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Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa10381;
4 Jan 94 4:10 EST
Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA09505
(5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 00:08:33 -0600
Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA19446
(5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 00:08:04 -0600
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 00:08:04 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401040608.AA19446@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #1
TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 00:08:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 1
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Happy New Year (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Directory to Telecom Archives (TELECOM Digest Editor)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 23:05:17 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Happy New Year
Happy new year to all readers, and welcome to another volume of
TELECOM Digest. We begin volume 14 with this issue. With this issue of
the Digest is a copy of the index to the Telecom Archives to bring you
up to date on the several hundred files at your disposal there which
include all the past issues of the Digest since its beginning in 1981.
One new thing you will notice about the Archives is that a sub-directory
has been set aside for participants in the unmoderated TELECOM-TECH
mailing list maintained by former Digest participant John Higdon. Mr.
Higdon has been given a method by which copies of his journal can be
automatically forwarded to the archives where back issues can be
fetched by interested parties. At the present time, there is very
little in this area of the archives, but no doubt it will have
additional files whenever TELECOM-TECH is published, should they wish
to make their journal available for all archives users.
I'd like to point out also that the generous financial assistance sent
to the Digest by many readers during the past year has been the main
reason I have been able to continue publication of this journal, and I
hope those of you who see fit to contribute financially from time to
time will continue to do so during 1994, although of course there is
no obligation whatsoever on your part.
So throughout 1994, I hope you will enjoy the Digest and benefit from
the collective wisdom of our reader/writer/participants. That of
course means you as well ... feel free to write and comment anytime.
The volume of mail is such that only a small sample can be used, but I
try to print as wide and diverse a range of material as possible, and
your mail makes it possible.
Patrick Townson
TELECOM Digest Editor
------------------------------
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Directory to Telecom-Archives
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 0:45:27 EST
The Telecom Archives is a repository of information about telecom
topics and a collection of the back issues of this Digest. It is
available using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu, and also by using the
Telecom Archives Email Information Service. Attached here is the
most recent directory to the files in the archives, as of this
date. The various areas of interest (broken down into sub-directories)
are listed first, then below that, the contents of each area.
The indices to authors and subjects is in the process of being
updated to include the final issues of 1993 and should be totally
complete in the next day or two.
total 28
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 0 Jan 3 22:00 Index-telecom.archives
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1173 Sep 25 02:28 Welcome.to.archives
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:19 aos-cocot/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 25 14:04 areacodes/
drwxrwxr-x 11 ptownson 512 Dec 27 00:44 back.issues/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 21:06 caller-id/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Oct 27 03:30 carriers/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 00:11 cellular/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Dec 25 14:05 country.codes/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 00:14 email/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Nov 25 16:59 glossaries/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Dec 25 13:50 history/
drwxrwxr-x 2 ptownson 512 Oct 3 13:21 indices/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Oct 4 13:05 legal-fcc/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Nov 20 1990 minitel/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Dec 25 13:23 miscellaneous/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 22:01 modems/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 00:38 new-readers/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:21 npa.800/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:21 npa.900/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Jan 5 1992 npa.exchange.list-canada/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:25 public.access/
drwxr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1536 Dec 29 22:01 reports/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 20:09 security-fraud/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Oct 15 11:05 technical/
drwxr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 27 00:58 telecom-tech.digest/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 10 1990 tymnet/
aos-cocot:
total 209
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68508 Sep 24 23:43 aos.proposals
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68224 Sep 24 23:44 aos.rules-procedures
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21206 Sep 24 23:48 call.blocking
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 38981 Oct 12 1990 complaint.sticker
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15023 Sep 30 1990 violation-label
areacodes:
total 272
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18580 Jan 1 1993 210-512.split.texas
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18238 Nov 9 1990 214-903.split.texas
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 34805 Jul 30 1991 301-410.split.maryland
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 41444 May 19 1992 404-706.split.georgia
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11139 Sep 16 19:58 416-905.split.ontario
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35073 Dec 9 16:28 guide
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10746 Dec 25 13:09 history
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32625 Sep 25 00:59 how.numbers.are.assigned
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2795 Aug 3 1991 npa.510.sed.script
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35934 Dec 13 1991 npa.809.prefixes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10861 Dec 1 11:19 program.in.c
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21165 Dec 1 11:20 script.and.intl.codes
back.issues:
total 3811
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:55 1981-86.volumes.1-5/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:56 1987.volumes.6-7/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:56 1988.volume.8/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:56 1989.volume.9/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 18:57 1990.volume.10/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 18:57 1991.volume.11/
dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 18:57 1992.volume.12/
drwxr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 6 05:27 1993.volume.13/
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 663 Jan 27 1991 READ.ME.FIRST
-r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1098294 Sep 22 03:06 auth.subj.idx-vol.12-13
-r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1577582 Oct 3 13:11 auth.subj.idx-vol.9-10-11
drwxrwxr-x 2 ptownson 1536 Dec 30 15:55 recent.single.issues/
back.issues/1981-86.volumes.1-5:
total 5666
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 423659 Dec 16 1990 vol1.most.issues
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 620814 Dec 16 1990 vol2.iss001-088
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 382277 Jan 14 1990 vol2.iss089-141
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 619185 Jan 20 1991 vol3.iss001-083
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 364946 Jan 20 1991 vol3.iss084-128
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 618694 Jan 20 1991 vol4.iss001-075
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 411337 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss064-118
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 169101 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss119-140
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 127814 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss142-154
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 357252 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss155-208
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 658 Jan 27 1990 vol5.READ-ME-FIRST
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 623292 Jan 27 1990 vol5.iss001-076
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861286 Jan 27 1990 vol5.iss077-161
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 74260 Jan 20 1991 vol5.misc.msgs
back.issues/1987.volumes.6-7:
total 920
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 639112 Jan 26 1990 volume.6.most.issues
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 274580 Jan 20 1990 volume.7.all.issues
back.issues/1988.volume.8:
total 2321
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 371 Jan 20 1991 1987.vol8.READ-ME-FIRST
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 577639 Jan 20 1991 1987.vol8.iss001-071
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 73630 Jan 20 1991 misc.telecom.msgs
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 726882 Jan 20 1991 vol8.iss070-139
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 724832 Aug 1 1989 vol8.iss140-189
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 227589 Aug 1 1989 vol8.iss190-213
back.issues/1989.volume.9:
total 8672
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 577173 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss001-049
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 564262 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss050-100
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 653097 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss101-150
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 637611 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss151-200
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 744800 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss201-250
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 787166 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss251-300
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 805328 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss301-350
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 780366 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss351-400
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 784366 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss401-450
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 758330 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss451-500
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 794183 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss501-550
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 856691 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss551-603
back.issues/1990.volume.10:
total 15800
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861272 Jan 28 1990 vol10.iss001-050
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 820574 Feb 14 1990 vol10.iss051-100
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 842877 Mar 8 1990 vol10.iss101-150
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 855090 Mar 24 1990 vol10.iss151-200
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 853551 Apr 13 1990 vol10.iss201-250
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 908585 May 1 1990 vol10.iss251-300
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 873608 May 16 1990 vol10.iss301-350
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 858605 May 31 1990 vol10.iss351-400
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 919538 Jun 23 1990 vol10.iss401-450
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 885056 Jul 20 1990 vol10.iss451-500
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 863414 Aug 8 1990 vol10.iss501-550
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 886042 Aug 29 1990 vol10.iss551-600
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 974899 Sep 17 1990 vol10.iss601-650
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 870218 Oct 1 1990 vol10.iss651-700
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 868902 Oct 22 1990 vol10.iss701-750
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 902018 Nov 10 1990 vol10.iss751-800
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 880896 Nov 28 1990 vol10.iss801-850
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 867675 Dec 23 1990 vol10.iss851-900
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 133082 Jan 1 1991 vol10.iss901-908
back.issues/1991.volume.11:
total 18640
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 893021 Jan 20 1991 vol11.iss001-050
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 900405 Feb 8 1991 vol11.iss051-100
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 949798 Dec 27 1991 vol11.iss1001-1050
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 864550 Feb 22 1991 vol11.iss101-150
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 189348 Dec 31 1991 vol11.iss1051-1061
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 869932 Mar 14 1991 vol11.iss151-200
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861113 Mar 30 1991 vol11.iss201-250
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 864673 Apr 23 1991 vol11.iss251-300
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 872293 May 12 1991 vol11.iss301-350
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861315 May 27 1991 vol11.iss351-400
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 941952 Jun 14 1991 vol11.iss401-450
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 922446 Jun 30 1991 vol11.iss451-500
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 871735 Jul 20 1991 vol11.iss501-550
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 872633 Aug 3 1991 vol11.iss551-600
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 868651 Aug 22 1991 vol11.iss601-650
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 901687 Sep 6 1991 vol11.iss651-700
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861278 Sep 20 1991 vol11.iss701-750
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 856742 Oct 8 1991 vol11.iss751-800
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 909356 Oct 25 1991 vol11.iss801-850
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 864298 Nov 9 1991 vol11.iss851-900
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 882326 Nov 23 1991 vol11.iss901-950
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 918465 Dec 13 1991 vol11.iss951-1000
back.issues/1992.volume.12:
total 17312
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 900594 Jan 20 1992 vol12.iss001-050
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 921470 Feb 1 1992 vol12.iss051-100
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 905907 Feb 20 1992 vol12.iss101-150
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 920896 Mar 7 1992 vol12.iss151-200
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 886584 Mar 22 1992 vol12.iss201-250
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 948652 Apr 7 1992 vol12.iss251-300
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 936106 Apr 29 1992 vol12.iss301-350
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 895354 May 20 1992 vol12.iss351-400
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 884860 Jun 6 1992 vol12.iss401-450
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 936120 Jun 21 1992 vol12.iss451-500
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 898774 Jul 15 1992 vol12.iss501-550
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 986567 Aug 2 1992 vol12.iss551-600
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 941731 Aug 22 1992 vol12.iss601-650
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 951483 Sep 11 1992 vol12.iss651-700
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 952503 Oct 2 1992 vol12.iss701-750
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 986788 Oct 25 1992 vol12.iss751-800
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 990138 Nov 16 1992 vol12.iss801-850
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1053771 Dec 12 1992 vol12.iss851-900
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 593668 Jan 2 1993 vol12.iss901-928
back.issues/1993.volume.13:
total 18608
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1116357 Aug 24 21:15 vol13.iss001-050
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1069719 Feb 16 1993 vol13.iss051-100
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1076701 Mar 4 1993 vol13.iss101-150
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1114780 Mar 23 1993 vol13.iss151-200
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1077570 Apr 10 1993 vol13.iss201-250
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1144023 May 4 1993 vol13.iss251-300
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1254595 May 26 1993 vol13.iss301-350
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1196757 Jun 19 1993 vol13.iss351-400
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1126854 Jul 5 1993 vol13.iss401-450
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1188811 Jul 23 02:02 vol13.iss451-500
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1169634 Aug 8 02:21 vol13.iss501-550
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1303262 Aug 24 21:42 vol13.iss551-600
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1266873 Sep 15 05:07 vol13.iss601-650
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1246209 Oct 15 11:10 vol13.iss651-700
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1202985 Nov 10 19:30 vol13.iss701-750
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 1293683 Dec 6 05:27 vol13.iss751-800
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 1055917 Dec 30 14:25 vol13.iss801-844
back.issues/recent.single.issues:
total 1144
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29168 Dec 6 05:18 V13_#800
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28245 Dec 6 06:47 V13_#801
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24438 Dec 7 17:45 V13_#802
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29343 Dec 8 07:40 V13_#803
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25345 Dec 8 17:22 V13_#804
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24137 Dec 8 18:32 V13_#805
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22951 Dec 9 10:46 V13_#806
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25661 Dec 9 12:24 V13_#807
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22594 Dec 9 13:07 V13_#808
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20881 Dec 9 20:08 V13_#809
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23405 Dec 10 05:27 V13_#810
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23821 Dec 13 15:40 V13_#811
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25051 Dec 13 16:24 V13_#812
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23163 Dec 13 17:47 V13_#813
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24218 Dec 13 18:07 V13_#814
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30450 Dec 13 19:23 V13_#815
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22987 Dec 13 16:47 V13_#816
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30206 Dec 14 03:51 V13_#817
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27870 Dec 14 15:24 V13_#818
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22023 Dec 15 05:59 V13_#819
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24790 Dec 16 04:27 V13_#820
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24786 Dec 16 05:47 V13_#821
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29661 Dec 16 18:26 V13_#822
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24968 Dec 17 18:36 V13_#823
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24166 Dec 18 07:22 V13_#824
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23775 Dec 19 01:03 V13_#825
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28123 Dec 19 01:58 V13_#826
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24749 Dec 19 02:34 V13_#827
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31167 Dec 19 19:29 V13_#828
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27623 Dec 19 22:46 V13_#829
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23188 Dec 20 14:31 V13_#830
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15715 Dec 20 15:30 V13_#831
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26305 Dec 21 09:02 V13_#832
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26410 Dec 22 16:27 V13_#833
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27956 Dec 22 17:34 V13_#834
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24361 Dec 23 07:34 V13_#835
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26845 Dec 23 08:28 V13_#836
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25525 Dec 26 00:00 V13_#837
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26056 Dec 26 00:53 V13_#838
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28974 Dec 27 06:24 V13_#839
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23255 Dec 28 17:10 V13_#840
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23885 Dec 29 14:07 V13_#841
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30556 Dec 30 03:18 V13_#842
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23370 Dec 30 04:34 V13_#843
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27125 Dec 30 15:55 V13_#844
caller-id:
total 180
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10795 Jul 30 14:47 asp.procomm
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4569 Feb 2 1992 bellcore.specs
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11267 Sep 24 21:06 cpid-ani.developments
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 61504 Jul 30 1990 legal-decision
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 85802 Aug 24 20:05 ohio-decree
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6807 Feb 2 1992 specifications
carriers:
total 256
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9886 Jan 23 1990 10xxx.access.codes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6847 Mar 2 1991 10xxx.list.updated
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 7714 Jul 23 1991 10xxx.new.revision
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8593 May 5 1990 10xxx.notes.updates
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8734 Dec 13 1991 att-reach.out-calculator
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 474 Feb 11 1990 att.service.outage.1-90
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10590 Aug 11 1991 lata.names-numbers.table
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 801 Aug 1 1989 ld.discounts-1985
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 2271 Aug 1 1989 ld.rate.notes-1985
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 13675 Aug 1 1989 ld.rates.comparison-1985
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3417 Oct 27 03:30 orange.calling.card
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11489 Sep 29 1991 phone.home-usa
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4184 Jul 27 1991 sprint.rates
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 46738 Jan 18 1990 starlink.vrs.pcp
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27533 Feb 9 1990 telco.name.list.formatted
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31487 Jan 28 1990 telco.name.listing
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31396 Oct 27 03:28 telepassport.intl.calls
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26614 May 29 1990 unitel-canada.ld.service
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 427 Sep 20 1991 usa.direct.service
cellular:
total 133
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 39449 Dec 14 1990 carrier.codes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35488 Aug 22 1992 cellular.and.900.in.uk
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15141 Sep 24 19:52 cellular.sieve
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16188 Mar 14 1991 fraud.article-abernathy
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2755 Mar 14 1991 fraud.prevention
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24455 Feb 6 1991 motorola.programming
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 298 May 31 1990 west.germany.cellular
country.codes:
total 830
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6089 Dec 27 1991 READ.ME.FIRST
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 9150 Jan 31 1990 david.leibold.listing
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21165 Dec 25 14:05 intl.codes.script
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11370 Feb 9 1990 john.covert.listing
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12260 Jan 20 1990 london.ac.script
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12069 Mar 5 1990 london.codes.script
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 190125 Jan 31 1993 norway.goes.8.digits
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18138 Sep 24 20:23 toll.free.prefixes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 34771 Sep 24 21:25 zone.1.areacode.guide
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 267 Apr 10 1993 zone.1.canada.area.codes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35934 Apr 10 1993 zone.1.npa.809.countries
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 645 Dec 27 1991 zone.1.usa.areacodes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35128 Jan 27 1993 zone.2
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31857 Dec 27 1991 zone.3
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 37294 Dec 27 1991 zone.4
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 141455 Apr 8 1993 zone.4.uk.44.detailed
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 56224 Jun 20 1992 zone.5.codes.50-54
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 60921 Jun 20 1992 zone.5.codes.55-59
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27587 Dec 15 1991 zone.6
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8787 Nov 16 1992 zone.7
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17716 Nov 16 1992 zone.8
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43018 Sep 27 1992 zone.9
email:
total 276
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62602 Aug 1 1989 ecpa.1986
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 97987 Aug 4 1990 federal.laws
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25794 Aug 24 19:57 internet.mail.guide.8-93
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19158 Nov 16 1992 mcimail.worldwide.service
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5922 Feb 22 1991 middle.east.troups
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20660 Sep 5 1990 privacy
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13622 Aug 18 1991 system.survey
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32160 Feb 26 1992 telex.from.internet
glossaries:
total 409
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43101 Nov 25 16:52 isdn.acronyms
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 118555 Nov 25 16:50 misc.acronyms
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 115325 Nov 25 16:59 more.acronyms
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 42188 Jan 14 1990 phrack.acronyms
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 69007 Oct 2 20:33 telecom.acronyms
history:
total 243
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17903 Sep 24 20:51 19th-century-telegraphers
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10746 Dec 1 11:20 area.splits
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 474 Sep 25 00:09 att.service.outage.1-90
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1247 Feb 10 1990 digest.first.issue.cover
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2395 Oct 23 13:08 enterprise-numbers
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 7597 Feb 10 1990 exchange.names
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 47203 Aug 1 1989 fire.in.chicago.5-88
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1998 Jan 27 1990 fire.in.st-louis.1-90
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 377 Jan 27 1990 fires.elsewhere.in.past
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16534 Feb 11 1990 nsa.original.charter-1952
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14354 Aug 12 1990 octothorpe.gets.its.name
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8504 Jan 27 1990 old.fashioned.coinphones
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 2756 Jan 27 1990 old.hello.message
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 5492 Aug 1 1989 pearl.harbor.phones
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11387 Aug 24 19:14 phone.magazine.from.1926
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 4816 Aug 1 1989 song-day.bell.system.died
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17129 Jan 5 1992 stock.ticker
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3864 Aug 22 1992 tat-8.fiber.optic
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2337 Jan 27 1990 telecom.digest
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27984 Nov 23 1991 teletype
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30996 Feb 26 1992 western.union
indices:
total 2670
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 30279 Jan 3 14:40 archives-index
-r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1577582 Oct 3 13:11 authors-subjects.1989-91
-r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1098294 Sep 22 03:06 authors-subjects.1992-93
legal-fcc:
total 633
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29980 Oct 29 1991 87-215.modem.tax
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68508 Sep 24 20:40 aos.proposals
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68224 Sep 24 20:41 aos.rules-procedures
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 484 Jan 14 1990 aos.ruling
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 60505 Feb 24 1991 apple.data.pcs.petition
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21206 Nov 18 1991 call.blocking
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 70477 Sep 5 1990 computer.bbs.and.the.law
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 39956 Jul 14 1990 elec.frontier.foundation
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 36549 Aug 24 19:44 equal.access.rules
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 53628 Dec 6 1991 house.of.reps.bill.3515
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24706 Oct 29 1991 modem.tax.action
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 19378 Aug 1 1989 modem.tax.discussion
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103069 Sep 24 23:45 sysops.legal.liability
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 33199 Oct 4 13:05 wiretap.laws-procedures
minitel:
total 222
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11736 Apr 22 1990 dial-up.numbers
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 95917 Apr 22 1990 minitel.tar.Z.uu1
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 94305 Apr 22 1990 minitel.tar.Z.uu2
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22688 Apr 22 1990 minitel.tar.Z.uu3
miscellaneous:
total 203
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5795 Jan 27 1993 bellcore.public.documents
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4788 Jun 10 1990 books.about.phones
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3397 Jul 30 20:43 comp.dcom.telecom.charter
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14105 Nov 24 1990 genie.star-service
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15604 Aug 1 1989 mass.lines
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 463 Aug 1 1989 measured-service
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27351 Nov 8 21:55 no-amer.isdn.users.group
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9764 Jan 20 1990 starline.features
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4527 Oct 27 03:34 telecom-services
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62927 Oct 7 19:32 telecom.newsgroup.faq
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28529 Nov 25 17:46 uiuc.telecom.syllabus
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 116 Oct 22 1990 white.pages
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24541 Aug 1 1989 zum.debate
modems:
total 258
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2450 Jan 20 1990 call-waiting
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 106028 Aug 22 1992 digital.data
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30981 Feb 9 1992 hotel.phones
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103336 Jan 28 1992 tutorial
new-readers:
total 80
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62927 Sep 25 00:38 frequently.asked.question
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15302 Jan 20 1991 how.to.post.msgs.here
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 3014 Jan 27 1990 letter.to.new.readers
npa.800:
total 77
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 45105 Mar 2 1991 carrier.assignments
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17618 Feb 2 1992 carrier.list
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13779 Sep 19 1990 prefix.assignments
npa.900:
total 89
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 40940 Mar 4 1993 800.collect.callbacks
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32815 Mar 25 1990 900.service.special.issue
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15488 Nov 20 1990 carrier.assignment
npa.exchange.list-canada:
total 230
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15271 Dec 15 1991 npa.204.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18564 Dec 27 1991 npa.306.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23266 Dec 15 1991 npa.403.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17076 Dec 15 1991 npa.416.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14843 Dec 15 1991 npa.418.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10384 Jan 5 1992 npa.506.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11672 Dec 15 1991 npa.514.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13919 Dec 15 1991 npa.519.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19166 Dec 15 1991 npa.604.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12413 Dec 15 1991 npa.613.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12956 Dec 15 1991 npa.705.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13081 Dec 27 1991 npa.709.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5566 Feb 7 1990 npa.800.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10503 Dec 15 1991 npa.807.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15611 Dec 15 1991 npa.819.exchanges-canada
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13118 Dec 15 1991 npa.902.exchanges-canada
public.access:
total 190
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28296 Sep 29 1990 dialup.access.in.uk
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9087 Jan 27 1993 dialups.to.internet
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9087 Jan 27 1993 internet.dialup.access
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 70153 Sep 25 01:02 pc.pursuit
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 75793 Sep 25 01:00 unix.public.access.sites
reports:
total 1351
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 58455 Dec 27 07:19 25th.anniversary.of.unix
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17389 Oct 1 1992 ada.phone.requirements
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13983 Apr 19 1992 alascom.story
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16833 Nov 3 1992 autovon-dod.phone.co
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18962 Jun 20 1992 autovon.instructions
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23355 Feb 14 1993 cable.role.in.telephony
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 40784 Feb 25 1993 clinton.hi-tech.speech
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 52871 Apr 10 1993 coming.of.the.fibersphere
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 37177 Aug 22 1992 computer.in.hotel
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 23944 Aug 1 1989 computer.state
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 436 Mar 16 1991 deaf.communicate.on.tdd
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 86136 May 19 1992 deregulated.telecom.mkt
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15877 Sep 1 1990 dial.tone.monopoly
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8234 Sep 26 1991 exploring.950-1288
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19836 Nov 20 1990 fax.products.for.pc
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32625 Mar 29 1990 how.numbers.are.assigned
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 54041 Dec 13 1991 hr.3515.federal.law
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 126515 Dec 18 01:54 info.policy.conference
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25799 Sep 12 1990 internet.story-abernathy
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 39296 Nov 25 17:31 issaquah.miracle
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 33400 Nov 25 17:39 metcalfs.law.and.legacy
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29973 Aug 11 1991 monitor.soviet.xmissions
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 99565 Sep 27 00:06 natl.info.infrastructure
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 55287 Nov 25 17:15 new.rule.of.wireless
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28201 Nov 25 17:03 number.crisis.in.zone.1
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 38772 Aug 1 1989 pizza.auto.nmbr.id
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17950 Jan 14 1990 rotenberg.privacy.speech
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20526 Jun 11 1991 st.louis.phone.outage
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103069 Apr 26 1990 sysops.libel.liability
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43671 Nov 16 1992 telex.ansback.to.internet
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21831 Jan 20 1991 telsat-canada-report
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18138 Sep 29 1991 toll-free.tolled.list
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 75793 Apr 8 1993 unix.public.access.sites
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29377 Nov 20 06:22 venezuela.telecom.strike
security-fraud:
total 1058
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24515 Sep 3 1991 atm-bank.fraud
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16188 Sep 24 19:57 cellular.fraud-abernathy
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2755 Mar 14 1991 cellular.fraud.prevention
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13343 Feb 25 1990 computer.fraud.abuse.act
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27395 Jun 23 1990 craig.neidorf.indictment
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9354 Jul 30 1990 craig.not.guilty
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 67190 Jun 23 1990 crime.and.puzzlement
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62602 Aug 12 1990 ecpa.1986
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 97987 Aug 12 1990 ecpa.1986.federal.laws
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6303 Apr 10 1993 herb.zinn.story
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21918 Dec 2 1990 illinois.computer.laws
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28935 May 19 1990 jolnet-2600.magazine.art
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30751 Mar 7 1990 jolnet-attctc.crackers
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43365 Jan 28 1990 kevin.polsen
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35612 Apr 1 1990 legion.of.doom
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20703 Aug 12 1990 len.rose-legion.of.doom
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2516 Jun 14 1991 len.rose.in.prison
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 184494 Jun 22 1991 len.rose.indictment-1
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 192078 Jun 22 1991 len.rose.indictment-2
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15355 Feb 1 1993 sentencing.guidelines
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 109927 Sep 24 20:08 telecom.usa.call.blocking
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6344 May 24 1992 virgin.islands.phreak
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14821 Sep 12 1990 war.on.computer.crime
technical:
total 1059
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14124 Mar 24 1992 air.fone.frequencies
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3551 Jan 27 1993 ans.mach.exclusion.scheme
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 474 Sep 25 00:09 att.service.outage.1-90
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 18937 Sep 24 19:10 auto.coin.collection
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8526 Dec 29 1992 boing.zip
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16292 Mar 18 1990 class.ss7.features
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16367 Sep 1 1990 e-series.recommendations
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3422 Jan 20 1990 early.digital.ESS
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 9052 Aug 1 1989 find.pair
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26717 Sep 16 19:28 foreign.exchange.service
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68804 Feb 2 1990 hi.perf.computing.net
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31520 Aug 11 1991 how.phones.work
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17016 Aug 5 1990 iridium
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19745 Mar 12 1993 isdn.paper
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12896 Nov 20 1990 isdn.pc.adapter-hayes
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 73366 Feb 15 1993 ixo.program.scripts
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 42150 Feb 14 1993 ixo.tap.protocol
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12961 Aug 18 1991 lightning.surge.protect
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 36641 Aug 1 1989 mnp.protocol
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 106028 Sep 24 21:59 modem.for.digital.data
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103336 Sep 24 22:00 modem.tutorial
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23449 Jan 18 1992 motorola.programming
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 60707 Aug 18 1991 pager.bin.uqx
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13079 Aug 22 1991 pager.ixo.example
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 41112 Jun 20 1992 phone.hardware.you.build
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28922 Aug 11 1991 phone.patches
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 34337 Sep 24 23:56 radio-phone.interference
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 74604 Oct 15 11:00 slip.setup.server.machine
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5921 Apr 8 1993 tdd.specifications
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 11752 Aug 1 1989 telstar
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14429 Jan 18 1992 test.numbers
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 55580 Sep 16 20:16 truevoice.dsp.analysis
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 37947 Aug 1 1989 wire-it-yourself
-rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 4101 Aug 1 1989 wiring.inside.phones
telecom-tech.digest:
total 245
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1194 Dec 25 11:01 READ.ME.FIRST
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 91765 Oct 5 19:03 cdtt.1st.vote.results
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9719 Nov 11 16:22 cdtt.2nd.vote.discussion
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 84272 Dec 8 12:39 cdtt.2nd.vote.results
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5251 Nov 25 22:51 cdtt.group.charter
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 53693 Nov 1 06:46 cdtt.newsgroup.discussion
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 709 Dec 27 00:56 intro.to.tel-tech
tymnet:
total 54
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25098 Dec 2 1990 inbound-outbound.rates
-r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3979 Dec 2 1990 tymdial-9.6-links
-rw-r--r-- 1 ptownson 24577 Dec 10 1990 tymnet.outdials
================================
The above is accurate as of this date. It changes daily as new issues
of the Digest are published and as new special reports and other files
are added. Get an updated copy on a regular basis.
If you cannot do anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu (then cd telecom-archives)
you can request the help file for using the Email Service instead.
Patrick Townson
TELECOM Digest Editor
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #1
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Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 02:14:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Digest <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401040814.AA02536@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #2
TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 02:14:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 2
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Rate of Change (Stewart Fist)
Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey J. Carpenter)
Wireless Transceiver Boards (Aninda Dasgupta)
Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Earl Vickers)
Question About Ring Frequency (Jascha Franklin-Hodge)
Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Jeffrey L. Haynes)
Questions About VOXSON 899 Mobile Phone (Yang Yu-shuang)
US West's India Project Delayed by Foreign Investment Debate (A. Indiresan)
Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (Linc Madison)
Operator, Where Are My Car Keys? (Charles Hoequist, Jr.)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 03 Jan 94 23:18:27 EST
From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Rate of Change
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This semi-thread, a wee bit off-topic
perhaps, was in progress as last year came to an end and it seems a
very fitting way to begin the new year; thus I present as the first
order of business in 1994 this essay from Stewart Fist. PAT]
On 28 Dec 1993, H.A. Kippenhan Jr wrote:
> It's probably safe to say that technology is advancing at a greater
> than exponential rate. One of the things that is often overlooked is
> that there are more scientists alive [and hopefully working - 8-)]
> today than the total in mankind's history to date. It's no wonder
> that things are changing so fast.
> We want to be careful about 'run(ning) out of things to invent'.
> There was a proposal just shortly after the Civil War to close the
> U.S.Patent Office because everything that could possibly be invented
> had been thought of. No criticism here (I assume that 'run(ning) out
> of things to invent' was a -in-cheek remark).
Without being critical, what's interesting in this string is that your
correspondents find it curious and worthy of note, that our ancestors
(stupidly) thought their old pace of change was extraordinary. We are
being invited to snicker at this quaint and ridiculous idea. Everyone
knows, that (by comparison with today) the pace of change of our
ancestors was very slow and sedate?
That's the sub-text here.
But! Every generation thinks that it lives in THE period of most rapid
change. Past generations always look slow by comparison because we
look at THEIR change from OUR perspective.
My guess is that we technologists view the world, distorted in this
egoistic way, because our 'present' is always mid-stream in the
technological changes that dominate our lives. And, since we egoists
are obviously at the centre of the universe, ipso facto, these changes
must appear extraordinary and revolutionary to the hoi polloi who
don't understand things as well as we do. To our ancestors, these
changes would be extraordinary!
The distortion comes about because of our viewpoint. The problems and
attitudes of the past always appear trivial to us -- because they are
SOLVED. Relativity is such a simple and obvious concept -- why did it
take an Einstein and X years to work it out? A smart high-school kid
today could write a better explanation of relativity than Einstein in
a week.
And, similarly, we judge the rate of change selectively from our own
perspective, having grown up with the 'solved' technologies which
caused all the troubles in the past. And our judgement as to what is
important is always a perspective from today's vantage point -- but
people in the past found other aspects of change more important and
difficult to handle -- things that are now trivial to us.
This is where Tofler falls down in his "Future Shock" idea. I don't
see any evidence that people today don't handle technological change
reasonably well and easily. Ten years after Toffler warned us of
technology's disruptive effects, Future Shock hasn't appeared in the
way that was postulated. Today's technologies certainly aren't any
more difficult for us to handle than those that gave 'Future Shock' to
past generations (Crystal sets, for instance. Trams and buses for
another) Morse-code telegraphy had ten times the impact of satellites.
Telex has been a thousand times more important and more revolutionary
than electronic mail.
Computers and modern communications technologies might be revolutionary
to the half-million technologists, but to the five billion users these
chips and fibres are just creating marginal improvements on the
adequate 'service facilities' they had before. Computers produce a
very evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change to our culture
when you compare them to the impact of something like the motor car.
My mother was ten before she saw her first motor car, 18 before she
saw an aeroplane, but she lived to fly the Concorde and see a man step
on the moon. How does this pace of change compare with my life span,
when cars, aeroplanes and space travel are reasonably commonplace?
And the car I drive now is not really much different to the one I
drove 30 years ago. The car has made very little 'revolutionary'
impact on my life because I've always had one, and it has always
worked at about the same speed and travelled the same miles.
So I have reservations about all this philosophical "Future Shock" and
"Information Society/Age" stuff -- I think it is tabloid sensationalism
under the guise of a pseudo-academic cloak. I see little evidence that
the 'perceived' pace of change in the community is faster now than it
has been over the last hundred years. It seems to me that 'present'
change has always been perceived as 'amazingly fast' -- it's a
perspective illusion.
If you were to identify the time in recent history where citizens
faced most 'Future Shock' then it would have to be the 1890s and early
1900s. This was when Bell invented the telephone; Edison the light
bulb and phonograph; photography and the movies became popular;
Marconi and De Forrest created radio; and trams, buses, cars, trucks
(and later aeroplanes) replaced the horse and carriage and bicycle.
All of these technologies had a direct, disruptive and rapid effect on
the way (and place) people lived, worked and played. It is hard to
think of anything in the last twenty years with one-tenth the impact
of the steam-train in the 1800s.
In fact, if you stand back and look at the last century of technology
with a dispassionate eye, then the computer and fibre revolution has
been rather benign for the average citizen. Fibre optics just means
better phone quality. And these days the technologists placed
considerable emphasis on 'user-friendliness' and on the 'transparency'
of most computer applications -- so a large part of the computer's
power is directed at making it easy to assimilate, and easy to use.
This didn't happen with technologies in the past - 'real men' learned
to double de-clutch.
Most computers are hidden, and work behind the scene. Technologists
see these things and marvel, but the average Joe Bloggs in the streets
just finds things easier to work, or with a few extra features. Few
people are conscious when driving a modern car, that computers are
controlling the ignition, brakes and radio-tuning. These 'revolutionary'
technical changes are just technical trivia.
How do you compare these things with the impact on people and cultures
from the 'transport revolution' of the early 1900's: horses almost
disappeared from the roads, and trams, trains and motor cars replaced
them. Suddenly everyone could travel -- from suburbs to the city,
between towns, and even between states. Families were no longer
isolated by distance; people had access to all forms of entertainment
and recreation, most of which had only previously been available to
the rich with stables.
And it all happened in about the same period of time that we have been
dealing with the computer revolution -- about 20 years. I think we
need to get our feet back on the ground and stop imagining that we are
more important than we are.
================
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mr. Fist, thanks very much for an
excellent presentation of a point of view we often tend to overlook.
If any readers want to present a rebuttal to Mr. Fist, or elaborate
further on his comments, I'll be happy to carry the thread here for
a bit longer. It makes a great topic to begin the new year. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 12:13:27 EST
From: Jeffrey J. Carpenter <jjc+@pitt.edu>
Subject: Caller ID in Pennsylvania
I received a copy of Pennsylvania Act 83 of 1993. This law permits
Caller-ID in Pennsylvania as long as both per-line and per-call
blocking are available. There may be a charge for per-line blocking,
but not for per-call blocking. There are a number of parties that are
excluded from charges for per-line blocking, including victims of
domestic violence, women's shelters, and health and counseling
centers. People ordering phone service may get per-line blocking at
no charge within 60 days of ordering service.
It permits a service that will automatically block calls from lines
with blocking, and permits selective unblocking of lines with per-line
blocking.
There are a number of blocking exceptions for PBX's, 911 services and
800/900 services.
Telephone companies offering this service must notify their customers
sixty days in advance of the implementation to allow subscribers to
obtain per-line blocking.
jeff
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 94 14:45:44 EST
From: add@philabs.Philips.Com (Aninda Dasgupta)
Subject: Wireless Transceiver Boards
I want to design a wireless data network for indoor (office space)
applications. I want to use as many off-the-shelf products as
possible. The first item I need is a wireless transceiver. The
requirements are:
1) should work around corners and through walls (a range of say
three to four rooms/offices),
2) support a data rate anywhere from 10 to 64 Kbps,
3) should use carrier frequencies that are not restricted by the FCC and
are unlikely to be very crowded by other systems,
4) should be priced around $10.
I would like to get off-the-shelf boards to which I can hook up my
micro-processor based systems to build wireless nodes on the network.
Can anyone point me to manufacturers of transceiver boards?
Requirement one means that I can't use infra-red. I should probably
use RF. How about the 900 MHz systems? The FCC allows only a few
tens of watts of power in the 900 MHz range. What frequencies do
other such systems (e.g. Echelon) use and what power levels do they
provide? Model airplanes and toy cars use RF remotes. So does the
BOSE home audio remote controller. What freq. and power levels do
these use?
Any help or comments will be greatly appreciated. I will summarize if
I get sufficient replies. Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Aninda DasGupta (add@philabs.philips.com) Ph:(914)945-6071 Fax:(914)945-6552
Philips Labs\n 345 Scarborough Rd\n Briarcliff Manor\n NY 10510
------------------------------
From: earl@netcom.com (Earl Vickers)
Subject: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 03:04:48 GMT
I'm putting together a list of phone numbers for bizarre recorded
information services. I used to have lots of numbers like this, but
they all seem to have disappeared. For example, there used to be one
where you could leave whatever strange sound effects or messages you
wanted, and they would periodically edit and splice them into their
new outgoing greeting. And there used to be a number in San Francisco
called the Earthquake Prevention Hotline, with a different oddball
comedy bit every couple days.
All I have to offer so far is They Might Be Giants's Dial-a-Song
number, (718) 963-6962.
And dialing 1073214049889664 gets you a computer voice that reads you
your own phone number, in case you forgot or something. (This works
from San Jose, CA, and I'm told it's toll free but I couldn't swear to
it.)
Please post or email any interesting numbers you may know of.
(Obviously, please, no answering machines that might sometimes be
answered by a human.) Thanks!
Earl Vickers earl@netcom.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A couple of numbers I'll add to this
list are 312-731-1100 and 312-731-1505. Both are operated by a fellow
named Sherman Skolnick in Chicago who is a 'conspiracy buff'; you know,
one of those people who believe that everyone but Oswald killed JFK.
Both are five minute recordings, and he changes the two messages two
or three times per week. PAT]
------------------------------
From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge)
Subject: Question About Ring Frequency
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 05:45:09 GMT
Can someone tell me the ring frequecies and durations of the standard US
telephone ring?
Thanks,
joeshmoe@world.std.com Jascha Franklin-Hodge
------------------------------
From: jhaynes@austin.ibm.com (Jeffrey L. Haynes)
Subject: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 21:13:38 GMT
Reply-To: jhaynes@austin.ibm.com
Organization: AIX Defect Support
I am trying to figure out how to wire two phone lines into a regular
phone jack. Is this possible? I thought it was because only two wires
are used.
I have tried connecting the yellow and black to the red and green
on the second line, but that doesn't seem to work.
Anybody know anything about this stuff?
Thanks,
Jeff Haynes email: jhaynes@austin.ibm.com AIX Defect Support
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I guess we know a few things
about it Jeff. You do not want to connect the yellow and black wires
to the red and green; that causes both lines to get shorted out. R/G
is typically the first line (of two in a two pair cable) and Y/B is
the second line. (I'm talking like an American now; forget about
Europe or other countries for the purpose of this discussion.) You
bring Y/B to your phone in the same way the R/G are brought there, but
as *separate and distinct* things. You need a second phone instrument
or at least a phone with two distinct lines on it in order to use the
Y/B pair of wires, and that is presuming of course that telco has the
wires connected at their end and in service.
If you have two lines from telco, then what you do is at the modular
connection box depends on the kind of phone(s) you are using. If you
have a true two-line phone, then connect the four wires to the four
screw terminals as indicated by the color markings for each. In
addition you attach the four wires from the cover of the modular box
to the associated screw terminals in the same way. Plug in your two
line phone and it should work okay. If you are using two separate
phones, we do it a bit differently. Inside the modular box, have the
four wires connected as above, but from the Y/B terminals, run two
little jumper wires to a second modular box you bought from Radio
Shack or similar. Connect the jumper wires from the Y/B screws of
the first box to the R/G screws in the new, second modular box. Now
plug your second phone into your second box.
The reason we wire the jumpers from Y/B in the one to R/G in the other
is because R/G is traditionally known as the 'first line' and Y/B is
traditionally known as the 'second line'. Most devices which handle
only one phone line (i.e. a single-line phone instrument, an answering
machine, a modem, etc) are wired internally to operate on the 'first
line'; that is, to respond to and connect with R/G. So if you plan to
use the 'second' (or Y/B) line for a modem or answering machine or fax
machine, etc you need to give it whatever phone service you are going
to have there on the 'first line' as far as it can tell, meaning see
to it that the R/G on the newly installed modular terminal box gets
the feed, ** but in a separate modular terminal box **. Never allow
any of the four wires to touch each other. If more questions arise in
this project, please write again. PAT]
------------------------------
From: yang@mundoe.maths.mu.OZ.AU (Yang Yu-shuang)
Subject: Questions About VOXSON 899 Mobile Phone
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 01:47:37 GMT
Hi Net Friends,
I bought a VOXSON CELLVOX 899 mobile phone recently. I have a few questions
about it:
(1) It comes with a 12 VDC 1000mA adaptor plug into the desktop charger. Is
the adaptor just the ordinary AC-DC adaptor? Can I use the car cigarette
lighter instead of the AC-DC adaptor?
(2) I am thinking of making a small charger to be used in the car. What are
the points to note? Can the battery be treated as the ordinary NiCad
battery?
(3) The battery has six metal pieces. Two of them are in contact with the
phone which power the phone and four of them are in contact with
the charger. The four in contact with the charger are labeled as
"-", "S", "T", "+". What does those labels mean?
(4) I noticed that the same type of phone in different shops carries
different labels. For instance, the phones sold by Strathfield has a
sticker saying "produced in Australia" while the ones in Myer has a
sticker saying "made in Japan". The phone and the model number are the
same otherwise. Are there any internal differences?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
YS (Sam) Yang
yang@maths.mu.oz.au
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You can use any 'clean' (i.e. regulated)
DC power supply rated at 10-13 volts and at least one amp, although my
Micronta 13.8 VDC power supply is rated at three amps. Your car battery
via the cigarette lighter will work fine. You don't need a charger in
the car; just use a connector which fits the cigarette lighter on one
end and your cellular phone battery charge connection on the other. As
long as the motor is running your car battery will juice up the phone
battery and let you use the phone as well. The plus and minus signs are
for the positive and negative sides of the battery; most likely the S
and T have to do with whether or not your phone is (or can be) wired
into the circuitry of the car so that an incoming call will cause your
horn to sound or your lights to flash if your car is parked somewhere
and you are outside the car with the phone left in the vehicle turned
on. Are you *certain* there are only two connections between the
battery and the phone and not at least three or four of the six which
reach the charger? It could also be that the S and T connections are
like thermal switches -- when the battery gets fully juiced up it gets
a little warm and some cellphone batteries use a thermal coupler to
shut off the charger when the battery says it is no longer needed.
There are probably no significant differences in the internals of your
phone and those from Japan or Korea or Hong Kong or China or the local
Radio Shack, etc. PAT]
------------------------------
Subject: US West's India Project Delayed by Foreign-Investment Debate
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 18:54:51 -0500
From: Atri Indiresan <atri@crazies.eecs.umich.edu>
This report is from the India-D listserv group. I do not have the
original citation for the article.
Atri
------
US WEST'S PROJECT IN INDIA IS DELAYED BY DEBATE OF FOREIGN-INVESTMENT POLICY
US West Inc.'s pioneering proposal to offer an alternative to India's
state-owned phone system has been put on hold.
The regional project, which would amount to a revolution in
India's tightly controlled telecommunications industry, has run into
opposition from some members of India's parliament and from unions
representing workers in the state-owned network.
US West proposes offering an alternative to the government-run
network in parts of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Also on hold
are 17 similar proposals lined up behind U S West's initiative, which
received approval last month from the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board.
Technically, the project has been returned to the investment board
for certain evaluations. However, a senior official has said that no
clearance will be given until the government reaches a consensus on
the role of private and foreign investment in the telecommunications
industry.
The unions say basic telecommunications services shouldn't be
opened to competition. They have the support of some left-wing
parliament members and are threatening to strike if there is a change
in policy.
However, a policy change is just what is needed, says Nagarajan
Vittal, head of the Department of Telecommunications. He has been
pushing for one since assuming his post in October. Now, his proposals
are awaiting consideration by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and
his cabinet. If the review goes as expected, a new policy is likely to
be announced before the end of January.
Mr. Vittal argues that there is no alternative to opening up basic
services to competition. He dismisses as inadequate a 400 billion
rupee ($12.85 billion) plan he inherited, which would increase the
country's phone lines to 20 million in 200 from the current seven
million. That plan would still leave a waiting list of two years,
compared with today's five or six, he estimates.
"We should target 1.2 trillion rupees ($38.54 billion) to bridge
this perennial gap," Mr. Vittal says. India has less than one
telephone per 1000 people. The global average is 10.5.
Mr. Vittal wants India to have 20 million lines by the end of
1995. But because India lacks the resources to finance such expansion
on its own, he wants to admit foreign investors.
"I want India's telephone density to be at world levels and to
provide telephones on demand," Mr. Vittal says. "The quality of
services must go up, and that can only happen with competition."
According to Boli Madappa, U S West's director of international
network projects, the first stage of U S West's plan would create
430,000 lines with an investment of $90 million in and around the
textile exporting town of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. In the second stage,
to be completed by 2004, the total investment would rise to $176
million and the number of lines to 930,000.
U S West would provide basic telephone service, as well as data
services, public call offices and cable television.
Several companies seeking to enter the market are closely watching
the outcome of the U S West proposal. According to Mr. Vittal,
American Telephone & Telegraph Co. has offered to eliminate the
waiting list in 71 towns by providing competitive services, and
Motorola Inc. has offered a "waitlist-buster" proposal that, among
other things, would be designed to clear the waiting list in New
Delhi, India's capital, in six months.
------------------------------
From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison)
Subject: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 22:41:40 GMT
Several people have written recently about ten-digit dialing schemes
for local calls to adjacent area codes. The idea is to preserve the
concept that any local call can be dialed without a '1' even if prefix
shortages make it no longer possible to dial just the seven-digit
number.
In most cases, you are permitted, but not required, to dial the 1
anyway, and all telcos are recommended to allow 1 + NPA + number for
all calls within the NANP, including local calls within the same NPA.
I was recently in Dallas, where you *must* dial:
7-digit number local, same area code
NPA + 7-digit number local, different area code
1 + NPA + 7-digit number all non-local calls
If you dial, for example, 1-817-265-xxxx instead of 817-265-xxxx, you
get an intercept recording telling you to dial again without the 1.
If you dial 1-214-nxx-xxxx instead of nxx-xxxx for a local call, you
get a similar intercept. There is some logic, at least, in saying
that any call that incurs a toll must be dialed with the 1, and thus
that any call that does not incur a toll *may* be dialed without the
1, but there is just no excuse whatsoever for *prohibiting* the 1 for
local calls.
I only tried this from GTE Southwest, not from Southwestern Bell,
since my parents had to accept exile to be within commute distance of
my father's new office location. It is possible that SWB does better
on this point, as well as in every single other facet of telephone
service.
Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 15:20:00 +0000
From: charles (c.a.) hoequist <hoequist@bnr.ca>
Subject: Operator, Where Are my Car Keys?
Esteemed Editor,
This is a followup to my posting concerning the new 411 service in
Atlanta. In response to an e-mail request to post more details to the
Digest about subscriber requests which don't exactly fit the telco's
DA template, here is a selection.
Bear in mind that the operator doesn't dare just brush off the
subscriber. That may bring a complaint. But if the call takes too
long, the operator's AWT (average work time -- the average duration of
the calls at the operator's position) will go up, which is also evil.
So everything has to be either solved or at least properly redirected,
preferably in 20 seconds or less.
First, there are some frequent errors, such as subscribers asking for
DA in another area code. A subclass of of these are the telephony-
challenged. The operators usually read out the entire sequence for the
call to the subscriber ("Dial one, then <area code>, then ..") and in
one case the subscriber obediently hit DTMF 1 ("ma'am?" "Yes?" "You
have to hang up first.")
Second, there are ambiguous or poorly-stated listing requests. These
can be mildly humorous:
"I'd like the number of X in Jefferson"
"Which one, ma'am? I have two Jefferson listings for that name."
"Well, it's the one on the main street."
"Neither is listed as having Main Street as an address."
"No, it's the main street, it runs right through the center of
town."
(pause)
"Ma'am, I don't know the name of that street."
"Hmm. Well, it's the one that turns into the state road a little
out of town ..."
This can go on and on.
Others would get me fired for talking back to customers if I had to
put up with them: "Well, that's what _I_ always call my bank, and
_they_ always know what I'm talking about!"
Then there are some which are telephony-related, but not DA calls,
like the bozo who badgered the operator endlessly about whether he'd
get charged for a DA call made from his cellular phone. Or requests
for beeper numbers.
Finally, there are the miscellaneous requests:
- what time is it? Not, what is the number to get the time recording?
The subscriber was very explicit.
- when do the buses run?
- what zipcode is <X>?
- and the winner: "Could you tell me what research is going on
at Emory University?"
Charles Hoequist, Jr. | Internet: hoequist@bnr.ca
BNR, Inc. | voice: 919-991-8642
PO Box 13478 | fax: 919-991-8008
Research Triangle Park NC 27709-3478
USA
The number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate your telephone
ninety degrees and try again.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, directory assistance operators
(in fact, all telco operators) get a tremendous amount of abuse in a
day's time. As Ms. Murphy, my former next-door neighbor and retired
IBT operator once told me, "I thought something was wrong if I hadn't
been cussed out by at least two or three subscribers before noon each
day ...". Murphy was the very first union steward for the operators in
Chicago over a half century ago; back in the days when 'everyone knew'
no one would ever organize "the Bell" ... too big, too large, it just
can't be done <grin> ... Murphy helped do it and after some forty years
in the service of Ma Bell she retired in the early 1960's. She said to
me she often missed the subscribers cursing at her all day long. :) PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #2
****************************
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Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 03:52:25 -0600
From: TELECOM Digest <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401040952.AA30138@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #3
TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 03:52:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 3
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
GDC V.FAST Modem Bulletin (Seng-Poh Lee)
US Digital Cellular Standard (Weiyun Yu)
Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John C. Fowler)
CFP - ACM SIGCOMM'94 (Patrick Dowd)
Cellular System in Guangzhou, Mainland China? (Laurence Chiu)
Ludwig's Book on Viruses Forbidden in France (Jean-Bernard Condat)
ISDN Cards for IBM PCs (Arie Markus)
GSM-Phones From London (Sami Vainionpaa)
GTE vs. Cellular One (Michael Judson)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: lee@gdc.com (Seng-Poh Lee)
Subject: GDC V.FAST Modem Bulletin
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 17:31:32 EST
Organization: General DataComm Ind. Inc., Middlebury, CT
What follows is a bulletin from General DataComm regarding the
availability of our V.FAST modem.
For LITERATURE ONLY, please call 1-800-777-4005 (outside the US, call
(203) 792-0542).
For TECHNICAL or PRODUCT questions, you may either fax your queries to
(203) 758-9129, or send e-mail to vfast@gdc.com. Please include a
daytime phone number.
Please mention that you heard about it in TELECOM Digest.
----------------------------------------------------
General DataComm, Inc. 1579 Straits Turnpike. , Middlebury, CT 06762-1299
INTERNET BULLETIN
GDC ANNOUNCES V.FAST MODEM AVAILABILITY
Middlebury, CT, December 30 -- General DataComm has just announced
immediate availability of their new V.F 28.8 Series modems. These
modems operate at full duplex speeds of 28.8 Kbps (Kilobits per
second) in each direction, with compressed file speeds exceeding four
times that rate. Currently shipping V.F 28.8 models are the DeskTop
standalone modem and SpectraComm 7" high density rackmount version for
central site installations. The DataComm V.F 28.8 standard rackmount
model will be available in January. These modems are guaranteed to
meet the new V.34 ITU-T recommendations as soon as it is ratified.
Units purchased now will be upgraded, free, over the phone line.
With 2- and 4-wire, synchronous and asynchronous, dial up and leased
line operations, these may be considered universal modems. Containing
the ITU-T V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.32bis, V.34 and Bell 212A and
103 modulations and V.42/V.42bis error detection and correction with
data compression, this modem covers speeds from 300 bps to 28.8 Kbps,
with effective throughput up to 128 Kbps with data compression.
V.fast - V.fastest!
Currently there are few actual 28.8 Kbps modems in the market.
Testing the DeskTop V.F 28.8 Series against two of these has shown GDC
the clear winner in the speed race. From random, incompressible
files, to data base and graphics files so common in LAN and
multi-media applications, GDC bests the competition by as much as
100%. With over twice the speed in many applications, using lines
that are typical of over 50% of the U.S. dial-up network, the results
clearly indicate GDC modems provide the best high-speed solution.
These tests are currently being confirmed by an independent testing
laboratory.
Speed Saves
For modem users, this means that with graphics and database file
transfers, they will be cutting their phone bill in half using GDC's
modems over the other V.fast solutions, and saving significantly more
over V.32bis or slower modems. Companies and individuals looking for
high speed modems to meet their applications requirements, are
sensitive to these cost issues. Buying the wrong modem could cost
many times the price of the unit. In fact, it may be shown that, even
if you were given a competitive modem at no cost, it would pay to
purchase a GDC unit.
The GDC V.F 28,8 Series may also be equipped with high speed
interfaces - both ITU-T V.35, ITU-T V.24/V.28/ISO2593 and EIA/TIA
530-A, ITU-T V.10/V.11/V.24/ISO 2110 are available for international
and domestic use. This is very important, since these interfaces may
be required to actually achieve the inherent speeds available using
these new modems. With approvals already received for more than 30
countries, and more on the way, the GDC V.F 28.8 should be considered
the international modem of choice for multi-national concerns.
FLASH Flash
All GDC V.F 28.8 Series modems are currently shipping with FLASH
memory, allowing feature enhancements to the modems to be implemented
by upgrading the software electronically, rather than swapping PROM
chips. This means that obsolescence is a thing of the past, and users
will be able to keep their modems up-to-date by making a phone call
and downloading code for:
- invoking new features
- implementing code enhancements
- insuring compatibility with the V.34 standard
- establishing connectivity with new software communication
packages and other devices.
Many of today's modems are based on modified V.32bis chip sets
incorporating proprietary modulation firmware which cannot be upgraded
to V.34 when the standard is ratified. Phrases like "V.fast
technology", "V.32terbo", "V.fast Class" are commonly used to infer
compliance with the V.fast recommendations. This may not, in fact,
become a reality when the standard becomes available.
GDC guarantees its modems can be upgraded to the V.34 standard via
download. Competitive modems still have to physically update the
hardware as well as the software when upgrading products. Loss of the
use of the modem while transporting it to and from the manufacturer
for upgrade, disruption of service while the service technician
replaces the chip and tests it, and the costs of providing services
during these times are typical costs associated with other modem
updates for your prospect. "These costs are avoided using the new GDC
software upgrade technology. With GDC, a phone call does it all."
says Dick Drake, Director of Marketing for Transmission Products.
In January, GDC will begin compliance testing with the proposed V.34
standard, insuring GDC will be ready to implement the changes
necessary when the standard is ratified. In addition, there are a
number of new features already in the works. These include: Automatic
Dial Restoral (ADR) for backup of leased lines with dial circuits;
Password and Security Callback; V.25bis serial dialing (sync and
async); and Remote Configuration of modems from other locations.
How Upgrades Work
There are two characteristics built into the V.F 28.8 that allow
upgrades to be achieved over the phone line. First is the ability of
the hardware, in this case a universal communications platform, to
change it's functionality based on the resident software provided.
The second characteristic is the ability to download the
modem-defining software by connecting to the GDC Bulletin Board (BBS).
The new software containing the desired features and operational
characteristics -- the modem personality -- for the upgrade are then
loaded down to the internal FLASH memory of the V.F 28.8 modem.
Since the modem has the capability of storing up to four custom
configurations, along with four fixed pre-defined profiles, and up to
ten customer-defined phone numbers, these are also saved so the
customer retains all unique operational parameters during this upgrade
process.
Safety Concerns
In addition to the approved modem standards, many modem customers are
concerned with safety issues. The V.F 28.8 Series has passed UL
safety tests for lightning protection (UL1459) and for flammability
(UL94V0). And heat is not an issue. With less than six watts of
power consumption, our V.fast modems produce much less heat than our
competitors with 12 watts, or more. This translates into greater
safety, reliability, and savings for the customer.
Digital Impact
In some cases, users may wish to use the new V.F 28.8 modems as a
substitute for, or backup of, digital circuits. With effective
throughput speeds exceeding 100 Kbps, applications abound:
1. The V.F 28.8 Series is ideally suited for backup of Switched 56
Kbps analog or 64 Kbps digital leased lines using the dial-up network.
Speeds are now compatible with many LAN-to-LAN applications. This
insures both reliability and cost efficiencies.
2. Many managers are taking a hard look at the costs of upgrading to
an all-digital network. Some of the benefits they see by staying with
high-speed modems are:
a. Modems fit in existing networks, and can be incrementally
added as required versus installing a whole new digital system.
b. Modems provide the only universal connectivity worldwide.
c. Installation, training and support are all minimized
with modems versus having to retrain, re-equip, and
re-educate the department when switching to new technology.
d. Modem technology is inherently more cost effective.
e. Most MIS managers are more "comfortable" with modem
technology, and the GDC V.F 28.8 Series may be changed
into a managed modem with minimum network disruption with
a simple download. Equipment obsolescence is virtually
eliminated.
3. Generic applications, using modems as just another design element,
are appearing from non-traditional sources. Applications
from medical (CAT scan data transfer), to multi-media (training
and manual field updates) are appearing daily. Many of these,
due to larger file sizes, require higher speeds and universal
transport - ideal for the GDC V.F 28.8 Series modems.
4. Most large users have occasion to work overseas. Many are
multi-national. The GDC V.F 28.8 Series is currently
homologated (approved for use) in thirty countries. In most
cases, GDC is the only game in town (and country). "It would
be a shame for a user to get new V.fast modems for his U.S.
offices and then find out that his overseas offices, where he
spends big communications bucks, can't use all the available
speed because they implemented a proprietary system with a
modem not approved in this country." said Drake.
General DataComm, Inc. is a leading provider of multimedia networks
and telecommunications equipment worldwide. Based in Connecticut, GDC
serves corporate customers and telephone operating companies throughout
the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.
------------------------------
From: weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu)
Subject: US Digital Cellular Standard
Organization: Information Services, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 00:35:12 GMT
It has come to my attention that the digital cellular standards
adopted by US carriers are not going to be compatible with what we
have adopted in Australia, GSM. I am interested in finding out a bit
more about the US systems but cant find any FAQ on the subject.
My specific questions are:
1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM.
2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into
the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved.
3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third
standard that can be used world wide?
Does anyone know the answers?
Dr Weiyun Yu "Why Me?" | Internet: weiyun@ucc.su.oz.au
Dept of Surgery, Uni of Sydney, Australia | Voice: 61+2-692-3851
Personal opinions only... | Fax: 61+2-692-4887
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 00:02 EST
From: John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail.com>
Subject: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
The following is from an interesting insert in my December telephone bill.
<begin quoted document>
A SPECIAL NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN COLORADO:
EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 1994, YOU WILL BE BILLED FOR CALLS YOU MAKE TO
CERTAIN CELLULAR TELEPHONE NUMBERS.
If the cellular phone you are calling begins with 1 + 579, you will be
billed for the cellular airtime charges and also any long distance
charges associated with the call when applicable.
Like most other 1+ calls, there will be a charge for placing calls to
these cellular 1+ numbers. The cost of the call will depend upon the
cellular customer you call. (The charges for these calls are deter-
mined by the cellular carriers, not by U.S. West.)
If there are any questions about cellular airtime charges that appear
on your bill, to the above prefix, please call the Customer Inquiry
Center at 1-800-USW-BILL.
<end quoted document>
A couple of comments: Colorado is one of those states where any
non-local call requires that a 1 be dialed before the number.
Currently, 1 + 7D can be used, but 1 + NPA + 7D will need to be used
after February 27, 1994.
Also, the use of the 579 prefix may not apply to other states. For
example, my mother, who lives in Dixon, New Mexico, has a regular
phone number on the 579 prefix there.
I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular
service.
John C. Fowler, 3513813@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: dowd@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick Dowd)
Subject: CFP - ACM SIGCOMM'94
Reply-To: dowd@eng.buffalo.edu
Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 14:46:32 GMT
Call for Papers
ACM SIGCOMM'94 CONFERENCE
Communications Architectures, Protocols and Applications
University College London
London, UK
August 31 to September 2, 1994
(Tutorials and Workshop, August 30)
An international forum on communication network applications and
technologies, architectures, protocols, and algorithms.
Authors are invited to submit full papers concerned with both theory
and practice. The areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
-- Analysis and design of computer network architectures and
algorithms,
-- Innovative results in local area networks,
-- Mixed-media networks,
-- High-speed networks, routing and addressing, support for mobile
hosts,
-- Resource sharing in distributed systems,
-- Network management,
-- Distributed operating systems and databases,
-- Protocol specification, verification, and analysis.
A single-track, highly selective conference where successful
submissions typically report results firmly substantiated by
experiment, implementation, simulation, or mathematical analysis.
Papers must be less than 20 double-spaced pages long, have an abstract
of 100-150 words, and be original material that has not been
previously published or be currently under review with another
conference or journal.
In addition to its high quality technical program, SIGCOMM '94 will
offer tutorials by noted instructors such as Paul Green and Van
Jacobson (tentative), and a workshop on distributed systems led by
Derek McAuley.
Important Dates:
Paper submissions: 1 February 1994
Tutorial proposals: 1 March 1994
Notification of acceptance: 2 May 1994
Camera ready papers due: 9 June 1994
All submitted papers will be judged based on their quality and
relevance through double-blind reviewing where the identities of the
authors are withheld from the reviewers. Authors names should not
appear on the paper. A cover letter is required that identifies the
paper title and lists the name, affiliation, telephone number, email,
and fax number of all authors.
Authors of accepted papers need to sign an ACM copyright release form.
The Proceedings will be published as a special issue of ACM SIGCOMM
Computer Communication Review. The program committee will also select
a few papers for possible publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on
Networking.
Submissions from North America should be sent to:
Craig Partridge
BBN
10 Moulton St
Cambridge MA 02138
All other submissions should be sent to:
Stephen Pink
Swedish Institute of Computer Science
Box 1263
S-164 28 Kista
Sweden
Five copies are required for paper submissions. Electronic submissions
(uuencoded, compressed postscript) should be sent to each program
chair. Authors should also e-mail the title, author names and abstract
of their paper to each program chair and identify any special
equipment that will be required during its presentation.
Due to the high number of anticipated submissions, authors are
encouraged to strictly adhere to the submission date.
Student Paper Award: Papers submitted by students will enter a
student-paper award contest. Among the accepted papers, a maximum of
four outstanding papers will be awarded full conference registration
and a travel grant of $500 US dollars. To be eligible the student
must be the sole author, or the first author and primary contributor.
A cover letter must identify the paper as a candidate for this
competition.
Mail and E-mail Addresses:
General Chair
Jon Crowcroft
Department of Computer Science
University College London
London WC1E 6BT United Kingdom
Phone: +44 71 380 7296
Fax: +44 71 387 1397
E-Mail: J.Crowcroft@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Program Chairs
Stephen Pink (Program Chair)
Swedish Institute of Computer Science
Box 1263
S-164 28 Kista
Sweden
Phone: +46 8 752 1559
Fax: +46 8 751 7230
E-mail: steve@sics.se
Craig Partridge (Program Co-Chair for North America)
BBN
10 Moulton St
Cambridge MA 02138
Phone: +1 415 326 4541
E-mail: craig@bbn.com
------------------------------
From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu)
Subject: Cellular System in Guangzhou, Mainland China?
Date: 03 Jan 1994 10:22:36 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California
Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com
I plan to travel to mainland China in the near future. I am hoping to
be able to use a cellular phone in the area but from distant
recollection I think they use GSM. I don't know of any US provider
that uses GSM and hence would have no idea how to purchase a phone
that uses that standard. Does anybody have any ideas on how to get
one? Purchasing one in China would be exorbitant I would imagine.
An an aside I think Hong Kong uses AMPS and with the massive amount of
trade between Senzhen (sp?) -- the new economic zone in southern
China, I wonder what system they use there? How would one roam
between the two areas?
Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California
Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com
------------------------------
From: cccf@altern.com (cccf)
Subject: Ludwig's Book on Viruses Forbidden in France
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 9:25:34 EST
Translated in French language by Jean-Bernard Condat, Mark A. Ludwig's
book "The Little Black Book of Computer Viruses" is actually available
in all bookstores for 198 FF. The editor of this event is:
Addison-Wesley France (41 rue de Turbigo, 75003 paris, France; Phone:
+33 1 48879797, Fax: +33 1 48879799).
Monday Dec. 27th, Addison-Wesley France received a legal pursuit to
stop the diffusion of all issues of "Naissance d'un Virus"
immediately. The judgment became definitive on Dec. 30th at 11:00 at
the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris.
Followed the increadible text, piece of humor :-)
+++++++
ASSIGNATION EN REFERE D'HEURE EN HEURE
devant Monsieur le President du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris
L'an mil neuf cent quatre vingt treize et le VINGT SEPT DECEMBRE
A Dix Heures Cinquante Cinq minutes
A LA DEMANDE DE :
LA SOCIETE PRESSIMAGE
SARL au capital de 250 000 francs -
inscrite au RCS Paris B 332 127 828
dont le siege social est 19, rue Hegesippe-Moreau
75018 Paris
agissant poursuites et diligences de ses representants legaux
domicilies audit siege
Ayant pour avocat Maitre Eric ANDRIEU, avocat associ{ demeurant a 75017
Paris - 22, rue Fortuny - Toque R 047 - Tel: 47637426 - Telecopie: 42272675
J'AI
DONNE ASSIGNATION A :
1/ Monsieur Mark A. Ludwig
domicilie aux editions Addison-Wesley France
41 rue de Turbigo - 75003 Paris
2/ LES EDITIONS ADDISON-WESLEY FRANCE
prises en la personne de leurs dirigeants legaux domicilies audit
siege 41 rue de Turbigo - 75003 PARIS
3/ LES EDITIONS BORDAS
prises en la personne de leurs dirigeants legaux domicilies audit
siege 17 rue Remy Dumoncel - 75014 PARIS
D'avoir a comparaitre le TRENTE DECEMBRE 1993 a 11 HEURES a l'audience et
par devant Monsieur le President du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris,
tenant l'audience des referes au Palais de Justice de 4 boulevard du
Palais - 75001 PARIS
Vous devrez comparaitre a cette audience ou vous y faire representer
par un Avocat inscrit au Barreau. A defaut, vous vous exposeriez a ce
revues editees par Pressimage est, au-dela de leur contenu editorial,
la remise simultanee a titre de prime aux acheteurs des journaux de
disquettes informatiques pouvant etre utilisees sur les
micro-ordinateurs de chacun.
2/ Monsieur Mark A. Ludwig est unnfiance de la part de la clientele
de Pressimage qui peut craindre, en utilisant les disquettes editees par la
requerante, d'introduire un virus dans son propre systeme informatique.
Au surplus, la diffusion de l'ouvrage litigieux et de son annexe cree un
SOUS TOUTES RESERVES
Pieces versees aux debats:
- livre "Naissance d'un virus"
- justificatifs des activites de Pressimage.
--------------
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is quite interesting. Perhaps one
of our readers versed in French will translate the above for me, and
I'll run the English translation in a day or two. It is not that common
for books to be banned in the United States. Generally the only time a
book will be censored (or banned outright) in the USA is when the govern-
ment feels very threatened by it. Two which come to mind are "The CIA
and the Cult of Intelligence" and "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast
Asia". Both were written by former operatives of the Central Intelligence
Agency when George Bush was in charge of that agency. In both instances
the government convinced a court that publication/distribution of the
book would be quite harmful to the government's interests. When the books
were finally allowed to be published they contained large amounts of
blank space -- entire pages were completely blank in places -- as the
authors and publishers attempted to comply with the court order while
still printing *something*. When reading the books, I'd be on a page
and halfway through a paragraph; the printed text would stop and resume
perhaps an inch or two down the page with a note in the middle saying
the text originally planned to appear there was removed by court order.
In one section, the text stopped halfway down the page, and about a
dozen completely blank pages followed with the text resuming about two-
thirds of the way through the thirteenth page with the same notation
on each of the blank pages. The books were deliberatly published that
way with the gaping holes in the text throughout to show the public
the large amount of stuff the government had censored. I believe the
authors remain under government-imposed silence even today, over
two decades after the books were written.
Is there anyone in this room old enough to remember when {Ramparts
Magazine} published AT&T's calling card check-digit secrets back in the
middle 1960's? AT&T went to court at the time of publication and got
an order banning that issue of the magazine. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 15:12:39 IST
From: Arie Markus <F46024@vm.biu.ac.il>
Subject: ISDN Cards For IBM PCs
Hi,
I would like to know if there are any ISDN cards for the IBM PCs yet.
Please reply via direct mail as I am not subscribed. Any help would
be appreciated.
Arie Markus (VE3JLM/4X6JO)
------------------------------
Reply-To: comp.dcom.telecom@mpoli.fi
Subject: GSM-Phones From London
From: sami.vainionpaa@mpoli.fi (Sami Vainionpaa)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 03:14:00 +0200
Organization: Metropoli, Finland
Hi,
I live in Finland and I'm going to travel to London in the beginning
of next year and I found out that GSM-telephones are quite cheap there
(at least cheaper than in Finland) ;)
But I don't know where to buy it. So I would appreciate to get all
kinds of information (addresses, prices, tel. numbers, FAX-numbers,
etc.) I am interested in knowing if GSM-phones have EUR-certifications;
that proves they are European made.
Especially interested in marks like: Ascom Crystal,
Ericsson GH 197,
Nokia 1011.
------------------------------
From: judson@crl.com (Michael Judson)
Subject: GTE vs. Cellular One
Date: 3 Jan 1994 23:47:43 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest]
Does anybody have any comments regarding which cellular service is
better, GTE or Cellular One?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *Which* Cellular One and *which* GTE in
*which* market area? Judging from the site where you logged in, it is
likely you are referring to the Bay Area in California, but that might
not be your physical location. 'Cellular One' is a trademark name for
numerous carriers on the 'A' side; GTE has several telephone operating
companies. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #3
****************************
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Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 20:11:51 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401050211.AA08331@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #4
TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 20:10:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 4
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Sprint Response to MCI Announcement (John D. Gretzinger)
Magazine Telemarketers From (Heck) (Andrew C. Green)
Book Review: "Kermit: a File Transfer Protocol" by Da Cruz (Rob Slade)
Need Help Wiring OLD Extension Phone to Modern System (Rob Levandowski)
Old AT&T/Wsetern Electric Documents (George Thurman)
TasCom Managers, etc. Sought (Scott Sanbeg)
NBC Computer Series (Barry Mishkind)
SWBMS to Reduce Roam Rates! (Mark W. Earle)
Fundraising/Saving Program (Steve Freedkin)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: JOHN.D.GRETZINGER@sprint.sprint.com
Date: 4 Jan 94 19:18:24-0500
Subject: Sprint Response to MCI Announcement
Passed along for your enjoyment.
John D. Gretzinger
Sprint doesn't speak for me, and I don't speak for them.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<forwarded announcement>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Forwarded message from PC SprintMail:
STATEMENT FROM WILLIAM T. ESREY, SPRINT CHAIRMAN & CEO
IN RESPONSE TO MCI "NETWORK CATCH-UP" ANNOUNCEMENT
"Sprint is not at all surprised by MCI's network catch-up
announcement. More than a year ago, Sprint announced its
broadband network plans to deploy SONET and ATM. We were the
first to offer commercial ATM service in August 1993. We continue
to have the most modern network and remain as the only
100 percent digital, fiber-optic long distance carrier.
"MCI is very good at packaging announcements that make
mountains out of molehills. Sprint hopes the public will take
this latest ploy for what it is -- a slick admission of being
behind in terms of technology deployment.
"On the other hand, MCI's foray into local access has some
merit. Sprint long has endorsed expanded local competition and
believes MCI's efforts may be one in a long series of steps
necessary before local competition will exist.
Network Upgrades
"We agree with MCI that it's going to take a lot of people
working together to build the information superhighway. Sprint
welcomes MCI and others aboard this significant effort.
"An important first step in the investment in the National
Information Infrastructure is the development and expansion of the
network.
"We announced our strategic vision for our advanced network a
year and a half ago and are the only carrier implementing a
broadband data strategy. We were also the first carrier to
announce plans for SONET, which we revealed over a year ago.
Since that time, we have moved from opening up pipes, which is the
basis of today's announcement, to the many exciting applications
that are driving the National Information Infrastructure concept.
"The examples are numerous. For example, our InterNet
capabilities are unrivaled. Sprint offers the most widespread
Internet connectivity through SprintLink(R) network -- the first
and only TCP/IP network service for commercial and government
Internet users to be offered by a carrier. This service has
expanded to offer international connections and forms the core of
the global Internet, with two-thirds of the international Internet
traffic to and from the United States being carried on SprintLink.
This service originated from a cooperative agreement between
Sprint and the National Science Foundation to provide
international InterNet connections to the domestic InterNet.
"Sprint has been and continues to be the leader in
introducing leading edge technologies, which are the 'building
blocks' of the information superhighway, to the marketplace. We
led the industry by being the first major long distance company to
deploy frame relay, and we have more frame relay customers than
any of our competitors. We were also the first to deploy ATM
service and our first customer turned up service last year.
"Our leadership in this key technology has been widely
recognized -- most recently by the government by being selected to
provide ESNet for the Department of Energy and NASA -- because of
our unique ability to offer ATM.
"That recognition as the technology leader in ATM extends to
the telecom industry, as well as the academic and government
communities, by being the only company selected to provide ATM for
the National Information Infrastructure Testbed. NIIT is a
consortium of business, government and academic leaders working
together to speed the delivery of the information highway.
"Our ATM leadership, in conjunction with our 1993 deployment
of SONET, will ensure that Sprint continues to build on its
reputation as the advanced networking leader.
Local Access
"The virtual monopoly that exists today in local access is
troublesome for the long distance industry. Currently, more than
99 percent of long distance traffic originates and terminates over
facilities owned by local telephone companies, principally the
Regional Bell Operating Companies. Long distance competitors are
at the mercy of local telcos, since they are the only way to reach
our customers. Today, about 45 percent of the cost to carry a
long distance call is a direct payment to the local telephone
company for the 'last mile' connection.
"Sprint has been an advocate of expanded competition in local
access primarily because of the excessive cost of access charged
by the RBOCs in their respective operating areas.
"MCI's plan to build local access networks in major
metropolitan areas could be another step toward local competition.
Competition will not happen overnight, however. It took more than
15 years of constant litigation and ultimately the breakup of the
Bell System before competing carriers were able to establish a
meaningful presence in long distance. The local monopolies of the
RBOCs are at least as strong as the monopoly enjoyed by Bell in
long distance prior to divestiture.
"MCI's plans, no matter how grand, should be viewed much the
same as the plans for local access that have been announced by
cable television, cellular and PCS providers -- positively, but
without expectations of near-term impact.
"The issue of RBOC entry into the interexchange market does
not change with MCI's plans. True competition for local access is
still many years away. Until there is actual and effective
competition in the local loop and the bottleneck is broken, the
RBOCs should not be allowed to act as both competitors and virtual
sole source access providers to long distance carriers. When the
means and opportunity for the RBOCs to discriminate against long
distance competitors is lifted through competitive local access,
then, and only then, should the restrictions on the Bell companies
be lifted."
Jan. 4, 1994
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 10:33:40 CST
From: "Andrew C. Green" <ACG@HERMES.DLOGICS.COM>
Subject: Magazine Telemarketers From (Heck)
As a member of what are apparently some very popular demographic
categories, I get a constant stream of telemarketing calls. Most are
semi-intelligent types who drop the effort when we decline the offer,
but recently we've had a string of bozos all originating from one
source, and before I go on the attack, I thought I'd poll the forum
here for anyone else who's had the same experience.
I recently renewed my subscription to "Car and Driver" magazine, a
publication boasting circulation of something like 1.1 million, if
memory serves. At about the same time, I received a call from a true
whacko who thanked me for resubscribing to C&D, then offered me one of
those multi-magazine subscriptions where they quote you a low weekly
rate (failing to mention that the monthly charge is higher than
individual subscriptions direct from the actual publishers), plus a
set of Ginsu steak knives. Yes, really. He got insulting when I
pointed out that his math didn't add up and that Car and Driver
probably did not appreciate his trying to sell "Road and Track"
subscriptions from their mailing list.
Last night I got another call from a girl who also thanked me for
my C&D subscription, then tried desperately to foist a 16.9% Visa
card at me. No, thank you, said I. "But it's pre-approved!" she
shrieked, apparently not aware that gainfully-employed people get
those things all the time. ;-)
Not _two_ _hours_ later, an elderly lady from "DialAmerica Marketing"
called. You guessed it: she thanked me for my Car & Driver
subscription, and would I like to extend it at the 1993 rate? She
disavowed any knowledge of the preceding Froot Loops, which I sort of
believed, as it appears that Car & Driver has painted my phone number
on an expressway overpass somewhere, and promised to relocate my
number to their "Do Not Call" list. Nevertheless, this magazine has
far surpassed all others on my Telemarketing Annoyance scale, and
before I start complaining to the magazine, I'd be interested in
hearing from any other TELECOM Digest/Car and Driver subscribers who
have experienced the same thing. E-mail is fine; I'll submit any
interesting followup news in the future.
Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com
441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg
Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473
------------------------------
Date: 4 Jan 94 14:59 -0600
From: Rob Slade <roberts@decus.arc.ab.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "Kermit: a File Transfer Protocol" by Da Cruz
BKKERMIT.RVW 931123
Digital Press
PO Box 3027
One Burlington Woods Drive
Burlington, MA 01803-9593
800-DIGITAL (800-344-4825)
"Kermit: a File Transfer Protocol", da Cruz, 1987
KERMIT@CUVMA.BITNET fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu
It may be that Kermit is popular because it is a robust file transfer
protocol suitable for almost any line or network conditions. It may
be that Kermit is popular because it is available for pretty much any
computer you can name (and a bunch that you can't). It may be that
Kermit is popular because it is free. Or, it may be that Kermit is
popular because of the (written) communications skills of Christine
Gianone and Frank da Cruz.
As Kermit is both protocol and communications program, so this book is
an introduction to computer communications, protocol specification,
introduction to the Kermit implementations and programmers' reference
guide, all rolled into one. An ambitious task, but one handled with
grace and skill, in this instance.
Part one gives us the basics of the development of Kermit and of data
communications from the user's perspective. This confirms that, yes,
the name was inspired by the Jim Henson muppet character (or, more
exactly, by a Muppets wall calendar). One hopes that Jim Henson
approves of this memorial. Chapter two does not get into exhaustive
detail on computer (mostly PC) communications, but does cover the
fundamental steps and needs with more brevity, completeness and wit
than one sees in many works intended for the mass market. (I am sorry
to see the confusion of "baud" and "bits per second", although the two
terms are correctly defined in the glossary.)
Part two gives us two primers; one on computers and data files, and
the other on data communications. The section is well named. Both
chapters are easily understood by the novice and provide the minimum
necessary information to proceed from. Excellent pieces, both of
them.
Part three is an introduction to using Kermit. Chapter five describes
a set of the most commonly used commands, including an introduction to
the simplest login scripts. Chapter six discusses common problems
while seven deals with the possibly thorny issue of getting Kermit
into your machine in the first place. Included in this last chapter
is a BASIC source code program for a "read only" Kermit protocol for
downloading files.
Part four is a guide to writing a Kermit implementation. Quite a
complete guide: not only does it give you the protocol specification
(which is still *the* protocol specification) but also optional
features, advanced options and even tips on programming style.
Appendices give you the bulk of the Kermit source code (in C), a
command summary, packet summary, the ASCII character set and a
discussion of binary, octal and hexadecimal numbers and notation.
If you want to build your own implementation of Kermit, this is the
book for you. If you care nothing for programming, and have only
bought your computer in order to "get online", this is the book for
you, too. (Be sure to get "Using MS-DOS Kermit," too.) (cf.
BKUMSKMT.RVW) For those in between, this is an excellent resource to
have around to answer those "how does <INSERT NAME OF DATA COMM TOPIC
HERE> work?" type questions.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKKERMIT.RVW 931123
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Rob Levandowski)
Subject: Need Help Wiring OLD Extension Phone to Modern System
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 22:38:20 GMT
Hi!
I have an antique extension phone that I'd like to connect to my phone
system. It's a small black desk set, with no dial, but there is a
blank for one. On the back, below the hook, is stamped the legend "D1
USA". Inside, "K-7" is stamped into the metal and "IV 37" is printed
in red paint. The handset is labelled "Western Electric [tm etc] E1".
The cord from handset to base is fabric-sheathed, and contains three
rubber-sheathed wires: red, white, and black. Inside, the hook
operates two leaf switches. The black and white wires are each
attached to just one of the two leaf switches; i.e., black to one
switch, white to the other. The red wire is attached to a terminal by
itself. The line cord is missing; the empty terminals on the switches
are marked for green (GN) and yellow (Y) wire.
I don't want to add a ringer or a dial; I'd simply like to be able to
use this phone to answer a call when I hear another phone ringing. If
anyone can tell me what I need to do to connect this to a modern phone
system, I'd sure appreciate it -- and so would my mother! :)
Please cc: replies to macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu; I am on vacation and
won't be reading news often, but email will get forwarded to someplace I
can reach it! :)
Rob Levandowski
Computer Interest Floor associate / University of Rochester
macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu
------------------------------
From: gst@gagme.wwa.com (George Thurman)
Subject: Old AT&T/Wsetern Electric Documents
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 05:37:18 CST
Here is a message I saw on Fidonet that I thought TELECOM Digest
readers would find of interest.
***********************
Msg#:14544 *SHORTWAVE*
07-25-93 21:37:00
From: DON KIMBERLIN
To: ALL
Subj: AT&T INFO ON-LINE
It's fairly often that someone comes across an old bit of Western
Electric-made equipment from the heyday of the Olde Bell System, and
lacks the needed drawings or instructions to try to make use of it.
Perhaps the most common old items we hear people asking about are the
old 1A Key Telephone Systems using 26-pair cable to hook the telephone
sets up to their common equipment cabinets in a wide variety of
configurations. Or, perhaps there are items of how things like
managing trouble reports in telecommunications systems are handled, or
what _are_ all those abbreviations and acronyms used by telephone
companies?
Or, perhaps you even need documentation for something newer, like a
3B2 minicomputer or a System 75 or 85 PBX ... or maybe you have a
strange "data set" with a nomenclature like 201C or 2048, and would
like to know if you can make use of it.
There _is_ a repository of much of this information that's often
handed down verbally or misquoted from memory. Today's name for it is
the AT&T Customer Information Center, and it's located in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
You can telephone (800) 432-6600 or (317) 322-6484 to get telephone
assistance from the AT&T CIC staff, and place orders with them for
publications to help you, and there's now an on-line searchable link
to their catalog, so you can browse as you will at any hour of the day
or night through all their many years of material. Here's some text
from their announcement of the AT&T CIC on-line offering:
"INTRODUCING THE MOST COMPLETE CATALOG OF AT&T DOCUMENTS
AT&T's Customer Information Center (CIC) now offers a free
on-line catalog where you can locate and order from over 380,000
documents using your PC terminal.
Find documents using key word, title, subject or document
number. Then use the on-line order form for simple and quick
service!
Access the CIC database using the directions below, then
simply follow the prompts:
AT&T Datakit Users Dial-Up Users
At the "destination" prompt, enter: Telephone Sue Rea at
426/813/nik1.telnet..sunids 317-322-6491
for instructions and
a logon ID and password.
THROUGH THE CIC CATALOG YOU CAN LOCATE:
o AT&T Plant and Engineering Practices o Product Manuals
o User Guides o Installation and Service Manuals
o Books o Brochures o Catalogs o Product Bulletins
o Handbooks o Newsletters o Training Materials
o Engineering Drawings o Technical Bulletins
o Product Specifications o Administrative Forms
o Employee Benefit Literature
o International Telephone Directories
Questions regarding the CIC catalog should be directed to
Brenda Oeff at 317-322-6626."
Origin: Borderline! BBS Kannapolis,N.C. (704) 938-6207 (1:379 (1:379/37.0)
-----------------
GEORGE S. THURMAN (312) 509-6308 gst@wwa.com
------------------------------
From: ssanbeg@hebron.connected.com (Scott Sanbeg)
Subject: TasCom Managers, etc. Sought
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 14:40:24 -0800
Organization: Connected INC -- Internet Services Provider
Hello all,
We are using two TasCOM systems to provide call-center services to our
client base. I am searching for other users/managers of this system,
and any info on user groups, periodicals, internals and so forth on
the machine. Please email if interested.
Scott Sanbeg Computer Systems Engineer, Seattle, WA
ssanbeg@hebron.connected.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:52 MST
From: barry@coyote.datalog.com (barry mishkind)
Subject: NBC Computer Series
Last week NBC did a series of reports on the "Information Superhighway."
A couple of things I noticed:
1. The address for the broadcast is nightly@nbc.com
2. During the report on voice recognition, the filming was done at a
'state-of-the-art voice recognition company'. The man demonstrating
the system was dictating something about sending information
" ... on voice mail ..." Sure ... the crt printed out " ... envoy
smell". Really.
Do you suppose this was a poke at the State Department?
Barry
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 17:39 EST
From: Mark W. Earle <0006127039@mcimail.com>
Subject: SWBMS to Reduce Roam Rates!
Enclosed with my cellular bill from Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems,
Corpus Christi, TX was the usual glossy newsletter. Of interest:
Now it is more convenient and more economical to take your cellular
phone with you when you're traveling. SWBMS is working iwth other
cellular companies to give you lower roaming rates in over 350
markets, or approximately 25% of all cellular markets.
Beginning in December, cellular companies will begin lowering roaming
rates in two ways. First, the daily charges will be eliminated and
second, the per minute rate will be reduced. You will save money based
on the amount of roaming that you do. For example, if you travel to a
market where the daily charge is $3/day and .75/min, you'll receive a
tremendous savings.
(Note: I'd be happy while roaming, with zero daily fee and any airtime
rate < $1/min. This looks pretty good)
SWBMS customers currently enjoy reduced roaming rates throughout
Texas. When you are traveling in the Lone Star Cellular Network, you
already pay a reduced rate of only .50/min. The LSCN is an exclusive
service of SWBMS (Note: In GTE cities, Houston and Austin, the rate
charged by GTE is .40/min. Although "exclusive" to SWBMS, Texas GTE
MobilNet customers are also part of the LSCN for billing purposes when
they roam in SWBMS cities. mwe)
Through these agreements, you will enjoy the added benefit of using
your cellular phone while traveling (Cynical note: We'll make even
more monies!) and you will see what an added value a cellular phone
can be. And you can be sure SWBMS will continue to lead the way by
providing even better service to our coustomers. (OK, when is seamless
roaming for the 'B' side coming? When will my features, forwarding,
voice mail, etc. work while I'm roaming?)
(Note: Any month there is roaming billed, a $3 "roamer admin fee" is
added to the bill. With GTE, it's cheaper than roaming in SWBMS nearby
systems, strangely. No list of cities comprising the 350 markets was
provided).
Typos my own: SWBMS always spelled out, I abbreviated it.
Likewise LSCN.
mwearle@mcimail.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:56:14 -0800
From: Steve Freedkin <sfreedkin@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Fundraising/Saving Program
MONEY SAVING & RAISING OPPORTUNITY
Hello, and happy new year! --
I want to let you know about an opportunity for organizations and
individuals to save 10% on all their long-distance calling, and
organizations to raise money with minimal cost and no obligation.
The deregulation of long-distance telephone service created many
opportunities, including this one, which should be of interest to
those who follow telecommunications developments.
| * GUARANTEED! 10% SAVINGS ON ALL LONG-DISTANCE CALLS |
| * 5% OF YOUR CALLING BENEFITS NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION |
I used to be director of a local nonprofit peace resource center that
raised money through a service that saved our constituents money *and*
generated royalties for us.
The program is a long-distance telephone service that was started in
1990 to benefit nonprofits. The company, Affinity Fund, gives each
customer rates *guaranteed* to be below whatever the person is
currently paying for long distance, and at the same time gives the
nonprofit that signs up the customer a 5-percent royalty on that
person's long-distance usage every month.
(Affinity arranges for the actual service to be provided by one of the
nation's foremost long-distance carriers, so there's no difference in
service quality.)
Groups that are raising money this way now include schools, Central
America support groups, community radio stations, Sister Cities
programs, local and national peace groups (War Resisters League is
one), nonprofit community newspapers and media services, etc.
If you'd like information about Affinity please contact me and I'll
pass it along. Or, please pass this note on to the appropriate
person. Let me know whether you're interested as a customer who'd
like to save 10% on all your long-distance; representing a nonprofit
that might like to raise money using this method; or both.
| If you *aren't* interested please ignore |
| this message, and accept my best wishes. |
Thanks for your attention, and have a safe and prosperous 1994!
Peace,
Steve Freedkin Email: sfreedkin@igc.apc.org
P.O. Box 91817 Phone: 805/682-9986
Santa Barbara, Recorded message (3 minutes): 805/569-0983
CA 93190-1817 Explains Affinity Fund, Available 24 hours
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'm happy to pass along Steve's message
even though as all regular readers here know, I do the very same thing
myself where this Digest is concerned. Orange Calling Card royalties
along with Telepassport royalties help in a small way to offset the cost
of producing this Digest each day. The 'affinity' method of selling long
distance phone service is an approach which has helped many non-profit
organizations in the past three years since it was conceived. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #4
****************************
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Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 21:31:00 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401050331.AA17879@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #5
TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 21:31:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 5
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Motorola Cellular Phone Programming (Mark Crispin)
CFP: Home, Informatics, Tele ... Intl. Conference June 94 (Kresten Bjerg)
Bandwidth to Russia Wanted (Alex Turkenich)
Excel LD Provider: Yea or Nay? (Dave Read)
Info on Cellular One NACP (Colin Tuttle)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 16:35:08 PST
From: Mark Crispin <mrc@Ikkoku-Kan.Panda.COM>
Subject: Motorola Cellular Phone Programming
Here is a documentation file I wrote:
Motorola Digital Personal Communicator secrets revealed!!
INTRODUCTION AND RELIGIOUS STATEMENT
The purpose of this document is to enable the hacker who wants to
know everything about his DPC cellular telephone. It is based upon
the belief that the bad guys already know this information, so keeping
it secret doesn't do any good except to annoy those of us who want to
know *everything* about our phones.
Some of this information only applies to certain models, or
varies from model to model. I entered the information for the model
of DPC which I have. If you have a different model, either figure it
out on your own or get ahold of the Motorola documentation and look it
up there.
Have fun with this information, but don't try to use it for
illegal activity (fraud, harassment, illegal transmission). The
cellular companies and the FCC are becoming quite aggressive (and
skilled) at tracking such activity down. At best, your phone's ESN
will be blacklisted nationwide; at worst, you could face federal
criminal charges. The bad guys use stolen phones or phones with
altered ESNs, and either toss the phone or alter the ESN after a day
or so of misuse. This hole will be closed upon the completion of a
North American ESN database which the cellular companies are busily
setting up.
On the other hand, feel perfectly free to tell a new cellular
company (e.g. when you move to a new city) to buzz off when they want
to charge you $25 to reprogram your phone. Tell them just to give you
the various details of programming information you need (system ID,
telephone number, station class mark, access overload class, group ID,
paging channel, MIN mark, and local use mark) and do it yourself and
save $25. Even better, if you decide to get an evaluation account
with the other carrier, you can program your dual NAM without letting
the new or old carriers know too much about your other account. [If
you've ever dealt with the customer service people at the carrier you
know why this is desirable ...]
Remember, it's your phone; you own it (even *if* the cellular
carrier puts its name on it). You can do anything with it that you
damn well please, as long as you don't use it to transmit in an
unauthorized fashion or attempt to place fraudulent calls. I pay for
every call I make; you should too.
USER MODE COMMANDS
PWR toggle power on/off
<lock code> unlock phone (nnn = unlock code)
CLR erase last digit (hold to clear all)
1 (held down) dial number in location 01
<phone #> SND place call
nn SND place call from memory nn
SND redial attempt for next four minutes
SND switch hook toggle during a call
END terminate call or mode
VOL adjust earpiece volume
<phone #> STO nn store in memory nn
RCL nn recall from memory nn (*/# to scroll)
RCL nn RCL SND tone dial from memory nn
RCL 00 view last number called
RCL SND continue to next after pause in dialing sequence
RCL * system type selection (* to scroll, STO to select,
END to exit):
Std A B non-wireline first, then wireline (home non-wireline)
Std B A wireline first, then non-wireline (home wireline)
SCAn A B non-wireline first, then wireline (home wireline)
SCAn B A wireline first, then non-wireline (home non-wireline)
Home home only
SCAn A non-wireline only
SCAn B wireline only
RCL # view own phone number
RCL # STO change to alternate phone number (dual NAM feature)
RCL # # view individual call timer
RCL # # # view resettable call timer
RCL # # # # view cumulative call timer
FCN VOL adjust ringer volume
FCN SND insert pause in dialing sequence
FCN RCL nn insert tone dial from memory nn in dialing sequence
FCN 0 <sec code> 1 STO enable call restriction (only memory 01-10 permitted)
FCN 0 <sec code> 4 STO disable call restriction
FCN 0 7 CLR reset resettable call timer
FCN 0 9 RCL view non-default status (*/# to scroll, END to exit)
SiG oFF signal strength meter disabled
AnSWer automatic answer enabled
AUtoLoc automatic local enabled
Emr OFF emergency dialing disabled
vOX VOX mode enabled
L dtMF Long-tone DTMF enabled
LEvEL 1 call restriction enabled
SCAn A B non-wireline first, then wireline (home wireline)
SCAn B A wireline first, then non-wireline (home non-wireline)
Home home only
SCAn A non-wireline only
SCAn B wireline only
FCN 0 <sec code> RCL display unlock code
FCN 0 <sec code> <lock code> STO
change lock code
FCN 0 <sec code> <sec code> RCL
program phone (* to scroll, # to exit, SND during
entry number display to save changes)
WARNING: if the phone is reprogrammed too many times,
programming will be disabled. The only way to fix this is
to completely wipe out the memory with 32# in Test Mode.
01 System ID
02 Area Code
03 Telephone Number
04 Station Class Mark
05 Access Overload Class
06 Group ID Mark
07 Security Code
08 Unlock Code
09 Initial Paging Channel (0333 for A, 0334 for B)
10 Option Programming Bits (default 011100)
100000 Internal Speaker Disable
010000 Local Use enable (responds to local control orders)
001000 MIN Mark enable (0 = area code always sent) NOT
CHANGEABLE IN CURRENT MODELS
000100 Auto Recall enable (speed dial from memory)
000010 Second Telephone Number Enable
000001 Diversity enable (dual antennas)
11 Option Programming Bits (default 11110)
10000 Failed Page Indicator Disable (0 = user told about
failed inbound calls due to weak signal)
01000 Motorola Enhanced Scan enable
00100 Long Tone DTMF enable
00010 Transportable Internal Ringer/Speaker enable
00001 Eight Hour Timeout disable (0 = phone shuts down after
8 hours)
12 start of information for second phone number (steps
07, 08, and 11 are skipped)
FCN 1 view features (*/# to scroll, END to exit):
_ SiGnAL OFF signal strength meter enabled
o SiGnAL OFF signal strength meter disabled
_ AnSWr AUTO automatic answer disabled
o AnSWr AUTO automatic answer enabled
_ AUTO LOC automatic lock disabled
o AUTO LOC automatic lock enabled
_ EMrCY OFF energency dialing enabled
o EMrCY OFF energency dialing disabled
_ vOX MOdE VOX mode disabled
o vOX MOdE VOX mode enabled
_ LOnG dtMF Long-tone DTMF disabled
o LOnG dtMF Long-tone DTMF enabled
FCN 2 <digits> ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does
FCN 3 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does
FCN 4 battery meter
FCN 5 lock phone
FCN 6 mute toggle
FCN 7 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does
FCN 8 <digits> ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does
FCN 9 <digits> ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does
TEST MODE COMMANDS
Shorting the middle pin of the battery connector puts the phone
in test mode upon power up. Unlock the phone first if necessary. It
starts out in Status Display Level. The display will alternately
flash two values:
xxx yyy xxx = channel, yyy = RSSI (signal strength)
abcdefg a (D)SAT (supervisory audio tone):
0 5970 Hz
1 6000 Hz
2 6030 Hz
3 No SAT
0 - 6 DSAT vector
7 No DSAT
b TX (1 = on)
c Signalling Tone (1 = on)
d Power Level (0-7)
e Control Channel (1 = on)
f RX Audio (1 = off)
g TX Audio (1 = off)
Pushing the # key will put the telephone in Servicing Level. The display
will be US '. This can be done without unlocking it.
WARNING!!! Some of these commands will cause the phone to
transmit. This may get your cellular phone company annoyed at you.
Of greater concern is the fact that doing so is *illegal* under
federal law and can get the FCC breathing down your neck. ``Verbum
sat sapenti...''
Servicing Level commands are:
01# Restart (re-enter DC power start-up routine)
02# Display Current Telephone Status (non alternating
version of Status Display)
04# Initialize Telephone to Standard Default Conditions
05# TX Carrier On
06# TX Carrier Off
07# RX Audio Off (mute receiver audio)
08# RX Audio On
09# TX Audio Off
10# TX Audio On
11 <channel> # Set Transceived to specified Channel
12 <power> # Set Power Step (0 = maximum, 7 = minimum)
13# Power Off
14# 10 KHz Signaling Tone on
15# 10 KHz Signaling Tone off
16# Setup (transmits a five word RECC message)
17# Voice (transmits a two word RECC message)
18# C-SCAN (allow entry of as many as 5 negative SIDs for
each NAM)
19# Display Software Version Number
25 <sat> # SAT On (value is SAT tone number, 0-2)
26# SAT Off
27# Transmit Data (transmits continuous control channel
data) # terminates
32# Clear the telephone. This may be necessary to
reprogram the telephone after too much reprogramming.
The following data is erased: System Registration,
*all* timers, repertory memory, all user programmable
features, last number dialed, directory. This can
take up to three minutes, wait until an apostrophe
shows on the display.
33 <key> # Turn on DTMF for indicated key (0-9, *, #)
34# Turn DTMF off
35 <path> # Set Audio Path
1 Speaker
2 Alert
3 Handset
4 Mute
5 External Telephone
6 External Handset
36# Scan (TDMA only)
38# Display ESN (Electronic Serial Number) one byte at a
time (* to scroll, # to exit)
43# Disable Diversity (use R antenna)
44# Disable Diversity (use T/R antenna)
45# Display RSSI (signal strength) as 3-digit number
46# Display Cumulative Call Timer
47 <level> # Set RX Audio Level (0 = lowest, 7 = highest)
48# Side Tone On
49# Side Tone Off
55# Test Mode Programming (* to scroll, # to exit without
making changes)
01 System ID
02 A Option Byte (default 101xx1x1)
10000000 Local Use enable
01000000 Preferred System (1 = A, 0 = B)
00100000 End-to-End Signaling enabled
00010000 unused
00001000 Repertory Memory NOT CHANGEABLE
00000100 Auxillary Alert enabled
00000010 unused
00000001 MIN Mark enabled NOT CHANGEABLE
03 Telephone Number
04 Station Class Mark
05 Access Overload Class
06 Group ID Mark
07 Security Code
08 Unlock Code
09 Service Level
001 memory dialing 01-10 only
002 memory dialing only (no keypad, no speed dial)
003 keypad dialing only (no memory)
004 no call restrictions
005 seven-digit dialing only
006 full dialing, but no memory changing
007 memory dialing only
10 B Option byte (default xxx00100)
10000000 unused
01000000 unused
00100000 unused
00010000 Extended Field enable (not used in NA)
00001000 Single System Scan enable
00000100 Auto Recall enable (speed dial)
00000010 Disable Service Level setting
00000001 Lock Code Disable
11 C Option byte (default 0000000)
10000000 User NAM Programmability disable
01000000 2nd Number Registration enable
00100000 unused
00010000 Auto Redial disable
00001000 Internal Speaker Disable
00000100 Dual IMTS/Cellular enable
00000010 Selectable System disable
00000001 Dual Antenna Enable
12 Initial Paging Channel (0333 for A, 0334 for B)
13 Initial Paging Channel for System A (0333)
14 Initial Paging Channel for System B (0334)
15 Number of Dedicated Paging Channels (021 in NA)
16 D Option byte (default 0011000x)
10000000 Motorola Enhanced Scan enable
01000000 Cellular Connection (0 = SERIES II)
00100000 Long Tone DTMF
00010000 Transportable Internal Ringer/Speaker
00001000 Eight Hour Timeout disable
00000100 not used
00000010 Failed Page Indicator disable
00000001 Portable Scan (DO NOT CHANGE)
Entering a * after 16 reprograms the phone
57 <mode> # Call Processing Mode
0 AMPS
1 NAMPS
5 TDMA signaling
6 TDMA signaling with loopback
7 TDMA signaling with loopback voice
8 TDMA signaling with loopback FACCH after decoding
9 TDMA forced synchronization
58# Compander On (audio compressor and expander)
59# Compander Off
61# ESN transfer
62# Turn On Ringer Audio Path
63# Turn Off Ringer Audio Path
66# Identify Transfer
68# Display FLEX and Model Information
69# used with identify transfer
------------------------------
From: kresten@vax.psl.ku.dk (Kresten Bjerg)
Subject: CFP: Home, Informatics, Tele... Intl. Conference, June 94
Organization: IFIP WG 9.3
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 11:56:48 GMT
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
A cross-disciplinary international conference
HOME-ORIENTED INFORMATICS, TELEMATICS & AUTOMATION
From 'State of the Art' through 'Prospects'
and 'Blueprints' to 'Implementation'
organized by IFIP Working Group 9.3
in cooperation with the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
June 27 - July 1, 1994
BACKGROUND
The home offers a great potential for new automation, information and
communication technologies and related services. A wide array of
innovations are already under way, with many more to come. They will
transform the home and everyday life in the emerging information
society. They will condition how private households will be enabled to
function in changing social, economic and political structures.
AIMS AND SCOPE
The conference will assess and conceptualize perspectives and options,
which attach to developments of domestic informatics, telematics and
automation across the levels of
- consumer hard- and software,
- network infrastructures
- storage & distribution media,
- teleservices and
- socio-cultural & economic structures.
How can these new technologies - seen together - be used to empower
consumers and private households?
How can both users and suppliers get the optimal benefits from the
possible new technologies? - and with which global impact?
Can these technologies contribute to the emergence of a new home
concept, an "Oikos", where the private household can reestablish
itself in an experienced way as a living and production centre,
embedded in and interacting with a larger community?
Addressing such questions requires a multi-disciplinary approach.
Therefore the conference aims to bring together experts from many
fields and disciplines. Researchers and practitioners, designers and
users, policy makers and industrialists, each with new knowledge and
new questions from their experience of recent and expected
development.
The conference will not only serve as a forum to present and exchange
experience, results of research and ideas, but also to explore and
discuss strategic approaches and alliances for product research and
development, and for prototyping and field experiments.
MAJOR THEMES
* The social construction of new domestic technologies.
* Bridging between the various disciplinary approaches.
* The changing position and importance of households in the new
social and economic structure of the information and communication
society.
* Strategies for creating professional and public awareness of the
converging potentials and implications of constructive innovations for
everyday life and for social, cultural, educational, health, energy, and
economic policies.
* Ways of organizing relations between research and product development
which can further the long-term interest of consumers, and save produ-
cers from waste of investments in development of products and services
which are doomed to failure.
* Relevance for developing countries, cultural diversities and the
general goals of the UN year of the family 1994.
MAIN AREAS
Advanced Home Technologies
(e.g. Intelligent home - Linking of TV, telephone, computer and VCR -
Interactive multimedia and domestic virtual reality - Security-systems
- Household appliances - Environmental control and ecology -
Bio-electronics and health-monitoring.)
Communication and telematics
(e.g. Convergence of broadcast and telecom networks - Interactive
teleservices and teletransactions - Tele-education - Telework -
Evolving
informal networks - Home-to-Home interfacing.)
Economics and politics of HOIT
(e.g. Interests of industry and service providers - Links between R&D
and marketing - Prices and tarifs - Legal and regulatory policies on
national and international level - The future of home economics.)
Cultural and social impact on everyday life
(e.g. Personal development and knowledge distribution - Intra- and
interfamily relations - Functions for children, elderly, disabled and
home-bound people - Community structure - Cultural continuity.)
CONTRIBUTIONS
We solicit
Research papers
Papers on experiments and case studies
Policy and strategy papers
Opinion and position papers
which will address State of the Art, Prospects, Blueprints or
Implementation within these general areas. Besides full papers, short
contributions like posters and statements papers may be submitted.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Notification of the intention to submit a full paper (including title
and subject area) should preferably be sent as early as possible. Two
page abstracts of full papers are due at latest January 15, 1993.
Notification of acceptance March 1, 1994. Deadline for submission of
final full papers and short contributions May 1, 1994.
All accepted contributions will be published in the preceedings
available at the conference. Selected papers will be published in the
conference proceedings.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Felix van Rijn (Chair), Univ. of Amsterdam, Dept. of Communications (NL)
Kresten Bjerg, University of Copenhagen, Psychological Laboratory (DK)
Gunilla Bradley, Stockholm University, Inst. of Internatl. Education (S)
Valerie Frissen, Univ. of Amsterdam, Dept. of Communications (NL)
Karamjit Gill, Seake Centre, University of Brighton (GB)
Leslie Haddon, University of Sussex (GB)
Gisela Lehmer, Ministry of Telecommunications, Kln (D)
Mara Gabrila Macra, IDAT, Montpellier (Fr)
Kurt Monse, IWT, Universitaet Wuppertal (D)
Bjoern Nake, University of Copenhagen (DK)
Toomas Niit, Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law, Tallin (Estonia)
Gerrit Noltes, Ministerie van WVC (NL)
Yves Punie, Free University of Brussels (B)
Andy Sloane, School of Comp. & Inf. Techn. Univ. of Wolwerhampton (GB)
Alladi Venkatesh, Grad. Sch. of Management, Univ. of Calif., Irvine (USA)
L.E. Zegers, European Home Systems Association, Eindhoven (NL)
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Kresten Bjerg (DK), Bjoern Nake (DK), Dan Melkane (DK), Poul
Groenhoej(DK)
REPLY FORMAT
Please e-mail, fax or photocopy and mail to:
HOIT-94, Kresten Bjerg, Psychological Laboratory,
University of Copenhagen, 88, Njalsgade, DK 2300 Copenhagen S.
Tel.:+45 31541856 Fax: +45 32963138 E-mail: kresten@vax.psl.ku.dk
[ ] I/we consider participating.
[ ] I/we intend to submit a full paper.
Area:
Preliminary title:
[ ] I/we intend to submit a short contribution,
poster or audio-visual demonstration.
Topic:
[ ] I/we want to exhibit/demonstrate electronic or mechanic equipment,
taking max. m2 floorspace.
Subject:
Name:
Institution:
Street address:
City / postal code:
Country:
Voice telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:
Observe news.groups for the ongoing RFD and later CFV concerning
comp.home.misc.
------------------------------
Reply-To: alex@mvision.com
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 12:37:25 EST
From: alex@mvision.com (Alex Turkenich)
Organization: Market Vision Inc.
Subject: Bandwidth to Russia Wanted
Several of my friends and I working part time as agents for one of the
telephone companies were able to get about 50,000 minutes per month of
switched traffic from US to the former Soviet Union.
SERVICE DESCRIPTION:
The subscribers to our service do not have to switch their long
distance provider. The subscriber simply dials 1-800 ... number and if
his ANI is registered he gets a dial tone if the switch does not
recognize the ANI (when the subscriber is calling from a payphone or a
hotel) the subscriber is prompted to enter his Travel Code. Some
customers have preset spending limits and are prompted before each
call regarding the amount of credit they have left.
PROBLEMS:
The main complaints of our customers is that the service is not
reliable. The switch is usually down several hours a day, many of the
calls placed to the Former Soviet Union do not go through, FAXes
cannot be sent. We feel that these reasons are preventing us from
increasing our traffic and are contrtibuting to loss of customers.
OUR WISH LIST:
Here are some of the solutions we envision (listed in order of preference):
1) A direct E1 (or T1) trunk from US (preferably 60 Hudson St, New
York) to Moscow, Russia. All of the 30 (24 for T1) circuits have to
approved by FCC for switched traffic. We can arrange to distribute
traffic from Moscow. We would prefer the lines to be multiplexed
between 4:1 and 6:1.
We approached several US telephone companies about leasing E1 or T1
and were given monthly prices that were about twice the prices quoted
by some US companies in Moscow.
2) We are also willing to route all our traffic through some other
provider if we can get some reasonable rate per minute and still are
able to provide the same service as we are providing now (see SERVICE
DESCRIPTION).
If you can offer one of the above two services or have any ideas where we can obtain these services please send e-mail to : alex@mvision.com
or call me at:
(212) 306-0410 (work)
(201) 575-8215 (home)
(201) 227-5037 (fax)
Alex Turkenich
------------------------------
From: dave@kentrox.com (Dave Read)
Subject: Excel LD provider: Yea or Nay?
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:44:49 PST
Yesterday a friend put the full-court press on me to sign up with some
long-distance outfit called Excel. I'd never heard of 'em, but he
made it sound like your basic multi-level marketing scheme, get bucks
when you sign people up, and more bucks when *they* sign people up,
etc etc etc. Reminded me of Amway. :-)
Anyway, any experiences/opinions? I presume they buy their LD service
from the biggie providers (AT&T, Sprint, MCI etc), but beyond that I
haven't a clue if Excel is on the level or not.
Thanks,
dave
------------------------------
Subject: Info on Cellular One NACP
From: ctuttle@obelisk.pillar.com (Colin Tuttle)
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 00:21:25 CST
Organization: Pillar Communication, Oklahoma City, Ok
I have a question regarding the Cellular One North American Cellular
Network. I have Cellular One service in Oklahoma (McCaw
Communications) and found the system works well passing my calls from
Oklahoma City to Tulsa when I travel (about 100 miles but part of
Cellular One's SuperSystem). Everyone who has called me on my
Oklahoma City number gets me in Tulsa with no problems, delays, etc.
Everything works the way it should.
Now this past week I went down to Austin, (a NACN City) turned on the
cell phone and immediately called my Oklahoma City number from a
nearby pay phone. It rang twice and then my cell phone rang. Now my
question is how does Cellular One Austin so quickly notify Cellular
One Oklahoma City I am in Austin Texas about 400 miles from home and
immediately send my calls to me?
I assume when I turn on my phone the cell processes my ESN and sends
the information either to its computer or my home system. What
impressed me was how fast it did all this, and without me telling it
to do this. Whatever system they use must also allow greater
security, as if your phone is stolen they could immediately deactivate
it around the country.
Is this a FAQ, or could someone briefly explain how the Cellular One
NACN actually works? The computing power to keep track of all of
these ESN's must be great as well as passing all of this information
from system to system obviously in real-time.
ctuttle@obelisk.pillar.com (Colin Tuttle)
Pillar Communications BBS, Oklahoma City, OK -- +1 405 942 8794
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #5
****************************
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 00:54:00 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401050654.AA06448@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #6
TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Jan 94 00:54:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 6
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Index For 1993 Now Complete (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John McDermott)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Curtis Bohl)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John R. Levine)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Steve Wood)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John C. Fowler)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Kelly Bert Manning)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Carl B. Page)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Jack Decker)
Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Greg Vaeth)
Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Lynne Gregg)
Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK? (Linc Madison)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 22:30:33 -0600
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Index For 1993 Now Complete
The 1992-93 Index of Authors and Subjects for TELECOM Digest, Volumes
12 and 13 has now been updated to include all messages through the end
of last year. It is housed in the Telecom Archives sub-directory called
'indices' with a cross-reference located in 'back.issues'.
This is the companion volume to the 1989-91 index which lists all the
authors and subjects for volumes 9, 10 and 11. Look for them in the
indices sub-directory under the title 'authors-subjects.1989-91' and
'authors-subjects.1992-93'. Should you wish to capture these files and
print them out as hard copy for future reference, you should note that
the first volume is 24,939 lines, or about 380-390 pages in length, and
the second volume is 19,760 lines, or about 300-310 pages in length.
The index is split into two volumes for ease in handling in case you
want one part but not the other, etc. Users of anonymous FTP can take
either or both volumes. Users of the Email Information Service will
find that the command SEARCH <argument> checks both volumes in the
process of returning reference results.
Should you obtain a copy of the file(s) for yourself, please note that
the following characteristics apply:
The left column of numbers indicates the volume and *bundle of fifty
issues* to be pulled for the desired topic. For example, if the
reference given is 13/101-150, that means go to the back issues area
and pull volume 13, issues 101-150. 09/501-550 would refer to volume
9, issues 501-550 and so on.
The subjects are then filed in strict alphabetical order, with
instances of 'Re:' ignored where they appear. Where two or more
articles have an identical title (because there was an original
article followed by one or more 'Re: Article Title' responses (and
since 'Re:' is ignored, therefore the articles would appear to
be identical), the sort further continues by author name, again
in alphabetical order *by the first name* of the author. For example,
an article by John Smith would be listed ahead of an article with
the identical title by Paul Brown, because /J/ comes before /P/.
You can also search the indexes (or indices as they are known to
the email server to avoid conflict with the information file 'index')
using the Unix command 'grep -i'. Due to some irregularities in the
way articles were named and author's names included. I suggest a
liberal interpretation of grep when searching the indexes. If your
search criteria is too narrow, you won't get any hits. If your search
criteria is too wide, you will get flooded with article titles you
do not want. Experiment for the best combination.
Technically, these are accelerated indexes because they do not point
to the actual article in question but merely *to other groups of
indexes and batches of issues* wherein the article(s) will be found.
If something you wanted was found in 13/150-200 for example, you would
then get the batch of back issues labled Volume 13 Issues 150-200 and
check the Index contained at the start of each issue of the Digest to
see if your article(s) were found there. Or of course you could then
'grep -i' the batch of fifty issues if you prefer.
One final note: within the two volume index itself resides a limited
help file with a few details to help with your searches. You can read
this help file by grepping (-i) "HELP-". The first fifty or sixty
lines of text in each file is the 'help' part. Each line in the help
section begins with "HELP-".
Whatever you grep for in these indexes is what you will get, so you
can search article titles, key phrases which appeared in several
article titles, author names, or by volume and batch-of-issues number
if you wish. It is up to date through issue 844, the final issue of
1993. This was quite a labor of love, and I am still checking it for
errors in my spare time, but it is pretty well cleaned up and quite
reliable for use as it appears now. Good luck in your searches, and
I hope you find the indexes easy and convenient to use. If you need
a help file for use with the Email Information Service, just ask.
Patrick Townson
TELECOM Digest Editor
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:00:52 -0600
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
Word has reached me that well known net participant Brendan Kehoe
was quite seriously injured in an automobile accident in Newton, PA
on December 31. Kehoe wrote 'Zen and the Art of the Internet' and he
is also the archivist for Computer Underground Digest. Apparently the
injuries were quite serious, and there was some question in the very
early period afterward if he would even survive or not. I guess the
doctors are still unwilling to make any commitment regards his recovery
other than to say he will be hospitalized for a long time and perhaps
permanently disabled. Some parts of his body were badly mangled.
Greeting cards and electronic mail messages are being solicited and
I refer you to the current issue of Computer Underground Digest for
a full report on the incident and how to respond with your notes of
sympathy and support. What an awful way to end one year and begin
another.
My best wishes for Brendan's recovery and eventual return to the
net. I imagine all telecom readers agree with my sentiments.
Patrick Townson
------------------------------
From: mcdermot@cs.unm.edu (John McDermott)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of New Mexico
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 15:55:49 GMT
In article <telecom14.3.3@eecs.nwu.edu> John C. Fowler <0003513813@
mcimail.com> writes:
> I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular
> service.
We've had caller-pays cellular in NM for some time. Those I know who
have it have their phones primarily for "emergency" use or to call
to/from home. Most of these users have a billing plan with little or
no prepaid time. This makes the call more expensive, but quite useful
for someone stranded in a dead car at night.
John McDermott 505/897-2064 H/W mcdermot@cs.unm.edu
[ UNM only lets me use this account because they are nice. I have no
relationship with them whatsoever (besides being friends).]
------------------------------
From: EXTMO4H@mizzou1.missouri.edu (Missouri 4-H Youth Development Programs)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:07:51 CST
In Sedalia, MO, calls to local cellular numbers are always toll calls,
to both the A and B cellular carrier, even though both have locally-
based offices. What I was told is that SWB wanted to take their cut
of the cellular market. (BTW, SWB Mobile does not have the wireline
carrier.) In the city where I work, calls to both cellular systems
here are local calls.
Curtis Bohl Computer Programmer/Analyst
extmo4h@mizzou1.missouri.edu 4-H Youth Development
Alternate: bohlc@ext.missouri.edu Programs
(314) 882-2034 University of Missouri-Columbia
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 11:26 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> [in Colorado]
> If the cellular phone you are calling begins with 1 + 579, you will be
> billed for the cellular airtime charges and also any long distance
> charges associated with the call when applicable.
> If there are any questions about cellular airtime charges that appear
> on your bill, to the above prefix, please call the Customer Inquiry
> Center at 1-800-USW-BILL.
Could someone in Colorado call US West and inquire whether these 579
numbers will be reachable from outside of Colorado? Long-distance
carriers are absolutely unwilling to bill surcharges for other than
900 numbers, so the two likely scenarios are either that IXCs don't
get surcharged, so out of state callers can call at normal toll rates,
or 579 is only reachable from inside the LATA. (In the first case, if
you can divert your call to an IXC, a Colorado caller can avoid the
surcharge, too.) Either way, sounds pretty brain damaged.
I have seen both of these scenarios in different places. Surcharged
numbers like 212-540, 617-550, and <nearly anywhere>-976 aren't
available from long distance. On the other hand, the number in
Chicago which gives reverse D.A. is surcharged if you call it locally
but a normal call from elsewhere.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: Steve Wood <steve.wood@mccaw.com>
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:00:00 PST
> I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular
> service.
I would definitely have used this in my consulting business if it had
been available. It makes it palatable to freely publish your mobile
phone number and not have to worry about paying for a lot of calls you
don't want. My business clients would have no problem paying for the
airtime. I can also imagine that this would make a lot of sense for
many other service businesses, like PR agencies and law firms. They
typically bill their clients for the airtime charges anyway, many
times with a markup.
Steve Wood steve.wood@mccaw.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 12:51 EST
From: John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
I've gotten copies of a couple of messages asking whether or not the
new 579 prefix (a cellular prefix in Colorado which charges the caller
for airtime) could be dialed from outside Colorado. I checked with
the number on the U.S. West insert, and the first operator who came on
immediately answered "Yes." This seemed a bit suspicious to me (I'm
not used to the first person who answers the telephone actually
knowing something), so I decided to call AT&T to verify. I went
through four operators there, but the best answer I could get was
"Probably Yes."
So I guess all those COCOT owners out there reading the Digest (yes,
both of you) should program their phones not to accept 303-579 or
719-579 for coin calls. Just remember that 579 is a regular prefix
most everywhere else.
John C. Fowler, 3513813@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: ua602@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Kelly Bert Manning)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Reply-To: ua602@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Kelly Bert Manning)
Organization: Camosun College, Victoria, B.C.
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 08:35:49 GMT
The switch my phone number is on has Caller ID blocked on every line
because it can't provide CLASS services. A friend who is on the same
exchange says that her mother's Caller ID box always shows "unknown
number" when she calls, which is a problem because she can't unblock
the blanket caller ID suppression.
Sounds like this new "service" could run into similar problems.
------------------------------
From: carlp@teleport.com (Carl B. Page)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Date: 4 Jan 1994 10:05:43 GMT
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016
Recently, our esteemed moderator wrote this about calling a phone
that rejects anonymous callers from a blocked phone:
: [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes they do. The person placing the
: call need only dial the appropriate 'unblock code' (what is it,
: typically *67) before dialing his call and it will go through just
: fine. PAT]
Lets not give wrong emergency advice! That won't work in Oregon
or other places where PERMANENT LINE BLOCKING cannot be turned off.
This was deemed a better functionality choice than allowing blocking
to be toggled without any feedback about the final state. (So
you can block safely even if you don't know whether the phone was
already line-blocked.)
In such an emergency your only option is to call the operator and ask
them to put your call thru.
Incidentally, you can also use the operator as a way of making an
anonymous call. US WEST actually suggested this before the Oregon
PUC when they were hoping they could use it as an argument to justify
with-holding per-line blocking.
In an area where no blocking is allowed, although telling an operator
to dial for you lacks a certain feeling of privacy.
(arl
carlp@teleport.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks
Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 220-0636 (1200/2400, N81)
[Moderator's Note: But placing your call through the operator won't
provide ID to the called party! Calls from the operator always show
up as 'outside'. Of course people who reject 'private' most likely
will accept 'outside' so I guess your call would get through. And in
the case of using the operator to bypass the identification given to
the police when you call 911, the rule is the operator is supposed to
remain on the line until the police answer and then announce the
calling number, as in "... this is the operator, I have an emergency
call for the police from the number 123-4567 ..." Some operators do
that; some don't, but they are supposed to. No such requirement is in
effect for routine calls handled by the operator -- only calls where
you dial the operator, state that an emergency exists and ask for
the police. PAT]
------------------------------
From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Date: 4 Jan 1994 03:55:52 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
Reply-To: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
On Thu Dec 30 11:49:05 1993, jfh@netcom.com (Jack Hamilton) wrote:
> dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) wrote:
>> A new service offered in the NYC area by NY Tel (soon to be called
>> Nynex) is called "Anonymous Call Rejection." This tariff allows you
>> (at a fee, of course) to take calls coming from caller-id BLOCKed
>> numbers and reroutte them to a recording saying something like:
>> We're sorry, the person you called does not take calls from anonymous
>> callers. If you want to reach this person, please redial from an
>> unblocked line ...
> Do such services offer a way around the blocking in an emergency,
> either by subscriber (911 and other services could call all numbers
> without being blocked) or on a per-call basis through the operator?
[.....]
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes they do. The person placing the
> call need only dial the appropriate 'unblock code' (what is it,
> typically *67) before dialing his call and it will go through just
> fine. PAT]
I would point out that relying on this could be dangerous. Just to
give you one example: I have a dialer on my line (which I use to
convert touch tones to dial pulses, so I don't have to pay GTE $2.00
per month to accept my touch tones directly), and when Caller ID is
offered here, it will be a trivial matter for me to program the dialer
to prepend 1167 to all outgoing calls (and there are "standalone"
units that do the same thing for touch tone lines, that are even less
expensive than dialers).
Now suppose that you are one of those folks who cops an attitude and
says "if you don't call me with your number unblocked, you must be
some sort of scum, and I'm not going to talk to you!" Now suppose you
are my neighbor, and late one night my wife sees a fire starting in
your kitchen window, and I'm not home. She tries to call you to wake
you up, but gets the "please redial from an unblocked line" recording,
and has no idea how to respond to that (and since I'm not home, I
can't even look up the programming to disable the blocking for her,
although your house might be pretty well gone by the time I figured it
out anyway). Sure, she would probably then call 911 and report the
fire, but if you or your family are sleeping upstairs, you might just
have appreciated getting that first call.
If you think that the fire example is farfetched, just consider that
there are other situations where you might want folks to reach you ...
anything from someone responding to a classified ad you've placed to
someone who has found one of your possessions, or your pet, or one of
your kids. When they get your "please redial ..." message, they just
might figure "why bother, I don't know what the ---- that message means
anyway", and take some other action that would be more detrimental to
you or those you care about.
The problem with "Anonymous Call Rejection" is that the folks who take
it assume that if someone wants to reach them, they will know whether
the line they are using is blocked, and if it is, how to unblock it.
In the case of a blocked line, that assumption would quite possibly be
true only for the person who either ordered the per-line blocking, or
installed the device to automatically prepend the "*67" or "1167"
blocking code (and don't think such devices won't become more common
in the future). Even if we assume that person knows how to bypass the
blocking (which is quite an assumption to make), it's not realistic to
assume that every potential user of that line knows how to unblock it.
It's a calculated risk, of course. If you are plagued by nuisance
callers now, you may figure it's worth the risk. But "Anonymous Call
Rejection" is not the sort of service I'd advise anyone to order
unless they are currently having a genuine problem with nuisance
callers, to the point that it's really disrupting their lives (or
their sanity).
By the way, I always get a chuckle out of the folks who say "if you
don't want me to know your number, don't call me!" Believe me, if I
knew that someone I was contemplating calling felt that way, there's
no way I would call them, just because they sound like the sort of
paranoid personality I wouldn't want to deal with. But in at least
some cases, it would quite likely be their loss.
But I can see that there is no way folks are ever going to agree on
this issue!
Jack
------------------------------
From: gvaeth@netcom.com (Greg Vaeth at Jerrold Communications)
Subject: Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 17:00:58 GMT
Is the Bill mentioned under consideration, or has it passed?
Regards,
Gregory Vaeth Jerrold Communications
internet: gvaeth@netcom.com General Instrument
voicenet: (215) 956-6488 2200 Byberry Road
faxnet: (215) 675-4059 Hatboro, PA 19040
My opinions are my own, and do not represent those of my employer.
------------------------------
From: Lynne Gregg <lynne.gregg@mccaw.com>
Subject: Re Caller ID in Pennsylvania
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 09:06:00 PST
Jeffrey Carpenter's wrote:
> Pennsylvania Act 83 of 1993 ...
> Caller-ID in Pennsylvania as long as both per-line and per-call
> blocking are available.
Jeffrey, thanks for the post. My understanding is that although the
State's PUC has ruled on Caller ID service, deployment (by local
carriers) is being held by a State Supreme Court challenge. As in
several other States, the issue is wiretap law violation. The basic
issue is privacy. If you're aware of a ruling by the Court, please
post again (or to me).
Thanks,
Lynne Gregg
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 12:40:57 -0800
From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison)
Subject: Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
In article <telecom13.843.4@eecs.nwu.edu> you wrote:
> I've got a friend who'll soon be moving to the UK (Durham actually).
> She's got a Hayes compatible 9600 baud modem that she would like to
> take with her and use there.
> Can anyone tell me if she can expect it to work with the British phone
> system? Is there a special initialization necessary for the modem?
> Do they use the same standard phone jacks as used in the US?
Yes, a US 9600bps modem will work in the UK, *provided*:
(1) You have a power source for the modem that will take 240V/50Hz
instead of 110V/60Hz. If you buy a generic adapter, be sure that it
will give the correct output voltage AND amperage for the modem, and
make sure that it is the correct type -- AC or DC. (My modem uses
14.5V AC, so don't just assume it's DC.) I very much do NOT recommend
using a 240/120 "traveller" adapter with the US modem power supply.
(2) You have a phone jack adapter. The jacks used in the UK are
different both in shape and in wiring. You need to buy in the US one
of those adapters that allows you to put a two-line phone on two
single-line phone jacks (available from Radio Schlock or AT&T Phone
Center Store, etc.). The cable to connect from the jack to the
adapter you can buy in Britain probably more easily than in the US.
