Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/back.issues/1989.volume.9/vol9.iss251-300

Text File | 1990-01-14 | 768.7 KB | 18,568 lines

Date:     Sun, 23 Jul 89 21:22:29 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #251
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sun, 23 Jul 89 21:05:57 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 251

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Telephone Number Formats in Australia (David E. A. Wilson)
    Multiplexing from Vancouver to Seattle (David Tamkin)
    What Modem to Use in Britain (and how)? (James Woolley)
    FAX Radio Correction (Doug Blair)
    Sony Answering Machines (L. J. Judice)
    Does Anybody Make This Device? (Mike Morris)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (John DeArmond)
    Re: Labels for 2500 TouchTone sets (Dave Levenson)
    Re: New Custom Calling Features in Chicago (John Higdon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 21 Jul 89 17:13:37 est
From: [e-mail] (David E. A. Wilson)
Subject: Telephone Number Formats In Australia
Organization: Uni of Wollongong, NSW, Australia

In article <[e-mail]>, CAPEK%YKTVMV.BITNET
(Peter G. Capek) writes:
> Separately, I'd like to ask a question about long distance access codes.  In
> many countries, city codes are commonly quoted with a leading 0.  In all
> cases that I know of, this leading 0 is really an access code, and isn't
> intended to be used, for example, when the city code is dialed from outside
> the country.  Is there any case in which this isn't true?  That is, is there
> any country which has an city code which starts with a zero?

In Australia we use the leading zero as an access code.
Large cities get 0 + 1 digit (ie Sydney is 02, Melbourne 03) while country
areas get 0 + 2 or 3 digit unless they are still manual exchanges (ie
Wollongong (including Shellharbour & Kiama) is 042, outback New South Wales
is 068).

The interesting ones are in Tasmania (the island state) which has area codes
002, 003 & 004. Hobart, the capital, is in 002 so if someone makes an
international call starting +61 02 they will get a Hobart number rather
than a Sydney number.

The other peculiarity is that Adelaide is 08 but only has numbers in the
range 2xx xxxx to 3xx xxxx plus 4x xxxx and 79 xxxx. Thus the rest of the
state (South Australia) is 085, the Northern Territory gets 086 (and Darwin,
its capital gets 089) while Broken Hill in NSW gets 080.

This is all nowhere near as structured as your US numbering scheme.

David Wilson            [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: David Tamkin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Multiplexing from Vancouver to Seattle
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 0:17:53 CDT

An acquaintance of mine had a question that I thought the readers of the
Digest and comp.dcom.telecom could help with.  He granted permission to
quote from his letter here.

He is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, and is trying to access a
service that is available only through Tymnet USA indials.  There is a
Tymnet Canada indial in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver), but he cannot reach
this particular service on it.  The cost of long-distance calls to the
indial in Bellingham, Washington, would become prohibitive for the amaount
of time he intends to use on this service.

|David, I've come up with a way to get myself to the Seattle Tymnet node,
|essentially for free.  Technically, this solution will work, but I don't
|know if I'd be breaking any FCC rules.  Here's the situation:

|The company I work for has a local customer with a leased line going to
|Seattle.  This line has an eight-channel multiplexer on both the Vancouver
|and the Seattle ends.  At any one time, this company is using only two
|channels.  This gives me an interesting possibility.  If I get a phone line
|installed at their Vancouver office, so that I can dial into their MUX,
|switch my signal via their leased line to their Seattle office, then get a
|phone line installed in their Seattle office from which I can dial out to
|the Seattle Tymnet node, this gets me into the Tymnet network IN THE USA.

|I see two possible legal complications here.  First, the FCC may not approve
|of me dialing out from the multiplexor in Seattle into the Tymnet line.
|[second complication omitted; not relevant to Telecom Digest and already
|settled -- DWT]  Technically, there are no complications; this setup will
|work.  All it will cost me is two modems and the installation of two phone
|lines (one in Vancouver and one in Seattle), then the monthly phone charges
|for the two lines.  It costs my customer nothing, since I'd just be taking
|advantage of excess capacity in a leased line that he already has to pay for.

Would he have any difficulties with the FCC if he did what he proposed?

These views are no one's but mine because I won't let anyone else have them.
David W. Tamkin      [e-mail]     ...attctc!jolnet!dattier
GEnie:  D.W.TAMKIN              BIX:  dattier              CIS:  73720,1570
until September 30, 1989:  P. O. Box 567542  Harwood Heights IL  60656-7542


------------------------------

From: James Woolley <[e-mail]>
Subject: What modem to use in Britain (and how)?
Date: 23 Jul 89 02:32:50 GMT
Organization: Lafayette College



Can travellers to Britain advise about the use of modems there?
I understand that British regulations require the use of a
modem approved by British Telecom. My questions:

1. What modems are approved by BT? any likely to have been purchased
in the US?

2. Can modems not on the approved list nevertheless be successfully
used?

3. For someone travelling to Britain with a portable computer/portable
modem, what is the usual way/best way to connect the modem to the
telphone system? That is, what should be added to the travel kit of
of the person carrying a laptop and modem to Britain? I'm NOT raising
the question of power sources, converters, etc., but only of the
connection to the telephone.

Many thanks.

James Woolley
UUCP: rutgers!lafcol!woolleyj
Bitnet: woolleyj@lafayett

------------------------------

Subject: FAX Radio Correction
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 89 20:51:55 CDT
From: Doug Blair <[e-mail]>


Doug Blair, one of the DJ's mentioned in the article in TELECOM Digest
quoted as being one of the more fax-and-technically-aware DJ's, doesn't
work for WLS. He's on Z95.  Z95 also claims to be the first US station
with a studio fax machine set aside for the DJ's and public to abuse :-).

Doug is also rather proficient at unix, for a disk jockey :-))

Doug Blair, sysadm at obdient.chi.il.us
 ___  ___  ___
|__ || . || __|  Doug Blair, Z95 WYTZ-FM Middays 10am-3pm
 / /_|__ ||__ |  360 North Michigan Avenue 312-591-94.7-0
|___|  |_||___|  Chicago IL 60601 [e-mail]
 ___  _           _  _             _
|   || |_  ___  _| ||_| ___  __  _| |_  Doug Blair    Obedient Software Corp.
| | ||  .\/ ._\/.  || |/ ._\|  \|_   _| 1007 Naperville Rd, Wheaton IL  60187
|___||___/\___/\___||_|\___/|_|_| |_|   obdient!blair [e-mail]


------------------------------

From: "L. J. Judice (DTN: 323-4103 FAX: [phone]" <[e-mail]>
Date: 20 Jul 89 14:51
Subject: Sony Answering Machines


I like my Sony "Integrated Speakerphone/Answering Machine" a lot. But
it does have a very annoying problem. Wondering if anyone else out there
finds this with their Sony or other manufacturers.

On the bottom, one can select "60 seconds", "VOX" or "CPC (calling party
disconnect signal)" as the mode for selecting how messages are terminated.
The problem is that when CERTAIN people call my machine, it regularly
hangs up on them in the middle of a conversation. It tends to affect
female callers with soft voices most frequently. I've tried calling it
from my other line, and whispering, and low and behold, random hang ups
in all three modes. Checking the handy, 60 page instruction book, there
is some microscopic small print indicating that "whatever mode you select,
the device may hang up if it the calling party isn't loud enough."

My outgoing message now asks callers to "speak up or I'll hang up on you",
which is good for laughs. But this is a pretty annoying problem, and it
sounds (from the tiny print in the instructions) like a known bug.

/ljj

------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Does anybody make this device?
Date: 23 Jul 89 10:27:43 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>


I've got an answering machine that picks up on the 2nd ring.  It does
everything else right, and I don't want to swap it out.
I opened it up and traced enough of the circuit to discover that the
circuit doesn't lend itself to simple <change this resistor to x value>
modifications like my old Phone-Mate 400 did to change the rings to
6 or 7.

Somebody must make a small box that would "eat" the first N rings, thereby
delaying an answering machine from 2 rings to N+2.

Ideas?  Even if it's just a pointer to an old issue of Popular Electronics,
or something.


US Snail:  Mike Morris                    UUCP: [e-mail]
           P.O. Box 1130                  Also: WA6ILQ
           Arcadia, Ca. 91006-1130
#Include disclaimer.standard     | The opinions above probably do not even

------------------------------

From: John DeArmond <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 23 Jul 89 22:03:52 GMT
Reply-To: John DeArmond <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glen M.
Marianko) writes:
>Age old answering machine problem:  forget to turn off answering machine
>Anyone hear of any
>such add-on gizmo to go in-line with the answering machine and the
>telco jack?  Seems doable...


I saw just such a gizmo Friday in either The Sharper Image or Brookstone.
It looked like one of these little 1-to-2 outlet splitters you can get
at radio shack except it had a couple of LEDs in it.  you hook your
extention phone and answering machine in thru this thing.  When you
pick up, the answering machine is cut off.  Works only for that
phone, though.

john


--
John De Armond, WD4OQC                     | Manual? ... What manual ?!?
Sales Technologies, Inc.    Atlanta, GA    | This is Unix, My son, You
 ...!gatech!stiatl!john    **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!!

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Labels for 2500 TouchTone sets
Date: 23 Jul 89 13:05:08 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Doug
Faunt N6TQS 415-688-8269) writes:
> Does anyone know where I can get blank light cardboard labels for the 2500
> tone dial sets, preferably in a form that can be fed through a
> printer, so that we can do instruction sheets for the users of the
> telephone system here?
>
> I don't keep up with this group, so mail would be desirable.  Thanx.


Continuous-feed designation cards of several kinds appear in the
Texocom/Centel Supply catalog.  They have the large round ones for
500 sets, the small rectangles for most tone-dial sets, and the long
rectangles for 2565 key telephone sets.  They are almost too stiff
to feed properly through most desktop printers, however.  The
individual labels keep separating from the backing along the perf
lines.

It has been several years since I've ordered, so this information
could be out-of-date.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New Custom Calling Features in Chicago
Date: 24 Jul 89 00:18:09 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(TELECOM Moderator) writes:
> The new genre of smart features are being phased in by Illinois Bell
> Telephone beginning September 30. Automatic callback to the last connection;
> call identification in the form of distinctive ringing with up to three
> distinct phone numbers per line; call blocking of unwanted calls and home
> intercom are the features being added.

But once again, Pacific Bell seems to be the industry laggard. No
mention anywhere of CLASS features, on a trial basis or otherwise, for
customers of Pac*Bell. On the one hand I can see why PB is so
non-progressive. They are constantly faced with the likes of Sylvia
Seigel, whose "consumer" organization feels that anything more than a
black rotary phone is excessive and campaigns actively against *any*
modernization of Pac*Bell facilities.

But on the other hand, it has always seemed as though every single user
feature or convenience has become commonplace in the rest of the
country before Californians even hear about it. While 976 was going
relatively smoothly everywhere else, it has been completely botched in
California. Consumers are unhappy; providers are unhappy; even Pac*Bell
says they're unhappy (and they created the mess!)

I remember reading about ESS offices being installed in Illinois in the
late 50's; The first ones in California--the late 60's. Touch tone was
available in Laurenburg, NC (of all places) in 1965. In San Jose--1969.
Pac*Bell didn't become fully equal access until 1987.

Living with a backwards operating company is quaint, but extremely
frustrating.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !


[Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell has always been a very progressive and
forward-looking company. I had touch-tone on my home phones in 1968. The
1950's ESS you refer to was in Morris, IL where it was an experimental
thing for several years; however the first ESS in Chicago came in 1972
when the Chicago-Illinois/Dearborn and Chicago-Superior offices were
converted. In 1973-74 the downtown area was converted to ESS, beginning
with Chicago-Wabash, where I had ESS on my WEbster-9 (939) office phone
sixteen years ago. The coversion was completed in 1984. The CO serving
my home phones, Chicago-Rogers Park was about the last CO in the area to
be converted. Illinois Bell is now one hundred percent ESS.

In Monday's Digest, an article by Kevin McConnaughey discusses the almost
universal presence of Sprint in the United States. In the space of just
little more than a decade, a remarkable network indeed.   PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #251
*****************************










Date:     Mon, 24 Jul 89 0:09:21 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #252
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Mon, 24 Jul 89 00:00:33 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 252

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    When Sprint Was Part of the Railroad (TELECOM Moderator)
    Sprint's Universal Points of Presence (Kevin McConnaughey)
    MCI and Sprint Operator Service (Gihan Dias)
    Clarification: US Telecom / Telecom USA / US Sprint (David Tamkin)
    The Monopoly of the Telephone Company (Jon Solomon)
    AT&T Policy on Stolen Calling Cards (Nicholas J. Simicich)
    TELECOM Digest Calendar - August, 1989 (TELECOM Moderator)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Sun, 23 Jul 89 21:06:55 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  When Sprint Was Part of the Railroad

Does anyone reading this remember when Sprint began operation as a public
telecommunications service?

In the beginning, Sprint was the internal telecommunications function of
the Southern Pacific Railroad. In fact, the name 'Sprint' comes from those
early, early days --

= <S>outhern <P>acific <R>ailroad <I>nternal <N>etwork <T>elecommunications  =

For many, many decades, railroads have had telephone links between terminals
along their line. Typically, they ran lines on poles along the tracks from
one town to the next. Track telephones were situated a few miles apart on
the line in the event of trouble requiring the crew to call for assistance.

The Southern Pacific Railroad greatly expanded their internal phone network
during the late sixties and early seventies. They had so much excess capacity
as a result they decided to begin offering it for resale to the public once
they saw the early success of <M>icrowave <C>ommunications, <I>ncorporated
with its first offering, 'Execunet' in the early seventies.

Soon, S.P.R.I.N.T. was far too large and involved for the railroad, which
decided to severe it from Southern Pacific RR and make it into a separate
company on its own.

The rest, as they say, is history. The main article in the Digest today
was written by Kevin McConnaughey and discusses Sprint's presence throughout
the United States little more than a decade after it all began.

Patrick Townson

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Sprint's Universal Points of Presence
Date: Sun, 23-Jul-89 12:52:34 PDT

Dear John,

Regarding your assertion that OCCs selectively serve metropolitan areas, I can
provide some information to clarify some of your misconceptions about US
Sprint on this topic.

1) US Sprint has points of presence in every LATA in the CONUS (and also
Hawaii) connected to Sprint's fiber optic transmission network.

2) US Sprint has points of presence (POPs) and provides service in most  of
the major independent Telco operating territories (GTE, United,...)

3) Except for GTE, independent Telcos are not required to offer their
subscribers "equal access".  (GTE signed an agreement with the DOJ to provide
what was essentially equal access in their territories when they purchased
Southern Pacific Communications Corp., Sprint's precursor , from the S.P.
railroad.)

4) In particular, in California Sprint has at least one POP in every PacBell
LATA and provides FGD service wherever PacBell has offered equal access.

5) I called PacBell information (411) and NPA 555-1212 to get area codes and
exchange prefixes for the rural areas you mentioned.  I then called US Sprint
Customer service at (1)800-877-4646 and inquired about Sprint service in Weed,
Baker, and Los Banos.  The results are as follows:


      Location    NPA   NXX   Equal Access Date    Sprint FGD offered
      ________    ___   ___   _________________    __________________
      Weed        916   938      12/10/88                 yes
      Baker       619   733   not PacBell area      FGD not available
      Los Banos   209   826   not PacBell area      FGD not available


I believe that Los Banos is in ConTel territory, although I am not certain,
and do not know which independent Telco offers service to Baker.  I also
note that the date for equal access to Weed was not EOY 1987 but December of
1988.

6) US Sprint is mostly owned by United Telecommunications (80.1%).  United is
the second largest independent local exchange carrier in the US and serves
mostly rural areas of the United States.  Given this, I find it hard to
believe that the management of US Sprint has a policy or attitude that, as
you suggest, "...don't *really* want to bother with sleepy little
out-of-the-way communities."

7) Contrary to the tenor of your message, US Sprint built a third
transcontinental fiber optic route from the Chicago area through Minnesota,
the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho to Seattle.  This allowed Sprint to have
owned fiber connectivity to ALL LATAs in the CONUS.  This route provides
service to remote areas of the US and network diversity and survivability.
It was based upon a strategic decision to provide ubiquitous coverage in the
US via fiber facilities and clearly contradicts your assertion that "what
they were really after was to have the metro areas have universal equal access
so that they could maximize their penetration in areas that required minimal
cost."

8) Lastly, it seems that you believe that AT&T has provided universal service
out of the goodness of its corporate heart.  Until the recent price cap
regulation (an outgrowth of divestiture and regulatory liberalization, the
results of which seem almost painful to you) AT&T was GUARANTEED an adequate
return on its capital investment in ALL areas, rural and metropolitan.  This
has never been the case with the OCCs.  It took no significant financial
courage for AT&T to provide rural service in the past.  It will be
interesting to see if AT&T continues to provide the same levels of support
and capital investment in rural areas in the coming years as the plant ages
and requires replacement or renovation. I don't think I'll hold my breath
either.

Regards,

Kevin McConnaughey
US Sprint Employee and Customer
[phone]

[Moderator's Note: Regards your point (8) above, in Tuesday's Digest will
be an article on AT&T and rural telephony in the 1930's. You will probably
enjoy it.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 13:07:54 pdt
From: Gihan Dias <[e-mail]>
Subject: MCI and Sprint Operator Service

I noticed recently that MCI and US Sprint have started operator service. (at
least here in Northern California) I haven't seen an announcement about it in
comp.dcom.telecom so I thought I'd report it.

Dialling 10222 00 gives "MCI, operator xxx" and 10333 00 gives "US Sprint, may
I help you" so I assume these are really MCI/Sprint operators and not some AOS
as somebody reported a while ago. Dialling 10222 0 XXX XXX XXXX gives a "BINGg"
tone and an operator comes on-line if I don't enter a calling card no.

Trying the same thing a few months ago resulted in a recording asking me to
dial 10288 so this IS a new development here. What I'd like to know is, is this
implemented across the U.S., or only in Calif.? What operator services do MCI
and Sprint provide? What is their pricing like? (I'm not officially an MCI
subscriber so I don't get their blurbs.)

Gihan  <[e-mail]>    <...!ucbvax!ucdavis!gdias>


[Moderator's Note: I noticed it (with MCI) for the first time about three
weeks ago when I answered my ringing phone to hear a man say, 'This is the
MCI Operator. I have a collect call for anyone at this number, will you
accept the charges?'  My first concern, of course, was that it was some
AOS outfit about to give me a thrill on my next phone bill, but further
investigation revealed that indeed, MCI was now equipped with operators,
or at least contracting for operator services at a legitimate rate for
same. My July bill from IBT had a section for MCI, with that collect call
listed at a decent rate.

The use of '00' is only required to bring up a long distance operator via
default carrier dialing, versus '0' to raise the local telco operator. If you
are using 10xxx codes, then a single '0' following the code will work. Neither
Sprint nor MCI operators can test lines or call via Inward, however. PT]

------------------------------

From: David Tamkin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Clarification: Telecom USA / US Telecom / US Sprint
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 89 17:47:20 CDT

Steve Elias wrote in volume 9, issue 245, quoting Patrick Townson:

| > Sprint is not the only offender. US Telecom in Cedar Rapids, IA is another
| > bunch that makes up the rules as they go along.

|     US Telecom is US Sprint.  Each has bought the other out at
|     one time or another...  So your enemy is the same!

The company in Cedar Rapids is Telecom*USA.  US Telecom in Kansas City is
the parent of US Sprint now that GTE has pulled out of the partnership.

These views are no one's but mine because I won't let anyone else have them.
David W. Tamkin      [e-mail]     ...attctc!jolnet!dattier
GEnie:  D.W.TAMKIN              BIX:  dattier              CIS:  73720,1570
until September 30, 1989:  P. O. Box 567542  Harwood Heights IL  60656-7542

[Moderator's Note: With all these name changes and corporate re-arrangements,
it makes it hard for me to remember exactly *who* I am fighting with!! PT]

------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 22 Jul 89 17:46:37 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: The Monopoly of the Telephone Company...

I'm sad to say that I believe the main thrust for divesting AT&T was those
moneygrabbers who are the AOS and COCOT maintainers, and hotel ripoff artists,
who insist on overcharging for their calls. It is those who have the most
to gain from the endeavor, so they were probably much of the force that
caused the divestiture itself.

--jsol

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 15:22:18 EDT
From: "Nicholas J. Simicich" <scifi![e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Policy on Stolen Calling Cards
Reply-To: "Nicholas J. Simicich" <scifi![e-mail]>
Organization: Nick Simicich, Peekskill, NY


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(TELECOM Moderator) writes:
 [Lots of stuff]
>And I might add that if your AT&T card is ever compromised for any reason,
>if you call them immediatly -- 24 hours per day -- they will kill the card
>on the spot AND issue you a new pin within three or four hours. That is
>how serious they are about keeping service available to their customers
>at all times.
 [....]

Hmmm, interesting.  Must be a recent change in policy.  I remember a
few years ago when my wife and I were robbed and my wallet taken.
While notifying all of my credit card issuers, I happened to call
AT+T.  They thanked me for notifying them, and declined to issue me a
new pin.  According to them, they would be happy to write off any
fraud that occurred, and if there were fraud, they would issue a new
pin at that time.  But issuing a new pin to everyone who was robbed
was more expensive than writing off the fraud.

Gasoline companies had the same attitude.  Wait for fraud, and then
issue a new number.  In the meantime, I could have a new card with
the same number on it.

In both cases, we insisted on new numbers, as we didn't want to be the
ones to have to deal with the fraud.

I suspect that code abuse is more prevalent these days, and that quite
a bit can be charged in a short period of time, leading AT+T to
evaluate the costs differently.

It took us weeks to get the new cards.  I'm glad that the situation
has changed.

Nick Simicich --- uunet!bywater!scifi!njs --- [e-mail] (Internet)
Seen on a button at an SF Convention:
It's hard to think of you as the end result of millions of years of
evolution.

------------------------------

Date:     Sun, 23 Jul 89 22:01:26 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  TELECOM Digest Calendar - August, 1989


August 4-7    Asia Comm '89
              Conference and exhibition. Bangkok, Thailand. For information
              contact Trade Exhibition & Conference Co. Ltd,
              254/16 Pradipat Road, Phayathai, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
              Telephone: [phone]

August 7-11   Digital Telephony
              Seminar given at George Washington University, Washington
              DC. Sponsored by the Continuing Education Program of the
              School of Engineering and Applied Science. Tuition $1070.
              Contact registrar, Shirley Forlenzo, 202-994-8530 or toll
              free, 800-424-9773 (US) or 800-535-4567 (Canada).

August 9-11   Introduction to ISDN
              Seminar sponsored by Integrated Computer Systems. Meeting
              in Washington, DC. Tuition $1195. Contact Integrated Computer
              Systems, 8000 Tower Crescent Drive, Suite 300, Vienna, VA
              22180. Telephone: [phone]

August 9-11   Telecommunications Traffic Engineering Conference
              Conference given at George Washington University, Washington
              DC. Sponsored by the Continuing Education Program of the
              School of Engineering and Applied Science. Tuition $840.
              Contact registrar, Shirley Forlenzo, 202-994-8530, or toll-
              free, 800-424-9773 (US) or 800-535-4567 (Canada).

August 11-12  Association of Telemessaging Service Sales And Marketing
              This seminar is being held in Washington, DC. For more
              information, contact ATSI, 703-684-0016.

August 17-19  Information Technologies From A User's Perspective
              This conference is being sponsored by the Center For
              Telecommunications Management, School of Business Administration
              of the University of Southern California. The conference
              will be held at the Davidson Conference Center, Los Angeles,
              CA. $595.  Information/reservations: 213-743-0304.

August 21-24  Telecommunications In Education
              International symposium, meeting in Jerusalem, Israel. The
              sponsoring group is the International Symposium on Telecommun-
              ications in Education (ISTE). For information/reservations,
              ISTE Symposium Secretariat, c/o International Ltd., Post
              Office Box 29313, 65121 Tel Aviv, Israel.
              Telephone: [phone] or 654549.  FAX: [phone].

August 22-25  Security For Computer and Communications Systems
              Security seminar, sponsored by Integrated Computer Systems,
              meeting in Los Angeles, CA.  Contact Integrated Computer
              Systems, 8000 Towers Crescent Drive, Suite 300, Vienna, VA
              22180.  Phone [phone]    $1395.


This calendar is published monthly in the Digest. Notices for the calendar
should be mailed to TELECOM Digest, Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690.
Notices of seminars, conferences and exhibitions should be telecommunications
related.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #252
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 25 Jul 89 0:02:41 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #253
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 25 Jul 89 00:01:20 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 253

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    AT&T and Rural Telephony, circa 1935 (TELECOM Moderator)
    The Strange Boundary Lines for Areas 708/312 (David W. Tamkin)
    Is Europe Going to Get 8 Digit Numbers? (Dan Sahlin)
    New Product Review: FAXJACK III (George Wang)
    Questions About "Waston" - PC Voice Processing (Mark Donnelly)
    Slow Scan Telephone/Video Device (R. Anand)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 24 Jul 89 23:16:23 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  AT&T and Rural Telephony, circa 1935

In Monday's Digest, Kevin McConnaughey raised an interesting point by
asking what might happen to rural (or less populated areas) phone service
over the next few years as the plant began to wear out. He wondered if AT&T
would show the same interest in 'universal service' they have shown in the
past when expenses involved in upgrading and maintainence began getting
heavy.

Interesting he should mention it....

A little known side to the long, and admittedly sometimes sordid history
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company was its constant grab for
small telcos from the early years of this century until the mid-point,
when the Supreme Court ruled that AT&T was not to acquire any more operating
companies, with a few exceptions; one being if a local operating company
was bankrupt, or otherwise in imminent danger of discontinuing operation,
then AT&T <had> to take it!

AT&T had its own rules where the farmers were concerned, however, and they
found in King Roosevelt II their arch-enemy. He threatened to 'nationalize'
Mother a couple of times, or break her up. Until about twenty years into
this century, electricity was not available to the farmers. No one wanted
to go to the expense of running electrical lines. One depression-era project
of King Roosevelt II was the Rural Electrification Administration. The REA
was charged with the task of getting electrical power to the many rural
areas of America.

When AT&T stalled on supplying phone service, citing the prohibitive costs
of installation and maintainence for just a few people, well, King Roosevelt
decided to make the Rural Electrification Administration do it instead.
With loans guarenteed by the federal government -- a very important part
of the project in depression times -- the REA helped hundreds of tiny little
telephone cooperatives set up shop across America.

The farmers in a given area pooled their money, supplemented with a federally
guarenteed loan, and built the building, bought and installed the switchboard,
and typically, hired their wives and daughters to run the board. Usually
three or four telephone cooperatives in nearby areas would share the services
and employment of a single techician who variously went from house to house
repairing/installing instruments, repairing the switchboard as needed, and
maintaining the outside wiring.

AT&T was 'gracious enough' to let them interconnect for a nice fee, provided
the farmers installed the wire to the nearest AT&T point-of-presence, which
might be twenty miles down the highway or wherever. And of course there
were interconnections to neighboring telephone cooperatives as well as the
exchange in a neighboring town of some size.

The rules and regulations of service, and the prices, were set by the members
of the cooperative, at periodic meetings. One such group, typical of most,
was the River Valley Telephone Cooperative Society, with 26 subscribers.
The officers met monthly to discuss business, and at semi-annual meetings
of the members of the Corporation, rates and policies were discussed.

For years, these cooperatives paid on their mortgages. Almost two decades
later, most of them were finally able to 'burn the mortgage' and own their
building and (by now severely antiquated!) exchange plant free and clear.

And once the mortgage was paid off, who showed up on the scene? Why AT&T
of course! So here sit a bunch of people with twenty year old apparatus,
long since technically obsolete, but at least with the outside plant and
subscriber base in place, and AT&T offers them a few cents on the dollar
to buy them out. By now the switchboard operator is an old lady and she
wants to retire; they can't find any younger people who want to work for
the cooperative at the low wages they were paying their wives and daughters
all these years; the equipment needs almost constant (and costly) repair;
and AT&T steps in as savior.....

I have my doubts about AT&T's motives, frankly. But curiously, almost as
soon as the mortgages were paid, the Mother Company was on the scene,
ready to pounce. Or sometimes they would wait until a disaster hit, then
move in. When the Richmond, Indiana central office burned down on Easter
Sunday morning many years ago, before the ashes had cooled, executives
from Indiana Bell and AT&T were on location, tsk-tsking and poking in
the rubble. The little telco there was a family operation; the same family
had owned it for forty years. You can assume the insurance came nowhere close
to covering the fire losses in what had been a losing business for a few
years anyway. AT&T bought them out, midst the rubble, pennies on the dollar.

*That* was the way AT&T did business for years. That was how they acquired
telcos by the hundreds and achieved their monopoly status. When they moved
into Chicago in the early twenties to take over the Chicago Telephone Company
it was far from a gentle takeover. The stockholder fights went on for two
year afterward in the courts.

I cannot fault AT&T's technical standards in any way. I cannot fault their
end results: the finest telephone network in the world, bar none. But it
was very bloody at times, with court battles the norm instead of the exception
to the rule. And there were many small telcos which flatly refused -- and
still do so to this day -- to sell out to Bell. It was the bitter fighting
with AT&T and the need for mutual protection against AT&T which led to the
formation of USITA -- The United States Independent Telephone Association;
a group that today is on the best of terms with AT&T, and frequently has
executives of AT&T as guest speakers at their annual conventions, etc.

Yesterday, Jon Solomon said it was the greed of the AOS people which kept
the drive going for divestiture. Maybe, but AT&T's own image in the early
years of this century has not been forgotten by a few people either; people
who cheered when AT&T finally got its come-uppance.

In defense of Sprint/MCI et al, I must say that for the first forty years
or so of its corporate existence, AT&T was just as bad, or maybe worse
in terms of sheer greed. Remind me to post an article sometime on their
reaction to the companies which manufactured telephones in the early years
of this century after Mother's patent expired. Talk about ruthless!

Patrick Townson

------------------------------

Subject: The Strange Boundaries of Areas 708/312
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 89 16:51:37 CDT
From: [e-mail] (David W. Tamkin)

  (Original Title: Centel in Unincorporated Norwood Park Township)

Now this is interesting.  Remember how I explained that unincorporated
Norwood Park Township is part 867 prefixes (sections 1 and 12), part 457
prefixes (section 11), but a mix of older Park Ridge prefixes (692, 698,
823, and 825) and Chicago prefixes (380, 399, 693, and 714) in section 2?

It's going to be getting funnier: IBT is shoving 457 and 867 into area code
708, but Centel is sticking with its ca. 1976 decision to treat its piece as
part of Chicago and will continue assigning Chicago prefixes to new service
there (unless people want to pay $19.38 a month plus tax for the F/X fee to
have a suburban prefix [no mileage charge, of course]).

That will get very interesting if Dino Fenili and friends ever succeed in
incorporating that area as an independent village: he's been trying to get
Springfield to lower the population requirement for incorporating from 2500
to 1000 just so that they can.  Beats me what the heck they're going to use
for a tax base considering that the only non-residential parcel there is a
church and that the alleged motivation for incorporating is to protect
themselves from getting annexed to Chicago and suffering from Chicago's high
real estate taxes.  If they ever do incorporate, the village will have two
zip codes and two area codes.

I guess it would have been saner if they had managed to stake a claim to a
few lots around the 8200 block of Berwyn Avenue and prevent them from being
annexed to Chicago in the first place; then the whole piece could have been
annexed by Norridge.  Of course, if it had legally been in Norridge, Centel
would have continued to assign suburban prefixes in its part and it would be
going into 708 this autumn.

My honest opinion is that most of the people there would rather have their
seven-digit dialing to and from 312 and their eleven-digit dialing to and
from 708 than vice versa.  I'm truly surprised that none of the closer-in
suburbs have been bitching to stay in 312 (especially those where prefix
area boundaries match municipal ones, like Evanston and Oak Park and Harwood
Heights) the way Sharon and Marblehead, Massachusetts, got the 617/508 line
redrawn.

 (Responding to the reply on the question, 'Will 708 be the first area
  code to be in separate,  disconnected parts.)

|      But I remembered that Liberty Island and Ellis Island are
|      politically part of the borough of Manhattan and the County
|      of New York, even though they are on the far side of Staten
|      Island from Manhattan Island itself.
|
| No they aren't; they're off the southern tip of Manhattan.

Then the phones on those islands could be in area code 212 without any
discontiguity, and 708 *will* be the first scattered area code.

--
Absolutely no other users of Chinet share any opinions I hold on any subject.
David W. Tamkin    P. O. Box 567542    Harwood Heights, Illinois  60656-7542
[e-mail]   BIX: dattier  CIS: 73720,1570  GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN
The post office box in Harwood Heights will be open until September 30, 1989.


------------------------------

From: Dan Sahlin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers?
Organization: SICS, Swedish Inst. of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 18:49:41 GMT

Within a couple of years all telephone numbers in the outer Stockholm
areas will go from 5-digit to 8-digit numbers.  They will all be
integrated into the Stockholm area code (08) where the other numbers are 6
or 7 digits.  There are about 1.5 inhabitants in this area (and about the
same number of telephones), so a wisely designed number plan using just 7
digits should be possible.

For some reason, I find it much harder to remember an 8-digit number
than a 7 digit number, so I don't like those plans at all.

I've read that Paris and Denmark have already changed into 8 digit numbers,
and that Norway is planning to do the same.

Are there more countries going to get 8 digit numbers in the near
future?

    /Dan Sahlin             email: [e-mail]

PS. Isn't it about time that the world would agree on the international
access code, i.e. the code that you replace the +-sign with in your
international telephone number? In Sweden (and Denmark) we dial 009,
but many in many countries in Europe it is the more logical 00.


------------------------------

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 11:25:24 PDT
From: George Wang <[e-mail]>
Subject: New Product Review: FAXJACK III

In the July 17th issue of Businessweek there is an article
about a product called FAXJACK III which supposedly automatically
determines whether a FAX, Modem, or Voice call is being made
on a single line... This product would be very useful for people
who are limited to one phone line (IE, Dorm room) but want to use
the line for incoming Modem and/or Voice calls....

This product is made by Viking Electronics at 715-386-8861 and
is only $96!!!

Question:
  Is this too good to be true?? Does this really work?? *HOW* does
it work... Is it reliable.... I am VERY interested in purchasing
this if I get some positive feedback...

Thanks
George

[e-mail]
National Semiconductor
VLSI Software Engineer

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 12:00:16 EDT
From: Mark Donnelly <mergvax![e-mail]>
Organization: Linotype Co., Hauppauge, NY
Subject: Questions About "Waston" - PC Voice Processing System


I was wondering if any one as experiences or comments about Natural
Microsystems product called "Waston". It is a PC based voice processing system
that I was thinking of buying.

Any comments would be appreciated, if I get requests back I will post a
article of the reviews I received.

Thanks,

Mark Donnelly
Voice: 516-434-2086
Email: decvax!mergvax!donnelly

------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 24 Jul 89 17:46:38 EDT
From:     [e-mail]
Subject:  Slow Scan Telephone/Video Device

  A while back, while wandering through a shopping mall, some people were
selling a type of picture phone which could be used over ordinary telephone
lines. The picture is not transmitted continuously. When you push a button on
your set, the image scanned by a ccd camera is converted to some digital code
and sent over the telephone line. The other set updates the picture. Of course
you need two sets of the same type. The resoluttion was not great - about 256 *
256. Also I suspect the number of bits per pixel were fairly limited too. I
believe the set was made by Mitsubishi. Would anyone on this group know
anything more about these picture phones?

                                             R. Anand
Internet:  [e-mail]
           [e-mail]

Bitnet:    ranand@sunrise

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #253
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 25 Jul 89 0:52:18 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #254
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 25 Jul 89 00:50:25 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 254

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    California Phone Rates (Epsilon)
    Canadian Regulators Order LD Rate Discounts (Amit Parghi)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Chuck Bennett)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Bob Clements)
    Re: Phone line surge protection (John Gayman)
    Re: Long Distance Directory Assistance (Pete Brown)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: claris!wet![e-mail]
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 01:59:30 PDT
Subject: California Phone Rates (was Re: 10xxx codes revisited)
Organization: Wetware Diversions, San Francisco

In article <[e-mail]>
    [e-mail] writes:
>| [Moderator's Note: ...                     If you dial an intra-
>| lata call (a call within your own town, for example) using 10288
>| as the leading code, it is likely the call will be rejected and
>| you will have to dial over again.

>      Inter-Lata Calls (San Antonio -> New Braunfels) can be completed
>using 10xxx codes (and are billed at a lower rate than SW Bell inter-
>lata long distance calls.

This must vary by state.  In CA the tariffs forbid IECs from
handling intra-LATA calls.  I haven't checked AT&T-C's rates
since last year's rate case.  The way it was, inter-LATA rates
were higher for 8-30 miles, and otherwise lower than intra-LATA
rates.  The new CA rates raised one-time charges (100% for some
business services) and basic monthly rates, and lowered usage
rates.  There are now 10 mileage bands; the outer 8 went away.

CA Basic Monthly Rates (PacBell; GTE should be identical; no info
on CONTEL and the myriad of independent telcos)

Residential Flat Rate Service ............................. $8.35
(unlimited local or Zone 1 calling)
Residential Measured Rate Service ......................... $4.45
(includes $3.00 calling allowance for Zones 1, 2, 3)
Residential Flat Rate Universal Lifeline Service  ......... $4.18
(includes $.75 telephone set credit, $.25 inside wire repair
credit, 100% network access line credit, 50% discount on
installation charge allowed 1x/year.  Available to certified low-
income households, limited to a single phone line at principal
residence)
Residential Measured Rate Universal Lifeline Service ...... $2.23
(same as above, except includes 60 untimed local or Zone 1 calls;
each additional call $.08 each)
Two-Party Line Flat Rate Service .......................... $4.70
Two-Party Universal Lifeline Service ...................... $2.35
Farmer Line Service ....................................... $2.65
Four-Party Line Suburban Flat Rate Service ................ $4.90
Four-Party Universal Lifeline Service ..................... $2.45
(above 5 services not available in large urban areas; special
rate areas, special rate points, and extended area service
charges apply in some places)
Residential Touch-Tone Service ........................ add $1.20
Non-Published and not available through DA ............ add  $.30
Non-Published but available through DA ................ add  $.15
Residential IAS (976) blocking ........................ no charge
(residential services include 5 DAs, then $.25 each)

Business Measured Rate Service ............................ $8.35
Business Measured Rate Service/Data Line ................. $22.50
Business Semi-Public (Coin) Phone ........................ $29.00
Business COPT ............................................ $17.20
(business measured services include 2 DAs, then $.25 each; if I
remember correctly, Touch-Tone service is an additional $1.70)

(FEX rates are higher)

CA Basic One-Time Charges
Residential Install ...................................... $34.75
Universal Lifeline Install................................ $17.38
Residential Touch-Tone ................................ add $3.00

Business Install ......................................... $70.75
(These are for individual lines; FEX installs can run $580 per)
Business Touch-Tone ................................... add $5.00

CA IntraLATA Usage Rates

ZUM (Los Angeles/Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego,
San Francisco area):     first  addl.
Zone 1 (0-8 rate miles)   $.04 + $.01
Zone 3 (13-16 rate miles) $.10 + $.04
(normal direct-dial sent-paid calls only; credit card calls
completed without operator assistance pay toll rates below!)
(FEX rates are higher)

Toll rates
 0-8 rate miles           $.17 + $.07 (when not "local")
 9-12 rate miles          $.17 + $.07
13-16 rate miles          $.20 + $.10
17-20 rate miles          $.22 + $.13
21-25 rate miles          $.25 + $.16
26-30 rate miles          $.28 + $.19
31-40 rate miles          $.31 + $.22
(40 mile boundary)
41-50 rate miles          $.34 + $.25
51-70 rate miles          $.37 + $.28
over 70 rate miles        $.40 + $.31

"Rate miles" are between V-H rate centers of exchange or
district area; beyond 40 miles the exchange rate centers
are used.  The Los Angeles Exchange has 14 district areas.
However, calls within the same exchange are local, even if the
district area rate centers are more than 8 miles apart.

Discount periods: 5-11 p.m. M-F 30%  11 p.m.-8 a.m. and all S-S
60%.  (Sun 5-11 p.m. gets night rate on all intratate calls,
evening rate on interstate calls.)  TDD users can get deeper
discounts.

Coin paid calls: local or Zone 1 are $.20 untimed.  Otherwise,
figure rate for a 3-minute call, round to $.05 and add $.20.
(max. for an IntraLATA call is $1.00).  After 3 minutes, regular
toll charges apply.

COPT: most local calls will be $.25, and limited to 15 minutes.
The owner pays $.06 for the first minute, and $.01 for each
additional.  I've seen $.20 COPTs San Franciso, but never in L.A.
COPT service can be ordered outgoing-only.  Non-local calls will
be significantly higher than from RBOC payphones.  Long Distance?
No thanks, I'll call from the hotel...

There are a variety of optional calling plans available for both
residential and business customers with predictable calling
patterns and/or high-volume usage.  A whole bunch of ESS features
too.  The latest product, "Intercom Plus," adds three distinctive
ringbacks: *51 short-short *52 short-short-long *53 short-long-
short, and *54 for extension hold.
                    -=EPS=-


------------------------------

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 16:15:33 EDT
From: Amit Parghi <[e-mail]>
Subject: Canadian Regulators Order LD Rate Discounts

First, some background:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is the
federal agency responsible for regulation of radio, TV, and phone service in
Canada.

Bell Canada (once a division of, but no longer related to, Ma Bell in the
States) serves Ontario, Quebec, and part of the Northwest Territories.
B.C. Tel serves British Columbia, and NorthWestel serves the Yukon and the rest
of the Northwest Territories.

Teleglobe Canada provides [I think] international service to the regional
telcos, while Telesat Canada provides satellite services both to the telcos and
to individual [usually corporate] customers.

All figures are in Canadian dollars.

Excerpted from the Toronto _Globe_and_Mail_, Tuesday, 18 July 1989:
PROVIDE DISCOUNTS WORTH $288 MILLION TO LONG-DISTANCE CALLERS, BELL ORDERED

Less than a month after Bell Canada was told to give $261-million in free basic
telephone service to its customers, it has been ordered to give long-distance
users a $288-million dollar discount.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission yesterday also
ordered B.C. Tel, Northwestel and Teleglobe Canada to reduce their long-
distance rates by October 2, 1989.  Telesat Canada was ordered to give up part
of a 5.5 percent increase it would have implemented on January 1.

The CRTC ruling follows a decision announced June 22 by the Supreme Court of
Canada that requires Bell Canada to repay its customers $261-million in
overcharges by providing two months of free basic service.

Because of reductions in corporate income tax rates and changes in the way
deferred taxes are calculated, the CRTC ruled that the five federally regulated
long-distance companies overshot the total amount of deferred taxes they are
allowed to carry by $350-million.

The companies are required to create a reserve account in the amount they have
exceeded their allowable tax deferment and charge against it over five years
while giving equivalent long-distance rate reductions.

[...]  The CRTC did not dictate to the companies which of their long-distance
rates they should reduce and by how much.  That is at their discretion.

[...]  The CRTC's move to reduce the carriers' deferred tax total by forcing
them to cut long-distance rates is in keeping with its policies of the past
four years, said Eamon Hoey, president of [...] a telecommunications research
firm in Toronto.  "Any savings it has been finding in any cases it has been
hearing since it put an embargo on increases to local rates have been in
keeping with its policy of reducing long-distance rates," he said.

*** End of story.

Even more interesting than this recent decision is the CRTC's earlier decision
(which I haven't seen discussed on on TELECOM), which ordered Bell Canada to
pay back CAN$261-million in local service charges to its customers.  Bell
appealed the ruling on the basis that the CRTC had no authority to order a
retroactive refund.  After a good deal of legal wrangling (leading up to the
Supreme Court of Canada), the Supreme Court ruled that the CRTC did in fact
have this authority.  Bell has decided to implement the refund by giving two
months of free local service (which is about CAN$8.75 per month, plus touch-
tone rates and phone rental[s]) to all customers who had Bell Canada service as
of October 14, 1986 - the date of the original CRTC ruling ordering the refund.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 10:07 EST
From: "Chuck Bennett    [phone]" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter

> From: "Glen M. Marianko" <[e-mail]>
> Subject: Answering Machine Interrupter
> Date: 21 Jul 89 17:52:01 GMT
> Organization: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY

> Age old answering machine problem:  forget to turn off answering machine
> when you get home, phone rings, answering machine picks up and you
> pick up.  You scream to the person on the line to hold on while you
> run to shut the &#*$% thing off.

> Some companies have added a nifty feature to answering machines which
> will kill the machine if an extension picks up.  Anyone hear of any
> such add-on gizmo to go in-line with the answering machine and the
> telco jack?  Seems doable...

Such a device is available through the Joan Cook catalog.  Sorry I don't
have the address but 800 information has 800-327-3799 as their number.
The device looks like a 1 to 2 RJ-11 adapter and has a red and a green
LED on top.  One plugs it into the jack, the answering machine into one
of the outputs and the phone into the other output(not really
necessary).  Picking up any phone on the line will shut off the
answering machine.  The cost is about $15.  I love mine.

Chuck Bennett

------------------------------

From: Bob Clements <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 24 Jul 89 14:51:05 GMT
Reply-To: Bob Clements <[e-mail]>


In article <[e-mail]> John DeArmond <stiatl!
[e-mail]> writes:
|In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glen
|M.Marianko) writes:
|>Age old answering machine problem:  forget to turn off answering machine
|>Anyone hear of any
|>such add-on gizmo to go in-line with the answering machine and the
|>telco jack?  Seems doable...

|I saw just such a gizmo Friday in either The Sharper Image or Brookstone.
|It looked like one of these little 1-to-2 outlet splitters you can get
|at radio shack except it had a couple of LEDs in it.  you hook your
|extention phone and answering machine in thru this thing.  When you
|pick up, the answering machine is cut off.  Works only for that
|phone, though.
|john

I answered Glen directly in email, but I'll respond to John's
answer since it was posted:

If the one you saw is the same one as in the Fordham Scope catalog,
which it sounds like from the physical description, then John's last
sentence is incorrect.  It works from any phone on the pair, even
if it is NOT fed through the gizmo.  Amazing for a $7.95 gizmo, but true.

Bob Clements, K1BC, [e-mail]


------------------------------

From: John Gayman <wa3wbu![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Phone line surge protection
Date: 24 Jul 89 17:38:31 GMT
Organization: WA3WBU, Marysville,PA

In article <[e-mail]>, mit-amt!geek%mit-amt.
[e-mail] (Chris Schmandt) writes:
> Well, as long as we're on the topic of surge protection and lightening
> arresters...   Several postings have painted a pretty bleak picture
> on the probability of my gear surviving a strike on the phone line,
> which is claimed to be not that uncommon an event.  So, can anyone
> suggest a reasonable approach to protection (i.e., a product?) and
> any evidence that it will work?


   Tripp-lite (sp) makes a very nice modular surge suppressor. It is a
small box with a female RJ-11 recepticle and a male RJ-11 on a short
pigtail. It also has a threaded post to which you hook earth ground.
These do not appear to be the cheapy MOV-type of suppressors. They
have avalanche diodes, gas dis-charge tubes and MOVs. I have them on
both my lines and well.......for the past 3 years.......welll.....
no problem yet. :-)  It's like putting flat-proof in your tires, does
it work ?  One things for sure, they do *not* degradate the lines at
all. I've found quite a spread price-wise. The same unit going from
$69.00 locally to $27 mail-order. Hope this helps.

                        John

--
John Gayman, WA3WBU              |           UUCP: uunet!wa3wbu!john
1869 Valley Rd.                  |           ARPA: [e-mail]
Marysville, PA 17053             |           Packet: WA3WBU @ AK3P

------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 24 Jul 89 14:03:45 PDT
From:     Pete Brown <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re:  long distance directory assistance

>Date: Fri, 12 May 89 08:44:31 EDT
>From: Steve Elias <[e-mail]>
>Subject: long distance directory assistance

>this is probably old news to many readers, but you can save a dime on
>your 1***5551212 calls by prefixing with 10ATT.  ATT still charges 50 cents
>per directory assistance calls...  does anyone know of another carrier
>which matches ATTs rate for directory assistance?

This, too, is probably old news, but I have *just* discovered that
one can call long distance information (1-415-555-1212, for example)
*without charge* when the call is made from a Pac Bell coin phone (which
also speaks to AT&T as its default carrier... maybe a coincidence?)

Pete Brown
Mather AFB, CA

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #254
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 0:04:50 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #255
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 26 Jul 89 00:00:08 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 255

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Telephone Service in Denmark (Lars J. Poulsen)
    The Good and Bad Points About PacBell (David Gast)
    Re: Unusual Recorded Messages (John G. Dobnick)
    Re: Unusual Recorded Messages (John Boteler)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Mike Trout)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Otto J. Makela)
    Re: Long Distance Directory Assistance (Laura Halliday)
    Re: Dialing Area Codes (Jim Gottlieb)
    Re: When Sprint Was Part of the Railroad (Peter da Silva)
    What's the Simplest Way to Identify the L.D. Carrier? (Fred Blonder)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Telephone Service in Denmark
Date: 25 Jul 89 17:56:11 GMT
Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Dan Sahlin) writes about numbering plan changes in Sweden and says:

>For some reason, I find it much harder to remember an 8-digit number
>than a 7 digit number, so I don't like those plans at all.

Amen !! When I first moved from Denmark where the numbers were 6-digit,
(written as "64 46 05") I at first found it hard to memorize 7-digit
numbers (here written as "682-2272"). I still need to write them down
(can't remember them for the 2 minutes it takes from a directory
assistance call to the time I'm ready to dial) but local numbers are
easier because of the limited number of prefixes I mostly deal with.
And the universal (3)+3+4 format aids in recognizing incomplete numbers.
I would really hate variable length numbers with up to 8 digits as is now
planned for Stockholm.

>I've read that Paris and Denmark have already changed into 8 digit numbers,
>and that Norway is planning to do the same.

Denmark is served by 4 telephone companies:
- The eastern part of the country is served by KTAS, the Copenhagen
  telephone company. This is a common stock company but the controlling
  interest is held by various local governments (cities and counties).
  Thus, traditionally, is has exhibited the worst traits of
  bureaucratic governments and exploitative monopoly businesses.
- The Jylland (Jutland) mainland is served by JTAS, the Jutland
  telephone company. This common stock company has always been very well
  managed, on the leading edge of technology and eager to pursue joint
  development efforts with telephone equipment manufacturers in their
  area (such as Kirk, now a division of Alcatel and Bang and Olufsen).
  The excellent service of JTAS was a welcome surprise for Copenhageners
  that moved west. In recent years, JTAS has moved agressively into
  cable television.
- The island of Fyn (Funen) is served by FKTS, the Funen Municipal
  Telephone Company. This is a non-profit partnership between the local
  governments in the area and traditionally provided service somewhere
  between the level of the two larger companies.
- The southern part of Jutland (under German rule from 1864-1920) as
  well as a few smaller islands and all long-distance service
  (international as well as between the above service areas) is handled
  by "Rigstelefonen", a division of the Post and Telegraph bureau of the
  ministry of public works.

With the implementation of automatic dialing in the 1950's and 1960's,
telephone numbers were standardized to 7 digits for a full number.  In
the Jutland areas, the number was divided into a two-digit area code
(not dialed for calls within area; prefixed with 0 for calls out of
area) and a 5-digit number; in the other service areas, a single-digit
area code was followed by a 6-digit number. In the late 1960's the
Jutland numbers were reassigned to match the 1+6 plan. I believe this
was done in order to make numbers that were unused in some of the
smaller areas available for new prefixes in the faster-growing Aarhus
area. In the 1970's Copenhagen went through an area code split; the
suburban ring of the old (01) area along with the adjoining strip of the
old (03) area was turned into a new (02) area. This must have been
planned long in advance, because it could be done without reassigning
any prefixes.

In early 1988 a switch to 8-digit number was announced. At first, the
change consisted of ALWAYS DIALING THE AREA CODE, including the 0.
In May 1989 the second part took effect: The 0 was replaced by new
digits. Most numbers had predictable substitutions, (01 -> 31, 02 ->
42, 03 -> 53 etc.) and I think incoming calls (from overseas) to old
numbers are still processed.

My initial reaction to this reassignment was totally negative. I thought
they could have freed up enough numbers simply by going to US-style
7-digit numbers, but after seeing how many additional numbers seem to be
used up by FAXes and modems these days, I can see why they felt they
needed more numbers. The alternative of adding more area codes (going back
to 2-digit area codes) would have forced the trauma of simultaneous area
code splits on the whole country.

Dan Sahlin also suggests a universal "international selector" prefix.
While this is a great idea, it would lead to much reassignment because
everybody already is using the high-visibility escape sequences. I agree
that "00" would be a good choice. In Denmark, 00 is used for "special
services"; 0033 is directory assistance; 0034 is number-to-address
lookup; 0051 is headline news; 0052 is sports news; 0053 is weather;
0055 is time; 0014 through 0019 are various overseas operators; 009 is
international dial-it-yourself (I hope I remebered these right, it's
been a few years). I suspect that Denmark may be preparing for 00
dialing, though, because before the recent reallocation these seemed to
be available via 9900xx as well as via 00xx.

/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only
                My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 17:36:14 -0700
From: David Gast <[e-mail]>
Subject: The Good and Bad Points About Pac Bell

 In re: article <[e-mail]>
> But once again, Pacific Bell seems to be the industry laggard. No
> mention anywhere of CLASS features, on a trial basis or otherwise, for
> customers of Pac*Bell.   ...

> But on the other hand, it has always seemed as though every single user
> feature or convenience has become commonplace in the rest of the
> country before Californians even hear about it. While 976 was going
> relatively smoothly everywhere else, it has been completely botched in
> California. Consumers are unhappy; providers are unhappy; even Pac*Bell
> says they're unhappy (and they created the mess!)

Well, John should be happy.  An article in the paper a day or two ago
said that PacBell would become the first RBOC to offer 900 service.
I am not sure that will improve my telephone service or lower my cost
of service, but perhaps it will.  I personally have never called and
do not intend to call any 976 or 900 number.  I also think that the
charges should vary with time of day.

I hope that CLASS stays out of CA for a long time.

David Gast
[e-mail]
{uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 02:48:01 -0500
From: John G Dobnick <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Unusual Recorded Messages

>> If you know of unusual or different recorded announcements in your community
>> please send them along to the Digest.

[Edit the following as you wish -- maybe it will be useful to someone.
 Maybe it will be useful to Wisconsin Bell.  :-) ]

 From the Milwaukee, Wisconsin white pages (Area Code 414):

Dial-A-Devotion            762-8922
Dial a Jewish Story        962-8176
  For more information --    962-0566
Dial-A-Poem            372-7636
Dial-A-Prayer Calvary        372-4752
Dial-A-Prayer Lutheran-God-Love 463-5683
  Kids Line            463-7446
  Spanish            463-0464
  Teen                463-4357
Dial-A-Prayer Unity        475-5468
Dial-a-Rambam            962-1817

I have not tried any of these -- my phone bill is large enough as it is.

--
John G Dobnick
Computing Services Division @ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
INTERNET: [e-mail]
UUCP: <backbone>!uwvax!uwmcsd1!jgd

"Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation,
and is thus a source of civilized delight."  -- William Safire

[Moderator's Note: Can someone please explain what a 'rambam' is; as in
'Dial A Rambam'??? Is it anything like Dial A Gay Atheist?  Should I spend
thirteen cents on Reach Out tonight to find out? Is it worth thirteen
cents?  PT]
------------------------------

Subject: Re: Unusual Recorded Messages
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 21:11:50 EDT
From: John Boteler <csense![e-mail]>

Many of the new 5ESS switches going up around the Washington area have plant
test numbers for many of the intercept recordings. One of the neatest ones to
perplex a friend with is:

"We're sorry, the phone you are using is not in service at this time."

Actually, as I understand it, a nummer 5 ESS issues this recording on a line
which is connected to the frame but whose account is inactive. I am told you
still get dial tone, but when you try to place a call you get the above
recording. I wonder how many people have gotten this before.

Bote
uunet!cyclops!csense!bote
{mimsy,sundc}!{prometheus,hqda-ai}!media!cyclops!csense!bote

[Moderator's Note: One that mystified me for awhile was "The number you
have dialed, abc-wxyz is a working number. Please hang up and dial again."
Like, if it knew what you were dialing, and it is a working number, why
didn't the call simply go through? Answer: In some places, a live operator
still answers intercept and asks for the number then bubbles it in to produce
the recorded answer. If you really dialed a wrong number thinking you were
dialing the right number, an automated process would announce the wrong
number. In a manual intercept, the operator has to take your word for what
you say you *thought* you were dialing.   PT]

------------------------------

From: Mike Trout <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 25 Jul 89 19:02:01 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Glen
M. Marianko) writes:

> Age old answering machine problem:  forget to turn off answering machine
> when you get home, phone rings, answering machine picks up and you
> pick up.  You scream to the person on the line to hold on while you
> run to shut the &#*$% thing off.

I wasn't aware that my machine was anything special, but I NEVER turn it off,
even when I'm home.  It's a Panasonic (I can supply the model number if
anybody's interested) and has adjustable two- or four-ring pickup.  I keep it
set on four rings (which really works out to almost five), and as long as I
pick up the receiver before then, the machine doesn't kick in.  Works no
matter which extension I pick up (I have four active phones, plus many more
jacks).  Do I have a unique answering machine, or am I misunderstanding the
problem?

--
NSA food:  Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110  [phone]
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson

------------------------------

From: "Otto J. Makela" <mcvax!jyu.fi![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 26 Jul 89 00:01:02 GMT
Reply-To: "Otto J. Makela" <mcvax!jyu.fi![e-mail]>
Organization: Grand Hall of Justice, Mega-City One


Over here in Finland, you can get a small plug-type device (we use these
huge ugly phone plugs instead of modulars) which you can place between
the answering machine and the wallplug.  If an extension phone is lifted,
the answering machine is cut off.  The price is an exorbitant $20 for
a 5x5cm piece of plastic with probably one relay inside it !

Otto J. Makela, University of Jyvaskyla

InterNet: [e-mail], BitNet: [e-mail]
BBS: [phone] (V.22bis/V.22/V.21, 24h/d), Phone: [phone]
Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE

------------------------------

Date: 25 Jul 89  9:01 -0700
From: laura halliday <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Long Distance Directory Assistance

Long distance directory assistance is free here in B.C. For local information
you call 411, as usual, but it will cost you 55 cents (Canadian) if the number
is in the local phone book. Unless you're calling from a pay phone or are
handicapped or it's an emergency, in which case there is no charge.

Long distance directory assistance is free for anywhere in Canada, with no
limit. You are allowed 250 calls per month to U.S. directory assistance
numbers, after which you pay 50 cents per call.

Overseas directory assistance varies with the country. England and France are
free, while they charged me a couple of dollars to get a phone number in South
Africa.

South Africa? That's a story in itself. Rather than send a postcard or some-
thing similarly low-tech when it was Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday last year,
I decided to try phoning him. The people at Polsmoor (where he was being held
at the time) were happy to take a message...

 ...laura

------------------------------

From: Jim Gottlieb <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Dialing Area Codes
Date: 25 Jul 89 17:24:02 GMT
Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb <denwa![e-mail]>
Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

>Why is it that I'm not allowed to dial the area code when I'm calling somebody
>local?

>This is so agravating!

I have often wondered this myself, especially after living in Japan,
where there is no penalty for dialing your own area code.

It's true that often you don't know what area code you are in (you stop
at a pay phone).  Why not just ignore the area code if it is the one you
are in?  Bellcore, how about a change?
--
                              Jim Gottlieb
  E-Mail: <[e-mail]> or <[e-mail]> or <attmail!denwa!jimmy>
         V-Mail: [phone]  Fax: [phone]  The-Real-Me: 824-5454

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 22:06:50 -0400
From: ficc![e-mail]
Subject: Re: When Sprint Was Part of the Railroad

Those poor early SPRINT customers. The line quality on railroad phone
systems has to be heard to be believed. Large sections of bare fencing
wire (yes, on real fences), crosstalk from code lines, etc...

---
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Business: [e-mail], [phone]. | "...helping make the world
Personal: [e-mail].   `-_-' |  a quote-free zone..."
Quote: Have you hugged your wolf today?  'U`  |    -- [e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: They were long past the barbed wire on the fence post
days when Sprint started. It was because they greatly modernized their
system and found themselves financially embarassed as a result that they
decided to sell the excess capacity. But you are correct about the old railroad
phone networks. They were the pits.   PT]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 14:35:48 edt
From: Blonder <[e-mail]>
Subject: What's the simplest way to find the L.D. carrier for a line?

This has probably been discussed here before. If so, please reply
directly to me:

Is there a quick way from any given phone line to find out what the
default long distance carrier is? Dial some magic test number? Call the
operator?  (Make a long distance call and wait for the bill? ;-) )
-----
                    Fred Blonder <[e-mail]>
                    David Taylor Research Center
                    [phone]

[Moderator's Note: Dialing 1-700-555-1212 from most phones will produce
a recorded announcement giving the name of the default carrier for that
line. To force the recorded announcements for other csrriers, dial 10xxx
followed by 1-700-555-1212.   PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #255
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 1:10:53 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #256
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 26 Jul 89 00:50:03 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 256

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Query: GE XR-3001 & Cellular One? (Ralph Hyre)
    Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers? (Henry Mensch)
    Re: Sprint's Universal Points of Presence (John Higdon)
    Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned (Don Stanwyck)
    Re: When You Run Out of Pairs (Russell Shackelford)

[Moderator's Note: My goodness, we are crabby and cranky today, full
of oil and vinegar as the last three items will illustrate. Maybe it
is the gawd-awful heat here or something.  If you don't want to read
flames and rebuttals to flames, kindly abort the Digest following
the second message.   PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 1989 15:07-EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Query: GE XR-3001 & Cellular One?
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI

I'm thinking of jumping into the cellular phone fray:

A local electronics and appliance is offering the GE XR-3000
(or XR-3001, the label on the phone and the sign disagree) 'luggable'
phone for $49.99, as long as you sign up for a year of cellular
service.

How would one obtain the service manual available for this device? (I want
to use my AT&T (aka Plantronics SP-2) headset so I can use it hands-free
while driving ... [via the DB-9 connector which is used to attach the
handset/keypad to the base unit.]

The service costs $14.95 month and .60peak/.15off-peak for up to 25 minutes
of airtime/month.  [I don't expect to use it much more than that, but if I
did, I'd be bumped up to the $30.00/month level with comparable airtime
charges.]

Cellular One is introducing a feature (called AirShare) which means there are
no airtime charges for incoming calls.  The retailer said that if they service
provider were to eventually impose a monthly fee for this service, that the
phone would have to be brought in and re-programmed at that time.
(What is the reason for this?  Do they change the ESN of the phone?)

In summary, does this sounds like a reasonable deal?  $200/year + airtime,
and the phone is basically free.

I currently have two land-based phone lines, so I could drop one (saving
$9.00/month) and use the cellular phone for other calls. [does any carrier
offer 'hunting' or busy/NA forwaring between regular and cellular phones?]

Finally, has anyone modified any cellular phone to go out of band or otherwise
change it's behavior?  (I'd need to be able to transmit whether a cell
had picked me up or not.)  I'd love to have a 902-928 Mhz. amateur transceiver
that I only paid $49 for.  (The repeater/trunked base system would cost
a good bit, I guess, but the Japanese CB service is a trunked system.)

I would obey all FCC regulations (ie never revert to cellular operation or
other than amateur band operation since I assume that any modifications would
presumably remove the radios type acceptance for the cellular band. [radios
for the amateur bands need not be FCC type accepted.]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 18:46:49 -0400
From: Henry Mensch <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers?
Reply-To: [e-mail]


>PS. Isn't it about time that the world would agree on the international
>access code, i.e. the code that you replace the +-sign with in your
>international telephone number? In Sweden (and Denmark) we dial 009,
>but many in many countries in Europe it is the more logical 00.

Why is 00 more logical than 009 (or 011 in Canada and the US), or 0011
(in Australia)?

# Henry Mensch  /  <[e-mail]>  /  E40-379 MIT,  Cambridge, MA
# <[e-mail]> / {ames,mit-eddie}!henry  /  <[e-mail]>

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Sprint's Universal Points of Presence
Date: 25 Jul 89 07:03:29 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail].
com writes:
>
> 5) I called PacBell information (411) and NPA 555-1212 to get area codes and
> exchange prefixes for the rural areas you mentioned.  I then called US Sprint
> Customer service at (1)800-877-4646 and inquired about Sprint service in Weed,
> Baker, and Los Banos.  The results are as follows:
>
>
>       Location    NPA   NXX   Equal Access Date    Sprint FGD offered
>       ________    ___   ___   _________________    __________________
>       Weed        916   938      12/10/88                 yes
>       Baker       619   733   not PacBell area      FGD not available
>       Los Banos   209   826   not PacBell area      FGD not available

Better check again, only use a source that knows something of which
they speak. Having recently been to both Baker and Los Banos, I can
tell you that if they are not Pac*Bell areas, then there is a serious
problem with a COCOT company pirating their name and logo on the public
phones!

You may be partially correct about Baker's lack of equal access. The CO
is very "honker step by step", but it is definately, absolutely, and
completely Pacific Bell. Regarding Los Banos, you are completely wet.
It is #5 crossbar equipped with CONTAC and very Pacific Bell and very
equal access.

As far as calling Sprint Customer service is concerned, how on earth
did you get through? I usually give up after a 30 minute wait; you must
be much more persistent. Oh, that's right. You work there.

You have demonstrated one of my gripes with OCCs: they really don't
seem to have an handle on the nitty-gritty of the business. If Sprint
is unaware of what operating company serves Los Banos and Baker, what
else do they not have a clue about?

> 8) Lastly, it seems that you believe that AT&T has provided universal service
> out of the goodness of its corporate heart.  Until the recent price cap
> regulation (an outgrowth of divestiture and regulatory liberalization, the
> results of which seem almost painful to you) AT&T was GUARANTEED an adequate
> return on its capital investment in ALL areas, rural and metropolitan.  This
> has never been the case with the OCCs.  It took no significant financial

Then WHY are OCC rates practically the same as AT&T's? Since they have
not been mandated to serve rural areas (and most certainly do not) they
should be able to undercut the socks off of AT&T. But no, there are
nickel and dime discounts off of AT&T rates, rates you claim were
guaranteed to provide a decent rate-of-return for serving high *and*
low profit areas. In many cases OCCs have higher rates than AT&T for a
decidedly inferior product.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: "D. Stanwyck" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned
Date: 25 Jul 89 12:24:27 GMT
Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(TELECOM Moderator) says:
> A while back in the Digest, I printed a schedule of seminars on the subject
> of 'Understanding ISDN' (Integrated Services Digital Network). These
> seminars are sponsored by Telecommunications Research Associates of
> St. Marys, Kansas.
>
> I have recently been notified that some additional seminars have been
> planned.

<<followed by a complete commercial announcement>>

I, for one, strongly object to this forum, especially as a moderated
forum, becoming a place for commercial announcements.  Hardly a day
goes by that I don't receive yet another advertisement for an ISDN
seminar someplace.  Many of these seminars are given by people who
have no real knowledge of ISDN or the philosophies of ISDN.

I therefore beseech thee, sir moderator, to immediately and henceforth
remove all commercial messages from your postings.  It is a serious
disservice to the Usenet community, which has in every group tried to keep
the net commerical free, for you to decide to start posting commercials.

Thank you.

--
Don Stanwyck                o  o            201-957-6693
AT&T-Bell Labs               ||             mtfmi!stanwyc
Middletown, NJ  USA        \__/            Education Center

[Sir Moderator's Note: You raise a good point regards commercialization
of news groups. I began posting announcements of seminars, conferences
and exhibitions related to telecommunications after a couple of notes
appeared in the Digest specifically asking for information on educational
programs in telecom. One criteria I use for the postings is whether or
not some actual educational achievement will result, for example, by the
issuance of CEU's. I recently received some interesting and worthwhile
material from George Washington University regarding a series of seminars
being offered this fall in telecom-related stuff, only a portion of which
is ISDN. I don't think the fact that you have to pay money is relevant.

I also review the background of the persons involved in the instruction
being offered. It amused me to read your comment that 'many of these seminars
are given by people with no real knowledge of the subject...', since the
seminars about which you voiced your complaint are all being conducted by
persons who are presently or previously employed by Bell Labs!

I'll grant you there are bogus 'seminars', and there is commercialization
of the networks which carry TELECOM Digest, but I do not sell telephone
gimmicks; I do not hawk for long distance companies; nor do I sell tickets
or get fees for advertising seminars conducted by Bell Labs people. The
seminars are announced as a point of information for readers of the Digest
and the related comp.dcom.telecom group of Usenet. I even give the same
courtesy to the AT&T Education Center from time to time. If you would like
to see more news about *your* organization, then send announcements to me
for posting. I'll even type them in!  Question to readers: Do you, or do
you not enjoy/wish to read seminar/exhibition/conference announcements? Tell
me, I'll summarize later. PT]

------------------------------

From: Russell Shackelford <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: When You Run Out of Pairs
Date: 25 Jul 89 23:00:24 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (ben
ullrich) writes:
> Thanks to Patrick for another nice telecom history tidbit.  I did like it.
>
> BUT, your sexist, female-disparaging remarks leave MUCH to be desired.
>
> > THE LADY INSTALLER COMES TO VISIT (OR, SHE MEANT WELL, I'M SURE...) [...]
> > Brilliant deduction, lady... [...]
> > I had to feel sorry for the lady. [...]
>
> It is interesting to me that this section is preceded by one in which a male
> installer who makes a much worse ``blunder'' (disconnecting one of your phone
> lines) gets nowhere near the demeaning comments that the ``lady installer''
> gets.  The above (quoted) section sounds to me like this installer was
> bad simply because she was a woman, and that for some reason women just
> aren't as suitable for installers as men are.  Or that they are, but
> their blunders are blamed on different sources.  Disgusting.


Wait a minute, please.

I agree that the word-choice of the original poster does not conform to
current dogma about how one is SUPPOSED to express oneself.

However, I think you were a bit quick to jump on him for being
"demeaning" and "disgusting".

It seems pretty obvious to me that the poster is in Senior Citizen
country, recalling things that are historically interesting.  His
language reflects common word usage among people of his generation.
I see no reason to ASSUME that he "meant to imply" x, y, or z.  He
talks like my father talks, and if his outlook is similar (which I
have no way of knowing), he's a pretty good guy who will give people
a chance.  He just hasn't "hipped" his vocabulary, just as you
probably won't when your 65.

It seems pretty scary to me when people get jumped on because YOU
don't like their pronouns or nouns.  He did NOT use "dish", or "babe",
or anything else suggestive or demeaning.  He just referred to her as
"lady".  My guess is that most women of his generation find such word
choice perfectly acceptable.  The milkman calls my girl friend "lady"
and jokes with her in a way that reflects stereotyped roles.  She
likes it, in that she perceives the INTENT as being friendly and
neighborly.  IF she perceived him as rude or insulting, she'd lay him
out quick and he'd remember the confrontation. But he is well meaning
and friendly and no harm is done to anyone.  How do you know so much
about what this guy meant or implied?  You don't.  YOU are the one
reacting to stereotypes, not him.

Lighten up.  We don't need the Brain Police.

There's worse crimes.
--
Russell Shackelford
School of Information and Computer Science
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332
[e-mail]         [phone]

[A Note From Grandpa: Hey! I don't know whether to say 'thank you', or say,
'a plague on both your houses!'. I am not a senior citizen, although as
you say, there are worse crimes! :)  I will admit to having a limited
vocabularly however. Two yeer's ugo I coodunt even spel Usenest. Now I are
a Moderator and a grammpa. The heat is getting to me tonight. 12:45 AM and
the temperature is still in the eighties. Your ole grammpa is having a
heat stroke and besides it is past his bedtime. Both of your comments will
be taken under advisement.   Old Grand Dad]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #256
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 27 Jul 89 0:18:01 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #257
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 27 Jul 89 00:00:05 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 257

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    10288 Numbers Revisited (Don Peaslee)
    London Dial Codes Table, Listed by Exchange (Dave Lockwood)
    Prefix 666 in Two Areas (Carl Moore)
    Another Local Call From Pa. to Del. (Carl Moore)
    The Meaning of Rambam (Edward Greenberg)
    Dial-a-Rambam (Steve Bellovin)
    RaMBaM ([e-mail])
    Clarification: Internal Dialing Within Foreign Countries (Peter G. Capek)
    Dial-a-Rambam (Sam Cramer)
    Re: When Sprint Belonged to the Railroad (James W. Green)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Reply-To: pnet01!pro-party![e-mail]
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 09:36:22 CST
From: Don Peaslee <[e-mail]>
Subject: 10288 Numbers Revisited

After a San Antonio caller was billed for prefixing several _local_ calls with
"10288", Patrick earlier responded:

 >[Moderator's Note: Baloney, baloney, baloney! Prefixing a call with
 >10288 does nothing except force the call to be routed via AT&T. It
 >does not incur extra charges other than whatever slight difference
 >there is between AT&T rates to the point in question and whatever
 >other carrier was being used. If you dial an intra-lata call (a call
 >within your own town, for example) using 10288 as the leading code, it
 >is likely the call will be rejected and you will have to dial over
 >again. I've tried this, and at least here in Chicago, dialing 10288
 >followed by a seven digit (or ten digit, but within IBT's lata) number
 >and a recording says the call cannot be completed as dialed. Whether
 >or not you get 'cleaner' lines by forcing your call over AT&T is a
 >very subjective matter. But in and of itself, 10288 is a way of
 >routing long distance calls -- not a special feature to insure clean
 >lines at an added cost.   PT]
=-=-=-

And Larry Collins, the above referenced caller, now replies (slightly edited
for brevity):

I take exception to Patrick's "Baloney" statement. Anybody who cares to
invest potentially a nickel a minute will find that prefixing a San
Antonio number with "10288" will connect with no problems. If he, or
anyone else has the gall to doubt what I say, I will be happy to
forward photocopies of my phone bill, showing long-distance charges
from my San Antonio number to Shadow Taker's San Antonio number, and to
Black Angel's number, from AT&T, just as I laid out in my first message.
 ...some text deleted...
Furthermore, in the case of Shadow Taker BBS, whether it gives cleaner
lines is not subjective. I get too much noise to even get a connect
100% of the time without it, and I get clean to mostly-clean
connections 100% of the time when using it, though it seemed to make no
difference on the three occasions I used it to call Black Angel BBS.
=-=-=-

And then another individual reading this exchange jumped in with:

  Better explain to Patrick that his Chicago set up with Midwest Bell
or whatever definitely DOES NOT apply in the 512 area!  You dial 10288
and Southwestern Bell will connect you to AT&T when you can dial ANY
area code.  I can dial via AT&T from the BBS machine to the other
machine that way and pick up a $.05 charge for just connecting.

  Also, ALMOST anywhere that has PC Pursuit has 8-1-N protocol, but not
San Antonio.  The PCP modem here is strictly 7-1-E if you want to
communicate!  Don't know how many examples of working script files I
have seen from other areas that flat will not work here because of the
protocol difference.

   Larry and I had discussed 'free service' from Ma Bell and agreed there
had to be some kind of catch to it.   However, the ability to use
another carriers lines to access a different prefix in the San Antonio
does prove what I have been saying for years, Ma Bell has messed up
interface between the various exchanges within San Antonio.   Larry's
calls most likely went from his local switch to Houston or Dallas for
switching back direct to the switch serving Shadow Taker.

   To makes things simple, San Antonio is NOT like the rest of the
world in regards to telephone service.  Maybe in 2-3 years we will be
caught up to where the rest of the US was last year.

Vern
=-=-=-

(DP: I dunno, Patrick, can things be all that different in a large
metropolitan area like San Antonio or is it just this heat wave we're
having???)

[Moderator's Note: Well, Illinois Bell definitly plugs out attempts to use
10anything for stuff within their own LATA. That's all I know. It must be
the terrible heat. Grammpa almost had a heat stroke yesterday, and the
combination heat/humidity is no better this morning.  PT]

------------------------------

Subject: London Dial Codes Table, Listed by Exchange
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 13:18:02 BST
From: Dave Lockwood <vision![e-mail]>

There has been some chat here about the changes to dialling codes in the
London, UK area. So....

Current London numbers are of the form '01-XXX-NNNN' where '01' is the
(current) national area code for Greater London. Natch, if you're dialling
from outside the UK, you drop the zero...

 From May 6, 1990, the '01' prefix disappears completely to be replaced by
'071' and '081'. The 'XXX-NNNN' section remains unchanged. Here's a chart
for the 'XXX' (local exchange id) to show whether '071' or '081' will be used.

'071' will be used where 'XXX' is:

    210-289, 320-329, 350-359, 370-389, 400-409, 430-439, 473-474,
    476, 480-499, 511-512, 515, 537-538, 580-589, 600-639, 700-739,
    790-799, 820-839, 920-938, 976, 978, 987.

'081' will be used for all other 'XXX' combinations currently used (there are
numerous unused ones). Incidentally, '071' will be Central London, and '081'
Outer London. For a period after the change, recorded announcements will be
made on '01' numbers. UK phone phreaks can get more detail by dialling 0800-
800873 for a rap with British Telecom Customer Service (read into that title
what you will...:-). The final warning from Telecom is that subscribers who
end up in the '071' area wanting to dial someone in the '081' area will need
to dial the '081'....they didn't need to dial the old '01'.

