Compu-Fix/Compu-Fix.iso/pubnews/td10468.txt

Text File | 1993-03-01 | 16KB | 377 lines

TELECOM Digest     Sun, 8 Jul 90 16:50:13 CDT    Volume 10 : Issue 468

Inside This Issue:                         Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

    AT&T Interstate Rates [John R. Covert]
    Pentagon Moved to Area Code 703 [Greg Monti via John R. Covert]
    Public*Phone [John Higdon]
    Plain Ol' Telephones [Ron Pfeifle]
    Using the "O" Operator to Defeat 800 ANI and Caller*ID [Steve Rhoades]
    Touchtone History [Roy Smith]
    HPPI (High-Performance Parallel Interface) Info Needed [R. Manghirmalani]
    Motorola 9000 Handheld [Rick Farris]
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Date: Fri, 6 Jul 90 10:44:58 PDT
From: "John R. Covert  06-Jul-1990 1345" <[e-mail]>
Subject: AT&T Interstate Rates


AT&T's new rates as of 1 July 1990:

Residential Reach-out-America:

Night & Weekend Plan:   Makes the night period begin at 10 PM instead
                        of 11 PM. $7.15 per month includes first hour
                        of N/W calling. $6.60 per additional hour,
                        billed at .11 per minute.

N/W/Evening Plan:    $7.80 per month includes the Night & Weekend Plan.
            Provides an additional 15% discount on evening
                        rates during the 5 PM to 10 PM period.

            Hourly charge Boston to    Washington    $7.43
                        Charlotte    $7.62
                        Los Angeles    $7.63
                        Honolulu       $10.94

24-Hour Plan:        $8.70 per month includes the above plans, provides
            a 10% discount on daytime rates, and increases the
            extra evening discount to 25%.

            Hourly charge Boston to    Washington    $6.56
                        Charlotte    $6.73
                        Los Angeles    $6.73
                        Honolulu        $9.65

Calling card inclusion:    $2.00/month.  AT&T handled calling card calls
                        obtain the discount.  Call charges and the .80
                        calling card surcharge are discounted by the
                        appropriate 10%, 15% or 25% during the day
                        and evening period.  During the Reach Out
                        night and weekend period, no surcharge applies,
                        and call charges are applied to the base and
                        overtime rates.  Only available in certain areas.

Standard Rates:

 Mileage          Initial Minute   Additional Minutes  Rate Periods

   1-10        .18   .1206 .10        .17   .1139 .0975    D: M-F 8A-5P
  11-22        .1975 .1340 .1130   .1975 .1340 .11
  23-55        .1975 .1454 .12        .1975 .1454 .12    E: Sun-Fri 5P-11P
  56-124    .2160 .1457 .12        .2150 .1454 .12
 125-292    .2160 .1457 .1215   .2150 .1457 .1215    N: Every day 11P-8A
 293-430    .23   .1457 .1250   .23   .1457 .1225       All day Saturday
 431-925    .2390 .1495 .13     .2390 .1495 .1260       Until 5P Sunday
 926-1910    .2490 .1496 .1325   .2490 .1496 .13
1911-3000    .2490 .1496 .1350   .2490 .1496 .1325
3001-4250    .31   .2077 .1650   .30   .2010 .16
4251-5750    .33   .2211 .1750   .32   .2144 .17

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

Date: Sat, 7 Jul 90 15:58:06 PDT
From: "John R. Covert  07-Jul-1990 1858" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Pentagon Moved to Area Code 703


  From:  Greg Monti
  Date:  6 July 1990
  Pentagon Moved to Area Code 703

Prefixes of the Pentagon-Department of Defense telephone Rate Area
have been moved from Area Code 202 to Area Code 703.

Up until now, the Pentagon has been one of those rare odd men out in
the North American Numbering Plan.  The Plan, at least for the US,
states that area codes don't cross state lines. The Pentagon, located
on land owned by the Federal Government in Arlington County, Virginia,
got the 202 Area Code, presumably due to it being the only major
Government agency with its headquarters in Virginia at the time Area
Codes were established.  It got 202 like the other agencies.  (Many
more Federal agencies have been located in Northern Virginia since;
they all have 703 numbers.)  Only phones which are extensions of the
Pentagon PBX had 202.  Private, outside lines, pay phones and private
businesses in the Pentagon have 703 numbers.

For local callers, the Pentagon's Area Code has been unimportant due
to the 7-digit dialing used for local calls in the Washington area.
With the advent of 10-digit dialing for local calls across state and
Area Code lines, which becomes mandatory 1 October 1990, confusion
could have reigned if nothing were done.  Would local callers dial 10
digits for local calls which cross *state* boundaries or *area code*
boundaries?  Suppose your local call crossed only one of the two
boundaries?  (From DC to Pentagon, you would cross a state line, but
not an Area Code boundary.  From Virginia, you would cross an Area
Code boundary but not a state line.)  What would be the dialing rule
then?  That confusion has been eliminated.