You **may** also be able to buy a cable that does the necessary
pin-switching. (Both types of jacks have six slots for wires, the
middle four normally in use. The US jack uses the center pair (wires
3 & 4) for 'line 1'; the UK jack uses the outer pair (wires 2 & 5).
(Wires 1 & 6 are not used in either.) If you get a "bog-standard"
cable, plug the British end into the phone jack and the US end into
the "Both" port of your two-line phone adapter. Run a short US phone
cable from the "Line 2" port to your modem. (You can perform the same
operations with an adapter for running two single-line phones from a
single two-line jack, but you'll need a female-female "in-line
adapter" as well, since the "Both" port on this adapter is male.)
(3) You don't tell anyone connected with British Telecom, OfTel, etc.,
that you're doing this, because it's technically illegal unless the
modem has been certified as meeting the appropriate BS (British
Standard -- no, I'm not joking, although the acronym is sometimes
apt). If it has been certified, it will have a large green dot
somewhere on the hardware (about 1/2" diameter).
(4) If your phone line in the UK is pulse, you may want to add into
the setup string the code to set the make/break pattern to UK standard
instead of US standard. However, in practice, most phone switches are
not sensitive enough to tell the difference between 39/61 and 33/67.
The command is AT&P1 for UK, AT&P0 for US. Touch-tone is the same in
both. Don't even try to use pulse in Scandinavia or New Zealand.
(5) If you use the modem to connect to a low-speed European modem
(1200 bps or lower), you may need to include ATB0 to use CCITT instead
of Bell standards for these speeds. (ATB1 is the default, Bell/U.S.
standard) Again, at 2400 and above, you needn't worry about it.
(6) I have seen reports that for dialing the US you can use
010-1-83-area.code-number instead of the usual 010-1-AC-number to
force a cable rather than satellite circuit. I don't know if this is
true; I've never tried it.
Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com
(formerly) London, England * {Telecom, Linc}@hedonist.demon.co.uk
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #6
****************************
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 02:18:25 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401050818.AA13268@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #7
TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 02:18:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 7
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Feedlebom)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (C. Bongaarts)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (J. Carlson)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Carl Moore)
Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones (Thomas M. Godbold)
Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones (Michael D. Sullivan)
Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones (Steve Wood)
Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (John R. Levine)
Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (Lars Poulsen)
Re: 500 Channel Cable Television (Fulcrum)
Re: 500 Channel Cable Television (Michael Jacobs)
Re: Radio Religion (was 500 Channels...) (Gene Fornario)
Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones (Ken Hoehn)
Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones (Neil L. Kleeman)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Toby Nixon)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (George Zmijewski)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: feedle@kaiwan.com (Feedlebom)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Organization: KAIWAN Internet Access (310-527-4279,714-539-0829)
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:10:15 GMT
Earl Vickers (earl@netcom.com) wrote:
> I'm putting together a list of phone numbers for bizarre recorded
> information services. I used to have lots of numbers like this, but
> they all seem to have disappeared. For example, there used to be one
> where you could leave whatever strange sound effects or messages you
> wanted, and they would periodically edit and splice them into their
> new outgoing greeting. And there used to be a number in San Francisco
> called the Earthquake Prevention Hotline, with a different oddball
> comedy bit every couple days.
Here in the Los Angeles area, there used to be a handful of such
"comment" lines, but unfortunately, they've all dissappeared. A few
of the operators of them are running 976/900 services, but most just
got disinterested and took 'em down.
I was involved with the world-infamous NEEON-19 line in Orange County,
and I can tell you that running such a line takes money, patience, and
time, something most people don't have anymore. It would take
anywhere from three to seven hours to edit the tape down, and
countless more assembling other bits for the program. It's a bit like
running a radio show: for every hour of content, there's five hours of
work. And then there's the equipment ...
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A couple of numbers I'll add to this
> list are 312-731-1100 and 312-731-1505. Both are operated by a fellow
> named Sherman Skolnick in Chicago who is a 'conspiracy buff'; you know,
> one of those people who believe that everyone but Oswald killed JFK.
> Both are five minute recordings, and he changes the two messages two
> or three times per week. PAT]
Then there are the countless White Aryan Resistance and KKK lines
around the country ... if you have a pager, you've no doubt been paged
by one of them. (None come to mind right now ...)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We had one from the American Nazi Party
here for quite awhile which was always good for a laugh, but I have
not heard it lately, and don't remember the number so I cannot say for
sure if it is stilll operating or not. Regards the amount of preparation
involved, you are quite correct that it takes much, much longer than the
presentation itself if you want it to be halfway decent. When I had my
phone news and information service back in the 1970's, these nincompoops
would ask me how could it possibly be a job which takes several hours
per day ... I had to investigate what I wanted to talk about; write it
down and edit it a few times; practice speaking it; then finally record
it. All that for a three minute recording. Of course I had bookkeeping
and maintainence to do on 35 phone lines; advertisers to contact regards
payment, etc. I am reminded of the nincompoops of today -- the denizens
of Usenet who hang around news.groups (a really nasty place as newsgroups
go) who ask such questions as if 'all I do' is sort through some messages
and put out a couple dozen or so each day, how could it 'possibly' take
more than a couple minutes maximum ... I don't know if I should laugh
or cry when I read some of that stuff. As you well know from your own
experience, quality work takes time. PAT]
------------------------------
From: bong0004@gold.tc.umn.edu (Chris Bongaarts)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 05:33:41 GMT
earl@netcom.com (Earl Vickers) writes:
> I'm putting together a list of phone numbers for bizarre recorded
> information services. I used to have lots of numbers like this, but
[...]
> All I have to offer so far is They Might Be Giants's Dial-a-Song
> number, (718) 963-6962.
As those of you who may have tried calling this know, this number is
the incorrect one printed in the liner notes the TMBG's "Apollo 18"
CD. The correct number (from "Flood", "Lincoln", and their
self-titled "19-track debut album") is:
718-387-6962
From all of us at alt.music.tmbg, thanks...
=========================================== bong0004@gold.tc.umn.edu
Chris Bongaarts (Sir Taxi of the Wild Crew) cbongaar@sunrayce.solar.umn.edu
Call the Game Center BBS! (612)942-7531 cbongaar@reality.cs.umn.edu
My opinions are my own, and they are right. cbongaar@mermaid.micro.umn.edu
------------------------------
From: carlson@xylogics.com (James Carlson)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Date: 4 Jan 1994 15:21:34 GMT
Organization: Xylogics Incorporated
Reply-To: carlson@xylogics.com
In article <telecom14.2.4@eecs.nwu.edu>, earl@netcom.com (Earl
Vickers) writes:
[...]
>> All I have to offer so far is They Might Be Giants's Dial-a-Song
>> number, (718) 963-6962.
Hmpf. Not so cool. It's been disconnected!
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As the message before this suggests,
try 718-387-6962. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 17:21:42 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
718-963-6962 is disconnected (I just tried it).
But I did reach 410-337-FUNN (3866), the "Joke Du Jour" hotline of
"Rouse and company" on WQSR-FM 105.7 in Baltimore, Maryland.
------------------------------
From: mctmg@perot.mtsu.edu (Thomas M. Godbold)
Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones
Date: 05 Jan 1994 03:27:03 GMT
Organization: Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
In <telecom13.842.11@eecs.nwu.edu> tony@cmhcsys.cmhcsys.com (Tony
Barnecut) writes:
> I am looking for information on a cellular phone called SIMON. I saw a
> picture of it in a recent issue of {InfoWorld} but it did not say who
> the manufacturer is or where it could be purchased. From the short
...
SIMON is a cellphone/pager/calendar/personal data device/fax/etc. all
wrapped into one compact and versatile package. Having never seen the
actual unit, I cannot vouch for its functionality. However, it is
marketed (will be, anyway, as of 3/94) by BELLSOUTH CELLULAR
CORPORATION (my company, BTW) and I would be happy to do a brief
synopsis of the product here from the extensive (albeit a bit wordy)
pre-release literature we received, as well as the test period we will
have soon ... with the MODERATOR's permission.
Please address inquiries/etc to :
mctmg@knuth.mtsu.edu
My opinions are strictly my own and are not those of BellSouth Mobility,
BellSouth Cellular Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, or any of its
subsidiaries or entities. Don't you just *hate* these disclaimers?
Tom Godbold mctmg@knuth.mtsu.edu
------------------------------
From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones
Date: 05 Jan 1994 01:34:22 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
tony@cmhcsys.cmhcsys.com (Tony Barnecut) writes:
> I am looking for information on a cellular phone called SIMON. I saw a
> picture of it in a recent issue of {InfoWorld} but it did not say who
> the manufacturer is or where it could be purchased. From the short
> description that was included I found that it has an LCD panel where
> the keypad would be with interchangable cards that make it act as a
> phone, pager and other things. With different cards, different icons
> appear on the LCD panel for the functions for that particular card.
> Any information anyone could give me on this this product would be
> greatly appreciated.
The SIMON is made by IBM exclusively for BellSouth. It is not just a
cellular phone but a "personal digital assistant" with a pen operating
system of some sort.
Michael D. Sullivan mds@access.digex.net avogadro@well.sf.ca.us
Washington, D.C. 74160.1134@compuserve.com mikesullivan@bix.com
------------------------------
From: Steve Wood <steve.wood@mccaw.com>
Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:39:00 PST
In response to Tony Barnecut's inquiry about Simon on 12/29:
It is manufactured by IBM and marketed (I think exclusively at least for
now) by Bell South.
Steve Wood steve.wood@mccaw.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 13:03 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
According to a wire service account in the {Boston Globe}, AT&T is
changing their rates to be more like MCI and Sprint. The list price
for calls goes up, but with a calling plan, you pay about what you
would have before. AT&T characterized the changes as revenue neutral.
The i plan is going away, presumably because nobody could figure out
what it was.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers
Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 22:01:12 GMT
In article <telecom13.842.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, Paul Robinson writes:
> {Washington Post} 12/29 Pg B3:
> NOTICE TO AT&T LONG DISTANCE CUSTOMERS
> Card Station $2.05 $2.12
> Operator Station:
> -Collect $2.05 $2.12
> -Billed to Third Party $2.11 $2.18
> -Sent Paid--Non-Coin $2.05 $2.12
I wonder why they bother to have a special rate for third-party. The
increment seems hardly worth the bother of explaining that it's
different.
> Effective February 10, 1994, AT&T USADirect* (R) Optional Calling Plan
> - Option A, institutes a 30-call restriction on the number of Plan
> calls eligible for discounted rates in a one month period.
I have never heard about optional calling plans for USA Direct. I
have a Universal card, and occasionally use it for USA Direct. Do you
have any information about this plan?
Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM
CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait
------------------------------
From: fulcrum@NeoSoft.com (Fulcrum)
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable Television
Organization: NeoSoft Internet Services -- +1 713 684 5969
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 16:33:56 GMT
In article <telecom13.843.14@eecs.nwu.edu> thale@Novell.COM (Todd D.
Hale) writes:
> wait, myself. Imagine sitting down to local news and hitting some
> NEXT story button when you're ready to move on. Or, select a set of
> stories from a table of contents and play it through. Etc, etc ...
Hmmm ... I think many of us already do this to an extent through
various news sources we get through on-line services or Internet. The
technology is incorporate the other aspects that television has (ie
video, sound, etc) is actually coming about as we speak.
Personally, I've never liked what comes out of my TV News anyway.
They are slow, alarmist, and they always show the need to cut down
everything to 40 second blurbs. Right now, harder news is found in the
better newspapers (the ones that do more analytical news than fact
reporting) or shortwave radio where you can usually get the word out
from the mouths of the particular country.
If the future is more 40 second blurbs, then there's really no point
for much news from these TV-Packages.
Mike
Fulcrum - That Sassy Sassy Style...
The Internet Experience: Fulcrum@Neosoft.Com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 22:38:12 EDT
From: Michael Jacobs <JMT0@LAFAYACS.bitnet>
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable Television
I think a lot of the problem that some people seem to have with
understanding the telephone/cable convergence is a tendency toward
linear thinking, ie-15 channels yesterday, 50 channels today, 500
channels tomorrow. Rather, we are going to see revolutionary
(exponential) changes as the convergence of cable tv and telephony
progresses. The concept that many RBOC's are working towards is video
dialtone. This entails an available, dedicated high-bandwidth
connection between a subscriber and a software (programming) source
on-demand. Each subscriber will be able to access common (ie-network)
programming or custom (on-demand) programming in real-time.
The keys to this are:
1) high-bandwidth subscriber loops;
2) ATM broadband switching; and
3)mass-storage programming systems (called video servers).
There will be no choice to make as to which of 500 different channels
to watch, rather it will be a choice as to what to program on the one
available video dialtone line, much as one chooses who to call on the
current voice telephone line. ALL SOFTWARE WITH NETWORK ACCESS will
be available to the subscriber on demand!
The revolutionary concept here is that instead of some programmer in
NY or LA deciding what I should watch, it will be me choosing what to
watch , whether it is a movie from Paramount's library, episode #121
of Donna Reed, Howard Stern's latest special, or the current ABC
network program. The telephone company will merely provide the
bandwidth from software provider to the residence, other vendors (and
RBOC subsidiaries) will compete for viewership. The value of the
service will lie in the diversity of programming available to the
customer, much as the value of the current telephone network lies not
in the fact that there is a phone in your home, but that there is a
phone in every home!
If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500
channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go
the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100
years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive
obsolescence.
Personal Opinions Only
Michael Jacobs, JMT0@lafibm.lafayette.edu
Service Technician, Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania
------------------------------
From: genef@netcom.com (Gene Fornario)
Subject: Re: Radio Religion (was 500 Channels...)
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 05:51:20 GMT
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well by the middle 1960's all-religious
> stations were starting to be heard in a few places. WYCA-FM in
> Hammond, Indiana came on the air I guess about 1963; WMBI in Chicago
> started their FM affiliate station sometime in the early to middle
BTW, have you noticed that Canada doesn't not either have or license
all-religous stations? I have asked why in rec.radio.broadcasting,
and most think it was because there was a lot of fighting going on
between such stations in the early days of radio ... can you add to
that?
Gene genef@netcom.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I really don't know anything at all
about the rules in Canada or how they can be be created; I'll take a
pass on this rather than second-guess my friend Bill Pfieffer with his
newsgroup and journal. I don't think there has ever been any rules oer
laws against it here in the USA simply because the government here
really cannot regulate speech, and technical requirements have to be
applied equally to all license holders regardless of the content of
their speech. Other ideas or suggestions, anyone? PAT]
------------------------------
From: kenh@w8hd.org (Ken Hoehn)
Subject: Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones
Date: 04 Jan 1994 17:01:48 -0500
Organization: The w8hd Group
octela!!mikedi@uunet.UU.NET (Michael Dimitrov) writes:
> A few months ago I saw an ad for a long range radio telephone -- it
> works like cordless, but it's range is about 100 miles (right, one
> hundred miles). Of course, it said "Not for sale in the US". A
> friend of mine from Eastern Europe would like to buy one of these, but
> I've lost the ad since then. Could anyone provide information about
> similar telephone systems -- manufacturers, reteilers, technical
> details etc.
There are no such systems legal for operation in the United States.
They are merely interconnected business radio systems, utilizing low
band (30-50 mHz) radio facilities, and interconnect units to connect
the phone line to the unit.
You would get away with using for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks.
The co-channel users would complain up a storm, and the Commission
would get you.
They are intended only for surreptitious use in 'uncontrolled' (read: out
of control) countries.
Sorry.
kenh@w8hd.org
Ken Hoehn - Teletech, Inc. Compuserve: 70007,2374
N8NYO P.O.Box 924 FAX: (313) 562-8612
Dearborn, MI 48121 VOICE: (313) 562-6873
------------------------------
From: ssinlk@solsys.com (Neil L. Kleeman)
Subject: Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones
Organization: Solution Systems Inc.
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 10:03:38 GMT
In Article <telecom13.844.1@eecs.nwu.edu>, Mark W. Earle <0006127039@
mcimail.com> wrote:
> Michael Dimitrov wrote:
>> A few months ago I saw an ad for a long range radio telephone -- it
>> works like cordless, but it's range is about 100 miles ....
> These usually turn out to be nothing more than 1/2 duplex, two way
> radios (hand held or mobiles) with a telephone interconnect similiar
> to an amateur radio "autopatch". The reason they are not for sale in
> the US is that, to use such a device requires a business or other
> license; the gear must be FCC type accepted.
Thanks for all of that information. Can you give me any idea what
manufacturers might have this type of equipment available?
Please respond via email.
Thanks,
Neil L. Kleeman, President Internet: ssinlk@solsys.com
Solution Systems Incorporated Voice: (215) 668-4620
114 Forrest Avenue Fax: (215) 668-2157
Narberth, PA 19072
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As pointed out before, no one has this
type of equipment for sale if they know you intend to use it in the
USA. Something interesting I found out the other day about Radio Shack
is their corporate policy which states that if you discuss with their
clerk your intent to modify radio equipment you purchase from them so
it will operate in an illegal way, the clerk is supposed to refuse to
sell you the equipment. PAT]
------------------------------
From: tnixon@microsoft.com (Toby Nixon)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Organization: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond WA, USA
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:10:19 GMT
In article <telecom13.842.4@eecs.nwu.edu> Anthony wrote:
> What is the ITU reference for the standard method of writing
> telephone numbers? I've noticed the following:
> (plus symbol) (country code) (city/area code) (number)
This is described in Recommendation E.123. You have it basically
right. A "+" and the country code, a space, the city code (optionally
enclosed within parenthesis to indicate that it is optionally dialed
if you're within the same city code), then another space, and the
local number. It is preferred that if the local number is to be
broken up into segments (e.g., 555 1212) that a space character be
used, but other characters are permitted by local convention (e.g.,
period, hyphen). E.123 (the title is something like "Representation
of Telephone Numbers in Printed Materials"; sorry, I don't have a copy
handy) includes guidance on how to differentiate different types of
lines, such as voice and fax, and how to indicate that an answering
machine may be in use, etc.
Toby
------------------------------
From: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Organization: MGZ Computer Services
Reply-To: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 22:24:16 GMT
In article <telecom13.842.4@eecs.nwu.edu> 0003250251@mcimail.com writes:
> What is the ITU reference for the standard method of writing
I don't know what the ITU decided but in UK we are told to use:
MYCOMPANY NAME (0123) 123456
international +44 123 123456
This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any),
seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody
knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another
country). In Europe 0 is being now used as prefix for area code
numbers and 00 as prefix for country codes. With such a system in
operation is it sensible to include the first 0 in your number? Or
should we all use numbers with country code. Anybody inside the
country will know what digits to drop? But then some French idiots
come up with a stupid numbering system (for Paris *and* Greater Paris
+331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33 xxxxxxxx ). Is it a revenge for
changing CCITT to ITU?
George Zmijewski
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #7
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:30:18 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401052130.AA25602@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #8
TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 15:30:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 8
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Bellcore FTP Site For ISDN Information (William H. Sohl)
Communication Over Power Lines? (Michael Duane)
Telephone Answering Machine Question (Ray Normandeau)
Federal Telemarketing Laws (Bob Rankin)
Access Charges if LD Carrier = Telco? (Charles F. Hofacker)
What Ways Can Three Regional Offices Share One Phone Number? (J. Ortiz)
California ANI Question (Phydeaux)
Quick Question About Caller ID (Ashish Parikh)
SLIP Information Needed (Lance M. Cottrell)
Long Distance Dial/Pay Methods (Terry Brainerd Chadwick)
Calling Card Statistics Wanted (Terry Brainerd Chadwick)
Merlin Question (Vince Dugar)
Cellular Phones Come to Belgium/Pactel (Massimo Mauro)
How Are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated? (Dan Cromer)
Emergency Only Cellphone (Dale Farmer)
Best Remote Software? (Joseph Ferguson)
Best Modem For Developing World (David Davidson)
Help Needed With V.42bis (bobphin@nbnet.nb.ca)
Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory' (Stephen Ng)
Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory' (Dave Niebuhr)
Re: TDD Software Wanted (Don Perrott)
Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation (Steve Forrette)
Re: Being Paged by Mystery 800 Number (Timothy S. Shea)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h)
Date: 5 Jan 1994 14:01 EST
Subject: Bellcore FTP site for ISDN Information
Pat,
The following announces the availability of ISDN documentation via FTP
from Bellcore. Additional documentation will be added to the FTP site
as we progress in 1994.
Thanks,
Bill Sohl and Barbara Shaw - Bellcore ISDN Hotline 1-800-992-ISDN
-------------------Bellcore FTP ISDN Info Announcement-----------
Bellcore's National ISDN Hotline Announces:
Availability of National ISDN Information over Internet
Information about National ISDN is now available by anonymous FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) over the Internet at host "info.bellcore.com"
FTP allows the retrieval of formatted documents and software.
The files are available in PostScript through anonymous FTP from
"info.bellcore.com" in the /pub/ISDN sub directory.
I M P O R T A N T:
Many of the files are large. It is essential that you first get the
README (the upper case is important) file for detailed information on
retrieving various files associated with documents.
The following text describes a typical anonymous FTP session:
system: ftp info.bellcore.com <enter>
Connected to info.
220 info FTP server (SunOS 4.1) ready.
Name: anonymous <enter>
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password: <enter your internet login -- example: student@university.edu>
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> cd /pub/ISDN <enter>
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> mget README <enter>
mget README? yes <enter>
200 PORT command successful.
150 ASCII data connection for README (8758 bytes).
226 ASCII Transfer complete.
local: README remote: README
8943 bytes received in 0.19 seconds (46 Kbytes/s)
ftp> quit <enter>
221 Goodbye.
<enter> represents pressing the "enter" or "return" key on your
computer keyboard.
The README file is in ASCII format and may be read on any word
processor. The other files in the directory are in PostScript format
and may be downloaded as needed by using the "mget" command while in
the FTP.
The PostScript files may be printed on a PostScript printer by using
the "lprr" command. A typical Post Script print command may look like:
lpr -P<printer> -h -v <filename.ps>
where:
<printer> represents printer name on your network, and
<filename.ps> represents a PostScript file.
'-h' corresponds to the option of suppressing the printing of burst
page while '-v' corresponds to the option of printing raster image,
i.e., PostScript. Please note that the printer must support PostScript
imaging model in order to print these files.
If you have problems or you'd like to comment on the information
stored at this site or wish to make recommendations for future
enhancements, you can email us at:
isdn@cc.bellcore.com
Or, call us at Bellcore's National ISDN Hotline: 1-800-992-ISDN
------------------------------
From: duanem@apollo4.eng.sematech.org (Michael Duane)
Subject: Communication Over Power Lines?
Date: 5 Jan 1994 18:10:01 GMT
Organization: SEMATECH, Austin
Reply-To: michael_duane@sematech.org
I received the following question from a friend. Post replies here, or
mail directly to thausken@ota.gov.
"This is an all points bulletin to answer an question we were
pondering here the other day. The question is "Can the power company
send telephone or radio signals over the power lines?" Never mind for
the moment any switching problems -- just consider broadcast for now.
(There *is* a proposal that power companies install fiber optic cable
to homes to help monitor power usage, and in turn sell the capacity to
the phone companies. I am asking something different. I am
interested in using the actual power lines themselves. My campus
radio station used power lines to send the local FM channel, but I
don't know how they did it.)
The questions are:
1. What is the cutoff frequency of the power grid? Or better, what
is the bandwidth vs. distance curve? This is a basic two wire
conductor problem but I don't know things like the skin resistance,
etc.
2. How do you mix the frequencies? Is the 60 Hz line the carrier,
mixed with the signal? Or can you combine them some other way?
Any help is appreciated!! Please pass the problem on if you cannot help.
Tom michael.duane@sematech.org
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might be interested to know that
the telephones inside the cars on the subway in Chicago used by conductors
and motormen to communicate with their dispatcher used to operate via the
'third rail' (power supply for the trains). I guess you can talk over the
the third rail quite nicely. Lately they have used UHF radios, but some of
the phones in the fare collection booths used on the internal CTA phone
system are still interconnected via the third rail. Are the connections
noisy you ask? Are they? Are they!! But it works. PAT]
------------------------------
From: factory!ray.normandeau@uu6.psi.com
Subject: Telephone Answering Machine Question
Date: 4 Jan 94 22:15:00 GMT
Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis
Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau)
In December, {Back Stage} newspaper in NYC had the following ad:
"EARN $50
While staying at home
Call 289-6048 for info"
The phone is in the 212 area code.
I have called several times, at least once a week for the last few
weeks. Altho the OGM says "Please leave a message", and I think that
I am leaving one, I am not sure if it is being recorded because my
calls are not being returned.
It has happened to me that I put my own TAD on "Outgoing Message Only"
without realizing it and that people who thought they were leaving a
message for me, were not as my TAD was not recording them.
Is there any way to figure out if the machine at 212-289-6048 is
taking my messages or not?
The ad might make some people think that it is a scam, but the
newspaper {Back Stage} has a VERY GOOD reputation for screening out scam
ads.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 11:48:08 EST
From: Bob Rankin <r3@vnet.IBM.COM>
Subject: Federal Telemarketing Laws
I just read through the archives from late 1991 looking for info on
congressional action regarding automated telemarketing. I found this
little excursion quite fascinating, but failed in my quest, save for a
few references to Rep. Frank's appearance on NightLine discussing some
proposed legislation.
Kind readers, please enlighten me as to the details of whatever
federal law(s) may have been passed regarding telemarketing. I'm
interested to learn if *all* forms of automated outbound calling are
verboten, or if it just applies to "sales" calls. For example,
- A club calling members to notify them of a meeting;
- A library calling to notify you of an overdue book;
- An automated survey/questionnaire (for non-commercial purposes);
- An announcement of a free community service;
- A political party calling with a "please vote today" message;
(maybe even "Press 1 if you need transportation to the polls")
All these seem to be legitimate uses of automated outbound calling,
since they either provide useful information/services or offer a
significant labor and time savings to a caller who has no profit motive.
I welcome private or public replies on this matter.
Bob Rankin (r3@vnet.ibm.com)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All the above examples you cite are
exempt from the federal regulations. Political calls (vote today) are
considered freedom of speech. The library (return our book) has a
pre-existing relationship with you as does the club calling to notify
you about a meeting. Announcements about free community services also
come under freedom of speech. The only calls which are really regulated
are those from commercial organizations with whom you have no previous
business relationship. They have to follow regulations pertaining to
how they call you (using automated techniques or not, etc). The others
want to maintain your goodwill, so they follow the same guidelines for
the most part, but are not absolutely required to follow them. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Charles F. Hofacker <chofack@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>
Subject: Access Charges if LD Carrier = Telco?
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 12:08:06 EST
The recent announcement by MCI that they were going to compete in the
local loop has made me curious about something. One of the
motivations for this announcement was that MCI could then avoid
'access charges' which are I believe are paid by the long distance
provider to the local telco.
Since my local telco is Sprint (904-386), if I sign up for Sprint long
distance also, shouldn't things be cheaper for me? Why should Sprint
charge Sprint access charges? Do I have a point here or is there some
regulatory reason that my logic fails?
I called the Sprint Long Distance 800 number and the sales rep said he
had never heard of access charges.
Charlie Hofacker chofack@cob.fsu.edu
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Probably the 'Sprint' which handles your
local loop is not the same branch of 'Sprint' which handles your long
distance calls. Additionally, there is no reason why MCI *has* to not
charge you the access fee once they get in the local loop business;
just that they apparently choose not to. They apparently have chosen
to 'do their bookkeeping' differently than Sprint. Under the law,
whoever supplies/maintains the wires coming to your home is entitled
to be compensated for the use of the wires in long distance calls and
apparently Sprint (the division of the company supplying your local
service) chooses to be compensated. Maybe MCI's gimmick will be to
have slightly higher long distance rates in exchange for no local-loop
charge. It all comes out the same in the end, or nearly so. PAT]
------------------------------
From: ortiz@cactus.org (J. Ortiz)
Subject: What Ways Can Three Regional Offices Share One Phone Number?
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 17:12:26 GMT
I was curious what is available from telephone services or just
products on the market that would allow for a single phone number that
a customer can dial and be able to connect to one of three separately
located offices. Some thing like a support center, call one number
and connect to the office/extension or the first available
office/extension. Also could this be done with an 800 number as well?
All ideas would be appreciated. I'd like to be informed before I talk
to the AT&T and MCIs of the world.
Thanks,
joe ortiz@cactus.org
[TELECOM Digest Editors's Note: Well it can most definitly be arranged
with 800 service. Your 800 number would terminate different places
depending on the place where the call originated. You can also have one
of the regional offices be the central answering point and forward the
calls one by one to the two other offices manually, then have call-
forwarding on the line for after-hours connection to the other two
offices. The thing is, how convenient would this be for your customers?
At least two of the three regional offices would have to receive calls
from *their* customers over a long distance number if all three offices
used the same number (which could only be 'local service' to one of
the three offices.) If you really want to pay for all the incoming
calls from your customers, complainers, deadbeats and anyone else who
calls the company, then go with a single 800 number which is routed on
a time-of-day/day-of-week/location of call orgination basis, but I
don't think you will find it terribly cost-effective. I'd say go with
three 'local' numbers for each of the three offices, and internal
tie-lines which allowed the receptionist/operator handling incoming
calls to manually pass the call to one of the other offices if that
was desired. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 17:21:03 -0800
From: reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux)
Subject: California ANI Question
Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that
"ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he
understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm
sure someone here knows for sure.
reb
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What can I tell you? Ask your colleague
if he thinks 800 numbers are illegal in California. If not, then there
is your answer. ANI and 800 go hand in hand. That's the way the system
works. In a way, that's what makes the debate over Caller-ID so silly:
People who can afford 800 numbers and insist on receiving all their calls
over the 800 number have always had 'caller-ID', even in backward areas
like California. :) No, ANI is not illegal in California. PAT]
------------------------------
From: aparikh@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Mr. Ashish Parikh )
Subject: Quick Question About Caller ID
Date: 5 Jan 1994 04:35:09 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University
I am under the impression that only listed (in phonebooks) numbers get
identified in one's Caller-ID system. what I mean is that for example
my number is unlisted and I call a person with Caller-ID -- according
to my views, my number doesn't get recognized by his/her system. My
question to you intelligent/experienced folks: Is that true? Could you
please briefly describe how the whole Caller-ID thing works. Thanks
very much.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your views are quite seriously mistaken.
CID depends on a few things, but having an unlisted or non-pub number
is not one of them. First, both telephone exchanges -- that of the caller
and the called party -- have to be equipped for the service. If the
receiving office is equipped but the sending office is not, then sub-
scribers to Caller-ID in the receiving office will get the message
'out of area' on their display when the sending office passes a call.
If the sending office is equipped but the receiving office is not, then
it all becomes a moot point.
Now let us assume both telephone exchanges, that of caller and called
party are equipped to handle Caller-ID. The calling party's ID will
*always* be passed to the exchange serving the called party. Whether or
not the called exchange passes the information on to the called party
depends on two things: one, is the called party a subscriber to the
Caller-ID service and two, did the calling party not explicitly refuse
the passing of the information. By that I mean, did the calling party
prepend a special code to his dialing string (typically *67) to tell
*his* phone exchange to deny the information to the called party. So
if both exchanges are equipped for the service and the called party
subscribes to the service, he *will* get your number unless you have
specifically told your exchange (to tell the other exchange) to not
pass that information along. In the event you request that the inform-
ation not be passed along, then the called party will receive a message
on his display screen saying 'Private'. Note the difference: the
display will say 'private' when the sender denies the receiver the
right to the information and the display will say 'out of area' when
the receiving exchange is unable (as opposed to not permitted) to
supply the information. How you have your phone listed with directory
assistance (or not) has no bearing on this at all. All your non-pub
listing gets you is the inability of a third person to match your
name with a number through the directory and/or the inability to
match your number with a name/address through a cross-reference (or
'criss-cross' as they are usually called) directory. So the called
party will get your *number* via Caller-ID (unless you specifically
block delivery using *67), but it still remains relatively meaningless
without a name/address to go with it.
Note also that 'automatic call return' where that service exists is
not affected by the 'private' status of Caller-ID (calls can still
be returned although the return-caller will not know the number being
called) and the ability to block Caller-ID via *67 is disabled when
calling 911 or *any* telephone company facility or operator. In other
words, you can never refuse the telephone company the right to know
your number, nor can you hide from the police, etc. Likewise, your
number is always known (or soon ascertained) by subscribers to toll-
free 800 numbers that you may dial. You can't block that either. PAT]
------------------------------
From: sdphu3!loki@UCSD.EDU (Lance M Cottrell)
Subject: SLIP Information Needed
Date: 5 Jan 1994 05:38:44 GMT
Organization: Physics Department, UCSD
I am looking for information of setting up a SLIP on a Sun for call
in. The Sun is not directly connected to the phone. I dial into a
phone bank and telnet to the computer. Can I establish SLIP after I
telnet?
Thanks,
Lance Cottrell
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 09:11:12 -0700
From: Terry Brainerd Chadwick <p00653@psilink.com>
Organization: InfoQuest! Information Services
Subject: Long Distance Dial/Pay Methods
How are both consumer and business long distance calling distributed
between direct dialing, some form of card, collect calls, and other?
($ volume or percentage) Where is this information available?
Thank you,
Terry Brainerd Chadwick p00653@psilink.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 09:06:37 -0700
From: Terry Brainerd Chadwick <p00653@psilink.com>
Organization: InfoQuest! Information Services
Subject: Calling Cards Statistics Wanted
Where can I get a list of all long distance calling (including credit
and debit) cards, their issuers, benefits, and rates? Also, the
breakdown of card usage by consumers and business?
Thank you,
Terry Brainerd Chadwick p00653@psilink.com
------------------------------
From: vdugar@stortek.stortek.com (Vince Dugar)
Subject: Merlin Question
Organization: StorageTek
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:46:15 GMT
Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but
it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper
solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for
CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK)
Vince Dugar | CIS: 71011,2657
Boulder, Colorado | Opinions expressed are my own.
Vince_Dugar@stortek.com |
------------------------------
Subject: Cellular Phones Come to Belgium/Pactel
From: massimo@west.darkside.com (Massimo Mauro)
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 01:14:33 PST
Organization: The Dark Side of the Moon +1 408 245 SPAM
With lots of fireworks to celebrate the event even this derelict
(certainly as far as telecoms are concerned) country joins the
cellular circus (GSM operational as from 1 Jan, 1994).
Cellular phones, besides being a yuppy accessory, are unfortunately
pretty useful, but cost over here an awful lot of money, as the
service provider (a joint venture between the Belgian telecom and
Pactel) operates a near monopoly. Can some cellular whiz kid tell me
whether a cellular telephone (say, a Motorola or Nokia, for instance)
purchased in the US or in Canada would be able to operate here? Given
that frequency allocation and modulation scheme standardisation are
done internationally (ITU), I expect it to be so.
Thanks for emailing me some info, were it even to tell me I am wrong.
massimo@west.darkside.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 05:47:29 EST
From: Dan Cromer <19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU>
Organization: School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida
Subject: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Greetings,
How are VCR Plus+ code numbers, the up-to-eight digit numbers for each
TV program used in programming some new VCRs and VCR-programming
remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL,
to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR
Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to
set up a programmable calculator so that it would generate the code
for them. I know there is a 900 number at 95 cents/minute, but don't
think they should have to pay $1.90 every time they want to use the
system.
Daniel H. Cromer, Jr. Director, Information Resources
School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida
19016007@sbacvm.sbac.edu
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Its a secret. No one knows for sure how
it is done except the proprietors of the system, and they aren't going
to tell. There *are* scripts around in various ftp archives sites
which make a stab at this, but I understand none of them are perfect
and all have a few bugs. The topic is even discussed on a regular basis
in a couple of newsgroups devoted to cable television and vcr's, etc.
I'm sure some readers will send you email telling you where to find the
programs which have attempted to work out the VCR+ codes, but part of
the reason for selling the device and operating the 900 phone number is
so the proprietors can make money on the deal which I guess is the
main reason their lips are zipped. PAT]
------------------------------
From: dale@access3.digex.net (Dale Farmer)
Subject: Emergency Only Cellphone
Date: 5 Jan 1994 13:33:42 GMT
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
I just ran across a flyer advertising (to me at least) a new cellular
phone service. It is called HELPTEL, marketed by a company here in
Massachusetts. 800 370 4445 if you want to call them yourself.
What they are selling is a cell phone that has one button.
You plug the phone into the cigarette lighter plug, press the HELP
button and talk to some form of operator. The marketing is aimed
squarely at the emergency only cellular customer. Rates are $35 per
year, plus an unmentioned purchase price, plus an unmentioned per call
charge.
I thought you may be interested.
Dale Farmer
------------------------------
From: Joseph Ferguson <JOEJR1@delphi.com>
Subject: Best Remote Software?
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 94 14:03:17 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
I need a reliable remote software program that will actually run
Windows. I use an Intel 400 at home and at work. Haven't had any luck
trying PcTools Commute. Do any of these remote programs run Windows?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Joe
------------------------------
From: davidson@ccrs.emr.ca (David Davidson)
Subject: Best Modem For Developing World
Organization: Canada Centre for Remote Sensing
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:32:28 GMT
I got another request from a group in a developing nation who want to
set up digital communication. They asked what would be the best modem
to use. I asked on this newsgroup once before and I believe the
response was the Telebit Worldblazer. Is this correct? I would
appreciate some comments or recommendations that I could pass along.
Please accept my thanks in advance.
David
------------------------------
From: bobphin@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (ral)
Subject: Help Needed With V.42bis
Organization: nbnet
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:50:05 GMT
I have a Zoltrix 14,400 data/fax modem. I am not sure if I am getting
compression or if so what kind. My manual indicates the S95 registar
gives extended result codes. For example S95=003 will give me the
Protocal: result code, usually Lap-M. Since S95 is bit mapped, I do
not know the values I should use to get the codes I want.
The manual further says:
Bit Description
0 CONNECT indicates DCE speed
1 Append/ARQ to the connect result code if the protocol is other than
NONE
2 Carrier result code
3 PROTOCOL: result code
4 reserved
5 COMPRESSION: result code
6 reserved
7 reserved
I should also say that when S95=003, I get codes for bit0,1,2,3. In
other words I get everything I want, except for the compression code.
I've tried S95=005, but this does not work.Please help. Answer here
or e-mail bobphin@nbnet.nb.ca
------------------------------
From: steveng@world.std.com (Stephen Ng)
Subject: Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory'
Organization: Sedona Software Consulting, Arlington, MA
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 16:56:27 GMT
Given the availability of the national white pages on cd-rom, couldn't
anyone set up such a service, for both business and residential
listings?
Stephen Ng Sedona Software Consulting 617-648-8120
steveng@world.std.com 70302, 1510
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Certainly they could. Really, the only
considerations would be financial: having the cash flow to do it and
the money needed to keep it running while it was first starting up. Of
course you need the computer and CD-Rom, etc. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 17:00:46 EST
From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory'
I mentioned earlier about testing out the NYTel 'Reverse Directory
Assistance' and John Levine (john@iecc.com) wanted to know the number
so that he could try it.
Actually, it was simple. The first was looking in the Manhattan phone
book and picking a business name then calling Manhattan DA and asking
for the whole thing. That took some time since no one there seemed to
know what I wanted.
Well, I just tried it in Area Code 516 and got the whole kit and
kaboodle (phone, address and zip) one-two-three.
The cost for the DA will be about $.45 US and I think about $.35-$.45
US for the extra. Your mileage might vary.
Have a Safe, Sane Healthy and Happy New Year!
Dave Niebuhr Internet: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (preferred)
niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl
Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility
Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 14:09:18 PDT
From: DON PERROTT <PERROTT@BBS.UG.EDS.COM>
Subject: Re: TDD Software Wanted
In article <telecom13.839.13@eecs.nwu.edu>, peltz@cerl.uiuc.edu (Steve
Peltz) wrote:
> In article <telecom13.832.12@eecs.nwu.edu>, <KMCLEOD@delphi.com> wrote:
>> Mike, the phone company is right -- you can't get ASCII to Baudot
>> (code used by TYs) communication by software alone. You're going to
>> need a hybrid ASCII/Baudot modem. There are several on the market,
>> including the MIC300i, and they have a version for the Mac too.
> Baudot is just a 5-bit code, right? Any synchronous-capable serial
> chip can do that (such as a Mac). Is the modem encoding itself also
> different, possibly different carrier frequencies or such? It can't be
> just Baudot coding that causes the problem.
> Why don't they start releasing dual-mode TDD machines, that can handle
> ASCII and "standard" modem standards, and eventually phase out Baudot-
> only machines?
I want to suggest that this topic has been very thoroughly covered in
past issues of the TELECOM Digest. I did a search on TDD several weeks
ago and found that there have been numerous requests on the topic and
some excellent answers over the years.
There are issues with Baudot to ASCII conversion with SHIFT characters
as well as the hardware issues with half duplex communication which is
no tone between characters and 1400/1800 Hz tones unlike any normal
modem used today. Also, the baud rate is 45.5 bps.
You can purchase dual-mode TDD machines that handle Baudot and ASCII
but for some reason they have never really taken off in the deaf
community. They tend to be the high end (read expensive) TDD's and
are very much overkill for those only interested in TDD
communications. Also, the ASCII capabilities usually provided are 300
baud ... insufficient to be useful for much else. There seems to be
some lawmaker intervention in this area.
Some software was written by John W. Spalding that can be used to
emulate TDD on a TRS-80 Color Computer or an IBM PC/PCjr using the
cassette port and a modified telephone amplifier. It is well worth
getting if only for the comments in the code to help you understand
how TDD works. I downloaded it from the HEX BBS (301) 593-7357. It is
called tdd56.zip.
I am interested in extending the concept of tdd56 and building a
simple hardware interface to either use an XT/AT serial port or a
simple adapter card. I have some concepts in mind but would be very
happy to receive ideas (or encouragement) from anyone.
Don Perrott perrott@bbs.ug.eds.com
General Motors of Canada Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
------------------------------
From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
Subject: Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation
Date: 05 Jan 1994 22:14:10 GMT
Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.
Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
In <telecom13.842.9@eecs.nwu.edu>, hedlund@reed.edu (M. Hedlund) writes:
> I also saw a news piece about 911 technology and cellular phones,
> saying that Caller-ID/Signalling System Seven had speeded response to
> home calls (as discussed) but that only _some_ systems could ID
> cellular phones -- Seattle was mentioned as considering cellular-
> Caller ID to improve 911. Apologies if this overlaps a thread I
> missed, but anyone in Seattle with info?
I have cellular accounts with both of the Seattle carriers: US West
Cellular and Cellular One. At least when calling 800 numbers, the US
West Cellular system will report my actual cellular number as the ANI,
whereas Cellular One reports a non-dialable number that's common on
all subscribers. Since 911 systems are often implemented using
operator-service trunks, I would imagine that the 'correct ANI'
feature of the US West system would also work with 911, although I
don't have any specific knowledge that this is the case. As far as
Cellular One goes, they could implement 911 ANI with some sort of
special data line to the PSAP, without converting to full ANI for all
outbound calls. One benefit of the US West Cellular ANI situation is
that it allows me to select any IXC that's generally available via
Equal Access as my default carrier for the cellular phone.
Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com
------------------------------
From: tsshea@mmm.com (Timothy S. Shea)
Subject: Re: Being Paged by Mystery 800 Number
Organization: 3M - St. Paul, MN 55144-1000 US
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 00:22:52 GMT
Bud Couch (bud@kentrox.com) wrote:
> In the meantime, let me offer my own WAG. I tried the number from my
> PC and found that it connected at *1200* bps, although my modem is a
> V.22bis (2400). This means that the machine at the other end is
> forcing the speed to be that low. Why?
> I suspect that the modem on the other end is an older (in modem terms
> more than two years is *old*) ZOOM modem, for their 1200 units had an
> interesting security feature: the entry password to the modem was not
> an ascii string, but a four number *touchtone* sequence.If the correct
> code wasn't entered within a few seconds of answer, the unit hung up.
> We may have just stumbled into someone's database "server" that has
> this security feature.
I don't know about that theory. I have several scripts running on our
systems that check for status or any error conditions. If it finds
something wrong our communications server pages me through an old 1200
bps modem ...
Or this is way the company pages its people and someone just entered
in the number wrong ...
internet: tsshea@mmm.com timothy shea
compuserve: 76300,1230 Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #8
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:39:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401052239.AA18282@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #9
TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 16:39:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 9
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se)
Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (Dan J. Declerck)
Re: Digital Cordless Phones Question (KATHY1310@delphi.com)
Re: Digital Cordless Phones/Rolm Switch (Kathleen Denial)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Oliver Rothe)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Curtis R. Nelson)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Jon Edelson)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (John R. Levine)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Mark Blumhardt)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Keith McNeill)
Re: V.35 to RS-232 Conversions (David Weiss)
Re: Telix and Busy Signals (Steven J. Tucker)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Fernando Lagrana)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Carl Moore)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Ketil Albertsen)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se
Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard
Reply-To: ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 10:45:33 GMT
In article 2@eecs.nwu.edu, weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu) writes:
> It has come to my attention that the digital cellular standards
> adopted by US carriers are not going to be compatible with what we
> have adopted in Australia, GSM. I am interested in finding out a bit
> more about the US systems but cant find any FAQ on the subject.
> My specific questions are:
> 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM.
There are basically three standards -- AMPS used in North America, JSM
(?) used in Japan, and GSM used in the rest of the world. It's the
same with TV-sets. In Europe we have PAL and SECAM, in the U.S. they
have NTSC; don't know about the rest of the world. As I see it, this
is a producer-pushed scenario that we will have to live with. The
reason is that the producers will be able to sell more terminal-units
-- those who need to be accessable in all three areas will have to buy
three units instead of one.
I don't know a whole lot about the technical differences on the
different standards.
> 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into
> the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved.
With GSM, all the operators must be open for roaming with other
operators. But for roaming between GSM, AMPS, and JSM, I think we'll
have to wait.
> 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third
> standard that can be used world wide?
There are at least two companies working on a satellite based system
for digital mobile communication that is to be working worldwide. As I
understand these will be working as plain cellular phones when
inside i.e. a GSM- cell, but as a satellite-phone when you are in the
desert or someplace else without access to a cellular provider.
Claes
------------------------------
From: declrckd@rtsg.mot.com (Dan J. Declerck)
Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard
Date: 5 Jan 1994 19:21:38 GMT
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
In article <telecom14.3.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, Weiyun Yu <weiyun@extro.
ucc.su.OZ.AU> wrote:
> 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM.
N-AMPS, ADC, and DS-CDMA all offer, at least, 2x the capacity of GSM.
NAMPS and CDMA do not have the pulsed-noise interference of GSM. CDMA
has the potential to have a longer talk-time.
GSM has terrible data services vis-a-vis' Group 3 Fax.
> 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into
> the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved.
> 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third
> standard that can be used world wide?
The frequencies and access methods (GSM is TDMA/GMSK each channel is
200 KHz, ADC is TDMA/QPSK channels ea 30 KHz, CDMA is DS-CDMA ea
channel 1.25 MHz) are completely incompatible. GSM is like ISDN over
the air, whereas the other standards aren't so rich.
Dan DeClerck EMAIL: declrckd@rtsg.mot.com
Motorola Cellular APD Phone: (708) 632-4596
------------------------------
From: KATHY1310@delphi.com
Subject: Re: Digital Cordless Phones Question
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 16:46:06 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
I have an AT&T Model 9100. As you have stated, I have had no problems
with range within my house (or for that matter in my next door
neighbor's house. However, the range outside my house is only about
3/8 mile (it's very hilly and densly populated). I have not exper-
ienced any quality problems as of yet.
------------------------------
From: kathi_denial@net.com (Kathleen Denial)
Subject: Digital Cordless Phones/Rolm Switch
Date: 5 Jan 94 17:12:29 GMT
Organization: N.E.T.
I am currently looking into using digital cordless phones in
conjunction with our Rolm 9751 switch. Has anyone tried this yet? My
idea is to assign a persons second line to a SLI channel.
The purpose is to allow people reach the IT department when we are
away from our desks. As most of you know many problems can be solved
immediately if the user can reach you, and get an answer.
Has anyone tried this application/do you have any suggestions? Also
does anyone have any information on the technology used for the
digital cordless phone.
Thanks,
Kathi Denial
------------------------------
From: Oliver Rothe <isgi@ztivax.zfe.siemens.de>
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: ISGI GmbH
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 09:31:12 GMT
Jack Decker (ao944@yfn.ysu.edu) wrote:
> If you think that the fire example is farfetched, just consider that
> there are other situations where you might want folks to reach you ...
For example, people from other countries (Here in Germany there is still
no caller ID, although I assume that the switching systems used would allow
for it in most parts of country).
Oliver Rothe isgi@ztivax.zfe.siemens.com
also reachable via: 100265.1543@compuserve.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However people in other countries, like
people in a central office just a couple miles from me not yet equipped
with Caller-ID can get through; the difference is the display box says
'out of area' rather than 'private'. That is the key. Even people who
refuse to take calls from blocked numbers still accept calls from those
sources where the calling number is not known (by the exchange). PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 12:50:19 CST
From: CRN@VAX3.ltec.com
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
In TELECOM Digest V14 #6 (Thu, 5 Jan 94), Jack Decker wrote
regarding Caller ID Blocking and Anonymous Caller Rejection:
> ... and when Caller ID is offered here, it will be a trivial matter
> for me to program the dialer wo prepend 1167 to all outgoing calls ...
and,
> ...By the way, I always get a chuckle out of the folks who say "if you
> don't want me to know your number, don't call me!" Believe me, if I
> knew that someone I was contemplating calling felt that way, there's
> no way I would call them, just because they sound like the sort of
> paranoid personality I wouldn't want to deal with. ...
Now who's the paranoid one?
Another thought: If someone knocks on your door, do they have the
right to cover your peep hole ("Visitor ID Blocking").
Curtis R. Nelson, P.E. email: cnelson@ltec.com
Lincoln Telephone Company phone: (402) 476-4886
1440 'M' Street fax: (402) 476-5527
Lincoln, NE 68508
------------------------------
From: winnie@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Jon Edelson)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 18:44:59 GMT
The question that one must ask oneself when using something like
'Anonymous Call Rejection' can be phrased 'How open do I want to leave
my door?' This is not a trivial question; my response is always to
put the tools out there so that individuals can make the choices for
themselves, as I figure that the question is difficult enough that I
shouldn't be answering it for someone else.
To take the fire example of this thread: [The situation was a neighbor
noticing a house fire, and attempting to call, but getting rejected
because of anonymous call rejection.] If the neighbor's front door
was unlocked, then people could run in and wake everyone up, or put
out the fire. But leaving the door unlocked is a risk. Do people
have little glass boxes with 'Pull for emergency access' on their
doors, so that anyone can get in if necessary? No, because that would
defeat the purpose of the lock on the door. But people do give keys
to neighbors, because the additional risk is offset by the enhanced
safety of having another set of (trusted) eyes able to look out for
you.
I tend to turn off the ringer of my phone when I want to sleep. That
way people can call me at any time without worrying about disturbing
me. However, if there was an emergency when I was in bed, my phone
would be worse than useless. I doubt that I would ever get anonymous
call rejection; my only need to know who is calling is for convenience.
But I say 'Let it be an option, allow people to choose the risk.'
Jon
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 14:46 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is
it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for
about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps
I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult
to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the
phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from.
People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call
Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't
receive calls. You can either enter explicit numbers, or tell it to
add whoever just called, even if the call had CLID blocked. It's
available the same places as other CLASS services, including some
where CLID isn't, because it doesn't present the privacy problems.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: msb@advtech.uswest.com (Mark Blumhardt)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: U S WEST Advanced Technologies
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 20:45:49 GMT
I have not seen the tariff for this service, but I think that a lot of
readers on this thread are missing an important distiction. This
distinction is between a number not being available and being blocked.
That is, the calling party number may not be available for inter-LATA
calls, and in my opinion, these calls should not be rejected. This is
quite different than if the delivery of a number has been blocked
(i.e. *67), which is when calls should be rejected by this service.
If the service is worth anything, it would make this distiction. ISUP
carries the calling party number and address presentation restriction
information (see TR-246 T1.113.3 3.7). Hence, the service could
reject calls where calling party number delivery has been blocked and
allow calls when the number is not available.
Just my observation,
Mark
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 10:03:42 EST
From: mcneill@ngt.sungard.com (Keith McNeill)
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I guess we know a few things
> If you have two lines from telco, then what you do is at the modular
> connection box depends on the kind of phone(s) you are using. If you
> have a true two-line phone, then connect the four wires to the four
> screw terminals as indicated by the color markings for each. In
> addition you attach the four wires from the cover of the modular box
> to the associated screw terminals in the same way. Plug in your two
> line phone and it should work okay. If you are using two separate
> phones, we do it a bit differently. Inside the modular box, have the
> four wires connected as above, but from the Y/B terminals, run two
> little jumper wires to a second modular box you bought from Radio
> Shack or similar. Connect the jumper wires from the Y/B screws of
> the first box to the R/G screws in the new, second modular box. Now
> plug your second phone into your second box.
Actually, Radio Shack sells an RJ11 adaptor that splits out the 1st
and second line for you. It looks like a normal one phone jack to two
phone jack adaptor, except it has three jacks. One for line one, one
for line two and one for both lines. There is no need to do the extra
wiring.
On a side note, I recently called NY Telephone (or NYNEX as they want
to be called now) about getting a second phone line installed in my
apartment. I was shocked to get a quote of $185 for the second line
(first line costs about $60). This is the price for installing a
totally different phone line in the apartment. I complained a little
that they didn't need to do that as there was a perfectly good second
pair coming into the apartment I didn't get very far as the customer
service rep wasn't technical. Is there really any need to get a
totally seperate line into my apartment? Diamond State Telephone
(Delaware) was able to put a second line on the second pair. Is NYNEX
just trying to gouge me?
Keith D. McNeill SunGard Capital Markets
+1 212 371 1116 560 Lexington Ave, 10th Floor
mcneill@ngt.sungard.com New York, NY, 10022 USA
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not necessarily. Telco outside plant
records are in notoriously bad condition in some places. The rep may
have actually not had any record of the second pair in your apartment
or may have had a record of it but shown it to be actually a multiple
of someone else's first pair or what-have-you. Have you tested that
pair to see if it is alive (with someone else's service because some
installer in the past never opened it up at the pole) or if it is in
good condition? Have you traced it back to the demarc, such as in the
basement of the building where you live? If you can get that second
pair back as far as the demarc for the building (or yourself, whichever
applies), then you have a second pair and it should not be required
for telco to make any visit to your home with the high cost for same.
You have to be careful though; make sure that set of wires you are
looking at actually goes somewhere and reaches the demarc. If not, then
you are possibly stuck for the high installation costs of a second line.
You should trace that pair first, getting it back to the demarc if at
all possible. Note on the demarc there may be some notations (little
tags tied on with bits of string are common) telling the installers
what goes where. If you see a notation saying something like 'cable 74,
pair 29' or similar then when you call back to the business office if
you get the same rap about how a new line has to be installed in your
apartment tell the rep you *think* 'cable 74 pair 29' is there already.
Note I emphasize 'think'. You're not a phone installer so don't try to
act like one. But stress you have seen complete wires back to the demarc
which appear to be idle, and you are wondering if the rep will please
have someone confirm or correct the outside plant records. PAT]
------------------------------
From: D_WEISS@delphi.com
Subject: Re: V.35 to RS-232 Conversions
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 21:31:17 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
V.35 to RS-232 Converters are readily available and come in several
types, from simple in-line, line powered converters (as for example
thoes manufactured by RAD) to A/C powered devices with full line
driver capability (Dataprobe). For Information on V.35 specifications,
get a copy of the CCITT V series specs.
Hope this helps,
David Weiss
------------------------------
From: dh395@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven J Tucker)
Subject: Re: Telix and Busy signals
Date: 5 Jan 1994 06:24:42 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: dh395@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven J Tucker)
In a previous article, ericw@seanews.akita.com (Eric Walrod) says:
> Okay, I just set up a new PC Logic 14.4kbps Internal Fax/Modem for a
> friend, and set-up deltaComm's Telix v3.21 for it.
> I CANNOT get Telix to recognize a busy signal. I am already using
> ATX4V1 to no avail (sp?).
Is your modem actually reporting 'BUSY' when you get a busy signal?
If it is, the problem is prob in the configuration of Telix.
Type ALT-O and choose option M (Modem and Dialing), Suboption G of
this menu defines the 'No Connect Strings'. Make sure 'BUSY' is
listed there.
Steve
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:31:49 +0100
From: LAGRANA <FERNANDO.LAGRANA@itu.ch>
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
In Telecom Digest V13 #842, Anthony D. Vullo asks:
> What is the ITU reference for the standard method of writing
> telephone numbers? I've noticed the following:
> (plus symbol) (country code) (city/area code) (number)
Toby Nixon is right when answering that ITU's corresponding reference
is Recommendation E.123. This Recommendation was adopted in Melbourne
in 1988 and is still in force. Its title is "Notation for national and
international telephone numbers".
Let me thank Toby Nixon for his answer. Let me not thank George
Zmijewski for his, hhhuuummm, rather rough one (I'm both French and
TSB official, ha, ha, ha!!!).
Fernando Lagrana International Telecommunication Union
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
Editor, Catalogue of Recommmendations
Coordinator, Electronic Document Handling
Internet: lagrana@itu.ch
Voice: + 41 22 730 58 94
Fax: + 41 22 730 58 53
X.400: SURNAME=lagrana, PRIVATE_DOMAIN=itu, ADMIN_DOMAIN=arcom,
COUNTRY=ch
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 9:28:52 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
This responds to mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski):
You write:
> MYCOMPANY NAME (0123) 123456
> international +44 123 123456
> This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any),
> seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody
> knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another
> country).
If an American (i.e. country code 1) telephone number (including the
area code) is being to someone outside, it needs +1 in front. By
coincidence, a leading 1 is used for long distance within country code 1.
------------------------------
From: ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Organization: T I H / T I S I P
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:48:00 GMT
In article <telecom14.7.16@eecs.nwu.edu>, mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George
Zmijewski) writes:
> This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any),
> seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody
> knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another
> country).
Remembering that USA is 1 is fairly simple, but remembering that
Norway is 47 is more difficult. Adopting the American practice of not
including country code at all is simply not applicable outside North
America.
> In Europe 0 is being now used as prefix for area code
> numbers and 00 as prefix for country codes.
Not at all true, as a general rule. Here in Norway, we currently use
095 1 xxx... to dial North American numbers. Up until last year, a
(single) leading 0 generally indicated "not a local, ordinary phone
no" but anything else, like long distance (0 + area code),
out-of-country (0 95 + country code + national no), directory service
(0 180 Nordic countries, 0 181 International), weather forecast, news
summary, error reports for the phone system etc.etc.etc.
But during 1993, area codes have been removed; you can now in
principle move all across the country keeping your old number ("for
administrative reasons" they will currently give you a new number, but
they admit that one of the reasons for dropping area codes was to open
up this possibility from a technical point of view), and the leading
zero has been removed from all special services. (There were three
special emergency numbers which did have double leading zeros, for
Fire alarm, Ambulance and Police respectively; they now have a single
leading zero).
So it all boils down to 0 being a perfectly ordinary digit, even as a
leading one, in the Norwegian national numbering plan.
> But then some French idiots come up with a stupid numbering system
> (for Paris *and* Greater Paris +331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33
> xxxxxxxx ).
According to my phone book, France is 33. Then, if the first digit is
1, then it is Paris, if the first digit is something else, it is NOT
Paris but some other area. Is that really "stupid"? You could
similarly classify it as stupid that any international number starting
with +4722 is Oslo, starting with +4772 or +4773 is Trondheim, and the
est of the country is +47 and not +4722, +4772 or +4773. But we see it
differently -- the first digits after the country code indicate which
city. Plain and simple: There are always eight digits, the leading ones
hinting about the location. (Until they open up for taking your phone
number along when you move to another city.)
------------------------------
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From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401060033.AA30086@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #10
TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 18:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 10
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Bill Pfeiffer)
Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (David H. Close)
Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (David L. Kindred)
FCC Approval for Telcom Devices (Jon Batcheller)
Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (David Horvath)
Hayes' New Modem (Charles Randall Yates)
Data Services - GSM (Lars Kalsen)
Professor Neon's TV and Movie Mania Machine (Lauren Weinstein)
AT&T Secure Software (David R. Arneke)
Notice to Antique Phone Buyers (Todd Inch)
Japan's Telecom Market (Alex Cena)
SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Lenny Escalante)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Carl Moore)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime to Call Some Cellular Phones
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Martin McCormick)
Re: Caller-ID in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey J. Carpenter)
Re: Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts (Jan Ceuleers)
Re: Question About Ring Frequency (Tony Pelliccio)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer)
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 10:28:44 CST
Michael Jacobs <JMT0@LAFAYACS.bitnet> wrote:
> This entails an available, dedicated high-bandwidth
> connection between a subscriber and a software (programming) source
> on-demand. Each subscriber will be able to access common (ie-network)
> programming or custom (on-demand) programming in real-time.
> The keys to this are:
> 1) high-bandwidth subscriber loops;
> 2) ATM broadband switching; and
> 3)mass-storage programming systems (called video servers).
Let's not forget #4: Total accounting as to who is watching what channel.
Arbitron will have a field day.
> There will be no choice to make as to which of 500 different channels
> to watch, rather it will be a choice as to what to program on the one
> available video dialtone line, much as one chooses who to call on the
> current voice telephone line. ALL SOFTWARE WITH NETWORK ACCESS will
> be available to the subscriber on demand!
Well that will be a real kick in the teeth for couch potato(e) channel
surfers, won't it :-). I think I'll take my cable-clicker (which I
can use to sample the wares on several channels quickly) over this
system.
> The revolutionary concept here is that instead of some programmer in
> NY or LA deciding what I should watch, it will be me choosing what to
> watch.
No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a
restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu. Current tv
technology offers you a choice among the available programming.
On-demand exists now. Nobody holds that channel selector but you.
How does the medium of delivery change the fact that someone else
still creates the programming?
> If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500
> channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go
> the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100
> years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive
> obsolescence.
Well, Mike, I am old enough to remember all the fancy claims that
'cable-tv' would put over-the-air tv out of business, would make
networks obsolete, would transform our very lives, would offer
first-run movies, would offer live video from foreign countries, would
bring the classroom to the living room, would offer access to niche
programming, fine arts, etc etc etc. What we wound up with is re-run
mills, home shopping channels, music videos, 24 hour weather channels,
preachers, pay-per-view wrestling and more commercials than ever.
Even the so-called premium services like HBO are lame and repetitive.
So before I go GA-GA over this new network idea, I gotta see the
plans. If the tele-entertainment industry's history of 'promising
heaven and delivering re-runs' is any indication, we will have 500
channels of on-demand QVC and pay-per-view wrestling.
> Personal Opinions Only
Same here.
William Pfeiffer - Moderator/Editor
rec.radio.broadcasting - Airwaves Radio Journal
- Internet email -
Article Submission: articles@airwaves.chi.il.us
Subscription Desk: subscribe@airwaves.chi.il.us
------------------------------
From: dhclose@cco.caltech.edu (David H. Close)
Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas
Date: 5 Jan 1994 07:56:59 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) writes [about Dallas/Fort Worth]:
> In most cases, you are permitted, but not required, to dial the 1
> anyway, and all telcos are recommended to allow 1 + NPA + number for
> all calls within the NANP, including local calls within the same NPA.
> I only tried this from GTE Southwest, not from Southwestern Bell,
> since my parents had to accept exile to be within commute distance of
> my father's new office location. It is possible that SWB does better
> on this point, as well as in every single other facet of telephone
> service.
True also for SWB. In fact the recording is, "We're sorry..." As
I've posted before, they certainly are!
Whatever the solution to the 1+ problem, it sure would be nice if
*something* worked everywhere. Even if other techniques were local
option. Maybe a new prefix, 111+ NPA+7D, which could be used
*anywhere*, for either local or LD calls, same NPA or different.
Perhaps the third 1 (or whatever) could be considered a country code,
so that whatever scheme is adopted will eventually work world-wide.
The 1+ problem seems like a NANP problem now, but will certainly be a
world problem soon.
Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa
dhclose@alumni.caltech.ed dave@compata.attmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:18 EST
From: kindred@telesciences.com (David L Kindred)
Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas
Linc Madison <lincmad@netcom.com> writes:
<stuff about dialing in/around Dallas deleted>
> I only tried this from GTE Southwest, not from Southwestern
> Bell, since my parents had to accept exile to be within
> commute distance of my father's new office location. It is
> possible that SWB does better on this point, as well as in
> every single other facet of telephone service.
My parents lived in the SWB part of the Dallas area a few years ago.
During the time they lived there, the dialing requirements not only
varied due to area code and "localness", but also by whether the
"other" phone company was involved. I don't remember the particulars,
but dialing a local SWB-SWB call was different than dialing a local
SWB-GTE call. As I recall, you needed at least ten, if not eleven
digits, to call a GTE 214xxxxxxx number from a SWB 214xxxxxxx number,
even if the call was to the next exchange (or next house...).
One major annoyance was the percentage of calls into GTE that went
high-and-dry.
Has any of this changed recently?
Dave
------------------------------
From: jonb@library1.mentorg.com (Jon Batcheller)
Subject: FCC Approval for Telcom Devices
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 22:29:33 GMT
Organization: Mentor Graphics
I am looking for a lab or list of labs to get FCC approval of a telcom
device to be marketed in the US.
Thanks!
Jon A. Batcheller
Mentor Graphics Campus
8005 SW Boeckman Rd., Wilsonville, OR 97070-7777
(503) 685-1249 jonb@mentorg.com
------------------------------
From: dhorvath@sas.upenn.edu (David Horvath)
Subject: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again!
Date:v Wed, 5 Jan 94 17:40:17 EST
I was one of those who, a few months ago, ordered Sprint LD service
while under the impression that I would get *one* external 9600 baud
*data* modem with FAX. After speaking with the post-offer Sprint
staff, I accepted the internal 2400 baud data and 9600 baud fax modem.
Now the problem -- I just got a second modem in the mail! Exactly the
same as the first. All I have is an 818 area code phone number for
Best Data, so I don't want to call them back; it came UPS, so I can't
just throw it in the mail with REFUSED scribbled all over it. I doubt
the Sprint rep's will be able to help. Now what?
David Horvath
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do you want an honest answer or a
correct answer? Let me know, and I'll reply. PAT]
------------------------------
From: yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates)
Subject: Hayes' New Modem
Date: 5 Jan 1994 19:52:24 GMT
Organization: University of South Florida
Dear Information Theorists:
Have any of you heard about the Hayes Optima 288 V.FC + FAX modem? It
can allegedly transmit data over a phone line at 28.8 kilobits per
second *WITHOUT COMPRESSION*!!!! I thought you guys told us the upper
limit was in the low 20's. What gives?
Randy Yates
Electrical Engineering/Mathematics Major
<yatesc@eggo.csee.usf.edu>
------------------------------
From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen)
Subject: Data Services - GSM
Date: 5 Jan 94 19:56:03 GMT
Hi - outthere,
I have a couple of questions about data services in GSM:
- is there right now terminal equipment on the European
market for datatransmission via GSM?
- what plans do the different suppliers of mobile
telephones have to put on GSM the market in 1994?
- will the GSM-operators offer all the data services in
the GSM-specifications - or will they all offer different
subsets of these?
Please e-mail me if you have any piece of information. I will
put the information together and send this to all who respond
to this letter.
Happy New Year,
Lars Kalsen dalk@login.dkuug.dk
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 11:34 PST
From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein)
Subject: Professor Neon's TV and Movie Mania Machine
On the subject of fun phone numbers, "Professor Neon's TV & Movie
Mania Machine" is definitely still up and running!
---
(310) 455-0971 --> Professor Neon's TV & Movie Mania Machine!
Greetings. In honor of the bygone days of telephone entertainment,
I'm pleased to announce that Professor Neon's TV & Movie Mania Machine
is available, 24 hours/day, on +1 (310) 455-0971. This of course is
an ordinary phone number, so only regular phone charges (if any)
apply.
Callers will receive a randomly selected item relating to television
and cinema, including nostalgia, trivia, games, viewing suggestions,
and more. Right now, the nostalgia element strongly predominates. I
think I can say without fear of contradiction that most of the
materials on there now are things that you haven't heard anywhere for
at least 20 years -- if not longer -- or ever! You'll fire up some
old neurons and relive memories you thought had faded away decades
ago. Will you go running for your old polyester leisure suit or
bell-bottoms? I certainly hope not.
Have fun.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
From: darneke@attmail.com (David R Arneke)
Date: 5 Jan 94 15:24:16 GMT
Subject: AT&T SecureE Software
AT&T LICENSES LINKABLE CODE FOR SECURE SOFTWARE
GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- AT&T is giving software developers
access to linkable code modules for encryption, public key exchange
and other communications security functions.
AT&T announced today that a comprehensive library of linkable
code modules, including RSA security technology and the NIST Digital
Signature Algorithm, is available for licensing. Linkable code is
available in the form of linkable object module libraries and Windows
Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), which are under license from
Information Security Corporation of Deerfield, Illinois.
The code is compatible with shrink-wrapped programs recently
introduced by AT&T.
The security functions included have applications for a broad
variety of software, including tax returns and other electronic-forms
programs, electronic mail, electronic data interchange and electronic
fund transfers.
"Electronic commerce has an inherent requirement for privacy,
data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation," said Larry
Salter, director of secure systems and services for AT&T Secure
Communications Systems.
"These capabilities are ideal for PCMCIA and smart-card
applications as well as conventional software for PCs and workstations."
The package includes code for DES encryption, the ElGamal public
key cryptosystem, the Digital Signature Algorithm, the Secure Hash
Standard and most RSA security functions, including RSA encryption,
key management and digital signatures; MD5 hashing functions; and the
Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol. A proprietary encryption
algorithm for exportable applications is available as well.
More than a dozen military and civilian federal agencies and a
growing number of corporations have already licensed the code for new
software applications, Salter said.
"This is a full range of information security functions, relying
on the most widely accepted government and commercial standards,"
Salter said.
Prices for code packages containing DSA technology are $750 for
the DOS/Windows version, $1,000 for the Macintosh version and $1250
for the UNIX version. For code packages containing RSA technology are
$300 for the DOS/Windows version, $400 for the Macintosh version and
$500 for the UNIX version.
The license allows developers to load the code into two workstations
for software development. Royalty payments are required for distribution
of applications to end users.
AT&T and ISC have incorporated the code modules into software
that provides a wide range of security capabilities.
AT&T SecretAgent (R) Software provides DES encryption, ElGamal
key management and DSA digital signature technology. AT&T SecretAgent
(R) II Software provides DES encryption, RSA digital signatures and
key management, and MD5 for message digests. AT&T Surity (TM) DSA
Signature Software is a digital signature program. And AT&T
SecureZMODEM (R) provides DES encryption and user-transparent key
management for data communications using the ZMODEM protocol.
Programs using RSA technology are in development.
Software developers can get more information on licensing the
AT&T linkable code module library by calling the AT&T Secure
Communications Customer Service Center, 1 800 203-5563.
------------------------------
From: toddi@ocsg.com (Todd Inch)
Subject: Notice to Antique Phone Buyers
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:54:43 PST
I finally checked out an old phone that has been in a locked case at
the local thrift store for months and wonder if any collectors out
there want me to buy it for them, or buy my old Monophone, for that
matter.
It's shaped like an old Monophone, but has an all-brass base and a
swivel-up handle apparently for carrying it. The handset is bakelight
and the handset cord is cloth covered. RTT56 is stamped on the
underside and I believe RTT is in a logo on the dial. It also has a
white button in front of the dial on the front. It's priced at
$79.99, which is surprisingly expensive for a thrift store where I
occasionally get "real" (e.g. WECO, ITT, Stromberg, etc) touch-tone
phones for $5 or so. I can probably get it for half that with a
coupon or during one of their "half off everything" days, which are on
every major holiday.
Anybody interested, or have more information? It's only in fair shape.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 16:12:23 EST
From: Alex Cena <acena@lehman.com>
Subject: Japan's Telecom Market
There are several deadlines coming up in Japan over the next few weeks
on various disputes. Feb. 11 is the deadline for a deal on opening
Japan's government procurement market for telecommunications
equipment.
1) Does anyone have any details or thoughts on this issue?
2) Are there any US firms that do well selling to private firms in
Japan? Why? Why not?
3) Has anyone seen anything in industry publications on this?
TIA,
Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 12:17:27 EST
From: Lenny Escalante <LEO@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
Subject: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Sirs: I'm a tech with Brown University in Providence RI. My question
is basic, yet important to our work here at Brown, perhaps you may be
able to give me some direction to obtain the answers.
1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable?
2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
still operating at SW-56?
3. If you know, who are their carriers?
Please respond to Leonardo_Escalante@Brown.edu, or fax to 401-863-7329.
Many thanks in advance,
Lenny Escalante
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 9:47:43 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
The 1 + 7D --> 1 + NPA + 7D is for long distance within your own area
code. (Refers to the comment about Colorado.)
Colorado has two area codes as of 1988: 303 and 719. In which area
code is 579 located, or do both area codes have it?
------------------------------
From: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: MGZ Computer Services
Reply-To: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 21:20:06 GMT
In article <telecom14.3.3@eecs.nwu.edu> 0003513813@mcimail.com "John
C. Fowler" writes:
> I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular
> service.
In UK calls to cellphones were *always* "caller pays". Some rip-off
companies charged also for incoming calls but that idea died very
quickly. Who will want to pay for incoming calls if they have the
choice of getting them for "free"? The UK system of tariffs seems to
me logical (unlike US). If you call cellphones you pay 4.2p for every
7.61 sec (33p per minute); if you call from cellphone you pay 25p per
minute to anywhere in UK including another cellphone. IMHO this price
structure made it possible for cellphone to become so popular -- most
calls to cellphones are made from offices where somebody else pays for
the call :-) Also the cellphones are subsidized by the airtime providers
(in the best times the dealer would get GBP 400 for connecting new cus-
tomers -- now this commission is down to about GBP 100. BTW the idea of
free local calls is unknown here. :-(
George Zmijewski
------------------------------
From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 19:57:52 GMT
Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes
perfect sense to me. It isn't any more fair or proper to charge
cellular subscribers for received calls than it is to charge any other
type of subscriber. There should be a choice of two different types
of cellular service. One would charge the caller for the call with
the cell phone getting no aditional charges for received calls while
the other would be what we have now with the cellular subscriber
paying for both answered and originated calls.
Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 15:51:49 EST
From: Jeffrey J. Carpenter <jjc+@pitt.edu>
Subject: Re: Caller-ID in Pennsylvania
In article <telecom13.842.6@eecs.nwu.edu> is written:
> I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that Gov. Casey as one of his first
> acts after taking the reigns of leadership back signed a Caller-ID
> bill for PA which includes blocking provisions. Can anyone substantiate
> that and give more information about how and when it will be available?
Senate Bill 860 was passed and signed into law as Act 83. I have been
told that it permits Caller-ID with per call blocking. The person who
drafted the bill is on vacation until Monday, so I won't get any more
specifics until then. They are sending me a copy of the bill.
Bell of Pennsylvania says it will be available in 1994, but the
schedule for which exchanges will have it when is not yet determined
(or ready for public announcement).
Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter
Computing and Information Services, University of Pittsburgh
600 Epsilon Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15238-2887
jjc+@pitt.edu, +1 412 624 6424, FAX +1 412 624 6436
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 13:54:09 PST
From: Jan.Ceuleers@f857.n292.z2.fidonet.org (Jan Ceuleers)
Subject: Re: Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts
I quote Dave Levenson:
> Does the user experience talk-off only from one telephone
> set? Try replacing its handset or transmitter element. Can
> the minimum tone duration on your voice mail system be
> administered? Try increasing it a few tens of milliseconds.
> We have found that 50 - 75 msec. work well.
Unfortunately, this is not in accordance with the specifications laid
out in many countries. A Q.23 receiver must typically be able to
reliably detect as little as 40 ms at up to -28 dBm. In the case of a
voice mail system, the level requirements are even more stringent (-43
dBm). In some countries, these tests are performed while dial tone at
e.g. -7 dBm is also present on the line. Elsewhere, (I think it's
Spain) they even superimpose a voice signal at some ludicrously high
level (-2 dBm or something).
In my opinion, the level requirements are unrealistic in many cases.
Requiring a Q.23 receiver to detect a tone at -43dBm means that the
network is allowed to attenuate by some 36 dB, given the fact that
DTMF tones must be transmitted at -7 dBm.
Jan
Origin: Experimenter Board, Antwerp, Belgium (2:292/857)
uucp: uunet!m2xenix!puddle!2!292!857!Jan.Ceuleers
Internet: Jan.Ceuleers@f857.n292.z2.fidonet.org
------------------------------
From: Anthony_Pelliccio@brown.edu (Tony Pelliccio)
Subject: Re: Question About Ring Frequency
Date: 5 Jan 1994 15:07:50 GMT
Organization: Brown University Alumni & Development Office
In article <telecom14.2.5@eecs.nwu.edu>, joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha
Franklin-Hodge) wrote:
> Can someone tell me the ring frequecies and durations of the standard US
> telephone ring?
Around here it's a 20Hz signal, two seconds on, four seconds off.
Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR
Anthony_Pelliccio@Brown.edu
Brown University Alumni & Development Computing Services
Box 1908 Providence, RI 02912 (401) 863-1880
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #10
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 19:41:10 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401060141.AA22775@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #11
TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 19:41:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 11
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Digicom Modems FAQ Version 2.01 (Wolfgang Henke)
Fax Services Wanted (Darren Ingram)
Brendan Kehoe Critically Injured in Car Accident (Monty Solomon)
How to Send Your Thoughts to Brendan Kehoe (Jim Thomas & Gordon Meyer)
How do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest? (Wolf Paul)
Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: wolfgang@netcom.com (Wolfgang Henke)
Subject: Digicom Modems FAQ Version 2.01
Organization: Netcom
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 01:55:47 GMT
Digicom Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.01
archived at ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang/Digicom.faq
email additions to wolfgang@netcom.com
1. Which different models of Digicom modems are there?
2. What is SoftModem technology and what are its benefits?
3. What is special about Digicom?
4. Can you explain the Signal Computing Architecture?
5. Are there Digicom related ftp sites?
6. What is the recommended setup string?
7. What are the current ROM revisions?
8. Where can I get technical support?
9. Are there any reviews available?
10. Where can I purchase Digicom modems?
11. What's so hot about modems?
1. Which different models of Digicom modems are there?
Digicom currently offers Connection series, Scout+ series and 9624 series
modems and a 1.544 Mbps digital CSU/DSU.
A) Connection series
The Connection modems are the industry's first SoftModems. Two models
are available: the Connection 14.4+ is an internal 14,400 bps data
modem and the Connection 14.4+ FAX is an internal 14,400 bps data
and 14,400 bps fax modem. Connection series modems are software
upgradeable without having to burn EPROMs.
Digicom Connection 14.4+ (internal) software
Digicom Connection 14.4+ FAX (internal) upgradeable
CCITT V.32bis Modulation
(14,400/12,000/7200 bps) X
CCITT V.42bis Data Compression X
CCITT V.32 Modulation (9600bps/4800bps) X
CCITT V.22bis, Bell 212A (2400/1200bps) X
V.42 (LAPM) and MNP 4 Error Control X
Built-In Speaker for Line Monitoring X
Autobaud and Automatic Speed Negotiation X
DTE Speeds up to 115,200 baud X
Flow Control Selection (Xon/Xoff or RTS/CTS) X
Configurable COM Ports 1-4, IRQ 3-5 Support X
Extended AT Command Set X
V.54 Test Modes and Diagnostics X
16550A UART Compatibility X
FCC Class A/B Approved X
Five Year Warranty X
Qmodem Lite Communication Software X
Send/Receive Fax 14,400 bps V.17 Class 1 Group 3 X
SoftModem manager, Delrina Winfax Lite
(included with the Connection 14.4+ FAX)
V.32terbo (19,200/16,800 bps de facto standard) X
(available December/January)
B) Scout+ series:
There are five different Scout+ modems available. The Scout+ is an
external 14,400 bps data and fax modem. The Scout+ PC is an internal
14,400 bps data and fax modem. The Scout+ Terbo is an external
19,200 bps data and 14,400 bps fax modem. External modems are also
available for the Apple MacIntosh.
Digicom Scout+ (external) 14,400 bps data 14,400 bps fax
Digicom Scout+ PC (internal) 14,400 bps data 14,400 bps fax
Digicom Scout+ Terbo (external) 19,200 bps data 14,400 bps fax
V.32terbo de facto standard (19,200/16,800 bps) (Scout+ Terbo only)
CCITT V.32bis Modulation (14,400/12,000/7200 bps)
CCITT V.42bis Data Compression
CCITT V.32 Modulation (9600bps/4800bps)
CCITT V.22bis, Bell 212A (2400/1200bps)
V.42 (LAPM) and MNP 4 Error Control
Built-In Speaker for Line Monitoring
Autobaud and Automatic Speed Negotiation
DTE Speeds up to 57,600 baud (115,200 baud for Scout+ Terbo)
Flow Control Selection (Xon/Xoff or RTS/CTS)
V.54 Test Modes and Diagnostics
Online help and signal quality testing
16550A UART Compatibility
FCC Class A/B Approved
Five Year Warranty
Qmodem Lite Communication Software
Send/Receive Fax 14,400 bps V.17 Class 1 Group 3
Delrina Winfax Lite and Dosfax Lite
Compuserve and Prodigy membership kits
C) 9624 series modems
The 9624 series modems are 14,400 bps data and fax modems which are
available in external and rack mounted versions.
Digicom 9624LE+ (external)
Digicom 9624LR+ (rack mounted; 16 per rack)
Digicom 9624E+ (external)
Digicom 9624AR+ (rack mounted; 16 per rack; modem management)
V.32bis, V.32, V.22bis, V.22, V.21, Bell 212A
14,400, 12,000, 9600, 7200, 4800, 2400, and 1200 bps
V.42bis and MNP 5 data compression
V.42 (Lap M, MNP 4), MNP 2, 3 and 4 error correction
Group 3 send and receive fax, V.29, V.27ter and V.21
adaptive handshake, auto line monitor and retrain
full duplex dial-up and two-wire leased line operation
asynchronous 10 or 11 bit including start/stop
synchronous with internal or external timing
flow control XON/XOFF, RTS/CTS, HP ENQ/ACK
single number call-back
EIA RS-232C up to 38,400 bps
RJ-11 with MI/MIC support
transmit level -10 dBm (dial), -2 and -10 dBm (leased)
receive level 33 db dynamic range, (-43 dBm dial, -35 dBm leased)
test modes V.54 analog, digital and remote loopback with selftest
Temperature 0 to 50 degrees Celsius
relative humidity 0 to 95 degrees non-condensing
Appropriate FCC, DOC, UL and CSA certificates
with Qmodem and Fax software
very low ping latency
2 year warranty
9624LE+ (external): eight LED indicator lights
grey/white metal housing
talk/data switch
1.5 x 6.5 x 9.0 inches
7 Watts maximum
9624LR+ (rack): 9 LEDS and fits into the 9100RS rack.
The 9100RS accepts up to sixteen rack cards.
Card dimension 6.25 x 0.8 x 11.5 inches
Power: 18 VAC supplied to card
Rack dimension: 7 x 19 x 14 inches
Power: 117 VAC 60 Hz input
9624E+ (external): all features of 9624LE+ plus
4 wire leased line operation,
V.25bis autodial,
LCD front panel
9624AR+ (rack): all features of the 9624LR+ plus
4 wire leased line operation,
V.25bis autodial, dial backup
and Network Management support
for 9000ARS rack system
D) Digital CSU/DSU
The Digicom 5664 FT1 is a fractional T1 CSU/DSU. The bandwith on
digital lines can be increased in increments of 56,000/64,000 bps
up to a maximum speed of 1,544,000 bps.
Digicom 5664 FT1 fractional T1 CSU/DSU 1,544,000 bps digital line
Framing: D4, ESF
BIT Rate: 1,544 Mbps + 50 Hz
Time-Slot Allocation: User defined
Transmit Timing: Internal, Network, DTE and External
DTE ports: 2,4 and 6 (field expandable)
Line code: AMI
Signal Levels: 3.0 V + 0.3 V
Connector: D-Type 15 pin male
Interface Type: RS-449, V.35 or EIA530
Network Performance Monitoring
Alarms
2. What is SoftModem Technology and what are its benefits?
The SoftModem (tm) Technology Story
Digicom Systems' exclusive SoftModem Technology has revolutionized
modem design using a general-purpose, reprogrammable Digital Signal
Processing (DSP) chip. This neat software solution allows you to take
advantage of on-board RAM-based modem/DSP memory. The SoftModem
approach allows operational algorithms to be easily installed, quickly
changed, and most importantly, upgraded via software.
Designed using upgradeable hardware architecture, SoftModem Technology
provides the flexibility necessary to keep up with evolving
communications standards and changing command interfaces. In
addition, this design improves support and service and facilitates the
integration of data, fax, and voice-related applications.
SoftModem Technology provides all the standard features and
characteristics of a high-speed, high-performance modem as a hardware
programmable solution that can be modified or enhanced and then
distributed over the telephone line, computer networks or on a
diskette.
Based on SoftModem Technology
Upgrade modem features without changing the hardware. That means you
can keep up with changing standards and save money. Just install new
software to get more out of your modem!
FREE ROM updates such as V.32bis (14,400 bps), V.42bis and MNP5
(data compression) can be downloaded.
Feature upgrades like Send/Receive V.17 Fax (14,400 bps) and
V.32terbo (19,200 bps) will be available from your local computer
reseller or online distributors.
The Connection 144+ is the world's first software upgradeable modem.
It's based on SoftModem Technology, which reduces the risk of
obsolescence that is always a problem with traditional modems.
Protect your modem investment - the Connection 14.4+ will serve your
needs for years to come.
3. What's so special about Digicom?
Some background on Digicom: Digicom Systems, Inc. was one of the first
to realize the power and flexibility of digital signal processing
solutions in data communications (in 1987). DSI then emerged as a
leader in modem DSP design which allowed them the flexibility to
introduce the first V.32 modem using just one, albeit very powerful
DSP. Digicom introduced the industry's first V.32bis modem to market,
the first V.32bis modem with send and receive fax capability and very
recently the first modem based on SoftModem Technology. A local
Silicon Valley manufacturer.
4. Can you explain Signal Computing Architecture?
Digicom's products are based on Analog Devices general purpose digital
signal processors, abbreviated DSP. Modem algorithms require powerful
computational resources and DSPs are well suited to meet them cost
effectively.
Analog Devices has introduced a common architecture for its DSPs and
the accompanying peripheral chips. It is called the Signal Computing
Architecture. The advantages of this approach are manifold. Companies
developing in different areas of digital signal processing like voice,
data communications, graphics can join efforts more easily and offer a
more unified interface to application program developers. The Signal
Computing Architecture is indeed very popular at present and is
attracting more and more developers, like AOX, Cardinal, Dialogic,
Hewlett Packard, Media Vision, Spectron and many others. For
interested readers BYTE magazine's four article series on Signal
Computing may be a good start (November 1992).
The Signal Computing Architecture is emerging as a cost effective
albeit powerful and versatile platform for communications and
multimedia applications.
5. Are there Digicom related ftp sites?
feenix.metronet.com /pub/wolfgang SoftModem related files. The
subdirectory /smodem carries the
latest production algorithms and
open beta files. Drivers for
Linux and OS/2 are available here.
ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang General information files, like
this file Digicom.FAQ.
ftp.rahul.net /pub/wolfgang Scout+ modem files
sgi.com /sgi/fax FlexFAX Unix fax software and
fax related documents and
information.
6. What is the recommended setup for PCs, Macs and Suns?
Here are a few simple setup strings for three different operating
systems which work well for the author. They should work with the
Digicom Scout+ as well as Digicom 9624 series of modems.
For the Connection 14.4+ modems AT&F&W1 should work fine in most
cases. Enabling &W1 will report error correction call progress when
connecting.
Setup for the Digicom Scout+ modem.
Setup string for IBM compatibles: AT&F&W
Software Qmodem
at*o
MODEL:SCOUT PLUS
DTE: 57600 N81
DCE: IDLE
E1 K1 M1 Q0 V1 X4 TONE
&B0 &C1 &D2 &R2 &T5
*E9 *F3 *G1 *M1 *N6 *P0 *Q1 *S1 *T1
S00=002 S04=010 S08=002 S15=255
S01=000 S05=008 S09=000 S18=000
S02=043 S06=002 S10=003 S25=000
S03=013 S07=045 S12=050 S26=000
OK
Setup string for Apple MacIntosh: AT&F&D0&W
Software Quicklink II, cable included with modem
Use *F0 with Eagle and non hardware handshake cable
at*o
MODEL:SCOUT PLUS
DTE: 57600 N81
DCE: IDLE
E1 K1 M1 Q0 V1 X4 TONE
&B0 &C1 &D0 &R2 &T5
*E9 *F3 *G1 *M1 *N6 *P0 *Q1 *S1 *T1
S00=002 S04=010 S08=002 S15=255
S01=000 S05=008 S09=000 S18=000
S02=043 S06=002 S10=003 S25=000
S03=013 S07=045 S12=050 S26=000
OK
Setup string for Sun 3/60: AT&F*F2*M0X5M0&W
Software tip from 4.1.1
at*o
MODEL:SCOUT PLUS
DTE: 38400 N81
DCE: IDLE
E1 K1 M0 Q0 V1 X5 TONE
&B0 &C1 &D0 &R2 &T5
*E9 *F2 *G1 *M0 *N6 *P0 *Q1 *S1 *T1
S00=002 S04=010 S08=002 S15=255
S01=000 S05=008 S09=000 S18=000
S02=043 S06=002 S10=003 S25=000
S03=013 S07=045 S12=050 S26=000
OK
7. Where can I get technical support?
Digicom Systems, Inc. 188 Topaz Street, Milpitas, CA 95035
Voice: (408) 262-1277
FAX: (408) 262-1390
Digicom BBS: (408) 262-1412
SoftModem BBS: (408) 262-5629
Also have a look at the ftp sites listed under answer #5 and the list
of competent resellers and distributors listed under answer #10.
A few commands which can be very helpful in case of difficulties are
ATI7 online help
ATI6 reason of last disconnect
ATSQ signal quality monitor
AT*O display current connection statistics and
register settings.
8. What are the current ROM code revisions?
Latest production ROM releases:
Scout+ 11.98 MHz 3225/2930
no V.17 3225/3310
with V.17 3507/3506
Eagle 3310/3310
Scout+ Terbo 3823/3A22
Connection 96+ DATA96 3628/3413
DATA144 3628/3413
DATA144B 3628/3610
FAX144C1 3614/3413
TEST.DSI 3628/3413
9624LE+/9624PC+/9624LR+ 1B11/2503
9624E+/9624AR+ 2227/2503
The first number represents the controller code revision,
the second number (after the slash) the DSP code revision.
It's datecoded: 3225 e.g. translates into 1993 February 25.
9. Are there any reviews available?
There are numerous modem reviews in which Digicom modems are usually
fairing quite well. Here is only a brief selection.
PC Computing Magazine rated the Digicom Scout+ as the top choice from
the 48 modem reviewed in the June 1993 issue. Modems were rated for
price/performance.
ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang/Scout.txt has a review of the Scout+
by the author of these frequently asked questions.
sgi.com /sgi/fax/bakeoff carries extensive test results on the fax
capabilities of several current modems and rates them according to
a metric called faxstones. The test was performed by Sam Leffler.
The Scout+ faired well.
PC Week reviewed the Digicom 9624LE+ favorably in its November 19,
1990 issue.
PCWeek published benchmark results on April 29, 1991. The 9624LE+
was selected as the Analysts' choice.
The fractional FT1 CSU/DSU received the 1993 user choice award in
Communications News.
Digicom is supplying modems and chipsets to several other modem
manufacturers under OEM aggreements.
10. Where can I purchase Digicom modems?
Firms that carry Digicom communication products and know them well:
Argentina: Turbo Bulletin Board Service
+54-1-545-0370 voice/fax
+54-1-545-0365 BBS
claudio@satlink.net
contact: Claudio Vidal
Australia: Amuse Developments
New Zealand: +64-3-379-5000
+64-3-379-8760 BBS/fax
jay@amuse.adsp.sub.org
chrish@python.equinox.gen.nz
contact: Jeremy Elgin
Austria: Focus EDV GesmbH
+43-316-28-16-16-0
+43-316-28-16-16-981 (fax)
contact: Georg Tamm
Germany: Seicom Computer Vertriebs- und Service GmbH
+49-7121-9770-0
+49-7121-9770-19 (fax)
+49-7121-9770-20 (Fido)
+49-7121-9770-30 (Unix Test BBS)
haug@seicom.de
contact: Winfried Haug
DIGICOM MODEM Support & Distribution Site in Germany
Hongkong: Global Network Communication Technology Co.
+852-4925025 (BBS)
tomyan@gnct.com (retail)
garyng@gnct.com (corporate)
contact: Gary Ng
Ireland: Gallimaufry Ltd.
+353-88-599673 (Mobile) Paul Harrington
+353-88-547228 (Mobile) Ronan Waldron
+353-1-966052 (fax)
phrrngtn@gallimaufry.ie
info@gallimaufry.ie
phrrngtn@dsg.cs.tcd.ie
contact: Paul Harrington
"We support the FSF. We support/install/configure Scout+
modems for fax, e-mail, slip, uucp etc. We offer
consultancy by e-mail as well as by remote login over
internet and phone."
Japan: Independant Research Associates
+81-75-951-1168
+81-75-957-1087 (fax)
davidg@aegis.org
davidg@aegis.or.jp (within Japan)
contact: Dave McLane
IRA offers Telix (DOS) and Z-term (Mac) installations
configured for Scout+ (no extra charge) and consults on
various telcommunication projects (contact for fees).
Singapore: Modems By Mail order
c/o DLS Pte. Ltd.
462 Siglap Road
#01-06
Singapore 1545
pg: 4004316
fax: 4485831
inet: kohkhang@iscs.nus.sg
contact: Jerry Koh
USA: WH Networks
+1-415-390-9316
+1-415-964-2027 (fax)
wolfgang@netcom.com
contact: Wolfgang Henke
11. What's so hot about modems?
"A lowly device, called modem, was central to the initial
formation stages of our information based society. For
several decades after the invention of the transistor its
cost of production declined dramatically while the cost
of bandwidth remained high due to cost-plus regulation
of local telephone monopolies."
4th grade textbook, 2043
WH Networks (415) 390-9316
2672 Bayshore Parkway Suite 503 fax (415) 964-2027
Mountain View CA 94043 ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang
USA feenix.metronet.com /pub/wolfgang
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 20:39 GMT
From: Darren Ingram <satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Fax Services Wanted
Reply-To: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk
Greetings, I am looking for a low cost service which I can use to send
faxes around the world. I have prime requirements to send fax to NA
and the Asia Pacific regions.
I could do with single copy and mailing list type services. Ideally
I'd like to deliver straight ASCII via Internet for faxing out, *but*
it must not have lots of urwry@fax.me. received @iworuw.;rwioruwr.wriu
type gibberish; ergo, I'd want a similar output to that you'd expect
through a fax card and winfax.
Any ideas? By mail please!
TIA,
Darren Ingram, M2 Communications Ltd
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 1994 13:32:15 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.COM>
Subject: Brendan Kehoe Critically Injured in Car Accident
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This report is presented FYI and passed
along by Monty Solomon from our sister publication Computer Underground
Digest to present more details about the accident and how to respond.
Following this, a message from Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer of CuD which
will elaborate further. My thanks to the several readers who wrote to
ask for more specifics both about Kehoe and CuD. Hopefully the messages
which follow in this issue will answer questions. PAT]
Begin forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 14:41:00 CST
Reply-To: TK0JUT2@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU
Sender: CU-DIGEST list <CUDIGEST@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>
From: TK0JUT2@NIU.bitnet
Subject: Brendan Kehoe critically injured in car accident
To: Multiple recipients of list CUDIGEST <CUDIGEST@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>
Brendan Kehoe, Cu Digest archivist at ftp.eff.org and author of ZEN
AND THE ART OF THE INTERNET, was critically injured in an automobile
accident in Pennsylvania on Friday, 31 December. He sustained massive
head injuries, but on Monday, the prognosis for his survival was
"cautiously optimistic," according to his brother. Tragically, the
severity of the injuries will likely produce permanent disability,
although the nature and extent remains uncertain at this time. Doctors
expect that he will be semi-comatose for at least two weeks.
The hospital is not allowing him to receive flowers or other
tangibles. Cards may be sent to him at:
Brendan Kehoe
c/o Alice Kehoe
Penn Tower Hotel
Civic Center Blvd ad 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Brendan will not be able to directly communicate for some time. But,
his brother and a few friends intend to set up a net-link to keep
people informed of his condition.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 18:52 CST
From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu)
Subject: How to Send Your Thoughts to Brendan Kehoe
As Pat noted in a previous issue of TELECOM Digest, Brendan Kehoe was
seriously injured in a car crash on 31 December. Brendan's wit and
helpfulness earned him many friends. The Cu Digest editors are
encouraging netfolk to send electronic messages to him that include a
joke, funny story, or a "get-well" recipe. The editors will accept
e-mail contributions until about January 19. Then, we'll print the
responses on rag-bond paper, bind them, and send them to him as a "net
anthology."
Send notes to: tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu
with the subject header: TO BRENDAN
Jim Thomas / Gordon Meyer
CuD Editors
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I hope all readers of this Digest who
are familiar with Brendan Kehoe will take a few minutes sometime in
the next week or so to send their thoughts to Jim and Gordon per the
examples above. I hope they get so much stuff they have to make two
or three volumes to hold it all! :) PAT]
------------------------------
From: cc_paul@aaf.alcatel.at (Wolf Paul)
Subject: How Do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest?
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:20:15 MET
Unfortunately some of us don't know how to get hold of the current
issue of the CUD. Could you please post a pointer to it, or post the
appropriate sections here.
Thanks,
Wolf Paul (who wants to send a card).
Wolf N. Paul, Computer Center wnp@aaf.alcatel.at
Alcatel Austria Research Center +43-1-391621-122 (w)
Ruthnergasse 1-7 +43-1-391452 (fax)
A-1210 Vienna-Austria/Europe +43-1-2206481 (h)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The message before this one explains
how to write to Brendan. For those readers who are not familiar with
Computer Underground Digest, now is a good time to tell you about it.
It began back in 1990 as an overflow mailing list for a series of
messages here in TELECOM Digest dealing with hacking and phreaking,
and some persons who had been arrested and put on trial for related
things. The messages just kept rolling in and CuD stayed around to
become -- like this Digest -- a very popular, very well-read e-journal
on the computer networks of the world. CuD should definitly be on your
'must read' list of e-journals and if you would like to subscribe I'm
sure you'll enjoy it as much as I do.
Let me repeat the address Jim Thomas gave earlier:
tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu
This will get you a free subscription to our sister publication,
Computer Underground Digest, and I hope you will sign up today. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 9:38:55 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
Where in Pennsylvania is Newton? I know of West Newton, Newton
Hamilton, Newtown Square, and Newtown.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point, Carl. According to my Rand
McNally atlas there are two separate communities in Pennsylvania each
called "Newtown"; between them their combined population is less than
four thousand people. There appears to be no such place as 'Newton'
in Pennsylvania. Perhaps JT or the writer of the original message will
issue a correction. In the meantime, his mother Alice is staying in
Philadelphia; see an earlier message in this issue. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #11
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 21:15:33 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401060315.AA06093@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #12
TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 21:15:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 12
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Dik T. Winter)
Re: California ANI Question (Steve Forrette)
Re: California ANI Question (Steven H. Lichter)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (David A. Kaye)
Re: Wireless Transciever Boards (Cliff Sharp)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Joe George)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (R. McMillin)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Ron Schnell)
Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (Peter Gregory)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (John S. Roberts Jr.)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: Telephone Answering Machine Question (Carl Moore)
Calvacom: New Distribution Site For Digest (TELECOM Digest Editor)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dik.Winter@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 02:22:39 GMT
In article <telecom14.7.16@eecs.nwu.edu> mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk
writes:
> I don't know what the ITU decided but in UK we are told to use:
> MYCOMPANY NAME (0123) 123456
> international +44 123 123456
The second line is the recommended ITU method.
> This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any),
> seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody
> knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another
> country).
Most American numbers I see are in the form (202) 855-4444. Should I
add a 1? Or 001? None will work.
> In Europe 0 is being now used as prefix for area code numbers and 00
> as prefix for country codes.
Hey! When did you change to 00 as prefix instead of 010? I thought
that was in the future?
> But then some French idiots come up with a stupid numbering system
> (for Paris *and* Greater Paris +331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33
> xxxxxxxx ). Is it a revenge for changing CCITT to ITU?
The French may be idiots, but you are an idiot parsing numbers. The
first should be +33 1xxxxxxxx. So the country is +33. Anyhow, try to
phone me. Area code plus home number are 206372010. Try your logic
preceding it with either 1 or 001. A better choice for you would be
01031 (and 0031 in the future).
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland, +31205924098
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl
------------------------------
From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Date: 6 Jan 1994 00:46:16 GMT
Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.
Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
In <telecom14.8.7@eecs.nwu.edu>, reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux) writes:
> Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that
> "ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he
> understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm
> sure someone here knows for sure.
ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with
very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can
get your ANI. I manage a switch which has hundreds of 800 numbers
going to it (about five of them for my personal use), and I can assure
you that I have no problems at all getting ANI from California. In
fact, only about .5 percent of all calls nationwide arrive with no
ANI, and California is no exception. Since my switch is not located
in California, all calls that come to it from the Golden State are
interstate commerce, and any laws that the state may have do not apply
to them (BTW, there are no laws regarding ANI in CA that I am aware of
anyway).
I even have a couple of customers in CA that receive ANI delivery from
me, either in real-time via inband DTMF, through voice mail and pager
mail, and of course on their bills (just like any 800 service today).
Perhaps the state may have something to say about that in the future
if they choose to do so, but they have not chosen to do so up to now.
Also, it is questionable as to what would happen at that point anyway,
since the calls would still cross the state line before returning to
California (and no, this is not done to get around CA's [nonexistant]
ANI regulation - it just so happens that I don't live in CA anymore).
And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or
my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are
doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number.
I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could
even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and
programmed it to block 800 numbers :-))
Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com
------------------------------
From: co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Date: 5 Jan 1994 23:27:49 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
I have an 800 number coming into my BBS for a few friends and myself
to use and have the call reports from AT&T. They are overwelming each
month, but I'm able to see all the wrong numbers (under 30 seconds)
and the phone hackers looking for a DID trunk (New York, New Jersey).
I sure wish they would finally get CID here in California.
-=- Sysop: Apple Elite II -=- an Ogg-Net Hub BBS
(909) 359-5338 12/24/96/14.4 V32/V42bis Via PCP CACOL/12/24
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Date: 5 Jan 1994 17:23:04 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.8.14@eecs.nwu.edu> Dan Cromer <19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU>
writes:
> How are VCR Plus+ code numbers, the up-to-eight digit numbers for each
> TV program used in programming some new VCRs and VCR-programming
> remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL,
> to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR
> Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to
> set up a programmable calculator so that it would generate the code
> for them. I know there is a 900 number at 95 cents/minute, but don't
> think they should have to pay $1.90 every time they want to use the
> system.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Its a secret. No one knows for sure how
> it is done except the proprietors of the system, and they aren't going
> to tell. There *are* scripts around in various ftp archives sites
> which make a stab at this, but I understand none of them are perfect
> and all have a few bugs. The topic is even discussed on a regular basis
> in a couple of newsgroups devoted to cable television and vcr's, etc.
> I'm sure some readers will send you email telling you where to find the
> programs which have attempted to work out the VCR+ codes, but part of
> the reason for selling the device and operating the 900 phone number is
> so the proprietors can make money on the deal which I guess is the
> main reason their lips are zipped. PAT]
Well, it is not a secret. The algorithm, at least for the relatively
short (four to six digit) codes, was published a year or so ago in
{Cryptologia} magazine. Three people managed to reverse-engineer the
algorithm.
And the patent that is said to cover it was published in Europe a year
ago or so ... although it does not reveal much of the algorithm.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Has anyone ever been completely successful
with this yet? Radio Shack has a VCR+ thing they sell now which does
not even have written documentation with it. All the 'instructions' tell
you to do is (after you buy it, shoplift it or whatever) take it home
and call a certain 800 phone number to speak with someone who will then
*program it over the phone* for you based on what you tell them about
your VCR/television equipment. PAT]
------------------------------
From: dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye)
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Date: 5 Jan 1994 16:40:08 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest]
Dan Cromer (19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU) wrote:
> remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL,
> to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR
> Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to
I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote
control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date,
time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front
of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be
done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these?
------------------------------
From: indep1!clifto (Cliff Sharp)
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 11:48:32 GMT
Subject: Re: Wireless Transceiver Boards
In article <telecom14.2.3@eecs.nwu.edu> add@philabs.Philips.Com
(Aninda Dasgupta) writes:
> 1) should work around corners and through walls (a range of say
> three to four rooms/offices),
> 2) support a data rate anywhere from 10 to 64 Kbps,
> 3) should use carrier frequencies that are not restricted by the FCC and
> are unlikely to be very crowded by other systems,
> 4) should be priced around $10.
Are you _serious_?
I'd like to see something like this under $150/station. In fact,
I'd like to know of a source for a decent, shielded 25' RS-232 cable
around $10.
The _only_ things along this line I'm aware of are the
spread-spectrum 902-928 MHz modems some companies made and are
presumably still making. (Unfortunately, I just threw away the
information; "never needed it". Bah.) Last I asked, they were in the
$300-600 range (per station). Someone _may_ make power-line modems
that might work over these distances, but I've yet to get a manufacturer's
name.
If you find anything like a $10, 64KBPS wireless modem, I know where I
can sell a hundred thousand or so ...
Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us
WA9PDM clifto@indep1.UUCP never works
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 08:09 EST
From: jgeorge@nbi.com (Joe George)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We had one from the American Nazi Party
> here for quite awhile which was always good for a laugh, but I have
> not heard it lately, and don't remember the number so I cannot say for
> sure if it is stilll operating or not. Regards the amount of preparation
The Wizard of the north Georgia KKK has a 'hotline' number as well.
I'd say this number is good for a VERY non-Politically Correct laugh from
time to time.
The number is (706) 967-3479. Might be (404) 967-3479 with the recent
arguments over area code boundaries.
Joe George (jgeorge@crl.com, jgeorge@nbi.com)
The NBI Press: Typesetting, Graphic Artwork, Fine Italian Cuisine
If I put Vicki Robinson in my sig, will she put me in hers?
"Usenet is a cesspool, a dungheap." -Patrick Townson
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I dunno about Vicki Robinson but if you
put me in your .sig I'll be sure not to truncate it when I publish
your fine cuisine (of some sort!) in this Digest. <grin> ... PAT]
------------------------------
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Organization: Surf City Software/TBFW Project
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:06:17 GMT
On Tue, 4 Jan 94 17:21:42 EST, Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL> said:
> 718-963-6962 is disconnected (I just tried it).
> But I did reach 410-337-FUNN (3866), the "Joke Du Jour" hotline of
> "Rouse and company" on WQSR-FM 105.7 in Baltimore, Maryland.
On again, off again over a period of the last fifteen or more years is
the Zzygot dial-a-joke line (714-839-3000). Some days you get a joke,
others the phone rings and rings and rings. Lately it's been just
rings.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
13442 Wilson St. | Garden Grove, CA | 92644
voice: 714-638-2459 | fax: 714-638-2384
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:08:13 EST
From: Ron Schnell <ronnie@space.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
I have anonymous call rejection enabled on my phone in Miami, FL, and
someone tried to call me from a cellular phone that was installed in a
rental car in San Diego in their rental car and got the rejection
message.
I assume that the cellular rental company uses some ultra-cheap LD
service (to make the most amount of money possible on the $2.00/minute
rental charge!) that uses a local out-going line in Miami that
disabled CID.
Ron (ronnie@twitch.mit.edu)
------------------------------
From: peter.gregory@asix.com (Peter Gregory)
Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP
Date: 5 Jan 1994 21:43:37 GMT
Organization: Asix, Inc.
Reply-To: peter.gregory@asix.com
In article 5@eecs.nwu.edu, ctuttle@obelisk.pillar.com (Colin Tuttle)
writes:
> Now this past week I went down to Austin, (a NACN City) turned on the
> cell phone and immediately called my Oklahoma City number from a
> nearby pay phone. It rang twice and then my cell phone rang. Now my
> question is how does Cellular One Austin so quickly notify Cellular
> One Oklahoma City I am in Austin Texas about 400 miles from home and
> immediately send my calls to me?
The secret is this: as soon as you turned on your phone in Austin, the
local switch picked up your ESN; when a local database lookup failed,
it requested your profile from the main database, which was then sent
to the local switch.
Peter Gregory [NICname PG11] peter.gregory@asix.com
Senior Consultant. ASIX Inc., 1420 Fifth Ave, Suite 2200, Seattle, WA 98101
on-site at Wireless Data Div., McCaw Cellular Communications, Kirkland, WA
------------------------------
From: John S. Roberts Jr. <johnr@ms.uky.edu>
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Date: 5 Jan 1994 16:32:10 -0500
Organization: University of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
I connected up the "other two wires" on all the lines running through
my house. Now, I can hear line two when using line one and vice-versa.
Is there any solution to this?
Thanks,
John S. Roberts, Jr. 100 McVey Hall Work: 257-2275
University of Kentucky Home: 272-1417 - FAX: 272-7105
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The solution is that somewhere in the
loop you (or someone long gone before you) cross connected the wires
and what you think is the 'other two wires' is really just part of
the first two wires. You don't really have 'line one' and 'line two';
you have one line wired in multiple so to speak. Go to each box as
well as to the head end and find out where the cross connection is
in place. It may be nothing more than a real messy box with some
loose wires which are touching the connectors for the first set of
wires. Clean up that mess, and your 'other two wires' will suddenly
go dead again unless/until you have an actual second phone line
brought up to them. PAT]
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Date: 5 Jan 1994 20:54:40 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.9.10@eecs.nwu.edu> mcneill@ngt.sungard.com (Keith
McNeill) writes:
> On a side note, I recently called NY Telephone (or NYNEX as they want
> to be called now) about getting a second phone line installed in my
> apartment. I was shocked to get a quote of $185 for the second line
> (first line costs about $60). This is the price for installing a
> totally different phone line in the apartment. I complained a little
> that they didn't need to do that as there was a perfectly good second
> pair coming into the apartment I didn't get very far as the customer
> service rep wasn't technical. Is there really any need to get a
> totally seperate line into my apartment? Diamond State Telephone
> (Delaware) was able to put a second line on the second pair. Is NYNEX
> just trying to gouge me?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not necessarily. Telco outside plant
> records are in notoriously bad condition in some places. The rep may
> have actually not had any record of the second pair in your apartment
> or may have had a record of it but shown it to be actually a multiple
> of someone else's first pair or what-have-you. Have you tested that
> pair to see if it is alive (with someone else's service because some
> installer in the past never opened it up at the pole) or if it is in
> good condition? Have you traced it back to the demarc, such as in the
> basement of the building where you live? If you can get that second
> pair back as far as the demarc for the building (or yourself, whichever
> applies), then you have a second pair and it should not be required
> for telco to make any visit to your home with the high cost for same.
> You have to be careful though; make sure that set of wires you are
> looking at actually goes somewhere and reaches the demarc. If not, then
> you are possibly stuck for the high installation costs of a second line.
> You should trace that pair first, getting it back to the demarc if at
> all possible. Note on the demarc there may be some notations (little
> tags tied on with bits of string are common) telling the installers
> what goes where. If you see a notation saying something like 'cable 74,
> pair 29' or similar then when you call back to the business office if
> you get the same rap about how a new line has to be installed in your
> apartment tell the rep you *think* 'cable 74 pair 29' is there already.
> Note I emphasize 'think'. You're not a phone installer so don't try to
> act like one. But stress you have seen complete wires back to the demarc
> which appear to be idle, and you are wondering if the rep will please
> have someone confirm or correct the outside plant records. PAT]
In some states the steps the moderator describes are exactly right. In
New York, things are a little different. Telco is obligated to provide
a network interface jack (if that is what you want) *in your apartment*,
for a price that is fixed -- unaffected by how long it takes to do.
This is the case regardless of whether their records show a previous
second line in your apartment; all that changes is the amount of the
fixed price. Last I checked the cost for your situation (where they
claim there was never a second line) is $88.
Then you just connect your own wiring to that second NIJ.
The state-to-state differences are discussed in my book about phone
service.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's this about your book about phone
service? Please review it for us and tell us how to obtain copies. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 18:20:07 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: Telephone Answering Machine Question
I don't know the answer; I had a note in this Digest long ago about an
"action line" telephone number which gave a beep but did not take
messages -- AND THE RECORDING SPECIFICALLY SAID IT DID NOT TAKE
MESSAGES.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 20:06:54 -0600
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Calvacom: New Distribution Site For Digest
This is just a note of welcome to the subscribers of Calvacom, a
service in France which was described to me as 'a lot like Compuserve
in the USA'. I've been in correspondence with someone there about
making TELECOM Digest available to the subscribers on that system, and
distribution has now begun.
If the participants on Calvacom choose to send mail to this Digest,
you'll see network addresses for them of the form '@calvacom.fr'. I
appreciate very much them thinking of me and asking to have this
Digest included among the various features available to their users.
I would also like to mention that the gateway to Prodigy now seems to
be in place and a welcome is in order to the several susbcribers from
that network who have requested subscriptions to the Digest in recent
days.
PAT
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #12
*****************************
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Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:13:26 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401061513.AA24461@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #13
TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 09:13:20 CST Volume 14 : Issue 13
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
MCI's ATM Communications Response (Dan L. Dale)
A Tale of Two Dialtones (Paul Robinson)
Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (A. Padgett Peterson)
Re: Fax Services Wanted (Arlington Hewes)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Robert L. Ullmann)
Cable Channels and Satellites (Miles Thomas)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 22:55 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com>
Subject: MCI's ATM Communications Response
SUBJECT ARTICLE: Setting the record straight on the Communications Week
article "User's Want Data Details for MCI" (12/20/93)
DATE: January 4, 1993
On December 20, 1993, Communications Week published a front-page
article entitled "Users Want Data Details From MCI". This article
criticized MCI for not publicly disclosing detailed plans for ATM
service offerings.
Customers may ask about the article and MCI's overall strategic data
direction related to emerging technologies such as ATM.
Communications Week extensively quoted Paul Weichselbaum, MCI's vice
president of data marketing, along with many telecommunications
managers from a variety of companies. Mr. Weichselbaum has written to
Communications Week regarding their news coverage. His letter to the
editor seeks to place his comments in the appropriate context and
accurately explain MCI's approach to ATM. The complete text of the
Communications Week article and MCI's response is included below.
The article began by stating MCI "will renege on a promise to detail
its ATM plans by year's end, frustrating users who are trying to
understand the carrier's data strategy". The article continued to
criticize our lack of an ATM switch vendor and the lack of service and
pricing details.
It is important that MCI assist customers in placing emerging
technologies in the proper perspective.
Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) and Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM) are two emerging technologies that will play an important
role in the next generation of data service offerings from MCI.
ATM employs fixed-length cells to carry data, voice, and video at
speeds suitable for wide area connections. This technology has the
potential to support new applications and consolidate traffic. ATM
will obviate the need, at least technically, for the multiple separate
networks (such as data, voice, and video-conference) most companies
maintain. This technology could allow corporations to build a single
enterprise wide area network carrying all their communications
traffic.
For better or worse, ATM is often looked upon as a networking panacea.
The reality is that ATM is one of several solutions that may or may
not be appropriate for a customer at this time or in the near future.
The following are key points to remember when discussing MCI's view of
ATM technology:
MCI believes ATM, in its current state, is more of a technology than a
service;
MCI has found that most of our customer's current application can be
served with existing data services. ATM's full potential and value will
be realized through the implementation of future applications;
ATM technology must mature; standards must be developed and finalized.
The technology is quickly maturing; product and hardware life cycles
are short. The first generation switches are not adequate to offer a
robust central office based service offering. MCI continues to actively
work with switch vendors to influence second generation technology.
As noted above, experience has shown that the vast majority of
customer applications do not require transport rates in excess of
1.544 Mbps. ATM is traditionally associated with transport speeds in
excess of 45 Mbps. Although potential standards are being evaluated
for ATM below 45 Mbps speeds, other issues must be resolved before ATM
becomes a truly viable service offering. MCI understands these issues
and is working with manufacturers and standards bodies to arrive at
solutions that will allow carriers to offer interoperable, network
based ATM service offerings.
Various trade publications have echoed MCI's concerns. John
McQuillan's recent article in Business Communications Review ("Where
are the ATM Applications?", pp 12-14, November 1993) noted that
"...there are simpler and less expensive alternatives to ATM". He
continued to state that "...while the ATM community has been focused
on ATM at 45 Mbps rates and up, customers spend most of their money at
T1 rates and below". Mr. McQuillan is widely recognized as a leading
industry expert on ATM technology.
Readers of the Communications Week article may form the impression
that MCI is behind everyone else since we have not publicly disclosed
specific ATM service plans. MCI has chosen not to tell our ATM story
via the media. There are two primary reasons for this. MCI cannot
control the media and their spin to a story. In addition, our
discussions with vendors and end users impact the formulation of ideas
and thinking about what our ATM service directions should be; we want
to keep that information away from the competition for the time being.
MCI is not at a competitive disadvantage related to the understanding
of ATM technology. MCI is actively participating in the ATM Forum and
other standards bodies. We actively participate in the development of
standards and applications related to ATM. MCI is also investigating
current ATM research and technical design issues.
We have implemented a trial ATM network to study ATM. Our trial
network has allowed the engineering lab to study flow control
interactions between higher layer protocols and ATM switches. We have
also found that the high speed access lines and bursty nature of
today's high performance applications such as file transfer and
distributed database applications can easily overrun small buffers
that are often found in ATM switches. These detailed simulations have
allowed us to understand the impact of existing buffer management
schemes on TCP flow control mechanics and the resulting useful
throughput that can be achieved.
Although MCI has not announced an ATM switch vendor, switches from
leading ATM vendors have undergone evaluation in MCI's Network
Engineering Laboratory. Testing continues on second generation
switches. We have found that ATM technology is quickly maturing and
switch hardware life cycles are short. To further the development of
ATM, MCI has provided feedback to ATM switch manufacturers on the key
issues we have learned. Our methodical approach will allow us to
influence the technology changes in the next generation of switches.
This approach will ultimately be advantageous to our customers.
More than a dozen ATM products have been announced in 1993 - and more
will be available in 1994. Hardware vendors interested in ATM
technologies include Cabletron, Cisco Systems, Motorola Codex,
Newbridge, Northern Telecom, StrataCom, and Wellfleet to name a few.
At the present time, most switch vendors only provide a partial set of
service characteristics associated with ATM (e.g. access classes and
the timing, bit rate and connection mode attributes, etc.). Industry
analysts generally agree with MCI's view that ATM standards must be
further developed to address additional areas of concern to a
perspective end user such as the lack of flow control between
switches, no LAN bridging specifications, and a lack of quality of
service definition. In addition, many service features offered by
vendors are proprietary in nature. Only when these issues are
addressed, will the full potential of ATM be realized.
Once again, other industry analysts and periodicals mirror MCI
viewpoint. For instance, an article in Data Communications magazine
("ATM at Your Service?", pp 85-88, November 1993) noted that "without
standard service definitions, carriers may end up developing their own
approaches, a scenario that could lead to the same troubles that have
plagued ISDN: lack of interoperability and spotty geographic
coverage."
The press and general public is often unaware of the work MCI has
undertaken with ATM. Our focus is on driving service related issues
with standards bodies and vendors; not to engage in public debates,
create unfulfilled service expectations, pre-announce products, or
provide proprietary service solutions in the absence of industry
standards.
The above is not meant to provide you with all the details on MCI's
strategic data direction or our work with ATM. It is meant to inform
you that MCI is actively undertaking initiatives to develop expertise
with the technology. MCI's pragmatic approach will allow us to
effectively develop, market and support the existing and emerging
services required by our customers. These considerations will
ultimately prove to be in the customers' best interest.
COMMUNICATIONS WEEK ARTICLE:
Communications Week via First! : WASHINGTON MCI Communications Corp.
will renege on a promise to detail its ATM service plans by year's
end, frustrating users who are trying to understand the carrier's data
strategy.
"I just wish I knew what its data strategy is," said Thomas O'Toole,
director of communications systems for Westinghouse Electric Corp.,
Pittsburgh. "MCI always, for some reason, has struggled with a data
strategy."
In briefings delivered several times during the year, MCI has
glossed over its plans to offer asynchronous transfer mode services.
MCI officials have said the company will provide ATM services, but
they have given no details on prices, operating speeds, network
management capabilities, switching platform or classes of service.
That kind of information is already available from AT&T, Sprint and
WilTel-MCI's main competitors.
"We clearly have a different approach," said Paul Weichselbaum,
MCI's vice president of data marketing.
In May, Weichselbaum said that by the end of this year, MCI would
select an ATM switch vendor, begin field trials and provide service
details (Communications Week, May 31). It is clear that MCI will not
meet those goals.
MCI now expects to select its ATM switch vendor during the first
half of next year and roll out a service late next year, Weichselbaum
said in an interview with Communications Week. He would not discuss
service characteristics or say when such information would be
available.
Weichselbaum explained the delay by saying that MCI has tested ATM
switches, but found that they did not measure up to its expectations.
SMDS Late Too
MCI also has vacillated on its plans to offer a switched
multimegabit data service, which it announced in October 1992 for
general availability in mid-1993.
During the May briefing, Weichselbaum said MCI was postponing SMDS
availability because of software delays. MCI canceled an SMDS beta
test that had been planned with Rockwell International Corp., Seal
Beach, Calif. MCI was supposed to reschedule the test, but has yet to
do so, according to Chuck Ramey, Rockwell's manager of network
hardware-telecommunications services.
Weichselbaum said this month that SMDS will be generally available
in the first half of next year. He said users are trying the service
now, but he declined to name them.
Users said MCI's failure to provide details on its ATM plans or roll
out SMDS indicates that the carrier's data strategy is in disarray.
"If they want to be seen as a leader in the industry, they need to
provide information on [ATM] pricing and service levels pretty
quickly," said Blair Sanders, senior member of the technical staff at
Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas.
During a recent interview, MCI chairman and CEO Bert Roberts
insisted that MCI has a strong data strategy. If there's confusion, he
said, MCI may not be doing a good job of communicating its plans.
"Sometimes it's a market perception, but in this case, I think it's
a real issue," said Rosemary Cochran, principal with Vertical Systems
Group, Dedham, Mass.
Details, Details
The information on data services MCI recently supplied Domino's
Pizza in response to a request for proposals was "far less detailed"
than that received from AT&T and Sprint, said Daniel Gonos,
telecommunications manager at the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza
company.
"I'm not sure whether it's a learning curve with MCI, or that it's
just trying to be careful," Gonos said. "But it's clear, for whatever
reason, that MCI is behind everyone else."
Jeffrey Marshall, director of communications for Bear, Stearns & Co.
Inc., New York, said MCI has done a good job articulating a broad data
strategy, but that the details are missing.
Other MCI users said they are satisfied with the information they have
received from MCI.
"I think it's been up-front since the beginning with ATM," said
William Johnson, director of communications at Woolworth Corp., New
York. "It wanted to make sure it had its act together before
implementing a program. I don't think it's at that point yet. We need
more details, but we can wait."
Donald Moore, communications technology manager at Aldus Corp., a
Seattle-based software maker, said ATM is still far enough in the
future that his company can wait for details. Moore said, however,
that he was told that MCI already has selected its switch vendor but
won't publicly disclose its choice.
Apparently, confusion over the switch vendor extends to Roberts, who
said earlier this month that MCI has selected an ATM switch vendor.
MCI representatives later denied that Roberts made that statement.
Weichselbaum argued that MCI has a solid data portfolio, and that
the carrier has yet to find an application that can't be handled by
its existing services. He said ATM is not necessary today because
frame-relay, SMDS and other switched data services offer users what
they need.
MCI tries to encourage companies to consider data services like
frame-relay or SMDS, rather than ATM, Weichselbaum said. But MCI will
bid on request for proposals in cases where users insist on ATM. "We
would have to install switches if the bid were approved," he said.
This approach bothers some users, who said they would prefer to use
an established network.
"We don't mind being a test pilot, but if it's a matter of getting
into an airplane that's never been made before, we're a little shy
about that," said Marshall of Bear, Stearns.
MFS Datanet Inc., Sprint and WilTel already offer ATM-based
services. AT&T has detailed its service, which will be available in
mid-1994.
"There's no compelling application that absolutely requires ATM
today," Weichselbaum said. "We don't want to do it because everyone
else is doing it."
Industry analysts said MCI is too wrapped up in its purchase of BT
North America Inc., San Jose, Calif., to focus adequate attention on
its data strategy. Roberts confirmed that the company was preoccupied
for at least two months working out the details of their joint
arrangement.
[12-22-93 at 14:59 EST, Copyright 1993, CMP Publications, Inc., File:
c1222056.2mp]
MCI RESPONSE TO THE COMMUNICATION WEEK ARTICLE:
MCI's Paul Wiechselbaum, vice-president data marketing, wrote the
following letter to the editors of Communications Week. The letter
will probably be published in the 1/10/94 issue.
MCI takes great exception to the tone and content of your
December 20, 1993 article, "Users Want Data Details From MCI." You
quote me as saying "we clearly have a different approach [to ATM],"
without giving your readers the opportunity to understand or evaluate
that approach.
First, MCI approaches ATM not as a high technology company, but
rather as a service company; we employ high tech products in the
provisioning of our services. We want to offer data services to the
marketplace that will help customers compete more effectively. In our
opinion, ATM in its current state is more a technology than a service;
it's a fast-bit pipe using ATM multiplexing. CommWeek editors seemed
to agree with this point, given the November 22, 1993 editorial,
"Bridging the Gap of ATM Theory and Reality." Our market research
shows that it will be a couple of years before the multimedia promise
of ATM can be fully deployed as a broadly available, economically
compelling and completely standards-based service.
We've found that most of our customers' current applications can
be served with existing services. In other words, ATM's full
potential is required for future market applications and much less so
for current ones. At the same time, our discussions with ATM switch
vendors over the past three years have convinced us that the
technology is maturing quickly and product life cycles are short.
With first generation switch technology only a pale imitation of what
ATM could be and the market still immature, we are taking the time to
try to influence second generation technological changes to our
customers' advantage.
We believe we can enter the market with a much richer ATM service
well before it gains much momentum and the longer we can wait before
making this investment, the more likely it is that a particular vendor
of ATM technology will have something better to offer than we've seen
to date.
Our experience with frame relay reflects the merits of such an
approach. While we were among the last to offer a commercial frame
relay service, the fact that our HyperStream Frame Relay continues to
be unique in the marketplace a full 18 months after introduction -- with
its sustained burst capabilities, usage and mileage sensitive pricing,
and asymmetrical provisioning -- is telling. Such capabilities give our
customers greater control and ultimately, save money over competitive
offerings. HyperStream's success has convinced us that our market
strategy is on target. Given this experience, we don't feel compelled
to mimic other carriers in the ATM arena; our focus is on the market.
Your broad generalization that "users want data details from MCI"
is misleading. CommWeek knows very well that MCI's data strategy is
much broader than just ATM. And we are certainly telling customers
what our ATM directions are and how these fit with our overall data
plans. However, to date we've chosen to do this in private customer
briefings. These briefings serve to validate our current conclusions
on ATM services while enabling us to protect competitive advantages we
gain as a result of those discussions.