Disclaimer: I have no connection with BT apart from a few metallic ones.

 * I I               Dave Lockwood                 These opinions are shareware.
 * II             Technical Consultant             If you like them, send $10...
 * I *   *
 *  **  *          [e-mail]               VisionWare Ltd,
 * * * *   ...!uunet!mcvax!ukc!vision!davel        Leeds Business Park,
 **  **           [phone] X2439             Leeds, LS27 0JG,
 *   *                                             United Kingdom
VISIONWARE DOS/UNIX Integration

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 11:12:09 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  prefix 666 in 2 areas

There was a very recent note citing 215-666; that's Valley Forge,
Pa.  There is a 301-666 in Cockeysville, Md., north of Baltimore.
I never heard any fuss about either 666.

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 10:37:29 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Another Local Call From Pa. to Del.

I went back to that pay phone in Kemblesville, Pa. on 215-255, and
tried (without having inserted coin) 302-328-xxxx and got a recording
telling me to dial the leading 1.  (302-328 is New Castle, Del., and
has no local service to Pa.)  But then 302-451-2761 (noted in an
earlier message from me) got instead the message about 25-cent deposit.
And as in my earlier message, that latter number (in Newark) went
thru when I dialed after 25-cent deposit (and no leading 1).

------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: The Meaning of Rambam
Date: 26 Jul 89 20:36:38 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


>Dial-a-Rambam            962-1817
>
>...
>
>[Moderator's Note: Can someone please explain what a 'rambam' is; as in
>'Dial A Rambam'??? Is it anything like Dial A Gay Atheist?  Should I spend
>thirteen cents on Reach Out tonight to find out? Is it worth thirteen
>cents?  PT]

The RAMBAM is a Jewish Sage. RAMBAM is an acronym for "Reb Moshe Ben
Maimon," known more commonly as Maimonades.  Referring to "A" Rambam,
refers to a lesson from the teachings of The RAMBAM.  You'll note that the
prefix for Dial-a-Rambam is 962, same as Dial-a-Jewish-Story.  I'll bet that
both are operated by the same organization, Chabad, the outreach arm
of the Lubavicher Chassidim, an Ultra-Orthodox group.  Call the "For
More Info" number for "more info."

Curiouser and curiouser, I called it.  My Jewish education isn't what
it could be, so I found it to be above my head.  Todays message deals
with the transmission of spiritual impurities from person to person.
(I think :-)

Our local Chabad has a Dial-A-Jewish-Story also (I don't remember the
number.)  It seems that some appropriately religious computer folks in
Brooklyn put together a system which runs on an IBM XT with a voice
board.  You get the framework for offering Audiotext of a Jewish Story,
a message from the Rabbi, and so forth. There's also a jewish calendar
to Gregorian (regular) calendar converter that is offered in the
context of birthday and death anniversary translation.  (Finding out
when the anniversary of your father's death falls this year is
important to many observant Jews.)  The local group records the
messages.  This system didn't have the capability to modify the menus,
but it was promised in a future release.  Given the fact that the
authors are (by definition) more interested in Torah Study than
programming, seeing this as a means to an end, I found the software
and documentation to be less than it could have been.

With the advent of Voice Boards for PC's, it's possible to get into
the Audiotext business with a very small investment.  We're going to
see lots more of this as the technology gets more available.

                -edg

P.S.  Patrick,  I think this is tamer than "Dial-a-Gay-Athiest" and
unless you've got an appropriate Jewish Education, not much fun.
--
Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 07:57:25 EDT
Subject: Dial-a-Rambam

Equating the Rambam with a gay atheist will definitely make some folks
unhappy...

``Rambam'' is the acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, better known in
English as Maimonides.  Maimonides was a 12th-centry Spanish-born
Egyptian physician, philosopher, and teacher.  He is one of the
greatest theologians in Jewish history.  (Acronyms are a common
method of abbreviation in Hebrew; they work better than in English
because only consonants have letters, and vowel marks can be attached
to any letter.  You thus do not end up with unpronouncable names
like DTMF.)

        --Steve Bellovin

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 08:28:03 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: RaMBaM

Rabeinu Moshe ben Maimon, heavy duty Jewish Sage of the 12-13 century.
(I may by off by a century or 2). I imagine the line provides
quotations of his. I imagine you will get some steamed mail for your
flippant comparison.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 11:19:38 EDT
From: "Peter G. Capek" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Clarification: Internal Dialing in Foreign Countries

Thank you for publishing my submission to TELECOM dated 17 July in issue 242.
I fear I may have misworded it, thereby eliciting a response from you which
indicated I was unclear.  What I'd like is the information to complete a table
in the following form:

Country      Country Code    City Code  LD Prefix    Foreign
Name                         (min-max)                  Prefix

USA               1             3-3          1            011
Switzerland      41             1-2          0            00 (??)
Finland         358             1-3          9            990

In other words, I know about the list of country codes.  What I need is
information about dialing rules from within a country to within it, and outside
it.

I did get one helpful direct response from a reader in Finland, but so far,
no more.  I find it hard to believe that this information isn't already
collected in some place.

Did I ask the wrong question?

Thanks.

Peter Capek

------------------------------

Subject: Dial-a-Rambam
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 09:11:56 PDT
From: [e-mail]

Rambam (also known as Maimonides), is a Jewish scholar and philosopher who
was born in Spain in the Middle Ages.  The Lubavitch Chassidic sect is
particularly fond of his writings, and I suspect that they are the sponsors
of the "Dial a Jewish Story" and "Dial a Rambam" messages.

Sam

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 6:59:46 CDT
From:     "James W. Green" <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re: When Sprint Belonged to the Railroad

 PT:
    Reference your comment on Peter da Silva's remarks in vol 9 no 255:

>[Moderator's Note: They were long past the barbed wire on the fence post
>days when Sprint started. It was because they greatly modernized their
>system and found themselves financially embarassed as a result that they
>decided to sell the excess capacity. But you are correct about the old railroad
>phone networks. They were the pits.   PT]

  Do you mean they were like today's autovon?

   JIM

      ?              James W. Green
    (+ -)            US Army Material Command
-vvv--U--vvv-        Systems Integration and Management Activity
Opinion? When the    (Attn: AMXSI-CFP)          e-mail addresses:
Army wants Civil     PO Box 1578                [e-mail]
Serpents to have     St. Louis, MO              or
opinions, they will  63188-1578                 [e-mail]
issue me one. :-)    Telephones - commerical [phone] -autovon 693-5337

[Moderator's Note: Smile! Thanks for a chuckle to close this issue!   PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #257
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 27 Jul 89 1:02:11 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #258
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 27 Jul 89 01:00:52 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 258

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    T1 Carrier Solves Shortage of Pairs (Larry Rachman via Ed Greenberg)
    Re: Query: GE XR-3001 & Cellular One (Dave Fenske)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Otto J. Makela)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Steve Spearman)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Ken Thompson)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Eric Schnoebelen)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (R.A. Anonymous, Jr.)
    Local Area Calls in Reading, PA (R.A. Anonymous, Jr.)
    Re: US Sprint Code-abuse Policies (Andrew Boardman)

[Moderator's Note: My special thanks to the many Bitnet users who have
responded to the special 'for Bitnet users only' message which was
transmitted Wednesday morning. Test complete, and thanks!  PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: T1 Carrier Solves Shortage of Pairs
Date: 26 Jul 89 20:43:14 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


I enjoyed the discussion of running out of pairs in Chicago, and sent
it to a friend of mine who isn't on the net.  His response seems
appropriate for the group, so I asked, and he gave permission to post
it.

Larry has been doing interconnect and telephone related engineering
for about ten years now. I've listed his CompuServe ID for anyone who
wants to correspond with him electronically, or you can write to him
care of me.

>Date:  25-Jul-89 04:31 PDT
>From:  Larry Rachman [74066,2004]
>Subj:  Reply to 'pairs'

                                                     25 July
Greetings...

    Just (*finally*) was able to read the piece you sent me.

    The pair situation in NYC is similar, but for other reasons,
namely the proliferation of CENTREX. When a 1000-phone office is
equipped with a PBX, it needs only about 100 lines, and possibly
a few dozen DID (direct inward dialing) trunks. When it switches
over to CENTREX, the pair count goes up to 1000. And of course,
fax machines, modems, and so forth make the problem even worse.

    The great saviour has been T1 carrier. Its a 1.544 megabit
bidirectional link used to move digitized voice. Its implemented
on two twisted pairs, and will typically handle 24 standard
voice channels. What happens is these two pairs from the street
go into a $15,000 'channel bank' on the customer's premises, and
out come 24 dialtones! Pretty neat, eh?

   One of the stupidities of the whole thing, though, is that
many customers are equipping with digital PABXs that can take T1
directly but, since there was no tariff for T1 service, the
channel was broken up by a channel bank into 24 dialtones that
entered the switch via 24 trunk ports. I heard a rumour (that
*surely must be mistaken) about a customer who wanted a bunch of
foreign exhange lines from Jersey and put up his own microwave
link to hop the river (not unheard of), with a channel bank to
funnel a bunch of dialtones into the link. Sure enough, right
next to his channel bank was *ANOTHER* channel bank, this one
provided by NYNEX, to make the NYNEX T1 into dialtones!

   One rather disturbing fact about T1 is that 1.544 megabaud
dry (no battery) data sounds just like *nothing* if you listen
with a butt set. Its not unheard of for installers to reassign
one of these 'unused' pairs when hunting for a spare, and, of
course, there go 24 voice (and sometimes 64kb data) circuits. A
friend of mine who works for an ELFI in NYC has seen it happen
several times.

    Hope all is well there; say hello, etc. for me,
                                                   LR

===================================
                                     -edg
--
Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

[Moderator's Note: My thanks for sharing your correspondence with the
Digest readers.   PT]

------------------------------

Date: Wed Jul 26 08:42:23 1989
From: Dave Fenske <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Query: GE XR-3001 & Cellular One?
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Dave Fenske)
Organization: Lake Systems - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail].
cmu.edu writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 256, message 1 of 5

>I'm thinking of jumping into the cellular phone fray:

>The service costs $14.95 month and .60peak/.15off-peak for up to 25 minutes
>of airtime/month.  [I don't expect to use it much more than that, but if I
>did, I'd be bumped up to the $30.00/month level with comparable airtime
>charges.]

There was a question as to cellular phone service features.

Let me start by saying in Milwaukee, Cellular One charges $10.00 per month
and 40 cents per minute prime / 27 cents non-prime.  Obviously, you'd be
better off driving up here to make your calls.

Call forwarding is offered.

No answer transfer (forward call if no answer) is also available.

Conference calling is also available.

As far as I know, the only "ESS" feature that is not offered is speed dialing.

Cellular phones are wonderful.  There have been times that I couldn't have
surrvied without mine.  They are, however, expensive to operate.


------------------------------

From: "Otto J. Makela" <mcvax!jyu.fi![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 26 Jul 89 00:01:02 GMT
Reply-To: "Otto J. Makela" <mcvax!jyu.fi![e-mail]>
Organization: Grand Hall of Justice, Mega-City One


Over here in Finland, you can get a small plug-type device (we use these
huge ugly phone plugs instead of modulars) which you can place between
the answering machine and the wallplug.  If an extension phone is lifted,
the answering machine is cut off.  The price is an exorbitant $20 for
a 5x5cm piece of plastic with probably one relay inside it !

Otto J. Makela, University of Jyvaskyla
InterNet: [e-mail], BitNet: [e-mail]
BBS: [phone] (V.22bis/V.22/V.21, 24h/d), Phone: [phone]
Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE

------------------------------

From: Steve Spearman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 26 Jul 89 14:20:05 GMT
Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO

In article <[e-mail]>, stiatl![e-mail]
(John DeArmond) says:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Glen
M. Marianko) writes:
>>Age old answering machine problem:  forget to turn off answering machine
>>Anyone hear of any
>>such add-on gizmo to go in-line with the answering machine and the
>>telco jack?  Seems doable...

> I saw just such a gizmo Friday in either The Sharper Image or Brookstone.
> It looked like one of these little 1-to-2 outlet splitters you can get
> at radio shack except it had a couple of LEDs in it.  you hook your
> extension phone and answering machine in thru this thing.  When you
> pick up, the answering machine is cut off.  Works only for that
> phone, though.

I have one like that described that was ordered through a small
company ad in the back of Popular Mechanics or Popular Science.
I suspect (though do not know) that it is the same on Sharper Image has.
However, it DOES work for any phone in the house.  The reason for
the splitter arrangement is so your local extension will work
like any other phone in cutting off the answering machine.  If
you plugged it into the answering machine itself (as is often
done), only the answering machine could cut itself off - the
device has no way to tell about the offhook.

Steve Spearman  [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Ken Thompson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 26 Jul 89 21:31:15 GMT
Organization: NCR Corporation, Wichita, KS


I used the following circuit with my machine:

             ________| |________
             |       | |        |
             |        10uF      |
             |                  |
_____________|_____/\/\/\/\_____|__________
                      1Kohm


Put it in series with one leg of the pair to the machine only.
The cap. passes the ring signal.
The resistor is the key here.  With the machine off hook the line
has a higher resistance, current is relatively constant.
The machine thinks it is on a longer drop pair and works normally
Lift any phone in the house and most of the current goes to the phone.
If the machine checks the current in the loop or has a vox circuit,
it does not matter, it thinks the caller has hung up and it also
disconnects.

--
Ken Thompson     N0ITL
NCR Corp.  3718 N. Rock Road
Wichita,Ks. 67226  [phone]
[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Eric Schnoebelen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 26 Jul 89 18:57:07 GMT
Reply-To: u-word.k![e-mail]
Organization: John W. Bridges & Associates, Inc., Lewisville, Tx.


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Mike Trout) writes:
-In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Glen M. Marianko) writes:
-> Age old answering machine problem:  forget to turn off answering machine
-> when you get home, phone rings, answering machine picks up and you
-> pick up.  You scream to the person on the line to hold on while you
-> run to shut the &#*$% thing off.
-
- I wasn't aware that my machine was anything special, but I NEVER turn it off,
- even when I'm home.  It's a Panasonic (I can supply the model number if
- anybody's interested) and has adjustable two- or four-ring pickup.  I keep it
- set on four rings (which really works out to almost five), and as long as I
- pick up the receiver before then, the machine doesn't kick in.  Works no
- matter which extension I pick up (I have four active phones, plus many more
- jacks).  Do I have a unique answering machine, or am I misunderstanding the
- problem?

        I didn't think my answering machine was overly special either..
It too is a Panasonic, the dual line model ( about the only special
thing about it, or so I thought ) and I too leave it on all the time,
with the "toll saver" feature enabled..  If the machine answers, and I
want to talk to the person ( perfect for screening calls ) it will hang
up after I pick up any extension in the house..

        Other features:  remote control from any tone pad, complete with
replacing the message, selection of which line is answered, time and day
of the week stamping, and all of the other "standard" features that come
on answering machines these days..  The only thing I wish it had is a
way to shut up and hand the call off to a modem if it hears a carrier..
( that wasn't on the request list when the machine was purchased...  )

--
Eric Schnoebelen,            JBA Incorporated, Lewisville, Tx.
[e-mail]
    Real Programmers:   Real Programmers have trouble suppressing
        homicidal tendencies when asked, "Are you sure?"

------------------------------

Reply-To: pnet01!pro-sol!pro-newfrontier!pro-nfmail01!pro-harvest!pro-palace!r.
[e-mail]
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 11:49:07 EST
From: "R.A. Anonymous, Jr." <pnet01!pro-palace![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin

You said in your message that, through playing with your line loop resistance,
that you could receive a call, while your switch was under the impression that
you had not answered.. This was a method used by Phone Phreaks in the early
80's to avoid billing.  A phreak would put a 'colored' 'box' (they were
labeled by colors) on his/her line and receive calls from other phreaks at the
phone co's expense...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        Rodney Amadeus Anonymous, Jr.   |       pro-palace!r.a.a.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

------------------------------

Reply-To: pnet01!pro-sol!pro-newfrontier!pro-nfmail01!pro-harvest!pro-palace!r.
[e-mail]
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 12:15:44 EST
From: "R.A. Anonymous, Jr." <pnet01!pro-palace![e-mail]>
Subject: Local Area Calls in Reading, PA

In my area (Reading, PA, about one hour outside of Philadelphia), there are
three plans for local calling.  'Charge per Call' costs $4.05-$4.45 a month,
and all calls are metered after you spend the $.25 allowance they give you.
Two-party line service is STILL AVAILABLE on all plans.. Kinda outdated, in my
opinion.   The second plan, 'Local Calling With Allowance' costs $6.40-$6.80
a month, and is metered after you spend your $4.00 allowance.  And finally,
there is the almighty 'Unlimited calling to Local Area,' costing
$10.60-$11.00/month.

Typically, my phone bill (minus my hundred-or-so dollars in LD charges) comes
to $15.58 a month, with taxes and the hideous 'Touch Tone charge.'  Not bad at
all, after I read all the messages on here of people explaining their
exorbitant local call charges..

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        Rodney Amadeus Anonymous, Jr.   |       pro-palace!r.a.a.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 11:59:34 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: US Sprint Code-abuse Policies
Organization: Columbia University

In article <[e-mail]> Patrick wrote:
>[...] And how does AT&T handle fraud? Certainly not by red-lining certain
>parts of cities where fraud is prevalent, as Sprint has done with NY Port
>Authority or Grand Central.
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If this is indeed still the case, it is exceptionally funny, as "US Sprint
PublicFON Service" (or something very close to that, certainly the Sprint
we all know and love) is the default carrier for all public phones in and
around Grand Central.  (And in the subway below, too.)  If I can dig up
a Sprint card I'll give it a try and see if they're still blocked.

>AT&T is running some ads in Chicago right now which say it all: "You've
>tried all the rest -- now come back home to the best."

For about a week and a half, fairly recently, they had a series of full-page
ads on the back of the first section of the NY Times.  Some were very amusing;
they all (rightly, IMHO) extolled the virtues of AT&T or explained 10XXX
codes and such.

/a

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #258
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 28 Jul 89 0:18:29 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #259
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 28 Jul 89 00:00:38 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 259

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Dialling 10XXX on Intra-LATA Calls (John R. Covert)
    Looking Up #'s Not In The Phone Book (Kenneth Selling)
    555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere? (Mark Brader)
    Request for Index (Randolph Bentson)
    Dial 1-(NPA)-CONFUSE (Jim Hickstein)
    Dial-A Services in Rochester, NY (C. E. Reid)
    Re: Unusual Recorded Messages (John Limpert)
    Re: Unusual Recorded Messages (Steven Gutfreund)
    Re: Satanic Long Distance Carrier (Kent Borg)
    Re: Satanic Exchanges (Dave Smith)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "John R. Covert" <[e-mail]>
Date: 27 Jul 89 10:00
Subject: Dialling 10XXX on intra-LATA calls

Our moderator writes:

>If you dial an intra-lata call (a call within your own town, for example)
>using 10288 as the leading code, it is likely the call will be rejected and
>you will have to dial over again. I've tried this, and at least here in
>Chicago, dialing 10288 followed by a seven digit (or ten digit, but within
>IBT's LATA) number and a recording says the call cannot be completed as
>dialed.

Patrick, remember that this country is formed of 50 sovereign states, each with
its own PUC/PSC/DPU/CC or whatever the state chooses to call the regulatory
body for intra-state calling.  What applies in Chicago does not necessarily
apply in other parts of the country.

The situation is as follows:  For each 10XXX code, intra-LATA calling can be
enabled or disabled, based on whether the carrier is authorized by the proper
regulatory bodies to provide intra-LATA calling.

Here in Massachusetts, the carriers AT&T and ITT have not applied for the right
to carry intra-LATA traffic, and calls within the LATA (all of area codes 508
and 617) do not complete if prefixed with 10288 or 10488.

MCI, Sprint, and ALLnet (and others) have applied to the DPU for the right to
carry intra-LATA traffic, and intra-LATA calls prefixed by 10222, 10333, and
10444 complete via the carrier, even if the call is 10XXX+7D in the local C.O.
There is a "do not complete within this office bit", but it should not be set.
There is not a "do not complete within the local calling area" bit.

It is worth noting that it should theoretically be possible for subscribers to
pick a default carrier for intra-LATA calling, either the same default as for
inter-LATA or a different one, but the original order from Judge Green did not
require this capability, and it was not implemented.  Thus to use a carrier
other than your local telco for intra-LATA calling, you will always have to
use the 10XXX code.

/john

------------------------------

Date: 26-JUL-1989 20:27:16.93
From: Kenneth Selling <[e-mail]>
Subject: Looking Up #'s Not In The Phone Book

In TELECOM Digest vol. 9, issue 255, laura halliday <[e-mail]> says:

> Long distance directory assistance is free here in B.C. For local information
> you call 411, as usual, but it will cost you 55 cents (Canadian) if the
> number is in the local phone book.

This makes a lot of sense.  For a long time, I have disliked the idea of being
charged for look-up of a local number which is not even in the phone book (such
as new or changed listings.)  I can see the rationale for charging for a
*local* number already listed -- it penalizes those unwilling to look it up
themselves.

(Yes, I agree with those who dislike the BOC's policy of charging for directory
assistance from BOC-owned payphones.  If there is no phone book -- too bad.
The BOC has no incentive to replace ripped or stolen phone books.  In fact,
they have a strong disincentive; the longer they put off putting in a book, the
more revenue they get looking up numbers.)

The BOC databases could surely accommodate an extra bit per listing, describing
whether a number is in the current phone book or not.  Am I the only one
(except for those denizens of BC Tel.) who is irritated with the policy of
charging for look-up of numbers which are not even in the local phone book?


Ken Selling

Organization:   Wesleyan University
Internet:       [e-mail]
BITNET:         [e-mail]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

------------------------------

From: Mark Brader <[e-mail]>
Subject: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere?
Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 19:36:57 EDT

Lisa Smith ([e-mail]) wrote the following in an article in
(the Usenet newsgroup) rec.humor.d:

> That prefix, 555, isn't fictional everywhere.  One of my school friends
> said that his grandfather's phone number, somewhere in South Dakota, is
> a 555 number.  He said that it was to his knowledge the only place in
> the U.S. that it was a real prefix though.

Someone else said that if this was ever true it isn't now.
What do the experts say?

--
Mark Brader            "Well, I didn't completely test it, and
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto         of course there was a power failure the
utzoo!sq!msb, [e-mail]     next day."         -- Louis J. Judice

------------------------------

From: Randolph Bentson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Request for Index
Date: 27 Jul 89 18:33:13 GMT
Reply-To: Randolph Bentson <[e-mail]>
Organization: Computer Science Department, Colorado State University


Can anyone give me a pointer to an index of articles appearing in the Bell
System Technical Journal (and it's successor, the ATT Systems Technical
Journal)? Of course I'd prefer that this be on-line, but if you know of a book
containing such an index, I'd be still be interested.


------------------------------

From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]
Subject: Dial 1-(NPA)-CONFUSE
Date: Wed, 26-Jul-89 23:57:01 PDT

Did anyone else spot this in comp.lang.postscript?:

[...body deleted...]

> >Call 1-88-83-FONTS to get a copy of the "Font and Function" catalog
> >for more details....

> Hmmm...  I only have digits on my telephone dial.  How do the letters
                       ^^^^^^
> map to digits?

> Jan Michael Rynning,            [e-mail]
> Department of Numerical Analysis    If you can't fully handle domains:
> and Computing Science,        ARPA: [e-mail]
> Royal Institute of Technology,    UUCP: {uunet,mcvax,...}!nada.kth.se!jmr
> S-100 44 Stockholm,            BITNET: jmr@sekth
> Sweden.                Phone: [phone]

Surprise!  The world is not the same as the USA!  Personally, I find alphabetic
phone numbers vexing to dial, even when the DTMF pad is labelled so nicely,
as it is here in WE territory (read: WEstern hemisphere?)  My index finger
can't read.  I admit that I have an exceptional facility with 7-digit numbers,
(I memorized 50 digits of pi, 7 at a time.  See .sig if you don't believe me.)
so I suppose I can't say that they're generally easier to remember than names,
but I find this trend disturbing and was delighted to find a pin with which
to prick it, namely (apparently) lack of an international standard on a mapping
of letters to digits.  Just another way the rest of the world can find to
become annoyed with American arrogance?

BTW, I haven't read this group before, but I think I shall start.  Please
accept my apologies if this has all been hashed out recently.

-Jim Hickstein
[e-mail]
 ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!jxh
Nothing to do with the bozos here that get all the publicity:  I'm a client,
not an employee.
PI to 50 digits:
3.14159 26535 8979323 84626 4338327 9502884 1971693 9937510
        ^^^^^         ^^^^^ well, nobody's perfect.  Has a nice metre.
 ^ "point" sounds like a digit

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 09:56 EDT
From: "C. E. Reid" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dial-A Services in Rochester, NY

According to the White Pages in Rochester, New York (area code 716):

        Dial-A-Dietitian        461-5590
        Dial-A-Gift             328-8575        (I think this is a company)
        Dial-A-Jewish-Story     244-7710
        Dial-A-Prayer           586-8280
        Dial-A-Story            288-4211
        Dial-A-Teacher          262-5000
        Dial-A-Thought          473-2541
        Dial-A-Torah-Thought    271-5328
        Dial A Yuk              546-5233

Also, in the listing, there are two companies (I think!):

        Dial-A-Car & Truck Rental 423-9810
        Dial-A-Tire Inc         223-9330

Lastly, there is one that I'm not sure of (excat spelling from the White Pages)
is called  Dial Inspiratn at 964-8060.

I'm curious about a couple of them...what is a Torah-Thought or a Yuk?  If you
know about this, let the digest readers know.

                Curtis
                [e-mail]
                [e-mail]

DISCLAIMER:     I HAVEN'T TRIED ANY OF THESE NUMBERS SO DON'T FLAME ME OR REFER
ME TO THEM.  This list is purely for your information and if you attempt to
call these numbers, I disclaim any responsibility or contact with them.

[Moderator's Note: I refuse to ask what a Yuk is. I refuse to ask! What
do I care? So don't tell me. When I guess at these things I wind up either
offending the Orthodox Jews or the gay athiests. I won't guess at it. PT]

------------------------------

From: John Limpert <gronk![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Unusual Recorded Messages
Date: 26 Jul 89 18:48:18 GMT
Reply-To: John Limpert <gronk![e-mail]>
Organization: BFEC/GSFC Greenbelt, Maryland


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(John G Dobnick) writes:
>[Moderator's Note: Can someone please explain what a 'rambam' is; as in
>'Dial A Rambam'??? Is it anything like Dial A Gay Atheist?  Should I spend
>thirteen cents on Reach Out tonight to find out? Is it worth thirteen
>cents?  PT]

RAMBAM is an acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides.
He is a well known commentator on the Torah and Talmud.  This recording is
probably produced by the same folks who run the "Dial a Jewish Story" line,
it's on the same exchange.

--
John Limpert        [e-mail]    uunet!n3dmc!gronk!johnl


------------------------------

From: Steven Gutfreund <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Unusual Recorded Messages
Date: 27 Jul 89 13:47:39 GMT
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham MA


> [Moderator's Note: Can someone please explain what a 'rambam' is; as in
> 'Dial A Rambam'??? Is it anything like Dial A Gay Atheist?  Should I spend
> thirteen cents on Reach Out tonight to find out? Is it worth thirteen
> cents?  PT]


RaMbaM is an ancronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (the Maimonedes) (approx
11th century). He was a major Jewish scholar, and also a philosopher and
doctor. He wrote "The Mishna Torah" (a complete compedium of Jewish Laws)
and "The Guide to the Perplexed" (the title is a bit misleading to contemporary
readers, they think this is a psychological self-help book, in fact it
is a scholarly refutation of Aristotelean philosophy).

Many have a custom of learning several chapters a day of the Mishna Torah
according to a yearly cycle, and the concepts can be difficult to
grasp (plus the fact that there are no acceptable translations). Therefore,
there some towns provide a taped telephone message with explanations
of the daily portion.

No, this does not have anything to do with TELECOM, but since you asked :-).
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yechezkal Shimon Gutfreund                   [e-mail]
GTE Laboratories, Waltham MA               ..!husc6!bunny!sgutfreund
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

[Moderator's Note: Yes, unfortunatly, since I asked....  I'm now waiting
for the Yuk explanations to arrive. As in, 'oh, yuck! why did I bring this
subject up?'    PT]

------------------------------

From: Kent Borg <lloyd!sunfs3![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Satanic Long Distance Carrier
Date: 24 Jul 89 18:07:02 GMT
Reply-To: Kent Borg <lloyd!sunfs3![e-mail]>
Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA


If I remember correctly, the original poster (who wrote about trying
10666 as a long distance access code) was from Somerville, MA, which
*has* a 666 exchange, in fact I had a 666 number for a year.  It
seemed to act much like any other line.  I could make calls, I could
receive calls.  I got billed.  Nothing unusual ever came to my
attention.

Ever since I moved to a different Somerville exchange, 776, which is
no where near as interesting, I have kinda' missed having a 666
number.  Yes, this line acts about the same.  Sometimes more noise
than other times, but my modem can usually handle it.

Take it from someone who has tried one, 666 numbers act about like any
other.

Kent Borg
[e-mail]
or
 ...!husc6!lloyd!kent

P.S. Don't even remember any harrasing calls...

[Moderator's Note: Chicago's '666' is a prefix located on the west side
of the city in a very poor, ghetto neighborhood. It is a mix of residence
and business numbers. PT]

------------------------------

From: celerity!celit![e-mail]
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 16:15:22 PDT
Subject: Re: Satanic Exchanges
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Dave Smith)
Organization: FPS Computing Inc., San Diego CA


University of San Francisco has the 666 prefix in SF.  Funny thing is, they're
a Jesuit university.

David L. Smith
FPS Computing, San Diego
ucsd!celerity!dave
"Repent, Harlequin!," said the TickTock Man

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #259
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 28 Jul 89 1:31:19 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #260
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 28 Jul 89 01:00:18 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 260

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Thank you for using AT&T (Edward Greenberg)
    Re: New Product Review: FAXJACK III (Vance Shipley)
    Re: Dialing Area Codes (Daniel M. Rosenberg)
    Re: What's the simplest way to find the L.D. carrier? (Andrew Boardman)
    Re: Sony Answering Machines Hanging Up (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Ray Spalding)
    Re: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers? (Torsten Dahlkvist)
    Re: How Do I Obtain A Phone Calling Card? (Andrew Boardman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Thank you for using AT&T
Date: 27 Jul 89 17:03:26 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


Since the beginning of this week, I've been hearing radio ads from
AT&T introducing a new feature of AT&T Long Distance.  Specifically,
when you dial 0+ (or 102880+) you'll get the Bong and then a little
chime followed by the words "Ay, Tee and Tee".  This will let you know
that you've indeed reached mom (or what's left of her.)

Having dealt with AOS's and now with Pac Bell allowing the premises
owner the choice of LD carrier, I think it's a good idea.

Part of the ad suggests that when you connect to AT&T they'll play the
Hallelujah Chorus.  A good giggle.
                -e
--
Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

------------------------------

Date: Wed Jul 26 00:05:28 1989
From: Vance Shipley <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New Product Review: FAXJACK III
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Vance Shipley)
Organization: Linton Technology - SwitchView

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(George Wang) writes:
>about a product called FAXJACK III which supposedly automatically
>determines whether a FAX, Modem, or Voice call is being made
>on a single line... This product would be very useful for people
>who are limited to one phone line (IE, Dorm room) but want to use
>the line for incoming Modem and/or Voice calls....

(name of manufacturer deleted...)

>
>Question:
>  Is this too good to be true?? Does this really work?? *HOW* does
>it work... Is it reliable.... I am VERY interested in purchasing
>this if I get some positive feedback...
>

first the way it works:
            when the line it is attached to is rung it "answers"
            the call and either provides a fake 'ring back' tone
            or plays an outgoing message telling the caller to
            dial a touch tone digit for which service they want
            (say fax, answer machine, modem).  the device listens
            to the line to determine where to route the call.
            most (emphasis on the _most_) fax machines output a
            tone every so often when calling out to another fax,
            this tone is reffered to as 'CNG' tone.  if the device
            detects this tone it sends a "ring" signal on the 'fax'
            port and connects the tel line audio to it when the fax
            answeres.  one of the other ports is the default line,
            when no 'CNG' is detected and no digits are dialled the
            call is connected to this port.  a caller for the other
            port must dial the right digit(s) to be switched to it.

now the caveats:
            -the 'fake ring back' tones that the thing outputs are
             fine to convince callers to hang on (until the box
             decides if you are a fax [recieves 'CNG' tone] or gets
             a routing code [you dial a digit(s)]) but it does not
             fool the long distance provider who charges you for
             the call as soon as the 'thing' answers.

            -not all fax machines give a  reliable 'CNG' tone, some
             give it out every few seconds on an outgoing call and
             others will provide it far less frequently.  some will
             not provide it at all.  this seems to be true of the
             smaller, cheaper machines mostly but i am told that
             NO pitney-bowes machines have it at all!

            -the "ring" signal that this 'box' provides to your
             equipment is usually a crude aproximation of what
             it should be.  it is very square and not of the proper
             frequencey.  this may not be a problem _or_ it may
             mean that the equipment will not recognize it.

Vance Shipley                          uucp:  ..!{uunet!}watmath!xenitec!vances
Linton Technology - SwitchView         INTERNET:            [e-mail]
180 Columbia Street West                            (soon)  [e-mail]
Waterloo, Ontario
CANADA                                                      tel:  [phone]
N2L 3L3                                                     fax:  [phone]
# "Twenty-Five pins in a D shell does not RS-232C make!"                     #


------------------------------

From: "Daniel M. Rosenberg" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Dialing Area Codes
Date: 26 Jul 89 18:38:15 GMT
Organization: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U.


[e-mail] (Jim Gottlieb) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>Why is it that I'm not allowed to dial the area code when I'm calling
>>somebody local?
>I have often wondered this myself, especially after living in Japan,
>where there is no penalty for dialing your own area code.

This works in some places, like 201 New Jersey, and, I believe,
415 Northern California.

Dan

--
# Daniel M. Rosenberg     //  Stanford CSLI  // Opinions are my own only.
# [e-mail]  // decwrl!csli!dmr // [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 18:42:28 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: What's the simplest way to find the L.D. carrier for a line?
Organization: Columbia University

In article <[e-mail]>
                                           our beloved moderator quoth:
>[Moderator's Note: Dialing 1-700-555-1212 from most phones will produce
>a recorded announcement giving the name of the default carrier for that
>line.

Not on my XBAR it won't. :-)

I've always used 1-700-555-4141... are they just alternate routes to the
same thing, or is that a typo, or what?

(I can't check myself because every phone within a huge radius is
 connected to a ROLM 9751 CBX (production #2!) which chokes on just
 about any non-standard number.  In fact, it chokes on a whole lot of
 things... like people making phone calls...)

Andrew Boardman
now located at [e-mail], which I'll be mailing from
too as soon as I move all my news stuff...

[Moderator's Note: I think in any case in which 1-700-555-something will
work for this purpose, 1212 and 4141 are interchangeable. If it will not
work in your x-bar office, then it may be likely that your x-bar office
is not yet equal access either, rendering 1-700-555-anything moot.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Sony Answering Machines Hanging Up
Date: 27 Jul 89 02:44:47 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


A recent article asks about an answering machine that sometimes
hangs up on callers who speak softly when they're leaving messages.

Because the loop-current interruption from the central office is not
available on every subscriber line, most answering machines are
forced to implement some kind of silence detection, as well as
loop current sensing and timing, to decide when to stop recording an
incoming message.

Silence detection in the telephone network is tricky.  The
background noise level on some calls will be greater than the speech
level on others, making absolute level measurements useless.  In
some older switching systems, the called party hears dial-tone when
the calling party disconnects.

What the answering machine tries to do is listen for variations in
the audio level.  Any steady-state level that doesn't change for
some number of seconds is considered to be silence.  If the level
changes from time to time, it probably means someone is speaking.

On some calls, the speech is at the same level as the background
noise.  (A signal-to-noise ratio of about 1:1 !)  This is where the
machine is most likely to be fooled.

A more sophisticated design uses not only variations in the level
but also in the frequency distribution of the incoming audio signal,
to distinguish between speech and 'silence'.

My ancient Code-A-Phone from the 1960's used to emit a "talk-down"
tone for four seconds after it had detected silence.  If the caller
heard this tone and spoke up a bit, the tone would go away, and the
recording would continue.  If the inbound signal did not change
during the "talk-down" tone, the tone would be followed by a
slightly louder tone, and then a disconnection.  Callers who were
still talking would tend to "shout down" the tone, and thus keep the
machine listening.

Perhaps they don't build them like they used to!

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 07:12:24 edt
From: Ray Spalding <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter

The summer '89 catalog for DAK Industries Inc. lists a device that
sounds identical to the one described previously as offered by Sharper
Image.  The copy claims that picking up any extension will cut your
answering machine off.  In an interesting twist, it points out that
you could install one of these devices on each extension phone.
Then, whenever your fax or modem is on line, every other extension
is automatically dead, preventing a communications interruption by
someone picking up a phone.

Order No. 5135, $9.90 + $2 P&H, from DAK, 8200 Remmet Ave.,
Canoga Park, CA 91304.  Credit card orders: 1-800-DAK-0800.

Disclaimer:  I have no connection with DAK.  Caveat emptor.
--
Ray Spalding
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:     ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!cc100aa
Internet: [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers?
Date: 27 Jul 89 11:30:54 GMT
Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>Why is 00 more logical than 009 (or 011 in Canada and the US), or 0011
>(in Australia)?

Because in most countries (outside Northern America), all area codes begin
with a 0, indicating the start of "national" dialling. Another 0 would
(logically) imply an even larger numbering plan - "international". Simlpe?
If/when we get interplanetary dialling the logical prefix would be 000.
I shudder to think what four zeroes would mean...

/Torsten

 Torsten Dahlkvist                        ! "I am not now, nor have I ever
 ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories  !  been, intimately related to
 P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25  ALVSJO, SWEDEN  !  Dweezil Zappa!"
 Tel: [phone]                      !        - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz

[Moderator's Note: I don't think too many countries have our penchant here
in the USA for pulling zero to get the operator either. Right/wrong??  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Jul 89 10:45:45 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <ab4>
Subject: Re: How Do I Obtain a Phone Calling Card?
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Columbia University

In article <[e-mail]>
                                 [e-mail] writes:
>I know for a fact that MCI does NOT require that they be your home
>default carrier.

I talked to an MCI rep yesterday about my (soon to be former) MCI calling
card; I was told that because of a recent policy decision, they would let
anyone hold a card for a maximum of a month without associated "dial 1"
service (MCI marketing-talk for being the default carrier) on my line.
The original purpose of my call had been to register another address change
with them; the actual exchange for the number on the card (212-280) died
last year and I have moved a few times since with no problem, but this
time I was told that any new address/phone number I gave them for billing
*would* be assigned MCI.  (I had been using them for one high-volume
area in which they were marginally cheaper than ATT; I have no wish to
deal with the three-ring circus that is MCI's version of billing on my NYTel
bill.)  I would not be suprised, though, if two MCI operators had entirely
different ideas of what "standard MCI policy" was, considering their past
level of service.

Andrew Boardman, yet another disgruntled (and soon to be former) MCI customer.
[e-mail]   [e-mail]  {backbone}!columbia!cunixc!ab4
[as of the retransmission, [e-mail] wil wrok better,
 or simply [e-mail]]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #260
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 29 Jul 89 0:05:32 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #261
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 29 Jul 89 00:00:27 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 261

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    National Views of Access Codes (Mark Brader)
    Dialing Codes in the Netherlands (Richard P. Gruen)
    Re: Why We Have Seven Digit Numbers (Mike Trout)
    Re: London (UK) New Area Codes (Chris Johnston)
    Dial-A-Numbers in Rochester NY (Mike Koziol)
    Re: Unusual Recorded Messages (John Cowan)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Mark Brader <[e-mail]>
Subject: National Views of Access Codes
Date:     Tue, 25 Jul 89 19:57:06 EDT

Several people have mentioned points related to this lately, but I'm
going to begin by restating for overseas readers some things that are
well known to most people reading this.  In most of North America, to
make a basic long distance call, one dials a digit-sequence formed by
concatenating

        (a) an access code,
        (b) an area code [usually], and
        (c) the number called.

The access code is 1 in most places but there have been, and may still be,
some places where it is 112 and some places where no access code is needed.
Because of this, and now because of the appearance of 0 as a second access
code denoting customer-dialed, operator-assisted calls, it is clear that
North Americans do not consider the access code as part of the number.
(At least, those who are careful about such things don't.  Advertisements
usually say things like "dial 1-416-393-4636", so the general public may
have other ideas.  But tables of phone numbers, as in hotel directories, are
normally written without the access code.)

People dialing to North America from elsewhere, on the other hand, dial a
number consisting of some prefix dependent on their own phone system but
usually ending in the North American "country code" of 1, followed directly
by parts (b) and (c) of what we dial.  From England, for instance, the above
number would be dialed as 010-1-416-393-4636.  Here the -1- is the country
code for North America and it is only a coincidence that it is the same as
the access code most commonly used from here.


On the other hand, in many other countries, the digit-sequence that one
dials to make a basic long-distance call is formed by concatenating

        (a) a city or area code, and
        (b) a number.

But the city or area codes always begin with the same digit, most often 0,
and this digit is *omitted* when dialing into the country from elsewhere.
For instance, the number dialed in England as 01-222-1234 would be dialed
from here as 011-44-1-222-1234.  Here the 011- is an access code for
calls outside North America, -44- is the country code, and -1- is the
city code which corresponds to the 01- in the British number.

 From a Briton's point of view, what we dial is 011-44- followed by all but
the first digit of their area code and phone number.  From a North American's
point of view, what they call the first digit of their area code isn't really
part of it at all but is an access code.  Personally I think the North
American view is superior, but it's not an important point except if it
causes misunderstandings.


And now finally to my questions.

1. Are there any other countries that take what I have called the "North
   American" point of view above?  *All* the countries that I've been to
   outside North America use the other system.

2. Are there any other countries that allow customer-dialed, operator-
   assisted calls?  If so, how are they dialed?

3. Are there any countries outside North America that use 1 as an access
   code (interpreting the numbers in North American style)?  So far all
   the ones we've heard about use 0, except for Finland which uses 9.

4. Is there any correlation between unusual access codes and unusual dials?
   I remember that where the standard dial has 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0, there
   are two nonstandard dials that have 0-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and 9-8-7-6-5-
   4-3-2-1-0, but I don't remember which are the few countries that use
   them, except for New Zealand which uses the latter one.  Could Finland
   be one of these?  -- I know that New Zealand uses an access code of 0.
   On the other hand, their emergency number is 111, which is dialed the
   same as the British 999!


--
Mark Brader            "'A matter of opinion'[?]  I have to say you are
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto          right.  There['s] your opinion, which is wrong,
utzoo!sq!msb, [e-mail]      and mine, which is right."  -- Gene Ward Smith

------------------------------

Date: Fri 28 Jul 89 11:26:48-PDT
From: "Richard P. Gruen" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dialing Codes in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands (AKA Holland), country code 31,
city codes consist of the number 0 followed
by either two or four digits (but not three).
major cities have codes like 070 or 020 (The Hague and Amsterdam)
and smaller cities have the longer codes where the digit after
the leading 0 is usually the same as the similar digit of the
nearest large city.

Calls to other countries are prefixed with 09.
Most special services begin with 00 followed by one or two
other digits to select the service.  For example,
009 gets you a telegram operator, 0014 gets you the marine oiperator.

000 (which you thought was the interplanetary dialling code)
    gets you an operator who explains how to place calls within Holland;
0010 gets you the foreign operator for the rest of Europe; and
0016 gets you the foreign operator for the rest of the world.

Direct dial service is available to most countries (via 09)
except for calls to Italy which must be operator handled.
apparently there were too many wrong numbers when direct dialling
into Italy.

-Richard P. Gruen  N6HKU  [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Mike Trout <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Why We Have Seven Digit Numbers
Date: 25 Jul 89 20:01:08 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Bob Goudreau) writes:

>  From what I understand, the Bell study was the reason that the current
> 7-digit system was set up in the first place.  There was no American
> parochialism before then, because there was no standard telephone
> number length or format in use at the time; there was a only mish-mash
> of different setups.  From what I remember reading, the study tested
> people to discover the longest number-length that could be easily
> remembered, and the best format for such numbers.  The optimal answer
> they came up with was 7 digits, arranged in a 3-4 split.  (Correct
> me if I'm wrong, you other Telecom readers who remember this better.)

The above got me thinking about the history of the USA telephone numbering
system.  When was the above study done?  When were all numbers standardized at
seven digits?  What other systems were used before that?  What were the last
non-seven-digit systems?

A little personal experience:  My family has owned a camp in the Adirondack
Mountains of upstate New York since 1954.  When we bought the camp, its phone
number there was "Eagle Bay 3268."  Not EB2-3268 or anything like that; just
Eagle Bay 3268.  You could dial locally just by using the last four digits, but
any other calls required an operator.  At the time I lived in Tulsa, and a
long-distance call to our camp also required an operator.  Our Tulsa number
was TE8-7438 for as far back as I could remember, way before the 918 Area Code
was established, so it was always obvious that the New York number was "weird".
The strangest thing was that the New York number lasted a LONG time--even well
AFTER the 315 Area Code was created.  I'm not sure of the exact date when it
finally went to a seven-digit number, but it couldn't have been before the late
1960s and may have not been until the mid-1970s.  After the 315 Area Code had
been established, making a call from Tulsa to our camp became a real
adventure.  My approximate remembrance (let's say this is about 1968):

Me in Tulsa: I'd like to make a long-distance call to upstate New York, in Area
Code 315.

Operator:  You can dial that directly, you know.  What's the number there,
please?

T:  Eagle Bay 3268.  That's why I can't dial directly.

O:  I'm sorry, I didn't understand you.  What was that local number again?

T:  Eagle Bay 3268.

O:  Letter prefixes were replaced by numbers some time ago.  What's the
complete number you wish to reach?

T:  Eagle Bay 3268.  That's the entire number.  It's a tiny rural community,
and hasn't switched to seven digits yet.

O:  You don't understand me.  I need the full number you are trying to reach.

T:  Eagle Bay 3268.  Eagle Bay is the name of the telephone exchange there.
All the numbers in the exchange have only four digits.

O:  There haven't been numbers like that for many years.
You must have a VERY old directory or something.

T:  Trust me.  I made this same call just a few weeks ago.

O:  That's impossible.

T:  I'm not sure how they do it, but the other operators I've used dial the
Eagle Bay operator, who then connects me with 3268.  There must be a way for
you to do that.

O:  Of course not.  I could understand if you were trying to call Africa or
someplace like that, but you're telling me this number is in New York.

T:  Yup.  About 50 miles north of Utica.  In Area Code 315.

O:  I'm sorry, but what you're asking we just can't do.  We don't have the
ability to make such a call, and we never have.  I'm sure you must be mistaken
about something.

[hang up, repeat procedure with three or four different operators, until:]

O:  OH, YES!!!  EAGLE BAY!!!  I handled a call to there last month!  Strangest
set-up I've ever seen.  I had no idea such a place existed.  We were talking
about it the other day, and somebody said it was the last place in the country
that didn't have normal numbers.  Where in the world is it, anyway?  Here,
I'll connect you with the Eagle Bay operator...

T:  Thanks...(whew!)

When the connection was finally made, conversations sounded like low-power
transmissions from Pluto.  On many occasions, static and interference were so
bad that I had to hang up and start with Step 1 again.  Today, the Eagle Bay
exchange is no more, the four-digit numbers are all different, and the whole
area is 357-XXXX.  Unfortunately, since Continental Telephone is in charge,
conversations now sound like low-power transmissions from Neptune.

Anybody have similar war stories?  I'm interested in finding out more about
historical telephone aberrations.  Any explanation for the Bay of Eagle fiasco?

--
NSA food:  Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110  [phone]
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson

[Moderator's Note: I'll have more examples of this in the Digest in the
next day or two.   PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 14:19:45 198
From: Chris Johnston <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: London (UK) New Area Codes.
Organization: U. Chicago Computer Science Dept.

When dialing into a country from outside, the leading zero must be
stripped off the area code.  For example dialing from Switzerland to
within Switzerland one might dial 056 XX-XX-XX but from Italy to
Switzerland one would dial +41 56 XX-XX-XX.  (41 is the country code.)

(When I was in Europe in June it took me more than a week to
successfully place an International pay phone call.  Quite a culture
shock.  On a preious trip I found Scandinavian pay phones were
similarly traumatizing.)

cj

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 04:06:00 EDT
From: Mike Koziol <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dial-A-Numbers in Rochester NY

C.E. Reid (in Digest 259) listed a few Dial-A-Numbers in the Rochester
NY area in a recent posting. A couple of the numbers Dial A YUK and Dial
a Torah Thought got my (and our Moderator's) curiosity stirred up. So,
all in all it being a very boring night at work I tried them to see what
that were.
    - Dial-A-Yuk: a recording giving the names of the comics scheduled to
                  to appear at a local comedy club, Yuk-Yuks.
    - Dial-A-Torah-Thought: seems to be the same as Dial-A-RAMBAM that has
                  been discussed recently in the Digest.
    - Dial-A-Tire: no, it doesn't give you the most recent happenings in the
                  on going discussion of radial vs bias ply, but, it was a
                  local tire distributor. I think they went "belly up"
                  recently, something to do with a warehouse fire.

------------------------------

From: John Cowan <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Unusual Recorded Messages
Reply-To: John Cowan <[e-mail]>
Organization: ESCC,  New York City
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 17:39:32 GMT

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(John G Dobnick) writes:
[various numbers omitted]
>Dial-a-Rambam            962-1817
>
>[Moderator's Note: Can someone please explain what a 'rambam' is; as in
>'Dial A Rambam'??? Is it anything like Dial A Gay Atheist?  Should I spend
>thirteen cents on Reach Out tonight to find out? Is it worth thirteen
>cents?  PT]


RaMBaM is a Hebrew acronym for "Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon", otherwise known as
Moses Maimonides, the great medieval Jewish scholar.  The a's are inserted
for pronounceability.  See >Encyclopedia Judaica< or any decent reference
work, s.v. "Maimonides".

I would assume that "Dial-A-Rambam" gives you a quotation from Maimonides'
works, probably changed daily or weekly.
--
Internet/Smail: [e-mail]    Dumb: uunet!hombre!marob!cowan
Fidonet:  JOHN COWAN of 1:107/711    Magpie: JOHN COWAN, [phone]
        Charles li reis, nostre emperesdre magnes
        Set anz toz pleins at estet in Espagne.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #261
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 29 Jul 89 1:10:26 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #262
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 29 Jul 89 01:00:36 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 262

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    MCI Announces VISA-Phone (TELECOM Moderator)
    Answering Machine Questions (Ed Archibald)
    Answering Machine Muzzle (Debra Hisle)
    Making External Connections to Merlin (Richard Tobier)
    Cellular Reception (Christopher Chung)
    This Is a Recorded Ripoff (Dave Horsfall)
    Inward Calling (Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter)
    Chicago Area 'Dial-A' Services (TELECOM Moderator)
    Society of Telecommunications Consultants (Thomas I. M. Ho)
    Re: T1 Carrier Solves Shortage of Pairs (Chip Rosenthal)
    Re: T1 Carrier Solves Shortage of Pairs (John H. Haller)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Sat, 29 Jul 89 0:04:35 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  MCI Announces VISA-Phone

On Friday, MCI Communications Corp. announced a new long distance billing
arrangement in cooperation with VISA, U.S.A, Inc.

Under this new arrangement, long distance phone callers will be able to
use their VISA card and associated Pin to call anywhere on the MCI Network
from any phone equipped with Equal Access.

The caller will dial the call zero plus in the usual way, inserting a VISA
card number and Pin when requested to 'enter the card number now'.

Charges will be billed by VISA on a monthly basis, entitled (in most cases)
VISA-Phone, or in a few cases as MCI.

It is unclear to me at this time if prior arrangements are required with
MCI to use VISA billing, or if those numbers are somehow now being installed
right into a data base of acceptable cards/pins.

Call MCI Customer Service for more information.


Patrick Townson

------------------------------

From: mtxinu!sybase!apricot![e-mail]
Subject: Answering Machine Questions
Date: 27 Jul 89 23:51:45 GMT
Reply-To:  <mtxinu!apricot.sybase.com![e-mail]>
Organization: Sybase, Inc.

I'm building a project which is essentially a microprocessor based phone
answering machine.  I have completed all of the basic hardware and firmware
and am currently using a device that is manufactured by Cermetek (CH1813)
which provides a DAA for my device.  It also provides ring-detect, off-hook
detect, audio coupling to the phone line and a means for forcing the line
off-hook and on-hook using a TTL level signal.  However, this thing is
expensive and there are number of other things that I would like to do.
I don't really have the experience to know how to proceed.  Any tips
on these things would be appreciated.  Also, any tips that indicate the
reasons why any of these things could not be done, or would be expensive to
do would be very useful.

Are there any books available whose subject is exclusively telephone
electronics, and includes sample circuits etc.?

1) First off, I would like to duplicate the functions that the Cermetek
   device provides at a lower cost (< $26.00)

2) Let's say that I have a telephone hooked up to my phone answering
   device that has a ringer that cannot be turned off.  How can I inhibit
   ringing on this phone while still being able to detect things like the
   phone going off-hook etc.. I would like to be able to control this
   with the microprocessor so ideally a good answer would include
   a TTL level interface.

3) I would like to be able to use the DTMF keypad of a phone that is
   connected to my device without causing the phone switching equipment
   to take notice.  Is this possible?  Maybe there is a sequence of tones
   that can be dialed to disable further interpretation?

4) How can I detect that a calling party has hung up before the telco
   finally disables the connection?  How about when the telco finally
   drops the connection?

5) Let's say that I have two phone type devices hooked to my device.
   I would like to be able to discriminate which of the two devices has gone
   off hook.

Ed Archibald
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:18:28 EDT
From: "Hisle, Debra" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Answering Machine Muzzle

I've been following the queries about the device to cut off an answering
machine with much amusement.  I actually have and use one, and they are
very simple.  I got mine at K-MART or Target, in the telephone/electronics
area.  These thingies look just like a simple modular jack splitter, with
a red LED over one side, and a green LED over the other.  One side is
labeled "TEL" and one is labeled "ANS."  If a device is plugged into
the "TEL" side, it will cut off ALL OTHER EXTENSIONS, when off-hook.
If a device is plugged into the "ANS" side, it will be cut off BY ANY
OTHER EXTENSION going off-hook.  I found that plugging my cordless
phone into the TEL side was a bad idea.  It seems to disable other phones
regardless.  But the ANS side is quite handy for stopping the answering
machine -- or the fax, if it's been left on accidentally.

Why do people find these appealing?  We have a 5000 square foot house, and
even with the currently 8 (soon to be 12) phones punched down, I can't
always reach the phone before the answering machine picks up (on the
second ring, if there are already messages; fourth otherwise).  And the
fax machine doesn't wait at all, rude thing.  Lifting the receiver now
automatically takes the answering machine or fax off the line, and gives
me a nice QUIET background to say I'm actually home.  The smallish price
(must have been less than $10; I don't recall) surely beats a $96 fax
switch, if all you really want is to stop that awful screaming from the
dummy box upstairs. :-)

I don't use the "TEL" feature, but I see that it would be nice to assure
uninterrupted modem or fax operation.  I wrote because of the letter which
implied that these splitters were necessary all over the house to provide
the protection.  NOT SO.  ONE splitter will cut off all other extensions,
if a device plugged into its TEL side goes off-hook.

- Deb
I just USE telephones -- it's my husband who makes a living telling people
which ones to buy...

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 15:13:36 EDT
From: Richard Tobier <gould!infocenter![e-mail]>
Subject: Making External Connections to Merlin

In response to Nomad who asked :

>I would like to connect a modem to the Merlin system at work but need a bit
>of help.  The phones that we use have an extra jack on the bottom for use (I
>am told) with a speakerphone or a "universal device interface".  The people
>from AT$T are quite willing to sell me a little box to plug into it for a sum
>over $250.00 (which seems a bit high for what is undoubtedly a very simple
>little box).

When I was a installer, I discovered a way to hook up analog devices
(Modems, Fax) to electronic systems. The parts may cost you $15 - $20.

Disclaimers:
1. The Electronic Phone system must use a dedicated voice pair (tip and ring).
2. The analog devise is only good for originating calls.

Parts:
1. One RJ 31x
2. 12 inches of cross connect wire

Installation:
1. Mount the RJ 31x within 12 inches of the jack of the station where the
   devise is to be installed.
2. Connect the cross connect wire to terminals 1 and 8.
3. Connect the tip and ring from the station wiring to terminals 4 and 5.
4. Connect the other end of the cross connect wire to where the station wire
   was terminated.

How to use:
1. Plug analog devise into the RJ 31x.
2. Select the line on your electronic phone.
3.
a. MODEM - from your computer type ATDT ect.
b. FAX - using your monitor function on your electronic phone dial the
number, listen for the tone, hit the connect button on the machine
and away you go.

You can buy a RJ 31x at any Graybar or even Radio Shack. It is also know
as an alarm interface.

If you have questions call me at [phone]
 or email encore.encore.com!gould!rtobier

Richard Tobier
Telecommunications Analyst
Encore Computer Corp. (AKA Gould Inc, CSD)


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 13:28:10 EDT
From: Christopher Chung <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cellular Reception

I have a Panasonic transportable phone (EB-362W).  I would like to be able
to use it in the basement of a building but the signal strength is
greatly reduced to the point where you cannot make a call.  What is the
best way to increase the signal strength.  I currently have a 5"
rubber ducky antenna attached to it (this is what came with the phone).
Would getting a longer antenna help or would it be better to put
an antenna in a closet on the first floor and run a 25' cable down to
the basement and attach it to that?  In terms of portability, it is
better to get a longer antenna if possible but would it really help?

Thanks for any suggestions you can give.

Chris
[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Dave Horsfall <munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.au![e-mail]>
Subject: This Is a Recorded Ripoff...
Date: 28 Jul 89 06:39:26 GMT
Reply-To: Dave Horsfall <[e-mail]>
Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA


Printed in the Sydney Morning Herald, 11/7/89 (that's 11 July 89 :-)

``Paying her bill at an otherwise-satisfactory motel on the Southern
Highlands, a Fairy Meadow reader found she was charged 60c for a local
phone call from her room.  She pointed out that the call she made had not
been answered, but was shown a computer print-out showing she had spoken
for 30 seconds.  She protested that when she dialled, all she got ws a
recorded Telecom service saying she couldn't dial STD on that phone.
"Ah," said the manager triumphantly, "but you listened to the message."''

---

I know that you do get gouged by hotels for phone calls, but don't they
even check for call supervision?  Is it possible there is no indication
that the call failed, and a recorded announcement is mistaken for the
called party answering?

--
Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU),  Alcatel STC Australia,  [e-mail]
[e-mail],  ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave

------------------------------

From: Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter <[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 20:40:59 EDT
Subject: Inward Calling

Hi,

I've seen people talk about the operator calling "inward" and have an
idea what this is, but what is the technical description of what it
is?

Thanks,

    droopy

------------
Jeffrey J. B. Carpenter
Computing and Information Services (Computer Center), Systems and Networks
University of Pittsburgh         [e-mail]
600 Epsilon Drive             [e-mail]
Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania 15238         [e-mail]
[phone], FAX [phone]   [e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: 'Inward' is simply the operators' positions in a given
location. Operators in other cities, or 'Inward', can be dialed by another
operator, but not by a subscriber. Typically, 'Inward' has a three digit
number of the form 121. For example, to reach Miami, Florida Inward, your
operator would dial 305-121. Your telephone is blocked from dialling codes
of this sort, or 141, which is Directory Assistance, or 131 and 181, which
are operators performing miscellaneous functions.

Why would an operator in one place call an operator in another city? The
most common reason is to seek assistance in getting through to a number in
the distant community which appears to be out of order, or unreachable for
some reason. The operator in one town may wish to have the verifying operator
in another town check on these conditions. Another reason would be to seek
assistance in coin collection on a collect call to a payphone. The distant
operator cannot control the collection or return of coins, so she would
call the local operator there, get the connection to the payphone and have
the operator on that end supervise the collection.   PT]

------------------------------

Date:     Fri, 28 Jul 89 1:29:46 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Chicago Area 'Dial-A' Services

Dial A --
Jewish Story       312-973-7700
Lift For Living    312-332-6080
Medic              312-933-1100
Mitzvah            312-338-8877
New Thought        312-568-1789
Poem               312-346-3478
Prayer             312-328-6123
Prayer             312-736-1166
Stock Report       312-939-1600
Survivalist        312-821-5483
Unity Blessing     312-383-4655
Unity Message      312-488-5129

Dial --
An Atheist         312-506-9200
An Atheist         312-227-3322
A Gay Atheist      312-255-2960
Gay & Lesbian News 312-975-1212
Guideposts         312-670-0466
Harmony            312-HARMONY
Lawyers            312-529-9377
Meditation         312-445-7898
Pets               312-342-5738
Conspiracy Theory  312-731-1100 (a/k/a Sherman Skolnick's Hotline News)
Time & Temperature 312-549-8463
Time/Temp Espanol  312-280-4799

There are dozens of others, but they are not listed under the "Dial-A"
category. In addition, there are about fifty 976 programs, available
only in the 312/708/815 areas. For information and an index of available
976 programs, call 1-800-922-2976 from within the Illiois Bell LATA.

Some of these services, particularly the free ones listed above, have
a very regular clientele of listeners -- people who call daily without
fail to listen to the messages.


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 13:41:24 EST
From: "Thomas I. M. Ho" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Society of Telecommunications Consultants

What are the address and phone/fax number of the Society?  Are they on any
e-mail networks and if so, what is (are) the address?

+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Thomas I. M. Ho, Ph.D.      | Professor of Computer Technology       |
| Purdue University           | Bitnet:  TOMHO @ PURCCVM               |
| Dept. of Computer Technology| Internet:  TOMHO @ VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU    |
| KNOY 213                    | [e-mail]   |
| WEST LAFAYETTE, IN  47907   | AppleLink: [e-mail]@DASNET#|
| work: 317+494-9525/0486(fax)| CompuServe: >INET: [e-mail]|
| home: 317+463-6666          |                                        |
| Hi-tech nostalgia: do you remember when "laptop" was a place for a   |
|                    child to sit?                                     |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
Acknowledge-To: <TOMHO@PURCCVM>

------------------------------

From: Chip Rosenthal <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: T1 Carrier Solves Shortage of Pairs
Date: 28 Jul 89 15:40:20 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Dallas Semiconductor


Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]> writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 258, message 1 of 9
>   One rather disturbing fact about T1 is that 1.544 megabaud
>dry (no battery) data sounds just like *nothing* if you listen
>with a butt set.

What is a "butt set?"  I would think an active line would be pretty noticable
if the T1 pulse density requirements were met.
--
Chip Rosenthal / [e-mail] / Dallas Semiconductor / 214-450-5337
"I wish you'd put that starvation box down and go to bed" - Albert Collins' Mom

[Moderator's Note: A 'butt set' is simply a telephone handset with a dial
built in (and other nifty switches), ala Trimline. It has aligator clips
on the wires running from it, which can be conveniently clipped on various
wires in a terminal box. They are used by technicians to get an audible
indication of what line(s) they are on at the time.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 14:56:56 CDT
From: John H Haller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: T1 Carrier Solves Shortage of Pairs
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <[e-mail]>, claris!apple!netcom!edg@
ames.arc.nasa.gov (Edward Greenberg) writes:
> >From:  Larry Rachman [74066,2004]
>     The pair situation in NYC is similar, but for other reasons,
> namely the proliferation of CENTREX. When a 1000-phone office is
> equipped with a PBX, it needs only about 100 lines, and possibly
> a few dozen DID (direct inward dialing) trunks. When it switches
> over to CENTREX, the pair count goes up to 1000. And of course,
> fax machines, modems, and so forth make the problem even worse.

It is interesting how the marketing of Centrex has changed.  Shortly
before divestiture, it was very rare that a local operating company
would want to sell Centrex service, probably because of the expense of
all of those lines.  They would rather sell a Dimension(r) plus
a service contract.  After divestiture, since they could not sell
PBX's any more, suddenly Centrex marketing took a very large jump.
Should the Bell companies get permission to start manufacturing,
I wonder if Centrex services would become a pariah again.

John Haller att!ihlpl!jhh

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #262
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 29 Jul 89 10:21:58 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #263
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 29 Jul 89 10:05:57 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 263

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Re: DA calls for unlisted #s (Will Martin)
    Re: How Do I Obtain a Phone Calling Card? (Mike Trout)
    Re: Thank you for using AT&T (Rich Wales)
    Re: How Do I Obtain a Phone Calling Card? (Lars J Poulsen)
    Re: Dial 1-(NPA)-CONFUSE (Lars J Poulsen)
    Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere? (Kevin Blatter)
    Re: Long Distance Directory Assistance (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Dialing Area Codes (Dave Levenson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Fri, 28 Jul 89 8:17:17 CDT
From:     Will Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re: DA calls for unlisted #s

I am in total agreement with you on this. I posted some traffic to Telecom
on this subject back when DA calls first began being charged for. It amazed
me that the system was not implemented in the first place to accomodate
*necessary* DA calls -- those for numbers not in the book. I could not
understand why the charging mechanism would not depend on that -- if
the customer could have looked it up but was too lazy, they should pay.
If they couldn't look it up because it wasn't there to be looked up, there
is no justification for charging for the DA call.

In fact, if I spent time and effort trying to look up a number that isn't
in the book, I can see justification in *my* charging the telco for *my*
wasted time and effort! :-) Maybe we should devise a "customer bill" form
that we'd send to the telco along with our monthly payments, detailing
*our* charges to them, based on what they did, or failed to do, and deduct
that total from what we pay the telco! Let's see -- every time you try to
use a payphone and find no phone books there, a "frustration & annoyance"
charge of $2.00; attempting to use a payphone and find it isn't working
is a $5.00 "F&A" charge. Fighting a COCOT overcharge is $15.00 per hour
F&A... $1.00 for digging thru a phone book and not finding a listing (it
should be higher than what the telco charges us for a DA lookup, because
they have consoles and databases to make the retrieval quick and easy,
whilst we have to juggle heavy paper books and cope with fine print)... :-)
I'm sure others on the list can devise many other appropriate charges!

When I brought up this subject years ago, I recall some respondents came
back with an argument that the DA operators had no way to signal that the
current DA call in progress was to be charged or not. I had figured that
they could just hit some button on their consoles to indicate that the
current call was regarding a number not in the book (that being coded in
their database like you mentioned) and so the call was free. People on
the list claimed that wasn't possible. But now they DO have the capability
to not charge handicapped people who cannot look up numbers due to some
disability -- that exemption is fairly generally implemented, I believe.
If they can discriminate the charging based on that, they certainly can
do so based on other criteria!

Regards, Will Martin

------------------------------

From: Mike Trout <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: How Do I Obtain a Phone Calling Card?
Date: 28 Jul 89 16:26:40 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
writes:
> (I had been using them for one high-volume
> area in which they were marginally cheaper than ATT; I have no wish to
> deal with the three-ring circus that is MCI's version of billing on my NYTel
> bill.)

MCI allows the option of adding their charges to the standard NYTel bill, as
you have, or to a separate MCI bill, as I have.  I started out several years
ago with the MCI+NYTel bill and also found it to be rather messy, whereupon I
switched to separate bills and have been happy ever since.  You might consider
the same; I think all it took was a phone call to MCI customer service.  I've
had MCI as my default carrier for several years and have never had a complaint.
Audio quality is excellent, rates have usually been nicely below AT&T's, and
I've never had the billing/customer service fiascos that seem to plague Sprint.
I even changed addresses and phone numbers about a year ago, and MCI put the
changes through instantly and flawlessly; frankly I had been expecting a major
hassle.

--
NSA food:  Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110  [phone]
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson

------------------------------

From: Rich Wales <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Thank you for using AT&T
Date: 28 Jul 89 18:18:57 GMT
Reply-To: Rich Wales <[e-mail]>
Organization: UCLA CS Department, Los Angeles


In article <[e-mail]>
Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]> writes:

    Since the beginning of this week, I've been hearing radio ads
    from AT&T introducing a new feature of AT&T Long Distance.
    Specifically, when you dial 0+ (or 102880+) you'll get the Bong
    and then a little chime followed by the words "Ay, Tee and
    Tee".  This will let you know that you've indeed reached mom
    (or what's left of her.)

Yes, I've heard the same commercial -- and felt it was very confusing.
At first, I thought they were saying that the "Bong", all by itself,
was AT&T's new unique identifier (!).

What they should have done, I think, is that the "new sound" (the Bong,
a multi-toned chime, and the voice saying "AT&T") should have been done
at least *twice* -- with a bit of silence at the beginning and the end,
and a few wise words from the announcer in between (to make sure people
didn't think the "new sound" had to be repeated twice to be genuine).

Actually, they could just take their current ad, and stick the follow-
ing on the end:

        "*BONG* *chime* AT&T" -- the right choice.   :-}

I wonder, though:  If, as has been reported here previously, some less-
than-scrupulous AOS's have been falsely claiming to be AT&T (with hotel
customers and the like), what is there to prevent such folks from using
AT&T's "new sound"?

-- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // [phone]
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024-1596 // USA
   [e-mail]      ...!(uunet,ucbvax,rutgers)!cs.ucla.edu!wales
"What's a knockout like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?"

------------------------------

From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: How Do I Obtain a Phone Calling Card?
Date: 28 Jul 89 17:26:19 GMT
Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California


In article <[e-mail]>
>                                 [e-mail] writes:
>>I know for a fact that MCI does NOT require that they be your home
>>default carrier.

In article <[e-mail]> Andrew Boardman,
                [e-mail] writes:
>I talked to an MCI rep yesterday about my (soon to be former) MCI calling
>card; I was told that because of a recent policy decision, they would let
>anyone hold a card for a maximum of a month without associated "dial 1"
>service (MCI marketing-talk for being the default carrier) on my line.

The original question was about which long-distance carriers would issue
a card to somebody WHO DID NOT HAVE A HOME PHONE NUMBER at all. This
still has not been addressed.

My home service is two lines. One has 1+ via ATT. The other has 1+
dialing disabled. (Took quite a bit of talking to convince the GTE
salesperson that this was even possible !). I have an account with MCI
which I use for 10222-1+ dialing from home and for card calling from
work. When I recently added the American Airlines bonus mileage option
to my MCI account, they sent me a new pair of cards, which I promptly
(cut up and) threw out, because I like the MCI logo better than the
airline logo, and I would not want to confuse the MCI card with the
AAdvantage card. And the numbers were all the same.

When I signed up with MCI they asked my permission to become my default
carrier, but I said no. They have never brought the issue up again.
I am considering taking them on as my default carrier to become eligible
for a discount plan, but I'll be d**ned if I'll be railroaded. If they
try to force me, I'll probably cancel my account. I don't think they
will try to force me.

On the other hand, I'm perfectly willing to believe that a customer
service representative may have been misinformed.

In the year that I have used MCI, I have never had a billing error; on
the other hand, I have had several false billings on the ATT page of my
GTE bill.

/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only
                My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!

------------------------------

From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Dial 1-(NPA)-CONFUSE
Date: 28 Jul 89 17:00:00 GMT
Reply-To: Lars J Poulsen <salt.acc.com![e-mail]>
Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California


In a message in comp.lang.postscript, Jan Michael Rynning <[e-mail]>
(in Stockholm) writes:
>> >Call 1-88-83-FONTS to get a copy of the "Font and Function" catalog
>> >for more details....
>> Hmmm...  I only have digits on my telephone dial.  How do the letters
>                       ^^^^^^
>> map to digits?

In article <[e-mail]>
portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail] writes:
>Surprise!  The world is not the same as the USA!  Personally, I find
>alphabetic phone numbers vexing to dial, even when the DTMF pad is labelled
>so nicely, my index finger can't read.

The mapping of letetrs to digits differs in various countries. While it
was originally introduced to aid in the transition from exchange names
to all-digit dialling, it took on new life with the introduction of
vanity 800-numbers. For the record of overseas readers, the US mapping
is:
          1             ABC -> 2        DEF -> 3
        GHI -> 4        JKL -> 5        MNO -> 6
        PRS -> 7        TUV -> 8        WXY -> 9
        star = *        "oper"=0        hash = #
           (some phones have QZ on the 0 key)

I cannot remember the Danish mapping, except that "C" was on the "1";
a remnant from when the original Copenhangen exchange became "CEntral".

What may be even more surprising to insular Americans is that the
allocation of dial pulses to digits is not universal. There are a total
of 4 different mappings (counterclockwise from 3-o'clock):

  (a)    0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9    (Used in UK, I think)
  (b)    1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0    (Used in Denmark)
  (c)    0-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
  (d)    9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0

Obviously, this created a lot of technical problems for international
connectivity until the better standardized DTMF signaling became
universal.

And to my embarrassment, I can't even remember which way the US rotary
dial is laid out. It's been so long since I last saw one.

/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only
                My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!

------------------------------

From: "K.BLATTER" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere?
Date: 28 Jul 89 20:18:01 GMT
Organization: AT&T ISL Lincroft NJ USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mark
Brader) writes:
> Lisa Smith ([e-mail]) wrote the following in an article in
> (the Usenet newsgroup) rec.humor.d:
>
> > That prefix, 555, isn't fictional everywhere.  One of my school friends
> > said that his grandfather's phone number, somewhere in South Dakota, is
> > a 555 number.  He said that it was to his knowledge the only place in
> > the U.S. that it was a real prefix though.
>
> Someone else said that if this was ever true it isn't now.
> What do the experts say?

I don't know if I would qualify myself as an expert, but I have a listing
of every prefix in the North American Dialing Area and there is no
exchange which uses 555 as a prefix.  (Some parts of the listing are
a couple of years old, so I guess that it's not really complete.  Other
parts, however, are very much up to date.)

Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Labs

Disclaimer - This information has absolutely nothing to do with my
position with AT&T.

[Moderator's Note: On a hunch, after the first message on this topic appeared,
I tried dialing 701-555-various in North Dakota. Most combinations other
than '1212' were answered 'Northwestern Bell, may I help you?'   PT]

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: long distance directory assistance
Date: 29 Jul 89 13:19:14 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Pete Brown) writes:

> This, too, is probably old news, but I have *just* discovered that
> one can call long distance information (1-415-555-1212, for example)
> *without charge* when the call is made from a Pac Bell coin phone (which
> also speaks to AT&T as its default carrier... maybe a coincidence?)


Perhaps that is true where you live!  Here in NJ, if we dial
1-NPA-555-1212 from a coin telephone, we get a recording telling us
to please depost 50 cents.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Dialing Area Codes
Date: 29 Jul 89 13:41:20 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Jim
Gottlieb) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

> >Why is it that I'm not allowed to dial the area code when I'm calling
> >somebody local? This is so agravating!


Sometimes you can.  In NJ, I can dial local calls with or without
the home area code.  The price is the same, but the call-handling is
apparently different.  In particular, I can dial another line in the
same central office and watch the incoming calling number show up on
the Caller*Id display.  Placing the same call (from and to the same
numbers) but dialing 1+201+the number results in a Caller*Id display
of "Out of Area".  The call-setup seems to take a few seconds
longer, too.  Apparently the home area causes the local switch to
route the call up the tree a node or two and back down again.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave

[Moderator's Note: Dave, in your .signature, you used to say "if you don't
wish to eye-dee your number, don't bother calling me", or words to that
effect. Did you give up trying to get people to do it? Or was it just the
still relatively few number of phones equipped to give it to you?  PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #263
*****************************










Date:     Sun, 30 Jul 89 9:52:56 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #264
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sun, 30 Jul 89 09:37:26 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 264

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    AT&T Gets Green Light for Info Services! (TELECOM Moderator)
    Busy Signal After Other Party Hangs Up (Michael A. Moore)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Stephen G. Tell)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (Epsilon)
    Various Ways of Handling 555-1212 (Miguel Cruz)
    Re: CO programming errors & Ill (pun intended) payphones (Charles Rader)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Sat, 29 Jul 89 16:42:48 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  AT&T Gets Green Light for Info Services!

On Friday, Judge Greene gave AT&T the green light to start selling their
own information services products, effective August 24. Readers will
recall that I alluded to this some time ago in the Digest, saying that
it was only a matter of days before AT&T would be given permission to begin
their own information services network.

Although AT&T has not yet announced the exact components of the new offering,
knowledgeable insiders tell me that it will quickly evolve into a
service which combines many of the best features of Dow Jones News Retrieval
and Compuserve. It will offer the standard fare of news, stock reports,
travel reservations, games, newsletters and SIGS.

We also know at this point that in addition to frequent meetings with
Dow Jones, AT&T has been talking to Nintendo, the game people. We also know
that AT&T Mail will provide the email function for the new service when
it gets underway this fall.

