Hey, I was wondering if anyone out there is working with TAPI for incoming calls. All of the examples I can find are for outgoing calls only, and nothing for incoming. I have a USR 33.6 VoiceModem, and am trying to get the caller ID from the modem. The return flag always says that there is nothing there. Is there any examples of Caller ID in Visual C++ 4.0, or can someone give me a hand? Any help is greatly appreciated. Environment: Window 95, Microsoft C4, TAPI32.DLL, UsRobotic Voice modem. Problem: Trying to retrieve caller id information by using lineGetCallInfo() and it always returns dwCallerIDFlag == LINECALLPARTYID_UNAVAIL. TIA, Derrick ------------------------------ Date: 06 Aug 96 15:39:05 EDT From: Mike Hillis <71414.2656@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Distinctive Ring Availability I'd like to have a second phone number at my house without having a second phone line. The local phone company, Puerto Rico Telephone Company, seems to think I'm from another planet when I ask about this service. Is it likely they have this service but their marketing folks simply don't know about it, or don't all phone companies have the ability to offer it? -- mlh ------------------------------ From: Robert Subject: Wireless Data (Cell.) Looking For a Product Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 16:56:14 -0700 Organization: Mobility Canada To implement a simple application, in quantities, I'm looking for a integrated solution with these components: -Cellular transmiter, 3 W. on Amps network. -Data interface -12V It look simple but the only integrated unit I find (in Canada) are: Moto. FX-2000 or 2500 (but with ac/dc power supply) Mitsubishi CDL 1000 (discontinued and including MNP-10 modem) or any combination of fix units with exterior interface. Can someone direct me on a specific product on the market of which I'm not aware? Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 09:59:11 +0000 From: zev@attmail.com (Zev Rubenstein) Subject: 500 NPA NXXs Listings Some time ago someone sent a post asking where they could find a list of which carriers have which NXXs within the 500 NPA, which is used for non-geographic calling. AT&T has a website that lists their NXXs, with some additional information (e.g. which NXX corresponds to "FOR"). The web page is at: http://www.att.com/trueconnections/frames/faq_page.html. Go to the question: "Can I select my own AT&T True Connections 500 number?" Zev Rubenstein Nationwide Telecommunications Resources ------------------------------ Date: 05 Aug 96 22:18:13 EDT From: Adam Frix <70721.504@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Satellite TV Services > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The cop's analogy is flawed. Yes, there > are people selling drugs, carrying guns with violent intent and doing > other bad things. There are also people engaged in the *theft of > merchandise and services*, which is how the above crime could be > categorized. When I invite a cable TV provider into my home, I'm agreeing that he'll provide a physical cable under certain circumstances -- one of them being that I agree not to decode any cable-borne signals without the authorization of the cable TV company, who is acting as agent for the entertainment providers. Fine. And I agree that receiving entertainment without paying the entertainers is in principle wrong. HOWEVER: When in the course of human events it becomes such that, for the convenience of the entertainment provider, the entertainment is BROADCAST through the airwaves in a manner that cannot be physically limited or narrowcast (physics works: electromagnetic radiation and all that), the owners of that entertainment have for all practical matter given up any right or means for recompense. In other words, they shouldn't use EMR as a method of distributing something they want narrowcast. Any attempt at controlling EMR is purely political and is destined to fail. They must take physical control of their entertainment -- whether that means doing live performances in playhouses or using pipes (cables) that can be turned on or off (addressable cable taps) at a point controlled by the entertainment vendor. If you don't want me to see your entertainment, don't attach it to EMR and blast that EMR into my backyard. I'm waiting for someone to sue HBO et al. to keep that EMR out of his backyard. If they want the convenience afforded by broadcasting, then they have to put up with the consequences of that action. They can't have their cake and eat it too. Adam Frix 70721.504@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: taxhaven@ix.netcom.com (Adam Starchild ) Subject: Last Laugh! Crackdown on Prostitutes' Adverts Date: 6 Aug 1996 17:34:07 GMT Organization: Netcom From {The Financial Times} (London), August 6, 1996 Telecommunications: Crackdown on prostitutes' adverts British Telecommunications is to alter the terms and conditions for more than 20 million residential customers in an attempt to crack down on prostitutes' advertisements in telephone boxes. About 150,000 cards are removed from kiosks in central London every week. The initiative, also supported by other telephone service operators, will result in BT being able to block the in-coming telephone calls of prostitutes who persistently place cards in payphones. Posted by Adam Starchild The Offshore Entrepreneur at http://www.au.com/offshore [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wish that could be done to everyone who clutters up payphones with notices of one kind or another. It seems like every payphone I go to I see notices taped up on the side of the little stand or pasted on a wall nearby offering everything available from Avon products, Tupperware parties, babysitters available, pet grooming services, etc. It hasn't been as bad in recent years (that I can tell) as it used to be, but the walls in public bathrooms used to be extremely cluttered with lewd propositions and commentaries on all sorts of things, and many of those would include phone numbers to call if you wanted to speak to the author personally. I never did call those numbers -- always assuming them to be a joke and not the real number of the message writer -- but a few times I was tempted to do so, just to see who answered and if they were for real. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #387 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Aug 7 21:16:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA14620; Wed, 7 Aug 1996 21:16:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 21:16:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608080116.VAA14620@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #388 TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Aug 96 21:16:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 388 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (K Daniels) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (A Siegman) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Stanley Cline) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Tim Shoppa) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Peter Laws) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (James E. Bellaire) Re: New NPAs Cost Pac Bell $8 MIL (Ed Ellers) Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems (David B. Paul) Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? (Jim Wall) Re: 415 Split Offers Only Temporary Relief (Matt Ackeret) Re: Satellite TV Services (Curtis Wheeler) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: telco@teleport.com (Kelly Daniels) Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call Date: 7 Aug 1996 14:58:41 GMT Organization: Telco Planning In article , johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) wrote: >> US West's credit department, located in Seattle Washington, >> (800/244-1111) has had a practice of not putting who they are via >> Caller ID so that someone who needs to talk with them will know that >> they are trying to get in touch with them about their phone bill. >> The end result is that the customer, not knowing the importance of the >> call, rejects the call assuming it is from a telemarketer or telesleaze >> outfit such as a bogus prize award call [and sometimes get their service >> shut off after repeatedly not answering] > I don't see what the problem is. CLID proponents have been saying > over and over and over again that they want CLID so they can take > control of their phones. OK, you've got CLID, you've got control, the > option of whether or not to answer any particular call is entirely up > to you. > If it turns out that some of the calls that you choose not to answer > are in fact from people to whom you wanted to talk, that's part of the > cost that goes with your new control. > Back when the topic of CLID first came up, some of us predicted that > CLID users who declined to answer calls with blocked or missing CLID > would find that they'd regret ignoring some of those calls. (The > usual example was spouse with broken car calling from a COCOT.) Well, > whaddaya know, we were right. I do not think the issue is the call rejection, but I was using the rule of thumb of Business Lines could not have Calling Line ID Blocked either with *XX or Central Office Database Block. Residential lines could have one, the other or no blocking. The exceptions where line classifications of certain entities, such as women's crisis centers, etc ... The other issue I have with this is, why would a company that wants to sell CLID features for such a revenue stream, opt not to participate in the feature ubiquity itself. Certainly, there is no life threatening issue in finding out that US WEST called. While US WEST is sometimes my least favorite RBOC, they certainly provide a level of service and a product that many entreupenures could only dream of providing. But my big gripe with US WEST is anogous to the above issue, Why not thoroughly use to it's benefit, the resources it promotes. When would US WEST not make sure CLID is sent? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are times people might not want to answer the phone if they know who is calling. If you have not got the money to pay a bill, then you don't want to talk to a bill collector. So US West may be thinking in that direction, that it is better to be vague about who is calling until they get the person they want to speak with on the line. PAT] ------------------------------ From: siegman@ee.stanford.edu (AES) Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 14:14:46 -0700 Organization: Stanford University John Levice writes: > Back when the topic of CLID first came up, some of us predicted that > CLID users who declined to answer calls with blocked or missing CLID > would find that they'd regret ignoring some of those calls. (The > usual example was spouse with broken car calling from a COCOT.) Well, > whaddaya know, we were right. I totally agree, John. But I also think it would be good social policy, and no real infringement of anyone's rights, to require businesses calling for business purposes -- especially including telemarketers! -- to properly identify themselves via CLID, so that recipients could make an informed decision if they wanted to take the call or not. In the case at issue, in fact -- a company calling about an overdue bill -- I'd think the company would _want_ to identify itself, since it would take away or at least weaken the delinquent customer's ability to say, "Gee, I didn't know". What say? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But see my comments above. When you get into what I would term 'hard core collection work' -- that is, where the collector and the debtor play games with each other, each trying to outwit the other -- then the collector does not always want his identity known in advance. If you were trying to avoid creditors and you saw on your caller ID box that a creditor was calling, or a skip- tracing service, etc, would *you* want to take the call? It can be a double-edged sword. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service From: scline@usit.ent (Stanley Cline) Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Date: Wed, 07 Aug 96 14:34:24 In article , Pat said: > and he said he did *not* move; he said that was the way they had been > told to give out their address in the future rather than using the > old style 'Rural Route Box ' as they had in the past. > In his case, they took what had been the the box number on the rural > route and used the same digits with a new name for the road he was on. In the areas near Chattanooga that have changed addresses for E911, new "house numbers" were based on mileage from the "end" of the road. (One mile into the road, for example, house numbers were changed to 1000, 1001, 1009, etc Whatever Road...) A small number of subdivisions were *not* changed as they were already using house numbers, but businesses along US 41 in Catoosa County *in the city of Ringgold* had their addresses changed! There was a "permissive address" period of 12-18 months when addresses were changed, and mail addressed to the RR address would go to the "street" address. After the end of the permissive period, mail would be returned to sender if the street address wasn't on the mailpiece. The post office has a "hand" stamp that says "address changed due to E911"... The logic in all of this is to allow police/fire/EMS units to better find homes and businesses -- rather than using (confusing) box numbers, they can simply use mileage (from an intersection, etc.) as their guide. (House numbers must be clearly labeled on the mailbox or curb or a "yard stick" also.) > ObTrivia: (you know how I am about that sort of thing!) Until about > five years ago, there was actually one post office Rural Route still > operating within the city of Chicago. It was way out on the southwest There are still a couple of rural routes operating in the *city limits* of Chattanooga, primarily in the 37419 (Lookout Valley/Elder Mountain) zip code. Their post office is located in a swimming pool store! The letter carriers drive their own cars, Jeep Cherokees, etc. with "US Mail" signs on them, as is common in rural areas! (This area used the Rural Route addressing until recently, but the USPS' zip code book still shows the RR addressing as "valid.") Stanley Cline ** Roamer1 on IRC (see why?) mailto:scline@usit.net http://www.usit.net/public/scline/ CIS 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Speaking of small post offices, what I found amazing one time was a post office with a non-pub phone number. I called from here a very small town looking for someone and usually the best way to do that is call the postmaster; he'll know everyone in those tiny little towns. In this case, directory assistance told me the number was non-published for the post office itself! Curious, I followed up on that with someone formerly employed by the Postal Service and was told that in very, very tiny places, they have what is known as 'Class Four' (or Fourth Class?) post offices. There is no facility as such, and the sole employee/postmaster works out of his home with a small separate area in one room for the post office boxes, selling stamps, etc. In those situations, the single employee/ postmaster is purely a commission agent for the Postal Service; he is paid strictly on a commission basis for the stamps sold and other services he renders (which the public pays him for). His expenses are his own problem also including his phone line. Since he pays the phone bill, he is free to have the phone non-pub if he wants it. The same person told me a story of how 'money talks, and BS walks' as the old saying goes. He has been in the 'adult mail order' business for a few years now, sending out catalogs with 'adult products and services' listed for sale. He moved from a big city to a very small town where the people were sort of snobbish. In all those small places not only does the postmaster know everyone in town, but most likely he knows all about the mail they receive and send as well. In this case, after a short time in town and getting orders in the mail for his sexually-oriented printed material, he found himself getting dirty looks from the woman who ran the post office every time he went in to get the stuff out of his box. But then he had the Postal Service move his postage-meter account and his Business Reply envelope trust fund account to the post office in the little town. Pretty soon he was going in to the tiny little post office with checks payable to 'postmaster' for ten thousand dollars to replenish the trust fund and to fill his postage meter machine. Those dirty looks from the woman who ran the place turned into friendly smiles. It seems he was the biggest customer she had, and he was using about a hundred to two hundred dollars per day in postage. He about doubled the revenue stream at that little tiny commissionable fourth-class post office, and whatever feelings the woman had about 'that obscene stuff he gets and sends out in the mail' soon vanished. Strange but true. PAT] ------------------------------ From: shoppa@alph02.triumf.ca (Tim Shoppa) Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: 7 Aug 1996 09:43:14 GMT Organization: Tri-University Meson Facility In article , Pat wrote: > Sometimes the numbers on a given street are rather arbitrary however > and are whatever they are only because of long usage and local custom. In places where they place more thought into it, rural addresses are assigned a street address and number based on a grid location. This often results in rather urban-sounding addresses, such as "177436 5614th Street SW" when the nearest city, with a population of only a few hundred, is a dozen or more miles away. The grid system makes it much easier for emergency people to quickly find the caller on a map, though. Along similar lines, the Canadian postal zone system allows 26*26*26*10*10*10 zones, meaning that it could be arranged such that each zone is shared by only two or three Canadians. Similarly, the new nine-digit US zip codes allow enough numbers that each person in the US could have three or four of their own personal zip codes! Forcing the emergency services to carry around an index with tens of millions or a billion zip codes, and the current whereabouts of each person's zone, would probably be a step backwards. Tim. (shoppa@triumf.ca) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually anyone with a post office box does in fact have a unique zip code; a zip code for their sole use. Usually post office boxes are numbered in such a way there will be no overlapping of numbers within a given zip code even if there is more than one postal facility in the zip code. Try this as an experiement: On a blank envelope, put only this single line as the address: 60076-4621. If you have little or no faith in the Postal Service, give your own return address if you wish, but for me (yes, that is my personal zip code) just give the above single line. Insert a dollar bill or a five dollar bill in the envelope, discretely wrapped in paper so unwanted eyes won't see what is inside. I'll appreciate it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: plaws@comp.uark.edu (Peter Laws) Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: 7 Aug 1996 13:39:06 GMT Organization: The University of Arkansas hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa) writes: > roaming gang. Apparently the 911 computer system failed to note that > a flood of calls were coming in about the roving gang, and a low > priority was assigned to each individual call. Years ago police This is a CAD problem, not a 911 problem! The computer aided dispatch system is what would advise the dispatcher or call taker that events were possibly connected. 911 only provides ANI, ALI, etc. It doesn't make dispatch decisions (nor should CAD systems for that matter). As I recall, a few heads rolled at the PSAP (PPD? or separate agency?). Naturally, the individual dispatchers were found at fault and terminated rather that the management that froze hiring, didn't provide adequate training, etc. Peter Laws ex NREMT-P/ex MA EMT-P ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Aug 96 09:03 EST From: James E Bellaire Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Michael Ayotte wrote: > It would result in residual 7-digit phone numbers remaining for years or > perhaps even decades. But the numbers that were converted to 8-digit > format would relieve the demand for new lines. In extreem cases the phone > company could claim "Emminent Domain" and force the conversion of ranges > of numbers. But only as necissary. Hiding in tarrifs of the phone companies is the little comment that 'phone numbers do not belong to the subscriber and can be reassigned and any time.' (Or words to that effect.) Although forcing a number change is usually avoided by the telcos, it has occurred. In North Carolina a few towns had their exchange changed (as well as their NPA) recently. It is possible. Europe seems to have the expert in adding digits to numbers. When British Telecom wants to expand the number of phones in an area, they tell all their customers in that CO 'your number is changing from xxxxx to xxxxxy' and on the target date it changes. Period. Of course in the United States we do have the FCC, which has shown interest in protecting phone numbers as property of the user. The 800 replication debate and their plans for 'lifetime' portable numbers show that they lean toward letting people keep their old numbers, despite the needs of the system for more codes. Just remember that numbers were provided for phones for the convenience of the telephone company. Line numbers permitted the cordboard operators to ignore who was calling whom and just route calls. Exchange numbers allowed telecos to operate without hiring every young woman in America to run the manual exchanges. Area codes allowed the reuse of seven digit numbers in multiple areas. When the time comes for a longer than 10 digit number the telephone company will just take control of the numbers, as they have always done, and make the system work. My predictions: In the current wave of NPA relief the overlay has lost to the split. In the next wave the split will lose to the overlay. California's decision will become common for the rest of the NANP. The confusion over boundries will have people in populated areas dialing 1+ten digits or ten digites on every call (if permitted within NPA) especially from strange locations such as unlabled payphones, hotels and friends homes. Eventually users will loose the distinction of 1+ = toll and the telcos will be able to start overlays. When 415 users are asked to split again in six years they, and the Texas people, will push for overlays to save their numbers. The FCC will rule that overlays are not wrong IF they contain all services and all service providers. By the time we use up all the three digit NPAs we will have a chance to prepare all the equiptment for the next stage ... eleven digit numbers. We would migrate from NXX NXX-XXXX to N9XX NXX-XXXX by telling users that a 9 is being added as the second digit of their NPA, or do a massive change of ALL NPAs at the same time. In multi-code areas the last eight could be local, in rural areas the last seven. The users outside the local area would not need to know how many digits are local in your town unless they came to visit. The entire number string would be the same length, just switched based on a different position. How numbers are split is irrelevant if we can design new switches to handle any digit in any position, then replace the older switches with the new 'any digit' switch as we can. That is IF the switch manufacturers get with the program. Every new switch should have 'any digit' capability. NOW. Then they will be ready for the next generation. James ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: New NPAs Cost Pac Bell $8 MIL Date: Wed, 7 Aug 96 15:44:20 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Tad Cook writes: > The original area code rules were rigid: > -- The first digit could never begin with a 1 or 0. > -- The second number could only be a 1 or 0. > -- The third digit had no restrictions. > At first, the reasons for this system had nothing to do with either > science or technology. But what the (unnamed) reporter doesn't seem to know is that this scheme, as far as it went, made sense at the time; local prefixes back then *never* had a 0 or 1 in the first two digits, so requiring 0 or 1 in the second digit allowed the switch to tell the difference between a local prefix and an area code. (Forbidding 0 or 1 in the first digit, as with local prefixes, kept 0 open for "operator" and kept 1 open for service codes, which used to begin with 11 in many places.) Not only did this scheme not require a "timeout" to distinguish between 0 for "operator" and 0 as the first digit of a prefix, but it also allowed step-by- step switches to drop all 11x calls early in the dialing sequence. ------------------------------ From: exudpau@exu.ericsson.se (David B. Paul) Subject: Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems Date: 7 Aug 1996 17:52:25 GMT Organization: Ericsson North America Inc. Reply-To: exudpau@exu.ericsson.se In article 3@massis.lcs.mit.edu, stephen@clark.net (Stephen Balbach) writes: > As a matter of alternative views, here is an email I recieved on SLC's and > how the search for the right card is a search for the Holy Grail. Perhaps > he did not try PulseCom AUA178i revision B1 issue 2 > The SLC units are not what they seem. You look at one, and you > think it is a channel bank breaking out a digital signal, and > providing standard channel bank functions. > But that is not what it is (at least not what Southwestern Bell uses). > The AT&T SLC unit is a device to take analog signals, fold them together > onto a digital pathway, and fan them back out on the other side. > What is the difference? Big difference ... both the in and the out are > analog. But if the SLC-96 (or clone thereof) operates in an IDLC (that is, INTEGRATED digital loop carrier) configuration, in which the DS1's coming from the SLC-96 plug directly into the exchange, then only the "in" is analog, and so the SLC-96 introduces only one source of quantization noise, not two. > The problem is what is called "PCM quantization noise". ------------------------------ From: Jim Wall Subject: Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 10:58:14 -0700 Organization: SoloPoint, Inc. Lawrence Rachman wrote: > My employer is working on a product that will simulate a telephone > exchange, and the question of what is a reasonable battery voltage for > worldwide applications has come up. In North America, the open loop > voltage is 48 volts nominal (I believe that's what part 68 demands). > In Europe, 62 volts seems to have a strong following. My Panasonic PBX > at home measures approximately 24 volts. I am somewhat lazy and won't dig out the exact numbers, but these are close enough to give you the idea. The US Bellcore standards specify that the DC line voltage (at the user premises) be between -20VDC and -105VDC. ANd of course if your lines are switched it is plus 20 to plus 105. Most PBX's do work off of reduced voltages like 24 volts. You will need to decide what it is you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to make a simulator that will generate all line voltages, signal levels, and impeadances (and if you are, I'll buy one)? Or are you trying to generate a single line whose characteristics that will work for most telephony devices on the market? Jim ------------------------------ From: mattack@eskimo.com (Matt Ackeret) Subject: Re: 415 Split Offers Only Temporary Relief Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 21:48:53 GMT In article , Tad Cook wrote: > calls. And there must be something Pacific Bell is pushing, a future > technology called "location number portability," which would allow > customers to take phone numbers with them when they move, even if to a > new area code. Both requirements are designed to avoid putting new > local phone service providers at a competitive disadvantage to Pac Bell. > Portability technology isn't expected to be available until 1998, but > together with overlays, it will essentially eliminate geography as a > basis for area codes. And while supporters say that's necessary to So this really means that I could still be 408-123-4567 even if I lived in some other state, right? If that is right, this is realistically changing everyone to a ten digit phone number, right? unknown@apple.com Apple II Forever ------------------------------ From: Curtis Wheeler Subject: Re: Satellite TV Services Date: 7 Aug 1996 23:10:51 GMT Organization: Just Me and My Opinions (Std. Disclaimer) Adam Frix <70721.504@CompuServe.COM> wrote: > If you don't want me to see your entertainment, don't attach it to EMR > and blast that EMR into my backyard. > I'm waiting for someone to sue HBO et al. to keep that EMR out of his > backyard. > If they want the convenience afforded by broadcasting, then they have > to put up with the consequences of that action. They can't have their > cake and eat it too. I am waiting for such a case too. Agreed -- I won't argue that you have right to point your satelite dish in a certain direction and dial your tuner to a signal on a transponder. If the signal is sent "in the clear" you can watch all you want. However, most "pay services" encrypt or scramble their signals. Again, feel free to point your antenna and tune in. Feel free to watch all the scrambled pictures you wish. But in my opinion, the line is drawn at the encryption. Decrypting these signals requires a code or key provided to the legitimate subscribers of a service. If you posess a key you are not entitled to have and you are using it to obtain a service without paying for -- I would consider it akin to posession of stolen property. On another note. While this is not really laid out in black and white, you don't necessarily have the right to do what you wish with radio signals coming into your back yard. At least this is the argument I would use if I was representing the government in court. The way I look at it, when the communications act of 1934 was adopted, and the FCC was created, the radio spectrum in the U.S. was, for practical purposes, comdemned by the government under what may be called it's imminent domain. Just like they can condemn your house and force you to move so they can put in a freeway. Essentially the regulated "airwaves" have an easment in your back yard. The government took over because it was obvious that technologies were going to require that the spectrum be managed and regulated if it was going to do the public any good. Could you imagine what it would be like today if there was no management of radio spectrum and everyone just did as they please? Curtis ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #388 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Aug 7 22:10:18 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA19794; Wed, 7 Aug 1996 22:10:18 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 22:10:18 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608080210.WAA19794@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #389 TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Aug 96 22:10:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 389 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NPA 210 and 817 Splits (Brian Purcell) Reselling Cellular Airtime (Andrew B. Hawthorn) Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? (Lionel Ancelet) Internet Phone-to-Phone Technology Now a Reality (Richard Shockey) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (John Cropper) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Clive D.W. Feather) Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems (Robert P. Vietzke) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bpurcell@centuryinter.net (Brian Purcell) Subject: NPA 210 and 817 Splits Date: Wed, 07 Aug 96 20:27:46 GMT Organization: Wide-Lite The following are press releases from the Texas Public Utility Commission regarding the pending splits of the 210 and 817 NPAs. PUC Schedules Area Code Public Forums in the 210 Calling Area Austin, TX-- The Texas Public Utility Commission has scheduled five public forums during the week of August 12 to gather public input and provide information on the implementation of a new area code in the 210 calling area. The 210 area code is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. The following public hearings will focus on area code relief for the 210 calling area: Brownsville: Monday, Aug. 12, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Brownsville Historical Museum, 641 E. Madison St. Laredo: Tuesday, Aug. 13, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., Laredo Civic Center, 2400 San Bernardo Ave. Uvalde: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Willie De Leon Civic Center, 300 E. Main Kerrville: Thursday, Aug. 15, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon., Kerrville Railroad Commission Training Center, 125 Lehman Drive San Antonio: Thursday, Aug. 15, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., Downtown Central Library, 600 Soledad St. Ample parking will be available at all locations. Staff from the Texas PUC have met with industry representatives, consumer advocates, and local government representatives to develop three proposals to be presented to the public. Weighing public sentiment and other factors, PUC staff will recommend one of the proposals to commissioners this fall. According to Carole Vogel, head of regulatory affairs, "Any one of the three proposals will extend the numbers for the current 210 calling area significantly. Any of them will work for the area." The Commission will present the following three proposals at the public forums. Two area codes: The 210 area code is split so that the San Antonio Metropolitan Exchange, the extended metropolitan exchanges, and the exchanges located to the east of San Antonio are included in a single area code. The outlying area which would include Kerrville, Uvalde, Laredo and all the border communities would be in the second area code. The metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2001 and the outstate code in 2005. Two area codes initially, then a third area code: The 210 area code is split as above. An additional area code would be implemented as an overlay in the metropolitan area when permanent number portability becomes available. The metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2008 with the addition of an overlay by the year 2001. Three area codes: The 210 area code is split into a "doughnut" shape with most of San Antonio in the "hole" with one area code. The northern outlying metropolitan area would be assigned a second area code, and a third area code would be assigned to the south, bordered by the north boundary of Webb County and including all the territory to the Texas-Mexico border. This will include Laredo, Brownsville and other border cities. Metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2004; north outstate area in 2011, and south outstate area in 2009. PUC staff will also be conducting public forums in Waco, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls in the 817 calling area the week of Aug. 12. The 817 calling area is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. Local calling scopes will not change with the implementation of the new area codes. Currently Texas has nine area codes, but Dallas will implement its new 972 code as a geographic split in September and Houston, the 281 code as a geographic split in November, bringing the number to 11 area codes by the end of 1996. With the addition of just one more area code in 210 and one in the 817 area, Texas will have 13 area codes. The Public Utility Commission regulates 155 electric ad telephone utilities in Texas to ensure that rates, operations and services are just and reasonable for both consumers and the utility companies that serve the state. ************************************************************ PUC Schedules Area Code Public Forums in the 817 Calling Area Austin, TX-- The Texas Public Utility Commission has scheduled three public forums from August 13-15, 1996, to gather public input and provide consumer education on the implementation of a new area code in the 817 calling area. The 817 area code is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. The following public hearings will focus on relief for the 817 calling area: Waco: Tuesday, Aug. 13, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Bosque Theater in the Waco Convention Center, 100 Washington Ave. Fort Worth: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Fort Worth City Council Chambers, 1000 Throckmorton St. Wichita Falls: Thursday, Aug. 15, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Municipal Auditorium Building, Room 500, 1300 7th St. Ample parking will be available at all locations. Staff from the Texas PUC have met with industry representatives, consumer advocates, and local government representatives to develop three proposals that will be presented to the public. Weighing public sentiment and other factors, PUC staff will recommend one of the proposals to commissioners this fall. According to Carole Vogel, head of regulatory affairs, "Any one of the three proposals will extend the numbers for the current 817 calling area significantly. Any of them will work for the area." The Commission will present the following three proposals at the public forums. Two area codes: The 817 area code is split with the Fort Worth Metropolitan Exchange, the extended metropolitan service exchanges, and the Acton, Cresson, and Godley exchanges included in a single area code. The outstate area would receive a separate area code. The metropolitan area code would exhaust in 2001 and the outstate area code would exhaust in 2005. Three area codes initially, then a fourth area code: The 817 area code is split with the Fort Worth metropolitan exchange, the extended metropolitan services exchanges, and the Acton, Godley and Cresson exchanges in a single area code as in Plan 1. The outstate area would be split with the remainder divided equally between the northern and the southern areas, each receiving a new area code. A fourth area code would be implemented as an overlay for the metropolitan