MCI clearly does have a different approach to ATM. We believe
it's a methodical, realistic, customer-oriented and responsible one.
It reflects the market window available to us as well as the
technology cycles we're seeing and shaping. The feedback from our
customers has been both positive and constructive. It's unfortunate
that our rationale for pursuing this different strategy was not fully
represented in the story.
Paul J. Weichselbaum
Vice President Data Marketing
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 01:00:49 EST
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Subject: A Tale of Two Dialtones
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
It was the best of dials, it was the worst of dials ...
I originally had four phone lines coming into my house. The family
member who needed the fourth line didn't need it any longer, so I had
it shut off.
Recently, another relative had to move in with us and wanted their own
phone line. Since I had a circuit left I called the phone company to
have them turn that on ($47.00) from the office instead of their
paying another $65.00 to have another circuit installed (when the new
wire was installed, the old wire, which the installer discovered was
spliced, was pulled and replaced with a six-pair cable; see "Dial Tone
is No Extra Charge" printed last year.)
I do my own wiring so I had put in the wire and turn on was scheduled
for the 5th. Earlier in the day I had made a call from my computer
line. I went to work and called home to check up on my mother who is
recovering from Cancer.
The phone doesn't answer. This is unusual. Over several hours I
tried it, off and on, and got no answer. Tried calling the special
number in the hall (it's used for my 800 number) no answer. I was
worried a little, so when I got home I discovered nothing unusual. I
picked up the phone and got dial tone. I did, however, discover later
that the hall phone / answering machine's power had become unplugged,
which meant it wouldn't even allow me to dial out. Plugged back in it
gave me dial tone. Note this is the electrical plug, in addition to
the telephone line.
I went down to the basement demarc and finished wiring the new phone
line. No problem and I get a dial tone. I dialed my home number and
it was busy. Dialed the special number that runs to the hall phone
and it just rang (as stated above). I must have, in running the 50 or
so feet of wire down to the basement, miswired the phone onto my line.
But since each circuit goes through its own gas fuse, I thought I had
done it correctly.
I left the phone on a busy signal and went to the other phone. Dial
tone. All I did was hook up the new phone. This doesn't make sense.
Then it hit me. I hung up the new phone, went back to the regular
phone, and dialed the regular number. The new phone rang.
Went upstairs, got the paper with the new phone number C&P supplied me
when I placed the order. Dialed that number and my old phone rang! I
never touched my original connection, so the problem is with the phone
company.
This is what happened: in ordering the new service, the phone company
put the new service on the original number, and put our old service on
the new line!
Well, tomorrow morning I'll call and make a stink about it. There are
at least six or more outlets running wires into the original
connection for me to change them all, so I'll complain and insist they
fix it. Beyond that, for all I know they may charge me for moving my
phone service to a different pair!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 07:54:38 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
It was announced yesterday that Southern Bell has agreed to drop the
U$1.00/line/month surcharge for tone dialing in the Orlando area that
had been in effect since the introduction of touch-tone dialing
service.
It is not known exactly when this change will take place other than it
is expected "within 60 days".
Warmly,
Padgett
------------------------------
From: Arlington Hewes <tpcadmin@dbc.mtview.ca.us>
Subject: Re: Fax Services Wanted
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 19:48:15 -0800
> Greetings, I am looking for a low cost service which I can use to send
> faxes around the world. I have prime requirements to send fax to NA
> and the Asia Pacific regions.
Send a note to tpc-faq@town.hall.org and check out the TPC.INT project.
mtr
------------------------------
From: ariel@world.std.com (Robert L Ullmann)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Organization: The World in Boston
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 04:03:45 GMT
tnixon@microsoft.com (Toby Nixon) writes:
> right. A "+" and the country code, a space, the city code (optionally
> enclosed within parenthesis to indicate that it is optionally dialed
> if you're within the same city code), then another space, and the
No, not exactly. Numbers in parens should not appear in the + form.
If they do, they mean _do_not_ dial this to the international caller:
a London number might be +44 (0) 71 123 4576.
BTW: IMHO, BT does a disservice to the UK consumer by always listing
city codes with the leading "0"; the consumer is going to have trouble
understanding that the "0" is an access code, not part of the city
code.
I think the +1 code for the NANP being the same as the 1- access code
for long distance within the NANP isn't a coincidence. ATT invented
the international plan ...
When I first saw country codes in the telephone book years ago, I
wondered why the USA code wasn't listed. (Some droid figured: "but you
don't NEED that from the USA". Never mind businesses trying to figure
out how to list themselves.) To this day the phone books list places
like Izmir, Turkey (+851 according to NYNEX Boston 1993) but omit the
USA and Canada. No wonder most ordinary people don't *understand* the
system!
Back then I called the operator: "What is the country code for the USA?"
Oper: "Sir, you don't NEED the country code to dial the USA."
Me: "sigh, can I have the overseas operator?"
Overseas op: "Sir, you don't NEED ..."
Me: "may I have your supervisor please?"
Super: "hmmm, I don't know that. Why would you need it?"
Me: "suppose I want to place an ad in an international magazine?"
Super: "hmmm"
Me: "can we ask the overseas operator in, say, London?"
Super: "sure!"
London: "It is ONE. But why would YOU need it? ..."
Robert Ullmann Ariel@World.STD.COM +1 617 693 1315
------------------------------
Date: 05 Jan 94 23:07:02 EST
From: Miles Thomas <70624.130@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Cable Channels and Satellites
lars@eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) wrote
> The largest satellite operator (German ASTRA which has a near monopoly
> on service to Germany, Scandinavia and I think Be-ne-lux as well) has
> two birds in the same nominal slot (and a third one planned) so that
> you can get 24 channels without re-aiming the dish. This has allowed
> the sale of very inexpensive receiver systems (I have seen a low end
> system with 18" dish on sale for USD 155 including 25% VAT!! A normal
> price is about twice that for a system with built-in descrambler with
> 2 "smart card" slots). This kind of pricing for "wireless cable" led
> to sharp reductions on cable service prices.
The ASTRA sats also broadcast to the UK, Spain etc etc. Its actually
owned by a company in Luxembourg, SES. The two birds are actually
0.25 of a degree apart, which is close enough for a dish toi see both
(it has to be within 1 degree to see it). I understand that they plan
to add a third, ie one at 0.25, one at 0.5 and one a 0.75.
The only reason that they aren't spaced any closer is that it would
require constant manoeuvering to stop the sats hitting each other as
they wiggle slightly in orbit.
Just for you info, the Marcopolo high power sat used for BSB with the
infamous dinner plate or sqarial antennae has been retargeted onto
Scandanavia for their DBS services.
Miles Thomas
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #13
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Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:12:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401061612.AA22594@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #14
TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 10:12:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 14
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Announcing networkMCI (Dan L. Dale)
"Caller Pays" Cellular Airtime (Paul Robinson)
Dialing Changes for Delaware (Carl Moore)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Feedlebom)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Art Walker)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Dave Reus)
Re: California ANI Question (David Josephson)
Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Dan Osborn)
Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Gary W. Sanders)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Al Varney)
Re: Help Needed With v.42bis (Janusz Purwin)
Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore)
Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Jim Thomas)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
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TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 22:56 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com>
Subject: Announcing networkMCI
MCI UNVEILS LONG-RANGE VISION: networkMCI
Opens Nation's First Transcontinental Information Superhighway;
Announces $20 Billion in Strategic Initiatives
Washington, D.C., January 4, 1994--MCI today unveiled a sweeping
strategic vision under which MCI and associated partners are expected
to invest more than $20 billion to create and deliver a wide array of
new branded services to teleconsumers, businesses, research facilities
and government customers.
"Our notion of the future of telecommunications and MCI is going
to have a brand name: networkMCI," said Bert C. Roberts, MCI chairman
and CEO. "This strategic vision is the sum of all our plans and
opportunities in the new emerging markets with services that
consumers, businesses and governments will want at their fingertips as
we move into the 21st Century. As a core strategy, it leverages the
tremendous opportunities brought on by the convergence of telephony,
entertainment and the computer."
Transcontinental Information Superhighway
Today the company announced, as an initial element of the
networkMCI vision, the inauguration of the nation's first trans-
continental information superhighway. Often talked about as a key
ingredient to keeping America competitive in tomorrow's world economy,
the MCI superhighway's roadbed uses SONET fiber optic technology at
speeds 15 times faster than any SONET network available today.
MCI said that the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) is
the first user of its New York to Los Angeles SONET fiber system. The
NSFNET Backbone Service is the fastest and most powerful of the
university, government and commercial networks known collectively as
the Internet. "Some people may be surprised to learn that MCI
developed these intercity links for the Internet six years ago," said
Roberts. "The NSFNET service today reaches nearly 15,000 networks
around the world that participate in the Internet."
"The Internet doubles in size annually and now links over two
million computers serving some six million users," said Vinton Cerf,
President of the Internet Society. "When electronic mail
interconnects are taken into account, nearly 20 million users conduct
their business from labs, homes and offices over the Internet. MCI
and its partners, IBM, Merit and ANS, pioneered the use of 45 megabit
per second technology for the NSFNET Backbone Service. NSFNET now
carries a volume of information that approximately equals the holdings
of the Library of Congress EACH MONTH, and MCI's announcement
indicates the potential to carry more than 50 times that much
traffic."
SONET, which stands for Synchronous Optical Network, is a
high-speed transmission technology that MCI is using to hasten the
widespread availability of broadcast quality videophones, electronic
data interchange (EDI), long distance medical imaging, multimedia
education, movies on demand, and a single-number Personal
Communications Service (PCS) that will use the same pocket-sized
telephone anywhere in the world.
High-speed SONET technology was deployed in half of MCI's network
at year-end 1993, far outpacing its long distance rivals. Under the
development program announced today, SONET will be available
throughout MCI's domestic network by the end of 1994 and on
international routes across the Atlantic and the Pacific by 1995. The
company said it will further increase carrying speeds on existing
fiber from 2.5 gigabits (billion bits) per second to more than 10
gigabits per second by 1995.
MCI Metro
As another element of its long-range vision, the company announced
the creation of MCI Metro, a wholly owned subsidiary that is expected
to invest $2 billion in fiber rings and local switching infrastructure
in major U.S. metropolitan markets. Through its metropolitan area
facilities, MCI will connect directly to customers and begin providing
alternative local telecommunications services. Referring to these
connections as "digital on/off ramps" to the nationwide information
superhighway, Roberts noted that they would be a vital addition to
America's economic infrastructure for the 21st Century. Construction
has already begun in Atlanta, with completion expected there by mid-
year.
Roberts announced the appointment of two key executives to lead
this subsidiary. Executive vice president Gary M. Parsons will be
chief executive officer of MCI Metro, and senior vice president Nate
A. Davis will become its chief operating officer. The subsidiary owns
properties and rights-of-way in several hundred cities.
"MCI Metro will ensure the availability of superior local access
facilities at reasonable cost," said Roberts. "During the last
decade, MCI was instrumental in bringing the benefits of competition
to the long distance marketplace. During the next decade, we must
secure those same benefits for customers of local telephone service.
In addition, these digital backbone facilities will strongly position
MCI in the emerging markets of interactive multimedia and wireless
PCS."
networkMCI
Roberts said that networkMCI is being introduced to the public via
a national advertising campaign utilizing television, magazines and
newspapers to explain the company's vision to consumers, businesses,
investors and potential partners.
"When we announced our global alliance with BT (British Telecom)
last year, we said that the added financial flexibility would allow us
to invest in America's infrastructure, economy and future," said
Roberts. "With networkMCI, we have cast a strategy to deliver on that
promise, and then some."
MCI expects that other partner companies with complementary skills
and resources will participate in projects within the overall
networkMCI vision, through equity stakes, joint ventures or other
business arrangements.
"As telecommunications, computing and television converge, no one
company will have the infrastructure and the skills to do everything
alone," said Roberts. "Partnering is smart strategy for the 1990's,
and MCI has proven repeatedly that it doesn't have to own and control
another party in order to work together effectively."
MCI cited a number of customer usage trends underlying the
decision to make the additional multibillion dollar investments. The
company has been growing more than twice as fast as the long distance
industry as a whole, and is winning the lion's share of growth in the
booming market for international calls to and from the U.S. Data
traffic is another major growth factor, with business customers' usage
of data communications expected to surpass voice by 1998. In wireless
communications, the superior performance of the emerging PCS
technology is expected to help drive the total number of wireless
devices in the U.S. to 70 million by the turn of the century, which
will increase network usage.
"Beyond the long-term vision," Roberts continued, "there are a
number of immediate benefits that networkMCI brings to the everyday,
workaday MCI network. We have created this long-term strategy to meet
the demands of a nation of teleconsumers who use telecommunications
more frequently and in more ways than ever before. American
businesses of all sizes want competitive advantage from their
communications. And potential partners in this arena want to create
new opportunities. With networkMCI, there will be a clear path to
follow."
MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., offers a full range of
domestic and global telecommunications services through one of the
world's largest state-of-the-art networks. With annual revenue of
more than $12 billion, the company is the second largest long distance
provider in the U.S. and has more than 65 offices in 55 countries and
places.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 01:23:50 EST
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Subject: "Caller Pays" Cellular Airtime
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
Recently, someone announced that Colorado would be having calls to 579
exchange charged for as "caller pays" cellular airtime in addition to
toll charges. It's been asked whether or not people could call this
number from out of state. The AT&T Operator quoted me the standard
26c for a call to 303-579.
But let's not forget that long distance calls are going to net between
2 and 5c in local termination charges from the carrier anyway, so the
caller is paying something for the connection.
The person who mentioned this told that U.S. West offered a number to
call 1-800-USW-BILL for questions. Surprizingly enough, this number
does work from Maryland. That 800 number apparently handles
surcharged lines including 900, 976 and cellular airtime.
The clerk, a person with a very strong foreign accent, indicated that
the 579 exchange is a "caller pays" exchange. If someone (in
Colorado) calls a 579 number, the caller pays for the airtime. If the
user of a 579 number calls someone, they pay for their airtime.
I asked whether this was something akin to a 900 or 976 number, trying
to explain to the woman what I meant (a number where the called party
gets a fee for each incoming call) and apparently she got the gist of
what I was trying to point out, in that the caller is surcharged for a
call made to the number.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 10:14:41 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Dialing Changes for Delaware
I have heard from Carl Drake, over whose name a letter had been sent
to Delaware customers regarding new area code 610 in Pennsylvania. He
says the Delaware PUC (public utility commission) ordered 1 + 10D for
long distance within Delaware; permissive is to start April 1 and
mandatory is to come Jan. 7, 1995 (latter is the same as the full
cutover for 610 in Pennsylvania). (Delaware is area code 302.)
------------------------------
From: feedle@kaiwan.com (Feedlebom)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 07:00:14 GMT
Robert L. McMillin (rlm@helen.surfcty.com) wrote:
> (something about Zzzzzzygot Dial-a-joke which was trashed by my reader)
Interestingly enough, it's still in the new 1994 Pacific Bell white
pages. It's gotta have some kind of record for being the last number
in the phone book ... close to 15 years in a row, always the last
number in the white pages.
"839-3000, Not particularly funny, but that's the number you've
reached ..."
------------------------------
From: walker@unomaha.edu (Art Walker)
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 08:09:25 GMT
David A. Kaye (dk@crl.com) wrote:
> I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote
> control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date,
> time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front
> of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be
> done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these?
As an aside, what most people *really* want is a VCR that all you have
to do is walk up to it, say "tape letterman tonight", and that's it.
Art Walker (walker@guinness.unomaha.edu) (walker@beeble.omahug.org)
------------------------------
From: dave@geis.geis.com
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:12:00 GMT
Subject: Re: How Are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
On 5 Jan 1994 dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye) wrote:
> I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote
> control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date,
> time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front
> of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be
> done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these?
I've seen one of these in my local (Frederick, MD) Montgomery Wards
store: It is a slim device that has several LCD windows and a
thumbwheel by each. One for Month, Day, Channel, and Time.... and a
TRANSMIT button. It was pretty cheap, so I opened the box and looked
at the docs that came with it: It was clear to me that this device
only worked with the specific brand of VCR as it had no options for
setup for different brands. Can't remember what brand it was tho!
Dave Reus
------------------------------
From: davidj@rahul.net (David Josephson)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Organization: a2i network
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:09:15 GMT
In <telecom14.12.2@eecs.nwu.edu> stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes:
> In <telecom14.8.7@eecs.nwu.edu>, reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux) writes:
>> Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that
>> "ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he
>> understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm
>> sure someone here knows for sure.
> ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with
> very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can
The CPUC tariff is the law. CPUC denied Pacific Bell's tariff filing
that would have offered CNID. Only that which is tariffed is
permissible.
> interstate commerce, and any laws that the state may have do not apply
> to them (BTW, there are no laws regarding ANI in CA that I am aware of
> anyway).
> I even have a couple of customers in CA that receive ANI delivery from
> me, either in real-time via inband DTMF, through voice mail and pager
> mail, and of course on their bills (just like any 800 service today).
> Perhaps the state may have something to say about that in the future
> if they choose to do so, but they have not chosen to do so up to now.
Yah, what could they do, make it illegal for a CA subscriber to obtain
an interstate service from you? Not too likely.
> And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or
> my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are
> doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number.
> I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could
> even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and
> programmed it to block 800 numbers :-))
I wonder if the per-number (56# or whatever it was?) CNID blocking
from here would block a INWATS ANI/CNID?
David Josephson <david@josephson.com>
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *Nothing* blocks ANI delivery. Nothing. PAT]
------------------------------
From: dosborn@Internet.cnmw.com
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 08:37:25 EST
Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again!
Pat:
I too signed up of the Sprint Modem offer. However, I apparently
signed up too late. I talked to a Sprint Rep on Oct 6 about the
Dvorak offer and then switched to Sprint under the assumption that I
would be receiving a modem. I then waited for it to appear in the
mail.
In November, I received a bill from Sprint on an existing (but
forgotten) Sprint account that I had. It listed only the $7 charge
for my calling plan but no actual calls. I called Sprint to enquire
about this and I was told to try the 1-700 number to verify my long
distance carrier. It was still AT&T! This would explain why I had
not received my modem; I hadn't made any calls on Sprint yet. Well,
the Sprint rep told me the easiest way to rectify this was to call my
local company (Cincinnati Bell) and tell them to switch me. This I
did. Still, I waited and waited and waited for my modem.
When I called at the end of December to enquire about the status of my
modem, I was informed that since I had signed up after Oct 1st, I was
too late -- there were no more modems to be had. Wanting to minimize
the amount of hassle (my life is currently preoccupied with the birth
of my second daughter), I just asked Sprint to credit my account with
the amount of the LD switching fees so I could switch back.
I'm relating this tale of woe so that (with clear conscience) David
could send me his "extra" modem. (I'm sending him a copy of this
directly). I will gladly pay for shipping. And should he ever receive
a nasty-gram demanding the return of the modem, I will return it
to/for him. After all, he would be doing me a favor, and I want to
minimize his hassle.
Dan Osborn * dosborn@internet.cnmw.com * (513) 247-4623 * FAX: (513) 489-0819
Cincinnati Microwave Inc. * One Microwave Plaza * Cincinnati, OH 45249-9502
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well now, that's very gracious and generous
of you to agree to take that extra modem off his hands. :) Meanwhile,
back in California, I am wondering what is going on with the lawsuit against
Sprint the guys were starting based on alleged misrepresentations of the
product being shipped, etc. Can anyone bring us up to date on that side
of it? PAT]
------------------------------
From: gary.w.sanders@att.com
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:34:52 GMT
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.10.1@eecs.nwu.edu> rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu
(Bill Pfeiffer) writes:
> No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a
> restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu. Current tv
> technology offers you a choice among the available programming.
> On-demand exists now. Nobody holds that channel selector but you.
> How does the medium of delivery change the fact that someone else
> still creates the programming?
Not totally true. With 500 channels you now open the way for more
programmers. What cable system is going to give a small time
programmer access to one of its 50 channels? Not many unless the
programmer has a proven track record. However with 500 channels they
can try many different programmers and let the consumers decide what
is popular. How many cable companies are carrying the "outdoor
channel" 24h/day? How many people have even heard of this? If you
have a satellite dish check out F2/3. Programming is so/so at best. A
few good shows and lots of commercials for gold prosper club. This
service has little chance on a 50 channel system but I am sure would
get on a 500 channel system.
>> If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500
>> channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go
>> the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100
>> years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive
>> obsolescence.
Price of the dialtone will be the factor here. Many cable pay-per-view
companys have gone under or been forced to merge with others to
survive. Why? Cost. Why would someone pay $8 to watch a movie when
just about every street corner has a video store with $1-$2 movies.
Early PPV also generated negative views of PPV with over priced and
poor quality of service.
Gary W. Sanders (N8EMR)
gary.w.sanders@att.com
AT&T Bell Labs
614.860.5965
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 09:01:04 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.9.8@eecs.nwu.edu> johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
writes:
> Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is
> it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for
> about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps
> I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult
> to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the
> phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from.
> People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call
> Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't
> receive calls. You can either enter explicit numbers, or tell it to
> add whoever just called, even if the call had CLID blocked. It's
> available the same places as other CLASS services, including some
> where CLID isn't, because it doesn't present the privacy problems.
I don't HAVE ACR (or other CLASS services) on my residential lines.
However, the first public announcement of the service was over two
years ago by Bell Atlantic, at a National Communications Forum in
Chicago. Ray Albers discussed the service, indicated the pricing and
played a recording of the announcement he received attempting to call
such a line after dialing a *67 prefix. The first service was in C&P
Maryland, but it has probably been offered elsewhere in Bell Atlantic
by now.
In discussions about this service, I don't recall "... too scared
to answer ..." being a reason for wanting the service. It was
primarily a tool to avoid unwanted calls (not repeated annoyance
calls, just unwanted ones). [I recognize some folks treat any
unwanted call as an "annoyance", but the intent is to avoid calls even
from phones that have never called before, so that Call Block is not a
reasonable option.]
In fact, Bell Atlantic was offering ACR for a small monthly fee
even to those who did not have any other CLASS features! The idea was
that the caller doesn't KNOW if you have Caller ID, but you might be
willing to use ACR as a primitive means of screening out a "class" of
callers -- those that suppress Caller ID delivery. They won't ring
your phone OR generate call waiting tones while you are on another
call. If you have call forwarding on a line with ACR active, the call
will not forward.
Also note that telco can elect to turn on supervision when
connecting to the ACR announcement, so the call will be considered
"completed" for billing purposes. Also note that Bell Atlantic was
offering ACR on a user-controlled basis; customers can turn it on and
off as desired.
See Bellcore TR-NWT-000567 for other details.
Al Varney
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 9:59:16 EST
From: PURWIN@XANADU.XYPLEX.COM (Janusz Purwin tel 508-952-4711)
Subject: Re: Help Needed With v.42bis
Well don't worry about if it does work or not. Firstly V.42 requires
that both modems have to have that feature enabled. Secondly it is
most useless feature ever put into modem. Its good for marketing
people to brag about and give false advertising about how faster modem
will transmit data without pointing out when it happens.
The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme that is based on
generating dictionary as you transfer a file. What that mean is, it
will not compress as you type. The compression ratio is related to
the type of file you will send. The text will compress to about 25 %
of its original size any other files like binaries have much lower
compression rate. But here is the catch normally ALL files are
compressed by PKzip, ARC or ARJ LHA GIF programs. Those are using
precisely same algorithm as V.42. So those files are not compressible.
If you try to compress them again the file size will be larger than
original.
The only time you might get any benefit from compression is when you
get screens of text send to you. Again you will trade size of the file
versus time (it takes time to compress on a fly) versus link speed.
... So the benefits of V.42 for the user are minimal!
Happy compressing Jan!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 9:24:08 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
I do see that Brendan's mother is staying in Philadelphia, and it's
possible Brendan had to be transferred to a hospital in Philadelphia
due to the severity of his injuries. Of the places I named, two are
near Philadelphia:
Newtown, Bucks County, 215-968 prefix
Newtown Square, Delaware County, 215-353 & 356 prefixes (and at least
one other; goes to 610 later)
Newton Hamilton, zipcode 17075 in Mifflin County, is in central Pa.
West Newton (zipcode 15089 and phone prefix 412-872) is in western Pa.
in Westmoreland County.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 22:52 CST
From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu)
Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL> writes:
> Where in Pennsylvania is Newton? I know of West Newton, Newtown
> Hamilton, Newtown Square, and Newtown.
Sorry for the typo. It was NEWTOWN. Here's an excerpt from the
conversation with Newtown police:
According to Newtown police, the accident was called in at 1:45 p.m,
and police arrived at 1:49 p.m. According to a police spokesperson,
Brendan was driving on Eagle Road, on which there is a stop sign at
the Rightstown road intersection, where the accident occured.
According to the police spokesperson, there was one passenger with him
who was treated and released.
Brendan was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
The patient information number: (215-662-3308)
Jim Thomas
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just a reminder to readers that
Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer, the Moderators of CuD are collecting notes
for Brendan from netters everywhere and will forward them at an approp-
riate time. Please send along your notes to them. Brendan remains in
very critical condition, and as of yet the doctors have not made any
statements about an estimated time for his recovery or the extent of
the physical damage he has suffered. It is believed that full-recovery
is unlikely, and that partial rehabilitation may well be several weeks
or months. Very grim, very sad news. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #14
*****************************
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Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 12:05:00 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401061805.AA21437@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #15
TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:05:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 15
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Dave Niebuhr)
Re: US Digital Cellular Standards (Alistair Munro via Weiyun Yu)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Olaf Seibert)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John R. Levine)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Arthur Rubin)
Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (Phil Wherry)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Jorge Lach)
Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Randy te Velde)
Re: Federal Telemarketing Laws (John R. Levine)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: California ANI Question (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (Scott Pelham)
Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:40:00 EST
From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Re: Sucharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
> In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 : Issue 13 : padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com
> (A. Padgett Peterson) writes:
> It was announced yesterday that Southern Bell has agreed to drop the
> U$1.00/line/month surcharge for tone dialing in the Orlando area that
> had been in effect since the introduction of touch-tone dialing
> service.
> It is not known exactly when this change will take place other than it
> is expected "within 60 days".
NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been
ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50
per month which is still not enough.
In addition, it is phasing out the optional business Flat Rate and
untimed Message Rate plans for businesses in upstate NY and imposing
timed message rate for them.
Other charges that are reduced are Intra-LATA calls that are
Inter-Region (the NY Metropolitan LATA has Lower Westchester (AC 914),
NYC (212/718/917) and Nassau County, West Suffolk County and East
Suffolk County (AC 516).
There were more changes involved in Upstate NY but I can't recall them
now.
Dave Niebuhr Internet: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (preferred)
niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl
Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility
Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093
------------------------------
From: weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu)
Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standards
Organization: Information Services, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 16:22:21 GMT
This is a posting on behalf of Alistair Munro <alistair@ccr.bris.ac.uk>
in relation to my original posting...
From: Alistair Munro <alistair@ccr.bris.ac.uk>
Subject: US Digital Cellular standards
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 14:33:03 +0000 (GMT)
To expand on Dan Leclerck's reply:
> In article <telecom14.3.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, Weiyun Yu <weiyun@extro.
> ucc.su.OZ.AU> wrote:
> 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM.
> N-AMPS, ADC, and DS-CDMA all offer, at least, 2x the capacity of GSM.
> NAMPS and CDMA do not have the pulsed-noise interference of GSM. CDMA
> has the potential to have a longer talk-time.
There is a paper by David Goodman: "Second Generation Wireless
Information Networks", IEEE Trans on Vehicular Technology, Vol 40, No
2, May 1991; this describes key aspects of GSM compared with IS-54
(sort of digital AMPS) and might be useful for you.
> GSM has terrible data services vis-a-vis' Group 3 Fax.
GSM specifies terminal adaptation functions for both asynchronous
(V.21, V.22, V.23, I.420, V.25) and synchronous (V.22, V.22bis,
V.26ter, V.32 X.21, X.25, X.32, V.25, I.420) bearers. This seems to
cover almost every packet or character mode interface in the CCITT
world at least.
As far as I know, they are not implemented yet by any of the
operators. Whether they are terrible or not, time will tell, but I
expect they will be dire.
One of the main technical issues seems to be that they are very
expensive to provide with TDMA, and with the GSM TDMA in particular.
There is a new project in the the ETSI GSM group called GPRS (GSM
packet radio services?) which might provide a multiple access scheme
more suited to data traffic.
If you want a comparison, try the US CDPD spec that provides data with
AMPS.
There is also a data message service (SMS) and I believe that this is
is available from some operators.
>> 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into
>> the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved.
>> 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third
>> standard that can be used world wide?
> The frequencies and access methods (GSM is TDMA/GMSK each channel is
> 200 KHz, ADC is TDMA/QPSK channels ea 30 KHz, CDMA is DS-CDMA ea
> channel 1.25 MHz) are completely incompatible. GSM is like ISDN over
> the air, whereas the other standards aren't so rich.
As Dan says, compatibilty is zero at the signalling level. However it
is conceivable that manufacturers could agree on control and
management protocol that would permit subscribers to have a single
telephone number that they could move between handsets for the
respective systems.
I would prefer to have it said that GSM call-control protocol is like
ISDN D-channel call-control. Obviously they diverge at the physical
level.
Perhaps you could pass this on to the newsgroup as I don't get near
such things normally.
Dr. Alistair Munro, Centre for Communications Research, Bristol University
Rm 1.3 Queen's Building, University Walk, BS8 1TR UK
E-mail: A.Munro@bristol.ac.uk
Tel: +44-272-291403 | +44-272-288620; Fax: +44-272-255265
-----------
Dr Weiyun Yu "Why Me?" | Internet: weiyun@ucc.su.oz.au
Dept of Surgery, Uni of Sydney, Australia | Voice: 61+2-692-3851
------------------------------
From: rhialto@mbfys.kun.nl (Olaf Seibert)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 16:07:42 GMT
In <telecom14.3.3@eecs.nwu.edu> John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail.
com> writes:
> I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular
> service.
As far as I know, in the Netherlands calls to or from cellular phones
(or car telephones as they are usually called here) have always been
more expensive than regular calls. I don't know about the rates for
calls *between* cell phones.
Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert rhialto@mbfys.kun.nl
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 11:14 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes
> perfect sense to me.
In the abstract, it makes some sense. On the other hand, surcharged
numbers are a pain for callers, local telcos, and long distance
carriers since the prices tend to be mysterious and the bills at the
end of the month often an unpleasant surprise. How long do you think
it will take for someone to complain to US West "nobody told me that a
call to 1-579 cost 65 cents* a minute"? If it's as much as two days
after the first bill is sent, I'll be surprised. The day after that,
people will demand 579 blocking, like 900 and 976 blocking.
In concrete terms, it's basically impossible to implement long
distance calls to surcharged given the way that toll charging works in
the U.S. Inter-LATA toll rates are based entirely on distance.
There's no provision for passing around surcharges from one carrier to
another -- that's why surcharged numbers like the notorious 212-540
only work from points where the local telco carries the call. The
only exception is 900 numbers, which have an extremely complicated
billing setup that would be impractical for individual cellular
customers.
I suppose that we could reserve a prefix in each area code (900,
perhaps) to be used for local surcharged numbers and try to set up
some arrangement for settling the surcharge amounts among various
carriers, but it seems like a awful lot of mechanism for a small set
of users. Also, experience with 900, 976, and 540 numbers suggests
that a lot of callers will be extremely displeased to find yet another
kind of phone number that costs extra and has to be blocked,
passworded, etc.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
* - a plausible guess, 50 cents for airtime plus 15 cents for toll
------------------------------
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
From: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin)
Date: 6 Jan 94 16:55:30 GMT
Organization: Beckman Instruments, Inc.
In <telecom14.12.4@eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Editor responded to
oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl):
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Has anyone ever been completely successful
> with this yet? Radio Shack has a VCR+ thing they sell now which does
> not even have written documentation with it. All the 'instructions' tell
> you to do is (after you buy it, shoplift it or whatever) take it home
> and call a certain 800 phone number to speak with someone who will then
> *program it over the phone* for you based on what you tell them about
> your VCR/television equipment. PAT]
Well, you do need to program in the translator from the "published"
channel numbers (the ones used to encode the VCR+ code) to the channel
numbers your VCR and/or cable box use, and to program the box to learn
how to program your VCR and/or cable box, but I don't THINK there's
anything more that needs to be done. (Of course, all of this was
intended for those people whose VCR is blinking "12:00" (actually,
mine blinks "--:--" when not set), so do you really expect them to
attempt to tell you how to program a "universal remote".)
Arthur L. Rubin: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (work) Beckman Instruments/Brea
216-5888@mcimail.com 70707.453@compuserve.com arthur@pnet01.cts.com (personal)
------------------------------
From: psw@carillon.mitre.org (Phil Wherry)
Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP
Date: 6 Jan 1994 15:44:31 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Reply-To: psw@carillon.mitre.org (Phil Wherry)
The talk about automatic cellular call delivery raises an interesting
question: under what circumstances can a cellular telephone transmit
when "on-hook." The response to a poll (ring) message is one obvious
example where this happens -- what are the others?
Phillip Wherry Member of the Technical Staff
The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA psw@mitre.org
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When a cellular phone is first powered
on (even if just in the standby mode instead of in calling mode) it
immediatly announces itself to the nearest tower and makes it known
that it is available to receive calls. When the tower sees that this
new arrival on the scene is not one of its own kind, then it passes
the information along and the database is queried to see who the
newcomer might be part of. PAT]
------------------------------
From: jorge@erex.East.Sun.COM (Jorge Lach - Sun BOS Hardware)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be
Date: 6 Jan 1994 15:53:28 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc. - BDC
Reply-To: jorge@erex.East.Sun.COM
It would seem to me people keep trying to find compelling reasons for
and against each one of these services: how it won't work, under what
circumstances it's counterproductive, how it protects potential
victims, etc ...
Now, let's just call this services (and most/all other new services)
what they really are. With a fully software-controlled telephone
network, a bunch of people in the central office can come up with
uncounted software options to suit anyone's desires ... all at a
price. The phone companies are just milking the infrastructure they
built. They'll offer products for everybody. At 3.95/month, that's
roughly $50 per year, out of a potential market of 100 million-plus
phones, you figure out how much money that is.
I see this as being analogous to buying clothes at the mall. There are
stores for every taste, and styles for everybody. You don't have to
understand or rationalize it. Producers try to figure out which thing
people like, get them made and then try to sell them. Consumers will
buy some and reject others ... for what reasons, nobody knows.
So, this "Anonymous Call Rejection" is just another way for the phone
companies of making an honest buck. Nothing more.
Jorge Lach Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation
Jorge.Lach@Sun.Com East Coast Division, Chelmsford, MA
Phone: (508) 442-0214
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: True, but where it becomes critical for
the anti-Caller-ID crowd is that the automatic blocking of anonymous
calls cuts into their ability to control their calling universe. That
is, they are suddenly no longer able to call anywhere they please anytime
they please on their own terms ... in order for them to regain that
one hundred percent control over where/who/when they call, they have
to give up that extra bit of privacy they regard so highly: the with-
holding of their telephone number. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:40:35 EST
From: Randy te Velde <te05@ranch.poly.edu>
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV
On Wed, 5 Jan 1994, rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer) wrote:
> Michael Jacobs <JMT0@LAFAYACS.bitnet> wrote:
>> There will be no choice to make as to which of 500 different channels
>> to watch, rather it will be a choice as to what to program on the one
>> available video dialtone line, much as one chooses who to call on the
>> current voice telephone line. ALL SOFTWARE WITH NETWORK ACCESS will
>> be available to the subscriber on demand!
> Well that will be a real kick in the teeth for couch potato(e) channel
> surfers, won't it :-). I think I'll take my cable-clicker (which I
> can use to sample the wares on several channels quickly) over this
> system.
Again, it looks like we're ignoring both the interactivity and the
power of the upstream capacity. You wouldn't want to control your
computer with a cable-clicker, would you? Remember that interactive
software for use on a widely deployed broadband network hasn't been
invented yet. No one wrote groupware applications until ethernet
cards were cheap and widely deployed.
>> The revolutionary concept here is that instead of some programmer in
>> NY or LA deciding what I should watch, it will be me choosing what to
>> watch.
> No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a
> restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu...
It's true that the list of options will have _some_ limitation. But I
think the prevailing metaphor would be the white pages, not a
resturant menu.
>> If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500
>> channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go
>> the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100
>> years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive
>> obsolescence.
> Well, Mike, I am old enough to remember all the fancy claims that
> 'cable-tv' would put over-the-air tv out of business, would make
> networks obsolete, would transform our very lives, would offer
> first-run movies, would offer live video from foreign countries, would
> bring the classroom to the living room, would offer access to niche
> programming, fine arts, etc etc etc. What we wound up with is re-run
> mills, home shopping channels, music videos, 24 hour weather channels,
> preachers, pay-per-view wrestling and more commercials than ever.
_Univeral_ _access_ to programming a public network is the key
ingredient missing from this comparison. No one wants more
infomercials and PPV wrestling. These are the best arguments I can
think of to open the network up for _everyone_ to provide content.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 11:34 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Federal Telemarketing Laws
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> I just read through the archives from late 1991 looking for info on
> congressional action regarding automated telemarketing.
The current {Privacy Journal} has a lead article entitled "Can the
telemarketers' autodialers be controlled at all?". It details court
action all over the country against both the federal law and 22
similar state laws. Judges in Oregon and New Jersey found such laws
to be an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech, while in
Minnesota it was upheld.
The issue appears to be that restrictions on time, place, and manner
of speech are OK, while restrictions on content are not. The federal
law permits the FCC to exempt some types of calls such as random
surveys and political calls, but that's a content distinction.
Presumably a law that outlawed all unsolicited robot dialing would be
constitutional. We can only hope.
FYI, {Privacy Journal} is an excellent monthly newsletter. It costs
$109/yr, but is usually discounted to $69 if you pay in advance.
Phone is +1 401 274 7861, e-mail 5101719@mcimail.com.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Date: 6 Jan 1994 11:43:00 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.12.11@eecs.nwu.edu> John S. Roberts Jr. <johnr@ms.uky.
edu> writes:
> I connected up the "other two wires" on all the lines running through
> my house. Now, I can hear line two when using line one and vice-versa.
> Is there any solution to this?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The solution is that somewhere in the
> loop you (or someone long gone before you) cross connected the wires
> and what you think is the 'other two wires' is really just part of
> the first two wires. You don't really have 'line one' and 'line two';
> you have one line wired in multiple so to speak. Go to each box as
> well as to the head end and find out where the cross connection is
> in place. It may be nothing more than a real messy box with some
> loose wires which are touching the connectors for the first set of
> wires. Clean up that mess, and your 'other two wires' will suddenly
> go dead again unless/until you have an actual second phone line
> brought up to them. PAT]
Let's reread the original post. I think he is able to use both lines
and is merely getting crosstalk. If that is the case, it is not a
"touching conductors" problem at all. It is probably just a case of
someone whose house was wired with quad wire (back when Y & B was
power for the lights on the Princess phone) who will always have
crosstalk. Until, that is, he goes back and installs some new pairs,
hopefully with true twisted pair.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Date: 6 Jan 1994 11:47:54 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.12.3@eecs.nwu.edu> co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven
H. Lichter) writes:
> I have an 800 number coming into my BBS for a few friends and myself
> to use and have the call reports from AT&T. They are overwelming each
> month, but I'm able to see all the wrong numbers (under 30 seconds)
> and the phone hackers looking for a DID trunk (New York, New Jersey).
> I sure wish they would finally get CID here in California.
I have a similar 800 number (I am in New York). Each month I get the
call detail and each month there are twenty or so calls from crackers
(not hackers) trying to see what mischief they can get into. What's
interesting is that my cracker calls all come from Florida.
Sometimes I get curious and try calling the origin phone numbers
listed on my 800 call detail. One of them, ending in either -0002 or
-9998, I forget which, was aswered with the name of a telephone
company. If the person at the other end was telling the truth, I had
reached a phone company frame room or switch room.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Considering that -9998 is as often as
not a number assigned for internal use at telco, your assumption is
probably correct. What's that you say? You didn't know that crackers
and phreaks often times have jobs working for telcos? Makes you feel
real good about the security and integrity of the telephone network
in the USA doesn't it ... PAT]
------------------------------
From: /G=J.SCOTT/S=PELHAM/O=GTE/PRMD=GTEMAIL/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com
Date: 6 Jan 94 12:05:44-0500
Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas
David L Kindred <kindred@telesciences.com> writes:
> My parents lived in the SWB part of the Dallas area a few years ago.
> During the time they lived there, the dialing requirements not only
> varied due to area code and "localness", but also by whether the
> "other" phone company was involved. I don't remember the particulars,
> but dialing a local SWB-SWB call was different than dialing a local
> SWB-GTE call. As I recall, you needed at least ten, if not eleven
> digits, to call a GTE 214xxxxxxx number from a SWB 214xxxxxxx number,
> even if the call was to the next exchange (or next house...).
To clear up how it works in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, I'll just
expain it then respond to David's comments. Dallas county is mostly
in 214 area code, Tarrant county (Fort Worth) is mostly included in
817 area code. The area in between the two cities is all suburban
towns. The two cities just sort of run together. When dialing within
one area code, in the Metroplex, you only dial seven digits regardless
of whether it is a GTE or SW Bell number.
When dialing from one area code to the other you dial 1+, just like
you would from any other two area codes. The difference is when the
number being called, *or* the number being called from, is a "Metro"
number. "Metro" number means the call is no longer a long distance
call, rather the owner of the Metro number is paying a higher monthly
charge, but can call or receive calls from 214 or 817 without paying
long distance rates. In this case you dial the area code and exchange,
without the leading 1. I personally don't have a metro number so I
can't give any particulars about the cost. These metro numbers were
provided so that people and businesses can be reached easily and
inexpensively by friends and customers outside their area code, but
potentially next door.
I have lived in Dallas/Ft Worth for almost three years and I have
never dailed any differently when I lived in SW Bell or now that I
live in GTE service area.
> One major annoyance was the percentage of calls into GTE that went
> high-and-dry.
Again in nearly three years I have never had a call end "high and
dry", in GTE or SW Bell.
> Has any of this changed recently?
Apparently much has changed or you didn't understand it in the first
place.
Scott Pelham
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:08:55 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
Some of you may remember reading that Jan Berry (singer, and the "Jan"
of Jan and Dean) was seriously injured, with brain damage, in a 1966
automobile accident not far from "Dead Man's Curve". He had go
through long therapy, and I have personally seen him twice in concert
with Dean in the last 13 years.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: From what we are told so far, it
appears Brendan Kehoe is in for the long term with a lot of time
needed for basic recovery then a period following of therapy. I have
no more recent details than what has appeared here in the past couple
of days, but his is not going to be a quick and easy return to his
usual lifestyle ... if there is a return at all. :( PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #15
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Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 11:33:14 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401071733.AA29039@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #16
TELECOM Digest Fri, 7 Jan 94 11:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 16
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Rate of Change (Gordan Palameta)
Re: Communication Over Power Lines? (James H. Haynes)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Kriston J. Rehberg)
Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl (Al Varney)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (John S. Roberts Jr.)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (Michael P. Deignan)
Re: Radio Religion in Canada (Rich Wales)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: gord@nmx701.attmail.com
Date: 7 Jan 94 05:06:37 GMT
Subject: Re: Rate of Change
Stewart Fist wrote:
> Computers and modern communications technologies might be revolutionary
> to the half-million technologists, but to the five billion users these
> chips and fibres are just creating marginal improvements on the
> adequate 'service facilities' they had before. Computers produce a
> very evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change to our culture
> when you compare them to the impact of something like the motor car.
> My mother was ten before she saw her first motor car, 18 before she
> saw an aeroplane, but she lived to fly the Concorde and see a man step
> on the moon. How does this pace of change compare with my life span,
> when cars, aeroplanes and space travel are reasonably commonplace?
> And it all happened in about the same period of time that we have been
> dealing with the computer revolution -- about 20 years. I think we
> need to get our feet back on the ground and stop imagining that we are
> more important than we are.
Hmm, perhaps in the year 2040, someone will write an article about the
rapidly-changing 1940s. Atomic bombs and computers were invented
then, and just look at the impact computers have had on society: why,
we can use our wristwatch PDAs to download the Encyclopedia Galactica
directly into our brain cells. By contrast, this newfangled
teleportation technology is just an evolutionary change ...
The point is, when we consider the impact of airplanes, automobiles,
etc. from our perspective, we are really compressing eighty years of
history. A fair comparison with computers would require a similar
eighty-year perspective.
It was some time, for instance, before automobiles could be driven
reliably by someone who was not a skilled mechanic. It took even
longer for automobiles to change society in fundamental ways (the
suburbanization of America, etc).
The same is even more true for airplanes. It was decades before the
invention of jet aircraft and other developments made flying widely
available. As recently as the late 40s, a transatlantic flight cost
the same as a semester at Harvard. Cheap flights for the masses
didn't become a reality until US deregulation barely a decade ago.
On the one hand, computers are still an "elite" technology, as
user-unfriendly to the average user as the Model T was to the
mechanically challenged. We can anticipate that computers, just like
cars and planes, will need a few more decades before they become
widespread and commonplace enough to truly change the way we live.
On the other hand, however, in a very real sense, it won't take a few
more decades; it's already happened. Computers have already had an
enormous impact on the way we live, but it's overlooked because it's
indirect and behind the scenes.
Computers are ubiquitous and invisible, embedded in other products and
(especially) services. The fact that you are able to book a flight
tomorrow (not to mention a hotel room and rental car) is thanks not
just to aircraft technology but to computerized reservation and
scheduling systems.
You could argue that this is merely a quantitative change, not a
qualitative change: computers merely make the process more efficient.
But this is not so: a sufficiently large quantitative change
eventually becomes a qualitative change. Instead of merely doing
the same thing more efficiently, you can do new things that would
never have been considered previously.
For instance, a modern, mechanically reliable car lets you commute
fifty miles a day to work and back, every day. You can't do that with
a horse. Early cars were merely faster horses; modern cars are
something qualitatively different.
Without computers, even an army of airline clerks couldn't manually
synchronize takeoff and landing times across the continent, not unless
air traffic levels were several orders of magnitude smaller than they
are today.
Again, this represents a qualitative change. No one would fly on
routine overnight business trips, or fly home for Christmas. The
tourism and hospitality industry, one of the largest employers, would
hardly exist in its present form.
We can generalize this: computers make high-volume applications
practical, and make it possible for companies to offer many services
widely and cheaply. Without computers, many such services wouldn't
even exist because the market wouldn't be large enough to outweigh the
fixed overhead costs. Others, such as air travel, would be restricted
to an elite or moneyed group, and would therefore have very little
impact on society as a whole.
When considering the impact of technology, we tend to focus too much
on things that are flashy and highly visible. A generation ago,
people figured that by now we'd be zipping around in rocket ships and
flying to work with our own personal jet packs. Few bothered to
predict simple things like fax machines.
And similarly, when we look back on the twentieth century, we tend to
focus on cars and planes and space shuttles, while we overlook the
unobtrusive things that have had an enormous indirect impact.
Consider plastics: one of the most important inventions of the 20th
century, yet often overlooked because they too are behind the scenes
and "internal" to other products. Consider air conditioning: without
it, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Las Vegas simply wouldn't exist in their
present form as business centers, and the massive ongoing population
shift to the Sunbelt wouldn't be taking place.
And consider computers. In the future, they will be embedded into
other products in ways that would seem extravagant or preposterous to
us (consider the intelligent volleyball and the smart spray paint in
Vernor Vinge's "Marooned in Real Time"). And their impact on society
will be as great then as it is now.
(I'll let someone else argue the case for telecom technologies; this
is already far too long).
Gordan Palameta (416) 979-7700 x134 Numetrix Ltd. Suite 1700
gord@numetrix.com (416) 979-7559 fax 655 Bay St. Toronto, Ont. M5G 2K4
[or gord@nmx701.attmail.com]
------------------------------
From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (James H. Haynes)
Subject: Re: Communication Over Power Lines?
Date: 6 Jan 1994 23:00:18 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
Back in the days when you could walk into a telephone office and pay
your bill in cash, there were a bunch of pamphlets in a rack on the
wall giving things like tips on telephone usage, the history of the
telephone, how the telephone works, etc. I remember one of these had
an illustration of rural telephone service using a carrier system
operating over the power wire. In this case they used the
high-voltage line for the carrier, isolated from the telephone
equipment by a high-voltage capacitor presumably installed by the
pwoer company for the purpose. The booklet didn't go into detail as
to whether there were multiple carrier frequencies so that several
subscribers could be served on one power line.
Then there are articles in magazines from time to time, and maybe
commercial products you can buy, that use the 120v house wiring for
conductors; but in that case the interest is in communicating just
within the building, or maybe to nearby houses connected to the same
transformer. I don't think you'll get carrier frequencies to go
through a power transformer and on to the high-voltage side and back
through another transformer to the 120v side on another circuit.
I believe the power companies also use carrier current for signaling
and controlling their relays and things, again working on the high-voltage
side of things so they don't have to go through transformers.
haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@cats.bitnet
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 17:35:21 EST
From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
Quoted from mcneill@ngt.sungard.com's message of Wed, 5 Jan 94
10:03:42 EST:
> On a side note, I recently called NY Telephone (or NYNEX as they want
> to be called now) about getting a second phone line installed in my
> apartment. I was shocked to get a quote of $185 for the second line
> (first line costs about $60). This is the price for installing a
> totally different phone line in the apartment. I complained a little
> that they didn't need to do that as there was a perfectly good second
> pair coming into the apartment I didn't get very far as the customer
> service rep wasn't technical. Is there really any need to get a
> totally seperate line into my apartment? Diamond State Telephone
> (Delaware) was able to put a second line on the second pair. Is NYNEX
> just trying to gouge me?
Perhaps they were trying to sell you installation of the wire INSIDE
your house. That is the extra $80-$100 or so. If you just want them
to put a wire up to your network interface (typically in the basement
of your apartment) that will cost you more like $85 from NYNEX. They
will always assume the most expensive option, so you say "just hook
your wire up to my building's interface box and activate my service".
It's then your responsibility for the inside wiring.
On your point about four-wire hookups, NYNEX will almost never install
a second telephone line onto the second pair in a typical residential
phone cable (probably) for reasons discussed on the Digest earlier in
which noise can leak between the lines due to induction. They also
want to have an extra modular jack inside their network interface for
quick connect/disconnect if things go wrong. Not only that, they do
want to make money installing inside wiring, which they are NOT
obliged to do BY LAW, but are not really itching to tell you that you
don't need them to do it for you.
You have to be an educated consumer. Read on.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not necessarily. Telco outside plant
> records are in notoriously bad condition in some places. The rep may
As I said earlier, the NYNEX (formerly NY Telephone) telco doesn't
seem particularly fond of second pairs. I actually looked into the
network interface when they were done with it and they actually
installed an extra interface jack and had cut off the second pair on
the original wires so I couldn't hope to use them ... those bastards.
Anyhow, you can probably hook it up to the second pair after the line
is hooked up (and they leave) by using that same Radio Shack converter
with your existing phone line inside the network interface and saved
yourself some wiring headaches.
Remember to tell NYNEX only to bring the wire to the network interface
box in the basement. I told them I wanted them to do that in my old
house, and they were more than happy to charge me the cheaper $85 for
simple pole-to-house hookup and activation. I now live in an
apartment in a semi-suburban/rural area and just recently checked with
the local business office and the phone book, and nothing has changed
even though it has to go to the basement of the house. In an extreme
case, if there aren't any extra wires coming in (kinda unlikely in an
apartment) and/or there aren't any more terminals on the pole (in a
house situation) they're supposedly allowed to charge you an extra
$30-$50 or so bringing the cost to more like $85 + $50 = $135. Then
the optional charge for installing the wires in the house would
probably bring the cost up to the $185 you stated.
Don't let the bean counters cheat you!
oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) wrote:
> In some states the steps the moderator describes are exactly right. In
> New York, things are a little different. Telco is obligated to provide
> a network interface jack (if that is what you want) *in your apartment*,
> for a price that is fixed -- unaffected by how long it takes to do.
> This is the case regardless of whether their records show a previous
> second line in your apartment; all that changes is the amount of the
> fixed price. Last I checked the cost for your situation (where they
> claim there was never a second line) is $88.
It's $88, but if there aren't any more terminals on the pole they will
charge you an extra $30 to $50 (depending on the work needed) to add
that extra line terminal to the pole. This is information from the
technicians and the business office here in Binghamton, NY.
These are the same idiots who replaced our two pole-to-house lines
twice. Once with two wires, and the second time two months later with
a single two-line cable (we lived in a house with two dwellings in
it). I think they were training their technicians at the time.
Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com
Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO
ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott
Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:31:52 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.12.12@eecs.nwu.edu> oppedahl@panix.com (Carl
Oppedahl) writes:
> The state-to-state differences are discussed in my book about phone
> service.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's this about your book about phone
> service? Please review it for us and tell us how to obtain copies. PAT]
What's this, Pat? Surely you are aware that Carl is a multi-talented
lawyer, author on telecom and all-around consumer advocate? And a ham?
Assuming Carl is too modest to review his book, I'll provide:
BOOK REVIEW
The Phone Book : How to get the Telephone Equipment
and Service You Want - and Pay Less
by Carl Oppedahl,
a Consumer Reports Book
ISBN 0-89043-364-X (pb), 1991,
a revision of the book originally published
by Weber Systems, Inc in 1987 as "The Phone Book"
This book is a non-technical, "consumer-oriented" collection of
information on telephones, telephone service, long-distance carriers,
cellular carriers, and reference lists of PUC/Consumer Advocates for
each state. The most technical content is a GOOD summary of what an
REN is (and why a consumer might be interested), what the USOC codes
like RJ11 mean (with pin/wire color information) and how to parse the
FCC Part 68 registration number on equipment.
The remaining 300+ pages consist of about 200 pages on how to wire
one- and two-line telephones and troubleshoot the installation,
intermingled with 100 pages of useful (and probably well-known to
Digest readers) information on long-distance carriers, cellular/fax/
answering-machines and typical problems in connecting them, dealing
with the Phone Company and how to read a phone bill.
There is probably more information in this book than most consumers
need, but it tends to be information they would not otherwise easily
find. Those who need only wiring information might feel more at home
with some Radio Shack-style publication, but they would be missing out
on the substantial background information mingled in with the
technical.
Occasionally, there are little anecdotes to illustrate a point.
For example, p. 96 mentions "Ruth's" inability to get Equal Access of
any form when she moved to Townsend, Tennessee [pop. about 300, so
this isn't an oblique PAT reference -- or is it?]. Carl indicates
here that even without Equal Access, Ruth may be able to save money by
using one of AT&T's discount plans. (It may not occur to many such
captive customers that the discount plan can apply even if they have
no choice in IXCs.)
Some complaints:
-ANI is defined as the service we here call "Caller ID", which will
be confusing when talking to those who know the difference.
-Quad wire is blessed as a method of installing 2-line telephones, and
as a general inside wiring method. (Modems and their problems are not
high-lighted in the book, but Carl does mention how to get around the
A-lead control some modems have, for example.)
-The cellular information should include information on ESN-cloning
and other problems with cellular service.
-Information (see below) useful to apartment dwellers is indexed under
the term "multiunit buildings", not under "apartment". (In general,
there is little "lawyer-speak" in the book.)
SUMMARY: For its audience, this is an excellent reference book.
BIO: Carl Oppedahl is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a
practicing patent attorney. As a consumer activist, he has
championed the interests of consumers in obtaining cost-effective
telephone service.
+++++++++
To get back to the original topic, Carl's book has several pages of
information on various Network Interfaces and FCC/state rules on
where/how such interfaces and demarcation points interact.
On p. 29, describing NI Jacks in multiunit buildings:
"In New York, for instance, the jack is located within the
premises of each individual tenant. In Illinois the jack
is located at the point where the telephone wiring first
enters the building, generally in a basement room. (In a
state like Illinois, you and not the local telephone company
are responsible for the maintenance of the wiring running
from the basement to your premises even though the landlord
may not allow you access to such wiring. ..."
Carl does indicate that such wiring should be maintained by the
landlord at no cost to you, just as such electrical wiring is
maintained. (Check your lease.) He lists 14 "renter-beware" states
that make the renter responsible for running from the basement any
wiring needed for service, such as a second line. He also lists 2
"interface- unfriendly" states that do not require TELCO to install
(at little or no charge) a network interface at customer request on
new service orders.
Al Varney - I have no connection with Consumers Union, except as
a happy customer. I have no connection with any lawyer,
except as an unhappy customer.
------------------------------
From: John S. Roberts Jr. <johnr@ms.uky.edu>
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Date: 6 Jan 1994 13:42:02 -0500
Organization: University of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
John S. Roberts Jr. <johnr@ms.uky.edu> writes:
> I connected up the "other two wires" on all the lines running through
> my house. Now, I can hear line two when using line one and vice-versa.
> Is there any solution to this?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The solution is that somewhere in the
> loop you (or someone long gone before you) cross connected the wires
> and what you think is the 'other two wires' is really just part of
> the first two wires. You don't really have 'line one' and 'line two';
> you have one line wired in multiple so to speak. Go to each box as
> well as to the head end and find out where the cross connection is
> in place. It may be nothing more than a real messy box with some
> loose wires which are touching the connectors for the first set of
> wires. Clean up that mess, and your 'other two wires' will suddenly
> go dead again unless/until you have an actual second phone line
> brought up to them. PAT]
I DO have two phone lines. That is the problem. I know that they are
not shorted because I can make two seperate calls on each of the
lines, however I can HEAR the line one conversation when I am using line
two. I have heard people talking about how when you run four conductor
wire (like from Radio Shack) and use two conductors for one line and two
conductors for the other you often get bleed over. I am looking for a
solution to this other than running another set of wires to seperate
the two lines from being so close.
Thanks so much,
John S. Roberts, Jr. 100 McVey Hall Work: 257-2275 +=-
University of Kentucky Home: 272-1417 - FAX: 272-7105 +=-
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, okay, that clarifies things. Indeed
then, the thing you want to be careful about is the choice of wire you
use. Some wire tends to 'bleed' more than others. You don't need two
separate cables -- one set with four or more wires in it will do -- but
be careful about what you use, as others have noted. PAT]
------------------------------
From: md@maxcy2.maxcy.brown.edu (Michael P. Deignan)
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Reply-To: mpd@anomaly.sbs.com
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 17:54:39 GMT
In article <telecom14.10.6@eecs.nwu.edu>, yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles
Randall Yates) writes:
>> Have any of you heard about the Hayes Optima 288 V.FC + FAX modem? It
>> can allegedly transmit data over a phone line at 28.8 kilobits per
>> second *WITHOUT COMPRESSION*!!!! I thought you guys told us the upper
>> limit was in the low 20's. What gives?
Quite easy, actually.
These new modems use a combination of phase-shift and amplitude
modulation to transmit four, eight, even twelve bits for each baud.
So, given a standard 2400 baud modem using a modified quadrature
amplitude modulation scheme, you could conceivably get this level of
thruput. Its all a matter of how sensitive your equipment is to
detecting minute phase shifts and amplitude changes in the carrier,
then it could be quite easy to get twelve bits of data transmitted
with each baud.
Think of it this way: Each baud is represented by a 360 degree sine
wave. You can vary the phase of the sine wave to actually transmit
multiple bits for each baud. For example, early "dibit phase shift
keying" was a modulation scheme used by 1200bps modems. The modems
were really 600 baud modems, but each baud transmitted two bits,
depending on how much "out of phase" the baud's sine wave was. For
instance:
0 degrees out of phase = hex 00
90 degrees out of phase = hex 01
180 " " " " = hex 10
270 " " " " = hex 11
So, by varying the phase of each baud's sine wave, you could technically
transmit two bits of data for each baud.
Early 9600bps modems used this same method. 9600bps modems are still
technically 2400baud modems - there are only 2400 signal samples (or
sine wave occurances) in each second. Using a modified phase shift
keying, you could transmit 4 bits of data for each baud, hence,
9600bps.
Now, sine waves have more than a phase charactistic. They also have an
amplitude. You can modulate a carrier wave's signal via amplitude -
tune to a local AM broadcast station, they're using amplitude
modulation to transmit their signal.
If you combined the two methods -- phase shift and amplitude -- you
can transmit many bits simultaneously by modifying those two
characteristics.
For example (and I don't know if this is technically feasible, given
our current technology) if you could measure a 1-degree shift in the
phase of a carrier wave, in conjunction with 23 different amplitudes,
then theoretically you could transmit one of 360x23 unique "values".
360x23=8280, so we could then use this combination to represent one of
2^13, or 8196, different values. Since we're transmitting 13 bits per
baud, multipled by 2400 baud per second, we're getting an effective
throughput of 13x2400, or 31200 bits per second, uncompressed.
Of course, I don't know if this is how Hayes does it, but remember,
you can only modulate a sine wave one of three ways: amplitude, phase,
and frequency.
Ain't technology wonderful?
Michael P. Deignan
Population Studies & Training Center
Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI 02912
(401) 863-7284
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 13:03:01 EST
From: richw@mks.com (Rich Wales)
Subject: Re: Radio Religion in Canada
Reply-To: richw@mks.com (Rich Wales)
Organization: Mortice Kern Systems Inc., Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Gene Fornario <genef@netcom.com> wrote:
> BTW, have you noticed that Canada doesn't either have or license
> all-religious stations?
Up till recently at least, the CRTC (Canadian FCC-analogue) would not
license so-called "single-faith" radio or TV stations. I think
there's one religious radio station in Newfoundland that was there
before the province became part of Canada and got grandfathered, but
that's all.
However, I heard a few months ago that the CRTC had changed the rules
and will now permit religious radio stations. I don't have the
details, though, and I don't know how soon these stations might start
appearing.
Rich Wales (VE3HKZ, WA6SGA/VE3) Mortice Kern Systems Inc.
richw@mks.com 35 King Street North
+1 (519) 884-2251 Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #16
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Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:23:07 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401071923.AA28845@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #17
TELECOM Digest Fri, 7 Jan 94 13:23:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 17
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Bruce Taylor)
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Bill Halverson)
Re: Best Remote Software? (Andy McKinsey)
Re: California ANI Question (Steve Forrette)
Re: California ANI Question (Jon Edelson)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Ronald Oakes)
Re: Sucharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Eric De Mund)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Mark Crispin)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (A. Padgett Peterson)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Alan Boritz)
Re: Merlin Question (Steve Cogorno)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Kriston Rehberg)
Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation (Alan Dahl)
Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Chris Ambler)
Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Alan T. Furman)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 11:30:58 EST
From: Bruce Taylor <blt+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Dear Lenny,
You questions are so broad that it would be nearly impossible to
answer with any accuracy. But, since this is Usenet, I'll try :-)
> 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable?
1: Answer depends on which long distance carrier (IXC) that you use
to get to the countries. In Europe, most countries are apparently
ISDN capable. Getting there, on the other hand ...
> 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
> still operating at SW-56?
2: Again, depends on the local exchange carrier, and the IXC as
well. Most switched that are fully digital are ISDN capable. The LEC
may not have a tariff for it, though. This is not an exclusive
choice, though. Pittsburgh has both ISDN and SW56 services available.
> 3. If you know, who are their carriers?
3: Argh -- whose carriers? Cities? Not relevant. There are LEC's
and IXC's. In theory, any IXC can carry ISDN to any LEC. Depends
greatly on which combination you're talking about.
May I suggest: Talking with your college telecom group, your LEC (a
'Bell' company), and your IXCs (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, LCI, Wiltel, etc.).
They could help you in greater detail.
Best wishes for your research,
Bruce Taylor (blt@cmu.edu) (412) 268-6249
New Projects Coordinator, Telecommunications, Carnegie Mellon University
------------------------------
From: wjhalv1@pacbell.com
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Date: 6 Jan 94 18:56:44 GMT
Organization: Pacific * Bell
In article <telecom14.10.12@eecs.nwu.edu>, <LEO@BROWNVM.brown.edu> writes:
> Sirs: I'm a tech with Brown University in Providence RI. My question
> is basic, yet important to our work here at Brown, perhaps you may be
> able to give me some direction to obtain the answers.
> 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable?
Within the USA, these two services are considered to be "complementary",
in the sense they can coexist within a network.
> 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
> still operating at SW-56?
In California, Pacific Bell is offering both ISDN and SW-56. Since
the service is hardware dependent, the prefix you get from the phone
company will determine whether the switch you receive dialtone from
provides either or both service.
Here is an 800 number you can call to find out what is availble in our
service territory:
800-995-0346
You need a touch-tone phone. You will be able to find out what kind
of service is available based on the NPANXX combination you enter.
Hope this helps!!
Bill Halverson Pacific Bell
------------------------------
From: aam@crl.com (Andy McKinsey)
Subject: Re: Best Remote Software?
Date: 6 Jan 1994 10:14:03 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest]
Joseph Ferguson (JOEJR1@delphi.com) wrote:
> I need a reliable remote software program that will actually run
> Windows. I use an Intel 400 at home and at work. Haven't had any luck
> trying PcTools Commute. Do any of these remote programs run Windows?
> Thanks for any suggestions.
Try Reachout software from Ocean Isle software.
407/770-4777 Vero Beach, FL.
You can run windows over a dial up link or on a network.
Andy
------------------------------
From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Date: 6 Jan 1994 19:29:28 GMT
Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.
Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
In <telecom14.14.7@eecs.nwu.edu>, davidj@rahul.net (David Josephson)
writes:
> In <telecom14.12.2@eecs.nwu.edu> stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes:
>> ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with
>> very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can
> The CPUC tariff is the law. CPUC denied Pacific Bell's tariff filing
> that would have offered CNID. Only that which is tariffed is
> permissible.
What does the tariff filing on Caller ID have to do with 800 ANI?
(answer: nothing!) 800 ANI for inter-state calls is tariffed by the
FCC for all three of the Big Three IXC's. Since 800 ANI is tariffed,
it is permissable.
> I wonder if the per-number (56# or whatever it was?) CNID blocking
> from here would block a INWATS ANI/CNID?
Not unless Caller ID blocking prevents you from making a 1+ long
distance call (which it doesn't). There is no way to block 800 ANI
short of not calling the number. Even the traditional methods of
blocking Caller ID do not work:
a) you can't call an 800 number by using a calling card;
b) calling through the Operator doesn't block your number (on AT&T,
operator assisted 800 calls still deliver the correct ANI to the
recipient, and other carriers do not have operator assisted 800
calls); or
c) calling over non-SS7 facilities, as SS7 is not required to support
800 ANI. This is why it works for 99.5% of all calls.
Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com
------------------------------
From: winnie@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Jon Edelson)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 15:10:16 GMT
In article <telecom14.12.2@eecs.nwu.edu> stevef@wrq.com (Steve
Forrette) writes:
> And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or
> my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are
> doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number.
> I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could
> even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and
> programmed it to block 800 numbers :-))
Yea! Another service that the telephone company can offer to make
money. 800 number ANI blocking. For a small monthly fee, your 800
calls will go through, but _you_ will have to pay for them. In
exchange for actually paying for the service, your ANI will not be
transmitted. The various carriers charge more per call, and split the
additional profit :-)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do this already. You simply
dial the regular ten digit number for the person or company; you pay
for the call; everyone is happy. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:59:37 CST
From: oakes@wildebeest.cig.mot.com (Ronald Oakes)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group
In article <telecom14.15.4@eecs.nwu.edu> John Levine writes:
>> Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes
>> perfect sense to me.
> In the abstract, it makes some sense. On the other hand, surcharged
> numbers are a pain for callers, local telcos, and long distance
> carriers since the prices tend to be mysterious and the bills at the
> end of the month often an unpleasant surprise. How long do you think
> it will take for someone to complain to US West "nobody told me that a
> call to 1-579 cost 65 cents* a minute"? If it's as much as two days
> after the first bill is sent, I'll be surprised. The day after that,
> people will demand 579 blocking, like 900 and 976 blocking.
There already is blocking for 1-579, and 1-976 blocking, at least for
people familiar with using telephones in Colorado, New Mexico and
other "civilized" parts of the country. In these parts of the country
-- assuming they are not pressured to change -- dialing a "1" before
a seven digit number, or after conversion the local area code, is a
clear and deliberate indication that the call is toll. If you do not
know that, then you simply will receive a polite "please dial 1" or
"please dial 1 303" message when you attempt the call.
This simple solution removes many of the problems with charge calls
that become present when you allow seven digit toll calling. This
would have prevented -- or at least lessened -- the New York pager
scam, and can reduce the problems with 976 numbers.
And for cellular services, unlike 900 and 976 like numbers, the charge
will probably be a flat rate, published in the phone book, or
available from the operator upon request.
Ronald B. Oakes
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 13:50:44 PST
From: Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov>
Subject: Re: Sucharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Reply-To: Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov>
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Genome Computing Group
People,
Dave Niebuhr <dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov> in TELECOM Digest V14 #15:
> NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been
> ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50
> per month which is still not enough.
Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me
the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at
his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York,
telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible.
Can anyone confirm this?
Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 13:44:47 PST
From: Mark Crispin <MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU>
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
I just saw in an electronics toy catalog (Danmark or one of those) a
Caller ID box that implements something like Anonymous Call Rejection
as its own feature. If you enable it, it automatically answers the
call and plays a refusal message, than hangs up.
What I see as different between this box and the telco's feature:
1) You don't have to beg the ACLU for this feature, after having begged them
for CNID.
2) No monthly charge beyond the CNID.
3) You need to wire the box in series with all your extensions, otherwise you
won't get the ring suppression on the other ones.
4) I doubt that it interacts well with Call Waiting.
5) The ability to set the refusal message (I don't know if this particular
box has it, but doubtless others will). Big win.
So, there are interesting tradeoffs.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Plus which, the call *supervises*, and
the scorned calling party gets to pay for a thirty second message telling
him his call is unwanted. :) Some say that condition should be the
default on this sort of thing, but at least when the telcos do it they
can optionally toggle it either way.
I am reminded of this guy who had a phone line installed in a remote
area which he used only occassionally. The number was never given
out, and he used it maybe once a week for a call or two, but he wanted
a phone available when he needed it. The first thing he noticed
following installation was how many wrong numbers this line was
getting; like three or four a day from all sorts of people who were
looking for someone or something else -- there was no set pattern to
the wrong numbers. He knew for a fact no one would ever call *him* on
that line because he never gave to the number to anyone for any
reason. His solution was to put a real cheap answering machine on the
line with an outgoing message which said, "You have reached a wrong
number. For your convenience, this line is answered 24 hours per day
by this recording. The person or company you are seeking is not at
this number. Because of your carelessness in dialing, you have been
charged for this call. Goodbye." <click> He later said the funny
part was how many people paid absolutely no attention and at the tone
went ahead and recorded their airline reservations, questions for
customer service, requests for songs to be played on the radio, etc.
A few did actually listen and take note of the message; many of those
chose to respond with anonymous (of course) obscene incoming messages,
some made sounds into the phone which resembled belching or passing
of 'gas', a couple were gales of hysterical laughter, etc. He finally
changed his outgoing message on that line referring to it as the
"Telephone Company Wrong Number Respository".
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 16:45:55 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
> Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is
> it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for
> about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless.
I can see a very valid use -- computer modem lines. On my dial-ups I
use Caller-ID to validate the caller before permitting connections. If
the CNID is blocked, I just do not answer the phone but the line is
still occupied until the caller hangs up. Even if I did not have CNID,
I doubt that many people would be willing to use a Demon Dialer if
they could not block CNID since they would not *know* if I were
logging.
It certainly would put a crimp in annoyance calls that rely on
anomynity.
Warmly,
Padgett
------------------------------
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz)
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 06:42:56 EST
Organization: Harry's Place BBS - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861
johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) writes:
> Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now?
I've had the function working for a good part of a year, but with the
Colonial Data Technologies "Block The Blocker" CNID box. Works like a
charm. ;)
NJ Bell sent out a flyer on 1/1/94 to all of their CNID customers
announcing CNID privacy block (*67) and anonymous call rejection
(*77). However, it also added that the call rejection feature would
not be available in some areas for a while.
> It impresses me as one of those features which you get for
> about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps
> I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult
> to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the
> phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from.
Then you probably don't receive a lot of calls from telemarketing
idiots and nosy scam artists. We go through periods at work when
we're inundated with those, and calls from telemarketing machines (our
exchanges are low numbers in the 201 area). Telemarketing calls are
an enormous time-waster, and more than half of the investment scam
callers are pushy and rude. Invade my privacy at home with a useless
sales pitch AND hide your CNID from me and I'll redefine the word
"rude" for you. ;)
If you're hiding your identity from me (privacy block), then I don't
want to talk to you. My time is worth more than yours (anonymous
caller, that is) and I don't appreciate it being wasted.
> People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call
> Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't
> receive calls.
That Class feature only handles ten numbers, maximum (and can handle
privacy-blocked numbers), and has to be manually programmed. That's
not a solution, except for the most obnoxious and uninventive abusive
callers (those who can't figure out that they could pick up ANOTHER
un-blocked phone to call you).
aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz
Harry's Place BBS (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861
------------------------------
From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno)
Subject: Re: Merlin Question
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 14:13:36 PST
Said by: Vince Dugar
> Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but
> it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper
> solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for
> CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK)
Sure -- instead of buying a BTMI or Data Adapter, you can wire your
modem straight into the demarc point (bypass the Merlin altogether).
Of course, this will prevent you from using Merlin Features, but if you
want to play you gotta pay :-)
Steve cogorno@netcom.com
#608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive * Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015
------------------------------
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 17:51:16 EST
From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
In dk@crl.com's message of 5 Jan 1994 16:40:08 -0800 was written:
> Dan Cromer (19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU) wrote:
>> remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL,
>> to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR
>> Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to
> I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote
> control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date,
> time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front
> of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be
> done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these?
Yah, modern Panasonic VCR's with VCR/Plus has a thumwheel on the
remote control which lets you cycle through the days.
It also has a meager explanation of VCR/Plus and lets you graphically
program the channel positions into the VCR so that it will
automatically know which channel is which. It had some kind of
cross-reference listing on it as to which channels go where so that
the codes might actually work for your local cable system.
Prevue Guide (the TV-Guide channel that allows the cable system to
automatically select the preview commercials based on your area's
channels) also provides VCR plus on almost all the programs in the
commercial section, and at least some of them in the program listing
section. Pretty cool, if you ask me. But I'm not among those
millions of people who can't program something as simple as a VCR.
Come to think of it, just setting up this Panasonic VCR for VCR/Plus
would give this kind of person a coronary.
Kris
------------------------------
From: alan.dahl@mccaw.com (Alan Dahl)
Subject: Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation
Date: 6 Jan 1994 23:28:49 GMT
Organization: McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.
In article <telecom14.8.22@eecs.nwu.edu> stevef@wrq.com (Steve
Forrette) writes:
> In <telecom13.842.9@eecs.nwu.edu>, hedlund@reed.edu (M. Hedlund) writes:
>> I also saw a news piece about 911 technology and cellular phones,
>> saying that Caller-ID/Signalling System Seven had speeded response to
>> home calls (as discussed) but that only _some_ systems could ID
>> cellular phones -- Seattle was mentioned as considering cellular-
>> Caller ID to improve 911. Apologies if this overlaps a thread I
>> missed, but anyone in Seattle with info?
> I have cellular accounts with both of the Seattle carriers: US West
> Cellular and Cellular One. At least when calling 800 numbers, the US
> West Cellular system will report my actual cellular number as the ANI,
> whereas Cellular One reports a non-dialable number that's common on
> all subscribers. Since 911 systems are often implemented using
> operator-service trunks, I would imagine that the 'correct ANI'
> feature of the US West system would also work with 911, although I
> don't have any specific knowledge that this is the case. As far as
> Cellular One goes, they could implement 911 ANI with some sort of
> special data line to the PSAP, without converting to full ANI for all
> outbound calls. One benefit of the US West Cellular ANI situation is
> that it allows me to select any IXC that's generally available via
> Equal Access as my default carrier for the cellular phone.
The problem, of course, with using ANI with cellular numbers for
enhanced-911 is that it only gives the 911 people some of the
information they need. It will give them your cell number (assuming
that the ANI works correctly) so they can try calling back if the
number is disconnected but there is no way for them to translate this
number into a location since the cellular phone could be anywhere.
With normal 911 the phone number is translated to a street address,
and since houses (with the possible exception of mudslides in LA :-)
rarely move, the 911 operator (and thus the police/fire
department/whatever) can be relatively sure that that's where you're
calling from so that help can be dispatched to the right address if
you are unable to communicate.
With a cellular phone the information that is _really_ needed is the
cell site that the phone is communicating with. This could, in turn,
be translated to a street address that would at least get the police
to within a thousand feet or so of your location in the event you are
cut off, don't know where you are or are unable to communicate.
You can imagine the frustration of a 911 operator talking to a child
over a cell phone (say, after a car accident) where the child may be
unable to explain where the car is and the 911 operator helpless to
narrow down the location at all without help from the cellular
provider (and a lot of valuable time lost).
Coming up with a way to communicate cell site address to the 911
operator is non-trivial and will probably take a fair amount of effort
to implement. Since I don't work on that side of the company I'll let
someone else explain the technological challenges.
I understand (from what I read in the papers, I don't know anything
even remotely official) that McCaw is committed to delivering this
functionality within the next couple of years.
Alan Dahl
Axys Development Team alan.dahl@mccaw.com
McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. Phone: (206) 803-4496
P.O. Box 97060 Fax: (206) 803-4901
Kirkland, WA 98083-9760
------------------------------
From: cambler@cymbal.aix.calpoly.edu (Chris Ambler - Fubar)
Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again!
Organization: The Phishtank
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 1994 02:01:44 GMT
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well now, that's very gracious and generous
> of you to agree to take that extra modem off his hands. :) Meanwhile,
> back in California, I am wondering what is going on with the lawsuit against
> Sprint the guys were starting based on alleged misrepresentations of the
> product being shipped, etc. Can anyone bring us up to date on that side
> of it? PAT]
Certainly!
I have received from Sprint a letter from their agent here in
California informing me that they are the proper people to serve. The
papers have been made out accordingly. I am in the process of
receiving legal advice on my claim, and should be filing this month.
I'm being very careful about what I'm doing so as to not make any
mistakes. I want this to be as "fair" a case as possible, at least
from my end. And, since I know that Sprint reads this group (since
they were able to quote me my own words on the phone from a post
here), a hearty hello to them as well, expect me to file shortly. This
has been a learning experience for me if nothing else, I've come to
understand how the law works in these cases, and believe I have a very
strong case. I look forward to its resolution. Meanwhile, the modems
sit, sealed and unopened, in a cool dry safe place, awaiting their day
in court :-)
Pat, might I ask you the easiest way for me to scan the archives for
all messages posted on this subject? I have been advised that I should
have them all handy, since Sprint will most likely have the same.
Christopher(); // All original text is strictly the opinion of the poster
Christopher J. Ambler, Author, FSUUCP 1.42, FSVMP 1.0, chris@toys.fubarsys.com
Ozric Tentacles Mailing List: ozric-request@toys.fubarsys.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you get the index to subjects and
authors in the Digest for volume 13 from the Telecom Archives, use the
Unix command 'grep' to search for the words 'Sprint' and 'modem' in
the same subject line. If you use the Telecom Archives Email Information
Service, one of the commands available to you is SEARCH and you would
search for those same keywords. The results would be returned by email
and you would then order the issues of the Digest referenced in the
index. As a practical matter however, the majority of the discussion went
on during September through November, and you could just pull all the
back issues from that period and scan the indexes given at the start
of each issue (if you get the Digest format rather than c.d.t.).
Also, are you *sure* those modems are sitting in their original
unopened boxes in a cool, dry place? Have you fellows been playing
with your new toys? I am reminded of this dude twenty years ago who
used to buy CB radios from Radio Shack at a time when CB's were easily
modified to install an additional 250 channels and with luck oscillate
clear up in ten meters. He'd buy the radios and modify them, then
resell them to folks. Naturally, once in awhile there'd be an accident.
He'd mess up something, ie, the radio would blow up. In that case,
he'd scrap all the internals he wanted -- the chips, etc -- for spares
to use elsewhere and he would *carefully* put the unit back together
otherwise, *carefully* repackage the remains and take it back to Radio
Shack to complain the unit was defective.
Now the RS clerks didn't pay any attention; they'd just swap him out
and send the 'defective' unit back through the system to their regional
center. Over time the 'defective' CB would find its way back to the factory
in Korea (Hong Kong? China?) where it was made. Just imagine the scene:
the Chinese factory workers open the radio and look inside. As they
look closer, they squint their eyes and proclaim, "Holy $%^%# ... look
at this! No master crystal, no trim-pots, no final ... how did this
thing pass quality control and get out of here to start with!" ... :). PAT]
------------------------------
From: atfurman@cup.portal.com
Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again!
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 21:17:45 PST
> I was one of those who, a few months ago, ordered Sprint LD service
> while under the impression that I would get *one* external 9600 baud
> *data* modem with FAX. After speaking with the post-offer Sprint
> staff, I accepted the internal 2400 baud data and 9600 baud fax modem.
> Now the problem -- I just got a second modem in the mail! Exactly the
> same as the first. All I have is an 818 area code phone number for
> Best Data, so I don't want to call them back; it came UPS, so I can't
> just throw it in the mail with REFUSED scribbled all over it. I doubt
> the Sprint rep's will be able to help. Now what?
Look at it this way: You now have a total of 4800 bits/sec of data
bandwidth. It is not yet 9600, but you are halfway there.
Alan Furman
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's he supposed to do, wire them in
parallel somehow and process the data through each at twice the
speed or something? Ha ha ha ... :) Poor Sprint ... I'll bet they
cuss everytime they see this thread come back to life here. I know
they rue the day some brainy person in their marketing department ever
thought up the promotion. What was that nice lady's name who went to
all the trouble of calling each person trying to get it straightened
out? And now, just when they thought the long nightmare was over ... PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #17
*****************************
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Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 09:22:02 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401081522.AA16922@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #19
TELECOM Digest Sat, 8 Jan 94 09:22:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 19
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Richard Masoner)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Anthony E. Siegman)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (James R. Saker Jr.)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Ed Greenberg)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (A. Padgett Peterson)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Correction: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis (Jim Graham)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (Jakob Hummes)
Re: Communication Over Power Lines? (Michael D. Griffin)
Re: How are VCR Plus Codes+ Generated (Peter Capek)
Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Finally (Dan Osborn)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
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Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl
Date: 7 Jan 1994 17:52:11 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.16.4@eecs.nwu.edu> varney@ihlpe.att.com writes:
> In article <telecom14.12.12@eecs.nwu.edu> oppedahl@panix.com (Carl
> Oppedahl) writes:
>> The state-to-state differences are discussed in my book about phone
>> service.
>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's this about your book about phone
>> service? Please review it for us and tell us how to obtain copies. PAT]
[most of review omitted here -- thank you by the way to Mr. Verney!]
> Some complaints:
> -ANI is defined as the service we here call "Caller ID", which will
> be confusing when talking to those who know the difference.
Yes, Mr. Varney is right. I incorrectly used the terms as if
interchangeable, which of course they are not. If and when there is
another edition I will correct this.
> -Quad wire is blessed as a method of installing 2-line telephones, and
> as a general inside wiring method.
Again Mr. Varney is right. While I am pleased with most of what I
wrote, I am very embarassed that I did not then appreciate the
difference between quad and twisted-pair for multiline purposes. As
readers here are aware (1) many home have quad already in place so
adding twisted-pair is more work and (2) quad often yields annoying
crosstalk. I wish I had made the latter point in my book, and hope to
cover that point in another edition.
> -The cellular information should include information on ESN-cloning
> and other problems with cellular service.
Again he is right.
> -Information (see below) useful to apartment dwellers is indexed under
> the term "multiunit buildings", not under "apartment". (In general,
> there is little "lawyer-speak" in the book.)
Yes, and what's annoying is, I supplied an index and the publisher did
not use it -- they used one prepared by an index consultant that they
had used on other books. Oh, well.
> Al Varney - I have no connection with Consumers Union, except as
> a happy customer. I have no connection with any lawyer,
> except as an unhappy customer.
Well, thank you for taking the time to write it up.
Now, dear readers, here is how we can get a new edition that corrects
the bugs Mr. Varney mentioned, and that reflects everything else
people in this newsgroup might want to add -- you can guess. People
would have to buy the present print run. So, trot down to your local
bookstore and clear those shelves. Buy extra copies for use as gifts.
Or call up Consumer Reports Books and order it by phone.
But seriously, thank you for the writeup.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
From: cendata!richardm@uunet.UU.NET (Richard Masoner)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: Central Data Corp., Champaign, IL
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 21:44:22 GMT
In article <telecom14.17.10@eecs.nwu.edu> drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET
(Alan Boritz) writes:
> Then you probably don't receive a lot of calls from telemarketing
> idiots and nosy scam artists. We go through periods at work when
> we're inundated with those, and calls from telemarketing machines (our
> exchanges are low numbers in the 201 area). Telemarketing calls are
> an enormous time-waster, and more than half of the investment scam
> callers are pushy and rude. Invade my privacy at home with a useless
> sales pitch AND hide your CNID from me and I'll redefine the word
> "rude" for you. ;)
Many (not all) telemarketing calls actually originate from somewhere
outside of your area code (places where rent and labor is cheap).
Rejecting anonymous callers doesn't work for them.
> If you're hiding your identity from me (privacy block), then I don't
> want to talk to you. My time is worth more than yours (anonymous
> caller, that is) and I don't appreciate it being wasted.
Many people do have legitimate privacy concerns, and don't want their
phone numbers to be known outside of a select circle. Just my
observations.
Richard F. Masoner Central Data Corporation
1602 Newton Dr., Champaign, IL 61821 (217) 359-8010 x251
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 16:57:53 PST
From: Anthony E. Siegman <siegman@Sierra.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
> Then you probably don't receive a lot of calls from telemarketing
> idiots and nosy scam artists. We go through periods at work when
> we're inundated with those, and calls from telemarketing machines ...
> Telemarketing calls are an enormous time-waster, and more than half
> of the investment scam callers are pushy and rude.
Ditto here. In past two days San Jose Mercury telemarketers have
managed to ring all four university extensions on my secretary's desk
(selling newspaper subscriptions to Stanford University office
extensions? -- but then, who expects intelligence from telemarketers).
Let me once again pitch the simple idea that telemarketers should
be allowed total freedom to call anyone -- but required to do it with
CNID from a special "telemarketing area code" prefix, like 300 or 400
or ??? (just like the "Advertisement" warning at the top of commercial
inserts in reputable magazines). Those who wanted could then buy a
cheap black box to block all such calls. No First Amendment problems,
no "do not call this number" databases to prepare and maintain, burden
of protection entirely on the callee (but easily done), etc.
------------------------------
From: jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu (James R. Saker Jr.)
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 19:22:27 GMT
Ron Schnell <ronnie@space.mit.edu> writes:
> I have anonymous call rejection enabled on my phone in Miami, FL, and
> someone tried to call me from a cellular phone that was installed in a
> rental car in San Diego in their rental car and got the rejection
> message.
> I assume that the cellular rental company uses some ultra-cheap LD
> service (to make the most amount of money possible on the $2.00/minute
> rental charge!) that uses a local out-going line in Miami that
> disabled CID.
I've got US West Cellular service in Omaha, Nebraska (all you can eat
a month for $150!). Several of my friends and business associates who
have caller ID services have noticed that whenever they receive calls
from me on my cellular phone, they appear as anonymous calls.
Attempts to use last-call-return also fail (with some useless
message). Evidently it's not just cheap cellular providers which
demonstrate this problem ...
Jamie Saker jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu
Chief Operating Officer Business/IS Major
Synergistic Communications Univ. Nebraska at Omaha
voice: (402) 680-8280 fax: (402) 391-7283
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Date: 7 Jan 1994 17:24:46 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.17.7@eecs.nwu.edu> Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov>
writes:
> Dave Niebuhr <dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov> in TELECOM Digest V14 #15:
>> NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been
>> ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50
>> per month which is still not enough.
> Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me
> the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at
> his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York,
> telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible.
I don't know the situation now, but a few years ago a friend in
Westbury had three lines in the house, one of which was a 516-333.
The 516-333 had been in place for a decade or more, and he kept it
because it was a flat-rate line -- no charge for local calls.
Makes me think that 516-333 was some sort of ancient equipment, a
stepper exchange, maybe.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
From: edg@netcom.com (Ed Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 14:20:02 GMT
In article <telecom14.17.7@eecs.nwu.edu> Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.
gov> writes:
> Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me
> the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at
> his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York,
> telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible.
Since 516-333 is served out of the Westbury DMS-100, it would surprise
me if it couldn't handle touchtone. Now, NYTel may have some foolish
reason for not providing it, but be assured that 516-333 isn't step or
some other ancient technology.
Ed Greenberg edg@netcom.com Ham Radio: KM6CG
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 08:39:39 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
> In addition, it is phasing out the optional business Flat Rate and
> untimed Message Rate plans for businesses in upstate NY and imposing
> timed message rate for them.
This is the scary part simce everywhere I go I see regional carriers
attempting to eliminate "flat" and "unmetered" plans. As telecommuting
and information hightway access begins to take hold, the elimination
of unmetered local service is the biggest threat to individual
connectivity that I can imagine.
Of course, the biggies (Compu$erve, Plodigy, etc.) will have 800
numbers and just pass the cost along, but one might expect amateur
BBSs, SLIPs, and the like to become much less popular. The biggest
threat would be to the infant telecommuting industry and the home
office which relies on unlimited local service and the best means for
achieving the Clinton/Gore "20% reduction in commuting" would go up in
smoke.
True, TANSTAAFL still applies and I suppose metering is inevitable
particularly since it is both cheap and desirable for the Telcos. The
only advantage that I can see for the consumer would be that with
metered service, the subscriber would have a right to a call detail
listing the individual calls by called number, time, and duration.
Chilly today,
Padgett
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Chilly is an understatement, Padgett.
Four degrees below zero at 9:00 AM this Saturday morning is not my
idea of a pleasant spring day in Chicago! :) PAT]
------------------------------
From: pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:51:01 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA
Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov> writes:
> Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me
> the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at
> his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York,
> telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible.
I have a friend in Islip (Nassau County) who has touchtone. I though
this was a capability that was in all switches manufactured in the
last umpteen (how much is an umpteen anyway?) years, and that if a
customer wanted pulse service, the phone company had to disable
touchtone. Anyone? Anyone?
Chris Labatt-Simon Internet: pribik@rpi.edu
Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting CIS: 73542,2601
Albany, New York
PHONE: (518) 495-5474 FAX: (518) 786-6539
Subscribe to the Lotus Notes Mailing List - e-mail me for info....
------------------------------
From: jim@n5ial.mythical.com (Jim Graham)
Subject: Correction: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis
Organization: Future site of Vaporware Corporation (maybe). --Teletoons (NW)
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 16:13:08 GMT
The purpose of this posting is to correct some major technical goofs
in another post. These corrections come right out of the ITU-T
(ex-CCITT) text for V.42 and V.42bis, as well as info from one of the
authors of both standards. General comments, of course, are mine. :-)
In article <telecom14.14.11@eecs.nwu.edu> PURWIN@XANADU.XYPLEX.COM
(Janusz Purwin tel 508-952-4711) writes:
> Well don't worry about if it does work or not. Firstly V.42 requires
> that both modems have to have that feature enabled. Secondly it is
> most useless feature ever put into modem. Its good for marketing
> people to brag about and give false advertising about how faster modem
> will transmit data without pointing out when it happens.
First off, V.42 *IS* an important feature, especially for high-speed
modems. If you didn't have some type of error control, you could run
into all kinds of problems. Remember, high speed modems (e.g.,
V.32bis and the up-and-coming V.34) really stretch the limits of a
normal POTS line. I won't bore everyone here with the details, since
that's not going to be anything new to anyone anyway.
Second, V.42 (and MNP3) strip off the start/stop bits, thus using only
8 bits per character instead of 10. For a V.32bis connection, this
means going from a throughput of absolutely no more than 1440 cps to
somewhere around 1650 cps to 1724 cps (after protocol overhead). See
the discussion over in comp.dcom.modems for more details on this. But
when have you ever seen a vendor 'brag' about this?
> The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme
Sorry, but V.42 doesn't do any compression, period. V.42 is an error
control protocol, as is clearly indicated by the title of ITU-T
(ex-CCITT) Recommendation V.42: "Error-Correcting Procedures For DCEs
Using Asynchronous-to-Synchronous Conversion" (originally in
all-caps). V.42 is an HDLC-based error control procedure. It
operates in one of two modes: LAPM (Link Access Procedure for Modems),
which is its primary mode, and an alternate mode specified in Annex A,
which is basically an MNP4 clone (added to provide support for older
modems that don't have V.42). If you can find anything about data
compression in Recommendation V.42, you must be reading a different
version than the one that was written by the CCITT (now the ITU-T).
Now, assuming that your reference to V.42 was a typo, and you really
meant V.42bis ...
> The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme that is based on
> generating dictionary as you transfer a file. What that mean is, it
> will not compress as you type.
First off, V.42bis uses a modified version of Lempel-Ziv-Welch
compression. Various extensions were added to LZW to make it more
effective in a modem environment where it would be required to
compress continuous streams of data. It compresses whatever data it
can, regardless of whether that data is typed by you, is a screen of
data from the remote computer, or is a file being transferred.
Second, even if V.42bis only worked when *FILES* were being
transferred, and not when text screens, etc., were moving, would you
please explain to me how it's supposed to know the difference? :-)
Think about it ...
> But here is the catch normally ALL files are compressed
You seem to be assuming that the only use for high-speed modems is
downloading files from a BBS. This is, in fact, far from the truth.
There are lots of people using modems to access various other online
applications, and V.42bis can definitely help a *LOT* in this case.
And even if all you're doing is snarfing up some file from a BBS,
isn't it nice to have those file listings move faster? Hey, if I'm
grabbing a file from a BBS, I usually have something I want to do WITH
that file -- I'd rather get on with that than sit there waiting for
screen after screen of info.
> by PKzip, ARC or ARJ LHA GIF programs. Those are using precisely
> same algorithm as V.42.
As already covered above, V.42 isn't data compression, and V.42bis
(which *IS* data compression) uses a modified version of LZW that is
designed specifically for the modem world. In fact, zip, etc.,
usually do better than V.42bis, so where possible (and it isn't always
possible) you're better off compressing files with something like zip
or gzip prior to sending them.
> So those files are not compressible. If you try to compress them
> again the file size will be larger than original.
Not true. Unlike MNP5, V.42bis is nice enough to not expand
pre-compressed data, so the worst you'll get is 1:1. For more
details, refer to section 7.8 of Recommendation V.42bis ("Data
compressibility test").
> ... So the benefits of V.42 for the user are minimal!
That depends on what the user is doing. The benefits for YOU may be
minimal, and that's fine. But just remember that there are other
modem users in the world, and they don't all do things exactly the
same way you do.
Later,
jim
73 DE N5IAL (/4) < Running Linux 0.99 PL10 >
jim@n5ial.mythical.com ICBM: 30.23N 86.32W
|| j.graham@ieee.org Packet: N5IAL@W4ZBB (Ft. Walton Beach, FL)
E-mail me for information about KAMterm (host mode for Kantronics TNCs).
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to Jim for submitting this
correction. It is very difficult from where I sit to catch some of the
errors in the more complex technical articles which appear here in
the Digest, thus the importance of readers sending in corrections when
they are needed. Never hesitate to send in corrections and to be sure
they catch my eye given the high volume of mail received, be sure to
add some phrase in the subject line such as 'correction to posting' or
similiar. PAT]
------------------------------
From: hummes@osf.org (Jakob Hummes)
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Date: 7 Jan 1994 21:04:43 GMT
Organization: Open Software Foundation
In article <telecom14.16.6@eecs.nwu.edu>, md@maxcy2.maxcy.brown.edu
(Michael P. Deignan) writes:
> Of course, I don't know if this is how Hayes does it, but remember,
> you can only modulate a sine wave one of three ways: amplitude, phase,
> and frequency.
> Ain't technology wonderful?
Yes, it is. But there is an absolute limit (Shannon's Law). The
question was about the transmission over a *real* phone line. And that
means there exists *noise*. The limit of bps is proportional to the
logarithm of the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately I don't remember
the constant factors.
Jakob Hummes
------------------------------
From: mgriffin@access3.digex.net (Michael D. Griffin)
Subject: Re: Communication Over Power Lines?
Date: 7 Jan 1994 19:38:21 GMT
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
James H. Haynes (haynes@cats.ucsc.edu) wrote:
> I believe the power companies also use carrier current for signaling
> and controlling their relays and things, again working on the high-voltage
> side of things so they don't have to go through transformers.
Actually many of them (most) have discovered that they can run a fiber
optic cable right along side or even inside the high voltage cables
since the opticial signals are immune to the electrical interference
... now if someone could only figure out how to transmit electric
power via fiber cable the power companies would really be happy.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 15:14:54 EST
From: Peter Capek <capek@watson.ibm.com>
Subject: Re: How Are VCR Plus+ Codes Generated
VCR Plus codes are a "secret" encoding of the channel, start date and
time, and length of a program. Gemstar seems to have elected to try
to keep the encoding secret, so as to maintain their ability to sell
the device, and also to sell to the newspapers the codes. This may be
because they couldn't get an effective patent or other form of
protection.
Unfortunately, they seem not to have anticipated that this strategy
would be interpreted by many as a challenge. As a result, almost all
details of the encoding were deduced and published in a paper,
published in Cryptologia about two years ago. As far as I know,
there's no other protection on the encoding, so that no legal barrier
prevents a newspaper (at least, one which isn't already under contract
to Gemstar) from creating the codes itself and publishing them (modulo
the missing details), although there is undoubtedly protection on the
VCR Plus trademark itself.
Peter Capek
------------------------------
From: dosborn@Internet.cnmw.com
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 94 15:28:01 EST
Subject: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Finally
Pat:
As a final effort to obtain my sprint modem, I scanned back issues for
Diane Worthy's number. The number associated with her is no longer in
service. However, in my search I came across the number for Shawn
Larimer. One article listed him as the person in charge. I called
that number and left a message.
Well, I just received a return call, not from Mr. Larimer, but from
Don Sivesind (913-624-5136). He was very nice, even cheerful. When I
breifly explained to him my tale of woe, he (much to my delight) said
that he would order me a modem right away. It turns out that instead
of setting up a new account (which would have trigged a modem order)
they re-activated on old account.
Well, I'm a "happy camper" now, and not "so" down on Sprint's customer
service. Although, this still leaves David in a quandry about what to
do with his extra modem.
Dan Osborn
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the followup on this. I'm
glad to hear Sprint was willing to work along with you. Regards
David and his extra modem, I wonder if he has been staying awake
all night wondering what to do about it. :) Hey, he can send it to
me if nothing else; somehow I will find a way to sacrifice one of
the empty slots in my 386. :) I'll try to stay warm today as it
is miserably cold here in Chicago, and the forecast is for sub-zero
weather for a couple days. Otherwise, have a nice weekend! PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #19
*****************************
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Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 08:34:05 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401081434.AA07001@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #18
TELECOM Digest Sat, 8 Jan 94 08:34:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 18
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
AT&T and NYTel (Larry Nathanson)
How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Maaruf Ali)
Looking For Information on Faxmail Systems (Greg Trotter)
Technical Description of PBXs Wanted (Don Pelton)
High Speed Telephone Cables for Residences (Daren Cline)
SprintNet Access From the Internet (Robert J. Rodriguez)
User Interface From Hell (John Limpert)
"Dynamic" SLIP? (Mike Eggley)
Two Changes to Caller*ID in NJ (Dave Levenson)
Multi-line BBS's (Dannie Gregoire)
Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment (Nevin Liber)
GSM Recs on the CD ROM (Volkmar Scharf-Katz)
Looking For Cordless Headset Phone (Gregory Corbett)
Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (William M. Eldridge)
Re: Merlin Question (Paul Cook)
Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK? (Laurence Chiu)
Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (David H. Close)
Re: Help Needed With V.42bis (Sean P Peacock)
Re: Announcing networkMCI (Tom Horsley)
Re: How Do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest? (Monty Solomon)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:12:25 -0500
From: Larry Nathanson <lan@panix.com>
Subject: AT&T and NYTel
I've just had an interesting time on the phone with the droid-reps of
NYTel and AT&T ...
It seems that my last bill came in with a munged minutes column of the
AT&T portion. (Half of the calls had no minutes value, and there was a
$10.14 call to Sacramento at 11pm that said 8 minutes! (The call is my
roommate's -- I'm not sure how long it really was for.)) I called
AT&T, whose rep suggested that I call NYTel, as the problem was with
their printing of the bills.
The NYTel rep said that AT&T had messed up the tapes, and that they
had dropped the minutes column for calls that were between one and four
minutes. (Obviously this is not the whole story -- many of the calls in
that range are listed, not to mention the $1.25+/min call to CA!)
When I suggessted that I'd like a corrected bill, she said "Oh no,
were not equipped to do that!"
When I persisted, she called AT&T, and her final conclusion was that
AT&T would call her back with the minutes information in about two
weeks, and then she would call me. At that point I asked to speak to
manager (I consider yelling at droids on a par with teaching pigs to
sing). I was told that one would call me back later ...
As far as I'm concerned, if they want my money, they'll have to send
me an accurate bill. Some of the lines on the bill fail simple sanity
checking -- so as far as I'm concerned, the whole page is suspect.
Anyone else have a similar experience with them?
L
------------------------------
From: MAARUF ALI <UDEE740@bay.cc.kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Date: 8 Jan 94 08:42:04 GMT
Organization: King's College London
Could someone please tell me how to phone US 0800 numbers from the UK?
Thanks.
Maaruf Ali
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We do not have '0800' numbers. If you
mean 800 (toll free numbers), the answer is that generally you cannot
call them from outside the USA. Most of the subscribers to 800 service
only pay to accept calls from places inside the USA. Subscribers in
the USA who wish to accept toll-free (reverse charge) calls from other
countries have numbers assigned to them in the actual format used by
the other country. In other words, if there is an 0800 number listed
in your directory which states that it rings into the USA somewhere,
you can call it. If you otherwise see (in advertising or whatever) a
number in the USA marked 800-something, you *cannot* call it from
outside the USA under normal conditions. They don't want to accept
your call and have to pay for it. One exception to this is that you
can call the 'home direct' services of the various carriers and some
of these carriers will handle it so that you pay for a call to the
USA and the 800 subscriber on this end pays only for the portion of
the call which is in the USA. You need to match carrier with 800 number
for this however; the carrier of the 800 number is the carrier who's
'home direct' service you need to connect with, *and not all of them
will do this*, although I think AT&T and MCI will. PAT]
------------------------------
From: greg@gallifrey.ucs.uoknor.edu (Greg Trotter)
Subject: Looking For Information on Faxmail Systems
Date: 8 Jan 1994 08:52:12 GMT
Hello!
I am looking for information on systems that can handle fax calls on a
store-and-forward basis. I've used systems like FaxFacts from Copia,
but am not sure about their support on a few key issues:
CLID support
DID support
If anybody has information on software/hardware to do this, I'd
appreciate the information.
greg
------------------------------
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Friday, 7 Jan 1994 11:26:29 PST
From: Don Pelton <DEP@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Technical Description of PBXs Wanted
I'm looking for sources of good technical descriptions of PBX
technology and standards. Can anyone suggest books, articles,
newsgroups and/or other internet resources? Standards documents?
Thanks,
Don Pelton (dep@slac.stanford.edu)
------------------------------
From: dcline@PICARD.TAMU.EDU (Daren Cline)
Subject: High Speed Telephone Cables for Residences
Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:17:43 GMT
Organization: Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University
Subject: High Speed Telephone Cables for Residences
I am designing a home to be built this spring and summer and I want to
specify the telephone cables it will have. With all the news about
phone companies improving their networks for higher speed transmission
I wonder if there will be (in, say, five years) correspondingly higher
standards for residences. I'd like to anticipate them if possible.
Locally, at least, it seems that fiber optics is out of the question
since it would require very expensive multiplexing and demultiplexing
equipment. For twisted pair copper cable, the industry grades by
"level" which is roughly corresponding to speed or throughput.
Apparently most homes have level 1 or 2. Level 3 supposedly can handle
up to 10 megabits per second, level 4 higher and level 5 maybe 20mbps.
I have two questions. Responses by e-mail are welcome.
1) Is there any reason to expect that level 3 will not be sufficient
in the near future, keeping in mind what the phone and cable TV
companies are likely to provide?
2) Besides cable and jacks, what else should I be careful to specify?
(I do plan to specify 4 twisted pairs per cable.)
Daren Cline <dcline@stat.tamu.edu>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 17:32:22 EST
From: Robert J. Rodriguez <robertr@vnet.IBM.COM>
Subject: SprintNet Access From the Internet
Has anyone found a public gateway to access SprintNet (specifically PC
Pursuit) from the Internet using a TELNET connection? This might be
useful at sites that don't have direct modem dialout access but do
have an Internet connection.
Robert Rodriguez (alternate address kjjy@musicb.marist.edu at Marist College)
------------------------------
From: johnl@medusa.gsfc.nasa.gov (John Limpert)
Subject: User Interface From Hell
Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:58:00 GMT
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- InterNetNews site
I just received the user guide for our ROLM PBX voice mail system.
Although I like to think of myself as technologically literate, the
user interface for the voice mail system intimidates me. The rather
thick user guide lists many features, options and user commands. The
system structure is summarized in 6 pages of decision tree diagrams.
User commands are things like "*73" (replay a message), and there are
alot of them. I already have an 89 page user guide for my ROLM
telephone. Does anyone else find this as frustrating as I do? The
local phone company uses similar commands to access the new features
that have been added to their switch software.
I don't mean to single out ROLM, I'm sure other vendors have similar
systems and problems. The ROLM PBX has some nice features that I
never use because I can't remember groups of commands like "FLASH-*-*-3".
The telephone has mutated from an easily understandable electric
instrument to a terminal for a complex computer/data switch. It still
has the same basic external layout except for the addition of a few
extra buttons in some telephones. How can telephones be made easier
to use? The local phone companies are going to have a hard time
selling new features to their customers if they expect them to press
"*-*-FLASH-4-2-#-6-6-6" every time they use them.
John Limpert johnl@medusa.gsfc.nasa.gov
------------------------------
From: mse@ins.infonet.net
Subject: "Dynamic" SLIP
Date: 8 Jan 1994 04:12:21 GMT
Organization: INFOnet - Iowa Network Services, Inc.
Reply-To: mse@ins.infonet.net
My understanding of SLIP is that it is a point-to-point dedicated
configuration, requiring a modem on the receiving end to be dedicated
to a specific user (due to IP I think).
I've heard some talk about so-called 'dynamic' SLIP -- where the SLIP
connection is made, but through a mux or terminal server, allowing the
provider to serve multiple dial-up customers instead of a 1-1 ratio.
Any insight, knowledge on this would be much appreciated. If this is
totally off-base I'd like to know that too.
Thanks,
Mike Eggley mse@ins.infonet.net
------------------------------
From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Subject: Two Changes to Caller*ID in NJ
Organization: Westmark, Inc.
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 02:21:26 GMT
Effective January 1, NJ Bell has begun offering two new services
related to Caller*ID: Anonymous calling, and anonymous call rejection.
For no additional charge, you may dial *67 before any call, and your
number will not be revealed to the called party. But, if you dial *77
at any time, others who attempt to call you after dialing *67 are
routed to a telco-supplied recording advising them that you do not
accept calls with blocked identification.
Anonymous call rejection is available at no additional charge to all
customers who subscribe to Caller*ID.
Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com
Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 00:56 EST
From: dannie@coplex.coplex.com (Dannie Gregoire)
Subject: Multi-line BBS's
Hi Pat,
I'll direct this question to you if possible, as you are the true
phone system guru. I asked it in the newsgroup a couple of months
back with no useful response. I would like to know how some of these
bulletin boards have 60-100 lines running into them (eg EXEC-PC). Do
they simply have that many individual lines run or is there a nifty
service that the TELCO offers through a PBX? I apologize if this is
a stupid question, but it is one that has baffled me, and I gotta know
the answer. Thanks for any help ...
Dannie J. Gregoire dannie@coplex.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the compliment, but you
overestimate my skills a little. Depending on your application or
needs, you can have as many actual lines run as desired. I suspect
most very large systems these days however use what is called T-1
or similar, where a large number of circuits are multiplexed or
handled over just a few actual pairs of wires. In addition to T-1,
there are similar methods for bringing in a large number of circuits
on only a few wires. In my own personal applications in the past,
I always just had the physical wires, but that was several years
ago before the present technology became available. Perhaps Fred
Goldstein or one of the *real* tech people here will reply. PAT]
------------------------------
From: nevin@cs.arizona.edu (Nevin Liber)
Subject: Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment
Date: 8 Jan 1994 23:59:20 -0700
Organization: University of Arizona CS Department, Tucson AZ
A friend of mine (in Cook County, IL) is currently being stalked by a
mutual acquiantance of ours. This has been going on for over a year.
Unfortunately, the only evidence that my friend has is circumstantial
(eg: the phone calls temporarily stopped when the suspect went on
vacation, and resumed when the suspect returned back to IL).
Much of what the suspect is doing is in the way of harassing phone
calls, including calls from various payphones in the area where my
friend lives, calls at all hours of the day and night, calling pagers
and leaving my friend's phone number, etc.
Does my friend have any recourse (legal or technological)? He has
tried many of the new technological means (I don't want to go into
detail, since the suspect has net access and potentially reads this
newsgroup), but he's running out of ideas. A legal means might be
preferred (since that might help against the stalking as well as the
harassment), but just being able to curtail the phone harassment (and
it is happening at both his home and his work, so just changing the
phone number won't be enough) would be helpful.
Nevin ":-)" Liber nevin@cs.arizona.edu (602) 293-2799
^^^ (520) after 3/95
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are laws against stalking
and harassment in place here in Illinois. If your friend wants to
do something about it legally, I suggest that he go to court and ask
for a 'peace bond'. If the court agrees the circumstances warrant it,
the other person will be told to come to court and the 'peace bond'
will be issued against him; he'll be ordered to keep his distance
and refrain from harassing activities. Failure to do so will result
in his arrest. Your friend may get a run-around from court personnel
if he shows up without an attorney so he might want to hire a lawyer
to go in and get it done for him. Changing his home phone number will
eliminate at least some of the problem, however it is hard to say
what might help at work since you don't mention the type of phone
system there. Really though, he should not have to change his number
at home. That is an inconvenience on him.
I think my first steps would be to secure the peace bond and install
selective call screening (subscriber can punch in up to ten numbers
from which he does not wish to receive calls) on my line. Each time
the guy called, I'd add 'last call received' to my list of screened
numbers. That would keep him looking for new payphones to use since
I'd always keep *his* home phone(s) and office phone(s) on the screened
list. If that did not discourage him, then with the peace bond in hand
I'd ask Illinois Bell to install a trap on my line. I assume your friend
has the stalker's home address and place of employment? Getting served
with a court order to lay off might be all it takes; the person might
be sufficiently discouraged at that point. What kind of phone system
does your friend have at work? Would employees there (for example the
operator/receptionist) be willing to help eliminate the problem? PAT]
------------------------------
From: Volkmar Scharf-Katz <katz@duitex1.pdmv.detecon.de>
Subject: GSM Recs on the CD ROM
Date: 8 Jan 1994 08:24:48 +0100
Organization: Detecon GmbH - Projekt Digitaler Mobilfunk - Vermittlungstechnik
Does anybody know whether GSM Recommendations are on CD?
Best regards,
Volkmar Scharf-Katz (katz@duitex3.pdmv.detecon.de)
------------------------------
From: gcorbett@husc8.harvard.edu (Gregory Corbett)
Subject: Looking For Cordless Headset Telephone
Date: 8 Jan 94 05:47:50 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Can anyone help me?
I am looking to obtain a cordless, "Headset" telephone that operates
with a small microphone and "walkman-like" earpiece.
Where can I obtain such a phone?
Thanks in advance.
Greg Corbett gcorbett@husc.harvard.edu
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try the "Hello Direct" mail order
catalog. Phone 1-800-HI-HELLO for details. "Hello Direct" is now
an official supplier of equipment to Illinois Bell customers through
telco's 'work at home center'. PAT]
------------------------------
From: bill@COGNET.UCLA.EDU (William M. Eldridge)
Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers
Date: 8 Jan 1994 00:42:09 -0800
Organization: UCLA Cognitive Science Research Program
> According to a wire service account in the {Boston Globe}, AT&T is
> changing their rates to be more like MCI and Sprint. The list price
As somebody who just switched from AT&T to MCI, I have a few
qualifications for this.
On international calls, MCI has all weekend rates, while AT&T leaves
its three Day-Evening-Night slots the same, seven days a week. MCI
has better hours during the week. AT&T had worse setup (first minute)
charges.
For U.S. calls, the MCI regular charges are not much more than the
AT&T monthly plans (something like .12/minute vs. 11/minute at night).
Bill Eldridge bill@cognet.ucla.edu 310-206-3960 (3987 fax)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 03:09 EST
From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Merlin Question
vdugar@stortek.stortek.com (Vince Dugar) writes:
> Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but
> it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper
> solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for
> CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK)
This is a device that talks to the Merlin KSU using it's proprietary
signalling, but can connect to a modem, standard single line phone, or
fax machine, and provide ringing and a standard, 2-wire telco line
type connection on the output side.
If you just want to use the modem for dial out, a much cheaper
solution is to bypass the KSU with an exclusion device that will
provide protection against interruption to both the Merlin system and
the modem, since there is no reason to have the added expense of
ringing or an expensive connection to the key system's station side.
You can use Proctor's 41434 Voice/Data Privacy module. Install it on
one of the CO lines ahead of the KSU. One of the outputs will go to
the same place on the KSU where this outside line used to plug in, and
the other output will run directly to the modem. When this trunk
isn't in use, the modem can seize it and dial out. If the line is
already in use, the modem will be blocked. If someone attempts to
place an outgoing call on this line from the Merlin system while the
modem is using the line, they will be blocked from interrupting the
modem transmission.
If you have a number of incoming lines in a hunting rotation, and one
line is used the least, install the modem access on that least used
line.
For more information, contact Proctor via fax/email/telephone via one
of the numbers below.
Paul Cook 206-881-7000
Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080
15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282
Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu)
Subject: Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK?
Date: 8 Jan 1994 01:08:30 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access
In article <telecom14.6.13@eecs.nwu.edu>, Linc Madison wrote:
> In article <telecom13.843.4@eecs.nwu.edu> you wrote:
>> I've got a friend who'll soon be moving to the UK (Durham actually).
>> She's got a Hayes compatible 9600 baud modem that she would like to
>> take with her and use there.
> (4) If your phone line in the UK is pulse, you may want to add into
> the setup string the code to set the make/break pattern to UK standard
> instead of US standard. However, in practice, most phone switches are
> not sensitive enough to tell the difference between 39/61 and 33/67.
> The command is AT&P1 for UK, AT&P0 for US. Touch-tone is the same in
> both. Don't even try to use pulse in Scandinavia or New Zealand.
Why not in New Zealand? You just have to change your numbers so that
they are modulo 10. I think since the old telephone dial went 0....9.
Of course there's no earthly reason to use pulse in NZ since all
exchanges are MTDF capable.
Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California
Tel: 510-215-3730 (work) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com
------------------------------
From: dhclose@cco.caltech.edu (David H. Close)
Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas
Date: 8 Jan 1994 07:28:00 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
/G=J.SCOTT/S=PELHAM/O=GTE/PRMD=GTEMAIL/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com
writes:
> When dialing within one area code, in the Metroplex, you only dial
> seven digits regardless of whether it is a GTE or SW Bell number.
> When dialing from one area code to the other you dial 1+, just like
> you would from any other two area codes. The difference is when the
> number being called, *or* the number being called from, is a "Metro"
> number. Apparently much has changed or you didn't understand it in
> the first place.
It could look that way if you live in either Dallas or Fort Worth.
But if you live near the boundary, the problem is complicated by the
fact that some exchanges in the "other" area code are local. So you
don't dial the one, even though the number is not metro. However, if
you call from one end of either area code to the other end, such that
the call is not local, you do dial the one and the area code, even
within your own area code.
What that all means is you can memorize all the metro exchanges (a big
job) but it still won't always help you. Whether a call requires a
one or not depends on whether it is local, and that depends on both
the calling and the called numbers. So if you recognize an exchange
as not being metro and dial the one, you can still get the intercept
if the exchange just happened to be local anyway.
I found it exceedingly stupid and time-wasting. They only accept one
way to dial each possible call and you really can't always guess
right.
Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa
dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu dave@compata.attmail.com
------------------------------
From: speacock@netcom.com (Sean P Peacock)
Subject: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 07:36:47 GMT
ral (bobphin@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca) wrote:
> I have a Zoltrix 14,400 data/fax modem. I am not sure if I am getting
> compression or if so what kind. My manual indicates the S95 registar
> gives extended result codes. For example S95=003 will give me the
> Protocal: result code, usually Lap-M. Since S95 is bit mapped, I do
> not know the values I should use to get the codes I want.
> The manual further says:
> Bit Description
> 0 CONNECT indicates DCE speed
> 1 Append/ARQ to the connect result code if the protocol is other than
> NONE
> 2 Carrier result code
> 3 PROTOCOL: result code
> 4 reserved
> 5 COMPRESSION: result code
> 6 reserved
> 7 reserved
Bitmap codes:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
------------------------
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128
So if you wanted them all it would be 1+2+4+8+32=47
> I should also say that when S95=003, I get codes for bit0,1,2,3. In
> other words I get everything I want, except for the compression code.
> I've tried S95=005, but this does not work.Please help. Answer here
> or e-mail bobphin@nbnet.nb.ca
Although v.42bis is not all that useful in file transfers it it _very_
useful in news reading, terminal emulations etc. There is a noticable
difference when I get an MNP 4 connect.
Sean
------------------------------
From: tom@travis.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley)
Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI
Date: 08 Jan 1994 03:25:49 GMT
Organization: Harris Computer Systems Division
> Roberts said that networkMCI is being introduced to the public via
> a national advertising campaign utilizing television, magazines and
> newspapers to explain the company's vision to consumers, businesses,
> investors and potential partners.
Is that what the MCI TV commercials with the little girl with the
pseudo-Nritish accent standing in a puddle spouting existential
gibberish are all about?
And I thought they were just trying to finally beat AT&T for the worst
imaginable ad campaign :-)
domain: tahorsley@csd.harris.com USMail: Tom Horsley
Delray Beach, FL 33444
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 08:16:12 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.COM>
Subject: Re: How Do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest?
> Unfortunately some of us don't know how to get hold of the current
> issue of the CUD. Could you please post a pointer to it, or post the
> appropriate sections here.
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
available at no cost electronically from tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu. The
editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302)
or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
60115.
Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
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COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and they
should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
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------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #18
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Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 23:45:10 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401100545.AA07485@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #20
TELECOM Digest Sun, 9 Jan 94 23:45:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 20
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Press Release re MCI Expansion (MVM@cup.portal.com)
Phone Phreakers Down South (Charlotte Observer via vantek@aol.com)
Dial 511 For Info (Atlanta Journal and Constitution via vantek@aol.com)
Console Products (S. Wayne Lockhart)
Telecom Service in Guam (Steve Kass)
Source Wanted For Mini-PBXs (Tom Metro)
All Wire Isn't The Same (John Warne)
GSM Network Operators (Lars Kalsen)
Unique Idea: Error Message for TDDs (Paul Robinson)
Computer-Telephony Integration (Ray Mc Guigan)
Network Sources of Telephony (Richard Weisinger)
Long Distance CLID is Here! (Jack Winslade)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: MVM@cup.portal.com
Subject: Press Release re MCI Expansion
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 13:54:04 PST
(From the MCI Mail News "Bulletin Board" comes this press release:)
Date: Tue Jan 04, 1994 12:02 pm CST
Subject: MCI UNVEILS LONG-RANGE VISION: networkMCI
Opens Nation's First Transcontinental Information Superhighway;
Announces $20 Billion in Strategic Initiatives
Washington, D.C., January 4, 1994--MCI today unveiled a sweeping
strategic vision under which MCI and associated partners are expected
to invest more than $20 billion to create and deliver a wide array of
new branded services to teleconsumers, businesses, research facilities
and government customers.
"Our notion of the future of telecommunications and MCI is going
to have a brand name: networkMCI," said Bert C. Roberts, MCI chairman
and CEO. "This strategic vision is the sum of all our plans and
opportunities in the new emerging markets with services that
consumers, businesses and governments will want at their fingertips as
we move into the 21st Century. As a core strategy, it leverages the
tremendous opportunities brought on by the convergence of telephony,
entertainment and the computer."
Transcontinental Information Superhighway
Today the company announced, as an initial element of the
networkMCI vision, the inauguration of the nation's first trans-
continental information superhighway. Often talked about as a key
ingredient to keeping America competitive in tomorrow's world economy,
the MCI superhighway's roadbed uses SONET fiber optic technology at
speeds 15 times faster than any SONET network available today.
MCI said that the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) is
the first user of its New York to Los Angeles SONET fiber system. The
NSFNET Backbone Service is the fastest and most powerful of the
university, government and commercial networks known collectively as
the Internet. "Some people may be surprised to learn that MCI
developed these intercity links for the Internet six years ago," said
Roberts. "The NSFNET service today reaches nearly 15,000 networks
around the world that participate in the Internet."
"The Internet doubles in size annually and now links over two
million computers serving some six million users," said Vinton Cerf,
President of the Internet Society. "When electronic mail
interconnects are taken into account, nearly 20 million users conduct
their business from labs, homes and offices over the Internet. MCI
and its partners, IBM, Merit and ANS, pioneered the use of 45 megabit
per second technology for the NSFNET Backbone Service. NSFNET now
carries a volume of information that approximately equals the holdings
of the Library of Congress EACH MONTH, and MCI's announcement
indicates the potential to carry more than 50 times that much
traffic."
SONET, which stands for Synchronous Optical Network, is a
high-speed transmission technology that MCI is using to hasten the
widespread availability of broadcast quality videophones, electronic
data interchange (EDI), long distance medical imaging, multimedia
education, movies on demand, and a single-number Personal
Communications Service (PCS) that will use the same pocket-sized
telephone anywhere in the world.
High-speed SONET technology was deployed in half of MCI's network
at year-end 1993, far outpacing its long distance rivals. Under the
development program announced today, SONET will be available
throughout MCI's domestic network by the end of 1994 and on
international routes across the Atlantic and the Pacific by 1995. The
company said it will further increase carrying speeds on existing
fiber from 2.5 gigabits (billion bits) per second to more than 10
gigabits per second by 1995.
MCI Metro
As another element of its long-range vision, the company announced
the creation of MCI Metro, a wholly owned subsidiary that is expected
to invest $2 billion in fiber rings and local switching infrastructure
in major U.S. metropolitan markets. Through its metropolitan area
facilities, MCI will connect directly to customers and begin providing
alternative local telecommunications services. Referring to these
connections as "digital on/off ramps" to the nationwide information
superhighway, Roberts noted that they would be a vital addition to
America's economic infrastructure for the 21st Century. Construction
has already begun in Atlanta, with completion expected there by mid-
year.
Roberts announced the appointment of two key executives to lead
this subsidiary. Executive vice president Gary M. Parsons will be
chief executive officer of MCI Metro, and senior vice president Nate
A. Davis will become its chief operating officer. The subsidiary owns
properties and rights-of-way in several hundred cities.
"MCI Metro will ensure the availability of superior local access
facilities at reasonable cost," said Roberts. "During the last
decade, MCI was instrumental in bringing the benefits of competition
to the long distance marketplace. During the next decade, we must
secure those same benefits for customers of local telephone service.
In addition, these digital backbone facilities will strongly position
MCI in the emerging markets of interactive multimedia and wireless
PCS."
networkMCI
Roberts said that networkMCI is being introduced to the public via
a national advertising campaign utilizing television, magazines and
newspapers to explain the company's vision to consumers, businesses,
investors and potential partners.
"When we announced our global alliance with BT (British Telecom)
last year, we said that the added financial flexibility would allow us
to invest in America's infrastructure, economy and future," said
Roberts. "With networkMCI, we have cast a strategy to deliver on that
promise, and then some."
MCI expects that other partner companies with complementary skills
and resources will participate in projects within the overall
networkMCI vision, through equity stakes, joint ventures or other
business arrangements.
"As telecommunications, computing and television converge, no one
company will have the infrastructure and the skills to do everything
alone," said Roberts. "Partnering is smart strategy for the 1990's,
and MCI has proven repeatedly that it doesn't have to own and control
another party in order to work together effectively."
MCI cited a number of customer usage trends underlying the
decision to make the additional multibillion dollar investments. The
company has been growing more than twice as fast as the long distance
industry as a whole, and is winning the lion's share of growth in the
booming market for international calls to and from the U.S. Data
traffic is another major growth factor, with business customers' usage
of data communications expected to surpass voice by 1998. In wireless
communications, the superior performance of the emerging PCS
technology is expected to help drive the total number of wireless
devices in the U.S. to 70 million by the turn of the century, which
will increase network usage.
"Beyond the long-term vision," Roberts continued, "there are a
number of immediate benefits that networkMCI brings to the everyday,
workaday MCI network. We have created this long-term strategy to meet
the demands of a nation of teleconsumers who use telecommunications
more frequently and in more ways than ever before. American
businesses of all sizes want competitive advantage from their
communications. And potential partners in this arena want to create
new opportunities. With networkMCI, there will be a clear path to
follow."
MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., offers a full range of
domestic and global telecommunications services through one of the
world's largest state-of-the-art networks. With annual revenue of
more than $12 billion, the company is the second largest long distance
provider in the U.S. and has more than 65 offices in 55 countries and
places.
------------------------------
From: vantek@aol.com
Reply-To: vantek@aol.com
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 94 21:09:02 EST
Subject: Phone Phreakers Down South
Thought I'd pass this little story along ...
Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jan. 7 -- Another Charlotte company has fallen victim to telephone
hackers. Pic 'N Pay Stores Inc., the Charlotte-based shoe retailer,
says it got stung for $17,000 by high-tech hijackers who got into the
company's voice- mail and dialed anywhere they pleased.
Pic 'N Pay filed suit last week against BellSouth Telecommunications
Inc., parent of Southern Bell, which made and serviced the phone
system in question.
The suit in Mecklenburg Superior Court seeks reimbursement for phone
bills the retailer had to pay to AT&T, Alltel and Sprint.
Southern Bell spokesman Clifton Metcalf declined comment on the case
Thursday but said the company works hard on security issues.
The suit says BellSouth specifically told Pic 'N Pay its voice-mail
system, installed in January 1991, was not vulnerable to fraud.
A few months later, Pic 'N Pay noticed strange goings-on. One night,
13 of its 17 local trunk lines were busy, even though only four
employees were in the building. Securing the system took a technician
five minutes, the suit says.
Pic 'N Pay attorney Larry Hewitt said some of the fraudulent calls
were made from New Yorkers to the Caribbean.
Unauthorized access through voice-mail systems is one common variety
of telephone fraud. Altogether, the problem is estimated to cost U.S.
businesses and individuals more than $1 billion a year.
Pic 'N Pay Vice President Phil Myers said staffers caught the problem
before it became severe.
Others have been less fortunate. For a week in 1989, drug dealers
using computers penetrated Piedmont Natural Gas Co.'s phone system and
made hundreds of calls to such places as Colombia, Bolivia and
Pakistan, costing the company nearly $70,000.
