Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/back.issues/1995.volume.15/vol15.iss101-150

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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #101

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 16 Feb 95 12:55:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 101

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (TELECOM Digest Editor)
    Security of Cordless Phones? (Jeffrey A. Porten)
    Area Code/Prefix Trivia ([e-mail])
    Is Origin Cell of Cellular Call Logged? (Chuck Cairns)
    Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder (Richard Wildman)
    Re: LD Termination Fees to RBOCs (Lars Poulsen)
    Re: Local Calling Areas (Linc Madison)
    Re: New Motorola Micro-tac Elite AMPS Cellphone (Marcus Lee)
    Directory Assistance Direct Connections (Kevin Bluml)
    US-MA-Boston Principal Technology Consultant, Recruiter (Beverly Kahn)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 11:59:10 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC


Kevin Mitnick, who had earned the unofficial title of 'America's Most
Wanted Computer Hacker' was arrested Wednesday morning at his home in
Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mitnick had managed to evade authorities in both Los Angeles and Seattle
during the past two years. He was caught through the efforts of one of
his latest victims, computer security specialist Tsutomu Shimomura of
the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Shimomura was robbed of security
programs he had written when his computer was broken into on Christmas
Day, about two months ago. But one thing Mitnick apparently had not
forseen was that the programs he stole -- and then used -- would be
used to help track him down. Shimomura was able to detirmine this past
weekend that Mitnick, 31, was connecting through a modem attached to
a cellular phone somewhere near Raleigh. Through the cooperation of
telcos and cellular companies, authorities were able to track Mitnick
to his home early Wednesday morning.

Authorities say they hope this latest arrest brings to an end the career
of a man who began hacking and phreaking when he was in high school. At
one point Mitnick broke into a North American Air Defense Command computer
in Colorado.

Referring to Mitnick as a 'dangerous computer terrorist', Justice Department
spokesman John Russell said the raid was conducted at 1:30 am on the
apartment in Raleigh in which Mitnick was living alone under a false name.

"His obsession was his downfall," said Deputy United States Marshall
Kathy Cunningham in Los Angeles. "His obsession to hack and phreak using
cloned cellular phones left us a good trail to follow."

Mitnick, who is known by the hacker name 'Condor' says he took that alias
after seeing the movie 'Three Days of the Condor' starring Robert Redford
as a man on the run from the government.  He grew up in Los Angeles, and
was convicted there in 1988 after a series of phreaking and hacking incidents
which included disconnecting the phone service to Hollywood stars and
others. Although initially he was given just a short prison term followed by
federal probation, he continued to act out in his self-destructive ways and
when his probation officer threatened to revoke his probation and send
him to prison, he disconnected her telephone to get even and then ran off!
And he is supposed to be a smart guy?

In 1989, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles portrayed Mitnick as a brilliant
young man 'obsessed with junk food and computers' who infiltrated computer
networks and telephone switching systems in the United States and England.

Although federal authorities suggested that he had broken into National
Security Agency computers, he was never charged with that crime.  At
one point however, they considered him so dangerous they got a judicial
order denying him any use of telephones at all, for fear he would call
up a computer and access it using the touchtone buttons on the phone.

In the earlier 1988 case, Mitnick agreed to plead guilty to hacking
the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer network and stealing
a program. He also pleded guilty to theft of sixteen MCI long distance
access codes and using them to make long distance calls. For this, the
court's imposition of punishment included several years imprisonment
with all but one year suspended, to be followed by federal probation
for the remainder of his term. After release from prison, Mitnick began
his probation. When his probation officer suggested she would revoke
his probation because of his behavior and return him to the penitentiary,
his response was to hack the appropriate computer and disconnect her
phone service ... he then fled.

In the fall of 1992, Mitnick was working for a private investigative
firm in Calabasas, California when the FBI was conducting an investigation
into the break-ins of Pacific Bell computers. Realizing they were about
to close in on him, he fled again ... to surface only yesterday when
a man he decided to trifle with -- Tsutomu Shimomura -- decided not to
get mad, but instead to get even! Shimomura cooperated very closely
with the government to pinpoint Mitnick's whereabouts.

On Wednesday, February 15, 1995, Mitnick was taken before a Magistrate
in Raleigh, North Carolina where he was arraigned on the charge of violating
the terms of his probation in 1988, and new charges of computer fraud
in North Carolina. Assistant United States Attorney David Schindler in
Los Angeles said additional charges pertaining to Mitnick's actions in
San Diego, Seattle and Colorado would also be presented. Citing its
belief Mitnick was a danger to the community and likely to flee again
if released, the court ordered him held without bail, and once again
restricted his unsupervised use of telephones.

Mitnick may be a smart man, but he seems to lack some common sense. One
does not ever screw around with one's federal probation officer; you
don't play with her telephone to get even; you don't run off when she
calls you. And when you are on the lam or otherwise, you don't steal from
someone like Tsutomu Shimomura.

Speaking of whom, Shimomura attended the proceedings in Raleigh on
Wednesday. At the end of the hearing as he was being led away, a
handcuffed and shackled Mitnick turned to Shimomura, whom he has never
met or seen before and said, "Hello, Tsutomu, I respect your skills."

Shimomura nodded, then turned his back and walked away.

It must be remembered that in the United States, our constitution requires
a presumption of innocence on the part of Kevin Mitnick until his guilt
is proven to the satisfation of a judge or jury in a court of law.



Patrick Townson

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey A. Porten)
Subject: Security of cordless phones?
Date: 16 Feb 1995 17:38:49 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


Having just gotten a new cordless phone (BellSouth 46mHz), and living
in the paranoid environs of Washington, DC, I find myself wondering
just how likely it is that the world is listening to my calls.

The phone has ten channels, and a security code feature which, so far
as I understand, exists mainly to prevent another cordless handset
from tapping into my base unit, but does nothing to scramble the
signal from the handset.

I live in an apartment building, with a few others nearby, so consider
this a high-density area.  Should I go on the assumption that people
are always listening in?  Sometimes?  Almost never?

I have a corded set that I keep hooked up for confidential calls; as a
stopgap, I sometimes scan channels on my cordless so any eavesdropper
will at least have to fiddle to find me again.  Does this help, or am
I kidding myself?


Thanks,

Jeff


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Corded or cordless, the assumption should
be that your telephone calls are never secure. In actual practice, it
may not matter to you; if you are just in idle chatter with someone you
aren't going to bother with the trouble of special precautions. My personal
belief is the use of scanners to listen to cordless phones is still a
relatively rare thing; how many people do *you* know that own scanners
who are within range of your cordless phone? And of those, how many are
sophisticated enough to know how to program the scanner for cordless?
So my feeling is generally its not a big deal, and if you do have something
very important and personal to say, you might want to go to a payphone
anyway.  PAT]

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 11:26:45 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Area Code/Prefix Trivia


A friend of mine recently sent to me some notices from the news group
regarding changes in area code assignments.  I observed that some
trivia notes were also included regarding NPA assignments.  I wanted
to make you aware of another example pertaining to Port Roberts,
Washington.  Point Roberts is a six square mile section of land
located on a penisula south of Vancouver, Canada.  The Point is in the
United States because the portion is south of the 49th.  For many
years, the local prefix 946 was assigned to the 604 area code and
local coin phones were desinged to accept Canadian currency.  Sometime
in the early 1980s, the 946 prefix was reassigned to the 206 area.  I
have not been there since, so I cannot offer an update if the coin
phones were transfered to accept US currency.

I thought you would enjoy this.

My friend asked that I reference his homepage for your reference.

http://www.america.net/~mikef/mikef.html


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The last I heard, which was some time
ago, 604-946 and 206-946 both got you the same thing in Point Roberts.
I think directory assistance via 206 or 604 were both available also.
Did you know it is impossible to travel from Point Roberts to anywhere
else in the United States by automobile without going through Canada?
School kids there go to school 'around the bend' in a nearby area in
Washington State, but to do so, their school bus has to enter Canada,
drive a few miles east, then drive back into the USA again, the same
as anyone else wanting to drive to the next (USA) town over.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Chuck Cairns)
Subject: Is Origin Cell on a Cellular Call Logged?
Date: 16 Feb 1995 16:52:46 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site


Is the origin cell on a cellular call logged?


Best Regards,

cc


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To find out the answer to this, I turned
to our resident expert, Kevin Mitnick ... <g> ... he says they are,
unfortunatly. Uh, I know this is a rude question to ask, but have you
some reason to wish they were not?  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Wildman)
Subject: Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder
Date: 16 Feb 1995 16:24:13 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site


Here are two updates.

After my original posting I received about 14 responses, most of which
had similar horror stories to tell about MCI billing problems.

As I mentioned previously, the bill was paid in full by credit card in
January.  This week (of 2/5), we had a phone call from MCI where we
were told we had not paid our bill -- I interrupted and told the
woman, "Yes, we had, by credit card."  "We already have the credit
card billing with the MCI payment on it" -- the exact amount she was
saying we still owed!  She hesitated a moment, and then said, oh yes,
I see it now!  Makes one wonder just how complicated a form she is
looking at, and what is wrong with their programmers if such a field
is not checked before the bill is flagged as not paid!

In addition, yesterday, Feb. 9, we received notice in the mail warning
us that our bill would go to a collection agency if we did not pay.
[This is the second mail from MCI in the past week -- we did receive a
listing of calls made, though it did not appear to be a bill -- my
guess is that this resulted from an emailing to an MCI employee whose
address I pulled off of a news group, and who faxed the original
posting to MCI's Consumer Executive Customer Relations (Residential).]
In any case, my wife called this time.  She got ahold of a woman and
explained the situation to her.  But no, the woman said, her records
did not show we had paid.  She, in turn, called another office, who
then told her, yes, we had paid!  The woman assured my wife that the
problem would be cleared up.  We are not holding our breath.

And the second update.

We received a nice letter of apology from MCI's Denver office
yesterday (2/14), along with a $25 check for local or MCI phone
service!

Unfortunately, also yesterday, two MCI bills arrived, both for the
same exact amount we paid by credit card in January.  And sure enough,
one bill was to our old address (old by five years) -- the Post Office
evidently caught it and delivered to our current address.

My wife, glutton for punishment that she is, called the MCI number
listed on the bills.  Again, it was not clear to the woman she talked
to that we had paid the bill.  The MCI employee did say our account
was being transferred.  This did jive with what was stated in the
apology -- that U.S. West had sold out their rural service (we have a
cabin) to PTI, and that this had happened last October (fits month
problem started), and then (MCI) had made a series of errors that we
had been experiencing.  It is interesting that MCI thinks they are
transferring our service, since we terminated their service after
paying the bill.  The woman said she was going to flag our account so
that we would not keep getting mail and phone calls (where have I
heard that before).

This situation must be an example of the notorious "corner case".


Life goes on,

RW

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

From: [e-mail] (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Re: LD Termination Fees to RBOCs
Date: 16 Feb 1995 10:07:46 -0800
Organization: Rockwell International - CMC Network Products


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Mike_Boyd) writes:

> ....  Because of the way that the costs are separated jurisdictionally,
> and given the subsequent wide discretion of the PUC in setting rates, intra-
> state and interstate access charges for a given LEC may vary greatly. For
> example, terminating a minute of switched traffic from IXC "A" to end
> user "Z" may cost the IXC 3 cents if the call is interstate and 8 cents if
> it is an intrastate call.

I have always been amazed at the complexity of ratemaking.  Looking
from high above, the local access part of a long distance call is a
local business call, and should be billed as such by the LEC. (Strictly
speaking, if the call originates from a residence, the originating
access segment is a local residential call.) Of course, this originating
segment should be paid by the caller on the LEC bill.

The IXCs do get some specialized services provided on their trunks,
and they probably should be charged for those; obviously it is simpler
for the IXC to get a validated originating billing number handed in
with the call than to have to do their own subscriber authentication,
but it seems to me that it should be optional for the IXC do make this
"make or buy" decision.

Since the cost of a timed local business call is about one or two cents per
minute, the access charges should be in the range two to four cents.
If that is what FCC sets for interstate access fees, it seems to me
that they are staffed with people who can add and subtract.

We should all lobby for some improved sanity in this area as we move into
the "open network" where many subscribers want to get the same types
of processing options that carriers have been getting.


Lars Poulsen            Internet E-mail: [e-mail]
Rockwell Network Systems    Phone:        [phone]
7402 Hollister Avenue         Telefax:      [phone]
Santa Barbara, CA 93105    Internets: designed and built while you wait

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

From: [e-mail] (Linc Madison)
Subject: Re: Local Calling Areas
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 22:23:37 GMT


Mark Rudholm ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Here in the Los Angeles area, GTE and Pacific Bell offer flat-rate
> calling to residential customers for "Zone 1" and "Zone 2."
> Basically, if you are calling anywhere inside about 18 miles from a
> flat-rate line, the call is free and unmetered.  If you live on or
> near the shoreline, you could theoretically only have 50% the "free"
> calling area of someone who lived at least 18 miles from the ocean,
> since half of your 18 mile radius could be out on the Pacific.

Well, first of all, it's approximately 12 miles, not 18.  0-8 miles is
Zone 1, 8-12 is Zone 2, and 12-17 is Zone 3.  Over 17 is "local toll,"
until you cross your LATA boundary.  The distinction between Zones 1
and 2 is no longer meaningful.

> Since the "basic monthly fee" is in theory supposed to cover those
> "local" calls, aren't those of us on the shoreline getting cheated,
> since we pay the same basic-rate?  Should unmeasured service therefore
> cost less if you live near the ocean?

> I'm curious to know what everyone thinks of my idea.

Well, in a word, dream on.  There are other factors that you have
neglected, like population density.  Lots of people live near the
coast, in far denser concentration than most places 24 miles inland.
There's also the fact that even with half or more of your calling area
consisting of open water, you still have more people within 12 miles
than in the entire eastern half of the state.  Besides that, if we
gave you credit for the so-called useless open water in your local
calling area, we would then have to charge you toll rates to call the
local dolphins, porpoises, and whales when they get cell phones.
Besides that, you get to have the pleasure of watching guys with
unbelievable tans walk up to one another and say, "Duude, like, your
surfboard is ringing.  Are you gonna answer it?"


Linc Madison   *   Oakland, California   *   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Marcus Lee)
Subject: Re: New Motorola Micro-tac Elite AMPS Cellphone
Date: 15 Feb 1995 05:13:31 GMT
Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland


[e-mail] (Steven King) writes:

> [e-mail] (Andrew Knox) publicly declared:

>> Motorola New Zealand is apparently about to launch a new AMPS cellphone
>> called the Microtac Elite.

>> I would be quite interested to know whether anyone has any details
>> about this phone or about pricing of it throughout the world.

Motorola's MicroTAC Elite is the latest entry into the competitve
pocket phone category and is one of the lightest phones available
today throughout the world. At a mere 113 grams, the MicroTAC Elite
actually weighs less than a D-cell battery. The MicroTAC Elite uses
the new lithium ion battery technology offering great talk time from
very small batteries and an optional headset jack to provide handsfree
operations.  The recommended retail price is between $1500 and $2000
AUS (Prob be $1500 when it is released here in Aust by the end of the
1st quarter, looking at how much I bought my GSM International 8200
for).

"Only 113grams (with slim Lithium Ion battery). Revolutionary battery
technology gives longer talktime Menu with icons for easy use. Data
capable."

"When the first MicroTAC went on sale in 1989, it was the smallest and
lightest portable phone ever. The crown for lightest phone has rested
on a variety of heads since then but Motorola intends to wrest it
back. The contender is the 113g MicroTAC Elite. Although it's an
analogue phone, the little Motorola has an optional digital answering
machine which greets callers with your voice and allows them to leave
short messages."

    LiIon Standard Battery    LiIon XT Battery
Weight: 113grams        163grams

Batteries
Standard LiIon Talk Time: 60mins    Standby Time: 10hrs
LiIon XT Talk Time:      120mins    Standby Time: 20hrs
Power Watts: 0.6W
Battery Strength indicator: YES
Charger: Internal fast charger, Two Pocket IntelliCharge rapid charger is
     incl.

Memory Features/Positions
Scroll search (list of no.'s):  YES
Alphanumeric:            YES 99 locations
Numeric:            YES
Scratchpad memory:        YES

Dialing
Keypad:                Large well spaced tactile keys.
                Selectable tones.
Last number recall:        YES remembers last 10
Auto Redial:            YES on system busy
Any Key Answer:            Flip activates call

Display
Screen size:            2lines x 7 characters
Call in absence display:    YES
Signal Strength Indicator:    YES

Other Features
Data Capabilities:        Can accept a variety of Motorola data acc.
Ring volume control:        YES
Vibrating Capabilities:        YES

Extras
Nine selectable ring tones to differentiate your phone from others
Answering machine and internal charger, optional handset adaptor

Security
Lock:                YES


Heeeh. That was taken from a variety of publicatons.  If you want more
info, just ask, I've got more detailed details about the phone.


Marcus Lee                        Ph: [phone]
University of Queensland Australia                [phone]
Internet: [e-mail]            Fax:[phone]

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 10:24:29 CST
From: [e-mail] (Kevin Bluml)
Subject: Directory Assistance Direct Connections


USWest now has an offering in MN where a business can set up to pay
for the dialing of their number from 411 type services. I believe they
also offer the usual caller pays to have them dial for you. I heard an
ad the other day saying businesses could set this up and pay 35 cents
to have the call connected directly to them when someone called for the
number.

Also saw MCIs new ad for 1-900-Callinfo (or whatever the letters
were..)  But it is now 900 and there is a note saying it is from MCI
and I believe they even mentioned MCI in the voiceover. Still 75 cents
and basically the same commercial otherwise.


 From:     Kevin V. Bluml  - Cray Research Inc. 612-683-3036
USmail     655 - Lone Oak Drive, Eagan, MN 55121
Internet   [e-mail]  UUCP - uunet!cray!kevin

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

From: [e-mail] (New Dimensions in Tech.)
Subject: US-MA-Boston Principal Technology Consultant, Recruiter
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 15:39:49 GMT


PRINCIPAL TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT
JOB #00695

Our client, a very successful business/financial organization, located
in the BOSTON area, is searching for a Chief Scientist/Principal
Technology Consultant.

S/he will have a very heavy background in all areas of COMMUNICATIONS:

    *High Speed Fiber Optic LANS
    *High performance Internetworking Routers
    *Frame Relay
    *ATM
    *Internet
    *FDDI
    *TCP/IP

This position reports to a very senior person.

We are searching for an executive who also has the ability to manage a
small group of engineers.

This position is RELOCATABLE.

Salary in the six figures.

  All of our positions require that you have three or more years of
  professional working experience and that you be a U.S. Citizen or
  Permanent Resident.  At the current time, we have no entry-level
  part-time, or contracting positions available.

  If your qualifications match the above specifications, please
  forward your resume immediately, referencing Job #I00695, via
  fax, U.S. mail or email (ASCII only please) to:


  Beverly Kahn
  New Dimensions in Technology, Inc. tel:        [phone]
  74 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 101      fax:        [phone]
  Marblehead, MA 01945               email: [e-mail]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #101
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #102

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 16 Feb 95 15:23:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 102

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Details on NPA 888 Selection (Jeff Buckingham)
    Here's the Story on GETS ([e-mail])
    Re: FCC/PCS Market Numbers (Bob Keller)
    Re: Scam at UC Berkeley (Carl Moore)
    Re: Messaging Software for Windows (Rudy Rawlins)
    Re: Telco Signaling Requirements (Gene Delancey)
    Re: GTE PCS/Global Roam (Sam Spens Clason)
    Re: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs (John Levine)
    Re: Numbers Numbers Numbers ... (Steve Coleman)
    Re: 256Kbps Overseas Circuits at 56Kpbs Costs (Tom Coradeschi)
    Last Laugh! Re: How I Fooled Caller-ID (Gordon L. Burditt)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 10:28:26 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Details on NPA 888 Selection
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Here are the notes from the group that helps to make decisions such as
what the next toll free NPA will be. Readers may be interested in what
goes on behind the scenes with a complex selection such as this.

800 Expansion

The question of the individual company's position regarding opening
the "D" digit was asked.  Sprint and MCI supported opening the "D"
digit.  USTA opposed, and noted that PBX software as well as end
office software would have to be modified in order to permit this to
occur. Bahamas Telephone stated that they had no difficulty either
way, but that there could be a problem for PBXs.  A poll was taken and
opening of the "D" digit as a method for expansion was not accepted.

Bob Hirsch noted that the OBF message processing committee requested
that codes in the 88 range not be used because they are being used for
billing purposes.  MCI noted that they had asked their MSG committee
rep., and they knew nothing of that concern.  Of those present, none
knew anything about the billing concern raised in the OBF letter.  MCI
proposed that we open an ERC, 888, for expansion.  GTE asked for their
rationale.  MCI's response was that 888 was what their marketing
organization asked for.  GTE proposed that we start with 822.  NANPA
proposed that we start with 833 because it is consistent with the
reservation of 533 that has already taken place for PCS 500, and that
it would make administration easier for them.  Bernie Murphy, SRCI,
proposed that we start with 880.  In response it was noted that 880 is
not an ERC.  GTE proposed that 888 not be used because it is unique
and has special value because it has the same three digits.

Madeline Bogdan asked what we were going to do with the OBF Message
Processing committee concern about their current use of 88X codes for
billing purposes.  The option of starting with 888, then 877, 866, etc.
was selected.  USTA proposed that the expansion code is to be available
for in service use on 4/1/96.  AT&T pointed out that their marketing
people would want to know with some certainty when the services would be
opened, as certain of the numbers would be more desirable than others.
AT&T also proposed that, if there was a problem meeting the 4/1/96 date
the resource be opened as a non-portable code initially as a back-up to
insure that the industry is not caught without resource to fill customer
needs.  It was noted that, based on current 800 number fill and demand
rate, exhaust will occur on 4/1/96, so the industry has to be ready to
go by that time.  Bell Atlantic noted that they had checked this and
could not be ready before 5/1/96.  SBC noted that they'd be pushing it
to make 6/1/96.

Proposed recommendation to resolve the 800 exhaust:

1.  888 is assigned for resource expansion, and 877, 866, 855, etc. Are
reserved for expansion. (recommendation)

2.  888 should be available for assignment on or before the 800 resource
exhausts, but no late than 4/1/96.   It is acknowledged that some
networks may not be able to support the 888 relief plan until later than
4/1/96. (recommendation)

3.  This date (4/1/96)  is based on current available exhaust
projections which indicate exhaust of 800 by the end of 1Q96. (concern)

4.  Some 800 service providers stated that lack of 800/888 line numbers
for any period of time is unacceptable. (concern)

5.  Due to the potential for 800 exhaust prior to 888 availability, the
industry must immediately consider reasonable steps to be taken to
extend the life of the 800 resource and accelerate availability of the
888 resource. (Recommendation)

It was proposed that  following letter be sent to the CLC:

Attached is an agreement reached at INC 13 concerning 800 resource
exhaust and relief.  This agreement is scheduled for final closure at
INC 14.  During our deliberations several significant issues were
identified that require the industry's immediate consideration. These
issues include but are not limited to: Implementation of the new
numbering resource for toll free calling and the need to extend the
life of the current 800 resource through review and possible modification
of the existing 800 number administrative guidelines.

Due to the confusion regarding forum responsibilities on the topics
there is an immediate need for CLC to clarify where 800 assignment
guideline changes and 888 implementation should be addressed.  Several
issues were submitted at INC 13 that outline more specifically the work
that is suggested.  Absent your direction, the INC believes these issues
may not be resolved as expeditiously as possible and may result in
exhaust of the 800 resource prior to the implementation of the 888 NPA.

C.C. ICCF Participants
OBF Participants
800 Ad Hoc C0-Chairs

David Hanna, Bahamas Telephone, made a presentation on behalf of the
809 NPA administrations.  In his presentation the Caribbean nations
are requesting assignment of an N00 code for paid 800 traffic from the
Caribbean, as a first alternative, with 880 as the second alternative.

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 13:57:37 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Here's the Story on GETS


Pat,

Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) is a service
offered by the Office of the Manager National Communications System
(OMNCS) to meet the national security and emergency preparedness (NSEP)
requirements of the defense and other federal telephone networks.
GETS provides emergency access and specialized processing in local and
long-distance telephone networks.

GETS uses three types of networks: major long distance carriers (the
big three); local carriers (Bell, independent, and cellular); and
government leased networks such as the FTS2000 and Defense Information
System Network (DISN).

GETS uses a simple dialing plan and personal identification number (PIN).
GETS is accessed through 1-710-NXX-XXXX from a phone presubscribed to
ATT/MCI/Sprint (or 10XXX), or through FTS or DISN.

The real value to the system is the fact that GETS traffic receives
priority treatment through controls such as trunk queuing, exemption
from network management controls used during network congestion, and
enhanced routing to assure a higher probability of completion.

The slogan of the GETS program manager is "When the going gets tough,
GETS keeps you going".

Wouldn't you like to have a GETS PIN the next time you want tickets to
a special concert and you can't get through to Ticketmaster?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, a PIN like that would be useful
when trying to get through to the Skokie bus station for the Greyhound
schedules, that's for sure.  So it seems GETS and 'area code 710' are
basically just new versions of the old ABCD keys (for various levels
of priority) which were used in the old AUTOVON days.  I assume one's
phone has to be specifically turned on; you won't be able to access
710 until a flag is toggled somewhere in your central office which
says to allow your use of it. Thanks for your answer, you are the first
person here in my couple years of asking who has submitted an answer
about 710.  PAT]

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 11:51:15 EST
From: Bob Keller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: FCC/PCS Market Numbers


In TELECOM Digest V15 #99 [e-mail] (Alan Petry) asked:

> Does anyone have a list of the FCC designated markets as listed in
> the fcc.gov gopher for the PCS Auctions.

    Here is the numbering scheme as well as the population figures
for each of the PCS MTAs as reported by the FCC in its September 19,
1994 Public Notice (Report No. AUC-94-04, Auction No. 4) announcing
the auction for Broadband PCS Frequency Blocks A and B. (All population
figures are 4/1/90 U.S. Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of
the Census.)

 Market   Major Trading Area                        Population
 ------   ------------------                        ----------
 M001     New York                                  26,410,597
 M002     Los Angeles-San Diego                     19,145,232
 M003     Chicago                                   12,069,700
 M004     San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose            11,891,177
 M005     Detroit                                   10,001,009
 M006     Charlotte-Greensboro-Greenville-Raleigh    9,752,317
 M007     Dallas-Fort Worth                          9,694,157
 M008     Boston-Providence                          9,452,712
 M009     Philadelphia                               8,927,748
 M010     Washington-Baltimore                       7,777,875
 M011     Atlanta                                    6,942,084
 M012     Minneapolis-St. Paul                       5,986,039
 M013     Tampa-St. Petersburg-Orlando               5,417,788
 M014     Houston                                    5,190,849
 M015     Miami-Fort Lauderdale                      5,136,581
 M016     Cleveland                                  4,945,749
 M017     New Orleans-Baton Rouge                    4,925,269
 M018     Cincinnati-Dayton                          4,716,665
 M019     St. Louis                                  4,663,926
 M020     Milwaukee                                  4,541,432
 M021     Pittsburgh                                 4,102,766
 M022     Denver                                     3,880,637
 M023     Richmond-Norfolk                           3,846,210
 M024     Seattle (Excluding Alaska)                 3,827,175
 M025     Puerto Rico-U.S. Virgin Islands            3,623,846
 M026     Louisville-Lexington-Evansville            3,556,648
 M027     Phoenix                                    3,510,140
 M028     Memphis-Jackson                            3,465,226
 M029     Birmingham                                 3,244,076
 M030     Portland                                   3,059,948
 M031     Indianapolis                               3,017,475
 M032     Des Moines-Quad Cities                     3,006,139
 M033     San Antonio                                2,986,524
 M034     Kansas City                                2,913,304
 M035     Buffalo-Rochester                          2,777,046
 M036     Salt Lake City                             2,573,372
 M037     Jacksonville                               2,274,933
 M038     Columbus                                   2,145,561
 M039     El Paso-Albuquerque                        2,113,890
 M040     Little Rock                                2,051,667
 M041     Oklahoma City                              1,877,478
 M042     Spokane-Billings                           1,863,335
 M043     Nashville                                  1,767,391
 M044     Knoxville                                  1,721,911
 M045     Omaha                                      1,659,273
 M046     Wichita                                    1,124,174
 M047     Honolulu                                   1,108,229
 M048     Tulsa                                      1,096,396
 M049     Alaska                                       550,043
 M050     Guam-Northern Mariana Islands                176,000
 M051     American Samoa                                47,000

    The FCC's MTAs are based on Rand McNally Major Trading Areas,
but the Commission made some minor modifications and some major
renumbering.  Thus, don't expect these numbers to match what you find
in any Rand McNally business atlas.

    If you want to see a detailed county-by-county consolidated
listing of all PCS Regions, MTAs and BTAs as well as cellular MSAs and
RSAs, check at:

        http://www.clark.net/pub/rjk/

and select the anchor pointing to information of PCS and cellular markets.


Bob Keller (KY3R)               Email: [e-mail]
Law Office of Robert J. Keller, P.C.   Telephone:  [phone]
Federal Telecommunications Law         Facsimile:  301.229.6875

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

Date: Wed, 15 Feb 95 12:43:47 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Scam at UC Berkeley


Where would the transfer go?  Within the campus exchange?  I don't
understand how the transfer can result in result in long distance
charges against your number.  The closest I can think of is call
forwarding, where your phone incurs message unit charges or toll as
the case may be, as if you yourself dialed the number which you are
forwarding to.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In one instance, they ask to be trasferred
to the local PBX operator who then 'sees' it as an inside call coming to
her for assistance. The caller then asks the operator to assist in making
connection to a long distance number; the operator sees no reason no to
since it is 'obviously' a company employee.   PAT]

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 18:03:44 GMT
From: rudy rawlins <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Messaging Software For Windows
Organization: Nothern Telecom Toronto Lab. Toronto, Ontario Canada.


In article <[e-mail]>, Bob Baxter <[e-mail]>
writes:

> Ideally, a call would come in, the receptionist would take down the
> message, and file it in the software.  Later, when someone calls in to
> check their messages, the receptionist would simply call their name up
> and read the listing.

> Ideally, the software should also have report capabilities, i.e. print
> out all unanswered calls, number of callbacks, etc.  I have had
> absolutely zero luck in locating such a package.  Any help would be
> appreciated.

Have you considered voice mail? Here comes the plug, Northern Telecom
Meridian Mail, or (gasp!) any of the competitors can allow your
receptionist do this, but using the callers voice rather than a
written message. The merits of which I don't have to explain. If you
need help with this send me some private email.


Rudy Rawlins    Northern Telecom Toronto Lab
ESN 416-597-7403. [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Anadigicom)
Subject: Re: Telco Signaling Requirements
Date: 16 Feb 1995 14:18:16 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Anadigicom Corporation is a manufacturer of a broad range of interface
(Anadigicom) products including signaling converters covering the
types you described.

Your request for per country specifications is an intensive task as we
have been in this business for ten years and we get new signaling
requirements almost on a weekly basis.

There are core specifications such as those mentioned and they are
generally specified in the CCITT recommendations but each country and
perhaps switch manufacturer, customizes the signaling standard for
their own use.  There are variations for national and international
links as well.

We have demonstrated considerable success with companies using a
standard interface protocol running into our signaling converters to
support the wide variation present within the world domain.  This
allows existing network products to be supplied world wide.

The Anadigicom products also support a wide range of physical interfaces
including the analog two wire or four-wire applications and the digital T1
and E1 links (with conversion between the two all inclusive).

Please send us your mailing address and/or fax number for additional
information or contact the below:

  Anadigicom Corporation
  Attn: Gene Delancey
  Ph-703-803-0400
  FAX-703-803-2956
  EMAIL: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Sam Spens Clason)
Subject: Re: GTE PCS/Global Roam
Date: 15 Feb 1995 18:42:17 GMT


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Mark)
writes:

> CO/NY has already launched a similar service (January 1995). CO/NY
> customers get a SIM card (they call it a CellCard) for $49.99/year.
> They can then purchase or rent a GSM phone and can roam in 23 GSM
> countries. The agreement is with Vodaphone in the UK. Incoming calls
> must be routed through the customer's NY cellular number. The cost of
> roaming is a flat $2.49/minute for outgoing calls regardless of
> destination (local or international) and $2.49/minute + toll from NYC
> for incoming calls.

In the original announcement there was something about "dual mode
phones" and roaming between technically different systems.

An American subscriber can roam a GSM (or DCS) net because his SIM
card tells the GSM operator all it needs to know.  There is however
one catch here.  The other way around doesn't work as smoothly.  I
suppose you've read the horror stories about US-Australian AMPS
roaming here in the Digest.

Intersystem roaming would be very easy if there only were some standard
for SIM cards.  Or at least if all new systems used some sort of subsriber
ID-card.

Questions:

1)    Are any of the proposed American PCS systems going to
    use SIMs?

2)    Are there any global standards been proposed for SIMs?


Sam   <A HREF="http://www.nada.kth.se/~d92-sam/">Sam Spens Clason</A>

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

From: [e-mail] (John Levine)
Subject: Re: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 16:48:14 GMT


Bell Atlantic is all hot and bothered that the FCC has ordered telcos
to charge a subscriber line charge per ISDN channel rather than per
line.  I agree that the FCC's move is stupid, but I don't see why it's
such a big deal.

The fee goes straight into the telco's pocket.  If the FCC wants them
to collect $7 rather than $3.50 as the SLC, they can drop the nominal
rate by $3,50 and collect the same actual amount of money that they
would have otherwise.


Regards,

John Levine, [e-mail]
Primary perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies"

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

From: [e-mail] (Steve Coleman)
Subject: Re: Numbers Numbers Numbers ...
Date: 16 Feb 1995 10:19:14 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation


> idea, I can't help the feeling of being manipulated by a bunch of
> startup companies (most of whom probably won't even exist five to ten
> years from now) by having to dial 11 digits to call my upstairs neighbor.

The dial plan is being manipulated by a bunch of startup companies??
I don't think so!  I am responsible for routing the calls for one of
the smaller LD companies.  The dial plan "problems" that I have
encountered are with the LECS.  For example, Pacbell in Los Angeles
requires seven digits on FGA within the home NPA.  USWest in Phoenix
requires seven digit for "local" calls but you must dial 1+10 for toll
calls within the home NPA.  Ameritech in Chicago allows seven digits
within the home NPA of 312.  I don't even want to *talk* about SWBell
in Dallas.  These are hardly "startup" companies. We'll see how the
"startup compaines" deal with the local dial plan when local dial tone
competition really takes off.

I would *love* to see some kind of consistency from the LECS.  The
same applies for FGB/D termination.  Some LECS require seven digits sent
to the tandem, others require ten.  It just makes my job a little more
challenging!


Steve    [e-mail]

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

From: Tom Coradeschi <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 256Kbps Overseas Circuits at 56Kpbs Costs
Organization: Electric Armaments Division, US Army ARDEC Picatinny Arsenal NJ
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 14:58:17 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] wrote:

> For how to have 256Kpbs lan to lan thruput on overseas circuits at
> 56Kpbs cost, contact [e-mail]. We also can piggy back
> seperate asyn or sync low speed (up to 19.2) applications at no charge
> on the same circuit. For dial up overseas lan to lan transmissions we
> have a V.34 product that has a V.35 interface with SDC (sync data
> compression) with a thruput of 85Kpbs sync.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why don't you tell us a little more
> about it right here, rather than requiring people to write to you
> about it?  You might have a very good product we should all hear about.
> When sending in messages like this, more specifics, please.   PAT]

[TELECOM Digest Reader's Note: Why don't you let him leave it as it is. He
gave a simple announcement, asking people to contact him for further info.
On mailing lists *I* run, that's considered good etiquette. Anything more
becomes an advertisement, which I (and most of my readers) dislike
intensely. TJC]

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well you raise a good point where the
ongoing -- and getting worse on this net -- problem of balancing advertise-
ments versus infomercials versus solid information is concerned. I dislike
very much running straight advetising here (especially when they don't
pay me! <snicker!>) and generally don't do it. If someone has the common
courtesy to put their message together so it looks more like an infomercial
then the line I draw is a bit more ragged. Some of them are more 'info'
than 'mercial', and if it looks interesting I use it. What I am getting
a lot of -- and I wish it would stop, but it won't -- are the notes from
people saying 'gee, I found this great new long distance company, and it
is really a bargain. Write to me and I will tell you all the details'. What
they mean to say of course is they are an agent for the company; they
don't have the brass bedsprings needed to just say so and float yet another
advertisment on the net (what's the difference these days, one more or
less), so they play tricks and *pretend* like they want to have a real
discussion of LD carriers when what they do in return to your response is
send you the canned file they have prepared.

Now in the case of 'routers', I get more than I feel comfortable with of
his messages ... let's put it that way. He seems to have the solution to
everyone's problems in telecom, whatever they may be, in his office. When
I run his articles, then I get messages from people saying 'well, that's
the fifth one of his *commercials* you have run this month. ... etc'. So
I have decided with some of these people if they want to send an infomercial
I can run and talk about if it suits me, then okay, I will do it perhaps.
But if they want to do a hit and run, quick and dirty thing about 'gee,
I have the solution here, just write me', then I am going to put my foot
down and say this platform cannot be used for advertising. I admit it is
a judgment call. You are correct etiquette says don't advertise on the
net; at the same time I would rather see an informative, well prepared
infomercial which might benefit some readers than either an outright
blatant commercial or a 'sneak one past the moderator' type which says
'I have all the answers, just write me'. In the latter case, they use
my bandwidth to send a selected message to a few people that none of the
rest of us (hopefully) benefit from. I see the onrush of commercial
advertising on the net as something that is going to be very hard for
even experienced moderators to keep in check as the advertisers grow
more sophisticated in *how* they submit their material. I've had people
write to me with deliberatly drummed up questions that were dumb as
could be, and in good faith I would have published them and answered
them -- albiet perhaps in my cranky, snotty way -- had not they then
changed user names and sent me the *answer to the question* as a 'Re;'
even before the original was published. Merely a coincidence of course
that the answer involves products their company sells.

Yeah ... they are doing that. Having discovered the question and answer,
give and take format of the newsgroups, they use shills, or straight men
to pose the initial commentary, seeking the advice of the net to solve
whatever needs to be solved. Then bingo, here comes the answer from
someone else at the same company, pretending like all we are doing is
having an honest exchange of ideas, etc. "Oh gee, you mean fifty thousand
people saw the answer I gave him about our product X ... gosh!"

There is room for everyone on this net, including the .com sites and
the numerous commercial enterprises which have came aboard in recent
months, **but they have to play by the rules**. Yes, we want to hear
about new products and servces which may be beneficial or solve problems,
but no, we don't want blatant advertising. We don't want cross posting
to thousands of news groups. We don't want you to cook up your own problems
in order to have an entrance to present your own solutions. Just be
part of us and participate in an intellectually honest way. In fact, the
commercial enterprises on the net these days can be very valuable parts
of this process we go through here, *if they will just cool it and follow
netiquette.*  Thank goodness this has not been as much of a problem here
in telecom as it has been in some of the other newsgroups. We have for
the most part a spendid bunch of people here sincerely interested in
the unimpeded flow of information; and sometimes that information deals
with commercial products.

Thanks for writing, Tom, and good luck with your e-publishing endeavors.
There aren't many easy answers on the net these days, are there?    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Gordon Burditt)
Subject: Last Laugh! Re: How I Fooled Caller ID
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 05:49:16 GMT


[Ahem! I have asked Gordon Burditt to pronounce the benediction for
us today.   Let us Bray!   PAT]

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Remember the book and movie a few
> years ago called 'Tandem Rush'?  The sick phreak sits at home and dumps all
> this very high current on the phone line causing the phone on the *other end*
> to catch fire and/or electrocute the recipient ... yet it goes unnoticed in
> the central office ... balogna!

Can I get the central office to perform this service for me?  Please?
I just dial *86 (somehow this code seems appropriate) instead of using
Call Block when I detect that a telephone solicitor has called, and it
melts his phone.  (It doesn't have to work on outgoing calls.)  It
might even make a lot of money for the RBOCs if marketed as "Call
Block With Extreme Prejudice".


Gordon L. Burditt     sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #102
******************************


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Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 16:37:50 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #103

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 16 Feb 95 16:37:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 103

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Mexican Union Lodges Complaint Against Sprint (D Shniad)
    California Local Prefixes Database Wanted (John J. Henderson)
    Book Review: "Computer Networks" by Black (Rob Slade)
    Ameritech Announces TT Charge Reduction in Confusing Way (Bradley Bittorf)
    T1 Test Equipment Wanted (E.M. Sullivan)
    PCS Survey; Please Participate (Prakash Hariramani)
    Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much of it is Real Money? (John S. Maddaus)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 13:03:29 -0800
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: D Shniad <[e-mail]>
Subject: Mexican Union Lodges Complaint Against Sprint


Mexican union lodges NAFTA complaint against U.S. company:

TELECOM UNION BLASTS SPRINT'S LABOR PRACTICES

MEXICO CITY, February 9 -- In the first formal complaint by a Mexican
union against a U.S.  corporation under the provisions of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Telecommunications Workers
of the Republic of Mexico charged the Sprint Corporation with violating
"basic norms of labor rights" in the U.S., declaring: "We do not want this
to happen with Sprint in Mexico."

Today's filing by the union's General Secretary Francisco Hernandez
Juarez cited Sprint's mass firing of 235 Latino telemarketers in San
Francisco on July 14, 1994.

Juarez noted that the shutdown of Sprint/La Conexion Familiar, a
subsidiary that sold long distance phone service to Spanish-speaking
customers in the U.S., occurred one week before a vote on representation
by the Communications Workers of America (CWA).  Sprint committed "more
than 50 violations of the law" during the workers' union campaign, as
determined by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, Juarez stated.

The charges were filed with Mexico's National Administrative Office
(NAO) for the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, the side
agreement to NAFTA dealing with labor policies in Mexico, Canada and
the U.S.

The Mexican union represents employees of Telefonos de Mexico, the
national phone system with which Sprint is trying to form an alliance
to create a telephone network throughout North America.

Juarez charged that the slow judicial process under U.S. law, and the
absence of a prompt remedy to the violation of workers' rights at La
Conexion demonstrates "the ineffectiveness of the U.S. law to comply
with the principles contained in (the NAFTA labor side agreement) to
which the U.S. is now obligated."

The union leader called on the NAO to "declare that Sprint will not be
allowed to establish itself in Mexico given its track record of abuses
against workers until the company reinstates the fired U.S.  workers
and declares that it will "respect the rights of workers" and
recognize unions in both countries when a majority of workers in a
Sprint enterprise seek to unionize.

The Mexican union also urged the NAOs of the three NAFTA countries
convene a forum this year "attended by government, labor and management
representatives from the telecommunications industry to explore ways
to collaborate and discuss appropriate standards concerning workers'
rights ... good paying jobs, as well as other important matters."

The NAFTA labor side agreement provides for consultations among
representatives of the U.S., Canada and Mexico up to the level of the
secretaries of labor to resolve disputes over the lack of compliance
with labor standards guaranteed in the agreement.

The Sprint/La Conexion Familiar affair also has drawn concern from
Sprint's prospective German business partner, Deutsche Telekom AG.
The board of the German phone system, which is negotiating a
10-percent stake in Sprint, valued at $2 billion, cited Sprint as the
inspiration for a new policy "ensuring that employer-employee
relations customary in Germany are recognized and complied with" where
the company "operates jointly with its global partners."

Sprint's shutdown of La Conexion Familiar was the subject of a
month-long trial prosecuted by the NLRB's Region 20 in San Francisco
before an administrative law judge.  A ruling is expected this spring.

            -- Communications Workers of America

For further information, contact Jeffery Miller,
CWA Public Affairs Department, 202-434-1163

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

From: John J. Henderson <[e-mail]>
Subject: California Local Prefixes Database Wanted
Date: 16 Feb 1995 21:24:19 GMT
Organization: Valley Infosystems


I recently contacted Pacific Bell here in California and asked them if
a database was available where you would put in your area code (say
916 for Sacramento) and then your prefix (say 851 for Ranch Cordova, a
suburb of Sacramento) and it would give you back all the prefixes that
are local, non- toll calls.  This information is available for just
your local are in the front of the Pacific Bell white pages, but I'd
like this information for the whole state ... plus I don't look forward
to typing in all those prefixes and their cross references.  The
person I talked to at Pac Bell said that the information was not
available from them, except of course if I wanted to get every phone
book for the state of California and do it myself.  She said that they
use an in house program that tell them that infromation, but it wasn't
available to the public.

Does anyone have any ideas?  Or is this database available somewhere?


John J. Henderson   Valley Infosystems
Sacramento, CA      70733,[e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 14:28:03 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Computer Networks" by Black


BKCMPNTW.RVW   950109

"Computer Networks", Black, 1993, 0-13-175605-2
%A   Uyless Black
%C   113 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ   07632
%D   1993
%G   0-13-175605-2
%I   PTR Prentice Hall
%O   [phone] FAX [phone] [e-mail]
%P   436
%T   "Computer Networks"

This is a very complete and well organized text on data communications.
The intent of the work is to address the components of a computer
network system, and this succeeds quite well.  (Those interested in
network specific topics, such as routing, should look elsewhere.)

Areas covered include introductory material, layered protocols,
polling protocols, satellite networks, local area networks, packet
switching, X.25, digital networks, a brief look at TCP/IP, personal
computers, PBX and upper layer protocols.  Additional reference
material is included in the appendices.

Occasionally, the material becomes too specific and shows signs of
age.  The chapter on personal computer networks uses concepts and
jargon which will be quite foreign to those familiar with the micro
field.  By and large, however, this is an excellent source not only
for a general overview, but as a reference in a number of data
communications areas.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKCMPNTW.RVW   950109. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

From: [e-mail] (Bradley J. Bittorf)
Subject: Ameritech Announces Touch-Tone Charge Reduction in Confusing Way
Date: 16 Feb 1995 19:42:09 GMT
Organization: Allen-Bradley Company, Inc.


I received an insert from Ameritech yesterday in my bill.  In part,
it read:

    "The monthly $1.80 Touch-Tone Service charge will be
     eliminated over the next three years.  Starting
     January 9th, you'll pay $1.00 less per month.  The
     remaining Touch-Tone charge no longer will be shown
     separately on your bill.  Instead, the reduced monthly
     charge of $.80 will be included in your "access line"
     charge."

My interpretation of this was that all customers would see their
"access line" charge increased by $.80/month.  However, I spoke to an
Ameritech residential service representative, who told me the $.80
would be added to my "access line" charge.  In other words, the
"access line" charge will be $.80 more for those with Touch-Tone
service.  Then, sometime in the next three years, that will disappear
too.  (Probably the next time the "access line" service increases -- I
predict by $.80!)  In the meantime, Touch-Tone customers may not
realize they are paying extra for it.

Incidentally, the installation charge for Touch-Tone has been dropped
(not sure if that's temporary or permanent), so I relented and finally
got it.  I guess the $.80 is within my threshhold of annoyance for
having to switch my phones back and forth between tone and pulse. ;-)


Bradley J. Bittorf                           | Phone:  [phone]
Allen-Bradley Company/Rockwell Automation    | FAX:    [phone]
747 Alpha Drive, Highland Heights, OH  44143 | e-mail: [e-mail]

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

From: EM Sullivan <[e-mail]>
Subject: T1 Test Equipment Wanted
Date: 16 Feb 1995 18:53:34 GMT
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service [e-mail] 703-448-4470


Can anyone comment on a T1 test equipment manufacturer called
Compression Techniques Corp? They make a T1 tested called the TStar.
I'm looking for opinions from users as to how it compares with some of
the other alternatives (like the TTC Firebird).

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

From: Prakash Hariramani <[e-mail]>
Subject: PCS Survey; Please Participate
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 11:08:52 -0500
Organization: Information Networking Institute Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh PA


We are graduate students at the Information Networking Institute at
Carnegie Mellon University.  We are doing research on Personal
Communications Services commonly known as PCS.  PCS could revolutionize
the way people communicate.  We could move from the current concept of
one phone per location to one per person.  We have designed a survey
which can be accessed through a World Wide Web browser such as Mosaic
or Netscape at the following URL:

    http://www.ini.cmu.edu/~ph2k/pcs/survey.html

We wanted to ask readers of this newsgroup to participate in this
survey, if they had the time.  Trial runs indicate that the survey takes
between 10 and 15 minutes to complete.

Our survey focuses primarily on the following aspects of PCS: pricing,
penetration, features for both residential and business users.


Thanks!

Andrew Scott
Prakash Hariramani
Paul Varley

Information Networking Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

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

From: [e-mail]
Date: 15 Feb 95 00:06:00 -0500
Subject: Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much of it is Real Money?
Organization: AT&T


Pat:

My $.02 worth in three parts, carrier perception now, what is wrong
with that perception IMHO, and potential ramifications for future
wireless offerings (purely prognostication on my part).  This is
merely intended to share my experiences in a related subject.  I hope
no one takes offense at anything I've said.  No finger pointing
intended, only opinions based upon customer feedback.

Addressing fraud is an amazingly complex issue that requires numerous
companies to work together jointly when in fact they are competing
against one another in the very same businesses and constantly seeking
leverage against one another.  It is a credit to the standards bodies
that standards addressing these issues have been agreed upon by such
diverse companies.  Implementing same, is another story.  No one
company can implement the existing fraud and security standards alone.
At that point, the only option is proprietary, which is what is being
done now.  All in all, it was a thoroughly frustrating two years in an
unbelievably dynamic environment, and by far the most enjoyable job I
have held with my company.

BACKGROUND:

I spent the better part of the past two years traveling to various
cellular providers to attempt to get them to distribute our cellular
privacy/security products.  I had the unique opportunity to meet with
carriers and their customers.  Although you may wonder what this has
to do with fraud, there are in fact many similarities between the two.

For instance, addressing both requires something on both the subscriber
and switch ends, whether it be a user pressing a PIN sequence and the
switch understanding the sequence or a phone with privacy/encryption
built in and complementary adjunct at the switch or on a desk. Additionally,
one could argue that what C1 did in NYC just pushes the fraud out a
level to the user (i.e. the calling card number you just gave the
operator is now being used to someone elses benefit at your expense)
which then enters the realm of privacy.  There was and is an interested
user base but the carriers are not interested.  Why? (NOTE - that
these are not my opinions but those expressed to me by carrier
personnel from engineering, marketing, product management, sales,etc.
from regional VPs to engineers and sales execs):

THE CURRENT VISION:

1) Cellular is still profitable despite fraud/security implications.
Carriers sign up record numbers of users each year.  If you were reporting
positive financials up your management line, would you change and open
up a potentially huge can of worms that could undermine your financials
given enough press?  There is little financial incentive to do anything
about fraud if the bottom line looks good already.

2)  Digital will take over and have fraud protection (and higher security)
built in.  Within two years, analog will no longer be an issue and security
and fraud problems will disappear.

3) I know some of my customers need it but I have to make a business case and
I don't think enough people care.

4)  Our sales forces only know how to sell phones.  They have lost the ability
to sell services.

5)  We can't admit to our customers that our services are insecure!

6)  Costs too much money -- the user will never pay for it.

7)  If it were in a Motorola flip phone, we'd buy it in a minute.

8)  Most importantly, customers (including myself) continue to pay their
monthly cellular bills, which cover the operating expenses for the carrier
(including losses from fraud) and provide a tidy profit as well.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS VISION:

1) Analog subscriber growth continues at a record pace.  What is not
taking off is airtime for potential high usage business users.  So,
carriers are now looking for new services to offer (voice messaging,
data, etc.) to attract same.  None of these services (or for that
matter the basic cellular service) offer enhanced security (that meet
the standards of many corporate security instructions) or built in
fraud protection that is an inherent part of the switch and phone and
yes for many reasons, digital is just as insecure as analog (we can
debate this in another forum if you like).

I read a recent report (WSJ I think) that fraud in the NYC area cost
the local carriers $60M alone last year.  But if I had to guess, I'll
venture that the financial picture for the NYC carriers show positive
Economic Value Added as the numbers get passed up the corporate
financial hierarchy.  Fundamentally, I believe there are two reasons
why business customers limit air time -- cost and security.  Cost could
be driven down if fraud could be controlled.  Security could increase
call-minutes (and therefore carrier revenue), and like fraud an
optimal solution involves both your subscriber piece and the switch.
There are implications here for PCS (see prognostications below).
I have heard many stories how employees have been given cellular
phones as perks and been told not to use them for business.

2) Two years ago, digital was going to replace analog by 1998.  Thanks
to multiple digital standards, analog now has a rosy future.  In a
recent quote in Mobile Phone News 12/12/94, Motorola says "Digital
accounts for less than 5% of cellular growth in the U.S. As of
October 1, there were 21.5 million analog users in the country,
compared with 250,000 subscribers using TDMA..."  I have been told by
Motorola, Nokia and NEC personnel that the bread and butter for the
subscriber equipment portion of their business will continue to be
analog for the forseeable future.  Actually, I would think that the
thought of replacing 21.5 million analog phones would be an incentive
for manufacturers to use any excuse to create a new analog version of
existing phones with fraud and security built in.

As an aside, when the Bar Associations in NY, MA, NH and other states
rule it is unethical for an attorney to discuss client matters over a
cellular phone, they are not differentiating between analog and
digital.  From this I could draw one of two conclusions; either the
carriers have done a poor job of positioning the advantages of digital
to the user or maybe there are none. Anyone offering odds that CDMA
(with whatever security/fraud standards are decided upon) will be
rolled out in a diluted version first sans some portion of those
standards?

3) Financial responsibility is extremely fragmented in cellular.  A
good general rule is any addition to the MTSO needs to be cost
justified for that MTSO.  This affects fraud/security in two ways.
First, it dilutes the business case by forcing the regional managers
to look at each expense (not unreasonable).  The net result is that
corporate tends not to look at the problem as something it needs to be
involved in because it is regional in nature.  McCaw San Francisco
certainly has more fraud potential compared to McCaw Oklahoma, so let
San Fran fix their problem.

Second, it removes the corporate clout required to implement a
solution within subscriber equipment.  Since corporate usually
negotiates subscriber equipment purchases, regional managers have zero
chance of independently approaching a major manufacturer such as
Motorola, Nokia, etc.  If they are allowed such independence, their
numbers and therefore bargaining power are still reduced.

4) Just an excuse for asking your sales people to sell high priced
basic service and higher priced enhanced services to a varied customer
base.  If my salary depended upon attaining a sales quota, you know
I'd be concentrating on selling basic service and a Motorola phone to
the "average" customer.  It's the easiest sell.

5) I would assert that the press is doing an adequate job of this on
the house.  Also, isn't C1-DC's denial of roaming in NYC a tacit
admission that they have no control over the fraud problem in NYC?
Ditto for the Nynex, Bell Atlantic, C1-NY PIN deal.  And you know your
in trouble when publications such as {Woman's Day} (7/20/93) say things
like "So, if you'd rather keep your personal conversations private,
make and take them on an old-fashioned, wired telephone".  Still,
fraud and security are an extremely tough sell.  There are Fortune 100
companies whose security departments routinely monitor executives
cellular calls and provide them with transcripts.  I have given
equipment to CEO's of some of these companies, only to have it
politely returned with a note indicating that they didn't see the
need.  Very likely, these same executives have appeared before
Congress in the last couple of years to complain about their losses
from foreign intercepts by the French, et. al. and they probably
haven't addressed that problem yet either.  Losses due to
communications fraud and lack of security are too intangible to
measure by the average user that has to date been left in peace (or at
least is unaware of events to the contrary), let alone the carriers
(the press seems to be doing OK with this though).

Now if your carrier sent you a letter saying that effective immediately
they were doubling your monthly rate and call charges to cover losses
from fraud or told you that you would have to exchange your existing
phone at your cost, would that get your attention?  Not to worry, they
wouldn't risk losing the profitable business that they have by being
so rash.

6) Maybe true.  Its amazing the excuses that people give for not
buying products to protect them against fraud or intercept.  It's too
big, heavy, costly, don't like the voice quality, wanted blue instead
of black, doesn't say Motorola on it, and on and on.  However, the
biggest excuse is that human beings tend not to take responsibility
for the problems that occur, especially when their insurance does not
cover the loss.  When a user is "hit" (and they often don't know that
they have been), they believe it is the responsibility of the "telephone
company" to protect them or cover their losses (Ma still lives on in
spirit).  You need only look at the reaction to PBX fraud as evidence.
To their everlasting credit (and the good of their financial picture)
telcos/carriers are perpetuating this "feel good" spirit by continuing
to cover the losses.  The extra price of security and fraud control
equipment is tangible, one can look at a purchase order and see the
difference.  The losses due to fraud or lack of security can disappear
at many finance levels with creative accounting.

If users were truly concerned, then there would be many more than
250,000 TDMA subscribers now.  For all its shortcomings, TDMA does
have better authentication, although initially this may not have been
the case.  By the way, this is only a guess but I'd bet that the PIN
arrangement is required for both dual mode and analog phones.  Can
anyone confirm this?

7) It is very difficult if not impossible to get major phone manufacturers
to make changes to cookie cutter subscriber equipment to add anti-fraud or
enhanced security, even if it adheres to TIA standards.  These pieces
are produced in lots of hundreds of thousands at a clip.  Carriers
have painted themselves into a corner on subscriber equipment -- they
have given it away at a loss for so long to get customers to sign up
that customers have grown used to getting the equipment for free or
minimal cost.  Carriers are loathe to change this successful equation.
My Motorla digital flip user guide clearly stated that enhanced
privacy was only available for digital calls.  Typical of the industry
last year was the decision to move forward with digital and refrain
from adding features such as enhanced privacy or authentication to the
soon to be replaced analog system.  I never did find an area where the
switch supported the enhanced privacy feature that the phone had.
Maybe the industry has changed its mind by now.  But that still leaves
a minimum of 21.5 million pieces of analog subscriber equipment that
do not support any potential improvements to the switch, and those
numbers increase by thousands every day.  Sounds a bit overwhelming to
me, but I am still of the opinion (eternal optimist that I am) that it
could be done by any of the carriers if managed properly.

8) Well, I guess that says it all.  I still pay my monthly bill but I
don't turn the phone on much any more.  I used to be able to take care
of business while driving between Phoenix and Tucson.  It made me much
more efficient.  My cellular bills used to range between $300 and $600
a month (and I didn't violate Corporate Security Instructions because
I had an attached encryption device that I used faithfully).  Then I
made that one clear phone call (sheer convenience) to make my travel
arrangements to show my equipment to BellSouth in Atlanta.  Amazing
how on a direct flight from MHT to ATL my luggage was broken open and
five cellular phones, a scanner, and an ESN reader were left untouched,
only the encryption/privacy equipment was destroyed.

Since I changed jobs and gave my encryption devices back, I no longer
travel and have a need to stay in touch and be more efficient in my
new job (at least my new management probably isn't interested in
paying that much for more efficiency). Now I try not to turn the phone
on near Boston to let the ESN readers and scanners pick up someone
else.  I don't even like to call home and find out my kids are home
alone much less let the world know it.  I use the phone for directory
assistance and calling stores.  Makes me a much more efficient
shopper. Still its hard to pass up a $.10 pay phone (still have it
here in NH) for three minutes knowing it will cost me $1.50 on the
cellular.  Come to think of it, why do I need cellular service?  It's
not as useful as it used to be.

PROGNOSTICATIONS (my favorite):

1) Carriers need to get analog right.  If you attend a regional C1
wireless expo, you will hear that PCS is already here today, and the
speaker will hold up a dual-mode phone and describe all of the nice
services available, meant to make your deskphone expendable.  In
reality, that analogy is based upon the ubiquity of analog service.
The concept of communications any time, anywhere is only available now
because of analog infrastructure.  To date, carriers have shown no
propensity to strengthen the notion that the wireless "deskphone" as
it exists today is as secure and fraud resistant as the wired one
(which is already on my desk and costs a lot less to operate).  They
have already entrenched in customers minds the standards for PCS;
expect more of the same.  They have made PCS sales much more difficult.
PCS sales people will have to overcome the weaknesses of analog, something
digital has not been able to do to date.

2) Note several disturbing trends in the carrier responses to fraud.
First, every carrier that attempts to deal with fraud is implementing
its preferred method and they are dissimilar.  I have to wonder if the
Nynex and C1-NY PIN strategies are compatible.

Second, anti-fraud efforts are concentrating on local territories.
Your Nynex PIN is probably worthless on the West Coast where you
probably stand at least an equal chance of being cloned.

Third, all the "fixes" are user impacting and represent a step
backward from direct dial capabilities.  In an age where cell phones
are now being sold with dial tone (ostensibly to get users to
transition more easily from the deskset), we are now faced with the
probability that we either have to enter a PIN or talk to an operator
(none of which I have to do from my deskset).  These are interim steps
for an analog system that will continue to be much more than an
interim system.  This interim analog system is the test market for
enhanced PCS services and the response will not be "knock the door
down, let me get this thing" if the price of these services are lack
of security and increased exposure to fraud.  There is at least one
district director whose carrier employer is committed to enhanced
services that recognizes the risk he takes every time he powers his
current generation PCS vehicle (aka cellular phone) up, places or
receives a call.

3) The entire concept of the Wireless PBX is doomed unless security
and fraud are addressed and solved both in the Campus environment and
with the particpating carrier.  Too many corporate security instructions
exist which preclude discussion of proprietary business over cellular
phones.  Keep in mind also that with the winding down of the cold war,
many ex-government security folks are now being hired by major corporations
to address the security weaknesses of these companies, and they do
know the score.


John S. Maddaus    [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you very much for such an interesting
inside view on the cellular fraud problem. Your article was one of the
best on the topic I've printed since this thread began.   PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #103
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #104

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 16 Feb 95 18:11:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 104

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Does AT&T 7506 TAD 03A Pass CID to RS232 of Original Caller? (A Varney)
    Re: How I Fooled Caller ID (Anthony Chor)
    Re: Who Belongs to 10732 Five-Digit Access Code? (Walter Turberville)
    Re: Who Belongs to 10732 Five-Digit Access Code? (David Breneman)
    Re: Emergency Cellular Phone (Brad Hicks)
    Re: Apple, Data-PCS, Canadian PCS Services (Elizabeth Bonkink)
    Re: Security of Cordless Phones? (Mark R. Wilkins)
    Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder (Chris Hardaker)
    Recommendations Wanted For Caller-ID Capable Modem (Tim Petlock)
    Happy Haleyville, Alabama 911 Emergency Call Day! (Steve Brack)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Al Varney)
Subject: Re: Does AT&T 7506 TAD 03A Pass CID to RS232 of Original Caller?
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 00:02:29 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>,  <[e-mail]> wrote:

> An early reply would be appreciated ...

   Oops ...

> Today I'm ordering my AT&T 7506 TAD 03A and ISDN service with NYNEX.
> Does this particular 7506 pass the CID of each caller to the RS232?  I
> want to plug my computer in and have it look into my customer database
> and pop up the record for the customer before I even know the phone is
> ringing.

> I'll program it.  I just want to know if the firmware allows it, and how.

   The firmware allows it.  Without the manual (or the hint below), you'll
never figure out how to get it.  (No fair tracing the firmware....)

   Anyway, the firmware you need is Feature Package 3 (FP3) or later,
with an ADM-2.  With phone powered up, hit SELECT and then TEST.
After the neat self-test finishes, the display will show the FPx.y level
and firmware date.  (It will also emit this annoying "BEEP" until you
hit SELECT and TEST again.)

   If you are at FP3.0 or later, you should have the "ISDN ADM FP3 Users
Guide," 555-021-729 to tell you how to use it ... but the real power user
also needs "ISDN API Programmers Reference Manual", 533-705-200.

   FP3 supports:
 - D or B-channel data (X.25 or "raw" on the B-channel)
 - a basic monitor capability for voice or data calls (see below),
 - a version using Hayes(tm) AutoStream(tm) <DC2>/<DC4> to monitor for both,
 - a range of Human Interface monitor capabilities that will report button
   presses, switch-hook, key presses, lamp status, volume, sound/alerter
   status, etc.
 - a "control" capability that allows the ADM to actually break the
   Human-to-CO interface and control calls, sound, buttons, etc.
   (The alerter will play tunes within reason....)
 - AutoStream also allows the ADM EIA-232-D port to intermix data
   (D or B-channel) with these controls.

   (There is also a NETBIOS modified interface from EXCELLTECH
available to support up to 4 7506's from a PC.  Never tried it
myself ...)

   Anyway, to get the most basic voice monitor capabilities, set the
7506 Data capabilities (SELECT, then DATA) to:
  - 9600 or higher (the ADM will autosynch unless you block it)
  - "EnhAT" mode (not "AT" or "CMD")
  - Parity and Data Mode shouldn't matter.

   Now hook up your terminal/emulator to the ADM port -- type "at" and it
should say "OK".  If not, see Users Guide ....

   Now enter  "at&O1"  (you want to monitor with ID 1)
   Then enter "at%A0=3" (you want to monitor VOICE with ID 1)
   Then enter "at&&X0,0,98" (this turns on Enhanced monitoring results)

   That should do it.  Here's a captured stream from my work phone
(7506).  The PARTY, CAUSE and SCA lines will not appear except in
Enhanced monitoring mode.  Good luck.  I didn't design this interface
 -- I just use it ...

Al Varney - all typos mine

                   vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv I've added these comments.
at                 <- Just to ensure everything's working....
OK                    (I'm in non-AutoStream mode, logging the ADM port....)


RING:01            <- New call on Call Appearance 1 (CA1)
                      (This is an incoming call, RING is a poor term)
SIGNAL:01,40       <- Turn on "Audible Ring - Pattern 0" tone

PARTY:01,1,4,1,NXXXXXX <- CA1 incoming voice call information from SETUP
                 1 = Calling Party number
                 4 = Subscriber number (7-digit in NANP)
                     (or 2 = 10-digit number and 1 = International #)
                 1 = E.164 numbering plan (ISDN/Telephone)
                       (you may get private/screening codes added before
                        the number if blocked/out-of-area, etc.)

SCA:01             <- Call Appearance 1 associated with switch-hook

DISPLAY:01,01 1    <- Display 01, Call Appearance 1 text ==> "a=" on 7506

DISPLAY:01,03708-NXX-XXXX <- Display 03, Calling Number

DISPLAY:01,05MY BOSS            <- Display 05, calling name (blank padded)

DISPLAY:01,07InI   <- Display 07, Call type 'InI' == Incoming, Internal

DISPLAY:01,0A02-14 02:38pm <- Display 0A, Date/Time

CONNECTED:01       <- Handset lifted, connect caller

SIGNAL:01,4F       <- Turn off Alerting tone

DISPLAY:01,01 1    <- Refresh the display....  7506 automatically starts
                         a 'call duration' timer on the display in place
                         of the Date/Time
DISPLAY:01,03708-NXX-XXXX

DISPLAY:01,05MY BOSS

DISPLAY:01,07InI

CAUSE:01,10,2      <- I hang up - 10 = Release cause 'normal'

SIGNAL:01,4F,10    <- Turn off alerting(!) and show 'cause value'

SCA:01             <- CO auto-selects CA1 when phone is idle

CLEARED:01,10      <- B-channel idle, with 'cause value' indication
                      (ISDN is littered with "cause values".)

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

   Here's the same stuff when I call myself (neat ISDN debugging tool)

CALL:01            <- Pick up my handset, Call Appearance 1 (CA1) active

SIGNAL:01,00       <- Turn on "dial tone" tone

DISPLAY:01,01 1    <- Display CA1 text ==> "a=" on the 7506

PROMPT:01,0102     <- CO tells set to send more digits
                        (the display automatically records these)
SIGNAL:01,3F       <- Turn off tones (after first digit)

PROCEEDING:01      <- CO gets enough digits to process
                        (this is a 'Centrex dial 9' type of access)
PROMPT:01,0102     <- CO tells set to send more digits
                        (the display automatically records these, after a ',')
SIGNAL:01,00       <- Turn on "dial tone" tone again (dial POTS number now)

SIGNAL:01,3F       <- Turn off tones (after first digit)

PROCEEDING:01      <- CO gets enough digits to process

RING:02            <- New call on Call Appearance 2 (RING is poor term)
                        (This is the incoming call)
SIGNAL:02,40       <- Turn on "Alerting Tone - Pattern 0" tone

PARTY:02,1,4,1,NXXXXXX <- CA2 incoming voice call information from SETUP
                <1 = Called Party number
                 4 = Subscriber number (7-digit in NANP)
                 1 = E.164 numbering plan (ISDN/Telephone)

DELIVERED:01       <- The called party is being alerted

PROGRESS:01,0208   <- Alerting in progress

SIGNAL:01,01       <- Turn on "audible ring" tone

DISPLAY:01,01 1    <- Display 01, CA1 text

DISPLAY:01,02NXXXXXX <- Display 02, outgoing called number

DISPLAY:01,07OuI   <- Outgoing, Internal call

DISPLAY:02,01 2    <- Display 01, CA2 text (This wipes out the CA1 display)

DISPLAY:02,03708-NXX-XXXX

DISPLAY:02,05AL VARNEY         <- Hey, that's me!!

DISPLAY:02,07InI

DISPLAY:02,0A02-14 10:37am

CAUSE:01,10,2         <- I'm not answering me, so hang up on CA1
                         (I could have hit CA2, putting the outgoing call on
                          hold and answering the incoming one.  The high-
                          tech way to talk to yourself.)
SIGNAL:01,4F,10       <- Turn off tones (audible ring)

SCA:02                <- CO autoselects the CA2 button (little does it
                           know that CA1 was the same call.  This would
                           allow me to answer CA2 by lifting the switch-hook
                           but, of course, the incoming call is about to die.)
CLEARED:01,10         <- B-channel idle on CA1 call

CAUSE:02,10,0         <- Drop incoming call (0=unknown location?)

SIGNAL:02,4F,10       <- Turn off tones (alerting)

CAUSE:02,10,2         <- Drop incoming call, 2=local public network

SCA:01                <- CO autoselects CA1 on idle 7506

CLEARED:02,10         <- Drop incoming B-channel

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

From: Anthony Chor <[e-mail]>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 10:21:23 PST
Subject: Re: How I Fooled Caller ID


In TELECOM Digest #93, [e-mail] (John Combs) writes:

> By the way, don't forget that all those new, be-here-any-day-now
> voice and data-simultaneously modems working on analog lines are going
> to have to do considerably better than a mere 4:1 compression ratio.
> And, there ain't no way they'll connect through an AT&T SLC96 which
> has channel compression turned on, but the ADSI phone will.

> The point is, ADSI is a simple, cheap technology that provides Caller
> ID on Call Waiting, and has an extra feature that also allows simple
> text interaction between home and businesses.  It is targeted at the
> majority of the population that eyes a PC with suspicion/derision, but
> has no qualms about using a telephone, even if it DOES have a screen.
> And, it doesn't need Bellcore to champion it -- the RBOCs will take
> care of the issue by offering to sell/lease the hardware at cost,
> knowing they'll make their money by increased sales of calling
> features on home phone lines.  Bell Atlantic did this a couple of
> years ago with simple Caller ID number-only boxes, and moved more than
> a half-million in no time.  (Of course, they regret that now, as they
> are meeting resistance from those purchasers when they suggest trading
> up for a fee to get a Calling Name and Number ID box.)

> Until Bill Gates understands that sometimes dates DO matter, Microsoft
> won't qbe replacing COs with super PC servers running NT.  (Remember
> that brag?)

I'm not sure how this thread turned into a Microsoft-bash; I realize
it's trendy, but it's not relevant to this discussion.

The point of my posting was that ADSI is a non-scalable voice/data
solution, obsolete before it ever reached widespread adoption. Rather
than adopting an antiquated technology, we should be looking to newer,
more flexible voice/data schemes.

I was also not advocating a "pie-in-the-sky" solution, as John
insinuates. However, it is important to see technology trends and
build a plan which allows us deploy today and move toward the future
with a minimum of fuss for users or providers. One approach may be to
start with Radish's VoiceView, which DOES work on the ubiquitous
analog line through any kind of switch and even from behind a PBX. The
architecture that applications are built on to use VoiceView allows
the transport to be replaced later with DSVD, ISDN, ATM, or whatever
without changing the application. This is the kind of future we should
be working toward -- ready today, ready for tomorrow.

Furthermore, these technologies don't have to live in a box which
looks like a computer. I totally agree with John that there are lots
of people who "eye a PC with suspicion/derision." So for these people,
there are companies building screenphones which support VoiceView and
computer companies building devices which don't necessarily look like
the computers we have today.

As far as adoption goes, there are roughly ten million modems sold
each year, most of which will be VoiceView equipped by this time next
year.  Contrast this to <1,100,000 screenphones (including proprietary
non-ADSI phones) in TOTAL deployment by the end of the year (according
to a Falkner&Gray report. What's more, since the PC industry enjoys a
more favorable price curve than any industry, the price of PC-based
solutions (including PC-based screenphones) should drop faster than
non-PC based telephone hardware, thereby further widening the gap.
Which user base do you want to develop for? (Hint: more is more.)

Heck, I'll even bite on the Microsoft Windows NT in the back-office
non-sequitor. NT is already being deployed in the network -- GeoTel
makes an SS7 box built on NT. What's more, people like Octel and
InteCom have already announced that their next generation systems will
be built on NT. Over the next five years, you'll see NT moving into
PBXs first and then into the CO (slower here due to inertia). I'll
make a gentleman's wager with you, John, that by 2000, Windows NT will
be commonplace in PBXs and CO's.

ADSI is not a good solution, and, contrary to John's assertion,
without Bellcore to advance it, it will never grow to support richer
user interactions. Even with Bellcore's help, it will likely never
grow up. In discussions we've had with folks in the telecom industry,
it's clear that most of these people realize ADSI is a dead
technology, so I'm not sure who will propagate and grow it.

I think John's story about GTE giving away Caller ID boxes sums up my
primary argument: if we take a heads-down-how-do-we-make-money-right-now
approach without thinking about what the future brings, we will wind
up screwing ourselves like GTE did. So before you think about
deploying ADSI or building ADSI-based products, think about what your
next step is what that step will look like for you and your users.
You'll realize it's a doozy ...

And, yes, Windows 95 will ship in 1995.


Tony Chor, [e-mail]
Program Manager, Telecom Products Unit, Microsoft Corporation

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

From: [e-mail] (Walter (Jay) Turberville )
Subject: Re: Who Belongs to 10732 Five-Digit Access Code?
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 04:57:33 GMT
Organization: Primenet


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Thomas
Grant Edwards) writes:

> Recently an "urban rumor" has been going around:

> If you want to know whether your phone has been tapped in the last six
> months, dial in the following:

> 107 321 404 988 966 4

> What you will get back is a digital recording consisting of (a) your phone's
> area code;  (b) your 7-digit phone-number;  (c) the digit 8;  (d) a pause of
> a few seconds;  (e) 9 zeroes in three groups of three -- 000 000 000;  and
> (f) a digit.  If the digit (f) is a 2, your phone is clear.  Otherwise, if it
> is any other digit (usually it's a 1 in that case), your phone has been
> tapped in the last six months.

> OK - obviously this number is 10732-1-404-988-9664.  Which provider is
> the 5-d code 10732?  Anyone know mroe details on the 1-404-988-9664?

In my experience working for an RBOC, legal phone taps are not done
via the switch.  They are attached directly at some point to the
tapped line.  For the above scenario to be correct, there would have
to be some universal "tapped phone database" which, if you think about
it for a moment, is an absurdity.


Walter (Jay) Turberville         Phoenix, AZ
[e-mail]             [e-mail]
http://www.primenet.com/~wturber

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

From: [e-mail] (David Breneman)
Subject: Re: Who Belongs to 10732 Five-Digit Access Code?
Date: 16 Feb 95 20:43:02 GMT
Organization: Digital Systems International, Redmond WA


Thomas Grant Edwards ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Recently an "urban rumor" has been going around:

> If you want to know whether your phone has been tapped in the last six
> months, dial in the following:

> 107 321 404 988 966 4

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Gosh, what a mystery!

> I don't know what the final digit is, but that bull about 'your phone
> has been or is being tapped' is just exactly that: Bull!  How would
> AT&T know if some customer of Sprint (for example) had his phone
> tapped by his local telco, at (for example) the request of law
> enforcement.  Whoever spreads these stories (you perhaps? 'urban
> legend', indeed!) should stop it now.  I don't know what the AT&T
> private network uses that number for, but I can almost assuredly
> advise you it has nothing to do with phone taps.  PAT]

I've heard this "wiretap" story myself.  Most recently from a caller
to a call-in show where the topic was the Clipper Chip.  So, this
rumor *is* circulating out there.  In this case, the radio station
called the number on-air and discovered that *their* lines were
"tapped"!  Scandal!  A radio station's caller lines being *listened in
on*!?!  :-)


David Breneman                      Email: [e-mail]
Systems Administrator,        Voice: [phone]  Fax: [phone]
Product Development Platforms
Digital Systems International, Inc.      Redmond, Washington,  U. S. o' A.

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

From: /G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU1=[e-mail]
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 09:18:34 -0600
Subject: Re: Emergency Cellular Phone


>  I've been told that unactivated cellular phones in the PNW
> region are able to dial 911, and 711 (cellular operator), unless the
> phone has been flagged as stolen.

Gee, I'd think they'd =want= stolen phones to be able to call 611,
711, or 911.  After all, don't the police and the cellular phone
company =want= to know what cell the stolen phone was located in?
Could be pretty handy information!  And who knows what other helpful
information you could trick out of someone stupid enough to call the
police on a stolen phone?


J. Brad Hicks     Internet: mc![e-mail]
X.400: c=US admd=ATTMail prmd=MasterCard sn=Hicks gn=Brad

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

From: [e-mail] (Bonkink  Elizabeth)
Subject: Re: Apple, Data-PCS, Canadian PCS services
Organization: University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 15:58:30 -0500


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

> Apple Hails FCC Frequency Allocation for Data-PCS

> CUPERTINO, California -- February 15, 1995 -- The long-expected era of
> wireless computing was given a solid boost last week when all five FCC
> Commissioners unanimously voted to allocate 10 Megahertz of radio
> spectrum for low-power, wireless data communications, "Data- PCS."

> As a result of the FCC's allocating the new band without further
> procedural or administrative delay, starting immediately,
> manufacturers can produce radio modems so educators and other users
> can set up their own wireless networks.  The cost and complexity of
> wireless computing devices can be substantially reduced and their
> bandwidth (or data rate) can be significantly greater, allowing for
> such applications as multimedia.

Can anyone briefly explain how this affects Canadian wireless data services
or the plans for them? I've heard precious little about CRTC/Dept of Industry
PCS policy, and I do try to read the papers now and then.  With a major player
like Apple pulling for wireless computing, and the FCC making it viable as
above, will these products be able to appear in Canada? Eh?


Kirk Zurell
Bumper-surfing on the info highway...
Swerving to avoid a deltree.

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark R. Wilkins)
Subject: Re: Security of Cordless Phones?
Date: 16 Feb 1995 21:14:00 GMT
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA


In article <[e-mail]>, Jeffrey A. Porten <jporten@
mail2.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:

> Having just gotten a new cordless phone (BellSouth 46mHz), and living
> in the paranoid environs of Washington, DC, I find myself wondering
                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> just how likely it is that the world is listening to my calls.

[ stuff deleted ]

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Corded or cordless, the assumption should
> be that your telephone calls are never secure.

   Very true.  Actually, in Washington, D.C. I would guess that a
large number of your calls are being automatically recorded by
equipment owned by friendly and unfriendly nations.  The "world" may
very literally be listening to your cordless calls along with many
others in the Washington area.

   Increasingly, also, government intelligence agencies in many countries
around the world support their domestic industries by passing along relevant
technical or business information they run across in the course of other
collection efforts.  A recent investigation at Vandenberg Air Force Base,
at which I work, uncovered evidence that the French intelligence agency was
systematically collecting such information on the activities of forty cont-
ractors working in the area of commercial space launch services.  This
according to reports in the paper, of course.

   So even if you're not working for the government, it may be that
your work-related conversations are of interest to a competitor who
happens to be aided by a foreign government. :-)

   Just a dose of paranoia to liven up your day!


Mark Wilkins    SRI International, Vandenberg AFB

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

Subject: Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder
From: [e-mail] (Chris Hardaker)
Date: 16 Feb 95 11:11:29 EST


IMHO ...

I have been reading this journal now for over six months and find it
totally enjoyable. I have been particularly impressed (depressed?) by
the number of situations that arise for bureaucratic megalomania.
Coming from New Zealand and having worked for both of the major
players in the Telco arena, I can only remember our bad old days. I
have had numerous 'pre-competition' experiences with the billing
systems and general customer service ethic of the governmental
monopoly. CLEAR Communications came along and just like MGM Magic
(Wires, mirrors, that kind of thing..)  suddenly 'I' was important.

Very similar to Richard Wildman's MCI experiences, TELECOM NZ were
forever cutting people off for non-payment and then having to
re-instate their service after a 'clerical error' was detected. The
worst bit was they did not even have the decency to be embarrassed.
Now, if I don't like to look of my bill, I can choose between five
different formats, I can receive the account at any one of four times
during the month (handy when the relatives live overseas and the bill
usually arrives at the same time as the mortgage). Chances are, if I
don't feel I should pay for a call, they will credit it back. If they
make a mistake and I am without service for 24 hours (even due to a
cable fault), I will get $50 in phone cards or $30 off my next bill.
If my call is not billed in 90 days or if it is billed incorrectly, I
will not be billed for that call at all, and I may get the erroneous
amount as a credit also. This generally applies to both carriers.  In
the specific instance of CLEAR, I can get a 45% discount off my calls,
just by talking for more than 30 minutes, any time of the day. If I
call another person who uses CLEAR, I get an additional 10% discount.
If I get a friend to join CLEAR, we both get $10 credits on our next
bill. etc etc etc

Although I am not saying anything against the United States in general,
sometimes I think that the Telco's there need to remember just who pays
the bills. It is the guy who can't get his modem to work because the line
if out of spec., or the person for whom they just can't get that second
line right, or the person who is getting just a little bit frustrated
with the companies inability to realise when it's made a mistake. It
seems to be way past due for the employee to realise they are lucky to be
working at all, and the only reason they are is because the company they
work for hasn't gone bust due to the 'little' people paying money for
'service'.

All of the above in in my humble opinion, of course.


Chris Hardaker         Network Management
CLEAR Communications   Auckland, New Zealand
Ph     [phone]  Fax     [phone]
Email     [e-mail]
Snail     49 Symonds Street, Auckland, New Zealand

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 14:22:58 CST
From: Tim PETLOCK <[e-mail]>
Subject: Recommendations Wanted for Caller-ID Capable Modem


Hello,

I'm hoping the readers of TELECOM Digest can help me out.  I work for
the University of WI- Madison in a dean's office.  Many of our phone
calls are from students who want advice on how to go about
transferring to the UW, which courses to take, how their courses at
another institution would transfer, etc.  What I want to do is have an
internal modem inside my PC that takes the caller-ID information.  The
only modem I've been able to find that *for sure* does it is a ZyXel
U-1496-B.  However, the cost of it is more than I can justify to our
department administrator.  Which other modems have this capability?
Am I being completely unrealistic in trying to find an internal modem
with this capability for under $150?

Secondly, what's available for software?  My computer is infected
with, or rather, runs (almost) under Windows 3.11.  What I need is a
pop up program that is always running.  When the phone rings I want it
to show me the ID, and if there've been any notes taken on a previous
call from that number, to show me that as well.  Furthermore, it's
gotta be robust -- I don't want to see "General Protection Fault"
messages!

Any assistance that readers can provide would be fantastic.  I tried
calling just about all of the local computer stores and the responses
could, for the most part, be boiled down to "Huh?!"  The most pathetic
one was Inacomp, whose representative insisted that Caller-ID was a
"standard 1200-baud modem signal" and that all I needed was software.
I referred him to this months article in {Byte} magazine and got off
that call as quickly as possible!!  The most informed sales rep I
talked to knew what caller-ID was and that there were modems that
could decode the signal, but said that there just wasn't any software
available yet that could do what I was looking for.  SAY IT ISN'T SO!

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.


Tim Petlock
Undergraduate Student Services - UW Medical School
1300 University Ave Rm. 1070
Madison, WI 53706

[e-mail]

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

From: Steve Brack <[e-mail]>
Subject: Happy Haleyville, Alabama 911 Emergency Call Day!
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 18:13:58 EST


Congress has declared today to be Haleyville, Alabama 911 Emergency
Call Day, according to a report broadcast on National Public Radio
this afternoon.

According to NPR, the first emergency services call to use the (then)
new emergency number, 911, was placed in Haleyville, Alabama, on this
day in 1968.

The 911 system in Haleyville was put into place by Bob Gallagher, of
the Alabama Telephone Company, and, among the inaugural callers was
the president of the Alabama Public Services Commission, "Bull"
Connor, perhaps more famous for siccing dogs on schoolchildren.

According to Mr. Gallagher, he ordered the activation of 911 in
Haleyville in part because AT&T had planned to have the first 911 call
placed in Huntington, Indiana one week later.

He noted that the mayor of Haleyville (pop. 6,000 at the time), was
quite proud of the 911 emergency number and ordered large signs put up
at the city limits announcing that in his town, you could dial 911 for
any emergency.

Gallagher also said that the underlying motivation for 911 was to cut
down on operators' non-revenue time, such as that spent handling
emergency calls.  That might have been his company's attitude, but it
doesn't sound to me like the typical Bell System attitude of that
time.


Steve Brack, Consultant  [e-mail]
Toledo, OH  43613-1605   [e-mail]
             Tel: [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed it was not Bell's attitude in those
days. Back then, they had huge amounts of money to waste; the customer
*always* came first, and they were extremely public relations minded. Their
first and probably only concern was seeing to it customers were accomodated
however possible. They still do that a lot, but we can see things getting
frayed around the edges.  PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #104
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #105

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 16 Feb 95 19:32:30 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 105

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Why Does AT&T Immediatly Supervise on 0-500? (Doug Reuben)
    Re: Scam at UC Berkeley (Jeff Box)
    Re: Directory Assistance Call Completer (Jeffrey William McKeough)
    Re: Odd Phone Calls (Jeff Box)
    Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted (Anthony Spierings)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (Marcus Lee)
    Re: Caller-ID Questions (Seymour Dupa)
    Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries (Steve Forrette)
    Re: Privately Owned Cables on Public Utility Poles (Jack Pestaner)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (CID Tech/INSG)
Subject: Why Does AT&T Immediatly Supervise on 0-500?
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 04:52:39 PST


On Thu, 9 Feb 1995 23:08:29 GMT, [e-mail] (Phil Ritter)
wrote:

[In response to my post asking why AT&T opted to supervise 0-500 calls
right from the start (as they do with all 0+ calls), thus resulting in
airtime charges when I reprogram my 500/700 numbers from a cellphone.]

> Actually, there is a reason for them to return supervision on 0-500
> calls.  If they did not, it is unlikely that the cellular companies
> would allow such calls at all!

Odd that you say this ... almost every other LD carrier's calling card
system, including Sprint, LDDS/Metromedia, and WilTel, do NOT
supervise UNTIL the called party has answered. I can thus sit on the
cellphone and enter calling card numbers all day to a busy number and
NOT be billed (well, except in LA! :( ). AT&T is one of the ONLY
carriers that I am aware of which starts 0+ billing BEFORE you even
enter your card number.  This is why I don't use AT&T from my carphone
for calling card calls, and why I've obtained LDDS/Metromedia cards
for everyone who works with me as well as other friends with carphones
 -- precisely so they don't have to pay to reach a no-answer or
busy-signal as they do with AT&T Calling Card Calls.

> While you may not "PAY" for the time that you spend programming the
> service, I do not really want to give you free use of my most scarce
> resource (radio channel time) while you are setting things up.

Ok, fine. How about I write some software program which looks to the caller
ID of a call from a cellphone. (You can get an 800 number to do this if your
cellco doesn't send caller ID). When my Mac or PC gets this specific
Caller ID or ANI, it goes into "ring detect mode". When it gets into
the detectiom mode, it calls the carphone (or beeper) and rings it
once. It then proceeds to count the number of rings which follow, with
an allowance of maybe one ring either way. After "x" minutes, it stops
looking for rings, and counts up all the rings with the given cell
co's caller ID.

I pre-program the software to know that 1 ring = forward my 500 to 555-1212
                                        2 rings= forward my 500 to 555-4141
                                        3 rings= forward my 500 to 555-6161
 ...etc.

So if the software received three rings with the cellco's ID (or one
of the many cellco IDs), it says "Hmm ... three rings means forward
the 500 number to telephone number 555-6161".

My calls are now forwarded, I didn't pay a dime in airtime (except in
LA, where pressing SEND costs airtime :( ), but I managed to use up a
lot more system overhead than if I were able to reprogram the 500 at
no airtime cost.

Awkward? Yes, indeed. Time consuming? Yes, for both of us. And I have
it up and running right now, and it works quite well. The software was
simple enough to write, and the 800 service and configuration of the
whole thing took a few hours more. So is this what you prefer? Is this
REALLY preferable to allowing users to program -- not call anyone mind
you, just program -- their 500/700/whatever numbers with no airtime
charge?

(And please, no arguments about how this is theft of service, etc. We
went through this before, I thought both sides had interesting points,
but I chose not to participate and do not wish to engage in that now.
That is NOT the topic of this post.)

The "You use our airtime, you pay" is a very narrow-minded approach.

First off, the only reason I would *want* to access my 500 number for
programming is to forward calls to the car while I am there. By charging
customers airtime to call their 500/700 numbers to reforward them to
their carphones, they are discouraged from doing so, and will receive
fewer or no calls in the car. By being petty and cheap, the carrier is
depriving itself of significantly higher revenues. Most people can
reprogram their 500/700 numbers in 20 seconds or less. A single,
one-minute incoming call can easily make up for that supposedly "lost"
revenue, and after the initial minute, a cellular company which did
NOT charge airtime for 500/700 programming (assuming AT&T did not
preclude that option as they currently do) would gain a great deal
more in airtime revenues for subsequent calls -- revenue that would
otherwise have not been generated.

As an example, frequently, I would like to have my 500/700 numbers
forwarded to my car. They are usually forwarded to my pager. Instead
of having an easy mechanism by which I can do this without charge, I
need to use my software to do this, which is admitedly annoying,
especially on short trips. So I normally just keep my 500/700 numbers
forwarded to my pager or voicemail (which is then paged). If I get a
page while in the car, I will almost always wait till I get to a
landline phone, and return the call from there. Not because of any
strong desire to "spite" the cell co. (I like my local cell co.,
actually), but just because I can say "Hmm ... ok, this guy can wait
 ... no need to talk this very second".  However, if I were able to
reprogram my 500/700 number(s) from the car with no charge, and a call
came in, I'd be inclined to answer it, and thus generate revenue for
the cell co.

Secondly, as cellular and landline networks become increasingly
integrated, the ability to control these "follow me"-type 500 services
will begin to be incorporated into the combined functionality of the
cellular and landline switches. As the distinction between the two
becomes increasingly hazy, many of these services will be accessed in
a similar manner to current "feature codes", such as call forwarding,
which in most cases (Err ... Pac*Tel/LA and/or LA Cellular being the
exceptions?  ;) ) are not charged for. If AT&T wishes to have its 500
services maintain some sort of competitiveness with integrated
landline/cellular services, it would be in its own interest to allow
airtime-free 500 reprogramming, at least from its cellular properties,
as well as to make haste in developing links to integrate its 500
services with its cellular services in a more seamless manner.

Thirdly, the fact that other companies who have calling card services
which do NOT supervise and which will not (generally) incur an airtime
charge (again, let us forget about LA's cellular "services"), indicates
that not only are people eating up "precious" airtime, but that they are
"getting away with it" all the time. What happens when Sprint decides to
add a few extra features to their calling card services, like the Time of
Day, maybe? They don't need to supervise this to bill. Or what if they
wish to provide ancillary services to their calling card system, like
speed dialing? If they don't supervise while a user is programming their
speed dial numbers into the calling card system, what is a cellular
carrier going to do? Where do you draw the line and say "OK, at point 'x'
you MUST supervise" to a given carrier? AT&T has IMHO foolishly opted to
do that right from the onset, yet other carriers have more enlightened
policies. The poster's notion of a cellular carrier dictating to the entire
communications industry when *they* must offer supervision (prior to an
actual answer, which should of course be supervised) smacks and such
unmitigated arrogance that such a carrier's protestations are at best
ignored.

> It is not really AT&Ts place to chose for me which calls I bill for
> and which I do not by selectively manipulating he return of answer
> supervision.  If the call is answered, even if answered by a machine,
> AT&T needs to return supervision.  The only exception to this is when
> they return call routing exception recordings (which is certainly not
> the case here).

Really? Well, try telling Sprint, MCI, LDDS/Metromedia, et. al. this.
I'm sure they will be very willing to cooperate with you ;). You know,
when their calling card system picks up and prompts you for a calling
card, well, that's a machine. Tell them that. See what they say.

>> 5. Most cellular companies do not allow 1+500 billing (even those which
>> AT&T owns), so you need to dial 0-500, resulting in an airtime charge
>> to the caller even if no one answers or the line is busy. This was one
>> of the biggest problems with ER700 -- no one wanted to call me from their
>> carphones after about a month of using the service and seeing all these
>> calls at 80 cents per minute to my 700 when I never even answered.

> Actually, most cellular companies do not perform ANY form of casual
> billing.  This includes 900, 976, 800-chargeback, 10XXX billing, and
> now 500.  Its not clear when this will (or if it will, or if it even
> should) change.

