Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 23:49:03 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #451 Message-ID: <8910152349.aa12975@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 15 Oct 89 23:45:00 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 451 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson A Letter From Australia (Jon D. Kendall) A Bit of Repeater History (Larry Lippman) Request: Small Key-System Recommendations (Kent Hauser) Request: Information On Gateway Services (Dadong Wan) Fun With Fonz (John Higdon) The Day The Bell System Died (Lauren Weinstein) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 15:42:20 EST From: kendall Subject: A Letter From Australia Organization: University of Tasmania Reply-To: kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au Dear Pat: Your moderated newsgroup is addicting, to say the least. I have spent the past four hours reading almost 200 articles of comp.dcom.telecom. But, then what better use of my time would there be on this windy, rainy Spring day? Anyway I understand a lot of the Chicago humour (Hudson 2-2700, etc) having lived in St Joseph, Michigan 15 years ago. By the way, I brought with me one of those great 2500 telephones. In Australia there is no touch-tone service, but fortunately the university has a PABX which accepts tones locally, converting them to dec. (pulses) for outside calls. Also, everyone else in the department has electronic warble ringers which contrast nicely with my bell ringer. Rich Zellich's story about a wrong number to Australia reminds me of something that I did whilst ringing for international operator assistance. I was living Davis, California at the time. I needed to find out the telephone number of friends in Tasmania so I naively dialled 011-6102-5551212 thinking that the domestic method of directory assistance would generalise to overseas directory assistance. Instead I rang a private residence. From her irritated explanation, I readily discerned that this was not the first wrong number the lady had received from North America. When I received the next month's Sprint 'phone bill I was very surprised to see that I had been charged the directory service fee for the call, not the usual per minute charge. I suppose that it was a bug in the software. I reckon that might be useful to the lady if she had any friends in North America. Jon Kendall@diemen.cc.utas.au.oz ------------------------------ Subject: A Bit of Repeater History Date: 15 Oct 89 13:03:19 EDT (Sun) From: Larry Lippman In article gentry@kcdev.uucp (Art Gentry) writes: > We use repeaters, spaced anywhere from 1 to 30 miles, depending on the > type of carrier technology. These repeaters are powered by DC current > carried down the same pairs of the transmission. Each direction takes > one pair, one for the E->W and the other for W->E (no, I'm sorry, but > AT&T does not go N->S or S->N ) Actually, all repeaters will > show an East/West transmission, just to keep things easy. The E/W designation on repeaters is carried over from the early days of telegraphic communication where the concept of a "repeater" originated, although in those days repeaters were of the relay-variety for morse code traffic. Most long telegraphic routes were in fact East-West in direction, and the arbitrary designation of E/W for the ends of a repeater remained throughout the telegraph era into that of the telephone. Also, lest someone feel that the concept of a PCM regenerator is *new*, consider that the morse telegraphic systems were in fact both digital and PCM, and thus such PCM regenerators were in use over 150 years ago! Furthermore, some of the early telegraphic systems, especially those used with submarine cable, were in fact bipolar in nature - not unlike that of a T1 line, although admittedly the data rates were a bit slower than 1.544 megabits/sec. :-) <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ From: Kent Hauser Subject: Request: Small Key-System Recommendations Date: 15 Oct 89 18:09:32 GMT Organization: Twenty-First Designs, Wash, DC We need to replace our 1A2 KSU because our new location has only 2-pair wiring. My question is who makes good electronic key systems? Our requirements are modest: 2-4 co lines. 8 or so extensions. Intercom. Speakerphone available. Some way to hook in answering maching on first line. Recommendations for equipment & good suppliers gratefully accepted. Kent Hauser UUCP: {uunet!cucstud, sun!sundc}!tfd!kent Twenty-First Designs INET: sundc!tfd!kent@sun.com [Moderator's Note: Would you be wanting an electronic key system or a mini- PBX? The latter will accomplish much of the same, and might even be more flexible, depending. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 15:45:45-1000 From: Dadong Wan Subject: Request: Information On Gateway Services Reply-To: Dadong Wan Organization: University of Hawaii I am looking for information on gateway services, which allow one point access to various information services, public as well as commercial, e.g. Dialog, CompuServe. The State of Hawaii has recently awarded DEC a contract for setting up such a service. I've heard that some regional Bell companies (eg, Nynex, Bellsouth) have been experimenting in this area, and am wondering if any of you out there know anything about how they have been doing on that. Please email me if you have some information to share. Many thanks. Dadong ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Fun With Fonz Date: 15 Oct 89 21:22:57 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows One of my clients has an ITT 3100 PBX whose routing tables I keep updated. It is a lot of fun playing with a switch that has Automatic Route Selection. Here are some examples of things that I have done with their system. Naturally, the customer wanted 976 blocking in their switch. No problem. The switch intercepts all 976-XXXX and NXX-976-XXXX calls and puts the caller through to a Pac*Bell number that returns the following recording: "The call you have made requires a twenty-cent deposit. Please hang up, listen for dialtone, deposit twenty cents, and try your call again." This is better than just returning reorder or some such, since when a person complains to management about how they get this recording "when they try to place a call", management knows what's going on. I have 611 routed to my home number. No one there is supposed to call telco direct, so this little trick saves unnecessary expensive calls to telco repair. For a while there was a joke line that did a satire on the Pac*Bell automated repair that was hilarious and I had 611 routed there instead! My cellular phone number is quite restricted since it can get rather expensive if people call to chat. For a while I had my portable phone number in their system speed dial, but when I changed my number another idea came to mind. I set up the system to intercept my old cellular number and translate it to my new one and put the call through. Then I gave out my old (out of service) number to everyone at that company. Had it printed on employee lists and everything. The fun began when certain people started complaining that my cellular phone had been disconnected. This could only mean that they were calling my number from somewhere other than the office. My explanation? "I'm sorry, my cellular phone can only be reached from the office." No other comment was offered. The psuedo phone knowledgeables still haven't figured that one out. In our area, a "1" is optional for long distance. It is not required, but won't interfere if used. The PBX however will send any long distance call prefixed by a "1" to "It is not necessary to dial a one for this call. Please hang up and try your call again." The amusement comes from watching the people from out of the area using the lobby phone. The company has Sprint Advance Plus WATS, which are dedicated WATS lines. However, when a user dials 0+ the system places the call on a POTS line and prefixes it with "10288" to ensure that an AT&T path will be taken. I don't trust default anymore. Actually the list of possibilities is endless and implementation is limited only by the amount of available free time. Fortunately, this particular system is progammable remotely, so whenever the whim strikes, so shall it be! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 00:12:30 EDT From: Lauren Weinstein Subject: "The Day Bell System Died" Return-Path: [Moderator's Note: It was good the first time it appeared, and since many of you were not reading the Digest in 1983, I thought it would be good to run it again. This originally appeared in TELECOM Digest on July 12, 1983. Enjoy. PT] Greetings. With the massive changes now taking place in the telecommunications industry, we're all being inundated with seemingly endless news items and points of information regarding the various effects now beginning to take place. However, one important element has been missing: a song! Since the great Tom Lehrer has retired from the composing world, I will now attempt to fill this void with my own light-hearted, non-serious look at a possible future of telecommunications. This work is entirely satirical, and none of its lyrics are meant to be interpreted in a non-satirical manner. The song should be sung to the tune of Don Mclean's classic "American Pie". I call my version "The Day Bell System Died"... Lauren ************************************************************************** *==================================* * Notice: This is a satirical work * *==================================* "The Day Bell System Died" Lyrics Copyright (C) 1983 by Lauren Weinstein (To the tune of "American Pie") (With apologies to Don McLean) ARPA: vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM UUCP: {decvax, ihnp4, harpo, ucbvax!lbl-csam, randvax}!vortex!lauren ************************************************************************** Long, long, time ago, I can still remember, When the local calls were "free". And I knew if I paid my bill, And never wished them any ill, That the phone company would let me be... But Uncle Sam said he knew better, Split 'em up, for all and ever! We'll foster competition: It's good capital-ism! I can't remember if I cried, When my phone bill first tripled in size. But something touched me deep inside, The day... Bell System... died. And we were singing... Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? Is your office Step by Step, Or have you gotten some Crossbar yet? Everybody used to ask... Oh, is TSPS coming soon? IDDD will be a boon! And, I hope to get a Touch-Tone phone, real soon... The color phones are really neat, And direct dialing can't be beat! My area code is "low": The prestige way to go! Oh, they just raised phone booths to a dime! Well, I suppose it's about time. I remember how the payphones chimed, The day... Bell System... died. And we were singing... Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? Back then we were all at one rate, Phone installs didn't cause debate, About who'd put which wire where... Installers came right out to you, No "phone stores" with their ballyhoo, And 411 was free, seemed very fair! But FCC wanted it seems, To let others skim long-distance creams, No matter 'bout the locals, They're mostly all just yokels! And so one day it came to pass, That the great Bell System did collapse, In rubble now, we all do mass, The day... Bell System... died. So bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? I drove on out to Murray Hill, To see Bell Labs, some time to kill, But the sign there said the Labs were gone. I went back to my old CO, Where I'd had my phone lines, years ago, But it was empty, dark, and ever so forlorn... No relays pulsed, No data crooned, No MF tones did play their tunes, There wasn't a word spoken, All carrier paths were broken... And so that's how it all occurred, Microwave horns just nests for birds, Everything became so absurd, The day... Bell System... died. So bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? We were singing: Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? [Moderator's Note: I knew you would like it! And my thanks to Lauren for having submitted it to the Digest now over six years ago. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #451 *****************************   Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 0:57:27 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #452 Message-ID: <8910160057.aa09406@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Oct 89 00:55:43 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 452 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Phonavision at the University of California (Henry Mensch) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Colin Plumb) Re: Making a Line Busy (Dave Levenson) Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Steve M. Bellovin) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Patrick A. Townson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 18:35:34 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Phonavision at the University of California Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu (Pinched from the [New York Times] w/o permission: Calif. -- Students at two campuses of the University of California, at Berkeley and Los Angeles, have become the test market for a new public video-telephone booth called Phonavision. Its developers claim that it is the world's first video telephone for the general public. Each of the campuses has one of the large, silver-color phone booths in its student union. Phonavision opened last Monday for a week of free demonstrations. Starting Monday, video phone calls from one campus to the other will cost $10 for three minutes. "We view all this semester as a test," said Stephen Strickland, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based company, Communications Technologies, that developed the video phones. "We want to be sure that when we do go to market with this service, it's as good as it can be." "We feel we're probably six months to a year away from having a system that we can go out and market," Strickland said. "I see them in airport lobbies, hotel lobbies, shopping centers, indoor high-traffic locations." Video telephones are already widely used in business, he added. Phonavision callers speak to each other on standard telephone receivers. A snapshot-size image of their own face is projected on one half of a small screen, and the other half shows a picture of the person to whom they are talking. As a caller talks, the video screen shows small movements of the mouth or face. But sudden movements mean a distorted picture. With a tilt of a caller's head, for example, the image will move to the side in separate parts, starting with the top of the head and moving down in a wavelike motion. Annalee Andres, a sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif., who has not yet selected a major, was one of the first students to try out Berkeley's new video phone. She and her friends crowded around the phone booth in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, taking turns talking to a student from UCLA. "I think it has a long way to go yet, but it's really cool," she said. "I can really see where it's leading." Ms. Andres speculated on the effects that widespread use of video phones would have. "What if they catch you and you're just out of the shower?" she asked. "It'll change dating." Daniel Ciruli, a junior from Tucson, Ariz., majoring in computer science, was enthusiastic about his trial session, but he said the fee would keep him away in the future. "It's a new toy," he said. "But at $10 for three minutes, with only one other Phonavision, it's not going to be something that students are beating down the door to use." The video phone booth offers other services: recording and dealing in videotapes and a place to send and receive fax messages. The booth accepts $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills, as well as Mastercard and Visa. Gary Li, a senior from Beijing, who is majoring in electrical engineering, started setting up Berkeley's phone booth in April. Since then he has spent about 20 hours a week repairing kinks in the system. Berkeley and UCLA were chosen as tryout spots for the new service because most students know somebody at the other campus, said Strickland, the company's chief executive. "That's a place where we can get novelty use," he said, adding that "Berkeley and UCLA have a reputation for being front-runner schools -- places that are innovative, that like new technology." Strickland said his company has spent almost three years developing Phonavision. He would not disclose total costs, but priced the video phone booths at $50,000 each. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: Colin Plumb Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Date: 16 Oct 89 00:08:13 GMT Reply-To: Colin Plumb Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario In article cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: > You write: >> 416 recently removed the has allowed the implementation of NXX where >> previously only NNX was allowed. > Did you mean to delete "removed the"? Also, you are sure you are > referring to 416 (Ontario) instead of 415 (Calif.)? (If 416, it's new > info for me.) New to me, too, and while not at university I live in 416. One thing I rather like about the local phone service is that all LD calls must be prefixed with "1". If you try to dial an exchange in 416 that's not in the local calling area (i.e. metered call), you get a recording "You have dialled a number to which long distance charges apply" followed by dial-1-first instructions. I suppose you could do it if you changed the current 1+NNX-XXXX to 1+416+NXX-XXXX, but I'd think I'd have heard about it. From other discussions, I gather that in some places, normal 7-digit calls can be long distance, so you have to dig through the phone book to figure out whether it costs you anything. I prefer "leading 1 means special billing." I've never tried dialling an 800 number without the 1 to see if it works. I should sometime. -Colin ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Making a Line Busy Date: 16 Oct 89 02:43:54 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , owens-christopher@YALE. EDU (Christopher Owens) writes: > I have a two-line residential installation in which calls hunt to the > second line if the first line is busy. Periodically I want to force > all calls to the second line. What is the correct way to make a line > busy? ... There is a local number available in most central offices that is always busy. Here in NJ, we dial almost any prefix followed by 9970. You could place a call to that number, and then leave your set offhook. There is a tariffed service available in NJ called hunting cut-off controlled by customer. With this service, you get a key switch at your premises connected to an extra pair from the CO. When you close the switch, hunting is disabled. (Don't know what it costs.) I realize that what you want is not to disable hunting but to force it on all calls. Perhaps the telco has another service offering up its sleeve? Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? Date: 15 Oct 89 18:17:29 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , comcon!roy@uunet.uu.net (Roy M. Silvernail) writes: > Do you have measured service? What are the actual rates? Do you have > to juggle zones? Do you have a free-call area? If you were there for > the beginning of measured service, what was the introduction like? > (was there a public outcry? Was the public even consulted?) About 20 years ago, mandatory measured service was introduced to Pacific Telephone business customers. All new service orders went in as measured and existing customers were all converted over a year or two later. Back in those days, no one seemed very interested in the PUC hearings and this tarrif went through without any problem. People at PacTel fielded the calls from irate customers by responding that some customers would actually save money, since the monthly rate had been lowered (cut in half). But of course the vast majority of business customers started paying through the nose. Since that time, residence service has had the option of being measured. Unmeasured residence service is about $8.50/month while measured is about $4.50 with a $3.00 call allowance. A local call is $.05 for the first minute and $.01 each additional, with evening and night discounts. Pac*Bell has been trying to push the idea of universal measured service for years. They have offered various plans to the PUC (such as a service that includes 130 untimed calls/month and 15 cents for each call over--price: same as current unmeasured), but so far the PUC hasn't bought any of it. Now that Pac*Bell is unregulated for all intents and purposes, we may now probably count the days for unmeasured residence service. In my home I have a mix of measured and unmeasured lines (all in the same Commstar group). Any lines used exclusively for incoming calls are measured while out call lines are unmeasured. (Yes, they will mix measured and unmeasured lines in Commstar -- it is a common myth that they won't.) My prediction is that when they make all local calls measured, there will be some consumer groups that snort a bit but it will mostly happen without a wimper. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: smb@hector.att.com Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 12:49:13 EDT I'd promised myself I wouldn't comment on this subject any more, but this latest posting is much too inflammatory.... From: TELECOM Moderator I'm not sure if you can do this, given the login available to you, but you should distinguish between your role as moderator and poster. Most of the time this doesn't matter, but when it does -- i.e., when there's a controversial topic being discussed -- you should try to grant everyone equal access to the debate. For those of you who think Caller ID is the worst scourge to ever come to the telephone industry, consider this case from Van Nuys, CA about three weeks ago: [deleted] The autodialer was programmed to simply dial 911, which conneced to the Emergency Services dispatcher at the Van Nuys, CA, Police and Fire Department. 911 Caller ID service is conceptually very different than ordinary Caller ID. Note that I'm not speaking of the technical differences -- of which there are many -- I'm simply speaking of the benefit to society of having the facility available. [deleted] He noted that prior to the installation of Caller ID, there had been several objections to the service; 'violation of privacy' being the major complaint. Some people apparently felt they had the 'right' to talk to the police anonymously, and that this 'right' superceded the rights of the police and fire departments to administer their duties effeciently and effectively. "We think caller ID was responsible for saving Mrs. Rodgers' life." ``Efficiently.'' A marvelous word. There are parts of the world where the police can operate much more ``efficiently'' because there are no (enforced) prohibitions against, say, beating suspects. And the ``legislature'' makes life even easier for the police by requiring internal passports to travel within the country, official permission to live in certain areas, and lots of nice vague ``crimes'' suitable for arresting just about anyone. Efficient, certainly. But I don't think I'd like to live there. My point is not that Caller ID is or is not a good thing for emergency services. My point is that the issue is not that clear-cut. Factual premise 1: A number of big cities, and the federal DEA, have prosecuted numerous police officers for narcotics-related corruption. Factual premise 2: Many drug dealers have shown no hesitation in ordering the murder of community activists who have tried to shut down their activities. Question 1: if 911 calls have Caller-ID recorded (and all such calls are recorded in most cities, I might note), what are the odds on such a drug dealer bribing a cop to find out who made a particular call? Question 2: how many lives might that cost? Please note carefully what I did and did not say above. I did not say there are no benefits to Caller ID for the police. I did not say anything at all about Caller ID for other purposes. And I said nothing at all about the desirability, or the lack thereof, of current drug laws and policies. All I said is that the issue is very far from clear-cut, and that we should not blindly accept official pronouncements on the subject. --Steve Bellovin smb@ulysses.att.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 0:34:06 CDT From: Patrick A. Townson Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! I printed all of the above message not because this is the Social Issues Digest, but because I would not want Mr. Bellovin to think he was being censored. He implies in his first paragraph that one is unlikely to get a fair hearing or a chance to reply to a message since I did not botber to run the 'change name' program here and convert myself to Patrick Townson for the occassion. Everyone who reads this little Digest knows how bad I am about not allowing my critics the time of day or space in the Digest to reply. The item in particular appeared in several newspapers last week, including both the [Chicago Tribune] and the [Chicago Sun Times]. In addition, it was sent to me by the press clip service I use (yes, I take this Digest rather seriously, and I keep up on news relating to telecommunicatons.) I feel as moderator I would be derelict in not printing an item when it had been considered newsworthy by other media. It was a story that I, in my editorial judgment, considered worth repeating here. Mr. Bellovin, and another recent correspondent who forbade me to print his letter or mention his name point out rightfully that Caller ID when offered as a CLASS feature is different than when the same information is afforded the police in a 911 conversation. Yes and no. There are some technical differences, but the end result is the same: The caller is identified to the callee. And there are some remarkable similarities between the two as well. Some of you must surely recall, in your own communities, as I do in Chicago, how bitterly the concept of E-911 was fought by the same people who are fighting caller ID now in the public realm. Just as some organization now is fighting in the courts against Caller ID as a CLASS offering, the *very same organization* (through its Chicago branch) fought in the courts to prevent the police from having the name and number of the calling party back in 1973. So I think we split hairs and pick nits when we say caller ID as a CLASS offering is 'not the same as' caller ID when emergency services get the information. Caller ID is caller ID is caller ID. Either the caller is identified in some way to the callee, or he is not. It may be some folks who otherwise disapprove of caller ID for the public do not object to it when the police have the information, but we are still talking about the same basic thing. In community after community, when Enhanced 911 service has been installed or regular 911 converted to E-911, there have been complaints regarding violations of privacy, just as today the complaints are made. Van Nuys, CA was no exception. There were people there (maybe still are?) who strongly objected to it. I do not make Official Pronouncements here. I quote news, offer my own opinions, and *usually* entertain the views of others. I think I posted that story Sunday morning by prefacing it saying, "this has been in the papers lately'.....so what would Mr. Bellovin have me to do? Print nothing that might express an opinion? His complaint, along with Nameless, who forbade me to identify him should direct their comments about the matter to the authorities in Van Nuys, CA....that is who was in the news. TELECOM Digest is here to provide a forum for *all aspects* of telephones. Technical, social, political, consumer-oriented. The day I metamorphose into God on High and refuse to print alternative viewpoints is the day Mr. Bellovin and Nameless have valid complaints, with me at least. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #452 *****************************   Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 22:51:37 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #453 Message-ID: <8910162251.aa27627@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Oct 89 22:50:06 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 453 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Environmental Problem" (Larry Lippman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Environmental Problem" Date: 15 Oct 89 13:04:57 EDT (Sun) From: Larry Lippman In article gentry@kcdev.uucp (Art Gentry) writes: > > 2. When one of those lines is damaged out in the middle of nowhere, > > and the damage is _inside_ the cable, how do they locate it? > > Moreover, how do they splice in a new piece of cable? In other > > words, how do they connect up those hundreds of individual lines? > > It would be like trying to rewire a spinal cord. > Ahhhh, back in the good-ol-days....:-} All the wires within a cable > are color coded, in pairs. In larger cables, pairs were grouped into > bunches, which in turn, were color coded themselves. So while tedious, > it was not overly difficult to match pairs in a splice. Many Telecom readers are, to some extent, familiar with the color code used on polyethylene insulated cables (PIC) in which each pair is individually color-coded and arranged in groups of 25-pairs, with these groups in turn being identified with colored binder strings. The above color code uses ten colors, and begins with white/blue for pair 1, white/orange for pair 2, white/green for pair 3, etc., ending with violet/slate for pair 25; binder group identification is made with colored tape or string using the above ten colors. The complete color code has already been posted by others to Telecom, and it is not my intent to repeat it here. The above color code with individual pair identification is used on both inside station wiring and outside PIC distribution cable. However, pulp-insulated cable does NOT have identification of individual pairs. There is still a significant amount of pulp-insulated cable in service, especially with high pair counts of 1,500 to 2,700 pairs. Pulp-insulated cable uses only three pair colors: white/green, white/red and white/blue. Binder groups within the cable come in sizes of 25, 26, 50, 51, 100 and 101 pairs, depending upon the wire gauge, pair count and style of the pulp-insulated cable. For cables with 400 or more pairs, the binder group size is generally 100 or 101 pairs. Each of the pairs in such a binder group has the SAME color code! As an example, a 404-pair pulp-insulated cable will typically have four binder groups: (1) 100 pairs of white/green plus a red/blue tracer pair; (2) 100 pairs of white/red plus a red/blue tracer pair; (3) 100 pairs of white/blue with a red/blue tracer pair; and (4) 100 pairs of white red with a red/blue tracer pair. The total pair count in this example is 404 pairs, and note that there are 200 pairs which have a white/red color code. The tracer pairs are generally reserved as spare or maintenance pairs. To make matters even more confusing, many pulp-insulated cables have no binder strings or tape! The binder groups have a twist which allows their identification as a unit, and the relative position of the binder groups when the cable is viewed in cross-section allows the identification of the particular binder group. Such binder groups are therefore arranged in concentric layers, with each layer being divided into binder segments. There are also umpteen different binder coding schemes used for pulp-insulated cable. For the sake of simplicity, while I am using the term "binder group" in this article, in reality I am referring to a cable "unit", which may in fact not have any binding strings or tape. As a result of the above, believe me, a damaged pulp-insulated cable is a real mess! Also, bear in mind that PIC cable did not come into general use until the 1950's, so prior to that time pulp-insulated cable was the ONLY type of outside plant cable. Restoration of a damaged pulp-insulated cable is performed by tone tracing or other electronic identification means on EACH AND EVERY pair. Restoration starts by picking a red/blue tracer pair as a means of establishing telephone communication between the cable splicer and the central office. At least there aren't that many tracer pairs to choose from. :-) The cable splicer cuts back the cable and attempts to identify the binder groups, starting with the CO-side FIRST. Picking one binder group at a time, a craftsperson in the CO sends tracing tone on the first pair in a binder group. A test probe with a sensitive amplifier is used at the cable site to detect this test tone and therefore identify the pair. Such a tone tracing arrangement works by capacitive coupling between the test probe and the cable pairs, so a cable splicer can rapidly scan for tone by merely brushing the test probe against fanned-out cable pairs. As soon as the CO-side of a pair is identified, the pair is placed in a numbered slot on a "restoral board", and a connection is made to the pair using insulation-piercing clips. A restoral board consists of two boards (a CO-side and a subscriber-side) with 100 pairs of insulation-piercing connections on each board, with several feet of cable between the two boards. The restoral board has two functions: (1) to temporarily tag the identified conductors of a binder group; and (2) to provide a temporary electrical connection prior to splicing of the CO and subscriber sides of the severed cable. More than one set of restoral boards may be used in a cable break, but it does get crowded around the splice area pretty fast! Identifying the CO side of the severed cable is the EASY part, made even easier with the use of a "front tap shoe" which connects to a protector block in the CO. A front tap shoe may make contact with as many as 100 pairs at a time, and using a test cable will conveniently terminate the pairs on a test panel used to apply tracing tone. There are also semi-automatic cable identification devices, like those made by Automation Products, which send a coded signal on each of 100 pairs, so that no craftsperson is necessary in the CO other than to change the front tap shoe to another 100 pairs. A cable splicer uses a field identifier unit with a digital readout to identify the pair number on a given pair in the binder group under test. After the CO side of the binder group has been identified using the above method, next comes the NOT SO EASY part. A second cable splicer then heads for the closest cross-connection box on the subscriber side of the severed cable. The first task is to establish a talk pair to the cable splicer at the break. Local battery for talking is provided by a cable-splicer's test set, traditionally the WECO 76C, although newer devices are now available. The second cable splicer then successively sends tracing tone across each pair at the cross-connection box, which the first cable splicer identifies at the site of the cable break. The identified pairs are then placed on the subscriber-side of the restoral board, which not only tags their identity, but makes a temporary electrical connection. What makes identification of the pairs on the subscriber-side of the cable break difficult is that it is unlikely that the full pair count of the cable will terminate at just one cross-connect location. A high pair-count cable may in fact have its pairs terminated at a dozen or more different cross-connection points, EACH of which will have to be visited in order to send tracing tone to the cable break site and identify the full pair count. Sometimes pairs never even terminate at a cross-connect location, but instead terminate directly at a large customer location - which is yet another place that may have to be visited. In most instances, none of the above tracing effort is necessary in the case of a PIC cable break, since each pair in PIC cable is by its very nature self-identifying through its own color and that of its binder group color. One does not truly appreciate this "feature" of PIC cable until one experiences the effort necessary to repair a pulp-insulated cable. Installing new pulp-insulated cable was not so difficult since at intermediate splices pairs in a binder group were merely joined at random. Identification was only necessary at termination points. An additional problem is that in most cases it is not possible to pull enough slack in a damaged cable to reconnect the severed pairs. A length of jumper pair wire is therefore placed in the splice, and now one has TWO splices for every pair: one for each side of the jumper. Yet another problem is that the sheath must be cut back at least a foot in each direction of the cable break in order to "visualize" and therefore identify the binder group placement. For a badly mangled cable it may be necessary to splice a complete length of cable between the severed ends since 2-feet is about the limit to the length of any one splice case. And to make matters even worse, how would you like to be a cable splicer doing this work 15 feet above the ground working in a small tent in sub-zero weather? A motor vehicle accident that knocks down a utility pole will create this exact situation! While a cable splicer's job has little glamor, it does have some excitement and some hazards, and it is just as essential as that of a switchman in the CO. One of the most common hazards in working with aerial cable today is electric shock from streetlight fixtures with a broken ground that are attached to a utility pole. In large cities with extensive underground distribution, telephone cables may often share manholes with high-voltage electric power distribution cables. The ultimate nightmare of a cable splicer is to accidentally cut into a power cable instead of a telephone cable; a lead-sheathed power cable is indistinguishable from a lead-sheathed telephone cable. Such an accident has in fact happened on more than one occasion over the years. In previous years the job of a cable splicer was more artisan in nature, especially involving the working of lead used to join the lead sheaths of cables and make splice cases. The ultimate display of "lead craftsmanship" was in the "wiping of a joint" which formed the rounded end of a splice case where the cable entered the larger diameter splice. While many lead-sheathed cables still exist, today there is very little hot lead work; lead cables are usually fitted into conventional two-part separable splice cases using sealing tape and a compression-type closure. In previous years, many a cable splicer has been burned from spilled molten lead or spilled hot paraffin (used to "boil out" moisture from damaged pulp-insulated cable). I'll close this article with an interesting bit of "cable trivia". First, some background. Many CO buildings still in use in large cities were constructed between 1915 and 1930. Such buildings have seen many generations of telephone apparatus and have been "modernized" on a number of occasions. New apparatus is always installed and wired before old apparatus is removed. Telephone cable in CO buildings is supported on "cable rack", which may be as wide as 24 inches. Cable is built up in layers, with the oldest cable being at the bottom of the cable rack; the bottom layer is laced to the cable rack with waxed twine ("12 cord", for the benefit of any WECO people reading this who have "paid their dues" :-) ). Each successive layer of cable is laced to the previous layer. It is not unusual in a large CO to have a SOLID mass of cable 2 feet wide by 2 feet high on a single cable rack. In the above situation, much of the lower "layers" of cable in a cable rack will be non-working cable which connected apparatus that was removed years ago. The labor necessary to remove such old cable is significant, so usual practice is to just leave the lower layers in place. As a shortage of wiring space develops, an operation referred to as "cable mining" is performed to remove the bottom layers of cable and re-stitch the upper, working layers back to the cable rack, thereby freeing up space for new cable layers. Cable mining is only done when absolutely necessary, so if space is still available it is not unusual for a cable rack to have bottom layers of cable that are 60 or more years old. Such a situation still exists today in many older metropolitan CO buildings. An interesting "environmental" problem has been "discovered" in the past 10 to 15 years which now dictates that cable mining be conducted with the utmost care. There are actually two problems: 1. Plastic sheaths for central office power and signal cable did not come into general use until the 1950's. Prior to this time cable sheaths were made from cotton or silk. In the case of power cable, some styles of cable were covered with an asbestos sheath to prevent accidental fires. While asbestos-sheathed power cable has not been used since the 1950's, much of this cable still remains on cable racks. 2. While it may be hard to imagine today, large CO's were periodically plagued with mice during the 1920's and 1930's. These mice would chew on cable, thereby causing faults. Mice particularly loved the area around cord positions at DSA and toll operator facilities; the mice like to run on the inside multiples of such cord boards. Crumbs of food brought in by operators would attract such mice. In an effort to control this mice problem, some brilliant WECO engineer (who in all fairness did not know any better) during the 1920's came up with the clever idea of impregnating the cloth sheath of central office and switchboard cables with ARSENIC in order to deter the mice from chewing the cables. As a result, some CO cable installed during the 1920's and 1930's contains arsenic. So, today, some cable mining must be carried out with the utmost caution in order to avoid the hazards of asbestos and arsenic! <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #453 *****************************   Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 0:15:46 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #454 Message-ID: <8910170015.aa30321@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Oct 89 00:15:32 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 454 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Roger B.A. Klorese) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (John R. Levine) Re: Caller ID saves A life! (William Berbenich) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Eliot Lear) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Lang Zerner) 911 Improvement Surcharge In Chicago (David W. Tamkin) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Peggy Shambo) A Light Touch (Dave Horsfall) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 16 Oct 89 21:46:05 GMT Reply-To: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (Patrick A. Townson) responds sarcastically to Steve Bellovin: >He implies in his first paragraph that one is >unlikely to get a fair hearing or a chance to reply to a message since >I did not botber to run the 'change name' program here and convert >myself to Patrick Townson for the occassion. Everyone who reads this >little Digest knows how bad I am about not allowing my critics the >time of day or space in the Digest to reply. I don't know, I read the following paragraph and didn't notice anything like what you claim you see, Patrick: >> I'm not sure if you can do this, given the login available to you, but >> you should distinguish between your role as moderator and poster. Most >> of the time this doesn't matter, but when it does -- i.e., when there's >> a controversial topic being discussed -- you should try to grant everyone >> equal access to the debate. Steve made the simple request that you should change your login name, if possible, when participating in a discussion, so that your opinions don't seem like the blessed consensus of the Digest. Nowhere was he anywhere near as condescending as you, and you trivialize his concerns. He was not claiming that you were denying access (although your little explanation, which I omitted, about why you forwarded Steve's message indicates that you are in fact doing so: his message should not have appeared so he shouldn't think you were stifling him, it should have appeared because it is important). As for the subject matter, your entire thesis seems to reduce that the concern of individuals for their constitutional rights is trivial in the face of a facility that saves lives. The case can be made that everything from in-home police surveillance to drunk-driver roadblocks to searches of random black men walking through white suburbs either has or could potentially save lives. The truth is that the cost factors are often the other way around: not that freedoms must be sacrificed to save individual lives, but that sometimes and unfortunately, lives are the necessary cost of maintaining our freedoms, even innocent lives. ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rogerk@mips.COM {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "I want to live where it's always Saturday." -- Guadalcanal Diary ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 16 Oct 89 06:33:03 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: > He noted that prior to the installation of Caller ID, there had been > several objections to the service; 'violation of privacy' being the > major complaint. Some people apparently felt they had the 'right' to > talk to the police anonymously, and that this 'right' superceded the > rights of the police and fire departments to administer their duties > effeciently and effectively. This, of course, is a bogus argument of the first order. From the San Jose Pac*Bell telephone directory under the heading "911" (and I'm sure included in every directory issued from Pac*Bell): "Notice! _Dialing 9-1-1 and Your Privacy_ When reporting an emergency by dialing 9-1-1, your number (including non-published number) and address may be automatically displayed on a viewing screen. This information enables the emergency agency to quickly locate you if the call is interrupted. If you do not wish to have your telephone number and address displayed, use the appropriate 7-digit emergency number." Very simply, if you want to remain anonymous, don't dial 9-1-1. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 15 Oct 89 17:41:01 EDT (Sun) From: "John R. Levine" In article telecom-v09i0450m01 our Moderator writes: >For those of you who think Caller ID is the worst scourge to ever come >to the telephone industry, consider this case from Van Nuys, CA about >three weeks ago [in which a small child dialed 911 and the dispatcher >sent help based on the address display that E911 provides.] Some of us left wing wackos who dislike the way that telcos are introducing Caller ID think that 911 is a fine example of how Caller ID should work. If you dial 911, your call gets IDed. If you dial the cops' regular seven-digit number you don't get IDed. Many people have made technically straightforward proposals to allow ID to be turned on and off per call and per line. I believe that if the telcos implemented them you would see the opposition to Caller ID disappear. If you want not to answer calls from phones that don't provide ID, that's fine, I'll send a postcard. As has been noted here before, Enhanced 911 is technically different from the Caller ID that has caused all of the argument. As far as I know, no telco proposes to provide the calling phone number's address to Caller ID users like they do to 911. By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it off. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: 16 Oct 89 09:57:06 EDT From: WBERBENI@gtri01.bitnet Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! For those who wish to phone anonymously, most emergency services still maintain a regular CO line. Here in Atlanta, where 911 does not yet have full metropolitan area coverage, that option is still possible. Prior to my move to Atlanta from Mountain View, California, that option was possible . The way I was able to obtain the number was by calling Pac Bell and explaining that I wanted to program my autodialer with the number - the only trouble was that the autodialer would only accept either 7, 10, or 11 digits into its storage and I therefore needed the 7 digit number. Pac Bell gave it to me, I dutifully programmed it in, and the autodialer was ready to summon help for my household - however, were I able to call EMS but not able to speak, help would have been seriously delayed. wberbeni@gtri01.gatech.edu Georgia Inst. of Technology [Moderator's Note: If your autodialer's only objection is the lack of seven digits -- as opposed to the digits '911' themselves (for example, IBT speed dialing won't permit 911, 411 and certain others), -- then you can use filler digits of the form, '911-1111' or '911-####' to make the quota required. The network will start processing the call after the 911 is dialed, and the last four filler digits will have been given out long before the PD comes on the line anyway; no one will be offended by extra beeps in their ear. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:42:53 -0700 From: Eliot Lear Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! I'd like to commend Steve for once again demonstrating that one of the hottest issues of the early seventies is still with us today - the individual's ``right'' to privacy. I don't propose to argue those rights, now. How can Caller ID be offered so that it does not intrude on the individual's right to privacy? When in doubt, allow configurability. Avoid making policy decisions in implementation, but allow for them in the future. It would be nice if phone companies would give the individual the option, up to any particular phone call, whether caller id should be given, as well as what the default should be. The win, here, is that individuals will be able to decide which is more important, and when. The lose, of course, is that if they pick the wrong default and forget about it, Van Nuys would be just another tragedy; or in Steve's example, some cop would end up a little richer at the expense of another's well being. Eliot Lear [lear@net.bio.net] ------------------------------ Date: Mon Oct 16 01:24:55 1989 From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Organization: The Great Escape, Inc Patrick-- Unlike some who object to the idea of a moderator editorializing, I support your position that your opinion is as valuable to a discussion as is anyone else's, and that therefore you have not only the right, but a moral obligation to state your views (so long as you are cognizant of and responsibe with the added weight they carry by virtue of your position). As long as you are careful not to take action which might curtail others' expression of their (possibly opposing) views, there is little sound argument against your expressiion of your own. However, after your recent request that telecom readers refrain from posting on the merits and disadvantages of Caller ID, I opine that it was irresponsible of you to post your "Caller ID Saves A Life!" article. While it is an interesting news story, it is fairly obvious that you posted it to advocate your personal position that Caller ID is in the main a good thing. By using your authority as moderator to enable the broadcast of your personal view on a topic, after using that same authority to curtail the broadcast of others' views, you have carelessly (I hope) neglected you responsibility as moderator to maintain a realistic and honest presentation of the views of the Usenet telecom community. If you feel it beneficial (as I agree it was in the case of the Caller ID debate) to request curtailment of a discussion here, I hope that in the future you will take the pill along with the rest of us. With respect, Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" [Moderator's Note: Yes, I know I said Caller ID had occupied a huge amount of space here; and yes, I did suggest some time back it was time to move on to other things. But frankly, if the microcosm of society which makes up Digest readership is any indication, Caller ID is going to be a hot topic for the next few years. I really don't know which way to go with the discussion. It does seem a shame not to touch on 'Caller ID in the news' -- and we *will* be seeing more and more of it in the news -- yet the very real practical limitations of a Digest such as this preclude having the discussion go on and on forever. Be assured though, that for every position or posture taken here, ample space will be given to the 'loyal opposition'...whichever side of the argument that is. Thanks for writing. PT] ------------------------------ Subject: 911 Improvement Surcharge in Chicago Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:57:58 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" Monday morning, October 16, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced that he would submit to the city council a plan to increase city telephone taxes by 95c per line per month, earmarked for improvements to 911 service. Currently there is no such flat charge, simply a percentage tax rate on local telephone service. Daley's spokespeople commented that 911 service here has been a mess for years, and that many of the suburbs charge $1.00 per line per month, so 95c should not be unreasonable. There were no details about what is currently wrong or about what specific improvements Daley has in mind. (Despite the address, I live in Chicago; the Rosemont post office is more convenient for my location and travel patterns than any inside the city.) David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 ------------------------------ From: Peggy Shambo Date: Sat Oct 14 19:46:50 1989 Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Reply-To: peggy@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Peggy Shambo) Organization: ddsw1.MCS.COM Contributor, Mundelein, IL In article Lee_C._Moore.WBST128@ xerox.com writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 440, message 5 of 12 >Because of a service person who went wild in my house, I am now >shopping for a new answering machine. I am taking this opportunity to >by a top-of-the-line machine. Is there any machine that is currently >considered the best, hottest or most feature-full (consumer) answering >machine? >If there is sufficient interest, I will summarize for the group. Well, I don't know a heck of a lot about top-of-the-line answering machines, but my curiosity has been piqued as to the nature of this "service person" and what really happened to the old answering machine. Enquiring minds want to know. Does this qualify for the "sufficient interest" clause? :-) Peg Shambo | Anybody know of any IDMS/ADSO positions in peggy@ddsw1.mcs.com | the South of England? (London, Southampton, | Portsmouth, Bournemouth would all be nice) ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: A Light Touch Date: 13 Oct 89 02:00:05 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA I found this in the "Sydney Morning Herald", 10th October 1989: A Light Touch The State of Missouri is suing a company that sells light bulbs over the telephone, alleging the company claims that all its employees are handicapped whereas they may have nothing more disabling than hang- nails or hay fever. The lawsuit said workers for Local Handicapped Workers Inc had phoned thousands of people since April, asking them to buy light bulbs for up to $7 each (!) from its all-handicapped employees. Investigators said that when they posed as job applicants at the business, supervisors told them they could earn up to $770 a week and that "handicaps" could include pregnancy, hangnails, allergies or the need for eyeglasses. Applicants without handicaps were advised to come back when they "had thought one up". Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #454 *****************************   Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 1:06:58 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #455 Message-ID: <8910170106.aa22507@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Oct 89 01:05:33 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 455 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Projections for V&H Table Coordinates (David W. Tamkin) Re: V&H Table Coordinates (Joel B. Levin) Re: PC Sytems to Handle Phone Inquiries? (Tom Wiencko) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Carl Moore) Re: AT&T as a "Backup" For US Sprint et al (Dave Levenson) Re: What is SONET? (Paul Elliott) Re: 7 khz Technology for ISDN (Vladimir Taft) Re: SW56, ISDN Comm Cards For Macintoshes (Vladimir Taft) Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? (Fred Goldstein) Re: Some Comments on the History of Repertory Telephone Dialers (F. Linton) Re: The Day The Bell System Died (Stan M. Krieger) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Projections for V&H Table Coordinates Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 17:04:19 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" John R. Levine contributed to issue 450, volume 9: | The V&H tape uses some other projection that I expect is intended to | make equal distances equal. Intended, perhaps, but not successful. A projection that makes equal distances on the earth's surface equal on a plane map is impossible unless the area being mapped is a mesa top. As long as the distances between points are to be calculated as Pythagorean diagonals, something has to break down somewhere. My guess is that the coordinates are based on many projections of small areas; there would still be a problem in joining these smaller maps, but perhaps the theory is that with greater distances the error is less significant as rate bands become larger and fewer. With Illinois Bell, though, the coordinates are gospel: there is an eight-mile band for local calls, and the Chicago-Irving and Schiller Park CO's are a few feet more than eight miles apart. Illinois Bell dutifully charges a call between those two districts in the eight-to-fifteen mile band. On the other hand, the Chicago-Canal East and Chicago-Canal West switches, being in the same building, have the same coordinates assigned, so the distance between them never comes into consideration, though it is perhaps almost as great as the excess over eight miles in the distance between the Schiller Park and Chicago-Irving switches. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: V&H Table Coordinates Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:24:23 EDT From johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us: >The V&H tape uses some other projection that I expect is intended to >make equal distances equal. Any given projection is tuned to the area >that it is intended to display; the Albers projection is tuned for the >lower 48 . . . I also have no definitive answer. I have seen the map of the contiguous 48 states displayed against the grid, and an explanation that comes to mind is that the grid is tilted to allow the map to occupy the greatest amount of space within its bounding box, i.e., to maximize the scale used with certain coordinate limits. I don't know why this might be important, though. /JBL ------------------------------ From: Tom Wiencko Subject: Re: PC Sytems to Handle Phone Inquiries? Date: 16 Oct 89 02:27:23 GMT Reply-To: Tom Wiencko Organization: Wiencko & Associates, Inc. In article Jim Henry I would like to design a system which allows a telephone caller to >check the status of an order by telephone without human intervention. I recently researched a similar application, and found a company which seems to handle this type of requirement very well. The vendor is Innovative Technology, Inc. in Roswell Georgia. They make a clever little board (which is not really cheap, but gets the job done) and better yet, there is a lot of software out there written by this company and by other companies to handle all sorts of touch-tone response applications. I have not used their product myself, but have talked to people who have used it and have demo-run some applications using it. Seems pretty slick. They are at 404/998-9970. Disclamer: I am not associated with Innovative Technology. Tom Wiencko (w) (404) 977-4515 gatech!stiatl!tom Wiencko & Associates, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 9:29:52 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Yes, there are some cases where 7D call can be long distance (within your own area code). This exists in California at least in 213, 818, 415, 408; New Jersey (201,609); and recently it was noted in the Digest that 1+7D within 313 area in Michigan will reduce to 7D (preparing for N0X/N1X there?). I noted years ago that 1+ was not necessary on pay phones on 475 and 478 in Delaware (302). ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: AT&T as a "Backup" For US Sprint et al Date: 14 Oct 89 23:29:09 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , myerston@cts.sri.com writes: ... > Such outages are usually reported as "SPRINT fiber cut, AT&T > circuits overloaded" as if each were equally to blame!. The fact that > the OCCs routinely use AT&T facilities to complete calls to remote > locations is equally unknown to press and public. When an excavation project severed a fiber optic link here in New Jersey last year, the AT&T customers noticed a huge increase in circuits-busy conditions. The AT&T network managed to complete a few calls, but the blocking probabilty went way up. MCI customers, on the other hand, were unaware of the outage, and experienced normal circuit availability. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Paul Elliott x225 Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 16 Oct 89 16:55:12 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article , gamiddleton@watmath. waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) writes: > I read in the newspaper today about some Northern Telecom fibre-optic > equipment that uses a signalling technology called SONET. Does anybody know > what SONET actually is? SONET is an acronym for Synchronous Optical NETwork. It is not really a signaling technology, but rather is the North American fiber optic transmission standard. The SONET standard is described in Bellcore TA-TSY-000253 (Issue 3, July 1988). SONET transports telephony signals as payloads of multiple DS0 (Dee-Ess-Zero) channels, each DS0 being 64 Kbit/s arranged as 8 bits/channel with an 8000 Hz channel repetition rate. 24 channels are grouped (with one frame bit) into a frame; the resulting signal is called a DS1, and is the basic T1 signal. I won't go into the various signaling and framing formats here (unless someone really twists my arm). SONET provides for several optical transmission rates; these are: STS-1, OC-1: 51.840 Mbit/s, 672 DS0 channels STS-3, OC-3: 155.52 Mbit/s, 3x OC-1 ... and on, up to: STS-48, OC-48: 2488.32 Mbit/s, 48x OC-1 (STS-N = Synchronous Transport Signal level N, the signal description) (OC-N = Optical Carrier level N, the STS-N after conversion to light) Note that the data rates above do not correspond exactly to the number of DS-0 channels being transported. This is due to additional overhead data in the SONET signal. The SONET signal uses laser light sources and single-mode fiber. Here at Optilink, we were amused to see the Northern Telecom press release (in which they claimed to be the first), as we have had a SONET digital loop carrier system in field-trials at several sites for a few months now. The article in the paper was a bit sketchy, so perhaps they are indeed first at _something_SONET_, but certainly they are not alone in the field. Paul M. Elliott Optilink Corporation (707) 795-9444 {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." ------------------------------ From: Vladimir Taft Subject: Re: 7 khz Technology for ISDN Date: 13 Oct 89 22:57:22 GMT Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA 7 kHz audio standard uses a more sophisticated encoding algorithm which provides better quality than the older standard (8-bit PCM) at the same bit rate of 64 Kbps. As far as the rest of your questions - sorry, I have not seen the article. Vladimir Taft ------------------------------ From: Vladimir Taft Subject: Re: SW56, ISDN Comm Cards For Macintoshes Date: 13 Oct 89 22:52:17 GMT Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA I would recommend to call Sofcom Inc. (division of Hayes) in San Francisco. The name of the president of the division is Mr. M. Drabkin. Get the number by calling (415) 555-1212 (Sorry, I do not have it handy). Regards, Vlad Taft ------------------------------ From: goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com Subject: Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? Date: 16 Oct 89 19:19:27 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , comcon!roy@uunet.uu.net (Roy M. Silvernail) writes: > Do you have measured service? What are the actual rates? Do you have > to juggle zones? Do you have a free-call area? If you were there for > the beginning of measured service, what was the introduction like? > (was there a public outcry? Was the public even consulted?) Here in Mass., there are measured residence options but mostly it's flat-rate. Business is measured-only IF there are more than 160k local lines, otherwise you can get either. I.e., the boonies are flat, but Boston is measured. Measured local service, particularly for residence, is a truly awful idea. The usual justification is that it's "fair" that people who use more should pay more. But what is fair about monopoly rates that don't correspond to costs? Most local measured service plans don't have any relationship to costs whatsover. The classic study was done in Denver in the mid-1970s, where local calls can go up to 53 miles. The cost of the typical local call turned out to be under a mill a minute. Only the longest were around 2c/minute. It's no doubt part of the Colorado PUC's public record, but I don't have a reference. New York State is fairly rigorous about cost-based rates. New York City, with its extremely high percentage of tandem switching, is all measured. Costs vary with time of day, and there are multiple distance zones. Residence can be timed or untimed. Untimed is about 8c/call peak hour, timed about 7c plus a penny a minute after the first five. I don't have the details handy. But in any case, NYC is NOT typical of the rest of the country! I once worked at a firm whose major business was intervening in telco rate cases. Measured local service was a common telco ploy to raise rates. The cost of measurement typically exceeded the cost of the calls being measured! Thus it was actually padding the rate base, costing the ratepayers money, and not buying any actual benefit. If overpriced local calls cause people to talk less, then the actual cost/minute of the network will go up. That's terribly counterproductive and makes poor public policy. Typically 80% of telco local cost is fixed, 20% usage-sensitive. What usage sensitive pricing plan was like that? Usually it gets more than 50% of revenue from usage. Local calls, especially within a short distance (not the Atlanta/Denver multi-office extended local areas) are incredibly cheap, on a marginal usage cents per minute basis. If the telco could really justify the rate on the grounds of cost, it would be economically valid and "fair". But then it would be too cheap to bother with. Which means they really shouldn't bother, but they always come back again and again... fred ------------------------------ From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: Some Comments on the History of Repertory Telephone Dialers Date: 16 Oct 89 19:38:40 GMT In article , kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > > A few years later year came Son of Rapidial, more commonly > known as Magicall. > Ah, yes, the Magicall! I picked one of these up at the New Haven Boulevard flea market a few (ten?) years ago, only to learn that the thing needs a power supply (P/S) and a dialer unit (D/U) (all I got was the box with the four-inch-broad tape ribbon and R/PB head). Has anyone any suggestions regarding the voltages and current ratings that missing power should produce, and which voltage is applied where in the tape box? Alternatively, can anyone suggest a source for either P/S or D/U? Respond directly, and I can supply relevant part numbers w/o boring everyone else. Many thanks! -- Fred ARPA/Internet: FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU Bitnet: FLINTON%eagle@WESLEYAN[.bitnet] from uucp: ...!{research, mtune!arpa, uunet}!eagle.Wesleyan.EDU!FLinton on ATT-Mail: !fejlinton Tel.: + 1 203 776 2210 (home) OR + 1 203 347 9411 xt 2249 (work) Telex: + 15 122 3413 FEJLINTON CompuServe ID: 72037,1054 F-Net (guest): linton@inria.inria.fr OR ...!inria.inria.fr!linton ------------------------------ From: stank@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (Stan Krieger) Subject: Re: The Day Bell System Died Date: 16 Oct 89 19:50:08 GMT Organization: Summit NJ > "The Day Bell System Died" > Lyrics Copyright (C) 1983 by Lauren Weinstein > (To the tune of "American Pie") > (With apologies to Don McLean) About the time of divestiture, there was a show on PBS about the AT&T breakup, and over the closing credits there was a satire on "Breaking up is Hard to Do" (I think it was "Breaking up is Hard on You"). Does anyone have the words to that one? Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #455 *****************************   Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 7:50:55 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #456 Message-ID: <8910170750.aa05033@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Oct 89 07:50:08 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 456 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson 708 Prefixes To Be Removed From 312 (Doug Blair) Potpourri: Thoughts About 708 (David W. Tamkin) Touch-Tone service in Australia (Henry Mensch) Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Wayne Folta) New Book: The Cuckoo's Egg (Alain Arnaud) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Joel B. Levin) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Mike Morris) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 708 Prefixes To Be Removed From 312 Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 16:26:04 CDT From: Doug Blair Patrick: Just got through typing in all the prefixes that are going to move to 708. Gotta drive a little awk script to make that move on 11/11/89. Now there's no sense in everyone all typiing it in is there? So, if it hasn't been sent into the dcom.telecom file yet, please do so with the appended list. If you'd like the script too, let me know. ___ _ _ _ _ | || |_ ___ _| ||_| ___ __ _| |_ Doug Blair Obedient Software Corp. | | || .\/ ._\/. || |/ ._\| \|_ _| 1007 Naperville Rd, Wheaton IL 60187 |___||___/\___/\___||_|\___/|_|_| |_| obdient!blair blair@obdient.chi.il.us The following prefixes will move from area code 312 to area code 708 on November 11, 1989. Note that 555 (directory assistance) and 591 (high volume calls - radio stations etc) and 976 (dial-it phone programs and recordings) will remain in both 312 and 708. This info typed from an Illinois Bell pamphlet dated 5/15/89 and is subject to change! 201 206 206 208 209 210 213 215 216 218 223 228 231 232 234 240 244 246 249 250 251 253 255 256 257 258 259 260 272 279 289 290 291 293 295 296 297 298 299 301 303 304 305 307 310 314 317 318 319 323 325 328 330 331 333 335 336 339 343 344 345 349 350 351 352 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 364 365 366 367 369 371 377 381 382 383 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 402 403 405 406 409 412 416 418 420 422 423 424 425 426 428 429 430 432 433 437 438 439 441 442 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 455 456 457 458 459 460 462 464 466 469 470 473 474 475 479 480 481 482 484 485 490 491 492 495 496 497 498 499 501 503 505 506 510 512 513 515 516 517 518 519 520 524 526 529 530 531 532 534 535 537 540 541 543 544 546 547 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 560 562 563 564 566 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 584 587 590 591 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 603 605 612 614 615 617 619 620 623 627 628 629 632 634 635 636 639 640 647 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 662 665 668 669 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 687 688 689 690 691 692 695 696 697 698 699 705 706 709 713 717 719 720 724 729 730 739 740 741 742 746 747 748 749 754 755 756 757 758 759 766 771 773 780 788 789 790 795 796 798 799 801 803 806 810 816 817 818 820 823 824 825 827 830 831 832 833 834 835 837 839 840 841 843 844 848 849 850 851 852 857 858 859 860 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 872 877 879 882 884 885 887 888 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 904 905 910 913 916 920 926 931 932 934 937 940 941 945 946 948 949 952 953 954 956 959 960 961 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 971 972 974 976 979 980 981 982 983 985 986 990 991 998 --- --- --- ------------------------------ Subject: Potpourri: Thoughts About 708 Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 17:46:49 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" Just a few stray thoughts after reading some recent issues: Yes, Boushelle Carpet Cleaners still advertise in metropolitan Chicago that their phone number is "HUdson three, two seven hundred." The rugs you are having cleaned by Boushelle might have been purchased from Lincoln Carpeting, whose jingle includes "NAtional two, nine thousand, NAtional two [ring ring], nine thousand." The video for Lincoln's commercial reads "NA2-9000" but I think Boushelle's spells out "HUdson" or "Hudson". Neither displays the prefix as "483" or "622". However, with the upcoming area code split, the videos for both now show a small, silent "(312)" to the upper left. Business cards, outdoor signs, and trucks are beginning to show the 708 area code here, and business in the city of Chicago are beginning to include the (312) instead of just naming seven digits. No advertising that I've seen in newspapers or on television or heard on radio as yet gives 708 for any suburban business. Our choke prefix here is 591. It will be seven-digit dialable from both 312 and 708 (708 callers will still be charged for a call to Chicago-Canal East), but I believe that outside area code 708 one will have to dial appropriately to reach area code 312: +1 708 591 XXXX will not work. There are only two local telcos in 312 and 708 (not counting cellular companies). Illinois Bell covers almost everything, but Central Telephone has two CO's whose areas both straddle the 312/708 border. The two companies are handling directory assistance rather differently: If you are calling from Illinois Bell service in Chicago and want DA for a 708 suburb or are calling from Illinois Bell service in a 708 suburb and want DA for Chicago, you'll have to dial 1-NPA-555-1212, but it will be charged only 30c, same as the cost to call 411 for your own area code. I'm not sure about calls from IBT-owned payphones to DA for the other side of the city limits; they currently do not charge for 411. (Of course, from a COCOT, it's whatever the traffic will bear. I seriously doubt that any COCOT, even those along the 312/708 borders, will treat an eleven-digit call to DA for the other side any differently for a call to DA in another state.) Presumably, during the grace period, 411 will be acceptable for requesting numbers in the other area code; Illinois Bell could not give me a definite answer on that nor on the cost of DA calls from payphones to the other side of the line. From Centel service, however, DA for 708 and 312 will be maintained in a single location, and you will dial 411 for either. The operator or the recording will include the area code when he/she/it tells you the number. DA will still be 30c per call (but with two free calls per line per billing cycle, free from Centel-owned payphones). 708 will, quite unnecessarily, be the first disjointed NPA: of the four geographic holes in the city of Chicago, one will be in 312, one is a tiny patch condemned for a future highway interchange that has no phones, but the other two will be partly in 312 but mostly in 708. Thus 708 will be in three pieces. The mess could have been avoided by keeping in 312 five of the prefixes that are going into 708 (covering four suburbs), and I don't know whether this lame-brained notion was IBT's or Bellcore's idea, but as with the way IBT is handling directory assistance, the people at Centel just shake their heads and sigh. I live a block's walk from each of these two extra borders between the codes and a half mile from the outer perimeter of Chicago (where the bulk of 708 begins); if anyone will be in the area and wants a tour of places where adjacent houses or stores will be an eleven-digit call apart or where it will require an eleven-digit call to reach the police or fire department, let me know. Included will be two shopping plazas in Harwood Heights that have stores in alternating area codes. I do know of one business in Chicago that realized they'd been assigned a Niles prefix and howled at IBT about it; they now have a new number and will stay in 312 with their neighbors. I hope they are making IBT pay for their new stationery, new advertising, and notice to existing customers. One curiosity is that as a Centel customer in Chicago I can dial two area code 708 numbers with three digits: 411 reaches a Des Plaines number (probably on the 699 or 391 prefix) and 611 reaches (708) 698-9955 in Park Ridge. Likewise, Illinois Bell's area code 708 customers will dial 611 and reach (312) 509-2510 [at least from suburbs along the northern edge and the northern part of the western edge of Chicago]. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 Jolnet is a public access system, where every user expresses personal opinions. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 05:36:16 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Touch-Tone service in Australia Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu Mr. Kendall states in his recent item that there is no touch-tone service in Australia; I must disagree. I lived on Australia's Gold Coast from January until June of this year, and the only phones I saw there which were *not* touch-tone were coin-operated payphones. In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I found that touch-tone service was non-existent; it did seem to be an up-and-coming thing for many regions, though. From Mr. Kendall's network address, I see he is in Tasmania, which may be regarded as something of an outpost (with respect to new features) as far as Telecom Australia is concerned. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) Subject: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 16 Oct 89 22:37:04 GMT Reply-To: folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP (Wayne Folta) Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Lines: 18 The price of cellular phones has been dropping recently, so I got a reconditioned phone for $230 (Fed. Expressed to my door). It comes in a backpack, with a magnetic-mount antenna. I'd like to put a little work into it and make a nicer, more permanent set-up, so: Can anyone tell me about cellular phone antennas? Why the little curly part of the antenna (does it have something to do with horizontal v. vertical polarization?)? Why is the Radio Shack window- mount antenna so much smaller than my magnetic mount? And why does the Radio Shack antenna have such a large passive coupler (I think) base? I would like to disguise the antenna, to avoid break-ins, as the rest of the system will be hidden. Any clever ideas here? Maybe use the FM antenna? Maybe an antenna in the back window? Wayne Folta (folta@tove.umd.edu 128.8.128.42) ------------------------------ From: Alain Arnaud Subject: New Book: The Cuckoo's Egg Date: 16 Oct 89 14:05:34 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I picked up a new book over the week-end, titled "The Cuckoo's egg or Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage". It is by Clifford Stoll, and the publisher is Doubleday. Here's a synopsis of the write-up on the inside flap. "For months a computer intruder moved through a maze of American military and research computers like an invisible man - until Clifford Stoll saw his footprints. Over a year later, to the delight of the baffled CIA, FBI and NSA, Stoll nailed him, and wound up on the front page of the New York Times. With all the supense of a classic spy novel. Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist turned Unix systems administrator at Lawrence Berkeley lab when his discovery of a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on the system. Instead of simply expelling the intruder, Stoll let him wander through the system while carefully rewcording every keystroke. Thus began a year of stalking an elusive, methodical hacker who was prowling the nation's conputer network, (Arpanet, Milnet...) using numerous techniques- from simply guessing passwords, to exploiting software bugs in gnu-emacs, to setting up bogus programs, to gain umauthorized access to American computer files on several military, government and academic computer systems..." Excellent book, a real page turner with lots of details on Unix systems and the Internet. This book is as good if not better than Tracy Kidder's "The Soul of the Machine". Alan Arnaud Std Disclaimer + Just a consultant Guest Account: arnaud@angate.ATT.COM Permanent Account: uunet!ecla!arnaud ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:18:44 EDT >Picture it: a small boy next to a huge pile of cookies with chocolate >around his mouth, and the jingle >"How many cookies did Andrew eat? > > ANdrew 8-8000" Wow. You don't say what that was for, or where, it was used, but I remember that phone number from radio commercials for a Boston area carpet cleaner (or maybe seller). Was that it? Or were there more than one metro areas with commercials plugging that same number for local firms? ------------------------------ From: Mike Morris Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Date: 16 Oct 89 20:42:28 GMT Reply-To: Mike Morris (John Boteler) writes: >In discussing how our analog brains work, the subject of telephone >number jingles in advertisments came up. She pointed out how such a >simple device could jog our memories. >It must have worked because I have never forgotten this one. >Picture it: a small boy next to a huge pile of cookies with chocolate >around his mouth, and the jingle >"How many cookies did Andrew eat? > > ANdrew 8-8000" While not a telephone number, or even a jingle, it reminded me of a gag "memo" that was on the San Diego PD watch commanders bulletin board one April 1st a number of years ago... Before I type what it said, a little info is necessary: Most police departments use a "ten-code" on their 2-way radio: 10-1 means "You're in a bad radio transmission location, I can't hear you", "10-2" means "Your radio signal is good, go ahead", "10-4" is "affirmative", "10-7" means "out of the car, away from the radio", "10-8" means "In the car, available for assignment", etc. There are also the "Code" signals such as "Code 3" meaning that red lights and siren are in use, "Code 4" meaning "Everything's OK, no assistance required", "Code 7" meaning "Out of the car for lunch or dinner", etc. The memo went something like: Units going 10-8 from Code-7 will use proper grammar! No longer will we be "10-8" we will be "10-EATEN"! Since I was in San Diego only for one day (the April 1st of the memo), I have no idea if "10-eaten" was used on the air... Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov ICBM: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard PSTN: 818-447-7052 #Include disclaimer.standard cat flames.all > /dev/null ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #456 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 1:00:20 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #457 Message-ID: <8910180100.aa19310@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 01:00:07 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 457 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson San Fransisco Horror (TELECOM Moderator) Update on 415 Area Code (Linc Madison) Noise Problems from "Metering Pulses" in Europe and Asia (Larry Lippman) Small Phone System (David C. Troup) Dialing Procedures in Dallas (Linc Madison) Payphones and Calling Cards (Linc Madison) Voice Mail & Ringmaster (Richard S. Walker) Billing of Yore (Johnny Zweig) Re: NUA for Compuserve? (Rupert Mohr) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 0:08:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: San Fransisco Horror At the time this is written, chaos is reigning in the Bay Area, and all telecommunications are knocked out. The latest death count is about 200 people, and this may be a low estimate. A large fire is burning out of control and has destroyed much property. I wish nothing but the best to our readers in the San Fransisco and Oakland area, and I hope that as communications are restored we will receive detailed reports of the disaster, particularly in reference to telecom activities. Berkeley is totally off line at this time, and email contact is not possible with the sites in the San Fransisco area. We seem to have been hit with so many disasters recently. First came the storm on the east coast; then a few days ago, the storm in the south which affected Texas and Louisiana.....and now this new horror. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 01:51:36 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Update on 415 Area Code Organization: University of California, Berkeley I had a little time to kill this weekend, so I did a little research, with a little help from two Oakland directories (June 1988 & 1989) and one San Francisco (Sept. 1989). In the one-year span between the two Oakland books, 29 prefixes were added. At that rate of consumption, the supply of NNX prefixes would've been exhausted by mid-1992. If 415 weren't being split, the supply of NXX codes would run out by about 1996. I went a bit deeper, though. Area 415 includes one area north of San Francisco, Marin County. Everything else north to the Oregon border is 707. Seemed logical to me that Marin should've been thrown in with the relatively uncrowded 707. It turns out that out of 30-odd prefixes in Marin and about 130 in A/C 707, there are only 7 duplications -- *all* in San Rafael on the 415 side. Neither area has significant growth in number of prefixes assigned. The other interesting thing to note is which N0X/N1X prefixes are coming on line first. The first three were 302, 502, and 709. The next few include 506, 516, 601, 705, and 706. The interesting part comes from looking at the NPAs corresponding to these combinations: Delaware, western Kentucky, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Long Island, Mississippi, northern central Ontario, and northwest Mexico (hack). All except for 516 are areas of low population where people in this area are relatively unlikely to call. (In fact, the way I found the last five is that if you dial, for example, 214-XXXX, the system waits for you to dial the last three digits so it can give you its "You moron, dial 1 first" recording.) I'm just curious why Pac*Bell decided to pick on Lawn Guy Land ;-) Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Noise Problems from "Metering Pulses" in European and Asian Countries Date: 16 Oct 89 20:05:29 EDT (Mon) From: Larry Lippman In article H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in} writes: > >> ... The usual system of billing > >> calls elsewhere is with "metering pulses". Each pulse is worth so much > >> money. On a local call, the pulses go by very slowly and on an > >> international call the pulses come rapid-fire. > In India too, where we have these metering pulses, most places dont > not get itemized billing. However, the new electronic exchanges that > are now being set up provide metering pulses only as a sort as > "backward compatibility" to the local exchanges that demand it. > BTW, these metering pulses cause havoc with dial-up data-comm. They > are audible right through the subscribes phone set. We have spent a > good amount of time with various combinations of modems and metering > pulse rates. Metering pulses generated by central office apparatus in various European and Asian countries may be a problem for data communication users. There are different metering pulse schemes in use throughout the world, but I believe the most common method uses simplex pulses of 50 Hz AC. Using a repeating coil in a trunk circuit, 50 Hz is pulsed through a single primary winding. There are two secondary windings, one of which is placed in series with the tip side of the line, and the other is placed in series with the ring side of the line. The secondary windings are arranged so that their phases are *opposed*, which means that no 50 Hz tone will be audible in the station instrument. The meter is an electromechanical counter which is sensitive to 50 Hz signals, and is connected with one side to ground, and the other side connected to BOTH tip and ring using two series capacitors. While the meter is located in the central office, the system is intended that "private meters" can be used at subscriber premises. The effective method of signaling as described above is simplex. However, the inaudibility of the 50 Hz metering pulse is only as good as the longitudinal balance of the cable plant. Cable plant in poor condition, especially that which may be subject to effects of moisture will result in a longitudinal imbalance, thereby increasing the detected level of these metering pulses. An appropriately designed impedance network located at the station may be used to correct for longitudinal imbalance of the cable plant and thereby reduce the level of the metering pulse. I have an off-the-wall suggestion for such a crude, but perhaps effective balance network. Obtain a 2,500 ohm wirewound potentiometer and two 0.22 uF non-polarized capacitors rated for 200 WVDC. Connect the wiper arm of the potentiometer to a GOOD earth ground. Connect the tip side of the telephone line to one side of the potentiometer using the first 0.22 uF series capacitor; connect the ring side of the telephone line to the other side of the potentiometer using the second 0.22 uF capacitor. Adjust the potentiometer for minimum audible level of the metering pulses. While I have not had firsthand experience with metering pulses in the U.S. (where they are not used), I did acquire some knowledge of the topic back in 1977 when I was involved with a project for the government of Egypt. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ From: "David C. Troup - Skunk Works : 2600hz" Subject: Small Phone System Date: 17 Oct 89 03:22:27 GMT Organization: Carroll College Dept of Artificial Intelligence I have stumbled across a box about the size of a Telebit Trailblazer which reads: TelExpand (system 1) R.M. Fuller Company The front has l.e.d.'s for... In use; Privacy mode; delayed response; priority response; call forward; pager alert; answer machine; remote access. The back panel has two phone jacks - wall and phone. a program and single/multi switch. And on the bottom, the sticker reads: TeleExpand Advanced features telephone system R.M. Fuller Company 902 industry Drive Seattle, Wa 98188 So! Anyone know how to use this? Anyone ever HEARD of this unit? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks. "We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, knowin' that ain't allowed"__ _______ _______________ |David C. Troup / Surf Rat _______)(______ | |dtroup@carroll1.cc.edu : mail _____________________________|414-524-6809___________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 02:11:48 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Dialing Procedures in Dallas Organization: University of California, Berkeley Various contributors have referred to the horrible situation in Dallas. As a former resident who still visits frequently, I can tell you it's quite confusing, and largely needlessly so. First of all, Dallas (and all of Texas, at least the Bell parts) have had MANDATORY 1+ dialing since the introduction of DDD. It has never been possible to dial NPA-NNX-XXXX. Dallas and Fort Worth are toll to one another, but there are some prefixes in the area that are desig- nated "Metro", meaning calls to/from both Dallas and Fort Worth are local. Until quite recently, a subscriber with a Metro number could call from or be called by any telephone in the expanded area with just the 7-digit number. As a result of the recent introduction of NXX prefixes and the upcoming new area code, several changes have occurred: 1) To dial from Dallas to Tyler (both 214), you must dial 1+214+NXX-XXXX. However, to dial from Fort Worth to Waco (both 817) you dial only 1+NNX-XXXX. Same applies with 0+ calls. 2) To call from a regular Dallas number to a Fort Worth Metro number, you MUST dial 817-NNX-XXXX. If you dial just the 7 digits, you get an error message. If you dial 1+817-NNX-XXXX, you get error msg. 3) To call from a regular Dallas number to a Dallas Metro number, you MUST dial 214-NXX-XXXX, *even though* it's a local call in the same area code!! Same error messages as above. 4) To call out from any Metro number, I believe (I'm not certain) you must dial only the area code for local calls, but 1+ if it's toll and so on. The upshot is that you MUST dial 1 if it's toll, and you MUST NOT dial 1 if it's not toll. You must dial the area code whenever dealing with a Metro number, though. However, to make things even WORSE, in Houston, along the border between 713/409, some local calls are 1+713-NNX-XXXX or the same with 409 from 713. Got that? There'll be a quiz later.... Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu P.S. (dead thread, I know, but...) My all-time favorite call sign, which I didn't see in the discussion here, is a TV station in Chicago: WTTW, your Window To The World. A station here in San Francisco is now using that slogan (KTSF-26), so I wonder what's happened to the Chicago WTTW. [Moderator's Note: WTTW-Channel 11 is still operating in Chicago. It is our Public TV station, and they still use 'Window To The World' as their slogan. My main concern now, Link, is what happened to YOU in the earthquake. Communications with Berkeley have been lost for several hours. Let us know you are safe, and what's happening out there. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 02:22:35 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Payphones and Calling Cards Organization: University of California, Berkeley I've recently had occasion to make a few long distance calls from payphones, and have a few of my own stories to add to the collection. The local COCOTS payphone intercepts as "invalid number" 10288, 10222, 10333, and 10777. It also tried to charge me out-of-state DA charge for an in-state DA call. (I was just testing it -- in-state DA is free from Pac*Bell payphones.) However, it allowed 950-XXXX and 800 access numbers and didn't disable the keypad. I tried (from a *real* payphone == Pac*Bell) to make some calls on my MCI and Sprint calling cards. Dialing 10XXX-0-NPA-NXX-XXXX and then punching in my card number at the tone gave me "invalid card" responses on both carriers. (No, I *didn't* switch them around.) The Sprint intercept particularly surprised me, because it cut in immediately after the fourth digit. Since they now assign random 14-digit numbers (instead of the old YOUR-HOME-PHONE+XXXX), I was surprised that they intercepted as soon as they saw that I wasn't dialing the XXXX of the target number. Both of my cards work fine with the appropriate 950/800 number, and the Sprint operator who came on-line after I punched my number in twice was able to enter it from his console without problem, but their computers don't accept their own calling cards. I was calling from Sunnyvale, Calif., and other places in the San Francisco LATA. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 09:02:19 edt From: "WALKER,RICHARD S" Subject: Voice Mail & Ringmaster I have a Voice Mail card (PC Systems) in my 286 and I'd like to set it up to recognize different rings that Southern Bell's Ringmaster service offers. Does anyone know if a programming solution is possible? ------------------------------ From: Johnny Zweig Subject: Billing of Yore Reply-To: zweig@cs.uiuc.edu Organization: U of Illinois, CS Dept., Systems Research Group Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 16:43:53 GMT I am curious if people know how long-distance billing used to be handled in days of yore. In particular, how did it evolve as technology went from patch cords to SxS to *ESS? I mean, in 1921 I gather you placed a long-distance call by telling the local operator to patch you through -- where did the billing information reside? I am also curious about how hotels have charged for phone-usage in the days since they started doing so. Before PBX's, it seems like they would either have had to guesstimate the charges or have some complicated arrangement with the phone company to inform them at the time the call is made how much it costs. Johnny Curious [Moderator's Note: Years ago, operators kept manual paper tickets which they wrote up as they placed each call. These tickets were stamped in a clock when the connection started, and stamped again when it ended. The tickets were collected by clerks who went around to each operator position picking them up every few minutes. The clerks computed the time and charges for each ticket, and when the subscriber had requested this information they were called back with details. The tickets were sorted by calling number and placed in each subscriber's folder where they were held for billing. Other clerks continually kept pulling these folders and posting tickets on the appropriate ledger card. Like today, subscribers were on cycle billing; that is, a certain number were billed each working day of the month. There were 22 billing cycles per month. I have in my grandparent's papers a phone bill from Illinois Bell dated May 13, 1931. The statement has a *handwritten* list of the long distance calls, plus a handwritten cover sheet showing the total bill for the month was $3.60. Hotels had an arrangement with telco which was that they (hotel) guarenteed payment for all guest calls in exchange for a commission for handling the call, as well as billing and collecting. Following a long distance call, the hotel was notified, usually within minutes and always within an hour of the charges for the call. They added this to the guest's bill and the guest paid when checking out, or immediatly, depending on his credit. The telco billed the hotel once a month, and gave typically a 10-15 percent discount on the total bill. If as sometimes happened, telco failed to quote time and charges in a timely way and the guest checked out without paying -- because the amount was not known by the cashiers when he paid his bill -- then telco had to absorb those charges. Usually in high traffic locations, telco would call the hotel every few minutes to quote time and charges for the calls just completed. Sometimes they used a telex machine to transmit this information. PT] ------------------------------ From: Operator Subject: Re: NUA for Compuserve? Date: 16 Oct 89 15:23:00 GMT Organization: RMI Net Aachen * W. Germany CompuServe has 3132 as NUA for its network and then asks Host name: Rupert ***************************************************************** ___ ____ ___ _ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ _ /__/ / / / / /\ / /__ / /__//__// /__//__ /\ / / \ / / __/_ / / /__ / / // //__ / //__ / / ***************************************************************** * addresses: uucp rmohr@infoac.rmi.de rmohr@unido.bitnet * * cis 72446,415 Fax 49 241 32822 * ***************************************************************** ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #457 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 2:02:25 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #458 Message-ID: <8910180202.aa20639@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 01:59:41 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 458 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Caller ID at American Express (John Croll) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Bob Jacobson) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Roger B.A. Klorese) Re: Technical Specifications of TTY Machines (Michael S. Cross) Re: Wrong Number (Bob Goudreau) Re: Telecommunications in Belgium - Part 2 (Alain Fontaine) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Brian Kantor) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Scott D. Green) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Stephen Tell) Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Dennis Brophy) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 06:35:59 -0700 From: croll@wonder.enet.dec.com Subject: Caller ID at American Express At the risk of being the straw that broke the camel's back... In Telecom V9:454, John Levine (johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us) writes: >By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my >bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that >looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the >caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my >card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number >and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it >off. I remember reading in Forbes (I think, it was some time ago) that American Express Customer Services folks used to greet callers by name as they answered the phone, taking advantage of the features of the 800 version of Caller ID to automatically look up the caller's account. They no longer do this, because it was so disconcerting to their customers. They received so many complaints from enough people that they either turned it off, or instructed their people to no longer say anything about it. The article didn't say explicitly whether they had turned it off, however. From this, my own conclusion is that the reaction to caller ID isn't so much the explicit invasion of privacy as the fear that Big Brother is always watching. I know that this is just about the same thing, but there is a difference between the abstract feeling that your privacy isn't perfect and having your nose rubbed in it every time you make a phone call. After all, many times when you call someone you wind up telling them who you are, anyway; having them greet you with your name before you even get a word out is, to say the least, disconcerting. It puts the control of the conversation immediately into the callee's hands, instead of the caller's. John ------------------------------ From: Bob Jacobson Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 17 Oct 89 07:52:08 GMT Reply-To: Bob Jacobson Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA Caller ID for 911-E (enhanced) services has never been a source of controversy. California state law explicitly provides for the sharing of personal telephone information, including telephone numbers, with emergency service providers via the 911 service. Regrettably, in many rural areas, telephone providers -- particularly the larger firms, Pacific Bell and GTE California -- have not yet upgraded their systems to provide 911-E. It is unlikely that a call to Sears or American Express is going to save someone's life. Oh, wait: I can just envisage a teenage girl now, screaming at her parents, "I've just got to call and order those new jeans or I'm going to die!" Thank goodness for Call ID: next time, the department store can anticipate this need and mail out a solicitation to the family. How nice. ------------------------------ From: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 17 Oct 89 21:33:10 GMT Reply-To: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA In article johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us writes: >Some of us left wing wackos who dislike the way that telcos are >introducing Caller ID think that 911 is a fine example of how Caller >ID should work. If you dial 911, your call gets IDed. If you dial >the cops' regular seven-digit number you don't get IDed. ...but in many areas it is difficult, if not impossible to reach an Emergency Services Dispatch Center with a seven-digit number. In Boston, for example, we were told that if we called the seven-digit number for the local police station, they could not guarantee emergency response. ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rogerk@mips.COM {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "I want to live where it's always Saturday." -- Guadalcanal Diary [Moderator's Note: But the theory is, if you have a dire emergency -- which is the *only* valid reason for calling 911 -- then you obviously will want the police/fire/paramedic people to be able to immediatly locate you with your emergency circumstances. If all you want to do is call 911 to snitch on your neighbors, or report your car stolen, these are not *emergency* problems, and you should be using the seven digit administrative number. Here in Chicago a huge number of calls to 911 are not *emergencies* at all, but simple complaints or requests to file police reports, etc. 911 is only to be used when *immediate* intervention is required to save a life or report a crime in progress, or a fire going on *now*, etc. And for those conditions, how could anyone object to being immediatly identified and assisted? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Sep 89 08:14:09 CDT From: msc@ihc.att.com (Michael S Cross) Subject: Re: Technical Specifications of TTY Machines Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories [Moderator's Note: Michael Morris passed along this letter received from Mr. Cross, in response to an earlier article in the Digest. PT] I just finished reading your description of the TTY machines and just wanted to say hello. The building I am in now is one of the last TELETYPE buildings left standing. Just after divestiture we became AT&T TELETYPE then just AT&T, we are now AT&T Bell Laboratories (for about 1 1/2 years). We don't make printers anymore :-( Now our standard products are the 6500 Multifunction Communications Controller (IBM 3270 Market) and the 630 MTG. We are moving to Naperville IL next Feb. providing the building is complete. The land has been sold to developers who are erecting a shopping center as we "speak". About the only things left to remind us of TELETYPE are the Water Tower and our computer names. My main machine, ttrdc, was shutdown last week and we have aquired a mail-server named 'ihc' for Indian Hill Court, the name of our new building. (this is a NetNews-server, cbnewsc) I feel sad that we are loosing our "heritage", but data communications just ain't what they used to be. Gotta go now, take care! Michael S. Cross (msc@ihc.att.com) (312)-982-2018 AT&T Bell Laboratories, 5555 Touhy Ave., Skokie, IL 60077 ______________________To Live is to risk Dying____________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 14:14:18 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Wrong Number Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >61 is the Australia country code, and 8 is the city code for >Adelaide. In taking some notes from a recent New York Times >Magazine, I had to catch myself confusing 61_2 (city code is >that of Sydney) with area 612 in Minnesota, where I have been >to this year. This seems to be not-uncommon practice for Australian firms. I've seen some ads for various other Australian companies where the same thing was done: the country code and city code are run together and displayed inside parentheses. For example, (617) xxx xxxx. This is *extremely* misleading for North American readers, who are used to North American numbers in exactly the same format, but where the 3-digits-inside-parens refers to the area code. (In particular, the above example parses out to a number in the Boston vicinity.) Readers will naturally assume that the number in the ad (which being placed in a US magazine was obviously intended for a US audience) refers to a US office of the company. Of course, such companies are getting exactly what they deserve: less business because potential customers can't reach them. This will continue until they list their numbers according to internationally accepted standards: +61 7 xxx xxxx, for example. Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 16:34:57 +0100 From: "Alain FONTAINE (Postmaster - NAD)" Subject: Re: Telecommunications in Belgium - Part 2 - Numbering and dialing On 9 Oct 89 16:03:46 GMT you said: >This is an historical artifact. Some (ten?) years ago all telephone >numbers in Belgium were changed. Before that time a telephone number >consisted of a two digit area code (including leading zero) and a 6 >digit local number, or a three digit area code plus a 5 digit local >number. So a telephone number was always 8 digits including area >code. This changed overnight throughout Belgium to a telephone number >of 9 digits including area code. In most places the local number got >an additional digit. The exceptions were the cities with area codes >(at that time) of 04, 07 and 09; there the area code was changed and >the local number unchanged. The historical note is correct (it was done nicely, if I remember correctly). And since then, no new area number has been attributed. And I still believe that we could see a 04, 07 or 09 zone again some day... >When I was in Belgium this summer I checked it, but as far as I know >all special numbers are 3 digits starting with either 1 or 9. I >remember something like 985 information in French and 995 information >in Dutch. But I believe this is different for the different areas. >I.e. some areas do not have information in French, while others do not >have it in Dutch while a few in the German speaking part have also >German numbers. Three digit numbers for special services were replaced on October 30, 1987 by the new numbers I described, all over the country. It may be that the 995 (French) and 975 (Dutch) for information did remain as aliases for those poor stangers who come in Belgium once in a while, and insist on relying on their old notes instead of getting up to date information from, say, a telephone directory. Is that not nice of us??? There is no technical reason to explain the fact that service is not available in any language all over the country : pure politics: _(. >Like most places in Europe letters were not used very much. I >remember a Belgian telephone that had the French layout for letters >(that was some 30 years ago), but these letters were never used. The >only reason was probably that the telephone was French made. (The >French layout is similar to USA/UK layout, except for the position of >letter O, which was, together with Q and Z, positioned with digit 0.) The letters have been used much more in France. When, in the early sixties, we were listening to some French radio stations, we always heard telephone numbers (in Paris) starting with three letters (exchange name) and then, uh, four digits. /AF [Moderator's Note: My favorite Paris exchange was 'OPEra'. PT] ------------------------------ From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 17 Oct 89 20:35:54 GMT Reply-To: Brian Kantor Organization: UCSD Network Operations In article folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP (Wayne Folta) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 456, message 4 of 7 >Can anyone tell me about cellular phone antennas? Why the little >curly part of the antenna (does it have something to do with >horizontal v. vertical polarization?)? A non-technical explanation: The cellular antenna is really two vertically-polarized antennas of approximately 1/2 wavelength, and the curly part can be viewed as a delay line to cause the two sections to work in phase. Thus the antenna has an effective "gain" (i.e., works better) than a simple antenna. I have a similar antenna for my ham radio equipment, except that as it's for a frequency that is about half that of the cell-phone band, my antenna is about twice the size. - Brian ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 10:10 EDT From: "Scott D. Green" Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves a Life A great human interest story, but is this news? This is exactly what Enhanced 911 was designed for. Doesn't the dispatcher, in addition to displaying the calling phone number, also get a location on the display? Those callers requiring anonymity CAN call a non-emergency standard 7D number in most communities. Anyway, we could be on the verge of another CallerID go-round, if we're not careful. ------------------------------ From: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Date: 17 Oct 89 21:11:51 GMT Reply-To: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill I notice from this list that our NPA (919, North Carolina) is 8th from the top. In my last bill from Southern Bell was an insert saying that shortly we will be required to dial the whole 1+10 digits for long distance calls. I suspect that these observations are related; does anyone know if 919 is in for a split or are NXX prefixes now going to be assigned here? I've notice no N0X/N1X prefixed yet; but don't have definite information. Steve "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and is in black and white, chances are, it's a MACINTOSH!" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 21:27:10 PDT From: Dennis Brophy Subject: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service How does the phone service work during an earthquake? I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? It is also intersting to note that Portland has NO local operator assistance this evening: "All circuits are busy." I guess if I wanted to make a collect call from a pay phone I would not get a Portland operator either. (Is there such a thing as a local Portland operator, or is the call being routed to another site in the nation which would explain this?) I've heard from others in Portland, that they have been performing three-way-calls using MCI (not AT&T) from their homes to connect people in the Sacramento area with people in South San Francisco cities. So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? [Moderator's Note: This issue of the Digest was prepared and ready for transmission when this message arrived in the queue. The Digest was held and this message was 'pasted on' the end. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #458 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:57:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #459 Message-ID: <8910181957.aa11400@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:50:27 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 459 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Disaster Communications (Ihor J. Kinal) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Evelyn C. Leeper) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Antonio Desimone) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Ken Jongsma) The Big One (Hector Myerston) Re: San Fransisco Horror (Louis A. Mamakos) PacBell Disaster Press Release (PacBell, via TELECOM Moderator) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Krishna Prasad) San Jose Report (Tom Ace) Twenty Miles South on 880 When It Hit (Doug Faunt) [Moderator's Note: This issue of the Digest is devoted entirely to news and views about the tragic events of Tuesday night in San Fransisco. I am sorry to report that some of our regular participants from the Bay Area still have not notified me of their present circumstances. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ihor J Kinal Subject: Disaster Communications Date: 18 Oct 89 11:56:27 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Watching the news reports, it was interesting to note that ABC managed to have power and communciations sufficient to broadcast out. It was obvious that power was out, since the blimp shots showed no lights, except for autos on the highways, so it wasn't unexpected that most phone lines were down or overloaded. One of the networks called the CHiP, and they stated that they had lost phone communications with most of their sites in the area, so they were unable to give damage estimates. I WAS SURPRISED THAT THE STATE POLICE DON'T HAVE BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS. Something on the nature of meteor-bounce communications [I've read recent articles that even trucks on their cross-country trips can communicate back to their base with something like this]. It's low band-width, so you store a message, and the equipment waits for a short time period until a meteor shower occurs, but aparently the wait is never long. It would appear to be the ultimate backup, as long as the radio itself is not buried. Speaking of communications, ABC constantly showed us the same picture from the blimp that was there to cover the ball game. My wife asked a very good question - why not send the blimp south towards the epicenter, to give a direct report??? Given the state of highways, etc, it would obviously get there quicker than anything except a helicopter, and presumably most of those were engaged in local disaster relief. Ihor Kinal att!cbnews!ijk ------------------------------ From: Evelyn C Leeper Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 18 Oct 89 16:02:48 GMT Reply-To: ecl@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Evelyn C. Leeper) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) writes: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? > I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not > complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San > Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI > permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? We got through via AT&T to our in-laws in Mountain View at 5:40 PM PDT last night. I believe at some point AT&T started blocking inbound calls in order to save the trunks for outbound calls, which seems reasonable. Whether this blocking was total or whether some number of calls were let through isn't clear. I find it a bit of a miracle that my in-laws who have no power, no gas, and probably no water service, have a phone that worked throughout all this--my father-in-law called home right after the quake to say he was okay and the phones worked fine. And it's not MCI who installed all those working lines and phones either. I admit to a certain bias, but I am proud of how well AT&T's installations have performed through the crisis. Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 201-957-2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com If I am not for myself, who is for me? If I am only for myself what am I? And if not now, when? --Hillel ------------------------------ From: Antonio Desimone Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 18 Oct 89 17:07:38 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories From article , by dennisb@pdx.mentor. com (Dennis Brophy): > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? > So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into > the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? First, let me tell you that I don't *know* the answer, and second, that I know only a little about how the long-distance network is run (and of course don't represent AT&T...). BUT, I can speculate. If an emegency developed and generated focussed overload in my (hypothetical) network I would block calls destined for the emergency so that those circuits would be available to those calling out from the affected area (if I had the ability to exercise such controls). A better question might be, how successful is MCI/AT&T in completing calls out of the Bay area? (But these are only my opinions and uninformed speculations!) Tony DeSimone AT&T Bell Laboratories Holmdel, NJ 07733 att!tds386e!tds ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: Wed Oct 18 10:15:52 1989 From: Ken Jongsma My primary mail system is through Portal near Cupertino and of course I had no sucess in reaching it this morning. Sprint just reports all circuits busy. AT&T alternates between all circuits busy and an interesting message with words to the effect of "Due to the earthquake in the area you are calling, your call could not be completed." Early this morning calls were going through ok. I suppose as people are waking up and trying to call friends, the system is jamming up. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 18 Oct 89 14:36 PST Subject: The Big One Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] Small sampling of the effects of the Big One in the SF Bay (mid-peninsula and the City): Our 4000 line PBX come through unscathed, all earthquake-braced gear didn't miss a beat, late-install T-1 Mux "walked" about 18 inches but stayed upright and within the slack in the cable. Local service was amazingly unaffected, emergency calls within the first 1/2 hour (before the 1st after-shock) went through on 1 or 2 tries. Outgoing LD not much problem. When I called out-of-state numbers I invariably found they had been trying unsuccessfully to call this way. AT&T has implemented some kind of "flow-control" giving us (NPA 415 and 408) a better Outgoing GOS. Most people I have spoken to have lost, at most, A/C power. Those with limited battery backup may go down soon. Some major hotels in SF are in this boat. Cellular was jammed as a result of resulting (road) traffic jams. I had not problems calling my home from outside the area but got fast-busies on almost every other call. All-in-all Disaater Recovery Planning seemed to pay off. (Personal Note: If you have cable TV at home keep a residual antenna around. Cable was out, most local TV stations came up in fairly short order). ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 09:42:12 EDT From: "Louis A. Mamakos" Subject: Re: San Fransisco Horror Organization: The University of Maryland While there were news reports regarding telephone problems in the SF Bay Area, connectivity via the NSFNET and BARRNET existed to at least NASA/Ames and Stanford. I fingered a bunch of likely machines looking for people that I know, but it seems as if most of them had left their machines. I noticed that later on in the early morning NASA/Ames dropped off the network.. perhaps their UPS finally gave up the ghost? louie [Moderator's Note: Berkeley was off line from loss of power early in the evening. I don't know when they came back up. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 12:18:19 PDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: PacBell Disaster Press Release [Moderator's Note: Pacific Bell has issued the following press release relating to communications in the San Fransisco area. PT] PACIFIC BELL WITHSTANDS SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE; HOWEVER PUBLIC URGED NOT TO CALL BAY AREA TO AVOID 'GRIDLOCK' SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Bell's telecommunications network has withstood Tuesday's devastating earthquake with minor damage, however, the extraordinary numbers of people calling in and out of the Bay area are causing sporadic delays in service. "Pacific Bell's precautionary efforts demonstrated that despite the strength of a 6.9 earthquake, the local telecommunications system remains, essentially, intact," said Jerry Sinn, chair of the company's Emergency Operating Center in San Ramon. The majority of telephone service delays are due to an overload of the network caused by customers picking up their telephones and calling friends and loved ones following the quake. "We are joining with other telephone companies throughout the country in urging the public not to call into the Bay area for at least 24 hours, so that the network can handle emergency calls without delay," said Sinn. Within hours telephone crews on site were assessing damage, relaying information to the Emergency Operating Center which in turn began coordinating restoral efforts. Technicians and telephone operators are standing by in Los Angeles and Sacramento to join in the restoral efforts if necessary. "Preplanning is the key word here," Sinn continued. "Since the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, Pacific Bell has instituted a number of measures to minimize damage to its telecommunications network." They include: o The modernization of telephone switching equipment which allows fast restoral due to its solid state components; o Telephone central offices which now have reinforced flooring and mechanical braces above equipment frames and steel reinforcements in the underground vaults; o A computerized network monitoring system that enables managers to re-route calls going to and from affected areas; o Fiber optic cables which have been installed with 25 feet of extra cable. This slack absorbs the pulling strain that an eartquake generates; o Pacific Bell has participated in a number of local, state and national emergency preparedness drills to ensure our effectiveness. Telephone customers can also do some "pre-planning" by looking through their Pacific Bell White Pages directory. In the front of each directory is a Survival Guide which outlines basic emergency procedures and preventative measures, including earthquake assistance. 10/18/89 /CONTACT: Lissa Zanville of Pacific Bell, 213-975-5547/ ------------------------------ From: houdi!ksp@att.att.com Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 16:26 EDT Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Dennis Brophy writes about the Bay Area earthquake: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? > I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not > complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San > Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI > permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? > I've heard from others in Portland, that they have been performing > three-way-calls using MCI (not AT&T) from their homes to connect > people in the Sacramento area with people in South San Francisco > cities. > So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into > the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? To begin with, it seems that all the telephone networks deserve to be congratulated for doing as well as it did considering the magnitude of the quake. But to answer the specific question that Dennis asks... In emergency situations like this, it is far more important for people in the area to be able to call out for help than for people to call in. It is also far more efficient -- for example, my brother in Mountain View, (near San Jose) called me in NJ (and he got through easily) , and I called everyone else who might have been concerned about him, which is far more efficient than everyone trying to call him. Therefore, AT&T has sophisticated network management controls and trunk reservation, which were selectively blocking calls into the Bay Area last night, and giving priority to calls coming out. So while there were some difficulties calling in on AT&T, I am yet to see a report that calling out was difficult. I have no idea if the OCCs have such controls, but I suspect that they don't, which would explain why Dennis could call in. I will bet that calling out was much harder on any OCC, though. Krishna Prasad ksp@houdi.att.com AT&T Bell Labs Holmdel, NJ 07733 (201) 949-2619 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 11:55:11 PDT From: "Tom Ace @ PCB x2021" Subject: San Jose Report A short report about phone service in San Jose after the earthquake: Dial tone took a while to get, often 10 seconds or so during Tuesday evening, sometimes more. Toll calls often got reorder or "busy circuits" recordings, but some went through. I only made a couple important ones and didn't talk for too long. From my small sample of calls, the system appeared to have bent under the tremendous load but didn't break. (I use AT&T for long distance). We didn't lose our T-1 line from here (Mentor Graphics San Jose) to our headquarters in Oregon. From telecom digest #458, about AT&T not completing incoming calls: >So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into >the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? It wasn't a question of inability, it was a conscious decision. I heard on the news that AT&T deliberately chose to block incoming toll calls except emergency ones (presumably placed by an operator). I assume the reasoning was that people here were better able to choose which calls were important than people outside who wanted to call in. Considering how overloaded the network was, it didn't sound like a bad decision to me. Tom Ace tom@sje.mentor.com ...!mntgfx!sje!tom ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 17:35:53 -0700 From: Doug Faunt N6TQS 415-688-8269 Subject: Twenty Miles South on 880 When It Hit This telecom reader survived. I was on 880, about 20 miles south of the Cypress Structure, when it hit. Since I normally bypass that section, anyway, I got home to verify that all the effect I had was books on the floor, and then went to the Oakland EOC to provide amateur radio communications. The telecom related issue is: I was actually able to get through to Florida and Boston last night, about 7:00PM. Today the message I get when trying to call Boston is: "RA3 Channel 1" repeated. What does this mean? Grateful to be OK, Doug [Moderator's Note: Thanks for writing. I suspect many people in the Bay Area are grateful and have much to give thanks for this evening. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #459 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 21:34:19 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #460 Message-ID: <8910182134.aa23087@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 21:30:15 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 460 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Yet Another Area Code Split (David Kuder) Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service (Steve Buyske) Itemized Billing (was Re: Long Distance Indicator) (Dave Horsfall) Automated Operator Assistance (Ken Jongsma) How Do You Complain About Call Blocking? (James Olsen) Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia (Jon D. Kendall) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Bill Cerny) Breakin' Up is Hard on You (mar@athena.mit.edu) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 13:15 PDT From: David Kuder Subject: Yet Another Area Code Split This appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989 [Los Angeles Times]. Typed in without permission. All views are those of Robert A. Jones. One editorial observation, East L.A. is largely Hispanic, South-Central is largely black. Both are lower income areas. The Westside is an upper income area where the only color that counts is the color of your money. "Forget Signs - What's Your Area Code?" by Robert A. Jones There is a building in Pasadena where they make new area codes for Southern California. If you call directory assistance, the operator will not admit this building exists. Its number is unlisted. But somewhere in the dungeons of this Pac Bell office, right now, a new area code is being planned for L.A. Not all of L.A., of course. Just certain parts. Once again, the city has outgrown 213 and some neighborhoods must be marked for exile to a new number, a new identity. Eventually, in the next three or four years, a visitation will take place in the dark of night. Whole blocks, small cities, will be taken away, never to see 213 again. If you don't understand the repercussions, think of it this way: there are only three area codes that mean anything in this country. They are 212 in Manhattan, 202 in D.C., and our own 213. Everyday, from dawn to midnight, 212 gets on the horn to 213 and vice versa. In turn, both 212 and 213 light up the fiber-optics to 202. These three form a troika of codes; they run the country, and you're either in this troika or you're out. Soon, a big chunk of L.A. will be out. Take a look at a map of 213 and you will see how hard the choice will be. Compared to this, the 818 thing was easy. With 818, Pac Bell simply ran the boundary down the ridge line of the Hollywood Hills. Everyone to the north was out. Ther was such a logic to it that the whining of the 818's was fruitless. This time there is no geography to use. That means the company has to make its decision on cultural grounds. Should the Westside be lopped off? Just picture the wailing. Or should downtown become the cultural amputee, cut off from its telephonic roots? In truth, Pac Bell could go after the smaller players, like East L.A. or South-Central. There's one major problem with this strategy: it would leave the company vunerable to the charge that Latinos and Blacks had been gerrymandered out of the code, leaving 213 to the rich whites. As I say, this could get ugly. And there's the matter of the new number itself. This country has been gobbling areas codes so fast that only a few remain available. The phone company won't reveal these numbers, but that's O.K. We've made a our own calculations, based on the arcane rules of area code formation. This list of possibilites looks pretty much like this: 310, 410, 903, 909, 910. In my mind, there is only one choice. The numbers ending in 10 are entirely too friendly for L.A. They're codes for suburbs. And 903 is nowhere, a nebbish. That leaves 909, a great code. Nine-Oh-Nine has dark power, it's sort of a Darth Vader number. Nine-Oh-Nine could carry on the struggle with New York. All of which leads me to my modest proposal. As we know, show biz has always existed as a separate community in L.A., a world that's hidden and unavailable to the minions. Swell. Let's recognize that, draw a circle around the show biz neighborhoods and give them this new power code, 909. Then the rest of the city, with the old 213, could disengage and go its own way. =========================== [Moderator's Note: I won't even bother to correct some of his errors, but I have to wonder where he gets the impression that 212/202/213 is all that matters in the network. And I suppose the same sort of sinister implications could be made about our impending 312/708 split: Chicago (the minority is in the majority; blacks and latinos are about 2/3'rds of our population) gets 312, and the rich, white people in the suburbs get 708. To me, they are just numbers, and frankly, I think the author of this piece in the El Lay Times is one doughnut short of a full dozen. PT] ------------------------------ From: buyskes@lafcol.uucp Subject: Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service Date: 16 Oct 89 13:25:43 EDT (Mon) I thought the Digest's readers might be amused by this story: A friend of mine, a new graduate student at Princeton, manages to actually get new phone service during the strike. The only problem is that the number NJ Bell told her is actually the number of some office at the Princeton Seminary. Well, by good fortune she gets a wrong number, asks the person what number they dialed, and so discovers her true number. But since information is giving out the seminary number to people who ask for her number, she calls NJ Bell to straighten things out. NJ Bell: No, we can't change your listing to the number that actually reaches you, because that number belongs to someone else. We'll adjust the switching so that you can be reached at the number we originally told you. Friend: But that number is an office at Princeton Seminary. NJ Bell: Oh, you're right. In that case I'll have to disconnect your service immediately. We will call you as soon as we have your new number. Needless to say, after two weeks she still doesn't have service, although she calls NJ Bell regularly. We're all looking forward to seeing her first bill. Steve Buyske uucp : rutgers!lehi3b15!lafcol!buyskes Mathematics Department Bitnet : BUYSKES@LAFAYETT Lafayette College Easton, PA 18042 ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Itemised Billing (was Re: Long Distance Indicator) Date: 18 Oct 89 03:10:16 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: | | I wonder how many of the readers out there are really aware of the fact | that the itemized billing that we have in the US and Canada is somewhat | unusual in the world telephonic community. Not as unusual as you think. We have it Down-Under as well, but only on the later exchanges. Naturally, Telecom charge for it. Local calls aren't shown (but the number of calls made is, since they cost money), and STD/ISD (long distance) are broken down by date, time, destination, number, tariff, duration and cost. Nice! Enables me to say "Oi! I didn't make any phone calls to Auckland! I don't even *know* anyone in New Zealand!" and get the charge reversed. Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ Subject: Automated Operator Assistance Date: Wed Oct 18 10:05:37 1989 From: Ken Jongsma Ohio Bell Telephone is implementing automated operator assistance in the Cleveland area in the next few weeks. It appears to be the same system that Michigan Bell is using in Western Michigan. Callers from Touch Tone phones are given directions on which button to press for collect or third party billing, then asked to record their name. The switch then plays the name back to the billed party and asks for confirmation of billing. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: James Olsen Subject: How Do You Complain About Call Blocking? Date: 18 Oct 89 15:24:21 GMT Reply-To: olsen@hx.lcs.mit.EDU (James Olsen) Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Cambridge, MA. 02139 Nomad@cup.portal.com writes: >Nashville, TN - Tried to make a AT&T calling card call from a >payphone in the airport. 10288 did not work, so I tried 00. That >got me a local operator ... she transferred me to the AT&T operator >... I explained that I was at the airport and calling from a COCOT >that would not accept 10288 ... she was surprised to hear of the >problem because "they aren't supposed to block access anymore". I've noticed a lot of expensive call-blocking COCOT's being installed in this area (usually replacing honest New England Tel. units). We all know that the goverment will do nothing about it, unless people raise a big enough stink. My questions are: To whom should we complain about call blocking? (The FCC and the state PUC?) What's the best way to make a complaint? (Is there some formal complaint procedure which will have more effect?) Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 14:29:40 EST From: kendall Subject: Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia Reply-To: kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au (Dr. Jon D. Kendall) Organization: University of Tasmania I was surprised to hear from Mr. Mensch in his recent article that the Gold Coast has touch-tone service. A quick ring to one of my friends in Telecom-Australia revealed that I was quite mistaken. Indeed, Telecom is gradually phasing in touch-tone service and hopes to have all major urban areas covered by 1991 or so. Even here in Hobart, Tasmania the service is available for a few exchanges. On the Gold Coast up in Queensland where a lot of new development is taking place, it is relatively easy to build new exchanges with the touch-tone capability. It is much more costly to replace exchanges as will be done here. Nevertheless I am quite content to wait for the service, preferring to live in a much more pleasant climate and less corrupt (according to the newspapers) environment than Queensland. Here in Tasmania we move through life at a sure and steady pace. Don't take this last part too seriously -- just a bit of interstate rivalry, ha, ha. In any case I have touch-tone service as does almost any organization here with its own PABX. The University of Tasmania has an ASB 900 SPC PABX which has been adequate for our needs. ------------------------------ From: bill@toto.UUCP (Bill Cerny) Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 18 Oct 89 15:03:51 GMT In article , John R. Levine writes: > By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my > bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that > looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the > caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my > card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number > and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it > off. When American Express starting routing their Megacom traffic over the primary rate interface (PRI), they also subscribed to Calling Number Delivery (no monthly, just 3 cents per number delivered). When the agents answered, "Good morning Mr. Goldberg, how may I help you?" the customers were awestruck, and wanted to know how they knew their identity before answering the call. This resulted in much more time wasted than was saved thru auto-retrieval of the account with CND. I was told that AmEx changed the script for their agents: greet, ask for the acct. number (verify it with what's already on the screen), and say, "Yes Mr. Goldberg, I have your records right here..." The agents are discouraged to discuss any of the wizardry of the new system, since AmEx's purpose for subscribing to CND is to save time. Bill Cerny "The cost of living just went up another $1 a fifth." Internet: bill@toto.cts.com - W. C. Fields ------------------------------ From: mar@athena.mit.edu Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 15:00:44 -0400 Subject: Breakin' Up is Hard on You Someone asked about this, so I dug it out of my archives. -Mark Date: 28 Jan 84 00:55:06 EST From: Don Subject: Breakin' Up is Hard on You "Breakin' Up is Hard on You" Doo doo doo down doobie doo down down, The deal is going down, doobie doo down down, The rates are going up, uppy, up, up, up, Breakin' up is hard on you. Don't take Ma Bell away from me, I've gotten used to monopoly, When they divest, then I'll be blue, Yes breakin' up is hard on you. Remember when you'd make a call, And you'd get through -- no sweat at all, Now you'll wait the whole night through, Cause breakin' up is hard on you. They say that breakin' up is hard to do, And so they put the screws to you, Don't say it's fate my friend, Including breakin' up, They're also jackin' up the rates again. A. T. and T., Don't say goodbye, Don't wanna use no MCI, You'll pay bills out the wazoo, Cause breakin' up is hard on you. They say that breakin' up is good to do, But then they send six bills to you, Don't say it's fate my friend, Including breakin' up, They're also jackin' up the rates again. I beg of you, don't take my phone, I want to lease, don't want to own, Reach out and touch some other fool, Yes breakin' up is hard on you. Doo doo doo down doobie doo down down, The deal is going down, doobie doo down down, The rates are going up, uppy, up, up, up, Breakin' up is hard on you. (repeat and fade as in song) Written by The American Comedy Network (C) Copyright 1984 If you'd like to obtain a copy of the single, call ACN at 203/384-9443 (Reprinted here without permission) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #460 *****************************   Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 0:06:04 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #461 Message-ID: <8910190006.aa32438@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Oct 89 00:05:09 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 461 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Area Code NineOhNine (Jon Solomon) Damage Report (Tom Limoncelli) Earthquake and Berkeley (Jim Haynes) Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones (Fred E.J. Linton) Re: Dialing Procedures in Dallas (Eric Schnoebelen) Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? (Edward S. Sachs) Re: Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Enviromental Problem" (Tad Cook) Re: What is SONET? (Tad Cook) Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia (Jim Breen) Re: Small Phone System (Jim Gottlieb) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 23:20:44 EDT From: jsol@bu-it.bu.edu Subject: Area Code NineOhNine Yes, Patrick, that's exactly what I feel too, however I must point out that the average number of donuts per capita income per person is about 2. It seems there is also a gaping hole around 12; some get more, some get less. In any case, Los Angeles politics is a big deal. I'm fairly sure that Beverly Hills won't get out of 213. Just too much money there. And Hollywood? Think about it. All those Hollywood types who have to use area code 909 or 818 or 213......... Hmm, maybe it would make sense to use 909 in downtown LA, but they're essentially right. Just like New York City, area code 213 has a larger saturation than area code 818. Even in Boston, 617 is getting nearly full; even though they just split the code already. It poses a real problem: How do you evenly split an area code so that the growth flows nearly evenly in both codes? I suspect 617 will go to NXX codes before it splits again, at least now that there is no non-Electronic/Digital switching in 617, so changing that shouldn't be much of a problem. However, I will miss the dial-1-is-a-toll-call feature of this area, meaning that if I call a number, I won't know if I have to pay for it or not. jsol [Moderator's Note: Jon Solomon was the founder of TELECOM Digest and the moderator for several years. PT] ------------------------------ From: "Tom Limoncelli @ Drew Univ." Subject: Damage Report Date: 18 Oct 89 21:18:59 GMT I hope this is useful, it was posted on soc.motss. It's not phone related, but you might report that SRI and Menlo Park have been reported to be ok. Newsgroups: soc.motss Subject: Re: Motsser Quake Report Message-ID: <67312@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> From: amz@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Arnold M. Zwicky) Date: 18 Oct 89 15:20:34 GMT Summary: not so bad in menlo park Elizabeth Zwicky (zwicky@spam.istc.sri.com) reported by phone last night that she was fine, that SRI suffered no serious damage, and that the surrounding area in Menlo Park was not in bad shape. arnold ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:46:12 -0700 From: Jim Haynes Subject: Earthquake and Berkeley [Moderator's Note: Berkeley was off line from loss of power early in the evening. I don't know when they came back up. PT] Small nit - Berkeley was off the line before the quake because of some problem with the T-1 circuits. It came back midday today. ------------------------------ Date: 18-OCT-1989 15:57:08.10 From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones I post the attached because I failed thrice when trying to reply directly to Mark Holtz (Wesleyan depends on well-connected UUCP mailers in the big wide world). Forgive, please, this trespass. > From: mholtz@sactoh0.uucp (Mark A. Holtz) > I am kinda wondering. . . . is there still some areas in this country > that still have payphones for a dime? Well, yes, New Haven (CT) is one such place; so is Middletown (CT). -- Fred ARPA/Internet: FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU Bitnet: FLINTON@WESLEYAN[.bitnet] from uucp: ...!{research, mtune!arpa, uunet}!eagle.Wesleyan.EDU!FLinton on ATT-Mail: !fejlinton Tel.: + 1 203 776 2210 (home) OR + 1 203 347 9411 xt 2249 (work) Telex: + 15 122 3413 FEJLINTON CompuServe ID: 72037,1054 (OR, maybe, 72037.1054@CompuServe.COM ) F-Net (guest): linton@inria.inria.fr OR ...!inria.inria.fr!linton ------------------------------ From: Eric Schnoebelen Subject: Re: Dialing Procedures in Dallas Date: 18 Oct 89 21:53:14 GMT Reply-To: Eric Schnoebelen Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx. In article rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) writes: -Various contributors have referred to the horrible situation in -Dallas. As a former resident who still visits frequently, I can tell -you it's quite confusing, and largely needlessly so. To add some additional comments and confusion to the Dallas calling situation, here are my comments. For the record, I have a personal metro line from GTE, at my home in Lewisville ( a far north Dallas suburb, actually closer to downtown Ft. Worth than downtown Dallas...ten minutes to DFW, forever to anywhere else :-) I originally got my metro line because I was frequently calling a girlfriend who lived in southwest Ft Worth, and the long distance charges were killing us. -3) To call from a regular Dallas number to a Dallas Metro number, you - MUST dial 214-NXX-XXXX, *even though* it's a local call in the same - area code!! Same error messages as above. This is not true, at least not with my metro number (214-434-1329, to be disconnected at the end of the month :-( ) I and my friends call my number as 434-1329 all the time, from all over Dallas. -4) To call out from any Metro number, I believe (I'm not certain) you - must dial only the area code for local calls, but 1+ if it's toll - and so on. To call Ft Worth, I have to dial 817-NXX-XXXX, to call Dallas, I just dial NXX-XXX. In Ft Worth, people must dial me at 214-434-XXXX. -The upshot is that you MUST dial 1 if it's toll, and you MUST NOT dial -1 if it's not toll. You must dial the area code whenever dealing with -a Metro number, though. I get the impression that at least one prefix in 214/817 is still reserved for true metro service. I hear the radio stations and Ticketron/Rainbow tickets advertising thier call in lines in the 787 exchange, with out listing the NPA. 787 is also ( obviously ) the choke exchange for Dallas/Ft Worth. -Got that? There'll be a quiz later.... Did I pass? [ picking on teacher time :-) ] ------------------------------ From: Edward S Sachs Subject: Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? Date: 18 Oct 89 14:11:44 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article , goldstein@delni.enet. dec.com writes: > That's terribly > counterproductive and makes poor public policy. Typically 80% of > telco local cost is fixed, 20% usage-sensitive. What usage sensitive > pricing plan was like that? Usually it gets more than 50% of revenue > from usage. I think that this breakdown is not quite true, because the phone lines typically feed into concentrators at switching centers, which can provide service to only a fraction of the phones (typically 1/8 or 1/16 for residential lines) at a time. High usage lines need to be fed in at 1/2 (or even 1/1), resulting in higher equipment cost at the telco. Thus, the 'fixed' cost quoted above needs to include a component indicating the usage (% of time phone is in use). -- Ed Sachs AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL att!ihlpb!essachs, e.s.sachs@att.com ------------------------------ From: amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu Subject: Re: Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Environmental Problem" Date: 19 Oct 89 01:56:04 GMT Organization: very little I enjoyed Larry Lippman's description of cble splicing and mining. Wasn't it a cable mining operation that set off the Hinsdale fire? Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 19 Oct 89 02:00:07 GMT Organization: very little Seriously....I always thought SONET referred to Southern New England Telephone Co! Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 23:32:38 GMT In article , henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) quotes earlier correspondent: > In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I found that touch-tone service was > non-existent; it did seem to be an up-and-coming thing for many > regions, though. ............... You can't have looked too hard. Most exchanges (CO's) in the larger cities have had DTMF capability for several years. It is there for the asking, however most telephone customers are prepared to go on using their good old rotary-dial telephones. Part of this is due to the Australian regulatory system. Telecom Australia, the PTT, is the sole provider of exchange lines and has the right to provide , as part of the package, the first 'phone in each site. For most people, getting the touch-phone service means either buying a new phone, or getting Telecom to change over (for a fee), plus paying Telecom to change the line from Decadic to DTMF. Small wonder most people stay with rotary dialling. My Institute has a modern ISDN-compatible PABX network. All our handsets, and all our exchange lines, are DTMF. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298 ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Re: Small Phone System Date: 19 Oct 89 03:21:58 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles In article carroll1!dtroup@uunet.uu. net (David C. Troup - Skunk Works : 2600hz) writes: >I have stumbled across a box about the size of a Telebit Trailblazer >which reads: > TelExpand (system 1) > R.M. Fuller Company >So! Anyone know how to use this? Anyone ever HEARD of this unit? > Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks. That's a great little unit! I'm not familiar with all of its features, but we use it in a mode where it answers a line and asks for a security code. It then allows you to enter a number and it uses 3-Way Calling on that line to conference you and that party. We use them to check some of our 976/900/0990 lines in distant cities/countries since those numbers can often not be dialed from outside. Unfortunately, it seems that the company that manufactured them has gone out of business and we are unable to get a hold of any more units or find another product with the same functionality. Any information to the contrary would be welcomed. Jim Gottlieb E-Mail: or or V-Mail: (213) 551-7702 Fax: 478-3060 The-Real-Me: 824-5454 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #461 *****************************   Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 22:27:04 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #462 Message-ID: <8910192227.aa31957@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Oct 89 22:25:47 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 462 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down (John Higdon) Phone Service at Monterey Peninsula (Jeffrey M. Schweiger) What Works in a Disaster (Ole J. Jacobsen) Re: Disaster Communications (Kenneth Illgen) Re: Disaster Communications (Jim Budler) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Gary Segal) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (John Higdon) Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage (Will Martin) Re: San Fransisco Horror (Daniel M. Rosenberg) [Moderator's Note: Another issue of the Digest devoted to the Event. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Higdon Subject: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down Date: 19 Oct 89 03:55:46 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows Last night, a night that will live in infamy, I finally arrived at a friend's house in the Mojave desert. I was supposed to leave on Saturday, but because of one thing and another the trip got delayed. It's about a seven-hour drive from the Bay Area to the High Desert, so to kill the time I listen to my favorite CDs. I let myself in, my friend not being at home, and proceeded to check my machine for messages. Reorder. Again and again. Thinking that the 800 translations might be messed up for some reason, I dialed the POTS number (you should always know the POTS number for 800 service!). Again, reorder. So I made a "thing" of it and dialed over and over. Finally I got an "all circuits are busy" recording. At that point, I just figured that Contel was messing up and looked elsewhere for entertainment. On went the TV, and it comes up with scene after scene of collapsed buildings, freeway structures, and then suddenly a shot of a very familier structure--the Bay Bridge. It seemed that while I was driving through Bakersfield, it was the "big one". With mouth hanging open, I watched all of the damage footage. Then they revealed the epicenter. No it was not SF or Oakland but in the Santa Cruz Mountains -- thirty-five miles CLOSER to my house than to the area so badly damaged. At that point I became a little anxious. How were my relatives in town? Was my house still standing? How were my clients faring (that I had left in the hands of an assistant)? No amount of dialing could break through. Then I realized that my desert friend had a 950 Telesphere account. SUCCESS! I made call after call using that account, noting the sluggishness of the Bay Area COs, which were probably completely overloaded. But the point is that I got through and determined that everyone was OK, my house was OK, but my clients were hit hard. I came home. On the way home, I listened to SF radio to get a feeling for what was going on and at one point spokepersons for AT&T and Sprint were crowing about how they were blocking calls from outside the area so that the local Bay Area network would not be overworked. Well, I am about to write a letter of appreciation to Telesphere and a show-cause request why I shouldn't cancel my AT&T and Sprint accounts. Thanks to Telesphere, I was able to handle some emergencies over the phone (not to mention putting my mind at ease). That was NO THANKS to AT&T and Sprint. Now, who is backing up whom? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 11:59:00 PDT From: "Jeffrey M. Schweiger X2502" Subject: Phone Service at Monterey Peninsula Thought I'd pass along a few personal observations on phone service following the earthquake, from the southern portion of the affected area, the Monterey Peninsula (actually we were closer to the epicenter than San Francisco, and while not downplaying the tragedy of the damage in the San Francisco/Oakland area, the physical damage in and around Santa Cruz is extensive). I have MCI dial 1 service. I was initially unable to call the east coast (to inform family of my status), using my dial-1 MCI service. I, instead received a 'circuits busy' recording. I thought I would then try AT&T via 10288 - I wasn't even able to finish dialing. Announcements were made over the radio stations operating (not having a battery operated TV, I didn't know or care whether any TV stations were transmitting), that AT&T was intentionally restricting long distance service in and out of the affected areas, in order to support emergency communications. I was finally able to reassure my family by switching back to MCI, but using 950-1022, as opposed to dial-1. This worked without much difficulty. I realize that my above experiences are not described to the level of technical detail normally seen on this group, but thought they might be of interest. Jeff Schweiger ------------------------------ Date: Thu 19 Oct 89 15:39:33-PDT From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" Subject: What Works in a Disaster After the big quake here Tuesday night, it was understandably difficult to make both local and long-distance calls. Dialtone was not the ever- present commodity that we're used to. The radio adviced people to use the phone as little as possible. Pac Bell reported handling one million calls per minute in the hours following the disaster I helped a friend contact her worried parents in New York, and finally succeeded after some 10XXX hacking, the carrier which worked was 311 which I believe is AllNet. In answer to someone's question to this list: The reason big carriers like AT&T are somtimes unable to provide service in situations like this is quite simple: Overload. The "little" guys are nice to use as backups (like my 10311 hack) in such situations, how many people have AllNet as their default carrier anyway? Ole ------------------------------ From: "Keneth..Illgen" Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Date: 19 Oct 89 12:15:19 GMT Reply-To: "Kenneth..Illgen" Organization: Air Force HQ, The Pentagon In article ijk@violin.att.com (Ihor J Kinal) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 459, message 1 of 10 >One of the networks called the CHiP, and they stated that they had >lost phone communications with most of their sites in the area, so >they were unable to give damage estimates. >I WAS SURPRISED THAT THE STATE POLICE DON'T HAVE BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS. I can't speak for CHiP but in most instances emergency services backup communications systems are prioritized. Radio traffic is initialy used for determining injuries and hospiital space. While the networks are rightfully interested in physically damaged areas the police, fire and medical departments have to use their limited frequency range to coordinate rescue efforts. >Speaking of communications, ABC constantly showed us the same picture >from the blimp that was there to cover the ball game. My wife asked a >very good question - why not send the blimp south towards the >epicenter, to give a direct report??? I was very frustrated with all the network coverage being focused on S.F. and Oakland. My loved ones are in San Jose and Palo Alto. I understand that S.F. is the major media center and naturally the best base of operations. Regarding the blimp; it's a slow moving craft and would not have made it far enough south before darkness set it. I think ABC and/or Goodyear made the right decision to keep it in the S.F/Oakland area. ------------------------------ From: Jim Budler Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Organization: EDA Systems,Inc. Santa Clara, CA Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:09:53 GMT ijk@violin.att.com (Ihor J Kinal) writes: } One of the networks called the CHiP, and they stated that they had } lost phone communications with most of their sites in the area, so } they were unable to give damage estimates. } I WAS SURPRISED THAT THE STATE POLICE DON'T HAVE BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS. I don't know about the CHP themselves, but the general emergency services backup system for the area was based on cellular telephones. It didn't work. Ref: Two local TV interviews with members of the Emergency Services. Jim Budler jim@eda.com ...!{decwrl,uunet}!eda!jim compuserve: 72415,1200 applelink: D4619 voice: +1 408 986-9585 fax: +1 408 748-1032 ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 19 Oct 89 15:31:50 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004 On the eve of Tuesday's quake, I was able to get through to a friend at Stanford on MCI. I was about to try AT&T after getting re-order a couple of times, but the call went through on what would have been my last try on MCI. The number was (415)328-xxxx. I believe my friend said that he lives in Menlo Park. Damage there was minimal, his area was suffering only from a power outage. I was quite amazed at the ease I had getting through! I succeded at about 10pm Pacific time. Gary Segal @ Motorla C.I.D. ...motcid!segal or uunet!motcid!segal ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 23:03:24 PDT Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) writes: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? Around here, not very well. Cheap shot, sorry. > I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not > complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San > Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI > permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? According to AT&T spokespeople, they were doing this as a "service" to keep the traffic on the Bay Area's phone system down. I guess it never occurred to anyone that there might be reasons for people from outside an area to call in during a disaster. I was able to get through on Telesphere from the Victorville exchange (California High Desert) but not on AT&T or Sprint. > It is also intersting to note that Portland has NO local operator > assistance this evening: "All circuits are busy." I guess if I wanted This was happening in Victorville, also. My theory is that there are many more people than usual calling the operator because their dialed calls don't go through. You called the operator, no? So did I. > So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into > the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? Policy, mainly. But it is also interesting to note that since the quake, my little teapot computer has only been able to contact other teapots. My big neighbors (except for pacbell) either don't answer at all, or if their modem does answer it appears that the computer is dead. All my news at the moment is coming from a small neighbor (who is somehow still getting a feed.) It has been said that a communications network is better served by a lot of small entities rather than one behemoth one. I never believed it; maybe it's true. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 12:53:51 CDT From: Will Martin Subject: Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage Glad you posted that note that mentioned your wife's query about the blimp not moving South. I asked the same thing at the time (to the wall and to my wife; unfortunately I could think of no way to ask anyone who really could do anything about it) -- it was an obvious way to get info out of the more-severely-affected regions and there were plenty of other sources of aerial coverage of the SF area. I did notice that the blimp was by far the best camera platform, giving the most stable images. Perhaps ABC felt that having those better pictures of the SF area was a "competitive advantage" in its coverage and did't want to lose them, trading them off for unknown results that the blimp might get further South. Also, I don't know the blimp's ground speed -- it might have been that it couldn't get far enough before dark to provide any viewable images. One aspect of the total earthquake coverage has been bothering me -- the reports had mentioned "silicon valley" in passing, but gave it no real attention. I thought that each of those semiconductor fabrication plants and other electronic industries in that area had underground tanks of various toxic or lethal chemicals used in the manufacture and cleaning of their products. I had thought that a lot of the waste or used chemicals had to be stored on-site because of difficulties in their disposal, also. (There were legal restraints on trucking them out, or limited numbers of firms who provided toxic-waste disposal services.) So there would be large amounts of both fresh, unused, but still dangerous chemicals, and also toxic waste, sitting in tanks all over that area. If the earthquake ruptured even a relatively small percentage of those tanks, the pollution would be severe. It would contaminate the ground water and be like Love Canal spread out over the whole silicon valley area. Does anyone know if these fears are justified, or am I imagining nonexistent dangers? Regards, Will Martin ------------------------------ From: "Daniel M. Rosenberg" Subject: Re: San Fransisco Horror Date: 19 Oct 89 23:07:16 GMT Organization: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U. telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >At the time this is written, chaos is reigning in the Bay Area, and >all telecommunications are knocked out. The latest death count is >Berkeley is totally off line at this time, and email contact is not >possible with the sites in the San Fransisco area. >From Stanford, Internet service was available clear to everywhere within hours of the quake. (Well, I made it to Pennsylvania anyway a few hours later.) This was well before the phone service came back in. Pacific Bell had -- I believe -- no physical damage to the phone network, but it was way overcrowded. I believe that when the quake hit they switched over the to A/B/C setup discussed here a while back, where A phones (emergency, police, fire, etc.) got dial tone, and B and C phones -- everyone else -- were switched back and forth as to who got dial tone. The Stanford campus telephone network worked continuously with no problems. Long distance outward via AT&T, Sprint and MCI was scrambled. It turned out that Telesphere was useful for something; their network was quite clear and turned out to be an easy way to calm my nervous parents. ITI (10488) also worked. I am hoping this was ITI (aka ITT) and I didn't have everyone in my dorm make a $50 3 minute transcontinental or cross-state call. Long distance inward was clogged full until last night (Wednesday). Today, everything seems to be back to normal. # Daniel M. Rosenberg // Stanford CSLI // Eat my opinions, not Stanford's. # dmr@csli.stanford.edu // decwrl!csli!dmr // dmr%csli@stanford.bitnet ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #462 *****************************   Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:32:00 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #463 Message-ID: <8910192332.aa27611@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:30:00 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 463 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Yet Another Area Code Split (David Kuder) Re: Yet Another Area Code Split (Joel B. Levin) Re: Yet Another Area Code Split (Carl Moore) Re: Area Code NineOhNine (Jon Solomon) Re: A Letter From Australia (Dave Horsfall) Re: PC Systems to Handle Phone Inquiries (Macy Hallock) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Gary L. Crum) Re: Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service (Mark Robert Smith) Call Waiting Override (Jean-Pierre Radley) Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Carl Moore) AT&T Supplies Sourcebook (David Dodell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 11:57 PDT From: David Kuder Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 10:22:38 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) To: David Kuder Cc: eecs.nwu.edu!telecom Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split Message-Id: <8910191022.aa27204@VMB.BRL.MIL> According to earlier articles in Telecom, 903 is already set aside for upcoming split of 214 in Texas. And when N0X/N1X area codes run out, area codes will have to generalize to the NXX form. Also, I believe it's Bellcore that assigns new area codes (but it's the local companies that draw the boundaries?). I guess I wasn't clear enough in the header of my news article. That was a transcription of a L.A. Times article. All the first person references are those of Robert A. Jones, the author of the article. I am aware (from reading the Telecom Digest) that his list of area codes was incorrect. Forgive me for not editorializing the transcription. Let me reiterate for the readers of the digest that other than the first paragraph of my message, the article was the work of and the opinions of and the knowledge of Robert A. Jones. David A. Kuder Comp.lang.perl, the time is now! 415 438-2003 david@indetech.com {uunet,sun,sharkey,pacbell}!indetech!david ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 12:10:10 EDT >Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 13:15 PDT >From: David Kuder > >This appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989 [Los Angeles Times]. >"Forget Signs - What's Your Area Code?" by Robert A. Jones ... >[Moderator's Note: I won't even bother to correct some of his errors, but >I have to wonder where he gets the impression that 212/202/213 is all that >matters in the network. . . . I think the author of this piece in the >El Lay Times is one doughnut short of a full dozen. PT] David does not say whether this is an [op-]editorial or other column or a news story. I thought it was meant as a humorous column, and not bad at that. That's not a place I believe actual facts necessarily have any use. Regards / JBL [Moderator's Note: Interesting you mention it. Some of my detractors say the same thing about this Digest: the part about the actual facts having any use. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 10:22:38 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split According to earlier articles in Telecom, 903 is already set aside for upcoming split of 214 in Texas. And when N0X/N1X area codes run out, area codes will have to generalize to the NXX form. Also, I believe it's Bellcore that assigns new area codes (but it's the local companies that draw the boundaries?). Also, 917 is unused. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 18:17:52 EDT From: jsol@bu-it.bu.edu Subject: Re: Area Code NineOhNine Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 18:04:38 -0400 From: clements@BBN.COM Sorry, I think we are having a basic misunderstanding... > From Lexington you can call 508 numbers, but from Cambridge you can't. > I can't call Concord or Framingham or any of the other areas outside of > the "don't dial 1" area.... > Note that if you don't have Metropolitan service, you get charged message > units for calls placed to areas outside of your immediate local calling > area but inside the metropolitan service boundary. You don't dial 1 for > these calls either. I know all that. These seem to be examples of what I was saying, namely that there is NOT and has not recently been the "feature" that you can tell what is a free call by whether you have to dial a "1". But in your telecom posting, I thought you were saying that there WAS such a feature and that you would miss it when it goes away: "However, I will miss the dial-1-is-a-toll-call feature of this area, meaning that if I call a number, I won't know if I have to pay for it or not." ????? /Rcc In Cambridge, Somerville, and Everett and Boston this is the case. It is not the case in Lexington. I had forgotten about the case of the numbers that are either in 508 or can dial 508 numbers included in metropolitan service. Let me point out that my experience with Metropolitan service is the cities listed above. Those are places where I have actually lived and have had dial-1-means-toll-call service for about 6 years. It is true that in many cases, particularly in outlying areas of Mass., that dial-1-means-toll-call is not implemented. Here it is, and therefore I will miss it when it goes away. jsol ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Re: A Letter From Australia Date: 19 Oct 89 01:41:06 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA In article , kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au writes: | | In Australia there is no touch-tone service.... Speak for yourself, Taswegian! It's being introduced in many parts of the mainland, but I can't speak for the funny little island to the south of us.... :-) :-) :-) Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ From: fmsystm!macy@hal.uucp Date: Thu Oct 19 07:50:47 1989 Subject: Re: PC Sytems to Handle Phone Inquiries? Organization: F M Systems Medina, Ohio USA In article you write: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 455, message 3 of 11 >In article Jim Henry org writes: >>I would like to design a system which allows a telephone caller to >>check the status of an order by telephone without human intervention. >I recently researched a similar application, and found a company which >seems to handle this type of requirement very well. The vendor is >Innovative Technology, Inc. in Roswell Georgia. They make a clever >little board (which is not really cheap, but gets the job done) and >better yet, there is a lot of software out there written by this >company and by other companies to handle all sorts of touch-tone >response applications. This product is sold in its unmodified form as the "Nita" auto-atendant and voice mail system. Nita is sold by authorized contract dealers nationwide (of which I am one). And it works very well. Nita is also sold on an OEM basis by ITI to VARS with a set of development tools for development tools for enhanced applications such as the voice response application described. Based on my installation of several of these systems, I can attest to the quality of the product and ITI. I'm very impressed. I have not purchased or installed any of the enhanced versions by VARS for "value-added" applications. I'm told the Nita makes an execellent platform, though, and these enhanced applications work well. (Like most products of these types, the quality of the VAR and testing behind it determines the ultimate quality of the enhanced product) ITI publishes a booklet giving the names, addresses, phone no.'s and a brief description of the enhanced product's application. When you call ITI at (404) 998-9970 you will get a Nita, dial 411 for a directory. The name of the national sales manager is Jim Shriver. ITI will not sell to end users directly, but they will help you get information on dealers and/of VARS. Be aware that the Nita requires a stable, quality hardware platform to operate. It will operate on a XT or AT platform. Several clones work, but there are many issues concerning BIOS and disk operation that need to be addressed if you intend to use you own machine to run this system (if the dealer will even permit it...) One of the principal obligations of a dealer is hardware configuration and setup. Initial setup of the software is a bit complex, as well. Nita is made to work with darn near any phone system that will support single line (2500) phones as stations. And there's so much more, but I've taken up too much net bandwidth already. Disclaimer: I am a satisfied independent ITI dealer. I like this product. As a courtesy to the net, I will answer e-mail questions, time permitting. I would prefer not to sell this product outside my service area (Ohio). I do not receive any payment, commission, or even recognition for sales or promotion, other than my own sales. Just trying to do right by the net...there's a lot of stuff out there that _doesn't_ work nearly as well... Macy Hallock 150 Highland Dr. macy@NCoast.ORG F M Systems Inc. Medina, OH 44256 {uunet|backbone}!