Although AT&T has carefully avoided any discussion (which has reached my
snooping ears!) regards pricing, the word is it will definitly provide some
stiff competition for Compuserve, Genie, and Plink. One of the nicer parts
of the new service will be its convenience in use. I'm told there will be
no special sign up required except for having an AT&T Calling Card,
the Pin on which will serve as your login i.d. Charges will be billed to
your AT&T account, meaning they will come right on the phone bill if AT&T
is presently billing you that way.

As soon as I hear more, I'll post another message. The competition among
the Information Providers should become fierce this fall once AT&T gets
their thing going. I'm excited about it, and plan to try it out as
soon as it becomes available this fall.  August 24 is the day they can
begin officially offering it; I'd expect things to begin falling in place
during September.

Patrick Townson

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 15:22 CDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Busy Signal After Other Party Hangs Up

    Here in scenic, downtown, San Marcos, Texas, the local telephone system
    (SM TELCOM, a.k.a, the San Marcos Telephone Company) has the annoying
    habit of immediately generating a busy signal on your phone line when
    someone hangs up before you do.  Is there any technical reason for this?
    It's really irritating, particularly since you sometimes get to listen to
    five to ten seconds worth of busy signal after each message left on your
    answering machine. :-(.

    ==========================================================================
                               ___  __    __  _____   ___   _  _
    Michael A. Moore          (  _\ \ \/\/ / |_   _| (  _\ | || |    SouthWest
    BITNET: MME4FF16@SWTEXAS  _\ \   \    /    | |   _\ \  | || |  Texas State
    THENET: SWT::MME4FF16     \___)   \/\/     |_|   \___) |____|   University

    =================== "Cosmic thoughts, gentlemen?" -- Spock ===============

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 29 Jul 89 16:20:28 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Eric Schnoebelen) writes:
>         I didn't think my answering machine was overly special either..
> It too is a Panasonic, the dual line model ( about the only special
> thing about it, or so I thought ) and I too leave it on all the time,
> with the "toll saver" feature enabled..  If the machine answers, and I
> want to talk to the person ( perfect for screening calls ) it will hang
> up after I pick up any extension in the house..
>
>         Other features:  remote control from any tone pad, complete with
> replacing the message, selection of which line is answered, time and day
> of the week stamping, and all of the other "standard" features that come
> on answering machines these days..  The only thing I wish it had is a
> way to shut up and hand the call off to a modem if it hears a carrier..
> ( that wasn't on the request list when the machine was purchased...  )

Many machines work that way.  Others do not.  Some require that you
use an extension plugged into the answering machine to make it
disconnect after it has answered.

One question Re: the Panasonic 2-line model described above:  I
bought one recently and discovered that when playing back a message,
there is no obvious way to listen to it again.  I can pause and
resume the playback, but if I missed something and want to back up
and replay the message (either remotely or from the control panel of
the machine) there didn't seem to be a way.  I re-read TFM several
times, and then went back to the dealer (Sears) and asked the
salesman.  He replied that a number of customers had complained
about the lack of a back-space and replay feature.  He then refunded
my money, and I bought another answering machine.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Stephen G. Tell)
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter
Date: 30 Jul 89 03:12:02 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Stephen G. Tell)
Organization: Academic Computing, Duke University, Durham, NC

One of the features of my answering machine, (the Phone-Mate top
of the line phone/dialer/answerer, with time/day stamping)
handles this problem:
Lifting the handset built-in to the machine cuts it off, of course.
Press "*" from any other extension in the house to kill it.

The model number on the thing is 4 digits beginning with 76...
If anyone is interested, I can mail you the exact number.

Other useful features are 3-digit programable security code,
and voice prompts for "beeperless-remote" operation.
--
Steve Tell:  senior, Duke University school of Engineering (please hire me).
Former Chief Engineer, Cable 13 / Duke Union Community Television.
[e-mail];     !mcnc!ecsgate!dukeac!sgt


------------------------------

From: claris!wet![e-mail]
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 23:44:54 PDT
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Wetware Diversions, San Francisco

>You said in your message that, through playing with your line loop resistance,
>that you could receive a call, while your switch was under the impression that
>you had not answered.. This was a method used by Phone Phreaks in the early
>80's to avoid billing.  A phreak would put a 'colored' 'box' (they were
>labeled by colors) on his/her line and receive calls from other phreaks at the
>phone co's expense...

80's?  Try 70s!  Remember the stink when _Ramparts_ published
details of how to build one of those?
                    -=EPS=-


------------------------------

Date: Sun, 30 Jul 89 04:37:14 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Various Ways of Handling 555-1212

Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]> writes:

> Perhaps that is true where you live!  Here in NJ, if we dial
> 1-NPA-555-1212 from a coin telephone, we get a recording telling us
> to please depost 50 cents.

That happens to me in Michigan, too.  But I've discovered that walking
over to the slotless "Charge-A-Call" phone next to the payphone will
allow me to place DA calls for free.

Likewise, I seem to be able to place limitless free DA calls within
my area code by dialing 1-555-5555 instead of 1-555-1212.  That doesn't
seem to work out-of-area.

P.S. Moderator: in response to something a few digests ago:
   1-700-555-4141 works in a lot more places than just 1-700-555-xxxx
   for determining the current carrier.  Not sure why, but it's
   definitely the case.

[e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: Someone else remarked on this to me in a recent letter
not for publication. Apparently 555-anything is interchangeable with 4141
at present, but sooner or later as those numbers begin to be used for
other purposes, only 4141 will be available, and it is considered the
'official' number for the purpose at hand. So I stand corrected in my
earlier report; let's begin using 4141 as the standard.   PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri Jul 28 06:19:05 1989
From: Charles Rader <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: CO programming errors & Ill (pun intended) payphones


In Telecom volume 9, number 241, the moderator said:

    Programming errors abound. For a laugh, try 312-922-4600. For about
    seventy years, that was the main number for Sears, Roebuck & Company
    at their downtown store and offices. They've been gone for years, and
    now dialing the number results in a recording, "you must dial one
    before calling this number". No matter how I dial it, with a one or
    not, that recording still comes on the line.

I had a similar experience this week calling from my hotel room at
Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, Illinois to another number in the
Chicago suburbs.  The recording said that calls within the area code
should be dialed without a one and calls to other area codes should be
dialed with a one.  I got the same recording with or without dialing a
one and with or without the area code.

I finally gave up and used a calling card from an Illinois Bell
payphone and chalked it up to either hotel PBX programming or another
fly-by-night carrier.  The hotel also blocked 10288 access from the
room phone.

Ironically, the number I was trying to reach was at AT&T Bell Labs.
There happened to be an AT&T meeting in the hotel at the same time as
my Unisys users' conference, so I wonder if the folks at the AT&T
meeting experienced this problem too?

Those of us from Michigan also found the Ill Bell payphones a bit
confusing.  One of them gave back my quarter then asked me to deposit
*13* cents.  I didn't have exact change, so I re-deposited the quarter,
which the phone kept even when no one answered.  What's really
supposed to happen?  Does Ill Bell really expect customers to deposit
pennies on local calls?
---
Charles Rader, Systems Manager                  I don't worry 'bout a thing
University of Detroit Computer Services         'cause I know
[e-mail]            Nuthin's gonna be all right.
voice: 313-927-1349  fax: [phone]  Splunge is a trademark of 20th Century Vole


[Moderator's Note: No, you certainly are not expected to deposit pennies
in our payphones. We work in five cent increments like everyone else.
There was obviously some error in the transaction, but you might have
tried depositing *15 cents* to see if that would be acceptable to the
machine. Thanks for sharing your experience while visiting with us.  PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #264
*****************************










Date:     Mon, 31 Jul 89 0:12:13 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #265
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Mon, 31 Jul 89 00:00:06 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 265

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Non-Standard Exchanges in the Past (TELECOM Moderator)
    Re: Why we ALL have seven digit numbers (David Lesher)
    Proper Usage of Units of Measurement (Mark L. Milliman)
    2nd Line Color Codes (Ken Levitt)
    The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number (Gary Kremen)
    The First Radio Commercial (TELECOM Moderator)
    Re: AT&T Gets Green Light for Info Services! (Frank J. Wancho)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Sat, 29 Jul 89 17:55:54 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Non-Standard Exchanges in the Past

The discussion recently in the Digest regarding 'standardized' seven digit
dialing has been accompanied by users telling of experiences in the
past when they found non-standard systems.

 From the time area codes were introduced in the late fifties until just
a few years ago, non-standard numbering systems were around. Actually, until
about 1965 or so, the majority of the United States, although perhaps using
seven digit numbers was still disconnected from DDD, or direct-distance-
dialing for one reason or another. Gradually each telco made the necessary
changes to enable them to be part of the direct dial network.

Officially, exchanges were NOT considered part of the area code in which
they were geographically situated until such time as they were direct
dialable. One correspondent discussed the summer camp served by the Eagle
Bay exchange, and the confusion resulting when he attempted to place a call
through the operator. Part of the confusion resulted from telling the
operator that the place was in 'area 315'...when in fact it was not part
of that area, but merely surrounded by it!

The way to pass a call to the operator under those circumstances would have
been to dial the operator and simply ask for 'Eagle Bay, New York, 3815'.
Let the operator look up the routing. When he said it was in area 315, then
she immediatly assumed he could dial it. When the operator called Rate and
Route, in Morris, IL (815 + 131 if you are interested), she would be told
the route to Eagle Bay was 315 plus 068 plus 121 or similar. On dialing
that code, she would be answered by the operator in Eagle Bay, and she would
simply pass 'three eight one five' verbally to that person. The old time
operators who were around before and after the DDD conversion got underway
would have known this; but newer operators who had no experience with the
old system would quite obviously be confused at first.

There were also systems where your operator could dial into them, although
you could not. One place in Minnesota which comes to mind had four digit
dialing. A call to Rate and Route by your operator would produce a reply,
'mark ticket 218-447, dial 218 plus 054 plus 447 plus'. This told the
operator to dial the four digits you passed verbally to her after dialing
the 'pseudo' (in this case) area code, and the prefix that would eventually
be assigned.

Lafayette, Indiana and lots of other GTE places were peculiar in their
resistance to standardized numbering. In the case of Lafayette, which sits
in area 317, they went undialable by the masses for many years because they
would not force Purdue University to come into compliance with a seven
digit number. Everyone in Lafayette had a seven digit number except Purdue
University, which was 'conveniently dialable' from all over Lafayette with
just two digits: 90.  You had your choice, actually. Nine-Oh would fetch
the Purdue operator, while nine-two, followed by five digits would directly
ring the desired extension on campus.

If you wanted to call Lafayette anything from Chicago -- although you could
call nearby towns with 317-xxx-yyyy -- you dialed 211, which was our old
code for the long distance operator, and asked for Lafayette and the desired
*seven digit* number (everyone else in town was 7D), or you asked for 90
(or just 'Purdue') if that was who you were calling. The operator went on
a ring down line, jerked her ringing key a couple times and waited till
whenever the Lafayette operator came on, anywhere from three seconds to
three minutes later, then verbally passed the number.

The military bases were another strange setup. All large military posts
had their own phone system, replete with three or four digit extension
numbers, no actual assigned phone number in the town where they were
located, and a bunch of ring down lines on the board going to half a dozen
or so major cities. Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana was one such example.
The Great Lakes, Illinois Naval Training Center was another. None of those
people would budge an inch to bring themselves into compliance with the
mandates of DDD, and for years, AT&T and the local telcos kept accomodating
them anyway. Schofield Barracks, Hawaii and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii were two
others that were not actually part of area 808 until a few years ago for
this reason. Schofield had ring downs to Honolulu and to San Fransisco.
 From anywhere on the Islands, your operator called Honolulu and they in
turn passed you to Schofield. From the mainland, a call to Rate and Route
asking for Schofield Barracks produced the response, 'mark ticket 808-054,
dial 415 plus 054 plus 181' and sure enough, a San Fransisco operator
would answer, connect to the cable and wait for Schofield or Pearl Harbor
to answer, eventually, so your operator could verbally pass the desired
number.

The real holdouts were the ones -- that sometimes still to this day -- would
not share their directory listings with 555-1212. Even in the era when
the standardization was far from complete, you could usually get information
even from the communities still on manual service from the appropriate
555-1212. But sometimes the operator would say -- and still says -- "I'll
have to connect you there," and they would ring that exchange, always
with an admonition to the other end, "Operator! Information only for this
party please! Do not connect him to anything!!". This was necessary since
phone phreaks in the 1950's and 1960's knew they could call the appropriate
555-1212, get passed to an independent telco allegedly for information and
sweet-talk the little old lady on the other end into putting the call right
on through. Some telcos still don't share their directory with the folks
who run 555-1212 in their state, which is why you'll occassionally get passed
along to someone else when you call asking for a number.

Ah yes, then there was, and still is to some extent, northern Quebec. Radio
links from a little town called Val-d'Or, Quebec on VHF frequencies. We used
to blow the local operator's mind by calling for someone in Ivujivik, Quebec.
Local operator would go to R&R for counsel, and get told, 'mark ticket
Other Place, dial 809 plus 181. That produced an operator in Montreal who
in turn connected us to Val-d'Or, who in turn answered in French to begin
with, always prompting the local operator to say, "Speak English!" and after
a certain amount of confusion, Val-d'Or would tell us just a minute while
she tried to raise Ivujivik on the radio, but she highly doubted they would
answer because it was 2:00 AM and they only listen in the evenings between
around 9 and midnight.

But she would go on the air, leaving the key open on our end while she was
calling, (in French, sorry I cannot quote it exactly), "Hello Ivujivik, hello!
Val-d'Or calling on channel two! Val-d-'Or here! Come on, are you there?
Val-d'Or has a call for you on channel two."  And she would repeat herself
several times before finally saying to us, "Oh, I am *so* sorry, Chicago!
The operator is asleep now and has the radio off. Why don't you try in a
few hours, maybe about 8 AM, eh? He listens for us starting at 8 AM until
about 10 AM.

And Sudberry, Ontario had an *actual wire* running to Moosonee, a few hundred
miles to the north, again a ring down point, but if you called in the middle
of the night, the operator in Sudberry would always tell you, "If it is
not an emergency, she will get mad at us for calling at this time of night.
We are not supposed to call until **we give her a wake up call at 7 AM**.
Anytime after that until midnight is okay.

Of course, *we* knew ahead of time the responses we'd get from both Val-d'Or
and Sudberry. The local operators in Chicago were rather blown away by the
whole thing, to say the least. By sometime in the early seventies, I suppose,
all that stuff was gone. Talk to a very old, retired circa 1950's phone
operator sometime if you want to hear some amazing bits of phone history.

Patrick Townson

------------------------------

From: David Lesher <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Why we ALL have seven digit numbers
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 9:19:18 EDT
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Reply-To: David Lesher <[e-mail]>

> When we bought the camp, its phone number there was "Eagle Bay 3268."

In 1980, I drove a car out to the left coast. About 40
miles west of Salt Lake City, I stopped to get the oil
changed. There was a Chevron station and some kind of
tourist restaurant. That is ALL. The rest is all sand, or
salt I guess. I noticed the Utah Bell coin slot,
one of the new style (i.e. 1 slot) had a dial blank. The
label on the bottom said "lift receiver, ask operator" on
some such. The number on the center of the dial blank was
    Timparie {sp} 2
I asked the pump jockey, and he said something like
"Oh, yeh, EVERYTHING is LD from here"
I walked over to the greasy spoon, and the coin slot
outside it said
    Timparie 1
on it.

Now, I said, this is the 1980's- ALL telephones have
numbers in the United States. So I looked up the
Teddy Bear Chevron in the book there, and sure enough,

        Ask Operator for Timparie 2
--
   Flash! Murphy gets copyright on sendmail.cf
  {gatech!} [e-mail] (305) 255-RTFM

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 30 Jul 89 11:44:39 EDT
From: Mark L Milliman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Proper Usage of Units of Measurement
Organization: AT&T-Bell Laboratories


For the past year or so I have noticed a trend that disturbs me and
could confuse others.  I first saw this happen in our company's sales
and marketing departments, but then I saw it in our technical
organization a couple times!  Now I see it used in industry publications
and on the net.  I am talking about how we are misusing our units
of measurement.  More specifically, dropping the "per second" from
Megabits/second.  Most of us deduce that the "per second" should be
appended to the Megabits when we see it missing, but novice readers
could be confused by the omission.  Can I connect a T1 line to my PC
and use it to store 1.544 Mb of data?  I can think of some more
ridiculous examples, but I am sure that you understand.

Can anyone explain why this is happening?  Are we just too lazy to type
an extra two letters or is the "per second" meaningless?  I am curious
to know why this is proliferating.  I am waiting to see it in advertising.

I'm not picky, just an engineer,
Mark L. Milliman        Internet:  [e-mail]
AT&T Bell Labs                UUCP:  att!homxc!mlm
Holmdel, NJ   07733
[phone]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 30 Jul 89 22:07:19 EDT
From: Ken Levitt <[e-mail]>
Subject: 2nd Line Color Codes


I have two phone lines in my house.  Both lines appear on the same quad cable.
Line one is on the red and green wires and line two is on the black and yellow
wires.

Things work just fine when I plug in a two line phone.  However, in some
locations I use a wall plate with two modular outlets.  I run the red/green
wires to the top outlet and the black/yellow to the bottom outlet connecting
to the terminals marked red and green.

I know that the colors don't matter as long as I am consistant and my polatity
tester shows all is OK, but I would like to know what the standard is in
color coding.  Should the yellow wire go to the terminal marked red or
should the black wire go to the terminal marked red?

--
Ken Levitt - via FidoNet node 1:16/390
UUCP: ...harvard!talcott!zorro9!levitt
INTERNET: [e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: Green and red/yellow and black/blue and white... who
can go further? Once I heard a phone man name all twenty five pairs in
a cable and their associated partner.....purple and gray/??? and ???.....
then we get into the slates (stripes)...can anyone reading this name all
twenty five pairs (fifty wires) and the 'proper' color combinations?  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Sun 30 Jul 89 13:45:56-PDT
From: Gary Kremen (The Arb) <[e-mail]>
Subject: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number

I am wondering about the "special tone" that one hears when
making a telephone credit card call using AT&T. Does anyone out know
at what frequency the tone is or is there even a standard?

------------------------------

Date:     Sun, 30 Jul 89 23:18:20 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  The First Radio Commercial

I know, this is TELECOM Digest, so what is a message about radio commercials
doing here. There is only one excuse, really: The first sale of time on
a radio station for commercial purposes occurred 67 years ago this
week when radio station WEAF, New York City, sold the first commercial
to a Jackson Heights apartment-house builder.

WEAF, one of the first broadcast radio stations in America belonged to a
very large organization: AT&T to be exact.

Yes, among other things, AT&T used to own a commercial radio station
in the early days of broadcasting. WEAF was designed primarily as an
experimental station, used to test out the latest developments from
Bell Labs and Western Electric Company. The majority of the time they played
jazz music and/or symphonies, with occasional speeches of interest by
important people in New York City. They only operated the station a short
time, and decided it was not worth the time or money to continue operating
it.

This was just a little telecom trivia to start the week for you!


Patrick Townson


------------------------------

Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1989  10:46 MDT
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: AT&T Gets Green Light for Info Services!

  > I'm told there will be no special sign up required except for
  > having an AT&T Calling Card, the Pin on which will serve as your
  > login i.d.

Oh, I hope not.  Considering that many card numbers are based on your
phone number, and the only thing which attempts to protect it is your
PIN, you may very well be giving away the farm if this is true and if
login IDs are conventionally public knowledge...

--Frank

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #265
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 1 Aug 89 0:01:14 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #266
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue,  1 Aug 89 00:00:23 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 266

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    AT&T Call Manager Service (John Gilmore)
    MCI and Northwest Airlines (Ken Jongsma)
    Rotary-dial Encoding (Torsten Dahlkvist)
    Twisted Pair Color Coding (Kenneth H. Lee)
    Color Codes (William C. DenBesten)
    Re: 2nd Line Color Codes (Bob Felderman)
    Re: Cable Colors (Mike Richichi)
    Re: Reach Out and Tap Someone (TELECOM Moderator)
    Re: The First Radio Commercial (Russell Shackelford)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 19:41:32 PDT
From: John Gilmore <[e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Call Manager Service

I recently got a little booklet from AT&T entitled "The AT&T Guide
for New, Moving, and Growing Businesses" (you can get one from
AT&T, POB 7401, London, KY 40742).  It includes half a page on every
service you can get from AT&T (as well as an ad for PBX's and their
386 boxes!).  One service I'd never heard of was Call Manager.

The service is simple and great.  When dialing a long distance call,
if you follow the phone number with 1 to 4 digits, the call will be
billed to that 'account'.  On your phone bill, the calls are sorted
by accounts.  The service is free to all AT&T long distance customers.

This is perfect for shared households, of course.  If you remember
to dial the account number, it goes on your part of the shared bill.
If you forget, it goes in the section that gets looked over by everybody.
I haven't seen the bill that results, but I presume it subtotals the
calls by account number as well as sorting them, making it easy to
figure what you owe.

I'm planning to use the service for my uucp calls too.  I can just
assign an account number to each uucp site my machine calls.  The calls
will be sorted and subtotaled by site, making it easy to see what sites
hoptoad is burning the most money calling.

The service is available now in the Pacific Northwest and they're turning
it on all around the US; call [phone], the "Call Manager Hotline",
to find out when it works in your state.  Unfortunately, the recording
does not list California, so I called AT&T to find out when I could get
the service.  Apparently there is some problem with the Cal PUC, though
the AT&T publication said "AT&T Call Manager service will be available
nationwide by the end of 1989" in large type.  If anyone knows more about
the California problem, please let me know.

------------------------------

Subject: MCI and Northwest Airlines
Date: Sun Jul 30 21:47:57 1989
From: Ken Jongsma <[e-mail]>

Do you have large MCI bills? Do you want a "free" ticket on Northwest?

According to the ticket envelope I received this week, MCI is offering
5 miles in NW's frequent flyer program for every $1 you spend on MCI.

There are some restrictions. You can only use it one free award. No
multiple awards allowed. You must have MCI as your Dial 1 carrier.

If you are interested, there was a number to call: 1-800-288-5847


[e-mail]     {All Disclaimers apply. I use Sprint myself!}


------------------------------

From: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Rotary-dial Encoding
Date: 31 Jul 89 08:57:31 GMT
Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden


Talking about which numbers to dial for operator and so on, how many different
designs of rotary-dials were there? I'm not talking about "fashion" phones
whith strange looks, I mean the encoding of "digit" to "number-of-pulses".

I know of at least three patterns and I'm curious as to whether there are
more or not and exactly where the different systems have been used. If the
subject has been handled before I would appreiciate E-mail with copies of
the relevant articles.

First of all: the "normal" - the Bell-system, used _practically_ everywhere
     (n)-dialling; the digit "1" sends one pulse and so on up 'til 9. "0"=>10.

Secondly: "Swedish" dialling. Does anyone else use this?
     (n+1)-dialling; "0" sends one pulse, "1" sends two... "9" sends 10 pulses.

Third: "Oslo" dialling (the Norwegian Capital is different from the rest of the
country. Historical reasons?):
     (10-n)-dialling (or is it (10-(n+1))?); The dial works "backwards" and
     looks quite funny to the newcomer. I'm not sure if the coding is 1=>10,
     2=>9...0=>1 or 0=>10, 1=>9... 9=>1. Somebody out there to fill me in?

One possible explanation for the "Oslo" system would be that the digits could
be located like the hours on a clock face - more familiar to the user. Is this
true or just another modern myth? Has this scheme been used elsewhere? (I have
an unverified source saying it's been found somewhere in New Zeeland. Correct?)

When Sweden went automatic, starting in the 40's I think and finishing in the
60's, the (n+1) scheme was chosen. Two possible reasons have been told to me.
Since they are in no way contradictory, they _may_ both be valid and/or just
unplanned spin-offs. Or myths.

     First: The zero was deemed the most "important" digit, beeing (at the
     time) used to call the operator and already destined to prefix
     long-distance calls. Also, the zero is (marginally) more frequent than the
     nine in any set of numbers. If you have a local exchange with (for
     example) a three digit numbering plan, you'd start by giving the first
     subscriber number 100 (or 101). You then go on to fill the numbers, but
     you (probably) never reach 999 until it's time to expand the entire
     system. This way, the one through (whichever hundreds you reach) will be
     most frequent followed by the zero and finally by the "remaining" digits.
     There _may_ be advantages to having a more frequent digit sending a
     shorter code.

     Second: By having zero (a single pulse) to reach the operator, a user on
     a newly converted line could use his old phone (lacking a dial) to reach
     the operator by tapping the hook briefly. This is probably mythical since
     phones were at this time telco property and they presumably changed them
     all at the time of converting the line.

There's been a lot of talk about the different small US local admins of early
years. Did any of them go automatic or were they all manual? If any went
automatic, did they all choose the Bell dialling codes?

/Torsten

 Torsten Dahlkvist                        ! "I am not now, nor have I ever
 ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories  !  been, intimately related to
 P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25  ALVSJO, SWEDEN  !  Dweezil Zappa!"
 Tel: [phone]                      !        - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 9:34:55 EDT
From: "Kenneth H. Lee" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Twisted Pair Color Coding

W (hite), R (ed), B (lack), Y (ellow), V (iolet)

Bl (ue), Or (ange), Gr (een), Br (own), Sl (ate)

W/Bl, Bl/W  W/Or, Or/W  W/Gr, Gr/W  W/Br, Br/W  W/Sl, Sl/W
R/Bl, Bl/R  R/Or, Or/R  R/Gr, Gr/R  R/Br, Br/R  R/Sl, Sl/R
B/Bl, Bl/B  B/Or, Or/B  B/Gr, Gr/B  B/Br, Br/B  B/Sl, Sl/B
Y/Bl, Bl/Y  Y/Or, Or/Y  Y/Gr, Gr/Y  Y/Br, Br/Y  Y/Sl, Sl/Y
V/Bl, Bl/V  V/Or, Or/V  V/Gr, Gr/V  V/Br, Br/V  V/Sl, Sl/V

Each bundle of 25 pairs is coded in this manner.  To distinguish a
wire, you need to look at both wires in the pair.  W/Bl, which is
White/Blue, is a wire with a wide spiral of white and narrow of blue.
Whereas Bl/W, Blue/White has a wide spiral of Blue with a narrow
spiral of white.

In our installation, the term used for each bundle was a 'bin'.  I'm
not sure if this is what is used out in the rest of the industry.

If you have more than one bin of 25 pairs in a cable, each bin of is
surrounded by tracers which use a color scheme similar to the wires.
For example, if you had a 200 pair cable, you would have 8 bins of 25
pairs each.

bin    tracer color

 1     W/Bl
 2    W/Or
 3    W/Gr
 4    W/Br
 5    W/Sl
 6    R/Bl
 7    R/Or
 8    R/Gr

I hope this is useful.  This is all from the back of my memory and
some old notes I have.  I haven't worked for the Data Communication
group in a while so I can't vouch for the accuracy this information.

Kenneth H. Lee                [e-mail]
Columbia University            ...{topaz|rutgers}!columbia!cunixc!khl
209 Watson, 612 West 115 Street        [e-mail]
New York, NY 10025            [phone]

------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 31 Jul 89 11:48:26 -0400
From: "William C. DenBesten" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Color Codes

> [Moderator's Note: Green and red/yellow and black/blue and white... who
> can go further? Once I heard a phone man name all twenty five pairs in
> a cable and their associated partner.....purple and gray/??? and ???.....
> then we get into the slates (stripes)...

I thought that the order was:
    Pair  Tip  Ring
      1   RED   GRN
      2   YEL   BLK
      3   BLU   WHT,
and that the 1st pair was backwards in a modular connector compared to the
rest.

> can anyone reading this name all
> twenty five pairs (fifty wires) and the 'proper' color combinations?  PT]

*** Schedule 0 ***

     ------ T I P ------
|    BLU ORG GRN BRN SLT
R WHT  1   2   3   4   5
I RED  6   7   8   9  10
N BLK 11  12  13  14  15
G YEL 16  17  18  19  20
| VLT 21  22  23  24  25

The ring wire in each pair is has a wide band that is the ring color
and a thin stripe that is the tip color.  The tip wire has a wide band
that is the tip color and a narrow stripe that is the ring color.

Is this what you were looking for?  I culled this from staring at
telephone wiring and looking at advertisements for mod-tap connectors,
so I may be all hosed.

--
William C. DenBesten   is   [e-mail]  or   [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Bob Felderman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 2nd Line Color Codes
Date: 31 Jul 89 17:49:49 GMT
Reply-To: Bob Felderman <[e-mail]>
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department


>[Moderator's Note: Green and red/yellow and black/blue and white... who
>can go further? Once I heard a phone man name all twenty five pairs in
>a cable and their associated partner.....purple and gray/??? and ???.....
>then we get into the slates (stripes)...can anyone reading this name all
>twenty five pairs (fifty wires) and the 'proper' color combinations?  PT]

It's really pretty simple:
There are 5 color groups
    white,red,black,yellow,violet
In each group there are 5 pairs
    blue, orange, green, brown, slate

For each pair, the wire that is mostly the color of the group goes first.
For example the 1st pair is White/Blue then Blue/White.
Here's the list:
white/blue    blue/white
white/orange    orange/white
white/green    green/white
white/brown    brown/white
white/slate    slate/white

red/blue    blue/red
red/orange    orange/red
red/green    green/red
red/brown    brown/red
red/slate    slate/red

black...

yellow...
violet...

That will give you 25 pairs (50 wires). To get more than that, for instance
in a 1200 pair cable. Each set of 25 (colored as above) is wrapped with
a colored ribbon. The 1st 25 pairs get a blue ribbon wrapped around them.
The 2nd get an orange, the 3rd get a green ... and so on. I've never
installed a cable with more than 100 pairs, so I don't know how the coding
goes after 125 pairs. I'd assume it's fairly straightforward.


Bob Felderman                                [e-mail]
UCLA Computer Science       ...!{rutgers,ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!feldy

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 21:42 EDT
From: Mike Richichi <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Cable colors

> [Moderator's Note: Green and red/yellow and black/blue and white... who
> can go further? Once I heard a phone man name all twenty five pairs in
> a cable and their associated partner.....purple and gray/??? and ???.....
> then we get into the slates (stripes)...can anyone reading this name all
> twenty five pairs (fifty wires) and the 'proper' color combinations?  PT]
>
Hmm... I just learned this a few days ago when I had to punch down a
25 pair cable... Basically, they're grouped in sets of 5 pairs.  The
pairs are colored blue, orange, green, brown, gray.  Each set of 5
pairs has one pair of each color.  The sets are colored white, red,
yellow, black and purple (I think that's the order at least).  Wires
in a pair are first the first color dominant and then the second
(they're all striped wires...)  So, it goes like this...

blue-white, white-blue  (first color being the dominant one)
orange-white, white-orange
green-white, white-green
brown-white, white-brown
gray-white, white-gray
and then
blue-red, red-blue
green-red, red-green...
and so on through all 25 pairs.
For 50,100,125... pairs, I was told this same thing was repeated for
each 25 pairs and the whole thing was wrapped in still different
colors.  That scheme I don't know though....

--Mike Richichi, Student Telecom Support Specialist, Drew University,
  Madison, NJ, USA.    [e-mail]


------------------------------

Date:     Sun, 30 Jul 89 23:38:12 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re: Reach Out and Tap Someone

In a previous issue of the Digest (Vol 9, issue 120: April 3, 1989) I wrote
that two former security people of Cincinnati Bell were claiming they had
had engaged in numerous illegal taps over a 12 year period at the request
of their supervisors at Cincinnati Bell and the Cincinnati Police Department.

Cincinnati Bell filed suit against the two men, Leonard Gates and Robert
Draize, claiming both were liars out to get even with the company after
they had been fired for other reasons.

'Taint necessarily so, said a judge who agreed the charges may have some
merit, and permitted the class action suit against Cincinnati Bell to continue
this past week.

The class action suit claims that Cincinnati Bell routinely invaded
the privacy of thousands of people in the area by secretly tapping their
phones at the request of police or FBI officials over a twelve year period
from 1972 - 1984. The taps were mainly applied against political dissidents
during the Viet Nam era, and in more recent years, against persons under
investigation by the United States Attorney for southern Ohio, without the
permission of a court.

Now says the court, depending on the outcome of the class action
suit, the criminal trials of *everyone* in the past decade in southern Ohio
may have to be re-examined in light of illegal evidence gained by the US
Attorney, via the FBI, as a result of the complicity of Cincinnati Bell
with that agency, courtesy of Robert Draize and Leonard Gates.

The testimony this past week got *very messy* at times. Gates and Draize
seem detirmined to tell every dirty thing they know about Cincinnati Bell's
security department over the dozen years they worked there. It is a very
sad story indeed. See TELECOM Digest V9 #120 dated April 3, 1989 for the
full background, and hold your breath, because the stink is going to get
worse than ever before it is over and done with.

Patrick Townson

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 12:40:08 edt
From: Russell Shackelford <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The First Radio Commercial


Glad you didn't make any disparaging sexist remarks about the radio station's
female employees :-)

russ

[Moderator's Note: Well look, no one is perfect. I am bound to miss a few
details now and then. :)  But seriously, I doubt sincerely that they even
had any female employees at the radio station in 1922, except probably the
receptionist/secretary. That's just the way things were back then.  PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #266
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 1 Aug 89 1:09:34 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #267
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 1 Aug 89 01:00:20 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 267

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    A New Concept in Numbering Plans (Smitty)
    Re: Is Europe Going to Get 8 Digit Numbers? (Timo Kiravuo)
    Re: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers? (Torsten Dahlkvist)
    Re: Why we ALL have seven digit numbers (Edward Greenberg)
    What's an NPA? (Jeff Wasilko)
    ATT Chimes (Kenneth R. Jongsma)
    Re: This Is a Recorded Ripoff (Kevin Blatter)
    Re: Correction of Telco Name ([e-mail])
    Re: Satanic Exchanges (Kevin Blatter)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: A New Concept in Numbering Plans
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 09:57:15 PDT
From: Smitty <[e-mail]>

Two questions:

1.  Wouldn't the present North American numbering plan work better
    if there were a variable number of digits in local numbers and
    area codes, so that the total number of digits remained 10?  For
    example, California currently has 10 area codes and may soon go to
    11.  Surely some of these areas have many unused exchange codes.
    Wouldn't it make sense for California to have 8 digit local numbers
    and a two digit area code?  This would permit many of the unused
    exchange codes to be used in areas where they are needed.  One
    might consider the first four digits as defining the exchange (this
    would determine geographical location for charging purposes).  Such
    a numbering system would remove the need for many of us to dial
    11 digits for regions just a few miles from our homes.  A similar
    system could be used in New York.  At the same time, states like
    Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, Utah, etc. each tie up an area
    code.  Wouldn't it make sense for them to have 6 digit local numbers
    and 4 digit area codes (with more than one 4 digit area code for
    some states)?  Mixed versions could be used in some of the other
    Eastern States, if appropriate.  For example, a state like New
    Jersey might use two 3 digit area codes and a few four digit area
    codes.  All told, this could hold the total number of digits in
    telephone down to 10 for years to come, instead of the soon-to-be
    11.

2.  Much more generally, given the availability of nation-wide data
    bases (currently used, e.g., for 800 numbers) couldn't these
    be extended to all numbers.  If that were the case, then one's
    telephone number need not be related to his or her physical
    location.  This is, of course, true to some extent, in cellular
    telephone systems.

smitty

------------------------------

Date: 31 Jul 89 16:03:48 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Timo Kiravuo)
Subject: Re: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers?
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Sahlin)
writes:

>Are there more countries going to get 8 digit numbers in the near
>future?

Not Finland, at least, we still have varying lengths all over the
country. My home number is 676 076 and work number 451 4328, even
though they both are in the same (local) company. In some other
places you can have numbers of only four digits. This is partly
because we still have many private phone co-operatives.

>PS. Isn't it about time that the world would agree on the international
>access code, i.e. the code that you replace the +-sign with in your
>international telephone number? In Sweden (and Denmark) we dial 009,
>but many in many countries in Europe it is the more logical 00.

Good idea. In Finland it is 990 to get out. Would you care to
swap that 9 for one 0, would be easier for us both. :-)

A trivia bit. In many companies with local switches you have to
dial 0 to get out. In Finland at least. But on a pulse system the
0 is the longest number, so that a 1 would make more sense, to
save time. The story goes that this comes from the Italy, where
the inpatient Italians would start to hit the phone hook and
accidentally get a 0, when they could not get an line out right
away.

--
Timo  Kiravuo
Helsinki University of Technology,   Computing Center
[e-mail]   sorvi::kiravuo   [e-mail]
work: 90-451 4328   home: 90-676 076

------------------------------

From: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Is Europe going to get 8 digit numbers?
Date: 31 Jul 89 07:59:26 GMT
Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden


>[Moderator's Note: I don't think too many countries have our penchant here
>in the USA for pulling zero to get the operator either. Right/wrong??  PT]


Quite right. As far as I know, the zero-prefix for non-local dialling is by
far the most common one. That means that dialling a single zero and waiting
will just get you a "non-complete" error, whichever way the local admin
handles that. The number in Sweden to get operator service is "000" for
domestic calls. (We'll have to give that up when we get phones on other
planets :-)

There may be some connection between the numbers chosen for certain common
services (like "operator" or "non-local dialling" and the actual design of
the old rotary-switch dial of ancient days. See my next posting for more on
that subject!

/Torsten

 Torsten Dahlkvist                        ! "I am not now, nor have I ever
 ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories  !  been, intimately related to
 P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25  ALVSJO, SWEDEN  !  Dweezil Zappa!"
 Tel: [phone]                      !        - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz

------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Why we ALL have seven digit numbers
Date: 31 Jul 89 22:33:31 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
 writes:
>...
>some such. The number on the center of the dial blank was
>    Timparie {sp} 2
>I asked the pump jockey, and he said something like
>"Oh, yeh, EVERYTHING is LD from here"
>I walked over to the greasy spoon, and the coin slot
>outside it said
>    Timparie 1
>on it.
>
>Now, I said, this is the 1980's- ALL telephones have
>numbers in the United States. So I looked up the
>Teddy Bear Chevron in the book there, and sure enough,
>
>        Ask Operator for Timparie 2
>--

I've been there... in 1982, and they seem to have connected those
phones to the DDD network.  We made a call from there, and I'm sure I
would have remembered the setup you described.

The Salt Lake is actually a historical place.  West of the Chevron Station was
a rest area which commemorated the golden spike of telephony -- the meeting of
the first transcontinental telephone cable.

There are also a bunch of "Toll Stations" in the Nevada Bell telephone
book that have to be reached by calling the operator.  I'm looking
forward to visiting some of those areas someday, when I get the time
to do some motorcycling in Nevada.

I've also been to Moosonee.  It's about an 8 hour train ride north of
Cochrane Ontario on the southern tip of Hudson's Bay.  No roads up
that far, and the cars that they have were brought in on the train.
There are people living along the rail line and the train brings them
their newpapers, groceries, drugs, hardware, etc.  They also seem to
be hanging on the phone line that parallels the railroad.  Once in
Moosonee, the phones don't seem to stand out in my memory. We
received an incoming call at the motel (although the caller has passed
away and I can't ask her how she made it) and we returned the call
successfully.  There were pay phones.  They were not direct dial.
I believe that they HAD dials though, and that local switching was
automatic.
                    -e

[Note to moderator and Mike Trout:  The stories of reaching Eagle Bay,
and the moderators posting of other barely reachable locations were
yummy.  I encourage the moderator (and all of us) to reminisce
further.]

--
Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

------------------------------

From: Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: What's an NPA
Date: 30 Jul 89 22:17:30 GMT
Reply-To: Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest

I'm new to the digest and was wondering if someone could explain what valid
numbers are represented by:
    NPA
    NNX
    etc...

Thanks,

Jeff Wasilko
[e-mail]
netcom![e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: Would some of you readers please correspond direct with
Mr. Wasilko and give him a brief introduction to the terms which are common
here in the Digest?  Thanks!     PT]

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: ATT Chimes
Date: Sun, 30-Jul-89 16:18:56 PDT

Just got back from a trip when I spent some time in US West
territory. When I made some calls from the Minneapolis airport,
I got the chimes and the word "ATT" after the bong.

Interestingly enough, at another US West phone a few days later,
I did not chear the chimes, but did get the usual message after
entering my card number. For some reason, it hasn't been implemented
nationwide yet.

By the way, the US West payphones at MSP are interesting. SOrt of a cross
between the AT&T Darth Vader phones and a stainless steel vending
machine. Takes credit cards and allows selection of carrier by pressing
a button (similar to the way some of the Ill Bell phones at O'Hare
work), and also has a LCD window with status messages displayed.

[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: "K.BLATTER" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: This Is a Recorded Ripoff...
Date: 31 Jul 89 02:39:51 GMT
Organization: AT&T ISL Lincroft NJ USA


> for 30 seconds.  She protested that when she dialled, all she got ws a
> recorded Telecom service saying she couldn't dial STD on that phone.
> "Ah," said the manager triumphantly, "but you listened to the message."''
>
> I know that you do get gouged by hotels for phone calls, but don't they
> even check for call supervision?  Is it possible there is no indication
> that the call failed, and a recorded announcement is mistaken for the
> called party answering?

Nope, traditional PBX's like those used in Hotels have no idea if a
call was completed.  A PBX only knows when the caller picked up the
phone and the digits that he/she dialed and when the caller hangs up.
PBX's use a timeout feature to assume when a call would possibly be
completed.  Then they start billing from that time -- usually about 45
seconds.

When I travel and I want to call home, I pick up the handset, dial
the number quickly, when the other end answers, I spout off the
hotel and room number quickly and then hang up.

I have done this several times and haven't been billed for one of these
calls yet.  -- A nice way to get back at the slimeball hotel operators
that choose AOS's!

Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Labs
Disclaimer - I don't know what my employer thinks of such practices,
so I can't very well speak for them.


------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 31 Jul 89 10:54 CDT
From:    [e-mail]
Subject: Correction of Telco Name

Patrick - just to clarify a message that somebody posted about
a non-numeric phone number in Utah  (sorry I don't know who..old
digests are auto-purged after they are read).  The BOC for Utah
is Mountain Bell. (not Utah Bell).
-=->G<-=-

[Moderator's Note: You're right. Sorry, I missed that one myself.  PT]
------------------------------

From: "K.BLATTER" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Satanic Exchanges
Date: 31 Jul 89 02:20:22 GMT
Organization: AT&T ISL Lincroft NJ USA


Since this discussion of 666 exchanges is still alive, I decided to
list all of the 666 exchanges in the US and Canada (at least according
to the list that I have).  They are:

201666   Westwood, NJ
202666   Washington, DC
203666   Newington, CT
205666   Mobile, AL
207666   Bowdoinham, ME
208666   Coeur d'Alene, ID
212666   New York, NY
213666   Los Angeles, CA
214666   Bristol, TX
215666   Philadelphia, PA
216666   Montrose s, OH
217666   West dana, IL
218666   Cook, MN
301666   Cockeysville, MD
303666   Lafayette/Louisville, CO
305666   Miami, FL
306666   Fox Valley, SK
312666   Chicago, IL
313666   Drayton Plains, MI
318666   Reeves, LA
402666   Linwood/Morse Bluff, NE
403666   Etzikom, AB
405666   Rocky, OK
406666   Fort Smith, MT
415666   San Francisco, CA
416666   Whitby, ON
418666   Quebec, PQ
419666   Toledo, OH
501666   Little Rock, AR
503666   Gresham, OR
505666   Wagonmound, NM
513666   E liberty, OH
514666   Laval, PQ
516666   Bay Shore, NY
519666   Ilderton, ON
603666   Manchester, NH
604666   Vancouver, BC
605666   Keystone, SD
606666   Jackson, KY
608666   Lyndon Station, WI
614666   Ostrander, OH
615666   Lafayette, TN
617666   Somerville, MA
703666   Martinsville, VA
713666   Houston, TX
714666   Anaheim, CA
803666   Shaw AFB, SC

Apologies to everyone for misspelling any of the destinations listed
above or omitting any exchange.

Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Labs
Disclaimer - The above represents personal knowledge and has nothing
to do my employer.

[Moderator's Note: However, the astute reader will note that the town of
Hell, Michigan is not included in the above. The area code for Hell is 313,
and they share the CO with Hamburg (313-231) or Pinckney (313-878) depending
where in Hell you happen to be located; it being a rural area, with a tiny
population spread over several miles. The zip code for Hell is 48169, which
it shares with nearby Pinckney, about twenty miles northwest of Ann Arbor,
on State Route D-19.

About the only industry or business in the little town is a company which
makes and sells T-shirts and other souveniers for tourists which quite
appropriatly say, "I've been through Hell..."

And with that, we close the topic of 'Satanic Exchanges'. I hope you've
gotten as many laughs from it as I have, what with government agencies,
Jesuit Universities and the devilish IRS, all with 666 numbers.

In Wednesday's Digest, another round of Sprint-bashing coming up. See you
tomorrow!    PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #267
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 2 Aug 89 0:13:36 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #268
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 2 Aug 89 00:01:06 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 268

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Sprint Service in the Hinterlands (J. G. Black)
    Sprint's Free FO(O)N Service (John Higdon)
    Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number (Edward Greenberg)
    Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number (Tom Wiencko)
    Re: MCI and Northwest Airlines (Lars J. Poulsen)
    Re: MCI and Northwest Airlines (John Levine)
    Re: National Views of Access Codes (Tom Hofmann)
    Re: Intelligent Network: Service Interactions (Anthony Lee)
    Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant (Alexander Dupuy)
    Weird Phone Dials (Henry Mensch)
    Re: Rotary-dial Encoding (Mark James)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 08:34:58 EDT
From: @vlsi.ll.mit.edu:black@micro
Subject: Sprint Service in the Hinterlands
Reply-To: @vlsi.ll.mit.edu:black@micro

I've just returned from a relaxing trip to a friend's cabin in central Maine,
where there are still 'cottage industry' local TELCOs.  This particular one,
called Community Telephone Co, served a 10-mi-radius region about 20 mi W of
the state capital, Augusta.  Their phone directory gives the usual blather
about what equal access is, but then states that only AT&T serves the region.

I then called back to the Boston and Phila. areas, using my Sprint 800-877-8000
FON card method, which ordinarily gives the excellent sound quality which seems
to rankle some of the AT&T hounds in the audience.  Well, in this case the call
did go through, but the sound quality was TERRIBLE, garbled, hissy, almost
inaudible.  Repeated same on AT&T, using calling card , and sound quality was
very good.

My question is, who carries the calls to the nearest Sprint line (in Portland?)
when you originate a call in a region which they do not serve?


JG Black, consultant at MIT Lincoln Lab
"The real tragedy of the AT&T breakup has yet to occur, the dismantling of the
finest research establishment in the USA"

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Sprint's Free FO(O)N Service
Date: 1 Aug 89 02:30:14 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team


All of this commentary concerning Sprint's ultra-cautious handling of
its accounts and security measures and redlining, etc., has reminded me
of the first days of the FO(O)NCARD service. As soon as the 800 877
8000 number was working in southern California it didn't take some
people long to find out that the cheapest long distance rates were
currently being provided by Sprint.

This is how it worked: Dial 800 887 8000. Dial 0 plus the telephone
number. When you hear the tone dial 14 digits. Oh, any digits, even all
1s if you like. "Beep-beep" and the call goes through. This "service"
lasted for many, many weeks. The more enlightened users of this
arrangement only used pay phones, realizing that the number of the
calling phone was being transmitted to Sprint, but for a while it was
indeed the cheapest long distance anywhere.

That's progress. From having the biggest hole in all of telephony to
turning off legitimate subscribers because too many (or not enough)
calls are being made. Are they learning on our nickel?
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number
Date: 31 Jul 89 22:16:21 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


My understanding is that this is octothorpe (pound) followed by a
decaying volume dialtone.

The octothorpe unlocks the touchtone pad in certain cases.  The
dialtone is just a cue to the human to go ahead and dial.
                -e
--
Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

------------------------------

From: Tom Wiencko <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number
Date: 1 Aug 89 18:45:31 GMT
Reply-To: Tom Wiencko <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
 .edu (The Arb) writes:
>I am wondering about the "special tone" that one hears when
>making a telephone credit card call using AT&T. Does anyone out know
>at what frequency the tone is or is there even a standard?

As a matter of fact, yes, there is a standard.  My copy of the 1980
"Notes on the Network" tells it like this:

A 941Hz plus 1477Hz tone for 60 msec at -10dBm/-3TLP

followed by

a 440Hz plus 350Hz tone for 940 msec exponentially decayed from
   -10dBm per frequency at -3TLP at time constant of 200 msec.

This tone is affectionately known in some circles as the "bong."

I believe that this is still the standard.

Tom

------------------------------

From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MCI and Northwest Airlines
Date: 1 Aug 89 18:58:40 GMT
Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California


In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Ken Jongsma) writes:
>According to the ticket envelope I received this week, MCI is offering
>5 miles in NW's frequent flyer program for every $1 you spend on MCI.

>There are some restrictions. You can only use it one free award. No
>multiple awards allowed. You must have MCI as your Dial 1 carrier.

MCI is signing these agreements with all the major frequent flyer
programs. I have mine posted to AAdvantage (American Airlines).
The MCI miles are regular bonus miles, that count towards any award you
care to apply them to.

Last week, I got a promotion from Mileage Plus (United Airlines)
offering the same deal.

And MCI is NOT my dial-1 carrier. (ATT is).

/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only
                My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!

------------------------------

From: John Levine <esegue![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MCI and Northwest Airlines
Reply-To: John Levine <esegue![e-mail]>
Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 01:58:44 GMT

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ken Jongsma) writes:

>MCI is offering 5 miles in Northwest's frequent flyer program for every $1
>you spend on MCI.  ...  You must have MCI as your Dial 1 carrier.
>If you are interested, there was a number to call: 1-800-288-5847

MCI has the same deal with American.  You just call the 800 number, give
them your MCI account number and your AA or NW account number, and you're
all set up.  (Only one airline allowed, I asked.)  In theory you have to
have MCI as your default carrier, but I have them as a 10222 alternate
carrier, and they didn't complain.
--
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, [phone]
{ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl, [e-mail], [e-mail]
Massachusetts has 64 licensed drivers who are over 100 years old.  -The Globe

------------------------------

From: Tom Hofmann <mcvax!cgch![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: National Views of Access Codes
Date: 31 Jul 89 07:33:51 GMT
Organization: WRZ, CIBA-GEIGY Ltd, Basel, Switzerland


 From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail]
(Mark Brader):
| 1. Are there any other countries that take what I have called the "North
|    American" point of view above?  *All* the countries that I've been to
|    outside North America use the other system.

| 2. Are there any other countries that allow customer-dialed, operator-
|    assisted calls?  If so, how are they dialed?

| 3. Are there any countries outside North America that use 1 as an access
|    code (interpreting the numbers in North American style)?  So far all
|    the ones we've heard about use 0, except for Finland which uses 9.

| 4. Is there any correlation between unusual access codes and unusual dials?
|    I remember that where the standard dial has 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0, there
|    are two nonstandard dials that have 0-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and 9-8-7-6-5-
|    4-3-2-1-0, but I don't remember which are the few countries that use
|    them, except for New Zealand which uses the latter one.  Could Finland
|    be one of these?  -- I know that New Zealand uses an access code of 0.
|    On the other hand, their emergency number is 111, which is dialed the
|    same as the British 999!

1. France is an example---they have only two area codes, however:
   "1" for Paris and "" (none) for the rest of the country. French
   telephone numbers are always written without the access code "16".

4. I have seen 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 in Norway (among "normal" ones) and
   0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 in Sweden (both more than 10 years ago).

Tom Hofmann             [e-mail]


------------------------------

From: Anthony Lee <munnari!batserver.cs.uq.oz.au![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Intelligent Network: Service Interactions.
Date: 1 Aug 89 00:26:20 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail]


I posted an earlier article asking about service interactions in
an Intelligent Network environment.  Since then I was away for
two weeks for a conference in Singapore (SICON'89) and to visit
my parents in Hong Kong.  Naturally while I was away I didn't get
to read any responses to my question on comp.dcom.telecom.

However I did receive email from David G Lewis from Bellcore.  He
said that he would tell me more if I can reply to his mail.  So I did
but my mail bounced at either University of Texas or Bellcore.  I
am really annoyed at this because I try mailing to someone else before
in Bellcore and the same thing happened.  I heard from someone else that
Bellcore's email system is very flaky, can anybody confirm that.

And David Lewis, if you are reading this then please send me either
your phone number or SNAIL address.  I would really be grateful if
someone from BNR send me some responses too on any information about
service interactions.

Anthony Lee (Humble PhD student) (alias Doctor(Time Lord))
ACSnet:    [e-mail]    TEL:[phone]
Internet: [e-mail]        ([phone] (w)
SNAIL: 243 Carmody Rd, St Lucia, 4067 Australia

------------------------------

From: Alexander Dupuy <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant
Date: 31 Jul 89 15:36:26 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Columbia University Computer Science Department


In article <[e-mail]> John Boteler writes:
   Office    Tone Plant
   ------    ----------
   Rolm PBX    lucky to get anything!

Actually, with Rolm PBX's anything means just that!  We have one of these
monsters at Columbia now, and it has happened that someone calling me got a
busy signal which changed to a ringback after I hung up on the previous call!

What I'm curious to know is whether called party answer supervision works
correctly in these cases, i.e. if someone calling long distance were to get a
busy and hang on the line until I hung up on the previous call, would they only
be billed after I had answered (assuming they were using an LD carrier which
could detect answer supervision)?

@alex

inet: [e-mail]
uucp: ...!rutgers!cs.columbia.edu!dupuy

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 10:21:50 -0400
From: Henry Mensch <[e-mail]>
Subject: Weird Phone Dials
Reply-To: [e-mail]

New Zealand has their dial oriented "backwards" (from a north american
perspective).  Thus, zero (or is it nine?) is closest to the finger
stop, etc.

# Henry Mensch   /   <[e-mail]>   /   E40-379 MIT,  Cambridge, MA
# <[e-mail]-relay> / <[e-mail]> / <[e-mail]>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 19:20:02 +0200
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Rotary-dial Encoding


[e-mail] (Torsten Dahlkvist) writes of "Oslo" dialling:
>     (10-n)-dialling (or is it (10-(n+1))?); The dial works "backwards" and
>     looks quite funny to the newcomer. I'm not sure if the coding is 1=>10,
>     2=>9...0=>1 or 0=>10, 1=>9... 9=>1.
      . . .
> (I have an unverified source saying it's been found somewhere in New
> Zealand. Correct?)

That is correct; not only "somewhere" but all of New Zealand uses a
10-n pulse code: 9 gives 1 pulse, 8=>2 ... 0=>10.  Most emergency
numbers end in 999.  I believe Australia uses the same system.

Now, of course, most new phones use tones, but even here the tone
codes are different from those used elsewhere.  New Zealand Telecom
did this on purpose, of course.  When international pressure forced
the government to abrogate Telecom's monopoly of telecommunications
equipment manufacture, the bureaucrats made sure that few competitors
would bother making their phones or modems work with the weird local
standard.  For this reason, even 300-baud modems still cost the
equivalent of over $100 US.

####### Mark James ######### opinions, errors etc are my own #######
####### [e-mail] ######### [phone] ########

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #268
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 2 Aug 89 1:17:21 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #269
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 2 Aug 89 01:00:40 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 269

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Standards For Color Coding of Phone Cables (Vance Shipley)
    Problems with calls to 401 area (Roy Smith)
    Being "Unlisted" in a Listing (Carl Moore)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin ([e-mail])
    Re: 2nd Line Color Codes (Chuck Huffington)
    Re: Proper Usage of Units of Measurement (Tom Gardner)
    Re: Long Distance Directory Assistance (Wilson Chan)
    Re: This Is a Recorded Ripoff... (Lars J. Poulsen)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue Aug  1 19:06:36 1989
From: Vance Shipley <[e-mail]>
Subject: Standards For Color Coding of Phone Cables
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Vance Shipley)
Organization: Xenitec Consulting Services, Kitchener, ON

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Ken Levitt) writes:

>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 265, message 4 of 7

>I know that the colors don't matter as long as I am consistant and my polatity
>tester shows all is OK, but I would like to know what the standard is in
>color coding.  Should the yellow wire go to the terminal marked red or
>should the black wire go to the terminal marked red?

Telephone circuits are paired as 'tip' and 'ring' wires. On POTS (plain old
telephone service) tip is 0 volts and ring is -48 volts (tip is not 'ground'
though as it is a blanced line).  The pairs must be distinguishable from one
another easily so they are colour coded.  The colour of the wire indicates
whether it is tip or ring.  In a quad wire green and black are tip while red
and yellow are ring.

>[Moderator's Note: Green and red/yellow and black/blue and white... who
>can go further? Once I heard a phone man name all twenty five pairs in
>a cable and their associated partner.....purple and gray/??? and ???.....
>then we get into the slates (stripes)...can anyone reading this name all
>twenty five pairs (fifty wires) and the 'proper' color combinations?  PT]

pair#        tip colour        ring colour
_____        __________        ___________

1        white            blue
2        white            orange
3        white            green
4        white            brown
5        white            slate  (silver)
6        red            blue
7        red            orange
8        red            green
9        red            brown
10        red            slate
11        black            blue
12        black            orange
13        black            green
14        black            brown
15        black            slate
16        yellow            blue
17        yellow            orange
18        yellow            green
19        yellow            brown
20        yellow            slate
21        violet  (purple)    blue
22        violet            orange
23        violet            green
24        violet            brown
25        violet            slate

An individual wire is identified by it's colour and the colour of it's stripe.
The main colour determines whether it is tip or ring while the stripe
identifies it's pair (i.e. a black wire with a blue stripe is tip of pair 11).
In many cables the stripe is missing in which case the pairs are distinguished
by the way they are twisted, by pulling back the sheath pairs are more obvious.

As you can see there are only 5 tip colors and 5 ring colours (5 x 5 = 25).
a 100 pair cable is made up of four of these 25 pair bundles.  The first
bundle is wrapped by a white/blue binder string, the second by a white/orange
binder, the third by a white/green and the fourth by a white/brown.  This
scheme can be extended infinitum.

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(William C. DenBesten) writes:

>I thought that the order was:
>    Pair  Tip  Ring
>      1   RED   GRN
>      2   YEL   BLK
>      3   BLU   WHT,
>and that the 1st pair was backwards in a modular connector compared to the
>rest.

Your polarity is off.  Modular connectors reverse the polarity so they make
the issue pretty confusing.  A modular line cord (that is a properly made
_telephone_ line cord) has a flat topology such that when laid on a table
the top of both connectors is up.  This means that a reversal (polarity wise)
takes place.  Tip becomes ring on all pairs (the wire is a ribbon in theory).
the top of both connectors is up.  A 'set' jack (the one inside the telephone)
is wired backwards to compensate.

>Is this what you were looking for?  I culled this from staring at
>telephone wiring and looking at advertisements for mod-tap connectors,
>so I may be all hosed.

The mod-tap connectors got ya!  They don't always (read 'often') get the
polarity straight from a telephone standards point of view.  A standard for
using modular connectors with rs-232c is in the works that should clear up
much of the mess caused by adhoc "standards" made up by people in need of one!

Vance Shipley                          uucp:  ..!{uunet!}watmath!xenitec!vances
Linton Technology - SwitchView         INTERNET:            [e-mail]
180 Columbia Street West                            (soon)  [e-mail]
Waterloo, Ontario
CANADA                                                      tel:  [phone]
N2L 3L3                                                     fax:  [phone]

------------------------------

From: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Problems With Calls to 401 Area
Date: 1 Aug 89 15:53:20 GMT
Organization: Public Health Research Institute, NYC, NY


This morning, I've placed a few calls to 401-847 and 401-849 numbers (actually,
two different lines to the same company).  To be honest, I'm not sure which
long distance carrier we use here at work.  About 3 out of 4 times I get one
of two recordings, either "-ry your call again" (it sounds like the recording
cuts in on the middle of a "please try your call again" message, every time
at exactly the same place) or "this number is not in service at this time".
When I called the AT&T operator, she said one number was busy (possible, I
guess) and put me right through to the other number.  Another time, the
operator told me I should try it with 10288 first, which I did and it worked.

    My question is, what exactly does an operator do when you call and
ask for help making a call.  Most times when I have to call an operator
because I can't get through myself and suspect something is wrong, the
operator makes the call no sweat.  Do they do anything special?  Manual
routing?  Priority routing?  Or is it just luck?

    Hmm... I just noticed on a recent Digest that either 1-700-555-1212
or 1-700-555-4141 should get you a recording telling you what LD carrier
you have.  I tried the first and got a recording saying "We're sorry, your
long distance carrier cannot complete your call at this time.  Please check
with your long distance carrier for more information.  13282." or something
to that effect.  A call to the later got a recording welcoming me to the
"Totaltel network".  Sounds like fly-by-night phone company to me.
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- [e-mail]
"The connector is the network"

[Moderator's Note: The AT&T operator has some options not presently available
to operators of Sprint and MCI, who mostly are limited to handling special
billing requests on calls, such as collect, third number or credit card
billings. AT&T operators will assist in dialing by (1) attempting to reach
the number themselves to see if the problem you were experiencing was
temporary and has now corrected itself, and (2) to seek the assistance of
the local operator in the called community to detirmine if the requested
number is out of order, abandoned off-hook, or whatever.

By dialing to 'Inward' in the desired community via a number the operators
can dial but subscribers cannot, the operator has her counterpart in the
distant city 'verify' the number; that is, go on the line momentarily to
listen for conversation or some indication of trouble.

What sometimes happens when AT&T can complete a call but some other OCC
bounces it back through intercept is that no one has yet told the OCC the
desired office code (AC plus prefix) is a working combination. Or if the
OCC was made aware, they have not yet programmed their switch to accomodate
calls to that office. The OCC's not have a sufficient working arrangement
with the local telcos *yet* that they can 'borrow' an operator in the
distant city to verify troubles on the line.

The reason you have Bumstench Telecom, or whatever they call it is perhaps
they managed to convince some executive in your firm -- a know nothing where
telecom is concerned -- that the rates would be so much better than the
'overpriced' service offered by AT&T. It happens that way, a lot.  PT]

------------------------------

Date:     Tue, 1 Aug 89 10:38:11 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Being "Unlisted" in a Listing

I thought I saw a reference to unlisted number(s) in a very
recent digest.  Anyway, I was recently in New Market, Va.
(Shenandoah County), and the local phone book (the first one
to do so in my recollection) listed people who had unlisted
numbers!  No address was supplied for such people except for
town (or exchange?) place name.  Making up a name (I don't
recall any actual name anyway), here's a sample:

Smith, John -- Edinburg -- Unlisted
("Unlisted" appears where the phone number would be.)

------------------------------

From: 90784000 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Date: 31 Jul 89 14:53:43 GMT
Reply-To: /dev/null <[e-mail]>
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz

In article <[e-mail]> pnet01!pro-sol!pro-
newfrontier!pro-nfmail01!pro-harvest!pro-palace!r. writes:

>You said in your message that, through playing with your line loop resistance,
>that you could receive a call, while your switch was under the impression that
>you had not answered.. This was a method used by Phone Phreaks in the early
>80's to avoid billing.  A phreak would put a 'colored' 'box' (they were
>labeled by colors) on his/her line and receive calls from other phreaks at the
>phone co's expense...
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Actually started in the late '60s.  There was an article in Ramparts Magazine
which gave actual details, including Radio Shack part numbers for building a
"Yellow" box.  Basically a resistor to be switched in at time of ring receipt
to disable call charging (since the telephone had never been answered).
"Blue" box details were worked out from the Bell Systems Technical Journal
article published in the '60s which explained the inner workings of the new
DTMF and MF systems.  In the '70s "Captain Crunch" popularized this and added
the computer twist.

Go to your local US Government Depository Library (many public libraries and
most university libraries fall into this category) and look up the Code of
Federal Regulations for Telecommunications (several volumes).  Part 68 has
an interesting section on "Billing Protection" which deals with both the MF
tones generated by "Blue" boxes and the impedance shifting done by "Yellow"
boxes.  But don't USE the information illegally or you'll be placed in a
"Gray" box with steel bars :-).

------------------------------

From: apex![e-mail]
Date: Tue Aug  1 18:38:18 1989
Subject: Re: 2nd Line Color Codes
Organization: Apex Computer Co., Redmond  WA

>[Moderator's Note: Green and red/yellow and black/blue and white... who
>can go further? Once I heard a phone man name all twenty five pairs in
>a cable and their associated partner.....purple and gray/??? and ???.....
>then we get into the slates (stripes)...can anyone reading this name all
>twenty five pairs (fifty wires) and the 'proper' color combinations?  PT]

Here, is the order of the 25 pair color code.  This is from
memory and I don't use it often anymore, but I pretty sure its correct.

I don't know of any relationship between red/green/yellow/black
quad cable and this code.

w/bl    bl/w        w = white    bl = blue
w/o    o/w        r = red        o = orange
w/g    g/w        bk = black    g = green
w/br    br/w        y = yellow    br = brown
w/s    s/w        v = violet    s = slate

r/bl    bl/r
r/o    o/r
r/g    g/r
r/br    br/r
r/s    s/r

bk/bl    bl/bk
bk/o    o/bk
bk/g    g/bk
bk/br    br/bk
bk/s    s/bk

y/bl    bl/y
y/o    o/y
y/g    g/y
y/br    br/y
y/s    s/y

v/bl    bl/v
v/o    o/v
v/g    g/v
v/br    br/v
v/s    s/v
                Chuck Huffington
                uunet!apex!chuckh


------------------------------

From: Tom Gardner <hp-sdd!otter.hpl.hp.com![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Proper Usage of Units of Measurement
Date: 1 Aug 89 08:59:11 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.


Mark Williams comments about the new "habit" of dropping the "per second"
from "Megabits per second". I agree that it's lazy, sloppy and (unforgivably)
potentially confusing/ambiguous.

My own pet peeve on this subject is authors who think "nS" is a unit of time.
It isn't. The Siemen (S) is a unit of conductance, i.e. the reciprocal of
resistance, units amps per volt. You most often come across Siemens as the
unit of transconductance in semiconductors.

The unit of time, seconds, is written as "s". N.B. lower case.

When I see, for example, a RAM access time written as 100nS, I note that
the author does not have a particularly wide or deep understanding of this
subject area. HENCE I TEND TO DISCOUNT ANYTHING ELSE THE AUTHOR WRITES, unless
it is, in all other respects, clear concise and comprehensible.

Moral: using incorrect units makes you appear ignorant.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 15:46 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Organization:  University of Louisville
Subject: Re: Long Distance Directory Assistance

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
  (Pete Brown) writes:

>>this is probably old news to many readers, but you can save a dime on
>>your 1***5551212 calls by prefixing with 10ATT.  ATT still charges 50 cents
>>per directory assistance calls...  does anyone know of another carrier
>>which matches ATTs rate for directory assistance?

[stuff deleted]

In relation to this issue, I would like to present my experiences with
AT&T long distance operator for International calls.

Several months ago, the Hong Kong Telecom had converted all their 6-digit
telephone numbers to 7-digit numbers.  Therefore, all telephone customers
in Hong Kong now have 7-digit numbers.  I called home right after HK Telecom
switched my parents' telephone number, of course, I got the usual message
saying that the number was wrong or disconnected.  Therefore, I called up
the AT&T operator (dialing "00") and asked him whats the problem since
I didn't know the change at that time.  He tried the number for me but got
bounced!  Therefore, he called the directory assistance from HK Telecom
and requested the my parents' new phone number.  The new phone number
worked!  And I did not get a bill from AT&T at all for the following month!

There wasn't any charge when someone request a International directory
assistance service through the AT&T operator.  I think the reason behind was
that there isn't any way for AT&T to get billings from Telephone companies
in other countries.  It is probably very expensive to implement this
billing system I think.

Any comments or corrections will be appreciated!


Wilson Chan, Student Consultant  | UUCP: [e-mail] (UUCP only)
Health Sciences Computing Center | BITNET: [e-mail]
University of Louisville         | ARPA: [e-mail]
Louisville, KY  40292, U.S.A.    | CIS:     74030,2713      GEnie:  W.CHAN

------------------------------

From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: This Is a Recorded Ripoff...
Date: 1 Aug 89 19:11:42 GMT
Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California


In article <[e-mail]>
    [e-mail] (K.BLATTER) writes:
>-- A nice way to get back at the slimeball hotel operators that choose AOS's!

On a recent visit to Phoenix, I stayed at an otherwise very nice hotel
that had AOS (NTS, I think). When it was time to call my wife, I called
the receptionist and asked how to access ATT and MCI. She told me to
dial 9-10288+ for ATT (9 was the access code for (free) local calls).
In a flash of inspiration, I dialed 9-950-1022+ and the call went
through. No billing on the room bill. Serves them right.

/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only
                My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #269
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 89 0:20:02 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #270
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 3 Aug 89 00:11:20 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 270

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    The Demise of Inward (John R. Covert)
    NOVELL: Problem Using DBASE III Multiuser Program (Phillip M. Immordino)
    RS-232 Standards for phone wire (Ken Levitt)
    Special Ring Detection (Orville Weyrich)
    Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere? (John Wheeler)
    Re: AT&T Gets Green Light for Info Services! (Peter da Silva)
    Re: Twisted Pair Color Coding (James Harvey)
    Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant ([e-mail])
    Re: Long Distance Carrier Sound Comparisons (Amanda Walker)
    Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Divestiture, Business and the General Public (Peter da Silva)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "John R. Covert" <[e-mail]>
Date: 2 Aug 89 23:51
Subject: The Demise of Inward

The concept of Inward is one of the things that modernization of the network
has essentially ended.

Back in the days when lots of calls were operator handled, the Inward operator
was the operator who answered jacks labelled "Inward" on her position.  In
some towns, this might be the same operator as the "Coin Collect" operator,
who would answer jacks labelled "Coin Collect" or as any other operator.

In larger towns, there would be switchboards explicitly allocated to these
specialized services.  In smaller towns, these services would appear on some
or all of the positions occupied by other operators.  The "numbers" route for
non-dialable ring-downs would also have its own set of jacks.

But now that modernization has arrived, and operators sit at computer consoles
rather than cord boards and are located hundreds of miles from the areas they
serve, the whole concept has essentially gone away.

For example, New England Telephone serves Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Maine with operators connected to switching systems in
Springfield MA, Cambridge MA, Framingham MA, Hanover MA, Lawrence MA, and
Manchester NH.  Most operators are not near these switching systems.  They are
in Fall River MA, Brockton MA, Quincy MA, Keene MA, Newburyport MA, Springfield
MA, Marlboro MA, E. Providence RI, Portland ME, Dover NH, Keene NH, and
Brattleboro VT.

The long distance carriers are also drastically reducing the ubiquity of
operators.  In testimony before the Mass DPU, a competitor of AT&T claimed that
AT&T planned to concentrate its operators in five nationwide operating centers.

The operators don't really have any special sort of connection to the central
offices except when they are performing coin collect functions or busy number
verification.  Some reasons a call might go through when placed through an
operator when it didn't work when dialled are:

    1. You dialled via one carrier and then used an operator from a
       different carrier.
    2. Your local central office has a problem translating the area
       code or area code and first three digits.
    3. Your local operating company has a translation problem in its
       access tandem.
    4. The long distance carrier has a translation problem in the
       toll switching machine serving your central office, but when
       you're connected to an operator, you end up using a different
       toll switching machine for the call.

Basically, the only reason the operator gets through when you don't is that
the call may be placed through different switching systems along the way.

Inward almost doesn't exist any more.  Except when calling an area served by
one of a very few independent telcos with their own operators, AT&T operators
who call Inward are going to reach another AT&T operator.  In no case will an
AT&T operator calling Inward reach a local Baby Bell operator.  Only in the
case of the completing calls to non-diallable points (and there are thousands
of them left, especially in California), will an AT&T operator end up on a
Baby Bell toll board, but this isn't Inward.   The Inward route (rather than
the proper "numbers" route) for such places would end up on an AT&T board which
would have to call the "numbers" route.

This means that if I make a call from Boston via the AT&T operator for help in
calling Montpelier VT, and the operator tries Inward, this means the AT&T (not
New England Telephone) operator for Montpelier, who might be sitting at the
operator position right next to her!

It also means that if I want to call a pay phone in Montpelier collect, AT&T
can't do it anymore, because they can't reach a telco operator.  AT&T will call
the pay phone and say that someone's trying to call collect and ask the party
to call back 1+.

/john

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 02 Aug 89 11:12:12 EDT
From: Phillip M Immordino <[e-mail]>
Subject: NOVELL: Problem Using DBASE III Multiuser Program


     Does anybody out there in netland have a working NOVELL LAN that
  can run a Multiuser DBASE III compatible program?  We are having trouble
  running our program at Princeton.  Our NOVELL loaded server has been
  set to standard defaults.  Must these defaults be changed?  Our program
  has worked on SUN's PC-NFS with only occasional corruption of data.  We
  want to switch to NOVELL because it supposed to be better.  Reply
  directly to the above netid.


                                              Phil Immordino
                                              Princeton University
                                              Computing and Information
                                              Technology

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 02 Aug 89 11:48:25 EDT
From: Ken Levitt <[e-mail]>
Subject: RS-232 Standards for phone wire


In article <telecom-v09i#269> [e-mail] (Vance Shipley) writes:

> The mod-tap connectors got ya!  They don't always (read 'often') get the
> polarity straight from a telephone standards point of view.  A standard for
> using modular connectors with rs-232c is in the works that should clear up
> much of the mess caused by adhoc "standards" made up by people in need
> of one!

I would interested in any proposed standards for passing RS-232 over 6
wire phone connectors.  If you or anyone else have this information,
would you please post it or send it directly to me.

--
Ken Levitt - via FidoNet node 1:16/390
UUCP: ...harvard!talcott!zorro9!levitt
INTERNET: [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 19:08:59 EDT
From: Orville Weyrich <[e-mail]>
Subject: Special Ring Detection

Some phone exchanges now have an option in which a phone line may generate
two different ring signals depending on who the caller is (or is it done
with a special secondary phone number?)

Does anyone know of the specifications for the ring signals which I could use
to automatically detect which type of ring signal is present and switch it to
the appropriate place?  [yes, I am looking for a way to avoid installing and
paying for a second phone line].

E-mail responses please, and I will post a summary if response merits.


--
Orville R. Weyrich, Jr.          | UUCP    : ...gatech!csun1!weyrich
Department of Computer Science   | INTERNET: [e-mail]
University of Georgia            |
Athens, GA 30602 USA             | MA BELL : [phone]


------------------------------

From: John Wheeler <techwood![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere?
Date: 2 Aug 89 01:43:33 GMT
Reply-To: John Wheeler <techwood![e-mail]>
Organization: Turner Entertainment Networks Library; Atlanta


in reference to:
>[Moderator's Note: On a hunch, after the first message on this topic appeared,
>I tried dialing 701-555-various in North Dakota. Most combinations other
>than '1212' were answered 'Northwestern Bell, may I help you?'   PT]

This is the kind of thing that peaks my now-mostly-dormant-hacker's-
curiosity as to: Is there an assignment, internally, of 555- numbers
to inward operators or some such? Or, do they all rollover to 555-1212...
what a waste of numbers if they do...
--
          Turner                                       John Wheeler
     E N T E R T A I N M E N T     ...!gatech!nanovx!techwood!johnw
                Networks
     Techwood Library * home of Superstation TBS * TNT * TBS Sports


------------------------------

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 21:38:44 -0400
From: ficc![e-mail]
Subject: Re: AT&T Gets Green Light for Info Services!

I can see wholesale abuse of the system if your user id is your calling
card number.

New subject...

Regarding railroad phone systems... some railroads _still_ run voice and
code over fencing. Doing SCADA over these lines is... um... interesting.
---
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Business: [e-mail], [phone]. | "The sentence I am now
Personal: [e-mail].   `-_-' |  writing is the sentence
Quote: Have you hugged your wolf today?  'U`  |  you are now reading"


------------------------------

From: James Harvey <elsie!mibte![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Twisted Pair Color Coding
Date: 2 Aug 89 16:21:53 GMT
Organization: Michigan Bell Telephone Company


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Kenneth H. Lee) writes:
>
> In our installation, the term used for each bundle was a 'bin'.  I'm
> not sure if this is what is used out in the rest of the industry.

That would be short for Binder Group, which is the Bell term.

>
> Kenneth H. Lee                [e-mail]
> Columbia University            ...{topaz|rutgers}!columbia!cunixc!khl
> 209 Watson, 612 West 115 Street        [e-mail]
> New York, NY 10025            [phone]

--

Jim Harvey                        |      "Ask not for whom the bell
Michigan Bell Telephone           |      tolls and you will only pay
29777 Telegraph                   |      Station-to-Station rates."
Southfield, Mich. 48034           |

ulysses!gamma!mibte!jbh


------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant
Date: 2 Aug 89 15:47:11 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (Alexander Dupuy) writes...
>In article <[e-mail]> John Boteler writes:
>   Office    Tone Plant
>   ------    ----------
>   Rolm PBX    lucky to get anything!
>
>Actually, with Rolm PBX's anything means just that!  We have one of these
>monsters at Columbia now, and it has happened that someone calling me got a
>busy signal which changed to a ringback after I hung up on the previous call!