area when permanent number portability becomes available. The metropolitan area would exhaust in 2003, but would be extended to 2010 with an overlay. The Wichita Falls outstate area would exhaust in 2009, and the Waco outstate area in 2014. Three area codes: The 817 area code is split with the Forth Worth Metropolitan exchange (without the Acton, Godley, and Cresson exchanges) included in a single area code. The outstate area would be split with the remainder divided equally between the northern and southern areas, each receiving a new area code. The metropolitan area would exhaust in 2005, the Wichita Falls area would exhaust in 2007, and the Waco outstate area would exhaust in 2014. PUC staff will also be conducting public forums in Brownsville, Laredo, Uvalde, Kerrville, and San Antonio in the 210 calling area the week of Aug. 12. The 210 area code is projected to run out of numbers in late 1997. Local calling scopes will not change with the implementation of the new area codes. Currently, Texas has nine area codes, but Dallas will implement its new 972 code as a geographic split in September and Houston, the 281 code as a geographic split in November, bringing the number to 11 area codes by the end of 1996. With the addition of just one more area code in 817 and one in the 210 area, Texas will have 13 area codes. The Public Utility Commission regulates 155 electric and telephone utilities in Texas to ensure that rates, operations and services are just and reasonable for both consumers and the utility companies that serve the state. -------------------------- Regards, Brian Purcell (512) 753-1120 bpurcell@centuryinter.net ------------------------------ Subject: Reselling Cellular Airtime Date: Wed, 7 Aug 96 12:08:07 -0400 From: Andrew B. Hawthorn I was wondering if it is possible to purchase cellular airtime from a cellular carrier in bulk and resell it to end users. I realize that many paging carriers allow people to resell their airtime, often under a different name. If anyone has any details or knows of any cellular carriers with this practice I would appreciate the information. Thanks in advance. Andrew Hawthorn [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One such company is Frontier Communications. They resell airtime in almost every major market. They resell Ameritech cellular service here in the Chicago area and I am a subscriber, and quite pleased with their service. You can reach them on 800-594-5900. PAT] ------------------------------ From: la@well.com (Lionel Ancelet) Subject: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? Reply-To: la@well.com Organization: The WeLL Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 16:04:18 GMT What is the point of putting telephone directories on the Web if they are not updated in a timely manner? Some of my friends moved *months* ago, as well as some businesses I deal with. Their new addresses don't show yet in online directories. Some of these sites boast using CD-ROMs as their data source. Wait a minute, is that how you get fresh data? The user interface may be neat, but the data is stale. My point applies to US directories only. I don't know how often electronic directories are updated. Except for France, where I used to live: when you move, your new address and phone number is generally updated within a few days. The user interface may be crude (40 column, text-only based), but hey, the data is fresh. Lionel URL:http://www.well.com/~la/ ------------------------------ From: rshockey@ix.netcom.com (Richard Shockey) Subject: Internet Phone-to-Phone Technology Now a Reality Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 13:32:50 GMT Organization: Netcom Internet Telephony announcements are coming fast and furious. Here are two seen recently. Network Long Distance to participate in market and product development ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 1996--One of the first telecommunications companies ever to enter the long distance business is now one of the first long distance companies to participate in the rapidly developing Internet industry. Network Long Distance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTWK) -- one of the nation's oldest "alternative" long distance companies -- announced today its participation in the ongoing market and product development for the industry's first direct phone-to-phone telecommunications service for transmitting voice calls via the Internet. NTWK is taking part in the development of a commercial, end-user market for two-way, real-time voice conversation technology which can serve standard telephones via the Internet. Through this technology, consumers -- for the first time -- will be able to place a call from a traditional telephone, through the Internet, to another standard telephone, thereby vastly expanding the potential market base for this technology. Phone-to-phone technology represents the "third generation" in the rapidly developing voice-over-the-Internet sector, superseding prior releases of both computer-to-computer (using microphones and speakers on PC's) and computer-to-telephone calling. Previously, Internet voice calls also required both parties to use computers with the exact same software, thereby severely restricting the range of people who could be called via Internet. Speaking at the World Wide Web Interactive Trade Show in New York City, NTWK Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer Michael M. Ross said, "We have always endeavored to remain at the very forefront of every major technological trend in our industry. As the market for telecommunications services becomes poised for tremendous expansion as a result of this technology, it is appropriate that we take a leadership role -- and remain on the cutting edge -- in embracing the process of transmitting phone-to-phone voice calls over the `Net.'" Going forward, NTWK will work to integrate new Internet technology into traditional telecommunications platforms, thereby helping to bridge the gap between standard switch-based telephony and emerging Internet-based telephony. NTWK will also work to develop specific products and services to be introduced to end-user consumers, and to further apply Internet-based technology to a broad range of communications applications. In doing so, NTWK will further build on its reputation as a pioneer in the field, as NTWK first offered long distance service to consumers in 1979 -- five years prior to the court-ordered break-up of the original AT&T/Bell System monopoly -- an event generally regarded and the birth of the "alternative" long distance industry. NTWK went on to become one of the industry's first switch-based carriers; the first to offer direct calling to any city in the U.S. (prior to MCI and Sprint); one of the first "Resporgs" (Responsible Organizations) authorized to distribute 1-800 numbers; among the first to develop its own traffic engineering and billing systems; and the first to introduce nationwide origination of a non-AT&T switchless resale product for agents and wholesalers. Today, Network Long Distance is certified and operates in all 48 contiguous states, and is one of the nation's fastest-growing inter-exchange carriers offering both digital switch-based and switchless fiber optic services to commercial and residential customers, full service independent agents and other long distance companies. ---------------------- HACKENSACK, N.J. (Reuter) - IDT Corp. says it's offering the first telephone communications system that allows computer users to make calls to regular phones via the Internet. By contrast, software by rival companies such as Intel Corp. and VocalTec Ltd. allow phone calls via the Internet only if both users have computers. IDT said Monday it is releasing the full commercial version of its Net2Phone system three months ahead of its original plan in response to a wave of product announcements from Internet phone rivals. IDT, based in Hackensack, N.J., is a long distance communications and Internet access provider best known for its pioneering international call-back services, which cut the costs of overseas calling. IDT's callback business takes advantage of overseas long-distance reseller pacts to exploit national phone rate differences, allowing calls to be made at U.S.-level tariffs. IDT said Net2Phone allows people to place calls from anywhere in the world via the Internet at rates up to 95 percent below traditional international long distance service. Calls from any country to the United States will be billed at 10 cents a minute during an off-peak usage period and 15 cents a minute during other times of the day, it said. Overseas calls from the United States will cost 5 cents above IDT's cost for connecting the call, or far less than a typical international call, IDT officials said. For example, Net2Phone calls from the United States to England would cost 18 cents a minute -- 60 percent less than the average rates now charged by major U.S. long distance carriers, the company said. Two weeks ago, Intel unveiled software that allows users of different computer systems to hold voice conversations with each other. Previous Internet phone software products required users to have identical software and hardware. Intel said its software will run on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 operating system and that it had signed up 120 companies who will build the software into new products. IDT's stock rose 50 cents to $12.50 on the Nasdaq system. ---------------------- Richard Shockey Developers of Fax on Demand Solutions President For Business, Media, Industry and Nuntius Corporation Government. 8045 Big Bend Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63119 For a Demonstration Call our Voice 314.968.1009 CommandFax Demonstration Line FAX 314.968.3163 at 314.968.3461 Internet: rshockey@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 7 Aug 1996 06:17:40 GMT Organization: MindSpring On Aug 05, 1996 16.59.35 in article , 'michael@ayotte.com (Michael Ayotte)' wrote: > It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it > anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which > mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must > wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. Simple answer: The hundreds of "mom & pop" LECs who still have antiquated equipment out there _hardwired_ for seven-digit local numbers. John Cropper * NiS / NexComm Content is the sole property of the * PO Box 277 originating poster. Please relegate * Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 ALL on-topic responses to this * Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 newsgroup. Unsolicited private mail * Outside NJ: 800.247.8675 is prohibited, and will be referred * Fax : 609.637.9430 unabridged to sender's ISP. * email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 09:10:21 +0100 (BST) From: Clive D.W. Feather Linc Madison writes: >> 2. Easy to create eight-digit from current seven-digit; either repeat >> first digit or last digit. Current 555-2368 would become 5555-2368 or >> would become 5552-3688. > Repeating the first digit doesn't work. How do you distinguish > between your new 5555-2368 and the old 555-5236 during the permissive > dialing period? What you have to do is to analyze the number blocks used. Suppose there is no 565 prefix at the moment. Then you migrate all 55X prefixes by inserting a 6 after the 5: 550 -> 5650 551 -> 5651 ... 559 -> 5659 Or if there is no 844, you can prefix an 8 to all 44X numbers: 440 -> 8440 441 -> 8441 ... 449 -> 8449 You do this for as many prefixes as possible. For those that are left, you publish changeover rules; if there are no prefixes beginning 21, then you can say all numbers beginning 7 move to 21: 700 -> 2100 701 -> 2101 ... 799 -> 2199 It's a lot less simple than "double the first digit", but it works. In the UK it is normal to reserve leading 9 for migrations. Thus in the Reading change happening at the moment: XXXXXX -> 9XX XXXX [local dialling] 01734 XXXXXX -> 0118 9XX XXXX [national dialling] because there are no numbers beginning with 9. This means that the 90X XXXX and 91X XXXX blocks can be brought into use immediately. When false dialing of the old numbers reaches acceptable levels, you re-open 2XX XXXX as seven-figure numbers, and so on, reserving (say) eight in case you ever want to go to eight digits (I would hope not !). ------------------------------ From: Robert P. Vietzke Subject: Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 21:29:57 -0400 Organization: University of Connecticut Stephen Balbach wrote: > I had posted earlier about a known problem with AT&T SLC96 fiber > cabinets and achieving full 28.8 (or 33.6) modem connections due to > bandwidth constraints in the SLC96. SLC96 cabinets are widely deployed > througout the USA in all seven RBOCS and are one of the culprits of bad > modem connections in the PSTN. Bell Atlantic told us and many other > ISP's in the Balt/DC region that the problem is unsolvable and the > only solution is ISDN. The cards that break out the OC-3 into DS0's > fall-off at about 3400Hz thus limiting the throughput at best to 26.4 > (28.8 needs about 3800Hz) -- the PSTN can theoreticlaly achive a > maximum of 4000Hz which copper can do, but the cards in SLC96's can > only do about 3400Hz. > We have since found another ISP who found a novel approach to the > problem. They called AT&T and said they planned on ordering 15 SLC96 > cabinets and needed the documentation first. The next day a AT&T sales > rep and 100 pounds of manuals arrived on the door-step. The salesman > quickly dispatched, it was discovered at the very bottom of the > mountain of manuals a small booklet the addressed the modem througput > problem specifically. In short, AT&T has manufactured a special card > to solve the problem which can achive up to 31.6Kbps. This ISP had > Bell South replace the cards and all is well. > Unfortantly I do not have the make or model of this card, but it is > being researched. As soon as I do find it I will post to this group. I think this is an over simplification of the issue. There are many types off SLC out there, and only some have these problems. I am not sure, but I think your source was talking about the older non- integrated SLC's which are basically channel banks with a little intelligence. Most SLC-96's took in 4 T1 lines (4x24=96) and one spare T1 that was automatically swapped in if one of the primary four failed. The cards in this SLC bank are plain-old bank cards. Nothing particularly special (i imagine there are many types here too with many codecs.) Many SLC's are NOT fed by OC-3 lines, most are either copper T1's (the older ones like these non-integrated types). Some newer SLC's have a DDM-1000 or some other DS-3 based T1 mux, particularly when multiple SLC-96 cabinets are served. The key about these non-integrated slcs is that there are two "cards", one at the C/O and one in the SLC that code/decode analog to digital. If the serving office is digital then there is another coder/decoder on the line unit there. If it is analog, there is likely another coder/decoder on the trunk side of the switch where it hits the T1 trunks. Newer "integrated SLC's" actually extend the "coder/decoder" that converts analog to digital and back to the SLC itself, essentially extending the digital fabric of the switch to the SLC site. These should provide -improved- capability, not reduced. I've recently seen a new remote-terminal for a 5E that basically remotes a few timeslots from a switch mod's fabric to that remote site. The "line-grid cards" that provide analog dialtone are basically the cards that would go in the switch mod itself. (Each of these slots can also have its "analog" card replaced with an "ISDN" card too.) Anyway, my point was if Bell Atlantic wants you to believe they run SONET and OC-3 to every SLC and also that SLC can't do 28.8 Kbps, then they are selling you a bill (actually an ISDN bill I guess). There -could- be poor coder/decoders on the bank cards, but usually SLC is not immediately a sign that you will be locked out of higher speeds. Now if you want to talk about the resonance frequency of an AT&T 2B analog switch, which was popular for residential areas, we can lock you out at 9600. Also, some telcos are sharing 56K trunks for multiple lines between C/O's. Both of these are legitimate areas of concern. Rob ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #389 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 8 02:00:06 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id CAA08646; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 02:00:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 02:00:06 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608080600.CAA08646@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #390 TELECOM Digest Thu, 8 Aug 96 02:00:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 390 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Modem Access Fees (Bob Wulkowicz) AT&T (NY) Adding Extra Charges to 'Casual' Users (Danny Burstein) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Michael D. Adams) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Lionel Ancelet) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (spinee@access.digex.net) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (Jay R. Ashworth) Re: SOS - TAPI, Caller ID, and Visual C++ (Bruce Pennypacker) Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? (Tim Shoppa) Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 (Linc Madison) KT&T 101XXXX Codes (Ronnie Grant) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Wulkowicz Subject: Modem Access Fees Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 15:24:57 -0600 Organization: EnterAct L.L.C. Turbo-Elite News Server Reply-To: bobw@enteract.com Found in another newsgroup (misc.news.internet.discuss) on the topic of 'Charging Extra for Modem Use: Is it a Ripoff?' ... Mr. Robeson wrote: > People who consider it an inherent ripoff should spend some time > investigating how the phone company determines how much equipment to > install. ...If you can't name the three busiest days of the year for > long distance calls, then you don't know enough about the subject to be > qualified to judge whether a particular fee level is a "ripoff" or not. Maybe I took it badly, but I read Mr. Robeson's post as a pompous dismissal of us as the technologically and managerially unwashed. I'm truly sorry that I don't pass the above obligatory credential-sniffing test, and I couldn't care less what are the busiest days for long distance calls, but Andrew Fabula's question seems to be right on target. My own personal sense of a ripoff test would go more along the lines of: E.G. The telcos send a packet of information along with each call that contains internally useful information for system and billing purposes, etc. As a customer of 40 years, I have paid for the creation of that system and still pay its "costs" as a part of telco overhead. Then, access to that same packet is sold to various agencies as 911 information so they can determine information about any callers into their PSAP. As a taxpayer, I pay for that as well -- and there are no competitive or market-driven forces avavilable to keep those costs down -- the telco charges what it wants. If a telco has 200 such PSAP's inside their jurisidiction, they have 200 little cash cows. And if I choose to use Caller ID, I buy personal access to yet that same packet for four or five dollars a month. The sales departments of the telcos spend large amounts of ratepayer's money to convince us of the importance of those features and their revenue generation is significant. So, I pay for that same packet three times at least; two obligatory and one discretionary. If I went into a fruit store to buy three apples and the owner took an apple from the bin and laid it down on the counter three times, saying 1, 2, and 3 each time he raised and lowered it, and then tried to charge me for three apples, the word "ripoff" might come to mind. So, it depends on whose side your're looking from: for the telcos it's a proper "subdivision" of services for different customers. From our side as wallet owners, we've had real money extracted 3 times. That's a ripoff. Mr. Robeson carries the illusion and the extraction charade a step further: He mixes apples and oranges -- equipment and traffic -- and claims it's quite proper to multiple-charge us for this higher-order shell game. First, let's look at equipment: No one wrings more life out of capital assets than telcos. Hard wire lines are inherently tough and long-lived, vulnerable mostly to cars knocking down poles or backhoes digging up cables. (Note here that those who mess something up, get a bill.) Also, replacing digital switches for analog has capital life expectancy extended by a magnitude or two, so the only real equipment issue left would be additional purchases for capacity. Capacity needs generally followed the aggressive marketing by telcos of selling more and more numbers to businesses and families. (The problem of running out of numbers is directly the result of these sales.) If there is a shortfall, the telcos probably have skimped on needed equipment purchases thinking they could get along on the float -- routing based on the average call Mr. Robeson mentions -- but that's really their problem, they're paid to be smarter. We ratepayers have paid for equipment many times over, mine started a few decades ago with the first surcharges for touchtone (justified as spreading the initial capital costs.) This bogus charge was finally deep-sixed in Illinois, but I see that other telcos still continue this scam as if touchtone beeps to the telco are tangible and billable. Robeson's equipment issue is vaporcrabbing; modem use isn't a threat, or if it is, it's not in the area of equipment. ISP's are charged for new hard lines and where available, they're probably not copper, so capacity can't be an issue there. The company service-expectation gurus who buy new equipment are described by Robeson as employing > The Goldilocks level of service ("Just Right") [which] is calculated > by very sophisticated application of queuing theory, with inputs from > historically measured traffic about average number of calls, average > length of calls, when the busiest times are, and so on. Well, if they fell asleep in Goldilock's bed, then the corrections should be paid for internally, and not just pivoted around to collect from the ratepayers. A more likely or plausible issue for the telcos could be traffic and tie-ups. So, in fairness, let's look at those as well: Hard lines run, individual and isolated, from residences and businesses to some collection point where they can be identified and accessed. If I am connected to some customer at the same CO there is simply a point to point link that is of no consequence outside that office. The connection can be three minutes or three hours; the duration really has no cost despite what may be claimed. Any connection between CO's simply ties up a line between.the two, but it also has no real cost -- again these physical lines were fully paid for years ago. The only effect of a protracted connection here is a shrinking of the availability float which may include some modem users calling some distant points like BBS's, etc. Most modem users to ISP's try to stay in the same CO territory so they are simply point to point in a minimal connection setting where any needed expansion is solved by adding another rack of in-house connection terminals. This is hardly the stuff of tying up long distance lines. It needs to be pointed out that the ISP pays for the new physical lines originally brought to it and that cost is amortized to me in fees. If I use their service, I pay for my call to the ISP. The ISP pays for any call to another provider or server (passed on to me in fees) and the ISP's or servers elsewhere pay their telcos. Everyone pays or gets paid in some billing or another, but the ultimate payment is always traceable back to the individual ratepayers who dial a phone -- us. Finally, there is an inherent inefficiency in all of the Internet and modem activity that we presently engage in. Mr. Robeson is right in his statement that many connections stay engaged for hours, but the actual tranmission time of data is only carried as seconds or minutes in the aggregate. It's like using a washtub to carry a bean. The telcos would prefer to charge us extra for that anacronism instead of fixing it. But fixing it would require some original thinking, which is not something I'm expecting from dynasties evolved from the old Bellheads. There are few, if any, long distance or congestion issues. There are few, if any, equipment issues. The PacBell proposal is the reflex knee-jerk to sell us the same item as many times as possible--how unexpected. And perhaps I'm being uncharitable to Mr. Robeson, but I take his inflated lecture as typical of the self-serving techno-economic distortions that come from management breathing the same air in a room for too long a time. I'm sure there are many important details he can share, but please spare me the last lines of: > And think a bit about the social norms in your country: are > they to force everyone (including the poor) to pay higher > average rates to support the expensive habits of a few, or > are they to have the people who generate an extra expense pay > the associated price? I find it hard to think of the telcos as enlighted, egalitarian, democratic participants in the public good, or that somehow charging additional rates nobly solves his social dilemma offered above. We're just being set up for another walletectomy. Bob Wulkowicz ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 22:57:28 EDT From: danny burstein Subject: AT&T (NY) Adding Extra Charges to 'Casual' Users (The term 'casual' applies to people, or rather phone lines, which default to other carriers and are force-routed, usually via a 10(1)-xxx code, to a specific carrier). From an AT&T small print advertisement in the {NY Daily News}, Wednesday 7-Aug-1996, p. 67. Title: Service charge for AT&T Communications of New York, Inc. AT&T Communications of New York, Inc., has filed a tariff with the NYS Public Service COmmission to become effective August 23, 1996. This filing proposes to introduce a Non Subscriber Service Charge. A service charge is applicble for Dial Station Calls originated from residential lines which are presubscribed to an interexchange carrier other than AT&T, or are not presubscribed to any interexchange carrier. This charge is in addition to the initial period charges for calls within the state of New York. Non-Subscriber Service Charge: Per Call: $.80 dannyb@panix.com ------------------------------ From: mda-0056@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 02:06:57 GMT Organization: Triskele Consulting Reply-To: mda-0056@triskele.com On Tue, 07 Aug 1996 18:39:13 -0700, Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) wrote: >> 1. Technical: How difficult/expensive would it be to convert >> seven-digit numbers to eight-digit? > Enormously difficult and expensive. We're talking many billions of > dollars, maybe trillions. [...] However, isn't that expense that is going to have to be incurred anyway? I thought that, even with the new area codes, North America et. al. is going to run out of 3+7-digit phone numbers by the middle of next century. Given how demand for phone numbers has outpaced forecasts over the past few years, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see North America forced to add another digit to phone numbers in 20-30 years. Of course, I can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be more feasible to switch to four-digit area codes, rather than eight-digit base numbers (although, by that time, the difference between area codes and phone numbers will probably be moot). Here in Maryland, we are already in the permissive period of ten-digit dialing. Perhaps Bellcore should (or is?) reserving a block of area codes in the form ABx -- say, 22x, 23x, 74x, 45x, 46x, 27x, 38x, and 29x. Then, during the permissive dialing period, three-digit area codes would be converted to four-digit area codes by adding an appropriate digit to the start of each number, based on the initial digit of the old area code. For example 201 would become 2201, 334 -> 2334, 410 -> 7410, 516 -> 4516, and so forth. As there would be no area code 220, 233, 741, 451, etc. the switches could be programmed to differentiate between new and old area codes, and make the connection accordingly. Of course, that probably makes too much sense, and therefore will never happen. Michael D. Adams Triskele Consulting Baltimore, Maryland ma@triskele.com ------------------------------ From: la@well.com (Lionel Ancelet) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Reply-To: la@well.com Organization: The WeLL Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 16:02:57 GMT Ed Ellers wrote: > Today many advertisers use the CaptionVision closed caption system to > insert IDs for logging; the industry has a standard four-letter, > four-digit code to identify each commercial (in broadcasters' traffic > systems for example), and this is often transmitted on the CC2 > "channel" during each commercial so that it would appear in the upper > left corner of the screen. (This doesn't interfere with captions, > since those are on CC1.) I see a great potential market for a VCR that would pause recording during advertising, using CC2 signals! Lionel URL:http://www.well.com/~la/ ------------------------------ From: spinee@access.digex.net (Harmonious Assault Vehicle) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: 7 Aug 1996 14:30:56 -0400 Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA: 800-969-9090 In article , Brian Brown wrote: > Wrong. VHS NTSC copy protection is done by weakening the VHS signal > on the tape to the point where a VCR can play it just fine, but > another VCR cannot record it. There are boosters you can buy to > defeat this purposely weak signal. If you try to record a tape with > this type of copy protection, the sound comes out fine, and the video > looks like it was shot in the dark. Is this true? I thought that VHS protection took the form of placing a varying signal in the invisible area between frames so the AGC in the recording deck would go nuts. I have no problem taping from VHS to my 8mm (no AGC) deck with no booster in between. joe x. ------------------------------ From: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: 7 Aug 1996 14:07:36 GMT Organization: University of South Florida Brian Brown (brianb@cfer.com) wrote: > A.CHESIR wrote: >> The tones on the VideoTapes are a way of preventing folks from making >> illegal copies of the tapes. All recent VCRs are required to have >> circuitry in them to detect the presence of the tones and disable any >> record function during the play of the tape. > Wrong. VHS NTSC copy protection is done by weakening the VHS signal > on the tape to the point where a VCR can play it just fine, but > another VCR cannot record it. There are boosters you can buy to > defeat this purposely weak signal. If you try to record a tape with > this type of copy protection, the sound comes out fine, and the video > looks like it was shot in the dark. Alas, gentlemen, you're both incorrect. Copy protection on mass duplicated, rental/purchase VHS videotapes is accomplished by use, primarily, of a system called Macrovision. Macrovision, which is a trademark of someone, no doubt, works by placing very high level pulses (100+ IRE) in the vertical interval. These pulses don't affect _most_ TV sets, (though some will complain), but interact negatively with the AGC on most recorders, making them lose sync when a dub is attempted. The "boosters" you refer to are actually boxes which clamp that pulse out, providing a video signal which can be recorded. Next time you rent a movie, roll the picture up a bit, and look for the white boxes at the bottom. Cheers, Jay R. Ashworth jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us Member of the Technical Staff Junk Mail Will Be Billed For. The Suncoast Freenet *FLASH: Craig Shergold aw'better now; send no cards!* Tampa Bay, Florida *Call 800-215-1333x184 for the whole scoop* +1 813 790 7592 ------------------------------ From: Bruce Pennypacker Subject: Re:SOS - TAPI, Caller ID, and Visual C++ Date: 7 Aug 1996 13:01:10 GMT Organization: Stylus Products Group, Artisoft Inc. In article telecom16.387.9@massis.lcs.mit.edu, derrickb@halex.com (Derrick Bradbury) said: > Hey, I was wondering if anyone out there is working with TAPI for > incoming calls. All of the examples I can find are for outgoing calls > only, and nothing for incoming. I have a USR 33.6 VoiceModem, and am > trying to get the caller ID from the modem. The return flag always > says that there is nothing there. Is there any examples of Caller ID > in Visual C++ 4.0, or can someone give me a hand? If TAPI is indicating that there isn't anything there then TAPI hasn't detected any CallerID information so therefore there's nothing you can do about it (sorry to be so brutally honest). Something like CallerID is going to depend on not only the hardware but the service provider (drivers) that you are using as well. The standard Unimodem service provider that comes with Windows 95 is simply not capable of detecting CallerID information. So if that is the service provider that you are using then you'll never get an indication of CallerID no matter how hard you try. The Unimodem/V service provider (a version designed for voice modems) is able to detect CallerID information, but I don't believe your USR modem is currently supported by Unimodem/V. You'll have to contact USR to see if they offer support for Unimodem/V. For TAPI specific questions I'd suggest that you check out the Microsoft newsgroup for TAPI developers: microsoft.public.win32.programmer.tapi. Bruce Pennypacker | Stylus Products Group | Phone: +1 617 621 9545 Software Engineer | Artisoft, Inc. | Fax: +1 617 621 7862 Resident TAPI guru | 201 Broadway | http://www.stylus.com brucep@stylus.com | Cambridge, MA 02139 | sales: sales@stylus.com ------------------------------ From: shoppa@alph02.triumf.ca (Tim Shoppa) Subject: Re: Pay Phone 800 Number Charge? Date: 7 Aug 1996 06:20:08 GMT Organization: Tri-University Meson Facility In article , Wes Leatherock wrote: > A lot of the problem apparently stems from the FCC's > designation many years ago of the owner of the premises where > the COCOT is located as the "customer" who can select the PIC. > This defies all logic, since customer is the person who is > paying; the owner of the premises working with the COCOT to > extract extra money from the real customer to transfer it to > the owners of the premises. A few years ago, this didn't "defy all logic". Up until recently, businesses which wanted a payphone on their premises had to pay the phone company for it -- and there was no kick-back of any sort to the owners of the premises. I suppose that many businesses saw increased traffic because they had a payphone, but I'm sure other businesses paid for one to keep employees and visitors from tying up the company phone. Of course, the payphone business has changed drastically in the past decade. I would guess that the Texas law is just an anachronism which the COCOT's don't want changed. Tim. (shoppa@triumf.ca) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not all business places then or now have to pay telco for a pay phone. If telco believes the location is good and that the phone will make money, they'll not only install it there for free, but they will pay a commission to the person who has the phone on his premises. My friend who operates the bus station in Skokie has three pay phones on the premises and Ameritech sends him a commission check each month as does the long distance carrier to which the phones are defaulted. The commission may not be the best considering what the phones take in (they have to be collected almost every week or the box gets full), but he certainly does not pay to have them there. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 01:30:31 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , ronnie@space.mit.edu wrote: > [ local calls between 954 and 305 area codes in Florida ] > Secondly, although the call is indeed toll-free, you MUST not dial a 1 > or 0 first! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I > knew the change was to take affect the other day, so I wasn't > surprised when I got the recording saying that "I must dial 954 to > call this number". So, naturally, I dialled 1-954-xxx-xxxx, and got a > recording telling me "It is not necessary to dial a 1 or 0 when > dialing this number". You've got to be kidding me! > If the call isn't a toll call, you MUST dial 10 digits, and you MUST > NOT dial a 1. Doesn't this go against all other major cities that > have split? The same INSANE system is used in Texas, in areas like the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, for dialing local calls in nearby area codes. It violates the recommendation by Bellcore that *ALL* calls should be *PERMITTED* to be dialed as 1+NPA+NXX-XXXX, whether they are local or toll and whether the NPA is the same or different. There is, quite simply, ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for failing to follow this recommendation. There is no benefit in consumer protection, no benefit in reducing confusion (indeed, it only adds confusion), and, in fact, no benefit whatsoever to this STUPID system. If some states want to have a rule that you must dial the '1' for any direct-dialed toll call, that's fine. However, they should NEVER prohibit dialing the '1' for local calls. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: ronnie.grant@mogur.com (Ronnie Grant) Subject: KT&T 101XXXX Codes Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 22:59:08 GMT Organization: TGT Technologies / The MOG-UR'S EMS: 818-366-1238 A while back someone mentioned that interexchange carrier KT&T, based in Fort Worth, Texas, had subsidiaries named "I don't know," "It doesn't matter," and "Whoever," so customers making operator-dialed calls would get hit with their rates. For anyone who is interested, I have the 101XXXX codes for KT&T and its subsidiaries. I got this out of Harry Newton's "Notes From the Field" column in the August issue of {Computer Telephony}. 