Well, maybe Pac*Tel managed to get out of offering its customers 10xxx
dialing by changing it's name to "Airtouch", but a good deal of carriers
DO indeed offer this as a result of federal rulings. And with McCaw Cellular
(unfortunately) being forced to offer Equal Access (one of the few cases
where I have been opposed to this), I suspect that a MAJORITY of subscribers
nationwide will have 10xxx dialing.

My point was not to allow 500 direct billing (which could be manipulated to
place international calls without the cell co. knowing -- see Pat's
note at the end of a recent post regarding 500 numbers from hospitals).
The point was that since the 500/700 services are designed to have
inconsistent billing rates to allow for international forwarding (a
difficult, but understandable compromise on AT&T's part), the only way
that one SHOULD be able to access the 500/700, in order to PREVENT a
cellular company from suffering an intentional or unintentional loss is
to ALLOW access to 0+500 or 0+700 with NO AIRTIME CHARGE until the called
party is reached.

AT&T may wish to consider that their competitors' 500 numbers may work
just like this: They will not supervise until they complete. Cellular
customers, even those on it's newly acquired McCaw properties, may
desert AT&T's 500/700 services for a service from an Ameritech or Bell
Atlantic, for example, which allows a user to program and forward his/her
500 number without airtime charge, and which does not bill callers UNTIL
the 500 number is answered.

The main point was that AT&T has made a foolish move in this regard, and
that hopefully other 500 providers will emerge who will not repeat these
errors and provide a more "carphone friendly" service. It is ironic and
sad that AT&T, which now owns the nation's largest cellular provider, was
unable or unwilling to make the necessary adaptations to its 500 service
to facilitate these goals, and it seems increasignly likely that another
IXC or Bell will introduce a 500 service that is more "carphone friendly"
than that offered by the AT&T/McCaw.

> Phil Ritter   [e-mail]

Ahhh .... although I am not personally attacking Phil, and I do appreciate
his taking the time to answer, if this signature file means "Airtouch
Cellular in LA", then I can understand the response.

The LA market has unquestionably the WORST cellular service of any large
city in the nation. Calls are always dropped, coverage is incredibly
poor, and on top of all this, both carriers have audacity to charge
airtime from the moment you press send and the switch accepts your call.

If you hit *350 to turn on call delivery with LA Cellular, there's an
airtime charge! Or if you try to forward your calls on Pac*Tel, another
airtime charge! There are airtime charges for busy signals, for calls
which don't complete, for fast busy (non-switch) signals, for "Not in
Service" recordings, etc. For just about anything you can dial, with the
exception of maybe 611 and 911, there is an airtime charge.

And what do LA Cell and Pac*Tel (err ... Airtouch ... don't want to
get the DOJ involved...) say when one dares to ask them why they are
the only two carriers who do have such a practice? "Well, it is
because our channels are so saturated with callers that we NEED to
charge this."

Really? So how come both providers in NYC, a city more densely populated
than LA, with similar traffic conditions (if not worse) can mange to get
by without charging for incomplete calls, AND still build out their
systems and expand? (In all honesty, CO/NY bills for incompletes over 40
seconds, NYNEX/NY doesn't bill for incompletes at all.) One of the
carriers, Cell One, has excellent coverage just about everywhere -- from
inside the lower, "RF-resistant" floors of buildings in Manhattan to the
hills and valleys of Westchester and Rockland counties, topographically
more challenging than anything in downtown LA or in any of the canyons of
the San Gabriel or Santa Monica ranges.

I recall what service was like before McCaw took over -- sort of like LA.
Dropped calls, blocked outdial attempts, and the near impossibility of
actually receiving a call. In a few years since, I can say that there is
hardly an area in NYC where there is any significant dgree of prolonged
static (compated to I-5 up in the hills, or on the I-405/Simi Valley Fwy
JCT), let alone dropped calls, even right in the middle of the rush hour.
So how does CO/NY manage to provide such excellent service, in an equally
if not more complex service environment than LA, and yet not start charging
from the second a user presses SEND?

The fact of the matter is that LA Cell and Pac*Tel/LA are just greedy,
petty dinosaurs of carriers who will do whatever they can to get airtime
revenue, smugly convinced that they can sit on their licenses and that
nothing will ever break up their nice little duopoloy. Pac*Tel is even
arrogant enough to tell its users "When you roam out of LA, there are no
incomplete call charges", as if they are taunting "We know no one else
does it, and we just don't care. If you live in LA, you are stuck with
us." Call their (hopefully free) roamer info number and you will hear this.

Moreover, resentment of these two "carriers" doesn't stop at the customer
level. I've spoken to a number of roam coordinators in New England and
Mid Atlantic cellular properties, who have all told me that even if it
weren't for fraud, they would not offer automatic roaming in LA because
of the number of complaints they get regarding incomplete calls, which
almost universally are written off as a courtesy credit.

It is because of these two carriers that I and no doubt others are
anxiously awaiting the time when alternate services, such as Nextel,
develop sufficient coverage and RF saturation to adequately serve the LA
Basin area. As a result of LA Cell's and Pac*Tel/LA's unbearably poor
coverage, but more so as a result of their sickeningly duopolistic billing
policies, I am sure that *any* alternative to these two will be
enthusiastically welcomed.


Doug Reuben     [e-mail]    +1 (203) 499 - 5221 / [phone]
  CID Technologies*Interpage(TM) E-Mail/Internet Paging and Fax Services

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

From: [e-mail] (JeffB65582)
Subject: Re: Scam at UC Berkeley
Date: 16 Feb 1995 19:25:27 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (JeffB65582)


In my opinion, one of the worst places to let a call be transferred to is
the AT&T Alliance Teleconference service at 700-458-1000.  Once they (a
hacker) can get a call through your switch to this numbber, they will
receive voice prompts that let them add-on calls to about anywhere on the
planet.  Furthermore, they can use a long (1 second)  pound key to let
conference bridge add on and disconnect calls for up to five hours (according
to the last brochure I received).  Thus, the one call to the conference
bridge can allow many more to be generated.

The bill for all this calling will ultimately go back to the PBX owner.
System administrators should be sensitive to this number that can easily
result in a $1000 phone bill for a single slip-up.

OTOH, if you're a legal user, its a pretty good conference facility.


Jeff Box

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

Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 19:40:23 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey William McKeough)
Subject: Re: Directory Assistance Call Completer
Organization: Beet Cabal, New England Regional HQ


TELECOM Digest Editor noted:

> I hate [call completion] because instead of repeating the number
> twice as they did before, now it is read once and the message about
> 'you may have this call automatically completed at this time'
> immediatly starts playing after the first recitation. You have to
> listen to the spiel about getting it dialed automatically twice before
> the number itself is repeated a second time in case you missed it the
> first time.  PAT]

I solved that problem, as well as the problem of having people rack up
$ .35 charges on my phone by requesting Directory Assistance Call
Completion Blocking.  I highly recommend it.


Jeffrey W. McKeough  [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (JeffB65582)
Subject: Re: Odd Phone Calls
Date: 16 Feb 1995 19:45:48 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (JeffB65582)


I would call the phone company.

 From the symptoms you describe, you may be a victim of "clip-on fraud".
This concept involves two phone lines and a device designed to answer a
ring on one phone line and connect it to a second phone line.  The idea is
to dial one number, get dial tone from the second line and then place an
outbound call from that point.  The subscriber of the second line will
eventually get the bill.  For it to work, the normal users of the lines
need to not answer the call.  (like when they're out)

I believe the term comes from the idea that the device "clips on" to the
phone line at any point between the residence/business and the central
office.  Man holes, unlocked wiring closets and a zillion other points
between the subscriber and the C.O. are possible points to add such a
device.

It was mentioned in the FCC requies for information on Toll Fraud that
came out about a year ago.


Jeff Box

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

From: [e-mail] ( ANTHONY SPIERINGS)
Subject: Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted
Organization: SEQEB
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 00:27:58 GMT


[e-mail] wrote:

> Looking for information on this company.  Stock Analysis.  Assets.
> Prognosis.  History.  etc ...

Telstra is 100% owned by the Australian Commonwealth (Federal)
Government. Its trading name is Telecom (Australia). From my (poor)
memory of a newpaper article it produced a profit for our Feds in the
order of A$1,200M (someone will probable correct me on this). This
does not include the various taxes and charges it has to pay to all
three levels of government. Not a bad little earner :).

For stocks, prognosis etc, perhaps you were thinking of OPTUS the
introduced competion.


Anthony Spierings     [e-mail]
SEBEB, (Power Utility), Brisbane, Australia.

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

From: [e-mail] (Marcus Lee)
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery
Date: 16 Feb 1995 04:47:55 GMT
Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland


[e-mail] (Matthew P. Downs) writes:

> Erik P. Larson ([e-mail]) wrote:

>> Motorola ... flip phone ... does anyone know how to disable the low
>> battery warning beep?  It's really annoying

> Use the quick charger, it drains the battery fully, before recharging.

I don't think that was what he was asking ...

No I haven't seen any way of disabling the beep, on any of the
"Motorola flip phones."

There hasn't been any menu option that I've seen on AMPS MicroTAC, TACII,
GSM 5200, 8200 that I've seen.

It sure can be annoying tho, if the battery doesn't go kaput for ages
after it starts beeping!

About the quick charger-which I presume is an Intellicharger -- it
doesn't discharge, it just quick charges immediately to 90% of the
battery's capacity, then goes to trickle charge to top it off.


Marcus Lee                Ph: [phone]
University of Queensland Australia        [phone]
Internet: [e-mail]    Fax:[phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Seymour Dupa)
Subject: Re: Caller ID Questions
Date: 15 Feb 1995 09:50:45 -0500
Organization: Exchange Network Services, Inc.


Mike Harris ([e-mail]) wrote:

> I'm interested in learning how Caller ID works.  The data rate, how
> the data is formatted, etc.  Any explanations or pointers to books, or
> standards would be appreciated.

The best book I've found is:

Principles of Caller I. D.
International MicroPower Corp.
50 pages, $20
805-482-2870
805-482-5100

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

From: [e-mail] (Steve Forrette)
Subject: Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries
Date: 17 Feb 1995 00:12:28 GMT
Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Richard
White) says:

> I recall scanning some news in this newsgroup about a year ago, discussing
> the technique of "shocking" nicad batteries: a technique used to give
> new life to dead/old nicads. One of my MicroTac batteries died after
> about 18 months service, and I'd like to restore it to life again if
> possible.

Although I've never tried it myself, I have a friend that swears by
the method of momentarily connecting the nicad in series with a 12VDC
car battery (using jumper cables) to revive a tired ni-cad.  I'm not
sure which is the proper polarity though.  I'm sure that this method
was used on the standard 1.25VDC ni-cad cells, and not a multi-cell
one used for cellular (many are in the 6-9VDC range I believe), so
your mileage may vary.

I make no warranty as to the effectiveness or safety of the above.


Steve Forrette, [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Jack Pestaner)
Subject: Re: Privately Owned Cables on Public Utility Poles
Date: 16 Feb 1995 03:17:17 GMT
Organization: Oregon Grad. Inst. Computer Science and Eng., Beaverton


> Telco Systems makes a T1 interface that will give us 48 2500 or
> digital extensions from the Northern Telcom for $25,000 per end, but
> couldn't I do that with just multiplexors? I would think so, especially
> with 2500 sets.

So don't forget that if you have voice mail and need message waiting
lights for the remote location, youll probably not be able to pass the
voltage necessary for MWI's.

These are key for our operation.

Our NEC has digital remote units that allow their digital phones to be
used up to 50 miles away from the main site over a PSTN T1.  You get
23 phones that act just like the ones in the office.  A great solution
if a tight integration is needed, but you still need to provide for
fax/modem lines.  Pretty low cost too -- about $7000 plus phones.

Perhaps NT has something like this.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #105
******************************


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Date: Fri, 17 Feb 95 16:31:08 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #106

TELECOM Digest     Fri, 17 Feb 95 16:31:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 106

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Caveat on Tech Training (William Wood)
    FCC Fines Commercial Realty $390,000 (FCC Daily Digest via Gary Bouwkamp)
    Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements (Mark Douglas)
    What is DMS-100? (Stanley Tahara)
    What is Loop Start? (Paul Garfield)
    Telebit-InternetBlazer Press Release (Eileen Lin)
    How To Keep Business Phone Calls Short? (Alan Boritz)
    MCI Slams Again (Alan Boritz)
    Typical Rates for Campus Phone Systems (Anthony E. Siegman)
    Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries (B.Z. Lederman)
    Re: How to revive NiCad Batteries (Mark Fletcher)
    Re: The Philosophy of CallerID (Dave Levenson)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Charlie Mingo)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 13:54:06 -0800
From: [e-mail] (William Wood)
Subject: Caveat on Tech Training


After seeing the recent rash of announcments, I would like to add to
it and suggest that some of the folks who intend to attend some of the
tech courses announced on this, and other, tech newsgroups might
benefit from attending one of our introductory courses first. We have
a two day on-site only intro course called Learning to Talk the Talk
and Walk the Walk of Telecommunications which can supply a conceptual
framework for more advanced courses. It is designed in three parts
with a logical progression for easy understanding. Part 1 explains the
Underlying Technology Basics, Part 2 is a Walk Thru A Telephone Call,
and Part 3 is a Walk Thru a Data Call/Transfer. Because we only do
on-sites our overhead is low and we can do our courses at prices
that even very small companies can afford. Zap me an Email for more
info.

I am not making a value judgment on any of the other courses because I
haven't seen most of them, and it's generally been my experience that
tech courses with a lot of Ph.D. presenters can be very valuable. That
is, if you already have an understanding of the underlying fundamentals.
I do wonder though if the academic climb to Doctorism doesn't sometimes
mean a loss of contact with things physical. An example: I was attending
a class on networking being delivered by a noted Ph.D. Very knowledgeable,
and a nice guy to boot. When he got on to the subject of transmission
systems, it was obvious to me by his answers to audience questions
that he had never actually worked on one. He gave out some erroneous
information because of this. No lives hung in the balance because of
these errors, so I did not correct him in public, but did discuss the
issue after the session. My point is, no one else seemed to notice the
errors because they too must not have had operational experience which
would have given them a base from which to judge technical accuracy.

More importantly from my perspective was his veracity on those
subjects which I had no previous knowledge and thus had to simply
trust as being correct. No one can be expected to know everything, but
it sure would be nice if somebody could invent a B.S, M.S, PHD (BS,
More of the Same, Piled Higher and Deeper) filter so we ordinary folk
could separate facts from fictions.  Someone once told me that the
word EXPERT derives from X = unknown quantity and SPURT is a drip
under pressure. I'm always cautious around unknown pressurized drips
and advise others to be so too.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is difficult at my position here also
to separate fact from fiction at times, but I have found the majority
of the conference announcements presented here to be very high-calibre
in nature. Particularly good are the short course announements I receive
regularly from Berkeley, one of the insitutions providing this Digest
with computational facilities for newsletter distribution, etc. You do
raise a good point though, and perhaps some of our readers will contact
you about a course in the 'basics' to help them get a running start on
the more difficult stuff which comes their way.   PAT]

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

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 95 10:29:37 EST
From: Gary Bouwkamp ([e-mail])
Organization: Allnet Communications
Subject: FCC Fines Commercial Realty $390,000


Pat, here is an interesting item from yesterdays Daily Digest.  Looks
like this guy never read the rules, and the FCC got pretty ticked
off ...

 From FCC DAILY DIGEST Vol. 14, No. 32 February 16, 1995

Report No. WL 95-1
WIRELESS TELECOM ACTION
February 16, 1995

COMMERCIAL REALTY ST. PETE NOTIFIED OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR
FORFEITURE OF $390,000 FOR VIOLATION OF IVDS AUCTION RULES

The Commission has notified Commercial Realty St. Pete, Inc., that it
is apparently liable for a forfeiture of $390,000 for abuse of the
Commission's processes and violation of its rules in connection with
the Interactive Video and Data Services (IVDS) auctions. In addition,
Commercial Realty may be liable for penalties of not less than
$1,237,500 as a result of its failure to tender the required down
payment for licenses for which it submitted winning bids. Commercial
Realty communicated with other bidders in violation of the FCC's
anti-collusion rules, falsely certified that it was financially
qualified to fulfill its bidding obligations and falsely certified
that it was entitled to designated entity status as a woman-owned
business.

 The Commission is also issuing a separate Order to Show Cause
requiring Commercial Realty and its principals to show cause why, in
light of their apparent misconduct in connection with the IVDS
auctions and investigation of Commercial Realty, they should not be
barred from participating in any future Commission auctions and why
they should not be prohibited from becoming Commission licensees.

 On July 28 and 29, 1994, the Commission conducted auctions for 594
IVDS licenses in 279 markets across the nation. Winning bidders were
required to pay 10 percent of their winning bids within five business
days after the close of bidding. Commercial Realty submitted winning
bids in 20 markets for a total of $41,250,000, requiring a total down
payment of at least $3,266,750. Commercial Realty never tendered its
down payment.  Commercial Realty claimed designated entity status as a
woman-owned business and claimed a 25 percent bidding credit in most
of the markets in which it was a winning bidder.

Commercial Realty was the successful bidder in Detroit-Ann Arbor, MI;
St.  Louis, MO; Miami, FL; Pittsburgh, PA; Baltimore, MD; Minneapolis-
St.Paul, MN; Atlanta, GA; Denver-Boulder, CO; Seattle-Everett, WA;
Milwaukee, WI; Kansas City, MO; Phoenix, AZ; Indianapolis, IN; Sacramento,
CA; Greensboro, NC; Charlotte, NC; and Raleigh-Durham, NC; San Diego, CA;
Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL; and Portland, OR.

After the conclusion of the IVDS auction, it came to the Commission's
attention that the Commission's rules and other IVDS auction requirements
might have been violated by some of the participants.  Therefore, the
Commission ordered an investigation of the conduct of the applicants
in the auction to determine whether misconduct had occurred. One
target of the investigation was Commercial Realty.

As a result of the investigation, the Commission determined that
Commercial Realty willfully misrepresented its financial status to the
Commission. A forfeiture of $10,000 for each of the 20 markets
involved ($200,000) was assessed for this violation.

Commercial Realty is a for-profit company incorporated in Florida on
September 10, 1984. At that time, its sole director, President and
Registered Agent was James C. Hartley. On February 17, 1984, Hartley's
wife, Teresa Hartley, purchased all the outstanding shares of stock in
Commercial Realty from a third party for $500. On April 15, 1994, she
amended the corporation's bylaws to provide for a board of directors
consisting solely of herself. The Commission's investigation revealed
that James Hartley controlled the company and continued to make all
the business decisions, including the decision to default on the down
payments. Therefore, the Commission found that Commercial Realty had
improperly claimed bidding credits as a woman-owned business and
assessed a forfeiture of $10,000 for each of the 17 times it claimed
the credit ($170,000).

The investigation also revealed that Mr. Hartley engaged in prohibited
discussions, or other communications, with another bidder on at least
two occasions before down payments were due. The Commission assessed a
forfeiture of $10,000 for each violation ($20,000).

Action by the Commission February 15, 1995, by Notice of Apparent
Liability for Forfeiture (FCC 95-58). Chairman Hundt, Commissioners
Quello, Barrett, Ness and Chong.


News Media contact: Stacey Reuben Mesa at [phone]. Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau contacts: Terry Reideler at [phone] and
Myron Peck at [phone].

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark  Douglas)
Subject: Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 95 03:38:37 GMT


I am teaching a university course on mobile communications and am
interested in the following data of the received signal at a cellular
phone:

1. The signal envelope over time (Rayleigh/Rician)
2. The time delay response (showing delay spread).
3. The power spectrum (frequency domain)

Real measured data would be ideal, but simulated data is fine as well.
I know that I can generate it myself, but if someone else already has
the data, it's less work for me.


Thanks,

Mark Douglas      University of Victoria   Victoria, BC, Canada.

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

From: [e-mail] (Stanley Tahara)
Subject: What is DMS-100?
Date: 17 Feb 1995 00:13:57 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA


Can someone give me some information?

I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are
going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my
prefix would be affected.  The letter also states:

"... If you have other equipment connected to your telephone, such
as an answering machine or a computer, you may want to contact the
manufacturer or thee dealer from whom you purchased the equipment.
Some devices need to be adjusted so they will function properly with
our new switching equipment."

What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to
send or receive call?


Stan Tahara               Dept. of Microbiology
Phone:   [phone]   USC School of Medicine
FAX:     [phone]   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Garfield)
Subject: What is Loop Start?
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 19:57:18 GMT


Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line (although
I didn't know the details).  Recently I've seen the following terms
applied to ANALOG lines: loop start, ground start, wink start, earth
recall.  What do these mean?  I always thought all analog lines were
the same.

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

From: [e-mail] (Eileen Lin)
Subject: Telebit-InternetBlazer Press Release
Organization: Telebit Corporation; Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 18:26:59 GMT


TELEBIT CORP.
Contact:  DIRECT MARKETING DEPT.
Tel:  [phone] or 408.734.4333
Fax:  [phone]
Internet:  [e-mail]

         TELEBIT ANNOUNCES INDUSTRY'S FIRST AVAILABILITY OF
        INTERNET ROUTER SOLUTION WITH SPRY SOFTWARE

     InternetBlazer Incorporates SPRY's AIR Series Software, Enabling Users
        To Establish Cost-Effective Internet Facilities


    SUNNYVALE, CA -- Feb. 6, 1995 -- Telebit Corporation (NASDAQ:
TBIT), a leader in the on-demand remote access industry, today
announced the industry's first availability of a bundled Internet
solution to incorporate a dial-up router with key applications of the
AIR Series(TM) software from SPRY, Inc., a leading Internet software
developer.  The InternetBlazer, featuring renowned Telebit(R) dial-up
router technology, enables small- and branch-office networks to
quickly and easily establish Internet access, providing businesses the
communications advantages of Electronic Mail, the World Wide Web
(WWW), News and Gopher.

    "Too many companies have announced Internet access products that,
to this day, haven't shipped," said Stephen Dick, vice president of
marketing at Telebit.  "Telebit, in contrast, is the first in the
industry to ship an Internet access solution with AIR Series software.
Now, with the InternetBlazer, businesses can immediately establish
Internet access with Telebit's acclaimed dial-up router technology and
SPRY's award-winning software."

    Immediately available through resellers, the InternetBlazer makes
an organization's internal and external communications more cost-effective
and efficient through the use of the Internet.  It establishes multi-user,
dial-up Internet access based on standard low-cost phone lines.

    The AIR Series applications that come with the InternetBlazer include:

 -AIR Mosaic, the fastest and most feature-rich Mosaic Web browser, giving
  Internet users access to the WWW;

 -AIR Mail, a mail application, providing users uninterrupted Internet
  electronic mail capabilities from the office;

 -AIR News, a news-access tool, allowing users to easily search
  through various categories within specific newsgroups on the Internet;

 -AIR Gopher, a search-and-retrieval application that includes an intuitive
  organization menu, giving users the ability to conduct data searches through
  the Gopher server on the Internet;

    "SPRY and Telebit raise the bar on Internet connectivity tools
with the clear understanding that solutions must provide both hardware
and software," said David Pool, president of SPRY.  "By coupling key
applications from our popular Internet software suite with Telebit's
high-performance router, small- and branch-office networks can easily
connect to the Internet."

AVAILABILITY AND PRICING:

 The InternetBlazer is available immediately in the following configurations:

 -NetBlazer PN1 router, which includes a built-in V.32bis modem, an external
  modem port, an Ethernet connector and a 10-user license of the AIR Series
  software applications: $2949 suggested retail price (SRP)

 -NetBlazer PN2 router, which includes two external modem ports, an Ethernet
  connector and a 10-user license of the AIR Series software applications:
  $2749 SRP

 -A 10-user add-on license of the AIR Series software applications, for
  existing InternetBlazer customers: $899 SRP

    Telebit Corporation designs, manufactures and markets a family of
remote network access products to enable cost-effective extension of
LANs to remote users.  Its popular NetBlazer product line is the
recipient of many industry awards, such as PC Week Labs' Product of
the Week, Communications Week MAX, PC/Computing MVP and was selected
as Data Communications magazine's "Tester's Choice."  The company has
offices in the United States, Europe and Asia, and markets its
products and services worldwide through value-added resellers,
wholesale distributors and OEMs.

    SPRY, Inc. is the leading developer of Internet access applications for
the office, home and publishing markets.  Founded in 1987, the privately held
company is based in Seattle, Wash.  SPRY brings networked connectivity
to the Windows desktop through three products: the AIR Series, Internet In
A Box(TM) and Mosaic In A Box(TM).  The AIR Series is a corporate network
solution designed to provide PC to UNIX, mainframe and Internet connectivity
through a full suite of applications.  Internet In A Box provides the remote
dial-up user with full Internet connectivity.  Mosaic In A Box is an entry-
level Internet access solution providing consumers with "plug and play"
access to the Internet's World Wide Web.

Telebit and NetBlazer are registered trademarks of Telebit Corporation
AIR Series is a trademark of SPRY, Incorporated

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

Subject: How To Keep Business Phone Calls Short?
From: drharry![e-mail] (Alan Boritz)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 22:26:24 EST
Organization: Harry's Place - Mahwah NJ - [phone]


A friend is having some difficulty getting his employees (less than
ten, in a trucking business) to manage their telephone calls reasonably.
He doesn't want to create a hostile environment, but his inwats and
outwats expense is getting out of hand.  Has anyone found voice terminals
with interval timers, or any other equipment features, to be helpful
to accomplish that task?


[e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Radio Shack *had* (and maybe still has) such
a thing along with other companies. It goes on the phone line and after a
pre-set period of time you hear a litle tone in the background. You must
then press a key on the phone to restart the timer.  After you have done
this often enough, you are supposed to take the hint I guess.   PAT]

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

Subject: MCI Slams Again
From: drharry![e-mail] (Alan Boritz)
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 95 22:16:03 EST
Organization: Harry's Place - Mahwah NJ - [phone]


No sooner than the discussion ended about how to slap around a long
distance carrier for slamming a relative's home phone, did it happen
again.  Someone in my office discovered that MCI just changed his PIXC
without his permission.  A relative who lives in Indonesia ordered a
calling card with my associate's address in New Jersey (with his
permission).  MCI (again) didn't notice that the telephone account
that served that address was not in the name of the person who ordered
the calling card, and ordered the PIXC changed, anyway.

You can bet that the NJPUC will be dealing with this issue soon, TWICE
if MCI cancels the new calling card after changing back the PIXC at
their expense.

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

From: [e-mail] (Anthony E. Siegman)
Subject: Typical Rates for Campus Phone Systems
Date: 17 Feb 1995 04:24:28 GMT
Organization: Leland Stanford Junior University


University phone service fed into my campus office to handle a fax
machine (for what would be a very small amount of traffic) led me to
make the mistake of asking how much this would cost.  The answer: $155
initial installation fee, $36/month for the line.

   Page A-5 of the Pac Bell phone book says that in any of the surrounding
communities I can get dial tone for a $35 installation fee and $4.45/month
for all-metered service or $8.45/month for unlimited local calling.

   This is partly an apples vs oranges comparison, because the campus
system (a Northern Telecom switch, I believe) gives me on-campus
extension dialing, a voice mail service, and various other stuff, but
I'm still curious: what does phone service in other universities or
similar large organizations cost?  If Stanford out-sourced the
operation of its campus phone systme to some private contractor, could
we expect significantly lower rates?  Is the Centrex type campus
service really worth four times what the phone company could give me?

   Any comments or data points appreciated -- [e-mail]

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

From: B. Z. Lederman <lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov>
Subject: Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries
Date: 17 Feb 95 08:44:57 EST
Reply-To: Lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov
Organization: INTRANSIT (VNTSC)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Richard White) writes:

> I recall scanning some news in this newsgroup about a year ago, discussing
> the technique of "shocking" nicad batteries: a technique used to give
> new life to dead/old nicads. One of my MicroTac batteries died after
> about 18 months service, and I'd like to restore it to life again if
> possible.

    I didn't see this here, but I did see it described in one of the
electronic hobby magazines MANY years ago.  At that time a common
failure mode for NiCd batteries was an internal short.  A heavy
discharge through the battery might clear the short and give the
battery some more life.  You charge a capacitor (I don't remember
exact values, probably several hundred micro-Farads at ten or more
volts) and discharge it though the cell in the forward direction (to
prevent reversing the cell) and hope for the best.

> Has anyone out there tried this technique with success? Could you tell
> me how this is done, what precautions I should take when doing this,
> prognosis for success, etc?

    I played with it a little.  It seemed to bring some cells back to
life for a while, but they're never really all that reliable
afterwards.  And it won't fix all problems or restore all cells.  If
you happend to have the parts on hand, you have little to lose by
trying it, but don't expect much.  Also keep in mind that the internal
construction of NiCd cells differs a lot between manufactuers, and new
cells are much different than old cells when the article was written.

    Standard precautions to prevent electrocuting yourself would apply.
In addition, heavily overloading a NiCd cell could cause it to leak or
explode.


B. Z. Lederman.   My personal opinions.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, BZ, I wish I'd had someone like
you around a number of years ago to remind me about 'standard precautions'
when this fellow brought me an old television set he wanted converted into
a black and white monitor for one of his old Apple ][ computers. That's
easy enough, you just get in there and feed the picture tube from the
composite video out of the computer. You cut the RF part of the television
out altogether. Since it isn't *quite* as good as an actual monitor or
a terminal screen -- the resolution is a little lacking -- you can do a
few things to tidy up the screen a little. My favorite is to wrap a piece
of tin foil around the picture tube, from about the yoke on downward.
It is hard to explain, but it keeps the picture looking sharper. Of course
you adjust the yoke a little as well; it will work nicely as a poor man's
video monitor, espcially since you can get used television sets out of
garbage dumpsters for free if you walk down any alley the night before
the village garbage pickup on that block the next day. The plug breaks off
or a knob gets broken, the people don't know what to do so they junk the
whole thing and go to Walmart and buy a new one.

Well!  You know and I know that old television sets hang on to their
juice for quite a while (sometimes a week!) after they are unplugged. My
favorite demonstration for the neighborhood kids years ago used to be to
unplug the radio or television, take the case off and present a little
show where I took my very long handled screw-driver, went in there from
one of those big capacitors to the chassis ground and watch the fireworks.
Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  Sparks would fly and that old chassis would sit
there and argue with you. Once it quit doing that, *then* you knew it
was safe to get in there with your hands and touch anything you
wanted.  So the guy brings his television over to my place. I unscrew
the case and take it off. We are sitting there talking and I *forgot
to discharge those caps* first. Inside I go with my hands; start
pulling a couple of wires to be stripped and connected elsewhere.
Boom!  I took that load myself and it knocked me on my keister!
Afterward it was funny, but it wasn't at the time. Lesson for today:
high voltage can kill. Even car batteries, when properly juiced up and
you standing in a puddle of snow or slush trying to tinker with your
car engine can give you quite a rude shock.  Know what you are doing
when you tamper with electricity -- of any sort, and especially DC
(direct current -- that stuff *is* potent) or just don't do it. You've
been advised.  PAT]

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

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 10:46:06 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Mark Fletcher)
Subject: Re: How to revive NiCad Batteries


In V15#105 [e-mail] (Steve Forrette)

> Although I've never tried it myself, I have a friend that swears by
> the method of momentarily connecting the nicad in series with a 12VDC
> car battery (using jumper cables) to revive a tired ni-cad.  I'm not
> sure which is the proper polarity though.  I'm sure that this method
> was used on the standard 1.25VDC ni-cad cells, and not a multi-cell
> one used for cellular (many are in the 6-9VDC range I believe), so
> your mileage may vary.

NiCads form memory blocks mainly because a heavy crystal layer builds
up at a certain point in the battery. The crystals at this level get
very large, and wont disolve to produce the electricity, hence the
memory effect. Also, if these crystals get big enough, they form
spikes that can peirce the battery casing causing a short circuit in
one or more cells in the battery.

We have about 120 portable VHF 2-way radios in service at the resort,
and they are constantly being mischarged. This past year we purchased
a CADEX battery analyzer for about $1700 that took care of our
problems completely. Although the unit is a little expensive, we would
throw out about $600 worth of "good" batteries a year. The unit will
analyze the battery, and discharge it to BELOW one volt per cell. This
is extremely effective in breaking down those large crystal growths.
With a simple battery maintenance program in place, all of the
batterie come in for conditioning about four times a year, and end up
lasting a lot longer. You also need to be careful not to "cook' the
batteries when charging them.  The CADEX monitors this for you also by
keeping the eye on the temperature of the cells.

If you don't want to invest $1700, most local 2-way shops have this or a
similar unit, and will be willing to recondition your battery at a
fraction of the cost of a new one.

Personally, my Makita Drill battery was giving me about 15 minutes of
service before dying out. The CADEX brought it from 27% capacity, to
104%. It's like a brand new battery now, and you can be sure it gets
regular reconditioning.

If you would like to call me at my office, I can give any one who is
interested the specifications on the CADEX system, and their 1-800
number.


Mark Fletcher  -=+=-  The Great Gorge Resort
Vernon, New Jersey    [phone] Ext.404

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Levenson)
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of CallerID
Organization: Westmark, Inc.
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 14:32:16 GMT


Pat writes:

: Look at me. What do I know about anything, yet I talk all the time.  PAT]

Which reminds me of one of my favorite movie lines:

Dorothy: "How can you talk if you don't have a brain?"

Scarecrow: "I don't know.  But some people without brains do an
   awful lot of talking."


Dave Levenson        Internet: [e-mail]
Westmark, Inc.        UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave
Stirling, NJ, USA    Voice: 908 647 0900  Fax: [phone]

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

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 01:41:30 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Charlie Mingo)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Organization: 54 Barrow (via Panix)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (TELECOM
Digest Editor) wrote:

> Mitnick ...was caught through the efforts of one of his latest
> victims, computer security specialist Tsutomu Shimomura of the San
> Diego Supercomputer Center. Shimomura was robbed of security programs
> he had written when his computer was broken into on Christmas Day,
> about two months ago.

According to yesterday's {New York Times}, Mitnick left voice mail for
Shimomura during the original Christmas break-in, and Shimomura
subsequently posted sound-files of these messages on the net.

Does anyone know where those sound files might be found?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'll tell you this, Shimomura got into
some *heavy* stuff locating Mitnick. He and an associate spent hours
then days wending their way through one telco loop-around after another
as they watched Mitnick over the next several weeks. I am told now by
locals here Mitnick got into the Loyola University (of Chicago) network
on his way to some place on the east coast. He may -- but I certainly
cannot say for certain -- be the person responsible for the break-in we
had a couple weeks ago here at eecs.nwu.edu which cause the modem indials
to be taken off line for a few days while reapir hacking was done to SLIP
and other stuff. Its good to see Mitnick captured. I hope they hang him, if
he is found guilty, of course. I wonder how long he will be in prison
before he has his own Internet connection set up on the sly?   PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #106
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #107

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 20 Feb 95 02:07:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 107

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Mike Simos)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Michael D. Maxfield)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Clarence Dold)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Tony Pelliccio)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Charles Manson)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (John Lundgren)
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me Ahout 500 ([e-mail])
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500 (Louis Judice)
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500 (Mitch Weiss)
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500 (Elizabeth Cashman)
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500 (Bob Niland)
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500 (Mike Pollock)
    Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500 (Gary Novoseilski)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (R.J. Welsh)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (John Nagle)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (Matt Noah)
    Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted (Peter Brace)
    Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted (Antoineta D. Peneva)
    Re: The Philosophy of CallerID (John Lundgren)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
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* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
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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: [e-mail] (Mike Simos)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 18 Feb 1995 15:17:06 -0500
Organization: Internex Online (io.org) Data: 416-363-4151  Voice: 416-363-8676


In article <[e-mail]>, Charlie Mingo <[e-mail]>
wrote:

> According to yesterday's {New York Times}, Mitnick left voice mail for
> Shimomura during the original Christmas break-in, and Shimomura
> subsequently posted sound-files of these messages on the net.

> Does anyone know where those sound files might be found?

ftp.sdsc.edu /pub/security/sounds


Mike

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

From: [e-mail] (The R R M Tweek)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 18 Feb 1995 11:36:56 -0800
Organization: O.A.P.C.E.  Organization Against Politically Correct Etiquette


[e-mail] (Charlie Mingo) writes:

> According to yesterday's {New York Times}, Mitnick left voice mail for
> Shimomura during the original Christmas break-in, and Shimomura
> subsequently posted sound-files of these messages on the net.

ftp://ftp/sdsc.edu/pub/security/sounds/tweedle-dee.au
ftp://ftp/sdsc.edu/pub/security/sounds/tweedle-dum.au

I also read that *someone* intends to consider posting a sound file of an
interview with Mitnick in prison.  The posting I read was unattributed so I
have no idea who "someone" is.


[e-mail]  [e-mail]   WW4Net-1@11551  DoD #MCMLX  N6QYA
**** Regarding the Internet><WWIVNet gateway and other assorted stuff: ****
http://www.io.com/user/tweek/     [e-mail]      IM: Michael D. Maxfield

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

From: Clarence Dold <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 18 Feb 1995 20:35:13 GMT
Organization: a2i network


> he is found guilty, of course. I wonder how long he will be in prison
> before he has his own Internet connection set up on the sly?   PAT]

I find it interesting that he is actually prevented from using a telephone,
even for voice calls, while in jail.

He used a cellular phone for his "dialin", so there would be no endloop to
trace, although eventually cellular triangulation was used to locate him.
One more delay point, but only a good one if he moved occasionally, which he
did not.

My wife expressed the typical layman's amazement at the ability to do
some of these things, but it is basically a violation of trust.  Telco
and Internet can only be broken because they are easy to use.  He is
slime.  He is sleaze. Although I can't justify wanting to see him
hang, I certainly hope he is prevented from touching a telephone for
quite a long while.  At least he has proven himself beyond trust as an
"analyst".  He won't be landing a fat job protecting us from himself  ;-(


Clarence A Dold - [e-mail]
                - Pope Valley & Napa CA.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The last word I got on his telephone call
privileges was that at his request in court last week, he was granted
permission to use the phone to call three people only:  his attorney, his
mother and his grandmother. The magistrate ordered prison officials to
allow Mitnick to make a 'reasonable number of calls when he wishes to do
so' to those three persons, whose telephone numbers are part of the order.
Prison officials are required to (1) establish the connection to those
numbers -- not allow Mitnick to do it; and (2) to 'periodically in the
course of his conversations on the phone' monitor the line, listening to
insure no 'computer or modem noises' are heard. In order that Mitnick can
have his right to speak confidentially with his attorney, they must tell
him when they wish to listen on the line for a few seconds at a time so
that he and his attorney can remain silent during that interval if he
wishes to do so. The court further admonished grandma not to use call-
forwarding, three-way calling or any other 'extension of the connection'
when speaking to Kevin; likewise his mother was admonished. I'm afraid
this time its looking pretty grim for Kevin; if he gets out of this with
another period of probation instead of a long time in prison, my advice
would be he'd better start blowing his nose with a silk handkerchief.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Tony Pelliccio)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 18 Feb 1995 17:54:45 GMT
Organization: Brown University - Providence, RI USA


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Charlie Mingo)
wrote:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'll tell you this, Shimomura got into

{snip}

> Its good to see Mitnick captured. I hope they hang him, if he is found
> guilty, of course. I wonder how long he will be in prison before he has
> his own Internet connection set up on the sly?   PAT]

A little Draconian aren't you Pat? In any case I'm sure that with
proper supervision Mr. Mitnick would make a wonderful addition to the
staff at NSA.


Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR, VE ARRL/W5YI Tel. [phone]
Box 1908, Providence, RI 02912      Fax. [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Charles Manson)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 18 Feb 1995 21:57:27 -0500
Organization: PSS InterNet Services, InterNet in Fl 904 253 7100


Dear ole Kevin, the unluckest guy I've ever known. He will probably
get around 30 years of prison, but will probably get out in about five
years. I actually wish he would make bail; he would definitly skip the
country, or attempt it. He is a brilliant person, but took things to
extremes and didn't get on with his life. I hope the best for him.


CM


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is no possibility of making bail
since the court refused to set bail. Actually, in most federal courts
it seems, things go one of two ways: either you are denied bail and
held pending trial, or you are released on your own 'recognizance', or
admission of the court's jurisdiction. Federal courts hardly ever ask
for money as bond; not the way the state courts do. They can, but they
seem to figure either you are not a danger to the community and smart
enough to stick around (after all, where would you run to?) or you are
likely to be a hassle so they keep you. If you have a family to support,
employment and an employer who is *knowlegeable of the circumstances but
willing to keep you on and help you* then most federal courts just let
you go pending trial, and you report to a parole/probation officer in
the meantime.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (John Lundgren)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 18 Feb 1995 09:55:14 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network


I would like to see him get the same treatment that the guy in the 'got
milk?' commercial gets.

How long are his arms?  Three feet or so?  Put a PC with a modem on a
table outside his cell, about a meter or so away from the bars.  Of
course, there would be absolutely nothing in the cell to let him
extend his reach.

He would be saying, "Is this what Hell is like?"


John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs
Rancho Santiago Community College District
17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706
[e-mail]\[e-mail]

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

Subject: Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500
From: [e-mail] (THE PILOT)
Date: 19 Feb 95 18:56:48 MST
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Just curious for a follow up story on this.  PAT promised in a TELECOM
Digest a follow up story to the 'retired cab driver in NY'.

So who was that guy??


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, who was that masked man, anyway?  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Louis Judice)
Subject: Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500
Date: 19 Feb 1995 18:41:14 GMT
Organization: Hewlett Packard


Patrick,

Sounds like something out of the "X-Files" ...

Remember, Trust No One!    ;)


/ljj


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Especially not Kevin Mitnick.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Mitch Weiss)
Subject: Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 20:38:00


> This happened several days ago. You may remember we had an article here
> listing the prefixes assigned in 500 service, and the telcos they were

Hmmmm.  Sounds mighty fishy.  I don't have a clue who he would be. CIA?
FBI?  AT&T??

Anyway, be sure to tell us when you find out!


Mitchell Weiss     [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I like the way you lumped those three
all together in the same example: CIA, FBI, AT&T ...   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Elizabeth Cashman)
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 07:38:53 -0800
Subject: Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500


In comp.dcom.telecom you write:

> This happened several days ago. You may remember we had an article here
> listing the prefixes assigned in 500 service, and the telcos they were
> assigned to. A day or two after that article appeared, I got a note from
> the sysadmin here saying he had received a call from someone who wanted
> to know 'how to get in touch with TELECOM Digest'. Normally any inquiries

   [snip snip]

I'll make this short because you get a lot of mail.  Yep, this smells.
I look forward to your story about this mole in comp.dcom.telecom.


Elizabeth Cashman === [e-mail] === (Portland, OR)
(one private line, no extras, one 2400b modem on a chair)

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

Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 11:01:11 -0700
From: Bob Niland <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500
Organization: Colorado SuperNet
Reply-To: [e-mail]


In article <[e-mail]> TELECOM Digest Editor wrote:

> He told me he was located in Brooklyn, New York, on Avenue U near
> Flatbush Avenue. He had gone to his local library to see what the

> I'd like his name and address please, if possible. He wouldn't tell me
> himself.

This sounds suspiciously like a character named "G. Riley", a self-
proclaimed "psychic detective", buddy of Yuri Geller, and who claims
to be ex-NYPD.  He was the kill-file poster child in sci.skeptic in
years past, and since he was long ago added to my kill file, I have no
idea if he still lurks on the net.

If so, whatever he is up to, it is unlikely to be of service to you.


Regards,                   1001-A East Harmony Road
Bob Niland                 Suite 503
Internet:  [e-mail]     Fort Collins, Colorado  80525   USA

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

From: [e-mail] (Mike Pollock)
Subject: Re: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500
Date: 19 Feb 1995 14:08:37 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC


Pat,

Yes!  I have the oddest feeling that I know who this guy is ... sort of.

Emmanuel Goldstein, of 2600 magazine, does a weekly telephone-oriented
radio show on WBAI in New York every Wednesday at 10pm.  A few months
back the topic turned to exchange names (MUrray Hill, LAckawanna,
DEcatur, etc.).  Within minutes, this extremely literate sounding guy
called in and started rattling off dozens of exchange names and their
histories.

In the following weeks this guy has called with other telephone related
trivia, and with every call he displays an almost unnerving amount of both
knowledge and curiousity about things telephonic.  I believe he's mentioned
that he has a 700 number, and/or an 800 number, and/or a 500 number.
I also recall that he mentioned he lives in Brooklyn!

Without getting too dramatic, whenever I hear him call I get an almost
twilight zone-feeling of eerieness about him.  I wouldn't be at all surprised
if this was the guy.

Call WBAI in New York (call directory assistance for the number) Wednesday
nights at 10p Eastern and maybe Emmanuel can point you in the right
direction, or even get the guy to call.

I hope that helps, but I'm not sure if I hope I'm right -- or wrong.

Please keep me posted.


Mike


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I talked to this fellow he was quite
literate; and everything I challenged him on (how he knew about a site in
California; how he knew the way to contact site admins here) he had an
answer for. I sort of tested him also on his knowledge of his immediate
neighborhood from a very large, detailed map I have of Brooklyn/Queens.
He has to be around there; he knew much more than even a typical resident
on things like the *exact* boundary between Brooklyn and Queens. He could
say without hesitation that the boundary runs down the middle of the
Newtown River (Creek?) and 'when you get to Flushing and Metropolitan
Avenues, at the Onderdonk House then a few yards southwest of there
ends Queens and starts Brooklyn then it runs southeast on the southwest
side of the street for several blocks and where Myrtle Avenue crosses
the boundary between Brooklyn and Queens the boundary dips to the southwest
and runs a half block down Myrtle Street then it goes southeast again
until it reaches Bushwick and Highland Boulevard then it turns and goes
northeast on the north side of Highland, more or less through the middle
of Highland Park then when that line going straight northeast reaches
the southwest corner of the Forest Park Golf Club it then drops and goes
almost straight south crossing Jamaica Avenue at that point and Etna Street
then a couple blocks later, Atlantic Avenue. As soon as it crosses Atlantic
Avenue it runs northeast on the south side of Atlantic Avenue for about
a block then it goes southeast again and crosses Conduit Boulevard at
the intersection of Pitkin Avenue and a couple blocks later it reaches
Linden Boulevard where it turns and runs almost straight east for a couple
blocks with one side of Linden in Brooklyn and the other side in Queens.
Then just before Linden reaches Conduit it turns south/southeast again
for half a mile, southwest for half a mile, south for a couple blocks,
southwest for a couple more blocks then it makes a sharp angle going
southeast for about a block and crosses Shore Parkway then out into the
water ... '   all that in more or less one long sentence.

But even though at one point he said to me he was alone there, this was
not true: Playing along with him a bit further, I remarked that he must
be in the 77th police district ... that rotten hell hole that ten years
ago had to be totally cleaned out with a special prosecutor appointed to
investigate the police, etc. (I know the 77th is north of him a few
miles, up in Bed-Stuy.) He thinks for a minute and I hear him ask someone
'is this the 77th police district' and a second or two later he is back
and says no it is not. (I forget what number he said it was.) I did not
comment on the fact that he spoke to someone else after earlier telling
me no one was there ... that he was home alone just doing some research.
I suppose a retired cab driver in Brooklyn would know every inch of the
boundary line with Queens, what streets it ran down, etc.  I still don't
have an actual name, but I am sure by now EG has seen this and probably
noted if it is the same person or not.   PAT]


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

From: [e-mail]
Organization: Small Business Administration
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 95 05:18:41 -0400
Subject: A Strange Man Calls Me About 500
Reply-to: [e-mail]


> He told me he was located in Brooklyn, New York, on Avenue U near
> Flatbush Avenue. He had gone to his local library to see what the
> reference librarian could tell him. The librarian gave him a few sources
> for telecom information and he 'decided' to try this Digest.

I'd be willing to bet that this guy was one of the listeners to an FM
radio show called "Off the Hook" which is broadcast Wednesdays from 10
to 11 pm over listener-sponsored WBAI in New York City on 99.5 MHz.

The show is hosted and produced by "Emanuel Goldstein," publisher of
2600 Magazine, and the alt.2600 newsgroup, and is co-hosted by "Phibre
Optik," that is except during the year he was in the federal pokey for
a hacking-related offense.

Actually, that's not altogether true. Phibre did manage to co-host
several shows even *while* he was in the federal pokey. Yes, prison
authorities do keep an approved list of numbers each inmate is
permitted to dial on the prison COCOTs, and no they probably would
*not* have approved WBAI's studio number. But they do not seem to have
ever heard of a feature called Call Forwarding.  But I digress ...

"Off the Hook" did a segment on 500 numbers on the show one night,
right around the time the list was published (late in Volume 14) and
mentioned the list, and the TELECOM Digest issue by number, on the
air. They gave the mit.edu newsgroup address as well.

The show takes listener phone calls during roughly the second half
hour, and one regular caller is a gent who says he's from Brooklyn,
near Flatbush Avenue. Usually (and mysteriously) he's more often than
not the first caller on the line each week, independent of which line
they answer first.

It's an admitted long-shot, but this may just be your guy. If it is,
then from the sound of him he's a garden variety phone phreak or
telecom junkie with time on his hands. As such, he's likely to know
all about ANI, NPA 700, Belcore, and similar things the general public
has never heard of, since they're common topics of conversation on the
show. He's also likely to have a 700 number, a half dozen 800 numbers
(some of them even his <grin>) but may be quite truthful when he says
he knows little about computers.

If he gets to be first in line for the call-in segment the way I suspect
he does, he'd need seven to ten POTS lines at his house, and some phones
with redial buttons, since NYNEX now times out any don't-answer calls after
25 rings or so.

If this is your guy, or if he fits this general pattern, then he's
probably harmless enough.  (Until he learns enough about the Internet
to be dangerous.)


Regards,

GaryN   GPN Consulting

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

From: [e-mail] (RJ WELSH)
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Date: 19 Feb 1995 23:38:17 GMT
Organization: Netcom


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul
Garfield) writes:

> Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
> different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line (although
> I didn't know the details).  Recently I've seen the following terms
> applied to ANALOG lines: loop start, ground start, wink start, earth
> recall.  What do these mean?  I always thought all analog lines were
> the same.

These terms are most certainly NOT relative to T1 lines!!!  Ther refer
to analog telephone line "start" signals that indicate to the CO
(central office) that an off-hook condition exists and dial tone
services are required.

Loop start means that both battery and ground leads are present and
that ground, therefore, is supplied by the CO.  Ground start means
that a local (local to the off-hook instrument) ground is used and
represents a "single-lead" subscriber line.  Ground start lines were
and are not often used since the ground resistance between the
subscriber and the CO is unpredictable at best and conductor pairs
(rather than single copper wires) have been in use for a long time
now.  Wink start indicates a reversal of battery and ground, typically
for less than 500 milliseconds, and is used for TRUNK, not LINE
signalling.  I won't waste bandwith correcting misconceptions about
T1: buy a little book and read it.

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

From: [e-mail] (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 03:08:26 GMT


[e-mail] (Paul Garfield) writes:

> Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
> different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line (although
> I didn't know the details).  Recently I've seen the following terms
> applied to ANALOG lines: loop start, ground start, wink start, earth
> recall.  What do these mean?  I always thought all analog lines were
> the same.

     On normal analog lines, going off-hook can indicate either an
intent to originate a call or to answer one.  When a subscriber goes
off-hook with intent to originate but actually answers an incoming
call, the situation called "glare" has occured.  This is a big problem
for heavily-used lines used for both incoming and outgoing calls,
especially when the lines are terminated in a PBX, fax, or modem.

     So there needs to be some way to distinguish off-hook for
originate from off-hook for answer, and that's what "ground start" is
about.  One lead is grounded at off-hook time to make the distinction.

     Ground start is usually used for PBX lines, but any line can be
configured as ground start with most modern CO switches.  Some modems
(not many) will interface to a ground start line.  Callback security
devices need a ground start line to prevent glare-type spoofing.


John Nagle

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

From: [e-mail] (Matt Noah)
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 06:29:09 GMT


[e-mail] (Paul Garfield) wrote:

> Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
> different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line (although
> I didn't know the details).  Recently I've seen the following terms
> applied to ANALOG lines: loop start, ground start, wink start, earth
> recall.  What do these mean?  I always thought all analog lines were
> the same.

These are ANALOG line signaling schemes.  Loop Start lines are those
associated almost exclusively with your POTS phone service at home.
These same lines may carry additional CO features.  The term Loop
originates, I believe, from the fact that when a phone set went
off-hook, a loop current flowed, signaling a line seizure to the CO.
Ground Start lines were the old pay-phone style lines and analog
CO-PBX signling lines.  Ground Start was developed, I believe, to
solve the problem of GLARE on phone lines.  Wink Start has meaning
both for E&M and Loop/Ground Start signaling.  In basic terms, a
"wink" is generated when the attached equipment is ready to accept
dial digits.  If a wink does not appear, there are no dial registers
available to accept your digits!  It sounds as if you need a good book
on signaling.  I suggest a trip to your local technical bookstore.


Matt Noah

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

From: [e-mail] (Peter Brace)
Subject: Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted
Date: 18 Feb 1995 23:57:07 +1100
Organization: DIALix Services, Melbourne, Australia.


Last year:

Figures are $A

Before tax profit 2.5B
After tax 1.7B
Revenue 13.3B
Spent on network capital investment 1.9B
Contributes 2.1% of GNP (7.85B)
65,000 employees
8.8million phone services
36million calls/day


Why do you ask?

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

From: [e-mail] (Antoineta D. Peneva)
Subject: Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 1995 16:38:56 -0600
Organization: Kellogg Graduate School of Management


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] ( ANTHONY
SPIERINGS) wrote:

> For stocks, prognosis etc, perhaps you were thinking of OPTUS the
> introduced competion.

Some valuation information on Optus can be gleaned via the annual report
of Optus shareholders; eg Mayne Nickless.

Also:

Telecom supplies documentation which is tabled in Parliament each
year; so try your friendly Australian Government Publishing Service
office (Brisbane or order by phone) or Telecom for a copy.


Ian Dyson '[e-mail]'
J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Business
Northwestern University

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

From: [e-mail] (John Lundgren)
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of CallerID
Date: 18 Feb 1995 08:26:42 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network


Dave Levenson ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Pat writes:

>> Look at me. What do I know about anything, yet I talk all the time.  PAT]

> Which reminds me of one of my favorite movie lines:

> Dorothy: "How can you talk if you don't have a brain?"

> Scarecrow: "I don't know.  But some people without brains do an
>    awful lot of talking."

Man, you hit the nail on the head with that one.

I was reading about Pat's cigarette 'habit' a few posts back, and I
just watched 20/20's piece about people being addicted to caffiene.
They used a more acceptable name for it: dependency syndrome, or
something like that.  Reminds me of the lady that lived in my
apartments when I was manager.

She had to go on permanent disability a few years before she retired.
She had emphysema, but she still smoked.  One time she forgot and lit
up with the oxygen tubes still in her nose.  Have you ever seen what
happens to a fire when it's exposed to pure oxygen?  Well, she learned
that she couldn't do _that_ anymore.

She was dependent on the oxygen, and if she wanted to go anywhere she
had to drag along the portable unit, so she often just didn't go.  One
time she asked me to get her a pack of cigarettes from the store.  I
said that I didn't want to contribute to her emphysema problem by
buying her them.  She went off in a huff, saying that she would never
ask me to buy her cigarettes again.  Fine, I said.

The next day, she asked if I would go to the store for her, for guess
what.

A few years later, the next door neighbor found her on the floor, face
down, cold and stiff.  No doubt, the smoking contributed to her
shortened life.

Cigarettes are indeed a powerful addiction.  BTW, one of the people that
they showed on 20/20 was a lady addicted to Mountain Dew.


John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs
Rancho Santiago Community College District
17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706
[e-mail]\[e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Mountain Dew?  Mountain Dew???  Do you
remember that obnoxious commercial on television a few years ago where
the ignorant hillbilly stands up and shouts, "Yah hoo!!!  Moun-tain Dew!"
I can't believe anyone would be addicted to that.  Really?    PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #107
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #108

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 20 Feb 95 18:09:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 108

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Copy of Memo to AT&T re: 500/True Connections (John Shelton)
    March 7 Bellcore Meeting in DC (Judith Oppenheimer)
    SL-100 Administration (Jay Borden)
    Mitnick Chain of Events (Steve Cogorno)
    500 Service in Canada (Evan Champion)
    Canadian "Framework" Proceeding (Dave Leibold)
    New RITIM Working Papers (Leslie Smith)
    Bell Canada Stumped on 500 Service (Scott A. Montague)
    Business vs. Residential Rates (Richard Palmer)
    National Strategies for Telecom Education? (Mikko Usvalehto)
    Help! - Vertex, DID or ISDN For my Phone Services (Jian Yuan Peng)
    Cellular Airtime Resellers (Bill Engel)
    Wanted: Used AT&T Business Telephone Systems (Alex Capo)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John Shelton <[e-mail]>
Subject: Copy of Memo to AT&T re: 500/True Connections
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 9:48:50 PDT


[Copy of memo sent to AT&T re problems]

I would like to report some problems with my AT&T True Connections
service, and offer some suggestions for feature enhancements. Overall,
I find this service to be a really good idea; I hope it will
eventually have all the bugs worked out.

Current problems:

Voice quality isn't as good as standard AT&T calls. I notice a
distinct drop in volume as I am connected to the True Connections
answering unit.

Using the call sequencing feature, I cannot get consistent results
regarding the number of rings.  As a caller, I hear "ringing"
immediately when each sequence number is tried. But at the remote end,
the telephone may not start ringing for several seconds. This is
particularly a problem with my cellular telephone, which may take
varying lengths of time to start ringing, depending on whether I am in
my home area or not.  I currently have my sequencing set to a small
enough number of rings so that my office voice mail does not answer
(so I can go sequence to the next number), but that results in my
cellular phone ringing only once, which isn't always enough time to
answer it.  I think the only practical solution will be for us to be
able to program a different number of rings with each sequence number.

AT&T is returning supervision on all 0+500 calls, even when used to
modify forwarding. I think AT&T should be returning supervision only
on 0+500 calls when they connect to voice mail or are used to dial
home (or another number). Purely administrative calls should not
return supervision.

My voice mailbox has a different mailbox number and password than my
500 number itself.  This means I have to remember four different
numbers to retrieve my voice mail. I would appreciate being able to
get voicemail by just entering my 0+500 number and master PIN, then
following the menu.

Beeper notification isn't working yet, which makes voice mail somewhat
awkward. When will this service be working?

Feature requests:

I would like to ask for the following features to be considered:

Allow designation of special numbers the way *H (home) can be
designated. For example: *C (cellular) *O (office) *P (pager) This
would speed up both entry of sequence lists, and the reading back of
sequence lists.

Allow me to have a voice greeting (ten seconds) played as soon as a
caller rings my number. I could say something like: "Hi, this is John.
Please wait for connection to my current phone; if there is no answer,
I'll be back on to take a message."

Allow callers direct access to beeper service.  Callers could press a
key to stop ringing and connect directly to my beeper service.

When a sequence number is busy, offer the caller a choice of trying
the next number, going direct to voice mail, or trying again later.

To make TrueConnections truly useful in the future, local calling
should become very inexpensive. Right now, my local callers are
reluctant to call my 500 number instead of a local number, because of
the cost.  With SS7, it would be possible for AT&T to direct the local
phone company to re-route the call locally, rather than tying up AT&T
circuits. As a customer, I'd be happy to pay a nominal fee (10 cents?)
for such a re-routing, to save my caller per-minute charges. Since
AT&T switching would be tied up for only a few seconds, the cost to
AT&T would be minimal.  Expanding TrueConnections in this way should
allow many more customers to consider the service.

                         =====================

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although I can understand how some of you
feel about the 0-500 supervision issue, I have to take exception. Why
should instructing a computer where to send your calls be any different
than instructing your secretary or a co-worker where to send them? If
you were using the method which has worked well for many years of calling
your office and saying to the receptionist, "I will be over at client X
for a couple of hours if anyone calls ...", would you object to paying for
the call to your receptionist/secretary to give those instructions? In
the case of 500 service, you are using AT&T as your receptionist/secretary/
message taker. Should AT&T and the interim telcos/celcos have to work for
free?  Your secretary does not work for free. I could understand having
no supervision until a valid pin number was entered or a calling card
number; but do you really think you should get the entire administrative
process for free?  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Judith Oppenheimer)
Subject: March 7 Bellcore Meeting in DC
Date: 20 Feb 1995 12:55:46 -0500
Organization: Interactive CallBrand(TM)


March 7 at Bellcore in Washington DC, 2101 L St. NW, 6th floor.

 Ad Hoc State Department group on Numbering Issues.

Starts at 9 am.

Anyone can attend.

All 800 number users are urged to attend, and be vocal!

Protect your 800 numbers!  International Freephone is on the agenda.
 Keep an ear/eye open for 888 as well -

If *your* business were 1 800 FLOWERS, would you want 011 800 FLOWERS
(proposed International Freephone) and 1 888 FLOWERS (proposed new
add-on toll-free exchange) alienating and confusing *your* customers,
and running up your telecom bills with wrong calls that generate no
sales?  Protect your advertising and branding investments in your 800
numbers.  Protect your brands and trademarks.

Protect your business interests.  If you don't, no one will.


J. Oppenheimer, [e-mail]   Interactive CallBrand(TM)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The only thing is, the telephone-using
*public* has to be to some extent responsible for knowing what and
where they are dialing. {Chicago Tribune} columnist Mike Royko has
complained several times in the past about how his internal centrex
number at the newspaper is the same as a very commonly used number by
AT&T for customer service, minus the 1-800 on the front. Idiots galore
trying to complain to AT&T about something or other -- after all these
years -- still do not understand they must dial 1-800 first, so if they
are in area 312 they get his private unlisted centrex number instead. And
you know what he wants? He wants AT&T to change *their number* -- so
that *he* won't get their calls. How do you accomodate idiots and
fools short of stopping the world and letting everyone get off?

Do you propose that when the 800 number supply is exhausted we just
quit having any more? Do you propose that international commerce and
trade be handicapped by having no uniform way to dial around the world
with the charges reversed to the called party automatically?  You use
FLOWERS as an example, and apparently would restrict the use of 356-9377
where any other 'toll-free' numbering scheme is concerned because the
Americans got it first and want to protect their brand name. That is all
well and good, but 1-800-FLOWERS is not the same as 011-800-FLOWERS or
1-888-FLOWERS. Needless to say, its not the same as any local area code
plus 356-9377, and yet day after day that number gets calls for FLOWERS
by people who forgot the 1-800. There is a practical limit to how much
can be done to idiot-proof the phone network. You say its okay to have
things like 011-800 and 1-888 as long as the existing American 800 users
can have their numbers grandfathered, or held out of use under the new
codes?  Well that would put us right back where we are now, with an
increasingly limited supply of available numbers. Or are you suggesting
that only the 'big' 800 users get that protection, and the rest of us
with 800 numbers can live with the nuisance that the corporate clients
you represent don't wish to tolerate, i.e. 'customer confusion' and
having to pay for calls which generated no business, etc?

This reminds me of the airline a few years ago which misprinted its
schedule book -- thousands of copies distributed -- and gave out the
number of some hapless individual in error instead. When he called to
complain, they told him to change *his* phone number. When they later
found out he was getting rather rude with persistent callers who kept
telling him he was a liar and that they *knew* they had reached the
airline, then the airline tried to sue him for force him to change his
number so that their customers would not be confused. Never once did
it occur to them to correct their own error and reprint their booklet.

You may not recall, but the same kind of arguments you are presenting
here came up twenty or more years ago as AT&T began major expansions of
800 service as it was configured back then. Relatively few companies
had 800 service in the early 1970's, and those who did often times had
words made out of the four digit suffixes. Then AT&T opened up a bunch
of new prefixes and changed the configuration on some already being used
and suddenly the same words showed up attached to other 800 prefixes
in other parts of the country. "If I have 800-xxx-FOOD you can't let
him have 800-yyy-FOOD; too many people will get us confused." That's
life, sorry. You need to educate your customers *how* to place the
call, what more can I say?     PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 13:19:36 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Jay Borden)
Subject: SL-100 Administration


Does anyone have experience with software used to perform administration
of an SL-100?  What does Northern provide in this area?  Are there
third party apps?  I'm looking at basic add/move/change function
support, and whatever else is available.

Please mail me directly with your responses.  If there's sufficient
interest, I'll summarize and repost for the group.


Thanks,

jay b

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

From: [e-mail] (Steve Cogorno)
Subject: Mitnick Chain of Events
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 10:19:50 PST


I thought this would be of interest to the group.


Steve   [e-mail]

                    NETCOM HELPS PROTECT THE INTERNET

- A Letter from CEO Bob Rieger to Our Customers -

I know many of you are interested in NETCOM's involvement with the
arrest of Kevin Mitnick, and how this may impact you, if at all, as a
NETCOM subscriber.  First, let me supply a chronology of events:

1. In a routine security check, NETCOM discovered a misappropriated file.
As a result, we began an investigation to trace what appeared to be a
security breach.

2. At about the same time, the WELL (a small Sausalito-based on-line
provider) was investigating an account with an unexpectedly large
amount of disk usage. In the course of this investigation, they
discovered suspicious material which included items believed illicitly
obtained from well-known network security expert Tsutomu Shimomura's
computer.  Mr. Shimomura performed network monitoring at the WELL, and
determined that the account was being accessed from a number of sites,
including NETCOM.

3. The WELL contacted NETCOM for assistance in tracking the source of
the security breach.

4. A day or two later, the FBI contacted NETCOM and requested NETCOM's
active involvement in the broadening investigation of the suspicious
activities at the WELL.

5. NETCOM caucused with representatives of the WELL, the FBI, the U.S.
Attorney's Office, Mr. Shimomura, and Julia Menapace (an independent
computer consultant and associate of Mr. Shimomura).

6. Following the conversation, it was decided that the best vantage point
for further tracking of these activities was NETCOM's Network Operations
Center.

7. NETCOM operations staff joined their efforts with Mr. Shimomura and
his associates to trace the suspect intrusions to a particular telephone
modem in NETCOM's Raleigh, N.C. site.

8. At that point, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed the local
telephone carrier for records of dial-ins at specific times to this
modem. It became apparent that the telephone company's switch
equipment had been compromised, so that these records could not be
obtained.  However, the Justice Department found another method for
making a match.

9. With this information, the Justice Department knew the approximate
location of the originating call.

10. Mr. Shimomura flew to Raleigh and used cellular tracking equipment
to locate the apartment building the calls were coming from. Eventually,
the calls were traced to an individual apartment, and Mr.  Mitnick was
arrested.

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 18:59:06 +0000
From: evan champion <[e-mail]>
Subject: 500 Service in Canada
Organization: Bell Northern Research


Is 500 service beeing offered by Bell Canada yet (or will it be
offered in the future), and what costs should I expect for making use
of 500 service if and when it is available here?


Thanks!

Evan

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

Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 22:57:50 EST
From: Dave Leibold <[e-mail]>
Subject: Canadian "Framework" Proceeding


[from Bell News, 6 Feb 1995 - content is Bell Canada's]

Framework proceeding gets underway

Carrying many of the same principles underlying our recent corporate
reorganization forward into the regulatory arena, Bell and other
members of the Stentor alliance filed evidence with the CRTC in
support of the split rate base approach to regulation, on January 31.

Splitting the rate base, an important element of the CRTC's regulatory
review decision issued last September, means assigning the company's
costs and revenues to two distinct segments of our business - competitive
and utility - using the CRTC-approved Phase III costing methodology.

On the utility side, the CRTC would continue to regulate under the
traditional rate base, rate of return regulation until January 1998 (when
price caps are scheduled to be introduced).

On the competitive side, we sink or swim on our own. Competitive areas
of our business will no longer be part of the regulated rate base, and
there will be no predetermined level of profitability associated with
competitive service revenues.

Unlike the other telephone companies, Bell did not include a financial
forecast for 1995 as part of this filing, but anticipates doing so by
March 20. The company's new management team is in the process of
establishing a specific forecast for 1995 as part of a three-year
transition plan.

The January filing was the initial step in preparation for a public
hearing to be held beginning May 8, in Hull, Quebec.

The proceeding will also address such issues as contribution, rate
rebalancing, and investment in the Beacon Initiative, as well as Canada/
U.S. cost comparisons in the delivery of long distance services.

The public hearing is expected to last about eight weeks.

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

David Leibold -+- [e-mail] -+- [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 12:38:24 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: New RITIM Working Papers


Dear TELECOM Digest,

    WilTel is pleased to announce the addition of new RITIM working
pages to our Telecom Library.  We thought that some of your readers might
also enjoy seeing what the researchers at RITIM are finding.  Thanks for
allowing us to share with you and your readers.


Leslie Smith


    RITIM's New Working Papers
    URL:   http://www.wiltel.com/ritim/ritim.html

    WilTel is pleased to announce that The Research Institute for
Telecommunications and Information Marketing (RITIM) has recently
released new working papers now available on the Internet via WilTel.
The new RITIM working papers cover aspects of marketing research that
shed light on some of the behaviors, organizations, and strategies of
the telecommunications and information technology industries.  The
RITIM working papers also present results of case studies, conceptual
work, reviews, and research projects undertaken by researchers
interested in telecommunications and other information-related
industries.  RITIM working papers provide convenient, timely, and free
access to the valuable research completed by RITIM sponsored
researchers.

    Topics of the newly released RITIM working papers include:

        - The Marketing Challenge:  When services compete
          with products

        - Acceptance of New Information and Communication
          Services:  A strange framework

        - Impact of Organizational Size, Number of Sites, and
          Line Business on Telecommunications

        - The Changing Information Business:  Towards
          content-based competition

    RITIM's goal is to be the premier academic research center
dealing with the different markets, organizations, behaviors, and
strategies of the evolving telecommunications and information
technology industries.  If you would like to learn more about the
exciting research RITIM has supported, you can access the RITIM papers
at URL: http://www.wiltel.com/ritim/ritim. The RITIM working papers
are the property of RITIM.  WilTel is proud to provide the World Wide
Web interface that gives interested readers insight into the
happenings at RITIM .

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

From: [e-mail] (Montague Scott A)
Subject: Bell Canada Stumped on 500 Service
Date: 10 Feb 1995 23:44:18 GMT
Organization: Queen's University, Kingston


Well, it was bound to happen. What was, in myu opinion the best phone
company in North America, has let me down.  The problem?  Bell Canada has
never heard of 500 service.  A quick call to Pat's number using both 1-
and 0- gave me a "bad number" message.  So, I got online with a Bell
Canada operator, and she told me "sorry, I don't know of the 500 area
code".  I explained what the service was, and she said that she'd be glad
to pass me on to the business office.  I subsequently talked to Terry at
the business office, and explained the deal.  He called (while I waited)
the product lines for Bell, and all the others he could think of, all to
no avail.

    Terry has subsequently promised me to get back to me on the
problem, and try to solve the missing NPA.  Unfortunatly, Terry's going
away on vacation for two weeks, so he'll continue the investigation after-
ward.  I politely suggested that he refer the problem to someone else
while he was gone, but he said "I think I know what you are talking
about, and I don't think I could explain it easily to someone else"
(PARAPHRASE).  Oh well.  Terry will call me back with the results.

    I called 1-800-CALLATT; they didn't know what 500 was about;
until I persisted.  He can't connect me though.

    Can't wait 'till I can chat with you, Pat!


Scott

Personal reply? Send E-Mail to [e-mail] for a PGP public key.
Keep your friends close...


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I still talk to people from AT&T who never
heard of 500 service; have no idea what it is and consider it a figment
of my imagination. Very few of the operators seem to know anything about
it; they deny such numbers exist, etc. You'd think someone would tell them
so they would know how to assist customers; but then, maybe its me who is
unclear on the concept.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Palmer)
Subject: Business vs. Residential Rates
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 18:24:22 GMT
Organization: RD & MA Palmer MD PMC


What are the criteria that the phone company uses to determine if they
can charge business or residential rates to lines in a person's home?
Does this vary from state to state?  Are the criteria mandated by the
state public service commission?


[e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Generally if the street address where
service is being installed is known to be an address where business is
conducted (i.e. a store front, an office building, etc) then business
service is required there *unless the subscriber can prove that the
address is used exclusively as a residence*.  A listing or lack of same
in the directory (non-pub service) is of no consideration since many
businesses do have non-pub lines.

If the street address is known to be residential, then residential service
is offered to the customer unless the customer states that the phone will
be used primarily for business-related conversations *or* if the subscriber
requests a directory listing in a business (or shall we say non-strictly
residential, in order to include schools, churches, organizations, etc)
name. Business and residential service can be mixed at an address which is
residential in nature but residence service cannot be mixed with business
service at an address which is commercial in nature. That is, you can have
business service in your home if desired, but you may not have residence
service in your business, *even if you live there, for instance in the
back room of the store, etc*.

Requests for entries in the telephone book of a business nature always
require business service. Furthermore, if the requested entry appears
to telco to have been fabricated or devised only for the purpose of
manipulating the position of the listing in the directory, then telco
can require proof that such entry is in fact a name under which the
business is known, for example by seeing copies of incorporation papers
or business license documents. Since listings are sorted in strict
alphabetical order with duplications further sorted in alpha order by
street name and with continued duplications further sorted in numerical
order by number on the street (in other words, John A. Smith at 1234
Main Street would appear ahead of John A. Smith at 2345 Main Street) and
remaining duplications sorted by phone number (so that two instances of
John A. Smith at 1234 Main Street would appear with the one whose
number was 123-4567 listed ahead of the one whose number was 123-4579),
should a subscriber choose to be listed simply as 'A' then telco has
the right to demand proof of such a name. Likewise any residential or
business listing demanded where the name would otherwise be an offensive
word can be challenged. ("Are you certain your name is Mr. Fu-k?").   PAT]

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

Subject: National Strategies For Telecom Education?
From: Mikko Usvalehto <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 17:40:01 +0200


Here in Helsinki University of Technology we are discussing what is
the best way to coordinate telecom education in national level.

Telecom business environment (both for operators and equipment
manufacturers) is turbulent and technology competence needs of the
telecom companies changes rapidly.

Universities and institutes of technology have difficulties to follow
the changes in business and also difficulties to provide education and
continuing education, which satisfies companies' needs.

We are interested in to know more about how telecom education is
organised in different countries and is there any national strategies
for telecom education ?

If you have information on how telecom education has been organised
in your country, then please contact:

[e-mail]


Mikko Usvalehto
Helsinki University of Technology, FINLAND

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

From: [e-mail] (Jian Yuan Peng)
Subject: Help! - Vertex, DID or ISDN For My Phone Services
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 19:20:53 GMT


Hi,

Can you educate me about my question?

This my first time to setup a telephone services, I have the following
requirements:

I want to setup three service lines and one support line. the service
lines are 800 numbers (one 800 number from MCI). I want to accept
three customers at same time. We plan to expand up to eight service
lines in the future.  For examples, If first customer calls in, then
line one will answer.  If other customers call in at the same time,
when line one is busy, line two will answer. Same as line three, if
line two is busy.  The support line is not the 800 number. On that, the
caller pays the toll.

I have asked the hardware ventor, software ventor, and Pacbell about
what kind of system I plan to setup. They told me different answers.
Hardware ventor told me I need a DID system. Software vendor told me
that I need a vertex system form my local telephone company. The
Pacbell person told me (she recommended me) that I should rent a ISDN
line. It seems to me that one of DID, Vertex or ISDN will work for me.
The MCI told me they can broadcast the incoming call to all of three
lines (all of them will ring as the same time.) if I want. I was so
confused by all of them!

Can you tell me what is difference between them? Can I extend to eight
lines system later? Which is the lower cost? I also look into further,
whether we need a T1 line (up to 24 lines) in two years later. Can we
move smoothly from this current setup to 24 lines later? Any recommend-
ations?

Thank you for your information.


Jian Yuan Peng [e-mail]
650 Castro Street, Suite 120-265, Mountain View, CA94041


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh, my goodness, my goodness. They are
all going to sell you and oversell you. Forget every bit of what they
told you and let's start over.

Go to PacBell and say one thing:  "I want four lines. Three are to be
in a hunt group where the first hunts the second then the third. I
want a fourth line which stands alone, not in the hunt group." Period.
That's all you ask for. Do whatever they say or request in the way of
credit requirements to get the lines installed and operating. As soon
as the lines are installed -- and earlier, if you can get the number
for the main line, and are sure it will be correct -- then you call up
MCI -- if that's your pleasure, but I could make other suggestions -- and
you tell them "I want an 800 number, and I want it to be pointed to
xxx-xxxx" (whatever the number is PacBell assigned you as the lead number
in your group of three lines.)  Period. That's all you say to them.

When MCI turns on your 800 number and points it to the main number in
your group of three lines, everything you wanted will be accomplished.
If a second or third person calls your 800 number while it is in use
then those calls will be directed -- just like the first one -- to your
main listed number. When those overflow calls hit PacBell, the local
telco will put them on your overflow hunt lines two and three. MCI does
not need to know *how* you are handling those calls (that in reality
they are going in your hunt group somewhere) nor does PacBell need to
know (nor do they care) where the calls are coming from, just that when
they get them they put them on line one, then two and three as needed.

You will want to make sure that your MCI 800 number has the capability
of handling more than one inbound call at a time; there are a few
out there that literally require you to have an '800 hunt group' with
the inherent extra monthly service charges for each line, but most do
not. Their switches are capable of taking 800 calls en-masse for you
as long as you have somewhere to terminate them on your end.

Meantime, that single line not part of the hunt group is sitting there
and taking calls. You advertise its regular number so the caller has
to dial that and pay for it.  Next year if your business is still around
and prospering and you need another five lines to make eight in total
you call PacBell again and you say "I want five more lines in my existing
hunt group."  Period.

Don't get them all confused using terms like T-1 and vertex and DID. That
way they won't get you confused with their conflicting (and frankly, sales-
oriented) answers.  You don't need DID and a T-1 ... what are you running,
the phone room for the Shopping Channel?   <grin>    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Bill & Susan Engel)
Subject: Cellular Airtime Resellers
Date: 20 Feb 1995 20:03:49 GMT
Organization: Netcom


I have been trying to find the names of resellers of cellular air time
(if such resellers exist) that are active in the Phoenix, AZ metro
area.  I have contacted the Cellular Resellers Association to no avail.

Does anyone have any info regarding this?

Thanks for any help!

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 13:45:19 PST
From: alex capo <[e-mail]>
Subject: Wanted: Used AT&T Business Telephone Systems


Our company buys and sells used AT&T equipment.

For more information you may contact me at 1-800-469-5707.


Thanks!

Alex Capo <[e-mail]>

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #108
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #109

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 20 Feb 95 20:37:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 109

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "Minding Your Cybermanners on the Internet" by Rose (R Slade)
    Cellular "Auto-Registration (Rick Edwards)
    Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number (Douglas Reuben)
    About 36XX Numbers in France (Romain Fournols)
    Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Danny Burstein)
    Technopolitics: New Pre-Airdate PBS Transcript of Debate (Jeff Richards)
    Pair Gain Line Problem, Please Help (Matt Lennig)
    Voice Mail/Office Premise Forwarding/Conference? (Sam Seidman)
    Request For Information About SDH (Willy Gan)
    Residential Pre-Pay Service (Keith Laaks)
    Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements (Mark Douglas)
    Reprogramming a Cellular Phone (Wayne Linville)
    A Tip When Working With Electricity (Bob Mueller)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
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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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 22:16:37 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: "Minding Your Cybermanners on the Internet" by Rose


BKCBRMNR.RVW   950120

"Minding Your Cyber-Manners on the Internet", Rose, 1994, 1-56761-521-X,
U$12.99/C$16.99
%A   Donald Rose [e-mail]
%C   201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290
%D   1994
%G   1-56761-521-X
%I   Alpha Books
%O   U$12.99/C$16.99 [e-mail]
%P   194
%T   "Minding Your Cyber-Manners on the Internet"

Ignoring the "smiley" books (BKSMILEY.RVW and BKSMLDCT.RVW) and one
rather generic guide to grammar, out of the hundreds of books
published so far on the subject of the Internet, this is only the
second to be devoted to the etiquette of network communications (after
Shea's "Netiquette", cf BKNTQUTT.RVW).  It is a valuable and worthwhile
addition.

Coverage of the topic is very broad-ranging, although it is not, perhaps,
complete.  The material is very practical, with lists of do's and
don'ts, summaries, and question-and-answer sections.  Rose has a
professional grasp of humour, and it is used extensively and
effectively throughout.

The book is not without problems.  There is a shortage of explanation
of the "why" on various topics.  There is a chapter on how flames
start (and a pretty good one) -- but not until chapter six.  Rose
recommends against the spread of "dying child" letters--but doesn't
explain the situation behind the Craig Shergold stories, nor the
related "Neiman-Marcus cookie" legend or the "FCC Modem Tax" rumours.
He mentions the frequent administrative mis-posts on mailing lists,
but not how to avoid doing them.

Some specific recommendations are questionable.  He suggests the use
of abbreviations and "cyberese" (the acronyms of common phrases, like
BTW for "by the way") as a means of keeping messages short.  This is
no longer considered good etiquette, as it is highly confusing to
newcomers -- and oldtimers as well, in certain cases.  (In fact, the
book contradicts itself at this point, recommending both for and
against abbreviations, on a single page.)  (Some may also consider the
repeated promotion of Kent's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the
Internet" (BKIDTINT.RVW) and "The Complete Idiot's Next Step on the
Internet" (sorry, haven't seen it yet) almost to constitute "spamming"
within this book, itself.)

I definitely recommend this work for all Internet users, and particularly
newcomers.  I very much hope future editions will extend a work well begun.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKCBRMNR.RVW   950120. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's book
reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

From: [e-mail] (Rick Edwards)
Subject: Cellular "Auto-Registration"
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 15:29:00 GMT
Organization: The Charlatan's Cabin BBS, Los Angeles CA [phone]


There has been an ongoing discussion on another network regarding
"auto-registration" in the present analog NAMPS system. It appears that
no one on that network can give a definitive answer as to exactly how it
works.  So I am leaving a message here hoping (knowing) that someone
will have the correct answers.

Some of the questions we have regarding auto-registration on a cellular
phone (system) are:

1) Does the individual phone transmit it's MIN/ESN pair on powerup after
finding an appropriate control channel?

2) If indeed the phone transmits it's ID upon powerup, why is it apparently
ignored by some systems (AirTouch in Los Angeles)?

3) What would be the typical amount of time between auto-registration
requests on most cellular systems? (I know this varies on system usage,
software, etc. but would like a "ballpark" number).

4) How exactly does the cellular system request an ID from each phone
and keep it orderly? (IE..does it go by ESNs? How are collisions
prevented from multiple phones? etc.)

5) How do cellular systems treat older phones (without auto-registration)
when trying to ring them (phone call to phone)?

I'm sure I've skipped a couple of obvious questions but if someone
could enlighten me with answers to these questions, I would greatly
appreciate it.


Regards,

Rick Edwards

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

From: [e-mail] (CID Tech/INSG)
Subject: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 14:03:02 PST


Late one night last week, while trying to reprogram one of my own
800 numbers, I accidentally dialed [phone].

What I got was: "<sigh> The number you have reached, 6 7 7 - 4 4 4 4,
is not a working number. It's prime factors are 2 and 3,387,2222 (or
something). Thank you".

I tried it a number of times, and it kept giving me the same thing.

Today, just to convince myself that I did indeed hear that, I tried it
again, but this time got: The number you have reach, 677-4444 is not
is service ... Bucko!".

Anyhow, just another 800 forwarded to some weird destination, I guess.


Doug

[e-mail]    CID Technologies/Interpage NSG    (203) 499 - 5221

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

Date: 20 Feb 95 11:52:46 EST
From: ROMAIN FOURNOLS <[e-mail]>
Subject: About 36XX Numbers in France


Here are some information about special numbers, toll free and special charges
services/calls, in France for anybody interested in.

Here you have a list of the special 36XX or 36XXXXXX numbers for special use
(update in 1994).

First 4
Digits  Service                                         Number

3600      No more used                           3600
3601      KIOSQUE MICRO (computer charge calls)        3601XXXX
3602      TRANSPAC (data transmisssion)             3602
3603      TRANSPAC (data transmisssion)            3603
3605      TOLL-FREE TELETEL (MINITEL) Calls        3605XXXX
3606      TRANSPAC (data transmisssion)            36062424
3607     Minitel test number (France Telecom use)    360736XX
3608      TRANSPAC(data transmisssion)             36086464
3609     ALPHAPAGE (pager, messages sent by minitel)    3609XXXX
3610     France Telecom Calling Card Number        3610
3611     Electronic directory by minitel (DOM-TOM)       3611
3612      MINICOM (Special Mail by Minitel)               3612
3613      VIDEOTEX TELETEL1  (Minitel 1st rate)           3613
3614      VIDEOTEX TELETEL2  (Minitel 2nd rate)          3614
3615      VIDEOTEX TELETEL3  (Minitel 3rd rate)           3615
3616      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel 4th rate)    3616
3617      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel 5th rate)     3617
3618      COM. MINITEL A MINITEL (Minitel to Minitel use)    3618
3619      TELETEL INT'L (Minitel services based in foreign countries)  3619
3621      STANDARD ASCII (Minitel in 80 culumns)          3621
3622      No more used                      3622
3623      TELETEL HIGH SPEED (4800 & 9600 b/s)        3623XXXX
3624      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF.     (Minitel)    3624XXXX
3625      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF.     (Minitel)    3625XXXX
3626      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF.     (Minitel)    3626XXXX
3627      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF.     (Minitel)    3627XXXX
3628      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF.     (Minitel)    3628XXXX
3629      KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF.     (Minitel)    3629XXXX
3643      INT'L MINITEL ACCESS NUMBER             36431111
3644      TEST NUMBER (Ring Back)                         3644
3650      FT Calling card by operator               3650
3653      TELEX                          3653
3655      TELEGRAMMES TELEPHONES                3655
3656      TELEGRAMMES PAR MINITEL               3656
3658      Consumers Service                      3658
3660      ALPHAPAGE (pager, messages sent by operator)    36605050
3661      OPERATOR (pager, messages sent by operator)      36616136
3663      NUMERO AZUR (toll-free Number, charged as a local call)  3663XXXX
3664      AUDIOTEL (premium services, as "900" numbers)    3664XXXX
3665      AUDIOTEL 5 UT                      3665XXXX
3666      AUDIOTEL MEDIA                    3666XXXX
3667      AUDIOTEL                      3667XXXX
3668      AUDIOTEL                      3668XXXX
3670      AUDIOTEL                     3670XXXX
3672      MEMOPHONE (Vocal box inside your area)        3672
3673    MEMOPHONE (Vocal box outside your area)        3673XXXX
3699      Speaking real-time clock                  3699


KIOSQUE TELEPHONIQUE (Special charges numbers)

Numbers        Max. time per call    Rate

3664XXXX                0,73FF/mn
3665XXXX    2mn 20s             3,65FF/call
3666XXXX    2mn 20s            3,65FF/call
3667XXXX    20mn            1,46FF/mn
3668XXXX    20mn            2,19FF/mn
3670XXXX    20mn             8,76FF/call + 2,19FF/mn


TOLL FREE NUMBERS ("800" numbers)

Begin by 05 and 6 digits, international toll-free numbers from France
to other countries begin 0590 and four digits.


SERVICES

Call waiting enable : *43#    Call waiting disable : #43# (free to use, 10FF
monthly fee)

Call transfer : *21#phone_number#  Call transfer cancel : #21# (0,73FF per
call/change)

Time reminder service : *55*TIME# (charged 3,65FF per call)


Does somebody send me the rates of your "900" numbers ?

Sorry of my poor English,

If you have any questions about French telecom system, don't hesitate
to contact me.


Romain FOURNOLS, france
Compuserve : 100431,1672
E-mail : [e-mail]
voice : [phone]
fax : [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the USA the prices for our 900 numbers
varies greatly from one to the next, and there are probably thousands of
them in all.  Some are as little as 50 cents per minute while others may
cost $40-50 dollars for the entire call of three or four minutes.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (danny burstein)
Subject: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO
Date: 20 Feb 1995 11:17:49 -0500


After the Mitnick capture, NETCOM sent a letter to its customers.

I've excerpted a key portion of it, in which they point out that yes,
indeed, central offices -do- keep track of the CNID of incoming calls.

(Other posters in the group have suggested that typically 90 days are
kept online, just like with outgoing smdr.)


>From alt.2600 Fri Feb 17 18:50:14 1995
From: [e-mail] (Emmanuel Goldstein)
Newsgroups: alt.2600
Subject: Netcom announcement on Mitnick
Date: 17 Feb 1995 11:23:57 GMT


NETCOM HELPS PROTECT THE INTERNET

         - A Letter from CEO Bob Rieger to Our Customers -

I know many of you are interested in NETCOM's involvement with the
arrest of Kevin Mitnick, and how this may impact you, if at all, as a
NETCOM subscriber.  First, let me supply a chronology of events:

[lots of self abuse ^H^H^H praise deleted]

-> 8. At that point, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed the local
-> telephone carrier for records of dial-ins at specific times to this
-> modem. It became apparent that the telephone company's switch equipment
-> had been compromised, so that these records could not be obtained.
-> However, the Justice Department found another method for making a match.

9. With this information, the Justice Department knew the approximate
location of the originating call.

10. Mr. Shimomura flew to Raleigh and used cellular tracking equipment to
locate the apartment building the calls were coming from. Eventually, the
calls were traced to an individual apartment, and Mr. Mitnick was arrested.


[e-mail] (or [e-mail])

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

From: Jeff Richards <[e-mail]>
Subject: Technopolitics: New Pre-Airdate PBS Transcript of Debate
Date: 20 Feb 1995 03:14:48 GMT
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service [e-mail] 703-448-4470


As of Friday evening, <bell.com> now has a new transcript of debate
between Pacific Telesis Vice President Ron Stowe and AT&T Vice
President Mike Brown.

Taped earlier this week for the PBS public affairs show "TechnoPolitics,"
the program is scheduled to begin airing nationally on Feb. 24. (It
will be broadcast in the Washington area on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2
p.m. on WETA, Channel 26.)

Stowe said that large business customers already have a choice of local
carriers, but that long distance companies are not interested in serving
residential customers because the cost of their service is subsidized by
the business users.  See the full comments, context and points of debate
in the transcript.

Given the growing interest across the Internet in telecom reform this
year, <bell.com> is a growing resource.  The site is accessed by
gopher at <bell.com>, or the web at <http://bell.com>

You can also subscribe to the listserver to get telecom updates. Send
mail to <[e-mail]>.  In the body of the message add four words:

SUBSCRIBE    BELL    YOUR_FIRST _NAME    YOUR_LAST_NAME


Looking forward to your comments ...

Jeff Richards    The Alliance for Competitive Communications &
Pacific Telesis Group   Internet: [e-mail]
<bell.com> and <http://bell.com>
<[e-mail]> SUBSCRIBE BELL YOUR_LAST YOUR_FIRSTNAME
[phone] voice           1133-21st NW #700
[phone] TDD             Washington DC 20036-3349
[phone] fax             +1 800 SKY-PAGE pin 8550304
[phone]nd office

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

From: Matt <[e-mail]>
Subject: Pair Gain Line Problem, Help!
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 15:49:52 -0800
Organization: California State University, Chico


I have been told by a Pac Bell (i'm in CA) tech that the reason that I
cannot connect above 9600 is because I'm on a "Pair Gain" line to the
C.O. My roommate has no problem, the tech says he's on a copper line
to the C.O.

Problem: Pac Bell refuses to change me over to a copper line, saying
that they are only required to provide a 'voice-grade' line which only
has to support transfer speed of 1200 bps (HA HA HA HA HA).

What can I do?  Does anyone have a work-around?  Has anyone experienced
this same problem? I've tried four different modems, all with the same
problem. But if I use my roommate's line, everything works great! (For
practical reasons, I can't use his line all the time, he runs a business
on it).

Any help would be appreciated.


Regards,

Matt

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

From: [e-mail] (Sam Seidman)
Subject: Voice Mail/Office Premise Forwarding/Conference
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 06:20:39
Organization: HookUp Communication Corporation, Oakville, Ontario, CANADA


We have voice mail on our phone system and wish to give the user a
choice to push "3" for a live operator.

We would like to then conference the caller on the same line with a
preprogrammed number using the telephone company's three way calling
feature and connect them to a live operator.

Is the above possible?

I was told by somebody that it is currently not possible but that
Northern was coming out with a version of Startalk Plus that would
handle this, is this rumour true?

The hardware we are using is Meridian Norstar with DR5 software and DS cpu,
and Startalk 110.

Has anybody been successful in accomplishing the above.

Thanks.

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

From: [e-mail] (willy gan)
Subject: Requesting Information About SDH
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 06:22:15 GMT


Hello everyone,

I'd often seen the words SDH or SDH compatible equipment advertised in
data communication magazines. Can anyone explain or give me examples
of what SDH stands for?


Thanks in advance,

Willy Gan    [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Truthfully, I don't know if SDH is in the
glosssary files at the Archives or not, but something Willy should be
aware of and other users as well is the /glossaries sub-directory in the
Telecom Archives, available by anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Keith Laaks)
Subject: Residential Pre-Pay Service
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 19:43:38 GMT
Organization: Telkom South Africa


Here in South Africa we experience fraudulent use of the network due
to subscription fraud (disappearances after receiving 'self inflicted'
huge phone bills), the tapping into the phone lines of innocent
victims, and other mechanisms.

Questions:

1) Do you know of similar fraud in other networks?

2) What is done to try and prevent such fraud?

3) Has any telco implemented a pre-paid residential service?

4) If so, how does it work?