While I work for a company that's the largest competitor to Rolm's
parent company (until the sale of Rolm to Siemens goes through...), I
still don't like to see gratuitous Rolm-bashing.  I spent quite a long
time specializing in the care and feeding of Rolm switches (as a large
customer) and while they certainly aren't perfect, they're generally
predictable once you know the score.

In the case above, Alexander Dupuy is reporting on "autopark", one of
the nicest Rolm features that never caught on elsewhere!  Autopark
allows a caller to dial in to a DID extension and, if the line is busy,
hear a PBX-generated busy signal.  This is not supervised, so it's free.
BUT if the caller knows about this feature, and listens to it long
enough (the default is 10 seconds), then (if I remember) the busy signal
is replaced by "music on hold" (still free) and the called party gets a
call waiting tone.  When the called party hangs up, the call rings
through.  Supervision occurs when it's answered.

This is legal because PBXs are allowed to provide audible signaling to a
DID caller without returning supervision; supervision is required only
when a two-way path is opened.  It should, however, be obvious that PBX
manufacturers affiliated with long distance carriers (be they AT&T or
Bell Canada) would not be particularly anxious to implement this
feature!

It's one of the widest loopholes in the supervision rules.  Kudos to
Rolm for taking advantage of it.  (It's been around for over a decade.)
Of course, not many end-users even know about it.  Like many Rolm
features, it's a bit hard to explain.

------------------------------

From: Amanda Walker <intercon![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Sound Comparisons
Date: 2 Aug 89 15:36:04 GMT
Reply-To: Amanda Walker <[e-mail]>
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation


In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (Jim Gottlieb) writes:
> And I would be willing to pay a little more for that service.  But AT&T
> LD is not a little more, and they are decidedly inflexible.

I agree on the inflexibility point, but AT&T LD rates are still regulated,
and every time AT&T proposes a LD rate decrease, MCI, US Sprint, and National
Telecom protest it, saying it's "predatory," or "unfair competition."  I think
that if the market is going to be opened to competition, AT&T should be
allowed to compete too.

You can't have it both ways...

--
Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
--
[e-mail]    |    ...!uunet!intercon!amanda

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number
Date: 1 Aug 89 04:21:58 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, 89.KREMEN@gsb-how.
stanford.edu (The Arb) writes:
> I am wondering about the "special tone" that one hears when
> making a telephone credit card call using AT&T. Does anyone out know
> at what frequency the tone is or is there even a standard?


The tone that prompts the caller for the Calling Card number is the
MCCS (mechanized calling card service) logo tone.  It is usually
called BONG.  It consists of approximately 50 milliseconds of the
touch-tone # symbol (two tones) followed by a frequency and
amplitude shift that makes it appear to fade away.  The # is used
because the calling party may be using a tone phone behind a pulse
PBX with a tone-to-pulse converter.  Many such converters are
disabled by the #, thus allowing the subscriber to dial the card
number with touch-tones, and avoid having them translated into dial
pulse.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 21:33:38 -0400
From: ficc![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Divestiture, Business and the General Public

> Equity requires that 20 ordinary phone lines should not cost simply 20
> times the cost of one phone line, since there are economies of scale.

So why do I have to pay 2 times the cost of one line for 2 residential
phone lines? What's sauce for the goose...
---
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Business: [e-mail], [phone]. | "The sentence I am now
Personal: [e-mail].   `-_-' |  writing is the sentence
Quote: Have you hugged your wolf today?  'U`  |  you are now reading"


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #270
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 89 1:13:11 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #271
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 3 Aug 89 00:55:48 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 271

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    New AT&T Products Available (TELECOM Moderator)
    New Area Code Directory Available (TELECOM Moderator)
    Re: Divestiture, Business and the General Public (Scott Barman)
    Re: Answering Machine Interrupter (Rodney Amadeus)
    Re: Proper Usage of Units of Measurement (Tom Gardner)
    Re: Why we ALL have seven digit numbers (Dave Levenson)
    New 800 Service Working Well (TELECOM Moderator)

[Moderator's Note: I've received quite a few replies to the question about
having seminar announcements in the Digest. Watch for a special edition
of the Digest this weekend with the replies.     PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 0:46:50 CDT
From: TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject: New AT&T Products Available

PagePac 6 and PagePac 6 Plus
============================

Two new paging systems from AT&T. The PagePac 6 is a single zone 6 watt
system that can be used with background music. It works well in office
environments of up to 9000 square feet, or in factories/warehouses of
7000 - 15,000 square feet where only one paging zone is required. It is
compatible with all AT&T phone systems and can be accessed by all users
by simply dialing an access code.

PagePac 6 Plus is a multizone system, handling three zones and two paging
lines. Talkback is part of this package, which allows two way communications
between the person making the page and the person answering. The person
answering simply speaks into the nearest speaker.


Merlin Plus Release 2 Call Forwarding
=====================================

Traditionally, to have calls forwarded to another number involves paying
a monthly fee to the central office for custom calling features. In the
Merlin Plus Release 2, call forwarding is included in the feature module.

To further enhance call forwarding, the Merlin Plus Release 2 has a
synthesized voice message that acts somewhat like an automated attendant
letting the caller know that the call is being forwarded. If desired, the
voice message can be turned off and the number of rings set to zero so that
the forwarding is transparent to the caller.

The call forwarding destination number can also be changed remotely from
any touch tone phone. The Merlin Plus Release 2 will ask for your password
and the new call forward number. After entering the new number, the voice
message unit will repeat the number back to you and ask you to confirm by
dialing a * to confirm or a 00 to deny it. After receiving the confirmation,
the voice will repeat the number once more, and identify it as the new
call forward number.


Patrick Townson


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 0:53:25 CDT
From: TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject: New Area Code Directory Available

AT&T has announced the new, completely revised 1989 edition of its
Area Code Directory.

This book contains a comprehensive listing of area codes for thousands of
towns across the United States and Canada. It also includes a numerical
listing of area codes, as well as a map of the United States showing the
location of each area code, and the related time zone.

Price is $2.00, plus applicable state tax. Publication number 999-600-111.

When you order your copy, ask for your FREE copy of AT&T's newly revised
International Guide to Telecommunications, publication number 1-WB-952.
This book is a comprehensive listing of international dialing codes for
other countries. It includes time zones, dialing instructions and other
items of interest.

Send check or money order, or VISA/MC number to:

AT&T Customer Information Center
Box 19901
Indianapolis, IN  46219



Patrick Townson


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 19:10:41 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Scott Barman)
Subject: Re: Divestiture, Business and the General Public
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Scott Barman)
Organization: Digital Transmission Systems (a subsidiary of DCA), Duluth, GA

X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 202, message 2 of 9

> [ ... problems with long distance dialing in Atlanta ... ]
>
>Seemingly, every time I dialed 0 I got an operator from a different system.
>Certainly, the responses weren't consistent with a single training program.
>So, I had to field questions of "what LD service do you want to use?". Dammit,
>I just want to call home! I eventually succeeded, but I vowed to fight any
>similar efforts to deregulate Canada's telecommunications industry.

I think about a year ago, Southern Bell (and I wish someone would confirm
this) "standardized" their access to long distance operators.  When I
would visit my parents in Charlotte, NC, I had to dial two ones (11) to get
the operator of the long distance company (at least that's what the SoBell
operator told me).  When I visited a relative in Ft. Lauderdale, I had
to ask the SoBell operator to get the LD operator.  Here in Atlanta, I
had no problems so I don't know.

Now, I can reach the LD operator using two zeros (00) from all places.
I do not know if this is standard, but about eight months ago I tried to
place a call with my AT&T card from the airport here and had problems,
I used the 00 to find they were not AT&T (this was before the publicity
about the LD problems problems at Hartsfield).  Now I do not know if
00 will work for all areas--even within the Southern Bell area--but it
would be nice if it did and became a "standard."

--
scott barman
{gatech, emory}!dtscp1!scott


------------------------------

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 12:11:58 EST
From: "R.A. Anonymous, Jr." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Answering Machine Interrupter

I had a Phone-Mate cordless phone (poor thing bought the farm in a
thunderstorm) that had a modular jack for an answering machine in the back.
The phone handset itself had a three-position switch, labeled off, screen, and
on.  Off, was, of course, to turn it off (guess what on was for..  :).  But
the screen switch was neat, as the handset would ring (whereas it did not when
turned off), plus, if the phone was answered from the jack on the back of the
base unit, you could hear the calling party and your supposed answering
machine.  Kind of handy, being able to decide who you want to talk to anywhere
in your yard.....

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        Rodney Amadeus Anonymous, Jr.   |       Wyomissing, PA
        pro-palace!r.a.a.               |       pro-harvest!r.a.a.
        pro-palace checked daily        |       pro-harvest checked weekly
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 20:31:35 PST
From: [e-mail] (Tom Gardner)
Subject: Re: Proper Usage of Units of Measurement
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.


Mark Williams comments about the new "habit" of dropping the "per second"
from "Megabits per second". I agree that it's lazy, sloppy and (unforgivably)
potentially confusing/ambiguous.

My own pet peeve on this subject is authors who think "nS" is a unit of time.
It isn't. The Siemen (S) is a unit of conductance, i.e. the reciprocal of
resistance, units amps per volt. You most often come across Siemens as the
unit of transconductance in semiconductors.

The unit of time, seconds, is written as "s". N.B. lower case.

When I see, for example, a RAM access time written as 100nS, I note that
the author does not have a particularly wide or deep understanding of this
subject area. HENCE I TEND TO DISCOUNT ANYTHING ELSE THE AUTHOR WRITES, unless
it is, in all other respects, clear concise and comprehensible.

Moral: using incorrect units makes you appear ignorant.


------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Why we ALL have seven digit numbers
Date: 2 Aug 89 02:07:23 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


> [Note to moderator and Mike Trout:  The stories of reaching Eagle Bay,
> and the moderators posting of other barely reachable locations were
> yummy.  I encourage the moderator (and all of us) to reminisce
> further.]

When I was a student at what is now called Case Western Reserve
University, in Cleveland, back in 1966 or so, I worked part time as
a PBX attendant on the campus switchboard.  (It was an old wooden
board with six operator positions, and fifteen cord circuits per
position.  A room full of step-by-step switching machines completed
the intra-campus calls, and we did the incoming trunks.)  We used to
place all outgoing toll calls for university employees as
operator-assisted calls, so that we could get a call-back with time
and charges, and fill in the toll ticket for the university
accountants.

One day, I was asked to place a call to Purdue University.  The
number we called was Lafayette, Indiana, 6.   We then asked for
extension 2454.

I was really fascinated that a PBX with a four-digit dial plan stood
behind a local DN of a single digit.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 89 0:31:26 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  New 800 Service Working Well

I decided to sign up for the Residential 800 service offered by Teleconnect*
USA. Thus far in my limited experience, it seems to be working okay. The
transmission quality is good, and the calls come through reasonably fast,
but they are not processed quite as fast as other similar services. I have
noticed maybe a fifteen second delay from the time dialing is complete until
the ringing starts.

The 800 number works from anywhere in the continental USA. The cost is $2.75
per month to maintain the number, and 29/22 cents per minute day/night rate.
The best use of the system is to receive short (one or two minute) calls,
then call back dial direct for continued conversation. For calls of one
or two minutes, it is less expensive than the surcharge added to AT&T cards.
But if you have the Call Me option tied into Reach Out, then the Call Me
option becomes less expensive on calls of longer duration, since the price
would only be 13 cents per minute at night (once you have absorbed the
surcharge per month into the total cost.)

There is no limit to the number of 800 calls which can be received at one
time except for whatever limit there is on your incoming calls.

For more information on obtaining a personal 800 number, call Teleconnect*
USA at 1-800-728-7000. They charge ten dollars to set up the account.

Patrick Townson


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #271
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 4 Aug 89 0:02:15 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #272
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 4 Aug 89 00:00:31 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 272

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Rival Claims PacBell Gave It A 'Virus' (Jeff Wasilko)
    New Cellular Emergency Number in Chicago (TELECOM Moderator)
    Sabotage in New Jersey (Mark Robert Smith)
    The Old Days in Oil City, LA (Neal Woodall)
    1 (708) NXX-XXXX is Working. (David W. Tamkin)
    Volume 9 Issue 202 Returns! (Patrick A. Townson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Rival Claims PacBell Gave It A 'Virus'
Date: 3 Aug 89 05:52:20 GMT
Reply-To: Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest

The following article is from the L.A. Times. It describes a claim by an
operator of a local 'talking yellow pages' that Pacific Bell is intentionally
disrupting his Centrex service. There have been other claims against PacBell,
such as a telephone installer who claims PacBell intentionally botched his
company's ad that was placed in the yellow pages for the past two or three
years.

Rival Claims PacBell Gave It A 'Virus'
Owner of Talking Yellow Pages Says Phones Often Go Dead

By Bruce Keppel, Times Staff Writer

 To Michael Amin, it seemed a natural: A 'talking' phone book for people who
would rather deal with the operator than finger through the yellow pages.

 So, Amin set up a Los Angeles-based firm, Primex Talking Yellow Pages, to
provide callers a choice of whatever category of company or service the
request--for example, a selection of physicians of a given specialty and
working in a particular area. The Primex operator can connect the caller with
the doctor he or she wants.

 But the hang-up for Amin has been Pacific Bell.

 The phone company says it has been unable to find the electronic 'virus' that,
for 18 months, has bedeviled Primex. The result for Primex has been to have
many of its 36 telephone lines go dead at crucial moments--such as right after
broadcast of television and radio commercials inviting the audience to call for
a trial.

Don't Know the Cause
--------------------
 At other times, Amin said, conversations are cut off in mid-sentence. And
sometimes callers hear ringing while Primex operators hear nothing or,
answering a ring, find no one on the line.

 Despite extensive testing by Pacific Bell technicians, who say they don't know
the cause of Primex's problems, the company's phone troubles have persisted for
18 months. Amin said they now threaten Primex's pioneering venture, which
competes with Pacific Bell's yellow page directories. He noted that Pacific
Bell and other former Bell companies have repeatedly--and vainly--sought court
permission to enter the talking phone book business.

 Last month, Amin lodged a formal complaint with the California Public
Utilities Commission, whose consumer division expects to compete its evaluation
this month.

 Meanwhile, the PUC's five members held a final in San Francisco on Monday to
hear from businesses such as Primex before deciding to accept proposals
submitted separately by Pacific Bell and GTE California, to change
telecommunications regulation in the state.

 Amin and other telephone industry entrepreneurs have complained that giving
the big phone companies more flexibility might clear the way for Pacific Bell
and GTE to use dirty tricks and other unfair practices to drive competitors out
of business.

 For instance, Dennis Love has testified before the Assembly Committee on
Utilities and Commerce that his Marin County telephone-equipment repair service
failed after advertisements bought in Pacific Bell's local phone books were
botched in two of the last three years.

 In Amin's case, the business is still running, although the number of
employees has plunged to 30 from a high of 70 when the company moved to larger
quarters near Los Angeles International Airport. That day, Feb. 1, 1988, the
young company's local telephone service unaccountably went haywire, Amin said.

Deliberate Tampering
--------------------
 In it's complaint, Primex accuses Pacific Bell of indulging in 'illegal
harassment' and 'deliberate tampering' with the company's phone lines, most of
which are attached to a Pacific Bell Centrex control unit. The goal, the
complaint charges, is to destroy the company's business. Amin attached several
pages of single-spaced entries chronicling scores of service irregularities and
said he has many more on file.

 Pacific Bell spokeswomen Kathleen Flynn confirmed the existence of repeated
complaints by Primex but said that 2400 tests have so far turned up no glitch
in the phone company's equipment. Flynn said 99.8% of Pacific Bell's test calls
went through without a hitch.

 'There's no reason for us at any time and at any case to disrupt a customer's
business,' she said. 'That's just not the way we do business.'

 But Amin disputed the validity of that finding. When he asked Pacific Bell
last month to monitor one day's phone traffic for his firm, he said, the
utility found that 41% of the calls lasted less than 15 seconds--too brief, he
said, to be completed business calls.


------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 89 20:28:48 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  New Cellular Emergency Number in Chicago

On Wednesday, Ameritech and Cellular One announced 'Cellular Express Line',
a new emergency phone service for cellular customers of the two companies.
'Cellular Express Line' will provide operators 24 hours per day to answer
emergency calls from persons with cellular phones. In cooperation with Illinois
Bell Telephone, those calls will then be routed to the proper Police or
other Emergency Services provider.

In the past, one problem with the use of 911 by cellular customers was that
calls were likely to go to an emergency center serving the phone exchange
where the cellular call gatewayed to land-line, rather than the emergency
service in the area of the distressed motorist. Much confusion resulted
and valuable minutes were lost as the service providers attempted to transfer
calls to one another, only to sometimes transfer the call to still the wrong
place. Then too, a number of Illinois suburban communities still do not
offer '911' service, largely because two or more small communities may share
the same telephone central office and they have been to date unable to agree
on *who* should answer police and fire calls.

So motorists dialing '911' on their cellular phones were unable to predict
who they would reach, and many simply gave up trying to report accidents
or other matters for the police.

Effective at this time, any cellular customer of Ameritech or Cellular One
in the Chicago area can dial *999 and receive a professional response from a
trained operator who will immediatly ascertain the location of the caller
and patch the call through to the appropriate agency.

Some discussion is now underway about actually using the code 911, since
this is so well known by everyone. Illinois Bell is looking into the
possibility of having calls to 911 from prefixes devoted to cellular service
automatically routed into Cellular Express Line, completely transparent
to the person using the phone.

The actual geographic territory for Cellular Express Line is from the
Wisconsin border on the north, including a couple of exchanges in the 414
area code actually served by Illinois Bell because they serve communities
on the state line, south to Joliet, IL and Chicago Heights, IL on the south.
 From the Indiana State line (including a few exchanges in the far northwest
corner of Indiana) and Lake Michigan on the east, the service area extends
west to Aurora, IL and Crystal Lake/Fox Lake, IL on the northwest. In all,
some 254 miles of expressways are included. The service coverage area is
essentially the same as the 'old' (or present, until November) 312 area,
with bits and pieces of 815/219/414 included.

Patrick Townson


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 08:12:53 EDT
From: Mark Robert Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Sabotage in New Jersey

The IBEW and CWA unions are preparing for a strike against NJ Bell this
weekend.  At the same time, there have been many acts of sabotage against
NJ Bell.

The first occured on Monday, July 31.  Two fiber optic cables were cut,
resulting in a loss of phone service for a large number of customers in
Warren, Sussex, Somerset, and one other county.  This cut also resulted in
a loss of network connection for Rutgers and other parts of JVNCnet.

Last night (Wed, 8/2), 26 individual subscriber lines were cut in the
Englewood, NJ CO.  These lines were apparently all residential, and quickly
repaired.

Now, I understand that health care benefits are important, but is sabotage
really necessary?  The FBI is investigating, so hopefully the perpetrators
will be caught.

Mark
----
Mark Smith     |  "Be careful when looking into the distance,       |All Rights
61 Tenafly Road|that you do not miss what is right under your nose."| Reserved
Tenafly,NJ 07670-2643|rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith,[e-mail]
You may redistribute this article only to those who may freely do likewise.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 21:29:31 PDT
From: Neal Woodall <[e-mail]>
Subject: The Old Days in Oil City, LA

In article <[e-mail]> (Mike Trout) writes:

>The above got me thinking about the history of the USA telephone numbering
>system.  When was the above study done?  When were all numbers standardized at
>seven digits?  What other systems were used before that?  What were the last
>non-seven-digit systems?

>A little personal experience:  My family has owned a camp in the Adirondack
>Mountains of upstate New York since 1954.  When we bought the camp, its phone
>number there was "Eagle Bay 3268."  Not EB2-3268 or anything like that; just
>Eagle Bay 3268.  You could dial locally just by using the last four digits,
>any other calls required an operator.....
>...until the late 1960s and may have not been until the mid-1970s.

I grew up in Shreveport, LA, and until about the late 1960's you had to use an
operator to call Oil City, LA which is only about 30 miles away. Shreveport
numbers were direct dialable even at this time, and was at that time (as in the
present) in area code 318.

My father worked in Oil City, and to call him at work, one called the operator,
and asked for "Oil City XXXX" (where XXXX is the number, I will not post it).
Unitl the late 1960's or early 1970's this was the only way. Then Oil City
finally got direct-dial service, and all of the four-digit numbers stayed the
same, just prefixed by 995. Today, Oil City is still completely served by the
995 prefix (only about 2500 phones in that town total). All of the service
in this area code (Shreveport and Oil City included) are handled by South
Central Bell, so the quality is good.

It is interesting to note that Shreveport has cellular service now, and that
the Oil City cell (yes, there is only one!, actually in Mooringsport, LA) is
tied directly to the Shreveport MTSO.....to call a cellular phone in Oil City
(or just about anywhere in Northwest LA) is a local call from Shreveport.
However, if one strays too far to the west of Oil City, then you loose coverage
from the Mooringsport cell, and must dial through the Marshall, TX system.

Actually, I kind of miss the "old days" of operator assisted calls to places
where you had to use the name of the town and some number of digits....it is
kind of a nostalgic feeling. It gave a place some feeling and character.
Now, everything is just numbers.....oh well.

Neal

------------------------------

Subject: 1 (708) NXX-XXXX Is Working.
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 2:34:40 CDT
From: "David W. Tamkin" <[e-mail]>

As of Wednesday (I didn't try on Tuesday) I found I could dial from my local
Centel service in Chicago to suburban locations with 1-708 or without.  (The
official split date is November 11, 1989.)  Just 708 alone does not work;
perhaps 815 alone doesn't work any more either.  [Previously I had noticed
that I could dial the parts of area code 815 that are within the Chicago LATA
without the leading 1.]

Calls within Chicago require seven digits; putting 312, 1-312, 708, and 1-708
in front all fail.

This might have gone into effect Tuesday, August 1; I'm not sure.
--
David W. Tamkin      Post Office Box 813      Rosemont, Illinois  60018-0813
[e-mail]   BIX: dattier  CIS: 73720,1570  GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN

[Moderator's Note: However, it does NOT yet work in Chicago-Rogers Park.
After first seeing your message in the queue, you know I tried it immediatly
from home. At this point here, 708 or 1-708  go immediatly to intercept.  PT]

------------------------------

Subject: Volume 9 Issue 202 Returns!
Date: 3 Aug 89 01:57:37 CDT (Thu)
From: "Patrick A. Townson" <[e-mail]>

For some reason, Volume 9, Issue 202 got re-entered into the Usenet gateway
on August 1. I am checking with Chip Rosenthal to see what may have
caused this strange aberation.

I apologize for any confusion caused by those old messages coming back.
None of them were re-circulated to the names on the mailing list; only
the Usenet people saw them.

Unlike television, I do not re-run the old issues of the Digest in case you
missed it the first time around. Maybe we should have summer re-runs, and
I could go to Hell (Michigan) for a nice summer vacation this year.

Whatever. Maybe someday I'll understand these things. Someone owes me an
answer. I didn't even like issue 202 all that well myself! Of all the ones
to come back from the Archives to haunt me!

Patrick Townson

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #272
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 4 Aug 89 1:05:22 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #273
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 4 Aug 89 01:00:19 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 273

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    A Bell of PA Technician Explains Color Coding (John Dearing)
    Rolm -- the PBX with a "conscience"? (Rich Wales)
    Best choice for multi-line home phone wiring? (Rich Wales)
    Dial-back Modems (Ron Watkins)
    Re: New 800 Service Working Well (Dave Rand)
    Re: New 800 Service Working Well (Bill Huttig)
    Re: New Area Code Directory Available (Henry Mensch)
    Re: Rotary-dial Encoding (Tom Hofmann)

[Moderator's Note: I received quite a few responses to my request for
suggestions about seminar announcements in the Digest. I am now working
on a special edition of the Digest, which you will receive over the
weekend on this topic.  PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John Dearing <[e-mail]>
Date: August 4, 1989   01:00  CDT
Subject: A Bell of PA Technician Explains Color Coding

[Moderator's Note: I am sorry to advise that the original subject title
and header info was lost in transit between chinet and here. I reconstructed
the header, however the body of his letter made it here intact, and follows
below.  PT]

Patrick,

   I hope that this reply gets thru to you (email is sometimes flaky). In a
recent Telecom Digest article you asked what the color code was for
telephone wiring. As a Services Technician with over 14 years of service
with Bell of Pennsylvania, I thought I'd reply. The system employed
throughout the (used-to-be) Bell System was actually very simple. There wer
five colors assigned to "tip" and five colors assigned to "ring". This
gives a total combination of twenty-five pairs (very convenient!).

   The colors assigned to the "tip" are;

     white   wt
     red     rd
     black   bk
     yellow  yl
     violet  vi

   The colors assigned to the "ring" are;

     blue    bl
     orange  or
     green   gr
     brown   br
     slate   sl (sometimes mistakenly called gray)

   Standard phone convention is to identify the "tip" first and then the
"ring" when referring to a pair. Thus, the first five pairs of a telephone
cable are the "white" pairs;

     white/blue   wt/bl
     white/orange wt/or
     white/green  wt/gr
     white/brown  wt/bn
     white/slate  wt/sl

   The next five are the "red" pairs:

     red/blue     rd/bl
     red/orange   rd/or
     red/green    rd/gr
     red/brown    rd/bn
     red/slate    rd/sl

   And so on, until all twenty five pairs are identified. What happens
when there are more than twenty-five pairs in a cable? Simple, enclose each
twenty-five pair group in a color coded binder. And guess what the color
coding is for the binder. Yep, the same as the wires in the binder. The
first binder group is the "white/blue" binder the second is the
"white/orange" binder, and so on. If it is necessary to refer to the
twenty-sixth pair of a fifty pair cable it is referred to as "two
white/blue" or 2-wt/bl. The seventy-ninth pair in a one-hundred pair cable
is called "four white/brown" or 4-wt/bn. This all holds true for the first
twenty-four binders in a cable. The twenty-fifth binder is a little
different, and my recollection is a little hazy but I believe the binder
colors are white-white-blue. Yes that's two whites and a blue. It might be
two blues and a white. It's been a long time since I was in a cable over
six hundred pairs. One thing I know for sure is that they double up on one
of the binder colors after the twenty-fourth binder group.

   There is also a convention for the positioning the pairs on connecting
blocks. The Ring is usually on the Right and the Tip is usually on the Top.
As you can see there is a pattern here, Ring-Red-Right and Tip-Top. I guess
this was done to make it easier for us dumb installers to remember! |-)

   The only difference in the color coding between telephone cable (the
stuff used outside and strung along poles or underground in conduit) and
telephone inside wiring (the gray colored stuff in the walls and up in the
ceiling) is that the inside wire has each pair traced with the color of its
mate. That is, the first pair is a white wire with a blue tracer and its
mate is blue with a white tracer. This is done to avoid "splitting" a pair.
Splitting is getting the ring of one pair and the tip of another. In
outside phone cable each pair is twisted with its mate and the chances of
splitting a pair are not as great (although it's been known to happen ;-)).

   With wiring done inside a house, a little history is in order. Back when
we had party-lines,(I know, we still do, but very few still in service and
none available for new service) three wires were necessary because a ground
was required to make the bell ring. So, the original phone wiring had three
conductors, red, green and yellow. Red and green were ring and tip
respectively and yellow was the ground. Then people started getting away
from party lines and into princess and trimline phones with lights in the
dial. The yellow was no longer the ground and a black wire was added and
the yellow and black were used to supply power for the lamps from a small
transformer.  Time marches on, and now people are getting second lines
installed in their homes. Since the new phones get the power for their
lamps from the phone line directly, the yellow and black are now "spare".
The yellow is usually the ring and black is the tip. Of course, houses that
have been pre-wired with six-pair inside wire would normally have line 1 on
the white/blue pair and line 2 on the white/orange pair. In many pre-wire
installations I have found that the sixth pair (red/blue) was used for
transformer power, although I don't believe that was ever an official
practice.

   I hope that this info is of some help. Feel free to put this into the
Digest, if you want.

John Dearing (jdearin @ pacsbb)

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Rolm -- the PBX with a "conscience"?
Date: 3 Aug 89 19:04:14 GMT
Reply-To: Rich Wales <[e-mail]>
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department


The recent mention of Rolm PBXs reminded me of one of Rolm's radio
commercials several years ago.

This was one of those "cutesy" commercials with funny sound effects to
illustrate each of their points (sort of like how AT&T's ads for their
new distinctive "bong-chime-AT&T" sound illustrate the concept of a
"friendly" sound by having someone say "Y-y-y-yo, it's AT&T!").

One of the selling points in Rolm's radio commercials was that their
equipment had a "conscience".  This point was punctuated by a "ding"
from a little bell, followed by a soft "this is your conscience" female
voice saying, "Is that a *personal* call?"

Now, obviously, I realize that Rolm PBX's never *really* went "ding"
and asked "Is that a *personal* call?" :-}  But can anyone out there
tell me exactly what Rolm's "conscience" feature really was?  Was it
something as mundane as a printed log of every number called from every
extension -- so that a manager could go through the list later on and
inquire about calls to unfamiliar phone numbers?

-- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // [phone]
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024-1596 // USA
   [e-mail]      ...!(uunet,ucbvax,rutgers)!cs.ucla.edu!wales
"K-9, I think we're going to find out what it's like to be a cricket ball."

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Best Choice For Multi-line Home Phone Wiring?
Date: 3 Aug 89 19:18:50 GMT
Reply-To: Rich Wales <[e-mail]>
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department


What is the "best" choice these days for multi-line phone wiring in a
home?

For best isolation between lines (especially if, say, one or more lines
were being used for data), I would assume twisted-pair cable (anywhere
from 2 to 25 pairs) would be ideal.  But is it actually used?  If not,
is this because it's just too expensive?  Or do the (possibly outdated)
electrical codes in various places prohibit it?

If some kind of twisted-pair cable is OK for residential phone wiring,
how difficult/expensive would it typically be to retrofit such stuff
into an existing house?

At the moment, I'm thinking very hypothetically (not owning my own home
yet).  I'm thinking into the future, though, and want to have some idea
of what kinds of obstacles (physical, phone-company, electrical-code) I
would be up against.

Responses from anywhere in the US or Canada welcomed and encouraged.

-- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // [phone]
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024-1596 // USA
   [e-mail]      ...!(uunet,ucbvax,rutgers)!cs.ucla.edu!wales
"K-9, I think we're going to find out what it's like to be a cricket ball."

------------------------------

From: Ron Watkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dial-back Modems
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 07:32:12 EDT


If anyone has completed a survey or has any opinions of dial-back modems
(you dial number, type in something, it dials you back), could I please
have a copy? Brands/features/type of security etc.

Thank you
Ron Watkins
BBN
[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Dave Rand <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New 800 Service Working Well
Date: 3 Aug 89 18:51:40 GMT
Reply-To: Dave Rand <[e-mail]>
Organization: Association for the Prevention of Polar Bears and Kangaroos


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(TELECOM Moderator) writes:
>I decided to sign up for the Residential 800 service offered by Teleconnect*
>USA. Thus far in my limited experience, it seems to be working okay. The
>[deleted]
>The 800 number works from anywhere in the continental USA. The cost is $2.75
>per month to maintain the number, and 29/22 cents per minute day/night rate.

This plan sounds like exactly what I want, except I would like to receive
calls from Canada as well. Does anyone know of a residential 800 service
that covers Canada as well? I talked to Teleconnect (800-728-7000), but
they have no plans to cover Canada.

--
Dave Rand
{pyramid|hoptoad|sun|vsi1}!daver!dlr    Internet: [e-mail]

------------------------------

From:  Bill Huttig <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New 800 Service Working Well
Date: 3 Aug 89 15:29:57 GMT
Reply-To:  Bill Huttig <zach![e-mail]>
Organization: Florida Institute of Technology, ACS, Melbourne, FL


A Florida based carrier Telus (800-330-0000) also offers 800 service.
They only charge $2.50/mo 25.6/19.5 cents with no connection charge.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 18:08:12 -0400
From: Henry Mensch <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New Area Code Directory Available
Reply-To: [e-mail]

I wonder why you can't charge this to your AT&T card? :)

# Henry Mensch   /   <[e-mail]>   /   E40-379 MIT,  Cambridge, MA
# <[e-mail]-relay> / <[e-mail]> / <[e-mail]>

[Moderator's Note: I asked them the same thing. I said just to charge it
to my account. She said they can't do it.   PT]

------------------------------

From: Tom Hofmann <mcvax!cgch![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Rotary-dial Encoding
Date: 3 Aug 89 07:44:16 GMT
Organization: WRZ, CIBA-GEIGY Ltd, Basel, Switzerland


 From article <[e-mail]>, by euatdt@euas11g.
ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist):
> Third: "Oslo" dialling (the Norwegian Capital is different from the
> rest of the country. Historical reasons?):
>      (10-n)-dialling (or is it (10-(n+1))?); The dial works "backwards" and
>      looks quite funny to the newcomer. I'm not sure if the coding is 1=>10,
>      2=>9...0=>1 or 0=>10, 1=>9... 9=>1. Somebody out there to fill me in?

I recall it is the latter: 0=>10, 1=>9... 9=>1.

An other apparently not standardized feature is the keypad layout of
push-button phones.  In central Europe it is
        1 2 3
        4 5 6
        7 8 9
          0

It can be confusing since it is not the same layout as for calculators.
I think in parts of Scandinavia (Sweden?) it is homogeneous:

        7 8 9
        4 5 6
        1 2 3
          0

Can someone confirm that?  Are there any other layouts?  Special keypad
for Oslo?  Mirror-image layout on the southern hemisphere?

Tom Hofmann          [e-mail]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #273
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 5 Aug 89 0:11:21 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #274
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 5 Aug 89 00:00:50 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 274

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Results of CT Customer Poll (Kenneth Selling)
    Dial Pad Arrangements (Ole J. Jacobsen)
    555 Exchange and Inward Numbers (Douglas Scott Reuben)
    Need Wierd RJ-adaptor (Roy Smith)
    Pair Usage  (was Color Coding) (Mike Morris)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 4-AUG-1989 13:41:04.72
From: Kenneth Selling <[e-mail]>
Subject: Results of CT Customer Poll

Here's some news just in.  It involves: (1) an entire state not served by the
Bell System, (2) that state actually *asking* customers how wide a free calling
area they want to have, and (3) the local phone company ending up also giving a
major city a larger local calling area without increasing that cities' rates.

(Warning to our California readers -- the high East Coast telephone rates
quoted here may be a bit shocking to you -- please don't say you weren't
warned.)

In recent months, some readers have asked about the Southern New England
Telephone (SNET) survey taken more than half a year ago, asking Middletown,
Connecticut area customers if they wanted to greatly expand their toll-free
calling area in exchange for a small increase in monthly rates.  SNET was
directed by the CT Dept. of Utility Control to conduct the survey.  (SNET
covers most of Connecticut.  It was not in the former Bell System, although
AT&T owned a small share of it.  It was not affected by Judge Greene's
break-up order.)

Here are the results (from SNET's Residence Manager R. A. Shanley and Business
Manager Clara Brenciaglia) as of August 1, 1989.  Beginning about 11:15 pm,
Friday, Septemeber 15, 1989, all calls from Middletown area exchanges (342,
344, 346, 347, 349, 632, 635, 636, and 638) to Hartford exchanges will become
toll-free.  This will add about 193,000 phones to the Middletown free calling
area.  In SNET parlance, this upgrades Middletown customers from Class II to
Class III service.  Class is determined by the number of phones in a toll-free
calling area.  The rate increases per month for this Class upgrade will be:

Residence                               Present            September 15, 1989
  Private Line - Unlimited Calling      $10.19               $11.65
  Private Line - Message Service          6.91                 7.93
  Party Line (existing customers only)    8.00                 9.17
  Select-a-Call  (a life-line service)    5.50 (NO CHANGE)-->  5.50
Business
  Private Line - Unlimited Calling      $29.72               $34.10
  Private Line - Message Service         20.58                23.65
  Semi-Public Coin Telephone             23.63                27.13
  Select-a-Call                          16.50 (NO CHANGE)--> 16.50

NOTE - This does not include the $3.50 Federal Subscribers Charge per line.

Communities in the Middletown exchange include: Cromwell, Portland, Durham,
Middlefield, and of course -- Middletown.

Communities soon to be toll-free from Middletown include:
  Hartford (296, 297, 299, 240, 241, 244, 246, 247, 249, 273, 275, 277, 278,
            279, 280, 293, 520, 522, 524, 525, 527, 547, 548, 649, 560, 566,
            722, 724, 725, 727, 728, 841, 930, 951, 952, 953, 954)
  East Hartford (282, 289, 291, 528, 565, 568, 569)
  West Hartford (232, 233, 236, 521, 523, 561)
  Wethersfield  (257, 258, 529, 563, 721)
  Bloomfield    (242, 243, 286, 726)

 ... and parts of the adjacent communities of Rocky Hill, Newington, Windsor,
and South Windsor.

Note that calls will be toll-free in both directions.  However, since Hartford
customers are already in a Class III area (the highest rates in CT), their
exchanges (above) will get a largely increased toll-free calling area without
increased rates -- one of the few cases I can think of in recent TELECOM
history of a regional operating company giving "something for nothing!"


Ken Selling                      Disclaimer: "I have no connection with SNET,
                                              except as a reasonably happy
Organization:   Wesleyan University           customer."
Internet:       [e-mail]
BITNET:         [e-mail]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

------------------------------

Date: Fri 4 Aug 89 08:34:51-PDT
From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dial pad arrangements


The recent discussion brought back memories of my first message to this
list almost 6 years ago, I have enclosed it verbatim (I am still real
proud of those diagrams!):


Date: 15 Nov 83 12:55:44+0100 (Tue)
>From: ole@nta-vax (Ole Jorgen Jacobsen)
To: TELECOM@ECLC
Subject: Dialling arrangements etc.


        Hello friends in the telephone world,

        I only just subsrcibed  to this list and while reading through the
        the archives I noticed a couple of questions  relating to dialling
        arrangements which I will answer herein.

        First of all "Telegrafverket" is  the old  name for the  Norwegian
        Telco, now  called  "Televerket". Don Lynns  phone was  made by EB
        which is Elektrisk Bureau an LM Ericsson sister company in Norway.
        The dial is the "Oslo" or "X" dial as explained below. EB now make
        our new fancy Tastafones which are "Touch Tone Compatible".

        On the subject of dials:

        There are (at least) 3 types of dials in use worldwide:

         o The "Z" dial is the most common (Internationally) and it looks
           like this:


                        (4) (3)
                      (5)     (2)
                     (6)       (1)          Pulses correspond to digits
                     (7)                    (10 pulses for 0)
                      (8)      \\
                        (9) (0)


         o Next comes the peculiar "Oslo" or "X" dial:
           (Also used in New Zealand?)


                        (6) (7)
                      (5)     (8)           Still 10 pulses for 0 but
                     (4)       (9)          the rest is inverted
                     (3)
                      (2)      \\
                        (1) (0)

        The Oslo dial  is only used  within the city itself, we are 10
        miles out of  Oslo and  have the Z dial, it  is apparently too
        expensive  to re-strap the old exchanges so  we are stuck with
        the two  incompatible phone types until  it all dies and  goes
        TT/digital.


         o Finally, in Sweden the shifted "Y" dial is used:


                        (3) (2)
                      (4)     (1)
                     (5)       (0)         Similar to the "Z", but
                     (6)                   shifted so that 0 gives
                      (7)      \\          one pulse and 9 gives ten.
                        (8) (9)


        I am  not sure  what the  basis of  all this is, but can only
        assume "Historical Reasons".

        Just before  the new  Tastafones went  into production here a
        couple of years ago, it was decided to have the keypad layout
        DIFFERENT to your  favorite Ma Bell. The reason is apparently
        that  people familiar with calculators should not have to re-
        program their hands when shifting  to the new phones, I guess
        it makes sense, but it  is still a bit wierd.  The keys still
        give the same DTMFs of course so that our phones would work on
        your system and vise versa.

             7  8  9                        1  2  3
             4  5  6                        4  5  6
             1  2  3                        7  8  9
             0  *  #                        *  0  #

           Our  keypad                     Your keypad



                     Enjoy International Standards!

                                Ole J Jacobsen
                                Norwegian Telecommunications
                                Administration
                                Research Establishment
                                N-2007 Kjeller
                                Norway
                                [phone]
                                ole@NTA-VAX


        <OLE>
        <370>

-------

------------------------------

Date: 4-AUG-1989 02:23:57.47
From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" <[e-mail]>
Subject: 555 Exchange and Inward Numbers


Actually, there are 555 numbers that appear to be assigned to
pay phones, at least in special cases.

If you go to Disneyland in Anahiem, CA, which is still served by
Pac*Bell (but it's VERY near GTE territory..oh no! :-)  ), you
can use "Pay-Speakerphones". These are basically large booths,
with Bell System payphones, which no longer have a handset. Instead,
they have a speaker box (with a blue Bell logo) and a microphone
near the payphone itself, all neatly built into the wall.

A caller goes into the booth, sits down, presses the "on" botton
on the side of the phone, hears dial tone, and starts dialing. It's
functionally identical to any other Bell payphone, except it
has no handset.

Anyhow, the point of all this is that the number shown on the
plate is "714-555-9036" (or something with a 9xxx). The phone is
clearly marked that it "DOES NOT ACCEPT INCOMING CALLS", and
dialing 555-9036 without putting my 20 cents in does not get a busy,
but does get DA for 714.

(On older ESS machines, if you call from a payphone to a busy
number in the same ESS [not just the exchange- all other numbers
in the same ESS will do] you will get busy signal. This also works
for some test numbers, and for numbers that aren't in service. There
is NO need to put in any money...If the party is not busy, you get a
message "Please deposit 20 cents", or whatever the rate is for a
local payphone call.)

Also, if you call 714-555-9036 from Connecticut, Mass, New York or
Jersey (and probably a lot of other places as well), you get
an intercept recording saying "your call can not be completed
as dialed." This seems to be true to most other NPA-555-xxxx's as
well. IE, unless you dial -1212, you don't get DA, at least
from NY and CT.

Oh, and if anyone doesn't believe me, I videotaped the speaker phones
at Disney, and I even got the 555 number on the plate! If anyone
is REALLY curious, I can go look up the number in my old tape collection.

-Doug

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
(and just plain old "dreuben" to locals! :-)  )

[Moderator's Note: In the 1970's, the Museum of Science and Industry here
in Chicago had a pay (speaker) phone; in fact about three or four of them
for use by the public wishing to place phone calls.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Need Wierd RJ-adaptor
Date: 3 Aug 89 20:57:39 GMT
Organization: Public Health Research Institute, NYC, NY


    Our building was re-wired with 4-pair station wire a couple of
years ago when they put in a new AT&T System 25.  The phones are those new
fancy electronic merlin-type phones (excuse me, voice terminals) which use
3 pairs.  This leaves the 4th pair free for me to run appletalk over, which
is great, almost.  The problem is that the wiring runs terminate in 8-pin
modular jacks and PhoneNet is designed to pick up the outside (B/Y) pair of
a normal 4-pin jack.  I had thought of just mounting RJ-11s next to the
8-pin blocks and jumpering over with a short run of station wire, but they
have insulation displacement connectors; no reasonable place to get at the
conductors to run a jumper.

    So, what I need is the following adaptor.  At one end, an 8-pin
modular plug.  At the other end, an 8-pin modular jack, with the first 3
pairs fed straight through from the plug.  On the other other end, a
modular jack with the 2nd pair patched through to the 4th pair of the
modular plug.  You plug this into the wall-mounted jack, plug your
electro-phone into the feed-through jack and your Macintosh into the 4-to-2
patched jack, and you're all set.  As far as I know, no such beast exists,
nor is there anything like a RJ-patch-it-yourself kit (these sorts of
things are popular with the RS-232 crowd).  Any suggestions?
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- [e-mail]
"The connector is the network"

------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Pair Usage  (was Color Coding)
Date: 4 Aug 89 22:45:22 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>


Back when I was installing key systems, I discovered something interesting
in the Pasadena (CA.) area - it might be a local trick, or might be standard
(but I didn't find it in Arcadia, or Alhambra or anywhere else).

If a business had a Ma Bell installed 1A2 system, the pole drop cable was
either 6 or 12 pairs.  If it was underground it was at least 25.

Now comes the cute trick.  The local ring generator was connected to the
last pair, if it wasn't used for a incoming line.

I don't know why, the only use I can conjecture is to determine if the customer
had a power failure without a inside premise visit...  I never climbed the
pole to see if it was terminated there or ran to the CO - I can't imagine it
did as it would be a waste of pairs.  I didn't have a key for the ground level
junction block cabinets, so was unable to check there.

Pasadena also had a cute trick - the telephone poles in back of the local
Burger King, MacDonalds, Winchells Donuts, etc had lockboxes at shoulder
height with a 1-pair protector in them, and was connected to a ringdown to
the test board.  It was quite common to see a telco truck parked next to the
pole with a tech standing there, butt set to his ear and munching on lunch...
Again, never saw it anywhere else.  Don't know if it is still in use, as I
don't have a Warner-Bohannon key.

Likewise the GTE Sierra Madre exchange (818-355) (which went from SxS to EAX
a couple of years ago) was the only one I ever saw which allowed the user to
lease a pair to the CO and have a hunting defeat switch on the side of the
receptionist's phone.  The customer was a MD and had 3 incoming lines and one
answering machine for after-hours calls.  When the office was closed,
the machine was on and hunting was defeated.  Interestingly he had a 25-pair
underground cable into the building (3 storefronts, 1 story and a common
equipment room) and only the first 9 pairs were in use for incoming lines,
and the hunting defeat switch was connected to the last pair.

This was also the exchange which had 3 ring plants on the SxS, probably
a leftover from the party line days.   A friend's house had phones in each
of 3 bedrooms, the living room, and the kitchen.  An incoming call would
ring _sequentially_ in various rooms - I discovered that the house had a
mix of 20hz, 30hz and 16hz (I think - this is 15 years ago!) ringers and
the CO would sequence them down the line - while feeding one ringback to
the caller.

Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #274
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 5 Aug 89 1:14:05 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #275
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 5 Aug 89 01:00:09 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 275

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Inward Dialing (Douglas Scott Reuben)
    LEC Monopoly and Cable TV (Dick Jackson)
    Cellular Calls to 911 (Christopher Chung)
    DA Info On-line (Thomas Lapp)
    Fort Benton, Montana (Mike Morris)
    DTMF Frequencies (Rick Watson)
    Wiring a Modem to a Merlin (Richard Tobier)
    Re: New Area Code Directory Available (David Scott)
    Correction: Black Box, not Yellow Box (Miguel Cruz)
    "Splitting Pairs" By Accident (Miguel Cruz)
    Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number (David Lewis)
    Re: New 800 Service Working Well (Brian Jay Gould)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 4-AUG-1989 02:39:57.84
From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Inward Dialing


A couple (?) of Digests back, John Covert mentioned that AT&T
operators can not talk to Local Bell operators via inward dialing.

I'm not sure if I'm right, and maybe in New England it's different,
but if that's the case, how do AT&T ops do Emergency Interrupts and
Busy Verifications?

We I call from CT or New York to verify/interrupt a busy number in Benicia,
CA, I call the local op, who puts me through to the AT&T op. (In
Connecticut, SNET/AT&T are the same, but in NY they split up, and
I just *hate* to dial 00! :-)  )

Anyhow, after getting AT&T, I say "Hi, can you interrupt 707-745-1999?"
And then she call the number herself, see's that it is busy, and
then calls Rate&Route. The number she gets is "415+11591+". Before
1987, it was "415+121+", but then Pac*Bell split up from AT&T in
terms of operators, so I guess AT&T keeps +121, and Pac*Bell got
+11591. (And it's 415+ since 707-745/Benicia is close to San
Francisco - well, sort of - and I guess it is handled by a center in
415, right?)

So the AT&T operator dials in 415+11591, gets the operator on the
other end who says "Pacific Bell operator", and then they talk
about the interupt, and the Pac*Bell op interrupts the line.

So they do seem to talk to each other, at least in this case. I
would suspect that this is how it works in New England too, but
as I've never tried it, I don't know..

Anyhow, give it a try yourself (unless you are in the San Francisco
Bay Area, in which case AT&T has nothing to do with it..).
The number 707-745-1999 is just a number that is always busy in
my friend's exchange there, and isn't assigned to anyone. Just ask
them to verify it, to see if it's OK...They always say "OD or OH",
which the AT&T op translates as "Off-Hook"...(So what's "OD"?? hmmm..)

Finally, in case you REALLY want to confuse some newer AT&T ops,
ask them to connect you with the mobile/high frequency operator in
Hay River, in the Northwest Territories (Canada). After explaining
what you mean a few times, and usually going to the supervisor,
you'll get a routing like 403+069+, and they also still use a
"ticket" or "mark" for this one, so they will give you some
number like 285-130. (I can't recall the numbers exactly...).
After you get the operator there, you can ask for SR1777, which
I think USED to be "number" there, but no one has answered it
for years. The operator there actually gets on the radio and
calls "SR1117...Calling SR1117...This is the operator...Come in
SR1117"...She will take a message if the party does not answer,
and if she hears them come on during the day, will tell them that
you called. (If she's nice, that is... :-)   )

Well, give 'em both a try...I'd be especially interested to hear
if there are other ways to do an interrupt/verification...

-Doug

P.S. If you call a toll station, like the one in New York mentioned
      earlier, just say "Hi, can I have a RINGDOWN to the River
      Edge (?) Toll Station, #3515, in New York, please?" They know what
      a "ringdown" means, and that usually ends any confusion
      about it being direct-dialable or not...

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
(and just plain old "dreuben" to locals! :-)   )

[Moderator's Note: Your point about emergency interupts and busy verification
is well taken. I frequently encounter busy signals for unusually long periods
of time and will ask the AT&T operator to verify. I do *not* know the routing
or all the specifics, but I *have* heard the distant operator answer saying
"Southern Bell Inward" or similar. This is why like yourself, I took some
exception to Mr. Covert's report a couple days ago. I think they still have
an arrangement with the local BOC's to address their operators direct when
required.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Dick Jackson <[e-mail]>
Subject: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV
Date: 4 Aug 89 18:31:48 GMT
Reply-To: Dick Jackson <[e-mail]>
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica


Is anyone else in this group interested in the *future* of the telephone
system?  There are lots of topics that might be discussed, but just to test
the waters let me try just one -- the continued monopoly of the LECs for
basic plant and services.

Its clear that the LECs really want to make a pile of money out of
providing enhanced services but are not really willing to do what the FCC
and the other players want in order to ensure fair competition.

An example of the LEC's bid for more revenue is their request to be
allowed to operate cable TV, i.e. to deliver entertainment to the home.
In my, opinion to permit this at the present time would be ludicrous given
the operating companies non-clean record on cross subsidies and trampling
on smaller companies they perceive as competitors.

HOWEVER, and this is the point I would like to see discussed, it seems to
me fine to allow the local carriers to deliver cable TV as long as the
CATV companies are allowed to offer dial tone.  Is this feasible?  I
guess, for a start that the cable systems would have to be re-engineered,
probably with fiber, and there might not be enough money in the (phone)
business to make it a good investment.  But it is going to take something
extraordinary to get fiber into homes, since telephone service alone can't
justify it.

Dick Jackson

[Moderator's Note: I am not quite clear on your use of the abbreviation
'LEC'. Would you explain the abbreviation, please? But to provide one opinion
to your question, I think the telcos should stay in the phone business
and out of the cable TV business.  Let's see what others here think.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 04 Aug 89 22:20:07 EDT
From: Christopher Chung <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cellular Calls to 911

I just bought a cellular phone about 3 weeks ago and was wondering if
there was any cost in making a 911 call.  For obvious reasons I don't want
to try and test it out.

Thanks,
Chris
[e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: Whether or not there is a charge depends on the policy
of the carrier. The landline portion, by law, is sent collect to the police
or emergency service. But please note yesterday's Digest and previous items
on this: 911 as designed is virtually worthless in cellular applications.
It is biased in favor of phones at *fixed* locations, since the caller's
name and address are an important part of the message delivered.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 18:11:39 edt
From: Thomas Lapp <[e-mail]>
Subject: DA Info On-line
Reply-To: mvac23![e-mail]

> F&A... $1.00 for digging thru a phone book and not finding a listing (it
> should be higher than what the telco charges us for a DA lookup, because
> they have consoles and databases to make the retrieval quick and easy,

Why don't we (public) have access to this database?  After all, France has
their Minitel system which was set up originally to be an on-line phone
book (it was cheaper to give out Minitel units than to give out phone books!).

                         - tom
==============================================================================
Internet: mvac23![e-mail]                     | Why wait for something
          or                                         | to happen, when, by
          [e-mail]                     | exercising the rights
uucp: {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas| you have, you can MAKE
Location: Newark, DE, USA                            | it happen?
==============================================================================

[Moderator's Note: It is available on line here in IBT-land, under the name
'Directory Express'. You buy time *by the hour* and can connect with your
terminal and modem. It is a business offering designed for *heavy* users
of Directory Assistance, such as credit departments and collection agencies.
How's a couple hundred bucks a month minimum charge grab you?   PT]

------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Fort Benton, Montana
Date: 4 Aug 89 22:15:09 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>


In the late 60' or early 70's I visited Fort Benton a few times.  I remember
that the telephone system was SxS, and located in the back of someone's barn,
and owned by the Tri County Telephone Assoc.  It was either a 3 or 4 digit
system and could be dialed from the outside world.  Inside the town you
dialed 4 digits, I seem to remember the first was always "3".  It was 1+
for anything outside the town, even the operator was 1+0 because she was
in the next town down.  Information was 1+411 and came from Great Falls.
I was told later that repair was 3611 and was an answering machine.

I have no idea what is current in Fort Benton - I was last there in 1972.

Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

From: Rick Watson <ut-emx![e-mail]>
Subject: DTMF frequencies
Date: 4 Aug 89 05:36:23 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas


What are the frequencies of the various tones used for DTMF?

Thanks,

Rick Watson
University of Texas Computation Center
 arpa:   [e-mail] (128.83.1.26)
 uucp:   ...cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!rick
 bitnet: watson@utadnx
 span:   utspan::watson (UTSPAN is 25.128)
 phone:  [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 13:30:40 EDT
From: Richard Tobier <gould!infocenter![e-mail]>
Subject:  Connecting a Modem to a Merlin

In response to Nomad who asked :

>I would like to connect a modem to the Merlin system at work but need a bit
>of help.  The phones that we use have an extra jack on the bottom for use (I
>am told) with a speakerphone or a "universal device interface".  The people
>from AT$T are quite willing to sell me a little box to plug into it for a sum
>over $250.00 (which seems a bit high for what is undoubtedly a very simple
>little box).

When I was a installer, I discovered a way to hook up analog devices
(Modems, Fax) to electronic systems. The parts may cost you $15 - $20.

Disclaimers:
1. The Electronic Phone system must use a dedicated voice pair (tip and ring).
2. The analog devise is only good for originating calls.

Parts:
1. One RJ 31x
2. 12 inches of cross connect wire

Installation:
1. Mount the RJ 31x within 12 inches of the jack of the station where the
   devise is to be installed.
2. Connect the cross connect wire to terminals 1 and 8.
3. Connect the tip and ring from the station wiring to terminals 4 and 5.
4. Connect the other end of the cross connect wire to where the station wire
   was terminated.

How to use:
1. Plug analog devise into the RJ 31x.
2. Select the line on your electronic phone.
3.
a. MODEM - from your computer type ATDT ect.
b. FAX - using your monitor function on your electronic phone dial the
number, listen for the tone, hit the connect button on the machine
and away you go.

You can buy a RJ 31x at any Graybar or even Radio Shack. It is also known
as an alarm interface.

If you have questions call me at [phone] or email encore.encore.com!
gould!rtobier

Richard Tobier
Telecommunications Analyst
Encore Computer Corp. (FKA Gould Inc, CSD)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 08:29:36 PDT
From: [e-mail], David Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New Area Code Directory Available

Can you also get it in machine readable form?

[Moderator's Note: Probably from someplace. Not from the source I gave,
which is a literature distribution center for AT&T. Readers, any ideas? PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 20:43:52 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Correction: Black Box, not Yellow Box

[e-mail] wrote in Telecom Digest 9.269:
> which gave actual details, including Radio Shack part numbers for building a
> "Yellow" box.  Basically a resistor to be switched in at time of ring-receipt

(About a device used to defraud telephone companies by keeping billing from
starting on incoming long-distance calls.)

Actually, it was a "black box".  The Yellow box is something else (not sure
offhand, but I can check).

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 21:09:30 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: "Splitting Pairs" By Accident

John Dearing <[e-mail]> mentioned briefly the
problem of "splitting pairs" when doing telephone wiring.

I've fallen prey to that more than once.  Interestingly, on an NT DMS
switch, the lines still worked.  I don't remember if it was the tip
or the ring, but the new hybrid line adopted the identity of one of
its parent lines.

But I'm trying it right now on some plain old Michigan Bell lines and
there's just a little buzz (no dialtone).

Why would the DMS line still operate with a mismatched pair?  Isn't
each line on a separate, and (hopefully) isolated card?

------------------------------

From: David Lewis <nvuxr![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Tone Which Announces Request for Card Number
Date: 4 Aug 89 17:38:50 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research

In article <[e-mail]>, 89.KREMEN@gsb-how.
stanford.edu (The Arb) writes:
> I am wondering about the "special tone" that one hears when
> making a telephone credit card call using AT&T. Does anyone out know
> at what frequency the tone is or is there even a standard?

Once more, back to Notes on the BOC Intra-LATA Networks... from Table
AQ, "Call Progress Tones"...  Calling Card Service Prompt Tone consists
of 941+1477 Hz followed immediately by 440 + 350 Hz, for 940
milliseconds (exponentially decayed from -10dBm per frequency an -3 TLP
at time constant of 200 milliseconds).

whatever *that* means...

--
David G Lewis                ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej

            "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."

------------------------------

From: Brian Jay Gould <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New 800 Service Working Well
Date: 4 Aug 89 19:30:37 GMT
Organization: NJ InterCampus Network, New Brunswick, N.J.

I am also a Teleconnect*USA 800 subscriber.  As a side note, you can
request numbers that spell something.  For example, my number is
1-800-PATIENT (Please don't call it to verify!).  The special number
cost me only $100.  Some numbers however are considered to be in
demand and may cost as high as $1000.

Note that this is a one-time charge and the number is yours forever.


- Brian Jay Gould  :: INTERNET [e-mail]                       -
-                     UUCP rutgers!njin!gould   Telephone  [phone] -
-                     BITNET gould@jvncc        Facsimile  [phone] -
- Vice President, Systems Integration    ---   Network Design Corporation -

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #275
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 5 Aug 89 3:20:57 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest Special Edition: Seminar News
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 5 Aug 89 03:05:00 CDT  Special Edition: Seminar News

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned (Pete Brown)    **PRO**
    Seminar Announcements (Hector Myerston)                       **CON**
    Commercialization of TELECOM (Lars J. Poulsen)                **PRO**
    Seminar Announcements, etc. (Frank J. Wancho)                 **CON**
    Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned (Tom Wiencko)   **PRO**
    Plugging Telecom Seminars (Bill Cerny)             ORIGINAL WRITER REPLIES,
    Folks who Understand ISDN (Bill Cerny)             & QUESTIONS HIS CRITIC
    Re: Folks Who Understand ISDN (Don Stanwyck)         *RESPONSE*
    Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned (Bennett Todd)  **PRO**
    Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned (Chip Rosenthal)**CON**
    Is The Monthly Round-Up Too Commercial? (Kenneth Selling)     **PRO**
    Seminar Announcements (Vance Shipley)                         **PRO**
    Seminar Announcements - My View (TELECOM Moderator)           ???????
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 26 Jul 89 8:45:54 PDT
From:     Pete Brown <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re:  Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned

>Question to readers: Do you, or do
>you not enjoy/wish to read seminar/exhibition/conference announcements? Tell

I enjoy the opportunity to either read them or to press 'n' to skip them.
My vote is to continue to post them, with perhaps a keyword (such as
"List of Commercial Seminars for February") which would serve to warn
those whose sensibilities are offended by commercial-flavored posts.

Pete


------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: 26 Jul 89  13:20 PST
Subject: Seminar Announcements
Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA  94025  [[phone]]

          I agree that seminar announcements have no place in this
          newsgroup.  There are daily and continuing streams of such
          announcements.  Publishing them here would lead to one of
          two equally bad results:

          o A flood of Seminar Announcements OR
          o Further "Filtering" by the Moderator

          I think that there is already much too much "noise" on the
          net in the form of excrutiatingly detailed descriptions of
          local calling areas in some particular city and the ever
          increasing use of Moderators Notes before, sometimes during
          and after submissions by others.

          Just an opinion!


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 11:18:35 -0700
From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Commercialization of TELECOM

Patrick,
    The three most valuable moderated newsgroups on the net, in my
humble opinion, are REC.HUMOR.FUNNY, COMP.DCOM.TELECOM, and COMP.RISKS.
Of these, TELECOM is by far the most responsive, in terms of turnaround
time and the quality of editorial comments.
    I appreciate the postings about ISDN seminars. The ones selected
appeared to be of high quality; certainly better than the several I have
received junk mail ads about. If my job function had related more
directly to IDSN applications, I'd likely have gone as a direct result
of your recommendation of them.

    Keep up the good work, and don't let the complaints get you down.

/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1989  21:41 MDT
From: "Frank J. Wancho" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Seminar announcements, etc.

I skip reading them.  I'd rather not see them at all in this forum.

--Frank

------------------------------

From: Tom Wiencko <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned
Date: 28 Jul 89 18:03:12 GMT
Reply-To: Tom Wiencko <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(D. Stanwyck) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
>(TELECOM Moderator) says:
>> A while back in the Digest, I printed a schedule of seminars on the subject
>> of 'Understanding ISDN' (Integrated Services Digital Network). These
><<followed by a complete commercial announcement>>
>
>[Sir Moderator's Note: You raise a good point regards commercialization
> ...
>for posting. I'll even type them in!  Question to readers: Do you, or do
>you not enjoy/wish to read seminar/exhibition/conference announcements? Tell

I, for one, like to see announcements of conferences and such here.  I, also
get lots and lots of mail and such for ISDN and other telephony related
seminars, but most of them find their way straight to the circular file since
I have no way of judging the relative merits of the courses.

Given that this is a moderated group, and that the moderator is doing at least
some checking of the posting, I tend to value the information I receive here
well above that which comes via the US-SNAIL net.  In fact, it would also be of
interest to me to occasionally see a review or other comments of courses which
others have attended and found to be of value.

I vote for leaving them in.

Tom
------------------------------

Reply-To: toto![e-mail]
Subject: Plugging Telecom Seminars
Date: 28 Jul 89 08:38:39 CDT (Fri)
From: Bill Cerny <toto![e-mail]>

I was a little offended by D. Stanwyck's attack on your policy of
announcing telecom seminars, particularly those on ISDN.

I'll try to be more objective than Mr. Stanwyck on this matter, and
state that announcing telecom seminars is a worthy activity, but unless
you've been to one, or have received a review from a reputable person,
I believe it would be prudent to stop short of saying (as you did of
the TRA ISDN seminars) "...the instructors are from Bell Labs and are
really knowledgeable..." (or words to that affect).  As much as my
former employer appreciates your plug, I think it might be a bit too
controversial, especially with the likes of D. Stanwyck in the
readership.

You solicited a review of TRA's "Understanding ISDN" seminar a month or
so ago; yet nobody has replied.  Maybe you could post a second request
for Digest readers to critique telecom training they have attended.

[By the way, I have accepted a position in San Diego, where I was
living before coming to Kansas for ISDN research.  Perhaps I'll have a
chance to put my knowledge to practice:  Pac*Bell will offer ISDN
Centrex later this year from 25-30 metropolitan (5ESS) c.o.'s across
the state.  I'd like to post a report on that in the Digest, but I
might embarrass my friend John Higdon, who wouldn't believe something
that progressive could happen in his state! 8-) 8-) ]

Bill Cerny
[e-mail]   |   attmail: attmail!denwa!bill   |   fax: [phone]

[Moderator's Note: Mr. Cerny was the person who supplied the original message
from TRA, and the followup with the additional cities.   PT]

------------------------------

Reply-To: toto![e-mail]
Subject: Folks who Understand ISDN
Date: 28 Jul 89 08:22:18 CDT (Fri)
From: Bill Cerny <toto![e-mail]>

To Mr. Stanwyck:

I read your recent post in the Telecom Digest concerning ISDN
"fakirs."  I recall a posting you made a couple months back about your
work on the ISDN.  Indeed, aren't you a member/chair of some ANSI T1
subcommittee(s) on ISDN?

Do you present ISDN fundamentals and applications to AT&T or outside
organizations?

--
Bill Cerny
[e-mail]   |   attmail: attmail!denwa!bill   |   fax: [phone]

------------------------------

From: mtfmi![e-mail]
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 16:44 EDT
Subject: Re: Folks who Understand ISDN

Bill:

Yes, through March of this year I was vice-chair of the ANSI committee (T1S1.2)
that does ISDN access protocols.  I do not, and have not for AT&T, teach/taught
ISDN.  (I did guest leacture for a course at the U of Colorado.)

In March of this year I got out of standards and into fulltime education.
I don't teach inside or outside of AT&T for the Education center, though,
rather I am one of the founding faculty members of the Information
Communication Institute of Singapore (ICIS).

ICIS is a new (opens 1/2/90) graduate institute in Telecommunications.  I
was selected for my background in data communication and teaching (I am a
member of the graduate faculty at the Univ. of Colorado).

Regarding ISDN fakirs.....I don't accuse TRA Associates of being such,
rather I note that such do exist.  TRA - the company the moderator was
pushing, was founded by Mr. Mike Diesel.  Mike and I worked together at
Bell Labs (Chicago) until 1985.  I didn't feel then, nor do I now, that
Mike knew a great deal about ISDN.  Mike has since hired John Swart -
another Chicago Bell Lab'er I knew, and lately Jim Neigh, a New Jersey
Bell Lab'er I have worked with quite a bit.  Of the bunch, Mr. Neigh is
undoubtably the most knowledgeable about ISDN.

But TRA doesn't claim to teach all about ISDN.  According to a
conversation held last week with their VP Sales, they only try to help
you understand the buzzwords.  So as long as they can do that (and I
believe they can) then they have delivered as promised.  Unfortuneatly,
many, including the moderator, seem to feel that they are really teaching
ISDN.

There are many other educational seminars taught by far less qualified
people - people who have never tried to either implement or work on the
ISDN standards.  Instead, they do as one author does that I know, and
they spend just a short time saying why they think ISDN will never fly (See
Stalling's book on Data Communications).  But they advertise that their
two day course will cover all of OSI and ISDN!  Oh well, if you believe
the sales pitch, you get what you deserve.



Don Stanwyck            _  _
mtfmi!stanwyc            o  o            Kelly Ed. Center
MT 3F-121             ||            ICIS Faculty
201-957-6693            \__/            AT&T-Bell Labs

[Moderator's Note: Mr. Stanwyck's criticism was the basis for my request
for user input in this matter.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:33:02 EDT
From: Bennett Todd <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned


Remember me -- I'm the "customer who opts for OPTS".

Anyway, you asked:

[Sir Moderator's Note:
> ...
>                                      Question to readers: Do you, or do
>you not enjoy/wish to read seminar/exhibition/conference announcements? Tell
>me, I'll summarize later. PT]

I really like the seminar and conference announcements; I haven't been
tempted to try to go to any yet, but maybe one of these days.... Even
so, I like to know about their existence.

I should say, I really like the announcements *at about their current
frequency* -- they are an insignificant fraction of the volume of
Telecom Digest. Do please keep up the good work, just as you are now.

Thanks!

-Bennett
[e-mail]

P.S. I still don't have a phone at home -- and I still love it! Friends
and coworkers just can't believe it. My family is tolerating it, since I
correspond with them via email all the time, and call them from work
regularly -- for purposes of which I've gotten an AT&T calling card. As
is to be expected, since I explicitly don't have home service to tie the
access code to, the number is really weird. Which suits me just fine.

------------------------------

From: Chip Rosenthal <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Understanding ISDN: More Seminars Planned
Date: 29 Jul 89 16:43:30 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Dallas Semiconductor


[e-mail] (D. Stanwyck) writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 256, message 4 of 5
>I, for one, strongly object to this forum, especially as a moderated
>forum, becoming a place for commercial announcements.

I receive an incredible number of such announcements via snail mail every
week.  Not all these seminars are bad.  In fact, I attended one such
seminar which I found helpful.  However, there are soooo many of them
that a full list in TELECOM would also easily grow to annoying size.

The fact that such seminars exist would be of benefit to some TELECOM
readers, and this information is therefore useful and hence publishable.
However, a full schedule isn't especially useful since these seminars are
offered all the time, and a full list could grow to extreme lengths.  I
might suggest something in the monthly listing along the lines of "these
places offer regular and frequent seminars" along with contact telno's
would be entirely appropriate.

To claim that the net is no place for commercial information is naive.
I don't want to be barraged with advertising, but I certainly would like
to hear about new products and services which might be of help to me.
Even the oft quoted "no commercial use of the Internet" has fallen into
question; primarly by some reasearch done by Brad Templeton for the news
service his company is running.

So, I agree with the poster not on the grounds that commercial announcements
have no place here, but rather that (1) such a list could grow to annoying
size, and (2) these companies offer the same seminars all the time, and
posting the dates and details provides little useful information.
--
Chip Rosenthal / [e-mail] / Dallas Semiconductor / 214-450-5337
"I wish you'd put that starvation box down and go to bed" - Albert Collins' Mom

------------------------------

Date: 26-JUL-1989 19:38:39.06
From: Kenneth Selling <[e-mail]>
Subject: Is the Monthly Round-up Too Commercial

In TELECOM Digest vol. 9, issue 256, "D. Stanwyck" <[e-mail]>
suggests that our Moderator should not post a monthly round-up of TELECOM
seminars and conferences because they are "commercial announcements".

Our Moderator then asks of us readers:

>  Do you, or do you not enjoy/wish to read seminar/exhibition/conference
>  announcements?  Tell me

Because most of the workshops our Moderator rounds up for us are to further
educate ourselves if we choose, I believe they are very appropriate in the
Digest.  I do not believe the exclusive fact that many of them are run by
commercial organizations should make them tabu.  In some cases, the only folks
with sufficient resources or expertise to offer these classes are commercial
groups (like AT&T, Bellcore, etc.)

Agreed, there will be an occasional bad apple in the bunch, such as groups
which do not know much about their subject, or are just blatantly out to sell
their products.  I feel it is worth that risk to publicize legitimate events.
I also believe this Digest would be a good forum for readers to feed-back poor
experiences they had with any of them (i.e., "It turned out that the 'Bellcore
Seminar on Digital PBXs' was run by some chump named Horace Bellcore, who tried
all day to push the 'Horace Bellcore Connecto-Jet IV PBX' - made in Malaysia.")


Ken Selling

Organization:   Wesleyan University
Internet:       [e-mail]
BITNET:         [e-mail]

-----------------------------

Date: Fri Jul 28 18:56:49 1989
From: Vance Shipley <xenitec![e-mail]>
Subject: Seminar Announcements

>.......... Question to readers: Do you, or do
>you not enjoy/wish to read seminar/exhibition/conference announcements? Tell
>me, I'll summarize later. PT]

 I _DO_ want to see them.

Vance Shipley                          uucp:  ..!{uunet!}watmath!xenitec!vances
Linton Technology - SwitchView         INTERNET:            [e-mail]
180 Columbia Street West                            (soon)  [e-mail]
Waterloo, Ontario
CANADA                                                      tel:  [phone]
N2L 3L3                                                     fax:  [phone]

------------------------------

From: Telecom Moderator <[e-mail]>
Date: Saturday, August 5, 1989  0200
Subject: Seminar Announcements - My View

So here you see the response of the readers who replied to the question
on the propriety of commercial seminar announcements in TELECOM Digest.
There were others, but they requested 'do not publish'. The overall count
was about sixty percent for and forty percent against such postings, as
is illustrated in the messages which appear here.

I am going to continue listing occassional seminars, but give far less space to
the specifics, supplying only the basics of dates, locations and phone
numbers. And generally these will be limited to once a month. It should
be obvious to all there is really no way I personally can be informed on
all aspects of ISDN, nor can I possibly vouch for the authenticity or
quality of any seminar/exhibition/conference being presented. I will supply
the information FYI only, leaving it to each of you to phone for more
details as desired. Reviews by persons in attendance are encouraged and
will be printed.

I hope everyone will consider this a reasonable compromise. I've had a
notice from some folks in London about a new ISDN newsletter sitting in
my pending box for a week now; I was a little schizoid about running it;
even though it seems like an interesting new publication. Maybe I will
do something with it over the weekend.

73's

Patrick Townson
------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest Special Edition (Seminar News)
*****************************










Date:     Sun, 6 Aug 89 0:02:37 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #276
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sun, 6 Aug 89 00:00:27 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 276

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    The Verification Operator is NOT Inward (John R. Covert)
    Where Can I Find A Complete List of Access Codes? (Rodney Amadeus)
    Using Sprint's FONLINE 800 Service in the Residence (Bill Cerny)
    Dilemma Choosing Right PBX For Office (Jeff Sicherman)
    Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere? (David Lewis)
    Re: Various Ways of Handling 555-1212 (Rodney Amadeus)
    Re: 555 Exchange and Inward Numbers (Marc T. Kaufman)
    Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant (John Higdon)
    Re: Rolm -- the PBX with a "conscience"? (Kevin Blatter)
    Re: Rival Claims PacBell Gave It A 'Virus' (John Higdon)
    New Toll Free Calling Area in Connecticut (Jon Solomon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "John R. Covert" <[e-mail]>
Date: 5 Aug 89 08:56
Subject: The Verification Operator is NOT Inward

>A couple (?) of Digests back, John Covert mentioned that AT&T
>operators can not talk to Local Bell operators via inward dialing.
>
>I'm not sure if I'm right, and maybe in New England it's different,
>but if that's the case, how do AT&T ops do Emergency Interrupts and
>Busy Verifications?

In V9#250, I wrote

>In no case will an AT&T operator calling Inward reach a local Baby Bell
>operator.  Only in the case of the completing calls to non-diallable points
>(and there are thousands of them left, especially in California), will an
>AT&T operator end up on a Baby Bell toll board, but this isn't Inward.

I should have included verification as a case where AT&T operators can end
up on a Baby Bell board.  But again, this is NOT "Inward" and Baby Bell
verification operators are prohibited from completing calls for AT&T if the
number turns out to be available.  The AT&T operator will have to redial the
call from the originating point or possibly via AT&T Inward.

There is a good reason for this, and it has to do with DOLLARS.  Unless the
AT&T call is completed via AT&T's FGD trunks, the local operating company does
not get its share of the revenue from the call.

/john

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 18:08:24 EST
From: "R.A. Anonymous, Jr." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Where Can I Find a Complete List of Access Codes?

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with locating the companies that
own a few access codes.  From my area, I can use 10222 (MCI), 10288 (AT&T),
10333 (US Sprint), and 10444 (AllNet).  The codes in question are 10555
and 10999.  These both work, but I don't know who I'm going to get a bill
from...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        Rodney Amadeus Anonymous, Jr.   |       Wyomissing, PA
        pro-palace!r.a.a.               |       pro-harvest!r.a.a.
        pro-palace checked daily        |       pro-harvest checked weekly
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Moderator's Note: Some time ago, a reader posted the entire list of
10xxx codes for the United States, although some are not available in all
communities. Could someone post that list again please?   PT]

------------------------------

From: Bill Cerny <toto![e-mail]>
Subject: Using Sprint's FONLINE 800 service in the residence
Date: 5 Aug 89 13:19:23 GMT
Organization: Little 3B1 on the Prairie, St. Marys, KS


I've had Sprint's 800 service in my home since April, and I'm
pleasantly surprised that both the service and the billing has been
flawless to date (a sudden triple knock on the wooden desk).  At first,
the folks at the national sales center (1-800-mumble) refused to allow
me to order "residential" 800 service, but that was back in February
when FONLINE 800 orders were gushing in.  The two-step solution was to
go thru my regional Sprint sales office, and operate a business from my
home.  In February, as now (thru Sep 30), the installation charges are
waived (save $50).  The monthly is $10, and Canadian service is
available for an add'l monthly charge.  So far, my usage has been 100
to 250 minutes per month, for an average of .17/min (the majority being
evening & night calls, from the West Coast).  My favorite feature is
the billing detail: if the call originated in an equal access office,
you get the full 10d of the party that called you.  Sort of a time
delayed Calling Line ID.  8-)

I've been keeping track of other "residential" 800 service offerings,
but Sprint still has the highest "fun factor," IMHO.
--
Bill Cerny
[e-mail]   |   attmail: attmail!denwa!bill

------------------------------

Date:     Sat, 5 Aug 89 15:15:21 CDT
From:     [e-mail]
Subject:  Dilemma Choosing Right PBX for Office

We are planning to upgrade to a small PBX from a keyed system (the old 5
button clunkers) and have looked at AT&T's offerings. In particular they
have one that is 'digital' (Merlin) and one analog (?). Is there any reason
to choose among these, or others, with respect to use with modems or faxes ?

Does the digital imply it can be used as an interconnect media for computers ?