When Piedmont refused to pay AT&T for the charges, AT&T sued. The case
was settled for an undisclosed amount.
r#QFP
------------------------------
From: vantek@aol.com
Reply-To: <vantek@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 94 21:09:31 EST
Su
]qQbject: Dial 511 for Info
Another news article to pass along ...
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
9z
ATLANTA -- Jan. 7--Within three months, consumers will be able to dial
511 to get information from an operator about classified ads and the
Yellow Pages.
The new service -- a joint venture between Atlanta-based Cox
Enterprises Inc. and BellSouth Corp. -- was approved Thursday by the
Georgia Public Service Commission.
Want to buy a used pickup? Dial 511 and an operator will read any ads
that help, or fax the information to you. You'll also be able to have
the operator contact you as ads come in.
"The simplicity of this is the great thing, and you have the added
advantage of having an operator to help you," said Kristie Madara, a
spokeswoman for BellSouth. "The plan is to not only be able to access
this by phone, but eventually by personal computer."
The venture, called Infoventures of Atlanta, will use the 511
telephone number the PSC awarded to Cox Enterprises in May. It's
currently used to provide a range of information from sports scores to
stock quotes for 50 cents a call. The new services will carry the same
fee.
The new services, which also would allow you to place electronic ads
using 511, would be available to all consumers in Atlanta's local
dialing area. If that dialing area is expanded -- as the PSC is
considering -- the services likely would be expanded as well.
"A lot of things are still in the planning stage right now, but I
assume this to be the case," said James T. McKnight, vice president of
information services for Cox Enterprises, which owns {The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution}.
Thursday's 4-to- 1 approval followed a sometimes heated public hearing
and came over strong opposition from Williams Communications Inc.,
which was awarded a 711 number last month.
Williams Communications, which is owned by Gov. Zell Miller's chief of
staff, Virgil R. Williams, argued that:
- If BellSouth financially subsidizes Cox Enterprises, then Cox has an
unfair advantage over competitors in its use of the three-digit
number.
- The joint venture would restrain competition between Cox and
BellSouth, eliminating service innovation.
- BellSouth hasn't gone through the same application process for a
three- digit number that Cox and others have.
"We feel the objections are just an attempt to delay this," sai
attorney Peter Canfield, who represented Cox Enterprises. "We believe
that Williams, as a competitor, is trying to delay us from going
forward."
------------------------------
From: lockhart@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (S. Wayne Lockhart)
Subject: Console Products
Organization: nbnet
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 23:37:30 GMT
I am looking for products (hw/sw) that would run on a intelligent
workstation (PC) and replicate the functionality of a Centrex or
Meridian 1 Attendant Console.
Please mail me direct so I don't miss any responses.
Thanks,
S. Wayne Lockhart lockhart@nbnet.nb.ca
------------------------------
Subject: Telecom Service on Guam
From: skass@drunivac.drew.edu (Steve Kass)
Date: 9 Jan 94 21:43:43 EST
Organization: Drew Univ Academic Computing
A friend of mine is moving to Guam soon, and I am looking for
information for him. Does anyone know anything about
telecommunications there? Information on Internet, phone service,
television, radio, etc., on Guam and throughout the Marianas would be
welcome. He will be coordinating many aspects of media at the
University of Guam, and the information will help him with
preparations here before moving. How to call Guam cheaply would also
be nice to know (AT&T gives 70c/min through Reach Out Guam or
something).
Information about life on Guam in general is welcome, but should be
send directly to my address, not posted here.
Thanks!
Steve Kass/Math & CS/Drew U/Madison NJ 07940/
201-408-3614/skass@drew.drew.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 1994 23:38:27 EST
Reply-To: tmetro@vl.ci.net
From: tmetro@vl.ci.net (Tom Metro)
Subject: Source Wanted For Mini-PBXs
On a few occasions I have browsed through magazines such as
"Electronic Components & Test Instruments" (which are intended to
provide a way for Taiwan and other Asian manufactures to reach an
American, European, etc. audience) and I have ran across products
called Mini-PBXs. These devices typically handle a few incoming lines
and 4 to 6 extension phones. They sound ideal for a home or small
business installation. They also look like something that would be
priced in the $200 to $300 range.
What I'd like to know is, are there American sources for these
products -- either from US manufactures or imported? If not, why?
I know that there are a variety of companies that make small PBX
systems, but from what I have seen they haven't been that cheap and
they also typically require special phones.
I would also be interested to know about PBX cards for PCs that fall
into this price range. Last time I looked there weren't any.
Please respond by mail. I will summarize if there is interest.
Thanks,
Tom Metro tmetro@lynx.neu.edu
Venture Logic tmetro@vl.ci.net
Newton, MA, USA
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 94 19:42:49 EST
From: John Warne <19064001@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU>
Organization: School Board of Alachua County, FL.
Subject: All Wire Isn't The Same
There has been discussion recently regarding crosstalk between pairs
of wires in two-pair cable ("Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack").
A recent BELLCORE bulletin pointed out that two-pair inside wire (AKA
station wire or JKT) can be found to have been made in two quite
different ways.
The cross-sectional view of one wire reveals the plastic outer sheath
is formed around the conductors in a cloverleaf-like pattern, holding
a certain relationship between the conductors for the length of the
cable (AT&T *used* to make their two-pair stuff this way), resulting
in less crosstalk between pairs.
The sheath of the other type (which AT&T is using now) does not hold
the conductors in any particular alignment, but is a loose outer
covering. This wire exhibits greater crosstalk when used for two
telephone lines.
You can detect the second type of cable easily -- it's smaller in
overall diameter, the conductors slide within the jacket, and it
simply *feels* cheap (editorial comment). In my opinion, the new
stuff is junk, and, probably, at a higher cost to the purchaser.
I have a roll of General Wire at the shop that is constructed in the
"good old way," but several of our suppliers can't seem to find any
more of it in their warehouses.
I'd recommend the second pair in the new stuff be used only for backup
in case the first pair is damaged in some way, and not used for a
second service.
Such is progress.
John Warne Voice: 904-336-3522 FAX: 904-336-3744
Telecommunications Manager I-NET: 19064001@sbacvm.sbac.edu
School Board of Alachua County CIS: 76424,2220
Fred C. Sivia, Jr. Support Center
3700-B NE 53rd Avenue Gainesville, Florida 32609
------------------------------
From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen)
Subject: GSM Network Operators
Date: 9 Jan 94 21:30:59 GMT
Hi,
Does anyone have a mailing-list with all the addresses of the
GSM-network operators in Europe -- or maybe some of them. I would like
to have the complete mailing-address and/or the fax-numbers.
Please E-mail me the information if you have it -- or a copy by
ordinary mail.
Greetings from Denmark.
Lars Kalsen Kingosvej 5 D 9490 Pandrup Denmark
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 22:46:19 EST
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Subject: Unique Idea: Error Message for TDDs
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
By accident I found something new and unusual.
Someone suggested that one of the things being done was to not use as
prefixes any number that matches an area code touching the one in
question, e.g. in the 301 area code there should not be a 302 or any
of the prefixes from Pennsylvania that touch it (since before it was
split, 301 touched Delaware).
Well, to test it I tried the other area code in Virginia. The one
touching 301 is Northern Virginia -- 703. The one in Richmond is 804.
The system will not allow me to dial a number with 804 (from a 301
area-code number) unless I dial ten digits, in which case I get the
"You must first dial a 1" recording.
But I can dial the local area code, so I dialed 301-804 and then picked a
random number -- 5000. 1234 and 1000 also give the same recording:
<SIT TONE> "We're sorry, because of an area code change, your call
cannot be completed as dialed. Dial again using area code 410. Please
make a note of this change. The following tones are for TDD users: "
<Long touch tone, # I think> Then, on a TDD device we have in our
office, the message comes across "PLS USE 410 AREA".
Unique idea -- putting a TDD message into an error recording -- and
I'm surprised that I've never heard it done before.
------------------------------
From: ray.mcguigan@ashe.cs.tcd.ie (Ray Mc Guigan)
Subject: Computer-Telephony Integration
Organization: Trinity College Dublin
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 14:31:03 GMT
A friend has a number of queries relating to computer-telephone
integration.
Specifically: Were IBM the first company to link a computer to a
switch when in 1969 they linked their PABX 2750 to mainframes?
Does anyone have the technical details of these links and any information
on the types of applications which used them?
Any general references to Computer-Telephony Integration would be greatly
appreciated. Please reply to email if possible.
Thanks,
Ray Mc Guigan ray.mcguigan@ashe.cs.tcd.ie
Dept of Computer Science Tel: (+ 353 1) 702 2361
Trinity College, Dublin. Fax: (+ 353 1) 677 2204
Republic of Ireland
------------------------------
From: weisingr@netcom.com (Richard Weisinger)
Subject: Network Sources of Telephony
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 14:55:22 GMT
I'm looking for more information about Computer Telephony. Although a
lot of the topics which show up in this group are related, I was
wondering if someone could point me towards other sources.
Thanks,
Dick Weisinger weisingr@netcom.com
------------------------------
From: jsw@ivgate.omahug.org (Jack Winslade)
Subject: Long Distance CLID is Here
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 00:12:54 CST
I had quite a surprise today when I was looking over the CLID log. I
saw an entry of 513-247-xxxx. This is, of course, here in Omaha on
the 402-896 prefix.
I recognized the caller's name and number as being correct, so I can
assume that LD CLID is now working in some cases over some LD carriers.
About nine months ago on a CO tour, the CO tech said that this feature
would be coming shortly. This is the first time I have actually seen
this in action.
Good day,
JSW
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In Chicago we have had inter-LATA
Caller-ID on an intermittent basis for about a year. It is sent here
by some exchanges in other cities, but not by all or even a majority
yet. Minneapolis comes to mind as one place where I've seen it a lot.
Area code 612 numbers show up here when I get those calls. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #20
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Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 00:43:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401100643.AA01277@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #21
TELECOM Digest Mon, 10 Jan 94 00:43:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 21
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: California ANI Question (Clive D.W. Feather)
Re: California ANI Question (Ed Ellers)
Re: California ANI Question (Jon Edelson)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (Michael P. Deignan)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (ssatchell@bix.com)
Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (Dave Levenson)
Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (Gib Henry)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Mark Brader)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Lars Poulsen)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Clarence Dold)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Laurence Chiu)
Re: Federal Telemarketing Laws (John Palmer)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Scott Dorsey)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (John R. Levine)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Dave Niebuhr)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 20:47:10 GMT
From: Clive D.W. Feather <clive@sco.COM>
In TELECOM Digest: Volume 14, Issue 17, Message 5 of 15, Jon Edelson
says:
> For a small monthly fee, your 800 calls will go through, but _you_
will have to pay for them.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do this already. You simply
> dial the regular ten digit number for the person or company; you pay
> for the call; everyone is happy. PAT]
SCREAM.
Some of us would *love* to be able to call US 800 numbers and pay for
the calls. Or have a way to find out the POTS number. Even in UK-only
publications, I *still* see US companies only quoting their 800
numbers.
Clive D.W. Feather | Santa Cruz Operation
clive@sco.com | Croxley Centre
Phone: +44 923 816 344 | Hatters Lane, Watford
Fax: +44 923 817 688 | WD1 8YN, United Kingdom
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But those are stupid companies run by
stupid people. Why would you want to purchase any of their stupid
products? Anyone who cannot figure out that they have to provide a
valid dialing sequence for the location in which their advertising
appears deserves to lose whatever money they spent on the adverts.
If you must begin your relationship with some firm by fighting with
them trying to figure out how to reach them, then find someone else
to do business with. Lots of companies in this country are run by
intelligent people and many are run by stupid people. Choose to do
business with the former. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Ed Ellers <EDELLERS@delphi.com>
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 16:33:28 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
So what if a given state orders telcos to allow per-call blocking on
800 calls using the same code (*67 or whatever) as is used for Caller
ID?
Ed Ellers, KD4AWQ
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is a moot point simply because the
state cannot issue such a directive. They lack the jurisdiction to do
so. Individual states do not control interstate commerce or communica-
tions. I suspect most telcos would simply refuse to implement this. PAT]
------------------------------
From: winnie@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Jon Edelson)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 05:38:03 GMT
In article <telecom14.17.5@eecs.nwu.edu> winnie@flagstaff.princeton.
edu (Jon Edelson) writes:
> [About paying for 800 number calls]
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do this already. You simply
> dial the regular ten digit number for the person or company; you pay
> for the call; everyone is happy. PAT]
Actually this has already come up in the context of international
callers who cannot use the 800 service. Some companies would publish
_only_ their 800 numbers, and thus reduce the value of your
suggestion. I suppose that most folk have wised up to the fact that
some customers cannot or will not use the 800 service, and provide
both 800 and regular numbers in their ads.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: See my earlier message. The companies
which cannot figure this out don't deserve your patronage. PAT]
------------------------------
From: md@maxcy2.maxcy.brown.edu (Michael P. Deignan)
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 15:44:31 GMT
hummes@osf.org (Jakob Hummes) writes:
> Yes, it is. But there is an absolute limit (Shannon's Law). The
> question was about the transmission over a *real* phone line. And that
> means there exists *noise*. The limit of bps is proportional to the
> logarithm of the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately I don't remember
> the constant factors.
You are correct. Shannon's Law is defined as C=W * LOG [1 + (P/N)]
2
Where P is the power in watts of the signal through the channel, N is
the power in watts of the noise out of the channel, and W is the
bandwidth of the channel in hertz.
One typical values for a voice-grade analog circuit are: W=3000hz,
P=.0001 watts (-10dBm), N=.0000004 watts (-34dBm). This would yield:
C = 3000 * Log2(1+250) = ~24,000 bits per second.
Due to the nature of the Log function, its easier to increase the
value of C more easily by increasing the value of W , rather than P or
N.
Michael P. Deignan
Population Studies & Training Center
Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI 02912
(401) 863-7284
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX)
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Date: 8 Jan 94 18:55:38 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
Actually, if you really want to find out how the Hayes Optima 288 and
the GDC V.F modems work, get Draft Recommendation V.34 ...
------------------------------
From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP
Organization: Westmark, Inc.
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 03:02:29 GMT
In article <telecom14.15.6@eecs.nwu.edu>, psw@carillon.mitre.org (Phil
Wherry) writes:
> The talk about automatic cellular call delivery raises an interesting
> question: under what circumstances can a cellular telephone transmit
> when "on-hook." The response to a poll (ring) message is one obvious
> example where this happens -- what are the others?
The cell site can send a mobile audit request -- basically a 'ping'
of a mobile unit which does not result in a ring.
The cell site typically sends an autonomous registration request
message from time to time, causing all mobile units which receive it
to respond. Roamers and home-system mobiles are addressed separately
for this one.
This is one of the ways in which the system attempts to keep track
of which mobiles are turned on, and where they are ... so it knows
where to page them in case it has in incoming call.
Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com
Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857
------------------------------
From: gibhenry@cscns.com (Gib Henry)
Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP
Organization: Community_News_Service
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 15:13:12 GMT
In article <telecom14.12.10@eecs.nwu.edu>, peter.gregory@asix.com (Peter
Gregory) wrote:
> The secret is this: as soon as you turned on your phone in Austin, the
> local switch picked up your ESN; when a local database lookup failed,
> it requested your profile from the main database, which was then sent
> to the local switch.
Whooh! This has some scary implications of the Big Brother variety!
If Cellular One keeps this info, it could be a real invasion of
privacy.
Gib Henry
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now come on and try to be for real!
What do you expect the rest of us to do who roam, manage somehow
to get by when a call is made to us while the switches fumble around
at some later point trying to exchange information? If you think
this is such a darned invasion of your privacy then either quit
roaming, don't turn on your phone (when roaming) until you get ready
to originate a call, or get out of cellular altogether. Exactly what
do you find so 'scary' about cellular companies attempting to coord-
inate with each other in an effecient way? PAT]
------------------------------
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 20:26:05 GMT
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: ... If you mean 800 (toll free
> numbers), the answer is that generally you cannot call them from
> outside the USA. Most of the subscribers to 800 service only pay to
> accept calls from places inside the USA.
As has often been pointed out, this is only half an answer. The caller
might be willing to pay for an overseas call, after all. And the other
half of the answer is that even in if you're willing to pay, you *still*
can't do it. As was noted,
> ... One exception to this is that you can call the 'home direct'
> services of the various carriers and some of these carriers will
> handle it so that you pay for a call to the USA and the 800 subscriber
> on this end pays only for the portion of the call which is in the USA.
> You need to match carrier with 800 number...
But as I understand it, this requires you to have a USA phone number
yourself, so that it can be billed to. Is that still true?
Actually, in all of the foregoing, "USA" should read "USA and/or
Canada, as appropriate for the particular number". Some 800-numbers
in each country can be called from the other in the usual way. In
fact, some can *only* be called from the other country.
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You can get a calling card from some
carriers like AT&T without having a phone in the USA, and use that
for 'home direct' style calls. PAT]
------------------------------
From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 22:53:39 GMT
In article <telecom14.18.2@eecs.nwu.edu> MAARUF ALI <UDEE740@bay.cc.
kcl.ac.uk> writes:
> Could someone please tell me how to phone US 0800 numbers from the UK?
The short, general answer is "You can't get there from here !!"
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We do not have '0800' numbers. If you
> mean 800 (toll free numbers), the answer is that generally you cannot
> call them from outside the USA. Most of the subscribers to 800 service
> only pay to accept calls from places inside the USA.
> If you otherwise see (in advertising or whatever) a number in the
> USA marked 800-something, you *cannot* call it from outside the USA
> under normal conditions. They don't want to accept your call and have
> to pay for it. One exception to this is that you can call the 'home
> direct' services of the various carriers and some of these carriers
> will handle it so that you pay for a call to the USA and the 800
> subscriber on this end pays only for the portion of the call which is
> in the USA. You need to match carrier with 800 number for this
> however; the carrier of the 800 number is the carrier who's 'home
> direct' service you need to connect with, *and not all of them will do
> this*, although I think AT&T and MCI will. PAT]
1) There is no way that a customer in a foreign country can find out
which carrier services a particular (800) number.
2) Only the "big three" carriers have "home direct" services.
3) All of the people asking this question are quire willing to pay
USD 5.00 + USD 1.50/minute (or whatever the operator-assisted rate is)
to talk to these companies (who then will often gladly leave the call
on hold for 5 to 15 minutes before answering it.
About ten years ago, AMerican industry started telling people, that
for our own good, they were moving manufacturing to South East Asia.
The American workforce would henceforth be retrained for jobs in:
(a) Service
(b) Development and Engineering
(c) Sales and Marketing
In the meantime, the marketing departments of America's "Fortune 500"
companies are now staffed with people who have difficulty thinking
straight (to put it VERY politely). How else can I describe my
experience last October, when I was attending a large international
trade show in Paris with 400 American companies displaying their
products to 23,000 visitors, and many of them were handing out product
data sheets with only an 800-number for contact information? A dozen
(American) trade magazines had printed special editions for the show,
filled with glossy color ads and press releases, which generally had
only the company name (no mailing address, no city name) and an 800
number?
Given that the IXCs fall down on their face and refuse to route calls
to these numbers, I have only two pieces of advice:
I. To the customers: Don't buy anything from a company that has
an "International Marketing Manager" who orders up such ads.
If they treat customers this way in the "buttering-up" phase, how
will they treat you after the sale ?
II. To the telecom gang: There should be a business opportunity in
setting up a (toll restricted) call diverter line to route calls
to 800-numbers. Maybe make the caller listen to a 30 second blurb
for TelePassport before giving them a dial tone good only for 800
numbers, or for long distance calls paid for with Orance cards.
(Which "home direct" service will accept calls from Europe for
800-numbers served by Orange ?)
In light of the inflammatory content above, I should explicitly say
that my employer, Rockwell International is very unlikely to agree
with these opinions!
Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM
CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Bravo! Bravo! You are absolutely
correct. They spend *millions of dollars* in advertising with all
sorts of glossy full page ads then are too stupid to include a phone
number people can call. To heck with them! I hope their stupidity
causes them to go into bankruptcy and close their doors. To Clive
and others: don't worry about the fact that you cannot call these
idiots. So what! As Lars says, if this is how they act when you are
a new prospect, how will they act when you are an old customer? PAT]
------------------------------
From: dold@rahul.net (Clarence Dold)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Organization: a2i network
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 22:35:11 GMT
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We do not have '0800' numbers. If you
> the call which is in the USA. You need to match carrier with 800 number
With portable 800 numbers, that strikes me as being nearly
impossible, short of calling the company on its regular business line,
and asking what their long distance carrier is. And while you're on
the line, you might as well ask them whatever you wanted in the first
place ;-)
Clarence A Dold - dold@rahul.net
- Milpitas (near San Jose) & Napa CA.
------------------------------
From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Date: 9 Jan 1994 20:24:15 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California
Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com
In article <telecom14.18.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, MAARUF ALI wrote:
> Could someone please tell me how to phone US 0800 numbers from the UK?
MCI will, but AT&T will only connect you if it's their 800 number. I
don't know about MCI.
Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California
Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com
------------------------------
From: jp@tygra.Michigan.COM (John Palmer)
Subject: Re: Federal Telemarketing Laws
Organization: John Palmer's Private Box
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 20:37:50 GMT
In article <telecom14.15.9@eecs.nwu.edu> johnl@iecc.com (John R
Levine) writes:
>> I just read through the archives from late 1991 looking for info on
>> congressional action regarding automated telemarketing.
> The current {Privacy Journal} has a lead article entitled "Can the
> telemarketers' autodialers be controlled at all?". It details court
> action all over the country against both the federal law and 22
> similar state laws. Judges in Oregon and New Jersey found such laws
> to be an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech, while in
> Minnesota it was upheld.
> The issue appears to be that restrictions on time, place, and manner
> of speech are OK, while restrictions on content are not. The federal
> law permits the FCC to exempt some types of calls such as random
> surveys and political calls, but that's a content distinction.
> Presumably a law that outlawed all unsolicited robot dialing would be
> constitutional. We can only hope.
Thats probably why the NSFNet's Acceptable Use Policy is widely held
to be unconstitutional. The part which says that "no commercial use
allowed" restricts speech based on content. Last I heard, the
attorneys general from nine states (MI included) have given opinions
that the policy is unenforcible. Its really a moot point since the
policy is going away in the spring anyhow, last I heard.
------------------------------
From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Date: 9 Jan 1994 02:08:51 GMT
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center and Reptile Farm
In article <telecom14.19.8@eecs.nwu.edu> pribik@rpi.edu (Chris
Labatt-Simon) writes:
> I have a friend in Islip (Nassau County) who has touchtone. I though
> this was a capability that was in all switches manufactured in the
> last umpteen (how much is an umpteen anyway?) years, and that if a
> customer wanted pulse service, the phone company had to disable
> touchtone. Anyone? Anyone?
We got it last year when they upgraded our crossbar to some sort of
1ESS system. I figure we should have ISDN here some time around 2030,
if the installation of other features is any example. This is in
southern VA.
scott
------------------------------
From: pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Date: 9 Jan 1994 18:37:29 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA
pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon) writes:
> I have a friend in Islip (Nassau County) who has touchtone. I though
> this was a capability that was in all switches manufactured in the
> last umpteen (how much is an umpteen anyway?) years, and that if a
> customer wanted pulse service, the phone company had to disable
> touchtone. Anyone? Anyone?
Oops ... my mistake. Islip is in Suffolk County. How about Garden
City? Anyone? Anyone?
Chris Labatt-Simon Internet: pribik@rpi.edu
Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting CIS: 73542,2601
Albany, New York
PHONE: (518) 495-5474 FAX: (518) 786-6539
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 12:31 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> Of course, the biggies (Compu$erve, Plodigy, etc.) will have 800
> numbers and just pass the cost along ...
Unlikely. An 800 number costs at rock bottom ten cents a minute,
while message rates are usually more like two cents. Even with
metered local service, calling direct is considerably cheaper.
Note that in New York City, the calls are metered, but local calls are
charged one unit (about a dime) per call, no matter how long the call
is. If ever there were a rate plan that favors modem users, that's
it.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 19:06:23 EST
From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
In TELECOM Digest V14 #19 oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) writes:
> In <telecom14.17.7@eecs.nwu.edu> Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov>
> writes:
>> Dave Niebuhr <dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov> in TELECOM Digest V14 #15:
>>> NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been
>>> ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50
>>> per month which is still not enough.
>> Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me
>> the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at
>> his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York,
>> telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible.
This might not be relevant but what type of phone does he have?
Rotary or tone dial?
> I don't know the situation now, but a few years ago a friend in
> Westbury had three lines in the house, one of which was a 516-333.
> The 516-333 had been in place for a decade or more, and he kept it
> because it was a flat-rate line -- no charge for local calls.
Flat Rate is available to all residence customers and maybe some small
businesses.
pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon) writes:
> I have a friend in Islip (Nassau County) who has touchtone. I though
Nope and Carl Moore is bound to comment on it; Islip is in Suffolk
County.
> this was a capability that was in all switches manufactured in the
> last umpteen (how much is an umpteen anyway?) years, and that if a
> customer wanted pulse service, the phone company had to disable
> touchtone. Anyone? Anyone?
There has never been a choice of pulse, rotary and tone; just the
latter two. According to NYTel, the standard offering is rotary only
with a surcharge for tone even though most, if not all, lines can
handle tone quite nicely.
I intend to call the business office next week and make an attempt to
find out if 516-333 is tone enabled which I think it is. I seem to
remember that 516-333 was mentioned in the first deployment of SS7
which, at least to me, means that it has either a DMS-100 or a 5ESS
switch and is able to handle either touch tone or rotary dialing.
I also find it hard to believe that tone isn't deployed in that
exchange since tone has been around on Long Island since 1965 or
before.
Here are the exchanges in the 33X series for Area Code 516:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-------------------------------------------------------------
33X | |PtJef|GdnCy|<----Westbury--->|Hksvl|GdnCy|Wstby| |
Code: PtJef - Port Jefferson; Hksvl - Hicksville (a small tale here);
GdnCy - Garden City.
Note that all except 331 are in Nassau County and all are next door so
to speak from each other and there are a plethora of businesses and
government offices is that area. I don't think that they'd put up
with rotary only dialing.
Dave Niebuhr Internet: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (preferred)
niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl
Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility
Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #21
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Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 01:12:08 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401100712.AA26428@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #22
TELECOM Digest Mon, 10 Jan 94 01:12:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 22
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
List of Country Codes (David Leibold)
Bizarre Cordless Behavior (Linc Madison)
Dr. Vint Cerf Joins MCI (Dan L. Dale)
Old Telephones Wanted (Jay Hennigan)
Radio Modem Help Wanted (John Michael Pierobon)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (Richard Masoner)
Re: Best Remote Software? (Richard A. De Castro)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John R. Levine)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Erik Thomas Mueller)
Re: Rate of Change (Michael Jacobs)
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Bill Halverson)
Re: "Dynamic" SLIP (John R. Levine)
One Way of Dealing With Obscene Calls (alt.shenanigans via Elana Beach)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 18:56:49 -0500
From: djcl@io.org
Subject: List of Country Codes
Here is an updated list of country codes used in international
dialing; errors/additions/corrections can be sent to:
dleibold1@attmail.com or djcl@io.org. Notes indicated by bracketed
numbers are found after the code listings.
Country Codes Summary 8 January 1994
0 - (no country codes begin with '0')
1 - North America (Canada, USA including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands,
Jamaica, Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands,
British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Dominican
Republic, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Christopher and Nevis,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Bequia, Mustique,
Prune (Palm) Island, Union Island)
(Trinidad and Tobago [1])
20 - Egypt
210 - (reserved Morocco)
211 - (reserved Morocco)
212 - Morocco
213 - Algeria
214 - (reserved Algeria)
215 - (reserved Algeria)
216 - Tunisia
217 - (reserved Tunisia)
218 - Libya
219 - (reserved Libya)
220 - Gambia
221 - Senegal
222 - Mauritania
223 - Mali
224 - Guinea
225 - Cote d'Ivoire
226 - Burkina Faso
227 - Niger
228 - Togolese Republic
229 - Benin
230 - Mauritius
231 - Liberia
232 - Sierra Leone
233 - Ghana
234 - Nigeria
235 - Chad
236 - Central African Rep
237 - Cameroon
238 - Cape Verde
239 - Sao Tome & Principe
240 - Equatorial Guinea
241 - Gabonese Republic
242 - Congo
243 - Zaire
244 - Angola
245 - Guinea-Bissau
246 - Diego-Garcia
247 - Ascension
248 - Seychelles
249 - Sudan
250 - Rwandese Republic
251 - Ethiopia
252 - Somalia
253 - Djibouti
254 - Kenya
255 - Tanzania [2]
256 - Uganda
257 - Burundi
258 - Mozambique
259 - Zanzibar [2]
260 - Zambia
261 - Madagascar
262 - Reunion (France)
263 - Zimbabwe
264 - Namibia
265 - Malawi
266 - Lesotho
267 - Botswana
268 - Swaziland
269 - Comoros & Mayotte
27 - South Africa
290 - St Helena [3]
291 - Eritrea [4]
295 - San Marino [5]
296 - Trinidad/Tobago [6]
297 - Aruba [7]
298 - Faroe Islands [8]
299 - Greenland [9]
30 - Greece
31 - Netherlands
32 - Belgium
33 - Andorra, France, Monaco [10]
34 - Spain
350 - Gibraltar
351 - Portugal
352 - Luxembourg
353 - Eire (Irish Rep)
354 - Iceland
355 - Albania
356 - Malta
357 - Cyprus
358 - Finland
359 - Bulgaria
36 - Hungary
37 - East Germany [11]
370 - Lithuania [12]
371 - Latvia [12]
372 - Estonia [12]
373 - Moldova [12]
38 - Yugoslavia [13]
381 - Serbia and Montenegro (former Yugoslav areas not otherwise assigned) [13]
385 - Croatia [13]
386 - Slovenia [13]
387 - Bosnia [13]
389 - Macedonia [13]
39 - Italy, San Marino, Vatican City [14]
40 - Romania
41 - Switzerland, Liechtenstein [15]
42 - Czech & Slovak Republics
43 - Austria
44 - United Kingdom
45 - Denmark
46 - Sweden
47 - Norway
48 - Poland
49 - Germany
500 - Falkland Islands
501 - Belize
502 - Guatemala
503 - El Salvador
504 - Honduras
505 - Nicaragua
506 - Costa Rica
507 - Panama
508 - St Pierre & Miquelon
509 - Haiti
51 - Peru
52 - Mexico
53 - Cuba [16]
54 - Argentina
55 - Brazil
56 - Chile
57 - Colombia
58 - Venezuela
590 - Guadeloupe [17]
591 - Bolivia
592 - Guyana
593 - Ecuador
594 - Guiana (French)
595 - Paraguay
596 - Martinique [18]
597 - Suriname
598 - Uruguay
599 - Netherlands Antilles [19]
60 - Malaysia
61 - Australia
62 - Indonesia
63 - Philippines
64 - New Zealand
65 - Singapore
66 - Thailand
670 - Marianna Isl. [20]
671 - Guam
672 - Australian Territories: Antartica, Christmas, Cocos, Norfolk Islands
673 - Brunei Darussalm
674 - Nauru
675 - Papua New Guinea
676 - Tonga
677 - Solomon Islands
678 - Vanuatu [21]
679 - Fiji Islands
680 - Palau
681 - Wallis & Fortuna
682 - Cook Islands
683 - Niue Island
684 - American Samoa
685 - Western Samoa
686 - Kiribati, Gilbert Is
687 - New Caldonia
688 - Tuvalu, Ellice Is (Saipan?)
689 - French Polynesia
690 - Tokelan
691 - F.S. of Micronesia
692 - Marshall Islands
7 - CIS nations, Baltic Republics, otherwise former USSR countries
800 - (see note [25])
81 - Japan
82 - South Korea
84 - Vietnam
850 - North Korea
852 - Hong Kong
853 - Macao
855 - Cambodia
856 - Laos
86 - China
870 - (apparently unassigned, reserved for Maritime Mobile service)
871 - Inmarsat (Atl E) [22]
872 - Inmarsat (Pacific)
873 - Inmarsat (Indian)
874 - Inmarsat (Atl. W) [22]
875 - (apparently unassigned, reserved for Maritime Mobile service)
876 - (apparently unassigned, reserved for Maritime Mobile service)
877 - (apparently unassigned, reserved for Maritime Mobile service)
878 - reserved [23]
879 - reserved [23]
880 - Bangladesh [24]
886 - Taiwan [24]
90 - Turkey
91 - India
92 - Pakistan
93 - Afghanistan
94 - Sri Lanka
95 - Myanmar (Burma)
960 - Maldives
961 - Lebanon
962 - Jordan
963 - Syria
964 - Iraq
965 - Kuwait
966 - Saudi Arabia
967 - Yemen Arab Rep
968 - Oman
969 - Yemen Dem Rep [26]
971 - United Arab Emirates
972 - Israel
973 - Bahrain
974 - Qatar
976 - Mongolia
977 - Nepal
98 - Iran
994 - Azerbaijan [12]
Notes:
[1] Trinidad and Tobago has been assigned code 296. The date when this
country code will take effect is unknown.
[2] Zanzibar is routed via Tanzania as + 255 54, though the
country code 259 is assigned for Zanzibar.
[3] St Helena is a code found in service under British Telecom.
It may not be an official assignment much as it would be a
hack used by BT to provide overseas service to that point.
[4] Eritrea separated from Ethiopia in 1993 to become a new nation;
until +291 code is in effect, use Ethiopia +251 4.
[5] San Marino will be split from Italy's country code (was 39).
[6] Trinidad and Tobago are new with country code 296, moving out of
North American area code 809 (ie. + 1 809). The date when this
country code takes effect is unknown.
[7] Aruba got its own country code when it formally became independent
of the Netherlands Antilles 1st January 1986.
[8] was under Norway
[9] Greenland (country code 299) is supposed to be in the part of the world
where country codes begin with 3 or 4 (Europe). However, since all those
codes are used up, 299 is as close to 3 or 4 as possible. Country codes
beginning with 5 are also all gone.
[10] Andorra: + 33 628, Monaco: + 33 93
[11] Removed from service as Germany is now one country. New city codes
beginning with 3 under country code 49 are now in use for those
former east German regions.
[12] These are new assignments breaking away from country code 7
(former USSR). Other countries from the CIS or those republics
formerly with the Soviet Union, could have new country codes
of the form 37x or 9xx soon.
[13] Effective 1st October 1993 former Yugoslavia country code 38 was
split up into country codes of the form 38x representing the
various nations formed from the breakup of Yugoslavia.
(Information courtesy teletext of German TV ARD and ZDF as relayed
by Thomas Diessel (diessel@informatik.unibw-muenchen.de)).
[14] San Marino: + 39 549 (formerly +39 541), but moving to country code
295 at some unknown date. Vatican City: + 39 66982
[15] Liechtenstein: + 41 75
[16] Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base: + 53 99, a special hack dialable from USA
[17] includes French Antilles: St Barthelemy, St Martin, Guadeloupe
[18] should now be onlyu Martinique; was all of French Antilles
[19] includes Saint Maarten, Saba, Statia, Curacao, Bonaire
[20] that is, Northern Mariana Islands, or Saipan
[21] or New Hebrides
[22] 874 is a new assignment as INMARSAT is putting a fourth satellite
region into service, and adjusting its zones accordingly. This is to
allow for new land-based services on the INMARSAT network, particularly
in North America. 874 will become Atlantic Ocean Region West, while
871 will be for Atlantic Ocean Region East.
[23] Reserved for national mobile/maritime uses in various countries
[24] By CCITT policy, no more country codes of the 880-889 series are
supposed to be assigned until all other country codes beginning
with 8 have been taken. 886 for Taiwan is an unofficial code used
for access to Taiwan. The "People's Republic of China", on the
other hand, has assigned Taiwan access via country code 866
(presumably + 86 6, through China).
[25] There is some discussion in CCITT circles that the 800 country
code could be established as an international-access toll free
service. This is subject to a formal proposal and CCITT approval,
however.
[26] with the unification of the Yemen republics, it appears that this
country code will no longer be needed, as 967 Yemen Arab Republic
code will likely take over. In the meantime, the dialing procedures
remain as if Yemen were still separate countries, at least until
the telephone system can be unified.
------------------------------
From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison)
Subject: Bizarre cordless behavior
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 09:41:51 GMT
I have for about four or five months now had a cordless phone, a
Southwestern Bell Freedom Fone Model FF1185, ten channels, two lines,
"digital security code," etc.
I'm mostly happy with it, but there are a couple of problems.
(1) There is excessive bounce in the keypad. I had to take the first
unit back because I misdialed at least 75% of all attempts. The new
unit is not so bad, but still has bad problems with the '2' key.
(2) It has ten channels, but doesn't do any sort of "automatic channel
selection" or anything like that.
By far worst of all, though:
(3) Sometimes, when I press the "change channel" button, if my
neighbor (in the same apartment building) happens to be using her
cordless phone, *she* gets connected to my call while *my* handset is
frozen out. I don't know what happens to any call she is on or is
attempting. This has happened three times so far. What usually
happens is that I hear a click on the line (the other person usually
assumes it's my call-waiting) and then the static gets progressively
worse. I press "channel" to try to get a better connection, and get
dumped. This is EXTREMELY annoying.
Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 16:36 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com>
Subject: Dr. Vint Cerf Joins MCI
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ via First! -- MCI today announced
Vinton Cerf, well-known in telecommunications and academic circles as
a data visionary, has rejoined the company to serve as senior vice
president of data architecture for the Data Services Division. Cerf,
who was with the company in the early 80's, will be responsible for
developing the network architecture of MCI's future data services, as
well as the development of a common framework in which data, voice and
video services can be delivered to businesses and consumers with equal
ease.
Cerf, 50, co-developed the computer networking protocol, TCP/IP,
widely used in the industry and for communications between the diverse
university, government and commercial data networks, known collectively
as the Internet. He also has served as president of the Internet Society
since 1992.
"As we further develop networkMCI, the company's recently announced
strategic vision, and the new generation of services that businesses,
consumers and governments will want, we need the best minds available
to help lead these efforts," said Richard T. Liebhaber, MCI's chief
strategy and technology officer. "Vint is one of the leading
architects of what we know as public data networking today, as well as
a major contributor to the development of technologies needed for a
national information infrastructure."
"We're very pleased someone like Vint will help MCI drive a new
generation of data services as we move into the 21st century," said
Liebhaber.
Cerf joins MCI from the Corporation for National Research
Initiatives (CNRI) where he has served as vice president since 1986,
conducting national research efforts on information infrastructure
technologies with CNRI's president, Robert E. Kahn (also co-inventor
of TCP/IP).
Prior to this, Cerf was vice president of MCI Digital Information
Services and served as the chief engineer of MCI Mail from 1982 to
1986, working with MCI's J. Robert Harcharik, creator of MCI Mail and
currently general manager of MCI's Data Services Division.
Cerf also has played a major role in sponsoring the development of
Internet-related data packet technologies during his stint with the
Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) from
1976 to 1982. He served on the Stanford University faculty in the
computer science and electrical engineering departments and worked on
the ARPA network development at UCLA during the late 60s and early
70s. At MCI, Cerf will again team with Harcharik under the recently
formed Data Services Division based in Dallas.
The division is charged with the development, engineering,
operations and marketing of all MCI data services and is part of MCI's
organization devoted to harnessing emerging technologies into
applicable services under Liebhaber.
These include MCI's virtual data services called HyperStream, which
will include asychronous transfer mode (ATM) technology-based services
MCI plans to deliver under networkMCI in the future.
MCI, headquartered in Washington, offers a full range of domestic
and global telecommunications services through one of the world's
largest state- of-the-art networks. With 1992 revenue of more than
$10 billion, the company is the second largest long distance provider
in the United States and has more than 65 offices in 55 countries and
places.
------------------------------
From: jay@coyote.rain.org (Jay Hennigan)
Subject: Old Telephones Wanted
Date: 8 Jan 1994 10:01:46 -0800
Organization: Regional Access Information Network
I'm looking for repair parts or collectors groups of old telephones.
In particular, I have a brass Western Electric candlestick phone which
is missing the steel diaphragm from the receiver. The phone has
patent dates of Jan 26, 15 - Jan 1, 18 - May 7, 18 - Sept 21, 20 on
the base and 329W on the transmitter. Also have a Kellogg candlestick
in need of a baseplate. A source of the woven jacket cordage used in
the old days would be nice as well.
Reply here or e-mail jay@rain.org. I will summarize all responses.
Jay Hennigan jay@rain.org Santa Barbara CA
------------------------------
From: pierobon@gate.net (John Michael Pierobon)
Subject: Radio Modem Help Wanted
Date: 8 Jan 1994 14:15:58 -0500
Organization: Cybergate, Inc.
Hello,
I am trying to set up a communication link to a hub from a remote part
of South America.
Here is the problem. My computer, or home base, is located in a place
where telephones do not reach. Neither celullar nor wire can be
strung to reach this place. Therefore, my only option to transfer
data is via a "radio modem". A friend of mine suggested I look into
this, but he was not able to provide me with more information. Where
can I get additional information on "radio modems"?
Thank you.
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Date: 9 Jan 1994 17:34:49 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.16.3@eecs.nwu.edu> V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
writes:
> oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) wrote:
>> In some states the steps the moderator describes are exactly right. In
>> New York, things are a little different. Telco is obligated to provide
>> a network interface jack (if that is what you want) *in your apartment*,
>> for a price that is fixed -- unaffected by how long it takes to do.
>> This is the case regardless of whether their records show a previous
>> second line in your apartment; all that changes is the amount of the
>> fixed price. Last I checked the cost for your situation (where they
>> claim there was never a second line) is $88.
> It's $88, but if there aren't any more terminals on the pole they will
> charge you an extra $30 to $50 (depending on the work needed) to add
> that extra line terminal to the pole. This is information from the
> technicians and the business office here in Binghamton, NY.
I find this very interesting, since it goes against what I understood
the New York State PSC policy to be. I was under the impression that
if you order a Network Interface Jack (you have to be sure not to call
it a "regular phone jack") the cost is fixed. In particular, that no
matter what work turned out to be necessary between the NIJ and the
phone company central office, that work was being done for the same
fixed $88. If you can describe this a little more fully (in the
newsgroup or via email) I would find it most interesting. And if
others in New York have been through this exercise and been charged
something other than the fixed-price $88 for the NIJ I would be
delighted to hear about it.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
From: cendata!richardm@uunet.UU.NET (Richard Masoner)
Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas
Organization: Central Data Corp., Champaign, IL
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 21:24:36 GMT
In article <telecom14.10.3@eecs.nwu.edu> kindred@telesciences.com
(David L Kindred) writes:
> My parents lived in the SWB part of the Dallas area a few years ago.
> During the time they lived there, the dialing requirements not only
> varied due to area code and "localness", but also by whether the
> "other" phone company was involved. I don't remember the particulars,
> but dialing a local SWB-SWB call was different than dialing a local
> SWB-GTE call. As I recall, you needed at least ten, if not eleven
> digits, to call a GTE 214xxxxxxx number from a SWB 214xxxxxxx number,
> even if the call was to the next exchange (or next house...).
> Has any of this changed recently?
I just moved from the D/Ft. Worth area last month. I worked in Irving,
which is GTE land (214 area code), and lived in SWB-serviced Euless
(817 area code). To call from home to work, I would dial 214-xxx-xxxx.
To call home from work, I dialed 817-xxx-xxxx. To call from work to
my friends in SWB serviced Watauga (about 20 miles away), I dialed
1-817-xxx-xxxx. I never encountered any difficulty in accessing
phones serviced by different providers. So I guess things have
changed.
Richard F. Masoner Central Data Corporation
1602 Newton Dr., Champaign, IL 61821
------------------------------
From: decastro@netcom.com (Richard A. De Castro)
Subject: Re: Best Remote Software?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 03:10:59 GMT
Joseph Ferguson <JOEJR1@delphi.com> writes:
> I need a reliable remote software program that will actually run
> Windows. I use an Intel 400 at home and at work. Haven't had any luck
> trying PcTools Commute. Do any of these remote programs run Windows?
> Thanks for any suggestions.
Carbon Copy windows -kinda- works. good luck.
decastro@netcom.com Richard A. De Castro
California, North America, Sol-3
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 22:33 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> There already is blocking for 1-579, and 1-976 blocking, ...
> [the leading ``1'' tells you it's toll]
If that theory were correct, nobody would ever complain about 1-900
bills. I think we've found that's not the case.
The problem is that cellular airtime costs a lot more than an in-state
toll call, the former being on the order of 50 cents per minute, the
latter more like 15 cents per minute.
> This would have prevented -- or at least lessened -- the New York pager
> scam, and can reduce the problems with 976 numbers.
Hardly. I know I can call any place in the country for 25 cents per
minute or less, except for surcharged numbers. Some of the 212-540
numbers cost $40 for the first minute. The problem isn't free calls
vs. non-free calls, it's cheap normal calls vs. expensive abnormal
calls. (In New York, for example, no calls are free, since you are
charged at least one message unit for every local call.) The 579
prefix costs significantly more to call than any normal Colorado
prefix and callers are going to find that out the hard way and
complain.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't think the complaint people make
about 1-900 is that there is a charge; I think it is because a lot of
900 numbers charge *so much*. PAT]
------------------------------
From: etm@email.teaser.com (Erik Thomas Mueller)
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 17:46:00 GMT
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
In article <telecom14.7.16@eecs.nwu.edu> mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk
writes:
>> But then some French idiots came up with a stupid numbering system...
By the way, note that the current numbering plan in France is scheduled
to be replaced in 1995 by the uniform NPA + 8D where NPA =
1 Ile-de-France (Paris, ...)
2 Northeast France
3 Southeast France
4 Southwest France
5 Northwest France
Dialing instructions: Within an area code: 8D. To another area code:
0+NPA+8D.
To another country: 00+.
(Information is from "numero s'il vous plait" by Claude Perardel, a history
of French numbering plans available from the huge Musee de
Telecommunications, Pleumeur-Bodou, Cote-d'Armor, France).
By the way, I'm posting this message from a Minitel. Everyone in France now
has USENET and Internet mail access via 3617 EMAIL on the Minitel. A Minitel
costs about $3.50/month. ISDN is available everywhere. Plus we also have
Bibop!
Erik Thomas Mueller Internet: etm@email.teaser.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 00:04:09 EDT
From: Michael Jacobs <JMT0@LAFAYACS.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Rate of Change
Gordon Palameta's comments regarding the complex interactions of
technological change and society are right on the mark. Too often we
forget that the history of our civilization is a history of
technological progress. Triggering factors result in widespread and
substantial change. Mr. Palameta described several such factors in
his article.
To understand the significance of events occurring today, and their
potential significance as triggering factors for tomorrow's progress,
we must understand the significance of past events that catalyzed the
progress that resulted in today's world.
Historically, incremental developments in the communication arts have
resulted in revolutionary changes in our society. The invention of
language is credited with being a causal factor for the development of
society. Paper resulted in a the first indirect communications
medium, and allowed the development of modern religions. Medieval
church mail services offered the first reliable widespread
communications services and Guttenburg's invention of movable type
certainly caused revolution- ary change as did the Morse telegraph,
Bell's telephone, Marconi's radio, etc.
So too, will the changes in computer/telephone/video communications
result in changes which we can only speculate about, with the near-
certainty that our speculations will be wrong.
James Burke's excellent series "Connections", shown occaisionaly on
the Learning Channel and the companion book illustrate this point
exquisitely, and is reccommended highly to anyone interested in
understanding how progress really affects society.
------------------------------
From: wjhalv1@pacbell.com
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Date: 9 Jan 94 18:56:44 GMT
Organization: Pacific * Bell
In article <telecom14.10.12@eecs.nwu.edu>, <LEO@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
writes:
> Sirs: I'm a tech with Brown University in Providence RI. My question
> is basic, yet important to our work here at Brown, perhaps you may be
> able to give me some direction to obtain the answers.
> 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable?
Within the USA, these two services are considered to be "complementary",
in the sense they can coexist within a network.
> 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
> still operating at SW-56?
In California, Pacific Bell is offering both ISDN and SW-56. Since
the service is hardware dependent, the prefix you get from the phone
company will determine whether the switch you receive dialtone from
provides either or both service.
Here is an 800 number you can call to find out what is available in
our service territory:
800-995-0346
You need a touch-tone phone. You will be able to find out what kind
of service is available based on the NPANXX combination you enter.
Hope this helps!
Bill Halverson Pacific Bell
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 12:54 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: "Dynamic" SLIP
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
SLIP is simply a way of passing packets back and forth betweeen two IP
network nodes. It doesn't make much sense to talk about multiplexing
it, since IP already does all of the multiplexing you need. With a
SLIP link, at a particular moment either you're connected or you
aren't.
You may be thinking about the distinction between hard-wired and
dial-up SLIP. In the latter case, you typically dial into a terminal
server, enter the password, then give a SLIP command. The server
assigns you an IP address from a pool it has for SLIP users, tells you
what it is, and away you go. The better PC TCP/IP SLIP implementations
recognize the message with the IP address and automatically update
their tables, so it's all pretty much automatic.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: elana@netcom.com (Elana Beach)
Subject: A Good Way to Deal With Obscene Calls
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 07:13:17 GMT
Sorry I took so long to send this to you, Pat! It's funny as hell in
any case... =8)
-Elana
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
Subject: An Obscene Phone Callers Worst Nightmare!
Message-ID: <4839@heimdall.sdrc.com>
Date: 11 Nov 93 18:53:38 GMT
Reply-To: tracy.schuhwerk@sdrc.com
Organization: Structural Dynamics Research Corporation
I don't know if this qualifies as a "shenanigan" or not, but last
I night had some fun with an obscene phone caller!
Before reading this, I have to tell you that I am a male. Having
the first name Tracy leads to stuff like this happening from time
to time...
[ Some names have been changed to protect the ignorant. ]
The Scene:
3:30 in the morning, my bedroom... last night. I'm dead asleep!
You hear the ringing of a the phone right behind my head on the
head board.
[RING]
Tracy: <Blink> "Huh?"
[RING]
Tracy (picking up the phone): "Hello?"
Mysterious Caller: (In a deep raspy voice) "I want to lick your [fill
in the blanks here]"...
Tracy (mind still fogged with sleep): [Silence]
[Click] The phone hangs up...
Tracy (looking at his caller ID system): "Cool..."
I get up and jot down the phone number... This is where the fun
begins!
Since I am now awake and will need a few minutes to get my blood
pressure back down to somewhat near normal, I decided to have fun
with the obscene caller!
I went down to my PC and fired it up... tossed the US Residential
Phone Book CD ROM for the mid-west into the drive and did a quick
search on the phone number I jotted down from the caller ID.
Within seconds, I had the name and address attached to the number!
Michael Smith, 837 Appletree Lane... Got it... This is going to be
fun!
After jotting down the information, I grab the phone...
[RING]
(A familiar voice answers the phone... it is the person who called me
just minutes before)
Michael: "Hello??"
Tracy (In a well practiced "Voice of Pure Evil"(tm)): "Hello Michael,
remember me? You wanted to lick me..." [CLICK]
(The "VoPE" is best described as James Earl Jones having a "Bad Voice
Day"...)
I waited about 5 minutes... and picked the phone up again...
[RING]
[RING]
Michael: "Uh, Hello??"
Tracy (using the "VoPE" again): "837 Appletree Lane, Michael... I
know where you live!" [CLICK]
One more time... waiting about 5 minutes... I pick up the phone...
[RING]
[RING]
[RING]
Michael (voice a bit shaky): "He... Hello???"
Tracy (once again, the "VoPE"): "I'm coming for you Michael!" <CLICK>
I went back to bed... :-)
I think Michael might have had trouble doing that himself!
Isn't technology GRAND! :-)
-- Tracy Schuhwerk
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #22
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Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 01:43:04 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401100743.AA17780@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #23
TELECOM Digest Mon, 10 Jan 94 01:43:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 23
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Multi-line BBS's (Lars Poulsen)
Re: Multi-line BBS's (Fred R. Goldstein)
Re: Correction: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis (ssatchell@bix.com)
Re: Merlin Question (Christopher Zguris)
Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (Donald J. Miller)
Re: 500 Channel Cable Television (David M. Berman)
Re: 500 Channel Cable Television (sandyron@delphi.com)
Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (Laurence Chiu)
Re: User Interface From Hell (Gary Bridgewater)
Re: "Dynamic" SLIP (John Kennedy)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Re: Multi-line BBS's
Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 23:30:05 GMT
In article <telecom14.18.10@eecs.nwu.edu> dannie@coplex.coplex.com
(Dannie Gregoire) writes:
> I would like to know how some of these bulletin boards have 60-100
> lines running into them (eg EXEC-PC). Do they simply have that many
> individual lines run or is there a nifty service that the TELCO offers
> through a PBX?
A BBS is just a special case of the general class of "multi-user
computer systems". Access for remote terminal users of such a system
can be provisioned in several ways:
1) If the users are on-site, the system may be constructed with many
serial ports, and you may wire each terminal directly to a port
dedicated to that terminal.
The drawback of this is, that for large systems, serial terminal
ports may actually be very expensive (as expensive as high-speed
ports, and probably more expensive than the terminals.)
2) Often the terminals are wired to "cluster controllers" that aggregate
traffic from a number of terminals (16 is a common number) and feed
the aggregated traffic into a high-speed port. The operating system
on the server machine must then contain code to unravel the multiplexed
data before feeding it into the software driver for the logical ports.
3) If not all of the users are active at the same time, it has been
common to attach the terminal to a modem, and attach the modem to a
port on the building's PBX, which then routes the calls to a bank of
modems which may be attached to ports on the server (as in 1) or on a
cluster controller (as in 2).
This allow you to get by with a smaller number of ports, and also
allows all wiring to be installed by telephone technicians, which
traditionally have been easier to find and manage than computer
technicians. Also, the PBX already has mechanisms to deal with
contention.
4) This technique extends in a simple manner to off-site
users: Just attach a few modems to outside lines instead of PBX
station ports.
You need one outside line with a modem per port, of course.
5) If the callers are far away, you may be able to save by locating the
cluster controllers near the users, far from the server system,
and attach them to the server by:
- leased data lines or
- automatic dialers that bring the line up when someone needs
service.
Generally, if you have a remote building with a cluster, it will be
more economical to lease the line. The crossover happens at 2-4
hours per day. If you have 4 to 8 terminals, then it is likely that at
any given time at least one will be in use.
6) Some companies have specialized in setting up such remote cluster
controllers (called PAD: Packet Assembler/Disassembler) provide them
with local dial-in lines with modems, and arranging for shared carriage
from these access points to servers in several/many cities over lines
leased from the phone companies. These companies (legally called
"Value Added Networks") generally use a protocol called X.25 between
the cluster controllers and the server hosts. They also provide for
connections directly between the servers using the X.25 protocol.
The VAN carriers include CompuServe, SprintNet (formerly TELENET),
TYMNET, AT&T Accunet, INFONET and many more.
With such a hookup, you may be able to use a single high-speed access
line to carry traffic originating at hundreds of different remote
points.
7) Finally, a whole other group of carriers have sprung up to do the
same using a more modern set of protocols called TCP/IP or Internet
Protocol. Generally, this is much less expensive than X.25 service,
and provides many more features. Principal commercial Internet service
providers who offer service throughout the USA include: ANS (Advanced
Networks and Services - a partnership including IBM, MCI and the State
of Michigan), AlterNET (a service mark of UUNET Technologies), PSI
(Performance Systems International of Troy, NY), AT&T, INFONET and
SprintNet. (At least the last 3 also offer one-stop international
connections.) The special magic of this technology is that the
networks are all interconnected, so that your customers can reach you
even if they have service from different providers.
The company that I work for, is on of many that sells equipment for
Internet service. We expect (between all of us) to hook up every
school and every public library the US and at least Western Europe in
my lifetime. We have a long way to go. To date we have only connected
about two million computers, serving about ten million people
worldwide.
Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail:
lars@CMC.COM
CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait
------------------------------
From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein)
Subject: Re: Multi-line BBS's
Date: 9 Jan 1994 03:18:18 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA
In article <telecom14.18.10@eecs.nwu.edu> dannie@coplex.coplex.com
(Dannie Gregoire) writes:
> Hi Pat:
> I'll direct this question to you if possible, as you are the true
> phone system guru. I asked it in the newsgroup a couple of months
> back with no useful response. I would like to know how some of these
> bulletin boards have 60-100 lines running into them (eg EXEC-PC). Do
> they simply have that many individual lines run or is there a nifty
> service that the TELCO offers through a PBX? I apologize if this is
> a stupid question, but it is one that has baffled me, and I gotta know
> the answer. Thanks for any help ...
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the compliment, but you
> overestimate my skills a little. Depending on your application or
> needs, you can have as many actual lines run as desired. I suspect
> most very large systems these days however use what is called T-1
> or similar, where a large number of circuits are multiplexed or
> handled over just a few actual pairs of wires. In addition to T-1,
> there are similar methods for bringing in a large number of circuits
> on only a few wires. In my own personal applications in the past,
> I always just had the physical wires, but that was several years
> ago before the present technology became available. Perhaps Fred
> Goldstein or one of the *real* tech people here will reply. PAT]
I have to admit that I don't know much about how real BBSs operate,
just how they could be operated. But thanks for the compliment, Pat.
BBSs are funny things. I read an article about Channel 1, a huge
operation in Cambridge, which services its dozens of incoming lines by
a network of dozens of little PCs. They were lined up all over a tiny
house. If it were up to me, I'd have a big machine or two ...
It's often easier and cheaper to use T1 circuits rather than the 23-24
(30 in Europe) separate analog circuits that it replaces. If your
central office is digital (eg., 5ESS or DMS), then a T1 is much easier
for the phone company to provide -- it plugs right in to a trunk port.
Most large PBXs probably hook up this way now. For modems, though,
this isn't always cheaper. You need either a T1 modem (big bucks for
a BBS operator; figure $1k/line, from Primary Access or US Robotics)
or a channel bank (maybe $5k, but available used) to demulitplex it
into analog lines. Of course you could use a PBX instead but a plain
old channel bank is lots cheaper since it leaves out the switching
function! So I suspect the BBS crowd tends towards big blocks of
analog lines.
Advantage of moving towards T1: If you're a plain old "kiddiecomms"
BBS, then maybe this won't be necessary. But if you use T1, you can
not only talk to modems, but talk to ISDN and Switched 56 at a 56 kbps
speed. Channel banks, PBXs and T1-modems all support this.
Fred R. Goldstein k1io goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX)
Subject: Re: Correction: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis
Date: 8 Jan 94 18:57:34 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
Let me add my pair-o'-pennies to the V.42 bis discussion. Much of
what I'm about to say is derived by my research into the question for
inclusion into TIA PN2826, what will eventually become TSB-38, a modem
testing methodoly description for modems:
BTLZ is not a true LZW derivitive, as jim claims. (However, the
difference is so minimial that only the truly nitpicking will care.)
It is Ziv-Lempel with several additions to permit adaption and to
prevent expansion of the data, particularly pre-compressed data. It
also has one of the niftiest escape systems I've ever seen.
You start with a dictionary pre-filled with the alphabet, and have
nine-bit output codes. As data transfer progresses, and the
dictionary fills, you expand the size of the output code until you
reach the dictionary limit negotiated by both ends. At that point,
you start "burning" leaf nodes so that as the characteristics of the
data change the LZ tree will change shape to adapt.
If a block of compressed data is significantly larger than its
uncompressed counterpart, then you enter "transparency mode" and send
the uncompressed data. If a subsequent block of compressed data is
significantly smaller than its uncompressed counterpart, you then
switch to "compression mode". Initally the system is in transparent
mode.
While in transparent mode, if an escape character is seen, the system
sends an escape-in-data sequence like most codes which use a reserved
flag character. Unlike the others, though, the escape character
definition is CHANGED so that repeated runs of the (original) escape
character don't cause a two-fold explosion in the size of the
resulting data stream, and a less-than-optimal change to compression
mode for that string.
For PN2826, we wanted to develop test files which would virtually
guarantee one million data bits sent through the signal converter
(before HDLC zero- stuffing). So we examines a number of files to
determine the compression properties using dictionary sizes common to
modems.
What I found is that the vast majority of uncompressed files
experience a compression ratio (input/output) ranging from 2.5:1 to
3.1:1; the only time I got anywhere near the four-to-one everyone
attributes to V.42 bis is when I was transferring B&W line-art in
uncompressed TIFF form. (Indeed, with one picture I achieved a 7:1
compression ratio.)
Compressed files had ratios which depended greatly on the scheme used
to com- press them. LZW-based compressed files showed anywhere from
1.1:1 to 1.4:1 with V.42 bis; a purely random file (generated using
the DES algorithm) has a compression ratio of 0.998:1 -- the expansion
attributed to the 57 escape-in- data sequences in this 132-kilobyte
file. Encrypted compressed files tended to be at exactly 1:1.
These figures were developed by running files through a desktop
implementation of V.42 bis -- my thanks to Dr. Coleman of Georgia
University for the code. This is a straightforward implementation of
V.42 bis with a rather wasteful compression prediction algorithm (fill
two buckets, throw out the one that's more full) but is simple and
surprisingly good at minimizing local expansion.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 15:02 EST
From: Christopher Zguris <0004854540@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Merlin Question
In a recent TELECOM Digest post Vince Dugar (vdugar@stortek.stortek.
com) wrote:
> Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but
> it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper
> solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for
> CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK)
The simplest way I know of - that I have used successfully - is to
tap the voice pair on the merlin. As I remember, the voice pair on the
merlin are the two middle wires on the 8 pin jack. If you're
electronically inclined (or know someone who is) the simple schematic
below should do the trick. To build it, you'll need two identical
RJ-45 8-position 8-conductor phone jacks, and another merlin cable. To
build it, wire pins 1-3 and 6-8 straight through from the "from Wall"
jack to the "to phone". Tap pins 4 & 5 with a cable to plug into the
modem (or run them to another jack and plug the modem in). The SPST
switch is optional, but will come in handy, read on. To use the
thing, plug the cord coming from the wall in the "from wall" jack and
plug your new cord into the "to phone" jack, then plug that cord into
your phone. You're phone should work fine, if it doesn't, disconnect
the gizmo and check you're wiring. To actually use the thing, fire up
your modem, dial out, and QUICKLY pick up on a line USING the merlin
phone. When the modem dials it will dial out through the merlin on
whatever line your merlin has selected! The disadvantage to this gizmo
over the AT&T rip-off is that you must keep the merlin off-hook while
your modem is in use and manually hang up when your modem is done
(redialling is impossible- if you want to do that manually dial and
redial using the merlin). You will want to set the SPST switch to open
so the voice pair disconnected from the merlin, otherwise the modem
noise will come through the merlin speaker or handset, and if the
handset it used voices and noises will be picked up and sent and screw
up your modem communications. I've used a similar setup at 2400 baud,
anything above that I can't vouch for. When you're done, flip the SPST
switch. If you have any questions let me know, I'll try to help out- I
love solving problems!
{From Wall}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
[;][;][;][;][;][;][;][;] 8 Position-8 Cond. RJ-45 Jack
I I I I I I I I
I I
I I
*---------------------- \
I I TAP-wire to modem (red & Green)
I *------------------- /
I I
I I
I I-------------O /
I / SPST Switch
I I-------------O
I I
I I
I I I I I I I I
[;][;][;][;][;][;][;][;] 8 Position-8 Cond. RJ-45 Jack
{To Phone}
(First attempt at ASCII art, what do you think?)
Chris
------------------------------
From: dmiller@crl.com (Donald J. Miller)
Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard
Date: 9 Jan 1994 13:59:23 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest]
Weiyun Yu (weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU) wrote:
> It has come to my attention that the digital cellular standards
> adopted by US carriers are not going to be compatible with what we
> have adopted in Australia, GSM. I am interested in finding out a bit
> more about the US systems but cant find any FAQ on the subject.
The US Digital Cellular scheme (TDMA) was originally conceived to ease
the bandwidth requirement for a phone conversation by at least 3 to 1.
A 6 to 1 capacity advantage over the regular AMPS service would be
achieved if and when acceptable half-rate voice codecs were available.
Currently, each caall uses two of the six TDMA time slots. The aim
was/is to eventually use only one.
The first TDMA phones were to be dual-mode: that is to say that they
would function as regular AMPS phones as well. The hope WAS that
after 10 to 15 years, the AMPS functionality could be dropped,
resulting in more cost effective phones. A monkey wrench has been
tossed in the works, however.
AFTER the cellular industry chose TDMA as the standard, Qualcomm
proposed the use of a different CDMA technology with promises of even
greater capacity. Some, but not all carriers joined the Qualcomm
camp. The net result is that we now have two digital phone standards.
Motorola proposed a new analog system (NAMPS) with a capacity
advantage of 3 to 1 over AMPS that many hail as a good intermediate
step before full digital cellular implementation.
So, now we have FOUR phone "standards". What about ROAMING?
Well, it looks like the more expensive DUAL-MODE phones are here to
stay. Either of the two digital systems, TDMA or CDMA could have been
cost effective with time and further work on the ICs inside the
phones. The power-wasting RF duplexers required in AMPS phones for
full-duplex operation would not have been needed -- money would be
saved and talk time increased.
Six times the existing bandwidth was not enough. We got greedy.
Don Miller dmiller@crl.com
------------------------------
From: images@netcom.com (David M. Berman)
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable Television
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 18:46:22 GMT
I think most of you are limiting yourselves when you imagine the
offerings that could be available with video dial-tone or 5000
channels of audio/video/data. Imagine not only every piece of video,
film, or music ever published, but the new publishing opportunities
that will spring from recent advances in home/cheap video and audio
production. You might see excellent products aimed at smaller and
smaller audiences (college lectures, poems, paintings, dance, how to
fix your 1983 Toyota, etc.). To me, the most exciting thing about the
possibility of all this new bandwith is the thought that we could
escape the tyranny of the majority and their pedestrian tastes.
David M. Berman images@netcom.com
------------------------------
From: SANDYRON@delphi.com
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable Television
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 94 22:51:21 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
I somewhat agree. Who has the most bandwidth in the home? Anyone of
the 500 channels could be an on-demand channel. By the way, without a
broadband entry in the house how can all of the consumers requests be
met like pix in pix.
------------------------------
From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu)
Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers
Date: 9 Jan 1994 20:24:23 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California
Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com
In article <telecom14.18.14@eecs.nwu.edu>, William M. Eldridge wrote:
>> According to a wire service account in the {Boston Globe}, AT&T is
>> changing their rates to be more like MCI and Sprint. The list price
> As somebody who just switched from AT&T to MCI, I have a few
> qualifications for this.
> On international calls, MCI has all weekend rates, while AT&T leaves
> its three Day-Evening-Night slots the same, seven days a week. MCI
> has better hours during the week. AT&T had worse setup (first minute)
> charges.
If you join Reach Out World from AT&T for $3 a month, then it seems
that there are only two time slots and there is no higher first minute
charge. It's quite competitive with MCI now, Friends and Family even
taken into account. For example if I specifiy New Zealand as my
Selected Country then during off peak times and weekends I get to call
*any* number in NZ for 0.68/minute while with MCI and their Friends
around the World plan and Friends and Family, I get to call only a
maximum of two numbers for $0.66/minute. I find AT&T's plan more
flexible here.
Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California
Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com
------------------------------
From: gjb@lsil.com (Gary Bridgewater)
Subject: Re: User Interface From Hell
Date: 9 Jan 1994 08:41:39 GMT
Organization: LSI Logic
In article <telecom14.18.7@eecs.nwu.edu> johnl@medusa.gsfc.nasa.gov
(John Limpert) writes:
> How can telephones be made easier to use? The local phone companies
> are going to have a hard time selling new features to their customers
> if they expect them to press "*-*-FLASH-4-2-#-6-6-6" every time they
> use them.
In another life, at a super-mini company, we had a subsidiary PBX
design company that was designing a terminal/phone combo but the whole
thing evaporated during a "rightsizing". I saw one working - real,
not a prototype. There was a button on the terminal keypad that would
bring up a phone menu and you could click on the option you wanted.
Software on the computer could interact with the phone so you could
have a Rolodex on-line and touch a number to dial it, record and
playback digital messages and record and playback on-line (with a
beep). You could then file, mail, etc. the messages. Took lots (and
lots) of disk space but we sold disks so what the heck. Used realy
cheap off-shore digital handsets - bad but liveable. Probably
something like the Newton will solve this. Also, the VCR programming
in another thread.
Gary Bridgewater (gjb@lsil.com) LSI Logic, Milpitas, CA
------------------------------
From: warlock@csuchico.edu (John Kennedy)
Subject: Re: "Dynamic" SLIP
Date: 9 Jan 1994 18:52:35 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
In article <telecom14.18.8@eecs.nwu.edu>, <mse@ins.infonet.net> wrote:
> My understanding of SLIP is that it is a point-to-point dedicated
> configuration, requiring a modem on the receiving end to be dedicated
> to a specific user (due to IP I think).
If you get the right hardware, that isn't necessarily true. You
could dedicate one line/SLIP connection if you wanted to, but many
people don't.
Most people dedicate one IP _addresses_ to a SLIP user. That mostly
depends on how much you're willing to trust any IP address (for
security purposes or otherwise ... like access to a USENET server).
> I've heard some talk about so-called 'dynamic' SLIP -- where the SLIP
> connection is made, but through a mux or terminal server, allowing the
> provider to serve multiple dial-up customers instead of a 1-1 ratio. ...
Yes, true. I use Cisco communication servers to do this, but there
are many more vendors that provide the same features. Depending on
your computer's OS, you might be able to connect a modem into it and
server multiple SLIP users.
The one thing I'd worry about is that most SLIP servers I've seen
can only provide access to the subnet they are in ... so you can only
server ~250 (fixed, single user/IP addr) users with one rotary.
John Kennedy <warlock@csuchico.edu>; Communications Services; USENET admin
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #23
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Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 09:16:12 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401111516.AA11304@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #24
TELECOM Digest Tue, 11 Jan 94 09:16:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 24
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Book Review: "Sendmail" by Costales/Allman/Rickert (Rob Slade)
Call Waiting/Three-Way Together (Michael Israeli)
Someone Has Tapped My Line - Help (Joel M. Hoffman)
Possible Internet Service Scam (Les Reeves)
NYTel/NYNEX Dusts Off Rotary Payphones (Paul R. Coen)
Network Outage in 205 NPA? (Paul Cook)
Truckstop Calling Cards (Scott M. Pfeffer)
Cell Phone Charges: Can You Pay With a Calling Card? (Velu Sinha)
Touch-Tone Dial Pads? (Willie Smith)
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Susan Sirmai)
Oracle and Bell Atlantic ADSL Service (Randy te Velde)
Inquiring Minds Want to Know (Alec Isaacson)
50 Pin Connector Help Wanted (John Stewart Pinnow)
Phone Line Simulator Wanted (David Jones)
Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Bob Rankin)
New ATTmail Charges (David Appell)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 00:34:07 MDT
From: Rob Slade <ROBERTS%DECUS@mimas.arc.ab.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "Sendmail" by Costales/Allman/Rickert
BKSNDMAL.RVW 930922
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
103 Morris Street, Suite A
Sebastopol, CA 95472
800-998-9938 707-829-0515
fax: 707-829-0104 info@ora.com
"sendmail", Costales/Allman/Rickert, 1993, U$32.95
costales@icsi.berkeley.edu eric@cs.berkeley.edu rickert@cs.niu.edu
Sendmail might not be the heart of UNIX mail and communications
services, but it certainly is a good portion of the autonomic nervous
system. Although considered venerable by some, it is also extremely
widely used. This book hopes to make sendmail administration not only
easy, but fun. Quite a task.
Part one of the book is tutorial in nature, starting with background
information in chapter one. We are given a brief history and
philosophy of sendmail, plus some description of the component parts,
and the related Internet RFCs (Request For Comment) and technologies.
(RFCs, the name to the contrary, are the descriptions of how Internet
functions should work. In a sense, they are the standards of the
Internet.) Chapter two gives us some examples of how "subnetworks" of
machines within the Internet handle mail among themselves, and
introduces routing, very briefly. It takes its tutorial function
seriously: there are questions at the end of the chapter for you to
think about or try out. The questions get harder in chapter three,
and start requiring more knowledge of both UNIX and the RFCs, in order
to deal with headers and "envelopes". (Actually, the text is easy.
Only the questions are hard.) Chapter four introduces the various
related programs that sendmail calls and the functions it performs.
So it continues up to chapter fifteen. The tutorial covers the
invocation and switches, the configuration file, mail delivery agents,
macros, rules, rules and more rules, class macros, options, headers,
and miscellaneous topics.
Part two deals with administration and management, and runs you
through the process of configuring, compiling and installing sendmail.
It also has specifics of V8 and IDA, as well as DNS (Domain Name
Server). Topics covered include security, the queue, aliases, mailing
lists and forwarding logging and statistics.
Part three is the reference, and chapters twenty-three to thirty-three
list the options for delivery agents; defined, class and database
macros; options, headers, the command line and debugging. Finally,
seven appendices deal with queue file intervals, obscure error
messages, the "define" macros in the confi.h file, the client.cf file
from the tutorial, V8 and IDA configuration macros, and a bibliography.
Because of the nature of the book, you will find a fair amount of
material duplicated (for example between the tutorial on delivery
agents, and the reference sections). However, the duplicated
material, and the short chaptering make this an excellent reference
work overall. The material is generally clear and well laid out. The
tutorial section is definitely for the technically advanced: I suspect
the authors have a ways to go before many people find sendmail "fun".
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKSNDMAL.RVW 930922
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/news groups.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: izzy@access.netaxs.com (Michael Israeli)
Subject: Call Waiting/Three-Way Together
Date: 10 Jan 1994 11:41:22 GMT
Organization: Net Access - Philadelphia's Internet Connection
In my house, I have call waiting and three-way calling installed on
the same line. They are a great combination, as you are even able to
turn off call waiting through the three-way calling on an incoming
call. Now, the problem is that when I am on a three-way call, my line
becomes busy, allowing no calling to come through. I know other
people in different areas who can be on a a three-way call and still
receive call waiting. What is the reason for this difference? I
called Bell of PA, and they said that it just wasn't available in my
area. Anyone know?
Michael Israeli izzy@netaxs.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are two types of 'three-way' calls.
If you are in 'consultation' you have pressed the hook, dialed a number
and are talking with a third person while leaving the second person on
hold. Situations like that will result in a new caller getting a busy
signal. If however you have flashed, dialed the third party and gotten
him on the line, then flashed again so that the three of you are talking
then call waiting should become available once again. At that point if
there is a call waiting, flashing will leave your two three way parties
(from your outgoing call) on hold unable to speak to each other while
you take your new incoming call. The reason a busy signal has to be
given to a new arriving call during the early stages of a three way
call (when you have flashed, gotten dial tone and brought one additional
party on the line but not yet joined that party with your call in pro-
gress) is because you only have one flash of the hook available to you
and there is a conflict at that point as to whether the flash should
cause the newly dialed third party to join your outgoing call or it
should cause the whole thing to go on hold while you speak to the newly
arrived call waiting. Try getting an actual three way call installed
(not just to the beginning 'conference' stage where you talk to a third
party and tell him you are attaching him to the call in progress) where
you are talking to two parties (both of whom *you originated*) then see
if call waiting does not work okay once again. Where there is a conflict
between CW and 3WC (because flashing the hook could cause one thing to
happen or the other) then 3WC takes priority. The theory is should telco
hand you a CW at that point in time does your flash mean you want to
accept the new call or connect the other two. Since maybe you do not
want that to happen (the two you dialed to be joined together) telco
has chosen to block CW for that limited period of time. Let us know. PAT]
------------------------------
From: joel@wam.umd.edu (Joel M. Hoffman)
Subject: Someone Has Tapped My Line - Help
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 18:40:12 GMT
Organization: Excelsior Computer Services
Two hours ago, I heard a clear conversation on my line. I live alone,
and have no extensions, so someone else is using my line. I called
the phone company to try to get information (on another line) and
tried to get information about the call, but they told me that local
calls are not recorded. The technician tells me my line is connected
to a 5ESS. Am I correct in assuming that the phone company can access
that information, but that they're choosing not to?
Does anyone else have experience with this, and perhaps advise they
can offer?
Many thanks.
Joel (joel@wam.umd.edu)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One of four things is happening: Assuming
the worst, someone did 'borrow' (or is 'borrowing') your line. Telco
won't know about that immediatly until/unless a technician or outside
plant auditor specifically comes out and looks around. Check your bill
when it comes for calls you did not make which appear to be direct-
dialed or an unusually high number of local calls which you feel sure
you did not make. The second case would be where someone in your area
got new service and telco did accidentally put them on your pair of
wires due to errors in the outside plant records as to what pairs were
available for use, etc. In either case, telco will make the required
adjustments in billing and service (who gets which wire pair, etc) when
the matter is brought to their attention. In the third case, a very
temporary fluke or bug or programming error caused the ESS to misbehave
for a few minutes. Again, telco will make required adjustments, but
actually catching this while it is happening so that it can be traced
and corrected will be difficult. In the last scenario, there may have
been 'crosstalk', a condition which occurs when wires get wet or are
otherwise quite conducive to each other in the cable or at a junction
point in a conduit/underground crawl space in the street, etc.
You did not say if you were able to participate in the spurious
conversation or not (or if you chose not to). In the first two cases
above, you *could* have participated should you chose to do so. In the
third and fourth case, it is unlikely you would have been heard by the
other people had you chosen to speak up. In the case of crosstalk due
to intermittant shorts and grounds on your line due to damaged or wet
cable, normally what you hear is several conversations going on at one
time, none of which are distinct enough to be understood although one
might stand out and have reasonable clarity. It could also be that a
phone technician was working in the area on a telephone pole somewhere
nearby and chose to make a call to his office using your line. That
happens occassionally. In order to make an an effective judgment call
on this, we need a bit more history and background. Yes, the numbers
dialed on local calls are recorded by the ESS, but it is a mess trying
to find the record on the microfilm at the end of the billing cycle
and anyway, this may have nothing more than crosstalk or a temporary
glitch in the ESS. Followup on this for a couple weeks or so and let
us know in more detail exactly what you are hearing if you hear it
again; if you can speak to the party 'using your line' etc. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 10:15:01 PST
From: Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com>
Subject: Possible Internet Service Scam
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 1994 10:18:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Melinda Massi (MHM0) <MHM0%ECC.BITNET@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
<TECHWR-L%OSUVM1.BITNET@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU>
Subject: warning: possible Internet scam
If you are contemplating a private Internet account, read the
following and be alert. Washington, DC, may not be the only place
where this is happening.
-- M. Massi
---------------------------- Text of forwarded message
> Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 16:18:44 -0500
> From: Scott A. Ward 703-614-4719 <wards@AMOMEGA.ACQ.OSD.MIL>
> To: Multiple recipients of list COMMUNET
> Subject: Warning: International Internet Association
A company calling itself the International Internet Association, and
billing itself as "the largest non-profit provider of free Internet
access in the world" has started advertizing in the Washington, D.C.
area, and offering free Internet accounts to individuals who will FAX
them, among other things, a credit card number. As an active member
of the Member Council of the National Capital Area Public Access
Network (CapAccess), I wanted to find more about this organization
that supposedly has offices NOT THREE BLOCKS FROM CAPACCESS. Here's
the result of my search for the IIA.
1. Their address, listed as "Suite 852 - 202 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20006", is actually a post office box at Mailboxes, Etc.
2. The company lists no incorporation, trademark or service-mark licenses.
3. They claim your E-mail address would be <userid>@iia.org. However:
a. No iia.org is listed in the hq.af.mil hosts table
b. No iia.org is listed in the acq.osd.mil hosts table
c. No iia.org is listed is the INTERNIC 'whois' database
d. No iia.org is listed using the INTERNIC 'netfind' Internet lookup
In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist.
4. Although they apologize profusely in the application, they state
that "Without receiving a credit card number, the IIA _cannot_ process
an account."
5. Although I have left a message on their voice-mail system, I have
received no response from them. (They also apologize in the voice
mail that, due to demand, they are operating at a three-week backlog for
applications.)
I cannot judge an organization in advance. However, I do think it
highly suspicious that, to use their propaganda, "The International
Internet Association is able to make this service available through
generous private donations, and the extraordinary dedication of its
membership." I can say that I am not convinced this organization
exists, and highly discourage any Internet user from sending
information until you make certain that the IIA is real.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 18:29:11 EST
From: "Paul R. Coen" <PCOEN@DRUNIVAC.DREW.EDU>
Subject: NYTel/NYNEX Dusts Off Rotary Payphones
Organization: Drew University Academic Technology
Yup, that's right. The return of the pulse-dial, rotary, bleed to death
while dialing 9-1-1 payphone.
Some neighborhoods have gotten tired of the drug dealers and the
"corner office" by the payphone. Seems that a lot of them use the
touch-tone payphones to access the beepers of their associates. So,
under pressure from local groups, New Yor..., uh, I mean NYNEX,
decided to put in the old rotary payphones. I'm sure it broke their
heart to find a use for all this old equipment, and to put the touch
tone equipment somewhere else.
They apparantly tried this in one or two areas already, and it did cut
down on the number of people hanging around by the phones on corners.
However, in some of the new areas, touch-tone phones are as close as
across the street from the "new" rotary phones.
A NYNEX official was shown on the local news (WABC, channel 7) saying
that these phones "couldn't" be used to trigger a pager. Gee, and
DTMF tone generators are so hard to come by. If they make it hard
enough to walk to a different phone, the dealers with half a clue will
just pick one up. Hell, it isn't like they don't have telephone-savvy
people involved -- look at all the cellphone ID modification going on
in NYC. This doesn't stop cellphones, either.
They did mention, however, future plans to expand blocking. Currently,
a lot of these phones apparantly can't accept incoming calls, and
NYNEX is talking about expanding this to prevent calls from going out
to pager numbers.
I wonder how long it will be before the drug dealers just let
themselves into buildings and start attaching new wiring to pairs? A
lot of the older buildings have tons of exposed wiring and screw-down
connections in the hallways and basements. Seems like they're just
expanding the incentive to commit cellular fraud as well. Not that I
think it shouldn't be done at all, I just think it isn't going to make
that big a difference.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The return to rotary dial plus 'calling
card, collect or third party billing after dark' seem to be the two
principal ways the neighborhood people are convincing telco to help in
the 'war on drugs'. Many payphones in Chicago have the latter option
on them, meaning coins are not accepted as payment between about 8 PM
and 4 AM daily. This causes a more reliable paper trail to exist should
someone want to seek it out and prove a point as to who called whom at
what time. A third option, and the one which seems to me to be a little
more fair to everyone concerned is to fix the phone for no incoming
service, although customers of drug dealers could still make outgoing
pages and transmit messages to dealers other than to be called back at
the payphone they are using. Everyone seems to love the war on drugs
as it is quite profitable for all concerned: telcos, governments, police
departments -- all are getting extra money from it. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 13:18 EST
From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com>
Subject: Network Outage in 205 NPA?
Anyone know what happened with the telephone network in Alabama on
Monday? I got a call from a customer in Arab, and I get an
all-circuits-busy when trying to return his call on all AT&T, Sprint
and MCI. Did BellSouth lose a tandem switch?
Paul Cook 206-881-7000
Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080
15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282
Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: sp9183@swuts.sbc.com (Scott M. Pfeffer)
Subject: Truckstop Calling Cards
Date: 11 Jan 94 05:00:45 GMT
Organization: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
Recently I was traveling home from Atlanta to St. Louis. I stopped at
a gas station somewhere in Tennessee or Kentucky for refreshments,
refilling, and relief, and noticed something very interesting in a
business card holder near the convenience store cash register -- a
stack of pre-authorized long distance calling cards.
I inquired of the cashier. The cards cost $10 for 20 minutes of long
distance, or $20 for 40 minutes of long distance. Instructions on the
card indicated a toll-free number you could call that would enable you
to see how much your card had left, in minutes. This card is printed
on paper (as opposed to plastic), and requires no identification or
registration to purchase, since the life of the card is based on your
pre-paid purchse.
The cashier told me the major selling point, that now, if you lost
this card, you were only out the amount left on the card. "Great for
travelling!"
I didn't buy. (Although it would have been interesting to attempt to
call overseas with this card, if it let me.)
Scott
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those are called 'Talk Tickets' and
they are a bit expensive at 50 cents per minute of domestic use although
you can get that down to about 35 cents per minute with quantity pur-
chases of the ticket from the wholesalers of same. Yes you can make
international calls also but instead of 20 minutes for ten dollars you
wind up getting about five minutes. To be a wholesaler of Talk Tickets
you plunk down $1850 for $2500 in tickets of assorted denominations.
That gets you a 25 percent discount off the 50 cent per minute rate,
or about 35 cents per minute of use. If you then resell these to truck
stops or convenience stores, etc you split the commission with them by
selling them the tickets for around $2200; they in turn sell to their
customers at the face value. Western Union also has prepaid calling
cards like this at a similar rate. Personally, I prefer the Orange
Card with its 25 cent per minute rate and no surcharge. PAT]
------------------------------
From: velu@pix.com (Velu Sinha)
Subject: Cell Phone Charges: Can You Pay With a Calling Card?
Organization: Pix -- The company with no adult supervision.
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 15:07:53 GMT
Are there any cellular service providors out there who are able to
bill your fixed monthly fees along with usage and roaming charges to a
calling card (AT&T)? (Instead of sending you a bill that you need to
pay by check or whatever ...)
I notice that the new generation of cellular phones in Hertz rental
cars allow you to swipe your AT&T calling card for payment. The older
generation phones require a Visa/MC/Amex and perhaps Discover or CB.
But I haven't gotten any informed response from either Cellular One or
Bell Atlantic Mobile in the DC area on this matter.
(I know that you can charge the toll portion of any call made from a
cell phone by dialing in the standard 0+ or 10XXX0+ fashion, but the
roaming and access charges still seem to wind up on your monthly
bill!)
------------------------------
From: Willie Smith <wpns@roadrunner.pictel.com>
Subject: Touch-Tone Dial Pads?
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 10:18:53 EDT
I've got a couple of the old-style Bell (WE?) 2500 touch-tone phones
that I bought from the Telco after renting them that are having
troubles dialing. Some of the row and collumn switches are kinda
'mushy' and make intermittent contact, so I'm not making real
Touch-Tones.
Is there a way to clean these, tighten the switches, or just buy new
TT pads? Any hints on cleaning or pointers to suppliers of the real
full-travel (not the newer style hinged button) TT pads would be
greatly appreciated!
Willie Smith wpns@pictel.com N1JBJ@amsat.org
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 10:50 EST
From: Susan Sirmai <0003188677@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Global ISDN is becoming a very hot topic these days as companies
continue to go global and applications such as videoconferencing,
batch file transfer and G-4 fax continue to grow. I will provide you
the answers to your questions from an overall and MCI perspective.
> 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable?
Today over 20 countries around the world currently have some level of
ISDN service. The number is growing as domestic networks are upgraded
and advanced signalling is implemented between the overseas carriers
and the domestic US carriers. In most countries, the network operates
at a 64 kbps level and is accessed using BRI (2B+D) or PRI (30B+D). 56
kbps connectivity can be achieved with the use of a terminal adapter
for rate adaption which is marketed by several companies in the US and
overseas.
MCI International 64 Service currently provides switched digital
connectivity to Canada and most of the European and Pacific Carriers
capable of providing the service today. Current MCI Tariffed Countries
include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,
Ireland, Italy, Japan (IDC, ITJ, KDD), New Zealand, Netherlands,
Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom.
Additional countries are planned for 1994.
> 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
> still operating at SW-56?
Availability depends on the local exchange carrier. There is a
document published by Bellcore that lists most of the exchanges that
are capable of providing the service. You should contact your local
LEC provider or your local MCI representative to assist you with
evaluating a specific location in your area since the list changes and
either source could provide you with up to date information.
> 3. If you know, who are their carriers?
Service is provided locally by the US Local Exchange Carriers and
interexchange and internationally by the interexchange carriers
offering the service. The carriers in-country overseas are the PTTs
or ITOs who provide local and/or international service.
Please contact your local MCI rep or me by phone at 1-703-903-1033 or
fax at 1-703-506-6626 if you have any additional questions.
Regards,
Susan Sirmai MCI Global Marketing
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 23:21:15 EST
From: Randy te Velde <te05@ranch.poly.edu>
Subject: Oracle and Bell Atlantic ADSL Service
The {New York Times} reports today that Oracle and Bell Atlantic will
offer interactive broadband services to the home in the "DC area"
using ADSL over copper wire.
The Times anticipates a Wednesday announcement by the companies
involved. According to this report, work will begin on the service
"before the end of 1994" and will offer "movies as well as other
interactive services".
randy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 21:50:47 EST
From: Alec Isaacson <AI4CPHYW@MIAMIU.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject: Inquiring Minds Want to Know
This evening in Cincinnati Bell-land I had a lot of trouble getting
making phone calls. Each time I tried to make a call, I got a "fast
busy" reorder. After a bunch of attempts I called the repair people
and they said there was "central office trouble", but had no details.
Now, being a dilligent TELECOM Digest reader, I'm more than a little
interested in knowing more details. I have heard that telephone
companies have to report outages, but I don't know to who. Bottom
line is, I'm interested in finding out what happend, but don't know
who to ask. I'd appreciate some pointers from those who know.
Oh, for the record, I'm in (513) 829-
Thanks for the help.
Alec D. Isaacson
AI4CPHYW@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu
Miami University, Oxford, OH
------------------------------
From: jspinnow@netcom.com (John Stewart Pinnow)
Subject: 50 Pin Connector Help Wanted
Organization: Tmoh Research, Milwaukee, WI
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 22:53:16 GMT
A 50 pin connector. Used for a phone system. What are the pin layouts
for it?
Does anyone have a description?
Tmoh Research Internet: jspinnow@netcom.com Phone: (414) 761-1537
John S. Pinnow jspinnow@world.std.com Disclaim: Opinions==Mine
------------------------------
From: dej@eecg.toronto.edu (David Jones)
Subject: Phone Line Simulator Wanted
Organization: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, U of Toronto
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 15:25:15 -0500
I am in need of a phone line simulator. It will be used to verify the
functionality of modems for a large computing network.
This device need not be complex -- I need dial tone, DTMF detection,
ring signal generation and an analog path whose noise characteristics
approximate that of a real phone line (i.e. 3300 Hz BW, -34 dB S/N).
Any ideas as to where I can get one cheap? Even used?
David Jones, M.A.Sc student, Electronics Group (VLSI), University of Toronto
email: dej@eecg.utoronto.ca, finger for more info/PGP public key
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 09:27:59 EST
From: Bob Rankin <r3@vnet.IBM.COM>
Subject: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors
Just saw an ad for a gizmo that will decipher the unique ringing cadence
for up to four lines and route them to a specified telephone device.
Using this device ($75) along with distinctive ringing ($6/mo) sounds
like a wonderful alternative to having separate lines installed for
fax, modem, answering machines, etc. Kinda like a poor man's DID!
Anyone have any experience with these devices? Any drawbacks?
Bob Rankin (r3@vnet.ibm.com)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The only drawback to distinctive ringing
and/or call-waiting is that you still only have one phone line instead
of two (or three or four), and as long as there is no possibility two
or more of the devices (or human persons) will want to be on the phone
at the same time everything is fine. As soon as two people or devices
need to be on the phone at the same time, everything falls apart. I can
see and justify a single distinctive ringing number so that two things
share one line if neither is used a lot. But when you are talking three
or four distinctive rings for that many end 'users' to share, unless
none of them get any real volume of calls there will always be someone
or something getting a busy signal in a conflict with the others. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 18:13:27 -0700
From: David Appell <appell@csn.org>
Subject: New ATTmail Charges
I received the following message in my January bill for AT&T Mail:
"Due to increasing costs associated with the delivery of messages
received from the Internet, AT&T Easklink Services will implement
a new inbound Internet pricing structure beginning Feb. 1, 1994.
All Internet messages received will be charged at the following rates:
0 to 1,000 characters $0.15
Each additional one thousand characters (or portion thereof) will be
charged at $0.02.
Looks like it's time to find another Internet provider -- the quality
of their service doesn't warrant anything near that, IMO.
David Appell appell@csn.org
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That means a typical issue of this
Digest will cost each recipient via ATTMail about 50-60 cents. My
calculations are 2 cents per K times 22K = 44 cents plus 1 K at 15
cents. Too bad. :( PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #24
*****************************
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Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 23:33:02 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401120533.AA08044@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #25
TELECOM Digest Tue, 11 Jan 94 23:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 25
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (John R. Levine)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (Les Reeves)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (Bill Mayhew)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (Duncan Glendinning)
Re: Phone Phreakers Down South (Gary W. Sanders)
Re: Phone Phreakers Down South (Kriston Rehberg)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (John Temples)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (David Jones)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (Fred R. Goldstein)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (Charles Randall Yates)
Re: Radio Religion in Canada (Rich Wales)
Re: Radio Religion in Canada (Wm. Randolph U. Franklin)
Re: V.35 to RS-232 Conversions (ssatchell@bix.com)
Re: FTP Site For EIA Standards (ssatchell@bix.com)
Re: SprintNet Access From the Internet (Steven H. Lichter)
Re: Announcing networkMCI (Paul R. Coen)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Gib Henry)
Re: A Tale of Two Dialtones (Gordon Hlavenka)
Cold Temperatures (Thomas Lapp)
How To Download Files From Local Internet Access? (steve2400@delphi.com)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 15:21 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist.
The Internic thinks they do:
International Internet Association (IIA2-DOM)
30 South First Avenue
Highland Park, NJ 08904
Domain Name: IIA.ORG
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Bochicchio, Charleen (CB45) char@JOY.ICM.COM
+1 202 387 5445 (FAX) +1 202 387 5446
Record last updated on 01-Dec-93.
On the other hand, it is kind of odd that their mailing address is in
New Jersey, but their phone number is in Washington DC. Internic has
this address for their contact Ms. Bochicchio:
Bochicchio, Charleen (CB45) char@JOY.ICM.COM
International Discount Telecommunications Corp
294 State Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
+1 202 387 5445 (FAX) +1 202 387 5446
When you look up ICM.COM, they are at the same address as IIA:
Intellicom (ICM-DOM)
30 South First Ave.
Highland Park, NJ 08904
Domain Name: ICM.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Kramer, Michael (MK30) mikek@MINDVOX.PHANTOM.COM
201-417-2166
Perhaps Mr. Kramer can shed some light on the situation.
Their requirement that you pay by credit card could be a legitimate
way for them to keep costs down, since bills can then be handled
entirely automatically, or might be bogus. I couldn't say. Let us
know if they ever call you back.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 12:29:24 PST
From: Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com>
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
On Tue, 11 Jan 1994, John R Levine wrote:
> Perhaps Mr. Kramer can shed some light on the situation.
> Their requirement that you pay by credit card could be a legitimate way
> for them to keep costs down, since bills can then be handled entirely
> automatically, or might be bogus. I couldn't say. Let us know if they
> ever call you back.
By the time I forwarded this to TELECOM Digest, it was a third or
fourth generation forward. I probably should have made that a little
more obvious.
Your research is very interesting.
Have you considered sharing it with the author of the message?
Regards,
Les Reeves 404/874.7806
------------------------------
From: wtm@uhura.neoucom.EDU (Bill Mayhew)
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 23:23:53 GMT
Well, I did an MX entry check and found a record for iia.org pointing
to mary.iia.org, which indeed does exist. A telnet shows that it is a
SunOS system of some type. I didn't feel like doing a traceroute,
since it is not on this host, but a ping to that system takes 91 mS
from here in Rootstown. That probably indicates that mary.iia.org is
within a few states' distance of Ohio, so an east coast USA location
seems reasonable.
None the less, a demand for credit card number seems bogus to me and I
certainly would not agree to it.
Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department
Rootstown, OH 44272-9995 USA phone: 216-325-2511
wtm@uhura.neoucom.edu amateur radio 146.58: N8WED
------------------------------
From: ddrg@superior.ccs.carleton.ca (Duncan Glendinning)
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 02:26:54 GMT
> 3. They claim your E-mail address would be <userid>@iia.org. However:
> a. No iia.org is listed in the hq.af.mil hosts table
> b. No iia.org is listed in the acq.osd.mil hosts table
> c. No iia.org is listed is the INTERNIC 'whois' database
> d. No iia.org is listed using the INTERNIC 'netfind' Internet lookup
> In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist.
They're registered somewhere:
Script started on Tue Jan 11 21:25:10 1994
{superior:1} nslookup
Default Server: alfred.ccs.carleton.ca
Address: 134.117.1.1
> set type=any
> iia.org
Server: alfred.ccs.carleton.ca
Address: 134.117.1.1
Non-authoritative answer:
iia.org nameserver = MARY.IIA.ORG
iia.org nameserver = NS.UU.NET
Authoritative answers can be found from:
MARY.IIA.ORG inet address = 198.4.75.9
NS.UU.NET inet address = 137.39.1.3
> server ns.uu.net
Default Server: ns.uu.net
Address: 137.39.1.3
> iia.org
Server: ns.uu.net
Address: 137.39.1.3
iia.org origin = mary.iia.org
mail addr = char.mary.iia.org
serial=2, refresh=10800, retry=3600, expire=604800, min=86400
iia.org nameserver = mary.iia.org
iia.org nameserver = ns.uu.net
iia.org preference = 10, mail exchanger = mary.iia.org
mary.iia.org inet address = 198.4.75.9
ns.uu.net inet address = 137.39.1.3
> exit
script done on Tue Jan 11 21:25:40 1994
Duncan Glendinning ddrg@ccs.carleton.ca
Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6
------------------------------
From: news@cbnews.att.com
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 14:54:22 GMT
Subject: Re: Phone Phreakers Down South
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.20.2@eecs.nwu.edu> vantek@aol.com writes:
> Thought I'd pass this little story along ...
> Charlotte Observer, N.C.
> Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
> Jan. 7 -- Another Charlotte company has fallen victim to telephone
> hackers. Pic 'N Pay Stores Inc., the Charlotte-based shoe retailer,
> says it got stung for $17,000 by high-tech hijackers who got into the
> company's voice- mail and dialed anywhere they pleased.
> Pic 'N Pay filed suit last week against BellSouth Telecommunications
> Inc., parent of Southern Bell, which made and serviced the phone
> system in question.
Hmm, maybe I'll file suit against Ford the next time my car is stolen.
They made and serviced the car.
Gary W. Sanders (N8EMR) gary.w.sanders@att.com
AT&T Bell Labs 614.860.5965
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might have a good case if Ford made
the claim to you that the car was 'theft proof' or 'could not be stolen
due to the way we have designed it ...' etc. It is alleged that AT&T
made this claim to the user of the phone system. Should the customer
have known better? Did the customer know better? What if Ford made
those claims to you and 'documented' their claim with some high-tech
sounding language that you as a typical consumer did not understand?
AT&T could easily avoid this kind of lawsuit if they would make certain
in writing that the purchaser of the equipment is aware of its flaws. PAT]
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Phone Phreakers Down South
Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 10:25:03 EST
From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
In-reply-to: vantek@aol.com's message of Sat, 08 Jan 94 21:09:02 EST:
> Jan. 7 -- Another Charlotte company has fallen victim to telephone
> hackers. Pic 'N Pay Stores Inc., the Charlotte-based shoe retailer,
> says it got stung for $17,000 by high-tech hijackers who got into the
> company's voice-mail and dialed anywhere they pleased.
I am assuming that how is this done is to figure out people's voice
mail passwords and then use the transfer feature to get off-site.
However, on our voicemail system, you only have the option to transfer
to another on-site extension or off-site tie-line (within the
corporation, only), and not an actual local or long-distance telco
off-site line.
Are some PBX's just plain stupid in transfer restrictions, or am I
missing something here?
Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com
Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO
ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott
Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are probably various levels of security
with some users only allowed to transfer to other extensions while others
are allowed to make calls outside the system if desired. So often, there
has to be a compromise between security and user convenience. Then too,
sometimes the phreaks manage to get the root password (the code used
by the system administrator for system maintainence) and reconfigure the
system for themselves. Maybe it did not allow transfers to outside lines
until the phreaks worked it over using the root password for entry and
programmed it to start doing that.
I am reminded of the time that former Digest participant John Higdon
called me at home very late one evening on a three-way call with some
phreak phriend(s) of his on the line because they wanted to brag and
show me how 'someone' (the name(s) of the other person(s) on the line
were never given to me) had broken into and looted the voicemail system
of a certain long distance carrier which specializes in 900 service.
It seems 'someone' had gotten in via the root password and proceeded to
rephrase certain prompt messages, replacing what had been there with
lewd comments of their own about the carrier's pending bankruptcy. So
don't assume the sysadmin left that feature there. Phreaks could have
called one night and put it back in then run up quite a phone bill by
the time the proprietors found out what had happened. PAT]
------------------------------
From: john@gulfa.ods.gulfnet.kw (John Temples)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Date: 10 Jan 1994 19:45:45 +0300
Organization: Gulfnet Kuwait
> [ ... You need to match carrier with 800 number for this
> however; the carrier of the 800 number is the carrier who's 'home
> direct' service you need to connect with, *and not all of them will do
> this*, although I think AT&T and MCI will. PAT]
I just spoke to an AT&T USA Direct operator who told me that AT&T will
attempt to put through calls to any 800 number, regardless of whose
800 number it is. But the number must be "reachable on the AT&T
network." He specifically said AT&T does not have a policy of
blocking calls to 800 numbers on other carriers.
John W. Temples, III Gulfnet Kuwait
Phone: +965 242 6728 Fax: +965 242 6720
------------------------------
From: dej@eecg.toronto.edu (David Jones)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 15:10:37 -0500
In article <telecom14.21.8@eecs.nwu.edu> msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
writes:
> Actually, in all of the foregoing, "USA" should read "USA and/or
> Canada, as appropriate for the particular number". Some 800-numbers
> in each country can be called from the other in the usual way. In
> fact, some can *only* be called from the other country.
Of course, there are ways for Canucks to make use of USA-only 800
numbers. If you work for BNR, you dial 6-1-800- ... from any phone.
If you live in Toronto, then ACC Long Distance Inc. will let you dial
US 800 numbers through their network for ten cents/min.
David Jones, M.A.Sc student, Electronics Group (VLSI), University of Toronto
email: dej@eecg.utoronto.ca, finger for more info/PGP public key
------------------------------
From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein)
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Date: 10 Jan 1994 05:41:34 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA
In article <telecom14.19.10@eecs.nwu.edu> hummes@osf.org (Jakob
Hummes) writes:
> ...But there is an absolute limit (Shannon's Law). The
> question was about the transmission over a *real* phone line. And that
> means there exists *noise*. The limit of bps is proportional to the
> logarithm of the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately I don't remember
> the constant factors.
Shannon's law is, in plaintext,
BPS(max) = Bw * log(2)((1+S)/N)
That is, take the signal-to-noise ration (adding 1 to signal, so a
negative SNR has some information present) and represent it as a power
of 2. Multiply by bandwidth (in Hz) and you get BPS.
THus if you have a 30 dB (1000) signal to noise ratio, that's 1001/1
which is a smidgen under 2^10. If you have 3000 Hz usable bandwidth
that's the 10 times 3000, or around 30000 bps max.
It was often said that a phone line couldn't go beyond 26000 bps or
so, based on the typical bandwidth and SNR. Today a good clean line
is more likely to be digitally switched at 64000 bps, which is well
above the Shannon limit (digitization is lossy), but you still get a
theoretical limit closer to 40 kbps. Thus V.34, at 28.8 kbps, is
pushing the envelope, but still possible. But it won't work on a line
that's transcoded down to 32 kbps, or just plain noisy. Note the 300
to 3400 Hz nominal frequency range; the 3400 is a hard filter.
Fred R. Goldstein k1io goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission
------------------------------
From: yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates)
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Date: 11 Jan 1994 03:34:36 GMT
Organization: University of South Florida
In article <telecom14.21.5@eecs.nwu.edu> ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell
on BIX) writes:
> Actually, if you really want to find out how the Hayes Optima 288 and
> the GDC V.F modems work, get Draft Recommendation V.34 ...
It's worth a look -- anyone know where this can be ftp'ed from?
Randy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 22:57:55 EST
From: richw@mks.com (Rich Wales)
Subject: Re: Radio Religion in Canada
Reply-To: richw@mks.com (Rich Wales)
Organization: Mortice Kern Systems Inc., Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Earlier, I mentioned that the CRTC (Canadian TV/radio regulatory
agency) had recently changed the long-time policy forbidding
"single-faith" religious stations in Canada.
I just saw a comment on USENET (talk.religion.misc) from someone in
the Vancouver area, reporting that an AM station there (formerly CHRX,
now CKBD) had changed format from "classic rock" to contemporary
Christian music.
I'll try to let TELECOM know if I hear of any more such stations up
here in Canada. In this area (Kitchener-Waterloo, west of Toronto),
the closest such station right now is WDCX in Buffalo, which doesn't
really come in very well this far away.
Rich Wales (VE3HKZ, WA6SGA/VE3) Mortice Kern Systems Inc.
richw@mks.com 35 King Street North
+1 (519) 884-2251 Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9
------------------------------
From: wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (Wm. Randolph U Franklin)
Subject: Re: Radio Religion in Canada
Date: 11 Jan 1994 21:22:21 GMT
Organization: ECSE Dept, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180 USA
Reply-To: wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (Wm. Randolph U Franklin)
Canada didn't need all-religious radio stations in the past so much
since normal stations would broadcast so much religious programming.
I grew up (in Ottawa) listening to Ernest C. Manning's weekly "Canada
Bible Hour" (or some such title). Manning was the Social Credit
Premier of Alberta at the time. How many American state Governors
have longtime nationwide religious programs?
Side notes for Murricans: The Social Credit party started in the
depression with the theme that if the government printed money and
handed it out then the depression would end. EC Manning's son is
Preston Manning, leader of the third largest party in Parliament now.
He attracts a lot of invective from opponents of his right-wing
pro-English politics.
Wm. Randolph Franklin, wrf@ecse.rpi.edu, (518) 276-6077; Fax: -6261
ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180 USA
[TELECOM Digest Moderator's Note: As another side note, my earlier
message on this thread right at the end of the year used the past-tense
in saying that the CBS Radio Network carried "Music and the Spoken Word"
for over forty years which originated with station KSL in Salt Lake City,
Utah. A few different people wrote to point out that the weekly show,
a/k/a the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is still sending out the weekly broad-
cast via KSL. WBBM, the CBS affiliate here hasn't carried the show for
thirty years! Sometime in the middle 1960's they dropped it and it was
picked up by WCLR in Skokie which coincidentally (or maybe not so coin-
cidentally) is a radio station owned by the Bonneville Corporation, a
corporation wholly owned by the LDS Church. Whether 'Double-You Clear'
as they call themselves is still carrying it is anyone's guess, as I
am not usually awake at 8 AM on Sunday. PAT]
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX)
Subject: Re: V.35 to RS-232 Conversions
Date: 11 Jan 94 18:44:36 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
The V.35 interface is described in the Red Book. The entire section
about V.35 was removed from the Blue Book, and all attempts I've made
to obtain this information has met with roadblocks.
If you can find someone who has a copy of the Red (or Orange) book,
you can get this information.
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX)
Subject: Re: FTP Site For EIA Standards
Date: 8 Jan 94 18:48:00 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
rob@ubitrex.mb.ca (Rob McConnell) writes:
> Does anyone know the whereabouts of an FTP site for EIA standards,
> specifically EIA IS-60?
Currently, I know of no FTP site for EIA or TIA documents. They want
you to buy them from Global Engineering Documents. With money.
------------------------------
From: ue554@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Steven H. Lichter)
Subject: Re: SprintNet Access From the Internet
Organization: Camosun College, Victoria, B.C.
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 20:43:25 GMT
If you have SprintNet access type C CRIS at the @ prompt. This will
put you onto an information BBS which offers a service like you want.
The cost is not free, but a lot less then some services.
-=- Sysop: Apple Elite II -=- an Ogg-Net Hub BBS
(909) 359-5338 12/24/96/14.4 V32/V42bis Via PCP CACOL/12/24
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 22:55:04 EST
From: Paul R. Coen <PCOEN@DRUNIVAC.DREW.EDU>
Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI
Organization: Drew University Academic Technology
> Is that what the MCI TV commercials with the little girl with the
> pseudo-[B]ritish accent standing in a puddle spouting existential
> gibberish are all about?
Is it a girl? I thought it was a boy. Then again, I didn't look very
closely. All I noticed was an overly-perfect child dressed in weird
black clothes and a really ghastly hat. And the kid sounded like one
of the brats from _Mary Poppins_.
> And I thought they were just trying to finally beat AT&T for the worst
> imaginable ad campaign :-)
You know, I felt like I was watching some sort of weird one act play
that I didn't understand. Then again, considering that I *still*
don't understand what "networkMCI" is besides a new name for stuff
they already have, maybe that's okay. Does someone want to take a
stab at explaining it?
Maybe they blew the fiscal year's budget for ads on that commercial
with everyone from "Star Trek," and they're going low budget :)
------------------------------
From: gibhenry@cscns.com (Gib Henry)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Organization: Community_News_Service
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 15:06:05 GMT
In article <telecom14.14.4@eecs.nwu.edu>, feedle@kaiwan.com (Feedlebom)
wrote:
Here's another dial-a-joke number (try overnight, after 6 p.m. until 6
a.m.): 1-404-REQUEST.
Gib Henry
------------------------------
From: cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (gordon hlavenka)
Subject: Re: A Tale of Two Dialtones
Organization: Vpnet - Your FREE link to the Internet (708)833-8126
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 22:06:07 GMT
> This is what happened: in ordering the new service, the phone company
> put the new service on the original number, and put our old service on
> the new line!
Well, I have only two lines, and Illinois Bell managed to screw even
_that_ up...
When we moved to our new home, we ordered both lines at the same time.
But because one is a residential line and the other is a business line
they were installed at different times. The residential line went in
first, and worked just fine. Two days later, the business line went
in. But they wired the business line to the residential circuits, and
_disconnected_ the residential line altogether! Calls to the
residential line were RNA.
I don't get it; they had to add a new drop for the business circuit,
so they must have known there were supposed to be two lines working.
I called and raised whatfor, and FWIW they were back within an hour
and put things right.
Gordon S. Hlavenka cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us
Proud father of Daniel Scott born August 9, 1993
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 08:32:22 EST
From: Thomas Lapp <thomas%mvac23.uucp@udel.edu>
Subject: Cold Temperatures
Pat, you complained of the temps being below zero in Chicago the next
few days. Well, someplace it is always worse.
In the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley area, we had freezing rain wich
put 1/4 inch or more of ice on trees, power and phone lines, hanging
traffic lights, etc. Philadelphia Electric reported 500,000 consumers
out of power, with half of them not getting power back for up to 48
hours. 160 crews from outside PECO service area were coming in to
help them out. While you sit in your home, there are a goodly number
of folks who had to leave their homes because they have no power to
heat the home. I'd also not enjoy being one of the utility folks who
had to work a full shift last night repairing lines with temperatures
in the teens.
Brrr.
tom
internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu (home)
Location : Newark, DE, USA
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Next thing you know, I'll be printing
messages from you here telling me I should be grateful for what I have
and not complaining so much ... :) I believe outside utility workers
are worth every nickle they are paid and then some. Christmas Eve, 1983:
record cold temperatures here ... the temperature dropped to 29 *below
zero* early Christmas Eve and did not go above zero again for three days.
On Christmas, the *high* temperature for the day was something obscene
like minus ten degrees. Despite conditions as they were, three friends
and myself decided to have our holiday dinner downtown at Berghoff's.
On the corner of State and Adams, a big excavation in the street with
a truck parked there from the Municipal Water Works. The excavation
area was blocked off by street barricades and a trash barrel sitting
nearby had been set afire, with three men standing there around the
fire warming themselves. In the hole in the street, at least fifteen
feet below down into the ground was this black, muddy, gunky looking
water swirling around rapidly and therein stood two men in hip boots
with water halfway up to their posterior with tools doing their thing
to replace an obviously quite broken underground water pipe. Despite
the ten or fifteen below zero or whatever -- it had gotten so cold it
no longer mattered -- I was fascinated by this and stood there a minute
or so peering down into the hole at those two guys, the water swirling
around everywhere and them banging away and digging, etc ... Christmas
Day in downtown Chicago.
One of the men standing by the barrel of burning trash was the
foreman; he saw me and said jokingly, "Would you like to give it a go,
sir? I've got a tool here for you that's about the right size ... when
they come up, you can go on down a bit and see what you think ..." I
asked him what those guys got paid and his answer was that 'normally'
they get seventeen dollars per hour, ".... but today being Christmas
they get *double time and a half* ... and for reasons of safety the
union requires two men on the job to look out for each other, so that
one doesn't fall down and drown, or have it all cave in him, you know?
... ". The two who had been in the hole apparently got the water flow
shut off about that time and climbed up to the street and headed right
to the fire to warm themselves. They passed among themselves a bottle
which did not appear to contain iced tea and the foreman invited me to
share with them but I declined and went inside Berghoff's to join my
friends. When we came out nearly two hours later full of turkey and
stuffings and a few drinks of our own, all five of the water works
crew were down in the hole installing a new section of pipe, slopping
around through the now nearly frozen mud. Outside utility workers are
marvelous people. Does anyone remember when the two AT&T workers were
killed in an accident in the Rocky Mountains in January several years
ago? They had volunteered to go out to a very desolate area and
replace a downed aerial cable that provided telephone service to a
little town. Due to very icy, very hazardous conditions their vehicle
skidded and overturned; they were killed. It happens, and it t'aint
funny. PAT]
------------------------------
From: STEVE2400@delphi.com
Subject: How To Download Files From local Internet Access?
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 05:33:57 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
I recently got access to the internet at my local school. I'm pretty
new to the Internet and Unix but I managed to FTP some files into my
directory at the local site. Now I need someone to tell me how to get
the files from the computer at school to my computer at home. I would
appreciate if some of you experienced Internet users could help me
with the correct information.
Please send mail to stevens@tstc.edu first or STEVE2400@delphi.com.
Thank you,
Steve
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The above message was recieved from
this new user and perhaps one or more of the regular readers will
write him and try to help him resolve his problem. Thanks! PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #25
*****************************
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Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 00:38:29 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401120638.AA14351@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #26
TELECOM Digest Wed, 12 Jan 94 00:38:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 26
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (Kriston J. Rehberg)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Aninda Dasgupta)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (John T. Grieggs)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Dave O'Shea)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Dave Niebuhr)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (A Alan Toscano)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (A. Padgett Peterson)
Re: Looking For Cordless Headset Telephone (Subodh Bapat)
Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey J. Carpenter)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Carl Oppedahl)
Re: Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment (Dan Borkowski)
Re: Technical Description of PBXs Wanted (Mike Renault)
Re: User Interface From Hell (Kriston J. Rehberg)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same
Date: 11 Jan 1994 07:40:07 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.20.7@eecs.nwu.edu> John Warne <19064001@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU>
writes:
> There has been discussion recently regarding crosstalk between pairs
> of wires in two-pair cable ("Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack").
> A recent BELLCORE bulletin pointed out that two-pair inside wire (AKA
> station wire or JKT) can be found to have been made in two quite
> different ways.
> The cross-sectional view of one wire reveals the plastic outer sheath
> is formed around the conductors in a cloverleaf-like pattern, holding
> a certain relationship between the conductors for the length of the
> cable (AT&T *used* to make their two-pair stuff this way), resulting
> in less crosstalk between pairs.
> The sheath of the other type (which AT&T is using now) does not hold
> the conductors in any particular alignment, but is a loose outer
> covering. This wire exhibits greater crosstalk when used for two
> telephone lines.
> You can detect the second type of cable easily -- it's smaller in
> overall diameter, the conductors slide within the jacket, and it
> simply *feels* cheap (editorial comment). In my opinion, the new
> stuff is junk, and, probably, at a higher cost to the purchaser.
> I have a roll of General Wire at the shop that is constructed in the
> "good old way," but several of our suppliers can't seem to find any
> more of it in their warehouses.
> I'd recommend the second pair in the new stuff be used only for backup
> in case the first pair is damaged in some way, and not used for a
> second service.
I am sure the person posting this is well-intended, but I fear that
through inadvertence the phrasing used may make people buy wire other
than the stuff they wanted to buy.
Let's define four colors - R G Y B - and with that, here is a typical
so-called "quad" wire.
R G
Y B
And the point is, you could cut the wire anywhere along its length,
and you would see the same cross section, differing only in that all
four wires may have rotated, e.g.
Y R
B G
but, as you will appreciate, the relative configuration remains the
same, R has Y to one side and G to the other, for example.
This is Bad Wire For Two-Line Use. It is the cloverleaf type wire
mentioned above. Many Readers Have Reported Cross-Talk With Such
Wire.
Now let's define four numbers, corresponding to color codes as follows:
1 - white with blue stripe
2 - blue with white stripe
3 - white with orange stripe
4 - orange with white stripe
These numbers are arbitrary -- they are only meaningful in the following
diagrams.
1 2
3 4
This is one typical configuration for "twisted pair" wire, which is
what you *should* use for two-line (or more-line) work. At points
along the way you may find any of these:
2 1
4 3
or
1 2
4 3
or
2 1
3 4
The main point, as you will have guessed, is that if you stripped off
the outer jacket of the cable for some length, you will find 1 and 2
twisted around each other, and 3 and 4 twisted around each other.
Often, indeed almost always, this kind of wire has an outer jacket
that is of constant thickness. It has a cylindrical hollowness that
contains the twisted pairs.
Quad wire, on the other hand, typically fills the spaces between the
wires, so that when you strip off the jacket it has a cloverleaf-
shaped hollowness.
For two-line use, don't buy quad. Buy twisted pair.
Usually you can recognize twisted pair phone wire from the use of the
striped color codes, such as blue with a white stripe etc.
Usually you can recognize quad wire from the use of the R G Y B color
codes.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same
Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 10:32:53 EST
From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
In-reply-to: John Warne's message of Sat, 08 Jan 94 19:42:49 EST:
[quad wire crosstalk discussion]
> I'd recommend the second pair in the new stuff be used only for backup
> in case the first pair is damaged in some way, and not used for a
> second service.
In light of NY Telephone's (now NYNEX) use of the quad wire, yet
consistently not using it for two-line phones, is probably due to the
fact that they'd rather not rewire a building with faulty cabling and
would rather use the second pair for both as a backup and as a
reinforcing agent to make the wire strong enough not to break as
easily as two-lead wire can. When I moved out of my parents' house,
they needed to use the wire left over from my computer phone line
because theirs had deteriorated.
Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com
Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO
ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott
Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 08:42:53 EST
From: add@philabs.Philips.Com (Aninda Dasgupta)
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Magnavox sells a Voice Recognition remote that:
- allows programming of VCR
- is a universal remote
- recognizes commands from more than one person.
So, for about $100 to $150, you can hold up the remote in your hand
and say something like : "Record, Thursday, Start 9:00 pm, End 9:30
pm, Channel 4." And the remote does the rest. No need to look up
codes and punch them in. Training the remote to recognize your voice
takes a few minutes as the user is prompted on an LCD screen to read
out a few numbers and words that appear on the screen. Very user
friendly. See your local Magnavox/Philips dealer for demonstrations.
Aninda DasGupta (add@philabs.philips.com) Ph:(914)945-6071 Fax:(914)945-6552
Philips Labs\n 345 Scarborough Rd\n Briarcliff Manor\n NY 10510
------------------------------
From: grieggs@jpl-devvax.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (John T. Grieggs)
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 19:09:25 GMT
In article <telecom14.15.5@eecs.nwu.edu>, Arthur Rubin <a_rubin@dsg4.
dse.beckman.com> wrote:
> Well, you do need to program in the translator from the "published"
> channel numbers (the ones used to encode the VCR+ code) to the channel
> numbers your VCR and/or cable box use, and to program the box to learn
> how to program your VCR and/or cable box, but I don't THINK there's
> anything more that needs to be done. (Of course, all of this was
> intended for those people whose VCR is blinking "12:00" (actually,
> mine blinks "--:--" when not set), so do you really expect them to
> attempt to tell you how to program a "universal remote".)
Well, actually, I got mine because my cable company delivers scrambled
signal to my house. The chintzy plastic box they rent me as a decoder
is able to be controlled via IFR. Which is a darn good thing, because
the VCR it is attached to must be tuned to channel 3 all the time if
it wants to see any signal at all.
VCRPlus is able to handle this situation. I give it codes and leave
my VCR turned off and with tape. When it's time to tape, the VCRPlus
unit changes channels on the cable box, turns on the VCR, and starts
taping. When the programmed time elapses, it stops and turns off the
VCR.
Once in a while, I need to run a little program I got from the net a
while back, to manually generate a VCRPlus code, when I want to tape
something from a local station which is not listed in TV Guide.
I assure you, none of my VCR clocks blink. Perhaps you should
consider broadening your somewhat patronizing definition of whom the
product is intended for?
John T. Grieggs (Telos @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, Ca. 91109 M/S 525-3660 (818) 306-6506
Uucp: {cit-vax,elroy,chas2}!jpl-devvax!grieggs
Arpa: ...jpl-devvax!grieggs@cit-vax.ARPA
------------------------------
From: dave_oshea@wiltel.com (Dave O'Shea)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Date: 11 Jan 1994 18:36:23 GMT
Organization: WilTel
A. Padgett Peterson (padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com) wrote:
>> In addition, it is phasing out the optional business Flat Rate and
>> untimed Message Rate plans for businesses in upstate NY and imposing
>> timed message rate for them.
> This is the scary part simce everywhere I go I see regional carriers
> attempting to eliminate "flat" and "unmetered" plans. As telecommuting
> and information hightway access begins to take hold, the elimination
> of unmetered local service is the biggest threat to individual
> connectivity that I can imagine.
Well, in a word, no. It will mean that those of us who have been tying
up a trunk for six hours at the same price as a 30-second call will
have to stary paying for the privilege -- though I wouldn't be
terribly surprised to see some alternative local loop providers
selling a "flat-rate"-type service to people who are priced out of the
market by the LEC's.
As it is, I probably burn up seven or eight hours a month of modem
time, and virtuaally all of it is long-disatance anyway. Considering
that I can do ~18kb/s with a Telebit 3000, I'm probably saving money
compared with using PC Pursuit or some similar service.
One of the big reasons that long distance rates seem to "bottom out"
somewhere in the 10 cents/minute rate, even for the most humongous
customers is that the LD carriers have to pay most of that to the LEC
for the local loop. Perhaps as the RBOCs are able to recoup something
for those millions of unbillable hours of local connect time, this
will ease up.
> Of course, the biggies (Compu$erve, Plodigy, etc.) will have 800
> numbers and just pass the cost along, but one might expect amateur
> BBSs, SLIPs, and the like to become much less popular. The biggest
> threat would be to the infant telecommuting industry and the home
> office which relies on unlimited local service and the best means for
> achieving the Clinton/Gore "20% reduction in commuting" would go up in
> smoke.
If an employee is worth telecommuting, even a $4/hour connection
charge is fairly minor in the face of, say, a $65,000 salary/benefits
package. Even if you get charged that for eight hours a day, it's minor.
Most employees who would best benefit from telecommuting are the ones
who are well into long-distance calling areas.
And who knows -- I don't follow ISDN or related services too closely,
but it (and similar services) will become more widely available as the
cost of bandwidth falls.
Keeping the local connection price artificially low is a disincentive
for LEC's to provide higher capacity and better services.
> True, TANSTAAFL still applies and I suppose metering is inevitable
> particularly since it is both cheap and desirable for the Telcos. The
> only advantage that I can see for the consumer would be that with
> metered service, the subscriber would have a right to a call detail
> listing the individual calls by called number, time, and duration.
Desirable, probably. Cheap, no. All those CDR records mean gags of new
storage, more throughput needed on billing systems, and a near complete
re-working of billing software and tariffs.
Dave O'Shea dos@wdns.wiltel.com
Sr. Network Support Engineer 201.236.3730
WilTel Data Network Services Do I *look* like a WilTel spokesman?
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
Date: 11 Jan 1994 07:41:19 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.21.15@eecs.nwu.edu> johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
writes:
>> Of course, the biggies (Compu$erve, Plodigy, etc.) will have 800
>> numbers and just pass the cost along ...
> Unlikely. An 800 number costs at rock bottom ten cents a minute,
> while message rates are usually more like two cents. Even with
> metered local service, calling direct is considerably cheaper.
> Note that in New York City, the calls are metered, but local calls are
> charged one unit (about a dime) per call, no matter how long the call
> is. If ever there were a rate plan that favors modem users, that's
> it.
Uh, this is the case, in New York City, only for residential callers.
If you have a business line a lengthy local call costs much more than
a brief one.
In <telecom14.21.16@eecs.nwu.edu> dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr)
writes:
> In TELECOM Digest V14 #19 oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) writes:
>> In <telecom14.17.7@eecs.nwu.edu> Eric De Mund <eademund@lbl.gov>
>> writes:
>>> Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me
>>> the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at
>>> his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York,
>>> telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible.
>> I don't know the situation now, but a few years ago a friend in
>> Westbury had three lines in the house, one of which was a 516-333.
>> The 516-333 had been in place for a decade or more, and he kept it
>> because it was a flat-rate line -- no charge for local calls.
> Flat Rate is available to all residence customers and maybe some small
> businesses.
Flat rate might mean two things -- local calls never cost anything, or
local calls cost one message unit no matter how long you are connected.
For most phone exchanges in New York state, residence customers get
the latter, not the former. Only a relatively small number of exchanges
in NY state have true flat rate, where all local calls never cost anything.
In NY Telephone's service area (most of NY State) nearly all business
service (no distinction made between large or small businesses) is
charged so that lengthy local calls cost more than brief ones.
> Here are the exchanges in the 33X series for Area Code 516:
> 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 33X | |PtJef|GdnCy|<----Westbury--->|Hksvl|GdnCy|Wstby| |
> Code: PtJef - Port Jefferson; Hksvl - Hicksville (a small tale here);
> GdnCy - Garden City.
> Note that all except 331 are in Nassau County and all are next door so
> to speak from each other and there are a plethora of businesses and
> government offices is that area. I don't think that they'd put up
> with rotary only dialing.
I find that in general the numerical nearness of telephone exchange
numbers has little or no correlation with geographical nearness. I
suggest that it would have even less correlation with central office
equipment types. By this I mean that while you will sometimes see a
"run" of exchange numbers that are clearly closely related (e.g. 333,
334, 335) once the "run" has a break (e.g. from 336 to 337) then I
suggest that there is probably no correlation of geographic areas and
no particular correlation of central office equipment types.
The 337 wires fan out from one building to cover Garden City, while
the 336 wires fan out from a *different building* to cover Hicksville.
Once we appreciate that they are different buildings, we can see that
there is no particular reason to assume anything in common about the
type of equipment inside.
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 14:35:03 EST
From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
In TELECOM Digest V14 #19 there was a question as to whether 516-333
was touchtone equipped.
I checked yesterday with the business office (since NYTel is now known
as NYNEX, I ended up in a Rockland County (upstate) office instead of
one on Long Island) and found out the following.
516-333 (Westbury, NY) does have touchtone available and the switch is
a DMS-100. All CLASS (SS7) features are enabled for anyone who wants
them.
Therefore, I would suspect that whoever said that touchtone was not
available in that exchange didn't know what was available or not.
Dave Niebuhr Internet: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (preferred)
niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl
Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility
Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093
------------------------------
From: atoscano@attmail.com (A Alan Toscano)
Date: 11 Jan 94 00:01:07 GMT
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
In article <telecom14.18.2@eecs.nwu.edu> MAARUF ALI, <UDEE740@bay.cc.
kcl.ac.uk> writes:
> Could someone please tell me how to phone US 0800 numbers from the UK?
Several previous replies suggested AT&T's USA Direct Service, but
stated that the service could only be used to call AT&T-serviced "800"
numbers. THERE IS NO LONGER ANY SUCH REQUIREMENT.