The following 202 prefixes have been moved to 703: 545(?), 692, 693,
695, 696, 697 and 746.  One old Pentagon prefix, 202-694, could not be
moved because there already is a 703-694 prefix in Stuart, Virginia.
A new Pentagon prefix, 703-602, was opened, presumably to absorb the
users booted off of 694.

Previously, the Pentagon was its own Rate Area for billing purposes.
Now that its Area Code is the same as the surrounding county, it may
be moved into the Alexandria-Arlington Rate Area.  The new 602 prefix
is already listed in the Northern Virginia and DC directories as
Alexandria-Arlington.

To test whether the move was complete, sample Pentagon prefixes were
dialed from both 703 and 202 phones (all local) as both 7 and 10
digits.  As of 30 June 1990, none of the sample Pentagon prefixes
could be reached by dialing 202-NXX-XXXX from Virginia but all of them
could be reached by dialing 703-NXX-XXXX from Washington, DC.  All
could be reached by dialing just seven digits from either place since
that is still allowed until October.

Dialing 703-694 from a DC phone produces an immediate, "you must first
dial a 1" intercept without even waiting for the last four digits.
1-703-694-XXXX would be the correct way to dial Stuart.

Presumably, 202-694 will be closed, if it isn't already, or kept for
some other purpose.


Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work [phone]


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

Subject: Public*Phone
Reply-To: John Higdon <[e-mail]>
Organization: Green Hills and Cows
Date: 7 Jul 90 22:09:38 PDT (Sat)
From: John Higdon <[e-mail]>


An amusing COCOT incident:

Needing to reach Pac*Bell over some matters with my residence phone, I
spotted what looked like a standard Pac*Bell pay phone. It turned out
to be a [Public*Phone] (tm) with colors and logos that are borderline
actionable in their resemblance to Pac*Bell. They have blue rectangles
in the upper left corner and an embossed logo on the coinbox cover
that from more than ten feet away looks exactly like the puckered
asshole logo of Pac*Bell.

Anyway, I dialed 811-5700 and was told that I had dialed an "invalid
number" by the grainiest digital excuse for a voice you have ever
heard. Then I dialed 211 and explained that I couldn't reach 811-5700.
She asked me to hold and then I heard a touchtone digit which made the
phone go dead. A moment later she came back and said that the phone
did not indicate any money lost. I told her I didn't put any money in
and that 811-5700 should be a free call anywhere in the state of
California.

She went off the line again, and then came back and said that I would
have to use another phone. I explained that there were no other phones
anywhere in the vacinity and that I was going to express my
displeasure over the inconvenience with the store proprietor.
Suddenly, her tone changed and she said, "just one moment." The next
thing I heard was "Pacific Bell, may I help you?".

So, as the guru and mentor would say, "what have we learned, my
children?" Perhaps, the COCOT robber barons are just a bit sensitive
about suckers--er, customers complaining about their one-arm bandits
to those who might have the power to have them removed.


        John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
    [e-mail]      | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

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

From: Ron Pfeifle <[e-mail]>
Subject: Plain Ol' Telephones.
Date: 4 Jul 90 20:41:51 GMT
Organization: Teleride Sage, Ltd., Waterloo, Ontario


What happens on a two-wire telephone line when a call is being
completed in terms of the two wires?  I'd like a description like:

The CO signals such-and-such across the wires.  Because of
this-and-that the telephone rings.  When the receiver is picked up,
A-and-B happens which tells the CO that the phone is off-hook.  At
this point voice out goes through wire blah, voice in comes through
wire bleh, etc..

I just want to know what such-and-such, this-and-that, A-and-B etc...
are for a two-wire subscriber line in terms of signals on those wires.

Thanks,

Ron Pfeifle : Teleride Sage Ltd : Waterloo, Ontario : watmath!tslwat!ronp

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jul 90 09:54:22 PDT
From: riot![e-mail]
Reply-To: "Steve L. Rhoades" <riot![e-mail]>
Subject:  Using the "O" Operator to Defeat 800 ANI and Caller*ID


When calling an 800 number from my Pasadena, CA exchange (818-794 -
1AESS), I have found that I can prevent the called party from
receiving my number simply by routing the call through the "O"
operator (Pac*Bell's TOPS).

Normally, when I call one of MCI's, SPRINT's or AT&T's 800 numbers, my
number will show up on the called party's call detail.  If I simply
Dial "O", and "have trouble reaching 800-xxx-xxxx" the call detail
doesn't have my number. (Yes, the TOPS operator does have it.)  I've
only tried this with the above-mentioned 800 providers.

My question: Is this just a fluke ?  Is there some type of convention
for TOPS to pass the calling number to the 800 service provider ?  Has
anyone else tried this ?  Does it work elsewhere ?

On a related question: For those of you with Caller*ID, what happens
when you get a call routed through the "O" operator ?  (the called
party being someone that you would normally get a calling number from
on your Caller*ID display).