Jeff Sicherman
[e-mail]


------------------------------

From: David Lewis <nvuxr![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere?
Date: 4 Aug 89 15:57:59 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Mark
Brader) writes:
> Lisa Smith ([e-mail]) wrote the following in an article in
> (the Usenet newsgroup) rec.humor.d:
>
> > That prefix, 555, isn't fictional everywhere.  One of my school friends
> > said that his grandfather's phone number, somewhere in South Dakota, is
> > a 555 number.  He said that it was to his knowledge the only place in
> > the U.S. that it was a real prefix though.
>
> Someone else said that if this was ever true it isn't now.
> What do the experts say?

The 555 prefix isn't fictional; it's "reserved for special use"; e.g.
directory assistance.  To quote my favorite source, _Notes on the BOC
Intra-LATA Networks -- 1986_ (TR-NPL-000275, April 1986):  "In general,
the assignment of CO codes within an NPA is handled by the serving
BOC...  Each assignment should be made ... to the extent that it is
feasible in accordance with the following guidelines regarding the
sequence of assignment:  (1) First-choice codes for CO assignment
purposes include all NNX type codes, excluding NN0 codes, and the
following seven codes that are currently reserved for special use:

"555 -- Toll Directory Assistance
 844 -- Time Service
 936 -- Weather Service
 950 -- Access to Interexchange Carriers under FG (Feature Group) B
        access arrangements
 958 -- Plant Test
 959 -- Plant Test
 976 -- Information Delivery Service"

In other words -- they're not fictional, but it is recommended that they
not be assigned to users.  Of course, local telcos (including BOCs, but
particularly independents) are free to ignore the recommendations.

--
David G Lewis                ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej

            "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 12:50:22 EST
From: "R.A. Anonymous, Jr." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Various Ways of Handling 555-1212

Dialing 1-555-5555 gets free directory assistance in my area, too. Rather
convenient....

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        Rodney Amadeus Anonymous, Jr.   |       Wyomissing, PA
        pro-palace!r.a.a.               |       pro-harvest!r.a.a.
        pro-palace checked daily        |       pro-harvest checked weekly
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


------------------------------

From: "Marc T. Kaufman" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 555 Exchange and Inward Numbers
Date: 5 Aug 89 16:04:37 GMT
Reply-To: "Marc T. Kaufman" <[e-mail]>
Organization: Stanford University


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) writes:

>Actually, there are 555 numbers that appear to be assigned to
>pay phones, at least in special cases.

>If you go to Disneyland in Anahiem, CA, which is still served by
>Pac*Bell (but it's VERY near GTE territory..oh no! :-)  ), you
>can use "Pay-Speakerphones". These are basically large booths,
>with Bell System payphones, which no longer have a handset. Instead,
>they have a speaker box (with a blue Bell logo) and a microphone
>near the payphone itself, all neatly built into the wall.

I am sure this is a very special case.  These phones were installed when
"Tomorrowland" was originally opened (in 1957?) and most of Orange County
was still orchards.  The Irvine ranch still ran cattle.  This was supposed
to be a demonstration of "advanced" telephone technology (they even had
a demonstration picturephone).  Given the volume of calls from these phones,
I'm sure the phone company had to treat them specially.  We may find out the
555 prefix is bogus, and if you replaced it with the correct prefix you
could call in.  How about making a collect call from one of them and checking
the number on your bill, when you get it.

Marc Kaufman ([e-mail])

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant
Date: 4 Aug 89 08:02:21 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
writes:
> Of course, not many end-users even know about it.  Like many Rolm
> features, it's a bit hard to explain.

And, like many Rolm features, it's totally screwy and totally
non-intuitive. Instead of ten seconds of busy and then music, how about
two seconds of busy. NO ONE listens to a busy signal for ten seconds.

Having replaced many Rolms in my day, I can say that the reason their
owners were quite happy to see them go was that they were so hard to
use. Oh, yes, they were feature-laden. Features that required a
detailed manual to describe. F'rinstance, to transfer a call in 99% of
PBX switches on a single-line phone, you flash the hookswitch, dial the
destination number and hang up. With Rolm, you flash, dial a code
(different depending on the type of transfer), dial the number and hang
up.

Rolm's attitude was "We're king of the hill, and you will do it our
way." For this reason, many of Rolm's features were never used by their
customers. They didn't know how. And it was generally too much trouble.
Yes, Rolm, it is possible to have features that work and are easy to
use.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: "K.BLATTER" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Rolm -- the PBX with a "conscience"?
Date: 4 Aug 89 14:21:35 GMT
Organization: AT&T ISL Lincroft NJ USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
> voice saying, "Is that a *personal* call?"
>
> Now, obviously, I realize that Rolm PBX's never *really* went "ding"
> and asked "Is that a *personal* call?" :-}  But can anyone out there
> tell me exactly what Rolm's "conscience" feature really was?  Was it
> something as mundane as a printed log of every number called from every
> extension -- so that a manager could go through the list later on and
> inquire about calls to unfamiliar phone numbers?

I don't know what Rolm's "conscience" was, but practically every PBX
and large key system sold in America comes with an SMDR port.  The
SMDR (Station Message Detail Recording) port generates information about
individual calls made to and from the PBX.  This information is usually
in ASCII, but not always, so you can hook up a serial printer and get
a listing of all the calls that are made.  If this port is hooked up
to a computer, you can run a call accounting system which will read
the "raw" call records and estimate the price of the call, look up the
destination of the call and store the call in a database.  Reports are
run and guarenteed somebody looks at them.

Some of these call accounting systems will even pick out individual
numbers and rather than list the geographical destination, will list
the actual station who the phone is registered to.
ie. 1 [phone] Kevin's Grandma

Within AT&T, these reports are distributed to department heads who
then are at liberty to do whatever they want with them.

Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Labs
Disclaimer - The ideas here are my own, not my employer's.

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Rival Claims PacBell Gave It A 'Virus'
Date: 5 Aug 89 06:11:56 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team

Back in '85, GTE Mobilnet began cellular service in the San Francisco
bay area. It did a horrible job. In late '86 Cellular One came in as
the non-wireline carrier and offered greatly superior service. There
was a mass exodus to the new system that was owned 50% by Pacific
Telesis. They also offered a new twist: calls from anywhere in the
service area directed to a mobile would be toll-free no matter where
the mobile prefix was actually located.

GTE Mobilnet, which was by now getting its act together got the same
arrangement. But even though granted this "land line-no toll" by the
PUC, it doesn't really do them much good. Why? Pacific Bell runs the
phones. To this day, you can pick up virtually any PB pay phone in the
greater SF bay area and dial any Cellular One prefix from Santa Rosa to
San Jose for twenty cents. If you try it with a GTE Mobilnet prefix,
the automatic coin voice will ask for the prevailing toll rate for that
call, even though they have the identical tariff in the matter.

This is IMHO a blatant, clear-cut example of Pacific Telesis using its
control of the local telephone network to serve its own ends. The
standard answer from Pac*Bell whenever you confront them with something
like this is, "We would never do that intentionally. We don't have to
do business that way." I've been given that line from them many times.

While I am generally a fan of deregulation, I have seen enough evidence
that Pac*Bell tends to be slimy and the PUC should go very slowly in
the direction of removing controls.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 5 Aug 89 12:27:27 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: New Toll Free Calling Area in Connecticut

Now, if SNET gave Middletown toll-free calling to New Haven, and this were
15 years ago, I would have paid quite a penny to get a Middletown number,
so my Hartford relatives could have been able to call me toll free in NH.

*sigh*.

[Moderator's Note: jsol was the founder of TELECOM Digest, and the moderator
for several years.  PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #276
*****************************










Date:     Mon, 7 Aug 89 0:03:25 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #277
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Mon, 7 Aug 89 00:00:07 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 277

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    More About NJ Sabotage (Mark Robert Smith)
    Non-dialable Points (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Why Different Access Codes? (arnor![e-mail])
    ANI Phone Number Kept A Secret (David Lesher)
    Re: 555 Exchange and Inward Numbers  (David Lesher)
    Re: Best Choice For Multi-line Home Phone Wiring? (Ron Natalie)
    Re: Divestiture, Business and the General Public (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Special Ring Detection (Dr. T. Andrews)
    Re: Rotary-dial Encoding (Tom Hofmann)
    Re: Cellular Calls to 911 (Doug Davis)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 89 19:53:10 EDT
From: Mark Robert Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: More About NJ Sabotage

Well, the strike has started.  Officially, this means that CWA and IBEW are
on strike against NJ Bell.  Supervisory personnel are covering.

Also, the sabotage has continued.  About a dozen subscriber lines were cut in
Leonia, NJ's central office.  United Telephone/com? (the local telephone
company for NW NJ) has reported about 20 incidents per day of vandalism, mostly
subscriber lines cut in CO's, and fiber cables cut with hatchets.

Once again I ask - what are the unions trying to prove here?  I can't see any
judge or arbitrator taking the union side on anything after all of this.

Mark
----
Mark Smith     |  "Be careful when looking into the distance,       |All Rights
61 Tenafly Road|that you do not miss what is right under your nose."| Reserved
Tenafly,NJ 07670-2643|rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith,[e-mail]
You may redistribute this article only to those who may freely do likewise.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 89 16:59:16 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Non-dialable Points
Organization: Columbia University

Recently it was mentioned that there are thousands of non-dialable points
left in California.  Just out of curiosity...

    What cities (or should I say villages) are still-non dialable?
    Do such places have outbound dialing or is all calling
        still operator-assist?

I would think that with today's telephone technology, DDD would reach _all_
points in America.  Can anyone explain the holdouts?

Thanks,

-G

[Moderator's Note:  Mr. Covert's article recent article stating 'there are
thousands of non-dialable points' also caught my attention. If he was
including toll-stations in his count, I'd say there might be a couple hundred
such places; if his calculations were only of manual exchange service, which
all of us were at one point and few (if any) of us are now, it defies my
imagination that there are 'thousands of them left....especially in
California...'. If there are thousands of them, perhaps Mr. Covert will
write an article and name just a dozen or so. Even a lot of the Nevada toll-
stations have been picked up by other exchanges in the recent past, but
toll-stations are NOT the same as manual exchanges in any event.   PT]

------------------------------

From: arnor![e-mail]
Subject: Why Different Access Codes?
Date: 6 Aug 89 17:12:52 GMT
Reply-To:  <arnor![e-mail]>


Hello,
Could somebody explain: what can one win, using diferent access codes? Like
having AT&T as default LD carrier, but routing some of calls through MCI or
Sprint? Don't you get billed from BOTH default LD carrier AND the one you
actually sent your call through? What are the rules of this game?

Thank you,
Uri.

=============
<Disclaimer>

[Moderator's Note: The use of different access codes merely allows one to
select the desired long distance carrier. At the time of divestiture and
equal access, in order to avoid forcing millions of phone users to begin
dialing an extra five digits on their long distance calls in order that a few
people could route their calls 'with equal ease in dialing' to the carrier of
choice -- if people did not use AT&T they had to dial upwards of 23 digits
to use alternate carriers -- provision was made that you could 'default' your
calls to the carrier of choice, continuing to dial 10/11 digits. You are only
billed by the carrier which handles the call; not by your default carrier as
well, unless of course you have a flat rate package from your default carrier,
i.e. Reach Out America, which you pay for whether you use it or not.  PT]

------------------------------

From: David Lesher <[e-mail]>
Subject: ANI Phone Number Kept Secret
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 89 9:57:41 EDT
Reply-To: David Lesher <[e-mail]>

For a long time, in the 216 (and some other areas, too) 200+7d got you the ANI
computer that read you back the assignment of the pair you were on. The
exception was if the 7d you dialed was correct, it just beeped. This let the
installer confirm the pair he had picked was the correct one.

Recently Ohio Bell changed the code to be 200+ some secret 7d, and let the
troops know that revealing the secret was cause to be terminated. Do any
Digest readers have ideas on the logic behind the policy {if any;-{)

If OBT felt they were helping out those folks installing 'foreign equipment' on
THEIR pairs, why didn't they just make a tariff for it, and charge for it?

--
Flash! Murphy gets look and feel copyright on sendmail.cf
  {gatech!} [e-mail] (305) 255-RTFM

------------------------------

From: David Lesher <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 555 Exchange and Inward Numbers
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 89 9:48:19 EDT
Reply-To: David Lesher <[e-mail]>

[Discussion about 'outward only' slots, and a 555 prefix assigned to one]

> We may find out the
> 555 prefix is bogus, and if you replaced it with the correct prefix you
> could call in.  How about making a collect call from one of them and checking
> the number on your bill, when you get it.

Won't work. This scheme was used in places such as bus stations, airports,
high schools, et al where the local Mother wanted to forbid incoming calls.
After all, they didn't get a quarter from those calls, did they??

The number on the one-armed bandit translated to a secret actual number. I seem
to recall that the TSPS position either displayed the correct assignment, with
a special "don't tell the sub" message or else calls from the TSPS were
translated, unlike normal ones. But {s}he did have a method to call the slot
back.

Now for a while, '200' code did give you the actual assignment, but they soon
disabled it. But Ma did handle the collect call bill part correctly from the
beginning.

But that brings up an interesting sub-topic. How are the LOC's handling
'calling party id' on calls placed from such slots, or for that matter from all
the other special cases, such as PBX trunks and WATS circuits? I recall
that 200 DID work on out-wats trunks, and gave some long non-NNNXXXX number.

--
Flash! Murphy gets look and feel copyright on sendmail.cf
  {gatech!} [e-mail] (305) 255-RTFM


------------------------------

From: Ron Natalie <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Best Choice For Multi-line Home Phone Wiring?
Date: 5 Aug 89 22:00:11 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

Actually, 25 pair wiring to each room is going out of fashion in the commercial
setting now.  The new electronic key sets such as MERLIN require only 3 pairs.
ISDN (and ISDN like) stuff get by with less.  Running 4 pairs seems to be
popular suggestion with the local phone company around here.

I've got 25 pair cable in my house.  It wasn't that expensive. I put it in
myself.  Sometime when we moved, the phone company managed to start billing
something like $.30 a month.  Generally this is a ripoff, but it was amusing
when we had to have the phone dude out to figure out why all our lines died.
He wasn't used to finding a back board full of 66-blocks in residential
garages.  Turned out that the cats had managed to piss in one of them.  The guy
left me some extra goodies when I offered to repunch down that cable rather
than making him do it.  Pretty good deal for .30/mo.

-Ron

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Divestiture, Business and the General Public
Date: 6 Aug 89 00:40:05 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


> > Equity requires that 20 ordinary phone lines should not cost simply 20
> > times the cost of one phone line, since there are economies of scale.

> So why do I have to pay 2 times the cost of one line for 2 residential
> phone lines? What's sauce for the goose...


That depends upon where you live.  In New Jersey, a second line
costs less than the first line.  This is true for both business and
residence service.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Audible Ringback vs. Ring Plant
Date: 5 Aug 89 22:48:18 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
writes:

 ...commentary describing ROLM auto-park where incoming calls to busy
stations get put on hold without answer supervision while queued...

> This is legal because PBXs are allowed to provide audible signaling to a
> DID caller without returning supervision; supervision is required only
> when a two-way path is opened.  It should, however, be obvious that PBX
> manufacturers affiliated with long distance carriers (be they AT&T or
> Bell Canada) would not be particularly anxious to implement this
> feature!
>
> It's one of the widest loopholes in the supervision rules.  Kudos to
> Rolm for taking advantage of it.  (It's been around for over a decade.)
> Of course, not many end-users even know about it.  Like many Rolm
> features, it's a bit hard to explain.


The trouble with this arrangement, if implemented and used by vast
numbers of telephone users all over the network, is that I might
call you and get autoparked because you are busy -- perhaps calling
me, and being autoparked because I'm busy...etc.  Or perhaps we're
not calling each other, but we're each calling someone else who is
calling someone else...

The problem is that after a while, the network is blocked with
non-revenue calls autoparked at the destination, and no new calls
get through.  Hopefully, someone somewhere will give up, abandon
their outgoing call, and start to break up the logjam.  The right
solution to the waiting-for-busy problem is network-implemented
automatic call back.  That probably won't happen while the "network"
is a disjoint set of networks owned by different carriers.

Who pays for all of this "non-revenue" use of the networks?  You
guessed it!  I suggest that the rules for supervision not permit
this sort of thing.  In the long run, it will only be destructive to
the blocking probability or network usage cost.

If ROLM wanted to be like other premises switching systems, they'd
offer ACD, instead.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

Subject: Re: Special Ring Detection
Date: Sat, 5 Aug 89 7:21:39 EDT
From: "Dr. T. Andrews" <[e-mail]>
Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand)

The service of providing special ring(s) is offered here, under the
name "ringmaster".  You get several numbers, all of which ring the
same line.  The ring cycle is varied, depending on which number is
called.  Remember party lines, with long/short rings?

They can list or not list the added number(s), depending on whether
you want one for the kids, or if you want one for friends to alert
you that it isn't a salesman.  Same charge applies either way.  Of
course, a sales caller cycling through the numbers won't know not to
call your priority number.

If we have all of these spare numbers, why must we have 3 exchange
prefixes in this town?  Is the sale of these spare numbers going to
hasten the split of "904"?  Will the pan-handle gets stuck changing
their numbers instead of us when it happens?
--
 ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner  ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner
or...  {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner


------------------------------

From: Tom Hofmann <uunet.uu.net!mcvax!cgch![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Rotary-dial Encoding
Date: 3 Aug 89 07:44:16 GMT
Organization: WRZ, CIBA-GEIGY Ltd, Basel, Switzerland

 From article <[e-mail]>, by euatdt@euas11g.
ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist):
> Third: "Oslo" dialling (the Norwegian Capital is different from the
> rest of the country. Historical reasons?):
>      (10-n)-dialling (or is it (10-(n+1))?); The dial works "backwards" and
>      looks quite funny to the newcomer. I'm not sure if the coding is 1=>10,
>      2=>9...0=>1 or 0=>10, 1=>9... 9=>1. Somebody out there to fill me in?

I recall it is the latter: 0=>10, 1=>9... 9=>1.

Another apparently not standardized feature is the keypad layout of
push-button phones.  In central Europe it is:
        1 2 3
        4 5 6
        7 8 9
          0

It can be confusing since it is not the same layout as for calculators.
I think in parts of Scandinavia (Sweden?) it is homogeneous:

        7 8 9
        4 5 6
        1 2 3
          0

Can someone confirm that?  Are there any other layouts?  Special keypad
for Oslo?  Mirror-image layout on the southern hemisphere?

Tom Hofmann          [e-mail]


------------------------------

From: Doug Davis <[e-mail]>
Date: 5 Aug 89 23:05:23 CDT (Sat)
Subject: Re: Cellular Calls to 911
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Doug Davis)
Organization: Logic Process  Dallas, Texas.


>[Moderator's Note: Whether or not there is a charge depends on the policy
>of the carrier. The landline portion, by law, is sent collect to the police
>or emergency service. But please note yesterday's Digest and previous items
>on this: 911 as designed is virtually worthless in cellular applications.
>It is biased in favor of phones at *fixed* locations, since the caller's
>name and address are an important part of the message delivered.  PT]

This is not entirly true everywhere, down here on the range "South Western
bell mobile systems." The local wireline carrier. Has some kind of cel
identification that routes 911 calls to the local, to that cell, emergency
center. The first time I used it, after reading about all the horror
stories in telecom about getting your home area's 911 center. I was
quite shocked when my 911 call was routed to the local sheriffs office
in "rock mound" Texas, pop 213.   Since then I have made several 911
calls over the past 4 months that I have owned my phone.  Each time
they got it right as far as where to route the call, even in local
suburbs of big citys like Dallas and or Fort Worth.  The call was always
routed to the correct response center.

We might have been the last place on earth to get cellular service,
but at least so far, it looks like they did it right.

As a side note, anyone want to post their experences about fun things
to do with your portable cell phone?  So far I have this list:
     + Calling someone while sitting out front of their dwelling.
       (yeah I know that's old but it still worth a few laughs... sometimes)
     + While sitting in a resturant with lousy service, call the
       manager up and complain..
     + Calling up the grocery store and asking where they hid something.
     + Ordering pizza, (yes please deliver it to the red z-car outside)
     + lastly, calling up your buddy who has another portable phone, about
       20-30 seconds after he goes into the "facilities."


>From some of the reactions I have seen, I am convenced that some people
will never be able to cope with "modern" technology.  Usually when
they peer sheapishly out from the office, or whatever, a little wave and
a smile is all it takes to get the eye popping, open mouth act.

If there is any interest, i'll be glad to compile a list and post it.


doug
--
Doug Davis/1030 Pleasant Valley Lane/Arlington/Texas/76015/817-467-3740
{sys1.tandy.com, motown!sys1, uiucuxc!sys1 lawnet, attctc, texbell} letni!doug
 "BUMP! Squeak Squeak Squeak... Hey! this must be an invisible wall!"
 "Oh, it is."
 "Great! I've always wondered what one of those looked like."

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #277
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 8 Aug 89 0:35:31 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #278
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 8 Aug 89 00:00:46 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 278

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    CodaCall Blocks Unwanted Calls (Scott D. Green)
    ATT, DEC Computer Interface to PBX (Roger Clark Swann)
    The World's Telephones from AT&T (Dave Horsfall)
    US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments In Digest (Steve Elias)
    Tanks Near Telephone Poles (Jeff Wasilko)
    WEAF and Women (Kevin L. Blatter)
    Yuppies and Operators (Hector Myerston)
    Dial-A-Numbers in Rochester NY (Mike Koziol)
    RJ-XX Connectors (Hector Myerston)
    Ringback Number Wanted (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Toll Stations (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Clarification on 'LEC' (Ed Frankenberry)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 11:03 EDT
From: "Scott D. Green" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Coda Call Blocks Unwanted Calls

This appeared in the Phila. Inquirer last week, by Jim McNair of the Miami
Herald (reprinted without permission):

"To most of us, people who sell by "cold-calling" are just as pesky as
mosquitoes.  Not even unlisted phone numbers prevent solicitors of penny
stocks, insurance or home-improvement services from calling you at home in the
middle of supper."

"But one cure will be available later this summer.  This month, a Winter Park,
FL company, Coda Call Corp., will begin producing a telephone attachment that
will require callers to punch in a three-letter password to get thru.  The
four-by-four inch box shuts out obscene calls, unsolicited sales pitches, wrong
numbers and others who don't know your code."

"'On the front of the box,' said Coda Call president Joseph Lutz, 'we have a
switch that says *normal* and *code*.  If you want all the calls to come thru,
you slide the switch in the *normal* position. But the minute you slide the
switch into *code*, your telephone is completely out of the circuit because my
box is monitoring the line.'"

"The Coda Call Model C-757-3 is connected to the line between the wall plug and
the telephone.  When switched on, it intercepts the ring and sends back a tone
calling for the three-letter password.  The caller has five seconds to dial the
code."

"There are drawbacks to the Coda Call product.  Friends and relatives who don't
know your password are shut out along with the undesirable callers.  And the
box is incapable of passing on calls to your answering machine."

"Two weeks ago, some of Lutz's friends from California came to town
unexpectedly and couldn't call him because his call-blocker was on.  They
finally reached him by getting the password from his son."

"Lutz acknowledged that other call-blocking devices were available, but said
that they generally worked by blocking designated numbers."

"With such devices, 'you have to know the number you want to get rid of,' Lutz
said.  'But if I wanted to get to you, I could go to a phone booth.  And you
can't get rid of solicitors because you don't know their number.'"

"The Coda Call will be sold thru selected distributors of telephone products
for $129."

"Lutz said he hoped to introduce a $139 call-blocker for junk-fax transmissions
by year-end."

So, at the risk of starting another Call*Block Caller*ID discussion, what do
you think?  Winner or loser?

-Scott "in no way connected with Coda Call, BOC's, IEX's, Miami Herald, Phila.
Inquirer" Green.  Member FDIC.

[Moderator's Note: They are not the first with such a device. The Privecode,
by International Mobile Machines in Pennsylvania was first introduced in 1982,
and they did have a method of shunting the caller direct to the answering
machine, which plugged into the back of the Privecode unit. It was a couple
hundred dollars more than Coda Call, however.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Roger Clark Swann <ssc-vax![e-mail]>
Subject: ATT, DEC Computer Interface to PBX
Date: 1 Aug 89 04:41:19 GMT
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Corp., Seattle WA


The following article is copied without permission from PC WEEK
July 17, 1989
 ...............................................................

AT&T, DEC Announce Joint PBX-to-Computer INterface Development

AT&T and Digital Equipment Corp. recently pledged to provide mutual
technical support in the area of computer supported telephony,
including plans to develop a PBX-to-computer applications inteface.

The applications interface will be based on ATT&t's application
platform, the Adjunct Switch Application Interface (ASAI), and
Digital's new Computer Integrated Telephony (CIT) platform,
officials from the companies said.

The interface will help customers take advantage of Integrated
Services Digital newtworks (ISDN) and help meet their demands for
multivendor connectivity, said Don Hirsch, vice president for
product management at AT&T's Business Communications Systems
division in Bridgewater, N.J.

The companies will also work through international standards
organizations toward a standard that allows seamless integration of
voice and data-processing systems, officials of the companies said.

    Roger Swann               |    uucp:  uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark
         @                    |
The Boeing Company            |


------------------------------

From: Dave Horsfall <munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.au![e-mail]>
Subject: The World's Telephones from AT&T
Date: 7 Aug 89 03:49:33 GMT
Reply-To: Dave Horsfall <[e-mail]>
Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA


This was found in Computing Australia, 24th July 1989:

``Ring-a-ding-ding: busy lines!

  Just because you were _dying_ to know, we can now tell you that
  Australia ranks 12 in the world for the number of telephones it
  has.  With a piddling 6,816,301, we're a country mile behind the
  US, which bolts in with 118,400,662.  Second, trailing well behind
  with 49,976,000 is Japan, followed by the Soviet Union with 27,660,900.

  All these unforgettable facts are contained in the latest edition
  of "The World's Telephones", an AT&T reference book.  But wait,
  there's more.  Not only that, but the book also gives figures for
  "teledensity" (hmmmm?), the number of telephones per 100 population.

  In regard to Australia:
  + Sydney has 1,420,419 telephones (half of which, half the time,
    work), and:
  + There are about 99,000 coin-operated phones in Australia (less
    than half of which are still there, working about half of the
    time).

  You can get this literary "must" from AT&T's New Jersey headquarters,
  at 26 Parsippany Rd, Whippany.  Where else, for a book like this?''

--
Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU),  Alcatel STC Australia,  [e-mail]
[e-mail],  ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 89 10:36:03 -0400


I talked to my pal at US Sprint.  he responded to the following 3 questions:

?? Any comment on the Port Authority / Grand Central FONcard shutdowns?
   some netters complained that this was an evil thing to do, since
   John Doe Just Off The Bus could not use his FONcard upon arriving
   in NYC.

 .. "The shutdown was not for all of Port Authority / Grand Central, it
   was just for a few payphones that were causing the trouble.  John Doe
   is probably better off being prohibited from using the phone than if
   he did use the phone and someone watched over his shoulder, stole his
   FONcard number, and racked up thousands of calls on his bill."

?? What is the deal on remote areas that cannot reach US Sprint.  Another
   netter had moaned about remote areas in California being stuck with ATT.

 .. "Telcos with less than 10,000 lines are not required to provide equal
   access.  There is nothing that Sprint can do about this."

?? Any comment on the Sprint rep who said "if it doesn't work, you can
   always use ATT".

 .."Any company has dopes."


-- Steve Elias
-- [e-mail], [e-mail]   [mail to chipcom.chipcom.com bounces!]
-- voice mail: 617 859 1389
-- work phone: [phone]


------------------------------

From: Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 7 Aug 89 05:16:49 GMT
Reply-To: Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest



I've seen compressed gas cylynders near poles and I've always wondered what
purpose they are used for? Could anyone shed some light on this?


Thanks

Jeff Wasilko


------------------------------

From: lzaz![e-mail]
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 09:39 EDT
Subject:  WEAF and women

Since the posting on the WEAF history, I have been thinking about it.
Someone, (I don't recall who) made the comment about women and employment
with WEAF.  That jarred my memory and so I thought I would do a little
research on the subject.  This is what I found with respect to women
and WEAF's early years:

Quoting Banning, W. P., "Commercial Broadcasting Pioneer:  The WEAF
Experiment, 1922-1926".  Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press,
1946, Pg. 110;  "A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell
System:  The Early Years (1875-1925)", (C) Bell Telephone Laboratories,
1975 states, "Miss Helen Hann of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Co., Long Lines Department was WEAF's first studio hostess and
announcer".  (Page 423)

Therefore, at least one woman was deeply involved in the success of
the first radio station beyond that of just a secretary.

Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Laboratories

Disclaimer - My employer wrote the book.  Hey, I hope it's their
opinion!

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: 7 Aug 89  08:18 PST
Subject: Yuppies and Operators
Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA  94025  [[phone]]

          Re:  Douglas Scott Reuben's "cute" article on Inward Dialing
          and how amusing is it to ask AT&T operators [particularly
          the less experienced] for obscure dialing sequences and
          locations.
          The idea of adults, presumably gainfully employed
          professionals, going around harrasing low-paid, tighly
          monitored working folks is just toooo cuuuuute!
          I wonder if Wesleyan has any "amusing" numbers?


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 04:06:00 EDT
From: Mike Koziol <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dial-A-Numbers in Rochester NY

C.E. Reid (in Digest 259) listed a few Dial-A-Numbers in the Rochester
NY area in a recent posting. A couple of the numbers Dial A YUK and Dial
a Torah Thought got my (and our Moderator's) curiosity stirred up. So,
all in all it being a very boring night at work I tried them to see what
that were.
    - Dial-A-Yuk: a recording giving the names of the comics scheduled to
                  to appear at a local comedy club, Yuk-Yuks.
    - Dial-A-Torah-Thought: seems to be the same as Dial-A-RAMBAM that has
                  been discussed recently in the Digest.
    - Dial-A-Tire: no, it doesn't give you the most recent happenings in the
                  on going discussion of radial vs bias ply, but, it was a
                  local tire distributor. I think they went "belly up"
                  recently, something to do with a warehouse fire.

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: 7 Aug 89  10:01 PST
Subject: RJ-XX Connectors
Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA  94025  [[phone]]

          Roy Smith writes:  "Nor is there anything like an
          RJ-patch-it-yourself kit...."
          Well....actually there >are< kits to install the plugs
          [there aren't that many variations, 2,4,6 and 8 positions]
          which consist of the plugs and a termination tool.  AMP and
          GMP are two that come to mind.
          With one of these, some and
          some modular installation jacks
          [many varieties are available with screw-type or punch-down
          terminals, and the wire [Satin-ribbon flat cable] you can
          fabricate any bizarre "adapter" you may want.
          Some of the
          "which-pin-is-which-pair" issues are still not standarized.
          Particularly the 8 pin connectors where AT&T and Bellcore
          are advocating different schemes for pairs 3 and 4.  A fun
          time to be in Telecom....


------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 14:02:30 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ringback Number Wanted

Is there a list of telco #'s to get a ringback?  I know that in NPA 212, it
used to be:

    660 <dialtone> *2 <dialtone> flash <dialtone> flash <dialtone>
    followed by a high-pitched tone, at which time you'd hang up
    and get a ringback.

I know at our house in Sharon, CT, the ringback is quite strange.  You dial
your own number, hear a beeping about twice as fast as a reorder, and then
you hang up and get a ringback.  Sounds like a remnant from party-line
service, even though the exchange is ESS.

Thanks,  -G

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 14:08:11 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Toll Stations

Could someone explain just what a toll station is?  I've always thought that
it's just a subscriber circuit that has to be signalled manually.  Is it
anything more than that?

More importantly, why do toll-stations still exist?  Isn't it possible to
connect the subscriber to a regular automatic circuit.

When I was a senior in High School two years ago, I remember getting
literature from Deep Springs College.  The literature said, "To contact
us, call your long distance carrier and ask for Deep Springs Toll
Station #2"

-G

[Moderator's Note: A toll-station is a telephone in a very remote area
so thinly populated that not even a small (but normally operating) exchange
can be profitably maintained. The one or two -- sometimes even three or
four!! -- phones in the middle of nowhere -- literally! -- are from some
other exchange, usually many miles away. Toll-stations are mostly a Nevada
phenomenon, but a few exist in western Utah; in Arizona; in the desert area
of California; and the northwestern rural area of Idaho...places where the
entire population of town is six people.  PT]

------------------------------

Subject: Clarification on 'LEC'
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 89 14:32:07 -0400
From: Ed Frankenberry <[e-mail]>

> Moderator's Note: I am not quite clear on your use of the abbreviation
> 'LEC'. Would you explain the abbreviation, please?

Patrick, I think this is an acronym for "local exchange carrier."
    Ed Frankenberry

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #278
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 8 Aug 89 1:21:10 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #279
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 8 Aug 89 01:15:32 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 279

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Re: Pair Usage (was Color Coding) (Vance Shipley)
    Re: Cellular Calls to 911 (John DeArmond)
    Re: Cellular Calls to 911 (Mike Morris)
    Re: DTMF Frequencies (Mike Morris)
    Re: Dial Pad Arrangements (Torsten Dahlkvist)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (Ron Natalie)
    Re: Is Europe Going to Get 8 Digit Numbers? (Dave Horsfall)
    Re: Dilemma Choosing Right PBX for Office (Kevin Blatter)
    Re: 1 (708) NXX-XXXX Is Working (Dave Levenson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Vance Shipley)
Subject: Re: Pair Usage  (was Color Coding)
Organization: Linton Technology - SwitchView
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 18:43:20 GMT

In article <[e-mail]> Mike Morris <morris@jade.
jpl.nasa.gov> writes:

>Likewise the GTE Sierra Madre exchange (818-355) (which went from SxS to EAX
>a couple of years ago) was the only one I ever saw which allowed the user to
>lease a pair to the CO and have a hunting defeat switch on the side of the
>receptionist's phone.  The customer was a MD and had 3 incoming lines and one
>answering machine for after-hours calls.  When the office was closed,
>the machine was on and hunting was defeated. ...

This is/was quite common here in Ontario.  'Break hunt' is a tarriffed service
offering. In a DID situation it is quite common to have a "power fail" pair
back to the central office.  When the pbx is down (power fail, reload, etc.)
the central office is alerted by the lack of (or presence of, depending on
local engineering) -48 volts on this pair.  Incoming calls for the DID lines
are either presented with overflow or re-routed to any incoming trunks they
have.

Vance Shipley                          uucp:  ..!{uunet!}watmath!xenitec!vances
Linton Technology - SwitchView         INTERNET:            [e-mail]
180 Columbia Street West                            (soon)  [e-mail]
Waterloo, Ontario                                           fax:  [phone]
CANADA  N2L 3L3                                             tel:  [phone]

------------------------------

From: John DeArmond <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Cellular Calls to 911
Date: 7 Aug 89 13:08:44 GMT
Reply-To: John DeArmond <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"


>>[Moderator's Note: Whether or not there is a charge depends on the policy
>>of the carrier. The landline portion, by law, is sent collect to the police
>>or emergency service. But please note yesterday's Digest and previous items
>>on this: 911 as designed is virtually worthless in cellular applications.
>>It is biased in favor of phones at *fixed* locations, since the caller's
>>name and address are an important part of the message delivered.  PT]
>
>This is not entirly true everywhere, down here on the range "South Western
>bell mobile systems." The local wireline carrier. Has some kind of cel
>identification that routes 911 calls to the local, to that cell, emergency
>center.

Same here in Atlanta.  I use my phone fairly frequently on 911.  Between
the daily traffic accidents, drunks, and out-of-control cops, I'm on
about twice a week.  The call always goes to the juristdiction of the
cell handling the call.  (sometimes it's off by one when I'm near a
boundary but that does not count.)  BellSouth Mobility does not charge
for 911 service.

BTW, One of the nicer things about celphones in the car is being able
to call in real time and report cops who are out of line.  I love
nothing more than to ping one going about 20 over the limit or third laning
traffic while not on emergency traffic.  I always ask the dispatcher to
confirm that the car number is not on 10-33 traffic and then I describe
in detail what I saw.  I've been transfered to the duty captain more
than once to provide first hand details.  Try it sometime.

John

--
John De Armond, WD4OQC                     | Manual? ... What manual ?!?
Sales Technologies, Inc.    Atlanta, GA    | This is Unix, My son, You
 ...!gatech!stiatl!john    **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!!

------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Cellular Calls to 911
Date: 7 Aug 89 21:02:24 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>


[e-mail] (Doug Davis) writes:
> ..edited...
>
>As a side note, anyone want to post their experences about fun things
>to do with your portable cell phone?  So far I have this list:
>     + Calling someone while sitting out front of their dwelling.
>       (yeah I know that's old but it still worth a few laughs... sometimes)
>     + While sitting in a resturant with lousy service, call the
>       manager up and complain..
>     + Calling up the grocery store and asking where they hid something.

I've done all of those with an amateur radio autopatch system.  Been doing it
since 1968, with a Motorola "portable" that had tubes in it (rember those?
The electronics teachers tell the students "think of them as high voltage,
depletion mode JFETS that glow in the dark").  The radio sat in a canvas bag
that was shoulder-carried, with a 18" whip sticking out.  The microphone
plugged into a box that had a touchtone pad, a transformer and a 9v battery
in it, and the box plugged in to the microphone jack on the radio.  The system
technology has changed - the repeater now has a Z-80 based controller, with
512k of PROM, 16k of battery-backed RAM, and can run 5 different radios
simultaneously, plus a speech synthesizer and a autopatch card.  I can carry
a radio smaller than a pack of cigarettes that has 4 times the power (1w vs
250mw), or a 8-watt walkie talkie can hang on my belt...

>     + Ordering pizza, (yes please deliver it to the red z-car outside)

Amateurs can't legally do this.  The plain English translation of the FCC's
gobbldegook is: "If your autopatch use results in a profit for anybody, don't".
Exceptions are made for 911, AAA, tow truck, etc calls.
If anybody is _really_ interested, there is an ongoing argument of this on
rec.ham-radio.

>From some of the reactions I have seen, I am convinced that some people
>will never be able to cope with "modern" technology.

Even truer back in the '70s when I got my first solid-state "portable".
Still in the canvas sack, but 2 whole watts!  Later on I got a true
handheld.  It was fun calling my date on the phone and saying "Go open the
door", and then surprising her with a rose when she did.

>...  Usually when
>they peer sheapishly out from the office, or whatever, a little wave and
>a smile is all it takes to get the eye popping, open mouth act.
>
Most of the crowd I ran around with needed a technical explanation, and
several ended up getting their amateur licenses.  One girlfriend did!
Unfortunately, my wife won't.

Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: DTMF Frequencies
Date: 7 Aug 89 07:12:21 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>


(Rick Watson) writes:
>
>What are the frequencies of the various tones used for DTMF?
>
           1209     1336     1477    1633

    697     1        2        3       A   FO

    770     4        5        6       B   F

    852     7        8        9       C   I

    941     *        0        # A     D   P


I have an old 5-line 4-wire Autovon phone here that I modified (added a
network) for 25-pair 2-wire use.  It has a "A" on the key that would normally
be a "#". The 4th column keys are labeled with FO-F-I-P.  On another Tiwanese
throw-away phone I've seen the same keys labeled A-B-C-D, this phone was sold
at the local K-Mart and the extra buttons were explained as "4 additional
keypad keys for future banking and special services".

A long time ago I figured out the mathematical sequence that the frequencies
follow - Without overlapping the groups I figured that you could get a
9 by 9 matrix, with overlap a 12 by 9 (my memory is hazy, this would have been
in 1969 or 1970).  Note that these are not "MultiFreq" tones.


Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

From: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Dial Pad Arrangements
Date: 7 Aug 89 08:05:15 GMT
Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Ole J. Jacobsen) writes:

>        Just before  the new  Tastafones went  into production here a
>        couple of years ago, it was decided to have the keypad layout
>        DIFFERENT to your  favorite Ma Bell. The reason is apparently
>        that  people familiar with calculators should not have to re-
>        program their hands when shifting  to the new phones, I guess
>        it makes sense, but it  is still a bit wierd.  The keys still
>        give the same DTMFs of course so that our phones would work on
>        your system and vise versa.
>
>             7  8  9                        1  2  3
>             4  5  6                        4  5  6
>             1  2  3                        7  8  9
>             0  *  #                        *  0  #
>
>           Our  keypad                     Your keypad
>

To the list of "Famous Mistakes"-quotes, should be added the telecom-group
(I'm not sure exactly who participated) who in the early 70:s ran an
investigation of people's attitudes towards keypad layouts. They found
that most users learned to use the "1-on-top" keypad, as used on most phones
around the world today, slightly quicker than they learned the "calculator-
style" keypad. The unfortunate conflict between the two lay-outs was noted
but the general conclusion was that "there are so many more phones than
calculators in this world that if we decide on a new lay-out, IT will be
the standard."

Of course, a few years after this, the silicon revolution came around and
everybody got at least three pocket calculators before they got their first
keypad phone. Some countries, like Norway and Denmark, who have held on to
their Telco monopolies very long and have been late in converting to DTMF,
have been able to force a change of style on their keypads. I believe the
Danish lay-out (same as the Norwegian above) was actually passed as a law
by their Parliament which even makes it _illegal_ to sell a phone with a
different style of keypad in Denmark. Not that I know of anyone ever trying
to enforce that law against small-scale dealers, but a large company like
Ericsson would be very careful to "toe the line" when selling to Denmark.

/Torsten

Additional disclaimer: Even though I work for a subsidiary of Ericsson and
have in the past been involved in the actual design of some of their products,
I am now in no way connected to such activities and my interest in these
matters is purely for nostalgic reasons. I am not in any way acting as
a representative of Ericsson and the opinions expressed are strictly my own.

 Torsten Dahlkvist                        ! "I am not now, nor have I ever
 ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories  !  been, intimately related to
 P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25  ALVSJO, SWEDEN  !  Dweezil Zappa!"
 Tel: [phone]                      !        - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz

------------------------------

From: Ron Natalie <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Date: 5 Aug 89 21:38:39 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


Then there's the green box.  A device that sends a tone back to a pay phone
releasing the deposited money, I believe.  It's been a while since the Army
Labcom security office has provided me 2600 newsletters to read.

-Ron

------------------------------

From: Dave Horsfall <munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.au![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Is Europe Going to Get 8 Digit Numbers?
Date: 7 Aug 89 03:33:24 GMT
Reply-To: Dave Horsfall <[e-mail]>
Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA


In article <[e-mail]>,
    Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]> writes:
|
| If/when we get interplanetary dialling the logical prefix would be 000.

I hope not - that's the emergency number here in Oz!

Why did America choose 911 anyway?  Australia is 000, Great Britain
is 999.  What other codes are there?

--
Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU),  Alcatel STC Australia,  [e-mail]
[e-mail],  ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave

------------------------------

From: "K.BLATTER" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Dilemma Choosing Right PBX for Office
Date: 7 Aug 89 13:20:05 GMT
Organization: AT&T ISL Lincroft NJ USA

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
writes:
> We are planning to upgrade to a small PBX from a keyed system (the old 5
> button clunkers) and have looked at AT&T's offerings. In particular they
> have one that is 'digital' (Merlin) and one analog (?). Is there any reason
> to choose among these, or others, with respect to use with modems or faxes ?

> Does the digital imply it can be used as an interconnect media for computers?

I guess that digital would imply that it can be used for computers.
There are two types of Merlin systems.  One is analog (Plus) and the
other is digital (Merlin II).  The Merlin II can be used for asynch.
transmission.

I'm not a sales rep or even an expert on Merlin.  Talk to a knowledgable
AT&T sales rep for the full scoop on data connectivity with a Merlin II.

Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Labs
Disclaimer -  Usual stuff.


------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 1 (708) NXX-XXXX Is Working.
Date: 7 Aug 89 22:42:15 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, dwtamkin%chinet.chi.il.
us (David W. Tamkin) writes:
> As of Wednesday (I didn't try on Tuesday) I found I could dial from my local
> Centel service in Chicago to suburban locations with 1-708 or without...

> [Moderator's Note: However, it does NOT yet work in Chicago-Rogers Park.
> After first seeing your message in the queue, you know I tried it immediatly
> from home. At this point here, 708 or 1-708  go immediatly to intercept.  PT]

Had to try it from NJ, too.  1+708+anything goes to immediate
intercept as of Mon Aug  7 18:40:45 EDT 1989.  Tried this using both
AT&T and MCI.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #279
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 8 Aug 89 2:06:13 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #280
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 8 Aug 89 02:00:24 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 280

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Automatic Number Annoucement Abuse (Larry Lippman)
    Can There Be 'Fake' 911 In Rural Areas? (Peter Fleszar)
    Non-dialable Points (Charles Buckley)
    AT&T Calling Card/NY Tel Calling Card (Fuat C. Baran)
    Re: More About NJ Sabotage (Barry Shein)
    Phone Service in a Remote Part of Alaska (Clayton Cramer)
    Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere? (Nark Brader)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Automatic Number Annoucement Abuse
Date: 7 Aug 89 23:35:06 EDT (Mon)
From: Larry Lippman <kitty![e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(David Lesher) writes:

> For a long time, in the 216 (and some other areas, too) 200+7d got you the
> ANI computer that read you back the assignment of the pair you were on. The
> exception was if the 7d you dialed was correct, it just beeped. This let the
> installer confirm the pair he had picked was the correct one.

> Recently Ohio Bell changed the code to be 200+ some secret 7d, and let the
> troops know that revealing the secret was cause to be terminated. Do any
> Digest readers have ideas on the logic behind the policy {if any;-{)

    The logic is very simple: keeping ANAC (Automatic Number Annoucement
Circuit) "secret" or otherwise controlled is believed to hinder any would-be
eavesdropper from easily identifying the subscriber line pair of a potential
victim.

    ANAC is a pretty useful adjunct to any perpetrator bent upon unlawful
eavesdropping, with such a perpetrator not having access to outside plant
pair assignment records.  Lacking specific pair data can make such subscriber
line identification a trial-and-error task of considerable proportion, and
with some risk of discovery.  There are basically two methods of such pair
identification:

(1)    Connect a VLF (20 kHz or so) oscillator across the subscriber pair
    at the known premises location to place an inaudible identification
    signal on the pair.  Using a sensitive receiver and capacitively
    coupled test probe the pair appearance at a dedicated plant access
    or control point can be located.  This type of equipment is readily
    available for legitimate telephone company cable tracing purposes.

(2)    Pick a working pair and dial the subscriber line in question when it
    is believed that no one is in the premises.  Using a high-gain
    amplifier with capacitively coupled test probe, ringing pairs at
    the access or control can be identified.  Since more than one
    ringing pair may be detected, the process will have to be repeated
    until it is certain that the desired pair has been identified.

    Both of the above methods result in some risk of detection, either
at the subscriber premises or through ringing of the subscriber telephone.
Successively trying ANAC on pairs using insulation-piercing test clips
is much "safer".

    As an amusing aside, the legendary eavesdropper of the 1950's and
early 1960's, the late Bernard Spindel, bragged about using the ringing
pair technique on multiple cross-connect boxes (large numbers of bare
binding posts - before days of dedicated plant).  He would dial the
subscriber line, wet his fingers, and "scan" the exposed binding posts
for the ringing voltage shock!

    Most operating telephone companies, especially the BOC's, go to
great length to protect subscriber line pair information from unauthorized
access - especially by their own employees.  New York Telephone, as an
example, provides NO reference files to specific subscriber identity and
pair assignments in any "unattended" central office; the only exception are
special circuits such as WATS, FX, data, etc. which may require periodic
maintenance.  Pair assignment information is strictly on a "need to know"
basis that is made available only with an installation order or trouble
ticket - which is the way it should be.

    ANAC is too useful for telephone company purposes to eliminate
or overly restrict out of deference to security issues.  Therefore, control
of ANAC access is attempted made through "intimidation" of craftspersons
not to reveal the number.  In addition, some BOC's with ESS offices
routinely place the ANAC code on "call trace", which specifically records
the date, time and calling number of all ANAC requests.  If ANAC "abuse"
is suspected, the ANAC access records can be extracted from call accounting
tapes.

    Furthermore, since ANAC is most commonly used NOT for outside plant
purposes but at the central office MDF (Main Distributing Frame), some CO's
have the ANAC circuit connected to one or more loudspeakers located in the
MDF area.  It is more convenient in routine cross-connection verification
for a frameperson to dial the ANAC code with a butt set and hear the result
without having to put the butt set to their ear.  In some CO's, the ANAC
annoucement is ONLY connected to loudspeakers in the MDF area, and there
is NO audible annoucement on the pair itself; this is considered a "security"
measure.

    The moral of the story is that, today, ANAC usage may well be
monitored.  What the telephone company can DO with ANAC usage information
is another matter, but they CAN and DO monitor it.

<>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
<>  UUCP   {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry
<>  TEL  [phone] | 716/773-1700  {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/     \uniquex!larry
<>  FAX  [phone] | 716/773-2488     "Have you hugged your cat today?"

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 07 Aug 89 18:49:08 EDT
From: Peter Fleszar <[e-mail]>
Subject: Can There Be 'Fake' 911 In Rural Areas?

Hello net_peoples, I have a question concerning 911 laws and practices
and the meaning of life in general.  Some of us know that some huge
metropolises such as Ithaca have no 911 service, and that anyone who
dials 911 on a phone in such benighted areas as this is given to the
regular telephone company operator off in the Twilight Zone somewhere.
Now, small counties like Tompkins (Ithaca) and Cortland (nearby, where I
live) typically have a centralized dispatcher for fire and ambulance,
usually accessible from one phone number in the entire county.  The
dispatcher also can call out on the inter-agency police frequency and
(in Cortland at least) can call on the sheriff's and city police
frequencies (yes, two, one for each. Imagine! :-) ).  Now, what is wrong
with telling the local telco to route 911 calls to the Fire Control
dispatcher instead of the telephone operator? (Other than that it makes
too much sense, of course...)  There was an unfortunate incident here
last year when someone who had just arrived from New York City was being
threatened - she called 911 like she was taught back in grade school,
but it took something like 90 minutes for the cry for help to circulate
among the telebureaucrats and police agencies.  But the city police did
arrive - just in time to call the coroner.  I realize that the 911
cobbing together I envision would not be a complete substitute for a
'real' 911 dispatching system, but why wouldn't it make a good
alternative for travelers and others ignorant of the 'proper' numbers?

Pete

N. Peter Fleszar, KB2CCL       [e-mail]
[e-mail]
'Always peek before you poke.'
Acknowledge-To: <DT5Y@CORNELLA>

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 18:26:23 PDT
From: Charles Buckley <[e-mail]>
Subject: Non-dialable Points

   From: [e-mail] (Gabe M Wiener)
   Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
   Date: 6 Aug 89 20:59:16 GMT
   Organization: Columbia University

   Recently it was mentioned that there are thousands of non-dialable points
   left in California.  Just out of curiosity...

I remember about 6 years ago when I was in the habit of getting up
early and watching one of those morning news programs where the
weather, feature articles and good-natured banter took longer than the
news portions . . .

One feature article on said program was about the introduction of dial
service in some out of the way place east of Eastern Pennsylvania but
west of Ohio, and south of the great Lakes but north of Tennessee -
I remember seeing it on the drawn map, but cannot remember the
political entity.

Anyway, as you might have guessed, this made the program because it was
given to be the *last* manual exchange in the US.  Therefore, someone
has their facts wrong (could well be the news agency).

[Moderator's Note: Every so often, a program or news story says 'this is
the last one'....there was supposed to be one in Maine a few years ago
which was the last, and the subscribers were *resisting* the change, for
nostalgic reasons among others. The original poster contended '...there
are thousands of them left....especially in California....' and I am hoping
he will write again soon, and name a dozen or so. The last one I knew of
in California was the town of Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island. It cut to
dial several years ago. Prior to the conversion, William Wrigley, the
chewing gum magnate and former owner of the Chicago Cubs, had an estate in
Avalon. The phone number was Avalan 400. He also had Avalan 401.  Both were
non-published numbers, of course.   PT]

------------------------------

From: "Fuat C. Baran" <[e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Calling Card/NY Tel Calling Card
Date: 8 Aug 89 01:32:51 GMT
Reply-To: "Fuat C. Baran" <[e-mail]>
Organization: Columbia University Center for Computing Activities


New York Telephone started a bboardish sort of thing called Info-Look
and they said that I would need a New York Telephone calling card.  So
I applied for one and about two weeks later received a blue New York
Telephone calling card (with 14 digits).  As I was putting it in my
wallet I noticed that it had the *SAME* 14 digit number as my white
AT&T calling card which I ordered last year (and which took 8 weeks,
plus multiple calls to the 800 order number).

Does anyone know what the difference is?  Obviously they can't tell
which card I am using based on the number, so the service will be the
same.  Why do they bother making a distinction in the name and
appearance of the card?

I called New York Telephone to ask, and got a silly response: "use
your AT&T card for long distance calls and NYTel card for calls within
NYTel's domain" despite the fact that the paper that came along with
the NYTel card says I can use it from anywhere in the US.

Just curious.

                        --Fuat
--
INTERNET: [e-mail]          U.S. MAIL: Columbia University
BITNET:   [e-mail]           Center for Computing Activities
USENET:   ...!rutgers!columbia!cunixc!fuat      712 Watson Labs, 612 W115th St.
PHONE:    [phone]                        New York, NY 10025

[Moderator's Note: AT&T and the Sisters Bell use the same data base for
calling cards at the present time.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 21:41:10 EDT
From: Barry Shein <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage


From: [e-mail] (Mark Robert Smith)
>Once again I ask - what are the unions trying to prove here?  I can't see any
>judge or arbitrator taking the union side on anything after all of this.

Why are you so certain it's the union provoking this? Individuals get
p-o'd at everyone when they're put out on strike. Not to mention that
it's in the company's interest to fill the media with union horror
stories. Don't be naive, the BOC's and the union are now at war and
the first casualty of war is truth.

If you've ever been involved with a union during a strike you'd know
that the first thing they tell the membership is that the company will
try to accuse them of sabotage and all sorts of things so keep your
noses clean because it only hurts their (the union's) cause and try to
ignore the propaganda campaign. This whole drama is nearly the same no
matter who the union or who the company, don't be naive.

And, so I don't appear entirely one-sided, the union will begin
screaming that management refuses to even sit down and bargain, that
scabs are being brought in by the zillions, that the whole strike was
engineered by management for some incredibly clever conspiratorial
reason and that union strike leaders and their families are being
physically harassed etc etc.

And no doubt some of it all will be true, but not much.

Come back and report when charges are filed and the union is held
responsible for this, not when some manager at NJ Bell calls the press
to badmouth the union.

I'd prefer if both sides spent their time settling their differences
rather than playing media games. Calling information in Boston now
yields a recording that it's not available. What fun.

    -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die, Purveyors to the Trade
1330 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146, [phone]
Internet: [e-mail]
UUCP:     encore!xylogics!skuld!bzs or uunet!skuld!bzs

------------------------------

From: Clayton Cramer <optilink![e-mail]>
Subject: Phone Service In a Remote Part of Alaska
Date: 7 Aug 89 18:14:32 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Mike Morris) writes:
# In the late 60' or early 70's I visited Fort Benton a few times.  I remember
# that the telephone system was SxS, and located in the back of someone's barn,
# and owned by the Tri County Telephone Assoc.  It was either a 3 or 4 digit
# system and could be dialed from the outside world.  Inside the town you
# dialed 4 digits, I seem to remember the first was always "3".  It was 1+
# for anything outside the town, even the operator was 1+0 because she was
# in the next town down.  Information was 1+411 and came from Great Falls.
# I was told later that repair was 3611 and was an answering machine.

# I have no idea what is current in Fort Benton - I was last there in 1972.

# Mike Morris

You want unique phone companies?  I've got one for you.  When I worked
for Harris Digital Telephone Systems in the early 1980s, we had a
customer in Alaska who used a pair of our D1200 switches to provide
local phone service 18 hours/day -- at the end of the day, he would
power down, and everyone went without service during the night.

To a city boy like me, this was a real shocker -- phone service from
someone's basement.

--
Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer
A pacifist who calls the police isn't one; hired violence is still violence.
Disclaimer?  You must be kidding!  No company would hold opinions like mine!

------------------------------


From: Mark Brader <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 555-XXXX As A Valid Prefix Anywhere?
Date:     Tue, 1 Aug 89 17:49:27 EDT

> Lisa Smith ([e-mail]) wrote the following in an article in
> (the Usenet newsgroup) rec.humor.d:

> That prefix, 555, isn't fictional everywhere.  One of my school friends
> said that his grandfather's phone number, somewhere in South Dakota, is
> a 555 number.  He said that it was to his knowledge the only place in
> the U.S. that it was a real prefix though.
> Someone else said that if this was ever true it isn't now.
> What do the experts say?

> [Moderator's Note: On a hunch, after the first message on this topic
> appeared, I tried dialing 701-555-various in North Dakota. Most
> combinations other than '1212' were answered 'Northwestern Bell, may I help
> you?'   PT]

Why did you try in NORTH Dakota?

[Moderator's Note: No particular reason....just some at random dialing.
I notice that Illinois Bell has quite a few numbers <>1212 plugged off now.
F'rinstance, anyplace-555-8000, 555-7000 all go to immediate intercept.
There are a few in the 'vicinity of' 1212 which wander off to the boondocks
somewhere, as in the 701 example.

--
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, [e-mail]
    "I'm a little worried about the bug-eater," she said.  "We're embedded
    in bugs, have you noticed?"        -- Niven, "The Integral Trees"


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #280
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 9 Aug 89 0:09:54 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #281
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 9 Aug 89 00:00:12 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 281

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest (David Albert)
    Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest (Andrew Boardman)
    Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV (Dell Ellison)
    Re: Coda Call Blocks Unwanted Calls (Edward Greenberg)
    Re: Can There Be 'Fake' 911 In Rural Areas? (Dave Fiske)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (Jeffrey Silber)
    Re: Is Europe Going to Get 8 Digit Numbers? (David Albert)
    Re: DTMF Frequencies (James J. Sowa)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (Robert E. Seastrom)
    Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools (Andrew Boardman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: David Albert <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest
Date: 8 Aug 89 13:37:30 GMT
Reply-To: David Albert <endor![e-mail]>
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab Harvard, Cambridge, MA


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

>I talked to my pal at US Sprint.  he responded to the following 3 questions:

>?? Any comment on the Port Authority / Grand Central FONcard shutdowns?

> .. "The shutdown was not for all of Port Authority / Grand Central, it
>   was just for a few payphones that were causing the trouble.  John Doe
>   is probably better off being prohibited from using the phone than if
>   he did use the phone and someone watched over his shoulder, stole his
>   FONcard number, and racked up thousands of calls on his bill."

I fail to understand why your friend would say something as patently
ridiculous as this and expect anybody to accept it.  Since John Doe
is not responsible for those calls, the only reason he is "better off"
is that he saves a few moments of aggravation.  Or is the Sprint
spokesman suggesting that John Doe will have a serious problem getting
the calls removed from his bill, presumably because of Sprint's
notorious billing inefficiencies and other problems?  Either way, the
comments don't bode well for Sprint.

I've never had any serious problems with my Sprint service, but I count
my blessings every day.

David Albert / UUCP: ...!harvard!albert / INTERNET: [e-mail]

--"You carry water from a mile away?  How can you do that?"
--"That's where the water is."

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Aug 89 15:14:47 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] quoth:
>I talked to my pal at US Sprint.  he responded to the following 3 questions:
>[...]
> .. "The shutdown was not for all of Port Authority / Grand Central, it
>   was just for a few payphones that were causing the trouble.  John Doe
>   is probably better off being prohibited from using the phone than if
>   he did use the phone and someone watched over his shoulder, stole his
>   FONcard number, and racked up thousands of calls on his bill."

Considering that said phones are not *labelled* as such, Mr. Doe would
probably try his call, have his Sprint account ripped off anyway, and
then go through the further inconvienience of having to retry the call
somewhere else...

Andrew Boardman
[e-mail]
(or, if you must, ab4@cunixc for bitnet people)

------------------------------

From: Dell Ellison <asuvax!gtephx![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV
Date: 9 Aug 89 03:25:07 GMT
Organization: AG Communication Systems, Phoenix, Arizona

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Dick Jackson) writes:
> Is anyone else in this group interested in the *future* of the telephone
> system?  There are lots of topics that might be discussed, but just to test
> the waters let me try just one -- the continued monopoly of the LECs for
> basic plant and services.

> An example of the LEC's bid for more revenue is their request to be
> allowed to operate cable TV, i.e. to deliver entertainment to the home.
> In my, opinion to permit this at the present time would be ludicrous given
> the operating companies non-clean record on cross subsidies and trampling
> on smaller companies they perceive as competitors.

> [Moderator's Note: I am not quite clear on your use of the abbreviation
> 'LEC'. Would you explain the abbreviation, please? But to provide one opinion
> to your question, I think the telcos should stay in the phone business
> and out of the cable TV business.  Let's see what others here think.  PT]

Actually, I would like to see the phone company provide cable TV, etc...
Because:

   1.  The Cable TV companies in many cases are 'trampling' on the
       consumers, because they have no competition (many times) in
       a particular area.  Many times they have little selection,
       poor service and high prices.  This solution would provide
       some competition for them.

   2.  I am very much in favor in the development of new technologies
       and higher efficiency.  This would be a much more efficient
       and feature-rich system.  (Not to mention the great benefits
       of direct digital connections to our home computers.)

I would like to see this happen.  (This would also bring picture
phones a lot closer to reality.)

------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Coda Call Blocks Unwanted Calls
Date: 8 Aug 89 18:23:04 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


Phone companies will love this one, since the "Coda Call" answers the
phone, and if you don't know the code, you've paid anyway.

One would have to want to be pretty isolated to put one of these
things on the phone, since many people you like will probably run into
it.  In addition, if you leave it on when you're not home, you're
causing everyone, even people who know the number, to call and get
nothing.

How about one that answers (and tickets) the call, then returns busy,
until you answer the phone.  That'd be truly antisocial :-)
                -edg
--
Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

------------------------------

From: Dave Fiske <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Can There Be 'Fake' 911 In Rural Areas?
Date: 8 Aug 89 21:45:04 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Peter Fleszar) writes:

>Hello net_peoples, I have a question concerning 911 laws and practices
>and the meaning of life in general.  Some of us know that some huge
>metropolises such as Ithaca have no 911 service, and that anyone who

Heck, we don't have it in Albany/Schenectady/Troy!  Albany itself is
over 100,000 in population, and the Tri-City Area is around a quarter
million.

I just checked the front pages of the phone book, and they have 7-digit
numbers listed for the local police departments.  The only exception in
this area is Saratoga County, which set up an Enhanced 911 system last
year.  Calls to 911 generate a name/address display on a computer
terminal at the dispatcher's end.  However, many towns in Saratoga are
rural, and people didn't have street numbers, just RFD-type addresses.
So first they had to try and find everybody, and assign them street
numbers and addresses, so emergency workers would have someplace to
show up at.  (Recently, officials have been complaining, too, that
people are not using the 911 system enough, considering the expense the
County went to to do it.  They speculate that people don't think their
emergencies are important enough to use it!)

A slightly humorous incident happened due to Albany's lack of 911
service.  Around 6 years ago, I was working at the Albany Urban Renewal
Agency, a unit of the city government which is located in a building
other than city hall.  All City offices were on the same PBX, however.
One time an employee at Urban Renewal accidentally sprayed her eyes
with an aerosol glue can, and one of the ladies who staffed the phones
decided to call the Fire Rescue Squad.  Well, she did what she thought
was the quickest thing--dial 'O'.  This connected her to the City Hall
Operator, who was told that the Fire Department was needed at Urban
Renewal.  Well, the City Hall operators were probably little old ladies
who had been hired thanks to their husbands' political backgrounds, and
had never even set foot at Urban Renewal.  For whatever reason,
they told the Fire Department to go to 119 Washington Avenue, instead
of the correct address of 155.  Well, 119 had been a city-owned
building, and they HAD considered locating Urban Renewal there years
previously, but it ended up as some other offices, with a McDonalds on
the ground floor.

A few of us decided to go out on the sidewalk in order to guide the
rescue workers to the right office, but instead we saw a fire truck
pass us by, heading down to the McDonalds.  We didn't know if it was
meant for us, or if there was a fire down there.  It just so
happened that one of my co-workers was coming back from lunch, saw us
running around, and figured something was wrong.  So he waved down a
cop who happened to be passing, who said the call had been for 119
Washington Avenue.  At this point the woman who had come out of the
building with me started yelling, "No, we never moved there.  They just
thought about moving us there!" Finally, we convinced the cop that the
fire truck was supposed to be responding to us, and he relayed the
information by radio.

Luckily, the woman with the glue hadn't really been injured
badly--mainly, she had glued her eyelids shut, but because she couldn't
see, she had thought she'd blinded herself.  She was treated briefly at
the Emergency Room, and was back at work the next day.

When you consider that this scenario could have involved some actual
disaster, you can see how important 911 can be.

--
"MAN USES TAPE TO STICK              Dave Fiske  ([e-mail])
 HIS TOE BACK ON!"
                                     Home:  [e-mail]
Headline from Weekly World News             CIS: 75415,163  GEnie: davef

------------------------------

From: Jeffrey Silber <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 8 Aug 89 12:27:47 GMT
Reply-To: Jeffrey Silber <[e-mail]>
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY


In article <[e-mail]> Jeff Wasilko <claris!apple
!netcom!wasilko> writes:
>I've seen compressed gas cylynders near poles and I've always wondered what
>purpose they are used for? Could anyone shed some light on this?

Major phone trunks are pressurized, to prevent moisture in the cables.
The pressurization is done at the CO.  I've always assumed that where they
have had to cut a trunk to repair it they put the tanks (nitrogen, I believe)
in place to provide temporary pressurization.


--
"A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."
                                                        --Sen. Everett Dirksen
Jeffrey A. Silber/[e-mail]
Business Manager/Cornell Center for Theory & Simulation
in Science & Engineering

------------------------------

From: David Albert <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Is Europe Going to Get 8 Digit Numbers?
Date: 8 Aug 89 13:29:56 GMT
Reply-To: David Albert <endor![e-mail]>
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab Harvard, Cambridge, MA


}Why did America choose 911 anyway?  Australia is 000, Great Britain
}is 999.  What other codes are there?

In Israel, 100 is police, 101 is fire, 102 is ambulance.

David Albert / UUCP: ...!harvard!albert / INTERNET: [e-mail]

--"You carry water from a mile away?  How can you do that?"
--"That's where the water is."

------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (james.j.sowa)
Subject: Re: DTMF frequencies
Date: 8 Aug 89 12:39:40 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail] (james.j.sowa)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 275, message 6 of 12
>What are the frequencies of the various tones used for DTMF?
>Thanks,

Here is the DTMF chart taken from "Notes on Distance Dialing" January 1975

                    HIGH-Group
                   Frequencies  (Hz)


                   1209    1336    1477    1633

             687     1       2       3       A
  LOW GROUP
FREQUENCIES  770     4       5       6       B
    (HZ)
             852     7       8       9       C

             941     *       0       #       D

==================================================================
Jim Sowa

------------------------------

Date: Tue,  8 Aug 89 08:28:59 EDT
From: "Robert E. Seastrom" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles

These tanks are probably dry nitrogen, for pressurizing hardline
(ie air-insulated) coax.

                 ---Rob

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Aug 89 15:37:33 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science

First, a question: I recently lost (they were destroyed, actually) a set
of various telecom-oriented tools.  I haven't been able to replace two of
them from any regular hardware supplier that I sould find and there's quite
probably someone out there who could tell me where I could order them.
The first is that cute little tool used for punching down wires on punch-down
blocks.  (a puncher-down?)  The second has a similar purpose except it's
used on the older boards on which screw terminals are used.  (A standard
boltdriver type thing could be used here but the telco-provided model was
much more useful in this particular environment.)

In article <[e-mail]> Ron Natalie wrote:
>It's been a while since the Army Labcom security office has provided me 2600
>newsletters to read.

Oh, it's still alive and well, subscriptions are $10 or $12 a year from
their offices out in Long Island somewhere.  Cover prices on individual
issues are $3.

Andrew Boardman
[e-mail]
(or, for you bitnet people, ab4@cunixc)

[Moderator's Note: 2600 Magazine also has a netmail address, 2600@something,
but I can't locate it right now. In the next issue of the Digest (#282),
a tour de force by John Covert, responding to questions about the 'thousands
of non-dialable points' message; and other comments on non-dialable places.
Issue 282 will be released about 1:00 AM, once this issue has gotten cleared
out of the list channel.  PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #281
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 9 Aug 89 1:12:18 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #282
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 9 Aug 89 01:00:04 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 282

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Non-Dialable Points (John R. Covert)
    Non-Dialable Points Revisited (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Re: Non-Dialable Points (John DeBert)
    Re: Non-Dialable Points (Edward Greenberg)
    DTMF Layout in Ireland (Charles Bryant)
    Oslo/New Zealand Phones Sold in USA (Steve Gaarder)
    Asymmetric Calling Card Billing (Steve Kass)
    AT&T Card Demo Line ([e-mail])
    Re: Correction of Telco Name (Dell Ellison)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "John R. Covert" <[e-mail]>
Date: 7 Aug 89 22:53
Subject: Non-Dialable Points

In my recent article on Inward, I referred to "non-dialable points."  That term
includes non-dialable exchanges, toll stations, and other strange things.

To check my numbers, I did a search of a Bellcore database about four years old
for points in North America with the non-dialable flag set, and came up with
4589 of them.  I then excluded Mexico and had 1657 left.

After excluding the Caribbean, Canada, Wake and Midway, there were only 825
left, so I'll admit that "thousands" was an exaggeration when referring to the
U.S.  They are located in AK, AZ, CA, ID, KY, LA, MT, NV, OR, TX, UT, and WA.
Most of them are toll stations, but a few are exchanges.

For the doubting ones among you, call 206 555-1212 and ask for the Ross Lake
Nat'l Rec Area in Newhalem, Washington.  You will be told to dial your "0"
operator (Outside the LATA you'd have to call your "00" operator or 10288-0 if
you're not an AT&T customer) and ask for Newhalem 7735.  This is an automatic
exchange which cannot support incoming toll calls.  Local calls are dialled on
a four digit basis.  The incoming restriction may be due to a long-standing
requirement that calls be diallable on a seven digit basis locally (also
allowing less is ok, but seven must work) before incoming calls can be
permitted.  It may also have something to do with the fact that the power
company owns the switch and the wires in and out of the area, and the phone
company may not want to deal with the maintenance issue or doesn't trust them
to return proper answer supervision.

More interesting is the system in Shoup, Idaho.  Call 208 555-1212 and ask for
the Shoup Salmon River store -- you'll be told to call Shoup 24F3. It is what's
called a "Farmer's Line," and it's sort of a single magneto drop with several
stations.  The people out there maintain the line themselves.  It's single wire
ground return.  The people on the line call each other with coded ringing (and
being allowed to make local calls is one of the things that makes a farmer's
line different from a toll station). They get incoming calls with coded ringing
from the operator at a cord board.  They contact the cord board to get out with
a loooooong ring.  The board handling calls is an AT&T board.

One of my favorite toll stations is the one at the ranch of a person I've never
met.  Mr. J. D. Dye isn't listed with directory assistance anywhere I've found,
but he is listed right in the Bellcore database.  Yep.  He doesn't have a phone
number, but you can reach him by asking for DYE J D, in Texas, if you can get
an operator to look it up in her computer.  Note: Rate and Route, which used
to be 141 (not 131, as Patrick claimed, that was information) is gone, and has
been replaced with computer terminals at each operator's position.  Somewhere
nearby there are also Durham Ed, TX and Durham Hal, TX.

A place I've actually visited (the Patrick Creek Lodge in Gasquet, CA) used to
be Idlewild 5.  They appear to have disconnected their toll station and now
have an answering machine on a normal number located 8 miles from the lodge.
Idlewild 1,2,3,4,7,8, and 9 still exist -- and are handled off of an AT&T cord
board, not a PacTel board.

One of the big non-dialable places in Northern California, Sawyers Bar, has
finally become diallable.  Like Newhalem, they had local dialing, but could
not be dialled from toll.  They were listed in the database like toll stations,
with each subscriber having a rate and route listing.  Now their old four digit
numbers (mostly 46XX numbers) are 462-46XX.

Pilottown, Louisiana is still a toll station -- the only one in the state, it
seems.

Amchitka, Alaska, has a normal looking seven digit number for billing purposes:
907 751-8001, but from the lower 48, calls must be placed through Anchorage.

I'm sure some of our other readers can find more non-diallable points, both
entire exchanges (of which I don't expect to find more than 5-10 in the U.S.)
and toll stations (of which there are still several hundred).

/john

[Moderator's Note: Bravo! and thank you for a most enjoyable contribution
to the Digest.  PT]
------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Aug 89 15:44:41 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Non-Dialable Points Revisited
Organization: Columbia University

I was always led to believe that the last magneto exchange was in Bryant Pond,
Maine.  It shut down in 1984 despite fierce opposition by residents.  I once
called Elden Hathaway, the man who ran it for years, and he explained that
they always had trunks running out of Bryant Pond, but you had to connect
through an operator if you were dialing in from another area.

I'm quite curious to know if there are any manual _exchanges_ left in the U.S.
(not meaning toll stations), and if so, where?

Back to toll stations for a minute.  I assume that they simply run to the
nearest telephone office, n'est-ce pas?  But if they're running to the nearest
telco, then why aren't they just hooked into the automatic switch like any
other number?

Toll stations need to be reached by an operator, right?  If so, then I assume
that all OUTGOING calls from one must also be completed manually?

-G

[Moderator's Note: This is correct. They go off hook and wait for an operator
to answer, and extend them to the desired place/number. In this respect,
they are like the manual service of the old days.  PT]

------------------------------

From: John DeBert <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Non-Dialable Points
Date: 8 Aug 89 20:59:36 GMT
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail].
edu (Gabe M Wiener) says:
> X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 277, message 2 of 11
> Recently it was mentioned that there are thousands of non-dialable points
> left in California.  Just out of curiosity...

If one were to include toll stations, non-coin and COPT phones and other
lines or services with a COS that prevents indial access (including
OUTWATS of course), then there are surely thousands not only in CA but
everywhere.

>
>     What cities (or should I say villages) are still-non dialable?
>     Do such places have outbound dialing or is all calling
>         still operator-assist?

On the Central Coast, I can only recall of one set of toll stations that
remain: Tassajara Hot Springs has somewhere from 4 to 9 stations.
There was one to the east of SIllyCon Valley called "San Antone" which
belonged to Pac Bell. The area served by the toll stations was taken
over by a private party in 1983 ( +/- a year). They have their own
prefix (408-897) and DDD in and out is available. They have a few
equipment problems, though, including coin stations that are installed
but never work. It's anywhere from 20 to 60 miles to the nearest town
or point with coin phones.

> I would think that with today's telephone technology, DDD would reach _all_
> points in America.  Can anyone explain the holdouts?

Toll stations usually still exist because the phone company does not feel
that there is enough reason to justify installing cables, trunks and
remote facilities to serve such remote areas as Tassajara Hot Springs and
San Antone and others. They are a long way from existing CO's - Tassajara
sites are more than 50 miles from the nearest CO and all points in San
Antone are 20 to 70 miles from the nearest 408 CO in San Jose. (The
present CO is in Patterson, in the 209 area about 40 miles from the middle
of San Antone.) That's a lot of money to invest in an area that is very
sparsely populated and with no expected increase in population in the
near future and cannot be considered to pay for itself.

Small independent telco's often end up providing service using very old
equipment as is the case with SAn Antone and Pinnacles in CA.


------------------------------

From: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Non-dialable Points
Date: 8 Aug 89 18:17:26 GMT
Reply-To: Edward Greenberg <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


>toll-stations are NOT the same as manual exchanges in any event.   PT]

Could you explain a bit about what a toll station IS?

Thanks,

Ed Greenberg
uunet!apple!netcom!edg

[Moderator's Note: In this issue of the Digest, Ed and others, I hope the
type of service known as Toll Stations and other types of non-dialable
points has become clear to all. As for *actual manual exchanges* -- that
is, cord board service to a community of more than one or two people in
the wilderness somewhere -- I do believe Bryant Pond, ME was the last one.
Mr. Covert seems to think there might be a few more. Can anyone name
names at this point?  An interesting angle is the way calls to these
places show up on your phone bill. The billing will show the area code
and the 'mark', meaning the three digit code -- not necessarily the prefix
of the number -- used for billing purposes, and the final four digits,
filled with leading zeros as required. PT]

------------------------------

Date: 6 Aug 89 16:47:41 GMT
From: Charles Bryant <[e-mail]>
Subject: DTMF Layout In Ireland
Reply-To: Charles Bryant <[e-mail]>
Organization: Maths Dept., Trinity College, Dublin


In article <[e-mail]> mcvax!cgch![e-mail].
net (Tom Hofmann) writes:
>An other apparently not standardized feature is the keypad layout of
>push-button phones.

In Ireland one layout is *required* if equipment is to be approved (TTA1 P.80
part b)
        The arrangement of push buttons in the equipment shall be as shown in
        Table 1 in the case of manual signalling:

                1209    1336    1477    1633
        697       1       2       3       A
        770       4       5       6       B
        852       7       8       9       C
        941       *       0       #       D

        The output frequencies shall be maintained within plus-or-minus 1.5% of
        their nominal value. This tolerance shall also include the effect of
        different line impedances offered to the sender.