AT&T previously filed a tariff, allowing the Service to pass "800"
calls to the local exchange carrier (serving whatever "gateway city"
is processing the USA Direct traffic), for subsequent routing to the
appropriate long distance (interexchange) carrier.
Generally, then, the following three requirements are necessary to
complete a call via AT&T's USA Direct Service, to a USA "800" number:
1. There must be USA Direct access for the country you're in. This is
usually a toll-free access telephone number. Alternatively, in a few
countries, you may use special public telephones. In even fewer
countries, both access methods exist. (To learn more about USA Direct,
from outside of the USA, call collect: +1 412 553 7458.)
2. You must be calling an "800" number which does not have a
geographic restriction against calls from the "gateway city" (in the
USA) which serves USA Direct traffic from the country you're calling
from. (This is unlikely, but possible. Most USA "800" numbers have no
such restriction.)
3. You must have an AT&T Calling Card to which the cost of the
international segment of the call may be billed. International
customers holding an acceptable bank credit card may request an
application for an AT&T Calling Card by calling (collect): +1 816 654
6004.
It's my impression that AT&T will not, due to international
agreements, knowingly complete USA Direct calls to Canadian or
Carribean numbers.
Ideally, with North America's increased awareness on global trading,
American businesses will, over time, become better educated on
international telecommunications issues. In the mean time, I hope the
above will be helpful to those businesses which, due to their
specialized needs, for example, must trade with American corporations
in spite of any current naivete.
Disclaimer: I don't work for AT&T. I'm just a customer.
A Alan Toscano <atoscano@attmail.com>
Postal: P O Box 741982; Houston, TX 77274-1982
Voice Mail: +1 713 415 9262
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 08:40:30 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK
Clive D.W. Feather <clive@sco.COM> wrote:
> Some of us would *love* to be able to call US 800 numbers and pay for
> the calls. Or have a way to find out the POTS number. Even in UK-only
> publications, I *still* see US companies only quoting their 800
> numbers.
Pat mentions one possibility. Another is that the copmpany is too
small to handle its own marketing and has "outsourced" the order
business to a mass order taking (is there a one word description?)
organization. In this case, the 800 number may be the only way the
order-taker knows which company's name to answer with. (Remember when
you were supposed to ask for a particular "operator number" and this
told the outsourcer which company to respond as).
Thus an "800 only" number is a flag to me that 1) The company has
probably outsourced the order system and 2) They do not have anyone at
their office to take orders.
At one time I used to be amazed at the "one-man" operations operating
out of their home with giant advertising. Being somewhat more cynical
now, I accept that "allow four to six weeks for shipping" means the
company has no stock and is waiting for sufficient paid orders to
qualify for volume discounts before ordering any.
Warmly,
Padgett
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Either that, or they also farm out the
orders to be filled elsewhere on a drop ship basis. PAT]
------------------------------
From: bapat@gate.net (Subodh Bapat)
Subject: Re: Looking For Cordless Headset Telephone
Date: 11 Jan 1994 00:34:41 -0500
gcorbett@husc8.harvard.edu (Gregory Corbett) writes:
> Can anyone help me?
> I am looking to obtain a cordless, "Headset" telephone that operates
> with a small microphone and "walkman-like" earpiece.
> Where can I obtain such a phone?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try the "Hello Direct" mail order
> catalog. Phone 1-800-HI-HELLO for details. "Hello Direct" is now
> an official supplier of equipment to Illinois Bell customers through
> telco's 'work at home center'. PAT]
I just saw a Ginzu-knife commercial on TV advertising a do-it-yourself
device. What this seems to be is a flat metal headset that goes on
your head but has absolutely no electronics in it. Instead, one of the
"earpieces" is a round metal plate with a Velcro patch on it. You get
another adhesive Velcro patch which goes onto the back side of a
regular cordless phone. When you put on the "headset" and attach the
two Velcro pads together, you essentially get hands-free operation and
mobility -- which is what the original poster wanted. (Of course, you
could use this with a wireline phone too, if all you want is
hands-free operation and not mobility.) I have no idea how well it
works or how comfortable it is.
If you already have a cordless phone, this alternative will cost you
$19.95, as opposed to the $399.95 cordless headset from Hello Direct.
------------------------------
From: jjc+@pitt.edu (Jeffrey J. Carpenter)
Date: Tue, Jan 11 06:15:40 1994 GMT
Subject: Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania
In article <telecom14.6.12@eecs.nwu.edu>, is written:
> My understanding is that although the State's PUC has ruled on
> Caller ID service, deployment (by local carriers) is being held by a
> State Supreme Court challenge.
This Act is meant to overcome the wiretap law problems previously
found by the courts.
> Is the Bill mentioned under consideration, or has it passed?
It was signed into law last month.
Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter |* Go Orioles! * Catch the Fever! *|
Computing and Information Services, University of Pittsburgh
600 Epsilon Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15238-2887
jjc+@pitt.edu, +1 412 624 6424, FAX +1 412 624 6436
------------------------------
From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Date: 11 Jan 1994 07:55:08 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <telecom14.22.10@eecs.nwu.edu> etm@email.teaser.com (Erik Thomas
Mueller) writes:
> By the way, I'm posting this message from a Minitel. Everyone in France now
> has USENET and Internet mail access via 3617 EMAIL on the Minitel. A Minitel
> costs about $3.50/month. ISDN is available everywhere. Plus we also have
> Bibop!
I am very interested to see this message which suggests that everyone
in France with a Minitel has Usenet and Internet access. But can I
send email to everyone on Minitel? If so, what is the general
addressing format? Or is 3617 EMAIL a private company that is
offering a gateway between Minitel and the Internet? What is
"email.teaser.com"?
Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers)
Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330
------------------------------
From: dborkowski@gte.com (Dan Borkowski)
Subject: Re: Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment
Organization: GTE Laboratories
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 12:57:47 GMT
Don't assume that changing a home telephone number (even to unlisted)
will stop harassing phone calls.
Case in point:
My sister was in a situation with a former *friend* who was harassing
her (phone calls, stalking, rocks through windows, etc.), so she
started by getting a restraining order and an unlisted phone number.
The phone was quiet for about two weeks, but the calls started again.
At this point she noticed that she hadn't received a phone bill that
month. Well, it turns out that she probably did, but her former
*friend* probably had stolen it from her mailbox (yes, that's a crime,
but try proving it w/o witnesses!) and read her new phone number
right off the bill. So she paid to get another new unlisted phone
number. Her former *friend* was then arrested on a charge of
violating the restraining order, and while in the police department,
her former *friend* read her new phone number off the police report.
So she paid to get another new unlisted phone number. This scenario
probably would have continued, but fortunately this was college, and
she graduated soon thereafter and left that town forever.
Dan Borkowski GTE Laboratories Incorporated dborkowski@gte.com
All opinions are my own.
------------------------------
From: mmr@merlin.dev.cdx.mot.com (Mike Renault)
Subject: Re: Technical Description of PBXs Wanted
Organization: Motorola Codex, Canton, Massachusetts
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 15:06:24 GMT
Don Pelton <DEP@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> writes:
> I'm looking for sources of good technical descriptions of PBX
> technology and standards. Can anyone suggest books, articles,
> newsgroups and/or other internet resources? Standards documents?
PBX standard for the US is ANSI/EIA/TIA-464-A-1989.
Title is "Private Branch Exchange Switching Equipment for Voiceband
Application".
My copy cost $67.00. This document is aimed towards the designers of
PBXs. Call Electrionic Industries Association in Washington DC to
order, sorry I don't have their phone number.
Michael Renault <mmr@merlin.dev.cdx.mot.com> (617)-821-7613
------------------------------
Subject: Re: User Interface From Hell
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 10:10:10 EST
From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
johnl@medusa.gsfc.nasa.gov wrote:
> I just received the user guide for our ROLM PBX voice mail system.
> Although I like to think of myself as technologically literate, the
> user interface for the voice mail system intimidates me. The rather
> thick user guide lists many features, options and user commands. The
> system structure is summarized in 6 pages of decision tree diagrams.
> User commands are things like "*73" (replay a message), and there are
> alot of them. I already have an 89 page user guide for my ROLM
> telephone. Does anyone else find this as frustrating as I do? The
> local phone company uses similar commands to access the new features
> that have been added to their switch software.
At first glance, the ROLM phonemail (voice mail) system is extremely
difficult to master at first, especially if you DON'T have a
ROLMphone. The ROLMphones have templates on them with most of the
phonemail commands like delete, save, listen, record, skip, etc., plus
extra keys which on our phones are mostly inactive. If you DON'T have
a ROLM phone, you can still use the DTMF touch-tones and flash feature
of your existing phone, but I weep for you. The ROLM phones seem to
use a digital-style link between the PBX and the phone itself for the
special buttons and fancy blinking lights, but it will still accept
that white-bread DTMF fone with flash capability you may have floating
around.
At least on our system, which was put into full operation sometime in
the spring and early summer of '93, the phonemail prompts are very
descriptive, but can drive a new user crazy. Follow the tutorials in
the user manuals. I, unfortunately, didn't have that luxury until
after I cut my teeth on it. Be SURE to beg, borrow, or steal one of
the flip-chart-style help indices that stick to your phone. It gives
you all the commands in a handy flip-chart format.
Disclaimer: I am not an employee or representative of ROLM, who seems
to make very good PBX's and phones. At least better than the Northern
Telecom PBX's I've been a captive customer of before.
Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com
Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO
ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott
Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #26
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Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 01:08:22 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401120708.AA08560@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #27
TELECOM Digest Wed, 12 Jan 94 01:08:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 27
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Sprint Voice Foncard Press Release (Les Reeves)
Re: Unique Idea: Error Message for TDDs (John Nagle)
Re: Bizarre Cordless Behavior (Steve Forrette)
Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (John Gilbert)
Re: Multi-line BBS's (Steve Norton)
Re: Computer-Telephony I (Donald Crenshaw)
Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (John Barcomb)
Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (John Barcomb)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Haakon Styri)
Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Brad Hicks)
Re: Radio Modem Help Wanted (Richard A. De Castro)
Re: Long Distance CLID is Here (Scot E. Wilcoxon)
Are LATA Maps Available? (Michael Dalby)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
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of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 08:00:49 PST
From: Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com>
Subject: Sprint Voice Foncard Press Release
SPRINT ANNOUNCES THE VOICE FONCARD(SM)
-- The World's First Calling Card
That Lets Your Voice Do The Dialing --
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 5, 1994 -- Sprint today introduced the
Voice FONCARD(SM), the first voice-activated calling card, which
will take consumers into a new dimension of telecommunications.
"The Sprint name is synonymous with 'fiber-optic network' and
'technology leadership,'" said Dave Schmieg, president of Sprint's
Consumer Services Group. "All of our products and services are
offered via the world's first and still only all-digital,
fiber-optic network. The pin-drop quality of our voice and data
transmission is unsurpassed in the industry. Sprint's
state-of-the-art network allows us to again pre-empt the
competition and be first in the market with an exciting new
product for our customers -- the Voice FONCARD."
The Voice FONCARD is available only through Sprint Priority
Gold(SM), a package of services also announced today by Sprint.
Instead of punching in phone numbers and authorization codes,
customers can let their voices do the dialing: "Call mother,"
"Call pediatrician," or "Call stockbroker."
Speak it, and the Sprint network will do the rest.
"Once you've learned a single 800 access number, you won't
need to pull a calling card out of your wallet, look up phone
numbers, or punch in any more digits," said Schmieg. "Give your
fingers a rest. The network is interested only in hearing your
voice. No voice can be heard truer than on Sprint."
Schmieg continued, "Everybody's voice is different so this
technology offers built-in fraud protection. The voice-matching
process is secure enough to ensure authenticity, but flexible
enough to allow for slight variations in a caller's voice due to
illness or fatigue."
Here's how to place a call using the Voice FONCARD:
o dial the 800 access number;
o speak the Voice FONCARD number, which is the card holder's
Social Security number, preceded by one digit (for added
protection, the Social Security number is not printed on the
card);
o then direct the system to place the call by saying, for example,
"call home."
The system recognizes the security code and verifies the
voice print, which has been pre-registered, before automatically
dialing the requested number.
Users of the Voice FONCARD can register up to 10 spoken speed
dials with the system, from "call home" to "call doctor." The
Voice FONCARD can be customized to fit specific calling needs,
whether for frequently dialed numbers, or hard-to-remember
numbers. Voice FONCARD users are not limited to the spoken
speed-dial list, and may manually dial any desired number.
"Sprint's Voice FONCARD represents the cutting edge of
technology," said Schmieg. "We're using that technology to
provide convenient and easy-to-use communications tools for our
customers and paving the way for voice activation to become a
worldwide means of communication."
The Voice FONCARD is being supported with national
advertising featuring the voices of celebrities such as Candice
Bergen, Sprint spokesperson and Emmy-award winning actress from
the hit TV show "Murphy Brown;" Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers
quarterback; Don Shula, the "winningest" NFL coach of all time;
Beverly Sills, opera singer, and Harry Caray, voice of the Chicago
Cubs.
In addition to the Voice FONCARD, Sprint Priority Gold
customers receive, for a low $5.00 monthly fee, benefits that make
long distance calling easier, including:
o Automatic savings on residential dial-1 calling. The Most(R),
Sprint's lead residential calling plan, saves customers up to 36
percent each month on domestic calls. The Most WORLDWIDE(SM),
Sprint's international calling plan, saves customers up to 36
percent each month on domestic calls and up to 20 percent on
international calls.
o Sprint Advisor(SM). Sprint regularly reviews customer accounts
to ensure they are getting the best value for their money.
Sprint will notify the customer of other Sprint calling plans
that will help them save money.
o Sprint Priority Rewards. With every call, customers earn points
toward merchandise, free nights at Marriott Hotels, discounts on
United Airline tickets, free calling and more.
o Sprint Priority Gold customer service. Sprint provides a
service center dedicated solely to Sprint Priority Gold
customers.
Sprint is the first major long distance company to make
calling easier by offering voice-activated technology, one of many
technological innovations from Sprint.
Sprint is a diversified international telecommunications
company with more than $10 billion in annual revenues and the
United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network.
Its divisions provide global long distance voice, data and video
products and services, local telephone services to more than 6
million subscriber lines in 19 states, and cellular operations
that serve 42 metropolitan markets and more than 50 rural service
areas.
------------------------------
From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: Unique Idea: Error Message for TDDs
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 17:50:33 GMT
Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM> writes:
> By accident I found something new and unusual.
> <SIT TONE> "We're sorry, because of an area code change, your call
> cannot be completed as dialed. Dial again using area code 410. Please
> make a note of this change. The following tones are for TDD users: "
> <Long touch tone, # I think> Then, on a TDD device we have in our
> office, the message comes across "PLS USE 410 AREA".
> Unique idea -- putting a TDD message into an error recording -- and
> I'm surprised that I've never heard it done before.
Is this something which will become standard in the US, perhaps
to comply with the ADA? If so, consideration should be given to
supporting it in modems and modem programs, so computers can use that
data.
TDD is just 5-level Baudot at 45.45 baud, sent half-duplex using
the (I think) "Originate" tone pair of a 103A type modem. Most older
modems, and some newer ones, can be coerced into using this mode.
John Nagle
------------------------------
From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
Subject: Re: Bizarre cordless behavior
Date: 11 Jan 1994 18:20:03 GMT
Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.
Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette)
In <telecom14.22.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison)
writes:
> I have for about four or five months now had a cordless phone. I'm mostly
> happy with it, but there are a couple of problems.
> (1) There is excessive bounce in the keypad. I had to take the first
> unit back because I misdialed at least 75% of all attempts. The new
> unit is not so bad, but still has bad problems with the '2' key.
My AT&T cordless (a few years old now) has the same problem. The '1'
key is particularly problematic. Since I often call into area code
916, this has created an embarrassing situation. I'll dial
1-916-xxx-xxxx, but the second '1' will bounce. As astute Digest
readers will remember, any special routing codes (1+, 0+, 10XXX+,
etc.) codes in front of 911 are ignored, so I get connected to the
Police department instead. I now make it a point to use another phone
when making those calls.
Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com
------------------------------
From: johng@ecs.comm.mot.com (John Gilbert)
Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack
Organization: Motorola, LMPS
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 17:19:14 -0600
In article <telecom14.16.5@eecs.nwu.edu>, John S. Roberts Jr.
<johnr@ms.uky.edu> wrote:
> I DO have two phone lines. That is the problem. I know that they are
> not shorted because I can make two seperate calls on each of the
> lines, however I can HEAR the line one conversation when I am using line
> two. I have heard people talking about how when you run four conductor
> wire (like from Radio Shack) and use two conductors for one line and two
> conductors for the other you often get bleed over. I am looking for a
> solution to this other than running another set of wires to seperate
> the two lines from being so close.
The folks you heard are correct. "D station" quad wire commonly used
for household telephone wiring does not have the individual pairs
twisted inside the jacket. This causes it to have very poor crosstalk
performance. You should change the wire.
John Gilbert johng@ecs.comm.mot.com
------------------------------
From: steve@interaccess.com (Steve Norton)
Subject: Re: Multi-line BBS's
Date: 11 Jan 1994 18:25:26 -0600
Organization: The second InterAccess INN server
dannie@coplex.coplex.com (Dannie Gregoire) writes:
> I'll direct this question to you if possible, as you are the true
> phone system guru. I asked it in the newsgroup a couple of months
> back with no useful response. I would like to know how some of these
> bulletin boards have 60-100 lines running into them (eg EXEC-PC). Do
> they simply have that many individual lines run or is there a nifty
> service that the TELCO offers through a PBX? I apologize if this is
> a stupid question, but it is one that has baffled me, and I gotta know
> the answer. Thanks for any help ...
Everyone seems to think that multiplexing lines across T1's is the
greatest thing since sliced bread. However, even the most cut-rate
companies in the Chicago area charge $700-800/month for a T1 line. At
24 simulated POTS lines/T1, this is about $30/line/month. Not even
Ameritech is so evil as to charge $30/line/month -- we pay about
$15/line/month. Add in the $5K for muxes and the fact that you almost
always have to use proprietary (read as expensive/poor selection)
modem cards, T1's really are a bad deal.
Steve Norton 708-671-0111 (voice) 708-671-0237 (data,login guest)
InterAccess Co. steve@home.interaccess.com
Chicagoland's best public access Internet provider
------------------------------
From: Donald.Crenshaw@tdkt.mn.org (Donald Crenshaw)
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 09:26:00 -0600
Subject: Re: Computer-Telephony
Organization: The Dark Knight's Table BBS - (Free) Public Acces News/Email
RMcG> Any general references to Computer-Telephony Integration would be
RMcG> greatly appreciated. Please reply to email if possible.
In the US, try the Alliance of Computer-Based Telephony Application
Suppliers (ACTAS). They are a subgroup of sorts of the the North
American Telecommunications Association (NATA). The point of contact
is:
David Haviland
NATA
200 M Street NW Suite 550
Washington DC 20036
(202) 296-9800 ext 266 (voice)
(202) 296-4993 (fax)
He should be able to point you in the direction of a lot of good
resources. If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll dig deeper into
my files for more names. Sorry I'm not emailing, it's a hassle with
my limited access and besides, this information may have general
utility for readers here.
Take care,
DON
Origin: Dark Knight's Table (1:282/31)
The Dark Knight's Table BBS +1 612 938 8924 Minnetonka, MN USA
Free access to Usenet news and e-mail
------------------------------
From: jbarcom@uswnvg.com (John Barcomb)
Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard
Date: 11 Jan 94 21:18:50 GMT
Donald J. Miller (dmiller@crl.com) wrote:
> So, now we have FOUR phone "standards". What about ROAMING?
The way I see it, AMPS will always be supported so it will always be
standard to use AMPS in the U.S.
> Well, it looks like the more expensive DUAL-MODE phones are here to
> stay. Either of the two digital systems, TDMA or CDMA could have been
Actually, U S WEST didn't increase our price to the customer when we
started selling dual mode N-AMPS/AMPS (832/2412) phones in our N-AMPS
markets.
> Six times the existing bandwidth was not enough. We got greedy.
When the potential benefit of CDMA is 10-20 times capacity, there is a
good reason to look at that technology. There is also talk about
voice quality issues (Possible improved quality on CDMA -- nothing for
sure yet.)
Just thought I throw my $.02 in ...
John
------------------------------
From: jbarcom@uswnvg.com (John Barcomb)
Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP
Date: 11 Jan 94 21:48:18 GMT
Gib Henry (gibhenry@cscns.com) wrote:
> Whooh! This has some scary implications of the Big Brother variety!
> If Cellular One keeps this info, it could be a real invasion of
> privacy.
How do you think roaming is handled now? Each cellular system puts
all your info on a billing medium of some sort and sends it to your
"home" cellular carrier who bills you. To make life somewhat more
convenient information does need to be shared between carriers to make
this system work.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 00:04:23 +0100
From: styri@balder.nta.no
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Just for the record, may I ask how "Anonymous Call Rejection" would
affect calls from abroad? We don't transfer ANI from Norway to the
USA, arriving in the US the call is only marked as 'coming from
Norway' and this is unlikely to change in the near future. (I could
write chapter and verse about why, but you probably don't want to read
the full argument ...)
Haakon Styri <styri@nta.no>
Norwegian Telecom Research *** std disclaimer applies ***
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The key is in the word 'private' versus
'outside' as displayed on the Caller-ID unit. Anonymous call rejection
does not prohibit 'outside area' calls from getting through; it only
forbids those calls which were specifically ID-blocked. If the ID
never arrives (because your exchange did not receive the data from the
sending office) then the message displayed is 'outside'. PAT]
------------------------------
From: mc/G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU1=0205925@mhs.attmail.com
Date: 11 Jan 94 17:28:59 GMT
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV
> Well, Mike, I am old enough to remember all the fancy claims that
> 'cable-tv' would put over-the-air tv out of business, ...
Broadcast TV's share of the viewing market has been dropping steadily,
and in fact if it weren't for the last round of cable TV regulation
ordering cable companies to pay the local affiliates for rebroadcast
permission, might well have been on its way to fulfilling this
prophecy.
> would make networks obsolete,
In the sense that networks existed pre-cable, you betcha. Paramount
TV, Fox, and Prime Time Entertainment Network, plus shopping channels
like QVC, are not only getting their shows seen by people without
buying up affiliated stations but even getting the network affiliates
to broadcast their shows ... in some cases, even =instead= of the
network fare. It used to be that The Big Three (ABCBSNBC) dictated
what the American people saw on TV. We kissed that (expletive
deleted) goodbye.
> would transform our very lives,
I got a taste of this while I was waiting for my satellite receiver to
be delivered; for almost a month I was choked down from 40+ channels
to the six broadcast channels available in my area. No CNN/HN, no
Weather Channel, no music channels, no Cartoon Network, only very
limited and very bland "variety" and "network" programming ... I
thought I would go mad. I don't watch =that= much TV, but when I =do=
sit down at the set, I expect to find =something= I can stand within a
few minutes of channel surfing. Channel surfing through only six
channels felt stupid, like my ears were stuffed with cotton and I was
wearing blinders.
> would offer first-run movies,
Like HBO's _And the Band Played On_ and _Attack of the 50 Foot Woman_,
or the =many= first-run movies on LifeTime. There's more, that's just
what I thought of off-hand.
> would offer live video from foreign countries,
Every morning C-SPAN (1, I think) shows the "evening" news from
Moscow, live with a translator in voice-over. If you want this sort
of thing regularly, bug your cable provider to offer SCOLA, which does
the same sort of thing 24 hours a day.
> would bring the classroom to the living room,
A&E, C-SPAN, The Learning Channel, but especially The Discovery
Channel, which has done =wonders= for the resurrected art of the
documentary. Coming soon: the History Channel.
> would offer access to niche programming, fine arts, etc etc etc.
A&E (fine arts and foreign film), AMC (American Movie Classics, plus
great old newsreals), BET (Black Entertainment Television), Cartoon
Network, CMTV (Country Music TeleVision), CNBC (all financial news),
CNN and CNN/HN (all news), Comedy Central, CSPAN-1 and CSPAN-2
(government and public affairs), Discovery (all documentaries), E!
(Entertainment industry television), ESPN-1 and ESPN-2 (all sports),
the Family Channel (targeted at "family values" conservatives and
their families), LifeTime (targeted at adult women), MTV, Nickelodeon
(children's and teen programming), the Outdoor Channel (hunting,
fishing, etc.), the Sci Fi channel, Univision (all Hispanic and
Hispanic-American programming), plus of course all the all-movie
channels like HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, TNT, Bravo, Encore ... In fact,
other than the three or four "superstations" and the local broadcast
channels, on a typical 30+ channel CATV system, they're =all= niche
programming.
Given the above variety, do we really begrudge the home shoppers' HSC
and QVC, or the people who =want= to see televangelism on Fam (part
time) or EWTN, or the wrestling fans and rock-n-rollers the occasional
pay-per-view?
Let's face it, the reason that cable TV companies are singing, "My
God, How the Money Rolls In" is because they =have= fulfilled the
promises you mentioned, far better than broadcast TV ever could have.
(And of course, they have a monopoly on that service, unless you
invest the $2k or so for a dish with "all the trimmings.") No, we're
not to the point yet where no matter what you're in the mood to see,
you can sit down at your tube and flip over to it ... but we're a
=lot= closer than we used to be before CATV.
J. Brad Hicks Internet: mc!Brad_Hicks@mhs.attmail.com
X.400: c=US admd=ATTMail prmd=MasterCard sn=Hicks gn=Brad
------------------------------
From: decastro@netcom.com (Richard A. De Castro)
Subject: Re: Radio Modem Help Wanted
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 18:23:37 GMT
pierobon@gate.net (John Michael Pierobon) writes:
> I am trying to set up a communication link to a hub from a remote part
> of South America.
> Here is the problem. My computer, or home base, is located in a place
> where telephones do not reach. Neither celullar nor wire can be
> strung to reach this place. Therefore, my only option to transfer
> data is via a "radio modem". A friend of mine suggested I look into
> this, but he was not able to provide me with more information. Where
> can I get additional information on "radio modems"?
The general technology you need is called packet radio. There are
several rec. groups dedicated to it, they can be of much help. In
general, you use a pair (one at each end) of special radio "modems"
called TNC's, or Terminal Node Controllers. These are different from
a standard modem, in that they have hardware that actually assembles
the packets (chunks of data) and then sends it to the modem chip.
The TNC connects to a serial port on the computer, and to the mic jack
on the radio. The radio needs to be of a suitable type for the ranges
involved, and if needed, you need to be licensed. Then, using a
special (generally easy to get shareware) communications software (I
like one called YAPP, for yet another packet protocol), the two
machines, radios, etc call each other.
Depending on the radio frequencies, thru-put is incredibly slow. RE
ally incredibly slow.
If you just need to transfer text, another type of protocol, using
mostly the same hardware, is TOR, or teletype over radio. Again,
check out rec. whatever
Good Luck!
decastro@netcom.com
Richard A. De Castro - California, North America, Sol-3
------------------------------
From: fieldday!sewilco@kksys.mn.org
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 19:03 CST
Subject: Re: Long Distance CLID is Here
Organization: Esix Test Unit 1
In article <telecom14.20.12@eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Editor notes:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In Chicago we have had inter-LATA
> Caller-ID on an intermittent basis for about a year. It is sent here
> by some exchanges in other cities, but not by all or even a majority
> yet. Minneapolis comes to mind as one place where I've seen it a lot.
> Area code 612 numbers show up here when I get those calls. PAT]
Cute. Here in Minneapolis CLASS services are not available yet, so we
cannot request blocking of caller ID. US West says CLASS probably
will be available in April.
Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@fieldday.mn.org +1 612-825-2607
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 15:59:43 -0800
From: Michael Dalby <md@well.sf.ca.us>
Subject: Are LATA Maps Available?
I wonder whether you know of maps of RBOC lata boundaries. I have the
list of sample cities you posted on mintaka at mit, but wonder if
there is a commercially available version that actually marks the
interlata boundaries. Can you shed any light on this?
Thank you.
Michael Dalby md@well.sf.ca.us
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #27
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Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 01:25:04 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401130725.AA25488@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #28
TELECOM Digest Thu, 13 Jan 94 01:25:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 28
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
PacTel Announcement (Alex Cena)
ISDN: Coming Soon to my House? (Robert L. McMillin)
Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem) (Jakob Hummes)
Communications Over Power Lines (Stewart Fist)
Internet<->FIDOnet Mail/File Transfer (Jim Groeneveld)
Unmetered Local Service (Lars Poulsen)
New AT&T Bell Labs WWW Server (comp.dcom.cell-relay via Monty Solomon)
Anyone Know Anything About GTE-4600 (Min Hu)
Phonebook on CD-ROM/Internet? (Claes Gussing)
New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Kriston Rehberg)
FCC Report on LD Carrier Growth (Stephen Goodman)
Sprint VoiceCard - Maybe Not Such a Good Thing? (goodmans@delphi.com)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 12:27:00 EST
From: Alex Cena <acena@lehman.com>
Subject: PacTel Announcement
From a PacTel Cellular Press Release:
01/12 PacTel Cellular announces plans for introducing digital cellular
service; company signs contract with Motorola in preparation for
launching CDMA system in Los Angeles.
WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- PacTel Cellular today
announced plans to invest nearly $250 million over the next five years
to build its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital cellular
networks in California and Georgia.
The company will launch its first commercial CDMA system in Los
Angeles in early 1995.
Digital cellular technology offers a platform for introducing many
important new wireless services for business and consumers: text
messaging, in-building coverage, voice mail notification, data
communications, fax, and one-number calling.
The advent of CDMA will help fuel the growth of personal
communications services, as digital systems provide the capacity to
serve the mass market and enable new customers to take advantage of the
benefits of tetherless communications.
As part of its digital deployment plans, PacTel Cellular announced it
has signed a definitive agreement with Motorola to purchase CDMA
network infastructure equipment for use in the greater Los Angeles
area. The value of the Los Angeles contract is initially about $70
million and could reach $130 million by the year 2000. In addition to
Los Angeles, PacTel plans to deploy CDMA in San Diego, Sacramento and
Atlanta over the next three years, using Motorola infrastructure
equipment.
"We're committed to maintaining our strong leadership position in the
wireless industry," said Sam Ginn, chairman and chief executive officer
of PacTel Corporation. "By investing in this new digital technology,
we're demonstrating our intent to build a high-quality cellular network
that will meet our customers' needs cost-effectively. Our current
investment in CDMA will allow us to reduce our cost structure
significantly in the future."
"Although new players are entering the personal communications
marketplace, we don't believe their services will provide any
advantages over our digital cellular technology," added Lee Cox,
president and chief operating officer of PacTel Corporation. "Given
our 10 years of experience building, operating and marketing cellular
service in L.A. -- one of the country's most demanding markets -- we
feel that we're well positioned to compete successfully against the new
entrants."
PacTel will begin installing the Motorola equipment in early 1994,
with pre-commercial service slated to begin by mid-year. The company
intends to conduct comprehensive testing before launching commercial
service. By the end of 1995, the digital network will completely cover
PacTel's Los Angeles market, a region of nearly 11,000 square miles,
making this the largest CDMA infastructure deployment contract
announced to date.
"Motorola is pleased to have won this commercial contract to deploy
CDMA throughout an entire city -- one of the largest in the United
States," said Jack Scanlon, senior vice president and general manager,
Motorola Cellular Infastructure Group. "We are confident Motorola's
CDMA technology will provide the basis for significant improvements in
call quality and new calling services for PacTel customers. CDMA will
redefine cellular service during the second half of the '90s."
"We welcome Motorola's strong commitment to CDMA technology," said
Craig Farrill, vice president of technology planning and development
for PacTel Corporation. "Based on our work together over the past four
years, we feel confident that Motorola will support our goal of
delivering a technically superior network, quickly and economically."
"By combining CDMA digital technology with Motorola's advanced
networking capabilities, we'll be able to provide cellular customers
with an array of highly portable personal communications services,"
Farrill explained. "For example, customers will have control over how
and when their calls reach them, whether they're in their home markets
or traveling."
Under the agreement, PacTel will purchase Motorola's new SC(TM)9600
digital base stations, cellular base station controllers, and digital
switching platforms manufactured for Motorola by DSC Communications
Corporation.
Due to CDMA's dramatic capacity increases, the Los Angeles network
eventually will be able to serve about four million customers, or more
than 25 percent of the region's entire population of 15 million.
PacTel will offer dual-mode phones which can operate on its new
digital network as well as the existing analog system, providing
customers with a smooth transition to CDMA technology. During the
pre-commercial phase in Los Angeles, PacTel plans to use Motorola's
prototype and pre-commercial dual-mode CDMA handsets.
PacTel previously announced agreements to purchase a total of 50,000
dual-mode phones from OKI telecom (30,000 phones), Hyundai (10,000
phones) and Maxon (10,000 phones). The company expects to complete
similar CDMA agreements with other subscriber equipment manufacturers
in the near future.
Some of PacTel's wireless competitors in Los Angeles have recently
deployed other forms of digital technology. "We know from our ongoing
market research that customers place the highest priority on voice
quality and network coverage," commented Cox. "Since we're more
interested in offering the best digital technology than being first to
market, we've chosen a carefully managed process of testing and
refining our network. We think it's clearly worth the wait for CDMA
and the long-term benefits it offers."
To expand its customers' cellular coverage when they're traveling in
the United States and Canada, PacTel is a member of MobiLink (SM), an
alliance of 15 cellular companies. MobiLink has set common service
standards to ensure consistent cellular quality and service nationwide.
The MobiLink national network already reaches nearly 85% of the
population of the United States and Canada and expects to cover
virtually all of North America through licensing agreements. With
MobiLink, PacTel Cellular customers using dual-mode CDMA phones will
enjoy nationwide coverage with a single handset.
In 1989 PacTel was the first cellular carrier to field test CDMA,
which is based on technology developed to provide secure communications
for the military. Its wideband channel, advanced receiver technology
and sophisticated encoding scheme result in a signal that is highly
resistant to interference and eavesdropping. Some of CDMA's advantages
over existing analog technology include improved voice quality, broader
coverage, enhanced privacy, capacity increases of at least tenfold, and
the potential for expanded wireless data and messaging services.
Since 1990, PacTel and Motorola have been testing CDMA using PacTel's
San Diego network in conjunction with Qualcomm Inc., and a group of
other carriers.
PacTel Corporation, based in Walnut Creek, operates cellular, paging,
vehicle location and international wireless ventures in a number of the
world's best markets. PacTel Corporation and PacTel Cellular are
subsidiaries of Pacific Telesis Group, a worldwide diversified
telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco.
On December 3, following the third-largest initial public offering in
U.S. history, PacTel Corporation began trading on the New York and
Pacific Stock Exchanges under the symbol PTW. Subject to final
approval from the Pacific Telesis board of directors and certain other
conditions, Pacific Telesis plans to spin off PacTel as a completely
independent company in the first half of 1994.
Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless
communications and electronic equipment, systems, components and
services for worldwide markets. Products include two-way radios,
pages, personal communications systems, cellular telephones and
systems, semiconductors, defense and aerospace electronics, automobile
and industrial electronics, computers, data communications and
information processing and handling equipment. Sales in 1992 were
$13.3 billion.
CONTACT: PacTel Corporation
Susan Rosenberg, 510/210-3910
or
Motorola
Scott Wyman, 708/632-4691
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 06:53 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House?
The thread about quantization and signal/noise on a POTS line has me
thinking that maybe all this will be increasingly obsolete. According
to the 800 number posted recently on this forum, my switch is set up to
handle ISDN! A friend who is an authorized Pac*Bell digital services
reseller arranged for some techs to come out and do a site survey; this
means they'll check the line loss to see whether the existing copper can
support ISDN without an additional signal boost. According to my
friend, ISDN is currently tarriffed in California under a provisional
business class of service, which means that I'll pay probably a little
more per month ($35, I recall) than I might if there were an ISDN
available under a residential service plan. Nonetheless, it does seem
quite reasonable given the potential benefits.
The ISDN they're selling will be two B and one D channels. If things
go well and they can install this service, I'll let you all know how
this goes.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
------------------------------
From: hummes@osf.org (Jakob Hummes)
Subject: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem)
Date: 12 Jan 1994 19:07:24 GMT
Organization: Open Software Foundation
In article <telecom14.25.9@eecs.nwu.edu>, goldstein@carafe.tay2.
dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes:
> In article <telecom14.19.10@eecs.nwu.edu> hummes@osf.org (Jakob
> Hummes) writes:
>> ...But there is an absolute limit (Shannon's Law). The
>> question was about the transmission over a *real* phone line. And that
>> means there exists *noise*. The limit of bps is proportional to the
>> logarithm of the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately I don't remember
>> the constant factors.
> Shannon's law is, in plaintext,
> BPS(max) = Bw * log(2)((1+S)/N)
> That is, take the signal-to-noise ration (adding 1 to signal, so a
> negative SNR has some information present) and represent it as a power
> of 2. Multiply by bandwidth (in Hz) and you get BPS.
Of course, not!
But now I remember Shannon's Law (you have placed wrong the brackets):
BPS(max) = Bw * log(2)(1+(S/N))
The addition of 1 is needed to unable a negative BPS-rate, which would
be nonsense.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And of course Murphy's Law says that
when you are attempting to copy something down in plain ASCII text
for transmission to a computer network you'll always get some one
or more parts of it bass-ackwards to confound the readers even more
than they are already. That error might have been Goldstein's or it
might have been mine. Regrets extended. Your editor, Murphy.]
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jan 94 05:07:03 EST
From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Re: Communication Over Power Lines?
James H. Haynes writes:
> Then there are articles in magazines from time to time, and maybe
> commercial products you can buy, that use the 120v house wiring for
> conductors; but in that case the interest is in communicating just
> within the building, or maybe to nearby houses connected to the same
> transformer. I don't think you'll get carrier frequencies to go
> through a power transformer and on to the high-voltage side and back
> through another transformer to the 120v side on another circuit.
Back in my old paper files somewhere I have a product-test article
from an American computer magazine about a LAN system that did just
that (I can't find it). From memory, the author said that the system
worked quite well at a relatively low speed, but was limited in
distance to the first transformer in the street.
It seems to me that today, with adaptive filtering and the ability to
handle higher frequences -- plus digital echo-cancellation, etc. --
these systems may be worth examining again. You'd need a bit of
collision detection, but for small businesses and home use this might
be the cheap way to tie together a few PCs and a printer.
A Sydney, Australia, company called TCG Pty Ltd (fax +612 319 3629)
makes a simple one-way power-line-carried system called 'ILID' which
uses the data control of light circuits in supermarkets to transmit
optical signals to addressable shelf displays.
The transmitter sends out data packets through the power lines, the
light tubes in the store then translate these to optical packets,
which are then received by small photocell-powered LCD screen displays
on the shelves. It gives them a simple way to update prices.
------------------------------
From: groeneveld@cmi.tno.nl (Jim Groeneveld CMI-TNO Leiden NL)
Subject: Internet <- > FIDOnet Mail/File Transfer
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 10:50:18 MET
I found your address in mailings concerning the subject Internet<->
FIDOnet. So that's why I'm addressing you presently with some Q's.
I would like to have some information on transferring mail between
Internet/Bitnet and FIDOnet:
1. are there other, more direct forms of addressing a mail from
FIDOnet to Internet and Bitnet? I know the form "uucp at number"
with the first separated message line "To: internet_address".
With this form of addressing it is not possible for a point (using
Dutchie) to add the addressee to his/her node list. Only uucp gets
added (the first time). In the Dutchie documentation there is a
remark in which the form "uucp#internet_address" is stated. Is that
a valid form? It would allow different internet addresses being
added to a FIDOnet node list at a point.
2. With the form "uucp at number" what gateway FIDOnet numbers are
available in the US and Europe? Must they all be called "uucp"?
3. What gateway(s) is/are used when sending from Internet/Bitnet to
FIDOnet using the address form First.Last@Pp.Ff.Nn.Zz.FIDOnet.org ?
4. What happens if the Pp.Ff.Nn.Zz do not match First.Last?
5. What is the average transfer time from sender to recipient? A day?
6. How should (binary) files be transferred? UUEncoded or so?
7. Are FIDOnet users (especially points) able to order files from the
SIMTEL collection or other public file systems? If yes, how?
I hope this doesn't bother you too much,
Regards,
Y. (Jim) Groeneveld, TNO Institute for Preventive Health Research,
department of Application of Technology in Health Care,
(IPG-TNO, TTG) P.O.Box 124, 2300 AC Leiden, NL, (+31)71-181810
groeneveld@cmi.tno.nl, groeneveld@tno.nl
------------------------------
From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Unmetered Local Service
Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 13:35:33 GMT
A. Padgett Peterson (padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com) wrote:
>> everywhere I go I see regional carriers attempting to eliminate
>> "flat" and "unmetered" plans. As telecommuting and information
>> highway access begins to take hold, the elimination of unmetered
>> local service is the biggest threat to individual connectivity that I
>> can imagine.
About two years ago, I asked telecom readers for information about
local rates, because I had the same fear. My results indicated that
flat-rate local calling is readily available everywhere.
In article <telecom14.26.5@eecs.nwu.edu> dave_oshea@wiltel.com (Dave
O'Shea) writes:
> though I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see some alternative
> local loop providers selling a "flat-rate"-type service to people who
> are priced out of the market by the LEC's.
I rather doubt it; residential flat rate local calling is justified as
a giveaway of excess capacity that must be there in order to serve the
business community during "prime time". Alternate providers would tend
to establish rate structures that discourage residential customers so
that they don't have to build local plant to serve the low-volume
customers.
> One of the big reasons that long distance rates seem to "bottom out"
> somewhere in the 10 cents/minute rate, even for the most humongous
> customers is that the LD carriers have to pay most of that to the LEC
> for the local loop. Perhaps as the RBOCs are able to recoup something
> for those millions of unbillable hours of local connect time, this
> will ease up.
There is no inherent reason that a telco under rate cap (de)regulation
will lower the access charges charged to IXCs just because they obtain
a new revenue stream somewhere else.
On the other hand, a rational rate structure would charge the IXC
exactly the same as a local customer for what is essentially a local
call at each end of the long-distance call.
>> threat would be to the infant telecommuting industry and the home
>> office which relies on unlimited local service and the best means for
>> achieving the Clinton/Gore "20% reduction in commuting" would go up in
>> smoke.
> If an employee is worth telecommuting, even a $4/hour connection
> charge is fairly minor in the face of, say, a $65,000 salary/benefits
> package. Even if you get charged that for eight hours a day, it's minor.
> Most employees who would best benefit from telecommuting are the ones
> who are well into long-distance calling areas.
Many telecommuters will have a local call to an internet carrier's
local Point Of Presence. Eight hours at $4/hour is $32 a day. This is
at least the equivalent of another hour's salary. Hardly negligible.
>> only advantage that I can see for the consumer would be that with
>> metered service, the subscriber would have a right to a call detail
>> listing the individual calls by called number, time, and duration.
Hahahaha hahaha ha ha ... he ho hummmm ... Here in Denmark, local
calls have been metered for many, many years -- by the pulse method.
Itemized billing is NOT available, and there would be an uproar from
office workers -- on privacy grounds -- if the telco were to start
itemizing bills. Itemized billing, like flat rate local calling -- is a
feature of the American telephone system; it has ended up that way
mostly by accident. Certainly there is no logic that says subscribers
have the right to an itemized bill. (There may, however, in many
jurisdictions be a PUC regulation saying so.)
Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM
CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 02:37:17 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.COM>
Subject: New AT&T Bell Labs WWW server
FYI.
From: hgs@allegra.att.com (Henning G. Schulzrinne)
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [comp.dcom.cell-relay] New AT&T Bell Labs WWW server
Date: 10 Jan 1994 14:42:25 +0100
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
Sender: x920031@rubb.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Message-ID: <2grm01$kk4@rubb.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de>
Archive-Name: auto/comp.dcom.cell-relay/New-AT-T-Bell-Labs-WWW-server
A new WWW server at AT&T Bell Laboratories is now available for use:
http://www.research.att.com/
Note that this is NOT an ftp server.
Its current offerings include:
- a bibliography of about 3000 entries covering computer networks and
performance evaluation, about 1700 of which have abstracts; some
entries have links to PostScript copies of the paper. (Click on the
highlighted title to retrieve the paper.)
The database can be searched by specifying words contained in
title, author, abstract, etc. For example, 'Smith 1992' will extract
all papers (co)authored by Smith in 1992.
Submissions of BibTeX records for the database are strongly
encouraged, with abstracts and keywords if possible.
[Implementation: The database is stored in BibTeX format, with a fully
inverted index. A special BibTeX style file translates the selected
entries into HTML, with some postprocessing for accented characters
and the like.]
- Calls for papers for special issues of IEEE JSAC, one of them on
the Internet. Submission guidelines are there, too.
- A FAQ (HTMLified) for the Internet MBONE.
Henning Schulzrinne (hgs@research.att.com)
------------------------------
From: Min Hu <hu@geophy.physics.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Anyone Know Anything About GTE-4600
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 3:22:43 GMT
Hi,
Recently, my friends and I required two large PBX system GTD-4600 made
by GTE. I am planning to ship them to China. But I have following
unclear spots needed to be sorted out. Any help will be greatly
appreciated.
1. If these system will be compatible to Chinese telephone system?
2. What is the market value of GTD-4600 system? (made in 1985 and 1987
with fully equiped lines of 8500 and 5000)
3. How diffcult the de-installation and installation of the system
will be? Should I pay big bucks to hire contactor to do job? Or
I should risk to bring some very experienced Chinese enginers to
do the de-installation and installation?
4. The working voltage for the battery charger of the present system
is 110-240 v with 60 Hertz, while the Chinese working power suply
is 220 v with 50 Hertz. Will the present charger be able used over
there?
5. How this system compare with AT&T system? Will it equivalent to some
models by AT&T, say 2ESS or 3ESS?
6. Any suggestions?
MIN
------------------------------
From: ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se (Claes Gussing)
Subject: Phonebook on CD-ROM/Internet?
Reply-To: ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 05:15:16 GMT
Hi there,
I was wondering if one can get the phonebook on CD-ROM in the U.S? I
know this wouldn't work in Sweden, since we have some law about
keeping personal data on automatically readable media (as the phone-
book wouldn't be, with OCR ...). I thought maybe in the U.S. this
would work. A CD-ROM carries 650 Mbyte of memory, so some 5-10 disks
should carry the whole U.S!
Also, I was wondering if is possible to find a phonenumber on some
Internet-site with automatic reply. Maybe something like:
To: phonebook@some.site.us
Subject: me@my.site.se
Reply-to:
State: Texas
City: Dallas
First_Name: John
Last_Name: Doe
Business:
Company:
Street:
Box:
Zip: 76543
Phone:
where one can leave a few blanks. The last input, 'Phone:', if you
know the number, and want's to know who it belongs. If there are more
than i.e. 100 matches, one gets a reply saying "insufficiant
description". Another search-argument could be state, city and a
business, i.e Hotels, Restaurants, etc. That way one could achieve a
sort of yellow-pages on-line!
This site could be realized with a computer and a CD-ROM setup like
presented above.
Comments?
Claes ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se
------------------------------
Subject: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones
Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 02:43:48 GMT
From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
(This is paraphrased from the AP Wire)
New York Telephone (now NYNEX) in New York City has elected to install
rotary-dial phones, on request, in communities and areas where other
drug fighting measures have failed. They are installing them because
they say that rotary phones can't be used on the pager services that
these drug dealers use to communicate.
(Begin Commentary)
What I would like to know is, doesn't NYNEX realize that these people
will simply walk into their local Radio Shack and pick up a personal
tone dialer designed specifically for dialing touch tones on these
"new" rotary-only lines? Is anyone going to tell NYNEX that it is
simply wasting its and its customers' money? I believe the phones
also won't receive calls anymore (that service exists even here in
sleepy Binghamton), but changing to rotary dialers are ridiculous!
Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com
Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO
ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott
Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Telco knows very well what you are
saying is correct. It makes these adjustments (rotary dial, no incoming
service, no coin-paid calls during overnight hours) to accomodate the
neighborhood organizations in their fight in the 'war on drugs' and to
appease the local politicians who decide on municipal ordinances regards
payphones who in turn are trying to appease their voters. Telco is
making nothing on the deal except for community goodwill from the part
of the community which seems to be the largest and noisiest. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 00:32 EST
From: Stephen Goodman <0003945654@mcimail.com>
Subject: FCC Report on LD Carrier Growth
TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORTS [TE11] via NewsNet Monday January 10, 1994
The number of long distance lines "presubscribed" to MCI
Telecommunications Corp. grew at a faster rate during the one-year
period ending in June, 1993, than in any comparable period in the past
three years, according to an FCC report. "Long Distance Market
Shares," a quarterly report published by the Commission's Industry
Analysis Division, noted a 103% annual increase in MCI's presubscribed
lines, from 19.19 million in June, 1992, to 21.17 million in June,
1993. During the same period AT&T's presubscribed lines grew by 0.4%,
from 101.38 million to 101.77 million. Sprint Communications Co.
L.P.'s lines grew by 2.3%, from 8.42 million to 8.62 million. Copies
of the report are available for review at the Industry Analysis
Division reference room, 1250 23rd St., N.W., Washington, and can be
purchased by calling 202/857-3800.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 01:00:12 EDT
From: GOODMANS@delphi.com
Subject: Sprint VoiceCard - Maybe Not Such a Good Thing?
I was intrigued by the Sprint commericals on their voicecard and
called them to get more information. I was quickly turned off from it
after speaking with one of their reps:
To use it you dial an 800 number;announce your SSN plus 1 digit;
announce the programmed number (ie call joe)
I don't know about you but I don't want to announce my SSN to the
world, especially in a crowded airport! Also: the surcharge per call
is $1.00, its limited to domestic calls only, charged $5 a month, have
to be a Sprint Dial 1 customer, and the list is limited to 10 people.
It does not have any of the features the AT&T and MCI card have:
information services (weather, news) and conference calling.
What does everyone else think?
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #28
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Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 08:33:00 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401141433.AA13238@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #29
TELECOM Digest Fri, 14 Jan 94 08:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 29
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Canadian Teen Charged With $500,000 Phone Fraud (William Van Hefner)
Re: Phone Phreakers Down South (Paul Buder)
Re: Phone Phreakers Down South (Bob Niland)
Using Spare Channels on a T1 (Javier Henderson)
Re: Sprint Voice Foncard Press Release (Brent Whitlock)
Telnet to Remote PC's COM Port (Steve Pinkston)
Nynex Name Change (Dale Farmer)
Norwegian CLID (was "Anonymous Call Rejection") (Richard Cox)
Book Review: "Basics Book of Information Networking" - Motorola (R. Slade)
ISDN Residential and PacBell (Steve Cogorno)
Transborder Data Flow? (Michael L. Winkelman)
Online Comments to U.S. Social Security Administration (Jack Decker)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: vantek@aol.com
Reply-To: vantek@aol.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 04:27:38 EST
Subject: Canadian Teen Charged With $500,000 Phone Fraud
TORONTO (Jan. 11) UPI - A Canadian teenager has been charged with
defrauding a cellular phone network out of $500,000 worth of long
distance calls.
The youth, who as a young offender can not be identified, allegedly
used a computer to gain access to customers' voice mail boxes.
The teen would change the greetings in the voice mailboxes, and the
new greetings were used to approve calls billed to the Rogers Cantel
Inc. network.
About $200,000 worth of calls were billed to a single phone number
over a 17-day period.
Cantel blames Bell Canada's new automated long-distance billing
service, and is fighting with the phone company over who should pay
for the losses.
Since the alleged thefts last spring and fall, Cantel has started
offering customers a service that will keep their cellular phones from
accepting third-party bills.
A industry analyst estimated that long-distance fraud costs North
American companies $2 billion a year, much of it by hackers who gain
access to telephone networks by breaking access codes.
(END)
Geez, to ring-up a $500,000 cellphone bill he must have been on the
phone for AT LEAST a couple of hours!!! He'll probably end-up
counter-suing the cellular carrier for giving him a brain tumor, or
something ...
William 'Van' Hefner
Vantek Communications
------------------------------
From: paulb@teleport.com (Paul Buder)
Subject: Re: Phone Phreakers Down South
Date: 13 Jan 1994 18:53:39 -0800
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Then too, sometimes the phreaks
> manage to get the root password (the code used by the system
> administrator for system maintainence) and reconfigure the system for
> themselves.
That wouldn't be possible on all voicemail systems. The system I use
is called Repartee. No reconfiguration of privileges is allowed over
the phone unless it is explicitly set up to do that. They have to be
done by typing into the keyboard of the voicemail computer.
paulb@teleport.COM Not affiliated with teleport.
------------------------------
From: rjn@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Bob Niland)
Subject: Re: Phone Phreakers Down South
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 15:41:20 GMT
Reply-To: rjn@csn.org
Organization: Colorado SuperNet
V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu wrote:
> I am assuming that how is this done is to figure out people's voice
> mail passwords and then use the transfer feature to get off-site.
Stealing voicemail passwords and redirector access codes is trivially
easy if:
- Any of the system users have cellphones;
- They aren't directed, in the strongest terms, to NEVER use secured
system features from cellphone;
Cordless phones are also a risk, although a smaller one.
Does AT&T routinely advise their PBX customers to warn users about the
cellphone risk?
Regards, 1001-A East Harmony Road
Bob Niland Suite 503
Internet: rjn@csn.org Fort Collins
CompuServe: 71044,2124 Colorado 80525 USA
------------------------------
Subject: Using Spare Channels on a T1
From: henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com
Date: 13 Jan 94 17:06:41 PST
Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA
Hello,
I posted about this several months ago, and I only got one or two
responses. I thought I'd post again ...
Our company has the main facility in Ventura, CA, and we have smaller
sites throughout California. Right now, we're just using regular phone
lines to connect to these facilities for voice.
For data, there's a T1 going from the Ventura site to the long
distance carrier POP, and they run 56Kb circuits to each of the remote
locations. We're currently using only 7 channels on the T1, and expect
to have a total of 12 in use by the end of the year.
I'd like to know how complicated it'd be to use the remaining 12
channels for to route voice calls to our remote sites. Ideally, the
extensions at the remote sites would look like regular extensions to
everyone else in the network.
Some technical details ...
The main facility has an AT&T System 75 switch. The remote sites have
their own switches, though not all of them have the same model (or
brand, for that matter). One of the facilities doesn't even have a
switch, just three lines in a rotary (our smallest site).
Thanks!
Javier Henderson henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com
------------------------------
From: whitlock@photon.vlsi.uiuc.edu (Brent Whitlock)
Subject: Re: Sprint Voice Foncard Press Release
Date: 14 Jan 94 23:41:28 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Reply-To: whitlock@uiuc.edu (Brent Whitlock)
> SPRINT ANNOUNCES THE VOICE FONCARD(SM)
> -- The World's First Calling Card
> That Lets Your Voice Do The Dialing --
> ... No voice can be heard truer than on Sprint."
[ME:] ^^^^^ looks like a little jab at AT&T...
> Schmieg continued, "Everybody's voice is different so this
> technology offers built-in fraud protection. The voice-matching
> process is secure enough to ensure authenticity, but flexible
> enough to allow for slight variations in a caller's voice due to
> illness or fatigue."
[ME:] I wonder how secure this really is...
> Here's how to place a call using the Voice FONCARD:
> dial the 800 access number;
> speak the Voice FONCARD number, which is the card holder's
> Social Security number, preceded by one digit (for added
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> protection, the Social Security number is not printed on the
> card);
[ME:] It's beginning to not look very secure at all... "for added
protection" your SSN is not being printed on the card, but you have to
say it so everyone within earshot will be able to hear your SSN and
make a note of it if they so choose. I think I'd rather key it in
with my fingers. I would rather not use my SSN at all, actually, as
is the case with my current FONcard.
> In addition to the Voice FONCARD, Sprint Priority Gold
> customers receive, for a low $5.00 monthly fee, benefits that make
> long distance calling easier, including:
[ME:] I already get the other benefits through my Priority Plus
membership, which costs me nothing. So essentially, users must pay
$5.00 a month for their calling card. Does a $60 annual fee for a
calling card seem a bit expensive to you? It does to me. I won't be
getting this new FONcard. I wonder how many will ...
Brent Whitlock Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology
whitlock@uiuc.edu Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
------------------------------
From: pinkston@kentrox.com (Steve Pinkston)
Subject: Telnet to Remote PC's COM Port
Organization: ADC Kentrox - Portland, Oregon
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 23:43:37 GMT
I hope someone can help me with this:
I'm looking for a way to be able able to telnet to a specific serial
port on a remote device, so that I can connect to a non-ip-addressable
device that is connected to that port.
To be more specific: I have two LANs that are interconnected via
bridges and T1/FT1 WAN links. I have a PC on the remote LAN that has
an unused serial port ("COM2"). I want to be able to use telnet from a
PC on my local LAN to connect to that that port so that I can connect
to the (9600 bps async) console port of a non-ip device located near
that PC, in this example a smart CSU. In effect we would be making
the remote PC a small terminal server.
It has been suggested to me that there may be software solutions to
this. Ultimately I want to be able to do this for Macs and unix
stations, too, but for right now I would be pleased with a solution
for PCs.
Any help or pointers to resources would be greatly appreciated.
Steve Pinkston Technical Support Specialist
ADC Kentrox Portland, OR, USA pinkston@kentrox.com
------------------------------
From: dale@access2.digex.net (Dale Farmer)
Subject: Nynex Name Change
Date: 14 Jan 1994 11:30:11 GMT
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Last week I had reason to walk past the building in Boston that was
the main office of New England Telephone. (Franklin Street in Boston)
They vandals had chiseled off the gold colored metal letters over the
entrance that said "New England Telephone", Leaving permanant scars in
the stone over the doors. Really ugly looking. They had placed on
each side or the doors these huge, blue NYNEX logos. Amazingly ugly
looking! They took a pretty nice looking art Deco building and stuck
these awful plastic logo thingies on to spoil the whole look.
One more reason to prove that Corporate America has no
taste ... or shame. (I don't think the execs in charge noticed the
large old style Bell System logo up around the eighth floor, otherwise
they probably would have ordered that removed also. Thank god for
their inability to look more that six feet past their noses. )
Dale Farmer Telephone art policeman :-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 20:55
From: Richard Cox <mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Norwegian CLID (Was: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous)
Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk
Haakon Styri (styri@balder.nta.no) said:
>> We don't transfer ANI from Norway to the USA, arriving in the US
>> the call is only marked as 'coming from Norway' and this is unlikely
>> to change in the near future. (I could write chapter and verse about
>> why, but you probably don't want to read the full argument ...)
Perhaps some of us do want to read the full argument. It would be
very enlightening to know how this issue is viewed in other countries
-- especially one like Norway whose telecommunications decisions
usually seem very well thought out.
Apart from the idea of doing all exchange modernisation and number
changes at ten to four in the afternoon ... on Thursday afternoons,
isn't it?
If PAT doesn't want to carry this topic, feel free to mail me directly.
Richard D G Cox
Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 941 151515
E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jan 94 14:18 -0600
From: Rob Slade <roberts@decus.arc.ab.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "Basics Book of Information Networking" by Motorola
BKBSIFNT.RVW 931125
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Kelly Ford, Promotion/Publicity Coordinator
P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA 01867-9984
800-822-6339 617-944-3700
Fax: (617) 944-7273
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN 46254
800-447-2226
"The Basics Book of Information Networking", 0-201-56370-3
Ten years ago, this book was known as, "The Basics Book of Data
Communications." The preface describes it as an industry primer. A
number of other "Basics Books" have sprung from it on specialized
topics, and this new version is the "basic" book of the new series.
In general terms, the book does reasonably well as a primer. The tone
is light, with a fair bit of humour thrown in, as well as cartoon
illustrations of many points. I doubt, however, that completely
non-technical managers who need to get a minimal background overview
of data communications will be entirely comfortable with it. Although
it makes fun of other texts as being written from the perspective of
someone with three degrees in computer science, it is entirely clear,
despite any efforts taken to modify the fact, that this was written by
engineers.
At the same time, there are occasional problems with the material
presented. While there are no overt errors, there are very possible
sources of confusion, as when the discussion of"smart" and "dumb"
terminals seems to relate the two classes to block versus character
based transmission. The OSI model of data communications layers is
discussed under the topic of X.25 and packet switching, and may
contribute to a misunderstanding of the purpose of a layered model.
The strongest emphasis is on "point-to-point" networking--in other
words, the connection of terminals or computers in related, but
geographically dispersed, offices. However, as a short and reasonably
fundamental introduction to data communications, it has its uses.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKBSIFNT.RVW 931125
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno)
Subject: ISDN Residential and PacBell
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 17:08:46 PST
I just got off the phone with a PacBell Marketing Rep (This guy KNEW
what he was talking about, and actually treated me like an intelligent
person.)
Basically, he said that right now ISDN is a tarrifed as business.
However, Pac Bell filled a Tarrif Request on Nov. 17, 1993, to become
effective 5/15/93 making it a Residential service, with unmeasured
service.
The pricing was quite good though:
Installation
20.00 Conversion to Business Service
150.00 Installation
Monthly Service
4.25 Business Measured Rate
15.00 ISDN Service Charge
-7.50 Installation Premium (for every month up to 24 that the
service is connected.)
Usage
.04 Call Setup
.01 Per Minute (Note: 30% disc. after 5, 60% after 11 & weekend)
I have not heard what the hard costs will be yet; the Pac Bell rep
could not discuss it with me because of regulatory reasons. He said
he would have a tech call me back with info tomorrow.
For more info, you can call 1-800-622-0735. The guy I talked to was
Steven, and he really knows what he was talking about (as opposed to
the first droid who told me that "There is no service called ISDN or
SDS." When I told him that it was a 'digital' phone line, he politely
told me that _ALL_ Pacific Bell Exchanges are digital. *NOT* what I
asked... :-)
Steve cogorno@netcom.com
#608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive *
Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015
------------------------------
From: Michael L Winkelman <mncwink@novalink.com>
Subject: Transborder Data Flow?
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 15:44:08 EST
Organization: NovaLink, 800-274-2814 (voice) or 800-825-8852 (data)
Does anyone out there know anything about encrypted transborder
dataflow, more specifically the rules governing whether a country will
allow data to flow into or thru that country in an encrypted manner,
as opposed to the actual export of the programs that do the
encryption?
I've heard rumblings about various countries, like France, South
Korea, etc. that either have laws in place saying that you are not
supposed to telecommunicate in an encrypted manner into the country or
even worse, you must give them the capability to decrypt what comes
into the country encrypted? Is this true? Can anyone cite some
actual laws or authorities?
Mike mncwink@novalink.com
------------------------------
From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
Subject: Online comments to U.S. Social Security Administration
Date: 13 Jan 1994 05:11:38 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
[Although not strictly telecom related, I thought you might be
interested in seeing this.]
When I logged on to Youngstown Freenet tonight, I was greeted by
the login message (I guess this is called the "Message Of The Day"
in Unix circles) which contained the following blurb:
> UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU: The Congressional Office of Technology
> Assessment is conducting a multi-city "Teleforum" in which they are
> seeking your thoughts on the Social Security Administration for a
> study they are doing. Senior citizens (and those who someday expect
> to BE senior citizens) are invited to participate.
> Access the OTA TELEFORUM off the NPTN Special Projects on the main
> menu and join in this rather interesting application of teledemocracy
> at work ...
I entered the forum and was able to pull the following "about"
paragraphs. Two things to note: Apparently the "teleforums" are
available on five popular Freenet systems (the ones in Buffalo, NY;
Cleveland, OH; Denver, CO; Tallahassee, FL; and Youngstown, OH) and I
would assume you need to have an account on one of those systems in
order to participate (Internet users can telnet to all these systems,
and they are accessible from many Gopher systems as well). Also, it
appears that the Social Security Administration is considering making
some or all of their services available via the Internet. This could
be good or bad depending on whether proper attention is paid to
privacy.
However, one thing that personally disturbs me is that they are
apparently at least considering elimination of mailing of checks to
individuals, in favor of disbursements via "Electronic Fund Transfers
or Electronic Benefit Transfers." My initial gut reaction to that is
that this could have some real negative effects on privacy and
individual liberty, because it would in effect force people to have an
account at some financial institution in order to receive benefits. I
won't comment further on that now because I haven't really thought
about all the implications of this yet.
Anyway, here's what I was able to pull off of Youngstown Freenet:
ABOUT THE OTA TELEFORUMS
Over the next five years the Social Security Administration (SSA)
intends to spend about $1.1 billion on information systems procurement
and modernization. Critics of SSA -- most notably the General
Accounting Office -- say that SSA does not have a solid justification
for this huge investment. That they have not shown that it will
result in improved service delivery, or an improved work environment.
To help settle this dispute both agencies turned to the
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to do a study of
the issue. The OTA, in turn, has asked the National Public
Telecomputing Network (NPTN) to set-up an electronic forum which would
allow YOU to express your opinions on the matter.
Here's how it works ...
When you enter the TeleForums you will be able to select any
(or all) of four issues to comment upon. The issues have to do
with:
1) SOCIAL SECURITY AND CUSTOMER INTERACTION
2) NETWORK ACCESS TO BENEFIT FILING SERVICES
3) DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS
4) YOUR GENERAL SATISFACTION WITH THE SSA
You then choose the issue you want to examine and READ THE FILE
CALLED "README." This file will contain a summary of the issue and
the kind of things we would like the discussions to focus on.
Each of these forums will be running simultaneously on NPTN
affiliates in five cities: Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; Denver, CO;
Tallahassee, FL; and Youngstown, OH. Thus, a comment from someone in
Cleveland might be intermixed with something from a user in
Tallahassee, followed by someone in Youngstown, or Denver, or Buffalo.
PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU POST A COMMENT TO ANY OF THESE BOARDS IT WILL
NOT APPEAR IMMEDIATELY. Your posting will first be routed to the NPTN
machine in Cleveland for distribution to all five systems -- including
back to the system of origin. Thus, it might be several hours before
it is cleared for the network.
In summary ...
You are looking at one of the first attempts BY CONGRESS to use
this medium on a national scale to hold discussions on the policy
issues that are before it. Use it well.
If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to
contact Tom Grundner at: tmg@nptn.org or William Beasley at:
wab@nptn.org
<<< ISSUE #1: SOCIAL SECURITY AND CUSTOMER INTERACTION >>>
The general question in this area is:
How can the Social Security Administration improve customer
interactions by utilizing telecomputing technology?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* Should routine requests for such things as replacement
Social Security cards be made available via the telecom-
puting networks in addition to the present methods.
* Should informational materials such as explanations of
benefits be made available via the telecomputing networks.
* Should earnings record be available utilizing the tele-
computing networks.
* If any of the above were done, specifically how do you think
your life would be improved (or not-improved) by it?
* Are there issues of confidentiality, data security, and
privacy that bother you?
<<< ISSUE #2: NETWORK ACCESS TO BENEFIT FILING SERVICES >>>
The general question in this area is:
Could this new technology help the Social Security Administration
improve the process of filing for benefits?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* Should the Social Security Administration allow for the
filing of benefits via the telecomputing networks?
* Should the Social Security Administration utilize the
electronic networks to file for appeals and transfer records
and supporting documents in regard to the substantiation
of claims.
* If any of the above were done, specifically how do you think
your life would be improved (or not-improved) by it?
* Are there issues of confidentiality, data security, and
privacy that bother you?
<<< ISSUE #3: DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS >>>
The general question in this area is:
What do you think is the best way for the SSA to distribute
monthly benefits?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* Should the Social Security Administration continue to
mail checks to individuals or should all disbursements
be made via Electronic Fund Transfers or Electronic
Benefit Transfers?
* In order to spread the workload of the Social Security
Administration there is talk of changing the disbursement
of benefits from the first of the month to a staggered
payment date, i.e. 1st, 10th, 20th of the month. How would
this effect you? Would you find it acceptable?
* Should the Social Security Administration expand the use
of the EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in co-operation
with other agencies.
* Should the Social Security Administration work toward
combining use of the EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer)
with various State government benefit programs?
* If any of the above were done, specifically how do you think
your life would be improved (or not-improved) by it?
* Are there issues of confidentiality, data security, and
privacy that bother you?
<<< ISSUE #4: GENERAL SATISFACTION WITH THE SSA >>>
The general question in this area is:
To what extent have you been satisfied with your interactions
with the Social Security Administration?
You are free, of course, to comment on anything you'd like,
but some specific questions or issues might include:
* In the past year did you have occasion to contact the Social
Security Administration? If so, tell us about that experience.
* How did you contact them
- In person visit to Social Security Administration Office
- Telephone Call to local Social Security Administration
- Telephone Call to 800 number of Social Security Admin.
- Postal Mail
- Community meeting with Field Representative of the
- Social Security Administration
- Other
* On a scale of 0 to 5 with 5 being the highest rating, how
would you rate your experience.
* How long did it take for you to receive a satisfactory answer
from the Social Security Administration?
* If you visited the local office in person how long did you
have to wait before you were seen?
* If you telephoned, did you have any problems getting to talk
to someone.
* If you mailed a letter, how long did you wait before you
received an answer?
* Was the information provided to you understandable?
* Would you be willing to utilize a telecomputing network to
contact the Social Security Administration?
* From your experience, how would you suggest the Social
Security Administration improve their service to you?
[End of information from Youngstown Freenet]
As of January 10, 1993 there were no messages yet in any of the four
forums, so I assume this is brand new. Remember, if you want to send
comments on any of these issues, you need to log onto one of the five
Freenet systems listed above. If you cannot do that for some reason,
I suggest contacting one of the two NPTN people mentioned (Tom
Grundner at: tmg@nptn.org or William Beasley at: wab@nptn.org) and
asking for advice. Whatever you do, don't send your comments to me,
because they will go nowhere from here!
Jack
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #29
*****************************
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Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 00:17:34 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401150617.AA02902@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #30
TELECOM Digest Sat, 15 Jan 94 00:17:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 30
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Norwegian CLID (was "Anonymous Call Rejection") (styri@balder.nta.no)
Re: Technical Description of PBXs Wanted (Al Varney)
Re: Internet <- > FIDOnet Mail/File Transfer (Alan Boritz)
Re: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House? (Rob Knauerhase)
Re: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House? (Robert L. McMillin)
Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (Alain Fontaine)
Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (ssatchell@bix.com)
Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (Tom Watson)
Re: Truckstop Calling Cards (Ed Greenberg)
Re: Truckstop Calling Cards (Ben Cox)
Re: Truckstop Calling Cards (John R. Levine)
Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted (Paul Cook)
Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted (ssatchell@bix.com)
Re: Phonebook on CD-ROM/Internet? (Pat Barron)
Re: Phonebook on CD-ROM/Internet? (Matthew Aldridge)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 21:55:16 +0100
From: styri@balder.nta.no
Subject: Re: Norwegian CLID (was "Anonymous Call Rejection")
In article <telecom14.29.8@eecs.nwu.edu> mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk
wrote:
> Perhaps some of us do want to read the full argument. It would be
> very enlightening to know how this issue is viewed in other countries
> -- especially one like Norway whose telecommunications decisions
> usually seem very well thought out.
Well, there are two parts to this. One is implementing CLID, the other
is giving ANI to other operators so that they may use that information
for CLID.
The first CLID customers in Norway will be ISDN users. However, the
question is not only about technology. There's been a long discussion
about the privacy considerations (from the originating end of the
call). I'm not the right person to give a neutral account of that
debate.
The question about sending ANI out of Norway is in general covered by
CCITT agreements. It may be done, but I don't like to open up that
privacy debate once more.
Wrt the privacy debate, it's funny to note that there wasn't much said
about the privacy of the people being called. One reason for this may
be that CLID was only viewed as available to ISDN customers, and that
would mean business customers. Personally I look very much forward to
the moment I can screen them late night calls.
The privacy debate extends to detailed billing as well as CLID, but
opposition comes from the comsumer rights people. Personally I was a
bit bored at this stage, but I managed to stay just to watch the fun
when the concept of "B number masking" was introduced.
> Apart from the idea of doing all exchange modernisation and number
> changes at ten to four in the afternoon ... on Thursday afternoons,
> isn't it?
If you think about the work usually noticed by the always important
customers you're wrong. The final stage of such work is usually
started at 5 pm Fridays. Thursday afternoon would be the time new
number plans are implemented. Please don't ask what we do the other
days ...
Haakon Styri <styri@nta.co>
Norwegian Telecom Research *** std disclaimer applies ***
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 17:33:31 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Re: Technical Description of PBXs Wanted
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.26.14@eecs.nwu.edu> mmr@merlin.dev.cdx.mot.com
(Mike Renault) writes:
> Don Pelton <DEP@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> writes:
>> I'm looking for sources of good technical descriptions of PBX
>> technology and standards. Can anyone suggest books, articles,
>> newsgroups and/or other internet resources? Standards documents?
> PBX standard for the US is ANSI/EIA/TIA-464-A-1989.
> Title is "Private Branch Exchange Switching Equipment for Voiceband
> Application".
> My copy cost $67.00. This document is aimed towards the designers of
> PBXs. Call Electrionic Industries Association in Washington DC to
> order, sorry I don't have their phone number.
My 10-year-old number for orders is: (202) 457-4966. The address:
Electronics Industry Association
2001 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
(Is there really an "Eye" street or is it "I Street" renamed?)
Their Catalog of EIA/JEDEC Standards is about $10 -- good reference.
To understand the Standards, you'll need the IEEE standards on test
methods and measurements. Catalog of standards is free (last I
heard), on 1-800-678-IEEE or +1 908 981-0600.
Note that EIA-464 refers to PBX interface standards for connection
to public networks. For PBX internal information, you'll have to pry
that out of a talkative vendor -- other than UL, Nat. Elect. Code and
Fire Code standards, PBXs have no standards. Witness the PC versions ....
Seriously, some older PBX designs are described in various
conference proceedings (NCF, ISS, IEEE, etc.). State-of-the-art PBX
designs are unlikely to be publicly documented, unfortunately.
Al Varney - just my opinion
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Internet <- > FIDOnet Mail/File Transfer
From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz)
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 07:58:50 EST
Organization: Harry's Place BBS - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861
xyzzy@imagen.com (David McIntyre) writes:
>> I would like to have some information on transferring mail between
>> Internet/Bitnet and FIDOnet:
>> 6. How should (binary) files be transferred?
>> UUEncoded or so?
> Yes.
Excuse me, but files are NOT transferred through routed mail within
FidoNet. Most gateways (including mine) will block such messages
without prior arrangement.
>> 7. Are FIDOnet users (especially points) able to order files from the
>> SIMTEL collection or other public file systems? If yes, how?
> I suppose they could, though a mail-server.
No, not unless set up in advance. fidonet.org is set up to block
mailing lists and ftp servers. Unlike the internet, most FidoNet
routed mail is done through regular timed pots line calls, so each
routed message carries a price tag.
In general, if a message can't be entirely understood as plain
language (clear text), it can't be sent via routed mail to a FidoNet
system.
Alan - f102.n2605.z1.fidonet.org
aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz
Harry's Place BBS (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861
------------------------------
From: knauer@ibeam.intel.com (Rob Knauerhase)
Subject: Re: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House?
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 18:19:47 PST
Organization: Intel Mobile Software Lab, Hillsboro, OR
In a previous message, Robert L. McMillin wrote:
> [...] my switch is set up to handle ISDN! [...] According to my
> friend, ISDN is currently tarriffed in California under a provisional
> business class of service, which means that I'll pay probably a little
> more per month ($35, I recall) than I might if there were an ISDN
> available under a residential service plan. Nonetheless, it does seem
> quite reasonable given the potential benefits.
That depends on your usage; for me (in GTE Northwest land), it'd be
much much more expensive than POTS lines. It might be for you, too,
depending on how you plan to use it.
After talking to five different people in the local GTE residential
and business sales offices (favorite quote: "What is ISDN?", from two
people in residential sales), I finally found someone willing to admit
that they could sell me ISDN service. Interestingly enough, their
price was $48/month for 2B+D, which would provide two voice lines and
two phone numbers. This is about the same price as two unmeasured
POTS lines -- what a deal.
Of course, this is GTE. There has to be a catch. For data, they
charge the same as measured-by-minute local calls. I asked if that
mightn't be perhaps the silliest way to bill it (data calls by the
minute), when a major benefit of digital telephony is that when I'm
not using it, I'm _not using it_! (mostly)
That of course didn't phase them. Even at pennies/minute, the
advantage of faster speed is removed by cost when I can do plain-ol'
14.4K with compression for "free." Is _anyone_ bothering to campaign
phone companies and Public Utilities Commissions so that we can get
this tarriffed in a reasonable manner (at least in places other than
Oregon)?
[Side note for those keeping score: US West in Portland offers 2B+D
for $90/month, no limit on data. Of course, you can't make an ISDN
data call between GTE and US West just yet, but they're working on
it.]
Rob Knauerhase [knauer@ibeam.intel.com] Intel Mobile Software Lab
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 02:29 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Re: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House?
On Thu, 13 Jan 1994 16:20:27, MCINTIRE@imagen.com (David McIntyre) said:
> In article <telecom14.28.2@eecs.nwu.edu> rlm@helen.surfcty.com
> (Robert L. McMillin) writes:
>> The thread about quantization and signal/noise on a POTS line has me
>> thinking that maybe all this will be increasingly obsolete. According
>> to the 800 number posted recently on this forum, my switch is set up to
>> handle ISDN!
> What is this 800 number again?
800-995-0346
Of course, this is in Pac*Bell land only.
Additional news: while the site survey hasn't been done yet, I'm assured
by someone else locally that Pac*Bell will install any needed repeaters
free, a big turnaround from the days when that company required big fees
to extend digital services.
But the best news is yet to come. According to my friend the ISDN
reseller, the new rate card for Pac*Bell digital services shows some BIG
price cuts. Unfortunately, I don't have the info with me, but suffice
it to say that T1 will be nearly cheap enough to be within reach of the
residential high-volume talker -- around $135 a month is what I remember
him saying. (But there's still an impossibly high installation fee of
around $700.) And get this: no per-mile charges out of the CO.
Switched 56 and SDS (Pac*Bell's ISDN offering) will be substantially
cheaper.
It may not be very long before we start talking about residential
T1-class services. (I hope that before this becomes reality, Pac*Bell
drops the $0.01/min for local calls it charges under the provisional
business tarriff; residential service is residential service!) I expect
that one of the hot topics this year will be T1 and/or ISDN ISA and
NuBus cards, this supplanting the continuous dull roar of speculation
and hearsay surrounding the ITU's v.37 standard-in-progress.
While it's premature to predict the demise of the analog modem, its last
hurrah is in sight.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The message referenced above posted by
David McIntire was an unauthorized posting to Usenet's comp.dcom.telecom
newsgroup which has since been cancelled by myself so as a result it
was not seen by the list readers. PAT]
------------------------------
From: fontaine@sri.ucl.ac.be (Alain Fontaine)
Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same
Organization: Universite Catholique de Louvain
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 13:47:18 GMT
In article <telecom14.26.1@eecs.nwu.edu>, oppedahl@panix.com (Carl
Oppedahl) wrote:
> In <telecom14.20.7@eecs.nwu.edu> John Warne <19064001@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU>
> writes:
>> The cross-sectional view of one wire reveals the plastic outer sheath
>> is formed around the conductors in a cloverleaf-like pattern, holding
>> a certain relationship between the conductors for the length of the
>> cable (AT&T *used* to make their two-pair stuff this way), resulting
>> in less crosstalk between pairs.
> I am sure the person posting this is well-intended, but I fear that
> through inadvertence the phrasing used may make people buy wire other
> than the stuff they wanted to buy.
> This is Bad Wire For Two-Line Use. It is the cloverleaf type wire
> mentioned above. Many Readers Have Reported Cross-Talk With Such
> Wire.
The phone company here uses such cable to install the underground ties
to the master cable below the street. When I had a second line
installed, they just took the second pair. I have no crosstalk
problems, and despite the fact that my house is about 100 meter (330
ft) away from the street. Just another data point ... /AF
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX)
Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same
Date: 14 Jan 94 17:25:01 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
A brief follow-up to Carl Oppendhal's excellent description of the
evil of older inside wiring:
In debugging crosstalk problems, I'm finding more and more that people
who have installed twisted-pair wire don't understand that telephone
signals HAVE TO TRAVEL OVER THE PAIR properly to avoid crosstalk. If
you use, for example blue/white and orange/white, the telephone signal
isn't travelling properly through a pair, but instead is using one
wire from each twisted pair. Hooking a second line up will virtually
guarantee crosstalk.
Also, I've seen installations which connect the ring lead of two phone
wires together. This effectively unbalances the pair from the connection
point all the way back to the central office, which makes for huge cross-
talk problems.
Routing of unshielded twisted-pair is important, too. Keep it at
least two inches away from any metal object such as water pipes, gas
pipes, iron sewage lines, air ducts, electrical conduit, or electrical
power wiring. (Don't sweat nails or the occasional pipe hanger.) The
original intent of the separation was to provide air space between
telephone wire and grounded objects such that a lightning strike
wouldn't arc over and damage the wire, but the practice has proven to
benefit crosstalk, too.
If you can't avoid running next to metal, consider using shielded
twisted-pair wire instead. You need only an overall shield, not a
shield around every pair.
Care in wiring makes all the difference in the world.
Stephen Satchell, Principal
Satchell Evaluations, Incline Village, Nevada USA
Testing modems for magazines since 1984
------------------------------
From: tsw@cypher.apple.com (Tom Watson)
Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 17:53:17 -0800
Organization: Apple Computer (more or less)
All this talk about twisting wires and such reminds me of the various
outside open-wire lines I see while driving about (Hint: usually near
railroads). These have what are called "transpositions" which are
magical four-insulator thingy-jobs (high-tech techinical term!) that
twist the wires. The fact that they were needed was discovered
long-long ago when the concept of long-distance was just being tested
out. If one looks at early books, there are all sorts of formulas and
diagrams for doing this operation. Perhaps a good history buff will
look up some.
Tom Watson tsw@cypher.apple.com
------------------------------
From: edg@netcom.com (Ed Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Truckstop Calling Cards
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 16:17:34 GMT
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those are called 'Talk Tickets' and
> they are a bit expensive at 50 cents per minute of domestic use although
Considering that they are paid for up front, talk tickets should cost
no more than ten to fifteen cents per minute. Think about it. No
billing, no uncollectables, no customer service, no credit for wrong
numbers, no nothing.
The cost of talk tickets should in no way exceed standard direct
dialed rates. Anything more is a rip-off.
Ed Greenberg edg@netcom.com Ham Radio: KM6CG
------------------------------
From: thoth@netcom.com (Ben Cox)
Subject: Re: Truckstop Calling Cards
Organization: Ancient Illuminated Bavarian Sears
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 19:30:05 GMT
sp9183@swuts.sbc.com (Scott M. Pfeffer) writes:
> Recently I was traveling home from Atlanta to St. Louis. I stopped at
> a gas station somewhere in Tennessee or Kentucky for refreshments,
> refilling, and relief, and noticed something very interesting in a
PAT writes:
> cards like this at a similar rate. Personally, I prefer the Orange
> Card with its 25 cent per minute rate and no surcharge. PAT]
Incidentally, I encountered a pay phone at a gas station along route
70 in Ohio or Indiana (i.e., somewhere between Pittsburgh and
Indianapolis or so) that had a HUGE banner attached to it, with a
picture of an orange and "Call home for 25 cents per minute" in orange
on it. :)
Ben Cox thoth@netcom.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is correct. The Orange Communications
people now have a collect service as well as a calling card. To try it
out, use the number 1-800-TALK-4-25. Your call will be forwarded collect
at that rate to whatever number you requested. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 18:53 EST
From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Truckstop Calling Cards
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass.
> [At a truck stop] a stack of pre-authorized long distance calling cards.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those are called 'Talk Tickets' ...
> Western Union also has prepaid calling cards like this at a similar rate.
So do Sprint and an outfit called Liberty Tel, both at rates closer to
33 cents/min than to 50 cents. It's not entirely clear to me who the
target market is: people with no home phone (particularly students)?
people who are too clueless to get a calling card? The anonymous call
crowd?
Evidently they do sell them, but I wouldn't have thought that the market
was very large.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 13:06 EST
From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted
dej@eecg.toronto.edu (David Jones) writes:
> I am in need of a phone line simulator. It will be used to verify the
> functionality of modems for a large computing network.
> This device need not be complex -- I need dial tone, DTMF detection,
> ring signal generation and an analog path whose noise characteristics
> approximate that of a real phone line (i.e. 3300 Hz BW, -34 dB S/N).
Any of the Proctor Telephone Demonstrators will do this. There are
three models, from two to four lines, and the newest one will also do
Caller ID and CENTREX emulation.
Contact Proctor via email, fax or phone at one of the numbers below
for more information.
Paul Cook 206-881-7000
Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080
15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282
Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX)
Subject: Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted
Date: 14 Jan 94 05:18:25 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
dej@eecg.toronto.edu (David Jones) writes:
> I am in need of a phone line simulator. It will be used to verify the
> functionality of modems for a large computing network.
> This device need not be complex -- I need dial tone, DTMF detection,
> ring signal generation and an analog path whose noise characteristics
> approximate that of a real phone line (i.e. 3300 Hz BW, -34 dB S/N).
> Any ideas as to where I can get one cheap? Even used?
David,
The cheapest I'm aware of is the PTT 5101, if you can find one
used. They are located in Huntsville, AL and you can call (205)
971-8001 for more information. Old TAS boxes are out there as well,
like the original Model 100. You can check with TAS at (908)
544-8700. To round it all out, Consultronics (formerly AEA) has a box
as well, but I haven't heard of used ones for sale as Consultronics
has been upgrading existing boxes; try (613) 225-6087 and see what
they say.
Teltone has some boxes, but they don't have the right loss characteristics.
If you prefer, you can get these phone simulators on rental if your
need is short-term, and the rental prices are coming down on the older
units.
Another option is to find a company with the capability of performing
the testing for you. There is Henderson Communications in San Moreno
CA at 909-788-8849, or Satchell Evaluations (me) could do it (I'm at
702- 832-7157) for perhaps much less than you could get a simulator.
If you are looking for go/no-go acceptance tests, it should cost you
very little to use one of the independent test labs.
Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations
Testing modems for magazines since 1984.
ssatchell@bix.com, 70007.3351@compuserve.com, sts@well.sf.ca.us
------------------------------
From: Pat_Barron@transarc.com
Subject: Re: Phonebook on CD-ROM/Internet?
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 16:12:42 -0500
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se (Claes Gussing) writes:
> I was wondering if one can get the phonebook on CD-ROM in the U.S? I
> know this wouldn't work in Sweden, since we have some law about
> keeping personal data on automatically readable media (as the phone-
> book wouldn't be, with OCR ...). I thought maybe in the U.S. this
> would work. A CD-ROM carries 650 Mbyte of memory, so some 5-10 disks
> should carry the whole U.S!
I just bought "PhoneDisc USA" at the local Egghead Software store.
US$65.00 for two discs of residential listings (they claim 80 million
listings from telephone directories across the country on the two
discs).
Pretty cool, except:
* It's out of date as soon as it's published,
* Only includes listed numbers (the company has phone
numbers from sources other than telephone directories,
but they seem to filter out unlisted numbers on these
discs - I don't think they do that on their commercial discs),
* You can only search on a person's name, and then limit the
search based on their address, city, state, zip, or area
code - i.e., can't "reverse lookup" a phone number to see
who it belongs to.
The target audience for this package is apparently people who have a
PC in their home, and just want an on-line phone directory - it's not
targetted for commercial usage (the company that sells this - sorry, I
don't remember who it is - has other products for business use, with
things like "reverse lookup" capability, which they will be happy to
sell you ...).
I wouldn't put up a server with this info on the net, due to licensing
restrictions from the database provider.
Pat
------------------------------
From: psyjmja@unicorn.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk (Matthew Aldridge)
Subject: Re: Phonebook on CD-ROM/Internet?
Date: 14 Jan 1994 22:02:48 GMT
Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham
For the interest of those overseas the UK phonebook is available on
CD-ROM from British Telecom.
It is called Phonebase and subscription costs are quite high, but I
guess overseas purchasers may get a special deal.
If you want it though I'd get in there quick because they seem to be
on the verge of a major policy change -- mainly price increases.
Phonebase is also available online, but only currently at V22bis -- ask
BT.
Later,
Matt JD Aldridge
Room A13a, Lincoln Hall, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2QU, England
mja@cs.nott.ac.uk Arcade BB +44 (81) 654-2212 & +44 (81) 655-4412
User #184
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #30
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Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 08:18:00 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401151418.AA15206@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #31
TELECOM Digest Sat, 15 Jan 94 08:18:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 31
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Call Waiting/Three-Way Together (Michael Israeli)
Re: Call Waiting/Three-Way Together (Mike King)
Re: Call Waiting/Three-Way Together (Ron Schnell)
Re: NYTel/NYNEX Dusts Off Rotary Payphones (Linc Madison)
Re: NYTel/NYNEX Dusts Off Rotary Payphones (B. Z. Lederman)
Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Danny O'Bedlam)
Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Richard Cox)
Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Steve Hutzley)
Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Kevin Ray)
Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Thomas Chen)
Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Mark)
Re: 50 Pin Connector Help Wanted (Chris Oxenreider)
Re: Voice Mail HW Wanted (David L. Anderson)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (Tim Gilman)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (James Taranto)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (Andrew M. Cohn)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Drew Dean)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: izzy@access.netaxs.com (Michael Israeli)
Subject: Re: Call Waiting/Three Way Together
Date: 14 Jan 1994 19:21:33 GMT
Organization: Net Access - Philadelphia's Internet Connection
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try getting an actual three way call installed
> between CW and 3WC (because flashing the hook could cause one thing to
> hand you a CW at that point in time does your flash mean you want to
> accept the new call or connect the other two. Since maybe you do not
> want that to happen (the two you dialed to be joined together) telco
> has chosen to block CW for that limited period of time. Let us know. PAT]
Well, I attempted the following:
1) I originated a call to a friend;
2) I flashed the line, got the three beeps, and a dial tone. I then
dialed another friend;
3) After I said "Hello", I flashed the line so we were all connected and
started to chat;
4) I picked up LINE 2 in my house, and dialed my number, BUSY!
So, I placed another call to Bell of PA. I explained again my
situation, receiving a CW tone during a three way call. The agent
looked into some book she had, and explained to me that I live in an
area with a "5E" switching system, in which CW and 3WC can have NO
interaction. Whereas my friend who lives in a different area has a
"1A" switching system, where they DO interact!
Now, those two numbers I only put down from memory, so I may be wrong.
The only thing I have noticed different between my system and his is
that when he gets a CW and I am online, I hear a CLICK, and when I get
a CW, the person on the phone with me gets one second of silence.
Also interesting is that on his system, if he calls me three way, and
in the middle of the call he gets a CW, when he switches to that CW
line, I can actually keep talking to the other party!
It is a pain that my line is busy during 3WC, because I ordered CW for
the specific reason of NOT loosing calls! Are there any specific
questions I should ask the phone company, or just give up on this one?
Michael Israeli izzy@netaxs.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Give up on it then. The generics in
your CO are the way they are. Other places work differently. PAT]
------------------------------
From: mk@TFS.COM (Mike King)
Subject: Re: Call Waiting/Three-Way Together
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 14:22:54 PST
In TELECOM Digest, V14 #24, izzy@access.netaxs.com (Michael Israeli)
asks:
> In my house, I have call waiting and three-way calling installed on
[...]
> call. Now, the problem is that when I am on a three-way call, my line
> becomes busy, allowing no calling to come through. I know other
> people in different areas who can be on a a three-way call and still
> receive call waiting. What is the reason for this difference? I
> called Bell of PA, and they said that it just wasn't available in my
> area. Anyone know?
and Pat replied that it depends on whether the 3WC is established or
is in the third-party consultation phase when the incoming call
arrives as to whether or not it will invoke CW.
Most switches can be configured to either allow or disallow CW during
a 3WC *after* all parties in the 3WC are connected.
I once had CW & 3WC from a 1A, and I could get a CW beep during a 3WC.
My friends served from the 5E in the next town could not.
I doubt that any mere mortals could get Bell of PA to enable it. ;-)
Mike mk@tfs.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 13:00:41 EST
From: Ron Schnell <ronnie@space.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Call Waiting/Three-Way Together
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are two types of 'three-way' calls.
> If you are in 'consultation' you have pressed the hook, dialed a number
> and are talking with a third person while leaving the second person on
> hold. Situations like that will result in a new caller getting a busy
> signal. If however you have flashed, dialed the third party and gotten
> him on the line, then flashed again so that the three of you are talking
> then call waiting should become available once again. At that point if
> there is a call waiting, flashing will leave your two three way parties
> (from your outgoing call) on hold unable to speak to each other while
> you take your new incoming call. The reason a busy signal has to be
We have been through this before, I thought. Most switches will *not*
allow you to get call waiting during the three-way call. Of all of
the places where I travel during the year, only one allows the call
waiting, and that is in Miami, FL. My friend down the road who is
in a different CO cannot use it. I remember someone saying that it is
enabled by default on 1ESS, but not 5ESS. This was about a year ago
in this group.
Ron (ronnie@space.mit.edu)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All I can vouch for is what can be
done in some exchanges here. Other places are different. PAT]
------------------------------
From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison)
Subject: Re: NYTel/NYNEX Dusts Off Rotary Payphones
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 00:54:53 GMT
Paul R. Coen (PCOEN@DRUNIVAC.DREW.EDU) wrote:
> A NYNEX official was shown on the local news (WABC, channel 7) saying
> that these phones "couldn't" be used to trigger a pager. Gee, and
> DTMF tone generators are so hard to come by.
The only thing I can think of that could make that statement true is
that it is apparently possible to design the telephone hardware to
block the DTMF frequencies coming through the handset. I had an AT&T
phone and a Commodore VIC-20 modem some many years ago. The phone was
one of the first with the "limited-travel" buttons on the keypad,
around 1982. The modem plugged into the handset cord and sent DTMF
tones down the wire to dial, using your base unit phone for everything
else. On the old phone I had, it worked fine, but on the AT&T phone,
it wouldn't even break dialtone. I called AT&T and they told me that
they had deliberately designed the phone not to allow DTMF through the
handset, although they steadfastly refused to say why.
I don't have any tech specs on this point, and in fact no longer own
that phone, so I can't tell you anything beyond that.
Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com
------------------------------
From: "B. Z. Lederman" <LEDERMAN@Eisner.DECUS.Org>
Subject: Re: NYTel/NYNEX Dusts Off Rotary Payphones
Organization: Digital Equipment Computer Users Society
Date: 14 Jan 94 07:56:38 -0500
Organization: DECUServe
In article <telecom14.24.5@eecs.nwu.edu>, "Paul R. Coen" <PCOEN@
DRUNIVAC.DREW.EDU> writes:
> Yup, that's right. The return of the pulse-dial, rotary, bleed to death
> while dialing 9-1-1 payphone.
> They apparantly tried this in one or two areas already, and it did cut
> down on the number of people hanging around by the phones on corners.
> However, in some of the new areas, touch-tone phones are as close as
> across the street from the "new" rotary phones.
So the genuine NYNEX phones are rotary, and the drug dealers will
go across the street to the touch tone phones which are owned by
COCOTS and the other 'rip-off' companies.
It will be interesting to see which group of crooks succeeds
in stealing the most from the other.
[Note to the humor impaired: that was sarcasm, with a touch of
bemused irony.]
Bart Z. Lederman
------------------------------
From: dfl@panix.com (Danny O'Bedlam)
Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones
Date: 14 Jan 1994 02:41:17 -0500
In <telecom14.28.10@eecs.nwu.edu> V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu
writes:
> What I would like to know is, doesn't NYNEX realize that these people
> will simply walk into their local Radio Shack and pick up a personal
> tone dialer designed specifically for dialing touch tones on these
> "new" rotary-only lines?
As Pat pointed out, NYNEX knows all too well. Further, this is
incentive for those who need the tone servies, criminal and honest
citizens alike to make more use of COCOTs in the face of NYNEX foolish
move.
I'm in favor of restricted incoming calls to payphones, as much as I'd
prefer the option of having someone call me back on a street corner,
if its in a pinch, and I've run out of nickels. Last thing we need in
NYC is more COCOTs!
Danny Lieberman PO Box 3131 Church St Sta New York NY 10008-3131 [USA]
dfl@panix.com, danny@echonyc.com, lieberd@cbc.com
NYC & Environs Bicycle mailing list: ebikes-request@mailhost.panix.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 20:55
From: Richard Cox <mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones
Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk
Kriston J. Rehberg [krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM] said:
>> What I would like to know is, doesn't NYNEX realize that these people
>> will simply walk into their local Radio Shack and pick up a personal
>> tone dialer designed specifically for dialing touch tones on these
>> "new" rotary-only lines? Is anyone going to tell NYNEX that it is
>> simply wasting its and its customers' money?
And PAT replied: "Telco knows very well what you are saying is correct".
It may not be. Over here some systems are capable of filtering out
the MF tones so that even if the keypad enabled MF, it just wouldn't
get through. In fact this is necessary on some PABXs where the MF
digits dialed are processed by the switch before sending to line --
otherwise the CO would see the same digit twice, and generate a wrong
connection.
And if we can do it, the RBOCs certainly can. They may not be doing
it now -- it is after all a political issue, not a telecomms issue,
but if the community still sees the telco as the villain, even when
tone dialers are used, it would be a very simple matter for the telcos
to put MF filters in.
Richard D G Cox
Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 941 151515
E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request
------------------------------
From: hutzley@ranger.enet.dec.com (Steve Hutzley)
Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 17:08:11 GMT
In article <telecom14.28.10@eecs.nwu.edu>, V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.
nwu.edu writes:
> New York Telephone (now NYNEX) in New York City has elected to install
> rotary-dial phones, on request, in communities and areas where other
> drug fighting measures have failed. They are installing them because
> they say that rotary phones can't be used on the pager services that
> these drug dealers use to communicate.
> What I would like to know is, doesn't NYNEX realize that these people
> will simply walk into their local Radio Shack and pick up a personal
> tone dialer designed specifically for dialing touch tones on these
> "new" rotary-only lines?
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Telco knows very well what you are
> saying is correct. It makes these adjustments (rotary dial, no incoming
> service, no coin-paid calls during overnight hours) to accomodate the
Now, Wouldn't make sense for the TELCO to go all the way here. I mean,
if they are going back to rotary, blocking incoming calls, no coin
calls after dark...etc, why cant they install a DTMF filter in the
line (this should be simple, looking at the frequencies of DTMF - OK,
its right in the middle of the voice band -- its an outside phone).
Just disabling the DTMF on the line wouldn't work, because the phone
could be dialed with the rotary, then DTMF'd with the pocket dialer
(when the pager line has been reached.)
Comments invited,
Steve
------------------------------
From: kevray@MCS.COM (Kevin Ray)
Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors
Date: 14 Jan 1994 03:46:30 -0600
Organization: MCSNet Services
Bob Rankin <r3@vnet.IBM.COM> writes:
> Just saw an ad for a gizmo that will decipher the unique ringing cadence
> for up to four lines and route them to a specified telephone device.
> Using this device ($75) along with distinctive ringing ($6/mo) sounds
> like a wonderful alternative to having separate lines installed for
> fax, modem, answering machines, etc. Kinda like a poor man's DID!
> Anyone have any experience with these devices? Any drawbacks?
I have one (for sale :-). I used it for about a month and became VERY
unhappy with it (in IL). It did not always 'decipher' the incoming
ring and thus just let it ring and ring and ring. I also use AT&T's
switch box (pressing #1 transfer to yet ANOTHER 'fake' line -- good
for modems, faxes, multi answering machines, etc) and the multi-ring
box with this little toy did not work together nicely (ie: MAJOR
voltage problems ON the phone line). The unit was nice in that if the
line was in use and you tried to pick up another one of the lines it
gave a fake busy signal (though not fake enough for a modem to get
it).
Considering the number of calls I lost (both voice and data) I quickly
decided to make the second number a 'real' number and trash the unit.
FYI: I exchanged the original unit thinking it may be a bad one with
no luck with the 'new' one. I could not sell this thing to ANYONE and
go to sleep at night. Just so you know the one I have is called "Ring
Decipher" by Command Communications, Inc (Aurora, CO). It may very
well be a good unit and just not compatible with my telcom supplier
(Ameritech). I would have returned it, but lost the receipt. :-(
------------------------------
From: tchen@sdesys1.hns.com (Thomas Chen)
Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 19:18:11 GMT
Organization: Hughes Network Systems Inc.
What is the spec for distinctive ring? Is this an American phone
feature or is it a CCITT type of specifcation?
Thanks,
Tom
------------------------------
From: markr@mot.com (Mark)
Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones
Reply-To: markr@mcil.comm.mot.com
Organization: MCIL
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 17:36:07 GMT
In article <telecom14.17.6@eecs.nwu.edu> oakes@wildebeest.cig.mot.com
(Ronald Oakes) writes:
> In article <telecom14.15.4@eecs.nwu.edu> John Levine writes:
>>> Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes
>>> perfect sense to me.
>> In the abstract, it makes some sense. On the other hand, surcharged
>> ...
> There already is blocking for 1-579, and 1-976 blocking, at least for
> .....
> This simple solution removes many of the problems with charge calls
> that become present when you allow seven digit toll calling. This
> would have prevented -- or at least lessened -- the New York pager
> scam, and can reduce the problems with 976 numbers.
What was the NY pager scam?
Mark
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'New York pager scam' involved this
guy who took out a very expensive (to call) phone line on the 540 (?)
exchange in New York City. That exchange *only when calling from the
LATA (212/708/914/516?)* charges the callers in the same way that 900
or 976 service works elsewhee. This guy had a line which cost the calling
party something like $20-30 each time they dialed it and he sent page
messages to (apparently) thousands of pagers in the area asking them
to call him back on his expensive number ... they responded by the
thousands and he got a nice commission from telco -- just like you
would get if you ran a 900/976 service. The people who called got very
large charges on their phone bill, and the guy made a mint from it. PAT]
------------------------------
From: oxenreid@chaos.cs.umn.edu
Subject: Re: 50 Pin Connector Help Wanted
Organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 22:36:58 GMT
In <telecom14.24.13@eecs.nwu.edu> jspinnow@netcom.com (John Stewart
Pinnow) writes:
> A 50 pin connector. Used for a phone system. What are the pin layouts
> for it?
> Does anyone have a description?
Well, I do not have a "from the book answer", though having put more
than a few dozen together my self, I can give you a dim memory review
of them (aka it has been two years since I crimped one).
Looking at the connector: The cable is going down, and the male/female
part is in your face. From the top left, the first copper strip is
the white/blue wire. Opposet of it on the right side is the
blue/white wire, and thus makes a pair. Now, just step through the
color codes and you step through all 25 Pair of lines on that cable.
Chris Oxenreider (Electronics Technician) oxenreid@chaos.cs.umn.edu
------------------------------
From: dlander@idss.nwa.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 17:16 CST
Organization: Northwest Airlines, Inc.
Subject: Re: Voice Mail HW Wanted
In article <telecom13.830.7@eecs.nwu.edu>, Joseph I. Ceasar <jic@
panix.com> wrote:
> am looking for voice mail cards that can be fully programmed. I
> [stuff deleted]
> The question is where do I find voice mail cards?
> I have one from Talking Technologies, but it supports only two
> lines/card. I need something that can support four lines/card. I've
> heard of a Canadian company called Bicom, but cannot locate them!
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Dialogic also makes voice mail cards
> capable of handling four lines. They are (I think) in Parsippany, NJ. PAT]
My wife's business uses a card referred to as Watson. I called the
company for some specifics (it came bundled with some software) and
they told me at the time that they have products that will support
four lines and you can have multiple cards per system. Unfortunately
I don't recall the name of the company or the exact city -- Boston
suburb, I think. If you send me a note via E'mail I'll dig up the
information at home this evening and respond to your note privately.
Overall, I'd say that we're pleased with the product. I've made
modifications to the incoming routing routines and found that
programming the card was very easy. The vendor states that there is a
company in Canada that sells a 'C' library for custom applications --
something I'd very much like to get my hands on!
David L. Anderson Voice: 612.726.0775 Northwest Airlines, Inc.
dlander@idss.nwa.com Fax: 612.726.0521 Dept J3750
uspf2172@ibmmail.com 5101 Northwest Drive
St. Paul, MN 55111-3034
------------------------------
From: tdgilman@iris-1.CE.Berkeley.EDU (Tim Gilman)
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Date: 15 Jan 1994 03:46:38 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Structural Engineering, UC Berkeley
Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com> writes:
>> From: Scott A. Ward 703-614-4719 <wards@AMOMEGA.ACQ.OSD.MIL>
[deletions]
> 3. They claim your E-mail address would be <userid>@iia.org. However:
> a. No iia.org is listed in the hq.af.mil hosts table
> b. No iia.org is listed in the acq.osd.mil hosts table
> c. No iia.org is listed is the INTERNIC 'whois' database
> d. No iia.org is listed using the INTERNIC 'netfind' Internet lookup
> In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist.
info@iia.org autoresponds with info on the organization. It claims
that if you use their 800 number, charges will be billed to your
credit card, but no charges will be billed if you the local or long
distance number.
Tim
------------------------------
From: taranto@panix.com (James Taranto)
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Date: 14 Jan 1994 23:15:29 -0500
Organization: The Bad Taranto
IIA does appear to be a legitimate operation, based on the following:
1. I sent them a credit card number over a month ago, and though I
have not yet heard back from them, there have been no unauthorized
charges to my account.
2. There is, in fact, a WHOIS listing for iia.org, and it is possible
to telnet to the address (I believe it's mary.iia.org).
3. I have heard a report of at least one person (friend of a user of
my server, panix.com) who has gotten connected with an account.
Cheers,
James Taranto taranto@panix.com
------------------------------
From: andy@clark.net (Andrew M. Cohn)
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Date: 14 Jan 1994 16:42:14 GMT
Organization: Clark Internet Services, Inc., Ellicott City, MD USA
For whatever it's worth, I forwarded the IIA my application about 7
weeks ago. The other day, I received a call from a real live person in
their NJ office. They wanted me to give them my fax number or home
address again, since it got lost in the shuffle. I did so, and they
advised me that I am being put into the system, and that I will
receive my "Welcome Aboard" packet in about two weeks. So we'll
see ...
andy@clark.net
------------------------------
From: ddean@robadome.com (Drew Dean)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Date: 14 Jan 1994 17:34:30 -0800
Organization: ROLM - A Siemens Company
If you have an American Express card, it's easy. You call MCI (I
think Sprint also has a similar deal), and they'll setup an account
where they bill your Amex card. In the US, there's an 800-extender
for long distance. When I was in Austria last year, I had no problem
using MCI's service there to call an 800 number here (I don't know
what carrier the recipient used.) The call just showed up on next
month's Amex bill. BTW, using the MCI service was substantially
cheaper than the Austrian PTT, about $1.30/minute vs $1.80/minute for
the same call.
Drew Dean (408) 492-5524 ddean@robadome.com
ROLM, a Siemens company
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #31
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Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 08:54:03 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401151454.AA15753@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #32
TELECOM Digest Sat, 15 Jan 94 08:54:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 32
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Jack Decker)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (David J. Greenberger)
Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (John R. Grout)
Re: User Interface From Hell (Martin McCormick)
Re: Rate of Change (Stewart Fist)
Re: Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment (Michael D. Sullivan)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: 14 Jan 1994 23:00:23 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
Reply-To: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
On Wed Jan 12 08:35:33 1994, lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
wrote:
> A. Padgett Peterson (padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com) wrote:
>>> everywhere I go I see regional carriers attempting to eliminate
>>> "flat" and "unmetered" plans. As telecommuting and information
>>> highway access begins to take hold, the elimination of unmetered
>>> local service is the biggest threat to individual connectivity that I
>>> can imagine.
> About two years ago, I asked telecom readers for information about
> local rates, because I had the same fear. My results indicated that
> flat-rate local calling is readily available everywhere.
Depends on what you mean by "flat-rate". If you mean that local calls
are untimed, then you are probably correct. If, however, you mean
that there is no charge for individual local calls, that is not the
case in many areas. Ameritech in particular has tried to do away with
no-charge local calls; they've been successful in Wisconsin and (I
think) parts of Illinois.
I think when we talk about this issue, there are a couple things to
keep in mind:
1) Telephone CUSTOMERS do not want to be charged on a per-call or
per-minute basis. This was actually put to a vote of the people in at
least two states (Maine and Oregon, back in 1986 I believe), and in
those states the people voted to ban mandatory measured service by a
considerable margin. This was the case even though under the phone
company proposal pending at the time, there would have been a cap on
the maximum amount that could be charged for local calls (something
like $19 as I recall). In at least those two states, there will be
true flat rate service for the forseeable future.
2) If you consider the components of local telephone service, charging
on a per call or per-minute basis generally doesn't make sense (except
as an artificial means of raising revenue). The two major components
involved in the provision of local telephone service are outside plant
(the wires, cables, and terminal blocks and similar equipment that
carry service to your home) and the central office switch.
The costs for outside plant are totally unrelated to usage except in
very rare circumstances. The wires and cables do not "wear out"
faster through use. Most of the costs of maintaining outside plant is
associated with replacement of aging facilities, repairing damaged
equipment and cables, and upgrading equipment to keep up with growing
populations. None of these occur with any greater frequency because a
line is used more. From the standpoint of outside plant, whether a
line is in use zero hours a day, 24 hours a day, or somewhere in
between makes no difference whatsoever.
In regard to central office equipment, the only time increased usage
becomes a factor is when it is so high that extra call handling
capacity must be added to the switch. Normally, telephone switches
are designed to handle the maximum number of calls placed during peak
calling periods and then some. Most residential customers do not
place the majority of their calls during peak calling periods (that
is, during the business day). For all practical purposes, once the
central office switch has been installed, there are no additional
costs to the phone company whether subscribers use their phones a lot
or a little.
Of course, there is the argument that the phone company can get by
with installing a switch with lower capacity in the first place, if it
can discourage phone usage. In my opinion, this sort of backward
thinking is a disservice to customers. I can't imagine that in the
grand scheme of things it costs the telco that much more to provide
plenty of capacity right from the start, and it's a one-time cost that
can be amortized over the life of the switch (which is at least ten to
fifteen years, even with today's fast-changing technology).
If anything, today's technology should make it possible to charge less
for calls, especially local calls. For example, most interoffice
trunking is now on fiber optic cables which provide far greater call
capacity at less cost the the former system of interoffice copper
cables.
> In article <telecom14.26.5@eecs.nwu.edu> dave_oshea@wiltel.com (Dave
> O'Shea) writes:
>> though I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see some alternative
>> local loop providers selling a "flat-rate"-type service to people who
>> are priced out of the market by the LEC's.
> I rather doubt it; residential flat rate local calling is justified as
> a giveaway of excess capacity that must be there in order to serve the
> business community during "prime time". Alternate providers would tend
> to establish rate structures that discourage residential customers so
> that they don't have to build local plant to serve the low-volume
> customers.
There are a couple of reasons why I tend to think that may not happen.
First, telcos are still regulated by state PUC's, and in at least some
states alternative carriers will be required to serve all comers. For
another thing, in some areas the current LEC's will be required to
unbundle their local service offerings, charging separately for the
use of outside plant (which will almost certainly be on an unmeasured
basis) and for provision of dial tone from their switch. Alternate
service providers in those states will be allowed to lease circuits
(between the C.O. and the customer's premises) from telco on a
month-to-month basis, and connect those to their own switches. In
such areas there will be no disincintive to serve residential
customers, since they won't have to build any outside plant. And it
may well be that such alternate providers will choose to offer true
flat-rate calling, at least between customers of their switch. Even
in areas where the option to rent circuits from the telco doesn't
exist, they may be able to get to residential customers via cable TV
lines, small-cell wireless technology, or some other method that is
usage insensitive.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the heaviest users of
residential phone service (other than teenagers) are personal computer
users with modems. However, new technologies may be developed that
effectively takes most of that traffic off of the phone wires. For
example, there's no reason that full Usenet news feeds couldn't be
transmitted direct to the home via small satellite dishes (or via a
channel on the local cable TV system) ... the user would simply need a
computer (or other "box") with enough intelligence to selectively
retain only those newsgroups and articles of interest. Under such a
system, the user would only need to make a call in order to transmit
or recieve e-mail, or to upload Usenet news articles. I believe there
is something similar to this available already, but it is priced out
of reach of the home user (it's economical in some cases for those who
want a full Usenet feed, however). But this cost could well drop as
demand for access to the Internet rises. And beyond that, data
communications are much more suitable for wireless technologies, since
data users can tolerate small delays during periods of extreme
congestion much more readily than voice users. So if telcos are
figuring that they can make big bucks off of modem users if only they
can charge for local calls, they might want to think further about
that, since new technology could obsolete that particular use of the
phone lines rather quickly if the need arises.
>> One of the big reasons that long distance rates seem to "bottom out"
>> somewhere in the 10 cents/minute rate, even for the most humongous
>> customers is that the LD carriers have to pay most of that to the LEC
>> for the local loop. Perhaps as the RBOCs are able to recoup something
>> for those millions of unbillable hours of local connect time, this
>> will ease up.
> There is no inherent reason that a telco under rate cap (de)regulation
> will lower the access charges charged to IXCs just because they obtain
> a new revenue stream somewhere else.
> On the other hand, a rational rate structure would charge the IXC
> exactly the same as a local customer for what is essentially a local
> call at each end of the long-distance call.
A rational rate structure would charge all customers something
remotely related to the actual costs associated with providing a
particular service. Under a truly rational rate structure, your basic
monthly bill would be much higher (as much as double what it is now,
maybe even a bit more), but you'd have essentially free local calling
within your home LATA (and maybe even adjacent LATA's), and very low
cost calling to the rest of the country. Custom calling services
would be provided free, or at very low cost (just enough to amortize
any additional software costs required to provide those features).
The problem with this is that most customers, especially residential
customers (and especially senior citizens) would squawk like stuck
pigs if their monthly phone rates doubled or tripled, even if you gave
them free long distance calling to anywhere in the country.
Actually, if local service were to be pretty much deregulated (and
full competition allowed), I could conceivably see a day where you
might pay, say, $35 - $40 per month and get free, unlimited local
calling anywhere in your LATA. You'd then pay maybe about the same
amount to a long distance company to get unlimited calling anywhere in
the country (or at least within the continental U.S.). If you didn't
have that much usage in a month, you'd have the option to be on a
measured plan instead. I do not think this will happen until and
unless there are some substantial changes in the current regulatory
framework. Actually, about the only regulations that I would like to
see (which we do NOT have now) would be ones that would prevent telcos
from "bundling" service in such a way that you can only get circuits
from them if you also get dial tone from them.
>> If an employee is worth telecommuting, even a $4/hour connection
>> charge is fairly minor in the face of, say, a $65,000 salary/benefits
>> package. Even if you get charged that for eight hours a day, it's minor.
>> Most employees who would best benefit from telecommuting are the ones
>> who are well into long-distance calling areas.
> Many telecommuters will have a local call to an internet carrier's
> local Point Of Presence. Eight hours at $4/hour is $32 a day. This is
> at least the equivalent of another hour's salary. Hardly negligible.
I agree with this last point completely. I don't claim to be psychic,
but I will predict that telecommuting will NEVER take off where there
are per-minute charges involved. By that I mean it will never get to
the point where anyone other than the top executives and maybe a very
few other employees will be allowed to work outside the home. No
company in their right mind would pay $32 a day for an employee to
telecommute when that same employee could drive to work on under $5
worth of gas, and be physically present when needed. And keep in mind
that it wouldn't be just the $4/hour in the example mentioned, there's
also extra monthly charges for the extra phone lines required, plus
equipment costs at both ends. It all adds up.
>>> only advantage that I can see for the consumer would be that with
>>> metered service, the subscriber would have a right to a call detail
>>> listing the individual calls by called number, time, and duration.
> Hahahaha hahaha ha ha ... he ho hummmm ... Here in Denmark, local
> calls have been metered for many, many years -- by the pulse method.
> Itemized billing is NOT available, and there would be an uproar from
> office workers -- on privacy grounds -- if the telco were to start
> itemizing bills. Itemized billing, like flat rate local calling -- is a
> feature of the American telephone system; it has ended up that way
> mostly by accident. Certainly there is no logic that says subscribers
> have the right to an itemized bill. (There may, however, in many
> jurisdictions be a PUC regulation saying so.)
I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, I do not trust telco to do
correct billing without having some way to check up on them. What do
you folks do in Denmark when you get a bill that says you've used
100,000 units (meter pulses?) of service and you think it should be
more like 1,000? Do you pay without protest? Do you refuse to pay and
let telco disconnect your service for non-payment? Do you just assume
that your telco so perfect that they never make mistakes? Or do you
just figure that getting overbilled is part of the cost of having a
phone? I'm sorry, but I don't like any of those options.
Jack
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro-
ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most
instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers
actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate. A small minority
of the users -- mainly people with telephone intensive lifestyles such
as modem users -- pay more. Where flat rate service exists, the rate
is invariably evened out in such a way that telco still makes money
based on average usage which tends to run high on the curve due to
modem (and similar heavy volume) users. In other words, if you want
to average it out and set a 'flat rate', telco still won't be the
loser, but the majority of the users will be. He mentions two areas
where people voted against measured service but exactly the opposite
was the case in Chicago in the middle 1980's when IBT dropped its
'metro calling plans' in favor of pay-as-you-use it. Yes, the modem
users screamed bloody murder, but all sorts of telephone users other-
wise were happy to see their bill go down a couple dollars monthly.
One of the major consumer organizations here endorsed the new plan
without reservations. Flat rate calling plans work much the same way
as insurance actuarial tables: let a few people in a given category
cause some major expenses and everyone pays. I can't say that I
benefitted from measured service here (in fact I wound up paying more
than before by quite a bit) but it is a lot fairer to the 99 percent
of the public who does not use modems or stay on a phone connection
for hours at a time each day. PAT]
------------------------------
From: d.greenberger@cornell.edu (David J. Greenberger)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Reply-To: d.greenberger@cornell.edu
Organization: Young Israel of Cornell
Date: 14 Jan 94 23:30:38 GMT
lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) writes:
> About two years ago, I asked telecom readers for information about
> local rates, because I had the same fear. My results indicated that
> flat-rate local calling is readily available everywhere.
Not quite, if by flat-rate you mean no charge for local calls (as
opposed to untimed service, carrying a per-call charge). As far as I
know, it is not an option in New York City, although it is an option
in other parts of New York State (such as Ithaca).
David J. Greenberger (607) 256-2171 d.greenberger@cornell.edu
------------------------------
From: grout@sp17.csrd.uiuc.edu (John R. Grout)
Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK?
Reply-To: j-grout@uiuc.edu
Organization: UIUC Center for Supercomputing Research and Development
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 21:44:25 GMT
In <telecom14.26.8@eecs.nwu.edu> atoscano@attmail.com (A Alan Toscano)
writes:
> In article <telecom14.18.2@eecs.nwu.edu> MAARUF ALI, <UDEE740@bay.cc.
> kcl.ac.uk> writes:
>> Could someone please tell me how to phone US 0800 numbers from the UK?
> Several previous replies suggested AT&T's USA Direct Service, but
> stated that the service could only be used to call AT&T-serviced "800"
> numbers. THERE IS NO LONGER ANY SUCH REQUIREMENT.
> 2. You must be calling an "800" number which does not have a
> geographic restriction against calls from the "gateway city" (in the
> USA) which serves USA Direct traffic from the country you're calling
> from. (This is unlikely, but possible. Most USA "800" numbers have no
> such restriction.)
Many nationwide USA "800" numbers used to have blackout areas in their
service to avoid paying for calls from callers who were near _their_
gateway city (from which they were providing _their_ service) ...
since current toll-switch technology can reroute such calls to cheaper
incoming lines, this is probably not too common anymore ... and, one
could assume that if a USA company (foolishly) listed a USA "800"
number as the _only_ way to reach them, it would be reasonable to
assume that it would be nationwide with no blackout areas ... so it
would be reasonble to assume that one could reach them via USA Direct.
However, nationwide USA "800" numbers may be sent to different places
in different parts of the country (e.g., my insurance company's
nationwide 800 number is sent to the nearest office) ... and many USA
"800" numbers _do_ have geographic restrictions (e.g., a specific area
code, a specific state, a specific group of states), and are
unassigned (or even reassigned) in other parts of the USA.
Several questions:
1. How would 800 Directory Assistance (which, for the benefit of
readers outside North America, is 800-555-1212), handle calls coming
through USA Direct? I can imagine an AT&T operator asking such a
person "what area code are you calling from?", as they often do here,
and the conversation taking a turn for the worse.
2. If a USA Direct caller thought they could reach the same office of
a company multiple times through their USA "800" number, would they
have any guarantee that each call would come through the same gateway
city each time (so it would be routed to the same office each time)?
At least, the post implies that there were different gateways when
calling from different countries.
John R. Grout j-grout@uiuc.edu
Center for Supercomputing Research and Development
Coordinated Science Laboratory University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
------------------------------
From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick)
Subject: Re: User Interface From Hell
Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 00:39:17 GMT
The discussion of human engineering regarding
telecommunication systems reminds me of the beautifully-done report on
the history of Unix which was posted, recently. The report detailed
the development of Unix and the philosophy behind it. There was a
wonderful point made about the fact that each part of Unix is a small
block in the overall scheme of things and that nobody can predict how
these blocks will need to be arranged to do a certain job so they must
be designed according to certain standards of input, output, and
control in order to make them most useful.
Unfortunately, this idea is still pretty foreign to many
people who really should know better. We have a situation in which
the computer operating systems gaining the most popularity use a
graphical user interface instead of the command line or text-based
interface which was the standard user interface until recently.
The GUI or graphical user interface has been tauted as the
end-all and be-all to make computing accessible to the general public.
The problem is that the GUI makes access by blind people very
difficult. Actually, it wrecks any kind of nonstandard I/O because we
no longer have a situation in which input and output are separated
from the program. The beauty of Unix and, to a lesser degree, such
systems as CPM and DOS is that the original developers were smart
enough to know that they could never cover all possible applications
so they produced a set of great tools which allowed others to do like
Isac Newton and stand on the shoulders of giants.
GUI's are neither good nor bad in and of themselves, but they
are a serious barrier to blind computer users and anybody else who
needs to do things differently. Rather than choosing which interface
works best for us, the software companies have in their most finite
wisdom created a hideously complex operating system whose manuals are
thicker than many metropolitan telephone books and whose only hard and
fast rule is that the rules are constantly changing.
There are several companies working on interfaces to both the
Microsoft and Apple graphical operating systems, but users who have
shelled out hundreds of Dollars to buy these programs report that
access is still difficult and problematic.
The problem is that there isn't a large market for this sort
of special software and the amount of time and skill needed to develop
it means that somebody will need to be paid well for their time. I
have no complaint about that as much as I feel that the software
companies have created a bad problem in that it is not easy nor
trivial to get nonstandard forms of I/O. The ideal solution would be
for the operating system companies to design their interfaces with
vectors or hooks which could be easily used as the input to special
software which could treat the operating system as a black box and
concentrate on providing whatever output or control is necessary for
the user to manage the system.
Finally, while I don't know what will happen in the future, I
can almost promise what won't happen. The companies who produce the
spread- sheets, word processors, etc that we use will not, nor should
they be expected to, produce programs for blind users or other people
who need nonstandard access. If something isn't done to solve this
problem in a meaningful way, the information age will be only a dream
for some.
Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jan 94 21:09:51 EST
From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Re: Rate of Change
Quite frankly, I don't know whether Gordan Palameta is agreeing or
disagreeing with me -- which is a bit of a let-down when you're trying
to deflate a few overfed techno-egos! <g> But his contribution about
the ways we can now organise society better with computers is certainly
true -- it's just that this is evolutionary, not revolutionary.
What I was trying to say is that technological change is less
disruptive, and *less* revolutionary these days, than it has been for
most of the last hundred years -- while conventional wisdom
(especially in the computer and communications industries) tries to
make us believe that it is *more*. Technologists are not at the
centre of the universe -- we are just one of the parts.
Gordan Palameta writes:
> The point is, when we consider the impact of airplanes, automobiles,
> etc. from our perspective, we are really compressing eighty years of
> history. A fair comparison with computers would require a similar
> eighty-year perspective.
But we can take an 80 year perspective. Before Henry Ford came along,
motor cars and aircraft were toys for the technophiles and for the
expert mechanics. There were eighty years of technological
development, but only 20 years of social impact.
It has been the same over the last eighty years with computers --
right from the days of Babbage and Pascal, if you want to stretch the
word 'computer' that far. My estimate of 20 years really only covers
the period when computers began to make an impact on the community,
not when they were custom-made devices used for vote-counting, or
calculating ballistics, or performing military decryption.
The technophile sees the development of planes extending back to
Kittyhawk, while the community sees aircraft-development only going
back to the days of the Ford Triplane and ending with the Jumbo Jet
nearly 30 years ago. What has happened to commercial aircraft since
then is largely trivia from the customer's viewpoint.
The jumbo jet flying today might be a much more sophisticated machine
than the first 727 Jumbo twenty-five years ago, but from the customer's
viewpoint, it is inferior if it doesn't have more leg room. The pilot
may notice an improvement, but the passengers don't.
This is just the point. In the area of computers and communications
the technological complexity and ingeniuty being exhibited by the
technologists, is not now being reflected in social impact -- or at
least, it's being reflected in changes with are relatively minor when
compared to those of the first decade or so of commercial PC
production. PCs will soon be telephone peripherals, about as exciting
as a modern-day telephone handset.
The linkage between social change and improvements in technology has
decline because we are moving from core effects, to the periphery.
This is always the way with technologies -- which is why we must be
careful with infinite extrapolations. The curve always flattens --
not because technological innovation lessens, but because it becomes
less relevant.
I was involved in making a television series on aircraft and airports
around the world in 1966, and we visited the Concorde factory in
France, then went on to Boeing in Seattle. The Boeing minders, at
that time, were keen that we should concentrate on the swing-wing SST
(SuperSonic Transport) -- which was the data superhighway of air-
transport at the time. But they hardly mentioned the first Jumbo
747 that was rolling off the assembly line, because it was too mundane.
So I totally agree with Gordan when he says:
> When considering the impact of technology, we tend to focus too much
> on things that are flashy and highly visible. A generation ago,
> people figured that by now we'd be zipping around in rocket ships and
> flying to work with our own personal jet packs. Few bothered to
> predict simple things like fax machines.
A good electronic mail system with national and international
backbones (like the Internet, but extended to the wider community so
everyone has access, as they do to the Postal Service) would be much
more socially useful and productive than videophones and videoconfer-
encing and fibre-to-the-home ... but where do we put our money?
And e-mail technologies needed have been around for years -- it is
just that e-mail is so cheap to implement, that it is impossible for
the telecos to make a profit. So e-mail backbone services need to be
public infrastructure, not commercial services run by telephone
companies. The commercial operators have a conflict-of-profits: each
one-cent e-mail message is one less 20-cent less phone or fax call.
If we leave it to free-market enterprise and we'll never get a good
service.
I agree with most of Michael Jacobs remarks, except for:
> Too often we forget that the history of our civilization is a
> history of technological progress.
Sure, technology is a major contributor -- but he is attempting to
place technology at the centre of the universe again -- and equating
"technology" with "progress". We are just one of the parts -- and a
lot of our technologies are useless, counter-productive, ridiculously
costly, or outright destructive.
------------------------------
From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment
Date: 15 Jan 1994 01:23:39 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
nevin@cs.arizona.edu (Nevin Liber) writes:
> A friend of mine (in Cook County, IL) is currently being stalked by a
> mutual acquiantance of ours. This has been going on for over a year.
> Unfortunately, the only evidence that my friend has is circumstantial
> (eg: the phone calls temporarily stopped when the suspect went on
> vacation, and resumed when the suspect returned back to IL).