Thanks,

Please also email replies to : [e-mail]


Keith Laaks
Email : [e-mail]
Tel   : [phone]
Fax   : [phone]

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do we know of other instances of toll
fraud?  Do we?   Umm, yes, it is a very severe problem here in the
USA. What you term 'prepaid residential service' we refer to as a
'security deposit', and/or payment in advance for the first month's
charges.  Generally the telcos in the USA accept the references of
other telcos for the purpose of establishing service. If you've had
service anywhere in the USA then your credit history as far as telco
is concerned is available to other telcos for review. Of course, if
you live in one area for most of your life and have service from the
same phone company most of that time, then they have your record and
know about both your ability and willingness to pay. New subscribers
with no previous telco (somewhere) payment history are often asked to
place an amount of money in escrow or on deposit with telco to cover
the estimated billings for a month. After a year or so of good payment
history, this money is refunded with interest or placed on your account
against your current bill, as you wish.

'Payment in advance' is *not* a security deposit, and does not draw
interest. It merely insures that your first month's bill is paid while
telco evaluates your 'typical' or 'average' use.

A third option used in some cases is called 'interim billing'. Although
bills are tendered 12-13 times per year (most telcos bill monthly but
some bill every 28 days), in what is known as cycle billing (a group of
different customers each day, normally 22 billing cycles per month), for
internal use only there is the 'interim billing' which is available to
the collectors and credit representatives about two weeks after (or
before) the bill mailed to the customer. If this interim billing shows
a sudden dramatic increase in charges such as a large number of long
distance calls or calls of a great time length causing your bill to
exceed its normal balance by some large amount, then they will call you
and ask for more money then; this depends on your status with them.

If your bill becomes past due, again your status detirmines what action
is taken. A new subscriber with a balance two months past due will
most likely be cut. Longer subscribers with generally good credit will
be allowed longer, etc.     PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark  Douglas)
Subject: Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 02:04:23 GMT


I am teaching a university course on mobile communications and am interested
in the following data of the received signal at a cellular phone:

1. The signal envelope over time (Rayleigh/Rician)
2. The time delay response (showing delay spread).
3. The power spectrum (frequency domain)

Real measured data would be ideal, but simulated data is fine as well.
I know that I can generate it myself, but if someone else already has
the data, it's less work for me.


Thanks,

Mark Douglas
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC, Canada.

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

From: [e-mail] (wayne linville)
Subject: Reprogramming a Cellular Phone
Date: 20 Feb 1995 04:04:25 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Reply-To: [e-mail] (wayne linville)


I thought I read an article in here about hard/soft reprogramming a
cellular flip phone. Anyone who has any information on this subject,
please send mail to me at: [e-mail].


wayne linville

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 13:48:53 +0100
From: Bob Mueller <[e-mail]>
Organization: Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH
Subject: A Tip When Working With Electricity


Dear Pat,

   I just read about your experiences with the capacitors in a TV
unloading through you and recalled another tip which can prevent a
nasty accident. It is related to the thread because auto batteries are
part of schemes to revive NiCads. Electrocution from these may be
possible (I heard of a case but have no certainty if it really happened),
but is quite unlikely.  Serious burns are not so uncommon.  One should
remove metal jewelery, including watch bands and rings when working
around these batteries; they can deliver huge currents, enough to spot
weld the jewelery, and heat it up to skin burning temperatures in a
second or so.

Though I have see warnings about this risk for years I did not know of
a case until a friend got it wrong a couple months ago.  He showed a
deep burn around his finger where his wedding ring combined with a
wrench to short over the battery terminals.  He was lucky; the wound
healed and except for the scar he will have gained; he knows very well
about being careful next time and may be saved from removing the
finger completely.


Sincerely,

Bob Mueller  <iff161@djukfa11>


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I still have a tiny little scar on my left
arm (on the underside, a few inches up from my wrist) which I got from
the night thirty years ago or so that I fell asleep at the switchboard.
If you remember the old cord switchboards, you will recall the rows of
cords with plugs on the end which sat in front of you.  About 2 am after
several slices of pizza and a quart of beer from earlier in the evening
I was feeling drowsy. I had the common audible (buzzer) loud enough it
would wake me up, so I folded my arms in front of me as I sat there and
put my head down on my arms ... bingo, three minutes later I am out of
it. Once before I had done this, and fell asleep with my foot on the
buzzer cut off switch; the little button on the floor the operator could
tap on to shut the buzzer off when desired ... <grin> ... but not this
night. This night I would wake up if any calls came to the board which
was unlikely ... this was a Friday night and the Sabbath, and the mostly
elderly Jewish residents of the South Shore Country Club Apartments
would be long tucked in their beds and asleep.

South Shore Country Club had a four position manual cordboard; usually
three operators on duty during the day and evening, and one overnight.
On Friday night and Saturday all day usually one operator was sufficient
since the more religious of the tenants in the apartment complex did *not*
use the telephone for any reasons those days; nor did they use the elevator.
Instead of calling downstairs to the switchboard to get someone at the
front desk to come up and light their stove for the sabbath meal they
felt it more appropriate to walk down ten flights of stairs to make that
request, then walk back upstairs again. Since I am not Jewish, you see,
I was under no obligation to observe their laws; I *could* ride the elevator
upstairs, light their stove or turn the lights on and off, etc, then
ride back downstairs.

But I digress ... roomate and I had been out earlier that evening to
celebrate something or other ... pizza and beer ... you know that combin-
ation ... 11 pm and I have to go to work, running the board at the Country
Club until 7 am. By 2 am everything *so* dead ... *so* quiet ... and
as noted above I fell asleep. I slept maybe three hours, and about 5:30 am
the little alarm clock goes off which means it is time to start making
the first of the 'wakeup calls' to the tenants. My arm somehow during
the night had gotten up against or on top of that row of plugs, and it
laid there most of the night. A little red burn was on my skin where
it had been on the tip of that plug all night. I thought it would eventually
go away, and the redness went away the next day but the little scar where
the direct current lingering in those cords burned my flesh a little never
has.

Finally, if you ever want to test a battery to see if there is still life
in it and you don't have a battery tester, just put the contacts from the
battery against the bottom of your tongue ... <grin> ...   PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #109
******************************


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Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 23:52:33 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #110

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 20 Feb 95 23:52:30 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 110

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    David Noble on the Information Highway (D. Shniad)
    500 Place-A-Call Working (David L. Oehring)
    List of Carrior Access Codes (Scott Mehosky)
    Wireless LAN's (A.D. Brinkerink)
    Re: Security of Cordless Phones? (John Lundgren)
    Re: Security of Cordless Phones? (Travis Russell)
    Re: GETS - Government Emergency Telecommunications Service? (Mark Ganzer)
    Cell Service in NY Metro Area Notes (Stan Schwartz)
    Re: Typical Rates for Campus Phone Systems (John Lundgren)
    Re: Typical Rates for Campus Phone Systems (David G. Cantor)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 17:10:04 -0800
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: D Shniad <[e-mail]>
Subject: David Noble on the Information Highway


 From Issue 013 of CPU: Working in the Computer Industry   02/15/95
An electronic publication for workers in the computer industry

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

    by David Noble

At the end of November, the truth about the information highway
finally got out.  Protesting the announcement of another 5600 layoffs,
1200 Bell-Atlantic employees in Pennsylvania wore T-shirts to work
which graphically depicted themselves as Information Highway Roadkill.
The layoffs were just the latest round of cutbacks at Bell-Atlantic,
which have been matched by the elimination of jobs at the other giants
of the telecommunications industry -- ATT, NYNEX, Northern Telecom --
supposedly the very places where new jobs are to be created with the
information highway.  In reality, the technology is enabling companies
to extend their operations and enlarge their profits while reducing
their workforce, and the pay and security of those who remain, by
contracting out work to cheaper labor around the globe and by
replacing people with machines. The very workers who are constructing
the new information infrastructure are among the first to go, but not
the only ones. The same fate is facing countless workers in
manufacturing and service industries in the wake of the introduction
of these new information technologies.

What is most striking about the Bell-Atlantic episode is not just the
provocative fashion statement of the workers, members of Communication
Workers of America District 13. Rather, it was the company's
exaggerated response.  Bell Atlantic demanded that the workers remove
the T-shirts and when they refused, their employer suspended them
without pay.  According to Vince Maison, president of the union, the
employer suspended the employees out of expressed fear that their
message would be seen by the public.  Significantly, management was
concerned about adverse publicity not just for Bell Atlantic but, more
importantly, for the information highway itself.  This was the first
time the information highway was unambiguously linked with
unemployment, by a union and workforce presumably best situated to
reap its promised benefits.  Apparently the company believed there was
too much riding on the information highway bandwagon to allow this
sober message to get around.  But it did anyway.  The (probably
illegal) management action backfired. Rather than a few hundred
customers catching a glimpse of the T-shirts during the course of the
day's work, millions throughout North America saw them through the
media coverage of the suspensions; within hours, the union was
inundated with phone calls of support and orders for the T-shirts.
The truth was out.

By now probably everyone has heard of the information highway, as a
result of the massive propaganda blitzkrieg of the last year.
Announcements heralding the dawn of a new age emanate incessantly and
insistently from every quarter.  The media gush with the latest info
highway traffic reports (but not the fatalities), all levels of
government are daily pressured into diverting public monies into yet
another private trough, every hi-tech firm, not to mention every
hustler and con artist in the business and academic worlds is rushing
to cash in on the manufactured hysteria.  The aggressive assault on
our senses is aimed at securing public support and subsidy for the
construction of the new commercial, infrastructure.  Its message,
which has become the mind-numbing multinational mantra, is simple and
direct: We have no other choice.  Our very survival, it is alleged as
individuals, a national, a society, depend upon this urgent
development.  Those without it will be left behind in the global
competition.  And those with it?  A recent "Futurescape" advertisement
supplement to the Globe and Mail by Rogers Cantel and Bell Canada
warned that the information highway "raises the ante in competition.
If we don't act, Canada and Canadian companies will be left behind....
the information highway is not a luxury technology for the rich.  It
is the way of the future.  And those who do not get on the highway
will not have any way of reaching their ultimate destination."

And what exactly is the destiny advanced by the information highway?
Ask the Bell-Atlantic employees.  The propaganda never mentions the
roadkill, of course, but that is the future for many.  Most people in
Canada instinctively seem to know this already.  According to a 1993
Gallup poll, 41% of those currently employed believe they will lose
their jobs.  But, despite this intuition, people have been terrorized
into a hapless fatalism.  It's inevitable. Or else they have been
seduced by the exciting array of new tools and diversions:
home-shopping, home-videos, home-learning, home-entertainment,
home-communication.  The operative word is home, because home is where
people without jobs are -- if they still have a home.  The focus is on
leisure, because there will be a lot more of it, in the form of mass
unemployment. (Some lucky few will get home-work, as their job takes
over their home in the sweatshops of the future).  This is where we
are headed on the information highway.

To see where we are headed requires no voodoo forecasting, futuristic
speculation, much less federally-funded research.  We just need to
take a look at where we've been, and where we are.  The returns are
already in on the Information Age, and the information highway
promises merely more of the same, at an accelerated pace.

In the wake of the information revolution (now four decades old -- the
term cybernetics and automation were coined in 1947).  People are now
working harder and longer (with compulsory overtime), under worsening
working conditions with greater anxiety, stress, and accidents, with
less skills, less security, less autonomy, less power (individually
and collectively), less benefits, and less pay.  Without question the
technology has been developed and used to deskill and discipline the
workforce in a global speed-up of unprecedented proportions.  And
those still working are the lucky ones.  For the technology has been
designed above all to displace.

Structural (that is, permanent and systemic as opposed to cyclical)
unemployment in Canada has increased with each decade of the
information age.  With the increasing deployment of so-called
"labor-saving" technology (actually labor-cost saving) official
average unemployment has jumped from 4% in the 1950's, 5.1% in the
1960's, 6.7% in the 1970's, and 9.3% in the 1980's, to 11% so far in
the 1990's.

These, of course, are the most conservative estimates (actual
unemployment is closer to double these figures).  Today we are in the
midst of what is called a jobless recovery, symptomatic and symbolic
of the new age.  Output and profits rise without the jobs which used
to go with them.  Moreover, one fifth of those employed are only
part-time or temporary employees, with little or no benefits beyond
barely subsistence wages, and no security whatever.

In 1993, an economist with the Canadian Manufacturers Association
estimated that between 1989 and 1993, 200,000 manufacturing jobs were
eliminated through the use of new technology -- another conservative
estimate.  And that was only in manufacturing, and before the latest
wave of information highway technology, which will make past
developments seem quaint in comparison.

None of this has happened by accident.  The technology was developed,
typically at public expense, with precisely these ends in mind by
government (notably military), finance, and business elites -- to
shorten the chain of command and extend communications and control
(the military origins of the Internet), to allow for instantaneous
monitoring of money markets and funds transfer, and to enable
manufacturers to extend the range of their operations in pursuit of
cheaper and more compliant labor.

Thus as the ranks of the permanently marginalized and impoverished
swell, and the gap between rich and poor widens to 19th century
dimensions, it is no mere coincidence that we see a greater
concentration of military, political, financial, and corporate power
than ever before in our history.  In the hands of such self- serving
elites -- and it is now more than ever in their hands -- the
information highway, the latest incarnation of the information
revolution, will only be used to compound the crime.

Visions of democratization and popular empowerment via the net are
dangerous delusions; whatever the gains, they are overwhelmingly
overshadowed and more than nullified by the losses.  As the computer
screens brighten with promise for the few, the light at the end of the
tunnel grows dimmer for the many.

No doubt there has been some barely audible and guarded discussion if
not yet debate about the social implications of the information
highway focusing upon such issues as access, commercial vs. public
control and privacy.  There is also now a federal advisory commission
on the information highway although it meets in secret without public
access or scrutiny, doubtless to protect the proprietary interests of
the companies that dominate its membership.  But nowhere is there any
mention of the truth about the information highway, which is mass
unemployment.

For decades we have silently subsidized the development of the very
technologies which have been used to destroy our lives and
livelihoods, and we are about to do it again, without debate, without
any safeguards, without any guarantees.  The calamity we now confront,
as a consequence, rivals the upheaval of the first industrial
revolution two centuries ago, with its untold human suffering.  We are
in for a struggle unlike anything any of us have ever seen before, as
the Bell-Atlantic employees testify, and we must use any and all means
at our disposal.  It's time we came to our collective senses, while
there is still time. We must insist that progress without people is
not progress. At the very least, as a modest beginning, we pull the
public plug on the Information Highway.

[David Noble is a professor at York University and a historian of
technology.  He taught for nearly a decade at M.I.T. and was curator
of the industrial automation at the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, DC.  He is the author of numerous books, including _Forces
of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation_ (Oxford
University Press) and, most recently, _Progress Without People_ (a
Canadian edition will be published this spring by Between the Lines).
He lives in Canada.]

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

From: [e-mail]
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 20:05:51 +0600
Subject: 500 Place-A-Call Working


I dialed my True Connections(sm) 500 Number to update my reach list
this past Saturday, and noticed that the first-level prompt (following
entry of the master PIN) had been changed.  Previously, option #2 was
to "Call Home", but is now "To place a call".  I tried out the
"Place-A-Call" feature and it worked (from the 312/708 area).  It
looks like the post cards announcing the feature were only a little (one
week?) early.

Old Main menu:

    - To change where your calls are going, press 1.
    - To call home, press 2.
    - For True Connections Voice Mail, press 3.

    .
    .
    .


New Main menu:

    - To change where your calls are going, press 1.
    - To place a call, press 2.

        - To call home, press 1.
        - To call a different number, press the # key.

            - What number do you want to call?  Enter the area code
              and number followed by the # key.

    - For True Connections Voice Mail, press 3.

    .
    .
    .

David Oehring  [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I tried it from here also now that you
mentioned it, and mine is working also. That prompt 'to call a different
number' also has a condition where you can call the override number if
one is installed. The prompt does not mention it if one is not in place.

I also get 'press 9 for other options' which includes the ability to
change the number of times my phone will ring before the call is passed
along to the next number on the reach list.  Did you notice by the way
that it never refers to your home number by their digits ... only by the
phrase 'your home number'.  If you enter #H she says you entered your
home number .. if you punch in those digits instead, instead of reading
back the digits to confirm as is done with other entries, she still says
'you entered your home number'.  But when I entered my second line, she
read back the digits, apparently not knowing that was also at home.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott Mehosky)
Subject: List of Carrior Access Codes
Date: 20 Feb 1995 01:01:13 GMT
Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University.


Hello,

I am wondering if anyone out there has a list of all the carrior
access codes, (10xxx) in the US along with the name of the company the
code belongs to.

Thanks in advance for your help.


Sincerely,

Scott Mehosky - [e-mail] - http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/yidam/top.html


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As a matter of fact, we do. Check in the
Telecom Archives in the /carriers sub-directory. Use anonymous ftp to
lcs.mit.edu.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Wireless LAN's
Date: 19 Feb 1995 13:37:46 GMT


I am investigating the allocation of radio spectrum for wireless LAN's
in Europe.

Any information from IT companies, manufacturers of radio equipment
and users are welcomed on the following items:

1  Do current allocations fulfil the needs of the IT users?

2  Which new applications does the IT community envisage and
   will these still fit in existing frequency bands?

3  What is the best technology to use in wireless LAN's in terms
   of spectrum efficiency?

The results of this investigation will be brought to the attention
of European regulatory authorities.

Please forward info to: <[e-mail]>

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

From: [e-mail] (John Lundgren)
Subject: Re: Security of Cordless Phones?
Date: 20 Feb 1995 10:05:36 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network


Jeffrey A. Porten ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Having just gotten a new cordless phone (BellSouth 46mHz), and living
> in the paranoid environs of Washington, DC, I find myself wondering
> just how likely it is that the world is listening to my calls.

> The phone has ten channels, and a security code feature which, so far
> as I understand, exists mainly to prevent another cordless handset
> from tapping into my base unit, but does nothing to scramble the
> signal from the handset.

> I live in an apartment building, with a few others nearby, so consider
> this a high-density area.  Should I go on the assumption that people
> are always listening in?  Sometimes?  Almost never?

> I have a corded set that I keep hooked up for confidential calls; as a
> stopgap, I sometimes scan channels on my cordless so any eavesdropper
> will at least have to fiddle to find me again.  Does this help, or am
> I kidding myself?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Corded or cordless, the assumption should
> be that your telephone calls are never secure. In actual practice, it
> may not matter to you; if you are just in idle chatter with someone you
> aren't going to bother with the trouble of special precautions. My personal
> belief is the use of scanners to listen to cordless phones is still a
> relatively rare thing; how many people do *you* know that own scanners
> who are within range of your cordless phone? And of those, how many are
> sophisticated enough to know how to program the scanner for cordless?
> So my feeling is generally its not a big deal, and if you do have something
> very important and personal to say, you might want to go to a payphone
> anyway.  PAT]

But there are several other ways to eavesdrop on cordless telephone
conversations without using a scanner.  One is to use another cordless
telephone.  Some of them can hear other channels without butting in on
the conversation.

Then there are wireless baby monitors and walkie-talkies, which can
receive conversations easily.  And these are just a few of the more
common ways of doing this.

Treat your cordless phone as if there were others listening all the
time.  Don't give out credit card numbers on the cordless phone.  And
don't say anything you might regret.


John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs
Rancho Santiago Community College District
17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706
[e-mail]\[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)
Subject: Re: Security of Cordless Phones?
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 17:09:45 +0000
Organization: Travis Russell
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Jeffrey A. Porten) writes:

> Having just gotten a new cordless phone (BellSouth 46mHz), and living
> in the paranoid environs of Washington, DC, I find myself wondering
> just how likely it is that the world is listening to my calls.

I recently have discovered my calls were being listended to both by a
neighbor (who lives about an acre away) and by some kid down the
street. The neighbor called to inform me that my telephone conversation
was being broadcast over his kids baby monitor, one of those cute
little wireless units that hangs on babies crib (glad I wasn't calling
a 900 number).

And the kid down the street? He was showing my kids how to use a
transistor radio to listen in on our calls, and demonstrated by
listening in on one of my calls. Seems to be one of his favorite
pasttimes.

If its wireless, never assume it is secure. It ain't!


Travis Russell   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark Ganzer)
Subject: Re: GETS - Government Emergency Telecommunications Service?
Organization: NCCOSC RDT&E Division, San Diego, CA
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 04:42:50 GMT


BOSWELL, RICHARD S ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Has anyone ever heard of "GETS"?  What kind of priority service do
> they offer; who is offering it?

Pat,

   I don't have much info on this, but I did see a booth on GETS at
the recent Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association
(AFCEA) show in San Diego. Just about anybody could get into this
show. There were about 500 high school kids that paraded through one
of the days.

   We also did a worked with GTE last November on a demonstration for
a GETS Symposium of distributed collaborative planning in support of
disaster relief operations using high speed ATM data networks.

   None of this was classified or "top secret" in any way. Unfortunately,
I don't have the complete picture of GETS to speak intelligently about
it. I was just responsible for seetting up the ATM connections at our
end.


Mark Ganzer          Naval Command, Control & Ocean Surveillance Center,
[e-mail]      RDT&E Div (NRaD), Code 4123,  San Diego, CA
Ph: [phone]   FAX: [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't absolutely know that it was ever
secet; one writer here said when he mentioned this to someone in Defense
*that person* claimed it was 'top secret'.    PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 18:03:47 EST
From: Stan Schwartz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cell Service in NY Metro Area Notes


 From: [e-mail] (Doug Reuben)

> After hearing about NYNEX/NY's (Boston too?) "Free Weekend Airtime",
> which allows toll and airtime free calling to anywhere in 212, 718,
> 917, most (all?) of 201, most (all?) of 908, (609 too?), and most
> parts of lower 914, I broke down and had a friend of mine who was
> going to cancel with Metro Mobile in CT sign up with NYNEX/NY rather
> than Cellular One.

While NYNEX/NY is offering free weekends until 7/31/95, BAMS/NJ is
offering free OFF PEEK until 8/31/95!  (It still makes me think about
using my second NAM).  I wonder, though, how BAMS gets away with
charging a .04/minute landline charge when THEY ARE the wireline
carrier.  The free off-peek time from them ends up being .04/minute.

> (Although CO/NY does bill for incomplete calls over 40 seconds, so in
> some rare cases I will suggest that a person use NYNEX instead of CO
> if they make a lot of calls where the party they are calling takes
> over 40 seconds to answer.)

I got a pitch letter from CO/NY this week to remind me to renew my
annual contract.  A quick sentence buried in the letter mentions that
CO/NY no longer charges for incomplete calls!

Re PINs:

> Anyone test this? I'm interested in finding out because if I find that
> NYNEX/NY is billing people from the time they *initially* hit SEND to
> place the call rather than when a caller enters his/her complete PIN,
> I will call NYNEX/NY and demand to have the PIN feature removed.

Does NYNEX require a PIN for each call?  When I had PIN service with
CO/NY, it only required the PIN once and that was if the phone was
turned off for more than 20 minutes.


Stan

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

From: [e-mail] (John Lundgren)
Subject: Re: Typical Rates for Campus Phone Systems
Date: 20 Feb 1995 07:38:29 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network


We get charged (previous to Jan 1) $17.25 a month for a Pac Bell centrex
line, with something like $75 one time fee for establishing dial tone.
But then we also have our own voice mail system, and a PBX, which all
cost money to run.  A single measured business line is $15.00 a month.
So with all the charges added up, it would probably cost about the same.

Prices of phone service went up as of Jan 1, but the cost of toll calls
went down.  Supposedly, the two should balance out.  But being that most
of the calls are within our district and are not toll, I would say that
that isn't true.

We have a marketing agreement with Pac Bell, so there is some negotiation
and fixing of prices.  The PBX system, and the phone instruments are
under a service contract.  The user has to pay about $300 to purchase a
phone.

There are also the wages for me and my cohorts in our department that
work on the phone and data network, which have to be taken into account.

BTW, the voice mail system is cheaper than Pac Bell's, but it doesn't
have as many features as theirs, and I don't believe it is as user
friendly, either.


John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs
Rancho Santiago Community College District
17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706
[e-mail]\[e-mail]

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

Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Typical Rates for Campus Phone Systems
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 15:19:54 -0800
From: David G. Cantor <[e-mail]>


In Volume 15, Issue 106 of TELECOM Digest, Anthony E. Siegman
<[e-mail]> comments on the high (recharge) cost of
telephone-service provided by the Stanford University Centrex and
asks, among other things, "Is the Centrex type campus service really
worth four times what the phone company could give me?"

The recharge rate at UCLA for telephone and many other services is
higher than the prevailing rates in the local community.  I have often
wondered if this over-charging, at least for State Universities, is a
way of transferring charges from the University Administration to the
University Departments.  State Legislatures prefer that funds go to
Departments rather than Administration.  However the major user of
telephone service, and many other services, is the Administration.
For a variety of reasons, most of the University operator services are
used by the administration.  For example, the administration is the
principal user of operator services because people calling departments
and faculty usually know the direct-dial number while numerous
inquiries go to the administration.

By bundling charges and thus over-charging departments and
under-charging administrative services, the administration can, in
effect, transfer money intended for education to administrative
services.

Perhaps this over-charging occurs at private Universities for similar
reasons?


David G. Cantor        Department of Mathematics
[e-mail]    University of California
            Los Angeles, CA 90024

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #110
******************************


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Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #111

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 21 Feb 95 09:44:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 111

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire (Monty Solomon)
    Anon Servers, Child Porn and Scientologists (Johan Helsingius)
    Erlang B Tables (Stephen Morrisby)
    MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? (Peter T. Overaas)
    Book on ISDN Wanted (Charles Mingus)
    Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM ([e-mail])
    Can You Tell Me About MCK Communications? ([e-mail])
    CATV Based WAN (Dominique Gabioud)
    E(TACS) and GSM (Alexander Cerna)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
use the information service, just ask.

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
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* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
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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, 21 Feb 1995 00:36:08 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[e-mail]>
Subject: Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Forwarded FYI to the Digest.

  From: "Lee D. Rothstein" <[e-mail]>
  Subject: Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire
  Organization: MV Communications, Inc.
  Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 19:25:32 GMT

[Disclaimer
**********

The text below was intended to be a press release.  It was written by
Lee Rothstein, of VeriTech, with the help of Tim Platt, of Orr and
Reno.  The views expressed in the release can only be ascribed to Lee
Rothstein.  Because there was not time to poll the members to
determine the extent of agreement, on both the bill and the press
release, the release has not been issued, as yet, by the Consortium.

The bill, however, goes before Senate Committee, Thursday.  If you
are a Member of the Consortium or attend the meetings, please
contact Lee Rothstein with your views.  Whether or not you attend
NHTC meetings, please contact your New Hampshire State Senator to
indicate your support for law and other efforts that foster
Internet availability, accessibility and bandwidth in New Hampshire.]

       ======================================================
       Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire
       ======================================================

February 7, 1995, Concord, NH.  The New Hampshire Telecommunications
Consortium (NHTC) is committed to bringing advanced telecommunications
infrastructure and enhanced services to the State of New Hampshire.
The time is right for this effort.  Many people speak of the
"super-information highway" vision.  Even more people, companies and
institutions participate in, and contribute to the ballistic growth of
the Global Internet.  Consequently, the NHTC believes that proactive
steps must be taken by government, business and the community to
ensure that New Hampshire has sufficient, powerful and economical
access to enhanced telecommunications services at the earliest
possible opportunity.

Such efforts will ensure the well-being of the State in economic,
education, health, safety, and social areas.  Special efforts are
required because, on the one hand, New Hampshire must compete in the
global economy, but on the other hand, we are a sparsely populated and
small state that wishes to maintain our high quality of life and
environment.

To this end, some of the telecommunications consumer members of NHTC
have proposed a bill that would change the telecommunications
regulatory climate in New Hampshire so that citizens and institutions
of the State can benefit from these enhanced services.

The draft of the bill was composed by Tim Platt of Orr & Reno, at the
request of the NH BIA.  We are very grateful to Tim for his efforts on
behalf of the Consortium.  Specifically, the bill is aimed at
increasing competition for delivery of these enhanced services.  This,
in turn, will allow the State, it's institutions and citizens to
remain competitive with other forward-looking states and regions that
are well-along this process of fostering advanced telecommunications
infrastructure and enhanced services.  The proposed bill (NH Senate
Bill 22) has been sponsored by State Senator Beverly T.  Rodeschin of
Newport (Senate District 8).  Ms.

Rodeschin is a member of the Economic Development Committee.

Senator Rodeschin's home phone number is 863-1941.  The Chair of the
Committee is Carl R.  Johnson of Meredith (Senate District 3).  His
legislature phone number is 279-3177.  His home phone number is
279-6492.  If you would like to call the senator of your home
district, please call the New Hampshire Business and Industry
Association at 1-800-540-5388 for further information.

Senate Bill 22 maintains traditional distinctions between telephone
companies and telecommunications suppliers (the former being a subset
of the latter), and between basic and enhanced services.

Basic services include most services that we commonly think of as
involving the telephone for dial-up voice, fax and data (modem)
communications.  Enhanced services include data, video and imaging
services, especially when they make use of high speed digital
infrastructure.  The bill is specifically directed at improving
advanced telecommunications infrastructure and the pricing,
availability, and competitiveness of enhanced telecommunications
services.

The bill, as drafted, promotes telecommunications infrastructure
investment in three different ways: The first option would allow
telecommunications service providers (inclusive of telephone
companies) to make investments in technologically advanced
infrastructures without regulation as to price of the service based on
these infrastructures.  This would allow access and usage of enhanced
services at substantial discounts to current telephone rates.  The
second feature of the bill encourages telecommunications service
providers to work with businesses, institutions and the community to
develop pilot projects that satisfy the needs of institutions and
individuals.  Infrastructure developed as part of a pilot project
should also be offered at a discount, and, if made by a telephone
company, may be included as part of the rate base infrastructure, if a
telephone company makes such request.  The third option would allow
telephone companies to treat such investments as part of their
existing networks, if they elected to do so.  Pricing under this third
option would be based on traditional tariff filings.

The NHTC believes that efforts such as the proposed Senate Bill 22
will be absolutely essential to the well being of New Hampshire, her
institutions and citizens.

Senate Bill 22 comes up for committee hearing on February 9, 1995
before the Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee.
The NHTC encourages all interested parties to contact their senators
and representatives expressing their support for the bill.  While
Senate Bill 22 may not be a perfect vehicle for bringing New Hampshire
into the age of the Global Internet and the Information Superhighway,
it can be an effective first step in bringing enhanced telecommunications
services to New Hampshire, quickly.  Both comments and amendments that
will get New Hampshire on the right path, quickly, are invited.

The New Hampshire Telecommunications Consortium is composed of
business and community organizations dedicated to bringing the super
information highway, in all of its forms, to New Hampshire.  Members
include large telecommunications users, providers and other business
groups.  Members include:

  AT&T
  Continental Cablevision
  Exeter Hospital
  Granite State Telephone
  Lakes Region General Hospital
  New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters
  New Hampshire Business and Industry Association
  New Hampshire Department of Education
  New Hampshire Hospital Association
  New Hampshire Public Radio
  New Hampshire Public Television
  NYNEX
  Orr & Reno, Professional Association
  VeriTech, network information technology consultants

[Listing above does NOT imply agreement with either the bill or the
release.]


<> Lee D. Rothstein | [e-mail] | 603-424-2900 | Fax: [phone] <>
   <> VeriTech | 7 Merrymeeting Drive | Merrimack, NH  03054-2934 | USA <>
         <> Information Technology (IT) Verification & Leadership <>

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

From: Johan Helsingius <[e-mail]>
Subject: Anon Servers, Child Porn and Scientologists
Date: 21 Feb 1995 06:38:31 GMT


Press release, Monday, February 20th, 1995
Helsinki, Finland

World-wide Internet community appalled over the Scientology seizure
         Was the child porn scandal just a cover?

The reputation of Finland as a country that holds freedom of
expression, justice and human rights in high esteem has suffered among
the world-wide Internet community.  So far Finland has gotten a lot of
positive publicity as the home of the best-known anonymous server,
anon.penet.fi.  These servers enable safe net discussion of sensitive
issues, such as reporting violations of human rights.

The ease with which the Church Of Scientology (with the help of
Finnish police) obtained sensitive information has caused great
concern and uproar. With the help of the finnish police, the Church Of
Scientology found out the identity of a person who had published
material on the Church of Scientology anonymously on the Usenet
newsgroups. At the same time there has been a lot of speculation on
the net on whether the recent child porn scandal (which was totally
unsupported by hard evidence) might be connected to the
Scientologists' interest in the anonymous server.

         ___________________________________

Anonymous servers enable anonymous discussions via electronic mail and
newsgroups on the Internet, used by millions of people all over the
world, and are vital for support of freedom of expression. These
servers are used by people who are under pressure or persecuted,
people who report offenses of human rights or even discuss their
personal problems and sufferings.

One of the longest-lasting and probably the most famous anonymous
server is anon.penet.fi, created by the Finnish Internet specialist
Johan "Julf" Helsingius back in 1992. Every day more than 7000
messages are automatically handled by the service, and there are over
200 000 registered users.  The popularity of the server is largely due
to its trustworthiness, based on both the personal reputation of
Helsingius among the network community, as well as on the good
reputation of Finland as a country where individual rights, privacy
and freedom of expression are respected.

This kind of reputation is important, since there are lots of people
and organisations in the world that would rather see the anon servers
being shut down.  Governments that violate human rights, as well as
other organizations banning public and open discussion of their
activities, such as the Church of Scientology, are among these. The
Church of Scientology has in fact approached the people offering
anonymity services, threatening with lawsuits unless the anonymous
discussion in scientology-related newsgroups stops.  In fear of
lawsuits many American servers have either stopped altogether or
strongly limited their activities.

The flow of events:

On Thursday, February 2, an American representative of the Church of
Scientology (CoS) contacted Johan Helsingius, informing him that some
information residing on a private and closed CoS system had been made
public via the anon.penet.fi server. Based on this they have reported
a burglary to the Los Angeles Police and FBI.  The representative of
CoS asked Helsingius for the real identity of the individual that had
posted the confidential information. After Helsingius had made it
clear that he was in no position to give out the information, he was
told an official request to the Finnish Police was on its way via
Interpol.  The next day, February 3, the Finnish police contacted
Helsingius, informing him that if need be, they would get a warrant of
search and seizure.  The necessary documents for these actions were
promised for Monday.

On Monday, February 6, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published
an article based on the investigation of Mats Wiklund from University
of Stockholm.  The article stated that child porn was distributed to
Internet from the Finnish anon.penet.fi server.  The Finnish media
picked up the story, with headlines such as "Internet distributes
child porn from an address in Helsinki" (Helsingin Sanomat) and
"Internet flooded with child porn" (Ilta-Sanomat).  The first public
reaction in Finland was based purely on the initial article in Dagens
Nyheter.

Meantime, the Internet community started to investigate the matter.
The child porn statements caused amazement, as the anon server has
(due to heavy traffic) been forced to limit the maximum size of
messages, and ban postings to groups containing pictures altogether.
At closer look the Wiklund "research" is revealed to have been made
sloppily and without enough expertise.

The information needed to reveal the sender of the articles has not
been saved, and the famous pictures themselves are nowhere to be
obtained for a closer look.  The only picture that is actually included
in Wiklund's report seems to be taken on a nudist camp.

Wiklund has investigated four newsgroups dealing with sexual pictures,
checked 5651 postings and found 8 pictures of adolescent nude
children, none of which are (according to Wiklund's own report)
actually pornographic. After a closer look at the pictures in those
groups, they are shown to actually come from United Kingdom, not
Finland.  Wiklund admits that he never thought of the possibility of
the source of the pictures being forged.  On Saturday, February 11,
Johan Helsingius reveals the true nature of events and the headlines
in Finnish media quiet down.

On the Internet there follows a lot of lively discussion and
questioning of the motives of the Swedish researcher, the person who
forged the source of the pictures, and the journalist of Dagens
Nyheter.  Some writers suggest a connection to the attempts by the CoS
to silence anon servers.  Since the authorities don't seem to be
investigating the case, Helsingius himself files a request for
investigation with the Finnish police. The initial investigation
reveals no crime committed at least in Finland.

In the meantime, on February 8, the Finnish police serve Helsingius
with a warrant for search and seizure, and obtains from Helsingius the
electronic mail address of the anonymous user that the CoS wants.
Within an hour after the Finnish Police gets hold of the information,
the Finnish representative of the CoS informs Helsingius legal
representative that they received the information.

On 14 February the criminal investigation on the scientologists case
is dropped.  Helsingius gets this information on February 17, and
reveals the situation on some discussion groups and mailing lists on
the Internet.  This announcement has caused a flood of electronic
mail, and a huge outroar among the Internet community.

During the weekend, Helsingius received hundreds of comments and
queries, most of them questioning the actions of the Finnish
authorities.

February 19 the maintainer of an anonymous service in Amsterdam tells
Helsingius that the Church of Scientology has approached him again,
threatening with legal action unless the anonymous participation into
the discussion on scientology is stopped.  This time the issue would
be claims about illicit distribution of copies of copyrighted computer
programs.

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

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those Scientology people are very strange.
So was L. Ron Hubbard, their founder for that matter. Originally an author
of mostly science fiction books, in 1949 Hubbard went to a convention of
science fiction writers and made the comment that real money in the world
was not to be made writing books. "If you really want to make lots of money
start a church ..." he said. Well, we know that much is true, I've thought
a couple times about starting one myself. Hubbard then wrote a book called
"Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" which seems to have sold
quite well (he has been dead for a few years but the book is still in
print) and from that publication came the Church of Scientology. They
have always been very agressive about getting their way and they don't
hesitate to sue or otherwise harass anyone who writes an expose of their
activities. With Auditors and Engrams and their infamous E-Meter (a
device which measures Engrams!) they'll clear you of whatever is wrong
in your thinking processes. Several years ago I read a few things about
their tactics toward their perceived enemies. I'm not surprised they
are now turning their attention to Internet.

The comments by Helsingius sort of confirm what I said here the other
day where remailers are concerned: they do have records of who says
what, and will keep them for use as necessary. He went the full measure
and required the authorities to produce a warrant before turning over
the information they sought, and that is admirable. But when I was doing
the same thing with postal mail years ago, the other fellows I knew in
the same business used to take a somewhat more practical view. The
attitude was (regards postal inspectors, police, etc) we have to live
with those guys all the time. If you know that in fact to get a warrant
all they have to do is go ask a judge for one and they'll be back in
a few minutes or a day or so later, then give them what they want and
save time for everyone. Some will even call on the phone to request a
warrant and have it delivered five minutes later over your fax machine!
Then they look at you with some disdain as if to say "old pros like
you and I need not waste a lot of time on preliminaries, or the opening
exercises." I hope Helsingius afterward at least notified his user that
there had been inquiries made. That's a courteous thing to do.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] ("Stephen Morrisby")
Subject: Erlang B Tables
Organization: Millicom Ghana Limited
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 11:52:06 GMT


Can anyone provide me with the formulae used to calculate Erlang B
Tables?


Thanks,

Steve Morrisby

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

From: Peter T. Overaas <[e-mail]>
Subject: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here?
Organization: chevron
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 23:08:23 GMT


Can anyone explain what the acronym "MVIP" stands for?  I heard this in
a discussion on IVR.


Thanks,

Pete


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Once again a reminder that the Telecom
Archives (anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu) contains several glossary files
in the /glossaries sub-directory. Check them out.      PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Charles Mingus)
Subject: Book on ISDN Wanted
Date: 21 Feb 1995 00:11:13 -0500
Organization: LI Net (Long Island Network)


I am currently looking for a book that will give a detailed description
of ISDN lines and their uses.  I don't know if such a book exists but
it would be of great use to me.


[e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ummm, I think we have a few peopl around
here who have written books on ISDN, don't we Fred G?  Maybe someone
can make contact with Mingus and answer his questions.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM
Date: 20 Feb 95 17:33:29 +0800
Organization: Nanyang Technological University


Hello everyone, I have a project on CDMA.

I would appreciate if anyone can give me the following information:

1) Where to get the IS-95?
   In what periodical and in which volume?
   Or where to buy?

2) Where to get the published materials on CDMA designed by QUALCOMM?
   I have heard that QUALCOMM has designed a CDMA system, but I still
   did not find any wirtten material on it.


Thanks in advance.

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

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 23:41:39 +1100
From: [e-mail] (Internet Industry Association of Australia)
Subject: Can You Tell me About MCK Communications?
Organization: Internet Industry Association of Australia (INTIAA)


Dear Pat,

A company in Calgary, Alberta called MCK Communications make a black
box that enables a Northern Telecom Meridian handset talk to the
switch over a POTS and have full functionality as well, a kind of
virtual extension.

MCK are not in the phone book. Maybe you can find this out and drop me
a line.


Cheers,

Geoff

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: CATV Based WAN
Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 12:45:38 GMT


It is planned to install a return channel (between 20 MHz and 50 MHz)
on a cable TV network.

We want to offer a LAN interconnection service supported by this
upgraded CATV network. Our idea is to install a Token Bus like network
on parts of the CATV net, with point-to-point links between Token Bus
islands.

Three questions about this project:

1. Do you know the existence of a LAN interconnection service based on
   the CATV cable?

2. Do you know equipment that can be used for such a service?

3. Token Bus (IEEE 802.4) equipments can not be used directly, because
   the IEEE 802.4 normalized frequencies are not free. Can I nevertheless
   use these equipments with just an external remodulator to make the
   signal fit in free bandwiths on the TV cable?


Sincerely yours,

Dominique Gabioud    [e-mail]

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

Reply-To: Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]>
Subject: E(TACS) and GSM
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 10:06:10 +0800
From: Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]>


Can someone explain to me what E(TACS) and GSM are in detail?  There
are around five cellular phone service providers in our country, and
most of them use E(TACS).  One uses GSM, and says that this is the
latest technology in cellular telephony.  They say that it would make
international roaming possible (although they say that it isn't
possible right now).

Also, this service provider that uses GSM says that they're the only
provider that's 100% digital.  One of the implications of this, they
claim, is that their phones can't be cloned as easily as the analog
ones.  Is this true?  Also, they say that analog systems are very
prone to charge errors.  Is this also true?  Or are they just trying
to scare me from going to the other service providers?

Thank you very much.


Regards,

Alexander Cerna      [e-mail]       VOX: [phone]
NEC Technologies     MEPZ, Lapulapu, Phils 6015     FAX: [phone]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #111
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #112

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 21 Feb 95 15:12:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 112

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Pair Gain Line Problem, Help! (Bennett Wong)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (Martin McCormick)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (William Wood)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (Wally Ritchie)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (Sharon Prey)
    Re: Pre-Paid Phone Cards - Evening Rates? (Jeffrey Kagan)
    Re: Pre-Paid Phone Cards - Evening Rates? (Cliff Lam)
    Re: Pre-Paid Phone Cards - Evening Rates? (Shawn Gordhamer)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (David Chessler)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (Shawn Gordhamer)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (Ry Jones)
    Re: What is DMS-100? (Sharon Prey)
    Re: What is DMS-100? (Greg Habstritt)
    Re: What is DMS-100? (Mike Boyd)
    Re: Area Code/Prefix Trivia (Philip V. Hull)
    Re: Area Code/Prefix Trivia (David W. Tamkin)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 08:56:16 PST
From: [e-mail] (Bennett Wong)
Subject: Re: Pair Gain Line Problem, Help!


> I have been told by a Pac Bell (i'm in CA) tech that the reason that I
> cannot connect above 9600 is because I'm on a "Pair Gain" line to the
> C.O. My roommate has no problem, the tech says he's on a copper line
> to the C.O.

> Problem: Pac Bell refuses to change me over to a copper line, saying
> that they are only required to provide a 'voice-grade' line which only
< has to support transfer speed of 1200 bps (HA HA HA HA HA).

Matt,

I can't offer any specific advice, but I can give you some information
that might be helpful. Assuming that by using the term "Pair Gain" you
mean that Pac Bell has you on an AML line, you're probably on an
analog "added main line". My tech guys tell me that the most you will
probably get is 2400 baud.  If you're on a digital AML, then you
should be able to go above 9600 baud with no problem.

The company that I work for, PairGain Technologies, sells a digital
AML called PG-2 that can support dialup modems at speeds up to 19.2
kbits/s with no problem. (It may be able to support higher rates, but
19.2 kbits/s is what they last tested a PG-2 unit at). However, my
tech guys also tell me that Pac Bell doesn't buy any PG-2 units from
us. Instead, they buy units from Rockwell, Wescom, and Adtrans.  I
don't know if these are digital or analog AML's, but it seems the
trend is to not buy anymore analog AML's.

Maybe you can ask your phone company to move you over to a digital AML
(perhaps, from PairGain Technologies ;) from an analog AML.


Hope this helps,

Bennett Wong     PairGain Technologies, Inc.
14402 Franklin Avenue     Tustin, CA 92680
[e-mail]

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

From: Martin McCormick <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Date: 20 Feb 1995 19:45:31 GMT
Organization: Oklahoma State University  Stillwater, OK


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Nagle)
writes:

> When a subscriber goes off-hook with intent to originate but
> actually answers an incoming call, the situation called "glare" has
> occured.  This is a big problem for heavily-used lines used for both
> incoming and outgoing calls,

Where did the term "glare" ever get to be used in this context?


Martin McCormick WB5AGZ   Stillwater, OK
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Data Communications Group


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Imagine two motorists driving in opposite
directions down a narrow one-lane road with no room to pass each other.
They meet in the middle somewhere, and each one leans out the window and
glares at the other, wanting *them* to the be one to back up and get
out of the way. 'Glare' in the conventional sense means to look in a
hostile fashion at another person. Two calls on one pair each going in
the opposite direction are certainly hostile and/or incompatible with
each other.

A state law on the books in Kansas at the end of the 19th century detailed
exactly how to handle the problem of glare, where railroad trains were
concerned:  "If two trains both on the same track approach each other
 from opposite directions, then each shall come to a complete halt and
wait until the other train has passed entirely."  Yes, that was a law in
Kansas over a hundred years ago, repealed quite a few years ago when the
Kansas legislature did a major overhaul and re-codification of the statutes
of that state.  In the case of telephonic glare, there is really no other
option except for both parties to disconnect and start all over again
unless the party on the inside line of the PBX is willing to be nice about
it and try to transfer the call off his line and back to the attendant
somehow, even though she did not give the call to him in the first place.  PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 10:38:52 -0800
From: [e-mail] (William Wood)
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?


Paul Garfield ([e-mail]) writes:

> Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
> different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line ...

Paul, it couldn't have been reeeealy long ago or you'd know that loop,
ground, wink, etc. originated on analog lines (local loops from the dial
tone switch, etc.) and trunks (facilities between switches). See .....
sometimes it pays to be old. The best way to look at your question is to
begin by understanding that T type carrier is simply the transporter of
signaling information. It doesn't do anything but extend the native
signaling/supervision form of the equipment to which it is connected,
which is (in voice applications) usually a switch, but sometimes private
line equipment. The T (or any other type of carrier) is at its core
nothing more than a distance extension methodology to allow devices such
as telephones to be located beyond metallic circuit distances. The
circuit signaling type is unrelated to the carrier system (other than
its ability to transparently transport the supervision states). So, the
first part of answering your question is to divorce the carrier from the
signaling. The next part is just basic phone stuff relating to signaling
and/or supervision.

Loop start is the type of supervision generated by your local POTS
(plain ol' telephone service) telephone set. The local serving dial tone
switch applies (normally in the USA) -48v battery to one (usually the
ring) of the wires in the pair coming to your phone. It applies switch
ground to the other. When you go off hook, your telephone set connects
the tip and ring wires together thus forming a "loop" from the switches'
point of view. This loop starts the call process.

Ground start adds one new wrinkle. In the idle state the switch still
applies -48 battery on the (usually) ring wire but leaves the tip open.
When you want to make a call your device (PBX or special phone) must
first apply a local ground to the (usually) ring wire. This will cause
current flow on that wire which the switch will interpret as a request
for ground on the (usually) tip wire. From here on out the process works
like loop start. We've always called this operation RING GROUND START
because you have to ground the ring wire to start the dialing process.
This process also helps prevent glare, but I'll leave that explanation
for another posting.

The other types of supervision you asked about are usually not line
oriented. They are used on trunks. Wink just means a momentary off/on
hook change which alerts equipment to follow on with some action. MF
outpulsing is a good example of what happens after one switch sees a
wink on a trunk from a distant switch. The word wink comes from an old
type of signaling test box which had two lights that lit up when the
line and drop were on hook. The lights would go out on off hook
conditions. A momentary change from on to off and back to on would
cause the light bulbs to blink or wink at you.

Hope this helps - we have a two day on-site only seminar which covers
these basic processes, if youre interested in more details.


WE Wood     Technotranslater
Techtrans Animatics Group
Techish to English Translations

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Date: 21 Feb 1995 06:06:09 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail]


In <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Paul
Garfield) writes:

> Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
> different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line (although
> I didn't know the details).  Recently I've seen the following terms
> applied to ANALOG lines: loop start, ground start, wink start, earth
> recall.  What do these mean?  I always thought all analog lines were
> the same.

The relevance to T1 is only that the AB signalling bits control the
signalling functions performed in the particular channel units that
provide the analog interfaces. The base definitions for the interfaces
are analog. To summarize:

Loop start is the regular POTS line where closing the loop signals
off- hook to the Office and power ringing signals an incoming call.
Disconnect from the office following an answered call is typically
indicated by removal of battery (which dropped the hold relay on the
once pervasive 1A2 key system. The major difficulty with loop start is
that an incoming call can be connecting during the silent interval of
the power ringing and it is possible to close the loop for an outgoing
call during this interval. The incoming call will then be answered.
This can be reduced by immediate ringing (connecting the line to an
active cycle of power ringing immediately upon seizure) but this is
typically not available.

Ground start originates calls to the Office by grounding tip. Calls
from the Office are indicated by tip ground (and power ringing).
Ground start also provides positive disconnect indication from office
under all conditions. Ground start is the typical analog PBX trunk
interface.

Wink Start is not a trunk type but a signalling protocol that can be
used on Reverse Battery (DID) or E&M trunks. The wink indicates
readiness to receive digits. The wink is a momentary offhook after
which the originating end transfers digits by either pulse dialing or
inband tones.  Off-hook is returned when the addressed station
answers.

Reverse battery uses battery from the CPE with normal polarity
indicating on-hook and reverse polarity indicating off-hook. Reverse
battery is one way in to the CPE. The channel units are called DPO and
DPT (Dial Pulse Originating and Terminating).

Earth recall is the U.K. version of ground start. Perhaps someone on
the other side of the pond can elaborate on this and other European
Interfaces.


Wally Ritchie    Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

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

From: [e-mail] (sharon prey)
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Date: 20 Feb 1995 23:30:04 GMT
Organization: Netcom


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul
Garfield) writes:

> Long ago I remember terms like loop start and ground start as
> different protocols for handling signaling bits on a T1 line (although
> I didn't know the details).  Recently I've seen the following terms
> applied to ANALOG lines: loop start, ground start, wink start, earth
> recall.  What do these mean?  I always thought all analog lines were
> the same.

   Most of your regular phone lines are loop start; you pick up the phone
and there is a loop or circle from the phone thru the equipment and back
to you. Ground starts lines that require a ground on one side to give
dial tone, and they may be business lines or lines other than the
regular residential lines (they can be ground start but not usually).
Loop and ground start are not just analog. Wink start is on a trunk or
connection that requires the other end to send a wink.  The wink is
like saying it's okay to send digits to connect your call.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Don't you think however that ground start
lines are a lot more secure in applications like modem dial in lines or
situations where the power could go off and concievably leave an inbound
caller connected to your system with the ability to use one of your
outgoing lines?   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey Kagan)
Subject: Re: Pre-Paid Phone Cards - Evening Rates?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 13:57:27 GMT


There is not a standard program. Some offer a time of day sensitive
program, and others do not. You just have to sort through the different
deals till you find the one that satisfies your criteria.


Jeffrey Kagan  *  KAGAN TELECOM ASSOCIATES * Atlanta GA
Telecommunications industry analyst, market researcher, consultant and speaker
[phone]  *  PO Box 670562  *  Marietta GA 30066
Internet Address: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (clifflam)
Subject: Re: Pre-Paid Phone Cards - Evening Rates?
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 00:29:33 GMT
Organization: interlog.com


[e-mail] (Philip Winston) wrote:

> I was thinking about tracking down some of those pre-paid phone cards
> (even AT&T has them now I think) as a gift for someone.

Are there other more attractive options for making long distance calls at
pay phones without a bag of change or some form of credit card?  I am
interested in situations of placing calls from Canada to US, Europe,
Asia and the Caribbeans.


Cliff Lam


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes there are. For example AT&T's 500
program now allows what you are asking, and one equally as good or
perhaps better is the 800 number service called 'My Line'. It also
offers outdial capability.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Shawn Gordhamer)
Subject: Re: Pre-Paid Phone Cards - Evening Rates?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 12:55:34 GMT


[e-mail] (Philip Winston) writes:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They are a pretty lousy deal. Most charge
> fifty cents per minute, in one minute increments. That's not surprising,
> considering there are so many hands in the pot trying to cash in on them.
> Many/most pre-paid card are multi-level-marketing things; everyone wants
> a commission. For example, a couple years ago I experimented here with the
> Digest readers with a type of pre-paid card called 'Talk Ticket'. For
> two dollars, you got four minutes of time in increments of one minute each.
> I paid, I think, $1.45 per card and resold them for the published price
> of $2.00.  Whoever I bought them from got them for about 85 cents each
> I believe. A unit is a unit is a unit; day or night, weekdays or Sundays;
> it does not matter. You could also, if desired, spend the four minutes
> on the extra features offered such as voicemail, news weather and sports,
> hot chat on a conference bridge, etc.

> Prepaid cards are promoted as a way to allow someone to use your telephone
> card a limited amount of time -- presumably for calls made to you -- without
> the worry of that person abusing your regular card. They are also promoted
> as a way to greatly reduce toll fraud, since if you lose the card or get
> shoulder-surfed at the train station all stand to lose is the remaining
> balance on that card. Those are good reasons, but the other side of the
> coin is you pay so much for them by comparison.  I put prepaid phone cards
> in the same category as American Express or Traveler's Express Money Orders.
> You pay them money for the privilege of lending them money until you
> get around to cashing it in.

Well, UpFront @ 1-800-888-3510 is a pretty good deal for a prepaid card.
I know NOTHING about the company, if it's an MLM.  I just called the
company and they sent me a card.  You can recharge it with check or
credit card.

Rates are $.20/min day, $.16/min eve, and $.13/min nite, anywhere in the
US, including IN YOUR OWN STATE.  This last point is better than a lot of
calling cards.  There is a $.10 surcharge per call though.

I plug this company because I like the rates; I have nothing else to gain.

If someone knows something more about UpFront, please post.  I'm curious.


Shawn Gordhamer   [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It sounds like a decent deal. Anyone from
UpFront out there care to comment?  PAT]

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

Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery
From: [e-mail] (DAVID CHESSLER)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 02:49:00 -0500
Organization: Online Technologies, Inc. - 301-738-0001
Reply-To: [e-mail] (DAVID CHESSLER)


> My instructions for my xt-pak ni-cad batteries say to maintain long
> lifetime, I should discharge them fully before recharging (all the
> time, not just the first five times), so I've found I must stuff the
> phone under the couch cushions overnight so it won't wake me up.

> Maybe this is an opportunity for a third party product - a cell phone
> silencer (sound proof box), or a battery drainer (something that just
> puts a load on the battery until it drains completely).

I've handled ordinary nicads by putting them in a flashlight, turning
it on, and waiting for the light to go out.

With a cellular battery of peculiar voltage and conformation, just
build a small battery-drainer on a scrap of pegboard, using a
flashlight bulb of appropriate size.


[e-mail]
[e-mail]     [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Shawn Gordhamer)
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 18:49:49 GMT


I remember reading an article about cellular phone programming where
there was a way to select the voltage at which the phone beeps or goes
off.  If I got it right, you could change the voltage so that it would
never have a chance to beep before the phone died.  Maybe this was
only for when the phone powers off. I don't have the article any more.
I wish I did, since I now have a Motorola!


Shawn Gordhamer    [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Ry Jones)
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery
Date: 21 Feb 1995 10:36:22 GMT
Organization: The SenseMedia Network, http://sensemedia.net/


Patrick Wolfe ([e-mail]) wrote:

> My instructions for my xt-pak ni-cad batteries say to maintain long
> lifetime, I should discharge them fully before recharging (all the
> time, not just the first five times), so I've found I must stuff the
> phone under the couch cushions overnight so it won't wake me up.

Buy some Ni-MH battery packs. My fat pack lasts about 12-18 hours. I
bought a trickle charger for my car and use the battery conditioner at
work. It discharges and recharges in a few hours. And, I think if you
turn the volume of the ringer down, it might affect everything else. I
don't recall.

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

From: [e-mail] (sharon prey)
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?
Date: 21 Feb 1995 23:21:53 GMT
Organization: Netcom


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stanley
Tahara) writes:

> Can someone give me some information?

> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are
> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my
> prefix would be affected.  The letter also states:

> "... If you have other equipment connected to your telephone, such
> as an answering machine or a computer, you may want to contact the
> manufacturer or thee dealer from whom you purchased the equipment.
> Some devices need to be adjusted so they will function properly with
> our new switching equipment."

DMS-100 is a Northern Telcom digital switch. They may be replacing an
older switch or just upgrading the DMS. You shouldn't have any problems
attaching your modem to your phone line.


sprey

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

From: [e-mail] (Greg Habstritt)
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?
Date: 21 Feb 1995 01:14:51 GMT
Organization: Intellitech Communications Group


> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are
> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my
> prefix would be affected.  The letter also states:

> What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to
> send or receive call?

I would guess you won't have any problems at all in the conversion.  It
sounds like a typical phone company, warning people that their lives may
change as a result of work they are doing.

A DMS-100 is a Northern Telecom "switch" that is installed in the CO.
It's the actual switch, controlling all network in that particular
area (as they say, "within that switch").

Sounds like they have to add another switch because they need more
capacity that what they have installed presently.  Other than your
prefix changing (prefixes generally can't be shared across switches ...
Centrex is an exception), I wouldn't expect much else to change.

Bottom line is that plain old telephone service (POTS) is POTS.  It
won't affect your modem dialing, etc.  God only knows why they would
even send out such a notice, because other than your prefix probably
changing, you probably won't notice anything different at all.


[e-mail]        Greg Habstritt
Intellitech Communications Inc.   Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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

From: [e-mail] (Mike_Boyd)
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?
Date: 21 Feb 1995 12:10:37 -0500
Organization: Concentric Research Corporation


The DMS-100 is a central office switch manufactured by Northern
Telecom. It should have absolutely no effect on standard consumer
electronics connected to a standard telephone line. If you have any
problems, contact PacBell and tell them to fix it. Central office
equipment from any manufacturer is designed to be transparent to the
end user.

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Area Code/Prefix Trivia
Date: 21 Feb 1995 06:27:21 GMT
Organization: Institute of Cognitive Studies, U.C. Berkeley


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

> The Point is in the United States because the portion is south of
> the 49th.  For many years, the local prefix 946 was assigned to the
> 604 area code and local coin phones were desinged to accept Canadian
> currency.  Sometime in the early 1980s, the 946 prefix was reassigned
> to the 206 area.  I have not been there since, so I cannot offer an
> update if the coin phones were transfered to accept US currency.

A similar situation exists with Hyder, Alaska which is accessible by
road only from BC, Canada.  Phone service is provided by the BC phone
company and is in the 604 area code, rather than in the 907 Alaska
area code.


Philip V. Hull

INTERNET: [e-mail]
BITNET: [e-mail]
UUCP: ucbvax!cogsci!hullp  OR: ucbvax!cogsci.berkeley.edu!hullp

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

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 95 12:59 CST
From: [e-mail] (David W. Tamkin)
Subject: Re: Area Code/Prefix Trivia
Organization: World-Wide Access, Vernon Hills, Illinois  60061-0285


The Moderator commented on <[e-mail]>:

> Did you know it is impossible to travel from Point Roberts to anywhere
> else in the United States by automobile without going through Canada?

When a Nova Scotia native and I were looking at a map of Minnesota
together, he pointed out that the Northwest Angle was cut across
completely by Lake of the Woods, leaving part of it attached to
Manitoba but separated from the rest of Minnesota.

He said, "Look.  There's a part of the United States where you have to
go through Canada to get to the rest of the U.S., unless you fly or
take a boat."

I answered, "Yes.  It's called Alaska."

Point Roberts is not unique.  I don't know whether telephones in the
detached portion of Minnesota (occupied mostly by Northwest Angle
State Forest and the Red Lake Reservation) are in area code 218 or
204.


David W. Tamkin  Box 3284  Skokie, Illinois  60076-6284
[e-mail]    MCI Mail: 426-1818   [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: According to my Rand McNally state
map of Minnesota, Northwest Angle *Provincial* Forest is located
entirely within Manitoba. The small section of the Red Lake Indian
Reservation (separated from the rest of the reservation, which
occupies a huge chunk of northern Minnesota according to the map)
is entirely in the USA. A small community up there is called Angle
Inlet. The boundary seems to come down through the water in such
a way that neighboring Bigsby Island, Big Island and Falcon Island
are all in Ontario, Canada. A couple of small unnamed islands sit
very close off the southern tip of Falcon Island, between it and
Red Lake Indian Reservation which are barely inside the USA. Even
though it appears to be in the USA, the only road shown on the
map which leads from the provincial forest up to Angle Inlet is
referred to as provincial highway 525, even within the USA part.

Now if you look at a map of Manitoba or a map of western Ontario
on those the boundary line is drawn so that a small portion of
Falcon Island and Big Island are also part of the USA -- just the
western and southernmost tips of each. I am amazed that David,
who once took an entire evening driving me all over the northern
boundary line between 312/708, carefully pointing out house by
house, street by street and backyard by backyard where 312 ended
and 708 began, as well as where Centel's territory started and
Illinois Bell's ended does not know whether the phones at the
Indian Reservation -- if there are any -- are serviced out of 218
or 204. Actually, I think they are serviced out of 807, and the
central office in Kenora, Ontario which is the nearest town of
any size.

And what area code covers the largest geographical area?  Probably
403 which is all of Alberta and the Yukon/Northwest Territories,
although 907 in Alaska is also large. 808 has now become huge also
since where it traditionally was only Hawaii in the past, now it
also includes Midway Island, some distance away and the islands in
the US Pacific Trust. Also, watch and see if 'country code 671' in
Guam doesn't soon become 'area code 671' in the USA dialing plan.
It is the one remaining place in the scattered possessions of the USA
which still has to be dialed as an international point -- and although
you young'uns wouldn't remember it, we used to have to call Hawaii
through the operator as an international call also, *even after it
became a state in the USA* for a few years until 808 was assigned.  PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #112
******************************


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Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 17:05:19 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #113

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 21 Feb 95 17:05:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 113

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages" (Rob Slade)
    Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API (John Michael Okeefe)
    NYNEX and PIN's (Doug Fields)
    Information Wanted About Tone Decoder SC11270 Chip (S. Ramanan)
    Cubix Remote Access Server (Daryl Morey)
    Peculiar Callbacks Received (Philip D. Martin)
    MPR Teltech Ltd Announces Home Page (Ross Parker)
    Source Inc. Opens Telephony WWW Site (Todd Bruning)
    Bell Atlantic Asks: How About Us as a LD Service? (Charles McGuinness)
    Using a Laptop Modem With ATT Public Phones (Thomas Hinders)
    NYNEX Pay Phones and the '#' Key (Thomas Hinders)
    Internet Conference Call Tonight (Mark Kelly)
    Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder (Richard Wildman)
    Humor at the FCC (was Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries) (B.Z. Lederman)
    FLeetwood Exchange in Seattle Area (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 America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 13:54:27 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages"


BKNRYLPG.RVW   950118

"New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages", Maxwell/Grycz, 1994, 1-56205-408-
2, U$29.99/C$39.99/UK#27.49
%A   Christine Maxwell
%A   Czeslaw Jan Grycz
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1994
%G   1-56205-408-2
%I   New Riders Publishing/MacMillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$29.99/C$39.99/UK#27.49 [e-mail] [e-mail]
%P   802
%T   "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages"

Will the real "Yellow Pages" please stand up?  Is it this one?  Hahn
and Stout's original "Internet Yellow Pages" (cf. BKYELPAG.RVW)?  NIS
(Network Information Services, the "yp" programs)? I suppose it
doesn't matter: we'll see all manner of "yellow pages" over time.

This outfit, the McKinley Group, is certainly serious about the task.
All entries have a standard format with title, rating (zero to four
STARs -- yes, they made an acronym of it), brief description, keywords,
audience, and user information, ending with a URL (Universal Resource
Locator) listing.  Once you get used to it, this is a very quick
overview containing almost everything you need.

For old hands at the Internet, this is a very handy resource.  For
newcomers, it might be a bit terse.  There are seven "chapters" of
introductory material.  These total a lot less than thirty pages, and
are very hard to follow, as they are interspersed with directory
entries.  The differences between mailing list programs are downplayed
and the explanation of URLs fails at several points.  (By the way,
don't expect any consistency in the use of forward and back slashes in
URLs here.)  (In fact, don't expect all the URLs to *be* URLs.)

The listings have a very heavy emphasis on mailing lists and
newsgroups.  ftp sites are far less common in the directory than on
the net.  There are a great many listings for commercial services
whose only Internet connection is that you can use telnet if you have
an account.  (If those systems are time sensitive, telnet might not be
what you want to use for access.)  There are paid advertisements, in
the same format as other listings.

You can't have everything in an Internet directory: the net is too big
and changes too fast.  Having done a few dozen searches, I found that
the total number of listings, and the index access, to be less useful
than the Hahn/Stout work.  Offsetting this, to a certain extent, is
the fact that the "keywords" in each entry act as a second level of
indexing.  Following a keyword search is something like reading a
Thompson Chain Reference Bible, but it does guide your search in
directions you might not otherwise have chosen.

(Ahem.  Most computer viruses are *not* obtained from downloaded
files.  Yes, you *can* have a virus attached to a Windows document.
VIRUS-L is also comp.virus.  And why does the "Computer Viruses"
keyword have CAD sites in it?)

The standard format and keyword linking are good features and promise
well for future editions.  The introduction, listings, index and
proofing need work.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKNRYLPG.RVW   950118. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

From: [e-mail] (John Michael Okeefe)
Subject: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API
Date: 21 Feb 1995 20:42:58 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering - University of California - Davis


    I'm looking for a voice/data/fax modem that supports Microsoft's
telephony API (TAPI). If you know of a modem that supports TAPI or
voice/data communication could you please E-Mail me with the name of
the modem and the manufacturers phone number?


Thanks,

John O'Keefe
University of California, Davis
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Biomechanics and Sports Lab
E-Mail: [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 14:27:36 -0500
From: Doug Fields <[e-mail]>
Subject: NYNEX and PINs


Some interesting information:

Having recently signed up with NYNEX when they offered their free-weekend
airtime offer, I was assigned a pin I have to dial after my phone number;
I'm sure all telecom readers know this already.

However, last night while driving back to the city from New Haven, in
SNET Cellular territory, I passed an accident on I-95 which had just
happened not ten seconds before, on the northbound side, near exit 17.
Seeing nobody on the scene I called it in to 911. Dial 911, hit send,
busy signal. Okay, *911, send ... it wants my PIN! This is a major
safety problem. (Eventually I get through and the state police says
thanks, we have troopers on the way.)

I objected to being required to have a pin from the start but they
will under no circumstances that I have found remove it. They did send
out a flyer saying that they will not charge airtime for the time to
dial the PIN, but who knows how accurate that will be.

Sorry if this isn't as detailed a report as you expect of people named
Doug, but I just thought you might want to tell anyone who may need
your phone your PIN -- you never know when *911 may save a life.


Cheers,

Doug Fields, http://www.interpage.net
PGP key: "finger [e-mail]"

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Information Wanted About Tone Decoder SC11270 Chip
Date: 21 Feb 95 17:35:54 GMT
Organization: King's College London


Hello there,

I am looking for telecom IC chip used as a tone decoder --
Tone decoder SC11270 or SC11271 manufactured by Sierra Semiconductors.

Have any of you out there used this chip or heard about it? Please can
you let me know where can get more info and purchase this chip?

Email : [e-mail]


Thanks in advance,

S. Ramanan    King's College London

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

From: [e-mail] (Daryl Morey)
Subject: Cubix Remote Access Server
Date: 21 Feb 95 15:24:18 GMT
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, US


Has anyone used Cubix products?  We are looking at their remote access
server solution for our dial-in lines.  We have pretty much picked
their product but I wanted to get some comments from the field.


Thank you,

Daryl   [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 07:09:41 EDT
From: Philip D Martin 45-904-368-8859 3106 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Peculiar Callbacks Received


Hello everyone.  My name is D.J. Martin.  I work for Sprint/United
Telephone-Florida and am new to Internet and TELECOM Digest.  I have a
question that I cannot answer and have been to several sources seeking
advice to no avail.  If you have the time, I would like your thoughts
on it.

Scenario: A person pushes the play button of their answering machine
and has a message "the number you have dialed cannot be completed as
dialed.  You must use a zero or one."  This is an outgoing call
message.  Or they have a message of a operator asking if they can help
them.  Operators do not call people to assist them.  Although both
cases appear as an incoming message, no call was made from the
location.  This problem has been reported to me from all types of
central offices and answering machines.  I have called my home from my
cellular phone, reached my answering machine and left a message.
Twenty minutes later my cellular phone rang and it was my answering
machine with my outgoing message.

I would appreciate any ideas you have on this subject.  My address is
[e-mail]


Thanks for your time.

D.J.


TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Welcome to the Internet and this Digest.
You might want to correct your login name and the way your messages
go out to the net since they refer to you as Philip D. Martin. We've
touched on this topic from time to time, and one of the most common
reasons for the scenario you describe is that pranksters with three-
way (or more) calling like to hook together strangers at random just
to listen in amusement as the two (or more) called parties each angrily
accuse the other(s) of making the calls. After all, they know *they*
did not make it.  They dial your answering machine, let it start its
outgoing message, then quickly flash the hook, get new dial tone and
dial some(one)thing else, click again, and by that time your machine
is ready to start taking a message from the befuddled operator who
came on the line asking if she might help, or the intercept message
which announces 'your call cannot be completed as dialed'. Occassionally
they dial into a conference bridge then put the bridge on hold and
dial some other person so that that person (or his answering machine)
get to hear several people talking at once on a call in the background
they know they did not originate. The person wakes up in the middle of
the night to a ringing phone, answers and hears these two other people
having hot chat or whatever. Naturally his first reaction is he went
into the Twilight Zone or something. Or he comes home, listens to his
answering machine and hears two other people talking in a conversation
of their own on his tape; they are oblivious to the whole thing.

Or maybe he takes your outgoing message and plays it into the incoming
message on someone else's machine. Maybe instead he takes your outgoing
message and plays it to a live but unwitting listener on the other end.
Everyone becomes convinced the phone system must have some major malfunction
going on. I said (or more) above because some people have two line phones
with three way calling on each line; they bring up a three-way call on
each line then use their own conference button to connect all four of
the innocent parties. Naturally at least one or two of the recipients
of the calls will be ignorant (I mean ignorant!) and that adds to the
'fun' of it all ...

As to your own answering machine taking a message then 'calling your cell
phone twenty minutes later to play your outgoing message' my assumption is
that its not supposed to work that way; i.e. your answering machine is
not a real fancy one that makes outcalls. Therefore it might behoove you
to stop and think for a few minutes and try to identify a person in
your life who has all these traits in common: (a) they know your home
phone number; (b) they know your cellular number; (c) they have three-
way calling; and (d) they like to play pranks with the telephone. I am
also assuming in the middle of this no one spoke up and said 'oh sorry,
hold on, the answering machine started" or anything like that. In other
words it was not a 'legitimate' call from someone at your home who
accidentally bumped the play button on the machine while they were dialing
your cell phone or whatever.

I got one of those calls once. I looked at my Caller-ID box in the middle
of being harangued for waking someone up at 2 in the morning ... I asked
them, is your number xxx-xxxx? No, they said it was not.  I hung up and
then dialed the number on the display. I had to let it ring a good thirty
or forty times but was prepared to just leave my phone off hook the rest
of the night and let it ring all night if that was needed. Presently
someone answers; a real innocent, questioning 'hello?' ... Too innocent
and too questioning; too naive ... he sounded to me like a young phreak
in about the 7th grade or so.

"We like to play games with our phone at night do we?" ...

"What do you mean?" ...

"Tomorrow I am going to look up the address which goes with this phone
number then call your parents and talk to them ..."

"Oh, don't do that ..."

Well, that was the clue right there.  There can be other reasons for
the scenario you describe but they are rare, and outrageously boring
to sit here and describe. Try and eliminate phreaking by (chronological
or mental) children before investigating further.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Ross Parker)
Subject: MPR Teltech Ltd Announces Home Page
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: MPR Teltech Ltd.
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 05:06:25 GMT


MPR Teltech Ltd. is pleased to announce the availability of
it's new home page.

MPR Teltech is a high-tech company that provides advanced
telecommunications systems and products.  Incorporated in 1979, it is
owned by BC TELECOM and serves an international portfolio of
customers.  The company employs more than 600 people at six locations
in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

MPR's home page includes an overview of the company,  a description of
its products and services, an MPR news category, and employment
opportunities.  The location of the MPR Teltech home page is:

<URL:http://www.mpr.ca/>

For more information on MPR Teltech's WWW home page, products and
services, contact MPR Teltech customer inquiries, 8999 Nelson Way,
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 4B5.  North America: 1 800 555-7700, International:
604 473-5888.

email: [e-mail]

(If you run into any problems accessing our home page, please email
our webmaster at '[e-mail]' - thanks!)

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

From: [e-mail] (Todd Bruning / Kelly Jones)
Subject: Source Inc Opens Telephony WWW Site
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 12:25:30
Organization: UniComp Technologies International Corp -- Internet Service


Source, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, TX is the leading independent
provider for current and evolving business applications of computer
and telephony integration. Founded in 1971, Source supplies
technology-neutral product support, repair and consulting for all
major manufacturers equipment. Through its unique information
management system, Source provides an objective resource for more than
8000 customers.

The Source Home Page gives complete information on products and services
as well as information on current industry issues. Current issues discussed
include effects of the recent changes in the North American Numbering
Plan (NANP), T1 implementations, and what to look (out) for when
choosing a vendor to repair telecom equipment. Upcoming information
will include such topics as ISDN, PBX topis, digital switches, and others.


Source, Inc.,  Telecom Sales and Support - 214.450.2700
Visit our home page for telecom gear and technical information,
http://sourcetele.com/sourcetele,  E-mail to [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 23:34:39 -0500
From: marks![e-mail] (Charles McGuinness)
Subject: Bell Atlantic Asks: How About Us as a LD Service?


Yesterday, around dinner time (ain't it always that way), I got an
interesting call.  It was a market research call (you know, let's play
100 questions).  This one was (clearly) Bell Atlantic trying to figure
out how to get into the long distance market (surprise, surprise!).
The questions focused on two main areas:

(1)     Trying to expand their 10NJB business

I live in Hoboken, NJ, which is right across the Hudson from New York
City.  Because of an exception in the MFJ, Bell Atlantic is currently
allowed to provide LD service into NYC, which you access by the
carrier code 10NJB.  They wanted to know if I knew of it, how I heard
of it, etc.  Then they asked if I'd consider making them my default
carrier. (No) They then went through various proposals for pricing and
packaging plans for calling into NYC.  None were particularly good (I
had a hard time stiffling a laugh when he suggested a $.15/minute rate
all the time). Other plans were a fixed fee for a fixed number of hours.
Somehow, a fixed fee for unlimited hours wasn't on the list.  The only
thing unusual was interest in whether I have a home computer and how
much "work at home" I do.  I guess those ISDN trials will be underway
soonest.

(2)     Testing the waters for full LD service

They asked me some questions that were clearly oriented towards
scoping out the full interlata LD market.  Nothing exceptional here.
What would make me switch (price).  How much of a percentage discount
would it take to make you switch (percentage of what, I asked -- no
answer).

I can only hope that their offering is better put together than their
survey ;-)


Charles McGuinness


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ameritech now has a survey company they
use to call everyone who called Repair Service within the previous
week. They start out by asking questions about your opinion of Repair
Service (how fast were you answered, how quickly were repairs done, etc)
but soon enough they get into questions about Ameritech as a long distance
carrier, and how would you like that?  The repair questions are positively
phony; its the LD stuff they want to talk about, but its like they are
trying to be cool and very casual about it. Their final question was,
'are you aware that Ameritech and AT&T are two separate companies?'. I
thought for a minute trying to thing of a good answer to that and finally
I said, "No! Really? When did that happen?".   PAT]

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

Date: 21 Feb 1995 11:12:21 EDT
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: Hinders, Thomas <[e-mail]>
Subject: Using a Laptop Modem With ATT Public Phones


The instructions for using the Data Port on the ATT Public phones are
confusing (dialing the line waiting for the modem to answer).

Why can't you dial-through?

Thanks in advance ... reply directly and I'll summarize and re-post.


Tom Hinders [e-mail]   Lotus Dev

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

Date: 21 Feb 1995 11:12:21 EDT
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: Hinders, Thomas <[e-mail]>
Subject: NYNEX Pay Phones and the '#' Key


When I am in New York City, and I call back to our voice mail system
using our 1-800 number, I am often cut off in mid-call.  It would seem
NYNEX is "sensitive" to the number of #'s pushed.

Is there an explanation?  I do not encounter this problem when I'm in
DC or Atlanta ... only NYC.

Thanks in advance ...  reply directly, I'll summerize and re-post.


Tom Hinders   [e-mail]  SE Lotus Dev

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark Kelly)
Subject: Internet Conference Call
Date: 21 Feb 1995 20:39:07 GMT
Organization: Resudox Online Services


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sorry to report this message reached
me only yesterday!  It was stuck in a queue somewhere.  Better late than
never I guess ... maybe some of you will participate.   PAT]

The following may be of interest to some members of this newsgroup or
alternatively, to people you know who aren't very familiar with the
Internet.

February 21/95 at 8:00 pm EST, Advanced Multi-Point Conferencing (AMC)
and Resudox Online Services are jointly hosting an Internet Information
Teleconference. Participation is free although if you are outside of
the 613 area code, long distance charges will apply.

The call will last about one hour and will cover basic Internet topics
like: the history, networking, tools, application, etc. A question and
answer session will be held at key points to answer any questions that
may arise.

Space is limited so if you are interested, please register by calling
1-800-900-4249 or sending me an e-mail. Please enclose your fax number
or e-mail address so we can get some 'follow-along' info out to you.


[e-mail]
Mark Kelly                          | Serving the North American
Advanced Multi-Point Conferencing   |   Conference Call Market
320 March Road, Suite 102           |           with
Kanata, Ontario                     |   CLEAR DIGITAL SERVICE
K2L 1Z8                             |
1-800-900-4249 (Reservations)       |   Operator Dial-Out,Meet-Me
1-613-592-5752                      |      and 1-800 Meet-Me

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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Wildman)
Subject: Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder
Date: 21 Feb 1995 16:15:56 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site


Thought I would update this.  After my original posting I received
about 14 responses, most of which had similar horror stories to tell
about MCI billing problems.

As I mentioned previously, the bill was paid in full by credit card in
January.  This week (of 2/5), we had a phone call from MCI where we
were told we had not paid our bill -- I interrupted and told the
woman, "Yes, we had, by credit card."  "We already have the credit
card billing with the MCI payment on it" -- the exact amount she was
saying we still owed!  She hesitated a moment, and then said, oh yes,
I see it now!  Makes one wonder just how complicated a form she is
looking at, and what is wrong with their programmers if such a field
is not checked before the bill is flagged as not paid!

In addition, on Feb. 9, we received notice in the mail warning us that
our bill would go to a collection agency if we did not pay.  [This is
the second mail from MCI in the past week -- we did receive a listing
of calls made, though it did not appear to be a bill -- my guess is
that this resulted from an emailing to an MCI employee whose address I
pulled off of a news group, and who faxed the original posting to
MCI's Consumer Executive Customer Relations (Residential).]  In any
case, my wife called this time.  She got ahold of a woman and
explained the situation to her.  But no, the woman said, her records
did not show we had paid.  She, in turn, called another office, who
then told her, yes, we had paid!  The woman assured my wife that the
problem would be cleared up.  We are not holding our breath.

The MCI nightmare continueth.


RW


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what is the latest update now on this,
a couple weeks later?   By the way, *who are you*?  Your name is very
familiar to me for some reason.  PAT]

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

From: B. Z. Lederman <lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov>
Subject: Humor at the FCC (was: Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries)
Date: 21 Feb 95 17:52:04 EST
Reply-To: Lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov
Organization: INTRANSIT (VNTSC)


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, BZ, I wish I'd had someone like
> you around a number of years ago to remind me about 'standard precautions'

    Many years before this, when I took my first FCC licence exam (I
think it was a Ham license, not my Radio Telephone License), there was
one question about the best way to protect people from high voltage
power supplies.  Like all exams it was multiple choice.  There was one
answer about bleeders and interlock switches on the access door which
was the answer they were looking for at the time, a couple of answers
which were close, and one all-time great answer:

    "Buy double indemnity life insurance."

At least there was a time when SOMEBODY in the government had a sense
of humor.

    P.S.: I refuse to say exactly how long ago this was.  But in case
anyone thinks I'm really old, when I got my first Radio Telephone
license I went around looking for a summer job in various TV repair
shops and met one owner who had his first Radio Telephone license on
the wall.  It was signed by Herbert Hoover, when he was still
Secretary of (I think) Commerce, before he was President.


B. Z. Lederman.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Hoover was in charge of the Federal
Radio Commission I believe (forerunner of FCC).   PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 15:44:22 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: FLeetwood Exchange in Seattle Area


In notes for the Time-Life music collection (1959 Hit Parade) it says:
"Originally called Two Girls and a Guy, the groop changed its name [to
The Fleetwoods] at the suggestion of a Seattle record distributor, who
took it from his telephone exchange."

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #113
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #114

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 23 Feb 95 13:07:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 114

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Telephone Solicitations and the FCC (Stan Brown)
    Gateways, Routers and Network Design (Karl Finkemeyer)
    FCC Raises Line Charges for ISDN (David St. Pierre)
    Wanted: RS232-Controlled Dialer/Phone Patch (Jeff C. Glover)
    UC Berkeley Short Courses on SONET/ATM and Wireless Comm (Harvey Stern)
    AT&T Calling Card Mixup (Robert Scott)
    FATMA - What Does This Term Mean / Stand For? (Harry P. Haas)
    OSI NetExpert Users Wanted (Chris Hardaker)
    Looking for Interactive Voice Response Provider (Dean Lennox)
    Example of MIB Needed (Bob McLaughlin)
    Jobs Available at MCI (Van R. Hutchinson)
    Herbert Hoover (was Re: Humor at the FCC (Bob Keller)
    Wanted: Sources for Network Reliability Statistics (Glenn Russell)
    Last Laugh! Burned Out Newspapercreatures (Daryl Gibson)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Stan Brown)
Subject: Telephone Solicitations and the FCC
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 23:11:34 GMT
Organization: Oak Road Systems, Cleveland Ohio USA


I've been having more trouble than usual lately with telemarketers, so
I decided it was time to go straight to the horse's mouth and get the
FCC's writeup on the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

That Act regulates telemarketing calls to residences.  It requires
each telemarketer to maintain a "do not call" lists and to put you on
its list if you so request.  Unfortunately (and rather amazingly), a
telemarketer is still allowed to call you once a year without penalty
_after_ you have asked to be put on its "do not call" list; however,
the second call in any 12-month period entitles you to sue for $500 or
actual monetary damages, whichever is greater.

The FCC's document is headed PUBLIC NOTICE; it was released January 11,
1993 (yess, 1993) and there's a reference number DA 92-1715.  The title
is Consumer Alert: Telephone Solicitations, Autodialed and Artificial or
Prerecorded Voice Message Telephone Calls, and the Use of Facsimile
Machines.  It's eight letter-sized pages long.  The FCC head office is:

           1919 M St NW,
           Washington DC 20554
                 [phone]

I got my copy from the Detroit office:

           24897 Hathaway St.
           Farmington Hills MI 48335-1552.
                 [phone]

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems                    [e-mail]
Can't find FAQ lists?  ftp to 'rtfm.mit.edu' and look in /pub/usenet
(or email me >>> with valid reply-to address <<< for instructions).
I can also send new-user information on Usenet--ask if you want it.

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Gateways, Routers and Network Design
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 17:49:29 CDT
Organization: On-Ramp; Individual Internet Connections


Folks,

I need some help with a gateway/router/network design issue:

Situation: One WAN Ethernet which carries TCP/IP, Netware, SNA and
other traffic -- plus -- an additional WAN which carries only very
interactive and time-critical TCP/IP traffic. The original idea was to
keep the two networks totally separate in order to guarantee good
interactive response on the second WAN.

Problem: For system administration, operating, control, and maintenance
purposes, we do need connectivity between the two networks. Our CISCO
gurus tell us that the only way to have connectivity and still keep
unwanted traffic off the 2nd WAN would be to use only static routing -
which would create an administrative nightmare because then apparently
every router has to know every single IP address.

Question: Can we use a real gateway (i.e. more $$ than a regular CISCO
Router) to have connectivity between the two networks, but still
ensure that only packets which have their source or destination on the
second WAN get routed onto this second WAN?  In other words, would a gateway
be smart enough to make its routing decisions strictly on the basis of
the FIRST byte of the source and destination IP addresses, without
knowing all the IP addresses on both networks, i.e. without the
administrative table-maintenance nightmare which static routing via
CISCO Routers seems to require.

Again, the goal is to keep the second WAN free of all traffic which
can be routed over the standard (first) WAN. Our worst nightmare is a
large file transfer or some Netware IPX/SPX transfer jeopardizing the
interactive TCP/IP responsiveness on the second WAN.

Which type of gateways should we be looking at? Any recommendations?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Please reply to TELECOM Digest or via email to "[e-mail]".


Karl Finkemeyer    Fidelity Investments
[e-mail]  (also: [e-mail])

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

From: [e-mail] (David St. Pierre)
Subject: FCC Raises Line Charges for ISDN
Date: 22 Feb 1995 19:59:47 GMT
Organization: Pacific * Bell


If you use ISDN to get into the Internet quickly and cost-effectively,
suddenly it's going to cost you more.  The Federal Communications
Commission has ordered Pacific Bell and other ISDN providers to raise
the number of required line charges for all ISDN products.  For Pacific
Bell customers, who have enjoyed among the lowest ISDN prices in the
country, increases will range from a maximum of 29 percent for Home
ISDN and Centrex ISDN, up to 43 per cent for SDS ISDN and as much as
50 percent for Primary Rate ISDN.

Here's why: Until now, each ISDN line coming into your home or office
was billed as one line.  Now the FCC has ruled that each ISDN customer
must be charged for each ISDN channel rather than each line.

Pacific Bell has filed a waiver asking the FCC to restore the original
one-for-one ISDN line charge.  We believe ISDN must remain affordable
and easy to access so that individuals, schools, libraries, researchers,
and businesses of all sizes can benefit from the Internet.

If you feel that the increased line charge will make ISDN less affordable
for users like you, please E-mail your comments to us at [e-mail],
and we will carry your message to the FCC.

To help you understand the issue, we're making available these documents via
E-mail.  Just E-mail to these addresses to receive them.  No entries
necessary for subject or message body.

For Pacific Bell's news release on its FCC filing yesterday:
[e-mail]

For the FCC's most recent decision on ISDN subscriber line charges:
[e-mail]

For Pacific Bell's filing on ISDN subscriber line charges:
[e-mail]


Robert Deward, Manager, External Affairs, Pacific Telesis
David St. Pierre 510/823-6800

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeff C. Glover)
Subject: Wanted: RS232-Controlled Dialer/Phone Patch
Date: 22 Feb 1995 20:09:51 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA


I'm looking for a device for a UNIX workstation, not a PC card. Basically
I want something that connects to a RS232 port and an audio port (in/out).

I know that some modems (Zyxel) provide CELP encoded audio via RS232,
but I don't want that.

Simply put, it must:

    * have RS232 I/O for dialing, status indications;
    * provide line-level audio inputs and outputs.

It'd be nice if:

    * it could detect and report usage of the phone line extensions;
    * access audio of extension usage (e.g. access database while talking
        with someone; *99 [*WX] gives local weather report).


Jeff

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: UC Berkeley Short Courses on SONET/ATM and Wireless Comm
Date: 22 Feb 1995 22:27:09 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley


U.C. Berkeley Continuing Education in Engineering Announces 3 Short
Courses on Broadband Communications, Wireless Networks

MODERN TELECOMMUNICATIONS:  Wide Area Networks, Personal
Communication Systems, Network Management and Control, and
Multimedia Applications  (March 2-3, 1995)

This course is designed as a gentle but comprehensive overview of
telecommunications including current status and future directions.
This course traces the evolution of telecommunications, starting from
its voice roots and progressing through local, metropolitan, and wide
area networks, narrowband ISDN, asynchronous transfer mode, broadband
ISDN, satellite systems, optical communications, cellular radio,
personal communication systems, all-optical networks, and multimedia
services.

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.


SONET/ATM-BASED BROADBAND NETWORKS: Systems, Architectures and Designs
(March 29-31, 1995)

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.  This
course is intended for engineers who are currently active or
anticipate future involvement in this field.

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.


NETWORKS FOR DIGITAL WIRELESS ACCESS: Cellular, Voice, Data, Packet,
and Personal Communication Systems (March 6-8, 1995)

This comprehensive course is focused on the principles, technologies,
system architectures, standards, and market forces driving wireless
access.  At the core of this course are the cellular/microcellular/
frequency reuse concepts needed to enable adequate wireless access
capacity for Personal Communication Services (PCS).  Presented are
both the physical-level issues associated with wireless access and the
network-level issues arising from the inherent mobility of the
subscriber. Standards are fully treated including GSM (TDMA), IS-54
(North American TDMA), IS-95 (CDMA), CT2, DCT 900/CT3, IEEE 802.11,
DCS 1800, and Iridium.  Emerging concepts for wireless ATM are also
developed.  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.) send your postal address or fax to:


Harvey Stern  or Loretta Lindley
U.C. Berkeley Extension/Southbay
800 El Camino Real Ste. 150
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: [phone]   Fax: [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Scott)
Subject: AT&T Calling Card Mixup
Date: 23 Feb 1995 16:09:38 GMT
Organization: School of Informatics, City University, London
Reply-To: [e-mail]


I'm a British citizen living in London.  Recently there was an ad
drive by AT&T to get people to use their calling card for calls to the
US and elsewhere.  Of course, I signed up for one.

Now as I understand it they are free as long as you don't use them.
But for some reason I noticed sums of $8.50 being charged and then
credited to my account.  It seems that I have been put on some
Military Saver scheme which is very strange since I'm not in the US
military or anything approaching it.

My question is: Is there an AT&T email address that I can send a
complaint to and get my card sorted out?  I have a feeling that it
might be easier to sort out by email rather than letters or phone
calls.


Rob Scott

Dept of Comp Sci, City University, London, UK.
http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/homes/rbs/homepage.html


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the fact that they charged your
account (erroneously) $8.50 then credited it (correctly) on the same
or a subsequent statement demonstrates that the problem has in fact been
resolved. Probably when they got your original application for service
someone erroneously entered you in the military plan since AT&T does
have such an arrangement for American soldiers in Europe. Later, or
perhaps about the same time it was discovered this was incorrect and
an adjustment was made. All the various AT&T international and domestic
calling plans and calling card arrangements have numbers assigned to
them. Someone at a terminal processed your application and enrolled you
in (for example) 'plan #123' then they said, ooops, I meant plan #231 ...
or similar. Or it went through and later a supervisor caught it. If you
keep on getting marketing and promotional materials for the military
plan *then* let us know, but I think you'll be okay. Honestly though,
if it were me, I'd hope they did *not* discover the error. AT&T gives
the soldiers a very good deal with absolutely rock-bottom pricing.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Harry P. Haas)
Subject: FATMA - What Does This Term Mean / Stand For?
Date: 23 Feb 1995 09:51:10 -0500
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology


I recently ran across the acronym FATMA.  If anyone is familiar with
this term, could you please define it for me?

Thanks in advance.


Harry Haas  GTRI/SEAL       Georgia Tech Research Institute
Research Engineer II        225 North Ave.
[e-mail]  Atlanta Georgia, 30332


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Have you checked the glossary files in
the Telecom Archives just to see whether or not it might be in there?
That's a good place to start looking for abbreviations and acronyms
you are unfamiliar with.  Anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu.       PAT]

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

Subject: OSI NetExpert Users Wanted
From: [e-mail] (Chris Hardaker)
Date: 23 Feb 95 08:22:55 EST


Is there anyone out there who are using or planning to use the
NetExpert system by Open System Integrators on a PSTN network? We at
CLEAR in New Zealand are in the first stage of implementing NetExpert
on a SUN Solaris platform ported to Oracle 7 and would like any
contacts who are willing to swap information and experiences.

For those of you who have never heard of this, this system is designed
to receive messages from all manner of devices (switch, FOTS
management systems, Routers, Lan analysers etc) and present the events
to an operator. The system can also handle correlating events. In
CLEAR's instance, we are looking at masking all subsequent alarms and
only having the operator presented with the 'root cause' alarm. As you
can appreciate, in the instance of losing a 2Gig fibre, this means a
lot of chaff is separated from the wheat. In fact our last 565Meg
fibre event resulted in over 2 Megabytes of data in a five minute
period and to cull this down to one single event would save around 30
minutes of analysis.  (My apologies if this sounds like advertising)

Any responses to me personally, thanks.