I have never seen a phone which has the ABCD column, and I expect that those
tones are not used. There is no extra charge for the ability to DTMF dial on a
line, but it is not yet available on all lines.
--

                Charles Bryant. ([e-mail])
Working at Datacode Electronics Ltd. (Modem manufacturers)

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Aug 89 09:36:55 EDT
From: Steve Gaarder <[e-mail]>
Subject: Oslo/New Zealand Phones Sold in USA

For those of you intrigued by the recent discussion on different methods
of numbering rotary dials, Fair Radio Sales has a telephone for sale
that has an Oslo/New Zealand dial - 9 sends 1 pulse, 8 sends 2, down to
0 which sends 10 pulses.  They call it their "oslo telephone," stock
number OSLO-BK, price $14.95 plus shipping.  It seems to work on US
lines, though it is of course not FCC registered, and you have to do a
little translating when dialing.  Fair Radio is at 1016 E.  Eureka
Street, PO Box 1105, Lima, Ohio 45802, 419-223-2196 or 223-2793.

Steve Gaarder
[e-mail]
 ..!cornell!batcomputer!gaarder



------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Aug 89 10:17 EDT
From: "No gas will be sold to anyone in a glass container." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Asymmetric calling card billing

  Can someone shed some light on the following asymmetry in calling card
charges for calls between the US and Canada?

With an AT&T Calling Card:

Calls from US to Canada    US rates and discounts apply
Calls from Canada to US    Canadian rates and discounts apply
Calls within Canada        Canadian rates and discounts apply
Calls within US            US rates and discounts apply


With a Bell Canada Carte d'Appel:

Calls from US to Canada    Canadian rates and discounts apply (!)
Calls from Canada to US    Canadian rates and discounts apply
Calls within Canada        Canadian rates and discounts apply
Calls within US            US rates and discounts apply


  The strange fact is that for calls from Canada to the US, Canadian rates
and discounts apply for both cards, while for calls from Canada to the US,
it depends which card you have.  I've researched the tariffs and made the
calls, so despite the wrong information that AT&T and Bell Canada give out
regarding these calls, this is indeed the proper billing.
  You might wonder what the Canadian rates and discounts are for calls from
the US to Canada.  If I make a call from Madison, WI to Montreal, PQ with a
Bell Canada card, the rate is computed according to the distance between
the switching centers and the time in Madison, as if Madison were in Canada.
Bell Canada's discount periods (none on Saturday, for example) apply.  More
often than not, this means the higher of the two countries' rates applies.
  Perhaps someone can also tell us what kinds of financial transactions are
involved.  Why do I pay Canadian tax on a call from the US to Canada if I
use a Bell Canada card, but not if I use an AT&T card?  When calls are made
from the US to Canada and billed at the Canadian rates, who gets the extra
money?

Steve Kass                                       No gas will be sold to
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science   anyone in a glass container.
Drew University
Madison, NJ  07940                               -Sign at a Santa Fe, NM
201-408-3614                                     gas station, January, 1985
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 08 Aug 89 15:57 CDT
From:    [e-mail]
Subject: AT&T Card Demo Line

This may be old news to some of you, but AT&T has a "calling card tutorial"
line installed.  You can reach it at 1-800-255-3439. You don't really need a
valid AT&T card...any 14 digits will work.  It's not too exciting...but I know
that some of you are into such trivial info  (I know I am :).
-=->G<-=-

------------------------------

From: Dell Ellison <asuvax!gtephx![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Correction of Telco Name
Date: 9 Aug 89 02:55:15 GMT
Organization: AG Communication Systems, Phoenix, Arizona


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
> Patrick - just to clarify a message that somebody posted about
> a non-numeric phone number in Utah  (sorry I don't know who..old
> digests are auto-purged after they are read).  The BOC for Utah
> is Mountain Bell. (not Utah Bell).
> -=->G<-=-
>
> [Moderator's Note: You're right. Sorry, I missed that one myself.  PT]

I don't know.
I thought that Mountain Bell is now going by the parent name of U.S. West?

[Moderator's Note: Well, that too. But Mountain Bell is the way the customers
think of it, I imagine. We here in Chicago are variously known as Ameritech
or Illinois Bell, depending on who you ask. If you ask David Tamkin, of
course he would say Centel, since they have that one little dinky corner
of Chicago, along with Park Ridge and Des Plaines, IL.   PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #282
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 9 Aug 89 1:51:23 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #283
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 9 Aug 89 01:50:17 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 283

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    BOC Strike - One Good Side-Effect (Robert E. Seastrom)
    Re: More About NJ Sabotage (Mike Trout)
    Re: More About NJ Sabatage (Ihor J. Kinal)
    Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Mike Trout)
    Re: Coda Call Blocks Unwanted Calls (Fangli F. Chang)
    Toll Stations (Robert E. Seastrom)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue,  8 Aug 89 08:34:47 EDT
From: "Robert E. Seastrom" <[e-mail]>
Subject:  BOC Strike - One Good Side-Effect


With all the stories of vandalism and other ugliness surrounding the
BOC strike circulating, I thought I might point out one of the nicer
side-effects of the BOC strike.

I had occasion to call Delaware Directory Assistance yesterday.  Before
I got a ringback, a recording came on that said "Due to work stoppage,
there may be a delay in servicing your call.  Thank you for your
patience".  Well, I sat there on a ring for about a minute and a half
and then this lady answered the phone and asked if she could help me.
I wasn't sure what number I wanted at the Delaware Department of Motor
Vehicles, so we went back and forth for about 30 seconds trying to
decide which number I wanted.  She seemed genuinely concerned and a
lot more helpful than the standard, run-of-the-mill directory assistance
operator.  Maybe we should just flush the current employees and let the
supervisors man the phones.  It took a little extra time, but the
operator's pleasantness made the wait worthwhile.

                                 ---Rob


[Moderator's Note: If the make-do operator sits there much longer, her
pleasant disposition will begin to erode, believe me you. Operators take
a tremendous amount of abuse at times from customers, and are expected
to handle a huge volume of traffic per hour. Hateful customers are nothing
new however: On the front cover of my copy of the 1921 Chicago Telephone
Company Alphabetical Directory appears this Admonition to Subscribers:
"Our operators are trained to speak courteously and politely to subscribers.
When addressing the operator, please use the language and tone of voice
which you would want in response. Please do not address our operators using
profane language or obscene words. Thank you, General Mgr. CTC, Inc."  PT]

------------------------------

From: Mike Trout <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Date: 8 Aug 89 18:37:44 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Mark Robert Smith) writes:

> Well, the strike has started. [...]
> Also, the sabotage has continued.  About a dozen subscriber lines were cut in
> Leonia, NJ's central office.  United Telephone/com? (the local telephone
> company for NW NJ) has reported about 20 incidents per day of vandalism,
> mostly subscriber lines cut in CO's, and fiber cables cut with hatchets.
> Once again I ask - what are the unions trying to prove here?  I can't see any
> judge or arbitrator taking the union side on anything after all of this.

Don't confuse the unions' desires with the semi-rational actions of a few
saboteurs.  I would suggest "vandalism" is a more accurate description than
"sabotage."  The union leaders, as well as the rank-and-file, have no desire to
have their case soiled by a handful of violent malcontents.

Of course, it is the responsibility of the union leadership to control (and
preferably prevent) violence and vandalism.  The leaders may be guilty of not
adequately exercising such control.  On the other hand, there is only so much
union leaders can do--if some boneheads absolutely want to cut cables, they're
going to do it regardless.

Most judges and arbitrators know all this and take it into account.  When you
deal with human beings, a certain amount of nonsense is inevitable.

This is not to suggest that officially sanctioned union (or management)
violence and sabotage never happens.  Sometimes it does, but there's no
evidence to suggest that is the case here.

--
NSA food:  Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110  [phone]
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson

------------------------------

Date: Tue,  8 Aug 89 17:45:30 EDT
From: Ihor J Kinal <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Barry
Shein) writes:

> And no doubt some of it all will be true, but not much.
>
> Come back and report when charges are filed and the union is held
> responsible for this, not when some manager at NJ Bell calls the press
> to badmouth the union.

I've been scanning the news articles, but I HAVE NOT seen any BELL
MANAGER accuse the UNIONS of sabatoge.

 From the nature of Barry's article, though, it would appear, since
the UNION is not culpable, and that the UNION MEMBERS are not culpable,
that either the GENERAL PUBLIC or MANAGEMENT of the BELL CO are doing
this to make the UNIONS look bad.

It's possible - I'm sure that some COMPANIES have done that in the
past, but I suppose most people are unlikely to accept that as
the likelier of the possibilities in this particular case.

Ihor Kinal

STANDARD DISCLAIMER about my opinions being my own.

[Moderator's Note: It appears we here in Ameritech territory will get off
lucky this time around. Strike-talk was in the air at Illinois Bell, but
apparently they are very close to resolving the few minor difference
which remain. PT]

------------------------------

From: Mike Trout <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bay of Eagle Fiasco
Date: 8 Aug 89 19:07:22 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY

OK, gang, another mystery from the AT&T system of the late 1960s-early 1970s:

Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time) picked
up the phone and dialed:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0

Somebody answered, my brother let loose with some good Oklahoma slang, then
hung up.  The phone rang IMMEDIATELY, and my mother (in another room) answered
on an extension.  It was a phone company rep (or so he claimed), who was
absolutely beside himself with the stunt my brother had just pulled.  He
refused to say exactly what had happened, other than to say that my brother had
called someplace "you weren't supposed to call" and that it had better not
happen again.  In fact, the rep felt that a personal visit to our home might be
a good idea.  My mother, understandably bewildered, suggested the rep phone
later when my father came home.  That later conversation apparently canceled
the personal visit.  Needless to say, my brother found himself in a wee bit of
hot water with my parents.

I've always wondered exactly what my brother did.  He doesn't remember it well,
and my parents don't remember enough details to help.  They did emphasize how
mad the rep was (although that might have been exaggerated to scare my
brother).

Any ideas?  The first digit dialed--"1"--would obviously open access to direct
long distance dialing (which was still fairly new in those days).  But the next
three digits--"234"--are not, and I presume were not--a valid area code.  If
they were, the last two digits--"90"--would be ignored.  I'm assuming the "234"
or some portion of it opened access to SOMETHING.  But why would such an
obvious sequence of numbers be assigned to anything?  The way kids are, I would
suspect that the number sequence "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0" is probably dialed
several times a day by children--not to mention drunks, curiosity seekers, and
the like.

I'd try it myself today, but I guess my parents made a big impression on us (I
still brush my teeth before going to bed, Mom!).  Also note the years involved:
Nixon was president, the nation was in flames, paranoia and heavy government
control ran rampant, and everybody suspected wiretaps, bugs, and illegal
government surveillance.  Call me paranoid, but while Nixon was president our
phone was constantly clicking, popping, and going dead.
--
NSA food:  Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110  [phone]
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson

[Moderator's Note: I just now tried it of curiosity. Dialing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
sent me to immediate intercept with a message saying, "When dialing a call
outside the 312 area, you must dial '1' before the number. When calling
within 312, do not dial '1' first."    PT]

------------------------------

Date: Tue,  8 Aug 89 14:50:48 EDT
From: Fangli F Chang <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Coda Call Blocks Unwanted Calls
Reply-To: [e-mail] (fangli.f.chang)
Organization: AT&T BL

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Scott D. Green) writes:

>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 278, message 1 of 12
>This appeared in the Phila. Inquirer last week, by Jim McNair of the Miami
>Herald (reprinted without permission):

(stuff deleted)

>"The Coda Call Model C-757-3 is connected to the line between the
>wall plug and the telephone.  When switched on, it intercepts the
>ring and sends back a tone calling for the three-letter
>password.  The caller has five seconds to dial the code."
>
>"There are drawbacks to the Coda Call product.  Friends and
>relatives who don't know your password are shut out along with
>the undesirable callers.  And the box is incapable of passing on
>calls to your answering machine."

(more stuff deleted)

>"The Coda Call will be sold thru selected distributors of
>telephone products for $129."

Too expensive for its price/performance.

>So, at the risk of starting another Call*Block Caller*ID
>discussion, what do you think?  Winner or loser?

Loser, of course. The functions provided by the Coda Call can be
easily replaced by today's answering machine. The AT&T 1320
answering machine that I own has a "emergency call through"
feature.  Once the answering machine took over, the caller can
enter a security code (a different one from the one that used to
operate the answering machine remotely) to have the answering
machine BEEP loudly for ten times even when the volume control is
completely turned off.  After that the caller can opt to reenter the
security code again and again or wait for the recording signal and
leave his/her message. The price I paid was a little bit less than
$100 (item was on sale, tax included).  I guess AT&T probably not
the only one that offer this feature on answering machines so I
doubt there will be a bright future for call blocking devices.

>-Scott "in no way connected with Coda Call, BOC's, IEX's, Miami
>Herald, Phila. Inquirer" Green.  Member FDIC.

What I really hope to have is a voice answering service liked device:
"I'm not here to take your phone call if you are calling from xxx
please press 1 if you are calling from yyy please press 2 ....
otherwise please wait for the beep and leave you name and phone
number ...".  Better yet, when CNI is available in the future,
the device will automatic answer the incoming call with personalized
message, route to recording machine (with emergency call through
feature, of course), ring the phone with recording machine as a
backup or make some weird noise then drop the line ;-). I know
that there are some product on the market like this but none of
them is under $100 (missed by two 0 :-) may be three).

Fangli Chang
--
attmail!ihlpl!fangli
[phone]

------------------------------

Date: Wed,  9 Aug 89 01:22:48 EDT
From: "Robert E. Seastrom" <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Toll Stations

From: Gabe M Wiener <gmw1 at cunixb.cc.columbia.edu>:
> When I was a senior in High School two years ago, I remember getting
> literature from Deep Springs College.  The literature said, "To contact
> us, call your long distance carrier and ask for Deep Springs Toll
> Station #2"

Hey, I remember getting literature from Deep Springs College too!
(In fact, I was a senior in high school 2 years ago also...)
Piecing together from memory and from your post, I decided to
try this one on a lark.  I tried this just before posting this
message, so the information is just about as up to date as can
be expected.  Here's a transcript of the conversation:

Me:  10288-0  (no sense trying Sprint on THIS one...)

OPR: <BEEP> AT&T Operator, may I help you?

Me:  Yes, I would like a ringdown please to Deep Springs Toll Station
Number 2, Deep Springs, California (Deep Springs College is in Nevada,
but Deep Springs, California is the nearest POP)

OPR: <laugh... laugh... laugh> Do you have a NUMBER there?

Me: Yes, it's Deep Springs Toll Station Number *2* Deep Springs, California.

OPR: How am I supposed to dial *THAT* number?

Me: Well, if I were you, I'd get in touch with a California operator
and see what THEY can do for you...

OPR: One moment, sir...

<line goes dead for a moment>

OPR2: ... Inwards, may I help you? (I obviously missed out on the
first half of the ident; bummer!)

OPR: Yes, operator, this is the AT&T Operator in Washington, DC and I
need a ringdown to Deep Springs Toll Station Number 2 in Deep Springs,
California.  How do I dial that number?

OPR2: Well, you need to dial another operator and she'll dial the call
for you.  Dial 619-058-121 for Inwards.

OPR: Thank you, Operator. <drops connection>

<line goes dead for a moment>

OPR3: ...Inwards, may I help you?  (DAMN!  I can't believe my bad luck
with this!!)

OPR: Yes, I need a ringdown to Deep Springs Toll Station #2, Deep Springs,
California...

OPR3: One moment please...

RECORDING: THE NUMBER YOU HAVE REACHED <click>

OPR3: What number did you want?

OPR: 2

OPR3: I'm not showing 2; I *am* showing 1, but I'm getting a disconnect
on it...

OPR: Thank you, operator.

<drops connection...>

OPR: I'm sorry, sir, but we can't seem to get your call through to
that number.

Me: Thank you; I'll call directory assistance and see if they can
be of any further assistance to me...  (breathing sigh of relief
that I won't get billed for all this putzing around...)

OPR: Thank you for choosing AT&T...  <drops connection>

(end of conversation)...

Has the modern world even caught up with Deep Springs (which is so
far out in the middle of nowhere that you can't get any radio stations
at ALL during the day)??  Does anyone out there have any CONCRETE
evidence of any non-direct-dialable exchanges left ANYWHERE?


                       ---Rob

[Moderator's Note: The above message arrived too late to be included in the
Digest issued at 1:00 AM, but I did want to include it on the same day
for reference with the others, and it gives a good chuckle to close this
issue of the Digest. Even as little as thirty years ago, the USA was full
of places such as described here, and by John Covert in the previous issue.
Operators in the 1940-50 period would have found nothing confusing about
such a request at all.  See you tomorrow!    PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #283
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 0:06:38 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #284
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu,10 Aug 89 00:00:05 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 284

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View (Rich Wales)
    Response to US Sprint Comments ([e-mail])
    Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest (Henry Mensch)
    NW Ohio Telecomm Speakers Needed: GTE, Ohio Bell (Bruce Klopfenstein)
    Farmer's Line (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Prophetic ROLM ad (Tom Ace)
    2600 Magazine (John Owens)
    AT&T manuals, etc. (Gabe M. Wiener)
    ISDN in Silicon Valley Alpine Office? (John Higdon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Rich Wales <[e-mail]>
Subject: DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View
Date: 9 Aug 89 19:54:04 GMT
Reply-To: Rich Wales <[e-mail]>
Organization: UCLA CS Department, Los Angeles


In article <[e-mail]>
Mike Morris <[e-mail]> gives the DTMF tones as follows:

               1209     1336     1477    1633

        697     1        2        3       A   FO

        770     4        5        6       B   F

        852     7        8        9       C   I

        941     *        0        # A     D   P

Note that these frequencies occur in a well-tempered scale with a mul-
tiplier between steps of 1.05135 (i.e., 13.84 steps per octave).  If
"tone N" has a frequency of 697*(1.05135^N), we get the following:

        697.0 Hz = tone 0        1209.1 Hz = tone 11
        770.4 Hz = tone 2        1336.4 Hz = tone 13
        851.6 Hz = tone 4        1477.2 Hz = tone 15
        941.3 Hz = tone 6        1632.8 Hz = tone 17

This particular well-tempered scale fits each of the stated frequencies
to within 0.5 Hz, if you assume that 697 Hz is exact by definition.  I
suppose it might be possible to come up with an even better fit via a
least-squares linear approximation to the logarithms of the frequencies.

The upper set of tones is selected in such a way as to be roughly half-
way between the octaves of the lower set of tones.  That way, there is
no chance for the upper tone of any pair to be "lost" in the harmonics
from the lower tone.

I'm not sure why they didn't use a scale with exactly 14 steps per
octave (multiplier = 1.05076).  That would seemingly have been simpler.

The reason why you can do crude approximations to a few common tunes
(e.g., "Mary Had a Little Lamb") with DTMF tones is that the Western
musical scale is built on 12 steps per octave (multiplier = 1.05946) --
fairly close to the DTMF scheme if you don't stretch it too far.

    I have an old 5-line 4-wire Autovon phone here that I modified
    (added a network) for 25-pair 2-wire use.  It has a "A" on the
    key that would normally be a "#". The 4th column keys are
    labeled with FO-F-I-P.

I recall someone mentioning on TELECOM, some time ago, that Autovon used
the keys in the 4th column to indicate the precedence of the call.  The
abbreviations mean something like "Priority", "Immediate", "Flash", and
"Flash Override" (the latter heralding World War III for all practical
purposes).  By pressing one of these keys before dialing a number -- and
assuming that your phone line had authorization to invoke that particu-
lar precedence -- the Autovon system would automatically disconnect any
call in progress of *lower* precedence in favor of your call.  (I'm not
sure whether the disconnected party got any kind of notification of why
he had suddenly gotten cut off.)  Maybe someone who has used Autovon can
confirm this info and/or correct my details.

-- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // [phone]
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024-1596 // USA
   [e-mail]      ...!(uunet,ucbvax,rutgers)!cs.ucla.edu!wales
"K-9, I think we're going to find out what it's like to be a cricket ball."

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Response to US Sprint Comments
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 89 09:35:07 -0400


[comments here are from me, not my Sprint Rep Buddy]

> From: David Albert <[e-mail]>
>
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
> > .. "The shutdown was not for all of Port Authority / Grand Central, it
> >   was just for a few payphones that were causing the trouble.  John Doe
> >   is probably better off being prohibited from using the phone than if
> >   he did use the phone and someone watched over his shoulder, stole his
> >   FONcard number, and racked up thousands of calls on his bill."
>
> I fail to understand why your friend would say something as patently
> ridiculous as this and expect anybody to accept it.

    What's wrong with the truth?  If it's too ridiculous for you,
    I don't know what to suggest.  If you want lies, you're talking
    to the wrong people.  Neither my friend nor myself have any
    reason to lie or make "patently ridiculous" comments.

> Since John Doe
> is not responsible for those calls, the only reason he is "better off"
> is that he saves a few moments of aggravation.

    Such problems lead to more than a few moments of phone time
    with US Sprint customer service reps.  Though they have
    been fairly responsive to my latest complaints.  I usually
    use the normal reps rather than my friend there, just so I
    can keep track of how well they are doing.

> Or is the Sprint
> spokesman suggesting that John Doe will have a serious problem getting
> the calls removed from his bill, presumably because of Sprint's
> notorious billing inefficiencies and other problems?

    John Doe's card will be disabled everywhere and he will be
    left with no long distance access at all for a few days.
    This has nothing to do with "notorious billing".  It is a
    direct result of having one's PIN ripped off.

> Either way, the comments don't bode well for Sprint.

    I think they bode just fine.  The realities of code abuse
    can interfere with your long distance service, regardless
    of your long distance carrier.

> David Albert /UUCP: ...!harvard!albert / INTERNET: [e-mail]

> From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] quoth:
> > .. "The shutdown was not for all of Port Authority / Grand Central, it
> >   was just for a few payphones that were causing the trouble.  John Doe
> >   is probably better off being prohibited from using the phone than if
> >   he did use the phone and someone watched over his shoulder, stole his
> >   FONcard number, and racked up thousands of calls on his bill."

> Considering that said phones are not *labelled* as such, Mr. Doe would
> probably try his call, have his Sprint account ripped off anyway, and
> then go through the further inconvienience of having to retry the call
> somewhere else...

    You are assuming that the sprint system would provide Mr. Doe
    with the normal PIN entry sequence.  I don't know exactly how
    the 'disabling' was carried out, but your assumption that Mr. Doe
    would get to the point where he would enter his PIN is not
    necessarily correct.  The idea is to prevent the John Doe from
    ever entering his PIN, so it won't get stolen!

    To allow Doe to enter his PIN and then to refuse his call
    provides no benefit to either US Sprint or Mr. Doe, so my guess
    is that some other method was used to prevent Doe from entering
    his FONcard PIN.

    The subject of a few Grand Central payphones and their Sprint access
    been beaten around enough...  I'm quite happy to pass on additional
    questions to Mr. Sprint Rep, but this issue is a relatively minor
    one, in my opinion.  Enough!

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 15:31:08 -0400
From: Henry Mensch <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest
Reply-To: [e-mail]

David Albert asks why the Sprint rep would say something as bogus as
he did.  Obviously, the Sprint rep understands Sprint's inability to
handle billing properly in the first place, and "knows" that it will
take months or years to have these calls taken off the customer's
bill! :)

# Henry Mensch   /   <[e-mail]>   /   E40-379 MIT,  Cambridge, MA
# <[e-mail]-relay> / <[e-mail]> / <[e-mail]>

------------------------------

From: Bruce Klopfenstein <bgsuvax![e-mail]>
Subject: NW Ohio Telecomm Speakers Needed: GTE, Ohio Bell
Date: 9 Aug 89 14:02:48 GMT
Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh.


I am teaching a senior level/graduate introduction to new media technologies
in the School of Mass Communication at Bowling Green State University.

I am looking for telco representatives and others who can either come to
the campus or talk to us via speaker phone teleconference on any of the
following topics:

Telco entry into video distribution into the home
Fiber optic fundamentals
ISDN fundamentals
ISDN trials
Telco provision of information services
Computer networks and electronic mail
Videophones
Facsimile

Other topic ideas welcomed.  The purpose of the course is to introduce
students to the critical issues and new technologies of telecommunications.
As these are broadcasting and mass communication students, they are coming
from a more liberal arts background than a science background.  Anyone who
can suggest speakers is encouraged to do so as well.

Thanks for your help!

Bruce Klopfenstein

--
Dr. Bruce C. Klopfenstein      |  [e-mail]
Radio-TV-Film Department       |  [e-mail]
Bowling Green $tate University |  [e-mail]
Bowling Green, OH  43403       |  [phone]; 352-4818
                               |  fax [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 17:22:31 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Farmer's Line

Someone earlier mentioned "farmer's lines."  Well, I looked it up in a
1925 Western Electric handbook I have, and it explained that most magneto
sets are equipped with a button.  When the button is up, winding the
generator causes all the phones on the circuit to ring, thus permitting
one subscriber to call another through coded rings.

When the button is down however, none of the subcriber phones ring, and a
flag drops on the exchange.

As to manual exchanges, such as the privately-run 4 digit systems that are
run privately, how do they go about getting any long-distance service at all?
They aren't direct-dialable for obvious reasons (only 4 digits), but will
AT&T run long-distance trunks to their switchboard?  Or do they have to
pay them to bring the trunks in?

I would think that AT&T would gladly bring in trunks to any switchboard, no
matter how old, if they're going to generate revenue.  Does anyone know just
how the policy works?


I can just imagine it now.  The AT&T operator looks up the routing on her
terminal, presses the ST key to make it ring, and as she does so, an old
magneto drop is thrown somewhere in Iowa.  :-)

-G

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 13:10:10 PDT
From: Tom Ace <sje![e-mail]>
Subject: Prophetic ROLM Ad

A somewhat pompous full-page ad (lots of white space around a paragraph of
text) for ROLM appeared in the 8/7/89 NY Times. It suggested that something
special would happen to ROLM customers the next day.  (The ad's text is
reproduced at the end of this posting.)

Sure enough, when I got into work on Tuesday, several extensions in the
building, including mine, were making bizarre noises from the speakers in
their bases:  howls, fragments of various ringing tones, screeching noises,
and more.  We have a Rolm PBX.  The repairman told me a card in the PBX was
taken out by a power disturbance, and that we ought to have a power line
conditioner.  I told him a PBX ought to have a more tolerant power supply; he
smiled knowingly.  Dozens of computers in the same building (Apollos, Macs,
others) had no problems.

The same day, I called someone at another company in another state, and the
voice mail was broken in their Rolm PBX.  I found it amusing that all this
happened on the day mentioned in the ad:

"For just about everyone here in America, tomorrow, August the 8th, will be
just another Tuesday.  Alarm clocks will ring a little earlier than we'd like.
The newspaper will arrive too late to read.  Dressing the kids will take at
least twice as long as planned.  Three meetings will be scheduled for the
same time.  The lunch hour will only be 38 minutes.  A few of us will get a
raise.  There won't be enough hours in the day.  Someone will get a puppy for
their birthday when they were really hoping for a pony.  In other words, for
most everyone here in America, just another typical Tuesday. Everyone, that is,
except for the customers of ROLM."


Tom Ace
[e-mail]
 ...!mntgfx!sje!tom

------------------------------

Organization: SMART HOUSE Limited Partnership
Subject: 2600 Magazine
Date: 9 Aug 89 19:04:55 EDT (Wed)
From: John Owens <[e-mail]>

The address is [e-mail]
-or-
2600
PO Box 752
Middle Island, NY 11953

--
John Owens        [e-mail]        uunet!jetson!john
[phone]        [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 21:28:37 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Manuals Wanted

Does anyone know of a source for AT&T manuals?  I'd love to have a gander at
the reference books the long-distance operators use.  I'm sure AT&T keeps those
under tight security for fear of phone phreaks and whatever, but is there any
source?

-G

P.S.  Wasn't it all so much easier before 1984? :-)

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: ISDN in Silicon Valley Alpine Office?
Date: 10 Aug 89 01:20:29 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team


This may be a little too "regional specific" for the DIGEST, but I know
there are a lot of SillyCon Valley readers, one of which may know the
answer. About a week and a half ago, all of the ALpine crossbar (about
eight prefixes) was cut to DMS. Given Pac*Bell's lethargy in upgrading
anything, I thought there might be a reason other than simply to
provide better service to subscribers.

As it happens, THE major customer in this CO is Apple Computer. Before
the strike, I struck a conversation with a Pac*Bell installer. His
comment was that the cut was indeed because of Apple. Now this raises
some interesting questions. Apple's PBX uses an entire prefix of the
1AESS, so that isn't affected. But is it possible that ISDN is involved
here somehow? If so, what generic would the DMS be running? I know that
Pac*Bell was conducting ISDN tests with the DMS in San Ramon.

Light and knowledge in this matter would be helpful.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #284
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 0:53:14 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #285
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu,10 Aug 89 00:50:08 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 285

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    The Way It Used To Be (John Higdon)
    Panasonic vrs. AT&T In the Marketplace (John Higdon)
    Note About Operators (Carl Moore)
    FLeetwood in Olympia, Wash.? (Carl Moore)
    Re: Toll Stations (Mark T. Ganzer)
    Toll Stations...One More Time! (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Re: More About NJ Sabotage (Mark Robert Smith)
    Re: More About NJ Sabatage (Gary Cattley)
    Strike Delays Annoy Users (Andrew Lih)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (John DeBert)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (John Higdon)

[Moderator's Note: In issue 284 of the Digest, issued at 00:06 CDT, the
*envelope header* inadvertently said "285". It was indeed 284, and
the one you are reading now is 285. Please edit your archives copies
so the envelope header reads correctly. Sorry, and thanks.  PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: The Way It Used To Be
Date: 10 Aug 89 02:40:37 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team

Something that every reader of this group should do is take a tour of a
local central office. I would kill for that opportunity now with all
the advances in the past few years such as COSMOS, electronic
switching, etc. But I never will forget the several times I toured
local offices, both officially (with a public tour) and unofficially
(with a friend who was a supervisor in the office).

The Santa Clara "AXminster" office used to be exclusively #1 and #5
crossbar. There was a big ammeter in the power room that indicated the
draw from the 48V batteries by all the equipment in the building. Late
at night (when I was there) it read between 2000 and 3000 amperes. The
copper bus bars carrying this current were enormous. I was told that
during the day the typical indication was around 5000 amperes. A good
portion of that draw was simply to supply loop current to the thousands
of subscribers who were off hook, and of course the rest went to power
the zillions of clattering relays.

There was a room with a bunch of little odometer-like counters,
thousands of them. While I was standing there, suddenly the lights went
out, there was a flash, and then the lights came back on. They actually
photographed the dials for traffic studies. Long distance call records
were kept on paper tape that was handled by these large floor standing
machines. Near one of the test positions, was a machine that would
periodically make a lot of noise and then a punched card would drop
into a basket. This was the "trouble recorder" and the card would
contain information concerning some error that occurred within the maze
of electromechanical equipment.

Ringing current was generated by these rotary devices that produced the
ringback tone and busy tone as well. Before touch tone, they also
produced dial tone. The cadence was performed by these mercury-filled
drums that were driven off the same shaft as the ring generator.

The #1 crossbar bit the dust several years ago, but the #5 remains.
The old panel equipment that was in the now-defunct
Larkin Street CO in San Francisco has been preserved by the local
chapter of the Telephone Pioneers and will still operate upon request.
Again you must see this equipment operate to appreciate how it used to
be. If you live in an area that still has functional electromechanical
CO equipment, do whatever it takes to wangle a tour before it's all
gone forever.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Panasonic vrs. AT&T In the Marketplace
Date: 7 Aug 89 18:49:11 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team


So the Justice Department breaks up AT&T to promote the consumer
interest and to encourage competition. Then there is competition. Then
AT&T whines that it can't compete because everyone else's products are
better and cheaper. So the Commerce Department slaps a 178% tariff on
Panasonic telephone products.

You know what? After dealing with AT&T garbage and Panasonic products,
I'll still buy Panasonic. When will people (AT&T) understand that you
can't sell junk at any price?

Patrick, I'll say it for you: Followup by e-mail.
The DIGEST is not the place to debate US trade policies, but I thought
it might be interesting to observe how perverted the BIG BREAKUP has
become.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

[Moderator's Note: You are correct in noting the divestiture is not
quite what most people expected. You are also correct in noting that there
is nothing I can do about it here. Followups direct to JH please.  PT]

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 9 Aug 89 10:41:12 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Note About Operators

The note about operators taking a lot of abuse reminded me that some call
guides (preceding the white pages) express such concern regarding unlisted
numbers:  When you are told a number is unlisted, please do not persist in
trying to get it, as it is not available.

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 9 Aug 89 10:43:49 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  FLeetwood in Olympia, Wash.?

I had an oldies station, WFBR-AM (1300, Baltimore), on last night,
and heard that the Fleetwoods took their name from a phone exchange
of that name in Olympia, Washington state.  That name choice was done
over 30 years ago.

------------------------------

From: "Mark T. Ganzer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Toll Stations
Date: 9 Aug 89 21:11:15 GMT
Reply-To: "Mark T. Ganzer" <[e-mail]>
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego

>[Moderator's Note:
>                                 ... Toll-stations are mostly a Nevada
>phenomenon, but a few exist in western Utah; in Arizona; in the desert area
>of California; and the northwestern rural area of Idaho...places where the
>entire population of town is six people.  PT]

Interestingly, until 4-5 years ago, one of our lab's test facilities was
served by a toll station. And it wasn't in the desert area of California,
but only 5 miles north of the greater Los Angeles basin in the San Gabriel
Mountains, in an area served by GTE (our phone book listed it as San
Gabriel Canyon Toll Station 32). What surprised me was that there was quite
a number of residences a few miles up the canyon, as well as a
Forest Service Station.  Except for the leased lines from San Diego,
not many people knew how to dial into the place (and when I had to, not
many operators knew how to either...). As I recall, the complaints from the
residents were enough to finally force them to install a microwave link up
there, and run a line down to us.

I kind of miss that old system. It's a pain to drive 130 miles only to
get stuck with a phone in your ear all day...something I could have stayed
in the office and done.

--
Mark T. Ganzer                    Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
UUCP: {bonnie,sdcsvax,gould9,hp-sdd} - !nosc!ganzer
      {apl-uw,ncr-sd,bang,crash    } /
Internet: [e-mail]           Compu$erve: 73617,442

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 17:24:44 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Toll Stations...One More Time!

Ok folks, here come two more:

1)  Why are they called "toll stations" anyway?  Why aren't they simply called
    "non-dialable points" instead?

And, of course, the one I've been asking about all week!

2)  If they're running a cable out there to hook up a toll station, why not
    just wire them right into the switch and assign them a telephone number
    like any other telephone subscriber?

-G

[Moderator's Note: Regards (1): "Toll Station" is the historic term for
these places. They were around from long before almost anyplace was dialable,
thus 'non-dialable' points, while perhaps an accurate description now, was
not very descriptive when they first where installed many, many, many years
ago. The difference between a manual exchange, or 'non-dialable point' and
a toll station is that a toll station is essentially a manual exchange as
far as billing is concerned, but an 'exchange' with just one subscriber,
or more precisely, combination phone operator/subscriber!

The difference between a toll station subscriber and an ordinary subscriber
on a manual exchange is that the former have historically been listed as
'places' in the Bellcore, nee AT&T database rather than individuals listed
in a telephone directory of the exchange (which is also a 'place' in the
database. Covert pointed out yesterday that there are actually entries in
the database which are *the names of people* rather than towns. One of
my favorites was "Mary's Ranch, Nevada, Toll Station 1".

Regards (2): Yes there is a pair of wires running there, just as you would
find from any manual exchange to the subscriber premises, but the 'normal'
exchange (and again, I am talking from a historical perspective) was
relatively small in geographic coverage. Some, if not all toll station
subscribers are 50-100 miles or more from the exchange that serves them.
We are talking about very desolate, very deserted wilderness areas such
as the vast amounts of desert in Nevada and the huge forest/wilderness
areas in Idaho and Washington State. The idea behind a toll station was
that '...everything is a long distance call from here....'. Toll stations
have NO local calling area, and to make them part of a 'local exchange'
with, say, a thousand other people in town who get to call all of a mile
in any direction as their 'free local calling area' would be wrong. If you
did it this way, *they* would get 50-100 miles 'local calling area' versus
the folks in town who would not.

So those few phones in wilderness areas which of necessity make a long
distance (or toll) call everytime they go off hook are described as
toll stations, and listed in the database for lack of any legal name for
the wilderness area by the name of the person who subscribes. In summary,
'toll station' is an historic term with much accuracy and a specific
meaning. "Non-dialable point' may describe a toll station, but 'toll
station' does NOT describe  the majority of non-dialable points, although
admittedly, toll stations are among the few types of non-dialable phones
still around. John Covert, can you add to this or correct anything I
have stated? I might add that for billing purposes, toll stations are
generally marked on the toll ticket as 'other place', while for manual
exchanges, the mark will usually be the area code for the geographic
environs, plus some theoretical three digit 'prefix'. PT]

------------------------------

From: Mark Robert Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Date: 9 Aug 89 11:57:51 GMT
Organization: Rutgers - The Police State of New Jersey


I seem to have forgotten a few points that lead me to exclude the
general public from responsibility for the vandalism, and point the
finger at a Bell employee - union or management.

Most of the individual lines that were cut were cut IN the Central
Office, which is a high security area.  They were not cut in the boxes
on the street - though in Englewood, 50 of these boxes were
vandalized.  Therefore, I believe that an NJ Bell employee was
responsible.

Mark
--
Mark Smith     |  "Be careful when looking into the distance,       |All Rights
61 Tenafly Road|that you do not miss what is right under your nose."| Reserved
Tenafly,NJ 07670-2643|rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith,[e-mail]
You may redistribute this article only to those who may freely do likewise.

------------------------------

Date:     Wed, 9 Aug 89 8:51:45 CDT
From: [e-mail] (Gary Cattley - CEMI)
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Organization: Center for  Experimental Music and Intermedia, U. of North Texas

Mark Smith comments,
>>Once again I ask - what are the unions trying to prove here?  I can't see any
>>judge or arbitrator taking the union side on anything after all of this.

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Barry
Shein) responded:
>Come back and report when charges are filed and the union is held
>responsible for this, not when some manager at NJ Bell calls the press
>to badmouth the union.

Irregardless of the source of the damage to telco equipment, it seemingly
is more than coincidental vandalism.  I found Smith's postings informative,
more for the explanation they offered for results that I got when trying
to place calls to the affected area(s), than for the political interpretations.
The latter, just take with proverbial salt in any posting, media source, etc.
If there are more service interruptions, please continue to post.

                    gary

Gary Cattley - CEMI
email: [e-mail]
or bitnet [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 09:29:19 EDT
From: Andrew Lih <[e-mail]>
Subject: Strike Delays Annoy Users


> Date: Tue, 8 Aug 89 08:34:47 EDT From: "Robert E. Seastrom"
> <[e-mail]> Subject: BOC Strike - One Good
> Side-Effect

> I had occasion to call Delaware Directory Assistance yesterday.
> Before I got a ringback, a recording came on that said "Due to work
> stoppage, there may be a delay in servicing your call.  Thank you for
> your patience".  Well, I sat there on a ring for about a minute and a
> half and then this lady answered the phone and asked if she could help
> me.  I wasn't sure what number I wanted at the Delaware Department of
> Motor Vehicles, so we went back and forth for about 30 seconds trying
> to decide which number I wanted.  She seemed genuinely concerned and a
> lot more helpful than the standard, run-of-the-mill directory
> assistance operator.  Maybe we should just flush the current employees
> and let the supervisors man the phones.  It took a little extra time,
> but the operator's pleasantness made the wait worthwhile.

I could not disagree with you more!  I called Pennsylvania's Directory
Assistance and after waiting a minute or so, asked for University of
Penn's General Info number.  The operator fumbled around for about 30
seconds and then finally gave me a recorded message that told me a 202
number, which is in Washington DC!  I could not even get through on
New Jersey's Directory Assistance.  The sooner the strike is over the
better!

Andrew Lih                [e-mail]
Columbia University

[Moderator's Note: Whether you are calling Penn State or the state pen,
operator assistance has been very slow because of the strike. But this
one is *nothing* compared to the first one I remember, in 1950, when
*everything* outside Chicago went through an operator. Long distance
calling was virtually suspended for a few days, prompting Mother to
hasten the automation process all the faster. Just think, in a few
years 95 percent of all operator functions will be automated. Calling
card calls are already. *Then* watch how long management takes to settle!
If we could search the DA database now, we (and Mom) would have it made. PT]

------------------------------

From: John DeBert <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 9 Aug 89 19:12:53 GMT
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest

In article <[e-mail]>, claris!apple!netcom!
wasilko (Jeff Wasilko) says:

> I've seen compressed gas cylynders near poles and I've always wondered what
> purpose they are used for? Could anyone shed some light on this?

I have seen them too. To satisfy my curiousity, I examined one closely.

It appears to be either nitrogen or compressed dry air attached via a
pressure regulator to a fitting on a cable or splice cover. The prupose
appears to be to force out water and moisture to prevent corrosion.

A yellow cylinder contains compressed air and one that is silver with green
at the top is nitrogen gas.  Once or twice, I have seen helium cylinders
(silver with orange) in place, perhaps because nothing else was available(?)

Compressors can also be found, especially in remote areas, used also to
keep cables and connections dry.

JJD
[e-mail]


------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 8 Aug 89 16:17:49 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team

In article <[e-mail]>, claris!apple!netcom!
wasilko (Jeff Wasilko) writes:
> I've seen compressed gas cylynders near poles and I've always wondered what
> purpose they are used for? Could anyone shed some light on this?

These tanks are filled with nitrogen. By using positive pressure
withing the cable housing, moisture is kept out and sudden loss of
pressure could indicate cable damage or failure.

BOCs generally pressurize from central points; GTE and other
independents use those tanks that you have noticed.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #285
*****************************










Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 1:32:57 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #286
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 10 Aug 89 01:30:57 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 286

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Call Forwarding Fun (Tom Ace)
    Re: Yuppie Operator Calls (Douglas Scott Reuben)
    Re: Can There Be 'Fake' 911 In Rural Areas? (Amanda Walker)
    Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools (Amanda Walker)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Charles Daffinger)
    Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV (Robert Virzi)
    Re: Correction of Telco Name (Terry Roberts)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (Dr. T. Andrews)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 18:05:11 PDT
From: Tom Ace <sje![e-mail]>
Subject: Call Forwarding Fun

A couple of years ago, an acquaintance in Los Angeles told me about a
problem GTE experienced after modernizing one of their COs down there.
They had replaced a mechanical exchange with a digital one (if memory
serves me correctly, a NEC switch), and some kids found an interesting
problem with it.  Three subscribers with call forwarding would create
a forwarding loop, e.g. A forwards his calls to B, B to C, and C back
to A; once that was set up, calling any of the three numbers from
another location would, after a short pause, cause the entire switch
to go down (completely go out of service).  There was evidently code
in the switch to recognize two-subscriber forwarding loops, but with
three or more, it would hang.  The only fix they had at the time was
to disable call forwarding for customers served by that switch.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this story, it was just something I'd
heard.  Has anyone heard of anything similar?  What happens with Bell
ESS switches?  What happens if two customers in different areas try to
set up a loop?  (I'd try, but I don't have the feature and don't know
people who do.)


Tom Ace
[e-mail]
 ...!mntgfx!sje!tom


[Moderator's Note: We covered this topic rather extensively some time back
in the Digest. There are now absolute limits on the number of loops which
can be made. Maybe someone will respond who knows the specifics.   PT]

------------------------------

Date: 9-AUG-1989 02:44:05.18
From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Yuppie Operator Calls

Not that I want to be the one to start a "war" over a small post,
but the article posted in the Digest (issue 278) by '[e-mail]'
was just a bit too insluting to let pass.

Initially, I sent an article to the digest about, amongst other things,
how hard it is with newer, post-divestiture operators, to complete a
call that requires special handling via an  AT&T/Bell  operator.

Now admittedly I wasn't too stoical about this, and found it somewhat
amusing that times have changed to the extent that most operators
have never even *heard* of a mobile operator or have any idea of
how to connect to one. I also find this somewhat disturbing, as
if this were an emergency, someone who needed to get through quickly
and did not have any knowledge of how the "phrase" his or her
request would waste a good deal of time repeating the request until
an operator was found who could handle the call.

In any event, Mr. Myerston thought it was just "tooo cuuute". He
seems to think that finding out things like this by actually
trying it out is a waste of Bell's time, and that I should be doing
other things besides calling remote areas to find out routing
codes, etc. He also assumes that I am in a sense 'picking' on people
who are paid less than I am to see how they fail at their tasks.

Well, Mr. Myerston, I don't know what YOU were reading, or more
likely what you read INTO my posting, but I don't think I said
something like "Hey, look at those sappy, underpaid AT&T ops who
are SO incompetent that they can't even route a call to Canada!"
Take a look again...I clearly didn't intend to make fun of anyone...

What I think I said, and what I do still argue, is that it is
amusing to see people who supposedly know more than I do about
phones and who are supposed to be trained to handle such calls
make such a big production over a rather simple task. I find it
somewhat funny that after I tell them a routing they say "Let me
check..." and then come back a few seconds later and go "Yeah,
you're right...You must call there a lot!". I don't think this
is making fun of them, but rather something we all could enjoy
as a diverting and unusual situation that doesn't occur all too
often in an age of automated collect-calling systems and
voice-synthesized Directory Assistance computers.

As a matter of fact, when calling up to Hay River, Canada about
3 years ago, I said to the operator, who was having a particularly
hard time in getting through, "Sorry to have to call so late..."
and she said "Oh no!!.. This is the most fun I've had all day!"

Now I'm not saying I call to make the operator's day, or that it's
OK to do this all day and repeatedly bother them, but once in a
while is a different story.

I find it really hard to believe that you find this sufficient cause
to publicly make note of how "cute" my post was in an attempt to
show your disapproval of my behavior. Rather than sending me a
personal note, or posting something like "But doesn't that
get to bother the operators and should we all be doing that?"
asking whether the Digest should discuss things of that nature,
you just had to flame off on your keyboard some silly old
message which was quite rude and in my own opinion, unwarranted.

Oh, and you said you wanted some numbers at Wesleyan that you
could play with? Try calling Wesleyan's modem dialups...Maybe
if you listen REALLY carefully to the carriers you could find something
about THAT that you don't like as well...Can't wait to hear about it
in some future Digest issue!

In the future, please restrain yourself when you are not sure of
what I (if not others as well) am trying to say in a posting.
I think, and I'm sure some will agree, that pointlessly flaming
and/or belittling me/other posters only serves to discourage would-be
contributors to the Digest, which benefits no one. As it is, this
message is wasting valuable space that someone could have used for
a more Telcom-realted posting, which I'm sure everyone would much
rather read. I sincerely hope that I don't have to waste my and
everyone else's time responding to something like Mr. Myerston's
post again...

Sorry for any typos and for a general waste of bandwidth...

-Doug "tooooo cuuuuute" Reuben

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
(and just plain old "dreuben" to locals! :-)  )

[Moderator's Note: However, I do not think divestiture can be blamed for
the lack of training given to operators now. This has been a problem for
the past twenty years, since about the time DDD was almost universal and
the older ladies who had been with Mom all their working careers began to
retire. Many of the newer operators do not consider it a lifetime *career*
and it reflects in their work and their attitudes. Years ago, the majority
of the operators had many years experience, with manual exchanges, yet!
And did you know the rule for many years was a new operator was *never*
permitted to work a real board until after several weeks of training at
a 'teaching board' under the close watch of the supervisor and/or Chief
Operator. Bell was *very particular* in the old days about the help.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Amanda Walker <intercon![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Can There Be 'Fake' 911 In Rural Areas?
Date: 9 Aug 89 15:28:05 GMT
Reply-To: Amanda Walker <[e-mail]>
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Dave Fiske) writes:
> [incident with rescue squad being sent to the wrong address]
> When you consider that this scenario could have involved some actual
> disaster, you can see how important 911 can be.

Even so, there's still the possibility for human error--there was a sad
story on the DC news recently about a person who died because the ambulance
that had been dispatched on the 911 call was sent to the wrong quadrant of
the city (NE instead of NW).

(For those of you who aren't familiar with DC, most addresses occur 4 times,
so you have to tack the quadrant [NW/NE/SE/SW] onto the address to fully
specify a location.)

Luckily, most cities are laid out a little less symmetrically than DC...

--
Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
--
[e-mail]    |    ...!uunet!intercon!amanda

------------------------------

From: Amanda Walker <intercon![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools
Date: 9 Aug 89 15:32:23 GMT
Reply-To: Amanda Walker <[e-mail]>
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation


Speaking of telephone tools, I once saw a little tool that was so
mind-bogglingly useful that, of course, I've never found a place
that sold it.  I was told it was a telephone tool of some sort.  It's
basically a pair of needle nose pliers with a little place near the
tip that acts as a wire stripper for 22 (or so) AWG wire.  Perfect
for doing wirewrapping...

Anybody know where I could pick up one of these things?

--
Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
--
[e-mail]    |    ...!uunet!intercon!amanda

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 11:33:06 -0500
From: Charles Daffinger <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco
Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington

>OK, gang, another mystery from the AT&T system of the late 1960s-early 1970s:

>Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time) picked
>up the phone and dialed:

>1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0

>[Moderator's Note: I just now tried it of curiosity. Dialing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
>sent me to immediate intercept with a message saying, "When dialing a call
>outside the 312 area, you must dial '1' before the number. When calling
>within 312, do not dial '1' first."    PT]

Here I got 'the number you have dialed has been disconnected or no longer in
service.  If you feel that you have dailed the correct number, please hang
up and try again.  Thank you.


-charles
--
Charles Daffinger  >Take me to the river, Drop me in the water<  [phone]
[e-mail]              {pur-ee,rutgers,pyramid,ames}!iuvax!cdaf
Home of the Whitewater mailing list:    [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Robert Virzi <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV
Date: 9 Aug 89 19:38:29 GMT
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc., Waltham, MA


> In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
> (Dick Jackson) writes:
> > Is anyone else in this group interested in the *future* of the telephone
> > system?

Very much so, both professionally and as a consumer.

> > An example of the LEC's bid for more revenue is their request to be
> > allowed to operate cable TV, i.e. to deliver entertainment to the home.
> > In my, opinion to permit this at the present time would be ludicrous given
> > the operating companies non-clean record on cross subsidies and trampling
> > on smaller companies they perceive as competitors.

As witnessed by the increasing interest in video from all the phone
companies, I suspect they think they can make Big Money in video to the
home.  They are probably right.  I would like to see the LECs given the
Greene light (;-) to provide video to the home, with one caveat.  They should
be required to give equal access to other CATV and video providers on
a home-by-home basis.  I picture a plan similar to that for long distance
telephone where the user selects a primary video provider and might even
have access to other video providers through access codes.

This does several things.  First, it opens the doors to competition and
increases my choices as a consumer.  Don't like your towns current CATV
company -- scrap 'em and pick another.  This should make video providers
more sensitive to the need to provide high levels of service.  (Ever
wonder why your cable TV offices are closed nights and weekends?)

It also makes narrowcasting more attractive.  I can start a business
delivering special interest videos to left handed albinos and still make
money because I would have access to all the left handed albinos in the US.
Groups of similar minded people can get the sort of programming they want.
A parallel argument is that this type of system would free us from the
tyranny of democracy.  As long as their are multiple conduits, there is no
need to make them all attractive to the majority.

I say let the LECs provide content, as long as they provide comparable
transport for other content providers.

DISCLAIMER: These views are in no way representative of the official
company line, at least to my knowledge.  I'm not even sure they fairly
represent what I think.

--

-Bob Virzi                    | Innuendo ...
 [e-mail]                 |
 ...!harvard!bunny!rv01       | ... and out the other.


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 16:09:17 MDT
From: Terry Roberts <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Correction of Telco Name

>> The BOC for Utah is Mountain Bell. (not Utah Bell).

>I thought that Mountain Bell is now going by the parent name of U.S.
West?

Getting closer...

The three BOCs in the U S WEST territory merged about a year ago and
adopted the collective name "U S WEST Communications".    Some people may
still use the name Mountain Bell informally, but it doesn't officially
exist anymore.    (Which is different from Patrick's situation, Illinois
Bell still being a distinct subsidiary of Ameritech.)

-Terry Roberts
[e-mail]


------------------------------

Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 6:47:31 EDT
From: "Dr. T. Andrews" <[e-mail]>
Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand)

) ... green box ... tone to payphone
Do payphones not use out-of-band signalling?  It would seem to invite
abuse if they used in-band signalling, especially if someone were
inclined to carry a recording of money being dropped into the thing.
--
 ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner  ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner
or...  {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #286
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 11 Aug 89 0:49:51 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #287
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 11 Aug 89 00:45:36 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 287

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Tool Sources (Will Martin)
    Re: Tool Sources (Will Martin)
    Re: Tool Sources (Amanda Walker)
    Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools (Marvin Jones)
    Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools (Mike Morris)
    Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools (John DeArmond)
    Re: Info About 2600 Magazine and Tool Sources (Denis Svenny)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (Paul E. Robichaux)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (John DeBert)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (Andrew Boardman)
    Re: New York Geography (Dave Esan)
    Last Laugh! A Strange Way of Posting Things  (Jim Guyton)

[Moderator's Note: Another special edition of the Digest coming your
way this weekend! Richard Tobier has very kindly provided me with a
copy of his 'RS-232 Standards for Phone Wire', a document prepared
during his tenure with Encore Computer. Complete with diagrams and
charts, this very informative document will be presented in its
entirety in a Digest I'll transmit to you sometime Saturday. You may
want to print it out and keep it with other reference materials. PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 9:32:49 CDT
From:     Will Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Tool Sources

Specialized Products Company (800-527-5018) -- Spring 89 catalog, page 177:
Utica Swiss Model U502E Series High Precision Stripping Tool. "Designed
to be the most precision chain nose stripper-cutter combination tool for
working with Teflon, Kynar, and other tough insulations. This is a very
unique [sic -sigh...] tool that has become very popular as a wire wrap
stripper/cutter. The 502E eliminates having to use two separate tools.
The cutting and stripping blades can be micro adjusted and are replaceable.
Features foam cushion handles and is available in 5 wire gauge sizes."
It comes in 22, 24, 26, 28, & 30 AWG models. Price: $79.50 each (Wow!)

Klein Tools (in Chicago, 312-677-9500), catalog #127 (vintage 1984),
page 24, has a model D2291 "Long Nose Insulation Skinner" pliers, which
is described as "A special plier for telephone work, designed to skin
22- or 24-gauge wire. Slot provided in nose to crush insulation." This
might be what you're looking for, but the illustration isn't clear if
there is a real wire-strip hole near the tip of the jaws. Klein's a
manufacturer, so no prices are given. Similar size Klein pliers are in
the $8-$10 range in a 1984 W. S. Jenks & Son tool catalog (800-638-6405)
but this specific one isn't listed, and nothing else equivalent is there
either.

Interestingly, I looked thru the following other electronic-tools catalogs
which did NOT carry a similar product:
Techni-Tool, OK Industries (even though they are wire-wrap specialists!),
Contact East, and Time Motion Tools.

Dikes with wire-strip holes and long-nose pliers with strip holes near
the hinge are common, but pliers with strip holes near the tip, as was
asked for, are definitely rare!

Hope this info is of help.

Regards, Will Martin

------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 16:08:12 CDT
From:     Will Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re:  Tool Sources

I was wrong. I had looked in the "plier" section of the W. S. Jenks & Son
catalog, and didn't find the Klein D-2291 "insulation skinner" tool there,
and reported in my previous message that they didn't carry it. Then, a
few minutes ago, I got the catalog back out to look for the "punch-down
tools" the other poster had asked about. I didn't find them, but the
"insulation skinner" tool was there in the "telecommunications
equipment" section. Feh! Anyway, as I mentioned before, this catalog is
1986 vintage. Price then was $8.30. Try calling them for a new catalog:

W. S. Jenks & Son
2024 West Virginia Ave, NE
Washington DC 20002

800-638-6405  or 202-529-6020

Regards, Will

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 11:50:56 edt
From: Amanda Walker <intercon![e-mail]>
Subject: Re:  Tool Sources

Someone else also suggested Klein, so I'm going to start calling local
distributors.  The SPC tool sounds interesting, but it's a little more
than I'm looking for right now :-)...

Thanks a lot for the information!

--Amanda

------------------------------

From: Marvin Jones <optilink![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools
Date: 10 Aug 89 17:52:11 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Andrew Boardman) writes:
> The first is that cute little tool used for punching down wires on punch-down
> blocks.  (a puncher-down?)  The second has a similar purpose except it's
> used on the older boards on which screw terminals are used.  (A standard

The tool you need is something like the Dracon D814 Impact Tool, which is used
for backboard punchdown work.  A couple of good companies to use for things
like this are:

        Specialized Products Co.
        2117 W. Walnut Hill Lane
        Irving, TX  75038
        800-527-5018
and
        Time Motion Tools
        410 S. Douglas St.
        El Segundo, CA  90245
        213-772-8170

I am sure there are many other places as well.  Unfortunately, these places
don't discount very much.  Anyone know of good telecom tool suppliers who
discount to small quantity buyers?

I am personally unfamiliar with the second tool you mention.  Hopefully
someone else will recognize that one.

    Marvin Jones         {pyramid, pixar, tekbspa}!optilink!jones
    Optilink Corp.         ATT-net     707-795-9444 X206
    Petaluma, CA         CIS         71320,3637


------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools
Date: 10 Aug 89 14:12:09 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>

(Andrew Boardman) writes:

>The first is that cute little tool used for punching down wires on punch-down
>blocks.  (a puncher-down?)

It's called an impact tool, made by Dracon.  Comes in two styles, get the more
expensive one, the extra $ are worth it - it'l set you back maybe $40.  Get
a spare blade at $9 or so - all it takes is dropping it blade first on a
concrete floor, at the beginning of a job on Saturday...

> ...  The second has a similar purpose except it's
>used on the older boards on which screw terminals are used.

A can wrench will set you back about $15 or so.  They come in two models,
both with and without a wire stripper in the side of the handle.  I've never
needed the stripper.  Made by Klein.

Both are available at any Graybar Electric, Telecom division.  In most major
cities.


Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

From: John DeArmond <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Reader Needs Source For Telephone Tools
Date: 10 Aug 89 21:25:25 GMT
Reply-To: John DeArmond <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Andrew Boardman) writes:

>First, a question: I recently lost (they were destroyed, actually) a set
>of various telecom-oriented tools.  I haven't been able to replace two of
>them from any regular hardware supplier that I sould find and there's quite
>probably someone out there who could tell me where I could order them.


Specialized Products Company,
2117 W. Walnut Hill Lane
Irving, TX 75038

Local phone - 214 550 1923
Local FAX   - 214 550-1386
800 527 5018


They are also in Southern California, Houston, and Boston. Best phone tools
supplier I've seen.

--
John De Armond, WD4OQC                     | Manual? ... What manual ?!?
Sales Technologies, Inc.    Atlanta, GA    | This is Unix, My son, You
 ...!gatech!stiatl!john    **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!!

------------------------------

From: wellflt!svenny![e-mail]
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 22:14:31 EDT
Subject: Re: Info About 2600 Magazine and Tool Sources

Folks,

    Last I heard 2600 can be reached at:

    PO Box 752
    Middle Island, NY 11953-0752

    Their BBS number is: [phone].

    As for telephone tools, these folks have one of the most
comprehensive catalogs I have ever seen. They seem to sell EVERYTHING
having to do with phone systems, including shovels and brooms for
cleaning up afterwards !!!!

    ATI Supply
    5717 Corsa Ave.
    Wetlake Village, CA 91362

    [phone]

Hope this helps,

Denis

 ...!harvard!talcott!wellflt!svenny!denis



------------------------------

From: "Paul E. Robichaux" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 10 Aug 89 11:15:47 GMT
Reply-To: "Paul E. Robichaux" <[e-mail]>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology


Around my neighborhood, there are several telephone poles which commonly
have gas containers chained to them. My understanding is that local welders
can leave the tanks there and have a service company (say, Union Carbide/Linde)
come by, get them, fill them with non-flammables, and put them back.

Don't know if this is true- I heard this from my next-door neighbor the
welder.

-Paul

--
Paul E. Robichaux                  |          REMEMBER the HOSTAGES!!
Georgia Institute of Technology    | (and don't let that SOB Obeid go, either)
GT PO Box 30818; Atlanta, GA 30332 |============================================
Internet: [e-mail] |   All opinions in this message are mine.

------------------------------

From: John DeBert <claris!apple!netcom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 10 Aug 89 20:18:00 GMT
Organization: NetCom Services - Public Access Unix System [phone] guest


in article <[e-mail]>, I said:

>
> A yellow cylinder contains compressed air and one that is silver with green
> at the top is nitrogen gas.  Once or twice, I have seen helium cylinders
> (silver with orange) in place, perhaps because nothing else was available(?)
>
I wasn't sure if nitrogen cylinders also used green as green usually
marks oxygen cylinders. Yesterday, while at work, I checked. nitrogen
cylinders have beige paint on them, not green.

I doubt that any telco would seriously consider pressurising a cable with
oxygen...

JJD
[e-mail]


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 11:05:52 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science

In article <[e-mail]> tanner wrote:
>) ... green box ... tone to payphone
>Do payphones not use out-of-band signalling?  It would seem to invite
>abuse if they used in-band signalling, especially if someone were
>inclined to carry a recording of money being dropped into the thing.

They most certainly do use in-band signalling; in fact, such a recording
was floating around department where I used to work.  (For those that keep
track of such things, a circuit hardwired to produce the tones necessary
(coin deposit, not coin return) is referred to as a "red box".  (Construction
is trivial, but generally I prefer to pay for the service I get from AT&T.
I dread the day that I read "Coin calls from this telephone are carried by
the US Sprint PublicFON service."))

Andrew Boardman
[e-mail]
(but if you really have to, ab4@cunixc will work from bitnet)

------------------------------

From: Dave Esan <moscom![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New York Geography
Date: 10 Aug 89 15:01:10 GMT
Reply-To: Dave Esan <moscom![e-mail]>
Organization: Moscom Corp., E. Rochester, NY


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 248, message 7 of 7
>     But I remembered that Liberty Island and Ellis Island are
>     politically part of the borough of Manhattan and the County
>     of New York,

Please note that Liberty Island is also claimed by NJ.  While I don't remember
all the details, when President Reagan signed some proclamation about the
Statue of Liberty, he did so in the presence of four senators, two from NY
and two from NJ, so as not to offend either state.  Are there telephones on
these two islands, and if so what are the area codes?

--
 -->        David Esan                rochester!moscom!de

------------------------------

Subject: Last Laugh! A Strange Way of Posting Things
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 01:14:08 PDT
From: [e-mail]

nice headers ... (from the digest)

    Re: More About NJ Sabotage (Mark Robert Smith)
    Re: More About NJ Sabatage (Gary Cattley)
    ...
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (John DeBert)
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (John Higdon)

And here I thought they'd called in the National Guard!

-- Jim Guyton

[Moderator's Laugh:  ha ha! Guffaw! Snort! Thanks, Jim. It made my day. PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #287
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 11 Aug 89 1:40:27 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #288
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 11 Aug 89 01:35:02 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 288

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    DTMF Levels (Torsten Dahlkvist)
    Re: DTMF Frequencies (David Lewis)
    Re: DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View (Pete Brown)
    Re: Prophetic ROLM Ad (Andrew Lih)
    Re: Prophetic ROLM Ad (G. Paul Ziemba)
    NY Tel $25,000 Reward for Arrest of Vandals (Roy Smith)
    Re: AT&T Manuals Wanted (Mike Morris)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Pete Brown)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Peter Desnoyers)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (really: 12345678) (Fred Goldstein)
    Reuben and Cuteness ([e-mail])
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Subject: DTMF Levels
Date: 10 Aug 89 07:43:09 GMT
Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden

O.K. so now we've been given the frequencies for DTMF dialling. What no-one
has mentioned is the fact that the levels are crucial too. The one group
(the higher or the lower, I can't remember) is a couple of dB's louder.
This (as far as I can recall) is the same for Bell (U.S.) and CCITT
(Europe). However, the nominal levels for the signals are different in
Bell and CCITT countries. Bell, I think, is louder.

Somebody out there to fill me in? The figures were on the order of
-7/-9 dB for Bell and -11/-13 dB for CCITT, but my memory is very vague
on the exact values. Of course, a variation of a few dB's doesn't matter
much and a Bell phone usually works just fine in CCITT country (the reverse
would probably be true in most cases except very long lines).

Oh, by the way, the "dB" levels are of course weighted against the old
traditional "1 mW into 600 Ohms" standard, giving a reference voltage
of 0.7746 V.

Does anybody know why the 600 Ohm standard line impedance has been replaced
by "900 Ohm // 30 nF" for modern phones?

/Torsten

 Torsten Dahlkvist                        ! "I am not now, nor have I ever
 ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories  !  been, intimately related to
 P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25  ALVSJO, SWEDEN  !  Dweezil Zappa!"
 Tel: [phone]                      !        - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz

------------------------------

From: David Lewis <nvuxr![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: DTMF Frequencies
Date: 10 Aug 89 15:07:51 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research


In article <[e-mail]>, ut-emx![e-mail]
(Rick Watson) writes:
> What are the frequencies of the various tones used for DTMF?

        High Group (Hz)
        1209   1336   1477   1633
Low    697     1    2      3      A
Group    770     4    5      6      B
(Hz)    852     7    8      9      C
    941     *    0      #      D

A,B,C,D are not currently implemented anywhere, so far as I'm aware.

(Courtesy of, of coures, Notes on the BOC Intra-LATA Networks, 1986...)

--
David G Lewis                ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej

            "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."

------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 10:04:47 PDT
From:     Pete Brown <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re:  DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View

>-- the Autovon system would automatically disconnect any
>call in progress of *lower* precedence in favor of your call.  (I'm not
>sure whether the disconnected party got any kind of notification of why
>he had suddenly gotten cut off.)  Maybe someone who has used Autovon can
>confirm this info and/or correct my details.

Disconnected parties get a fast little chirp-chirp (sorta like the tone
you get from ISDN phones after a hook flash, except much higher in pitch,
and of shorter duration), followed by a click, then a non-breakable,
unusual dial tone.  Unfortunately, there's no way for the preempted
callers to know on whose end the preemtion took place, so the call is
generally not re-attempted for a while.

As a side-note, I just realized how much less I use Autovon now that
email is here!

Pete Brown
Mather AFB, CA


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 03:05:32 EDT
From: Andrew Lih <[e-mail]>
Subject: Prophetic ROLM Ad

> Date: Wed, 9 Aug 89 13:10:10 PDT From: Tom Ace
> Sure enough, when I got into work on Tuesday, several extensions in
> the building, including mine, were making bizarre noises from the
> speakers in their bases: howls, fragments of various ringing tones,
> screeching noises, and more.  We have a Rolm PBX.  The repairman told
> me a card in the PBX was taken out by a power disturbance, and that we
> ought to have a power line conditioner.  I told him a PBX ought to
> have a more tolerant power supply; he smiled knowingly.  Dozens of
> computers in the same building (Apollos, Macs, others) had no
> problems.

> The same day, I called someone at another company in another state,
> and the voice mail was broken in their Rolm PBX.

Make sure to add this Ivy league institution to that list of broken
PhoneMail sites.  Here at Columbia, we will not have any voice mail
capabilities for an entire 7 days while fixes are being made to the
system.  This all came very suddenly and no real explanation was
given.  It seems that many sites of PhoneMail seem to going down.  Is
there a general bug that has caused ROLM PhoneMail to be immediately
shut down?

We also have the problem with the ROLM power supplies.  They have had a
history of breaking down after several months of use.

Andrew Lih ([e-mail])
Columbia University Academic Computing

------------------------------

From: "G. Paul Ziemba" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Prophetic ROLM Ad
Date: 10 Aug 89 16:50:23 GMT
Organization: 3Com Corp., Mt. View, CA


sje![e-mail] (Tom Ace) writes:

>Sure enough, when I got into work on Tuesday, several extensions in the
>building, including mine, were making bizarre noises from the speakers in
>their bases:  howls, fragments of various ringing tones, screeching noises,

[Assorted Rolm problems described...]

>most everyone here in America, just another typical Tuesday. Everyone, that
>is, except for the customers of ROLM."

Just as I finished reading this article, _my_ Rolm-system extension,
as well as several others nearby, started ringing continuously for
no apparent reason. This has been happening several times a day for
the last year, and Rolm is still unable to locate the problem
in their switch. I suspect it is a design defect. Has anyone else
on a Rolm PBX encountered this problem?

----

Paul Ziemba  ...!pyramid!zapi!gpz  [e-mail]
        [phone] (w)

------------------------------

From: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: NY Tel $25,000 Reward For Arrest of Vandals
Date: 10 Aug 89 03:06:19 GMT
Reply-To: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)


    There is a half-page ad in todays New York Times from NYTel offering
a $25,000 reward to "the person who first provides information to New York
Telephone in each instance that results in arrest and conviction of any
person or persons for intentional destruction of telephone facilities."  They
don't mention who they think is doing the destruction, but do point out that
the offer is only good "for the duration of the work stoppage".

    Perhaps the AT&T breakup will have a useful side effect.  Imagine a
protracted strike against AT&T, long enough to seriously degrade their
long-distance service.  Sprint, MCI, etc, may be able to provide sufficient
capacity to keep the phone system running.  Of course, if the BOCs are struck
as well, and for as long, you may have trouble reaching the other carriers.

--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- [e-mail]
"The connector is the network"

[Moderator's Note: But AT&T *isn't* on strike! The local telcos in some
areas are the ones on strike. AT&T made peace with the unions last month. PT]

------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: AT&T Manuals Wanted
Date: 11 Aug 89 00:38:44 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>


(Gabe M Wiener) writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 284, message 8 of 9
>Does anyone know of a source for AT&T manuals?  I'd love to have a gander at
>the reference books the long-distance operators use. I'm sure AT&T keeps those
>under tight security for fear of phone phreaks and whatever, but is there any
>source?

I second the question!  I have Vols II and III of the July 1980 "Key Systems
Service Manual", and would like to purchase volume 1 (the one with all the
info on the instruments themselves - I've got a few phones I need to modify).

And where do you get the center-tapped (!) 10v ni-cad batteries for the
Touch-A-Matic autodialer telephones?  and the 1-button speakerphone accesory
circuit board?

Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

Date:     Thu, 10 Aug 89 10:06:56 PDT
From:     Pete Brown <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Re:  Bay of Eagle Fiasco


>>Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time) picked
>>up the phone and dialed:
>
>>1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0
>
>>[Moderator's Note: I just now tried it of curiosity. Dialing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
>>sent me to immediate intercept with a message saying, "When dialing a call
>>outside the 312 area, you must dial '1' before the number. When calling
>>within 312, do not dial '1' first."    PT]

In Sacramento (916-364) I get "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed
as dialed..."


[Moderator's Note: Well here in Eye Bee Tee land, '234' is assigned to the
village of Lake Forest, IL. 234-5678 *was* a working number, but now goes
to the standard intercept message. Adding the '1' on the front causes the
problem, at least until 708 kicks in.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Peter Desnoyers <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco
Date: 10 Aug 89 19:48:26 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.


In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Charles Daffinger) writes:
> >Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time)
picked
> >up the phone and dialed:
>
> >1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0

I tried it - 9, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0 - and got
   tick, tick, tick... (unusual, regular, call progress clicks)
  "the person you are trying to reach is unavailable or out of our service
  area. Please try ..." and I forget the rest.

                                      Peter Desnoyers
                                      Apple ATG
                                      [phone]

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (really: 12345678)
Date: 10 Aug 89 13:44:30 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA


Somebody wrote,
>>Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time) picked
>>up the phone and dialed:
>
>>1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0

This was covered in Art Brothers' column "The Party Line" in Telephone
Engineer and Management a couple years back.  Now Art owns Beehive Tel
in Grouse Creek, Utah, which serves zillions of acres of barren desert,
with a thousand or so subscribers spread across six exchanges.
Seriously remote territory west of the salt flats and along the NV
border.  And Mountain Bell hates him.  (Art's a professional iconoclast
who may have gone into the phone business for the sake of being able to
argue with Ma Bell.  He's the first and often last thing I read in
TE&M.)

So when he opened a new exchange near some mining camp or other such
outpost (using Harris D-1200 PBXs as COs, btw), Ma gave him the prefix
"234".  Gee, that's a nice one, though Art.  Until he noticed thousands
of incompleted pegs to a vacant number.  Yep, 234-5678.

In Utah, as in many other areas, 1+ is used for all toll, including
intra-area code.  So 12345678 is a valid dialing arrangement.  The 90
doesn't do anything.
     fred

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 09:02:16 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Reuben and Cuteness

Mr. Reuben does not get the point, flame though he does.

Operators are monitored. If they don't handle a certain rate of calls they get
sat on, and can get fired. They have an electronic big brother breathing down
their neck. As a result, they suffer health problems in droves.  When a telecom
afficionado causes them to spend 15 minutes trying to complete a call that
won't go through just so the afficionado can overhear some routing codes,
their "performance" suffers. The electronic big brother don't know anything
about toll stations. It just counts and measures.

If you have never worked in such a job, you come out sounding pretty crass
(and, dare I say it, classist and elitist).

These people are payed poorly and treated badly. Its no surprise that they seem
harried and less than helpful. This applies to the remarks about how nice the
temporary management information operator was. Believe me, if that person had
to work under the same conditions as the striker they were replacing, they
would play a different tune.


[Moderator's Note: 'telecom affecionado' ??  Is that another name for a
phone phreak? I will agree and disagree with Mr. Benson. Yes, the operators
are kept on a tight leash and their output is monitored regularly, and
gauged against the performance of other operators and historical standards.
But, it is *overall* performance which counts, and not the call count being
up or down in any specific time period. Telco management understands that
different types of calls take varying amounts of time to handle. Mr. Benson
is also correct that the pay is not that great. Illinois Bell only pays
their operators about $1200 per month to start; however slavery was abolished
in 1863, and people *do* choose to work or not, in occupations of their
choice. I wish some of the operators were not robotrons; but then some of
the Business Office people are just as inflexible. The system does need
repair, or at least some tweaking.   PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #288
*****************************










Date:     Fri, 11 Aug 89 2:21:31 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #289
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Fri, 11 Aug 89 02:10:32 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 289

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Crosstalk Problem (Anthony E. Siegman)
    Telephone Service at Navajo Nation (TELECOM Moderator)
    Updated AT&T USA-Direct List (John R. Covert)
    Still Searching For the Right PBX (Jeff Sicherman)
    Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV (David Lewis)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (John Higdon)
    Re: More About NJ Sabotage (Barry Shein)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Peter da Silva)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Anthony E. Siegman" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Crosstalk Problem
Date: 11 Aug 89 01:03:27 GMT
Reply-To: "Anthony E. Siegman" <sierra![e-mail]>
Organization: Stanford University


I have a crosstalk problem between my two residential lines, and would
appreciate suggestions for alleviating same.

Situation: Two residential lines coming into my house -- an old
installation, no conduit, the incoming service is just a lead-sheathed
bundle of 4 wires coming under the street and up out of the ground at
my outside utility box (can't add a 3rd line for my modem!).  Large
house, several additional rooms added to original structure.  All four
wires run all around the outside of the house (two twisted pairs of
weather proof wires under eaves), and also as a four-wire cable (NOT
two twisted pairs, at least I don't believe so, just 4 colored wires)
inside the walls in some of the more recent additions.  One line
serves the main part of the house (half a dozen phone sets), the other
serves a wing used as a rental unit (2 or 3 phones).

Problem: Big crosstalk between the two lines.  When I dial out on line
A, I have no problem in hearing, clearly if faintly, a concurrent
conversation on line B; and vice versa.  (But the person I'm calling
hears none of this, which seems odd?)  Audibility of crosstalk seems
to be quite different in different rooms, however, though the phones
are also different models, which might account for this.

Question:  How can I alleviate this?
I can go around and try to separate the wires under the eaves;
the cabling inside the walls is unfortunately inaccessible.  But would
it help to add some impedance, e.g., where lines A and B come out in
the same wall box but only A is used, would it help to load down B
with a termination of some sort, so the electrostatic coupling would
be looking into a lower impedance?

Any advice appreciated...

------------------------------

Date:     Fri, 11 Aug 89 1:23:33 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Telephone Service At Navajo Nation

Francis Mike is the general manager of Navajo Communications Company, the
phone service for the Navajo Nation, an Indian community located in and near
Chinle, Arizona. He has some unique burdens to overcome in providing phone
service to a people who live miles apart in a remote area. Navajos do not
live in large clusters. They prefer to be in small groups, generally isolated
even from others of their nationality.

Mike notes that when people live together, the traditional phone system
works just fine, but when they are scattered, most companies cannot justify
the cost of service, with the miles and miles of wire serving a very small
number of people.

Enter Ultraphone, a system that is bringing phone service to the Navajos
via radio instead of cables, for about one-eighth the cost of a conventional
system.

International Mobile Machines (makers of the Prive-Code device mentioned
recently in the Digest) began working on what would become Ultraphone back
in 1981. Its first installation was in September, 1986, for Mountain Bell
in the Douglas, Wyoming area.