> Much of what the suspect is doing is in the way of harassing phone
> calls, including calls from various payphones in the area where my
> friend lives, calls at all hours of the day and night, calling pagers
> and leaving my friend's phone number, etc.
Contact the local prosecutor (e.g., state's attorney). Many states
have a statute against harassment by wire. In New York, the crime is
"aggravated harassment." When I was a law clerk for the NY DA's
office many years ago, I worked on a case involving stalking in person
and by telephone (250+ calls a day) by a jilted lesbian lover and the
court entered an order prohibiting any attempt at telephone contact or
personal contact based on the aggravated harassment statute. A secretary
at my current law firm in DC was being stalked by an ex-husband, both
in person and by telephone (at the office, at one point over 100
calls/hour), and we helped her get a court order prohibiting any calls
or visits. When he continued, we got him thrown in jail.
Michael D. Sullivan mds@access.digex.net avogadro@well.sf.ca.us
Washington, D.C. 74160.1134@compuserve.com mikesullivan@bix.com
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #32
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Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 11:39:04 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401161739.AA05019@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #33
TELECOM Digest Sun, 16 Jan 94 11:39:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 33
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Jack Decker)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Fred Goldstein)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (David A. Kaye)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Al Varney)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Bill Pfeiffer)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Cliff Sharp)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (TELECOM Digest Editor)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: 16 Jan 1994 05:27:46 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
Reply-To: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
In response to my recent article, Pat wrote:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro-
> ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most
> instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers
> actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate. A small minority
> of the users -- mainly people with telephone intensive lifestyles such
> as modem users -- pay more. Where flat rate service exists, the rate
> is invariably evened out in such a way that telco still makes money
> based on average usage which tends to run high on the curve due to
> modem (and similar heavy volume) users. In other words, if you want
> to average it out and set a 'flat rate', telco still won't be the
> loser, but the majority of the users will be. He mentions two areas
> where people voted against measured service but exactly the opposite
> was the case in Chicago in the middle 1980's when IBT dropped its
> 'metro calling plans' in favor of pay-as-you-use it. Yes, the modem
> users screamed bloody murder, but all sorts of telephone users other-
> wise were happy to see their bill go down a couple dollars monthly.
> One of the major consumer organizations here endorsed the new plan
> without reservations. Flat rate calling plans work much the same way
> as insurance actuarial tables: let a few people in a given category
> cause some major expenses and everyone pays. I can't say that I
> benefitted from measured service here (in fact I wound up paying more
> than before by quite a bit) but it is a lot fairer to the 99 percent
> of the public who does not use modems or stay on a phone connection
> for hours at a time each day. PAT]
Pat, it sounds to me like you are willing to accept lower rates in the
short term while giving up a considerable measure of control over your
phone bill in the long run. I'm not arguing that people who take
measured service don't often save money at first; in fact, I think
it's been designed that way. The phone companies aren't above giving
up a little revenue in the short term if they see the potential of
making greater profits in the long run. My point, which you seem to
have overlooked, is that the costs to the phone company are rarely
increased by increased usage of telephone service, especially by
residential customers. Therefore, it is arguably fairer to charge for
phone service in a usage insensitive manner. The people of Maine and
Oregon obviously thought it was fairer to do it that way. (By the
way, I don't have much use for most "major consumer organizations"; I
find they often have their own axes to grind. But, that's another
topic for another time).
You say that measured service "is a lot fairer to the 99 percent of
the public who does not use modems or stay on a phone connection for
hours at a time each day." I would agree with you IF the phone
company's costs were being driven up by those customers, but I've yet
to see any evidence that they are. Keep in mind that we're talking
about residential customers here, and residential customers very
seldom make heavy use of the telephone system during peak calling
periods. Sure, a residential user may talk for hours at a time, but
if it's in the evening when the central office which is loafing along
at a fraction of its total call handling capacity, what does it
matter?
Keep in mind that since the phone company is a monopoly, they can
juggle the rates any way they want. Suppose that when IBT introduced
measured service in Chicago, they had chosen to price it in such a way
that the average customer would have paid more than they did under the
previous plan? They could have done that, you know, but obviously
they wouldn't have had many takers for measured service if they'd done
that. But if they had, perhaps now you might now be arguing that flat
rate service is the better deal?
I think that what many of the Baby Bells (and GTE) would like to do is
get mandatory measured service in everywhere. Why? Because it makes
rate increases easier to justify. Under flat rate service, when
customers complain that their bills are too high, the PUC just might
order the telco to lower their rates, or at least not approve any new
rate increases. But when customers have measured service, then it's
easier for telco to place the blame for high bills on customers: "If
they want lower bills, they should make fewer calls!" Of course, if
the day ever comes that virtually everyone has measured service, then
telco can raise the rates so that the "average customer" is paying
MORE than he would have under unmeasured service. You have to
understand that there's a bit of psychology involved here. It's often
easier to get a PUC to approve a rate increase of a penny or two per
call than to approve an extra dollar or two per month on the total
phone bill. It's like the AT&T commercials where they say "you're
only saving pennies" without pointing out that as the units add up, so
do those pennies.
Right now, none of the Baby Bells have managed to get measured service
throughout their service area, so they haven't been able to jack up
measured service rates as much as they'd like to, because they know
that regulators and consumers in other states would find out about the
increases and use them as ammunition to forestall the implementation
of mandatory measured service in the states where unmeasured service
is still available.
I think that instead of looking at Chicago as an example, it might be
more instructive to look at places where virtually no flat rate
service exists. Take Europe for example; even in countries where the
phone system is fairly well developed, local phone charges are
considerably higher than ours. I doubt you will find any place in the
world (outside of the United States and Canada) where people can make
as many calls and talk as long as the average person does here, and
still receive a phone bill that's anywhere near as low as our bills
are. A lot of those people would truly love the luxury of being able
to pick up the phone and make a local call anytime they feel like it,
without worrying about the costs. And what they have there is pretty
close to what we would have here, if the telcos could get mandatory
measured service put in place nationwide.
One other thing, you always take swipes at modem users on this issue,
but I think that's even a bit unfair for three reasons. First, many
modem users are on business lines, and since most business lines are
now measured, they're paying for their service anyway. Second, most
residential modem users tend to make their calls in off-peak periods,
so they're really not taxing the capacity of the phone system that
much. But the third thing is that when most telcos here implement
measured service, they charge on a per-call rather than per-minute
basis. If we were to assume that the point of measured service was to
discourage modem use, then it would make more sense to charge by the
minute on local calls (because modem users tend to make longer calls),
but that's done in VERY few areas of the country. It would make even
more sense to charge extra only for calls made during the heaviest
calling periods, but as far as I know, that's not done ANYWHERE in the
United States for local calls. So I don't the the phone companies
really have modem users (and people who stay on a phone connection for
hours at a time) foremost in mind when they implement mandatory
measured service, even if you think they're a major target.
The bottom line is that while measured service may seem like a deal
now, I would not assume that such will always be the case. This is
the phone company's version of a "loss leader", something to convince
you (whether "you" is the individual residential customer or the PUC
of a state) that measured service is a good deal ... and never mind
that there may be price increases around the corner. Think, Pat ...
their costs are NOT usage based, and they can juggle the price of
either measured or unmeasured service to make either one seem like the
better deal at any point in time. Therefore, saying that measured
service is "better" because the majority of customers are saving money
with it is in reality making a value judgement based on the conscious
actions of the phone company to make measured service a better deal AT
THIS POINT IN TIME. When it's the ONLY deal available, you may
suddenly find it's not such a bargain.
Jack
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 00:19:06 -0500
From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Imagine, if you will, a new telephone rate structure announced by your
local Bell company, say, Ameritech.
Henceforth, your monthly residential rate will be $2 + $1 for each
letter of the alphabet removed from "A". Thus Abolafia will pay $2,
Bernstein $3, Coletti $4, up to Zzzyandottie who will pay $27. This
is perfectly fair, of course, because most people have names that are
before "M", and thus come out in the cheaper half.
Is this absurd? It is only a bit less arbitrary than most measured
local service plans! Telephone rates are set by regulators because in
a free market, price tends towards cost, but telephones are a monopoly
so there is no free market. And in this monopoly world, the historical
regulatory regime has NOT been cost, but "value of service". And that's
basically whatever your regulator says it is.
One approach, of course, is to price telephone service (80%+ of which
is a fixed cost, whether you never use it or never hang up) based upon
usage. Illinois Bell and New York Telephone both do this a lot. In
the case of NY City, the state regulators made them do a fancy cost of
service study, and they ended up with a complex three-rate-period
multi-band structure that bottoms out under a penny a minute for
short-haul nighttime calls. (Residence can get untimed service.)
Note though that NY City has an unusually complex and costly infra-
structure, with so many COs, tandems, etc., to deal with.
The trouble with overcharging for usage is that it reduces the
economic efficiency of the network as a whole. Overprice (vis a vis
true cost) usage rates discourage usage, so the usage-insensitive
infrastructure (most of it) gets less usage than it should. The
resource is wasted.
The FCC makes telcos produce true cost data when making up the rates
charged to long distnace carriers for delivering calls. These rates
are then buggered by a formula that produces a subsidy (read: they're
marked up), and they're entirely usage-based. But the mileage
component is only about 1/100 of a cent per mile per minute. A call
anywhere in a LATA usually costs about the same.
Overcharging heavy local users or overcharging people named "Townson"
is equally wrong.
fred
------------------------------
From: dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: 15 Jan 1994 20:30:49 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest]
Jack Decker (ao944@yfn.ysu.edu) wrote:
> 1) Telephone CUSTOMERS do not want to be charged on a per-call or
> per-minute basis. This was actually put to a vote of the people in at
> least two states (Maine and Oregon, back in 1986 I believe), and in
> those states the people voted to ban mandatory measured service by a
> considerable margin.
In Oregon US West does provide flat rate service for both residential
AND business customers. The Portland local calling area extends fifty
miles! It's amazing. It is also probably one of the reasons why
business bypass service is not popular in that area, whereas in San
Francisco it is a booming business (measured business rate and a local
calling area of about ten miles).
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 16:39:34 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.32.1@eecs.nwu.edu> ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack
Decker) writes:
> On Wed Jan 12 08:35:33 1994, lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
> wrote:
>> A. Padgett Peterson (padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com) wrote:
>>> If an employee is worth telecommuting, even a $4/hour connection
>>> charge is fairly minor in the face of, say, a $65,000 salary/benefits
>>> package. Even if you get charged that for eight hours a day, it's minor.
>>> Most employees who would best benefit from telecommuting are the ones
>>> who are well into long-distance calling areas.
>> Many telecommuters will have a local call to an internet carrier's
>> local Point Of Presence. Eight hours at $4/hour is $32 a day. This is
>> at least the equivalent of another hour's salary. Hardly negligible.
> I agree with this last point completely. I don't claim to be psychic,
> but I will predict that telecommuting will NEVER take off where there
> are per-minute charges involved. By that I mean it will never get to
> the point where anyone other than the top executives and maybe a very
> few other employees will be allowed to work outside the home. No
> company in their right mind would pay $32 a day for an employee to
> telecommute when that same employee could drive to work on under $5
> worth of gas, and be physically present when needed. And keep in mind
> that it wouldn't be just the $4/hour in the example mentioned, there's
> also extra monthly charges for the extra phone lines required, plus
> equipment costs at both ends. It all adds up.
I disagree, but only because $4/hour is unlikely -- at $2/hour or
$16 per day, it costs about the same as floor space, parking, taxes,
services, etc. When urban companies start paying real money when the
number of single-car commuters doesn't drop, telecommuting will be a
real option.
In addition, it's not the $65K folks that are candidates. It's the
skilled clerks and sales folks. If you can pay these people $2/hour
less in salary/benefits in exchange for work-at-home (or work-in-the-
car), telecommuting looks pretty good. Better yet, you can compete
for workers that would be unwilling to commute to your work site --
those with small kids, a sick parent or poor access to transportation
will usually work for less in exchange for a presence at home (perhaps
part-time).
Al Varney
------------------------------
From: rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:26:56 CST
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro-
> ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most
> instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers
> actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate. A small minority
> of the users -- mainly people with telephone intensive lifestyles such
> as modem users -- pay more.
Please, Pat. That is not at all true. I know of nobody (yourself
included) whose bill has decreased with measured service. Yes I know
that the telcos propaganda said this would be true but it is not true
for anyone who uses the phone. It is not even true for those who
dont. Basic service is way up, supplemental charges are up too.
> Where flat rate service exists, the rate is invariably evened out in
> such a way that telco still makes money based on average usage which
> tends to run high on the curve due to modem (and similar heavy volume)
> users.
Hogwash. When we had callpacks here, you still had the option of
measured zero service where each call cost roughly what it does now.
Noobody was forced to take any callpacks. They took them because they
made sense to consumers. We had several 'paks' to choose from too,
including certain numbers of units, on up to unlimited and super
unlimited, which reached almost everywhere in the LATA. All that this
measured service has done is make timed toll calls out of calls which
were untimed local calls and have driven the average phone bill up,
not down.
> He mentions two areas here people voted against measured service but
> exactly the opposite was the case in Chicago in the middle 1980's when
> IBT dropped its 'metro calling plans' in favor of pay-as-you-use it.
Er, I don't remember any vote in Chicago where the 'opposite' happened.
I remember the company notifying us that our callpaks were to be termin-
ated and how wonderful it will be.
> Yes, the modem users screamed bloody murder, but all sorts of
> telephone users otherwise were happy to see their bill go down a
> couple dollars monthly.
... while most other people who actually USE their phones saw their
bills skyrocket. Sure Gramma and Grampa with their rotary black phone
who call junior once a month on the next block, saves a couple of
bucks but most people, I feel, saw dramatic increases.
In Chicago you have an eight mile radius from your CO to the called CO
for a one time charge of about five cents. If your CO is on the lake,
however, your eight miles east is nil. What was once an untimed call
from the North side of Chicago to the South side (even under measured
zero in the call-pak days) is now timed by the minute.
> One of the major consumer organizations here endorsed the new plan
> without reservations. Flat rate calling plans work much the same way
> as insurance actuarial tables: let a few people in a given category
> cause some major expenses and everyone pays.
Sorry, Pat, that is just untrue. You are sounding like the public
relations drone for Bell. Flat-rate services were a choice, not a
requirement. You had choices of what level you needed too.
> I can't say that I benefitted from measured service here (in fact I
> wound up paying more than before by quite a bit) but it is a lot
> fairer to the 99 percent of the public who does not use modems or stay
> on a phone connection for hours at a time each day. PAT]
99%? You are telling us that 99% of the phone users in 1990's have
benefitted from measured service? I'd love to see those statistics.
Pat, I know you love to defend the corporations while they are, at the
same time, sucking you dry, but c'mon ol buddy, lets get real. This
is the 1990's. Everyone uses the phone. The days of granny in her
apartment who made five calls a month are, for the most part, history.
And your modem calls have not driven you bankrupt. You and I make
virtually all our modem calls to local, untimed numbers.
Telcom instituted measured service to make more money, not to save
money for users. Period! To suggest that the majority of telephone
subscribers are better off with measured service than they were with
call-paks and calling plans, is absurd. What has happened is that
our choice over the most economical plans have been removed. In their
place is public relations jive.
Pat, I love your Digest, and we are personal friends, but when I hear
you preach of how benevolent telecommunications corporations are and
how much better we all are off because of their actions, I have to
jump in and say 'wake up'.
William Pfeiffer - Moderator/Editor
Recrec.radio.broadcasting - Airwaves Radio Journal
- Internet email -
Article Submission: articles@airwaves.chi.il.us
Subscription Desk: subscribe@airwaves.chi.il.us
------------------------------
From: Cliff Sharp <clifto@indep1.chi.il.us>
Date: Sat, Jan 15 23:49:54 1994
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
In article <telecom14.32.1@eecs.nwu.edu> our Esteemed Moderator writes:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro-
> ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most
> instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers
> actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate. A small minority
> of the users -- mainly people with telephone intensive lifestyles such
> as modem users -- pay more. Where flat rate service exists, the rate
Now, waaaaait a minute.
When Call-Pak Unlimited disappeared from the Chicago area, my
calling patterns changed dramatically. The very first month of
measured service, I went from 3500 units to 800, and my bill _doubled_
from around $40 to over $80. My average bill today is about $120,
custom features excluded; the way I figure it, over ten times what I
used to pay per unit. In any event, the smallest bill we've had since
was much larger than the largest bill we had during the Call-Pak days.
I have yet to meet _anyone_, even the little old lady downstairs
with a retirement income who seldom calls anyone, whose bill went down
when Call-Pak disappeared. (Perhaps you'll be the first?) A few
people told me their bills went up only 50% or so; one only went up
25-30%.
My modem line is NOT included in the current $120 figure; perhaps I
should add in the $60 I spend on that to even it out, since I used one
line for everything in the Call-pak days. (Make it $40 to remove the
charges for the second line. That keeps everything down to about 13
times the original cost.)
> I can't say that I benefitted from measured service here (in fact I
> wound up paying more than before by quite a bit) but it is a lot
> fairer to the 99 percent of the public who does not use modems or stay
> on a phone connection for hours at a time each day. PAT]
Guess you won't be the first (see above) after all ...
I still can't see why it costs me more for a one-hour, 2 AM modem
call across town than it costs Mabel down the street for a prime-time
half-hour yap with Gert across town. It certainly costs the phone
company a LOT less, in raw dollars as well as in actual resource
allocation. (Non-Chicago-area folks: the 9 PM to 8 AM discount is
40%.)
Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us WA9PDM
------------------------------
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 09:00:00 CST
Some responses are in order on this cold day in Hell ... for the past
39 hours (Friday about 6 PM through Sunday at 9 AM) the temperature in
Chicago and suburbs has been sub-zero with a drop to fourteen below zero
Friday overnight into Saturday morning; a 'high' temperature of two below
zero Saturday and eleven below last night. We're told things may 'warm
up' to the single digits today. None the less, it warms my heart to read
messages from you guys singling out telco as the one utility service
which you feel should be an exception to the 'pay for what you use' rule.
Would you like to pay for your electrical service based on some average
amount that all your neighbors, including the big factory across town
uses? The factory would love having the electric bill averaged out to
some community-wide fee per month. Would you object to paying a flat rate
for your gas or your water based on some amount which includes the public
laundry down the street with all the washers and dryers running all the
time? Betcha the owner of the laundry would consider it to be 'fair'.
Jack Decker agrees with me that frequently (but only 'at first' in his
opinion) the costs to many subscribers are lower, and on this point he
apparently would be in disagreement with Bill Pfieffer and Cliff Sharp
who feel the bills always are more. Jack says the catch is that telco
is willing to promote what is sometimes called a 'loss-leader' in
order to later present a more palatable dinner to the regulators. It is
easier to get them to go along with a half-pence or so here and there
than a dollar or two per month. Jack contends that the use of the
phone does not affect telco's costs, and while that is partly true
(and more true than it is in the case of the gas, electric or water
utilities, all of whom have to obtain and pay for (or 'manufacture' in
the case of electricity) the product they are passing along), it is
not entirely true since the size and extent of the *common equipment*
telco must install and maintain DOES depend on the extent to which it
is used. The general public does not know this, but I would expect
most telecom readers to realize that telco does not have wires from
every phone to every other phone and that said wires sit there idle
in between calls. The common equipment is continually being swapped
around among users of the moment. Typically, a telco has the physical
capacity to serve only about ten to fifteen percent of its customers
at any one time. If its customers tie up the common equipment for long
periods of time then more common equipment is needed. Consider the
car rental business: Hertz had a couple million customers last year.
They do not own a couple million cars, but rather, they own a few
thousand vehicles which are constantly being shuffled around among
customers and locations (where the company operates) to meet the
demand at the company's busiest times. Ditto with telco.
While Fred G. seems to think it is equally absurd to charge by
the letters in one's last name as it is to charge by the amount of
usage, he ignores the fact that one's name has no relevance to one's
use of the phone while one's use of the phone has a direct relevance
to the amount of equipment telco must maintain to make it all work right.
I agree with Fred that my name has no bearing on anything, but the
fact that I have tied up a circuit between Skokie and Evanston for
awhile typing out this answer does have a bearing on the cost.
Jack suggests looking at Europe where 'costs are considerably higher'.
Yes, they are higher in Europe (where they also have virtual monopoly
phone service in a few countries), and yes phone charges are higher
in any event. But this is not due to measured service, it is due to
the lack of technological development in telecom. You don't wait three
years to get phone service in the USA as you do in some places in
Europe either. In general, phones cost more and provide less value
in Europe than in the USA regardless of how the bill is calculated.
Bill Pfieffer does not recall 'any votes in Chicago' and that is
because there were no votes taken. But the Consumer's Utility Board
(known locally as CUB) which functions as a citizen's 'watchdog' of
the state regulators (the Illinois Commerce Commission) said they
liked the idea of measured service for the simple reason that the old
plan (a combination of measured and unmeasured 'local community service'
plus area-wide metro 'call-pak' and 'unlimited call-pak' service was
grossly unfair to the suburbanites while being overly generous to
residents of Chicago. I would agree in general with Jack Decker's side
note about 'consumer groups with their own axes to grind' and was very
surprised to find myself in basic agreement with CUB's premises at
the time.
As Bill points out, we now have an 'eight mile local zone' in which
residence calls cost but a single 'unit' and are untimed. A 'unit' is
roughly three to four cents and we get discounts on this based on the
time of day and the number of units used per month. The local zone is
all the exchanges in the central office serving you plus all the
exchanges in the contiguous central offices. All of northern Illinois
(not just Chicago) is now under this plan. What Bill says is true: the
subscribers who live along the lakefront do not get eight miles to
the east since there are no central offices out in Lake Michigan, but
they do get eight miles north, south and west.
Under the old plans, there were a number of flaws which made them
unfair to various users. For example, every user had untimed local
calling with calls *in the corporate limits of his community* rated at
one message 'unit'. Talk one minute or talk all day, no matter. For
people in Golf, Illinois (a tiny village right next to Skokie) that
meant one exchange, and a distance of five blocks from one side of the
village to the other. For people in Chicago, that meant a distance of
*thirty miles* from one side of town to the other at the most extreme
angles of direction; easily 25 miles for everyone else and dozens (in
those days) of exchanges. Under the old local plan, we got 80 'units'
per month to use as we saw fit as part of the monthly fee. You could
make 80 (or 120, 180 or 240) local calls or some lesser number of
calls to other communities with the number of 'units' charged being
based on time connected plus distance. That part was fair enough, but
if one decided to get 'unlimited call pak' (the next step above 240
units) because one was on the phone a lot, then guess what? If you
were calling anywhere outside the so-called 'inner met area' your
units didn't matter ... those calls were coin-rated, and your units
were wasted. Grandma might not use a single one of her 80 units
allotted as part of her monthly bill, but every Sunday afternoon when
she called Bill's friend Junior out in Aurora she'd get nipped for
forty cents in coins.
Under the old, highly-touted (by some people, and admittedly while
I lived in Chicago-proper I was one such person) 'unlimited call
pak plans' all the plans were heavily biased in favor of Chicago
residents to the detriment of the suburbanites. All the plans used
as their territory a starting point of State and Madison Streets in
downtown Chicago then expanded outward in rings or circles. The
'inner met area' was 28 miles *from downtown Chicago* in any direc-
tion. That was fine if you were in downtown Chicago or even anywhere
in Chicago. The poor guy who lived in Wheaton, Illinois could call
*anywhere* to the east/northeast/southeast on that plan but if he
wanted to call west/northwest/southwest he had about three or four
city blocks he could call under the unlimited plan then *his* calls
became coin-rated for westerly points. The next size unlimited
call-pak went forty miles *from downtown Chicago* and picked up such
places as Aurora, Illinois on the outer edge of (what was then 312
and now is 708) plus bits here and there of 815. Well, that was fine
until you moved to Fox Lake, Aurora, Zion, or Joliet to name a few
examples. Then you were on the outer edge of the 'outer-met unlimited
call-pak area' and you could call north and east all you wanted but
not south or west (if Zion or way up north then the reverse was
true; you got calls south and to a limited extent west, but being
on the lake you got nothing east and you bumped into the Wisconsin
state line a mile or two north of you and a whole new LATA). So
people living in the outer suburbs had quite a choice for phone
service: local area which gave them their puny little town with all
of one or two exchanges or they could get 'outer-met unlimited service'
based on rates and mileage from downtown Chicago from which they
were already removed by forty miles or so. There was no inbetween
type plan for those people.
A very sensible plan was developed where the entire northern Illinois
area would be treated as one large metro area for local calling. All
'local' zones would be relative to where you were actually at and all
'local' zones would be the same size regardless of what town you
actually lived in. Everyone across northern Illinois gets eight miles
in any direction from them. Telco does not choose who lives by the
lake and who lives elsewhere. Anyway, as a side note, along the lake
is **so bad** now in terms of nasty people, nasty violent crimes, drug
sales, run-down and horrible housing, etc I can't imagine why anyone
would live there; I'll sure never return to Chicago/Rogers Park having
had a taste of Skokie! But, we get eight miles in any geographically
possible direction, we pay three or four cents per *call* for these
(or less depending on time of day and volume of calls per month dis-
counts) and we pay progressively more for each cluster of phones in
eight mile groups beyond that. What could be fairer to *everyone* in
a large metro area than that? That is, assuming you agree with my
premise that the number and duration of calls does cost telco *something*
even if the analogy to gas and electric service is not entirely right.
Part of the problem is the government did not lay out all the villages
and towns on a checkerboard pattern with the same population in each
town and the same boundary lines, etc. We have some real weird layouts
here and any 'local flatrate in your own community' type plan would
never be fair. I agree they might have as an alternative developed
some additional 'unlimited call-pak' plans with concentric rings whose
centers were in places other than (in addition to) smack-dab in
downtown Chicago favoring downtowners at the (increasing) expense of
all other residents as far away from downtown as you went, but they
did not. Instead they developed a checkerboard pattern with each
person getting his own square and the squares on any side of him. The
rates *were* reduced (under the old plans, 'units' cost 5.5 cents each
where now they cost between 3-4 cents depending on how many and time
of day) and the suburbanites gained some equality with the city
people.
Of course modem users *in the city* who had previously been able to
call *anywhere else in the city* for that 5.5 cents per call (with a
bundle of 80/120/180/240) as part of the prepaid package now lost
large chunks of the city in exchange for picking up in many cases
quite a few suburbs in the process at 3.5 cents per call, but the
suburbanites in many cases doubled or tripled the territory they could
call for their 5.5 cents at a new rate of 3.5 cents. Instead of a
choice between very local and limited 'flatrate' service at a cheap
cost or an area-wide plan which cost a fortune and only included
calls aimed in the direction of downtown Chicago, suburbanites now
get to call anywhere in their 'square' or the 'squares' around them
at a decent rate.
For telco, the switch from flatrate to measured was more or less
revenue neutral here. The fact that phone bills are higher now is
because we are using the phone more now than we were even ten years
ago. The modem users disliked it because frankly, quite a few were
accustomed to calling BBS's (in those days Internet connectivity was
virtually zilch, we all dealt only with small systems around the area)
all over the metro area -- a distance of several hundred square miles
-- and staying on line for an hour at a time. And you can't tell me
that the 'average' phone user spends an hour at a time, several times
per day, or even several times per week) calling to a point 30-40
miles away. The fact is we can say in voice to one another in a minute
or two that which takes 15-20 minutes or longer to type in via email
or a message and most people do NOT construct stuff off line then call
in to deliver it. They call the system they are using and construct
their message then and there. That's why modem connections are going
to be inherently longer than voice connections, and that is why the
modem users screamed about measured service, for the same reason the
factory would love to have its electric and water usage on flat rate
instead of meter.
So often, 'what is best' is an applications-driven thing. Our old
plans here *sucked* -- they were great for inner city Chicagoans and
lousy for everyone else with the exception of heavy volume residential
users in certain particular locations such as (go ahead and admit
it Bill and Jack) inner-city modem users. Some phone customers here
such as modem users calling all over the metro area and hanging on
for hours at a time got a free ride for years. Now instead, Grandma
gets to call Aurora or Zion without seeing a forty cent per minute
coin-rated charge on her bill. So there is no mistake in where I
am coming from, measured service costs me MORE -- much more, and I
do not like it *for myself*, but overall, if you care about the rest
of the greater metropolitan community, it is fairer this way.
Patrick Townson
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #33
*****************************
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Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 12:51:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401161851.AA06841@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #34
TELECOM Digest Sun, 16 Jan 94 12:51:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 34
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Circa 1977 Rotary-Dial Trimline (Rev. Michael P. Deignan)
Why the Rotary Phones? (Steve Kass)
Book Review: "Basics Book of X.25" by Motorola (Rob Slade)
Small Cellular Phones With Data Capability (James Cook)
Article on the Net in the 1/7/94 Economist (Robert L. McMillin)
Is .mil Going Away? (Network World via Robert L. McMillin)
Long Distance Weather Calls? (Anthony E. Siegman)
FAQ Not Quite Forgotten (David Leibold)
Wanted: Mobile Cellular Speaker (Orator) (Robert J. Keller)
Looks Like a Hacker (Clarence Dold)
Modem With DTMF and MF Tones (Bob Erdman)
PBX Features On LAN Hubs? (Kevin Tanner)
Anyone Using Touch 1? (Arnold Robbins)
New Area Code 360 in Washington State (Paul Cook)
How Does Inmarsat Work? (Koos van den Hout)
PBX Vendors With Isochronous Interface (George Nazi)
Telephone System in China and in the US (Min Hu)
Answering Machine Question (Tim White)
Learning Experience (Thomas Hinders)
Telephone Numbers in France (Richard Cox)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.com (Rev. Michael P. Deignan)
Subject: Circa 1977 Rotary-Dial Trimline
Date: 16 Jan 1994 14:39:49 GMT
Organization: Small Business Systems, Inc., Esmond, RI 02917
I have just retired a circa-1977 rotary-dial "Bell System Property"
Trimline phone from years of trusty service in our kitchen. (The pulse
dial occasionally caused my modem to decide to pick up and answer the
call in the midst of dialing a number -- quite annoying).
Anyway, since I know there are folks here who collect these things, I
thought I'd offer it up for sale. It works fine. The handset itself
has a few minor cracks from years of dropping the handset on the
kitchen floor. It could use a good dose of Fantastic or 409.
Best offer takes it!
Michael P. Deignan, KD1HZ Internet: kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.com
UUCP: ...!uunet!anomaly!kd1hz AT&TNet: 401-273-4669
------------------------------
From: skass@drunivac.drew.edu (Steve Kass)
Subject: Why the Rotary Phones?
Date: 16 Jan 94 10:58:15 EST
Organization: Drew Univ Academic Computing
In Volume 14, Issue 31, several contributors discuss the merits of
NYTel's installing rotary phones to thwart drug dealers. Some writers
were cynical of the move, pointing out that pocket tone dialers are
widely available, but others suggested DMTF filters to prevent their
use.
NYTel _already_ has the capability to detect both keypad-generated and
pocket-dialer generated tones and disconnect a call after some number
of these tones. This "service" was in effect on many East Village
telephones a year or two ago, and caused me to give up trying to use
my voice mail from those phones.
My experience is that NYTel is not forthcoming about how their phones
are configured, so I'll offer a guess as to the real reason for rotary
phones:
If a phone has a keypad, the average customer expects to be able to
use voicemail. At such a phone where tones don't work, (we've had
this experience with COCOTs), s/he is likely to make several attempts,
then call operators for credits or repair service to report problems.
(I speak from experience. As a result of all this, I also had my
calling card number stolen, having been asked to speak the number each
time I asked for credit from a failed call.) Money is lost and ill
will is generated. The AOSs don't care about this (and often don't
provide access to operators or service personnel). But NYTel does
care about this. The rotary phone says "Don't try to use voice mail
from this phone."
I suspect tone dialers won't work from these rotary phones, so some
honest customers will still be frustrated, but fewer than before.
Steve Kass/Math & CS/Drew U/Madison NJ/201-514-1187 skass@drew.drew.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:38:19 MDT
From: Rob Slade <ROBERTS%DECUS@MIMAS.ARC.AB.CA>
Subject: Book Review: "Basics Book of X.25" by Motorola
BKBSX25.RVW 931125
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Kelly Ford, Promotion/Publicity Coordinator
P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA 01867-9984
800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN 46254
800-447-2226
"The Basics Book of X.25 Packet Switching", 0-201-56369-X
In contrast to other of the "Basics" series, this one has no stated
audience or objective. (It is also the first one I've seen that
strongly pushes the Motorola Codex product line, even including a
business reply card bound into the back of the book.)
The coverage of X.25 is fairly detailed and reasonably complete. The
conceptual description, however, is oddly lacking. While there is a
description of the advantages of circuit reduncy in packet networks,
there is no such discussion or illustration of the efficiency of
network or link resources using packetization.
A brief introduction to X.25 and packet networks. Useful for data
communications people who need a "fast start" on the topic, and can
pick up the pieces later. It won't, however, make life with Datapac
any easier.
Ceterum censeo Datapac delendam essc.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKBSX25.RVW 931125
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: jcook@netcom.com (James Cook)
Subject: Small Cellular Phones With Data Capability
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:01:22 GMT
I'm wondering if any of these small, flip style cell phones can
accomodate data transfer from laptops? Ideally, just a direct means
of connection the laptop modem to the cell. phone. Available? Pros and
cons?
TIA,
James Cook Internet: jcook@netcom.com
San Francisco Bay, California Compuserve: 76520,2727
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 08:27 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Article on the Net in the 1/7/94 Economist
The British magazine, {The Economist}, has an article in its 1/7/1994
double issue on the Internet. Mostly, it's about the explosion in
private digital networks -- including the furious pace of the private
expansion of the Net. Somehow, they managed to miss Netcom in all
this; but there's good reading therein.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 08:23 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Is .mil Going Away?
According to a headline article in the January 10, 1994 issue of
{Network World}, in an attempt to reduce the exposure of military
computers to viruses, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
wants to take many military computers off the Net. According to the
article, the DISA wants to rename all .mil domain addresses and hide
them behind a single firewall. This has met with quiet but widespread
disapproval from miltary users who cherish their Internet freedom.
Military network managers say the plan may be technically unfeasible,
and that a better way to improve system security would be to force all
Internet-connected .mil sites to have MX firewalls.
According to the article, "Leaked Defense Department e-mail suggests
DISA made its decision about disconnecting the DDN without informing
the Pentagon, which is now in the awkward position of explaining
DISA's actions." The future of the DISA plan is unclear at the
moment.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 17:59:25 PST
From: Anthony E. Siegman <siegman@Sierra.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Long Distance Weather Calls?
Calling Directory Assistance at 1-617-555-1212 from my residence in AC
415 got me the number 936-1234 for telco (NYNEX) weather service in
Boston. But then dialing 1-617-936-1234 repeatedly only gave me loud,
intermittent, very scratchy static -- no ringing, no answer.
When I called the long distance operator at 00 about this, her
attempts got essentially the same result. She then went through an
"inward long distance" operator in Boston, which did get me connected
to the weather message.
Anyone else encounter this same problem? Also, the local PacTel
weather message is 936-1212; wouldn't it be handier if every LOC had
the same number, so you could get the weather in any area code in the
same way as you get Directory Assistance? (Maybe some AC's are so big
one recording couldn't handle it?)
P.S., Pat: Boston weather for next two days said daytime highs 8 to 12
F, nighttime lows -3 F, windchill factors -20 to -30 F; why am I even
going there!
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Some of the weather forecasts are now
on 976 numbers such as the one for Chicago. I don't think you can get
those at all since most telcos no longer connect with the 976 numbers
of other telcos. I get my local area time and temperature along with
a recorded advertisement from Centel by dialing 708-296-7666. And PS
to you too: our temperature here has been sub-zero (like ten or more
degrees below zero) for nearly two days. Why am I staying here? PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 22:05:14 -0500
From: djcl@io.org
Subject: FAQ Not Quite Forgotten
Last month, I announced an intention to finally update the FAQ. A bit
of updating has been achieved so far, but will still require a bit of
time to finish off. This is just about the last chance to get any new
or improved things for the next edition of the telecom FAQ. Send to
djcl@io.org or dleibold1@attmail.com.
David Leibold ... djcl@io.org
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: David Leibold has worked on this
project for several years now along with help from other devoted
Digest readers. Every year we get an updated FAQ as a result and
we owe djcl and the others involved our thanks. Please contribute. PAT]
------------------------------
Reply-To: rjk@telcomlaw.win.net (Robert J. Keller)
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:14:16
Subject: Wanted: Mobile Cellular Speaker (Orator)
From: rjk@telcomlaw.win.net (Robert J. Keller)
A large computer hardware manufacturer is planning a conference in
mid-February for its sales, marketing, and technical support
personnel. They are seeking someone who could do a presentation on
the future of computers in the wireless marketplace (e.g., cellular,
PCS, etc.). If you qualify and are available, send me via e-mail a
brief synopsis of your background and qualifications as well as
complete information on where/how you can be contacted. I will be
collecting this information next week and passing it on to the
manufacturer.
FWIW, I am not financially involved in this, but am merely posting
this feeler as a favor to a friend who works for the manufacturer and
is charged with looking for this particular speaker.
Thanks,
Bob Keller CompuServe: 76100,3333 Internet: rjk@telcomlaw.win.net
------------------------------
From: dold@rahul.net (Clarence Dold)
Subject: Looks Like a Hacker
Organization: a2i network
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:12:23 GMT
An "800" customer of mine called to complain that a lot of calls were
on her bill from the same caller, but she tried calling the number
back, and it was disconnected.
I checked the SMS database, and there was no record found. I checked
against a small run of telephone logs, and found a lot of calls from
the same ANI, mostly into our 800-voicemail. Smells like a hacker ...
Then I saw some not-so-malicious patterns. I called PacBell security,
to track the ANI down.
510 893-0781 Cellular One Outbound Trunk
Hmm ...
How many ANI are like this? Does anyone have a table?
V&H data only shows it as Oakland, CA, which is true.
Clarence A Dold - dold@rahul.net
- Milpitas (near San Jose) & Napa CA.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 11:58:23 -0500
From: Bob Erdman <bob@access.digex.net>
Subject: Modem With DTMF and MF Tones
Has anyone ever heard of a device that can connect to an RS232 port to
accept commands, and then use these commands to generate MF tones as
well as DTMF tones?
The application is to hook a PC up directly to a trunk to make calls,
and then to control an end device with DTMF tones.
Thanks in advance for any input.
------------------------------
From: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
Subject: PBX Features On LAN Hubs?
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 08:06:48 PST
Organization: WilTel
Greetings all ...
Does anyone out there know of any LAN hub manufacturers who are
working on hubs which will eventually include PBX chip sets and/or
PBX-like features? (The underlying LAN technology doesn't really
matter to me at this point, whether it's ATM, Fast Ethernet, or
something else.) With the much-talked-about and much-anticipated
coming of CTI, it seems logical (at least to me) that LAN hubs should
become even more intelligent by adding PBX-like features. Or, will
all this great CTI we keep hearing about simply be a bridge between
the data world (the LAN) and the voice world (the PBX), as with the
Novell-AT&T concept? Any help and/or opinions on the subject will be
greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Kevin D. Tanner WilTel, Inc.
Telephone: (918) 588-5843
FAX: (918) 588-5616
E-mail: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
------------------------------
From: arnold@cc.gatech.edu (Arnold Robbins)
Subject: Anyone Using Touch 1?
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 16:51:16 GMT
Greetings. We were recently solicited by a long distance company
called "Touch 1". Their thing is that they (apparently dynamically)
select amount ATT, Sprint, and MCI at the time of your call for the
one with the lowest rates.
We currently have MCI with "Friends and Family" and are pretty
satisfied; there's a small group of people we call fairly often, in at
least three different states.
Is anyone using Touch 1, and would it really bring us savings over MCI?
Please reply by email and I'll summarize -- I don't hang out in this
newsgroup at the moment. Thanks!
Arnold Robbins --- Continuing Education, College of Computing
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280 Phone: +1 404 894 9214 (has voice mail)
E-mail: arnold.robbins@cc.gatech.edu FAX: +1 404 853 9378
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 11:44 EST
From: 0003991080@mcimail.com
Subject: New Area Code 360 in Washington State
I got a notice from Bellcore confirming the rumored split of area code
206 in Washington State. The new NPA is 360, and will cover all of
the area that is currently within 206, but outside of the Seattle/Tacoma
area. I have not yet seen a map that shows exactly where the boundary
will lie, but scuttlebutt is that the northern boundary of 206 should
be somewhere between the King/Snohomish county line and the city of
Everett, and the southern boundary just south of Tacoma. The eastern
boundary should enclose the suburbs of Seattle that are currently
dialed toll-free from the city, but will not go all the way to the
boundary with 509 at the crest of the Cascade mountains. The western
boundary should be in Puget Sound, with islands that are currently
within the Seattle toll-free dialing area (Vashon, Bainbridge) to
remain in 206.
The split happens on 1/15/95, with permissive dialing until 7/9/95.
So far I have seen nothing about this in the local media, so maybe you
heard it here first.
Paul Cook 206-881-7000
Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080
15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282
Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com
------------------------------
From: koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl (Koos van den Hout)
Subject: How Does Inmarsat Work?
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 21:34:00 GMT
Organization: HIN / BBS Koos z'n Doos
While making some remarks about Inmarsat, I suddenly realized myself
one thing:
I don't know how Inmarsat works.
So, is there anybody out there who can tell me? I'd like to know if
it's digital or analog, how base stations are verified, how the
satelite 'rings' the base station and stuff like that.
I'm also curious about the security of the whole system (both the
'listening in to calls' security and the 'making calls at the expense
of another user' part).
Grtx.
Koos van den Hout ----------------------------------------------- Sysop
Datacomm, networking, E-mail... BBS Koos z'n Doos (+31-3402-56619 2400)
Inter-: koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl (+31-3402-36647 14400 v32b v42b MNP5)
net : koos@hacktic.nl| PGP key by finger | Fido: Sysop @ 2:500/101
Or : koos@hut.nl | koos@hacktic.nl | Give us a call !!
------------------------------
From: george_nazi@wiltel.com (George Nazi)
Subject: PBX Vendors With Isochronous Interface
Date: 15 Jan 1994 16:27:13 GMT
Organization: WilTel, Tulsa, Okla.
Reply-To: george_nazi@wiltel.com
I would to know/contact the PBX vendors that are working on Isochronous
interfaces. I am looking at applications where voice and data is over
the same line.
Thanks,
George Nazi WilTel
george_nazi@wiltel.com Telecom. Engineer, Network Development
P.O.Box 21348, M.D. 25-5 Tulsa, OK 74121
phone: (918) 588-5400 fax: (918) 588-5616
------------------------------
From: Min Hu <hu@geophy.physics.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Telephone System in China and in the US
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 94 1:44:15 EST
Hi,
A question, if the telephone system in US is compatible with the
telephone system in China. Or put it in the other way, will the PBX or
Central Office in US will work in China? Specificially, will GTD-4600
work in China? Thanks in advance.
MIN
------------------------------
From: ao936@yfn.ysu.edu (Tim White)
Subject: Answering Machine Question
Date: 16 Jan 1994 16:15:54 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
We have a customer working out of a remote RSS which is hosted from a
#1 ESS. This customer's answering machine will not operate (answer
the call) from this office. I have taken the machine to another
office and it works fine. This RSS has sealing current which uses 130
VDC on the ring and 70 VDC on the tip. When we remove the sealing
current from the office we have 70 VDC over 20 VDC. I know that other
customers have answering machines in this office area and are having
no problems. Does anyone have any ideas on why this one won't work
and what we could do to make it work?
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jan 1994 11:12:16 EDT
From: Hinders, Thomas <THINDER@SOFTSW.SSW.COM>
Subject: Learning Experience
I moved from Wash DC (Silver Spring MD) to Phila (Sanatoga PA). I
recently "discovered" an interesting quirk ... as it applies to my
use/charges for telephone service.
When I lived in DC, ALL +1 (ie LD) calls were billed to my ATT LD
account. If I dialed Baltimore from Silver Spring, it was billed to
my ATT LS account. I don't recall (I checked some old C&P bills) any
C&P toll charges.
I was surprised on a recent Bell of PA bill to find all my +1 302 (DE)
calls charged to to my Bell of PA account rather than to my ATT LD
account ... at a higher toll rate.
Contact with Bell of PA and ATT confirmed that unless I specify ATT
access code, the intra-Bell of PA call will be placed (ie AC 610 to AC
302), and charged as a Bell of PA toll charge.
This moves (no pun ...) me to ask which is cheaper -- a +1 302 call via
Bell of PA or ATT (using Reach-Out-America).
Add to the equation the fact that most of my calls from my home are
toll calls (the local joke here is all calls beyond your next-store-
neighbor's are toll calls) and my Bell of PA bill is about 30% higher
than my C&P bill ... excluding the LD toll charges (ie to AC 302).
Life (as it applies to Telephone service) was truely simpler before
Judge Greene.
Tom Hinders/Soft-Switch
+1 610 640 7487 (v/vm) +1 610 640 7511 (f)
Internet: thinder@SSW.COM
X.400: C=US A=Telemail P=Softswitch S=Hinders G=Thomas
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 22:15 GMT
From: Richard Cox <mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Telephone Nunbers in France
Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk
etm@email.teaser.com (Erik Thomas Mueller) said:
>> By the way, note that the current numbering plan in France is scheduled
>> to be replaced in 1995 by the uniform NPA + 8D where NPA =
>> 1 Ile-de-France (Paris, ...)
>> 2 Northeast France
>> 3 Southeast France
>> 4 Southwest France
>> 5 Northwest France
We had heard rumours that this plan had been shelved due to public
opinion, but there again it might just have been a vociferous user
group ... It is said that the user group wanted a unified nine-digit
numbering scheme.
Oddly enough, France has roughly the same number of telephones as the
UK; but the UK is about to change from a 10 digit scheme to an 11
digit scheme. I somehow doubt if the North West France zone will be
given code "5"; because that would entail callers dialling 05 to call
NW France. At the moment 05 is the French toll-free code, the
equivalent of 1-800 and 0800, which they call "numberos verts" - green
numbers. The French 05 will, I am told, in due course change to 0800.
A separate code (06?) has been allocated for mobiles.
Richard D G Cox
Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 941 151515
E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #34
*****************************
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Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 15:08:04 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401162108.AA10049@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #35
TELECOM Digest Sun, 16 Jan 94 15:08:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 35
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Using Spare Channels on a T1 (Javier Henderson)
Wanted: Reverse Phone Directory (Ted Hadley)
AC 215 to 610 ... NOT (Thomas Hinders)
GSM Phase 1 Documents (Bhaktharam Keshavachar)
AT&T True Rewards (Richard Butler)
ATM and DSP Chips (Dinesh Kulkarni)
Signalling Off-Hook on an Unsiezed DID Trunk (Chuck Cox)
Security Warning (Rich Greenberg)
Bell Canada Rationalizes Rates For Calling Features (Mark Brader)
Free Local Calls (Richard Cox)
Extra-long 800 Numbers? (David C. LeDoux)
Calvacom Distribution of TELECOM Digest (Earle Robinson)
Re: Announcing networkMCI (Carl Spangenberger)
Re: Announcing networkMCI (Andrew C. Green)
Re: Are LATA Maps Available (Gregory P. Monti)
Re: Are LATA Maps Available (Marty Lawlor)
For Your Amusement (Mark S. Brader)
No Bells? (James Taranto)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com
Subject: Using Spare Channels on a T1
Date: 16 Jan 94 07:06:41 PST
Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA
Hello,
I posted about this several months ago, and I only got one or two
responses. I thought I'd post again ...
Our company has the main facility in Ventura, CA, and we have smaller
sites throughout California. Right now, we're just using regular phone
lines to connect to these facilities for voice.
For data, there's a T1 going from the Ventura site to the long
distance carrier POP, and they run 56Kb circuits to each of the remote
locations. We're currently using only seven channels on the T1, and
expect to have a total of 12 in use by the end of the year.
I'd like to know how complicated it'd be to use the remaining twelve
channels for to route voice calls to our remote sites. Ideally, the
extensions at the remote sites would look like regular extensions to
everyone else in the network.
Some technical details:
The main facility has an AT&T System 75 switch. The remote sites have
their own switches, though not all of them have the same model (or
brand, for that matter). One of the facilities doesn't even have a
switch, just three lines in a rotary (our smallest site).
Thanks!
Javier Henderson henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 14:11:03 PST
From: tedh@cylink.COM (Ted Hadley)
Subject: Wanted: Reverse Phone Directory
I have a (hopefully) simple request: Is there a simple (and low cost)
method of converting a residential telephone number to the name and
address of the 'owner'? I called the public library and they had no
such directory. I have two numbers I would like "reversed"; both are
local to the San Jose, CA, area (one is Mountain View, the other is
Sunnyvale).
Please E-mail responses. Thanks much.
Ted A. Hadley tedh@cylink.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The simplest and least expensive method
would be to call one of the three libraries in the communities mentioned
above and ask to speak with the reference librarian. Tell that person
you need a couple lookups from the criss-cross directory. If they are
not busy they will probably bring the book to the phone and read from
it to you. You did not say which library it was that you called who
told you they did not have such a book, but I'd be quite surprised if
the San Jose library did not have one covering the immediate region.
Almost all public libraries have a criss-cross directory at least for
their own service area. Maybe the person who answered the phone mis-
understood you (if you called one of those three). Ask specifically
for connection to the reference librarian or the reference desk first.
There are a few libraries whose board of directors has passed a rule
against reading to patrons over the telephone from the criss-cross;
usually these are cases where some deadbeat has been located by a
collection agency via a phone call to the local library reference
department to track down a phone at the address in question and the
deadbeat has then called the President of the Library Board raising
cain about 'violations of his privacy', etc ... rather than bother
with defending their right to speak public information and having to
choose between which patrons to offend (local service area people or
the out of towners who want to use the criss-cross) the Board may
just say to heck with it and tell the librarians to not quote the book
over the phone any longer.
It goes against their grain to ban the book entirely, so the compromise
for those libraries is that people who want to use the criss-cross
have to come in personally to see it. For some libraries also, it is
an administrative problem: some libraries get literally *dozens* of
telephone calls daily just for the criss-cross book alone; the Chicago
Public Library has a telephone line and a full time employee for just
that purpose -- taking calls of the 'will you look in the criss-cross
and give me the phone number and residents' names at XXX ZZZZ Street.'
When you call, the line is always busy as the woman gets several dozen
such calls every day of the week.
Some libraries get more long distance calls each day from out of town
people (frequently collection agencies and other investigators) asking
for information from the criss-cross than they do local calls from their
own service area patrons about other reference topics. By the way, if
it is a large library in a bigger town, try asking the switchboard to
connect you with the 'Business and Technology Department'. They nearly
always have a local criss-cross as well. A five minute or less phone
call that costs about a dollar will tell you all about the address or
phone number you want. No need to use fancy services or pay big $$. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jan 1994 09:58:09 EDT
From: Hinders, Thomas <THINDER@SOFTSW.SSW.COM>
Subject: AC 215 to 610 ... NOT
Although AC 610 was activated on Jan 8th I am receiving complaints
from folks who claim that they are unable to reach me via my "new" AC.
The orginators are in AC 212, 302, and 703. They indicate they are
getting a "fast busy" when they are placing the call. Some are
business ... some are private ... using a variety of LD carriers.
I can "imagine" that lots of switches, PBXs etc need to be updated ...
but it is not very comforting to be passing out my "new" AC (including
business cards!) and not knowing if the number will work.
Tom Hinders/Soft-Switch
+1 610 640 7487 (v/vm) <----- old AC 215
+1 610 640 7511 (f)
Internet: thinder@SSW.COM
X.400: C=US A=Telemail P=Softswitch S=Hinders G=Thomas
------------------------------
From: keshavac@enws202.eas.asu.edu (Bhaktharam Keshavachar)
Subject: GSM Phase 1 Documents
Reply-To: keshavac@enws202.eas.asu.edu
Organization: Network Systems Lab, Arizona State University
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 18:58:52 GMT
Hi,
I have a question about the GSM documents. Has the ETSI frozen the GSM
specs for the Phase I implementation? If so what is the version number
which is fully compliant with Phase I implementation?
What about Phase II implementation? Has ETSI finalized the Phase II
documents?
How about the GSM packet radio services group? Have they published any
standards?
I am particularly interested in the latest documents and Phase I
documents for GSM specs 04.08 (layer 3), 04.06 (layer 2), 05.02 (MAC),
05.08 (RSLC) and 05.10 (synchronization).
How much does ETSI charge for these documents if I want to buy them?
(Seriously considering this).
Please post or e-mail. I will publish a summary if we collect good
information.
Thanks in advance,
Regards,
Bhaktha
------------------------------
From: rbutler@cc.bellcore.com (butler,richard)
Subject: AT&T True Rewards?
Date: 16 Jan 1994 10:10:49 -0500
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Awhile ago, there was an article posted here about the AT&T True
Rewards program. This article has disappeared from my site now but I
have a couple of questions:
In that article the author said he was able to get credit
under this plan for all his long distance back to January of 1993.
Is this true? Have others tried this?
I tried, but no go and it almost seemd to good to be true anyway.
Will they really give you all that credit? I'd really appreciate
hearing from the poster of that article to confirm this, or anyone
else that has successfully gotten this credit.
Thanks for the information.
Rich Butler rbutler@cc.bellcore.com
------------------------------
From: dkulkarn@aristotle.helios.nd.edu (Dinesh Kulkarni)
Subject: ATM and DSP Chips
Date: 16 Jan 1994 17:27:25 GMT
Organization: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame
Hi !
I had a few questions about the intersection of ATM and DSP architectures
and algorithms. Here they are:
1. What are the typical algorithms used in processing of full-motion
video, images and audio packetized into ATM cells of 48 bytes? In
particular, how does this level of packetization affect the signal
processing steps undertaken and the architectures that perform these
steps?
Of course compression/decompression algorithms are important, but
other than that, how about algorithms arising out of user-interaction
and manipulation? In other words, if the flow is not directly from
the source to a rendering device like a monitor or a speaker, what are
the important classes of algorithms?
2. Is there any literature on this topic, that you would care to
recommend? Survey papers accessible to non-DSP-type but technical
people would be perfect as my knowledge of DSP is limited to a basic
graduate-level course.
Thanks a lot.
Dinesh
------------------------------
Subject: Signalling Off-Hook on an Unsiezed DID Trunk
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 10:03:53 -0800
From: Chuck Cox <chuck@almaden.ibm.com>
Hi,
I would like signal to the central office that a DID trunk should not
be used, but that it should not be taken out of service. I have a
situation where I can not provide a wink start to the central office.
If the CO siezes the line and doesn't get a wink, I am afraid that
they will (eventually if not immediately) down my trunk. Can I signal
an off-hook by reversing polarity on ring and tip on an otherwise idle
line and prevent the CO from siezing the line? I could not find the
issue addressed in ANSI T1.405-1989. Any help or references would be
appreciated!
Thanks,
Chuck chuck@timberline.almaden.ibm.com
------------------------------
From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Security Warning
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 16:05:34 GMT
The latest issue of "2600" magazine ("The Hacker Quarterly") has a 2
page listing of telephone numbers under "Passageways to the Internet".
All USA and Canada except for three numbers listed at Eindhoven U, nl.
Mostly universities, except "Cisco terminal servers, Chicago", two
numbers listed as 312-413-xxxx and several just listed with a city in
Indiana.
Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677
N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238
------------------------------
From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Bell Canada Rationalizes Rates For Calling Features
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 11:43:35 GMT
Currently, Bell Canada classifies calling features into three groups.
"Custom Calling Features" includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding,
Ident-a-Call (distinctive ringing), Three-Way Calling, and Speed
Calling. "Call Management Services" includes Call Display (caller
ID), Call Return, and Call Screen (blocking of calls from selected
numbers). And "Telemessage Service" includes Call Answer, Extension
Call Answer, and Voice Mail.
The classification into groups matters because it affects the
charging. Any one Custom Calling Feature costs $4.00 a month
(Canadian, plus tax, residence rate); any two, $5.50; any three,
$7.50; any four, $9.50; all five, $11.50. Any one Call Management
Service costs $4.75 a month; a second or third one is $2.25. And the
Telemessage Services are similarly grouped together. In my case, I
have Three-Way Calling and Call Return, and have found it annoying
that there is no discount for this combination.
Well, they're fixing that. All the features are being lumped under
the general title of SmartTouch Services, and a simplified pricing
scheme is being adopted. Call Answer, Call Display, and Call Waiting
will be $5.00 a month; Extension Call Answer and Voice Mail will be
classed as "options" at $2.00 a month; and all the other services will
be $3.00 a month. However, each service (but not options) after the
first one is reduced by $1.00 a month. So my charge for Three-Way
Calling plus Call Return goes down from $8.75 to $3 + $3 - $1 = $5. I
like it.
Incidentally, as usual with Bell Canada, the bill insert announcing
the change (which is effective January 22) is in English and French.
For those who may be curious, here are the French names for each of
the above services, and their translations back into English.
SmartTouch Services services Etoiles (Star Services)
Custom Calling Features (The French version of the brochure
Call Management Services uses no names at all for these
Telemessage Service groups of features)
Call Waiting Appel en attente (Call in Waiting)
Call Forwarding Renvoi automatique (Automatic Resending)
Ident-a-Call Appel personnalise (Personalized Call)
Three-Way Calling Conference a trois (Conference of Three)
Speed Calling Composition abregee (Abridged Dialing)
Call Display Afficheur (Poster)
Call Return Memorisateur (Memorizer)
Call Screen Selecteur (Selector)
Call Answer TeleReponse (TeleAnswer)
Extension Call Answer TeleReponse multiusagers (Multi-User TeleAnswer)
Voice Mail TeleCourrier (TeleMail)
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 12:15 GMT
From: Richard Cox <mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Free Local Calls
Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk
mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski) said, referring to the UK:
>> the idea of free local calls is unknown here. :-(
That's not quite true. "Bundled" local calls (nothing is *ever*
free!) have been available for some time in the independant Grand
Dutch of Hull. We discussed Hull's special status in the Digest some
time last year.
Now the new "local-loop competitors", the Cable TV companies, are
starting to offer their customers free local calls within their system
... but of course calls to other phone companies' customers are
chargeable. And in a surprise move late last year the Mercury
One-2-One service (A PCS service operating to the DCS 1800 standard)
now offers customers on its domestic tariff free local calls in the
off-peak period. These calls really are free, even though they are
mostly to customers of BT !
As a result the service has been overwhelmed with customers despite
what is reported to be less than ideal radio coverage, and a limited
service area.
Richard D G Cox
Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 941 151515
E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request
------------------------------
From: ledoux@pogo.den.mmc.com (David C LeDoux)
Subject: Extra-Long 800 Numbers
Organization: Martin Marietta Astronautics, Denver
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 03:39:30 GMT
I have only been reading TELECOM Digest for a short time, but have
found it to be very informative. I have a question for the gurus.
Hopefully it has not already been discussed exhaustively.
I have noticed a lot of toll-free (1-800) numbers and some 1-900
numbers that have 8 digits, e.g. 1-800-OPERATOR, and some that even
have 9 digits, e.g. 1-800-JOES-DINER (don't call that one; I made it
up since I couldn't remember any specific cases). Are the extra one
or two digits simply ignored by the system, or are they used somehow
for switching or bookkeeping?
Thanks,
David C. LeDoux ledoux@pogo.den.mmc.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Additional digits are simply ignored
by the equipment. They are there only for the convenience of the
person calling the number to help them remember what to dial. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jan 94 10:40:57 EST
From: Earle Robinson <76004.1762@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Calvacom Distribution of TELECOM Digest
Please note that the European forum (go eurfor) on CompuServe also has
the TELECOM Digest in its library. Since CompuServe in France is much
less expensive than Calvacom, especially with the upcoming price drop
from $8 per hour to $4.80, those interested in the TELECOM Digest will
find at a much lower cost for downloads through the CompuServe European
forum.
-er
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Digest is circulated by several
online services as a convenience to their subscribers including as you
point out CIS, where not only the European forum carries it but the
telecommunications forum does as well. Check out the Library area in
each forum. Also, the Digest can be read via the Net Exchange, a
service for PC Pursuit customers (@c pursuit from any Sprintnet/Telenet
prompt) and I think GEnie has it in their telecommunications roundtable
area. Quite a few independent BBS's have the Digest including a few in
Europe. So there are numerous places where one can obtain each issue
of this journal but none the less, I am pleased to have Calvacom as
part of the distribution circle. You can get a printed copy delivered
to your fax machine of each issue (for a fee, unless you let me
deliver it to your 800 number), or if you prefer you can have each
issue delivered by snail-mail, again for a fee to cover postage, etc.
You can even read the Digest on Usenet via comp.dcom.telecom if that's
your thing, at least for the time being. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Carl Spangenberger <OPCARL@ukcc.uky.edu>
Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 02:41:46 EST
Organization: The University of Kentucky
In article <telecom14.25.16@eecs.nwu.edu> Paul R. Coen <PCOEN@DRUNIVAC.
DREW.EDU> writes:
>> Is that what the MCI TV commercials with the little girl with the
>> pseudo-[B]ritish accent standing in a puddle spouting existential
>> gibberish are all about?
> Is it a girl? I thought it was a boy. Then again, I didn't look very
Yes, it is a girl. She is British.
> closely. All I noticed was an overly-perfect child dressed in weird
> black clothes and a really ghastly hat. And the kid sounded like one
> of the brats from _Mary Poppins_.
See above, that is probably why she looks like a person from Mary
Popins.
>> And I thought they were just trying to finally beat AT&T for the worst
>> imaginable ad campaign :-)
Actually it is philosophic.
> You know, I felt like I was watching some sort of weird one act play
> that I didn't understand. Then again, considering that I *still*
> don't understand what "networkMCI" is besides a new name for stuff
> they already have, maybe that's okay. Does someone want to take a
> stab at explaining it?
The girl was standing in a virtual reality, it was a computer
simulation. The girl said every thing can be represented by digital
information, implying that the universe can be represented infinite
amount of 1's and 0's. The girl represents the international
information highway, because of the deal between MCI and BT (British
Telecom) will allow MCI to link information services from US to BC.
This one ups ATT which advertisements are US only. The girl is
sophisticated which implies that MCI is. That is my interpretation of
the commercial. I like it :)
Carl Spangenberger Alternate Address: cspangen@ms.uky.edu
opcarl@ukcc.uky.edu Computer Consultant
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 10:27:55 CST
From: Andrew C. Green <ACG@HERMES.DLOGICS.COM>
Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI
Paul R. Coen <PCOEN@DRUNIVAC.DREW.EDU> writes:
> You know, I felt like I was watching some sort of weird one act play
> that I didn't understand. Then again, considering that I *still*
> don't understand what "networkMCI" is besides a new name for stuff
> they already have, maybe that's okay.
What you may be subconsciously reminded of is the embarrassing series
of Infiniti car commercials back when the marque was first introduced.
Rather than show the car, the ad agency decided to show soothing
pictures of waves. That was all. Rather than provoke curiosity about
the car, it raised questions about the competence of the advertising
agency. ("Dammit, Bruce, I _told_ you the tide was coming in!" -- Dave
Barry)
Having seen at least two equally-uninformative commercials featuring
the mystery girl, I share your puzzlement. One of the ads ends with an
unexplained freeze-frame closeup on her reciting the name; the image
freezes in midsentence while the soundtrack continues, truly a jarring
sight to no apparent effect.
More to the point, it appears MCI is aiming at a audience sophisticated
enough to understand new product information, but MCI doesn't seem to
realize that this same audience will tune out nonsense messages where
no information is really there. The conclusion I draw is, "MCI has
blown a ton of money on this, with no clear idea of what they want to
say. This does not give me confidence in the company." AT&T, Ameritech
et al have all had their share of annoying commercials, but at least
you get a sense of purpose from them: "Here is our product; this is
what it does; would you like to buy it, please?" MCI's message appears
to be, "How do you like my hat?"
Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com
441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg
Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 08:26:53 EST
From: "Gregory P. Monti" <gmonti@cap.gwu.edu>
Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available
I think McGraw Hill's business publishing division sells a nice two-
or three-color LATA map. I saw one posted many years ago at a data
communications school where I was taking a class. About 20 by 30
inches, with state, countyn, LATA and RBOC boundaries along with the
three-digit LATA numbers and LATA names.
Every LATA has a number. The 100 series are in Nynex states, the 200
in Bell Atlantic states, 300 Ameritech, 400 Bell South, 500
Southwestern Bell, 600 US West, 700 Pacific Telesis, 800 offshore
states and territiries, 900 continential US states and territories
that are served only by non-Bell companies (such as Connecticut,
Fishers Island NY, Navajo Reservation in AZ, etc).
Sorry, I don't hgave a numnber or address for McGraw Hill. I suspect
it's in northern New Jersey somewhere.
Greg Monti Arlington, Virginia, USA gmonti@cap.gwu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 12:52:23 EST
From: mel@roch1.cci.com (Marty Lawlor)
Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available
CCMI (Center for Communications Management Information), 800-929-4824,
sells several versions: National Lata Map (in two sizes) as well as a
State LATA Map Book.
Marty Lawlor Northern Telecom
------------------------------
From: msb@sq.com
Subject: For Your Amusement
Date: 16 Jan 94 11:12:44 GMT
Located elsewhere, passed along FYI and amusement:
johnper@bunsen.rosemount.com (John Perkins) writes:
The British ask "Who is that?" when requesting a person's name over the
phone, whereas Americans ask "Who is this?" I wonder how this (that)
happened?
It's because we Americans know that the person to whom we're speaking
is really inside the phone handset, therefore within the "this" zone.
------------------------------
From: taranto@panix.com (James Taranto)
Subject: No Bells?
Date: 16 Jan 1994 13:17:41 -0500
Organization: The Bad Taranto
I got a catalog in the mail the other day from a company called Hello
Phones. One item for sale was what they call the "Basic Phone." The
ad declared: "No bells. No whistles. Just your plain, basic workhorse
phone." I called the 800 number and asked, "If there are no bells,
how are you supposed to know when it's ringing?" The reply was: "It's
more of a saying kind of thing."
Cheers,
James Taranto taranto@panix.com
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #35
*****************************
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Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 23:04:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401170504.AA20293@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #36
TELECOM Digest Sun, 16 Jan 94 23:04:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 36
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Danny Burstein)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Robert L. McMillin)
Re: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem) (Clarence Dold)
Re: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem) (Charles Randall Yates)
Re: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House? (Al Varney)
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Dave Cherkus)
Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (A. Padgett Peterson)
Re: Wanted: PC/Mac Voicemail Recommendations (Jonathan Reiser)
Re: Announcing networkMCI (Atri Indiresan)
Re: Cordless Headset Telephone (Mike D. Schomburg)
Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (Stan Scalsky)
Re: Hayes' New Modem (Stephen Satchell)
Re: Network Outage in 205 NPA? (Paul Cook)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: 16 Jan 1994 13:54:29 -0500
(lots of arguments pro and against measured service vs. flat rate deleted)
Umm, to all you folk out there, let me point out a reality of life.
The telcos are in business to do one thing and one thing only. What's
that? to provide phone service?
BZZZT. wrong answer. They are in it ... TO MAKE.MONEY.FAST. (with
apologies to David Rodes ...)
They will configure the rates in such a way as to maximize their
revenue. Pure and simple.
Now in many cases this will also help people reduce their own costs.
For example, The Telephone Company way-back-when realized that their
'long distance' equipment sat idle after business hours, and that it
cost them a -LOT- to add capacity for that 2:15pm surge in calls, so
they put in discount rates for after hours. This helped shift some
usage away from peak daytime (which lowered their costs) AND brought in
'found' revenue by increasing the number of discretionary calls.
If the 2:15 pm load was 10% higher, then they'd need more physical
plant, and would (almost justifiably) have to raise rates as well.
OTOH, most of the incomprehensable rate plans they've implemented have
been designed solely to increase revenue, WITHOUT doing much good for
the customers. For example: Here in NYC about 15 years ago NY Tel
eliminated free directory assistance calls. Instead, tehy gave a ?50
cent? credit and offerred six free calls/month. Calls above the six
would be $0.25 each (quantity and rates approximate from memory). The
idea, they claimed, was that DA calls cost the company, and by
extension the customers (never the shareholders, by the way) money.
People who 'abused' DA would get charged and everyone else would
benefit.
Of course we've seen the credit disappear, and we've seen a complete
elimination of any free DA calls ...
I could go on and on, but the key point to keep in mind here is that
the telcos are a business, not a service, and want to enhance their
money streams. In -some- cases a general good comes of it (off peak
pricing) but in most cases the only benefit is to the company. (or
should that be The Company).
dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com)
(10288) 0-700-864-3242
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 16:14 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
On 14 Jan 1994 23:00:23 GMT, Pat wrote:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro-
> ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most
> instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers
> actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate.
[deletia declaring modem users a small minority who will get squeezed by
per-minute rates]
But the question in my mind is this: is it *really* the case that
modem users are that small of a minority that they wouldn't be able to
resist this sort of thing? It's happened slowly and quietly, but
there are a *lot* of homes with personal computers in them. A goodly
number, and I would bet a majority, have modems.
In California, digital data service is coming in the guise of ISDN, or
SDS as Pac*Bell insists on calling it. This digital service will not
carry the 500 channels of one-way television that the cable companies
and the telcos want to believe will drive their stillborn idea of the
Data Superhighway; but rather, it, and its successors, will spark a
far superior way of communication: e-mail, digital voice-mail, and
tons of other digital services. In other words, the Data Superhighway
will be a many-to-many network of peers, not a one-to-many broadcast
network for The War Channel, Duck Hunting Network, and Macramevision
(although this isn't entirely beyond the pale). By some estimates, as
much as 50% of the existing traffic on the telco networks is data.
If digital services are offered at reasonable prices and terms, there
is absolutely no doubt that they can spur a *real* revolution in
communications. Obviously, for Pac*Bell to offer ISDN now seems to me
to say that they think there's enough people out there with modems who
want this service that they'll succeed. I think they're right.
------------------------------
From: dold@rahul.net (Clarence Dold)
Subject: Re: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem)
Organization: a2i network
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 01:34:56 GMT
Of course, in the good old days, of printing _checks_ on a serial
printer, hanging off a terminal, you would always overstrike the
dollar amounts. That way, if there was a glitch, the number would
appear bad. A good number would appear bolded.
Clarence A Dold - dold@rahul.net
- Milpitas (near San Jose) & Napa CA.
------------------------------
From: yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates)
Subject: Re: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem)
Date: 16 Jan 1994 05:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of South Florida
In article <telecom14.28.3@eecs.nwu.edu> hummes@osf.org (Jakob Hummes)
writes:
> In article <telecom14.25.9@eecs.nwu.edu>, goldstein@carafe.tay2.
> dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes:
>> In article <telecom14.19.10@eecs.nwu.edu> hummes@osf.org (Jakob
>> Hummes) writes:
>>> ...But there is an absolute limit (Shannon's Law). The
>>> question was about the transmission over a *real* phone line. And that
>>> means there exists *noise*. The limit of bps is proportional to the
>>> logarithm of the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately I don't remember
>>> the constant factors.
>> Shannon's law is, in plaintext,
>> BPS(max) = Bw * log(2)((1+S)/N)
>> That is, take the signal-to-noise ration (adding 1 to signal, so a
>> negative SNR has some information present) and represent it as a power
>> of 2. Multiply by bandwidth (in Hz) and you get BPS.
> Of course, not!
> But now I remember Shannon's Law (you have placed wrong the brackets):
> BPS(max) = Bw * log(2)(1+(S/N))
> The addition of 1 is needed to unable a negative BPS-rate, which would
> be nonsense.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And of course Murphy's Law says that
> when you are attempting to copy something down in plain ASCII text
> for transmission to a computer network you'll always get some one
> or more parts of it bass-ackwards to confound the readers even more
> than they are already. That error might have been Goldstein's or it
> might have been mine. Regrets extended. Your editor, Murphy.]
I'm the one who originally posted this question, for those who don't
know. It's nice to know what Shannon's law says -- if you assume a 30
dB SNR and 3100 Hz bandwidth, the law above works out to about 31
kilobits per second. If you happened to get a quiet channel, say, 40
dB SNR, the equation returns about 41.2 kilobits per second. However,
this is still quite a ways off from a full-duplex, 28.8 kbps link, or
57.6 kbps total transfer rate. So my question still stands: How do
they do it? Are they assuming a particularly quiet channel? Are they
assuming more than the standard 3100 Hz of bandwidth is available?
Randy Yates <yatesc@eggo.csee.usf.edu>
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 15:58:18 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Re: ISDN: Coming Soon to my House?
Organization: AT&T Network Systems
In article <telecom14.30.4@eecs.nwu.edu> knauer@ibeam.intel.com (Rob
Knauerhase) writes:
> After talking to five different people in the local GTE residential
> and business sales offices (favorite quote: "What is ISDN?", from two
> people in residential sales), I finally found someone willing to admit
> that they could sell me ISDN service. Interestingly enough, their
> price was $48/month for 2B+D, which would provide two voice lines and
> two phone numbers. This is about the same price as two unmeasured
> POTS lines -- what a deal.
Actually not too bad -- but you have to get over the assumption
that ISDN is ONLY for medium-speed digital data traffic. What's the
price for just one phone number, able to complete to each B-channel?
> Of course, this is GTE. There has to be a catch. For data, they
> charge the same as measured-by-minute local calls. I asked if that
> mightn't be perhaps the silliest way to bill it (data calls by the
> minute), when a major benefit of digital telephony is that when I'm
> not using it, I'm _not using it_! (mostly)
Sorry, but when you use ISDN to place a B-channel data (non-packet)
call, you have a data path reserved through the network for your call,
just as in the case of a voice/modem/FAX call. At least as much
equipment is needed for such a call as for a voice call. Sometimes
supporting ISDN data requires equipment replacement or updates, adding
to the costs of ISDN.
> That of course didn't phase them. Even at pennies/minute, the
> advantage of faster speed is removed by cost when I can do plain-ol'
> 14.4K with compression for "free." Is _anyone_ bothering to campaign
> phone companies and Public Utilities Commissions so that we can get
> this tarriffed in a reasonable manner (at least in places other than
> Oregon)?
Some consumer groups will support the retention of flat-rate voice
calls in various areas. I know of none that advocate the funding of
ISDN deployment by placing those costs into the general rate base
(forcing all telephone users to fund ISDN "free" data calls). And if
cost recovery is only from ISDN fixed charges, very few customers will
want ISDN. Who do you want to fund your "free" data calls.
> [Side note for those keeping score: US West in Portland offers 2B+D
> for $90/month, no limit on data. Of course, you can't make an ISDN
> data call between GTE and US West just yet, but they're working on
> it.]
This is difficult to believe (but possible) that such data calls
cannot be placed, since most US West and GTE areas support Switched 56
calls. ISDN B-channel data calls rate-adapted to 56Kbps are almost
identical to and interwork well with Switched 56 calls. The Switched
56 dialing plan usually uses '#56' as prefix digits to let the CO know
you aren't making a voice call -- with ISDN, this information in in
the SETUP message from the customer's ISDN equipment. The interworking
also allows 56K calls from ISDN customers to reach other countries that
do not yet have ISDN in place.
Al Varney
------------------------------
From: cherkus@fastball.unimaster.com (Dave Cherkus)
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Organization: UniMaster, Inc.
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 19:37:34 GMT
Reply-To: cherkus@UniMaster.COM
> 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
> still operating at SW-56?
You can get this info on-line from the Combinet BBS:
By popular demand, the Combinet "BBS" providing information on ISDN
availability in many areas of the US is now available via the
Internet. The information is supplied by Bell Communications Research
and various Operating Companies and is updated periodically as new
information becomes available.
To access the service, telnet to bbs.combinet.com and login as isdn
(no password is required). After entering an area code and
three-digit prefix, the service displays the availability of ISDN.
Also displayed is information about carrier installation prices and
monthly charges.
For those without direct Internet access, the service continues to be
available on a dialup basis using a 2400 bit/sec modem at (408) 733-4312.
Dave Cherkus UniMaster, Inc. cherkus@unimaster.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 08:53:13 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped
From: dave_oshea@wiltel.com (Dave O'Shea)
I wrote:
>> This is the scary part simce everywhere I go I see regional carriers
>> attempting to eliminate "flat" and "unmetered" plans. As telecommuting
>> and information hightway access begins to take hold, the elimination
>> of unmetered local service is the biggest threat to individual
>> connectivity that I can imagine.
> Well, in a word, no.
> If an employee is worth telecommuting, even a $4/hour connection
> charge is fairly minor in the face of, say, a $65,000 salary/benefits
> package. Even if you get charged that for eight hours a day, it's minor.
Check the math -- a typical eight-hour-a-day work-year is 2000 hours.
$4.00.hr would be U$8,000.00. Since the U$65k S+B package you mention
really works out to about $35-$40k/year take home for a family, this
would be 20-25% or about the same as a typical house payment.
Besides, it is not the highest paid employees who would be the best
candidates nor the largest group, it would be the lower level clerks,
secretaries, accounts receivables, accounts payable, etc. employees
who would make up the largest and best group.
For example, it would not particularly benefit me (though I do a lot
of things work-related from home) since it it usually the obscure
things that require hands-on that I do. It would not be practical for
me to have a full laboratory at home (though some say that I do
already), however for someone who does all of their work with a
terminal and a telephone already, it is very viable.
> Most employees who would best benefit from telecommuting are the ones
> who are well into long-distance calling areas.
Disagree here also. Metro commuting is what takes the most time and
LATAs are getting very big. I live 23 miles one way from my desk and
it is a local phone call. Metro commuting is also what takes the most
fuel and creates the most congestion.
> And who knows -- I don't follow ISDN or related services too closely,
> but it (and similar services) will become more widely available as the
> cost of bandwidth falls.
Don't hold your breath. Orlando is often touted as one of the cities
with ISDN available, but the last I looked it was confined to a very
small area that was not at either my workplace (10,000 employees) nor
my home.
Warmly,
Padgett
------------------------------
From: guppy@panix.com (Jonathan Reiser)
Subject: Re: Wanted: PC/Mac Voicemail Recommendations
Date: 16 Jan 1994 09:31:40 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
In <AARNOLD-100194093921@gsb-mbapowerbooks-dynamic.stanford.edu>
AARNOLD@gsb-lira.stanford.edu writes:
> We are building a low-cost PC or Mac-based voicemail announcement system
> (1-4 line) from existing hardware and would like recommendations on
> software and hardware.
> Please advise directly by e-mail. Thank you!
Prometheus' fax modem/voice mail software is pretty poor, and their
technical support is even worse ... I had to jump thru hoops to get an
answer to my question:
"Why is it that I can't send faxes to my computer when my voice mail
system is running?"
The answer: Prometheus' software, when it is running the voice mail
mode, cannot recognize the tones from certain fax machines ... if
you're not going to be sending faxes to the computer, you might want
to take a chance, but I just want you to be aware of that limitation.
Note: I last tried this about eight months ago, maybe Prometheus has
come up with something different or better.
Regards and good luck,
Guppy
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 11:53:33 -0500
From: Atri Indiresan <atri@crazies.eecs.umich.edu>
Paul R. Coen <PCOEN@DRUNIVAC.DREW.EDU> wrote:
>> Is that what the MCI TV commercials with the little girl with
>> the pseudo-[B]ritish accent standing in a puddle spouting
>> existential gibberish are all about?
> Is it a girl? I thought it was a boy. Then again, I didn't
> look very closely. All I noticed was an overly-perfect child
> dressed in weird black clothes and a really ghastly hat. And
> the kid sounded like one of the brats from _Mary Poppins_.
It was a girl -- the scene (and perhaps the actress?) were taken from
the movie "The Piano". She is (or is suppposed to be) British. The
scene is in New Zealand, around the turn of the century, and she just
got off a boat from England, which would explain the clothes. While
this says nothing about NetworkMCI, I do recommend the movie.
Atri
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 09:43:54 CST
From: mschomburg@ltec.com (Mike D. Schomburg)
Subject: Re: Cordless Headset Telephone
Concerning the recent request for information on cordless headset
telephones, I have been searching for items like this ever since
supervising a telco "trouble" bureau several years ago. The
technicians would have to answer service calls at desks, and then
usually walk to our nearby equipment room to perform tests. It seemed
to me that a hands-free telephone would have a dramatic effect on
productivity, but I never found the right phone for the job.
A few months ago I saw an advertisement for a thing called the Ear
Phone, made by Jabra Communications Corporation (I have no
relationship with them) which is a small device that fits in your ear
(like ear-bud headphones) and functions as both microphone AND
headset. It can plug into a regular telephone headset jack, a personal
computer (for voice control or annotation) or a CELLULAR PHONE.
I haven't tried it out, but this sounds like a really cool
application. The cellular phone has to have a special jack, but I am
guessing this will become common (the jack). Once you've got a
portable phone, who wants to use up one hand holding the dumb thing?
Mike Schomburg mschomburg@ltec.com Lincoln Telephone
------------------------------
From: sscalsk@relay.nswc.navy.mil (Stan Scalsky)
Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard
Organization: NSWC DL
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 17:21:51 GMT
With all this talk about cellular standards is there anywhere to get
copies of the standards? Does the cellular industry have a location
for standards dissemination? Docs on N-AMPS/AMPS, TACS, or ETACS would
be of interest.
Thanks,
stan sscalsk@relay.nswc.navy.mil
------------------------------
From: ssatchell@BIX.com
Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem
Date: 16 Jan 94 17:11:28 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes:
> It was often said that a phone line couldn't go beyond 26000 bps or
> so, based on the typical bandwidth and SNR. Today a good clean line
> is more likely to be digitally switched at 64000 bps, which is well
> above the Shannon limit (digitization is lossy), but you still get a
> theoretical limit closer to 40 kbps. Thus V.34, at 28.8 kbps, is
> pushing the envelope, but still possible. But it won't work on a line
> that's transcoded down to 32 kbps, or just plain noisy. Note the 300
> to 3400 Hz nominal frequency range; the 3400 is a hard filter.
The anti-aliasing filters used to be at 3400, particularly when they
were implemented using passive-filter technology. Today, the modern
line cards are using digital filtering or active filtering (using
op-amps) and the anti-aliasing filters start having their effect at
3700 Hz. Draft Recommendation V.34 makes used of the extended
bandwidth when available in selecting the symbol rate to use on a
connection.
The added benefit of shifting to a higher symbol rate ("baud" rate to
you old-timers) is that the Draft-V.34 modems can try to avoid a
low-frequency distortion problem caused by the transformers on certain
line cards without having to shift down in speed.
When looking at the Shannon limit, you have to look at more than just
added noise in the channl. There is also noise caused by
intermodulation distortion which seems to be nigh near impossible to
remove from the network.
The "rule of thumb" is that the quantization noise of a companded
telephone channel is equivalent to 39 dB SNR for a single PCM channel,
36 dB SNR for two tandem (unsynchronized -- don't ask) PCM channels,
and 34 dB SNR for three tandem PCM channels. Digital speech
compression just adds to this, although I don't have number for it
all.
Stephen Satchell, Principal
Satchell Evaluations, Incline Village, Nevada, USA
Testing modems for magazines since 1984
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 13:14 EST
From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Network Outage in 205 NPA?
I wrote:
> Anyone know what happened with the telephone network in Alabama on
> Monday? I got a call from a customer in Arab, and I get an
> all-circuits-busy when trying to return his call on all AT&T, Sprint
> and MCI. Did BellSouth lose a tandem switch?
Oops. This turned out to be a local problem in GTE's switch here in
Redmond. For some reason all of 205 was blocked from the local CO for
at least two days. This is the same switch that serves the area that
Microsoft's main campus is in, although I am sure they have some
direct connection to their long distance carriers, so they probably
weren't affected.
Paul Cook 206-881-7000
Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080
15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282
Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #36
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Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 00:27:01 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401170627.AA22361@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #37
TELECOM Digest Mon, 17 Jan 94 00:27:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 37
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Long Distance Weather Calls? (Dale Dulberger)
Re: Long Distance Weather Calls? (Peter M. Weiss)
Re: Caller ID in Software (Chris Farrar)
Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted (Yee-Lee Shyong)
Re: Unique Idea: Error Message for TDDs (Tom Watson)
Re: Bizarre Cordless Behavior (Teng-Kiat Lee)
Re: Possible Internet Service Scam (Clive D.W. Feather)
Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (wjhalv1@pacbell.com)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (A. Padgett Peterson)
Re: Cable Channels and Satellites (Cord Beermann)
Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (George Zmijewski)
Re: Radio Religion in Canada (Gord Deinstadt)
Re: Need Source For Tariffs (James R. Saker Jr.)
Re: Canadian Teen Charged With $500,000 Phone Fraud (Kevin C. Almeroth)
Re: Radio Modem Help Wanted (Ben Burch)
Re: Old Telephones Wanted (David Breneman)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Craig Williamson)
Re: Long Distance CLID is Here (Michael D. Sullivan)
Re: Telecom Service on Guam (Michael D. Sullivan)
Re: Using Spare Channels on a T1 (Scott Hinckley)
Re: Online Comments to U.S. Social Security Administration (Damon Kelly)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
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of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dulberge@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Dale Dulberger)
Subject: Re: Long Distance Weather Calls?
Date: 16 Jan 1994 19:01:04 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
> weather message is 936-1212; wouldn't it be handier if every LOC
> had the same number, so you could get the weather in any area
> code in the same way as you get Directory Assistance? (Maybe
> some AC's are so big one recording couldn't handle it?)
Well, over here in 414 (Milwaukee and it is COLD!), Ameritech/Wisconsin
Bell (when it was still around) has the whole 936 exchange set aside
for weather (936 = WE6 = WEather). You can dial any number in 936 and
you get the current weather forcast etc. It also has the whole 844
exchange fot time (844 = TI4 = TIme). It's been this way for as long
as I can remember. I kinda figured that all AC's had it set up this
way. It seems very logical, oh well, go fig.
(And Milwaukee's probably even worse ... snow (two to five inches) and
below zero temperatures. UGH!)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We 'warmed up' today here in Chicago;
all the way to about ten degrees! Sunday evening we started getting
the same snow however and by Tuesday we are supposed to get the sub-
zero temperatures again. For quite a few years here we had WEAther
expressed as 932-1212 (WEA) then it went to 934, and later to 936.
For a few years now it has been a premium service on 976. As 932/934/936
it was always the sole occupant on the exchange; you could dial any
number at all and get weather. Not so with the Time of Day however.
For umpty-dozen years it was on CAThedral 8000, aka CAthedral 8-8000.
It was the only occupant of CA-8 (228), but 228 itself simply trans-
lated into DEArborn or DEarborn 2-8000 where a block of a couple
hundred numbers upward from there in rotary hunt would provide the
time of day. Now they even have that on a premium 976 number! I simply
use the one provided by Central Telephone Company (aka Centel in Park
Ridge, IL) at 708-296-7666 for the time of day and temperature. Does
anyone remember when the Time of Day in New York City was NERVOUS?
Do they still have that one going? The weather forecast for London,
England made the most sense for quite a few years. One simply dialed
WEATHER. I never did know why in the USA they always insisted on
using 1212 as the suffix. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 16:43:21 EST
From: Peter M. Weiss <PMW1@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Long Distance Weather Calls?
Organization: Penn State University
I prefer to gopher wx.atmos.uiuc.edu (port 70) and bypass the
LD charges.
Setting a "bookmark" assists for future searches.
Pete (pmw1@psuvm.psu.edu) -- co-owner LDBASE-L, TQM-L, CPARK-L, et -L
Peter M. Weiss "The 'NET' never naps" +1 814 863 1843
31 Shields Bldg. -- Penn State Univ -- University Park, PA 16802-1202 USA
------------------------------
Reply-To: comp.dcom.telecom@cld9.com
Subject: Re: Caller ID in Software
From: chris.farrar@cld9.com (Chris Farrar)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 00:42:00 -0600
Organization: C-9 Communications
Rgbecker@xap.xyplex.com said something along the lines of the following:
> is a good question. I also have such a modem, and I've been looking
> for a utility like this ever since I got Caller ID (New England
> Telephone calls it PhoneSmart). It would be even better if it had an
> automatic logging capability. Anyone seen something like this?
ICON CS Canada Inc. sells a hardware board for a PC that will capture
CLID info, maintain a log, and even route the call to a specific port
(port 1, 2, or 3, or NUL) so you can decide who you want connecting.
Write art.hunter@f131.n163.fidonet.org for more info
Chris Internet: chris.farrar@f20.n246.z1.fidonet.org
Origin: Comedy Bytes! Reply-To: csrnet.cld9.com (11:100/160)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 08:30:51 GMT
From: apollo@n2sun1.ccl.itri.org.tw (Yee-Lee Shyong)
Subject: Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted
Currently, I have one four-line phone line simulator from "TELETONE'
Corporation. It has all the functions you wanted. It also possesses
small outlet. Cost $499.
Address: 22121-20th Avenue SE, Bothell, WA 98021-4408
Tel: 1-800-426-3926 Fax: 206-487-2288
Model No.: TLS-4 (4-line)
or TLS-3 (2-line)
------------------------------
From: tsw@cypher.apple.com (Tom Watson)
Subject: Re: Unique Idea: Error Message for TDDs
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 17:33:25 -0800
Organization: Apple Computer (more or less)
In article <telecom14.27.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
wrote:
> TDD is just 5-level Baudot at 45.45 baud, sent half-duplex using
> the (I think) "Originate" tone pair of a 103A type modem. Most older
> modems, and some newer ones, can be coerced into using this mode.
Nope, they are very different. I don't know for sure but the shift is
probably 850 Hz (ham radio standards of the day), not 200 Hz (Bell 103
standard).
Tom Watson tsw@cypher.apple.com
------------------------------
From: ltk@ss3.vlsi.ee.nus.sg (Teng-Kiat Lee)
Subject: Re: Bizarre Cordless Behavior
Date: 16 Jan 1994 02:49:00 GMT
Organization: VLSI CAD, NUS
Reply-To: ltk@vlsi.ee.nus.sg
Talking about AT&T cordless phones, I have a very nagging problem
which I still haven't managed to solve. AT&T phones have the best
reception I have ever encountered, the clarity is just unsurpassed!
But my AT&T 5450 model has an attitude problem. It doesn't ring
sometimes when it is not sitting on it's charging base-unit or the
extra cradle which came with the set. This is quite frustrating since
I actually have to install a second phone to hear the ring!
Has anyone encountered this? Does someone has a solution? I have tried
various things like not collapsing the the antenna but none worked all
the time.
Thanks and regards,
--------------- Teng-Kiat Lee ----------------------
ltk@vlsi.ee.nus.sg
t.lee@ieee.org
VLSI CAD & Design Lab Voice: (65)-772-6319
Dept. of Electrical Engineering (65)-467-1518
National University of Singapore Fax: (65)-777-3117
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Possible Internet Service Scam
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 04:06:28 GMT
From: Clive D.W. Feather <clive@sco.COM>
In TELECOM Digest 14.25.3, Bill Mayhew writes:
> Well, I did an MX entry check and found a record for iia.org pointing
> to mary.iia.org, which indeed does exist. A telnet shows that it is a
> SunOS system of some type. I didn't feel like doing a traceroute,
> since it is not on this host, but a ping to that system takes 91 mS
> from here in Rootstown.
I did a traceroute: they are connected to Alternet's New Brunswick NJ node.
Clive D.W. Feather | Santa Cruz Operation
clive@sco.com | Croxley Centre
Phone: +44 923 816 344 | Hatters Lane, Watford
Fax: +44 923 817 688 | WD1 8YN, United Kingdom
------------------------------
From: wjhalv1@pacbell.com
Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available?
Date: 16 Jan 94 18:38:46 GMT
Organization: Pacific * Bell
In article <telecom14.27.13@eecs.nwu.edu>, <md@well.sf.ca.us> writes:
> I wonder whether you know of maps of RBOC lata boundaries. I have the
> list of sample cities you posted on mintaka at mit, but wonder if
> there is a commercially available version that actually marks the
> interlata boundaries. Can you shed any light on this?
Yes indeed ... for any state you are interesed in, call that state's
equivalent to the CPUC. They keep maps of the telephone companies'
service territories, exchange boundaries, and LATA boundaries. FYI,
in most states there is only one LATA.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 08:29:40 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
I wrote:
>> only advantage that I can see for the consumer would be that with
>> metered service, the subscriber would have a right to a call detail
>> listing the individual calls by called number, time, and duration.
> Hahahaha hahaha ha ha ... he ho hummmm ... Here in Denmark, local
> calls have been metered for many, many years -- by the pulse method.
> Itemized billing is NOT available, and there would be an uproar from
> office workers -- on privacy grounds -- if the telco were to start
> itemizing bills.
Sorry, but it is the customer who pays the bill, not the employee of
the customer. What is done with that information is up to them. Cannot
talk about other countries but at least here in the US a person
generally has a right to know what he/she/it/other is being charged
for.
Of course nothing is stopping anyone from purchasing a pen recorder
(several are available) and putting it on *their* line, the major
privacy issue seems to be that the employer may have some difficulty
if the employees are not told, but and again in the US, property laws
are still the foundation of our society.
Was told recently that British Telecom has started itemizing their
bills after many years of just presenting a total. Quite a few parents
were surprised to find out how many babysitters had friends in
Australia.
Warmly,
Padgett
------------------------------
From: Cord Beermann <cord92@fhlip.ee.fh-lippe.de>
Subject: Re: Cable Channels and Satellites
Date: 16 Jan 1994 18:40:21 +0200
Organization: Fachhochschule Lippe, Lemgo, Germany
In <telecom14.13.6@eecs.nwu.edu> Miles Thomas <70624.130@CompuServe.
COM> writes:
> lars@eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) wrote:
> The ASTRA sats also broadcast to the UK, Spain etc etc. Its actually
> owned by a company in Luxembourg, SES. The two birds are actually
> 0.25 of a degree apart, which is close enough for a dish toi see both
> (it has to be within 1 degree to see it). I understand that they plan
> to add a third, ie one at 0.25, one at 0.5 and one a 0.75.
Astra actually runs three satellites on the orbital position 19,2
degrees east, and there are three others planned, the fourth will be
launched in middle/end 94.
Cord
------------------------------
From: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski)
Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers
Organization: MGZ Computer Services
Reply-To: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 19:45:20
In article <telecom14.12.1@eecs.nwu.edu> Dik.Winter@cwi.nl "Dik T.
Winter" writes:
>> But then some French idiots come up with a stupid numbering system
>> (for Paris *and* Greater Paris +331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33
>> xxxxxxxx ). Is it a revenge for changing CCITT to ITU?
> The French may be idiots, but you are an idiot parsing numbers. The
> first should be +33 1xxxxxxxx. So the country is +33. Anyhow, try to
> phone me. Area code plus home number are 206372010. Try your logic
> preceding it with either 1 or 001. A better choice for you would be
> 01031 (and 0031 in the future).
BT phonebook says:
*FRANCE*
(1) For Paris City and Greater Paris Dial 010 331 + 8 digits. (2) For rest
of country Dial 010 22 + 8 digits
As for parsing numbers -- with a good numbering plan cannot rely on
existence of brackets, spaces, dashes etc . If a switch can figure out
how to route call so should be able a human being. Does your phone
have space bar and ( - ) keys ?
George Zmijewski
------------------------------
From: ad577@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Gord Deinstadt)
Subject: Re: Radio Religion in Canada
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 09:20:52 GMT
Since the discussion started with Aimee Semple McPherson, and came
around to Canada, I might as well point out that a well-known Canadian
poet wrote a poem on the subject of "Aimee, Aimee, Simple McFarcin".
My high-school Canadian Literature teacher was stumped by this one;
much later I noticed that the Old Testament tells us that the moving
hand wrote "Eli, Eli, tekel upharsin". BTW I understand she
eventually ran away with a man, not her husband, and chucked the whole
business.
Gord Deinstadt ad577@freenet.carleton.ca
------------------------------
From: jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu (James R. Saker Jr.)
Subject: Re: Need Source For Tariffs
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 15:52:53 GMT
bharrell@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ben Harrell) writes:
> A company in the Washington DC (202 area code) called CCMI provides this
> service. Don't have the number handy but you can get it from ...
An interexchange carrier I've worked with in the past obtains their
tariffs on CD-ROM (monthly replacement set, weekly update CD-ROM) from
a company called Communication Image Technologies, Inc. (CITI). CIT's
application works with a set of 12 CD-ROMs, a special application
which facilitates the searching and retrieval, setting tariff marks to
check for updates in important tariffs, etc.. By purchasing the system
and service, they've replaced a 12x14 room of bookshelves for tariffs
(which were impossible to keep updated; took one full-time clerk to
maintain) to a 486/33 workstation and 12 CD-ROMs, running Windows and
CITI's application. The application was easy enough to allow anyone in
the office to quickly retrieve the information they need.
Tariffs stored include not only interstate FCC tariffs (AT&T FCC1,
FCC2, etc. even including contract tariffs!, MCI, Sprint, LDDS,
Worldcom, and other smaller IXC's, RBOC tariffs for switched/special
access, Independent LEC tariffs incl. United, GTE, Lincoln Telephone,
etc., and Intrastate tariffs including switched/special access,
business service, residential service, special products (ISDN, Frame
Relay, Information Services)).
Overall, my impression was that if you need current access to telecom
tariffs, this system is an exceptional resource.
Contact information for CITI: 800-944-CITI (800-944-2484).
Jamie Saker jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu
Chief Operating Officer Business/IS Major
Synergistic Communications Univ. Nebraska at Omaha
voice: (402) 680-8280 fax: (402) 451-1540
------------------------------
From: kevin@cc.gatech.edu (Kevin C. Almeroth)
Subject: Re: Canadian Teen Charged With $500,000 Phone Fraud
Organization: College of Computing, Georgia Tech
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 19:20:46 GMT
In article <telecom14.29.1@eecs.nwu.edu>, <vantek@aol.com> wrote:
> TORONTO (Jan. 11) UPI - A Canadian teenager has been charged with
> defrauding a cellular phone network out of $500,000 worth of long
> distance calls.
> About $200,000 worth of calls were billed to a single phone number
> over a 17-day period.
Hmmm, this seems strange to me ...
17 days * 24 hours/day * 60 minutes/hour = 24,480 minutes
200,000 dollars / 24,480 minutes = ~8.17 dollars/minute
That's awful expensive phone charges even if he was on the phone for
24 hours a day for the whole 17-day period!
Kevin Almeroth
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However it is not so unusual if you
assume he might have had some confederates on it with him: other
phreaks he showed the system to. Several people might have been
'working the phones' for hours at a time every night. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Ben Burch <Burch_Ben@pts.mot.com>
Subject: Re: Radio Modem Help Wanted
Organization: Motorola, Inc
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 19:49:46 GMT
In article <telecom14.22.5@eecs.nwu.edu> John Michael Pierobon,
pierobon@gate.net writes:
> Where can I get additional information on "radio modems"?
If you are talking about non-commercial data transmission (personal,
scientific, etc.), then you should contact the American Radio Relay
League (ARRL). A 20 M band packet setup could (when propagation
permits) provide you with the service you need. All that is required
for this is a good ham radio rig, and a packet radio modem (called a
TNC). You would, of course, need to get a license.
There are also a number of carriers that provide data services via
satellite, but I don't have any good pointers towards them.
(We make wireless data devices, but ours assume an infrastructure you
don't have there.)
Ben Burch Motorola Wireless Data Group Ben_Burch@msmail.wes.mot.com
------------------------------
From: daveb%jaws@dsinet.dgtl.com (David Breneman)
Subject: Re: Old Telephones Wanted
Date: 16 Jan 94 20:41:51 GMT
Organization: Digital Systems International, Redmond WA
Jay Hennigan (jay@coyote.rain.org) wrote:
> I'm looking for repair parts or collectors groups of old telephones.
> In particular, I have a brass Western Electric candlestick phone which
> is missing the steel diaphragm from the receiver. The phone has
> patent dates of Jan 26, 15 - Jan 1, 18 - May 7, 18 - Sept 21, 20 on
> the base and 329W on the transmitter. Also have a Kellogg candlestick
> in need of a baseplate. A source of the woven jacket cordage used in
> the old days would be nice as well.
I seem to recall that the diaphragms in old (ie, Korean war-vintage)
Army field phones are compatible with these. Take that for what its
worth. :-)
David Breneman Email: daveb@jaws.engineering.dgtl.com
System Administrator, Voice: 206 881-7544 Fax: 206 556-8033
Software Engineering Services
Digital Systems International, Inc. Redmond, Washington, U. S. o' A.
------------------------------
From: Craig Williamson <craig.williamson@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Reply-To: craig.williamson@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM
Organization: NCR, ICSS Columbia
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 23:18:46 GMT
In article <telecom14.26.3@eecs.nwu.edu> Aninda Dasgupta writes:
> Magnavox sells a Voice Recognition remote that:
> - allows programming of VCR
> - is a universal remote
> - recognizes commands from more than one person.
> So, for about $100 to $150, you can hold up the remote in your hand
> and say something like : "Record, Thursday, Start 9:00 pm, End 9:30
> pm, Channel 4." And the remote does the rest. No need to look up
> codes and punch them in. Training the remote to recognize your voice
> takes a few minutes as the user is prompted on an LCD screen to read
> out a few numbers and words that appear on the screen. Very user
> friendly. See your local Magnavox/Philips dealer for demonstrations.
Well it won't work like it shows in the commercial though when John
Cleese puts the remote beside the VCR. The remote still need to be
able to hit the VCR at the right time with the infrared data. I would
probably forget to leave the remote in range of the VCR before I left
and wouldn't get anything. It's a neat idea if you don't use that
remote for anything elase and always leave it where it can get to the
VCR.
Craig
------------------------------
From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Long Distance CLID is Here
Date: 17 Jan 1994 01:06:01 EST
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
jsw@ivgate.omahug.org (Jack Winslade) writes:
> I had quite a surprise today when I was looking over the CLID log. I
> saw an entry of 513-247-xxxx. This is, of course, here in Omaha on
> the 402-896 prefix.
> I recognized the caller's name and number as being correct, so I can
> assume that LD CLID is now working in some cases over some LD carriers.
> About nine months ago on a CO tour, the CO tech said that this feature
> would be coming shortly. This is the first time I have actually seen
> this in action.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In Chicago we have had inter-LATA
> Caller-ID on an intermittent basis for about a year. It is sent here
> by some exchanges in other cities, but not by all or even a majority
> yet. Minneapolis comes to mind as one place where I've seen it a lot.
> Area code 612 numbers show up here when I get those calls. PAT]
Actually, it depends on the interexchange carrier handling the call.
A thread on the WELL indicated that Cable & Wireless always passes the
CNID (calling number ID) field to the receiving LEC's SS7 network,
which then passes it to the subscriber if Caller-ID-enabled. AT&T
does not pass this field through. In a legal matter in which I am
involved as counsel, AT&T has admitted that it gets the CNID from the
originating LEC and strips it out unless it is paid to pass it
through; however, they don't apparently have a tariff to charge for
the pass-through. Interestingly, it seems it may cost AT&T more to
strip it out than to pass it through.
Michael D. Sullivan mds@access.digex.net avogadro@well.sf.ca.us
Washington, D.C. 74160.1134@compuserve.com mikesullivan@bix.com
------------------------------
From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Telecom Service on Guam
Date: 17 Jan 1994 01:00:36 EST
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
skass@drunivac.drew.edu (Steve Kass) writes:
> A friend of mine is moving to Guam soon, and I am looking for
> information for him. Does anyone know anything about
> telecommunications there? Information on Internet, phone service,
> television, radio, etc., on Guam and throughout the Marianas would be
> welcome. He will be coordinating many aspects of media at the
> University of Guam, and the information will help him with
> preparations here before moving. How to call Guam cheaply would also
> be nice to know (AT&T gives 70c/min through Reach Out Guam or
> something).
> Information about life on Guam in general is welcome, but should be
> send directly to my address, not posted here.
The one thing I know about telecom in Guam is that Motorola owns a
paging system (and possibly mobile telephone and/or cellular system)
there. It was Motorola's first venture as a common carrier.
Michael D. Sullivan mds@access.digex.net avogadro@well.sf.ca.us
Washington, D.C. 74160.1134@compuserve.com mikesullivan@bix.com
------------------------------
From: terminus@uahcs2.cs.uah.edu (Scott Hinckley)
Subject: Re: Using Spare Channels on a T1
Organization: Linux Users of North Alabama [LUNA]
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 08:14:53 GMT
On the subject of spare channels on a T1 ...
What sort of equipment would it take to use spare channels off of a T1
line coming into one building on campus from another? The buildings
are using Meridian PBX.
INTERNET: hinckley@ebs330.eb.uah.edu
AT&TNET : +1 205 720 0734 (24hr voicemail)
Copyright 1994 Scott Hinckley
------------------------------
From: damon@umbc.edu (Mr. Damon Kelly)
Subject: Re: Online Comments to U.S. Social Security Administration
Date: 17 Jan 1994 02:54:13 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
In article <telecom14.29.12@eecs.nwu.edu>, Jack Decker <ao944@yfn.
ysu.edu> wrote:
> [Concerning the distribution of Social Security checks electronically]
> However, one thing that personally disturbs me is that they are
> apparently at least considering elimination of mailing of checks to
> individuals, in favor of disbursements via "Electronic Fund Transfers
> or Electronic Benefit Transfers." My initial gut reaction to that is
> that this could have some real negative effects on privacy and
> individual liberty, because it would in effect force people to have an
> account at some financial institution in order to receive benefits.
Not necessarily. I live in Baltimore, Maryland, where most Welfare
recipients receive their benefits via these methods. You don't need
an account with a recognized bank; the local Welfare office issues a
recipient an ATM card and a list of distribution dates. The recipient
can make unlimited withdrawawals/balance checks of the funds remaining
in his/her "account," from *any* machine equipped to deal with the
cards, at no charge. Presumably, SS checks could be distributed in
the same manner.
-d damon@umbc.bitnet damon@umbc.edu
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #37
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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 01:43:13 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401180743.AA21519@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #38
TELECOM Digest Tue, 18 Jan 94 01:43:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 38
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
CA State Report on LA Quake (Mike King)
Los Angeles Earthquake, January 17 (Nigel Allen)
More on the LA Earthquake (Robert L. McMillin)
FYI AT&T Reduces LA Quake Services to 213, 310, 805 and 818 (Dan Arthur)
Still Alive (Lauren Weinstein)
Book Review: "Basics Book of Frame Relay" by Motorola (Rob Slade)
DBS Satellite Services in Europe (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
Case History of a Phone Rip-Off (Part 1) (David L. Kindred)
Cost of GTE Dialup Lines (Charles M. Hatcher)
Shannon and Echo Canceller Protocols (Arnim Littek)
More on Communication Over Power Lines (Michael Duane)
V.32vis -> Bell_102 Due to CO Data Compression (Ross Porter)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mk@TFS.COM (Mike King)
Subject: CA State Report on LA Quake
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 16:06:01 PST
Passed along FYI:
FROM: Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Sacramento
STATE OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES
STATUS REPORT
AS OF JANUARY 17, 1994, 1130 HOURS
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY EARTHQUAKE
1. Proclamations/Declarations
1. Local Declarations - County & City of Los Angeles, City of
Hawthorne, County of Ventura
2. Governor's Proclamation of a State of Emergency - County of Los
Angeles
2. Disaster Assistance Programs/Facilities
3. Dead/Injured
3 - 19 fatalities reported--not confirmed.
4. Evacuations
(See medical)
5. Damages/Incidents
OES Fire reports 70+ structures involved or down from fire. All
fires under control.
LA City - 100 incidents reported. Numerous building collapses;
mainly in north area. Ranging from single family homes to larger
structures including an apartment building and Northridge shopping mall.
People trapped. Partial collapse to pancaking.
LA County - City of El Monte--unreinforced masonry moderate damage.
Cities of Sierra Madre and Alhambra--broken glass in business districts.
Ventura County - Fillmore hardest hit; partial collapse of Fillmore
Hotel. Petro chemical plant at SR 126 and Santa Clarita; potential
chlorine release. Fire at El Dorado Mobile Home Park, Fillmore.
Saugus - 1,000 hydrocloric acid and 500 gallon of sodium
hyperchloride spill.
Lake Castaic - Ruptured tank - crude oil spill with one-mile plume
(unconfirmed).
Valencia - pipeline rupture, crude oil.
Oil flowing into Santa Clara River. Three more pipeline leaks in
Newhall, Pyramid Lake, and Quail Lake (I-5 & SR 138). Train derailment
5,000 gallon acid sulfuric acid - Northridge.
State Facilities--Have inspected three major state buildings. Los
Angeles State Building and Ronald Reagan Building - no power; Long Beach
State Building - no reports of damage. Three sites damaged (Santa Monica,
Culver City, and Inglewood). California Aqueduct overpassing cracked at
Silverwood Lake to Bakersfield.
Counties of Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside, Santa
Barbara, Imperial, Mono, Inyo, San Luis Obispo- Report no major damage.
6. Care & Shelter
American Red Cross identifying shelter sites; have experienced
power problems at their Headquarters in Los Angeles.
4 shelters open--Sylmar High School; Canoga High School; Simi
Valley High School; Oxnard Armory.
7. Medical
Inspectors are in the field. Problems appear to be power outages
and broken glass.
L.A. County reports three hospitals with major damage (Holy Cross,
Panorama City, VA Sepulveda); patients evacuated. State Fire Marshal
reports Holy Cross appears most impacted. Major problems for hospitals are
no water; on emergency power with approximately 4 hours of emergency fuel
left. Injury reports from these hospitals are minor.
EMSA reports emergency radio net to hospitals has broken down
twice. Have received reports of 6 or 7 severely impacted hospitals.
8. Utilities
Reported oil pipeline rupture in Valencia; spill only, no ignition.
Southern California Gas - Numerous interruptions at their
facilities; assembling crews and moving them into critical areas;
Southern California Edison - Numerous power outages; detailed
report to follow.
Telecommunications - AT&T and GTE report major switch problems;
will be coordinating movement of equipment into critical areas. Local
communication service out in Pacoima due to structural damage to Pac Bell
switching center.
Water - LA Dept. of Water and Power reports aqueduct broken in San
Fernando Valley. Trunk line breaks in the area. Large water tank has
collapsed and another has sustained minor damage.
9. Road Net
See Caltrans report
10. Air Space/Facilities
Los Angeles International (LAX) and Long Beach Airports closed for
inspection.
Orange County - All airfields open.
11. Other critical information
12. EOCs and other facilities activated
State Operations Center; Southern Region EOC
CHP Emergency Response Center - Headquarters and Southern
Division.
State Police EOC - Headquarters
CDF EOC - Headquarters
Caltrans EOC - Headquarters
Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development (OSHPD) EOC -
Headquarters
DHS Emergency Coordination Center - Headquarters
Dept. of Fish & Game EOC - Headquarters
FEMA Region IX EOC, Disaster Field Office (Pasadena)
Major utilities' EOC's including GTE, Pacific Bell, Southern
California Edison
City/County EOC's - Los Angeles City; Los Angeles County; Orange
County; San Bernardino County; San Diego County; Santa
Barbara County Operational Area
American Red Cross National Operations Center, State EOC, 3 zone
EOC's
13. Response actions taken and resources committed by function
Medical - California National Guard dispatching 10 air ambulances;
expected to arrive at 1/17/94, 1700 hours. Urban search and rescue teams
and equipment being transported to Los Alamitos.
Fire & Rescue - Orange County reports sending strike teams to L.A.
County.
L.A. City reports major fire at San Fernando Road Trailer Park.
Natural gas fires in Balboa region.
OES Fire & Rescue reports 30 strike teams ordered from Region VI
and 8 strike teams from the north state.
7 of 8 of the state USAR teams have been activated. The eighth is
the City of LA which is committed to its own operations. LA, Orange, and
Riverside county teams have been committed to assist LA City. The others
will be stationed at Los Al; three northern CA teams on way from Travis AFB
1/17/94, afternoon. LA City being assisted by local USAR resources. 10
person federal USAR team enroute.
Law Enforcement - LAPD and LASO are on tactical alert. No requests
for out of area mutual aid. Anticipate security problems with businesses.
Transportation - Caltrans conducting damage assessment. Receiving
calls from vendors offering equipment; so far Caltrans does not need extra
equipment. Caltrans is coordinating resources from their unimpacted
districts; staff and equipment on standby.
CHP reports 108 officers deployed in LA area; more call-ups
occurring. They are on tactical alert.
Water - DWR inspecting dams in area; dispatching two teams. Dam
owners report no problems. Owner of Santa Felicia Dam reports no damage.
CCC - Assembling resources list
Federal - Air Force will fly U-2 mission; photos will be ready by
2400 hours, 1/17/94; will have staff to interpret.
EDIS-01-17-94 1309 PST
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 11:03:22 -0500
From: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca (Nigel Allen)
Subject: Los Angeles Earthquake, January 17
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa
Reply-To: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca
Information on the Los Angeles earthquake is available
in the ca.earthquakes newsgroup.
Nigel Allen ae446@freenet.carleton.ca
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 06:37 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: More on the LA Earthquake
At about 4:35 AM, Los Angeles suffered an earthquake of magnitude 6.6
on the Richter scale, centered in the San Fernando Valley. Phones and
electricity were reported out throughout the entire Valley. Major
fires started by gas main ruptures have been reported, and at least
four large apartment complexes have burned completely to the ground.
Valley residents will probably report this with more harrowing detail
that I can.
Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan announced one death on the freeways
caused by today's earthquake, but failed to say where or which
freeway. Interstate 405, the main coastal artery, has suffered
extensive damage in the Valley, and is completely closed. In fact,
except for one, all freeways in the San Fernando Valley are closed.
Los Angeles International Airport is closed.
Details as they come in.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
------------------------------
From: siproj@i-link.com (Dan Arthur)
Subject: FYI AT&T Reduces LA Quake Services to 213, 310, 805 and 818
Date: 17 Jan 1994 14:35:07 -0600
Organization: I-Link, Ltd., Des Moines, Iowa, US - 515/255-2754
FYI - from siproj@ilink1.i-link.com
The following area codes are considered in an emergency condition
according to a national newscaster:
213 - California, Los Angeles
310 - California, Beverly Hills
805 - California, Bakersfield
818 - California, Glendale
AT&T has apparently reprogrammed the long distance switching network
to free up lines for disaster personnel. Any business with one of the
above area codes as an origin will likely have problems getting in
touch with you or vice versa.
Please e-mail any other specifics.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 18:44 PST
From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein)
Subject: Still Alive
Still alive. A total mess, but still here. Power just came back and
I just managed to bring up the main systems. Miraculously, the routes
back to the net are up. More details later.
Basically, much of the region is still w/o power and water. I have
water in theory, but the main broke so I can't get at it. The valley
is still largely black -- I'm amazed this area came back online as
soon as it did. Phones stayed up pretty much throughout, with only
the usual overloading problems.
Definitely the worst I've been through in my lifetime here. Much
worse damage than '71.
--Lauren--
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Please keep us posted whenever you can
with more details. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 21:18:33 MDT
From: Rob Slade <rslade@sfu.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "Basics Book of Frame Relay" by Motorola
BKBSFRRL.RVW 931125
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Kelly Ford, Promotion/Publicity Coordinator
P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA 01867-9984
800-822-6339 617-944-3700
Fax: (617) 944-7273
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN 46254
800-447-2226
"The Basics Book of Frame Relay", 0-201-56377-0
The preface states that this is an easy-to-read introduction to frame
relay for busy communications professionals who presumably want to
know something about the new technology besides the fact that it is
generating a lot of interest. Fine. I fit the bill perfectly. I'm a
communications (specifically *data* communications) professional. I'm
busy. Let's get to the frame relay.
Not so fast. First, we have an introduction that wants to tell me I
should be interested in frame relay. Look, I got the book, didn't I?
Then, we have a chapter one which wants to tell me what a "protocol"
is, and about packet switching. Pack it in, guys: I'm a professional,
remember? Then, we get another *two* chapters of sales pitches!
Buried in the verbiage, there is a *bit* of information about frame relay:
- it has higher throughput than X.25 (how? less error correction and
recovery);
- you can connect anything to it (how? probably the same way you do now--
with difficulty);
- you can connect voice to it (maybe. or maybe that's *cell* relay, or ATM);
- it has faster response time (how? don't know);
- it has higher throughput, again (how? by letting you use more bandwidth,
if it is available. Huh.)
On the other hand, it takes less than an hour to read.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKBSFRRL.RVW 931125
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.
======================
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: alfredo@quickt2.it12.bull.it (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
Subject: DBS Satellite Services in Europe
Date: 17 Jan 1994 04:53:32 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
I am looking for information on companies which offers audio subcarriers
on European DBS (Direct Broadcasts Satellite) such as the Astra(s),
the Eutelsat(s), Intelsat(s) or others.
As I have heard, tipically, unused audio subcarriers may be rented
directly also from companies which have rented a transponder, and use
it for their DBS TV transmission (e.g. MTV, Sky, TNT, etc.).
Phone and fax numbers of TV stations on European satellites, as well
as those of the original satellite service providers (AStra, Eutelsat,
etc. ) will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Alfredo Cotroneo, Milano, Italy
100020.1013@compuserve.com
fax: +39-2-706 38151
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 14:51 EST
From: kindred@telesciences.com (David L Kindred )
Subject: Case History of a Phone Rip-Off (Part 1)
As "Dragnet" used to say, "The following is a true story. Only the
names were changed to protect the innocent".
My mother is Manager of a credit union in one of the small cities
adjacent to Newark, NJ. The office is on the ground floor in a mixed
use area (street level business, upper floor residences). In addition
to herself, there are two part time employees. They have two or three
phone lines coming in. The local phone company is NJ Bell, and AT&T
is their long distance carrier.
One day, a NJ Bell service guy showed up. After checking with her
employees, my mother informed him that no one had called for service,
and that everything thing was ok. In a later conversation with her
computer service company, it turns out that they had called NJ Bell,
as they had had difficulty reaching my mother's office one day after
hours. The computer service claims to have gotten some sort of
circuit failure intercept.
A day or two later, my mother was working late (there's a lot of extra
work this month generating 1099 forms and such). At one point, my
mother picks up the phone to make a call, and finds a conversation in
progress. Her first reaction was to hang up. After thinking about it
for a minute, she realized that she was the only person in the office,
and that the lines couldn't be in use. At this point she picks up the
line, and "This is the Credit Union, may I help you?". One of the
people on the line mumbles something like "isn't so-and-so there?" and
hangs up. My mother then hung-up and was able to use the line to make
her call. The next day, she reported this event to NJ Bell. A day or
two after that, one of the phone lines went dead, and again NJ Bell
was involved.
As you might expect, the next phone bill was quadruple the normal.
Most of the "mystery" calls were to Manilla (sp?), and a few to
Panama.
This is where things stand for the moment. I'll report further on
whether NJ Bell/AT&T give her a hassle about the bogus charges, and
how long it takes to clear the "unexpected" connections.
This is the second time the credit union has been targeted for phone
rip-off. The earlier incident involved improper third-party billing.
(Even though NJ Bell claims to only allow third-party billing after
voice confirmation, the bogus calls still occurred). In that
incident, NJ Bell added third-party blocking to the Credit Union's
lines, and both NJ Bell and AT&T removed the bogus charges without
question.
Retribution may harsh if the parties involved are identified, as the
name of the credit union is "The xxxxxx Police and Firemen's Federal
Credit Union". I think if I lived in a city, that would be the group
of people I'd pick on ...
There have been numerous reports here about unscrupulous persons
making their own connections to other people's phone lines. The
person (or persons) involved here seem to have known that the lines
they "borrowed" were from a business, and what the normal working
hours for the business were. Only a few late nights led to the
discovery of the problem before the first bill showed up. Is there a
way a small business can protect themselves from this, or do we all
have to rely on the phone company straightening things out afterwards?
Dave
------------------------------
From: chatcher@world.std.com (Charles M Hatcher)
Subject: Cost of GTE Dialup Lines
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 19:56:00 GMT
I'm installing some dialup lines for a modem pool in an area served by
GTE South and I'm trying to figure out the most cost effective way to
order the lines.
A normal business line in this area costs about $52 per month flat
rate. GTE doesn't offer measured use lines here. In addition, to set
the lines up on a rotary will be $21 per month per line extra. As far
as I have been to determine, in talking to GTE and looking through
their tariffs (which I admittedly don't have a complete grasp of)
there doesn't seem to be a cheaper way to go. If I install 96 lines,
the cost will be about $7000 per month plus tax.
My question is this: Am I missing something here? Is there a way to
get lines at a lower rate? The lines need only be inward-dialing (no
calls will be made from them) and I don't need any PBX-type features.
All I need is a group of lines that can answer a single dialed number.
I'm willing to take individual lines or T1 multiplexed lines. Anyone
have any experience with GTE's tariffs? Thanks in advance!
Chuck Hatcher, Infomedia Corp. chatcher@world.std.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 08:52:28 NZS
From: Arnim Littek <arnim@digitech.co.nz>
Organization: Digi-Tech Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand
Subject: Shannon and Echo Canceller Protocols
>> But now I remember Shannon's Law (you have placed wrong the brackets):
>> BPS(max) = Bw * log(2)(1+(S/N))
> I'm the one who originally posted this question, for those who don't
> know. It's nice to know what Shannon's law says -- if you assume a 30
> dB SNR and 3100 Hz bandwidth, the law above works out to about 31
> kilobits per second. If you happened to get a quiet channel, say, 40
> dB SNR, the equation returns about 41.2 kilobits per second. However,
> this is still quite a ways off from a full-duplex, 28.8 kbps link, or
> 57.6 kbps total transfer rate. So my question still stands: How do
> they do it? Are they assuming a particularly quiet channel? Are they
> assuming more than the standard 3100 Hz of bandwidth is available?
You've got most of it, now it just remains to understand how the
concept of echo cancellation fits into the picture.
While the actual telephone line sees both signals at the same time,
at each end, the receiver does not. The echo canceller makes an
effort to remove most of the signal that had been transmitted (by
prior knowledge of the transmitted signal and the reflection
characteristics of the line it sees).
Hence the receiver at either end sees the S/N from the other end plus
the remaining noise from the incomplete cancellation of the
transmitted signal. There is also a related effect from any hybrid
circuitry in the box, but not to the same degree.
I'm not trying to mathematically rigorous, but intuitively it has to
be close to this ...
Arnim arnim@digitech.co.nz
------------------------------
From: duanem@apollo4.eng.sematech.org (Michael Duane)
Subject: More on Communication Over Power Lines
Date: 18 Jan 1994 02:01:27 GMT
Organization: SEMATECH, Austin
Reply-To: michael_duane@sematech.org
Thanks for the responses so far. There are still some coming in, and
I need time to compile them. When I can I will send you the
summarized results--they are interesting.
In the meantime, some food for thought:
Keep in mind that I was asking about long distance. That is, it's
interesting to know that you can use the power lines to connect your
speakers (and how do they *do* that?), but how far can you go outside
of the house?
The transformers seem to pose a problem because of the high
inductance. Agree or disagree? Or is it because the signal would
have to be kilovolts on the line to make any detectable signal in the
home? Or another reason?
Are the power lines tuned to 60 Hz to eliminate high frequency noise
and low frequency drift? I've seen massive capacitors in the
substations, but I don't know what they do. If the lines are tuned,
that would exclude telecom.
Still looking for that bandwidth vs. distance curve. Can you use the
same curve as twisted pair? I think not, because of skin resistance
in the power line, single wire approximations, etc. However, some of
these considerations may not apply to the high frequency signal.
Related to the above, we know that the high frequency signal is
superposed on the larger amplitude 60 Hz. However, in the
transmission line, maybe they follow different paths -- can this be?
Is the current path frequency dependent?
Thanks for the help!!
------------------------------
From: ross@turock.psych.upenn.edu (Ross Porter)
Subject: V.32vis -> Bell_102 Due to CO Data Compression
Date: 17 Jan 1994 22:14:53 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology
A few days ago my father-in-law reported that he could no longer get a
V.32bis connection between his Gainesville home and the University of
Florida's modem pool. 1200bps (Bell 102) was the best he could do.
He of course initially suspected his own equipment, but he later
learned from the data center staff that a number of other people
suddenly developed this problem. The local telephone people reported
that they had recently installed some data compression equipment that
could well cause this problem. Since voice traffic is relatively
unaffected, the phone company politely abdicated any further
responsibility.
Could someone speculate and enlighten me as to what kind of data
compression is being used -- is it lossy (given the large drop in
maximum transmission rate)? I am not unsympathetic to the telephone
company's position, but does anyone have suggestions for lobbying the
telephone company?
Thanks,
Ross Porter ross@psych
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #38
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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 08:31:30 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401181431.AA21077@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #39
TELECOM Digest Tue, 18 Jan 94 08:31:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 39
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Telecom 95 - Call For Papers - Technology Summit (Robert Shaw)
Earthquake News (David Whiteman)
ISDN Primer and Video Uses (Lee Sweet)
ISDN NT1 Power Source (Paul D. Guthrie)
Digital Equipment and USA Video Sign OEM Agreement (John Hildebrand)
Requirements for Predictive Dialing Systems (Bob Baxter)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 18 Jan 1994 09:42:54 GMT
From: SHAW +41 22 730 5338 <ROBERT.SHAW@itu.ch>
Subject: Telecom 95 - Call For Papers - Technology Summit
TELECOM 95
CALL FOR PAPERS - TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT, FORUM 95
THE TELECOM 95 FORUM TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT
TELECOM is the "Olympics of Communications", held every four years
by the International Telecommunication Union, and is the largest event
of this type in the world. TELECOM is a truly international event.
TELECOM 91 attracted over 130,000 attendees, 850 exhibitors, and 1700
press representatives from 164 countries.
TELECOM 95 will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 3-11 October
1995 and will comprise an Exhibition and Book Fair, Strategies Summit,
and Technology Summit. The Technology Summit will, for the first time,
provide an interactive arena for users, traditional telecoms
companies, computer and consumer electronics giants, broadcast and
cable television interests, and entertainment and software companies.
This Technology Summit will present keynote speeches, discussion
panels, and session papers representing state of the art or new
visions of technology, services, and applications. Thousands of
leading users, managers, scientists, and engineers will attend. Given
the rapid convergence of technologies and the need for timely
solutions, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
The theme of the Technology Summit is: "Convergence of
technologies, services and applications".
THE NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT
A new communications industry is emerging. Computers, networking
and software are already key components of telecommunications.
Broadcast, entertainment and consumer electronics industries are now
also important players. The Technology Summit of FORUM 95 will address
this re-balancing. As examples:
* Portable computing and mobile communications are both
targeting a mass consumer market.
* The entertainment industry is seeking delivery of
interactivity and broadband services to the consumer.
* Business users are demanding seamless and cost-effective wide
area networks to link their local networks.
* The integration of highly complex functions on a single chip
is creating paradigm shifts in all related industries.
* Designing applications has emerged as the challenge of the
future.
Because technological solutions cannot be divorced from
developmental, social, economic, and environmental issues, the
Technology Summit also welcomes applications contributions from these
related areas.
TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT - MAIN TRACKS
Featuring papers that will focus on applying technology and
creating applications in this cross-sectoral environment, the event
will be structured on three levels of human communication needs:
1. Communications services for the individual
2. Communications services for business
3. National, regional and global issues
TRACK 1 - Communications services for the individual
This track addresses voice, text, data and video communications
services for individuals whether at home, at work, or on the move.
The aim is to attract contributions from consumer, entertainment,
computing and software businesses, in addition to the
telecommunications business on:
* Personal and personalized services, including personal number
and mobility;
* Entertainment services provided on cable television or
telecommunications-based systems;
* Networked computing applications;
* Mass market consumer technologies and applications
(inexpensive, easy to use, pocketable);
* Personal assistant, telemedicine, tele-education,
teleshopping, home security, support for disabled people and
the elderly;
* Broadcasting and other information/entertainment services
including cable television and interactive broadcast services;
* Wireless technologies and applications.