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!macy +1 216 723-3000 Fax +1 216 723-3223 uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ From: "Gary L. Crum" Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Date: 18 Oct 89 23:09:08 GMT Organization: University of Southern California From reading literature, it seems to me that a "hot" answering system would be Teleflex, a "telephone handling system" that works with Macintosh computers to interact with callers using touch-tone, sound digitizing, voice synthesis and modem signaling. Teleflex costs about $3000 not including a host Macintosh. It is programmable using a graphical method -- a flow diagram with icons is created. I don't have one for my residence yet, but I would like to see such sophisticated systems in homes. You know, "Crum residence. To page Gary press 1. To leave a voice message press 2. To begin FAX transmission press 3. To connect with Gary's UNIX system press 4." Do you people think that things like UUCP and FAX machines can deal with pauses in their dialing sequences? I hope so. Call (818)700-0510 for more information about Teleflex, and please tell them that Gary Crum of USC referred you to them. I am not currently affiliated with the Magnum, the developer of Teleflex, but I would really like to work on such products. Gary ------------------------------ From: Mark Robert Smith Subject: Re: Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service Date: 19 Oct 89 15:35:21 GMT Organization: Rutgers - The Police State of New Jersey I too have had difficulties with NJ Bell Customer Service. I, being a Rutgers student, had to apply by mail for service. The NJ Bell form contained some service options, but not the CLASS services which I wanted for my line. So, I called the Customer Service number, and was forced to ask my question in response to the question "Is this an emergency". I was told to call after the phone was turned on, and request those services. After the strike ended, I got my service on a Saturday. I called the Operator and asked her for the number (the form said to do this). Then, on Monday, I called to have the services added to my line. At that time, my connection wasn't in the billing computer yet, so I had to wait a week. I called back a week later, and successfully had the services added. At that time, I was told that the $21 connection service charge for those services would be waived, since I couldn't order them on the form. So, two weeks later, my phone bill arrives. Yup, a $21 connection charge for the CLASS services. I called the phone company, and after waiting for 5 minutes for a human, got one. I explained the process, and the fact that I was promised a waiver, and the woman (a very rude woman) on the other end said "Well, Why didn't you write those services in on the form?" I told her I was told not to, and could a please speak to a supervisor. After a 10 minute hold, she returned and said "the $21 will be adjusted, Mr. Smith". I paid the bill minus the $21, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. Mark Smith, KNJ2LH All Rights Reserved RPO 1604 You may redistribute this article only if those who P.O. Box 5063 receive it may do so freely. New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5063 msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ From: Jean-Pierre Radley Date: 17 Oct 89 21:15:56 GMT Subject: Call Waiting Override Reply-To: jpr@dasys1.UUCP (Jean-Pierre Radley) Organization: TANGENT Sorry, I know this be an old topic. Am I correct that *70 is not the universal method to override call waiting, that different telcos have other codes or methods? Jean-Pierre Radley jpr@jpradley.uucp New York, NY 72160.1341@compuserve.com [Moderator's Note: You are correct. Some use 70#; most allow use of 1170 for rotary dial phones, and sometimes 1170 will work from touchtone lines as well. Some CO's using older generics don't even have this option. An example is Morton Grove, IL; about the only place in the Chicago area without this capability. David Tamkin, is that correct? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:29:53 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Based on notes arriving via TELECOM Digest, I have the following to pass along: 416, Ontario, 1989? (need area code on toll calls within it) 919, North Carolina, 1989? (need area code on toll calls within it) 313, Michigan, 1989? (1+ removed from 1+7D for toll calls within it) When N0X/N1X area codes run out and NXX area codes become necessary, I take it that that will be known, too. (For example, 1+7D is still in use in Delaware. Where area codes and prefixes can use the same 3 digits, it is necessary for leading 1 to mean that "what follows is an area code", and use of NXX area codes would force that meaning of leading 1 into use in areas not already having it, right?) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 07:50:32 mst From: David Dodell Subject: AT&T Supplies Sourcebook I was recently in my local AT&T Phone Center and noticed a booklet entitled "The AT&T Supplies Sourcebook" Thought the individuals on this mailing list might be interested. First, the order number is 1-800-451-2100 (Mon to Fri, 8 am to 8 pm EST) Contents: Telecommunications - Telephone Accessories - Telephone Sets - Thermal FAX Paper - Headsets - Headset Jacks and Adapters - Headset Accessories Cords, Cables and Adapters - 4 conductor wiring, 8 conductor wiring and associated jacks and adapters - Headset cords/supplies for 4/8 conductor equipment Special Needs - Hearing and Speech Amplification Special Services - 800 directories, Long Distance Certificates - ATT Card, ProAmerica, Readyline Overall, a few interesting things. I'm sure you could get a free copy of the catalog by calling the 800 number and asking. David ------------------------------------------------------------------------- uucp: {decvax, ncar} !noao!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell uucp: {gatech, ames, rutgers} !ncar!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell Bitnet: ATW1H @ ASUACAD FidoNet=> 1:114/15 Internet: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #463 *****************************   Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 0:56:34 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #464 Message-ID: <8910210056.aa27546@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Oct 89 00:55:51 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 464 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem (Jeff Glassman via Julian Macassey) More on Apartment Door Answering Systems (Richard Snider) Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Eric Wagner) Routing, Boxing, etc. (Ninja Master) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Ben Ullrich) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Lang Zerner) Re: AC 617, was Area Code NineOhNine (John R. Levine) Re: What is SONET? (John R. Levine) Re: Call Waiting Override (George Wang) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: julian macassey Subject: 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem Date: 20 Oct 89 00:31:26 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood CA U.S.A. I received the following from Jeff Glassman, WA6ENI via amateur radio; via tcp/ip for the curious. Jeff is the night manager of a GTE CO. He is responding to a tale I sent him (yes, via ham radio) that ran here a couple of weeks ago about DMS100 CPC problems: From wa6eni@wa6eni.ampr.org Thu Oct 19 15:38:09 1989 Received: from wa6eni.ampr.org by n6are.ampr.org with SMTP id AA3045 ; Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:38:00 PDT Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:45:09 GMT Message-Id: <1560@wa6eni.ampr.org> From: wa6eni@wa6eni.ampr.org (Jeff Glassman) To: n6are@n6are.ampr.org I work in a WECO 1AESS owned by GTE. Actually it is a very nice switch and very well behaved. We are going to be upgrading to G feature package for our 911 folks. That story about the DMS 100 really brought a smile to my face. As an equipment maintainer who is usually the only person who is in the CO I can appreciate the goings on. I have a similar story to relate. There is a customer out of my CO who happens to want to call forward his phones at the exact time that we are doing a translation data assembler back up tape. There is a period of time when a customer cannot execute any recent changes to their line (call forwarding variable, speed call variable etc.) while the verificaton between the primary and secondary translators os occurring. This only takes about 5 min. but it just happens to occur at the time that he leaves his premises. He thought his call forwarding was broken and kept reporting to 611 who would always find it to be a Test-OK when they checked it. This went on for months with no resolution. Supervisors had been out to insure him that there was no problem and kept showing him the proper ws to use call forwarding. (HE ALREADY KNEW HOW TO USE THE @#$% CALL-FOWARDING!!) In desperation he watched one of the outside plant persons dial up the CO and noted the number. He called into the CO, got the day shift person who informed him what the problem was and that there was no way that anything could be done about it. ("I just do my job - I don't set policies...") When he called me at the CO (at 3:30am) and gave me his story with all the names of who he had contacted and what he had tried, I was amazed! NO ONE had ever explained to him that the situation occured for only five minutes at a time and only once or twice a week. He had never even thought of trying it after a few minutes because he thought that it was repeatedly breaking and being repaired in the morning. Needless to say I was able to straighten him out on what the situation actually was in just a few minutes. The whole incident just showed me how important communications is within a communications company, and how little information actually makes it through from one section to another of the company. If that customer had not taken matters into his own hands and gotten hold of me there is no telling what it would have taken to get his "problem" solved. I hope that incidents such as this are rare and isolated but I fear that they are getting more common all the time. =============================== Yours, Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian n6are@k6iyk (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ From: rsnider@xrtll.uucp Subject: More on Apartment Door Answering Systems Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 14:37:37 EDT Dave Levenson writes: >This may mean that the 5ESS supports ADAS. It may also be a CPE-based >version of the same service. Perhaps the armored panel phone in the >foyer detects the touch tone from the resident's set and unlocks the >door? I don't remember seeing any brand name on the set. >When I visit, the directions on the phone tell me to dial # and their >appartment number. When I lift the handset, there is no battery or >sound in the receiver. When I enter the #, I hear what sounds like CO >dialtone. I then enter their three-digit appartment number, and hear >the three touch-tones in the receiver. As soon as I have entered >three digits, the phone dials their 7-digit number, using >pulse-dialing (I hear the pulses in the handset). The microphone is >dead (i.e. no side-tone) until after dialing is complete, but is >enabled during ringing. >When they answer, they dial 9 to admit me. I hear the first few tens >of milliseconds of their tone signal, and then silence. About 500 >msec later, the entry door goes "thunk-buzzzzzz" and I am given >access. >Does anyone recognize this system? I don't think that this is CO based at all. I have seen many of these types of devices on apartment buildings from various different manufacturers which function in this manner. When new tenants move into a building, the Super will get their phone number and program it into the machine. When someone comes to visit, they key in a number (Apartment number or other) and the device then picks up an ordinary phone line and calls that apartment. It recognizes certain DTMF frequencies from the remote end to unlatch the door. These devices are becoming quite popular since it is easier to pay for 1 phone line over many years than it is to run intercom wire to every apartment and then have to pay for service when it breaks. Richard Snider Where: ..uunet!mnetor!yunexus!xrtll!rsnider Also: rsnider@xrtll.UUCP An unbreakable tool is useful for breaking other tools. ------------------------------ From: Eric Wagner Subject: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 18 Oct 89 17:12:16 GMT Organization: gte Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) have been responsible for brain/eye damage. When I did some calculations, this damage didn't seem impossible. I think the newer models operate on 800MHz (?). If that is true, then the wavelength would be: c / f = 186000 mi/sec / 800000000/sec x 5280 ft/mi = 1.2 feet This results in a halfwave of about 7 inches (just about the size of the skull). Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone consider this before approving the 800MHz frequency? Eric Wagner (wagnere@gtephx) AGCS (formerly GTE), Phoenix (602) 582-7150 UUCP: {ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!hrc | att}!gtephx!wagnere ------------------------------ From: Ninja Master Subject: Routing, Boxing, etc. Date: 19 Oct 89 21:49:01 GMT Organization: The P.L.O. Two Questions..... One, would someone mind describing how and what equipment is used to detect false winks (i.e. Blue Boxes). Two, I was recently told by a member of WisBell that routing codes are a function of AT&T. When did this start? I thought the local BOC's set the routing codes...... Thanks....... -=+NINJA MASTER+=- ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Organization: sybase, inc., emeryville, ca. Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:08:29 -0700 From: ben ullrich > By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my > bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that > looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the > caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my > card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number > and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it > off. I doubt they've turned it off. They'll always ask for your account number for identity verification, just as they ask for your name after getting your account number. I've noticed that most of the time, I don't hear any typing or delays as I give them my account number, as if they are reading it on their screen instead of typing it in. I should test this by calling in on my unlisted number sometime, and see if the response is any different from when I call from my other, listed number, the one that appears on their records. ben ullrich consider my words disclaimed,if you consider them at all sybase, inc., emeryville, ca "When you deal with human beings, a certain +1 (415) 596 - 3500 amount of nonsense is inevitable." - mike trout ben@sybase.com {pyramid,pacbell,sun,lll-tis}!sybase!ben ------------------------------ From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 20 Oct 89 10:15:38 GMT Reply-To: langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) Organization: The Great Escape, Inc In article johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us writes: >[American Express] has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that >looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the >caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my >card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number >and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it >off. I recall having read a few little "FYI" type articles in various technical and marketing trade rags that said Amex got a lot of nasty letters and calls from customers who were startled, perplexed, and/or annoyed at Amex about the addition of the "service." Apparently, someone at Amex marketing thought it would be friendlier to answer the phone, "Good morning Mr. Zerner." A lot of people (myself included) thought it was pompous and not beneficial. At least one person encountered communication difficulties because he was calling from another cardholder's phone. Enough of these dissatisfied customers wrote and called in nastygrams expressing their dislike of Amex' use of the technology that Amex ended up pulling the idea. I still have one or two of the articles floating around somewhere. If you're really interested, though, you'll probably get a faster response from a commercial text-retrieval service or library CD periodicals index. Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" ------------------------------ Subject: Re: AC 617, was Area Code NineOhNine Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 20 Oct 89 11:12:43 EDT (Fri) From: "John R. Levine" In article you write: >Even in Boston, 617 is getting nearly full; even though they just >split the code already. ... Is that really true? A recent message shows 330 prefixes, which looks to me like it's less than half full. There are 339 in 508. Or am I missing something? Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ From: "John R. Levine" Subject: Re: What is SONET? Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 16:39:36 GMT In article amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs. washington.edu writes: >Seriously....I always thought SONET referred to Southern New England >Telephone Co! No, that's SNET, pronounced snet, or perhaps SNET Co., pronounced snetco. When I lived in New Haven, all sorts of events happened at the SNET Co. auditorium. Since SNET was an AT&T affiliate rather than a subsidiary, they are not subject to all the restrictions on the RBOCs and they set up a subsidiary sonorously named Sonecor which attempts without notable success to make big bucks in unregulated businesses. SNET lives in my memory as the only phone company ever to send me a "pay or we'll turn off your phone" letter before they even sent the bill. John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650 johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl Massachusetts has over 100,000 unlicensed drivers. -The Globe [Moderator's Note: I might add that SNET Financial Services, Inc. is a big lender of money for people who buy computer systems. In my real life work, they are a client of ours. They lend *huge* amounts of money to commercial borrowers, and function as a factor for computer brokers. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 15:08:23 -0500 From: George Wang Subject: Re: Call Waiting Override Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign >[Moderator's Note: You are correct. Some use 70#; most allow use of 1170 >for rotary dial phones, and sometimes 1170 will work from touchtone lines >as well. Some CO's using older generics don't even have this option. An >example is Morton Grove, IL; about the only place in the Chicago area >without this capability. David Tamkin, is that correct? PT] Well, I'm not Dave, but I do know from first hand experience that Morton Grove's switching station does NOT allow call waiting override with *70.... Although I live in Skokie, Skokie is spilt into service by Skokie's switching station and Morton Grove's switching station... Unfortunately, we got stuck with Morton Grove's switching station and using the modem with call waiting is a real pain!! Disconnects galore!! BTW, does anyone know why Morton Grove doesn't have this ability?? Does it have to do with the station's switching technology?? Is there anything we can do as telephone service customers? A petition? Hmmmm...... George Wang University of Illinois gcw20877@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #464 *****************************   Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 1:52:12 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #465 Message-ID: <8910210152.aa29342@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Oct 89 01:50:13 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 465 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Earthquake - Lessons Learned (Hector Myserston) Amazing Quake Stories (Guy A. Finney) Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage (John G. De Armond) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Marc T. Kaufman) Re: Disaster Communications (Brian Kantor) Re: What Works in a Disaster (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down (Edward Greenberg) Re: San Fransisco Horror (Kent Borg) [Moderator's Note: Coverage of the Event continues in the Digest. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 20 Oct 89 08:50 PST Subject: Earthquake - Lessons Learned Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] The following is my opinion of the earthquake aftermath based on talking to many fellow Telecom folks in the area (SL-1 Users, TCA and many vendors): o I found 0 instances of properly installed PBXs and other gear suffering major damage. I am sure there are some but either the whole building has been evacuated or the damage has not been discovered. o MANY people had power-related problems beyond the capacity of the battery backup. Many PBXs do not handle power loss and subsequent restoral well. Many cards fail shortly after the event. o Traffic has to be controlled in the Network or at the Central Office. No amount of training or lecturing is going to stop users from checking on their family and friends immediately after an event. o Central dispatch/Trouble Numbers, usually 800- numbers are useless in a major event. Even when you can call in to them, they cannot call IN to the appropriate people in your area. Same for remote paging. LOCAL contacts are a must. o Cellular overloaded worse than land lines. o Carriers who controlled traffic took (in my opinion) a bum rap. The resellers mentioned in previous messages were able to complete calls only because the underlying carrier maintained some measure of Network Discipline. o One interesting side effect of telecom problems was the issue of ATMs. Many people really on them almost exclusively for ready cash. Loss of service (computer or line) is attributed to "the phone lines". o I was called by several present (and former!) interconnect contractors offering help within 24 hours. Most had more man-power on hand than required. MITEL is running large ads offering 24-hour turn-around on repairs. o Radio, I think, did great. Not to much panic or exageration. Amazingly enough from the time I got home about two hours after the earthquake I was able to watch local TV coverage using an outside antenna. While some stations came and went, at least one was on the air at all times. [I live in the South Bay 20 - 30 miles from the epicenter, we lost stuff from shelves etc but did NOT lose power through all of this]. All-in-all it seems like telecom was more part of the solution than of the problem. Of the people I know I would say almost all are now fully operational including the ones in SF after power restoral. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 12:18:27 MST From: gaf@uucs1.uucp Subject: Amazing Quake Stories We heard from one of the traffic monitoring people at US West who noticed something peculiar around 5:05 PM Tuesday. He called his AT&T counterpart in Oakland to see what was happening. The call was answered, and the conversation went something like: "Hey, what's happening there?" "We've got an earthquake here, and, ..... oh ..... there's a big crack in the wall now ..... " I'd heard that AT&T was on the 10th floor of some building in Oakland, so I don't know how apocryphal this is. Haven't heard of any buildings that tall sustaining that kind of damage. Guy Finney It's that feeling of deja-vu UUCS inc. Phoenix, Az all over again. ncar!noao!asuvax!hrc!uucs1!gaf sun!sunburn!gtx!uucs1!gaf ------------------------------ From: "John G. De Armond" Subject: Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage Date: 20 Oct 89 19:15:10 GMT Reply-To: "John G. De Armond" Organization: Radiation Systems, Inc. (a thinktank, motorcycle, car and gun works facility) In article wmartin@stl-06sima.army. mil (Will Martin) writes: >Glad you posted that note that mentioned your wife's query about the >blimp not moving South. >I did notice that the blimp was by far the best camera platform, >giving the most stable images. Perhaps ABC felt that having those >better pictures of the SF area was a "competitive advantage" in its >coverage and did't want to lose them, trading them off for unknown >results that the blimp might get further South. Before we attribute too much malice to ABC, we should note the technical reason the blimp stayed in the SF area. The blimp, which is strictly a camera platform in these circumstances, must stay within short-haul microwave range of the ground station that services it. In this case, the ground station was at the stadium. Remember, the blimp does not normally carry recording equipment or long distance microwave gear. There is a defined limit on weight and power consumption. John De Armond, WD4OQC | Manual? ... What manual ?!? Radiation Systems, Inc. Atlanta, GA | This is Unix, My son, You gatech!stiatl!rsiatl!jgd **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!! ------------------------------ From: "Marc T. Kaufman" Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 20 Oct 89 04:15:25 GMT Reply-To: "Marc T. Kaufman" Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University In article dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) writes: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? Right now (9pm, Thursday 10/19), I can call ALMOST everywhere, including San Francisco, which was inaccessable from Woodside (also in 415) until this morning. The only place I can't currently reach is Los Gatos, which is GTE. Santa Cruz never went away. I don't know how I'll be able to tell when Los Gatos is back, since this is one of GTE's worst service areas even without an earthquake. :-) My wife is currently out of state, and she has more trouble reaching me than I have reaching her. Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu) ------------------------------ From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Date: 20 Oct 89 11:33:03 GMT Reply-To: Brian Kantor Organization: University of California, San Diego Network Operations There is a statewide police radio service in California, but it can get congested easily and I recall seeing bulletins asking that it not be used for anything but the highest-priority traffic in times of emergency. Much of it piggybacks on microwave circuits, some of which were not in operation because of fallen or twisted towers and power problems. The CERFnet, BARRNet, Calinet, and associated computer networks mostly kept running throughout much of this, although there were some outages due to power failures at a few key points, and coincidently a circuit between Stanford and Berkeley had failed a couple of hours before the quake hit. We had communications from San Diego to Stanford and UC Santa Barbara at all times; UC Santa Cruz came back online in a couple of hours once they had their emergency power up, and UC Davis and UC Berkeley were back early in the morning. UC San Francisco was back on-line before noon the following day. The UC Office of the President in Oakland was never offline. Most of this network is T1, much of it over PacBell and MCI fiber, with a few microwave links. None of it is dialup, so this traffic did not impact congested voice circuits. The E-mail community was passing "health and welfare" sort of traffic using electronic mail for much of the night, and I know that many families slept easier that night because of the electronic mail capabilities of the various computer networks. Although I handled little of this traffic myself, I certainly saw lots of it go through to the quake area. In the last day or so, we've seen a peak of more than 20% over our normal E-mail load, and we're as far south in California as you can get - more than 400 miles away from the quake. I expect that's because we're well-connected and much of the normal E-mail routing into the Bay Area is still in the process of coming back online. - Brian ------------------------------ From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Re: What Works in a Disaster Date: 20 Oct 89 16:23:41 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes... >I helped a friend contact her worried parents in New York, and finally >succeeded after some 10XXX hacking, the carrier which worked was 311 >which I believe is AllNet. >Ole According to the list that was posted here some time ago, 10311 is SaveNet. I tried to call my sister in Berkeley at 11:40 EDT the night of the quake. AT&T and Sprint had recordings, MCI a fast busy. 10444 (Allnet) got through with no problems. Their transmission still sounds analog noisy, and I don't know anybody who actually uses them as 1+ (around here), and they probably didn't do anything about the quake, but they got through. Amazing how few people know about 10xxx. ------------------------------ From: Edward Greenberg Subject: Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down Date: 21 Oct 89 00:36:14 GMT Reply-To: Edward Greenberg Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} I kinda think that it's a good idea to divide traffic capability between incoming and outgoing during a disaster. John H. suggests that he should have gotten through on ATT or Sprint, but if this was true, not only would we have a massive jam incoming, but no outgoing service either. As it was, I made one outgoing ATT call and reassured everybody outside the area by notifying my parents. Someone put it well: Better to let the people in trouble call out for help. -edg Ed Greenberg uunet!apple!netcom!edg ------------------------------ From: Kent Borg Subject: Re: San Fransisco Horror Date: 20 Oct 89 18:26:58 GMT Reply-To: Kent Borg Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 457, message 1 of 9 >At the time this is written, chaos is reigning in the Bay Area, and >all telecommunications are knocked out. The latest death count is Maybe at the time you wrote that, but by some time near 8PM PDT (11PM EDT) there where some phones with working long distance service--both incoming and outgoing. I was at a friend's house when the earth rumbled. Being near Boston we didn't feel it, and not watching TV or listening to the radio, we didn't know it happened. We found out when we got a call from another friend. She was calling from her apartment in San Francisco. She had no electricity and didn't have a battery powered TV or radio, so she phoned us to find out what was going on. We turned on the TV to find out. Later we called her back to tell her what we knew. The call to SF took a few tries to go through (maybe 10 minutes worth). We were impressed. Our call to SF was made by AT&T, I am told the sound quality was normal (I didn't talk to her myself). Kent Borg "Then again I could be foolish kent@lloyd.uucp not to quit while I'm ahead..." or -from Evita (sung by Juan Peron) ...!husc6!lloyd!kent ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #465 *****************************   Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:49:28 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #466 Message-ID: <8910211649.aa13638@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:45:38 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 466 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Introduction to SONET (Stephen Fleming) Keep at Least One Rotary Phone (Ole J. Jacobsen) NATA Unicom '89 (TELECOM Moderator) 717-564 Discrepancy (Carl Moore) Code-a-Phone 2600 (Otto J. Makela) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Kenneth Illgen) Re: Cellular Telephone Prices (Kenneth R. Jongsma) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Rune Henning Johansen) Re: Parsing Dialed Digits (Jeff DeSantis) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Jeff DeSantis) Sprint Shoots Itself in the Foot on the Radio (Jay Maynard) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: portal!cup.portal.com!fleming@apple.com Subject: Introduction to SONET Date: Tue, 17-Oct-89 07:24:41 PDT >10/13/89 17:04 3/171 gamiddleton@watmath.waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) writes: >I read in the newspaper today about some Northern Telecom fibre-optic >equipment that uses a signalling technology called SONET. Does anybody know >what SONET actually is? SONET stands for Synchronous Optical Network. It is not a signalling technology (as the term would normally be understood in this newsgroup) but rather a new international standard for transmitting very-high-bit-rate signals (up to 13 gigabits per second) over single-mode fiber; Northern Telecom has also extended the system to work over digital microwave radio. Current announcements include 2.4 Gb/s products, which will be the fastest in the world when they ship next year. The major advantages of SONET are: * Multi-vendor compatibility (allowing optical mid-span meets between equipment from different vendors... e.g., Northern Telecom and AT&T. This has been an ongoing scandal for years, with an explosion in proprietary formats coinciding with divestiture and rapid advances in fiber optic technology) * Capability to extract one or more constituent signals in mid-stream (all asynchronous systems require full demultiplexing to DS1 or sometimes to analog VF, which is INCREDIBLY awkward, expensive, and prone to mistakes) * Standardized operations, administration, and maintenance. If you're not involved in the day-to-day business, it's not obvious that, with the massive growth of fiber optic capacity, the major technical challenge is no longer getting the bits into the pipe... it's making sure the right bits go in the right place and get billed to the right customer. (A massive oversimplification.) * Provision of new services to be named later. For example, some of the extensions to SONET now being negotiated relate to fiber to the home and switched multi-megabit data services for corporations. Unlike previous systems, where you would have to rip out the entire terminal electronics to provide a new service, SONET allows new services to be provisioned without disturbing the synchronous structure. Some new services will be provisionable purely via downloaded software, with no change in terminal electronics. SONET began its life at Bellcore in 1984. After a tortuous approval process, it is now accepted by the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe (at least... perhaps others as well). It is the first major transmission standard to be PROACTIVELY determined, rather than the old method of "well, let's see what AT&T shipped and make that a standard." As such, it bids fair to revolutionize the transmission and (to some extent) switching portions of the public network. One of the best tutorials I have seen on SONET is by Ballart and Ching in the March 1989 issue of IEEE Communications. I added a more-accessible introduction in my article published in the June 15th issue of TE&M. I'd also be happy to reply to questions of general interest via E-mail or over the net. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Stephen Fleming | Internet: fleming@cup.portal.com | | Director, Technology Marketing | Voice: (703) 847-7058 | | Northern Telecom +-------------------------------------| | Federal Networks Division | Opinions expressed are not | | Vienna, Virginia 22182 | those of Northern Telecom. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Sat 21 Oct 89 07:56:00-PDT From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" Subject: Keep at Least One Rotary Phone In the wake of the earthquake I have been having problems getting through to a friend in Ben Lomond near Santa Cruz. Dialling the number usually results in a fast busy. One trick I learned from the UK is to dial the number slowly with a rotary phone. Amazingly it seems to work here too. Perhaps the slow dialling results in a "pass on" to the next switch, the way the UK phone system was described here a while ago. I am not insisting that this is the case here, I honestly do not know, but what I report is true. Any explanations would be much appreciated, and I will always keep a rotary dial phone handy. Ole ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 1:31:44 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: NATA Unicom '89 The North American Telecommunications Association (NATA) will host the 17th Annual Expo and Conference for telecom professionals December 5-7 in Dallas, TX at the Infomart Exhibition and Conference Center. Entitled 'Spanning the Networks', this year's presentation will have over 400 exhibitors; 8000 people in attendance; over 30 conference sessions co-sponsored by TeleStrategies; and a special interest seminar for the Pay Telephone Industry sponsored by the American Public Communications Council. Special events and guests include -- Monday, December 4 "Public Communications Industry Forum". (pre-session) This forum will address legal and regulatory issues at the state and federal levels which affect all members of the public communications industry. Admission to the forum will be by special invitation only. Tuesday, December 5 will be given over to conference sessions and the Exposition. Wednesday, December 6 features special guest Malcolm S. Forbes, Jr. In addition, a special closed-door seminar will be offered entitled, "Toll Fraud - How to Spot It; How to Prevent It". Admission will be by invitation only, and is open only to members of the COPT industry. Inquire at the time of registration. Thursday, December 7 brings Harry Newton to the exposition, in a special presentation entitled "The Harry Newton Extravaganza". This is open to all. Admission for the full package of events is $395 for Non-Members of NATA if received before November 17, or $495 if received after that date. NATA members will pay $250/350. Admission to the exhibit hall only is $25 prior to November 17, and $35 after that date. Luncheon with Malcolm Forbes on December 6 is $25 if purchased separately. For more information, to register or receive a copy of the conference information booklet and complete schedule of seminars and events, contact the North American Telecommunications Association as follows -- NATA Unicom '89 333 North Michigan Avenue Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60601 Phone: 800-328-6898 or 312-332-2037 Hotel arrangements can be made through the same number. The main office of NATA is -- North American Telecommunications Association 200 'M' Street NW - Suite 550 Washington, DC 20036 If any of our readers decide to attend -- at least the Exposition portion -- please write a report afterward for the Digest. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 15:11:34 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: 717-564 Discrepancy What about this discrepancy? I called the Bellcore number and got PAXTANG for 717-564, but when I asked AT&T operator (by using 00 on an AT&T phone) what the place name for 717-564 was, I got Harrisburg. I do know Paxtang to be part of the Harrisburg (Pa.) area, but what databases are involved? ------------------------------ From: "Otto J. Makela" Subject: Code-a-Phone 2600 Date: 20 Oct 89 15:38:55 GMT Organization: Justice HQ, Mega-City One I've been looking around for a phone answering machine to use for call screening and message recording. I have a sales blurb for a device called the Code-a-Phone 2600, which would seem to be what I need: 16s of digital outgoing message, micro- casette for message recording and remote message retrieve with 3-digit security code (gives 512 combinations, if the salesperson had it right) plus a few more. The price tag over here in Finland is around US$230, which makes it pretty resonable. Does anyone have hands-on experience with these devices ? * * * Otto J. Makela (otto@jyu.fi, MAKELA_OTTO_@FINJYU.BITNET) * * * * * * * * Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (CCITT, Bell 2400/1200/300) * * Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE * * * * freopen("/dev/null","r",stdflame); * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------ From: "Keneth..Illgen" Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 21 Oct 89 14:35:41 GMT Reply-To: "Kenneth..Illgen" Organization: Air Force HQ, The Pentagon In article asuvax!gtephx!bladder! wagnere@ncar.ucar.edu (Eric Wagner) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 464, message 3 of 9 >Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer >cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular,...hand-held models... >have been responsible for brain/eye damage. I read about the same thing. I personally don't think it would have any effect on an individual unless they had a 7" antenna stuck in their skull. I wonder (seriously!) about individuals that have pins and such in their bodies and the half-wave matching effects around a particular frequency. Any ideas? ken ******************************* ****************************** * "Maybe we should drop an H- * * Kenneth Illgen * * bomb on them".. Hawkeye * * HQUSAF Air Staff LAN * * * * The Pentagon, Washington * * "Don't try to get on my * * good side".. Col Flagg * * * illgen@hq.UUCP ******************************* ------------------------------ From: Kenneth_R_Jongsma@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Cellular Telephone Prices Date: Tue, 17-Oct-89 09:53:40 PDT Someone mentioned that the cost of a cellular telephone had dropped to the $200 range in their area. (Not to be confused with airtime rates) Anyway, several local electronics stores in the area have been advertising transportables for $87. The catch is that you have sign up for 6 months of service with one of the local carriers. These may be refurbished units, but they did have the full 832 channels and were 3 watt transmitters. They did want an "installation" fee of around $50. Presumably to activate the account, since their can't be anything to installing a portable! I assume the carriers are paying a kickback to cover the low cost of the units - at least that's a practice mentioned in one of the business magazines. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 89 16:11 +0100 From: Rune Henning Johansen Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! I'm quite sure that the fire department in Oslo uses "caller ID" for emergency calls. In addition to the obvious safety-reason already mentioned, there is another advantage: They can also avoid and/or detect false alerts. [Moderator's Note: When 911 was implemented here over ten years ago, the false-alarm rate (at least the malicious ones) dropped to almost zero. For many years, the Chicago Fire and Police Departments were plagued with malicious false-alarms. Typically the Fire Department responded to over two dozen false (or do you say phalse? [smiling sweetly :-)] ) alarms *daily*. Police responded to many more, some of which were simply malicious attempts to lure a police officer into a dangerous situation. As some people began finding out the hard way that there were no more games with the phone, these ugly activities virtually ceased. We still get a tiny number of false-alarms, mostly from people unaware of how it works; usually children playing. PT] ------------------------------ From: Jeff DeSantis Subject: Re: Parsing Dialed Digits Date: 20 Oct 89 14:13:45 GMT Reply-To: jjd@necis.UUCP (Jeff DeSantis) Organization: NEC Information Systems, Acton, MA In article vrdxhq!pbs!PCRABLE@eecs. nwu.edu (VAX WIZZ) writes: > How can I tell whether to take the next two or the next three >digits as the country code ? It depends on the first two digits. If the first two digits are a valid country code, then you do not have to look at the third digit. For example, if the first two digits are 44, you know you have a call to the United Kingdom. Another approach would be to consider all country codes to consist of three digits. In this case all 44X (440-449) country codes would be calls to the United Kingdom. Either approach requires maintaining a list of country codes against which you can verify the call's country code. ------------------------------ From: Jeff DeSantis Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Date: 20 Oct 89 19:00:24 GMT Reply-To: jjd@necis.UUCP (Jeff DeSantis) Organization: NEC Information Systems, Acton, MA >"How many cookies did Andrew eat? > > ANdrew 8-8000" > >Was that it? Adams & Sweet, South Boston, Carpet Cleaners & Used Carpet Sales ------------------------------ From: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Subject: US Sprint Shoots Itself in the Foot on the Radio Date: 21 Oct 89 17:07:17 GMT Reply-To: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Organization: Confederate Microsystems, League City, TX The Texas-Arkansas football game is being broadcast on KTRH radio even as I write this. The sound quality is awful: lots of static, narrow bandwidth, and fading. I wondered what kind of string they were using on their tin cans. The rotten quality was due to the network feed; local commercials sound as good as ever. Imagine my surprise when I heard a US Sprint commercial: "You don't know it, but you've been sampling the high quality of US Sprint's fiber optic network. ...only our fiber optics could make this broadcast as high quality as it is." Yeah, right. Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can jay@splut.conmicro.com (eieio)| adequately be explained by stupidity. {attctc,bellcore}!texbell!splut!jay +---------------------------------------- Send richard@gryphon.com your NO vote on sci.aquaria; it belongs in rec. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #466 *****************************   Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 12:36:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #467 Message-ID: <8910221236.aa29989@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Oct 89 12:35:39 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 467 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Risk of CO Fires (Larry Lippman) Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Dik T. Winter) Earthquake Phone Service (Anthony E. Siegman) Earthquake Report, Berkeley (Linc Madison) Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned (John Higdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Risk of CO Fires Date: 20 Oct 89 00:11:27 EDT (Fri) From: Larry Lippman In article amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs. washington.edu writes: > I enjoyed Larry Lippman's description of cable splicing and mining. > Wasn't it a cable mining operation that set off the Hinsdale fire? It could be, but I am not certain; I have encountered different versions of an explanation for the Hinsdale fire, both from public and "inside" sources, so I don't know what to believe. In any event, cable mining DOES INDEED provide an opportunity for a fire under some circumstances if care is not exercised. The problem is that in older CO buildings the -48 volt office battery is distributed using wires having RH and RHW insulation types. This insulation is rubber, and covered with varnished cloth. Prior to 1950, the rubber used was natural, with newer cable using neoprene or butyl rubber. Over the years much of this rubber will age and devulcanize, especially on cable which has been subject to excess heat from overload conditions. As a result, the insulation will deteriorate such that movement of the cable would cause the rubber and outer cloth covering to literally crumble to dust - thereby exposing bare conductor. DC power distribution in large electromechanical CO's results in some serious current. In WECO CO's, most major battery feeders use 750 MCM copper conductors, in which the copper is almost one inch in diameter. A heavy conductor is also used to keep the battery feed impedance to a minimum, thereby reducing impulse noise and crosstalk. A 750 MCM conductor may intermittently carry with safety about 750 amperes, and hence will be fused between 500 and 1,000 amperes, depending upon the power distribution design. Such a 750 MCM conductor has the capability of a *SERIOUS* amount of short-circuit current. Almost all battery feeders in older CO's are protected by fuses which have a certain amount of thermal delay before opening on an overload condition. The ability of such an exposed conductor to strike and maintain an arc - all before blowing a fuse - is simply *AWESOME*. While I did not witness the event, I have seen the aftermath of a 750 MCM conductor carrying -48 volts burn through a 5/8" steel threaded rod cable rack support - like a knife through butter, but instead spewing molten metal - BEFORE the fuse ever opened the circuit! Power cables run directly on cable rack, protected from the supporting metal only by a small, thin piece of fibre insulation. I have also, ahem, personally destroyed my share of small tools in past years due to accidental short circuits between -48 volt battery and ground. It is EASY to start a fire if one is careless. The risk associated with cable mining is that old power cables, whose insulation is being held together on a wing and a prayer, will then crumble upon being disturbed, thereby exposing the conductor to potential short-circuit. Power feeders will usually survive more than one generation of telephone apparatus, which is why power feeder cables many years old will still be in service. While ESS apparatus is usually installed with new batteries, power apparatus and power distribution wiring, older power feeders often remain to supply trunk circuits, carrier, transmission and ancilary facilities. As I see it, the former Bell System and present RBOC's must shoulder some responsibility for the risk of CO fires. It has only been in recent years that smoke detectors have been commonplace in CO's. The traditional method of fire detection - still in service in many CO's - is to run "fire wire" around cable rack and apparatus which is deemed to be vulnerable to fire. Fire wire is a low-melting point wire similar to solder; it is about 10 AWG in size. When the temperature reaches a certain point (I don't remember the setpoint), the fire wire melts and opens a circuit. The problem with fire wire is that it is fragile, easily damaged and the fire wire splices are often intermittent. The result is that fire wire causes many a false alarm - which is then ignored. Also by the time fire wire melts due to an actual fire, one is in *deep* trouble since this is hardly an early warning detection system. Another problem is that the Bell System has traditionally sought to "take care of its own" and has thereby tried to avoid any embarassment with a fire department due to false alarms. The net result is that it has been rare for a CO fire alarm to be called into a fire department without a craftsperson investigating the matter first - a situation which can lead to serious delay and damage in the event of a real fire. The above attitude of avoiding "embarassment" and "adverse publicity" still exists. I personally know of an example which rather shocked me. A few years ago an employee of a contractor accidentally fell off a truck at the New York Telephone Franklin St. CO in Buffalo, NY. The employee was knocked unconscious. The security guard (this is the main CO in Buffalo, so there are full-time guards) did NOT call 911 for an ambulance, but instead called a *private* ambulance service which resulted in a significant delay in response as opposed to 911. The security guards apparently have standing instructions to call a private ambulance, and NOT to call 911 unless it is a "dire emergency". Why a private ambulance? Because then there will be no public record of any accident and no risk of a police report. Not a good attitude. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 01:48:05 +0100 From: "Dik T. Winter" Subject: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Some time ago there was some discussion on this list about access codes in different countries to dial international numbers. Going through my archive I found a booklet from the Dutch PTT which shows them. I repeat the list here. Note, the list is from December 1987, so things might have changed. If you are in another country and have to dial +31 20 592 4101 (my office phone number) you replace the + by the digit sequence indicated below. A minus sign indicates that you have to wait for a second dial tone. A period indicates no country code should follow. Albania unknown Austria 00 00432. For Luxembourg in stead of 00352 030. For Yugoslavia for areas with codes starting with 4, 5 or 6 040. For Italy in stead of 0039 050. For Switzerland in stead of 0041 060. For Germany in stead of 0049 900 For Sovjet Union and Turkey from Eisenstadt, Graz, Innsbruck, Kitzbuehel, Klagenfurt, Reutten, Vienna and Wattens (possibly needed for more countries) Belgium 00- (wait only needed on some extensions.) Bulgaria 00 Danmark 009 DDR 06 000 In Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Rostock and Schwerin Cyprus 00 Czechoslovakia 00 Finland 990 France 19- Germany 00 Gibraltar 00 Greece 00 09. For Cyprus in stead of 00357 Hungary 00- Iceland 90 Ireland 16 Italy 00 Luxembourg 00 050. For Germany in stead of 0049, but a change is announced Malta 0 (Yes a single zero) Netherlands 09- Norway 095 Poland 0-0 Portugal 00 07 In Porto 09790. For Turkey in stead of 0090 or 0790 Roumania unknown Spain 07- 9567. For Gibraltar in stead of 07-350, except in Cadiz Sovjet Union 6 Sweden 009 Wait for second dial tone after country code Switzerland 00 Turkey 9-9 United Kingdom 010 0001. For Dublin in stead of 0103531 United States 010 Yugoslavia 99 ===================================== Who said that 00 was the most natural? The Dutch PTT booklet did not explain dialling from Ireland to the United Kingdom. That follows here (in the same format): Ireland 16 030 To United Kingdom (the 0 of the areacode is dialled, as I show here) in stead of 1644 031 To London in stead of 16441 032 To Brimingham in stead of 164421 033 To Edinburgh in stead of 164431 034 To Glasgow in stead of 164441 035 To Liverpool in stead of 164451 036 To Manchester in stead of 164461 080 To Northern Ireland (remark as above) in stead of 1644 I do not know what the dialling instructions become when London splits into 071/081. There is no short dialling for 091 (Tyne & Wear), that is from Ireland 03091 and not 039. This is all from a 1988 Dublin telephone directory. This booklet handled also only within Europe dialling (I entered the US as an extra). I speculated on the use in Austria of 00 vs. 900 (in some cities for some countries 900 is international access). From an Austrian telephone directory I have the following information: in the cities I mentioned 00 is international access if the country code starts with 3 or 4 (i.e. it is in Europe) otherwise international access is 900. Is it complicated enough already? What about South- and Central-America, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Africa? Good luck with international dialling! dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland INTERNET : dik@cwi.nl BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax ------------------------------ From: "Anthony E. Siegman" Subject: Earthquake Phone Service Date: 22 Oct 89 00:22:32 GMT Reply-To: "Anthony E. Siegman" Organization: Stanford University A not totally trivial point is that the quake shook a lot of handsets off their receivers (or should that be the other way round?). Anyway, this can cut off phone service to a lot of residences and offices even without real physical damage, especially if you have a lot of phones and don't realize this has happened. Also, you can't use any of the phones 'til you get 'em all back on hook. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 04:36:07 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Earthquake Report, Berkeley Organization: University of California, Berkeley Thanks for your concern, Patrick. I and most of Berkeley came through unscathed. FIRST OFF, I WANT TO **SQUELCH** A RUMOR that has spread internationally. The library system of the University of California at Berkeley DID NOT burn down! There was a fire at Hustead's Towing Co., which is across the street from Berkeley High School and one block down from the city's main public library. Speculation got garbled into "UC Berkeley Library on fire." OK, on to telecom-related issues. Here at my home, I had uninterrupted service on all utilities, including telephone and hot water (the latter much the envy of my friends across the bay). I was out and about at the time of the quake, and didn't realize how big it had been until about 6:30. I promptly tried to call my parents. My roommate (who has his own line) was trying my line because his line was "dead." Not true; we just had to wait up to a minute for dialtone. (I guess maybe one of the transbay pipelines carrying the raw dialtone from the wells or mines broke ;-) I dialed Texas on my default carrier, US Sprint, to a fast busy. I redialed 10288-1+ and got through on the first try. My parents were then able to field calls from and place calls to at least a dozen concerned relatives/friends across the country. I, for one, think that giving outgoing calls priority was a good move. Even as late as yester- day (Friday) there were major problems getting connections Transbay. Areas of S.F. and Santa Cruz County are just now getting phone service. (For those unfamiliar with the area, San Francisco is opposite Berkeley and Oakland.) Ole's comment about slow dialing was true, but you didn't need to dial slowly *pulse*, just slowly. Dialing at my normal clip got a fast busy 9 times out of 10, but pausing three to five full seconds between digits greatly improved things. Pulse was easier only because it built in a certain level of delay. Phone service into Santa Cruz, even from within this area, was dicey Tuesday evening until nearly midnight. The usual hacks of dialing a 950 number to use a long distance company other than Pac*Bell didn't work. Friends have told me they had problems dialing in even Friday and Saturday from outside California. Call volume this weekend is expected to be quite heavy, as all the people who just got "I'm alive" messages out Tuesday call back with all the details. I'm still reeling in disbelief: I frequented both collapsed freeways and have been to many other of the devastated areas. I called my parents out of pure reflex before I even realized the state of things. I've only yesterday and today managed to contact some people in S.F. I haven't logged on earlier because I haven't been on campus since Tuesday at about 4:35 pm. and I had my Macintosh disconnected to guard against aftershocks and power irregularities. I'm sorry if this is rambling, but perhaps my incoherence even this many days afterwards tells something of its own story. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned Date: 22 Oct 89 00:37:57 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , myerston@cts.sri.com writes: > The following is my opinion of the earthquake aftermath based on > talking to many fellow Telecom folks in the area (SL-1 Users, TCA and > many vendors): > [...] > o Cellular overloaded worse than land lines. Not GTE Mobilnet. In fact, I found my handheld to be much more useful than any of the landline telephones that were at the various sites. It *never* failed to complete a call at anytime after the event. In fact, some of my initial info obtained before I returned to the area was from calling people with cellular phones. I understand that Cellular One (PacTel Mobile) had some major problems and was asking people through the media to avoid using their cellular phone except for emergencies. > o Carriers who controlled traffic took (in my opinion) a bum rap. The > resellers mentioned in previous messages were able to complete calls > only because the underlying carrier maintained some measure of Network > Discipline. Unfortunately, it's the results that count. If you can't make calls on one carrier and you can on another, all of the reasons, justifications, self-congratulations, reputations, and press relations don't count for one damn. The carrier that completes my calls when another won't gets my thanks and deserves my patronage. > o Radio, I think, did great. Not to much panic or exageration. > Amazingly enough from the time I got home about two hours after the > earthquake I was able to watch local TV coverage using an outside > antenna. Shortly before I returned to the area, I watched KABC-TV out of LA. They were in "continuous coverage" mode and were switching to sister-station KGO-TV for periods of time. The San Francisco anchor people were professional, calm, informative and even under adverse conditions and a lack of commercial power, were able to produce an on-the-fly report with continuity and smoothness. When they would cut back to the Ken and Barbie anchors in LA, they talked in over-dramatic tones, and were almost a parody of themselves. As a southland resident later said, "You would have thought the quake was in LA." John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #467 *****************************   Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 13:43:30 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #468 Message-ID: <8910221343.aa05533@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Oct 89 13:41:28 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 468 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine (David G. Cantor) Re: Call Waiting Override (David W. Tamkin) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Bob Jacobson) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (John Higdon) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Kent Borg) Re: Keep at Least One Rotary Phone (John Higdon) Re: 911 Improvement Surcharge in Chicago (Roger Clark Swann) Re: 717-564 Discrepancy (Lang Zerner) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:54:53 PDT From: dgc@math.ucla.edu In Telecom digest #464 Otto J. Makela asks: . . . I have a sales blurb for a device called the Code-a- Phone 2600, which would seem to be what I need: 16s of digital outgoing message, micro-casette for message recording and remote message retrieve with 3-digit security code (gives 512 combinations, if the salesperson had it right) plus a few more. The price tag over here in Finland is around US$230, which makes it pretty resonable. Does anyone have hands-on experience with these devices ? We have a Code-a-Phone 2770 which has all of the features described plus a time/day-of-week "stamp" which leaves that information at the end of each message. It uses a 9-volt battery, in case of power failure (useful with the "Banana Republic" power company that serves us -- Southern California Edison), which maintains the clock and outgoing message, but the machine doesn't answer when there's no power. It operates on 10 volts AC, from a little plug-in transformer (so with a different transformer, it would probably run on 240 volts in Europe, unless it really needs 60 Hz). We've had it for about 6 months, and, as I recall, it cost slightly over $100.00. So far it's worked well. It's reliable and easy-to-use (if you read the instruction manual and get used to the multi-function keys). I would recommend it. David G. Cantor Department of Mathematics University of California at Los Angeles Internet: dgc@math.ucla.