In November, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission decided the time
had come for radio to improve rural phone service. To accomplish this,
the Commission established a Basic Exchange Telecommunications Radio Service
and allocated several frequency channels to it.

Twenty groups or companies are investigating or have installed Ultraphone
in such diverse areas of the United States as St. Lawrence County, NY and
the sparsely populated Southwest. Mike said Navajo Communications introduced
it in November on the 25,000 square-mile reservation, an area of land which
is equivilent in size to West Virginia that is home to 175,000 people.

Now, demand exceeds supply, he said. Navajos are up on technology. They
all have television, and many have other modern home appliances. Now they
want to have telephones also.

The key to Ultraphone is digital radio technology, using an encoder to
covert voices into binary code, for transmission as a radio signal. Beamed
to a tower atop a mesa nine miles from the town of Chinle, the signal is
relayed to its destination, where it is decoded by a transceiver. Users
converse over standard phones; the magic is transparent to the users who
simply lift their reciever and dial their call in the usual way.

The signal covers a circle with a radius of 37 miles, so subscribers of
Navajo Communications have the benefit of being able to make a 75 mile
'local call'. The service is a little more expensive than telecommunications
in a larger town though. Bills for basic service run $15 - $23 per month,
according to Mike.

Navajo Communications has invested about $750,000 in the system. At present,
they have about 100 subscribers out of 460 potential subscribers possible.
New subscribers are signing up as fast as Ultraphones become available,
according to Cecil Jones, technician for Navajo. He said there is frequently
a delay in getting the units from the factory, but they hope to connect
at least another two hundred subscribers in the next few months. Jones
estimated it would cost at least $6 million to run actual wire pairs to
the same clusters of buildings.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think this is one of the neatest
new ideas in several years. Mike stressed that Ultraphones are not, strictly
speaking cellular phones, although the operating principles behind Ultraphone
are much the same as cellular service, however.

And to think that 'Carterphone' started this whole dizzying spiral of
changes we have seen in the past several years in much the same way: by
linking the radio and the telephone to make a more desirable system of
both!


Patrick Townson

------------------------------

From: "John R. Covert" <[e-mail]>
Date: 10 Aug 89 11:29
Subject: Updated AT&T USA-Direct list

Australia 0014 881 011            Greece 00 800 1311
Austria 022 903 011            Guatamala 199
Bahamas 800 872-2881            Hong Kong 008 1111
Belgium 11 00 10            Hungary 00 36 0111
Bermuda 800 872-2881            Italy 172 1011 (Rome & Milan only)
Brazil 000 8010                Japan 0039 111
British Virgin Islands 800 872-2881    Jamaica 0 800 872-2881
Cayman Islands 1872            Netherlands 06 0229111
Dominica 800 872-2881            New Zealand 000 911
Dominican Republic 800 872-2881        Norway 050 12 011
Denmark 0430 0010            St. Kitts 800 872-2881
Finland 9800 100 10            St. Martin 800 1011
France 19 0011                Singapore 800 0011
Gambia 001 199 220 0010            Sweden 020 795 611
Germany 0130 0010            Switzerland 046 05 0011
Granada 872                U.K. 0800 89 00 11

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 09:54:51 PDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Still Searching For the Right PBX

  First, I would like to thank all those who responded personally to my
inquiry about modems/fax(es) and PBX's. I will surely raise the compatibility
issue with all vendors.

  On a more mundane level, I would like to get outside opinions on the
various PBX'S available. I would expext this MAY have been discussed (or
beaten to death) in this digest before (I'm a VERY new subscriber), but
since the archives can't be searched online, I'm loath to get hugh volumes
of them and start searching. If anybody can direct me to when such a
dialog ensued, I would appreciate it. Commercial/Consumer reviews of systems
would also be appropriate. Both the usual gang of suspects and some of the
more do-it-yourself systems are OK; not afraid to get down-and-dirty with
installation IF the instructions are good and support decent.

  Note, I'm talking about small PBX'S: 3 or 4 lines, less than 16 lines for
the foreseaable future. (Merlin-scale or smaller).

  Thanks in advance
  Jeff Sicherman
  [e-mail]


------------------------------

From: David Lewis <nvuxr![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV
Date: 10 Aug 89 14:58:38 GMT
Organization: Bell Communications Research

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Dick Jackson) writes:
> An example of the LEC's bid for more revenue is their request to be
> allowed to operate cable TV, i.e. to deliver entertainment to the home.
> In my, opinion to permit this at the present time would be ludicrous given
> the operating companies non-clean record on cross subsidies and trampling
> on smaller companies they perceive as competitors.

> HOWEVER, and this is the point I would like to see discussed, it seems to
> me fine to allow the local carriers to deliver cable TV as long as the
> CATV companies are allowed to offer dial tone.  Is this feasible?  I
> guess, for a start that the cable systems would have to be re-engineered,
> probably with fiber, and there might not be enough money in the (phone)
> business to make it a good investment.  But it is going to take something
> extraordinary to get fiber into homes, since telephone service alone can't
> justify it.
>
> Dick Jackson
>
> [Moderator's Note: I am not quite clear on your use of the abbreviation
> 'LEC'. Would you explain the abbreviation, please? But to provide one opinion
> to your question, I think the telcos should stay in the phone business
> and out of the cable TV business.  Let's see what others here think.  PT]

LEC == Local Exchange Carrier.  A.k.a. Exchange Carrier.  Encompasses
Bell Operating Companies and "Non-Bell Operating Companies" (a terribly
biased term...).  Bells+Independents.  The guys who provide intra-LATA
service.

My opinion -- the LECs are common carriers.  They move information from
one place to another for anyone who desires, at a common price.  If a
LEC can figure out a way to provide video distribution as a common
carrier -- and make money at it -- more power to 'em, let 'em in.

Realize, of course, that common carriage means that the LEC charges the
same price to NBC and to Joe's Video for carrying an hour of
programming -- regardless of the demand for NBC versus the demand for
Joe's Video.  It could be run as pay-per-view -- the customer pays ten
cents an hour for NBC and one cent an hour for Joe's video -- but in a
market used to grazing through 35 channels, don't count on much
market penetration pricing this way.

Beyond the questions of "should telcos be allowed to offer cable" and
"should cable companies be allowed to offer dialtone", keep in mind that
there is also the fact that in the majority of this country, both telcos
and cable companies have exclusive franchises (read: regulated
monopolies) in either the municipality or state.  Before you can start
talking about cable/telco competition, you have to talk about
competition period...

Disclaimer: Bellcore doesn't pay me to have opinions about cable TV.

--
David G Lewis                ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej

            "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."

------------------------------

From: John Higdon <zygot![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Date: 10 Aug 89 17:41:26 GMT
Organization: ATI Wares Team

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Dr. T. Andrews) writes:
> ) ... green box ... tone to payphone
> Do payphones not use out-of-band signalling?  It would seem to invite
> abuse if they used in-band signalling, especially if someone were
> inclined to carry a recording of money being dropped into the thing.

The insertion of money causes in-band signaling. It makes a little beep
that is muted so that you don't hear it. One beep per five cents. This
totals up on a display that the operator has in front of her (or on the
automatic coin collection equipment.) It is a trivial matter to imitate
these beeps with a device called a "red box". However, the first coin
must be real, since the phone signals via DC loop that there is indeed
at least one coin in the hopper (the first coin trips a flapper in the
chute which is reset each time the hopper dumps to either the coin box
or the return). If this signal is not present, they know you are
pulling something.

Pac*Bell has a few fraud prevention techniques to prevent this. One of
them is to periodically and without warning dump the hopper into the
coin box so that a new real coin will have to be inserted. Any
dicrepancies and you better watch out. There are others which I'll keep
to myself for now.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 22:05:14 EDT
From: Barry Shein <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage


From: [e-mail] (Ihor J Kinal)
>I've been scanning the news articles, but I HAVE NOT seen any BELL
>MANAGER accuse the UNIONS of sabatoge.

Then where exactly are the papers getting this info?

Certainly the mere disruption of service is not enough for a newspaper
to print "SERVICE SABOTAGED BY UNION!". Someone must be feeding them
this analysis.

Last I heard it wasn't the practice of non-striking employees to speak
to the press for the phone company during a strike (nor the press
likely to believe their analysis of an outage.) I doubt the unions are
giving this info to the press, so who??? Telepathy?

I'm sure if you called one of these newspapers and asked (and they're
willing to tell you) you'll find they're re-printing summaries of
official press releases prepared by the phone co's PR dept and mailed
to all the major newspapers. Either that or interviewing managers as a
result of investigating some large service disruption, some reporter
looking for an angle, but more likely getting it from "official
sources". Maybe you have some fantasy that newspapers do all this
careful investigation and would never just reprint some company press
release, hah!

> From the nature of Barry's article, though, it would appear, since
>the UNION is not culpable, and that the UNION MEMBERS are not culpable,
>that either the GENERAL PUBLIC or MANAGEMENT of the BELL CO are doing
>this to make the UNIONS look bad.

I didn't say the union was not culpable, I just said I don't know that
they are.

How do you even know there was *any* sabotage? Because some phone
service got disrupted and the phone co blamed it on the strikers?
Maybe, maybe not.

In fact the phone co might feel justified in labelling abandoning
their posts or half-completed work "sabotage", who knows, be a little
cynical, in cases like this it's healthy. Everyone's trying to
manipulate the public.

    -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die, Purveyors to the Trade
1330 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146, [phone]
Internet: [e-mail]
UUCP:     encore!xylogics!skuld!bzs or uunet!skuld!bzs

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 21:35:15 -0400
From: ficc![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco

I just tried 9-1234567890. It was silent for a LONG time then started
ringing. No answer. What's weird is we have a ROLM PBX that doesn't
allow outside calls without an employee code #.

---
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Business: [e-mail], [phone]. | "The sentence I am now
Personal: [e-mail].   `-_-' |  writing is the sentence
Quote: Have you hugged your wolf today?  'U`  |  you are now reading"

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #289
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 12 Aug 89 0:32:58 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #290
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 12 Aug 89 00:30:33 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 290

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    NY Tel (NYNEX) Service Problems (Andrew Boardman)
    Fax Standards/specfications (Jeff Sicherman)
    Phone Databases (Alex Huppenthal)
    Types of Service (Paul Fuqua)
    Yuppies and Operators (Hector Myerston)
    Re: The Way It Used To Be (Roy Smith)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin ([e-mail])
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (Dave Fiske)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (John Cowan)
    Re: AUTOVON Preemption (Bill Cerny)
    Re: DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View (Marvin Jones)
    Re: Info About 2600 Magazine (Andrew Boardman)
    Re: More About NJ Sabotage (Mark Robert Smith)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 16:06:29 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: NY Tel (NYNEX) Service Problems...
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science

[Especially for those of you who wanted to hear any other service outage
reports, this one hits too close to home...]

In article <[e-mail]> roy@phri wrote:
>    There is a half-page ad in todays New York Times from NYTel offering
>a $25,000 reward to "the person who first provides information to New York
>Telephone in each instance that results in arrest and conviction of any
>person or persons for intentional destruction of telephone facilities."

There is a roadside frame in a field just down the street from my home
where several hundred subsciber lines emerge from the subterannean
depths; yesterday (Thursday) night someone apparently cut all the
wires in and out of it, (I happened to be online at the time, too!)
and my friendly NYTel rep tells me that this has been happening all
over the neighborhood.  Sure enough, as I drove to work today, NYT
service vans dotted the landsape, including a complement of *four* at
the above-mentioned location.  (Hey, I though they were all on strike!
:-) As I sit here without telephone service for a few days, I just
hope that I catch the same people in the act; I could use $25,000...
(Another note: this is all within a test-set's throw of the NYT
Midstate Headquarters.)

Andrew Boardman
[e-mail]
(or if you really really really have to, ab4@cunixc on bitnet)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 12:53:48 PDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Fax Standards/specfications

  Can anybody direct me to where I can get the documents that specify the
standards for group 3 FAX. Price and ordering information please. Also, any
referrals to more lucid descriptions (books, articles) would be appreciated.

 Please excuse cross-postings of this request.

 Jeff Sicherman
 [e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: In a separate, personal posting to me, Jeff asked
for the mailing address of any digest/mailing list which deals with FAX
equipment, if there is such a thing. Bitnet does not get Usenet stuff, thus
he cannot receive alt.fax. Is there any list he could subscribe to?  PT]

------------------------------

Subject: Phone Databases
Date: Fri Aug 11 18:17:47 1989
From: Alex Huppenthal <neisse![e-mail]>

Dear Moderator,

I'm wondering if there is a way to obtain the phone listings that
the telephone companies have. They are needed for qc testing
of large database service systems.

-Alex
Communication Systems Research      |  This area available for witty
6045 Buffridge Tr. Dallas, Tx 75252 |  comments
UUCP:  ..{texbell}!neisse!alex   alex%neisse.UUCP@{texbell.swbt.com}

[Moderator's Note: What do you mean, "the phone listings that the telephone
companies have..."? If you mean an online directory, yes, some telcos have
it available. But is that what you are seeking? What is the application
you have in mind?   PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89  14:48:44 CDT
From: Paul Fuqua <[e-mail]>
Subject: Types of Service

     I'm moving from one apartment to another this weekend, and called
my friendly Southwestern Bell office to arrange for the phone service to
be moved.  The amusing thing was that the representative offered me my
choice of three basic services:  unlimited, "economy" (charge-per-call
over 25 calls), or two-party (!).
     This is within the Dallas city limits (although only by 100 yards),
and I was and am surprised that two-party service is still offered, much
less in an apartment built only three years ago.  Are there other major
cities still offering party-line service?
     Here's another question:  how come the electric company can switch
my service for only $7, while the phone company charges $60?  Since all
the wiring is in place, about all that's involved is a billing change.

Paul Fuqua                     [e-mail]
                               {smu,texsun,cs.utexas.edu,rice}!ti-csl!pf
Texas Instruments Computer Science Center
PO Box 655474 MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75265

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: 11 Aug 89  08:12 PST
Subject: Yuppies and Operators
Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA  94025  [[phone]]

     My apologies to Douglas Scott Reuben and anyone else who may
have gotten bent out of shape about my recent posting.  My point was
(and is) NOT that Reuben or anyone else should or should not dial as
they desire, rather that the invitation to "Try ...." can cause
difficulties for the Operators.  Long Distance Operators are the
original ACD SLAVES.  The are not short and abrupt because they want
to be but because their job depends on handling time, calls per hour
and a litany of such measurements.  An ironic twist is the recent
posting pointing out that management replacements during the RBOC
strike are nicer and friendlier than the normal operators.  These
same people would severly discipline a regular operator doing the
same.


------------------------------

From: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Way It Used To Be
Date: 11 Aug 89 00:50:01 GMT
Reply-To: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)


In <[e-mail]> zygot![e-mail]
(John Higdon) writes:
> If you live in an area that still has functional electromechanical CO equip-
> ment, do whatever it takes to wangle a tour before it's all gone forever.

    The British Science Museum (I hope I got the official name right)
in London has a small stepper-driven exchange set up as an exhibit.  They
have about 20 phones in front of a panel of stepper switches (I'm sure I'm
not using the right terminology; these are the ones that step up once per
dial pulse and then step around once per pulse on the next digit).  You can
pick up a phone and watch it grab a stepper. As you dial, you can watch the
stepper step in sync with the dial and when you finish 2 digits, another
stepper is grabbed.  When the answering phone hangs up and breaks the
connection, the steppers go di-di-di-di-di-di-dit! back to the rest
position.  It is absolutely facinating to watch.  If it wasn't for the fact
that there was the rest of the museum to see, I probably would have spent
half a day there.

    They also have one of the early (the first?) automated
dial-the-time machines.  The spoken digits and words were recorded
optically on rotating glass disks.  The proper combination of words was put
together by mechanically switching to the proper tracks on the various
disks.  And you thought read-only optical disks were a new invention!
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- [e-mail]
"The connector is the network"

[Moderator's Note: The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago also has
such an exhibit in their Telecommunications Exhibit Area. It is fun to
watch.  PT]

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 10:32:06 -0400

drea> Return-Path: spdcc!mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu!telecomlist-request
> From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
> Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
>
> I dread the day that I read "Coin calls from this telephone are carried by
> the US Sprint PublicFON service."))

    Why do you dread Sprint more than any other long haul carrier?
    Don't all carriers have problems with starting charges if you
    let the phone ring or give a busy signal for a "very long time"?

    Which carriers are immune from such charges?  If Sprint alone is
    screwing up billing because of "premature billing", this sounds
    like a good question for my pal at Sprint.  I like to give him
    tough questions!


[Moderator's Note: For one, AT&T has no problem with call supervision. They
begin charging when the connection is actually established, and not after
some pre-set period of time. You may occassionally listen to "The Larry
King Show", a radio talk show late at night which is heard coast to coast.
The announcer always gives a phone number to call if you want to talk on
the air with Larry King, and his announcement is phrased thus, "...if we
have a free line, you will get a ringing signal....let the phone *continue
to ring* until it is your turn to speak with Larry....we will answer you
a few seconds before you go on the air..." . Typically, you listen to
ringing for 10-15 *minutes* -- sometimes half an hour -- while the callers
ahead of you voice their opinions. Try that on a Sprint line sometime.

Chances are your Sprint rep friend will tell you they do not have 'call
supervision equipment' and cannot tell when the call actually starts.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Dave Fiske <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Date: 11 Aug 89 18:52:40 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, zygot![e-mail]
(John Higdon) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
> (Dr. T. Andrews) writes:
> > ) ... green box ... tone to payphone
> > Do payphones not use out-of-band signalling?  It would seem to invite
>
> The insertion of money causes in-band signaling. It makes a little beep
> that is muted so that you don't hear it. One beep per five cents. This
> totals up on a display that the operator has in front of her (or on the
> automatic coin collection equipment.) It is a trivial matter to imitate

Not that long ago, operators had to be able to distinguish the beeps
for various coins.  Presumably, if you could throw nickels and dimes
into the slot fast enough, the operator would lose track, and you could
get your call put through for less than the correct toll.


--
"ANGRY WOMEN BEAT UP SHOE SALESMAN   Dave Fiske  ([e-mail])
 WHO POSED AS GYNECOLOGIST"
                                     Home:  [e-mail]
Headline from Weekly World News             CIS: 75415,163  GEnie: davef

------------------------------

From: John Cowan <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin
Reply-To: John Cowan <[e-mail]>
Organization: ESCC,  New York City
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 17:34:15 GMT

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Dr. T. Andrews) writes:
>Do payphones not use out-of-band signalling?  It would seem to invite
>abuse if they used in-band signalling, especially if someone were
>inclined to carry a recording of money being dropped into the thing.


What you describe is called a "red box", and generates three different
tones:  5 cents (ding), 10 cents (ding ding), and 25 cents (blonng).
More modern payphones perhaps use out-of-band signaling, but long ago and
far away, a recording of those noises would serve quite well in deceiving the
operator.  Details suppressed to protect the guilty.
--
Internet/Smail: [e-mail]    Dumb: uunet!hombre!marob!cowan
Fidonet:  JOHN COWAN of 1:107/711    Magpie: JOHN COWAN, [phone]
        Charles li reis, nostre emperesdre magnes
        Set anz toz pleins at estet in Espagne.

------------------------------

From: Bill Cerny <toto![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: AUTOVON Preemption
Date: 11 Aug 89 12:59:24 GMT
Organization: Little 3B1 on the Prairie, St. Marys, KS


In a recent Telecom Digest article, [e-mail] (Rich Wales) writes:

  [description of AUTOVON P,I,F,FO keys]
> By pressing one of these keys before dialing a number -- and
> assuming that your phone line had authorization to invoke that particu-
> lar precedence -- the Autovon system would automatically disconnect any
> call in progress of *lower* precedence in favor of your call.  (I'm not
> sure whether the disconnected party got any kind of notification of why
> he had suddenly gotten cut off.)

There is a one second preemption tone that is applied to your circuit
at the time your circuit is robbed.  This typically results in calling
the AUTOVON operator and attempting the call again at a higher
precedence.  Preemption gets so bad during peak hours, some folks place
'Priority' precedence calls as a matter of habit.  Sometimes it's hard
to resist the temptation ...  8-)
--
Bill Cerny
[e-mail]       "I'm gone to San Diego in my mind."

------------------------------

From: Marvin Jones <optilink![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View
Date: 11 Aug 89 17:53:21 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Rich Wales) writes about musical relationships of DTMF frequencies.

Perhaps the more musically useful Telecom tone is precise (digital) dial tone,
which uses 350 and 440 Hz. The higher of these tones is US standard concert A
(middle A).  There have been many times I have been away from home, or other
source of musical reference, and have picked up a phone to get an "A" to
help tune a guitar or keyboard.

    Regards,

    Marvin Jones         {pyramid, pixar, tekbspa}!optilink!jones
    Optilink Corp.             ATT-net:  707-795-9444 X 206
    1310 C Redwood Way         CI$:       71320,3637
    Petaluma, CA  94952

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 16:25:15 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Info About 2600 Magazine
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science

In article <[e-mail]> it was written:
>Folks,
>
>    Last I heard 2600 can be reached at:
>
>    PO Box 752
>    Middle Island, NY 11953-0752
>
>    Their BBS number is: [phone].

That particular BBS has been defunct for a year and a bit; there is however
a bunch of BBS's associated with 2600.  (Five others, I think.)  If anyone
is *really* interested I can dredge up the numbers; send me mail.

(BTW, thanks everyone for the telecom tools information.)

Andrew Boardman
[e-mail]
(and if you really have to, ab4@cunixc on bitnet)

------------------------------

From: Mark Robert Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Date: 11 Aug 89 12:28:25 GMT
Organization: Rutgers - The Police State of New Jersey


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Barry
Shein) writes:


> I didn't say the union was not culpable, I just said I don't know that
> they are.

> How do you even know there was *any* sabotage? Because some phone
> service got disrupted and the phone co blamed it on the strikers?
> Maybe, maybe not.

>     -Barry Shein

Well, I do know that there was *some* sabotage.  A fiber cable was
cut, with a hatchet, with the result that among other things, Rutgers
was knocked off Internet for two days.  I don't think that NJ Bell
would use a hatchet - knowing that they'd have to fix it - if they
wanted to make the unions look bad.


Mark Smith     |  "Be careful when looking into the distance,       |All Rights
61 Tenafly Road|that you do not miss what is right under your nose."| Reserved
Tenafly,NJ 07670-2643|rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith,[e-mail]
You may redistribute this article only to those who may freely do likewise.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #290
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 12 Aug 89 1:17:03 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #291
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 12 Aug 89 01:14:45 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 291

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Re: The Way It Used To Be (Jonathan Krueger)
    Re: Telephone Service At Navajo Nation (Fred Goldstein)
    Re: Telephone Service At Navajo Nation (Mike Morris)
    Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in Digest (Scott Barman)
    Re: UPenn vs. Penn State (Mark Foster)
    Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV (Lars J. Poulsen)
    Re: Prophetic ROLM Ad ([e-mail])
    Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles (Michael H. Warfield)
    "1-234-5678" mystery number (Paul D. Anderson)

[Moderator's Note: Watch for a special edition of the Digest in your
mailbox sometime Saturday. Richard Tobier has provided a copy of his
work, "Universal Wiring Plan", written during his tenure with Encore Computer.
It is a lengthy document, with diagrams and charts. It will be transmitted in
its entirety as a special unnumbered issue of the Digest today. You may want to
print it out and keep it with other reference materials.  PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jonathan Krueger <dgis!dgis.daitc.mil![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Way It Used To Be
Date: 12 Aug 89 05:06:30 GMT
Organization: DTIC Special Projects Office (DTIC-SPO), Alexandria VA


zygot![e-mail] (John Higdon) writes:

>Something that every reader of this group should do is take a tour of a
>local central office...[before the older technology is phased out]
>you must see this equipment operate to appreciate how it used to
>be. If you live in an area that still has functional electromechanical
>CO equipment, do whatever it takes to wangle a tour before it's all
>gone forever.

I agree.  I had the opportunity to see an old Centrex switching system
shortly before it was decommissioned.  And hear it.  It made noises.
Every connection caused a relay to make a satisfying click.  As a
demonstration of binomial distributions (average time to next click) it
was intellectually satisfying.  As a generator of low-frequency white
noise it was aesthetically pleasing.  It was a musical composition on
the definite making and breaking of connections.  And as the music
responded to the ebb and flow of traffic patterns, it provided a
metaphor for the rhythms of daily life, for individual decisions
against a background of group behavior, and even for the occasional
notable event: sometimes arcing would cause a visible spark.
Altogether, kind of O'Henry's symphony of the city, the sound of humans
but at a distance, the hum subsiding in the quiet of the night so that
individual events and characters become distinguishable, then becoming
lost again in the next day's activity.  The ESS that replaced it stood
mute, its fan noise constant and hypnotic regardless of the traffic,
with nothing to affirm the dignity of the individual call, its place in
the universe.  Of course it was cheaper and more reliable and more
flexible.  But it served in silence.  The old system had something to
say about its users and its use.  The new system had nothing to say
about us, which was perhaps just as well.

-- Jon

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Telephone Service At Navajo Nation
Date: 11 Aug 89 19:12:05 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA


In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (TELECOM Moderator) writes...
>In November, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission decided the time
>had come for radio to improve rural phone service. To accomplish this,
>the Commission established a Basic Exchange Telecommunications Radio Service
>and allocated several frequency channels to it.

Okay, you've whetted my appetite.

What frequencies do these run on?  No, I don't want to try and decode
them, I just wonder what band they're on.  (900 Mhz area?  S-band microwave?)
This (radio for local loops) is one of those "obvious" things that the
FCC sat on for years, so I'm glad to see that there are finally
frequencies allocated to it.
    fred

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 06:51:58 PDT
From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Telephone Service At Navajo Nation

Com'on, Patrick.  You describe Ultraphone, and give no pointers.
How about a address or a phone number?  You know that your text
is going to hit thousands of readers, and somebody is going to
want to follow up on it...

No flame, just a very mild simmer...  :)

--
Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

[Moderator's Note: Okay, for Mike and Fred, and other interested parties,
information on Ultraphone and its application in the Navajo Nation can be
obtained from Navajo Communications Company.

Headquarters: 602-871-5581     Business Office: 602-674-3441      PT]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 14:34:57 EDT
From: [e-mail] (Scott Barman)
Subject: Re: US Sprint Rep Responds to Comments in the Digest
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Scott Barman)


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 278, message 4 of 12
>I talked to my pal at US Sprint.  he responded to the following 3 questions:

>?? Any comment on the Port Authority / Grand Central FONcard shutdowns?
>   some netters complained that this was an evil thing to do, since
>   John Doe Just Off The Bus could not use his FONcard upon arriving
>   in NYC.

> .. "The shutdown was not for all of Port Authority / Grand Central, it
>   was just for a few payphones that were causing the trouble.  John Doe
>   is probably better off being prohibited from using the phone than if
>   he did use the phone and someone watched over his shoulder, stole his
>   FONcard number, and racked up thousands of calls on his bill."

This is one of the reasons why I dropped Sprint in favor of AT&T.
It is not the first time a telco decided what was in my best interest.
When I used to live and do business in NYC and had to contact someone
long distance, I ended up getting a card from NY Tel before returning
the card to Sprint.

What I thought was even funnier was that after I paid off the last
bill I kept getting bills with a zero balance.  After six months of
it, I finally got through to their 800 number on the first try to
remind them I changed LD companies and to stop sending me bills.  This
was a couple of years ago (started about six months after NY Tel sent
out their "ballots" on Long Island), I hope they've improved their
billing now!

--
scott barman
{gatech, emory}!dtscp1!scott


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 15:51:55 -0400
From: Mark Foster <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: UPenn vs. Penn State
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

>I called Pennsylvania's Directory Assistance and after waiting a minute or so,
>asked for University of Penn's General Info number.

>[Moderator's Note: Whether you are calling Penn State or the state pen,

Aagh.  The word play may be cute, but the name confusion isn't.
University of Pennsylvania (Penn) is in Philadelphia, in the southeast
corner of the state, Penn State is in the State College area: the
geographic center of the state.  Penn State is a state-run institution,
University of Pennsylvania is private.

----
Mark Foster
CIS Research Computing
Univ. of Pennsylvania


[Moderator's Note: Sorry about that; but I couldn't resist finding someplace
to stick in the joke.  PT]

------------------------------

From: Lars J Poulsen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV
Date: 11 Aug 89 18:45:46 GMT
Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California


In article <[e-mail]> nvuxr!deej@bellcore.
bellcore.com (David Lewis) writes:
>there is also the fact that in the majority of this country, both telcos
>and cable companies have exclusive franchises (read: regulated
>monopolies) in either the municipality or state.

Unfortunately, an exclusive cable franchise does not always imply that
the service is regulated. In Santa Barbara, the city and the county
both signed exclusive franchise agreements with Cox Cable. The
agreement gives exclusive rights to Cox, and sets technical standards
for the service while requiring the municipal authority to review
rates. Two years into the agreement, the FCC came out with a ruling
that disallowed the regulatory oversight if the cable system was not in
a monopoly position. The cable company promptly produced a study
showing that the average household can receive 6.2 channels off the
air, and thus there is no monopoly. At this point, the cable company
sets rates without review, and they grant themselves waivers from the
technical standards based on economic viability. Public and government
access channels and the exclusivity of the franchise are about the only
provisions that are upheld.

I do not know of ANYONE here who can receive 6 channels off the air. To
receive anything other than the local ABC affiliate would require a
significant amount of rooftop gear; probably enough that a sattelite
dish would be cheaper. The "local" outlets of the major networks are
as follows (distances very approximate):

    3  - KEYT Santa Barbara ABC - local
    6  - KSBY San Luis Obispo NBC - 60 miles
    12 - KCOY Santa Maria CBS - 45 miles
    28 - KCET Los Angeles PBS - 120 miles
    63 - KADY Oxnard Independent (Riklis) - 40 miles

I would be happy to see the exclusivity clause go; then I could put up a
pair of sattelite dishes and share the signal with my neighbors.

I must admit that I am fairly satisfied with the programming that the
cable company provides (though I'd like to get them to carry NASA
Select during major space missions) but then I don't watch more than
about an hour per month total. It just bugs me that they entered into a
contract which was then turned on its head.

Followups are unlikely to be relevant to be relevant to telecom.
/ Lars Poulsen <[e-mail]>   [phone]  or [phone] ext 358
  ACC Customer Service              Affiliation stated for identification only
                My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Prophetic ROLM Ad
Date: 11 Aug 89 20:19:08 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


->Sure enough, when I got into work on Tuesday, several extensions in the
->building, including mine, were making bizarre noises from the speakers in
->their bases:  howls, fragments of various ringing tones, screeching noises,
->
->[Assorted Rolm problems described...]

->Just as I finished reading this article, _my_ Rolm-system extension,
->as well as several others nearby, started ringing continuously for
->no apparent reason. This has been happening several times a day for
->the last year, and Rolm is still unable to locate the problem
->in their switch. I suspect it is a design defect. Has anyone else
->on a Rolm PBX encountered this problem?


    Our whole building does it from time to time.  The electronic
    extensions flash all their lights and they ring incessantly.
    The "flash-phones" ring too.  After the ringing stops, we
    get "Error" on the display and a dead phone for a little while,
    then it starts acting like described above (howling, broken
    up ringing, etc...)

    Is there a company that makes a set that is compatible
    to Rolm's ETS-100A set?  It is our understanding that Rolm
    does not make ETS-100's anymore.  Ours are all, for lack of
    a better term, dying.  We keep using "reconditioned" phones,
    but, this is not a long term solution.  In 6 months I have
    has 12 phones.  Both of the ETS-100 and ETS-100A variety.  The
    Rolm serviceman has been here several times, but he seems
    to be fighting a losing battle.

--> :) John <--


DISCLAIMER:  The opinions expressed above are strictly my own and not
represented by my employer.

------------------------------

From: "Michael H. Warfield (Mike" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Tanks near Telephone Poles
Date: 12 Aug 89 03:45:27 GMT
Reply-To: "Michael H. Warfield (Mike" <wittsend![e-mail]>
Organization: Harris/Lanier Network Knitting Circle


In article <[e-mail]> claris!apple!netcom!
[e-mail] (John DeBert) writes:

>in article <[e-mail]>, I said:

>> A yellow cylinder contains compressed air and one that is silver with green
>> at the top is nitrogen gas.  Once or twice, I have seen helium cylinders
>> (silver with orange) in place, perhaps because nothing else was available(?)

>I wasn't sure if nitrogen cylinders also used green as green usually
>marks oxygen cylinders. Yesterday, while at work, I checked. nitrogen
>cylinders have beige paint on them, not green.

    While there are certain standards for tank markings, outside
of some well establish colors there seems to be some variation when
it comes to less dangerous or critical gasses.

    From my days in the broadcast industry I believe the dry nitrogen
we used to pressurize our lines came in silver tanks with an orange top.  Most
of the time that is.  There were exceptions (some solid silver tanks and
I think I remember a shipment with blue tops).  However, I do believe that
SOLID green is reserved for MEDICAL oxygen while oxygen for welding is
in solid orange cylinders.  I have also seen tanks which had a colored
band while the tops and bottoms were the same color (generally silver for
those).  I would seriously doubt anyone would pressurize a line with helium.
The cost would be prohibitive and helium would bleed out of the line over
time (helium is notorious for bleeding right through metal).  Best source
of finding out what's what would be to check in an AIRCO (welding gas
supplier) catalog (used to have one around this joint somewhere :->) or
another local welding supplier.

---
Michael H. Warfield  (The Mad Wizard)    | gatech.edu!galbp!wittsend!mhw
  (404)  270-2123 / 270-2098        | [e-mail]
An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds.
A pessimist is sure of it!

------------------------------

From: "Paul D. Anderson" <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: "1-234-5678" mystery number
Date: 12 Aug 89 03:03:08 GMT
Reply-To: "Paul D. Anderson" <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"


>>OK, gang, another mystery from the AT&T system of the late 1960s-early 1970s:
>>Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time) picked
>>up the phone and dialed:
>>1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0

Here in Atlanta, 1-234-5678 is a valid long distance number, but it has
been disconnected.  1-234-5679 and 1-234-5670 ring and ring so I presume
that the exchange is valid.  Dialing 234-5678 results in a 'You must dial
1 when calling long distance, please...'.  But where it is, I'm not sure.

paul
--
Paul Anderson                                            (w) [phone]
gatech!stiatl!pda                                        (h) [phone]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #291
*****************************










Date:     Sat, 12 Aug 89 2:01:39 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest Special Edition: Wiring Plan
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Sat, 12 Aug 89 02:00:33 CDT  Special Edition: Wiring Plan

Today's Topics:                                   Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Universal Wiring Plan (Richard Tobier)

[Moderator's Note: My thanks to Mr. Tobier for making this information
available to Digest readers. Please note this report contains *Form
Feeds* (^L), and you should adjust your printer/terminal accordingly. PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Aug 89 11:10:46 EDT
From: Richard Tobier <gould!infocenter![e-mail]>
Subject: Universal Wiring Plan

In response to the following:

>From: [e-mail] (Ken Levitt)
>Subject: RS-232 Standards for phone wire
>I would interested in any proposed standards for passing RS-232 over 6
>wire phone connectors.  If you or anyone else have this information,
>would you please post it or send it directly to me.

The following are standards that I developed for Encore Computer Corp.
 (F.K.A. Gould Inc., Computer Systems Div.). I hope this diagrams are
 useful to those on net.



                           ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                          Telecommunications Department
                              Universal Wiring Plan


                             ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                            Telecommunications Department
                                Universal Wiring Plan

                              Connection Instructions



          The  attached  diagrams should assist in the installation of
          terminals to computer ports via the "ENCORE Universal  Wiring
          Plan".

          Materials Necessary:

          3 pr. 24 AWG Telephone wire

          DB-25 Rs-232 Connectors

          6 wire modular telephone line cords, 7 ft, 14 ft, or
          25 ft.  (One end will be cut off. See diagram for
          end to save.  Each end is different.)

          Punch Tool


          Refer to the "Universal Wiring Plan New Installation" Sheet.

          Your  building  has  been wired to this specification.  Most
          outlets  where  a  telephone  is  present,  also   has   the
          capability  of  supporting  an asynchronous terminal.  It is
          necessary to make cables which connect the terminals to  the
          telephone  jacks,  and cables from the Data Backboard to the
          Computer Ports.

          In  cases where there is more than one Computer Room, it may
          be necessary to cross connect in  the  Telco-Room  from  the
          Data Backboard to the appropriate Computer Tie Cable.  Cross
          Connect all six wires from the data backboard run (cable run
          from the Terminal location) to the next available wires (pin
          positions) on the Computer Tie Cable  Type  66M  Block.  The
          same  'pin  positions'  in the computer room will be used to
          connect the Computer Port Cable.


          Refer to the attached sheets for Cable Specifications.

                        ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                       Telecommunications Department
                           Universal Wiring Plan

                         Telephone Wire Color Code



      QUAD       LINE CORD    3-Pair   Tip/Ring   MOD #
      ******     *********    *******  ********   *****

      ----         White      Wht/Grn     T3       1
      BLACK        BLACK      Wht/Org     T2       2
      RED          RED        Blu/Wht     R1       3
      GREEN        GREEN      Wht/Blu     T1       4
      YELLOW       YELLOW     Org/Wht     R2       5
      ----         BLUE       Grn/Wht     R3       6



       T1 ----------------------O-------------
                                |               } Pair # 1
       R1 ------------------O---+-------------
                            |   |
       T2 --------------O---+---+-------------
                        |   |   |               } Pair # 2
       R2 --------------+---+---+---O---------
                        |   |   |   |
       T3 ----------O---+---+---+---+---------
                    |   |   |   |   |           } Pair # 3
       R3 ----------+---+---+---+---+---O-----
                    |   |   |   |   |   |
                    |   |   |   |   |   |
                 +-------------------------+
                 |  T3  T2  R1  T1  R2  R3 | <--  Modular Phone Jack
                 +-------------------------+

                 +-------------------------+
                 |  1   2   3   4   5   6  | <--  Modular Phone Plug
                 +-------------------------+      Pins face up
                             | |
                        To Equipment


    The  above  conforms to Jack Wiring for USOC RJ11C 1-pair wiring,
    USOC RJ14C 2-pair wiring and USOC RJ25C 3-pair wiring.


    LEGEND:

    Wht/Blu  White wire Blue   dot    Org/Wht  Orange wire White dot
    Blu/Wht  Blue  wire White  dot    Wht/Grn  White  wire Green dot
    Wht/Org  White wire Orange dot    Grn/Wht  Green  wire White dot

                        ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                       Telecommunications Department
                           Universal Wiring Plan

                         Telephone Wire Color Code



       T1 ----------------------O-------------
                                |               } Pair # 1
       R1 ------------------O---+-------------
                            |   |
       T2 --------------O---+---+-------------
                        |   |   |               } Pair # 2
       R2 --------------+---+---+---O---------
                        |   |   |   |
       T3 ----------O---+---+---+---+---------
                    |   |   |   |   |           } Pair # 3
       R3 ----------+---+---+---+---+---O-----
                    |   |   |   |   |   |
       T4 ------O---+---+---+---+---+---+-----
                |   |   |   |   |   |   |       } Pair # 4
       R4 ------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---O-
                |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
                |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
              +--------------------------------+
              | T4  T3  T2  R1  T1  R2  R3  R4 | <--  Modular Phone Jack
              +--------------------------------+

              +--------------------------------+
              | 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8  | <--  Modular Phone Plug
              +--------------------------------+      Pins face up
                             | |
                        To Equipment




    LEGEND:

    Wht/Blu  White wire Blue   dot    Wht/Grn  White  wire Green dot
    Blu/Wht  Blue  wire White  dot    Grn/Wht  Green  wire White dot
    Wht/Org  White wire Orange dot    Wht/Brn  White  wire Brown dot
    Org/Wht  Orange wire White dot    Brn/Wht  Brown  wire White dot

                Type 66M Telco Block Wire Assignments

                      PAIR   PIN #    WIRE COLOR

                        1      1      WHITE/blue
                               2      BLUE/white
                        2      3      WHITE/orange
                               4      ORANGE/white
                        3      5      WHITE/green
                               6      GREEN/white
                        4      7      WHITE/brown
                               8      BROWN/white
                        5      9      WHITE/slate
                              10      SLATE/white
                        6     11      RED/blue
                              12      BLUE/red
                        7     13      RED/orange
                              14      ORANGE/red
                        8     15      RED/green
                              16      GREEN/red
                        9     17      RED/brown
                              18      BROWN/red
                       10     19      RED/slate
                              20      SLATE/red
                       11     21      BLACK/blue
                              22      BLUE/black
                       12     23      BLACK/orange
                              24      ORANGE/black
                       13     25      BLACK/green
                              26      GREEN/black
                       14     27      BLACK/brown
                              28      BROWN/black
                       15     29      BLACK/slate
                              30      SLATE/black
                       16     31      YELLOW/blue
                              32      BLUE/yellow
                       17     33      YELLOW/orange
                              34      ORANGE/yellow
                       18     35      YELLOW/green
                              36      GREEN/yellow
                       19     37      YELLOW/brown
                              38      BROWN/yellow
                       20     39      YELLOW/slate
                              40      SLATE/yellow
                       21     41      VIOLET/blue
                              42      BLUE/violet
                       22     43      VIOLET/orange
                              44      ORANGE/violet
                       23     45      VIOLET/green
                              46      GREEN/violet
                       24     47      VIOLET/brown
                              48      BROWN/violet
                       25     49      VIOLET/slate
                              50      SLATE/violet


                        ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                       Telecommunications Department
                           Universal Wiring Plan


                         TERMINAL TO COMPUTER PORT


         WALL PLUG                                TERMINAL
           RJ11                                  RS-232 MALE
      Modular pins face up
        ------------                            --------------
       |6       BLU | (Silver Satin Phone Cord)|          BLU |
       |5 S/GND YEL |---------/  /-------------|  7 S/GND YEL |
       |4 TX    GRN |--------/  /--------------|  2 TX    GRN |
       |3 RX    RED |                          |  3 RX    RED |
       |2 DTR   BLK |                          | 20 DTR   BLK |
       |1       WHT |                          |          WHT |
        ------------                            --------------



                     DATA BACKBOARD TO COMPUTER PORT

         66M BLOCK                                COMPUTER
        PUNCH DOWN                               EIA RS-232

       --------------                          ---------------
      | 1 TX     W/b |                        |  3 TX     W/b |
      | 2 RX     B/w |                        |  2 RX     B/w |
      | 3 DTR    W/o |  ( 3 pr. Phone Cable ) |  4 DTR    W/o |
      | 4 S/GND  O/w |-----------/  /---------|  7 S/GND  O/w |
      |    N/C   W/g |----------/  /----------|  4-5-6-8      |
      |    N/C   G/w |                        |               |
       --------------                          ---------------
                                                  |
                          Tx & Rx crossed in      |
                             this cable. - - - - -+


        Legend:  W/b  White wire with Blue tracer dot
                 B/w  Blue wire with White tracer dot
                 W/o  White wire with Orange tracer dot
                 O/w  Orange wire with White tracer dot
                 W/g  White wire with Green tracer dot
                 G/w  Green wire with White tracer dot

                   CRT                         CPU

                   2   ------------------------  3
                   3   ------------------------  2
                   7   ------------------------  7
                  20   ------------------------  4 ---+
                                                 5 ---+
                                                 6 ---+
                                                 8 ---+


                        ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                       Telecommunications Department
                           Universal Wiring Plan

                          TERMINAL TO COMPUTER PORT
                               (Hardware Flow)

                                CRT to RJ45

         WALL PLUG                                   CRT
           RJ45                                  RS-232 MALE
      Modular pins face up
        ------------                            --------------
       |8 CTS   SLT |                          |  5 CTS   SLT |
       |7 DSR   BRN | (Silver Satin Phone Cord)|  6 DSR   BRN |
       |6 S/GND YEL |---------/  /-------------|  7 S/GND YEL |
       |5 TX    GRN |--------/  /--------------|  2 TX    GRN |
       |4 RX    RED |                          |  3 RX    RED |
       |3 DTR   BLK |                          | 20 DTR   BLK |
       |2 RTS   ORG |                          |  4 RTS   ORG |
       |1       BLU |                          |          BLU |
        ------------                            --------------


                     DATA BACKBOARD TO COMPUTER PORT

         66M BLOCK                                 COMPUTER
         PUNCH DOWN                              RS-232 FEMALE

        ---------------                          ----------------
       | 1 TX     W/bl |                        |  3 RX     W/bl |
       | 2 RX     Bl/w |                        |  2 TX     Bl/w |
       | 3 DTR    W/o  |  ( 4 pr. Phone Cable ) |  5 CTS    W/o  |
       | 4 S/GND  O/w  |-----------/  /---------|  7 S/GND  O/w  |
       | 5 RTS    W/g  |----------/  /----------|  6 DSR    W/g  |
       | 6 DSR    G/w  |                        |  4 RTS--+ G/w  |
       | 7  N/C   W/br |                        |         | W/Br |
       | 8 CTS    Br/w |                        | 20 DTR  | Br/w |
        ---------------                         |  8 DCD--+      |
                                                 ---------------

        LEGEND:  W/bl White wire with Blue tracer dot
                 Bl/w Blue wire with White tracer dot
                 W/o  White wire with Orange tracer dot
                 O/w  Orange wire with White tracer dot
                 W/g  White wire with Green tracer dot
                 G/w  Green wire with White tracer dot
                 W/br White wire with Brown tracer dot
                 Br/w Brown wire with White tracer dot

                   CPU                         CRT

                    2   ------------------------  3
                    3   ------------------------  2
                    4   ------------------------  6
                    5   ------------------------  20
                +-- 6   ------------------------  4
                |   7   ------------------------  7
                +-- 8
                   20   ------------------------  5

                        ENCORE COMPUTER CORPORATION
                       Telecommunications Department
                           Universal Wiring Plan



                            NEC SPINWRITER CABLE
                           FOR PRINTER CONNECTION
                                 7700 & 8800

                   PRINTER                        UNIX
                  RS-232 FEMALE 7700           RS-232 FEMALE
                  RS-232 MALE 8800


                       2  ------------------------  3
                       3  ------------------------  2
                       4  ------------------------  6 -- 8
                       5  ------------------------  19
                  8 -- 6  ------------------------  4
                       7  ------------------------  7
                      20  ------------------------  5



                             Universal Wiring Plan - New Installation


          DEFINITIONS:

          *  Provides Voice and Data capabilities to each location via
             Modular Plug and Jack.

          *  Telco Industry Standard Wire and Connectors.

          *  Easy Data connections via cross-connects at Data
             Backboards.

          *  Each Data Run numbered same as Voice Run.


          REQUIREMENTS:

          *  Wall Jacks  - Duplex 6 Conductor
                           Top (Right) VOICE - Wire as required by the
                           phone system
                           Bottom (Left) DATA - Wired as USOC RJ25C 3-
                           pair termination

          *  Two  3-pair Copper station wire to each Universal
             Location.
          *  Air Plenum - Teflon - only as required by local, or
             National Electric Code Section 800-3d.

           *  Voice and Data Wire Run Number to be the same for each
              Universal Wire location.

           *  Wire Run Number to be identified on face of each jack.

           *  Wire Runs to terminate on 66M type blocks with 89B
              Brackets in telco room.  Data Backboard to be separate from
              Voice Backboard.  Data Runs to be numbered on 66M Blocks and
              all 6 wires are to be terminated.






Richard Tobier
Telecommunications Analyst

Encore Computer Corp.
6901 W. Sunrise Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 33313

voice [phone]
fax   [phone]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest Special Edition: Wiring Plan
*****************************










Date:     Sun, 13 Aug 89 0:07:15 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #292
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest   Sun, 13 Aug 1989 00:00:56 CST   Volume 9 : Issue 292

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    10xxx codes Revisited (Blake Farenthold)
    Transmission Level and loop Impedance (Larry Lippman)
    Operator Service (Gabe M. Wiener)
    Junk Fax: An Urban Legend (Steve Elias)
    Does Strike Generate Good PR for Telco? (David Gast)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 12 Aug 89 00:46:52 CST
From: Blake Farenthold <[e-mail]>
Subject: 10xxx codes revisited

Patrick-

  You asked that someone repost the 10xxx codes list.. below is the list as I
receved it from thr digets several months ago.   I've made no changes so it
may be a little out of date.  The reader needing it wanted to identify the
carriers accessable through a couple of 10xxx codes in his area.. all he needs
to do is dial 10xxx-1-700-555-xxxx (4141 always works for me)

CS-ID #45.telcom/net@pro-party
Date:      1 Mar 88 21:21:12 GMT
From: [info-telcom] [e-mail] (Dave Esan)
Subject: Re: 10xxx codes -- list?


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Michael Helm) writes:
>
>Anyone have a cross-reference of what 10xxx code stands for what
>long-distance carrier?
>

I got this from the ongoing anti-Sprint discussion in misc.consumers.  I offer
no guarentees of reliability or accuracy.

001    MidAmerican LD (Republic Telecom)
002    AmeriCall LDC
003    RCI Corporation
007    Tel America
011    Metromedia Long Distance
012    Charter Corporation (Tri-J)
013    Access Services
021    Mercury
022    MCI Telecommunications
023    Texnet
024    Petricca Communications Systems
028    Texnet
030    Valu-Line of Wichita Falls
031    Teltec Saving Communications
033    US Sprint
036    Long Distance Savers
039    Electronic Office Centers of America (EO/Tech)
042    First Phone
044    Allnet Communication Services (LDX, Lexitel)
053    American Network (Starnet)
056    American Satellite
057    Long Distance Satellite
059    COMNET
060    Valu-Line of West Texas
063    COMNET
069    V/COM
070    National Telephone Exchange
080    AMTEL Systems
084    Long Distance Service (LDS)
085    WesTel
088    Satellite Business Systems (MCI)
089    Telephone Systems
090    WesTel
093    Rainbow Communications
095    Southwest Communications
099    AmeriCall
122    RCA Global Communications
137    All America Cables and Radio (ITT)
142    First Phone
146    ARGO Communications
188    Satellite Business Systems
201    PhoneNet
202    ExecuLines
203    Cypress Telecommunications (Cytel)
204    United Telephone Long Distance
206    United Telephone Long Distance
211    RCI
212    Call US
213    Long Distance Telephone Savers
214    Tyler Telecom
215    Star Tel of Abilene
217    Call US
219    Call USA
220    Western Union Telegraph
222    MCI Telecommunications (SBS)
223    Cable & Wireless Communication (TDX)
224    American Communications
227    ATH Communications (Call America)
229    Bay Communications
232    Superior Telecom
233    Delta Communications
234    AC Teleconnect (Alternative Communication)
237    Inter-Comm Telephone
239    Woof Communications (ACT)
241    American Long Lines
242    Choice Information Systems
244    Automated Communications
245    Taconic Long Distance Service
250    Dial-Net
252    Long Distance/USA
253    Litel Telecommunications
255    All-State Communications
256    American Sharecom
260    Advanced Communications Systems
263    Com Systems (Sun Dial Communications)
268    Compute-A-Call
276    CP National (American Network, Starnet)
284    American Telenet
286    Clark Telecommunications
287    ATS Communications
288    AT&T Communications
298    Thriftline
302    Austin Bestline
303    MidAmerican LD (Republic Telecom)
311    SaveNet (American Network, Starnet)
318    Long Distance Savers
321    Southland Systems
322    American Sharecom
324    First Communication
331    Texustel
333    US Sprint
336    Florida Digital Network
338    Midco Communications
339    Communication Cable Laying
343    Communication Cable Laying
345    AC Teleconnect (Alternative Communication)
350    Dial-Net
355    US Link
357    Manitowoc Long Distance Service
362    Electronic Office Centers of America (EO/Tech)
363    Tel-Toll (Econ-O-Dial of Bishop)
369    American Satellite
373    Econo-Line Waco
375    Wertern Union Telegraph
385    The Switchboard
393    Execulines of Florida
400    American Sharecom
404    MidAmerican LD (Republic Telecom)
412    Penn Telecom
428    Inter-Comm Telephone
432    Lightcall
435    Call-USA
436    Indiana Switch
440    Tex-Net
441    Escondido Telephone
442    First Phone
444    Allnet Communication Services (LDX, Lexitel)
455    Telecom Long Distance
456    ARGO Communications
462    American Network Services
464    Houston Network
465    Intelco
466    International Office Networks
469    GMW
472    Hal-Rad Communications
480    Chico Telecom (Call America)
488    United States Transmission Systems (ITT)
505    San Marcos Long Distance
515    Burlington Telephone
529    Southern Oregon Long Distance
532    Long Distance America
533    Long Distance Discount
536    Long Distance Management
550    Valu-Line of Alexandria
551    Pittsburg Communication Systems
552    First Phone
555    TeleSphere Networks
566    Cable & Wireless Communication (TDX)
567    Advanced Marketing Services (Dial Anywhere)
579    Lintel System (Lincoln Telephone LD)
590    Wisconsin Telecommunications Tech
599    Texas Long Distance Conroe
601    Discount Communications Services
606    Biz Tel Long Distance Telephone
622    Metro America Communications
634    Econo-Line Midland
646    Contact America
654    Cincinnati Bell Long Distance
655    Ken-Tel Service
660    Tex-Net
666    Southwest Communications
675    Network Services
680    Midwest Telephone Service
682    Ashland Call America
684    Nacogdoches Telecommunications
687    NTS Communications
700    Tel-America
704    Inter-Exchange Communications
707    Telvue
709    Tel-America
717    Pass Word
726    Procom
727    Conroe-Comtel
735    Marinette-Menominee Lds
737    National Telecommunications
741    ClayDesta
742    Phone America of Carolina
743    Peninsula Long Distance Service
747    Standard Informations Services
755    Sears Communication
757    Pace Long Distance Service
759    Telenet Communication (US Sprint)
760    American Satellite
766    Yavapai Telephone Exchange
771    Telesystems
777    US Sprint
785    Olympia Telecom
786    Shared Use Network Service
787    Star Tel of Abilene
788    ASCI's Telepone Express Network
789    Microtel
792    Southwest Communications
800    Satelco
801    MidAmerican LD (Republic)
827    TCS Network Services
833    Business Telecom
839    Cable & Wireless Communication (TDX)
847    VIP Connections
850    TK Communications
852    Telecommunicatons Systems
859    Valu-Line of Longview
866    Alascom
872    Telecommunications Services
874    Tri-Tel Communications
879    Thriftycall (Lintel Systems)
881    Coastal Telephone
882    Tuck Data Communications
883    TTI Midland-Odessa
884    TTI Midland-Odessa
885    The CommuniGroup
888    Satellite Business Systems (MCI)
895    Texas on Line
897    Leslie Hammond (Phone America)
898    Satellite Business Systems (MCI)
910    Montgomery Telamarketing Communication
915    Tele Tech
933    North American Communications
936    Rainbow Commuinications
937    Access Long Distance
938    Access Long Distance
951    Transamerica Telecommunications
955    United Communications
960    Access Plus
963    Tenex Communications
969    Dial-Net
985    America Calling
986    MCI Telecommunications (SBS)
987    ClayDesta Communications
988    Western Union Telegraph
991    Access Long Distance

--
               rochester \
David Esan                | moscom ! de
                    ritcv/

UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!blake
ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-party![e-mail]
INET: [e-mail]

Blake Farenthold        | CIS: 70070,521        | Source: TCX023
P.O. Box 17442          | MCI: BFARENTHOLD      |  GEnie: BLAKE
San Antonio, TX 78217   | BBS: 512/829-1027     | Delphi: BLAKE

[Moderator's Note: Thank you very much for providing this listing.  PT]

------------------------------

Subject: Transmission Level and Loop Impedance
Date: 12 Aug 89 23:38:45 EDT (Sat)
From: Larry Lippman <kitty![e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> Torsten Dahlkvist
<[e-mail]> writes:
> Oh, by the way, the "dB" levels are of course weighted against the old
> traditional "1 mW into 600 Ohms" standard, giving a reference voltage
> of 0.7746 V.

    One should exercise caution when discussing and comparing "dB"
levels as applied to telecommunication circuits.  "dB" may be used to
denote comparisons between POWER or VOLTAGE, but the "dB" is not an
absolute unit.  dB is often referred to as a _relative_ power level
with respect to a reference TLP (Transmission Level Point), with say,
0 TLP being 1 milliwatt of signal.

    What you are really referring to is the "dBm", which is an
absolute unit of POWER based upon a power input of 1 milliwatt into
an impedance of 600 ohms.  It is important to understand that, in
general, telecommunication transmission is concerned with POWER levels
and not voltage levels, and that to think in terms of "volts" rather
than watts (i.e., dBm) is misleading with respect to many of the issues
involved.

    Telecommunication engineering is largely concerned with speaking
and listening LEVEL, which is a function of POWER.  As a trite, but important
example, one rates stereo amplifier output level in watts, not volts!

> Does anybody know why the 600 Ohm standard line impedance has been replaced
> by "900 Ohm // 30 nF" for modern phones?

    900 ohms is probably a more realistic compromise impedance for a
subscriber loop than 600 ohms.

    The impedance of a subscriber telephone loop terminated with a
telephone set is a highly complex function of frequency, cable design
characteristics and loop length.  A typical non-loaded loop of 10 kft in
length will have an impedance whose resistive component varies between say,
300 and 1,200 ohms, and whose corresponding reactive component varies
between j300 and -j600 ohms.  All of these terms vary in a highly non-linear
manner over a frequency of 300 to 3,000 Hz.

    A typical loaded loop of say, 25 kft, shows even more variation
in impedance over 300 to 3,000 Hz, with the resistive component varying
between 300 and 1800 ohms, and with the reactive component varying between
-j300 and -j900 ohms.

    It is important to understand that the impedance of a subscriber
loop is a _characteristic_ impedance, is largely beyond control, and varies
greatly depending upon frequency.  To be practicable, overall transmission
characteristics are usually specified at a _single_ compromise impedance
(i.e., the 900 ohms) and at a given frequency (often 1,000 Hz).

    One of the most critical areas involving loop impedance is when
a 4-wire circuit is terminated in a CO to a 2-wire loop.  Since a
4-wire/2-wire hybrid requires a balance network approximating the 2-wire
impedance, a "compromise" network of a fixed 900 ohms (plus adjustable
"build-out" capacitance) is usually used.  If the transmission characterics
are critical, an equalizer is used to flatten out the transmission loss
versus frequency.

<>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
<>  UUCP   {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry
<>  TEL  [phone] | 716/773-1700  {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/     \uniquex!larry
<>  FAX  [phone] | 716/773-2488     "Have you hugged your cat today?"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 12 Aug 89 23:48:09 EDT
From: Gabe M Wiener <[e-mail]>
Subject: Operator Service
Organization: Columbia University

In New York City, I can dial 0 for a New York Tel operator, or 00 for a
long distance operator.  This works both on ESS and on non-ESS exchanges.

However, up at my weekend house in NW Connecticut, dialing 0 or 00 brings
up the SNET operator.  Now my exchange is definitely ESS (I have call
waiting, 3-way calling, etc) though 10XXX codes do _not_ work.

Shouldn't 00 bring up the AT&T operator directly?  Even on ESS and even
on non Equal Access in NYC, the 00 brings up an AT&T operator.   Why is
SNET any different?  Have they not completely separated from AT&T?

-G

P.S.   What is the purpose of the "beep" you hear right before you reach
the operator?

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 13 Aug 89 00:07:37 EDT
From: Steve Elias <[e-mail]>
Subject: Junk Fax: urban legend?
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Steve Elias)


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tad Cook) writes:
>
>
>I just can't BELIEVE all the stuff I am reading in print media about
>Junk Fax.  Last year it was computer viruses, now it is the spectre of
>some demon-dialing monster taking over and using all your expensive paper.

    Sure enough, the media is in an uproar about this "issue".
    and dipshit politicians who don't know fax from phone sex
    will probably be involved soon.

>Is this really a problem?  I think not.  I have been trying to track down
>anyone who has personally experienced this as an ongoing problem, and the
>trail is starting to look like the typical "urban legend".


>The stories I keep seeing in the media tell these alledged horrors of
>how someone had a really important message to send, but the machine was
>'all tied up' by some junk fax coming through, as though they were
>powerless to reach over and momentarily unplug the modular phone cord
>so they could send their fax!

    There's no problem if the machine is attended...
    but what if someone sends endless fax overnight?

>As I understand the new laws that are being passed, if I want to send
>a 40 second fax to someone in one of 'those' states, I must first make
>a 3 minute phone call to get permission!

    A few pages of fax is nothing to worry about, since most senders
    list their phone numbers at the top of the fax.  A malicious
    PC-fax board user could cause a far more trouble -- sending
    endless fax files which use up ALL your fax paper and tie up lines.

    It would be easy to catch the twit originating such messages,
    but there probably does have to be a law against endless-fax.
    Perhaps current telecom law covers such an act already...

--
 ...... Steve Elias ([e-mail]);(6178591389);(6178906844) {}
/* */

[Moderator's Note: Thanks for sharing this item, which originally appeared
in the comp.dcom.modems and comp.fax news groups. PT]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 12 Aug 89 14:52:56 -0700
From: David Gast <[e-mail]>
Subject: Does Strike Generate Good PR for Telecos?

> From: [e-mail]

> difficulties for the Operators.  Long Distance Operators are the
> original ACD SLAVES.  The are not short and abrupt because they want
> to be but because their job depends on handling time, calls per hour
> and a litany of such measurements.  An ironic twist is the recent
> posting pointing out that management replacements during the RBOC
> strike are nicer and friendlier than the normal operators.  These
> same people would severly discipline a regular operator doing the
> same.

It's great PR.  First by spending more time you can make the wait longer,
and thus blame the union more.  Second by being extra nice you caconvince the public that the operators are mean, nasty and unfriendly.
Never mind that company policy is what makes the operators so mean,
nasty, and unfriendly in the first place.

Note: I am not syaing that operators are in fact mean, nasty, and unfriendly.
I am merely pointing out an excellent :-( PR ploy.


David Gast
[e-mail]
{uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #292
*****************************










Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 0:04:23 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #293
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Mon, 14 Aug 89 00:00:28 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 293

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    SNET Operations in Connecticut (Jon Solomon)
    Modular Wiring Scheme for RS232 (Smitty)
    Welcome to Net Exchange Readers (TELECOM Moderator)
    Cable Pressurization (Larry Lippman)
    Re: Crosstalk Problem (Dave Levenson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:  Sun, 13 Aug 89 02:21:35 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: SNET Operations in Connecticut

They tend to do what they want, and what they can get away with.
They are heavily intertwined with the legislature, such that
local calling to Hartford has suddenly become popular. You can now
call into from the Bradley Airport to Middletown, CT with only the
use of one person's call forwarding in Hartford. My dad in West
Haven has a New Haven exchange number, flat rate, for his business,
that's something we don't have here.

Basically if the toll tandem in your area doesn't support Equal Access
(and for much of the state that is true), then you don't get 00. In fact,
I wouldn't be surprised if SNET is refusing to convert their #1 ESS's to
#1A or #5 so they can implement this. Right now there is no room in
the ESS1 address space for *any* *more* *coding* *regardless* of what it is
they are coding for. Cambridge, MA had a #1 until just recently and they
removed some code from the address space so they could add equal access.

SNET was the first company to go all dial (they even supported the Woodbury
Telephone Company and NY TEL (for Greenwich) to go dial just so they could
say they were the first state with dial service universally. They paid for
it by not being able to retire the step machines until a very long while
into the ESS situation, and they bought barely enough equipment to support
the ESS needs. They introduced ESS in my area by providing a new exchange
for it and allowing people to change their number to it for a fee (of course).
Those switches were highly experimental, and I actually crashed one of
them without doing much.

There are two "states" in Connecticut for telephone service. In Hartford,
New Haven, New London, Bridgeport, Stratford (in fact the whole area
near I-95 heading from New Haven to New York), and surrounding towns
all have Equal Access (I think). I know SPRINT and MCI have access points
in Hartford, and I know I dialed 950-1042 to get First Phone from a Newington
pay phone, and 950-0777 also worked. Whether or not they have Equal Access
by now is still a mystery to me. Newington runs a ess 2B switch (John Covert,
correct me if I am really talking about a 2A -- I can never remember which
of them are a local switch and which are a toll tandem). This switch is
partly digital and partly analog. You hear loud clunks when you connect,
but I digress.

Mainly the thing stopping SNET from providing Equal Access besides the
tariff (which they aren't doing diddly to achieve, and neither is SPRINT
and MCI, they just don't think CT is worth it financially). They may have
equal access and they may not, I just don't know.

On the other hand, places like Canton, Simsbury, Enfield, Winsted,
Columbia, Norwich (maybe), and all those other still-step or
newly-converted-to-DMS or something exchanges will never have equal
access. These towns are so small that they don't fill a prefix. I know
of one prefix, 203-684 (Stafford Springs) which is fairly full (serves
several towns), is still step by step, and doesn't have equal access.
If you travel along i-84 to Boston from Hartford, you go Hartford,
Rockville (203-871,2,5), Willimantic (there's a rest stop there now)
Stafford Springs, then the Mass. border (Sturbridge, just converted to
DMS or ESS5). If you get off at the very last exit (Union, CT) before
the Mass border, and travel north, you will be in (413). The neat
thing about that area is that it touches 3 area codes. Neither Mass.
area code is local to 684. For years 684 was its own local calling area,
and they dialed 4-digits to get each party. Now they are local to
Rockville and Rockville is local to Stafford Springs.

The summation of all this jibberish and reminiscing about CT is that
203-684 won't be converted for some time, and when they do convert it
will likely be *after* the Willimantic toll center goes equal access,
so they will have it. It's the Toll Centers that have to be converted.
The Willimantic tandem probably still crossbar. The Hartford tandem is
brand new. The New Haven tandem is still crossbar. You can hear the
in-band signalling as the call is placed.

Oh yeah, I just remembered something; the Waterbury toll tandem and
local switching machine is now an ESS 5 (a BIG one). Watertown has 8
prefixes.  That's a large town in CT. You judge.

I don't even know where the ATT point of presence is. I think it's in Hartford.

Exchanges like New Haven and Hartford serve several communities. New
Haven serves Westville, Woodbridge, Hamden, New Haven proper, East
Haven, West Haven, and Orange. All these areas have seperate switching
centers with no more than 10 prefixes each (most have 3 or 4), and
they have the same local calling area.

Anyway, hope this answers some of the questions. I know something about
Connecticut Phone Politics, but not everything :-(.

--jsol

------------------------------

Subject: Modular Wiring Scheme for RS232
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 89 13:46:03 PDT
From: Smitty <[e-mail]>

While Richard Tobier's RS232 scheme is clearly well-thought out, it
doesn't take advantage of the standard telephone modular wiring scheme
in which ALL modular cables have a built in "flip", so that in a
6-conductor flat cable, if the pins on the plugs are numbered 1-6, then
the connections between the two plugs is

1-6
2-5
3-4
4-3
6-5.

By taking advantage of this "flip", one can make ALL modular cables
effectively into "null modems" and at the same time prevent potential
terminal damage if a terminal is inadvertently plugged into a real
telephone jack.  This means that ANY two devices can be connected by
a standard modular cable and "talk" to each other.

Here is the basic scheme which is used in many places:

A.  From DTE (terminals, printers, and computers, etc.) to modular jack:
    (the numbers in the first column are the positions in the modular
    jack)

1 DTR (data terminal ready)  (DB25: 20)
2 TD (transmitted data) (DB25: 2)
3 signal ground (3 and 4 are connected together wherever they appear)
4 signal ground (DB25: 7)
5 RD (received data) (DB25: 3)
6 DSR and DCD (connected together) (DB25: 6 and 8)
  CTS and RTS are connected but don't appear at the jack (DB25 4 and 5)

B. From DCE (modems (and a few exceptional "brain-damaged" terminals and
   printers which are wired like modems) to modular jack (the numbers in
   the first column are the positions in the modular jack):

1 DSR (data set ready) (DB25: 6)
2 RD (received data) (DB25: 3)
3 signal ground (3 and 4 are connected together wherever they appear)
4 signal ground (DB25 7)
5 TD (transmitted data) (DB25 2)
6 DTR (DB25: 20)
  CTS and RTS are connected but don't appear at the jack (DB25 4 and 5)

There are many variants, that work well, on the above.  The key point
is that if ANY two devices are connected together with a standard 6
conductor modular cable (which, of course, has the built-in "flip") then
they can talk to each other.

Also, since 3 and 4 are connected together, if this assembly is plugged
into an ordinary single-line telephone jack, it simply shorts the
telephone line (3 and 4 are connected to red and green, which is where a
single-line appears) and puts no voltage on the RS232 connection.

To make this work, any two female jacks which are connected, must also
have the same "flip" described above (this means that the total number
of flips between any two connected devices is odd, and this gives the
desired "null modem" effect).

It's very, very convenient, for testing, etc) to be able to connect two
terminals together and have them talk (in full-duplex, of course), etc.

One can make convenient patch-panels using this scheme.

Of course, with the advent of terminal-servers using ethernets, which do
all of the above and much more, the necessity for this kind of thing is
going away rapidly (Thank God!).

smitty

------------------------------

Date:     Sun, 13 Aug 89 13:38:00 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Welcome to Net Exchange Readers

I am pleased to announce that Telenet Communications Corp. is now making
each issue of TELECOM Digest available to users of their Net Exchange BBS.
The Net Exchange is their on-line information service for subscribers to
PC Pursuit, which of course is Telenet's evening/overnight/weekend network
service package for modem users.

The Net Exchange is reachable free of charge through the Telenet Network
by subscribers to PC Pursuit. There is no charge to use Net Exchange or
read TELECOM Digest via that location. Users would follow the instructions
given by Telenet, which in summary are (1) call into the local Telenet
switch in your community; (2) request connection *on a collect basis* to
them (@C PURSUIT); (3) log into Net Exchange in the normal way; (4) read
files section 5, which is now the location for each day's issues of this
Digest.

No direct response to us is possible from that location at present. Users
who wish to write the Digest must either do so from a Unix mail site of
their choice, writing to '[e-mail]' or '[e-mail]';
or via a Bitnet site writing to '[e-mail]'. All three addresses
terminate here in Evanston at my office. An alternative address for Fidonet
sites is as follows:

       Write to user:  UUCP
       Fido Address:   1:16/390

The first line of text MUST say:  "To: [e-mail]"
The second line of text MUST be blank.

And unlike Fido, where carriage returns are not required (and frequently
not desired in the body of the message), either hard or soft carriage returns
are required in the text messages sent through this gateway to us.

I appreciate Telenet's interest in TELECOM Digest, and the assistance given
by David Purks, System Administrator for the Net Exchange in making our
little Digest available to readers there.


Patrick Townson


------------------------------

Subject: Cable Pressurization
Date: 13 Aug 89 10:29:08 EDT (Sun)
From: Larry Lippman <kitty![e-mail]>

> I've seen compressed gas cylynders near poles and I've always wondered what
> purpose they are used for? Could anyone shed some light on this?

    The compressed gas cylinders contain dry nitrogen, and are used as
a source of gas to purge a cable of moisture following construction or
repair work.  Such nitrogen cylinders are not used as a permanent source
of pressurization, but only as a temporary source.

    Pressurized cables are normally fed with compressed air whose
moisture content has been removed by an air dryer.  The distribution
apparatus for cable pressure apparatus is usually located in the central
office or in repeater huts and manholes for say, the L5 coaxial cable
system.  The distribution apparatus contains an array of needle valves
and flowmeters to monitor the flow rate to each individual cable.

    The effectiveness of pressurization is directly measured through
pressure sensors located at certain strategic points in the outside cable
plant area.  The pressure sensors transmit data (usually just pressure
okay/not-okay) to a pressurization alarm system located in the CO.  Some
cable pressurization sensors are clever in that they "borrow" a regular
subscriber pair and signal the pressure sensor output by placing a balanced
ground of say, 200,000 ohms across the subscriber loop (which will not
interfere with normal telephone service).

    While virtually all toll cables have pressurization, by no means
is pressurization found on all exchange area cable.  Pressurization is
only used on major exchange area cables, and those combined toll/exchange
area cables which carry N carrier (still around!), T carrier and wideband
data circuits.

    It is important to understand that polyethylene insulated cable
(PIC) is still susceptible to the effects of moisture, although the
primary effects are only noticed at frequencies above 100 kHz.  The
presence of moisture attentuates higher frequency signals and increases
conductor capacitance and conductance to ground.  When pressurized cables
pass through cross connection points that are exposed to atmosphere, a
"pressure dam" is made using an epoxy sealing compound and a pneumatic
tube continues the pressurization to the next section of cable.

    Pulp-insulated (i.e., paper) cable is still used, and opening
such a cable on hot, humid day will cause the cable to suck up moisture
from the air like a sponge, while transmission quality at high frequencies
sinks like a lead balloon.

<>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
<>  UUCP   {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry
<>  TEL  [phone] | 716/773-1700  {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/      \uniquex!larry
<>  FAX  [phone] | 716/773-2488     "Have you hugged your cat today?"

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Crosstalk Problem
Date: 12 Aug 89 20:36:36 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail].
edu (Anthony E. Siegman) writes:
> I have a crosstalk problem between my two residential lines, and would
> appreciate suggestions for alleviating same.
 ...
> Situation: Two residential lines coming into my house -- an old
> installation, no conduit, the incoming service is just a lead-sheathed
> bundle of 4 wires coming under the street and up out of the ground at
> my outside utility box (can't add a 3rd line for my modem!).
 ...
> weather proof wires under eaves), and also as a four-wire cable (NOT
> two twisted pairs, at least I don't believe so, just 4 colored wires)


The problem is that the two lines run parallel in a non-twisted
cable.  Twisted pairs are used to reduce electromagnetic coupling
between the circuits.  Four-wire station quad is not intended for
use in carying two lines, though it's often done without problems
for short runs.  Perhaps you can use the existing quad as a drag
line to help pull through the twisted pair that will replace it!

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #293
*****************************










Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 0:56:16 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #294
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Mon, 14 Aug 89 00:50:49 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 294

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Touring the Central Office (Larry Lippman)
    Call Progress Signals Needed (Dan Berry)
    Buffalo, Texas (Carl Moore)
    Sprint Bashing Should Stop! (Rick Adams)
    Re: AT&T Manuals Wanted (Michael T. Veach)
    Re: AT&T Manuals Wanted (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Toll Stations...One More Time! (Jim Gottlieb)
    Re: More About NJ Sabatoge (Stan M. Krieger)
    Re: Where Can I Find a Complete List of Access Codes? (Jim Gottlieb)
    Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV (Dave Levenson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Touring the Central Office
Date: 13 Aug 89 10:50:21 EDT (Sun)
From: Larry Lippman <kitty![e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
> Something that every reader of this group should do is take a tour of a
> local central office. I would kill for that opportunity now with all
> the advances in the past few years such as COSMOS, electronic
> switching, etc. But I never will forget the several times I toured
> local offices, both officially (with a public tour) and unofficially
> (with a friend who was a supervisor in the office).

    It is becoming extremely difficult for even an organized group
to tour a central office in any BOC area.  BOC's are particularly paranoid
(perhaps rightfully so) about outside people being in any central office.
There is virtually zero chance of any individual being afforded a tour of
a central office, unless it is, ahem, an "unauthorized" tour courtesy of a
friend (who may do so with considerable risk to their job).

    Independent operating telephone companies may be much more
accomodating, however.  Some independent telephone companies even encourage
customers to "see their wares".  As an example, the closet independent
telephone company in my area, Sanborn Telephone Co. (part of Iroquois
Telephone, which is part of the Continental System) has a large window
in their business office which looks out into the switchroom.  However,
Sanborn is a rather "small town" area with well under 4,000 telephone
subscribers.

    When's the last time you could pay your telephone bill and watch
the switchgear at the same time? :-)

> There was a room with a bunch of little odometer-like counters,
> thousands of them. While I was standing there, suddenly the lights went
> out, there was a flash, and then the lights came back on. They actually
> photographed the dials for traffic studies.

    For many years photographing message registers were the only
way to BILL subscribers for message rate service.

<>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
<>  UUCP   {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry
<>  TEL  [phone] | 716/773-1700  {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/     \uniquex!larry
<>  FAX  [phone] | 716/773-2488     "Have you hugged your cat today?"

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 12 Aug 89 18:14:22 MDT
From: [e-mail] (Dan Berry)
Subject: Call Progress Signals Needed
Organization: University of Alberta (MTS)

I was interested in finding out the tone plans for the typical phone
system's call progress signals, but I can't seem to be able to find
them in any of my books!  You know, the frequencies for a dial tone,
busy signal, ringing and the rest of them.  From someone else that
I've talked to, they made mention that only some four frequencies
were used to get some 20+ signals.  dB's and timing too, S.V.P.

Would anyone out there happen to be able to help me, please?  It's
for a practical joke I want to play on a friend.  If you could just
Email me the listings, then I could compile them and summarize if
anyone else would like...

+-----------------------------------+  DAN BERRY
!  "Violence is the last            !  University of Alberta
!       refuge of an incompetent."  !  Computing Systems
+-----------------------------------+  (Network and DataCom)

------------------------------

Date:     Sun, 13 Aug 89 1:23:21 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Buffalo, Texas

It has come to my attention that there are 2 widely-separated phone
exchange areas in Texas which have the same place name (Buffalo).
One corresponds to the post office Buffalo 75831, and the other
is a suburb of Houston.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 13 Aug 89 10:52:43 -0400
From: Rick Adams <[e-mail]>
Subject: Sprint Bashing Should Stop!