TRACK 2 - Communications services for business
This track addresses higher performance networks, distributed
computing and information systems which are enabling improved services
for business users and which are becoming increasingly market
specific.
It seeks papers which report experiences of the new "telebusinesses"
e.g. medicine, finance, telemarketing, telelogistics, as well as papers
on new developments in the enabling technologies such as:
* Computer-supported cooperative working, including desk top
videoconferencing.
* Security, privacy and authentication.
* Network management, intelligent networks and virtual
networking.
* Network interoperability, availability, and reliability.
* Broadband communications.
* Intelligent information services.
* Enterprise and corporate networking.
TRACK 3 - National, regional and global issues
This track addresses issues of general interest of telecommunications,
including the view on economic and regulatory aspects and their inter-
relationship with convergent technologies. The aim is to attract contri-
butions from telecommunications experts as well as from economists,
regulators, and other governmental agencies in such areas as:
* Regulatory aspects of portability and interconnection of
services, e.g. numbering, billing, security/privacy, frequency
allocation, etc.
* Environmental applications, e.g. teleworking, teleconferencing,
traffic and fleet control, telesurveillance, etc.
* Restructuring of the telecommunication sector and service
evolution in developing and developed countries.
* Cross-cultural applications, e.g. real time interpretation,
voice recognition and synthesis, conversion between text, voice
and picture based services, etc.
* The implications of regional standards and trading
organizations.
* The implications of convergent industries and technologies.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPERS:
* Papers should give an overview of the present situation
and/or the direction for the next century.
* Papers on detailed theory and specific products, or company
presentations, are outside the scope of the event and will
be rejected, as will those which are overtly commercial or which
treat military subjects.
* Papers must be unpublished and based on original research,
developments and approaches.
* Papers delivered in the Technology Summit will be published
in the Book of Speakers' Papers. Written contributions to
the panel sessions will also be included in the Book of Speakers'
Papers. Additional papers will be selected for publication only.
Authors are requested to submit a one-page (single-sided) abstract
of their proposed paper to the TELECOM 95 Forum Secretariat as shown
on the attached form. Abstracts must give a clear indication of the
paper's contents.
Abstracts must be submitted in one of the conference languages
which are English, French and Spanish.
DEADLINES
All abstracts must be received in the TELECOM 95 Forum Secretariat
by 15 August 1994. Abstracts received after this deadline will be
automatically rejected.
National representatives listed on the reverse side of the
abstract form are available for guidance.
IMPORTANT
Companies or administrations are requested to coordinate their
submissions of abstracts so that only one copy of each abstract is
received by the TELECOM 95 Forum Secretariat. Abstracts may be
submitted by mail, telefax, or e-mail. Receipt will be acknowledged.
The TELECOM 95 Forum Secretariat will correspond directly with
principal authors.
The TELECOM 95 Forum Secretariat will notify authors by 10
January 1995 as to whether their proposed papers have been:
a) accepted for oral presentation;
b) accepted for a panel session;
c) accepted for publication only;
d) not accepted.
INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION
The ITU is an inter-governmental organization, within which the
public and private sectors cooperate for the development of
telecommunications and the harmonization of national telecommunication
policies. The ITU adopts international regulations and treaties
governing all terrestrial and space uses of the frequency spectrum, as
well as the use of the geostationary- satellite orbit and develops
standards to ensure the interconnection of telecommunication systems
on a worldwide scale. It's 182* Member Administrations, and the much
wider network that forms the ITU family, are proud of the ITU's record
of achievement in keeping pace with technological change. With this
goal in mind, and also to keep up with the convergence of
technologies, the ITU has been restructured, with clear objectives
outlined for each of the three new Sectors: Radiocommunication,
Standardization and Development.
* as of 12 November 1993
7th WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION FORUM
President Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, Secretary-General of the ITU
Chairman,
Management
Committee Mr. Tom Dahl-Hansen, Executive Director, TELECOM
Project Manager
TELECOM 95 Mrs. Lili Rison
Project Officer
Technology Summit Ms. Elizabeth A. Lake
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Chairman Mr. Keith W. Hoffman, STENTOR Resource Center Inc.
(Canada)
Vice-Chairman Dr. John E. Thompson, BT Laboratories (United Kingdom)
Honorary Chairman Mr. Marcel Thui, CNET (France)
Members Prof. Minoru Akiyama, Shibaura Institute of Technology
(Japan)
Mr. Peter Bachofner, Siemens-Albis (Switzerland)
Mr. Roberto Blois, Department of Private National Services
(Brazil)
Mr. Joachim Claus, Generaldirektion Telekom (Germany)
Prof. Dr. Hermann Ebenberger, Technical University of Vienna
(Austria)
Mr. Glenn H. Estes, Jr., Bellcore (USA)
Mr. Bertil Fougstedt, Telia Research (Sweden)
Mr. Maurice Ghazal, Lebanon Permanent Representative to the
international telecommunications authorities (Lebanon)
Mr. Denis Gilhooly, Communications Week International
Mr. Josi Gonzalez, Ministerio de Transporte y Comunicaciones
(Venezuela)
Prof. Giza Gordos, Scientific Society for Telecommunication
(Hungary)
Dr. Rolf B. Haugen, Norwegian Telecom Research (Norway)
Dr. Viljo Hentinen, Nokia Corporation (Finland)
Mr. Bruce Hunter, Voice of America (USA)
Dr. Theodor Irmer, Standardization Bureau, ITU
Dr. Marko Jagodic, Iskratel (Republic of Slovenia)
Mr. Zhou Jixin, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
(People's Republic of China)
Mr. Richard Kirby, Radiocommunications Bureau, ITU
Mr. Corentin Penn, SEE (France)
Mr. William Robinson, Bell-Northern Research (Canada)
Mr. Fred Sammartino, Sun Microsystems (USA)
Dr. A.R. Sharafat, Tarbiat Modarres University (Islamic
Republic of Iran)
Mr. Stuart Sharrock, Pan European Mobile Communications
Prof. B.S. Sonde, Indian Institute of Science (India)
Prof. Guido Tartara, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Mr. Ib Thomsen, Jydsk Telefon (Denmark)
Mr. Johan van Egmond, Philips Communication Systems
(Netherlands)
Dr. Seungtaik Yang, ETRI (Republic of Korea)
H.E. Prof. Dr. Andrzej Zielinski, Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications (Republic of Poland)
TELECOM 95 FORUM CALL FOR PAPERS - ABSTRACT FORM
Track No: ...............
Title of paper:
.........................................................................
.........................................................................
Author's Author's
Family name:.............................First name:.....................
Title:...................................................................
Company:
.........................................................................
.........................................................................
Address:
.........................................................................
.........................................................................
Town/City:
.........................................................................
Zip:........... Country:...............................
Telephone: ...... ....... ............ Fax: ...... ....... ............
Country Area Number Country Area Number
code code code code
Key words:
.........................................................................
One-page (single-sided) abstract i.e. approximately 500 words. Abstracts
exceeding these limitations will be rejected.
Please return to: TELECOM 95 Forum Secretariat
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
CH-1211 Geneve 20, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 730 5680
Fax: +41 22 730 6444
X400: s=forumcfp;a=arcom;p=itu;c=ch
Internet: forumcfp@itu.ch
(Deadline: 15 August 1994)
NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
AUSTRIA
Prof. Dr. Hermann Ebenberger
Technical University of Vienna
Tel: +43 1 94 4312
Fax: +43 1 587 0583
e-mail:e389011@awituw01 (BITNET)
BRAZIL
Mr. Roberto Blois
Department of Private National Services
Tel: +55 61 218 6945
Fax: +55 61 223 3916
CANADA
Mr. Keith W. Hoffman
STENTOR Resource Center Inc.
Tel: +1 519 745 8236
Fax: +1 519 745 6941
Mr. William R. Robinson
Bell-Northern Research
Tel: +1 613 763 2246
Fax: +1 613 763 2880
e-mail:robinson@bnr.ca
CHINA (PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF)
Mr. Zhou Jixin
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
Tel: +861 601 1332
Fax: +861 601 1370
DENMARK
Mr. Ib Thomsen
Jydsk Telefon R&D
Tel: +45 89 45 4545
Fax: +45 86 29 9068
FINLAND
Dr. Viljo Hentinen
Nokia Corporation
Tel: +358 0 43 761
Fax: +358 0 45 52082
FRANCE
Mr. Corentin Penn
Alcatel CIT
Tel: +33 96 04 7341
Fax: +33 96 48 0238
Mr. Marcel Thui
CNET
Tel: +33 1 45 29 4812
Fax: +33 1 45 29 6070
GERMANY (FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF)
Mr. Joachim Claus
Generaldirektion Telekom
Tel: +49 228 181 9200
Fax: +49 228 181 9299
HUNGARY
Prof. Giza Gordos
Scientific Society for Telecommunication
Tel: +36 1 153 1027
Fax: +36 1 153 0451
Prof. George Lajtha
Hungarian Telecommunications Company
Tel: +36 1 555 485
Fax: +36 1 202 3256
INDIA (REPUBLIC OF)
Prof. B.S. Sonde
Indian Institute of Science
Tel: +91 812 341 800
Fax: +91 812 341 683
IRAN (ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF)
Dr. A.R. Sharafat
Tarbiat Modarres University
Tel: +98 21 800 5900
Fax: +98 21 800 6544
ITALY
Prof. Guido Tartara
Politecnico di Milano
Tel: +39 2 239 94576
Fax: +39 2 239 93413
JAPAN
Prof. Minoru Akiyama
Shibaura Institute of Technology
Tel: +81 48 687 5805
Fax: +81 48 687 5198
KOREA (REPUBLIC OF)
Dr. Seungtaik Yang
ETRI
Tel: +82 42 861 9564
Fax: +82 42 861 1033
LEBANON
Mr. Maurice Habib Ghazal
Lebanon permanent representative to the international
telecommunication authorities
Tel: +96 1120 0888
Fax: +96 1188 8600
THE NETHERLANDS
Mr. Johan van Egmond
Philips Communication Systems
Tel: +31 40 7 57417
Fax: +31 40 7 57492
e-mail:NLEVLICC-A707513
NORWAY
Dr. Rolf B. Haugen
Norwegian Telecom Research
Tel: +47 63 809 247
Fax: +47 63 800 511
e-mail:Rolf.Haugen@tf.tele.no
POLAND (REPUBLIC OF)
H.E. Prof. Dr. Andrzej Zielinski
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
Tel: +48 22 26 73 66
Fax: +48 22 26 65 56
SLOVENIA (REPUBLIC OF)
Dr. Marko Jagodic
ISKRATEL
Tel: +386 64 331 664
Fax: +386 64 221 581
SWEDEN
Mr. Bertil Fougstedt
Telia Research
Tel: +46 8 707 5474
Fax: +46 8 707 5460
SWITZERLAND
Mr. Peter Bachofner
Siemens-Albis AG
Tel: +41 1 495 4743
Fax: +41 1 495 5172
e-mail:peter.bachofner.saz.siemens.arcom.ch
UNITED KINGDOM
Dr. John E. Thompson
BT Laboratories
Tel: +44 473 644 775
Fax: +44 473 637 600
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Mr. Glen H. Estes Jr.
Pacific Telesis Group
Tel: +1 415 394 3707
Fax: +1 415 391 6714
e-mail:ghe@bellcore.com
Mr. Bruce Hunter
Voice of America
Tel: +1 919 752 7181
Fax: +1 919 752 5959
Mr. Fred Sammartino
Sun Microsystems
Tel: +1 415 336 2938
Fax: +1 415 336 3156
e-mail:fred.sammartino@eng.sun.com
VENEZUELA
Mr. Josi Gonzalez
Ministerio de Transporte y Comunicaciones
Tel: +58 2 926 611
Fax: +58 2 926 555
------------------------------
From: dbw@crash.cts.com
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 00:20:58 -0800
Subject: Earthquake News
Pat,
As your readers must already no LA was shook by a series of
earthquakes which are probably the most devastating in LA history.
Today at around 4:30 AM a 6.6 magnitude shock occurred on either the
Oakridge or Devonshire faults. Both of these faults are apparently
planes which are offset 30 degrees from being parallel to the ground
underlying Northridge, California, unlike most faults which are
perpendicular to the ground surface.
My house is located in Encino which is about ten miles south from
Northridge. I was awakened by a series of sharp jolts followed by a
series of rolling motions which gradually tapered away. Minor rolling
motion aftershocks continued almost continuously for the next few
hours. Thereafter aftershocks continued during the day at times
including at least five which were over 5.0 in magnitude. My house is
on the mountainside overlooking the San Fernando Valley -- after the
quake the valley was pitch dark. I could not see any lights at all in
the valley. In my house electricity was out for almost 9 hours --
apparently the majority of the San Fernando Valley is still without
power now, 16 hours after the first shock.
Phone service was out at my house for over an hour -- I still hear
reports on the news that some areas of the valley are without phone
service in Granada Hills and Northridge. Pacific Bell announced that
incoming long distance service would be blocked during the day, and to
use the phone for emergency use only. All water in LA distributed
North of Sunset Blvd. is not being chlorinated and needs to be
boiled. Some stores are selling bottled water for $15 per quart. The
communities of Reseda, Winnetka, Porter Ranch, Northridge, North
Hills, and Granada Hills have been without water all day. The water
has stopped where I live at around 9 PM. Several areas in Glendale and
Sherman Oaks had fires caused by broken gas mains.
There is a dusk to dawn curfew in the cities of Los Angeles, Glendale,
San Fernando, Santa Monica, and Burbank. Disneyland was open today,
but Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, the Forum, and most of the
other entertainment venues were closed. Almost all resturants were
closed. Today was a school and government holiday; the majority of
public schools will be closed tomorrow as will UCLA. CSUN which
suffered extensive damage will be closed at least until the end of the
month. Two trauma centers in the valley as well as the Olive View
Medical Center, a county hospital, and the Sepulveda VA Hospital were
evaculated. The Olive View Hospital was the county hospital that was
destroyed during the 1972 earthquake three days after it opened and
was subsequently rebuilt. A Southern Pacific freight train with
several cars filled with Sulfuric acid derailed in Northridge and has
not leaked any acid.
There is extensive damage to the Bullocks store in Northridge, and the
Interstate 5 and State highway 14 interchange. Both of those places
were built recently and supposed to withstand earthquakes of up to 7.1
in magnitude. The 5/14 interchange was demolished in the previous
1972 earthquake, and rebuilt supposedly earthquake safe and destroyed
today. The Santa Monica Freeway between Fairfax and La Cienega was
destroyed as was portions of the Simi Valley freeway.
At least five people died from earthquake related heart attacks, one
lady died from a head trauma while walking after the quake, at least
fifteen people died in the collapsed Northridge Meadow apartments with
one other person missing. As of midnight there are 27 confirmed
deaths. Many people are camping outside of their houses afraid of
going back inside. Many parks and softball fields have informal tent
cities set up filled with people who do not feel safe indoors at the
Red Cross, or Salvation Army shelters.
The {Los Angeles Times} has set up an earthquake hotline on their
information newsline: 808 8463 from the 213, 310, 818, 714, and 909
area codes.
Donations are being accepted by the Salvation army 1 800 725 9005
David Whiteman dbw@crash.cts.com
------------------------------
From: decrsc!leesweet@uunet.UU.NET (Lee Sweet)
Subject: ISDN Primer and Video Uses
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 19:39:37 EST
1. Anybody know of a good primer re ISDN: uses, options, equipment
required/optional? (I saw only one book at the local tech bookstore,
and that was a 1/4" volume for USD 79.00 (!) with way-too-technical
contents. Maybe I want Carl's _Phone_Book_ updated for ISDN ;-) ?
2. (1) above caused by request to immediately install two ISDN BRI [I
do know these are basic rate lines: 2 X 64 kbps + 16 kbps control,
right?] lines for evaluation a video-conferencing system (from
PictureTel, I believe). Question: Is ~128kbps enough for usable
video? I though good video needed at least T1-level data? I believe
the application is for consulting, which needs much more detail than
just showing the 'talking heads'.
3. Can I assume that the twisted-pair we have installed is fine for
ISDN? It works for 10base-T ethernet, so ... should be fine, right?
All comments welcome!
Lee Sweet Internet *lists* - leesweet@datatel.com
Chief Systems Consultant Internet *e-mail* - lee@datatel.com
Datatel, Inc. Phone - 703-968-4661
4375 Fair Lakes Court FAX - 703-968-4625
Fairfax, VA 22033 (Opinions are my own, and only my own!)
------------------------------
From: paul@vorpal.digex.net (Paul D. Guthrie)
Subject: ISDN NT1 Power Source
Date: 17 Jan 1994 22:04:29 GMT
Organization: Vorpal Software
I'm looking for a couple of answers about some ISDN questions that
experience and Stalling's ISDN book have both left me unclear on.
First, a CPE can be line powered (the AT&T 7506 e.g.), but my
experience with NT1's are that they must be DC powered (but I've only
dealt with rack mounted units). Can NT1's be line powered?
Next, where are the RBOCs putting NT1s for normal residential ISDN
hookups? Since the U interface range is much longer than the T
interfaces, it would make sense to put NT1s at the customer site
(especially for multipoint ISDN hookups, which shorten the T
interface). Is this being done in practice?
My reasons for asking about this are to determine whether ISDN
residential lines are "lifeline" capable in all cases. I.E. can they
make outgoing operator and 911 calls when powere to the residence is
out?
Thanks for any information,
Paul Guthrie paul@vorpal.digex.net
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 94 07:12:24 CDT
From: John Hildebrand <hildebrand@usav.com>
Subject: Digital Equipment and USA Video Sign OEM Agreement
Edwin Molina
Sr VP of Marketing
USA Video Corporation
800-625-2200
Tom Madden
Digital Equipment Corporation
Storage Business Unit
508-841-5365
Digital Equipment and USA Video sign OEM Agreement
Digital Equipment Corporation announced today the signing of an
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) agreement with USA Video
Corporation, enabling the two companies to work to increase their
respective market share of the Video on Demand* industry, worldwide.
By joining forces, Digital and USA Video will offer industry-leading
video information services, including interactive video servers and
end-to-end Video on Demand solutions, to the growing interactive
information services market.
Digital and USA Video expect to demonstrate their new relationship by
jointly supporting Bell Atlantic Corporation's upcoming market trial
of Video Dial Tone (VDT) through the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
Company of Virginia. USA Video plans to function as a video information
provider in the trial, providing interactive video services that
employ Digital's interactive video server technology. The market
trial is a commercial deployment of Video on Demand* that will be
offered to 40,000 northern Virginia end users in the spring of 1994.
Charles F. Christ, vice president of Digital's Storage Business Unit,
said, "Today's announcement is a culmination of ongoing discussions
between Digital and USA Video and highlights Digital's ability to
offer the most comprehensive solutions to the interactive information
and Video on Demand suppliers. Our video server platform incorporates
Digital's Alpha AXP processors, StorageWorks disk storage arrays,
Digital Linear Tape library systems, interactive gateway unit, server
management unit, and GIGAswitch, a high-speed networking switch
linking the various elements together." Gordon F. Lee, president of
USA Video stated "USA Video is extremely pleased to be working with
Digital on providing Video on Demand solutions to the industry. We
plan to incorporate Digital's interactive video server technology into
our overall end-to-end Video on Demand system, which includes
programming, video compression, transmission systems, and TV set-top
boxes. Digital's technology will further strengthen our product
offering and enhance our position as the industry's leading video
information provider."
USA Video is a turnkey Video on Demand* service provider that has
developed and is testing video compression, storage, server, and
transmission technology necessary to offer Video on Demand
entertainment and other interactive video services to residential and
business customers. The company has headquarters in Century City,
California, with its research and development organization located in
Irving, Texas.
Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open
client/server solutions from personal computing to integrated
worldwide information systems. Digital's Alpha AXP platforms,
storage, networking, software and services, together with
industry-focused solutions from business partners, help organizations
compete and win in today's global marketplace.
Note: Alpha AXP, Digital, the Digital Logo, GIGAswitch, and
StorageWorks are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Video
on Demand is a trademark of USA Video Corporation.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 16:18:12 -0400
From: Bob Baxter <p00284@psilink.com>
Subject: Requirements for Predictive Dialing Systems
Hello all, I'm posting this for a friend that does not have net
access:
"I'm looking for some help concerning predictive dialing systems.
Anyone have any ideas? I need a system that can keep 12 people with
voice connections. I also realize that I'm going to need 24 incoming
lines to a system that weeds out busy signals, has answering machine
capabilities, and such. There are companies that set it up, both
hardware and software, for about 30-50K, but I think it could be done
for way less."
Thanks,
Virtually yours,
Bob Baxter p00284@psilink.com <-- best
bobthedj@aol.com <-- better bob.baxter@hofbbs.com <-- last resort
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #39
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Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 08:22:47 -0600
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <199401191422.AA15101@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #40
TELECOM Digest Wed, 19 Jan 94 08:22:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 40
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Earthquake Telecom Outages (John Coe)
Earthquake and 818 AC (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Question on Trunks and T1's (PacBell) (Ken Stone)
Connecting to Remote Serial Port Over WAN (Steve Pinkston)
How Long Will Cell Sites in LA Run Without Standard Power? (David Kiviat)
Real Time Audio Compression (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
Invitation to Participate in ICSI94 (Walace Sartori Bonfim)
Wireless PBX Information Wanted (Kevin Tanner)
Pac*Bell Permanent Virtual Connection Service Tariff (Robert L. McMillin)
Pay Phone Inband and Out of Band Signalling (Alex Jeannopoulos)
Internet ISDN Connection (ossandon@delphi.com)
Itemized Phone Bills in the USA (Pawel Dobrowolski)
Using Radio For T1 Links (Jim Mercer)
Value of Service Pricing (Fred Goldstein)
How Cold is Co-o-o-old? (Christian Weisgerber)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: coej@jmbpo4.bah.com (John Coe)
Subject: Earthquake Telecom Outages
Date: 18 Jan 1994 20:01:43 GMT
Organization: Booz, Allen, and Hamilton
Has anyone come across any preliminary official reports on telecom
outages due to the LA earthquake? In particular, I'm interested in
reports of facility damage and traffic overloads.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Someone at GTE (I won't say who, but
it is *not* Steven Lichter, and I stress that point to certain GTE
executives!) is sending me reports from GTE telling about their prob-
lems. Just a few of their problems include:
The Granada Hills Directory Assistance Office Building partially
collapsed. Personnel were evacuated and DA functions moved elsewhere.
At Santa Monica Toll a ruptured fuel tank has left the office with
fuel all over the floor and everywhere else. On Tuesday they were
waiting for Fire Department clearance to get in and begin a cleanup
and restoration of normal functions there.
Paccoima CO has major damage to the building. Emergency personnel
evactuated the building and employees are now being let back in as
needed to do what they can to restore service.
San Fernando has a large crack in the power room wall and the
building foundation is badly compromised.
The Santa Monica 1AESSS has a leaking fuel supply, and the Sunset
office in Santa Monica has broken water pipes.
Bel Air, Camarillo and Ellwood CO in Santa Barbara have no commercial
power and are running on generators. In Granada Hills, there was some
damage to the switch resulting in blown power supplies and about half
the switch had no dial tone on Monday and Tuesday.
Pacoima #2 EAX is totally out of service. An emergency trailer has
been set up to serve 11,364 customers. In that same office, the gen-
erator was knocked off its foundation and has been damaged severely.
They intend to cut lines to GTD-5 if #2 cannot be restored.
The above are just a few of the problems, and apparently among the
worst, although I may have overlooked some in the lengthy fax which
was sent to my attention Tuesday. Even the offices not severely damaged
are operating under considerable strain since nearly every office had
at least some minor damage and disruption of service or record-keeping
systems, etc. GTE is attempting to serve the public under extreme
emergency conditions while trying to resolve their own internal
emergencies as well.
Coin Telephone Trailers have been set up in several of the hardest
hit areas. AT&T officials have met with GTE executives and offered
their full assistance with restoration efforts. PAT]
------------------------------
From: pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Subject: Earthquake and 818 AC
Date: 18 Jan 1994 17:07:59 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA
Yesterday I learned of the earthquake because of my calling a tech
support department in the 818 area code. I received a message back
saying "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed at this time due to
the earthquake in the area".
This morning around 9:30 (EST) I called again, and got the same
message. I then tried the 800 number and got through.
When I just tried the 818 number again, at about 11:30 EST, I got the
message that all circuits are busy. Guess they're starting to let
calls through again.
Of course I won't try to dial again for another couple of days, so
I don't tie up the phone lines unecessarily.
On another note, I just wanted to mention how great technology is.
I've been following the earthquake info on the Internet Relay Chat and
on CompuServe. The compassion that I'm finding in both of these
places is great to see. Many people are e-mailing from both in CA and
out of CA getting in touch with relatives and friends for people over
the phone.
Chris Labatt-Simon Internet: pribik@rpi.edu
Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting CIS: 73542,2601
Albany, New York
PHONE: (518) 495-5474 FAX: (518) 786-6539
Subscribe to the Lotus Notes Mailing List - e-mail me for info....
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My GTE contact had this to say regards
choking of inbound traffic: AT&T has cancelled 87 percent of the traffic
into their Sherman Oaks, Gardena, Oxnard and and Los Angeles (92T)
tandems. They have cancelled 50 percent percent of the traffic into
the San Bernardino tandem and *all* of the traffic into the Los Angeles
03T tandem. MCI and Sprint have both cancelled 75 percent of their
traffic into Santa Monica and Thousand Oaks. PAT]
------------------------------
Subject: Question on Trunks and T1's (PacBell)
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 11:20:46 -0800
From: Ken Stone <ken@sdd.hp.com>
I'm interested in going thru a process to consolidate copper trunks to
digital ones and then consolidating T1's into a PacBell onsite fiber
terminal (ie let them demarc T1's for me at the T1 side of their mux
in our phone room).
What I need to know is if there is if there is any obligation for
PacBell to provide us with T1's via a fiber terminal/mux and if so,
where is the breakover point in T1's when this becomes the better
solution ?
Also, with respect to the copper trunks, is there any type of service
that I can't bring in via T1 ? Right now we have seperate groups of
trunks for FX, outgoing, DID, WATS, etc ...
Thanks,
Ken Stone (HP, San Diego)
------------------------------
From: pinkston@kentrox.com (Steve Pinkston)
Subject: Connecting to Remote Serial Port Over WAN
Organization: Kentrox Industries, Inc.
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 23:36:03 GMT
I hope someone can help me with this. This is a modified version of an
earlier post, with some additional definition. Thanks to the people
who have responded so far. I will summarize and post the responses at
a later date.
I'm looking for a way to be able able to communicate with a specific
serial port on a remote device, so that I can connect to a
non-ip-addressable device that is connected to that port.
To be more specific: I have two LANs that are interconnected via
bridges and T1/FT1 WAN links. I have a PC on the remote LAN that has
an unused serial port ("COM2"). I want to be able to use that port as
a terminal server port so that I can connect to the (9600 bps async)
console port of a non-ip -OR- SLIP device located near that PC, in
this example a smart CSU. In effect we would be making the remote PC a
small terminal server.
It has been suggested to me that there may be software solutions
to this. Windows or DOS solutions would be satisfactory.
Any help or pointers to resources would be greatly appreciated.
Steve Pinkston Technical Support Specialist
ADC Kentrox Portland, OR, USA pinkston@kentrox.com
------------------------------
From: davidk@netcom.com (David Kiviat)
Subject: How Long Will Cell Sites in LA Run Without Standard Power?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 04:46:47 GMT
My impression of several cell sites after poking around the outsides
is that they are battery powered with an external connector for
portable generators (not kept on site). I am curious as to how long
they will continue to function if the operator is unable to connect a
generator. What is the plan on charging these things-can the system
operator just charge them in an hour or so and then tow the generator
to another site or does it take longer? What will happen to the system
if lots of these lose power? How many generators do operators
generally keep on standby?
There are going to be lots of frustrated reporters in LA if the cell
system collapses.
------------------------------
From: alfredo@quickt2.it12.bull.it (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
Subject: Real Time Audio Compression
Date: 19 Jan 1994 04:28:50 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
I am just wondering if there is any device/algorithm which may
compress audio in real time, and let say use e.g. 4 kHz bandwidth for
an original audio bandwidth of 8 kHz, or likewise for higher
bandwidth?
To my knowledge there are such devices which compress audio signals
and then transmitt it in digital form over a digital (radio, satellite
or cable) link, but I never heard if that could be done over an audio
channel itself.
Any pointer on both digital and compressed-audio links will be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.
Alfredo E. Cotroneo, Bull HN Italia, I-20010 Pregnana MI, Italy
work: A.Cotroneo@it12.bull.it
personal: 100020.1013@compuserve.com
phone: +39-2-6779 8314 / 8427 | fax: +39-2-6779 8289
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 14:12:21 -0300
From: walace@ntiaa.embrapa.ansp.br (Walace Sartori Bonfim)
Subject: Invitation to Participate in ICSI94
Dear reader,
Due to the wide spectrum of people that might be interested in the
subjects to be discussed during the III International Conference on
Systems Integration, we decided to post this call for papers in your
mailing list.
We encourage you to participate in this event as a paper author.
The paper arrival deadline is March 3, 1994.
Please forward this message to whoever you think it might be of
interest and we appreciate your effort to post it.
Thanks,
Prof. Fuad Gattaz Sobrinho
Conference Chairman
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Call for Papers
The Third International Conference for Systems Integration
Sao Paulo City - Brazil
July 30th - August 6th, 1994
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Integration of Society for the Social, Economical, Scientific and
Technological Development. This conference focuses on the integration
of technologies, processes and systems, and the development of
mechanisms and tools enabling solutions to complex multi-disciplinary
problems dealing with agriculture, housing, telecommunications,
financing and business, public services, education and software. The
conference will provide an international and interdisciplinary forum
in which researchers, educators, managers, practitioners and
politicians, involved within the production process, can share novel
research and development, education, production, trading, management
and political experiences. Papers should deal with recent effort in
theory, design, implementation, methodology, technics, tools and
experiences of integration. Topics to be addressed include, but are
not limited to:
Technical and Scientific Aspects:
- Integration, Modeling, Characterization and Automation of Process
and Systems
- Reengineering and Simplification of Processes
- Computational Environments and Software Factories for Engineerind,
Design, Manufacturing and System Development
- Rol of Human Engineering in Integration
- Experiences within National or Continental Software Projects
- The Implication of Systems Integration for Manpower Skills
- Quality Control and Certification in Organizational and Process
Integration.
Social, Political and Economical Aspects:
- Experiences in Modeling, Development, Evolution and Integration
of Enterprises
- Experiences in Management and Identification of Value-Add Chains
within Agriculture, Housing, Telecommunications, Financing and
Business, Public Services, Education and Software
- Public Policies and City Management
- Management of Multi-dimensional Integration.
Infrastructure Aspects:
- Qualified Information Resources
- Education and Training
- Science and Technology
- Enterprise Development.
Information and Instructions for Authors: All papers must be in
English or Portuguese, typed in double spaced format, and may not
exceed 6,000 words. Each submission should provide a cover page
containing author(s), affiliation(s), complete address(es),
identification of principal author, and telephone number. Also include
SIX copies of complete text with a title and abstract. Notice of
acceptance will be mailed to the principal author(s) by March 15,
1994. If accepted, the author(s) will prepare the final manuscript, in
English, in time for inclusion in the conference proceedings and will
present the paper at the conference; otherwise, the author(s) will
incur a page charge. Authors of accepted papers must sign a copyright
release form. The proceedings will be published by the IEEE Computer
Society Press.
Send SIX copies of your paper(s) to:
Prof. Peter A. Ng
IIISis - USA Office - New Jersey Institute of Technology
University Heights
Newark, NJ 07102
USA
For Further Information, Contact:
Prof. Peter A. Ng Prof. Fuad Gattaz Sobrinho
Fone:(1) (201) 596-3387 OR Phone:(55)(192) 41-4504
Fax: (1)(201) 596-5777 Fax: (55)(192) 41-3098
Email: ng_p@vienna.njit.edu Email: iiisis@ccvax.unicamp.br
>>>>>>>>>> Paper Arrival Deadline: March 3rd, 1994 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Conference Chair Fuad Gattaz Sobrinho
IIISis
Program Chair Peter A. Ng
NJIT
Finance & Business Co-Chair Alcir A. Calliari
Banco do Brasil
Agriculture Co-Chair Ney B. Araujo
ABAG
European Co-Chair Herbert Weber
University of Dortmund
Pac!fic Co-Chair Fumihiko Kamijo
IPA
Middle East Co-Chair Asuman Dogac
METU
South America Co-Chair Julio C. S. P. Leite
PUC/RJ
North America Co-Chair Bruce Berra
Syracuse University
Tutorials Co-Chairs Oscar Ivan Palma Pacheco
EMBRAPA
Murat M. Tanik
SMU
Organization Co-Chairs Rita de Cassia A. Marchiore
IIISis
Carole Poth
NJIT
Steering Committee Chair Peter A. Ng
NJIT
Honorary Advisors Raymond T. Yeh
C. V. Ramamoorthy
Laurence C. Seifert
Honorary Conference Chair Irma Rossetto Passoni
Sc&Tech, Info. and Comm. Comission of
Brazilian Congress.
Sponsored by IIISis - International Institute for Systems Integration,
BB - Banco do Brasil, TELEBRAS, FINEP, CNPq, FBB, with colaboration of
NJIT, SUCESU, EMBRAPA, ABAG, ACM e IEEE Computer Society.
Instituto Internacional de Integracao de Sistemas - IIISis - Brazil.
------------------------------
From: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
Subject: Wireless PBX Information Wanted
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 00:18:35 PST
Organization: WilTel
Greetings all,
Can anyone out there provide information on companies (names,
addresses, telephone numbers, contacts, etc.) working on wireless PBX
products? I'm certain that companies like AT&T, Northern Telecom,
Ericsson, Rolm/Siemens, Fujitsu, and others have (or are working on)
wireless PBX products, but I don't know who to contact. Any help
would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Kevin D. Tanner WilTel, Inc.
Telephone: (918) 588-5843
FAX: (918) 588-5616
E-mail: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 94 16:33 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Pac*Bell Permanent Virtual Connection Service Tariff
I got hold of a copy of Pac*Bell's Permanent Virtual Connection
tariff. These cover services that are essentially switched,
high-speed data links to the nearest CO. Costs given are per end.
For each access link at each location:
speed monthly install
ADN $50.05 $620
T1 $162.59 $1324
Note: PRICING IS FOR THE LOCAL LOOP ONLY SINCE FRAME RELAY
PRICING IS MILEAGE INDEPENDENT. [RLM: Emphasis mine. What this
means is that these data services are not, as full-up leased T1
is, dependent on how far you are away from the CO.]
Switched data services:
speed monthly install
56 Kbps $75 $375
128 Kbps $150 $375
384 Kbps $400 $375
1.536 Mbps $500 $375
For each end of the Permanent Virtual Connection:
# of Data Link Monthly Rate per
Connection Identifiers DLCI
1st $0
2nd through 6th $15
7th through 11th $10
12th through 250th $5
Each PVC has one Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) on each end.
For more than one access link from a single location, groupd DLCIs by
link, then calculate the charges. There is no recurring charge.
For each customer:
If traffic detail is wanted, charge $15 per month and $50 for
non-recurring.
-------------
To me, the most interesting thing is the notion of a 'virtual T1' that
can go anywhere there's another virtual T1. I'm not sure how this is
implemented; maybe someone from Pac*Bell would care to comment. In
any event, the prices are really cheap compared to dedicated service.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
------------------------------
From: jeannopo@panix.com (Alex Jeannopoulos)
Subject: Pay Phone Inband and Out of Band Signalling
Date: 18 Jan 1994 23:34:08 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
I know the inband signalling tones which are used by pay phones. What
I would like to know is about how the out of band signalling to the
pay phone is done. I know that the pay phone will ground one of the
lines when a real coin is placed in the phone. What I am curious about
is which line (ring or tip) is grounded? Is the line grounded for the
life of the call? Or is it grounded right after the phone signals coin
insertion for a short period of time? How is coin acceptance or
rejection handled on the two lines? Thanks for any info in advance.
If anyone knows of the inner workings of Fortress Phones drop me a
line.
Thanks,
Alex
------------------------------
From: OSSANDON@delphi.com
Subject: Internet ISDN Connection
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 94 20:18:08 EST
Organization: Delphi Internet
Does anyone know how an ISDN user (56K/64K) can access Internet? Since
9.6 rates are still considered fast for single user is it too soon to
consider ISDN connections?
------------------------------
From: dobrowol@husc8.harvard.edu (Pawel Dobrowolski)
Subject: Itemized Phone Bills in the USA
Date: 18 Jan 1994 16:06:50 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center
I am having trouble finding information on when and why itemized
long-distance phone bills were introduced in the US. I'd also like to
know the basics about the equipment that neeeds to be in place to
produce itemized phone bills.
If anyone knows of good sources I will summarize and post here
when I've done my research.
Thanks,
Pawel
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So far as I know, we have always had
itemized long distance bills in the USA. I have seen *very old* copies
of bills from Illinois Bell and its predecessor "Chicago Telephone
Company" which had itemized calls. The oldest one I recall seeing (and
have a microfilm copy of around here somewhere in my boxes of old
historical artifacts) is dated 1910. This telephone bill from 1910 is
on printed letterhead from Chicago Telephone Company; is written out
in longhand in a very nice, very old-fashioned, very eloquent style
and lists a call to Aurora, Illinois, some fifty miles away. You
must remember that long before mechanical equipment was available to
keep these records, the manual service operators wrote out all of
their tickets by hand as they went along, call by call. PAT]
------------------------------
From: jim@reptiles.org (Jim Mercer)
Subject: Using Radio For T1 Links
Organization: Reptilian Research, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 12:33:16 -0500
I am currently implementing a WAN using radio links to do a T1 type
data link (1.5-2.0 Mbits). It will probably use a NCR WaveLAN. Are
there similar facilities for a telephony type T1?
I'd like to link a couple NT SL-1 switches, and T1's from our carriers
range from $970 to $1270 per month.
The buildings are unobstructed line of sight. (Laser has been ruled
out due to possible weather related interference).
Microwave has been ruled out as the line of sight crosses City Hall's
front lawn, and there would be an environmental impact study which
would delay implementation.
The Spread Spectrum stuff used by WaveLAN and others does not require
a license (which microwave does).
Follow-ups directed to email; I'll summarize.
Jim Mercer Reptilian Research merce@iguana.reptiles.org +1 416 506-0654
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 00:03:18 -0500
From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
Subject: Value of Service Pricing
All of this discussion about flat-rate local service, etc., brings up
the issue of just how telephone company rates are set. The traditional
method is "Value of Service" pricing. While it is largely viewed as
obsolete, especially at the federal level, it still plays a major role
in local phone rates.
The most notable example of this is in the way local rates are set in
a flat-rate state. The monthly rate is based on a rate band, which is
based on the number of lines within your local calling scope. So
Nowhere Falls, with 300 phones in its local calling area, pays
$8/month while Major City pays $15/month. After all, it gets more
value for its local bill; Nowhere Falls customers pay lots more tolls.
But the actual cost of monthly service is higher in the boonies,
because the dominant expense is outside plant, and rural areas need
the longest average wires.
I saw a good illustration of this back in the '70s when I was working
on Telephone Rate Reports. In Ohio, the highest rate band for (I
think) United Tel (Lima) was something like 50,000 phones. For Ohio
Bell, though, that was a fairly low band. So Lima customers paid
something like $16/month while a Bell customer in a similar town would
pay maybe $10. Columbus customers would be in OBT's higher bands.
United thus had to subsidize its huge rural territory (its own cheaper
bands) with small-city customers, while OBT had big cities to do it.
Overall, Ohio Bell was much cheaper, but it wasn't because United was
inefficient.
Charges for touch-tone are, of course, another "value" element not
related to cost. They add revenue to the system in lieu of collecting
full cost from everyone. Rural customers need a subsidy (in order to
have universal service), but things get out of hand when the system
loses sight of cost.
Telephone service isn't like electric service. A drop line to the
street doesn't cost the electric company much; their expense is mostly
in the generation, which is consumed by usage, not connections. Water
used to be flat-rated in some of my area, but vastly higher costs
(mostly in sewage treatment) have led to major usage-based charges.
Heavy users generate more sewage, so it's fair. (Our sewer bills are
on a usage basis, but use water meters as a surrogate. It's a higher
per-CCF charge than water per se.)
So what costs do heavy phone users incur? With older CO switches and
analog transmission, heavy local usage did incur some significant
expense, though never as much, on average, as the non-usage-sensitive
portion. With today's costs, it's less so. A modern CO costs around
$600/line with typical usage. If average traffic were several times
higher (all modem freaks, etc.) then it would at most double, but more
likely increase by less than that. Inter-CO transmission is also
cheaper, now that fiber optics are predominant; they have nearly
infiite bandwidth, though the multiplexors aren't cheap.
I have no trouble with telcos charging for usage at their true
incremental cost, marked up a for a reasonable (not double) profit.
But that's not what local measured service plans usually are. Most
make usage cover several times its fair burden, thus creating a true
subsidy to light users from heavy users.
Value of Service pricing never claimed to be cost-justified; it was a
policy decision. Local measured usage in most cases is really a Value
of Service plan disguised as cost-justified. The real numbers just
don't add up.
Fred R. Goldstein k1io goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 21:07:00 +0100
From: naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org (Christian Weisgerber)
Subject: How Cold is Co-o-o-old?
In comp.dcom.telecom the TELECOM Digest Editor notes:
> Some responses are in order on this cold day in Hell ... for the past
> 39 hours (Friday about 6 PM through Sunday at 9 AM) the temperature in
> Chicago and suburbs has been sub-zero with a drop to fourteen below zero
> Friday overnight into Saturday morning; a 'high' temperature of two below
> zero Saturday and eleven below last night. We're told things may 'warm
Hi Pat,
With regard to the international readers of TELECOM Digest I suggest
that you mention which kind of degrees you mean :-)
(I guess the above values are Fahrenheit.)
Christian 'naddy' Weisgerber, Germany naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You bet they are Fahrenheit degrees!
But the conditions the past three days have been even worse. On
Monday the temperature hovered about about zero degrees all day and
dropped to 22 degrees *below zero* overnight into Tuesday morning.
Our 'high' temperature all day yesterday was 11 degrees *below zero*
Overnight last night into this morning, the temperature was again
about 20 below zero and as I write this, we are 'warmed up' once
again to 11 below zero. It is expected we may reach zero today and
after another sub-zero night rise into the teens on Thursday. Those
are Fahrenheit degrees. We are all miserable. It is impossible to
keep our houses warm. What I am really quite worried about is that
the gas bill for January will probably be several hundred dollars
and they will cut my gas off for non-payment. This is a real concern
to me. This weather is the worst we have had for several years.
We have many people also who try to heat their houses with little
electric heaters which themselves overheat and start fires. Two nights
ago a big fire started in an apartment building here due to the
residents using electric heaters and 'jumping out' the fuses in the
electric line in order to keep all the heaters going at one time. The
wires caught fire, the building burned down. All the people went to
the homeless shelters to live. :( Very bad conditions here. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #40
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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 14:46:00 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401242046.AA08037@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #41
TELECOM Digest Mon, 24 Jan 94 14:46:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 41
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Administrivia: Some Problems, and a New Computer (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Broadcasters React to Los Angeles Earthquake (Darren Ingram)
Book Review: "Compuserve CIM Running Start" by Campbell (Rob Slade)
UC Berkeley Short Courses on High-Speed Communications (Harvey Stern)
GMSK Modulation Method (Ramesh Sinha)
IC's For DTMF Detection (Nicholas J. Cutaia)
Talk Tickets - 25 cents/Minute (Will Martin)
IS-54 Material (Roupen Nahabedian)
Secure DISA With Centrex (Jerry Carlin)
Telecom-Document Stores (Ake Knutsson)
Calling Card Blocked to Mexico (Ken Weaverling)
How Can I Get Around a Pair Shortage Problem? (Barry Lustig)
C&P Call Forwarding (Steve Fram)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Administrivia: Some Problems and a New Computer
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 1994 20:30:00 CST
For a couple days this week I had some emergency things to deal with
here which prevented me from working on the Digest and then when I
sat down Saturday morning to try and catch up, I was reminded that
the site where the Digest is produced (delta.eecs.nwu.edu) would be
down all day while the old computer was taken out of service and the
new one installed ... to be followed of course by the recompilation
of all the executables and editing of all the scripts which made
reference to certain file locations, etc. We got back on line late
this evening, so here I am after a four day absence. Then, things
still did not work right, and I had to wait for a conference with
the sysadmin to get a couple things about sendmail straightened out.
There is a huge backlog of messages in the queue, most of which simply
will not be used in order to stay current on new topics coming in. May
I respectfully suggest that existing threads be closed out at this
time with no further replies to old topics from the past week or
earlier. Thanks very much.
PAT
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 94 22:03 GMT
From: Darren Ingram <satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Subject: Broadcasters React to Los Angeles Earthquake
Reply-To: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk
This following report is from today's Satnewswire. Permission is granted
for the entire to be redistributed free of charge as long as there is no
commercial use. We also released one for Telecomworldwire earlier today.
SNW-18 January 1994-BROADCASTERS REACT TO LA EARTHQUAKE- GLOBAL REPORT
SATNEWSWIRE--(C) 1994 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON, USA/LONDON, UK- At 1231GMT yesterday (17
January) Los Angeles was hit by a massive earthquake centred 20 miles
northwest of downtown LA in the San Fernando Valley. While the
earthquake has killed at least 28 people with its 6.6 Richter scale
shakings most of the public remain calm, TWW and SNW correspondents
report at 0100GMT Tuesday.
Telecommunications services throughout the area were disrupted by the
early morning quake although emergency service communications on the
whole remained operable. The effects of the quake on America's second
city were felt as far away as Las Vegas (275 miles east). Broadcast
stations were understandably busy covering the event. Interest from
international broadcast stations was also high
Local television stations who were able to come to air did so and even
in the San Francisco Bay Area, about 400 miles north of the earthquake
area, virtually all local TV stations immediately began rebroadcasting
satellite feeds from the disaster zone. ABC, CNN, CBS and NBC
continued live coverage although some of the local independent
stations reverted back to their usual programming schedule around
teatime.
CNN had two of its anchors in LA by chance when the quake struck and
they filed reports by phone within minutes. The other networks flew
their anchors in to present the evening news shows.
CNN lost power to its LA bureau and for a while reports were sent from
a Ku-band uplink truck. It took Bernard Shaw about 2 1/2 hours to get
his first stand-up to camera interview on air. In the race to get to
air CNN was first with a report by 4.38PST, followed by NBC at 4.42
and ABC/CBS at around 7.45. In the UK ITN reported at about 1255
(4.55PST) followed by the BBC about ten minutes later. Data for Sky
News is not available.
There has been a plethora of news feeds carried for all of the main
major networks over North American satellites including: G4/8 --
Telemundo feeds in Spanish; G4/12 -- KABC, Los Angeles; G4/17,19 --
CBS raw feeds; G3/20 -- ABC feeds; G3/11,15 -- CNN feeds; T2/10 -- ABC
feeds; T2/13 -- feeds; G2/6,7 -- ABC feeds and G2/18,20 -- CNN feeds.
CNN Airport Channel on GSTAR2 stopped its usual programming menu and
relayed CNN live and CNN International (Ku-band) dropped Leitch
encryption and went in-the-clear so that rebroadcasts of its signals
can take place. CNN drew heavily on its local affiliates KTLA and
KTTV for coverage, often coordinating its reporters live while on air.
NBC used KNBC, ABC used KABC and CBS used KCBS.
In many of the airborne news reports, there has been frequent evidence
of co-channel interference on the internal TV station microwave feeds.
Obviously there are so many news agencies using the limited number of
channels that the field feeds suffer visible video damage and
sometimes total loss.
In Europe Sky News was relaying live footage throughout the day and
night from Fox. The Intelsat-K satellite was used to distribute the
live broadcast. The European Broadcasting Union used Intelsat 601 to
link its New York news bureau to the Eurovision distribution network.
Eutelsat II-F1 acted as a rebroadcast feed for Reuters Television and
WTN amongst many other broadcasters.
GE reports that all is well at its South Mountain Earth Station,
located approximately 45 miles north of the epicentre. Although
commercial power was lost all four diesel backup generators provided
TT&C and Communication control of F2R(72W), C1(137W), C3(131W),
C4(135W), C5(139W), K1(85W), K2(81W) uplink and monitors.
"After-shocks are occurring but except for a few fallen ceiling tiles
and a slightly disturbed 21 meter autotracker, we are doing fine,"
said Grant Koehler, a spacecraft controller for GE at the site.
It appears that not all Americans sympathised with the plight of their
fellow countrymen. ABC Television said that they received hundreds of
phone calls that continuous news coverage interrupted their soap opera
viewing.
CNN was also the victim of a phone hoaxer who posed as a LA fire
department spokesman who gave out a toll-free number for information.
The number turned out to be a recorded order- taking service for
raunchy Howard Stern videos. Bernard Shaw aired the number and
subsequently apologised to viewers before hitting out at the prankster
for being "not funny and in fact very stupid."
*Prodigy Services Co. in White Plains established a free bulletin
board system which linked Prodigy's online community in the quake area
with the rest of the United States. Nearly a thousand notes were
posted within hours of creation. CompuServe set aside a special forum
for on-line queries and information for anguished US citizens.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 14:53:12 MDT
From: Rob Slade <roberts@decus.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "Compuserve CIM Running Start" by Campbell
BKCSVCIM.RVW 931202
Sybex Computer Books
2021 Challenger Drive
Alameda, CA 94501 USA
510-523-8233 800-227-2346
Fax: 510-523-2373
or
Firefly Books
250 Sparks Avenue
Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4
416-499-8412 Fax: 416-499-8313
"Compuserve CIM Running Start", Campbell, 1993, U$17.95/C$22.95
71650.2556@compuserve.com
Let's review this on the basis of the cover blurbs.
"Exclusive Two-Part Format, Designed to let You Get the Most Out of
CompuServe." The two-part format is a tutorial and a reference
section. Hmmm. Somehow that format sounds vaguely familiar.
However, if you need this tutorial to get you started, I doubt that
you are ever going to get the most out of CompuServe. Remember, this
is a tutorial on how to use a graphical interface, which is, itself,
an aid to a menu interface. "If you want to add an address to your
address book, just press the Add button when you are in the Address
Book Screen!"
"Nine Simple, Step-by-Step Lessons to Help Make You a CompuServe Ace."
Simple? Yes. Ace? See above. Let us suppose, though, that this
book is aimed at the complete and utter computer neophyte. There is
nothing here about the really hard part of communications: setting up
the modem and making the first few calls.
"Covers both WinCIM and DOS CIM." On the inside back cover is a
sample screen from CIM for DOS. There are twelve references to
differences between the two versions. Otherwise, this is about
WinCIM.
"Special Bonus Offer! FREE CompuServe Introductory Membership Plus a
$15 Credit towards Your Usage." If there is anyone who has been
involved in the computer world for a while and hasn't had dozens of
such offers -- how did you avoid them?
Now all of this may be amusing, but is it fair to the author? After
all, it is the publisher who decides on such things as the cover, and
often even the title. However, what is really at issue to the
"consumer" is the book as a whole. Campbell has done a reasonably
good job. The material is fairly clear, and the work is well written,
as far as it goes. However, the concept of the book, as a whole, is
one that boggles the mind. Do people really need documentation for
this? Do they need a third party book?
A while back a friend and I were delving into CompuServe via WinCIM.
There were a number of "features" which we thought should probably be
there, but we couldn't figure out how to make it work. This book was
no help either in terms of finding those features, or in terms of
confirming that they were or weren't available. Third party books on
systems generally either help to mitigate the shortcomings of the
existing documentation, or teach more advanced "tips and tricks".
This book doesn't, and there seems to be little chance that such is
possible with this topic.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKCSVCIM.RVW 931202
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.
======================
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 12:46:26 -0800
Subject: UC Berkeley Short Courses on High-Speed Communications
U.C. Berkeley Continuing Education in Engineering Announces Three Short
Courses on Communications Technology
SONET/ATM-BASED BROADBAND NETWORKS: Systems, Architectures and Designs
(April 18-19, 1994)
It is widely accepted that future broadband networks will be based on
the SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) standards and the ATM
(Asynchronous transfer Mode) technique. This course is an in-depth
examination of the fundamental concepts and the implementation issues
for development of future high-speed networks. Topics include:
Broadband ISDN Transfer Protocol, high speed computer/network
interface (HiPPI), ATM switch architectures, ATM network
congestion/flow control, VLSI designs in SONET/ATM networks.
Lecturer: H. Jonathan Chao, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Brooklyn
Polytechnic University. Dr. Chao holds more than a dozen patents and
has authored over 40 technical publications in the areas of ATM
switches, high-speed computer communications, and congestion/flow
control in ATM networks.
GIGABIT/SEC DATA AND COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS: Internetworking,
Signaling and Network Management (April 20-21, 1994)
This short course aims to provide a general understanding of the key
issues needed to design and implement gigabit local and wide area
networks. The topics are designed to compliment those covered in the
SONET/ATM-Based Broadband Networks course (above). Topics include:
technology drivers, data protocols, signaling, network management,
internetworking and applications. Specific issues addressed include
TCP/IP on ATM networks, design of high performance network interfaces,
internetworking ATM networks with other network types, and techniques
for transporting video over gigabit networks.
Lecturer: William E. Stephens, Ph.D., Director, High-Speed Switching
and Storage Technology Group, Applied Research, Bellcore. Dr.
Stephens has over 40 publications and one patent in the field of
optical communications. He has served on several technical program
committees, including IEEE GLOBECOM and the IEEE Electronic Components
Technology Conference, and has served as Guest Editor for the IEEE
Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.
PERSONAL (WIRELESS) COMMUNICATION NETWORKS: Cellular Systems, Wireless
Data Networks, and Broadband Wireless Access (April 20-22, 1994)
This comprehensive course focuses on principles, technologies, system
architectures, standards, equipment, implementation, public policy,
and evolving trends in wireless networks. Topics include: modulation,
coding, and signal processing; first generation systems; second
generation systems; broadband networks; third generation systems; and
applications and technology trends. This course is intended for
engineers who are currently active or anticipate future involvement in
this field.
Lecturer: Anthony S. Acampora, Ph.D., Professor, Electrical Engineering,
Columbia University. He is Director, Center for Telecommunications
Research. He became a professor following a 20 year career at AT&T
Bell Laboratories, is an IEEE Fellow, and is a former member of the
IEEE Communications Society Board of Governors.
For more information (complete course descriptions, outlines, instructor
bios, etc.) contact:
Harvey Stern
U.C. Berkeley Extension/Southbay
800 El Camino Real Ste. 150
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: (415) 323-8141 Fax: (415) 323-1438
email: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 94 00:05:09 GMT
From: rsinha@iucaa.ernet.in (Sinha)
Subject: GMSK Modulation Method
I am trying to find recent references to GMSK(Gaussian Mean Shift Key)
method of modulation in CDMA type spread spectrum application. Are
there other modulation methods known which are still more efficient
from the consideration of bandwidth utilization?
Thanks for your help,
Regards,
Ramesh Sinha
------------------------------
From: cutaia@atlas.wustl.edu (Nicholas J. Cutaia)
Subject: IC's For DTMF Detection
Date: 22 Jan 1994 14:44:01 GMT
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
I am interested in finding the IC's that will filter and detect the
DTMF frequencies. I have read in "Understanding Telephone
Electronics" that semiconductor manufacturers produce integrated
circuits to provide both the bandsplit filtering and detector
functions. They mention the Mitel MT8865 and American Microsystems,
Inc. AMI S3525 as candidates for the filtering operation, and the
Mitel MT8860 for the decoding.
I have two problems. First, the book was written in 1984 and there
have undoubtedly been newer versions of these IC's and perhaps more
manufacturers. Second, how do I go about getting information on
specifications for these IC's.
I would like to know if there are newer versions of these IC's out
there, and if so, who are the manufacturers. Also, how do I go about
getting these IC's and how much do they cost. Any help would be
appreciated. Please send responses to my e-mail.
Nick Cutaia cutaia@atlas.wustl.edu njc@agnc1.mdc.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 94 9:13:00 CST
From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: Talk Tickets - 25 Cents/Min
I just caught up with the back issues of TELECOM Digest from over the
holidays, and noticed several referrences to various sources' telephone
"talk tickets" at prices that varied from 33 to 50 cents/minute for
domestic use. It seems unwise (at the very least!) to spend this much
when there are some available that cost you only 25 cents/minute. And
at that rate they are still giving some of that back to the
organization that markets them, so these higher-cost ones appear to me
to be vastly overpriced.
Let me update my previous (December) posting on one source; these are
now advertised as being available over the phone for credit-card
orders. (I have no idea why these people didn't do that from the
beginning ...)
The populist newspaper, The Spotlight, is selling these type of
prepaid telephone cards in $30, $50, and $100 denominations. The
original ad said they're good in the US and Canada, but not Alaska,
but the current (Jan 3) ad says "anywhere in the USA" -- I have no
idea if that means things changed over the intervening month. Calls
are charged against the card balance at 25 cents per minute at all
times. The ad does not state the 800 number you call to use the card.
They do imply you deal with a live operator that will tell you your
outstanding balance, but I suppose that could also be an automated
interface.
They state the card can be "replenished" by calling and giving a
credit-card number to restore or increase the credit balance against
which calls are charged, but I don't know if that is done through the
order number (below) or through the unstated connection number, or via
yet a different number.
To buy these, you can call with a Visa or MC, or write them and order
cards with a check (payable to "The Spotlight"), or a Visa or MC
number, with expiration date and signature. The address/phone is:
The Spotlight
300 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20003
800-522-6292
Regards,
Will
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 94 12:02:15 PST
From: nahabed@ntmtv.com (Roupen Nahabedian)
Subject: IS-54 Material
Looking for references on IS-54 material (other than EIA
recommendations) : publications, artciles, books, etc. Also, if you
can recommend any training materials/sources, it would be
appreciated.
Please reply via email ... our newsfeeds is on the skids :(
Thanks in advance,
Roupen Nahabedian
------------------------------
From: jerry@tcs.com (Jerry Carlin)
Subject: Secure DISA With Centrex
Date: 22 Jan 1994 15:20:19 -0800
Organization: Teknekron Communication Systems, Inc.
We are trying to use Security Dynamics SecurID to do secure DISA with
Centrex and have a problem.
Our Centrex will not allow transfer of dialtone. If A calls box B then
box B must dial the entire number. IE, the only way to connect A to C
is using three way calling. What some PBX's allow is box B (or a
second person) to <flash> and give dialtone to user A.
Does anyone know if any Centrex's allow dialtone transfer and if so,
what is the magic jargon phrase I need to tell our telco rep? This is
a DMS-100 switch, if that makes a difference.
The other way the box works is by connecting a user to a modem. The
second port on the box sends a ring-signal to a modem which then goes
off hook. Is there a voice equivalent box (besides an answering
machine, of course) to a modem that will pick up a line on ring signal
and connect thru? I assume if such exists it is used for some other
purpose but anything I can coerce into doing what we need would be
very useful.
Thanks in advance.
Jerry M. Carlin (510) 649-3789 jerry@tcs.com
------------------------------
From: knut@tts.lth.se (Ake Knutsson)
Subject: Telecom-Document Stores
Date: 23 Jan 1994 00:00:45 GMT
Organization: Communication Systems, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
ITU has an electronic document store with a sample of ITU-T (formerly
CCITT) Recommendations. That store is accessible by Gopher, Telnet,
and E-mail (addresses given below).
Are there any other telecom-document stores connected to the Internet?
How about organisations such as ATM Forum, IEEE, ANSI, TIA, ISO, ETSI,
EURESCOM, ESPRIT, RACE,...?
Anybody who knows?
Gopher:
Type=1
Name=ITU - International Telecommunication Union
Path=
Host=info.itu.ch
Port=70
Telnet: info.itu.ch (login name 'gopher')
E-mail: Send the line HELP in the message body to itudoc@itu.ch
Ake Knutsson email: knut@tts.lth.se
Dept. of Communication Systems ..!uunet!tts.lth.se!knut
Lund Institute of Technology, SWEDEN fax: +46 46 145823
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 21:46:23 EST
From: Ken Weaverling <weave@hopi.dtcc.edu>
Subject: Calling Card Blocked to Mexico
I am so angry I could spit ...
I am at work. Tried to call Merida, (Yucatan) Mexico using my RBOC calling
card ("the ONLY card you will need") from my work PBX ...
AT&T: I keep getting a message in English spoken by a female with a
Spanish voice. "This line is busy."
Sprint: Called, punched in calling card, message says "Your
organization has restricted this type of call. If you feel this is in
error, call your customer service representative. 42 210" I called,
she said she saw no reason why my account should be restricted and to
call 800 877 8000 and ask them to put me through manually. I just got
mad and said there were plenty of other companies I could patronize.
Just to make sure, I went down the hall and used a pay phone. Same
response.
MCI: Called, immediate cut-in by MCI operator. I give her calling
card. She tells me she can only accept MCI cards to call Mexico. But
I don't want an MCI call. I don't want to punch in 40 digits to make a
phone call ...
So, I wondered if AT&T was also blocking, but taking a chicken way
out. I tried again, and glory, it went through.
My girl friend is in Mexico for several weeks. My call volume there will
sky rocket. Guess what LD company will be getting my business ...
Ken Weaverling weave@dtcc.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 20:15:11 PST
From: Barry Lustig <barry@ictv.com>
Subject: How Can I Get Around a Pair Shortage Problem?
A friend of mine lives in a coop apartment in New York City. He has a
run of four wire non-twisted pair running from the demarc in the
basement to his apartment. He would like to be able to run more than
two phone circuits to his apartment (modem, fax, phone, etc), but the
coop won't let him run any additional wire. Is there anyway to get
more that two phone circuits running over the four wires?
barry
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 14:35:02 -0800
From: Steve Fram <steve@igc.apc.org>
Subject: C&P Call Forwarding
Knowlegeable Net Folks --
I am working to setup some modem dialin capacity in the Washington DC
metropolitan area. The modems themselves will be in the Berwyn
exchange in Maryland -- area code 301. However, we want to have a 202
dialin number for DC users (mostly for marketing purposes; we realize
that Berwyn is not a toll call from 202). We need to support a peak
of 20 simultaneous dialins, and an average of 5.
We asked C&P what this would cost, and got a bid that seems just too
high:
Monthly charges:
o Switched Redirect Service
20 Type 2 service@6.25 ea 125.00
20 redirecting #'s @.40ea 4.00
20 flat usage type 2@18.00ea 360.00
------
489.00
or
o Remote Call Forwarding
20 RCF @ 16.80 336.00
Plus 9.3cents/call forwarded.
This seems like a lot of money for a relatively simple switching
service, within a local (no-charge) calling area.
Does anyone know if there are other services that can work in this
case? Other vendors?
Do we really need to buy 20 paths to support 20 simultaneous calls, or
is this just marketing hype?
Thanks,
Steve Fram Technical Director, IGC steve@igc.apc.org
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #41
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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 19:30:02 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401250130.AA17676@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #42
TELECOM Digest Mon, 24 Jan 94 19:29:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 42
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
'Superhighway' Onramp Intact (Knight-Ridder via Van Hefner)
GDC Announces FastPro (tm): A New High Speed Modem For $675 (vfast@gdc.com)
Telecom in Eastern Europe (Van Lany Gunther)
Sprint and the Earthquake (Les Reeves)
Sprint ATM Announcement (Les Reeves)
Modems to Merlins (Cliff Sharp)
Administrivia: Problems Here With New Computer (TELECOM Digest Editor)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: vantek@aol.com
Reply-To: vantek@aol.com
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 04:43:22 EST
Subject: 'Superhighway' Onramp Intact
Electronic Highway Replaces Long-Distance
Calls During L.A. Earthquake
By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld, The Dallas Morning News
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
DALLAS--Jan. 18 Roads of mere concrete went down in rubble, but
Southern California's section of the information superhighway mostly
survived Monday's earthquake. People whose telephones were useless for
long-distance voice calls were able to get the word out using
Internet, Prodigy, America Online and other computer-linked systems.
"This is the only link I have to civilization right now," messaged an
America Online subscriber, identified on the network as SoCal27822,
Monday afternoon. The long-range computer link-ups survived because
they work differently than standard phone systems, said Carol Wallace,
a spokeswoman for Prodigy.
Most local phone service in the Los Angeles area was unaffected or
quickly restored after the quake. But long-distance connections were
blocked by a flood of calls and Pacific Bell's decision to hold lines
open for emergency use only.
The Prodigy switching stations in Los Angeles and the rest of the
country are connected by different lines, Ms. Wallace said. Other
subscription services circumvented the long-distance logjam the same
way, like an express lane on the information highway. But not every
electronic on- and off-ramp was open Monday, said Rusty Williams,
general manager for Delphi, another on- line subscriber service.
"There are places of the information highway that fall apart in an
earthquake as well," he said. "There are schools out there that are
down, that aren't on the network."
But those failures didn't close down the rest of the network. People
across the country exchanged news, rumors, offers of help and
expressions of sympathy as the horrific pictures flashed on TV
screens. Some of the messages were complaints.
"The telephone company needs to get on the information highway and
create an on-line emergency line for local callers to get out," said
Craig D8478, participating in a live "newsroom" discussion that the
500,000 subscribers to the America Online service could join.
The Prodigy service, a one million-subscriber joint venture of
International Business Machines Corp. and Sears, Roebuck and Co.,
established a special bulletin board for people who wanted to talk
about the quake. More than 4,000 messages hit the board in the first
six hours.
A special board for Tonight Show host Jay Leno attracted 4,000 calls
last year, but that took two weeks, Ms. Wallace said. Monday's
bulletin board served as a clearinghouse for questions about damage in
Petaluma or possible connections to recent quakes in Pennsylvania.
A Dallas subscriber identified as Marva Lanier, for instance, offered
to make phone calls to Dallas and Fort Worth residents, if any
California callers affected by the quake could get through to her box
number by electronic mail. Such relay services sprung up in almost
all parts of the country, ranging from Olympia, Wash., to Mobile, Ala.
The relays even took to the air, with some subscribers to the
land-line services taking messages to their ham radios and
broadcasting information for worried relatives. With television
showing pictures of flames and destruction, some California locals
used the Prodigy bulletin board as a means of calming general fears.
"I can assure you that even though it seems on TV that we have been
flattened, there is relatively little damage to homes," messaged a
Prodigy subscriber identified as James Morrissey of Anaheim.
He was participating in an on-line discussion about damage in the
Northridge area, at the quake's epicenter.
"Our homes are designed to withstand an earthquake many times this
severe," he wrote. "This evening you will be able to phone."
The informal reporting of events had its hazards. Accounts of outages
of electricity, gas or phone service frequently were secondhand. Most
often, the accounts traced back to a similarly "unconfirmed" news
account. In one exchange, a "concerned Ohioan" said he heard that 24
people had died. At the time, a headline in the regular news section
of the Prodigy service said five people were confirmed dead.
Yet the story itself said 10 were dead and noted that the Red Cross
was denying a report that it had told NBC News that the toll was 25.
But the lack of professionalism was a relief to some who had spent the
day glued to TV screens or enduring the repeated aftershocks.
A Burbank man known on America Online as Noisehead was among those who
took to the network for comfort and perspective. "It is nice at this
point," Martin Brumbach messaged, "to get some info not delivered by
anchor people."
Van Hefner Vantek Communications
------------------------------
From: vfast@gdc.com (V.Fast Information)
Subject: GDC Announces FastPro (tm): A New High Speed Modem For $675
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 11:07:48 -0500
What follows is a bulletin from General DataComm about our new FastPro
(tm) modem. This is an optimized version of our flexible VF 28.8
product family that is targeted for the remote PC based user.
For the name of your nearest distributor, please call 1-800-523-1737
or fax to FastPro (tm) Marketing, (203) 758-9129.
For TECHNICAL or PRODUCT questions, you may either fax your queries to
(203) 758-9129, or send e-mail to vfast@gdc.com. Please include a
daytime phone number.
Please mention that you heard about it in TELECOM Digest.
General DataComm, Inc. 1579 Straits Tpke. , Middlebury, CT 06762-1299
INTERNET BULLETIN
Contact: FastPro (tm) Marketing
FAX: (203) 758-9129
GDC ANNOUNCES FASTPRO (tm): A NEW HIGH SPEED MODEM FOR $675
Middlebury, CT, January 19 -- General DataComm today announced their new
FastPro (tm) high speed modems. Created for the demanding professional
datacomm user, this stand-alone modem provides the user with very high
speeds at a competitive price.
"Performance is key to this market," says Dick Drake, GDC's Director
of Analog Transmission Products, "and we have tested this one against
much higher priced products and found we can, in some cases, double
the throughput of our competitors." GDC will upgrade the modem,
without charge, to the new ITU-T V.34 when that standard is ratified
later this year. This upgrade will be done, in conjunction with GDC's
Bulletin Board, with a call over the phone lines.
This new line of modems was created to sell through reseller channels,
where price is a major consideration. The suggested list price is
$675.00. GDC will act as a stocking distributor for dealers and VARs to
assure rapid delivery of orders. For those registering their FastPro (tm)
modems with 30 days of purchase, the warranty will be extended to a
two-year term.
For those interested in more information on FastPro (tm), or the name
of their nearest GDC distributor, please call 1-800-523-1737.
General DataComm, Inc. is a leading provider of multimedia networks
and telecommunications equipment worldwide. They are currently
expanding their reseller channels. Based in Connecticut, GDC serves
corporate customers and telephone operating companies throughout the
Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.
------------------------------
From: hw42344@vub.ac.be (VAN LANY GUNTHER)
Subject: Telecom in Eastern Europe
Date: 24 Jan 1994 15:38:08 GMT
Organization: Brussels Free Universities (VUB/ULB), Belgium
Hi,
I am a student in communication research at the Brussels Free
University (VUB). At the moment I am preparing a paper on the export
activities of Western telecommunication firms towards Eastern Europe.
If any of you has more information on this topic, would you please be
so kind and mail it to me. Thanks in advance and regards from Brussels
hw42344@is1.vub.ac.be (VAN LANY GUNTHER)
Student Communicatiewetenschappen
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 11:10:26 PST
From: Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com>
Subject: Sprint and the Earthquake
SPRINT NETWORK FUNCTIONING NORMALLY AFTER L.A. QUAKE
Sprint's all-digital, fiber-optic network withstood the early
morning earthquake yesterday in the Los Angeles area with no serious
damage.
Generator power was required at about a dozen regenerator and
point-of-presence sites along the Sprint network, but this did not
affect service to customers. Sprint's four switches in the L.A. area
were not affected.
Working closely with local exchange carriers (LECs), employees in
Sprint's Network Operations Control Center (NOCC) have so far blocked
about three-quarters of a million calls going into the L.A. area.
Sprint will adjust the call volumes going into the area during the
next few days to accommodate the requests of the LECs, which are
assessing the damage to their facilities.
"Blocking the calls that go into a disaster area does two
things," said Jerry Usry, director, Network Management. "First, it
takes the pressure off the LEC's network so that more people in the
area can call out to relatives and other loved ones. Secondly, it
keeps the phone networks from malfunctioning due to call volume
overload." AT&T operators are giving out Sprint's access number,
10333, to callers who are not able to get through on the AT&T network,
according to Usry.
"In some previous disasters, AT&T operators didn't provide
callers with the codes of alternate carriers to try to get their calls
through," Usry said. "As a result, AT&T received some negative
criticism. During the aftermath of yesterday's earthquake, they are
providing alternate access codes to callers who can't get through."
Other situations that affected or posed a threat to ancillary
portions of Sprint's network included:
o Two central data offices of the SprintNet network were without
power until generators were brought to the area. Few customers were
affected by the outage because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
and instructions for L.A. residents to stay at home.
o A switch for LD/USA, Sprint's long distance carrier in the
Hawaiian Islands that also manages the company's initiatives in the
hospitality marketplace, lost power until a generator could arrive.
o A train derailment between Van Nuys and Camarillo spilled a
toxic substance, sulfuric acid, on the ground above a Sprint fiber
cable. A Sprint fiber technician is on-site during clean-up, and it
appears the cable, which is encased in conduit and concrete, will be
safe.
"Sprint's network survived exceptionally well because of the
safeguards throughout the network," Usry said. "Also, the teamwork
among the Regional Control Centers, the Network field personnel and
the NOCC was superb."
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 11:12:14 PST
From: Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com>
Subject: Sprint ATM Announcement
Contacts: Evette Fulton, (O) 202-828-7411; (H) 301-230-0978
Norman Black, (O) 404-859-6096; (H) 404-578-0679
SPRINT ENHANCES ATM SERVICE WITH LOW-SPEED ACCESS
AND INTERNETWORKING OPTIONS
-- Provides Smooth Transition to Broadband Networking --
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 1994 -- Sprint today announced a
comprehensive package of enhancements to its Asynchronous Transfer
Mode service aimed at simplifying and expanding customer access
and furthering its position as the leading data networking
solutions provider.
ATM, a leading-edge broadband technology, is one of the key
building blocks of the information highway. Sprint was the first
long distance carrier to announce ATM service, in the third
quarter 1993, and began offering service to its first customer in
the fourth quarter.
"With this announcement, Sprint is committing to provide more
access options to our ATM network than any of our competitors,"
said Dom DeAngelo, vice president of Data Product Management.
"This means customers can choose the access method that makes the
most sense on a location-by-location basis."
The enhancements include cost-effective lower-speed access
to Sprint's ATM service and options to interwork with Sprint's
frame relay service and its SprintLink(R) service, which provides
access to the Internet. The enhancements also allow easy customer
migration to ATM via lower-cost frame relay and T-1 (1.5 megabit
per second) services at lower-volume traffic sites.
The SprintLink to ATM Service Gateway will be available in
the third quarter. The following enhancements will be available
in the fourth quarter 1994:
o T-1 ATM -- Provides cost-efficient ATM access for relatively
low-volume (1.5 Mbps) users. It enables businesses to build Local
Area- and Wide Area Networks on a common ATM networking
platform, and allows efficient integration of data, video and
voice on one transmission facility.
o T-1 Circuit Emulation -- Allows customers with T-1
networking equipment to access Sprint's ATM service without any
additional equipment purchases or upgrades. Using a traditional
T-1 circuit, locations with existing T-1 private line equipment
can internetwork with other locations that have converted to T-3
(45 Mbps) ATM access. This option, unique to Sprint, greatly
benefits customers who want to protect their investment in private
line applications and equipment. Customers requiring ATM's
advanced capabilities for new applications can continue to operate
their existing T-1 private line networks on ATM, migrating their
existing applications to end-to-end ATM as slowly or as quickly as
they want.
o SprintLink to Sprint ATM Service Gateway -- Provides
interworking between ATM and SprintLink services as an option of
Sprint's commercial ATM service offering. This gateway, unique to
Sprint, allows users of Sprint's ATM service to access Internet --
a group of 12,000 interconnected data networks in more than 80
countries serving government, academic and research organizations
-- and will be available in the third quarter.
o Multiple T-1 (NxT-1) Access -- Allows access to Sprint's
ATM service via one to eight T-1 connections, providing a cost-
effective alternative for customers with bandwidth requirements
between T-1 and T-3 (between 1.5 and 45 Mbps).
o Sprint Frame Relay to ATM Service Gateway -- Provides
interworking between ATM and frame relay services on the same
customized virtual network. Customers can invest in frame relay
now and can easily migrate later to ATM as needed on a
site-by-site basis, while maintaining full connectivity throughout
their network.
"Sprint's clear broadband strategy, which we announced a year
and a half ago at the Telecommunications Association trade show
and which includes cost-effective and easy migration paths from
existing to future networks, is continuing to be critical to our
customers," said DeAngelo. "These offerings are part of this
comprehensive broadband strategy, which ties traditional
technology to the most advanced networking solutions available."
To provide many of these enhancements, Sprint will use the
Wide-Area ATM Gateway multiplexer switch from Digital Link
Corporation of Sunnyvale, Calif.
The Gateway provides low-speed access and internetworking
options by efficient multiplexing of T-1 cell, frame and
isochronous (circuit emulation) traffic as well as T-3 cell
traffic onto high capacity T-3 and Sonet Optical Carrier level-3
and OC-12 circuits. It is designed for central office,
point-of-presence, and campus environments.
Sprint also will continue to provide customers with Digital
Link's premises equipment, such as the 3202 ATM DSU and the new
Premisway ATM multiplexer.
"Pricing is obviously important to our customers so Sprint is
incorporating these new access options into its current ATM
pricing structure," DeAngelo said. "T-1 ATM and T-1 circuit
emulation will be priced slightly higher than Sprint's Frame Relay
T-1 service, while the Frame Relay and SprintLink gateway services
will have a fixed monthly fee."
Sprint also will be evaluating the Alcatel Data Networks
1100(TM) HSS(TM) ATM switch for access and interworking functions.
The switch will be tested at Sprint's Burlingame, Calif., Advanced
Technology Laboratories. Alcatel Data Networks is a joint venture
of Alcatel and Sprint.
Sprint's ATM service currently is available nationwide from
more than 300 locations and supports both bursty data traffic and
continuous steady traffic, such as voice and video. The service
offers flexible pricing, with both usage-sensitive and flat-rate
billing options.
Hughes Aircraft, Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc. and the
National Information Infrastructure Testbed (NIIT) are currently
using Sprint's ATM Service.
Sprint is a diversified international telecommunications
company with more than $10 billion in annual revenues and the
United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network.
Its divisions provide global long distance voice, data and video
products and services, local telephone services to more than 6
million subscriber lines in 19 states, and cellular operations
that serve 42 metropolitan markets and more than 50 rural service
areas.
------------------------------
From: clifto@indep1.uucp (Cliff Sharp)
Date: Mon, Jan 24 1994 11:13:44 CST
Subject: Modems to Merlins
A friend is part owner of a small business using a Merlin Plus
system. He wants to add a modem to his coterie of computer equipment
(and I've been trying to get him to do it for the longest time!).
However, for some reason he feels that a dedicated line is too
expensive and wants to hook it into his Merlin system.
Now, a little research turned up a general-purpose adapter that
AT&T sells for just such use; it plugs into one of the telephones and
provides a POTS look-alike that somehow can use any line.
Problems with this setup (read "questions for the group"):
1. The primary reason I want the modem there is so that I can call
their machine and use some sort of remote-access software to figure
out what they're doing to their poor machine when they break it. The
Merlin "solution" sounds to me as though I would never be able to get
to their modem (or that the modem would answer any call that came in,
not just mine). Yes? No?
2. For some incredibly silly reason I can't talk them out of, they
demand that the first line(s) of their hunt group remain open at all
times possible and unused by outbound calls. (Explaining hunting to
them is very like teaching the proverbial pig to sing.) From what I
understand, the adapter either seizes the first open line or has to be
manually routed. How does it really work?
3. This whole thing sounds as though they're going to have to plug
the adapter into a phone and route RJ-11 cable all over the office.
Friend likes the idea now, but he's gonna change his mind when he sees
it. Is there any other way to do it so we can run 4-pair to the modem
location?
ANY ideas are welcome, including how to explain to a wall that a
dedicated line is his best solution.
Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us WA9PDM
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 16:36:39 CST
From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: Administrivia: Problems Here With New Computer
First off, I apologize for the lapse of several days since we last got
together in this electronic space ... a combination of several things
went wrong all at the same time.
For a couple days last week, some urgent problems here kept me away
and unavailable. I sat down Saturday morning to catch up on the
backlog of mail only to be reminded that our site (delta.eecs.nwu.edu)
was offline all day for replacement with a new machine. That change
got accomplished by about 8 PM Saturday, however I had a few scripts
here which no longer worked! Sunday and part of today was spent
getting my act together once again. Now I am back on line; let's see
how things go during the week ahead.
The backlog of mail is unbelievable. I'll run what I can however if
you please, let's close out all the old threads which were pending and
start over again. Thanks.
PAT
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #42
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From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401262004.AA04852@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #44
TELECOM Digest Wed, 26 Jan 94 14:03:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 44
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
US Robotics Adds X.25 to Total Control (Ed Brill)
DC Pay-Phone Rates Increase to 25 Cents (Michael Rosen)
Info Needed on Modems That Provide/Multiplex RS-422/RS-366 (Mike Foltz)
Needed: 500mhz-1.2ghz Spectrum Analyzer (Rev. Michael P. Deignan)
Call for Action on Australia's Data Highways From ACS (Tom Worthington)
International Dialback Long Distance Calling (Mike Beatty via D. Burstein)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: usr!ebrill@uu3.psi.com (Ed Brill)
Subject: US Robotics Adds X.25 to Total Control
Organization: U.S. Robotics, Inc.
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 16:54:46 GMT
U.S. ROBOTICS ADDS X.25 TO TOTAL CONTROL INTERNETWORKING PRODUCTS
SKOKIE, Ill., -- January 24, 1994 -- U.S. Robotics, Inc., today
announced the addition of a full-featured X.25 PAD to its line of
Total Control internetworking products. The Total Control Integral
X.25 PAD allows asynchronous dial-up to X.25 packet- switched networks
without cabling individual modems to an external PAD. The X.25 PAD
will be available in March, 1994.
Total Control products support multiple protocols and interfaces,
integrating complete LAN/WAN connectivity in a single chassis. The
X.25 PAD may be added to the Total Control Enterprise Network Hub and
Transaction Processing Hub, eliminating external equipment and RS-232
cables to increase performance and reduce per-channel cost.
"X.25 allows organizations to optimize their investment in their
networks," said Jonathan Zakin, U.S. Robotics executive vice
president. "X.25 networks can provide cost advantages over
circuit-switched networks, and can also provide an ideal solution for
transaction processing applications, where short bursts of data must
be transmitted quickly without error."
The X.25 protocol is widely used in a variety of applications,
including inquiries to corporate databases from remote sites,
insurance claims processing, electronic mail, and point-of-sale
transaction processing.
"X.25 is the standard transmission protocol for the Ameritech Packet
Switched Network, and is positioned to be the backbone for data
transmission throughout the region," said Bill Fitzpatrick,
applications manager for Ameritech. "X.25 is data efficient and
customer-friendly, making it easy for the customer to connect to the
Ameritech network."
The X.25 PAD consists of an Application Card and a dual V.35/RS-232
Interface Card. The Application Card is available in 24- or 60-
channel versions. The Interface Card supports two high-speed,
software-configurable V.35 or RS-232 ports to connect the PAD to an
X.25 network, and supports speeds up to 2.048 Mbps in V.35 mode and
57.6 Kbps in RS-232 mode.
Additionally, the product supports several features that dramatically
increase the number of calls it can handle. Automatic call routing
reduces call setup time by automatically routing incoming calls to
their destination via ANI (Automatic Number Identification), DNIS
(Dialed Number Identification Service) or subscriber ID. Automatic
channel configuration allows dynamic configuration of all asynchronous
channels based on ANI, DNIS or subscriber ID. The product will also
support protocol spoofing (VISA 1, VISA 2 and T3POS) to reduce
transaction processing times.
Like other Total Control Gateway Cards, such as Ethernet, Token Ring
and Frame Relay, the X.25 PAD is user-programmable through an API
(Applications Programming Interface), which allows users to easily
customize the product to handle a wide variety of application-specific
features and protocols.
The Enterprise Network Hub enables organizations with remote
locations, telecommuters and mobile employees to aggregate their dial
traffic onto T-1 lines and route it through a packet-switched network
to their host computer at a central site. The Transaction Processing
Hub reduces verification times for credit card, point-of-sale, and
inquiry/response transaction processing applications by interfacing
with local exchange carrier services, such as Feature Group B and D.
The Enterprise Network Hub and Transaction Processing Hub are logical
extensions of the company's Total Control product line; U.S. Robotics'
Total Control line of intelligent modem management systems, introduced
in 1990, was the company's first entry into this market.
Both products use a common architecture, which consists of a 1 Gbps
midplane, and circuit and packet-switched buses to minimize processing
time. Through downloadable software- defined technology, U.S. Robotics
can easily modify and enhance its products to take advantage of new
and emerging technologies.
U.S. Robotics, Inc., (NASDAQ:USRX), is a leading designer,
manufacturer and marketer of data communications systems and products.
Both corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations are based in
Skokie, Illinois. U.S. Robotics owns and operates U.S. Robotics Ltd.
in Slough, England, U.S. Robotics, s.a. in Lille, France and P.N.B.
s.a., based in Suresnes, France. The company markets its products to
business, industry, government agencies and original equipment
manufacturers, and to end-users through the personal computer
distribution channel.
Please refer inquiries to U.S. Robotics, Inc., at 1-800-USR CORP.
These products are also available in Canada; for editorial
information, please call U.S. Robotics Public Relations.
All products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective manufacturers.
Ed Brill KA9TAW E-Mail/Internet Administrator Sales: salesinfo@usr.com
ebrill@usr.com U.S. Robotics, Inc. Support: support@usr.com
postmaster@usr.com Skokie, Illinois USA Phone: +1-708-982-5010
------------------------------
From: mrosen@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Michael Rosen)
Subject: DC Pay-Phone Rates Increase to 25 Cents
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 06:03:46 GMT
Washington Post, 1/24/94
Getting Connected Gets Costlier As D.C. Pay-Phone Rate Rises
By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
It costs 5 cents more to make a pay phone call in the District, but
that didn't make a nickel's worth of difference yesterday to several
Washington residents.
Some, like Anna Toyos, who used a pay phone at Third Street and
Massachusetts Avenue NE yesterday to tell her family she was on her
way home from work, didn't even realize the increase -- to a quarter
-- had taken effect.
"I didn't notice that it was 20 cents before," Toyos said. "I don't
use them that often. Maybe that's why I didn't notice."
Last month, the District government authorized Chesapeake & Potomac
Telephone Co. to increase its revenue by $15.8 million by increasing
rates this month on business customers, on special services such as
call waiting and on pay phone calls.
Basic residential rates were not affected by the increases, which were
determined by the city's Public Service Commission.
C&P [now officially Bell Atlantic - the ads have been airing this week
- Mike] had been requesting increased revenue of $35.1 million, and
company officials said they would appeal the commission's decision.
A consumer advocate also criticized the rate increase, but for the
opposite reason, saying it would be costly for phone users.
But people using pay phones yesterday didn't mind -- at least not too
much.
"I think it's fair," said Charles Hackley as he stood near a pay phone
that his wife, Pamela, was using on the edge of downtown.
Hackley noted that pay phone calls in Northern Virginia and suburban
Maryland already cost 25 cents.
"I think people in the District have been lucky," Hackley said.
"Stamps have gone up. It's about time phone calls went up.
"I do think they should use the increase to fix a lot of the phones
that don't work," he added.
Pamela Hackley said she didn't like that rate increase but didn't want
the pay phone she had just used to be repaired.
"When you make a phone call on it, more money comes back when you
finish the call," she said, displaying a handful of quarters.
"I was her lookout," her husband joked.
[End of article]
It's funny, I only recently was reading an article saying how they
should once and for all raise the pay phone rates to a quarter. It
was mentioned how most people don't bother to get the exact change and
plop in a quarter anyway.
Michael Rosen mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu
George Washington University Alumni (Fall '92)
Tau Epsilon Phi, Tau Theta 381
------------------------------
From: mike_foltz@sgate.com
Subject: Info Needed on Modems That Provide/Multiplex RS-422/RS-366
Date: 26 Jan 1994 17:29:11 GMT
Organization: Collins International Services Company
I am looking for modems both fiber and copper that provide a RS-422
and a RS-366 interfaces to provide dialing and data information to be
multiplexed and transmitted.
I have video teleconferencing and Inverse Mux equipment that has both
RS-422 and RS-366 interfaces. The 4 building campus has both fiber
optic and copper in its distribution system. We would use these
modems to remotely connect the interfaces of the above equipment over
the distribution system.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Foltz
foltzmik@sgate.com 703-803-8361
------------------------------
From: kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.com (Rev. Michael P. Deignan)
Subject: Needed: 500mhz-1.2ghz Spectrum Analyzer
Date: 26 Jan 1994 13:30:23 GMT
Organization: Small Business Systems, Inc., Esmond, RI 02917
Reply-To: kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.com
I have tried posting this message to various other USENET newsgroups,
but their readership isn't as technically advanced as those in CDT, so
I know someone here can give me a good lead.
I am looking to purchase a used spectrum analyzer, in the 500 to 1200
mhz frequency range. A feature that is needed (but not 100% required)
is the ability to interconnect the device to a computer to download
data to a PC database.
Since I've never shopped for an SA before, I'm about as familiar with
what is on the market as I am with the dung beetle of the upper
Hymalayas.
Therefore, I would appreciate feedback from those "in the know" as to
potential models I should shop for, and perhaps a few sources of where
I can pick up a decent piece of equipment at a fair price.
Naturally, if you have one for sale, let me know. I have a circa 1977
rotary-dial trimline I'd be willing to swap for it! :-)
Michael P. Deignan, KD1HZ Internet: kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.com
UUCP: ...!uunet!anomaly!kd1hz AT&TNet: 401-273-4669
------------------------------
From: tomw@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au (Tom Worthington)
Subject: Call for Action on Australia's Data Highways From ACS
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 13:27:49 GMT
Australian Computer Society members have had a central role in the
creation of Australia's data networks. Many of you have joined me in
ACS activities over the Internet network. I ask members to put that
experience to work for the benefit of the Australian community. Help
connect your neighbours, your community group, your school, company or
government department.
In June last year the ACS wrote to the Prime Minister of Australia,
urging the Government to join our American friends on the electronic
frontier. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is now
considering this issue, in it's latest IT Strategic Plan.
During 1994 the ACS will contribute its expertise to create a national
system linking IT professionals. They will be encouraged to transfer
this knowledge to their clients, companies and government agencies.
The ACS Canberra Branch established a pilot system in 1993 to provide
limited network service free, to members. From 1 March 1994 ACS
Canberra will provide a full Internet service for a small fee.
IT professionals will be asked to showcase Australian products and
services, using the global data networks. Members will be encouraged
to also use the network to support local cultural and community
groups.
Almost one hundred years ago Australia's founders created a new
nation. It was formed from a common heritage and in part, united by
the communications technology of its day.
As we approach the year 2001 a new technology is emerging from
Australia's universities and research laborites. Just as the telegraph
made it possible for Australians in 1901 to receive news across the
content, "data highways" will allow all Australians to communicate
across the world.
As trailblazers on the new electronic frontier, let us dedicate this
task to Australia's early pioneers. The goal is that all Australians
will have access to the public data network, by the dawn of the new
millennia at the centenary of Australia's federation.
Tom Worthington <tomw@adfa.oz.au>, Director of the Community Affairs Board
Australian Computer Society Inc. Fax: +61 6 2496419 23 January 1994
ABOUT THE ACS: The Australian Computer Society is the professional
association in Australia for those in the computing and information
technology fields. Established in 1966, the ACS has over 14,000 members
and on a per capita basis is one of the largest computer societies in the
world. ACS activities are announced in the Usenet newsgroup "aus.org.acs".
ACS information is available via the Internet Gopher at:
acs-gopher.mit.csu.edu.au Port=1605 courtesy of Charles Sturt University.
------------------------------
From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein)
Subject: International Dialback Long Distance Calling
Date: 26 Jan 1994 07:45:46 -0500
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Danny passed along this item which he
found in Usenet's misc.consumers newsgroup. The idea is the very
same as that used by Telepassport (for whom I am an independent
representative). Calls from other countries to the USA are 're-originated'
here at a savings in cost to the calling party. Of course, I would
*prefer* that if you make a lot of international calls to/from the USA
and other countries that you use Telepassport, since your support and
use of the service helps the Digest, but none the less, the message
which follows will inform you of another such program available. For
information on Telepassport, write me and ask for the file; for more
information on the service below, write those people instead. PAT]
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: mavihoja@cscns.com (Michael D. Beatty)
Subject: International Dialback L.D.
Organization: Community_News_Service
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 14:04:34 GMT
To Fellow Internet Users:
I will do my best to describe my need in as concise a manner as I
can. I am the marketing Vice President for a relatively new company
in the field of telecommunications, namely, the call re-origination
phenomena. Some refer to this technology as "dialback", the
terminology isn't of any great importance.
The technique is as follows. The customer is given an access
number in the U.S. in order for him to partake in U.S. system benefits
and rates. He calls this number, hangs up after two rings, then the
computer, "Fred", calls him back and says, "This is (company name),
you are ready to dial." This process saves in percentages that
attract callers all over the world, and quite frankly, the business is
coming in at rates that are a little cumbersome. The problem, as I
see it is that if a firm marketing structure and discipline isn't set
down at this healthy juncture, we will pay the price in the future.
You can undoubtedly see how this kind of thing could attract the type
of individual who always wants to go for the "big deal" before he sets
up his primary income stream ... based on regular users.
We have had so many requests for one company or individual to
apply for exclusive rights for an entire country, that it is really
starting to rub me the wrong way. My request is this... Keeping in
mind that the competition is quite sparse, meaning that according to
our research there are only 3-5 others doing this type of business in
any level of effeciency or size, and considering that we have a
responsible interest in adhering to a marketing structure that will
avoid inherent pitfalls of "network marketing", I would at this time
like enlist your input, guidance, ideas, etc. We began the outreach
worldwide with the intention of building a "tree" approach, i.e., The
agent who signs up a user gets .08/min on any users HE signs up,
.04/min on any of his agents users in his immediate downline, .02 in
the next, .01, then finally on the 5th level, .01. In all honestly, we
don't know if this is the most effecient method to market this
product.
Let's take an example. I personally got a call from a gentleman
in Nigeria, who discovered that by using our service, he could avoid
paying the local PTT in Nigeria the $5.00 per minute charge to call
the U.S. and instead be charged our rate of $1.35/minute. He
immediately expressed an interest in spreading the word about our
product around his country. Many folks who are in the similar
position ask for exclusivity right up front, and want 10-12%
commission. So far, we have the latitude to pretty much cut any
"deal" that is requested, or required, but sooner or later the cookie
cutter approach is going to become necessary if we are to adhere to
consistancy. My levity is to get away from the "shoot from the hip"
approach, and formalize the alternatives into a formula for
utilization of energies and distributing the opportunities available
as fairly as possible. If you need anymore specific explanation of
how the actual product works, I will be glad to do that, but at this
time I'd like to open the thing up for scrutiny ... what is the most
expedient methodology to market such a beast? Discussion would be
more than appreciated.
And, just for your informational purposes, the following is a file
that we use to explain our services to potentially interested parties.
The rate of expansion that we are experiencing is explosive and
exponential, due to the fact that that system actually DOES save the
customer the amounts promised.
COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Substancially reduce cost of calls from almost ALL Countries to U.S.
and other destinations ...
CSInt'l is a revolutionary way to place INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE
PHONE CALLS AT SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED RATES (30 to 70%)!!
By routing all your international calls through the United States, we
place the LOWER RATES and COVERAGE of the U.S. phone system right in
your hand. And since all your calls are handled by our state-of-the-
art computer, all of its special features and advanced abilities are
also at your disposal.
With CSInt'l you can call FROM any of the 235 countries in the world
TO any of those same countries - virtually the entire world.
You can start using CSI today WITHOUT CHANGING YOUR PHONE EQUIPMENT OR
SERVICE HOOK-UP IN ANY WAY. All you do to use the CSInt'l computer is
simply call it. There are no calling cards to get lost or stolen, no
billing account digits to enter, In fact, you can place an
international call with as few as four digits!
All calls are completely automatic - no operator assistance is
required. You are billed in 6 second increments instead of whole
minutes.
BENEFITS
% Simple to Use.
% No Risk.
% Speed Dialing.
% No Equipment Modifications Needed.
% Keep the Line for as Many Calls as you Need.
% Faster, Fully Automatic Dialing.
% Eliminate Hotel Surcharges.
% 6-second Billing Increments.
% Crystal Clear High Quality Digital Transmission.
% 48 Hour Activation.
% And of course -- LOWER RATES.
HOW IT WORKS
We assign you a special unlisted U.S. phone number that you will call
and then hang up after 1-2 rings. Since you hang up (and we don't
answer) there is no charge for the call; however, our computer knows
you called and WILL CALL YOU BACK.
At this point you simply answer the phone and dial the number you wish
to call. That's all there is to it.
The CSI phone program does NOT have multiple levels of menus or or
long instructions to listen to. All of its functions are accessed
from a single familiar place. Nothing could be easier to use in
making long distance calls.
When you finish talking you can either hang up like you normally do,
OR you can press the star key twice (**). The ** hangs up the other
end of the call, but keeps you connected to the CSInt'l computer so
that you can place another call. You can use the ** as many times as
you like. In fact, we deduct another 5% off the per minute rate for
all calls you make using this feature. The ** feature is also handy
for hanging up on answering machines or voice computers that you don't
want to pay to talk to.
TOUCH TONE
You DO NOT have to live in a touch-tone dialing country to use
CSInt'l. However, your phone must be able to produce touch-tones in
order for you to use CSInt'l. If you have any question regarding
this, we give you a hand held tone dialer that does the tone dialing
automatically for you.
Most phones have a tone/pulse switch that you simply flip to the tone
position when you answer the dialback call.
The sooner you get started the sooner you'll begin saving ...
Our pricing is the most thorough in the industry. We break the world
up into as many areas as possible to bring the best possible rates.
WE HAVE A PRICE THAT YOU WILL KNOW IN ADVANCE FOR EVERY POSSIBLE
COUNTRY TO COUNTRY CALL. Instead of sending you 600 pages of pricing
though, we have all of those prices in an IBM-PC compatible program
that you can use to look up any call price in seconds! This program
compares all countries prices with all other possible combinations of
calling destinations.
BILLING
Our billing is just like what you are used to. You use the service
and we send you a bill. The only thing we ask is that you place an
approved credit card on account with us. We accept all standard forms
of payments, including all major credit cards. If a credit card isn't
available, then we require a $250.00 Security Deposit (to be held in a
government insured account) . We assure you, this security deposit is
completely refundable upon your request, less any outstanding long
distance charges.
! GET STARTED !
To cut your phone bill in half, start using CSInt'l-DIALBACK today by
simply filling out the SERVICE INITIATION FORM below and INTERNET or
FAX it back to us if you choose credit card billing; otherwise, mail
it to the address enclosed.
So easy to begin...
SERVICE INITIATION FORM
Communications Systems International, Inc. (CSI) will establish your
service and provide you with a CSI-ACCESS TELEPHONE NUMBER within 2
business days on receipt of THIS form and a credit card number,
or the REFUNDABLE security deposit of $250.00 (USD) You will receive
instructions by voice or fax as soon as your service is available, and
complete information about special features and options by mail.
NAME: ______________________________________________________
COMPANY: ___________________________________________________
ADDRESS: __________________________________________________
CITY: __________________________________ STATE: __________
COUNTRY: _____________________________________ ZIP: ______
PHONE #: ____________________________ FAX #: ______________
INITIAL DIALBACK TELEPHONE NUMBER: _____________________________.
Enter the phone number where the CSI computer is to call you
back, You can change this from your location at any time.
PAYMENT METHOD:
[ ] CREDIT CARD (circle one): VISA AMEX MC DISCOVER
ACCOUNT #: __________________________________
Expiration Date: ______________
[ ] CASH, CHECK, or MONEY ORDER enclosed.
Your SECURITY DEPOSIT is held in a US government insured account
and is available to be refunded, less outstanding charges, at
your request within 2 business days.
I hereby authorize CSI to bill the above for usage of the CSI system.
I understand that a 1.5% per month (18% annual) service charge will be
assessed on unpaid amounts over 30 days past due.
Signature: ______________________________________ Date: ___/___/_____
RETURN TO:
Communications Systems International, Inc.
121 E. Pikes Peak Avenue, Suite 226A
Colorado Springs, CO 80903 USA
Phone: 011-1-719-471-3332 Fax: 1-719-471-2893 or 1-800-950-5033
#10050
And if you're interested in joining our international marketing
efforts ... the residual income has staggering possibilities, as you
can undoubtedly see. How does 08/min on your efforts sound? How
about .04/min on those who join "under" you? How about .02/min on
those directly beneath them? And, .01/min on everyone one level
under, .01/min all the way to the 5th level? When you're dealing with
such a global need, the residual income possibilities here are truly
exciting! And yes, we have the latitude to design a specific
marketing program for your particular needs.
We at Communication Systems International would love to
encourage you to request more information of this revolutionary
opportunity. But, as we stand ready to fill that request, our primary
motivation of this message is to stimulate you into taking action now.
Please fill out the signup form and return it to us immediately, as
the sooner you do, the sooner you can begin calling at our
significantly reduced rates. There really IS nothing to loose, and
only savings from which to benefit.
Michael D. Beatty
1-719-471-3332 1-800-950-5033
Fax:1-719-471-2893
Mavihoja@cscns.com
Vice President of Marketing
Communications Systems International
----------------------------------
dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) (10288) 0-700-864-3242
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Danny, thanks very much for passing that
along. A couple observations are in order: the two differences between
Telepassport (my offering) and the above are the method of billing and
their emphasis on MLM (multi-level-marketing) to promote the service.
Telepassport does not require an advance deposit. We offer credit card
billing or electronic funds transfer with a debit to the checking account
of the subscriber. We have no method of or desire for taking cash in
advance. We do not do MLM. Every representative is an independent person
accountable only to the parent company, US Fibercom. Our rates are quite
comparable to the above service I suppose, however we charge a monthly
minimum use fee of $25. Use it or lose it. We do not for that reason
encourage subscriptions to the service from people whose international
long distance is less than $25-30 per month. I do receive a residual from
the use of Telepassport by subscribers who have signed up through me and
the money thus received is used to help offset the expenses involved in
the production of this Digest.
Indeed, 'call re-origination' or international dialback as it is sometimes
known is a growing industry, and persons in countries outside the USA are
finding out that our international rates here are much better than their
own. They can re-originate, we can mark up the costs to make a profit for
ourselves, and they still wind up paying less than through their own
telecom administration. Ask for more details if desired. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #44
*****************************
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Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 15:04:00 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401262104.AA07642@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #45
TELECOM Digest Wed, 26 Jan 94 15:04:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 45
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Jack Decker)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Gary W. Sanders)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Christian Weisgerber)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (David G. Cantor)
Re: Unmetered Local Service (Pawel Dobrowolski)
Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source (William H. Sohl)
Re: ISDN Primer and Video Uses (William H. Sohl)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: 26 Jan 1994 12:16:20 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net
Reply-To: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: After the mess I had here last week and
the interupption in service over the weekend due to the conversion at
the site, I thought it prudent to try and move forward with new messages
which are arriving now at the rate of about 1000-1500 per week for the
Digest. I suggested maybe the old threads could be closed out. One
reader, Jack Decker was furious to hear this. He was, and apparently
remains convinced that all these events were merely a ploy on my part
to censor and silence his difference of opinion regarding 'unmeasured
local service.' Even though Jack was given space for two large articles
on the topic including one to specifically rebut what I said, and even
though one issue of the Digest was devoted entirely to replies, most of
which rebutted what I had said, Jack feels this was not enough and
that I deliberatly cut off the topic before he could say his piece for
yet a third time. He wrote a nasty flame article to c.d.t.t. (where
flames about you-know-who are always received graciously) telling how
he was censored. He does not like having his work edited, and he said
to me he thinks I should publish 'everything anyone writes to me' with
no comments. He wants to see it all ... so for the next 12,000 bytes
more or less, I present Jack Decker's unedited (and third) article on
why he opposes measured local service. Then following, in the same
amount of space *or less*, a few more sentiments on local measured
service. Jack has stated in the future he won't be writing to me and
that he intends to send his stuff to c.d.t.t. where obviously -- since
it is a Usenet newsgroup -- anything goes, and usually does. Sounds
okay to me. :) I will respond to only one of his remarks; see the
end of his message. PAT]
-------------------
Pat, I will agree with the sentiment that has been expressed by others
here. I fail to understand why you defend the idea of mandatory
measured service when in fact it has cost not only you, but many other
Chicagoians much additional expense.
With your indulgance, I would like to respond to a couple of things you
said, but also add another dimension to this discussion.
That dimension is this: As a matter of public policy, do we want to
encourage or discourage people from communicating with each other?
There is a saying (especially popular among those of a conservative
political bent) that when you want to discourage an activity, you tax
it. If, for example, you don't like privately-owned business, then you
tax privately-owned businesses heavily. If you don't want people to
smoke or drink, you put high taxes on those activities.
Now a tax is really a fee based on some activity, imposed by the
government. Whenever you take some activity that was formerly free,
and then put a fee or tax on that activity, the number of people who
engage in that activity will drop. For example, fewer people (as a
percentage of the total population) engage in fishing and hunting when
those activities are taxed.
By the same logic, if we impose usage-based fees on telephone calls, a
certain number of people will decide not to make a certain number of
calls. And in at least some cases, those will be calls that should
have been made, or that would have been of benefit to someone, maybe
even to you.
(As a side note, most billing in the United States pretty much assumes
that the beneficiary of a call is the caller, therefore the caller pays
for the call. But in some cases the primary beneficiary of a call is
the called party. That raises a whole separate set of issues that I
won't go into now).
My question is whether we really want to discourage phone calls. The
only possible benefit that I can see from discouraging calls is that
the phone companies can get by with installing slightly smaller
switches. I say "slightly" because as you know, peak usage occurs
during the business day and most business calls are already measured
and would be made anyway. So while the total call volume may decrease,
I think the actual peak calling volume would drop very little, and
telephone company switches have to be engineered to handle peak calling
volume. I also suspect there's not a great cost difference in
over-engineering a switch, when you amortize the switch cost over its
lifetime and the number of customers served.
On the other hand, if we discourage local calling, it could have some
negative side effects, such as causing people to become more isolated
from one another. Pat, you've often bemoaned the condition of some
neighborhoods in Chicago; maybe part of the reason that some people
there are acting with less regard for human life is that they aren't
getting the daily calls from grandma or their parents or siblings
anymore. Sometimes lonely people tend to strike out. I'm certainly
not saying this is responsible for all the crime in Chicago, but if you
could avert even 1% of the criminal activity by making it easier (that
is, less expensive) for people to communicate with each other, would
you do it?
When you think about it, people have become pretty isolated from each
other. We don't sit on front porches and talk to passers-by anymore
(you might get shot doing that!); instead we hide behind our walls at
home and watch TV, which is a one-way medium (and I'll avoid a diatribe
about program content for the moment). TV comes into our homes for
free (if we use antennas) or at least on a mostly usage-insensitive
basis (yes, I know that pay-per-view exists, but few people spend much
time watching it). Now we have this other technology that lets us
reach out and talk to others, including friends and loved ones, and
THAT we are starting to charge for. The technology that tends to tear
us apart is free, the technology that brings us together is "taxed" (in
the broad sense of that word; I realize it's not really "taxes" but
it's the same effect. Even the government is calling new taxes "user
fees", so they can tell folks they didn't raise taxes!).
Then there are also the environmental concerns. Put simply, if calls
are free, you are more like to call "just to make sure" that someone is
home, or that a business is open. I can remember times that I "knew"
that a certain business was still open, but decided to call anyway
"just to make sure". Had I had to pay for the call, I would probably
just have driven over there (and been unpleasantly surprised to find
that I "knew" wrong). My point is that it is much better for the
environment to make a phone call than to drive someplace on a wild
goose chase, and again, usage based charges discourage this.
(I want to interject here that I KNOW there are people in the world who
don't care what a call costs; they just call whomever they want and
worry about the bill when it comes. But there are also a lot of people
who will in fact decide NOT to make a call if it costs money. Neither
group is going to convince the other to change its ways!)
In my opinion, we should encourage people (especially residential
customers) to use the telephone, rather than discourage it. We do that
by providing service in a way that does not penalize usage. If that
means that telco has to spend a few extra bucks on switches that have
adequate capacity, let them amortize that in the monthly phone bills
over the life of the switch (I'll bet it would amount to over ten cents
per month per customer, probably a LOT less). Besides, you might
really wish you had that extra capacity during the next emergency in
your area.
Now a couple quick comments on what you said:
[Comments on temperature in the Windy City deleted...]
> ..... None the less, it warms my heart to read
> messages from you guys singling out telco as the one utility service
> which you feel should be an exception to the 'pay for what you use' rule.
>
> Would you like to pay for your electrical service based on some average
> amount that all your neighbors, including the big factory across town
> uses? The factory would love having the electric bill averaged out to
> some community-wide fee per month. Would you object to paying a flat rate
> for your gas or your water based on some amount which includes the public
> laundry down the street with all the washers and dryers running all the
> time? Betcha the owner of the laundry would consider it to be 'fair'.
Pat, you say this but then later you acknowledge the crux of the argument,
but then go on to do what in my opinion is some really wild speculation:
> Jack contends that the use of the
> phone does not affect telco's costs, and while that is partly true
> (and more true than it is in the case of the gas, electric or water
> utilities, all of whom have to obtain and pay for (or 'manufacture' in
> the case of electricity) the product they are passing along), it is
> not entirely true since the size and extent of the *common equipment*
> telco must install and maintain DOES depend on the extent to which it
> is used. The general public does not know this, but I would expect
> most telecom readers to realize that telco does not have wires from
> every phone to every other phone and that said wires sit there idle
> in between calls. The common equipment is continually being swapped
> around among users of the moment. Typically, a telco has the physical
> capacity to serve only about ten to fifteen percent of its customers
> at any one time. If its customers tie up the common equipment for long
> periods of time then more common equipment is needed. Consider the
> car rental business: Hertz had a couple million customers last year.
> They do not own a couple million cars, but rather, they own a few
> thousand vehicles which are constantly being shuffled around among
> customers and locations (where the company operates) to meet the
> demand at the company's busiest times. Ditto with telco.
Pat, where on earth did you get the idea that "a telco has the physical
capacity to serve only about ten to fifteen percent of its customers at
any one time"? Even if that were true, and I seriously doubt it is, it
would be true only of the central office switch, and that is only a
small part of telco's total costs. With very few exceptions, the
wires, cables, and other physical plant dedicated to bringing phone
service to your home are reserved for your use 24 hours a day, for as
long as you have phone service, whether you ever place a call on it or
not. Telco doesn't assign my wire pair to someone else when I'm not
using my line, the way Hertz assigns cars.
As for the switch itself, I would again point out that it has to be
engineered to meet peak calling demand, and that generally happens
during the business day when relatively few residential customers are
using their phones, and in many places business customers are already
forced to have measured service.
You compare telephone service to electric or gas service. The only
thing that telephone service has in common with these is that it is
provided by a regulated utility. But with gas or electric service, it
costs the utility more money to produce more of the product.
Electricity or gas is essentially a product (a certain amount of energy
is delivered), while telephone is a SERVICE. Pricing them differently
is therefore appropriate, especially given that the telephone company's
costs are either not increased at all, or only a very minute amount
when people make more calls.
I suggest that a more appropriate comparison might be that of renting
an appliance, such as a refrigerator. When you have phone service, you
are essentially renting the use of the phone lines (and other outside
plant) and the central office switch. In both cases the equipment may
wear out over time, but not with any particular correlation to usage.
When you rent a refrigerator, the rental company could put a unit
counter on the door, and charge you a few cents every time you opened
the door. That would be the equivalent of measured telephone service.
But in a free market where more reasonable rental plans are available,
no one would rent a refrigerator under those terms. And the fact is
that rental companies are free to rent refrigerators this way, but they
do not.
One other quick point: You said:
> Jack Decker agrees with me that frequently (but only 'at first' in his
> opinion) the costs to many subscribers are lower, and on this point he
> apparently would be in disagreement with Bill Pfieffer and Cliff Sharp
> who feel the bills always are more.
Actually, I was going by what you had said, simply accepting that
particular statement at face value so that we could get on with the
discussion. Since it appears that some of your fellow Chicagoians
disagree with you on this point, perhaps I was a bit hasty in
"agreeing" that the costs to many subscribers are lower. Revise it to
read that the costs to SOME (perhaps relatively few) subscribers are
lower... and I still stand by the statement that this is only at
first, until telco feels that they can get away with raising the rates.
By the way, you thought it was cold in Chicago... about the time you
were feeling distressed at the cold, it got down to 29 below zero
(Farenheit) in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (the HIGH for that day was
-12!). We had it warmer here, I think it only got down to about -4
here (near Muskegon). I think I am glad I no longer live in the frozen
tundra! :-)
Jack
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There you go Jack. More or less the
last word on the topic, unedited, raw, just like you sent it. I had
to dig around in my bit bucket to find it. One response: telcos have
the physical capacity to serve at most 10-15 percent of their customers
at one time. They plan their capacity based on their 'busy hour'.
Maybe someone will be so kind as to write to Jack and explain how the
common equipment in a CO is arranged. Five million subscribers in
Chicago do not have five million dialtones and five million possible
connections *all at one time*. Will someone please explain that to
Jack? Thank you. PAT]
------------------------------
From: gary.w.sanders@astt.com
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 14:06:10 GMT
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.32.1@eecs.nwu.edu> ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack
Decker) writes:
> On Wed Jan 12 08:35:33 1994, lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
> wrote:
> that there is no charge for individual local calls, that is not the
> case in many areas. Ameritech in particular has tried to do away with
> no-charge local calls; they've been successful in Wisconsin and (I
> think) parts of Illinois.
They tried this in Ohio but a the legislature passed a bill that
prohibits the removal of flat rate service.
Gary W. Sanders (N8EMR) gary.w.sanders@att.com
AT&T Bell Labs 614.860.5965
------------------------------
From: naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org (Christian Weisgerber)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 12:48:38 +0100
ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker) writes:
> 2) If you consider the components of local telephone service, charging
> on a per call or per-minute basis generally doesn't make sense (except
> as an artificial means of raising revenue). [...]
This depends on your approach to charging in general.
> The two major components
> involved in the provision of local telephone service are outside plant
> (the wires, cables, and terminal blocks and similar equipment that
> carry service to your home) and the central office switch.
That's the technical approach: pass through the cost actually caused
by the customer.
Telcos are service providers. An approach probably often found with
European telcos (certainly here in Germany) is to charge a fee for
every service, the more useful the service is the more expensive it
gets, with no regard to the actual cost (except that there should be a
net profit altogether).
>> Hahahaha hahaha ha ha ... he ho hummmm ... Here in Denmark, local
>> calls have been metered for many, many years -- by the pulse method.
Same in Germany. Oh, if you want to receive charging pulses (16kHz
beeps) on your end, well, that's another service to pay for (DEM
1.-/month).
>> Itemized billing is NOT available, and there would be an uproar from
>> office workers -- on privacy grounds -- if the telco were to start
Same here. Well, actually it is available but somewhat expensive.
(Unfortunately, I can't find the tariff.)
> I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, I do not trust telco to do
> correct billing without having some way to check up on them. What do
> you folks do in Denmark when you get a bill that says you've used
> 100,000 units (meter pulses?) of service and you think it should be
> more like 1,000?
Rule #1: The Telco is never wrong.
Rule #2: If the Telco should happen to be wrong, apply rule #1.
Actually cases like this have happened. The outcome depends on your
persistency, your region's Telco personal persistency, and the mood of
the judge. Some people had to pay those absurd charges.
I mean, it's pretty clear: you have to prove the Telco wrong. The only
body approved to prove the Telco wrong is the Telco. Simple, isn't it?
Christian 'naddy' Weisgerber, Germany naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org
------------------------------
Reply-To: dgc@math.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 10:13:34 -0800
From: David G. Cantor <dgc@ccrwest.org>
Local telephone charges are regulated because (at least until very
recently) the local telco has a natural monopoly.
It would be interesting to determine what charges might be if there
were real competition. Say, three or four companies each capable of
providing local service and with a minimal real cost (to the telco) of
switching a customer to that telco.
In truly competitive situations, rates tend to more closely reflect
real costs, with the exceptions that those customers who have the
least choice get charged the most. A good example of this is airline
ticket charging on competitive routes or grocery store pricing.
In a truly copetitive situation, what would the telcos' strategies be
for charging? how much would they charge for switching? Would they
meter local charges?
Would there be telephone discount coupons, modem coupons, earthquake
spcials?
One might even argue that the regulated rates of today should be based
on what truly competitive rates should be.
David G. Cantor University of California
Department of Mathematics Los Angeles, CA 90024
------------------------------
From: dobrowol@husc8.harvard.edu (Pawel Dobrowolski)
Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service
Date: 26 Jan 1994 01:27:45 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center
> None the less, it warms my heart to read messages from you guys
> singling out telco as the one utility service which you feel should be
> an exception to the 'pay for what you use' rule.
Correct me if I am wrong but local call costs are very usage
insensitive (the costs of running a local telephone exchange will be
virtually the same if we are calling all the time or if we never use
our telephones).
Pawel Dobrowolski
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are costs involved with the
common equipment and the amount of it in place which to large extent
detirmined by how much the phone is used. Even so, why shouldn't
telco get paid for the value of the service? PAT]
------------------------------
From: whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h)
Subject: Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source
Date: 26 Jan 1994 13:21:22 -0500
Organization: Bell Communications Research (Bellcore)
In article <telecom14.39.4@eecs.nwu.edu>, Paul D. Guthrie
<paul@vorpal.digex.net> wrote:
> I'm looking for a couple of answers about some ISDN questions that
> experience and Stalling's ISDN book have both left me unclear on.
> First, a CPE can be line powered (the AT&T 7506 e.g.), but my
> experience with NT1's are that they must be DC powered (but I've only
> dealt with rack mounted units). Can NT1's be line powered?
I am unaware of any "line powering" of ISDN CPE in the USA. Perhaps
what is meant by "line powering" of the AT&T 7506 is that the NT-1 and
associated power supply is located in a telephone equipment closet
somewhere at a customer location and that is the power supply for the
7506.
As to NT1s, the same applies. In the USA, there is no power provided
via the ISDN line to power either the NT1 or any CPE behind it.
> Next, where are the RBOCs putting NT1s for normal residential ISDN
> hookups? Since the U interface range is much longer than the T
> interfaces, it would make sense to put NT1s at the customer site
> (especially for multipoint ISDN hookups, which shorten the T
> interface). Is this being done in practice?
The NT1 is provided (in the USA) by the customer, so there is no
option on the part of the telephone company. Any residential ISDN
line brings the 2 wire U interface directly to the customer's
residence and then the customer (or an authorized agent) installs the
NT1 and all other equipment.
> My reasons for asking about this are to determine whether ISDN
> residential lines are "lifeline" capable in all cases. I.E. can they
> make outgoing operator and 911 calls when powere to the residence is
> out?
Simple answer is ... not at this time. That concept, however, is
being studied to see if a combination of "load shedding" and/or a
reversion to a POTS only capability may be a possibility. It is not,
however, a current capability. Other scenarios include battery backup
for the NT1 and the telephone capability of the CPE, etc.
Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.)
Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!cc!whs70
201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@cc.bellcore.com
------------------------------
From: whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h)
Subject: Re: ISDN Primer and Video Uses
Date: 26 Jan 1994 13:52:02 -0500
Organization: Bell Communications Research (Bellcore)
In article <telecom14.39.3@eecs.nwu.edu>, Lee Sweet <decrsc!leesweet@
uunet.UU.NET> wrote:
> 1. Anybody know of a good primer re ISDN: uses, options, equipment
> required/optional? (I saw only one book at the local tech bookstore,
> and that was a 1/4" volume for USD 79.00 (!) with way-too-technical
> contents. Maybe I want Carl's _Phone_Book_ updated for ISDN ;-) ?
Try "A Catalog of National ISDN Solutions for Selected NIUF (National
ISDN Users Forum) Applications," Issue 2 draft, Document # GP-1.
You can order it from Bellcore ($43) at 1-800-521-2673.
> 2. (1) above caused by request to immediately install two ISDN BRI [I
> do know these are basic rate lines: 2 X 64 kbps + 16 kbps control,
> right?] lines for evaluation a video-conferencing system (from
> PictureTel, I believe). Question: Is ~128kbps enough for usable
> video? I though good video needed at least T1-level data? I believe
> the application is for consulting, which needs much more detail than
> just showing the 'talking heads'.
That depends on the amount of motion you expect to have. The 128Kbs
videoconferencing has proven to be more than acceptable for video
meetings, even though some "smearing" may occasionally happen if the
motion in the picture is too much for the encoding algorithim to keep
up with at 128Kb.
> 3. Can I assume that the twisted-pair we have installed is fine for
> ISDN? It works for 10base-T ethernet, so ... should be fine, right?
> Lee Sweet Internet *lists* - leesweet@datatel.com
The twisted pair you have is probably OK. ISDN was designed to be
deployed over conventional telephone lines, so anything that would
work for a plain old telephone service should be OK for the ISDN line.
Bellcore ISDN Hotline: 1-800-992-ISDN
Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.)
Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!cc!whs70
201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@cc.bellcore.com
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #45
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To: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #43
TELECOM Digest Wed, 26 Jan 94 11:00:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 43
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Administrivia: Some Bugs Still Not Removed (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Mobile Phones in Finland (Juha Veijalainen)
Book Review: "X Window System" by Scheifler/Gettys (Rob Slade)
SprintLink PLUS Announcement (Les Reeves)
Earthquake Update (Sources at GTE, via TELECOM Digest Editor)
More Earthquake News (Michael J. Graven)
Re: Announcing NetworkMCI (David Mullens)
RCF and Data Xfer Rates (trent@netcom.com)
Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer (Randy Gellens)
Please Explain CLLI (Thomas Diessel)
RETRANSMISSION: SEVERAL READERS HAVE COMPLAINED THAT THIS ISSUE
WHICH WAS RELEASED AT 11:00 AM WEDNESDAY WAS NEVER RECEIVED.
IF YOUR COPY *DID* SHOW UP, PLEASE EXCUSE THIS DUPLICATE MAILING.
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Administrivia: Some Bugs Still Not Removed
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:00:00 CST
Most of you know I was offline over last weekend as a result of a
new machine being installed here to replace the old 'delta'. The
new machine is super-fast, even with a large number of users on line
and some rather large tasks all going on at once. The trouble is,
there seem to be some nasty little misunderstandings between myself
and *it* in the way it deals with backslashes, dots, things to do
with awk, gawk, nawk and similar, and every day I am finding new
problems. The latest is that probably some mail is getting lost in
the middle of the scripts I use to filter incoming stuff by file
category. The mail has been very light the past couple days, and
the autoreply script has been triggering at its usual pace but with
nothing to show for it in the incoming queue much of the time. I
am looking into it and have requested professional help from the
sysadmin here. Have patience please.
PAT
------------------------------
From: JVE%FNAHA@eccsa.Tredydev.Unisys.com
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:42:00 GMT
Subject: Mobile Phones in Finland
This information is from Kauppalehti (daily economic newspaper) and
Helsingin Sanomat (daily newspaper). It's probably based on a Telecom
Finland press release. Some fast facts
- Finland has about 500 000 mobile phone subscribers (ARP and NMT analog
nets, both GSM nets). Per capita that's the highest number in the
world (95 / 1000 people), Sweden is second. USA was not listed.
- 10 % new subscribers last year chose GSM, 77 % NMT-900 and 13 % NMT-450
- out of 450131 Telecom Finland subcribers about 2 % use GSM, 59 % NMT-900
and 39 % NMT-450
- 30 % of new subcribers are expected to choose GSM this year instead of NMT
- 14 % of subscribers are private users, but nearly 50 % of new users
aquire their mobile phone for private use. It's quite often cheaper to
get a mobile phone than a normal phone.
- Telecom Finland has 420 GSM base stations; they plan to increase the
number to about 900 by the end of this year (since they also plan to
invest 300 M FIM (about 54 M USD) mainly to their GSM net, you might
assume that one GSM base station costs about 625000 FIM (112000 USD))
- short messaging -, fax - and data services should be available on
GSM this year (some of them even this spring, depending on the status
of GSM phase II standardisation).
Unfortunately I've not seen similar press releases for Radiolinja Oy,
the other GSM operator.
Juha Veijalainen 4ge system analyst, tel. +358 40 5004402
Unisys Finland Internet: JVE%FNAHA@eccsa.tredydev.unisys.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 09:00:15 MDT
From: Rob Slade <rslade@sfu.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "X Window System" by Scheifler/Gettys
BKXWNDWS.RVW 931203
Digital Press
PO Box 3027 One Burlington Woods Drive
Burlington, MA 01803-9593
800-DIGITAL (800-344-4825)
"X Window System", Scheifler/Gettys, 1992, EY-J802E-DP-CRE
rws@x.org rws@expo.lcs.mit.edu jg@crl.dec.com
I am glad there is X. I use it every time I have to explain
"client-server" or "distributed processing" to anyone. Because X
works backwards.
Most people, no matter how carefully you explain the client-server
concept, get hung up on the notion that the "server' is always "the
big box," "their box," or "the far away box," with the "client" being
"the small box," "my box," or "the close box." This is because most
examples have to do with services that involve "their" file server, a
"big" compute server, or a "far away" data base server. It is
extremely useful to be able to describe the user interface as a
service which other computers use as clients.
Here, then, is the definitive guide to programming with X, or, more
formally, the "X Window System", or, more commonly but less properly,
X-Windows. (I had originally assumed that this latter reference was
possibly due to some confusion with the Digital specific
implementation and extension, DECWindows. Digital equipment and
personnel have played a large part in the birth and development of X.
However, Robert Scheifler saw references to X-Windows before the
DECWindows product existed, and thinks it must be due to an assumption
that the naming followed the "Microsoft Windows" form.)
Part of the popularity of X is the fact that there is a considerable
library of routines ready made for implementing X systems. Part one
of the book, therefore, starts with sixteen chapters detailing the
available libraries by function. Part two then defines the formal X
Window System protocol. Part three deals with inter-client
communications conventions, while part four discusses fonts. There
are nine appendices and a glossary.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKXWNDWS.RVW 931203
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 15:38:08 PST
From: Les Reeves <lreeves@crl.com>
Subject: SprintLink PLUS Announcement
SPRINTLINK PLUS LETS USERS CREATE
VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS ON INTERNET
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 1994 -- Sprint today introduced
SprintLink PLUS(SM), the first commercial internetwork service
that allows personal computer users to easily create virtual
private data networks with their suppliers and development
partners worldwide using the Internet -- the global network of
more than 12,000 networks and millions of users.
Sprint will demonstrate SprintLink PLUS directory and
security features for the first time at the Communications
Networks industry trade show Jan. 25-27 at the Washington,
D.C., Convention Center.
SprintLink PLUS lets industry-specific applications, such as
collaborative engineering and design, run over the Internet. It
also simultaneously offers directory, security and other
value-added services.
Using the service, for example, a group of specialized
engineers from companies worldwide could form a "virtual
corporation" and work cooperatively over the Internet on a design
for new aircraft.
Through their UNIX workstations, IBM PCs with Windows(TM)
3.1, or Macintosh computers, members would connect to the
engineering network through a sign-on procedure that controls the
level of access based on the user's ID and password. Once on, the
engineers have the capability to simultaneously gain access to
public databases or component libraries, in addition to private
information such as the aircraft design.
SprintLink PLUS is the first product of Sprint's alliance
with the information technologies development consortium
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. -- also known as
MCC -- to develop electronic commerce applications on the
Internet. SprintLink PLUS combines Sprint's public data Internet
service -- SprintLink(SM) -- with MCC's Enterprise Integration
Network. EINet(TM) is an advanced communications infrastructure
that helps users locate the information they need and create a
secure environment for conducting transactions while also
providing other key value-added services.
SprintLink PLUS value-added services initially will include:
o Directory Services -- SprintLink PLUS Directory Services
make it possible to "look up" information in an integrated data
network environment as easily as flipping though a phone book. In
the engineering example, component libraries could be sorted by a
number of criteria, such as by manufacturer, type, speed or price.