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Call Waiting Override Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 15:29:28 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" In volume 9, issue 463, Jean-Pierre Radley asks: | Sorry, I know this be an old topic. Am I correct that *70 is not the | universal method to override call waiting, that different telcos have | other codes or methods? and Patrick Townson replies: | [Moderator's Note: You are correct. Some use 70#; most allow use of 1170 | for rotary dial phones, and sometimes 1170 will work from touchtone lines | as well. Some CO's using older generics don't even have this option. An | example is Morton Grove, IL; about the only place in the Chicago area | without this capability. David Tamkin, is that correct? PT] Patrick asked me because I live in the same city as he but have a different local telco with a few differences in the way custom calling features are implemented. For example, where he lives Illinois Bell has call waiting superseding hunt-from. A second call into a hunt-from line with call waiting will give the call waiting beep instead of hunting; if call waiting has been overridden, however, it will hunt. But where I live, Centel has hunt-from superseding call waiting, and call waiting is useless on any line in a rotary except the last one. I'm not sure that overriding call waiting is still unavailable in Morton Grove. Anyhow, here is the way the codes work from Centel phones in northeastern Illinois (except from Des Plaines prefixes 298 and 82[VAnderbilt]7, on which custom calling and equal access are not yet available: customers wishing equal access or custom calling features must get a new phone number): x below is just what you expect: 0 to suspend call waiting, 2 to establish call forwarding, 3 to terminate call forwarding, 4 to program Speed Call 8 [Centel prefers the terms "Speed Call" and "Touch Call" to those used by BOC's], 5 to program Speed Call 30; n is a digit from 2 through 5: 7x works, tone or pulse 117x works, tone or pulse, but 1170 sits and thinks for several seconds first Tone only: 7x# works, even for 70# *7n works, but *70 returns fast busy (!) #70 suspends call waiting; otherwise #7n returns fast busy It seems that *70 was misprogrammed by Centel as #70. One thing I have noticed with call forwarding here is that you can pull it off without getting charged for the set-up call. If you dial 72# (or *72, or 1172, or whatever) and the number to forward to and get no answer (because you hung up before the party COULD answer, with luck before they heard ringing) and then do it a second time, then on the second try Centel does not connect you; it simply gives confirming beeps and a fresh dialtone, and call forwarding functions. Sometime in the last month they reprogrammed call forwarding to work when the forwarding line is busy with an outgong call, even if it doesn't have call waiting or if call waiting is suspended, and for 72# and its variants to return fast busy if call forwarding is already in effect (you have to cancel the previous forwarding number with 73# first). David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. [Moderator's Note: I think the reason the use of '1170' causes the network to sit and wait for more input is because of the various 7x codes, 70 is the only one which could conceivably be an area code. 71 isn't used. Telco figures some people hit the '1' twice by accident, intending to dial 1-70x-yyy-zzzz. So on 1170 it waits to see what else you have in mind. PT] ------------------------------ From: Bob Jacobson Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 22 Oct 89 00:50:18 GMT Reply-To: Bob Jacobson Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA If Caller ID is such a hog in a conference dedicated to discussions of telephone technology, why not put it in a soc.privacy conference? On the other hand, maybe because it is the central issue in the developing telecom industry, putting *everything* in another conference would really turn us into policy ostriches, no? I don't think it's "splitting hairs" to note that Caller ID as a commercial service is quite different from 911-E emergency service. Technology is more than the sum of its parts, and how a technology is used determines what we think about it and how we regulate its use. This type of critical discrimination is essential to wise technology assessment and the moderator of a conference so much in the middle of things should be able to exercise it well. The new Caller ID law recently enacted in CA permits a user to block ID display on a call by call basis. However, it only blocks display, not carriage of the identifying information. Thus, the local pizza delivery boy may not get your phone number if you block, but the telecom manager at Mr. Pizza will be able to provide corporate HQ with a list of all calls made to all of the local shops, with identifying data. Pretty soon we're gonna have pizzas designed by neighborhood taste. I hope I live among the pepperoni lovers. ============================== [Moderator's Note: Responding specifically to the third paragraph of Mr. Jacobson's letter, and in general to the rest, I would remind all readers that a series of articles in the Telecom Archives discusses Caller ID in a pizza delivery application. During September, 1988, RISKS published a series of articles, including two from myself, debating the merits of Caller ID. Will Martin kindly forwarded this to the Archives on 9-14-88, and it is filed as 'pizza.auto.nmbr.id'. Use 'ftp cs.bu.edu' to get your copy. Log in anonymous, use a non-null password, then 'cd telecom-archives' and pull the file. PT] ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 22 Oct 89 00:00:30 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , asuvax!gtephx!bladder! wagnere@ncar.ucar.edu (Eric Wagner) writes: > Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer > cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that > hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) > have been responsible for brain/eye damage. Everything is harmful today if you ask the right (wrong) person. I have been working around high RF fields of every wavelength for a quarter century. As my posting should reveal, my brain is only moderately messed up, and as of this writing, I have yet to grow my third horn:-) > When I did some calculations, this damage didn't seem impossible. I > think the newer models operate on 800MHz (?). If that is true, then > the wavelength would be: > c / f = 186000 mi/sec / 800000000/sec x 5280 ft/mi = 1.2 feet > This results in a halfwave of about 7 inches (just about the size of > the skull). Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone > consider this before approving the 800MHz frequency? So if you had done a little more homework, you would have found that the minimal transfer of energy occurs when the transferee is exactly one wave length. The Federal government considers 100 MHz to be the most harmful frequency since the human body is just over 1/2 wavelength, where the most energy is transferred. Now, getting to reality. I work almost daily around FM transmitters of the 20KW variety and effective radiated powers of around 100,000 watts. Using inverse square law, the energy being absorbed by my body is enormously greater than anything you could get from a cellular phone at any distance and is at the more harmful frequency of 100 MHz. I also spend a lot of time in front of STL antennas that emit hundreds of watts ERP at 950 MHz. In short, those of us who have spent our adult life around megawatts of RF are somewhat amused by those that are so upset over the .6 watt from a handheld cellular phone. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Kent Borg Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 20 Oct 89 18:52:40 GMT Reply-To: Kent Borg Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA In article Brian Kantor writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 458, message 7 of 10 >In article folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP >(Wayne Folta) writes: >>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 456, message 4 of 7 >>Can anyone tell me about cellular phone antennas? Why the little >>curly part of the antenna (does it have something to do with >>horizontal v. vertical polarization?)? >The cellular antenna is really two vertically-polarized antennas of >approximately 1/2 wavelength, and the curly part can be viewed as a >delay line to cause the two sections to work in phase. Thus the >antenna has an effective "gain" (i.e., works better) than a simple >antenna. I always thought the main reason the center loading coil was there to let everybody know that you have a cellular telephone, i.e., that it was put there for marketing reasons, to give cellular telephones an identity and to look cool. How much gain is it really worth? One good reason for getting rid of the open coil would be so bits of outdoors don't get stuck in there, changing the inductance of the coil, and screwing up the performance of the antenna. Another reason would be so that people won't know you have a cellular telephone. This might not be a good thing. How easy is it to change the serial number on these puppies? They certainly would have very little fence value if it were impossible to make calls because the radio identifies itself and has been reported stolen. Maybe they don't get stolen much... Anybody know? Kent Borg "Then again I could be foolish kent@lloyd.uucp not to quit while I'm ahead..." or -from Evita (sung by Juan Peron) ...!husc6!lloyd!kent ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Keep at Least One Rotary Phone Date: 22 Oct 89 09:21:17 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: > In the wake of the earthquake I have been having problems getting > through to a friend in Ben Lomond near Santa Cruz. Dialling the number > usually results in a fast busy. One trick I learned from the UK is to > dial the number slowly with a rotary phone. Amazingly it seems to work This might work *from* a SXS (which is what I believe Ben Lomond still is) but would have absolutely no effect from any crossbar or electronic office, digital or analog. Touch tone is converted to rotary pulses for a SXS office and it is remotely possible that things could be busy enough that vacant levels would be found only at the end of switch travel and the converter might not wait long enough whereas your slow dialing might. But when dialing into a SXS office from a common control office, you have absolutely no control over the pulse rate. If you were dialing from the metro Bay Area, you were using a common control office, there being no SXS left anywhere in the greater Bay Area. And if so, what you experienced was coincidence. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Roger Clark Swann Subject: Re: 911 Improvement Surcharge in Chicago Date: 22 Oct 89 06:04:44 GMT Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA I was shocked to read the posting recently about the $0.95 and $1.00 surcharges being placed on phone lines in the Chicago area for 911 service. Here in the Seattle area the 911 surcharge is only $0.30 per line, per month. When E-911 service was installed county wide about seven years ago, the surcharge was $0.50, but after a couple of years, the County and US West ( then Pacific Northwest Bell ) said the administration of the system, was costing much less than expected and the rate was reduced. As for the issue of privacy, I don't remember ANY outcry regarding privacy at the time. The installation of the system and the method of payment were put to a county wide vote and the margin of passage was overwhelming. Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company | ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 717-564 Discrepancy Date: 20 Oct 89 14:49:22 PDT (Fri) From: Lang Zerner I know nothing. I got the number from a hacker BBS a couple of years ago, and the source was a random scan of the Bellcore exchange. Sorry. Lang ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #468 *****************************   Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 0:55:47 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #469 Message-ID: <8910230055.ab27955@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 23 Oct 89 00:55:08 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 469 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Quake Kudos to PacBell, Finger to Idiots Phoning Relatives (John Gilmore) TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (John Gilmore) Re: What is SONET? (Michael Hui) Re: What is SONET? (Tad Cook) Re: Caller ID at American Express; How Do THEY Know Your Phone? (J Gilmore) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (John Higdon) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Brian Kantor) Re: Disaster Communications (Tad Cook) Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned (Eliot Lear) AT&T Building in Oakland Damaged; 'cpsc6a' Dead (Roger Taranto via Gilmore) Ringing SFCA From Australia (Jon D. Kendall) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Quake Kudos to PacBell, Finger to Idiots Phoning Relatives Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 15:27:25 -0700 From: gnu@toad.com [also posted to ca.earthquakes, can't crosspost since this is a modgroup.] mbr%cornelian@Sun.COM (Mark Bergman) wrote: > I would like to personally salute all of the city planners, > architects, and engineers for creating such incredible newer buildings > and skyscrapers [that survived the earthquake without damage]. The folks I would like to thank are: ==> Pac Bell <== Their equipment worked throughout, as far as I could tell! That must have taken great planning and good engineering. Nobody on our block had dialtone, but our phones rang four or five times on the night of the quake (friends calling to check on us, who we quickly told to hang up). Even the lack of trunks and dialtone could be prevented. The problem was the obnoxious people who all tried to call their relatives, tying up trunks and dialtones for days. A possible solution when in an overload situation is to only allow one outgoing call per hour at ordinary phones. Don't even let someone compete for dialtone if they have made a call in the last 60 minutes. This would limit the overload to the local central offices rather than tying up trunks, and would offer dialtone to a lot more callers. It would also automatically throttle autodialers like Unix machines. Exemptions for the emergency lines around PBXes; locations that need emergency comm (police, hospitals, utilities, media); pay phones (so real emergencies can be reported even if every idiot on your block has used up their one call -- social pressure will push emergency callers to the front of the line at a pay phone, and keep call duration way down). Of course, education would help, but people have already been told to only use the phones for emergency calls. They just think it is an emergency if they haven't heard from brother or sister since the quake. Get real! Does it really matter if you find out how your friends or relatives are TODAY, or next week? They will end up in the same shape anyway. Meanwhile people calling to report fires, get ambulances, or tell the local radio station what is going on are SOL, while you chat about how the stars are pretty with all the lights out and how much emergency liquor you have. John Gilmore {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@toad.com "Watch me change my world..." -- Liquid Theatre ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 16:41:12 PDT From: John Gilmore Subject: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, really an ISDN speakerphone chip). The problem is data encoding; I have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links, sort of like storing data in main memory with bit stuffing just in case you ever need to do clock recovery on main memory. My preference would just be something like "PPP". Can anyone on Telecom provide details on upper level ISDN standardization efforts? All I have found was low level protocols; once you get to the 8000 bps byte stream, it's left up to the user to define. (I could go ahead and do this, but I can't get Sun to support it since they want to go with standards even if they are brain dead standards. They say Suns talking to Suns is not interesting. I say getting ANY two pieces of data equipment talking over ISDN would be a miracle at this point.) Please reply by email since I usually don't have time to read Telecom. [Moderator's Note: But please cc: telecom so all of us can share. PT] ------------------------------ From: Michael Hui Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 22 Oct 89 19:44:15 GMT Reply-To: "Michael M.Y. Hui" I was on the hardware design team of NT's new SONET product line. I designed two ASICs for that product, both involved intimately with the SONET protocol. Currently I am _not_ with Bell-Northern Research anymore. BNR was the R&D arm of NT that actually did the product development. In order to keep myself out of hot water, please only ask (if you want) questions of a nonproprietary nature. This much I will share with you all: The NT offering implements nearly EVERYTHING in the SONET standard. It is very unlikely that it won't be able to work with any other manufacturer's equipment. Yes, it was designed by a very competent team of engineers. It's also very unlikely that we have overlooked subtleties in the standard. The system was subject to extensive chip level, multi-chip level, system level simulation, using our mainframes and Zycad hardware simulation engine. There were still changes to the standard during our development time frame. Most of those have been incorporated into the hardware. The inclination is strong at this point for other telecom engineers to come on stream and debat how/whether/what parts of the standard we implemented. Please keep in mind the proprietary nature of your company's projects, as well as my former employer's rights to their trade secrets. If you really want to know the whole story, please apply for a job in the SONET development group at BNR. It's a good company to work for. I heartily recommend it. Now, if only I could get my hands on the silly sales brochure ... ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 23 Oct 89 00:21:56 GMT Organization: very little In article , amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver. cs.washington.edu writes: > Seriously....I always thought SONET referred to Southern New England > Telephone Co! OOPS! I just realized that I must have been thinking of SNET, and entirely different animal, of course! Never mind. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Tad@ssc.UUCP MCI Mail: 3288544 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 16:22:50 PDT From: John Gilmore Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express -- How Do THEY Know Your Phone #? ben@sybase.com said: > I should test this by calling in on > my unlisted number sometime, and see if the response is any different > from when I call from my other, listed number, the one that appears on > their records. Why would your phone number appear on the records of a credit card company? Or is that just one more blank on the application form that you filled in without thinking? It's certainly none of their business... [Moderator's Note: None of their business you say? Maybe they never have to call *you* to get you to pay your bills, but it is a common enough thing. Credit is not a lawful entitlement or a right -- it is a privilege you are given. In exchange for the credit grantor considering you worthy of credit and a minimal financial risk, you agree to provide a phone number and other information. You provide what the creditor wants; the creditor provides what you want. Why do you assume the creditor has bad motives with your phone number? PT] ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 23 Oct 89 02:27:48 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , lloyd!sunfs3!kent@husc6. harvard.edu (Kent Borg) writes: > One good reason for getting rid of the open coil would be so bits of > outdoors don't get stuck in there, changing the inductance of the > coil, and screwing up the performance of the antenna. > Another reason would be so that people won't know you have a cellular > telephone. This might not be a good thing. If you really don't want people to know you have a cellular phone, use a handheld. I had a standard cellular car phone for a couple of years. When it died, rather than pay a fortune to have it repaired I decided to move to a handheld. I never expected it to work very well in the car, particularly while in motion, and was certainly surprised to find that it worked better! There had obviously been some improvement in the transceiver technology in those intervening years. Needless to say, I find that my handheld is all I need for mobile communications and there is no unsightly antenna on my truck. Not really yuppie-approved, but such is life. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 23 Oct 89 04:00:59 GMT Reply-To: Brian Kantor Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. In article Kent Borg writes: >I always thought the main reason the center loading coil was there to >let everybody know that you have a cellular telephone, i.e., that it >was put there for marketing reasons, to give cellular telephones an >identity and to look cool. How much gain is it really worth? Roughly 6dB (~4x signal strength, or given all else equal, about twice the range) over an equivalent 1/4-wavelength stub, which would be about 3 inches long. You can use the little 3-inch whip if you don't mind the reduced range. There is another factor: the radiation angle of the curly-whip antenna is lower and tends to hit the cell-sites better, whereas the 1/4wave has a real high radiation angle and the signal tends to shoot off into space. If you happen to live in an area where the cell sites all are on top of good tall mountains (like the 6,000 ft ones around San Diego and Los Angeles), the 1/4wave antenna will actually work better close in to the foothills. >One good reason for getting rid of the open coil would be so bits of >outdoors don't get stuck in there, changing the inductance of the >coil, and screwing up the performance of the antenna. Older design antennas had the coil encapsulated in a plastic tube, which broke every time it went through the car wash, and had much more wind resistance so that the antenna bent away from the vertical at highway speeds. Lack of verticality is a SERIOUS range killer; if the antenna were to fall over horizontal, you'd face a theoretical 20dB loss in signal strength. >Another reason would be so that people won't know you have a cellular >telephone. This might not be a good thing. How easy is it to change >the serial number on these puppies? They certainly would have very >little fence value if it were impossible to make calls because the >radio identifies itself and has been reported stolen. Maybe they >don't get stolen much... Anybody know? They get stolen a lot. You can buy a disguise whip which doesn't look much like anything, but it's got poorer range. Hide the handset, since it's the glittering attractive thing. And you might want to drill a hole in the center of your car roof and put in a real antenna instead of the glass-mount type. Not only will it look less like a typical cellphone install, but it'll also have better range. Changing the serial number of a stolen cellphone theoretically shouldn't be terribly hard, since it's just burned into a ROM chip, but I'm told that they stopped putting the ROM in a socket and started covering the soldered-in chip with epoxy to make it much much harder to do. My friend at a local two-way shop says they have to exchange the main circuit board on the rare occasion when the ROM goes bad, since there's no way to get the chip loose without destroying the board. Apparently that didn't used to be the case. - Brian ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Date: 22 Oct 89 18:55:56 GMT Organization: very little Ihor Kahal asked why ABC didn't send the blimp south to survey damage. I'll be that the blimp had to be line-of-site with a stationary truck with a dish that could not track it over the horizon. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP MCI Mail: 328-8544 KT7H @ N7HFZ ------------------------------ From: Eliot Lear Subject: Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned Date: 22 Oct 89 23:43:01 GMT Organization: Natl Computer Resource for Mol. Biology It's true that GTE Mobilenet didn't appear to suffer any damage. However, they certainly did max out shortly after the quake. My guess is that they were having problems getting PacBell circuits, like the rest of us. HOWEVER! I *was* able to call long distance almost immediately after the quake, from my Celphone. Eliot Lear [lear@net.bio.net] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 17:23:40 PDT From: John Gilmore Subject: AT&T Building in Oakland Damaged - 'cpsc6a' Dead gaf@uucs1.uucp wrote: > I'd heard that AT&T was on the 10th floor of some building in Oakland, > so I don't know how apocryphal this is. Haven't heard of any > buildings that tall sustaining that kind of damage. Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 20:00:47 pdt From: rtech!rtech!rog (Roger Taranto) Subject: cpsc6a According to one of our employees, whose husband works at AT&T in Oakland, cpsc6a won't be back for awhile. It seems that the AT&T building is structurally okay, but the insides have been condemned. Everything inside will have to be gutted and rebuilt. This includes the machine, cpsc6a. I know you two talk to cpsc6a; please forward this information to anyone else you know of who talks to cpsc6a. It's interesting that it is one of the newer buildings in downtown Oakland. -Roger ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 14:29:23 EST From: kendall Subject: Ringing SFCA From Australia Reply-To: kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au (Jon D. Kendall) Organization: University of Tasmania In reference to Dennis Brophy's article I must say that I find it amazing that telephone service to the SF Bay area continued as well as it did given the magnitude of the disaster. I rang friends in Los Altos Hills (between SF and San Jose) around 06:30 hrs. CA time with minimal effort. Granted it did take a few times to finally get past the 'OTC circuits busy to that area' message but I did get through. The Australian OTC connects to AT&T in America so, as far as AT&T's service is concerned, it was working very well for us. For that matter, I rang a friend earlier in Davis (916) at around 0:30 hrs. CA time Wednesday morning who could not ring anybody on MCI because the MCI access was out. Is this because MCI's access comes from the Bay Area? ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #469 *****************************   Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 0:27:56 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #470 Message-ID: <8910240027.aa21977@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 24 Oct 89 00:25:04 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 470 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Earthquake Report from Berkeley and Elsewhere (Joe Konstan) Comments on Payphones (Ken Jongsma) Apartment Door Answering System at Duke University (Stephen Tell) Caller ID Boxes (mende@aramis.rutgers.edu) Unequal Service (John Higdon) More on Amex and Caller ID (John R. Levine) Re: Parsing Dialed Digits (Dr. T. Andrews) Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones (Dr. T. Andrews) [Moderator's Note: Just one issue of the Digest this morning. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 19:01:54 -0700 From: Joe Konstan Subject: Earthquake Report from Berkeley and Elsewhere This is a bit late, since I flew out of SFO Thursday, returning only this afternoon (Monday). I will focus predominantly on Telecom-related issues, though I'd like to update a few remarks made by others in prior submissions. 1. I was at my office in the CS Division at UCB when the quake happened. Most computers here were never down; the building shook; but it stood. Someone in the next office had a small TV (we did not lose power) and we watched the coverage for a while as the TV stations came on the air. One thing I noticed was that TV reception was MUCH BETTER THAN USUAL, I speculate that this could be because the Twin Peaks (SF) transmission tower was not usable, so those of us in the East Bay received only an Oakland broadcast, rather than two transmissions. 2. One thing I haven't seen mentioned here was the continuous reference made by the TV anchors to the phone book. Earthquake emergency information is printed in all the Pac Bell phone books I've seen, and was a quick source of information. 3. From UCB, I phoned a number of places. I called my fiancee (about two miles away, in Berkeley). I needed an average of 3-4 tries per completion, with some calls getting reorder, others "circuits busy." The first time I got a ring, I realized that power was out (our answering machine did not pick up). Later that evening (about 11pm) we found out that our power was back on by calling the answering machine again. Useful machine. I found I was able to place calls much more effectively than others in the area (University Centrex? 415-642-xxxx). As a result, I relayed messages out of the area for many people. I was able to reach NY, Sacramento, Davis, and most of the Bay Area except for SF itself pretty consistently. In all cases, I was relaying quick "your family is fine" messages since most of the people I spoke with had trouble calling out. (My own guess is that many had never had to wait for dial tone, plus the fact that few people stayed at the University, so our exchange was relatively free). 4. My grandmother (in Washington D.C.) managed to get through to my home just minutes after the quake. This was the last call in from outside the area that we received for many hours, but she was able to tell everyone that we were fine. As a side note, I agree with what AT&T did. The one exception to the "If I need help, I'll call" is the case of a person living alone who might not be able to get to a phone. I think this can be handled as a special case or locally. BTW, why doesn't AT&T retain "disaster authority" over its lines, to prevent resellers from mishandling the situation and from using capacity that AT&T customers could use? 5. Note that at all times, even with blackouts in Berkeley a few miles from the I-880 collapse and the Bay Bridge, the phones worked. In a previous local blackout, our phone was the only source of light we could easily find (used it to find candles). This time we were better prepared, but the reliability of the phones always amaze me. 6. The death count Patrick cited seems to be overly high (not his fault, that was the best knowledge at the time). At present, under 60 are confirmed dead, with expectations around 100-150. All-in-all, we were very lucky, especially for the fact that the quake struck before dark. 7. TV coverage (not quite telecom, but related) really helped get the nation aware. The fact that this occurred during the World Series created a tremendous instant awareness, and that led to a great deal of aid. I feel sorry for the other disasters which are not being given the great press coverage (apparently another huricane or tropical storm, according to Nightline), but am grateful for the help we are getting. 8. Two quick things. Public transit has really picked up the slack. BART is running tremendously (a couple of short closing of the Trans-Bay tube, but otherwise regular service, extended to help people compensate for the bridge closing. The busses and ferries are indispensible, and are really doing a wonderful job. Finally, I have a lot of stories (I took a bus ride through most of SF trying to get to the airport, and saw the crowds of tourists leaving the city (even spoke with many)) which don't belong here, but I'm happy to talk with anyone who isn't already innundated with stories about the Quake! Joe Konstan konstan@postgres.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: Ken@cup.portal.com Subject: Comments on Payphones Date: Mon, 23-Oct-89 08:21:07 PDT A few comments on some payphone experiences I had on a recent trip: 1) Most people do not understand that they may not get AT&T when making a call from a payphone. I sat and watched one person try 4 or 5 times to make a credit card call. He was trying 0+, 1+ and a few other ways and kept hanging up when he got NTS operators. I finially got up and showed him how to dial 10288. At least he realized he wasn't getting AT&T. Another grandmotherly looking lady was happily punching in her card number for several calls. I hope she doesn't have a heart attack when the bill comes. 2) Somebody other than AT&T has the 0+ concession at Atlanta. The card on the bottom of the phone makes this reasonably clear, but you have to know what they are trying to say. There was a statement to the effect: Dial 1-800-288-xxxx for rates. Maybe it's my ^^^ suspicious mind, but they could have selected a different prefix. 3) Back in the days of the Bell System, AT&T would not let you advertise funny names as numbers (i.e. 1-800-car-rent) in the Yellow Pages. Or at least if you did that, you were told to put the corresponding number in the ad also. I happen to agree with that philosophy, as I find it very hard to dial such numbers. Times Change. I was in several airports this week that did not have AT&T as the 0+ concessionare. At each airport there were large lighted signs that said, "To use AT&T, you must first dial 10-ATT." The number 10288 did not appear anyplace on the ad. 4) In Milwaukee, the 0+ concessionare is MCI. I wanted to use Sprint but rather than dial the 800 number to make a credit card call, I thought I'd try dialing 10333+0+NPA+NXX+XXXX and entering my foncard number. After three recordings saying my card number was wrong, I got a Sprint Operator. She already had my card number, but asked me to repeat it just to verify it. She said it should have worked, but it took her several tries before the computer would approve the number. This being the first time I had tried calling this way, I have no idea if it was a one time glitch or a problem with Sprint's card authentication procedures. 5) Also at Milwaukee, MCI is perfectly happy with my AT&T card number, but Sprint won't take it. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Subject: Apartment Door Answering System at Duke University Date: 24 Oct 89 00:51:05 GMT Reply-To: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill At Duke University, where I was a student until recently, they are installing a similar system designed by fellow EE and friend. Briefly, here's how it works. A weatherproof phone is installed by the front door; its line runs through the custom hardware located down in the basement. These are speakerphones of some sort, with DTMF dial and large buttons for 'on' and 'off.' A delay in the on/off hook makes manual pulse- dialing impossible, which is important (see below). The phone line is restricted to local calls only. A visitor calls a resident's 7-digit phone number, and asks to be let in. The resident presses '#' and a solenoid unlocks the door. The box down in the basement designed by my friend works somthing like this. It has a DTMF decoder, and listens as the visitor dials. Stored in EPROM are the phone numbers of all of the residents of that dorm. If there's a match, it listens for the resident to dial '#'. When it hears a '#', it breaks the line on the speaker-phone side, and makes sure that it is still hearing the '#', so only the resident and not the visitor can trigger the lock. Pulse dialing is forbidden because someone could pulse dial any number in town, then dial a number in the dorm in DTMF, and convice the person who answered to press the '#' key. Storing the number list in EPROM is ok because phone numbers are fixed in rooms by the Duke Telephone system, and don't change from year to year. (Duke owns a 5ESS, and is the largest private phone company in North Carolina, I'm told. Somthing like 15,000 lines) If phone numbers ever did change, they could run the thing over to the EE department and burn a new EPROM. Steve Tell tell@cs.unc.edu CS Grad Student, UNC Chapel Hill. Former EE/CS student, Duke University, Durham, NC ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 10:48:55 EDT From: mende@aramis.rutgers.edu Subject: Caller ID Boxes I am looking into getting CallerID, and wanted to know if there were any other boxes for it other than the standard one that they try to sell you. If you have see any of the other boxes, please respond and Ill summarize. /Bob... {...}!rutgers!mende mende@aramis.rutgers.edu mende@zodiac.bitnet ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Unequal Service Date: 23 Oct 89 19:09:28 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows Even for days following the 5:04 pm shock, dialtone was agonizingly slow in the crossbar offices, while electronic offices seemed to be unaffected. This brings up an issue: even for basic service, there are unequal levels even though customers pay equally. As an incentive to upgrade, I would propose that anyone served out of an electromechanical office be charged some fixed amount less than "equivalent" service out of an electronic office. For those of you served by real telcos who upgraded long ago, this is not an issue. But there are many prefixes in San Jose alone still "served" (term loosely used) by #5 grossbar. Pac*Bell needs some kind of incentive to get its act together. My mother's telephone is connected to crossbar and she thought that her phone was knocked out for days. She didn't know that she could have used it by simply waiting the two or three minutes for dialtone. And we're talking days after the event. Are there any other telcos out there that seem to feel that crossbar is appropriate for telephony as we move into the '90s? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Subject: More on Amex and Caller ID Date: 23 Oct 89 22:04:41 EDT (Mon) From: "John R. Levine" I mentioned in a previous message that I had heard that American Express had a Caller ID-like feature on their 800 number, and had tied it into their computer so they could guess who you were based on your phone number; but that when I called Amex a while ago the rep claimed they couldn't do that. Several private messages have opined that Amex still gets the caller's number, but they'd retrained their reps to act as though they couldn't tell since customers found it creepy and identifying a caller by the number he is calling from is unreliable and confusing. ("Hello, Mrs. Smith!" "No, this is Ms. Jones, and you can just forget where I'm calling from.") So when I called Amex this month (Compuserve keeps billing me for usage on an account that I cancelled six months ago) I called from my computer's phone line. The rep asked me if my phone number had changed. Hmmn. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Parsing Dialed Digits Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 8:04:58 EDT From: "Dr. T. Andrews" Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand) )> How can I tell whether to take the next two or the next three )> digits as the country code ? ) It depends on the first two digits. ) If the first two digits are a valid country code, then you do not have ) to look at the third digit. Sorry, this doesn't work. Some country codes (mainly for toy countries) are special cases of others. Consider "countries" like the Vatican (looks like a particular exchange in Rome Italy) or San Marino. You have to examine rather a lot of digits to decide whether the call is to Rome Italy or the Vatican. I believe that the list of country codes posted here some time ago also listed several French-speaking island countries as having country codes which started with the French 2 digits and were followed by another digit or two to specify the country. ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 9:57:19 EDT From: "Dr. T. Andrews" Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand) I have been out of town for a while, and found a 10-cent pay phone. North Bilerica, MASS seems to have them. I found one right at the remains of the station there. (They don't take very good care of their stations up there. Shame on them.) ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner [Moderator's Note: That seems to be the case everywhere. The Lawrence Avenue CTA station in Chicago is absolutely the *pits*. Ceiling falling in, and total filth. The Amtrack Union Station downtown is bad also. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #470 *****************************   Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 0:01:15 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #471 Message-ID: <8910250001.aa03395@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 25 Oct 89 00:00:38 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 471 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Torsten Dahlkvist) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Fred Goldstein) Re: What is SONET? (Paul Elliott) Re: Risk of CO Fires (Jay Maynard) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Tom Hofmann) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Danial Hamilton) CPA 1000 w/Computer (David C. Troup) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (David A. Cantor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Torsten Dahlkvist Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 24 Oct 89 09:55:32 GMT Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden In article gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: >I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine >comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, >really an ISDN speakerphone chip). The problem is data encoding; I >have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on >the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of >encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be >talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it >that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN >links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links, sort of >like storing data in main memory with bit stuffing just in case you >ever need to do clock recovery on main memory. My preference would >just be something like "PPP". >Can anyone on Telecom provide details on upper level ISDN >standardization efforts? All I have found was low level protocols; >once you get to the 8000 bps byte stream, it's left up to the user to >define. (I could go ahead and do this, but I can't get Sun to support >it since they want to go with standards even if they are brain dead >standards. They say Suns talking to Suns is not interesting. I say >getting ANY two pieces of data equipment talking over ISDN would be a >miracle at this point.) O.K. let's see. First of all, you must bear in mind the basic differrence between ISDN and TCP/IP (apart from the speed). TCP/IP is packet-oriented. ISDN is still circuit-switched in the normal operating modes (i.e. unless you connect via some interworking unit in the exchange for hooking up with other networks). This means that in order to connect one Sun to another via ISDN you have to create a link between them - in a fashion similar to when two modems connect: sending the dialling information to the exchange which then offers the call to the other machine which responds if it finds the call compatible. This also means that you are subject to all the normal "telephony" hassles, like the receiving party (your file-server?!) beeing busy with another call and refusing to talk to you... All the information to set up and disconnect calls is transferred on the D-channel and this is already completely standardized, if rather complex. The compiled binaries to handle these things in our ISDN equipment are about 150 kByte large and the work to write the stuff took a couple of man-years. As far as I know, the hardware available in the SPARCstations is roughly equivalent to the stuff we used. If you really want to go through with this you won't have to worry about what to do for a while. ;-) Once the call is set up you have your 64 kbit data link. What you do with it is basically up to you. If you're content to go at <64 kbit speeds you can adopt the standardized rate-adaption scheme with frames providing sync patterns and some additional data (not likely to be usable in your case). If you go for the full 64 kbit speed you do indeed have an 8 kByte/sec byte-oriented link. The ISDN standard doesn't go any further than that. The upper layers of the OSI-model are _not_ included in the standard! You can compare a SPARCstation with built-in ISDN-chip with a PC with a built-in modem chip. What you have is roughly equivalent to the hardware of a modem but no software. After you decide what kind of use you need you can set it up accordingly. Write the "auto-dialling" software and you can connect it to another machine with a similar interface. After that you can use any old protocol for the data transfer. Regard the ISDN port as basically similar to a serial port and make it login-able (start a getty on it) to allow remote users and/or semi-manual protocols like Kermit or UUCP. If you want to use the ISDN link as an alternative to TCP/IP, you're probably best off using it to TCP/IP-connect a remote machine to an Ethernet system at some other location. (You still have to write the ISDN software to connect the link.) That way you could use the existing TCP/IP software with fairly few and simple changes to route through the ISDN terminal interface chip. That solution would probably please Sun too. It uses a standard... :-) I'm sorry if this doesn't sound too cheery. I'm afraid that until some ISDN protocol software goes public (ours is NOT!) there's little you can realistically do, unless you're in a position to start a university project or something similar to get a large team to help you. The work is HUGE! My suspicion is that the reason Sun put that chip in the SPARCstations is that they hope some university will rise to the bait. It would certainly boost ISDN if it happened (and that chip is cheap compared to the cost of a SPARC :-). Please get in touch if there's anything else I can answer for you. Torsten Dahlkvist ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25 ALVSJO, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 727 3788 ------------------------------ From: goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 23 Oct 89 16:12:49 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes... >I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine >comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, >really an ISDN speakerphone chip). The problem is data encoding; I >have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on >the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of >encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be >talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it >that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN >links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links, sort of >like storing data in main memory with bit stuffing just in case you >ever need to do clock recovery on main memory. My preference would >just be something like "PPP". Okay, it's like this. ISDN provides "circuit mode" and "packet mode" data services. The "packet mode" is essentially X.25, with call setup either inband (after making a circuit call to the X.25 switch) or modified to use ISDN out of band signaling (i.e., Q.931). In any case, CCITT X.31 tells you all about packet mode. Circuit mode is just like modems, but faster. You get 64 kbps per second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. It is NOT byte oriented at this point! So HDLC is quite natural, but byte-oriented protocols (i.e., DDCMP) are technically possible too. HDLC chips do all the work anyway, you don't ever put stuff-bits in main memory. To run async or lower speeds, you use rate adaptation. Two standards exist: V.120 is new and HDLC_based, while V.110 is older and more popular among Europeans than Americans. And you can of course create your own if you want, since it's end-to-end. (Northern Telecom has one called T-link that's widely used.) So to do framing, you can use essentially any L2 protocols. I wouldn't advise SLIP on my worst enemy (well, maybe if I really didn't like him and wanted his errors to go undetected) but ISDN isn't anything special in that regard; you just use whatever L2 that both ends agree to. fred ------------------------------ From: Paul Elliott x225 Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 24 Oct 89 20:58:36 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article , hui@joplin.mpr.ca (Michael Hui) writes: > .... > The NT offering implements nearly EVERYTHING in the SONET standard. It > is very unlikely that it won't be able to work with any other > manufacturer's equipment. > .... > The inclination is strong at this point for other telecom engineers to > come on stream and debate how/whether/what parts of the standard we > implemented. > .... In my posting answering (some of) the SONET questions, I mentioned my "amusement" at the NT press release (or used words to that effect). I don't know if Michael is referring to my posting here, but if so, I never intended to imply that NT's implementation was anything but superb. Actually, I have no info on the NT design other than the few paragraphs I saw in the newspaper. ... I just re-read my original post, and find that I used the phrase "_something_SONET_", and this looks suspiciously like what his comments were referring to. What I meant was that the transport of SONET requires many pieces of equipment at various places in the network, and that the NT product may be the first in it's area, but was not the first SONET equipment to hit the field. I did not intend to imply that it only implemented a subset of SONET or anything like that. Anyway, enough humble apology from me for now. On the other hand, if this wasn't referring to my posting....never mind. Paul M. Elliott Optilink Corporation (707) 795-9444 {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." ------------------------------ From: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Subject: Re: Risk of CO Fires Date: 23 Oct 89 11:49:35 GMT Reply-To: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Organization: Confederate Microsystems, League City, TX In article kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > The above attitude of avoiding "embarassment" and "adverse >publicity" still exists. I personally know of an example which rather >shocked me. A few years ago an employee of a contractor accidentally >fell off a truck at the New York Telephone Franklin St. CO in >Buffalo, NY. The employee was knocked unconscious. The security >guard (this is the main CO in Buffalo, so there are full-time guards) >did NOT call 911 for an ambulance, but instead called a *private* >ambulance service which resulted in a significant delay in response as >opposed to 911. The security guards apparently have standing >instructions to call a private ambulance, and NOT to call 911 unless >it is a "dire emergency". Why a private ambulance? Because then >there will be no public record of any accident and no risk of a police >report. Not a good attitude. (paramedic mode on) This kind of thing kills people. That security guard, unless he is an experienced street EMT, has little to no concept of the necessity of getting fast qualified help to seriously injured people. Anyone who is knocked unconscious for any period of time is seriously injured. He needed an emergency ambulance, right then. There are any of a number of serious injuries that can kill within the time it takes to get a non-emergency ambulance there, most of which are not obvious as such. Wouldn't OSHA have something to say about that? I do know that if such a thing were to happen at either of GTE's COs in League City, there'd be charges filed... Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can jay@splut.conmicro.com (eieio)| adequately be explained by stupidity. {attctc,bellcore}!texbell!splut!jay +---------------------------------------- Send richard@gryphon.com your NO vote on sci.aquaria; it belongs in rec. ------------------------------ From: Tom Hofmann Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Date: 23 Oct 89 07:32:43 GMT Organization: WRZ, CIBA-GEIGY Ltd, Basel, Switzerland From article , by dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter): > Austria 00 > 00432. For Luxembourg in stead of 00352 > 030. For Yugoslavia for areas with codes starting with > 4, 5 or 6 > 040. For Italy in stead of 0039 > 050. For Switzerland in stead of 0041 > 060. For Germany in stead of 0049 0041 for Switzerland and 0049 for Germany works as well, at least in a small village near Innsbruck where I have tried it. Anyway, the whole system, especially dialling the OWN country code for Luxembourg, looks extremely Austrian :-) > Germany 00 From West-Berlin (and only from there) the country code for East Germany is 037 instead of 0037. > United States 010 Wasn't it 011 (resp. 01 for operator assistance/phone card)? Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Danial Hamilton Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 24 Oct 89 15:03:54 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004 > If you really don't want people to know you have a cellular phone, use > a handheld. I had a standard cellular car phone for a couple of years. > ... > ... Needless to say, I find that my > handheld is all I need for mobile communications and there is no > unsightly antenna on my truck. Not really yuppie-approved, but such is > life. I don't care who says it's safe, I just can't feel comfortable about radiating 800 MHZ RF energy 3-4 inches from my brain. ------------------------------ From: "David C. Troup - Skunk Works : 2600hz" Subject: CPA 1000 w/Computer Date: 23 Oct 89 17:35:04 GMT Organization: Carroll College Stealth Rock Climbing Club Does anyone know if one can send the output of the Radio Shack CPA-1000 (phone accountant) to a computer instead of the little printer in the unit itself? (for REAL computerized call accounting). Has anyone tried this sort of thing before? In case you don't know about the unit, the CPA-1000 will keep track of all calls made outgoing and incoming. Outgoing, time of call, number dialed, any flash-switchhook(for pbx), time completed. Incoming-number of rings, if picked up, time, any number pressed, switchhook and time completed. Currently, it prints out all information on a 1.5 inch width paper...I would like to have the output go to my computer (apple IIgs) for call accounting storage. Thanks in advance! "We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, knowin' that ain't allowed" _______________________ |David C. Troup / Surf Rat _______)(______ | |dtroup@carroll1.cc.edu : mail ___________________________|414-524-6809_________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 06:01:12 -0700 From: "David A. Cantor 24-Oct-1989 0857" Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles From Telecom Digest vol 9 iss 466: >>"How many cookies did Andrew eat? >> >> ANdrew 8-8000" >> >>Was that it? >Adams & Sweet, South Boston, Carpet Cleaners & Used Carpet Sales No, it is Adams & Swett. Two t's, one e. Dave C. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #471 *****************************   Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 4:18:48 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #472 Message-ID: <8910260418.aa26454@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 04:15:09 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 472 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Experiencing the Earthquake From the 12th Floor (Philip Stanhope) Earthquakes and Telephones (Anthony E. Siegman) Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? (J. Philip Miller) Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) (Gary L. Dare) Long Distance Carrier Info Sought (Phil Howard) Dialling Luxembourg from Austria via 00432 (Wolf Paul) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Dik T. Winter) Re: 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem (Jeff Woolsey) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Dell Ellison) Cartoon (Ron Higgins) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 09:33:46 EDT From: phil@goldhill.com Subject: Experiencing the Earthquake From the 12th Floor > From: gaf@uucs1.uucp > Subject: Amazing Quake Stories > We heard from one of the traffic monitoring people at US West who > noticed something peculiar around 5:05 PM Tuesday. He called his AT&T > counterpart in Oakland to see what was happening. The call was > answered, and the conversation went something like: > "Hey, what's happening there?" > "We've got an earthquake here, and, ..... oh ..... there's a big > crack in the wall now ..... " > I'd heard that AT&T was on the 10th floor of some building in Oakland, > so I don't know how apocryphal this is. Haven't heard of any > buildings that tall sustaining that kind of damage. I was on the 12th floor of a hotel in Emeryville at the time of the quake. The hotel was about 3/4 mile from where a section of the bridge collapsed and a 1/2 mile from the 880 collapse. It was not possible to move during the quake (I would have loved to at least get to the door frame but barring crawling I wouldn't have made it there.) As far as damage, the hotel had its exit stairwells exposed to the outside so each landing could be seen from the outside. Once outside you could see that there was a crack in the landing of every floor but more so on the lower floors. Walls in my room did crack - the interior bathroom walls in particular. Every piece of furniture was turned over (or on it's side) except for the chair that I was sitting in and the king size bed. The nightstand, sitting table, TV, and bureau were all toppled. I had never been a quake before so this was quite an experience. My best estimate was movement of a foot up and down and side to side. I've since heard that the area I was in was built on land fill (or should I say bay fill) and suffered ground movement of around a foot as opposed to a few inches in the Berkeley hills. The first question that I asked after getting out of the building was if this was a normal quake. That was perhaps the most frightening aspect of the whole thing - not knowing how to gauge the event with no reference point. Needless to say, I don't want to be on the top floor of a building the next time. I'll see what happens in two weeks when I'm back in the bay area. As far as communications goes, I was able to make calls into SF without any problem at around 7:30 west coast time. They completed as if nothing had happened. Dial tones came quick, however, completion of a call took many many tries. I was able to get to an international operator who then routed me somewhere (I don't know what she did) and was able to get to my wife in Boston around 8:00 west coast time. After that call I called my travel agent's 800 number and got through after two tries. I then had them get me a flight from Sacramento to LA the next morning (I was supposed to fly out of SF). Philip Stanhope Manager of Product Engineering Gold Hill Computers, Inc. Cambridge, MA. phil@goldhill.