> Chances are your Sprint rep friend will tell you they do not have 'call
> supervision equipment' and cannot tell when the call actually starts.  PT]

Sprint claims that they have call supervision equipment in all areas that
offer equal access.

Why the continuing Sprint bashing? They aren't nearly as half-assed as
you seem determined to present them.


------------------------------

Date: Sat, 12 Aug 89 10:28:42 EDT
From: Michael T Veach <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: AT&T Manuals Wanted
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories


>Does anyone know of a source for AT&T manuals?

The general public may order AT&T manuals thru:

AT&T Customer Information Center (CIC)
Attn: Customer Service Representative
P.O.Box 19901
Indianapolis, IN 46219
U.S.A.

[phone] (USA)
[phone] (Canada)
[phone] (Outside USA & Canada)

A few manuals have restricted distribution but most are unrestricted.

Most manuals are paperback or loose-leaf, all are well done.

Be aware that many manuals are at least $100 (due to limited press run).

Major credit cards accepted for phone orders.
Check or money order made payable to AT&T for mail orders.

You MUST have the select code for what you are ordering.
Usually a 6 digit number of the form XXX-XXX.

I'll try to locate a catalog or at least a list of selected select codes
that may be of interest to readers of this newsgroup.


    Michael T. Veach
      ihlpm!veach

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: AT&T Manuals Wanted
Date: 12 Aug 89 20:29:56 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Mike Morris) writes:
> (Gabe M Wiener) writes:
> >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 284, message 8 of 9
> >Does anyone know of a source for AT&T manuals?
 ...
> And where do you get the center-tapped (!) 10v ni-cad batteries for the
> Touch-A-Matic autodialer telephones?  and the 1-button speakerphone accesory
> circuit board?


I don't know about either the manuals or the parts specified here,
but in general, you can order AT&T documents (and software for AT&T
computer products) from:

    AT&T Customer Information Center 1-800-432-6600

You can usually order parts from:

    AT&T National Parts Sales Center 1-800-222-PART

They'll accept credit-card orders over the phone, and usually ship
within a day or so.

--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

From: Jim Gottlieb <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Toll Stations...One More Time!
Date: 13 Aug 89 07:01:56 GMT
Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb <[e-mail]>
Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail].
edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:

>And, of course, the one I've been asking about all week!

>2)  If they're running a cable out there to hook up a toll station, why not
>    just wire them right into the switch and assign them a telephone number
>    like any other telephone subscriber?

There are others who know more about this than I (i.e. [e-mail]),
but since they have not spoken up, I'll pretend that I know what I'm
talking about.

Many toll station lines are in fact not a pair of wires or even a
cable.  They are run on what are called "open wire" lines.  It is a
single thick piece of wire.  Ground is used as the second conductor.
These wires may often serve several toll stations in the area, with
different ring patterns for each station.

So to start serving an area with a real switch, a real cable must often
be run (if only for the few pairs necessary to set up a remote switch)
a distance of 50 to 100 miles.

I have a tape recording of a call made on one such phone shortly before
it was replaced with automatic service.  If I can find the tape, I will
put it up on a number that people can call to hear how wretched these
things sound(ed).
--
                              Jim Gottlieb
  E-Mail: <[e-mail]> or <[e-mail]> or <attmail!denwa!jimmy>
         V-Mail: [phone]  Fax: [phone]  The-Real-Me: 824-5454

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 13 Aug 89 12:02:48 EDT
From: S M Krieger <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Organization: Summit NJ

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Mark Robert Smith) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Barry
> Shein) writes:
>
> > How do you even know there was *any* sabotage? Because some phone
> > service got disrupted and the phone co blamed it on the strikers?
> > Maybe, maybe not.
>
All I know is that my daughter's phone line went dead (not even any power
to the phone) last Sunday, she got service restored Monday afternoon,
and for about three days, there was work going on at a cross-connection
box in New Providence, NJ about 0.9 miles away from my home.

And, unless it's really media manipulation, one of the "incidents"
that the Newark Star Ledger reported was damage to a telephone box
in New Providence that affected 400 subscribers.
--
Stan Krieger
Summit, NJ
 ...!att!attunix!smk

------------------------------

From: Jim Gottlieb <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Where Can I Find a Complete List of Access Codes?
Date: 13 Aug 89 17:16:47 GMT
Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb <[e-mail]>
Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (R.A. Anonymous, Jr.) writes:
>
>I was wondering if anyone could help me out with locating the companies that
>own a few access codes.  The codes in question are 10555
>and 10999.  These both work, but I don't know who I'm going to get a bill
>from...

10555 is Telesphere.  If your number isn't in their database, it
usually defaults to their operator.  I would be surprised if it allows
direct-dialed calls from an unknown number.

10999 is Starnet Corp.


>[Moderator's Note: Some time ago, a reader posted the entire list of
>10xxx codes for the United States, although some are not available in all
>communities. Could someone post that list again please?   PT]

The full list of 10XXX and 950-[01]XXX codes is listed in the back of
Bellcore's "Telephone Area Code Directory."  This can be ordered for
just a few dollars by calling Bellcore on [phone].

While you're at it, order a free copy of their catalog.  It's full of
interesting-sounding publications that one can order (and would have
been thrown in jail for possessing just a few years ago).

A few select examples:

CLASS Feature: Calling Number Delivery
    This Technical Reference defines Bellcore's view of generic
    requirements for the Calling Number Delivery feature for
    residential and small business customers        $23.00

Call Waiting Deluxe Feature Requirements
    ...defines...a new service known as Call Waiting Deluxe (CWD).
    CWD...allows the subscriber to specify the termination
    treatment for an incoming call during conversation with another
    party.                            $25.00

    (I wonder if this is just Cancel Call Waiting or something more)

--
                              Jim Gottlieb
  E-Mail: <[e-mail]> or <[e-mail]> or <attmail!denwa!jimmy>
         V-Mail: [phone]  Fax: [phone]  The-Real-Me: 824-5454

------------------------------

From: Dave Levenson <westmark![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: LEC Monopoly and Cable TV
Date: 12 Aug 89 17:59:44 GMT
Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA

In article <[e-mail]>, asuvax!gtephx!ellisond@
ncar.ucar.edu (Dell Ellison) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
> (Dick Jackson) writes:
> > Is anyone else in this group interested in the *future* of the telephone
> > system?
 ...
> > An example of the LEC's bid for more revenue is their request to be
> > allowed to operate cable TV, i.e. to deliver entertainment to the home.
 ...
> > [Moderator's Note: I am not quite clear on your use of the abbreviation
> > 'LEC'. Would you explain the abbreviation, please?
 ...
LEC usually refers to the Local Exchange Carrier
 ...
> Actually, I would like to see the phone company provide cable TV, etc...
> Because:

>    1.  The Cable TV companies in many cases are 'trampling' on the
>        consumers, because they have no competition (many times) in
>        a particular area.  Many times they have little selection,
>        poor service and high prices.  This solution would provide
>        some competition for them.

>    2.  I am very much in favor in the development of new technologies
>        and higher efficiency.  This would be a much more efficient
>        and feature-rich system.  (Not to mention the great benefits
>        of direct digital connections to our home computers.)

> I would like to see this happen.  (This would also bring picture
> phones a lot closer to reality.)



I'm a bit curious:  Why do you think that replacing the existing
Cable TV monopoly with the local Telco monopoly is going to change
anything?  Or are you suggesting that the local cable company could
continue to do business in the face of competition from the local
telco?


I would expect to see the telco undercut the cable company through
cross-subsidization from telephone rate-payers, until there's only
one utility left, providing both TV and phone service.


If you _really_ want to make it competitive, let's discuss allowing
the present Cable TV companies offer point-to-point voice
communication -:) !


--
Dave Levenson                Voice: [phone]
Westmark, Inc.               Internet: [e-mail]
Warren, NJ, USA              UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
[The Man in the Mooney]      AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #294
*****************************










Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 2:01:10 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #295
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Mon, 14 Aug 89 01:42:26 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 295

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Caller ID Linked to Decline in Harrassing Calls (Dan Blumenthal)
    Phone Strike Spreads to the Midwest  (Henry Mensch)
    100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone (TELECOM Moderator)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 00:38 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Caller ID Linked to Decline in Harrassing Calls


The following article appeared on page 1 of the New York Times,
Saturday, 8/5/89. (copyright 1989 New York Times)

Harrassing Calls Show Decline When Phones Identify Callers
  by Calvin Sims

   The number of obscene or harassing telephone calls has fallen sharply
in the first test of a system that allows people to see the number of the
phone the call was dialed on before they answer.

   The test in Hudson County, N.J., showed a 49 percent drop in requests
to track such calls after the system was in place. Telephone companies
welcome the results, hoping that they will increase demand for the caller-
identification service. Such systems are seen as a significant potential
source of telephone revenue but they have been slow to win acceptance from
regulators because of criticism that they invade the privacy of callers.

   The caller-identification system offered in New Jersey displays the
number of the calling party on a small digital screen attached to the tel-
ephone. The telephone subscriber can also notify the NJ Bell Telephone Co.
to make a computer record of where and when a harassing call originated by
dialing a code when the call is received. And, by pressing a code, the phone
owner can block calls coming in from a designated number, making it impossible
for a harasser to make repeated calls from one phone.

   The Hudson County test was started in late 1987 and has been widely
available since the beginning of this year. The number of requests the
phone company received to trace calls has declined sharply there. The
236 requests received in the six months that ended April 30, for example,
amounted to a 49% decline from the similar six-month period two years
earlier, when no one in the area had caller identification, NJ Bell said.

   "This technology, by its mere presence, is having a chilling effect on
the number of crank phone calls that people are reporting," said James
W. Carrigan, a spokesman for NJ Bell. "The word is out: people now have the
ability to see the phone number of the caller, and many would-be obscene
callers are afraid to mess around on the telephone."

   The service may spread rapidly. Phone companies in New York, Pennsylvania,
California and the several Southern states served by the Southern Bell
Telephone and Telegraph Company plan to introduce the service.

   The phone companies are enthusiastic about the revenue potential. New
Jersey Bell, which charges $6.50 a month for the service, said its surveys
showed that about 42% of its customers, or 1.2 million people, received
annoyance calls last year and that 72,000 complaints were filed.

   Many phone companies, however, are moving more slowly than they expected
because of the privacy issues the technology raises. Critics contend that
the systems violate the rights of phone users who wish simply to keep their
numbers private.

   The critics also say that caller identification will make the public less
likely to use confidential social services like AIDS hotlines or shelters
for battered women. And consumers phoning businesses might find their numbers
being passed on to telephone marketing concerns without permission.

   The phone companies respond that the caller identification system increases
privacy because it gives the called party an "electronic peephole," allowing
them to answer only those calls from recognized numbers.

   Although there was strong opposition to the caller-identification system
from the American Civil Liberties Union, the New Jersey Board of Public
Utilities allowed New Jersey Bell to introduce the service because of the
initial success of the phone company's trial run.

   For billing, telephone companies keep a monthly computer log of all
local and long-distance phone calls. Such records take about a month to
process. The call-trace system allows the subscriber to create an immediate
record of harassing calls.

   Several New Jersey residents have used the system to rid themselves of
harassing calls. Some have recognized the phone number of the harassing
caller as that of a relative of friend and asked the known harasser to
stop. Other subscribers who were unfamiliar with the number of the harassing
call that appeared on the display screen informed callers that their phone
numbers could be seen, and the harassers quickly hung up.

   A family in Middlesex County used the computerized call tracing feature
of the system to press charges against a man who called their home about
20 times a night for three months. The family made it possible for the
phone company to record the number, date and time of the calls.

   "The guy had seen my daughter at a party, and he would call our number
and say the most profane sexual things about her," said the father, who
asked that the family not be identified. "It got to the place where we
just took the phone off the hook in the evenings."

   When the case went to trial, New Jersey Bell provided the judge with its
computer records. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year
on probation.

   Experts said the case is typical in that the caller knew the victim.
"Over all, we have dealt with very few perverts because most obscene phone
callers are old boyfriends who have been dumped," said Martin Harrington, a
detective at the Buffalo Police Department who specialized in telephone
harassment cases. "The caller-identification device would probably cut
my caseload by about 80% because the greatest fear of any obscene caller
is having their identity revealed."

   Making an obscene or threatening phone call is a misdemeanor in most
states. In New York State, conviction carries a maximum sentence of a
year in jail and a $500 fine.

   More than 19,000 customers in New Jersey have signed up for the caller
identification service. By the end of the year, the service will be
available to about 66% of New Jersey Bell's 2.8 million customers.

   Among the localities that will have the service are Asbury Park,
Atlantic City, Camden, Elizabeth, Hackensack, Lakewook, Montclair,
Morristown, New Brunswick, Newark, Paterson, Plainfield, Red Bank,
Toms River and Trenton.

   Phone users in other states may have to wait longer than expected
because of the growing privacy debate. Pacific Bell, the big local
phone company in California, was scheduled to offer caller identification
later this year but recently said it would await until 1991 to consider
the privacy issues.

   "We have the obligation to our customers to thoroughly explore the
issues surrounding this new technology before we install it in our
network," said Ethan Thorman, Pacific Bell's product manager. "At first
the system looked like it was free of controversy so we rushed ahead to
deploy it. But then we stepped back."

   The California Legislature is considering a bill that would require
phone companies that offer the caller identification system to include
a blocking feature that would allow the person making the call to block
his or her phone numbers by dialing a special code. The party being
called would receive a message on the digital screen indicating that
the call is a private one.

   The bill, which has already passed the California Assembly and goes
before the Senate later this year, would require the phone companies to
provide the blocking service at no cost.

   "A caller-identification system that does not have a blocking function
endangers the lives of battered women," said Gail Jones, director of
Women Escaping a Violent Environment, a counseling center based in
Sacramento, Calif. "The woman or her counselor will often contact the
batterer to let him know that she is all right."

   A similar battle is developing in Pennsylvania, where the Bell
Telephone Company of Pennsylvania hopes to introduce caller identification
by the end of the year. As in California, critics are arguing that the
service should come with a feature that allows a caller to prevent the
recipient from seeing where the call originated.

   "The introduction of this service poses a variety of privacy intrusions
that the phone companies have been well aware of for some time," said Dan
Clearfield, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Consumer Advocate Office.

   "That's why they designed the blocking mechanism into the original
caller-identification software."

  New York Telephone plans to offer the service first in Poughkeepsie,
N.Y., and parts of Vermont later this year. A New York Telephone
spokesman said that the company hopes to offer the service in other
New York cities in 1990 but that the introductions would be based on how
well the service does in the initial offerings.

   A spokeswoman for Southern New England Telephone Company siad that
plans to start offering call-trace and call-block services in Connecticut
later this year but that it has delayed offering caller identification
because of the privacy issue.

   The phone companies say the inclusion of a blocking mechanism may
make caller identification far less appealing to consumers.

=============================

Dan Blumenthal
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 00:14:45 -0400
From: Henry Mensch <[e-mail]>
Subject: Phone Strike Spreads to the Midwest
Reply-To: [e-mail]

Pinched from the New York Times w/o permission:


Workers went on strike against telephone companies in five Midwestern
states, but a tentative agreement averted a walkout in 14 Western
states and negotiations continued past a deadline in five other
states.

And there was no report of progress in strikes that began a week
earlier against telephone companies in 15 states in the Northeast,
West and the Middle Atlantic region. With Sunday's walkout, nearly
200,000 workers are on strike in four regions. Wages, health benefits
and local issues are the main issues in this year's contract talks
between the seven regional telephone companies created by the 1984
breakup of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.  and two unions, the
Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers.

At 12:01 a.m. Sunday, after negotiations collapsed in Chicago, 39,500
workers went on strike against Ameritech, formally known as the
American Information Technologies Corp., and its subsidiaries serving
12.3 million customers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and
Wisconsin. But in Denver, US West and the communications workers'
union continued to negotiate beyond the midnight deadline and at 8
a.m. Sunday announced a tentative contract.

[An aside: I'm getting slightly *better* service due to the strike.  I
had a service installed the day before the strike; later that day the
dialtone went away, and i phoned next morning to have it taken care
of.  NETelebozo sent a tech out today (Sunday!) to finish the
investigation ("the pair went bad") and the work should be completed
tomorrow morning.  Usually it's "you have to sit at home all day until
we turn up" sort of nonsense ... ]

# Henry Mensch   /   <[e-mail]>   /   E40-379 MIT,  Cambridge, MA
# <[e-mail]-relay> / <[e-mail]> / <[e-mail]>

[Moderator's Note: The late news Sunday night said the strikes had been
resolved at US West and Southwestern Bell. Nynex, Atlantic Bell and Pacific
Telesis remain out. I had predicted Ameritech would come to terms here,
but obviously I was wrong. They walked out Sunday morning in Chicago. PT]

------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 0:24:00 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone

Sunday, August 13 marked the 100th anniversary of the invention of the pay
phone. In 1889, William Gray obtained United States Patent # 408,709 for
his invention, "A Coin Controlled Apparatus for Telephones".

The first payphone was installed in January, 1890 at the Hartford Bank,
in Hartford, CT. Today, a century later, there are an estimated two million
payphones throughout the United States.

So the story goes, Gray's inspiration came of necessity. He had asked someone
to allow him to use their phone to make an urgent call to his sick wife,
and they refused, even when he offered to pay for the call.

He had a hard time convincing people that his invention would be useful
or profitable. When Grand Central Terminal in New York City placed its
first order in the early nineties, the management was only willing to
purchase one instrument, and then only a consignment basis, after Gray
offered to take it back with no obligation in two months if the new type
phone did not prove itself.

Now there are payphones everywhere. There are payphones in the White House,
and payphones in the middle of Death Valley, CA. Until the middle 1950's
one might still see a very old "Gray Electric Company" payphone in service
somewhere. The price has changed as well: For the first 59 years, until
1948, a local call cost a nickle. In that year, most telcos raised their
price for a call to a dime. Some, like New Orleans, LA, remained at the
five cent rate for several more years. In the late sixties, most payphones were
charging fifteen or twenty cents per call. The price has been twenty-five
cents in most places now for several years.

Happy Birthday!


Patrick Townson


------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #295
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 15 Aug 89 0:32:21 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #296
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 15 Aug 89 00:10:38 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 296

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Cable TV Versus the Telcos (TELECOM Moderator)
    Complaint to Government Re Cellular Service (John R. Covert)
    Summary of Comments About "Watson" Voice Processing (Mark Donnelly)
    Incorrect Use of Area Code 202 (Carl Moore)
    AT&T Mail and the internet (Gary L. Crum)
    International Access Codes Around The World (Christopher Gosnell)
    TWX and Area 510 (Carl Moore)
    Ringback Number for Pennsylvania (John DeSanto)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 1:36:08 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Cable TV Versus the Telcos

An interesting conference is being presented October 23-24 to discuss the
controversial topic of cross-ownership in the telco and cable industries.

Both cable operators and telcos are so mired in antagonism and mutual
suspicion that they are ignoring potentially profitable joint venture
opportunities.

The telcos won't go on the record (they want to build systems and sell pay
per view services), but they seem to think they can "do" cable with both
hands tied behind their back. Cable is a 1950's technology, unfit to provide
next generation video. And, cable marketers are selling the United States
little more than empty promises, according to the telcos. Citing consumer
complaints about poor service and rate increases as well as sexually explicit
and other offensive programming -- the telcos claim that the only thing
keeping cable looking as prosperous as it does is its monopoly status. The
telcos seem to think they should be given a crack at it, to make it 'much
better' for consumers, and less expensive, too!

The cable industry, on the other hand, says television from the telephone
company is not worth taking seriously. They say no one except an outfit
with an excess of ratepayer money burning a hole in their corporate pockets
would be planning to provide video on demand for $5000 a pop! The cable
guys whine and complain saying Americans don't even want call-waiting!!
They surely won't buy television programming from Sister Bell or one of
her girlfriends. And as far as technology goes, the cable industry claims
they are second to none -- pointing to the recent developments with one-way
AM Fiber -- something the telcos said couldn't be done.

The National Cable Television Association says the whole controversy is
a dead issue. They say, "...this is just another bluff from Bell. They
haven't got what it takes to pull it off. There is nothing to worry about
since the telcos won't be able to do it..."

Oh yeah? Then how come the NCTA just assessed their members a fifteen
percent surcharge on next year's dues? If it is such a dead issue, what
are they gonna do with all that money they won't be needing in Washington
next year to fight the 'non-existent' telco threat to their territory?

An Ameritech lobbyist in Our Nation's Capitol phrased the telco response
very succinctly. "NCTA is trying to stall; trying to convince people that
we should be treated as a joke. When that tactic eventually fails, then
they will resort to litigation which will go on into the next century; all
the while they keep ripping off the public with their inferior service and
broken promises."

Well my-oh-my, haven't the telcos become the poor down-trodden victims
all of a sudden? Isn't that precious....the pot says the kettle is black!

About that conference: Entitled "The New Video Marketplace: Business
Opportunities for Telcos and Cable Operators", the conference will deal
with all sorts of interesting ideas and concepts in the field of cable
TV and the 'threat' by the telcos. Or is it a 'threat' by the cable guys?

                     October 23-24, 1989
                     Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, Atlanta, GA

The conference chairman will be Henry Rivera, Partner; Dow, Lohnes and
Albertson.   Conference fee: $695.

Information and registration available: Telecom Publishing Group
ATTN: Conference Registrar, PO Box 1455, Alexandria, VA  22313-2055.
Phone [phone]  or 703-683-4100.    FAX: [phone]


------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 20:30:08 PDT
From: "John R. Covert  14-Aug-1989 2020" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Complaint To Washington Re Cellular Service

(A copy of the letter below is going to the names indicated here.)

Judge Harold H. Greene
Alfred Sikes, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Gerald Brock, Chief, Common Carrier Bureau, Federal Communications Commission
Senator Ernest F. Hollings, Chairman, Commerce, Science & Transport Committee
Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Chairman, Communications Subcommittee
Senator John Kerry, D-Mass, member, Communications Subcommittee
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman, Energy & Commerce Committee
Rep. Edward J. Markey, Chairman, Telecommunications & Finance Subcommittee
                   ======================

As a consumer subscribing to the cellular telephone service offered
by NYNEX Mobile Communications in Boston, Massachusetts, I am quite
upset with the government regulations which prevent NYNEX from
offering automatic completion of incoming calls to me when I am
outside the Boston geographic area.

Cellular systems were designed by their manufacturers to allow
adjacent systems to be connected to each other, providing a
continuous nationwide cellular network, even when adjacent
systems are operated by different carriers.

NYNEX is prevented, by government regulations, from connecting to
adjacent systems.  This is providing a hardship for me and other
customers, who often travel out of the NYNEX service area into
the nearby service areas of other companies.  Stopgap methods of
extending service, such as "Follow-me-Roaming" are inadequate.

When I am driving from Boston to Washington, D.C., a caller trying
to reach me would have to try each of the numbers on the attached
list until locating me, and would be charged for each incomplete
call.  "Follow-me-Roaming" is not a usable alternative, because it
requires me to dial a setup code as I drive from one company's area
into another -- across an invisible boundary which moves depending
upon radio conditions and cannot be known by the subscriber.

The solution is to remove the government restrictions preventing
NYNEX and other cellular telephone companies from interconnecting
their systems.  In fact, I believe the government should REQUIRE
all cellular systems to be interconnected.  This would allow fully
automatic operation of incoming telephone calls, as was designed
into the cellular systems and as is enjoyed by cellular customers
in Canada and European countries.

Sincerely,

John R. Covert
              ========================

    In order to reach me while I am driving from Boston to
    Washington, D.C., a caller must try each of the following
    numbers, followed by my ten digit Boston number, in order
    to reach me.  The caller is charged for each call, even
    if the call does not complete.

    Allentown, NJ    A    609 529-ROAM
    Balto-Wash    A    301 440-ROAM
            B    301 382-ROAM
    Bridgeport, CT    A    203 856-ROAM
            B    203 631-0000
    Freehold, NJ    A    201 513-ROAM
    Hackensack, NJ    A    201 960-ROAM
    Haddon Hgts, NJ    B    609 922-ROAM
    Hartford, CT    A    203 930-ROAM
            B    203 631-0000
    New York, NY    A    212 847-ROAM
            B    212 301-ROAM
    Newark, NJ    B    201 259-ROAM
    North East, MD    A    301 920-ROAM
    Perth Amboy, NJ    A    201 715-ROAM
    Philadelphia    A    215 350-ROAM
            B    215 870-ROAM
    Salem, NJ    A    609 420-ROAM
    Springfield, MA    A    413 531-ROAM
            B    413 539-ROAM
    Trenton, NJ    A    609 575-ROAM
            B    609 658-ROAM
    Vineland, NJ    A    609 247-ROAM
            B    609 226-ROAM
    Washington, DC    A    202 288-ROAM
            B    301 382-ROAM
    Wilmington, DE    A    302 740-ROAM
            B    215 870-ROAM


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 89 09:39:44 EDT
From: Mark Donnelly <mergvax![e-mail]>
Subject: Summary of Comments About "Watson" Voice Processing
Organization: Linotype Co., Hauppauge, NY

Here are the comments I received about the Voice Processing System " Watson"
Thank you to those who responded.

>I was wondering if any one as experiences or comments about Natural
>Microsystems product called "Waston". It is a PC based voice processing system
>that I was thinking of buying.

I bought one, and haven't had time to do as much with it as I'd hoped.
(That's "Watson", not "Waston", by the way.)

The basic package comes with a menu-based telephone answering
machine and phonemail system.  You have to spend more money if
you want either other applications software or any interface
software to call yourself.  You don't get any hardware
programming info.

The software as supplied supports passwords and automatic dial-out
forwarding of messages.

The hardware works pretty well.  Nicely designed except for two
things that bugged me:  1) It doesn't hang up and get off the
line if you pick up another extension, and there's no way to
detect in software that someone local has picked up.  2) No way
to deal with multiple phone lines.


------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 17:01:34 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  Incorrect Use of Area Code 202

I have seen 2 recent cases where area code 202 was used in front of a Maryland
number which has metro DC-area service but is beyond area 202 (they are only
in area 301). In one case, 202-621 was displayed on the back of a panel
truck.  In the other case, 202-261 was displayed in a fast-food restaurant in
an employment ad.

Both cases had other phone numbers displayed; the ones I singled out were
provided for callers from the Washington area.  I have seen 621, which is in
Laurel, used for this purpose by a few businesses in the Baltimore area.

Before DC-area prefixes were changed from NNX to NXX form, long-distance
dialing from 261 and 621 was 1+7D within Md., and 1+NPA+7D elsewhere.  (But in
Virginia, from 703-860, in Herndon and local to DC but toll to Md., you dialed
NPA+7D for all long distance, and Herndon metro-area prefixes 471 and 620
appear on phone bills as VIENNA and are in area code 202, not just 703.)

------------------------------

From: "Gary L. Crum" <[e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Mail and the internet
Date: 14 Aug 89 21:08:26 GMT
Organization: University of Southern California


What is the relationship between AT&T Mail and the internet?  By
"internet", I mean the collection of computer networks that exchange
information with the Internet (NSFNET backbone and regionals and other
TCP/IP networks accessible at the IP level from NSFNET sites) and
world UUCP network (described by comp.mail.maps postings, larger than
the set of sites receiving USENET news).

If there exists a two-way gateway service between the AT&T Mail
Network and the world UUCP network, then I would consider AT&T Mail
part of the internet (not Internet -- following the distinction
between "internet" and "Internet" used by A. Tanenbaum and D. Comer
in their respective books, "Computer Networks" and "Internetworking with
TCP/IP").

Does anyone have a better name and description for what I am calling
"the world UUCP network"?

I ask about all this, because I received literature about AT&T Mail
today.  The literature doesn't even mention any of
{NSFNET,BITNET,CSNET,UUCP, USENET}.  Yet, it does mention UNIX and
states "AT&T Mail lets you send messages to almost anywhere in the
world through service and delivery options like MailFAX, telex, and
special gateway interfaces.

If there is a gateway between AT&T Mail and the "world UUCP network", then
it seems that the services provided by AT&T Mail and UUNET overlap somewhat.
Perhaps AT&T Mail is closer to MCI Mail.

A related issue is the relationship between the world UUCP network and
the TCP/IP Internet.

The AT&T Mail technical representative didn't know what I meant by
world UUCP network, USENET, Internet, and TCP/IP.  She started talking
about gateway interface products (e.g. MHS X.400) when I asked about
gateways.  Maybe I should have used the word "relay".

Gary Crum

------------------------------

From: Christopher Gosnell <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 14:14:33 BST
Subject: International Access Codes Around the World
Reply-To: Christopher Gosnell <[e-mail]>
Organization: STC Technology Limited, London Road, Harlow, Essex, UK

In article <[e-mail]> Henry Mensch writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 256, message 2 of 5
>
>>PS. Isn't it about time that the world would agree on the international
>>access code, i.e. the code that you replace the +-sign with in your
>>international telephone number? In Sweden (and Denmark) we dial 009,
>>but many in many countries in Europe it is the more logical 00.
>
>Why is 00 more logical than 009 (or 011 in Canada and the US), or 0011
>(in Australia)?
>
These are the access codes for international direct dial that I know of:

Algeria        00
Austria        00
Belgium        00
Cyprus (Rep)     00
Czechoslovakia    00 (from Prague; elsewhere dial Prague followed by 00)
Denmark        009
Finland        990
France        19
Germany (West)  00
Gibralter    00
Greece        00
Hungary        00
Italy        00
Luxembourg    00
Malta        0
Morocco     00
Netherlands    09
Norway        095
Portugal    00  (07 in some areas)
South Africa    09
Spain        07
Sweden        009
Switzerland    00
Tunisia        00
Turkey        99
United Kingdom    010
United States     011
Yugoslavia    99

00, whether more logical or not is certainly the most widespread, at
least in Europe and the Med.
--
Regards

Chris Gosnell      ( [e-mail] [phone] Ext 2629 )

------------------------------

Date:     Mon, 14 Aug 89 12:54:14 EDT
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject:  TWX and Area 510

Some of the addresses and phone numbers I have observed include "TWX 510
xxx-xxxx" where the x's are in the same style as our 7 digit phone numbers.
Is this use of 510 affected by the upcoming use of 510 as an area code?

(Earlier notes in this Digest said that 510 will be formed c. 1991 by splitting
the east bay area -- Oakland etc. -- off from area 415 in California.)

Speaking of 415/510 split, what area code will Marin County, which gets the
north end of Golden Gate bridge, end up in?  I assume San Francisco and south
to area 408 will stay in 415.

[Moderator's Note: 410-510-610-710-810-910 as 'area codes' came of course
from the days when Bell was operating the TWX network. 410-510 were roughly
the east coast of the US and New England. 610 was, and is Canada. 710 was
the southern United States, and 910 was everything from Chicago westward.
810 was Mexico. I don't think Western Union has assigned anything new in
410-510 for years. In fact 410 is virtually empty. They seem to have taken
a fancy to 910 for assignment of email addresses on EasyLink, and they
seem to be using more traditional telex style numbers for other other
applications. I don't think you will see much of 510 as a TWX area code
after the next couple of years. And even with the little overlapping of
510-voice and 510-TWX which does occur, I'll venture a guess there
will be even less overlapping of prefixes.  PT]

------------------------------

From: John DeSanto <dsacg1!discg1![e-mail]>
Subject: Ringback Number for Pennsylvania
Date: 14 Aug 89 14:35:36 GMT
Organization: Defense Industrial Supply Center, Philadelphia, Pa

Can anyone provide a ringback number for the Phila. Pa. area. Area Code 215.
Thanks in advance.

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #296
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 15 Aug 89 1:21:20 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #297
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 15 Aug 89 01:20:15 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 297

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Re: Types of Service (Mike Morris)
    Re: DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View (Torsten Dahlkvist)
    Re: MCI Announces VISA-Phone (munnari!ucsvc.unimelb.edu.au!U5434122)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Owen Scott Medd)
    Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco (Kent Borg)
    US Sprint Rep Comments on "Billing On No Answer" and More (Steve Elias)
    Re: Sprint Bashing Should Stop! (John Higdon)
    Re: Sprint Bashing Should Stop! (Paul Guthrie)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Types of Service
Date: 14 Aug 89 05:32:47 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Morris <[e-mail]>

(Paul Fuqua) writes:
>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 290, message 4 of 13
>     I'm moving from one apartment to another this weekend, and called
>my friendly Southwestern Bell office to arrange for the phone service to
>be moved.  The amusing thing was that the representative offered me my
>   ...edited...
>     Here's another question:  how come the electric company can switch
>my service for only $7, while the phone company charges $60?  Since all
>the wiring is in place, about all that's involved is a billing change.

Well, you're assuming that the apartment you're moving into has phone
service (99% (or more) likely, but there's always the chance...)

Back when I was doing interconnect, my insurance agent moved from one
office in a building to another on the same floor.  She was quoted an
outrageous sum to move her 6 lines.  I told her to tell GTE (the Great
Telephone Experiment) that the move had been canceled, and I'd move her.
THe job was simple - move 6 pairs in the wiring closet.  The mailman
delivered the bills correctly, so there was no difference to GTE.
A couple of months later she called GTE and told them that they had
been sending the bills to the wrong address from the beginning, and would
they please correct it?  No problem, says them...  End of story.

Her comment was that GTE stood for Graft, Theft & Extortion.  Something
like $100 _per line_ for something that took me under 10 minutes for all 6!.

Mike Morris
UUCP: [e-mail]
#Include quote.cute.standard   | The opinions above probably do not even come
cat flames.all > /dev/null     | close to those of my employer(s), if any.

------------------------------

From: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: DTMF Frequencies From a Musician's Point of View
Date: 14 Aug 89 06:20:13 GMT
Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist <[e-mail]>
Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden

In article <[e-mail]> optilink![e-mail].
nasa.gov (Marvin Jones) writes:

>Perhaps the more musically useful Telecom tone is precise (digital) dial tone,
>which uses 350 and 440 Hz. The higher of these tones is US standard concert A
>(middle A).  There have been many times I have been away from home, or other
>source of musical reference, and have picked up a phone to get an "A" to
>help tune a guitar or keyboard.

Beware, though, that if you leave the U.S you may well find yourself in one
of the "sine dial-tone" countries which output a single sine wave tone of
nominally 421 Hz. Because of the wide tolerances specified for this frequency,
440 Hz is actually within the limits and many old exchanges were in fact
"tuned" to this standard A. Nowadays, however, admins are getting stuffier
and as exchanges are getting modernized they usually get re-tuned to 421 Hz.

/Torsten

 Torsten Dahlkvist                        ! "I am not now, nor have I ever
 ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories  !  been, intimately related to
 P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25  ALVSJO, SWEDEN  !  Dweezil Zappa!"
 Tel: [phone]                      !        - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 17:13 +1000
Subject: Re: MCI Announces VISA-Phone
From: [e-mail]
Organization: The University of Melbourne

Re: MCI's VISA billing for LD calls

> It is unclear to me at this time if prior arrangements are required with
> MCI to use VISA billing, or if those numbers are somehow now being installed
> right into a data base of acceptable cards/pins.

It is unlikely that prior arrangement would be necessary.  In Australia we have
card-phones.  These telephones have magnetic stripe readers in them.  To use
the telephone you have to swipe your credit or ATM card and enter your PIN.
If a cheque or savings account is selected, the money is debited from your
account on completion of the call.  Before presenting a dial tone, the
telephone will often tell you how much money is in your account, so you know
your limit.  Call cost is displayed as the call progresses and at the end.

Unfortunately these public telephones have a minimum charge of $1.20, so they
are only useful for international or long distance calling.  Throughout
Australia local calling is flat-rate 21c per call, irrespective of time.  The
local calling area includes the whole metropolitan area of all major cities.
Local calls from a public phone are 30c, so a cardphone is OK if you want to
make 4 calls at once.

Daniel

------------------------------

From: Owen Scott Medd <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco
Reply-To: Owen Scott Medd <[e-mail]>
Organization: M & S Associates -- Ann Arbor, MI
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 13:11:41 GMT

In article <[e-mail]>
>[e-mail] (Charles Daffinger) writes:
>> >Once upon a time, my brother (who was about ten years old at the time)
>picked
>> >up the phone and dialed:
>>
>> >1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0

I tried the number here and got:

<ring, ring>

MichBell:  "You have reached 234-5678, a special test circuit.  If
    this is a long distance call, it will appear on your bill.
    Thank you."

At least they're polite...
--
USMail:   M & S Associates, 628 Brooks, Ann Arbor, MI  48103
Phone:      [phone]    FAX:    [phone]
UUCP:      uunet!sharkey!heifetz!osm
Internet: [e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Kent Borg <lloyd![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Bay of Eagle Fiasco
Date: 14 Aug 89 23:22:00 GMT
Reply-To: Kent Borg <lloyd![e-mail]>
Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Peter
Desnoyers) writes:
>I tried it - 9, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0 - and got
>   tick, tick, tick... (unusual, regular, call progress clicks)
>  "the person you are trying to reach is unavailable or out of our service
>  area. Please try ..." and I forget the rest.

Our PBX traps it locally and gives me an immediate busy signal.

The phone on my desk says Ameritech on it.  The designers knew that
people expect to hear tones when they dial a push button phone, but
they are not using tones to communicate with the PBX, so they have two
single tones which alternate with each keystroke.

Are people so tone deaf that they are fooled??  I like hearing the
real touch-tones.  I get to know frequently called numbers, can dial
them quickly, and hear if I make a mistake.  Do many people use that
as an error checking feature, or is everyone deaf?

Kent Borg
[e-mail]
or
 ...!husc6!lloyd!kent

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: US Sprint Rep Comments on "Billing On No Answer" and More
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 14:50:47 -0400

I spoke with my US Sprint college pal again.  He had some interesting
comments about the "call progress / billing problems" which have been
talked about in previous Digests.  He also had some comments on ATT's
fourth quarter 88 posted financial loss.

From regular equal access (feature group D) -- both destination &
source phone numbers are sent through a CO to an "access tandem" and
then to long distance carrier.  In this case, hardware call progress
supervision is available on the destination CO/trunk/line and there is
no chance for error.  99.8% of all long distance calls use this
method, or something called feature group B, so there is no chance for
billing error.  An example of a feature group B call would be one that
went through the "950" local access numbers for the long distance
carriers.  Before equal access, these 950 numbers were required in
order to provide hardware supervision (and access) with feature group B.

In primitive/podunk exchanges (feature group A), the receiving CO will not
indicate back to the source CO whether someone has picked up the phone.
In this case, software supervision is used.  Here there is a nonzero
probability for a billing error.  ATT is not susceptible to this type of
error, as some readers have pointed out, because...

ATT calls are terminated on the trunk side of the telco instead of the
line side of the telco, and in this case, ATT uses feature group C,
which is not available to "alternative" long distance carriers due to
the vagaries of how ATT built their network before equal access.
Group C bypasses a few switch steps, which was one of the reasons why
ATT calls used to get completed faster than Sprint's.  (This part of
the explanation went over my head a bit; clearly my buddy limited his
comments here so he could get back to work without spending too much time
explaining this "feature group C" setup.)

99.8% of all long distance traffic use hardware supervision, hence the
"billing on unanswered call argument" is mostly a non-issue.  In the
 .2% which are forced to use software supervision, there can be a false
"off-hook" signal sent back to the originating switch in as few as 6
rings, usually more like 15-20 rings.  So, the bottom line is not to
let the destination phone ring or busy for very long --  IF YOU ARE CALLING A
PODUNK EXCHANGE.

Regarding call setup/completion time,  he said that Sprint and ATT
are within 2 tenths of a second in call completion time.

He also commented about ISDN and how US Sprint is ready for ISDN,
whereas ATT is behind, and MCI is way behind.  Sprint already has
CCS7 (switching something-or-other), a fiber network, and 100% digital
transmission.  ATT is accelerating the depreciation of their equipment
because they have to modernize their network in order to support ISDN,
and to keep up with the competition -- in this case, US Sprint.

-- Steve Elias
-- [e-mail], [e-mail]
-- voice mail: 617 239 9406

------------------------------

Reply-To: bovine![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Sprint Bashing Should Stop!
Date: 14 AUG 89 18:13:19 PDT (Mon)
From: John Higdon <bovine![e-mail]>
Organization: ATI Wares Team
Lines: 36

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Rick
Adams) writes:
> Why the continuing Sprint bashing? They aren't nearly as half-assed as
> you seem determined to present them.

Here are a couple of recent observations.

They still have a very cavalier attitude toward service. They strongly
suggest that they have far more important things to worry about that
whether your call goes through and you can contact your UUCP neighbor
in St. Marys, KS. As I was told, "Not many people call there so it's
naturally not one of our major priorities." Well, thanks for your help,
sir.

The second thing is their billing. I have been really annoyed to
received bills for calls made four months in the past, particularly
when they are calls to be billed back to clients. You can imagine the
warm reception I get from my client's accounts payable when they
receive a bill for work long done and forgotten about.

And finally, when was the last time you even tried to reach "customer
service"? I have literally given up after thirty minutes of waiting
and listening to their "commercials on hold" or their musak-on-hold
that consists of three songs in rotation, over and over and over. When
someone finally does answer, on many occasions I have been cut off and
had to start the whole laborious procedure all over again.

As long a Sprint has pretentions to being a major long distance
carrier, they are going to have to live up to some minimum standards.
If they provide satisfactory service for you, then fine. But for many
of us, they fall short of the mark. It's not really in the spirit of free
information exchange for us to just take it and be quiet. I'm sorry if
you consider the mentioning of legitimate complaints to be bashing, but
I hope the DIGEST never sinks to a level of inoccuous fluff.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: Paul Guthrie <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Sprint Bashing Should Stop!
Date: 15 Aug 89 03:48:47 GMT
Reply-To: Paul Guthrie <[e-mail]>
Organization: The League of Crafty Hackers


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Rick
Adams) writes:
>Sprint claims that they have call supervision equipment in all areas that
>offer equal access.
>Why the continuing Sprint bashing? They aren't nearly as half-assed as
>you seem determined to present them.

Perhaps because what Sprint claims in call supervision is not really call
supervision.  They use 'energy detect', a  half assed method of determining if
somebody really did answer on many of their small town connections.  Try
dealing with Sprint as a heavy usage subscriber.  If you compare the amount of
lines running to a particular small town vs say AT&T (no contest) or MCI,
Sprint is sadly lacking.  I had a case where I needed *lots* of lines running
to Myrtle Bay, and Sprint had something like 4, where MCI had 4 T-spans!!!
This was not some strange case, either, rather the norm.

In any case, the number of Sprint terminations with true supervision, is not
the same as the number of Sprint terminations which they claim have 'answer
supervision'.

Also, Sprint (at least in this area) continuously used to give me service
problems, including such things as 'modifying' their service to only give one
way talk path before answer supervision without notification (1-800s emulating
FGB service need this).  I did have many problems with MCI too, but all of the
'memorable' experiences seem to have been with Sprint.

--
Paul Guthrie
chinet!nsacray!paul

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #297
*****************************










Date:     Tue, 15 Aug 89 2:18:11 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #298
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Tue, 15 Aug 89 02:00:00 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 298

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Telephone Numbering Change in Denmark (ucsvc.unimelb.edu.au!U5434122)
    Select Codes for AT&T Publications (Michael T. Veach)
    Telenet and Digest Circulation (Andrew Boardman)
    Error in Earlier Message (Scott D. Green)
    Re: Caller ID (Was Re: Special Ring Detection) (Lawrence M. Geary)
    Re: Touring the Central Office (Ron Natalie)
    Re: Touring the Central Office (John Higdon)
    Re: More About NJ Sabatoge (Ron Natalie)
    Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone (John Levine)
    Re: Call Progress Signals Needed (John Higdon)
    Re: Buffalo, Texas (Greg Hackney)
    Re: Cellular Calls to 911 (Kent Borg)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Telephone Numbering Change in Denmark
Date: 14 Aug 89 17:19:04 (UTC+10:00)
Organization: The University of Melbourne

Recently Denmark changed its system of telephone numbers and area codes, going
through a stage where the area code was compulsory even for local calls.

They moved to 8 digit numbers recently, I think, although that seems excessive
for a country of only 5 million people. ( 7 digits will serve about 15 million
people, if pushed to the limit, and that is without area codes)

Can anyone give details of the Danish situation now, please?

Thanks,

Daniel
[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 12:43 CDT
Subject: Select Codes for AT&T Publications

Here are some select codes of some non-restricted AT&T publications.

AT&T assumes no responsibitity for errors.

Prices are plus tax.

Basic shipping included in price within continental U.S.

No returns without prior authorization from AT&T, Inc.

Everything is subject to change without notice.

000-000-002 AT&T Documents Identified by 9-Digit Numbers
Master Index = $78.79

300-000 AT&T Computer Systems Documenation Catalog

999-600-111 Area Code Handbook = $2.00

000-011 AT&T Documenation Guide

000-041 International Telephone Directory Catalog

999-000-000 Numerical Index Division 999 Product Documentation = $1.35

000-018 AT&T Product Brochures and Job Aids Guide

555-000-010 AT&T Business Comunications Systems Publication Catalog

311-022 Industrial/Laboratory Handbook = $17.17

311-024 AT&T Computer Software Catalog UNIXrg System V = $22.54

308-339 Office Telesystem User's Guide = $33.75


    Michael T. Veach
      ihlpm!veach

[Moderator's Note: Thanks, but can you give an address and telephone number
for ordering? Are credit card orders accepted? In another message today,
a reader complains that the previous phone number given was wrong.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 11:17:20 EDT
From: Andrew Boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Telenet Ownership and Digest Circulation

In article <[e-mail]> Mr. Moderator wrote:
>I am pleased to announce that Telenet Communications Corp. is now making
>each issue of TELECOM Digest available to users of their Net Exchange BBS.

Courtesy, of course, of the beloved US Sprint Company, which now owns
Telenet.  Could someone inform me when Telenet changed hands?  (It wouldn't
by any chance coincide with the PCP overhaul, now would it?)

PS: A warning: getting on Telenet's mailing list can be hazardous to your
mailbox. The volume of mail I have received from them has increased
exponentially since I first requested some piece of trivia.

 Andrew Boardman             [e-mail]    ROLM is a four letter
(and if you really have to, ab4@cunixc on bitnet)          word.

[Moderator's Note: Funny you should mention it. All I ever get in the mail
from them is my monthly invoice for PC Pursuit. It is rare I hear from them
otherwise. And of course, I promised them I'd find something else to put
in the Digest every Tuesday -- heretofore a Holy Day of Obligation for the
believers in the One True Telephone Company to bash Sprint -- besides
homilies and meditations from Mssrs. Higdon, Guthrie, and yours truly.
Bribery! (Wink) (Blink Blink) :)  Starting next week, its MCI's turn!  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 11:37 EDT
From: "Scott D. Green" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Error In Earlier Message

Re:  Where can I find. . . (Jim Gottlieb)

The number given for BellCore Publications catalog (201-669-5800) is either
incorrect or is a victim of the strike :-).  ("The number you have reached
is not in service..")  Can anyone correct it?

-Scott

[Moderator's Note: Sorry about that. Maybe Mr. Veach will get back to us
with ordering/billing/shipping instructions, etc.  PT]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 10:28:41 EDT
From: Lawrence M Geary <[e-mail]>
Subject: Caller ID (was Re: Special Ring Detection)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (lawrence.m.geary)

Special ringing could probably be performed by a smart phone that
also handles caller ID signals. Now that the caller ID feature is
getting around, does anyone know of telephones offered or in the
works that would display the called number and perform other tricks?

--Larry
--

     [e-mail]    Think globally ... Post locally    att!hoqax!lmg

------------------------------

From: Ron Natalie <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Touring the Central Office
Date: 14 Aug 89 21:08:47 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

I've always found it much easier to get a tour set up with an AT&T installation
than with the local phone company.  I guess they decided they need the PR more.

-Ron

------------------------------

Reply-To: bovine![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Touring the Central Office
Date: 14 Aug 89 18:08:20 PDT (Mon)
From: John Higdon <bovine![e-mail]>
Organization: ATI Wares Team

In article <[e-mail]>, kitty!larry
@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes:
>     It is becoming extremely difficult for even an organized group
> to tour a central office in any BOC area.  BOC's are particularly paranoid
> (perhaps rightfully so) about outside people being in any central office.

Things must have been different in years gone by. Twice (in the early
60's) there was a little bill insert inviting the subscriber to an
"open house". There were two dates given and when you showed up, you
got a tour of your (my) central office. This was the ANdrews (San Jose)
office that served my telephones. Around that same era, a friend of
mine got a similar invitation in his bill to tour the AXminster (Santa
Clara) office.

About fourteen years ago Pac*Bell invited radio engineering types to visit
the downtown San Jose office. We saw the crossbar, the ESS, the AT&T
tandem (it was all AT&T then), and even the employee lunch room! About
three years ago, radio engineering types were invited to tour the
Bush/Pine office in San Francisco where we saw the ESS, the video
switching center in the Grant St. building, and a Telephone Pioneers
exhibit.

> There is virtually zero chance of any individual being afforded a tour of
> a central office, unless it is, ahem, an "unauthorized" tour courtesy of a
> friend (who may do so with considerable risk to their job).

Oh, I was reminded of that in no uncertain terms (I was palmed off as
someone from the Fresno area that worked for Pacific Telephone!) But
organized tours have been most plentiful. Pac*Bell is very image
conscious and they may feel that this is one way of enhancing that.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: Ron Natalie <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: More About NJ Sabotage
Date: 14 Aug 89 20:42:28 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

It was almost certainly an inside job, but I snicker about their High Security
locks.  The last NJ Bell high security area I visited was protected by a
"Simplex" pushbutton lock that had the combination that it is shipped with from
the factory (which is always the same). Even if they changed these
combinations, the phreaks around here know how to manipulate these things open.

Actually, the fact that Rutgers was off the net was only coincidental with the
sabotage.  It did knockoff some of the other JVNC members, but our problem
turned out to be that the guys installing the phonelines for the new
dormitories tripped over one of the T1 lines in the manhole they were working
in.

-Ron


[Moderator's Note: Its nice to know the phreaks in your community are
experienced burglars. That should make everyone feel great.   PT]

------------------------------

From: John Levine <esegue![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone
Reply-To: John Levine <esegue![e-mail]>
Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 89 22:27:39 GMT

In article <[e-mail]> our moderator writes:
>In the late sixties, most payphones were charging fifteen or twenty cents
>per call. The price has been twenty-five cents in most places now for
>several years.

Ten cent payphones are still the norm in most New England states, except for
COCOTs, of course. I guess we're just thriftier than the rest of you.

The last I heard, Taconic Tel, a small independent telco that serves the
area around Chatham NY, near the Massachusetts border, still remains the
last refuge of the five cent pay phone.  It is my impression that they don't
have enough of them to make it worth the effort to go before the PUC and
change the rate.
--
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, [phone]
{ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl, [e-mail], [e-mail]
Massachusetts has 64 licensed drivers who are over 100 years old.  -The Globe

------------------------------

Reply-To: bovine![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Call Progress Signals Needed
Date: 14 Aug 89 18:11:16 PDT (Mon)
From: John Higdon <bovine![e-mail]>
Organization: ATI Wares Team

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Dan Berry) writes:
> I was interested in finding out the tone plans for the typical phone
> system's call progress signals, but I can't seem to be able to find
> them in any of my books!  You know, the frequencies for a dial tone,
> busy signal, ringing and the rest of them.  From someone else that
> I've talked to, they made mention that only some four frequencies
> were used to get some 20+ signals.  dB's and timing too, S.V.P.


All of the information you seek in the Radio Engineer's Handbook. I
don't have my copy at hand, but it's widely available and in it's
umpteenth edition. Everything you ever wanted to know about telephony
hardware is in that book.

--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

From: Greg Hackney <moxie![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Buffalo, Texas
Date: 14 Aug 89 22:42:00 GMT
Reply-To: moxie![e-mail]
Organization: S.W. Bell

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (VLD/VMB)
writes:
>It has come to my attention that there are 2 widely-separated phone
>exchange areas in Texas which have the same place name (Buffalo).
>One corresponds to the post office Buffalo 75831, and the other
>is a suburb of Houston.

If memory serves, the 497 exchange in Houston was formerly called
Buffalo, and is now called Gypsy 7. And the 498 exchange, Alief, Texas,
is called Gypsy 8.

--
Greg

------------------------------

From: Kent Borg <lloyd![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Cellular Calls to 911
Date: 14 Aug 89 22:08:18 GMT
Reply-To: Kent Borg <lloyd![e-mail]>
Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Doug Davis) writes:
>As a side note, anyone want to post their experences about fun things
>to do with your portable cell phone?  So far I have this list:

I was once at a a friend's house when Dave, another friend, got a beep
on his beeper.  He looked down and thought the number seemed awfully
familiar, but he dialed it anyway.  It was a friend of his who
couldn't find the place, but did find Dave's car.  Being good friends,
he had a key and knew the combination on Dave's cellular phone.  He
decided to phone Dave to ask for directions.

Kent Borg
[e-mail]
or
 ...!husc6!lloyd!kent

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #298
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 16 Aug 89 0:52:02 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #299
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 16 Aug 89 00:45:10 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 299

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Proposed Payphone Regulation in GA (Ilya Goldberg)
    Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone (Mike Trout)
    Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone (John Wheeler)
    Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone (Larry E. Kollar)
    My Experiences With US Sprint (Debra Hisle)
    Re: Sprint Bashing Should Stop! (Rick Adams)
    Re: While Phone Rings, Charges May Begin (Tom Wiencko)
    Re: Select Codes For AT&T Publications (Michael T. Veach)

[Moderator's Note: DO NOT FORGET to watch the full lunar eclipse Wednesday
night. The moon will begin to be covered starting around 7:20 PM CDT, and
will be completely dark for about two hours later in the evening. Times vary
by locale, but this exciting event is supposed to be visible in much of
the world Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Our European readers should
probably expect this event about 0300 GMT. Folks in Alaska will miss it
entirely this time around. Chicagoans will see it in the southeastern sky. PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 16:27:27 -0700
From: Ilya Goldberg <[e-mail]>
Subject: Proposed Payphone Regulation in CA
Organization: Stanford University


Just got this notice with this month's bill from Pacific Bell.

It seems that they (CPUC) want to increase the regulation of payphones.
The leaflet is only a summary of the complete proposal on which hearings
have been scheduled.  Here is the text of the main points:
-----
1. Rate stability - The price of local calls from all pay phones will
be 20c per call, for five years.

2. Free access to necessary services - All pay phones will provide free
access to emergency, repair, directory assistance, "800" numbers, and
the local telephone company Operators when users dial "0".

3. Clear signs and instructions - All pay phones will have clear signs
indicating rates, dialing instructions, free access, the identity of the
pay phone vendor, and the long-distance carrier serving the phone.

4. Enforcement - Prices approved by the CPUC will be enforced.

5. New "Pay Station" Service Charge - An additional charge of 30c may
be charged for each "0+" call (i.e. collect calls, calls billed to
third numbers or credit cards).  This charge is a new rate and is in
addition to the 40c surcharge applied to calling card calls or the
$1.00 surcharge applied to collect calls.
{comment: Pac bell charges 40c for credit card calls, at&t charges
          80c.  I am not sure if this 30c surcharge will apply to
          all "0+" calls or only intra-lata "0+" calls}

-----
It seems that there is a compromise being made between the pay phone
service providers and customers.  Customers get points 1+2 in exchange
for the new charge in point 5.  Well, it seems that customers lose!
Before the competition was allowed, customers already had all the
benefits mentioned above provided by the BOC which owned all payphones.
Now, if the customers agree to pay an extra 30c for credit card and
collect calls, the benefits will remain.  And I thought competition was
allowed in order to reduce prices!

Ilya Goldberg
[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Mike Trout <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone
Date: 15 Aug 89 20:05:24 GMT
Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY


In article <[e-mail]>, esegue![e-mail].
net (John Levine) writes:

> The last I heard, Taconic Tel, a small independent telco that serves the
> area around Chatham NY, near the Massachusetts border, still remains the
> last refuge of the five cent pay phone.  It is my impression that they don't
> have enough of them to make it worth the effort to go before the PUC and
> change the rate.

This is still true.  Taconic Telephone brags about their nickel pay phones
quite a bit.  I suspect that pay phones are a money losing product for Taconic,
but that they pay off in the long run in good PR.  At least once a year the
_New_York_Times_ runs a feature article on "the nation's last nickel pay
phones."  This is good for Taconic, as most of their customers are transplanted
New York Citians.  Taconic actually serves a fairly large area, covering much
of New York State east of the Hudson between Troy and Poughkeepsie.

Semi-related trivia question: Name the famous movie in which the following line
was uttered:  "THERE'S a phone call that'll cost more than a nickel."

--
NSA food:  Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110  [phone]
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...a rebellion." Thomas Jefferson

------------------------------

From: John Wheeler <techwood![e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone
Date: 15 Aug 89 18:09:36 GMT
Reply-To: John Wheeler <techwood![e-mail]>
Organization: Turner Entertainment Networks Library; Atlanta

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(TELECOM Moderator) writes:
>The price has been twenty-five cents in most places now for several years.

It's still a dime in Dawson County, GA...how many places can still say that?
--
          Turner                                       John Wheeler
     E N T E R T A I N M E N T     ...!gatech!nanovx!techwood!johnw
                Networks
     Techwood Library * home of Superstation TBS * TNT * TBS Sports


------------------------------

From: "Larry E. Kollar" <dcatla![e-mail]>
Date: 15 Aug 89 13:56:14 GMT
Subject: Re: 100th Anniversary of the Pay Phone
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Larry E. Kollar)
Organization: DCA Inc., Alpharetta, GA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(TELECOM Moderator) writes:

>The price [for a payphone call] has been twenty-five cents in most places now
>for several years.

Standard Telephone, in northeast Georgia, still has 10-cent payphones.  But
then again, most Dawsonville merchants will let you use their phone to make
a local call (comes in handy when the wife sends you to the store & you
forgot what she wanted :-).

In 1980, I had a job as a "galley hand" (cook's go-fer) on the Gulf drilling
platforms.  The little telco that served Beaumont (? memory's fuzzy) TX had
a FIVE-cent payphone in an office where we waited for the helicopter.

--
Larry Kollar    ...!gatech!dcatla!mclek
: life BEGIN funds @ enough_to_retire < WHILE work REPEAT ;

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 10:45:40 EDT
From: "Hisle, Debra" <[e-mail]>
Subject: My Experiences With US Sprint

John Higdon recently posted a fairly long complaint about US Sprint.
In the interests of equal time, I thought I'd share my opinion of my
service since 1987.

I chose US Sprint as my 1+ server when I moved to Lexington.  Yes, the
first bill took about three months to arrive.  I really couldn't
complain about that, as it took about three months for my husband's
independent consulting status to gel, so cash-flow kind of coincided.
Since then, I have yet to notice billing errors or delayed billings.
We had one incorrect charge, when a call to Peru, Indiana was billed as
a call to the country Peru.  Instead of correcting the charge, my friendly
US Sprint Customer Service Rep just removed it.

In fact, the only complaint I have about the billing is that is made on
a due-upon-receipt basis, rather than providing a due date.  That's just a
personal preference, I suppose; I'm rather sloppy with mail.

Recently, I was trying to make a call to The Netherlands for the first time,
and didn't realize that the 0 at the beginning of the city code is only used
within the country.  After trying direct, I dialed the Sprint operator, who
gave me the number for customer service.  I had supposed from all the Sprint
bashing that customer service isn't even open on Sunday mornings, but I was
wrong.  I did not have to wait for a representative, and he was very helpful
in deciphering the unfamiliar number format for me.  The call went through
just fine, although it was disconcerting to get a couple of beeps rather than
the familiar ringing.  Our local phone book, which provides cursory
instructions for international dialing, said to allow at least 45 seconds
for ringing to start.  It was more like 25 seconds, and my friend picked
up before I realized that the beeps meant a connection, not just a step along
the way.

On normal long distance calls (mostly California, Atlanta and Houston),
I haven't noticed a delay for connection.  I don't notice the line quality
one way or the other, except that when my mom calls (either ATT or MCI --
I'm not sure which), the background fuzz reminds me what I'm missing.
People really do think I'm in town when I made unexpected calls, but I
put that down as much to my reputation for travelling as to line quality.
Recently, receiving calls from my husband when he was in Jamaica made
mere background fuzz fade in comparison.  It's easy to forget good quality,
until a really bad connection comes along to remind you.  We talked through,
on various occasions:  a delayed echo on my end (makes for VERY short thought
units), bad cross-talk or just plain static, with dropouts for variety.

- Deb
Oh, and I don't work for US Sprint, I just use the phone.

------------------------------

From: Rick Adams <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Sprint Bashing Should Stop!
Date: 15 Aug 89 16:03:23 GMT
Organization: UUNET Communications Services, Falls Church, VA

Background:

My Sprint bill is $30,000 - $40,000 per month. My phone bill comes in a big
box with detail of every call. I have NEVER found one of those details
to be a call that was not answered.

I switched to Sprint because of the lousy service I got from ATT (just
like you described as receiving from Sprint). I've never had that sort
of problem with Sprint.

I consider the offhanded and uninformed response of the moderator that
"Sprint doesn't have answer supervision" to be uncalled for bashing.
It is not factual and it as uncalled for.

Just because they offer lousy residential service, you can't damn the entire
company for it. If they happen to make a business decision to care
less about residential services, than business services, fine. Don't
use them from your home. However, you would be a fool to refuse to
consider them for business use based on their residential services.

(I use ATT at home and Sprint at work. ATT is superior with residential
service and inferior with business service.)

My basic complaint is that too much information on this list is either
hearsay or outdated or just plain wrong. I have nothing against
savaging a vendor who's screwing up (readers of comp.sys.sequent will
attest to that). However, I do feel that we should be dealing in facts
rather than inuendo. The amount of pro-ATT bigotry is astounding.

For some reason, very little of the Sprint "information" is factual or
current. This is what I object to.

---rick

------------------------------

From: Tom Wiencko <stiatl![e-mail]>
Subject: Will Sprint Soon Have Call Supervision Ability?
Date: 15 Aug 89 14:23:21 GMT
Reply-To: Tom Wiencko <stiatl![e-mail]>
Organization: Sales Technologies Inc., "The Procedure IS the product"


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>    Why do you dread Sprint more than any other long haul carrier?
>    Don't all carriers have problems with starting charges if you
>    let the phone ring or give a busy signal for a "very long time"?
>
>    Which carriers are immune from such charges?  If Sprint alone is
>
>[Moderator's Note: For one, AT&T has no problem with call supervision. They

This brings up an interesting point which might merit some discussion here.
Until recently, I had regularly told friends and associates who were plagued
by one minute calls on their phone bills that if their carrier was not AT&T
that those calls may well be no-answers or busy, or dropped calls, and they
may be able to get a phone bill credit for their one minute billings.

Recently, one of these companies (a sales organization, with massive phone
bills) did this, and reported back to me that their carrier (Sprint) will
soon (and may by now) provide true answer supervision on their lines, and
will therefore credit old bills, but not future bills (after answer supervision
is in place).  I told them to verify this by checking on how, technically, they
are going to do this.

They reported back that alternative carriers are now allowed to use Feature
Group C lines, and are installing equipment to allow them to provide true
end-to-end line supervision.

I was astounded.

Has anybody else heard of this happening?  My (informal) information is that
most of the major LD carriers will have their routes wired for supervision
by the end of this year (which I find somewhat incredible).

Thoughts?  Rumors?  Comments?

Tom

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 18:15:43 EDT
From: Michael T Veach <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Select Codes for AT&T Publications
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 7


The phone number is 1-800-432-6600

Major Credit cards accepted.

The AT&T CIC numbers I previously gave ARE correct. (e.g. 1-800-432-6600)

Jim Gottlieb (attmail!denwa!jimmy) posted the BellCore number which seems to
be incorrect.

    Michael T. Veach
      ihlpm!veach

[Moderator's Note: I know. It was only after I put the Digest in the
mail yesterday morning and had gone to bed that I lay there and realized
it was the *Bellcore* phone number which was wrong -- not the AT&T Customer
Information number. We are still looking for the Bellcore number, I assume.
Sorry about that.   PT]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #299
*****************************










Date:     Wed, 16 Aug 89 1:28:01 CDT
From:     TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  TELECOM Digest V9 #300
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>


TELECOM Digest     Wed, 16 Aug 89 01:20:47 CDT    Volume 9 : Issue 300

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

    Secure Voice Mail System Needed (David Stodolsky)
    Re: AT&T Mail and the internet (John Higdon)
    Policy Change Regards Unlisted Numbers? (Sam Ho)
    SNET Is Not a Baby Bell; It's Basically an Independent (John R. Covert)
    Discerning One's Long Distance Carrier (Ed Jones via John R. Covert)
    NPA Dialing Procedure Changes (Greg Monti via John R. Covert)
    Sony Answering Machines (Lou Judice)
    Unusual Warning Notice on Phones (Lou Judice)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 19:41:28 +0200
From: David Stodolsky <[e-mail]>
Subject: Secure Voice Mail System Needed

I need a voice mail system for a health behavior research study.
When I asked for one from a telco in Denmark the answer was:

>Sorry, for the time being we don't have such a product.
>We are looking for something though.

If I can locate a system that handles our requirements, the effort of getting
it approved here can probably be justified.

       ==================================================

Re: Secure Voice Mail - Preliminary System Specifications

Required features -

- must be remotely activated from tone sending telephone:

Voice mail - Each user must have their own voice mail box and greeting message
that are password protected.

Password and greeting message can be changed.

- central functions:

Capacity - 500 user mail boxes, 10 minutes of stored speech for each user.

Call distribution - Automatic call and deliver prerecorded message under
program control with password protection.

Questionnaire procedure permitting collection of data and selection of
conversation partners based upon response patterns.

Security log. Each action of the system must be time stamped and entered in a
system log.

Optional features:

Voice message editing from tone-sending telephone.

Forwarding number for each user, user changeable from tone-sending telephone.

Voice-message bulletin board.

Alarm feature permitting automatic notification of up to three telephone
numbers that continues until a password is entered by a receiver.

Scaleable with the same software up to 2 megabit trunk and 30, 000 users.

ISDN compatible. Capacity for 2 megabit trunk in the scaled up version.

Compatible with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID,
USA) computer system standard for community-based research trials. (see below)

Delivered system can be self contained or a front end to a separate computer.
In the case a front-end system is supplied, it must use RS-422 or other
interface available on the Apple Macintosh and IBM-PC/AT computers.

                 ======================

     The following specifications are from instructions to
community-based research organizations applying for NIAID grants:

     "Equipment will be required for computer-to-computer elec-
     tronic mail communications, report generation, and data
     analysis.  Specifically:

     * MS-DOS/PC-DOS microcomputer IBM compatible PC/AT or
     equivalent,

     * Monochrome display,

     * Minimum of 20 megabyte hard disk and 640 K memory; the
     3.5" diskette drive is recommended,

     * A 2400 baud modem and cable (to be specified by AIDS Pro-
     gram),

     * 132-column printer and cable (Epson LQ-1500 or
     equivalent),

     * Communications software to be specified by AIDS Program,

     * WordPerfect word processing software (version 5.0 is pre-
     ferred)."

     The NIAID recommendations for communication software are not
final, but they will probably include MCI Mail and Lotus Express.
The modem specified will probably be any which is 2400 baud and
Hayes compatible.
======================

David S. Stodolsky, PhD      Routing: <@uunet.uu.net:[e-mail]>
Department of Psychology                  Internet: <[e-mail]>
Copenhagen Univ., Njalsg. 88                  Voice + 45 31 58 48 86
DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark                  Fax. + 45 31 54 32 11

------------------------------

Reply-To: bovine![e-mail]
Subject: AT&T Mail and the internet
Date: 15 Aug 89 13:16:14 PDT (Tue)
From: John Higdon <bovine![e-mail]>
Organization: ATI Wares Team

In article <[e-mail]>, crum%lipari.usc.edu@usc.
edu (Gary L. Crum) writes:
> If there is a gateway between AT&T Mail and the "world UUCP network", then
> it seems that the services provided by AT&T Mail and UUNET overlap somewhat.
> Perhaps AT&T Mail is closer to MCI Mail.

For those that prefer it, AT&T mail offers a UUCP connection to a
subscribing site. Hence, all communications is done on the subscriber's
existing mail software and the fact that it is carried by AT&T Mail is
invisible to the users.

> The AT&T Mail technical representative didn't know what I meant by
> world UUCP network, USENET, Internet, and TCP/IP.  She started talking
> about gateway interface products (e.g. MHS X.400) when I asked about
> gateways.  Maybe I should have used the word "relay".

I subscribe to AT&T Mail via UUCP, therefore my site has AT&T Mail as a
UUCP neighbor. There is no "gateway" as such, unless you consider all
of AT&T Mail's subscribers who use UUCP to be gateways. When talking to
an AT&T Mail technical person say "UNIX" rather than "UUCP" and you
will probably get farther.
--
        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
      [e-mail]       | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 14:14:38 PDT
From: Sam Ho <[e-mail]>
Subject: Policy Change in Unlisted Numbers?

Last week, the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission
issued rules about releasing unlisted numbers to "voice mail" and
"pay-per-view" services, over the objections of the Attorney General's
office, which felt that the privacy implications were not yet clear.

The background is as follows:  Last year, the UTC rejected a proposal
to release unlisted numbers to information providers for billing
purposes.  It also shelved a proposal for "message forwarding" services
which would flash a caller's number on a screen.

The current action was prompted because the UTC said these "services
are already available", and that software exists to record the numbers
of incoming callers to a voice-mail system.  The ruling prohibits such
a linkage.  Violators would have their service disconnected.  The UTC
notes that this should be a sufficient deterrent, since voice-mail
installation is $1500, with a $355 monthly charge, and there are other
ways of gathering numbers for sales purposes.

I am not quite sure what the ruling means, since all numbers, listed or
otherwise, are already recorded for long-distance and 800 calls, and in
the case of 800 calls, may be itemized on the recipient's bill.  I know
that the earlier information providers ruling regarded the disclosure
of name-and-address information, for bills returned as uncollectible.
I would imagine that this has something to do with CLASS services,
which, to my knowledege, are not offered in Washington.

Sam Ho
[e-mail]

[Moderator's Note: At the time of divestiture, one ruling was that telcos
has to share all numbers -- including non-pub numbers -- with the alternate
long distance carriers, for billing purposes only. The carriers were then
and are now forbidden to make other use of the information than billing. PT]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 19:54:27 PDT
From: "John R. Covert  15-Aug-1989 2255" <[e-mail]>
Subject: SNET Is Not a Baby Bell; It's Basically an Independent

Like Cincinnati Bell, and is not really affected by the consent decree except
for market pressure to support what its customers want.  Phone companies are,
of course, amazingly immune to market pressure.

>Basically if the toll tandem in your area doesn't support Equal Access
>(and for much of the state that is true), then you don't get 00.

All tandems in SNET-land support equal access by now.  Some end offices still
don't, notably No. 5 XBars, but No. 5 XBars can do "00" even when they can't
do Equal Access, when needed if the local operating company has its own
operators.

>In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if SNET is refusing to convert their #1 ESS's
>to #1A or #5 so they can implement this.

Number 1 ESSs have equal access.  Every Baby Bell has converted all No 1 ESSs
to Equal Access by now, but again, SNET doesn't have to if they don't want to.
It's not even an issue of whether SNET wants to pay for the new software; the
equal access upgrades were required to be free of charge.

>Newington runs a ess 2B switch (John Covert, correct me if I am really talking
>about a 2A -- I can never remember which of them are a local switch and which
>are a toll tandem).

Newington is, indeed a 2B.  There's no such thing as a 2A, but there is a No 2.
Both are end offices.  There's really no way to tell the difference from the
outside except to note that Newington is probably too big for a No 2.

>This switch is partly digital and partly analog. You hear loud clunks when you
>connect, but I digress.

Well, not really.  The entire switching matrix is analog; the only digital part
is the computer providing the stored program control.  The same is also true of
both No 1 and No 1A ESS.

>On the other hand, places like Canton, Simsbury, Enfield, Winsted,
>Columbia, Norwich (maybe), and all those other still-step or
>newly-converted-to-DMS or something exchanges will never have equal
>access. These towns are so small that they don't fill a prefix.

Not really true.  They'll become equal access when a carrier says that they
want to provide Feature Group D trunks.

>The summation of all this jibberish and reminiscing about CT is that
>203-684 won't be converted for some time, and when they do convert it
>will likely be *after* the Willimantic toll center goes equal access,

Both Stafford Springs and Willimantic are served by a DMS digital toll
center, which certainly can handle equal access.  BTW, the same machine
serves the 203-456 code in Willimantic.

>The New Haven tandem is still crossbar. You can hear the in-band signalling
>as the call is placed.

Being able to hear the in-band signalling is not an indication of a XBar.  It
used to imply XBar Tandem with RST loop supervision trunks.  In the case of
New Haven it's probably a DMS200 with DCMs which connect the receive path
while they're outpulsing, so if it's a 2-wire office you're going to, you'll
hear the reflection during pulsing.

>I don't even know where the ATT point of presence is. I think it's in
>Hartford.

There are certainly a large number of AT&T PoPs in CT, not just Hartford.

/john

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 18:45:27 PDT
From: Ed Jones, National Public Radio (via John R. Covert)
Subject: Discerning Your LD Carrier

[Moderator's Note: John Covert kindly passed along this note he received,
and the one following. PT]

Please, PT, don't encourage readers to dial 700-555-1212 to find out which
Default Carrier is in use on a line.  I made that mistake once, and good
old Ches. & Pot. billed me $.50 for a Directory Assistance call (yes, I
know it doesn't exist, but tell that to their software).

The correct number is 700-555- 4 1 4 1.

  Network?  You mean that thing we use to send radio programs to our stations?

----------------------------

From:    Fred G. Monti - National Public Radio  (via John R. Covert)
Subject: NPA Dialing Procedure Changes
Date: 15 August, 1989

RE:  Changes in Dialing Procedures in 202, 301, 313, 404, 703 NPA's

I only receive summaries of traffic on this net, so these may have appeared
already:

NPA 404:  Beginning on unknown date, phone users in 404 NPA (part of Georgia)
will dial direct-dialed toll and all operator-assisted calls within 404
differently:

CALL TYPE                  OLD WAY           NEW WAY
Toll within 404 NPA        1 + 7 digits      1 + 404 + 7 digits
Op-assist within 404 NPA   0 + 7 digits      0 + 404 + 7 digits

Reason for change:  to accommodate use of interchangeable codes (prefixes
within 404 containing zero or one as second digit).

NPA 313:  Beginning on an unknown date, phone users in 313 NPA (part of
Michigan) may dial direct-dialed toll calls within 313 NPA as only 7 digits
(was 1 + 7 digits).

Reason for change:  unknown.

NPA's 202, 301, 703:  Beginning 1 October 1990, phone users in NPA's 202
(District of Columbia), and those parts of 301 (Maryland) and 703 (part of
Virginia) which are close enough to each other to be affected will be required
to dial local calls across NPA boundaries with 10 digits (currently 7 digits).

Reason for change:  elimination of code conservation.  Currently, there are no
duplicated codes within anyone's 7 digit dialing area.  They'll be allowed
after 1 Oct 90.  Prefixes are being chewed up pretty quickly.

Reason change was announced a whopping 16 months in advance:  to allow PABX,
COCOT and other users with programmable systems time to reprogram them for the
change.  Some systems may be programmed to allow only 7 digit or 1 + 10 digit
calls.  Now, 10 digit calls need to be allowed, but only if the first three
digits are 202, 301 or 703.

This differs from the 617/508 situation in Massachusetts where all calls
across the boundary are 1 + 10 digits regardless of whether local or toll.
In the Washington area, the 10 versus 11 digit distinction will preserve a
way of knowing the difference.

Not announced:  what will happen to the (relatively few) cases where local
and extended area calls within an NPA are currently dialed with 1 + 10 digits
due to code duplication.  They'll probably be reduced to 7 digits.

Greg Monti, National Public Radio, Washington, DC  [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 12:26:22 PDT
From: "L. J. Judice (DTN: 323-4103 FAX: [phone]" <[e-mail]>,
Subject: Sony Answering Machine

Thanks to Dave Levenson for his in depth response to my posting. This
sounds like what's happening.

I'll have to change my message now to "thank you for calling xxx-xxxx.
Please leave a message at the tone, and maintain a greater than 1:1
ratio between your voice message and the background noise level"

:) :) :)

/lou

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 12:26:31 PDT
From: Lou Judice  15-Aug-1989 0916 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Unusual Warning Notice on Phones

While moving offices recently, we noticed the following odd label on the
bottom of AT&T straight sets (normal single line phones):

        WARNING

        USE FOR BUSINESS SYSTEMS ONLY OR YOU
        RISK AN ELECTRICAL SHORT CIRCUIT.


The phones are on a Dimension PBX. I'm sure I've put consumer phone stuff
on a Dimension without frying it, so I'm curious about this. (Note, I
could understand if this was a digital phone or a MET-set type phone).

/ljj

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V9 #300
*****************************