Using the content-based directory, users can retrieve
information by using simple keywords, phrases or questions. The
service lets users easily canvass thousands of sources of on-line
information such as books, journals, magazines, financial
information and library catalogues.
o Security Services -- SprintLink PLUS Security Services let
users safeguard proprietary directory and other information
against unauthorized access. Users decide on a need-to-know basis
who should be able to browse, access and retrieve the
organization's information.
Security Services protect against Internet security breaches
through a two-step identification process: User Authentication and
Access Control. In the first step, the service verifies the
identities of authorized users on both ends of a transaction
before allowing any user into the system. The second step --
Access Control -- lets the organization pre-define which data are
available and to whom.
In addition to the directory and information services,
SprintLink PLUS will soon offer advanced electronic mail
services for secure text, voice and video, and financial
settlement services for electronic payment for goods and services.
Sprint is the "one-stop-shop" for SprintLink PLUS, providing
around-the-clock network management for all connections,
management of routers and associated communications links, and
customer service support. Additional services include customer
consultation, training and acting as a trusted intermediary to
manage customer access databases.
Sprint is a diversified international telecommunications
company with more than $10 billion in annual revenues and the
United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network.
Its divisions provide global long distance voice, data and video
products and services, local telephone services to more than 6
million subscriber lines in 19 states, and cellular operations
that serve 42 metropolitan markets and more than 50 rural service
areas.
* EINet is a trademark of the Microelectronics and Computer
Technology Corporation.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 09:00:00 CST
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: Earthquake Update
The following is a message as it was received here a few days ago
but I held off using it awhile because someone at GTE called me on
the phone asking me to use the 'official to the public' version of
the same thing. That person said the PR Department would be contacting
me, but thus far I have heard nothing more; so here is the version
I got from the 'underground' :) -- one of my various contacts at
the company.
-------------
THE FOLLOWING IS ANOTHER IN THE SERIES OF UPDATES THAT RELATE TO THE
CATASTROPHIC EARTHQUAKE THAT STRUCK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AT 4:31AM PDT
ON JANUARY 17, 1994. WE CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE FREQUENT AFTERSHOCKS.
A LITTLE AFTER 1:00 PM PDT TODAY, THE AREA WAS ROCKED BY TWO STRONG
AFTERSHOCKS.
STATUS AS OF 5:00PM PDT - JANUARY 19, 1994
I. EMPLOYEE ISSUES
OUR EMPLOYEES ARE BEGINNING TO RETURN TO WORK IN THE BUILDINGS
IMPACTED BY THE EARTHQUAKE. EMPLOYEE SAFETY REMAINS PARAMOUNT AS THEY
RE-ENTER THE FACILITIES AND BEGIN WORKING.
THEY HAVE BEEN SUPPLIED WITH SAFETY EQUIPMENT SUCH AS HARD HATS AND DUST
PARTICLE MASKS CONSISTENT WITH GTE SAFETY PRACTICES.
WE HAVE MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO OFFER BUSING FROM THE ANTELOPE VALLEY
INTO SAN FERNANDO. WITH THE DAMAGE TO THE FREEWAY SYSTEMS ON THIS HEAVILY
TRAVELED ROUTE, THE DRIVE IS BECOMING VERY TIME CONSUMING. THE BUS
SERVICE WILL TAKE CARS OFF THE ROAD AND LESSEN THE FATIGUE ON COMMUTING
RIDE THE BUSES.
A TELECOMMUTING CENTER IS BEING ESTABLISHED IN A GTE BUILDING IN
LANCASTER. THE SITE WILL ALLOW SOME EMPLOYEES TO WORK FROM A SITE IN THE
ANTELOPE VALLEY RATHER THAN DRIVE INTO THE SAN FERNANDOR VALLEY. THIS
SITE WILL HOUSE THE DATA SYSTEMS AND EMPLOYEES THAT NORMALLY WORK IN THE
DAC, CARE CENTERS, OPERATOR SERVICES AND BILLING CENTERS. IT IS HOPED
THIS CENTER WILL BE OPERATIONAL WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK.
THE TELECOMMUTING CENTER IS A PARTNER VENTURE BETWEEN GTE, PACIFIC BELL,
RAND CORPORATION, AND CITY AND COUNTY AGENCIES. PUBLIC AFFAIRS WILL BE
DISTRIBUTING RELEASES TO THE MEDIA ABOUT THE VENTURE.
WE ARE EXTREMELY PROUD OF THE EMPLOYEES WORKING IN THE DISASTER AREA.
THEY HAVE A "CAN DO" ATTITUDE AND ARE COMMITTED TO GTE'S RESTORATION
EFFORTS.
2. CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUES
A. THE MISSION HILLS CARE CENTER IS PARTIALLY OPERATIONAL. THERE ARE 50
WORKING POSITIONS STAFFED AND PROCESSING CALLS. THERE WILL BE ADDITIONAL
POSITIONS ADDED ON THURSDAY THE 20TH. ADDITIONALLY, IN THE SAME BUILDING,
WE HAVE SOME DAC, FAC AND MARK ACTIVITIES IN OPERATION WITH MORE
RESTORATION EXPECTED TOMMORROW.
THE NUMBER OF TROUBLE REPORTS CONTINUES TO BE ABOVE THE AVERAGE DAILY
VOLUME. HOWEVER, THE DIVISION AND CARE CENTER PERSONNEL CONTINUE TO MEET
SERVICE LEVEL OBJECTIVES IN RESPONDING TO THEM.
B. TODAY'S AFTERSHOCKS CAUSED SOME ADDITIONAL DAMAGES TO THE MOST
SEVERELY DAMAGED BUILDINGS. THE LAND AND BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT IS HAVING A
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER REVISIT THOSE ADDRESSES TO ENSURE THE BUILDINGS REMAIN
OCCUPIABLE.
THE LAND AND BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT WILL BE MEETING WITH THE STRUCTURAL
C. THE BUILDING SHARED BY THE CUSTOMER CONTACT CENTER AND OPERATOR
SERVICES IN GRANADA HILLS HAS SUSTAINED SO MUCH DAMAGE IT WILL BE
ABANDONED RATHER THAN SPEND THE CAPITAL DOLLARS TO RESTORE IT. THAT
FACILITY WAS TO HAVE BEEN UNLOADED OF EMPLOYEES DURING THE SUMMER MONTH'S
ANYWAY.
THERE IS ABESTOS PRESENT IN THE FACILITY AS WELL. THE PROPER STEPS HAVE
BEEN TAKEN FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE ASBESTOS MATERIAL BEFORE WE REMOVE THE
THOSE DEPARTMENTS AND LA .
A NORMAL OPERATION BY THE END OF THE WEEK.
E. NETWORK SERVICES IS WORKING WITH TRAFFIC FACILITIES TO RE-EVALUATE THE
CALL ROUTING. THE EARTHQUAKE AND IT'S AFTERMATH HAVE CHANGED THE CALLING
PATTERNS IN THE IMPACTED AREA. AFTER THE EVALUATION IS COMPLETE, CHANGES
WILL BE MADE TO ACCOMODATE THE NEW PATTERNS.
F. ONLY THE GRANADA HILLS CENTRAL OFFICE REMAINS ON GENERATOR POWER. THE
REMAINDER OF GTE FACILITIES HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO COMMERCIAL POWER.
G. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS PREDICTING RAIN FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON
AND NIGHT. LAND AND BUILDINGS AND BUILDINGS FLEET AND ENERGY ARE WORKING
TOGETHER TO ENSURE THE ROOFS OF ALL OF THE BUILDINGS IN THE IMPACTED AREAS
ARE INSPECTED AND REPAIRED TO PREVENT WATER DAMAGE TO COMPANY FACILITIES.
ADDITIONALLY, PLASTIC WILL BE ORDERED, DISTRIBUTED AND SURPLUS QUANTITIES
AVAILABLE IN THE EVENT AFTERSHOCKS CAUSE LEAKAGE BETWEEN NOW AND THEN.
INITIAL ASSESSMENTS HAVE REVEALED THE FOLLOWING:
1. A TRAILER PARK IN SAN FERNANDO REMAINS OUT OF SERVICE
DUE TO DAMAGE TO
PLANT AS A RESULT OF A FIRE DURING THE INITIAL QUAKE. THE MATERIAL
TO RESTORE SERVICE WAS ON SITE ON TUESDAY THE 18TH. HOWEVER, A
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL CONDITION PREVENTED CREWS FROM BEGINNING TO
RESTORE SERVICE UNTIL THIS AFTERNOON. THE CONDITION HAS BEEN CLEANED
UP. PLACING AND SPLICING CREWS WILL RESTORE SERVICES TOMORROW.
2. A SHOPPING CENTER WAS PROVIDED TEMPORARY SERVICE AERIALLY. THE
RISER WAS INACCESSIBLE DUE TO A FIRE AFTER THE INITIAL QUAKE.
3. COMMUNITY ISSUES
A. WE HAVE INSTALLED COIN TELEPHONE TRAILERS WITH FREE LOCAL AND LONG
STATION, AND THE REMAINING THREE ARE IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS WITHOUT
TELEPHONE SERVICE DUE TO FIRES RESULTING FROM THE INITIAL EARTHQUAKE.
MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) TO FIND A GTE LOCATION FOR THEM TO USE AS A
DISASTER RECOVERY CENTER.
C. AT A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
TODAY, THE COMMISSIONERS ACKNOWLEDGED ALL UTILITIES FOR THEIR RESPONSE
FOCUSING THEIR ATTENTION ON TRANSPORTATION ISSUES.
EMPLOYEES.
THEIR EFFORTS IN EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS ARE ALSO BROADBASED AND
PROVIDING GTE WITH MEDIA EXPOSURE. THEY INCLUDE: MEDIA NEWS RELEASES
THROUGH WIRESERVICES; FILM FOOTAGE OF DISASTER SCENES TO ENHANCE REPORTERS
PRESENTATIONS OF GTE MEDIA MATERIAL; RESPONDING TO MEDIA INQUIRIES;
GRANTING INTERVIEWS; PRESENTING A GTE FOUNDATION GRANT TO THE RED CROSS
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KNBC TELEVISION; AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO INITIATE
POSITIVE MEDIA COVERAGE.
ADDITIONALLY, PUBLIC AFFAIRS IS WORKING WITH PRODUCT MARKETING TO PROVIDE
LARGE TENTS AT THE PUBLIC SHELTERS IN SUFFICIENT TIME FOR THEM TO PROVIDE
PROCTECTION TO DISPLACED PEOPLE WHEN THE RAINSTORM COMES ON FRIDAY. THEY
ARE ALSO DONATING PLASTIC BAGS AND CARDBOARD BOXES TO DISASTER SHELTERS TO
ASSIST INDIVIDUALS IN PACKING AND MOVING THEIR BELONGINGS.
THE NEXT STATEWIDE CONFERENCE CALL IS SCHEDULED FOR 8 AM ON THURSDAY JANUARY
20, 1994.
------------------------------
From: Michael J. Graven <mjg@CS.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: More Earthquake News
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 06:29:03 PST
Reply-To: mjg@cs.Stanford.EDU (Michael J Graven)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is another message about the
earthquake which I held off using hoping that GTE would have a
report to go with it; but thus far nothing *official* received
so I'll run this now before it gets any older in the queue. This
goes back several days, ignore any dated references. PAT]
Pat:
At 16:22 PST, Dane Pasco (phonetic spelling) of Pac*Bell said on KCBS-AM
740 (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) that:
. volume was causing call setup delays into and out of LA
. LD traffic in and out of the basin was extremely high
. no Pac*Bell customers are without service (!)
. area codes 909, 818, 213, 310 are the most affected
. the 611 repair-reporting center in Van Nuys suffered physical
damage; thus, repair calls are being rerouted to another location.
Earlier this morning (sometime around 11:00 PST), an AT&T
representative (whose name I didn't catch) indicated that one of the
AT&T switches in the area had suffered a loss of emergency power, and
calls into and out of the area were affected. Unfortunately, I don't
recall which switch it was; he, as well, was on KCBS.
Michael mjg@cs.stanford.edu
------------------------------
From: DAVID_MULLENS@billteds.com (DAVID MULLENS)
Subject: Re: Announcing NetworkMCI
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 19:56:00 GMT
Organization: Bill and Ted's Excellent BBS (317) 883-4510
> More to the point, it appears MCI is aiming at a audience
> sophisticated
> enough to understand new product information, but MCI doesn't
> seem to realize that this same audience will tune out nonsense
> messages where no information is really there. The conclusion I
> draw is, "MCI has blown a ton of money on this, with no clear
> idea of what they want to
Perhaps it is because the product is 1) not here yet, or 2) it's here
but there is not many ways for people to use it. I think back to the
commercial about all the "great" things you "will be able" to do in
the future. Forget who did it. This might be the new trend. It's kind
of like vaporware. I think it is suppose to get ignite our interests
(we are discussing it right?) and keep their name in our thoughts.
David Mullens written on Tuesday 01/18/94 at 13:58
Internet: david_mullens@billteds.com
FidoNet : David Mullens@1:231/580 RIME: ->Impact or ->5091
Bill and Ted's Excellent BBS - Russiaville, Indiana Internet/USENET/Fido
(317) 883-4510 v32bis 4 Nodes
10 CD-ROM's Online, all the time Over 2 Gigabytes Hard Drive Space
------------------------------
From: trent@netcom.com
Subject: RCF and Data Xfer Rates
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 22:30:06 GMT
I've got a little issue here I've been trying to clear up with Pac
Bell for the last month or so now. Basically, my problem is this:
I need to make a several-hour call daily from the 510-357 prefix
(DMS100) to a 510-236 prefix (1AE). This call however is a toll call,
so I setup an RCF in the 510-486 prefix (1AE) which is local to both
numbers so that I can save on toll charges.
During the duration of this call, I will mostly be transmitting data
with my modem. If this were purly for a voice call, I would probably
have never noticed a problem -- that is, I lose about 20% of my data
Transfer Rate when dialing through the RCF. I would otherwise have a
perfectly good connection if I dialed direct from 510-357 to 510-236.
I have checked the data transfer rates from 510-486 to 510-236, and
they also seem to be operating at normal rates. I have also checked
the data transfer rates from 510-420 (1AE) through the RCF and they
are also within normal data transfer rates.
Something is clearly happening because of the RCF, but it only seems
apparent when I'm dialing from this DMS-100 in 510-357. Pacific Bell
recommended that I try puting in a service order for disconnection of
the RCF, and then reconnection a day or so later. I fail to
understand how that is going to help anything. The other peice of
advice they gave me was to disconnect my phone line in 510-357, and
apply for another number that is attached to a different switch
(preferably a 5ESS, or a 1AESS). The technician also told me that he
believed the DMS was slower than the other switches, but I'm not so
sure about that either. So can anyone tell me what might be causing
this condition?
trent@netcom.com
------------------------------
From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 20:04:00 GMT
Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer
Just an update, and an observation.
I called Sprint in September to sign up for the offer (and was also
assured it was a 9600 baud external modem). My line was switched to
Sprint. I never received the modem, and every time I called I was
told something different. For a few months, I was told the modem
would be shipped, but that there had been problems getting it shipped
automatically. Then, I was told that I was not eligable for the
modem, because 'the offer expired on October 1.'
Finally, I talked to a supervisor, and we went through the notes on my
account. It seems my original call was taken by someone not familiar
with the offer, and this person failed to sign me up for the modem
(but did switch my line).
When I pointed out that I had called to sign up for the modem before
the offer expired, and that it was no fault of mine if the Sprint rep
didn't do it right, the supervisor promised to contact the manager in
charge (no longer Diane Worthy, it seems) and appeal. This was at the
end of last year, and I still have not heard anything.
I must say this entire experience has lowered my estimation of Sprint
quite a bit.
Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com
A Series System Software
Unisys Corporation [Please forward bounce messages
Mission Viejo, CA to: rgellens@mcimail.com]|
------------------------------
From: diessel@informatik.unibw-muenchen.de (Thomas Diessel)
Subject: Please Explain CLLI
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 10:27:22 MET
I read about DS2 switches and found the acronym CLLI. What does it mean?
Thomas Diessel
University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich
Computer Science Department
D-85577 Neubiberg, Germany
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is a good time to remind all
readers about the glossaries available in the Telecom Archives and how
to use them. If your site allows anonymous ftp, you can pick up all the
various telecom glossaries using ftp.lcs.mit.edu. Then login anonymous
and use your name@site as the password. When logged in, 'cd telecom-
archives/glossaries', and there you are. If you prefer, you may use the
Telecom Archives Email Information Service instead. Using the usual
format for email information (as for the help file if you are unfamiliar
with this part of the service I offer), your command within the text of
your letter should be GLOSSARY <argument>, where <argument> is the
acronymn you are seeking. All the glossaries will be searched and the
search results returned to you by email. See the detailed help file for
using this service. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #43
*****************************
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Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 10:45:08 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401271645.AA28494@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #46
TELECOM Digest Thu, 27 Jan 94 10:45:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 46
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State (Matt Fisher)
Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State (Greg Trotter)
Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State (Hiro Sugawara)
Cutover Dates For New Area Codes (David Esan)
Re: Internet ISDN Connection (Tarl Neustaedter)
Re: Internet ISDN Connection (Patrick Installe)
Re: Internet ISDN Connection (Patrick Wong)
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Al Varney)
Re: How Does Inmarsat Work? (Pat O'Neil)
Re: How Does Inmarsat Work? (Thomas Chen)
Re: Truckstop Calling Cards (Matthew B. Landry)
Re: Truckstop Calling Cards (Ray Normandeau)
Re: Looks Like a Hacker (T. D'Amico)
Re: Earthquake and 818 AC (Robert McMillin)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mfisher@u.washington.edu (Matt Fisher)
Subject: Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State
Date: 26 Jan 1994 20:00:25 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
Reply-To: mfisher@u.washington.edu
0003991080@mcimail.com writes:
> So far I have seen nothing about this in the local media, so maybe you
> heard it here first.
They was a short blurb about it on the from page of the {Seattle Times}
on Jan 15. It was not much more informative than your message.
These are the boundaries it gave:
{Seattle Times}, Associated Press "206 Code to be split"
"...Under the new plan, the 206 area will extend from Everett to Fort
Lewis. Marysville will be in the 360 code area as will Lacey, Yelm
and Olympia.
To the west, the 206 boundary will be the Pierce County line up
Case Inlet and a small part of southeast Kitsap County. All the rest
of Kitsap County will be in 360 except for Bainbridge Island.
On the east, Sumner in Pierce County will be 206, but
Buckley will be in 360. The eastern King County boundary is still
under discussion, but Issaquah and Duvall will remain in 206. Most of
Snohomish County will be in 360."
Matt Fisher <mfisher@u.washington.edu> -=- (206)545-2900
374 McCarty Hall, GR-10, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
------------------------------
From: greg@gallifrey.ucs.uoknor.edu (Greg Trotter)
Subject: Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State
Date: 26 Jan 1994 20:34:40 GMT
Organization: Home of the TimeLords...
In article <telecom14.34.14@eecs.nwu.edu> 0003991080@mcimail.com writes:
> I got a notice from Bellcore confirming the rumored split of area code
> 206 in Washington State. The new NPA is 360, and will cover all of
> the area that is currently within 206, but outside of the Seattle/Tacoma
> area.
> The split happens on 1/15/95, with permissive dialing until 7/9/95.
This is interesting. I live in an NPA (405) that uses 1 + 7D for calls
within the NPA. I've not heard any announcement on changing this here.
I suppose they'll announce something, if I'm ever to hear from my
non-local intra-LATA friends again, as my NNX is 360.
Greg Trotter Norman, Oklahoma
------------------------------
From: hiro@lynx.com (Hiro Sugawara)
Subject: Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State
Organization: Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc., Los Gatos, CA
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 00:36:39 GMT
In article <telecom14.34.14@eecs.nwu.edu> 0003991080@mcimail.com writes:
> I got a notice from Bellcore confirming the rumored split of area code
> 206 in Washington State. The new NPA is 360, and will cover all of
> the area that is currently within 206, but outside of the Seattle/Tacoma
> area. (truncated)
Just curious. I heard that all area codes have either 0 or 1 as the
second digit and so do all special numbers such as 911 and 411. Is
"360" possible?
hiro@lynx.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the past, what you said was correct.
The supply of combinations in the form you suggest is now exhausted and
area codes now being issued look like almost any other three digit
number. Telcos did a lot of things in the past they no longer can afford
the luxury of doing such as never assigning the same prefix in two
adjacent area codes. They cut that out about fifteen years ago. Until
about thirty years ago, the three digit prefixes were letters of the
alphabet rather than numbers and those letters were the first three
letters of words. As the usable supply of those became in short supply
exchange names were ditched in lieu of using all numbers. Time marches
on. Who knows what our phone numbers will look like a decade from now. PAT]
------------------------------
From: de@moscom.com (David Esan)
Subject: Cutover Dates For New Area Codes
Date: 26 Jan 94 13:14:32 GMT
Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY
I am aware that there are at present three new area codes scheduled
for 1995: 334 in Alabama, 260 in Arizona, and 360 in Washington. I
have the cutover dates for 334 (1/8/95) and for 206 (1/15/95), and the
end of permissive calling for 360 (7/9/95). However, I am missing the
end of permissive calling for 334 and 260, as well as the initial use
date of 260.
I also somehow missed the article that describe the Arizona split and
where it is going to take place. Any help would be appreciated.
David Esan de@moscom.com
------------------------------
From: tarl@coyoacan.dmc.com
Subject: Re: Internet ISDN Connection
Date: 26 Jan 1994 02:15:02 GMT
Organization: Consultsrios Telefsnicos, S.A. de C.V.
In article <telecom14.40.11@eecs.nwu.edu>, OSSANDON@delphi.com writes:
> Does anyone know how an ISDN user (56K/64K) can access Internet?
PSI offers a service they call LAN-ISDN at $350/month. Send email to
lan-isdn-info@psi.com for full details.
Tarl Neustaedter tarl@bostech.com [work]
Ashland, MA, USA tarl@coyoacan.dmc.com [home]
Disclaimer: My employer is not responsible for my opinions
------------------------------
From: pinstall@rc1.vub.ac.be (Installe P.)
Subject: Re: Internet ISDN Connection
Date: 26 Jan 1994 14:12:23 GMT
Organization: Brussels Free Universities (VUB/ULB), Belgium
OSSANDON@delphi.com wrote:
> Does anyone know how an ISDN user (56K/64K) can access Internet? Since
> 9.6 rates are still considered fast for single user is it too soon to
> consider ISDN connections?
I try now to test such a solution.
At the first level you have to know what the single user has as for
computer. Trivial but crucial.
The least common denominator is that both parties have a terminal
adapter (TA) that acts as a modem. Quick, fast and simple, but
expensive.
If you need IP (for ftp, X, ...) it is more complicated.
Like for modems, the TA supports the passage of slip or ppp protocols,
but both computers should support that protocol. And that is the start
of the problems. Unix boxes are generally able to support these
protocols. PC, Mac, Atari, Amiga, ... don't directly, but some of the
networks of them support IP. So the level of interaction is much like
a router between networks.
Another level is the fact that there are "cheap" PC cards on the
market which appear now (in Europe, at least...). There are fossil,
packet driver, ndis, odi drivers for some of them, I investigate those
now but it is still quite tricky for me.
I am also interested to hear other opinions/solutions.
Patrick Installe
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 00:07:56 GMT
From: Patrick Wong <pwong@combinet.com>
Subject: Re: Internet ISDN Connection
> Does anyone know how an ISDN user (56K/64K) can access Internet? Since
> 9.6 rates are still considered fast for single user is it too soon to
> consider ISDN connections?
Hello I am Patrick Wong the Product Manager at Combinet. Combinet
offers and Single-User ISDN BRI-to-Ethernet bridge for list $990, a
Workgroup ISDN BRI-to-Ethernet bridge for list $2190 and a Switched
56-to-Ethernet bridge for list $2490. The single-user bridge is
intented for work-at-home applications where there is a single
computer connected to the bridge on the Ethernet. The workgroup
bridge is used for connecting remote LANs.
Combinet products are MAC-layer bridges that work with all protocols
including TCP/IP. Contact your phone company to see if ISDN is
available in your area. Switched 56 is another service that is
available in more areas than ISDN. Combinet Switched 56 product is
compatible with ISDN products.
Let me know if you are interested in product literature or if you have
any questions. I can mail you literature if you provide me with your
mailing address.
Patrick Wong 408-522-9180 pwong@combinet.com
------------------------------
From: pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Date: 26 Jan 1994 22:31:32 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA
cherkus@fastball.unimaster.com (Dave Cherkus) writes:
> You can get this info on-line from the Combinet BBS:
> By popular demand, the Combinet "BBS" providing information on ISDN
> availability in many areas of the US is now available via the
> Internet. The information is supplied by Bell Communications Research
> and various Operating Companies and is updated periodically as new
> information becomes available.
It's interesting. The Combinet BBS has info about Albany, NY, which
does not have ISDN capabilities yet (after calling them, and talking
to four different people, they said BRI will be available in '95). It
does not, however, have information on Troy, NY (10 minutes from
Albany), which does have both BRI and PRI service available.
Chris Labatt-Simon Internet: pribik@rpi.edu
Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting CIS: 73542,2601
Albany, New York
PHONE: (518) 495-5474 FAX: (518) 786-6539
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 22:14:32 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.24.10@eecs.nwu.edu> Susan Sirmai <0003188677@
mcimail.com> writes:
A very nice summary of SW-56 and ISDN data service from/to the USA.
I'll try to add a little more "data"....
>> 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable?
> Today over 20 countries around the world currently have some level of
> ISDN service.
> MCI International 64 Service currently provides switched digital
> connectivity to Canada and most of the European and Pacific Carriers
> capable of providing the service today. Current MCI Tariffed Countries
> include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,
> Ireland, Italy, Japan (IDC, ITJ, KDD), New Zealand, Netherlands,
> Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom.
> Additional countries are planned for 1994.
AT&T Switched Digital International (SDI) (1-800-841-4135, I
believe) has had SW-56/ISDN-56K data available to most of the above,
as well as Jamaica, Bermuda, Spain, Germany and Hong Kong since 1992.
ISDN-64K data service is or will be available to these countries in
1993-1994, as well as to the Philippines, Malaysia, Luxembourg and
Rep. of Korea. [This is year-old information -- the SDI folks have
more up-to-date information.]
>> 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are
>> still operating at SW-56?
> Availability depends on the local exchange carrier.
Also, whether the CO has SS7 connectivity can influence whether or
not 64K data rates can be handled. So you need to contact your
IXC/INC (international carrier) for that information. I believe AT&T
ACCUNET support on 1-800-222-SW56 has such information.
>> 3. If you know, who are their carriers?
> Service is provided locally by the US Local Exchange Carriers and
> interexchange and internationally by the interexchange carriers
> offering the service. The carriers in-country overseas are the PTTs
> or ITOs who provide local and/or international service.
Thanks again for the well-written summary.
I think the point here is that lots of countries, several IXCs and
many LECs offer ISDN or at least SW-56 connectivity. Your PTT, IXC or
LEC should at least be able to get you some initial information on how
to contact the other parts needed for the connection. ISDN isn't just
for islands anymore. :)
Al Varney AT&T, but not Marketing -- and just my opinion
------------------------------
From: oneil@sdesys1.hns.com (Pat O'Neil)
Subject: Re: How Does Inmarsat Work?
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 19:15:48 GMT
Organization: Hughes Network Systems Inc.
In article <telecom14.34.15@eecs.nwu.edu>, koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl
(Koos van den Hout) writes:
> While making some remarks about Inmarsat, I suddenly realized myself
> one thing:
> So, is there anybody out there who can tell me? I'd like to know if
> it's digital or analog, how base stations are verified, how the
> satelite 'rings' the base station and stuff like that.
I know a remember a bit about it, having worked on it about 12 years
ago. The Standard A service has analog scpc voice and 50b/s telex,
which is carried tdm shore-to-ship and tdma ship-to-shore. Each ocean
region has an NCS which coordinates use of the satellite channels.
There are one or more shore stations in each ocean region. The shore
station ties the network into the public phone and telex systems of
the country it resides in.
Voice call setups, as far as I can recall, are done out of band.
There are one or more special signalling channels that are used to
initiate calls from ships. I seem to recall that access to these
channels is aloha.
If I'm not mistaken, the satellite receives C-band from the shore
stations, and relays to ships on L-band. It receives on L-band from
ships and relays to shore stations on C-band. The ship terminal has a
parabolic dish antenna about two feet in diameter. There is a servo to
keep it aimed at the satellite. Price of a ship terminal was around
$50K ten years ago. Don't know what it is now
There is another service offered by Inmarsat -- Standard C. It is
data only at 600b/s. Don't know if it's 5 or 7 bit. I believe the
ship-side interface here is also L-band. The antenna is an
omnidirectional plate about 6 inches in diameter. I don't think it's
a spread spectrum system, but there is lots of DSP because the power
is low and the antenna has very little gain.
> I'm also curious about the security of the whole system (both the
> 'listening in to calls' security and the 'making calls at the expense
> of another user' part).
No security. No encryption. Everything in the open. The ship ID is
burned in a ROM in the terminal. You might be able to fake it out.
But if you use a true ship ID (which you'd have to) and that ship is
in your ocean, the call setup might get tangled up.
Pat O'Neil Hughes Network Systems Germantown, Md
------------------------------
From: tchen@sdesys1.hns.com (Thomas Chen)
Subject: Re: How Does Inmarsat Work?
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 22:56:59 GMT
Organization: Hughes Network Systems Inc.
In article <telecom14.34.15@eecs.nwu.edu>, koos@kzdoos.hacktic.nl
(Koos van den Hout) writes:
> While making some remarks about Inmarsat, I suddenly realized myself
> one thing:
> I don't know how Inmarsat works.
> So, is there anybody out there who can tell me? I'd like to know if
> it's digital or analog, how base stations are verified, how the
> satelite 'rings' the base station and stuff like that.
> I'm also curious about the security of the whole system (both the
> 'listening in to calls' security and the 'making calls at the expense
> of another user' part).
There are different types of Inmarsat service called A, C, and M. The
cost structures are different and it really depends on what type of
data you need to send and where you are.
Tom
------------------------------
From: mbl@ml7694a.leonard.american.edu (Matthew B. Landry)
Subject: Re: Truckstop Calling Cards
Date: 27 Jan 1994 03:37:10 GMT
Organization: Project SAVE International
In article <telecom14.30.11@eecs.nwu.edu> johnl@iecc.com (John R
Levine) writes:
> target market is: people with no home phone (particularly students)?
Bingo! I don't know what their other targets are, but they are
CONSTANTLY hawking them on campus here and everywhere else I know.
> people who are too clueless to get a calling card? The anonymous call
It's not necessarily a matter of being "clueless". AT&T runs credit
checks on people requesting calling cards, and they are considerably
less tolerant of newcomers than, say, Citibank. If you have
established perfect credit already, then you may be able to just call
AT&T and ask. Otherwise, forget it. (Sprint, however, seems to be
better about this sort of thing.)
> The anonymous call crowd?
Well, if you share a phone line with someone else, it is often nice
to be able to make telephone calls without giving the other person the
ability to track them. So, these cards also seem to be popular among
people under 18.
Matthew B. Landry
President of Project SAVE
mbl@ml7694a.leonard.american.edu
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Truckstop Calling Cards
From: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau)
Date: 26 Jan 94 18:50:00 GMT
Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis
Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau)
>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those are called 'Talk Tickets' and
> they are a bit expensive at 50 cents per minute of domestic use.
> Considering that they are paid for up front, talk tickets should cost
> no more than ten to fifteen cents per minute. Think about it. No
> billing, no uncollectables, no customer service, no credit for wrong
> numbers, no nothing.
> The cost of talk tickets should in no way exceed standard direct
> dialed rates. Anything more is a rip-off.
How about the allowance for the commission to the truck stop selling
them?
At One Times Square you can buy tickets at 25 cents a minute.
------------------------------
From: C1940@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU
Subject: Re: Looks Like a Hacker
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 00:20:48 CST
Organization: UM-St. Louis
In article <telecom14.34.10@eecs.nwu.edu> dold@rahul.net (Clarence
Dold) writes:
> An "800" customer of mine called to complain that a lot of calls were
> on her bill from the same caller, but she tried calling the number
> back, and it was disconnected.
> I checked the SMS database, and there was no record found. I checked
> against a small run of telephone logs, and found a lot of calls from
> the same ANI, mostly into our 800-voicemail. Smells like a hacker ...
> Then I saw some not-so-malicious patterns. I called PacBell security,
> to track the ANI down.
> 510 893-0781 Cellular One Outbound Trunk
> Hmm ...
> How many ANI are like this? Does anyone have a table?
> V&H data only shows it as Oakland, CA, which is true.
I don't know if this is specifically related, but a few years
ago, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems in St. Louis was unable, for
whatever reason, to bill (900) numbers, collect calls, and third-party
billed long distance calls to cellular phones, IF the call went
through a long-distance carrier.
If the call was Long Distance (that is, collect or third-party)
and handled by Southwestern Bell, you'd get a nasty phone call a few
days later, demanding that you allow the call to be billed somewhere
else.
SWBMS has since blocked collect and third-party calls from being
billed to cellular phones, and, I think, (900) numbers too. Right
after they began doing this, though, it was possible to call the
company and tell them that you no longer wanted to block these calls.
The customer-service drone, assuming that the block had been ordered
by the customer, would generally remove it on the spot.
Since SWB would call you when you made a call of this sort that
was handled by them, and (900) and LD carrier calls were not billed,
my assumption is that ANI just doesn't work on some (all?) cellular
systems. Anyone know why, other than to save money? Is this a
limitation of the technology, or something that can be configured
either way?
T. D'Amico c1940@umslvma.umsl.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 03:44:00 PST
From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
Subject: Re: Earthquake and 818 AC
On 18 Jan 1994 17:07:59 GMT, pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon) said:
> Yesterday I learned of the earthquake because of my calling a tech
> support department in the 818 area code. I received a message back
> saying "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed at this time due to
> the earthquake in the area".
> This morning around 9:30 (EST) I called again, and got the same
> message. I then tried the 800 number and got through.
> When I just tried the 818 number again, at about 11:30 EST, I got the
> message that all circuits are busy. Guess they're starting to let
> calls through again.
Phone service to Northridge, the hardest-hit region, and the
surrounding neighborhoods is *still* choked by AT&T, et al., as of
this writing, according to KFWB Newsradio. Pac*Bell reports in excess
of 35 million calls per hour completed at the height of the disaster;
this number is slowly receding with time.
I can't really speculate successfully on how much help the Internet
was in getting calls through to relatives from out of state, but if
the traffic on ca.earthquakes is any indication, a number of people
used that forum for urgent messages like "My brother is in Chatsworth,
can you contact him?" Since the passage of California Assembly Bill
AB1645, state business, pending bills, and announcements are available
on the Internet (supposedly sen.ca.gov and asm.ca.gov -- mail me for
further info). There's also a couple of finger servers
(quake@andreas.wr.usgs.gov and quake@geophys.washington.edu) and a
special telnet server (telnet oes1.oes.ca.gov 5501) for earthquake
info and other announcements.
One poster reported calling a local radio station with information he
received by ftp'ing it from the state announcement server (above); the
person at the other end screeched WE NEED FATALITY STATISTICS DO YOU
HAVE THESE NUMBERS???? or something equally obnoxious. Death sells, I
guess.
> On another note, I just wanted to mention how great technology is.
> I've been following the earthquake info on the Internet Relay Chat and
> on CompuServe. The compassion that I'm finding in both of these
> places is great to see. Many people are e-mailing from both in CA and
> out of CA getting in touch with relatives and friends for people over
> the phone.
This site's not very good for monitoring that sort of thing -- I'm two
UUCP hops away from the Internet. Sometimes news takes a day to reach
here after it's reached the main California sites, though mail is much
faster. However, my UUCP feed stayed up where Netcom crashed. To be
fair to the Netcom people, they were up (if unreliably) in pretty short
order, all things considered.
For those people still wondering about relatives in the San Fernando
Valley who haven't gotten through yet, you can e-mail me and I'll try
and get through for you.
Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #46
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Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 11:22:02 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401271722.AA29759@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #47
TELECOM Digest Thu, 27 Jan 94 11:22:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 47
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
NPA Readiness for 1995 (Gregory P. Monti)
The IIA Revealed: Another Nevada Plan (Brock Meeks COM-PRIV via L Poulsen)
Telecommuting Summary (Koos de Heer)
Internet Business Users Group (Strangelove Press)
MCI Offers Earthquake Assistance (Dan L. Dale)
Wiretapping Problem (Joel Disini)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
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use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
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of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 07:13:05 EST
From: Gregory P. Monti <gmonti@cap.gwu.edu>
Subject: NPA Readiness for 1995
North America's Countdown to NPA Interchangeability in 1995:
NPA State Toll
Prov calls
within
NPA Ready
dialed for
as 1/95? Notes
-- ----- ------ ----- -----
201 NJ 7 yes
202 DC not app yes there are no toll calls within 202;
915 & 976 premium calls are 7D
203 CT 1+7 no
204 MB 1+10 yes 1+10D to be mandatory 9/94
205 AL 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 1990
206 WA 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1991, mandatory 1992
207 ME 7 yes 7D announced 1992
208 ID 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 all US West states
209 CA 7 yes
210 TX 1+10 yes has always been 1+10D toll
212 NY not app yes there are no toll calls within 212;
540 & 976 premium services are 7D
213 CA 7 yes has always been 7D for toll
214 TX 1+10 yes
215 PA 7 yes "no 1" campaign ran in 1992, when 1+7D
eliminated
216 OH 1+7 no
217 IL 1+7 no
218 MN 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 12/93, mandatory late 1994
219 IN 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 8/93
301 MD 1+10 yes 915 & 976 premium calls are 7D
302 DE 1+10 yes 1+10D permitted 4/1/94, mandatory 1/7/95
303 CO 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993, mandatory 2/27/94
304 WV 1+7 no
305 FL 1+10 yes 1+10D announced early 93
306 SK 1+10 yes 1+10D to be mandatory 9/94
307 WY 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 all US West states
308 NE 1+10 yes 1+10D announced for all US West states 12/93
309 IL 1+7 no
310 CA 7 yes
312 IL not app yes there are no toll calls within 312
313 MI 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 (was to be 7D)
314 MO 1+7 no
315 NY 1+7 no
316 KS 1+7 no
317 IN 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 8/93, mandatory 12/1/93
318 LA 1+7 no
319 IA 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 12/93 all US West states
334 AL 1+10 yes New code; Starts January 15, 1995
360 WA 1+10 yes New code; starts 1/95
401 RI 1+10 yes 7D announced 1992, but
1+10D announced 1/94, to become mandatory
402 NE 1+10 yes 1+10D announced for all US West states 12/93;
how about for non-US West portions (Lincoln)?
403 AB,NT,YT1+10 yes 1+10D to be mandatory 9/94
404 GA 1+10 yes 1+10D implemented 1989
405 OK 1+7 no
406 MT 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 all US West states
407 FL 1+10 yes 1+10D announced early 93
408 CA 7 no inter-NPA calls are 10D, must change to 1+10D
409 TX 1+7 no
410 MD 1+10 yes 915 & 976 premium calls are 7D
412 PA 1+7 no not sure if 7D announced 9/93
413 MA 1+10 yes Mass DPU ordered 1+10D in 10/93 (was to be 7D)
414 WI 1+7 no
415 CA 7 yes has always been 7D toll
416 ON 1+10 yes there are no toll calls within 416;
premium services are dialed 1 416 976-XXXX
417 MO 1+7 no
418 QC 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
419 OH 1+7 no
501 AR 1+7 no
502 KY 1+7 no
503 OR 1+10 yes 1+10D announced mid 1992
504 LA 1+7 no
505 NM 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 all US West states
506 NB 1+10 yes 1+10D to be mandatory 9/94
507 MN 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 12/93, mandatory late 1994
508 MA 1+10 yes Mass DPU ordered 1+10D in 10/93 (was to be 7D)
509 WA 1+10 yes 1+10D permitted 5/15/94, mandatory 9/17/94
510 CA 7 yes has always been 7D for toll
512 TX 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1991
513 OH 1+7 no
514 QC 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
515 IA 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 all US West states
516 NY 7 no inter-NPA calls are 10D, must change to 1+10D;
1+10D inter-NPA posted on pay phones, but
not mandatory;
540 & 976 premium services are 7D
517 MI 1+7 no
518 NY 1+7 no
519 ON 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
520 AZ 1+10 yes new code, starts 1/95
601 MS 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 12/93
602 AZ 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 1990
603 NH 7 yes 7D announced 1992
604 BC,NT,AK1+10 yes 1+10D intra-NPA toll to be mandatory 9/94;
Hyder, AK, is in 604 per previous postings
here
605 SD 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 12/93
606 KY 1+7 no
607 NY 1+7 no
608 WI 1+7 no
609 NJ 7 yes 1+7 disallowed beginning 9/93 per bill stuffer
610 PA 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 12/93 (was to be 7D)
612 MN 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 12/93, mandatory late 1994
613 ON 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
614 OH 1+7 no
615 TN 1+10 yes 1+10D posted on pay phones 9/93
616 MI 1+7 no
617 MA 1+10 yes Mass DPU ordered 1+10D in 10/93 (was to be 7D)
618 IL 1+7 no
619 CA 7 yes 7D toll announced 9/93
701 ND 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 12/93
702 NV 1+7 no
703 VA 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 1987
704 NC 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 1990
705 ON 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
706 GA 1+10 yes 1+10D announced mid 1992
707 CA 7 yes 7D announced 10/93
708 IL 7 yes has always been 7D toll
709 NF,NT 1+10 yes 1+10D to be mandatory 9/94
712 IA 1+10 yes 1+10D announced for all US West states 12/93
713 TX 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 12/7/91
714 CA 7 yes 7D toll began in early 1980s
715 WI 1+7 no
716 NY 7 yes Rochester LATA, per Telecom Digest 787;
how about the non-Rochester portion, still
1+7D?
717 PA 7 yes 7D announced 11/93
718 NY not app yes there are no toll calls within 718,
540 & 976 premium services are 7D
719 CO 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993, mandatory 2/27/94
801 UT 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 1993 all US West states
802 VT 7 yes 7D announced 1992
803 SC 1+10 yes 1+10D posted on pay phones 9/93
804 VA 1+7 no
805 CA 7 yes
806 TX 1+7 no
807 ON 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
808 HI 1+7 no
809 Caribb 1+7 no
810 MI 1+10 yes
812 IN 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 8/93
813 FL 1+10 yes 1+10D announced early 93
814 PA 1+7 no not sure if 7D announced 9/93
815 IL 1+7 no
816 MO 1+7 no
817 TX 1+7 no or is 1+10D currently mandatory? heard both
818 CA 7 yes has always been 7D toll
819 QC 1+10 yes 1+10D announced 10/93
901 TN 1+10 yes 1+10D posted on pay phones 9/93
902 NS,PE 1+10 yes 1+10D to be mandatory 9/94
903 TX 1+10 yes has always been 1+10D toll
904 FL 1+10 yes 1+10D announced early 93
905 ON 1+10 yes has always been 1+10D toll
906 MI 1+7 no
907 AK 1+7 no
908 NJ 7 yes has always been 7D toll
909 CA 7 yes
910 NC 1+10 yes
912 GA 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 8/92
913 KS 1+7 no
914 NY 7 no inter-NPA calls are 10D, must change to 1+10D;
540 & 976 premium services are 7D
915 TX 1+7 no
916 CA 7 yes 7D announced 9/93
917 NY not app yes there are no toll calls within 917;
however, since
all outbound calls from 917 are cellular,
there
is a premium airtime charge on all of them
918 OK 1+7 no
919 NC 1+10 yes 1+10D mandatory 1990
146 Total NANP NPAs
101 NPAs ready for 1995
45 NPAs not ready for 1995
22 ready NPAs using 7D solution so far
74 ready NPAs using 1+10D solution so far
5 ready NPAs not requiring a solution (no
intra-NPA tolls)
3 non-ready NPAs using 7D but still 10D for
inter-NPA
42 non-ready NPAs still using 1+7D
Corrections are welcomed.
Thanks to Bob Goudreau for suggesting the more detailed totals breakout.
Greg Monti Arlington, Virginia, USA gmonti@cap.gwu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 11:51:33 +0100
From: lars@eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: The IIA Revealed: Another Nevada Plan
The following appeared on the COM-PRIV list (commercialization and
Privatization of the Internet) today. It answers a lot of the questions
that have been raised about the IIA. It turns out to be another
Nevada plan -- financed by a telephone company.
/ Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM
CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait
From COM-PRIV:
From: brock@well.sf.ca.us ("Brock N. Meeks")
Subject: IIA Breaks Out
Date: 26 Jan 1994 16:52:25 -0800
Message-ID: <199401270050.QAA23405@well.sf.ca.us>
Jacking in from the "You Gotta See This to Believe It" Port:
Money for Nothing and the Bits Are Free
=======================================
Washington, DC -- Here's the deal: The Internet is being held hostage
by a community of entrenched techno-elitists. That's the premise of
the International Internet Association (IIA), a nonprofit group that
promises to give "anyone on the planet free Internet access,"
according to IIA Executive Director Max Robbins.
Robbins held a press conference here today to flesh out what has been
the Net's biggest mystery for the past several weeks. When IIA first
announced its plan to provide free Internet access, the group was
assailed as being a scam. Adding fuel that speculation was the fact
that in order to process your account application, the IIA required
that you provide them with a credit card number (preferably your own).
Oh yeah, there were also those other little niggling details that
didn't add up, such as the IIA's address in D.C. really being a rented
post office box and that their net domain -- IIA.ORG -- didn't seem to
exist.
Robbins, dressed in a rafish multi-colored cardigan sweater and IIA
turtle-neck T-shirt, acknowledged that his organization made "some
rookie mistakes" in the beginning. But he insisted all was above
board. He said the credit card number was needed because the company
providing the 800 number access to the IIA host computers needed it to
bill people, at 20 cents per minute. "But we always told people
that's what it was for," he said. "And we do have a direct dial in
number so people don't have to use the 800 number if they don't want
to," he said.
The organization was swamped with applications, some 40,000 have
flooded in since November, Robbins said. But only 16,000 have
actually been given accounts. He says they're working on the backlog.
But let's cut to the chase. Robbins is a young, idealistic do-gooder
that thinks the Internet has been co-opted by its techie users and his
mission is to set it free. He figures that if he provides free
Internet access to "the great unwashed" of the world, the Net will be
a better place. About the only thing this self proclaimed "Idaho farm
boy" (with a Georgetown University degree) didn't say is that his
efforts would eventually bring world peace. May the force be with
you, Max.
The organization, which hasn't yet set any standards or procedures for
taking on members, as any normal association is want to do, is being
underwritten, apparently, but the good will of IDT, an international
call-back racket out of New Jersey. The IDT scheme is brilliant. The
company offers international callers the ability to call into the U.S.
(on an 800 number), whereby, the IDT computers call your number back
and give you dialtone from the good ol' U.S. of A. Using that dial
tone, you can then make calls to anywhere in the world, which
(technically) look as they they've originated from the U.S. Begin to
get the picture?
The upshot is that if your company is located in Rangoon, you can
bypass the outrageous long distance rates that Rangoon Telecom and
Telegraph normally charges, instead getting rates more in line with
AT&T. IDT, which has received its share of grief from several
countries for taking hard currency straight from their pockets, is
headed Howard Jonas.
For all its talk of good will and free access, the IIA seems to be
nothing more than a front-loaded, money making machine for Jonas. The
guy is a sharp entrepreneur and he saw dollar signs in those free IIA
accounts. By providing the 800 number (which most people still think
is always a free call) he saw a way to generate millions of dollars
from anxious users thinking they were getting "free" Internet
accounts.
You do the math: Figure 40,000 users (if the IIA grows no bigger than
current applications) dialing in 10 hours a month. If they use the
800 number that whole time, IDT racks in a whopping $4.8 million PER
MONTH in access fees alone. Free my ass.
Just how much is Jonas tied into the organization? Well, IIA lists
their administrative offices being headquarted at 294 State St.,
Hackensack, N.J. Funny thing, but that's the same address as Jonas'
company. The IIA "public relations" person at the press conference,
Steve Rowe, pulls in a paycheck from ... damn, you guessed it, IDT.
And the boxes and wires that make up IIA's technology base have the
same serial numbers listed in IDT's inventory data base and insurance
papers.
With all this free shit being given away, how does Robbins pay the
rent? "I do some work for IDT," he said. "But we've had enough
donations come in so that it basically pays my salary.,"
You have to admit, this kid Robbins is well meaning, if out to lunch,
or maybe his idealism is just way out in front of his common sense.
The group said it's supposed to have 501(c)3 status. Legally that
makes them a charity. But in their press kit, under the "facilities"
heading is an address for "Lobbying." Non-profits listed as 501(c)3
are expressly forbidden from lobbying, it makes the IRS nervous to
think a charity would take money from my grandmother and then use it
to take Congressmen to expensive lunches or send them to exotic
resorts for speaking engagements.
I pressed young Robbins on this apparent flaw: "Well, that's not
really 'lobbying' in the pure sense of the word," he said. Turns out
his idea of lobbying is what Apple likes to call "evangelism." Oh,
did I mention that the "lobbying" office address is really home to the
IIA lawyer? It is.
So, does an organization like IIA do when demand outstrips supply? It
goes begging. Literally. Only Robbins doesn't call it that. IIA has
"place a bid for services" with U.S. telecommunications and service
providers, he says. But when asked how he defined the word "bid,"
Robbins said: "Well, we asked them if they wanted to give us service."
In other words, he wants companies to donate time or materials out of
the goodness of their hearts.
Robbins justifies this hat-in-hand procurement process by claiming
that companies now making money off providing Internet service "have
an obligation to give something back to the people." The world would
be a better place, he said. Honest.
In the meantime, Jonas is waiting in the wings, with some 16,000 and
counting credit card numbers, listening to the sound of the "unwashed
masses" dialing in, throwing money at his company's bottom line. It's
all legal, all very shrewd.
And Robbins? Hell, he has a good heart, some big dreams, and an
impossible task. Write him, won't you: max@iia.org
Or send a check ... if the charity status holds up, you can claim it
on your taxes, right there under the heading: Donation to World Peace.
Meeks out ...
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:17:59 +0100
From: cvitoa!koos@relay.NL.net (Koos de Heer)
Subject: Telecommuting Summary
Recently I have had email discussions with a few people about
telecommuting. A number of questions remained unanswered between us,
so I am posting a summary of our discussions and the questions that we
have. Anyone who is willing to contribute: please do so. Preferably by
posting, but if you cannot post, email me and I will summarize in a
future post. Special thanks to G. Trevor Foo (foo@buvax.barry.edu)
for his contributions.
Driving forces for the proliferation of telecommuting:
Technology:
For example, the advent of low priced desktop videoconferencing
equipment and the recent movements in the U.S. for a national
information infrastructure. The LINK Resourse, a telecommuting
research firm, states that employees are spending an increasing amount
of money on acquiring their own equuipment to telecommute. From 1991
to 1992, PCs sold to information workers have increased by 27%.
Traffic problems:
No need to elaborate: costs, time, environment ...
Job mobility:
Lifetime employment means moving once to the town of your employer and
never having traffic problems again. Planning to switch jobs means
living where you want to live, independent of where your job is
located because after a few years you will have another job somewhere
else anyway.
Women's (and men's) lib:
More flexibility in the daily schedule, for both partners, makes it
easier to both have a career and children.
Changing management culture:
Output oriented management instead of process (attendance) oriented
management. This is a requirement, telecommuting is not going to work
well without it.
Size of business that will especially adopt (and benefit from)
telecommuting:
Small organizations:
- small businesses have a less formal organizational culture,
less bureaucracy, than larger organizations.
- innovation is easier and more common, new technologies are
adopted faster.
- they have less rigid operating procedures.
Large organizations:
- large businesses are changing management culture and
desperately looking for ways to become more efficient.
- another important condition for effective telecommuting is
specialization: in a small organization, the workers tend to
be less specialized. When someone has more different tasks,
more contact with co-workers is needed.
- large organisations are familiar with the use of elctronic
links between co-workers, possibly to the extent that they
will not know if a co-worker is at home or in the office.
Numbers and growth:
Present estimates of the size of the potential telecommuting work
force range from 30% to 45% of the total work force in highly
industrialized countries. This does not mean that 30% or 45% of the
_work_ is telecommutable. Many of the workers will telecommute only
part of the week. The portion of the total amount of work that could
be considered telecommutable is probably less (does anyone have a
hunch about a figure for this?).
The present research seems to start from jobs and criteria as they are
now, allowing for growth of telecommuting on the basis of growing
acceptance of technologies and growing political concern. It would be
useful to have a prediction of how other factors may change. There are
developments in society that will influence the telecommuting
potential in the years to come:
- Industrial jobs are decreasing in number as processes are
automated. Jobs in commerce, automation, consultancy and
other services are increasing.
- Not only technology develops, but also people get more
used to technology for communication. The need for personal
meetings will never disappear, but become less over the
years to come.
We have not found a way to calculate a figure for the impact of these
changes. Anyone have ideas on this?
A thought: if there are figures for the penetration of email and fax
and for the growth of internet, and if there are predictions for how
those figures will develop in the future, would that information be
useful to say something about the rate at which technology becomes
accepted? Of course, that does not solve the equation yet, as there
are more unknown variables. Like the necessary change in the culture
and management style of organizations (output driven rather than
process driven).
As I said, any comments are appreciated.
koos de heer - centrum voor informatieverwerking
koos@cvi.ns.nl tel. ++31.30.924860
------------------------------
From: mstrange@fonorola.net (Strangelove Press)
Subject: Internet Business Users Group
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 9:16:55 EST
Internet Business Users Group;
Sponsored by the publishers of THE INTERNET BUSINESS JOURNAL.
The Internet Business User Group (I-BUG) will convene monthly in
downtown Ottawa, Ontario for a 90 minute breakfast meeting. Each
monthly breakfast meeting will feature a special guest speaker.
I-BUG will provide a forum for business and government Internet users
to network with professionals interested in the commercial Internet.
WHERE:
Meetings will be held at the Bay Street Bistro (160 Bay at Albert)
WHEN:
Tuesday, February 1, 1994 -- 8am, concluding no later than 9:30 am.
GUEST SPEAKER
Aneurin Bosley, Editor of THE INTERNET BUSINESS JOURNAL,
will launch the Internet Business Users Group with a brief ten minute talk.
COST:
A buffet breakfast will be available for a mere $6.50, all taxes included.
RSVP:
Please indicate your intention to attend by e-mail to
Mstrange@Fonorola.Net or tel: 613-565-0982
If you wish to be notified of future I-BUG meetings,
please send contact information to Mstrange@Fonorola.Net.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 09:07 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com>
Subject: MCI Offers Earthquake Assistance
The following release was issued today in California. In addition to the
English version you see here, it will also be issued in Spanish.
MCI OFFERS LONG DISTANCE HELP TO EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 1994 -- Concerned about the hardships
its customers are facing as a result of the earthquake in the Los
Angeles area, MCI has announced it will offer special payment options
for earthquake victims.
Those directly affected by the earthquake should call MCI toll-free,
1-800-444-1828, Monday through Thursday from 5am-9pm (PST), Friday
from 5am-4pm (PST) and Saturday from 5am-2pm (PST). Callers from
impacted areas are then connected to an MCI Financial Services
Representative who will counsel them and provide payment advice to
those families concerned about paying their MCI long distance bills.
To help earthquake victims, MCI also has opened a Mobile
Communications Center in San Fernando, CA. The mobile center, with 24
phones, allows victims of the earthquake who are without phone service
to make long distance phone calls on MCI's network free of charge.
MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the nation's second-largest
long distance provider.
------------------------------
From: D1749@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Disini SW, Emmanuel Disini,CST)
Subject: Wiretapping Problems
Date: 27 Jan 1994 03:06:48 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Greetings,
I am a bit concerned that my phone could be tapped (I am located in
Manila, where wire-tapping laws are not enforced all that well). Is
there some way I can tell that my phone has been tapped? My guess is
that there should be some drop in ambient voltage (on one of the RJ-11
leads- TIP? RING?) if a tap is placed on your phone. However if the
wiretap is already in place and I look at the voltage after the tap
has been installed, I would not be able to detect it, right? Pls cc
your responses to d1749@applelink.apple.com, as I don't get this
newsgroup.
Thanks,
Joel Disini
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #47
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Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 12:04:11 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401271804.AA01623@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #48
TELECOM Digest Thu, 27 Jan 94 12:04:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 48
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Sprint SONET on the Way (John D. Gretzinger)
ITU-TS (CCITT) Automated Mail Interface (Dan L. Dale)
Telecommuting Centers in LA (Mike Lanza)
Cheap, Practical Notch Filtering and Frequency Shifting Methods (Ho Junya)
Telcos Start Warning Customers About New Area Codes (Bob Goudreau)
Book Review: "Practical Internetworking with TCP/IP and UNIX" (Rob Slade)
Broadcast Paging on Merlin 3070 System (Brian Nunes)
Wireless Products Based on IEEE 802.11 (Kevin Tanner)
Info on Modems That Provide/Multiplex RS-422 and RS-366 (Mike Foltz)
Re: GMSK Modulation Method (Charles Randall Yates)
Re: Call Waiting/Three Way Together (Al Varney)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: JOHN.D.GRETZINGER@sprint.sprint.com
Date: 26 Jan 94 21:22:10-0500
Subject: Sprint SONET on the Way
OK, so MCI says they are going to do this some day; well here is the
time table for Sprint to have SONET in place.
Forwarded message from PC SprintMail:
Contact: Jim Bowman (O) 913-967-3675
Gerry Simone (O) 202-828-7423
SPRINT TO PROVIDE SONET ACROSS NORTH AMERICA
FOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIERS
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 22, 1994 -- Sprint will provide SONET
(synchronous optical network) transit service across North America
by the end of 1994 for the 31 European and Asian carriers forming
a multilateral group, the company told representatives of the
group in meetings this week.
At that time Sprint's international dedicated transit route
through North America will be predominantly SONET, and it will be
all-SONET in 1995, when synchronous digital hierarchy -- the
international equivalent of SONET -- cables will connect the
United States with both Europe and Asia.
SONET is the emerging transport standard of the Information
Superhighway. It carries vastly larger quantities of traffic than
most current transport equipment, at speeds up to 20 times faster.
Sprint announced its SONET deployment plan as part of its overall
broadband strategy in September 1992, and began deploying SONET
equipment on its network in 1993.
Sprint's SONET deployment is increasing network capacity for
rapidly developing international and domestic traffic loads,
moving voice, image, data and video simultaneously over Sprint's
fiber-optic network already in place. In addition, Sprint's
broadband network architecture, combined with deployment of an
advanced form of SONET equipment only now becoming available,
provides for unprecedented levels of reliability.
Representatives of the multilateral group met with Sprint
International officials this week at the company's headquarters
outside Washington, D.C., to review progress and to confirm
schedules and revenue projections for the next two years of a
three-year pact signed last March.
By that agreement, the international carriers receive
preferred rates and service guarantees for transit of
international calls across North America. Sprint's price and
performance guarantees are available to all signatory
companies of the multilateral group for a period of 25 years, a
significant benefit for smaller companies that now can enjoy the
same volume pricing and associated benefits previously only
available to the largest carriers. The value to Sprint is
estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.
"The technology and capacity of Sprint's advanced fiber-optic
network allows us to provide many services for other carriers,
including dedicated transit services for overseas carriers since
1989," said Paolo Guidi, president of Sprint International.
"Many of the companies in the multilateral group have been
Sprint customers for years, and they already were familiar with
Sprint's superior quality," Guidi added. "Now, they will see us
take that quality to a speed and performance level as yet
unattained by other global carriers."
Sprint is a diversified international telecommunications
company with more than $10 billion in annual revenues and the
United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network.
Its divisions provide global long distance voice, data and video
products and services, local telephone services to more than 6
million subscriber lines in 19 states, and cellular operations
that serve 42 metropolitan markets and more than 50 rural service
areas.
John D. Gretzinger Network Engineer
Rockwell Support Team +1.310.797.1187
+1.310.430.1761 (FAX)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 21:53 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com>
Subject: ITU-TS (CCITT) Automated Mail Interface
********** WELCOME TO A TIES AUTO-ANSWERING MAILBOX (TAM) ***********
TIES (Telecom Information Exchange Services) is a set of electronic
info services of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in
Geneva, Switzerland. ITUDOC is the TIES electronic document
distribution service.
For help with the ITUDOC email interface or info on other interfaces
(e.g., Gopher), send the line HELP in the message body to this address
(itudoc@itu.ch). Include the line GET ITU-5971 for a list of Road Map
and Index files.
NEWS FLASH: Happy New Year! For concise info on ITUDOC access
methods, send the command GET ITU-4313. Note all references to
'CCITT' should be replaced by 'ITU-T'.
TAM replied on January 24, 1994 at 7:59 AM local time in Geneva.
Access to TAM from Major eMail Service Providers
The TIES Auto-Answering Mailbox (TAM) is accessible from several major
email service providers.
ACCESS FROM MCI
MCI users can access the TAM through MCI's facilities for access to
other mail systems (EMS). The TAM can be accessed through MCI's
Internet gateway. You can then download documents from your MCI
mailbox using a file transfer program in your communications package
(e.g. Kermit or Zmodem). If you have problems with one gateway,
please try the other.
ACCESS FROM MCI MAIL VIA INTERNET:
1. At COMMAND, type CREATE
2. At TO, type ITUDOC followed by EMS in parentheses. For example,
TO: ITUDOC (EMS)
3. At the prompt EMS: type INTERNET. For example,
EMS: INTERNET
4. At MBX: type itudoc@itu.ch. For example,
MBX: itudoc@itu.ch
5. At the next MBX: type return to end addressing
6. Complete as usual
EXAMPLE MESSAGE
The email message below retrieves the Road Map and Index file for the
ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector Group:
To: ITUDOC
EMS: Internet
MBX: itudoc@itu.ch
FROM: (NAME)
SUBJECT: (IGNORED)
START
GET ITU-1100
END
HOW TO DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS FROM MCI MAIL:
File transfer protocols supported by MCI include
- Zmodem
- Kermit
- Text (MCI account default for downloading ASCII data only)
If the document you retrieve from your MCI mailbox is a binary format,
you must use either Zmodem or Kermit transfer protocols.
1. Note the number of the message you want to download.
2. At COMMAND, type DOWNLOAD followed by the number of the message you
want to DOWNLOAD and the name of the protocol you want to use. For
example,
COMMAND: DOWNLOAD 3 KERMIT
3. MCI will provide a message that explains how many files are contained
in the transfer. You will receive an itemized list of the text and
binary message segments contained in each download request. When
prompted, enter a filename for each file you wish to download or
press return if you wish to skip that segment. Specify a file
extension that corresponds to the document type. The TAM always
returns two message segments in reply to a GET command. The first
message segment part is always in ASCII format and contains
information (attributes) of the document (e.g., title, file size and
type). The second message segment part is the actual document. You
may choose only to download the second message segment which is the
actual document.
4. When you have completed assignment of filenames for the messages you
wish to download, press return to begin. You may then need to give
the command for your communications software to begin the download
process.
For more complete information, use MCI's HELP DOWNLOAD command.
ACCESS FROM COMPUSERVE
Compuserve mail users can access the TAM through Compuserve's Internet
mail gateway facility.
ACCESS FROM COMPUSERVE MAIL VIA INTERNET:
1. Choose COMPOSE a new message, edit the message with TAM commands,
then choose SEND
2. At SEND TO (NAME OR USER ID), type >internet:itudoc@itu.ch For
example,
Send to (Name or User ID): >internet:itudoc@itu.ch
3. At SUBJECT, type any text (TAM ignores subject fields)
4. Complete as usual
HOW TO DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS FROM COMPUSERVE:
For complete information, use Compuserve's HELP DOWNLOAD command.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 15:10:07 GMT
From: Mike Lanza <lanza@dnc.com>
Subject: Telecommuting Centers in LA
Commentators have said that the LA earthquake forces many Angelenos to
try mass transit and see if they like it. More importantly, from my
point of view, the quake will force many Angelenos to try
telecommuting.
I'd like to know about the telecommuting centers that exist today in
the LA area, and any new plans for such centers in the aftermath of
the quake. How many are there? How big? What sort of equipment do
they have?
Has anyone in government thought about this?
How about entrepreneurs? If I were in LA right now, I'd be looking
into setting up a telecommuting center myself ...
Mike Lanza
------------------------------
From: HO JUNYA <hojunya@ecf.toronto.edu>
Subject: Cheap, Practical Notch Filtering and Frequency Shifting Methods
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 02:37:49 -0500
I am looking for cheap and practical ways of filtering a telephone
line's usable audio bandwidth into a number of segments or notches
(somewhere between 8 and 16 or more?), and multiplying or shifting
each segment into a new block of frequencies, (this mapping will be
determined beforehand) with as little noise or distortion as
practical. (this would theoretically be used to 'scramble' a voice
conversation)
This is for an engineering design course, where we are to build a
working (mostly hardware) model of something unique (or somewhat
unique) in one term (about 2.5 months left).
An example of what I mean follows:
Say the bandwidth to be used is 0Hz - 4KHz, and I will use four
segments: 0-1KHz, 1-2KHz, 2-3KHz, 3-4KHz. after filtering out each
segment, say my mapping instructions dictate that I should map the
segments as such: the 1st to the 4th segment, the 4th to the 2nd
segment, the 2nd to the 3rd segment, and the 3rd segment to the 1st
segment. (so the original 0-1KHz segment gets shifted to 3-4KHz, the
original 3-4KHz segment gets shifted to 1-2Khz, and so on)
There aren't really set restrictions on this - (ie, is it easier to
shift these segments after converting them from analog to digital
signals?) - as long as it would work :-)
As an aside, the mapping will be done using a hardware RNG.
Any comments or suggestions are most appreciated.
Thanks,
Junya hojunya@ecf.toronto.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 17:33:23 -0500
From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau)
Subject: Telcos Start Warning Customers About New Area Codes
In the past, some people have ventured the opinion that the general
telephone-using population won't even notice the coming of non-N{01}X
area codes in the North American Numbering Plan starting next year.
However, there is at least one telco that apparently disagrees. My
most recent phone bill included the usual _Southern_Bell_News_
newsletter, which had the following as its uncopyrighed cover story,
so I assume that Southern Bell wants to get the word out as widely as
possible:
WHEN THE NEW AREA CODES ARRIVE, THEY'LL LOOK A LITTLE FUNNY
Don't Be Surprised If You Begin Seeing Area Codes That Don't
Look Like Area Codes!
[In Box:] DON'T LET IT CATCH YOU BY SURPRISE!
The area code numbering plan for North America was
established in the 1940s, and has lasted nearly fifty years.
Because of the phenomenal growth in telecommunications services
by pagers, mobile phones, fax machines and telephone lines, the
telecommunications industry is running out of area codes.
Therefore, a new area code format for North America is being
introduced on _January_1,_1995_ [italics in original text].
The new numbering plan will add 640 new number combinations
for area codes by using any number (0 through 9) as the middle
digit, instead of restricting the middle digit to a zero or
one, as the old plan did. Area codes will remain three digits,
like 704 in North Carolina.
This change makes new area codes available for _future_
use, and will not change your current area code. New area
codes will be added, as they always have, when needed to
accommodate growth in telephone lines or communications
services. The Customer Guide section in the front of your
white pages directory contains area code information for the
United States.
The change to the new numbering plan will not affect your
rates for telephone service. It may, however, make recognizing
a geographic location based on the area code more difficult.
All the phone companies in North America are working together
to make this transition orderly, and to try to ensure that all
calls go through.
-------------------------------
Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation
goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive
+1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 05:05:51 MDT
From: Rob Slade <rslade@sfu.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "Practical Internetworking with TCP/IP and UNIX"
BKPIWTAU.RVW 931130
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Kelly Ford, Promotion/Publicity Coordinator
Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com
P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com
Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com
Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA 01867-9984
800-822-6339 617-944-3700
Fax: (617) 944-7273
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN 46254
800-447-2226
"Practical Internetworking with TCP/IP and UNIX", Carl-Mitchell/Quarterman,
0-201-58629-0, 1993
tic@tic.com smoot@tic.com
Another good explanatory title. For those who need to connect a UNIX
machine to the Internet, this is a one-stop reference for most of the
basic necessities.
The book starts with a historical and conceptual backgrounder on the
Internet. This first section also gives technical and even some
programming details on the basic IP, TCP and UDP protocols. The
technical level is advanced, but fully explained for the perseverent
newcomer.
Part two is the practical side. Four chapters give the basics of the
setup, email, sendmail and other services. For a standard system,
this could be almost all you need to get running.
Part three covers advanced topics such as the integration of
microcomputers, network management and debugging. It is nice to see a
work that addresses the issues of micros, which are ubiquitous in the
usual workplace. It is equally nice to see a practical approach, such
as the suggestion to use terminal emulation if such will fill the
bill. (It is amusing to see a mild tendency towards UNIX chauvinism
in such subtle ways as the use of the UNIX default lower case filename
convention applied to the case insensitive/upper case MS- DOS file
system.)
Appendices give tips on the use of various Internet services as well
as some useful utility program listings.
As always with Quarterman's writings, there are extensive biliographic
and reference listings.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKPIWTAU.RVW 931130
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.
======================
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca
------------------------------
From: bnunes@netcom.com (Brian Nunes)
Subject: Broadcast Paging on Merlin 3070 System
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 11:45:20 GMT
Does anyone know how to simultaneously page all stations using a
Merlin 3070 system? One of the people in my office did it by mistake
once but couldn't remember what she did. When I called AT&T, they
told me it couldn't be done, but I know it's possible. Maybe it's
undocumented? Does anyone know?
=Brian Nunes=*-*-*-*-*-* bnunes@netcom.com -*-*-1-213-656-9117
7985 Santa Monica Blvd. #109-473, West Hollywood, CA 90046-5112
------------------------------
From: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
Subject: Wireless Products Based on IEEE 802.11
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 10:34:10 GMT
Organization: WilTel
Greetings all...
Does anyone out there know of any vendors who are exploring products
based upon the IEEE 802.11 standard/ISM Bands/TDMA/CDMA with bandwidth
range from 1.2 Mbps to 20 Mbps which can handle both voice and data?
Please contact either myself or Aamir Hussain. Thanks in advance.
Kevin D. Tanner WilTel, Inc.
Kevin's Telephone: (918) 588-5843
Aamir's Telephone: (918) 588-5156
FAX: (918) 588-5616
E-mail: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
------------------------------
From: mike_foltz@sgate.com
Subject: Info on Modems That Provide/Multiplex RS-422 and RS-366
Date: 26 Jan 1994 17:45:49 GMT
Organization: Collins International Services Company
To all:
I am looking for vendor information on modems that provide and
multiplex both RS-422 and RS-366 interfaces. The interfaces provide
both data and dialing information to be transmitted.
I have video teleconferencing and Inverse mux equipment that have the
RS-422 and RS-366 interfaces. Our 4 building campus has both fiber
optic and copper in its distribution. The modems would be used to
remotely connect the video teleconferencing equipment over fiber or
copper to the Inverse mux equipment.
Thanks in advance,
Mike foltz mike_foltz@sgate.com 703-803-8361
------------------------------
From: yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates)
Subject: Re: GMSK Modulation Method
Date: 27 Jan 1994 11:08:02 GMT
Organization: University of South Florida
In article <telecom14.41.5@eecs.nwu.edu> rsinha@iucaa.ernet.in (Sinha)
writes:
> I am trying to find recent references to GMSK(Gaussian Mean Shift Key)
> method of modulation in CDMA type spread spectrum application. Are
> there other modulation methods known which are still more efficient
> from the consideration of bandwidth utilization?
Mr. Sinha,
It is my understanding that GMSK stands for "Gaussian Minimum-Shift
Keying", which is a variant of MSK ("Minimum-Shift Keying"), which in
turn is a variant of FSK ("Frequency-Shift Keying"). In FSK, a signal
is modulated between two frequencies which are symmetrical about a
center frequency. Call the difference between these two frequencies
df. In MSK, df is reduced to the minimum value that will get the job
done, which turns out to be half the baud rate (i.e., the symbol
rate): df = Tb/2 (where Tb = baud rate). This results in the smallest
bandwidth for an FSK signal.
I believe that GMSK is simply an MSK modulation scheme coupled with
gaussian transmit and receive filters.
I am confused by your reference to efficient bandwidth methods for
spread spectrum systems since these systems purposely widen the
bandwidth greatly.
Although I couldn't find anything on GMSK in them, the following
references may be of help to you:
[1] "Digital Communications and Spread Spectrum Systems", Rodger E.
Ziemer and Roger L. Peterson.
[2] "Digital Communications", John G. Proakis.
I hope this information may be of use to you.
Randy Yates
Signal Processing/Communications Systems Student
University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
<yatesc@eggo.csee.usf.edu>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 03:19:04 CST
From: varney@ihlpe.att.com
Subject: Re: Call Waiting/Three Way Together
Organization: AT&T
In article <telecom14.31.1@eecs.nwu.edu> izzy@access.netaxs.com (Michael
Israeli) writes:
>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try getting an actual three way call
>> installed between CW and 3WC (because flashing the hook could cause
>> one thing to hand you a CW at that point in time does your flash mean
>> you want to accept the new call or connect the other two. Since maybe
>> you do not want that to happen (the two you dialed to be joined
>> together) telco has chosen to block CW for that limited period of
>> time. Let us know. PAT]
> Well, I attempted the following:
[deleted excellent test of 3WC/CW interactions.]
> So, I placed another call to Bell of PA. I explained again my
> situation, receiving a CW tone during a three way call. The agent
> looked into some book she had, and explained to me that I live in an
> area with a "5E" switching system, in which CW and 3WC can have NO
> interaction. Whereas my friend who lives in a different area has a
> "1A" switching system, where they DO interact!
Well, you probably don't want any excuses or a long history of the
pain involved in this area, so here's my nickel summary:
1) The interaction of 3WC and CW evolved over about 5 years in the
early 1970s on 1E/1A ESS(tm) switches. Trying to explain the actions
of a switch to a customer who only has one input ("flash") at any
given point lead to a really elaborate set of somewhat inconsistent
modifications to the code, resulting in the current implementation.
That implementation works basically as follows --
a) Set up call, flash and place second leg of call. From the moment
of flash until the second call has answered, CW will return "busy"
to any incoming call. Flash will drop the second call leg.
b) After second leg answers, without CW, a flash will drop the second
call leg. From the moment of CW alert (the "click" plus tones),
a flash will connect to the CW caller, and leave the other two
parties talking on your nickel. Another flash (or disconnect by
the CW caller) will connect you back to the 3W call. If the CW
caller does not disconnect, you can toggle back and forth between
3W and CW calls as frequently as you desire.
c) After second leg answers, and CW alert occurs, but you ignore it,
and the CW caller abandons the call, there is no 3W call to reach
with a flash. But you don't know the caller has abandoned, so the
CO "remembers" that you once had CW alert offered and treats a
flash as an attempt to reach a CW call anyway (you get reorder,
I believe). This failed attempt erases the CW alert "memory",
so that future flashes will drop the second leg of the 3W call.
d) A side-effect of the "toggle back and forth" of 3W and CW is
that, until the CW caller drops off your line, you cannot "drop"
the second leg of the 3W call!
Try writing that down, along with other interactions. Better yet,
try making that a general requirement for all switches, and extend
it to other feature interactions, multi-line groups, etc. It's a
tough job. That's why
2) Bellcore, in writing generic requirements for switches in the LSSGR,
specified a simpler, more easily understood behavior:
a) Set-up two legs of 3W call as before. From the point of flashing
to set up the second leg UNTIL you flash to drop the second leg,
you cannot receive a CW alert -- and callers get a "busy" signal.
b) If you drop the second leg, you can now receive CW alert and flash
will connect you to the new caller. But until the CW caller drops
off of your line, you cannot initiate a 3W call (second leg) --
each flash just toggles you from one call to the other.
Much easier to explain to customers, and new switch vendors, than the
1E/1A ESS implementation. That's why the 5ESS(reg. tm) switch acts
in this simpler manner -- it's what the TELCO (via Bellcore) specified.
{The dime summary would have been half as long :) }
> It is a pain that my line is busy during 3WC, because I ordered CW for
> the specific reason of NOT loosing calls! Are there any specific
> questions I should ask the phone company, or just give up on this one?
CW does not alert 100% of the time -- for example, when you pick up
the phone and start dialing, CW alerting is blocked. In fact, it will
be blocked until your called party answers. Several folks have
complained that their CW is "broken" because 1) they receive normal
dial tone at the beginning of a call (implying there are no messages),
2) they dial a call and talk for awhile without any CW tones, 3) they
go on-hook and then off-hook, only to receive a "messages waiting"
interrupted dial tone. Conclusion: CW isn't working!! Fact: They
received a call sometime after the first dial tone and before the call
was answered, and their incoming call was routed to Voice Mail
immediately (no CW).
But you do have several options:
A) Get a good voice mail system that will get any call where you can't
receive the Call Waiting alert. Sometimes CW won't be available with
voice mail, and sometimes it will. Either way, callers won't get
"busy" during windows when CW is never available, such as during dialing
and before answer on any call. If you spend 20 seconds dialing and
listening to ringing and only 2 minutes on a call, then callers have
a 17% chance of getting busy even without the 3WC problem.
B) Ask if a Centrex-like package is available for residential lines.
Some TELCOs have these priced in a bundle with Call Hold. Better,
if you can, just get the "Call Hold" feature added to your existing
features. Call Hold will not interpret "flash" as anything, but
will give you dial tone -- from which you can dial a code to "hold"
the current call and answer a CW caller or another code to "drop"
the second leg of a 3W call. Since you are using explicit codes, the
Bellcore restriction of 3WC/CW does not apply, and you can get CW
while on a 3W call. (CW will still not work during the time you
are dialing and waiting for a call to be answered.)
C) Get a second line, with hunting from the first on busy. Avoids the
CW blockage during dialing/unanswered-call periods, and you can drop
the CW feature. Or retain it and be able to be on 4 calls at once!
D) (The one I use.) Get ISDN. Even with 1 CSV B-channel, ISDN can
support 3W calls explicitly (push the CONFerence button) and also
support alerting of another incoming call (push the new call appearance
to answer). You can drop the new incoming call with another button.
You can even MERGE the incoming call with your current outgoing call.
I'm sure I missed some other ideas ...
Al Varney -- just my opinion
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #48
*****************************
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Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 03:15:03 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401280915.AA21969@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #49
TELECOM Digest Fri, 28 Jan 94 03:15:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 49
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Anik E-1 Satellites Offline (parity%switchboard@cam.org)
Public B-ISDN Services in Europe (When?) (Dave Pattison)
Stereo->Phoneline Connection (J. Grand)
Need Help With the DUOFONE TAD-345 (Jesse Garon)
ATM and HighSpeed Networks (Please Help) (Ho Yat-Fan)
Hello Direct Noise Filter Worth Getting? (Michael Rosen)
VTech Tropez Address/Phone? (Jim Celoni)
Vendor Info on RS-422 and RS-366 Modems (Mike Foltz)
Telephony History (Dahe Chen)
Request for Info - Cellular Telephone Rate History (L. W. Westermeyer)
Telecom Texts (Sean Wheeler)
Cost Effective Communications (Daniel Edward Dindinger)
GTE and the The CA Earthquake (The Network Group)
A Highspeed Modem for BB by GI and Intel (Barak Cohen)
Pager Software Wanted (Sean Slattery)
Pulse Dialing (barberg@vax.oxford.ac.uk)
Establishing a 1-900 Number (Adam C. Gross)
Programming For Dialogic (Bob Rankin)
Remapping Phone Buttons (Amer Neely)
Call Home For .15c/Min via 1-800 Number (fgbsows@email.bony.com)
Anchor 1200baud Modem Manual Wanted (Phillip "Ty" Young)
ESTELLE Help Wanted (Farhat Anwar)
Dialing Long Distance From Massachusetts (Carl Moore)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: parity%switchboard@CAM.ORG
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 02:52:12 EST
Subject: Anik E-1 Satellites offline.
Organization: Switchboard BBS - +1 514 334 7883
Taken from the {Montreal Gazette}, 1/1/94
By Alexander Norris and Aaron Derfel
One of Canada's main telecomunications satellites accidentelly spun
out of control yesterday afternoon, cutting off long distance phone
links to northern Canada and sending newspapers, radio and televisio
stations scrambling to get out the news.
In-house telecommunications services used by large companies -
including stock quotations sent to brokers' offices -- also conked out
when the Anik E-1 satellite tumbled out of it's axis at abot 12:40PM.
And local affiliates of the CTV television network, which rely on the
satellite for national programs, were restricted to local shows until
about 4 PM, said Barry Turner, vice-president for sales and marketing
at Telesat Canada, which owns and operates the satellite.
In all, Turner said, about 3,000 corporate customers were affected.
Service to most customers was restored at about 8 PM.
But one hour later at 9:10PM, Canada's other major communications
satellite Anik E-2, also cartwheeled out of control, knocking CBC
newsworld and other national speciality cable TV channels off the air
and affecting CBC and CTV operations. Partial service, with signals
carried by fiber-optic cable, was being restored in some centres
across Canada.
"We're working on it, but it doesn't look good," Jim Spendlove, a
Telesat official, said early today, suggesting that it might be much
more difficlt to fix it that it was to get Anik E-1 working again.
Chris Frank, Telesat's director of public affairs, conceded the
company might have to issue rebated to the tune of "hundreds of
thousands of dollards" because of the Anik E-1 service disruption.
"We're going to have to rely on our 20-year history of top-line
service to convince our customers to stay with us," Turner saidin an
interview last night."It is a blow to us in terms of our credibility,
but we're working hard to mitigate it".
LAUNCHED IN 1991
Telesat officials said the Anik E-1 problem originated with an
electronic failiure inside the $300-million satellite, which was
launched in 1991 and hovers 36,000 kilometers above the equator. The
malfunction affected a device that keeps the satellite in s stationary
position above the earth. That sent the satellite spinning, then
wobbling, causing it to move out of alignment with tousands of
transmitting facilities and receiving dishes on the ground in Canada.
The news business was hit particularly hard. "You just can't find a
decent satellite these days," grumbled Eric Siblin, a copy editor at
the Montreal office of the Canadian Press national news-gathering
co-operative, which stopped providing dispatches to about 100
newspapers because of the malfunction. "All we need is a couple of
carrier pigeons, some long string and two tin cans, and we'll have a
state-of-the-art 19th-century wire service."
Aside from CTV and the Canadian Press, CP affiliate Broadcast News was
also affected, as were CBC Newsworld's internal feeds, the Reuters
wire service Standart Broadcast News and the Toronto Globe and Mail.
The outage interfered with production of today's Gazette, but all
regular features are included in today's editions except some
commodities listings.
At the Globe - which uses Anik E-1 to beam its paper to printing
presses accross the country -- managers had made plans to fly printing
plates to Halifax, Boucherville, Brandon, Man., Calgary and Vancouver
-- but abandoned them when satellite service resumed. The interruption
also affected abot 450 subscribers to the broadcast news service, said
Wayne Waldroff, general manager of BN. Some feeds from CTV and
french-language TV-5 were switched to the Anik E-2 satellite, Telesat
spokesman Christine Bailey said, before it went kaput.
MAKING LOCAL CALLS
Normand Toupin, a Bell Canada spokesman, said up to 30,000 households
throughout northern Quebec and Ontario and the entire Yukon and
Northwest Territories were restricted to making local calls during the
Anik E-1 outage.
Telesat Canada does $200 million in sales every year and is owned by
Alouette Telecommunications Inc., a consortium controlled by Spar
Aerospace Inc., which made the satellite, and the Stentor group of
Canadian phone companies.
------
Why is it that only the Canadian satellites were affected? The news
tonigh said that an electromagnatic storm was responsible for the
problems. Wouldn't such a storm affect other satellites also?
PS: Typos are mine. (As always.)
PC
------------------------------
From: pattison%xstacy.dnet.dec.com@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (Dave)
Subject: Public B-ISDN Services in Europe (When?)
Date: 27 Jan 1994 18:22:31 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Reply-To: pattison%xstacy.dnet.dec.com@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (Dave)
When will there be B-ISDN (ATM) services available to the general
public in Europe? Which countries? Anything in 1994? Costs?
Any information gratefully received.
Dave Pattison (pattison@xstacy.enet.dec.com)
------------------------------
From: smooth@acs2.nntp-read.bu.edu (J. Grand)
Subject: Stereo->Phoneline Connection
Date: 27 Jan 94 13:06:16
Organization: Boston University Information Technology Boston, MA USA
Hi I was wondering if anyone had a good circuit to hook up my stereo
to the phone line with minimal noise and hopefully high volume? if so,
please send replies to: smooth@acs.bu.edu
Thanks!
------------------------------
From: j_garon@illuminati.io.com (Jesse Garon)
Subject: Need Help With the DUOFONE TAD-345
Date: 27 Jan 1994 22:01:17 -0600
Organization: Illuminati Online
Due to the earthquake in LA, and the blackout that came with it, the
codes on my answering machine, the TAD-345, marketed by Radio Shack as
a DUOFONE model, were erased. Since I lost the manual for this
machine when I moved several months ago, I don't know how to reset
these codes.
If somebody could email me instructions for setting the codes that
activate remote retrieval of messages and voice mail (ie, which keys
on the machine are equivalent to which numbers and how to set them) I
would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Jesse Garon
------------------------------
From: cshyf@cs.ust.hk (HO Yat-Fan)
Subject: ATM and HighSpeed Networks
Organization: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 10:29:07 +0800
Hello Dear Netters,
I'd like to ask whether there's any newsgroup where there are
discussions of current issues in Researches in ATM and highspeed
networks. Also, is there any ftp sites around where papers in this
field can be obtained?
Thanks indeed very very much.
Regards,
Fan
------------------------------
From: mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu (Michael Rosen)
Subject: Hello Direct Noise Filter Worth Getting?
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 05:27:41 GMT
I'm looking at the EMI noise filter in the Hello Direct catalog. I
currently only have a surge suppressor from Rent-A-Shack on my phone
line. How do I know if I truly need a noise filter? Could it make
improvements even though I currently don't notice many problems?
The only problem I have currently is connecting at 14.4K to a Boca
modem; I only connect at 9600. That could be his modem though I can't
be sure. It doesn't happen anywhere else.
As for voice communications, what improvements would I expect?
Thanks,
Michael Rosen mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu
George Washington University Alumni (Fall '92)
Tau Epsilon Phi, Tau Theta 381
------------------------------
From: celoni@columbia.edu (Jim Celoni)
Subject: VTech Tropez Address/Phone?
Reply-To: celoni@columbia.edu
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 16:13:37 GMT
What are the address and phone number of VTech, manufacturer of Tropez
900MHz cordless phones? And where are the phones available in the Los
Angeles area or by mail order?
Thanks,
J. R. Celoni celoni@columbia.edu
------------------------------
From: mike_foltz@sgate.com
Subject: Vendor Info on RS-422 and RS-366 Modems
Date: 27 Jan 1994 17:10:23 GMT
Organization: Collins International Services Company
To all:
I am looking for vendor information on modems that have both RS-422 and
RS-366 interfaces and run over copper or fiber optic cable.
I have video teleconferencing and inverse mux equipment that has those
interfaces. Our campus distribution system has both copper and fiber
optics. The use of the modems will allow remoting the video teleconferencing
equipment closer to the users.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Foltz foltzmik@sgate.com 703-803-8361
------------------------------
From: dahe_chen@Warren.MENTORG.COM (Dahe Chen)
Subject: Telephony History
Date: 27 Jan 1994 17:34:15 GMT
Organization: Mentor Graphics, Silicon Design Division
Reply-To: dahe_chen@mentorg.com (Dahe Chen)
I am reading a book written in 1930's in which telephone numbers are
cited as digits prefixed with a location name in an English word. I
also heard that in the movie "Forever Young" recently. I was wondering
how the switchboards worked then. Were the switchboards actually
divided geographically? Can anyone give a history lesson?
Dahe Chen
Mentor Graphics Corporation
15 Independence Boulevard
Warren, New Jersey 07059
(908)604-0888, (908)580-1906 (fax)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, switchboards were 'divided up
geographically'. Until about 1960, the three digit prefixes we have
now were either the first three letters of a word or sometimes the
first two letters of a word and a single digit. Smaller towns had
a single switchboard and larger places like Chicago had many switch-
boards loated in different areas of the town just as now there are
different switching centers in a large town. When telephone calls were
processed entirely by operators, the various switchboards were all
connected together in the same way the switching machines of today are
all interconnected. If you asked the operator for a number which was
not on the same switchboard as yourself, the operator plugged into a
certain jack on the board which connected the call to the desired
switchboard, then she would tell the operator at the distant board
what number was desired. Each of the switchboards had names, just as
each of the switching centers today have numbers assigned to them.
If the number you passed to the operator verbally was not the name
of the switchboard you were using, the instant she heard the name of
the switchboard desired she was already plugging into the associated
jack and by the time you recited the numbers following the name, she
generally had the operator from the distant switchboard on the line.
When connections were handled entirely by operators, the length of
time from you going off hook to getting your party on the line was about
the same as today. The light above your jack on the switchboard illuminated
when your phone went off hook. By the time you got the receiver to your
ear, it is likely the operator was already there asking 'number please?'
and because she knew almost by heart where every jack to all other
switchboards was located on *her* switchboard as soon as she heard the
exchange name she was up there. It would be a brief, interactive
conversation of just seconds in length:
(you go off hook, operator responded usually in five seconds or less)
"Number please?" (operator speaking to you)
"Wabash 3456" (you speaking to operator)
"Thank you" (operator speaking to you)
If you were also on the Wabash switchboard your operator would then
continue:
Line is ringing ... or Line is busy. There was no audible busy tone
and only certain swithboards had audible ringing tones. If the first
response, the operator would pull the ringing key forward again about
every fifteen seconds or so for two or three seconds and after maybe
a minute of this (if there was no answer) would say, "Line doesn't
respond" or "Line doesn't answer."
If she told you "Line is busy" of course you just hung up the phone
and tried again later. Courteous subscribers would say thank you first,
then hang up; discourteous subscribers would just slam the phone down or
perhaps curse at the operator in the process.
If you were not on the Wabash switchboard then after saying "thank you"
your operator would already be plugged into Wabash waiting for the
'click sound' which meant the distant operator (who did not speak up
at that point) was on the line, and your operator would say merely,
"3456" (operator speaking to the operator at Wabash switchboard. The
audible sounds heard were a 'chunk' which meant the distant
operator had started pulling the ringing key and your operator
would respond with "Line is ringing". Or, a 'tick-tick' meant
the distant operator had touched the tip of her cord to the
sleeve of the jack and found the line busy. Your operator on
hearing that would report "Line is busy". If she did not pick
up on it, the distant operator would occassionally speak up
and say merely "BY" (pronounced 'bee-why') which meant busy.
After somewhere around a minute, if your party had not answered
and your operator had not told you there was no response, then
the distant operator would speak up and say merely "DA" which
was pronounced 'dee-a') which meant doesn't answer. Either way
your operator would then report to you the status.)
On a few occassions when the calling traffic was very heavy, your
operator might attempt to connect to the distant switchboard only to
find none of her jacks going to that switchboard to be available and
she would advise you that no circuits were available going there at
this time. Or if she got through to the distant end but *they* were
out of switchboard cords temporarily, then the distant operator would
respond to your operator by saying 'NC' (enn-see) which meant no
circuits right now. If the distant phone was out of order, the
operator's reply to each other was 'OD" (oh-dee). "NW" was not a
good number (no such number in service) and 'denied' was the response
when the called subscriber had been cut off for non-payment, or what
we sometimes call a credit disconnect.
If you asked for 'Information' you were connected to a room full of
clerks who wore headsets with *very long* cords on them who walked
around in a rather large room with stacks of phone books everywhere
plus the most recent (handwritten) list of updates, number changes,
etc. Asking for the 'Business Office' got you the reps who would
discuss your bill, etc by pulling manual, handwritten file folders
out of row after row of racks which closely resembled library stacks.
You also would ask the operator for Repair Service. If you wanted to
make a long distance call you asked for 'Long Distance' and you were
connected to other operators who handled that exclusively from a
different switchboard. Your operator would stay on the line until
long distance answered and pass your number to the LD operator to
avoid the possibility of you 'accidentally' giving the wrong number
for billing purposes when it was requested.
A long distance call consisted of a series of switchboards hooked
together from one place in the country to another. A Chicagoan calling
Los Angeles -- let us assume 'Hollywood 2000' which was the number of
the Paramount switchboard -- would tell LD he wanted that number in
Los Angeles. She would plug into a jack, wait a few seconds and
presently an operator would answer 'St. Louis'. "...St. Louis, this
is Chicago, give me Kansas City ...", and after a few seconds, an
operator would answer 'Kansas City' and your operator would say,
"...Kansas City, this is Chicago, give me Denver ..." when Denver
answered, the operator asked for Salt Lake; and from there she
would ask for Los Angeles. Finally when Los Angeles answered your
operator would ask for Hollywood 2000, and presently the switchboard
at Paramount would answer.
Now your call was connected, and after a minute or so, the line would
go dead!!! You'd flash your hook furiously and your local operator
would answer. "Operator! you cut me off!" Your operator would jiggle
the ringing key and get long distance, "Operator! this is the xxx
operator. You cut my party off!" ...."No, I did not cut your party off
operator, they are still up here ..." and she would jiggle the ringing
key until St. Louis answered: "St. Louis! you cut my party off!" "No
I did not, they are still up here." Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake and
finally Los Angeles, always the same answer, "I did not cut your party
off, they are still up here." Finally they'd all get reconnected back
to the Paramount switchboard and blame *her*, and of course she had
no one else to pass the blame to. It could have been any one of the
five or six operators on the line who (a) got the false supervision
signal or (b) just accidentally yanked the wrong cord from your local
operator on one end to Paramount on the other, but none of them would
admit it. Long distance charge tickets were all written up by hand and
time-stamped in a small clock on the switchboards; when a ticket was
stamped out, it went on a spindle and about every fifteen minutes a
clerk from the billing department came through with a cart on wheels
and collected all the tickets which were filed in the file folders so
the service reps could talk to customers about them and the legions
of bookkeepers could post them in ledgers and mail out bills. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 12:28:36 CST
From: L. W. Westermeyer <SLWWEST@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU>
Subject: Request for Info - Cellular Telephone Rate History
I was wondering if you know of any studies on end user cost trends in
the cel lular telephone industry. I am in the process of evaluating a
set of bids for cellular telephone service and would appreciate if you
could either answer the following questions or direct me to a source
that could answer them.
1.What has been the trend for monthly access fees for cellular
telephone service over the past three or more years?
2.What has been the trend for per minute air time fees for cellular
telephones over the past three or more years?
3.Do you anticipate that these trends will continue?
Voice: (314) 553-6010 SLWWEST@UMSLVMA.BITNET (Bitnet)
Fax: (314) 553-6007 SLWWEST@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU (Internet)
Mailing Address: University of Missouri - St. Louis
8001 Natural Bridge Road
St. Louis, MO 63121 USA
------------------------------
From: swheeler@netcom.com (Sean Wheeler)
Subject: Telecom Texts
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 19:35:00 GMT
Can anyone out there recommend a good Management Level (ie not too
technical) book on telco network design and capacity planning? I need
to get my feet wet, but don't need to immerse myself in the
technicalities.
Sean D. Wheeler Fun: swheeler@netcom.com
Work: sean.wheeler@octel.com
------------------------------
From: dedindin@cudnvr.ouray.denver.colorado.edu (Daniel Edward Dindinger)
Subject: Cost Effective Communications
Date: 27 Jan 1994 18:35:17 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado at Denver
For companies who use over $200 a month in long distance telophone service:
Phoenix Network is a re-biller that buys service from ATT, MCI and
Sprint and resells to small and medium sized companies.
Phoenix's rates start as low as $0.0985/minute depending on your
volume, equipment (e.g. T1's), location and calling patterns.
I would like the opportunity to offer your company a free customized
qoute on your long distance telecommunication needs.
Call me at (303) 797-7034 and start saving your company $$$ next month!
Daniel Edward Dindinger dedindin@cudnvr.ouray.denver.colorado.edu
7195 S Sherman st. Littleton, CO 80122 (303) 797-7034
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Let's be careful about commercializing
the net Mr. Dindinger! Some of the Usenetters get real bent out of
shape with messages like yours. In the future, please word your messages
so they appear to be 'infomercials' or 'reviews' rather than out and
out commercials. For examples of how to do it, check out the messages
posted by that guy who talks about Orange Cards from time to time. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:55 EST
From: The Network Group <0004526627@mcimail.com>
Subject: GTE and the CA Earthquake
With all the GTE bashing that I see from time to time I'd like to give
credit where credit is due.
I have a CONTEL pager that uses an access numb er that is normally
long distance from our C.O., but uses screened billing so charges to
access the end to end pager number never appear on our Contel bill.
Due to the earthquake in San Fernando Valley, I had to relocate
temporarily to look after my 88 year old mother and see to repairs of
our family home in Reseda -- two miles from the epicenter of the
quake.
I called GTE and in turn they called Contel and gave me a free access
number on my pager for the next 30 days to help out. I thought that
was very nice of them considering all of the horror stories that I'd
seen and hear on the net.
Contel and GTE are both licensed on VHF 158.1 Mhz. but in different
geographical locations so after we got to the right people -- consumer
service I might add -- the whole thing was done within an hour!
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: GTE isn't a bad bunch of people. I've
talked to a few who read the Digest regularly and they seem pretty
sharp to me. They've been handling the latest disaster pretty well,
IMO. (Hey look, no /H/ in there ... I don't give humble opinions.) PAT]
------------------------------
From: bardak@ccsg.tau.ac.il (Barak Cohen)
Subject: A Highspeed Modem For BB by GI and Intel
Organization: Tel-Aviv University Computation Center
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 03:00:42 GMT
Hello folks,
I heard about the project of GI and Intel of a highspeed modem for
broadband medium (like CATV). Can any of you give more details about
this project?
Thanks,
Barak Cohen Tel Aviv University Goman Communication LTD
Engineering Faculty 2nd Hazmaut St. Raanana
Physical Electronics Dep. ISRAEL 43460
Tel/Fax: 972-9-903382
Tel: 972-9-424349 Email: bardak@ccsg.tau.ac.il
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 00:19 EST
From: Sean Slattery <Slattery+acyberspace%Airflow@mcimail.com>
Subject: Pager Software Wanted
I am considering getting a pager to alert me of problems on my
network, i.e. server down, WAN down etc. The software offered by the
major paging company's seems geared to use by a human and doesn't seem
to have a machine interface.
Does anyone know of a software package designed to monitor Netware or
Unix (perferably both) networks and send alpha messages to a pager if
certain events occur (or don't occur)? Alternatively a package with
an interface to which I could add my own scripts/batch files?
Sean Slattery (SLATTERY+aCYBERSPACE%Airflow@MCIMail.com)
Airflow Research & Mfg.
------------------------------
From: barberg@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Subject: Pulse Dialing
Date: 27 Jan 1994 22:14:05 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620
Does anyone know of a way that one can detect pulse dialing on a
telephone line just from the signal at the receiving end of a call?
I am trying to write a voice-mail type system and have no problems
detecting DTMF tones using 16 parallel Gortzel detectors, but I would
like to know if there is an easy way to detect pulse dial -- since here
in the UK a lot of people still have pulse dial phones.
Simon
------------------------------
From: Adam C. Gross <ag3j+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Establishing a 1-900 Number
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 00:23:53 -0500
Organization: Senior, Student Defined Major, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Sorry if this is a FAQ, but does anyone have info on how I can
establish a 1-900 number (I'm in Pittsburgh/Bell Atlantic)? Please
email replies.
Much thanks,
Adam
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All the long distance companies have 900
service available. Call your carrier of choice and ask. Even most of
the local telcos have local area 900 service (although sometimes they
sell it as 976 or 540). PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 10:32:13 EST
From: Bob Rankin <r3@vnet.IBM.COM>
Subject: Programming For Dialogic
I recently called Dialogic and requested info on PC/telephony cards.
I got a very nice package describing their hardware offerings and also
a bunch of literature from vendors who offer programming tools,
application generators, etc.
One such vendor, U.S. Telecom, is making an offer that looks very
attractive. They have a "10th anniversary special" package that
includes a D41/D card (4-port) and the VAL toolkit for $1495. They
said it's $500 off the regular price until Feb. 15th.
The person I spoke with was very interested in learning more about
TELECOM Digest, especially how to access from Compuserve, Delphi, etc.
I didn't have that info handy, so if anyone wants to enlighten these
folks, You can call US Telecom at 800-835-7788, ext 1113.
Is it really That Hard to program for the Dialogic cards? Is there a
library of useful subroutines or source code examples floating about?
(All standard disclaimers apply)
Bob Rankin (r3@vnet.ibm.com)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I had a Dialogic card and no source
code at one point; Dialogic very kindly sent me a large manual with lots
of routines written in 'c' along with a couple sample programs which were
most useful. They are nice people. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 17:41:03 GMT
From: aneely@toth.uwo.ca (Amer Neely)
Subject: Remapping Phone Buttons
Hello all ...
I have a third-party phone which I purchased quite some time ago.
Recently a friend tried to call her place to check for messages on her
Bell Call Answer. She couldn't get past the point where she was asked
to `Press the pound key ...'. On my phone it's mapped to a Redial
function. Is it possible to re-wire the phone or something so this
can be done? I don't really need the redial and would just as soon
have a fully compatible phone if possible (without renting one from
Bell). Also, the star button is mapped to Mute. Is this something I
can change too?
Thanks in advance and bcnu ...
Amer Neely, P.O. Box 1538 Stn. B,
London ON, CANADA, N6A 5M3
42,15'N x 81,14'W +251m
Internet: aneely@toth.uwo.ca
E-mail for PGP 2.3 signature block.
------------------------------
From: fgbsows@email.bony.com
Subject: Call Home For .15c/Min via 1-800 Number
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:56:35 GMT
Call home for 0.15c/min using a no fee 1-800 number. For more
information call 1-800-323-0954 or fax name and address to
1-800-848-9579. You may answer to USENET but send no e-mail please:)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Hey, the same to you! The acceptable
use policy for this network plainly states the only acceptable form
of advertising is that which is done up to appear that it is research
into various tariffs, etc. Don't be so bald-faced about it next time! PAT]
------------------------------
From: tyoung@jove.acs.unt.edu (Phillip "Ty" Young)
Subject: Anchor 1200baud Modem Manual Wanted
Date: 27 Jan 1994 14:36:23 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
I've tried posting this to some of the other comm. groups around here
and had very little in the way of helpful responses. I'm looking for
the manual for an Anchor Automation 1200E modem (ca. 1987 vintage).
If you have one of these, or at least know the DIP switch settings,
could you respond? Thanks very much.
Ty Young
------------------------------
From: cnbr73@vaxa.strath.ac.uk
Subject: ESTELLE Help Wanted
Date: 27 Jan 1994 15:09:54 GMT
Organization: Strathclyde University VAX Cluster
Hi,
I am looking for a PD or ShareWare ESTELLE compiler/intrepreter for
dos or windows environment. I searched SIMTEL20 with no luck. I'd
highly appreciate any info or pointer regarding it. Thanks in advance.
Anwar e-mail : cnbr73@uk.ac.strath
Farhat Anwar, Phone
Communications Division, Office : (041) 552 4400 Ex-2082
Dept. of Electronic & Electrical Engg., Home : (041) 558 6258
University of Strathclyde,
204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, U.K. Fax : (041) 552 2487
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 15:58:32 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Dialing Long Distance From Massachusetts
QUESTION: What happens now for local calls (originating in
Massachusetts) to another area code?
The question arises because of what I had previously collected for the
history file:
I have a note that 413,508,617 (the Massachusetts area codes) were to
change in 1993-94 to 7D for long distance within area code (along with
all other New England areas except Connecticut), BUT that, in Oct.
1993, 1 + NPA + 7D was ordered instead. I also have, for 413, that
"1 + NPA + 7D for local calls to another area code permissive 1 Mar to 8
Apr 1993".
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #49
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Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 22:03:35 CST
From: TELECOM Moderator <telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
Message-Id: <9401300403.AA01864@delta.eecs.nwu.edu>
To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #50
TELECOM Digest Sat, 29 Jan 94 22:03:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 50
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Cellular Reseller to Purchase Another (Washington Post via Paul Robinson)
'Arbitrage' PUC Rule? (Dave Hughes)
Telecom Policy in South Africa (Jan Bourgeois)
Dial-Back Black Boxes (Joel Disini)
TDRs and Wiretaps (Joel Disini)
Anyone Used an Intelejak? (Stephen T. Pierce)
Cellular Phone (Analog) With Modem FAQ? (Theo Gantos)
Area Code 215 to 610 ... Not (Michael Jacobs)
Questions About Tele-Shopping (Elke Ghyssels)
Questions About ISDN (Tom Vermijlen)
Caller ID Answering Machines (Chris Garrigues)
Telephone Express (Paul Celestin)
Telephony Textbook/Whitepaper Request (Pamela JS. Thomas)
Snail Mail Newsgroup (Nigel Roberts)
Internet Connections: What's Involved? (J. Guitard)
Need Panasonic Bag Phone Battery (Jim Miller)
GTE is Annoyed With Me (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Re: Informing Ourselves to Death (George Gilder)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
* telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.
TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 19:39:37 EST
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Subject: Cellular Reseller to Purchase Another
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
Summary from "N.Y. Firm Makes Bid For Unicel" by John Burgess
{Washington Post}, Jan 27, Page D11
Nationwide Cellular Service, Inc. of Valley Stream, NY, a cellular
reseller with about $115 million in 1991 sales and 175,000 customers
in several cities plus the Washington DC area, on Jan 26 tentatively
agreed to buy Columbia MD-based Unicell America, Inc., a competing
reseller with about 12,000 customers in the DC/MD Eastern
Shore/Delaware corridor, for $4.6 million.
A cellular reseller is someone who buys blocks of numbers from a
cellular carrier at wholesale discount then resells them at retail
markup.
In 1991 Nationwide bought GTE's Washington reseller. As such, only
one other reseller -- for Motorola purchasers -- would exist in the
area. This worries Chicago-Based Consulting firm Prarie Street
Partners, which has objected to the merger, claiming it could violate
Maryland's antitrust laws. MD Assistant Attorney General Alan Barr
says he is interested but can't promise that the deal is being
examined.
Unicell is a division of Walker Telecommunications Corp., which is
currently undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The court would have to
approve the sale. Neither the trustee for Walker nor a spokesman for
Nationwide had any comment.
Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM
------------------------------
From: daveh@teal.csn.org (Dave Hughes)
Subject: 'Arbitrage' PUC Rule?
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 20:35:40 GMT
I learned last week of an obscure rule which somebody -- allegedly the
Colorado PUC Staff -- is putting in a set of rules tightening up the
expansion of rural local calling areas.
I had never heard of the term arbitrage with respect to phone
connections before, and I am a novice on PUC rule making, but if this
rule does what I think it will, I will be before the PUC with bells on
complaining as loudly as I can, on behalf of ordinary rural folk
trying to use grass roots, low cost, data telecom.
Let me explain an example I used, which a PUC-rule-knowledgable person
said would be prohibited under the rule.
I have been asked to set up a powerful small computer bulletin board
in a rural town -- powerful enough to have one or more lines coming in
via US West, and one with TCP/IP and SLIP going out another via a
local phone company whose local calling area reaches a city where
there is an Internet server. Those users who live in a three county
area served with a local call to the BBS via US West can, on occassion
(not always, for the BBS will serve locally), telnet out via SLIP
to the Internet, and e-mail and news can flow into the BBS.
My friend says that is a form of 'abitrage' and will be prohibited
under the new rule.
There is no alternative, especially in a sparse area, to the 24 hour
SLIP connection over a local circuit, $50 a month, to the Internet
service, which will charge $250 a month, or $300 total, except to
order a bigger bucks ($350 dedicated 56kb line + $800 internet or
$1,150 a month) connection -- four times as much. And for an area
where it would be a year or more before the traffic would max out even
a 14.4 SLIP modem link, yhere is a real diference in a little rural
area between $3,600 and $15,000 a year.
So what is artbitrage, really? And how can I fight a rule whcih only
will have the effect of having *no* service set up, if it can't be
entered at the low cost level?
Dave Hughes
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The dictionary defines arbitrage as
the simultaneous purchase and resale of some commodity or service in
order to benefit from the difference in price between the buying and
selling market. I don't think that really applies in the scenario as
you have described it. You are not purchasing and reselling the same
service. You are purchasing telephone service in order to sell (not
re-sell) Internet connectivity. Yes, you are reselling Internet conn-
ectivity from whoemever your vendor is for the same, but you are not
purchasing the Internet connectivity from the same vendor as you are
purchasing the telephone service, and even if you were you are not
purchasing and re-selling 'the same commodity or security'. The tele-
phone is a necessary part of your business, but what is really
happening is you are using the telephone to receive calls from people
who you in turn connect with various information databases which you
are authorized to distribute by virtue of your contract with your
vendor for Internet stuff. Another important point is that your
callers will be getting connected with *you on your computer* then (as
you worded it) using telnet -- not a telephone company in the world
offers it -- to connect with other places. Since no telco offers
telnet -- either the hardware to do it or the software -- you are not
reselling what the telco is selling you. Telco is selling you carriage,
or a transport mechanism; you are using the carriage or transport
mechanism to distribute information to your customers.
To put it another way, if arbitrage could be defined as loosely as
your friend has done it, then every hotel switchboard becomes illegal
since the hotel purchases local service from telco at one price and
immediatly resells it to guests at some other price. Every privately
owned payphone (COCOT) becomes illegal for the same reason. Every pro-
vider of information by telephone who accepts telephone calls from
customers then uses the telephone to seek the desired information
elsewhere becomes illegal. The travel agent who accepts a local telephone
call from a client seeking a reservation who accesses the terminal in
his office to connect with the mainframe of an airline across the
country becomes illegal. Why? Because by the definition of arbitrage
your friend is using, the local person avoided a toll call to the
airline mainframe across the country by connecting instead on a local
call to the agent who in effect purchased a commodity (a phone call
to the mainframe somewhere) and immediatly resold the returned results
of the carriage to his client. The difference then is telco sells
carriage. You sell information. You need carriage to complete the
transaction, and telco needs information to be carried in order to
complete their transaction. They go together but they are not the
same 'security or commodity' regardless of the fact that the actions
occur simultaneously. Unfortunatly for the PUC, arbitrage requires
the *identical, same* security or commodity.
Anyway, *why* is the PUC getting involved in this? You install your
computer and you order phone lines for it. If you want FX or some
other specialized service you order it and have it installed. Let
the telco(s) involved in this tell you they won't do it, and why;
make them quote their tariff authority, and if they are unable to
do so, then sue them. PAT]
------------------------------
From: hw43158@vub.ac.be (BOURGEOIS JAN)
Subject: Telecom Policy in South Africa
Date: 29 Jan 1994 18:33:21 GMT
Organization: Brussels Free Universities (VUB/ULB), Belgium
Hello everybody,
I am a student in communication research at the Brussels Free
University in Belgium. I am writing a paper about the telecommunication
structures in South Africa. As you may know or not know, the situation
in South Africa is extremely interesting. The South African
telecommunication structures are very modern (number 22 worldwide),
but the problem is that it is going to be a democratic country soon.
This demands for example that all black people should be able to get a
phone, which is now not at all the case. The South African government
is not keen on democratising the telecom-structures and therefore it
is beyond any doubt that these telecom-structures will be privatised
(black people will not be able to pay the amount asked).
If anyone can provide me with some information on "Telecommunications
in South Africa", or with adresses of newsgroups that are of any
relevance in this matter, please e-mail me. Thanks in advance.
hw43158@is1.vub.ac.be (BOURGEOIS JAN)
Student Communicatiewetenschappen Vrije Universiteit Brussel
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You've got the right newsgroup, and
as a matter of fact, we've got a number of readers on the mailing
list @telkom.co.za and perhaps one or more will kindly respond to
your comments with a copy to the Digest. PAT]
------------------------------
From: D1749@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Disini SW, Emmanuel Disini,CST)
Subject: Dial-Back Black Boxes
Date: 29 Jan 1994 04:19:49 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
I am looking for a black box that lets me dial from overseas (Manila)
into the US. I'm not sure if calls originating from Manila contain ANI
information, but it would be nice if that black box could figure out
that I'm calling from Manila, call me back (using some low-cost
overseas subscription plan, such as AT&T's Reach out World), and then
(using a second telephone line) allow me to dial any number in the US
(or the world, for that matter), at US rates. You see, calls from
Manila to the US cost $2.25 for the first minute (plus 10% tax),
whereas MCI charges 47c/min under the Friends & Family plan.
If this works out, I'd be interested in reselling such boxes in
Manila.
Joel Disini d1749@applelink.apple.com
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a company which makes such
boxes, but like Telepassport (the service I represent which sells
the same kind of thing) they depend on identifying your call by
the phone number which was dialed to reach the box. Also, they use
three-way calling rather than a second line to establish the
connections. You call it; by virtue of the incoming ringing signal
it calls you back; you enter a passcode and the desired number; it
then flashes for the three-way line, places the call and flashes
again. If I get some money, I am going to get a few boxes and
switch all my Telepassport clients over to my own system. In the
meantime Joel, don't re-invent the wheel. Use one of the several
existing telephone arbitrage (our word for the day!) outfits around.
I'd prefer you use mine but that's your choice. PAT]
------------------------------
From: D1749@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Disini SW, Emmanuel Disini,CST)
Subject: TDRs and Wiretaps
Date: 29 Jan 1994 04:34:37 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
> There is also a device (TDR, time-domain- reflectometer) that will
> bounce a signal down the line and give you a visual indication of
> bridge taps or irregularities in impedance along the circuit. You can
> usually see any splice or terminal box.
Interesting. Will this interfere in anyway with the central office's
switch? Will the TDR indicate just how far from my phone (or CO), the
wiretap is taking place? How much is a TDR and what models would you
recommend?
Regards,
Joel Disini Manila
------------------------------
From: stp@ccd.harris.com (Stephen T. Pierce)
Subject: Anyone Used an Intelejak?
Reply-To: steve@rtfm.mlb.fl.us
Organization: A crutch for those who can't handle chaos
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 13:57:02 GMT
Anyone used an Intelejak from Phonex (or some similar device)? This
is supposed to be one of those devices to allow you to create phone
extensions anywhere in your home by plugging a base unit into an
electrical outlet and then plugging your incoming phone line into it.
Then plugging an extension unit into any other electrical outlet will
allow you to have a phone extension there.
I would like to know if this is feasible for using as a phone outlet
for a faxmodem and whether $69.95 (from Lyben) seems to be a
reasonable price.
Thanks,
Steve Pierce steve@rtfm.mlb.fl.us
------------------------------
From: theo@msen.com (Theo Gantos, CSP)
Subject: Cellular Phone (Analog) With Modem FAQ?
Date: 29 Jan 1994 23:08:43 GMT
Organization: T. E. Gantos & Associates
I'd like to get a detailed technical engineering understanding of what
goes on in an ordinary analog cellular phone call. Is there a FAQ on
this? Why do some services only seem to be able to handle data up to
2400bps? Are they using ADPCM or some other compression technology to
enlarge the bandwith between the cell and the CO? Theoretically if
there's enough bandwith on a cellular call we should be able to use
higher rates and TCM. Thanks in advance. Email on this is fine.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 12:50:56 EDT
From: Michael Jacobs <JMT0@LAFAYACS.bitnet>
Subject: Area Code 215 to 610 ... Not
Mr. Thomas Hinders notes that some persons were having difficulty
dialing in to him using the new 610 (Allentown and Southeastern
Pennsylvania) area code rather than the former 215 area code. Bell
officials (according to a news article in the Allentown Morning Call
newspaper) contacted Bellcore (the current NANP administrator) to send
an emergency bulletin to all IXC's that such difficulties have been
reported.
When placing a long-distance call, there are several places where a
call can be intercepted and prevented from being completed. One, the
caller's CPE (key system unit, private branch exchange, etc.) can be
blocking the call to a non-recognized area code (Numbering Plan Area
or NPA). Two, the local exchange carrier (RBOC or independent) needs
to recognize the call setup and route it appropriately (based on the
presence/absence of dialed digit "1" + NPA). Three, the LEC's
signalling network provider (not all LEC's operate their own Signal
Control Points (the database which instructs the SS7 network and
Signal Transfer Point switch)) may not yet havethe new NPA data in
their system. Four, the IXC may not have that information in their
SCP routing database (I imagine that AT&T does, but there are dozens
of smaller carriers that may not yet have gotten the message).
Lastly, the LEC in 610 NPA (Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania and
independents ) must take the signalling info from the IXC and route it
appropriately.
The point here (and my scenario above is merely educated speculation),
is that there is a lot of coordination to be made in effecting a NPA
change, and that is why they are so well-publicized (including ad-
vertisements in nationwide trade and general-circulation periodicals).
It should not be suprising that technical glitches will occur. That
is why Bell has given a one-year grace period when both area codes
will work. This grace period, however, is (according to the article)
intended only for end-users and not for IXC's who have had plenty of
warning and should have effected the required changes to their
systems.
Moreover, callers should realize that the telephone system (Bell, GTE,
IXC, and independent) is designed, built, and maintained by human
beings and will never operate at 100% perfection (due to the conseq-
uences of the Law of Diminishing Returns, I should not like to see the
size of my phone bill from a company that actually did operate at
100%). Therefore, an educated caller will know how to access other
IXC's via the appropriate 10XXX codes, contact an operator for
assistance in completing problem calls, or contact repair service to
have a line trouble repaired. The telephone companies and their
employees work hard to ensure that the calls go through.
As an aside, I found it interesting that during the aftermath of the
recent ice storm in SE Pennsylvania when Philadelphia Electric had
500,000+ customers out of service, they could confidently publicize an
800 number for their customers to report problems. News accounts I
heard mentioned a figure of about one thousand telephone customers out
of service in the same geographic area. I personally was one of the
many Bell technicians who worked 14+ hour days in the 10 degreeweather
to restore service to those customers affected.
Michael W. Jacobs (JMT0@lafibm.lafayette.edu)
Service Technician, Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania
------------------------------
From: hw40142@vub.ac.be (ghyssels elke)
Subject: Question About Tele-Shopping
Date: 29 Jan 1994 10:00:50 GMT
Organization: Brussels Free Universities (VUB/ULB), Belgium
Hi,
I'm looking for information about tele-shopping because I'm preparing
a paper on this topic. I hope someone can help me.
Thanks in advance.
hw40142@is1.vub.ac.be (ghyssels elke)
Student Communicatiewetenschappen
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
------------------------------
From: hw43213@vub.ac.be (Vermijlen Tom)
Subject: Question About ISDN
Date: 29 Jan 1994 12:51:29 GMT
Organization: Brussels Free Universities (VUB/ULB), Belgium
I'm a student in communication at the Free University of Brussels and I'm
working on a paper about the electronical highways in the USA. If there is
anyone who has relevant introduction-books about isdn in the USA and a bit
more specific about these 'electronical highways ', please send it to me.
Thanks in advance.
hw43213@is1.vub.ac.be (Vermijlen Tom)
Student Communicatiewetenschappen
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
------------------------------
From: cwg@mcc.com (Chris Garrigues)
Subject: Caller ID Answering Machines
Organization: MCC
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 15:43:46 GMT
Does anybody have any recommendations on answering machines that
support Caller ID? Caller ID is arriving here in Austin very soon and
at the same time I need a new answering machine, so it would make
sense to get them integrated. I remember seeing an ad in the {NY Times}
a few months ago, but (a) I can't find it now and (b) I want to know
more than I saw in that ad. The local Radio Shack and AT&T stores
have the Caller ID boxes, and the AT&T store also has a phone with
Caller ID, but neither have answering machines with Caller ID.
Also, sources to purchase would be handy.
Thanks in advance,
Chris Garrigues +1 512 338 3328
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation cwg@mcc.com
3500 West Balcones Center Drive Austin, TX 78759-6509 USA
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 10:03:04 -0800
From: celestin@olympus.net (Paul Celestin)
Subject: Telephone Express
Has anyone heard of an outfit called Telephone Express? I just
received a mailing from them claiming that my first long distance call
will cost a penny and their charges are a lot less than AT&T or MCI.
Anyone can use it by dialing 10465. However, nowhere in the
literature do they mention what their prices are. I'm curious if
anyone has used them or knows what their rates are. The letter they
sent seems to be specifically tailored to the US West calling area in
the Pacific Northwest. Thanks in advance for any comments!
celestin@olympus.net (Paul Celestin, Celestin Company)
------------------------------
From: thomas@aurxcg.aur.alcatel.com (Pamela JS. Thomas)
Subject: Telephony Textbook/Whitepaper Request
Date: 29 Jan 1994 15:14:20 GMT
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems
I'm one of those "crossover" skilled people from the defense industry.
I understand the basics of communications systems. I have learned a
lot about telecommunications in the last year. I have read a host of
magazine articles and chapters of interest in computer network
textbooks.
Is there a primer for telephony? Every once in a while I'd like to
review the basics. There are a lot of letters to remember. (ie. LAN,
TL1, SONET, T1/DS1 ...)
Pamela
Voice: 919-850-6567 Fax:919-850-5588
thomas@aur.alcatel.com / 84 318i, 70 2000A
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Stick around, Pamela. Maybe we will
learn something together here. PAT]
------------------------------
From: roberts_n@svhdev.te.bt.co.uk
Subject: Snail Mail Newsgroup
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 14:26:50 GMT
Some time ago there was an announcement of a mailing list or newsgroup
(I can't remember which) which covered the topic of the world's postal
services (a.k.a `snail mail').
Of course, as luck would (not) have it, now that I want to find it, I
can't remember the details. Nor can I find them.
Can anyone offer me a pointer to the group or mailing list, please,
if it exists?
Thanks in advance.
Nigel
Eur.-Ing. N. Roberts + Co. P. O. Box 49 MANNINGTREE (Essex) CO11 2SZ
Office/Home: +44 206 396610 / +44 860 578600 Fax: +44 206 393148
On site: +44 473 22 4443 Email: roberts_n@svhdev.te.bt.co.uk
------------------------------
From: 92065034@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca (J. Guitard)
Subject: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved?
Date: 29 Jan 1994 14:38:00 -0500
Organization: Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada
I would like some info on what's involved in connecting to the
Internet. At first I thought the only way to connect was through a T1
line, but now I hear you can connect with a 9600 baud line. Someone
told me they were connected through their local internet provider. Who
are these local internet providers? What are the costs for these
lines and monthly fees, etc? Email me or post here.
Thanks in advance,
James Albert Guitard, Laurentian University
92065034@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca
------------------------------
From: jmiller@wendy.iac.net (Jim Miller)
Subject: Need Panasonic Bag Phone Battery
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 16:41:32 EST
Hi,
I am in need of a battery for a Panasonic EB-2501 bag cellular
phone. I have checked MCM Electronics, which has a decent selection of
replacement batteries, with no success.
The battery is part number EB-P0057, 1000 mAH.
Are there any good sources (mail-order) for cellular accessories
like mobile mounts, through-glass antennas, chargers, and the like,
that you would recommend?
Your help is very much appreciated!
Jim Miller - jmiller@wendy.iac.net
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 11:08:20
From: TELECOM Digest Editor <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
Subject: GTE is Annoyed With Me
Whenever something of consequence happens in the far-away galaxy of
California -- not often, admittedly, but the siesmological disturbances
there recently which knocked quite a few of the creatures out their
orbit is one such instance -- the local lightbulb manufacturer GTE
springs into action to mitigate the damage and disruption in service
to the primitive communications system they employ there.
Proud of their employer, and proud of a job well done under most
extraordinary circumstances, a few of the folks there send me news
via my fax machine from time to time; they also send email. I like
faxes the best under the circumstances since fax machines don't lie
and neither do scanners which input the faxed material into the computer.
(By the way GTE-droids, its not Steven Lichter, you've managed to get
him under control ...).
Anyway, my printing of things published as internal communications at
the lightbulb factory has gotten *some people* very, very upset and
bothered, especially since they can't figure out who is sending me
those bulletins. The dude has no answer-back on his fax machine for
good reason. :) A fellow from GTE who identified himself as being part
of (or responsible for) security for GTE where 'internal documents'
were concerned called me on the phone one day and seriously urged me
to not print any more of the things that were sent to me 'outside of
regular corporate channels'. He said he would ask about adding me to
the media mailing list so that I'd receive things from the company
on an official basis -- don't tell him I said so, but I think he
meant I would be getting the whitewashed versions henceforth and
hereafter.
Concurrent with asking me in a polite way (I wonder if they will
become less polite as time goes on) not to print any more memorandums
sent to me by friends of the Digest (and I might add very dedicated,
loyal and proud employees of GTE -- yes, there is more than one feeding
me), the following statement began appearing on those earthquake reports
being distributed:
--------------
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS A COMPANY PROPRIETARY STATUS REPORT ON THE
CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE. ANY DISTRIBUTION OF THIS INFORMATION TO A BROAD
EMPLOYEE AUDIENCE (VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL OR PRINTED DISTRIBUTION) OR ANY
EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION (WHETHER MEDIA OR ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SUCH AS
INTERNET OR COMPUSERVE) MUST FIRST BE CLEARED THROUGH APPROPRIATE GTE PUBLIC
AFFAIRS CHANNELS.
--------------
Yep, the deep-throat even went and sent me stuff with the above message
printed at the top of the page. But I'll be Mister Good Guy this time
around and *not* print the rest of the memo. Let's see how fast GTE
keeps their side of the bargain and adds me to the official list. My
fax number is 1-708-329-0572 but email is also okay. By the by, the
GTE-droid denied there was fuel all over the floor in the Santa Monica
CO after the earthquake. At least he denied it until I read it back to
him right from the faxed page where it said there was ...
To close this issue of the Digest, George Gilder has written us with
a response to Neil Postman's remarks which were printed in these
columns a few days ago. I'm always glad when Gilder takes a few minutes
out of his schedule to write us; he's one of the best. See the next
message ... PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 17:14 EST
From: George Gilder <0004091174@mcimail.com>
Subject: Re: Informing Ourselves to Death
Postman may well give us something to meditate upon as we travel down
the information superhighway, but nearly everything he says in his
speech is nonsense. Computers do not support centralization; they
destroy all top down, centralized and master-slave structures. They
disestablish all the hierarchies, monopolies, pyramids and power grids
of established industrial society. They give every hacker at his
workstation the creative power previously commanded by factory tycoons
and the communications power once monopolized by broadcasters.
IBM, USSR, EEC, NTT, all these colossal acronyms are collapsing into
an alphabet soup because of the power of distributed computing
governed by the law of the microcosm, the inexorable tendency of the
chip to distribute power and intelligence as the density of electronic
components rises by an order of magnitude every five years on a single
sliver of sand manufacturable for a couple dollars. It is the masses
who are always favored by technology; the medieval era Postman
acclaims offered a life expectancy of around 35 years to all but the
luckier kings and lords.
Postman's notion that the distribution of information somehow eclipses
knowledge is nonsense; knowledge and wisdom are always rare, but new
technologies make it far easier to distribute it. The meaning of life
is always elusive, but computers do nothing to inhibit religion or
faith. They do everything to impel economic expansion and opportunity,
which is a good even in an era when the culture is largely corrupt,
and nowhere so corrupt as in the universities upholding an umphalosceptic
intellectualism, combined with a luddite resentment of the real accomp-
lishments of our age, which are not alas cultural but scientific and
technological. To see worlds in a grain of sand, the dream of Blake,
is the achievement of the modern cathedral -- the silicon chip.
George Gilder
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #50
*****************************