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 14:32:21 PDT From: "Anthony E. Siegman" Subject: Earthquakes and Telephones One thing the earthquake did in my house was to shake the receivers off the handsets (or should that be the other way around?) of every one of the half-dozen or so phones in my house, even though the phones themselves stayed on the counters or tables. Had to track 'em all down and put 'em all back on hook before I could have any phone service, or anyone could reach me. Expect this was not uncommon in other homes and offices, and could be a major reason for busy signals for some time after the quake. ------------------------------ From: "J. Philip Miller" Subject: Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? Date: 25 Oct 89 20:22:57 GMT Reply-To: "J. Philip Miller" Organization: Washington University (St. Louis) MIS Week (10/9) reports the aprehension of a 15-year old hacker who used his Amiga personal computer to tap into two mincomputers at Grumman. The youngster was from Levittown, Long Island and stumbled into the computer by using a random dialing device [sic] attached to his computer. Grumman security was able to detect the intrusions, and the computer's recording of the boy's telephone number led police to his home. Does this imply that there are modems which will record Caller-ID, or does anyone know what technology was used here? While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do not need to key their number in for display on the pager. J. Philip Miller, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Box 8067 Washington University Medical School, St. Louis MO 63110 phil@wubios.WUstl.edu - Internet (314) 362-3617 phil@wubios.wustl - bitnet uunet!wucs1!wubios!phil - UUCP C90562JM@WUVMD - alternate bitnet [Moderator's Note: Yes, I think there are modem/Caller-ID devices in one neat little box. A hackerphreak here in Chicago (six blocks down the street from me, on Artesian Avenue to be exact!) was caught burglarizing a computer at Bell Labs/Naperville about a year ago because his phone number was captured by the equipment out there. Some places *do* have this capability now, even if Caller-ID as such is not being marketed to the public in many areas of the country. Its not that the Sisters Bell don't treat all their subscribers equally; its just that some subscribers are more equal than others. Bell Labs; AT&T offices; all the in-laws get juicy extras not yet available to the general public; as do some very large subscribers who ask nicely. Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] ------------------------------ From: Gary L Dare Subject: Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) Date: 25 Oct 89 21:29:57 GMT Organization: Columbia University, New York Since we touched a bit on Canadian technology efforts in telecom, can someone give us an update on Telidon? When I left Winnipeg in 1983, there was a big deal over a testbed for an interactive video service using Telidon technology. Test site was Headingley, just outside of Metro Winnipeg limits and the site for Manitoba's largest provincial jail. (-; Has any of this survived and gone into the Canadian ISDN efforts? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gary L. Dare "No matter where you go, > gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.EDU there you are! > gld@cunixc.BITNET -- Buckaroo Banzai ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 15:32:44 -0500 From: Phil Howard KA9WGN Subject: Long Distance Carrier Info Sought I'd like to find out what the access codes (and corporate names, if different) are for the following companies doing long distance carrier business in the state of Illinois (and anywhere else): Tele-Sav TeleConnect Thanks. [Moderator's Note: The first one I don't know. Teleconnect is a/k/a Telecom USA. 10835 is their access code, however at least here in IBT-land you must make prior arrangements with Teleconnect; else calls through 10835 will fail. PT] ------------------------------ From: wolf paul Subject: Dialling Luxembourg from Austria via 00432 Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 9:21:09 MET DST Tom Hofman writes: > From article , by dik@cwi.nl > (Dik T. Winter): > > Austria 00 > > 00432. For Luxembourg in stead of 00352 > 0041 for Switzerland and 0049 for Germany works as well, at least in a > small village near Innsbruck where I have tried it. Anyway, the whole > system, especially dialling the OWN country code for Luxembourg, looks > extremely Austrian :-) Well, if they wanted to make some special arrangement for dialling Luxembourg, even though the reasons for this escape me, their own country code offers itself as the best candidate: it will never be needed, in Austria, to dial Austria; thus they can re-use it for some other purpose without fearing that it may be reassigned by the CCITT at a later date. If they pick any other 00XX combination, at some later time it may be assigned to some other country, which currently shares a country code with some other country, i.e. if Canada should ever be given its own country code, or some of the Carribean island nations. There are some other features of the Austrian phone system which look much more typically Austrian, such as the fact that it has the second-most expensive fee structure in Europe; that while they have finally introduced "toll-free" numbers (really they are charged as local calls from everywhere in Austria) they have not restricted these to one special area code (like 800 in US, 0800 in UK, etc.), so you can't easily tell from looking at the number whether it is toll-free or not: I have seen numbers advertised as toll-free with at least three different area codes. Call Forwarding is finally available, at a cost of AS 420/month -- that is $35. My entire phone bill (overseas calls excluded, but including unlimited local calling and all the extras like Call Forwarding and Call Waiting, etc.) was rarely as high as that while living in Dallas, TX. Wolf N. Paul, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Schloss Laxenburg, Schlossplatz 1, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe Phone: (Office) [43] (2236) 71521-465 (Home) [43] (1) 22-46-913 UUCP: uunet!mcvax!tuvie!iiasa!wnp W.U.ESL: 62864642 DOMAIN: iiasa!wnp@tuvie.at TLX/TWX: 910-380-8748 WNP UD ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 09:21:37 +0100 From: "Dik T. Winter" Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Tom Hofmann writes: > > United States 010 > Wasn't it 011 (resp. 01 for operator assistance/phone card)? How embarassing. Of course. Rereading my original posting I saw also that one line was dropped somewhere; to dial Belfast from Ireland you dial 084, and not 080232. dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland INTERNET : dik@cwi.nl BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax ------------------------------ From: Jeff Woolsey Subject: Re: 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem Date: 25 Oct 89 09:22:56 GMT Reply-To: Jeff Woolsey Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} I'm having an odd call forwarding problem on a DMS-100 (209-832). If I try to forward to a number out of the LATA, then, having no-pick, I must prefix with 10XXX. If I don't wait for the number to answer, and attempt to set it up again, it "takes", but forwards through it get either reorder or the last successful forward. All other forwarding permutations work, including allowing the 10XXX-dialed number to answer. Bizarre! Pac*Bell repair took two weeks to isolate it this far, and I haven't followed it up for a while. ------------------------------ From: Dell Ellison Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 25 Oct 89 16:05:17 GMT Organization: gte In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > If you support legislation against junk fax, then I would assume that > our elected representatives are already aware of the problem, their > fax machines being overrun with unsolicited advertisements. > What I'm trying to say is that either there is a problem or there > isn't. If there is, you don't need to create a situation with faxing > campaigns. If there isn't, then those who are so concerned with junk > fax need to get a life and move on. What if the problem of junk fax is wide-spread, BUT the 'elected representatives' just happen to not have the problem??? ------------------------------ From: Ron Higgins Subject: Cartoon Date: 25 Oct 89 22:24:36 GMT Reply-To: Ron Higgins Organization: Lightning Systems, Inc. _____ _____ / . . \ / . . \ ! : ! ! : ! \__o__/ \__o__/ !________Bill, have you gotten !_______You bet, Joe. I into ISDN yet? have 3500 lines. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _____ _____ / . . \ / . . \ ! : ! ! : ! \__o__/ \__o__/ !________Well, you lucky devil. !_______Heck, I don't know. You have 1500 more than How about you? I do. What do you use yours for? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _____ _____ / . . \ / . . \ ! : ! ! : ! \__-__/ \__-__/ !________Hmmmmmm...... !_______Hmmmmmm...... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Reproduced without permission from the Oct. 15th 1989 issue of TE&M Original cartoon by John Reed, director-engineering, Turnkey Engineering, Richardson, Texas ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #472 *****************************   Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 5:20:08 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #473 Message-ID: <8910260520.aa25965@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 05:15:00 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 473 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson "Disaster Authority" (Jeff Frontz) Cordless Phone Search (Matt Simpson) Cheap Cellular Phones (MJK2660@ritvm.bitnet) Re: Unequal Service (Dave Levenson) Re: Unequal Service (Tad Cook) Re: Caller ID Boxes (Tad Cook) Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes and Area Codes (Bob Goudreau) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (John Higdon) Cellular Phone Hook-up (Gerald E. Yingling) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Robert Wier) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jhf@cblpe.att.com Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 09:59 EDT Subject: "Disaster Authority" In TELECOM Digest V9 #470, Joe Konstan writes: >BTW, why doesn't AT&T retain "disaster authority" over >its lines, to prevent resellers from mishandling the situation and from >using capacity that AT&T customers could use? I don't think this is very feasible. My understanding is that "resellers" buy trunks that are "nailed up" via a DACS (or something similar). In order to reclaim capacity, AT&T would have to disconnect the reseller in question. I doubt this would sit very well with the FCC. One thing that might change this is a new (to me, anyway) philosophy that I've heard: all types of service should be handled by the normal message network. This would (I think) allow customers to use a software defined network that would mimic a network of "nailed up" trunks. With an SDN, a customer would fall under the reign of network controls. Jeff Frontz Work: +1 614 860 2797 AT&T-Bell Labs (CB 1C-356) Cornet: 353-2797 att!jeff.frontz jeff.frontz@att.com Home: +1 614 794 3986 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 09:11:39 EDT From: "Simpson, Matt" Subject: Cordless Phone Search I'm looking for a phone for my barn. Instead of burying underground cable from the house to the barn, I decided to get a cordless phone, with the base unit in the house. Since I don't want to (won't remember to) take the handset back to the house for recharging, I need a unit with a separate recharge cradle. I would also like to have 2-way paging/intercom capability between base and handset. I have been able to find phones with one or the other of these features, but not both. Does anyone have any suggestions? One store told me they sold a Sony model with the intercom capability which did not come with a separate recharge cradle, but one could be ordered for it however they were temporarily out of stock. I found that model at another location, but the salesperson there could find no info about ordering a recharge cradle. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 11:36:54 EDT From: MJK2660@ritvm.bitnet Subject: Cheap Cellular Phones In the Rochester NY area there have been several vendors selling cellular car phones in the $90 price range. Part of the agreement is that you subscribe to a particular cellular service for 12 months. The rates have just been reduced to $10/month and 17.5 to 25 cents a minute for local (several county area) airtime. I contacted one of the vendors and they do receive a "kickback" from the cellular company but I don't know how much it is. With some of the tales I hear about other areas (75 cents a minute!!) I think we are very fortunate here. ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 26 Oct 89 02:26:47 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > As an incentive to upgrade, I would propose that anyone served out of > an electromechanical office be charged some fixed amount less than > "equivalent" service out of an electronic office. For those of you > served by real telcos who upgraded long ago, this is not an issue. But > there are many prefixes in San Jose alone still "served" (term loosely > used) by #5 grossbar. Pac*Bell needs some kind of incentive to get its > act together. The cost of providing service with an electromechanical office is higher than the cost of providing service with an electronic office. Revenues for electronic offices are already higher than for electromechanical offices, because some percentage of the subscribers buy the extra-cost custom calling features. It would seem that the incentive is already there! But the real cost of either office depends upon how long it lives. Swapping out a central office switch before its time plays havoc with a delicate balance of rate-of-return and depreciation schedules. The schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the telco _and_ the regulators. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 26 Oct 89 01:01:13 GMT Organization: very little John Higdon proposes that customers served by crossbar COs be charged less than those served by digital offices. Actually, it costs MORE to maintain a crossbar switch. In many cases the telco would love to scrap out the old switch, but the PUC claims that it still has years of service left and is not ready to be written off. In Washington State, US West shocked me and a lot of other folks by scrapping ALL of their electomechanical switches, even in the tiniest of communities. Some Northern Telecom salesman showed them how even with the big up front cost, they could save so much on maintainence and get so much more revenue from new services that there was a very quick payback. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Caller ID Boxes Date: 26 Oct 89 00:55:15 GMT Organization: very little San/Bar makes an ANI display for CLASS services. (This is in response to a request for sources of these things) Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP [Moderator's Note: And the Hello Direct people offer one in their catalog also. I don't know who manufactures it for them. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 18:34:53 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Reply-To: goudreau@rtp48.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >Based on notes arriving via TELECOM Digest, I have the following to >pass along: >919, North Carolina, 1989? (need area code on toll calls within it) A blurb I saw in the local paper a while ago mentioned that 11-digit intra-NPA long-distance dialing would replace 8-digit LD in all of NC starting early in 1990. This supposedly applies to *both* 919 and 704, and to all telcos (Southern Bell, GTE, Carolina Telephone, and a host of little Mom & Pop operations). No mention of when 919 (which is getting fairly full) is scheduled to split, or how it would be split. Anyone care to speculate on who will get left out in the cold (i.e., the new NPA) when this does happen? It isn't an obvious split (like, say, 617/508) since 919's two largest urban areas (Raleigh/Durham and Greensboro/Winston-Salem) have roughly the same population but are about 80 miles apart. If one urban area has to get assigned to the new NPA, which one is it? The alternative would be to leave *both* of them in 919, thus potentially making both 919 and the new NPA exceedingly contorted, perhaps like 619 in California. Now, on a completely different note... Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead (i.e., "1" for long distance and "11" for *very* long distance, the way many European countries use "0" and "00"). Is there currently some special meaning assigned to "11"? Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 26 Oct 89 03:35:54 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , motcid!hamilton%cell. mot.COM@uunet.uu.net (Danial Hamilton) writes: > [regarding handhelds] > I don't care who says it's safe, I just can't feel comfortable about > radiating 800 MHZ RF energy 3-4 inches from my brain. Those of us using handhelds and other cellular phones appreciate those who don't like using them for whatever reason. It means less traffic for the rest of us :-) Seriously, I can respect those who are cautious. What really gets to me is when our government decides that we must be protected from all manner of harmful influences and passes laws that prevent those who are willing to take the risks from doing so. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Gerald E Yingling Subject: Cellular Phone Hook-up Date: 25 Oct 89 17:54:16 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I have a question about hooking up a cellular phone. First the problem. My wife bought a transporter car phone that has a cigarette lighter plug for "in car" use. Most of the time she keeps it plugged into her cigarette lighter, however, apparently there is enough drain on the car battery that if she does not use the car for several days and forgets to unplug the phone, the car battery goes dead. I think this is the problem: The cigarette plug is wired this way: ---------------------- < o o o o | "Molex" type plug ---------------------- | | | NC |----- | | ^ | | jumper | + - to cigarette lighter plug Note only two wires from car battery to the phone. I think this is the way a "permanent" phone would be hooked up: o o o o | | | | | | ignition | | switch | | | | | + + - car battery I believe two sources of power are needed, one unswitched (hot all the time) to keep the electronic lock active and some minimum reset circuitry alive, and a switched source (from ignitition switch) to provide transmit power. This would prevent battery going dead with the "cigarette" lighter approach. This might account for the jumper in the cigarette lighter/phone plug (first diagram). I would like to wire a new plug in the car so that my wife could unplug it, plug in the "internal" battery and have a portable phone. However before I messed around with this, I thought I would tap the expertise of the net and solicit advice. Assuming my assumptions are correct about two power sources, I'm not sure which terminal is switched and which is not switched (without trying and risking damage?). I traced the battery polarity so that is not a problem. The phone is a GE CF1000. Thanks for any help. Jerry Yingling 312-979-1639 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 21:44:26 mst From: Robert Wier Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles I remember a widely run tv commercial about 20 years ago (?) by the Sheraton Corporation advertising their toll-free reservation --> 800 325 3535. There wasn't anything particulary humorous about this, they just had a REALLY catchy tune to which the numbers were sung. Plus since the number was so redundant (lots of 3's and 5's) it could also be sung somewhat in a round-robin fashion (like row, row, row your boat). My choral group in high school liked to sing this to get our music teacher upset :-). Coincidentally enough, I currently have one number which has a 325 prefix (although not the same suffix), and also one that has a 523 prefix. I believe that the number is still in use, for Day's Inns now. But they don't use the old commercial (a shame...) - Bob Wier Northern Arizona University summer:Ouray, Colorado winter:Flagstaff, Arizona USENET: ...arizona!naucse!rrw | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | WB5KXH ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #473 *****************************   Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 23:03:32 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #474 Message-ID: <8910262303.aa14694@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 23:00:44 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 474 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Proposed Tariff for Billing Name & Address Service by NY Tel (Curtis Reid) 1-800-US-INFO-1 ext. 901 (AT&T Information On Call) (Lenny Tropiano) Quake Stats (Ken Jongsma) Centrex Strikes Again (John Higdon) Caller-ID for Pagers? (Robert E. Seastrom) Caller-ID for Pagers? (Christopher K. Davis) Tones on International Calls (Holly Aaron) Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Carl Moore) Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Joel B. Levin) Re: Caller ID Device (Louis J. Judice) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Jim Breen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 14:14 EDT From: "Curtis E. Reid" Subject: Proposed Tariff for Billing Name & Address Service by NY Tel I read a notice of proposed tariff filing for billing name and address service by New York Telephone in the legal section of the newspaper yesterday. I quote: Notice is hereby given that a proposed tariff has been filed with the Public Service Commission, to be effective December 1, 1989, to introduce Billing Name and Address (BNA) Service. BNA Service is the provision of the complete billing name, street address, city or town, state and zip code for a telephone number assigned by New York Telephone. BNA Service is provided for the sole purpose of permitting the customer to bill its telecommunications services to its end users. [ Rates shown here ] Further, an amendment to the offering of Non-Published Service has been filed to specify that BNA information on a non-published number will be provided to a BNA subscriber when a call utilizing the BNA subscriber's service originates from that non-published number. End quote. Now, my question is this similar to reverse directory that readers has been discussing here? Or, is this similar to the way that AT&T pass the number to another telephone company for the purpose of billing? This tariff is a bit unclear as to what the real purpose is for. Curtis Reid CER2520@RITVAX.Bitnet CER2520%RITVAX.Bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Internet) CER2520@vaxd.isc.rit.edu (NYSernet) ------------------------------ From: Lenny Tropiano Subject: 1-800-US-INFO-1 ext. 901 (AT&T Information On Call) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 00:00 EDT In my mail today (US mail that is), I received my AT&T Information "On Call" catalog. It basically is a service, run by AT&T, that offers free advice and information on various amounts of topics... Some which are, but not limited to... AT&T Information "On call" catalogs (Item #8777) free Club Med Vacations (Item #3534) free Car Buyers Guide (Item #3538) free Moving (Item #3556) free JC Penney's catalog (Item #3549) $4.00 (includes shipping) Learning to Fly (Item #3509) free "Shopper's Advantage" (Item #3516) free Microwave Cooking (Item #3517) $9.95 (includes shipping) ...etc... Call up 1-800-USINFO-1 (1-800-874-6361), with a touch tone phone and type in ext. 901 when prompted. (Or with rotary only phones wait and speak your choices). Then key in the item numbers (8777 will get you more AT&T Information On Call catalogs, so order that...). Chargable items are put on AMEX, Discover, MasterCard or VISA. They said, 7-10 days for shipping. I haven't received anything yet, but ordered a few free items. | Lenny Tropiano ICUS Software Systems [w] +1 (516) 589-7930 | | lenny@icus.islp.ny.us Telex; 154232428 ICUS [h] +1 (516) 968-8576 | | {ames,pacbell,decuac,hombre,sbcs,attctc}!icus!lenny attmail!icus!lenny | +------- ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY 11752 -------+ ------------------------------ From: Ken@cup.portal.com Subject: Quake Stats Date: Thu, 26-Oct-89 13:01:46 PDT Communications Week had some hard info on communications right after the quake. Here are some extracts: The quake hit at 5:04PM. Within hours, Pac Bell was seeing 1 million call attempts *per minute*! AT&T reported 17 million call attempts between 2AM and 10AM the following day. Pac Bell Cellular reported 10 times normal calling volume. AT&T reported 144.7 million calls nationwide for the 24 hour period starting midnight. 27.8 million were directed into the bay area with 9.5 million completed. AT&T let 70% of the outgoing calls complete giving the rest a recording. AT&T let 30% of the incoming calls complete. MCI blocked 50% of the incoming calls to the three area codes affected. MCI has a system network capacity 120-150% higher than average peak loading. Sprint blocked dynamically with the blocking adjusted at a 5 minute rate. Switches generating the most traffic were blocked at 60%. Less busy switches were blocked at 10, 20 and 45% levels. Seven out of 60 Pac Tel Cellular cells were knocked out. Four were restored quickly - the rest are still out. GTE Mobilnet had only 2 cells down out of 80. All in all, I think all the carriers performed admirably. Pac Bell had completed a quake drill Aug 3. Ironically enough - they simulated a 7.0 quake in San Jose. The actual quake was 6.9 with a center only 20 miles away. MCI's capacity surprised me (120-150% of peak). I rather suspect AT&T's is much high than that. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Centrex Strikes Again Date: 27 Oct 89 02:12:10 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows I had lunch today with an engineer who works with the San Francisco School District. We were discussing matters earthquake and he confirmed something that I brought up some time ago in this forum for which I was soundly dismissed. He was cursing the decision of the school board to go with centrex. For two days following the earthquake, prople in the school offices (and the associated radio station, KALW) were unable to so much as phone down the hall. It seems the CO serving the area had sustained some damage and dialtone was extremely slow for an abnormal period of time. So while those people with those "unreliable" on-site PBXs were having difficulty making outside calls, those with "the most reliable phone system in the world" (Pac*Bell advertising hype) couldn't so much as talk to their secretaries at the front desk. There was another major Pac*Bell embarassment: The Bush-Pine office (SF's main downtown CO). It seems that no one bothered to test the fancy turbine standby generators under load. They regularly powered them up, but just let them spin. Under load following the earthquake, they broke down. The CO ran on its batteries until they went dead, then it was good-night. The downtown financial district CO and the tandem were dead. Fortunately, they were able to get a portable unit connected shortly thereafter. I'm sure there were some downtown business that were delighted they went with centrex, also. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: Well, it is not like an earthquake happens every day or a central office is overloaded for several days running as a routine thing. Everything has disadvantages. *In general*, my belief is that centrex is superior to PBX almost anytime. I've also seen PBX's break down and disrupt communications in a company for an entire day or two pending repairs. Those people were angry they did not have centrex. You really just have to make an informed choice and go with it. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 13:19:44 EDT From: "Robert E. Seastrom" Subject: Caller-ID for Pagers? In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, J. Philip Miller writes: > While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging > services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do > not need to key their number in for display on the pager. In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, Patrick Townson (Telecom Moderator) comments: > Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great > idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] I would be really unhappy if the pager companies were to do this and not allow for an override. To give a few examples: At Worldcon '89, I would page my roommate to see about plans for dinner. Since it wasn't terribly urgent, I didn't include a priority code (see below) and paged him with *my* pager number. Then, I didn't have to stay right next to a particular pay phone and keep other people from using it (I'd stay in the vicinity, so that I could call back promptly, when he returned my page. This would not be possible if Caller-ID automatically ID'ed my phone for me... In the main circle that I associate with, we have a set of agreed-upon three-digit codes that can be appended to a phone number. The 100 series identifies specific people; other codes mean specific things (411=need information, 611=something's broken, 911=run, don't walk, to the nearest phone and call immediately), unallocated 3-digit codes are priority codes that tell how urgent it is that the call be returned, 200s meaning at your leisure, 800s meaning call ASAP. If there weren't an override on the number that Caller-ID sent out, it would be impossible to add these codes to the end of the number we were paging with. ---Rob [Moderator's Note: Granted, it might be better to have the switch answer and say, 'To default, press # now; else enter the desired digits.' PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 17:49:38 EDT From: Christopher K Davis Subject: Caller-ID for Pagers? >>>>> On 25 Oct 89 20:22:57 GMT, The Moderator (Patrick Townson) said: PT> [Moderator's Note: [...] Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital PT> pagers, I think it is a great idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of PT> it? PT] It's not really that great. For example, I often used my mother's pager to tell her things she didn't need to call for -- (or couldn't, as with pay phones that won't take incoming calls) like "The track meet's over, come pick me up" or the like. Usually I'd punch in my birthday so she'd know it was me, and the "context" would make the message clear. Neat idea, but in practice, it's more useful to use arbitrary numbers. ------------------------------ From: Holly Aaron Subject: Tones on International Calls Date: 26 Oct 89 21:50:39 GMT Reply-To: Holly Aaron Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA When I make international calls sometimes I hear an odd sequence of tones right before the call goes through. Does anyone know what these are for? aaron@aludra.usc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 9:02:10 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes So 704 is far less full than 919? Also requiring 11-digit intra-NPA long-distance in 704 is along the "statewide uniformity" lines of what was done in New Jersey (in NJ, there is a case of 7D local calls from 609 area to an exchange area having N0X/N1X in 201). But in Virginia, 703 has 11-digit intra-NPA long-distance and 804 still has 8-digit. 703 (and 301, which covers all of Maryland) includes DC area suburbs, and the DC area had to get N0X/N1X prefixes. Afterthought: I believe San Diego, CA is a big urban area in its own right. However, it was put in area 619 when 714 was split. ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 16:50:59 EDT >From: Bob Goudreau >Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international >access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up >to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead (i.e., "1" for long distance and >"11" for *very* long distance, the way many European countries use "0" >and "00"). Is there currently some special meaning assigned to "11"? In olden days (e.g. the sixties), in many places Information (remember that?) was 113, Repair was 114, and Long Distance was 110... as I recall. Probably when 011 was selected some areas were still using these older numbers, or at least they were still reserved. /JBL ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 08:50:14 -0700 From: "Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007" Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Hi Patrick - the Caller ID Display Device in the Hello Direct catalog is branded "AT&T" - and if I recall is $99.95. Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! Lou Judice DEC [Moderator's Note: A full year yet! That's a pity. Ours in Chicago- Rogers Park is set for fourth quarter '89, but so far nothing has been publicized. PT] ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 01:06:59 GMT gnu@toad.com asks, of ISDN > The problem is data encoding; I > have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on > the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of > encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be > talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it > that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN > links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links....... They are NOT byte-oriented 8000 byte/sec; it is BIT oriented 64000 bps. You can put any protocol you like on an ISDN B-channel. Protocols have been standardized for the D-channel, as this is for signalling and packet traffic. There *are* ISDN standards for mapping lower speeds onto a B-channel. Check out standards I.460-464 from the CCITT Red Book for starters. > Can anyone on Telecom provide details on upper level ISDN > standardization efforts? All I have found was low level protocols; > once you get to the 8000 bps byte stream, it's left up to the user to > define........ This is how it should be! There are standards for various things to intercommunicate over ISDN, such as Group 4 Fax, etc., buter there must NEVER be a standard protocol above Layer 1. ISDN is to be a bit-pipe service. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #474 *****************************   Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 0:05:08 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #475 Message-ID: <8910270005.aa00126@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 27 Oct 89 00:01:09 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 475 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors (TELECOM Moderator) Overseas Modem Transfer Request (Max Feil) Re: Amazing Quake Stories (Joel B. Levin) Re: 011 vs. 11 (John R. Levine) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Cyril Bauer) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Kim Greer) Re: Unequal Service (John Higdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 23:32:56 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors In an effort to streamline decisionmaking, the directors of Ameritech dissolved the boards of directors of the five Bell operating companies under its jurisdiction at a meeting held last week, I have learned. The directors of Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Bell will step down on the day they would have stood for re-election, Ameritech spokesman Mike Brand said Wednesday. In the case of Illinois Bell, that date is February 22, 1990. The five Bell boards are vestiges of the old days, when telephone companies were tightly regulated utilities with partial public ownership, Brand said. For example, when AT&T was the *majority* owner in the Bells, there were still a few minority stockholders. Illinois Bell for example was 97 percent owned by AT&T, and 3 percent by private individuals. Ameritech now feels the individual boards are cumbersome and not needed because the Bell companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech, which is based here in Chicago, and don't have their own shareholders. The dual system of boards created fractured reporting responsibilities for executives who were directly supervised by the Board of Directors of one of the Bell companies; Ameritech's senior management and the Ameritech Board of Directors. Brand explained that dissolving the Bell company boards is 'part of an effort started in July to create a structure in the company that promotes integration, streamlines decision making and speeds implementation of decisions.....' In July, Ameritech announced a realignment of corporate executives and reporting lines in an effort to create a more competitive corporate structure. At last Wednesday's meeting, the decision to dissolve the boards of the other non-Bell subsidiaries was also made. In the case of the non-Bell companies which are subsidiaries of Ameritech, those boards are comprised entirely of inside managers, and will be dissolved by the end of this year. No Bell company executives are affected by the move and the companies' operations are not affected in any way. Illinois Bell directors who will be stepping down include: William Bunn III, chairman of Marine Bank, Springfield, IL. Franklin Cole, chairman of Croesus Corporation. Dr. John Corbally, retired president of the MacArthur Foundation. Daryl Grisham, president of Parker House Sausage Company. Alan Hallene, president of Montgomery Elevator, Rockford, IL Donald Nordlund, chairman of Multi-Fresh Systems. Barbara Proctor, chairman of Proctor & Gardner Advertising. Arthur Velasquez, president of Azteca Foods. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Max Feil Subject: Overseas Modem Transfer Request Date: 26 Oct 89 23:12:07 GMT Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada I would like to find the best way of transmitting fairly large amounts of data from overseas. I need to transfer a minimum of 4-5 megs daily of heavily compressed binary data via modem on public overseas dialup lines. The system is basically meant to replace standard fax transmissions with a more cost-effective system that will use a PC for image scanning and data compression at one end and a similar PC for uncompression/printout at the other. I would appreciate any and all help in finding a suitable modem or transfer mechanism for this task. The connection will be from Toronto Canada to Hong Kong in order to take advantage of discounted Canadian toll charges. (Hong Kong to North America and U.S. to Hong Kong seems to be more expensive). From Toronto the information will pass into the continental U.S. To be feasible, I need a data rate of at least 9600 bps with full error detection/correction via a protocol such as MNP. I have heard of >30Kbps rates with such modems, but is this only for local lines? How does the potentially reduced bandwith & increased noise/dropouts of overseas connections affect the maximum data rate I can achieve? I have heard that some high speed modems degrade excessively in noisy conditions. I need the fastest rate possible. Daily transfer will be at least 4-5 megabytes, with 2 or 3 connections made per day. What are my options for modems I can connect to a PC? I am currently getting 30% compression on my scanned text/drawings using Pkarc compression software (widely used on bbs's). I have heard of other schemes that can be used to highly compress image data, but I need to know what's commercially available. I have investigated the use of public packet networks, but the connect and per kilopacket charges are much to high. I am very interested in any help somebody from the telecommunications/modem/ibm pc world can give me. Thanks in advance. Max Feil max@bnr-rsc.UUCP or utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!max Bell-Northern Research (613) 763-3093 P.O Box 3511 Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Y 4H7. ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Amazing Quake Stories Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 16:02:13 EDT >From: gaf@uucs1.uucp >We heard from one of the traffic monitoring people at US West who >noticed something peculiar around 5:05 PM Tuesday. He called his AT&T >counterpart in Oakland to see what was happening. The call was >answered, and the conversation went something like: >"Hey, what's happening there?" >"We've got an earthquake here, and, ..... oh ..... there's a big >crack in the wall now ..... " In 1971, when the Arpanet, the original component of the Internet, was still young (approximately 16 IMPs, or packet switching nodes), monitoring its state was still very ad hoc-- another engineer and I periodically checked to see if any line states were changed or if any IMPs had failed to send their one line status message to our local teletype. Remember, this was when networking-as-we-know-it was mostly unheard of and remotely monitoring a private data circuit from a location thousands of miles away from either terminus of the circuit was a thing of the future. One morning in August, around 9:05 am several of the lines terminating in Los Angeles died, and with symptoms indicating it was not an IMP that crashed. After performing our usual tests, we called the Long Lines number in Los Angeles. We were informed that they had had an earthquake, there were some cracks in the building, and it would be a while before service was restored. (It was only a few hours.) Though we had no details, we in Cambridge knew about the earthquake well in advance of the news bulletins! /JBL ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 011 vs. 11 Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 26 Oct 89 17:41:16 EDT (Thu) From: "John R. Levine" In article goudreau@rtp48.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) writes: >Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international >access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up >to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead [analogous to 00 in most of Europe.] It seems to me that misdialing 11-number for 1-number is a very likely sort of dialing mistake, either because your finger bounces, or if you have a rotary dial some random click on the line sounds like a 1. Using 11 for international would mean lots of mistaken non-revenue international calls. (Recent messages have reported how even with the current scheme people have dialed Australia instead of Minneapolis when numbers start with 612.) Besides, there are probably still places where you don't have to dial 1 before long distance, and in places like that they usually ignore any leading 1 digits. If I were Bellcore I'd permanently reserve 11 as an error. On the other hand 011 is pretty hard to dial deliberately and nearly impossible to dial by mistake. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ From: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Date: 26 Oct 89 17:05:04 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. I would sugest the Panasonic unit. I have tried a few and the easiest and most reliable I have found is the Panasonic. They make models that do most everthing that you could possibly want to do. Take your pick, they work. UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!cy ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!cy@nosc.mil INET: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 27 Oct 89 03:30:17 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , gtephx!phobos!ellisond@ asuvax.EAS.ASU.EDU (Dell Ellison) writes: > What if the problem of junk fax is wide-spread, BUT the 'elected > representatives' just happen to not have the problem??? From all evidence presented so far, nobody seems to be having a problem. Ergo, no problem. At least it's not widespread. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 26 Oct 89 12:08:30 GMT Reply-To: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Organization: Academic Computing, Duke University, Durham, NC In article langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) writes: >In article johnl@esegue.segue. >>[American Express] has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that >I recall having read a few little "FYI" type articles in various >technical and marketing trade rags that said Amex got a lot of nasty >letters and calls from customers who were startled, perplexed, and/or >annoyed at Amex about the addition of the "service." >Apparently, someone at Amex marketing thought it would be friendlier >to answer the phone, "Good morning Mr. Zerner." A lot of people >(myself included) thought it was pompous and not beneficial. At least >one person encountered communication difficulties because he was >calling from another cardholder's phone. Enough of these dissatisfied >customers wrote and called in nastygrams expressing their dislike of >Amex' use of the technology that Amex ended up pulling the idea. Actually, I would prefer that a company that is dealing with my money, would be able to be able to tell who I am. With phone fraud as rampant as it is, I encourage technology that will allow Amex or whoever to filter out spooks trying to weasal out info/money of mine. I prefer that a company that I'm dealing with to have instantly available information concerning my address/phone#/etc. (NOTE: I did not say that I prefer every XYZ Corp. to have it, just the ones I deal with). This saves having to waste time having someone re-type in my name/address/location/ account#/etc every time I call them. Kim Greer Duke Univ Med Ctr klg@orion.mc.duke.edu ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 27 Oct 89 03:53:04 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: > The schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another > by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; > the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the > telco _and_ the regulators. Ah-hah! That explains a lot. Up until recently, we had the "big four" crossbar offices: ALpine, serving Cupertino, west San Jose, and Campbell; ANdrews, serving Willow Glen and upper Almaden; CLayburn, serving the east side and foothills; and AXminster, serving a small part of San Jose and southeast Santa Clara. ALpine just went DMS. And guess which famous computer company has its think-tank and corporate offices in Cupertino. As someone said, some customers are more equal than others. All those other areas mentioned above are bedroom districts. Where I live in Willow Glen, the highest tech business you are likely to find is a grocery store. Our crossbar should be replaced around 2015, if we're fortunate. Those other areas are the same way: nothing but houses and shopping centers. I suppose crossbar is here to stay in San Jose! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #475 *****************************   Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 1:40:20 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #476 Message-ID: <8910280140.aa29081@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 Oct 89 01:35:04 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 476 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down (Kim Greer) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Daniel Karrenberg) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Steve Forrette) Re: 10 Cent Payphones (Steve Forrette) Re: Unequal Service (Marvin Sirbu) Re: 011 for International (Linc Madison) Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? (Dave Levenson) Re: Caller ID for Pagers? (Gary Segal) Re: Caller ID Device (Dave Levenson) Re: Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors (Lang Zerner) [Moderator's Note: Remember, we return to standard time Saturday night. Clocks should be set back one hour at 2:00 AM Sunday morning. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Subject: Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down Date: 26 Oct 89 11:39:55 GMT Reply-To: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Organization: Academic Computing, Duke University, Durham, NC In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: + [stuff deleted about finding out there was an earthquake] +At that point I became a little anxious. How were my relatives in +town? Was my house still standing? How were my clients faring (that I +had left in the hands of an assistant)? No amount of dialing could +break through. Then I realized that my desert friend had a 950 +Telesphere account. SUCCESS! I made call after call using that +account, noting the sluggishness of the Bay Area COs, which were +probably completely overloaded. +On the way home, I listened to SF radio to get a feeling for what was +going on and at one point spokepersons for AT&T and Sprint were +crowing about how they were blocking calls from outside the area so +that the local Bay Area network would not be overworked. Well, I am +about to write a letter of appreciation to Telesphere and a show-cause +request why I shouldn't cancel my AT&T and Sprint accounts. Thanks to +Telesphere, I was able to handle some emergencies over the phone (not +to mention putting my mind at ease). That was NO THANKS to AT&T and +Sprint. Now, who is backing up whom? John, I sympathize with you. I really do know the feeling - I had the same experience trying to call my parents and brother in Charlotte in the aftermath of Hugo (the hurricane, not the car :^). I was mad at "the phone company" for not letting me through. Little did I know at the time that it really wasn't their fault, as there were thousands of lines down, as the eye of Hugo went right over Charlotte. (My neighbor who works at Duke Power told me that they had replaced over 4500 utility poles in Charlotte, to say nothing of Rock Hill, Gastonia, etc., and they still weren't through.) My folks got their power back seven days later, and the phone was back working on the eighth day. Anyway, what has this got to do with the Digest and your posting? I think the thing to remember is that AT&T and Sprint were not "crowing"; they were trying to do exactly what was the best option under the circumstances: prevent the network from crumbling under the weight of NON-EMERGENCY calls. I head on ABC at one point in a 5 minute period, there were over a million calls that were logged trying to get into San Francisco. (I think I got those numbers right). The tv networks were telling people not to call in, explaining the problem. Let's face it, the vast majority of incoming calls would do nothing the help the situation in the face of big time destruction. The system *had* to be alive to respond to outgoing EMERGENCY calls that had to do with saving lives and getting outside help in. I agree with the decision to block incoming calls, even if the lines were not down. Again, I sympathize with you, but I think you are wrong. What is the alternative? - letting literally millions of people trying to call into SF, SJ, etc. with little or no chance of getting through tie up the circuits? Most incoming calls were low priority; the outgoing were the most critical at the time. Kim Greer Duke Univ Med Ctr klg@orion.mc.duke.edu ------------------------------ From: Daniel Karrenberg Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Date: 27 Oct 89 10:09:12 GMT Organization: European Unix sytems User Group cgch!wtho@relay.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >> Austria 00 >> 060. For Germany in stead of 0049 >0041 for Switzerland and 0049 for Germany works as well, at least in a >small village near Innsbruck where I have tried it. Anyway, the whole >system, especially dialling the OWN country code for Luxembourg, looks >extremely Austrian :-) 0049 didn't work in Vienna last time I tried. Confused me a lot! Daniel Karrenberg Future Net: CWI, Amsterdam Oldie Net: mcvax!dfk The Netherlands Because It's There Net: DFK@MCVAX ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 04:00:48 PDT From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article you write: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 464, message 3 of 9 >Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer >cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that >hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) >have been responsible for brain/eye damage. > ...... >Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone consider this >before approving the 800MHz frequency? I have a rear-window capacitive-mount antenna for my cellular phone, and the instructions that came with it stated that people should keep all parts of themselves at least 6 inches from the antenna whenever the phone was in use! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 04:46:13 PDT From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: 10 Cent Payphones Last time I checked (year or so ago), Roseville Telephone (near Sacramento, CA) still charged 10 cents for local calls. An interesting corollary is that Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, CA, happens to straddle the service boundary between Roseville Telephone and the *real* telephone company (Pacific Bell) - so, local calls cost 20 cents at the south end of the mall and 10 cents at the north! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 14:17:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Marvin Sirbu Subject: Re: Unequal Service Besides large corporate customers, other factors which affect the decision to replace a switch include the rate of growth and the growth in the use of data. The marginal cost of adding capacity to a crossbar is very high; if growth in lines or call holding times is fast enough, it is cheaper to put in a new switch than continue to upgrade an old one. In addition to being the home of a large computer company, Cupertino has experienced rapid growth as well. Marvin Sirbu CMU ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 14:42:29 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: 011 for International Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article , Bob Goudreau: >Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international >access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up >to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead (i.e., "1" for long distance and >"11" for *very* long distance, the way many European countries use "0" >and "00"). Is there currently some special meaning assigned to "11"? As has been noted in a couple of recent articles, "11" is reserved for certain custom calling features from pulse-dial phones. For example, I can dial 70* to cancel call waiting, or I can dial 1170. This scheme is in wide use across much of the country. The one thing I would've changed is that it seems logical to me to say, "Dial 01 for international, and then 1 if it's direct-dial or 0 for operator assistance," to make it more analogous to domestic calls. Thus we would have 011/010 instead of 011/01. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? Date: 28 Oct 89 01:50:40 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , RS%AI.AI.MIT.EDU@ mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Robert E. Seastrom) writes: > In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, J. Philip Miller writes: > > While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging > > services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do > > not need to key their number in for display on the pager. > In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, Patrick Townson (Telecom Moderator) comments: > > Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great > > idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] ... > [Moderator's Note: Granted, it might be better to have the switch > answer and say, 'To default, press # now; else enter the desired > digits.' PT] No!!! Use the Caller-Id default if the caller enters nothing at all. Otherwise, let the caller enter the digital message to be displayed. Believe it or not, there are still a few telephone subscribers who use pulse-dial equipment. Some smart business telephone systems prevent their users from dialing extra digits for end-to-end signalling -- primitive but effective toll-diversion. With the present radio paging equipment, they cannot send any message at all! Automatically-generated Caller*Id would be better than no ID at all, wouldn't it? Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Caller ID and Pagers Date: 27 Oct 89 21:33:05 GMT Organization: Motorola INC., Cellular Infrastructure Division Two comments: First; Using caller ID to automaticlly key pagers sounds like a good idea, however I see one problem with it. Sometimes you want to leave a number other than the number that you are calling from, perhapes even some pre-aranged code. (One of my co-workers likes to "spell" his name in numbers - remember spelling "Shell Oil" - 710.77345 on your first calcualtor?) If we're going to have caller ID key into a pager system, the system should have an option to enter a different number. Of course, all of this is moot with voice pagers. Second; >[Moderator's Note: Yes, I think there are modem/Caller-ID devices in >one neat little box. A hackerphreak here in Chicago (six blocks down >the street from me, on Artesian Avenue to be exact!) was caught >burglarizing a computer at Bell Labs/Naperville about a year ago >because his phone number was captured by the equipment out there. It would be interesting to know what happened in this case. Did the caller-ID constitute an illegal wire-tap here in Illinios? If the phreak had a good laywer, that could have been part of his defense. As far as I know, IBT doesn't give residential subscribers the option of disabling caller-id; at least I've never been given the option nor have I seen any mention of it in my bill. Gary Segal @ Motorla C.I.D. 1501 W. Shure Drive ...!uunet!motcid!segal Arlington Heights, IL 60004 Disclaimer: The above is all my fault. +708 632-2354 [Moderator's Note: 'What happened in that case', as reported here in the Digest at the time was the phreak was indicted by a federal grand jury; was found guilty; was placed in the custody of the Attorney General or his authorized representative for a period of one year which was served concurrently with three years federal probation. No, there was no 'illegal wire-tap'. That is a crock, and the judge over east who thought it up will be overruled on appeal. When you observe some person intruding onto your property, burglarizing your property or stealing from you and you report what you have witnessed, you are not 'guilty' of spying on the burglar or invading his privacy. PT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Date: 28 Oct 89 01:54:42 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , judice@kyoa.enet.dec.com (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: ... > Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not > scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! That's interesting -- when a subscriber in Peapack calls us in Warren, we get their caller id number NOW. They send it, but they don't receive it. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors Date: 28 Oct 89 03:23:52 GMT Reply-To: langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) Organization: The Great Escape, Inc In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 475, message 1 of 8 >In an effort to streamline decisionmaking, the directors of Ameritech >dissolved the boards of directors of the five Bell operating companies >...the Bell companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech Wow! I never knew this. Ameritech owns every basic service provider in the country? Why isn't this in violation of antitrust laws? How is it any different than before, when AT&T had a big "monopoly" (I hope there's *some* difference!). Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" [Moderator's Note: Ameritech does NOT 'own every basic service provider in the country.' They own FIVE telephone companies in the midwest part of the United States. In the past, AT&T owned almost two dozen telcos across the country operating under the 'Bell' name. And at the time of divestiture, no one said *how* AT&T had to go about divesting itself; just that it had to. In other words, AT&T could have created one large company called "Bell Telephone", and as long as it was separated from AT&T it would have met the requirements of the decree, although it is likely such a new entity soon would itself have been sued for anti-trust violations. GTE owns more telephone operating companies than Ameritech, or for that matter, any of the other newly formed holding companies previously part of AT&T. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #476 *****************************   Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 2:47:44 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #477 Message-ID: <8910280247.aa31283@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 Oct 89 02:45:30 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 477 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Linc Madison) Re: 919 Split (And What We're Seeing in 312) (David W. Tamkin) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Richard R. Grady, Jr.) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (Thomas E. Lowe) Re: Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine (Al Donaldson) Re: Cordless Phone (Cyril Bauer) Re: Cartoon (Cyril Bauer) Writing Specifications of Call Forwarding & Retry Busy (CCBS) (Anthony Lee) Net Address of US Sprint in Kansas City? (Peter J. Dotzauer) Accessing the Federal Reserve Network (Peter J. Dotzauer) [Moderator's Note: Remember that we return to standard time tonight. Clocks must be set back one hour at 2:00 AM Sunday. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 14:49:25 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Organization: University of California, Berkeley In the list of area codes and NXX's posted here recently, the number given for 312 was 769. I'm rather shocked by this figure if it's correct -- even if the figure of 769 includes reserved NXX's like 555, 950, etc., that leaves only 15 available. That sort of brinksmanship with the phone system is rather unusual. Are you sure it wasn't 679 instead of 769? [784 NXX's are possible = 8*10*10 - N11/N00; as I said, this doesn't account for other "special case" reserved prefixes like 555, 950, 976, and in some areas 970, 540, etc. All the N11 and N00 are reserved. Here in California, for example, we can dial 811-4094 from any Pac*Bell phone in the state and talk to Pac*Bell billing for Berkeley numbers, toll-free.] Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 919 Split (And What We're Seeing in 312) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 22:38:35 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" Bob Goudreau wrote in Digest Volume 9, Issue 473, about area code 919: | It isn't an obvious split (like, say, 617/508) since 919's two largest | urban areas (Raleigh/Durham and Greensboro/Winston-Salem) have roughly | the same population but are about 80 miles apart. If one urban area | has to get assigned to the new NPA, which one is it? The alternative | would be to leave *both* of them in 919, thus potentially making both | 919 and the new NPA exceedingly contorted, perhaps like 619 in California. Or like 409 in Texas, which completely circumscribes the part that kept 713? "Same population" means comparable numbers of residences. Here in northeastern Illinois, more prefixes are switching to 708 than remaining in 312, and more population will be switching to 708 than staying in 312. Even though the prefixes remaining in 312 tend to be fuller, there are more actual telephone lines going to 708. The key, I think, is not Illinois Bell's fable that "area code 312 is historically associated with the city of Chicago" but that once the 312/708 boundaries were drawn, there were more business customers on the city side than on the suburban sides. It is a greater annoyance for a business to get an involuntary telephone number change than for a residence. Compare the backlash against changing the name of a sidestreet to that against changing the name of a commercial thoroughfare. (The result here is not very good: a large majority of the prefixes and of the growth potential are on the same side of the line [indicating that the line should have been drawn differently], and moreover that side that is getting the new code.) The choices in North Carolina are either to draw a small area encompassing the larger cities a la Houston and let the surrounding band get the new code, or to separate the two metropolitan clusters and assign the new code to the side of the line with fewer business customers. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 ------------------------------ From: "Richard R Grady, Jr" Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 27 Oct 89 17:47:01 GMT Reply-To: r4@cbnews.ATT.COM (richard.r.grady..jr,54354,mv,3a018,508 960 6182) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >In article , gtephx!phobos!ellisond@ >asuvax.EAS.ASU.EDU (Dell Ellison) writes: >> What if the problem of junk fax is wide-spread, BUT the 'elected >> representatives' just happen to not have the problem??? >From all evidence presented so far, nobody seems to be having a >problem. Ergo, no problem. At least it's not widespread. Whenever a law is proposed to ban junk fax, everyone who opposes the ban informs the elected representatives about his/her opposition, via an unsolicited fax (How dumb can you get?). So *only* elected representatives have a junk fax problem!!! Dick Grady r_r_grady@att.com ...!att!mvuxd!r4 The above opinions are mine, and not necessarily those of my employer. ------------------------------ From: Thomas E Lowe Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 27 Oct 89 13:16:11 GMT Reply-To: tel@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (thomas.e.lowe,ho,) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I have seen ads here in NJ for Novatel Car phones for 88 dollars. Has anyone out there had any experience with Novetel phones? I'm sure there are very few fancy features in this model, but how about the quality? Is the range as good as more expensive models? How about sound quality and reliability? The company offering this deal is Jersey Cellular. Has anyone in NJ had experience with this outfit? Thanks! Tom Lowe tel@hound.ATT.COM or att!hound!tel 201-949-0428 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2E-637A Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (R) UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (keep them lawyers happy!!) ------------------------------ From: Al Donaldson Subject: Re: Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine Date: 26 Oct 89 04:36:42 GMT Organization: ESCOM Corp., Oakton, VA > Otto J. Makela asks: > . . . I have a sales blurb for a device called the Code-a- > Phone 2600, which would seem to be what I need: ... > Does anyone have hands-on experience with these devices ? When I saw this message I recalled my somewhat embarrassing encounter with my new 2650. Following is from my mail folder earlier this year. (By the way, I think I paid US$65 at a discount store.) Al ================ You'd commented that my answering machine sounded really muffled, and today I found out why. The machine is a Code-A-Phone 2650 combined answering machine-phone, with the outgoing message recorded in memory rather than on tape. Since Code-A-Phone has a good reputation for quality, I was really disappointed when I heard the outgoing message played back. At first I'd thought it was because it was next to the Sun, and the fan noise might be affecting the recording. Nope. Then I played around with holding the handset various ways (my, what a neat idea, using the handset as the microphone for the answering machine..), but that didn't make any difference either. Then I just sort of gave up and figured that it was a result of a poor design, not enough memory to store the voice properly, or such. Finally, today I called Code-A-Phone (no 800 number...) and spoke with a lady there. I explained I was really disappointed with the voice quality, and unless they had some answer I was going to get rid of the machine. She asked if I had any music or other equipment on in the background, and I told her about the computer but said that turning it off didn't make any difference. She asked how close I was to the mike and I said I'd tried holding the handset at various distances and angles but that didn't seem to make any difference either. Then she told me that I'm not supposed to use the handset, but am supposed to talk into the microphone. Microphone?? Sure enough, hidden in the base of the machine is a tiny little hole, not labeled, for the microphone. The user manual doesn't mention where the microphone is; it just says "When the message light starts flashing, speak toward the microphone." So I was talking into the handset, the only obvious microphone on the beast, which was about 3 ft away from the real microphone. Sheesh. What would it have cost them to to stamp the word "microphone" next to the hole and/or print a line explaining that the microphone is separate from the handset? ------------------------------ From: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Date: 27 Oct 89 17:47:11 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. How about an alternative? I saw someplace a jack that a person cold put into the a.c. power. Transmission takes place over the a.c. line along with the supervisory commands for on and off hook. I don't know how well it works or if and where you can find it. I'll look around in the books that I have and leave another note on here when I find it. This is if you so desire. Paging could be done with the ringback feature in your area if the telco allows it. Otherwise another device could be added with very little cost using the f.m. over the power lines too. UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!cy ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!cy@nosc.mil INET: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org ------------------------------ From: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) Subject: Re: Cartoon Date: 27 Oct 89 17:46:46 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. I like the cartoon. I have been wondering myself what the end user has been doing with them. UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!cy ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!cy@nosc.mil INET: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org ------------------------------ From: Anthony Lee Subject: Writing Specifications of Call Forwarding & Retry Busy (CCBS) Date: 26 Oct 89 03:04:02 GMT Reply-To: anthony%batserver.cs.uq.OZ@uunet.uu.net As part of my PhD work, I am trying to write formal specifications of supplementary services. I don't even have informal specifications of simple services such as Call Forwarding or Retry Busy. There are many questions about access: With Call Forwarding, does the subscriber have to subscribe to CF before using it or are there cases where it is just generally available? To use Call Forwarding, a subscriber lifts off the handset and dials the appropriate code. If it is OK for the subscriber to use CF then would he/she receive a confirmation tone? What is the term for the process of making CF available on one's telephone?. Is it called "enable" ? Within the switch itself what is the general term for actually forwarding the call? Would it be called "activation" ? In general what is the term for making a supplementary service available for a telephone ? And what is the general term for actually executing that service? To make this even more complicated, in the Retry Busy service, when the subscriber hears an engaged tone and dials the code for Retry Busy, is that the "enable" part of the service ? And when the switch next scans the destination, would that be called the "activation" part of the service? Even better would some kind soul who works for a telco like to post their specification for supplementary services? I realize a lot of documents must be proprietary but surely supplementary services have been around long enough such that there must be some old docoument lying in the bottom of some filing cabinet. I like those stuff posted about Starline Services but they seem to aim at the customer not the programmer. Anyway thanks in advance. Cheers, Anthony Anthony Lee (Humble PhD student) (Alias Time Lord Doctor) ACSnet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz TEL:(+617) 3712651 Internet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (+617) 3774139 (w) SNAIL: Dept Comp. Science, University of Qld, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia ------------------------------ From: "Peter J. Dotzauer" Subject: Net Address of US Sprint in Kansas City? Date: 28 Oct 89 01:18:00 GMT Organization: Ohio State Univ IRCC Does anyone know the net address of US Sprint, specifically its Kansas City offices? I have been told US Sprint is on Telenet, but how is that accessible from the internet or uucp? Peter Dotzauer: Numerical Cartography Lab, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH VOICE: (614) 292-1357 FAX: 292-9180 DATA: 293-0081 BITNET: ts3285@ohstvma UUCP: ...!osu-cis!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!pjd FIDO: 1:226/50 ARPA: pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu [128.146.1.5] [Moderator's Note: If Sprint is 'on Telenet' what this probably means is they have an electronic mailbox on the Telemail Mail Service of Telenet. Maybe someone who recalls the messages some time ago about the use of gateways to get from Internet to elsewhere will recall the way it is done with Internet <==> Telenet. I don't remember. It might also mean one or more of their computers is connected to the Telenet data network, in which case you are probably not invited. PT] ------------------------------ From: "Peter J. Dotzauer" Subject: Accessing the Federal Reserve Network Date: 27 Oct 89 20:29:21 GMT Organization: Ohio State Univ IRCC What are the prerequisites to access the Federal Reserve network for initiating financial transactions between accounts (e.g. between my checking account and the account of a utility to pay an electric bill)? I have read that Checkfree, Inc., a company that provides certain home banking and electronic bill paying services, uses the Federal Reserve network, that is also used by banks to transfer funds. Banks are compelled to cooperate with that company, or otherwise they would violate federal banking regulations. If a non-bank entity like Checkfree can access the Federal Reserve network to transfer funds, why can I not do that myself, or can I? Peter Dotzauer: Numerical Cartography Lab, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH VOICE: (614) 292-1357 FAX: 292-9180 DATA: 293-0081 BITNET: ts3285@ohstvma UUCP: ...!osu-cis!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!pjd FIDO: 1:226/50 ARPA: pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu [128.146.1.5] [Moderator's Note: I believe Checkfree *is* considered a bank for the purpose of routing and funds transfer through the Fed. And I suppose if the banks and the FRB were willing to accept you as a 'bank' you would be permitted to use the network also. But calling yourself one does not make you one; and I suspect Checkfree has substantial reserves on deposit which guarentee its performance, in the same way the check-printing companies have to have an excellent relationship with the banks, in order to be given access to account numbers, customer names, etc. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #477 *****************************   Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 9:45:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #478 Message-ID: <8910290945.aa19082@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 29 Oct 89 09:42:18 CST Volume 9 : Issue 478 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Rate Comparison to Hong Kong (John R. Covert) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (Dave Levenson) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (John Higdon) Re: Unequal Service (David Lewis) Re: Unequal Service (David Lesher) Re: Caller ID at American Express (David Lewis) Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? (John Higdon) Re: Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? (Jim Gottlieb) Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Dan Sahlin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 09:00:38 -0700 From: "John R. Covert 27-Oct-1989 0929" Subject: Rate Comparison to Hong Kong >The connection will be from Toronto Canada to Hong Kong in order to >take advantage of discounted Canadian toll charges. (Hong Kong to >North America and U.S. to Hong Kong seems to be more expensive). From >Toronto the information will pass into the continental U.S. Although I expected calls from Hong Kong to either the U.S. or Canada to be more expensive than the reverse direction, the assertion that calls from Canada to Hong Kong were less expensive than from the U.S. surprised me, since I knew that Canadian rates to Europe were drastically higher than U.S. rates to Europe. Canada has recently lowered overseas rates. Rates to, for example, West Germany are still quite a bit higher from Canada than from the U.S. Canadian rates to Hong Kong are only lower for the first minute; additional minute charges from the U.S. are lower. You will save money originating the calls from Canada only if they are fairly short calls. And unless you also need the data to be in Canada, too, anyway, or have private circuits, you'll lose that savings on the additional call transmitting it across the border. Here is the comparison: Canada: 4p-12a 8a-4p 12a-8a Don't forget tax. Canadian tax is significant: 19% (11 Fed, 8 Prov). 2.19 1.76 1.53 1.46 1.17 1.02 U.S. tax is only 3% Federal, and most states do not tax out-of-state calls. AT&T 5p-11p 10a-5p 11p-10a Notice the time differences. Canada 3.62 2.72 2.17 and AT&T are similar, but Sprint has 1.35 1.03 .81 reversed the peak and medium periods. Sprint And finally -- there are new digital circuits to Hong Kong. I've gotten 8a-6p 6p-12a 12a-8a some _wonderful_ connections on AT&T. 3.3666 2.5840 1.8445 Other carriers may have them as well. 1.2825 .9888 .7938 /john ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 29 Oct 89 03:18:50 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , tel@hound.att.com (Thomas E Lowe) writes: > I have seen ads here in NJ for Novatel Car phones for 88 dollars. > Has anyone out there had any experience with Novetel phones? > I'm sure there are very few fancy features in this model, but how > about the quality? Is the range as good as more expensive models? > How about sound quality and reliability? > The company offering this deal is Jersey Cellular. Has anyone in NJ > had experience with this outfit? I have been driving around NJ with a Novatel cellular phone since 1986. It has never required maintenance, and works pretty well all over the state. Yes, there are a few "dead spots" -- mostly in the less-travelled areas and in the "hill country" of western Morris and northern Somerset counties. Novatel makes a large product line. The model 1260 (which I have) is a 3-watt unit (the max allowed) and is no-longer manufactured. Remember that the company who sells and installs your mobile phone gets to activate your service with Cellular One, or Metro One, or Bell Atlantic or Nynex (depending upon where you live). They get a piece of the action for every minute of air time you use. Their loss-leader price usually requires that _they_ activate your service, and that you keep it for some minimum period. They make back on your air time what they probably lose selling it at that price. They also have to make a monthly quota of new service activations, to keep their service reseller status. The deal is probably not bad, all things considered. Back in '86 they sold for about $1,500 plus installation! Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 29 Oct 89 06:11:50 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , tel@hound.att.com (Thomas E Lowe) writes: > I have seen ads here in NJ for Novatel Car phones for 88 dollars. > Has anyone out there had any experience with Novetel phones? A friend was trying out one of their handhelds. He brought it by and we did an informal comparison with my GE Mini (made by Mitsubishi), also a handheld. The audio quality was terrible; the voice was almost unintelligible because of a weird peak in the audio spectrum. In places where my GE was solid, the Novatel was experiencing severe fade on the same system. It's possible that it was, for some reason, working a different cell, but overall the performance was unimpressive and it certainly didn't hold a candle to the GE. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 28 Oct 89 18:21:54 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: ] In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. ] net (Dave Levenson) writes: ] > The schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another ] > by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; ] > the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the ] > telco _and_ the regulators. ] Where I ] live in Willow Glen, the highest tech business you are likely to find ] is a grocery store. Our crossbar should be replaced around 2015, if ] we're fortunate. Actually, it shouldn't be that bad. Crossbars stopped being installed in about 1970, if memory serves correctly. The longest depreciation schedule I know of is 40 years, so you should be able to get rid of it by, oh, about 2010... ;-) ] I suppose crossbar is here to stay in San Jose! Well, a good solid 8.0 earthwake with the epicenter directly under your CO should be able to encourage the telco to modernize... ;-) again! David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 14:06:26 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher For a long time, Cleveland {has} had unequal service, in the reverse direction. 471-1212 got you a time recording, which in crossbar, panel or step offices timed out after about 2 minutes (unless it was New Year's Eve). But if you moved into a ESS, you got 20 seconds - two annoucements. If you called as the second call of a threeway, you got one. Bang. Needless to say, this made it hard to set your digital watch. I complained. OBT denied there was a problem, but said if there was, it must be in my CPE,{;-)} and they would check it for a $40.00 visit charge. I countered with a $40.00 charge for MY time if their visit turned up zilch. They announced again there was no problem, said the tariffs forbit me from charging them, and threatened to disconnect my service for not registering my answering machine. About this time I moved elsewhere. But I did learn something. Always write letters to the business office. They HATE that. (I am not sure if only the supervisers can read, or they have an elite section....) Further, each letter I got back came signed by "your service rep." =================== A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFMG Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 28 Oct 89 18:18:31 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) writes: > In article langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang > Zerner) writes: > >In article johnl@esegue.segue. > > >>[American Express] has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID > >Apparently, someone at Amex marketing thought it would be friendlier > >to answer the phone, "Good morning Mr. Zerner." A lot of people > >(myself included) thought it was pompous and not beneficial. At least > >one person encountered communication difficulties because he was > >calling from another cardholder's phone. Enough of these dissatisfied > >customers wrote and called in nastygrams expressing their dislike of > >Amex' use of the technology that Amex ended up pulling the idea. First, technical commentary. AT&T offers a service which I believe is called Account Match (although I wouldn't swear to it, and it may be a Service Mark if it is). Customers who subscribe to AT&T 800 service and who have an AT&T PBX can get a direct trunk connection from the AT&T Point of Termination to their AT&T PBX. Over this trunk connection AT&T will deliver the ANI (Automatic Number Identification) of the calling party. The AT&T PBX can then send the ANI to an attached application processor (which, surprise surprise, AT&T will be happy to provide) which will do a database lookup and fetch the account record corresponding to the calling ANI. This is not *exactly* calling number delivery; instead, it's a service built on ANI delivery. Calling number = ANI for almost all residential numbers; however, calling number != ANI for a large number of moderately sized business numbers -- ANI is the *billing* number, and many businesses have a single billing number defined for centralized accounting. Therefore, if you're calling from a Centrex line, or from a PBX trunk, the ANI may be irrelevant to the calling party number. (If you're calling from a PBX, of course, the calling number itself may be irrelevant unless the PBX sends it to the CO, and I don't know if any do.) Another note; I've heard that MCI is sponsoring/has sponsored an "ANI Developer's Conference". MCI will begin providing ANI to 800 customers in the near future, and wants to build a base of applications like the above to offer as well. In the anecdote I heard (from an unnamed source at AT&T Naperville), the customer didn't cancel their service; they just instructed their operators to stop greeting callers by their name and collecting their name *first*, so they would present the appearance of using the name to look up the account... This story also allows us to launch into an exciting discussion of bypass, if anyone is so moved... Like, I hear from sources that AT&T is offering ISDN PRI access from its long distance point of termination to customers with AT&T PBXs and trying to steal a march on the LECs... Disclaimer: AT&T? What do I know from AT&T? I work for Bellcore, and *everyone* knows that there's no connection between AT&T and Bellcore. (Hello, Judge Green!) David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? Date: 29 Oct 89 06:01:03 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: > No!!! Use the Caller-Id default if the caller enters nothing at all. > Otherwise, let the caller enter the digital message to be displayed. This would solve one of the most frustrating problems a pager user can face. How many times have you suddenly found your pager going off repeatedly with no number in the display? Someone mistakenly gets your pager number thinking it is perhaps an ordinary telephone number or even someone else's pager number. Sometimes this can go on for days and it renders your pager useless. If the caller's number was put in the display as the default, you could call them and inform them that they have a wrong number. As it is now, you can only hope that they will figure out that the number they have isn't doing them any good. And find it out soon! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: Of course John, your plan, which sort of hints at using a self-remedy to cure the problem would likely be rejected by those who dislike or hate Caller-ID. They would say you have no right to know the identity of the caller, particularly since the call was not intended for you anyway. They would probably suggest you should be asking the telco to trace those calls; and that the telco would then, in their good time deal with the problem. Are you sure that finding out the identity of the caller not-intending-to-reach you wouldn't be a violation of their privacy or (ahem!) an 'illegal wire tap'? PT] ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Re: Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? Date: 29 Oct 89 01:45:00 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan In article "J. Philip Miller" writes: >Does this imply that there are modems which will record Caller-ID, or does >anyone know what technology was used here? If a company is experiencing hackers, they can request the telephone company to track all incoming calls to their modem lines (just like other annoyance calls). I suspect that this is how the hackers were found, rather than through some Caller-ID/Modem device. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ or or Fax: (011)+81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424 ------------------------------ From: Dan Sahlin Subject: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Organization: SICS, Swedish Inst. of Computer Science Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 11:02:57 GMT As I understand it, "011" is used as the international prefix in the US, whereas the international recommendation is "00". Are there some other numbers starting with 00 preventing it to be used as international prefix? In Sweden, we have some numbers starting with 00 (for instance 000 for the operator), so we cannot follow the international standard. Here, no number may be a prefix of another, but in the US the operator is reached by "0" and international calls start with "011". How is that possible? /Dan Sahlin (dan@sics.se) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #478 *****************************   Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 20:34:23 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #479 Message-ID: <8910292034.aa05471@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 29 Oct 89 20:30:12 CST Volume 9 : Issue 479 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson High-voltage Cable Theft (Seattle Times via Roger Clark Swann) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (John Gilmore) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Tad Cook) Re: Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) (Bill Cerny) Re: 10 Cent Payphones (David Lesher) Re: Cordless Phones (Tad Cook) Re: Caller-ID and Pagers (ficc!peter@uunet.uu.net) Computerwise, Where's Duke University? (Enice E. Bradley) Telephone Wars (David Lesher) How to Disable Call-Waiting (Amitabh Shah) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Roger Clark Swann Subject: High-voltage Cable Theft Date: 27 Oct 89 04:51:33 GMT Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA I know that the following is not directly phone related, but is utility related and it is a followup to some of the recent postings here. Reprinted without permission The Seatle Times - Thursday, October 26, 1989 High-voltage Theft Cuts Lester's Power It was a high-wire act of the high voltage variety. During recent weeks, thieves scaled a utility tower in a desolate area of southeastern King County, disconnected cables - some of which were live - and made away with 11,000 feet of copper wire worth $14,700 to the company, although far less if sold to a scrap metal dealer. "It is one of the dumbest things I've heard of," said Puget Power spokeswoman Jude Noland. Coming into cantact with the 7,200-volt current of the power lines would be like experiencing "your own personal San Francisco earthquake," Noland said. "It is extremely risky." Police and Puget Power officials speculate that the thieves are experienced line workers. They also had to be well equipped: The wire weighed several tons and would require a commercial winch to roll, a Puget Power official said. Noland said the theft was discovered late last week when a worker sought the cause of an outage that affected customers in Lester and the National Weather Service station nearby. Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 12:59:19 PST From: John Gilmore Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate It seems clear that either nobody is doing IP over ISDN, or they don't read Telecom! My thanks to the authors of the several useful responses; however, there seem to be some misconceptions about ISDN in general among Telecom readers. goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com wrote (others said similar things): > You get 64 kbps per > second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. > It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. > It is NOT byte oriented at this point! I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). Second, the frame sent between the on-premises ISDN interface and the terminals (phones) contains its own framing, and individual BYTES of data for the two D channels are contained in the frame. The AMD speakerphone chip provides byte oriented access to all ISDN B-channels and routes *bytes* among the different interfaces (audio in, audio out, two B-channels, microprocessor port, and serial interfaces). But we don't even have to refer to the standards; we have brains. If you are sending raw audio data over this link, the network had better retain byte synchronization, or the 8-bit audio samples would quickly garble into unintelligibility (7 chances out of 8 to get the wrong byte sync, unless the network maintains it for you). > Two standards exist... And you can of course create > your own if you want, since it's end-to-end. This begs the question of interoperability, which was my whole point. If I "create my own" IP-over-ISDN standard, and you implement it another way, we can't talk to each other even though we can dial each others' computers. Someone else said "what's the point -- ISDN only runs for two or three miles anyway". I don't know where they got that idea. Last I heard, ALL of the >500-mile AT&T switching centers went to digital transmission years ago, and they have been pushing digital encoding back toward the CO's ever since. ISDN is the standard for the stretch between the CO and the customer. (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 28 Oct 89 08:18:28 GMT Organization: very little Dell Ellison says "what if the problem of JUNK FAX is widespread"... Don't forget....I am still looking for a single verifiable first person account from someone actually victimized by abusive junk fax. So far all of the stories I have tried to track down have been "friend of a friend" (FOAF) urban legend type stuff. All I have found is evidence of the ocassional ad from a fax paper seller in California. With all of the legislation concerning this "problem", can't just ONE victim step forward? (OOPS....I said "don't forget" above, and realized I may not have posted this stuff here before...just on alt.fax and various BBS echoes. I am trying to determine if the type of abusive junk fax publicized by the media is for real, or just urban legend). ------------------------------ From: bill@toto.UUCP (Bill Cerny) Subject: Re: Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) Date: 29 Oct 89 04:32:18 GMT In article , gld@cunixd.cc.columbia. edu (Gary L Dare) writes: > Since we touched a bit on Canadian technology efforts in telecom, can > someone give us an update on Telidon? The (Canadian) gov't sponsored Telidon trials of the early 80's have spawned commercial offerings in Bell Canada ("Alex") and SaskTel ("Agritex"). The Canucks are pretty proud of their Telidon efforts, which they claim delivered the present-day North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS, pronounced "nap-lips"). Now here's the twist: Bell Canada will offer Alex in Toronto next spring, in addition to Montreal where Alex was launched a couple years ago. SaskTel reports that the "Grass Roots" program available over Agritex (at a mere $0.10[Canadian]/min.) is quite popular. How do these companies justify the continued operation of these videotext services when American companies (viz., Pacific Telesis) cite exhorbitant investment and poor public interest as reasons for avoiding similar videotext gateways in the U.S.? Contacts: Ross Richardson, SaskTel (306) 777-3905 Alex Marketing Group, Bell Canada (514) 870-6881 Bill Cerny bill@toto | attmail: !denwa!bill | fax: 619-298-1656 ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Re: 10 Cent Payphones Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 13:47:53 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher For a LONG time, and maybe still today, Wapaconeta {sp} OH, a small burg south of Toledo, had a 5 cent payphone. This town's claim to fame was being Neil Armstrong's birthplace. It seem to me the telco said they got enough dimes and quarters already that they didn't need to change the phone out. A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Date: 29 Oct 89 19:29:38 GMT Organization: very little In his posting, Cyril Bauer talks about a system using carrier current transmission on the power line for telephone extensions. Although this can work, there are a couple of problems with this. One is with all of the powerline noise filters and spike blockers that we have on our computers and electronic gear now. The ones with just an MOV are not a problem, but the better quality ones with filtering act as a big bucket for all the RF. Another problem is that power wiring at a premise is divided between the two legs of the 220 VAC line. A signal transmitted on one leg wont go to the other very well. One way around this is to hook a cap between the two 220 VAC legs at the service entrance to couple the signal between the two legs. One mod that may work with the noise filters is to put series inductors between the noise filter and the line. This would present high impedance to the RF. Many noise filters already have inductors, but if there is a capacitor on the line side, there would still be a problem without external inductors. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: ficc!peter@uunet.uu.net Subject: Caller-ID and Pagers Date: Sun Oct 29 09:31:36 1989 When you call one of these fancy automatic operators, they generally say something like "to select a service, enter 1 now, or hold and an operator will take your call". This way if you can't generate tones you go back to the default action. So a smart paging service would respond with something like "to enter a number, enter 1 now, or hang up and your number will be automatically generated". ------------------------------ From: Enice E Bradley Subject: Computerwise, Where's Duke University? Date: 28 Oct 89 14:37:47 GMT Reply-To: Enice E Bradley Organization: Rutgers University, Newark, NJ Hello!!! Does anyone know the BITNET or UUNET address for Duke University? Thanks. Eugene Bradley I can be reached at either of the following addresses SLOW: FAST(recommended): Eugene Bradley P.O. Box 774 bradley@andromeda.rutgers.edu Orange, NJ 07052 <<<<<<<<<< "What you gonna do...when the Hulkster runs wild on you?" >>>>>>>>>> -Hulk Hogan, Champion of the World Wrestling Federation ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Telephone Wars Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 19:07:42 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher A subject not mentioned here recently is that of telephone wars. A friend of mine spent some time in Lawrence, KS in the mid 50's. He told me there was a full fledged WAR going on between the existing rural system and the {?} BOC that was trying to move in. This meant cable cutting, pole sawing and even fistfights between employees! I don't recall the exact outcome, but I feel sure that the big guns must have won. One side effect was the PILES of magneto wall phones left over from the upgrade to common battery service. The telco piled them up outside the {only} CO, for the garbage man to cart off. Lee at that time drove a 56 Caddy ambulance. He FILLED it up, while the employees laughed at him. "Who could want that old junk?", they said. Of course, 20 years later, he sold them for $100.00+ each. ===================== A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: Amitabh Shah Subject: How to Disable Call-Waiting Date: 29 Oct 89 20:44:54 GMT Reply-To: Amitabh Shah Organization: Cornell University Computer Science Department I saw a couple of articles here about using "#70" or "1170" to disable call waiting, but it wasn't exactly clear to me as to WHEN does one push those buttons? Is it before making a call, or while on the call? Also, is there a way to disable call-waiting while using your computer to dial out? I'd appreciate a general answer, as well as the specific sequence to use in the 919 area code. Thank you in advance. Amitabh Shah shah@cs.cornell.edu--(INTERNET) Dept. of Computer Science shah@cornell------------(CSNET) Upson Hall -- Cornell University { ... }!cornell!shah-----(UUCP) Ithaca NY 14853-7501 (607) 255-8597----------(VOICE) [Moderator's Note: Here is your general answer: [Whatever 70] works in your community goes at the start of whatever you are dialing; for example, you would enter *70 (beep,beep,beep) 123-4567. If your computer is doing the dialing out, then just add the [whatever 70] to the front of the string being dialed. Here we get three beep tones to acknowlege it, but it is *not* necessary to build in a pause between the 70 and the rest of the string; that is, you can dial right on through the 'beep,beep,beep' if you wish. Call-Waiting then remains cancelled or suspended for the remainder of that call only. Once you go on hook, normal Call-Waiting is restored. If you otherwise have a valid reason for flashing your hook in the middle of a call -- that is, if you have three way calling -- without cutting yourself off, then you can also suspend Call-Waiting on an incoming call, or at some point in the middle of an outgoing call: When you flash, and get the tone spurts, dial [whatever 70]. It should suspend Call-Waiting and immediatly return you to the call in progress you left on hold. You obviously cannot use this second method on a modem call, since the temporary loss of carrier would make the modem disconnect. For *specifics* in your community, ask your business office. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #479 *****************************   Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 23:17:28 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #480 Message-ID: <8910302317.aa00996@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 30 Oct 89 23:15:38 CST Volume 9 : Issue 480 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Sci.crypt Is Asking About Phone Scramblers (John Gilmore) Technical Session Ideas Wanted for ICA (David J. Buscher) 7Khz Digital Channels (Hector Myerston) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Peter Joseph Desnoyers) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Torsten Dahlkvist) Re: Caller ID Device (David Lewis) Re: Caller ID Device (Fred E.J. Linton) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 13:38:24 PST From: John Gilmore Subject: Sci.crypt Is Asking About Phone Scramblers From pacbell!ames!ncar!unmvax!ariel!hydra.unm.edu!ee5391aa Fri Oct 27 21:34:05 1989 From: ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) Newsgroups: sci.crypt,sci.electronics Subject: Retitle: Voice scrambling/encryption Message-ID: <843@ariel.unm.edu> Date: 28 Oct 89 04:34:05 GMT Sender: news@ariel.unm.edu Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM I don't remember who posted this -- rn bombed every time I tried to followup, so this is coming from pn. Quote: I've seen a device that fits over your phone advertised in this last summer's issues of High Times (what? You don't read HT?) . Basically you have one at each end and it fits over the handset. It has a keypad and allows some fairly large number of possible codes. The person on the other end must be using the same code. I'm pretty certain it was digital. I believe that each handset device was about $100. It seemed fairly reasonable. :Unquote No, I don't read HT, not being a druggie, and preferring to keep a low profile (LP). Howsowhatyoumayever, this sounds like the "scrambler telephone" advertised in the latest cataloguette from Phoenix Systems. To wit: "Protect your phone conversations from eavesdropping techniques and devices. Our Scrambler Phone Attachment converts ordinary conversation into unintelligible sounds and then the receiving unit reconverts it back to ordinary conversation that is as clear as the original transmission. Protects against taps, recorders, extension pick-ups, linesman's handsets, phone company monitoring or scanners that pick up mobile cellular phone transmissions. Works with almost any shape or type of phone -- including cellular phones and pay phones! Portable -- take it with you anywhere you go to protect your private phone conversations. Scrambling can be controlled by code, with up to 52,488 possible code combinations. No wires to connect, simply strap it to the phone with its elastic strap and it is ready to use. Runs on the standard 9-volt battery. One unit must be used for each phone engaged in the conversation (minimum of two phones). Conference calls can be made with the Scrambler Phone attachment provided all participants are using one." They ask $299.95 each, and they don't even pay the postage. But then, who does? I dunno. It might constitute reasonable short-term security, but 52,488 combinations aren't gonna scare off any experienced cryptanalysts, or even any stubborn private investigators. I suspish (I've never worked with these models, so I don't KNOW) that it wouldn't take terribly long to decipher a good recording of a "secure" conversation made with these units. How about it? Is anyone out there familiar (as in hands-on) with this type of gear, and has anyone any experience in penetrating them? (Assuming, of course, that you're permitted to talk about it.) Phoenix Systems, if anyone's interested, is a macho supply company of the sort that seems popular out here in the West, not unknown in the Southeast, but is far too politically incorrect to be permitted in the Northeast. They are: Phoenix Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 3339 Evergreen, CO 80439 303-277-0305 I'm not connected with them; I've never even ordered from them. They musta gotten my name from a purchased mailing list. I think I'll move to Phoenix, and start a mail-order macho supply house called Evergreen Systems...nah, I guess I won't. Let's keep it going; it's getting interesting, d I've been to Australia, so now I know what the inside of a kangaroo's pouch feels like. -- Anon. Duke McMullan n5gax nss13429r phon505-255-4642 ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 09:02:45 EST From: "David J. Buscher" Subject: Technical Session Ideas Wanted for ICA As a member of the International Communications Association (ICA) Technial Program Committee I would like to solicit ideas from Telecom Digest readers about possible topics/speakers for the 1991 Conference technical sessions. The ICA is an organization of over 600 companies represented by their telecommunications managers. At one time the ICA was viewed as a "voice" organization, but in recent years has been transitioning to a voice and data organization. Technical sessions should be of interest to all levels of telecommunications professionals. The categories of sessions include 2 hr. tutorials, 1 hr. mini-tutorials, Feature Sessions with "Name" speakers, special open sessions, moderated discussion sessions and case studies given by member companies. This year's conference, 1990, is scheduled for May 22-24 in New Orleans and has adopted a track format for technical sessions. The tracks are: 1990 Technoligies Telecom Risk Management Connectivity Management of the Telecom Function Regulation Network Management International Basics of Telecommunicatiions E-Mail ideas to dave@aplvax.jhuapl.edu or mimsy!aplcen!aplvax!dave and I'll summarize to the Digest. Dave Buscher (301) 953-5709 / (301) 792-5709 Johns Hopkins Univ. APL Milnet dave@aplvax.jhuapl.edu Johns Hopkins Rd. USENET mimsy!aplcen!aplvax!dave Laurel, MD 20707 ------------------------------ From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 30 Oct 89 09:32 PST Subject: 7Khz Digital Channels Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] "Normal" telephone channels have, since Day 1, carried a portion of spectrum of human speech consisting roughly of from 300 to 3500 Hertz. In transmission consider a channel to be 4KHz in the analog world or 64Kbps in the digital world. The 64Kbps are arrived at by the PCM technique of sampling at twice the highest frequency and coding into 8 bit bytes. Obviously PCM is not the only way of coding and other, more innovative and effective techniques of A/D conversion exist. Typical is ADPCM which permits coding of the 4KHz channel at 32Kbps giving (roughly) a 2 for 1 gain. Recently there has been movement (in the form of CCITT recommendations and a Bellcore Technical Advisory) to use similar techniques not to increase channel capacity but to provide higher fidelity channels specifically a 7KHz audio channel which: o Uses "standard" 64Kbps transport, signalling and interfaces o Provides data capability in addition to the improved audio The question is: Does anyone have further information on this? (applications, products, plans). The specs are Bellcore Tech Advisory TA-TSY-000948 CCITT Recommendations H.221 and G.725 ANSI Draft T1Y1/88-050 R2 Any information, opinion, speculation, even flames will be welcomed!. ------------------------------ From: Peter Joseph Desnoyers Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 30 Oct 89 02:45:45 GMT Reply-To: desnoyer@apple.com Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA In article Torsten Dahlkvist writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 471, message 1 of 8 >In article gnu@toad.com (John >Gilmore) writes: >>I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine >>comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, >>really an ISDN speakerphone chip). Could someone set my mind to rest? I have heard several times that the SparcStation has an ISDN basic rate interface on-board. Other people, including people who should know, have insisted that Sun is not shipping any products with a basic-rate interface. Or does it have (as implied above) no ISDN interface, but just a CODEC for sound input that could be used in an ISDN system? Peter Desnoyers ------------------------------ From: Torsten Dahlkvist Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 30 Oct 89 11:23:08 GMT Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden In article munnari!cit5.cit.oz.au! jwb@uunet.uu.net (Jim Breen) writes: >gnu@toad.com asks, of ISDN >> The problem is data encoding; I >> have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on >> the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of >> encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be >> talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it >> that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN >> links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links....... >They are NOT byte-oriented 8000 byte/sec; it is BIT oriented 64000 >bps. You can put any protocol you like on an ISDN B-channel. Protocols >have been standardized for the D-channel, as this is for signalling >and packet traffic. Ah, maybe we should realize that there are more and less absolute truths in these matters. The basic ISDN-frame is byte-oriented and the hardware (in this case the ISDN-chip in the SPARCstation) ALWAYS provides a frame sync to allow you to read the bit stream byte by byte. Why? Because the TELEPHONY transmission is byte oriented. If you've ever listened to bit-shifted PCM you will realize that some way of syncing your codec is essential to the function of a phone. In the bit-oriented datacomm standards specified, this frame sync is simply ignored, as far as the interface to other equipment is concerned. It is still likely to be used internally, however, since all chipsets I've seen so far were intended for both telephony and datacomm. It is possible that the SPARCstation hardware doesn't provide any way for user software to use the frame sync. In that case you may indeed have to go bitwise. If the frame sync is available, though, there's nothing to prevent you from designing your own, BYTE-oriented standard and try to get the world to accept it. (:-) >[...] there >must NEVER be a standard protocol above Layer 1. ISDN is to be a >bit-pipe service. Aren't there ANY byte-oriented protocols around that could be used to form a basis for a bytewise link over ISDN? There are obvious advantages. Torsten Dahlkvist ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25 ALVSJO, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 727 3788 ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Date: 30 Oct 89 13:49:20 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: > In article , judice@kyoa.enet. dec.com (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: > > Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not > > scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! > That's interesting -- when a subscriber in Peapack calls us in > Warren, we get their caller id number NOW. They send it, but they > don't receive it. If a central office is connected to the SS7 network (requiring hardware additions and software modifications), but does not have the CLASS software (more software additions, which cost more $$), the CO will transmit the calling party number with the SS7 Initial Address Message, so another CO with the CLASS software will be able to provide the appropriate CLASS services using the number, but the CO without CLASS software will, appropriately, not be able to provide CLASS services. Since it's SS7 connected, the CO without CLASS software (which I'm guessing is the case in Peapack) actually does receive the calling party number -- it just can't do anything with it... David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Date: 30 Oct 89 20:18:26 GMT In article , judice@kyoa.enet. dec.com (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: > Hi Patrick - the Caller ID Display Device in the Hello Direct catalog is > branded "AT&T" - and if I recall is $99.95. I can confirm that. > Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not > scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! Here in SNETCO-land (CT), sample responses by various phone reps to my inquiries whether there's any signal present at my phone between the first and second rings of an incoming call (for this box to decode) have included: "Well, if it's an AT&T-built device, it won't work unless AT&T is your primary carrier" -- SNET billing questions service-person; "Caller-ID? Never heard of it. May be in developmental stages." -- another SNET billing questions service-person; "Oh yes, that, we were getting ready to beta-test it, but we're gonna wait until we see how those court cases turn out." -- SNET public affairs rep; "Yes, that box should work, those signals are part of all the calls we handle, we couldn't do our billing if they weren't there." -- MCI service rep; "You'll have to ask your local phone company." -- HelloDirect rep. Other sources (thanks John Higdon and friend) have suggested that until SNET offers CLASS services, there may indeed be no signal AT MY PHONE for the HelloDirect/AT&T box to decode. If I had reason to think such a signal might indeed be there after all, that box would tempt me -- any other CT-specific advice, please? Thanks. -- Fred ARPA/Internet: FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU (preferred) Bitnet: FLINTON%eagle@WESLEYAN[.bitnet] (also works) from uucp: ...!{research, mtune!arpa, uunet}!eagle.Wesleyan.EDU!FLinton on ATT-Mail: !fejlinton ( ...!attmail!fejlinton ) Tel.: + 1 203 776 2210 (home) OR + 1 203 347 9411 x2249 (work) Telex: + 15 122 3413 FEJLINTON CompuServe ID: 72037,1054 ( OR, maybe: 72037.1054@CompuServe.COM ) F-Net (guest): linton@inria.inria.fr OR ...!inria.inria.fr!linton ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #480 *****************************   Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 0:15:26 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #481 Message-ID: <8910310015.aa04517@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 89 00:15:04 CST Volume 9 : Issue 481 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Partners to Tackle Telecom Software ("Computing" via Kevin Hopkins) Charging Teleco For Your Time (Kevin Hopkins) Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon ("Governing" via Will Martin) NYC Time and Weather (Yoram Eisenstadter) 312/708 Prefix Lookup (Greg Monti via John R. Covert) LEC Bypass (Jeff Frontz) Re: Tones on International Calls (Douglas Scott Reuben) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Dolf Grunbauer) US Sprint on Telenet (Steve Forrette) No Nx0 in DC? (Carl Moore) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Partners to Tackle Telecom Software Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 14:34:23 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins Hot on the heals of AT&T buying the UK software and communications house ISTEL, which used to be part of the Rover Group (makers of the Sterling, one of the most successful cars ever in the US market :-), another US-UK link up in the software/telecoms industry: "PARTNERS TO TACKLE TELECOMS SOFTWARE Hull telephone operator Kingston Communications and US company Cincinnati Bell joined forces last week to attack the European market in software applications for the telecommunications industry. The joint venture company, CBIS-Kingston, will be based in London and aims to become a 100 million dollar concern over the next four to five years, with acquisitions likely to boost growth. CBIS, the information system subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, sees the UK as a beach-head into Europe, according to president David Cook. "A disadvantage for CBIS was we didn't have a presence in Europe, so we started to look for a joint venture partner," he said. Kingston managing director Ray Matthews said the company's partner's plans matched its own strategy to broaden the base of its activity, as less than 10% of its revenue comes from outside the Hull area. CBIS and Kingston will each own half of the joint company. Software applications for customer management, billing systems, inventory control, operational support systems and network management will be brought from the US and adapted to the European market, said Cook. CBIS serves 80% of the the US cellular market in billing and customer management systems." (Reproduced without permission from "Computing", dated 19th October 1989.) +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Subject: Charging Teleco For Your Time Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 17:21:48 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins In v9i478 David Lesher said: -> ... they would check it for a $40.00 visit -> charge. I countered with a $40.00 charge for MY time if their visit -> turned up zilch. They announced again there was no problem, said the -> tariffs forbit me from charging them, ... Over here someone took British Telecom to the courts to recover "lost earnings". BT had given the subscriber two separate occassions on which their engineer would turn up to fix a problem, but the engineer failed to show. As the subscriber had stayed off work on both occassions the court awarded him 100 pounds, which was all he applied for as he just wanted to make the point. Since then BT have been offerring bill credits if your phone is not repaired within 2 working days or the engineer fails to turn up. The current credit is 5 pounds, against a quarterly rental of 15 pounds. I think all utilities have taken note of the court's judgement as it set a precedent over here. +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 12:27:02 CST From: Will Martin Subject: Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon The following article is in the Nov '89 issue of GOVERNING (a magazine for state and local government topics), p. 16: OREGON LETS YOU UNPLUG PHONE SOLICITORS To people who hate being interrupted during dinner by a surprise phone caller with a once-in-a-lifetime offer, the state of Oregon says it understands. Since October 3, junk phone calls are illegal in the state if a phone customer has asked not to receive them. The package of four related laws was the result of hundreds of consumer complaints, says John MacKellar, information director of the Oregon Public Utility Commission. "The legislature attempted to respond to the concerns of the citizens who were receiving the calls and not liking it, and at the same time allow the telemarketing industry to operate," MacKellar says. One law encourages telephone companies to offer customers a "no solicitation calls" symbol in telephone directories. The symbol, placed beside the customers name, would tell telemarketers that they would waste their time calling and risk penalties as well. Customers may seek damages of $200 or more plus legal costs from those who violate the new laws. Repeat offenders may receive an additional fine of up to $25,000. The symbol idea is modeled after a trial program in the current Salem, Oregon, phone directory. The Salem experiment, approved last summer by the commission, allowed rsidents ot have the symbol placed by their names at a cost of $5. Florida was the first state to enact such a law, followed by Washington state, says Leah Durall, state legislative assistant for the Direct Marketing Association. Another Oregon law requires telemarketers whose businesses are not already regulated by another agency to register with the state Department of Justice. The third law prohibits the use of automatic dialling and announcing devices, known as ADADs, except for certain purposes such as use by doctors and dentists to remind patients of appointments. The same law forbids "junk faxing" of unsolicited advertisements. Durall says 29 states have laws regulating ADADs. The fourth law allows businesses to seek damages if they receive defective goods or none at all after doing business with a telephone solicitor. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 17:45:26 EST From: Yoram Eisenstadter Subject: NYC Time and Weather An enterprising company has devised a cheap alternative to the usual 976 numbers for time and weather in New York City. For the price of listening to a brief ad at the beginning of the message, you can get both the time and weather for the cost of a normal local call. I called several times, and got an alternating sequence of two ads: one giving an 800 number for a travel agency, and the other giving the number to call to place an ad on this service (the number is in area code 404, i.e., the Atlanta area). For those who are interested, the number for NYC Time an Weather is: 212-753-TIME (753-8463). (This service seems to be especially useful for those of us whose PBXs disable calls to 976 numbers.) Cheers..Y ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 17:10:25 -0800 From: "John R. Covert 30-Oct-1989 2010" Subject: 312/708 Prefix Lookup (from Greg Monti) FOR TELECOM DIGEST From: Greg Monti Date: 30 October 1989 Re: Automated 312/708 Prefix Lookup For those interested, Illinois Bell has a nice little do-it-yourself prefix lookup for the 312/708 area code split. You must have a true tone generating phone. Dial 800 234-6876 (this DOES work outside Illinois, works from DC). A recording summarizes the split and it effects on Chicago area dialing procedures. Then, you are allowed to punch in up to five currently-active prefixes in area code 312. An automated device reads back the prefixes you punched in and tells you what area code they will be in after 11 November 1989. Handy. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia. Work +1 202 822-2459 ------------------------------ From: jhf@cblpe.att.com Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 13:07 EST Subject: LEC Bypass In TELECOM Digest V9 #478, David Lewis writes: >This story also allows us to launch into an exciting discussion of >bypass, if anyone is so moved... Like, I hear from sources that AT&T >is offering ISDN PRI access from its long distance point of >termination to customers with AT&T PBXs and trying to steal a march on >the LECs... I don't think that the customer in question has to have an AT&T PBX. According to my copy of the Switching Products/CCS7 Information Guide* dated June, 1988, there are nodes on the CNI ring called "D-channel signaling link nodes": The D-channel signaling link node provides the network connection interface for L[ink] Access Protocol D (LAPD) protocol users (Q.931 protocol). The LAPD protocol is the 64-Kb/channel DS1 signal having 23 B-channels (data and voice) and one D-channel (signaling). D-channel signaling link nodes are connected to the private branch exchange and local area network, which use the primary rate interface for signaling to the 4 ESS switch. * This publication is available from the AT&T Customer Information Center at 800-432-6600. The select code is 256-002. Jeff Frontz Work: +1 614 860 2797 AT&T-Bell Labs (CB 1C-356) Cornet: 353-2797 att!jeff.frontz jeff.frontz@att.com Home: +1 614 794 3986 ------------------------------ Date: 30-OCT-1989 17:33:35.95 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Re: Tones on International Calls In response to the posting from 10/27/89 from "aaron@aludra.usc.edu": I'm not sure exactly what tones you mean, but I've heard tones myself when making international (as well as some domestic) calls. I think what you are hearing are "MF", or multi-frequency tones. These are similar to Touch Tones (2 tones), but at a different pitch. They were, and to a smaller extent are used as a signalling mechanism between switching equipment. Since these tones are audible, they are refered to as "in-band", ie, you hear it on the voice channel. "Out-of-band" signalling, sometimes using the acronym "CCIS" (Common Channel Interoffic Switching) uses a separate (data?) channel to send information between switches, so you don't hear the tones. (The calls usually go through faster as well.) Depending on where you call from and where you are calling to, you may hear the MF tones, especially if you call a very rural area, although there are plenty of routes for in-state Connecticut calls that I hear MF tones on as well, so it's really hard to predict until you try it. You may also hear MF tones when you call some non-working number (ie, the number you dialed is being signalled, via MF tones, to the eqipment that says "The number you have reached xxx-xxxx has been changed.." (I think this is called "AIS"). 215-987-4444 is a good example of this, but you don't always hear the MF on that one... Also, if you are in a Crossbar exchange that has been converted to Equal Access (ie, you can actually dial 10xxx to route your calls, and NOT just being able to choose a 1+ carrier : 718-793 is an example of the former and 718-268 is an example of the latter...) you may hear MF tones if you make an AT&T Op. Assist call by dialing 0+A/C+number. (At least 718-793 does this..) This is also true in a few rural exchanges near Poughkeepsie, NY, where a 0+ call from an (1ESS?) payphone will give lots of MF before you get the AT&T "boing". (It seems to go in two bursts: The first one seems to be the number of the payphone, and the second one seems to be the 0+ number dialed in...I can't decode MF tones by hearing them, so I'm not too sure about this...) Anyhow, so to answer your question, I think this is what you are hearing, and they are not only restricted to international calls. I sometimes hear a LONG tone (sounds just like a DMS-type call wait, but a bit longer) when I make international Calling Card calls (ie, 01+), but I doubt that's what you are talkling about... I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable readers of the Digest would be able to fill you in on how MF tones are used - I'm sure I couldn't explain international routing codes very well. (What is an "international sender", anyhow?) Hope this was of some help... Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet dreuben%eagle.weslyn@wesleyan.bitnet (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals!! :-) ) ------------------------------ Organization: Philips Telecommunication and Data Systems, Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 11:44:53 MET From: Dolf Grunbauer In article you write: >Some time ago there was some discussion on this list about access >codes in different countries to dial international numbers. >Albania unknown You cannot make direct calls from Albania to the outside of the country. You have to go to the post office and ask for a call abroad. They cannot deal with it right away, but they call Italy and the Italians make the call for you (if you are lucky :-). It helps when you know Italian, so you can help the telephone operator to make the connection. Otherwise it may take hours. The above was true at least until July, 1985 (which happened to be within one year after the death of Envir Hoxha), and it may be changed by now. Dolf Grunbauer Tel: +31 55 433233 Internet dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl Philips Telecommunication and Data Systems UUCP ....!mcvax!philapd!dolf Dept. SSP, P.O. Box 245, 7300 AE Apeldoorn, The Netherlands ------------------------------ From: Steve Forrette Subject: US Sprint on Telenet Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 00:00:00 CST (responding to the person who asked for Sprint's 'network' address) I believe that US Sprint *owns* Telenet... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 9:21:59 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: No Nx0 in DC? I notice several prefixes ending in 0 in Md. & Va. suburbs, but none in DC itself. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #481 *****************************   Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 1:41:47 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #482 Message-ID: <8910310141.aa30199@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 89 01:35:51 CST Volume 9 : Issue 482 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 (TELECOM Moderator) AT&T Strikes Back: Countersues MCI (TELECOM Moderator) Time to "Disconnection" (Louis J. Judice) Re: 10 Cent Payphones (Mike Trout) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (David A. Cantor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 1:23:08 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 David Tamkin has written in TELECOM Digest regarding the unusual characteristics of the new area 708, and he has pointed out that it will be in three disconnected parts, surrounded in part by 312, and surrounding 312 in another area. Saturday evening, David took me on a most unusual tour of the northwest side of Chicago and the adjoining suburban area, and pointed out just how ragged the boundary line will be. This is not entirely the fault of Illinois Bell: Unlike most areas of Chicago, where the boundary line between Chicago and a neighboring community is well-defined, with the boundary being down the middle of a major street, or at a clearly defined intersection, the boundary line between Chicago, Harwood Heights and Norridge (two towns completely surrounded by Chicago), Park Ridge, Rosemont and Ohare Airport (politically part of Chicago, but geographically in Rosemont) and Unincorporated Norridge Park Township is difficult at best to discern. We simply drove along the boundary as much as possible, except that on several occasions it literally cut through middle of a block between houses, went through back yards, skipped around in funny ways, at one point cuts through the woods and across a river, and in general is very elusive. One house had *two* sets of street numbers on it, a four digit number in the Chicago style and a three digit number in the Park Ridge style. Apparently the boundary between Chicago and Park Ridge runs through the house! I asked David if per chance the people had an extension in their bedroom if it would have to be changed to 708! Unincorporated Norridge Park Township sits squarely in the middle of it all and does not 'belong' to any city, but is governed only by Cook County. Not only will there be two area codes beginning in a few days, but there are already two telephone companies, and the difference between them is sometimes just between two houses sitting side by side. Both telcos will have both 312 and 708 prefixes. These are not places across the street from each other, mind you -- that would be sort of easy to figure out and get used to -- these were cases of houses next to each other on the same side of the street, in an area where the same street is known by one name on one side of the street (whatever town it is) and by another name on the other side of the street in a different town! All Illinois Bell service in the area comes from the Chicago-Newcastle central office. *Chicago* service via Centel comes from Newcastle also, but from the Centel CO on Minor Street in Park Ridge known also as Newcastle. Where the real fun begins is the way Illinois Bell's Newcastle office has gotten sloppy in assigning prefixes over the past two or three years. There are prefixes intended only for the people politically in Chicago. There are prefixes intended only for the people in Harwood and Norridge. There are prefixes intended only for the unicorporateds and some for the people in Rosemont. Ohare Airport has its own Chicago prefixes, and is served by Illinois Bell, but the perimeters of the airport have Centel service with prefixes out of Park Ridge. Go across the street into (politically and in actuality) Rosemont, IL and Illinois Bell has the service on 708....leaving Ohare Airport on 312. Although Newcastle serves several little areas, as noted above, one reason for the distinction in prefixes is where 911 service will go. In the unincorporated area, for example, the residents get Chicago phone service, but have a distinct exchange on which 911 will *not* ring the Chicago PD, since they don't get the same police. On Harlem Avenue around Lawrence Avenue (7200 West at 4800 North) David pointed out two shopping malls -- little shopping strips actually, with a parking lot in front of them -- where about half the stores in the group will remain 312 and the other half will be 708....in no particular order; i.e. the first store is 708, the next two are 312, the next one is 708, etc. In this area, which *eventually* turns into Harwood Heights for a few blocks and once again becomes Chicago a bit further south, the street name and numbering system remain the same: four digit numbers running consecutively as on any 'normal' street. One could never tell that one had left Chicago, entered Harwood Heights and walked back into Chicago on crossing the street a couple blocks down. When those people ordered phone service in the past, apparently they said their address was 4xxx North Harlem in *Chicago*, or 4xxx North Harlem in *Harwood Heights* when in fact it was the opposite community! Now in theory, the Bell service rep who took the order should have consulted the street address book and told the subscriber, 'well, you are actually in community X'.....or at the very least when the CO got the order to wire the service they should have looked at the street guide and selected the appropriate prefix, community-wise. I can't really blame the new-comers for not knowing for sure at first what exact *political* territory they were in; David even got me dizzy driving up and down all those side streets following imaginary (or sometimes real) markers. So the people who *said* they were in Harwood Heights (whether they were or not, and when IBT did not verify it) are stuck with 708 starting in a couple weeks. Those who *said* they were in Chicago (whether they were or not, and when IBT did not verify it) get to stay in 312. Ergo, an eleven digit call between the shoe store at the front of the mall and the clothing store next door! Centel on the other hand seems to have pretty well verified all their addresses and number assignments. And you have Centel service on 312, but your neighbor next door or across the alley has Illinois Bell on 708. An eleven digit dialing sequence to call the lady next door. Not just one or two of these instances mind you, but an area of several blocks on the northwest side of (for all practical purposes) Chicago. Even the 213/818 situation at the dividing line is not this bad. David says it is....that the split in El Lay is just as confusing around the boundary line as the one here on the northwest side, but I don't see how it could be. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 0:35:29 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: AT&T Strikes Back: Countersues MCI AT&T struck back last Thursday at advertising claims made by MCI Communications Corporation and received two rulings from the Federal Communications Commission affecting regulation of its long distance services. AT&T said in a countersuit against MCI filed in Washington, DC that MCI was misleading consumers through false and deceptive advertising in its business and residential long distance service. AT&T's filing denied similar allegations made by MCI in a suit filed October 10. Victor Pelson, AT&T group executive, said MCI unfairly compared its discount service with AT&T's regular long distance service rather than its discount service. Pelson also denied claims that the quality of MCI voice service was superior to AT&T's, or that its facsimile service featured fewer garbled transmissions than AT&T's. "We intend to clarify any misconceptions in the market," said Merrill Tutton, AT&T Vice President for consumer marketing. MCI spokeswoman Kathleen Keegan Thursday responded that, "our ad claims are accurate....We will soon be filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to cause AT&T to cease its advertising campaign." Also on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission upheld a decision giving AT&T greater freedom to compete for big corporate customers but rejected another pricing plan by AT&T. The FCC voted unanimously to uphold a pricing plan known as Tariff 12, which lets AT&T offer corporate customers a package of communications services. AT&T contends it is at a disadvantage because MCI does not have to submit detailed filings to the FCC before they can serve customers. MCI had challenged Tariff 12, asking the FCC to overrule it and prohibit AT&T from offering full service communications packages to its customers. In the second item, the FCC declared unlawful a pricing plan known as Tariff 15, that AT&T had applied solely to a single customer, the Holiday Corporation, owner of the largest hotel chain in the United States. The FCC said AT&T could no longer justify the special rates to a single customer to meet competition when MCI was making the same service available to customers generally. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 06:25:59 -0800 From: "Louis J. Judice 30-Oct-1989 1021" Subject: Time to "Disconnection" I never realized this until it was demonstrated to me, but at least in NJ on the Peapack Central Office, if you call person "A", person "A" can hang up, and pick up their phone up to about 15 seconds later without disconnecting "B". This is without any phone features, etc. If the calling party hangs up, of course the conversation is over. I also suspect that if the "called-party" is on a PBX, etc., that this "grace period" is not given. What is this, why does it exist? It is "dependable" or just a fluke? Is the 15 second limit a standard of some sort? /ljj ------------------------------ From: Mike Trout Subject: Re: 10 Cent Payphones Date: 30 Oct 89 19:20:58 GMT Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY In article , c152-ft@cory.berkeley. edu (Steve Forrette) writes: > Last time I checked (year or so ago), Roseville Telephone (near > Sacramento, CA) still charged 10 cents for local calls. An > interesting corollary is that Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, CA, > happens to straddle the service boundary between Roseville Telephone > and the *real* telephone company (Pacific Bell) - so, local calls cost > 20 cents at the south end of the mall and 10 cents at the north! It's been pointed out in this group before, but I figured I'd mention again that payphones of the Taconic Telephone Corp. (upstate New York between Troy and Poughkeepsie) charge a nickle for local calls. NSA food: Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110 (518) 783-1161 "Who watches the watchmen?" --Epigraph of the Tower Commission Report, 1987 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 09:39:11 -0800 From: "David A. Cantor 30-Oct-1989 1236" Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Re Telecom Volume 9 : Issue 473 >Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 21:44:26 mst >From: Robert Wier >Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles >I remember a widely run tv commercial about 20 years ago (?) by the >Sheraton Corporation advertising their toll-free reservation --> 800 >325 3535. [...] >I believe that the number is still in use, for Day's Inns now. But >they don't use the old commercial (a shame...) No, Sheraton is still using that number, but Days Inns uses a similar number; viz., 800-325-2525. Dave C. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #482 *****************************   Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 0:56:55 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #483 Message-ID: <8911010056.aa23585@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 89 00:55:55 CST Volume 9 : Issue 483 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Martin B. Weiss) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Paul Elliot) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Peter Desnoyers) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (H. Shrikumar) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Johnny Zweig) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Giridhar Coorg) Standardized Software Interfaces to ISDN PC Cards (Michael L. Robins) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Martin B Weiss Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 14:42:46 GMT Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Services In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: > . . . First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" > implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). In the context of ISDN, 64Kbps means 64000 bits per second. It is derived from 8 bits/sample*8000 samples/sec=64,000 bits/sec. > (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 > relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the > bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" > (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. The problem is not the lack of frame sync, but the need for a signalling mechanism to send "off-hook" and "on-hook" signals (as well as pulsing digits). The original T1 carrier was developed in an era of in-band signalling, so this "bit robbing" approach was the preferred choice. Nobody in the early 1960's ever imagined using T-carriers in the way they are used today. 64Kbps channels will be available with the widespread implementation of out-of-band (or common channel) signalling, such as CCIS and CCITT Signalling System 7. Martin Weiss Telecommunications Program, University of Pittsburgh Internet: mbw@idis.lis.pitt.edu OR mbw@unix.cis.pitt.edu BITNET: mbw@pittvms ------------------------------ From: Paul Elliott x225 Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 16:48:39 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: > (omitted) > I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" > implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). Second, the frame It is my experience that when referring to _communications_ data rates, Kb/s and Mb/s refer to the decimal Kilo and Mega, so these are used as power-of-ten multipliers. (I am trying to ignore the capitalization issue here, but have to ask anyway: can anyone out there tell me what the rule is for 1000-based vs. 1024-based suffixes?). > (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 > relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the > bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" > (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. > But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus > relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit > ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low > order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) T1 has a couple of problems in the transport of 64Kb/s data, but the poor, overloaded frame bit isn't one of them. There are two reasons for the 56Kb/s requirement (these being eliminated in newer equipment): 1) Robbed-bit signaling -- In most circuits (meaning either connections or equipment, take your pick), per-channel, connection-state signaling is sent one frame in six. One bit of the eight bits ("octet", in telecom parlance) in each channel is "robbed" to carry this signaling. This only causes a minor increase in noise for a voice (or analog modem signal), but the one bit in 48 hit obviously precludes full use of the channel, hence the 7 bit, 56 Kb/s rate. Several techniques are used to eliminate the robbing of the bit; one method is DMI BOS (Digital Multiplexed Interface, Bit Oriented Signaling), in which one channel in the T1 frame is appropriated to carry the signaling for the remaining 23 channels (this is similar to the method used by the European 2.048 Mb/s digital trunk, which by the way, we _do_ call "2 Megabit", throwing my earlier comment into question -- I guess useage is a matter of history and culture, your mileage may vary). Of course, the B-channel in the ISDN connection eliminates the robbed-bit requirement as well. 2) Ones Density -- The T1 signal format is AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion), so the clock must be recovered from the data transitions. This necessitates a minimum ones-density (15 consecutive zeroes max). Much T1 equipment "features" a zero-suppression method in which an all-zero channel has a bit (or bits) set to insure that "bad data" in one channel does not impair the performance of the remaining channels. Naturally, the receiving equipment cannot differentiate the resulting data pattern from one that had been purposely sent, so a data error results. Again, a reason for 56 Kb/s. Newer equipment provides methods of encoding an all-zero channel that are reversable. One method, called B8ZS (Bipolar Eight Zero Substitution) sends a special pattern of BPVs (Bipolar Violations, violations of the AMI line code rules) for the zero-byte. Another is called ZBTSI (Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange) and is too involved to explain here (I can! Trust me!). The frame bit has problems of it's own, and has been the subject of much baroque engineering, and the butt of many nerdy engineer's jokes (we're a riot at parties). In defense if the F-bit, the T1 format was designed a _long_ time ago, and it was actually rather elegant for the hardware implementations at the time. Paul M. Elliott Optilink Corporation (707) 795-9444 {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." ------------------------------ From: Peter Desnoyers Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 18:01:30 GMT Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. In article gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: > > You get 64 kbps per > > second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. > > It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. > > It is NOT byte oriented at this point! > I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" > implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). Second, the frame > sent between the on-premises ISDN interface and the terminals (phones) > contains its own framing, and individual BYTES of data for the two D > channels are contained in the frame. The prefix for 10^3 (kilo) is k. Lowercase. Hence 64kb/sec. Anyway, on the subject of ISDN data framing: ISDN circuit-switched data calls guarantee "8 kHz integrity". (as compared, for instance, to "service data unit integrity" for packet switched calls. I take this to imply that octet boundaries are preserved from one end to the other. However, this is sort of a moot point. First, none of the protocols standardized for transmission over ISDN are byte-oriented, so if you are talking to someone else it doesn't matter. Secondly, unless there has been a sudden glut of byte-oriented comm chips for ISDN applications in the last couple of weeks, you're either going to be hooking a bit-oriented comm chip to your ISDN B channel, or you're going to be suffering an interrupt every 125 microseconds. Kind of puts such an interface out of reach of any UNIX-based workstations I can think of. Anyway, does anyone have an answer to my previous question: Does the SparcStation actually contain an S/T interface? If so, why don't they ship Q.931 software and provide a comm chip? Peter Desnoyers Apple ATG (408) 974-4469 ------------------------------ From: "H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in}" Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 20:24:47 GMT Reply-To: "H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in}" Organization: NCST, Bombay, Indian, currently at UMass, Amherst In article gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: >It seems clear that either nobody is doing IP over ISDN, or they don't >dont read Telecom ... Yup, seems so. I had expected to learn much from this thread. BTW, a related thing came to my mind. (though it works on primary rate) The people at Rutherford Labs, UK, are using ISDN to bridge two Cambridge Fast Rings. Of course, they always have to use the Cambridge ring, and the others always have to use TCP/IP :-) but they have an interesting gadget that they have designed. They call it a RAMP. It connects to a primary rate ISDN coax pipe. and to the LAN on the other. When any connect requests arrive that need the bridge to work, a B channel call is requsted to a similar box at the other end. Additional B channels are allocated and dropped as traffic needs vary. (neat, also explains the name). This works well as the ISDN call setup times are found to be acceptably small. But it is not so easy as that, because ISDN guarantees byte ordering in the channel, but a connect request on channel number 12 here may materialise is any of 1-30 at the other end. They have some suitable protocol to sync this. I remember they had also mentioned running X-windows and NFS over it, so they have some TCP experience with it as well (foggy here). This was presented at the recent SIGCOMM '89 in Austin, TX, this September. I can dig up the reference if need. shrikumar ( shri@ccs1.cs.umass.edu, shri@ncst.in ) ------------------------------ From: Johnny Zweig Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Reply-To: zweig@cs.uiuc.edu Organization: U of Illinois, CS Dept., Systems Research Group Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 03:05:20 GMT Maybe I'm less well-informed than I believe myself to be, but I can see no reason why one couldn't configure a host to run SLIP over an ISDN channel. All SLIP says is "we'll use a few special characters and a naive escaping mechanism to delimit packets on a serial line". That's it. So if two hosts agree to send ordinary IP-packets over the serial lines using SLIP, it should be a snap. If one of those hosts gateways packets onto the Internet, presto! The issues of addressing and routing are still troublesome and need a bit of head-scratching. But if host W.X.Y.Z (Internet address) wanted to place an ISDN call directly to host I.J.K.L and send IP-packets between themselves (i.e. let the phone-network do the routing), there should be no problem patching existing software to accept the packets. One trick would be to have gateways with a number of ISDN-based serial lines and a set of public-use IP addresses so that someone could dial-in and talk to the Internet as host public7.isdn.uiuc.edu for example -- similar to some dialups that are run nowadays. Certainly all the authentication and whatnot is done at a higher layer than IP, so it should be no problem. I have heard rumors of brain-damaged ISDN lines that clobber bit 7, and do other byte-mangling (for example, if you treat a serial channel as PCM and recode the data as MPCM for long-haul and reconvert to PCM, you will make garbage out of the bits), but I think the ISDN is evolving toward a "byte pipe" architecture, at least at the physical and data-link layers. I can think of at least one implementation of IP that will be configurable to take advantage of such an ISDN-based transport mechanism (the one I'm writing ;-). Johnny TCP+IP+ISDN=Happy Folks ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 15:14:36 EST From: Giridhar Coorg Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate >Someone else said "what's the point -- ISDN only runs for two or three >miles anyway". I don't know where they got that idea. Last I heard, >ALL of the >500-mile AT&T switching centers went to digital >transmission years ago, and they have been pushing digital encoding >back toward the CO's ever since. ISDN is the standard for the stretch >between the CO and the customer. I would imagine that just like digital transmission, ISDN would encompass any stretch because as far as the system goes, all it needs to know is a series of 0's and 1's(of course, it is very crudely put). Basically, the stretch between the CO and the customer needs to be digital under the ISDN requirements. Depending on the type of system design, whether it is a T1 or T2(European and also in India), a multiplexed PCM link (a 24 or 30 channel ) would be extended. One of the major requirements of ISDN is the compatibility to CCITT # 7 (a signalling specification) for inter CO signalling. >(There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 >relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the >bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" >(8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. >But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus >relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit >ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low >order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) I would say that there are two different standards based on T1 or T2, these being the Primary Rate Interface and the Basic Rate Interface. The basic rate interface for T2 systems has the 2B+D characteristics totalling 144kbps with each B channel accomodating 64kbps and the D channel accomodating 16kbps(for signalling and now slow speed packet switching), the primary rate interface for T1 systems has 30B+D characteristics. ====Giridhar==== ------------------------------ From: Michael L Robins Subject: Standardized Software Interfaces to ISDN PC Cards Date: 1 Nov 89 04:55:35 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I am posting a feeler to see how many users on the 'net' are interested in the concept of a standardized interface for software applications. Specifically, the North American ISDN User Forum has an expert group looking at an Application Software Interface so that applications can talk to smart ISDN co-processor boards. The market has typically seen these devices in the MS-DOS arena, but more are coming along that will be using OS/2 and the UNIX(tm) Operating System. The problem today, is that each hardware vendor has supplied their own interface, thus a given software application will usually only work with a single vendors' hardware. The ASI Working Group is trying to get agreement among vendors to supply a standard set of functionality (primitives) as well as a standard way to access the functionality. Having a standized method will promote new ISDN applications, and promote the ISDN marketplace. The ASI Working Group is not a standard body, but has many representatives from the ISDN arena (hardware and software vendors) participating, and in the future will be presenting it's work to some formal standards body. The NIU Forum is sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); formally the National Bureau of Standards, and open to all. Interested parties can contact me vial e-mail. Mike Robins att.com!houtz!mlr ------------------------------ --End of TELECOM Digest V9 #483 *****************************   Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 1:51:15 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #484 Message-ID: <8911010151.aa13483@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 89 01:50:59 CST Volume 9 : Issue 484 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Unequal Service (John Higdon) Re: Unequal Service (Macy Hallock) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Ellen Keyne Seebacher) Re: Caller ID Use by Pagers (David W. Tamkin) Re: Caller ID Question (John R. Levine) Strange Recording (Mike Koziol) ANI In Use by Radio Station? (Thomas Lapp) Re: Anti-junk-call Laws In Oregon (Henry Mensch) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Michael H. Warfield) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Seth Robertson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 31 Oct 89 18:03:34 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami. edu (David Lesher) writes: > About this time I moved elsewhere. But I did learn something. Always > write letters to the business office. They HATE that. (I am not sure > if only the supervisers can read, or they have an elite section....) > Further, each letter I got back came signed by "your service rep." Letters at least used to be the biggest guns you could fire. Years ago in Pacific Telephone days, a client chose to venture into the brave new world of CPE. They had a ComKey 1432 and upgraded to a PBX from an independent vendor. This was in 1977 or so. Our "service" rep was supposed to handle the conversion of the lines to ground start trunks, add additional lines, etc. From the beginning, it was a mess. The lines were not converted properly, or on time; the hunting was messed up; and there were numerous other problems. Throughout all of this, our rep was unavailable, or uncooperative. The customer and I were so fed up that I wrote a letter to the "manager" of the business office. This triggered a response from someone who was very apologetic and who said things would be made right. In the meantime, our "rep" called me and whined about the letter I wrote. He said that he was now taking considerable heat and tried to lay a guilt trip on me. I reminded him how we had repeatedly tried to get him to perform and asked that he look at it from our perspective. A day or two later, a supervisor called to tell me that our "rep" had been properly processed and would I be so kind as to tell them if I had any further trouble. At that point I related the conversation with the rep in which he whined about my letter. This supervisor was aghast and got off the phone. Later that day, the sup called back to tell me that our rep had been let go (!) and that we would have a new one. I wasn't really too happy about causing someone's termination, but I was certainly impressed with the action that my humble little letter seemed to trigger. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: macy@fmsystm.UUCP (Macy Hallock) Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 31 Oct 89 01:49:57 GMT Reply-To: macy@fmsystm.UUCP (Macy Hallock) Organization: F M Systems Medina, Ohio USA In article westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 473, message 4 of 10 >In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John > Higdon) writes: >> As an incentive to upgrade, I would propose that anyone served out of >> an electromechanical office be charged some fixed amount less than >> "equivalent" service out of an electronic office. >But the real cost of either office depends upon how long it lives. >Swapping out a central office switch before its time plays havoc with >a delicate balance of rate-of-return and depreciation schedules. The >schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another >by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; >the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the >telco _and_ the regulators. Of course, the replacement Central Office had better work, too. GTE replaced our SXS office in Medina, Ohio (a class 4 office with POP for the IXC's) with a Automatic Electric No. 1 EAX a few years ago. The thing could barely handle the load, it seems. It went down several times. GTE apparently ordered a GTD-5 digital switch a few months after the EAX went in, and installed it less then two years after the 1 EAX went into service. Now I'm no fan of the GTD-5, but it was a real improvement over the 1 EAX. If it weren't for the SXS office's SATT (Stowger Automatic Toll Ticketing), I would say the the SXS would have been best left in place until the GTD-5 became available. I'll post some GTD-5 stories to this group shortly, along with a description. Hint: its a bunch of intel 8086 processors working together. Kinda like an AT&T 6300 PC, but less reliable. Anyway, the Ohio PUC asked a few questions about this early CO replacement (about 23 years early...) and was told the CO was reused as pieces parts in other No. 1 EAX offices in Ohio. The way I heard it, from my sources, most of it was recycled indirectly to a scrap recycler. A fitting fate...but paid for by us ratepayers in the end. Such is the price paid by ratepayers for a company that tried to beat Bell at vertical integration. Macy Hallock 150 Highland Dr. macy@NCoast.ORG F M Systems Inc. Medina, OH 44256 {uunet|backbone}!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!macy +1 216 723-3000 Fax +1 216 723-3223 uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ From: Ellen Keyne Seebacher Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 31 Oct 89 17:12:25 GMT Reply-To: Ellen Keyne Seebacher Organization: University of Chicago Our moderator writes, in response to Roger B.A. Klorese, >Here in Chicago a huge number of calls to 911 >are not *emergencies* at all, but simple complaints or requests to >file police reports, etc. 911 is only to be used when *immediate* >intervention is required to save a life or report a crime in progress, >or a fire going on *now*, etc. And for those conditions, how could >anyone object to being immediatly identified and assisted? PT] Patrick, there is a very good explanation for this. On a number of occasions, I have called the police to make a report of some sort: drag racers at the Museum of Science & Industry keeping the neighbors awake; a followup on at least one of the occasions our car was stolen; a request for officers to take a report on the time I was assaulted on the El platform (no longer urgent, since the incident was over long before I arrived at work to make the call). I could think of several other examples, but these are a start. On *every* single occasion, I called the local police HQ -- and was told to *CALL 911* to make the report. This is not only outrageous, it's potentially life-threatening to those who are trying to get through while I'm reciting the details of a minor crime. I have complained repeatedly, especially to the police and, of course, to my aldercreature. I have never, ever received any indication that anybody gives a damn (the alderman's staff keep promising to call me back), or that new guidelines (or legislation) will be introduced to try to correct the problem. What can we do, as common grunts, to get the situation changed? A frustrated, Ellen Keyne Seebacher University of Chicago Computing see1@tank.uchicago.edu Instruction/Research/User Svcs. [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, you are correct, at least here in Chicago. I've gotten the same rap from Police HQ, however the supervisors in the actual 911 dispatch area tell me I am correct and the brass upstairs is wrong for pushing my call back to them. Its a case of some people not wanting to do their job, and pushing it off on someone else. PT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Use by Pagers Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 10:56:45 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" J. Philip Miller asked in Telecom Digest, volume 9, issue 472: | While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging | services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do | not need to key their number in for display on the pager. Patrick Townson responded: | Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great | idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? Like the American Express customer who called from a public phone (or from work/home when the phone number on the account was home/work) and got misidentified, consider the person calling into a pager from a phone other than the one where he or she will be reachable. There has to be a way to override the automatic sending of the number dialed from and to leave a message with a different number for returning the call. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Question Date: 31 Oct 89 17:40:51 EST (Tue) From: "John R. Levine" Does Caller ID provide the calling number or the billing number? Seems to me that it probably provides the billing number, since that's what ANI is already set up to collect. Besides, for calls originating from a PBX the PBX never identifies the originating extension anyway. Just another reason why Caller ID is misnamed. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 10:07:43 EDT From: Mike Koziol Subject: Strange Recording Last night I received a call at work. It was a female computer generated voice that said "Plese wait while I try to connect you". A few seconds of silence (approximately 10), then "I am still trying to connect you, please wait", another period of silence then "I am still unable to connect you, are you still there?", to which I replied yes. Then a five second delay with the last message "I am sorry that I was unable to connect you, thank-you", at which point the caller hung up. Anyone have any clues to who or what had called me? [Moderator's Note: I do think you got an automated junk-call and somehow the telemarketing reps all got behind in their work and the machine was unable to find anyone available in a reasonable timto give you whatever the pitch was. And you cannot hang up on those things; if you do without it completing its cycle of obnoxiousness, it will call back in a few minutes and start over again. A human being has to feed information to it saying 'this number has been successfully contacted'. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 21:45:28 edt From: Thomas Lapp Subject: ANI In Use by Radio Station? Reply-To: mvac23!thomas@udel.edu Here in the Wilmington, DE area a local radio station is running a contest in which they announce three digits in a period of a half-hour or so. If the three numbers are contained in the phone number OF THE PHONE YOU ARE CALLING FROM, by being the "correct" caller to the station, you win. Several times while listening I hear the Dee Jay say that you can only call in IF THE NUMBER YOU ARE CALLING FROM matches. It got me to wondering if the radio station uses ANI to verify winners. - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? [Moderator's Note: It may be the people at the station verify by calling back with some nondescript question such as 'did you just call our office?' which only the *correct* originating caller would understand. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 07:42:28 -0500 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Re: Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu We have them here in MA also ... they don't do you any good if the calls are placed from outside the state, though. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: "Michael H. Warfield (Mike" Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 31 Oct 89 15:17:07 GMT Reply-To: "Michael H. Warfield (Mike" Organization: Lanier Network Knitting Circle - Thaumaturgy & Speculums Division In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >From all evidence presented so far, nobody seems to be having a >problem. Ergo, no problem. At least it's not widespread. Here's an interesting side note though. In a recent newsletter to their subscribers, Compuserve has been touting the ease of setting up and customizing marketing and advertising strategies through their fax mailing services and databases. Are we just beginning to see the junk fax problem? If services like Compuserve start making mass "fax mailings" convenient (although not exactly cheap) is the real weight of the junk fax problem just around the corner? As with anything, as the popularity of this strategy increases, the cost will, no doubt, come down, as more services like Compuserve start competing for this advertising money. Considering the obscene weight of junk mail in the U.S. mail system and the expense of fax supplies, this would seem like a good problem to prevent before it becomes a problem. If you wait until operations like Compuserve have a large vested interest in preserving this annoyance, you'll play h*ll getting rid of it. If you try taking away something that a bunch of "Mega-corps" already abuse, they'll have you right in court protecting their right to go on abusing it. It's always easier to prevent it in the first place than it is to stop it once it's started. Michael H. Warfield (The Mad Wizard) | gatech.edu!galbp!wittsend!mhw (404) 270-2123 / 270-2098 | mhw@wittsend.LBP.HARRIS.COM An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it! ------------------------------ From: Seth Robertson Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Reply-To: Seth Robertson Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 02:31:51 GMT In article yoram@link.cs.columbia. edu (Yoram Eisenstadter) writes: >An enterprising company has devised a cheap alternative to the usual >976 numbers for time and weather in New York City. >For those who are interested, the number for NYC Time an Weather is: >212-753-TIME (753-8463). I called and checked the time given against my computer's WWVB synchronized time (synchronized using ntp, Network Time Protocol, to within 2 ms) and it was around 12 seconds fast. Not too surprising, perhaps, but interesting nevertheless. To be fair, I also called Illinois Bell's time and they were within the granularity of the program I was using to check it. -Seth Robertson seth@ctr.columbia.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #484 *****************************   Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 23:51:36 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #485 Message-ID: <8911012351.aa25434@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 89 23:50:46 CST Volume 9 : Issue 485 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson A Kind Reply (Was: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Bernard Mckeever) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Fred Goldstein) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Dave Fiske) Re: NYC Time and Weather (John R. Levine) Re: Caller ID Boxes (Phantom) Re: Caller ID Question (Dave Levenson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bernard Mckeever Subject: A Kind Reply (Was: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate) Date: 31 Oct 89 16:19:20 GMT Reply-To: bmk@cbnews.ATT.COM (bernard.mckeever,54236,mv,3b045,508 960 6289) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories At first I was going to post a strong reply to the following paragraph, but rather then start an argument decided to quickly review how the original T1 framing and bit robbed signaling came into use, and how it got to todays form. Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. > (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 > relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the > bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" > (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. > But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus > relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit > ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low > order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) T1 carrier was first used in the Bell System in the 1960s' and has undergone several major changes while still maintaining the original 1.544 Mb/s bit rate. Early systems connected to D1 banks and the design intent was to provide local exchange service on existing cable for distances up to 25 miles. Before T-carrier local exchange service was provided by one of several vintages of N-carrier [another story]. The channel bank provided a means to convert 24 voice frequency signals into 24 digital channels [time slots] that were combined using Time Division Multiplexing [TDM]. Each VF signal was sampled 8000 times per second and encoded into a 7 bit word [remember this is a D1 bank] and one more bit was added to the 7 bit word to indicate the signaling status of the trunk or circuit contained in the time slot. To each group of 24 channels a framing bit was added so the system could distinguish each channel. So 24 time slots X 8 bits per slot + 1 frame bit = 193 bits/frame, and so it remains today. 1.544 Mb/s is the frame rate [8000/s] times the bits in a frame. For D1A and D1B banks signaling information was sent in every frame, the encoding of the voice signal was linear and used a Mu 100 coding scheme. This was enough for exchange service but was not good enough for toll grade service. Later systems were developed to provide toll grade service and to improve special service applications. Changes to the bit rate were not practical because of the embedded plant, something else had to be done. Some idiot :-) figured out that you did not have to send signaling information 8000 times a second, maybe every 6th frame was enough. Witness the birth of the 12 frame Super Frame [SF]. Now each channel used a non-linear encoding scheme [Mu 255] and 8 bit encoding was provided for 5 of every 6 frames. In the 6th [signaling] frame the least significant bit was robbed to provide on hook off hook information. In frame 6 the A signaling bit information is sent, in frame 12 the B bit. This system can be referred to as 7 and 5/6ths encoding. Digital Data [Dataport] was never a big item in the network of the 60s' and early 70s'. Because of bit robbing, digital service only has access to 7 bits [56kb/s] per time slot per frame. That does not mean that the 8th bit is wasted, it is used for network control. In fact for subrate digital data only 6 bits are available. Anyway without clear channel no bit rate higher than 56 kb/s are allowed over the network. [this does not include secondary channel capabilities] To provide clear channel, several changes had/have to be made. All maintenance signals have to be performed out of band. No loopback or yellow alarm codes are allowed in the bit stream. The customer has total control over all 8 bits. For this to be allowed and still meet line code restrictions, several new zero code suppression schemes have been developed. Bipolar 8 Zero Substitution [B8ZS] inserts a unique code for every consecutive 8 zeros detected. Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange [ZBTSI] uses a data link to tell the far end that a BYTE of 8 zeros has been substituted for. What data link? The latest framing scheme uses a 24 frame Extended Super Frame [ESF] to derive, framing, signaling, CRC6, and a data link, So now we have signaling in frame 6=A, 12=B, 18=C, and 24=D. The 4 kb/s data link also contains yellow alarm information, and is capable of other maintenance functions. The CRC6 code is used for PATH performance monitoring. One thing to remember ESF does not mean clear channel you must have zero code suppression that may or may not require ESF. None of this comes cheap. B8ZS can not be used with many older multiplexers [M1C] and ZBTSI and ESF require new or additional equipment. D5 banks have provided B8ZS and ESF since 1984, D4 now provide both functions. ZBTSI requires a translator and ESF. The bottom line is that NOW the customer can use the full 64 kb/s capability of each and every channel. ISDN will be transported over the network using clear channel capabilities that have been installed. ------------------------------ From: goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 1 Nov 89 14:46:33 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes... >goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com wrote (others said similar things): >> You get 64 kbps per >> second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. >> It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. >> It is NOT byte oriented at this point! >I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" >implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). My mistake was saying "kbps per second", which is redundant. But a lower case k means "1000" and an upper case K means "1024" in the Byte Magazine Style Sheet (or did when I was there in 1975). The telco world is not based on 1024s anyway. It is always called 64 kbps meaning 64000 bps. Wires aren't chips. >Second, the frame >sent between the on-premises ISDN interface and the terminals (phones) >contains its own framing, and individual BYTES of data for the two D >channels are contained in the frame. The AMD speakerphone chip >provides byte oriented access to all ISDN B-channels and routes >*bytes* among the different interfaces (audio in, audio out, two >B-channels, microprocessor port, and serial interfaces). The Layer 1 framing allows you to recognize bytes or bits. The HDLC protocols are bit oriented and don't align with layer 1 bytes, yet the D channel is HDLC (LAPD) and the B channel is often HDLC. Even async terminal adaptation using V.120 is HDLC bit-stuffed. Many ISDN chips include HDLC processing too. But you retain the option of taking eight bits at a time and, as is done with HDLC, ignoring any implicit byte alignment. >But we don't even have to refer to the standards; we have brains. If >you are sending raw audio data over this link, the network had better >retain byte synchronization, or the 8-bit audio samples would quickly >garble into unintelligibility (7 chances out of 8 to get the wrong >byte sync, unless the network maintains it for you). Yes, if you're doing audio, you retain the byte synchronization. That doesn't mean you have to for data, but it's there. What's your beef? ISDN lets you have it your way, and even McDonalds uses it. >> Two standards exist... And you can of course create >> your own if you want, since it's end-to-end. >This begs the question of interoperability, which was my whole point. >If I "create my own" IP-over-ISDN standard, and you implement it >another way, we can't talk to each other even though we can dial each >others' computers. In context of IP, what else is new? IP never specifies a single subnetwork. You want X.25? LAPB? SLIP, gag, cough? ISDN doesn't care, it is a subnetwork or a physical layer but no more. >(There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 >relays not putting in enoug