Chris Hardaker
Network Management
CLEAR Communications
Auckland
New Zealand

Ph [phone]
Fax [phone]
Email [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dean Lennox)
Subject: Looking for Interactive Voice Response Provider
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 13:41:28
Organization: Maxim Communications


I am looking for an interactive voice response company to play back a
prerecorded message about a new product to all callers.

Please email, or phone.
Candler Brooks
908-707-3290
[e-mail]

Dean Lennox
Maxim Communications
[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Example of MIB Needed
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 14:32:36 PDT


I am looking for an example MIB in an electronic form.  I need to
craft one for 38Ghz radios.


Thanks,

Bob McLaughlin

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

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 09:17 EST
From: Van R. Hutchinson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Jobs Available at MCI


Pat,

Subscribers who are in a career frame of mind (translation: looking
beyond current job or currently between jobs) may wish to send me an
e-mail for more info.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) _ MCI Communications Corp. has decided to add
475 workers to its residential sales center in Greenville.  The move
comes after the company hired 350 workers in November.  MCI spokesman
Matt Schwab said the success of the company's Friends and Family
calling program prompted the expansion. He said the company has done
most of the new hiring and will complete the task by the end of this
month.

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

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 10:30:13 EST
From: Bob Keller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Herbert Hoover (was Re: Humor at the FCC)


In TELECOM Digest V15 #113, the TELECOM Digest Editor noted, in
response to B. Z. Lederman <lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov>:

> Hoover was in charge of the Federal Radio Commission I believe
> (forerunner of FCC).

Mr. Lederman was correct that, prior to the FCC or the FRC, Hoover was
Secretary of Commerce.  I don't think Hoover served at the FRC.  In
fact, I am reasonably certain that he continued as Secretary of
Commerce and was a moving force behind the legislative proposals
leading to enactment of the Communications Act of 1934.

The pre-1927 Commerce Department had jurisdiction over radio licensing.
Hoover and his staff attempted to resolve growing interference problems
from an uncooperative new broadcasting industry, by placing conditions on
licenses restricting things such as frequency (or, in the parlance of the
day, wavelength), hours of operation, etc.  But the courts held, and the
Attorney General concurred, that the Secretary's statutory authority did
not go this far and that such restrictions were therefore unenforceable.
It was in response to this problem that the Radio Act of 1927 was enacted,
creating the Federal Radio Commission.

The 1927 Act is remarkably similar to Title III of the current Communications
Act.  This is because the substantive regulatory portions of the Radio
Act of 1927 was essentially transplanted into Title III of the Communications
Act of 1934.  The 1934 Act created the Federal Communications Commission and
transferred to it the radio jurisdiction of the Radio Commission as well as
jurisdiction over Telegraph and Telephone lines which previously resided with
the Interstate Commerce Commission.


Bob Keller (KY3R)              Email: [e-mail]
Law Office of Robert J. Keller, P.C.  Telephone:  [phone]
Federal Telecommunications Law        Facsimile:  301.229.6875


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good old Herbert Hoover, or as the radio
announcer on WLS once accidentally referred to him on the air, "Hoobert
Heever". That was, I think, in 1929 when he gave an address to the
nation over the radio on WLS. Hoover was the last in a series of three
Republican presidents (Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and himself)
who led the United States over a twelve year period 1920-32, each of
whom got just a single four year term. After the disasterous chain of
events in October, 1929 which led to the Great Depression in the 1930's
in the USA, people soured on the Republicans, and when Hoover ran for
re-election in 1932 against Franklin D. Roosevelt he was defeated,
beginning a twenty-year period of Democratic leadership which would not
end until 1952 when General Eisenhower, the war hero of WW-2 was elected.
I think Hoover was appointed to his position at Commerce by Warren Gamiel
Harding during his term, 1920-24. Radio (or rather, broadcast radio, on
AM frequencies) as we know it began in 1921. During 1922-23 a half-dozen
stations were operating in Chicago alone, including WLS and WGN, both
of which are widely known and listened to today.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Glenn Russell)
Subject: Wanted: Sources for Network Reliability Statistics
Date: 22 Feb 1995 21:24:47 GMT
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.


Hello,

We are attempting to gather network reliability statistics on various IXC's,
LEC's, and CAP's.  Preferably this data will come from independant sources.
We are interested in verification of error free seconds or outage frequency
following installation.

Information such as the percentage of error free seconds per 24 hour
period for DS1 fiber with an interoffice route greater than 250 miles,
would be helpful. And the same information for DS3 routes under 50
miles.

The specific IXC's: MCI, AT&T and Allnet;
LECS: US WEST, NYNEX, and PACBELL;
CAP's: MFS and ICG.

Does anyone know of any sources that track this type of information?


Thanks in advance!

Glenn Russell      [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 08:55:04 -0700 (MST)
From: Daryl Gibson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Last Laugh! Burned Out Newspapercreatures


Forwarded for your amusement, (with permission) from:
The Burned-Out Newspapercreatures Guild's Newsletter
BONG Bull, Charley Stough, Chief Copyboy
Copyright (c) 1995 by BONG.  All rights reserved.

SURFING THE INTERNET.  This week the Other Side Lives Committee found
the Usenet group alt.shenanigans, devoted to merry pranks called
"shens." Some of its postings also appear in alt.revenge, a group that
appreciates somewhat more vitriol in its pranks. Some shens:

     -- When confronted by an answering machine, contributors were
particularly creative.  One fellow leaves messages in a normal voice,
then suddenly switches to SUPERFASTSQUEAKYVOICE and then to v-e-r-y
l-o-w, s-l-o-w v-o-i-c-e, leaving the machine owner with worries about
his equipment.  Another plays back the operator saying this number is
not in service. And then there's the guy who recorded the AT&T intercept
tape for callers to the Northridge, Calif. area. "Due to an earthquake
in the area you are calling, your call cannot be completed at this
time," and put it on his own machine; he lives in Chicago.

     (In that vein, Dayton Daily News cartoonist Mike Peters has been
known to answer his phone with an empty coffee cup over his mouth,
creating that perfect mechanical echo sound.  Conversations go:
     "THIS IS MIKE. I CAN'T COME TO THE PHONE RIGHT NOW, BUT YOUR CALL
IS IMPORTANT TO ME. PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE AFTER THE BEEP (*beep*)."
     "Mike, this is Charley, it's 2:15 Tuesday, and -- "
     "(Still in machine mode) OH HI, CHARLEY!  HOW YA DOIN'?")

     -- Pagers are another foil.  A contributor gets even with his
weenie supervisor when he knows the super isn't near a phone.  He calls
the super's pager, then punches in the super's boss's number.

     (Dayton Daily News reporters with voice pagers, waiting in lines
at the bank, have been known to get loud calls saying, "YOUR LAWYER
CALLED AND HE SAYS YOU SHOULD MARRY THE GIRL.")

STRAWBOSS, THIS IS SNAKEYES, GIMME ARTILLERY SUPPORT.  Also at the
Dayton Daily News in the days before cellular phones, the company
invested megabucks in a Battle-of-the-Bulge walkie-talkie system.  But
it couldn't bring its human resources on-line.  When a reporter went
to a crime scene in a very troublesome poor-white neighborhood, one of
the airier brains on the city desk broadcast through the thing, "And
hey, tell the guys to watch yourselves out there!  I hear there's a
lotta bad-ass rednecks in that neighborhood!"

     The reporter, standing in a crowd of now even more dangerous
neighborhood residents, replied, "Tell 'em yourself!  You're talking to
'em!"  With that he handed the walkie-talkie to the nearest bad-ass
redneck and made an escape.

Never one for hidden pockets when a secret compartment would do, BONG
Chief Copyboy Charley Stough, Dayton Daily News, 45 S. Ludlow St.,
Dayton, Ohio 45401 salutes NYTNS haulers worldwide!  Phone (513)
225-2445 after 3 p.m. eastern. E-mail [e-mail].
Fax [phone].

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

To subscribe:  Email to [e-mail].  In text say
SUBSCRIBE BONG-L.


Daryl
(801)378- 2950   [phone]
[e-mail]  [e-mail]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #114
******************************


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Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 14:32:15 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #115

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 23 Feb 95 14:32:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 115

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "Global Network Operations" by Malamud et al (Rob Slade)
    Canadian Publisher Southam Links With U.S.-Based Prodigy (Dave Leibold)
    You Can't Dial City Hall? (Dave Leibold)
    Australian Government Multimedia Forum March 1995 (Tom Worthington)
    Last Call: IJCAI'95 Workshop on Executable Temporal Logics (Mehmet Orgun)
    Wireless Telephone Seminar (Jerome Kaufman)
    Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received (Jeff Regan)
    Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received (John C. Fowler)
    Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received (Paul Wallich)
    Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received (Danny Burstein)
    Re: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number (Mark Brader)
    Re: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number (Stanley Ulbrych)
    Re: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number (Moritz Farbstein)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
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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, 23 Feb 1995 13:15:39 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Global Network Operations" by Malamud et al


CSGLNTOP.RVW   950126

"Global Network Operations", Malamud/Carpenter/Stockman/O'Dell/Huston, 1-56592-
993-4, U$16.95
%A   Carl Malamud [e-mail]
%A   Brian Carpenter
%A   Bernhard Stockman
%A   Mike O'Dell
%A   Geoff Huston
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1993?
%E   Carl Malamud [e-mail]
%G   1-56592-993-4
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc./ORAudio
%O   U$16.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: [phone] [e-mail]
%P   120 min.
%S   Geek of the Week
%T   "Global Network Operations"

These four interviews, conducted between March and November of 1993,
present representatives of CERN, the European EBONE backbone UUNET and
the Australian Academic Research Network (AARNET).  (I must say that I
have to sympathise with Malamud in the interview with Bernhard Stockman.
Initially, Stockman obviously is embarrassed and resistant to say
"what everyone knows".  The interview is worth it -- the later part of
the tape puts out fascinating ideas on the sociology of committees.)

As well as looking at networks in large portions of the globe (and
places outside of the US), a fairly common theme to all of these talks
is surmise about the future directions of network governing bodies.
Do the ISO and CCITT work, given rapidly moving technologies?  Can the
Internet Society and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) continue
as volunteer organizations?

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   CSGLNTOP.RVW   950126. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 21 Feb 95 22:00:23 -0500
Subject: Canadian Publisher Southam Links With U.S.-Based Prodigy
Organization: Gateway:


[from Bell News (Bell Canada), 20 Feb 95]

Publisher to launch on-line newspaper service

Southam Inc., publisher of 17 daily newspapers across Canada, plans to
launch a national on-line computer service offering its daily
newspapers in a joint venture with U.S.-based Prodigy Services Co.

Consumers will have access to Southam's newspapers and their archives,
as well as electronic banking, brokerage services and advertising.
Service will begin in 1996.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 21 Feb 95 22:19:05 -0500
Subject: You Can't Dial City Hall?


The 8 Feb 95 edition of {Etobicoke Life} (a Metro Toronto community
paper) reports of wayward phone connections that lost 10,000 callers.
Those phoning the City of Etobicoke municipal offices were often left
in "electronic ether" in the form of dropped or incomplete calls.

Etobicoke's Commissioner of Administrative Services stated that the
phone system was "overloaded", with calls from citizens regarding an
interim tax billing blamed as the cause.

While a $10,000 call queueing system installation is expected this summer,
Etobicoke city staff is reportedly working with Bell Canada to avoid a
repeat of that lost caller feeling.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am reminded of the tunnel flood here
a few years ago when the Chicago River started backing up into basements
all over downtown, including City Hall. In addition to the unusually high
volume of calls to the city's public information phone lines from very
concerned citizens wondering about the extent of the flooding (the source
of the 'leak', a collapsed wall in one of the abandoned underground
tunnels had not been located) and what they could/should do to save their
possessions and themselves (for example, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
was in Europe at the time; staff members left in Chicago frantically went
through basement storage areas retrieving instruments, musical manuscripts
and other things, hauling it all upstairs to safe ground when they heard
the flood was on its way to them; staff members at the Art Institute
dropped everything and converged on their basement to begin rapidly
hauling everything upstairs to safety; fortunatly neither institution
was harmed in any way) -- in addition to the massive flood of calls to
City Hall, overloading the phone system there -- the City Hall itself did
have extensive damage in its second and third sub-basement where the
old tunnel system connects in, putting all their telephone lines under
water by mid-afternoon that day, along with completely submerging the
Commonwealth Edison electrical sub-station located in the third sub-
basement. Knowing for a certainty that City Hall would be 'offline' in
a matter of an hour or two at the most (they could see the rising water
in the tunnel branch near them) telco employees rushed to re-route the
lines elsewhere. About 2 PM I was able to get through; the woman told
me 'we will be staying until our lines go dead or until they evacuate
us and make us leave' ... shortly after that calls to any 312-744 number
(the city hall centrex) were greeted with dead silence. Just a click as
my central office handed off the call, then nothing. Within 45 minutes
however, they were ringing again, and the information ladies were on
duty, having been evacuated to the Chicago Temple Building which is
right across the street from City Hall. The Fire Department Central
Alarm office which is also in City Hall had been offline for a few
minutes also; telco got them re-established first then did the information
lines followed by the general centrex operators. The information lines
stayed open around the clock for the next several days (although the
source of the 'leak' was discovered by mid-afternoon it would be several
days before tons of dry cement-mix and other stuff dumped into the
river above the opening would successfully seal the opening; it was on
Sunday morning about 10 AM six days later that Mayor Daley came on our
televisions along with engineers working for the city to announce that
'we have successfully plugged the leak, and underwater divers are down
there now looking to make sure it is plugged') and they later reported
handling about a hundred thousand flood related inquiry calls from all
over the world over a five day period.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Tom Worthington)
Subject: Australian Government Multimedia Forum March 1995
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 07:18:21 GMT


_"Government Support for a _Creative Nation"__

    * Sydney 8 March 1995
    * Adelaide 14 March 1995
    * Perth 16 March 1995
    * Melbourne 21 March 1995
    * Brisbane 23 March 1995
    * Canberra 28 March 1995

   Department of Industry, Science and Technology
   Department of Communications


Background

   As part of the Commonwealth Government's cultural policy statement
   Creative Nation, a series of multimedia initiatives are being
   undertaken to place Australia as a world leader in media services
   through the production of content - an essential element of the new
   communication services.

   The package seeks to create a dynamic multimedia industry producing
   Australian content for Australian and international consumers, as well
   as providing a stimulus for increased access to cultural material by
   the community.

   The Multimedia Forums will be a major source of information about
   developments in multimedia and will facilitate the establishment of
   close and productive linkages between the cultural community and
   industry. These will enable Australia to better develop and
   commercialise interactive multimedia products and services.

The Forums

   The forums will be accessible to a broad range of stakeholders,
   flexible in content and responsive to the needs of the sector. The
   Forums will consider critical technical and commercial issues such as
   best practice, intellectual property rights, finance, the requirements
   for market success, and the development of multimedia titles. Forums
   will be able to focus on topical issues which Government, the cultural
   community or industry believe need to be addressed, including for
   example, the Final Report of the Broadband Services Expert Group and
   the Innovation Statement.

Forum One

   Forum One is a one day event which will be repeated in major capital
   cities (see Schedule) and will provide an update on the Creative
   Nation initiatives, including discussion on the implementation of
   these initiatives and information on when and how people can
   participate in programs and gain government support. There will be
   ample time for questions and answers.

   "An essential forum for anyone with an interest in multimedia as a
   business, a creative endeavour or for export" _Peter Cook - Michael
   Lee_

   This forum will provide the opportunity to meld the interests and
   efforts of business, the cultural community, technologists, educators
   and the legal profession. Participants will be able to influence the
   future content, structure and orientation of the Forums Program.


For more details see:    http://acslink.net.au/~tomw/mm1.html

or contact:

        _Multimedia Forum Secretariat_
        PO Box 3683, Weston ACT 2611, Australia
        Phone: [phone]
        A/H: [phone]
        Fax: [phone]
        Internet: [e-mail]

Posted as a community service by Tom Worthington, Director of the Community
Affairs Board, Australian Computer Society Inc.
G.P.O. Box 446, Canberra A.C.T. 2601, Australia
E-mail: [e-mail]    Home page: http://www.acslink.net.au/~tomw/

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

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 16:33:53 +1100
From: [e-mail] (Mehmet Orgun)
Subject: Last CallL: IJCAI'95 Workshop on Executable Temporal Logics


         LAST CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION
         Workshop on Executable Temporal Logics
        to be held as part of IJCAI-95
              Montreal, Canada.
                19th, 20th or 21st August 1995

INTRODUCTION

The direct execution of logical statements, through languages such as
Prolog, has been influential within both Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence. Such languages have been used not only for
applications such as the animation of logical specifications, the
characterisation of database queries and knowledge representation, but
also as high-level programming languages in their own right. In recent
years, however, the requirement for greater expressive power has meant
that languages based on first-order logic have been found wanting. In
particular, since the concept of time is important in an increasingly
wide range of applications, including the representation of
time-dependent data and the specification and verification of
concurrent and distributed systems, logics where temporal notions are
central are beginning to be applied in these areas.

Not surprisingly, executable forms of these temporal logics have been
proposed in order to provide system developers with access to more
appropriate logical techniques. Just as the development of
sophisticated theorem-proving techniques for first-order logic led to
executable forms, such as Prolog, so theorem-proving techniques for
temporal logics are being used in the development of executable forms
of these logics. However, each particular executable temporal logic
combines not only a logical perspective, but also an operational
model, drawn from its intended application areas. Thus a wide range of
languages have appeared, exhibiting a variety of characteristics and
execution mechanisms. Consequently, these languages have a wide range
of application areas, including temporal databases, temporal planning,
animation of temporal specifications, hardware simulation, and
distributed AI.

WORKSHOP AIMS

The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum both for the exchange
of ideas and for the identification of the potential roles and nature
of the emerging paradigm of Executable Temporal Logics. Our aim is
that the workshop will bring together workers in this area, to identify
common ground, differing approaches, experiences, applications, open
problems and possible future developments. In particular, we wish to
encourage cross-fertilisation between different approaches.

WORKSHOP FORMAT

This workshop will build upon the success of the 1993 Workshop on
Executable Modal and Temporal Logics that we organised as part of
IJCAI-93, the proceedings of which are published by Springer-Verlag in
the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence series (vol. 897). The
workshop will last for one day, and will consist of presented papers,
group discussions and invited talks. We intend that the workshop will
cover topics ranging from considerations of the state of the art,
through to speculation on future developments. We will therefore
solicit papers describing work in this area, including original ideas,
new results, comparative studies and applications of Executable
Temporal Logics.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to,

       * theoretical issues in executable temporal logics
       * design of executable temporal logics
       * relationship between execution and temporal theorem-proving
       * operational models and implementation techniques
       * programming support and environments
       * comparative studies of languages
       * relationship of executable temporal logics to
         (temporal) databases
       * applications and case studies

WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION

To encourage informal interaction and the exchange of ideas,
attendance will be limited to approximately 30 invited participants.
Those wishing to attend are encouraged to submit either

(a) an extended abstract (of no more than 5000 words) describing
    relevant preliminary or completed work to be presented at the
    workshop, or,

(b) single page descriptions of research interests and current work,
    to be used to demonstrate the ability of the non-presenting
    participants to contribute to the discussions.

Selected participants will be asked to provide complete papers to be
distributed as preprints to the workshop participants.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

All submissions should include: author's name(s), affiliation,
(complete) mailing address, phone and fax number, e-mail address and
an abstract of not more than 300 words. Electronic submission is
strongly encouraged (either as self-contained LaTeX, or postscript)
and this, or five (5) copies of submitted papers should be sent, by
March 1st 1995, to:

       Michael Fisher
       Department of Computing
       Manchester Metropolitan University
       Chester Street
       Manchester  M1 5GD
       United Kingdom

       Email:     [e-mail]
       Telephone: [phone]
       Fax:       [phone]

Papers will be refereed and notification of acceptance will be given
by April 1st. Authors of accepted papers will be given the opportunity
to revise their papers prior to the production of the workshop notes
(due May 1st).

Important Dates:

   Submissions received by:        March 1st, 1995
   Author notification by:         April 1st, 1995
   Revised papers due:               May 1st, 1995

Copies of accepted papers will be provided as a pre-proceedings at the
workshop itself.

Information about the workshop, together with abstracts of accepted
papers, will be available via the WWW page:

      http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/RESEARCH/extol95.html


PUBLICATION

The 1993 IJCAI Workshop on Executable Modal and Temporal Logics is
published by Springer-Verlag as a volume in the Lecture Notes in
Artificial Intelligence series. Our intention is to again publish
polished versions of papers from the workshop proceedings. Selected
papers may also be considered for publication in a special issue of
either the Journal of Logic and Computation or the Journal of Applied
Non-Classical Logics.


WORKSHOP PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

Michael Fisher [Organiser]
(details as above)

Marianne Baudinet
Universite Libre de Bruxelles
Informatique, C.P. 165
50 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt
1050 Brussels, Belgium
Email: [e-mail]

Christoph Brzoska
SFB 314
University of Karlsruhe
P.O.Box 69 80
D - 76128 Karlsruhe 1, Germany
Email: [e-mail]

Shinji Kono
Sony Computer Science Laboratory, Inc.
Japan
Email: [e-mail]

Ben Moszkowski
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne  NE1 7RU, U.K.
Email: [e-mail]

Mehmet Orgun
Department of Computing
Macquarie University
Sydney  NSW 2109, Australia
Email: [e-mail]


N.B., All workshop participants will be required to register for the
****  main conference.

NO ATTENDANCE TO A WORKSHOP WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT REGISTRATION TO IJCAI.

Information about IJCAI-95 can be accessed via the IJCAI home page:

    http://ijcai.org/

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

From: [e-mail] (Jerome Kaufman)
Subject: Wireless Telephone Seminar
Date: 22 Feb 1995 04:48:29 GMT
Organization: Prodigy Services Company  1-800-PRODIGY


Wireless Business Telephone Systems Seminar

An in-depth, educational seminar for telecommunications professionals
who need to understand the applications, benefits and limitations of:
On-premises PCS, Wireless PBXs and In-Building Cellular systems.

1995 will witness the most fundamental change in business communications
since the introduction of the electromechanical telephone system.
Nearly every provider of PBX, Centrex, Key system, Cellular and PCS
systems and services is expected to offer a wireless telephone system
to address business users need for on- premises wireless
communications.

Incorporating In-Building Cellular, Unlicensed PCS and Wireless PBX,
these new wireless telephone systems will usher in the era of Personal
Communications Services and mark the end of traditional, fixed
location, desktop telephone systems used by every business in the U.S.

The Wireless Business Telephone Systems 95 seminar has been
designed to help both vendors and users make the right business
decisions about these new wireless telephone systems.

The two day Wireless Business Telephone Systems 95 seminars will be
taught by Jerry Kaufman, President of Alexander Resources. Mr. Kaufman
is an internationally recognized expert on wireless communications and
the foremost authority on wireless telephone systems. Alexander
Resources is a management and market research consulting firm
specializing in telecommunications.

Name of Seminar: Wireless Business Telephone Systems 95

Seminar locations: Anaheim, Atlanta, Bellevue, Boca Raton, Boston,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston,
Kansas City, Minneapolis, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San
Diego, San Francisco, Scottsdale, St. Louis, Vancouver and
Washington, D.C.

Dates: February through August 1995

Presented by: Alexander Resources

Telephone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Contact: Carole Kaufman

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

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 18:34:04 EST
From: Jeff Regan <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received


D.J Martin reported some odd ball ring backs and recordings on his
answering machine ... here is my two cents:

In many DMS100 settings, if someone calls in to the answering machine
and hangs up but just as the machine was about to take the incoming
message, the ans.machine probably won't see the milisecond open
circuit that the DMS provides it to tell it to hang up.  What can
happen then is that the DMS gives dialtone, then the 'please hang up
and try your call again' recording comes on... of course the machine
faithfully records this.  That can be solved by having the DMS wait 30
seconds (in silence) before it gives the recording, but after it put
the dialtone on the line and timed out.

If you forget about a call put on call waiting, the switch will remind
you that you forgot about it by calling you back, but that does not
seem to apply to your 20 minute later notice.

One other note, cordless phones when they get interference, if they
don't have a security code on them, they can randomly pulse the line
 ... causing any sort of number to be dialed, or cause answering
machines to think there is an incoming call ... that means the machine
could record any number of things that are just happening to occur on
the line at that time because of the cordless going on and offhook
rapidly.  On that same note, a little far fetched, if the cordless has
your cell number programmed into it, and its stored in the base, not the
handset, then it could be triggered to dial that number while this
interference is occuring.

Good luck!


Jeff Regan
Internet: [e-mail]
Ham Packet: VE3XJR@VE3MGQ.#SWO.ON.CAN.NA

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

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 95 23:25 EST
From: John C. Fowler <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received


In TELECOM Digest Volume 15, Issue 113, D.J. Martin wrote that he was
receiving strange messages on his answering machine (such as outgoing
intercepts and live operators) and that once he even answered his
cellular phone only to hear his home answering machine.  Pat attributed
it to pranksters with three-way calling.

I just wanted to point out that these kinds of things can happen even
when someone isn't trying to play a joke on you.  It happens innocently
if the caller is behind a PBX with a call transfer function activated
by flashing, dialing a number, and hanging up.  How is this innocent?
Think of this situation:

Caller dials D.J. at home and gets his answering machine.  "Darn, he's
not at home, but wait, I know his cellular number, so I'll see if I can
reach him there!"  Caller pushes the switchhook with his finger, so that
he thinks he hung up on the answering machine.  In fact, he didn't wait
long enough, and the PBX thinks it was a flash, so it puts the answering
machine on hold.  Caller dials D.J.'s cellular phone, but just then, the
boss walks in, so caller hangs up just as D.J. answers.  PBX transfers
D.J.'s answering machine to D.J.

Yes, this does happen!  It happened to my office-mate at my previous
employer, who once had the pleasure of receiving a voice mail message
from his home answering machine.


John C. Fowler, [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Wallich)
Subject: Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received
Date: 22 Feb 1995 11:28:35 -0500
Organization: Trivializers R Us


In <[e-mail]> Philip D Martin 45-904-368-8859 3106 <[e-mail]> writes:

> Scenario: A person pushes the play button of their answering machine
> and has a message "the number you have dialed cannot be completed as
> dialed.  You must use a zero or one."  This is an outgoing call
> message.  Or they have a message of a operator asking if they can help
> them.  Operators do not call people to assist them.  Although both
> cases appear as an incoming message, no call was made from the
> location.

and TELECOM Digest Editor noted:

> We've touched on this topic from time to time, and one of the most
> common reasons for the scenario you describe is that pranksters with
> three-way (or more) calling like to hook together strangers at random
> just to listen in amusement as the two (or more) called parties each
> angrily accuse the other(s) of making the calls.

There's one other possibility which comes to me after having listened
to a few too many "please hang up and dial again" intercepts on a
friend's answering machine: single-tape machines sometimes take more
than a minute to fast-forward from the outgoing message to the point
where they can start recording. If the caller has hung up during that
time, of course, you'll get dialtone and eventually an intercept.
However, some single-tape machines also play synthesize "musical hold"
while zipping forward; I wonder if there's equipment somewhere (like
the old women-and-voicemail problem) that could be trying to make
sense of the musical-hold tones. Probably manufacturers have picked
their frequencies to avoid this, but it's not entirely implausible.

I'm just tossing this out for thought on bizarre feature interactions;
Pat's hypothesis is far more likely.


paul

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

From: [e-mail] (danny burstein)
Subject: Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received
Date: 23 Feb 1995 11:42:15 -0500


A very possible answer to this problem: Does your cellular phone have
an auto redial button? Of course it does. There's a good chance you
hit it and called your home again.

Note that this scenario is also a RISK. In addition to the costs and
confusion involved, a subscriber to RISK DIGEST described how he had
sat on his phone while at a confidential meeting and the next fifteen
minutes of super-secret discussion were recorded on his answering
machine.


     [e-mail] (or [e-mail])

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 03:13:15 GMT


CID Tech/INSG ([e-mail]) writes:

> What I got was: "<sigh> The number you have reached, 6 7 7 - 4 4 4 4,
> is not a working number. It's prime factors are 2 and 3,387,2222 (or
> something). Thank you".

How bizarre: 3,387,222 is *not* a prime number.  The actual prime factors
of 6,774,444 are, of course, 2 (twice), 3 (twice), and 188,179.


Mark Brader   [e-mail]
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto

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

Subject: Re: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number
From: [e-mail] (STANLEY ULBRYCH)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 07:12:00 -0500
Organization: Eagle's Nest Communications, Inc.  PVD, RI US  401-732-5290
Reply-To: [e-mail] (STANLEY ULBRYCH)


> Late one night last week, while trying to reprogram one of my own
> 800 numbers, I accidentally dialed [phone].

> Today, just to convince myself that I did indeed hear that, I tried it
> again, but this time got: The number you have reach, 677-4444 is not
> is service ... Bucko!".

I tried it myself, ( from East providence RI) Got "the number you
reached is not in service ... bucko".

Anyone any ideas who, what, where it is?


[e-mail] [Internet]    401-437-9448 (FAX)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: An answer was forthcoming, and I hope
you find it interesting. See the final message in this issue.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Moritz Farbstein)
Subject: Re: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Swiss Bank Corporation
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 15:21:48 GMT


What you have reached here is a Wildfire extension. Wildfire is a
voice-response electronic phone assistant. That particular extension
had been allocated for Wildfire's use, but not assigned to a particular
person yet. You can call 800-WILDFIRE for an automated demonstration
of the system. You can also email [e-mail] or call them at
617-674-1500 for more information.


Moritz Farbstein <email (text, NeXT, MIME):
[e-mail]>
Swiss Bank Corporation, 4225 Naperville Road, Lisle IL 60532
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #115
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #116

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 23 Feb 95 16:37:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 116

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    AT&T True Rewards Program - Help Me Out (TELECOM Digest Editor)
    CFP: ACM's Wireless Conference '95 (Change of Date/Location) (Victor Bahl)
    Source Inc Web Page Correction (Todd Bruning)
    Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (Michael D. Sullivan)
    Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (Eric A. Carr)
    Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (Gerald Serviss)
    Information Wanted About DMS Switches (David Vardy)
    Re: What is DMS-100? (Bill Brasuell)
    Re: What is DMS-100? (John Brandte)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
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*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
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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, 23 Feb 95 16:02:34 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: AT&T True Rewards Program - Help Me Out


Today in the mail I got my (apparently) quarterly statement from the
AT&T True Rewards program which says I now have aquired 469 points.
For those not familiar with the program, points are awarded to AT&T
residence subscribers who have enrolled in the program at the rate
of one point for every dollar spent on AT&T long distance each month.
Any month  (starting in May) that you spend more than $75 per month
on AT&T long distance calls you get two points for every dollar.

All domestic and international calls carried by AT&T count toward
this program including calls made with an AT&T calling card. Exceptions
are calls which are billed direct rather than through a local telco,
and calls to Alliance 700 Teleconferencing. Those do not earn points.
Neither do long distance calls made from cellular or marine phones, or
calls to 900 Multiquest numbers. Other than that -- basically, all
your regular, routine long distance calls via AT&T from your home
phone which are billed by your local telco count toward True Rewards.

In addition to point-per-dollar rewards, there are other ways to earn
rewards:

       If you move, notify AT&T of your new address and
       phone number; you get 100 bonus points.

       If someone signs up for AT&T residence long distance
       service and gives you as the referral, you get 300 bonus
       points.

Points can be redeemed at any time when you have at least 100. They
can be redeemed for various things:

       $5 credit toward your AT&T bill for every 100 points.
       (You get those 'pay to the order of the telephone company'
       credit slips to redeem with your phone bill.)

       If you prefer, you get $5 cash back for every 100 points
       or you have it credited to your AT&T Universal Visa or
       Mastercard instead.  (They send you a check in your name.)

       You can also have $5 for every 100 points credited to your
       paging/messaging service account with McCaw, Interlink,
       Airsignal, Telepage Northwest or Vegas Communications.

       Five frequent flyer miles on Delta, United, or (god forbid!
       I don't want to die yet!) US Air for each 100 points is
       another option.

       Disney is in on this also, and points can be redeemed for
       service from the Disney Channel or their catalog.


One thing AT&T stressed was that 'point pooling' is allowed, and
encouraged. All you have to do is tell them you want to transfer your
True Rewards points to someone else; they'll be happy to do it.
They said having two or three people sign up for AT&T residential
service (300 points each) along with transfer of points from people
who have collected them but are not interested in redeeming them
could 'result in someone having hundreds, or even thousands of points
in a very short time ...'

The thing which appeals to me is the credit on my local telco bill
and here is how YOU can help:  If you have been meaning to possibly
send a donation to the Digest but have not gotten around to it yet --
or maybe you just don't have the money to spare -- then you can use
this round-about way of helping instead.

If you intend at some point in the near future to sign up for AT&T
residential service, do it through this special phone number:

     Call 1-800-383-6158.  The representative will switch you
     to AT&T for free and enroll you in True Rewards.

     Give the representative REFERRAL NUMBER : BY-6195039315666.
     Tell the representative to apply the 300 bonus points to
     that account. Everytime someone switches to AT&T in this
     way, I get the points.  Got more than one line at your place?
     Feel like giving one of them to AT&T?

If you are not interested in participating in True Rewards but got a
statement recently from AT&T with your point balance shown you can
also help. Mine arrived by bulk mail today so I assume there are lots
of these in the mail now.  Do this:

      Call 1-800-869-9900. Tell the representative your True Rewards
      account number which is printed on the bottom of the statement
      they sent you. Tell the representative to transfer all of your
      points to my telephone number 708-329-0570.

As the points come in from new subscribers to AT&T who use my
referral number and as points come in from transfers out of accounts
where they are not wanted, I'll redeem them for credit on my always
high, frequently delinquent phone bill.  (I haven't gotten cut off
once yet this year, I'll have you know! Not only that, since I got my
last 'deferred payment plan' agreement finished a few months ago I am
eligible to stall by starting another one if absolutely necessary.)

If you do sign up using my referral number or transfer your unwanted
True Rewards points, please send me email and let me know so I have
an idea what's going on.

You have to call the two numbers shown above to do all this; the
regular representatives on the published numbers they use can't handle
it.

Thank you very much!


Patrick Townson
TELECOM Digest Editor

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

From: [e-mail] (Victor Bahl)
Subject: CFP: ACM's Wireless Conference '95 (Change of Date/Location)
Date: 22 Feb 1995 17:34:33 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Victor Bahl)


            Announcement and Call for Papers

                 FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
                 ON
          MOBILE COMPUTING AND NETWORKING 1995

           November 14-15, 1995 (Tutorials on Monday, Nov. 13)
                        Berkeley, California, USA

   Sponsored by the ACM's Special Interest Groups:  SIGCOMM,  SIGMETRICS
               SIGOPS, SIGMOD (pending), SIGACT and CESDIS NASA

   The  wireless communication revolution is bringing fundamental  changes
   to  telecommunication  and computing.  Wide-area cellular  systems  and
   wireless LANs promise to make integrated networks a reality and provide
   fully  distributed and ubiquitous mobile computing and  communications,
   thus  bringing  an  end  to  the tyranny  of  geography.   Furthermore,
   services for the  mobile user are maturing and are poised to change the
   nature  and scope of communication.  This conference, the first  of  an
   annual series, will serve as the premier international forum addressing
   networks,  systems,  algorithms,  and  applications  that  support  the
   symbiosis of portable computers and wireless networks.

   PAPERS

       Technical  papers describing previously unpublished,  original,
   completed,  or  in-progress  research, are solicited on  topics at the
   link layer and above.  Topics will include, but are not limited to:

    * Applications and computing services supporting the mobile user.
        * Network architectures, protocols or service algorithms  to  cope
      with mobility, limited bandwidth, or intermittent connectivity.
    * Design and analysis of algorithms for online and mobile
      environments.
    * Distributed network protocols.
    * Performance characterization of mobile/wireless networks and
      systems.
    * Network management for mobile and wireless networks.
    * Service integration and interworking of wired and wireless
      networks.
    * Characterization of the influence of lower layers on the design
      and performance of higher layers.
    * Security, scalability and reliability issues for mobile/wireless
      systems
    * Wireless Multimedia Systems
    * Satellite Communication

   All papers will be refereed by the program committee.  Accepted papers
   will  be  published in conference proceedings.  Papers  of  particular
   merit  will be selected for publication in the  ACM/Baltzer Journal on
   Wireless Networks.

   HOW TO SUBMIT

    Paper  submission  will be handled electronically. Authors should
   Email a PostScript version of their full paper to:
               "[e-mail]".

   This  Email  address  will become  operational on March 1. The address
   will be backed by software that can test submissions for print-ability.
   In order to pass the test, authors should ensure that their papers meet
   these restrictions:

        - PostScript version 2 or later
        - no longer than 15 pages
        - fits properly on "US Letter" size paper (8.5x11 inches)
        - reference only Computer Modern or  standard  Adobe  fonts (i.e.,
          Courier, Times Roman, or Helvetica); other fonts may be used
          but must be included in the PostScript file

   In  addition, authors  should  be  sure to select an easy-to-read font
   size.  The  proceedings  will  be  printed  in  two-column  format, so
   authors are encouraged to submit  two-column  papers.  To learn how to
   use  the  submission  software, send a message with the body "HELP" to
   the above Email address any time on or after March 1.

   TUTORIALS

    Proposals  for  tutorials  are  solicited.  Evaluation of  the
   proposals  will  be based on expertise and experience of  instructors,
   and  the  relevance of the subject matter.  Potential instructors  are
   requested  to submit at most 5 pages, including a biographical  sketch
   to Krishan Sabnani ([e-mail]).

   PANELS

    Panels are solicited that  examine  innovative, controversial, or
   otherwise provocative  issues of interest. Panel proposals  should not
   exceed  more  than 3 pages, including  biographical  sketches  of  the
   panelist.

   STUDENT PARTICIPATION

    Papers with a student  as a  primary  author will enter a student
   paper award competition. A  cover letter  must identify the paper as a
   candidate for the student paper competition.

   IMPORTANT DATES
    Submissions due:        April 3, 1995
    Notification of acceptance: June 16, 1995
    Camera-ready version due:   August 14, 1995

   For More Information: Please contact Dan Duchamp ([e-mail])
   or Baruch Awerbuch ([e-mail]), the Program Co-Chairs.

   WWW/GOPHER INFORMATION

    This CFP and other ACM related activities may be found in
         gopher://gopher.acm.org        (for gopher viewers)
         http://info.acm.org/        (for WWW browsers)


  GENERAL CO-CHAIRS:
     Imrich Chlamtac                Dave Morgan
     Dept. of  Electrical & Computer Eng.   VP & Director of Research
     University of Massachusetts        Wireless Division, Motorola
     [e-mail]        [e-mail]
     Tel: [phone]            Tel.: [phone]

  PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS
     Baruch Awerbuch                Dan Duchamp
     Dept. of Computer Science            Dept. of Computer Science
     The John Hopkins University        Columbia University
     Room NEB 318, Baltimore, MD        500 W. 120 St. New York, NY
     [e-mail]            [e-mail]
     Tel.: [phone]            Tel.: [phone]
     Fax.: [phone]            Fax.: [phone]

  LOCAL CHAIR                 TUTORIAL CHAIR
     Eric Brewer                Krishan Sabnani, AT & T
     Dept. of Computer Science            Tel.: [phone]
     University of California @ Berkeley    Fax.: [phone]
     [e-mail]            [e-mail]

  VICE CHAIR                 STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIR
    Chris Edmondson-Yurkanan            Imrich Chlamtac
    CS, University of Texas, Austin        ECE, University of Massachusetts
    [e-mail]            [e-mail]

  PUBLICITY CHAIR            REGISTERATION CHAIR
    Victor Bahl,                Melody Moh
    Digital Equipment Corp. & UMASS        San Jose State University
    [e-mail]            [e-mail]

  TREASURER
    Anton Dahbura,  Motorola

  PROGRAM COMMITTEE
    Baruch Awerbuch, John Hopkins      B. R. Badrinath, Rutgers U.,
    Alan  Borodin,  U. Toronto          Bob Broderson,  UC Berkeley,
    Ramon Caceres, AT&T Bell Labs.      Steve Deering,  Xerox  PARC,
    Dan Duchamp, Columbia          Domenico Ferrari,  UC Berkeley
    David Johnson,  Carnegie Mellon,      Phil Karn, Qualcomm Inc.
    Randy Katz,  UC Berkeley          Leonard Kleinrock,  UCLA,
    Paul  Leach,  Microsoft          Debasis Mitra,  AT&T,
    Christos Papadimitriou, UC San Diego  Rafi Rom, Technion & SUN,
    Nachum Shacham,  SRI          Jeff  Vitter,  Duke U.,
    John  Zahorjan,  U. Washington

  STEERING COMMITTEE
    Imrich Chlamtac,   [e-mail]   Chair
    Lyman Chapin,      [e-mail]             SIGCOMM Chair
    Raj Jain,           [e-mail]             SIGCOMM Vice Chair
    Chris Edmondson,   [e-mail]         SIGCOMM Sec/Treasurer
    Dave Oran,            [e-mail]             SIGCOMM editor
    Greg Wetzel,       [e-mail]         SIGCOMM Info Services
    Vint Cerf,           *[e-mail]             SIGCOMM Prev. Chair
    Ian Akyildiz,      [e-mail]
    Pat McCarren,      [e-mail]              ACM Headquaters
    Baruch Awerbuch,   [e-mail]         SIGACT rep.
    Linda Wright,      [e-mail]     SIGMETRICS rep.
    Tomasz Imielinski, [e-mail]          SIGMOD rep.

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

From: [e-mail] (Todd Bruning / Kelly Jones)
Subject: Source Inc Web Page Correction
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 16:44:02
Organization: UniComp Technologies International Corp -- Internet Service


Boy, oh boy. Go to all the trouble to put up a web page and then give
the wrong url address. Hope the boss doesn't find out.

Anyway, the Source, Inc home page address is:

          http://www.sourcetele.com/sourcetele.

Come by and visit. We have all kinds of interesting telephony stuff.


     Source, Inc.,  Telecom Sales and Support - 214.450.2700
     Visit our home page for telecom gear and technical information,
     http://www.sourcetele.com/sourcetele,  E-mail [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Michael D. Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration"
Date: 23 Feb 1995 04:31:17 -0500
Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn (Washington, DC, USA)


[e-mail] (Rick Edwards) writes:

> There has been an ongoing discussion on another network regarding
> "auto-registration" in the present analog NAMPS system. It appears that
> no one on that network can give a definitive answer as to exactly how it
> works.  So I am leaving a message here hoping (knowing) that someone
> will have the correct answers.

> Some of the questions we have regarding auto-registration on a cellular
> phone (system) are:

> 1) Does the individual phone transmit it's MIN/ESN pair on powerup after
> finding an appropriate control channel?

Yes, as part of a defined data stream.  It's encoded, but not encrypted.

> 2) If indeed the phone transmits it's ID upon powerup, why is it apparently
> ignored by some systems (AirTouch in Los Angeles)?

Autonomous registration is a feature built into the standard, but
there is no requirement that carriers use it.  For several years in
the beginning, it wasn't used.  Perhaps Airtouch in LA doesn't use it
because of the overhead that would be taken up in a system composed of
small cells and lots of phones.

> 3) What would be the typical amount of time between auto-registration
> requests on most cellular systems? (I know this varies on system usage,
> software, etc. but would like a "ballpark" number).

No idea.  If the unit goes out of range, it re-registers when it comes
back in range.  I don't believe this happens when just moving from
cell to cell.  There would be FAR too much overhead, with little
productive results.

> 4) How exactly does the cellular system request an ID from each phone
> and keep it orderly? (IE..does it go by ESNs? How are collisions
> prevented from multiple phones? etc.)

When multiple phones respond in an interfering manner, they get no
response.  The standard calls for them to wait a quasi-random time and
retry.  Each phone will likely wait a different quasi-random time,
thus avoiding collisions somewhat.

> 5) How do cellular systems treat older phones (without auto-registration)
> when trying to ring them (phone call to phone)?

A page is sent out over the control channel IDing the addressed phone.
This could be done over an entire system more or less simultaneously,
or it could be done over sub-systems, or it could be done cell-by-cell,
depending on the system engineering and whether the switch has some
idea where to look.


Michael D. Sullivan | INTERNET E-MAIL TO:  [e-mail]
Bethesda, Md., USA  | also [e-mail], [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Eric A. Carr)
Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration"
Organization: Motorola MIRS Infrastructure Engineering
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 10:23:28 -0600


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Rick
Edwards) wrote:

(questions regarding registration deleted for clarity)

Registration is a process where the mobile radio ("cellular phone")
registers itself with the system with or without user intervention.
The process essentially identifies the mobile and/or gives an
indication as to it's status within the system to the MTSO.

Registration occurs when a call is originated by the mobile (sending
"access information"), or without user intervention at initial powerup
and periodically while the mobile is within the coverage area and
turned on ("periodic registration" -- some people use the term
"autonomous registration").  Whether the registration is periodic or
not, the mobile sends access information.  Amoung other things sent on
the reverse control channel during registration, the mobile sends MIN,
ESN, SCM (Station Class Mark).  On a mobile originated call, dialed
digits are also sent.

Periodic registration is optional; a flag is set in the overhead
message on the forward control channel that informs the mobile whether
or not it needs to perform periodic registration.  Periodic
registration is further specified as to whether radios in their home
service area (REGH field in the overhead message) or roamers (REGR
field in the overhead message) need to perform periodic registration.

In order to avoid periodic registration attempts by all mobile
subscribers at once, a certain procedure is used to determine when the
mobile should perform the process.  Upon powerup, the mobile generates
an initial random number in it's internal registration register which
determines it's initial registration attempt.  After the mobile
performs the initial periodic registration, the registration register
in the mobile is incremented by a constant value in the overhead
message ("REGINC" field), sort of like a clock.  Included in the
overhead message is the field REGID, to which the mobile compares the
value of it's internal registration register.  When the value of the
registration register reaches the value of REGID, periodic
registration occurs.

Typical periodic registration times vary by systems and is determined
by software setting of the REGINC field.  I think it's usually around
20 - 30 minutes.


Eric Carr

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

From: [e-mail] (Gerald Serviss)
Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration"
Date: 23 Feb 1995 14:41:24 GMT
Organization: Cellular Infrastructure Group, Motorola


In article <[e-mail]>, Rick Edwards <rick.edwards@
cabin.com> wrote:

> There has been an ongoing discussion on another network regarding
> "auto-registration" in the present analog NAMPS system. It appears that

First registration is no different on AMPS or NAMPS or even IS-54
TDMA.  They all fundamentally use the AMPS control channel signalling
protocol.

> 1) Does the individual phone transmit it's MIN/ESN pair on powerup after
> finding an appropriate control channel?

It does not have to. The mobile station will only register if it needs
to The need is defined by the data broadcast on the forward control
channel.  The specific data that the mobile looks are are the SID
(system ID) and the REGID (registration ID). A new SID will cause the
mobile to register and if the REGID is far enough away from the last
value recorded in the mobile it will register.

> 2) If indeed the phone transmits it's ID upon powerup, why is it apparently
> ignored by some systems (AirTouch in Los Angeles)?

I can't answer this without more specific information. What symptoms
are you observing that would lead to this conclusion?

> 3) What would be the typical amount of time between auto-registration
> requests on most cellular systems? (I know this varies on system usage,
> software, etc. but would like a "ballpark" number).

There can be fixed or area registration, which will cause the mobile
to register only when it moves into a new area.

There is also time base registration which will cause the mobile to
register periodically. I have seen systems use intervals in the range
of 30 minutes to several days.

> 4) How exactly does the cellular system request an ID from each phone
> and keep it orderly? (IE..does it go by ESNs? How are collisions
> prevented from multiple phones? etc.)

Collisions of what ? The ESN is a value assigned by the manufacturer
of the unit. The MINS are controlled by the operator. The methods for
assigning MINS are the same as used by landline operators.

> 5) How do cellular systems treat older phones (without auto-registration)
> when trying to ring them (phone call to phone)?

All phones even the oldest should support registration. If not then
get a new one. :-). If the phone can not register and the system
"loses" the phone any mobile termination attempt will typically be
directed to an announcement. The alternative would be a broadcast page
to all areas of a system. If you get lost, make a call from the mobile
to any phone and this should reregister you in the system.


Jerry Serviss   Motorola Inc   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Vardy David)
Subject: Information Wanted About DMS Switches
Date: 23 Feb 1995 01:18:22 GMT
Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland


Hi! I'm an electrical engineering student preparing for my first
interiview with my first big telecommunications company. I was
wondering if anyone could give me a simple description (or complex if
you have time) of what a DMS Switch is and what it does. What does DMS
stand for?  What kind of maintenance and software is required to
maintain it?

If anyone could answer these or other questions it would be greatly
appreciated ( and it might even get me a job :-) )!


D. Andrew Vardy <[e-mail]>
Faculty of Engineering, Memorial University
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, you are getting in during the
middle of a thread which began a few days ago about the DMS-100 and
perhaps the final two messages in this issue of the Digest will give
you the information you are seeking.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Bill Brasuell)
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?
Organization: Tandem Computers
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 23:24:20 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Greg
Habstritt) wrote:

>> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are
>> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my
>> prefix would be affected.  The letter also states:

>> What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to
>> send or receive call?

> I would guess you won't have any problems at all in the conversion.  It
> sounds like a typical phone company, warning people that their lives may
> change as a result of work they are doing.

> A DMS-100 is a Northern Telecom "switch" that is installed in the CO.
> It's the actual switch, controlling all network in that particular
> area (as they say, "within that switch").

> Sounds like they have to add another switch because they need more
> capacity that what they have installed presently.  Other than your
> prefix changing (prefixes generally can't be shared across switches ...
> Centrex is an exception), I wouldn't expect much else to change.

> Bottom line is that plain old telephone service (POTS) is POTS.  It
> won't affect your modem dialing, etc.  God only knows why they would
> even send out such a notice, because other than your prefix probably
> changing, you probably won't notice anything different at all.

For ISDN:

DMS-100 switches require SPIDs (Service Profile IDs) for ISDN lines.
#5ESS do not require SPIDS. Also ISDN TAs usually need to know what
type of CO they are "talking to" so a TA reconfiguration may be needed.


Bill Brasuell   Tandem Computers Inc.

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

From: [e-mail] (John Brandte)
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?
Organization: Racal-Datacom, Sunrise, FL
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 14:25:29 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Greg
Habstritt) writes:

>> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are
>> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my
>> prefix would be affected.  The letter also states:

>> What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to
>> send or receive call?

Slightly off the subject but this may be of interest.

We have notived that for BRI ISDN TAs, the DMS-100 switch is a little
different than the 5-ESS. Product that meets NISDN-1 and works on the
5-ESS needs to have a few more changes to work with the DMS-100. I
talked to a customer yesterday that is implementing ISDN that also
noticed that it was harder to shake out service on DMS-100s.

So, I can't say that it would be the same for POTS type service, but
clearly there are some concerns. For critical applications, I would
not ignor the warning. For casual use, you have time to work out
problems as you find them.


John Brandte   Racal-Datacom

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #116
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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #117

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 23 Feb 95 19:54:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 117

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Cell One/NY STOPS Billing Incompletes (Doug Reuben)
    Wireless Telephone Seminar ([e-mail])
    Canadian Carrier Fonorola Gets TelRoute's Customers (Dave Leibold)
    BCE Involvement in Satellite Phone Services (Dave Leibold)
    Shiva LanRover/E Problem (Richard Bradley)
    V.35 Interface (Steve Bunning)
    Re: The Philosophy of CallerID (Jeremy Schertzinger)
    Re: The Philosophy of CallerID (Darryl Kipps)
    Re: March 7 Bellcore Meeting in DC (Judith Oppenheimer)
    Re: Requesting Information About SDH (Bill Brasuell)
    Anon Servers, Child Porn and Scientologists (Clive D.W. Feather)
    Information on O. J. Simpson Case (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 America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
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* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
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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: [e-mail] (Doug Reuben)
Subject: Cell One/NY STOPS Billing Incompletes
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 18:38:29 EST


In response to my constant whining (yeah, right...:) ), it seems that
Cell One/NY has stopped billing for incomplete calls over 40 seconds.

This is a VERY positive move, as it now makes CO/NY competitive in
almost every way with NYNEX/NY, if not unquestionably superior in
terms of coverage, automatic call delivery, and customer service.

Cell One/NY used to asses an airtime charge for any incomplete call
over 40 seconds. I've never been a big fan of such policies,
especially since they will result in charges when you try to hear a
referral for a changed number (e.g, "The number you have reached, 5 5
5 1 2 1 2, has been changed. The new number is..." etc.). If you
wanted to hear the new number a second time, which is a good idea
especially when calling from a carphone with all the distractions,
then you would go over the 40 second limit, and were assessed an
airtime charge.

One of the few reasons I use BAMS's B-side service (NYNEX in NYC) is
because they did not charge for incompletes, and there were cases in
which this saved some money.

In addition, CO/NY reiterated that they have eliminated daily roam
charges for roaming anywhere in the US or Canada (credit for which, I
will admit, must go to NYNEX since they instituted this policy first,
regardless of whether such an offering was was "planned" by CO/NY or
not). They also noted that monthly service charges will now be billed
AFTER the month is over, not before.

Overall, very good news indeed, and as a result I know that when I am
in NY I'll be using the A side a bit more often now that I don't have
to worry about incomplete calls!


Doug Reuben  *  [e-mail]   *  (500) 442-4CID / (203) 499 - 5221
Interpage Network Services -- E-Mail/Telnet to Alpha or Numeric Pagers & Fax

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

From: [e-mail] (Aleksndr)
Subject: Wireless Telephone Seminar
Date: 21 Feb 1995 22:45:47 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Aleksndr)


Wireless Business Telephone Systems Seminar

An in-depth, educational seminar for telecommunications professionals
who need to understand the applications, benefits and limitations of
On-premises PCS, Wireless PBXs and In-Building Cellular systems.

1995 will witness the most fundamental change in business
communications since the introduction of the electromechanical
telephone system. Nearly every provider of PBX, Centrex, Key system,
Cellular and PCS systems and services is expected to offer a wireless
telephone system to address business user need for on-premises
wireless communications.

Incorporating In-Building Cellular, Unlicensed PCS and Wireless PBX,
these new wireless telephone systems will usher in the era of Personal
Communications Services and mark the end of traditional, fixed location,
desktop telephone systems used by every business in the U.S.

The Wireless Business Telephone Systems 9195 seminar has been designed
to help both vendors and users make the right business decisions about
these new wireless telephone systems.  The two day Wireless Business
Telephone Systems 9195 seminars will be taught by Jerry Kaufman,
President of Alexander Resources. Mr. Kaufman is an internationally
recognized expert on wireless communications and the foremost
authority on wireless telephone systems. Alexander Resources is a
management and market research consulting firm specializing in
telecommunications.

Name of Seminar: Wireless Business Telephone Systems 9195

Seminar locations: Anaheim, Atlanta, Bellevue, Boca Raton, Boston, Chicago,
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City,
Minneapolis, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco,
Scottsdale, St. Louis, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

Dates: February through August 1995
Presented by: Alexander Resources
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Contact: Carole Kaufman

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 21 Feb 95 22:00:32 -0500
Subject: Canadian Carrier Fonorola Gets TelRoute's Customers


[from Bell News (Bell Canada), 20 Feb 95]

Fonorola scoops up TelRoute's customers.

TelRoute Communications, the alternative LD carrier with a bad
attitude toward Bell (it owed us $3.5 million at the time it filed
under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act on January 13 for protection
from us and other creditors), has signed over its 30,000 customer base
and switches to Fonorola, the Montreal-based LD reseller.

Fonorola did not pay a specific price; it will pay royalties based on
earnings derived from the customer base for the next 36 months.

Bell has converted TelRoute's customer base to Fonorola's network as
called for in the agreement approved by the Ontario Court on February
8.

In January, Fonorola acquired certain assets of Northquest Ventures,
including the customer base of LD reseller ITN Ltd. and other subsidiaries.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 21 Feb 95 22:01:14 -0500
Subject: BCE Involvement in Satellite Phone Services


[from Bell News (Bell Canada), 20 Feb 95]

BCE already a winner in satellite race.

BCE holds a stake in two of the three rival consortiums which won
licences from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to launch new
satellite systems that will offer worldwide, wireless phone services.

The three winners are: Motorola Satellite Communications Inc.,
Loral/Qualcomm L.P. of New York and San Diego, and TRW Inc. of
Cleveland.

Teleglobe, owned 24.4 per cent by BCE, is a partner in TRW's Odyssey
satellite program, and BCE Mobile Communications, owned 65 per cent
by BCE, is a partner in Motorola's Iridium satellite program.

The three consortiums each plan to spend several billion dollars to
launch large constellations of small satellites into low and medium
Earth orbit, hence the terms LEO and MEO.

LEO systems, like Iridium, will comprise a string of more than five
dozen satellites hovering 800 kilometres above Earth. MEO systems,
like Odyssey, will ring the planet with only 12 satellites, but at an
altitude of 10,000 kilometres.

Conventional communications satellites, much larger and costlier,
orbit 37,000 kilometres above the equator.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Bradley)
Subject: Shiva LanRover/E Problem
Date: 23 Feb 1995 20:16:36 GMT
Organization: Netcom


I am having a problem with getting a Shiva LanRover /E to get a Dell
Latitude to accept dial-out. It has worked on every other computer at
my site but this one. If anyone has any expertise with this equipment
I would really appreicate their input.


Thanks in advance,

AirRich

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 18:12:10 EST
From: Steve Bunning <[e-mail]>
Subject: V.35 Interface


While reading the CCITT (ITU) Recommendation V.35, I began wondering
how this standard for a 48,000 Kbps Wideband Modem using 60-108 kHz
Group Band Circuits became the high speed equivilent of RS-232.

The V.35 standard does not mention the large 34-pin block connector
commonly used.  The signals in the standard are ground, TxD, RxD, RTS,
Ready for sending (CTS), DSR, RLSD, Tx Clock and Rx Clock.

DTR, RI, Terminal Timing, Local Loopback, Test Mode, Remote Loopback,
and Test Pattern are not included as part of the standard, but often
seen in vendor documentation for V.35.

Does anyone know how V.35 evolved from a modem standard to a de facto
physical interface standard?

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeremy Schertzinger)
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of CallerID
Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 19:10:16 GMT


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Mountain Dew?  Mountain Dew???  Do you
> remember that obnoxious commercial on television a few years ago where
> the ignorant hillbilly stands up and shouts, "Yah hoo!!!  Moun-tain Dew!"
> I can't believe anyone would be addicted to that.  Really?    PAT]

Yes, Mountain Dew, er, Diet Mountain Dew.  btw, it has ~54 milligrams
of caffeine per 12 oz. can.  This lady was downing 16 oz. bottles
regularly.  (I'd say a case per day :)

I don't like the stuff, myself, I'll stick to espresso coffee.  btw,
don't you think Mountain Dew looks like urine?  :-)


Jeremy Schertzinger                          http://www.eskimo.com/~jeremyps/
            [e-mail]               [e-mail]
    Seattle Community Network Teens Moderator  telnet: scn.org  "go teens"
Shorecrest High School Webmaster  http://www.eskimo.com/~jeremyps/shorecrest/


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Complaint: Come on! Did you *have* to add that
final comment?  Maybe there should be a newsgroup devoted to addicts of
Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew. 'alt.people.who.drink.things.that.
resemble.urine'. They could do all their postings via anon.penet.fi so
that their shame would not have to be known publicly. Maybe there could
be some sort of 12 Step program to help them get over their addiction.  PAT]

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

Date: 21 Feb 95 00:43:23 EST
From: Darryl Kipps <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of CallerID


In V15 #107 Pat comments:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Mountain Dew?  Mountain Dew???  Do you
> remember that obnoxious commercial on television a few years ago where
> the ignorant hillbilly stands up and shouts, "Yah hoo!!!  Moun-tain Dew!"
> I can't believe anyone would be addicted to that.  Really?    PAT]

   Believe it.  Mountain Dew has the highest caffiene content of any
carbonated beverage on the market, except Jolt.  And since there are
no cola beans (where caffiene naturally occurs) used, it is all added.
But, wrong forum.  (Interesting to watch these threads ravel, isn't
it?)

   BTW, don't feel bad about the smoking, we all gotta go sometime,
may as well be happy.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well its only the wrong forum because the
Mountain Dew addicts have not yet presented their Call For Discussion and
Call For Voting on Usenet yet. When they do, they'll get their own group.
Regards smoking, my rationale is if I were to quit today, and then twenty
years from now die from lung cancer anyway, I'd be mad as hell about it
and feel that I got cheated; better not take any chances. :)  I started
smoking when I was 13 years old because a one of my teachers in school
smoked. I'd see that package of cigarettes in his shirt pocket and watch
him smoking -- not in school of course, but when we went on field trips
or when I went to his home to see him (I was always a teacher's pet, all
through elementary and high school) -- and it occurred to me it must be
the thing to do. After all, Arthur Erickson was very sophisticated and
intelligent, and I wanted to be sophisticated and intelligent also. He
taught the current events class (in those days many high schools named
the course 'Modern Problems'), was the Debate Team Coach, played the
piano and organ marvelously, had some great, and sometimes very unkind
remarks about President Eisenhower, and subscriptions to {Atlantic
Monthly}, {Harper's Magazine} and the {Christian Science Monitor}. He
smoked a pack or more daily, and it didn't seem to hurt him any. Now,
forty years later I do it out of habit. I can't imagine *not* being
addicted. Unlike some smokers, or the tobacco companies, I don't make
any pretense of it being a 'choice', yet on the other hand, I don't
really want to quit.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Judith Oppenheimer)
Subject: Re: March 7 Bellcore Meeting in DC
Date: 20 Feb 1995 22:37:22 -0500
Organization: Interactive CallBrand(TM)


Pat, you raise valid questions.  I appreciate the opportunity to
reply.

[e-mail] (Judith Oppenheimer) wrote:

> March 7 at Bellcore in Washington DC, 2101 L St. NW,
> 6th floor.

> Ad Hoc State Department group on Numbering Issues.

> Starts at 9 am.

> Anyone can attend.

> All 800 number users are urged to attend, and be vocal!

> Protect your 800 numbers!  International Freephone is on the agenda.
> Keep an ear/eye open for 888 as well -

> If *your* business were 1 800 FLOWERS, would you want 011 800
> FLOWERS (proposed International Freephone) and 1 888 FLOWERS (proposed
> new add-on toll-free exchange) alienating and confusing *your*
> customers, and running up your telecom bills with wrong calls that
> generate no sales?  Protect your advertising and branding investments
> in your 800 numbers.  Protect your brands and trademarks.

> Protect your business interests.  If you don't, no one will.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The only thing is, the telephone-using
> *public* has to be to some extent responsible for knowing what and where
> they are dialing.

Actually, the public has the *legal right* to be protected, that they
are calling who they think they're calling.

That is the function of trademarks - to protect the consumer.

Beyond which, these are now corporate-owned products, services
and brands - not "phone numbers."

That's why MCI trademarked 1 800 COLLECT and 1 800 CALL INFO.

While certainly still a gray area, 800 portability, local portability
issues, 500 "your's for life" numbers and the recent FCC "wish list"
musing to auction 800 vanities, all point toward the trend in user
proprietary rights, and away from telco control.

Telco's complete the calls and bill for that service, but it is
monopolistic, anti-competitive and anti-business to attempt to control
the brands, media and products -- except of course, their own, as in
the MCI illustration above.

> {Chicago Tribune} columnist Mike Royko has complained several times
> in the past about how his internal centrex number at the newspaper is
> the same as a very commonly used number by AT&T for customer service,
> minus the 1-800 on the front. Idiots galore trying to complain to AT&T
> about something or other -- after all these years -- still do not
> understand they must dial 1-800 first, so if they are in area 312 they
> get his private unlisted centrex number instead. And you know what he
> wants? He wants AT&T to change *their number* -- so that *he* won't
> get their calls. How do you accomodate idiots and fools short of
> stopping the world and letting everyone get off?

This is not an applicable scenario.  Mr. Royko's internal centrex
number is not infringing on any trademark.  And while I'm sure it's
quite annoying to him, since his is not an 800 number, he is not stuck
with charges for misdialed calls to AT&T's 800 number.

However, both 011 800 COLLECT and 1 888 COLLECT would likely be used,
or attempted to be used (or leveraged) as advertised toll-free numbers,
specifically to capitalize on the brand equity and recognition that
MCI has vested in the COLLECT brand.

And, the businesss that inadvertently have similarly spelled or numbered
888 numbers would incur huge misdial bills.  Large corporate users could
absorb this loss.  Given the popularity of this number, most smaller
businesses could not.

> Do you propose that when the 800 number supply is exhausted we just
> quit having any more?

Given the real estate, media and brand value in 800 numbers, as clearly
lead by the carriers themselves (800 COLLECT, 800 PICK ATT, 800 THE
MOST, etc.), I propose (among many other viable proposals I've seen),
that:

(a) 800 numbers be used only for commercial business purposes, with
another toll-free XXX assigned for residential use with no brand
ramifications;

(b) that beepers and other products be similarly removed to again
another toll-free XXX, with no brand interest.

These two moves could significantly replenish the supply rather
quickly, and should be considered by all interested parties.

I'll also go out on a limb here and say that the impression of an 800
shortage is *quite* exacerbated by the carriers' grossly inefficient
method of allocating toll-free numbers, and their practice of hoarding
800 numbers.

> Do you propose that international commerce and trade be handicapped
> by having no uniform way to dial around the world with the charges
> reversed to the called party automatically?

Absolutely not.  Without repeating the entire international freephone thread
that's run thru TELECOM Digest, we've seen many worthy alternatives suggested
that would fill this need -- without compromising U.S. brands owned by
U.S. companies, *or* European brands owned by European companies.

These alternatives would provide better protection for consumers'
interests as well.

> You use FLOWERS as an example, and apparently would restrict the use
> of 356-9377 where any other 'toll-free' numbering scheme is concerned
> because the Americans got it first and want to protect their brand
> name. That is all well and good, but 1-800-FLOWERS is not the same as
> 011-800-FLOWERS or 1-888-FLOWERS.

 From a trademark standpoint, our legal experts say it is potentially
indeed the same.

As a practical matter, a 1 800 FLOWERS competitor using 011 800 FLOWERS
domestically as well as internationally would cause grievous damage to
1 800 FLOWERS.  Imagine how much more adversely this would affect
smaller businesses.

> Needless to say, its not the same as any local area code plus
> 356-9377, and yet day after day that number gets calls for FLOWERS by
> people who forgot the 1-800.

Those callers have not been mislead by false advertising that they are
calling 1 800 FLOWERS.  Nor is the user of 356-9377 getting billed for
those misdials.

> There is a practical limit to how much can be done to idiot-proof
> the phone network.

We are all for exploring the practical limits.  But as long as "phone
numbers" are treated only as mechanical conduits, no realistic market
driven exploration can take place.

The brand, product, and media realities need to be addressed.

This can only happen when users (both end users and services industry
users), as well as brand, marketing, advertising, trademark and other
experts are actively involved in the standards processes.

> Well that would put us right back where we are now, with an
> increasingly limited supply of available numbers.

As I've noted above, we are *told* that the supply is dwindling.  That
does not make it so, nor necessary.

> Or are you suggesting that only the 'big' 800 users get that
> protection, and the rest of us with 800 numbers can live with the
> nuisance that the corporate clients you represent don't wish to
> tolerate, i.e.  'customer confusion' and having to pay for calls which
> generated no business, etc?

Actually, I'm mostly involved with and interested in small business
and entrepreneurial interests.

While happily acquainted with a good many corporate users, once
they're informed and involved, they and their deep pockets can take
care of themselves.

It is *exactly* the smaller business user that will be crushed by the
damage these new standards will cause.

> You may not recall, but the same kind of arguments you are
> presenting here came up twenty or more years ago as AT&T began major
> expansions of 800 service as it was configured back then. Relatively
> few companies had 800 service in the early 1970's, and those who did
> often times had words made out of the four digit suffixes. Then AT&T
> opened up a bunch of new prefixes and changed the configuration on
> some already being used and suddenly the same words showed up attached
> to other 800 prefixes in other parts of the country. "If I have
> 800-xxx-FOOD you can't let him have 800-yyy-FOOD; too many people will
> get us confused."  That's life, sorry. You need to educate your
> customers *how* to place the call, what more can I say?

Pat, business has evolved since then, and portability solved that
problem.  As you know, even if you use your 800 number only locally,
you have the option to expand nationally and to Canada.  There are
good reasons for that.

Those good reason do not stop at our borders.

Thanks for the chance to clarify some of my thoughts.


Judith  Oppenheimer,  [e-mail]
Interactive CallBrand(TM)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  If I understand correctly then, small
800 users like myself would be forced off that code in order that
the numbers could be freed up for business customers. People with
pagers and messaging services on 800 would be required to give up
their 800 number for the same reason; so that business users would
not have to be inconvenienced.  I've a better idea: Let's take 888
and have all business users of 800 move there; you can have the whole
thing, and it should last you for several years.   <grin>

And you say your legal experts are claiming that 1-800-FLOWERS and
011-800-FLOWERS and 1-888-FLOWERS all amount to the same thing from
'a trademark standpoint'.  That's like McDonald's trying to claim
they have the exclusive right to use "Mc<anything>" in advertising.
They do try it occassionally, but sometimes get beaten up. I could see
where they might have a better chance where fast food is concerned,
however. Generally you can always find a lawyer to say whatever you
want. I agree that portability is largely eliminating the old rule
of telco which was 'the subscriber has no property rights in his number'
but even so, in the three examples given above, the only part in
common is the word 'flowers'; that's only seven out of eleven (or
thirteen) digits, in other words 54 to 64 percent of the total
expression. Can you claim to control any and all uses of the word
'flowers' where it appears in a phone number?  Suppose for example
I got 1-708-FLOWERS and advertised it that way. Its a perfectly
legitimate number when stated as 1-708-356-9377 (or presumably
as some other word made from those letter combinations), but as
soon as I advertised FLOWERS your lawyers would get after me, I suppose
because even though the final seven digits make up only about half
of the total expression, they are the 'significant' or 'meaningful'
part.

Now why couldn't they do the same thing with 011-800 or 1-888?  When
someone with one of those tries to advertise as FLOWERS in the USA (or
wherever your trademark rights extend) then you pounce on them for it.
They can use it in Europe or Asia if they want, but they can't phrase
it in that way in the USA, where they would have to be 011-800-356-9377.
If your lawyers tried to claim that by using it as FLOWERS in Asia I
was causing grevious damage to your USA-based business, my response
would be to require you to produce records for the past few years
showing how much or little of your business came from Asia using your
toll-free number.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Bill Brasuell)
Subject: Re: Requesting Information About SDH
Organization: Tandem Computers
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 04:41:01 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (willy gan) wrote:

> I'd often seen the words SDH or SDH compatible equipment advertised in
> data communication magazines. Can anyone explain or give me examples
> of what SDH stands for?

SDH is Synchronous Digital Hierarchy and carries STM-n signals much like
SONET carries STS-n. STM is Synchronous Transport Module.

      STM-1    155.52Mbps       (OC3)
      STM-4    622.08Mbps       (OC12)
      STM-16  2.48832Gbps       (OC48)
      STM-64  9.95352Gbps       (OC192)

   An STS-1 Frame matches an STS3cFrame


Bill Brasuell    Tandem Computers

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

Subject: Anon Servers, Child Porn and Scientologists
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 07:45:36 GMT
From: Clive D.W. Feather <[e-mail]>


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The comments by Helsingius sort of
> confirm what I said here the other day where remailers are concerned:
> they do have records of who says what, and will keep them for use as
> necessary.

Pat: Julf has to keep the records, and keep them online, because he
allows email to be sent *to* anonymous addresses.


Clive D.W. Feather     | Santa Cruz Operation
[e-mail]          | Croxley Centre
Phone: [phone] | Hatters Lane, Watford
Fax:   [phone] | WD1 8YN, United Kingdom  <== NOTE: NEW FAX NUMBER

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 18:03:38 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: Information on O. J. Simpson Case


In the {Baltimore Sun}, it says to call (for the latest info on the
Simpson trial) "Sundial" at [phone] and punch in 6139.  (Other
numbers in area 410 are also available for the Sundial service:
268-7736 in Anne Arundel county; 848-0338 in Carroll county; 836-5028
in Harford county.)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually I was thinking if they pay me
enough, I might pre-empt all regular programming in this newsgroup and
provide exclusive OJ trial coverage instead. That whole thing is a joke;
I bet it goes on for another year. What a travesty of justice!  I don't
care if OJ is guilty or innocent. What other person ever on trial in this
country has gotten his posterior kissed the way OJ has?  Did you know
that in the jail where he is being held, all the other prisoners have
lost their visiting rights on weekends; that's so that Mr. OJ doesn't
have to have riff-raff around him when *his* friends come to visit and
his attornies. The jail employees are being extremely unfair to all the
other inmates while they suck-up to OJ. Someone should tell him, hey
you are just a prisoner here, just scum like all the others ... he should
not be getting any more or less privileges than anyone else in that jail.
I wonder if/when he is found guilty if they will have to purchase some
elegant resort and turn it into a prison where they keep him?  I mean,
how could they put him in San Quentin with the other murderers?  Would
his attornies permit that?

And Judge Ito sits there and plays the role of straight man in this
comedy routine. The whole thing is a good example of how the rich and
famous and their high priced attornies get one brand of justice in the
USA while the rest of us get something totally different.  If it was
anyone else at all, this trial would have been over with weeks or
months ago; probably finished the day it started or a couple hours after
it started.   PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #117
******************************


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Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 22:04:31 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #118

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 23 Feb 95 22:04:30 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 118

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Call for Presentations - Summit '95 ([e-mail])
    Incoming Call Alert Needed (Robert Perlberg)
    Saying Hello in Other Languages (James F. Foerster)
    Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio? (Scott Murray)
    Information Requested on Video Conferencing (Andy Humberston)
    SaskTel Videogame Service (Dave Leibold)
    Unitel Operators Connected (Dave Leibold)
    Information Wanted on Hotel Telephone Billing (Stephen Cacclin)
    Explanation of Erlang B Formula (Steve Samler)
    Guernsey Bulletin Boards ([e-mail])
    N.T. M9516 Phone Wanted (Keith Knipschild)
    Nokia 121 Programming Help Needed (Alexander Cerna)
    Re: Area Code/Prefix Trivia (David O'Heare)
    Re: Bell Canada Stumped on 500 Service (David L. Oehring)
    Re: 500 Place-A-Call Working (Stan Schwartz)
    Re: Security of Cordless Phones? (Paul Robertson)
    Re: Security of Cordless Phones? (Stephen Denny)
    Re: Security of Cordless Phones? (Clarence Dold)
    Last Laugh! The Unintentional Date/Chat Line (David Leibold)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Summit '94)
Subject: Call for Presentations
Date: 24 Feb 1995 00:28:23 GMT
Organization: Netcom


*** CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS ***

ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT SUMMIT 95
October 23-27, 1995   Infomart   Dallas, Texas
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

The deadline for submitting proposals for speaking at Summit 95 (to
be held at the Dallas InfoMart, October 23-27) is February 28.

** Topics

Summit 95 will focus on both real-world solutions and underlying
technology. Topics to be covered include the management of: Networks
(voice, video and data), Systems (mainframes, minis, workstations,
PCs), Applications, Databases, and Integrated management of the four
domains. Subjects of particular interest to Summit 95 participants
include (but are not necessarily limited to):

* Case studies/success stories
* Distributed object computing
* Managing NOSs
* Network management standards
* Managing/monitoring distributed applications/databases
* Data warehouses
* Network optimization
* Help Desk
* Desktop management standards
* Asset management/Software licensing/Software distribution
* Managing messaging networks
* Security * Personel management/Career development

Note to vendors: Presentations must be focused on technology and/or
solutions. Products may be discussed if integrated within case studies.

** Formats

Technical Sessions and Panels:  1 hour sessions
Tutorial Sessions:  Half-day, full-day and two day sessions

** Submissions

Please submit an abstract of 100-200 words by February 28, 1995

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

From: Robert Perlberg <dwrsun4![e-mail]>
Subject: Incoming Call Alert Needed
Date: 23 Feb 95 11:54:08 GMT


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The original message did not appear
in this Digest.  Excerpts are quoted here instead.  PAT]

[e-mail] wrote:

Quoting ktk9091 from a message in comp.sources.wanted

>> solution.  I need some software that will tell me that a call is
>> coming in, and ideally, what number the call is being placed from.
>> Does anything like this exist, or am I dreaming?
>> Thanks for your help!

> There is a service avaliable through the telephone company where callers
> get to leave a message when you are busy.  I think it costs $5 per month
> on your phone bill.  When you hang up then lift to hear a busy signal and
> instead hear a special sound, that means you have messages and should
> enter your code to retrieve them.

That's what I was thinking, but it doesn't solve the problem of not
knowing that someone called.  I don't know whether the phone company
has this, but at my office we have a feature in our voice messaging
system called out-call notification.  You can program the system to
call you at another number whenever the system takes a message.  I
entered my beeper number as the out-call notification number, so
whenever anyone leaves me a message I get beeped. This way I always
know when someone is trying to reach me and I don't have to give out
my beeper number.  Does anyone know if the phone company's message
service has this feature?


Robert Perlberg   Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., New York
dwrsun4![e-mail] -or- [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 15:52:43 CST
From: James F. Foerster <[e-mail]>
Subject: Saying Hello in Other Languages
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago, ADN Computer Center


My uncle is 85 years old, and wants desperately to see a list of how
people in other countries answer the phone.  Hello, pronto (Italian, I
think) are the only ones he knows.  Can someone help or refer me
elsewhere?


Thanks.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If people want to send me a list of
those they know I will compile and summarize it here.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott Murray)
Subject: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio?
Date: 23 Feb 1995 19:32:11 GMT
Organization: Siemens Rolm Communications, Inc.
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any info on SMR -- Specialized Mobile
Radio.  I have been approached by a company in Florida to buy an SMR
channel. The channel is in the 851-866Mhz range and is used by
companies to provided cellular like service at a cheaper rate. The
channels are supposedly given out by the government on a first come
first serve basis, but this company wants to charge by $3500 to file
all the paper work and guarantees me a channel or my money back.

Supposedly once you have a channel you can rent it out or sell it to
the regionaly operators and they are very anxious to get these extra
channels.  The have been able to convert these old style radio
dispatch towers into digital towers that provided phone, paging and
fax service at a fraction of the cellular cost and the towers cover a
larger range.

My questions are these:

Is this really a good investment?  Are these channels really in demand
by companies like Nextel, CenCall, DialPage etc.?  Is it worth going
through this company or are there cheaper ways to get a channel?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

Scott

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

From: [e-mail] (Andy Humberston)
Subject: Information Requested on Video Conferencing
Date: 22 Feb 1995 17:39:16 GMT
Organization: De Montfort University, Leicester, UK


Is anybody aware of any mailing/news lists dedicated to discussing
video conferencing (eg. Hardware, Standards, New Products, etc)

I am interested in finding information regarding the (forthcoming)
T.120 standards set.

Any ideas will be appreciated.


Andy Humberston, Network Support, De Montfort University, UK
Tel: [phone] ext 8175  Fax: [phone]
                EMail: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 22 Feb 95 22:00:06 -0500
Subject: SaskTel Videogame Service


[from Bell News (Bell Canada), 20 Feb 95]

SaskTel to deliver Nintendo games to hotel rooms

SaskTel, Saskatchewan leading phone company, has signed a deal with
Nintendo to market a new system that will deliver Nintendo's video
games to hotel rooms via phone lines.

The system will allow guests to use the phone even while playing games.

SaskTel developed the system in partnership with Hospitality Network
Canada of Regina.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 22 Feb 95 21:59:58 -0500
Subject: Unitel Operators Connected


[from Bell News (Bell Canada), 20 Feb 95]

Unitel, [Bell Canada's] AT&T-managed competitor, is conducting a
technology trial with a view to offering a range of operator services.

During the trial, which will last until April 1, Unitel has operators
providing such services as: station-to-station and person-to-person
collect and third- number calls; toll-call completion; call transfers
to the telephone company's directory assistance service; and credit
card billing options.

Depending on the results of the trial, Unitel might offer operator
services to other carriers and resellers.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Stephen Cacclin)
Subject: Information Wanted on Hotel Telephone Billing
Date: 22 Feb 1995 01:39:23 -0800
Organization: Wimsey Information Services


Hello all,

I am developing custom call-accounting software for a hotel. Their
PABX outputs each call's time/date, telephone number, duration and
room extension.

My question is: What is the best method to calculate the telephone
charge?

I guess I am looking for some sort of standardized rate table for
North American long-distance. Does such a thing exist, and if so, is
it available on the net? Someone please say yes, as I am not up to
entering these rates by hand ...

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.


Stephen Cacclin   Echelon Computing


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just charge as much as you think you can
get away with; that's what the other hotels do.   <g>    PAT]

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

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 09:47:10 EST
From: Steve Samler <[e-mail]>
Subject: Explanation of Erlang B Formula


assumptions are:
infinite sources
equal traffic density per source
lost calls cleared


P=((A**N)/N!)/(A**x)/x!  where the denominator is summed from x=0 to N

and
A = total traffic offered in Erlangs
N = number of servers in a full availability group
P = probability of loss

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

From: BE3_037 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Guernsey Bulletin Boards
Date: 23 Feb 1995 12:48:39 GMT
Organization: University of Portsmouth (UK)


Is there a list of people who offer bulletin board services in the
Channel Islands?

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

From: [e-mail]
Organization: America's Suggestion Box [phone]
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 00:39:51 GMT
Subject: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted


Does anyone know where I can get my hands on the NORTHERN TELECOM
"M9516" Telephone?

I have seen it in the "Hello Direct" Catalog, But I can't seem to find
a LOCAL Dealer ... I am located in the NYC Area, on Long Island.

Does anyone own the M9516? If so please post or send me a REVIEW.


Thanks,

Keith      [e-mail]

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

Reply-To: Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]>
Subject: Nokia 121 Programming Help Needed
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 18:50:21 +0800
From: Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]>


I have a Nokia 121.  Is it possible to change the five-digit security
code by myself?  I've pored over the manual and fiddled with the phone
itself, but I can't seem to find a way to change it.  I was able to
set it the first time around.  But afterwards I couldn't find a way to
change it to another five-digit number.

I've asked the local service provider, and I was told that only they
could change it with, implicitly, some special equipment that they
only have.  Is this true?

Thanks in advance.


Regards,

Alexander Cerna      [e-mail]       VOX: [phone]
NEC Technologies     MEPZ, Lapulapu, Phils 6015     FAX: [phone]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 22:39:11 +0000
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Area Code/Prefix Trivia
Organization: contractor at BNR


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:

> And what area code covers the largest geographical area?

Well, Bell Canada's operators consider 872 to be an area code. I think
that wins.

(For those not in the know, 872 is the access code for Inmarsat Pacific.)


David O'Heare [phone] (W) [phone] (H)
[e-mail]  (Don't reply to the address
in the header; I won't get the message.)

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

From: [e-mail] (David L Oehring)
Subject: Re: Bell Canada Stumped on 500 Service
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 23:25:00 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, Montague Scott A <4sam3@qlink.
queensu.ca> wrote:

> Well, it was bound to happen. What was, in myu opinion the best phone
> company in North America, has let me down.  The problem?  Bell Canada has
> never heard of 500 service.  A quick call to Pat's number using both 1-
> and 0- gave me a "bad number" message.  So, I got online with a Bell
> Canada operator, and she told me "sorry, I don't know of the 500 area
> code.

> I called 1-800-CALLATT; they didn't know what 500 was about;
> until I persisted.  He can't connect me though.

Call AT&T Long Distance Repair at 1-800-222-3000.  I've encountered a
few Ameritech phones in the 312 and 313 area codes that did not recognize
1+/0+ 500 calls and they fixed the problem within 24 hrs.


Dave Oehring   <[e-mail]>

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

From: [e-mail] (Stan Schwartz)
Subject: Re: 500 Place-A-Call Working
Date: 22 Feb 1995 23:35:47 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC


[e-mail] wrote:

> I dialed my True Connections(sm) 500 Number to update my reach list
> this past Saturday, and noticed that the first-level prompt (following
> entry of the master PIN) had been changed.  Previously, option #2 was
> to "Call Home", but is now "To place a call".  I tried out the
> "Place-A-Call" feature and it worked (from the 312/708 area).  It
> looks like the post cards announcing the feature were only a little (one
> week?) early.

It works here in 516 also!  (I just can't seem to get back to the True
Connections prompt if the called party does not answer)!

On a related note, I received a call yesterday from an AT&T Rep (the nice
lady who programmed my Final Stop) who called to tell me that The Navigator
service is now working in my area.  Apparently, AT&T overcame any tariff
problems that they were having.  Of course I _HAD_ to try it, and sure enough,
it works!

On another related note, AT&T of New York, Inc filed with the NY State PSC
to provide intra-state True500 service (it was in a legal notice in today's
{Newsday}).  The filing also mentions changes in rates for CIID/891 cards.
What are they?


Stan


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned 'Navigator', that is
one part of 500 service many users are not familiar with. Would you
please send in a short explanation of it?     PAT]

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

From: Robertson, Paul <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Security of Cordless Phones
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 09:30:00 PST


[e-mail] (Jeffrey A. Porten) wrote:

> Having just gotten a new cordless phone (BellSouth 46mHz), and living
> in the paranoid environs of Washington, DC, I find myself wondering
> just how likely it is that the world is listening to my calls.

> The phone has ten channels, and a security code feature which, so far
> as I understand, exists mainly to prevent another cordless handset
> from tapping into my base unit, but does nothing to scramble the
> signal from the handset.

> I live in an apartment building, with a few others nearby, so consider
> this a high-density area.  Should I go on the assumption that people
> are always listening in?  Sometimes?  Almost never?

> I have a corded set that I keep hooked up for confidential calls; as a
> stopgap, I sometimes scan channels on my cordless so any eavesdropper
> will at least have to fiddle to find me again.  Does this help, or am
> I kidding myself?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Corded or cordless, the assumption should
> be that your telephone calls are never secure. In actual practice, it
> may not matter to you; if you are just in idle chatter with someone you
> aren't going to bother with the trouble of special precautions. My personal
> belief is the use of scanners to listen to cordless phones is still a
> relatively rare thing; how many people do *you* know that own scanners
> who are within range of your cordless phone? And of those, how many are
> sophisticated enough to know how to program the scanner for cordless?
> So my feeling is generally its not a big deal, and if you do have something
> very important and personal to say, you might want to go to a payphone
> anyway.  PAT]

In this area (DC Metro), there are a _lot_ of people with scanners, a great
majority of whom are "techies" working for various beltway bandits. There
are a few Bulletin Boards dedicated to it, and a local USENET newsgroup.

Since cordless phones are about the second thing covered in most scanner
books (right after airplanes), I wouldn't call scanning the band "sophisti-
cated".  Remember that when most scanner books were written cordless moni-
toring was perfectly legal.

I'd say it's pretty much a given that in most areas of Northern VA, Suburban
MD, and parts of DC, odds are that there are scanner owners listening in.
In an apartment building, it doesn't even take a decent antenna, and range
can be quite good if you have an apartment in a fairly tall building, a dec-
ent antenna, antenna amplifier, etc. As for hopping channels, it won't do
you any good, as anyone who wants to listen in will be scanning the whole
cordless band, not just one frequency.

My advice would be to get a cordless that encrypts, and never use a cordless
for something like ordering with a credit card, or talking about something
you wouldn't tell the cashier at the local grocery store.


Paul D. Robertson     [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Stephen Denny)
Subject: Re: Security of Cordless Phones?
Date: 23 Feb 1995 18:55:49 GMT
Organization: DSC Communications Corporation, Plano, Texas USA


> In article <[e-mail]>, Jeffrey A. Porten <jporten@
> mail2.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:

>> Having just gotten a new cordless phone (BellSouth 46mHz), and living
>> in the paranoid environs of Washington, DC, I find myself wondering
>                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> just how likely it is that the world is listening to my calls.

> [ stuff deleted ]

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Corded or cordless, the assumption should
>> be that your telephone calls are never secure.

While I am falling behind on this issue, until recent months, scanners, both
hand-held and base station varieties were sold through legitimate vendors
such as Radio Shack that can receive all cordless frequencies and with minor
modifications, cellular frequencies.  I believe many models receiving cord-
less are still available.

It has been my understanding that at sometime in 1994 it became illegal for
manufacturers to sell scanners that were "easily" modified for cellular
(with an exception that allowed depletion of existing stock).  It has
also been illegal to listen to cellular for awhile.

It is my understanding that as of late 1994 a new act also made it
illegal to listen to cordless.

I do not believe it is yet illegal in the land of the free (except in certain
local jurisdictions) to own equipment that receives these frequencies even if
it is now illegal to listen to them.

For a complete thorough discussion of this topic on a daily basis, please
refer to the usenet group: rec.radio.scanner

Let me point out that many laws seem to be broken regularly.  To the
best of my knowledge it is illegal to exceed the posted speed limit on
roads and highways, yet it appears that that law is broken by many.  I
would never encourage, assist or support anyone in an effort to
violate any law or regulation.  I only to note that from what I read
and see, and it appears that some communications laws are also being
broken regularly.

My general advise is that regardless of what protections the laws are
intended to provide, I concur with the Editor's advice above: if it is
transmitted you should assume it will be received.


Stephen Denny             [e-mail]
DSC Communications Corp.  Plano, TX, USA

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

From: Clarence Dold <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Security of Cordless Phones?
Date: 23 Feb 1995 04:32:34 GMT
Organization: a2i network


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:

> My personal belief is the use of scanners to listen to cordless
> phones is still a relatively rare thing; how many people do *you* know
> that own scanners who are within range of your cordless phone? And of
> those, how many are sophisticated enough to know how to program the
> scanner for cordless?

The range of a scanner to receive cordless transmissions of 46 mhz
phones is apparently several blocks.  With a common scanner, and about
a ten inch antenna, I am easily able to pick up clear conversations on
many cordless phones/baby monitors.  By random count, I am guessing
that the coverage is quite broad, since I assume that not every house
has a cordless phone.  The skill required is trivial.  If you can
program your scanner to receive your local police channel, you can
certainly receive 46 mhz telephone traffic.  The only bad part is that
by comparison to police/fire, it is long winded and boring.  You also
get to listen to background conversation in the room while the phone
is being dialed out, and ringing at the other end.

Of more concern is the skimmers who drive around with a cordless
phone, just hoping to catch a usable dialtone from your front yard.

You would be amazed at the phone bill my mother-in-law managed to
accumulate in about six weeks.  I suppose that someone discovered that
she leaves her phone off the base (some won't work with stray handsets,
if the true handset is in the cradle), and then probably sat in their
car in front of the house, and placed phone calls to several pricey
destinations.

My mother-in-law was astonished (a second time), when I set up my
scanner, cruised through the ten possible channels, and picked up her
conversation in mid-call.  I don't think she really believed it until
I showed her.


Clarence A Dold - [e-mail]   - Pope Valley & Napa CA.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Cruising for dialtone is something that
has gone on for several years. And the cruisers make a note of where
they found the dialtone (in front or behind of what addresses, etc) so
they don't have to drive around so long looking for the next time they
want to make a long distance call.   PAT]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 18:59:42 EST
From: David Leibold <[e-mail]>
Subject: The Unintentional Date/Chat Line


George Gamester's column in {The Toronto Star} of 22 Feb 95 makes
mention of what is believed to be Toronto's first date/chat line
~1960. The thing was, the service was actually supposed to be some
pastor's "dial-a-prayer" line.

When an apparent revival in the form of a flood of calls was
registered, Bell Canada decided to find out how to control the
overloading on the system. It was found that teenagers were doing a
conference bridge over a busy signal. Thus dates and chats were
arranged at the expense of an over-engaged prayer line.

After weeks of attempting to exorcise this demon in the network, Bell
was finally able to shut off the conference effect. The calls to the line
dropped to a trickle, and it turned out there wasn't a big revival in
Toronto after all (an inconvenience for which Bell wound up crediting
the religious group running the line).


David Leibold     [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Some time ago a little trivia item here
in the Digest discussed the first use of telephone recorded
announcements in other than a weather forecast/time of day context.
The first one was a dial-a-prayer service which started about 1955 on
Long Island, NY. I do recall when the Hoosier Theatre in Whiting,
Indiana had a recorded message giving movie titles and show times.
They were running that when Whiting had manual service. The recorded
message was on 'Whiting 1234'.