Steve


US mail:  Post Office Box 1000, Mount Wilson, Calif.  91023
UUCP: ...elroy!cit-vax!riot!slr       Internet: [e-mail]
voice-mail: [phone]

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

Date: Fri, 6 Jul 90 15:05:47 EDT
From: Roy Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Touchtone History


    When were the first touchtone phones installed?  I always
thought the answer was that were introduced at the 1964/65 New York
World's Fair.  The fair opened in the summer of 64, so those were
probably installed in late 63 or early 64.

    However, I recently watched a documentary about the
desegregation of the University of Alabama (the incident in which
Governor George Wallace vowed to "stand in the schoolhouse door" to
prevent two black students from registering for classes) which proves
me wrong on that theory.  A touch-tone phone was clearly visible in
President Kennedy's oval office in numerious bits of footage shot at
the time.  The year was 1963 and the students were trying to register
for the summer session, so I would put the date at about May or June
1963.  The phone that Kennedy used most of the time was a multi-line
key set with a rotary dial (looked like about 25 lines) and a
speakerphone attachment.  Sitting on the table behind his chair were
about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary.
Was touch-tone in general use in May 1963, or did the President just
have a pre-release model?

    Another bit of interesting telecom related trivia was a shot
of the US Deputy Attourny General (I forget his name) on location at
the U of A wanting to place a private phone call to JFK to discuss
tactics as the situation developed.  You see him getting into his car
and asking (telling, really) the press to get back so he can have some
privacy.  Then you see another shot of him, sitting in the car,
talking on the phone.  You clearly hear him saying something like "OK,
they can't hear me now", and clearly hear JFK's voice responding!
This is all real on-location footage, not some recreation.  It's not
clear if the phone line was tapped, there was a bug in the car, some
sound man had a good parabolic mike, or if some reporter had simply
slipped a mike into the car window without the DAG noticing.

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

From: Ravi Manghirmalani <[e-mail]>
Subject: HPPI (High-Performance Parallel Interface) Info Desired
Organization: Vicom Systems, Inc., Fremont, CA
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 90 19:41:16 GMT


    I am currently researching the usability of HPPI
(High-Performance Parallel Interface) for high speed local area
networks. The only reference I have found, so far is "Overcoming
Network Bottlenecks - Wayne Hathaway", UNIX Review Vol. 8, No. 4
(April 1990).

    I am interested in knowing about any available
hardware/software products as well as any ongoing research/development
work for HPPI concerning networking, disk-controllers, protocols, as
well as their relationship to traditional networking, etc.

    Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

                    [e-mail]
                    {ames|apple|sun}!vsi1!ravi
                    [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Rick Farris)
Subject: Motorola 9000 Handheld
Date: 8 Jul 90 02:50:07 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Rick Farris)
Organization: Serenity BBS, Del Mar, California


Greetings,

I finally took the plunge and acquired a cellular phone.

I needed a handheld (or at least transportable) because I bought it
not for use in the car, but to enable clients to reach me when I'm
working on-site at another clients premises.

I looked at the Radio Shack CT-301, as recommended by various
c.d.t'ers, and it certainly was attractive at $500.  The Motorola 9000
(which I ended up buying) seemed much nicer but was priced $400
higher.  I even looked at the Motorola Micro-TAC, (for about $1100),
because the idea of being able to carry a phone in my shirt pocket was
alluring.  Unfortunately, contrary to the rumors that abound here, the
Micro-TAC is nowhere near small enough to fit in a shirt pocket.  In
particular, with the battery attached, it is quite thick.  As the
salesman pointed out to me, the Micro-TAC was really designed to fit
in a woman's purse -- if a phone is big enough that it won't fit in
your pocket, then you'll have to carry it in your hand or your
briefcase, and there's not much sense to pay the big premium for the
size of the Micro-TAC.

That narrowed it down to the CT-301 and the Motorola 9000.  (Ok, there
was an OKI for about $700 that looked nice, but it didn't the quality
feel of the Motorola, nor did it have the battery life nor come with
as many accessories.

Although the 9000 was $400 more expensive than the CT-301, it came
with two antennas and two battery packs and a carrying case, which
narrowed the price difference somewhat.  The fact that programming
information is readily available here in c.d.t for the CT-301 was a
big draw for it, but finally, quality won out and I purchased the
Motorola 9000 handheld.

So now I'm here in c.d.t begging for more information about my phone.
Does Motorola sell manuals for my phone?  (To the public, I mean.)
Does anyone else have a 9000 who would be willing to share info about
it?

After my phone was delivered, I realized that they hadn't told me the
six-digit security code (normally unchangeable by the user) which is
used to modify the three-digit lock code and to access various other
features.  I called the sales office and the supervisor there told me
that she was sure my code was 000000 because that is what they set
them all to!  Does anyone know how to change it?

Thanks!


Rick Farris  RF Engineering  POB M  Del Mar, CA  92014  voice [phone]
[e-mail]       ...!ucsd!serene!rfarris        serene.UUCP 259-7757


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End of TELECOM Digest V10 #468
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