1015016 - KT&T (owns the following) 1015136 - "I don't know" 1015137 - "It doesn't matter" 1015138 - "Whoever" 1015140 - "Anyone is OK" MOG-UR'S EMS * 818-366-1238 * Granada Hills, CA * Info: sysop@mogur.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #390 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 8 02:35:15 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id CAA11267; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 02:35:15 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 02:35:15 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608080635.CAA11267@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #391 TELECOM Digest Thu, 8 Aug 96 02:35:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 391 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson BellSouth Foundation Funds Seminar on the Internet (Mike King) U.S. Navy Sells Abandoned Base's Phone System to Private Company (N Allen) Pacific Bell/CPUC/Universal Service (Mike King) Telecom Auditing Services Wanted (Steve Collins) Extending Range on Cordless Phones (was: How Secure Are...) (Thomas Tonino) ISDN D-Channel Data and Internet Voice (azur@netcom.com) Wildfire Service Provider Information (Stan Schwartz) Re: One LEC's CO in Another LEC's Area (Steven Lichter) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (grendel6@ix.netcom.com) Seeking Bell System Technical Journal (Sharif Mohammed Shahrier) Re: Last Laugh! Crackdown on Prostitutes' Adverts (Martin Baines) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Foundation Funds Seminar on the Internet Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 21:34:50 PDT Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 11:08:33 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH FOUNDATION FUNDS SEMINAR ON THE INTERNET A First in Cyberspace ... BELLSOUTH FOUNDATION FUNDS NETWORK DEMOCRACY SEMINAR ON THE INTERNET -- Local Educators' Universal Service On-line Discussions To Be Filed with FCC -- WASHINGTON -- August 7 -- The BellSouth Foundation is funding a five-week, on-line seminar to educate educators and librarians on how to make their views heard during the upcoming universal service proceeding at the Federal Communications Commission. Working with the University of Pittsburgh and the Information Renaissance, the BellSouth Foundation is the primary underwriter of the "Network Democracy Seminar on Universal Service"-- the Internet's first model of participatory democracy on the arcane federal telecommunications rule-making process. "The Internet allows us to attract public participation in government beyond the usual lawyers and lobbyists who have swamped the FCC from inside the Beltway," said Robert Carlitz, executive director of Information Renaissance and University of Pittsburgh physics professor. "This course is designed to connect the technological needs of local educators throughout the country with the development of telecommunications public policy in the nation's capital." To prevent a two-tier society with information "haves" and "have-nots," the Telecommunications Act of 1996 calls for Information Age telecommunications services to be made available in an equitable manner to the general public -- much as telephone service is today -- and provides for subsidies to schools and libraries. "The universal service provisions of the Telecommunications Act can at last bring America's schools into the Information Age," said FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. "As the FCC writes the rules to implement these provisions, we'll need input from teachers, parents and students." He added, "I welcome this effort to inform and involve the public in this process." The electronic seminar marks the second step by the BellSouth Foundation to engage local educators on their technological needs and share that input with the FCC, which is charged with implementing the Act. The Foundation earlier hosted four focus groups of 120 educators in the southeast on their universal service needs and responses to questions raised by the FCC. The seminar supports the Foundation's commitment to involve teachers and educators in public policy discussions about education. "There are highly capable educators out there who can take the leadership in advocating and implementing technology for the nation's schools," observed BellSouth Foundation President Pat Willis. "The Universal Service Network Democracy seminar brings their expertise to the nation's capital and the FCC through another medium which operates beyond the traditional structure of FCC proceedings." So that educators might meaningfully address the needs of local schools and how they might be achieved through the Act, the seminar will first acquaint participants with the universal service provisions of the Act and the FCC rule-making procedures for implementation of the Act. It will also provide an on-line repository of comments, reply comments and other presentations to the FCC on universal service. The discussions from the course will be filed with the FCC in accordance with its procedures governing ex parte presentations in rule-making proceedings. The seminar begins August 26 and will be open to nationwide participation, primarily by the education and library communities. Other underwriters of the seminar include The Heinz Endowments. Registration and other information on The "Network Democracy Seminar on Universal Service" is available at http://info-ren.pitt.edu FCC procedures allow for public comments and public replies to a Notice of Proposed Rule-Making highlighting universal service issues which a Federal/State Joint Board must address in recommendations to the FCC November 8. The FCC will act on these issues in May 1997. Information Renaissance is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization which promotes regional networking in support of education, community development and economic revitalization. The BellSouth Foundation, which is among the nation's 50 largest corporate foundations, devotes all of its grants to educational improvement in the company's nine-state southeast region. BellSouth reported this year that the company and its foundation have contributed nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to meet the needs of schools over the last five years. BellSouth is a $17.9 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications directory advertising and publishing and information services to more than 25 million customers in 17 countries worldwide. (Internet users: For more information about BellSouth Corp. visit the BellSouth Webpage http:///www.bellsouth.com or visit the BellSouth Foundation Webpage http:///www.bsf.org/bsf) # # # For Information Contact: John Schneidawind, BellSouth Corp., (202)463-4183 Bob Carlitz, University of Pittsburgh, (412)624-9257 ---------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 00:17:19 EDT From: Nigel Allen Subject: U.S. Navy Sells Abandoned Base's Phone System to Private Company Organization: Internex Online, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Here is a press release from GST Telecommunications, Inc. I found the press release on the Canadian Corporate News Web site at http://www.cdn-news.com/ I don't work for GST or Canadian Corporate News. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: GST Telecommunications, Inc., Robert Blankstein, (800) 667-4366 or GST Telecommunications, Inc., John Warta, (360) 254-4700 NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS FOR: GST TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INC. AUGUST 7, 1996 United States Navy Accepts GST Telecommunications, Inc. Offer to Purchase Mare Island Communication System VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON--GST Telecommunications, Inc. ("AMEX: GST"), announced today that the U.S. Navy has accepted its offer to purchase the base telephone system at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. GST will assume the operation of the internal telephone system which ceased day-to-day operations in April. The Mare Island telephone system was installed on the base in the late 1980's. The modern system is capable of handling some 15,000 phones, including voice and electronic data transmission. GST plans to connect the base to its existing 130-mile fiber optic network in the San Francisco Bay area that links Martinez, Concord, Walnut Creek, Moraga, Danville, San Ramon, Pleasanton, Livermore, Hayward and Fremont. John Warta, President and CEO of GST Telecommunications, Inc. said, "Several major companies are already planning on relocating operations to Mare Island and the GST infrastructure will continue to attract communications intensive companies to the area." The GST offer is the first such agreement to take over the internal phone service of the Navy's closed or closing bases in the San Francisco Bay area. A privately owned telephone system is a major step toward civilian ownership of the island's Navy-built communications and utilities systems. It offers increased incentives for private firms to lease property from the city, which in turn, leases it from the Navy. Under terms negotiated with the Navy, GST has 60 days in which to take over the service at the island. Negotiations over the specifics of easements and other considerations will continue. GST Telecommunications, Inc., headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, currently operates networks in fourteen cities in the western United States and Hawaii, with additional networks under construction in six cities in the San Francisco Bay area. The company provides a broad range of integrated telecommunications products and services, through the development and operation of competitive access and other telecommunications networks. GST's strategy is to cluster several cities in each state that it enters in order to achieve synergy and maximum opportunity within each service territory. In addition, the company manufactures telecommunication switching equipment, network management and billing systems through its wholly owned subsidiary National Applied Computer Technologies, Inc. of Orem, Utah. forwarded to the TELECOM Digest by: Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen/ ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell/CPUC/Universal Service Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 21:32:03 PDT Forwarded to the Digest FYI: Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 17:25:55 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell issued the following statement in response to the California Public Utilities Commission Proposed Decision on Universal Service RELATED DOCUMENTS: * Universal Service Pacific Bell issued the following statement in response to the California Public Utilities Commission Proposed Decision on Universal Service Remarks by David Dorman, Chairman, President & CEO of Pacific Bell The proposed ruling issued by the Commission staff, if approved, would have devastating impacts for more than 70% of the state's telephone consumers. They propose $268 million to fund a statewide program to help keep basic telephone rates affordable, when Pacific Bell is already spending more than $1 billion more than it collects to provide service to residential customers. This will deprive all rural and suburban communities of the benefits of competition. Under this proposal, if adopted, competition will be limited to business customers in metropolitan areas, while there will be no incentive for other providers to compete for residential customers. Without funding from Universal Service, new entrants like the cable industry and others will be unable to provide service in most rural and suburban areas. We've not had a chance yet to review the details of the proposed decision, which is nearly 300 pages long. But we fully expect that the deficiency will be corrected when the full Commission votes on it in September. ------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: stevec@epcorp.com (Steve Collins) Subject: Telecom Auditing Services Wanted Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 18:02:41 GMT Organization: Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. Reply-To: stevec@epcorp.com Am interested in getting my local and long distance bills audited ... please contact me at the address below. If your name is not included in the body of the text, you are included on an informational basis. ___ _ __ ______ | Steven Collins | Voice: (513) 629-2485 / ' ) ) / | Data Communications Mgr. | Pager: (513) 629-2486 /-- /--' / | Eagle-Picher Industries | Fax: (513) 721-7126 /___ / ___/___ | Cincinnati, Ohio | | 45202 USA | EMail: SteveC@epcorp.com ------------------------------ From: ttonino@bio.vu.nl (Thomas Tonino) Subject: Extending Range on Cordless Phones (was: How Secure Are...) Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 20:14:44 +0200 wrote: > The FCC prohibits a pluggable antenna connection on Part 15.247/249 > devices using commonly available connectors. A friend and I > experimented with attaching an external antenna (6 dB gain vertical > omni) to a Uniden EXP9100 (900 MHz, direct sequence SS). It was more > difficult than expected, certainly not for someone without the proper > RF skills and test gear, and the range increase was noticable but not > spectacular. Today, I conducted an experiment with the base station of my Samsung anlog 900 MHz phone. Actually, this works at 914 and 959 megahertz. Are the US frequencies any different? I took some solid core copper and folded into a shape like this: __n__n__n__ 11 14 14 11 centimeters The n loops are more narrow than shown here, and 8 cm high. This shape, left end taped to the laquered antenna of the base, at first did not produce any extended range. By pulling the shape to a greater length (65 centimeters) I was able to get it working. In my area I now have better reception in the street I live in. The n loops look like v's now. Sadly, for the other streets it doesn't matter much. The problem seems to be the number of 'bounces' that you can get. The signal doesn't seem to travel over or through the (stone) buildings, but to reflect off them and follow the streets. This means the extended range does not help me much in reaching other streets in my area. ------------------------------ From: azur@netcom.com Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 11:55:07 -0700 Subject: ISDN D-Channel Data and Internet Voice Although I believe few consumer devices now feature D-channel data support, I think it would be an excellent way to enable reasonable cost Internet phone service. It removes the requirement for having to remain on-line while still offering fast call set-up. It would also enable inexpensive home Web servers, again because the server need only be on-line when its in use. Does anyone know which states have tariffed D-channel service, and how they are priced? PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 Steve Schear | Internet: azur@netcom.com Lamarr Labs | Voice: 1-702-658-2654 7075 West Gowan Road | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 Suite 2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 17:43:01 EDT From: Stan.Schwartz@IBMMAIL Subject: Wildfire Service Provider After the NBC Dateline story a few months back, there were a few of us who wondered aloud in the Digest about where to get Wildfire service without shelling out the $50k required for the hardware. I heard a radio ad this morning for a new Wildfire Authorized Service Provider in this area, Carolina Telecommunications. In case anyone is interested, here are some package rates: Trial Service, $59/month, includes 600 session minutes. Additional minutes are $.20/minute. Basic Service, $99/month, 1000 session minutes, $.15/minute additional. Executive Service, $199/month, 3000 session minutes (I don't know what the interval is). If you need any additional information, call Ann Forehand at 1-888-398-WILD. Feel free to tell her you heard about from me. Stan ------------------------------ From: slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu (Steven Lichter) Subject: Re: One LEC's CO in Another LEC's Area Date: 7 Aug 1996 20:16:59 -0700 Organization: GINA and CORE+ Services of The California State University scline@usit.net (Stanley Cline) writes: > However, The Ben Lomand CO, and corporate office, is in the middle of > Citizens' service area -- about 1/4 mile from Citizens' CO and office! > Lines for TWO telcos -- both Citizens and Ben Lomand -- hang from the > very same poles, one telco's over the other. (The two telcos are > local calls to each other -- I am not sure how phone directories are > handled. BellSouth, as in most of its territory, provides directory > assistance for both LECs.) For many years California Interstate Telephone had its main office in Bakersfield which is served by PacBell. When Contel took it over they stayed there for many years until moving a lot of their people to Victorville, but leaving their main office there. That changed when GTE bought them, SysOp Apple Elite II and OggNet Hub (909)359-5338 2400/14.4 24 hours, Home of GBBS/LLUCE Support for the Apple II and Macintosh computers. ------------------------------ From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 03:23:27 GMT Organization: Netcom Ed Mitchell wrote: > ... the entire county's postal addressing system had to be changed > to provide meaningful address information to the 911 operator. That happened here (suburban Philadelphia) too, about three years ago. As far as I know, the local authorities still haven't figured out what to do about the intersection in Mount Laurel, NJ of Church Street and Church Street. I don't know if they have duplicate street addresses there. Bill ------------------------------ From: shahrier@cs.utexas.edu (Sharif Mohammed Shahrier) Subject: Seeking Bell System Technical Journal Date: 7 Aug 1996 18:52:16 -0500 Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin I wish to submit a paper to "The Bell System Technical Journal". However, I could not find any information on it at our libraries. If someone knows the contact person (editor), postal address, e-mail address, phone number, for this journal I would be grateful if you can e-mail me the information. Sharif M. Shahrier Tel: 1-512-471-8011 Computer Engineering Research Center (C8800) Fax: 1-512-471-8967 UT Austin, TX 78712-1014, U.S.A. E-mail: shahrier@cs.utexas.edu ------------------------------ From: Martin Baines Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Crackdown on Prostitutes' Adverts Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 10:34:18 +0100 Organization: Silicon Graphics Adam Starchild wrote: > From {The Financial Times} (London), August 6, 1996 > Telecommunications: Crackdown on prostitutes' adverts > British Telecommunications is to alter the terms and conditions > for more than 20 million residential customers in an attempt to crack > down on prostitutes' advertisements in telephone boxes. About 150,000 > cards are removed from kiosks in central London every week. > The initiative, also supported by other telephone service operators, > will result in BT being able to block the in-coming telephone calls of > prostitutes who persistently place cards in payphones. It will be interesting to see whether *all* of the organizations who "own" phone numbers will comply. In particular, I wonder whether all of the operators of "number for life" services (roughly like USA 500 numbers -- which reside in the 07 number space in the UK) will comply? If not, the problem doesn't get solved, instead we just have another way to use sex to make money out of telephony service. For those outside the UK, these service are provided by companies different from the main phone operators -- typically they have invested in some intelligent networking equipment and make their money either out of the cost of calls to "their" numbers, and/or subscription from their customers. Presumably, BT/Mercury/Cable Company/Mobile Operator/MFS/Colt/ another telco could cancel the number the call currently terminated on, but that I suspect they may not have the right to block calls to the 07 number! Regards, Martin Baines - Business Development Manager Silicon Graphics, 1530 Arlington Business Park, Theale, Reading, UK, RG7 4SB email: martinb@reading.sgi.com phone: +44 (0)118 925 7842 fax: +44 (0)118 925 7606 vmail: +1 800 326 1020 (in USA), 0800 896020 (in UK), mailbox: 57940 URL: http://reality.sgi.com/martinb_reading/ Surf's Up at Silicon Graphics: http://www.sgi.com/International/UK/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #391 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 8 11:56:00 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA12874; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 11:56:00 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 11:56:00 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608081556.LAA12874@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #392 TELECOM Digest Thu, 8 Aug 96 11:56:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 392 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Poll Dubh) Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? (Gerry Wheeler) Re: Seeking Bell System Technical Journal (John R. Levine) Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? (Poll Dubh) Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? (S. Satchell) T1's in large MUX's (root@nntpa.cb.lucent.com) Part 310: Telemarketing Sales Rule Question (Dave Keeny) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (ranck@joesbar.cc.vt.edu) Re: Internet Phone-to-Phone Technology Now a Reality (Robert McMillin) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (R Schnell) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (K Daniels) Backwater Tel. Hanky Panky? (Ted Rodham) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: singular@oort.ap.sissa.it (Poll Dubh) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 8 Aug 1996 12:14:54 GMT Organization: Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate In article , James E Bellaire wrote: > Europe seems to have the expert in adding digits to numbers. When > British Telecom wants to expand the number of phones in an area, they > tell all their customers in that CO 'your number is changing from > xxxxx to xxxxxy' and on the target date it changes. Period. It's usually been the other way around, xxxxx -> yxxxxx (I've seen cases where y=3 and y=5). And for about one year after the change you do get an intercept when dialing an old-style number. France did much the same in Paris in 1985: (1)xxx-xxxx -> (1)4xxx-xxxx etc, but will try area code splits two months from now (xxxx-xxxx -> (0n)xxxx-xxxx). The more universal the rule, the better. There is nothing worse than the approach I've seen in Switzerland, in which the new leading digit depends on the exchange and some numbers (it's hard to predict which) get changed completely, or in Italy where all you get is a mention in individual phone book listings that "xyz-abc will become tuv-def" at some unspecified date. Even the infernal US area code splits are preferable to that anarchy. > Of course in the United States we do have the FCC, which has shown > interest in protecting phone numbers as property of the user. But not area codes, it would seem, or else overlays would be the rule. > replication debate and their plans for 'lifetime' portable numbers Portable numbers are great. They completely eliminate the problem inherent in frequent area code splits, that you need to tell everyone your new number every so often. I'd expect loud opposition to them from people who'll complain about the "loss of cultural identity" that comes from not being able to identify the neighborhood from the phone number. Here in Italy we are in the midst of a similar debate with car licence plates: we went from a province-based to a nationwide numbering scheme, but by popular demand an identification of the province will be added back, so that motorists may know what names to call the driver in front of them according to his or her place of origin. You'd be amazed how important these little details are to some people. ------------------------------ From: gwheeler@gate.net (Gerry Wheeler) Subject: Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 13:28:50 GMT Organization: SpectraFAX Corp. Reply-To: gwheeler@gate.net Lawrence Rachman <74066.2004@CompuServe.COM> wrote: > Does anyone out there have any personal or anecdotal experience with > telephone devices that sense line voltage this way? Just how low can > the open loop voltage go? I once tried to install a credit card terminal on a key system. This is the little grey box that has a slot to read the card's mag stripe, a keypad for numeric entry, and a display for status messages and approval numbers. It's designed to share a line with other terminals or phones, so it won't go offhook if it thinks the line is in use. The loop voltage of the key system was about 24 volts, and the terminal insisted the line was in use. I did some experimenting by adding batteries in series with the loop (and didn't even damage the key system's analog card! :-) and figured the terminal was looking for 30 volts or more (as I recall). Gerry Wheeler gwheeler@gate.net SpectraFAX Corp. Phone: 941-643-8739 Naples, FL Fax: 941-643-5070 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 96 09:18 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Seeking Bell System Technical Journal Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > I wish to submit a paper to "The Bell System Technical > Journal". However, I could not find any information on it at our > libraries. The BSTJ as such hasn't been published since the 1984 breakup. It morphed into the AT&T Technical Journal. In the March 1996 issue of that Journal there's a notice that it's been discontinued. Lucent will start a similar journal (sent to us with unexpired AT&TTJ subs), AT&T will publish a new tech journal, and they say NCR might as well. It doesn't matter, though, since all of these journals only published articles by company employees. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ From: singular@oort.ap.sissa.it (Poll Dubh) Subject: Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? Date: 8 Aug 1996 13:00:58 GMT Organization: Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate In article , Lionel Ancelet wrote: > What is the point of putting telephone directories on the Web if they are > not updated in a timely manner? You get what you are paying for. If you want up-to-date information, call Directory Assistance. As you noted, the online directories search CDrom databases, which are published periodically by various companies and are compiled from various sources (including printed telephone directories, direct marketers' databases, etc.). In order to have up-to-the-minute information, you need the cooperation of the phone companies themselves, who sell a competing service. (Even if they didn't, they'd want to recoup some of the costs of maintaining the directory databases, so it is doubtful that the information would be available free of charge.) > Some of my friends moved *months* ago, as well as some businesses I deal > with. Their new addresses don't show yet in online directories. I moved 19 months ago. One of the directories (switchboard.com) still lists the old number, even though at least one (perhaps two) new editions of the phone book have appeared since then. Of course they can't find a new number for me, which may be why they keep the old one. Or they may have lost interest. Be glad that you *can* use directory assistance. If I tried from here, they might insist on looking things up in the (obsolete) printed phone books just to save the cost of an international call. Wrong numbers from DA (even local numbers) are common here, and they don't give refunds (unless you sue them, I suppose, but the stamp tax for such a suit is prohibitive). > My point applies to US directories only. I don't know how often electronic > directories are updated. Except for France, where I used to live: when you > move, your new address and phone number is generally updated within a few > days. The user interface may be crude (40 column, text-only based), but hey, > the data is fresh. You'll note that France Telecom is no longer offering their EURO11 as part of their free "try out Minitel" service at minitel.fr. If you want to look up the French database by Internet, the cheapest way is through a www page at http://www.epita.edu:5000/11/, which is a university CS lab in Paris rather than an official France Telecom service. Similarly, the Italian equivalent of FT's 3611 service is not available free of charge anywhere that I know of. Some countries are more enlightened ... [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I want to take a minute to mention a service that Ameritech/Illinois Bell has had for a few years now for their largest users of directory assistance. The service is called 'Directory Express' (I am pretty sure that is the right name) and it allows direct access to the same database the information operators use. But you need to be a **big** user of directory assistance (as would be a collection agency or credit department for example) to make it worthwhile. I think Ameritech charges a couple hundred dollars per month for a certain number of *hours* per month of use, and they install a terminal in your office which is tied right in to the same source the operators use. I do not know of any other telcos providinig such a service, and I only knew one customer of Ameritech using it as of a few years ago. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 20:51:11 -0700 From: satchell@accutek.com (Stephen Satchell) Subject: Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? Organization: Satchell Evaluations In article , la@well.com wrote: > What is the point of putting telephone directories on the Web if they are > not updated in a timely manner? > My point applies to US directories only. I don't know how often electronic > directories are updated. Except for France, where I used to live: when you > move, your new address and phone number is generally updated within a few > days. The user interface may be crude (40 column, text-only based), but hey, > the data is fresh. One must remember that the reason the French deployed the Minitel system was so the terminal would *be* the phone book. That was the original use; other uses sprang up later. The 40-column format was the result of a desire to keep the terminals as inexpensive as possible. Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations http://www.accutek.com/~satchell ------------------------------ From: root@nntpa.cb.lucent.com Subject: T1's in Large MUX's Date: 8 Aug 1996 14:12:06 GMT Organization: AT&T Regarding timing issues on T1's imbedded in larger bit streams: As I understand the issue, timing is not necessarily put onto a T1 unless (1) that T1 is being put through a 1/0 Digital Cross-connect System (DCS) or (2) is being terminated/originated on a voice switch (5ESS or what have you). Otherwise, if you're looking for a nailed-up connection, your T1 heads straight to the local MUX/DMUX that puts the T1 into a higher rate system. For starters, remember that the data rate on a T1 is 1.544 Mb/s. On a DS3 based system, 28 T1's are put into a 44.736 Mb/s bit stream. Note that 28x1.544 = 43.232; so where are all those extra bits coming from? Some are framing and administration links - the others are "stuff" bits. The T1 -> T3 MUX encoder periodically puts "stuff" bits into the data channel for the T1. If the T1 is running at a slower rate than nominal, more stuff bits are put in. If the T1 is running at a higher rate than nominal, fewer stuff bits are put in. At the DS3 Demux stage, the decoder knows which bits are stuff and which are not, dumps the stuff bits and extracts the original T1. There is usually a PLL (Phase locked loop) at this receiving end that removes enough of the jitter incurred by this stuff/destuff to make the T1 usable for data and sometimes timing applications downstream. The 50 ppm limit cited by the original author of this thread is the maximum allowable offset frequency that can be generated by a stratum 4 source; i.e., a channel bank or what have you. This allows a DS3 to handle pretty much what comes along. SONET based systems work in a similiar way. Off the top of my head, the raw data rate for a VT1.5 channel inside of 51.84 Mb/s STS-1 SONET is 1.728 Mb/s. This is, as you might note, comfortably higher than the T1 rate of 1.544 Mb/s. Once again, stuff/destuff operations are used to keep the original T1 timing. Finally, one can put a DS3 inside of a STS-1; once again, stuff bits are used so the original DS3 timing is maintained whilst it transverses SONET links. One last minor point to keep in mind, here: note that SONET stands for Synchronous Optical NETwork. Interesting things (i.e., jitter of various levels) happen on the carried T1's and/or DS3's when or if the links in a SONET network are not running at the same frequency. The jitter events that can occur if these off-frequency events happen can make a T1 imbedded somewhere in a SONET unusuable for timing. Ken Becker Lucent Technologies Transmission Systems ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Part 310: Telemarketing Sales Rule Question Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 09:29:47 +0500 Organization: Telecommunications Techinques Corporation Reply-To: keenyd@ttc.com After a particularly obnoxious telemarketing call, I looked up the text of the FTC's Telemarketing Sales rule: (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/telemark/rule.htm) and found the following definition of telemarketing: (u) Telemarketing means a plan, program, or campaign which is conducted to induce the purchase of goods or services by use of one or more telephones *and* which involves more than one interstate telephone call ... [emphasis mine] It sounds as if telemarketing calls must cross state boundaries before the federal regulations come into play, as is the case with many other crimes (oops, freudian slip there ). Is it actually the case that a telemarketing outfit is not bound by Part 310 if they operate strictly intrastate? If so, what's to stop a big telemarketer from setting up shop in individual states to circumvent Part 310? Dave keenyd@ttc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Probably the thing which stops them is the expense involved in running that many operations and the fact that it would be far easier to just try to comply with the various laws pertaining to interstate transactions rather than run a whole bunch of parallel operations in each state. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ranck@joesbar.cc.vt.edu Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: 8 Aug 1996 13:21:55 GMT Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia Ed Mitchell (edmitch@MICROSOFT.com) wrote: > Almost all postal address (and the addresses on the phone bill) were > encoded similar to "Rural Route 15 Box 428" referring to the postal > carrier route and the box number along the route. There was no street > name nor street address associated with the location of the phone. To > implement E911 first required that the post office go through the > entire county and assign street address to rural and semi-rural homes, > and in a few cases, assign street names where none had existed. This > process took over a year of time. Then, each resident, had to notify > their personal or business contacts of new mailing addresses. This happened here when E911 was implemented about five years ago. The county went around and gave names to all the small roads that used to have just numbers. For example, County Route 613 might suddenly become Squirrel Road. The reasoning was that the computer system *had* to have road names. I never understood why County Rt. 613 wasn't just as valid a road name as any other. It *did* identify a single road. The same thing applies to rural route box numbers. Those do identify a particular mailbox, although admittedly the mailbox may not be located very close to the house it serves. But, how does giving the mailbox a street address help that? Or, did they give the street address to the house, and then have the eight or ten mailboxes in a cluster with wildly differing street addresses? Sorry, this just pushes one of my buttons. They are rearranging peoples' lives just to accomodate the computer system when the computer system should be made to accomodate the people. If the post office was able to deliver mail to those addresses, then the E911 system should be able to handle it also. Make the system fit the people, not the other way around! Bill Ranck +1-540-231-3951 ranck@vt.edu Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Computing Center [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Blaming everything that goes wrong on the poor old dumb computer again, eh? So what else is old? PAT] ------------------------------ From: rlm@netcom.com (Robert McMillin) Subject: Re: Internet Phone-to-Phone Technology Now a Reality Organization: Charlie Don't CERF Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 13:49:31 GMT On 07 Aug 1996 06:32:50 PDT, rshockey@ix.netcom.com (Richard Shockey) said: > Internet Telephony announcements are coming fast and furious. > Here are two seen recently. > Network Long Distance to participate in market and product development > HACKENSACK, N.J. (Reuter) - IDT Corp. says it's offering the > first telephone communications system that allows computer users > to make calls to regular phones via the Internet. I'll believe these are for real on the day I see Ticketmaster switch to Iphone, and not before. This is still a toy phone system, with inherently bad reliability because of the underlying problems with the Internet. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: ronnie@twitch.mit.edu (Ron Schnell) Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call Date: 8 Aug 1996 06:47:00 GMT Organization: MIT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are times people might not want > to answer the phone if they know who is calling. If you have not got > the money to pay a bill, then you don't want to talk to a bill collector. > So US West may be thinking in that direction, that it is better to be > vague about who is calling until they get the person they want to > speak with on the line. PAT] I think whether or not they should be blocking is not really the problem here. The problem is that someone's line got disconnected because of it, without a chance to talk about it. I think it is a good example of why packaged "block the blocker" service is better than just looking at the box and deciding whether or not to answer. If someone gets a rejection message, at least they know what is going on, and will unblock and call back, or find another means of communication. I'm not commenting on this situation, and who is in the right, just mentioning that it shows the usefulness of the feature. Ron ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 13:43:08 GMT From: Kelly Daniels Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call > US West's credit department, located in Seattle Washington, > (800/244-1111) has had a practice of not putting who they are via > Caller ID so that someone who needs to talk with them will know that > they are trying to get in touch with them about their phone bill. > The end result is that the customer, not knowing the importance of the > call, rejects the call assuming it is from a telemarketer or telesleaze > outfit such as a bogus prize award call. > If anyone has any ideas call US WEST at the above number and ask for > the collections manager and give him some of your solutions for this > problem, also post any replies to this article to the newsgroup as the > email address above is at a public library and no one is able to > retrieve email at that email address. Perhaps if you took a different approach to the valid complaint that you had. two fold approach will yield better results I believe. First, In many states, Business can not request Caller ID Block options on their trunks. US WEST is a business and therefor without a specific exclusion like for Womens' Crisis center, US WEST must honor this option. I am sure no other Collection firms have a waiver. Then the second tact, is to take a more public forum. A letter to the editor of several larger newspapers explaining the non-ubiquitous use of the Caller-ID features by a company promoting this will go a long way, even if you do not mention the collection department. ------------------------------ From: Determine@aol.com Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1996 09:59:46 -0400 Subject: Backwater Tel. Hanky Panky? Dear Pat and Listers, I have a two part question but an answer to the first part of the question may automatically answer the second part. If not, I'll post the second part soon. Proposition: I am serviced by a small, independently-owned telco (about 4,000 subscribers). The long distance carrier of choice is AT&T but I have no term plan or special calling plan. My local telco takes billing info from their own switch and runs it through their own billing software. Their monthly LD bill *always* shows at the top of each page, "Backwater Telecom Toll Call Detail Listing" with the words "AT&T Communications" listed under that. Question: On international calls, does Backwater get a kickback from AT&T for some part of the billing of such calls, or is *all* the international charge that is billed to me passed on to AT&T? Or is an independently owned local telco allowed to buy time on AT&T's network at wholesale, rate their calls at the same maximum rate that AT&T shows on their international tariffs, then keep the difference? If you have the time to give me your unbiased and hopefully *insider* opinion, you can email me directly. I assure you that you will not be quoted. I just want a really straight answer from someone other than my local friendly telecom or AT&T. Ted Rodham Skyeline, Ltd. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #392 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 8 12:44:44 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA18682; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 12:44:44 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 12:44:44 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608081644.MAA18682@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #393 TELECOM Digest Thu, 8 Aug 96 12:44:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 393 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Number Crunch in Southern California (John Cropper) Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems (Bill Garfield) Re: Cordless for a Rolm PBX (Karl Imhoff) Re: New Internet Registry (.WEB Domain) (Kevin R. Ray) Re: Trouble Finding Cabinets For Telecom Equipment (Carl Zwanzig) ADSI - The Search For Information Continues (Joe Lindsay) Teaching Opportunity for Industry Professional (Donna Loper) Telecom Site For Sale or Partnering (Mark Endelman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: Number Crunch in Southern California Date: 8 Aug 1996 06:52:12 GMT Organization: MindSpring On Aug 01, 1996 09.26.05 in article , 'Tad Cook ' wrote: > An article on how crazy things are getting follows below. > Although there still are sufficient numbers in the soon-to-be-split > 818 area code that serves Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, Bennett > placed a temporary freeze last month on issuing new prefixes in the > 310 area code in the western part of the Los Angeles area and in the > 619 area code in the San Diego region. The really sad part is that the lines were already drawn, and pretty much approved in the case of 310, 619, AND 818. All PacBell would have to do is file to have the beginning of the permissive and mandatory dates moved up from their mid-97 implementation. Instead, they (carriers), are resigned to sitting on their hands (just like their Texas counterparts) while customers wait for the change, numberless. > A temporary freeze has been placed in the 415 area code in San > Francisco as well. The California PUC would rather let the public argue until they're blue in the face, rather than risk offending any party by making a quickly-needed decision on the seven or so MORE codes needing immediate relief ... > The freeze means that any new phone numbers have to come from the > declining supply of remaining prefixes or from numbers that become > available when customers cancel their local phone service. I can hear the landline provider now ... "I'm sorry sir, we can't give you a number until someone else gives it up". Maybe if enough people have problems, they'll complain to the CPUC. Of course, they'll have to use a pay phone to do it ... > In fact, Richard Fish, a senior engineer with the California Public > Utilities Commission, said it's likely phone numbers in the 310, 619 > and 415 area codes will run out before new area codes are added. The > state PUC determines which regions receive new area codes. ... in accordance with standards set in late '94. Seeing the results of adding the public to the NPA decision-making process, I would return to the old method, where the providers (including the new entrants to the market) ONLY would make the decision and submit it to the PUC. At least there would be an ample supply of numbers, and far less wrangling. > Fighting within the industry over how to dole out telephone numbers > and state regulations requiring advance public notice before an area > code is split into a new code has contributed to a delay in getting > new area codes up and running, Fish noted. California is not the only state to experience this problem; Texas is still holding its breath over the status of 713 (96.4% full, but partially relieved on the cellular side with 281), and 214 (97.1% full, with no relief until September). Sooner or later, some customer somewhere won't be able to get a landline, and will have the means to put up a BIG legal fight...imagine what would happen if a big carrier wanted to move its offices into, say 213, and there were no more numbers left for six or seven monthes. > Telephone carriers now must make do with the prefixes they currently > hold and any unused numbers in those prefixes. Each new three-number > prefix holds the capacity for 10,000 telephone numbers. Many areas suffer from almost-empty reserved prefixes, where a large company or municipality reserves an ENTIRE prefix, then only uses a few dozen, or few hundred numbers out of it. Perhaps this practice should be reviewed as well. > Once the freeze is lifted, the remaining new prefixes in the three > area codes may be rationed out to telephone companies, or a lottery > held if demand exceeds supply, say regulators. Yes, but will the price for these numbers go up? How about the issue of possible profiteering? > But should available phone numbers fall short of meeting requests, a > priority system will be used to determine who receives the precious > numbers. > Emergency service agencies such as fire and police departments are at > the top of the priority list, while residential customers with no > existing telephone service are second to last. Customers looking to > add a second telephone line are at the bottom of the list. > And residents and businesses that fail to land a number may find > themselves using such alternatives as pay phones and cellular phones > until service cancellations free up existing phone numbers -- or a new > area code can be brought on-line for that region. ... at a HEFTY profit to the cellular carriers, and tremendous expense to the business/individual ... :-( > Telecommunications industry representatives and the California code > administrator will meet next month to work out such alternatives and > devise a plan to educate the public. Just like they stalled the 310/562 process for almost TWO YEARS? This oughta be really fun to watch ... > "We're looking into the availability of coin telephones in the 310 > area code," said Joe Cocke, GTE regional industry affairs staff > administrator. "If it does get to the point where we are totally out > of numbers and have gone through the priority list and still no > numbers, there will be a contingency plan to get customers numbers." > Meanwhile, cellular and wireless companies also are developing > contingency plans for the state Public Utilities Commission. > Cellular companies say they have more flexibility than traditional > phone companies in issuing numbers because their local calling area > encompasses more than one area code. > "Even if we can't get numbers in the 310 area code, we can still offer > those customers a cellular phone with a 714 or 213 area code," said > Gwen Blakkan, business development project manager with AirTouch in > Irvine. "It may not be the most convenient for customers, but at least > they'll still get phone service." Then, of course, they'll exhaust neighboring codes (already under considerable pressure already) more quickly, spreading the problem like a wildfire from NPA to NPA ... > "There are so many issues to resolve," said Blakkan. "Someone has to > make up the difference between the cost of a (traditional) phone call > and a cellular call. Cost is a major issue and how it will be > defrayed." How 'bout warming up the tar and plucking a few hens for your friends who dragged their feet (at the CPUC, as well as "contributors to the cause" like TURN) for monthes while the codes were being drained ... :-) John Cropper * NiS / NexComm Content is the sole property of the * PO Box 277 originating poster. Please relegate * Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 ALL on-topic responses to this * Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 newsgroup. Unsolicited private mail * Outside NJ: 800.247.8675 is prohibited, and will be referred * Fax : 609.637.9430 unabridged to sender's ISP. * email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: bubba@insync.net (Bill Garfield) Subject: Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 10:47:54 GMT Organization: Associated Technical Consultants Reply-To: bubba@insync.net In article stephen@clark.net (Stephen Balbach) wrote: > I had posted earlier about a known problem with AT&T SLC96 fiber > cabinets and achieving full 28.8 (or 33.6) modem connections due to > bandwidth constraints in the SLC96. SLC96 cabinets are widely deployed > througout the USA in all seven RBOCS and are one of the culprits of bad > modem connections in the PSTN. Bell Atlantic told us and many other > ISP's in the Balt/DC region that the problem is unsolvable and the > only solution is ISDN. The cards that break out the OC-3 into DS0's > fall-off at about 3400Hz thus limiting the throughput at best to 26.4 > (28.8 needs about 3800Hz) -- the PSTN can theoreticlaly achive a > maximum of 4000Hz which copper can do, but the cards in SLC96's can > only do about 3400Hz. [snip] Hasn't this horse been whipped before? I've pursued this myself and determined much to my own satisfaction that "the problem" lies not within the SLC96, but rather with the method of termination at the serving office (CO Terminal end). Much to my absolute horror I discovered about a year ago that common practice is to interface the COT end to the (digital) switching machine via back-to-back channel banks with a wire frame inbetween. Argghh! In some cases this was a carryover from a switch upgrade from the analog days, where the SLC originally had its COT side terminated into a wire frame before hitting the machine. Then along comes the new digital switcher and the wire frame remains and/or worse, a D4 bank is added to bring the service into the machine digitally. Why? If the serving office is a digital machine, request, nee insist on 'full digital integration' on the CO end and quite miraculously your "28.8 modem issues" will be solved. This is also true when the CPE is one of the new "digital" modem bays such as USRobotic's upscale Enterprise Network Hub. This unit accepts up to two T1s directly, providing a direct digital interface to up to 48 modems per shelf. Alas, when the CO side has a D4 channel bank sitting ahead of the switch, the bandwidth and high-end frequency response will suffer, as will the signal:noise ratio. By removing the D4 bank and terminating directly into a digital shelf, modem performance literally springs to life. Here's what the differences look like, first w/back-to-back D4 equipment on the C.O. end, to wit: | -22 - - - - - - - - - - - _ _ _ _ _ _ 0 | -24 - _ 2 | -26 - _ 4 | -28 6 | -30 8 | -32 - 10 | -34 12 | -36 14 | -38 _ 16 | -40 18 | -42 20 | -44 N N 22 | -46 O O 24 | -48 * MODEM RECEIVER THRESHOLD* * * * * * * * * * *N*N* 26 | -50 E E 28 | -52 30 |Level =================================================== Atten | 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 | 1 3 4 6 7 9 0 2 3 5 6 8 9 1 2 4 5 7 8 0 1 3 4 6 7 | 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Here we see fairly good levels out to 3400 hz, where the bandpass suddenly nosedives into the dirt. This circuit will provide V.34 modem performance up to maybe 26.4k bps, but surely nothing higher. By contrast, look now at the same customer's response curve after the C.O. side was given full digital integration: | -18 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | -20 _ - - _ 1 | -22 - 3 | -24 _ 5 | -26 7 | -28 _ 9 | -30 11 | -32 13 | -34 15 | -36 - 17 |Level =================================================== Atten | 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 | 1 3 4 6 7 9 0 2 3 5 6 8 9 1 2 4 5 7 8 0 1 3 4 6 7 | 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Here we still see the high end rolloff, though it's not nearly as steep and there is measurable energy well above the modem's receive threshold, all the way out to 3750 Hz. This circuit will support not only 28.8, but even modem speeds as high as 33.6k bps. Putting in ISDN may in fact be less hassle and less of a fight with "the phone company" as many of them are quick to spout the company "line" about only guaranteeing 300 - 3000 Hz and "2400 baud". ------------------------------ From: Karl Imhoff Subject: Re: Cordless for a Rolm PBX Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 08:29:45 -0700 Organization: Software AG of North America, Inc. Reply-To: sakxi@sagus.com Mike Seebeck wrote: > Roger Jennings (rjennings@fibermux.com) wrote: >> Anyone know of a digital cordless phone that can directly connect to a >> Rolm digital line? Or second best a device that allow me to connect a >> standard analog phone to the Rolm line. > Uniden is advertising cordless telephones which work with propriatary > digital PBX lines. These apparently Y off the digital line. I have > not tested one yet but have asked for a evaluation unit. They are 900 > MHz. Cost is about $320. > Why not just run an analog line from your PBX to your desk on a spare > pair in your telephone four pair? The Rolm phone only uses one pair > of the wires. Rolm sells their ROLMphone 900 cell system for the 9751 systems. It cost approximatly $20,000 for the first eight phones but gives you full access to all the ROLMphone features and allows extensive "roaming". Check out: http://www.siemensrolm.com/products/mac/mac12.htm Several months ago we investigated this option for our warehouse but eliminated it as to costly to justify for the application. We ended up purchasing one Uniden ANA 9500 for evaluation. The workers in the warehouse are happy with it and now want four more. Rolm charged us $399 for the Uniden ANA 9500. If anyone knows where I can get them cheaper, I would appreciate the info. Karl Imhoff, RCDD Email sakxi@sagus.com Software AG of North America, Inc. http://www.sagus.com ------------------------------ From: kevin@eagle.ais.net (Kevin R. Ray) Subject: Re: New Internet Registry (.WEB Domain) Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:08:01 GMT Organization: The Heartland of America Reply-To: kray@heartland.bradley.edu > PAT, the readers of TELECOM might be interested to know that per the > current draft regarding new Internet Top Level Domains (postel/IANA), > Image Online Design has opened the .WEB and .WWW domains for early > registrations pending procedure finalization. I see the Internet as it is today slowly "falling apart". The backbones are overloaded and the current domain names filling up (at least all the good ones :). Not to mention IP address' are in high demand as well. Something serious is going to have to change ... There's more than that brewing out there. See http://www.alternic.net for more information (or http://www.alternic.nic if you can get there :) Problem is unless your DNS or your providers is updated properly then you won't be able to get to any of these (I'm already under the .LNX). For example, the current proposed new top level domains (not to be handled by the internic) are: .800 - Promotion of 1-800 telephone services. .888 - 1-888 telephone services. .AGN American Global Network .ALT - Alternative DNS, Memra Software .ART - Skyscape Communications, Inc. .AUTO Automobile .BIZ - Competition for .COM .DOT - One of the first TLD experiments. .EARTH An alternative domain for Earth (I know some who can't apply here :) .ENT - Skyscape Communications, Inc. .EUR - European name service, by NetNames .EXP - Experimental Use .FAM - Family oriented. Lanminds. .FCN - The Free Community Network .HIGGS - Simon Higgs .INC - Competition for .COM ! GlobeComm, Inc. .IDG - IDG International Data Group/Interactive - Europe .LAW - Legal/Law related, GlobeComm, Inc. .LIVE - by Memra Software, Inc. .LNX - Linux Systems (ALTERNIC TLD) (This one is FREE -- for now) .LTD - Competition for .COM, (ALTERNIC TLD) .MALL - UNETY Net .MED - Medical related. (ALTERNIC TLD) .METRO - Major Bandwith Connections (10MB+) .NEWS - Simon Higgs .NIC - Network Info Center (ALTERNIC TLD) .POST - by Memra Software, Inc. .SEA - Seanet.com, Seattle .SEX - Skyscape Communications, Inc. .SKY - Skyscape Communications, Inc. .TOUR - Tourism and travel. .WEB - World Wide Web .WWW - World Wide Web .USA - Competition for .US .USVI - US Virgin Islands .WIR - WIRED Magazine .WIRED - WIRED Magazine .WTV - World TeleVirtual Network .XXX - Pornographic (ALTERNIC TLD) (and for a few K you too can have your OWN top level domain added :) ------------------------------ From: zbang@access.digex.net (Carl Zwanzig) Subject: Re: Trouble Finding Cabinets For Telecom Equipment Date: 8 Aug 1996 14:51:04 GMT Organization: The Midnite Group In article , wrote: > I am at a loss of where to find this for my telecom stuff: > I need several cabinets for holding datacom/telecom equipment. They > shouldn't be the 19" rack mount, I need a little wider, with smoked > glass and locks AND some kind of fan or forced air to pull out the > heat. It sounds as if you're looking for 23" racks. They should be available from TRIMM, Winstead, and others. Try a telecom or broadcast magazine for addresses. If you have some money, look at the Liebert "Little Glass House". It's NOT cheap, but it's lockable, soundproofed, comes with a good 2kva UPS, has a built-in airconditioner, fan backup for the a/c, alarm contacts, etc. If you've been to any of the recent Networld+Interop shows (in the US), you might have seen them at the satelite hotels, holding the remote network gear. They also make other racks and cabinets (and air conditioners and UPSs). Very high quality (and priced to match, sigh). Carl Zwanzig ------------------------------ From: Joe Lindsay Subject: ADSI - The Search For Information Continues Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 17:52:19 -0700 Organization: QDS Reply-To: jlindsay@qds.com Is there any vendor other than dialogic supporting ADSI on thier voice cards? Is there any interest in a ADSI or ADSI-Developer's mailing list? JLindsay@qds.com Joe Lindsay QDS ------------------------------ From: dloper@clark.edu (Donna Loper) Subject: Teaching Opportunity for Industry Professional Date: 8 Aug 1996 09:09:50 -0700 Organization: Clark College, Vancouver, WA. HELP WANTED CLARK COLLEGE Vancouver, Washington Electronics Instructor Full-time tenure track position teaching Electronics Technology including: responsibility for Microcomputer Operating System Software, Data Communications/Telecommunications, PC Repair, and Computer Networking. Requires B.S. in Electronics and/or equivalent, and two years of work experience in electronics and or telecommunications within the past six years. Closing date August 20, 1996. Clark College is a Community College. Excellent opportunity for relocating to one of the most beautiful regions in the Pacific Northwest. To obtain application materials - call Clark College Personnel Services, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA 98663 - at (360) 992-2105 or email to willsa@ooi.clark.edu JOBLINE: (360) 992-2836, Hearing Impaired: (360)992-2317. Affirmative Action/Equal employment opportunity employer. The College will consider its diversity needs when filling all positions. ------------------------------ From: mark@telematrix.com Subject: Telecom Site for Sale or Partnering Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:14:52 GMT Organization: TZ-Link, a public-access online community in Nyack, NY. For the last two years we at have sponsored an INTERNET site on the world-wide web: International Telecom Center (http://www.itcenter.com). ITC is the only commercial site on the INTERNET devoted exclusively to providing telecommunication products and services. Currently, we receive between 75,000 -100,000 visits a month from telecom professionals, 75% from the U.S. and 25% from the rest of the world. As a result of internal changes here at Telematrix, we are interested in either selling or ITC outright, or partnering with an organization, that has the necessary resources and expertise in telecom to enhance our own efforts. If you are interested in either of these options, visit our site and then give me a call at (914)353-0311 of fax me at 914-359-8333, or email at mark@telematrix.com. Mark Endelman Executive Director ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #393 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 8 13:32:43 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA24248; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 13:32:43 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 13:32:43 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608081732.NAA24248@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #394 TELECOM Digest Thu, 8 Aug 96 13:32:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 394 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson IVTTA Workshop Schedule and Registration Deadline (Murray F. Spiegel) Updated GSM List 08/08/96 (Jurgen Morhofer) Alphanumeric Paging Checksum Help Needed (Joe Manz) Re: Backwater Tel. Hanky Panky? (Keith W. Brown) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Jay R. Ashworth) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Linc Madison) Re: ISDN D-Channel Data and Internet Voice (John Dearing) Re: BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for ISPs (N.G. Marino) Re: Cordless for a Rolm PBX (Clint CRG) Cost of E1 Interfacing and Softwares? (Othman bin Hj. Ahmad) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: spiegel@bellcore.com (Murray F Spiegel) Subject: IVTTA Workshop Schedule and Registration Deadline Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:44:58 GMT Organization: Speech Technology Research Group (Bellcore) Reply-To: spiegel@bellcore.com Here is information regarding IVTTA, the satelite workshop devoted to telecommunication applications that takes place prior to ICSLP. The purpose of this email is twofold: A) The schedule of the papers for IVTTA has been determined. It is available on our web site: http://superbook.bellcore.com/IVTTA.html B) There are only three weeks left before the registration deadline! We hope can come -- if you have not yet registered, we urge you to do so now. A registration form is attached. Note that your registration must be accompanied by funds in U.S. dollars to be valid. Problem solver: -) Direct questions regarding your registration to: rrr@arch4.att.com AND barbara@anthrax.ho.att.com -) Direct questions regarding your paper to: naik@nynexst.com -) If you want an emailed copy of the IVTTA schedule because you cannot reach our web site, send email to: spiegel@bellcore.com Thank you, Sincerely, The IVTTA organizers Registration information THIRD IEEE WORKSHOP ON INTERACTIVE VOICE TECHNOLOGY FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS APPLICATIONS The third of a series of IEEE workshops on Interactive Voice Technology for Telecommunications Applications will be held at the AT&T Learning Center, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, from September 30 - October 1, 1996. The conference venue is on 35 semi-rural acres and is close enough (1 hour) for side trips to New York City. Our workshop will be held immediately before ICSLP '96 in Philadelphia, PA, approximately 80 miles from our location. The IVTTA workshop brings together application researchers planning to conduct or who have recently conducted field trials of new applications of speech recognition, speaker identity verification, text-to-speech synthesis over the telephone network. The workshop will explore promising opportunities for applications and attempt to identify areas where further research is needed. Topic areas of interest: - ASR/verification systems for the cellular environment - User interface / human factors of applying speech to telecommunications tasks - Language modeling and dialog design for "audio-only" communication - Experimental interactive systems for telecommunication applications - Experience in deployment & assessment of deployed ASR/verification systems - Text-to-speech applications in the network - Speech enhancement for telecommunications applications - Telephone services for the disabled - Architectures for speech-based services =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Our web site now shows the list of papers being presented; see http://superbook.bellcore.com/IVTTA.html. (If you cannot reach the IVTTA web site, send email to spiegel@bellcore.com requesting to see the paper list.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Due to workshop facility constraints, attendance at the Workshop will be limited to no more than 150 people, with priority given to presenters. In accordance with IEEE regulations, additional registrants will be accepted only on a first-come, first-served basis, space permitting. To register for IVTTA '96, send the following information, along with appropriate funds, to the AT&T address below. We regret that credit cards cannot be accepted. Registrations NOT accompanied by appropriate U.S. funds WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Additional information is at http://superbook.bellcore.com/IVTTA.html Your title: Professor __ Dr. __ Mr. __ Ms. __ Mrs. __ Other __ Family name _______________________ Given Name ______________________ Affiliation ______________________________________ Postal Address (Office __ Home __) __________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= September 30 - October 1, 1996 The AT&T Learning Center 300 N Maple Ave Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 USA Sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __________________________________________________ Country _________ Contact information: Fax __________________________________ E-mail Address _______________________ Telephone (include country code) ___________________________ Indicate the registration categories that apply to you (see explanations below): Full registration ______ Day-only registration _______ IEEE member ______ Non-IEEE member _______ Using fee schedule below, write subtotal $ ________ I want ____ extra copies of the proceedings: $25/copy: Subtotal: $ ________ Total enclosed: $ _________ All registrants must include a draft in US Dollars only. (We are sorry, NO CREDIT CARDS can be accepted.) Make checks payable to IVTTA. Mail registration form and funds to the following address: Dick Rosinski IVTTA Workshop AT&T, HO 1J-322 101 Crawfords Corner Rd P O Box 3030, Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030 1-908-949-0059 Registration fees Before 8/30/96 Full Registration IEEE member $750 Full Registration Non-IEEE member $800 Day-only Registration IEEE member $500 Day-only Registration Non-IEEE member $550 DAY-ONLY REGISTRATION includes: All technical sessions, welcoming reception, lunches, snacks, banquet, and a copy of the proceedings. FULL REGISTRATION includes all of the above plus: Dinner on evening of arrival, breakfast both days, two nights lodging at the conference center, and use of the center facilities (jogging track, exercise center, pool, etc). Remember: Attendance is limited to no more than 150 people. Non-presenting registrants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, space permitting. Registrations not accompanied by appropriate U.S. funds cannot be accepted. IVTTA '96 welcomes your participation and hopes you have a productive and enjoyable workshop. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 16:17:01 +0200 From: Jurgen Morhofer Subject: Updated GSM List 08/08/96 For the latest edition of this list look at my Web-Site: http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/gsm/gsm-list.html kindly supplied by Jutta Degener. And if you're already on the Web, take a look at my commercial site: http://www.pobox.com/~globaltel -- I really would appreciate your business! (Changes in the list marked by "*") Date 08-08-1996. Country Operator name Network code Tel to customer service ------ ------------- ------------ ----------------------- Albania * AMC Andorra STA-Mobiland 213 03 Int + 376 824 115 Argentina Australia Optus 505 02 Int + 61 2 342 6000 Telecom/Telstra 505 01 Int + 61 18 01 8287 Vodafone 505 03 Int + 61 2 415 7236 Austria Mobilkom Austria 232 01 Int + 43 1 79701 * max.mobil. 232 03 Int + 43 676 2000 Azerbaidjan* Azercell Bahrain Batelco 426 01 Int + 973 885557 Belgium Belgacom 206 01 Int + 32 2205 4000 Mobistar Botswana * Brunei * DSTCom 528 11 * Jabatan Telekom Bulgaria Citron 284 01 Cameroon * PTT Cameroon Cellnet Chile China Guangdong MCC 460 00 * Beijing Wireless * China Unicom 460 01 * Zhuhai Comms * DGT MPT * Jiaxing PTT * Tjianjin Toll Croatia HR Cronet 219 01 Cyprus CYTA 280 01 Int + 357 2 310588 Czech Rep. Eurotel Praha 230 02 * Radio Mobil Denmark Sonofon 238 02 Int + 45 9936 7196 Tele Danmark Mobil 238 01 Int + 45 8020 2020 Egypt * Arento Estonia EMT 248 01 Int + 372 6 397130 Radiolinja Eesti 248 02 Int + 372 6 399966 * Ritabell Ethiopia * ETA Fiji Vodafone 542 01 Int + 679 312000 Finland Radiolinja 244 05 Int + 358 800 95050 Telecom 244 91 Int + 358 800 17000 * Alands Mobil France France Telecom 208 01 Int + 33 1 44 62 14 81 SFR 208 10 Int + 33 1 44 16 20 16 Fr.Polynesia*Tikiphone 547 20 Georgia * Superphone Germany D1, DeTeMobil 262 01 Int + 49 511 288 0171 D2, Mannesmann 262 02 Int + 49 172 1212 Ghana * Franci Walker Ltd * ScanCom=20 Gibraltar GibTel 266 01 Int + 350 58 102 000 G Britain Cellnet 234 10 Int + 44 753 504548 Vodafone 234 15 Int + 44 836 1191 Jersey Telecom 234 50 Int + 44 1534 882 512 Guernsey Telecom 234 55 Manx Telecom 234 58 Int + 44 1624 636613 Greece Panafon 202 05 Int + 30 94 400 122 STET 202 10 Int + 30 93 333 333 Guinea * Int'l Wireless Hong Kong HK Hutchison 454 04 SmarTone 454 06 Int + 852 2880 2688 Telecom CSL 454 00 Int + 852 2803 8450 Hungary Pannon GSM 216 01 Int + 36 1 270 4120 Westel 900 216 30 Int + 36 30 303 100 Iceland Post & Simi 274 01 Int + 354 800 6330 India Airtel 404 10 Int + 91 10 012345 Essar 404 11 Int + 91 11 098110 Maxtouch 404 20 BPL Mobile 404 21 Command 404 30 Mobilenet 404 31 Skycell 404 40 RPG MAA 404 41 * Usha Martin * Modi Telstra * Sterling Cellular * Mobile Telecom * Airtouch * BPL USWest * Koshiki * Bharti Telenet * Birla Comm * Cellular Comms * TATA * Escotel * JT Mobiles Indonesia TELKOMSEL 510 10 Int=A0+ 62 778 455 455 PT Satelit Palapa 510 01 Int + 62 21 533 1881 Excelcom 510 11 Iraq 418 ?? Iran T.C.I. Int + 98 2 18706341 Ireland Eircell 272 01 Int + 353 42 38888 Digifone Italy Omnitel 222 10 Int + 39 349 2000 190 Telecom Italia Mobile 222 01 Int + 39 339 9119 Ivory Coast Japan Jordan * JMTS 416 ?? Kenya Kuwait MTC 419 02 Int + 965 484 2000 Laos 458 ?? Latvia LMT 247 01 Int + 371 256 2191 Lebanon Libancell 415 03 Cellis 415 01 Liechtenstein Natel-D 228 01 Lithuania Omnitel 246 01 * Bite GSM 246 02 Int + 370 2 232323 Luxembourg P&T LUXGSM 270 01 Int + 352 4088 7088 Lybia Orbit Macao CTM 455 01 Int + 853 8913912 Malawi 650 ?? Malaysia Celcom 502 19 Binariang 502 12 Malta Advanced 278 ?? Marocco O.N.P.T. 604 01 Int + 212 220 2828 Mauritius Cellplus 617 01 Monaco France Telecom 208 01 Int + 33 1 44 62 14 81 SFR 208 10 Int + 33 1 44 16 20 16 Mongolia Mozambique Namibia MTC 649 01 Int + 264 81 121212 Netherlands PTT Netherlands 204 08 Int + 31 6 0106 Libertel 204 04 Int + 31 6 54 500100 New Caledonia New Zealand Bell South 530 01 Int + 64 9 357 5100 Nigeria Norway NetCom 242 02 Int + 47 92 00 01 68 TeleNor Mobil 242 01 Int + 47 22 78 15 00 Oman 422 ?? =20 Pakistan Mobilink 410 01 Int + 92 51 273971-7 Philippines Globe Telecom 515 02 Int + 63 2 813 7720 Islacom 515 01 Int + 63 2 813 8618 Poland 260 ?? Portugal Telecel 268 01 Int + 351 931 1212 TMN 268 06 Int + 351 1 791 4474 Qatar Q-Net 427 01 Int + 974 325 000 Rumania 226 ?? Russia Mobile Tele... Moscow 250 01 Int + 7 095 915-7734 United Telecom Moscow NW GSM, St. Petersburg 250 02 Int + 7 812 528 4747 San Marino Omnitel 222 10 Int + 39 349 2000 190 Telecom Italia Mobile 222 01 Int + 39 339 9119 SaudiArabia Saudi Telecom Seychelles SEZ SEYCEL 633 01 Serbia Singapore Singapore Telecom 525 01 Int + 65 738 0123 Slovenia South Africa MTN 655 10 Int + 27 11 445 6001 Vodacom 655 01 Int + 27 82 111 Sri Lanka MTN Networks Pvt Ltd 413 02 Spain Airtel 214 01 Int + 34 07 123000 Telefonica Spain 214 07 Int + 34 09 100909 Sweden Comviq 240 07 Int + 46 586 686 10 Europolitan 240 08 Int + 46 708 22 22 22 Telia 240 01 Int + 46 771 91 03 50 Switzerland PTT Switzerland 228 01 Int + 41 46 05 64 64 Syria SYR MOBILE 417 09 Taiwan LDTA 466 92 Int + 886 2 321 1962=20 Tanzania Thailand TH AIS GSM 520 01 Int + 66 2 299 6440 Tunisia Turkey Telsim 286 02 Int + 90 212 288 7850 Turkcell 286 01 Int + 90 800 211 0211 UAE UAE ETISALAT-G1 424 01 UAE ETISALAT-G2 424 02 Int + 971 4004 101 Uganda Celtel Cellular 641 01 Vatican Omnitel 222 10 Int + 39 349 2000 190 Telecom Italia Mobile 222 01 Int + 39 339 9119 Vietnam MTSC 452 01 Zaire Zimbabwe ECONET 648 ?? Many Thanks to Kimmo Ketolainen, Robert Lindh and Alex van Es for their precious help! ------------------------------ From: Joe Manz Subject: Alphanumeric Paging Checksum Help Needed Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 22:31:49 -0500 Organization: Personal Computer Software Greetings everyone! I an trying to write a small program in Quick Basic v4.5 for alphanumeric paging. I have posted to every QBasic news group I can find. After two weeks I have no reply. So, as a last ditch effort I am trying here too. The application is for dialing into a Glenayre Telocator. The Telecator Protocol (TAP), requires a checksum of the data being sent. It compares what was sent and the TAP verifys what was received. This is the part that is giving me problems. I know there are many commerical alpha paging programs on the market. None will fit my application. I have an example of what I need to do. BLOCK #1 FIELD #1 FIELD #2 FIELD #N Example: 1 TEST 190 ("TEST" is the message) ("190" is the checksum) This is the checksum example they gave me: STX 000 0010 1 011 0001 2 011 0010 3 011 0011 CR 000 1101 A 100 0001 B 100 0010 C 100 0011 CR 000 1101 ETX 000 0011 _________________ 10111 1011 1 0111 1011 _________________ 1 7 ; Checksum=17 I would sure be grateful to anyone who can help me write code for this, or point me in the right direction. If anyone has an idea where I can find a *.bas of a completed alpha paging program, that would be a big help too. Thanks in advance! Joe ------------------------------ From: Keith W. Brown Subject: Re: Backwater Tel. Hanky Panky? Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:36:13 GMT Organization: CallCom International Determine@aol.com wrote in article : > I have a two part question but an answer to the first part of the > question may automatically answer the second part. If not, I'll post > the second part soon. > Proposition: I am serviced by a small, independently-owned telco > (about 4,000 subscribers). The long distance carrier of choice is > AT&T but I have no term plan or special calling plan. My local telco > takes billing info from their own switch and runs it through their own > billing software. Their monthly LD bill *always* shows at the top of > each page, "Backwater Telecom Toll Call Detail Listing" with the words > "AT&T Communications" listed under that. > Question: On international calls, does Backwater get a kickback from > AT&T for some part of the billing of such calls, or is *all* the > international charge that is billed to me passed on to AT&T? Or is an > independently owned local telco allowed to buy time on AT&T's network > at wholesale, rate their calls at the same maximum rate that AT&T > shows on their international tariffs, then keep the difference? > If you have the time to give me your unbiased and hopefully *insider* > opinion, you can email me directly. I assure you that you will not be > quoted. I just want a really straight answer from someone other than > my local friendly telecom or AT&T. I had a similar situation in Kingman AZ where Citizens was rebilling carrier services on behalf of a Provider recently acquired by Frontier (World Call Telecommunications - WCT). In that scenario, the cost per minute was substantially "bumped up" and my customer was not pleased. I notified our service provider (WCT) and was told by their legal deprtment that they had no re-billing contract with Citizens Telephone and they would be contacting them immediately. The traffic in question was mainly intrastate but eventually the problem was rectified. It sounds to me that your best interests would be better served by having your long distance provider (or an alternate provider) bill you directly for Interstate and International calls. Does your local provider allow you to access alternate carriers by dialing 10xxx or 800 numbers? Keith W. Brown International Communications URL: http://www.callcom.com E-mail: newsinfo@callcom.com ------------------------------ From: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:37:28 GMT Organization: University of South Florida John Cropper (psyber@usa.pipeline.com) wrote: > On Aug 05, 1996 16.59.35 in article , > 'michael@ayotte.com (Michael Ayotte)' wrote: >> It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it >> anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which >> mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must >> wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. > Simple answer: The hundreds of "mom & pop" LECs who still have > antiquated equipment out there _hardwired_ for seven-digit local > numbers. I'm sort of wondering, in view of the "was Bell labs a good idea thread" currently also running in the Digest (does that make the thread an also-ran? :-) why no-one's mentioned that the reason for the seven digit local number in the first place was the extensive research doen at the Labs before ANC was introduced in the first place ... Cheers, Jay R. Ashworth jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us Member of the Technical Staff Junk Mail Will Be Billed For. The Suncoast Freenet *FLASH: Craig Shergold aw'better now; send no cards!* Tampa Bay, Florida *Call 800-215-1333x184 for the whole scoop* +1 813 790 7592 ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 10:16:41 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , mda-0056@triskele.com wrote: > On Tue, 07 Aug 1996 18:39:13 -0700, Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc > Madison) wrote: >>> 1. Technical: How difficult/expensive would it be to convert >>> seven-digit numbers to eight-digit? >> Enormously difficult and expensive. We're talking many billions of >> dollars, maybe trillions. [...] > However, isn't that expense that is going to have to be incurred > anyway? I thought that, even with the new area codes, North America > et. al. is going to run out of 3+7-digit phone numbers by the middle > of next century. Given how demand for phone numbers has outpaced > forecasts over the past few years, I wouldn't be at all surprised to > see North America forced to add another digit to phone numbers in > 20-30 years. There is an ENORMOUS difference between incurring a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars overnight and incurring it over a span of several decades as you replace equipment. Discussions are already underway -- and have been for a few years -- about how to handle the next major change to the numbering scheme, when the current 3+7 nears exhaustion. I would expect that the decision will be made and the timetable set out (complete with mechanisms for advancing it, if necessary) within a few more years. There will then be plenty of notice so that companies with any foresight at all can plan their normal-course-of-business upgrades to have the required capabilities. > Of course, I can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be more feasible to > switch to four-digit area codes, rather than eight-digit base numbers > (although, by that time, the difference between area codes and phone > numbers will probably be moot). Here in Maryland, we are already in > the permissive period of ten-digit dialing. All area codes with '9' as the second digit are reserved for the future expansion to four-digit area codes. The main question at this point seems to be whether we will go from 3+7 to 4+7 or to 4+8. The easiest time to add the extra digit on the local number would be at the same time as adding the extra digit on the area code. If everyone is already on 10-digit dialing by that time (very, very likely), there will be no ambiguity: 212-555-0101 will become 2121-2555-0101, or something like that, allowing for full permissive dialing of old and new numbers for a reasonable period of time. Mark Cuccia has been following the discussions about the future plans for the NANP and has posted some summaries of meetings he has attended. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: jdearing@netaxs.com (John Dearing) Subject: Re: ISDN D-Channel Data and Internet Voice Date: 8 Aug 1996 12:25:39 GMT Organization: Philadelphia's Complete Internet Provider azur@netcom.com wrote: > Although I believe few consumer devices now feature D-channel data > support, I think it would be an excellent way to enable reasonable > cost Internet phone service. It removes the requirement for having to > remain on-line while still offering fast call set-up. It would also > enable inexpensive home Web servers, again because the server need > only be on-line when its in use. But wouldn't the fact that the D channel is only 9.6Kbps make for problems given the relatively small bandwidth? Most of the Internet Telephony producvts I've seen (heard) demonstrated are passable at 14.4Kbps but don't get "good" until 28.8Kbps. John Dearing : Philadelphia Area Computer Society IBM SIG President Email : jdearing@netaxs.com U.S.Snail : 46 Oxford Drive, Langhorne PA 19047 (USA) Voice Phone : +1.215.757.8803 (after 5pm Eastern) ------------------------------ From: ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) Subject: Re: BellSouth First to Deliver Regionwide Access for Service Providers Date: 7 Aug 1996 00:25:04 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: ngmarino@aol.com (NGMarino) This article fails to mention the cost for this service, or who bears it. I think that this is very important information, but then again, I don't have a monopoly on telephone service in the South. It's not like you can use some other guy's seven-digit access service. ------------------------------ From: clintcrg@aol.com (Clint CRG) Subject: Re: Cordless for a Rolm PBX Date: 7 Aug 1996 01:04:49 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: clintcrg@aol.com (Clint CRG) We have a ROLM 8000. Most of our ports are digital for the RP120, RP240 ROLM phones but whe have 4 line cards with 8-each analog ports. These we use for FAX and modems. All of our FAX machines are on these ports so have the full DID capability. You could easily add an analog cordless phone to one of the Analog ports. You should see if your PBX has some analog ports or slots for analog cards. Clint Gilliland TCI/BR Comm Sunnyvale, CA ------------------------------ From: othman@oasys.pc.my (Othman bin Hj. Ahmad) Subject: Cost of E1 Interfacing and Softwares? Date: 7 Aug 1996 09:58:01 GMT Is there anyone who has experience with E1 interfacing using the E1 HDSL modems and their total costs? All I know is that our company pays RM16,000/US5,000 per set of HDSL modems recently. This price has dropped. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #394 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 8 17:44:06 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA22909; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 17:44:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 17:44:06 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608082144.RAA22909@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #395 TELECOM Digest Thu, 8 Aug 96 17:44:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 395 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson America Online Becomes America Offline For a Day (TELECOM Digest Editor) Speaking About Crashes and Doing Dumb Things (TELECOM Digest Editor) USA Technology is Awfully Backward (hxm3@uspwm.psu.edu) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Ed Ellers) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Bob Goudreau) Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems (David B. Paul) Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? (Stephen Satchell) Re: Satellite TV Services (Jay R. Ashworth) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (Southard) Re: Distinctive Ring Availability (David Willcox) Mystery Intercept (Rich Greenberg) Voice Changing Equipment (John Fabrega) Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LECs? (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: Why do US Online Phone Directories Only Have State Data? (John Levine) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 16:15:19 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: America Online Becomes America Offline For a Day Everyone's favorite whipping boy, aol.com, was knocked out of service on Wednesday by a technical glitch, leaving their six million customers worldwide having to do without the service for nineteen hours. Attempts to log in were met with silence and no response from AOL. Their voice phone lines were jammed all day and throughout the evening as subscribers tried to reach customer service or technical support for assistance, unaware of the disaster in Chantilly, VA where aol.com is located. The crash occuured about 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning eastern time while new host software was being installed. Service was restored at 10:45 p.m Wednesday evening. Email from outside aol.com had bounced during the outage and is being recovered today according to AOL spokeswoman Pam McGraw. Ms. McGraw further stated that all subscribers will be given a day of free service to make up for the problem. AOL has stated that the problem yesterday had to with a 'main database' which was being taken offline to be fixed and that the problem had nothing to do with an earlier glitch on June 19 which made email unavailable to subscribers for about one hour. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 17:00:49 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Speaking About Crashes and Doing Dumb Things Last Sunday night I got on line about 10:00 p.m. here to do some work on the Digest and I had a bright idea about a new script I wanted to try out. Well the script flubbed, which was not anything unusual for scripts that I write or try to hack on, but the main annoyance was it left me with a directory full of about a hundred .h, .c. and .o files to clean out when I decided to quit the experiment. Now, I try to be smart with potentially disasterous commands like 'rm' and I personally have 'rm' aliased to 'rm -i' meaning to not erase a file without asking for confirmation. The problem is, if you have a whole directory full of garbage files to get rid of then if you go to that directory and do 'rm *' it will stop over and over again, asking about each file. The command 'rm -f' will NOT overrride 'rm -i' on this machine at least, although 'rm -f' will work in a script running in the background with its own shell regardless of what arguments I happen to have attached to 'rm' for my use in the foreground. So far so good. Instead of having to answer 'y' a 120 times for every garbage file in the garbage directory I am abolishing, I decided just this one time I would unalias 'rm' instead. So I did 'unalias rm' then I did 'rm *' -- but the trouble is I had ** forgotten to change directories to the one I wanted **. Ooops! Well all I can say is thank goodness for the Info-Mac Archives and other major users of the resources and bandwidth here, because massis was **very slow** at the time and after a couple seconds I got a message saying 'bin is a directory', and this awful chill went up my spine. As quick as I could, I slapped the keyboard and and banged every key I could find to stop the job. Fortunatly I only lost about a third of my main directory; none of the 'dot files' were lost but I did lose one of the MAJOR processing scripts used in the Digest -- one that takes the finished Digest and bursts it into individual messages for comp.dcom.telecom. I went to every site I am on looking for a spare copy of it with no results. I did find spare copies of some of the other scripts I lost in this debacle. In email to the admin at MIT I pleaded, "In a dumbo raid at about 10 pm Sunday night, an ill advised use of rm * caused the loss of several files. Can you please use the Saturday night backup to restore my missing files." I chatted with him on the phone early Monday morning about it also, and he was rather annoyed by it. It seems Monday was a bad day in his office also and he had his hands full with a dozen things going on at once. When time permitted, he had one of his associates, Mary Ann Ladd fetch the files from the tape which had been run Saturday night. Later he send me email and gave me hell: "In the future we will not use tape backups to restore individual files. We will use them only for restoration after a disk failure or other major system problem. I have 400 other users to support here besides you." My scripts were waiting for me in a /tmp directory and I grabbed them immediatly. Now everything is back to normal and I can sit here and laugh about it, but Monday morning I did not feel like laughing, believe me you. Now all that remains is one of these days I should make a pilgrimage to Boston, where after an appropriate time of worship, I will offer myself as a humble sacrifice to the gods at lcs.mit.edu who work so patiently with me day after day and long into the night as well sometimes. Losing all the processing scripts in a clumsy session at the keyboard! What a way to wind up fifteen years of this Digest! And this weekend approaching does mark fifteen years of it and the start of year sixteen. Thanks to my heroes at lcs, I'll be around to annoy you, abuse you and otherwise amuse you for another year I guess. PAT ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 16:30:01 EDT From: Anthony Subject: USA Technology is Awfully Backward In article , jra@scfn.thpl.lib. fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) says: >>> It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it >>> anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which >>> mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must >>> wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. >> Simple answer: The hundreds of "mom & pop" LECs who still have >> antiquated equipment out there _hardwired_ for seven-digit local >> numbers. I kind of agree with that. Telephone technology was first developed in USA, and that's exactly the same reason why USA is lagging behind other countries in upgrading their outdated equipments and catching up with the newest technology. When I first came to Penn. State I was surprised to discover that rotary dial phones are still used here. (Now they have just upgraded to touch tone). And when I tour the rural area I am amazed to find there are still so many wooden piles supporting phone lines and electricity power lines. I already forgot when was the last time I see such thing in China. Do you know that the phone numbers go from six digits to seven digits and then eight digits in just five years in Shanghai, China, and people are already talking about possible upgrading to nine digits! Six years ago I haven't even heard about cellular phones in China. But now China has the largest cellular phone network in the world and it is still growing at a scary speed. People are more used to cellular phones, pagers, IC card phone booths than Americans are used to using credit cards. This kind of speed and market growth is simply impossible in USA because companies like the big three simply would not bother to put billions of dollars in upgrading their out dated technology. Sad for Americans. And I wonder when would the US Congress approve some extra money so USA can adapt the international metric system and catch up with the rest of the world? Why Americans still use the length of the feet of a British King who died thousands of years ago to measure the length of every thing? Anthony ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Thu, 8 Aug 96 13:23:53 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) John Nagle writes: > In the US, the first three digits don't really designate the CO > switch any more. Nowadays, a group of switches in a metropolitan > area typically share a group of three-digit codes. They don't designate the *office,* but they do designate the *switch.* Even if you have more than one switch in a CO, each three-digit prefix goes to only one switch -- otherwise you'd need something between the switch(es) and the rest of the PSTN to send calls to the switches based on seven-digit numbers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 13:45:08 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? James E Bellaire writes: > The confusion over boundries [sic] will have people in populated > areas dialing 1+ten digits or ten digits on every call (if > permitted within NPA) especially from strange locations such as > unlabled payphones, hotels and friends homes. Eventually users > will lose the distinction of 1+ = toll and the telcos will > be able to start overlays. That sounds like a non-sequitur to me. The ability to dial local calls with more than seven digits doesn't have to mean the end of the "toll calls require 1" rule observed by most of the NANP. The Dallas/Ft. Worth, Washington, DC. and Toronto metro areas have all been able to preserve that rule while still allowing 10D dialing of local calls. And in areas where 7D-dialing has to be withdrawn altogether, it's actually even easier to preserve the rule, since you don't have to worry about protecting prefixes that would otherwise collide with one of the NPAs in the local calling area. You end up with a simple rule wherein all calls can be dialed using 11D, and local calls can also be "short-cut" dialed with just 10D. Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: exudpau@exu.ericsson.se (David B. Paul) Subject: Re: AT&T SLC96 Cabinets and 28.8 Modems Date: 8 Aug 1996 17:42:54 GMT Organization: Ericsson North America Inc. Reply-To: exudpau@exu.ericsson.se In article 8@massis.lcs.mit.edu, exudpau@exu.ericsson.se (David B. Paul) writes: > But if the SLC-96 (or clone thereof) operates in an IDLC (that is, > INTEGRATED digital loop carrier) configuration, in which the DS1's > coming from the SLC-96 plug directly into the exchange, then only the > "in" is analog, and so the SLC-96 introduces only one source of > quantization noise, not two. But then Robert P. Vietzke wrote: > Newer "integrated SLC's" actually extend the "coder/decoder" that > converts analog to digital and back to the SLC itself, essentially > extending the digital fabric of the switch to the SLC site. These should > provide -improved- capability, not reduced. I've recently seen a new Yes, I was mistaken. Assuming the exchange is digital, a SLC-96 that is "integrated" does not introduce *any* additional A/D conversions. David ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 08:06:58 -0700 From: satchell@accutek.com (Stephen Satchell) Subject: Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? Organization: Satchell Evaluations In article , Jim Wall wrote: > Lawrence Rachman wrote: >> My employer is working on a product that will simulate a telephone >> exchange, and the question of what is a reasonable battery voltage for >> worldwide applications has come up. In North America, the open loop >> voltage is 48 volts nominal (I believe that's what part 68 demands). >> In Europe, 62 volts seems to have a strong following. My Panasonic PBX >> at home measures approximately 24 volts. The on-hook voltage for most US exchanges is -52 volts -- this has to do with the chemistry of lead-acid storage batteries more than anything else. You will see higher voltages in very rare instances -- rare enough that I wouldn't be surprised if someone were to petition to change 47 CFR 68 (aka "Part 68") to remove the high-voltage testing completely, and win. Actually, the big thing isn't voltage but DC current for the telephones themselves. Most switch line cards clamp current at 35 ma or so, and the minimum line current is 20 ma. So the PBX 24 volts is more than adequate as long as the series resistance and the current limiter keep the current to something reasonable. By limiting the current, by the way, you do limit the off-hook voltage. Why 24 volts? Very low series resistance due to the very, very short lines between the switch and the instruments. Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations http://www.accutek.com/~satchell ------------------------------ From: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) Subject: Re: Satellite TV Services Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:32:06 GMT Organization: University of South Florida Adam Frix (70721.504@CompuServe.COM) wrote: > I'm waiting for someone to sue HBO et al. to keep that EMR out of his > backyard. Been there. Done that. Wasn't (ahem) wearing a T-shirt. Some community in Alabama, I believe it was, had it's state attorney file charges against a satellite adult programming provider, because the provider's (_scrambled, subscription_) programming didn't meet his city's community standards. Shut him down too, as I understand it. I'll look up a cite, if anyone really wants me to. Cheers, Jay R. Ashworth jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us Member of the Technical Staff The Suncoast Freenet Tampa Bay, Florida *Call 800-215-1333x184 for the whole scoop* +1 813 790 7592 ------------------------------ From: Southard, Keith Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Date: Thu, 08 Aug 96 10:01:00 ADT > I think whether or not they should be blocking is not really the > problem here. The problem is that someone's line got disconnected > because of it, without a chance to talk about it. I think it is a > good example of why packaged "block the blocker" service is better > than just looking at the box and deciding whether or not to answer. > If someone gets a rejection message, at least they know what is > going on, and will unblock and call back, or find another means > of communication. Having spent a good number of years in that business, I don't think that blocking the number has a significant effect in hard-core collection cases. Most of those folks use answering machines to screen their calls anyway. For the creditor's side, I can't find a lot of sympathy for the customer who gets his phone cut off for non-payment. Most get at least two bills and are severely past due before the thing gets cut off. If they aren't paying, they shouldn't have the service. We're all adults and know that we have to pay for the services we use. Just because we don't get a 'collection' call doesn't mean we get to keep using the service for free. If there are extenuating circumstances, it is the CUSTOMER'S responsibility to communicate with the utility, bank or whatever. Failing that, if YOU don't pay and YOU don't make alternate arrangements for payment, you should have the YOUR service disconnected. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 18:24:10 +0000 From: david_willcox@nt.com Subject: Re: Distinctive Ring Availability Organization: Nortel Mike, From my vantage point, PRTC has the capability if they have either a ATT or DMS (NORTEL) switch servicing your residence. Both of which, provide what is commonly known as "Teen Service". Teen service enables a residence line to have two numbers assigned to it and have distinctive ringing for each number. Hope this helps. ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Mystery Intercept Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 19:04:50 GMT I (and others) have been complaining to my ISP that upon dialing the local POP, we sometimes get an intercept "SIT Your call can not be completed as dialed ..." Pa Bell claims they can't find the problem (surprise surprise). Can any of the switch gurus out there offer any suggestions that might point Pa Bell in the right direction? The POP is 310-815-4000, which is the pilot number for a hunt group of several hundred lines. Rich Greenberg N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 Pacific time. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines: Val(Chinook,CGC), Red(Husky,(RIP)), Shasta(Husky) ------------------------------ From: jfabrega@nettally.com (Fabrega, John) Subject: Voice Changing Equipment Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 03:33:01 -0400 I've seen a few ads for phones or other add-ons that supposedly 'change your voice' over the telephone. I could see a few legitimate uses for them, like a female living alone sounding like a male, or in my case, I own a voice-mail service bureau and would like to be able to provide some variety when my customers would rather not record their own greeting. Has anyone tried one? Can anyone recommend one? Do they sound realistic or terribly machine altered? John Fabrega, Line1 Communications, Inc. (VoiceMail, FaxMail, Fax-on-demand, Fax Broadcasting) 904.668.6666 Fax:904.668.5307 jfabrega@nettally.com ------------------------------ From: Jeffrey Rhodes Subject: Re: Caller ID: Names Passed Between LECs? Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 12:03:56 -0700 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services I'll embellish a little on this. The Global Title Translation (GTT) process is included and an explanation of *terminating* trigger is needed. Jim Hebbeln wrote: > The call circuits (trunks) are set up using the SS7 Integrated > Services Users Part (ISUP) signalling protocol which is a suite of > messages sent between CO switches. A call setup message, called an > Initial Address Message (IAM), is sent (via a network of specialized, > dedicated data packet switches called Signal Transfer Points (STP)) > from the calling CO to the CO at the other end of the trunk. Multiple > trunks connected in tandem (end-to-end) repeat this process for each > trunk used. It is important to note that SS7 trunks must be available end-to-end, from calling CO, to long distance office(s), to called CO, in order for the Calling Party Number (CPN) to be delivered to the called CO, else there will be no name or number to be displayed. > The IAM contains the following fields of information: > - the Originating Point Code of the originating CO selecting a trunk, > - the Terminating Point Code of the CO at the other end of the trunk, > - the Circuit ID number of the unique trunk between the above Point Code COs, > - the Called Number, > - the Calling Number, > - a Presentation Indicator (when "on", blocks your number from displaying), > - the Bearer Capability details (Speech, vs. 56K or 64K bps Circuit-Switched > data), > - and miscellaneous ad nauseum details - often not used. When the Calling Number is the same as the Charging Number then only the Calling Party Number is delivered, else a Charging Party Number is also included. For example, an ISDN BRI can have two dialable numbers assigned to it. Only one is the Charging Number, which helps make it easier to collect all the billing records for calls made by both Calling Numbers for one customer monthly invoice. > When the IAM arrives at the CO that serves the called number, that CO > returns an Address Complete message (ACM) back through the built-up > string of CO's, and the circuits are actually connected together > "backwards" from the called CO to the calling CO as the ACM message is > passed back to the calling CO. This opens the talk path in the forward direction so that the caller can "hear" the audible ringing generated from the called CO. The called CO is able to keep the audible ringing separate from the power ringing that the called phone receives. These do not necessarily occur simultaneously. > When the call is answered an Answer message (ANM) is returned. This opens the talk path in the backwards direction and marks every billing record at every office used in the call as "answered". > Disconnect, Release, and Release Complete messages disconnect the > trunks. This stops the call timers and starts the process that eventually writes the billing record to a magnetic tape at each office. > Calls to busy numbers don't return an ACM. Instead, they return a > Release Complete message which includes a Cause Code of Subscriber > Busy. All trunks are released, and the originating CO gives the > caller a busy signal. Correct. Contrary to popular opinion, trunks are unusable for billable calls during the period of time between IAM and REL when the called number is "busy" or "out of service". The SS7 signals are quite a bit faster than the MultiFrequency signaling methods that they replace, so there is about a 7% trunk efficiency gain as a result of faster "busy handling". Generally a billing record is not created since it would not be marked answered. However, LEC access charges to long distance carriers still apply for unanswered calls of greater than 2 seconds duration. > If the called number subscribes to CallerID with Name, the *terminating* > CO fires off a SS7 Transaction Capability (TCAP) message (versus ISUP > which set up the connections) into the STP network(s) which routes the > query message to a LIDB to get the called number translated to a name > (up to 15 characters). This is where the magic takes place. The delivered CPN can be used to locate the calling CO. It would be very intensive to have every CO "know" the SS7 point code of every NPA-NXX, in order to send the TCAP query message. This is where Global Title Translation at the STPs is used. The CO only needs to know the SS7 address of its supporting STP and only the STPs need to keep track of the NPA-NXX SS7 point codes. An intermediate GTT keeps the TCAP query on its way to another STP closer to the final CO and successive intermediate GTTs will ultimately deliver the TCAP to the "home" STP for final GTT, which results in the calling CO's point code. This indirect addressing made possible by GTT greatly reduces the number of point code translations that need to be maintained at SS7 nodes. > This occurs while the called phone gets its first ring. That's why the TCAP query message is generated by a *terminating* trigger. An originating trigger occurs for calls into a CO, a terminating trigger occurs for calls leaving a CO. The first ring occurs just as the call leaves the CO and is delivered to the phone outside of the CO. An 800 call generates an *originating* trigger as the call comes into an office. After the 800 TCAP query is answered, the call is routed out of the office substituting a translated number for the Called Number in place of the originally dialed 800 Called Number, unless of course, the translated number routing encouters a *terminating* trigger just before routing out is complete. When the ISUP CPN's Presentation bits are marked "restricted" the caller has Per-Line Blocking default or has dialed *67 Per-Call Blocking prefix. I am curious if the terminating trigger is so selective as to NOT send a TCAP query when the CPN is marked restricted. There was a thread here about someone who "sees" displays of "Anonymous" and "Private" even though you would expect only one of these to be used to indicate a restricted CPN. Perhaps the terminating trigger is not so selective and the TCAP query is answered with the name "Anonymous"??? I guess I would expect the display to say "Private" for the calling number and "Anonymous" for the calling name in that event. Jeffrey Rhodes at jeffrey.rhodes@worldnet.att.net ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 96 17:36:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. >> What is the point of putting telephone directories on the Web if they are >> not updated in a timely manner? > You get what you are paying for. If you want up-to-date information, > call Directory Assistance. Unfortunately, in the U.S. that's increasingly not much better. Long distance companies are starting to subcontract D.A. to independent bureaus who seem to use the CD ROMS because they're cheaper than the LEC's real D.A. > Be glad that you *can* use directory assistance. If I tried from here, > they might insist on looking things up in the (obsolete) printed phone > books just to save the cost of an international call. Well, sure. That's what the CCITT recommendation for international directory assistance says they're supposed to do. We must be standard compliant, after all, not like those rude Americans. Question: I've seen occasional press releases about LECs making deals with other parties to provide correct D.A. information. Does the new telecom bill have anything to say about this? Seems to me that while we're busy unbundling everything, separating D.A. database maintenace from D.A. phone answering would be a good idea. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #395 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Sat Aug 10 00:16:35 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA12566; Sat, 10 Aug 1996 00:16:35 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 00:16:35 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608100416.AAA12566@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #396 TELECOM Digest Sat, 10 Aug 96 00:16:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 396 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (JSeder@syntel.com) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Dave Leibold) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (John Nagle) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Tom Thiel) Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward (Ed Ellers) Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward (David Breneman) Re: Number Crunch (Lauren Weinstein) Re: Reselling Cellular Airtime (Curtis Wheeler) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (Pelliccio) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Daryl R. Gibson) Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Summer 1996) (R. Casey) Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? (Jim Wall) Re: AT&T (NY) Adding Extra Charges to 'Casual' Users (Henry Baker) Re: AT&T (NY) Adding Extra Charges to 'Casual' Users (Van Hefner) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JSeder@syntel.com Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 8 Aug 1996 21:42:27 GMT Organization: BRAINSTORM Networks Reply-To: JSeder@syntel.com > Europe seems to have the expert in adding digits to numbers. When > British Telecom wants to expand the number of phones in an area, they > tell all their customers in that CO 'your number is changing from > xxxxx to xxxxxy' and on the target date it changes. Period. This isn't exactly true, according to the wanker who sits in the office next to me. Britain is moving to ten digit numbers - three or four digit "STD (standard trunk dial) codes" followed by a seven or six digit telephone number. Old exchanges may still use a shorter telephone number, but as their exchanges are upgraded they generally have a new digit inserted at the beginning of the telephone number (yxxxxx). If you dial xxxxx, for a time they transfer the call with a warning; after that time, they charge for transferring the call. JDS ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 09 Aug 96 21:06:08 -0500 Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? bob@cis.ysu.edu (Bob Hogue) writeth: > It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it > anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which > mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must > wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. Worldwide, places like Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong have set up eight-digit schemes. Of course, at this rate, it might be just as well to have ten-digit local numbers formed by the NPA plus subscriber number which is what some jurisdictions are setting up. Actually, this fall France will be setting up what is basically a ten-digit scheme, though that plan's based ona leading zero in those numbers. One of the arguments against something like NPA + eight-digit number has to do with the conversions needed to switches throughout the U.S., Canada and other territories. In time, a readily-programmable switching network should turn this argument into a mere excuse. One conceivable way of establishing an eight-digit scheme is to reformat numbers so that they become a two-digit NPA followed by the eight-digits subscriber number. This would continue to allow for a constant total of 10 digits for the NPA plus number. One possible conversion plan from the existing 3+7 to a 2+8 format could go like this: Step 1: take a metropolitan area like New York City and change the NPAs of its telephone numbers so that the first two digits are the same. Suppose the new NPAs begin with 37, then 212 could become 372, 718 becomes 378, etc. NPAs 370 and 371 would not be used for reasons which will become evident. Let's take the (hopefully) fictitious example number of (212) 555.2368. It would become (372) 555.2368 under a typical NPA changing process. Step 2: Begin the switchover to eight-digits ... this could be done with the switches converted to complete local calls on the eighth digit, and using a timeout after a seventh digit (or a # key) to process old-format seven-digit numbers. (372) 555.2368 becomes (37) 2555.2368. Step 3: Make the 8-digit format final; turn off the interim 7-digit timeout, and NYC can now work with an eight-digit system. Outside NYC, there would be minimal switching effect since dialing 1+ (372) 555.2368 is the same sequence as dialing 1+ (37) 2555.2368. Using N's and X's (N represents a digit from 2 to 8, X represents any digit 0 to 9)... the changes in number formats go like this (for the NYC 37 example): Original format: (37N) NXX.XXXX (After consolidating things under 37N, that is) Initial 8-digit form: (37) NNXX.XXXX (Note we avoid 0 or 1 as the initial digit of an 8-digit number by avoiding the use of NPA 370 or 371. Also note no conflict between the initial NNXX of the new local number and codes such as 411, 911.) Eventual 8-digit form: (37) NXXX.XXXX (Of course, avoid conflict with the N11 codes like 411 or 911, but still open up the local number format). Even if things stopped at Step 1, there would at least be a series of NPAs that could be identified as the NYC ones by the initial 37x. After all that, perhaps it's just as well to patch the NPA and subscriber number together to create 10-digit numbers; at least until the numbering plan as we've known it is made obsolete by a new scheme (everyone gets their own IP number or net domain??!!?). Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:259/730@fidonet.org Internet: Dave.Leibold@superctl.tor250.org ------------------------------ From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 05:45:46 GMT psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) writes: > On Aug 05, 1996 16.59.35 in article , > 'michael@ayotte.com (Michael Ayotte)' wrote: >> It's probably much too late to ask this question, but I'll do it >> anyway. After reading a number of postings in this group which >> mention moving USA numbers from seven-digit to eight-digit, I must >> wonder why it either isn't being done or can't be done. > Simple answer: The hundreds of "mom & pop" LECs who still have > antiquated equipment out there _hardwired_ for seven-digit local > numbers. The last panel CO shut down years ago. There are very few step-by-step COs left, and by now most of them have microprocessors in between the line finder and first selector that capture the dial digits for processing. Electronic marker upgrades are available for crossbar COs, and everything later is programmable. John Nagle ------------------------------ From: tomthiel@aol.com (Tom Thiel) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 9 Aug 1996 02:15:55 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) How about simply adding an additional digit to the area code? Thus the 213 a/c becomes 2131, and you have nine more 213's available before you need to do another split. It would, of course, require 11-digit dialing, since your first line might be in the 2131 area, and your second line might be in the 2138 area. ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996 20:43:44 -0400 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Anthony wrote: > And I wonder when would the US Congress approve some extra money > so USA can adapt the international metric system and catch up with the > rest of the world? Why Americans still use the length of the feet of a > British King who died thousands of years ago to measure the length of > every thing? Because the cost of conversion would be great, and the benefits nonexistent. Changing from pounds/inches to SI wouldn't increase precision, wouldn't improve the quality of products now being made using customary measure, and just wouldn't be worth the grief. Nothing is keeping those people, and businesses, that want to use SI measurements from doing so. Some have already converted -- GM started converting in the mid-1970s, changing over gradually as each new part was designed (i.e. a 1977 Impala had a metric body but an engine and transmission dimensioned to SAE standards). ------------------------------ From: david.breneman@attws.com (David Breneman) Subject: Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward Date: 9 Aug 1996 01:37:38 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article Anthony writes: > When I first came to Penn. State I was surprised to discover that > rotary dial phones are still used here. (Now they have just upgraded > to touch tone). And when I tour the rural area I am amazed to find > there are still so many wooden piles supporting phone lines and > electricity power lines. I already forgot when was the last time I see > such thing in China. So, what do they use to support the phone lines in China? > And I wonder when would the US Congress approve some extra money > so USA can adapt the international metric system and catch up with the > rest of the world? Why Americans still use the length of the feet of a > British King who died thousands of years ago to measure the length of > every thing? They tried that 25 years ago and it flopped. One of the nice things about the US, which *isn't* true of China, is that the citizens don't always have to do what the government wants. In balance, wooden phone poles are a small price to pay. :-) David Breneman Unix System Administrator AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. david.breneman@attws.com Ph: +1-206-803-7362 Fx: +1-206-803-7410 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Aug 96 11:56:00 PDT From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: Re: Number Crunch Greetings. There really is no justifiable reason for the reported area code "number crunch" -- to the extent that it actually exists at all. The problems are the result of less than optimal planning both by utilities and regulators. First, it is far too easy for entities to reserve huge blocks of numbers for services before they are needed, eating up large segments of the numbering space. In many cases, some customers feel it necessary to grab these large chunks in multiple adjoining codes in metro areas, thereby making the problems even worse. Not only are fax, pagers and cell service involved, but also Direct Inward Dialing and Centrex blocks (these latter two seem to hardly ever be mentioned by the local telcos, but they're a major factor). But in most cases, businesses can "reserve" large blocks of numbers almost indefinitely even before they're used. Multiply this by the number of businesses involved and you've used up one hell of a lot of numbers that aren't even connected to anything! It's also becoming increasingly clear that area code splits are a failing mechanism for dealing with metro number needs. The reason it takes so long to issue new codes is that people (quite naturally) battle over who is going to have to go through the disruptive procedure of changing their area codes -- with all the attendant problems this causes, especially for businesses. And, while it's a shorter term problem, folks stuck with new area codes that don't have 0 or 1 in the second digit are still finding themselves cut off from large numbers of older PBX equipment that won't accept them. In some areas, these splits are now occurring every few years. While area code overlays are not a cure-all, they certainly have some positive attributes. You can add new codes at any time without disrupting existing customers' numbers. Expansion is virtually unlimited. The need for businesses to want duplicated numbering blocks in adjoining metro area codes is eliminated. They are perfect for regional services like cellular and paging, which otherwise require large blocks in every associated area code. Yes, overlays do require dialing all 10 digits of the number on all calls, but in areas like L.A. we're practically dialing that way all the time now anyway, given the small (and shrinking) size of the existing area codes. With some reasonable controls over number reservations and the careful application of overlays in appropriate situations, the number "shortage" could be managed quite effectively without all the frankly "scare tactics" silly talk about requiring people to use pay or cellular phones for their home phone service. --Lauren-- http://www.vortex.com ------------------------------ From: Curtis Wheeler Subject: Re: Reselling Cellular Airtime Date: 9 Aug 1996 15:24:48 GMT Organization: Just Me and My Opinions (Std. Disclaimer) Andrew B. Hawthorn wrote: > I was wondering if it is possible to purchase cellular airtime from a > cellular carrier in bulk and resell it to end users. I realize that > many paging carriers allow people to resell their airtime, often under > a different name. If anyone has any details or knows of any cellular > carriers with this practice I would appreciate the information. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One such company is Frontier Communications. > They resell airtime in almost every major market. They resell Ameritech > cellular service here in the Chicago area and I am a subscriber, and > quite pleased with their service. You can reach them on 800-594-5900. PAT] Motorola does the same thing. Motorola Cellular Service, Inc. (MCSI) resells in just about every market as well. In most of those markets they resell both wireline and non-wireline service. Curtis ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Calling Date: 9 Aug 1996 14:38:09 -0400 Organization: Anomaly In article , John R Levine wrote: > If it turns out that some of the calls that you choose not to answer > are in fact from people to whom you wanted to talk, that's part of the > cost that goes with your new control. > Back when the topic of CLID first came up, some of us predicted that > CLID users who declined to answer calls with blocked or missing CLID > would find that they'd regret ignoring some of those calls. (The > usual example was spouse with broken car calling from a COCOT.) Well, > whaddaya know, we were right. I know that here in RI the COCOT phones show up as a local number, same as a most Nynex payphones. But there are a few exceptions that return "Out of Area". The only calls that really annoy me are those marked with "Privacy". Unfortunately Nynex still considers Rhode Island to be in the technical backwaters of the universe and continues to deny us anonymous call rejection regardless of the fact that all of our switching facilities are 100% digital. While I'm on a rant about Nynex -- ever try sending them email via their website? Good luck. In my opinion competition will be the best thing that could ever happen -- it'll force Nynex to concentrate on it's home market instead of trapsing around in eastern Europe. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 15:34:41 -0600 From: Daryl R. Gibson Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service All this talk about rural mailboxes and addresses reminds me that a few years ago, street signs and house numbers started popping up in the small towns of Mona and Levan, Utah ... when I questioned why now, after 100 years, they were getting street signs, I was told the phone company had talked the city councils into it...not for 911 service, but so the installers could find the houses, and people could be listed in the directory correctly ... I don't believe that area has 911 service, even now ... but the street signs are there, courtesy of the phone company. If memory serves, I believe the company actually paid for the signs. Certainly, nobody in town cared whether there were street signs or not. It's generally accepted in these small towns that you don't even have to flip your turn signal on before you are making a turn, since *everyone* knows where you're going to turn, anyway. Daryl (801)378-2950 (801)489-6348 drg@du1.byu.edu 71171.2036@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Re: Article on Bell Labs in Invention & Technology (Summer 1996) Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 22:59:53 GMT As I sometimes used as a sig file: "The people at Bell Labs are very good indeed, to be able to accomplish great research dispite the lousy management there!" Well, I have had first hand experience with the lousy management (I worked in Allentown BL and Murray Hill BL about 5 years ago for 2 years). Lots of political pissing contests, turf battles, and such. Especially at Murray Hill. I have 13 patents (some joint, some on my own) mostly from the old Sarnoff research center RCA once had, and I've been described as being creative and innovative (other discriptions not revalent here!). But I don't have a PhD (just BSEE) and nobody at Bell is taken serioulsy unless you have a PhD and submit patentable ideas and such. But that was minor compared to a boss I had there (who hated my guts for no apparent reason other than (I suspect) I wasn't in his ethnic group). Did everything he could to make sure I would fail in my work, and gave me a "kiss of death" yearly performance review. And I ended up having to quit to avoid being fired. Until this experience I had a lot of respect for Bell Labs, now that is all blown. I seriously doubt they could invent another transistor or laser or Unix. I since became a Sprint customer ... ------------------------------ From: Jim Wall Subject: Re: How Low Can Loop Voltage Go? Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996 16:29:33 -0700 Organization: SoloPoint, Inc. > The on-hook voltage for most US exchanges is -52 volts -- this has to > do with the chemistry of lead-acid storage batteries more than > anything else. You will see higher voltages in very rare instances -- > rare enough that I wouldn't be surprised if someone were to petition > to change 47 CFR 68 (aka "Part 68") to remove the high-voltage testing > completely, and win. > I would welcome that being abolished, but I doubt I will ever witness it. I have seen customer premises (on public phone lines) with voltages in the mid 30s and ones that were as high as 80 volts. I am assuming that anyone who is designing a telephony product for public consumption would make it work to the specification and not design it for typical numbers. Worst case design, maybe that's been my problem all along. Jim P.S. A fun hardware problem arises when the DC offset is larger than the peak ringing signal: i.e. no zero crossing. Issues and details left to the reader. ------------------------------ From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker) Subject: Re: AT&T (NY) Adding Extra Charges to 'Casual' Users Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 23:03:20 GMT In article , danny burstein wrote: > (The term 'casual' applies to people, or rather phone lines, which > default to other carriers and are force-routed, usually via a > 10(1)-xxx code, to a specific carrier). > AT&T Communications of New York, Inc., has filed a tariff with the NYS > Public Service COmmission to become effective August 23, 1996. > This filing proposes to introduce a Non Subscriber Service Charge. A > service charge is applicble for Dial Station Calls originated from > residential lines which are presubscribed to an interexchange carrier > other than AT&T, or are not presubscribed to any interexchange > carrier. This charge is in addition to the initial period charges for > calls within the state of New York. > Non-Subscriber Service Charge: Per Call: $.80 Has ATT lost their (its?) mind? If I'm at someone's home and want to call using ATT, why would ATT want to penalize me for this? Is this also true for 1-800-CALL-ATT? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 23:25:58 -0700 From: vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) Subject: Re: AT&T (NY) Adding Extra Charges to 'Casual' Users > (The term 'casual' applies to people, or rather phone lines, which > default to other carriers and are force-routed, usually via a > 10(1)-xxx code, to a specific carrier). > From an AT&T small print advertisement in the {NY Daily News}, > Wednesday 7-Aug-1996, p. 67. > Title: Service charge for AT&T Communications of New York, Inc. > AT&T Communications of New York, Inc., has filed a tariff with the NYS > Public Service COmmission to become effective August 23, 1996. > This filing proposes to introduce a Non Subscriber Service Charge. A > service charge is applicble for Dial Station Calls originated from > residential lines which are presubscribed to an interexchange carrier > other than AT&T, or are not presubscribed to any interexchange > carrier. This charge is in addition to the initial period charges for > calls within the state of New York. > Non-Subscriber Service Charge: > Per Call: $.80 AT&T has already implemented this charge on INTERSTATE calls for several months now. It was originally $.40, but that didn't last long. MCI quickly followed suit, and has its own $.80 surcharge. Sprint (still) has none. WorldCom and its subsidiary WilTel have also been charging a $.35 per call surcharge to casual callers for several months now. Van Hefner - Editor Discount Long Distance Digest The Internet Journal of the Long Distance Industry http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #396 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Sun Aug 11 23:38:50 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA28951; Sun, 11 Aug 1996 23:38:50 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 23:38:50 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608120338.XAA28951@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #397 TELECOM Digest Sun, 11 Aug 96 23:39:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 397 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Interview re: BellSouth MMDS in New Orleans (D3SMITH) Talking Net / Internet Telephony Conference (mysore@dircon.co.uk) PUC Freezes Prefixes in 415, 310 and 619 (Tad Cook) Unlock Code For a Uniden 1900 Mobile Phone (Dale Robinson) NPA 867 Details (John Cropper) Need Help Fast With Voice Mail! (John M. Elliott) What is a Panasonic 12/32 Worth? (Kevin Ow-Wing) Information Wanted on Sony CM-RX100 Cellular Phone (James H. Cloos Jr.) 900 MHz Digital vs. Analog Cordless (Geordon Portice) Cellular Payphones (Romesh C.D. Singh) Information Wanted on Digital PBX (reddp@ix.netcom.com) Meridian SL1 Questions (Terry Grace) Congrats on Being Fifteen (Jon Solomon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: d3smith@aol.com (D3SMITH) Subject: Interview re: BellSouth MMDS in New Orleans Date: 11 Aug 1996 21:25:40 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: d3smith@aol.com (D3SMITH) The following interview is extracted from the August 1996 Information Provider Newsletter which is available on the web at http://www.vipconsult.com. It focuses on BellSouth's entry into the MMDS wireless cable market. --------------------- John Hartman, vice president of BellSouth Wireless Cable Inc., worked in the video industry by managing satellite-based products (both PrimeStar and C-Band) before joining BellSouth. He joined the company to work on strategic planning and business development for its nascent video group and ended up running the company's entree into wireless digital cable. Hartman sees a bright future for digital MMDS, but warns that the industry players must move beyond their parochial concerns in order for that future to be fully realized. ----------------------- IPN: What is happening with MMDS and BellSouth in New Orleans? HARTMAN: BellSouth Wireless Cable Inc. is purchasing the MMDS licenses for the New Orleans area in bankruptcy court for $12 million. The group that had owned the system went bankrupt, so it was a court auction. We got the right to buy them. The transaction has not yet closed, but we expect it to close within the next 45 days or so. There is already a team of people working to determine what it will take to bring the system from its current analog format into a digital format. The operational details of getting that system going are the primary focus of the group right now. We plan to launch in the middle of next year. IPN: How many households will you be able to reach? HARTMAN: Our estimate of line-of-sight households capable of receiving our signal is in the 400,000 range. We've done a fair amount of technical testing and New Orleans is a particularly good market in terms of its being lightly treed and flat, so there is not a lot of dirt getting in the way. On the scale of desirable MMDS markets, in terms of line-of-sight, it's at the upper end of the range. In analog systems, trees impact you dramatically more than they do in a digital environment. And New Orleans doesn't have a big tree problem to begin with. IPN: Can you discuss any plans to go further than New Orleans? HARTMAN: We are looking at three different technologies: wireline cable service, DBS possibilities and future opportunities for MMDS. We're evaluating, on a city by city basis, what would make the most sense in each area. We're in the process of evaluating what technology or combination of technologies makes sense for each BellSouth market. IPN: So, it is possible to have two or even all three technologies in the BellSouth region? HARTMAN: We think that our "mosaic" approach of utilizing each technology, as appropriate, is what makes the most sense for BellSouth given our region, customers, geography and company. We are particularly positive about certain attributes of MMDS. We do not see it as a short term endeavor. Instead, we see it as one of the best alternatives to enter a market. IPN: Why so positive about MMDS? HARTMAN: I believe that MMDS has not evolved to its ultimate potential, because there have not been a lot of large players behind the industry and it hasn't been deployed in a lot of places. A lot of licenses have been aggregated, but it hasn't reached anywhere near its potential. With some of the larger companies coming into the marketplace, there will be a much greater emphasis on research and development. With that, the true potential of the technology and the spectrum will begin to be realized. It is hard to say how long the technology will be viable, because I think that we haven't yet seen its full range of capabilities. It could be around for a good long time because it will continue to evolve as consumer needs evolve. We've all seen, through research and actual customer behavior, that local programming and local content is important to viewers. It certainly makes up a significant portion of viewing time. Any service that can deliver local, as well as satellite services, has to enjoy an advantage over an alternative that doesn't have local programming. The fact that it can deliver the best of DBS with local programming is one of the reasons that we are attracted to MMDS. IPN: Are you getting a lot of interest from other Americast telephone companies? HARTMAN: I think every video player in the market today, be it an RBOC or somebody who's currently deploying another technology, is evaluating how robust and how real MMDS can be. Anybody who wants to get into the video business and has not yet announced plans, has to be seriously evaluating the merits of MMDS. So, I would not be surprised to see more players enter the marketplace. IPN: Americast initially showed little interest in MMDS. Can you talk at all about your relationship with Americast? HARTMAN: One of the reasons we are involved in Americast is to benefit from creative development of programming. By utilizing their depth of resources, we can make a very robust and differentiated programming package available to our video customers. As we deploy any technology, we will use Americast branded programming. The capabilities of the technology may impact what portions of an Americast package we can use. But it is my expectation that we will have an Americast service on our MMDS systems. IPN: Have you determined how you're going to do signal digitization? HARTMAN: We're still looking at it. Certainly, the less frequently you have to digitize, the more cost effective your system is. So, we're looking at several alternatives for digital signal delivery. Certainly, generating them at every single head-end is less attractive than having a centralized digitization center and transporting the signal around via fiber or satellite. However, we'll have to digitize the local services for each market. IPN: Will you be planning on using statistical multiplexing to boost the number of digital signals you can squeeze on an analog channel? HARTMAN: We're looking at it, but we haven't decided. The good news is that it does make your spectrum usage significantly more efficient. But there are some other technical challenges with system interfacing that we're trying to work out. IPN: What are you going to do about set-top boxes? HARTMAN: The [Americast] RFP has been out for a while and Americast has negotiated with several parties. But no contract has been awarded, yet. It is our hope that once a contract is awarded, it will be the box that BellSouth can use for MMDS. Part of the RFP was that we wanted it to be MMDS capable, so it's difficult to comment until the contract is signed or the box is apparent. IPN: Do you have a targeted kick off date? HARTMAN: We would like to be in the market to consumers by next summer, and start testing several months before that. Some of the gating factors are the completion date of the technological requirements for set-top boxes and head-end equipment. IPN: Is high speed wireless cable Internet access in the plans? HARTMAN: We are building our business case based on what is available, functional, and deliverable today. I do not expect to have a robust Internet product in the very near future. However, I am very optimistic about research and development that is going on in the MMDS business, and I am hopeful that we will have dramatically improved options in the Internet area, in compression, in more robust programming lineups and in equipment enhancements that can overcome the challenges of digital technology. I look forward to that and to implementing them in our system or systems. But for right now, we're trying to build the business on what is available today-broadcast video and near video on demand. IPN: Have you mapped out the balance between broadcast and near video on demand? HARTMAN: Not yet. We're doing all kinds of research with consumers, trying to figure out what kind of product we need to deliver to make the consumers as pleased as possible. Certainly, Americast will be involved, and we will be deciding what makes the most sense for our markets. IPN: What do you see as your short and long term challenges? HARTMAN: I think the very short term challenges for BellSouth are to aggregate multiple technologies into more concrete plans on a market by market basis. Following that, pushing the development of all of the technologies is a challenge to us. We have to be a crisp conduit between the needs of the consumers and the equipment vendors and ensure that this plays out in an economically viable manner. This is where we need to drive development, because I think each of these technologies has a lot more benefit to be realized. MMDS technology has incredible potential. The industry is interwoven between players, suppliers, friends and enemies. A tremendous amount of cooperation is going to be required on everyone's part in order to maximize the benefit of the technology. This is a nascent industry with incredible opportunity, and if people stay too parochial, the industry will suffer and never reach its potential. [End of Interview.] High quality interviews, news, stories, and analysis focusing on emerging broadband technologies are available in the Information Provider Newsletter. http://www.vipconsult.com ------------------------------ From: mysore@dircon.co.uk Subject: Talking Net / Internet Telephony Conference Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 21:20:48 GMT Organization: Direct Connection Reply-To: mysore@dircon.co.uk The Talking Net Conference Learn About Internet Telephony Technology, Products And Prototypes New York, NY July 22, 1996 --Internet telephony, the technology that allows users of the Net to make free long-distance and international calls, is to be the centerpiece of The Talking Net Conference, a high-profile conference on the networking of live voice and video in New York in September. The Talking Net Conference is being produced by Jeff Pulver, publisher and Internet analyst of Pulver.com, an influential online information service. Pulver was recently named by NetGuide as one of the ten most influential people on the Internet. "As an Internet analyst, I've seen Voice on the Net become a key enabling technology," said Pulver. "The question now is whether it's going to turn into the 'killer app' that will attract a whole new generation of users to the Internet. That's what participants are coming to New York to find out." The Talking Net Conference, will be held at the historic Puck Building in downtown Manhattan on September 10 and 11, will bring leading figures from the Internet and computer industries face to face with regulators, consultants, senior figures from telephone companies and corporate users. It will also show how companies can implement telephony in their web sites and intranets. Included in the highly focused two-day program will be presentations by both Netscape Communications and Microsoft, the two companies vying for global dominance of the World Wide Web. Another controversial session will pit the telecom companies that have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to regulate Internet telephony against the VON Coalition, which is dedicated to allowing the Internet market to develop without government interference. Confirmed speakers include: Michael Po, Director of Engineering Netscape; Blake Irving, Group Manager - Internet Platform and Tools Division Microsoft; Alon Cohen, CTO VocalTec; Michael Goldstein, CEO, Voxware; Patrick Gelsinger, VP - Internet & Communications Group Intel; William Marshall, Senior MD - Communications Technology Group Bear Stearns; David Misunas, VP Product Development Micom Communications; Richard Cogger, Director Advanced Technologies and Planning Cornell University; Bruce Jacobs, Counsel VON Coalition; Charles Helein, General Counsel ACTA; Robert Pepper, Director of Planning and Policy FCC; Peter Harter, Public Policy Counsel Netscape; Jacob Davidson, CEO Delta Three; Joe Rinde, Director - MCI Switched Data Network Architecture MCI; Ed Ellesson, Senior Engineer - Networking Systems Architecture IBM; Michael Spencer, Principal Booz-Allen & Hamilton. A number of important new product announcements will be made at the conference. Individual and corporate phone users will have the chance to see and try live demonstrations of key innovative emerging technologies. Participants will also hear reports on two revolutionary technology initiatives, one at Ivy League institution Cornell University and the other at New York investment bank Bear, Stearns & Co, in which conventional phone systems are being replaced with advanced computer networks offering high-powered functions including video conferencing at low cost. Full information on the conference is available online at www.talking-net.com or by calling, toll-free, 1.888.PULVER.COM. A $300 discount is available for early registration. An electronic enrollment allows delegates to sign up by credit card. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: PUC Freezes Prefixes in 415, 310 and 619 Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 00:25:40 PDT PUC Freezes Prefixes in Three Area Codes SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- State regulators said Friday they have temporarily frozen the issuing of new three-digit telephone number prefixes in the 415 area code in Northern California and the 310 and 619 area codes in Southern California because the supply of numbers is dwindling. The freeze started June 19, the state Public Utilities Commission said. It will be lifted Aug. 19 in the 415 and 619 areas and Sept. 19 in 310, but may be followed by the rationing of new prefixes, the PUC said. Responding to the proliferation of lines for faxes, pagers and cellular phones, the commission last week approved a split in the 415 area code in the San Francisco Bay area, effective in a year. It had previously approved carving a new 562 area code out of the 310 area in Los Angeles County by early next year. In the meantime, however, the supply of unused prefixes is diminishing in both area codes as well as the 619 area in San Diego County and southeastern California, the commission said. There are 10,000 phone numbers in a prefix. Currently the 310 area has 53 prefixes left, the 415 area has 120 and the 619 area has 57, the PUC said. If prefixes have to be rationed, they will be limited to as few as three per month in an area code, meaning that some customers would not get new numbers when they requested them, the PUC said. A priority list for new numbers would start with phone lines used to protect the public health, other public service numbers, other service-oriented uses such as tow trucks and the news media, and the physically handicapped, the PUC said. Next in line would be new businesses and businesses with a below-average number of lines, followed by new residential customers and then by customers who want to add more lines. Rationing could last until October 1997 in the 310 area code, until May 1998 in the 415 area and until December 1997 in the 619 area, the commission said. It also said a lottery may be used to decide which competing phone companies get new prefixes. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 21:35:51 -0800 From: Dale Robinson Subject: Unlock code for a Uniden 1900 mobile phone. Hi, A friend of mine has managed to lock himself out of his Uniden 1900 mobile phone. He has spoken to his dealer and they can unlock it, but want the phone shipped back to them. 3000 miles away! I was wondering if there is any sort of master unlock code for these phone, like the 000000 code for most Motorolas? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Dale ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 06:16:45 GMT Subject: NPA 867 Details From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) BellCore announces full details on the 403-819/867 split: Permissive dialing begins: October 21, 1997 Mandatory dialing begins: April 26, 1998 Test number: 867-669-5448 To report problems in reaching new NPA after the beginning of permissive dialing period: Voice - 403-669-5447 \ > from 8AM - 5PM MT Fax - 403-669-7543 / John Cropper * NiS / NexComm Content is the sole property of the * PO Box 277 originating poster. Please relegate * Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 ALL on-topic responses to this * Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 newsgroup. Unsolicited private mail * Outside NJ: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) is prohibited, and will be referred * Fax : 609.637.9430 unabridged to sender's ISP. * email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: stellcom@ix.netcom.com (JOHN M ELLIOTT) Subject: Need Help Fast With Voice Mail Date: 11 Aug 1996 00:27:13 GMT Organization: Netcom To all who can assist: I have manufactured a pet identification and owner notification product that relies on voice mail to work. We recalled the product because the telephone switching system has crashed on numerous occassions. The pet owner uses a pre-paid phone card to activate his voice mail box where he records info about his pet, i.e., description, medications, acute illnesses, owner contact instruction, virtually any information the owner wishes. When the pet is found, the finder dials the 800 number on the pet tag enters the five digit number from the tag and immediately hears the owners pre-recorded info. My problem: I am using telephone switching equipment which is out of my control and in the custody of a switching company. I need to establish my own voice mail processing system on my windows based home pc. I am willing to drop the pre-paid phone card long-distance calling capability if necessary, but would like to keep it. System requirements: prompt customization, security, expandability, reliability, not too expensive and capable of tens of thousands of voice mail boxes and ANI capability. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS? , i.e, system recommendations, modem recommendation, etc. Need help fast! Please e-mail direct if possible. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Have you considered the use of a single 800 number which terminates in an answering service? Each pet's tags would say something like, "Animal is registered with a pet identification service. Please call 800-xxx-xxxx and notify the operator that pet # xxxx has been rescued." Each person who purchases your product would be automatically enrolled with their name/number on file at the answering service, or perhaps with your office. When the rescuer of the animal called the answering service, the service would in turn notify your office or the animal's guardian/caretaker. When they purchase your product they would be given a year's free answering service as part of the deal; after that they could choose to re-subscribe on an annual basis on thier own. Keeping their address and phone up to date with the answering service would be their responsibility of course. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kevin@kestrel.edu (Kevin Ow-Wing) Subject: What is a Panasonic 12/32 Worth? Date: 11 Aug 1996 14:54:05 -0700 Organization: Kestrel Institute, Palo Alto, CA I have a Panasonic PBX that is a 12/32 (but configured as an 8/32) that I want to sell, and am curious what it is worth. It is mfg'd in Dec. 94, and was lightly used between 1/95 and 3/96. I think we paid about $2700 for it. Any suggestions as to how I can find out the going price for this item would be appreciated (and any offers will be considered). Kevin (510) 581-0219 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 14:36:21 -0500 From: James H. Cloos Jr. Subject: Information Wanted on Sony CM-RX100 Cellular Phone I recently bought a CM-RX100 cell phone. Does anyone have any info on these phones beyond that in the manual? A check of the subject index from the archives didn't show anything. James H. Cloos, Jr. cloos@jhcloos.com Work: cloos@io.com LPF,Usenix,SAGE,ISOC,ACLU ------------------------------ From: Geordon Portice Subject: 900 MHz Digital vs. Analog Cordless Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 17:16:46 -0400 Organization: Sojourn Systems, Lansing, MI (USA) Reply-To: gap@plotit.com I've been looking into purchasing a two-line 900 MHz phone, and have seen a number of comments/complaints of sidetone and echo with certain models. Is this only a concern with digital phones? If so, what are the disadvantages of using a 900 MHz analog phone. Are most 900 MHz phones analog, unless digital is specifically advertised? More specifically, how about Panasonic, AT&T, and Uniden? My primary reason for getting a 900 MHz over a 10 or 25-channel is for improved clarity, and reception, as I move about the house, and go from one floor to another. I am less concerned about having someone pick up my conversation on a scanner. For those interested in reading others stories, see this link: http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/wrf/900MHz_phone.html Thanks for the responses, either to the group, or via email. Geordon ------------------------------ From: rsingh@mailbox.rmplc.co.uk (Romesh C.D. Singh) Subject: Cellular Payphones Date: 11 Aug 1996 21:29:16 GMT Organization: TRD Inc. Reply-To: rsingh@rmplc.co.uk Hello, I am looking for a list or contacts with manufacturers/distributors of cellular payphones.Can anyone help? Thanks, Romesh ------------------------------ From: reddp@ix.netcom.com Subject: Information Wanted on Digital PBX Date: Sun, 11 Aug 96 23:35:52 GMT Organization: Netcom What is a "digital" PBX and when and where would it be used? Would it carry/conduct normal telephone traffic, say between an internet service provider and a modem over phone lines ... or is strictly for connection of computers, e.g. mainframe and satellite systems? I'm doing research. Thanks! ------------------------------ From: netmaster@pmh.on.ca (Terry Grace) Subject: Meridian SL1 Questions Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 01:44:48 GMT Organization: Peel Memorial Hospital Reply-To: netmaster@pmh.on.ca Anyone know of any mailing lists I can subscribe to that deal with the Northern Telecom Meridian SL1 switch? Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 13:11:50 -0700 From: Jon Solomon Subject: Congrats on Being Fifteen I can remember when the Digest was very small and closed-knit. Now it is about as popular as {NewsWeek} or the {NYTimes} ... Perhaps we should start charging to receive the Digest? -------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jon Solomon was the founder of TELECOM Digest and from time to time he still sends along articles and commentaries. I took over the Digest in 1988 when jsol had other personal matters of importance to attend to. I wish I could agree with his assessment that it is now as popular as the two media giants he mentions, but I don't think that is quite the case yet. I do believe that readers of this Digest get as much detailed and accurate information about the telecom industry as any of the printed newsletters/magazines in this field, and for a lot less money than most of them charge. Anyway, I don't want to be like most of the print media, especially in the USA. I just want to do my own thing. I sincerely believe the print media in the United States -- as well as large segments of the government, the politicians, large corpora- tions and the 'authorities' of one kind or another -- are, to be honest and frank with you, scared to death of the internet, or at the very least quite annoyed with it. You see, for the first time in history, now the common man and woman are fully equal to the {New York Times}, the mega-corporation lawyers, government 'experts' and other 'authorities', etc. They see their power over you dimishing as you communicate among yourselves. On Usenet everyone is equal to everyone else and the 'experts' the newspapers dredge up from wherever to tell you what to beleive are no better than anyone else. They don't like it one bit that you don't have to go to them for information any longer and accept whatever nonsense they tell you to believe. So how do they retaliate? Well, first it was the Communications Decency Act. That flopped, and now you can look forward to a long battle on copyrights. I'm telling you: the media giants do not like the internet, and neither does the government. Its not so much that they are concerned about you posting messages with cuss words in them or that some of you speak about young children with lust in your heart. Its the fact that you can talk about those things -- and anything else you want -- with large numbers of people getting the message **without the permission of the media in the first place**. Until a few years ago, you had to get the approval of people like Kay Graham (Washington Post/Newsweek publisher) or the executives of CBS/NBC/ABC if you wanted large numbers of people to receive your thoughts and ideas, other than a few placebos they tossed your way in the form of "Letter to the Editor" pages where people said nothing of significance, and the papers liked it that way as did the government. Now for twenty dollars or so each month, you can be your own publisher, and that does not bode well for the Grahams and the Sulzbergs of the world. Nor is the government pleased with your ability to communicate so rapidly and unabashedly one with another ... who knows what ideas you might get and share among yourselves. Nor are large corporations which heretofore pretty much controlled the media with their advertising dollars all that happy. They can't threaten to throw tantrums and hold back their great gobs of money if the media lets a dissident thinker say something occassionally, ** because you don't need the established media any longer **. Mark my words: there will be one battle after another with the government and the big corporations. First it was CDA and they lost that, now it is copyrights. They'll probably lose on that also ... then it will be something else. I do not accept advertising in this Digest to any extent not absolutely necessary (I do have to eat, feed the cat and have a place to live) because I feel it would reduce the quality. Neither do I sell it. I rely upon friends and patrons for my support. I enjoy receiving the letters and gifts which arrive from readers in my postal mailbox each day, and I encourage all of you to stay in touch. With this issue of the Digest, we start the sixteenth time around. The best advice I can give you is the advice I try to remember for myself each day: keep looking up. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #397 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Aug 12 00:17:01 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA02248; Mon, 12 Aug 1996 00:17:01 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 00:17:01 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608120417.AAA02248@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #398 TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Aug 96 00:17:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 398 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Central Office Codes (was Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers?) (M Cuccia) More UK Numbering Changes (Steve Hayes) CTI Meeting Agenda (Robert Becnel) CFP: Very Low Bit-rate Video Coding (IEEE J-SAC) (Argi Krikelis) Area Code Stalemate (John Cropper) Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 (John Cropper) Re: Alphanumeric Paging Checksum Help Needed (David Richards) Re: Touch Tones in Movies? (David Breneman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 17:25:05 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Central Office Codes (was Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers?) Ed Ellers wrote: > John Nagle writes: >> In the US, the first three digits don't really designate the CO >> switch any more. Nowadays, a group of switches in a metropolitan >> area typically share a group of three-digit codes. > They don't designate the *office,* but they do designate the *switch.* > Even if you have more than one switch in a CO, each three-digit prefix > goes to only one switch -- otherwise you'd need something between the > switch(es) and the rest of the PSTN to send calls to the switches > based on seven-digit numbers. However, in many rural areas, particularly in Canada and the Caribbean, but also in some rural parts of the USA, a *single* NXX Central Office Code could actually covers *several* switches/locations. The distinction is made on the thousands (or even thousands and hundreds) digit of the four-digit line number. Sometimes, the two (or more) different locations/switches which *share* the same (NPA)-NXX code could even have different *rate schedules*, at least for 'short-distance' toll calls in that general region. For longer haul toll calls, the differences in distance to those locations are negligable, thus Bellcore TRA *rating/billing* materials don't necessarily give all of the location detail. Bellcore TRA *routing/switching/network* documents usually *DO* give the details of such central office NXX code sharing, as long as the local telcos in those regions report the details to Bellcore. There is a field/column in Bellcore routing products (LERG, NPA-NXX Active Code List and Activity Guide, etc), there is a column which indicates "Lines: From/To". The majority of NPA-NXX codes in the document have "0000-9999" as "Lines: From/To", but there is the occasional NPA-NXX code entry which have several subsets of the ten-thousand possible line numbers, and they could be different switches in the same building or city, or they could be assigned to different locations (as well as central office buildings) altogather. It is also quite possible that the NPA-NXX code has several town location assignments based on the thousand digit of the line-number but still all be served out of the same building and switch. PBX's which have their own blocks of line numbers aren't usually indicated as such, but if a Central Office NXX code is shared by wireline, paging, mobile, cellular, etc, where different switches (or buildings) are used to provide the services, and different subsets of the line number diffentiate the services/switches/providers, the indications are frequently made in Bellcore materials, if the various local service providers supply such detail to Bellcore TRA. With all of the recent explosion in the use of numbering and code resources, and the delays imposed by local regulatory agencies and consumer groups on area code relief or split vs. overlay (Texas and California come to mind), many NPA codes are in *extraordinary* 'jeopardy' situations, and one of the temporary measures suggested by NANPA and the INC *is* sharing of individual central office NXX codes, until actual area code relief (split or overlay) can be officially finalized by all parties involved, and the actual split or overlay finally take effect. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 96 06:43:36 EDT From: Steve Hayes <100112.606@CompuServe.COM> Subject: More UK Numbering Changes It's a bit surprising that no-one else has posted the (now rather stale) news of Oftel's latest proposals for UK numbering changes here. I've held off up till now expecting to see a flood of postings ... On Monday, 5 August, Oftel kicked off consultation for the next round of PhONEday changes. Apparently there are imminent number shortages in London, Cardiff, Belfast, Portsmouth and Southampton. The proposals are to assign new codes starting 02 to these places and extend their local numbers by one digit. In the case of London, this will mean 8 digit local numbers. The existing London codes 0171 and 0181 might be recombined at the same time. Oftel are also proposing to clean up the mess of non-geographic (mobile, personal, free and LoCall and premium, e.g. smut) codes so that callers will have some idea what they are calling and how much it will cost. New digits will be added at the start of these codes so that mobiles, pagers and personal numbers will start 07, free and LoCall numbers will start 08 and premium rate numbers will start 09. 05 will be used for national business numbers (presumably similar to the present 0990 ones). With a bit of guesswork, I'd say that the changes in London might go something like this: New codes 0207 and 0208 are introduced in parallel with 0171 and 0181 with permissive dialing. Fax machines, alarms, etc. are reprogrammed to use the new codes in full format, even for local calls. If necessary, another new code such as 0206 could be introduced as an overlay to relieve the crunch. BIG BANG Day, 0171 and 0181 are switched off and the code changes to 020. The following digit (6, 7 or 8) goes to the start of the local number, making it eight digits. For example, 0171 234-5678 becomes 020 72-34-56-78. People trying to dial old seven digit local numbers either get an error message or the call just hangs when the eighth digit isn't dialed. Remember when dialing from abroad, that the leading 0 is omitted. In international format 020 72-34-56-78 would be +44 20 72-34-56-78. Needless to say, there's a lot of moaning about this. This will be the third change in numbering in London in a few years. It does look a bit of a mess since I can't see why they couldn't have gone straight to eight digits back when 01 split to 071 and 081, perhaps with a new code of 011 which was unused and would have fitted in with PhONEday without any further changes. The rest of us outside London are getting off pretty lightly and taking some pleasure in seeing the capital paying for its own mistakes for once. Quite a bit of the moaning points to the USA as a paragon of virtue which supposedly gets by on 10 digit numbers which never change! They should all be required to read TELECOM Digest. IMO, Oftel's worst mistake is in trying to avoid acknowledging that each change is only a step in a long term overhaul of numbering. Instead, they have tried to imply that each change is urgently required and will take care of everything. Steve Hayes, 100112.606@compuserve.com Swansea, UK ------------------------------ From: becnel@crl.com (Robert Becnel) Subject: CTI Meeting Agenda Date: 11 Aug 1996 10:20:05 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [Login: guest] Contact: Tony Zafiropoulos 314/537-3959 August 9, 1996 Agenda Set For Next Computer Telephony Integration Users Group ST. LOUIS, MO -- The Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Users Group has announced that its next monthly meeting is to be held on Wednesday, September 4th. The meeting will focus on Software Quality Assurance as it relates to Computer Telephony applications by group member, Robert Becnel. The meeting will be at 6:30 PM, September 4th at, Bridgeton Trails Library 3455 McKelvey Road (one block south of St. Charles Rock Road) St. Louis, MO A map is available at: www.ctitek.com/library_map.html The discussion will involve the process of Software Quality Assurance in the Computer Telephony field, software engineering, testing procedures and tools, and other CTI software resources shall be presented. Audience participation on case studies will be the primary focus in this discussion. "Software testing is a highly unattainable goal in most software houses because developers are quick to shrink wrap prior to any reliable quality assurance is performed due to meeting a deadline," remarks Robert Becnel. More details of Becnel's presentations may be obtained by browsing the CTI home page at www.ctitek.com/quality.html Additional quality related resources are also available at this web site. The following meeting will be held on October 1st and is to be a live demonstration on the Hammer IT Computer Telephony test system. The demonstration will be led by Hammer Technologies Regional Sales Representative, Paul Mitchell. Becnel is an Engineer with Systems Test Evaluation, a St. Louis based military contractor. Robert G. Becnel becnel@crl.com (email) http://www.crl.com/~becnel (www) ------------------------------ From: Argi Krikelis Subject: CFP: Very Low Bit-rate Video Coding (IEEE J-SAC) Date: 11 Aug 1996 18:23:21 GMT Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications Call for Papers Very Low Bit-rate Video Coding Technology advances and application demands lead to the inevitable merging of telecommunications and computing areas. Future user requirements are anticipated to be dominated by video-driven applications, with demands for a very high degree of flexibility and extensibility. Applications will include real-time, high quality interactivity using natural and/or synthetic video data over limited bandwidth communication lines and access of limited capacity storage media, providing ability to achieve scalability with fine granularity in spatial and temporal resolution and complexity. Such demands will require robust and efficient very low bit-rate video coding approaches, able to support resilient transmission/accessing of very high quality video pictures. Current video processing technologies and international standards will not be able to cope with such requirements because of well known limitations, e.g., block and mosquito artifacts. The development and evolution of alternative video coding techniques and video processing systems is necessary. The nature of the required research poses a number of challenges in algorithm development and specification and development of coding tools which will allow a very high degree of application-specific functionality, evolution of processing (especially highly parallel) architectures to efficiently support the required operations, etc. The IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications is developing an issue with the broad theme of very low bit-rate video coding. This issue will include, but is not limited to, papers on the following topics: Very low bit-rate video coding techniques for video transmission and storage: content-based; model-based; vector quantisation; wavelets; fractals; Scalability issues in very low bit-rate coding; Very low bit-rate coding of hybrid (video and synthetic) data; Very low bit-rate video coding for multimedia (e.g. stereoscopic images and 3D views); Robustness of very low bit-rate video coding in error-prone environments; Processing architectures for very low bit-rate video coding. Prospective authors of original work should submit six (6) copies of their manuscripts to one the Guest Editors listed below, according to the following schedule: six (6) copies of the full manuscript September 1, 1996 notification of decisions December 1, 1996 final version of the manuscript Feburary 1, 1997 publication date Fourth quarter 1997 Guest Editors Dr. Kazumasa Enami Dr. Anargyros (Argy) Krikelis Science and Technical Research Labs Aspex Microsystems Ltd. Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Brunel University 1-10-11 Kinuta, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 157 Uxbridge, UB8 3PH JAPAN United Kingdom Tel: +81 3 54942300 Tel: +44 1895 274000 ext 2763 Fax: +81 3 54942309 Fax: + 44 1895 258728 E-mail: enami@strl.nhk.or.jp E-mail:Argy.Krikelis@aspex.co.uk Argy.Krikelis@brunel.ac.uk Prof. Todd R. Reed Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering University of California Davis, CA 95616 USA Tel:+1 (916) 7524720 Fax:+1 (916) 7528428 E-mail:trreed@ucdavis.edu ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Area Code Stalemate Date: 11 Aug 1996 19:37:24 GMT Organization: MindSpring AREA CODE STALEMATE HAS FAMILIAR RING TO IT Lines crossed over creation of new zone. By Linda A. Johnson (AP) (c) 1996 - The Associated Press TRENTON - Once again, the telephone industry can't agree on how best to add another area code before one runs out of available phone numbers. This time, it's southern New Jersey's 609 area code, but the Garden State's other two, 908 and 201, will run out of numbers first -- sometime next year. In all three cases, long-distance companies prefer splitting one code into two, while local and cellular phone companies prefer having the new prefix "overlaid", so two codes would operate in the same area. In each case, an industry stalemate has forced the state Board of Public Utilities to referee, delaying any decision for many months. Representatives of ten communications companies met Wednesday to discuss the 609 area code and could not reach a consensus, said Tim Ireland, spokesman for Bell Atlantic-New Jersey. The executives did agree that if a split is chosen, the new code will include the Philadelphia and Wilmington suburbs of southwestern New Jersey, covering Gloucester and Salem counties, the western two-thirds of Camden county, the western edges of Burlington and Atlantic counties, and all but the eastern tip of Cumberland County. DUE TO THE location of switches that route calls, eight communities would be split between the two codes: Buena Vista, Dennis, Maurice River, Medford, Monroe, Waterford, Willingboro and Winslow. The 609 area will use up the last of its available 7.7 million phone numbers by the second quarter of 1998, Ireland said yesterday. "It takes about a year to implement any sort of area code change," he said, so Bell Atlantic -- as the incumbent local phone company facing its first competition for local phone business thanks to the Federal Communications Act of 1996 -- wants to get the ball rolling. That's not surprising, given how long such disputes can drag out. When industry representatives late last year reached a stalemate over how to add new area codes within the 908 and 201 territories, they asked the BPU to make the call. After several public hears and lots of input from the industry and consumer groups, the BPU decided at a July 31 meeting it wanted more information on both the overlay and split options. The decision came a day after AT&T and MCI asked the board to delay its ruling and form an industry work group to explore options beyond the two methods. THE BPU, while not necessarily granting that request, scheduled a Sept. 6 hearing at its Newark headquarters to take more testimony from consumer and communications industry representatives, according to BPU spokeswoman Jennifer Salvato. "We may add another public hearing date," she noted. That could result in a close call for Bell Atlantic, which wants to avoid having to ration new phone numbers as the supply starts running out -- in June for the 201 area code and in October 1997 for central New Jersey's 908 area code. The 908 code was just created in 1991, when the 201 area was split up. The problem is coming up more and more frequently as the explosion of computer modems, fax machines, cellular phones and beepers, along with a growing population, absorbs the pool of available numbers at a dizzying rate. Along with the industry, some customers have strong feelings about the split and overlay options because both have major drawbacks. Splitting one area code into two means hundreds of thousands, if not millions of customers will have to bear the expense and hassle of getting new stationary, reprogramming speed dials and other steps to make the transition. OVERLAYING a new code means people on the same block, even in the same home, will end up with different area codes, and local calls for the first time will require dialing an area code -- or ten numbers for every call. "If you go with a split, you can stay with seven-digit dialing," AT&T spokesman Dan Lawler said yesterday. "Surveys we've conducted show (customers) prefer that method." "Down the road, it's possible that everybody will have to dial ten digits, but we don't think the time is now," Lawler said. AT&T and other companies that plan to compete with Bell Atlantic in the local call market also argue that Bell Atlantic would have an advantage if the new area code is overlaid -- because it would control most of the numbers with the more-familiar existing code and people getting new phone numbers would have to take the new area code. Ireland, however, points out that the Federal Communications Commission is requiring that people be allowed to keep their current numbers when they change local phone carriers. ----------------- JC's note: While residential users are clearly in the split column (even in the areas that would have to change...), businesses are divided between split and overlay (for the obvious financial reasons). The September meeting results are too close to call, and the decision could be delayed yet again ... John Cropper * NiS / NexComm Content is the sole property of the * PO Box 277 originating poster. Please relegate * Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 ALL on-topic responses to this * Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 newsgroup. Unsolicited private mail * Outside NJ: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) is prohibited, and will be referred * Fax : 609.637.9430 unabridged to sender's ISP. * email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com Subject: Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 Date: 12 Aug 1996 00:35:54 GMT Organization: MindSpring On Aug 07, 1996 01.30.31 in article , 'Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison)' wrote: > The same INSANE system is used in Texas, in areas like the Dallas/Fort > Worth metropolitan area, for dialing local calls in nearby area codes. > It violates the recommendation by Bellcore that *ALL* calls should be > *PERMITTED* to be dialed as 1+NPA+NXX-XXXX, whether they are local or > toll and whether the NPA is the same or different. > If some states want to have a rule that you must dial the '1' for any > direct-dialed toll call, that's fine. However, they should NEVER > prohibit dialing the '1' for local calls. Actually, they should also NOT prohibit it, as it impinges on the customer's ability to route calls through the carrier of their choice, as well ... John Cropper * NiS / NexComm Content is the sole property of the * PO Box 277 originating poster. Please relegate * Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 ALL on-topic responses to this * Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 newsgroup. Unsolicited private mail * Outside NJ: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) is prohibited, and will be referred * Fax : 609.637.9430 unabridged to sender's ISP. * email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: dr@ripco.com (David Richards) Subject: Re: Alphanumeric Paging Checksum Help Needed Organization: Ripco Internet BBS Chicago Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 01:14:55 GMT In article , Joe Manz wrote: > I an trying to write a small program in Quick Basic v4.5 for > alphanumeric paging. I have posted to every QBasic news group I can > find. After two weeks I have no reply. So, as a last ditch effort I am > trying here too. I sent Joe the source for 'ixocico', a program that is part of the tpaged Unix alphanumeric paging program, a set of Perl scripts with a C driver to do the actual paging. The full pacakge is available at: ftp://coast.cs.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/tpage The original sources are a little too strict, and didn't work with my paging companies prompts, if you have the same problems send me mail and I'll publish my changes to this four-year-old program. David Richards Ripco, since Nineteen-Eighty-Three My opinions are my own, Public Access in Chicago But they are available for rental Shell/SLIP/PPP/UUCP/ISDN/Leased dr@ripco.com (312) 665-0065 !Free Usenet/E-Mail! ------------------------------ From: david.breneman@attws.com (David Breneman) Subject: Re: Touch Tones in Movies? Date: 12 Aug 1996 01:29:11 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article brianb@cfer.com (Brian Brown) writes: > A.CHESIR wrote: >> The tones on the VideoTapes are a way of preventing folks from making >> illegal copies of the tapes. > Wrong. VHS NTSC copy protection is done by weakening the VHS signal > on the tape to the point where a VCR can play it just fine, but > another VCR cannot record it. There are boosters you can buy to > defeat this purposely weak signal. If you try to record a tape with > this type of copy protection, the sound comes out fine, and the video > looks like it was shot in the dark. Any signal which is strong enough to be displayed on a screen is strong enough to record, especially when you consider the part of the VCR circuitry that *actually* does the copy protection -- the Automatic Gain Control on the video channel. Copy protection is achieved by inserting a super-white burst in the sync interval. The AGC in the recording deck sees this powerful signal and turns down the video gain to bring it back into spec (1 volt peak-to-peak). That darkens the "real" video to black. If you could disable the AGC you could disable copy protection. AGC is provided, of course, because the typical consumer is too stupid to adjust the video record level (the same reason audio AGC is provided on many tape recorders). Just one more example of a "user-friendly" feature making your life a living hell. :-) David Breneman Unix System Administrator AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. david.breneman@attws.com Ph: +1-206-803-7362 Fx: +1-206-803-7410 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #398 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Aug 12 00:42:17 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA04361; Mon, 12 Aug 1996 00:42:17 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 00:42:17 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608120442.AAA04361@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #399 TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Aug 96 00:42:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 399 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Jeremy Parsons) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Bob Goudreau) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Vasos Panagiotopoulos) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Richard Cox) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Jeremy Rogers) Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward (John R. Levine) Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward (Eric Chan) Re: SOS - TAPI, Caller ID, and Visual C++ (Chris Sells) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Wes Leatherock) Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 (Wes Leatherock) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeremy Parsons Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 05:44:34 GMT Ed Ellers writes: >> In the US, the first three digits don't really designate the CO >> switch any more. Nowadays, a group of switches in a metropolitan >> area typically share a group of three-digit codes. > They don't designate the *office,* but they do designate the *switch.* > Even if you have more than one switch in a CO, each three-digit prefix > goes to only one switch -- otherwise you'd need something between the > switch(es) and the rest of the PSTN to send calls to the switches > based on seven-digit numbers. Is this really true? Modern switches generally have much greater capacity than this implies, and working for a company which owns the telephone company in fourteen countries in the North American Numbering Plan I can say that it's unnecessary to have one switch per prefix. Certainly the NANP specifies that calls are routed on those three digits, but a single switch can serve many of these codes. Obviously the scale of any change will somewhat depend on which piece of the numbering plan is changed -- certain changes the US can probably make fairly independently (with the usual notification requirements to other carriers worldwide), others definitely require the involvement of other NANP countries. But given the level of worldwide activity in significant numbering scheme changes, I feel sure that a substantial updating could be undertaken. Getting it wrong is easy, of course. In the UK a few years back London changed from 01- to 071- (inner London) and 0181- (outer London) to allow a major numbering plan revision. That revision made all geographic numbering begin 01 so London became 0171/0181, with other major prefixes available for other uses. But already imminent number shortages have led to a decision to change again to either a re-unified 02 or a pair of 02x codes. The point I'm making is not 'so many changes for London' (which has been made a few times elsewhere), but to show how with low planning assumptions for number requirements clever numbering schemes get disrupted. So the simplicity of '01 is the code for geographic numbers' (as distinct from free numbers, mobile telephones, pagers, personal numbers, premium rate services etc which have their own separate codes) is lost in a few short years. The 'blame' in this particular case goes to a failure to realise how rapidly number ranges get eaten up. Apart from the generally increasing demand for telephone lines, there are two areas in particular where growth in demand has been significant:- * Competitive carriers (cable companies and other local exchange carriers) * Direct inward dialling for business customers And, of course, each of these has the aspect that frequently a large portion of the requested numbering range may be idle but cannot be used by other customers, so that the number planning has to estimate both the number of numbers used by residents and 'temporary occupants' (such as commuters), and how to scale this requirement up to accommodate a significant proportion of idle numbers. An additional thing to think about in the US is number portability. When this is implemented short-term or long-term through call forwarding there's another pressure. Imagine a company shifting its 10,000 direct dial number range to a CLEC ... that doesn't have to happen too often to take a huge bite out of the numbering plan! Jeremy Parsons ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 10:33:40 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) writes: > All area codes with '9' as the second digit are reserved for the > future expansion to four-digit area codes. The main question at > this point seems to be whether we will go from 3+7 to 4+7 or to 4+8. Are you sure it's even been nailed down that specifically? The info that Mark Cuccia has provided has noted merely that the N9X series of area codes are "reserved for future expansion of a longer-than-ten-digit NANP number". Unless something has changed in the past few months since Mark submitted the following to the Digest, the four-digit NPA was only a strong contender, not a done deal: > There were some *very* interesting points noted in the NPA Assignment > Guidelines document. Much of it was written in `legalese' language, > but it was mentioned that the "N9X" range of area codes (80 codes > total) are being reserved for NANP `expansion' which is predicted to > take place in the second quarter of the next century. It hasn't yet > been finalized whether to go to five-digit line numbers, four-digit > central office codes, four-digit NPA codes, or a combination of two of > these or even all three, but the speculation is that going to > four-digit area codes would be less disruptive to all involved. Linc continues: > The easiest time to add the extra digit on the local number would > be at the same time as adding the extra digit on the area code. > If everyone is already on 10-digit dialing by that time (very, > very likely), there will be no ambiguity: 212-555-0101 will > become 2121-2555-0101, or something like that, allowing for full > permissive dialing of old and new numbers for a reasonable period > of time. I'm not even sure it's safe to make the assumption that so many people seem to be making in this discussion: that once *any* NANP numbers exceed 10 digits, that *all* of them must do so. I know that most NANP folks have come to assume that all phone numbers must be the same length, but most other countries don't need that assumption, and as long as we're busting the 10D-limit assumption, we might as well lay the equal-length assumption to rest too. For example, one viable plan could open a large space of longer numbers while still allowing the 10D legacy numbers to work too. In this scheme, new numbers would be of the form N9XX-XXXX-XXXX (with the 99XX series of NPAs reserved for still more future expansion); this would add 70 billion numbers to the pool (more than an order-of-magnitude expansion) while still making it possible to dial old-style NXX-NXX-XXXX numbers without ambiguity. Customers needing new lines would get new-style numbers in one of the new 4D NPAs (which will doubtless be overlays, assuming that geographic number portability hasn't completely destroyed the concept of "area" code by then). People with old numbers would never need to give them up at all. Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: vjp2@dorsai.dorsai.org (Vasos Panagiotopoulos) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: 12 Aug 1996 04:34:03 GMT Organization: Samani Marions Panyaught NYC 11357-3436-287 USA In Europe, the area code can be of variable length as can the number. Here everything is fixed. Why? ie - in Germany a firm's fax number has more digits than the voice number. A rural area code has more digits than an urban one in Greece. Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bioengineer-Financier, NYC Bach-Mozart ReaganQuayleGramm Evrytano-Kastorian Cit:MarquisWhWFinanc&Indus [vjp2@mcimail.com , vjp2@CIS.CompuServe.Com, vjp2@dorsai.org] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, because that is the way it has always been here. The Americans were the ones to devise the scheme in the beginning and as always, the Americans know what is best for everyone else. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 96 15:56 BST From: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk (Richard Cox) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk Recently, (in TELECOM Digest V16 #396) JSeder@syntel.com said: > Britain is moving to ten digit numbers In fact, the UK moved to ten digit numbers in April 1995. There are a few nine-digit numbers left, of these land-lines should be converted real soon now, with mobiles, pagers, and other numbers following by the year 2001. > three or four digit "STD (standard trunk dial) codes" UK area codes are currently from four to six digits long (including the initial "0". "STD" used to mean "Subscriber Trunk Dialling" but we don't use that acronym anymore. Those codes should theoretically be called NDCs (National Destination Codes) but customers can handle the idea of "area codes" or "national codes" a lot easier. So we use those terms instead. > followed by a seven or six digit telephone number. All telephone numbers apart from a very small few have five, six, or seven digits. There are a very small number (less than ten) four digit numbers. > Old exchanges may still use a shorter telephone number, but as their > exchanges are upgraded they generally have a new digit inserted at the > beginning of the telephone number (yxxxxx). This program has now been completed. > If you dial xxxxx, for a time they transfer the call with a warning; > after that time, they charge for transferring the call. Wrong on both counts. For a time the call could be connected without any warning (depending on the usage of other digits in that block). Either way there will normally be a period of intercept to a recording giving callers the correct number, or the details of the new code and the prefix, as appropriate, for them to re-dial. There is no charge for either of these services, apart from the standard rate for the call when connected. Also, Dave.Leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) said: > places like Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong have set up eight-digit schemes. London is expected to move to eight digits in the year 2000. We are considering a similar arrangement for other parts of the UK. > at this rate, it might be just as well to have ten-digit local numbers Er, no. Psychologists confirm that eight digits is the maximum number of digits that can be reliably remembered and dialled by the average user. Introduction of ten-digit numbers (which is effectively what the result of splitting an Wz1 NPA means) will lead to greater incidence of misdialling. So a change by the US to eight-digit local dialling, eliminating all overlays and NPA splits, would actually reduce the proportion of calls that end up reaching a wrong number. > One of the arguments against something like NPA + eight-digit number > has to do with the conversions needed to switches throughout the U.S., > Canada and other territories. In time, a readily-programmable > switching network should turn this argument into a mere excuse. Sheesh! Are you *really* telling me that the US of A is so far behind the UK in its telecomms technology that it has a problem with implementing a change from seven digit to eight digit local numbers? Sounds like some programmers have been doing some hard-coding where they shouldn't! > One possible conversion plan from the existing 3+7 to a 2+8 format could > go like this: (details deleted to save space) ... Your outline covers, broadly speaking, the method the UK proposes to use to change London's two area codes (171) and (181), to an eight digit form. +44 171 xxx yyyy is expected to become +44 20 7xxx yyyy, and +44 181 xxx yyyy is expected to become +44 20 8xxx yyyy. Local callers will dial the last eight digits on all calls, while callers from elsewhere within the UK (or mobile phones) will prefix the eight digit number with the code (020). Richard D G Cox Mandarin Technology, P.O. Box 111, PENARTH, CF64 3YG, UK Phone: +44 9733 111111; Fax: +44 9733 111100; VoiceMail: +44 9411 515151 ------------------------------ From: Jeremy Rogers Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 20:35:00 +0100 In message JSeder@syntel.com writes: >> Europe seems to have the expert in adding digits to numbers. When >> British Telecom wants to expand the number of phones in an area, they >> tell all their customers in that CO 'your number is changing from >> xxxxx to xxxxxy' and on the target date it changes. Period. > This isn't exactly true, according to the wanker who sits in the > office next to me. Britain is moving to ten digit numbers - three or > four digit "STD (standard trunk dial) codes" followed by a seven or > six digit telephone number. Or possibly to two digit area codes (excluding the '0' of course like you did) and eight figure numbers, as proposed this week for London by Oftel. Incidentally the 'S' in STD stood for subscriber, but since everyone is a customer these days BT calls them area codes. > Old exchanges may still use a shorter telephone number, but as their > exchanges are upgraded they generally have a new digit inserted at the > beginning of the telephone number (yxxxxx). In many but not all cases the 'extra' digit has come from a longer area code, eg 01WXYZ ABCDE -> 01WXY ZABCDE, so the only change is a local one. However my parents' number over the last ten years has gone: 0533 2WXYZ -> 0533 72WXYZ -> 0116 272 WXYZ. > If you dial xxxxx, for a time they transfer the call with a warning; > after that time, they charge for transferring the call. You would get a message for a while, then NU until the freed numbering space was reassigned. Jez ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 96 19:28:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > When I first came to Penn. State I was surprised to discover that > rotary dial phones are still used here. (Now they have just upgraded > to touch tone). That's because we all own our own phones, rather than renting them from a telephone monopoly. You want a tone phone, you can easily go buy one, but if you are happy with your rotary phone you can keep using it. > And when I tour the rural area I am amazed to find there are still so many > wooden piles supporting phone lines and electricity power lines. I already > forgot when was the last time I see such thing in China. That's mostly because wood is very cheap in the U.S., so there's not much reason to go to concrete or metal for local distribution poles. Different telephone companies have different opinions. The chief engineer at my local telco here (with 7000 customers) says he wants to have all his wire up on poles where he can work on it easily when he needs to. But my cousin who's the chief engineer for a similarly sized telco in Vermont buries all his wires because they're less subject to damage. In large part that's because most rural Vermont roads are unpaved, making it considerably easier to bury phone wire, but a lot of it is just local preference and tradition. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ From: chaneric@hknet.com (Eric Chan) Subject: Re: USA Technology is Awfully Backward Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 02:27:14 GMT Organization: Westel International Reply-To: echan@wimsey.com david.breneman@attws.com (David Breneman) wrote: > In article Anthony > writes: >> When I first came to Penn. State I was surprised to discover that >> rotary dial phones are still used here. (Now they have just upgraded >> to touch tone). And when I tour the rural area I am amazed to find >> there are still so many wooden piles supporting phone lines and >> electricity power lines. I already forgot when was the last time I see >> such thing in China. Well, may be the reason they don't have wires on poles in China is that someone will rip them down and sell them as scrap copper. Don't laugh, thats still happening in Guandong Provience today. And that's with trenched cables. As for having poles in rural area, China has a good solution to that, they just don't have phone service in rural area. While the Americian system is not always the best and I will be the last one to defend if, there is something more to technologies than stuffing changes down people's throat. I live in HK and had no problem with the seven to eight digit conversion. I am sure the same was true for the change last year for Shanghai. But if you look from outside China, you see a grab bag of numbering plans. Five, six, seven or eight digit local numbers and two, three or four digit area codes. When I am given a number to call, I am never sure if it includes the area code already or if how to dial it. At least in N.A., I don't even have to think about it. If the people in China depends on telecommunication as much as the western world, and they will in a few years, I am sure they will have problems of their own that goes well beyond pluse dial and some protracted discussions of the pro and con of digit conversion. At least it is getting air'ed out and the telcos has no excuse if my number stopped working overnight. Some sixty years ago, the brains at Bell planned the NPA to year 2000 and we are just a blink away from that. Given all the (unpredictable) changes in the world over this period of time, I say that's a pretty dame good (or lucky) job. The idots in Congress can't even figure out how much they are going to (over) spend next year. ------------------------------ From: csells@teleport.com (Chris Sells) Subject: Re:SOS - TAPI, Caller ID, and Visual C++ Date: Sun, 11 Aug 96 16:44:25 GMT Organization: Sells Brothers Reply-To: derrickb@halex.com In article , Bruce Pennypacker wrote: > In article telecom16.387.9@massis.lcs.mit.edu, derrickb@halex.com > (Derrick Bradbury) said: >> Hey, I was wondering if anyone out there is working with TAPI for >> incoming calls. All of the examples I can find are for outgoing calls >> only, and nothing for incoming. I have a USR 33.6 VoiceModem, and am >> trying to get the caller ID from the modem. The return flag always >> says that there is nothing there. Is there any examples of Caller ID >> in Visual C++ 4.0, or can someone give me a hand? > If TAPI is indicating that there isn't anything there then TAPI hasn't > detected any CallerID information so therefore there's nothing you can > do about it (sorry to be so brutally honest). > Something like CallerID is going to depend on not only the hardware > but the service provider (drivers) that you are using as well. The > standard Unimodem service provider that comes with Windows 95 is > simply not capable of detecting CallerID information. So if that is > the service provider that you are using then you'll never get an > indication of CallerID no matter how hard you try. The Unimodem/V > service provider (a version designed for voice modems) is able to > detect CallerID information, but I don't believe your USR modem is > currently supported by Unimodem/V. You'll have to contact USR to see > if they offer support for Unimodem/V. > For TAPI specific questions I'd suggest that you check out the Microsoft > newsgroup for TAPI developers: microsoft.public.win32.programmer.tapi. USR does provide Unimodem/V support for their Sportster Voice modem. Save the following (except the sig) as usrwave.inf and put into your windows directory: ; U.S. Robotics, Inc. - .INF support for Sportster Voice TAPI features [Version] Signature="$CHICAGO$" Class=MEDIA provider=%MSFT% LayoutFile=layout.inf [ClassInstall] Addreg=Class.AddReg [Class.AddReg] HKR,,,,%MediaClassName% HKR,,Icon,,"-1" HKR,,Installer,,mmci.dll [Manufacturer] %MfgName%=USR [USR] %USR.DeviceDesc%=USRVOICE, MODEMWAVE\Sportster_Voice_33.6_PnP_FAX_Internal %USR.DeviceDesc%=USRVOICE, MODEMWAVE\Sportster_Voice_33.6_PnP_FAX_External [PreCopySection] HKR,,NoSetupUI,,1 [DestinationDirs] MSSERWAVE.CopyList = 11 ; LDID_SYS [USRVOICE] AddReg=MSSERWAVE.AddReg, USRVOICE.AddReg [MSSERWAVE.CopyList] serwave.vxd,, serwvdrv.drv,, vmodctl.dll,, [USRVOICE.AddReg] HKR,Drivers\wave\serwvdrv.drv,Description,,%USR.DeviceDesc% HKR,Config,XformModule, , "umdmxfrm.dll" HKR,Config,XformID, 1, 04, 00, 00, 00 HKR,Config,WaveDevices, 1, 02, 00 [MSSERWAVE.AddReg] HKR,,DevLoader,,mmdevldr.vxd HKR,Drivers,MIGRATED,,0 HKR,Drivers\wave,,, HKR,,Driver,,serwave.vxd HKR,Drivers\wave\serwvdrv.drv,Driver,,serwvdrv.drv HKR,Drivers,SubClasses,,"wave" [Strings] MSFT="U.S. Robotics, Inc." MfgName="USR" USR.DeviceDesc="U.S. Robotics Sportster Voice Serial Wave Device" WaveWrap.DeviceDesc="Voice Modem Wave Wrapper Device" MediaClassName="Sound, video and game controllers" Chris Sells Windows Consulting and Development http://www.teleport.com/~csells ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 23:31:27 GMT > Three years ago I lived in a rural county that did not have E911. The > reason the county did not have E911 was due to a combination of > funding to pay for the system, and also because the entire county's > postal addressing system had to be changed to provide meaningful > address information to the 911 operator. > Almost all postal address (and the addresses on the phone bill) were > encoded similar to "Rural Route 15 Box 428" referring to the postal > carrier route and the box number along the route. There was no street > name nor street address associated with the location of the phone. To > implement E911 first required that the post office go through the > entire county and assign street address to rural and semi-rural homes, > and in a few cases, assign street names where none had existed. This > process took over a year of time. Then, each resident, had to notify > their personal or business contacts of new mailing addresses. I was involved or an observer in many of these addressing projects in Oklahoma exchanges, and I never heard of the post office having anything to do with making the assignments. Local authorities, committees, whatever, decided what they would do, just as happens in cities. I have seen the same thing in Texas, too. Are you sure the postal addresses changed at all? Most of them are still Route xx, Box xx. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 23:31:27 GMT ronnie@space.mit.edu (Ron) wrote: > Secondly, although the call is indeed toll-free, you MUST not dial a 1 > or 0 first! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I > knew the change was to take affect the other day, so I wasn't > surprised when I got the recording saying that "I must dial 954 to > call this number". So, naturally, I dialled 1-954-xxx-xxxx, and got a > recording telling me "It is not necessary to dial a 1 or 0 when > dialing this number". You've got to be kidding me! > If the call isn't a toll call, you MUST dial 10 digits, and you MUST > NOT dial a 1. Doesn't this go against all other major cities that > have split? Nope, sure doesn't. This is true in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and will probably be true in any other Southwestern Bell areas which have similar splits. Some customers (by far the vast majority) are not like the people in this newsgroup and are very concerned to know when they are dialing a toll call. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #399 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Aug 12 01:38:01 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA08304; Mon, 12 Aug 1996 01:38:01 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 01:38:01 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608120538.BAA08304@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #400 TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Aug 96 01:37:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 400 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Republicans Come to Town - The Lights Go Out! (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Wireless Satellite Communication - A Challenge (Mark Rivers) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Brian Purcell) Re: ADSI - The Search For Information Continues (Christoph F. Strnadl) Re: Alphanumeric Paging Checksum Help Needed (Toby Nixon) Re: ISDN D-Channel Data and Internet Voice (Thomas Gyoeroeg) Re: Voice Changing Equipment (L.F. Gorczyca) Re: Voice Changing Equipment (Paul C. Kocher) Re: Mystery Intercept (Jim Hornbeck) Mystery Intercept; Solved (Rich Greenberg) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Ed Ellers) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Mark A. Terribile) Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? (Dave Levenson) Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? (B. Packert) Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call (Pelliccio) Re: Last Laugh! Crackdown on Prostitutes' Adverts (Dave Levenson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 01:00:44 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Republicans Come to Town - The Lights Go Out! So, the weekend brought another major power outage to the western USA once again. Millions of people without power -- most important perhaps their lights and air-conditioning in hundred degree temperatures -- for several hours. Tsk, tsk ... As the Republicans were arriving in southern California for their convention, the power went out. What a great way to greet your visitors, guys! Anyone have the true story/facts/excuses made this time around? PAT ------------------------------ From: Mark Rivers Subject: Re: Wireless Satellite Communication - A Challenge Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 08:44:08 -0700 Organization: TD Communications Marvin Demuth wrote: > WHAT WE NEED: > We need facilities, preferably involving satellite communication with > voice, fax and email capabilities, at low cost. I have seen figures > from $1.49 to $9.00 per minute on the Web for satellite service. We > need something better than this. We need to be spending our funds on > drilling wells and providing medical care for people who have no > resources. Preferably, we need to be able to operate at both ends with > non-licensed operators, just the same as it would be if we were making > a telephone call. The only product currently available that offers voice, fax and data capabilities is an Inmarsat product. You will find more information in Inmarsat at: http://www.worldserver.pipex.com/inmarsat/ This product, however, does cost $4.50 US per minute to operate and the hardware costs range from around $10K US for the Inmarsat M terminal to $25K for the Inmarsat B terminal. A cheaper alternative would be using an MSAT which provides coverage over North and Central America. Currently the system offers voice and data capabilities but does not offer fax. The fax capability should be out soon but do not hold your breath. Cost for this system is approximately $4K US for the equipment (+ or - $1K depending on the model) and airtime rates vary but range between $1.55 - $2.75 per minute CANADIAN. I am not sure how the rates and billing proceedures work in the states. > How can we do this NOW? Surely, there is some facility available, > experimental or otherwise, that will permit this to be done NOW. It can be done now but it is not inexpensive! Hope that this provides you with some additional information. Mark Rivers TD Communications Ph: (403) 735-6063 Fax: (403) 250-3779 markr@tdcomm.com ------------------------------ From: bpurcell@centuryinter.net (Brian Purcell) Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Date: Sun, 11 Aug 96 16:27:25 GMT Organization: Wide-Lite > Regarding how E911 has been implemented in rural areas, Bill Ranck > wrote: > Sorry, this just pushes one of my buttons. They are rearranging > peoples' lives just to accomodate the computer system when the > computer system should be made to accomodate the people. If the > post office was able to deliver mail to those addresses, then the E911 > system should be able to handle it also. Make the system fit the > people, not the other way around! The reason why E911 had to "rearrange peoples' lives" was not to accomodate the computer system, but rather to provide actual _street_ addresses so that emergency personnel could find the correct location of an emergency call. RR16, Box 32 is *not* a location, it's a box, usually clustered with a bunch of other boxes nowhere near the actual residence. That does nothing to tell the police, fire, or EMS *where* someone is at. Assigning specific street addresses (and requiring those addresses to be displayed at the actual residence) allows authorities to find the location of an emergency much faster which, obviously, helps them to save lives and property. Regards, Brian Purcell bpurcell@centuryinter.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But if there is no rhyme nor reason to *how* the addresses get assigned, then what possible difference could it make? At least in cities and towns, addresses are calcu- lated based on the number of blocks in a mile and the number of blocks from some central starting point, etc. In Chicago for example, everything starts at State/Madison Streets and works out in all four directions: east, south, north and west. What do you do in some rural area where the houses are a half-mile apart? On what arbitrary basis are numbers assigned on the newly made-up 'street' name? This reminds me of the credit bureau computer at Trans-Union: they absolutely insist on a street address for your credit bureau file. If you absolutely refuse to give one and only provide them with a box number, the only way they can get the computer to accept the information -- and they had to do something -- is to create a ficticious 'street' name of 'Post Office Box'. It seems the computer is willing to accept that nonsense as a street name, but is too inflexible to accept the existence of a post office box itself. So at Trans-Union if you look up my file, my address is given as '4621 Post Office Box, Skokie, IL 60076'. That makes the computer happy. PAT] ------------------------------ From: cstrnadl@austria.cp.philips.com (Christoph F. Strnadl) Subject: Re: ADSI - The Search For Information Continues Date: Sun, 11 Aug 96 19:26:00 GMT Organization: ORIGIN Information Technology/Austria In article , Joe Lindsay wrote: > Is there any vendor other than Dialogic supporting ADSI on their voice The data sheet of the Periphonics VPS/iS claims to support ADSI. I have never tried to follow-up this thread in any technical detail at Periphonics, but I was told by Periphonics Germany that I should contact Periphonics UK (some months ago, though). > cards? Is there any interest in a ADSI or ADSI-Developer's mailing > list? Absolutely positive on that. Actually, I have been deliberating about compiling a FAQ for ADSI which should also include ADSI developments here in Europe (ETSI calls it SDSS -- Server Display and Scripting Services). But things in screen telephony are pretty busy these days in Austria ... Christoph F. Strnadl | "What's a cynic?" Technical Manager/ScreenPhone Services | "A man who knows the price of ORIGIN Information Technology / Austria| everything and the value of Tel +43 1 60101/1752 Fax +43 1 6023568 | nothing." (O.Wilde) cstrnadl@austria.cp.philips.com | #include ------------------------------ From: Toby Nixon Subject: Re: Alphanumeric Paging Checksum Help Needed Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 11:53:48 -0700 In TELECOM Digest V16 #394, Joe Manz wrote asking how to calculate the checksum in a Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) message. In http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/SITE/IXO.TAP.protocol.html, the TAPI checksum is described as follows: "Each checksum is computed by performing the simple arithmetic sum of the 7-bit values of all values of all characters preceding it in that block. (This means that the STX and ETB/ETX are included in the sum). The checksum is then the least significant 12 bits of this resulting sum. The checksum is transmitted as three printable ASCII characters having values between HEX 30 and HEX 3F (the characters 012345678 9:;<=>?). The most significant four bits of the sum are encoded as the four LSB of the third character." The checksum can be computed and appended to the message by Basic code something like this (this is VB4 code, but it shouldn't be hard to convert to QB): Dim msg As String, sum As Integer, n As Integer ' define sample message msg = Chr(2) + "123" + Chr(13) + "ABC" + Chr(13) + Chr(3) ' calculate checksum sum = 0 For n = 1 To Len(msg) sum = sum + Asc(Mid(msg, n, 1)) Next n ' append checksum to message msg = msg + Chr(((sum And &HF00) \ 256) + &H30) msg = msg + Chr(((sum And &HF0) \ 16) + &H30) msg = msg + Chr(((sum And &HF)) + &H30) msg = msg + Chr(13) As for finding samples of programs, try looking on http://www.mot.com/MIMS/MSPG/CTSD/3rd_pty/3rd_shar/index.html. ------------------------------ From: tgyoeroe@nt.tuwien.ac.at (Thomas Gyoeroeg) Subject: Re: ISDN D-Channel Data and Internet Voice Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 03:38:22 +0200 Organization: Vienna University of Technology, Austria On 8 Aug 1996 12:25:39 GMT, jdearing@netaxs.com (John Dearing) wrote: > azur@netcom.com wrote: >> Although I believe few consumer devices now feature D-channel data >> support, I think it would be an excellent way to enable reasonable >> cost Internet phone service. It removes the requirement for having to >> remain on-line while still offering fast call set-up. It would also >> enable inexpensive home Web servers, again because the server need >> only be on-line when its in use. > But wouldn't the fact that the D channel is only 9.6Kbps make for problems > given the relatively small bandwidth? > Most of the Internet Telephony producvts I've seen (heard) demonstrated > are passable at 14.4Kbps but don't get "good" until 28.8Kbps. It would be wrong to transmit the "data" on the D-channel. IMHO, it should be used only for signalling (or the packet switched connection, if the phone company supports this). However it might be used to established a connection to the ISP on demand, like the usual call-back works. Thomas Gyoeroeg ------------------------------ From: leonard@calibre.com (L.F. Gorczyca) Subject: Re: Voice Changing Equipment Date: 11 Aug 1996 19:00:05 -0700 Organization: Calibre Industries, Inc. Reply-To: leonard@calibre.com On Thu, 8 Aug 1996 03:33:01 -0400, jfabrega@nettally.com (Fabrega, John) wrote: > I've seen a few ads for phones or other add-ons that supposedly > 'change your voice' over the telephone. I could see a few legitimate > uses for them, like a female living alone sounding like a male, or in > my case, I own a voice-mail service bureau and would like to be able > to provide some variety when my customers would rather not record > their own greeting. > Has anyone tried one? Can anyone recommend one? Do they sound > realistic or terribly machine altered? John, The least expensive "High Quality" method of "Voice Changing" is not designed for the telephone equipment market. Its the YAMAHA SW60XG synth card for the P.C. the card, in addition to being a great sounding midi synth, has an 18bit DAC connected to the MIC input that allows the DSP to process the voice channel. You can adjust the pitch and timbre of an effect and even mix a percentage of the original sound. Built in presets are: MONSTER MALE FEMALE CHILD ROBOT By adjusting the MIX/PITCH controls almost anything is possible. If you have a Sound card installed into a pc you can record to disk and convert to the format used by your VM system or take the output of the yamaha straight into the VM system. Approx Price : $199.00 US Lenny OFX Systems Div. - Calibre Industries, Inc. leonard@calibre.com ------------------------------ From: pck@netcom.com (Paul C. Kocher) Subject: Re: Voice Changing Equipment Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 11:53:10 GMT Fabrega, John wrote: > I've seen a few ads for phones or other add-ons that supposedly > 'change your voice' over the telephone. I could see a few legitimate > uses for them, like a female living alone sounding like a male, or in > my case, I own a voice-mail service bureau and would like to be able > to provide some variety when my customers would rather not record > their own greeting. > Has anyone tried one? Can anyone recommend one? Do they sound > realistic or terribly machine altered? I've got one called a "Voice Changer II Model P8955," which is more amusing than useful. The voice sounds a bit strange (cheap sci-fi movie robotic), especially when the pitch is shifted significantly. It can shift the pitch to make the gender sound different, but not without sounding weird. It is fun though to gradually increase the amount of distortion during a conversation and see how far I can get before the other person says something :-). Cheers, Paul Kocher (pck@netcom.com) | Voicemail: +1-(415)-354-8004 Crypto consultant | FAX: +1-(415)-321-1483 ------------------------------ From: horn@netcom.com (Jim Hornbeck) Subject: Re: Mystery Intercept Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 13:24:49 GMT Rich Greenberg (richgr@netcom.com) wrote: > Can any of the switch gurus out there offer any suggestions that might > point Pa Bell in the right direction? The POP is 310-815-4000, which > is the pilot number for a hunt group of several hundred lines. Rich, I used to get that message regularly till about a month ago. Then I noticed that I was being billed for some 1 minute calls to 310 814 4000 ^ I changed the dtmf timing from 55ms to 60ms and poof, no more problems. Since the 814 prefix is a toll call here it was easy to spot. it's register s11 in the Hayes command set if I remember right. Jim ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Mystery Intercept; Solved Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 16:53:28 GMT Last week, I posted a query about calls to my ISP getting an intercept, "SIT Your call can not be completed as dialed ...". This morning, I got a call from a Pacific Bell Tech (who asked to remain nameless) saying that he had seen my post and had fixed the problem. The problem occured when call volume filled the first trunk group and tried to switch to the second (after 511 calls were already in progress). There was a translation error in the second trunk group such that it was sending the wrong number of digits to the ISP's CO. He also said that if such a problem comes up in the future, it should be reported to 611 by the user instead of reporting it to the ISP. Such itercepts usually indicate a problem in the originating switch. I will pass this info back to the network tech at my ISP for future reference. Thanks to the several respondants who offered suggestions, especially dannyb@panix.com who came very close to the correct answer, and a gold "AttABoy" with oak leaf clusters to the unnamed PB tech. Rich Greenberg N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 Pacific time. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines: Val(Chinook,CGC), Red(Husky,(RIP)), Shasta(Husky) ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 22:42:45 -0400 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services James E Bellaire wrote: > Hiding in tarrifs of the phone companies is the little comment that > 'phone numbers do not belong to the subscriber and can be reassigned > and any time.' (Or words to that effect.) > Although forcing a number change is usually avoided by the telcos, it > has occurred. In North Carolina a few towns had their exchange > changed (as well as their NPA) recently. It is possible. That's exactly what happened when the the present plan was adopted. Until the 1950s most of North America had local numbers that were four to six digits; seven-digit local numbers only existed in a few large cities. When AT&T decided to rationalize the dialing plan, most areas with six-digit numbers (a two-letter prefix for the switch, followed by four digits) got a new three-digit prefix replacing the existing one (so ARlington numbers in Louisville became SPring 6 numbers), five-digit ones had two digits added (so 2-9696 in Jeffersonville became BUtler 2-9696, while 3-6147 became BUtler 3-6147), and four-digit ones got a whole NXX to themselves. ------------------------------ From: mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 12:07:16 GMT In article , mda-0056@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) writes: > On Tue, 07 Aug 1996 18:39:13 -0700, Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc > Madison) wrote: >>> 1. Technical: How difficult/expensive would it be to convert >>> seven-digit numbers to eight-digit? >> Enormously difficult and expensive. We're talking many billions of >> dollars, maybe trillions. [...] > However, isn't that expense that is going to have to be incurred > anyway? ... > Of course, I can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be more feasible to > switch to four-digit area codes, rather than eight-digit base numbers > (although, by that time, the difference between area codes and phone > numbers will probably be moot). Here in Maryland, we are already in > the permissive period of ten-digit dialing. Going to four-digit area codes would also give us a chance to `rationalize' them. Initially, for example, NYC might be served by 2120, 7180, and 9160. The latter two could have 2121 and 2122 added as `synonyms', and eventually phased out. At this point, the overlay versus split question would become moot in most regions. From mole-end Mark Terribile mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us, Somewhere in Matawan, NJ ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Why Not Eight-Digit USA Numbers? Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 20:21:15 GMT Ed Ellers (edellers@delphi.com) writes: > John Nagle writes: >> In the US, the first three digits don't really designate the CO >> switch any more. Nowadays, a group of switches in a metropolitan >> area typically share a group of three-digit codes. > They don't designate the *office,* but they do designate the *switch.* > Even if you have more than one switch in a CO, each three-digit prefix > goes to only one switch -- otherwise you'd need something between the > switch(es) and the rest of the PSTN to send calls to the switches > based on seven-digit numbers. Most switches today can handle more than 10,000 numbers, so multiple prefixes usually designate the same switch. But with the arrival of number portability among local exchange carriers, even that mapping is likely to change. In the near future, it is likely that a phone number will probably have no physical significance at all. It will be mapped by some database into a physical switch and a terminal (or hunt-group of terminals) within the switch. All ten digits of the number will be mapped, not just the `prefix'. (This is already the case for 800 and 888 numbers.) Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: bpackert@hyperlogic.com (Bonnie Packert) Subject: Re: Why Do US Online Phone Directories Only Have Stale Data? Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 18:06:49 GMT Organization: HyperLogic Corporation Reply-To: bpackert@hyperlogic.com On Thu, 8 Aug 96 17:36:00 EDT, johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) wrote: >> You get what you are paying for. If you want up-to-date information, >> call Directory Assistance. > Unfortunately, in the U.S. that's increasingly not much better. Long > distance companies are starting to subcontract D.A. to independent > bureaus who seem to use the CD ROMS because they're cheaper than the > LEC's real D.A. Recently I had occasion to call for directory assistance from my cell phone. I got a GTE Mobilnet operator. It was a residence number and I provided her the name and the street. All she found at first was a number from the old address that had been disconnected two years ago. When I told her that one was wrong and badly out of date, she said, "Well, I guess no one has asked us for that number in a while. We can update it." Then she explained that she was contacting Pac Bell directory assistance for the number. This produced the correct, up-to-date number. As best I can tell, they keep their own database. (Maybe it's originally entered from a CD.) Then as calls are made requesting numbers, they can update their database by calling Pac Bell. I don't know how they would update it if I hadn't known immediately that the first number they gave was wrong. Maybe they wait for you to call back and complain. When writing this followup, I tried directory assistance again and sure nuff they've updated the number. Bonnie Packert bpackert@hyperlogic.com HyperLogic Corporation, Escondido, California, USA http://www.hyperlogic.com/hl (We make fuzzy logic and neural network tools.) ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: US West Doesn't Use Caller ID on Collection Department Call Date: 11 Aug 1996 14:38:09 -0400 Organization: Anomaly In article , John R Levine wrote: > If it turns out that some of the calls that you choose not to answer > are in fact from people to whom you wanted to talk, that's part of the > cost that goes with your new control. > Back when the topic of CLID first came up, some of us predicted that > CLID users who declined to answer calls with blocked or missing CLID > would find that they'd regret ignoring some of those calls. (The > usual example was spouse with broken car calling from a COCOT.) Well, > whaddaya know, we were right. I know that here in RI the COCOT phones show up as a local number, same as a most Nynex payphones. But there are a few exceptions that return "Out of Area". The only calls that really annoy me are those marked with "Privacy". Unfortunately Nynex still considers Rhode Island to be in the technical backwaters of the universe and continues to deny us anonymous call rejection regardless of the fact that all of our switching facilities are 100% digital. While I'm on a rant about Nynex -- ever try sending them email via their website? Good luck. In my opinion competition will be the best thing that could ever happen -- it'll force Nynex to concentrate on it's home market instead of trapsing around in eastern Europe. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR As offensive as I wanna be. kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Crackdown on Prostitutes' Adverts Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 20:40:01 GMT Adam Starchild (taxhaven@ix.netcom.com) writes: > British Telecommunications is to alter the terms and conditions > for more than 20 million residential customers in an attempt to crack > down on prostitutes' advertisements in telephone boxes. About 150,000 > cards are removed from kiosks in central London every week. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wish that could be done to everyone > who clutters up payphones with notices of one kind or another. As a COCOT operator, I spend many hours cleaning my payphones. There are two persistent problems: un-required notices added by the public (which I remove) and required notices which get removed by the public (which I replace)! If the vandals aren't adding advertising for towing services, they're removing or defacing the FCC-mandated notice of the long distance carrier's name! Programming the phone to block calls to the numbers advertised by these people just might be a solution ... but then again, those calls do represent revenue (unless they're 800 numbers). At least one advertising agency has offered to pay us for the right to display advertising on the sides of our outdoor telephone enclosures. Part of their deal is that their personnel assume the responsibility for cleaning the phone and its enclosure, and for removing any `advertising' that they didn't install. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #400 ******************************