Taking advantage of the ease in remembering a number like that, when I
operated my recorded daily newsline messages for about five years from
1972-77 I had the number 312-HArrison-7-1234. But I had more than one
line. I had about twenty lines in a rotary hunt. i.e. 1234 hunted 1235
then 1236, etc. When I started, it was an old style stepper switch, so
I could not have all the numbers I needed since there were not that
many idle numbers in a row. When the CO changed to ESS in 1974, I did
an expansion with quite a few more lines since it did not matter what
numbers were involved any longer; 1234 stayed as the lead. I did not
give prayers or scripture readings on my line. The machines I used
were leased from Illinois Bell; they were *big*, *heavy* (75 pounds
each?)  machines used by Bell as for intercept type recordings. Inside
they had big round drums coated with mylar which spun around and
around as a finger dropped down and touched the surface. They held up
to three minutes of recorded information. For recording purposes, one
machine was a 'master' and the others were 'slaves'. Little mechanical
counters on each line kept track of the number of calls received. Bell
said when they set up the 'master/slave' arrangement for me they had
to write a special tariff for it; nothing like that had been done with
recorded messages previously.  I had a little closet-like office
downtown where all the machines sat stacked on shelves along the wall.
Because the machines all clacked and chattered as they would start and
stop the place was always quite noisy. In the early days, when the
HArrison exchange was a stepper, folks used the busy signal from my
lines to hold conferences on the side also.  PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #118
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #119

TELECOM Digest     Fri, 24 Feb 95 00:40:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 119

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    ISDN on CNN's Science and Technology Week Show (Ed Goldgehn)
    Caller Id Service For Equivalency Lines - First Line Only? (Paul Chehowski)
    Re: The Philosophy of CallerID (Charles R. Azer)
    Help Needed With US Robotics Sportster (Randy Hoes)
    Re: Is Origin Cell on a Cellular Call Logged? (Sam Spens Clason)
    Re: Is Origin Cell on a Cellular Call Logged? (Kris Trimmer)
    Re: Switch Architectures Literature ([e-mail])
    Information Wanted on Ericsson Switch (Steve Bauer)
    Re: What is DMS-100? (Steve Bauer)
    Re: Information Wanted About DMS Switches (Scott Miller)
    Re: Grim Changes for Net (A. Padgett Peterson)
    Re: Pair Gain Line Problem, Help! (Mike Sandman)
    Northern/BT Agreement Continues (Dave Leibold)
    Re: Wireless RF Manufacturers (Eric Nelson)
    Re: E(TACS) and GSM (John Scourias)
    What is ESF and D4? ([e-mail])
    Re: March 7 Bellcore Meeting in DC ([e-mail])
    NUtmeg (Gary D. Shapiro)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
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* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
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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: [e-mail] (Ed Goldgehn)
Subject: ISDN on CNN's Science and Technology Week Show
Date: 24 Feb 1995 04:39:58 GMT
Organization: The INTERNET Connection, LLC
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Here's a heads up on this weekend's Science & Technology Week show on CNN.

Over the past few weeks, Open Communication Networks and BellSouth
Telecommunications have been assisting CNN on putting together a
segment on ISDN and its use for telecommuting.  BellSouth Telecommun-
ications provided the ISDN lines to CNN and to Miles O'Brien's home
(the host of the show).  OCN provided the integration of all computer,
communication, and software components to give CNN the applications
they asked for -- for the record -- in a very limited timeframe.

At this time, we are not certain what exactly will show up on the
segment of this half-hour show.  We have been told that a follow-up is
scheduled which will include more standard telecommuting applications
than this individual segment is focused on.

We are very interested in receiving any feedback about the segment so
that we may pass it on to CNN.  We hope to continue the series on a
more regular basis bringing to the show additional applications of
ISDN both on the "bleeding" edge (as some of these were) and more
generic applications for use by the general telecommuter and ISDN
end-user.  Please send any comments or suggestions via e-mail to
[e-mail].

The show airs at 11:00 a.m. EST on CNN this Saturday (2/25).  It is
repeated on Sunday at 12:30 EST.  Actual times may vary across time
zones so be sure to check your local listings for Science and
Techology Week.

The applications which were taped for the show include the following:

1)  Video Conferencing via ISDN with Intel's Proshare Package
2)  Intel's Proshare Premier (shared white board) during #1
3)  WWW access via IBM's WaveRunner and FTP's Explore On-Net Software
4)  Internet E-Mail via ISDN FTP's Mail-OnNet software
5)  Video Conferencing via IP (using OnNet 1.1) over 128K ISDN with
    Invision's Software and Intel's Video Capture Board - ISDN was via a
    Gandalf 5242i Bridge (without compression).
6)  Internet Phone via ISDN (in conjunction with Invision Video Conferencing
7)  WWW at 128K using Spyglass Enhanced Mosaic (next release) via Gandalf's
    5242i Bridge (without compression)
8)  cc:mail (CNN's internal mail system) via nfs via ISDN through the
    Gandalf 5242i Bridge (without compression) connected to OCN's
    Metropolitan IP/CO and then routed to a Livingston's Firewall Router
    connected via a Bonded 128K connection using Motorola's UTA220

Items #1 through #4 were taped at the home of one of BellSouth's
employees.  OCN provided FTP's software and assisted in the
configuration and implementa- tion of the WaveRunner on an existing
ISDN circuit which also served the Intel Proshare equipment on a
limited S/T bus.

Items #5 through #8 were configured, implemented and installed by OCN.

All connectivity to Internet for the program was provided by The INTERNET
Connection, LLC in Atlanta (404-419-6100 or [e-mail])

We have been asked to provide {CommunicationsWeek} with a story about
how the technology was integrated for the show.  While no guarantees
have been given about their publishing the article, they have indicated
a significant interest in the information.  In any event, I will be
writing that article and will make it available to anyone send an
e-mail request ([e-mail]).


Ed Goldgehn                                     E-Mail:  [e-mail]
Sr. Vice President                              Voice:   [phone]
Open Communication Networks, Inc.               Fax:     [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd like a copy of that article to share
with Digest readers. Please send it here also if that's possible.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Chehowski)
Subject: Caller Id Service For Equivalency Lines - First Line Only?
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 22:57:08
Organization: Sulis Computing


Help,

I'm working on an IVR system that is heavily dependent on Caller-ID to
identify callers to the system.  We arranged to have our lines put in,
and I was shocked to find out that if I wanted a single 1-800 number
to access the system, I had to set up the two lines that we needed in
the local office as equivalency lines, and that as equivalency lines I
would only get caller id on the first line of the group.
Unfortunately I could only talk to a local order taker, who couldn't
explain to me technically why this is the case, and they were unable
to suggest any work arounds and were unwilling to pass me on to anyone
technical to discuss the issue.

I know the Caller-ID information is transmitted between the first and
second ring to the line.  For some reason, if the first line is busy,
then the second line can not obtain the Caller-ID information and pass
it down the local loop to the subscriber at the end of the line.

Questions:

1. Can anyone out there obtain Caller-ID information for all lines of an
equivalency group, from their local phone company?

2. Can anyone provide me with a technical information of what's
happening in the switch that does not allow Caller-ID information to
be transmitted in this case? (or a contact to someone within Bell
Canada that could answer this question)

3. Any suggestions for an alternate method of having a single 1-800
number pass over to multiple local lines, with Caller-ID information
provided to all of the multiple lines.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.  This system is being used to
provide information to clients with sensory disabilities, many of who
will have vision impairments, thus we want to set it up so they have
to press as few keys as possible on their telephone to use the system.


Paul Chehowski        [e-mail]
Sulis Computing       [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well I don't know about the telco where
you are located, but here, Caller-ID gets passed just fine to the various
lines in a hunt group. For example I have CID on by my lines. The first
line hunts to the second when it is busy. I have one CID display box
fed through a Radio Shack automatic line selector switch. That's the
device that when a single line phone is plugged in, either of two lines
ringing will toggle the internal switch in the box and feed the ringing
line to the single phone. Instead of a phone, I feed my CID box from
that unit. (I have a two line phone nearby.) When either line rings
independently, the box shows the number. When the main line is busy and
it gets a call the second line rings of course, and the CID box shows
the number.  So I think someone at your telco misled you, unless they
have software that's different than everyone else. Now you *do* have
to pay for CID on each line; you can't get by with paying for it just
on one line; maybe that is how the rep misunderstood you.

Based on the way your message read, I assume you are subscribing to some
long distance carrier which supplies ANI in the form of Caller-ID when
you get a call. If your telco still persists that they cannot send CID
intended for the first line on to the hunt line as needed, then go back
to your LD carrier and have *them* supply the hunt group in the form of
two 800 lines; one to each of your two numbers. Have the LD carrier
make your listed 800 number hunt to a second 'overflow' 800 number and
do the work at that end. The first 800 will feed your first line and the
second (transparent to the user, hunted) 800 number will feed your
second line. Then tell your local telco: two lines, each separate; two
Caller-ID's, one on each line. Your LD carrier will fix things on his
end so that instead of a single 800 number handled like DID which just
splashes all over the place, feeding you to the extent you can handle
it, your 800 will handle one call, and one call only at a time. When
its in use, the next incoming call hunts to another 800 and it in turn
handles one call, and one call only, directed to your second line.
Long ago, before having single 800 numbers for lots of calls at one
time, we had to do it that way; literally an actual 800 number for
each call we wamted to be able to accept. You want to take twenty
calls at a time, get twenty 800 numbers. No more, thank goodness, but
it is one way to work around telcos who refuse to take what is handed
to them and hunt with full features on their end.  You can also get
the LD carrier to actually terminate on phones at your end direct
rather than outdialing what he gets. You might want to consider that
also; cut the local telco out of the picture entirely.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Charles R. Azer)
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of CallerID
Date: 23 Feb 1995 20:45:48 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access    [phone]  [Login: guest]


Jeremy Schertzinger ([e-mail]) wrote:

> I don't like the stuff, myself, I'll stick to espresso coffee.  btw,
> don't you think Mountain Dew looks like urine?  :-)

No.  It looks like radiator fluid!

Charles R. Azer <[e-mail]>


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Whimper:  Come on now guys!  Enough is enough!
Exactly what is 'radiator fluid'?  Do you mean anti-freeze?   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Randy Hoes)
Subject: Help Needed With US Robotics Sportster
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 19:46:07
Organization: Consultant


I bought a US Robotics Sportster V.34 etc. and I can't make the fax
portion work.  I have spent mucho time with Datastorm (Procomm+)
trying to isolate the problem to no avail.  Datastorm says the ROM
chip in the US Robotics is old and should be replaced.  I picked up a
rumor from my SLIP provider today that it is generally known that US
Robotics has a problem with the ROM. Has anyone heard of the problem
and is US Robotics helping us?


Thank you,

Randy Hoes

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

From: [e-mail] (Sam Spens Clason)
Subject: Re: Is Origin Cell on a Cellular Call Logged?
Date: 23 Feb 1995 21:09:10 GMT


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chuck Cairns)
writes:

> Is the origin cell on a cellular call logged?

Can such information be used in an American court of law?  How "easy"
is is for the authorities to obtain it?

The reason I ask is that it can in Sweden court.

Some years ago there was a case of a man being sentenced to jail on
the basis of his cell-phone records.

He had burglered a house but pleaded not guilty.  He had an alibi
which stated that he hadn't been within 5 km from the burglered house.

The police knew that he had a cellphone mounted in his car.  When they
examined the records they found that he had indeed used his phone
during his "alibi".  Telia concluded that he could not have been
farther away from the scene of the crime than 500m.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To find out the answer to this, I turned
> to our resident expert, Kevin Mitnick ... <g> ... he says they are,
> unfortunatly. Uh, I know this is a rude question to ask, but have you
> some reason to wish they were not?  PAT]

Maybe, maybe not.  It is a rather relevant question.  A couple of
years ago your location could be computed to a couple of hundred
meters square or more.  Now that distance has shrunk dramatically due
to the shrinking size of radio cells.

In just couple of years your cellphone will give you away just as
effectively as a (civillian) GPS terminal.

Ethical question; is this god or bad?!


Sam    <A HREF="http://www.nada.kth.se/~d92-sam/">Sam Spens Clason</A>

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

Date: 23 Feb 95 19:07:32 EST
From: Kris Trimmer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Is Origin Cell on a Cellular Call Logged?


In a recent issue, [e-mail](Chuck Cairns) asked:

> Is the origin cell on a cellular call logged?

To which the Esteemed Moderator replied:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To find out the answer to this, I
> turned to our resident expert, Kevin Mitnick ...<g> ... he says they
> are, unfortunately.  Uh,I know this is a rude question to ask, but
> have you some reason to wish they were not?  PAT]

Pat, I can't answer if Chuck has a reason, but his question does lead
to one I am curious about.

Let's suppose (purely hypothetically) That I am a former pro football
player and part time sportscaster with a promising acting career (Thats
promising as in - " I keep promising I'll get better - but I don't").  I
have recently been charged with the particularly gruesome murder of my
ex-wife and her friend. One key to my guilt or innocence lies in my
alibi for where I was at 10:15 at the alleged time of the murder.
Unable to challenge this time of death due to the well known "barking
dog as a time of death indicator" (a well known forensic legal
principal recently upheld in the case of Ted Bundy Vs. Lassie), I am
forced to prove I was elsewhere at or around the time of death.

Remembering that I placed a call to my loving main squeeze Paula on my
cellular phone from my driveway at about 10:20, I ponder whether or
not the origin cell on a cellular call is logged and if so, could that
information prove that I made the call from my driveway (or at least
near enough to originate on the closest cell to my house), and not
from my ex wife's neighborhood which is located seven to ten minutes
away by car. Not trusting the local police department to investigate
(since they seem to be staffed mostly by people whose training and
expertise in investigation would instill a feeling of superiority in
even the likes of Deputy Barney Fife) I instead turn to the learned
subscribers of the noted electronic journal TELECOM Digest.

So what do you think? Anyone have any knowledge of the distance
between cells in the,say, Brentwood area of Los Angeles? Could the
origin cell log help me/hurt me? Does the carrier actually save these
logs?

Pat, I'm sure this isn't what Chuck was asking about, and yes, I obviously
have to much free time.


Kris


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well you know, for some time now I have
been threatening to pre-empt the regular programming here in lieu of
giving full time coverage of the hypothetical trial (I say hypothetical
because it is too much of a joke to be a real trial) of Mister Simpson.
The trial of the century looks like it will last a century at the rate
it is going.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Fred)
Subject: Re: Switch Architectures Literature
Organization: Rede APC -- Nodo AlterNex
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 21:46:41 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] says:

> I am looking for some papers/books that would describe switch
> architectures . My interest is in both hardware architectures and
> software architectures and their developement over last few decades.
> Could anybody please direct me to right sources on the area in the
> forms of thesis/articles/books.

You can find it in info.itu.ch


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, the ITU is a great place to begin
your search for many topics relating to telecom. I've been very pleased
with their support of this Digest over the past year and hope they choose
to continue for a long time to come.  Definitly look into their information
service.   PAT]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 05:18:17 -0600
From: Steve Bauer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Information Wanted on Ericsson Switch


Is anyone using or administering a Plexar on an Ericsson switch?  I
will be installing one in March and wonder what I will face.  I am
running a majority of my 30 locations on a Northern DMS100 Plexar
(Centrex) arrangement.

Since the Ericsson switch is in another town, we plan to use Tie
Trunks to connect the two Plexars and maintain four digit dialing
company wide.

I've just not heard too many good things about this switch.

Furthermore, it does not offer the Custom Rearrangement Service like
that available on the DMS100.  What a drag, have to issue service
orders to change anything.  <YUCK>


Steve

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 05:19:39 CST
From: Steve Bauer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?


Stan,

The DMS100 is manufactured by Northern Telecom and is a very
popular switch used in central offices.

About five years ago, my company was faced with the same situation
you are dealing with.  The actual biggest shock to our employees
was going to a new prefix and we forced them to go from three digit
to four digit dialing at the same time.

You will probably not have any trouble at all with your modem.
Things should actually work better.  I have found on the DMS100 we
are using, which was installed by Southwestern Bell Telephone, that
you do not need to place a coma or pause after dialing the 9 access
code.  The system reacts fast enough that you can just have your
modem dial 9 followed by the desired number.

One little trick to remember, and it works both with voice and
modem calls is to place the "#" at the end of your dialing string.
This will greatly speed up the processing of your call.  Without
it, the DMS100 is sitting there waiting to see if you are indeed
finished before it completes your call.  It's not a bad habit to
get in to.  When you are dialing to another four digit extension on
your campus, no need to use the "#", it will ring instantly.

You will probably be given some new features and some feature codes
may also change.

Hope this answers your questions.


Steve

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

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 04:50:48 +0000
From: scott miller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Information Wanted About DMS Switches
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Vardy
David) writes:

> Hi! I'm an electrical engineering student preparing for my first
> interiview with my first big telecommunications company. I was
> wondering if anyone could give me a simple description (or complex if
> you have time) of what a DMS Switch is and what it does. What does DMS
> stand for?  What kind of maintenance and software is required to
> maintain it?

DMS stands for 'Digital Multiplex Switching', which is used to
describe Northern Telecom's family of central office switches.
Variants of the DMS include the DMS-100 (end-office, POTS and ISDN),
DMS-200 (toll), DMS-300 (international gateway), DMS-MTX (cellular),
DMS-STP (CCS7), etc.

The components of a DMS system have been developed over the years
using many different processor families, programming languages, and
operating systems, with a common goal of achieving a the maximum
call-processing capacity and very high availability. (System downtime
targets are on the order of 30 seconds/year)

The role of the switch is to process telephone calls. A POTS call is
the simplest. The switch monitors for off-hook, provides dialtone,
collects dialed digits, figures out who you want to talk to, rings the
other line, waits for answer, sets up the voice path through the
switching fabric, sets up the call, and then waits for one end to hang
up so that it can reverse this process.  Oh, and it bills the call,
too. (Very important!)  And it does all this a couple of hundred times
per second.

The software that maintains the system is crucial, and constitutes a
large proportion of the library, which was counted at 25+ Million
lines of code a few years ago.

It's a very big, complex, realtime system.  It can be a real challenge
to keep it all working, and it can be damn hard work, but there's a
whole lot to be learned from it.

Good luck with the interview.  (NT or BNR, I presume?)

(Oh, on the DMS-100 thread: I recall reading here that an example of a
difference you may find in CO switches is that some let you dial
through a stutter dialtone, and some don't.  Things like modem dialing
strings may need to be tweaked.  I imagine the differences in external
behaviour would be relatively minor.)


Scott Miller, in the bowels of Bell-Northern Research
[e-mail]      [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 09:45:27 -0500
From: [e-mail] (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Re: Grim Changes for Net


> And yes, that child pornography: truly the pedophiles have a field day
> on the commercial services; after all on CIS/AOL/IRC you are whoever you
> say you are; who is to say otherwise?  At least on Internet's own version
> of chat (Internet Relay Chat or IRC) anomynity is relatively more difficult
> to pull off; your username@site is there for people to see.

I suspect that the anonymity afforded by the services have a lot to do
with the problem. Now that Caller-ID is available in many areas, the
"heavy breathers" have to go elsewhere and the net is a natural.

My opinion is that we do not need to make context illegal (and with
all of the different juristictions probably can't since so much is
dependant on "the eye of the beholder".

Rather, if the identity of all users were available through something
like a "white pages" -- I know there is one, look for the first Peterson --
then I *suspect* that the problem would become manageable.  Currently
the traditional response -- personal retaliation is difficult.

The sad part of this long posting is that female users are being forced to
change their usernames for protection. IMNSHO they are being victemized
by terrorists -- is there any other word ? -- and *that* is the injustice.

On earlier frontiers, those who were impolite had to do it face to face
and risked retaliation. The crude cowards of the net hide behind a mask
of distance an impersonal electrons and communicate from their closets.

Now if I were more mercenary, I could see a value of being able to trace
any message to its source. It is certainly doable and not very difficult,
just an "unexplored territory" at the moment. However I do think that
Internet Caller-ID would be a better solution to the problem than the
"thought police" since censorship does nothing to stop those who are rude,
only society/culture can do that.


Warmly,

Padgett

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

From: [e-mail] (Mike Sandman)
Subject: Re: Pair Gain Line Problem, Help!
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 21:15:14 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> Matt <[e-mail].
edu> writes:

> I have been told by a Pac Bell (i'm in CA) tech that the reason that I
> cannot connect above 9600 is because I'm on a "Pair Gain" line to the
> C.O. My roommate has no problem, the tech says he's on a copper line
> to the C.O.

> Problem: Pac Bell refuses to change me over to a copper line, saying
> that they are only required to provide a 'voice-grade' line which only
> has to support transfer speed of 1200 bps (HA HA HA HA HA).

> What can I do?  Does anyone have a work-around?  Has anyone experienced
> this same problem? I've tried four different modems, all with the same
> problem. But if I use my roommate's line, everything works great! (For
> practical reasons, I can't use his line all the time, he runs a business
> on it).

The usual cause of trouble connecting or staying connected at high
speeds is high loop current coming from the pair gain equipment (or
right from the CO or a PBX for that matter).

If you have a digital voltmeter with a DC ma scale, you should be able
to determine your loop current by putting the leads in series with one
side of the line, making a call (with the electricity going thru your
meter) and reading the ma off the meter.

For good data communications, it should read between 23 and 27ma DC.
If it's over 27ma, which it probably will be, you will need to get the
current down below 27ma. It is not unusual to get 50ma, and sometimes
as much as 80ma of loop current. In addition to preventing high speed
connections, 40ma and up can burn out whatever you've got connected to
the line, except standard old non-electronic 2500 type telephones.

If the loop current is between 23 and 27 ma, you are looking at a
problem other than loop current.  If the loop current is below 23ma,
the phone company must bring the current on the line up to 23ma. If
it's above 27ma, the phone company won't reduce the current for you,
since their high spec is 110ma (a holdover from the early 70's before
there was much electronic stuff out there).

To bring the current down, you can use 1/2 or 1 watt resistors in
series with BOTH sides of the line (the red and green wires). For
every 100 ohms you put on the line, you will reduce the loop current
by about 1ma. While you reduce the loop current, you are also reducing
the AC voltage containing the audio on the line - 100 ohms reduces the
level of the line about 1db.

If your loop current is at 33 ma, and you stick 600 ohms in series
with each side of the line, you will drop the db level from say -6db
(which is a good average), to -12db. This would probably work OK for
the modem, since it doesn't like real high audio levels anyway, but
you would have trouble hearing people talk on the line at that point.
You could put these resistors just before the modem -- and NOT in
series with with your telephone, which would still allow you to talk.

If you have 40ma of loop current, you would need to put in 1300 ohms
of resistors, which would lower the db level to -19db at which point
even your modem wouldn't be able to hear on the line.

We sell a gizmo called a Loop Current Attenuator which has a series of
dip switches that you keep flipping until you see the loop current on
the line go below 27ma. At that point, you remove your meter and leave
the Loop Current Attenuator in place. The Loop Current Attenuator uses
a network of resistors and capacitors to leave the db level alone so
you or your modem can still hear on the line, while reducing the loop
current.

We sell the modular Loop Current Attenuator for $32.95. 30 day
moneyback guarantee. 708-980-7710.


Mike Sandman

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Leibold)
Date: 23 Feb 95 22:00:13 -0500
Subject: Northern/BT Agreement Continues


[from Bell News (Bell Canada), 20 Feb 95]

Northern Telecom and British Telecom have added five more years to the
agreement which allows British Telecom to market Northern's business
telephone systems -- the Meridian 1 PBX and Norstar key system -- to its
customers.

The agreement could generate more than $600 million in revenue for our
sister BCE company.

British Telecom has also placed an order with Northern forf $125 million
worth of Digital Multiplex Switching (DMS) 100 systems.


Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:250/730
Internet: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Eric Nelson)
Subject: Re: Wireless RF Manufacturers
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 01:09:56 MST
Organization: Primenet


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

> Anybody out there know who the "good" manufacturers of RF subsystems
> for cellular systems are? Assuming there is at least one good one?

Good is a relative term.  I also don't know exactly what you mean by
RF subsystems.  The major manufacturers are AT&T, NTI, Ericcson and
Motorola.  North American cellular system are proprietary in that you
have to by the cell sites and swithes from the same vendor.  Hope this
helps.

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

From: [e-mail] (John Scourias)
Subject: Re: E(TACS) and GSM
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 14:30:13 -0500


Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]> writes:

> Can someone explain to me what E(TACS) and GSM are in detail?  There
> are around five cellular phone service providers in our country, and
> most of them use E(TACS).  One uses GSM, and says that this is the
> latest technology in cellular telephony.  They say that it would make
> international roaming possible (although they say that it isn't
> possible right now).

> Also, this service provider that uses GSM says that they're the only
> provider that's 100% digital.  One of the implications of this, they
> claim, is that their phones can't be cloned as easily as the analog
> ones.  Is this true?  Also, they say that analog systems are very
> prone to charge errors.  Is this also true?  Or are they just trying
> to scare me from going to the other service providers?

During the development of GSM, security was a main consideration.  GSM
authenticates the phone and the user (through a SIM card).  Also, the
digital nature of the signal provides inherently better security from
eavesdroppers, and in addition allows the signal to be enciphered.
The ETACS system, is _I believe_ a derivative of the North American
AMPS system, which is analog.  There are various stories around that
security and authentication on AMPS leave a lot to be desired.  Not
only is it easy to eavesdrop on a cellular conversation, but it is
also fairly easy to fake authentication, and fraudulently charge calls
to your account.  There were some posts earlier about channel pirating
on AMPS.


Regards,

John Scourias       http://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/~jscouria
University of Waterloo    [e-mail]
Waterloo, ON, Canada

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave)
Subject: What is ESF and D4?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 18:07:58 GMT


When ordering a T1 line for data, the local fiber company wants to
know whether I'd like "ESF" or "D4".  Could someone please explain
what these terms mean?


TIA,

Dave Z   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: March 7 Bellcore Meeting in DC
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 01:54:48 GMT


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:

> This reminds me of the airline a few years ago which misprinted its
> schedule book -- thousands of copies distributed -- and gave out the
> number of some hapless individual in error instead. When he called to
> complain, they told him to change *his* phone number. When they later
> found out he was getting rather rude with persistent callers who kept
> telling him he was a liar and that they *knew* they had reached the
> airline, then the airline tried to sue him for force him to change his
> number so that their customers would not be confused. Never once did
> it occur to them to correct their own error and reprint their booklet.

    Apparently the guy was not born American. He made a great
mistake, he should have sued the airline as soon as he had started
getting annoying phone calls.


Leo

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

From: [e-mail] (Gary D. Shapiro)
Subject: NUtmeg
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 01:11:21 +0800
Organization: Committee to Re-Elect George Leroy Tirebiter


When I tell people my number is NUtmeg x-xxxx, even the ones old
enough to know better say, "huh?".  (I have no idea if any 68 prefixes
even existed here in 805 when the switch to all digit dialing took
place.)


Gary D. Shapiro <[e-mail]>  http://www.rain.org/~gshapiro/

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #119
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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #120

TELECOM Digest     Fri, 24 Feb 95 08:58:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 120

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill! (ACLU Information)
    Re: MCI Slams Again (Jeff Jelinek)
    Re: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? (Greg Habstritt)
    Re: How To Keep Business Phone Calls Short? (Chris Mork)
    Re: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API (
    Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Benjamin P. Carter)
    Re: Fax Modems and Voice Lines (K. M. Peterson)
    Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Brendan Dowling)
    Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted (Jeremy Grigg)
    Re: What is Loop Start? (Travis Russell)
    Who Makes T-Coder or Other 2 to 1 T1 mux? (David Friedman)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
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* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
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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: ACLU Information <[e-mail]>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 10:48:53 -0500
Subject: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill!


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although I commented on this topic
earlier this week and presented a lengthy commentary on the Exon
legislation, its worth mentioning again with a suggestion that you
take some stance *now* on this matter. If you did not read and
sign the petition circulated here earlier in the week, you might
want to go back and read it now, along with this similar message
sent by the ACLU.    PAT]

**ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES ALERT**

FIGHT ONLINE CENSORSHIP!

AXE THE EXON BILL!

The American Civil Liberties Union urges you to contact the members of the
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and your own Senators to ask them to oppose
the efforts to turn online communications into the most heavily censored
form of American media.

In a clumsy effort to purge sexual expression from the Internet and other
online networks, the self-described "Communications Decency Act of 1995"
(S.314, introduced by Senator Exon on 2/2/95) would make ALL
telecommunications service providers liable for every message, file, or
other content carried on their networks.  Senator Exon is planning to
attach the bill to Senator Pressler's new telecommunications legislation,
which is targeted for action in early March.

The Exon proposal would severely restrict the flow of online information by
requiring service providers to act as private censors of e-mail messages,
public forums, mailing lists, and archives to avoid criminal liability.
The ACLU believes that online users should be the only censors of the
content of the information they receive.

**The Exon proposal broadens existing law by subjecting service
providers, as well as the individuals who actually send messages, to
criminal liability for any "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or
indecent" message transmitted over their networks.**

If enacted into law, this vague and overly broad legislation could
have the following draconian effects:

*    The Exon proposal would prohibit communications with sexual
content through private e-mail between consenting adults, and would
inhibit people from making comments that might or might not be
prohibited.

*    Under the Exon proposal, service providers would pay up to
$100,000 or spend up to 2 years in jail for prohibited content
produced by subscribers on other networks, over which they had no
control.

*    The Exon proposal would expand current restrictions on
telephone access by minors to dial-a-porn services to include online
access to indecent material, requiring service providers to purge
"indecent" material from public bulletin boards and discussion groups
to avoid accidental viewing by a minor.

In effect, online providers would be forced to offer to adults only
that content that is "suitable for minors."

S. 314 is nearly identical to an amendment Senator Exon successfully
attached to last year's Senate version of the telecommunications law
overhaul.  Last year's bill died for unrelated reasons, but the Senate
Commerce Committee is determined to pass new telecommunications
legislation this year that could easily include the Exon proposal.

The ACLU opposes the restrictions on speech imposed by this
legislation because they violate the First Amendment's guarantee of
free expression.  Forcing carriers to pre-screen content violates the
Constitution and threatens the free and robust expression that is the
promise of the Net.  The Constitution requires that any abridgement of
speech use the least restrictive means available -- the language of
the Exon proposal is clearly the most restrictive because it sweeps
broadly against a wide array of protected material involving sexual
expression.

Stop the information superhighway from becoming the most censored
segment of communications media!

ACT NOW:

Urge members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation:

*To oppose the Exon proposal, or any Senate or House variation.

*To drop the Exon proposal BEFORE it goes to the Senate floor.

*To hold full hearings on the Exon proposal and to review it thoroughly
before it goes to the Senate floor.

*To reject any effort to attach the Exon proposal to the Senate
telecommunications legislation.

THE EXON PROPOSAL COULD BE LAW WITHIN WEEKS IF WE DON'T ACT TODAY.

Send your letter by e-mail, fax, or snail mail to:

Senator Larry Pressler, S.D.
Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
SR-254 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-6125
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)
e-mail: [e-mail]

To maximize the impact of your letter, you should also write to the
members of the Senate Commerce Committee and to your own Senators.

A sample letter is attached.

Majority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee

Senator Bob Packwood, Ore.
SR-259 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-3702
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska
SH-522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-0201
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator John McCain, Ariz.
SR-111 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-0303
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Conrad Burns, Mont.
SD-183 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-2603
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Slade Gorton, Wash.
SH-730 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-4701
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)
e-mail:  [e-mail]

Senator Trent Lott, Miss.
SR-487 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-2403
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Tex.
SH-703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-4303
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)
e-mail:  [e-mail]

Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Maine
SR-174 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-1903
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator John Ashcroft, Mo.
SH-705 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-2504
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Minority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee

Senator Ernest F. Hollings, S.C.
SR-125 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-4002
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii
SH-772 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-1102
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Wendell H. Ford, Ky.
SR-173A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-1701
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)
e-mail:  [e-mail]

Senator J. James Exon, Neb.
SH-528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-2702
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, W. Va.
SH-109 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-4802
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator John F. Kerry, Mass.
SR-421 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-2102
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator John B. Breaux, La
SH-516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-1803
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Richard H. Bryan, Nev.
SR-364 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-2804
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

Senator Byron L. Dorgan, N.D.
SH-713 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510-3405
[phone] (phone)
[phone] (fax)

You can also write or fax your own Senator at:

The Honorable ______________________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senate directories including fax numbers may be found at:

gopher://ftp.senate.gov:70
gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/0/socsci/polscilaw/uslegi


Additional information about the ACLU's position on this issue and
others affecting civil liberties online and elsewhere may be found at:

gopher:\\aclu.org:6601
OR request our FAQ at [e-mail]

          ---------cut here---------

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Senator _______:

I am writing to urge you to oppose the restrictions on speech that
would be imposed by the legislation introduced by Senator Exon, known
as the Communications Decency Act of 1995, S.314, introduced on
2/2/95.  The Exon proposal would severely restrict the flow of online
information by requiring service providers to act as private censors
of e-mail messages, public forums, mailing lists, and archives to
avoid criminal liability. I believe that online users should be the
only censors of the content of the messages they receive.

I urge you to:

*Oppose the Exon proposal, or any Senate or House variation.

*Drop the Exon proposal BEFORE it goes to the Senate floor.

*Hold full hearings on the Exon proposal and review it thoroughly before
it goes to the Senate floor.

*Reject any effort to attach the Exon proposal to the Senate
telecommunications legislation.

Sincerely,

[name]

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

ACLU Free Reading Room  |  American Civil Liberties Union
gopher://aclu.org:6601  | 132 W. 43rd Street, NY, NY 10036
mailto:[e-mail]|    "Eternal vigilance is the
ftp://ftp.pipeline.com  |         price of liberty"

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

From: Jeff Jelinek <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MCI Slams Again
Organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 19:29:30 GMT


I seriously doubt that MCI intends to change an individual PIC for the
sole purpose of picking up some LD revenue for a month or so.  Big
deal.  Why would they risk the repercussions of an unauthorized PIC
change.  Of the hundreds of thousands of PIC changes that take place
each month, some of the customer service people will make a mistake.
I have not heard of this type of intentional action for many years.
Interesting.

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

From: [e-mail] (Greg Habstritt)
Subject: Re: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here?
Date: 24 Feb 1995 22:17:25 GMT
Organization: Intellitech Communications Group


> Can anyone explain what the acronym "MVIP" stands for?  I heard this in
> a discussion on IVR.

I'm trying to recall the exact wording for MVIP, and I can't find any
magazines near my desk with articles naming it.  However, I do believe
it stands for Multi Vendor Interface Protocol, or something to that
effect.  Bottom line is that it is a industry standard developed by
Natural Micro Systems, a voice processing hardware manufacturer
(competitor of Dialogic).  It is basically a standard that other
vendors can meet, in order to ensure that their equipment is
compatible with the NMS architecture.

Dialogic has a similar standard called SCSA, hence the big industry
battle between MVIP and SCSA (similar to MicroSoft's TAPI against
Novell's TSAPI).

Yup, that's what it is.  If you really want to know more, call NMS at
1-800-533-6120.


[e-mail]     Greg Habstritt
Intellitech Communications Inc.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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

From: [e-mail] (Chris Mork)
Subject: Re: How To Keep Business Phone Calls Short?
Date: 23 Feb 1995 10:57:03 -0500
Organization: Internet Access Cincinnati 513-887-8877


Alan Boritz (drharry![e-mail]) wrote:

> A friend is having some difficulty getting his employees (less than
> ten, in a trucking business) to manage their telephone calls reasonably.
> He doesn't want to create a hostile environment, but his inwats and
> outwats expense is getting out of hand.  Has anyone found voice terminals
> with interval timers, or any other equipment features, to be helpful
> to accomplish that task?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Radio Shack *had* (and maybe still has) such
> a thing along with other companies. It goes on the phone line and after a
> pre-set period of time you hear a litle tone in the background. You must
> then press a key on the phone to restart the timer.  After you have done
> this often enough, you are supposed to take the hint I guess.   PAT]

Try getting account codes from the L-D provider. Each employee can only call
with their own code and the records show up on the monthly bill. If their
calls get out of hand, show them the bill and point out the length of time(s)
on their code. Try setting a monthly limit per employee. By the way, these
codes must be "validated",(i.e. they use a SPECIFIC number ... say the last
four digits of their social security number).

Hope this helps!

Chris Mork    [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 13:10:53 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API


All modems support Microsoft's Telephony API, but only if they have a
suitable driver.  Modem manufacturers have been slow to provide these
drivers because Microsoft distributes a free generic modem driver with
the TAPI SDK, because Microsoft distributes the source code for a
rudimentary voice modem driver free (by ftp "ftp.microsoft.com" and
Compuserve "go winext"), and because Microsoft intends to provide a
generic modem driver (Unimodem) bundled with Windows 9x.

The problem with these Microsoft drivers is that they are limited,
since they do not properly support voice features.  Also the Unimodem
driver appears to be a "dial only" driver since it does not pass rings
back to the application.

Regular modems are actually poor candidates for TAPI, since they
provide meager call control features.  Best for telephony are boards
like the IBM Mwave, which allow for full duplex speaker phone, touch
tone recognition, Caller ID, handset state detection, control over the
handset connection to the line and software upgradability to features
such as VoiceView.  Somewhere between regular modems and Mwave type
cards in terms of telephony features are voice/fax/modems, which can
record and play sound from the line, but still provide poor status
sensing (like handset on/off hook), and which are intrinsically
unreliable for two reasons: 1. the burden of voice data through the
serial port and 2. the inclusion of status and control signals in-band
in the voice data stream.  The first of these deficiencies is
addressed by some modems, such as those based on chip sets by Sierra
and Cirrus that do their voice with DMA rather than through the serial
port.  Of course modems using this technique must be internal.

Plug: My company, AlgoRhythms Incorporated, has written several
service providers for various different hardwares, including a generic
modem driver that supports voice modems.  This driver is not currently
commercially available, though it will be bundled with our application
software "PhoneKits" when this is released.

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

From: [e-mail] (Benjamin P. Carter)
Subject: Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 21:15:58 GMT


[e-mail] (danny burstein) writes:

> ... yes, indeed, central offices -do- keep track of the CNID of
> incoming calls.

> (Other posters in the group have suggested that typically 90 days are
> kept online, just like with outgoing smdr.)

If that is so, then when a customer has received obnoxious phone
calls, the telco could provide the incoming IDs for particular
conversations that have already taken place.  This would be much more
helpful than the ineffective services that are now being offered.

Some person at the telco would have to access a database to provide
the record of a past conversation.  They probably won't do this for
free unless the PUC decides that they should.  On the other hand, many
customers who have received obnoxious calls are highly motivated and
would probably be willing to pay enough to allow the telco to recover
the real cost of providing such a service.  The telco might even make
a profit.

This reasoning assumes that caller ID is not available (as, for
example, in California) or that the telco records make it possible to
identify a caller when caller ID fails to do so.  Also, I assume
everyone agrees that the privacy of the caller should not be a
consideration if a residential customer claims to be receiving
obnoxious calls.  The privacy of the callee is certainly more
important than that of the caller in this case, and arguably so in all
cases.


Ben Carter   internet address: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (K. M. Peterson)
Subject: Re: Fax Modems and Voice Lines
Date: 22 Feb 1995 21:28:57 GMT
Organization: Vertech Pharmaceuticals Incorporated


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Randall C. Poe) writes:

> I have been trying to get a fax modem (internal, in a Mac Powerbook)
> to work at home, on a line shared with an answering machine and
> several voice sets (3).  The feature that doesn't work is one the
> manufacturer calls "Silent Answer", where it allows other devices to
> pick up the phone, then listens in for fax ("CNG"?) tones.  When it
> hears the fax tones, it is supposed to pick up the phone, causing the
> answering machine (for instance) to go offline.

> So my question: Assuming this is the problem, is there a quick,
> off-the-shelf (cheap) fix?

I was unable to get this working on a Supra FaxModem, spending about
20 hours and several email and telephone conversations with the
manufacturer.

The retailer informed me that many of their customers were similarly
unable to get it to work.  I went to a ZyXEL for desktop use; I do not
believe that they make a PB internal.

My advice is to purchase an inexpensive desktop modem for home use.
ZyXELs offer "distinctive ring" decoding, which is an alternative to
"Silent Answer" requiring "Ringmate" or some other type of distinctive
ring service from your local telco.  ZyXELs, however, are _not_
inexpensive; if you don't want to go this route call Hello Direct
(1-800-HI-HELLO), and order a box from them that will do this
discrimination externally and allow you to use any modem you wish.


K. M. Peterson <[e-mail]>

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

From: [e-mail] (Brendan Dowling)
Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC
Date: 23 Feb 1995 12:20:07 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Barbara


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John
Lundgren) writes:

> I would like to see him get the same treatment that the guy in the 'got
> milk?' commercial gets.

> How long are his arms?  Three feet or so?  Put a PC with a modem on a
> table outside his cell, about a meter or so away from the bars.  Of
> course, there would be absolutely nothing in the cell to let him
> extend his reach.

> He would be saying, "Is this what Hell is like?"

There are laws against "cruel and unusual punishment".


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't know whether you guys are joking
or not ... PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeremy Grigg)
Subject: Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted
Date: 24 Feb 1995 01:03:13 GMT
Organization: OzEmail Pty Ltd - Australia


Although Telstra is 100% owned by the Government, some elements are less
controlled. For example, the yellow pages commercial directories are
owned in a consortium with a publisher and several carriers including
Bell Canada. And the carrier's pay TV ventures are being run via 50-50
consortia with Microsoft (on-line services) and News Corporation
(content). The only analysis on the carrier comes from Moody's which
regularly evaluates its credit worthiness. Prospects for the company are
good, even though the market will be liberalised in 1997. Although there
will be unlimited competition, dominant carriers who control bottlenecks
will be forced to offer "commercially-sustainable" tariffs based on
network costs. This gives Telstra an incentive to keep its overheads low.

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

From: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)
Subject: Re: What is Loop Start?
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 20:30:10 +0000
Organization: Travis Russell
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (RJ WELSH)
writes:

> These terms are most certainly NOT relative to T1 lines!!!  Ther refer
> to analog telephone line "start" signals that indicate to the CO
> (central office) that an off-hook condition exists and dial tone
> services are required.

> Loop start means that both battery and ground leads are present and
> that ground, therefore, is supplied by the CO.  Ground start means that
> a local (local to the off-hook instrument) ground is used and represents
> a "single-lead" subscriber line.

Loop start is commonly used for residential POTS. Uses -48V return to
the C.O..

> Ground start lines were and are not often used since the ground
> resistance between the subscriber and the CO is unpredictable at best
> and conductor pairs (rather than single copper wires) have been in use
> for a long time now.

Ground start IS used today for PBX trunks. Loop start does not work
well on PBX because of glare problems, so ground start is used again.
To use laymens terms, instead of relying on ring generator to indicate
an incoming call (which is intermittent), the C.O. sends ground on the
tip side of the line (which is steady, not intermittent).

> Wink start indicates a reversal of battery and ground, typically for
> less than 500 milliseconds, and is used for TRUNK, not LINE signalling.

Wink start is used for DID LINES. Also used with TIE lines between
PBXs.

By the way, the definition of a trunk vs. line? A trunk connects two
switches together. A line connects a "telephone" with a switch.
Semantics ...

> I won't waste bandwith correcting misconceptions about T1: buy a
> little book and read it.

T-1 channel banks are tyipcally optioned for one of the above
signaling methods, because they are connected to an analog PBX! The
trunk (or line) card coming from the PBX is terminated at a channel
bank. The channel bank muxes 24 circuits out to one T-1. The channel
bank must use the same signaling as the line card in the PBX, hence
the original misconception that these are used for T-1 signaling.

Hope this clears up signaling ...


Travis Russell  [e-mail]
Author of "Signaling System #7"   McGraw-Hill, 1995

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

From: [e-mail] (David Friedman)
Subject: Who Makes T-Coder or Other 2 to 1 T1 mux?
Date: 24 Feb 1995 14:39:59 GMT
Organization: Netcom


I have heard of a T-Coder which provides 2 T1 framed outputs from 1
T1.  When used for voice applications quality is fine.  Who makes this
unit or some type of similar simple mux?

We have an application where a client wants to do some simple,
inexpensive drop and insert (wants to split a small number of channels
of a T1 and pass them to our equipment which has a direct T1 interface
and channel bank the rest).  Rather than getting into expensive custom
designed drop and insert set up, I thought a T-coder would be fine
since most traffic is voice anyway.

Any advice or products would be appreciated.


David Friedman, Buffalo Audiotex, Inc. White Plains, New York, USA
[e-mail]    Voice: [phone]   Fax: [phone]
Computer Telephone Integration - Voice Processing & Switching
Open Arch. Call Center Apps. & Int'l Callback & Calling Card Sys.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #120
******************************


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Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #121

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 28 Feb 95 01:52:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 121

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    3 School Teachers Charged in Net Child Porn Ring (TELECOM Digest Editor)
    Book Review: "Modems Made Easy" by Hakala (Rob Slade)
    Internet Society, DC Chapter _kick-off_ Event (Bruce Thompson)
    AT&T Wants to be Your On-Ramp (John Shaw)
    What is a Digital PBX? (Matt Noah)
    Studio Quality NTSC Digital Video Realtime Transmission (Jim Chen)
    What Are You Doing in the Falkland Islands? (Paul Robinson)
    Sprint Fiber Cut; Any Information Available ([e-mail])
    Last Laugh! Nick Cheats on His Wife (TELECOM Digest Editor)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: 3 School Teachers Charged in Net Child Porn Ring
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1995 01:00:00 CST


I lost the notes I had on this, so I am going to reconstruct it from
memory. It was in the papers over the weekend.

It seems the latest rage on Internet where the mass media is
concerned is going to be child porn. If there is a ring going, so
much the better, eh?  Watch and see if this theme is not going to
be hammered down our throats now for awhile until something better
comes along.

Anyway, the papers reported that three elementary school teachers
were arrested on February 17.  Their offense was being in possession
of child porn and passing it back and forth on the net. Two of the
teachers are in Florida, and the other is in South Carolina. The
government claims the two in Florida were manufacturing it and sending
it to the guy in South Carolina. The two in Florida, it is claimed,
were getting young boys to come their homes where they received
money for doing the no-no thing on video. This video was then converted
into computer files and shipped over the Internet to the fellow in
South Carolina. He in turn distributed it elsewhere, to fellow .. umm,
enthusiasts via computer.

The authorities would not have known about him had they not raided
the computers in Florida and found email, etc addressed to him. It
seems there were other names there as well, i.e. other members of
the ring who received the files showing boys doing the no-no thing
and these folks are also teachers.

In a thinly veiled threat the investigators handling this case issued
a press release saying in part, "We know all school teachers are not
pedophiles, but quite a few are ... and we know that many pedophiles
select occupations where they can make easy contact with their victims.
Based on the additional names found in the computers of the men we
have arrested, our investigation will continue with an emphasis on
*school teachers who have computers and use the Internet*."

Oh wow!  Maybe librarians who operate children's departments in their
library who own computers and use the Internet should be included in
this investigation.  It probably would not hurt to include social
workers and youth workers who login on the net also. And whatever they
do, they should not forget to investigate the youth pastors at various
churches.

Well, they did not include all those categories ... just school
teachers, which ought to send a few chills around the net. This is
starting to sound more and more like old Joe McCarthy, a creep most
of you would not remember, even if you may have heard about him.

McCarthy was a senator from Wisconsin during the 1950's. With the
exception of whenever the Senate was having roll call for a vote,
he spent the rest of his time all day holding hearings, with the
threat of federal subpoena and Contempt of Congress charges hanging
over the heads of those who would not cooperate.

McCarthy's hearings were to locate and identify 'known communists
and homosexuals' employed by the government. He considered them to
pretty much be one and the same, although he admitted there were
some homosexuals who were not communist and vice-versa. All day long
parades of 'witnesses' came before his congressional committee to
plead their own innocence and snitch on others in an effort to
save themselves. What year was it, 1951-52?  The McCarthy hearings
went on all that summer for several weeks. Like his contemporary
in government J. Edgar Hoover, McCarthy spared no effort to identify
and root out 'deviants'.

Then at night, after a hard day at work, McCarthy would retire to
one of various gay bars in Washington, DC where he would cruise for
a lover of his own for the evening ... anonymously of course. Oh, he
was a strange one alright. Sometimes if he was in a hurry to get out
to the bars, he would adjourn the afternoon session of his hearings
early. If you watched the hearings regards the Supreme Court judge
and the allegations of sexual harrassment and thought that was funny,
then you would have considered Joe McCarthy to be a real riot.

About the same time in Idaho, some fellow was arrested for doing the
no-no thing in the men's room of the public library, and the uproar
over his actions caused the editors of the {Boise Idaho Statesman}
newspaper to run an editorial entitled 'crush the monsters'. In it
the newspaper encouraged police to identify and arrest all homosexuals.
The police took that message to heart, and there followed over a period
of about three years in the middle 1950's a *massive* witch hunt for
gay men (no one ever told the idiots there is such a thing as gay
women) throughout the state of Idaho. And each one arrested took the
advice of the police that, 'if you tell us the names of all the people
you know who are deviants it will make our job a lot easier'. They
were all telling on each other; it was an unbelievable thing. Each
one arrested would give still more names to the police, etc.

McCarthy used the same tactics: tell us the names of the people you
know who are communists or homosexuals; if you make it easy on us
we will make it easy on you ... either that or be held in Contempt
of Congress. Joe handed out those contempt citations on a regular
basis, and the 'witnesses' would always hand over a few more names
Joe did not have on his list yet.

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

Now fast forward forty years ... the newspapers are banging their
drums and talking about all the child pornographers on the net. By the
way, I do *not* equate child pornographers with gay men; let's set
that straight here and now.  How often since the first of this year
has a day gone by you have *NOT* read something negative about the
net in the papers?

    -- Mitnick, the infamous hacker captured;

    -- the kid in Ann Arbor gets arrested for writing threats;
       with a sex twist to the case of course;

    -- other hackers and phreaks arrested, stories told in detail;

    -- and of course the child and other assorted pornographers;
       the couple put on trial in Tennessee for pornography;

    -- a lengthy article in (I beleive) the {Village Voice} talking
       about how people behave themselves in hot chat on the major
       systems.

And more ... there are not many days now we do not read something about
the net in the papers, and never is it positive. And now we read that
investigators feel more attention should be given to 'school teachers
with computers who use the Internet' ... they might be part of a ring
involved in child pornography. After all, three have been arrested in
the southeast, and they had names of others. Isn't that precious?

Gee, you don't think the newspapers have an axe to grind with the net
do you?  I mean, its not like their circulation has gone down in
recent years is it?  It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that
there are only now only about 20 percent of the number of newspapers
in the USA today there were even thirty years ago, or the fact that
circulation and delivery hassles are worse than ever does it? Its not
like they want to keep their tight grip on the information business
and charge lots of money for what most of us get for free is it?

So in my opinion, watch the papers keep on banging their drums and
having a grand time with every degrogatory story they can find about
the Internet and its components. The more they write, and the more
erroneous their reports, the more the general citizenry will get in
an uproar and demand 'something needs to be done'. And the more the
citizens squall, the more the government will be egged on to clamp
down on things here. The more the government harasses the net, the
more the papers will have to write about. See how neatly it all fits
together?

Not only that, but the more the citizens scream and the government
reacts and the newspapers report, the more the same citizens will be
looking for admission to this not-so-exclusive of late club, so they
too can share in the alt.sex.stories and other benefits of membership
in the club.

You watch; this will be the year of the Internet, with lurid reports in
the mass media on an almost daily basis before the year is out. A ring
of pedophile school teachers operating on the net?  My, my, what will
they think of next?

What's going to happen is the constant abuse of the 'child pornography
is so bad, we have to take any actions possible to stop it' theory
is going to cause that theory to lose whatever currency it may still
enjoy.

Yeah, child porn is sleazy stuff for sleazy people; but it is getting
to where its like a joke when the government mentions it in connection
with some investigation or another.  Whatever shock value comes with
the announcement 'child porn was found on the net' is going to wear
off. *Then* what will be next?


PAT

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

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 14:09:08 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Modems Made Easy" by Hakala


BKMDMDEZ.RVW   950123

"Modems Made Easy", David Hakala, 1993, 0-07-881962-8, U$16.95
%A   David Hakala [e-mail] [e-mail]
%C   2600 Tenth St., Berkeley, CA   94710
%D   1993
%G   0-07-881962-8
%I   McGraw-Hill/Osborne
%O   U$16.95 510-548-2805 800-227-0900 [e-mail]
%T   "Modems Made Easy"

This is a good, short, solid overview of what you can do with modems.
Newcomers to the online world will likely need not only some help with
installation, the first few calls, tuning, and troubleshooting, but
with an introduction to all aspects of microcomputer communications.

An overview of modems does a good job of explaining protocol concepts
with real world analogies.  A chapter on buying a modem is quite
brief, but realistic, as is the advice on software.  Chapter five, on
setting up your modem, is short and practical.

Chapter six, on software installation, should be considerably expanded
in order to assist first-time users.  The concepts have been
explained, in chapter two, but the specifics of how that works out are
lacking.  There is a good section on identifying COM ports (often
missing in other works), but little advice on how to identify
incorrect parameter settings.  Appendix B, on troubleshooting, does
have some advice but it, too, is quite terse.

Chapters seven to twelve give you a rundown on what to do with a
modem: call a BBS, call a commercial online service, call an
electronic mail service, call the Internet, call another private
computer, or set up your own BBS.  The material on the different types
of services is quite reasonable and unbiased, and gives you good
advice on what to expect (although the Internet section could use a
bit of fact checking).  "Remote access", the ability to use your home
or office computer from another remote computer, is the only missing
application.

The last three chapters offer some helpful, related advice on
money-saving tips, communications-related shareware, and the
communications aspects of Windows.  There are also a number of
resource lists, including the ASP BBS list, the "Boardwatch 100" list,
and communications hardware and software vendors.

Those buying and setting up modems for the first time may want
additional sources of buying advice and help, but this is very
definitely worth consideration as a general advisor and entre to the
online world.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKMDMDEZ.RVW   950123. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 95 14:45:00 EST
From: Bruce Thompson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Internet Society, DC Chapter _kick-off_ Event


Internet Society Washington, DC Chapter Inaugural Meeting

The Washington DC chapter of the Internet Society (DC-ISOC)
proudly presents:

   _The Internet Comes to Washington_

Join us for a unique event where leaders from government, technology,
industry, and education will share their views about the Internet.
This kick-off event will assemble a diverse blend of key players
involved with the Internet's creation, usage and future.

Who should attend?

 - Internet services providers
 - Government policy makers
 - Representatives of special interests related to Internet
    - educational uses
    - freedom and privacy concerns
    - business uses
 - Anyone interested in the Internet's continued success and growth

Note this important event on your calendar now for March 9, 1995.
Preliminary information is included below.  A final announcement will be
distributed soon.

             ----------- Event Overview: -----------

Title: _The Internet Comes to Washington_
Date:  Thursday, March 9, 1995
Time:  6 PM - 9 PM
Place: Georgetown University
       Reiss Science Building -- Room 103
       Washington, DC

There is no charge to attend "Internet Comes to Washington."  This
event inaugurates programs and activities of the Washington, DC
Chapter of the Internet Society (DC-ISOC).

Directions:   See below
Registration: See below

          ---------------- Schedule: ----------------

6:00 - 7:00  Registration
7:00 - 7:10  Welcoming remarks and introduction to DC-ISOC
7:10 - 8:00  Speaker presentations and panel discussion
8:00 - 9:00  Informal discussions

Mr. Anthony Rutkowski (Executive Director, Internet Society) will
introduce speakers and moderate the panel discussion.  Speakers will
give brief presentations about the Internet from their perspectives.
This will be followed by a moderated question and answer period.

The last hour will allow informal discussions with the speakers and
among your fellow industry leaders and peers.

          -------------- Speakers Include: ----------------

Vinton Cerf: Internet Society President and
             Senior Vice President at MCI.

Tom Kalil:   Director to the National Economic Council at the
             White House and a principal on the White House
             Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF).

Brock Meeks: Washington Bureau Chief for Interactive Week,
             Creator of Cyberwire Dispatch, and contributing writer for
             Wired Magazine

Linda Roberts: Special Advisor on Education Technology at the
               U.S. Department of Education (tentative)

Frank H. Slovenec: President and Chief Operating Officer at
                   Government Technical Services Inc. (GTSI)

TBD: United States Congress (pending invitation acceptance)

Due to seating limitations, we request preregistration for this event.
(see registration details below) The latest information about this
event can be found at: http://www.dcisoc.org/dcisoc.


             ---------- About DC-ISOC -----------------

DC-ISOC was formed to meet unique needs of Washington, DC-area
Internet planners, builders, and users, and to help represent the
Internet to the U.S. government.  The Internet Society itself
(headquartered in nearby Reston, VA), a global organization, has
encouraged creation of DC-ISOC to allow the headquarters organization
to maintain a global perspective, while the chapter meets the pressing
need for Internet representation in the U.S. government's work to
define the National Information Infrastructure (NII).

DC-ISOC's other major focus, concerns of the many Internet service
providers, and policy and user advocacy groups concentrated in the
DC-area "Netplex" (Fortune magazine, 3/7/94), is also a natural
direction for a local chapter.  DC-ISOC recognizes that several
existing organizations, each covering a specific aspect of the
Internet, exist.  The chapter will provide a mechanism and forum for
those diverse interests to interact and advance their goals.

DC-ISOC membership is open to individuals and corporations with a
strong interest in how the Internet develops, whom it serves, and how
it is used.  The chapter especially encourages participation by
representatives of the many DC-area Internet service providers, public
interest and other advocacy groups, representatives of Federal
Government agencies, and interested individuals.

For further information contact DC-ISOC via:
Email address  [e-mail]
HTML           http://www.dcisoc.org/dcisoc.
Phone number   [phone]


        ---- Directions to Reiss Science Building: ----

Reiss Science Building, Room 103, Georgetown University

 From the front gate, head diagonally across the main courtyard,
bearing to the right, toward the large building with the sloped room
(the Intercultural Center, or ICC).  The Reiss Science Building is
immediately north of the ICC: follow the sidewalk to the right of the
ICC and up the stairs, and enter the building on the Northeast side.
Signs will direct you to the auditorium.

Pay parking is available in Parking Lot 3, accessible via Canal Road
or Prospect Street (take 37th south from the main gate, which
dead-ends at Prospect Street, then bear right).  From the East end of
Parking Lot 3, follow the service drive North past the Jesuit cemetery
and the ICC, and the Reiss Science Building will be the next building
on the right as you head up the hill.

            ---------- Registration: ------------

You can register for the event in several ways:

Email the enclosed registration form to [e-mail].

On-line registration at: http://www.dcisoc.org/dcisoc.

Contact the Internet Society at [phone].


Name:
Title:
Organization:
Telephone:
FAX:
Email:
Postal address:

There is no charge to attend "Internet Comes to Washington."  This
event inaugurates the programs and activities of the Washington DC
Chapter of the Internet Society (DC-ISOC).

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

From: John Shaw <[e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Wants to be Your On-Ramp
Date: 27 Feb 1995 15:06:19 -0800
Organization: Computer Users Information Exchange


The following abstract appeared in a recent issue of {Cybernautics
Digest}.

*****************************
AT&T Wants To Be Your On-Ramp
*****************************

Your set-top just got more crowded. According to Junko Yoshida, AT&T
will begin selling "a new breed of interactive consumer device that
will bring voice, e-mail and fax messaging, together with personalized
information services, onto a TV screen" in the second-quarter of this
year ("AT&T unveils 'Sage' info center at CES," Electronic Engineering
Times, Jan. 9, 1995, p. 10).

Yoshida reports that the $329 AT&T TV Information Center, which uses
existing phone lines, can store 20 minutes of digital voice messages.
Users will be able select which voice message they want to listen to
from an on-screen list, and will be able to access topic-specific
news, sports scores, local traffic, weather, and interactive services
such as electronic home-banking and bill paying. AT&T says customers
will be able to purchase a basic package of these services for less
than $10 a month.

"This was specifically designed as an alternative device for those who
choose not to buy a PC at home," says Bell Labs V.P. Eric Sumner in
the article. In response to set-top boxes being developed by other
telcos and cable companies, Sumner says AT&T's new devices will be
positioned as "information superhighway on-ramp products for everyone
that can be used today, instead of something useful five years from
now."

AT&T will also sell a model that connects to a PC and a $199 model
that consists of a phone with a built-in screen. Zenith Electronics
Corp., through an agreement with AT&T, will begin incorporating the
technology into its TVs and cable set-top boxes beginning in early
1996, Yoshida reports.

A sidebar on Bell Laboratories' new Plan 9 operating system, which
AT&T's product uses, accompanies the article. The new OS has been
viewed as a possible successor to Bell Labs' Unix operating system.

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

This story is republished with permission from the March 1995
{Cybernautics Digest}, a monthly summary of reports about converging
information technologies.

(Contact: Terry Hansen, Cybernautics Digest, c/o KFH Publications
Inc., 3530 Bagley Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103; 206-547-4950; Fax:
206-547-5355; E-mail: [e-mail]. U.S. subscription
rate: $24; $2 sample issue. Or visit us on the World Wide Web
at http://www.pscu.com)

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

From: [e-mail] (Matt Noah)
Subject: What is a Digital PBX?
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 02:39:10 GMT


What is the definition of a "digital" PBX?

Assuming an analog PBX is one in which the trunk lines are strictly
analog, e.g. E&M, Ground Start, is a "digital" PBX one in which the
trunk lines all carry PCM voice with digital signalling?  If so, what
type of digital signalling?  Is it T1?  Is it ISDN?  Is it something
other than T1 or ISDN?  Is it combinations of various digital standards?


Matt

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

From: [e-mail] (jim chen)
Subject: Studio Quality NTSC Digital Video Realtime Transmission
Date: 28 Feb 1995 06:26:55 GMT
Organization: acns dcg


I am looking for ways to transmit realtime high resolution NTSC video
digitally across country or/& pipe around city. Current and near
future(three to six months) solution needed. Any information will help.

Please e-mail to [e-mail].


Jim Chen

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

Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 21:49:44 EST
From: Paul Robinson <[e-mail]>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
Subject: What Are You Doing in the Falkland Islands?


I just had a couple of interesting thoughts regarding the new 500 area
code in the US:

 1. Someone gives out a number like 500-xxx-xxxx and the person getting
    it says "I thought you lived in Las Vegas?  What are you doing,
    running some kind of phone sex system in the Falkland Islands?  (A lot
    of this is done in the Netherlands Antilles and a few other places.)

 2. Someone gets a note to return a call with an area code 500 number and
    reaches some poor clueless person over in the Falkland Islands.  (It
    probably wouldn't work though; the numbers there are probably only
    4 or 5 digits, not 7.  It's not a very large place.)

(Falkland Islands moved to +500 some time after the war between Britain
and Argentina.  It was either in 1 809 or was nondialable and required
international operator assistance).


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It does not matter how many digits the
place has. If the number is direct dialable, then it can be used. In
most places where the local numbers are less than seven digits, you
will find the city code and country code are longer, to fill in the
blanks.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (DeFantom)
Subject: Sprint Fiber Cut; Any Information Available?
Date: 27 Feb 1995 23:03:29 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (DeFantom)


We were affected by a nasty fiber cut Sprint had in Texas way about
two weeks ago.  (Over four hours!)  Does anyone have any kind of
information or know where I can get it?  Our account team is not being
very forthcoming.


Thanks!!

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

From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: Last Laugh! Nick Cheats on His Wife
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 01:00:00 CST


This was the 'One Big Happy' comic strip for February 25:

Picture 1:

Grandma is yelling at Grandpa Nick. An angry look on her face, she
says, "I can't believe you'd waste money on such a thing!"

Their son has just come in the door and says "uh-oh, what now?".

Picture 2:

Grandma turns to son, still with an angry look on her face and
says, "Your father! Look at these charges on our phone bill!"

(Holding out a sheet of paper so the son can see it.)

Son says, "900 numbers?"

Picture 3:

Grandma continues her tirade at Grandpa Nick, who stands there with
an embarassed look on his face. She says "I consider it cheating, Nick."

Son (holding the phone bill and reading it) says, "Dad, you're calling
the smut lines?"

Picture 4:

Grandpa Nick's eyes brighten up. He looks at his son and says, "Smut?
What smut? Those numbers are the crossword puzzle help line."

Grandma still has an angry look on her face and says, "Cheater! No
wonder you've been using a ballpoint!"

In the foreground son's eyes are big and he stands there with a very
embarassed look on his face.


PAT

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #121
******************************


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Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #122

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 28 Feb 95 12:43:30 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 122

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Pakistan Shuts Down Cellular Network (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh)
    Book Review: "Using E-Mail" by Gibbons et al. (Rob Slade)
    AT&T Offers 'International Redial' (TELECOM Digest Editor)
    Minority Scholarships in Telecommunications (Heather Hudson)
    Analog Interface Parameters (Eli Cohen)
    Transport Training Advisory Group Wanted (George B. Ford)
    Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act (Ron Higgins)
    Oradell, NJ Finally Gets 911 Service (Robert Casey)
    More CellOne/NY Frolics (Stan Schwartz)
    Hardware Wanted For Forward-on Busy, No Answer (Chris Lee)
    Does Bridge Affect Modem? (Ted Shapin)
    T1's, NewBridge Banks, and High End Modems (Mark Hittinger)
    Automated Bridge Wanted (Stephen J. Mahler)
    G7 Meeting Notes Wanted (Lars Kalsen)
    Information Wanted on Directory Assistance System (Shanavas H. Nyakhar)
    Invitation to Long Distance Domestic Re-Sellers and Reps (Kevin Lipsitz)
    Edwards Research Institute Virtual Mall (C. Boyle)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Pakistan Shuts Down Cellular Network
From: [e-mail] (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 20:46:21 IST
Organization: Deus X Machina


--==(C) Copyright 1995 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh

Unable to intercept traffic, Pakistan shuts down cellular network

The Karachi daily _Dawn_ reported yesterday (26th February 1995) that
the Pakistan government has shut down a cellular network run by
Mobilink, a joint venture between Motorola and Pakistani SAIF Telecom,
as it was unable to intercept traffic.

The company was unable to provide interception services to
intelligence agencies. According to a Mobilink official "there are no
commercial products ... that enable over-the-air monitoring of calls."
However it remains unclear why agencies would require monitoring of
wireless mobile-to-base traffic, instead of intercepting at the base
station. While GSM's digital encrypted traffic may be hard to tap in
real-time, it is decrypted at the base station.  Earlier in January
the network was suspended for two weeks during negotiations.

Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and commercial capital, has been
suffering from considerable sectarian and political violence, which
has claimed 700 lives last year, and a further 154 this month.


--==(C) Copyright 1995 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh ([e-mail])
--==May be distributed electronically provided that only compilation or
--==transmission charges are applied. Other uses require written permission.

For Electric Dreams subscriptions and back issues, send a mail to
[e-mail] with 'get help' as the message Subject.

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh          [e-mail]           [e-mail]
Vox [phone] Voxmail 3760335       H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 21:08:33 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Using E-Mail" by Gibbons et al.


BKUEMAIL.RVW   950124

"Using E-Mail", Gibbons et al, 1994, 0-7897-0023-9, U$24.99/C$33.99/UK#22.99
%A   Dave Gibbons [e-mail]  [e-mail]
%A   David Fox
%A   Alan Westenbroek [e-mail] [e-mail]
%A   Dick Cravens [e-mail]
%A   Andrew B. Shafran [e-mail]
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1994
%G   0-7897-0023-9
%I   Que/MacMillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$24.99/C$33.99/UK#22.99 [e-mail]
%P   376
%T   "Using E-Mail"

Although large chunks of this book are simply versions of product
documentation, there are many sections of good, thoughtful, useful
advice as well.

Chapter one is a good introduction and a breakdown of the mail system
into the mail user agent (MUA, called "front end" in the book) and the
mail transport agent (MTA).  Later parts of the chapter may become too
technical in discussions of wide area networks, to no purpose.
Chapters two and three give a very good overview of email use and
evaluation.  The material is broad- ranging and generally excellent,
with the notable exception of deficiencies in the coverage of security
and file attachments.  Chapters four through seven document uses and
commands for cc:Mail, MS-Mail, Novell Groupwise, Lotus Notes and
Windows for Workgroups.

Chapters eight to fourteen cover what is generally the "mail
Internet"; BBS networks, commercial services, and the Internet,
itself.  Except for two sizeable chapters on Compuserve and America
Online, the material is quite terse, though an acceptable
introduction.  Directions and tables of internetwork addressing are a
strong point, here.

(For a book discussing global email, there is much evidence of
US-centrism.  This may explain some of the blind spots with regard to
security issues.)

A fair amount of the book could be discarded with no appreciable loss,
and a few points (such as netiquette) could stand some boosting.
Overall, though, this is a solid introduction to the topic.  And the
authors show admirable restraint in not promoting ProComm.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKUEMAIL.RVW   950124. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


[e-mail], [e-mail], Rob Slade at 1:153/733 [e-mail]
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0

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

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 95 22:32:27 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: AT&T Offers 'International Redial'


A new service from AT&T allows subscribers who make a lot of
international calls to cut through the wasted time so prevelant when
calling many international points with no circuit messages, busy
signals and such.

Called 'International Redial' the way it works is after dialing an
international call where you did not get through, you just have to
hang up a second and dial *234. That will automatically redial your
last international call over again, several times for up to thirty
minutes. Once it gets through, a message is played in your choice of
14 languages to the party who answers the phone. It tells him to
hold on and you are called back and patched through.

Nothing comes free:  The cost is $3.00 per month, and it only works
to about twenty countries at the present time, however those twenty
include a few that are notorious for sending back that message saying
'your call cannot be completed in the country you dialed at this
time'.

To enroll or for more information:  1-800-732-WORLD.  Yes, I know
you can leave the /D/ off the end if you want.


Pat T.

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

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 21:38:02 PST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Minority Scholarships in Telecommunications


Please ask your readers to share the following information:

The University of San Francisco offers MBA and MA Programs in
TelecommunicationsManagement and Policy. Scholarships are available
for minority students through funding from the Telecommunications
Education Trust. USF also offers professional seminars, and will offer
a seminar on the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) for planners
and policy makers from developing countries. For further information,
please contact:

Telecommunications Program
McLaren School of Business
U of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94117-1080
e-mail: [e-mail]
phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]


Thanks,

Heather Hudson

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

From: gandalf![e-mail] (Eli Cohen)
Subject: Analog Interface Parameters
Organization: Tel-Aviv University Computation Center
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 11:23:04 GMT


I'm looking for information in the form of articles research papers
etc. on the topic of Analog Interface Parameters.

The parameters I'm looking for (such as Line Impedance, Dial Tone,
Cadences, etc.) should be categorized be country of origin.

Thanks for your help.


Eli Cohen  [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (George B. Ford)
Subject: Transport Training Advisory Group Wanted
Date: 27 Feb 1995 16:39:59 GMT
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc, Raleigh NC
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Does anyone know if there is a Training Advisory Group for Transport
products?  SNIC, COM-TAG, and NARC-TAG used to provide recommendations
for Switching products.  Any leads or information will be appreciated.

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

From: [e-mail] (Ron Higgins)
Subject: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act
Date: 27 Feb 1995 07:43:19 -0600
Organization: Lightning Systems


Before I spend hours of my personal time digging into this subject, I
am wondering if there is anyone out there that has looked into using
the Privacy Act to avoid having their telephone number published in
the annual telephone directory and given out by "information".

Our local telephone company is planning a 900% (900 percent) increase
in the rate that it charges for a non-published, non-listed telephone
number on a monthly basis.  And that is on top of the "*67" that I
have to dial to stop my number from being transmitted by Caller ID.

If you know of any information available on this subject, please send
e-mail to the address at the end of this message.


Thank you,

Ron                             | Lightning Systems       | Lightning Systems
[e-mail]        | [phone]  200megs | P. O. Box 4
Apple // & Van Halen Forever!   | 21.6k USR Dual Standard | Mukwonago, WI 53149


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you will find the various privacy
regulations apply more to the government than they do to private businesses.
Since telco is a privately owned business -- not a government entity -- it
may be hard to apply this as you want. Also there would be a conflict where
your contract with telco (as expressed through its tariffs) is concerned.
I can see what you are trying to accomplish, but I don't think it will work.
Remember also that according to telco tariffs, you have no 'property rights'
in your telephone number. It is not, strictly speaking, yours to 'protect'.
It will be interesting to hear the results of your investigation and efforts
as you proceed further on this, if you do. You should also bear in mind that
you can press *67 all you like, but it will NOT prevent subscribers to 800
service (or people who subscribe to 500 service who accept your reverse
charge call via a PIN) from getting your number. Likewise, long distance
carriers are entitled to have your name, address and phone number *despite
your non-pub status* for billing purposes when you use their network.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Casey)
Subject: Oradell, NJ Finally Gets 911 Service
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 04:28:50 GMT


My home town, Oradell, NJ (in Bergen County, in the northeast corner
of NJ, near NYC) now has 911 service.  Until recently, you had to call
the seven digit phone number if you needed the police or fire departments.
A problem would crop up, as the police's exchange was 262, and 261
also exists in town.  Car accident happens at the corner, pick up the
phone, and dial the wrong number, cause I could never get it clear in
emergencies.  Half the time I'd get it wrong.  (Note, a rather bad
intersection was near my parent's house, not a month would go by
without an accident there until they put a blinker light up.)

I haven't tried the 911 number, no emergencies have come up, and I don't
want to waste their time on my tests.

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

From: [e-mail] (Stan Schwartz)
Subject: More CellOne/NY Frolics
Date: 28 Feb 1995 03:37:34 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC


We've all heard the stories of the "fun" I had trying to use my CellOne
NY/NJ phone while roaming in Canada.

Last week, I visited some friends on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
Before I left, I looked at my CellOne Coverage Area map (dated 5/94 -
I haven't seen a newer one) and saw that all of Maryland and Delaware
and DC are in my "expanded home rate" area, and that there were not any
notes or asterisks that referred to the Baltimore area.  Wasn't I
surprised, then, when I tried to call my CellOne phone from the hotel
room and I received my voice mail!  (I shouldn't have been surprised!).

I called CellOne's 800 number, and the rep told me that even though
Baltimore is a NACN city, incoming callers had to dial a roamer access
number! (Where does it say that in CellOne's map?).  I figured that it
wouldn't do any good to argue on a Saturday night, so I asked what the
roamer access number was.  I told her that I was in Baltimore, in area
code 410.  She gave me a 202 (DC) number and insisted that it was the
closest one!  I called back a bit later, and another rep gave me a 410
number.  Imagine asking my friends in Baltimore to call DC so that
they could reach me if I was down the street.  (Almost as silly as
asking them to call New York, but at least they'd be able to reach me
directly).  The first rep mentioned something about the lack of a
mutual roaming agreement, and I wonder if this is retribution for
CellOne turning off access to roamers in NY?

CellOne Strikes Again!


Stan

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

From: [e-mail] (Chris Lee)
Subject: Hardware Needed For Forward-on Busy, No Answer
Organization: North Bay Network's news posting service
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 03:01:53 GMT


Help! My lovely local GTE switch does not offer call forward on no answer
or call forward on busy. Is there any box I can buy for home usde that
will give me these features?


Thanks,

Chris


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A service which is identical to 'call
forward on busy' is known as 'hunting', or 'jump-hunting' if the number
used for overflow calls is not immediatly in sequence with the line
which is busy. The only difference between the two seems to be their
name, and the fact that most telcos charge for the former but not the
latter. Maybe someone will write and tell me other actual differences
between these. I certainly would imagine that GTE offers hunting; I
have not seen a switch or a CO that could not do that much. You might
want to go back to the rep and put it in different words. When your
one line is busy, you want to have calls hunt to another line.  That
will take care of one segment of your problem. Regards call forwarding
on no answer (as opposed to absolute call forwarding, where every call
is forwarded without giving you an opportunity first to answer; I
imagine your telco offers that also), Radio Shack used to have a little
box to do what you wanted, and I think Hello Direct currently has one
also. Check with them at 1-800-HI-HELLO.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Ted Shapin)
Subject: Does Bridge Affect Modem?
Date: 28 Feb 1995 02:02:31 -0800
Organization: KAIWAN Internet (310-527-4279,818-756-0180,909-785-9712)


I have two copper pairs coming to my residence and need a third line.
If it is bridged between the two pairs, what effect will it have on my
use of a v.32bis modem on one of the copper pairs?


Ted

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark Hittinger)
Subject: T1's, NewBridge Banks, and High End Modems
Date: 28 Feb 1995 12:13:24 -0500
Organization: Win.Net Communications, Inc.


I'd be interested in e-mail from anyone else who is using T1's with
the low end newbridge channel banks connected to high speed modems.
We know of many problems with v.fc's so those are not on the table.

The setup mostly works but I am seeing some percentage of bad connections
and poor throughput.  I realize the v.34's at 28.8 are not going to
deliver perfection.  I am seeing something nasty even at 14.4.

My suspicion is some electrical noise in the channel bank itself is
contributing to the problem.  I can here something even when I disconnect
the T1 from the bank.

Has anybody else seen this?  Please e-mail if you have some ideas for me.
Done grounded it and all dat.

Does Wiltel shave the bandwidth for voice channels down to 3000hz from
3600hz?


Thanks,

Mark Hittinger   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Mahler Stephen J)
Subject: Automated Bridge
Date: 28 Feb 1995 20:23:31 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern La., Lafayette


I am looking for a device that ....

  * is connected to by lines that are in a hunt group;
  * as each person calls the hunt group, the calls are conferenced/
    bridged;

All parties converse as required and can hangup without impacting the
other connections.

Any information/pointers appreciated.  Prefer standalone POTS connections
but have G3 switch if required.


Steve

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

From: [e-mail] (Lars Kalsen)
Subject: G7 Meeting Notes Wanted
Date: 27 Feb 1995 18:45:24 GMT
Organization: DKnet


Hi - outhhere,

Does someone have the final paper from the G7-meeting in Brussels
where innovations in the IT-area was discussed.

Please E-mail me if you have any information from the meeting.


Lars Kalsen, partner, IT-gruppen  Tel   :   [phone]
Brorsonsvej 19                    Fax.  :   [phone]
9490 Pandrup                      Mobile:   [phone]
Denmark                           E.mail: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Shanavas H. Nyakhar)
Subject: Information Wanted on Directory Assistance System
Date: 28 Feb 1995 08:20:48 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation


Hello,

Our company in the middle east is bidding for a Bi-Lingual directory
assistance system for a national PTT.

Any help in identifying companies who have undertaken such projects or
have such existing systems (whose specifications are given below) will
be highly appreciated.

Alternatively, companies who are intrested in bidding for such a
project together with us, may kindly contact me for full details on
the project.

Brief Details on the Project:

The project is to be implemented on a Turn-key basis.

Bid is for hardware and software for creating a directory assistance
system (for Telephone, telex, fax, pagers and mobile) based on a multi
parameter enquiry concept. Queries would be entered in English /
Arabic via operator terminals running MS-Windows as front end.

Queries should utilize Phonetization Tables, Synonymization Tables,
Acronyms and/or secondary or related listings etc., to come up with
possible matches.

The system is to be fully compliant with International Number
Retrieval (TPH-28) so that Directory Assistance (DA) databases can be
accessed via X500 links.

Bidders are also expected to install and integrate Automatic Call
Distributor (ACD) supporting upto 100 trunk lines, into the proposed
system.

The existing Host system is an HP9000, which will be utilized for
running the SQL Database.

For more details, kindly contact:

Shanavas H. Nyakhar  Legend Computers L.L.c,
Fax : [phone].   Tel : [phone]
or by e-mail to [e-mail]


Thanks,

Shanavas

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Invitation to Long Distance Domestic Re-Sellers and Reps
Date: 27 Feb 95 19:07:58 GMT


I am currently looking for a domestic reseller who can provide service
to our firm.  We already get a very good deal as we continuosly shop
around.

Here is what we are looking for.  If you can provide this to us under
these terms, email me with the details and I will email you back with
the best time to contact me so you can make your pitch, along with my
direct telephone number.

1. We are looking for T-1 domestic USA FLAT rates without the T-1 comitt-
ment. We have eight lines and want to use them on a non-pic, 10XXX basis.
Specifically we require six second billing with six second minimum on
all our domestic USA calls (not interested in 18 second or 30 second
minimums).

2. We spend around $10,000.00 per month on all our telecommunications and
split this amoung around a dozen companies, by choice.  We route our calls
over the least expensive carrier for each type of call.

3. We do not want a contract tying us down to one carrier.  As long as
you are cheapest you will keep our business for what you are cheapest
on.  We want no monthly minimum and no monthly fees and no sign-up fees.

4.  To get our business, you will need to be very competitive.   We pay
nearly T-1 rates now and are looking to get down in that actual range of
competitive T-1 rates.


We understand that there are several companies offering to beat anyone's
rates by 10% and we would like to hear from one of those companies,
but not from a company called Affinity or anyone representing them, as
a friend had a very bad experience with them.  They promised something
and then did not come through for him.  We will not even consider them.

So if you would like to contact us, we would welcome your sales pitch.
Note: we are not interested in any of the following arrangements, which
have been proposed to us before:

1. Selling long distance to *effectively* reduce our bill.
2. Paying an inflated invoice to get a rebate later.

Thanks.


Sincerely,

Kevin Jay Lipsitz, President   :-)

                     KRAZY KEVIN MAGAZINE CLUB,
THE INTERNET DIVISION OF COLLEGETOWN MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES:
"Managing Magazines for Cost-Conscious Busy Professionals, Students,
    Educators and Regular Consumers Internationally Since 1973."
                          [e-mail]

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

From: C. Boyle <[e-mail]>
Subject: Edwards Research Institute Virtual Mall
Date: 28 Feb 1995 04:06:39 -0800
Organization: Virtual Mall


Can you help us?

Edwards Research Institute is conducting a search for unique, high
quality items which can be of benefit to others throughout the world
via the web.

Areas of interest include: Education; health; environment; culture;
politics; music; books; sports and recreation; hobbies and crafts;
humor; virtual reality; medical and nourishment.

Come and visit us on the web at http://www.virtualmall.com.  Browse
through examples of items which you may find beneficial to your
quality of life.  Feel free to acquire items of interest to you and
register your suggestions; or give us a call at [phone].

We would also need to know the manufacturer and/or distribution
information, along with who you are and how we may reach you.  Upon
our acceptance of your suggestion you will receive a Virtual Mall gift
certificate.

Thanks for your help.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #122
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #123

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 28 Feb 95 15:06:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 123

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Summit Roundtable (Summit '94)
    Looking For Directory CD ROMs (Sven Echternach)
    800 Numbers: Media, and Real Estate (Judith Oppenheimer)
    Re: MCI Slams Again (John Higdon)
    Re: Saying Hello in Other Languages - Summary (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 America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Summit '94)
Subject: Summit Roundtable
Date: 28 Feb 1995 18:45:57 GMT
Organization: Netcom


Enterprise Management Summit 95
123 Townsend Street  San Francisco, CA 94107
TEL: [phone]  FAX: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

The Enterprise Management Summit will conduct a roundtable panel
discussion titled Trends in Enterprise Management on March 29 from
8-11am at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. This Summit Roundtable is
sponsored by {Network World Magazine}. This is a free event and seating
is limited to 100, so register early.

The roundtable panelists will discuss changes that they envision
within the industry in 1995 and in the next five years. Topic areas
include network and systems management, and the management of
distributed applications and databases, as well as the future of such
management standards as SNMP, DMI, CORBA, DCE, IPng; managing emerging
technologies such as ATM, switched networks, videoconferencing,
artificial intelligence, network automation, messaging, etc. We will
also explore the future of enterprise management platforms. Chairing
the panel will be Rick Sturm of US WEST Technologies. Rick Sturm is
also President of the OpenView Forum, and is Conference Chair for the
Enterprise Management Summit. Other panelists include:

Jeff Case - SNMP Research        David Passmore     - Decisis
Asheem Chandna - Coronet Systems, Inc.    Charlie Robbins     - Aberdeen Group
Bob Emerson - Hewlett-Packard        Chris Thomas - Intel Corporation
Joaquin Gonzalez - META Group        Beth Adams - Network Management Forum
Dave Mahler - Remedy Corporation    Mark Fulgham - Boeing Computer Services
John McConnell - McConnell Consulting

Please fill out the registration form below and fax it to 415.512.1325,
or return via E-mail. Please indicate any questions that you would
like the panel to answer either live or as part of the {Network World}
article which will appear in an April issue. We look forward to seeing
you in Las Vegas as we continue to scale the Enterprise Management
Summit.

Please provide the following information to register or to receive
information about our Summit 95, the annual enterprise management
conference to be held October 23-27 at the Dallas Infomart.


Name:
Company:
Street:
Mail Stop:
City
Phone:
Fax:
EMail:

Questions for Panel:


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

From: [e-mail] (Sven)
Subject: Looking for Directory CD ROMs
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 19:37:21 CET


I'm looking for a CD ROM with US' residential phone numbers that would
also allow reverse lookups (e.g. finding a name acccording to a phone
number).

Does anyone have experience with any of the following, or maybe other,
CD ROMS?

PhoneDisc Reverse
PhoneDisc Power Finder
Haynes CrissCross Directory

If anyone has a cheap source for those CD ROM's, please let me know too.


Sven Echternach   [e-mail]

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

From: Judith Oppenheimer <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 11:02:33 -0500
Subject: 800 Numbers: Media, and Real Estate


Pat, it's clear, that by employment and occupation, the policy shapers
and decision makers regarding all telephone numbering plans focus on
the mechanical and engineering aspects of telecom.  Valid aspects, to
be sure.  But limited.

These people are employed by the real estate moguls of telecom -- the
carriers.  For whom this mechanical and engineering (operational)
focus preserves their territorial exclusivity.

So the ITU, INC. and other participants in these processes, are by
design quite removed from the multi-disciplinary, non-telecom market
realities of 800 numbers.

Two Market Realities:  Media, and Real Estate.

800 numbers have solid media characteristics.  They contain content
and attract targeted audiences.

800 COLLECT attracts collect callers.  800 FLOWERS attracts flower
buyers.  Etc.  This raises very interesting questions regarding
foreign ownership of U.S. media, and is just one of the issues that
should be studied regarding the proposed International Freephone
service.

Regarding 888, we are told there is an impending shortage of 800
numbers.

I've asked some my associates in both telecom and marketing to respond
to your most recent rebuttal in our thread.  This, from the president
of a reseller company, who discusses the real estate characteristics
of 800 numbers.  (I post for him as he's not online.)

"Why should 800 telephone numbers not be traded in the open market?
Portability opened the door.  It is time to complete the ownership
issue.  There will be ample supply of 800 numbers if current holders
can sell numbers.

All will be served by the simplicity of one toll-free platform.  All
will be served by the elegance of the free market deciding who is the
best user of an 800 telephone number."

(My note: Existing market forces bear this out.  Most high profile
branded numbers were acquired from the private sector, not assigned by
carriers.)

If anyone's interested, just email me for a copy of a news article
from 1994 where MCI brags about how it "acquired" 1 800 HARVEYS for
Harveys Casino when it picked up the account.  1 800 THE MOST was
acquired from the private sector.  So was 1 800 COMPARE.  Indeed, the
big three carriers are some of the most active buyers of numbers, both
for their own brand and media purposes, and as incentives for their
customers.

The problem is, as the original monopolistic real estate moguls, they
are adamently opposed to private sector activity in this very open
market that portability created.)

The reseller goes on, "The situation we face currently with 800
telephone numbers is comparable to the homesteading of territory.  In
the early days of America's development, land was given freely to
anyone who would care for it and develop it, whereafter, the land
became their property.

800 numbers are no different.  People develop 800 numbers by
advertising and placing services behind those numbers.  Property
rights naturally instill themselves within the 800 numbers.  As
history has proven, homesteading of resources such as land or a
telephone number, serves a valuable purpose.

We have reached the time where more territory does not need to be
freely distributed (ie, 888.)  Instead, the existing 800 number
ownership should be acknowledged."

So, now there's media and real estate.

Clearly, the single-disciplinary operational standard approach cannot
possibly address the characteristics, nor the ramifications, of media
and real estate market necessities.

As other elements (trademark, etc.) are sent to me, I'll be glad to
share them with the digest.


J. Oppenheimer, [e-mail]   Interactive CallBrand(TM)

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

Organization: Green Hills and Cows
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 07:57:42 -0800
From: [e-mail] (John Higdon)
Subject: Re: MCI Slams Again


Jeff Jelinek <[e-mail]> writes:

> I seriously doubt that MCI intends to change an individual PIC for the
> sole purpose of picking up some LD revenue for a month or so.  Big
> deal.

If you multiply that "month of revenue" by many thousands of times, it
begins to add up in a big hurry. Oddly enough, some of those "slamees"
stay with their slam-imposed carrier.

> Why would they risk the repercussions of an unauthorized PIC change?

Because there are none. There are no fines or other liabilities. And
the carrier is entitled to the money for the calls you made. The worst
that happens is that the customer is switched back to some other
carrier.  Remember, there are two sides to legislation: statute and
enforcement. In the telecommunications industry, there is painfully
little of the latter.

> Of the hundreds of thousands of PIC changes that take place each month,
> some of the customer service people will make a mistake.

Uh huh. And considering that a slam to MCI is a keystroke away, that
"mistake" is very frequently made. This is not rocket science; there
is no reason, other than intent, for any customer's PIC to be changed.

> I have not heard of this type of intentional action for many years.

While I am not in the long distance business, I am personally
acquainted with people who do run a long distance company. Slamming is
a way of life.  It is a standard exercise in the course of doing
business. I advise everyone to make sure that LEC accounts are
protected against carrier-instigated PIC changes. A side benefit of
doing this is that you stop all of the telephone solicitation from
long distance companies.

Part of the mechanism of the hard-sell is to "switch" you on the spot.
Notice you are never given an opportunity to think about it, nor are
you given any hard information upon which to make an educated decision.
If your account is locked against carrier tampering, the solicitor
moves right along to the next victim; you don't even get a call.

I had one line that constantly rang in the evening with MCI and others
hawking "the big savings". No other lines in the house, and I have
many, got those calls. Associates suggested that I confirm the phone's
PIC-change status. Sure enough, it was the only one in the house that
for some reason had not been protected against unauthorized PIC selection.
With that situation corrected, the junk calls from telemarketers have
come to a halt.


John Higdon  |    P.O. Box 7648   |   [phone]     |       FAX:
[e-mail] | San Jose, CA 95150 |   +1 500 FOR-A-MOO    | [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: Re: Saying Hello in Other Languages - Summary
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 14:50:00 CST


We had several good responses to the 'Saying Hello in Other Languages
article the other day, including a lengthy response from Asia_Link, a
Fido news group which had originally appeared in the {Los Angeles Times}.

We'll start with that peice, then go on to some of the responses sent
by individual readers, quite a few of whom wrote from the .nl domain.

    From: [e-mail] (Lester Hiraki)
    Organization: CRS Online  (Toronto, Ontario)

In response to a request in Volume 15, Issue 118, Message 3 of 19, I
am submitting the following article.  The content of the article might
contain some of the answers to the enquiries.

> My uncle is 85 years old, and wants desperately to see a list of how
> people in other countries answer the phone.

The following swiped from Fido's Asian_Link and reposted here for
general interest about general telephone usage and customs worldwide:

               World Telephone Cultures

{Los Angeles Times}  (Jul 26)

        CULTURE: Arabs greet each other with profuse politeness. The
French want to know who's calling. Italians have love affairs with the
machine.

           Alexander Graham Bell spoke through a wire to his colleague
Thomas Watson in 1876. "Come here," he said, the first command uttered
on a telephone. Oh, what Mr. Bell wrought.

           Around the world, different cultures have developed
characteristic phone manners since Bell's day. No people open a call
with more effusive hospitality than the Arabs. Whatever the subject of
the conversation, it begins with what seems like five minutes of
generally meaningless but absolutely essential greetings.

    A ringing phone is answered: "May your morning be good."
    "May your morning be full of light," the caller responds.
    "Praise God, your voice is welcome."
    "Welcome, welcome."
    "How are you?"
    "Praise God."
    "Praise God."
    "What news? Are you well? Your family well?"
    "Praise God. How are you?"
    "All is well. All is well. Welcome. Welcome."

           Only then might the reason for the call be mentioned. And the
goodbys will take almost as long and are again excruciatingly polite.

           Compared to the Arab world, responses elsewhere are the
soul of brevity: Britons and Americans generally say "Hello," although
the latter sometimes simply say "Yes," and if they're in business or
the military they may just answer with their surnames: "Smith."

           The French answer their phones with the familiar "Allo,"
and they often add their name and the phrase "Qui est a l"appareil?"
that is, "Who is on the phone?" In a number of countries, calls are
answered with a touch of suspicion or curiosity, a reluctance to talk
until it's clear who the caller is.

           Italians answer "Pronto," or "Ready," and then it's the
caller who demands "Chi parla?"--"Who's speaking?" -- assuming the right
to know the identity of the person at the other end.

           Germans tend to answer the phone by barking their last names:
"Schmidt" or "Mueller," even the women -- and even if they have titles,
like Herr Doktor, which in other circumstances hey would insist upon.

           In Copenhagen, Danes will answer with both first and last
names, even women: "Karen Andersen."

           In Spain, the response to a ringing telephone is: "Diga," or
"Speak."

           "Diga" is also a common response in Mexico, but Mexicans
usually answer "Bueno," meaning "Good" or "Well." Like the Italians, the
Mexicans will demand: "Where am I calling?" And if they have the wrong
number, they'll indignantly hang up, sometimes with a curse, as if it
were the respondent's fault.

           Because of a cultural tendency to speak cautiously with
strangers, callers must clearly identify themselves and state their
purpose. Even then, the respondent may become vague and evasive.

           "Is this the Mexico State Justice Department?" a caller
might ask. "I wouldn't know what to tell you," is the answer.

           Business people and government officials commonly refuse to
speak to strangers on the phone even if it concerns simple inquiries
like "Where can I buy one of your vacuum cleaners?" The train system
won't divulge ticket fares or schedules on the phone; you must go to the
station and ask in person.

           In Brazil, after slowly and patiently dialing a number, if
you are lucky enough to get an answer, the respondent will say: "Who's
talking?" not to be rude but to make sure the right number has been
reached.

           Goodbys are elaborate, as if in person: "A hug" is a frequent
sign-off, even to end formal business calls. "A kiss" is more casual,
with someone you know personally. And the response in both cases is
"Outro," "Another."

           Like American teen-agers, many cultures have love affairs
with the phone, none more than the Italians. They talk endlessly with
relatives, friends and schoolmates. The telephone call has replaced
formal letters of invitation, congratulations and condolences. As
almost everywhere else, the cellular phone, called a telefonino in
Italy, has become a popular status symbol, used widely and indiscrimin-
ately.  Telefonini have recently been barred from parliamentary sessions,
for instance.

           In Germany the telephone is hardly ubiquitous. You can get
an unlisted number at no extra charge, and information operators will
not indicate the fact to callers -- in effect denying your existence.
One wrinkle that arrived under Germany's liberal immigration policy:
the installation of illegal phone booths where foreigners can call
home without paying long-distance tariffs. Officials of cellular-phone
networks have countered the trend by blocking all calls going to
Pakistan, Togo, Gambia and Vietnam.

           In Russia, like most things, phone use is affected by the
growing gap between rich and poor, new and old, foreign and Russian. So
mobile phones are big hits among the rich, but most Russians have no
phones at all. Thus ads for apartment rentals specify "telephone" with
the same pride as "garbage chute" or "closet."

           For those with phones, the answer to a ring is the French
"Allo," which can be pronounced to reflect wide degrees of happiness or
annoyance. Also popular are the curt "Da," or "Yes," and "Slushayu vas,"
or "I am listening to you."

           Because of the history of KGB taps, Russians are still
careful of being overheard, often using the phrase, "It's not telephone
conversation," to warn a caller to be discreet.

           Often in Moscow an alien conversation will break into yours,
and sometimes, according to Muscovites, you can't help listening. These
aural glimpses show a Russian life that is never the relaxed, gossipy
"reach out and touch someone" conversations so typical in America.
Instead they have some urgent goal -- such as arranging a meeting or a
deal.

           "The reason for this urgency is the poor quality," says a
Moscow resident. "Pay phones are unreliable and the caller wants to get
his message across before the connection breaks down."

           In closed Arab societies, the telephone is a means of contact
for those forbidden to see each other in person. A woman will call
random numbers asking for "Mohammed," and when she finds a voice she
likes, will strike up a conversation.

           In India, you wait up to seven years for a phone -- so when
the connection is finally made it often prompts a neighborhood party.
The euphoria ends about a month later when the first bill arrives and
the subscribers realize how much it costs. In the Indian middle-class
home, the telephone occupies the place of honor, often atop its
special table, and is usually kept locked to prevent neighbors from
making calls. But in the countryside where 70% of Indians live, phones
are still a rarity: In some cases there is not a single phone in a
village.

           In Southeast Asia, almost everyone uses a version of
"Hello" to answer the phone. Hong Kong Chinese say, "Wei." In
countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, with a shortage of
phone lines and a two-year waiting list, cellular phones are prized,
but expensive -- running $500 to $1,000 in Singapore and twice that
elsewhere.

           Bangkok's most popular radio program is a call-in show with
phoners talking while stuck in the city's infamous traffic. Many posh
restaurants have signs saying, "No Handphones," because people are fed
up with the guy at the next table shouting into a phone. Some cinemas
show trailers indicating that it is rude to talk on the phone during
the movie.

           In Japan, the person answering will customarily say, "Moshi
moshi," the equivalent of "Hello," or perhaps "Hai," that is, "Yes." If
he or she has the right connection, the caller may say something like
"Osewa ni natte imasu," or "I am indebted to you for your kindness."
Sometimes people bow over a phone, although the other party cannot see
the bow. Many older Japanese, who never saw phones until the era of the
1964 Tokyo Olympics, continue to use ceremonial phrases and bows over
the telephone -- as if it weren't there.

           The standard goodby is "Ja, mata" -- "See you later" --
with the word "Sayonara" reserved only for occasions of a long or
final parting.

           In many Third World countries it definitely helps to know an
operator. The Indian writer Khushwant Singh remembers trying to place a
call from New Delhi to Lahore in neighboring Pakistan -- when services
were notoriously bad.

           After hours of trying, Singh was contacted by the international
operator who suggested that she had relatives in Pakistan who had wanted to
visit India but needed visas. Being a member of Parliament, she said, he
might come up with the necessary stamps.

           Singh accepted the deal and within three minutes his connection
was through.

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott Montague)

En francais, nous disons "Allo?" when answering the phone.


Scott

From: Kimmo Ketolainen <[e-mail]>

Most Finns answer to the phone with their name. Firstname, surname or
full name.

Some few people say "haloo" but I haven't heard that much. Some
people, mostly older people, answer by saying the phone number.


Kimmo.
                         ---------------

From: [e-mail] (Alex)

In Holland we pick up with either "Hallo" (means hello in Dutch). Or
more common is to pick up with "Met <firstname, lastname>", which
basicly means With <firstname, lastname>

For your intrest, in Zimbabwe they tend to pick up most of the times with
their number, like ... "602809 Hello?"


Greetings,
Alex   [e-mail], Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

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

From: [e-mail] (Jean B Sarrazin)

There is saying "Hello" and there's answering the phone. In many
languages, this does not necessarily coincide ... here are a few for
the languages I know:

Language                Hello                   Answer phone
French                  Bonjour                         Allo
Spanish                 Hola                            Digame
German                Guten Tag         (Your last name) + Guten Tag (optional)
Dutch                      Dag                  Met (first and/or last name),
                                         Goede (morgen-morning, middag, PM
                                                  or avond, evening)


Jean B. Sarrazin  Ekkosys Communications BV
Sarphatipark 24-1  1072 PB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Telephone : [phone]   Fax  : [phone]
Compuserve : 72077,1366   Internet : [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Arthur Meerwijk)

Here in The netherlands we answer the phone with our name, so it would
be something like:

Good morning, this is Arthur.

Although, literally tanslated I say: "Good morning, with arthur" where
"with" indicates the other end is "connected _with_ arthur"

But it all depends on the level of politeness you include. In any case,
one alwyas says one's name when picking up a phone. The most common one
being:

"With Arthur Meerwijk"

Cheers,

arthur

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

From: [e-mail] (Koos van den Hout)

Of course there's the way American persons answer the phone :

"Hello."

(Sorry, couldn't resist. This may seem perfectly normal to an American but
for someone who's used to other greetings it can be confusing.)

In the Netherlands it's normal to greet with your own name. I say

"Met Koos van den Hout"

which does translate roughly to "This is Koos van den Hout"

Companies mostly answer with a company name in the Netherlands:

"Hogeschool Utrecht"

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey William McKeough)

Here's a few off the top of my head:

Japan: moshi moshi
Spain: digame
Mexico: bueno
Israel: shalom

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

From: Giray Pultar <[e-mail]>

In Turkey/in Turkish, we typically answer the phone by saying 'alo'.
The pronounciation is more like allo, but is spelled "alo".  I believe
it comes from French.

Giray

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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Houle)

       In Japan,  people answer the phone "Moshi Moshi".

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

From: [e-mail] (Bud Couch)

Can't vouch for the spelling, but the Japanese answer with
"mushi-mushi", and in Korean, it's "yobosayoh". Know this because
thirty years ago, I used to have to troubleshoot a US Army- US Air
Force - Korean Air Defense - Japan Self-Defense Force comm net, and
listen to them yell this into the phone, as if they could get loud
enough to hear it from Pyongtaek to Honshu.


Bud Couch - ADC Kentrox           |When correctly viewed, everything is lewd.|
[e-mail] (192.228.59.2)    |                          -Tom Lehrer     |

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

From: Dan Cromer <[e-mail]>
Organization: School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida


Pat,

     How do we answer the phone in the USA?  It depends on who
answers!  You may hear Hello, or Yeah, or "Cromer residence, Dan
speaking" (how I was brought up to answer, in a simpler time when
front doors were hardly ever locked).

     In Japan they commonly say "moshi moshi" which can sound like
"mush mush", with the words repeated rapidly.  I've heard Spanish speakers
use ola, pronounce Oh lah, with the accent on the Oh.


Daniel H. Cromer, Jr.  Director, Information Resources
School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida
[e-mail]
904-955-7509     FAX [phone]

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

From: "Van R. Hutchinson" <[e-mail]>


In Peru, my family members answer, "halo"  pronounced, AL'-oh.
More formal greetings include "Buenos dias" and "Buenas tardes"
In Mexico, I've heard "Bueno".

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

From: [e-mail]


In Chinese (at least Cantonese and Mandarin dialects), telephones are
answered "Wei?", which roughly translates to 'Yes?'

In Japanese, the telephone is answered "Mushi Mushi".

I'll be interested to see the results of your compilation!


Rob Hall     Hong Kong

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

From: [e-mail] (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh)


In India almost everyone says Hello on the phone, even if they're in a
village in Rajasthan and proceed to converse in Marwari. Accents and
pronunciation varies.

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh     [e-mail]
[e-mail]    Voice/Fax/Data [phone]
Voicemail [phone]   H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks to all who participated by sending
in responses.  PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #123
******************************

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Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 16:41:01 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #124
Status: RO

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 28 Feb 95 16:41:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 124

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    NII 2000 Call for White Papers (John Godfrey)
    Pizza Hut Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations (Dave Sellers)
    Palm Size Message Recorder on a Chip (TELECOM Digest Editor)
    Book Review: "Dvorak's Guide to Desktop Telecommunications" (Rob Slade)
    Overseas Bandwidth Optimizers (Jim Williams)
    Tender For Global ISDN Project (Marcel W.J. van.Ruijven)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
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*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
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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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 16:18:00 EST
From: John Godfrey <[e-mail]>
Subject: NII 2000 Call for White Papers


    [This document is also available through World Wide Web, at
  http://ntiaunix1.ntia.doc.gov:70/0/iitf/appstech/techpolwg/tpwgcall.html]

  COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
  NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
  2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.  20418

  NII 2000 STEERING COMMITTEE

  Call for White Papers:  Private Investment and Federal NII
  Policy

  The NII 2000 Steering Committee -- a group of high-level executives
  and distinguished academicians -- seeks white papers from academia,
  businesses, foundations, industry, interest groups, trade associations and
  other interested parties on topics relevant to NII technology
  deployment.  The Committee is charged by the Technology Policy
  Working Group (TPWG) of the federal Information Infrastructure Task
  Force with a year-long course of activities to develop a baseline
  understanding regarding what technologies are to be deployed when,
  where, and by whom.  The project is being coordinated by the
  Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) and is
  drawing upon inputs from multiple industries, sectors, organizations,
  and individual experts.  A list of NII 2000 Steering Committee
  members is attached.

  All white papers will be made available to federal NII decision
  makers and be considered for discussion at a Spring Forum in
  Washington, D.C., May 23-24, 1995.  White paper authors will have
  the opportunity to revise their papers after the Spring Forum.  All papers-
  regardless of whether they are selected for discussion at the
  Spring Forum-will be presented to the government and will
  contribute to the Steering Committee's final NII 2000 report to TPWG
  and the public.

  RESPONDING TO THE CALL:

  In keeping with its charge, the NII 2000 Steering Committee seeks
  properly documented discussions with quantitative evidence/analysis
  on technical, financial, and economic aspects of technology
  deployment issues and prospects for the next five to seven years.
  Issues of particular interest to the Committee include:

  Architecture and facilities:

    Bandwidth capacity available to and from:  government (all levels),
    corporations (domestic and international), small businesses and residences;
    also mobile users of portable platforms;

    Interoperability and openness:  dimensions, barriers and
    facilitators;

    Interactivity and symmetry (i.e., relative support for two-way
    communication);

    Internetworking and interconnection regarding different kinds of networks
    and services;

    Public networks, private networks, virtual private networks.

  Enabling technologies (e.g., end-user devices, interfaces, and
  protocols);

  Recovery of carrier costs (facilities and/or services) in an open- network
  environment;

  Middleware technologies/capabilities:  e.g., mechanisms such as
  digital signatures, encryption or search agents that protect intellectual
  property, privacy, security; directory services.

  Applications:

    Expected capabilities for digital libraries, distributed
    collaboration, software agents, smart cards, telecommuting,
    video delivery (on-demand & near on-demand), multimedia services;

    Expected attributes and implementation of electronic
    kiosks/public access facilities;

    Technology deployment issues affecting a particular domain
    (e.g., education, finance, manufacturing, transportation) which may have
    implications for other domains (e.g., establishing standards in health
    care);

    Critical hardware and/or software interface features, requirements, and
    standards;

  Equitable access and public service obligations (relative costs and
  implementation rates);

  Research and development:  i.e., critical areas for future projects in
  device, software, and systems research; also private sector trends and
  priority areas for government-funded research;


  FORMAT REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY:

  Papers should begin with a brief problem statement and
  concentrate on analysis and forecast (five to seven year horizon)
  of deployment issues and key factors, including sources of uncertainty,
  contingencies, barriers and facilitators.  Conclusions should concisely
  state the business case for a given deployment effort and any implications
  for public policy.

  Submissions should be double-spaced and should not exceed
  6,250 words (approx. 25 pages).

  All papers must be signed by a principal and accompanied by a
  signed NRC copyright agreement.

  Statistics must be referenced; cites should be formatted as
  endnotes.

  Papers should be submitted in hard copy and electronic form
  (diskette or e-mail to [e-mail]) by April 27th.


  About the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board:

  Established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916, the
  National Research Council (NRC) is the federal government's
  principal advisor on science and technology issues.  NRC conducts
  its work primarily by convening experts (serving pro bono) on a given
  issue.  Within the NRC, CSTB oversees technology and policy
  projects related to information infrastructure and similar topics.

  For more information, contact John Godfrey, CSTB, 202/334-2605
  or e-mail to [e-mail]

  **************************************************************************

  DETAILED CRITERIA AND FORMAT STATEMENT:

  White Paper Criteria and Format

  I.      Criteria

  A.      Substantive - To the degree relevant, each paper should:

  Distinctly frame a problem/issue related to NII technology
  deployment;

  Make a projection regarding that problem/issue over the
  next five to seven years;

  Provide a comprehensive baseline and status report of key developments
  related to that problem or issue;

  Assess the interaction between technical and non-technical
  (legal/regulatory, economic, social) factors;

  Identify contingencies and uncertainties related to
  investment and deployment of new technologies;

  Identify key applications, enabling technologies,
  capabilities;

  Identify classes of users to be served, noting: (a) which
  users may be served most easily or quickly; (b) which
  users are more difficult to serve (and why); and (c) market ramp-up
  expectations and determinants

  When using terms such as "interactive", "open", "scalable",
  provide a short definition or context for understanding
  how those terms are being used;

  Identify possible public, private, or public/private sector
  responses.

  B.      Technical:

  Submissions should be double-spaced;

  Submissions may be no longer than 6,250 words (approx.
  25 pages, double-spaced);

  All papers must be signed by a principal of the
  organization, group, or firm;

  All authors must sign a National Research Council
  copyright agreement;

  Statistics must be referenced; cites should be formatted as
  endnotes;

  Papers should be submitted in hard copy form, as well as
  on a diskette (ASCII or WordPerfect 5.1 format) or sent via e-mail to
  [e-mail].

  C.      Dates:

  Abstracts due March 27;

  Forum version papers due April 27;

  Edited (final) version papers due June 30.


  II.     Format  (Page lengths are provided as guidelines only):

  A.   Statement of the Problem:

  Each paper should provide a one or two paragraph statement of
  the particular technology deployment issue.

  B.   Background (approximatly four or five pages):

  This section should provide a baseline understanding of
  the technology, service, industry, domain, or issue in question, and
  define terms.  A picture of the current "state-of-play" should emerge
  from the section.

  C.   Analysis and Forecast (approximatly twelve to fifteen pages):

  This third section is the heart of the paper and as such, should
  look at some of the broad factors (economic, legal/regulatory, social,
  technical) influencing deployment decisions. In particular, authors
  should (to the extent relevant):

  (a) identify contingencies and uncertainties affecting investment decisions;
  (b) discuss factors used by the industry/domain in making the business case
      for a new technology; and
  (c) make projections regarding the next five to seven years. This section
      should also include a discussion of barriers to resolving any outstanding
      problems/issues.

  D.  Recommendations (approximatly three or four pages):

  In this final section, authors should state whether and how the problem(s)
  identified can best be addressed by the private sector, the public sector,
  or by a cooperative effort between the two.

  E.  Additional Resources (optional):

  A listing of relevant documents, analyses, forecasts is welcome.  Authors
  may attach these source materials as appendices.


  For more information, contact John Godfrey, CSTB, 202/334-2605
  or e-mail to [e-mail]

  **************************************************************************

  Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
  National Research Council

  NII 2000:  CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS

  RESPONSE FORM

  Complete and return to CSTB by March 22

  (Circle One:   Mr.    Ms.    Professor    Dr.)

  NAME

  TITLE

  AFFILIATION

  ADDRESS

  PHONE ____________FAX________________E-MAIL_____________


  What is the topic of your white paper?


  Return to:   Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
  Attn:  John Godfrey
  National Research Council
  2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room HA-560
  Washington, D.C.  20418
  FAX: [phone]

  **************************************************************************

  STEERING COMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY DEPLOYMENT FOR A
  NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE


  Dr. Lewis Branscomb, Chair
  Albert Pratt Public Service Professor
  J.F. Kennedy School of Government
  Harvard University

  Ms. Cynthia Braddon
  Vice President, Washington Affairs
  McGraw-Hill Incorporated

  Mr. James Chiddix
  Senior Vice President, Engineering
  and Technology
  Time Warner Cable

  Dr. David Clark
  Senior Research Scientist,
  Laboratory for Computer Science
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Mr. Joseph Flaherty
  Senior Vice President, Technology
  CBS Incorporated

  Dr. Paul Green, Jr.
  Manager, Advanced Optical
  Networking Laboratory
  IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

  Mr. John Landry
  Senior Vice President, Development
  and Chief Technical Officer
  Lotus Development Corporation

  Mr. Richard Liebhaber
  Chief Strategy and Technology Officer
  MCI Communications

  Dr. Robert Lucky
  Vice President, Applied Research
  Bell Communications Research

  Dr. Lloyd N. Morrisett
  President
  John and Mary Markle Foundation

  Dr. Donald Simborg
  Chief Product Strategist
  Medicus Systems Corporation

  Mr. Leslie Vadasz
  Senior Vice President
  Intel Corporation


  Staff:
  Marjory S. Blumenthal
  Director, CSTB

  Louise A. Arnheim
  Sr. Program Officer

  John M. Godfrey
  Research Associate

  Gloria Bemah
  Admin. Assistant

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 16:24:50 +0500
From: [e-mail] (Dave Sellers)
Subject: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations


The following news release was issued by Bell Ontario Public Affairs
to Ontario-based media on February 27, 1995.

Bell rings up 310-1010 to reach 83 Pizza Hut locations

TORONTO -- Eighty-three different pizza outlets from Cobourg to the
Niagara Peninsula have identical phone numbers. A telecommunications
nightmare, you say? A super telephone number, say Pizza Hut and Bell
Canada.

Throughout the 416 and 905 area codes, pizza-hungry customers can now
dial the same seven-digit phone number, 310-1010, to reach any of
Pizza Hut's restaurants, delivery and take-out stores. No need to look
in the phone book; no area code required.

Bell ServiceFinder (TM) service makes this new kind of seven-digit
phone number possible. It provides a business with a series of call
routing options that can be used alone or in combination to give
customized routing capabilities. The service allows the business to
advertise a single seven-digit local number and route incoming calls
to pre-determined locations based on one or more options.

"Whether you're at your home in St. Catharines, at a friend's place in
Brampton or visiting your cousin's apartment in North York, you just
dial 310-1010 to reach the local Pizza Hut for that area. The people
who answer your call will take your order and make your pizza. It's
that easy," says Doug Corbett, Pizza Hut's marketing manager.

The ServiceFinder database will use the postal code associated with
the calling number to identify which Pizza Hut location the call
should go to. When the customer dials 310-1010, the system
automatically routes the call to the nearest Pizza Hut.  "No other
food service company in Canada offers this level of convenience for
its customers," says Corbett. "Our goal now is to make 310-1010
available across the country so no matter what city our customers are
in, they dial the same number for a Pizza Hut pizza."

Both the customer and the business benefit from the ServiceFinder
service. "Besides making it easier for people to reach a business no
matter where they happen to be, this service means the business can
maintain a local look while getting greater value from its
advertising," says John Strecker, national account director with Bell.

In addition to the postal code option, call routing can be based on:

- the telephone numbers of special customers;
- the first three digits of the incoming call;
- time of day;
- day of the week;
- a percentage of calls that each location should receive.

Pizza Hut is the first Bell Canada customer to use the ServiceFinder
service and is part of a technical trial.  Bell Canada is awaiting
approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission before expanding Pizza Hut's single number to other area
codes and proceeding to market trials with other customers. That
approval may come by the end of March.

This is one of the first services to be offered on Bell's Advanced
Intelligent Network (AIN) platform. AIN is a set of software features
that work in conjunction with Bell's digital switches (DMS-100:
digital multiplex system of switching) equipped with CCS7 (Common
Channel Signaling #7) software.

CCS7, which activates Bell SmartTouch (TM) services, passes
information about the calling number between the DMS-100 switch and
the AIN software.

Pizza Hut's 310-1010 is also in use in Calgary, Alberta, and the
company intends to expand the number to the rest of the country as
soon as possible. Within the 416 and 905 area codes, all Pizza Hut
locations are now using the 310 number except those in Oakville,
Burlington and Milton which are expected to make the change this
spring. The downtown Toronto core (south of Carlton/College, between
Spadina Ave. and Bayview Ave.) is using 310-1010 and will have
delivery service for the first time by mid-March.

Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., is the world's largest pizza
distribution system with 478 restaurants and delivery units in Canada
and more than 10,750 outlets in 88 other countries. Pizza Hut is the
recognized leader of the $1.7 billion Canadian pizza category.

Bell Canada, the largest Canadian telecommunications operating
company, markets a full range of state-of-the-art products and
services to more than seven million business and residence customers
in Ontario and Quebec.

Bell Canada is a member of Stentor -- an alliance of Canada's major
telecommunications companies.


For more information:

Marilyn Koen                            Doug Corbett
Bell Canada Communications (Ontario)    Pizza Hut Canada
[phone]                          [phone]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 15:59:17 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor)
Subject: Palm Size Message Recorder on a Chip


I got an interesting advertisement a couple days ago I want to share
with you. I make no warranties or claims; I will just tell you what
they said. It cheap enough, you may want to order one or two.

"Message recorder records anything without tape".

This little thing fits in the palm of your hand and comes with a key
chain attachment. Two buttons on the front, one marked 'rec' and the
other marked 'play'.

Whenever you want to remember something later on, just take this thing
out of your pocket, press the record button and talk into it. It will
hold ten seconds of whatever it hears, but the deluxe version will
hold twenty seconds of talk. Later on when needed, you press the play
button and the ten/twenty seconds of speech comes over the tiny little
speaker attached. A new recording simply erases the old one.

It looks to me like the sound quality won't be the greatest based on
the tiny combination speaker/microphone used, but it should work for
short memos.

Inside this thing is a tiny little ciruit board with a chip that holds
your speech. The person who showed me the one he got (and gave me the
ad for reference) has done something quite interesting; something which
may appeal to other Digest readers --

He opened the plastic case and took out the circuit board. Then he
tossed out the plastic case, not needing it any longer. He mounted the
litle circuit board in his telephone, and took the leads which had
been going to the little speaker and connected them to his telephone
handset instead. Two minature push button switches he mounted nicely
on the side of his phone serves to cut the recorder in or out of the
circuit, in record or play mode. He records his message by talking
into the telephone. He uses it to give a standard answer phrase when
he picks up a ringing line. Of course, you could do whatever you
wanted with it.  He mounted the little circuit board in a spare place
inside the phone with a piece of double sided tape to hold it firm.

It operates on four 1.5 volt button size batteries that come with it
for free when you buy it. He thought about getting the six volts
needed from the phone line itself, but said the extra bother of
getting the voltage just right was not worth the hassle since the
batteries last a long time (hundreds of plays).

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in trying one of these.
There is no kickback or commission to me, it just looked clever and
I think I shall order one also.

Item MR-10  the standard one is $9.95 plus 3.45 s/h  = $13.40
Item MR-20  the deluxe one is  $14.95 plus 3.45 s/h  = $18.40

Two of the MR-20 deluxe units for $24.75 plus 3.65 s/h = $28.40
Three of the MR-20 deluxe units for $34.95 plus $4 s/h = $38.95
                                             ($13 each)

They offer a money back guarentee for thirty days after purchase,
and say allow six weeks for reciept.

They take checks or money orders payable to HOLST, Inc. or you can
send them your Visa/MC/Amex number and expiration date with your
signature.

HOLST, Inc.
Department DM-2265
334 W. Wackerly Street
Post Office Box 1431
Midland, MI 48641-1431

No phone number was given.

I can see where the twenty second version might have some interesting
applications for short outgoing phone messages if you can figure out
how to wire it in the phone line, which should not be too hard.


PAT

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 10:57:59 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Dvorak's Guide to Desktop Telecommunications"


BKDGTDTC.RVW   950125

"Dvorak's Guide to Desktop Telecommunications", Dvorak/Anis, 1990, 0-07-881668-
8, U$34.95
%A   John C. Dvorak
%A   Nick Anis
%C   300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario   L1N 9B6
%D   1990
%G   0-07-881668-8
%I   McGraw-Hill/Ryerson/Osborne
%O   U$34.95 905-430-5000 fax: [phone] [e-mail]
%T   "Dvorak's Guide to Desktop Telecommunications"

This book is *full* of surprises.

Given the number of people who recommended that I review it, I had
expected a more up-to-date work.  This *revised* (from "Dvorak's Guide
to PC Telecommunications") version is dated 1990.  Which means it's
dated.  Actually, even for *1990*, it's dated.

The "acknowledgements" reads like a telephone book.  A lot of people
put a lot of info into the book.  Unfortunately, a lot of them covered
the same ground.  Over and over.  Again.  From these original
submissions, the book does not seem to be edited as much as
concatenated.  The material does not seem to have been organized into
any kind of order, either.  Modem installation starts in chapter two,
but some of the information on COM ports waits for chapter
twenty-three.

The material is very uneven as to quality.  Chapter twenty-four has an
excellent section on what to look for in file transfer protocols.
Unfortunately, it is in the second half of the chapter.  The first
half has already delivered the usual hackneyed opinions about specific
protocols: errant ones, into the bargain.  The linking and
introductory material is sometimes painfully verbose, and pages go by
without solid information.  (The virus chapter?  Ahem.  Well, yes.  I
*do* have to say that, aside from the ridiculous definitions of
"bombs" and "worms", and Richard Levin's promoting of his own program,
it is not bad at all.)

As usual, the preface promises to help you get started with a modem.
It simply does not deliver.  The reader will, by the time the book is
finished, be familiar with terms and concepts, but not the practical
details of how to get it to work.  Well, some details, perhaps.  Much
time is spent describing how to put a "card" into the computer.

But there is no advice on how to diagnose errors with speed, parity or
word length (all fairly easy to recognize).  The chapters on
Macintosh, Amiga, UNIX and OS/2 are mere tokens.  There is much more
that is missing from this tome, as well.  (The *only* mention of the
Internet is as an email gateway between Compuserve and Usenet.)

There are some individual goodies buried in here, but, to be honest, I
can't think of any group to recommend it to, even considering some of
the other poor works on the market.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKDGTDTC.RVW 950125. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Overseas Bandwidth Optimizers
Date: 28 Feb 1995 00:43:37 GMT
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc.


The series 5000 LAN/WAN Optimizer is an advanced data compression
device which increases the throughput of a bridge, router, front end
processor or channel extender.  It uses an advance hardware pipeline
and multiprocessor architecture to minimize compression/decompression
latency and maximize throughput.  The Optimizer can either be inserted
between the router and the DSU/CSU, or can be installed with an integral
T-1/FT1 DSU/CSU.  Wan links speeds supported: 9,600 through 2.048Mbps.
Average 2:1 through 4:1 compression at all line rates.

The 5101 model is a single DTE channel device.  The 5201 model offers
statistical multplexing of two channels to allow multiple independent
data streams to be efficiently transported across the WAN.


For more information  please contact:

Jim Williams   ROUTER SOLUTIONS
Tel  [phone]  Fax [phone]
E-mail  [e-mail]
FTP.halcyon.com /pub/local/routers

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Tender For Global ISDN Project
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 12:22:33 PST
Organization: PTT Telecom Netherlands


 From November 28-30, 1995 the ISDN event of the year will take place:

Global 1995. It will be a world-wide event with show cases in
different countries linked together via ISDN.  Already 35 sponsors in
Europe, Asia, Africa and America support the initative and now seek
global support for a professional organisation. Three tenders are made
available by the Global '95 steering committee:

-       For administration
-       For promotion and communication
-       for project management

For more information please ask for details via:

Fax     :       [phone] (Attn. Mr. A. Naftali)
Internet:       [e-mail]

Requests for information should be in before March 7, 1995.  Proposals
should be in no later than March 10, 1995.


Marcel W.J. van Ruijven      PTT Telecom BV
E-mail:[e-mail]
P.O. Box 30150      not NL-2500 GD The Hague

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #124
******************************

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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #125
Status: RO

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 28 Feb 95 17:09:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 125

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "E-Mail Security" by Schneier (Rob Slade)
    Re: What is ESF and D4? (Michael Jennings)
    Re: What is ESF and D4? (Dr. R. Levine)
    Re: E(TACS) and GSM (Dr. R. Levine)
    Re: E(TACS) and GSM ([e-mail])
    Re: V.35 Interface (John Combs)
    Re: Pair Gain Line Problem (John Combs)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
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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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 13:27:32 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "E-Mail Security" by Schneier


BKEMLSEC.RVW   950127

"E-Mail Security", Bruce Schneier, 1995, 0-471-05318-X, U$24.95/C$32.50
%A   Bruce Schneier [e-mail]
%C   5353 Dundas Street West, 4th Floor, Etobicoke, ON   M9B 6H8
%D   1995
%G   0-471-05318-X
%I   John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
%O   U$24.95/C$32.50 416-236-4433 fax: [phone]-CALL-WILEY
%O   212-850-6630 Fax: [phone] Fax: [phone] [e-mail]
%P   365
%T   "E-Mail Security"

This is the third work that I have seen on the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)
text encryption and authentication system.  (I understand that at
least two more are in the works.)  It is also the first to truly
present the general concept of email security by covering the only
other realistic option -- the Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM)
standard and (Mark) Riordan's Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail (RIPEM)
implementation.  The book divides roughly into quarters discussing
background, practical use, the PGP documentation, and the PEM RFCs.

The work is considerably different, in style, to the Stallings
(BKPRTPRV.RVW) and Garfinkel (BKPGPGAR.RVW) efforts.  Those books,
while not obtuse, were still written with a technical audience in
mind.  Schneier's work, while definitely showing the expertise he
demonstrated in "Applied Encryptography" (BKAPCRYP.RVW), is clearly
aimed at the general, non-technical reader.  (Interestingly, while he
*does* tell you where to find the RC4 algorithm posting, he *doesn't*
mention the loophole recently pointed out in the Clipper "Skipjack"
algorithm.)  The straightforward style lulled me into thinking that
chapter one was too long.  It isn't: Schneier makes the important
point that, for it to be *truly* effective, encryption must be used on
*all* correspondence, even trivial items.  So well crafted is his
argument that it would be difficult to reduce the chapter by so much
as a paragraph.

Schneier uses this argument to good effect in pointing out some of the
major deficiencies in the two systems.  PGP is awkward to use, and PEM
may use incompatible algorithms.  Surprisingly, he does not emphasize
(though he does mention) what is probably the major problem with
each -- the inability to use the same system within and outside of the
United States.  The PGP fiasco is too involved to get into here (see
the Garfinkel work for details) and there is not yet an "international"
implementation of PEM (although there may soon be an "authentication
only" version available).

This won't help you design your own algorithm, but it is definitely
for any user of email, manager of communications systems, or student
of privacy and confidentiality.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKEMLSEC.RVW   950127. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer [e-mail], [e-mail], Rob Slade at 1:153/733
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0

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

From: [e-mail] (Michael Jennings)
Subject: Re: What is ESF and D4?
Date: 28 Feb 1995 19:45:18 GMT
Organization: Netcom


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dave) writes:

> When ordering a T1 line for data, the local fiber company wants to
> know whether I'd like "ESF" or "D4".  Could someone please explain
> what these terms mean?

The following is a brief and by no means exhaustive explanation of D4
versus ESF.

D4 was the original AT&T (Western Electric) product used by the Bell
System for digital multiplexing of voice and data circuits at 1.544 Mb/s
over copper transmission lines.

When asked the way it was of you, the fiber company is now referring to
the time slot (channel) framing format that you would like your T1 line
to have.  "D4" refers to the original specification which is also
referred to as the Superframe Format based upon the way framing bits are
used to define groups of the 24 channels multiplexed onto a T1 line.
"ESF" refers to a newer framing format called Extended Superframe Format
(hence, ESF).

ESF provides improved false framing protection and network maintenance
capabilities (performance monitoring.)  In addition, ESF typically is
associated with "clear channel capability" or, the ability for the user
to take advantage of the full 64 kb/s data rate of any of the 24
channels on the T1 line.

Typically the "D4" type of framing requires that there be a minimum
number of logical "1's" being transmitted over the T1 line.  This is
necessary because various types of transmission gear along the T1 line
(like repeaters) need sufficient transmitted energy to be able to
extract timing from the signal.  Hence, users were typically restricted
from putting any data on a 64 kb/s channel that contained too many
zeroes.  In essence, the channel was not fully "clear" for the user.

Alternative methods for maintaining a minimum 1's density were
introduced about the time ESF was developed and included Bipolar with
8-Zero Substitution (B8ZS) and Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange
(ZBTSI).  Each of these permit the user of the data channel full
freedom over the data stream that they send over it.  That is, the
channel is "clear" for the full 64 kb/s bandwith.

B8ZS is the more common method and simply substitutes a special code
whenever 8 consecutive zeros are encountered which is decoded at the
other end.  While associated often with ESF it does not require ESF to
operate.

The ZBTSI method requires the ESF format because it utilizes the 2 kb/s
overhead data link inherent in the ESF format.  However, ZBTSI is not
often employed by many carriers today.

I don't know if this will help you determine which type of framing
format you want its at least a little backround on what they mean.

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

From: [e-mail] (Dr. R. Levine)
Subject: Re: What is ESF and D4?
Date: 28 Feb 1995 20:50:47 GMT
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering and Applied Science


Extended SuperFrame (ESF) uses a different sequence of binary bits
in the framing bit position of the T-1 bit stream. The repetition
of the framing bit pattern occurs after 24 frames rather than 12
in "plain vanilla" D4 T-1 framing. Some of the framing bit values
in ESF are not fixed and can be used for operations, administration
and maintenance (OA&M) messages, and others are always used for
an error detecting code (CRC6 code). ESF is also a requirement
to install ZBTSI clear channel line coding, but this is only
used by USWest and PacTel, not by the other local/regional
telcos.

To determine if you want/need ESF, first examine the extra cost of
the hardware/software in your terminal equipment (your channel
bank or PBX). Then examine the extra cost (if any) for the service
from the carrier. What you get (primarily) with ESF that you don't
get with D4 is the ability to automatically and continuously
monitor the T-1 link for bit errors while all the 24 voice
channels are in full-time service. With D4, if you suspect problems,
you need to arrange to take one or more channels out of service
and perform a manual test involving co-ordination with the telco
in most cases. Try to make a cost comparison mainly between the
presence vs. absence of the automatic test capability. A good
customer equipment software system should warn you of even small
bit error rates which may predict more serious problems and allow
preventive maintenance. What is this worth? Does it justify the
extra initial and/or monthly cost for ESF vs. D4 service?

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

From: [e-mail] (Dr. R. Levine)
Subject: Re: E(TACS) and GSM
Date: 28 Feb 1995 03:26:19 GMT
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering and Applied Science


E(TACS) is a cellular system using analog FM radio for voice
transmission. GSM is a cellular system using digitally coded speech.
GSM is in use in about 7 European countries and will eventually
operate in over 14, thus making roaming theoretically feasible
technically (but in practical terms dependent on the existance of
business agreements between your home GSM system and the GSM system
operating company which you visit).

GSM is difficult or probably impossible to "clone" because it uses a
challenge-response algorithm for authentication and identification of
the mobile unit which does not produce an invariable (and therefore
cloneable) identification signal, as most analog cellular systems do.
It has nothing fundamentally to do with the digital vs. analog issue,
but is merely the result of a better authentication transaction
design.

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: E(TACS) and GSM
Date: 28 Feb 1995 03:54:34 +1100
Organization: Stanilite Electronics Pty. Ltd. Sydney, Australia


Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]> writes:

> Can someone explain to me what E(TACS) and GSM are in detail?

I'm sure lots of people can! Someone will correct the bits I get wrong.

ETACS is Extended Total Access Communication System or something
similar.  TACS is the UK version of the U.S. analog cellular standard
AMPS. Major differences are in the frequency range (only slightly
different) with some minor ones in data on control channels etc. The
extended bit is because the TACS standard has a section for extended
frequencies with a lot more than the 1000 or so in AMPS.

GSM is a French standard which is (roughly) translated as Group
Special Mobile or something similar. Someone else will know exactly.

GSM is digital whereas TACS is analog. This means your calls are more
secure but the coverage will possibly be not as extensive as it is a
newer technology (thats the way with GSM and AMPS in Australia anyway).

> are around five cellular phone service providers in our country, and
> most of them use E(TACS).  One uses GSM, and says that this is the
> latest technology in cellular telephony.  They say that it would make
> international roaming possible (although they say that it isn't
> possible right now).

If your GSM service provider is international or has agreements
overseas the international roaming is possible with GSM. Vodaphone
(who are one of the three GSM providers in Australia) has networks in
other countries where you can roam.  Telecom (another provider) has
agreements with other providers oversea.

As TACS is mainly used in UK and China and a few others then it is no
where near as suitable for international roaming.

> Also, this service provider that uses GSM says that they're the only
> provider that's 100% digital.  One of the implications of this, they
> claim, is that their phones can't be cloned as easily as the analog
> ones.  Is this true?

I couldn't say for sure with this but TACS (and AMPS) were never
designed with much security in mind anyway and as the GSM standard has
the benefit of hindsight when it comes to these security issues it
would have to be safer from cloning. AMPS and TACS phones are fairly
easy to clone if you know what you are doing (and can read the IMSI
and ESN over the air anyway).

> Also, they say that analog systems are very prone to charge errors.
> Is this also true?  Or are they just trying to scare me from going to
> the other service providers?

I wouldn't know about this but if the equipment is any of the big
names such as Ericsson or Motorola or a smaller type of equipment that
has been extensively trialled in a country like Australia like the
company I work for has then the basestation shouldn't make these type
of errors. The main problem would come from the providers of these
bases with inferior land lines (false answers) and not having answer
type signals (line reversals or whatever) on the lines and just
guessing when the answer has occurred ie. after ten seconds.

In short go for the GSM phone and provider:

- if the GSM coverage is good (ask the providors) or at least bearable,
- if the GSM phone is not excessively expensive (shop around),
- if the TACS systems will be non-existent in a few years like in
  Australia (although in 5 years the phone will have had a pretty
  good life anyway).
- if cloning (and you have to pay for the stolen air time) is
  rampant where you are.
- if international roaming is important (as long as the provider
  is international or can guarantee agreements with providers in
  other countries.
- if you care if other people hear your conversation as anyone
  with a decent scanner (and some intelligence or maybe even without)
  can listen to your TACS or AMPS phone conversations. For the
  average person this is just about impossible with GSM.

I have to repeat though the coverage for the analog system is nearly
always more extensive than the digital systems in most countries
simply because it has been around longer. This is changing though.
Check it out thoroughly first though.

Hope that helps.

BTW where is the .jp domain - the phone number is in the Phillipines
isn't it?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I beleive .jp is Japan.   PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 12:57 EST
From: Testmark Laboratories <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: V.35 Interface


In a recent TD, Steve Bunning <[e-mail]> wrote:

> While reading the CCITT (ITU) Recommendation V.35, I began wondering
> how this standard for a 48,000 Kbps Wideband Modem using 60-108 kHz
> Group Band Circuits became the high speed equivilent of RS-232.

> The V.35 standard does not mention the large 34-pin block connector
> commonly used.  The signals in the standard are ground, TxD, RxD, RTS,
> Ready for sending (CTS), DSR, RLSD, Tx Clock and Rx Clock.

> DTR, RI, Terminal Timing, Local Loopback, Test Mode, Remote Loopback,
> and Test Pattern are not included as part of the standard, but often
> seen in vendor documentation for V.35.

> Does anyone know how V.35 evolved from a modem standard to a de facto
> physical interface standard?

Actually, V.35 didn't evolve, you were reading an obsolete standard.
The last time V.35 appeared as a published standard was the CCITT 1984
Red Book.  If you were to read the V Series for the CCITT 1988 Blue
Book, you would find that the only mention of V.35 was to point out
that it is out of date, and V.36 & V.37 are now recommended.

This is the best kept secret in data communications, and a pet peeve
of mine.  V.36/V.37 is designed for the high speeds that modern data
equipment runs at, especially devices like routers, which will run at
T1 or E1 or higher on their high speed serial (HSS) port.  I have seen
applications that ran error free as high as 8 Mbps on an HSS port.
The problem with V.35 was that its balanced transmiter voltages were
too low (0.55vdc) so it was susceptible to electrical noise from
florescent lamp ballasts, a worker using an electric drill in another
room, etc.  That is the only real electrical difference for V.36 -- its
balanced transmiter voltage is ten times as much, (6vdc) and therefore
much less susceptible to interference.  This is important now that
data services such as frame relay are becoming popular, as frame relay
is specifically designed to work on an error-free channel.

The other "change" that was supposed to happen in V.36 was to replace
the old, bulky, fragile V.35 connector that was popular in Europe.
Unfortunately, the V.36 standard doesn't call out when that is
supposed to happen, it simply says "after an interim period."  In
addition, the connector that V.36 recommends for future use is the old
RS-449 connector, a DB-42.  While this is an improvement, it is still
too bulky for modern data devices.  What has actually happened is that
the DB-25 connector is almost universally present on the backs of
DSUs, routers, etc., and custom cables provide either the old V.35
connector, or the RS-449 connector.  There is another standard, EIA
530, which uses the DB-25 connector, and is electrically compatible
with V.36, but it never took off.  So, the majority of high speed
serial ports today use a DB-25, with a custom cable to go to a V.35
connector, and this is typically duplicated on the other side of the
data connection!

Also, only about three-quarters of the high speed serial devices that
come through our lab are at the 6vdc driver level -- about a quarter
of them are STILL using the obsolete, less-desirable, V.35 electrical
level, seven years after the standar changed!  This isn't a real
problem, as V.36 was designed to be backward-compatible with V.35.
The V.35 device is designed to withstand voltages higher than 6vdc on
its receivers, so it won't be damaged by a V.36 transmitter.  Don't
forget, though, a V.35 voltage level means that the data device is
more susceptible to electrical noise, and therefore more likely to
take errors.

By the way, V.36 doesn't stand alone.  It calls on V.10 for the
unbalanced electrial driver/terminator requirements, and V.11 for the
balanced requirements.  It also refers (as did V.35) to ISO standards
to describe the connectors' physical characteristics.  (ISO 2593 is
the "old" V.35 connector.)


John Combs, Project Engineer, TestMark Laboratories, [e-mail]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 12:58 EST
From: Testmark Laboratories <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Pair Gain Line Problem


In article <[e-mail]> Matt <[e-mail].
edu> writes:

> I have been told by a Pac Bell (i'm in CA) tech that the reason that I
> cannot connect above 9600 is because I'm on a "Pair Gain" line to the
> C.O. My roommate has no problem, the tech says he's on a copper line
> to the C.O.

In <telecom15.119> Mike Sandman <[e-mail]> responds:

> The usual cause of trouble connecting or staying connected at high
> speeds is high loop current coming from the pair gain equipment (or
> right from the CO or a PBX for that matter).

> For good data communications, it should read between 23 and 27ma DC.
> If it's over 27ma, which it probably will be, you will need to get the
> current down below 27ma. It is not unusual to get 50ma, and sometimes
> as much as 80ma of loop current. In addition to preventing high speed
> connections, 40ma and up can burn out whatever you've got connected to
> the line, except standard old non-electronic 2500 type telephones.

> If the loop current is between 23 and 27 ma, you are looking at a
> problem other than loop current.  If the loop current is below 23ma,
> the phone company must bring the current on the line up to 23ma. If
> it's above 27ma, the phone company won't reduce the current for you,
> since their high spec is 110ma (a holdover from the early 70's before
> there was much electronic stuff out there).

I read this treatise on loop current with astonishment, until I
reached the end, where I saw a plug for a loop current attenuator.
Let's discuss a few basic facts:

a) EIA/TIA 470-A "Telephone Instruments With Loop Signaling" is the
"bible" on how to design Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) for North
American POTS lines.  It has tests that require the CPE be subjected
to and operate with loop currents from 20 to 100 ma, such as Figure
4-11, DTMF Signal Level Characteristics.

b) The telco has no obligation to provide a minimum of 23ma, and I'd
love to see the transcript of someone calling GTE customer service and
informing them that GTE had to up their loop current from their 20ma
minimum to 23ma.

c) The real-life currents a CPE will see are governed by local loop
design and the CO battery and feed coils, plus the resistance of the
CPE itself.

d) The most common reason that modems don't work well over carrier
systems is that many of them don't provide the 300-3400 Hz bandwidth
that the newer, high speed modems need.

Lets consider the worst case loop current example likely in North
America.  A local CO theoretically may put out up to 56.5vdc during
fast battery charge, and the CO applies battery to the subscriber line
with 200 ohm/ 200 ohm battery feed coils.  If the CPE is just outside
the CO, there will be no loop length to speak of.  If the CPE is
unusual, it may have as little as 100 ohms off-hook dc resistance.
So, 56.5vdc/(400 ohms feed coils + 100 ohms CPE resistance) = 110ma,
which is where I assume that Mike got his high specification from.  A
more realistic calculation is 52vdc/(400 ohms battery feed + 600 ohms
loop resistance + 200 ohms CPE resistance) = 43ma.  (Most digital COs
I'm familiar with have a dc voltage of 52, not 48.)

The only way we will see his 27ma loop current is with the maximum
permitted loop resistance (1200 ohms) plus the maximum permitted CPE
resistance of 300 ohms. 52vdc/(400 ohms feed coils + 1200 ohms loop +
300 ohms CPE) = 27ma.  (The actual loop resistance can exceed 1200
ohms, but at that point, the telco will start using load coils and/or
loop extenders and/or other special service modules, all of which can
degrade modem communications.)

Old carrier systems, such as the GTE 84A, will interfere with any
modem much faster than 1200bps.  The 84A puts two customers on one
copper pair, and the unlucky customer on the "subscriber" pair (the
non-copper link) can expect to see an on-hook voltage of only 6vdc
(provided by NiCad batteries) and 30vrms ac ringing which is
square-wave, not sine-wave.  GTE 82A carrier puts six customers on one
copper pair, and uses 300vdc on the copper pair to power the field
equipment, which is in aluminum cans put on the service poles.  (I've
received some healthy shocks from the 82A systems!)

Modern carrier systems are also a threat to modems, such as the AT&T
SLC96.  (pronounced slick 96) If the telco is trying to maximize the
number of customers serviced, the SLC96 has a feature called "channel
compression" which halves the available digital bandwidth allocated
for a single subscriber's line.  This lowers the voice quality only
slightly, but it plays havoc with modems, even 1200bps speeds.

Received carrier signal levels are also important to modems.  Local
loop design guidelines call for a maximum local loop loss of 8.5dB,
although 9dB isn't too unlikely.  A digital CO has 0dB through-loss,
and an older, analog CO, such as a GTE #1 or #2 EAX will have a
through-loss of 0.8dB.  Then, don't forget, we have a loop on the
other side of the CO going to the called modem, so our maximum dB loss
on a local call using a pair of loosely-engineered loops through an
analog CO is (9+0.8+9) = 18.8dB.  (These numbers come in part from
EIA/TIA-464-A, which describes the North American Loss Plan for analog
and digital PBXs.)

Now, dial-up modems typically transmit at -11dBm. (-9dBm is the
maximum permitted by FCC Part 68 & ISC CS-03 requlations).  -11dBm
through a facility loss of 18.8dB gives us a received signal level at
the far modem of -29.8dBm.  Any modern modem worth its salt can
connect down to receive levels as low as -36 to -38dBm.  So, the local
loop design rules shouldn't interfere with modems.

Why, then, do people have trouble connecting with modems?  Besides
carrier systems, or long lines with load coils, there are impairments
on the local loop.  These include phase hits, gain hits, dropouts,
echo, envelope delay, noise, and impulse noise.  The telcos are also
notorious for leaving "bridge-taps" on the lines.  Even supposedly
"conditioned" lines such as a C1!  The bridge-tap problem in North
America is well-enough known that the ISDN BRI 2B1Q line coding was
chosen because it is particularly resistant to bridge-taps.

Finally, there is a situation where Mike's advice to lower the loop
current on the line can help.  I have come across really cheap modems
where higher loop currents (45ma and up) can "saturate" the windings
of the low-cost isolation transformers they use in their front ends.
This has the effect of drastically attenuating the ac signal levels
passed through the transformer, and preventing the modem from
connecting to the far end.  However, no "brand-name" modem is going to
be susceptible to this problem.

And, if 40ma of loop current "burns-out" a piece of CPE, it cannot
have met the FCC Part 68/ISC CS-03 requirements.  The required loop
simulator for testing can deliver in excess of 100ma, and when we test
CPE for registration, we test at 20ma and 100ma.


John Combs, Project Engineer, TestMark Laboratories, [e-mail]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #125
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Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 20:36:29 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #126

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 28 Feb 95 20:36:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 126

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Caller ID Service For Equivalency Lines (Paul Chehowski)
    Correction on AT&T True Rewards Posting (Alan Kelman)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (George Wang)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (Alan Larson)
    800 Numbers - Media and Real Estate Rebuttal (Judith Oppenheimer)
    Job Posting: Cellular Engineer (Scott Townley)
    Re: Some Major and Grim Changes Proposed For the Net (Robert Levandowski)
    Re: Some Major and Grim Changes Proposed For the Net (Tom Ellis)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
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*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Paul Chehowski)
Subject: Re: Caller ID Service For Equivalency Lines - First Line Only?
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 15:58:56 GMT
Organization: Sulis Computing


In a previous posting, I wrote:

> I'm working on an IVR system that is heavily dependent on Caller-ID to
> identify callers to the system.  We arranged to have our lines put in,
> and I was shocked to find out that if I wanted a single 1-800 number
> to access the system, I had to set up the two lines that we needed in
> the local office as equivalency lines, and that as equivalency lines I
> would only get caller id on the first line of the group.
> Unfortunately I could only talk to a local order taker, who couldn't
> explain to me technically why this is the case, and they were unable
> to suggest any work arounds and were unwilling to pass me on to anyone
> technical to discuss the issue.

Special thanks to Pat, TELECOM Digest Editor for his note on my post.
I called back my local carrier to follow his suggestion (multiple
1-800 numbers and local lines, with hunt groups for the 1-800
numbers), and was told that Caller ID on equivalency lines was no
problem (although the Caller ID on the second line is not guaranteed to
be 100% reliable).  It turns out that the person I talked to first
when placing my order was new (although she pretended to be very
experienced, telling me that she was the only one in the office that
could handle 1-800 numbers, which also turned out not to be true).

She put me on hold when taking my order, and claimed she was talking
to a technician about the issue of Caller ID for equivalency lines and
told me that the technician had also said that Caller ID was not
techically possible (she wouldn't allow me to directly talk to the
technician).  She also told me that there was no one else in the
office that I could talk to about the issue, and she was absolutely
certain it was unavailable.

End result is that thanks to Pat and a more experienced individual in the
local carrier's office, I will shortly have Caller ID on my two lines.


Thanks again,

Paul Chehowski    [e-mail]
Sulis Computing   [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, it is just as reliable on the
second, overflow line as it is on the first line, which is to say it
comes through accurately over 99 percent of the time. Bear in mind you
*do* have to have to display boxes (unless you use the trick I described)
and you do need to pay for Caller ID on both lines.

I've found most of the enhanced custom calling features will work perfectly
fine where roll over or hunt lines are concerned. That's because these
features are tested for *before* it gets to the point the CO has to look
for a second line. In other words a call comes in to your enhanced line
(meaning you have things like call screening, automatic callback, etc.)
to the main number. The CO says 'okay, he can have the ID of the Caller.
He wants us to screen for certain callers and deny them access. He wants
to be able to call them back automatically if desired.' All these things
get done, or evaluated, *then* the call is presented to your main line
and another piece of equipment says oops, that line is busy, we have to
give the calls to line two. If the call is supposed to be screened out,
it does not matter if in fact he would be shunted to line two. The decision
to screen is made on what the caller dialed and what he anticipated would
happen. Now if the caller actually dials your line two and you don't have
screening on that line as well, then he *will* get through. If you have
screening on that line also but his call gets hunted on to line sixteen
or whatever, then he will get blocked.  With all the features, you have
to have them on the number the caller *dials*, not the number he actually
winds up getting in on (or would have gotten through on if he were not
screened, etc). Therefore if you want a relatively decent level of
security and control over your phone lines, you keep all your roll over
numbers secret (preferably out of sequence and all over the exchange so
that guessing at them becomes difficult) and you load up your main listed
number with all the enhanced features designed to give control of the
phone to the call recipient, like Caller ID, blocking, return last call,
etc. And contrary to what the rep said, Caller ID is reliable, even if
it takes an extra second while the switch hunts through your group of
lines and has to search all the way to line 38 or whatever. Caller ID
is not passed until it gets a clear path and the subscriber's phone
has run one time.   PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 22:24:54 -0800
From: [e-mail] (Alan Kelman)
Subject: Correction on AT&T True Rewards Posting


[e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor) wrote:

Error> Five frequent flyer miles on Delta, United, or (god forbid!  I
> don't want to die yet!) US Air for each 100 points is another option.

Correct> Five HUNDRED frequent flyer on Delta, United, or US Air for
> every 100 points.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I stand corrected. It was five miles per
point; one hundred points minimum. I think I made that error unconciously
on purpose, that way I knew there would be an oppotunity to repeat the
message later. <grin>

In True Rewards, AT&T is giving a point for each dollar of long distance
calls you make over $25 per month. If your bill goes over $75 then you
get two points for each dollar spent.

       If you move, notify AT&T of your new address and
       phone number; you get 100 bonus points.

       If someone signs up for AT&T residence long distance
       service and gives you as the referral, you get 300 bonus
       points.

Points can be redeemed at any time when you have at least 100. They
can be redeemed for various things, but the one that interested me
most was:

       $5 credit toward your AT&T bill for every 100 points.
       (You get those 'pay to the order of the telephone company'
       credit slips to redeem with your phone bill.)

One thing AT&T stressed was that 'point pooling' is allowed, and
encouraged. All you have to do is tell them you want to transfer your
True Rewards points to someone else; they'll be happy to do it.
They said having two or three people sign up for AT&T residential
service (300 points each) along with transfer of points from people
who have collected them but are not interested in redeeming them
could 'result in someone having hundreds, or even thousands of points
in a very short time ...'

The thing which appeals to me is the credit on my local telco bill
and here is how YOU can help:  If you have been meaning to possibly
send a donation to the Digest but have not gotten around to it yet --
or maybe you just don't have the money to spare -- then you can use
this round-about way of helping instead.

If you intend at some point in the near future to sign up for AT&T
residential service, do it through this special phone number:

     Call 1-800-383-6158.  The representative will switch you
     to AT&T for free and enroll you in True Rewards.

     Give the representative REFERRAL NUMBER : BY-6195039315666.
     Tell the representative to apply the 300 bonus points to
     that account. Everytime someone switches to AT&T in this
     way, I get the points.  Got more than one line at your place?
     Feel like giving one of them to AT&T?

If you are not interested in participating in True Rewards but got a
statement recently from AT&T with your point balance shown you can
also help. Mine arrived by bulk mail today so I assume there are lots
of these in the mail now.  Do this:

      Call 1-800-869-9900. Tell the representative your True Rewards
      account number which is printed on the bottom of the statement
      they sent you. Tell the representative to transfer all of your
      points to my telephone number 708-329-0570.

As the points come in from new subscribers to AT&T who use my
referral number and as points come in from transfers out of accounts
where they are not wanted, I'll redeem them for credit on my always
high, frequently delinquent phone bill.  (I haven't gotten cut off
once yet this year, I'll have you know! Not only that, since I got my
last 'deferred payment plan' agreement finished a few months ago I am
eligible to stall by starting another one if absolutely necessary.)

If you do sign up using my referral number or transfer your unwanted
True Rewards points, please send me email and let me know so I have
an idea what's going on.

You have to call the two numbers shown above to do all this; the
regular representatives on the published numbers they use can't handle
it.

Thank you very much!


Patrick Townson
TELECOM Digest Editor                                    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (George Wang)
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery
Date: 28 Feb 1995 09:26:03 -0800
Organization: Hip-Hop BBS  Sunnyvale, California


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (DAVID
CHESSLER) writes:

>> My instructions for my xt-pak ni-cad batteries say to maintain long
>> lifetime, I should discharge them fully before recharging (all the
>> time, not just the first five times), so I've found I must stuff the
>> phone under the couch cushions overnight so it won't wake me up.

>> Maybe this is an opportunity for a third party product - a cell phone
>> silencer (sound proof box), or a battery drainer (something that just
>> puts a load on the battery until it drains completely).

> I've handled ordinary nicads by putting them in a flashlight, turning
> it on, and waiting for the light to go out.

There is a trick to have the phone discharge itself without using any
"peripherals". Just go into the "menu" and scroll until you see a
message that is fairly long so that the maximum number of LED lights
are on. I believe "Silent Keypad" is a long message. The phone will
automatically "bank" in this mode without going into standby.  This
will drain the battery quite well until it starts beeping low battery
and turns off. You may then have to repeat the process.

As to a previous message about re-programming the low battery voltage ...
there is no USER-modifiable way of changing this. Whatever article you
saw must have been talking about an old Motorola phone.  When I say
old it must be several years old and has since been discontinued.

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ry Jones) writes:

> Patrick Wolfe ([e-mail]) wrote:

>> My instructions for my xt-pak ni-cad batteries say to maintain long
>> lifetime, I should discharge them fully before recharging (all the
>> time, not just the first five times), so I've found I must stuff the
>> phone under the couch cushions overnight so it won't wake me up.

> Buy some Ni-MH battery packs. My fat pack lasts about 12-18 hours. I
> bought a trickle charger for my car and use the battery conditioner at
> work. It discharges and recharges in a few hours. And, I think if you
> turn the volume of the ringer down, it might affect everything else. I
> don't recall.

The trickle car charger does not first discharge your battery. You might
want to discharge it using the trick I mentioned in my previous post.


George C. Wang    Email: [e-mail]
Alternate: [e-mail]
Finger for public encryption key.

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 11:54:09 PST
From: [e-mail] (Alan Larson)
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery


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

> With a cellular battery of peculiar voltage and conformation, just
> build a small battery-drainer on a scrap of pegboard, using a
> flashlight bulb of appropriate size.

  Doing this is a good way for the first cell to hit zero to be pushed
negative as the other cells continue to discharge.  This is about the
worst thing you can do to the cell, and will ensure its shorter life.

  The phone knows how low to take the battery.  Trust it.

  If you don't want to do that, use the intellicharger and don't leave
it on trickle.  Not overcharging the battery will be the best move
towards keeping the battery away from voltage depression, and get good
service.


Alan

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

From: [e-mail] (Judith Oppenheimer)
Subject: 800 Numbers - Media and Real Estate Rebuttal
Date: 28 Feb 1995 15:52:48 -0500
Organization: Interactive CallBrand(TM)


[e-mail] (Al Varney) wrote:

>I probably shouldn't open my mouth, but....

> In article <3iltb5$[e-mail]>, Judith Oppenheimer
> <[e-mail]> wrote:

>> It's clear, that by employment and occupation, the policy shapers
>> and decision makers regarding all telephone numbering plans focus on
>> the mechanical and engineering aspects of telecom.  Valid aspects, to
>> be sure.  But limited.

> Limited perhaps more by International and FCC agreements on the
> PROPER administration of the number space.

Not necessarily proper.  Just traditional, based on outdated practices
that studiously ignore the convergence aspects of telecom.

> Are you suggesting that telephone companies wouldn't LOVE to receive
> revenue from the act of assigning numbers?

<grin> Not I!  The carriers *are* active numbers marketers.  They buy
them all the time, and receive revenue by such acts as MCI's
"acquiring" 1 800 HARVEYS for Harveys Casino.  This helps get them the
account, and then delivers higher volume call completion (revenue),
because the *media* element of the phone number is powerful stuff.

However, they want license to buy and sell, but let no one else in the
marketplace.  That's simply not fair.  It's anti-competitively,
monopolistic, unrealistic and impractical.

>> These people are employed by the real estate moguls of telecom -
>> the carriers.  For whom this mechanical and engineering (operational)
>> focus preserves their territorial exclusivity.

> Interesting psychological perspective, from someone interested in
> creating assets from thin air, applying for TM/SM/copyright protection
> and then demanding that the CONCEPT is more important in commerce than
> costs associated with the infrastructure.

Don't flatter me, I didn't create it, I'm just a fascinated and
enthusiastic observer of a marketplace creating itself.

But, as a marketer, I take issue with your "assets are thin air"
suggestion.

A brand is an asset.  It is only valuable because of the desire of the
consumer, and the perception of the stock holder.  The price of coke,
and its stock value, has a hell of a lot more to do with the cost of
advertising awareness, and maintaining desire, than the cost of the
water, syrup and bottle.

> Do you also claim copyright on license plates with FLOWERS or "TCBY
> 1" and thus preclude the un-licensed use of them?  How about license
> plates that are the "telephone number equivalent" of such? -- 3569377
> (FLOWERS), for example.

Trademarks protect the consumer.  License plates are not consumer-soliciting,
product/service delivering devices.  Phones are.

>> So the ITU, INC. and other participants in these processes, are by
>> design quite removed from the multi-disciplinary,
>  ^^^^^^
>          (and by laws/treaties/etc.)

>> non-telecom market realities of 800 numbers.

Yes.

>> 800 numbers have solid media characteristics.  They contain content
>> and attract targeted audiences.

> Very few 800 numbers have much content -- it's only the assignment
> of alphabetic and alphanumeric equivalencies to them that is argued.
> You can copyright 800 FLOWERS but not the equivalent dialed number ...

Why don't we let the media and copyright/trademark legal folks map out
all the possibilities, and ramifications.

That's the point -- that they and other involved disciplines are not
involved in the processes of creating standards and policies.  They
should be.

>> 800 COLLECT attracts collect callers.  800 FLOWERS attracts flower
buyers.  Etc.  This raises very interesting questions regarding
foreign ownership of U.S. media, and is just one of
                          ^^^^^
>                             (numbers are media??)

Yop.  I say yes.  You say no.  I'd like to hear some more opinions,
and see some studies on this so that all businesses are best served.
This is asking so much?

>> the issues that should be studied regarding the proposed
>> International Freephone service.

> OK -- but you have to admit that MCI, while assigned (but not
> advertising that relationship ) 800 COLLECT, does not TODAY own the
> number 8002655328.

Don't tell them that.  And, btw, don't tell their customers either.
I've talked to too many corporate 800 users who've been assured by MCI
and others that they own their numbers. But it's a "trust us, we'll
take care of you" thing.

Would you like to buy a bridge?

> Nor can there be a trademark TODAY on such a number.  Would you
> change that?  Can I have the number "7"?

>> I've asked some my associates in both telecom and marketing to
>> address this issue.  This, from the president of a reseller company,
>> who discusses the real estate characteristics of 800 numbers.

>> "Why should 800 telephone numbers not be traded in the open market?
>> Portability opened the door.  It is time to complete the ownership
>> issue.  There will be ample supply of 800 numbers if current holders
>> can sell numbers.

> BUT they didn't buy the numbers in the beginning -- isn't this a
> give-away of property they never OWNED and agreed when they received
> the numbers that they didn't own?  Who owns the NUMBERS???  (Not the
> trademarked alphanumeric strings -- I know who owns them.)  >

OK, I'll bite.  Who owns the numbers?  See, you raise good questions
too.  Shouldn't they be addressed, by *all* interested parties?

>> ....  In the early days of America's development, land was given
>> freely to anyone who would care for it and develop it, whereafter, the
>> land became their property.

> So you are advocating for the future that unassigned 800 numbers be
> sold or licensed, and that all current ASSIGNEES be granted free
> ownership of their current numbers?

What's free?  They've been investing advertising and services in those
numbers, paying maintenance and usage fees to the carriers, etc.
What's free?

> A sort of squatters' right's seizure of the property, isn't it?  Why
> should the industry and the FCC give away something of value?

First of all, they already have.  Second of all, you asked above who
owns the numbers, implying that no one does.  Are you now saying that
the "industry" and the FCC own the numbers?  Are you further acknowledging
that they *are* of value?

Well, you know what, you're right.  They are.  They weren't when they
were assigned, though.  The value was vested in them by their users.

> Have you run this by Newt?

Not lately.

> 800 numbers are no different.

> I disagree -- the analogy is incorrect.  800-AlphaStrings are not
> like land, they are more like radio frequencies.  Do you suggest
> similar grandfathered ownership of radio frequencies (WLS FM 94.7
> would now OWN that frequency, rather than license it)?  How about
> automobile license plate alphanumeric strings?  User-IDs on AOL?  All
> government-assigned identifiers such as Social Security numbers?

Domain names do indeed have trademark ramifications, and are
recognized as brand-identifiers.  Social Security numbers, of course,
are not.

>> So, now there's media and real estate.

> Try my analogy instead, and see where it leads.  LICENSE AUCTIONS
> for telephone numbers!  Finally, a stable income source for funding of
> telecom standards work.  To be consistent, Internet addresses,
> Ethernet addresses, vanity street addresses, etc. should also be
> licensed and auctioned ...

It has been suggested that 800 numbers be registered to their owners
like real estate, with the FCC profiting from transactions.  I'm sure
there are many other viable suggestions yet to be voiced.

Again -- I'd like to hear them.

>> Clearly, the single-disciplinary operational standard approach
>> cannot possibly address the characteristics, nor the ramifications, of
>> media and real estate market necessities.

> I agree -- would you agree to drop any private interest/ownership
> rights in any existing numbers, and come to work for ATIS as the
> Number Marketing Committee chairperson?

Would I agree to abandon my clients -- mostly smaller users who don't
have much financial clout with carriers -- and their interests?  No.

Re ATIS, are you offering me a job?  <g>

> Or do you just want existing users to suddenly become owners --
> without any reimbursement of the current administration, thereby
> reaping a windfall asset AND enhancing the value of businesses that
> profit from the "Telephone Number as a Brand Name" concept?

That is the reseller model, isn't it?  It's legal, entrepreneurial,
and it keeps America working, and Americans employed.

> Al Varney -- speaking only for myself, not any of the
> myriad sub-units of AT&T.

> [I am not one of the "policy shapers and decision makers" to which
> Judith Oppenheimer refers in the opening paragraph.  I AM interested
> in fairness of number assignment and the avoidance of unnecessary
> infrastructure costs (including FCC and industry forum/administrative
> costs) that are un-reimbursed by the companies benefiting from
> required infrastructure changes.]

Al, here you've lost me.  Who's going to pay for 888, if that mess
passes?  Who's going to pay for international freephone?  Who's going
to reimburse business for misdials, the substantial cost of new
advertising and consumer education, etc.?

Who is looking out for the companies that will be shafted by these
unnecessary and cumbersom infrastructure changes?

Huh?


J. Oppenheimer, [e-mail]  Interactive CallBrand(TM)

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott Townley)
Subject: Job Posting: Cellular Engineer
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 15:06:20 MST
Organization: Primenet


All qualified and interested candidates are invited to submit resumes
for the following Field Engineering position in Tucson, AZ.

Please reply via USMail to:
Field Engineer
USWest New Vector
1250 W. Guadalupe
Gilbert, AZ 85233

-or-
FAX your resume to [phone]

-or-
e-mail your resume (MSWord or ASCII format) to [e-mail].

   --begin description--

Field Engineer-

US West Cellular, a progressive leader in the cellular communications
industry, has an immediate opening for a Field Engineer in the Tucson
area.

The position will be responsible for RF system design, cellular system
optimization and planning, cell site equipment procurement and new
site evaluation and support.  On a regional basis, this position will
provide cellular systems design support to meet quality and cost
objectives.  Requires a BSEE or equivalent education, 1-2 years RF
system design experience, knowledge of general telephony concepts and
basic understanding of RF propagation characteristics, testing and
verification, directional/tilted antenna applications and the PSTN
network.  Excellent organization and communication skills and the
ability to work in a winning team environment essential.  Experience
in the cellular industry desirable.

    -- end description --

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Levandowski)
Subject: Re: Some Major and Grim Changes Proposed For the 'Net'
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 04:00:40 GMT


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (A.
Padgett Peterson) writes:

>> And yes, that child pornography: truly the pedophiles have a field day
>> on the commercial services; after all on CIS/AOL/IRC you are whoever you
>> say you are; who is to say otherwise?  At least on Internet's own version
>> of chat (Internet Relay Chat or IRC) anomynity is relatively more difficult
>> to pull off; your username@site is there for people to see.

> Now if I were more mercenary, I could see a value of being able to trace
> any message to its source. It is certainly doable and not very difficult,
> just an "unexplored territory" at the moment. However I do think that
> Internet Caller-ID would be a better solution to the problem than the
> "thought police" since censorship does nothing to stop those who are rude,
> only society/culture can do that.

The problem is, how can you do this in a reliable way?  It's not easy
to fake Caller-ID, especially if the phone company and/or your CNID
box is smart (i.e., won't fall for fake tones sent after the true
ones).  This is because the CNID information is generated by the phone
company; most people don't have the skill or opportunity to convince
the switch that the line they're using doesn't REALLY have the phone
number it thinks it does ...

On the other hand, how difficult is it to convince IRC you're not who it
thinks you are?  If you're a UNIX user,

    setenv IRCNAME [e-mail]

and Bingo!  Pat gets some irate email.  (Or at least I think he does,
'cause I can't find a header with his address to verify it.  It's late. :)

Some UNIX systems run a program called "identd," which will supposedly
verify such information, which is perhaps even closer to Caller ID.
But identd is just another program; there's a version of identd out
there that will spew forth whatever identity you desire, if you're
unscrupulous to install it on your machine.  The technical knowledge
required to install such a program is, in my opinion, several orders
of magnitude smaller than that required to hack the phone system.

If you're running IRC from a personal computer, it's even more
trivial.  Most such programs offer a setting where you can supply
whatever you want as your "real name."  The same goes for electronic
mail programs.

It's as if it were relatively easy for people to purchase their own
exchanges that could generate Caller ID and send it forth -- you could
send any number you wanted and it'd be difficult for the called party
to figure it out.

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I'm wholly against any form of net
censorship; free speech is too important.  The risk here is that
promoting an "Internet Caller ID" as a safety feature that reliably
identifies the calling party is far too premature.  Perhaps when PGP
or something similar becomes widespread and as easy to use as plugging
in a Caller ID box ...


Rob Levandowski
Computer Interest Floor associate / University of Rochester
[e-mail]     [Opinions expressed are mine, not UR's.]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 14:19:27 -0500
From: Tom Ellis <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Some Major and Grim Changes Proposed For the 'Net'
Organization: Reynolds+Reynolds, Dayton, Ohio


In article <[e-mail]> TELECOM Digest Editor wrote:

> I guess I am a person who believes the United States in particular and
> the world in general was a lot better place when the thing known as 'shame'
> played a prominent part in our lives; when there were things we just did
> not let hang out for everyone else to see and talk about.  We no longer
> have any shame, and this is reflected in among other things, this online
> culture of ours. I think younger folks, the kids today who have been in the
> world only a decade or two have gotten morally and ethically cheated as a
> result of this loss of 'shame'. I won't push that, its just how I think.

When I was younger -- growing up in Chicago, as a matter of fact -- I
was sure I would never grow up in a way that would be known as being
"old-fashioned".  When I was 13 and buying Elvis records, and in my
20's protesting the Vietnam war, I just couldn't understand the "old-
fashioneds", who "just didn't get it".

Then I realized, as I was reading and agreeing with the paragraph
above, how old-fashioned I must seem to be when I insist that life was
better with well-enforced unwritten rules about public discourse and
activity.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The problems started in the USA when we
decided to get rid of religion. Now I quite agree that religion has a lot
of excesses which are not good, and further that no one religion is going
to suit everyone. A good many people were quite annoyed by some of the
excesses of the primary religion in the United States.

I do not think the people who worked hard to accomplish separation of
church and state over the past two decades or so are orges or devils.
I think they were well meaning people who wanted to see the Constitution
of the United States enforced better than it had been.  The trouble is,
constitution or no constitution, religion is what was holding together
the social fabric in this country. Yes, there were lots of things wrong
when religion was the dominant thing here, but I am not sure those things
were 'more wrong' than the things we see wrong today. And anyway, must
it be one end of the spectrum or the other?

I beleive the folks who worked hard to get religion out of the schools
and government offices assumed that even without religion present, people
would continue to behave in a moral and ethical way. The trouble is,
a great many did not. Religion was a powerful sword hanging over their head
and for all its excesses and bad points, my gosh did it promote for the
most part a sense of civility among us. When religion was abolished,
nothing took its place, and that is the problem. Now we just have a void.
I don't care if it was your religion or my religion or whosever's
religion, *any* religion provided a bit more to grasp on to, a bit more
to live for, and a sense of right and wrong than the void we live in
today.

I never could understand what people have against religion anyway.
After all, it is whatever you want it to be. I think they mistakenly
say 'religion = excesses of the Christian Right Wing', and that is
wrong.  They should have started their own religion instead, rather
than getting it tossed out of our public institutions entirely. There
need to be those goals and standards we set for ourselves, and religion
forces us to make those settings; to recognize those goals and standards.
Of course telling people to start their own religion is unrealistic. Very
few people can (or choose to) use their brains that well, or accept the
discipline in their lives that would result.    PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #126
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #127

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 2 Mar 95 10:27:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 127

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "Mobile IP Networking" by Malamud et al (Rob Slade)
    Credit Checking on Cellular Customers (Steve Samler)
    Tired of S.314 Hysteria (Brad Hicks)
    ESF and Clear Channel (was: What is ESF (Fred Bauer)
    X.25 over ISDN - Addressing (Azriel Heuman)
    References Wanted on Benefits of Networking (Alice Weng)
    Turnkey Telephone Based Classified System Required (Richard Burry)
    Help Information Needed (Deepak Bapna)
    CallerID and Dialogic Board (Brian Tatro)
    Call For Tender ISDN Project Support (Marcel W.J. van Ruijven)
    ATM UNI 3.0 & 3.1 (Lionel Jaquet)
    Value ($) of Teltone TLS3 Telephone Line Simulator? (Jim Aust)
    Voice Mail Prompts (Alexis Kasperavicius)
    Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act (Tony Harminc)
    Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act ([e-mail])

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
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is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 16:46:57 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Mobile IP Networking" by Malamud et al


CSMBIPNT.RVW   950113

"Mobile IP Networking", Malamud et al, 1993, 1-56592-994-2, U$9.95
%A   Carl Malamud
%A   Phil Karn
%A   Jun Murai
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1993
%G   1-56592-994-2
%I   O'Reilly & Associates/ORAudio
%O   U$9.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: [phone] [e-mail]
%P   60 min.
%S   Geek of the Week
%T   "Mobile IP Networking"

These two Internet Talk Radio interviews were conducted in 1993.  Phil
Karn is the father of the KA9Q TCP/IP implementation, used for packet
radio and various DOS applications.  Jun Murai is founder of the
Japanese WIDE Internet.

The Karn interview talks a bit about KA9Q and mobile IP, but
concentrates on encryption and privacy.  Along the way, there is
discussion of Clipper key escrow, PGP and the hybrid methods of data
cryptography -- most, however related to mobile IP.

Jun Murai starts by describing the situation at Keio University where
all students have access to the network via a wired campus and
wireless connections to laptops.  VIP (Virtual Internet Protocol) and
mobil IP are used in conjunction.  He also speaks of the satellite
multicast system in Japan.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   CSMBIPNT.RVW   950113. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.

Vancouver          [e-mail]
Institute for      [e-mail]
Research into      [e-mail]
User               [e-mail]
Security           Canada V7K 2G6

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

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 19:45:43 EST
From: Steve Samler <[e-mail]>
Subject: Credit Checking on Cellular Customers


I'm doing some research on credit check practices of cellular carriers
and their agents.

What is the common practice today when someone applies for cellular
service?  Credit check via one of the consumer credit agencies or via
D&B if a business is the applicant?

Is an additional credit check done if someone adds on a cellular modem?

Is anyone using the practice of approving to a certain dollar limit
and then cutting off service for the rest of the billing period if the
limit is reached?

How might today's practices be affected when cellular data (CDPD) is
in more widespread use and the typical monthly bill is higher than
today's?  (You might say that it won't matter because CDPD won't be
more widespread until the price is lower.  Then it might not matter.)

Any help is appreciated.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A credit check is done, and a deposit
equal to what the carrier estimates will be the charges for one or two
months is required if the subscriber's credit rating is not up to the
standards the carrier wants. I don't think it matters if you use a modem
or not.    PAT]

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

Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 15:08:19 -0600
From: /G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU1=[e-mail]
Subject: Tired of S.314 Hysteria


Am I the only person tired of being spammed about S.314, or just the
first one to complain about it?  Do I have to read seven to ten copies
of this in every newsgroup, even areas as obscure as alt.games.whitewolf?
All this, on top of the maybe twenty or thirty copies I've gotten as
e-mail?

Can there possibly be anyone on the planet with an e-mail address who
=doesn't= know about S.314?

Now, that being said, I finally read one of the marked up copies of
the current law, showing the changes that S.314 would make.  And
having read them, I am convinced that every single analysis I have
read is either mistaken, exaggerated, or an outright lie.

It's right there in the text.  The section that everybody is scared
of, the one that makes telecommunications vendors responsible for any
obscenity or threats that swim in their bitstreams, is prefaced with
"Whosoever KNOWINGLY ...."  (Emphasis added.)

That's right.  They left in the word "knowingly."  Which means that if
somebody uses your BBS, or your email service, or your anonymous remailer
to send someone an invitation to be the star in a pornographic snuff film,
and you don't know about it, you're not in violation of the Exon bill.

The easily alarmed might worry that some court will say that you =could=
have known, and therefore =should= have known.  But that's not up to
prosecutors, that's up to juries.  When witnesses testify as to how many
kilobytes or megabytes flow through your system per night, no jury is
going to say that you should have read it all.  If you present evidence
that you couldn't have known, because those bits were all encrypted and
people didn't tell you what was in them, nobody's going to rule that you
=could= have known, let alone =should= have.

So.  What do the people who oppose S.314 =and who understand it= REALLY
want?  The only reason I see to oppose S.314 is if you =want= BBS sysops
and telephone sex vendors to be immune to obscenity and harrassment laws.

If you want it to be legal for people to use email, or web pages, or
improvised FidoNets or whatever to send around JPGs of perverts raping 6
year olds, or detailed descriptions of rape/murder/torture fantasies with
people's real names for the victims, or GIFs of people having sex
involving excrement, carving knives, and/or animals ... well, then say so!

Because if that's what you want, then I agree with you 100%.  As the late
great Justice Hugo Black said, "I am a plain and simple man. I believe
that when the Constitution says, 'no laws,' it MEANS 'no laws.'"  Of
course, there's no way that the American people will permit this.
However, that's not, in my opinion, a moral reason to lie about the
contents of a proposed law, and stir up a net.lynch.mob.


J. Brad Hicks     Internet: mc![e-mail]
X.400: c=US admd=ATTMail prmd=MasterCard sn=Hicks gn=Brad


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I ran the pieces on S.314 a week or
more ago, I also had some second thoughts about whether or not I really
wanted (a) to run it -- because it had appeared so many other places; and
(b) because I was not really sure if I agreed with the claims of the
petition's circulators. Now I don't make my own agreement or disagreement
with something be the reason for publishing an item or not, so that
pretty well answered (b). But as you point out, it had been appearing
lots of places. The existence of the 'net.lynch.mob' in and of itself
was worth commenting on.

The 'knew or should have known' is going to be the key to the whole thing
if S.314 passes. What that means of course is that AT&T, Sprint, MCI,
Compuserve, AOL and the others with big name attornies who know how to
properly suck up will be left alone while Joe Blow's BBS will be hounded
and put out of business, because he cannot afford to fight the government
and wouldn't know how to begin fighting anyway. It won't *really* have
anything to do with what you knew, did not know or should have known. It
will have everything to do with your status and where you are relative
to your position near the bottom or top of the barrel we all spend all
our lives trying to crawl out of. I suppose that if you run an anonymous
remail service one could make the claim that, 'well, you really should
have had a good idea what your client base was using you for ...' Likewise
I imagine if you operate a site which seems to have an awful lot of
'incidents' in which users get their knuckles rapped from time to time
over the content of their messages one could make the claim also that
your traffic is not that great that the smut could repeatedly get past
you undetected, in which case you 'knew or should have known', etc.

And as you point out, the decision on who knew or should have known what
is a decision made by a judge or jury, not a prosecutor. But that is all
a very moot point: who has the *time and resources* to fight, whether
you win or lose?  I quite agree with you that the people putting out the
anti-S.314 material might have shown a wee bit more intellectual honesty
about what I suspect was the real intentions of many: as you pointed out,
to make the hard core smut peddlers completely prosecution- and judgment-
proof. Tom Lehrer, the Harvard mathemetician and comedian commented in
one of his routines that people who like smut never actually come out and
say so. They always couch their objections to laws against it in terms
of the First Amendment. They prefer to speak theoretically about (perhaps)
far-fetched conclusions which will result. How refreshing it would be
to have someone simply say, "I love pictures of little boys doing the
no-no thing, and I don't want laws forbidding me to possess or share the
pictures with others." Now that would be a change, to forget the First
Amendement b.s. and say where you are actually coming from. But as you
point out, the public would never allow that; on the other hand, there
are still sufficient numbers of people who (like myself) will support
the First Amendment, at least when it suits them, so these discussions
always wind up going in that direction. And thank you for your honesty,
I might add.   PAT]

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

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 10:50 EST
From: Fred Bauer <[e-mail]>
Subject: ESF and Clear Channel (was: What is ESF)


In <Telecom Digest Vol 15 # 125> [e-mail] (Michael
Jennings) writes in part:

> In addition, ESF typically is associated with "clear channel
> capability" or, the ability for the user to take advantage of
> the full 64 kb/s data rate of any of the 24 channels on the T1
> line.

> Typically the "D4" type of framing requires that there be a
> minimum number of logical "1's" being transmitted over the T1
> line.

I know this has been covered before, and it's even alluded to in the
rest of the original message, but I think that it is important enough
to be stated very seperatly:

**** There is (almost, see below) NO RELATION between the framing
on a T1 and the ability to transmit clear channel data *****

When specifing a T1 Facility, there are two seperate, INDEPENDENT
parameters that are in volved.

The first is the LINE CODE, which specifies how the bits are encoded
onto the copper line.  This can be either AMI, or B8ZS.  If the line
code is AMI, then there is a requirement that there be at least 12.5%
Ones in the data, and there be no more than 15 consecutive Zeros.
Although you can run individual 64k channels on an AMI T1 (if the
adjacent channels are unused) it is typically only used for voice and
Nx56k data.  If the line code is B8ZS, then there is no "Ones Density"
requirement, and "clear channel" Data can be passed.  Some equipment
also supports a "line code" refered to as "BIT-7".  This scheme uses
AMI, but sets bit 7 to a one if an all zero byte comes through on any
channel.  (This is not reversed at the other end of the link, so this
scheme is very unfriendly to most data).

The second parameter is FRAMING.  This can be either D4 (Also refered
to as SF) or ESF.  In some cases, an UNFRAMED T1 may also be
specified.  The framing is what is what allows the T1 to be broken
down into 24 64k channels (DS0's), but has no bearing on what data can
be put into the channels.  As mentioned in another article in the same
issue of the Digest, ESF provides many benefits over D4, and should
probably be selected if your equipment supports it.

The one time there is a relation between frmaing and line code/ones
density is in the case of ZBTSI.  This coding scheme operates on an
AMI/ESF line (using some of the spare bits of the ESF framing) to
allow for clear-channel transmissions on an AMI facility.  This scheme
is used when older transmission systems are in place (which will only
support AMI) to provide clear channel capabilities.

I hope this clarifies the (non) relation between framing and clear
channel capabilities.


Fred Bauer                [e-mail]
Principal Engineer        voice: +1.301.212.7067
LDDS/IDB Worldcom         fax:   [phone]

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

From: Azriel Heuman <[e-mail]>
Subject: X.25 Over ISDN - Addressing
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 16:35:23 GMT
Organization: Telrad Ltd.


The ITU standards allow X.25 data calls over ISDN (both D and B
channels) to use ISDN phone numbers (E.164) instead of X.25 addresses
(X.121) even when the traffic transverses non-ISDN X.25 networks.  Do
any X.25 networks support this yet?  Can someone from Sprint (Telenet)
or other X.25 network providers shed some light on this subject?

Please respond by E-mail!


Best Regards,

Azriel Heuman   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Alice Weng)
Subject: References For Benefits of Networking
Date: 1 Mar 1995 12:38:41 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University


I was wondering if anyone can help me.  I am currently working on a
grant proposal for the federal government.  What we are proposing is a
project that will network a number of programs for teenagers.  We plan
to have an on-line bulletin board system etc.  However, I need some
references as to the benefits of networking.  For example, that it
increases the number of resources assessable etc.  These references
cannot be too technical, it is not a technology grant.  They need to
be readible for the average graduate student in the social sciences
(me).  If you have no specific references, any suggestions of "subject
words" to enter into a literature search?  The ones that I know
"telecommunication" and "networking" bring up over 500 listings.  So I
need something more specific.  Any help is greatly appreciated!!!


Alice Weng
[e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 09:39:18 -0500
From: Richard Burry <[e-mail]>
Subject: Turnkey Telephone Based Classified System Required


Hi folks. I'm looking into the requirements and cost of setting up a
telephone based classified service. Features would include talking
classifieds, messaging, and conferencing.  I am specifically looking
for a turnkey system that includes all the necessary hardware and
software.  Any information can be forwarded directly to my email
address. If you are interested in this area, forward your name and I
will be happy to compile all information received and pass it on to
you.

Thanks for you help.


Richard Burry
Director IS, CUC Broadcasting
Suite 1300, 300 Consilium Place
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada  M1H 3G2
Voice 416-296-9966   Fax [phone]   Email [e-mail]

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

From: Deepak Bapna <[e-mail]>
Subject: Information Needed on Phased Array Communications
Date: 01 Mar 1995 20:00:59 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University


Hi,

I am looking for information on phased array communcations system.

Let me first give an overview of the project we are working on.

Overview: Lunar Rover Initiative

    In 1998, Carnegie Mellon University intends to land a pair of rovers
on the Moon.  The mission objectives are three-fold:

    1) To demonstrate that educational institutions, with private
corporate backing, can conduct useful space missions beyond Earth
orbit;

    2) To demonstrate that teleoperated rovers can work on the
Moon for long periods of time (up to two years);

    3) To return from the Moon a rich live video feed which can be
used by the private sector, by lunar researchers, and by educational
interests.

    A rich video feed is essential for this mission, since most of
the science objectives are observatory in nature.

                            ===================

We need to transmit about 6 Mbit/sec continuously while the robots are
travelling on moon. This makes mechanical pointing of the antenna
(located on the robot) difficult and hence we are looking for
electronic beam steering (and hence phased arrays).

Any information about phased array systems (companies/contact names,
phone number, existing systems for satellite applications, pointers to
recent developments in technology, papers, conferences etc.) would be
much appreciated.

Since, I am not a regular reader of the netnews, please send me a mail
(or give a call if your deals with phased arrays).


Thanks a lot,

Deepak Bapna
Field Robotics Center
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: [phone]
email: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Tatro Enterprises)
Subject: CallerID and Dialogic Board
Date: 01 Mar 1995 20:27:43 GMT
Organization: interQuest: Fuel for the Mind


Hi all,

I hope somebody here can point me in the right direction. I have a
Dialogic 21D board with two lines, one for fax use and one for
voicemail use.  Would like to be able to have CallerID function with
the voicemail system. Using Visual Voice development software bye
Stylus Innovation.  Qustion is, what is the fastest and cheapest way
of having the CallerID information passed to the voicemail application.
Can a modem be used to intercept the information and pass it on?

Any information appreciated.


Brian

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

From: [e-mail] (Marcel W.J. van Ruijven)
Subject: Call For Tender ISDN Project Support
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 95 17:38:33 PST
Organization: PTT Telecom Netherlands
Reply-To: [e-mail]


 From November 28-30, 1995 the ISDN event of the year will take place:
Global 1995. It will be a world-wide event with show cases in
different countries linked together via ISDN.  Already 35 sponsors in
Europe, Asia, Africa and America support the initative and now seek
global support for a professional organisation. Three tenders are made
available by the Gloabl '95 steering committee:

-    For administration
-    For promotion and communication
-    for project management

For more information please ask for details via:

Fax    :    [phone] (Attn. Mr. A. Naftali)
Internet:    [e-mail]

Requests for information should be in before March 7, 1995.  Proposals
should be in no later than March 10, 1995


Marcel W.J. van Ruijven   PTT Telecom BV
E-mail:[e-mail]
P.O. Box 30150  NL-2500 GD The Hague   The Netherlands

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

From: Lionel JAQUET <[e-mail]>
Subject: ATM UNI 3.0 & 3.1
Date: 02 Mar 1995 12:01:48 GMT
Organization: MCNET InterNetNews site


Hi,

I'm searching for the ATM UNI 3.0 & 3.1 papers. I'm interested for
LAN Emulation, ATM Virtual Routing and Q.2931, too.  Does anybody know
where on the net I can read and copy this information?


In advance, thanks.

[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (JimAust254)
Subject: Value ($) of Teltone TLS3 Telephone Line Simulator?
Date: 01 Mar 1995 14:17:34 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (JimAust254)


I have a Teltone model TLS3 Telephone Line Simulator about two years old
and I paid $450 for it. What's it worth today??


Jim Austin  JimAust254.AOL.COM

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

From: [e-mail] (Alexis Kasperavicius)
Subject: Voice Mail Prompts
Date: 01 Mar 1995 20:50:31 -0800
Organization: Cinenet Communications,Internet Access,Los Angeles;310-301-4500


I have spoken with the lady who is the "voice" of AT&T - she says
"Thank You for using AT&T" -- "We're sorry..." -- A famous voice and a
really nice lady.  I am going to be recording her in a digital studio
for a voice mail project in about one month and doing all the basic
prompts required for a voice mail system as well as all basic
intercept announcements.

My thought is, since there are SO MANY bad prompt sets out there, to
do a decent, clean prompt set that covers voice mail, basic IVR
applications, Bank-by-phone, Credit Card Debiting, intercepts,
CLASS,and coin announcements.  All numbers, dates, etc -- recorded in
a STUDIO, digitally -- not with a handset microphone in a noisy
equipment room. All edited cleanly and available on a CD-ROM in
digital format.

I am a sound editor in Hollywood and do a lot of video games so I have
access to a CD Writer and digital editing equipment.  This will be
done correctly.  However, I would like some input. If any of you have
done a voice mail or IVR prompt set, send me the script.  I'd like to
cover as many prompts as I can.

I would also like to come up with a standard file name format for a
standard set of prompts so we don't have the mishmash of filenames
that currently exist.  If you know of an existing "standard" file name
format please let me know.

I know that in C.O.'s there are huge drum tape machines that play the
intercept announcements.  What do you C.O. guys use to get recordings
onto these things?

For IVR guys, what digital file format do you use? I would probably
put the files on the CD in 44khz 16bit Mono .aiff and include a utilty
to convert to .wav, and Dialogic formats in whatever sampling rate you
wish.What other formats should be included?

Should the CD be playable as a CD?  What do you want?

I will also include all Telco progress tones, DTMF signals, MF
signals,all foreign ring signals.  All clean, all perfect.

I think this would be a valuable tool for anyone in the IVR industry
or anyone wanting to play around.  I'm doing this because I
occasionaly build IVR systems and would really like to have a set like
this.  I have the equipment and know the best voice in the country.
Also, I think it will be fun.  The CD would be sold for a reasonable
flat flee with no additional license fee required.  I will, of course,
send one to anyone who helps out. So ... dig around.  Find those
scripts!  THINK about it.  This thing will save you countless hours of
frustration if it's done correctly. And your customers will LOVE it!

I did a set with her and replaced just the prompt set on a voice
mailsystem -- nothing else -- the complaints dissapeared.  I actually
had people ask me what I had done to make the voice mail system "so
easy to use." If you still don't know the voice I'm talking about -
pick up your phone and dial 10288 - 0700 - 881-4812.  (Just listen to
the prompt voice - the thing is forwarded to a non-existent number in
Lithuania.)

Responses, anyone?


Alexis Kasperavicius    [e-mail]

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

Date: Wed, 01 Mar 95 22:07:31 EST
From: Tony Harminc <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act


[e-mail] (Ron Higgins) wrote:

> Our local telephone company is planning a 900% (900 percent) increase
> in the rate that it charges for a non-published, non-listed telephone
> number on a monthly basis.  And that is on top of the "*67" that I
> have to dial to stop my number from being transmitted by Caller ID.

A handy way around ever increasing unlisted number charges is to get a
distinctive ringing (or whatever your local telco calls it -- Identa
Ring, Identa Call, Teenagers' Line...) number on your existing line.
Many telcos will not publish (or make available via DA) the second or
third numbers - in fact you may have to pay them if you do want a
listing.  Let them list the 'main' number, treat the second number as
your real one, and ignore calls to the main one.  You can get a ring
detect box if you expect lots of calls on the main number that you
don't want to even ring your bell.

In many areas that second number costs much less than unpublished
service.


Tony Harminc

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

From: [e-mail] (HiHoSteveo)
Subject: Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act
Date: 2 Mar 1995 00:20:32 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (HiHoSteveo)


PAT is correct -- what privacy act? This is not a privacy issue, but
an administrative issue by LEC tariff. Sorry about that.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #127
******************************


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Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 17:18:53 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #128

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 2 Mar 95 17:18:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 128

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Wanted: International Phone Directories ([e-mail])
    North Pacific Fiber Now Repaired (Edward W. Bennett)
    MCI Cashes AT&T Checks (Scott Lorditch)
    Interesting New Information Service and Prefix (Linc Madison)
    Bellcore Telecomm Overview Video Series (Robohn Scott)
    Communications Books For Sale (Tuan T. Ho)
    mu-law to a-law PCM (John Combs)
    800 Directory Listings Wanted ([e-mail])
    Wanted: Software to link Caller-ID With ProPhone Database (Paul Cascio)
    Looking For RACE Project CFS (John Scourias)
    New NPA in Colorado ([e-mail])
    Bell Canada 500 Service? (John S. Nelson)
    Need 500 Service Information (Bhaktha Keshavachar)
    Re: A Tip When Working With Electricity (Paul Houle)
    Re: Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM (Sergei Anfilofiev)
    Answering Machine Calls For You! (James E. Bellaire)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (Michael Berlant)
    Re: 900 Providing Advice Sought ([e-mail])
    Re: What is DMS-100? (Brian Bebeau)
    Automatic Message Accounting Standard Wanted (Gerry Goldman)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
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  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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*************************************************************************
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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, 2 Mar 1995 19:46:26 +0100
From: [e-mail] (Alex)
Subject: Wanted: International Phone Directories


Hello everyone ...

Perhaps this may sound a little odd to all of you ... but besides my
general interest of telecom stuff (why would I otherwise be subscribed
to this service) I also collect phone directories ... and preferably
international ones. There are several ways to get them; one of the
ways is to buy them from our very own PTT Telecom here in Holland.
The problem is that they charge quite a lot for this service. (I am
sorry people from the PTT who read this). Another way is to request
complementary copies from the telephone companies around the world;
sometimes I get lucky, and they send one; often they won't, since
there is some ITU regulation on this matter (at least someone told me
once).

Therefore I am asking the readers here if they would be intrested in
helping me to increase my collection of phone directories. I collect
also yellow pages. Of course I will pay for the surface mail.

At this point I already got all the directories of:

- The Netherlands     - Zimbabwe     - Tchad      - Bermuda
- Grenada             - Macao        - Botswana

Besides that I've got some directories of:

- USA (New York, Los Angeles both yellow and white pages)
- France (Paris yellow pages)
- Italy (Padova area white pages)
- Israel (Haifa area and Tel Aviv white pages in hebrew)  =)
- United Kingdom (London business directory)
- Germany (Bonn white pages)
- Belgium (Brussels & Antwerps)

If you consider it took me about two years to get this far, you can
imagine how much help I could use. Therefore, anyone having some
directory laying in some corner of his room ... make someone happy ...
send it ... please!


Greetings,

Alex

P.S. And of course if you need a listing or an address write me.


[e-mail], Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

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

Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 08:40:09 -0800
From: EDWARD W BENNETT <[e-mail]>
Subject: North Pacific Fiber Now Repaired


The {Anchorage Daily News} reports that the North Pacific Fiber should
be back in service either today or tomorrow. The cable failed Feb. 5
about 20 miles off the Oregon coast. Splicing was completed Wednesday
and testing is underway now. The cable carries most of Alaska's
long-distance traffic, as well as international traffic to Japan.
During the outage, Alaska traffic was rerouted to a satellite.


Ed Bennett  [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott Lorditch)
Subject: MCI Cashes AT&T Checks
Date: 2 Mar 1995 17:42:02 GMT
Organization: TZ-Link, a public-access online community in Nyack, NY.


Over the past few months I've gotten several solicitations in the mail
to switch to AT&T. One of them was in the form of a check for $40. We
currently use MCI, so I called their customer service number. While
they don't publicize it, MCI will redeem these checks for their face
value in an "MCI Certificate of Savings". And further, for each month
that I hold the certificate before cashing it, it's value increases by
another $5, for up to 12 months. So, the useless $40 check from AT&T
will save me $100 on my MCI bill this time next year!


Scott Lorditch / [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Linc Madison)
Subject: Interesting New Information Service and Prefix
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 21:49:18 GMT


As some of you may know, there is a service operated by the local
newspaper(s) in San Francisco which offers sports scores, stock
quotes, news updates, and other stuff, for only the cost of the
applicable tolls and having to sit through the commercials they
occasionally insert.  The number for this service was originally (415)
512-5000, and that number is still working.

What makes the situation more interesting is that the service is now
being advertised as (415/510/408) 808-5000.  This is the first I have
heard of an 808 prefix in any of those area codes, and my PBX at work
rejects it as invalid.  It is also, to my knowledge, the first N0/1X
prefix in 408, which I don't think is particularly close to exhausting
its supply of NNX prefixes.

Does anyone know the telecom story behind this new prefix?  Is it set up
as a local call in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, with the latter
two forwarded to San Francisco, or perhaps terminating with duplicate
equipment remotely maintained in those sites?  Is Pac*Bell planning to
offer any other uses of this prefix or others with the same 7-digit
number in all three area codes?  Is the call charged as Zone 3 or Local
Toll from some areas?

If the answer to the last question is yes, caution is warranted for some
folks.  For example, from Mountain View 415-254, San Francisco (415) is
a local toll call, but downtown San Jose (408) is not.  A surprisingly
high percentage of people still aren't clued in that "toll" and "same
area code" are separate issues.


Linc Madison   *   Oakland, California   *   [e-mail]

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

From: Robohn Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bellcore Telecomm Overview Video Series
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 95 16:22:00 PST


Has anyone seen Bellcore's Telecommunications Overview video series?  The
series consists of five tapes:

1 - Introduction
2 - Distribution
3 - Traffic, Signaling, and Switching
4 - Transmission
5 - Network Architectures and Services

We're considering using this series as part of an in-house training
curriculum on telecommunications.  I'd be particularly interested in
comments from people who have viewed it who can identify areas that it
might lack in (Bellcore readers, notice I said _might_ lack in).


Thanks in advance,


Scott Robohn    [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Tuan T. Ho)
Subject: Communications Books For Sale
Date: 1 Mar 1995 21:36:14 GMT
Organization: Netway 2001


I have the following books for sale:

Please note the book condition:

Brand New = (!)                Good    = (***)
Excellent = (****)             Average = (**)        Poor = (*)

- W. Stallings, Local Networks: An Introduction, Macmillan, 1984, $20 (***).

- K. Sherman, Data Communications: A User's Guide, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall,
  1990, $25 (!).

- K. Kummerle, J. O. Limb, F. A. Tobagi, eds., Advances in Local Area
  Networks, IEEE Press, 1987, $19 (****).

- F. Ivanek, ed., Terrestrial Digital Microwave Communications, Artech
  House, 1989, $35 (!).

- W. M. Brown and C. J. Palermo, Random Processes, Communications and Radar,
  McGraw Hill, 1969, $25 (****).

- H. E. G. Jeske, ed., Atmospheric Effects on Radar Target Identification and
  Imaging (Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute), D. Reidel
  Publishing Co., 1976, $25 (****).

- H. Stark and F. B. Tuteur, Modern Electrical Communications: Theory and
  Systems, Prentice Hall, 1979, $39 (****).

- P. F. Panter, Communications Systems Design: Line-of-Sight and Tropo-
  Scatter Systems, McGraw Hill, 1972, $39 (***).

- C. G. Guy, Data Communications for Engineers, McGraw Hill, 1992, $29 (!).

- J. Martin, Telecommunications and the Computer, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall,
  1976, $25 (!).

- T. C. Bartee, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Communications, Howard Sams & Co.,
  1986, $29 (!).

- J. D. Gibson, Principles of Digital and Analog Communications, 2nd ed.,
  Macmillan, 1993, $29 (****).

- L. W. Couch II, Digital and Analog Communication Systems, Macmillan, 1983,
  $25 (***).

- D. R. Smith, Digital Transmission Systems, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985,
  $20 (****).

- M. Barkat, Signal Detection and Estimation, Artech House, 1991, $30 (!).


If interested, Please e-mail me at: [e-mail]
               or Phone me at     : [phone]


Thanks,

Tuan

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

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 17:46 EST
From: Testmark Laboratories <[e-mail]>
Subject: mu-law to a-law PCM


I need to check the acoustics of the handset of a European ISDN BRI
phone.  Unfortunately, I only have a North American ISDN BRI
simulator, which uses mu-law PCM, and the phone uses a-law PCM.  I
know from prior experience that the two PCMs can be connected
together, and the phone conversation still sounds "normal."  However,
can anyone tell me what the error would be in dB when I sweep from 300
to 3400 Hz at a constant level, and do a loudness calculation?  Also,
does anyone know if the S/T bus used in Europe is compatible with the
North American S/T bus?


John Combs, Project Engineer, TestMark Laboratories, [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (JPS0723)
Subject: 800 Directory Listings Wanted
Date: 02 Mar 1995 19:25:41 GMT
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (JPS0723)


Is there any place to get the 800 directory listings and to whom the
numbers belong?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you are referring to a criss-
cross style directory for 800, and I do not think one has ever been
published.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Cascio)
Subject: Wanted: Software to Link Caller-ID With ProPhone Database
Date: 02 Mar 1995 00:56:56 GMT
Organization: Netcom


I am trying to find software that will take a phone number supplied by
a caller-ID signal from my modem (Rockwell chip set) and lookup the
name in ProPhone, a CD-Rom database.  Any information on where I can
obtain such software would be appreciated.


Thanks,

Paul Cascio

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

From: [e-mail] (John Scourias)
Subject: Looking For RACE Project CFS
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 17:48:39 GMT


Hi everyone,

I am looking for the Common Functional Specification D733, for the
RACE project MONET (R2066).  An older version, published in August
1994, is available at aachen.de but a new version was supposed to be
available in December 1994.  Does anyone know if and where an
electronic version is available?


Thank you in advance,

John Scourias                 http://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/~jscouria
University of Waterloo        [e-mail]
Waterloo, ON, Canada

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

Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 09:00:08 MST
From: THE PILOT <[e-mail]>
Subject: New NPA in Colorado


Does anyone have any information concerning the addition of a new NPA
in Colorado?  Supposedly (from a USWest CSB guy) metro Denver will get
the new area code in April of '96.

Anyone able to confirm this and/or tell us what the new NPA might be?


Thanks,

[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (John S. Nelson)
Subject: Bell Canada 500 Service
Date: 02 Mar 1995 20:45:59 GMT
Organization: NetAccess Systems Inc., Hamilton, Ontario


> Is 500 service beeing offered by Bell Canada yet (or will it be
> offered in the future), and what costs should I expect for making use
> of 500 service if and when it is available here?

Here's a bit of background (which most comp.dcom.telecom readers
probably already know), plus Bell Canada's similar service called
Primeline.

SAC 500 is the Service Access Code selected by the North American
Industry for providers of Personal Communications Services.  Wireline
and Wireless service providers have intentions of using this code to
support Personal Mobility, Terminal Mobility and Service Profile
Management.

Bell Communications Research Inc. (Bellcore) administers the North
American Numbering Plan, and in July 1994 began assigning blocks of
personal go anywhere numbers to Telephone Companies and Wireless
Carriers across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean Islands.

Stentor Resource Center Inc (SRCI), on behalf of Bell Canada and other
Canadian Telephone companies, has applied and received SAC 500 NXX
resources from Bellcore. However, no tariffs for related services have
yet been filed or approved by the Regulator (CRTC).

Although today Bell Canada does not yet offer a 500-based go anywhere
service, Bell offers a follow me service called PrimeLine which does
not require a 500 number. Customers in Bell Canada's serving area can
call 310-BELL (310-2355) from any exchange to obtain detailed
information on Primeline.

Hope that was useful, Evan.

Recently, a question came up wondering why a gentleman from Kingston,
Ontario couldn't reach Pat on his SAC 500 number. I tried to call Pat
and had the same result. Thinking it might be a technical problem, I
asked a few questions.  Well, what I discovered is (as we probably all
know) telcos enter into agreements with other carriers with respect to
SAC 500 service, not only so that calls can be properly routed, but
that the appropriate rating and billing can take place, the revenues
collected, and settled.

To date, no agreements have been negotiated with any US provider for
500 service. Will that happen? Well, that's just not something that I
can discuss on a newsgroup!


John Nelson, Bell Canada
Access Network Provisioning
[phone]   FAX [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh go ahead, you can whisper it to me.
I won't tell anyone who doesn't read the Digest or Usenet. You think
Ma Bell is a bitch, is that it?    <g>     PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Bhaktha Keshavachar)
Subject: Need 500 Service Information
Organization: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 18:22:20 GMT


Hi,

Can someone on the net tell me about the 500 service. If you can
direct me to a FAQ, it will be great.

I know that the 500 service has been discussed in TELECOM Digest for a
while. I don't have a clue as what it is as I missed reading the Digest
for a few months.


Thanks,

Bhaktha


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Umm, yeah, I seem to recall we had a few
messages on the topic not too long ago. I'm not going to tell you
anything about 500. Let that be a lesson to you; not reading this Digest
each day. <g>    Actually, 500 is called 'Personal Number Service' and
it allows you to have a single number which can be forwarded to you at
any time, anywhere you may happen to be. Check out the back issues of
this Digest for the last couple months of 1994 and the first two months
of this year. There were quite a few detailed commentaries.   Back issues
are available in the Archives, using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Houle)
Subject: Re: A Tip When Working With Electricity
Date: 02 Mar 1995 19:17:45 GMT
Organization: Cornell University


Bob Mueller <[e-mail]> writes:

> Dear Pat,

> I just read about your experiences with the capacitors in a TV
> unloading through you and recalled another tip which can prevent a
> nasty accident. It is related to the thread because auto batteries are
> part of schemes to revive NiCads. Electrocution from these may be
> possible (I heard of a case but have no certainty if it really happened),
> but is quite unlikely.  Serious burns are not so uncommon.  One should
> remove metal jewelery, including watch bands and rings when working
> around these batteries; they can deliver huge currents, enough to spot
> weld the jewelery, and heat it up to skin burning temperatures in a
> second or so.

      I had a job working at Cornell's particle accelerator, CESR last
summer -- one of the many safety problems that we were warned about
were the two thick copper busbars that went underneath the accelerator:
these supplied 40 V or so DC for the main magnets; although the
voltage is low, really too low to produce a lethal current passing
through the body under most circumstances, it is a very serious hazard
if you short them out with a ring or a tool held in your hands.  Of
course there were many other electric hazards, including most of a
megawatt of RF power that goes into the accelerating cavities and the
linac, several higher voltage distribution systems and a lot of things
that can get you hurt or killed.  After seeing how much work it took
just to keep this little 1-km long accelerator working, the logistic
challenge of running a superconducting supercollider just leaves me
staggering; it would take a literal army to run it.

I'll also say a word about telecommunications at CESR.  Throughout the
building and under the ring one will find many "beam phones", each of
which has a dial with nine positions.  To call somebody on a beam
phone, you'd turn the dial to a position which wasn't being used, say,
number 3 -- then you'd push the page button, announce to the called
party that you want them to pick up on line 3, and then they'd do
that.

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

From: Sergei Anfilofiev <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM
Date: 02 Mar 1995 11:11:09 +0300
Organization: ZNIIS
Reply-To: [e-mail]


[e-mail] writes:

> 2) Where to get the published materials on CDMA designed by QUALCOMM?
> I have heard that QUALCOMM has designed a CDMA system, but I still
> did not find any wirtten material on it.

Try to call ftp.qualcomm.com as anonymous user. You'll find a lot of
information on CDMA. For example, in /pub/cdma directory.

I hope this will help.


Best wishes,

Dr. Sergei Anfilofiev  | Tel:[phone]
Chief Internat. Depart.| Fax:[phone]
ZNIIS, Moscow, Russia  | E-mail: [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 16:04:36 -0500
From: James E. Bellaire <[e-mail]>
Subject: Answering Machine calls for you!


I have noticed that if you call someone's answering machine and
immediately hang up when the tape starts that the machine holds the
line open for the length of the tape. (This works with every machine
I have tested.)  If someone calls you, immediately hangs up and you
have a long enough message the local exchange has time to reset your
line, present you with a local dial tone and start the 'you have
waited too long to dial' type message.  I've had several dozen of
these auto dialed calls over the years.

I've also noticed that if you flash and then hang up the switch in my
hometown (616-651) likes to reconnect the original parties.  It will
go as far as redialing BOTH parties at the same time to reconnect
this lost connection.

This would account for a home phone and a cell phone being called by
the switch and then connected to each other.

Not all practical jokes are played by people, some are played by machines!


James E. Bellaire

[e-mail]    [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Michael Berlant)
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery
Date: 02 Mar 1995 00:40:33 GMT
Organization: EDS Japan


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(DAVID CHESSLER) says:

> I've handled ordinary nicads by putting them in a flashlight, turning
> it on, and waiting for the light to go out.

The owner's manual for all these electronic devices tells you to drain
down the battery in their device for good reason.  The device will
shut down when the battery has 3-5% life left, not zero.  Draining a
NiCD battery down to zero is just as unhealthy as leaving it in the
charger forever.  My experience has been that better-than-average
battery life span can be achieved by using the battery until the
beeping starts and then swapping for your spare battery (which is
always at hand, right?).

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

From: [e-mail] (HiHoSteveo)
Subject: Re: 900 Providing Advice Sought
Date: 02 Mar 1995 01:03:57 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (HiHoSteveo)


If my memory serves me right, the cost was $1,200 for the first 900
line and $900 each additional or slightly less. Anyway, look in the
Encyclopedia of Associations, there is a 900 service Association that
will list the providers and tell you about failure (financial not
technical) rates, etc.  and lots of other information. Also check a CD
Rom library periodical literature searching 900 -- the number of
entries will boggle your mind with information available.

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: What is DMS-100?
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 13:44:03 GMT


>>> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are
>>> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my
>>> prefix would be affected.  The letter also states:

>>> What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to
>>> send or receive call?

We had the same thing happen last October. We got a card too advising
us of the change. I think they only tell you in case you have some
special calling feature that's programmed _in the switch_. You'll need
to re-program it in that case. As far as using it goes, we've noticed
that our line is a *lot* less noisy than it was, so your modem should
work even more reliably. We also now get a *lot* more numbers on our
Caller ID display than before. Much fewer "out-of-area" numbers. I
don't know what we had before, but it had Caller ID too, and a fair
amount of crosstalk.

Having said that, I still hate DMS-100s. I'm a software developer on a
product that gets maintenance messages from network elements like the
DMS-100 and alerts telco personnel to problems. Northern Telecom is
not real forthcoming with information, and their input message syntax
is quite different from other switches. It's been a real pain to support
properly.


Brian Bebeau    [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 12:46:22 EST
From: telenet!emerson![e-mail] (Gerry Goldman)
Subject: Automatic Message Accounting Standard Wanted


Can anyone tell me where I can get information on the Automatic
Message Accounting (AMA) format. This is purported to be a Bellcore
format for ATM billing records.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #128
******************************


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Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 19:24:10 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #129

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 2 Mar 95 19:24:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 129

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    True NANP and Common Dialing Practices (John Shelton)
    Winsock Problem (Greg Polimis)
    Wireless Modems (Mukesh Sharma)
    And the Grammy For Poor Planning Goes to ... (Scott D. Fybush)
    Bulk Call Generators ([e-mail])
    Rio-1 ACS-CELP Information Wanted (Sing Li)
    Re: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted (Dcott B. Campbell)
    Re: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted (Steve Copeland)
    Re: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted (Jean Tkacik)
    Re: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs (Lars Poulsen)
    Re: Need Help With Digital Phone Line (John Lundgren)
    Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act (Tim Allman)
    Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act (Atri Indiresan)
    Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act (Glenn Foote)
    Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (George Wang)
    Re: Some Major and Grim Changes Planned for the 'Net' (John Steele)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
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* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
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year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John Shelton <[e-mail]>
Subject: True NANP and Common Dialing Practices
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 8:57:48 PDT


When will we really have a true North American Numbering Plan, one
that is used consistently throughout US and Canada?

Is it really that hard to get everone to agree:

xxx        - special service codes (e.g. Info, Emergency)
xxx xxxx    - abbreviated form of 1+ ten digit dialing,
          where the area code (NPA) is the same.

0 xxx xxxx    - abbreviated form of 0+ ten digit dialing,
          where the area code (NPA) is the same.

1 xxx xxx xxxx    - caller paid, direct dialed call

0 xxx xxx xxxx    - alternate billing, direct dialed call

Using the long form should *always* be legal.

Seven digit dialing might require timeouts (or trailing #).

It's really frustrating that I cannot program my cellular phone with
autodial numbers that work anywhere I go.  Some places REQUIRE a
leading 1 for all calls, and some places REQUIRE lack of a leading 1.

Harumph.


John


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your complaint has validity, however I
suspect the people in Pakistan with cellular phones would be quite
pleased right now if they could dial *anything at all* on their cell
phones. As reported here a few days ago, the citizens of that country
found their cellular service suddenly turned off -- apparently perman-
ently disconnected when the government was unable to monitor their
conversations as it wished. When the carrier there was unable for
technical reasons to provide the level of monitoring desired by
the government, the government's response was to raid the offices of
the carrier and turn it off completely.  I wonder if they have since
relented and restarted the service or if it is still off.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Greg Polimis)
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Winsock Problem
Date: 02 Mar 1995 15:44:26 GMT
Organization: Quadravision Communications


I'm having a problem with Winsock. My username is being sent fine but
my password is not accepted. Has anyone ever encountered this problem
before and can they render any assistance? I'd appreciate any help you
can offer.

Thanks!

Quadravision Communications
931 Yonge Street   Toronto, Ontario  M4W 2H2
voice (416)-960-8400    fax [phone]

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 14:47:43 EST
From: telenet!honey![e-mail] (Mukesh Sharma)
Subject: Wireless Modems


Hi,

I am looking for some information on wireless modems. I am just
starting in wireless area. Text/publication or magazines names is what
I am looking I will appreciate your help


Thanks,

sharma     [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott D Fybush)
Subject: And the Grammy For Poor Planning Goes to ...
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 15:38:27 GMT


During the Grammy awards Wednesday night, AT&T was a heavy sponsor
with their "True Voice" ads, including the first one I'd seen in
Spanish (at least on English-language TV).  Curious to hear the
Spanish-language True Voice demo, I picked up the phone and
dialed ... only to get a recording in Spanish informing me to try my
call again in five minutes, as the demo lines were busy.  When I tried
the English-language lines, same thing.

Seems to me if I were advertising something, especially if I were the
(well, "a") phone company, I'd try harder to have enough lines
available to handle expected caller demand ...


Scott Fybush - [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Bulk Call Generators
Date: 2 Mar 1995 22:22:57 GMT
Organization: Glenayre Electronics


I'm looking for a large capacity bulk call generator (48 T1 or E1
spans).

I need the equipment to test the call handling capacity of various
equipment.  I am looking to meet the following requirements:

 - generate and accept calls from the system under test;

 - line and register signalling protocols fully programmable on per line
   basis (e.g. E&M, loop, DTMF, MFR1, MFR2 compelled, etc);

 - ability to do continuity test port to port;

 - generate/detect DTMF tones under program control at any time during
   the test call.

I would also like to have:

 - detect call progress tones and voice;

 - ISDN

If anyone can point me in the direction of such equipment, my thanks
will be bountiful.


jp

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

From: [e-mail] (Sing Li)
Subject: Rio-1 ACS-CELP Information Wanted
Date: 1 Mar 1995 00:39:00 GMT


Does anyone know where I can obtain some technical information on the
Rio-1 ACS-CELP coder?

Any help (via email or follow-up posting) will be greatly appreciated.


Regards,

Sing Li  microWonders Inc.

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 16:10:05 +0000
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted
Organization: Northern Telecom


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

> Does anyone know where I can get my hands on the NORTHERN TELECOM
> "M9516" Telephone?

In Canada, try Anixter.  In Mississauga, their phone number is 905-897-5665.
The telcos will be picking it up a little later.

The only reviews I know of are in industry mags (like the market research
paper Yankeevision) or on TV (i.e., Gadget Guru, the Today Show).


Scott

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

Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 23:32:14 +0000
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted
Organization: Bell Northern Research


[e-mail] wrote:

> Does anyone know where I can get my hands on the NORTHERN TELECOM
> "M9516" Telephone?

In the U.S., call Call Direct at 1-800-842-7439.

They can mail you one.


Steve

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

From: [e-mail] (Jean Tkacik)
Subject: Re: N.T. M9516 Telephone Wanted
Date: 2 Mar 1995 15:05:31 GMT
Organization: The MathWorks Inc.


You may want to give TAC CENTRE a call at 617-944-5709. Located in
Reading MA, they are a remarketer of Northern Telecom equipment. Ask
for Stephen, Jeff or Dave.  They should be able to help you or place
you in contact with someone who can. Good luck!!

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

From: [e-mail] (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Re: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs
Date: 2 Mar 1995 11:14:56 -0800
Organization: Rockwell International - CMC Network Products


I have edited the Bell Atlantic press release a little to keep the
quotes tighter:

Bell>   Date: Wed, 15 Feb 95 13:23:21 GMT
Bell>   From: Bell Atlantic <[e-mail]>
Bell>   Subject: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs

Bell> On Jan. 11, the FCC refused to allow NYNEX to restructure ISDN
Bell> subscriber line charges (SLCs) to be more competitive with other
Bell> carriers.  The SLC is federally mandated and is set annually.  The SLC
Bell> is used to subsidize local telephone network costs, which helps to keep
Bell> basic residential telephone service affordable.  The Commission ruled
Bell> that separate SLCs should be billed for each ISDN channel; ISDN lines
Bell> have up to 24 channels.

Bell> Bell Atlantic said ... customers, but the recent FCC ruling will increase
Bell> the cost of the service 20 to 30 percent.

Bell> Several other carriers are billing SLCs per ISDN line, not channel.
Bell> SLC amounts vary by jurisdiction, but are currently as high as $6.00
Bell> per line within Bell Atlantic's region.  Bell Atlantic is a world
Bell> leader in providing ISDN technology with over 91,400 ISDN lines in
Bell> service.  All common carriers must now comply with the FCC's rule
Bell> interpretation in the NYNEX case unless they obtain a waiver.

I find this propaganda piece both strange and outrageous for several
reasons.

(1) The definition of a telephone line must have been discussed before;
    after all, delivery of local loops on T-spans predates the MFJ.
    Surely, you pay the SLC PER CHANNEL on a T-span, no?

(2) Since the SLC goes directly to the LEC, the cost to the customer
    (base subscription plus SLC) should be the same regardless of the
    amount of the SLC, shouldn't it?

    If the monthly amount is $10 per line plus $6 SLC, the customer pays
    $16. If the SLC goes away, the LEC loses the SLC-funded subsidy, so
    they will have to charge $16 per line per month. The difference is
    entirely in the bookkeeping of amortization and depreciation
    allocations.

(3) If the SLC is mandated by FCC, I would think that the amount would
    be standardized across the country. How can it vary with the Bell
    Atlantic Service Area ?

What is going on? Is my point two above completely wrong?


Lars Poulsen            Internet E-mail: [e-mail]
Rockwell Network Systems    Phone:        [phone]
7402 Hollister Avenue         Telefax:      [phone]
Santa Barbara, CA 93105    Internets: designed and built while you wait

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

From: [e-mail] (John Lundgren)
Subject: Re: Need Help With Digital Phone Line
Date: 1 Mar 1995 20:59:53 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network


[e-mail] wrote:

> I need to build a phone system in my apartment.  I want to come out of
> the handset jack on the phone with a normal telephone, answering machine,
> and a fax/modem board.

> They tell me their dedicated data lines won't support over 9600 baud.
> Would a 14.4 or 28.8 modem work over the voice line?  I'm thinking there
> may be some limitation to the A/D D/A converter in the telephone, or else
> they'd be doing that.

> I'm on a university phone system with digital voice and data lines.
> Instead of a modem, I have to rent an Ericsson MD110 TAU (terminal
> adapter unit) 2520 "modem."  I'm sure this was great when they bought it
> in '88 but I'm stuck at 9600 baud.

It sounds like this is an ISDN phone system.  If so, then there could
be a way to get another channel of data on the other digital channel,
since there are two 64 KPBPS channels per line and one data, or 16
KBPS channel.

> Because of the digital voice line, I also must use an (as in 1 and
> only 1) Ericsson telephone and the university voice mail system, which
> crashes a lot.

> The setup is cool in that I have separate data and voice #'s but I can
> still control the voice line from my pc.  If I could come up with
> something that could take advantage of this, that would be great,
> although I'd prefer to have a standalone unit independant of my pc.

> What's more, I'm in married student housing so I'm due to get updated
> some time in the next century.

I'm astounded that the university can't make an accommodation for your
needs whether they be modem, FAX, or a second analog voice circuit.
With standard telephone wiring all over the place, it's just a matter
of crossconnecting the pair to some other circuit that goes to a
central office instead of to your PBX.  If this is a matter of money,
that you don't want to pay to have it done, then that is another
matter, and you'll just have to deal with that.


John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs
Rancho Santiago Community College District
17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706
[e-mail]\[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Tim Allman)
Subject: Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act
Date: 1 Mar 1995 09:29:39 -0600


It is not really necessary to pay to avoid a listing.  You can use ANY
name for your listing -- seperate from your billing name.  If you look
up Tom Mato in the phone book, you will find me.  The side effect of
this is that when you get phone calls at dinnertime looking for "Mr.
Mato", you can really have some fun.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Lots of people list the phone in their
(imaginary) roomate's name. Of course, that by itself does not get
away from the problem of having your address available when people
use a cross-reference directory and find your 'roomate' name.   PAT]

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

Subject: Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 18:17:22 -0500
From: Atri Indiresan <[e-mail]>


I have a friend who simply had the number listed under another name.
So, if the phone rang and the caller asked for Mr. or Mrs. Smith (or
whatever it was), she knew right away that it was a telemarketer.
Worth a try, I think.

A philosophical question: why should a telco charge to keep a number
unlisted? It doesn't seem like it would cost them anything (one more
field in the customer record), and would save them printing a few
pages in the directory.


Atri


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the old days when telco did not charge
for directory assistance, they charged for non-pub listings simply because
people could not find the number in the book (obviously) and would waste
the time of the DA operator trying to find it from her. That was the
reason for the 'added cost of a non-pub phone'. Now that everyone pays
for DA whether you get anything out of them during the conversation or
not, it would seem to be hard to justify charging the subscriber also.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Glenn Foote)
Subject: Re: Non-Published Phone Number and Privacy Act
Date: 2 Mar 1995 15:01:13 -0500
Organization: The Greater Columbus Freenet


Ron Higgins ([e-mail]) wrote:

(privacy act to limit info via Caller ID)

TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you will find the various privacy
> regulations apply more to the government than they do to private businesses.
> Since telco is a privately owned business -- not a government entity -- it
> may be hard to apply this as you want. Also there would be a conflict where
> your contract with telco (as expressed through its tariffs) is concerned.
> I can see what you are trying to accomplish, but I don't think it will work.
> Remember also that according to telco tariffs, you have no 'property rights'
> in your telephone number. It is not, strictly speaking, yours to 'protect'.
> It will be interesting to hear the results of your investigation and efforts
> as you proceed further on this, if you do. You should also bear in mind that
> you can press *67 all you like, but it will NOT prevent subscribers to 800
> service (or people who subscribe to 500 service who accept your reverse
> charge call via a PIN) from getting your number. Likewise, long distance
> carriers are entitled to have your name, address and phone number *despite
> your non-pub status* for billing purposes when you use their network.  PAT]

My comments ...

Pat,
    You are right [as usual ;=) ].  Let us assume for a moment,
that someone had the time, some of the money, and desire to change the
above situation, and create a sutuation where your name, calling (as
opposed to billing) phone number, and ABOVE ALL YOUR *actual* (as
opposed to your billing) ADDRESS, are not going out over the network,
and often to the called party.

    In the opinion of you, and the other readers of this list, is
such a thing 1) possible; and 2) desireable?


Thanks,

Glenn L Foote ...... [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd think it would have to be an individual
decision on a case by case basis. The closest we come to that scenario
now is the ability to block Caller-ID as desired, and in actual practice
that ability pretty well preserves your privacy even though it does impose
some effort on the part of the caller.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (George Wang)
Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration"
Date: 2 Mar 1995 09:44:11 -0800
Organization: Hip-Hop BBS  Sunnyvale, California


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Eric A.
Carr) writes:

> In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Rick
> Edwards) wrote:

> (questions regarding registration deleted for clarity)

> Registration is a process where the mobile radio ("cellular phone")
> registers itself with the system with or without user intervention.
> The process essentially identifies the mobile and/or gives an
> indication as to it's status within the system to the MTSO.

> Registration occurs when a call is originated by the mobile (sending
> "access information"), or without user intervention at initial powerup
> and periodically while the mobile is within the coverage area and
> turned on ("periodic registration" -- some people use the term
> "autonomous registration").  Whether the registration is periodic or
> not, the mobile sends access information.  Amoung other things sent on
> the reverse control channel during registration, the mobile sends MIN,
> ESN, SCM (Station Class Mark).  On a mobile originated call, dialed
> digits are also sent.

> Periodic registration is optional; a flag is set in the overhead
> message on the forward control channel that informs the mobile whether
> or not it needs to perform periodic registration.  Periodic
> registration is further specified as to whether radios in their home
> service area (REGH field in the overhead message) or roamers (REGR
> field in the overhead message) need to perform periodic registration.

> In order to avoid periodic registration attempts by all mobile
> subscribers at once, a certain procedure is used to determine when the
> mobile should perform the process.  Upon powerup, the mobile generates
> an initial random number in it's internal registration register which
> determines it's initial registration attempt.  After the mobile
> performs the initial periodic registration, the registration register
> in the mobile is incremented by a constant value in the overhead
> message ("REGINC" field), sort of like a clock.  Included in the
> overhead message is the field REGID, to which the mobile compares the
> value of it's internal registration register.  When the value of the
> registration register reaches the value of REGID, periodic
> registration occurs.

> Typical periodic registration times vary by systems and is determined
> by software setting of the REGINC field.  I think it's usually around
> 20 - 30 minutes.

The above description is fairly accurate except that the cellular
phone (at least Motorola ones) does not generate a "random" NEXTREG
value. In fact, this "next time to register" value is saved in the
EEPROM.  Also, there is another type of registration which occurs when
the SID (System ID) changes which basically occurs when the phone
changes cellular systems. The transmitted information is the same.

I got this information based on the US analog (TIA-553, NAMPS, etc)
call processing specifications.  The new IS54B digital TDMA ( and
IS54C) standard has a more complex registration mechanism which
involves Location Area IDs (LOCAIDs) and power up and power-down
registration. IS54C supports registration on the Digital Control
Channel as well.


George C. Wang    Email: [e-mail]
Alternate: [e-mail]
Finger for public encryption key.

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 21:24:31 -0500
From: [e-mail] (John Steele)
Subject: Re: Some Major and Grim Changes Planned for the 'Net'


Pat, I read with interest the referenced item. Unfortunately, like a
great deal of proposed legislation, on the face of it sounds inocuous
enough.  However, we have learned over the years that inocuous sound
and intent may not be enough by the time the enforcement guys and the
lawyers get finished with it. It is certainly POSSIBLE that the EFF
and company are overreacting.  But at the same time, we have to
recognize that when it snows, those boys in Washington have been known
to get a bit out of hand on occasion :-)

Although I have no personal conversations with Senators Exon or Gordon
to back this up, it is possible that the INTENT of the words "MAKES,
TRANSMITS, OR OTHERWISE MAKES AVAILABLE ANY COMMENT,REQUEST,
SUGGESTION, PROPOSAL, IMAGE, OR OTHER COMMUNICATION" is meant to apply
to the INDIVIDUAL initiating the act, NOT to common carriers, etc. The
lack of clarity MAY be a result of poor staff work, not uncommon in
Washington.  (Note carefully the emphasis on INTENT and MAY.)

However, I also know that if this thing were to hit the books, the
original INTENT will be long lost and we will be left with the words
 -- words easily misused by overzealous enforcement, special interest
lawyers, etc., to further their own agendas.

In this age of international communications, it is patent nonsense to
think that short of massive banks of real time censors on all
international circuits, or cutting all international communications,
that this could be enforced. I suspect that Senator's Exon and Gordon
were at lunch when we rediscovered the outside world.

At the same time, I share your views on the loss of the sense of
shame, personal responsibility, etc. It seems that nothing is too
excessive, too disgusting, too degrading for this ENLIGHTENED age of
ours. Unfortunately, calling for a greater emphasis on parental
responsibility to protect children is truly "whistling in the wind" --
it hasn't seemed to work when it comes to drugs, guns, sex, etc. (How
can it when the parents don't seem to have any sense of responsibility
to pass on to the kids.) Although the sociologists and psychologists
would most likely disagree, an enormous number of the problems of our
society would be corrected by some TRUE parenting, the timely parental
application of the word "NO", and an occasional pat on the backside
(no pun intended.)

All of that notwithstanding, I don't think that we can let this thing
get enacted and I plan to write to my Senators to register my
objection.

A final note.  Your commentary included a closing statement "but with
the United States Congress controlled as it is today..."  It should be
noted for the record that the bill is named for and sponsored by
Senator Exon, DEMOCRAT of Nebraska. This little piece of wackiness
might get passed by a Republican controlled congress, but the liberals
among us should take note that this little gem originated on the left
side of the aisle.


John Steele                             [e-mail]
information systems technology, inc.
marcus centre - penthouse 20            +1 305.595.4845
miami, florida 33156-2660               +1 305.595.4983


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, it could be written exactly as
they meant it and they might mean it exactly as it is written. The
fact is, it would *never* be applied to the large carriers in any
event. I mean, try and picture this scenario: Two or three top executives
at AT&T standing in court with their attorney, and a stern judge
sentencing them all to time in prison for 'transmitting pornography
on their network'. This of course would be after the Federal Bureau
of Inquisition had raided all AT&T offices and seized all their
computers, etc.  Sounds very likely, doesn't it ... <g> ... if you
wish, substitute Sprint, MCI, Compuserve, or America OnLine in the
above.

But you say, "My name is John Steele, and I run a small company in
south Florida which provides Internet access and Unix facilties to
my (pick a figure) number of customers."   Oh! Well in that case
you must be providing a service for child pornograhers, hackers and
assorted other thieves and con artists. You know what your trouble
is John? You don't have an attorney who has good friends working
for the government; the kind who makes lewd noises when he smacks
his lips and sits at the bar drinking with the judge and the
prosecutors while cases are settled in conference and outside the
courtroom.  Therefore, the law *will* apply to you, thank you. The
big boys can whine about their 'policies and proceedures' and how
the computer will let them do one thing and won't let them do
another and everyone will sit agog and in awe taking it all in. That
won't work for you, John. You knew or should have known what 'they'
were doing.

And as you point out, the federal government has a way of stretching
and distorting the meaning of all kinds of things. I'm still having
real problems with this whole thing for myself. In the many years I
have listened to the ACLU and their arguments and the few years I
I have listened to the EFF present their views, I've have never once
been in agreement. Thousands of ACLU cases; I can tell you what I
find wrong with their position in every one of them. Long time
readers will recall a source of derision here in this Digest are
what I term the Socially Responsible Computerists, based on the
group whose name includes those words, as in "I am glad I am
not Socially Responsible, nor would I want to be". But anymore, I
just don't know ... as Brad Hicks said in an issue of the Digest
earlier Thursday, it would nice if the lynch mob could be a little
more honest about their intentions. It would also be nice if Exon
and Company would rewrite that proposal eliminating any ambiquities
or questions.

You are also correct that for the most part it is useless to demand
that parents require accountability and/or personal responsibility
of their children. After all, what would they (the parents) know
about it?  Now that we are into the third generation after Doctor
Benjamin Spock, the old ways have been forgotten by most people, if
they ever experienced them at all. They simply raise their children
the way they were raised; they don't know any different.  PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #129
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #130

TELECOM Digest     Thu, 2 Mar 95 20:05:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 130

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Credit Checking on Cellular Customers (Doug Fields)
    Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Linc Madison)
    Re: yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Gary Novosielski)
    Re: What is ESF and D4? (Chip Sharp)
    Re: What is ESF and D4? (Mike Schomburg)
    Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio? (David S. Taylor)
    Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio? (Travis Russell)
    Re: Information Wanted on Hotel Telephone Billing (Travis Russell)
    Re: Does Bridge Affect Modem? (John Dearing)
    Re: Free Expression and the Information Highway (Kevin J. Shea)
    Re: 500 Place-A-Call Working (Stan Schwartz)
    Re: What is a Digital PBX? (Fred R. Goldstein)
    Re: What is a Digital PBX? (Travis Russell)
    Re: The Unintentional Date/Chat Line (Steven H. Lichter)
    Computer Modeling Software for AM Tower/Antenna Studies? (Zuhair Moin)
    Re: Saying Hello in Other Languages - Summary (Gene Retske)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
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*************************************************************************
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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: [e-mail] (Doug Fields)
Subject: Re: Credit Checking on Cellular Customers
Date: 2 Mar 1995 15:16:17 -0500
Organization: Panix in NYC, Admiral's Account


In article <[e-mail]> Steve Samler <steve@individual.
com> writes:

> What is the common practice today when someone applies for cellular
> service?  Credit check via one of the consumer credit agencies or via
> D&B if a business is the applicant?

Boy do I have stories to tell. My company, Parallel Technologies
Corp., a NY State Subchapter S Corporation, tried to get cell service
from Cell One/Boston and NYNEX. Heh. The results were so negative it
was not even funny. Cell companies generally check for corporate
listings on TRW or D&B; at least these two did. My company was not
listed with either and was categorically denied credit (service)
without a $400 security deposit. I told them I had both an AmEx and a
MC in the company's name, a big company bank account, etc., etc.,
etc., but they did not care.

I eventually talked to TRW: They said there's no way a company of my
size would ever be listed in their computers. And they were unwilling
to list me. But they were happy to send me and/or any possible
creditors a sheet saying that I wouldn't be listed with them. End of
story.

Then I talked to D&B. They took some information and assigned me a
DUNS number.  Now I'm listed with D&B. However, they will not have any
financial information on my company until a client requests the
research be done (for some add'l fee).

I eventually got fed up with it and asked a friend with a big company
and a 4A1 rating with D&B if I could get service with a name of "Big
Company, c/o Parallel Technologies Corp." That worked.

Cell companies are really paranoid when it comes to small businesses
with phones. My advice: get it with your personal credit and have your
company reimburse you.

Hope this helps.


Doug Fields, http://www.interpage.net
PGP key: "finger [e-mail]"

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

From: [e-mail] (Linc Madison)
Subject: Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 21:24:50 GMT


Ben Carter ([e-mail]) wrote:

> This reasoning assumes that caller ID is not available (as, for
> example, in California) or that the telco records make it possible to
> identify a caller when caller ID fails to do so.  Also, I assume
> everyone agrees that the privacy of the caller should not be a
> consideration if a residential customer claims to be receiving
> obnoxious calls.  The privacy of the callee is certainly more
> important than that of the caller in this case, and arguably so in all
> cases.

"Arguably" is a good word, because your assumed agreement does not
exist.  Making an anonymous telephone call is perfectly legal; it is
only if the call is HARASSING or THREATENING that it is illegal,
whether or not it is anonymous.  Further, my right as a caller to
expect privacy does not disappear simply because the person I called
CLAIMS that my call was obnoxious, or even harassing or threatening.

Releasing the number of the caller to the callee is not in any way
necessary to deterring illegal nuisance calls.

Another point to consider is your specification of "a RESIDENTIAL
customer."  The existence of such a right should not be contingent on
class of service.  Whatever rights I do or don't have for protection
from nuisance calls should be the same on my phone at work as for my
phone at home.


Linc Madison   *   Oakland, California   *   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail]
Organization: Small Business Administration
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 02:53:19 -0400
Subject: Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO.
Reply-to: [e-mail]


In Vol. 15, #120, Ben Carter wrote:

> Also, I assume everyone agrees that the privacy of the caller should
> not be a consideration if a residential customer claims to be
> receiving obnoxious calls. The privacy of the callee is certainly more
> important than that of the caller in this case, and arguably so in all
> cases.

Carter assumes too much.

I, for one, would not be willing to toss the privacy rights of the
caller on the trash heap merely on the strength of a "claim" by any
given residential customer that they found the call "obnoxious."

There has been ample discussion of all the reasons against Caller-ID,
or at least in favor of blocking options. Many of these reasons are
very "good" ones, and in some cases arguably protect the very lives of
the callers involved. I won't rehash them all here.

Now I ask myself if, potentially, for each person with one of those
"good" reasons for protecting their privacy, there might not be
someone else with a residential phone line whose ethics are so
unbelievably twisted that they might actually stoop to "claiming" that
at such-and-such a date and time they received an "obnoxious" call,
and would Telco please supply them with the number. Anybody with any
motive can claim anything; I'd want them to be able to prove it.

Given the choice, I'd rather not have my privacy violated by anything
short of a court order, thank you very much. And just so there's no
confusion about how good a reason has to be before it's "good enough"
in this context, I think the list of "good" reasons for privacy should
should start with:

        1. "Because I Feel Like It."


GaryN  GPN Consulting

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 09:16:47 EST
From: [e-mail] (Chip Sharp)
Subject: Re: What is ESF and D4?


If you are planning to run HDLC data over the full bandwidth of the T1
line (even in individual DS0s), then I would recommend an ESF line,
since HDLC Flags, when used as idle code, can simulate Yellow Alarm on
a D4 line.  There are ways around it, but it must be taken into
account.


Hascall H. ("Chip") Sharp   Teleos Communications, Inc.
Sr. Systems Engineer        2 Meridian Road
voice:  [phone]        Eatontown, NJ  07724  USA
fax:    [phone]     email:   [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 12:06:22 CST
From: Mike Schomburg <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: What is ESF and D4?


In Telecom Digest V15 #119, [e-mail] (dave) writes:

> When ordering a T1 line for data, the local fiber company wants to
> know whether I'd like "ESF" or "D4".  Could someone please explain
> what these terms mean?

You may already be aware that a T-1 circuit is a bi-directional serial
connection, sending and receiving at 1.544 Mbps (million bits per
second). Each second, 8000 data frames are exchanged (in both
directions, send and receive). Each frame consists of 193 bits: 24
eight bit channels plus a framing bit.

ESF and D4 refer to the "framing format" used on any particular T-1.
When a T-1 starts up, or "frames", it picks a bit going past and
assumes it is the framing bit. Every 193rd bit after is examined and
compared to an expected pattern. As soon as the pattern is violated,
the next bit in sequence is chosen as the framing bit and the
comparison begins again. This process is continued until the actual
framing bit is found and the line established, or too many errors are
encountered and the line fails to start. Once framing is established,
it becomes possible to locate the 24 data (or voice) channels and
exchange information.

D4 is probably still the most common framing format (lets not start
that again), but ESF is coming up fast. D4 simply allows the terminal
gear to locate the payload channels, plus a very crude ability to
signal the far end that problems have interrupted the line (when
appropriate).

ESF (Extended Super Frame) also "frames" the data, but additionally
includes tha ability to send operational messages end-to-end, and
provide a level of line quality reporting. This is done by organizing
groups of 12 frames into "super" frames. With processing power, the
line can stay framed while half of the framing bits are borrowed to
form a message channel. A CRC scheme is used to calculate line
quality, detecting about 93% of error conditions.

There are at least two common flavors of ESF, a proprietary AT&T
scheme and an ANSI scheme, T1.403 I believe. Be sure you know which
one your terminal gear supports. If you are running data, you may also
want to check on the "line coding" format, AMI (Alternate Mark
Inversion) or B8ZS (binary 8 zero superssion). In the past, all T
spans were AMI, which limited the ability to send strings of zeros.
All "ones" were sent as alternating polarity pulses (to keep the DC
component low) on the line, and "zeros" were sent as the absence of
pulses. Obviously, too many zeros and the line would quickly lose
synch. B8ZS is a scheme to avoid the line dropping while sending
unlimited zeros. For reasons that I have not gone into, if you want to
be able to use the full 64kbps capacity of each channel (instead of
just 56kbps) then you want B8ZS. Hope this helps.


Mike D. Schomburg           Network Manager, Continental Cablevision
708 834 4239                                 Chicago region
[e-mail]    "linux - the choice of a GNU generation"

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

From: [e-mail] (David S. Taylor)
Subject: Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio?
Date: 2 Mar 1995 14:47:15 GMT
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications, Inc.


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Scott Murray) says:

> I was wondering if anyone had any info on SMR -- Specialized Mobile
> Radio.  I have been approached by a company in Florida to buy an SMR
> channel. The channel is in the 851-866Mhz range and is used by
> companies to provided cellular like service at a cheaper rate. The
> channels are supposedly given out by the government on a first come
> first serve basis, but this company wants to charge by $3500 to file
> all the paper work and guarantees me a channel or my money back.

In my opinion:

Chances are 99+% that this is a scam.  There have been several
companies that have been busted for this type of activity.  Some of
the "offices" were nothing more than boiler room operations.  I've
even seen a story on one of the news magazines.  I used to live in
Southern California, and they busted a couple of operations out there.
For some reason, lots of phone scam folks set up show in southern CA,
probably in hopes they will sound successful and legit.

As far as the filing fee, I think the FCC charges a couple of hundred
dollars.

The first come, first serve basis might also be in question.  I know
the FCC has had a freeze on some SMR applications.  Don't know if it
was all, or just a subset.

 From a technical point of view, one channel does not make an SMR
system.  They must have a site in mind for the license.  If you are
still intersted in checking into this, ask them to send you a copy of
the application form, showing the site coordinates and antenna
elevation.  Ask them about the channel loading plans and if they plan
on filing for slow growth vs. normal.  This has to do with how long
they have to load up their channels with users.  I think you have to
reach around 75% loading in under five years, but I can't remember the
exact details.  My guess is they won't be able to answer your
questions.

Their money back guarantee is only good if you can find them.

> Supposedly once you have a channel you can rent it out or sell it to
> the regionaly operators and they are very anxious to get these extra
> channels.  The have been able to convert these old style radio
> dispatch towers into digital towers that provided phone, paging and
> fax service at a fraction of the cellular cost and the towers cover a
> larger range.

Think about it, wouldn't it just be easier for these carriers to apply
for the channels themselves.  Why would they want to pay a premium to
you, if they could just fill out the same paperwork.

> My questions are these:

> Is this really a good investment?  Are these channels really in demand
> by companies like Nextel, CenCall, DialPage etc.?  Is it worth going
> through this company or are there cheaper ways to get a channel?

Nextel is a big player in the market.  I bought some of their stock
while I was at my last job.  Then my new job sent me overseas for a
few months and the Nextel stock dropped by about 70%.  Guess I hold it
for a while.  From what I understand, Motorola is having some delays
with their MIRS technology.  I've seen a demo at my last job and it
looks like it has potential, especially for wide are dispatch
operations.  I won't comment on the phone call quality becuase I'm now
biased, since I'm in the PCS business.


David S. Taylor                     Tel. [phone]
Engineering Services                Fax  [phone]
Nokia Telelcommunications, Inc.     [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)
Subject: Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio?
Date: Thu,  2 Mar 1995 21:22:00 +0000
Organization: Travis Russell
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Scott Murray) writes:

> I was wondering if anyone had any info on SMR -- Specialized Mobile
> Radio.  I have been approached by a company in Florida to buy an
> SMR channel. The channel is in the 851-866Mhz range and is used
> by companies to provided cellular like service at a cheaper rate.
> The channels are supposedly given out by the government on a first
> come first serve basis, but this company wants to charge by $3500 to
> file all the paper work and guarantees me a channel or my money back.

Sounds a little like a scam to me. I have been approached by a number
of companies wanting me to buy into wireless cable as well, for a
paltry sum of $10,000.

> Supposedly once you have a channel you can rent it out or sell it to
> the regionaly operators and they are very anxious to get these
> extra channels.  The have been able to convert these old style
> radio dispatch towers into digital towers that provided phone, paging
> and fax service at a fraction of the cellular cost and the towers cover
> a larger range.

I don't know that there are any companies looking to buy "second hand"
SMR channels these days. I am probably wrong here, but from what I
have seen in the market, Nextel has all the channels it needs for now,
and if they are looking for more, they will go to the FCC to get them.

> My questions are these:

> Is this really a good investment?  Are these channels really in demand
> by companies like Nextel, CenCall, DialPage etc.?  Is it worth
> going through this company or are there cheaper ways to get a channel?

Before I would spend any money, I would call some of these companies
and ask them myself! If this is a great bargain, and these companies
are really demanding these channels, how come this company selling
them to you doesn't go after Nextel, CenCell or Dialpage themselves? I
would think they could get a lot more money from selling it directly
to these companies.

I may be offbase here, so someone jump in and correct me if I am wrong.
I think you are getting ripped off.


Travis Russell    [e-mail]
Author of "Signaling System #7," McGraw-Hill

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

From: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)
Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Hotel Telephone Billing
Date: Thu,  2 Mar 1995 21:30:52 +0000
Organization: Travis Russell
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Stephen Cacclin) writes:

> My question is: What is the best method to calculate the telephone
> charge?

Whatever rate you want! Usually, there is a table that is built that
has default rates. These are not exact (since the rates change faster
than my underwear) but they do not need to be close. The intent is to
get close to the rate as possible.

A markup is then set for each type of call (like 800, local, etc). I
used to markup hotel calls as much as 200% (depending on the hotel).
If the hotel is a five star hotel, they can get away with big markups.
If it is a Holiday Inn, then they have to set their sites lower.

> I guess I am looking for some sort of standardized rate table for
> North American long-distance. Does such a thing exist, and if so, is
> it available on the net? Someone please say yes, as I am not up
> to entering these rates by hand ...

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just charge as much as you think you
> can get away with; that's what the other hotels do.   <g>    PAT]

I used to tell my customers they could pay for their call accounting
equipment within the first year of operation! Hows that for profits!


Travis Russell   [e-mail]
Author of "Signaling System #7," McGraw-Hill

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

From: [e-mail] (John Dearing)
Subject: Re: Does Bridge Affect Modem?
Date: 2 Mar 1995 04:14:42 GMT
Organization: Netaxs Internet BBS and Shell Accounts


Ted Shapin ([e-mail]) wrote:

> I have two copper pairs coming to my residence and need a third line.
> If it is bridged between the two pairs, what effect will it have on my
> use of a v.32bis modem on one of the copper pairs?

Something doesn't seem right here. You need a copper pair for *each*
telephone line that's delivered. You can't "bridge" a line across the
two other existing pairs.

What *could* be done is that a device called a SLC-1 might be
installed.  It allows two lines to operate over a single pair. The
device has two "ports". One is called the "physical" and the other is
called the "theoretical" or "derived" port. I would recommend that you
try having the modem on the physical side. The derived side (since it
is a "carrier" type operation) doesn't always work really well with
modems.

Telco's usually hate to install these beasts. They have batteries that
need to be replaced every so often, even though they recharge when the
physical line is idle. I've only seen them installed twice. Once was a
situation where there were *NO* pairs left in a cable. The only way to
get a customer back in service was to put up a SLC-1 out at the terminal
and hook the two loops into it. It was a temporary measure until a work
order could be issued to rehab the cable run.

The other time was for an Arbitron line in a house out in the 'burbs that
only had a single pair buried loop feeding it. The line was a temporary
line for about three to six months after which it would be disconnected. The
decision was made to SLC-1 the Arbitron line rather than have to run a
new buried loop through the woods to the house (that was partially set
*into* a hill).


John Dearing   [e-mail]

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 22:53:15 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Free Expression and the Information Superhighway


Some excellent points were brought out in defense of free expression
on the "Information Superhighway", as it is being referred to.
Unfortunately, this is another vehicle that enables the "bad" few to
access and create problems.

As it stands now, free expression here has created wonderful outcomes
and innovative ideas, from a business perspective.  Once regulations
begin ... they don't seem to stop.  The "think about it before you say
it" will apply, subsequently, limiting those "edge of the cliff" ideas
and discussions which we on the "I-S-H" enjoy.

Restrictions, like in the past, will affect all who participate in
this.  The telecom industry, as a whole, needs to address this issue
or accept the realization that the fear of regulation, censorship or
moderation will affect the growth of the entire industry.  We all know
what regulation can do, let's keep on our toes when dealing with this
issue.


Very Concerned,

Kevin J. Shea, Director
Telecom Research Services
[e-mail]    or    [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Stan Schwartz)
Subject: Re: 500 Place-A-Call Working
Date: 2 Mar 1995 23:53:11 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since you mentioned 'Navigator', that is
> one part of 500 service many users are not familiar with. Would you
> please send in a short explanation of it?     PAT]

Why sure ...

(Quoting from the True Connections book)

"With Call Sequencing, your calls will find you just about anywhere.
Now, each call can ring in your office, then in your car, then at your
home -- or virtually any other place you choose, up to three destinations,
as long as the location can be dialed directly, in the U.S., Puerto
Rico, the Virgin Islands, and over 200 countries internationally.  The
destinations you select are referred to as your Reach List.  Right
now, your Reach List contains your billing telephone number, or, if
applicable, your cellular phone number."

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

It's programmable rollover, up to three phone numbers plus one
designated as the "Final Stop" (usually you would have an answering
machine or voice mail at the Final Stop).  You can control how many
rings each destination will receive before switching to the next
number in the list, and you can change the list as often as you want.
You can also temporarily override the list without purging it (for
vacations, etc.).  Eventually, the reach list will be time-sensitive
(programmable) so that you can get calls in your office during the day
only, or at home only at night.

I'm STILL lost on the CIID/891 cards, though!


Stan


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I feel like an idiot. The above is
*exactly* what I have on my 500 service, but I did not recognize the
name 'Navigator' for that part of the package.  I guess I should go
back and read my copy of the 500 User Manual also.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Fred R. Goldstein)
Subject: Re: What is a Digital PBX?
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 23:56:21 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Matt Noah) writes:

> What is the definition of a "digital" PBX?

A "digital PBX" is one whose internal switching matrix is digital.
That is, the analog line interfaces, if they exist, have codecs which
convert the signal to digital form for switching purposes.

Digital PBXs came out in the 1970s; it was several years before they
had digital line interfaces.  Today, virtually all PBXs (save some
tiny ones) are digital, using standardized 64000 bps voice channels.

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

From: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)
Subject: Re: What is a Digital PBX?
Date: Thu,  2 Mar 1995 21:38:02 GMT
Organization: Travis Russell
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Matt Noah)
writes:

> What is the definition of a "digital" PBX?

> Assuming an analog PBX is one in which the trunk lines are strictly
> analog, e.g. E&M, Ground Start, is a "digital" PBX one in which the
> trunk lines all carry PCM voice with digital signalling?  If so, what
> type of digital signalling?  Is it T1?  Is it ISDN?  Is it something
> other than T1 or ISDN?  Is it combinations of various digital standards?

Yes! All of the above. A digital PBX provides digital phones (usually
over one or two pair wire) with lots of features only possible through
digital phones.  In addition, they are usually capable of interfacing
directly to any T-1, ISDN or other facility. They also support analog
trunks.

Some can even switch data with the voice (after all, everything is
digital). I used to work on a system that actually converted the voice
to digital inside the telephone, and packetized the voice. There was a
second part in the packet reserved for data transmission. Pretty slick
system, and had lots of neat features.


Travis Russell     [e-mail]
Author of "Signaling System #7," McGraw-Hill

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

From: [e-mail] (Steven H. Lichter)
Subject: Re: The Unintentional Date/Chat Line
Date: 2 Mar 1995 08:16:46 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)


Some time ago they also used the loop around numbers to talk back and
forth. I don't know what we did, but I know we modified the circuits
to prevent it. It was a long time ago, my mind is going because of
deregulation.


Sysop: Apple Elite II -=- an Ogg-Net Hub BBS
         Home of GBBS/LLUCE support
[phone] 12/24/14.4 V32/V42bis


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've heard complaints that the phone system
in the USA had gone to hell because of deregulation ... this is the first
time I've heard anyone say his mind went the same way for the same reasons.
Or is that not what you meant?   <g>   PAT]

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

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 17:12:34 PST
From: [e-mail] (Zuhair Moin)
Subject: Computer Modeling Software For AM Tower/Antenna Studies


Is there modeling software that can be used to construct an antenna
system for AM tower studies for Cellular deployment effects? The one
that I have heard about is called MININEC, originally developed for
the Naval Ocean Systems Command, and is in the public domain. How can
I get this software?


Thanks,

Zuhair Moin

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

From: Gene Retske <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Saying Hello in Other Languages - Summary
Date: 3 Mar 1995 01:03:17 GMT
Organization: Tachyon Communications Corporation


PAT -

You forgot the New York "Talk to me!"


Gene Retske


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I thought the New York answer phrase
was "It's your nickle!"  (As in, you paid for the call, go ahead and
speak.)     PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #130
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
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To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #131

TELECOM Digest     Fri, 3 Mar 95 14:45:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 131

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: E(TACS) and GSM (Sam Spens Clason)
    Re: Pair Gain Line Problem (William Bigelis)
    Re: ATM UNI 3.0 & 3.1 (Howard M. Weiner)
    Re: The Philosophy of CallerID (Hugh Pritchard)
    Smoking is Very Glamorous (Robert S. Helfman)
    Re: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations (Eric Canale)
    Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (Greg Abbott)
    Re: V.35 Interface (Edward Keating)
    Re: Sprint Fiber Cut; Any Information Available? (Kevin T. Smith)
    Re: What is ESF and D4? (William Wood)
    Re: Requesting Information About SDH (John DeHoog)
    Re: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API (Joe Sulmar)
    Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received (Kenneth Rentz)
    Re: Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements (Dr. R. Levine)
    Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio? (Dr. R. Levine)
    Re: Palm Size Message Recorder on a Chip (Kevin Stiles)
    Arcade Advice Needed (Van R. Hutchinson)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Sam Spens Clason)
Subject: Re: E(TACS) and GSM
Date: 2 Mar 1995 20:49:11 GMT


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

> Alexander Cerna <[e-mail]> writes:

>> Can someone explain to me what E(TACS) and GSM are in detail?

> I'm sure lots of people can! Someone will correct the bits I get wrong.

> ETACS is Extended Total Access Communication System or something
> similar.  TACS is the UK version of the U.S. analog cellular standard
> AMPS. Major differences are in the frequency range (only slightly
> different) with some minor ones in data on control channels etc. The
> extended bit is because the TACS standard has a section for extended
> frequencies with a lot more than the 1000 or so in AMPS.

We don't have (E)TACS in Scandinavia, but I think that the ETACS
system operates in the same 900MHz band as GSM (and NMT).  I think I
read somewhere that in the UK ETACS would have to close down by 1999
so that all frequencies in the GSM standard can be used for GSM only.

> GSM is a French standard which is (roughly) translated as Group
> Special Mobile or something similar. Someone else will know exactly.

It started out as a European standard but has evolved into a world
standard.  Groupe Spiciale Mobile was the name of the first task
force, GSM later came to mean Global Standard for Mobile Telephone (or
something).  CCITT is also a French name (commiti consultatif
internationale ... (please mind my spelling)) but not a *French*
organisation :-)

> GSM is digital whereas TACS is analog. This means your calls are more
> secure but the coverage will possibly be not as extensive as it is a
> newer technology (thats the way with GSM and AMPS in Australia anyway).

AMPS is on 800MHz, thus those radiowaves "travel farther".  ETACS, NMT
and GSM are the same however and should behave about the same.  Older
tech typically has better coverage since it's been around for a while.

>> are around five cellular phone service providers in our country, and
>> most of them use E(TACS).  One uses GSM, and says that this is the
>> latest technology in cellular telephony.  They say that it would make
>> international roaming possible (although they say that it isn't
>> possible right now).

In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dr. R. Levine) writes:

> E(TACS) is a cellular system using analog FM radio for voice
> transmission. GSM is a cellular system using digitally coded speech.
> GSM is in use in about 7 European countries and will eventually
> operate in over 14, thus making roaming theoretically feasible
> technically (but in practical terms dependent on the existance of
> business agreements between your home GSM system and the GSM system
> operating company which you visit).

GSM is up and running in *all* western european countries except for
Spain.  Other European countries are Hungary and Russia.  Some none-
European countries running or opening shortly are:

Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, New
Zeeland, South, Africa, Namibia, Egypt, Marocco, United Arab Emirates,
Argentine, Kamerun, China, India, Pakistan, Fidji.  I probably forgot
about half of them, but my point is that there are more than seven ...

You can roam within Europe, at least one network per country and the
"older" nets in Asia, such as Australasia, Hong Kong, Thailand,
Singapore.


Sam   <A HREF="http://www.nada.kth.se/~d92-sam/">Sam Spens Clason</A>

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

From: [e-mail] (William Bigelis)
Subject: Re: Pair Gain Line Problem
Date: 2 Mar 1995 15:47:47 GMT
Organization: U S WEST NewVector Group, Inc.


Testmark Laboratories ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Modern carrier systems are also a threat to modems, such as the AT&T
> SLC96.  (pronounced slick 96) If the telco is trying to maximize the
> number of customers serviced, the SLC96 has a feature called "channel
> compression" which halves the available digital bandwidth allocated
> for a single subscriber's line.  This lowers the voice quality only
> slightly, but it plays havoc with modems, even 1200bps speeds.

No, it's not called channel compression, and isn't anything of the
sort.  SLC96 has a mode (MODE II) where 48 customer channels are
served by 1 T1 (24 channels) which are switched via a time slot
interchanger.  if more than 24 of the 48 customers try to go off hook,
(ie the 25th) they are denied dial tone.  Other SLC systems (DMS-1
Urban, RTEC DISC*S) use similar approaches.


Bill Bigelis      [phone]
Network Engineer  U S West NewVector

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

From: [e-mail] (Howard M. Weiner)
Subject: Re: ATM UNI 3.0 & 3.1
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 10:05:22 -0800
Organization: Pacific Bell Strategic Systems Architecture


In article <[e-mail]>, Lionel JAQUET <ljaquet@mail.
mcnet.ch> wrote:

> I'm searching for the ATM UNI 3.0 & 3.1 papers. I'm interested for
> LAN Emulation, ATM Virtual Routing and Q.2931, too.  Does anybody know
> where on the net I can read and copy this information?

If you are referring to the ATM Forum specs, I believe that these are
restricted to ATM Forum member companies.  I know at least that some
of the specs are.


Howard M. Weiner   [e-mail]

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

Date: Fri, 03 Mar 95 01:15:00 EST
From: Hugh Pritchard <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of CallerID


I got Caller ID + Name service from Bell Atlantic (DC metro area) for
$7.50/month, and a Radio Shack Caller ID + Name box (sorry, I forget
the model number) for $70.  Works fine, except for all the "Out Of
Area" on long-distance calls.

Only thing slightly wrong is when I call home (301-345, College Park,
MD) from my cell-phone (301-648), the landline switch doesn't send its
caller ID.  Called CellOne/DC to see why; they said "Cell phones don't
transmit Caller ID."  Couldn't make them understand my question.
Called 800-MY-ANI-IS from my cell phone: The landline switch is in 410
(northeast Maryland and Eastern Shore), not 301!  Called 800-MY-ANI-IS
from my cell phone while at work near the Pentagon in Virginia (703):
Landline switch for cellphones in that area is 301-441, a prefix which
is in use near my own house, not a 703 exchange (or even a 202, DC,
exchange)!  By the way, CellOne/DC's headquarters is only a few miles
from my house, in Greenbelt, MD.

Maybe things would be better if Bell Atlantic passed Caller ID
received from IXCs.

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert S. Helfman)
Subject: Smoking is Very Glamorous
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 1995 06:59:26 -0800
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation


In V15 #107 Pat comments:

> Regards smoking, my rationale is if I were to quit today, and then twenty
> years from now die from lung cancer anyway, I'd be mad as hell about it
> and feel that I got cheated; better not take any chances. :)  I started
> smoking when I was 13 years old because a one of my teachers in school
> smoked. I'd see that package of cigarettes in his shirt pocket and watch
> him smoking -- not in school of course, but when we went on field trips
> or when I went to his home to see him (I was always a teacher's pet, all
> through elementary and high school) -- and it occurred to me it must be
> the thing to do. After all, Arthur Erickson was very sophisticated and
> intelligent, and I wanted to be sophisticated and intelligent also. He
> taught the current events class (in those days many high schools named
> the course 'Modern Problems'), was the Debate Team Coach, played the
> piano and organ marvelously, had some great, and sometimes very unkind
> remarks about President Eisenhower, and subscriptions to {Atlantic
> Monthly}, {Harper's Magazine} and the {Christian Science Monitor}. He
> smoked a pack or more daily, and it didn't seem to hurt him any...

PAT, Erickson sounds like he was quite a character. But I'm curious
what he died of (and was it smoking-related?).

> forty years later I do it out of habit. I can't imagine *not* being
> addicted. Unlike some smokers, or the tobacco companies, I don't make
> any pretense of it being a 'choice', yet on the other hand, I don't
> really want to quit.  PAT]

You're the last honest man.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It was through him that I met the
author Ayn Rand. In 1957 she was on a tour promoting her (then) new
book Atlas Shrugged. Since Erickson was in charge of all the special
assembly programs at school, he invited her to be a speaker at one of
the assemblies when she was in the Chicago area. I still have a hard-
cover personally autographed copy of Atlas ... even promoting her book
she did not come cheap; it used up quite a bit of the budget the school
gave him for assembly programs. After school that day, he had agreed to
drive her to Ohare Airport where she was getting a flight to go to the
next stop on her itinerary, and he let me ride along. We stopped for
dinner on the way and chatted while waiting for dinner to arrive. It
so happens either that day or the day before -- I can't remember -- a
very lengthy book review of Atlas Shrugged appeared in the {Christian
Science Monitor}; a much longer book review than they usually did in
those days, about three full page columns. She had not seen it so I
gave her a copy which interested her quite a bit. She sat there for
ten minutes or so reading it with that long cigarette holder in her
fingers which was her trademark. She'd puff on that occassionally,
and sip her martini as she read what the {Monitor} had to say. She
had a habit of staring intently at people, and after she finished
reading and was back to staring at me, finally she spoke up and
said, "Such an intelligent young man!  Too smart to believe in Gott!
Why do you believe in Gott?" I guess I was startled and did not have
any answer for that. Erickson in the meantime put a newspaper in
front of his face and pretended to read it so he could hide behind
it and laugh without her seeing him. I was 14 at the time; when I
reached in my pocket brazenly and pulled out a cigarette (they were
23 cents per package at Walgreen's Drug Store) both of them nodded
approvingly and Ms. Rand immediatly produced a lighter to light mine
and the one Erickson produced, then she lighted her own.

I stayed in touch with him for several years after I got out of high
school, stopping in occassionally at his place to say hello. The
visits got fewer and further apart, and about ten years ago there was
a period of six months or so I had not seen or spoken to him. I tried
calling his home number and it was disconnected.  I called the school,
and talked to Bill Mueller, who was literally the last of the teachers
still around from when I had been there -- over the years the whole
crew had retired or otherwise left. In fact he was on his final year
of teaching, due to retire himself after thirty plus years of teaching
at the end of that school year. He published a newsletter every three
months or so which went to all the teachers who had retired in the
twenty years or so after I graduated. I asked him how was Erickson
doing and could I speak to him on the phone for a couple minutes.

Erickson was not there. It seems about four months earlier he had not
shown up for school one day. The school day started and the kids in his
first class were standing around in the hall because his classroom door
was locked. He hadn't shown up about a half hour after that and Bill
Mueller said, "We tried calling him at home on the phone and did not get any
answer so a couple of us went over to his house; he lived about two blocks
away from school. When he did not answer the door we went in with the
spare key he left at school and we found him dead. It was the result of
a kidney infection he had had for several months which simply would not
go away, despite his medication."  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Eric Canale)
Subject: Re: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations
Date: 3 Mar 1995 18:07:23 GMT
Organization: -=MO.NET=- P-Net, Inc's Missouri Operations


Dave Sellers ([e-mail]) wrote:

> "No other food service company in Canada offers this level of
> convenience for its customers," says Corbett. "Our goal now is to make
> 310-1010 available across the country so no matter what city our
> customers are in, they dial the same number for a Pizza Hut pizza."

It's been a while since I lived in Canada, but Toronto based Pizza Pizza
has had the single [phone] delivery number for all its locations
since the early 80s.  I really don't see how Pizza Hut's system is any
different, other than the fact it's 10 years late.


Eric Canale            5756 West Park Ave    [phone] (v)
TCA, Inc.            St. Louis MO 63110    [phone] fax
Voice and Data Communications    [e-mail]    [phone] vmb

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

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 12:45:00 -0600 (CST)
From: Greg Abbott  <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery


[e-mail] (Alan Larson) wrote:

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

>> With a cellular battery of peculiar voltage and conformation, just
>> build a small battery-drainer on a scrap of pegboard, using a
>> flashlight bulb of appropriate size.

> Doing this is a good way for the first cell to hit zero to be pushed
> negative as the other cells continue to discharge.  This is about the
> worst thing you can do to te cell, and will ensure its shorter life.

> The phone knows how low to take the battery.  Trust it.

> If you don't want to do that, use the intellicharger and don't leave
> it on trickle.  Not overcharging the battery will be the best move
> towards keeping the battery away from voltage depression, and get good
> service.

I couldn't agree more, Alan!  There is a reason that the manufacturers put
features like this on electronic devices.  It's not because they want the
device to "die" mid-conversation, it's because they have spent lots of $
figuring out the best way to extend battery life.

Stick with the manufacturers recommendation.  If you need to talk longer,
get a spare battery pack.  On most flip-phones you can change the battery
during a conversation.  You have to be quick, but it is a feature of the
phones.

Another less convenient option is to buy or build a 12v battery back
(I built a 4A pack for about $25 in a pretty nice case with a carry
strap).  Buy the cigarette lighter plug accessory for the flip phone
and then plug it into your battery pack.  This will give you a couple
of days of standby and several hours of talk-time.  I use mine if I
know I'm going to be away from the charger for awhile (like at a
transmitter site for an extended outage or allignment session).  I
built another one of these for my brother.  He takes it out on his
boat on weekends and talks quite a bit with no problems at all.

Just a couple suggestions.  Take care.


GREG ABBOTT           INTERNET: [e-mail]
9-1-1 COORDINATOR   COMPUSERVE: 76046,3107
VOICE: 217/333-4348
METCAD              FAX:   [phone]
1905 E. MAIN ST.  PAGER: 800/222-6651
URBANA, IL  61801    PIN # 9541

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

From: [e-mail] (Edward Keating)
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 13:02:34 -0600
Subject: Re: V.35 Interface


If you want to find out more about the V.35 interface history, you
will need to find the Bell DataSet manual (DSU) circa 1973 where it
describes a V.35 line driver schematic, (you won't find a chip that
does TRUE v.35, you'll need several chips) and defines the cable
length to be a maximum of 100ft.

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

From: [e-mail] (K. Smith)
Subject: Re: Sprint Fiber Cut; Any Information Available?
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 00:46:18 GMT
Organization: scruz-net


> We were affected by a nasty fiber cut Sprint had in Texas way about
> two weeks ago.  (Over four hours!)  Does anyone have any kind of
> information or know where I can get it?  Our account team is not being
> very forthcoming.

"Fiber cut" is the standard excuse these days, even if the problem is
in switching hardware or software. I have not heard of any such "cut",
and I doubt your account team will be able to give you anymore
information than they have to date. What you need to think about is
the implementation of a disaster recovery plan, so that when it
happens again -- whether it's AT&T, SPRINT, or any other carrier- you
can easily route your traffic to another network.


Kevin T. Smith  [e-mail]
TeleSource U.S.A.   Silicon Valley, California

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

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 10:45:23 -0800
From: [e-mail] (William Wood)
Subject: What is ESF and D4?


Dave Z   [e-mail] writes:

> When ordering a T1 line for data, the local fiber company wants to
> know whether I'd like "ESF" or "D4".  Could someone please explain
> what these terms mean?

Dave, lots of folks will try to explain this to you, and most won't
know they don't have a clue what they're talking about. To fully
understand the differences between ESF and SF (D4) is a long
explanation. Ive tried to put some of it into several of my postings
with limited success. My suggestion to you is to order a book called
The Guide to T-1 Networking. It is available from the Telecom Library
Inc, 12 West 21 Street, New York, NY 10010. Call 212-691-8215 or FAX
212-691-1191. It is a paper back 8.5 x 11 size, 269 pages, ISBN
0-936648-26-0. It is well written, covers what you want to know, and
requires no propeller on your beanie to understand.

I have ordered many books from the Telecom Library folks over the
years (you can also get Harry Newton's dictionary from them --
everyone should have this book) and they respond very quickly.  After
reading it, if you're still confused, you might want to check out our
two day on-site only seminar Learning to Talk the Talk and Walk the
Walk of Telecommunications. Much of what most people need to know
about this industry can be easily understood if a person has the
fundamental concepts correct and in logical order. Most do not. It is
the single overriding factor I have seen in thousands of people I have
addressed in my introductory seminars. Dazed and Confused is not just
a movie title, it seems to describe many of the workers in our
industry too.


WE Wood    Technotranslater
Techtrans Animatics Group
Techish to English Translations

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

From: [e-mail] (John DeHoog)
Subject: Re: Requesting Information About SDH
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 1995 19:11:13 +0900
Organization: TransNet International K.K.


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (willy
gan) wrote:

> I'd often seen the words SDH or SDH compatible equipment
> advertised in data communication magazines. Can anyone explain
> or give me examples of what SDH stands for?

SDH stands for Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, for starters.  I'm not
sure that tells us much, and it's not even necessarily an apt term;
but what I do know is that it's an optical signal interface standard
used in optical fiber networks, to transport digital voice, data, and
video signals over long distances.  Here in Japan, some major telecom
makers have developed SDH equipment based on the CTRON specifications.


John De Hoog, Tokyo, Japan

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

From: [e-mail] (Joe Sulmar)
Subject: Re: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API
Date: 03 Mar 1995 13:44:02 GMT
Organization: Telecommunications Consultant


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail].
edu (John Michael Okeefe) says:

> I'm looking for a voice/data/fax modem that supports Microsoft's
> telephony API (TAPI). If you know of a modem that supports TAPI or
> voice/data communication could you please E-Mail me with the name of
> the modem and the manufacturers phone number?

You should take a look at the following:

    IBM         Windsurfer board    800-426-2255
    Best Data     ACE board        818-773-9600
    Boca Research    fax modem        407-997-6227
    Spectrum    Envoy Card        604-421-5422
    Sierra        WaveFax
    IPC        VCOS board


Good luck,

Joseph J. Sulmar  ([e-mail])
Computer-Telephony Consultant
Lexington, MA

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

From: [e-mail] (Kenneth Rentz)
Subject: Re: Peculiar Callbacks Received
Date: 03 Mar 1995 02:59:58 GMT
Organization: Netcom


In <[e-mail]> Jeff Regan <[e-mail]>
writes:

 .. examples of causes of callbacks deleted...

> rapidly.  On that same note, a little far fetched, if the cordless has
> your cell number programmed into it, and its stored in the base, not
> the handset, then it could be triggered to dial that number while this
> interference is occuring.

On a like note, I read an article where a family around here went on
vacation, and some tomatoes went bad and dripped juice on the phone
shorting out the emergency dial button for 911. Since there was no-one
on the other end when the operator answered, she sent the rescue
people there to investigate, and when there was no answer they broke
in.

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

From: [e-mail] (Dr. R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements
Date: 03 Mar 1995 03:22:39 GMT
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering and Applied Science


A good example of a fading signal envelope (power vs. time) is shown
in a figure of a strip chart output from a calibrated UHF receiver in
the "classic" book Microwave Mobile Radio by Jakes (recently reprinted
by the IEEE Press, Originally printed by Wiley). This illustrates the
almost periodic fading for a receiver moving at uniform velocity.

Many papers have been published on delay spread. A review paper with
many refrences to earlier work was published by prof Rappaport of VPI
(Virginia Polytechnic) about three years ago in IEEE transactions. The
GSM COST committee has also collected many measurements on delay spread
during the development of GSM technology during the 1980s and these
were published in both IEEE and IEE and other European journals from
about 1986 onward. The report by Rappaport et al was also published by
the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) who
commissioned the study to address the question of the need for an
adaptive equalizer for North American TDMA cellular.

The power spectrum of a test signal transmitted via a multipath medium
will be similar to that of the original signal, although the phase
will be different. If the receiver antenna is in motion (or the
scattering objects in the environment are moving) the spectrum will be
broadened due to the differing Doppler shift of the various multipath
components. This effect is very small and difficult to measure and I
do not know of any published measurements.  The effects of multipath
are better displayed by looking at the first two types of data.

Incidentally, the CTIA is in Washington, DC, and should not be
confused with the TIA, which is a different organization and does not
have the report in question. The telephone number of the CTIA is 202
785 0081. Please be prepared to pay for the cost of copying and
mailing the report.

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

From: [e-mail] (Dr. R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio?
Date: 03 Mar 1995 05:22:56 GMT
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering and Applied Science


Unfortunately, there is a person born every minute who is prepared to
devote his career to looking for the proverbial sucker who is also
supposed to be born every minute. If all the guys who are promoting
investment in various aspects of the "information highway" by naive
investors were laid end to end in boiling oil, that would not be
sufficient punishment for them in my opinion.

If you get an SMR license and you do not personally have the necessary
cash and technical resources to set up a working SMR system, but
instead are only trying to resell it to another operator, you could
lose the license for fraudulent claims. If licenses are directly
available from the FCC in your community, then the "big guys" have
just as good a chance of getting one as you, and have no reason to buy
it from you.

Ask the promoter why they don't merely get the licenses by themselves
and then make the profit alone by reselling the licenses to others.
Why do they need to try to get money from individuals who do not
understand the laws, the risks, and the technologies?

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

From: [e-mail] (131A40000-StilesKL(DR9522)243)
Subject: Re: Palm Size Message Recorder on a Chip
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 16:19:33 GMT


[e-mail] (TELECOM Digest Editor) wrote:

> I got an interesting advertisement a couple days ago I want to share
> with you. I make no warranties or claims; I will just tell you what
> they said. It cheap enough, you may want to order one or two.

> "Message recorder records anything without tape".

> This little thing fits in the palm of your hand and comes with a key
> chain attachment. Two buttons on the front, one marked 'rec' and the
> other marked 'play'.

> Whenever you want to remember something later on, just take this thing
> out of your pocket, press the record button and talk into it. It will
> hold ten seconds of whatever it hears, but the deluxe version will
> hold twenty seconds of talk. Later on when needed, you press the play
> button and the ten/twenty seconds of speech comes over the tiny little
> speaker attached. A new recording simply erases the old one.

I bought a similar device a couple weeks ago at an office supply store
(Staples in Phoenix, AZ).  It's called "VOICE IT". It records a total
of 40 seconds in up to 12 separate messages. In addition to REC and
PLAY buttons it has a MESsage button to go to the beginning of the
message list, previous message and next message buttons ( |< and >| ),
and ERASE ALL and ERASE LAST buttons which you must hold down for
about 1 second. Each press of PLAY plays the next message in the list.
New messages recorded go on the end of the list.

It's the same size as a credit card and about 1/4 inch thick. It was
$49.95 (the store claimed suggested retail was $59.95). I don't know
how long the four dime-sized lithium batteries will last since I haven't
had it very long. The voice quality is good, better than I expected
for a device of this size.

I find it very useful while driving and I hear a phone number or a
song title on the radio that I'd like to remember, or when someone
gives me an address or phone number on the phone, I don't have to fish
for a pen and paper.

The only phone number I have is from the back of the unit:

    Customer Service: 1-800-47-VOICE

Of course, I have NO connection with this product or the company who
makes it (?), just a satisfied customer.


Kevin Stiles     [e-mail]
AT&T Bell Laboratories   Denver, Colorado

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

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 95 23:24 EST
From: Van R. Hutchinson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Arcade Advice Needed


A friend of mine in Hollywood, Florida USA is setting up an calling
arcade, and would like to contact others who have done so success-
fully.  She is starting with three phones and is marketing on a low-
keyed basis to local people, especially people without phones and recent
immigrants, especially from Sou./Centr. America.

Your contacts, leads or suggestions are needed!

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #131
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #132

TELECOM Digest     Fri, 3 Mar 95 16:28:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 132

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    PBS Rumors and Innuendo: Any Truth? (RRE/Russ Sadler via Peter Dorman)
    GSM Cellular Operators - Revised List (Robert Lindh)
    Faxmodem Problem Solved! (Randall Poe)
    Modem Line Tap (David O. Laney)
    Telecom in Vancouver? (Hien Quan)
    Re: True NANP and Common Dialing Practices (Bob Goudreau)
    Re: True NANP and Common Dialing Practices (Carl Moore)
    Re: Rio-1 ACS-CELP Information Wanted (Matt Noah)
    Re: CallerID and Dialogic Board (Donald L. Moore)
    Re: What is a Digital PBX? (Richard Parkinson)

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
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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*************************************************************************
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 14:47:08 -0800
Reply-To: [e-mail]
From: Peter.Dorman <[e-mail]>
Subject: PBS Rumors and Innuendo: Any Truth?


Forwarded FYI to the Digest:
Note the .sig line at the end, please.

[This copyrighted article is forwarded to RRE by permission.]

  Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 12:53:16 -0800
  From: [e-mail] (Russell Sadler)

        I am enclosing a column I wrote a couple of weeks ago. I am a
very mainstream, mass media journalist. For the last 25 years I have
syndicated a daily radio and television commentary and a weekly
newspaper column. The broadcasts are carried on five commercial
television stations and six radio stations in Oregon and Northern
California. Two radio stations are public, the rest are commercial.
The column is carried in daily and weekly newspapers around Oregon.

        I think you will find this column is a different explanation
for the new congressional leadership's effort to "defund" public
broadcasting.

    *********Begin Column**********

        Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media baron, stupefied the
media business when his Fox network outbid the venerable CBS for the
rights to broadcast National Football League games this year. People
in the television business knew Fox did not own enough stations in the
top 50 media markets to charge enough for commercials to recover the
$1.6 billion Murdoch spent taking the NFL away from CBS. Rupert
Murdoch is no fool with his money. The industry waited for Murdoch to
drop the other shoe.

        There was less surprise when Murdoch announced his holding
company paid $500 million for a 20 percent interest in the New World
Communication Group, Inc. New World owns six television stations in
the top 20 markets, four in the top 50 markets and two in the top 70,
including stations in Dallas, the 8th largest market and Detroit, the
9th largest. Murdoch switched most of these stations from CBS
affiliates to his Fox network. Now Murdoch had the means to charge
more for commercials in the NFL games.  Despite this brilliant high
stakes entrepreneurship, Murdoch apparently lost $350 million in his
$2.1 billion bid to build a national network. He needs more stations
in the largest television markets.

        There are no television frequencies available, especially the
more lucrative VHF channels 2 - 13. They are licensed to ABC, CBS, NBC
and Fox affiliates, a variety of independent stations and public
television stations.

        Enter Big Bird and Barney, two of public television's artistic
and financial success stories. The new Republican leadership began a
campaign to convince the American people Big Bird and Barney and their
"elitist" audience were responsible for the national debt.

        Government has no business doing what private enterprise can
do better, chanted the ideologues. They do not explain why the vast
wasteland of commercial television did not produce its own Big Bird
and Barney instead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers.  Sen. Larry Pressler, R-South Dakota and chair of the
Senate Commerce Committee announced Bell Atlantic was prepared to take
Big Bird and Barney off the government's hands and syndicate it to
cable, satellite and television outlets. Americans could still enjoy
Big Bird -- for a fee, of course.

        There is a hollow, leaden ring to this heated, ideological
rhetoric. Congress spends about as much on military bands as it spends
on public broadcasting. Pressler comes from a sparsely populated state
that has one of the largest public broadcasting audiences in the
country. It can't be the money. Pressler can't be reflecting the views
of his constituents. Congress really isn't after the public
broadcasting's liberal bias - real or imagined. It turns out the new
congressional leadership wants the public broadcasting channels,
especially in the top 50 markets.

        Public broadcasting licenses are owned by a variety of state
and local governments, non-profit groups, colleges and universities.
If the congress cuts public broadcasting funds and these stations are
forced off the air, the government can reissue the licenses. Guess who
is waiting in line.

        Shortly after Murdoch's Harper Collins publishing company
offered House Speaker Newt Gingrich the controversial $4.5 million
book deal, Murdoch and other broadcasters asked for and got closed
door meetings with House Republicans and Pressler's Commerce Committee
staff. No one knows for sure what went on in these "private" meetings
but reporters for Newsday and Los Angeles Times columnist Lars-Erik
Nelson believe turning public broadcasting channels over to private
broadcasters was a topic of discussion.

        Bell Atlantic tried to make a deal with Murdoch last year for
the 20th Century Fox film library worth an estimated $4 billion.
Murdoch wants to sell, apparently to raise cash to replace the money
he is losing on the NFL. Bell Atlantic has cash from its telephone
operations and wants the film library to supply its planned venture
into home entertainment. The deal fell apart when Bell Atlantic
decided it did not have enough broadcast outlets to pay the bill. Bell
Atlantic executives met privately with Pressler to complain about the
lack of broadcasting frequencies in major television markets.
Privately, the new congressional leadership believes public
broadcasting stands in the way of restructuring the new electronic
media and the solution is just turn off the spigot that pays for Big
Bird and Barney.

        The federal government holds a 13 year lien on any public
broadcasting facility built with grants from the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting. Those facilities include much of the modernized
studio and transmission equipment in the largest markets and the
extensive translator networks built by rural public stations like
Jefferson Public Radio. If these stations cease broadcasting because
of a lack of money, the federal government can just take over the
property, issue the licenses to private operators and sell the
lucrative studio and transmission facilities to their campaign
contributors.

        There is a surprising reason for this intense interest in
old-fashioned television stations in the age of cable, satellite
transmission and optic fiber cables. Murdoch's satellite television
service demonstrated a revolutionary transmission technology that
compresses signals 8 to 1.

        Stripped of technobabble, that means within a decade it will
be possible to transmit eight separate digital broadcast signals on
television channels that can only transmit one now. If existing
television stations can deliver 30 or more channels of home
enetertainment into the Top 150 American television markets, it will
drastically alter the economics of the cable and telephone industries.

        Murdoch's compression technology will permit today's
commercial and public television broadcasters -- long dismissed as
technological dinosaurs -- to compete with cable, telephone and
satellite transmissions companies or even short-circuit their
potentially lucrative market.

        Perhaps the bitter battle over Big Bird and Barney's future
makes a bit more sense now.


Russell Sadler                    Southern Oregon State College
519 South Mountain Avenue         Department of Communication
Ashland, OR 97520                 1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
503-482-3959                      Ashland, OR 97520


       "Whatever hits the fan will not be distributed evenly."
                                         -Russell's Rule the Fourth

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Lindh)
Subject: GSM Cellular Operators - Revised List
Organization: Ericsson
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 16:17:58 GMT


(Changes in the list marked by "*")

Country      Operator name          Network code   Tel to customer service
 ------      -------------          ------------   -----------------------
Andorra    * STA
Argentina
Australia    Optus                  505 02         Int + 61 2 978 5678
           * Telecom/Telstra        505 01         Int + 61 18 01 8287
             Vodafone               505 03         Int + 61 2 415 7236
Austria      PTV Austria            232 01
Bahrein    * Batelco
Belgium      Belgacom               206 01         Int + 32 2205 4000
Cameroon
China      *
Dubai      * ETISALAT               424 ??
Cyprus     * CYTA                   280 01
Denmark    * Sonofon                238 02         Int + 45 80 20 21 00
             Tele Danmark Mobil     238 01         Int + 45 80 20 20 20
Egypt      *
Estonia    * EMT                    248 01         Int + 372 2639 7130
           *                                       Int + 372 2524 7000
             Radiolinja Estonia
Fiji       *
Finland      Radiolinja Finland     244 05         Int + 358 800 95050
             Telecom                244 91         Int + 358 800 7000
France       SFR                    208 10         Int + 33 1 44 16 20 16
           * France Telecom         208 01         Int + 33 1 44 62 14 81
Gibraltar  * GibTel
Germany      D1, DeTeMobil          262 01         Int + 49 511 288 0171
             D2, Mannesmann         262 02         Int + 49 172 1212
G Britain    Cellnet                234 10         Int + 44 753 50 45 48
             Vodafon                234 15         Int + 44 836 1100
Greece       Panafon                202 05         Int + 30 944 00 122
             STET                   202 10         Int + 30 93 333 333
Holland    * PTT Netherlands        204 08         Int + 31 50 688 699
Hong Kong    SmarTone               454 06         Int + 852 880 2688
             Telecom CSL            454 00         Int + 852 803 8450
             HK HTCLGSM             454 04
Hungary      Pannon GSM             216 01         Int + 36 1 270 4120
             Westel 900             216 30         Int + 36 30 303 100
Iceland    * Post & Simi            274 01         Int + 354 96 330
India      * PT SATELINDO
Indonesia  * TELKOMSEL              510 10
Ireland      Telecom                272 01         Int + 353 42 31999
Israel
Italy        SIP                    222 01         Int + 39 6615 20309
           * Omnitel
Japan      *
Jersey       Jersey Telecom
Laos       *
Lebanon      Libancell
Latvia     * LMT                    247 01         Int + 371 2256 7764
           *                                       Int + 371 2256 9183
           *                                       Int + 371 2934 0000
Luxemburg    Telekom                270 01         Int + 352 4088 7088
Macao
Malaysia   *
Namibia    *
New Zealand  Bell South             530 01
Norway       NetCom                 242 02         Int + 47 92 00 01 68
           * TeleNor Mobil          242 01         Int + 47 22 03 03 01
Quwait     * MTC
Phillipines*
Portugal     Telecel                268 01         Int + 351 931 1212
             TMN                    268 06         Int + 351 1 793 91 78
Russia     * Moscow Cellular                       Int + 7 271 00 60
           * MOBILE TELE SYSTEM
Singapore    Singapore Telecom      525 01
South Africa MTN                    655 10         Int + 27 11 445 6000
             Vodacom                655 01         Int + 27 82 111
Spain        Telefonica Spain       214 07
Sweden     * Comviq                 240 07         Int + 46 586 686 10
           * Europolitan            240 08         Int + 46 708 22 22 22
             Telia                  240 01         Int + 46 771 91 03 50
Switzerland* PTT Switzerland        228 01         Int + 41 46 05 64 64
Syria      * SYR-01                 223 01
           * SYR MOBILE SYR         263 09
Thailand     AIS GSM
Turkey     * Telsim                 286 02
             Turkcell               286 01         Int + 90 800 211 0211
UAE        * ETISALAT               424 01
           * UAE ETISALAT-G2        424 02
Uganda
Vietnam    *

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Faxmodem Problem Solved!
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 95 14:18:20 PDT
Organization: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD, USA


Thanks for those who responded about my problems with a fax modem.
The problem was with automatic answer: the modem seemed unable to hear
CNG tones when an answering machine or handset was also online,
despite the manufacturer's claims.

Wayne Kosten suggested I make sure the modem was the first thing T-d
off the incoming line.  I did this by running a new line down to the
junction box, and tieing it to the first set of connectors.

It worked like a charm!

Now I have to figure out how to do this right: I piggybacked on top of
another pair of wires that was already there, and I'm sure this
connector isn't designed to do that (it's the type where all you do is
push the insulated wire in, and the connector cuts the insulation and
clamps down on the copper.  I'm out of places to plug into -- are you
allowed to daisy chain?

The telephone tech who installed this box brought in six pairs on the
incoming line, only two of which are in use.  I could disconnect one
of them, I suppose, and daisy-chain line 1 down to a lower row of
connectors.

Am I making any sense?  What is the recommended way to do this
(besides "place a service call")?

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

From: [e-mail] (David O. Laney)
Subject: Modem Line Tap
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 14:02:30 GMT
Organization: Free-Net Erlangen Nuernberg, Germany


Hello,

I am wondering if any of you netters have come across a device called
a Modem Line Tap. Apparently you can put it on a n RJ11 jack and hook
it through and connect to a Data Line Monitor.  Thus allowing direct
monitoring of the phone line. I would like to have such a device,
especially for decoding MNP transaction data. If anyone knows where I
can get such equipment please reply to me at [e-mail].


David O. Laney     Internet: [e-mail]
Voice: [phone]      Fax: [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Hien Quan)
Subject: Telecom in Vancouver?
Date: 3 Mar 1995 14:51:18 GMT
Organization: Nokia Mobile Phones


Hi,

Can anyone tell me what sort of telecom companies exist in Vancouver?

Thanks very much.

Hien Quan (Mr.)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vancouver, *where*?  There is one in
Washington State and one in British Columbia. Maybe people from both
places will respond.     PAT]

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

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 11:15:10 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Bob Goudreau)
Subject: Re: True NANP and Common Dialing Practices


John Shelton <[e-mail]> writes:

> When will we really have a true North American Numbering Plan, one
> that is used consistently throughout US and Canada?

> Is it really that hard to get everone to agree:

> xxx        - special service codes (e.g. Info, Emergency)
> xxx xxxx    - abbreviated form of 1+ ten digit dialing,
>           where the area code (NPA) is the same.

Yes, I rather suspect it *is* really that hard to get everyone to
agree to support this.  The vast majority of the NANP prefers to use
1-NXX-NXX-XXXX for *all* long distance calls, both intra-NPA and
inter-NPA.  If you want to enforce some NANP-wide standard for
intra-NPA long distance, it would make far more sense to change the
minority than the majority.  Personally, I don't mind leaving the
situation alone, as long as 1-NXX-NXX-XXXX dialing would always be
supported for any number.  (Unfortunately, it isn't always supported
for local numbers in many places :-(.)

> 0 xxx xxxx    - abbreviated form of 0+ ten digit dialing,
>           where the area code (NPA) is the same.

Bad idea.  See below ...

> 1 xxx xxx xxxx    - caller paid, direct dialed call
>
> 0 xxx xxx xxxx    - alternate billing, direct dialed call

> Using the long form should *always* be legal.

Agreed!  One should always be able to use 11-digit dialing, regardless
of whether the call is local or long distance.  Telcos that do this
wrong should be fixed!

> Seven digit dialing might require timeouts (or trailing #).

I think you mean "8-digit dialing", in particular, your 0-NXX-XXXX
example.  But, as far as I know, there are no longer any places in the
NANP that support 0 + 7D; all 0+ calls that I know of must now be dialed
0 + 10D.  Why on earth do you want to bring 0 + 7D back?  And if you do,
why don't you also want to bring 1 + 7D back too?  Personally, I don't
want to see either return, since I think timeouts should be avoided.


Bob Goudreau        Data General Corporation
[e-mail]    62 Alexander Drive
[phone]        Research Triangle Park, NC  27709, USA


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Instead of avoidtime timeouts, which can
actually always be avoided anyway with the # key, why not just have
variable length numbers as needed. This would allow for quite a large
supply of numbers without us getting trapped into shortages in one
place and excess numbers available in others. Just have numbers of
any length, and replace the '1' on the front with # on the end to
inidicate we have finished dialing.   PAT]

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

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 95 10:39:14 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: True NANP and Common Dialing Practices


No, the seven digit dialing does NOT require timeout or trailing #.

But the 0 xxx xxxx could; timeout situation could arise in these
published and now-obsolete cases:

1. for many years within old area 213 (before 818 and 310 split from it).

2. briefly at Denver and Adamstown, PA when they were in the old 215
area.

In some areas, people object to seven digit dialing for long distance,
so in order to keep "1 means toll" and avoid timeout situation, long
distance within area code has mandatory 1 + 10D.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: See, even on here he cannot get agreement
to his plan. I wonder how he thinks all the telcos will ever come to any
sort of common consensus.  <g>   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Matt Noah)
Subject: Re: Rio-1 ACS-CELP Information Wanted
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 95 01:57:26 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Sing Li) wrote:

> Does anyone know where I can obtain some technical information on the
> Rio-1 ACS-CELP coder?

e-mail to [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Donald L Moore)
Subject: Re: CallerID and Dialogic Board
Date: 3 Mar 1995 00:14:57 -0500
Organization: Interpath -- Public Access UNIX for North Carolina


In article <[e-mail]>, Tatro Enterprises <btatro@iquest.
com> wrote:

> Qustion is, what is the fastest and cheapest way of having the
> CallerID information passed to the voicemail application.  Can a modem
> be used to intercept the information and pass it on?

Brian,

   A modem that supports Caller ID might be the answer.  All you need
to do is open the comm port at 1200 8N1 (I think) to read the data.
The Rockwell Chip Set requires that you send the modem "AT#CID=1" to
get the formated Caller ID (DATE=, TIME=, NBR=), unformated is
"AT#CID=2".

   DO NOT forget that some Bell companies block the data stream, only
to offer it as an additional service.

   The Caller ID info is sent between the 1st & 2nd Ring.

   Depending on your Voice Mail Card, you should have no problem in
working with your Caller ID Modem and Voice Mail Card.  As a 'FUN'
project, I am programming my Big Mouth Voice Mail Card to answer based
on Caller ID data returned from my Zoom Modem.  (If I spent the time,
I could do it all on the Zoom card; I don't have the time to re-write
my code for the Zoom card ... although it's real easy ... can be done in
BASIC!)


Don


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Would you care to share any of your
programming on this with the Digest readers? I think this project sounds
like one others  -- including myself -- might be interested in, since
I also have a Big Mouth card.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Richard Parkinson)
Subject: Re: What is a Digital PBX?
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 21:21:33 -0800
Organization: Infotel Systems Corp.


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Matt Noah) wrote:

> What is the definition of a "digital" PBX?

> Assuming an analog PBX is one in which the trunk lines are strictly
> analog, e.g. E&M, Ground Start, is a "digital" PBX one in which the
> trunk lines all carry PCM voice with digital signalling?  If so, what
> type of digital signalling?  Is it T1?  Is it ISDN?  Is it something
> other than T1 or ISDN?  Is it combinations of various digital standards?

I like Fred R. Goldstein's reply the best. Travis Russel implies that
you need digital phones to get fancy features. Northern Telecom's
original SL-1 set was analog, as was Mitel's Supersets.  In the case
of the SL-1 the voice was transmitted from the set to a line card,
digitized, then switched using standard 64 Kbps PCM.


Richard

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #132
******************************


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Date: Sat, 4 Mar 95 08:04:57 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #133

TELECOM Digest     Sat, 4 Mar 95 08:04:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 133

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Local Competition in North Carolina (Donald E. Kimberlin)
    Major UK Network Failure (Richard Cox)
    PacBell Offers a "Taste of Interop" in LA, March 28 (Cherie Shore)
    Dialing the Falkland Islands (Richard Cox)
    IVR Application, Northern Telecom SL1 PBX (Chris Daniels)
    Questions About Format of Printed Telephone Numbers (Jeff Wolfe)
    Re: Pizza Hut Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations (Tony Harminc)
    Re: Pizza Hut Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations (Ian Angus)
    Looking for Remote Control Solution (Mark Breman)
    Question on Setting up Internet Users Group (James E. Law)
    Oh Yeah? (Cole Cooper)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

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The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
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                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
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*************************************************************************
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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, 3 Mar 95 20:56 EST
From: Donald E. Kimberlin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Local Competition in North Carolina


        Observers of U.S. telecommunications demonopolization history
may recall that in early days of events like Hush-a-Phone and
Carterfone, significant news focused on the Mebane Home Telephone
Company of North Carolina.

        Mebane was the battleground upon which the North Carolina
Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Communications Commission
did battle concerning whether or not the public could own and attach
its own telephones to lines of the local telephone company.  At one
point, the NC PUC even issued a widely-ridiculed decision that it
would permit the public to connect its own telephones for interstate
traffic only -- but that in order to do so, users would have to rent a
separate telephone line to be used for interstate calls only.  Saner
heads eventually prevailed, and the matter was resolved by other
means.

        Today, North Carolina appears to be among the earlier states
contemplating statewide demonopolization of local telephone service,
perhaps beginning as early as July 1, 1996.

        A bill was introduced into the North Garolina legislature only
several weeks ago, with nearly enough co-sponsors to assure passage at
introduction.  Here's a story from the March 3, 1995 Charlotte, NC
<Observer) indicating its movement and some of its provisions:

               BILL TO OVERHAUL LOCAL PHONE SERVICE
               CLEARS N.C. HOUS UTILITIES COMMITTEE
                   By Foon Ree, Raleigh Bureau

        RALEIGH -- With more safeguards for real competition added in,
a proposal to overhaul N.C. local telephone service cleared its first
major hurdle Thursday.

        The state House Public Utilities Committee unanimously
endorsed a bill that would allow competition in local phone service
starting July 1, 1996.  Customers could pick their local phone company
like they now do for long distance calling.

        The bill would also let local phone companies compete on
price.

        Today, about two dozen companies have monopolies in different
areas of the state.  All charge customers based on profit margins
approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission.

        The full House could vote on the bill as soon as next
week.

        The proposal has high stakes for consumers, and for companies
that want a piece of the local phone business.  The state's local
phone companies reap about US$ 2,500,000,000 in revenue from
long-distance access fees, Yellow pages advertising revenue and local
charges.

        Backers of the bill, which include existing local phone
companies, say it will lead to better technology and service and to
lower rates for many homes and businesses, most likely those in major
cities.

        The phone companies hope to make more money by expanding into
new territories and offering advanced technology services.

        Opponents, including long distance carriers and cable TV
firms, say the bill would let local phone companies squeeze out
competitors and maintain some of the Southeast's highest local phone
rates.

        They note that the proposal allows local phone companies to
keep their monopolies for at least one year, without the current
limits on rates.  That could let local companies raise rates in rural
areas that wouldn't attract competitors, and use the money to lower
rates in cities like Charlotte, where new competitors want business.

        On Thursday, the committee approved changes suggested by N.C.
Attorney General Mike Easley to make it clear that companies can file
complaints over "anti-competitive activity."

        "They're helpful," said Wade Hargrove, a lobbyist for the long
distance and cable firms.  But he said the long distance firms want a
specific provision in the bill telling the commission to watch out for
local companies trying to stifle competition.

        Several committee members also wanted reassurance that the
bill won't lead to huge rate hikes in rural areas.  The bill keeps
companies with 200,000 or fewer phone lines -- which serve about 10%
of the state -- off-limits to competition, unless they want to compete
to serve other areas.

        Rural areas won't immediately benefit from competition, said
Robert Gruber, who looks out for consumers as director of the N.C.
Utilities Commission's public staff.

<end quoted story>

 ... And so there you have it, Dear Moderator.  I coincidentally note
it was five years ago and less that my posts forecasting the demise of
local competition in the U.S met with replies of incredulity in this
forum, mostly from those who were certain the long-standing claims of
massive capital cost would maintain the once-sacrosanct "natural
monopoly" concept of 1913 in perpetuity.  Yet, today, we see instead
the telephone companies in North Carolina seizing the initiative to
change their own status.  Clearly, they have gotten the message as
demonstrated in places like England and New Zealand that it's no
longer such a massive, capital-intensive task to construct and
maintaim a functioning local telephone plant.

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

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 17:03:14 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Major UK Network Failure


On the morning of Thursday, 2 March, workmen accidentally cut into a
major fiber-optic cable near Banbury, which contained BT's main
telecomms link between London and Birmingham.  Details of the incident
are not yet completely clear, but it is reported that approximately 18
fibres, each carrying 540Mb, plus the associated maintenance spares,
were broken by the damage.  Serious congestion followed - not only on
BT's network, but also on other networks as customers and service
providers tried to reroute their traffic by other means.  Several of
the mobile networks, who lease bulk capacity from BT, also suffered
consequent disruption: as did JANET, the "Joint Academic NETwork" in
the UK.

This incident has raised some significant questions about BT's claims
to have a resilient network, and to be able to reroute around a single
point of failure.  It took BT until late in the afternoon of the
following day (Friday, 3 March) before service on the route was fully
restored.


Richard D G Cox

Mandarin Technology, PO Box 111, Penarth, South Glamorgan CF64 3YG
Voice: 0956 700111;    Fax: [phone];    VoiceMail: 0941 151515
e-mail address: [e-mail]; PGP2.6 public key on request

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

From: [e-mail] (Cherie Shore)
Subject: PacBell Offers a "Taste of Interop" in LA, March 28
Date: 4 Mar 1995 09:32:51 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell


Your time is extremely valuable, and Interop is over 300 miles away in
Las Vegas.  Why go?  Pacific Bell will demonstrate cutting edge
network interoperability applications right here in Los Angeles on
March 28.

Our 'A Taste of Interop' event will feature exhibits of:

    Telemedicine
    Multipoint Desktop Videoconferencing
    The Studio of the Future
    High Speed Internet Access
    Cupertino's CityNet
    Caltech's Real-Time Earthquake Monitoring

We'll be showing examples of applications running on the following
digital comunication technologies:

    ISDN
    Frame Relay
    SMDS
    Advanced Broadcast Video Service

No reservations required; exhibits will be open between 12:00 and 5pm
on March 28, at 1010 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles.  Parking is provided.


Cherie Shore    [e-mail]
ISDN Technology Manager, PacBell

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

Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 07:37:39 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Dialing the Falkland Islands


The TELECOM Digest Editor noted:

> It does not matter how many digits the place has.  If the number is
> direct dialable, then it can be used. In most places where the local
> numbers are less than seven digits, you will find the city code and
> country code are longer, to fill in the blanks.

The country originally referred to (the Falkland Islands) now has five
digit numbers.  Until recently there were only four digit numbers, and
then they all changed to five digit by prepending all numbers with
"2".  International dialing to the Falkland Islands has been on +500
for as long as I can remember; before that it was operator-only
connection via Cable and Wireless.  Some of you may recall that the
failure of the Cable and Wireless link just before the Falklands were
invaded, was a point featured in a film made subsequently about the
Falklands war.  Obviously the service has since been improved --
possibly as a result of improvements in funding?

There are no "city codes" for the Falklands Islands.  It is unlikely
that there is even more than one CO.  So the Falklands have some of
the shortest (international) numbers in the world, and from the UK
dialling the Falklands takes less digits now than most inland numbers.
Oddly enough, calls to the Falklands are also the most expensive calls
(apart from Satellite and Ships calls) that can be made from the UK.

As in the US, 500 has a special purpose in the UK -- it is one of our
freephone (toll-free) codes, like 800.  So if the initial digit 0 is
repeated by accident, a call that should be free (such as 0500 224466)
turns into one of the most expensive calls (00500 22446) that can be made.

I believe there may still be shorter numbers than those in the Falklands,
but until recently some of them could not be dialed in the normal way
as Telco's equipment could not handle them correctly.  Callers had to
dial a dummy digit *after* the called number, to convince the COs that
the digit string is valid.  Either the numbers have been lengthened,
or the COs have been fixed ... we no longer have to dial dummy digits.


Richard D G Cox

Mandarin Technology, PO Box 111, Penarth, South Glamorgan CF64 3YG
Voice: 0956 700111;    Fax: [phone];    VoiceMail: 0941 151515
e-mail address: [e-mail]; PGP2.6 public key on request

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

From: [e-mail] (Chris Daniels)
Subject: IVR Application, Northern Telecom SL1 PBX
Date: 3 Mar 1995 16:33:42 -0500
Organization: 24 Hour Computers, Greenbelt, MD USA


I am working on an IVR application which sits behind a Northern
Telecom SL1 PBX and appears as an analog 2500 set; the problem is that
the SL1 does not drop the loop current when the calling party hangs
up, causing the IVR system to stay offhook and tie up the incoming
line until a timeout occurs in the application.

Does anyone know of a programming change that can be made to the SL1
which will return some form of call progress signalling, such as
reorder or other tones?

The voice board used is a Dialogic D41D, and the NT PBX is a SL1-XT release
19 issue 32.

Please email your response to me, my provider is having news problems as
usual.


Thanks,

Ken WIlliams   Voicelink Communications, Inc.
202-541-9009   [e-mail]

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

Subject: Questions About Format of Printed Telephone Numbers
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 1995 18:01:52 -0500
From: Jeff Wolfe <[e-mail]>


I got involved in a debate with some friends about the 'correct' way
to write a telephone number.

Is there an 'international standard'?  Is it official or just commonly
accepted?

The guy I was debating with said that [phone] was the 'offical'
way.  What does the '+' mean?


Jeff Wolfe
Sysadmin, Newsadmin    -    Penn State - College of Earth and Mineral Sciences


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The '+' means 'international access code if
required plus'. In other words, to dial a country in Europe for example,
we dial 011 plus the country code and number. In the USA, '1' is by
coincidence both the access code used internally when dialing long distance
and it is the international access code for the USA and Canada when dialing
here from elsewhere. So the way you would read your example is 'dial whatever
you dial to place an international call, followed by 1 for the USA and
then the area code 814 and local number 555-1212'.    PAT


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

Date: Fri, 03 Mar 95 18:05:40 EST
From: Tony Harminc <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Pizza Hut Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations


[e-mail] (Eric Canale) wrote:

>> "No other food service company in Canada offers this level of
>> convenience for its customers," says Corbett. "Our goal now is to make
>> 310-1010 available across the country so no matter what city our
>> customers are in, they dial the same number for a Pizza Hut pizza."

> It's been a while since I lived in Canada, but Toronto based Pizza Pizza
> has had the single [phone] delivery number for all its locations
> since the early 80s.  I really don't see how Pizza Hut's system is any
> different, other than the fact it's 10 years late.

The problem with Pizza Pizza's system is that the famous 967-1111
works only from within the 416 area code (Metro. Toronto).  Local
callers in the surrounding 'burbs have to dial 416 967-1111, and
callers further out have local numbers (e.g. Oshawa 905 567-1111) to
reach their local dispatch centre.  In fact I think there is only the
one central dispatch site for all of southern Ontario.  It's
interesting to see the different approach taken by the chains.  Pizza
Pizza has all calls go to one place, and then sends the orders to the
geographically appropriate store on a data network.  This lets them
track how busy each store is and avoid overloading by farming orders
out further afield when necessary.  I doubt that any phone-network
based routing scheme will have such flexibility.

Pizza Pizza has an overwhelming market presence in the Toronto area,
to the point that customs people at the airport are reputed to ask
suspicious travellers claiming to live in Toronto "what's Pizza
Pizza's number?", or even to ask them to sing the little jingle "nine
- six - seven -- eleven -- eleven".  A number of other local chains
have catchy numbers (Two-for-One Pizza is 241-0241 Get it: 241- oh -
you did get it...), but nothing has close to the recognition of Pizza
Pizza.


Tony Harminc

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

Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 18:42:19 EST
From: Ian Angus <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Pizza Hut Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations


Eric Canale wrote:

> ([e-mail]) wrote:

>> "No other food service company in Canada offers this level of
>> convenience for its customers," says Corbett. "Our goal now is to make
>> 310-1010 available across the country so no matter what city our
>> customers are in, they dial the same number for a Pizza Hut pizza."

> It's been a while since I lived in Canada, but Toronto based
> Pizza Pizza has had the single [phone] delivery number for all its
> locations since the early 80s.  I really don't see how Pizza Hut's system
> :is any different, other than the fact it's 10 years late.

There is a big difference. Pizza Pizza pioneered the single number for
an entire city, covering multiple outlets. (Far in advance of Dominos
in the US, for example.) But the Pizza Pizza system has two limitations,
compared to the new one at Pizza Hut:

1. The Pizza Pizza number only works within the Toronto free calling area.
Its long distance (or a different local number) from other areas.

2. The Pizza Pizza number goes to a central location, where the call is
answered and the order taken. The order is then transmitted to the nearest
franchise store by a data link.

By contrast:

1. With the new service, Pizza Hut has the same seven-digit number (310-1010)
over multiple area codes. The caller never has to dial a long distance call.

2. The public network automatically routes the call to the nearest Pizza
Hut store, based on the caller's location. So there is no need for a
central answering location or retransmission of the order.

Actually, Bell Canada's 310-Service is just 800-Service in disguise.
The rates (to Pizza Hut) are the same as 800 rates, with a premium
charge added for using 7-digit access. The idea is to let multi-location
companies have a "local" appearance, but only one number to advertise.


Ian Angus    Angus TeleManagement Group   Ajax Ontario Canada
905-686-5050 ext 222       [e-mail]

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

From: Mark Breman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Looking For Remote Control Solution
Organization: NLnet
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 12:10:06 GMT


Hi there,

Currently we are using a NetWare connect modem pool. To communicate
with this pool we are using the windows nasi redirector (attnasi 1.0
loaded at windows startup) from NOVELL which redirects COM1 to the
modem pool. As remote control software we wanted to use ReachOut
because this supports Super VGA 1024*768. ReachOut doesn't seem to
work with the modem pool (COM1 is not redirected) because it makes no
use of the standard windows communications API.

Can anyone tell me which remote control solution supports SVGA
1024*768 or higher and is able to make use of a modem pool through the
windows nasi redirector mentioned above?

Because of memory problems we're not able to use the DOS nasi redirector.
We are using NetWare 3.11, IPXODI 2.12, NETX 3.32, Windows 3.1 upgraded
to 3.11 (NOT WfW).

Please reply by email to: [e-mail]


Thanks in advance,

Mark Breman  [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (James E. Law)
Subject: Question on Setting up Internet Users Group
Date: 04 Mar 1995 02:56:33 GMT
Organization: Chattanooga Online!


I would appreciate any suggestions you can provide on how to organize
a successful internet users group. Such a group has just been
initiated in Chattanooga, TN (CHATNET) and is in the process of
getting organized.  Things seem to be off to a good start with 47 in
attendance of our Jan.  meeting. I know that some of you have been
through this start-up phase multiple time and can suggest how we do it
right. In particular, I would like input on:

1. Would you send me a copy of your charters/by-laws?

2. What kinds of officers are in place for your group?

3. What is the format of your meetings? What kind of meeting activities do
members find to be interesting and/or helpful?

4. What activities (other than meetings) are your group involved in (e.g.
training, communnity service projects, internet promotion)?

5. Are there any organizations that provide support to internet users
groups? Any industry sponsors out there?

6. Any other suggestions?

Please send your response via e-mail.


Thanks for your help.

Ed Law ([e-mail])

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

From: Cole Cooper <[e-mail]>
Date: 3 Mar 1995  9:49:02 EDT
Subject: Oh Yeah?


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh go ahead, you can whisper it to me.
> I won't tell anyone who doesn't read the Digest or Usenet. You think
> Ma Bell is a bitch, is that it?    <g>     PAT]<<

More than likely -- if he told you -- he'd have to kill you.  (grin)
But I don't think he wants to - the paperwork afterwards can be
grueling.  It would be a RFT-PM007 (Request for Termination - Post
Mortem), and the last time I used one of those it took six months for
approval.


REPLY-TO: C.M. (Cole) Cooper - Stentor Resource Centre Inc.  3W 3030
2nd Avenue S.E.  Calgary, Alberta. CANADA T2A 5N7
Internet: [e-mail]
TN: 403-531-4205   Compuserve 73361,35
Fax [phone] or 1-800-269-7571
The Information Superhighway Construction Foreman's office

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #133
******************************


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From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #134

TELECOM Digest     Sun, 5 Mar 95 07:55:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 134

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    New Delphi Forum (Scott Gordon)
    Cubix Remote Access Server (Scott Gordon)
    Radio Commentator Gets a Caller ID Callback (Dave Leibold)
    GSM Roaming (was E(TACS) and GSM) (Mark J. Elkins)
    POTs Wanted! (Jay W. Shoup)
    Analog Interface Parameters (Eli Cohen)
    64 Kbps HDLC PCMCIA Interface (Milo S. Medin)
    Book Review: "USENIX Conference Keynote Address" by Barlow (Rob Slade)
    Help Wanted Wtih ISDN Service (Gregory Hicks)
    Pizza Hut in Atlanta (Ted Koppel)
    Re: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations (Chris Hudel)
    Re: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations (Scott Montague)
    Re: And the Grammy For Poor Planning Goes to ... (Bob Wilkins)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: New Delphi Forum
Date: 5 Mar 1995 04:36:52 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation


SBBS Communications has recently opened a CUSTOM FORUM on the DELPHI
network.  This forum is dedicated to Wireless communications (i.e.
Numeric and Alphanumeric Pagers, Cellular Phones, PCMCIA Modems, Etc.).
In addition to various discussions, wireless products will also be
sold throughout this forum.

Delphi Customer Forum #393 - SBBS Communications - Wireless Forum

The following items are only a small sampling of the products SBBS currently
offers:

-    Pagers (Motorola Numeric & Alphanumeric)
-    Cellular Phones (Motorola, Nokia, Audiovox, OKI)
-    Cellular Accessories (Batteries, Cigarette Adapters, Leather Cases)
-    PCMCIA Modems & Data-Links

How To Get A Delphi Account:

1.   Call 1-800-695-4002 Using Your Modem
2.   When your prompted for a USERNAME, enter JOINDELPHI
3.   When your prompted for a PASSWORD, enter CUSTOM393

New users are allotted their FIRST five (5) hours of usage FREE.


* Brought To You By *

SBBS Communications
444 Skokie Blvd. Suite #211
Wilmette, Illinois 60091
Voice: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Scott Gordon - Internet ID: [e-mail]
Need A Pager and/or Cellular Phone? You need it, I've got it!

Host Of Delphi Custom Forum #393 - SBBS Communications/Wireless Forum

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Cubix Remote Access Server
Date: 5 Mar 1995 04:36:21 GMT
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation


Quoting dmorey from a message in comp.dcom.telecom

> Has anyone used Cubix products?  We are looking at their remote access
> server solution for our dial-in lines.  We have pretty much picked
> their product but I wanted to get some comments from the field.

I've used cubix boards along with Netware Connect.  What info were you
looking for?


Scott Gordon - Internet ID: [e-mail]

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

Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 23:49:13 EST
From: Dave Leibold <[e-mail]>
Subject: Radio Commentator Gets a Caller ID Callback


Andy Barrie's commentary on CFRB Radio Toronto on 3rd March dealt with
the subject of Caller ID technology. Barrie told the story of a call
he got at 2 am one morning from someone saying "you called me". He was
mystified for a while until the mystery caller identified his last name.

It turned out Barrie was trying to reach someone else with the same
last name (two listings were found for the surname; call attempt #1 was
for the mystery caller who didn't answer at the time; attempt #2 was
the person being looked for). Caller #1 had a call display unit that
recorded the Caller ID transactions, and thus Andy Barrie's unblocked
call would have shown up as one of the calls.

The commentary was on the CFRB 1010 access line at +1 416 872.2372
(872.CFRB) - select 4 on touch tone to hear the feature commentaries;
Andy Barrie's material is then obtained by selecting 2). This will
likely be replaced with Barrie's next commentary as of Monday 6th March.


David Leibold -+- [e-mail] -+- [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Mark J Elkins)
Subject: GSM Roaming (was E(TACS) and GSM)
Date: 5 Mar 1995 08:26:44 -0200
Organization: Posix Systems


> GSM is up and running in *all* western european countries except for
> Spain.  Other European countries are Hungary and Russia.  Some none-
> European countries running or opening shortly are:

> Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, New
> Zealand, South, Africa, Namibia, Egypt, Marocco, United Arab Emirates,
> Argentine, Kamerun, China, India, Pakistan, Fidji.  I probably forgot
> about half of them, but my point is that there are more than seven ...

> You can roam within Europe, at least one network per country and the
> "older" nets in Asia, such as Australasia, Hong Kong, Thailand,
> Singapore.

Just had some international people come to South Africa for some training.
There were two people from Denmark and one from the UK. Their GSM phones
worked just fine -- without any prior setup -- although the Danes reported
that one local carrier - MTN - stopped working after two days -- were as
Vodacom stayed working for the three week duration they were here for.

My carrier says I must swap my SIM card before going overseas. (ie - Let
them know).

Some differences between networks, for voice mail, I am notified via
SMS, they get a phone call from the provider. I can send SMS to other
phones -- they can't (I believe).


Olivetti Systems & Networks, Unix Support - Sth Africa
[e-mail]  -  Mark J. Elkins  -  Postmaster
Tel: [phone]  Cell: [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Jay W. Shoup)
Subject: POTs Wanted!
Organization: Advanced Technologies
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 07:53:56 GMT


Cute subject line ehh!

This will sound like a really wierd request. My telco supplier does not
have a telephone that will shortly be needed by one of my customers!
If anyone has the name and telco number where I can locate a phone to
"fill the bill" I would appreciate it!

1. Powered from AC wall adapter NOT telco lines);
2. Line busy indicator;
3. Ringer control (on/off);
4. CHEAP!;
5. Single line;
6. POTS (Plain old telephone service compatable).

I have in mind a Northern Telcom model QT200 (NT2N17AA332) but can not
locate where I bought it or where to get it now. Any help would be
greatly appreciated!

About 30 of the phones will be needed!


[e-mail]   317-664-2066

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

From: gandalf![e-mail] (Eli Cohen)
Subject: Analog Interface Parameters
Organization: Tel-Aviv University Computation Center
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 08:56:46 GMT


I'm looking for information in the form of articles, research papers etc.
on the topic: Analog Interface Parameters.

The parameters I'm looking for (such as Line Impedance, Dial Tone,
Cadences, etc.) should be categorized be country of origin.

Thanks for your help.


Eli Cohen   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Milo S. Medin)
Subject: 64 Kbps HDLC PCMCIA interface
Date: 5 Mar 1995 08:59:33 GMT
Organization: Nasa Science Internet


Hi.  I'm looking for a way to interface an IBM ThinkPad 755 series
computer with an INMARSAT-A ground station at 64 Kbps, without using a
seperate device such as a router.  Since the TP's onboard serial ports
can't support this, I am thinking that the only way to pull this off
is via some sort of PCMCIA interface, that could support sync. PPP at
64 Kbps (externally clocked).

Does anyone know of anyone that makes such a beast?  I know about ISA
boards that can do this, but the TP has to operate (in this context)
without a dock, so it's only the onboard interfaces or PCMCIA gear
that works.


Thanks,

Milo Medin
NASA Ames Research Center

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

Date: Sat, 04 Mar 1995 14:09:22 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "USENIX Conference Keynote Address" by Barlow


CSBARLOW.RVW   950110

"USENIX Conference Keynote Address: San Francisco, CA, January 17, 1994",
Barlow, 1-56592-992-6, U$9.95
%A   John Perry Barlow
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1994
%G   1-56592-992-6
%I   ORA Audio/O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$9.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: [phone] [e-mail]
%P   70 min.
%S   Notable Speeches of the Information Age
%T   "USENIX Conference Keynote Address: San Francisco, CA, January 17, 1994"

John Perry Barlow, lyricist for the Grateful Dead, co-founder of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (and self-described "retired Wyoming
cattle rancher") was the keynote speaker for the Usenix conference in
San Francisco, January 17, 1994.  This tape includes both his talk and
the question period.  (It is also available on Internet Talk Radio for
those willing to consume that much bandwidth, and possibly spend
longer downloading the file than the playing time of the speech.)

Barlow primarily discusses the cultural conflict between the
traditional Internet and the new commercial interests generally
identified with the "information superhighway".  There is discussion
of government, cryptography, censorship, and the evolution of the aims
and work of the EFF.  One point reiterated throughout is the need for
those deeply involved in the technology to study and become involved
in the political forces which drive the use (and abuse) of advanced
communications.

A minor theme is the call for "rich media".  Barlow laments the fact
that human beings assimilate text at a very low rate (generally below
1200 bps), but take in experience far faster.  Rich media (or
multimedia) are therefore much more efficient for human communications
purposes.  Barlow ignores two, very vital, factors here.  The first is
that the bandwidth requirements for non-text messages are currently
very expensive, and promote a dependence on an elite level of
technology.  (This is interesting in view of the link with Internet
Talk Radio).  The second consideration is that, despite almost a
century of involvement with multimedia, people seem to be only
marginally capable of generating communications in non-text forms.
Automation isn't likely to effect that.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   CSBARLOW.RVW   950110. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver        [e-mail]
Institute for    [e-mail]
Research into    [e-mail]
User             [e-mail]
Security         Canada V7K 2G6

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

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 7:12:21 EST
From: Gregory Hicks - Santa Clara Ca <[e-mail]>
Subject: Help Wanted With ISDN Service


Pat:

I've been following -- off and on -- the discussion on ISDN for
awhile, and, since I've been receiving quite a few complaints from my
family (father) about the phone being busy (because of my online
time), I thought I'd investigate ISDN Residential Service with PacBell.

While the lady that I placed my order for a phone to the apartment
with was quite helpful, she just didn't know much about ISDN.  When
the office she referred my call to called back, they grudgingly answered
my questions, but didn't volunteer any info.  (Most unhelpful.)

My questions to you (or the readership) are:

What equipment is required at the customer's site?  Any recommended sources?
Or, for that matter, *any* sources? (PacBell didn't want to provide info
on this other than "We do have some 'associated' vendors")

What are benefits to me?  I want to have high speed access (I'm going
to get *almost* full time access to the net after I get a house).  I'd
like to be able to get incoming/outgoing calls when online (I know! I
know! get a second line!)

Other than cost (metered 8am-5pm M-F) and expense of equipment, what
are potential drawbacks?

Any info will be appreciated.


Regards,

Gregory Hicks

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

From: [e-mail] (Ted Koppel)
Subject: Pizza Hut in Atlanta
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 09:17:17 MST
Organization: CARL Corporation (Atlanta) / The UnCover Company
Reply-To: [e-mail]


Curiously, the Pizza Huts in Atlanta are moving in a direction
opposite to that in Toronto.  Last fall, there was one number
(662-5555) that was for the entire metro area, and they did the
routing of the pizza order themselves.

Now, a call to 662-5555 gets you to a person who asks your home phone
number (don't they have caller ID?), and asks you to dial the Pizza
Hut in your area (and supplies you that number).

I haven't been buying nearly as much Pizza Hut pizza since they changed
their system here.


Ted Koppel * The UnCover Company * The CARL Corporation * [e-mail]
                  Work: 404 242 8733 Fax: [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Christopher Hudel)
Subject: Re: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations
Date: 4 Mar 1995 14:48:09 GMT
Organization: Hewlett Packard (Panacom Division)


Eric Canale wrote:

> Dave Sellers ([e-mail]) wrote:
>> "No other food service company in Canada offers this level of
>> convenience for its customers," says Corbett. "Our goal now is to make
>> 310-1010 available across the country so no matter what city our
>> customers are in, they dial the same number for a Pizza Hut pizza."

> It's been a while since I lived in Canada, but Toronto based Pizza Pizza
> has had the single [phone] delivery number for all its locations
> since the early 80s.  I really don't see how Pizza Hut's system is any
> different, other than the fact it's 10 years late.

The difference is that 967-1111 went to only *one* phone number (or
hunt group) and Pizza Pizza dispatched the nearest franchise to take
the order.  With Pizza Hut, the 310-1010 number routes to the nearest
franchise for *them* to take the order.  Which probably saves Pizza
Hut Inc. some money and puts more onus back on the franchises.  Not to
mention that Pizza Hut -- like most franchise operations -- will
likely transfer 2x the 310* cost to its franchisees.  (Unless they are
all store owned in which case, we see another example of the
distributed client-server model biting the dust!)


Christopher Hudel   --   [e-mail]  --
[phone]   Technial Support/Marketing

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

From: [e-mail] (Scott Montague)
Subject: Re: Pizza Hunt Consolidated Phone Number - All Locations
Date: Sat, 04 Mar 95 19:24:50 GMT
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston


>> "No other food service company in Canada offers this level of
>> convenience for its customers," says Corbett. "Our goal now is to make
>> 310-1010 available across the country so no matter what city our
>> customers are in, they dial the same number for a Pizza Hut pizza."

> It's been a while since I lived in Canada, but Toronto based Pizza Pizza
> has had the single [phone] delivery number for all its locations
> since the early 80s.  I really don't see how Pizza Hut's system is any
> different, other than the fact it's 10 years late.

It's been a long time since you lived up here, I see!  About five
years after Pizza Pizza instituted their well known 967-1111 number
they stopped using it as their "main" number.  Why?  Because their
operations had spread beyond Toronto, into many small towns outside of
the local calling area.  They first tried to solve this problem by
telling people to call long-distance, and they would reimburse them
$0.50 for their phone call.  This did not go over well (people just
don't like the idea of long distance) so they tried an 800 number
(short-lived).  So, since then, they have just tried to set up vanity
phone numbers in the smaller community that end in 1111 (eg. 542-1111
in Kingston, 697-1111 in Bowmanville, etc.)  Their 967-1111 number was
just a plain old Toronto number.

Pizza Hut's new "PrimeLine" number is a lot different from Pizza Pizza ...

a) The 310 exchange is a local seven digit call from ALL places in Ontario
   (with the exception of some FAR FAR North exchanges), and soon all
   places in Canada (hopefully);

b) When you dial 310-1010, it will connect you to your LOCAL Pizza Hut,
   not a big dispatch which would resend your order to your local store (such
   as Pizza Pizza's old 967-1111 service used to do), and

c) Depending on such things as your postal code, your exchange, and the
   time of day, it will forward to the appropriate Pizza Hut.  This is so
   that if I want to order a pizza at 2am, and my local Pizza Hut is closed,
   it will connect me to the next nearest open one. (This would only have
   to be programmed once, not forwarded nightly).

BTW, The jingle <967-11-11 phone Pizza Pizza, yeah-yeah-yeah> was so
well-known in Toronto (and still is) that there were some stories
about customs officials who would ask people who claimed to be from
Toronto and forgot to bring sufficent ID to prove that they were, what
the number for Pizza Pizza is.  If they knew the phone number, they
could get across.

Now a part of Pizza Pizza's jingle is <We're more than a pretty
number, we're what you like best>.  Almost makes a case for the
ownership of a phone number, eh?


Scott

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

From: [e-mail] (Bob Wilkins  n6fri)
Subject: Re: And the Grammy For Poor Planning Goes to ...
Date: 4 Mar 1995 11:16:10 -0800
Organization: home in the cAVe


Scott D Fybush ([e-mail]) recently wrote in <telecom15.129.4@
eecs.nwu.edu>:

> Seems to me if I were advertising something, especially if I were the
> (well, "a") phone company, I'd try harder to have enough lines
> available to handle expected caller demand ...

I doubt if any carrier would be able to have a quarter million line
touch tone interactive demonstration. Well maybe even a thousand
lines.

They gave a recording to call back in five minutes, sure beats the
re-order you normally get from the rest of the pack.


Bob Wilkins            work    [e-mail]
Berkeley, California   home    [e-mail]
94701-0710             play    n6fri@n6eeg.#nocal.ca.usa.noam

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #134
******************************


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Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 09:17:01 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #135

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 6 Mar 95 09:17:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 135

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    India's Telecom Costs; Need Global Information (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh)
    Europe Postal Services and Datacom (Elizabeth Gardner)
    Problems Accessing '500' With "Other" Carriers (Danny Burstein)
    Phone Lines Aren't Transitive! (Randy Gellens)
    Thailand's Internet Information Requested (Krairut Phanich)
    Re: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs (Fred Goodwin)
    Re: MCI Cashes AT&T Checks (Steve Friedlander)
    Kevin Mitnick - Advertising (James Bellaire)
    Area Code, Country Code Lists (Rich Greenberg)
    Question on ISDN (Stuart Brainerd)
    Northern Telecom POTS Phones (Stuart Brainerd)
    FTP Transfer Rate Using PPP ([e-mail])
    Modem Monitor Wanted ([e-mail])

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: India's Telecom Costs; Need Global Information
From: [e-mail] (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh)
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 95 00:55:33 IST
Organization: Deus X Machina


As readers of the Digest know, Indian telecom is governed by an
archaic Telegraph Act of 1885. It is used by the Dept of Telecom (DoT)
for, among other things, charging an annual $80,000 'license fee' for
e-mail providers, and $50,000 for BBSes. No BBSes have paid, of
course. Paying a license fee gives you no advantages -- no better line
conditions, no priority in routing or allocating new numbers, no
discount in call charges. It just gives you a license to operate.

I've been unable to locate a source for comparision with other
countries.  I'd info on how others handle these things, especially in
developing/Asian countries. Here's how the DoT monopoly runs the show:

                             In India (prices in US$, = 31.50 Rupees)
1. local call                0.03/5 mins
2. long-distance             0.50/min (delhi to bombay peak)
                             0.06/min (nowhere to backwater, midnight)
3. international             1.00/min (south Asia)
                             1.75/min (Europe, Arabia, SE-Asia)
                             2.10/min (America)
4. cellular local            0.30/min (for proposed private duopoly,big cities)

Datacom:
5. leased line, intra-city   50/km p.a.
   long-distance             30 - 10 /km p.a., depending on distance
   (these are voice-quality lines, officially 9.6kbps, can often do 28.8)
6. 64kbps digital circuits   5,000 (50 kms) to 30,000 (900 kms) p.a.
7. 2mbps                     50,000 (50kms) to 230,000 (1000 kms) p.a.
(for 5-7, if you build your own network with switching, you pay 2.5 the
amount, as DoT is terrified that you may use these 'private data networks'
instead of its volume-based lines!)

8. I-NET (DoT X.25 net)     0.30 (local, off-peak) to 7.50 (international)
                            per 32k data transmitted
9. ISDN                     n.a. (technically feasible, but not offered)

Licensing:
10. BBSes                    max(50,000 p.a , 40 * subscribers)
   (nobody's paid)
11. e-mail                  max(80,000 p.a. , 50 * subscribers)
    (Sprint, BIIT, others have paid)
12. Internet (full-service) "not permitted"
    (ERNET is an academic network; NICNET is the government's own; both
     are connected to the Net. VSNL, the public sector monopoly on all
     international comms, is happy to grant connectivity to net providers,
     and even asked for franchisees last year, though the DoT (which
     presumably controls VSNL) claims such things are not permitted)

Licenses do not provide benefits, only the right to operate.  Data
comms users get no advantages at all, leased line maintenance is poor,
and indeed is charged for in addition (along with the 'conditioning'
of long-distance analogue leased lines).

DoT PR repeats that (local) call charges are among the lowest in the
world, that it needs to charge more for 'premium' services to pay for
connecting villages etc. However DoT's companies make huge profits, of
about 35%, which are among the highest in the world. While such
profits may be spent on wiring remote areas, money for such purposes
is better generated openly from investors who are aware of the risks
and share the profits, rather than unsuspecting consumers.


Rishab Aiyer Ghosh          [e-mail]           [e-mail]
Vox [phone] Voxmail 3760335       H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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

From: [e-mail] (Elizabeth Gardner)
Subject: Europe Postal Services and Datacom
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 15:16:25 GMT


I am researching an article about how postal services are coping with
the increasing obsolescence of paper mail.  I am trying to find out
which European countries have postal services that also offer
"information highway" services (for example, e-mail, Internet
connections, EDI).  Any information most welcome.  You may post here
or e-mail me at [e-mail].  If anyone's interested,
I'll be happy to post a compendium of replies here.


TIA.

Elizabeth Gardner

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

From: [e-mail] (danny burstein)
Subject: Problems Accessing '500' With "Other" Carriers
Date: 5 Mar 1995 20:55:17 -0500


A -major- problem (some called it a feature) with the "700" area code
(actually it's a service access code) was that it was carrier dependent.
So you could have an AT&T subscriber with the -same- number as an RTI
customer, and the person calling them would have to know which carrier
code to prepend.

Very confusing.

This was kind-of addressed with the introduction of the "500" service
access code, which, like more traditional numbers, did not depend on any
carrier identification. (Well, for the moment the prefixes are specific
to a carrier, but portability is supposed to be phased in just like with
the earlier '800' SAC)

However, I just discovered a potential problem. It's not the end of the
world, but it caused me some difficulty.

My personal phone line has -all- IEC, and most intra-lata long distance,
service blocked (1).  So to make such calls, I have a no-surcharge calling
card with <deleted>. I punch in the (free) 950-xxxx access number, my id,
then the destination digits.

Only problem previously was that, for fraud prevention reasons, one of
the international destinations I would occassionally call was blocked.
(No, not the sex lines. Well, they're blocked also ...)

Now you may have noticed that our esteemed moderator recently got a '500'
number. So I tried calling him. My carrier would -not- complete the call.

On speaking to them they explained that since the call was "actually"
going over an AT&T link, they had no provision to charge me for it and
hand the money to their competitor.

Kind of like the situation with '900' codes.

Which suggests (and maybe someone with the calling card of another
company can check on this) that unless you have an AT&T card, you
-won't- be able to call 700 numbers from, for example, a coin phone.

(Or, in the future, as the other companies put in their 700 numbers,
you'll need their cards as well).

Hopefully the different companies will, in fact, work out some mutual
charge agreement. But for now the confusion is still there.

*1: I wanted for years to get a restricted line with these blocks, but NY
Tel told me it was either impossible or highly expensive. Then I fell
behind on my phone bill payments and could only kick in enough to
"maintain" local service.

So they've blocked just about all calls outside my immediate calling area
(all of NYC). And, for good measure, cut off access to the 'enhanced
service' numbers as well.  Fine by me ...


[e-mail] (or [e-mail])

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

From: [e-mail]
Date: 05 Mar 1995 18:38:00 GMT
Subject: Phone Lines Aren't Transitive!


Pat, I saw this in R.H.F

  Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 2:14 pm PST (22:14:46 UT)
  Subject: Phone lines aren't transitive!
  From: Steve Goldman <[e-mail]>

  I'm building a new house in Pittsboro NC (served by GTE) and I wanted
to get a leased line to run to my office in Cary (served by Southern Bell).
I called Southern Bell and had this conversation.

me: I'd like to find out the cost of getting a leased line that runs from
    my home in Pittsboro to my office in Cary.
sb: I'm sorry sir but you will have to speak with GTE about this.
me: Why is that?
sb: Pittsboro is served by GTE and since the service originates in Pittsboro
    you must talk to them.
me: Ok. I want the line to run from Cary to Pittsboro.
sb: Ok then I can help you ...


Steve Goldman, Encore Computer Corp          [phone]
901 Kildaire Farm Rd., bldg D  Cary, NC  27511       USA
internet: [e-mail]

Selected by Maddi Hausmann Sojourner.  MAIL your joke to [e-mail].

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

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 09:27:22 MST
From: K Phanich <[e-mail]>
Subject: Thailand's Internet Information Requseted


I am a graduate student doing my master thesis on current development
of Thai Internet. If you have info, comments or suggestions please
email me.

Thank you for your generous and constructive opinion.


Krairut Phanich   M. A. student
Brigham Young University

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

From: [e-mail] (Fred Goodwin)
Subject: Re: BA Files Waiver to Prevent Higher ISDN Costs
Date: 5 Mar 1995 01:06:50 GMT
Organization: Onramp Access, Inc.


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
(Lars Poulsen) says:

>(1) The definition of a telephone line must have been discussed before;
>    after all, delivery of local loops on T-spans predates the MFJ.
>    Surely, you pay the SLC PER CHANNEL on a T-span, no?

>(2) Since the SLC goes directly to the LEC, the cost to the customer
>    (base subscription plus SLC) should be the same regardless of the
>    amount of the SLC, shouldn't it?

>    If the monthly amount is $10 per line plus $6 SLC, the customer pays
>    $16. If the SLC goes away, the LEC loses the SLC-funded subsidy, so
>    they will have to charge $16 per line per month. The difference is
>    entirely in the bookkeeping of amortization and depreciation
>    allocations.

>(3) If the SLC is mandated by FCC, I would think that the amount would
>    be standardized across the country. How can it vary with the Bell
>    Atlantic Service Area ?

> What is going on? Is my point two above completely wrong?

In reverse order:

(3)  Yes, the FCC mandates the maximum allowable SLC, but LECs are not
     required to set their tariffed SLC at the maximum level.

(2)  Because the SLC is an FCC charge, whereas ISDN rates are primarily
     established by state PUCs/PCSs, a reduction in one will not
     automatically result in an increase of the other.  The states are
     typically very careful to ensure that the FCC does not shift costs
     to the state jurisdiction.

(1)  Yes, I believe the SLC is assessed per channel on a digital loop
     carrier or other pair-gain system.  The difference is that in pair-
     gain, the channels are provided to different customers.  In ISDN,
     the chanels are all provided to the same customer.

Although I've not followed BA's filing at the FCC, I assume the case
they tried to make was that the SLC was intended to apply on a per
wire-pair basis (it takes only one pair for a typical POTs line), and
that since it takes only 2 pairs to derive 24 ISDN channels, the SLC
should not be applied 24 times.

Hope this helps.


Fred Goodwin   Southwestern Bell    Austin, TX

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

From: [e-mail] (steve friedlander)
Subject: Re: MCI Cashes AT&T Checks
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 19:08:47 CST
Organization: MCSNet


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Scott Lorditch)
writes:

> Over the past few months I've gotten several solicitations in the mail
> to switch to AT&T. One of them was in the form of a check for $40. We
> currently use MCI, so I called their customer service number. While
> they don't publicize it, MCI will redeem these checks for their face
> value in an "MCI Certificate of Savings". And further, for each month
> that I hold the certificate before cashing it, it's value increases by
> another $5, for up to 12 months. So, the useless $40 check from AT&T
> will save me $100 on my MCI bill this time next year!


Scott, be careful, those AT&T check have a short life span!


Steve Friedlander  e-mail:  [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is correct. Often times the checks
sent out by carriers as an incentive to change carriers have a sixty
or ninety day expiration on them. After that point, they are worthless.
It would be quite silly of MCI to redeem them after that point.  PAT]

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

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 11:29 EST
From: [e-mail] (James Bellaire)
Subject: Kevin Mitnick - Advertising


I just saw a TV ad bragging that 'the best security is Digital', with
a punchline of 'for more information contact inmate (number given)
Leavenworth Kansas' It was one of those 'flashing picture' ads, so the
convict was not on on the screen too long.

Congratulations Pat!  Looks like Digital Computers filled your prediction
of Kevin's new job, even if just as a joke in an advertisement.  :-)


[e-mail]     James E. Bellaire
[e-mail]   (Soon? My stationary is waiting...)

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

From: [e-mail] (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Area Code, Country Code Lists
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 04:03:11 GMT


One of the frequent topics that comes up on *.telecom.* is what area
code is which or country code etc etc.  I found the following on an
ezine (a very interesting one BTW which you may wish to subscribe to).

Reproduced with permission from:

Chaos Corner V05 N01 27 February 1995

> Copyright 1995 by Robert D. Cowles; Ithaca, NY 14850.  Permission is
> hereby granted to republish complete issues in unaltered form.
> Republication of partial issues must reference the source and state that
> subscriptions to Chaos Corner are available (free) by sending electronic
> mail to [e-mail].

[....]

> A document that is on its way to Internet RFC status is something you
> might be interested in taking a look at.  The document contains all US
> and international area codes, telex codes, country codes, etc.  The name
> of the document is /internet-draft/draft-robinson-newtelex-01.txt and it
> can be obtained by anonymous ftp from the following sites:

} Africa:        ftp.is.co.za    (196.4.160.2)
} Europe:        nic.nordu.net   (192.36.148.17)
} Pacific Rim:   munnari.oz.au   (128.250.1.21)
} US East Coast: ds.internic.net (198.49.45.10)
} US West Coast: ftp.isi.edu     (128.9.0.32)


Rich Greenberg            Work: TBA.  Know anybody needing a VM guru?
N6LRT   TinselTown, USA   Play: [e-mail]               310-649-0238
Pacific time.    I speak for myself & my dogs only.
Canines: Val(Chinook,CGC), Red(Husky,(RIP)), Shasta(Husky)


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Telecom Archives Email Information
Service now offers something similar: the command AREACODE xxx will
return information about that areacode. Still another new command available
is CARRIERS xxx where 'xxx' is the three digits in 10xxx. For example,
CARRIERS 288 would return the information that 10288 is assigned to AT&T.
Try these out and let me know what you think.   PAT]

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

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 23:09 CST
From: [e-mail] (Stuart Brainerd)
Subject: Question on ISDN


With regard to the submission from Gregory Hicks on ISDN, I would
recommend that he contact Pacific Bell's ISDN group at 1-800-4PB-ISDN
(1-800-472-4736), and request a copy of their excellent publication,
"ISDN: A User's Guide to Services, Applications & Resources in
California".  It does a good job of explaining the concept of ISDN,
its primary applications, and even has a (partial) list of vendors and
equipment available.

As for recommendations for terminal equipment, the best bet would be
to check with a reputable equipment reseller or Pacific Bell
authorized distributor.  I believe it is important for any individual
or company venturing into ISDN to work with a reseller with a
reputation for providing technical support, and who is willing to act
as a liaison with the local telephone company (Pacific Bell, in this
case) AND long-distance carrier in the event of technical problems.
It is not uncommon to have problems with missed installation dates,
circuit problems (incorrect line provisioning, for example), and
trunking problems.  I have experienced a rash of trunking problems
recently, mostly with MCI -- primarily due to incorrect routing of the
data calls over voice trunks.  This is a major aspect of what my
company, Synapse, does in addition to selling ISDN equipment.  Even
with local telephone companies experienced with ISDN installations,
such as Ameritech, these types of problems are frequent.  It was
amusing to read the recent article in Boardwatch Magazine (March 1995)
describing the experiences of a hardly unsophisticated user with his
residential ISDN installation.

> What equipment is required at the customer's site?  Any recommended sources?
> Or, for that matter, *any* sources? (PacBell didn't want to provide info
> on this other than "We do have some 'associated' vendors")

> What are benefits to me?  I want to have high speed access (I'm going
> to get *almost* full time access to the net after I get a house).  I'd
> like to be able to get incoming/outgoing calls when online (I know! I
> know! get a second line!)

Perhaps the best value today for equipment supporting Internet access,
with an analog phone port, is the QuickAccess Remote Internet from
AccessWorks!  Communications.  There is a Macintosh and PC version
available.  We sell this unit, with the phone port and async to sync
PPP firmware, for $499.


SYNAPSE USA       ISDN Products and Solutions
Stuart Brainerd   Tech. Info. : 312-871-1466
[e-mail]   Fax         : [phone]
                  Orders      : 800-454-ISDN

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

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 23:09 CST
From: [e-mail] (Stuart Brainerd)
Subject: Northern Telecom POTS phones


Reference a posting in a recent TELECOM Digest:

> I have in mind a Northern Telcom model QT200 (NT2N17AA332) but can not
> locate where I bought it or where to get it now. Any help would be
> greatly appreciated!

> About 30 of the phones will be needed!

Here are a couple of sources worth checking out:

Northern Telecom
Fulfillment Dept.
Telephone Products and ISDN
Tel: [phone]

Electronic Market Data, Inc.
1650 Elm Hill Pike   Suite 8
Nashville, TN 37210
Autoquote: 1-800-260-8830
Voice: 615-885-2123
FAX: [phone]

Bell Atlantic Teleproducts
West Building, Suite 150
50 E. Swedesford Rd
Frazer Pa,  19355
Tel:  [phone] or 215-695-2300


SYNAPSE USA       ISDN Products and Solutions
Stuart Brainerd   Tech. Info. : 312-871-1466
[e-mail]   Fax         : [phone]
                  Orders      : 800-454-ISDN

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

From: [e-mail] (Sven)
Subject: FTP Transfer Rate Using PPP
Date: 6 Mar 1995 08:29:22 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Reply-To: [e-mail]


At a 14.4k dialup, binary rates hover around 1100, text from 1200-2400.
Seems a little slow to me. Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.
Setup: Mac PB 165, GC Gold, MacTCP 2.0.4, sys 7.1, MacPPP.

Please email me, I don't hang out here much.


Thanks,

Sven

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

From: [e-mail] (Sven)
Subject: Modem Monitor Wanted
Date: 6 Mar 1995 08:33:21 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Reply-To: [e-mail]


I am running MacPPP on my powerbook, using a GV Gold. The status bar
seems not to work in that configuration. Anybody know of a ctrl
panel/extension that would enable me to watch rate/compr/error corr?

Please email me directly.


Thanks a bunch,

Sven

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #135
******************************


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Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 16:41:30 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #136
Status: RO

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 6 Mar 95 16:41:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 136

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Portable Computer and Wireless Exposition and Conference (Lawrence Grant)
    We Need a TDM; What Will Work For an Internet Provider? (Bruce M. Hahne)
    Book Review: "DNS and BIND" by Albitz/Liu (Rob Slade)
    GSM Rental in Germany (John R. Covert)
    Information Wanted About MFS Intelenet (Timothy D. Hunt)
    Video Dialtone, HFC, HDSL, or ADSL (Timothy Kreps)
    PHS Doesn't Work in Moving Vehicles? (Steve Samler)
    Switched 56 CSU/DSU Vendor Information Wanted (Bruce Parks)
    Re: AT&T Offers 'International Redial' (Steve Brack)
    Re: PBS Rumors and Innuendo: Any Truth? (Charles McGuinness)
    Re: Re: E(TACS) and GSM (Sergei Anfilofiev)
    Re: mu-law to a-law PCM (Finn Stafsnes)
    Re: AT&T Calling Card Mixup (Robert Scott)
    Re: New NPA in Colorado (Stan Schwartz)
    Re: New NPA in Colorado (Mike King)
    Re: New NPA in Colorado (David C. Bray)
    Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted ([e-mail])
    Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted (Fred Goodwin)
    Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted (Carl Moore)
    Management Software Wanted (Rick J. Dosky)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
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Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
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*************************************************************************
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*************************************************************************

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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: [e-mail] (LAWRENCE GRANT)
Subject: Portable Computer and Wireless Exposition and Conference
Date: 5 Mar 1995 17:55:27 GMT
Organization: LAPTOP EXPOSITIONS


This is our eighth year Portable Computing & Wireless Communications
Exposition & Conference held at THE NEW YORK HILTON, 1335 6th Ave,
New York NY,March 9th and 10th.

The Exposition features all solutions under one roof, revolutionary
PCMCIA intro's, working pen applications, new PDAs, PICs and Palmtops,
InfraRed Intro's and IRdA, wireless communications and PCCA focus.  At
the Conferences and special hospitality functions,hear from our fifty
industry experts and learn the latest on Laptops, EMail Services, LAN,
WAN, Radio and Cellular Transmissions, System Security, integration and
much more.

In this fast changing era of field automation,you have to compete to
survive. The information and contacts you make at the seminars,will be
invaluable to you and your company.

For more information and FREE pre-registration contact LAPTOP EXPOSITIONS:
(800) 444-EXPO, [phone] or FAX: (800) 569-LAPS.

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

From: [e-mail] (Bruce M. Hahne)
Subject: We Need a TDM; What Will Work For an Internet Provider?
Date: 6 Mar 1995 14:29:09 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway


I'm no telco engineer, so hopefully somebody can give me a few
pointers as to the right product(s) for this application.  My guess is
that I just need the right mux, but maybe I'm missing something.

The goal is to bring in several sub-T1 leased connections, muxed over
a single T1, and then break them out into separate lines again so that
they can be fed into an Internet router such as a Cisco 7000 (or
choose your favorite high-end IP router).  Our site is at the hub as
the (small but growing fast) Internet provider, and of course the
sub-T1 connections are downstream sites such as businesses and
organizations.

Life gets a lot more interesting when you throw in the fact that we're
in Japan.  However, I don't believe that this changes the possible
technical solutions; it's probably just going to limit the equipment
that we're legally allowed to buy.

The picture looks something like this:

leased-line ----                                        ----- Cisco 7000 port
customer        \                                      /
                 \                                    /
                  \     fiber T1      NTT            /
leased-line ----- MUX1 -------------- DSU ---- TDM?? -------- Cisco 7000 port
customer          /     to our site                  \
                 /                                    \
                /                                      \
leased-line ---                                         ----- Cisco 7000 port
customer


(Yes, T1 has to be pulled in over fiber in Japan).

MUX1 is provided on our behalf by the phone company and is physically
done at an NTT site.  The DSU comes from NTT also.  But what goes
beyond the DSU is our problem.

What I need information on is the "TDM??" piece above.  It needs to be
some sort of demux that goes from the DSU (which probably uses an RJ45
connector, and is definitely an I interface) to either V.35 connectors
or RS449 connectors, since a Cisco understands V.35 and RS449.  Any
suggestions?  There must be a canonical solution to this problem, right?

More generally, is this the best way to pull in the multiple downstream
clients, or is there a better method (perhaps an IP router that can
split the T1 apart internally?)

Feel free to bombard me with solutions, sales pitches, equipment lists,
blatant advertising for telco gear, whatever.  It's often tough to get
information on IP and telco gear in Japan so I always welcome
literature.

If you're asking "why mess around with fractional T1; why doesn't
everybody go for straight T1?", the answer is that Internet connections
are so expensive here that only top-level providers can afford a T1.  In
fact, right now the _entire_ commercial Internet bandwidth coming into
Japan is less than T1!


Thanks,

Bruce Hahne    Engineer, Global OnLine Japan
[e-mail]  Oshima Building 302
1-56-1 Higashi Nakano
Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164, Japan

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

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 1995 15:26:14 EST
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "DNS and BIND" by Albitz/Liu


BKDNSBND.RVW   950131

"DNS and BIND", Paul Albitz/Cricket Liu, 1992, 1-56592-010-4
%A   Paul Albitz
%A   Cricket Liu
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1992
%G   1-56592-010-4
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: [phone] [e-mail] or [e-mail]
%P   381
%T   "DNS and BIND"

Of the millions of users on the Internet, almost all are blissfully
unaware of the complexity and magnitude of the task of network
routing.  How does the network know where to deliver a piece of email?
In fact, given the packet nature of all Internet traffic, how do
telnet or ftp packets get, reliably and generally quickly, to their
destination?  Few even recognize the term DNS, the Domain Name
Service, which handles the problem.  Administrators may have used
BIND, the Berkeley Internet Name Domain program, to manage DNS, but
may not fully understand the importance, use or finer aspects of it.
This book gives both background and operational details.

Given the nature of the netowrk routing problem, a full understanding
of DNS likely requires actual hands-on work.  Albitz and Liu have,
however, put together clear, straightforward, and sometimes even
lighthearted text to make the learning process as painless as
possible.


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKDNSBND.RVW   950131. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  [e-mail]
User           [e-mail]
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 11:54:29 EST
From: John R. Covert <[e-mail]>
Subject: GSM Rental in Germany


I want to rent a GSM phone with a German number in Germany in about
three weeks, but I can't find any rental companies.  I'll be in
Germany for about nine days.

I travel to Germany every year about this time, and since 1989, I have
been able to rent telephones, through Budget rent-a-car, through
Lufthansa, and last year through a small company which was in the
process of going out of business even as I was renting from them.

My investigations so far have yielded nothing.  Noone is willing to
rent a phone.  Budget no longer has portables; only phones built into
the cars.  Lufthansa is out of the rental business, as it seems
everyone is.  Too many problems with people running up horrendous
international call bills and then disappearing.

I want a German number.  This may not be possible.  I'm also
investigating buying a phone and signing up for a whole year's service
in the U.K., since I expect to be there for a few weeks this summer on
a separate trip, but even that may not be a real possibility, since I
don't have residency in the U.K.  At least in the U.K. rentals are
available.  But buying a phone and a year's service would cost about
$700, not including call charges.

If anyone can give me a contact to someone who _is_ renting phones in
Germany, please send me mail as well as reporting back to the list.
Please avoid the temptation to reply "I think so-and-so rents phones"
without first checking to make sure they still do.


/john


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John Covert is a *long time* participant
in this Digest. I think he is a charter subscriber on the mailing list,
going back to 1981. He has written to us in the past about his trips to
Germany, and perhaps will do so again when he returns. If any of our
readers in Germany can research this for him and report back to him in
a timely way, I know he will appreciate it.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Timothy D. Hunt)
Subject: Information Wanted About MFS Intelenet
Date: 6 Mar 1995 14:22:56 -0500
Organization: Fusion Systems Group, Inc.


We have just switched our local phone service to MFS Intelenet.

I would be interested in hearing from other MFS customers,
especially in the New York area.


Tim Hunt   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Timothy Kreps)
Subject: Video Dialtone, HFC, HDSL, or ADSL
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 19:34:15 GMT


Where can I find info or discussions on:

        - video dialtone,
        - Hybrid Fiber/Coax (HFC),
        - High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Lines (HDSL), or
        - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL)


Timothy Kreps   [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You'll find those discussions right here
when they start from time to time. Feel free to present questions and
comments.   PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 14:33:26 EST
From: Steve Samler <[e-mail]>
Subject: PHS Doesn't Work in Moving Vehicles?


I read in {Kyodo} today that the Japanese PHS phones do not work in
moving vehicles.  Is this due to the Doppler effect?

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

From: [e-mail] (Bruce Parks)
Subject: Switched 56 CSU/DSU Vendor Information Wanted
Date: 5 Mar 1995 21:30:40 -0500
Organization: University of Maryland University College


I'm looking for a potential source for 50-100 switched 56/64 CSU/DSUs
on behalf of a government agency.  I would appreciate any referrals.


Thanks,

Bruce J. Parks

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

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 22:32:42 -0500
From: Steve Brack <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: AT&T Offers 'International Redial'


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest
Editor) wrote:

> A new service from AT&T allows subscribers who make a lot of
> international calls to cut through the wasted time so prevelant when
> calling many international points with no circuit messages, busy
> signals and such.

> Nothing comes free:  The cost is $3.00 per month, and it only works
> to about twenty countries at the present time, however those twenty
> include a few that are notorious for sending back that message saying
> 'your call cannot be completed in the country you dialed at this
> time'.

Does that mean that the operator will no longer do the same thing for
no additional charge, like (s)he used to?  AT&T seems to be developing
the same customer service attitude as the upstart IXCs, that is to
say, nonexistent.


Steve Brack, Consultant | [e-mail]
Toledo, OH  43613-1605  | [e-mail]
MY OWN OPINIONS         | Tel: [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not believe the AT&T operators would
ever devote up to thirty minutes repeatedly redialing a call. I've had
very courteous operators get the no circuits message and immediatly try
again; even possibly try again a third time, but then they tell you to
hang up and try again later. And that is assuming you go through the
operator -- at operator assisted rates -- rather than dialing direct.
This is not fifty years ago -- or even twenty years ago -- where the
international operators in White Plains, NY would 'book' the call and
call you back when they were able to get through, a half an hour or
two days later.  PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 1995 10:12:34 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Charles McGuinness)
Subject: Re: PBS Rumors and Innuendo: Any Truth?


Let's see ... the Republicans are looking to axe public broadcasting
because either ...

(A)     NPR and PBS are filled with lefties who have consistently used
        government money to oppose the things Republicans want to do, and in
        doing so have built up a huge resevoir of ill-will among Republicans.

        or ..

(B)     It's an elaborate conspiracy (involving a mysterious Aussie,
        the new Speaker of the House, a large east coast telephone company,
        and a talking purple dinosaur) to give away valuable public
        resources.

Obviously, (A) isn't contrived enough to be believable.  But (B) still
doesn't explain cattle mutilations.  Hmmm, which to believe, which to
believe ...


Charles McGuinness | JAM Product Manager    | JYACC Inc.
[e-mail]  | [phone] x 3026 | 116 John St, NY NY 10038


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do you read the Sunday comics in the news-
paper? Yesterday they had a very clever one about a woman who takes her
car to the repair shop. She tells the mechanic that her car is not working
properly. 'No matter how she turns the steering wheel, the car seems to
keep gradually moving toward the left.'

The mechanic gets in the car to check it out and the car radio is seen
in the picture. He gets out and says, "I found the answer to your problem
lady ... you had your car radio tuned to the local NPR affiliate station."
Har har har!   PAT]

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

From: Sergei Anfilofiev <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Re: E(TACS) and GSM
Date: 6 Mar 1995 18:24:16 +0300
Organization: ZNIIS
Reply-To: [e-mail]


[e-mail] writes:

>> GSM is a French standard which is (roughly) translated as Group
>> Special Mobile or something similar. Someone else will know exactly.

> It started out as a European standard but has evolved into a world
> standard.  Groupe Spiciale Mobile was the name of the first task
> force, GSM later came to mean Global Standard for Mobile Telephone (or
> something).

Current meaning is Global System for Mobile Communications.

> GSM is up and running in *all* western european countries except for
> Spain.  Other European countries are Hungary and Russia.

Nowadays Russian operators support three standards: NMT-450, GSM,
AMPS (as a regional standard).

Some none-European countries running or opening shortly are:


Dr. Sergei Anfilofiev  | Tel:[phone]
Chief Internat. Depart.| Fax:[phone]
ZNIIS, Moscow, Russia  | E-mail: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Finn Stafsnes)
Subject: Re: mu-law to a-law PCM
Organization: Norwegian Telecom Research
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 15:22:32 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, Testmark Laboratories
<[e-mail]> writes:

> I need to check the acoustics of the handset of a European ISDN BRI
> phone.  Unfortunately, I only have a North American ISDN BRI
> simulator, which uses mu-law PCM, and the phone uses a-law PCM.  I
> know from prior experience that the two PCMs can be connected
> together, and the phone conversation still sounds "normal."

Provided you have a mu to A converter in between you will only get e
few dB of degraded S/N ratio. If you feed a mu-encoded signal into an
A-law receiver (or thew other way) you _may_ get an intelligible
result (yes, I have tried), but the S/N ratio is probably well below
zero (I have not measured it).  Remember, in A-law encoding every
second bit is inverted.

I think you have two options:

1) Disconnect the handset and measure it separately.
2) Check if it is possible to strap the PCM codec to make it work in mu-law
(many circuits can do both).

> can anyone tell me what the error would be in dB when I sweep from 300
> to 3400 Hz at a constant level, and do a loudness calculation?

If the converter is there I think the levels will be rather close, but
without the converter the measurment will be usless.


Finn Stafsnes

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Scott)
Subject: Re: AT&T Calling Card Mixup
Date: 06 Mar 1995 11:53:32 GMT
Organization: School of Informatics, City University, London
Reply-To: [e-mail]


TELECOM Digest Editor noted, regards subscriber entered in error in
the AT&T Military Saver plan:

> Or it went through and later a supervisor caught it. If you
> keep on getting marketing and promotional materials for the military
> plan *then* let us know, but I think you'll be okay. Honestly though,
> if it were me, I'd hope they did *not* discover the error. AT&T gives
> the soldiers a very good deal with absolutely rock-bottom pricing.  PAT]

I don't think the case has been resolved. I got sent some promotional
literature about this military saver option. It costs $8.50 per month
and you get something like 20% discount on your calls.  BUT if you don't
make any calls in a given month they credit the $8.50 back to your account
the next month.  This debiting-crediting cycle has happened three times now
so they haven't discovered the mistake.

It means that I'm always $8.50 out of pocket.  Also the crediting and
debiting are translated into UK$ using interantional exchange rates,
and as the credit rate is different from the debit rate (the banks
make a profit somewhere) then I get charged every time they do that
trick (even though the credits and debits are make on the same day).

I don't think the charges are particularly competitive with other
services.  There are services here that charge around 30c a minute to
the US whereas AT&T charge you $2.50 before you've said anything (or
something like that, I don't remember the exact terms).

Anyway, my question still stands.  Does AT&T Charge Card have an email
address or even a fax number?


Rob Scott

Dept of Comp Sci, City University, London, UK.
http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/homes/rbs/homepage.html


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I guess you have a valid complaint
alright. Apparently someone punched the wrong plan number in the computer
when you signed up. I don't know of any way to contact AT&T Customer
Service by email, but why don't you try calling them at 800-222-0300. You
will get representatives who, if they cannot help you, will transfer to
representatives (for the correct plan) who can.    PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Stan Schwartz)
Subject: Re: New NPA in Colorado
Date: 5 Mar 1995 16:52:13 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC


THE PILOT ([e-mail]) wrote:

> Does anyone have any information concerning the addition of a new NPA
> in Colorado?  Supposedly (from a USWest CSB guy) metro Denver will get
> the new area code in April of '96.

> Anyone able to confirm this and/or tell us what the new NPA might be?

Yes, it was announced in September that the 303 NPA was splitting, leaving
303 for Denver and 970 for everywhere else that is not already 719.


Stan

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

From: [e-mail] (Mike King)
Subject: Re: New NPA in Colorado
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 09:48:56 PST


In TELECOM Digest V15 #128, THE PILOT <[e-mail]> asked:

> Does anyone have any information concerning the addition of a new NPA
> in Colorado?

According to the NANP Status Report from Bellcore (1/31/95), NPA 303
in CO will split to 970.  This is scheduled for April 2, 1995, and the
permissive period ends October 1, 1995.


Mike King    [e-mail]

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

Date: 05 Mar 95 22:06:31 PST
From: BRAY, DAVID C. <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New NPA in Colorado


Hi,

All I can say is this ... Denver is retaining the 303 area code for
now. Northwest Colorado is changing from 303 to 970 in *April, 1995*.
All of us have the burden of getting the stationary updated, not the
big city boys!


Cheers!   [e-mail]  [phone] <-- New number after April.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Can you believe they had the nerve to
settle the 312/708/630 fiasco late last week by deciding that we in
the northern suburbs will have to have *our* area code changed to 630
later this year. Chicago will retain 312 exclusively; the politicians
and other hotshots would not hear otherwise. 708 will be almost directly
straight west of Chicago in the western suburbs, with part of 708 in
the southwestern suburbs moved into 815 (which for the most part is
quite underused.) All we northerners have to move to 630. The few wireless
customers already resident on 630 -- there maybe all of 500-1000 customers
there, and that is it, period -- will be moved to the proper geographic
code. So in other words, 630 will not be a wireless overlay, nor will
it be co-resident with 708 as originally proposed on a first come, first
served basis. Instead, 708 will be chopped in three parts. I wonder if
there have been any other splits where part of a 'new' area code'
(i.e. 708 in recent years) was given to an 'old' (i.e. 815, around since
the beginning of area codes) rather than handed off to a newly created
one?

The cellular people gave Ameritech such a fuss about having all their
stuff parked in 630, that they originally decided on the co-resident
plan for 708 instead. Then when all the suburbanites made a stink about
having their next door neighbor in a different area code, the decision
was finally reached to do things in a more conventional manner. Forget
ever expecting 312 to be inconvenienced in any way; Mayor Daley would
never permit that.   PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 00:03:43 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted


> Is there any place to get the 800 directory listings and to whom the
> numbers belong?

The "Free Phone" CD ROM from ProCD (Danvers. MA. [phone])
contains the AT&T 800 directory searchable on any field including SIC
code.

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

From: [e-mail] (Fred Goodwin)
Subject: Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted
Date: 6 Mar 1995 07:23:12 GMT
Organization: Onramp Access, Inc.


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (JPS0723) says:

> Is there any place to get the 800 directory listings and to whom the
> numbers belong?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you are referring to a criss-
> cross style directory for 800, and I do not think one has ever been
> published.    PAT]

I believe AT&T has a web page for 800 numbers.  It has several
options, one of which is to input an 800 number, then the AT&T form
returns the business that subscribes to the number.  I'm not sure if
AT&T's database includes all 800 numbers, or just their own.

Hope this helps.


Fred Goodwin    Southwestern Bell   Austin, TX

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 06:48:33 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted


Years ago, there was a "Toll Free Digest" published by someone in
Claverack, New York.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, that poor man -- if he is the person
I am thinking of -- used to spend all his time calling one 800 number
after another, rudely demanding of whoever answered the phone, "What
company is this? What is this number used for?"  When he called me and
asked that, I told him it was a central repository for wrong numbers,
a place where callers unable to dial ten consecutive digits without
losing their train of thought called when they needed to release their
anxiety and tensions. I told him the telephone company provided it as
a public service to people who consistently dialed the wrong number.  PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 15:18:25 CST
From: Rick J. Dosky <[e-mail]>
Subject: Management Software Wanted


I am looking for any information available on Telecommunications
Management Software. Including:

* Facilities Management
* Call Accounting
* Trouble/Service Ticket Management
* Fraud Detection
* Telephone Directory
* Invoice/Vendor Management

If any one has any information, please e-mail me at [e-mail].


Rick J. Dosky    The Limited Stores

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #136
******************************


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Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 17:59:23 CST
From: [e-mail] (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson))
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #137
Status: RO

TELECOM Digest     Mon, 6 Mar 95 17:59:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 137

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Conference: "Local Number Portability" April 25-26, 1995 (Kevin Shea)
    Voicemail System Wanted ([e-mail])
    Need Help on Panasonic Fax KX-F90 (Marko Ruokonen)
    Information Wanted on Excell Telecommunications (Ian Eisenberg)
    Help! Telephony Programming (John Michael Okeefe)
    Intralata Database Wanted ([e-mail])
    T1 -> Modems ([e-mail])
    E-Mail Privacy Bill Information Available (James Bass via Stephen Goodman)
    Information Wanted on Fiber Market in NYC ([e-mail])
    Norstar DR5.1 and $$ (John W. Warne)
    Re: Requesting Information About SDH (Hendrik Rood)
    Re: Automatic Message Accounting Standard Wanted (Travis Russell)
    Dialogic H/W For Sale (Neil L. Kleeman)
    Paging Interface With Computer (Huang Zhengqian)
    This Newsgroup Demo'ed on PBS's "Internet Show" (Robert Casey)
    Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Benjamin P. Carter)
    Re: Pizza Hut in Atlanta (Steve Friedlander)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America
On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.

Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual
readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * [e-mail] *

The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax
or phone at:
                    9457-D Niles Center Road
                     Skokie, IL USA   60076
                       Phone: [phone]
                        Fax: [phone]
  ** Article submission address only: [e-mail] **

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 partially funded by a grant from the              *
* International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland    *
* under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES)   *
* project.  Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-*
* ing views of the ITU.                                                 *
*************************************************************************

Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such
as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per
year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 17:30:52 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Conference: "Local Number Portability" April 25-26, 1995


I believe most of the readers here will be pleased to read the
following.


TELECOM RESEARCH SERVICES PRESENTS A CONFERENCE ON "LOCAL NUMBER
PORTABILITY"

RADISSON HOTEL NEWARK AIRPORT  NEWARK, NEW JERSEY  APRIL 25-26, 1995

PURPOSE: The purpose of the conference is to inform those attending
about current trials currently in progress or planned, explore the
network architectures being considered, and discuss the issues facing
the industry as it tries to balance the rush to local exchange
competition and the absolute need to maintain high service quality.


LOCATION:        Radisson Hotel - Newark Airport
            128 Frontage Road
            Newark, NJ  07114
            [phone]  or  [phone].


DATE:            April 25 - 26, 1995

CONFERENCE AGENDA:

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Registration and continental breakfast will be at 7:45 am each day and
the conference will begin promptly at 8:15 am.  A buffet lunch will be
served on Tuesday and a cocktail reception will be held on Tuesday
evening.  The conference will adjourn at 12:15 pm on Wednesday.  While
no significant changes in the agenda are planned, registrants will be
provided with all updated information if additional topics and
speakers are added.  A panel discussion is planned to conclude the
conference on Wednesday morning, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Tuesday, April 25, 1995 (8:15 - 5:15) & Wednesday, April 26, 1995
(8:15 - 12:15)

*    Local Number Portability in Perspective - John F. Shea, Consultant
(formally Bellcore)

*    Equal Access, 800 Portability, and now, Local Number Portability:
        the next major network transition!

*    Industry Numbering Committee (INC), An Update - Bob Hirsch, AT&T
    What progress is being made to implement Local Number Portability?
        What are the issues?

*    A Local Number Portability Trial In Washington State - Mark Foster,
        Stratus Computer
    Who's participating?  What is the trial architecture?  What's been
        learned?  What's next?

*     A Local Number Portability Trial In New York State - Greg Patenaude,
        NYPSC
    Who's participating?  What is the trial architecture?  What's been
        learned?  What's next?

*    National Local Number Portability? - Carol Mattey, FCC
    800 Portability was mandated in 1993, will this be necessary for Local
        Number Portability?  Will the FCC play the same role as it did with
        800?  Is there any action planned at this time?

*    A Database For Local Number Portability  - Chris Sommers, Bellcore
        (invited)
    How does Local Number Portability compare to 800 Database?  Capacity,
        performance, reliability?

*    Local Number Portability In Europe - David Rogerson, Ovum Ltd.
    Is Local Number Portability being implemented in the European
        networks?  What form is it taking?  Are there comparisons to the U.S.
        network?

*    A Local Number Portability RFP  -Terry Appenzeller, Ameritech
    What is the RFP all about ( the purpose, expected outcome)?

*    The New York Trial & AIN Deployment - Representative, NYNEX (invited)
    Is AIN needed for Local Number Portability?  Why?  What's the status
        in the NYNEX network?

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION SUGGESTION:

We suggest you take advantage of the team registration which will save
10% on each additional registrant.  Also, this conference will have a
limited number of available seating.  Early registration will ensure
that your space is confirmed.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

CONFERENCE FEES:

The registration fee for this conference is $749.  This fee covers
continental breakfast on April 25 and 26, buffet deli style lunch and
cocktail reception on April 25, break beverages and snacks, as well
as, all conference materials.  There is a 10% discount given for each
additional team (same company) registrant.

Standard Registration_________ $749

Additional Team Registrants __ $670

HOTEL REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION:

If you will be utilizing the reduced rate of $125 per night, please
call the Radisson Hotel, Newark Airport directly at [phone] or
their central reservations at [phone].  The Radisson provides
free shuttle service to and from the Newark Airport.  When registering
at the hotel, be sure to mention that you are attending the "Telecom
Research Services/Number Portability Conference".  Reservations with
the Radisson should be made no later than April 6, 1995.


SPECIAL AIRFARE RATES AND INFORMATION:

We have made special arrangements with Continental Airlines for
reduced airfare rates.  Call 1-800-468-7022 (ref. code: IWPXND) to
utilize these low rates.

QUESTIONS:    Contact Kevin Shea at [phone] or email to
[e-mail] (subject: Telecom conf. #501).

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

From: [e-mail] (seth)
Subject: Voicemail System Wanted
Date: 6 Mar 95 12:52:53 CST
Organization: Carleton College -- Northfield, MN


My client is looking for an inbound voicemail/telenotification system for
providing callers with messages ("listings").  This system must meet the
following requirements:

- A DOS or Windows-based solution;
- Support for up to five different option levels (e.g. categories, subcate-
  gories, etc. ending with listings);
- Excellent message management (delete, update, view);
- Message copy/paste capabilities;
- Automatic deletion of messages older than two weeks;
- Support for up to 3000 1-minute messages;
- Multiple paths to the same listings (e.g. by type, then area, then listing,
  or by area, then type, then the same listing);
- Support for multiple phone lines (two to five).

If anyone has information on a system that meets some or all of these
requirements, would you let me know?

Or if anyone has an idea of where else I could search for such a system,
could you let me know that as well?


Thanks much,

Seth    ([e-mail])

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

Date: 06 Mar 95 11:26:36 EST
From: Marko Ruokonen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Need Help on Panasonic Fax KX-F90


I need help in figuring out a problem with a Panasonic FAX KX-F90. A
friend got that unit some time ago without manuals.

The unit operates OK, except that on sending a fax, it prints an error
message #05 indicating that the original did not feed correctly.

However, the fax is delivered OK and the receiving unit indicates OK
reception.

I've tried to send faxes to different other machines; the problem exists
with all of them.

The exchange was converted from analog to digital last week, but the
problem existed before, also.

Does anybody have a clue to where the problem might be or if some config-
uration is needed to get the unit working?

Panasonic, Germany is not much help here; they say that unit is not sold in
Europe and therefore, they do not support it here.

Help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.


Marko Ruokonen    E-Mail: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Ian Eisenberg)
Subject: Information Wanted on Excell Telecommunications
Date: 6 Mar 1995 22:11:39 GMT
Organization: US NETWORK


Does anyone know anything about Excell Telecommunications.  I think
they are a multi-level mkting type of deal.  Any information would be
appreciated.


[e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (John Michael Okeefe)
Subject: Help! Telephony Programming
Date: 5 Mar 1995 00:51:38 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering - University of California - Davis


    I'm trying to write a program for my ZOOM voice/data/fax
modem.  It uses the Rockwell chip for voice processing and the AT+V
command set.  I am writing this program in Visual Basic. My problem
has two parts.

    First the documentation for the AT+V command set says that
while playing or recording voice data the modem can receive and
interpet DTMF tones.  The documentation says that if a DTMF tone is
played while voice processing the modem will send a shielded result
code to the DTE. I have been able to receive normal result codes such
as "OK" when issuing an AT command but I don't understand how to
receive a shielded result code while I'm receiving voice data.

    My second problem is that there I have been unable to find
information on writing communications software using Visual Basic and
the AT command set.

    If you have experience writing a program using the AT+V
command set I would appreciate any help you could give me in solving
the above problems.


Thanks,


John O'Keefe
University of California, Davis
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Biomechanics and Sports Lab

E-Mail: [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (WShatford)
Subject: Intralata Database Wanted
Date: 5 Mar 1995 13:11:37 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (WShatford)


Is there a database I can access that will list the intralata
NPA-NXX's for a given NPA-NXX?


Thanks.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore is a person that keeps rather
extensive files on this. He or Dave Leibold might be able to help you.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (ScottPCS)
Subject: T1 -> Modems
Date: 5 Mar 1995 13:28:09 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (ScottPCS)


I need to bring in a T1 line to 24 1200 baud modems for my company.
It seems like an inefficient solution to run the T1 into a channel
bank to end up with 24 phone lines and then plug in 24 modems plugged
into 24 serial ports.  Is there any type of hardware that can handle
this T1 / modem problem better?  Preferrably something PC based
(Windows NT) and cheap <g>.

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 14:53:00 EST
From: Stephen Goodman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Fwd: E-mail Privacy Bill Information Available


Pat,

I thought I would forward this along to readers of the Digest.


Steve G.  [e-mail]

      ------- FORWARD, Original message follows -------

 Date: Saturday, 04-Mar-95 10:17 AM
 From: Telecommunications and Information Marketing \
 Internet: ([e-mail])
 Subject: E-mail Privacy Bill

For those of you interested in seeing the bill that was introduced in the
house.
access with a web browser:
http://thomas.loc.gov
Run a query with the following words: Workers and Consumers Privacy Act S.984
This will get you the entire bill.


James Bass     http://web.syr.edu/~jhbass
[e-mail]    Syracuse University, NY

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

From: [e-mail] (Dr. Moreau)
Subject: Information Wanted on Fiber Market in NYC
Date: 5 Mar 1995 06:41:23 GMT
Organization: PSI Public Usenet Link


If anyone has and can forward, or knows where to find, information on
the fiber optic network market in New York City, please let me know.


Thanks.

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

Date: Sun, 05 Mar 95 12:43:52 EST
From: John W Warne <[e-mail]>
Organization: School Board of Alachua County, FL.
Subject: Norstar DR5.1 and $$.


I have received a "Product Bulletin" from Northern Telecom, outlining
some 14 "Design Changes" between DR5 and DR5.1 software.

In my opinion, most (if not all) of the changes are to correct
deficiencies in the existing DR5 software.

For example, one change is called "End of conference Privacy Release
lock-up." Sounds like a bug to me.

Several other changes apply patches to areas known to allow a user to
defeat the toll restriction in the Norstar.

One vendor says there is no trade-in. We are faced with simply buying
the new DR5.1 software package for the same price we paid for the
original DR5 ($413.65), and chunking the DR5 in the trashcan.

I'm not pleased with the prospect of spending over $4,000.00
for what I consider to be a "bug fix."

Has anyone else received similar news? Better pricing?

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

From: [e-mail] (Hendrik Rood)
Subject: Re: Requesting Information About SDH
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 95 02:47:28 GMT
Organization: Hendriks Humble Home Hero


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (John
DeHoog) wrote:

> In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (willy
> gan) wrote:

>> I'd often seen the words SDH or SDH compatible equipment
>> advertised in data communication magazines. Can anyone explain
>> or give me examples of what SDH stands for?

> SDH stands for Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, for starters.  I'm not
> sure that tells us much, and it's not even necessarily an apt term;
> but what I do know is that it's an optical signal interface standard
> used in optical fiber networks, to transport digital voice, data, and
> video signals over long distances.  Here in Japan, some major telecom
> makers have developed SDH equipment based on the CTRON specifications.

SDH is the international (ITU) version of the US (ANSI) SONET-standards.
SDH starts at bitrates of 155 Mbit/s which compares to US SONET-OC3.
The major differences between SONET and SDH for 155 Mbit/s and above
lies in the overhead and network management features, also terminology
in SONET and SDH differs slightly.  SONET talks about Virtual Tributaries,
SDH about Virtual Containers.

Although incompatible it is expected in future systems that conversion
between SDH and SONET is more a software issue than a hardware issue.
But in the first hardware implementations this is still not the case,
because manufacturers have implemented some functions in firmware in
the interface-cards.


Hendrik Rood

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

From: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)
Subject: Re: Automatic Message Accounting Standard Wanted
Date: Sun,  5 Mar 1995 22:45:51 +0000
Organization: Travis Russell
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Travis Russell)


In article <[e-mail]>, telenet!emerson!ggoldman@
uunet.uu.net (Gerry Goldman) writes:

> Can anyone tell me where I can get information on the Automatic
> Message Accounting (AMA) format. This is purported to be a Bellcore
> format for ATM billing records.

Try Bellcore. This is a Bellcore standard, and a Bellcore publication.
Don't know the number off-hand, but I think you can find them on the
WWW under http://www.bellcore.com.


Travis Russell   [e-mail]
Author of "Signaling System #7," McGraw-Hill

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

From: [e-mail] (Neil L. Kleeman)
Subject: Dialogic H/W For Sale
Organization: Solution Systems Inc.
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 10:44:11 GMT


We have some surplus Dialogic hardware that has become available:

QTY   Description                    Retail Price Each
---  ------------------------------- -----------------
2    D41D Analog Interface Card           $1,495
1    D121/A Analog Interface Card         $1,495
1    DMX Digital Switch                   $  995
1    DTI/101 T1 Interface Card            $1,495
1    DID/40 DID Chassis w/ 4 Line Cards   $  595

This stuff made a great call-back system.  Make me an offer that I
can't refuse by email.


Neil L. Kleeman, President         Internet: [e-mail]
Solution Systems Incorporated         Voice:    [phone]
114 Forrest Avenue                      Fax:    [phone]
Narberth, PA 19072

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

From: [e-mail] (HUANG Zhengqian)
Subject: Paging Interface With Computer
Organization: Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 06:08:42 GMT


Hi,

Does anybody know if there is a paging receiver that can be
connected to a computer so that data received over the air can be
sent to the computer?


zqhuang

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

From: [e-mail] (Robert Casey)
Subject: This Newsgroup Demo'ed on PBS's "Internet Show"
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 02:12:22 GMT


I saw a show about the Internet on PBS Saturday, Mar 4.  It actually
talked about something other than porno and child molesters on the 'net.
They actually did a reasonably good job talking about newsgroups, ftp'ing,
telnet'ing, golpher, and such.

They did a demo of newsgroup reading, think it was this very group, and they
demo'ed how to post. They responded to a question about how many long
distance lines crossed the USA (he said he was sure the number was 42).


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Unfortunatly, I don't think it would have
been this Digest, since I don't recall a question like that appearing here
at any time in the recent past. It probably was